The Lord is Our Wisdom - Daniel 2

Introduction

Daniel 2:1–24 (ESV)

In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him. 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. And the king said to them, “I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.” Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.” The 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. But 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.” They answered a second time and said, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show its interpretation.” The 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— if 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.” The 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. The 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.”

Because of this the king was angry and very furious, and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed. So the decree went out, and the wise men were about to be killed; and they sought Daniel and his companions, to kill them. Then 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. He declared to Arioch, the king’s captain, “Why is the decree of the king so urgent?” Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel. And Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time, that he might show the interpretation to the king.

Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said:

“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,

to whom belong wisdom and might.

He changes times and seasons;

he removes kings and sets up kings;

he gives wisdom to the wise

and knowledge to those who have understanding;

he reveals deep and hidden things;

he knows what is in the darkness,

and the light dwells with him.

To you, O God of my fathers,

I give thanks and praise,

for you have given me wisdom and might,

and have now made known to me what we asked of you,

for you have made known to us the king’s matter.”

Therefore Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to him: “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; bring me in before the king, and I will show the king the interpretation.”

I. The Wisdom of Man is Foolishness

Nebuchadnezzar is facing a dilemma that is affecting all of the wise men in Babylon, which incidentally includes Daniel.

Nebuchadnezzar’s name comes from the name Nebo, the Babylonian god of wisdom. Nebuchadnezzar prided himself on having wisdom and knowledge given to him. However, he is facing a disturbing dream that he cannot figure out.

The fact that he cannot figure this out is quite literally driving him mad to the point of mass murder. He wants to know what this disturbing dream is. Now we are not yet given the details of this dream. All we know is that it is disturbing Nebuchadnezzar.

So Nebuchadnezzar’s solution is to call in the wise men of Babylon. They have been hired and trusted with all wisdom and knowledge. What is interesting is that not all of the wise men are here. We know from the end of chapter one that Daniel and his friends were brought on as wise men because God granted them favor by the king. However, they are not present with the group of wise men. Perhaps it’s because the wise men are not happy with these four young men and the favor they have earned.

Nebuchadnezzar’s plan is to seek wisdom from these men who should know all the secrets of the hidden and mysterious. But we see that he has doubts about their purity of motives.

His plan includes making the wise men not just give him the interpretation of the dream, but of the details of the dream itself. He feels that if he tells them what the dream is, then they can make up an interpretation for themselves and he wouldn’t know if they were telling the truth or not. He does not want simple opinions. He wants the truth and the way he knows he will get it is if they can tell him both the dream and the interpretation to the dream.

He knows he is asking the impossible, because if they can do the impossible, he can trust they can give him an accurate interpretation to this dream. He doesn’t want something that simply sounds good, but something that is true.

What do the wise men say? This is impossible for any man to do. Of course, we know they are correct in what they say. This is impossible, something that only God Himself can do. Nebuchadnezzar wants them to prove their wisdom and ability to communicate with their gods. However, the wise men say that only the gods know this and they do not dwell among men. The wise men are acknowledging that they are limited by their own human wisdom.

And herein lies the problem with the wisdom of Babylon and really of all humanity. The wisdom of man is foolishness, because man does not have all knowledge to be able to give true wisdom. Nebuchadnezzar is seeking for wisdom where it cannot be found.

How often do we do this? When life hits us hard and we come to the end of ourselves, where do we turn for help and wisdom? We might know that God alone can give us what we need, but do we turn to Him or do we turn to other sources for help?

I’m not saying that God hasn’t given us people and resources to go to that can help give us wisdom, but too often we rely on things to help us that simply are not designed to do that.

You know what one of the biggest sections of books are in Barnes and Noble? Self-help books. We have a plethora of self-professed experts in helping people deal with the different issues of life. And we do know that life is hard and we are all looking for help navigating the difficulties that life presents. There are no shortage of people who are rising up to try to offer you their opinions on what you need for a difficult situation. We have books to offer advice on marriage, parenting, finances, mental health, success in life and business, leadership, education, motivation, stress management, happiness, self-esteem, etc. Even within the Christian community, we have books that would be labeled self-help. We have hundreds of authors, both Christian and secular offering you their opinions on what works best for you and your situation. They will try to offer advice that sounds good and will play to your emotions to get you to feel good about the direction they send you in. And opinions on these subjects change as the years go by. What worked in one generation goes out of style by the next. There is no certainty that what is being offered now will be good advice in the next 5 years, or even the next 5 months.

Nebuchadnezzar did not want opinions from his wise men. He wanted truth. But it was something they couldn’t give him. The opinions of man failed Nebuchadnezzar. The opinions of man, however good they might sound, will fail us too, because human wisdom is ultimate foolishness.

So because they failed to give him what he wanted, he ordered the execution of all the wise men in Babylon! Which includes the four refugees from Jerusalem, who weren’t even at this meeting.

II. Seek Wisdom From Above (v 17-18)

So, now Daniel and his friends are faced with a life altering situation. They are faced with death for something they were not even involved with. And by a man who expected the impossible from men who could never have fulfilled what the king demanded.

So what does Daniel do when Arioch comes for them? First, Daniel responded to him with prudence and discretion. He did not get angry or panic. He also did not become fatalistic and say, well I guess we are going to die now since this seems like what God has decreed for us.

Daniel, in wisdom, responded with tact to the king’s guard and asked why the king made this terrible decree. Notice, because of Daniel’s prudence and tact, Arioch was much more apt to discuss the situation with him. And Daniel was able to ask for the king to hold off on the execution for a time until he could help show him the interpretation.

Now, verses 17 and 18 give us a picture of Daniel’s character and wisdom.

Daniel and his friends could have chosen two different options at this point in the story.

They could have tried to solve this problem on their own. They were considered the wisest of the wise, so surely their grand intelligence could come up with a viable plan to escape the execution that Nebuchadnezzar had ordered for them.

Try to escape Babylon

Try to plead with Nebuchadnezzar to rethink his order

Try to outsmart Nebuchadnezzar in his plan to withhold the details of the dream

There’s a number of things they could have tried.

We, too, can try to find ways around the problems that life presents to us. We might lie to get ourselves out of a troubling situation that could cause us to lose our job. Perhaps, in order to save money, one might think it better to move in with his/her fiancee so as not to incur the financial penalties of marriage such as taxes and insurance or to simply save on the cost of paying two different rents. Perhaps, in order to escape the pain of a seemingly hopeless situation we turn to the bottle or to substances that can make us forget the pain for a while. There are things that we try to do to manipulate the situations we are faced with and try to use our own wisdom in order to fix a problem.

But what did Daniel do?

He prayed.

Prayer, as we have looked at just a few weeks ago is an act of worship. It is connecting our hearts with the heart of God. Daniel and his friends are seeking mercy from God concerning this mystery. They are trying to see what God is doing in this perplexing problem.

Along with worship, Prayer is an act of trust in God. It is first acknowledging that we are weak and incapable of solving our own problems. It is confessing with God that we are weak and insufficient on our own.

There’s that old saying that “God helps those who help themselves.” And while it sounds like good biblical wisdom, that phrase is never found in the Bible. In fact, what we see is the exact opposite. God helps those who admit they cannot help themselves. God helps those who acknowledge that He is their only help. Perhaps Daniel was reminded of this when he called out Azariah’s name “The Lord is my Helper.” And perhaps Daniel also remembered that God is a gracious helper when he called out Hannaniah’s name “The Lord is gracious.” And that of all the places he could go to for help, “No one else is like God,” like Mishael’s name reminds him of.

Prayer is acknowledging that we are insufficient and that God is trustworthy. Daniel, in his wisdom, remembered Proverbs 1:7

Proverbs 1:7 (ESV)

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

fools despise wisdom and instruction.

He lived his life in the fear of the Lord, which means to trust in Him and to see who He really is.

Perhaps Daniel also remembered Proverbs 3:5-6

Proverbs 3:5–6 (ESV)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make straight your paths.

Daniel knew that true wisdom comes from above and he understood that only God knew the answer to this mystery. He did not try to manipulate the situation or come up with his own solution. He went to the only place where true wisdom could be found.

James 1:5 (ESV)

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

III. Trust in the God Who Dwells With Us

How did Daniel know to go to God? Because Daniel knows the God who dwells with us!

Look at the other wise men’s declaration of the gods in Daniel 2:11

Daniel 2:11 (ESV)

The 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 wise men knew that only the gods could give the answer to Nebuchadnezzar. However, their gods refused to dwell with man. Of course, they are not wrong. The gods could not dwell with man because their gods were false. Their gods did not exist.

However, Daniel knew and trusted in the character of His God. He worshiped and served a God who longed to dwell with His people. How did Daniel know this? Because God revealed this to His people.

In Genesis 3, we see a picture of God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. God initiated a relationship with men like Noah, Abraham, Jacob, and even Moses in order to create a people for Himself to whom He could relate and reveal Himself. God showed He was with His people in the pillar of cloud by day and the fire by night in the wilderness as the people travelled from Egypt to Canaan. Daniel also probably thought back to the temple in Jerusalem, which was a physical picture that reminded God’s people that God desired to dwell among His people.

There is a true living God who does communicate and long to dwell with His people and so Daniel knew he could go to this God for wisdom and help.

We, too, have a God who we can approach and ask for help and wisdom in trying circumstances because our God has come to dwell among us. His name is Jesus. The Babylonian gods may be aloof and far from the people who worshipped them, but we have a God who is both transcendent yet near. God came to dwell with us in the flesh. And not only did he come to live with us, He came to die for us so that we could have unhindered access to God the Father. Because of the sacrificial death of the Son and of His resurrection, we are no longer separated from God by our sin. Much more, Jesus promised His followers that He would send His Holy Spirit who would be a counselor, to guide us in wisdom and truth and to remind us of all that He had taught His disciples and to give us power as His witnesses to the world around us.

Daniel and His friends were able to live faithfully in this hostile culture because they knew God was their wisdom and was able to give them what they needed in trying circumstances.

We, too, by faith, have access to the wisdom of God as we seek to live faithfully in the world around us. By faith, we have access to God the Father through God the Son by the power of God the Spirit! We do not have to lean on our own understanding. We can trust in the Lord with all of our hearts because of what Christ has done for us. We need to remind ourselves of the truths of the Gospel, that on our own we are unable and insufficient to help ourselves, but that we have a God, who has given us all we need in Christ. Let us seek to turn to Him in prayer each day as we live in wisdom and faithfulness in this world He has called us to serve.

Conclusion