5/09/21 – Daniel 2:1-9
Daniel 2:1 – And in the
second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar
dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from
him.
spirit – ruwach (wind;
breath; mind; spirit) It can represent the seat of emotions and feelings (such as sorrow,
trouble) or as the seat of mental acts, or as the seat of moral character.
was troubled – pa‘am (Hithpael tense)
(to be disturbed)
Thus Nebuchadnezzar was emotionally disturbed.
Used the same in Vs 3 below.
brake – hayah (Niphal
tense) (to occur; come to pass; be done; be brought about; be
finished; be gone) That is, his sleep was gone from him.
It appears to have occurred before Daniel’s three-year training period was completed, although it is possible that the king’s years were counted differently in that culture. Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem after his victory over Egypt at Carchemish in 605 BC, and Nebuchadnezzar’s father (King Nabopolassar) died not long after that victory. It does seem logical that Daniel should have completed his 3-year training before being called to interpret the king’s dream, but this may not be so.
Apparently Nebuchadnezzar had a number of dreams, but it was one in particular that caused him great anxiety (he was disturbed in his thinking or emotions because of this dream). Note singular “dream” in Vs 3 below and further. He woke up because of this anxiety and, it seems, had not been able to go back to sleep again while these thoughts troubled him.
In many cultures of the ancient world, dreams were supposed to be prophetical in nature. Even today some cultures (eg Hinduism and Buddhism) place value upon the importance of dreams.
Cambridge says: “In Assyria and Babylonia, as in Egypt, and other countries of the ancient world, dreams were regarded as significant, and as portending future events. The Assyrian inscriptions furnish several instances of deities appearing in dreams with words of encouragement or advice.”
The OT has many examples of dreams having meanings, especially those where God uses dreams to speak to people. Eg Abimelech (Genesis 20:3); Joseph (Genesis 37:5-11); the butler and baker in prison with Joseph (Genesis Ch.40); Pharaoh (Genesis Ch.41).
God said that He would speak to prophets in a dream.
Numbers 12:6 – And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, [I] the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, [and] will speak unto him in a dream.
Nebuchadnezzar had another dream as recorded in Daniel Ch.4, and in Daniel 7:1 Daniel has a dream.
And note that classic passage about the end times in Joel where old men shall dream dreams when God pours out His Spirit upon them.
Joel 2:28-32 – 28And it shall come to pass afterward, [that] I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 29And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. 30And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 31The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. 32And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.
Daniel 2:2 – Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king.
to call – qara’ (Qal tense) (to call; to call out; cry; utter a
loud sound; cry for help; proclaim; read aloud; summon; invite)
magicians – as used in Daniel 1:20. The Aramaic form is used in Daniel 2:10 and 4 times elsewhere in Daniel. The Hebrew
form occurs 11 times in the OT.
astrologers –This Hebrew word is only
used twice in the OT, both in Daniel, here and in Daniel 1:20.
The Aramaic form of this word is also used 7 times, also only found in Daniel.
Another word translated “astrology” is also found in Isaiah 47:13.
sorcerers – Occurs 6 times in the
OT, and the only occurrence in Daniel.
Chaldeans – Occurs 4 times in
Daniel. We looked at this word in Daniel 1:4 when the youths selected for
service were to learn “the learning and the
tongue of the Chaldeans”,
that is, the specialised knowledge of the Chaldeans.
It is clear that Babylon
was indeed a place of sorcery and witchcraft, and it is in this respect that
Babylon is declared to be “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE
GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”
(Revelation 17:5)
Although Babylon the city no longer physically exists, its religion which still
exists will be destroyed in the final days before the end.
to shew – nagad (Hiphil
tense) (to tell; declare; announce; report; make known; inform of;
proclaim; to be a messenger)
The king commands (by right of his absolute authority) that these
supposedly learned men come in order to declare (make
known) his dreams. The word is plural here, yet singular (“dream”) in Vs 3
below. These men were called because they would have been the ones who would
have made claims to understand such dreams. It was probably part of the mystery
of their learnedness that they would make use of in establishing that they were
necessary to the king. In actual fact, they probably
knew little or even nothing of dreams, and would have had all the right
terminology to make it look like they were “explaining” what they alone were
able to “know”. Effectively they would probably have tried to blind the king
with science (as the saying goes), using intellectually-sounding words and
phrases that could mean anything but made it look like they knew what they were
talking about.
It is probable that the king was actually setting
them up to either tell what they know about dreams or be exposed as charlatans.
He was probably getting tired of their constant mindless drivel that they
conspired to use to justify their keep.
Daniel 2:3 – And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.
to know – yada‘ (Qal tense) (to
know; to learn to know; to perceive; to have knowledge)
The king now gets more specific. Not just dreams in general but “a dream”. While it appears that the king might want to know what
the dream itself was, the context does suggest also that the king knew what the
dream was about but was wanting to know if his wise men also could deliver on
their claimed learning. That is, here is your opportunity to prove yourselves.
He also would have wanted to know what it meant as well. When the “wise” men then
try to buy extra time to save their heads from rolling (Vs 8 below),
Nebuchadnezzar accuses them of conspiring to lie and deceive him. When Daniel, later on, tells the king what his dream was about,
Nebuchadnezzar doesn’t question him at all, despite the fact that Daniel is so
far a nobody in this situation. It does seem clear that what Daniel said about
the king’s dream added up to what the king remembered of it, and therefore the
king highly praises Daniel.
Daniel 2:46 – Then
the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and
commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him.
Thus
I would say that what troubled the king was what the dream meant, rather than
what the dream was about. It was the why, not the what, that troubled
Nebuchadnezzar. But he still wanted to know if his wise men were really wise or just full of talk and no substance.
Daniel 2:4 – Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack,
O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will shew the
interpretation.
Syriack – ‘Aramiyth (the language of Aram; Aramaic) Or
Syriac-Aramaic.
the king – melek
(king) (Aramaic) The occurrences of “king” in Daniel Ch.1 were the Hebrew word melek (king). From Daniel 2:4b until Daniel 7:28
the original script was in Aramaic which is mostly very similar to Hebrew. The
Aramaic language section commences with their words “O king”.
tell – ‘amar
This is the Aramaic equivalent of the Hebrew word translated “commanded” in Daniel 2:2
and “said” in Daniel 2:3.
will shew – chava’ (Pael tense) (interpret;
make known) (Aramaic)
It seems that what Nebuchadnezzar wants is to find
out if they know what his dream was about. Probably he reasoned that if they didn’t know what it was about, then how could they tell him
why he had the dream. It was one thing to make up all kinds of
impressive-sounding explanations of a dream when they knew what the dream was
about, but impossible to make up such impressive vocabulary when they had no
idea what he had dreamed! It does sound a bit like Nebuchadnezzar is being
somewhat sneaky here.
Daniel 2:5 – The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.
answered – ‘anah (Aramaic) (to
answer; make reply; respond) The king responded to their statement.
houses – bayith (Aramaic) (house
of men or of God) Their houses would be destroyed, leaving nowhere for their families to
live. The Hebrew equivalent is bayith from
which we get names such as Bethel and Bethlehem.
The thing – millah (Aramaic) (word;
thing; utterance; command; affair; matter)
is gone – ‘azad (Aramaic) (gone;
departed)
The thing is gone from me
– There is some confusion as to what this actually means.
The apparently straight-forward meaning is that the dream itself has gone from
the king’s mind; that is, he cannot recall some or all of
the detail of the dream. If millah is taken to
mean “thing” and if “thing” refers to the dream, then the above reasoning could
apply.
However, if millah
is translated as “utterance” or even “command”, then
Nebuchadnezzar could be actually saying that the following command or decree
has gone or departed from me (that is, has been pronounced). It would then be
the equivalent of saying, “My command has already been made!”
millah
is translated “words” in Vs 9 below.
The clause “The thing is
gone from me” is repeated again in Vs
8 below. It is reasonable to assume the same meaning for both.
Both possible interpretations are possible, although it does seem that in Vs 8 the king does seem to be saying that the Chaldeans were trying to buy extra time because the command had already gone out from him that they would be cut into pieces, rather than the dream details had gone from the king’s memory.
Therefore, while either interpretation appears possible, I would conclude that the king is telling the Chaldeans that the utterance (or decree) concerning their punishment for non-compliance had already been established and that there was no turning back from the decree of the king (which was that if they failed to deliver as required, then they would be cut up into pieces and left without anywhere to live. Being left without anywhere to live shouldn’t worry them if they are dead, of course, but it does seem to mean that their social status is removed after their deaths.
Benson says: “The ground of this threatening of the king is, that the eastern nations esteemed it a very grievous punishment inflicted upon any one to efface his memory, which in a great measure would be done by pulling down his house, and preventing its being ever rebuilt.”
Cambridge says: “The thing is gone from me] The word spoken by me—lit. (proceeding) from me—is sure. The king means that the threat which follows is fully resolved upon by him. Azda is a Persian word, meaning sure, certain; the rendering ‘gone’ is philologically indefensible.”
Ellicott says: “Is gone from me.—This difficult word, the etymology of which is very uncertain, appears only here and Daniel 2:8. It seems to mean, “The order has been published by me (comp. Esther 7:7; Isaiah 45:23), and therefore cannot be recalled.””
Most of the OT original language is Hebrew with only 268 verses in Aramaic (200 verses in Daniel, 67 in Ezra and one in Jeremiah). Much of our passage today is in Aramaic (Vs 4b onward) and therefore it is not always easy to look at the OT usage of Aramaic words to gain some idea of how it is used.
An OT Hebrew equivalent of ‘azad
(is gone; is departed) could be mowtsa’ (act or place
of going out or forth; rising of sun; going forth of a command; issue; source;
spring; utterance) as in
Psalm 89:34 – My
covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out (mowtsa’) of my lips.
or yatsa’ (to
go out or come forth; depart; proceed to’ go forth) as in
Isaiah 45:23 – I
have sworn by myself, the word is gone out (yatsa’)
of my mouth [in] righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
where mowtsa’ is derived from yatsa’.
The punishment decreed for these “wise” men was
also promised in the following:
Daniel 3:29 – Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which
speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed–nego, shall be cut in pieces,
and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God
that can deliver after this sort.
And a similar punishment was also decreed in Ezra 6:11. Note that both Daniel 3:29 and Ezra 6:11 were also in the
Aramaic OT passages.
It is clear that not being able to satisfy the king’s requirements like this was something you didn’t do twice.
Daniel 2:6 – But if ye shew the dream, and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honour: therefore shew me the dream, and the interpretation thereof.
shew – chava’ (Pael tense)
(Aramaic) (to show; to interpret)
It’s a bit like a huge gamble here: either you win all or you lose all! All or nothing!! If they know what he’s asking for, then now would be a very good time to say it. If they don’t know, then gambling for extra time might just prolong the inevitable (see Vs 8 below). Maybe at other times they might have conspired to hear what the king said, or even to make up what they think he might have dreamed (assuming of course that he had forgotten the dream). However, the one thing that would go against making up a dream storyline would be if they thought there was a chance he might know it anyway. They must have thought it a risk too great to take at that stage. Their reaction suggests that they thought the king might be testing them here.
Daniel 2:7 – They answered
again and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will shew the
interpretation of it.
answered – or “responded” – see Vs 5 above
That is, tell us so we can make up some plausible explanation for it. Give us some idea of what it was about so that we can make up something plausible.
Daniel 2:8 – The king
answered and said, I know of certainty that ye would gain the time, because ye
see the thing is gone from me.
certainty – yatstsiyb (Aramaic) (surely;
reliably; truly) The king is certain that they are hedging for extra time because it
must have been clear to him that they didn’t have a
clue about what he wanted to know. Probably the king was a lot more aware of
their contrivances than they had given him credit for. (“Hedging” is to take a
course of action that minimises future risk, such as hedging your bets; to
take an action in order to offset a potential
future loss.. These Chaldeans
were certainly trying to avoid committing themselves until they had a better
idea of the direction they should take.)
would gain – zᵉban (Aramaic) (to
buy; gain) Thus “gain the time” would be to “buy extra time”.
see – or “behold”
the thing is gone from me – The command concerning your punishment
has already been established – “But if ye will not make known unto me
the dream, [there is but] one decree for you” – see Vs 9
below.
If only they could be assured that the king had truly forgotten what he
had dreamed. Then they could make up something plausible. But if he had not
forgotten, then …?
He accuses them of trying to buy extra time to think of something that
will save their heads from rolling. They are simply trying to avoid committing
themselves until they have a better idea of the course of action that will save
their lives.
Daniel 2:9 – But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, [there is but] one decree for you: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can shew me the interpretation thereof.
decree – or “law”
[there is but] one decree for you – That is, the command that has already been given by the king: “The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.” That word “if” says it all. One course of action saves their lives but another means death, and they are trying hard to find out what they need to know before they are cut to pieces. They are now accused of conspiring together to present lies and deceits that might keep them alive until such time as the king no longer needs to know what they think. They know that the moment they commit themselves to anything, they will then find out whether they will live or die. Better, they think, to keep things as vague as possible until they know more about it.
lying (words) – or “false statements”
corrupt words – or “perverted words” or “perversions”. That is, proclaiming their lies to be the truth. This would effectively be classified as perjury punishable by law today.
till the time be changed – Until enough time has passed to permit something else to take the king’s attention away from their own serious plight.
have prepared – zᵉman (Aramaic) (to
agree together; to agree beforehand) That is, the Chaldeans had conspired beforehand
to give this answer to the king. In particular, it
appears that part of their strategies (in which Daniel and his companions had
been trained) to be able to give acceptable answers involved certain responses
to questions for which they had no clear answer. (Similar to the training that
many cults give to their members.) These would have been stock answers intended
to defuse any risky situation where the king might have their lives if they
failed to answer correctly. Such conspired answers would have included
vagueness, or a claim to be more educated than others, or to know things that
others less-initiated might not be permitted to know. It seems that the king
was getting sick of being told non-answers such as he had been told this day,
and had decided to use his absolute authority to get answers which they would
only give if they were put on the spot such as now. That is, give me the answer
now or you’ll be unable to give another answer ever
again!
Thus, “I have already told you what will happen to you if you do not
tell me what my dream was about and what it means: you will be cut up into
pieces and your houses be made a dunghill. Do not try to avoid the issue here
by verbal gymnastics designed to confuse the issue. You are trying to pull the
wool over my eyes by the use of carefully sculpted
statements (see 2 Peter 2:3 – “feigned
words”).
You have conspired together to present lies by perverting the truth. So either tell me what my dream was and what it meant so
that I can know that you can actually do what you claim to do. Or else!!”)
The stage is set now for Daniel to be approached in
order to give the wisdom of God to the king. (Much like Joseph and his
dream interpretations being set up to get him into that position of authority
with Pharaoh.) This is what makes me think that Nebuchadnezzar actually did know what the dream said. How could he be so
certain that Daniel had hit the nail on the head? This could only be if God had
told Daniel what the dream was about and also that
Nebuchadnezzar knew for certain that what Daniel said was the dream as he
remembered it.
To Messages and Teachings page
List of all my posts on this site
Hoppers Crossing Christian Church homepage