Daniel 2.45b-Daniel's Interpretation Of Nebuchadnezzar's Dream Is Dependable Because He Accurately Presented The Content Of The King's Dream
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday May 10, 2012
Daniel: Daniel 2:45b-Daniel’s Interpretation Of Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream Is Dependable Because He Accurately Presented The Content Of The King’s Dream
Lesson # 72
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 2:31.
This evening we will complete our study of Daniel 2:45 by noting Daniel telling Nebuchadnezzar that his interpretation of the king’s dream is dependable because he accurately presented to him the content of his dream.
Daniel 2:31 “You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome. 32 The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. 36 This was the dream; now we will tell its interpretation before the king. 37 You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory. 38 And wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold. 39 After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth. 40 Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. 41 In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. 42 As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. 43 And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery. 44 In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. 45 Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.” (NASB95)
“So the dream is true” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “so” which is followed by the masculine singular form of the adjective yǎṣ∙ṣîḇ (יַצִּיב) (yats-tseeb´), “true” and then we have the masculine singular form of the noun ḥē∙lěm (חֵלֶם) (khay´-lem), “dream.”
The conjunction wa is a marker of cause meaning that the word is introducing a statement which presents the reason why Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is reliable or trustworthy.
Therefore, the word is saying here that “because” Daniel’s presentation of the content of the king’s dream is true so as a result his interpretation of this dream is reliable or trustworthy.
The noun ḥē∙lěm is in the singular and refers to the content of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and refers to the revelation the king of Babylon received from God in a dream.
The adjective yǎṣ∙ṣîḇ means “true” in the sense of being in accordance with the actual state of affairs and here it indicates that Daniel’s presentation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was in accordance with what he actually saw in the vision given to him in a recurring dream.
The word denotes that Daniel’s presentation of the content of the king’s dream as recorded in Daniel 2:31-35 manifested exactly what Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream or was true to reality.
“And its interpretation is trustworthy” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the masculine singular hofʿal (Hebrew: hophal) passive participle form of the verb ʾǎmǎn (אֲמַן) (am-an´), “trustworthy” and then we have the masculine singular construct form of the noun pešǎr (פְּשַׁר) (pesh-ar´), “interpretation” and then we have the third person masculine singular pronomial suffix hû(ʾ) (הוּא) (who), “its.”
The conjunction wa is a marker of result and means “so, thus, therefore” since it is introducing a statement which presents the result of the previous causal statement which records Daniel telling Nebuchadnezzar that his presentation of the content of king’s dream in Daniel 2:31-35 is true.
The noun pešǎr means “interpretation” referring to Daniel interpreting or explaining Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to him.
The verb ʾǎmǎn means “trustworthy, dependable” and is used here by Daniel to describe his interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.
He says to the king that because his presentation of the content of his dream is true, therefore, his interpretation is “trustworthy” or “dependable.”
Daniel 2:45b is composed of a causal clause followed by a result clause.
The former presents the reason why Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is dependable and the latter presents the result of Daniel’s presentation of the content of the king’s dream being true or exactly how the king saw it.
The content of the dream appears in Daniel 2:31-35 and the interpretation in Daniel 2:37-45.
This statement in Daniel 2:45b is directly related to what Nebuchadnezzar demanded of his occult priests, witches, necromancers and astrologers, which is that they tell him the content of his dream in order that he could be sure that they could interpret this dream (see Daniel 2:1-9).
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 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 sensed 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.
Therefore, here in Daniel 2:45, Daniel is telling Nebuchadnezzar that he can be sure that his interpretation of his dream is dependable because he accurately presented to him the content of his dream just as he saw it.