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Abednego (Azariah)

-620–-560 · Babylon
Abednego (Azariah)

Description

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are figures from chapter 3 of the biblical Book of Daniel. In the narrative, the three Jewish men are thrown into a fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylon for refusing to bow to the king's image. The three are preserved from harm and the king sees four men walking in the flames, "the fourth... like a son of God". They are first mentioned in Daniel 1, where alongside Daniel they are brought to Babylon to study Chaldean Aramaic language and literature with a view to serving at the King's court, and their Hebrew names are replaced with Babylonian names.

Facts

Venerated inJudaism, Christianity, Islam
Major shrineTomb of Daniel, Susa
Feast16 December – Roman Rite, 17 December – Byzantine Rite, Tuesday after fourth Sunday of Pentecost – Armenian Rite, January 24 - Mozarabic Rite
AttributesThree men in the fiery furnace

Life & work in brief

Summarised by section — one row per topic, for fast reading.

Work / contributionSignificance
SummaryKing Nebuchadnezzar set up a golden image in the plain of Dura and commanded that all his officials bow before it.
Composition and structureIt is generally accepted that the Book of Daniel originated as a collection of stories among the Jewish community in Babylon and Mesopotamia in the Persian and early Hellenistic periods (5th to 3rd centuries BCE), expanded by the visions of chapters 7–12 in the Maccabean era (mid-2nd century).
Genre and themesThe legendary nature of the story is revealed by the liberal use of hyperbole – the size of the statue, the use of every kind of music, the destruction of the executioners, and the king's rage followed by his confession of the superiority of the god of Israel.
InterpretationDaniel's absence from the tale of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego suggests that it may originally have been an independent story.
Christian liturgyThe Greek Septuagint version of Daniel 3 includes the deuterocanonical Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children.
TombsIn the Kirkuk Citadel in Northern Iraq, there are two tombs that are claimed to house the remains of Hananiah and Azariah (Arabized as Hunayn and 'Uzayr) inside the Mosque of the Prophet Daniel.