God’s Word for You
Daniel 3:22-23 The gospel in a verb
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Sunday, September 28, 2025
22 Because the king’s order was so urgent and the furnace was being so extremely overheated, the men who took Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego up to be thrown in were killed by the flames of the fire. 23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell into the burning fiery furnace, bound.
Let’s recall that in a similar furnace from just a few years later, but also in the former Babylon (later called Persia), there was a furnace like this one that was shaped like a very tall chimney, with a wide lower portion with air slots through which, we can well imagine, whatever or whoever was being consumed within could be seen from the outside. One of perhaps three things now happened.
1, It’s possible that while the soldiers pushed the Jews down into the furnace from above (there was probably a sloping walkway for this very purpose), the superheated flames leapt up and killed the soldiers while they pushed the men in. This would account for everything in the text.
2, It’s possible that after the soldiers pushed the Jews down into the furnace, there was some sort of explosive fireball that killed the soldiers while the Jews were already in the furnace below. This does not take anything away from the miracle and accounts for everything in the text.
3, It’s possible that God simply permitted the young Jews to be pushed into the furnace and caused the soldiers to be overcome by the intense heat so that they were killed by the flames while the Lord’s servants were being protected by his miraculous presence (see verses 24-25). This, too, accounts for everything in the text.
Whichever of these was the case, or some other possibility I have not thought of which equally does no damage to the text and accounts for everything Daniel has written, the soldiers were killed, and the three men were thrown into the furnace.
The men who were killed throwing Shadrach and his companions into the furnace were not being punished by God for what they were doing. They were obeying, in the eyes of world, the Fourth Commandment. Nebuchadnezzar was their king, and they were ordered to do this thing. And God rewards unbelievers at times for doing things that are outwardly obedient to his will—but those rewards are only for this world (promotion, glory, renown, and so forth). They do nothing toward gaining eternal life. If an unbeliever hopes he will get to heaven but thinks it’s all about his own achievements or good deeds, he is damned.
If any of the soldiers who were killed while trying to execute Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had doubts about their forms of unbelief or idolatry because they were beginning to trust in the God of Israel, then we can be confident that Christ’s promise applies also to them: “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory” (Matthew 12:20). In other words, any amount of faith saves. Luther explains: “Faith is a divine work (as opposed to a human’s work) in us that transforms us and begets us anew from God, kills the old Adam, makes us entirely different people in heart, spirit, mind, and all our powers, and brings the Holy Spirit with it. Oh, faith is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, so that it is impossible for it not to be constantly doing what is good” (Preface to Romans).
Verse 23 ends with the word “bound” in Aramaic (כפת). This is a verb that would usually be used to show a state of being (in grammar it would be called intransitive). Here, the stem (pael, a form of the piel) makes it transitive, but then presents it as a passive. This would be unnecessary if Daniel simply wanted to show that they had been simply “bound,” which is the usual sense of the simple or common Aramaic peal stem. This somewhat complicated juggling of verb forms is expressing some things to us. The form combined with the context shows us that this was, first, a forensic act (part of the king’s judgment). Second, that multiple objects (that is, men) were bound in the same act. Third, that they were caused to be bound by an external force or command apart from the soldiers (this, too, means that it was the kind’s command, whether it had to do with a judgment or not). And, as we have already seen (fourth), it is a case of an intransitive verb being used transitively (a state of being word used as an action with a direct object). Fifth, the word “bound” shows the accomplished action.
Why spend time noticing these things? Here is the gospel in a verb. Because when they are brought out unharmed (I hope I’m not spoiling the story for anyone) the king himself will declare that they have been delivered, set free, by God—their God (verse 28). Bound by men, and by the king’s own order, they would be set free by the God they worshiped. Nebuchadnezzar’s forensic judgment, the strength of his mightiest of mighty men, the force of the king’s command, and the binding inside their own quite flammable clothes, from head to toe—none of these things mattered against the power of the Almighty God.
This is the God we worship. The troubles we face, the difficulties, and the temptations, are all known to him. “Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Hebrews 2:18). So as we pray to him for help, “Let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.