Thoughts on the Book of Daniel.
By Uriah Smith
CHAPTER II.—THE GREAT IMAGE.
VERSE 1. And in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him. There had been some perplexity over this date. Daniel was carried captive in the first year of Nebuchadnezzar. For three years he was placed under instructors, during which time he would not, of course, be reckoned among the wise men of the kingdom, nor take part in public affairs. Yet in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar the transactions recorded in this chapter took place. The explanation lies in the fact that Nebuchadnezzar reigned for two years conjointly with his father Nabopolassar. From this point the Jews reckoned; while the Chaldeans reckoned from the time he commenced to reign alone, on the death of his father. Hence, the year here mentioned was the second year of his reign, according to the Chaldean reckoning, but the fourth, according to the Jewish. It thus appears that even the next year after Daniel had completed his preparation to participate in the affairs of the Chaldean Empire, the providence of God brought him into sudden and wonderful notoriety throughout all the kingdom. VERSE 2. Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to show the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. The magicians were such as practiced magic, using the term in its bad sense; that is, practiced all the superstitious rites and ceremonies of fortune-tellers, casters of nativities, &c. Astrologers were men who pretended to foretell future events by the study of the stars. The science, or the superstition, of astrology, was extensively cultivated by the eastern nations of antiquity. Sorcerers were such as pretended to hold communication with the dead. In this sense, we believe it is always used in the Scriptures. Modern Spiritualism is simply ancient heathen sorcery revived. The Chaldeans here mentioned were a sect of philosophers similar to the magicians and astrologers, who made physic, divinations, &c., their study. All these sects or professions abounded in Babylon. The end aimed at by each was the same, namely, the explaining of mysteries, and the foretelling of future events, the principal difference between them being the means by which they sought to accomplish their object. The king’s difficulty lay equally within the province of each to explain; hence he summoned them all. With the king it was an important matter. He was greatly troubled, and hence concentrated upon the solution of his perplexity the whole wisdom of his realm. VERSES 3, 4. And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream. Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriac, O King, live forever; tell thy servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation. Whatever else the ancient magicians and astrologers may have been deficient in, they seemed to have thoroughly schooled themselves in the art of drawing out sufficient information to form a basis for some shrewd calculation, or of framing their answers in so ambiguous a manner that they would be equally applicable, let the event turn either way. In the present case, true to their cunning instincts, they called upon the king to make known to them his dream. If they could get full information respecting this, they could easily agree on some interpretation which would not endanger their reputation. They addressed themselves to the king in Syriac, a dialect of the Chaldean language which was used by the educated and polished classes. From this point to the end of chapter 7, the record continues in Chaldee. VERSES 5–13. The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me; if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill. But if ye show the dream, and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honor; therefore show me the dream, and the interpretation thereof. They answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation of it. The king answered and said, I know of certainty that ye would gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me. But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you; for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed; therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can show me the interpretation thereof. The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can show the king’s matter; therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean. And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can show it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh. For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain. These verses contain the record of the desperate struggle between the wise men, so-called, and the king, the former seeking some avenue for escape, seeing they were caught on their own ground, and the latter determined that they should make known his dream, which was no more than their profession would warrant him in demanding. Some have severely censured Nebuchadnezzar in this matter, as acting the part of a heartless, unreasonable tyrant. But what did these magicians profess to be able to do?45To reveal hidden things; to foretell future events; to make known mysteries entirely beyond human foresight and penetration; and to do this by the aid of supernatural agencies. If then their claim was worth anything, could they not make known to the king what he had dreamed? They certainly could. And if they were able, knowing the dream, to give a reliable interpretation thereof, would they not also be able to make known the dream itself when it had gone from the king? Certainly, if there was any virtue in their pretended intercourse with the other world. There was therefore nothing unjust in Nebuchadnezzar’s demand that they should make known his dream. And when they declared, verse 11, that none but the gods whose dwelling was not with flesh could make known the king’s matter, it was a tacit acknowledgment that they had no communication with these gods, and knew nothing beyond what human wisdom and discernment could reveal. For this cause, the king was angry and very furious. He saw that he and all his people were being made the victims of deception. He accused them, verse 9, of endeavoring to dally along till the “time be changed,” or till the force of the matter had so passed from his mind that his anger at their duplicity should abate, and he either recall the dream himself, or be unconsciously whether it be made known and interpreted or not. And while we cannot justify the extreme measures to which he resorted, dooming them to death, and their houses to destruction, we can but feel a hearty sympathy with him in his condemnation of a class of miserable impostors. The severity of his sentence was more owing to the customs of those times, than to any malignity on the part of the king. Yet it was a bold and desperate step. Consider who these were who thus incurred the wrath of the king. They were numerous, opulent, and influential sects. Moreover, they were the learned and cultivated classes of those times; yet the king was not so wedded to his false religion as to spare it even with all this influence in its favor. If the system was one of fraud and imposition, it must fall, however high its votaries might stand in numbers or position, or however many of them might be involved in its ruin. The king would be no party to dishonesty or deception. VERSES 14–18. Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch the captain of the king’s guard, which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon. He answered and said to Arioch the king’s captain, Why is the decree so hasty from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel. Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would show the king the interpretation. Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions; that they would desire mercies of the God of Heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. In this narrative we see the providence of God working in several remarkable particulars. 1. It was providential that the dream of the king should leave such a powerful impression upon him as to raise him to the greatest height of anxiety, and yet the thing itself be held from his mind. This led to the complete exposure of the false system of the magicians, &c.; for when put to the test to make known the dream, it was found that they were unable to do what their profession made incumbent on them. 2. It was remarkable that Daniel and his companions, so lately pronounced by the king ten times better than all his magicians and astrologers, should not sooner have been consulted, or rather should not have been consulted at all, in this matter. But there was a providence in this. Just as the dream was held from the king, so he was unaccountably held from appealing to Daniel for a solution of his mystery. For had he called on Daniel at first, and had he at once made known the matter, the magicians would not have been brought to the test. But God would let the heathen systems of the Chaldeans have the first chance. He would let them try and ignominiously fail, and confess their utter incompetency, even under the penalty of death, that they might be the better prepared to acknowledge his hand when he should finally reach it down in behalf of his captive servants, and for the honor of his own name. 3. It appears that the first intimation Daniel had of the matter was the presence of the executioners, come for his arrest. His own life being thus at stake, he would be led to seek the Lord with all his heart till he should work for their deliverance. 4. Daniel gains his request of the king for time to solve the matter; a privilege which probably none of the magicians could have secured, as the king had already accused them of speaking lying and corrupt words, and of seeking to gain time for this very purpose.