Page 69 - The Prophet-statesman a Drama of Daniel

“Lo, I see four men loose and walking in the midst of the fire, and the aspect of the
fourth is like a son of the gods!”

Hardly waiting for a confirmation of this observation, the king turned and hastened
back across the flat roof to the entrance to the stairs, down the stairs and through the
corridors and out of the great door of the palace, and with speeding steps nearly ran
down the incline of Palace Way, oblivious of whether anyone was following him.

Halting at a safe distance from the doors of the furnace, he cupped his hands and in
his most stentorian tones shouted: “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of
the Most High God, come forth and come hither.” Amid the crackling of the flames, the

king called three times in this manner, till in the eyes of the king and the multitude of
spectators who had gathered, the three came to the door of the furnace, leaped lightly to
the ground and advanced toward the king stopping only momentarily to gaze
compassionately at the prone and lifeless forms of their executioners, whose bodies the

heat had already rendered well-nigh unrecognizable.

As it had been noised abroad that the king had left the palace and gone to the furnace
of the brick-kiln, a crowd rapidly gathered, including many of the princes of the realm

who were not out in the plains of Dura attending the festival.

These stood behind the king as the young men approached and gazed incredulously
upon them, as it became clear to all that the fierce heat of the flames had affected them

in not the slightest degree. Their skin and flesh were uninjured and even the hair of their
heads unsinged. Their garments were unconsumed and there was no odor of smoke or
fire upon them. The only things that the fire touched were the thongs that bound their
hands and feet. The king and all those who stood with him knew they had beheld a great

miracle, whereby a God, great but unknown to them, had not only abated the consuming
power of the fire, but in behalf of His faithful servants had completely suspended it.

The mighty monarch of Babylon was again convinced and superficially humbled,

as he said aloud: “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who hath
sent His angel and delivered His servants that trusted in Him, and have changed the
king’s word and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god

except their own God. Therefore, I make a decree, that every people, nation and
language which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because
these is no other god that can deliver after this sort.”

Now the king sees Him to be the Deliverer of His servants as well as the Revealer
of Secrets. For this he, Nebuchadnezzar, will accord him a measure of recognition and