19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with wrath… He answered by giving orders to heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. 20 He commanded certain valiant warriors who were in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego in order to cast them into the furnace of blazing fire. 21 Then these men were tied up in their trousers, their coats, their caps and their other clothes, and were cast into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. 22 For this reason, because the king’s command was urgent and the furnace had been made extremely hot, the flame of the fire slew those men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. 23 But these three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego fell into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire still tied up. Daniel 3:19-23

Why did Nebuchadnezzar go to all this trouble? After all, it was just three young men. Young men bound tightly, dressed in all their kingdom finery as higher level workers in the administration of the king, escorted by the kings most valiant warriors to a furnace heated seven times hotter than normal. And, why hotter – wouldn’t a reduced heat be more painful, more punishing than a hotter one? Why did the king do what he did? Could it possibly be that the king knew a thing or two about the God of these Hebrew men? Yes he did! The king had firsthand knowledge of the power of our God as shown in the second chapter of Daniel. Was it fear or rage? I believe it was fear. Ole Neb was afraid of the God of these Jews; the God he had previously been introduced to – Neb knew our God!