The+Fiery+Furnace

=The Fiery Furnace=

Summary:
In this passage, Nebuchadnezzar built a golden statue. He commanded everyone to bow to the statue. Chaldaeans sees that Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego will not bow to the statue. Chaldeams then informs the King that the three will not bow, and these three also refuse to bow by the order of the King. The King is very angered by this and orders them to be thrown into the fire. With in a few seconds, they walk out of the fire, unharmed with the help of God. Afterwards, the king praised their god for saving them. No one is ever allowed to speak bad things about their God.

Discussion Questions:
1) Why do you think Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego did not bow to the golden statue?

2) How would you react if you were the King and you say the three men unharmed?

---

Supplementary Material:
---

//The Fiery Furnace Poem //
By: James P. Gram

Nebuchadnezzar king, long gone, In Dura, that’s in Babylon, Set up a golden god whose height Most people thought was out of sight

Its height was three score cubits high It towered nearly to the sky; In breadth it stood six cubits wide Breadth means, you know, from side to side

The king now gave an indication He’d organize a dedication; He wanted every V.I.P To come and worship and to see

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">He called up all his chiefs and minions <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Judges who gave out opinions; <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Counselors and sheriffs too <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">All the big shots, old and new

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">When they gathered all together <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">At the idol, in good weather, <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The king declared “I want this clear <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I’ve got a band you’re going to hear”

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Now when you hear the music wheeze <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">All of you get on your knees; <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">When brass will sound both loud and bold <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Pay tribute to my image gold”

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">“But those of you who fail to bow <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Will not live long; I’ll tell you how <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I’ve got a fiery furnace red <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I’ll throw you in and you’ll be dead”

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Now get this straight, again I say: <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">When’re you hear that music play <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Fall on your face just as I said; <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Or you will certainly be dead

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Then some Chaldeans, just a few <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Had it in for every Jew; <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Some governors, they told the king <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Have gone ahead and done their thing

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">They have not listened, King, to you <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">We wonder what you’re going to do? <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">They worship not your image gold <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">But other gods, so we’ve been told

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Nebuchadnezzar, mad is he <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">That some ignored his last decree. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">“Who are these men? Oh yes, I know <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego”

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Soon afterward they brought the three <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">That had ignored the king’s decree; <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The king now said “You listen here, <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Respect my idol or you’ll sear”

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">But all three stood and said aloud, <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">“We cannot join your pagan crowd; <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">We have a God, and He’s our man <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">We worship Him as best we can”

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The king was mad, to vent his ire <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">He said to stoke the furnace fire <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">To more than seven times its heat; <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">To guarantee the deaths were neat.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">They kept their clothes, their hands were tied <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The king was sure they would be fried; <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The three then said, without a quiver, <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">“Our God will from this fire deliver”

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The king urged everyone to haste <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">“Throw them in, no time to waste” <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">But in their hurry to obey <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Ten servants fried, or so they say

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">You see that overheated mound <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Killed even those who stood around; <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">But standing in that furnace glow <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">They walked around for all to see <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Within that flaming hellish sea; <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Their hands came free, their heads unbowed, <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">They waved to all the gathering crowd

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">“Look again, let all beware <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">There is a fourth man standing there; <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">First three, now four, what have I done? <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Something strange is going on”

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The king, perplexed, then scratched his head <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">“All these people should be dead; <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The fourth must be God’s holy son <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">He’s saved these three from what I’ve done”

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The king then spoke into the flame <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">“Come on out in God’s own name; <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Your God is mighty, and it’s true <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">You have no harm, he rescued you”

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">“Now I decree, and this out loud <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">No word against your God’s allowed; <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">And listen well, for those who dare <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I’ll hack to pieces I declare”

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">But what transpired with heroes three? <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The king bore them no enmity; <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Promoted them to make amends <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,'trebuchet MS',arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">And that is how this story ends.

media type="youtube" key="54WZNgLZ_BY?version=3" height="360" width="640" media type="youtube" key="CX2cQC9Sc4s?version=3" height="360" width="640"

Study Guide/Quiz Questions:
1) Where was the golden statue set in?

2) What was the reason for Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego not bowing to the statue?

3) Did their god save them?

4) What was the end result of this? (What did the King think of this?)