Nebuchadnezzar seeks dream interpretation. - Daniel 2: 1-13

Good morning and welcome to adult Sunday school We'll be going through Daniel chapter 1 finally or chapter 2

I mean finally yeah 1 back in a step No, we're back in 2nd Corinthians Let's open in prayer

Lord it is with anticipation and delight. We look into your word this morning knowing that you will speak to us there through your word and Father it is our desire to hear it and to put it into practice by your grace

And so we look forward to what you're going to do this morning through your word in Jesus name Amen so we

In our last time together we finished the introduction for chapter 2

This is the chapter where the dream Nebuchadnezzar's dream starts clear up in verse 31 and All of this other verse the first 30 verses are important.

I assure you to set the stage for For how God puts

Daniel in a position of Being the only person that Nebuchadnezzar could look to to understand this dream that was causing him trouble

So we're going to we're going to be reading chapter 2 verses 1 through 13 Daniel chapter 2 verses 1 through 13

Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar had dreams and his spirit was troubled and his sleep left him

Then the king gave orders to call in the magicians the conquer the the magicians the conjurers the sorcerers and the

Chaldeans To tell the king his dreams So they came in and stood before the king and the king said to them

I had a dream and my spirit is anxious to understand the dream Then the Chaldeans spoke to him spoke to the king in Aramaic.

Oh king live forever Tell the dream to your servants and we will declare the interpretation

The king answered and said to the Chaldeans the command from me is firm If you do not make to make known to me the dream and its interpretation

You will be torn limb from limb and your houses will be made a rubbish heap But if you declare the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts and reward and great honor

Therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation They answered a second time and said let the king tell the dream to his servants and we will declare the interpretation the king answered and said

I know for certain that you are bargaining for time and as much as you have seen that I have The command from me is firm so that if you do not make the dream known to me, there is only one decree for you

For you have agreed together to speak lying and corrupt words before me until the situation is changed

Therefore tell me the dream that I may know that you can declare to me its interpretation the

Chaldeans answered The Chaldeans answered the king and said there is not a man on earth

Who could declare the matter for the king and as much as no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any?

magician conqueror or Chaldean Moreover the thing which the king demands is difficult and there is no one else who could declare it to the king except gods

Whose dwelling place is not with mortal flesh? Because of this the king became indignant and very furious and gave orders to destroy all the wise men

Of Babylon so the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain and they looked for Daniel and his friends to kill them

So Daniel As it were came out of the frying pan in chapter 1 and finds himself in the fire in chapter 2

It ended chapter 1 ended with great promise so We're going to see how

God uses this situation to set up Set up the the occasion and the circumstances which will lead to the king actually not killing the astrologers and the conjurers and the true wise men and Needing Daniel to interpret his dream so let's start with verse 1 now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar had dreams and his spirit was troubled and His sleep left him at this point in the life of Daniel Nebuchadnezzar has his dream which troubles him

Daniel 2 29 Explains that Explains that Nebuchadnezzar as he was falling asleep would be questioning what was going on in the future

What was going to happen in the future and in this and this dream was a result of that? So in Jap in Daniel chapter 2 29 it says as for you

O King while on your bed your thoughts turn to what would take place in the future and He who reveals mysteries has made known to you.

What will take place? So Daniel explains later on to a Nebuchadnezzar why he was having these sleepless nights

Now the word translated dreams can mean simple dreams in in in In Hebrew or it can mean prophetic dreams the word that is translated troubled depicts a severe disturbance inducing apprehension loss of apprehensive loss of sleep

He had he was losing sleep. He couldn't sleep Have any of you been troubled by that ever before you couldn't sleep it is just not fun

Is it now imagine it occurring night after night? and you have these when you do fall asleep you have these dreams that are just frightening and disturbing and this was in a time when societies gave far more

Substance to dreams when I have weird dreams. I figured it was the way I ate the hamburger

Or why I ate the hamburger why did I eat that hamburger or there wasn't enough bacon involved or something?

But I don't know about you, but I most often can't even remember most of my dreams Although if something happens that might trigger.

Oh, yeah, I remember dreaming that last night or something You know dreaming something about that, but this these were sleep depriving frightening

Dreams that caused great apprehension. He was agitated And so when we see later on his reaction to the

Astrologers and the Chaldeans we can kind of understand it just from a natural point of view that he was not sleeping

Well, and when you're not sleeping, well, it kind of puts you out of sorts Well, if you're a king of an empire and you're out of sorts people might die

So when we're out of sorts, we just somebody else has to cook breakfast So now we turn to the issue raised by the critics related to this period of training that Daniel had in which he was to be under the

King's training for three years and We read the very first verse of Daniel chapter 2 and it says in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Well now wait a minute didn't

Daniel and his friends What they put into training for three years before they could be advisors

They're gonna be killed because they're advisors to the king later on. We're gonna see in a few verses

But only two years have passed and so that was one of the very first things that the critics raised Objective objections to as soon as they got into chapter 2

The problem disappears when you understand that ancient kingdoms and especially the Babylonians Used the first year of a king's reign.

They called it his a session year It did not count as his first year it was his

Year of arising to the throne the accession year Thus Nebuchadnezzar's first year didn't count as his first year by our reckoning.

The chart shows how this works. So may to June of 605

BC Babylonian victory over the Egyptians at Carchemish June to August of 605 surrender of Jerusalem to met

Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel and his companions are taken captive September 7 605

Nebuchadnezzar the general of the army made king over Babylon After the death of his father his father

Nebuchadnezzar September 7 again to April 1 604

September 7 605 BC to April 1 604 BC Nebuchadnezzar's accession year is

King and the first year of Daniel's training This is his accession year not by their reckoning his first year his accession year

April 2nd 604 to March 21 603 BC First year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar and the second year of Daniel's training

March 23 603 BC to April 9 602 BC the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar and the third year of the training of Daniel and the year of Nebuchadnezzar's dreams and that's very simply how the timing worked out in those days

They wouldn't count the first year as his first year it was called his accession year So chapter 1 as we just read had ended with great promise for Daniel and chapter 2 begins with danger

There's the object. There's the apparent possibility that Daniel and his friends could be killed and in this particular case

They were completely innocent. We're gonna find out they weren't even present when the Chaldeans couldn't lie to the king

So any questions about verse 1 or that accession year the first year the second year of the third year of their training

Verse 2 then the king gave orders to call the magicians the conjurers the sorcerers and The Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams so they came in and stood before the king now in those days a king would have a dream and You have to understand.

There's an awful lot of interplay going on and an awful lot of fake fake things happening

Because the conjurers the sorcerers the magicians and the Chaldeans would first be concerned about their own skin

How are we going to stay alive in this in this? Administration if you will and so a king would tell them his dreams and then they would take some time

They would go away and they would consult together. What are you gonna say? What are you gonna say?

How are you gonna interpret this stupid thing? He's saying to us I mean, can you believe the king likes potato chips, you know or something like that?

So then they would come to a conclusion together and they would come back and they would interpret the dream interpret the dream

In so much so that I Would suggest that when the baton Abba placer nebuchadnezzar's father had this done his son

Nebuchadnezzar would have seen some of this happening and he would have began to develop his own opinions about The intelligence the efficacy and the truthfulness of the soothsayers

The conjurers and the magicians that were in nebuchadnezzar's court and Abba placer's court He didn't have any say over them

But picture this while he's going out and fighting his father's battles and sometimes he's at home

He's seeing his father having dreams interpreted because that's what was done in those days and he would have developed his own opinions about These people that were interpreting the dreams so verse 2 the king calls the king gave orders to call on the magicians the

Conjurers the sorcerers and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dream. So they came in and stood before the king

So now I don't know what was going through nebuchadnezzar's head But he would probably have remembered some of the things that had happened with his father doing these very things same things

So the king calls in the four classes of the advisors that he has the first would be magicians

This is a translation of the Hebrew word with the root meaning of the idea of a stylus or a pen a writing instrument

That's what the word comes from. These were writers. This could mean magician, but it could also simply means scholar educator

Conjurers translates the Hebrew word which refers to those who consult the dead and we know how effective that is

It was no more effective then than it is today It can also mean astrologers which is the preferred meaning here the

Hebrew word translated sorcerers refers to those who use incantations and magic which is warlocks etc

And the final word translated Chaldeans is from a word which designates the people which lived in southern

Babylonia These people would have considered themselves a master race

There is ample scholarship that demonstrates that this word translated Chaldeans is a homonym

Which and and can't can simply be translated Chaldeans referring to their master rate rate master race trait, or it can be translated astrologer priest it is similar to the differences between the meanings of the words to to and to or What we see all the time on Facebook there there and there

Those are homonyms they sound the name, but they sound the same they have different words t2 t o

Expresses in the direction of I'm going to town to t o o

Expresses addition also more I'm going to town to I'm going to town as well

The word to t .w .o. Is a cardinal

It describes a cardinal number and yet all three are pronounced exactly the same the two let's see

I I'm going to town to that's two of us going to town to So all the words sound the same, but they have different meanings some somewhat radical different meanings

This is the word for Cal D and it is a homonym And it can have several it can be translated in two different ways

The Chaldeans were not only astrologers they were actually very accomplished astronomers and As well, and we're quite famous with their accuracy and predictions of planetary movements and such it's it's

These kinds of things are very evident when we look at things like Stonehenge And you see how accurate they were able to place rocks and things so that they would show the rising

Sun During the vernal equinox or or whatever it is that Stonehenge does I think that's what

I remember it doing So their ability to calculate planetary movements was legendary

So it is well to note that Daniel and his three friends were not consulted They weren't consulted in this the astrologers the conjures the magicians and the

Chaldeans that came forward were the older men in the King's Court So Daniel they would have been

Daniel and his three friends would have been considered in the lower class of counselors Because they had just finished their training and they were too young The advisors the king called in would have been the older established cabal if you will

He would not have looked to the young people yet they would have had to have some opportunity to study to be in to mix in with the current crop of Advisors and watch them work and develop their own ability to help consult the king or excuse me

Advise the king so any questions on verse 2 Verse 3 the king said to them.

I had a dream and my spirit is anxious to understand the dream This would have been a skittish

Troubled Nebuchadnezzar and people who knew him who came in to stand before him would have known something something was up I'm This is not explicitly in Scripture, but Understanding how these kinds of things work they would have thought to themselves

King seems upset. He seems agitated and that can mean a whole different thing in this kind of a culture than it would today

The dream had clearly unsettled him and he was in something of a hurry to find out what it would have what it might have

Meant from his trusted his trusted advisors Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic.

Oh king live forever Tell the dream to your servants and we will declare the interpretation

So here begins the Aramaic portion of Daniel and it runs from here chapter 2 verse 4 all the way through chapter 7 verse 28

The people of Babylonia spoke in Aramaic. It was the it was the business language. It was the cultural language their documents were in an

Aramaic and so Daniel wrote this portion of the book in the language of the kingdom an Interesting bit of trivia reminds us that and I didn't know this that Aramaic was was called

Chaldean until the late 1800s and then they changed the name to Aramaic the Chaldeans took the lead in this situation when he calls the advisors in and Gave the king a standard greeting and replied with the normal request that they be given the details of the dream

So that they could interpret him for it interpreted for him. So Oh King live forever was

Designed to it was it was the your honor. May we may we hear your request? It was a statement of Dignity they gave to the king dignity and Responsibility and they told you they were telling him with that statement that they were his subjects to command

Any questions about two or three three or four? I mean verse three or four. So verse five

The king replied to the Chaldeans the command from me is firm If you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation

You will be torn limb from limb and your houses will be made a rubbish heap The King James translates this first the king answered and said to the

Chaldeans the thing is gone from me If you will not make known to me the dream with the interpretation thereof

You shall be cut in pieces and your houses shall be made a dunghill From this phrase ology some of it have interpreted it to mean that the king had forgotten his dream

It is that it had gone from him. It is much more likely that the translation here in the

New American Standard and in the English Standard Version is more accurate

He gave them a command to interpret the dream without giving them the details of the dream They came back with a response asking for the detail of the dream and the king is saying hey

My command went forth for me. You heard what I said You need to do as I said, tell me what this dream meant

Now put yourself in that position You've been lying to this King most of the time for probably upwards and his father

Okay to his father first for probably upwards of 20 years. You've been making things up out of whole cloth it sounded very you've you've come up with methodology and phrase ology and science that backs it up in those days and Now you're being put on the spot to do to do the very thing you've been doing for 20 years

But without the benefit of any information about what you're supposed to interpret Would you be bargaining for your life if you were a liar you wouldn't because you're all

Christians but So The probably the color drained out of their faces their weak knees got weak as when he said torn limb from limb

I thought about describing what that meant. I looked up some of what the Babylonians did It is gruesome and I chose not to describe it this morning because maybe your sleep would go from you

Just understand that when he says tearing you limb from limb, that's what he meant and these guys knew what he meant and it was not

It would be painful So the King was saying listen, I gave you a command. I said

I had a dream I've asked you to interpret it so that I can understand it Interpreted now or you will die

So it's actually not possible to determine for sure whether he had forgotten it or not

So we have to look for clues and one of the positions in favor of that Is that the King being very anxious to know its interpretation?

He would have certainly divulged it to his advisors. Would he not if he was really that intent on understanding it in either instance

The advisors were put on the spot We can only speculate why Nebuchadnezzar would have put the question to his advisors this way

It is very possible as I mentioned earlier that his interactions with them when his father was alive Left him with a bad taste in his mouth

Seeing them unable unable to divulge great secrets that his father might have wanted to know He may have had a desire to be all rid of the older counselors and surround himself with younger men as King Solomon's son

Rehoboam had done He may have been suspicious of their superstitions The angst generated by this dream may have rendered him less tolerant than usual and and Babylonian kings were not known for their tolerance in the first place, so In any event the advisors were given an impossible task and they knew it

At the time that they were they were known at the time by the way There were no what was there were what were known as dream manuals now, you can imagine what that is

That the Chaldeans used but it took took an expert to even know how to navigate through the dream manuals looking for a particular

Type of dream and the corresponding suggested interpretation since these manuals attempted to cover every

Possible eventuality that could occur in a dream. They were unbelievably long

The statement that he would tear them from limb from limb was common and and the perverse rulers of that day used it and often

Carried it out. So they would have been hurriedly Wanting to consult their dream manuals.

They were not going to be given that opportunity now imagine though So we have the Bible. This is our manual if you will of operation

It is our way to glorify and honor God. It is truth So they would have had books and books and books written

About how to interpret different kinds of dreams Well, if he dreams about this then here are the 23 possibilities that that dream meant pick one of these

If he dreams about this and this and that then here are the etc, etc I'd add infinitum ad nauseum and they would have had compiled these over the centuries and they would have been consulted

They were not going to be given that opportunity Now there would have been many of them that would have known This was all a farce, but there would have been some of them that really believed what they were doing

It's the same back then as it is today People believe lies

Sometimes just to make themselves more comfortable. Sometimes they know their lies. Sometimes they don't know their lies

But these were all lies. These manuals were fake. They were interpretation methods and and Information that had been compiled over the years

For for a continual fooling of those you were interpreting the dreams for Now they're dealing with a ruthless

Arbitrary ruler if you will and they have no opportunity to even consult the things that they're normally they normally can consult

So he says if you don't give me the interpretation You will be torn limb from limb and your homes will be made of rubbish heap

So any comments about verse 5 at nice verse Verse 6 but If you declare the dream and its interpretation

You will receive from me gifts and a reward and great honor Therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation the king repeats his ultimatum this time he uses a carrot and not a stick if the

Chaldeans and his advisors will both declare the dream and Then give the interpretation they will receive both great honor and reward

So he gives the ultimatum twice in this verse Declare the dream and its interpretation and be rewarded therefore declare the dream and its interpretation

That's the the structure of that sentence. Tell me what it says and you'll be rewarded now

Tell me what it says. Tell me what it is These ancient advisors always made great claims about their abilities

The king was prepared to put those abilities to the test not just to test the wise man But to be certain at least in his own mind that he was getting the truth

Because if they could actually tell him what he dreamed and Then tell him what the dream meant if someone did that to you

You dreamed something. I know you wouldn't do this, but try and put yourself in this In this setting you dreamed a long elaborate dream and you asked somebody what did my dream meant?

And they told you the dream and what it meant and you never told them anything wouldn't that you sit up and take notice

We ain't gonna happen no, I'm just That is not how God speaks to us today, but this is this is

This is a good plan If you're a ruler who really needs to know what's going on about this dream and you're used to being lied to This is a good plan

So they answered a second time and said Tell the dream let the king tell the dream to his servants and we will declare the interpretation

This would have been a very brave move on their part It would have been akin to disregarding the king's first commandment

The fact is though they had nothing to lose They had nothing to lose at this point If he didn't tell them the dream they knew their supposed divination was fake and they were going to die

The word translated servants refers to a slave They were reminding the king when they said this tell the dream to his slaves

That they were at his beck and call and they desired to do everything he wanted And he just needed to help them out a little bit here

If the wise men assumed that the king had forgotten his dream It seems like they would have attempted some interpretation, but they didn't so it appears

They at least maybe assumed that he hadn't forgotten the dream and thus the translation which makes the statement that his command firm

That in the earlier verse this that his command was firm seems much more accurate a much more accurate one

They were not certain he had forgotten it So if they just declared some interpretation and it didn't even begin to line up they were going to die

That's what he wanted he wanted an accurate interpretation so Verse 8 the king replied

This is what I would have replied. I know for certain that you're bargaining for time And as much as you have seen that the command for me is firm the thing has gone from me

What has gone out from me is firm The king saw through their artifice and he made a final demand

He would not allow them to continue delaying the fulfillment of the responsibilities to him here again

The king james version implies that the king had forgotten the dream. It just implies that it doesn't say that he did even

Even had the king forgotten their dream though. He most likely would have recognized a complete fabrication I remember

I was trying to think this through um i've had dreams and uh

That when I got up the next morning and no not prophetic just dumb and I got up the next morning

And didn't I knew I had dreamed but I didn't remember what it was and then some things happened throughout the day and I kind Of connected with some of the dream the night before maybe not the whole thing

So there's always that danger too that even if the king had forgotten his dream and they started talking

They would have known about all this they were dream interpreters That he would have begun to remember what he had dreamed and he would know they were lying.

So there were all these all these uh Implications in this situation that the uh

Chaldeans I guess would be the chaldeans we're aware of we got to be very careful here Because this guy can kill us at the drop of a hat so and frankly

Were the wise men actually able to tell the dream? Be like I said even be able to begin telling him the dream it likely would have continued can trigger to memory and he would

Have remembered it so So then verse 9 continues on That let me let me let me read verse 8 and 9 together

The king answered and said I know for certain that you are bargaining for time in as much as you have seen that I the

Command from me is firm that if you do not make this dream known to me There is only one decree for you for you have joint you have agreed together

To speak lying and corrupt words before me until the situation is changed Therefore tell me the dream that I may know that you can declare to me its interpretation

The the verse finishes the statement begun in verse 8 The king is convinced that the wise men are stalling for time because they are liars

And they are corrupt. That's what he says You're stalling for you're bargaining for time so that you can wait till things change till something changes

And you can get put one over on me again. That's not happening They may have been hoping that the king would forget the dream if they stall for time

It may have become evident to the wise men that the king remembered at least enough to spot a fabrication

In his commentary Walvoord puts it this way He says the king's accusation implied that he remembered the main facts of the dream well enough

To detect any invented interpretation that the wise men might offer It seems clear that nebuchadnezzar was not willing to accept in any easy interpretation of his dream

But he wanted proof that his wise men had divine sources of information

Beyond the ordinary they were supposedly when they Translated and interpreted these dreams these wise men the tradition had developed that they were supposedly conferring with the gods

They had access to the gods and were getting information directly from divine sources that's what it that is the

Ethos that had developed over the centuries and the king knew this If they were going to be able to interpret this dream

They're going to claim that it's coming from the gods. I need to know that i'm really getting an accurate interpretation

So then the chaldeans are starting to get a little bit more practical here I'm thinking Okay, i'm gonna die

What am I gonna say no matter what I say? I'm gonna get torn limb from limb so And when you argue with the king in these days

He kills you when you do the wrong with the wrong thing for a king in these days. He kills you i'm gonna try something so Here's what the chaldeans said the chaldeans answered the king and said there is not a man on earth who could declare the matter

For the king in as much as no king No, great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any magician congerer conjurer child chaldean

That's the uh ancient version of we ain't never done it this way before And the king was having none of it here the chaldeans begin their explanation of the king showing that there's no way

They could do this You're asking an impossibility They almost berate the king for asking they state that no king has ever asked anything of this of an advisor

Maybe they hoped to in some way plant shame in him Into being more reasonable cause him to be shamed into being more reasonable that I don't know

I don't know exactly what was going on there But uh They must have been terrified

As we will see when we get to verse 12 It was a mistake because they only served it only served to excite his anger

Moreover, they said verse 10 and 11 together The chaldeans answered the king in verse 10 and said there is not a man on earth who could declare the matter

For the king in as much as no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any magician conquer

Or conjurer or chaldean Moreover the thing which the king demands is difficult and there is no one else who could declare it to the king except gods

Whose dwelling place is not with mortal flesh. Okay, let's stop there for a minute so if the king knew

That the tradition was if he got a correct interpretation or a good interpretation of his dream

It was because the people that were interpreting it for him got their information from the gods He knew that that's what he believed

They can't do it They're just repeating what he already knows that the only way anyone who could interpret this from you for you

The only way anyone could interpret this for you is if they actually got their information from the gods

So all of that is what is that doing? This is a beautiful They're teeing it up for daniel for the sovereign god of the universe to interpret this dream for daniel

So that the king will know he's getting the true interpretation and we will have scripture to read so This is in their mistaken attempt to escape an impossible situation

The chaldeans actually make the situation worth worse if in fact they were privy to the counsels of the gods as they claimed

Receiving the dream and its interpretation should have been a simple for such a one connected to the divine

This only proves to the king that they were lying Interestingly enough as I said it also sets the stage for daniel

To truly be able to give and what's important to remember about the book of daniel Is one of the primary purposes of the book of daniel is to give honor and glory to god because he

Is the arbiter and the destroyer and the controller of all of destiny of every nation?

And so this is setting it up for that. It's just a marvelous. It's marvelous So it proves to the king they're lying it also sets the stage for daniel to be able to truly give great honor to jehovah god

When he actually does exactly what the king requests Even the sinister machinations of men can be used by god to glorify himself

No matter what men are doing today To try and tear down the kingdom of god

Our sovereign god will use those as tools to glorify himself So don't ever fear about that never fear about that Verse 12 because of this the king became indignant and very furious.

I don't know what that meant Did he throw take his shoe off and throw it or something and he gave orders to destroy? all of the wise men of babylon

So it's difficult to say whether this is a tramp a tantrum or not But it most certainly resulted in the king deciding to kill all of the wise men including some who are not even present that day

Have you ever been in a situation where you didn't know who was in fault and so you had to punish all the kids

And the innocent kids Didn't feel very good about that I don't know what they did if they did a daniel thing or not.

I wasn't there but but So this daniel and his three friends had nothing to do with this

They weren't even present at the time and they're going to be hunted down to be killed the word translated indignant

Implies anger and the word translated very furious implies a heightened wrath This was an explosion the king had what the king as I put it down was was really torqued.

He was torqued Everyone you're all going to die. Everyone's going to die I can imagine the guards in the room are probably just standing there going.

I hope it doesn't extend us We're just we're just we're just guards king. We we don't do anything.

We're not doing any of his dream controlling consulting To modern sentiments To modern sentiments.

This would seem hey my homonym worked out here. Remember we talked about It's printed two

Because I use I use uh, I dictate i'm not a very fast typer

I dictate my sunday schools and have to go back through and correct things. That's why you see me circling stuff all the time Dragon thought

I said two modern sentiments. No Two modern sentiments or forward to modern sentiments, this would seem like a great injustice

Why should individual counselors who were not present that day suffer with those who were conspiring to mislead the king?

So nebuchadnezzar may not have thought this through very well And his anger that his anger should have been directed at the wise men who were misleading him

His anger was directed at all wise men because he knew they were all fakes if these guys are fakes.

Everybody's a fake um Let us not do that Let us not be people who paint with such a broad brush, especially if we're people whose lives hang in the balance.

Yes That's what would i'm sure that's what nebuchadnezzar eventually at that time or later.

Aren't they admitting the question was asked? Aren't they admitting aren't they admitting the question was asked that all interpretations of dreams were fake

And implicitly, yes, I believe that is what was coming forth here. I think nebuchadnezzar kind of knew this

He he had seen what had been done with his father We we've watched people be given misleading and incorrect information and not really known what to do about it

Had to stand back and just kind of let it take its course. So I again, this is not to be written in scripture

That's just just my surmising. I'm thinking that nebuchadnezzar had seen this this proved it to him

And in fact now I need to get rid of all these people all of them because they're all liars And all they will do is lie to me and misuse

Misuse me So everybody's gonna die So, you know

I was thinking this through Didn't nebuchadnezzar didn't it say it did say that nebuchadnezzar actually spent individual time with daniel shadrach meshach and abednego

Um, so he would have known them, you know, at least um Cursorally, he would have known a little bit about them didn't matter.

They're all gonna die everyone I don't know how many that was but i'm thinking it was quite a few So, um

He knew they were all fakes clearly This is setting it up for the sovereign lord god of the universe to show something to nebuchadnezzar and to all the people

So finally verse 13 So the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain and they looked for daniel and his friends to kill them

Daniel and his friends were included in the edict of destruction Not because they have practiced divination as some have conjectured

But rather because they were among the the coterie of advisors to the king And he was rejecting all of them

Everybody that is involved with this kind of chicanery is going to die. I'm going to cleanse my kingdom of falsehood

That's probably what he thought So that is not to say that the king was necessarily rejecting

The idea of soothsayers dream interpreters sorcerers and astrologers

Rather he was just convinced that the group that he had at the present was corrupt to the core and he needed to replace them

Though it is not entirely clear whether the king's edict was to kill the counselors right where they stood

It is likely that it was rather to gather them. At least this is what most Interpreters and people down through history have thought it was his his intention was rather to gather them all together

And then have a ceremonial killing so that everybody so that it would strike terror into the heart of people

How's he going to get a soothsayer now? Yeah, I want a whole bunch of new advisors and we're going to have a three -year training and And you're going to be put into this training and after three years

You're going to advise the king and if you make the slightest mistake, you will be torn limb from limb Oh, yeah, I want to do that That sounds like a great job with great possibilities.

What I wonder if i'll get a 401k Yeah, the k stands for kill Though it is not entirely clear whether it's like I say whether he was going to kill them on the spot

It looked more like it would be a ceremonial kill him killing So daniel then has the time to ask the questions that he will ask and seek an opportunity to actually serve the king

And it is daniel's and when we get to it So this is all if you will

I what I call a jehovah setup the lord god set this all up so that when when daniel has his opportunity

To come in and speak to the king and actually interpret the dream There will be no doubt in nebuchadnezzar's mind that this is a true a true interpretation

And we end up with scripture. It's just an exciting thing. So any questions or comments before we close in prayer?

All right. Let's pray Lord, it is it is delightful to us to be reminded every day that nothing is beyond your sovereign control

Nothing escapes you nothing is too hard for you. Nothing is even outside of your contemplation in the future or from the past You are sovereign in it and you are sovereign in all of the aspects of that word that it means

And we thank you for that. It is a comfort to us It is a blessing to know and we trust you because of that.

Thank you for your word Thank you for the work that you have done To bring us to where we are in our lives so that we can know

Who you are what you have done and that you are a god is worthy to be served We praise you today and thank you in jesus name.