Nebuchadnezzar's Troubling Dream

Recap:

As we get back into the book of Daniel, we want to remember what it was that we have studied through to this point

First Daniel was taken into captivity during the first wave of captives taken to Bablyon

We know from Scripture that God had told Israel that He would and was going to judge them if they did not turn from their sin and repent and come back to God

We know that Scripture records that he was going to use Babylon to meet out that Judgment

But we also know that even though they were under the judgment of God becuase of the nations sins as a whole, it didn’t mean that everyone was unrighteous

In fact we see that truth reflected in Daniel and his friends who now found themselvs in the service of the kings court

They purposed in their hearts not to defile themselves before God by doing things that were against the Law of God!

This showed dedication and faith

Attributes that if the nation as a whole had demonstrated they would not be under the judgment of God!

But God was positioning these young men for His purposes, For his glory!

And we see this right off the bat

When Daniel said he could not eat the kings food God provied for Him and his friends

Increasing their health and appearance

God helped them to excel in their learning and training for the service of the King!

To the point that out of all the men in training there were none that were found like Daniel and his friends!

God is faithful to us, if we remain faithful to Him!

Introduction:

As we have seen so many times in Scripture that God prepares his children for service in so many differnt ways

to the point that that we can’t fully understand of even know where He will have us in the future

But we can know that right now He is preparing us for what he has for us, for a life that will please and honor Him and a life that will be used to fulfill the plan and purpose of God

As we think about what it is to be in the center of God’s will

We must admit and acknowledge that it will not be easy to follow where he leads

We must acknowledge that it will call us to sacrifice what we want for what He says is best

We must ready our hearts and our minds to walk through various trials and tribulations

Because where God works and is working is seldom in a Ritz Carlaton

As we are going to see as we begin chapter two, Daniel’s life is going to be on the line yet again!

Which begs me to ask the question, if your life was on the line woudl you remain faithful to Him?

The Kings Dreams:

Daniel 2:1 ESV

1 In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him.

So shortly after the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar began, he is troubled by dreams!

We will see what these dreams are soon

But we know that they bothered him enough that he was unable to sleep!

The only thing worse than a crazy, tempermental, king, is a crazy, tempermental king with no sleep!

But we do know, from the rest of this chapter that this dream was from God

I want you to not that when we get to verses 24-26 of this chapter we see it is one dream

But here it says he was troubled by dreams, which woudl indicate that it was the same dream that was reoccuring over again and again.

I know I have had bad dreams, but seldom are the ones that occur over and over agains

Nebuchadnezzar’s solution:

Daniel 2:2 ESV

2 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.

In Nebuchadnezzar’s mind there was only one way to handle his problem and that was to summon the advisers that he would seek wisdom from

Enchanters

Magicians

Sorcerers

Chaldeans

These were ones who practices paganism

Making claims of being able to tell the future

Making claims to be connected to the supernatural

Making claims that they alone would be able to advise in situations like this.

But Now they were going to be put to the test, to see exactly if they could produce when the king needed them to

So they came, as called, and stood before the king, ready to give the king advice and wisdom to help him understand His dream

The Bible Knowledge Commentary 2:2–3

If the method used by one failed to produce the desired result, hopefully the method employed by another would reveal the dream’s significance. They were called collectively to exercise their enchantments in order to give the king an interpretation that would placate him. The king challenged the wise men, saying, I want to know what it means.

But as we are about to see if they couldn’t tell the king what his dream meant then it wasn’t going to end well for them

Daniel 2:3 ESV

3 And the king said to them, “I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.”

Get ready boys, to go to work, and tell me what I need to know

Put to the Test:

Daniel 2:4–6 ESV

4 Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.” 5 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. 6 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.”

I love this!

They start by saying “O King, Live forever”

What a bunch of brown nosers

They would say this to say that their intentions were to benefit the king

That is they had no intentions of failing the king, going against the king, or harming the king in anyway

So they make a request afte they butter him up a bit

“Tell your servant your dream that we may interpret it for you.”

But Nebuchadnezzar had no

The Bible Knowledge Commentary 2:5–6

Though the king may have made such a demand on the wise men previously and been satisfied with their answers, he evidently had never asked them to interpret a dream that he discerned had such significance. So he decided to test them. If they could predict the future by interpreting dreams, they should be able to reconstruct the past and recall the king’s dream. So he refused to share his dream with them. This does not mean he had forgotten it. Had he done so, the wise men, to save themselves from death, could easily have fabricated a dream and then interpreted it. The king reasoned that if they could not recall the past, their predictions concerning the future could not be trusted.