Daniel 2:1-6

Part TwoDaniel's FortitudeChapter s 2-6
CHAPTER TWO

I. DESPOT'S DREAMDaniel 2:1-16

a. CHALLENGE TO CHALDEANS

TEXT: Daniel 2:1-6

1

And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams; and his spirit was troubled, and his sleep went from him.

2

Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the enchanters, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king.

3

And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.

4

Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in the Syrian language, O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.

5

The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye make not known unto me the dream and the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.

6

But if ye show the dream and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honor; therefore show me the dream and the interpretation thereof.

QUERIES

a.

Why is Nebuchadnezzar concerned with this particular dream?

b.

Why does the text mention the Syrian (Aramaic) language?

c.

Why did Nebuchadnezzar forget the dream?

PARAPHRASE

One night in the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had a very vivid and graphic dream. He was unable to sleep because he was deeply agitated in his mind and soul to know if the dream had some meaning for his life, So he immediately called in all his magicians, enchanters and sorcerers and wise men and demanded that they tell him what his dream had been. When they had come into his presence, the king said to them, I have had a terrifying and mystifying dream and my very soul is in great anxiety to know what it means. Then the king's wise men, speaking in the Aramaic language, which was the language of common discourse then, said to the king, O king, may you live forever: if you will tell your humble servants the details of your dream we will begin at once to use all our knowledge and mystic powers to discern the interpretation of your dream. But the king replied, You are supposed to know every hidden thing: the details of the dream are thoroughly and indelibly set in my mind and now I am testing your claims. If you do not tell me exactly both the details of the dream itself and the interpretation of the dream, I will have you literally cut to pieces and dismembered and your homes destroyed and publicly disgraced. But, if you tell me both the dream and its interpretation I will give you many wonderful gifts and honors. So, begin!

COMMENT

Daniel 2:1. NEBUCHADNEZZAR DREAMED DREAMS; AND HIS SPIRIT WAS TROUBLED.. According to Babylonian reckoning, the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar would be the third year of Daniel's training. First year of reign for a Babylonian emperor was called The Year of Accession; his first year of reign would really be his second year; and his second year of reign would really be his third year on the throne. Even at that, this very graphic dream, sent by God, occurred at a very early period of this heathen emperor's reign.

Young seems to think the force of the plural should be translated Nebuchadnezzar was in a state in which a dream came to him. Leupold believes the king dreamed several dreams, one of which finally roused and disturbed him. Whatever the case, the significant dream was the one of the great image. And it was no ordinary dream, but one which Jehovah God sent directly to this pagan ruler. It was such an arresting dream he could not sleep for anxiety of spirit and soul, deeply troubled as to its meaning. The dream must have been so vivid as to seem to be actually happening right thenthe king was terrified.

Daniel 2:2-3. THE KING. COMMANDED. THE CHALDEANS, TO TELL HIS DREAMS. Four classes of dream interpreters or wise men are summoned to appear before the king. Leupold translates magicians as scholars; enchanters as astrologers. From other listings of such wise men in Daniel it does not seem any technical sense is intended here. The fourfold mention here is evidently designed to include all the classes of wise men and priests of Babylonian religion (see our Special Study on Babylonian Priesthood at the end of this chapter). Chaldeans constitute the most important group in the entire assembly. They seem to be regarded in their day as the very elite of Babylonian society, men in whose ranks the emperor himself appears to have been enrolled. A people by the name of Chaldean lived in southern Babylonia in the days of the early patriarchs (cf. Genesis 11:28). They were a warlike group who in the course of time caused the Assyrians much trouble and finally overcame them in the person of Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar's father. These Chaldeans of Daniel's time were, therefore, probably men of great learning who could trace their ancestry back to families of the original conquerors of Babylon. They made themselves masters of that group of wise men who exercised the strongest influence in the political and religious affairs of the state.

The Babylonians, as did other ancients, put much stock in a philosophy that the movements of the stars and heavenly bodies determined the events of history and destinies of men on the earth. Astrology, the casting of horoscopes and other predictions based on observations of the stars was used to determine political, religious and moral meaning to mystical experiences such as dreams. Nebuchadnezzar undoubtedly had some strange, inexplicable foreboding concerning the dream that kept him awake.

Daniel 2:4. TELL THY SERVANTS THE DREAM, AND WE WILL SHOW THE INTERPRETATION. Xenophon relates that the Babylonians spoke a form of Aramaic and it is not unlikely that this would be the language of common discourse. The covenant people of the exile returned to their homeland speaking Aramaic which they learned in captivity. Just why the fact is deemed necessary to mention in Daniel 2:4 that the Chaldeans spoke to the king in the Syrian (Aramaic) language is unknown.

The Chaldeans made the only request they could, being finite creatures with no knowledge of the secrets of men's hearts unless they are told those secrets, There was no possibility of anyone telling the king what he had dreamed unless he tell them the dream or unless God, who knows all the secrets of men's minds, tell it, God did eventually tell it through Daniel. If the king had related the facts of his dream to the Chaldeans, they could have set about at once to compare the details with their astrological charts, cast their horoscopes, made their incantations, submitted the dream to their magic and have come up with an interpretation (which, by the way, would probably have been flattering to the king's ego and favorable to his whims of government and indulgence).

Daniel 2:5-6. IF YE MAKE NOT KNOWN. THE DREAM AND THE INTERPRETATION. YE SHALL BE CUT IN PIECES. BUT IF YE SHOW THE DREAM AND THE INTERPRETATION, YE SHALL RECEIVE. GIFTS. REWARDS. GREAT HONOR. Why did Nebuchadnezzar insist that the Chaldeans tell him the details of the actual dream as well as the interpretation? It is not because he had forgotten the dream. Our English translation is misleading here. Leupold, Young and many others agree that the proper rendering of the original here should read the matter has been fully determined by me. The king was sure and certain of the details of the dream itself. Now he was testing his wise men to see, in such a significant experience, if they really had access to the deepest and most completely hidden things. It may very well be that Nebuchadnezzar, deep within himself, knew that most of the religion of Babylon was mere superstition and not the truthhe must have been skeptical of a great part of it. There is a record of a king of Yemen, Rabia by name, who saw a vision and was terrified by it. He assembled all the priests and magicians and star-gazers of his kingdom and said to them, Verily, I have seen a vision and was frightened by it. Tell it to me and its interpretation. They said, Relate it to us, and we shall inform thee of its interpretation. So he replied, If I tell you it, I shall have no certainty as to what you tell me of its interpretation. Verily, no one knows the interpretation unless he knows it before I tell him (the dream). So, Nebuchadnezzar was putting his wise men to the test to determine once and for all if they could divine the secret things of men and nature or not.

The despotic nature of the punishment pronounced should the Chaldeans fail is in character for an Eastern monarch of that day. Assyrians and Persians were especially notorious for the barbarity of their punishments. Even today in Arabia cruel punishments for misdemeanors are meted out even to the severing of members of the body for certain crimes. These Chaldeans faced certain dismemberment since they had no power to tell Nebuchadnezzar his dream. They would be hacked to pieces and their homes razed. And as a final indignity the ruins of their homes would be made public toilets.
It is plain that God is active in this matter to demonstrate to Nebuchadnezzar, to Daniel, to all the heathen who will learn and to all the covenant people who will learn, that there is only One, True God, who knows the secrets of men and Jehovah is His Name; there is only one true prophet of God, Daniel is his name. God sent the dream; now He, through His prophet, will demonstrate that the interpretation His prophet places on the dream is true because His prophet will tell the king what he dreamed.

QUIZ

1.

How many years had Nebuchadnezzar actually been on the throne now?

2.

Who are the Chaldeans and where did they come from?

3.

Why did the Chaldeans speak to the king in Syriac (Aramaic)?

4.

Why did Nebuchadnezzar insist that they tell him his dream?

5.

How was God at work in this event in Nebuchadnezzar's life?