Abednego Abdenago

(Dan. 1:7) (servant of light) — one of four captive Hebrew youths taken by Nebuchadnezzar for service in the royal palace. His original name was Azariah (help of Jehovah), but, according to the Babylonian custom of giving new names to their servants, it was changed to Abednego. Together with his companions, he refused to eat the food from the king’s table or drink wine, preferring to eat the simplest food rather than be defiled with meat offered in sacrifice to idols. When Nebuchadnezzar issued a decree that all his subjects should bow down to the golden image set up on the plain of Dura, Abednego, together with his companions Shadrach (Hananiah) and Meshach (Mishael), courageously refused to obey the royal command.

As punishment for this, they were cast into a furnace heated seven times hotter than usual. The flame of the fire was so intense that it killed even those men who cast Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the fiery furnace, while they themselves remained unharmed. The fire had no power over the bodies of these young men; the hair of their heads was not singed, their garments were not changed, and not even the smell of fire had passed on them. When Nebuchadnezzar looked into the furnace, he saw that the youths were not alone, but that there was a fourth man with them, whose form was like a son of God (the Angel of the Lord).

Struck by this miracle, the king gave orders that all who spoke blasphemy against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego should be severely punished, “because,” he said, “there is no other God who can deliver in this manner.” The youths were restored to the court with honor and exalted in the land of Babylon.