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
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is generally accepted that the Book of Daniel originated as a collection of folktales among the Jewish community in Babylon and Mesopotamia in the Persian and early Hellenistic periods (5th to 3rd centuries BCE), expanded by the visions of chapters 7-12 in the Maccabean era (mid-2nd century). Modern scholarship agrees that Daniel is a legendary figure. It is possible that the name was chosen for the hero of the book because of his reputation as a wise seer in Hebrew tradition. The tales are in the voice of an anonymous narrator, except for chapter 4 which is in the form