the Advent of God

King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden statue whose height was sixty cubits and whose width was six cubits; he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.  Accordingly, at this time certain Chaldeans came forward and denounced the Jews. They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, ‘O king, live for ever! You, O king, have made a decree, that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, drum, and entire musical ensemble, shall fall down and worship the golden statue, and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These pay no heed to you, O king. They do not serve your gods and they do not worship the golden statue that you have set up.’

Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought in; so they brought those men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar said to them, ‘Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods and you do not worship the golden statue that I have set up? Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, drum, and entire musical ensemble to fall down and worship the statue that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire, and who is the god that will deliver you out of my hands?’

 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to present a defence to you in this matter. If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up.’

Then Nebuchadnezzar was so filled with rage against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face was distorted. He ordered the furnace to be heated up seven times more than was customary, and ordered some of the strongest guards in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire. So the men were bound, still wearing their tunics, their trousers, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the furnace of blazing fire. Because the king’s command was urgent and the furnace was so overheated, the raging flames killed the men who lifted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But the three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down, bound, into the furnace of blazing fire.

 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up quickly. He said to his counsellors, ‘Was it not three men that we threw bound into the fire?’ They answered the king, ‘True, O king.’ He replied, ‘But I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the fourth has the appearance of a god.’ Nebuchadnezzar then approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire and said, ‘Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!’ So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counsellors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men; the hair of their heads was not singed, their tunics were not harmed, and not even the smell of fire came from them. Nebuchadnezzar said, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him. They disobeyed the king’s command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that utters blasphemy against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins; for there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way.’ Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.

Let's start with their names - my favorite thing to do with the Hebrew scriptures is find out how the common translation of names fit into the story. And this one doesn't disappoint. For starters our three Hebrew children, Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego are their "Chaldean names." In other words, they had Hebrew names but as a result of the exile were given new names.
Their original Hebrew names were: Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah which mean Jah who is gracious, Who is like God and God has helped.

Their Chaldean names are Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego which mean Command of the moon god, who is the moon god and servant of Nebo (or Nergal).

In essence, their Hebrew names had to do with God, the God of Israel, the God who helps them, the God who is gracious. Their namesakes were attached to the God of their ancestors. But when captured and made to live in a foreign land, they were stripped of their namesake. They were made to answer to different names, names that reference foreign gods, the gods of the Chaldeans. I wonder if they ever got used to the new names? I wonder if they sometimes forgot to answer to them. I wonder if their new names reminded them of the distance of their ancestral home.

I wonder if Shadrack, I mean Hananiah - God who is gracious grew weary of answering to Shadrack "command of the moon god."  Did "Who is like God" tire of answering to "who is like the moon god?" And I can only imagine a boy who was named "God has helped" would grow uncomfortable with answering to "Servant of Nebo."

Daily reminders of slavery, of captivity, of lack of control or autonomy. How degrading!

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And yet they did not forget who they were. Despite being given a new identity, they stayed faithful to their true namesake. They would not bow down to the gods of this foreign land.

As we enter the season of Advent, a season of waiting and preparing for the coming of Christ into our lives, our world, our politics, our suffering, can we name some of the gods to which we answer? In other words, how secure is our namesake? Have we traded children of God for children with toys? Instead of looking for God to save, are we looking for an app that doesn't shut down? When we look to the clouds, are we mostly downloading documents these days?

OK, maybe those are too simplistic.

Here's what I know for sure, this Thursday I'll wake to the Macy's day parade. And while the turkey is roasting, I'll watch with anticipation the coming of Santa. He arrives each Thanksgiving right on time, at noon. This is the kind of precision I like, I enjoy. Waiting for Christ is not like that. Advent is not like that.

The Advent of God is never precise, it is often unexpected and maybe even a little fuzzy or hard to define or describe. The Advent of God... well, it happened in our story. In a fiery furnace, the King squints his eyes and says, "there is a fourth man and he looks like the son of God."

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