Reparations

Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah got a severely raw deal all the way through history. Most of the time, when you hear about those three they are referred to as Shadrach, Mishach, and Abed-nego. The raw deal is that the commonly known names are their slave names.

The three were taken captive by the Babylonians and then given pagan names—those names they are commonly known by. One of the worst things about the deal: the names they were given had meanings which were direct insults to their given names.

Hananiah, in Hebrew, means “The Lord has been gracious.” The name the Babylonians gave him, Shadrach, means “Command of Aku.” The Sumerians worshipped Aku as the moon god and the Babylonians accepted the practice. So the Babylonians were substituting a pagan god for Hananiah’s Lord. They were doing what many cultures have done when creating slaves. They were forcing their culture on the slaves.

Mishael’s captive name was closest to the original. The Babylonians opted to call him Mishach. While his birth name meant “Who is what God is?” the corrupted version they gave him meant “Who is what Aku is?” Again, the Babylonians were forcing their culture on Mishael, just as they had done with Hananiah.

Azariah, in Hebrew, means “The Lord has helped.” His captors went a different direction from his friends to insult him and referred to one of their own gods, one named Nebo. How that became nego in his slave name is a mystery for an etymologist. They decided to call him Abed-nego, which means “Servant of Nebo.” One possible upside to this was that Nebo was the Babylonian god of wisdom. Maybe he didn’t find it too insulting, even though it would never be as amazing as his true name, Azariah.

As the story goes, the three were tested, put through trials, given commands that they could not honorably obey, and then punished for not obeying. Their punishment was to be thrown in a furnace which was apparently so hot the people doing the throwing were burned by proximity. Due to the faith of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, they were not burned, but stood in the fire long enough for people outside the blaze to recognize they were alive in there. Not only were they alive in the fire, but they were accompanied by one other. Four figures were visible in the flames where it was expected there should only be three.