Daniel – Chapter 2 Part A
A. Chapter 2 Outline
I. The King and his Pagan Advisors (2:1-13)
a. The Fear (2:1)
b. The Frustration (2:2-13)
i. The Counsellors (2:2)
(1) Magicians
(2) Astrologers
(3) Sorcerers
(4) Chaldeans
ii. The Charge (2:3)
iii. The Cop-out (2:4-7)
iv. The Command (2:8-13)
II. The king and God’s Prophet (2:14-49)
a. God Reveals the Dream to Daniel (2:14-23)
i. The Request (2:14-16)
ii. The Revelation (2:17-19)
iii. The Rejoicing (2:20-23)
b. Daniel Reveals the Dream to Nebuchadnezzar (2:24-49)
i. The Information (2:24-35)
(1) A Statue (2:24-33)
(2) A Stone (2:34-35)
ii. The Interpretation (2:36-45)
(1) Of the Statue (2:36-43)
(2) Of the Stone (2:44-45)
iii. The Elevation (2:46-45)
B. Message
The second Chapter of Daniel has well been called “The A-B-C of Prophecy.” It contains a complete and yet simple prophetic picture. It is in the form of a dream given to a heathen monarch.
As you turn from chapter 1 to chapter 2, the atmosphere in the kings palace changes radically. Chapter 1 closes with recognition and security, but chapter 2 introduces rejection and sorrow.
This chapter also launches us into the Gentile portion of the Book of Daniel. Beginning with the answer of the Chaldeans in verse 4, the Holy Spirit directed Daniel to change from Hebrew to Aramaic. To anyone reading the book in its original languages, the change would be abrupt, calling for special attention. It makes us ask why this change is made. The answer is found in the story.
I. The King and his Pagan Advisors (2:1-13)
a. The Fear (2:1)
When Nebuchadnezzar first came to Jerusalem to conquer, he was not yet king; he was acting for his father, Nabopolassar, back in Babylon. This accounts for the seeming contradiction between the three years of training for Daniel 1:5 and the “second year” of the king’s reign in Daniel 2:1
Nebuchadnezzar awoke with a start; he was fearful because of a dream. The Lord gave him a dream that he could not understand and it scared him. That the Lord God Almighty would communicate His truth to pagan Gentile king is evidence of the grace of God. The phrase “dreamed dreams” may suggest that this one dream kept recurring.
The Lord had given two dreams to Pharaoh in Genesis 41, another Gentile ruler, and Joseph had interpreted them; and God also gave a dream to the magi who came to worship Jesus in Matthew 2:12, and they were Gentiles.
b. The Frustration (2:2-13)
i. The Counsellors (2:2)
The king did what any ancient ruler would do: he summoned his special advisors to help him understand the significance of this dream that had interrupted his sleep and robbed him of his peace. These special advisors had the reputation of being wise men.
(1) Magicians
The magicians wielded the rod of office. Their function was to repel demons and evil spirits by means of special spells and incantations. They were also fortune tellers they would use they magic to tell the future.
(2) Astrologers
The astrologers were prophets who cast horoscopes and studied the stars, announced the will of heaven, and predicted the future.
(3) Sorcerers
The sorcerers used witchcraft, these people became the tools of Satan to unveil the unknown. Pharaoh kept similar advisers in his court Exodus 7:11 Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. In the Law, God commanded that the Hebrews have no dealings with such people Exodus 22:18 Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
(4) Chaldeans
The Chaldeans were a special class of people, distinct from the ordinary Babylonians Jeremiah 22:25 And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
They seemed to have comprised a special class within the priesthood. They were the elite, a group made up of those people of exclusively Chaldean lineage. They also seemed to have a special relation to the temple of Bel-Merodach in which Nebuchadnezzar had put the temple vessels that he had plundered from Jerusalem.
ii. The Charge (2:3)
The request was a simple one from the king – he just wanted to know what his dream meant. He knew that it was significant; he knew that the truth of this dream meant something drastic, either for him or for those surrounding him, but what did it mean?
However, being an unregenerate man without the Holy Spirit, he could not know the meaning of the simplest things of life about him. He, like many before him and like millions since, resorted to anyone who could even hint at what the future held. He turned to the world instead of to God. Mathew 7:7-8 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: [8] For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
iii. The Cop-out (2:4-7)
Verse 4
From here to the end of Chapter 7, we see a change in language from Hebrew to Aramaic. A study of the Hebrew sections and Aramaic sections of Daniel reveals the reason for the language change. The Aramaic section deals primarily with Gentile world power “The times of the Gentiles.”
Aramaic was to the Middle East then, as English is to the world today. It was the language used to communicate to people of other languages. It was therefore a fitting vehicle for God to use when speaking about the Gentile world. The very first words written in Aramaic are “O king”
The Babylonian professionals asked for details of the dreams that had so troubled the king. If he would provide the subject matter of the dreams, they would provide the secrete meaning. They were quite sure that between them they could come up with some sort of interpretation that would keep him happy. After all they were experts of “mumbo-jumbo!”
These “wise men” sum up the world today. They believe they have all the answers and all the time they are deceiving people with Satan’s lies. ALL the answers can be found in the Bible.
I don’t need a horoscope to tell how my day is going to pan out. Psalm 118:24 This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. I don’t need a psychic to tell me what awaits me on the other side 2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. – God has already told us !!!!
Verse 5-6
Many commentators believe that the phrase The thing is gone from me: means that the king forgot his dream (he had dreamt this many times – 2:1 dreamed dreams)
However, it is also believed that the king was testing these wise men and that the phrase The thing is gone from me: is the decree that follows – 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.
This brings us back again to today’s psychics – if they can predict the future why haven’t they all won the lottery????
Nebuchadnezzar seems too clever to be caught out by the so called “tricks of the trade.” He will not be fooled by his counsellors. I believe that he remembered the dream, pondered it, and realised that it contained a significant message concerning him and his kingdom.
The interpretation of this dream was too important for the king to treat it as a routine matter. He wanted to be sure that these “wise men” would give him the correct meaning, for his future was involved.
Maybe he remembered the difference between the counsellors he inherited from his father and the four Jewish young men who had graduated at the top of their class (1:19-20). He had seen how these four boys were ten times better than his counsellors and possessed a wisdom far beyond anything his “wise men” had ever shown. Maybe the king had concluded that if his counsellors had the ability to interpret his dream, then surely they had the ability to tell him the dream.
Verse 7
God humiliates these supposed wise men. They had a great opportunity to receive wealth, prestige, promotion, and the fact that they stalled for time indicates that they were unable to meet the challenge. This in itself set the stage for Daniel to exalt the true and living God of Israel who alone can predict the future:
Isaiah 41:21-23 Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. [22] Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. [23] Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.
iv. The Command (2:8-13)
Verses 8-9
As they pleaded their case, they tried flattery and logic, but all their speeches only made Nebuchadnezzar more and more angry, until finally he had had enough.
Throughout Bible history you find occasions where God exposed the foolishness of the world and the deceptiveness of Satan.
Exodus 7-12 – Moses and Aaron defeat the magicians of Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt.
1 Kings 8 – Elijah on Mount Carmel exposes the deception of Baal worship.
Jeremiah 28 – Jeremiah confronted the false prophet Hananiah and revealed his wickedness
Acts 13:1-12 – Paul exposed the deception of Bar-Jesus the sorcerer.
However, it was Jesus who by His life, teaching and sacrificial death declared the wisdom of this world foolishness with God, and that includes all its myths and false religions
Verse 10-11
The statement wipes out astrology and other forms of human prophecy! Out of their own mouths they condemned their own practices.
Verse 12
The king’s patience with his court magicians was exhausted. He was angry – very furious, he realised that the psychics, and astrologers were useless and could not help him in his need so he commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. Good, bad or indifferent, as far as he was concerned they were all as bad as each other.
Verse 13
The death warrant was signed and because of their education, Daniel and his friends were lumped together with the rest of them. However, because of the kings impossible challenge, he unconsciously followed God’s plan and would open the way for Daniel to do what the counsellors could not do, and ultimately the glory would belong to the Lord.
