Shadrach

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Sha'drach. (Royal, or The Great Scribe). The Hebrew, or rather Chaldee, name of Hananiah. The history of Shadrach, or Hananiah, as told in Daniel 1-3 is well known. After their deliverance from the furnace, we hear no more of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, except in  Hebrews 11:33-34, but there are repeated allusions to them, in the later apocryphal books, and the martyrs of the Maccabaean period seem to have been much encouraged by their example.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Name given to HANANIAHin Babylon, one of the three faithful ones who refused to worship the golden image of Nebuchadnezzar, and were cast into the fiery furnace, and there miraculously preserved.  Daniel 1:7;  Daniel 2:49;  Daniel 3:12-30 .

Webster's Dictionary

(n.) A mass of iron on which the operation of smelting has failed of its intended effect; - so called from Shadrach, one of the three Hebrews who came forth unharmed from the fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar. (See Dan. iii. 26, 27.)

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

This was the Chaldean name given to Hannaniah. ( Daniel 1:7) Perhaps from Shadah, field—and Racach, tender.—See Abednego

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Daniel 1:6,7 3:12-30Abednego

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Daniel 1:6-7 Daniel 3:30Daniel

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

The Chaldee for Hananiah. (See Hananiah ; Meshech  Hebrews 11:33-34.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Shadrach . The name given to Hananiah (  Daniel 1:7 ).

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A Chaldean name given to Ananias at the court of Nebuchadnezzar,  Daniel 1:7 . See Abed-Nego

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Shadrach ( Shâ'Drak ). See Abednego.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Shadrak', שִׁדְרִךְ ; Sept. Σεδράκ v.r. Σεδράχ ; Vulg. Sidrach ) , the Chaldee name of Hananiah, the chief of the "three children" who were Daniel's companions ( Daniel 1:7, etc.). His song, as given in the Apocryphal. Daniel, forms part of the service of the Church of England, under the name of "Benedicite omnia opera." A long prayer in the furnace is also ascribed to him in the Sept. and Vulgate; but this is thought to be by a different hand from that which added the song. The history of Shadrach, or Hananiah, is briefly this. He was taken captive with Daniel, Mishael, and Azariah at the first invasion of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, in the fourth, or, as Daniel ( Daniel 1:1) reckons, in the third, year of Jehoiakim, at the time when the Jewish king himself was bound in fetters to be carried off to Babylon. B.C. 606. Being, with his three companions, apparently of royal birth ( Daniel 1:3), of superior understanding and of goodly person, he was selected, with them, for the king's immediate service; and was for this end instructed in the language and in all the learning and wisdom of the Chaldaeans as taught in the college of the magicians. Like Daniel, he avoided the pollution of the meat and wine which formed their daily provision at the king's cost, and obtained permission to live on pulse and water. When the time of his probation was over, he and his three companions, being found superior to all the other magicians, were advanced to stand before the king.

When the decree for the slaughter of all the magicians went forth from Nebuchadnezzar, we find Shadrach uniting with his companions in prayer to God to reveal the dream to Daniel; and when, in answer to that prayer, Daniel had successfully interpreted the dream and been made ruler of the province of Babylon and head of the college of magicians, Shadrach was promoted to a high civil office. But the penalty of Oriental greatness, especially when combined with honesty and uprightness, soon had to be paid by him, on the accusation of certain envious Chaldaeans. For refusing to worship the golden image he was cast with Meshach and Abed-nego into the burning furnace. But his faith stood firm; and his victory was complete when he came out of the furnace with his two companions unhurt, heard the king's testimony to the glory of God, and was "promoted in the province of Babylon." We hear no more of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego in the Old Test. after this; neither are they spoken of in the New Test. except in the pointed allusion to them ‘ in the Epistle to the Hebrews, as having "through faith quenched the violence of fire" ( Hebrews 11:33-34). But there are repeated allusions to them in the-later Apocryphal books, and the martyrs of the Maccabaean. period seem to have been much encouraged by their example. See  1 Maccabees 2:59-60;  3 Maccabees 6:6;  4 Maccabees 13:9;  4 Maccabees 16:3;  4 Maccabees 16:21;  4 Maccabees 18:12. Ewald (Geschichte, 4, 557) observes, indeed, that next to the Pentateuch no book is so often referred to in these times, in proportion, as the book of Daniel. The apocryphal additions to Daniel contain, as usual, many supplementary particulars about the furnace, the angel, and Nebuchadnezzar, besides the introduction of the prayer of Shadrach and the hymn. Theodore Parker observes with truth, in opposition to Bertholdt, that these additions of the Alexandrine prove that the Hebrew was the original text, because they are obviously inserted to introduce a better connection into the narrative (Josephus, Ant. 10, 10; Prideaux, Connect. 1, 59, 60; Parker's De Wette's Introd. 2, 483-510; Grimm, on 1 Macc. 2, 60; Hitzig [who takes a thoroughly sceptical view], on Daniel 3; Ewald, 4, 106, 107, 557-559; Keil, Einleit. Daniel). (See Daniel).

As to the etymology, "this name is identified by some with Hadrach,! חדר ( Zechariah 9:1), the name of a Syrian god who represents the seasons ( חדר = חזר , ‘ to turn,' ‘ wind'). The interchange of ח with sibilants is not without parallel. Others profess to trace the name to a Babylonian source, and connect it with the Assyrian Sadhiru. Or Sadhru, ‘ the great scribe' ( שטר ), with the non-Assyrian guttural termination, or with Sed (comp. Sept. Σεδ - ), the Assyrian equivalents of Mas (comp. Meshech, and the analogy suggested by חנניה ), followed by the insertion of the R (frequent in Assyrian) before the guttural" (Speaker ' S Commentary ) . According to Bohlen, the name is Persian, and signifies Rejoicing In The Way ; according to Benfey, it is Zend, meaning Royal.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

shā´drak  : The Babylonian name of one of the so-called Hebrew children. Shadrach is probably the Sumerian form of the Bah Kudurru-Aki, "servant of Sin." It has been suggested by Meinhold that we should read Merodach instead of Shadrach. Since there were no vowels in the original Hebrew or Aramaic, and since sh and m as well as r and d are much alike in the old alphabet in which Daniel was written, this change is quite possible.

Shadrach and his two companions were trained along with Daniel at the court of Nebuchadnezzar, who had carried all four captive in the expedition against Jerusalem in the 3year of Jehoiakim ( Daniel 1:1 ). They all refused to eat of the food provided by Ashpenaz, the master who had been set over them by the king, but preferred to eat pulse ( Daniel 1:12 ). The effect was much to their advantage, as they appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than those who ate of the king's meat. At the end of the appointed time they passed satisfactory examinations, both as to their physical appearance and their intellectual acquirements, so that none were found like them among all with whom the king communed, and they stood before the king (see Dan 1).

When Daniel heard that the wise men of Babylon were to be slain because they could not tell the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, after he had gained a respite from the king, he made the thing known to his three companions that they might unite with him in prayer to the God of heaven that they all might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. After God had heard their prayer and the dream was made known to the king by Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar, at Daniel's request, set Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego over the affairs of the province of Babylon ( Daniel 2 ). With Meshach and Abed-nego, Shadrach was cast into a fiery furnace, but escaped unhurt ( Daniel 3 ). See Abed-Nego; Hananiah; Song Of Three Children .

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Sha´drach, one of the three friends of Daniel, who were delivered from the burning, fiery furnace [ABEDNEGO].