Two false prophets in Babylon, Ahab ben Kolaya and Zedekiah ben Maaseyah, used their religious authority to commit adultery and fraud. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, Ahab went to Nebuchadnezzar's daughter and told her that God had commanded her to submit to Zedekiah, promising that kings and prophets would descend from her. Zedekiah came with the same message about Ahab. The princess reported both men to her father.
Nebuchadnezzar summoned the two prophets and demanded proof of their claims. "If you are true prophets," he said, "you will survive the fiery furnace, just as Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah survived when I cast them in." Ahab and Zedekiah protested: those three were righteous, while "we are only two." Nebuchadnezzar offered them a compromise. "Choose someone to be tested alongside you." They chose SAFE0 ben Jehozadak, the High Priest, knowing his merit was so great it might protect them too.
All three were thrown into the furnace. Ahab and Zedekiah were consumed by the flames. Joshua the High Priest walked out alive, though his garments carried the faint smell of smoke. Nebuchadnezzar noticed immediately. "How is it that your clothes were touched by fire, when Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah came out completely untouched?"
Joshua's answer was devastating in its honesty. "They were three righteous men together. I was one righteous man standing between two wicked ones." He compared it to a parable: two dry torches and one moist torch placed in the same fire. The dry torches ignite the moist one. The wicked men's guilt had been so powerful that even standing near them exposed Joshua to judgment. His garments smelled of fire because proximity to sin has consequences, even for the righteous.
LXIV. (1) 'Thus saith the Lord of Ahab ben Qolaya
and of Zedekiah ben Ma'aseyah, which prophesy falsely in
My name, behold I will deliver them into the hand of
Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, and he shall slay them
before your very eyes. From them a curse shall be taken
up by all the captivity of Judah and Israel in Babylon,
saying, ''May the Lord make thee like Zedekiah and
Ahab, whom the King of Babylon 'roasted' in the fire." '
It is not said, 'They were burnt,' but 'roasted.' K. Johanan,
in the name of R. Simeon ben Johai, said, ' We learn from
1 Here follows in the MS. the Hebrew translation of Daniel, which
is therefore omitted in the English translation; and then the history
of Bel and the Dragon, and the ' Song of Three Children,' translated
and pubhshed by me in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical
Archceology, 1894-95.
the above that He made them hke parched ears of corn.'
' Because they committed abomination in Israel, they com-
mitted adultery with the wives of their neighbours, and
spoke falsely in My name that which I had not commanded
them, even I who know^ and testify against them, saith
the Lord.' (2) Ahab went to the daughter of Nebuchad-
nezzar, and said to her, ' The Lord said, " Hearken to
Zedekiah, and there shall come forth from thee kings and
prophets who will prophesy against Israel." ' Hearing
this, Zedekiah also went to her, and said, ' In the same
manner as Ahab has said about me, so also listen to him,
and there shall come forth from thee kings and prophets who
will prophesy against Israel.' When she heard this, she
immediately went to her father and told him all that had
happened, saying, ' Thus and thus did Ahab and Zedekiah
say unto me.' And her father replied, ' The God of these
men hateth lewdness. As soon as they come to thee a
second time again send them to me.' When they came,
she accordingly said to them, ' I cannot do anything
without my father's knowledge; therefore, go ye to my
father, and, placing your request before him, listen to his
reply.'
(3) Going to Nebuchadnezzar, they repeated what they
had told his daughter. And he replied, ' What is the
cause of it that your God did not tell this prophecy to
Hananya, Mishael, and Azariah ? Are they not prophets ?'
And they said, ' He did not command Hananya, Mishael,
and Azariah to do anything, but it w^as us He commanded
to do this thing.' At this Nebuchadnezzar retorted, *I asked
Hananya, Mishael, and Azariah, saying, ''Is this thing which
you ask my daughter prohibited or permitted?" "It is
prohibited," said they.' 'But we are prophets,' answered
Zedekiah and Ahab, ' as they. He did not command them
but us to do this thing.' (4) ' I desire, then, to test you as
I tested Hananya, Mishael, and Azariah, viz., in the fiery
furnace.' ' But they were three, and we are only two,'
added they. ' Then choose ye one whomsoever ye wish to
be tried with you.' And they said, ' We desire Joshua the
202 [LXIV. 5
son of Jehozadak, the high priest.' They knew that his
merit was so great that he would protect them also.
Accordingly the three of them were brought and cast into
the fiery furnace. Ahab and Zedekiah were consumed by
the fire, but Joshua, the high priest, was not touched
by it; his garments merely smelt of fire, as it is said, ' He
showed me Joshua, the high priest, standing before the
angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to
tempt him.' It is further written, * And the Lord said unto
Satan, " The Lord rebuke thee, 0 Satan; the Lord who
chose Jerusalem shall rebuke thee. Is this not a brand
plucked out of the fire ?'
(5) ' I know now,' said Nebuchadnezzar, 'that thou art
very righteous, but how is it that thy garments were touched
a little by the fire, while in the case of Hananya, Mishael, and
Azariah the fire did not touch them at all ?' ' Because,'
said Joshua, 'they were three and I was alone.' 'But,'
said he, ' Abraham was also alone.' ' True, but there were
no wicked people in his company, and the Lord therefore
did not allow the fire to touch him; but with me there were
two wicked men, and on this account the Lord allowed the
fire to touch me a little.' This is the parable of the two
dry torches and the one moist, where the two dry ones burn
the moist.
The History of Susanna.
