One of the four young "Israelites from the royal family and the nobility" who were selected by the Babylonian official Ashpenaz to be prepared and trained to serve in the king's palace (Dan 1:3-4). His Hebrew name Azariah (one of eight persons so-named in the OT meant "Yahweh helps") was changed to Abednego, "servant of Nego/Nebo" by his Babylonian masters (Nabu was Nebuchanezzer's personal god). Changing a person's name was one of he earliest means of social engineering and political control in the ancient world. It sought to deconstruct the person's identity and to bring him round to the master's view of things. Abenego, with his three companions (Daniel/Belteshazzar, Hananiah/Shadrach, and Mishael/Meshach), however, kept the new names but remained faithful to their godly worldviews. Their story is told in Dan 1-3.
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