Have you ever had a nightmare?
I have. One night I dreamt that Becky and I were over at Mom and Dad’s. This was years ago when they were still alive. Becky was sitting at a table to the right of the TV doing something with a big needle on a rug.
While watching TV, all of a sudden an image appeared of a woman who was not fully clothed, or maybe with no clothes on at all. Remember, this is a dream.
I immediately turned towards Becky to see if she noticed and she picked up that needle and aimed it straight at my eye. I woke up panting, sweating…and I was glad that it was just a dream.
Sometimes we have dreams like that, dreams that disturb us, dreams that can stay with us for years. I’m sure that Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2 was a dream similar to that. Our text says that Nebuchadnezzar “dreamed dreams” and “his mind was troubled and he could not sleep.” So, his dreams kept him awake for the remainder of the night.
His dreams seem to be a portent of the future and he couldn’t escape the feeling that it was his future that was at stake. In the ancient world, such dreams were thought to be shadows that the future cast in front of itself, tipping its hand to show what lay ahead. Indeed, this dream is about the future and the rise and fall of several ancient (and future) kingdoms around the Mediterranean.
That is why Nebuchadnezzar was in such a tizzy to have this dream interpreted. Like most kings of that day, Nebuchadnezzar had a staff of diviners, on hand to interpret the significance of such dreams, and whatever omens might occur.
Matthew Henry notes that “while the sleep of the labouring man is sweet and sound, and the sleep of the sober temperate man free from confused dreams” but we see here that Nebuchadnezzar was a “troubler of God’s Israel” and thus God used these dreams to chasten and humble him.
As chapter 2 begins, we see that it had been a bad night for the king, for his dreams disturbed him. I’m sure he spent the rest of his night in sleepless anxiety, determined to find out what it meant the next morning. And when the king ain’t happy, everybody is in danger. Warren Wiersbe reminds us that “Oriental despots were notoriously temperamental and unpredictable, and here Nebuchadnezzar reveals this side of his character” (The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: Old Testament, p. 1438).
Charles Feinberg tells us, “Whoever wishes to understand the prophetic Scriptures must come to this chapter for the broad outline of God’s future program for the nations, for Israel, and for the glorious kingdom of Messiah. This outline is the simple but comprehensive framework of a multitude of future events. No political document can compare with it, and its importance cannot be overstated” (Charles Lee Feinberg, Daniel: The Kingdom of the Lord, p. 29).
Beginning with the second chapter of Daniel, the grand outline of the program of God for the period of Gentile supremacy and chastisement of Israel is now presented. Nowhere else in Scripture, except in Daniel 7, is a more comprehensive picture given of world history as it stretched from the time of Daniel, 600 years before Christ, to the consummation at the second advent of Christ. It is most remarkable that Daniel was not only given this broad revelation of the course of what Christ called “the times of the Gentiles” (Lk 21:24), but also the chronological prophecy of Israel’s history stretching from the rebuilding of Jerusalem to the second advent of Christ.
Daniel 2 is part of a greater design extending through chapter 7. This section of six chapters is in Aramaic rather than Hebrew and is arranged chiastically:
A. Vision of Four Kingdoms Preceding an Eternal Kingdom (2:1-49)
- Nebuchadnezzar Responds to His Dream (2:1-2)
- Babylonian Wise Men Fail to Convey the Dream and Interpretation (2:3-13)
- Daniel Speaks with the Captain of the Guard (2:14-16)
- Daniel Praises God for Answering His Prayer (2:17-23)
3′. Daniel Speaks with the Captain of the Guard (2:24-25)
2′. Daniel Succeeds in Conveying the Dream and Interpretation (2:26-45)
1′. Nebuchadnezzar Responds to Daniel’s Interpretation (2:46-49)
The chapter begins and ends with the king’s responses. Nebuchadnezzar is troubled by his dream and summons Babylonian wise men (1), and later he honors and promotes Daniel for his ability to meet the royal request (1′). Sections 2 and 2′ contrast the Babylonian wise men with Daniel: court magicians and enchanters cannot relay the king’s dream, but Daniel does. On two occasions Daniel speaks with Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard (3 and 3′), while the center of the chiasm (4) recounts Daniel’s praise to God for answering his prayer.
The structure of the chapter showcases Daniel’s praise, as his themes are integral to the rest of the book. Wisdom and might belong to God (v. 20); he is sovereign over kings and kingdoms (v. 21); he reveals mysteries (v. 22); and he is worthy of thanks and praise (v. 23). This exaltation of God’s sovereignty and power is important for the interpretation Daniel will relay to Nebuchadnezzar, as the succession of kingdoms will occur according to a divine timetable and toward a consummation exalting God’s kingdom over all.
Daniel 2 showcases also the difference between Daniel and the other court enchanters and magicians, but more fundamentally, the vast difference between the true God and the god that Nebuchadnezzar worshipped. Ian Duguid comments that “This is evident from the fact that the story conforms closely to the genre of a “court tale of contest,” much like that of Joseph’s interpretation of Pharoah’s dream in Genesis 41 and similar stories from the Ancient Near East” (Daniel in the Reformed Expository Commentary, p. 19).
In verses 1-3 we see the king’s dilemma.
First, there is the dream that disturbed King Nebuchadnezzar. Verse 1 says…
In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him.
The events related in this chapter happened in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. According to several reliable scholars, Nebuchadnezzar officially became king on September 7, 605 B.C. On the first of Nisan, 604 B.C., during the following spring, the first official year of his reign began. The intervening months constituted his accession year and were credited to his father’s reign. The first year of his reign then ended on the first of Nisan the following year: 603 B.C. The second year of his reign (v. 1) began in 603 and ended in 602 B.C.
Daniel probably arrived in Babylon during the summer of 605 B.C., soon have Nebuchadnezzar’s victory over the Egyptians at Carchemish and began his three-year education (1:4-5) shortly after that, perhaps in the fall. His curriculum may not have taken three full years; it could have ended in the spring of 602 B.C. Thus, Daniel had probably just finished his education and entered into government service when the events of chapter 2 unfolded, as the text implies.
John Walvoord includes this timeline. The chronology of the period, following Wiseman, Thiele, and Finegan, seems to require the following order of events.
May-June, 605 B. C.: Babylonian victory over the Egyptians at Carchemish
June-August, 605 B. C.: Fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar, and Daniel and companions taken captive
September 7, 605 B. C.: Nebuchadnezzar, the general of the army, made king over Babylon after the death of his father, Nabopolassar
September 7, 605 B. C. to Nisan (March-April) 604 B.C.: Year of accession of Nebuchadnezzar as king, and first year of Daniel’s training
Nisan (March-April) 604 B. C. to Nisan (March-April) 603 B. C.: First year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, second year of training of Daniel
Nisan (March-April) 603 B. C. to Nisan (March-April) 602 B. C.: Second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, third year of training of Daniel, also the year of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream
This dream came to Nebuchadnezzar in the second year as sole monarch. “It was not something that the king was likely to forget, but the Holy Spirit ensured his memory by dating it” (John Philllips, Exploring the Book of Daniel, p. 44).
David Jeremiah points out how strange this was, that God would communicate His future plans through a pagan, “the vilest world ruler at that time. It was like God revealing to Hitler what was going to happen with the Berlin Wall, the demise of the USSR, and the Second Coming” (The Handwriting on the Wall, p. 47).
Thomas Constable notes: “Daniel opened this new section of his book with another chronological reference (cf. 1:1, 21). This indicates that his interest in this book was in the progress of events and their relationship to one another. As the book unfolds, chronology plays an important part in what God revealed, though the chronology is not always without interruption” (https://soniclight.com/tcon/notes/html/daniel/daniel.htm#_ftnref85).
The Hebrew text of verse 1 says that Nebuchadnezzar had “dreamed dreams” that disturbed him. Evidently he had a recurring dream or similar dreams that he later described as one dream (v. 3). These dreams robbed him of rest, as Pharaoh’s dreams did him (Gen. 41), and Ahasuerus’ dream did him (Esth. 6). He couldn’t go back to sleep for the rest of the night.
He was unsettled, deeply disturbed, by what he saw and because he did not understand its meaning. This would be especially frustrating for a king who thought that perhaps the gods were revealing something to him about the future of his kingdom. What was it?
Maybe Nebuchadnezzar was worried about how long Babylon would be great. Shakespeare was right, “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.” Or as British teacher Geoffrey R. King writes, “As is so often the case, the cares of the day become also the cares of the night….Nebuchadnezzar did a thing which no believer in God should ever dream of doing: Nebuchadnezzar took his problems to bed with him” (Daniel: A Detailed Explanation of the Book, p. 49).
All of these Gentile rulers suffered insomnia as part of God’s dealings with them and the people who lived under their authority. Earlier Gentile rulers who received revelations from God were Abimelech (Gen. 20:3) and Pharoah (Gen. 41:1-8). The ancients regarded dreams as having significance and as foreshadowings of events to come.
God gave this dream to Nebuchadnezzar because through him “the times of the Gentiles” had begun. Nebuchadnezzar was the first Gentile king to be ruler of the world, but more particularly, he was the Gentile king who, in conquering Judah, started the era known as “the times of the Gentiles,” which stretches from 605 B.C. to the second coming of Jesus Christ.
By the way, when God gave His revelation to Nebuchadnezzar, He communicated by dreams. He never used visions, as He did in His revelations to Daniel. “In fact,” writes commentator Leon Wood, “the Scripture shows God regularly employing a dream when giving a revelation to pagans. The reasons seems to be that, with the dream, the human personality is neutralized and made a passive instrument for the occasion. With the vision, however, the person himself is often a participant and must be constituted to respond and react in a proper manner, something true only of a child of God” (A Commentary on Daniel, p. 44). In visions, there can be back and forth conversation.
Then there is Nebuchadnezzar’s decision to call his wise men to help him determine the meaning of this dream. Daniel and his friends were not included for some reason. This may well have happened the very same night of his dream, early in the morning.
Then 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.
Notice that he had a whole cadre of counselors to help him not only interpret troubling dreams, but to give him guidance for ruling his kingdom. In modern American terms, this was his “cabinet” of advisors and Nebuchadnezzar called for all of them. So greatly in need of the help of his expects in oneiromancy (a form of divination based upon dreams, and the use of those dreams to predict the future), Nebuchadnezzar turned in vain to them to reconstruct the dream itself (v. s) and then to tell him its significance (v. 3).
“Magicians” functioned to “repel demons and evil spirits by means of special spells and incantations. In other words, they dealt in magic, an art of reaching back into the mists of antiquity” (John Philllips, Exploring the Book of Daniel, pp. 44-45).
“Enchanters” were prophets “who cast horoscopes and studied the stars, announced the will of heaven, and predicted the future” (John Philllips, Exploring the Book of Daniel, p. 45). These could communicate with the spirit world.
The “sorcerers” were the wizards who practiced black magic and communicated with the dead.
Now, in the law, God had warned the Hebrews not to have any dealings with such people. In fact, they were to exercise strict and swift judgment against them. Exodus 22:18 says, “Do not allow a sorceress to live.”
The “Chaldeans” were a special class, distinct from ordinary Babylonians (Jere. 22:25; Ezek. 23:23) and belonged to southern Babylonia. “They seem also to have comprised a special class within the priesthood. They were the elite, a group made up of those people of exclusively Chadean linage, and they seem to have had a special relation to the temple of Bel-Merodach, in which Nebuchadnezzar had put the temple vessels that he had plundered from the temple of Jerusalem” (John Phillips, Exploring the Book of Daniel, p. 45).
These were the professional counselors to the king. Their specialty was the world of the unknown, discerning the “signs.” Today we call them “psychics.”
All of this dependence upon signs and the stars is still around today. According to a Gallup survey more than 32 million Americans believe in astrology.
It is likely that the king already had his doubts about this group. He said to them “I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream” (Daniel 2:3). As we will see, Nebuchadnezzar refuses to tell them what the dream itself was. This would make it impossible for them to give a correct interpretation of the dream unless truly inspired by the gods. As we will see, their inability to do so put them all in real danger and provides the opportunity for Daniel to come forth as a genuine interpreter of dreams because he served the true God.
Thus, this was like the showdown at O.K. Corral. Death was certainly a possibility in this story. It was Daniel and his three friends vs. Nebuchadnezzar’s cabinet of advisors; but even more, it was between Judah’s God and the idols and false gods of the Babylonian empire. Through all this God was trying to humble Nebuchadnezzar so that he would seek the true God and He was seeking to assure His people that He was still in control and still watching out for them.
Grace Still Amazes 