Chapter 2: The Sovereign God is the Revealer of Secrets
What: Personal Dreams Story
Historical Narrative with Prophetic Elements told in the 3 rd Person. Written in Hebrew until 2:4 where it says ?O king?? which is written in Aramaic ? gentile?s language.
Where and When:
Nebuchadnezzar?s 2nd Year (1) in Babylon
Who:
- Nebuchadnezzar the King?this being the 2 nd Year of His reign (1)
- The Wise Men (Magicians, conjurers, the sorcerers) (2) couldn?t interpret the dream with
- The Chaldeans (2) who seemed to be the main voice against the king and source of his wrath (5, 7, 10-11)
- Arioch (14) Captain of the King?s guard, who went out to arrest the wise men before killing them apparently. Takes credit for finding Daniel (25)
- Daniel and his friends (Collective) (13) as part of the Wise Men category were under the death sentence due to the Kings ire (12)
- Daniel (singular) (14) the voice of the group and to whom the answer was revealed (19) and subsequently blesses the God of heaven (19-23)
- God of gods and Lord of Kings and the revealer of mysteries (27)
Why Written:
Confrontation:
King versus the Wise Men and Children of God versus impending doom
The king has a dream which troubles his spirit and takes away his sleep (1)
The king calls all the wise men and Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams (2, 3)
The Chaldeans (and wise men) seek to be told the dream so that they could interpret it (4)
The King sets his mind and refuses to tell them. Rather he commands that they tell him his dream and the interpretation or suffer the consequences of being torn limb from limb and their homes being made a dung hill (5) or they can give him what he wants and be rewarded (6)
The Chaldeans try again to no avail seeing that the King made up his mind (7,8) and he knows they?re trying to lie to him (9)
The Chaldeans say the King is being unreasonable because the thing he asks is nigh-impossible it?s so hard (10, 11)
The King gets angry and orders all the wise men in Babylon to be killed (12)
Daniel and friends vs. the King?s Edict
Daniel and his friend are wise men and Arioch comes to arrest them (13)
Daniel responded to the arrest warrant very wisely asking why they?re in such a rush to do this horrible thing and Arioch told him (14, 15)
Daniel made a request to the king to have some time, likely being a minor wise man and this note was brought under the king?s nose he likely waved it away with a nod knowing that he would soon be rid of the Chaldeans (16)
Daniel and his friends go home and pray for compassion from the God of heaven (17,18)
Results: Prophecy, Praise and Promotion
God reveals the dream to Daniel in a night vision (19)
Daniel praises and blesses the God of heaven (19-23)
Prevents the annihilation of the wise men (24)
Upon the Kings bequest (25, 26), Daniel tells him that he can?t tell him the dream and in fact, no man can (27)
But, the God of Heaven can tell you the dream because he is the revealer of secrets (28) and of mysteries (29) and he has revealed to you this secret, I?m only the interpreter (30)
The Dream revealed (31-35)
- The King was looking and suddenly there was a great statue, gorgeous and huge (31)
- It had a head of fine gold, a silver breast and arms, a belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron and its feet made of part iron and part pottery clay (32,33)
- He couldn?t remove his eyes from it and a stone cut without hands struck the feet of the statue and pulverized it (34)
- It became like power and the wind blew it away not leaving a trace of it but the stone became a great mountain filling up the whole earth (35)
The Dream Interpreted (36-45)
- Neo-Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar is the Golden head (36-38)
- Another kingdom, inferior is the next (39)
- Followed by a third kingdom of bronze over all the earth (39)
- The fourth kingdom is as strong as iron and crushes all things (40) which will be a divided kingdom near its end having the toughness of iron but the weakness of potter?s clay (41) and the toes are partly strong and partly brittle, easy to break (42) not adhering to each other (43)
- In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, crushing all the other kingdoms before it and it will take place in the future (44,45)
King pays homage to Daniel (46)
King agrees that Daniel?s God is a God of gods (47)
Daniel is promoted and given gifts and made chief over the wise men (48)
Daniels friends were given administration over the province of Babylon while Daniel was at the king?s court (49)
Application:
Primarily, God knows all things and as such is the revealer of secret things. We can always rely on Him that nothing is outside of His realm of vision, nothing is unforeseeable, and nothing comes as a surprise to Him. In His absolute sovereignty He can infinitely plan ahead because He is infinite and all possibilities and options are known to Him.
Secondarily, the wisdom of men is faulty and useless without relying on God to whom belongs all wisdom, knowledge and understanding. He was there when the world was made and when the foundations of the cosmos were put down?men were not.
Thirdly we see the praise and adoration that such a God is due. He is not like the pagan gods which you would offer your praise then eat it in one sitting, meaning nothing and quickly forgotten. This is a God who answers prayers and in His answers finds a way to not only touch the lives of those who believe in Him, but those who are adamantly against Him (the Magicians) and those who don?t care either way (Nebuchadnezzar). Even Arioch was touched by this witness that God actually revealed this secret?this hidden dream and gave an actual interpretation.
Fourthly we see that the Kingdoms of Men are something quite beautiful. There are achievements and grandeur in the kingdom of men which are great and awesome and are cause for much shuddering?this is given. The feats performed by Men with the Ziggurats and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Sphinx and Great Pyramids of Egypt are phenomenal. And yet, with all this glory the statue was greatly flawed being top heavy and having a precarious foundation. They do not compare to the greatness of the uncut stone, the Kingdom of God which will destroy such chiseled beauty and pulverize it and supplanting it with a Kingdom throughout all the Earth. This Strong Kingdom, unflawed and undefiled which is pictured as a growing mountain with deep roots and a strong foundation which is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Rock.
Fifthly we see that the kingdoms of men are sequentially listed as four major kingdoms and starting with Neo-Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar. The Kingdom is not listed as starting under his father or even under the first major kingdom under Nimrod in Babel, but instead it lists these major kingdoms. We know nothing of these kingdoms as of chapter 2 but that they follow the previous kingdom and that each one is in kind weaker than the one before it culminating in the feet which are a weak mixture of pottery clay (ceramic) and iron.
Lastly we see that the last kingdom which pulverizes the statue, or all the previous kingdoms, comes suddenly and envelops the entire world. No kingdom succeeds it nor do any of the kingdoms of the statue grow into it. It is separate and formed with no hands, powerful and all consuming at a rapid pace. The mark of it?s onset is the destruction of all the previous kingdoms.
-r-