Shadrach

Shadrach was the Babylonian name given to Hananiah (meaning "Yahweh is gracious"), one of Daniel's three companions from the tribe of Judah taken captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 1:6–7). The Babylonian name Shadrach is of uncertain derivation, possibly meaning "command of Aku" (the Sumerian moon god). Together with Meshach (Mishael) and Abednego (Azariah), Shadrach refused to defile himself with the royal food (Dan. 1:8) and later refused to worship Nebuchadnezzar's golden image, declaring: "Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace" (Dan. 3:17). Thrown into the furnace heated seven times hotter, the three emerged unharmed — accompanied by a fourth figure "like a son of the gods" (Dan. 3:25). Their faith in the face of death made them exemplars of courageous obedience to God over human authority (cf. Heb. 11:34).