“The Lord your God has multiplied you, and, behold, you are today as the stars [of the heavens in abundance [larov]]” (Deuteronomy 1:10) – he said to them: ‘Today you are like the stars, but in the future, “larov” – you are destined to be similar to your Master [lerabkhem].’ How so? Here it is written: “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire” (Deuteronomy 4:24), and regarding Israel in the future it is written: “And the light of Israel will be a fire and its Holy One a flame” (Isaiah 10:17).
Rabbi Levi bar Ḥama said: If one who worships an idol becomes like it, as it is stated: “Those who craft them, all who place their trust in them, will become like them” (Psalms 115:8), one who worships the Holy One blessed be He, all the more so that he will be like Him. From where is this derived? As it is written: “Blessed is the man who places his trust in the Lord…” (Jeremiah 17:7). Another matter, Rabbi Abba said: In the future, the partition of the righteous will be farther inside than that of the ministering angels,30The righteous will be closer to the Divine Presence. and [the angels] will ask them: ‘What halakhot did the Holy One blessed be He introduce today?’
Rabbi Levi bar Ḥanina said: Do not wonder, as even in this world their partition is farther inside than that of the ministering angels, as it is stated: “[I see four men…and the fourth resembles a son of the gods” (Daniel 3:25); they were farther inside than the angel, and he would extinguish the fire before them.31When Ḥananya, Mishael and Azarya were thrown into the fiery furnace and were unharmed, the people outside saw a fourth figure, which was an angel.
The fact that he is described as the fourth implies that he was following them, yet he was still able to extinguish the fire before them so they would not be harmed (Matnot Kehuna). Alternatively, they walked before the angel in the fire and were not harmed, or perhaps even protected the angel from harm (see Etz Yosef).