Bow or Burn: A Review of “Daniel and the Fiery Furnace”

One of the best known Bible stories is from the book of Daniel. The namesake’s three friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were cast into a furnace for refusing to bow down to a huge statue of the king. I first became familiar with this story when my fourth grade music class performed a musical called “It’s Cool in the Furnace.” Other variations of this story include the VeggieTales parody “So Many Chocolate Bunnies.” A new live action drama titled “Daniel and the Fiery Furnace” premiered in theaters last weekend. I saw that with a friend two days ago.

An older man begins telling the story to a group of men sitting around him in a desert. The movie then flashes back to the city of Jerusalem  Due to continued disobedience by the children of Israel, the city is invaded by the Babylonian army. During and after the long march to Babylon, Daniel finds favor with Nebuchadnezzar, especially after interpreting a dream the king had.


There were two noteworthy scenes that have no Biblical basis. Before reaching Babylon, Daniel saved the king from an attacking lion. Later, David and his friends made the statue of Nebuchadnezzar that they later refused to bow down to. However, I was pleased to see Jesus appear when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego walked into the furnace. It reminded me of Oral Roberts’ classic sermon “The Fourth Man.”


One complaint I have is not with the movie, but the amount of commercials shown in the theater. My friend and I got our seats 20 minutes before the scheduled start time of 4:15 p.m. Nothing showed on the screen until after we sat down. We then saw 40-50 ads compared to four or five movie trailers. (I thought the amount of commercials on TV had gotten ridiculous!) That had me yearning for the days when cartoons were played before the feature presentation. The actual movie didn’t begin until around 4:40.


Nevertheless, “Daniel and the Fiery Furnace” is a reminder that if you’re truly living for the Lord, then you will occasionally have to demonstrate your faith by standing against manmade laws. I was surprised the movie didn’t have scenes of Daniel in the lions’ den. Perhaps that will be part of a sequel.


“We ought to obey God rather than men.” - Acts 5:29

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