Daniel 2.7-The Wise Men Reiterate Their Confident Assertion That When Nebuchadnezzar Tells Them The Dream That They Will Interpret It
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday February 2, 2012
Daniel: Daniel 2:7-The Wise Men Reiterate Their Confident Assertion That When Nebuchadnezzar Tells Them The Dream That They Will Interpret It
Lesson # 31
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 2:1.
This evening we will study Daniel 2:7.
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.” 4 Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic: “O king, live forever! Tell the dream to your servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” 5 The king replied to the Chaldeans, “The command from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb and your houses will be made a rubbish heap. 6 But if you declare the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts and a reward and great honor; therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation.” 7 They answered a second time and said, “Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” (NASB95)
“They answered a second time and said” is composed of the third person masculine plural peʿal (Hebrew equivalent: qal) active perfect form of the verb ʿǎnā(h) (עֲנָה) (an-aw´), “they answered” and this is followed by the feminine singular cardinal number tin∙yā∙nûṯ (תִּנְיָנוּת) (tin-yaw-nooth´), “a second time” and then we have the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the masculine plural peʿal (Hebrew equivalent: qal) active participle form of the verb ʾǎmǎr (אֲמַר) (am-ar´), “said.”
The verb ʿǎnā(h) means “to reply” since in context it describes a statement made by the wise men in response to Nebuchadnezzar’s promises to execute them if they failed to tell him both the content of his recurring dream and its interpretation or reward them if they are successful in doing so.
The cardinal number tin∙yā∙nûṯ means “a second time” since it denotes an action that occurs a second time.
Here it refers to the wise men speaking to Nebuchadnezzar a second time.
The statement to follow makes clear that the wise men are reiterating to the king of Babylon that they will interpret his recurring dream once he tells them the content of the dream.
The verb ʾǎmǎr means “to say” in the sense of reiterating something to someone.
Here it denotes the wise men “reiterating” to Nebuchadnezzar what they told him in verse 4, namely, that if he tells them the content of his dream, then they will interpret it.
“Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and we will declare the interpretation” is composed of the masculine singular form of the noun mě∙lěḵ (מֶלֶךְ) (meh´-lek), “king” which is followed by the masculine singular form of the noun ḥē∙lěm (חֵלֶם) (khay´-lem), “the dream” and then we have the third person masculine singular peʿal (Hebrew equivalent: qal) active jussive form of the verb ʾǎmǎr (אֲמַר) (am-ar´), “let tell” this is followed by the preposition lĕ (לְ) (lamed), “to” and its object is the masculine plural construct form of the noun ʿǎḇēḏ (עֲבֵד) (ab-ed´), “servants” which is modified by the third person masculine singular form of the pronomial suffix hû(ʾ) (הוּא) (who), “your” and then we have the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the masculine singular form of the noun pešǎr (פְּשַׁר) (pesh-ar´), “interpretation” and then lastly we have the first person plural hafʿel (Hebrew equivalent: hiphil) active imperfect form of the verb ḥǎwā(h) (חֲוָה) (khav-aw´), “we will declare.”
The verb ʾǎmǎr means “to reveal” in the sense of communicating something to someone.
Here it denotes Nebuchadnezzar “revealing” to his wise men the content of his recurring dream in order that they may interpret it.
The jussive mood of the verb denotes that the wise men are making a request of the king of Babylon.
The noun mě∙lěḵ means “king” and of course is used with reference to Nebuchadnezzar referring to the fact that he was governmental head of Babylon.
The noun ḥē∙lěm is in the singular and refers to the content of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.
It refers to the revelation Nebuchadnezzar received from God in a dream.
This indicated by the fact that Daniel’s interpretation of this dream as recorded in Daniel 2:24-45a reveals that this dream was just that, a revelation from God concerning future world empires and the times of the Gentiles.
So the word refers to the “content of the dream” or in other words, the “dream itself.”
The noun ʿǎḇēḏ means “servant” and describes the relationship between the wise men and the king of Babylon.
It refers to those who were ruling or governmental officials in the Babylonian Empire and were subordinate to Nebuchadnezzar and were accountable to him.
Thus, the word does not denote menial or forced service since these men possessed royal, administrative authority and were in fact advisers to Nebuchadnezzar.
The conjunction wa is employed with the imperfect mood of the verb ḥǎwā(h) in order to mark the result of Nebuchadnezzar revealing his recurring dream to the wise men, which is that they would interpret this dream for him.
The verb ḥǎwā(h) means “to make known” and denotes that the wise men are requesting that Nebuchadnezzar reveal to them his dream in order that they can “make known” this dream in the sense of explaining or interpreting this dream for him.
Thus, the word refers to the act of explaining Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to him.
The noun pešǎr means “interpretation” referring to the wise men interpreting or explaining Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to him.
The wise men want the king to communicate the content of the dream in order that they can interpret it.
Verse 7 records Nebuchadnezzar’s wise men reiterating their request that appears in verse 4, namely that the king reveal the content of his recurring dream so that they can interpret this dream for him.
This request is a great expression of arrogance and deception since they in fact have no idea how to interpret dreams and Nebuchadnezzar suspects it as evidenced by his ultimatum presented in verses 5 and 6.
Verse 5 tells the reader that Nebuchadnezzar demanded that his wise men communicate the content of his recurring dream as well as its interpretation, otherwise he will dismember them and in addition have their homes turned into a rubbish heap.
In direct contrast to this promise, verse 6 says that the king of Babylon promised that they will receive gifts, indeed a reward as well as great honor if any of these wise men is able to make known the content of this dream as well as its interpretation.
However, the wise men have no idea what the content of the king’s dream is and thus have no way of interpreting the dream.
In fact, the king does not believe they can interpret his dream.
The wise men want the king to communicate the content of the dream in order that they can interpret it.
However, the king does not want to do so.
His reasoning must have been that if they are so wise and have the power to interpret someone else’s dream, then they should certainly be able to tell the contents of the dream.
Nebuchadnezzar feels that if they are so in touch with the gods, then the gods should be able to communicate the contents of his dream and not just give him the interpretation of it.
If he communicated the contents of his dream, then they could come up with any interpretation that fits their imagination.
Thus, he doesn’t trust them which is clearly indicated by his statement to them in verse 9 where he calls them liars who will tell him something that is false.
So by demanding that they tell him what exactly he dreamed, Nebuchadnezzar could be sure that their interpretation of this dream is correct and the truth.
If they tell him the contents of the dream, he could be sure that he has received the correct interpretation of the dream in that the gods had in fact given them the interpretation of his dream and passed it along to him.
The king senses that this dream is significant and related somehow to his kingdom and its future.
Thus, he does not want speculation or the product of someone’s imagination but the truth and nothing but the truth since the future of his kingdom, he senses, is at stake.
So here in verse 7 the wise men are stalling for time since they have no idea what the content of the king’s dream is.
They are attempting to find a way out of this dilemma.
This request is simply the wise men begging that the king change his mind without directly telling him to do so.
Now, verse 10 makes clear and secular history tells us that the king’s demands were quite unreasonable in that no sovereign would make such a demand since it would require omniscience which is an attribute of God.
The king’s unreasonable demand indicates that he questioned the ability of his wise men.
The wise men have great imagination but must have information to work on.
By revealing the content of his dream, they could use their imagination or communicate with the demons in order to come up with an interpretation that would please the king.
The occult priests, necromancers, witches and astrologers who compose the king’s wise men were mentioned in verse 2 and were in direct communication with the demons through their corrupt practices.
The occult priests were a class of intelligent and clever priests involved with the occult, which is driven by demons.
These occult priests occupied themselves with the arts and sciences of the Babylonians, which involves astrology, the interpretation of dreams, the foretelling of events, as well as magic and channeling.
They were regarded as the possessors of secret arts.
The necromancers were individuals who attempted to contact the dead for the purpose of magically revealing the future or influencing the course of events.
Of course, they could not communicate with the dead but only demons.
Those who practiced witchcraft were involved with the black magic arts.
It refers to an individual who practices magic by using occult formulas, incantations and mystic utterings.
Witchcraft was outlawed in Israel (Exodus 22:18; Deuteronomy 18:10-12).
The astrologers studied the magnitudes, movements and constitutions of the heavenly bodies.
They are interested in the effect of these celestial phenomena on human life.
They supposedly can foretell events by the positions of the planets and stars.
The Babylonians developed sophisticated methods of reading the stars to determine proper times for action.
The Bible does not seek to describe the skills, tactics, or methods of foreign personnel engaged in various practices to determine the opportune time.
Rather the Bible mocks such practices and shows that God’s word to the prophets and the wise of Israel far surpasses any foreign skills.
The reiteration of the wise men’s request in Daniel 2:7 that Nebuchadnezzar reveal the content of the dream so that they could interpret this dream makes clear to the king that their professions are nothing but deception, which is true.
In fact, these wise men are servants of Satan and his kingdom.
Through this dream, God is seeking to discredit them so as to have Daniel enter the picture to represent Him before the king of Babylon.
God wants to show Nebuchadnezzar that the dream he received was directly from Him so that the king would worship Him rather than the gods of his forefathers.