MISAEL (Heb. Misa’el «Who [is] that which is God?»). — Name of three personages in the Old Testament.
1. A Levite, son of Uzziel (Ex. 6:22; Lev. 10:4).
2. A companion of Daniel (q.v.) in Babylon. Together with Hananiah (q.v.), Azariah (q.v.), and Daniel, M. was chosen from among the deported Jewish youths to be instructed in the Babylonian language and cuneiform writing (Dan. 1:3ff.). M. was given the almost homophonous name of Mishach (= “Who is like the god Aku?”).
After completing the preparatory period, during which he remained faithful to the Mosaic Law, M., along with the others, was found to be “ten times” wiser than any of the sages or magicians of Babylon (Dan. 1:20). M. implored God to reveal to Daniel the dream of Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 2:17) and was rewarded with a high administrative position in the province of Babylon (Dan. 2:49). When he refused to worship the statue erected by the king, M. and his companions were cast into a fiery furnace, from which an angel preserved them unharmed by the flames. The king, impressed by the miracle, further increased the dignity of the three young men (Dan. 3:12–97; Heb. vv. 12–30).
3. A contemporary of Ezra (Neh. 8:4). Angelo Penna