6 Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:
7 Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abednego.
I include these two verses especially because they embody the utter breakdown between the old reality and the stark new reality for these young men.[1] As a result of the encroachment of forces aligned with the prince of this world,[2] their lives were completely uprooted and they were forced into an entirely new reality. The overwhelming impact this had upon them is seen with great clarity in the changing of their names. Prior to their captivity all four of them literally had a form of the name of the true God right in their names:
o Daniel- God is [my] Judge
o Hananiah- God has favored
o Mishael- Who is what God is?
o Azariah- Jehovah has helped
With the name changes their names become advertisements for King[3] Worship:
o Daniel becomes Belteshazar- Begins with Bel, derived from: Balaṭ (= good Saturn?).[4] Full meaning being: "Good Saturn, protect the king."
o Hananiah becomes Shadrach- "little friend of the king."
o Mishael becomes Meshach- Derived from Mî-sha-aku 'who is what Aku (the moon-god) is?'[5] "guest of a king."
o Azariah becomes Abednego- Derived from
"servant of Nebo."
These name changes were not benign. They were intended to exert constant social pressure upon them, reminding them[6] that their entire lives were now forcibly devoted to a completely different agenda. Every day, all day, in all of their daily interactions, they were besieged with the stark new direction their lives had taken.
I include this because of what may very well lie ahead for the world we live in. Any Christian whose head in not buried in the sand can plainly see that drastic[7] social and political upheavals lie just ahead of us. I have already identified that one sense of "light at the end of the tunnel" for Daniel and his friends was that they served the God Who is genuinely on the throne, ruling and overruling in the affairs of men. He could certainly bring good out of their calamity. And He did, using their lives as testimonies to the Babylonians among whom they lived, and eventually resulting in the coming of "wise men from the east" at the birth of Christ.
But, we do well to remember that these young men[8] had to pay a very high price for the privilege of being God's messengers in their dark world. Whatever transpires over the next few weeks,[9] serious Christians are being called upon to rightly represent Christ is what may well be very dangerous and trying times.
[1] And, by extension, all those taken into Babylonian captivity.
[2] John 12:31, 14:30 and 16:11.
[3] Nebuchadnezzar.
[4] Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon.
[5] Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon.
[6] And anyone that would address them by their heathen names.
[7] And very dangerous.
[8] And old men later. Daniel was in his eighties when cast into the den of lions in chapter 6.
[9] Politically on a global scale.
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