GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
DANIEL 2:1
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In the second chapter, Daniel begins to be honored by the King of Babylon. This is brought about by God, who sends the King a difficult dream, and which can only be identified and interpreted by God himself, who gives the interpretation to Daniel. As a result Daniel is promoted over all of the magicians and scholars of the land and becomes an influential ruler and lieutenant for the King. This benefits all of the Jews in Babylon, “that despite their wretched condition they should neither despair nor grow impatient, as if God has abandoned them or had withdrawn his promise of Christ.” Daniel proclaims through this dream that four kingdoms have already begun to appear in the world, with Babylon being the first, followed by the Persians, then the Greeks under Alexander the Great, and finally the Romans. Daniel will have much to say about the Romans in particular, and then about the coming of Christ, the Lord over all the earth.
2:1 In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled and he could not sleep.
Some commentators see a hurdle here that needs to be overcome; I would almost call it a stumbling block for some. How could this have happened in Nebuchadnezzar’s second year if Daniel had not yet completed his three years of training? Is there a difference between counting years between the Babylonians and the Jews which could make up the difference somehow? That idea has the merits of following the text as the Word of God. The opinions of the skeptics are not worth repeating (why do so many skeptics and unbelievers write commentaries on the Scriptures? Aren’t there other profitable ways for them to sin and live out their lives “gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the godly” until Judgment Day?). We will take the text as it is written, and consider that it is possible, probable, likely, and perhaps even obvious, that King Nebuchadnezzar had this dream before Daniel and his companions had finished their training; and that this will even be supported by verse 14 of the chapter. More about that later.
This king was already very active. In his father’s last year, Nebuchadnezzar was campaigning against Jerusalem. It was during the siege that his father died, and after hurrying back to bury his father and take the throne, he returned to finish the campaign. That was in 605 BC. In 604 (probably the year of this chapter), he had sent out a campaign against Syria and then along the coast as far as the Philistine city of Ashkelon. These campaigns would be repeated. In 603 he would send his army out with even larger siege towers against an unknown city in the region (possibly Gaza). In 602 and 601, his forces were on the march once again, possibly putting down a rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar’s own brother Nabu-shum-lishir. By 601 BC, he was at war with Egypt.
In this middle of all this, Nebuchadnezzar had a bad night. It’s possible that he was troubled so much by his military campaigns and the related expenses. Such things weigh heavily on the mind. “A dream comes when there are many cares” (Ecclesiastes 5:3). So Nebuchadnezzar was having dreams. Then after the dreams, his sleep “dropped from him” (the Hebrew idiom is apt still today) and he was troubled in his spirit.
Here, the King’s spirit was “pushed back and forth.” This is a verb stem called the hithpael, where the “to and fro” or “back and forth” idea is set into the verbal action, like when the angels’ flaming sword is “flashing back and forth” to guard the way to the tree of life in Genesis 3:24. Another example is when the chariots “rush back and forth through the city streets” in Nahum 2:4. In this case, the King’s mind and spirit are being pushed around from one thought to another. He has too much on his mind to sleep, between the cares that he thinks brought on the dreams, and the strange imagery of the dreams themselves, which of course were sent into his mind by God. Some of the dreams that the Lord sends are very disturbing (Matthew 27:19) and even terrifying (Job 33:15-16). Others quiet the heart and bring peace and assurance (1 Kings 3:5).
Daniel writes about Nebuchadnezzar’s sleeplessness with almost the same words Moses used when Joseph’s Pharaoh was troubled in his spirit giving him a bad night (Genesis 41:8). At that time, the Lord used dreams to prepare Pharaoh for a message about the immediate future, and how to prepare his nation and, in doing so rescue God’s people from a famine.
Here in Daniel the stakes are much higher; the world-view is much, much bigger. Joseph was asked to interpret dreams that would reveal fourteen years of harvests and that would affect about four generations that would follow, since Joseph’s brother Levi had a son, Kohath, who’s son was Amram, and whose grandsons were Moses and Aaron (Exodus 6:16-20). But the dream Daniel was about to interpret would touch on four kingdoms and more than six hundred years of time, from the Babylonians to the Persians to the Greeks to the Romans, and beyond the Romans to the very end of time.
It was time, now, in Babylon, among a people addicted to fortune telling and interpreting dreams, for the most telling dreams to be delivered and interpreted. Daniel’s training as one the Babylonian magi or wise man was not even completed yet (at least, this is the way I read the text), but he was more than well enough prepared in his faith to be able to proclaim what the Lord was giving him to proclaim. For the prophets of God never spoke according to their own impulses, but received the word of God first through the Scriptures. They put their faith in the received word of God, the Bible and the spoken word of God, and then those holy men spoke as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit, as Peter proclaims (2 Peter 1:21). “No prophet,” as we avow in our Confession, “whether Elijah or Elisha, received the Spirit without the Ten Commandments. John the Baptist was not conceived without the preceding word from Gabriel… Without the external word the Holy Spirit would not have moved them to speak” (Smalcald Articles Part III §VIII:13). You and I have the same word of truth, and while we might not receive dreams from the Lord (whether delightful or terrifying) we can benefit each other, refreshing one another’s hearts in Christ, as Paul says (Philemon 1:20). Carry the word of the Lord on your lips, and the love of the Lord in your heart, to comfort the afflicted and soothe the troubled brow of those who are widowed, orphaned, or worried in other ways. Be a blessing to the people around you, and recognize them for the blessings that they are. “Save your people, O Lord, and bless your inheritance. Be their shepherd and carry them forever” (Psalm 28:9). Amen.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Daniel 2:1 The King had dreams