A Powerful Dream

This part three of my study of the book of Daniel. You may want to start at the beginning
or just read the study from last week
to get some context. Essentially, we left Daniel, Haneniah, Mishael, and Azariah at a point were they'd finished their training to become Chaldean wise men after being taken hostage from the land of Judah.

Today, I start into chapter 2
:

1In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him. 2Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. 3And the king said to them, "I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream." 4Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, "O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation."

Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. It was such a powerful dream that he couldn't sleep, so he called every wise guy in the realm to help him. Nebuchadnezzar is king and can demand the help of every wise man to help him with his dream. You can think of the various sorcerers and enchanters as professors, advisors, psychologists, and generally the best trained theorists of the time. They come to him, praise him, and then show their eagerness to help him. However, they seemed to have stepped on a sore point with the king by asking for him to tell the dream...

5The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, "The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins. 6But if you show the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. Therefore show me the dream and its interpretation."

You see, Nebuchadnezzar appears a bit hesitant to share the dream itself. They seem a bit too eager to please him, at least that's how it seems to me. Therefore, he threatens them seriously. He will destroy them if they fail and their houses (and their families, by implication).

7They answered a second time and said, "Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show its interpretation." 8The king answered and said, "I know with certainty that you are trying to gain time, because you see that the word from me is firm— 9if you do not make the dream known to me, there is but one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times change. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation."

Wow. That is quite a demand. Nebuchadnezzar is a skeptic. He's calling the bluff of these so called magicians. It's almost as if he wants the excuse to be rid of these respected advisors and is using this troubling dream as a lever to off them. Whatever his motivation, this should be proof that Nebuchadnezzar is clearly a brutal ruler. He's also perceptive because he's sensed their eagerness to please and therefore presents them with a seemingly impossible situation: they must prove their power by telling him something only he knows.

10The Chaldeans answered the king and said, "There is not a man on earth who can meet the king's demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean. 11The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh."

The king has asked for the impossible. He wants an answer to his dream, but he's serious about wanting a true answer and not some made up answer. He's, apparently, convinced that the only way he can be sure of the interpretation's authenticity is to ask them to not only reveal the interpretation, but the dream itself. Obviously, the magicians themselves have no such power.

12Because of this the king was angry and very furious, and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed. 13So the decree went out, and the wise men were about to be killed; and they sought Daniel and his companions, to kill them.

Okay, so perhaps Nebuchadnezzar is being a bit foolish here. It is the second year of his reign and perhaps his letting his anger get away from him. Anyway, if we weren't convinced with how seriously afflicting this dream must have been to Nebuchadnezzar's psyche, we should be convinced now. He's going to kill every trained wise man in the entire province of Babylon. That's probably not a small order.

We also find out that Daniel was not part of the wise men called to the king's court. Interesting. So after finding he was ten times better and we already know he was skilled with the interpretation of dreams, he wasn't called. Whatever politicking or other arrangement caused this to happen isn't recorded, but we see now that Daniel hasn't had a crack at the dream yet.

14Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Arioch, the captain of the king's guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. 15He declared to Arioch, the king's captain, "Why is the decree of the king so urgent?" Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel. 16And Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time, that he might show the interpretation to the king.

Excuse my french, but, "Holy @#$%!" The captain of the guard comes to Daniel's house and says, "By decree of the king, you are to be put to death immediately." His guards grab Daniel and, perhaps, his friends and begin to bind them while the executioner gets the ax ready. Daniel says, "Excuse me, why is it so urgent that you kill me and the other wise men of Babylon?" That's pretty bold. Since the captain's name is mentioned, it's probably reasonable to assume that Daniel knew him and used that to help him, but it's still pretty bold.

Daniel's response is something like, "Gee whiz. If he'd just called me instead, I could have helped. I'd like Nebuchadnezzar to give me some time and perhaps I can help him with this matter." How he managed to get this message off and avoid a prompt execution, I don't know. The mechanics aren't explained, but it is clear that Daniel had at least been apprehended and told he was to be executed soon.

There are a few applications I can take away from this section. First, responding with, "Hey! This isn't fair!" when circumstances outside our control lead to us being put into a bad situation just isn't the right reaction. When circumstances like this arise, we need to be humble and, if possible, work out a solution. As a corollary, I think it's important to note that Daniel doesn't seem unprepared. He appears to know the captain of the guard, Arioch, and I think it's a reasonable guess that he used what influence he had with him to try and defuse the situation.

I believe this shows the difference between blustering, false martyrdom and meekness—a word sometimes defined as "power under control." Daniel uses what authority he had left to do what he could. He doesn't mince words, "Why is the decree of the king so urgent?" Then, hearing the answer, he took action without any fancy words, just action. That's it. I think that's a lesson worth learning.

Next week, we'll take a look at Nebuchadnezzar's dream and how it is interpreted.

Cheers.