The Reign Of King Nebuchadnezzar

The story of Daniel takes place during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar. The king of Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. He commanded that the Israelite men who had no defects, were handsome and filled with knowledge to be taken to serve in the royal palace. The men chosen included Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah from the tribe of Judah. Daniel 1-6 thinks it is possible to maintain Jewish identity in a foreign land by staying loyal to God and not assimilating to the foreign land, and always having faith. The king first attempted to take away their Jewish identity my assigning each of the men Babylonian names. The king assigned them a daily portion of the royal nations of food and wine. Daniel asked the palace master to allow him not to defile himself in which God allowed him to receive compassion. Daniel told the master to “please test your servants for ten days. Let us be given vegetables
When the King ordered for those who do not worship his golden statue to be killed, Shadrah, Meschach and Abednergo were ordered to be burned in the furnace that would be heated up 7 times more than customary when they refused to worship the statue. After being put into the furnace the king stated “I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire and they are not hurt; and the fourth has the appearance of a god” (Daniel 3:25). This demonstrates that with faith, God will always be with the Jews no matter where they are; supporting their decision of keeping their identity. Also, the king noticed that “the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men; the hair of their heads were not singed, their tunics were not harmed, and not even the smell of fire came from them” (Daniel 3:27). This proves that even when it is risky to practice their faith in a foreign land, if they keep their Jewish identity no harm will be brought upon