The Righteous Choice: Daniel 3:8-18
Righteousness looks to God for our cues about how to live. They are many sources for figuring out what to do. We can get our cues from social media. We can get our cues from our friend group. We can get our cues from mentors and role models. Ultimately, the best place to get our cues for life are from God and His Word.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are present at the festival. They had been promoted into leadership, so it is natural for them to be present. What feels odd is Daniel’s absence. Perhaps Daniel was needed elsewhere. In any event, this story revolves around Daniel’s friends.
These three men refuse to worship the statue. They understand God’s Law, and they desire to uphold it. It doesn’t need to be any more complicated than this. God said to live a certain way, and they do.
The other Chaldean rulers don’t see it the same way. They see some of their peers disobeying the king’s edict. They see a means of deposing the disobedient leaders, creating a power vacuum in Babylon. These Chaldean leaders might earn Nebuchadnezzar’s favor. They might receive leadership over the area of Babylon vacated by the Jewish men when they are deposed. This is an opportunity for advancement.
Nebuchadnezzar sees the situation from an even different perspective. Nebuchadnezzar sees the Jewish men’s refusal to worship as refusal to see Nebuchadnezzar in his rightful place as a divinely appointed leader. Nebuchadnezzar might even take offense and see this as a refusal to see him as divine. For Nebuchadnezzar, this is more than an issue of obedience; this is an assault on his identity as King of Babylon.
Nebuchadnezzar is wrong on several accounts. He isn’t divine, although he is a divinely appointed ruler as God appointed Nebuchadnezzar to lead Babylon and bring His people into exile. Nebuchadnezzar is also wrong that the Jewish leaders refusal to worship the statue means they don’t acknowledge his divine appointment to rule. The fact that they govern the people of a province of Babylon after Babylon conquered Jerusalem indicates their acknowledgment of his divine appointment.
The Chaldean leaders are also wrong. They are opening their own doors. Perhaps even worse, the opportunities they create come at the expense of other people. They aren’t working hard using the gifts God gave them; they are looking to advance themselves through the downfall of people around them.
Finally, we return to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They are the only ones in this story who behave justly. They honor God. They cannot know whether this choice will be their destruction or if God will rescue them. They still obey. They live up to God’s Law for their life.
That is righteousness. They do the right thing regardless of the consequences. They could have gone along with the crowd, said what was expected, and half-heartedly worshipped the statue. They didn’t. They obeyed God. Righteousness looks to God for our cues about how to live.
