Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego not whether they are willing to bow before the king's image, but whether God is present and willing to save. When the three are thrown into the furnace the king sees four men walking in the flames, the fourth like "a son of god," a divine being. Daniel's absence from the tale of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego suggests that it may originally have been an independent story. The Hebrew names of Daniel's friends were Hananiah ( "Ḥănanyāh"), "Yah is gracious", Mishael ( "Mîšā’êl"), "Who is what El is?" and Azariah ( "Ǎzaryāh"), "Yah has helped", but by the king’s decree
Development of the Old Testament canon Development of the Old Testament canon The Old Testament is the first section of the two-part Christian Biblical canon; the second section is the New Testament. The Old Testament includes the books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) or protocanon, and in various Christian denominations also includes deuterocanonical books. Orthodox Christians, Catholics and Protestants use different canons, which differ with respect to the texts that are included in the Old Testament. Martin Luther, holding to Jewish and other ancient precedent, excluded the deuterocanonical books from the Old Testament of his translation of the Bible, placing them in a section he labeled