lent day 4

 Nebuchadnezzar’s Troubling Dream

CH 2  1In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams that troubled his spirit, and sleep escaped him. 2So the king gave orders to summon the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologersa to explain his dreams. When they came and stood before the king, 3he said to them, “I have had a dream, and my spirit is anxious to understand it.”

4Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic,b “O king, may you live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.”

5The king replied to the astrologers, “My word is final: If you do not tell me the dream and its interpretation, you will be cut into pieces and your houses will be reduced to rubble. 6But if you tell me the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts and rewards and great honour. So tell me the dream and its interpretation.”

7They answered a second time, “Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and we will give the interpretation.”

8The king replied, “I know for sure that you are stalling for time, because you see that my word is final. 9If you do not tell me the dream, there is only one decree for you. You have conspired to speak before me false and fraudulent words, hoping the situation will change. Therefore tell me the dream, and I will know that you can give me its interpretation.”

10The astrologers answered the king, “No one on earth can do what the king requests! No king, however great and powerful, has ever asked anything like this of any magician, enchanter, or astrologer. 11What the king requests is so difficult that no one can tell it to him except the gods, whose dwelling is not with mortals.”

12This response made the king so furious with anger that he gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. 13So the decree went out that the wise men were to be executed, and men went to look for Daniel and his friends to execute them.

The Dream Revealed to Daniel

14When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, had gone out to execute the wise men of Babylon, Daniel replied with discretion and tact. 15“Why is the decree from the king so harsh?” he asked.

At this time Arioch explained the situation to Daniel. 16So Daniel went in and asked the king to give him some time, so that he could give him the interpretation.

17Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 18urging them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his friends would not be killed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

19During the night, the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision, and he blessed the God of heaven 20and declared:

“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,

for wisdom and power belong to Him.

21He changes the times and seasons;

He removes kings and establishes them.

He gives wisdom to the wise

and knowledge to the discerning.

22He reveals the deep and hidden things;

He knows what lies in darkness,

and light dwells with Him.

23To You, O God of my fathers,

I give thanks and praise,

because You have given me

wisdom and power.

And now You have made known to me

what we have requested,

for You have made known to us

the dream of the king.”


There's a lot to dissect here so I'm just going to highlight the bits that stand out to me. Firstly isn't it interesting that this ungodly King who has stolen sacred items from the Holy of Holies and put them in a temple dedicated to his own gods gets ' God dreams'?  😀   Let us not be too quick to assume that God can't speak to really unholy people.   He can and He does.   Secondly, Nebuchadnezzar seems to recognise that his dream is unusual. He says his 'spirit'  wants to understand it - and the dream is keeping him awake at night.  Even the most ungodly people can have some insight and God can use this to capture their attention.


Poor old astronomers and magicians didn't stand a chance did they?  But this is a real challenge to me because Id have been standing with those guys saying 'well just tell me the dream and I'll give you the interpretation'.   I've interpreted dreams before. Occasionally I've had a truly 'spiritual' interpretation.  But other times, probably more often, I've used a combination of experience, general spiritual understanding, psychology and common sense to explain dreams.  I think that's OK when it's prefaced with ' I think this might be what this means, weigh it and see what you think'.   The King wasn't up for any of that.  He was desperate.  And when we later hear what the dream was we can see why.  He knew the dream foretold something deadly serious.  He wanted a true interpretation.  Sometimes God speaks scary things to people who don't know Him.   We need to be sure we have the right words to tell them.


Seems a bit unfair that all the wise men faced execution and not just the ones who couldn't tell the King his dream. But perhaps that's just an indication of how disturbed he had been by what he had dreamed.   Even the astrologers and magicians knew that they needed a divine intervention.  They just didn't know that God can dwell with mortals and was indeed dwelling with Daniel and his friends. 


Daniel was brave.  The King had just ordered his execution yet he goes in to talk with Nebuchadnezzar and ask for time to seek an interpretation.  Gutsy.  God could have given Dan the dream as he was standing in front of the King, or when he was on his way to the palace.  I'm pretty sure Daniel was asking for it right there and then.  But when he didn't hear anything he wasn't tempted to lean on his own understanding and come up with something from his own imaginings.  He had faith enough to ask for time and then to wait and seek.


Dan and his friends didn't plead for answers. They asked for mercy. Then it would appear they stayed up all night praying and waiting until the answer came. When was the last time you stayed up all night to pray because your life literally depended on it?


Daniel's first response to receiving the answer is not to immediately race to see the King. It is to praise God.


I already knew Daniel was a great guy, but I'm starting to appreciate him a lot more as I reflect on his character. Hope you are too 😊


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