"What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet." ~William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
Last year, I heard sermon about the passage in Daniel about Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refusing to eat the royal rations given to them in Babylon. Part of the sermon talked about the names of the characters and what those names meant. The four men entered Babylon with the names Daniel (judge of God), Hananiah (God has favored), Mishael (Who is what God is?), and Azariah (God has helped). Once they entered the king's service, however, all four were given new names: Belteshazzar (Ba'al protect the king), Shadrach (command of Aku), Meshach (Who is what Aku is?), and Abednego (servant of Nebo). All of these new names gave tribute to one of the gods of the Babylonians, whereas their Hebrew names gave tribute to God. This got me to thinking, why do we refer to Daniel by his Hebrew name, but to his friends by their Babylonian names, especially considering those names show loyalty to foreign gods? I came up with three different theories.
The first is that we refer to Daniel by his Hebrew name because of how important he is and the difficulty in saying Belteshazzar. In addition to his refusal to accept the royal rations, he also interpreted handwriting on a wall to warn the king of his imminent demise, interpreted dreams of two different kings, received prophecies, and, of course, was thrown into the lions' den for his refusal to pray to anyone other than God. Since these stories were shared orally prior to being recorded, using the easier name would make the story much easier to share. Additionally, the king whose demise was predicted by Daniel was named Belshazzar, which would have made that part of the story very confusing had Daniel's Babylonian name been used.
Along that same vein, another theory of mine is that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego has a much better ring to it than Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. While their Hebrew names showed glory to God, they weren't as easy to say, so they may have been used sparingly in the oral history, and that usage remained when the story was written.
My third theory is their Babylonian names were used to show a stark contrast between the gods those names give glory to and the God they were faithful to. Other than the story about the royal rations, the only other story recorded about these young men is the story of the fiery furnace. They were sent there for their refusal to bow down to a statue King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. In his rage, the king had the furnace heated so hot that the guards who threw them into the furnace died from their proximity to the heat, but the three men didn't die. In fact, shortly after entering the furnace, they were seen unbound and walking around along with an angel. They were richly rewarded for failing to live up to their names, which may be why we still refer to them by those names to this day.
So what do you think? Is there one of my theories that you like more than the others, do you think it might be a combination of the three, or do you have your own theory? Please share any thoughts you have in the comments.
Last year, I heard sermon about the passage in Daniel about Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refusing to eat the royal rations given to them in Babylon. Part of the sermon talked about the names of the characters and what those names meant. The four men entered Babylon with the names Daniel (judge of God), Hananiah (God has favored), Mishael (Who is what God is?), and Azariah (God has helped). Once they entered the king's service, however, all four were given new names: Belteshazzar (Ba'al protect the king), Shadrach (command of Aku), Meshach (Who is what Aku is?), and Abednego (servant of Nebo). All of these new names gave tribute to one of the gods of the Babylonians, whereas their Hebrew names gave tribute to God. This got me to thinking, why do we refer to Daniel by his Hebrew name, but to his friends by their Babylonian names, especially considering those names show loyalty to foreign gods? I came up with three different theories.
The first is that we refer to Daniel by his Hebrew name because of how important he is and the difficulty in saying Belteshazzar. In addition to his refusal to accept the royal rations, he also interpreted handwriting on a wall to warn the king of his imminent demise, interpreted dreams of two different kings, received prophecies, and, of course, was thrown into the lions' den for his refusal to pray to anyone other than God. Since these stories were shared orally prior to being recorded, using the easier name would make the story much easier to share. Additionally, the king whose demise was predicted by Daniel was named Belshazzar, which would have made that part of the story very confusing had Daniel's Babylonian name been used.
Along that same vein, another theory of mine is that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego has a much better ring to it than Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. While their Hebrew names showed glory to God, they weren't as easy to say, so they may have been used sparingly in the oral history, and that usage remained when the story was written.
My third theory is their Babylonian names were used to show a stark contrast between the gods those names give glory to and the God they were faithful to. Other than the story about the royal rations, the only other story recorded about these young men is the story of the fiery furnace. They were sent there for their refusal to bow down to a statue King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. In his rage, the king had the furnace heated so hot that the guards who threw them into the furnace died from their proximity to the heat, but the three men didn't die. In fact, shortly after entering the furnace, they were seen unbound and walking around along with an angel. They were richly rewarded for failing to live up to their names, which may be why we still refer to them by those names to this day.
So what do you think? Is there one of my theories that you like more than the others, do you think it might be a combination of the three, or do you have your own theory? Please share any thoughts you have in the comments.
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