Who Did Nebuchadnezzar See in the Furnace?

Dave Miller, Ph.D.

Inspiration of the BibleDifficult PassagesJesus

The Bible treats us to many amazing occasions in human history during the age of miracles, when God demonstrated His presence in a marvelous manner. One such instance is seen in the life of Daniel’s three companions, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. They infuriated the Babylonian monarch Nebuchadnezzar by refusing to bow down to the image he had constructed. They openly defied the king by declaring their trust in God and His ability to deliver them from the king’s wrath. What’s more, they brazenly stated their unwillingness to worship the image—even if God chose not to rescue them.

Full of fury, King Nebuchadnezzar ordered the furnace to be heated well beyond its usual temperature. Daniel’s three companions were then thrown into the furnace, which, in turn, resulted in the deaths of those who placed them there. The Bible then reads:

Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God” (Daniel 3:24-25, NKJV).

The original manuscripts of the Bible do not typically include punctuation and capitalization. Translators must make those decisions as best they can. However, they sometimes create misimpressions by their decisions, forcing the English reader to interpret a passage incorrectly. Such is certainly the case with the words “the Son of God.” The English reader would inevitably understand the phrase “the Son of God” to be a reference to Jesus. The resulting conclusion is that Jesus made a pre-incarnate visit to the furnace to rescue Daniel’s companions.

However, surely a pagan Babylonian king would have no knowledge of Jesus Christ—let alone know what He looked like. For that matter, neither would Daniel or his three friends. While the Old Testament prophets prophesied of the coming Messiah, their understanding of His person would have been woefully incomplete, since the fulfillment of those prophecies was yet far into the future. (See 1 Peter 1:10-11.)

In addition to the fact that the manuscripts do not capitalize “son” and “God,” additional grammatical features are worthy of note. First, the Hebrew text has no article “the” before “son.” Hence, it can just as easily read “a” son of God. Second, the Hebrew word for “God” (elohim) is a generic term that must not be confused with the divine name (Yahweh/YHWH) that refers exclusively to the God of the Bible. Elohim has the same latitude of meaning as the English word “God.” The exact same word can refer to the God of the Bible, or it can be used to refer to any “god”—from the Hindu gods Vishnu and Durga to the gods of Native Americanism. The same Hebrew word for “God” is used, for example, in Exodus 20:23 to refer to “gods”: “You shall not make anything to be with Me—gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves.”1 God even used the term in the giving of the Ten Commandments to refer to false gods: “You shall have no other gods (elohim) before Me” (Exodus 20:3). Further, it so happens that the Hebrew term elohim is a plural noun. Hence, it can refer to “gods” plural.

It makes perfect sense, then, that what the heathen king Nebuchadnezzar intended by his declaration was that the fourth figure in the fiery furnace was like a son of the gods—i.e., a celestial being of some sort. The king, in fact, clarified his own statement after the three companions emerged unscathed from the furnace: “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him” (vs. 28). Nebuchadnezzar simply considered the fourth being to be some sort of supernatural, angelic being who was sent by Daniel’s God to rescue them from the furnace.

Several English translations recognize these grammatical nuances. The 1901 American Standard Version has “a son of the gods.” A host of other translations also so translate the verse, including the ESV, NASB, NCV, NIV, RSV, WEB, and YLT. The CJB has “and the fourth looks like one of the gods.” The ISV has “resembles a divine being,” which captures the meaning perfectly.2

Endnotes

1 Such is the case in many passages throughout the Old Testament, including Exodus 12:12; 15:11; 18:11; 23:13,24,32,33; etc.

2 Again, some have suggested that the third being in the furnace was a preincarnate appearance of Jesus. While such is certainly a possibility, we cannot know with certainty. Compare, for example, such passages as Genesis 18:1 and 1 Corinthians 10:4. However, as noted, we can be certain that the pagan Babylonian monarch (as well as Daniel and the three Hebrew youths) was unacquainted with Jesus.

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