In Nebuchadnezzar's life, we learn something about ego. While ego is difficult to define, it can be easily spotted when a life filled with it is closely scrutinized. It demonstrates a person's unusually oversized sense of self-importance, unapologetic indulgence of self-absorption, and towering conviction of superiority.
Nebuchadnezzar's actions show that he has an enormous ego. In Daniel 2, we see how he demands that his dream be interpreted without having to describe it. He wanted to put to death his council of sages just because they could not meet his impossible demands. Then, in Daniel 3, he demonstrated it by building the gigantic golden idol of enormous size and demanded it be reverenced. It was either obeyed or faced execution.
Nebuchadnezzar learned that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego
would not bow down to the golden statue he had built. Some jealous Chaldeans
snitched on the three friends and reported it to the king.
It is easy to conclude that
in the king's wildest imagination, these three would be the least likely to
defy his order. Why? First, he promoted them and placed them in their privileged
administrative positions in his province. And they would undoubtedly be
beholden to him, so he thought. Second, because of his decree, anyone who
refused to bow to that gigantic idol of gold would be thrown into the fiery
furnace. Unreasonable as this decree was, he could not have anyone not obey it.
It is easy to imagine that
the three friends' refusal to comply with the king's decree severely bruised
his pride and ego. After all that he had done for them, the least they could do
was show gratitude and comply. So, he ordered that the three devout Jews be
brought before him.
With the fiery furnace nearby
and the extreme heat emitting from the fire, Nebuchadnezzar offered them a second
chance to redeem themselves. His manner of providing this second chance exudes
ego. He thought he was more significant than any god, even the faithful God
Daniel and his three friends devotedly worshipped and served.
He sternly asks in verse 14,
"Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, that you do not serve my
gods or worship the golden image I have set up?" Then, followed up with a
warning that if they did not bow down to the golden image at the sound from the
designated repertoire of instruments, they would be cast into the fiery furnace
immediately. His haughtiness radiates from the rhetorical question he asks,
rounding up his warning, "…what god can deliver you out of my hands?"
What arrogance!
One clear reminder to help us
temper our pride and ego: God resists the proud but gives grace to the
humble. Keep that in mind.
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