Sword in the Fire

Azariah and his friends have been thrust into a Babylonian furnace and the king, his servants, and the people look on waiting for the men to turn to ash.  Azariah lifts up his voice in song and offers himself to God as a sacrifice.  His prayer for deliverance was answered, and the fire has no effect.   The king in frustration at the slowness of their consumption commands his servants to stoke the fire hotter.  The youths inside the furnace survive, yet the servants outside are burnt by their own efforts. Suddenly the king sees a fourth man in the furnace and this man shakes of the "fiery flame of the furnace".  The Lord makes the fire as a "dew-laden breeze".  The young men together cry out with one voice in praise to God.   "The hymn begins with praise of God, the Creator and Lord of  all. God is sitting upon His throne in His heavenly temple, and from  there He is praised by all creation. The young men function as priests  of ...

Crack open your Bible to Daniel 3:25-45, and see if you can find it.  It might be missing.  This passage and the next track we will consider are part of the Septuagint version of Daniel, and it missing from any Old Testaments that rely solely on the Hebrew.   The story behind this song should be a familiar one, if you spent your childhood Sunday mornings in Bible school (o, those flannel graphs).  Daniel had three friends whom we remember as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, but these were there Babylonian names.  Their Hebrew names were  Hananiah, Mishael, & Azariah.  Because they refused to bow down before a false idol, the Babylonian king had them thrown into a furnace.   The furnace was super-heated but the boys were not consumed.  In fact, the king noticed a mysterious fourth man walking around with them in furnace.  The king called them forth from the fire and they walked out unscathed.   As they were bound and th...