BABYLON'S “WISE MEN” TESTED.
“In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams; and his spirit was troubled, and his sleep went from him.” Dan. 2:1. Farther along in the chapter we learn that these dreams were instigated by the Lord. Nebuchadnezzar had been made the guardian of the children of Judah, because, through their apostasy, they had become unfitted for independent government in their own name. Wherever the Lord’s recognized people are, no matter what may be their spiritual condition, we may expect to see the hand of the Lord manifested in their behalf. Tho He chastens them, yet He loves them. Heb. 12:6-8. Therefore His spirit began to move upon Nebuchadnezzar in a way to call his attention to the One who had given him his power over the nations. Nebuchadnezzar had reigned two years conjointly with his father, and because of his prominence as commander of the armies of Babylon, and his otherwise active agency in the affairs of the kingdom, the Jewish records acknowledge him as king during that time. But the Babylonian records begin his reign with the death of his father. So this was the “second year” of his reign, according to the Babylonian record. Being a year after the young Jewish princes mentioned in the first chapter had finished their three years’ course in school, it would be his fourth year of practical rule over them. While the dream was designed to show Nebuchadnezzar what should come to pass in the history of the world’s kingdoms (verse 29), it incidently, and first of all, gave opportunity for demonstrating the ignorance and hollow pretension of the king’s “wise men.” This in turn would prepare his mind better to weigh the words of the Lord’s servant Daniel, through whom the Lord purposed further to instruct the king. The dreams so impressed the king’s mind that he determined to accept no mere guess-work as to their meaning. The “wise men” pretended to be able to explain dreams, but, in order to be sure of the right interpretation in this case, he imposed a new test of their ability in this respect. Aside from being an unusually shrewd man, there is no doubt that the king had found no little occasion to suspect that they were not infallible interpreters. “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. 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.” This was the old story with them; knowing the dream they could put any kind of fanciful interpretation to7such as would be likely to please or flatter the king. That class of people are always artful in concocting interpretations of variant import, so that in any event they can be made to fit the thing to be interpreted. But the king had decided beforehand what to do. So he answered them, “The thing is gone from me.” What thing?—The margin of the American Revised Version says, “The word is gone forth from me.” The test to be enforced was, “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.” On the other hand, if they would tell the dream and its interpretation they should receive gifts and great honor. The “wise men” again pleaded with the king to tell them the dream, but he persistently refused, saying, “Ye would gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me.” Of course they would want to put off the time of their execution. Then the king repeats the “thing,” or word, that has gone forth from him, and tells them plainly why he is constrained to test them in this way: “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.” The Chaldeans then argued that there was not a man upon the earth that could show the dream, and therefore no king or ruler ever had asked such a thing of any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean. They said it was a rare thing that the king required, and none could show it to him “except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” This was a plain acknowledgment that they could get no help from their gods. “For this cause the king was angry, and very furious, and . . . the decree [which had before been decided upon] went forth that the wise men should be slain. And they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain.” Daniel did not get excited when the officer came after him; he “answered with wisdom,” and asked, “Why is the decree so hasty from the king?” Then Arioch explained the matter to Daniel, who evidently had not been called in with the other “wise men,” altho reckoned with them, when it came to the matter of executing them. But Daniel was permitted to go to the king, and ask for time, the very thing that the others had been refused; and time was granted him. There are two apparent reasons for this: 1. Daniel promised an interpretation of the dream without asking the king to tell what the dream was. 2. The Spirit of the Lord, that had prompted the king to put his “wise men” to the test, had moved him to test Daniel’s wisdom also. Evidently some soothing influence had temporized the king’s fury, at least as far as Daniel was concerned.