Isaiah 43:2 When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
Nebuchadnezzar is even angrier at three Judean exiles for defying him to his face and orders the furnace be made still hotter, seven times hotter (an idiom meaning “as hot as possible”). Nebuchadnezzar has the three Jews tied up and sends his soldiers to toss them into the top of the furnace so he can watch them die at a safe distance. The flames are so hot the men who threw them into the furnace die from the heat!
In the LXX and in Jewish tradition, the flames are stoked even hotter while they are in the furnace, trying to make it even hotter. Smoke rose 49 cubits, or 74 feet into the air. Another feature of the LXX at this point in the story is a lengthy prayer (66 verses) by Azariah. This prayer does not appear in any Aramaic texts and is not consider canonical by Protestants.
As Nebuchadnezzar watches, he is amazed to see not three, but four people in the flames. All four are walking around unharmed. This fourth person is described as like “a son of the gods” (ESV), translating the phrase לְבַר־אֱלָהִֽין. What is different about this fourth person is not stated, but Nebuchadnezzar believes he is seeing some kind of divine being in the flames.
Who is the mysterious fourth person in the fiery furnace?
In the Talmud (Pes. 118a, b) he is the angel Gabriel, as is the angel who visits Daniel in the lion’s den (6:21-22).
Expounded R. Simeon the Shilonite, “When wicked Nebuchadnezzar threw Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah into the fiery furnace, Yurqami, prince of hail, stood before the Holy One, blessed be He. He said to him, ‘Lord of the world, let me go down and cool it off and save those righteous men from the fiery furnace.’ Said to him Gabriel, ‘That is not how the power of the Holy One, blessed be He, is, for you are the prince of hail, and everybody knows that water puts out fire. Rather, I am the prince of fire. Let me go down and cool it off inside, [118B] but heat it from the outside, and so I will do a double miracle.’ Said to him the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘Go on down.’ At that moment Gabriel commenced with the sentence, ‘And the truth of the Lord endures forever.’ ” (Jacob Neusner, The Babylonian Talmud. 4:547–548)
In Christian tradition, this fourth person is the Angel of the Lord, מַלְאַ֨ךְ יְהֹוָ֥ה of Exodus 3:2. Many Christian commentators identify the fourth person as the Son of God, a “pre-incarnate Jesus Christ” (Miller, Daniel, 123-124).
However, Montgomery points out the Aramaic phrase “son of the gods” was a “perfectly pagan phrase” (106). Nebuchadnezzar claims to be seeing a divine figure of some kind, associating with one or more of the various gods in his own pantheon. From the perspective of the three men in the fire, this is an agent of God sent to protect them from harm.
When Nebuchadnezzar realizes what has happens, he calls them out, and calls them servants of the Most High God, again indicating that he realizes that the God of the Jews is indeed powerful. This whole sequence of events is even comical: Nebuchadnezzar boldly stated no god can save them, he made every effort to kill the three men, yet he is unable to harm them in any way because they are protected by the Most High God.
Similar to Nebuchadnezzar’s reaction in chapter 2, the king confesses the god of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego is powerful and issued an edict to protect their right to worship their own God and not to worship his gods. Did Nebuchadnezzar “convert”? Not at all, his confession still falls short of faith in the God of the Judean exiles alone. He certainly falls short of confessing his own gods do not exist.
While toleration of the Jews would have been particularly applicable during the persecution of the Jews under Antichious, there is hardly a period in Jewish history since the dispersion began when they have been entirely free from persecution. As Daniel 3:17 says, God can save us but even if he does not, the Jewish people enduring oppression from Antiochus would not compromise their traditions even if this refusal led to their death.
I think it is fairly arguable that the mysterious fourth figure in the furnace was Gabriel, one of the prominent angels and holy ministers of God. Of course, this particular angel visits Daniel when he was trapped inside of the Lion’s den. But this angel is also mentioned in Daniel 8, when he was sent to interpret the dream Daniel was stricken with. I wonder if this means that every major Bible character had a particular angel looking out for them, as if the angels were responsible for them and their ministry. Regardless, I think it is very plausible that the fourth figure was an angel of God–as opposed to, for example, a pre-incarnate form of Christ.
As to whether or not Nebuchadnezzar actually converted or not, it is very clear according to the text that he did not. In Daniel 3:29, he merely makes a decree that protects the right of Daniel and his friends to practice their religion–but he does not express faith in it himself. In fact, when he claims to have seen and “angel” in the furnace with them, the term he used is rather neutral and most likely refers to one of his pagan gods. He merely witnessed something supernatural, but he does not know how to describe or make sense of it. In other words, Nebuchadnezzar, because his heart is still blinded by pride, is merely confused. Even though he witnesses the power of the God of Israel, he only respects and resolves to protect it–but he does not reject his own pagan beliefs, which means that he remains in unbelief. This reminds me of King Agrippa in Acts 26:28! Only a full confession and repentance will do.
In this passage we see that every time there was a sound of music, everyone had to bow down and praise the Babylonian gods and worship the image that the king had set up. However, when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego remained standing, the king was furious, but then the king had them men brought to him to tell them exactly what they had to do when they heard the sound of music, however, when the men failed to do as he commanded, he threw them into a fiery furnace. Daniel 3:19 states, “He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated.” When the servants of the king brought the 3 men into the fiery furnace, the people who went to throw them into the furnace died due to the extreme heat. After a while Nebuchadnezzar noticed than the men were basically standing in the furnace, but they were not alone. A fourth person was also joining the men. Daniel 3:25 states that the fourth person was “like a son of the gods.” I strongly believe that God had sent an angel to take care of the men and protect them. When the king saw that the men were not harmed, he calls them servants of the “Most High God”. I completely believe that if we completely trust in God, he will protect us at all times and from anyone. In the passage we see that the 3 men believed that God was going to protect them. God is unique!
I really do not truly know if it is an angel of the Lord, or the pre-incarnate Jesus. As you stated, it is quoted in the Talmud to be the angel Gabriel. Though the Talmud is not a canonical work, the idea is valid. There is scriptural evidence for the idea of God sending his angels and angel armies to take care of his people in real and tangible ways. Some examples are: the angels urging Lot to flee Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:15-17), the angels ministering to Jesus in the time after his temptation (Matthew 4:11), and the promises in Psalms about God sending angels to guard you (Psalm 91:11). Although there is much evidence for the idea of literal angels guarding people, there is the idea of “the angel of the LORD,” used many times in the Old Testament as a kind of “mighty, chosen” angel.
Many think that this is a pre-incarnate Christ. Some may speculate that this is the case in this Daniel passage. If this is the case, what does this do to our theology? Would Jesus being present in the flesh change how we view our salvation pre-cross? Was Jesus (as “the angel of the LORD”) already active in righteous men’s lives pre-virgin birth? Then again, this angel could merely be Gabriel (as stated in the Talmud), or could be another regular angel. This, said, “angel of the LORD” could also be a different angel than that which appears in the various other passages.
As for Nebuchadnezzar, I do not believe he fully converted, because he never denounced faith in his other gods. You must believe only in the one true God in order to be saved. In the passage, he did not fully confess that Yahweh is the one true God.
P. Long’s post brings to attention to the aspect of different translations and what specific denominations have or leave out of their canon of Scripture. It is interesting, even if I do not consider it canon, to read the prayer of Azariah and the Talmud to see the different historical opinions on the story of the fiery furnace. I also find it interesting that as a child in Sunday school, I specifically remember learning this fourth person in the furnace was merely an angel. I did not learn until I was in college that many the Christian tradition consider this to be a pre-incarnation version of Jesus. This is, if it is Jesus, perhaps an even more empowering story than of God being with us through the fire and hardships of life.
I especially appreciate P. Long’s concluding paragraph in this blog post as he writes that the application of Daniel 3:17 would be not allowing persecution to change your convictions. As America and the world around us becomes less accepting of Christians and the Christian faith, I think the OT theme of God’s sovereignty throughout the exile will become even more applicable to Christians today. We can be reassured by verses such as Romans 8:28 that communicate to us that God is control and for those that love Him, all things will work together for good.
The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is a very impressive one as the faith of the three young men was not shaken even at the point of death. However, one of the more interesting characters in this story is the fourth figure that walks around in the flames with the three friends. The description of the fourth man given by King Nebuchadnezzar is that he is like “a son of the gods”. Growing up, whenever I heard this story, I’ve always imagined that this fourth figure was one that glowed. If this is the case, it could be that this being is either an angel or Jesus himself, but as it is stated in the article, it is a pagan phrase that Nebuchadnezzar has declared. While this is most likely true, I would not immediately say that it is not Jesus who was in the fire with them. If keeping with the idea that the figure in the flames was glowing, there is something that stood out to me. In many of the descriptions of angels, they do not say that they are glowing, but in passages like Luke 9 when the angels appear to the shepherds, it says that the glory of the Lord shown around them. Jesus, being God, would have that glory and power that would shine through the flames of the fire, making him look extraordinary. The other possibility is that there was an angel in the flames, and he was glowing because he had been in the glory of God as Moses’s face shown after he had been on Mount Sinai. The only other thought I would have that would make an angel stand out from a human is that he was bigger in stature than the other three men, but that doesn’t seem like a plausible argument. I do not lean in either direction of the figure being an angel or it being Jesus himself, but the point of the figure is to show that God provides a way out for his faithful servants.
This story is a story that I have remembered since hearing it as a child. I did not grow up in a primarily Christian home but I did have extended family that would every so often take me to church. Hearing this story the children’s ministry leader would always say that it was Jesus in the fire. This confused me because I thought that this was before Jesus was born. How could this be Jesus? Clearly, there is no evidence in Scripture for this to be Jesus. All we get is, “He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods” (Daniel 3:25). This person is “like a son of the gods.” In no way does this describe Jesus. It definitely shows that it was a divine intervention but it has nothing to do with Jesus specifically. While the arguments that it is an angel seem to be reasonable this might have been suggested (depending on when you think this book was written) because of the Neoplatonic dualism that influenced a culture. This therefore glorified angles and heavenly beings and would make sense as to the reasoning of this being an angel. I personally believe that it was a pre-incarnation Jesus. No one will ever actually know who this fourth person in the fiery furnace was but it does not matter. If I had to give an answer I would say a pre-incarnate Jesus. It puts a bit of Christology into the book of Daniel and I think that is fun.
The importance of this story lies not in the fourth person in the furnace but in the bravery of the three men willing to die for God even if He did not save them (3:16-18) and the glorification of God by Nebuchadnezzar (3:28-30). It is these elements of this narrative that the importance rests on. Not the fourth person in the furnace. Ultimately, God was glorified and that was the purpose.
I think the question around the identity of the fourth person in the fire is very interesting. It could be an angel of the Lord or a pre-incarnate Christ, but based on the description from Nebuchadnezzar, it was clearly something that was easily identified from a distance as not human. Nebuchadnezzar could not have been standing very close to the furnace without being burned (as we saw with the soldiers that tossed the men in), so he had to be at least some distance back when he saw the fourth being. He identified it as a son of the gods, which must mean that he didn’t think it was just another person. I think this is another instance in the book of Daniel where we see the God of Israel displaying his power over the forces working against His people and His commitment to caring for them. By the description we see in this story, it’s obvious that it’s no mere accident that the men were saved. It is only by the work of the “Most High God” himself. Even after this incredible miracle and Nebuchadnezzar’s acknowledgment of the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we still see Nebuchadnezzar choosing to worship his own gods and not commit his faith to God. I have to wonder what any of the other people there that day thought. Did they see this miracle and truly believe in the power of God? Were these people converted so early in history? The king declared that the Judean exiles had the right to worship their God, and I would be interested to know if anyone else working for the king felt inclined to do the same. As far as who the fourth person in the fire is, I would like to think that it is a pre-incarnate Christ.
Who are we to decide who was the fourth person in the fire? none of us were present when these events took place. But by faith we believe that the word of God is truth. So we read the book of Daniel with faith believing every word. In both Daniel 6, were Daniel was in the lion’s den and Daniel 3 where Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown in the in the blazing, fiery furnace, we see evident that the Lord their God was truly at work, protecting them from harm. King Nebuchadnezzar and other members witnessed a miracle that has never been done before. His description of “son of gods” could have meant many things. If I look at this with a christian point of view, it’s easy say that it was an angel of the Lord. my question here is, how can Nebuchadnezzar describe the fourth person as “a son of a god?” how can he know that? ha she seen one before for him to come to that conclusion? was this the son of a god or could he have been the God himself? The answer here is we don’t know but guess and believe by faith it was an angel of the Lord saving them only to prove the power and majesty of the Most high King Nebuchadnezzar praise afterwards.
Throughout the book of Daniel King Nebuchadnezzar saw many signs and wonders, miracles that were impossible by men. Even though he praises the God of the Jews, He still believed in his own customs of pagan gods. Even today in our society, the president or king or queen can approve the worship of certain religions, he can praise the great deeds, that doesn’t mean they too much worship that religion or abide by it rules or principals. King Neb. never converted, He was too caught up in his own pride, and selfish ambitions.
I do not know if we will ever know who the fourth person in the fire was until they have been relieved to us in heave, and when I am in heaven I do not even think that I will care about these things I will just be so in awe of my creator. I do not think that we can have a very accurate description of that fourth man in the fire because if the person who is telling us and that is king Neb. King Neb was not a Christian man so he could have seen an angel and to him, it was a son of God. so I do not know who was in the fire but I do know that it is important to know that it was by God’s will that they are saved.
I am trying to find the name of the artist who did the picture above.
I am sorry, I have no idea where that picture came from.
The fourth man in the fire brings up an interesting question regarding who He was? And why it is significant. The fact that needs to be identified regardless of whether it was Jesus before incarnation, or an angle, it was the presence of God. This is a clear demonstration of the presence of God in physical form. This image gave nebuchadnezzar the second realization in Daniel of the incredible power of the God of the Jews. This significands of the fourth man in the fire adds credibility and praise to God. If there were only three men in the fire, there would be more confusion than worship. Seeing the fourth man takes away the glory from the three and adds it to the Lord. Regardless of who that was, an angel or Jesus, the Lord is given glory in this and the effort of the three men obeying God is noticed and they are spared their lives. “Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God” (Daniel 3:28 ESV). They are recognized by the king for their efforts and were promoted thereafter. The fourth man is the key part to this story bringing glory away from the king and toward God. Regardless of the identity of the fourth man this story is a beautiful representation of Gods faithfulness toward those who are obedient.
I enjoyed this blog post, thank you for sharing your thoughts on this topic and providing a lot of detail to help my understanding. As a Christian, I have always identified the fourth man in the furnace as the Angel of the Lord. I have heard of this story ever since I was a little kid and never did fully understand it. Now that I am currently attending a Christian college and getting to know God more. I realized that this story has so much meaning and beauty behind it. Whatever or whoever this fourth mysterious person was, it was not a human. I do not believe that it is truly significant that we know who the fourth person was, at least for me. The story by itself is the beauty of the Lord, the story shows us that God is faithful to those who are obedient or trust in him.
I find the topic of the fourth person in the fire to be quite interesting. I think that it is interesting that as the article points out (2020), Nebuchadnezzar noticed that the fourth person in the fire was of some divine nature, but I am not sure what made him think that. I guess that it would be easy to understand that if it was Jesus in the fire with them, the radiance of God’s glory could’ve been what led Nebuchadnezzar to believe that He was a god of some kind, but that is ungrounded speculation on my end. I think that mentioning that the figure could have been Gabriel as well has some grounding. Honestly, I am fine with it either being Christ or Gabriel: not that they are the same, but both held the power to protect the people inside of the furnace, both through God’s power. God could have used either one of them to protect the young men, but I would prefer to assume that it was Jesus.
Longman’s (2020) thoughts on this story are interesting. He identifies the fact that Nebuchadnezzar gives credit to the God of Israel for rescuing them. It’s possible that Nebuchadnezzar realized the glory of the Lord at that moment (due to his proclamations). I find it interesting as Dr. Long mentions that it’s unlikely that Nebuchadnezzar would have converted. I wonder how he could proclaim the power of the Lord and after seeing the men come out of the fire unscathed still deny Him. It’s possible that it boiled down to his pride, but I am not sure.
As for the modern day, it is easy to compare Jesus being in the fire with the young men in Daniel and how Jesus is “in the fire” with us. Simply put, this means that Jesus is with us through our most trying times, and He preserves us for His glory. I think that the verse that would apply to this principle is 1 Peter 5:10, “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” Through the many trials of life, we can be encouraged by this story that God is with us through the trials of life, and we can praise Him through it so that others may know of His power and might.
When reading stories like this It can become so easy to try and “read the old into the new.” I want so badly to see a Christophony here, but regardless of who the mysterious 4th person is, we can miss the point of focus here. The main focus of Daniel is God’s ability to exercise control over a situation, and his compassion for his people (Longman III 37). Whether the 4th person is Gabriel, the Angel of the Lord, or Christ, It is still credited as God performing a miracle. Montgomery pointing out that the “son of the gods” would be a common phrase does not surprise me in the instance of this story. Even Longman III does not make any claims in regards to who this 4th person is and keeps his focus on God preventing the three men from harm (89). There are some theological questions that can distract us from the main purpose the author was trying to communicate in this passage, that purpose being three men trusting God with their lives and God providing them with salvation. Once we shift our focus here we can truly see the main theme of Daniel playing out. Everything is directed at God operating in the world and remaining victorious.
The first piece of content that took me by surprise from this article, was the fact that Isaiah 43:2 mentions how Our Lord will be with whomever is in a fire and will not be burned or harmed. Though it might not be referencing Daniel 3, it’s still interesting to me how specific the verse is. This makes me curious and I desire to open up a commentary and discover the context of Isaiah 43:2. It makes me think about how the Bible seems to have a verse or a promise for almost every scenario one finds themselves in life, which is awesome. As I continued reading the article, I realized that there is much debate about who was really the figure in the flames with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I always thought it was a Christophony, just like the burning bush in the story of Moses, and almost any verse that mentions, the Angel of the Lord. I’m beginning to wonder who’s right or wrong regarding these interpretations.
What brings peace to my quandaries, is the fact that God is with us no matter what we go through and that’s the main takeaway point from these verses in the Bible. Though, I will say, that knowing specific details and truths in a particular verse can make your faith stronger and answer a lot of questions, the main takeaway to understand and believe is God will always take care of His children and is in control. It’s one thing to hear these truths and preach them, but to actually live them is different. One must check their heart regularly throughout their day to make sure they are in fellowship with God and makes time for Him every day so that these truths will become realities in each Christian’s soul.
The whole series of events of Daniel 3 is interesting. Nebuchadnezzar previously had a dream and understood the power of God manifested not only in Daniel’s interpretation but also in how Daniel told him of the dream without hearing it. This was simply a miracle of God. Nebuchadnezzar notices the work of God, but still goes on to construct this massive image. He commands a select group of people to worship the image. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to bow down, they are thrown into the fire. Skipping forward in the narrative, Nebuchadnezzar sees the fourth person in the furnace and proclaims him to be a “son of the gods.” Until now, I have always thought Nebuchadnezzar was noticing that this was an angel sent from Yahweh. However, after thinking more about this, it would not really make sense for Nebuchadnezzar to assume this to be an angel. He did not really pay much attention to the God of Israel other than in chapter 2 and after this chapter, of course. It would make a lot more sense for him to understand this as one of the gods in his pantheon. Despite this, he still notices the three unharmed and gives the glory to the Most High God.
Thinking about this from Daniel’s friends’ perspective, it is completely plausible to me that the “son of the gods” would be the angel Gabriel, even though I love the idea of this being a Christophany. Gabriel shows up in Daniel a couple more times. He shows up in chapter 8 to interpret Daniel’s dream as well as in chapter 6 to shut the mouths of the lions. I think it would be very reasonable to believe this is the angel, Gabriel.
When we look at the story of the four men in the furnace, it can be extremely easy to just immediately write it off as Jesus, I mean that’s what I have always done. When the verse talks about seeing a man who looked to be like a “son of the gods”, I never thought about that being a completely PAGAN phrase as described in the blog post. It would make sense that he would not be referencing the same son of God that we know as Jesus today since he had not come back to earth yet at this time. I think it is also interesting that the king did not just convert to the same type of worship that the three men were apart of but instead gave them more of just a pardon to pray and worship their own God. Why is this? If this God of the Jews is so powerful then why would this not create a complete conversion of a king who wants exactly that: power?
As Nebuchadnezzar expects to watch the three Jewish men in the fiery furnace burn a terrible death, he sees a fourth individual in the furnace with the three Jewish men, and they are all unharmed by the heat. Some think that the fourth man in the fiery furnace could be Jesus but there is not enough biblical evidence to say who exactly who it was. Since the three Jews prayed before they entered the furnace, the fourth person was most likely an angel that came to comfort and save them because of their immense belief in their faith. Whoever or whatever the fourth person was, it was with great and holy power.
I think the whole idea of who was in the fire strikes up great debates for others but in the end whether or not that was The son of man or an angel I think that the message is a testament of how powerful God is, in the text it stats “They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them” and we can assume as believers that had to be some direct correlation to God but with that being said Montgomery statement that is stated in the blog post about the son of gods being pagan can be seen as maybe direct correlation to him still believing in multiple gods and not Jesus, especially since he had never converted after the experience he had with the Daniel and still choose to worship other gods
The many views of who the fourth person was in the fire. I have never really thought about that idea before but the views are very interesting to say the least. Jewish tradition tells that the person in the flame was the angel Gabriel who was also in the lions den with Daniel. The Babylonian account of the event tells of a “ Yurqami, a prince of heil” as being the fourth person in the Furnace. As the article says many believers believe that the four person was the Angel of the Lord at is mentioned a lot in the Old Testament, most notably Exodus 3:2. That statement opens up another can of worms because we don’t know what the title of the Angel of the Lord means, many Biblical Scholars say the when it talks about the Angel of the Lord that means the pre-incarnate form of Jesus. I don’t know the reason but i think that doing that gives Jesus the Son a role in the Old Testament. We are not told the answer to this age-old question and may not found out till we get to heaven. All we have is that Nebuchadnezzar for the second time gives Praise to the Lord on high just stopping short of denying the existence of his pantheon of deities
As mentioned in Daniel 3:19-27, a fourth person appears in the furnace with them, and Nebuchadnezzar describes this being as like a “son of the gods” The interpretation of the identity of this fourth person has been the subject of much discussion and speculation. Some view it as a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ, while others see it as an angel of the Lord. The description of this being as something easily identifiable from a distance as not human adds to the mystery and wonder of the event. Observations about Nebuchadnezzar’s acknowledgment of the God of Israel’s power and yet his subsequent failure to fully commit to that faith are significant. This highlights the tension between witnessing God’s miracles and choosing to surrender to His authority. Nebuchadnezzar’s acknowledgment of the Most High God’s rule at that moment doesn’t immediately lead to a complete shift in his worship. This theme of divine intervention and human response is a recurring one in the Book of Daniel and biblical narratives in general. The Book of Daniel often emphasizes God’s sovereignty and protection over His people, even amid challenging circumstances. It serves as a reminder of the faithfulness of God and the importance of remaining steadfast in one’s devotion, even in the face of opposition. Nebuchadnezzar’s beliefs did not waver even through this experience. I feel that it is important to see how this compares to today. Many people experience the righteous power of the Trinity and yet walk away or are faced with undeniable evidence and choose to stay away from it. As a Christian, I have a hard time seeing why they choose to do this just as Nebuchadnezzar does in this story but then I think back to the many times I have had “camp highs” and more stuck in my ways than having an open heart to not just see what God is showing me.