Daniel 3:13-18 – “Saying, ‘No’”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹³Then Nebuchadnezzar in shaking anger and hot wrath said to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then the men those were brought before the king. ¹⁴Nebuchadnezzar answering and saying to them, “[Is it] true, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, my gods you are not serving and the image of the gold which I set up not worshipping? ¹⁵Now if you are ready in the time which you hear the sound of the horn, the pipe, zither, the lyre, harp, and pipes, and the all of the kinds of music you fall and you worship the image I made and if not you will worship in that moment, you will be cast to the midst of the furnace of the fire burning, and who [is] that god who will deliver you from my hand?” ¹⁶Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and saying to the king Nebuchadnezzar, “We not having need upon this matter to respond. ¹⁷If it is [so], our God whom we worshipping being able to deliver us from the furnace of the fire burning and from your hand, O king, He may deliver [us].¹⁸And if not being delivered, let it be [known] to you O king that your gods we are not serving and the image of the gold which you set up we will not worship.”

Once again, there is so much to write on these verses, I almost don’t know where to start. What we have before us, of course, is one of the classic cases where believers are faced with earthly commands with which they simply cannot comply.

Right off the bat, I want to acknowledge that this is particularly difficult for real believers precisely because we are compliant people. James says the wisdom that is from above is “first of all pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive …” (3:17). Paul tells us in Galatians, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness …” (5:22,23). Believers in the work place are to be “subject to their bosses in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them …” (Titus 2:9,10). I could multiply passages like these from cover to cover in the Bible. As believers, a huge part of our spiritual growth is learning not to be rebellious, not to be headstrong, not to be self-assertive. We learn to work with sweet spirits, to try hard to get along with everyone, and in particular to please our bosses and those over us. Our gentle submissiveness is and ought to be one of the qualities that most endear us to those around us. We simply learn to be naturally compliant people – and we should.

But then that makes it particularly difficult for us when we come to those times where we have to stand our ground and say, “No.”  I particularly feel their pain when these guys have to actually stand in front of Nebuchadnezzar and displease him to his face. As real believers I have no doubt they have by this time distinguished themselves to Nebuchadnezzar precisely because they serve him so well. I do not doubt they have established a relationship with this monarch where he particularly finds these guys easy to manage. Someone could interpret it differently, but I think the text itself supports the fact that, going into this confrontation, Nebuchadnezzar actually likes these guys. Back in chapter 1, we were told he found “none equal” to them and Daniel. It says, “In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom” (1:19,20). Of course, in chapter 2, Daniel interpreted the king’s dream for him when no one else could.

Notice too in this text that the Chaldeans had leveled three accusations against the guys: 1. They pay no attention to you, 2. They do not serve your gods, and 3. They do not worship the image of gold which you have set up” (v12). When Nebuchadnezzar asks them, “Is it true?” he only mentions 2. and 3. I don’t think that is an irrelevant deletion. He already knows it is not true, “They pay no attention to you.” Notice too that even though he is very angry, even the very discussion he is having with them is about giving them a second chance. His decree was that, if anyone did not fall down and worship, in that moment, they would be cast into the fiery furnace. Here he is willing to do a complete replay of the entire procession, just to give these guys another chance. Personally, I don’t think he wants to throw them in the fiery furnace. These are three of his best people. He’s used to liking them. He’s used to them being unusually compliant and easy to supervise. Notice too that, after they make it clear they will not comply, it very specifically says in v.19, “his attitude toward them changed.”

I say all of this continuing to acknowledge how hard this is for these guys. They have established an excellent relationship with this king precisely because they are compliant and happily do whatever he requires of them, then they suddenly find themselves standing before him knowing they are displeasing him. It is easy to focus on how they need to obey God and not men, and they do, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that resistance and non-compliance are just plain “out of character” for these guys, as they are for all real believers.

Unfortunately, there are simply innumerable situations we face like this, where we have to displease people while we are normally known to be compliant and “easy to get along with.” It is precisely these times we are reminded why we’re compliant. It actually isn’t ultimately to please our bosses and the people around us. We’re compliant with them precisely because we’re compliant with our Lord. As in Col 3:23,24: “And whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men … It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

Hopefully for us Christians, our humble spirits, our compliant, easy-to-get-along with manner is actually an expression of our constant, personal relationship with the Lord – so that when we have to choose between pleasing God or pleasing people, that decision will already be made.

I also want to record a few more thoughts based on what the guys said. I think there is an element of modern Christianity that would want to assume that they were “militant,” that somehow that’s how we’re supposed to be when we do face these situations. Once again, I realize it is all subject to other interpretation, but I don’t think they were “militant” at all. I think they went on being the same humble young men. Notice that their response was short. They could have gone into a long dissertation on their belief in one God as opposed to everyone else’s polytheism. But they didn’t. They specifically said, “We have no need to respond to this matter.” I think what they meant was there was no need to even take up the king’s time discussing it all. They realized at this point he must carry out the threatened punishment. The herald’s warning was crystal clear – bow or burn.  They won’t bow. They must burn. To do less would undermine the king’s authority.

Notice too that they (at least twice) refer to him as “O king.” They are acknowledging his position of authority.

Also, I think they respectfully answer his question, “What god shall deliver you out of my hand?” They could have gone on quite a dissertation on the power of God. They could have even told the king the stories of Pharaoh (“Who is the Lord, that I should serve Him?” and Sennacherib (“Do not let the god you depend on deceive you …”) and what happened to them. Instead, they simply assert that they do believe their God is able to deliver them, but then say, “But even if not, we’ll still obey Him.” Finally they state their position very clearly, “We will not serve your gods or worship the idol.” Once again, I don’t think we should read in any “militance” (which frankly just comes across as obstinance). I think they are just very bravely making sure there is no question whatsoever where they stand. That can be expressed humbly but clearly, which is what I think they’re doing.

We will in many ways face exactly this situation. Living our faith, there will be times when we have to stand our ground. Jesus warned us about it. Paul said, “All who live godly in Christ Jesus will face persecution.” Maybe there will be times where we too have to engage in “civil disobedience.” But I rather think most of the time it is the little decisions of day to day, like when men want to bash on their wives or wives their husbands, or when people at work are bashing on the boss or on the co-workers, and they want us to join in. It might be the less than scrupulous business practices.

Whatever it is, I hope we believers will go into it already having established our relationships as people who are humble and submissive. And then, however we need to respond, may we do it in that same humble, submissive spirit as we have to make it clear we cannot and will not go along.