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
Old Testament who is the source of all goodness. The problem of evil plays a large part in the Old Testament. The problem the Old Testament authors faced was that a good God must have had just reason for bringing disaster (meaning notably, but not only, the Babylonian exile) upon his people. The theme is played out, with many variations, in books as different as the histories of Kings and Chronicles, the prophets like Ezekiel and Jeremiah, and in the wisdom books like Job and Ecclesiastes. The process by which scriptures became canons and Bibles was a long one, and its complexities