Daniel 2:15, commentary and pictures

Daniel met the captain of the guard sent out to execute the wise men and asked him why the king's sentence of death was so hasty and urgent, and the captain then explained the cause to him. The decree had gone forth in anger because the wise men could not tell the king his troubling forgotten dream, and Daniel and his companions were condemned to die under it. He answered not with retaliation but with counsel and wisdom born of his close connection with God, and in faith went at once to ask the king for time so he could seek God with his companions in prayer. God revealed the secret to Daniel, exposing the limits of human wisdom and showing Himself as the revealer of secrets who gives superior wisdom and makes His power known. The prophecy thus made known was fulfilled with remarkable exactness, testifying to the inspiration of Scripture.

The Crisis Behind Question

Nebuchadnezzar was troubled by a forgotten dream and demanded that the wise men reveal both the dream itself and its meaning. Because they could not reveal the dream, an angry and furious decree commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed, with the threat of execution hanging over them. Daniel and his companions, with his friends, were among those condemned to die under that sentence of death and were sought to be slain.

Arioch, the captain of the king's guard, had gone forth to slay the wise men, and when Daniel met him Daniel asked why the king's decree was so hasty and urgent. Arioch then made the thing known to Daniel and explained the situation to him, that the king was troubled by his dream and his trusted wise men could not help him. Daniel then sought time from the king with the promise to show the interpretation, so he could seek God's help, bring the matter before God in prayer with his companions, and make the dream and its meaning known.

Through the providences connected with the dream and Daniel's interpretation of the image, the great men of the realm were saved from an ignominious death. Daniel's making known of the forgotten dream and its interpretation happened many years before Belshazzar's feast, and the queen-mother still remembered it at that feast.

Wisdom Faith and Revelation

When the captain of the king's guard had gone forth to slay the wise men and came to kill under sentence of death, Daniel did not meet him with retaliation but answered with counsel and wisdom, asking why the king's angry and furious decree commanding all the wise men of Babylon to be destroyed was so hasty and urgent when he and his fellows were sought to be slain. His calm wisdom in that strait place came from his close connection with God and his fear of the Lord. His faith in and dependence on the God he served moved him to go at once before the king to ask for time with the promise to show the interpretation, trusting that God to bring the king an interpretation.

The decree that put Daniel in danger also placed his companions in danger, and when Arioch explained the situation to him after Daniel questioned the urgency of the order to kill the wise men, Daniel sought time and brought the matter before God in prayer with his companions seeking God in prayer. An angel of God then revealed to Daniel the meaning of the forgotten dream so that he could tell it to the people, giving him both the dream and its meaning. The failure of Babylon's wise men in that crisis showed the limits of human wisdom and scientific power, while the giving of the dream and its meaning revealed God as the revealer of secrets and the superior wisdom He gives.

Through Nebuchadnezzar's troubling dream God revealed heavenly truth to the Hebrew captives who depended on Him, not to those captivated by Babylon's splendor, and that event revealed to Babylon the power and faithfulness of the God of Israel. That revelation called people away from empty sources to His eternal truth. The prophecy of the chapter to which this exchange belongs was fulfilled with remarkable exactness as shown by the historical record, and that fulfillment testified to the inspiration of Scripture and served as an anchor of faith.