Daniel 2.13-Nebuchadnezzar's Order To Execute The Wise Men Also Included Daniel And His Three Friends
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday February 16, 2012
Daniel: Daniel 2:13-Nebuchadnezzar’s Order To Execute The Wise Men Also Included Daniel And His Three Friends
Lesson # 37
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 2:1.
This evening we will study of Daniel 2:13.
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.” 8 The king replied, “I know for certain that you are bargaining for time, inasmuch as you have seen that the command from me is firm 9 that if you do not make the dream known to me, there is only one decree for you. For you have agreed together to speak lying and corrupt words before me until the situation is changed; therefore tell me the dream, that I may know that you can declare to me its interpretation.” 10 The Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who could declare the matter for the king, inasmuch as no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any magician, conjurer or Chaldean. 11 Moreover, the thing which the king demands is difficult, and there is no one else who could declare it to the king except gods, whose dwelling place is not with mortal flesh.” 12 Because of this the king became indignant and very furious and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. 13 So the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they looked for Daniel and his friends to kill them. (NASB95)
“So the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the feminine singular form of the noun dāṯ (דָּת) (dawth), “the decree” and then we have the third person feminine singular peʿal (Hebrew: qal) active perfect form of the verb nep̄ǎq (נְפַק) (nef-ak´), “went forth” which is followed by the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “that” which is followed by the masculine plural form of the noun ḥǎk∙kîm (חַכִּים) (khak-keem´), “wise men” and then we have the third person masculine plural hithpael passive participle form of the verb qeṭǎl (קְטַל) (ket-al´), “should be slain.”
The conjunction wa can be interpreted one of two ways, namely, as a temporal marker or as a marker of result. Most English translations interpret the word as a marker of result and render the word “so” (See NET, ESV, GNB, NIV).
Some translations render the word “and” (KJV, NLT) and some don’t translate the word at all (NRSV).
By interpreting the word as a marker of result, this would indicate that it is introducing a statement that presents the result of Nebuchadnezzar issuing an order to execute the city of Babylon’s wise men.
The statement it introduces says that this order was issued or published publicly.
This would indicate that the king of Babylon issued an order to execute the city’s wise men “with the result that” this order was published throughout the city of Babylon.
Some like the Message Bible interpret the conjunction as having a temporal sense, which would indicate that the word is introducing a statement that is telling the reader “when” the executioners sought out Daniel and his three friends.
They did so when the order to execute the wise men was issued by Nebuchadnezzar.
So the temporal sense would mean that “when the order was published so that the wise men were about to be executed, the captain of the king’s bodyguard, Arioch sought out Daniel and his three friends.”
The temporal sense makes more sense than interpreting the word as a marker of result since the latter is redundant.
Verse 12 says that Nebuchadnezzar issued an order to execute each and every one of the city of Babylon’s wise men.
The statement introduced by wa in verse 13 says that this order was issued publicly and so both statements are saying the same thing.
The noun dāṯ means “order” implying a judgment or penalty and denotes a judgment formally pronounced by Nebuchadnezzar which results in the death of the wise men.
It refers to the sentence of death that the king of Babylon imposed on his wise men if they did not tell him both the content of his dream as well as its interpretation.
The verb nep̄ǎq means “to issue” and is used with reference to Nebuchadnezzar’s order to execute each and every of the city of Babylon’s wise men.
It refers to the order to execute the city’s wise men as being published publicly.
This time the conjunction wa does function as a marker of result meaning that the word is introducing a statement which presents the result of Nebuchadnezzar’s order to execute the city of Babylon’s wise men.
It introduces a statement which says that these wise men were about to be executed.
Therefore, the word denotes that when Nebuchadnezzar’s order was published so that the wise men were about to be executed, they sought out Daniel and his three friends.
The noun ḥǎk∙kîm means “wise men” and is not only a reference to the four groups mentioned in Daniel 2:2, namely, occult priests (ḥǎr∙ṭōm), necromancers (ʾǎš∙šāp̄), witches (kā∙šǎp̄) and astrologers (kǎś∙dîm) but also it is a reference to all the other dignitaries or diplomats in Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom.
This is indicated by the fact that Daniel 2:13 records Arioch, the executioner looking for Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah who did not belong to these four groups.
The verb qeṭǎl means “to be put to death” and is used of capital punishment referring to the execution of Nebuchadnezzar’s wise men.
The participle form of the verb qeṭǎl is significant in that it is used for an imminent action, which indicates that the wise men were “about” to be or “soon” to be put to death.
The obvious implication is that these wise men were not executed on the spot but were arrested and assembled at a public place of execution.
That this was the case is indicated by the fact that Daniel in verses 14 and 15 is allowed time to ask Arioch a question with regards to his arrest and Arioch responds to this question.
If Arioch’s orders were to execute the wise men on the spot, then Daniel would not have been allowed time to ask a question but would have been executed.
Furthermore, Daniel 2:24 records Daniel telling Arioch to not execute the wise men because God had given him the content of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream as well as its interpretation.
This makes clear that the wise men were not executed on the spot but were about to.
“And they looked for Daniel and his friends to kill them” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the third person masculine plural peʿal (Hebrew: qal) active perfect form of the verb beʿā(h) (בְּעָה) (beh-aw´), “they looked for” and then we have the masculine singular proper noun dā∙niy∙yē(ʾ)l (דָּנִיֵּאל) (daw-nee-yale), “Daniel” and is followed by the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the masculine plural construct form of the noun ḥǎḇǎr (חֲבַר) (khab-ar´), “friends” which is modified by the third person masculine singular pronomial suffix –hû (־הוּ) (who), “his” and then we have the preposition lĕ (לְ) (lamed), “to” and its object is the hitpeʿel passive infinitive construct form of the verb qeṭǎl (קְטַל) (ket-al´), “kill.”
This time the conjunction wa is used in an adjunctive sense meaning that it is introducing a statement that presents a group of individuals who were to be put to death by Nebuchadnezzar which were “in addition to” Nebuchadnezzar’s occult priests, necromancers, witches and astrologers.
The verb beʿā(h) means “to seek” indicating that the executioners “sought” to arrest Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
The proper noun dā∙niy∙yē(ʾ)l refers of course to the author of this book that bears his name and which book testifies to the fact that he was a Jewish captive, of noble descent, who was carried off to Babylon after Nebuchadnezzar’s first conquest of Jerusalem in 605 B.C.
The noun ḥǎḇǎr means “friends, companions” and refers to Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
They along with Daniel were sought after by the executioners and were under the sentence of death.
As was the case in the previous clause, the verb qeṭǎl here means “to be put to death” and is used of capital punishment referring to the execution of Nebuchadnezzar’s wise men.
So Daniel 2:13 is a temporal clause that tells us that when Nebuchadnezzar issued the order to execute the wise men in the city of Babylon, Daniel and his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were included with the wise men.
This is the third great crisis that these four have faced.
The first was being captured and deported to Babylon.
The second was when the king ordered that they eat his food and drink his wine which would have made them ceremonially unclean according to the dietary regulations of the Mosaic Law.
Now, we see them facing a third crisis.
They are being unjustly condemned by Nebuchadnezzar.
Daniel and his three companions were not involved in the practices of the occult priests, necromancers, witches or astrologers since the Mosaic Law outlawed their practices.
Some argue that Daniel and his friends were involved in their practices because they were considered a part of their group.
However, this is not the case since if Daniel and his three friends were willing to risk their lives to adhere to the dietary regulations of the Mosaic Law it follows that they would make a stand with regards to the practices of the occult priests, necromancers, witches and astrologers.
So we have Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah suffering undeservedly.
The Bible teaches that God uses undeserved suffering to advance His children to greater spiritual growth.
The believer must experience undeserved suffering since it is through undeserved suffering that the believer is conformed to the image of Christ.
There are three agencies that God employs to bring about suffering: (1) Old sin nature (2) Cosmic system (3) Satan.
Now there are different categories of suffering: (1) Self-induced misery (2) Divine discipline (3) Undeserved Suffering for Blessing.
The power of God in our lives is never more noticeable or conspicuous as when we are suffering, going through adversities and even going through the process of dying.
When self has been crucified then the life of Jesus can be manifested in the believer.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10 illustrates this Biblical principle that divine power is manifested in human weakness.
Tribulation and undeserved suffering will be the lot of God’s people while living in enemy territory.
The problems, difficulties and adversities which take place in a believer’s life were already decreed by God the Father in eternity past to occur and are now controlled in time by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, the believer should have confidence and comfort in the midst of these things.
God’s will, purpose and plan will be accomplished regardless of a believer’s difficult circumstances or seemingly insurmountable problems because God ordained them to take place in eternity past under the divine decree.
Therefore, He has already provided a solution for every problem, difficulty and adversity in life through the appropriation by faith of the promises in the Word of God.
The believer who is executing the plan of God and learning Bible doctrine will go through suffering which is undeserved (1 Thess. 3:4).
It is called undeserved because they did not bring this suffering upon themselves (1 Pet. 2:19-20; 2 Cor. 1:6).
It is a privilege to suffer undeservedly for Christ’s sake (Philippians 1:29).
Just as the Father’s plan for the Lord Jesus Christ involved undeserved suffering so the plan of God for our lives involves undeserved suffering.
In 2 Corinthians 3:17-4:18, Paul writes to the Corinthians regarding his experience with undeserved suffering and his attitude regarding it.
So in Daniel 2:13, we see Daniel and his three friends suffering undeservedly and unjustly.
However, God will use this situation to insert Daniel into the picture to solve Nebuchadnezzar’s problem.
The Lord is going to use this order to execute all the wise men in the city of Babylon as an opportunity to use Daniel to tell the king the content of his dream as well as its interpretation.
Consequently, the Lord is going to use this order to bring glory to Himself and reveal Himself to the heathen king and his court as well as all of Babylon since it is the Lord who gives Daniel the ability to tell the king the content of his dream as well as its interpretation.