Daniel 2.49-At Daniel's Request, The King Appoints Shadrach, Meshach And Abednego Over The Administration Of The Province Of Babylon While Daniel Served In The King's Court
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday May 22, 2012
Daniel: Daniel 2:49-At Daniel’s Request, Nebuchadnezzar Appoints Shadrach, Meshach And Abednego Over The Administration Of The Province Of Babylon While Daniel Served In The King’s Court
Lesson # 76
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 2:49.
This evening we will study Daniel 2:49, which records Daniel requesting from Nebuchadnezzar that he appoint his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego over the administration of the province of Babylon while Daniel served in the king’s court.
Daniel 2:49 And Daniel made request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego over the administration of the province of Babylon, while Daniel was at the king’s court. (NASB95)
“And Daniel made request of the king” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and,” which is followed by the masculine singular proper noun dā∙niy∙yē(ʾ)l (דָּנִיֵּאל) (daw-nee-yale), “Daniel” and then we have the third person masculine singular peʿal (Hebrew: qal) active perfect form of the verb beʿā(h) (בְּעָה) (beh-aw´), “made request” and this is followed by the preposition min (מִן) (min), “of” and its object is the masculine singular form of the noun mě∙lěḵ (מֶלֶךְ) (meh´-lek), “the king.”
The conjunction wa is a marker of a sequence of closely related events meaning that it is introducing a statement that marks the next action that Nebuchadnezzar performed on behalf of Daniel.
Therefore, the conjunction wa is marking this action taken by the king as occurring immediately after he made Daniel ruler over the province of the city of Babylon and as chief over the wise men of the city of Babylon.
The verb beʿā(h) means “to request” and is used of Daniel making a request of Nebuchadnezzar to appoint his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego over the administration of the province of the city of Babylon.
“And he appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego over the administration of the province of Babylon” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and,” which is followed by the third person masculine singular paʿʿel (Hebrew: piel) active perfect form of the verb menā(h) (מְנָה) (men-aw´), “he appointed” and then we have the preposition ʿǎl (עַל) (al), “on” and its object is the feminine singular noun ʿǎḇî∙ḏā(h) (עֲבִידָה) (ab-ee-daw´), “the administration” which is followed by the particle dî (דִּי) (dee), “of” and then we have the feminine singular construct form of the noun meḏî∙nā(h) (מְדִינָה) (med-ee-naw´), “the province of” and then we have the feminine singular proper noun bā∙ḇěl (בָּבֶל) (baw-bel´), “Babylon” which is followed by the preposition lĕ (לְ) (leh), “to” and its object is the masculine singular form of the proper noun šǎḏ∙rǎḵ (שַׁדְרַךְ) (shad-rak), “Shadrach” and then we have the masculine singular form of the proper noun mê∙šǎḵ (מֵישַׁךְ) (may-shak), “Meshach” and this is followed by the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and,” which is followed by the masculine singular proper noun ʿǎḇēḏ neḡô (עֲבֵד נְגֹו) (ab-ade neg-o), “Abed-nego.”
This time the conjunction wa is used in an epexegetical sense meaning that it is introducing a statement that elaborates upon the previous statement that Daniel made a request from Nebuchadnezzar.
The word is introducing a statement which says that Nebuchadnezzar appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego over the administration of the province of the city of Babylon.
The verb menā(h) means “to assign” in the sense of appointing someone to a particular duty or task. Here it refers to Nebuchadnezzar “assigning” to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego the duty or task of administrating over the province of the city of Babylon.
The noun ʿǎḇî∙ḏā(h) refers to the administration of a governmental region and denotes the “administration” of the province of the city of Babylon.
It speaks of the performance of executive duties over the province of the city of Babylon by Daniel’s three friends.
The particle dî is a marker to show the genitive relationship between the noun ʿǎḇî∙ḏā(h), which means “administration” and the noun meḏî∙nā(h), which means “province.”
The latter is a genitive of subordination meaning that the word specifies that which is subordinated to or under the dominion of the head noun, which in our context, is the noun ʿǎḇî∙ḏā(h).
Therefore, this genitive of subordination indicates that this administration is “over” the province of Babylon or in other words, the inhabitants of the province of the city of Babylon would be subordinate to Daniel’s three friends as a result of this appointment by Nebuchadnezzar.
The noun meḏî∙nā(h) means “province” referring to a governmental administrative district and here it refers to the province of the city of Babylon.
This word is the object of the preposition ʿǎl, which is a marker of authority meaning that Daniel requested that Nebuchadnezzar appoint his three friends the administration “over” the entire province of the city of Babylon.
The proper noun bā∙ḇěl refers to the province of Babylon as indicated by the noun meḏî∙nā(h), “province,” which is modifying it.
The Babylonian empire was divided into provinces or satrapies, of which Babylon was one and so this proper noun refers to the province of the city of Babylon.
The proper noun šǎḏ∙rǎḵ could means either “I am very fearful” (of a god) or “command of Aku,” with Aku being the moon god and was the name given to Daniel’s friend who was Hananiah.
The name mê∙šǎḵ means “who is like Aku (the moon-god)?” which similar to the name Mishael, which means “who is like God?” and so this name mocks the God of the Hebrews.
This name was assigned to Mishael.
The proper noun ʿǎḇēḏ neḡô means “servant of Nebo or Nabu,” who was the Babylonian god of wisdom.
Nebo (cf. Isaiah 46:1), son of Bel, was the Babylonian god of writing and vegetation and was also known as Nabu.
This name was assigned to Daniel’s friend Azariah.
“While Daniel was at the king’s court” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “while” which is followed by the masculine singular proper noun dā∙niy∙yē(ʾ)l (דָּנִיֵּאל) (daw-nee-yale), “Daniel” and then we have the preposition b- (בְּ־) (beth), “at” and its object is the masculine singular construct form of the noun terǎʿ (תְּרַע) (ter-ah´), ‘court” which is followed by the masculine singular form of the noun mě∙lěḵ (מֶלֶךְ) (meh´-lek), “the king’s.”
The conjunction wa is a temporal marker meaning that it is a marker of a point of time that takes place approximately the same time with another point of time.
The word is introducing a clause which records that Daniel served in the king’s court and marks this event as taking place approximately the same time as his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were serving Nebuchadnezzar by administrating the province of the city of Babylon.
The noun terǎʿ refers to the “court opening” or “gate” which is idiomatic for the king’s court of the royal palace where he conducted the affairs of state and received others heads of state.
The word is the object of the preposition b-, which means “at” since it functions as a marker of location meaning that it is marking the location in which Daniel served Nebuchadnezzar.
Daniel 2:49 Next, Daniel requested from the king that he assign the administration over the province of the city of Babylon to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, while Daniel was at the king’s court. (Interpretative translation)
Daniel 2:49 reveals more of Daniel’s character and integrity and what a great friend he was in that it records him making a request of Nebuchadnezzar that he appoint his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, the administration over the province of the city of Babylon.
This is the right thing to do for two reasons.
First of all, in chapter one, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, whose Babylonian names were Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego respectively, followed Daniel’s example by adhering to the dietary regulations of the Mosaic Law by refusing to eat the king’s food and drink his wine.
In Daniel 2:1-16, they suffered undeservedly along with Daniel as a result of Nebuchadnezzar issuing an order to kill all the wise men of the city of Babylon as a result of his necromancers, witches, astrologers and occult priests inability to tell him the content of his recurring dream.
Then, in Daniel 2:17-23, we see Daniel telling Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego this matter in order that they would accompany him in corporate prayer and request from the Father deliverance from this death sentence.
Thus, Daniel’s three friends were with him through all of his trials and tribulations and suffered undeservedly along with him.
The second reason why it was the right decision by Daniel to request that Nebuchadnezzar appoint his three friends as administrators over the province of the city of Babylon is that they were qualified.
If you recall, in Daniel 1:17-19, Nebuchadnezzar not only found Daniel as having more wisdom and understanding than all of his wise men but also Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
The king found these four as superior to his wise men in every respect.
Thus, this appointment that Daniel sought for his three friends was not only an act of friendship but also they were qualified to serve in these important administrative positions in Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom.
John Walvoord writes “Thus Daniel, the obscure Jewish captive who could have been lost to history like many others if he had compromised in chapter 1, is now exalted to a place of great honor and power. Like Joseph in Egypt, he was destined to play an important part in the subsequent history of his generation.” (Daniel: The Key to Prophetic Revelation; page 78; Moody Press; Chicago; 1971)
Daniel chapter 2 teaches us many things.
First of all, it teaches us the immanency of God meaning that He involves Himself in and concerns Himself with and intervenes in the lives of members of the human race, both saved and unsaved.
This evident in that God gave Nebuchadnezzar, a heathen king a vision in a dream which was a revelation concerning the future of planet earth and His plan to have His Son rule the earth.
When Daniel told the king the content of his dream as well as the dream’s interpretation, God was intervening in the life of the king and communicating to him that he Nebuchadnezzar was accountable to Him and was sovereign over the king.
This also would have a profound affect on the wise men of Nebuchadnezzar, especially, when Daniel told the king the content of his dream, which was equivalent to reading his mind.
This would have impressed the wise men greatly as well.
God also intervened in the lives of the wise men by having Daniel request of Arioch that he spare their lives even though Daniel was not obligated to since they had deceived the king.
The wise men were experiencing the grace of God, which flows from His attribute of love.
This too would have had an impact on at least some of the wise men.
God also intervened of course in the lives of Daniel and his three friends by giving the king this revelation in a vision in a dream since it resulted in Daniel requesting from the king time to go to his God and request the content and interpretation of the king’s dream.
God answered their prayer request and thus spared the lives of Daniel and his three friends along with the wise men of Babylon.
Thus, chapter two also teaches that God is a God of deliverance.
God also intervened in the lives of these four by moving the king to promote them to high governmental positions.
This teaches that God rewards faithfulness.
Also, Daniel 2:31-45 teaches that God is immanent in human history.
This pericope teaches that God is responsible for those in governmental authority.
He is responsible for kingdoms rising and falling.
The Gentile kingdoms which will dominate the period of history called the “times of the Gentiles” achieved success and ultimately failed because of God’s decree.
This paragraph also teaches that God will intervene in history through His Son Jesus Christ who will rule this earth for a thousand years.
Thus, Daniel chapter two reveals, that God has a plan for planet earth and is also ordering history according to this plan.
Daniel chapter 2 and in particular Daniel 2:31-46, reveals that God is sovereign over the nations of the earth.
The term “sovereignty” connotes a situation in which a person, from his innate dignity, exercises supreme power, with no areas of his province outside his jurisdiction.
As applied to God, the term “sovereignty” indicates His complete power over all of creation, so that He exercises His will absolutely, without any necessary conditioning by a finite will or wills.
Therefore, God, from His innate dignity, exercises supreme power over the nations of the earth, with no area of planet earth outside His jurisdiction.
God’s exercises His will absolutely over the nations of the earth.