To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, while Daniel and his buddies were still undergrads at Babylon U, the king had a dream (2:1). Based on the normal counting method for Babylonian royal years, this was 604 or 603 BC. When the king woke up, he knew he’d had an important dream, but he couldn’t remember it.(1) When the magicians, conjurers, sorcerers, and Chaldeans couldn’t tell him what his dream was, he pitched a fit.

"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. 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." (2:5–6)
 

A little background is important here. If the Babylonian mystics heard that the king’s dream was about a statue, their rules said it was about the future of the kingdom. They could fudge the rest and make themselves look good. But God had another plan that would lead to a powerful demonstration of His power. Nebuchadnezzar had been able to take the sacred vessels from Jerusalem because Yahweh let him.

The mystics pleaded with Nebuchadnezzar to tell them the dream. That really ticked him off.

The king answered and said, "I know for certain that you are bargaining for time, inasmuch as you have seen that the command from me is firm, 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." (2:8–9)

It was pretty obvious that the king’s advisors were a bunch of phonies and he knew it. But they thought they could get him to back off.

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.  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." (2:10–11)

That sealed the deal. The mystics admitted that they really couldn’t do anything. This set things up for Yahweh to show that He’s the real deal — not Bel, Aku, Nebo, Sin, and or any other Babylonian god. On top of that, Yahweh isn’t content to live in heaven. Yes, His throne is there (Ps 11:4), but He never let Israel go anywhere alone. The Israelites were afraid of Him (Exod 20:18–21), but God wouldn’t take “No” for an answer. He had them build a sanctuary where His presence would live (Exod 25:8, 1 Kgs 8:12), then put it right in the middle of the camp (Num 2).

Nebuchadnezzar gave the order to kill all the wise men of Babylon (2:12).  Unfortunately, this included Daniel and his friends (2:13). When Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard came, Daniel used discretion and discernment to ask what the rush was (2:14–15). With Arioch’s permission, Daniel asked the king for time (2:16).

We have to ask what made Daniel and his friends different from the other wise men. After all, they were students at BU. If Arioch thought the Hebrews were from the same mold as the other mystics, he wouldn’t have given them the time of day. His sword would have cut off discussion before Daniel could get to the king.

The food test had paved the way. When the Hebrews stood firmly by their faith in Yahweh and refused to participate in idolatry through food, God rewarded their faith with skill and understanding. The king and his lieutenants saw they were different and better than all the others.

It might seem easy to let the small stuff slide. Isn’t God really interested in the big stuff, like witnessing, Bible study, and so on? Yes, but Jesus said that if we honor God in the small things, He will give us larger responsibilities and honor (Matt 25:14–30). That’s what happened to the Hebrews. They started with a “little” issue. Then, when their lives were at stake, God was able to use them powerfully.

As soon as Nebuchadnezzar agreed to a delay, Daniel got his friends together for a prayer session. They requested compassion from the God of heaven concerning this mystery so they wouldn’t be destroyed (2:17–18). God revealed the mystery to Daniel in a vision (2:19). As soon as he woke up, he gave thanks.

"Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him. And it is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding. It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him. To Thee, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for Thou hast given me wisdom and power; Even now Thou hast made known to me what we requested of Thee, for Thou hast made known to us the king's matter." (2:20–23)

The credit always belongs to God. But Arioch didn’t see it that way. When Daniel went to see him, asking him not to destroy the wise men of Babylon (2:24), Arioch took the credit for himself.

Then Arioch hurriedly brought Daniel into the king's presence and spoke to him as follows: "I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can make the interpretation known to the king!" (2:25)

Let’s not be too hard on Arioch. He didn’t have our sense of ethics. His world rewarded performance lavishly and punished failure harshly. So he grabbed the chance to look good to the king.

Naturally, Nebuchadnezzar was interested. It would be quite impressive if Daniel could tell him what the dream was. He’d reward anybody who could do that. And Daniel would be justified in claiming the credit . . . at least in the Babylonian culture.

But Daniel wasn’t about to take credit for a miracle he wasn’t responsible for. He told the king that there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter days (2:28). Wait a minute! Didn’t I just talk about Yahweh living among men?

God’s presence was still in the Temple in Jerusalem. He wouldn’t leave until He abandoned it to Nebuchadnezzar’s army in 586. But Nebuchadnezzar didn’t care about that. He thought his gods, the ones that didn’t dwell with men, had given him the victory over Yahweh’s people. So Daniel presented Yahweh in a way the king would understand. With wisdom from God, Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar just enough about the One True God that he’d accept Him into his group of gods.

Daniel turned the normal expectations of the pagan world upside down. Giving credit to Yahweh instead of taking it for himself got the king’s attention. “Wasn’t this one of those kids from the food episode a couple of years ago? They gave credit to their god back then, too. Hmmm . . .”

Then Daniel said something that takes us back . . . way back.

"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; 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." (2:37–38)

On the sixth day of Creation, God commissioned Adam and Eve to “rule over . . . cattle (beasts of the field) . . . and birds of the sky . . . over all the earth” (Gen 1:26, 28). Their job was to “tend and keep” the Garden (Gen 2:15). Daniel used this language to carry the same meaning from the Creation story.(2) It’s Nebuchadnezzar’s turn to be commissioned to care for God’s creation. And that’s not all.

God gave the kingdom, power, and gloryto Nebuchadnezzar. That should sound familiar, since it’s part of the Lord’s Prayer (Matt 6:13). But we’re 600 years too early for that. Daniel would remember Psalm 145:11, where those words speak about Yahweh. No other earthly king was ever granted that degree of honor by God. This means that Nebuchadnezzar was supposed to be God’s representative. Let’s put this all together.

Daniel comes to the king with a message direct from God. In that message, Yahweh commissions Nebuchadnezzar to be His representative to care for the world. In particular, he’s responsible for the Jews. Yahweh’s about to use Jeremiah to tell the Jews that they’ll be serving Babylon for seventy years (Jer 25:11).

The northern ten tribes were long gone, dispersed by Assyria, never to be found again. God’s reputation depended on protecting His people (cf. Ezek 20:9, 14). So He appointed “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon” to be “My servant” to keep the Jews from being dispersed or destroyed (Jer 25:9).

Finally, Daniel emphasized that it was the great God who made known to the king what will take place in the future (2:45). When the interpretation was over Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and did homage to Daniel! (2:46). But he wasn’t worshiping Daniel. He was worshiping Daniel’s God, even though he didn’t know quite who Yahweh was. Daniel had been given so much power that this God would not look kindly on any disrespect for His messenger. So the king followed his pagan instincts.(3)

Nebuchadnezzar’s world had lots of gods. They were celestial beings that had a number of different duties and powers. So he didn’t have any problem adding another god to that list. Yahweh was a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries (2:47). This made Yahweh equal to most of the Babylonian gods. He should be worshiped just like the others.

Daniel might have suspected that this would happen. He’d had a couple years to see how the pagan minds at BU worked. He simply went ahead with the task Yahweh gave him. He couldn’t know what God had planned.

We’d think that this would be the time to set the hook and have the king confess the One True God.(4) But Nebuchadnezzar wasn’t ready. All he was willing to do was add Yahweh to the list as a real deity, with real powers. Bigger concessions would have to wait.

We want results, NOW! But we need to follow Daniel’s example. God works everything out in His time. We have to wait for Him (Ps 27:14). But Daniel didn’t need to wait for his rewards. Nebuchadnezzar had promised, and he came through. Without graduating from Babylon U, Daniel became the chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon (2:48). And the king made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon. At Daniel’s request, his three friends became administrators over the province of Babylon (2:49).

Unfortunately, this isn’t the end of the story. Satan would fight back, trying to destroy what God was preparing. And he wasn’t going to wait very long.