Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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Matthew 6:9
Jesus' Model Prayer begins with a salutation to the Father in heaven. It continues—as many ancient greetings to deities or royalty do—with a desire for His blessedness and reign to increase. In the ancient Middle East, petitioners of kings and emperors used exultant language to praise and honor their lords. For instance, when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego addressed Nebuchadnezzar after he called them before him for refusing to bow before his golden image, they said: “O king, live forever!” (Daniel 3:9; see also Daniel 2:4; 5:10; 6:6, 21; I Kings 1:31; etc.). “Long live the king!” (I Samuel 10:24) conveys a similar sentiment. A related blessing or wish of well-being also appears in letters and royal decrees. Darius' declaration lauding the God of Israel after pulling Daniel from the lion's den expresses his wish, “Peace be multiplied to you,” to everyone in his empire (Daniel 6:25; see Ezra 4:17; 5:7; 7:12; etc.). Biblical writers, especially the apostle Paul, use this form in their epistles, praying for God's blessing on the recipients: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:7; I Corinthians 1:3; II Corinthians 1:2; Galatians 1:3; etc.). However, as a salutation, our Savior's words in His instructive prayer, “Hallowed be Your name,” stand alone in its request. It faintly echoes David's address to God in Psalm 8:1, “O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth” (see also verse 9), but Jesus' formula adds the elements of holiness and the desire for an increase in the true worship of God. Its memorable and concise phrasing demands further examination. “Hallow” or “hallowed” appears 31 times in Scripture and only twice in the New Testament, both in versions of this prayer (Matthew 6:9; Luke 11:2). The Greek word underlying it, used 28 times, is hagiazo, which means “to separate, consecrate; cleanse, purify, sanctify; regard or reverence as holy” (Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words). Many modern translations of Matthew 6:9 drop the traditional literal translation of Matthew 6:9 to explain the verse in simpler terms: “. . . may your name be treated as holy” (Lexham English Bible); “. . . your name be honored as holy” (Christian Standard Bible); “. . . may your name be kept holy” (New Living Translation). In the Old Testament, hallowing or sanctifying a thing appears most often in contexts dealing with God Himself or the Sabbath. In reality, only God can make something truly holy, as when He created and hallowed the Sabbath by resting on the seventh day (Genesis 2:1-3). The best sinful humans can do is to regard or treat a sanctified thing as holy, and so God commands in the fourth commandment, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8). Jeremiah 17:24 illustrates that people can hallow the Sabbath—treat it as holy time—by doing no work on it. In other words, humans hallow something God has sanctified by obeying His instructions regarding it.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
The Model Prayer (Part Three): Hallowed Be Your Name
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1 Peter 2:9
Peter refers to the church by several descriptors, including “a royal priesthood” and “a holy nation.” Consider the latter for a moment. God's holy nation stands in contrast to the nations of our birth. As called children of God, we are not entirely removed from our birth nations, even as Paul calls Judah “my nation” (Acts 24:17; 28:19; see Acts 26:4; Galatians 1:14). But the spiritual, holy nation carries far more significance than our physical nations. The holy nation stands in a privileged state before the Most High God, and He bestows far greater favor on His spiritual nation than on the physical nations that oppose Him. Though He sends rain on the just and the unjust, He also acts to benefit those who are in Christ in ways that He does not act for those in the world. The heavenly citizenship we have because God conveyed us into Christ's Kingdom is one of the most precious gifts He has given. If we truly value it, we will prioritize the holy nation and its peace far above our opinions of what is happening in our birth nations. However, because we still have connections to our physical nations, we have concerns about their well-being and direction. Thus, Paul says we should make supplications, prayers, and intercessions for kings and all who are in authority (I Timothy 2:1-2). Admittedly, our human nature may resist his advice, depending on who is in power. But the reason for those prayers, the apostle says, is so that “we [the holy nation] may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.” We can combine his instruction with the reality to which God opened Solomon's eyes: “The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes” (Proverbs 21:1). Although God has not yet established His Kingdom on earth, He is still sovereign, and He intervenes to direct events according to His purpose. We should pray for the authorities because God can work through them to provide us with a peaceful environment. Interestingly, Paul does not say to pray about who will be in authority but that we pray for whoever is in authority. God can easily direct any king's heart to do things for His holy nation. God stirred the heart of Cyrus, a pagan king, to command the exiled Jews to return to Judea and rebuild the Temple (II Chronicles 36:22; Ezra 1:1). His sovereign dominion includes even the most carnal of those in authority. But His focus is the apple of His eye, and He wants us to bring our concerns to Him in prayers of faith and not draw back in fear of what men can do. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego feared God more than the Babylonian government, and God responded to their faith by standing with them in the furnace, defying the heat and smoke. Daniel feared God more than the laws of Medo-Persia, and God responded to his faith by closing the lions' mouths until they could devour the schemers. The machinations of mere men mean less than nothing to Him. Instead, He wants to see whether we trust Him. Before Cyrus, God raised another pagan king, Nebuchadnezzar, to chasten His people, yet He also humbled him when his pride reached a tipping point. God says He did that “in order that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, gives it to whomever He will, and sets over it the lowest of men” (Daniel 4:17). In another striking example of God's power over human hearts, He transformed the worst human persecutor of the early church—Saul of Tarsus—into the church's most prominent advocate and supporter. Is anything too hard for God? God also inspired Solomon to write that “when a man's ways please the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him” (Proverbs 16:7). This proverb teaches us to pay more attention to our own ways than to the actions of those who oppose our way of life because God determines how and even if their opposition affects us.
David C. Grabbe
Implications of the Gospel of the Kingdom
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