Meshach

Meshach was the Babylonian name given to Mishael, one of the three Jewish companions of Daniel who were taken to Babylon during Nebuchadnezzar's deportation of Jerusalem's nobility. His Hebrew name Mishael means who is asked for or lent; his Babylonian name Meshach is generally taken to mean who is drawn by force — a renaming designed to sever the young men's identities from their Hebrew religious roots (Daniel 1:7).

Meshach, along with Shadrach and Abednego, became the central figures of one of Scripture's most celebrated acts of civil disobedience. When commanded to worship Nebuchadnezzar's golden image on the plain of Dura, the three refused, declaring: our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace — and even if he did not, they would not serve the king's gods (Daniel 3:17–18). Cast into a furnace heated seven times hotter than normal, they were unharmed, and a mysterious fourth figure appeared walking with them in the flames.