Daniel 2:1-6, Nebuchadnezzar’s challenge
In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his mind was troubled and he could not sleep. So the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to tell him what he had dreamed. When they came in and stood before the king, he said to them, "I have had a dream that troubles me and I want to know what it means."
Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, "O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will interpret it."
The king replied to the astrologers, "This is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble. But if you tell me the dream and explain it, you will receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. So tell me the dream and interpret it for me."
The second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign is probably 603 BC (says Baldwin.) The king would have been attempting to consolidate his kingdom and power. Stress can lead to bad dreams and it is not unusual to wake from a bad dream and remember only the dread, but not the details of the dream. Here an angry emperor makes the unreasonable demand that his astrologers interpret the dream, even if he cannot recall it. The emperor certainly has the power to carry out his threat, killing the court magicians and destroying their homes.
Baldwin claims that Babylonians created dream manuals, with a list of dream events and the real world events that followed. But the king's magicians and sorcerers cannot use those manuals if they do not know the dream.
The NIV translates the Hebrew word Kasdi as "astrologers" although the word really means Chaldeans. The Chaldeans were well known for their interest in astrology and that emphasis is intended here.
In the book of Daniel, the ancient Hebrew ends at verse four, as the astrologers reply in Aramaic. The Aramaic continues until the end of chapter 7. These six chapters in Aramaic are the longest piece of the Old Testament that is not in Hebrew. (Portions of the book of Ezra are also in Aramaic. Here is a Wikipedia page on Biblical Aramaic.)
Daniel 2:7-11, Anger
Once more they replied, "Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will interpret it."
Then the king answered, "I am certain that you are trying to gain time, because you realize that this is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me the dream, there is just one penalty for you. You have conspired to tell me misleading and wicked things, hoping the situation will change. So then, tell me the dream, and I will know that you can interpret it for me."
The astrologers answered the king, "There is not a man on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men."
The king insists that the astrologers interpret his dream, even though he cannot remember it. The frightened astrologers insist this is completely unreasonable; no one has ever done that!
Daniel 2:12-13, Daniel’s praise
This made the king so angry and furious that he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon. So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to put them to death.
There is some logic in the king's answer. The astrologers have likely played up their magical dreamcasting and such magic should work even without the dream. But giving a vague interpretation of a dream is one thing; really recalling the dream for the king is quite another!
The king intends to keep his rash promise and wipe out his collection of dreamcasters.
Daniel 2:14-18, Daniel makes a promise
When Arioch, the commander of the king's guard, had gone out to put to death the wise men of Babylon, Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact. He asked the king's officer, "Why did the king issue such a harsh decree?" Arioch then explained the matter to Daniel.
At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him. Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
Daniel responds calmly to the various serious threat and promises Arioch that he can interpret the dream. Daniel asks for time (probably about a day) and then involves his friends in praying for God to give Daniel the dream and interpretation. (The friends are identified here with their Hebrew names.)
Daniel 2:19-23, Revelation and praise
During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision.
Then Daniel praised the God of heaven and said:
"Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
wisdom and power are his.
He changes times and seasons;
he sets up kings and deposes them.
He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.
He reveals deep and hidden things;
he knows what lies in darkness,
and light dwells with him.
I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers:
You have given me wisdom and power,
you have made known to me what we asked of you,
you have made known to us the dream of the king."
During the night, Daniel has a vision, knowledge of the dream and an understanding of its meaning. He responds with a psalm of praise. In his praise, Daniel acknowledges that the God of Israel ("of my fathers") controls kings and kingdoms, and can see through any darkness.
Daniel 2:24-30, Daniel approaches the king
Then Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to execute the wise men of Babylon, and said to him, "Do not execute the wise men of Babylon. Take me to the king, and I will interpret his dream for him."
Arioch took Daniel to the king at once and said, "I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can tell the king what his dream means."
The king asked Daniel (also called Belteshazzar), "Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?"
Daniel replied, "No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay on your bed are these: "As you were lying there, O king, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen. As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than other living men, but so that you, O king, may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind.
Daniel tells Arioch he can interpret the dream and is taken to Nebuchadnezzar. There he explains that it is not he, Daniel, that is interpreting the dream but the "God of Heaven", the creator of people and dreams.
Daniel 2:31-35, The King’s Dream
"You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.
A statue in four pieces is shown to Nebuchadnezzar in a dream. Then, in the dream, he sees it destroyed. The statue has a gold head, silver chst and rams, stomach and thighs of bronze and the legs below of an iron clay mix. A rock appears (it was cut out of a mountain, not by human hands.) The rock smashes the iron-clay feet and the statue disintegrates into dust, swept away in the wind. As the statue disappears, the rock takes its place growing into a mountain that covers all the earth.
Daniel 2:36-43, Four kingdoms
"This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king.
You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold. "
After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron for iron breaks and smashes everything and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.
Daniel explains the dream message to the king. He does so with flowery praise, while emphasizing that the king rules at the pleasure of "The God of Heaven." Nebuchadnezzar is the head of gold, superior to all others; the other three pieces are also kingdoms. The last kingdom is the iron-clay mix. It will be brittle and divided.
There are debates about the four kingdoms pictured. The first is, of course, the Babylonian empire of Nebuchadnezzar. The next is presumably the Medo-Persian (Achaemenid) empire that followed represented by Cyrus the Great. The third would then be the Greek empire represented by Alexander the Great, followed by the Roman empire that ruled Palestine from 64 BC on through the time of Christ. (This is the viewpoint of Gleason Archer.) Others suggest Babylon, Mede, Persia and Greece as the four. Commentators note the human desire to break history into ages (eg. Bronze Age, Iron Age, Middle Ages) and the connections of this vision with ones Daniel will have later (Daniel 7-8.)
Daniel 2:44-45, The final kingdom
"In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.
"The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy."
But, says Daniel, there is a final kingdom, the rock which grows into a mountain. It will last forever.
The image of a supernatural rock destroying this massive mountain of kingdoms is an image that resonates across the thousands of years since. We all await the final step of history, as the little stone destroys the mountain of earthly kingdoms. Martin Luther King alludes to this in his "I have a Dream" speech, when he says,
"With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope."
Daniel 2:46-49, The King’s Response
Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him. The king said to Daniel, "Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery."
Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men. Moreover, at Daniel's request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court.
Surely Nebuchadnezzar is impressed that Daniel has recalled his dream. (It is not unusual to remember a forgotten dream if you are later given a small piece of it.) Daniel is rewarded and, at his request, his friends are also. But Nebuchadnezzar's main response seems to be a brief acknowledgment of Daniel's god and relief that his kingdom will continue. The king still misses the main message.
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