Daniel 2:1-7
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.
The second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar would have been 604-603 B.C.
He had dreamed a very powerful and prophetic dream that it literally
caused his sleep to depart from him, that is, he was no longer able to sleep
because of the intensity of that dream.
Daniel and his friends would be put to the test on this first difficult
situation. Now here was the
situation that occurred. This was
the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign which meant that Daniel and his
friends had not yet completed their three years of training which we saw in
chapter one. So they were going to
be called upon in the service of the King before their time of presentation.
This verse shows a powerful principle that it is not book learning that
propels us in our Christian walk but the fact of obedience whereby God uses a
clean vessel to accomplish His work in the Kingdom.
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.
Since Daniel was not yet in the service of the King, the King had called all the
regular court prognosticators in to try and gain an interpretation of that
dream. Daniel was not summoned
because he was not ready yet to appear before the King.
The magicians were ones who dealt with horoscopes.
The astrologers were those who looked at star positions and try to
interpret their meaning. The
sorcerers were those who practiced the black arts such as magic and
incantations. The Chaldeans
represented the entire group of all occult practitioners.
Like many ancient Kings, he thought that the gods were trying to
communicate some great truth to him.
Daniel 2:3
And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled
to know the dream.
Nebuchadnezzar then tells the group that he has dreamed a dream which caused him
to become very troubled in his spirit.
The dream was intense enough to cause him to be troubled but the fact
that he could not understand what the meaning of the dream was caused him great
anguish. He was now hoping that
someone among that vast group would be able to give him the meaning of that
dream. However, the King threw a
condition into his request and that was for the counselors to not only give him
the meaning of the dream but they were to describe the dream to him.
This way he could be assured of a true interpretation.
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.
The Chaldeans then spoke to the king.
They were probably the more senior or important group in the King’s court
or they were the ones who did the interpretation of dreams and therefore they
began the dialogue with the King.
Here they asked the King to tell them the particulars of the dream.
Just a little background on the Chaldeans.
In Hebrew they are called “Kasdim” which lived by the city of Ur which is
located by the Persian Gulf. The
founding father of the Kasdim was Chesed who was the nephew of Abraham through
his brother Nahor.
Genesis 11:28 (KJV) And Haran
died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.
Genesis 11:31 (KJV) And Terah
took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his
daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of
the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt
there.
Genesis 22:20-22 (KJV) And it
came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold,
Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor;
{21} Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of
Aram, {22} And Chesed, and Hazo,
and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.
The Chaldeans first appeared in the ninth century B.C. in the southern part of
Mesopotamia and became allies with the Babylonians and Elamites.
Ancient Assyrian records claim that about 200,000 Chaldean were resettled
among the Babylonian Empire.
Chaldeans eventually became identified as Babylonians since they assimilated
into their culture rather quickly.
From Daniel 2:4 through chapter 7, the book of Daniel is written in Aramaic.
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.
Now the King gets down to business with them.
He states that he can no longer remember the dream and it is up to the
Chaldeans to describe the dream to him.
The consequences are great.
If they cannot describe the dream to him, then they will be executed by being
cut in pieces, probably torn limb from limb, which was probably one type of
execution used in that day. The
penalty was not only for the counselors but also to their families.
They too would be executed on the order of the King and their houses
would be made into heaps of garbage.
Here is another great principle in this verse.
Satan will always let his people down and will never help them, only
destroy them. He also does not have
the ability to interpret dreams which God has placed in the heart of the King
because the occult is never beneficial only deadly.
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.
Here the King gives the other side of the situation.
If the Chaldeans are successful and are able to tell the King the details
of the dream along with the meaning, then he would grant them great gifts,
rewards, and honor. That would
probably include riches and positions and land for big houses.
The King would make them wealthy and powerful.
Then the King gets right back to business and without further stalling on
their part he wants to know the details of the dream and its meaning.
Daniel 2:7
They answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we
will shew the interpretation of it.