King Nebuchadnezzar built a golden statue at which officials of various religions and faiths were to genuflect (worship) at prescribed times (Daniel 3:1-7). It was the king’s attempt, as it were, to bring a modicum of unity to the pluralistic realm over which he reigned.
But like most such attempts, there was something else going on, and the faith of a few insignificant citizens exposed it.
You might be familiar with the story: Nebuchadnezzar erected a gold statue ninety feet tall, and ordered that at the prescribed musical signal, all the government officials were to “fall down and worship” the image. Nonconformity was punishable by death in a fiery furnace.
It apparently escaped the king’s immediate attention, given the spectacle of the multitudinous music-fest, that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego — Daniel’s friends — did not comply.
But, not to worry. Some of their coworkers ratted them out. “Certain Chaldeans” (Daniel 3:8) dutifully complied with the king’s oppressive edict, and turned in others who did not. They reported that “certain Jews” were being particularly offensive: they “pay no attention to you, O king.”
“Full compliance is necessary,” we might imagine them saying, for the “good of the people.”
Nebuchadnezzar, as they say, was not pleased. In a “furious rage” he ordered the boys to appear before him and explain themselves, questioning whether there was any “god who will deliver” them. If he had not been pleased before, he was particularly un-pleased with their answer: God can deliver us, but even if he doesn’t, we won’t worship your gold statute.
Now “filled with fury,” Nebuchadnezzar ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than normal because, for these insouciant miscreants, any old burning just wouldn’t do.
What prompted the Chaldeans to rat out their fellow cosmopolitan coworkers? What prompted Nebuchadnezzar to wax so completely apoplectic?
The desire for complete comformity among the people, and the desire for absolute allegiance to the government.
The result? The super-hot furnace burned the guards alive, but Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego emerged not ashen, not harmed, and not even smelling of smoke.