Names

“And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.” – Daniel 1:7

“Bel bows down; Nebo stoops; their idols are on beasts and livestock; these things you carry are borne as burdens on weary beasts.” – Isaiah 46:1

In a way, the story of what captivity meant to Daniel and his friends are all in this one verse. Daniel means “God my judge”: a reminder both of the God who sees everything he does, and of Daniel’s vocation as a prophet who would proclaim God’s judgment to his people. Belteshazzar means “Bel’s prince.” Bel was the principal divinity worshipped in Babylon; to be considered his prince was a flattering distinction for the youthful Daniel. Your God is out of the picture now, he is being told. You have been selected as the cream of the crop, the prince of Bel himself; that is who you are.

There is an erasing of Yahweh in the other name changes. Hananiah, which means “favored by Jehovah,” is changed to Shadrach, which means “inspired by the Sun-god.” Mishael, which means “who is what God is?” is changed to Meshach, which means “who is what the goddess Shak is?” Azariah, which means “whom Jehovah helps,” is changed to Abednego, “servant of Nebo.” Nebo likely referred to the planet Mercury, worshipped by the Babylonians and in the name of king Nebuchadnezzar himself. 

Both sets of names assume that our identity is inseparable from who we worship. That we all serve something. That we all need the kind of favor, help and wonder that can only come from something outside of ourselves. But the longing and the purpose have been rewritten: not as coming from and looking to Yahweh, but as it relates to the alluring Babylonian pantheon of the cultural majority. Is this so different from what we do, from the messages we hear? We have our own gods of career, children, appearance, achievement, and so on. 

But as Isaiah says, these gods become burdens. They bear us down, like weary beasts. What promises freedom only brings us into captivity. “Listen to me,” God says. “I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save” (Isaiah 46:4). Daniel and his friends will not forget this, and neither should we.