Meditations

Question on moody radio openline with Pastor Mike Fabarez on March 16, 2019:

Just wondering, in the book of Daniel, they speak of Daniel and his three friends, Hananial, Mishael and Azariah have been taken and then also in the first two chapters, it gives their names but in the chapters following, it just uses their Babylonian name, I was wonder why the writer change that or continue to do that? You always hear that in the sermon, they always use their Babylonian name rather than their Hebrew name.

Pastor Mike Fabarez:

That’s a great question. Let me just briefly give an overview: Hananial, Mishael and Azariah. Hananial means the Lord show grace, Mishael, much like Michael, means who is like God, like there is none like God, Azariah means the Lord is my help. Those are great, great Hebrew names that reflect good things, just like Daniel, his name means God is my judge,  an answer to just God. Well, they were given Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego. Shadrach represents the moon god, Meshach who is like the moon god and Abed-Nego represents the god of the field. This is a definite insult, just like they took Daniel and the Babylonians named him Belteshazzar, means Belte protects your life, which means Belte should be your hope, not God. So, these names were changed and you asked an excellent question and it’s one that has baffled me, why is it that throughout the rest of the book, Daniel now is giving his name, though it’s written in the third person, so much of this narrative is given Daniel’s Hebrew name and Belteshazzar is not used and Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego are. I can only speculate about this but I can tell you, that when they are in their situation, unlike Daniel, who is a prophet, so removed and taken out and elevated to a place of not just being in that crowd of young men that are being trained for Babylonian use but Daniel as that prophet, the real star of the show so as to speak, such a Godly man. He is taken and always referred to throughout the book as his Hebrew name to remind us that he stepped out of that Babylonian crowd, even though Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego, as I like to preach Hananial, Mishael and Azariah. I think they are now translated into the presence of God. They are in that state of being blessed, they are not in the Babylonian culture anymore, I would like to refer to them even I preached, as Hananial, Mischael and Azariah, that is a picture of them still being in that scene, even though they stand strong in the fiery furnace scene and they prove that they are going to serve the Lord. They are still in a different place in the kingdom, Daniel is exalted, Daniel comes on as the mouth piece of the Lord, as a prophet, Hananial, Mishael and Azariah are not, they are not the prophets spokesman of God and they continue on shining brightly as a great light for the Lord but they do that in a context, in an environment, that’s in the rank and file of Babylon. So, it’s a good question, that’s not necessarily a satisfying answer because I don’t have one. I wonder the same thing myself, one day, as I am sure from time to time, Dr Rydelnik has to say on this program,  we are going to find out, we are going to know what the reason was.