Daniel Chapter 2/Commentary

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Daniel Chapter 2

2:1-2 The second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar would be the third year of Daniel’s training (1:5), for the year that Nebuchadnezzar assumed the throne was his ascension year, and this year is not counted as his first year. Be impressed that God can use such simple things as dreams to get the attention of the world’s mightiest mortal. “Call in the magicians”: “Each one of us at one time or another wastes his time. Even world rulers do it. Nebuchadnezzar did it on this occasion, and yet, his time would not have been wasted had he learned only one thing: magicians, astrologers, and the like are all useless. This western world, for all of its wisdom and technological progress, has not fully learned this lesson” (McGuiggan p. 41). “The Chaldeans”: Is not used in an ethnic sense. “They seem to be regarded in their day as the very elite of Babylonian society. The ‘Chaldeans’ of Daniels time, therefore, were probably men of great learning who could trace their ancestry back to families of the original conquerors of Babylon” (Butler p. 58). 2:3-4 “In Aramaic”: Beginning in verse 4 and going all the way through 7:28 our copies of Daniel are written in Aramaic, even the Dead Sea scroll of Daniel contains this switch from Hebrew to Aramaic. This statement does warn the reader of a sudden change in language. Ancient historians related that the Babylonians spoke a form of Aramaic. When the Jews returned to their homeland after Babylonian captivity, they returned speaking Aramaic. In Daniel’s time, Aramaic was the common language of non-Jewish peoples. “Tell the dream”: They were confident that with their collective wisdom, they could satisfy the king with an interpretation. 2:5-6 Nebuchadnezzar is no fool, for he knew that wise men were not beyond making up an “interpretation”, and he also knew that if the magicians could tell him the dream without it being told to them, they would be demonstrating their ability to interpret it. The King James Version here has the statement, “The thing is gone from me”, which probably is better translated, “The word from me is sure”, i.e., I have made up my mind about this, this is my decision. The punishment of being torn limb from limb pretty much fits what we know about such ancient rulers. 2:10-11 “There is not a man on earth who could declare the matter….and there is no one else who could declare it to the king except gods”: “They spoke more truth than they knew. They are our witnesses that astrology and the like are fraudulent! If these people have any power at all, why must they have crystal balls? Why can’t they perform with an onion or a hotdog? If the power is in the ball, let’s go straight to the factory where they are made and cut out the middle 1


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