Changing the King’s Word

When Shadrach, Meschach and Abed-nego emerge from the furnace unscathed, Nebuchadnezzar praises their God, whose angel saved the men from the fire. The three men “put their trust in Him, violating the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve any god except their own God” (Daniel 3:28; NASB).

This translation doesn’t quite get it. “Violate” is not the best translation of the Aramaic shenah , which means “change, alter, be changed, be different.” It’s the same word used earlier in Daniel to describe changed situations (2:9), the Lord’s governance of times and epochs (2:21), the face and favor of Nebuchadnezzar toward the three men (3:19). It’s used in the immediately prior verse, 3:27: “nor were their trousers changed” by the fire (cf. 5:16; 5:6, 9-10; 7:3, 7, 19, 23-25).

By their refusal to worship any but Yahweh, in short, the three men did “violate” the king’s command, but what Nebuchadnezzar highlights is the fact that they forced the king’s word to become different from what it was. Resolute witness forced a change of law.

It always does.