Daniel 4.6-Nebuchadnezzar Orders All His Wise Men To Be Brought To Him In Order To Interpret His Dream
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday August 28, 2012
Daniel: Daniel 4:6-Nebuchadnezzar Orders All His Wise Men To Be Brought To Him In Order To Interpret His Dream
Lesson # 112
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 4:5.
This evening we will study Daniel 4:6, which records Nebuchadnezzar telling his readers that after receiving the revelations-visions in a dream which terrified him, he issued orders for all the wise men of the city of Babylon to be brought into his presence in order to interpret this dream.
Daniel 4:1 “King Nebuchadnezzar, to each and every person belonging to the nations, ethnicities and language groups, who are living throughout the entire earth: May your prosperity increase! 2 It is pleasing to me to make known the miraculous signs, yes, and wondrous signs at that, which the Most High God performed on my behalf. 3 How great are His miraculous signs! Indeed, how great are His wondrous signs! His kingdom is eternal. In other words, His governmental dominion is from generation to generation. 4 I myself, Nebuchadnezzar was content in my house, specifically prosperous in my palace. 5 I saw a dream, which caused me to be frightened, specifically revelations on my bed. Indeed, visions in my mind caused me to be terrified.” (My translation)
Daniel 4:6 “So I gave orders to bring into my presence all the wise men of Babylon, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream.” (NASB95)
“So I gave orders” is a result clause since the conjunction wa, “so” is a marker of result indicating that “as a result of” this vision which terrified the king, he ordered his wise men to be brought into his presence in order to make known to him the interpretation of the dream.
“To bring into my presence all the wise men of Babylon” is a purpose clause presenting the purpose of the order.
“That they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream” is also a purpose clause presenting the purpose of Nebuchadnezzar issuing a command for each and every one of the city of Babylon’s wise men to be brought into his presence.
Daniel 4:6 “Therefore, from me a command was issued for the purpose of causing each and every one of the city of Babylon’s wise men to be brought into my presence in order that they could make known to me the dream’s interpretation.” (My translation)
Nebuchadnezzar’s order here in Daniel 4:6 seems rather strange since Daniel chapter two records that the king was extremely upset with the wise men as a result of their inability to tell him the content of his dream.
In fact, he ordered them to be executed.
Also, it was Daniel who was able to tell the king the content and interpretation of his dream in chapter two.
Daniel 4:8 says that Daniel came in last which implies that the king did not send for him until after the wise men failed again.
There are three possible reasons why Nebuchadnezzar sent for the wise men and then as a last resort Daniel.
The first is that the wise men had been under Daniel’s authority.
If you recall, Daniel 2:48 records that Nebuchadnezzar rewarded Daniel for giving him both the content and interpretation of his dream by making him ruler over the entire province of the city of Babylon.
In other words, the king made Daniel chief over the senior officials over each and every one of the city of Babylon’s wise men.
Nebuchadnezzar obviously had great respect for Daniel as a result of Daniel giving him the content and interpretation of his dream when the wise men could not.
The second reason why Nebuchadnezzar called on his wise men and not Daniel was that he might have felt embarrassed because of his great pride to call on the latter since chapter three records that he executed his three friends.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow down and worship the gold statue he erected on the plain of Dura and so the king had them put to death.
God of course intervened and saved these three.
The second reason appears to be the more feasible since Nebuchadnezzar was desperate to find out what the dream meant as indicated by the fact that he issued an order to bring into his presence the wise men of the city of Babylon.
The king would not hesitate to call on Daniel immediately rather than wasting his time with the wise men who were under Daniel’s authority and who had failed him in the past.
However, he must have delayed in calling for Daniel immediately because he was embarrassed for executing his three friends.
The king’s great pride prevented him from calling for Daniel immediately and instead calling for those who had proven to be frauds in the past, the wise men.
Nebuchadnezzar also could have been rationalizing that the wise men had been under Daniel’s authority so why confront Daniel when he didn’t have to and instead call on those under his authority who might have learned from Daniel how to interpret dreams.
So the first reason could have been used by the king to rationalize not having to face Daniel again, which undoubtedly would have been embarrassing to him.
There is also a third possible reason why Nebuchadnezzar did not ask immediately for Daniel, which is that the king knew that the dream involved a king who would be deposed until he acknowledged the God of Israel was sovereign over him.
The reason why Nebuchadnezzar was terrified upon receiving these prophetic revelations-visions was that he felt threatened by he saw.
He felt threatened because his conscience was convicting him that he was still living in rebellion with God.
On two separate occasions, Nebuchadnezzar was told by God that He was sovereign over him.
In chapter two, Daniel interpreted his dream and told the king that God gave him his authority, power and success and was thus sovereign over him.
Then, in chapter three, by miraculously delivering Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from his power, God was telling the king that He was sovereign over him.
Now, he receives another supernatural revelation, which bothers his conscience since in this revelation-vision, the king saw a messenger coming down from out of heaven.
This tells the king that the message conveyed by the messenger in this vision was from God.
Therefore, Nebuchadnezzar knows that God is speaking to him again and his conscience has convicted him that he has not been obedient to the previous revelations given to him in that he has yet to acknowledge God’s sovereignty over his life.
So the king knows with this revelation or vision that God is dealing with him and is not happy with him which is reflected in Daniel’s interpretation, which said that the king would be deposed for seven years until he acknowledged that God was sovereign over him.