Almost everyone has felt the pressure to stay silent or go along with the crowd, just to avoid standing out. Now imagine that pressure multiplied by an entire empire: an orchestra plays, a whole nation kneels at the same moment before a statue, and only three people remain standing.
That is what Meshach faced. His original name was Mishael, a young man from Judah taken to Babylon around 605 BC, in the same group of exiles that included Daniel, Hananiah and Azariah (Daniel 1:6). At the king’s court, the chief official changed each of their Hebrew names to a Babylonian one: Mishael became Meshach (Daniel 1:7).
Together with his three friends, he refused the food and wine from the royal table. After ten days of eating only vegetables and drinking only water, the four of them looked healthier than the other young men at court (Daniel 1:8-16). At the end of three years of training, none could compare to them before the king (Daniel 1:18-20).
Later, at Daniel’s request, Meshach was appointed administrator of the province of Babylon, along with Shadrach and Abednego (Daniel 2:49). It was then that Nebuchadnezzar set up an image of gold on the plain of Dura and ordered the whole empire to bow down before it at the sound of music (Daniel 3:1-6).
Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego remained standing. Reported for disobedience, they were brought before a furious king, who gave them one more chance before throwing them into the blazing furnace (Daniel 3:8-15).
Their answer was recorded forever: the God they served was able to deliver them, but even if he did not, they would not worship another god (Daniel 3:16-18). Thrown into a furnace heated seven times hotter than usual, they came out without a single hair singed, without their clothes burned, without even the smell of smoke on them, alongside a fourth figure seen in the midst of the fire (Daniel 3:19-27).
Nebuchadnezzar praised the God of Meshach before the whole empire and promoted them even further (Daniel 3:28-30). Meshach’s life reminds us that the most solid faith is not the one that guarantees deliverance, but the one that remains faithful even when God’s answer may be no.
