Daniel 2.3-Nebuchadnezzar Expresses His Anxiety To His Occult Priests, Nercomancers, Sorcerers And Astrologers With Regards To His Dream
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday January 25, 2012
Daniel: Daniel 2:3-Nebuchadnezzar Expresses His Anxiety To His Occult Priests, Necromancers, Sorcerers And Astrologers With Regards To His Dream
Lesson # 27
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 2:1.
Daniel 2:3 records Nebuchadnezzar expressing his anxiety to his occult priests, necromancers, sorcerers and astrologers as a result of his recurring dream.
Daniel 2:1 Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was troubled and his sleep left him. 2 Then the king gave orders to call in the magicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. 3 The king said to them, “I had a dream and my spirit is anxious to understand the dream.” (NASB95)
Verse 3 is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), which is not translated and is followed by the third person masculine singular qal active imperfect form of the verb ʾā∙mǎr (אָמַר) (aw-mar), “said” and then we have the preposition lĕ (לְ) (lamed), “to” and its object is the third person masculine plural pronomial suffix -hē∙mā(h) (־הֵמָה) (hay-maw), “them” which is followed by the articular masculine singular form of the noun mě∙lěḵ (מֶלֶךְ) (meh-lek), “the king” and then we have the masculine singular form of the noun ḥǎlôm (חֲלֹום) (khal-ome´), “dream” which is followed by the third person singular qal active perfect form of the verb ḥā∙lǎm (חָלַם) (khaw-lam´), “I had” and then we have the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the third person feminine singular niphal passive imperfect form of the verb pā∙ʿǎm (פָּעַם) (paw-am´), “is anxious” and then we have the feminine singular construct form of the noun rûaḥ (רוּחַ) (roo´-akh), “spirit” which is modified by the first person singular form of the personal pronoun ʾǎnî (אֲנִי) (an-ee), “I” and once again we have the preposition lĕ (לְ) (lamed), “to” and its object is the qal active infinitive construct form of the verb yā∙ḏǎʿ (יָדַע) (yaw-dah´), “understand” and then we have the object marker ʾēṯ (אֵת) (ayth), which is not translated and then lastly we have the articular masculine singular form of the noun ḥǎlôm (חֲלֹום) (khal-ome´), “dream.”
The conjunction wa is a marker of a sequence of closely related events meaning that it is introducing a clause that marks the next sequential event that took place after the occult priests, necromancers, sorcerers and astrologers stood before Nebuchadnezzar in response to his order.
The third person masculine plural pronomial suffix -hē∙mā(h) means “them” referring to the occult priests, necromancers, sorcerers and astrologers in Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom.
The verb ḥā∙lǎm in Daniel 2:3 does not merely mean “to dream” but rather means “to dream revelations” since Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream as recorded in Daniel 2:24-45a reveals that this dream was a revelation from God concerning future world empires and the times of the Gentiles.
The noun ḥǎlôm is in the singular this time and means “revelations in a dream” since Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream as recorded in Daniel 2:24-45a reveals that this dream was a revelation from God concerning future world empires and the times of the Gentiles.
Daniel 2:24-26 reveals that Daniel identifies and interprets only one dream and not more than one.
This time the conjunction wa is a marker of result meaning that the word is introducing a statement by Nebuchadnezzar that is the result of the previous statement, which says that he dreamed a revelation in a dream.
The word is introducing a statement in which the king also says that his heart was anxious to understand it.
Thus, the word denotes that the king dreamed a revelation in a dreamed “so that” his heart was anxious to understand what it meant.
The personal pronoun ʾǎnî functions as a possessive pronoun and means “my” referring of course to Nebuchadnezzar.
It involves psychological emphasis expressing Nebuchadnezzar’s deep seated anxiety as a result of this revelation in a dream, which he received from God.
The noun rûaḥ means “soul” rather than “spirit” since Nebuchadnezzar was not a believer in Yahweh at this point in the narrative and the Scriptures teach that only regenerate individuals possess a human spirit (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:45).
The verb pā∙ʿǎm means “to be anxious” indicating that Nebuchadnezzar’s soul was agitated by dreaming revelations in a dream.
It speaks of a mental state in which Nebuchadnezzar was experiencing distress of soul and was suffering from anxiety because of this recurring dream.
The verb yā∙ḏǎʿ means “to understand” in the sense of comprehending something.
Here it denotes Nebuchadnezzar “understanding” or “comprehending” this revelation from God that he was repeatedly receiving in a dream.
The noun ḥǎlôm is in the singular and means “revelations in a dream” since Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream as recorded in Daniel 2:24-45a reveals that this dream was a revelation from God concerning future world empires and the times of the Gentiles.
Daniel 2:24-26 reveals that Daniel identifies and interprets only one dream and not more than one.
Daniel 2:3 states that after the occult priests, necromancers, witches and astrologers entered and stood in his presence, Nebuchadnezzar communicates to them the reason why he has sent for them.
He has dreamed a revelation in a dream or in other words, he has received revelation from God in a dream.
Thus, this dream is unlike ordinary dreams in that it is a “revelatory” dream meaning it is revelation from God.
This as we noted was a recurring dream.
He did not forget the dream as some erroneously suggest since it was a recurring dream and disturbed him.
If he had forgotten the dream, how could he be disturbed?
In Daniel 2:1, the noun ḥǎlôm is in the plural and means “revelation in dreams” since Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream as recorded in Daniel 2:24-45a reveals that this dream was a revelation from God concerning future world empires and the times of the Gentiles.
Daniel 2:24-26 reveals that Daniel identifies and interprets only one dream and not more than one.
This would seem to indicate that the verb ḥā∙lǎm and the noun ḥǎlôm in Daniel 2:1 denote a recurring dream or in other words, Nebuchadnezzar kept having the same revelation on more than one occasion while dreaming.
Also, the noun ḥǎlôm in Daniel 2:3 is in the singular and means “revelations in a dream” indicating a recurring dream.
Furthermore, Nebuchadnezzar asks his occult priests, necromancers, witches and astrologers to interpret the dream for him.
If he had forgotten the dream, then why would he ask for an interpretation?
He would only ask them to tell him what the dream was.
However, he not only asks them to tell him what the dream was but also interpret the meaning of it.
Also, he would not have offered a reward for the person who could interpret his dreams for him like he did since if he had forgotten the dream, he would not know if the telling of the dream to him and interpretation of it was correct.
Lastly, the four groups would have had no reason to fear for their lives if they could not interpret it if he had forgotten the dream.
In the ancient world, the dreams of kings like Nebuchadnezzar were extremely important on a national or international scale.
Thus, nations like Babylon had individuals who were thought to be skilled in the interpretation of dreams.
These figures could be consulted at the highest level of government for important decisions.
In such nations as Egypt and Assyria, these interpreters even developed “dream books” by which they could give interpretations according to the symbols of a dream.
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is directly from God as the rest of chapter two indicates.
Thus, it could only be interpreted with God’s help.
Under no circumstances could the king of Babylon’s dream be interpreted without God giving the person understanding.
For the ancient Near Eastern mind, dreams were considered as somehow connected with the supernatural and thus both feared and sought after because of their potential bearing on persons and events.
Thus, we can understand Nebuchadnezzar’s fear.
However, dreams were so commonly experienced by all people that they were often discounted as transient (Job 20:8; Ps. 90:5) and ineffectual (Isa. 29:7–8); one might regard them as unimportant (Ps. 73:20) or accord them more value than they merited (Eccl. 5:3, 7).
As the rest of chapter bears out, Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is a revelation from God with regards to the future of planet earth and specifically, it concerns itself with the times of the Gentiles.
Revelatory dreams in the Bible can be classified under two categories: (1) Auditory (Genesis 20:3, 6; 31:24; 1 Kings 3:5, 15; Matthew 1:20; 2:13, 19, 22; 2:12) (2) Visual, usually symbolic of real events, people and nations (Genesis 28:12; 31:10; 37; 40:9ff.; 41:1ff., 7ff.; Judges 7:13; Daniel 2:31ff.; 4:10ff.; 7:1ff.; 8:2ff.)
Revelatory dreams are often distinguished from ordinary dreams by the fact that they usually upset the individual who has had the dream (Genesis 40:7f.; 41:8; Judges 7:13; Daniel 2:1ff.; 4:2ff.; 7:15f.).