Daniel 2:2, commentary and pictures

Nebuchadnezzar summoned the magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, and Chaldeans whom he had exalted and trusted, and they came and stood before him. He was deeply troubled by a dream whose details he could no longer recall, yet he demanded that they both tell him the forgotten dream itself and give its interpretation, promising wealth and honor if they succeeded and threatening them with death if they failed. They stood before him in terror, having no light about the matter and unable to reveal it, asking instead that he tell them the dream so they could interpret it. God had caused the details to depart from the king while leaving him troubled, so the wise men could not invent a false interpretation and so the crisis would bring him into contact with God's servants, and when Daniel and his companions prayed, God revealed both the dream and its interpretation to Daniel through an angel and their lives were spared. Their failure exposed the limits of human and scientific wisdom beside the superior wisdom God gives to those who worship Him, while the remarkable exactness of this chapter's fulfillment in history gives evidence that Scripture is inspired.

The King's Urgent Summons

Nebuchadnezzar summoned the magicians and astrologers and sorcerers and Chaldeans, the court experts he himself had exalted and trusted, to make known his dreams, and they came and stood before the king. He was deeply troubled by a dream whose details had departed from him so that he could no longer remember or recall them and could find no relief. He demanded of these wise men not merely an interpretation but the forgotten dream itself together with its interpretation, at one point promising them wealth and honor if they succeeded and at another threatening them with death if they failed.

They stood before him in terror and fear, yet they had no light about the dream and could not reveal it. Instead they asked him to tell them the dream, claiming that then they could interpret it and give its meaning.

Because they could not meet the demand to tell both the dream and its interpretation, the king ordered the wise men to be killed, and that sentence put the lives of all of them in danger, including Daniel and his companions. Daniel asked for time to reveal the dream and its interpretation. He and his companions prayed and sought God, recognizing that only God could give the wisdom they needed, and God made known the forgotten dream together with its interpretation to Daniel, giving it through an angel, so that their lives were spared.

God had caused the details to be forgotten and taken the dream from the king while still leaving him deeply troubled and impressed with its importance. He did this so the wise men could not use their claimed knowledge of mysteries to put a false interpretation upon it, and their claims were thus exposed. He also used the crisis to bring the king into contact with His servants, since one connected with God was needed to help him when he could not remember it.

Exposure and Prophetic Lessons

The summons brought the trusted magicians, astrologers, sorcerers and Chaldeans before the troubled king to tell the forgotten dream, but they stood in fear with no light to give and could not reveal it, and their failure exposed the limits of their claimed wisdom and their inability to uncover what only God can reveal. In the working out of the interpretation God compelled them to acknowledge that they could not recover the lost dream, thereby exposing the limits of human and scientific wisdom so that the superior wisdom granted to those who worship God would be revealed.

Their inability was deliberate, for God had taken the dream from the king so the wise men could not use their claimed knowledge of mysteries to invent a false interpretation. In this their inability to tell the dream represents those who lack knowledge, discernment and wisdom from God and therefore cannot understand prophecy. Mere learning of worldly knowledge is not enough, for those who do not attend to God's word and receive it cannot rightly understand its message or share it with others.

The Babylonian astrologers were great men, and may once have been good as well as great, upon whom light from God's throne showing His will and truth had shone, but by refusing to see the light and opposing the truth they separated themselves from God and went over to the enemy's ranks. Their example shows that greatness and learning give learned men who now teach falsehood no excuse for rejecting light and following a course contrary to the divine will, for they are no greater than those astrologers. The chapter to which the summons belongs contains a prophecy fulfilled with remarkable exactness as confirmed by the record of history, and study of that fulfillment gave Gaussen evidence that Scripture is inspired and helped lead him from skepticism to faith.