Roasted in Nebuchadnezzar’s Furnace: The Fall of Two Minor False Prophets and Joshua the High Priest, based on Jeremiah 29 and Zechariah 3 (Sanhedrin 93a)
This sugya offers a vivid expansion of a cryptic biblical passage: Jeremiah’s brief denunciation (in Jeremiah 29:22, in his letter to the exiles) of Ahab ben Kolaiah (אחאב בן קוליה) and Zedekiah ben Maaseiah (צדקיה בן מעשיה), false prophets executed by Nebuchadnezzar.1 The Talmud spins this sparse source into a detailed narrative that fuses moral degradation, prophetic fraud, and theological drama, culminating in a public trial by fire.
The basic plot is structured as an inversion of the Daniel 3 story. Whereas Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah survive Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace to validate their piety,2 Ahab and Zedekiah are roasted alive—"toasted" rather than "burned", as the Talmud notes, invoking the imagery of toasted grain.
Their offense is twofold: they prophesied falsely in God's name, and they manipulated divine authority to justify sexual advances toward the king’s daughter. Nebuchadnezzar’s test of their prophetic legitimacy echoes his earlier encounter with righteous Jews, but this time the outcome confirms their fraud.
Complicating matters, Ahab and Zedekiah select Joshua the High Priest as a third participant (based on Zechariah 3:1-3, in his Vision of the High Priest), banking on his merit to shield them.3
Joshua the High Priest survives, but not unscathed—his garments are singed, and the Talmud links this to Zechariah’s vision of Joshua in ‘filthy garments’.
The rabbis then pose a question: Why did the righteous Joshua the High Priest suffer at all? Joshua's own defense rests on the contamination of proximity: unlike Abraham, he entered the fire accompanied by the wicked, making collateral harm inevitable. Rav Pappa offers a more direct indictment—Joshua’s passive tolerance of his sons’ improper marriages.
Jeremiah 29:20-23 (part of Jeremiah's letter to the exiles)
Jeremiah 29:20-23, translation JPS 1985:
ואתם שמעו דבר־יהוה
כל־הגולה אשר־שלחתי מירושל͏ם בבלה
כה־אמר יהוה צבאות אלהי ישראל
אל־אחאב בן־קוליה
ואל־צדקיהו בן־מעשיה
הנבאים לכם בשמי שקר
הנני נתן אתם ביד נבוכדראצר מלך־בבל
והכם לעיניכם
But you, hear the word of YHWH
the whole exile community which I banished from Jerusalem to Babylon,
Thus said YHWH of Hosts, the God of Israel,
concerning Ahab son of Kolaiah
and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah,
who prophesy falsely to you in My name:
I am going to deliver them into the hands of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon,
and he shall put them to death before your eyes.
ולקח מהם קללה לכל גלות יהודה אשר בבבל לאמר:
ישמך יהוה כצדקיהו וכאחב
אשר־קלם מלך־בבל באש
יען אשר עשו נבלה בישראל
וינאפו את־נשי רעיהם
וידברו דבר בשמי שקר אשר לוא צויתם
ואנכי (הוידע) [היודע] ועד נאם־יהוה
And the whole community of Judah in Babylonia shall use a curse derived from their fate:
“May God make you like Zedekiah and Ahab,
whom the king of Babylon consigned to the flames!”—
because they did vile things in Israel,
committing adultery with the wives of their fellows
and speaking in My name false words which I had not commanded them.
I am He who knows and bears witness—declares YHWH
Zechariah 3:1-3 (part of Vision of the High Priest)
ויראני את־יהושע הכהן הגדול
עמד לפני מלאך יהוה
והשטן עמד על־ימינו לשטנו
He further showed me Joshua, the high priest,
standing before the angel of YHWH,
and the Accuser (שטן - satan) standing at his right to accuse him.
ויאמר יהוה אל־השטן
יגער יהוה בך השטן
ויגער יהוה בך הבחר בירושל͏ם
הלוא זה אוד מצל מאש
But [the angel of] YHWH said to the Accuser,
“YHWH rebuke you, O Accuser;
may YHWH who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!
For this is a brand plucked from the fire.”
ויהושע היה לבש בגדים צואים
ועמד לפני המלאך
Now Joshua was clothed in filthy garments
when he stood before the angel.
Outline
Intro
Jeremiah 29:20-23 (part of Jeremiah's letter to the exiles)
Zechariah 3:1-3 (part of Vision of the High Priest)
The Passage - Roasted in Nebuchadnezzar’s Furnace: The Fall of Two Minor False Prophets and Joshua the High Priest, based on Jeremiah 29 and Zechariah 3 (Sanhedrin 93a)
False Prophecy of Ahab ben Kolaiah and Zedekiah ben Maaseiah - falsely claimed to speak in God's name - Jeremiah 29:21
Punishment by Fire - Nebuchadnezzar executed them by fire, described as "toasted” - Jeremiah 29:22; R' Yoḥanan citing R' Shimon b. Yoḥai: “like toasted grain”
Sexual Misconduct - Told Nebuchadnezzar’s daughter that God commanded her to have sex with the other - Jeremiah 29:23
Daughter’s Report - Informed her father; he suspected a lie because “their God hates lewdness” - Nebuchadnezzar’s reasoning
Trial by Fire Proposed - They claimed to be prophets like Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; Nebuchadnezzar proposed a test - Parallel to Daniel 3
Choice of Third Participant - They chose Joshua the High Priest, hoping his merit would protect them
Outcome of Furnace Test - Ahab and Zedekiah were burned; Joshua survived but was singed - Zechariah 3:1–2 interpreted allegorically
Nebuchadnezzar Questions Joshua the High Priest - Why was he harmed at all?
Contrast with Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah
Contrast with Abraham
Reason for Punishment - Rav Pappa: Joshua’s sons married women unfit for priesthood; he did not rebuke them - Zechariah 3:3 interpreted metaphorically: “filthy garments” = moral failing
Appendix - Nimrod’s Furnace: Abraham’s Deliverance and His Brother Haran’s Demise (Bereshit Rabbah 38:13)
The Passage
False Prophecy of Ahab ben Kolaiah and Zedekiah ben Maaseiah - falsely claimed to speak in God's name - Jeremiah 29:21
״כה אמר ה׳ צבאות אלהי ישראל
אל אחאב בן קוליה
ואל צדקיהו בן מעשיה
הנבאים לכם בשמי לשקר וגו׳״.
וכתיב:
״ולקח מהם קללה לכל גלות יהודה אשר בבבל
לאמר:
ישימך ה׳ כצדקיהו וכאחאב
אשר קלם מלך בבל באש״
§ Apropos the deliverance of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, the Talmud cites the verses: “So says YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel,
concerning Ahab, son of Kolaiah,
and of Zedekiah, son of Maaseiah,
who prophesy to you a lie in My name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylonia; and he shall slay them before your eyes” (Jeremiah 29:21).
And it is written:
“And of them shall be taken a curse by all the captivity of Judea, who are in Babylonia,
saying:
May YHWH make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab,
whom the king of Babylonia toasted in the fire” (Jeremiah 29:22).
Punishment by Fire - Nebuchadnezzar executed them by fire, described as "toasted” - Jeremiah 29:22; R' Yoḥanan citing R' Shimon b. Yoḥai: “like toasted grain”
The Talmud cites Jeremiah’s prophecy against Ahab ben Kolaiah and Zedekiah ben Maaseiah, who falsely prophesied in God’s name.
The verse uses the verb "קִלָּם" (“toasted”) rather than “burned,” and R' Yoḥanan, citing R' Shimon ben Yoḥai, explains this implies that Nebuchadnezzar roasted them like ‘kalayot’ (“parched grain”)—evenly toasted on all sides.
״אשר שרפם״ לא נאמר,
אלא ״אשר קלם״.
אמר רבי יוחנן, משום רבי שמעון בן יוחי:
מלמד ש:
עשאן כקליות
It is not stated: Whom the king of Babylonia burned,
but “whom the king of Babylonia toasted.”
R' Yoḥanan said in the name of R' Shimon ben Yoḥai:
This teaches that:
he rendered them like toasted wheat, which is toasted on all sides.
Sexual Misconduct - Told Nebuchadnezzar’s daughter that God commanded her to have sex with the other - Jeremiah 29:23
The same prophecy condemns the two men for adultery.
The Talmud recounts an aggadic backstory:
Both men approached Nebuchadnezzar’s daughter with fabricated "prophecies" commanding her, supposedly from God,4 to have sex with the other.
״יען אשר עשו נבלה בישראל
וינאפו את נשי רעיהם״.
מאי עבוד?
אזול לגבי ברתיה דנבוכדנצר.
אחאב אמר לה:
״כה אמר ה׳:
השמיעי אל צדקיה״.
וצדקיה אמר:
״כה אמר ה׳:
השמיעי אל אחאב״.
The verse states: “Because they have committed baseness in Israel,
and have committed adultery with the wives of their neighbors” (Jeremiah 29:23).
What did they do?
The Talmud relates: They went to the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar.
Ahab said to her:
So says YHWH:
Submit to Zedekiah and have sex with him.
And Zedekiah said to her:
So says YHWH:
Submit to Ahab and have sex with him.
Daughter’s Report - Informed her father; he suspected a lie because “their God hates lewdness” - Nebuchadnezzar’s reasoning
Suspicious, she reported this to her father. Nebuchadnezzar, aware that the God of Israel “abhors lewdness,”5 set a trap.
אזלה ואמרה ליה לאבוה.
אמר לה:
אלהיהם של אלו שונא זימה הוא.
כי אתו לגבך, שדרינהו לגבאי.
כי אתו לגבה,
שדרתנהו לגבי אבוה
She went and said to her father what they said to her.
Nebuchadnezzar said to her:
The God of these people abhors lewdness, so this is likely a false prophecy.
When they come to you, send them to me.
When they came to her,
she sent them to her father.
Trial by Fire Proposed - They claimed to be prophets like Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; Nebuchadnezzar proposed a test - Parallel to Daniel 3
Nebuchadnezzar questioned the men, who insisted their prophecy came from God.
When confronted with Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah’s rejection of such behavior, they claimed separate, individualized revelation.
He resolved to test their prophetic status through fire, as he had done with the earlier trio.
אמר להו: מאן אמר לכון?
אמרו: הקדוש ברוך הוא.
והא חנניה מישאל ועזריה שאלתינהו,
ואמרו לי: אסור!
אמרו ליה:
אנן נמי נביאי כוותייהו.
לדידהו -- לא אמר להו,
לדידן -- אמר לן.
אמר להו:
אנא בעינא דאיבדקינכו,
כי היכי דבדקתינהו לחנניה מישאל ועזריה.
Nebuchadnezzar said to them: Who told you to do this?
They said: It was God.
Nebuchadnezzar said: But I asked Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah about this
and they said to me: It is prohibited!
They said to him:
We too are prophets like they are.
to them — God did not say this prophecy
to us — He said it
Nebuchadnezzar said to them:
If so, I wish to put you to the test to determine if you are righteous,
just as I put Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah to the test.
Choice of Third Participant - They chose Joshua the High Priest, hoping his merit would protect them
The two men requested a third participant and selected Joshua the High Priest, hoping his merit would shield them.
אמרו ליה: אינון תלתא הוו, ואנן תרין.
אמר להו: בחרו לכון מאן דבעיתו בהדייכו.
אמרו: יהושע כהן גדול.
סברי:
ליתי יהושע
דנפיש זכותיה
ומגנא עלן
Ahab and Zedekiah said to Nebuchadnezzar: They were three and we are only two, and our merit is not great enough to save us from the fire.
Nebuchadnezzar said to them: Choose for yourselves a third person, whomever you wish, to be put to the test with you.
They said to him: We choose Joshua the High Priest.
They chose him because they thought:
Let Joshua the High Priest come with us,
since his merit is great
and it will protect us.
Outcome of Furnace Test - Ahab and Zedekiah were burned; Joshua survived but was singed - Zechariah 3:1–2 interpreted allegorically
All three were thrown into a furnace.
Ahab and Zedekiah were incinerated, while Joshua survived but with scorched (איחרוכי) garments (מאניה).
The Talmud links this to Zechariah’s vision of Joshua standing before the angel in “filthy garments.” There, God calls him a "firebrand plucked from fire."
אחתיוה,
שדינהו.
אינהו --
איקלו,
יהושע כהן גדול --
איחרך איחרוכי מאניה,
שנאמר:
״ויראני את יהושע הכהן הגדול
עמד לפני מלאך ה׳ וגו׳״,
וכתיב:
״ויאמר ה׳ אל השטן:
יגער ה׳ בך וגו׳״.
They took the three of them down
and cast them into the furnace.
They --
were burned,
and as for Joshua the High Priest --
his garments were singed,
as it is stated:
“And He showed me Joshua the High Priest,
standing before the angel of YHWH, and Satan was standing at his right to thwart him” (Zechariah 3:1).
And it is written:
“And YHWH said to Satan:
YHWH shall rebuke you, Satan, YHWH Who has chosen Jerusalem shall rebuke you; is this man not a firebrand plucked from fire?” (Zechariah 3:2).
This is an allusion to the fact that he was delivered from the fiery furnace, although he was slightly singed.
Nebuchadnezzar Questions Joshua the High Priest - Why was he harmed at all?
Contrast with Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah
Nebuchadnezzar asks Joshua the High Priest why the fire affected him at all.
Joshua the High Priest replies: Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were three; he was alone.
אמר ליה:
ידענא דצדיקא את,
אלא מאי טעמא
אהניא בך פורתא נורא?
חנניה מישאל ועזריה לא אהניא בהו כלל!
אמר ליה:
אינהו תלתא הוו,
ואנא חד.
Nebuchadnezzar said to Joshua the High Priest:
I know you are righteous because you were delivered from the fire,
but what is the reason that
the fire was slightly effective concerning you,
and for Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah the fire was not effective concerning them at all, and their garments were not singed?
Joshua the High Priest said to him:
They were three righteous people,
and I am one.
Contrast with Abraham
Nebuchadnezzar counters with Abraham, who faced fire alone.6
Joshua the High Priest explains: Abraham faced the fire alone, without wicked companions, and so fire had no license. Here, by contrast, he was joined by wicked men, and the fire had permission to harm.
The Talmud illustrates this with a proverb: two dry firebrands and one moist one—together, the dry ones ignite the wet.
אמר ליה: והא אברהם יחיד הוה?
התם
לא הוו רשעים בהדיה,
ולא אתיהיב רשותא לנורא.
הכא
הוו רשעים בהדי,
ואתיהיב רשותא לנורא.
היינו דאמרי אינשי:
תרי אודי יבישי וחד רטיבא —
אוקדוה יבישי לרטיבא.
Nebuchadnezzar said to him: But wasn’t Abraham one person, and when he was cast into the furnace the fire had no effect?
Joshua answered him:
There, in the case of Abraham,
there were no wicked people with him,
and license to cause damage was not given to the fire.
Here, in this case,
there were wicked people with me,
and license to cause damage was given to the fire.
The Talmud adds that this explains the adage that people say:
If there are two dry firebrands and one moist one in a fire —
the dry firebrands burn the moist one.
Reason for Punishment - Rav Pappa: Joshua the High Priest’s sons married women unfit for priesthood; he did not rebuke them - Zechariah 3:3 interpreted metaphorically: “filthy garments” = moral failing
The Talmud asks why Joshua the High Priest was punished at all.
Rav Pappa answers: his sons married women unfit7 for the priesthood, and he failed to object.
This is the meaning of “Joshua was clothed in filthy garments”—a metaphor for the impurity tolerated in his family.
מאי טעמא איענש?
אמר רב פפא:
שהיו בניו נושאין נשים שאינן הגונות לכהונה
ולא מיחה בהן.
שנאמר: ״ויהושע היה לבש בגדים צואים״.
וכי דרכו של יהושע ללבוש בגדים צואים?!
אלא מלמד ש:
היו בניו נושאים נשים שאינן הגונות לכהונה,
ולא מיחה בהן
The Talmud asks: What is the reason that Joshua the High Priest was punished and was cast into the furnace?
Rav Pappa says:
It was due to the fact that his sons would marry women who were not fit for marriage into the priesthood,
and he did not reprimand them,
as it is stated: “And Joshua was clothed in filthy garments, and he stood before the angel” (Zechariah 3:3).
And was it the typical manner of Joshua to wear filthy garments?!
Rather this verse teaches an allusion that:
his sons would marry women who were not fit for marriage into the priesthood,
and he did not reprimand them.
That is why he appeared with soiled garments in the vision of the prophet Zechariah.
Appendix - Nimrod’s Furnace: Abraham’s Deliverance and His Brother Haran’s Demise (Bereshit Rabbah 38:13)
Nimrod throws Abraham into a fire, challenging his God to save him.8
Haran witnesses the confrontation and withholds allegiance until an outcome is clear. When Abraham survives the fire, Haran declares support for him. But Haran is not miraculously saved—he is burned and dies.
אמר ליה:
מלין את משתעי,
אני איני משתחוה אלא לאור,
הרי אני משליכך בתוכו,
ויבוא אלוה שאתה משתחוה לו ויצילך הימנו
He [=Nimrod] said to him [=Abraham]:
‘You are saying mere words.
I bow down only to fire9
I will cast you into it,
and let that God to whom you bow down come and rescue you from it.’
הוה תמן הרן קאים פלוג,
אמר:
מה נפשך
אם נצח אברהם
אנא אמר מן דאברהם אנא
ואם נצח נמרוד
אנא אמר דנמרוד אנא
Haran was there and he was conflicted.
He said:
‘Either way [I will know what to do];
If Abraham is victorious,
I will say: I am with Abraham,
and if Nimrod is victorious,
I will say: I am with Nimrod.’
כיון שירד אברהם לכבשן האש ונצל,
אמרין ליה: דמאן את,
אמר להון: מן אברהם אנא
When Abraham descended into the fiery furnace and was rescued,
they said to him [Haran]: ‘With whom are you?’
He said to them: ‘I am with Abraham.’
נטלוהו והשליכוהו לאור
ונחמרו בני מעיו,
ויצא ומת על פני תרח אביו,
הדא הוא דכתיב: וימת הרן על פני תרח וגו'
They took him and cast him into the fire
and his innards (בני מעיו) were scorched (נחמרו)
He emerged and died in the presence of Teraḥ his father.
That is what is written: “Haran died in the presence of Teraḥ…”
Not to be confused with the famous figures with the same names, King Ahab and the mainstream prophet Zedekiah.
In general, see my recent discussion of Nebuchadnezzar in the Bible and Talmud, in my “'That Wicked One': A Grotesque Talmudic Portrait of Nebuchadnezzar Based on the Parable against the King of Babylon in Isaiah 14 (Shabbat 149b-150a)“.
This story is discussed by the Talmud in the previous sugya, see my two-part “Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah and the Fiery Furnace in the Talmud: Aggadic Expansion of Daniel 3 (Sanhedrin 92b-93a)“, final part here.
Notably, in the previous Talmudic discussion of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (see previous footnote), the Talmud elaborates on another verse from the Book of Zechariah, homiletically interpreting it as referring to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, see ibid., “Appendix 2 - Allegorical Reading of Zechariah’s Vision in Zechariah 1:8 (Sanhedrin 93a)“.
כה אמר ה׳ - “Thus says YHWH”.
This is the standard prophetic formula used to introduce a message from God (see search results here); it’s used at the beginning of Jeremiah’s own prophecy here.
שונא זימה.
This is line is found elsewhere in the Talmud as well; compare, for example, later in this chapter, in my “Pt2 The Prophet, the Prostitutes, and the Curses Reversed: The Biblical Story of Balaam in Talmudic Interpretation (Sanhedrin 105b-106b)“, section “Balaam's Plot: The Dramatic Story of How Prostitutes Led the Jewish Men Astray":
אמר להם:
אלהיהם של אלו שונא זימה הוא
[…]
בוא ואשיאך עצה:
Balaam said to them:
The God of these Jewish people despises lewdness,
[…]
come, and I will give you advice.
This is in contrast to Canaanite slaves who stereotypically “love lewdness” (זמה - the same word), see my “Lives, Loves, and Hatreds: Psychological and Social Commentary on Human Behaviors, Group Dynamics, and Animal Traits (Pesachim 113b)“, section “A Slave’s Nature: Five Traits Attributed to Canaan's Descendants“:
חמשה דברים צוה כנען את בניו:
[…]
ואהבו את הזמה
[…]
Canaan commanded his sons with regard to five matters that are apparently normal behavior for slaves:
[…]
love promiscuity (זמה)
[…]
For the Talmud’s etymology of this word, see “Wine, Wordplay, and Wedding Tensions: Bar Kappara’s Queries Regarding Biblical Denunciations and R' Yehuda HaNasi’s Unwilling Dance (Nedarim 51a)“, section ““Zimma” (lewdness)“.
Referring to the well-known midrashic story of Abraham being thrown into the fire by Nimrod, see the appendix at the end of this piece: “Appendix - Nimrod’s Furnace: Abraham’s Deliverance and His Brother Haran’s Demise (Bereshit Rabbah 38:13)“.
And compare also the related trope of martyrdom for monotheism by being thrown by a government authority to wild animals, in my notes on “Pt3 Defending God, Biblical Monotheism, and Jewish Distinctiveness: Twelve Dialogues Between Sages and Challengers in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 38b-39a)“, section “Dialogue #8 - Roman Emperor vs. R' Tanḥum: Proposes unification of Jews and Romans into one people; Sentenced to Death by Wild Beasts; and Miraculous Deliverance“.
אינן הגונות.
The Talmudic concern about “unfit marriages” is a common one, see especially my “Tainted Lineage, Lost Wealth, and Divine Judgment: The Consequences of Unsuitable Marriages (Kiddushin 70a)“.
Summary of the first half of the passage, which I don’t quote:
The midrash constructs a narrative to explain the cryptic biblical note that Haran died “in the presence of Teraḥ his father” (Genesis 11:28). It uses the framework of Abraham's opposition to idolatry and his confrontation with Nimrod to explain both Abraham's theological evolution and Haran's ambiguous loyalties and death.
Abraham's father Teraḥ is portrayed as an idol merchant who leaves Abraham in charge of the shop. Abraham mocks customers by pointing out the absurdity of worshipping man-made idols, especially by people older than the objects they revere. Eventually, he smashes the idols and places the weapon in the hand of the largest one. When questioned by his father, Abraham ironically suggests that the idols fought over the offering. Teraḥ, realizing the implication, accuses Abraham of lying; Abraham retorts that Teraḥ has already admitted the idols are powerless.
Teraḥ hands Abraham over to Nimrod. In a dialogical chain, Abraham undermines fire’s supremacy by proposing to worship the elements that overpower it: water, clouds, wind, and ultimately, humans.
On this story, see also the detailed discussion in Wikipedia, “Abraham and the Idol Shop”, and the corresponding Hebrew Wikipedia entry, “אברהם והצלמים“.
Notably, a version of the story appears in the Koran, in Chapter 21 - “Al-Anbiya“, verses 51-70, as part of the retelling of the story of Abraham. See Wikipedia, “Abraham in Islam“, section “The great fire“.
אור.
Compare the fact that fire-worship is famously practiced by Zoroastrianism. See Wikipedia, “Fire worship“, section “Indo-Iranian“.