Daniel 2:4,5 – “Real World”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁴And the Chaldeans said to the king [in] Aramaic, “O king, live to ages. Tell the dream to your servants and we will declare the interpretation.” ⁵The king answering said to the Chaldeans, “The word/thing from me is gone/assured. If you do not make known the dream and its interpretation, you will be taken [by] limbs and your houses will be made a dunghill.”

This is the point where Daniel begins to write in Aramaic rather than Hebrew. He will stay in Aramaic until the end of chapter 7. As I began to examine the text in Aramaic, I had the same uneasy feeling I had years ago before I had the privilege of actually studying Greek and Hebrew. I learned early how to use a Concordance and how to look up the definitions of the Greek and Hebrew words in the Bible. However, I quickly realized that understanding another language goes far beyond simply being able to translate the words themselves. To truly understand the text in its original language one must understand the grammar, the constructions, verb conjugations, etc. To not know those things is to realize the actual original text is to me obscure. And for me that is untenable. I want to know for myself as much as can be known, so I am confident I understand, as far as possible, exactly what the Lord said … and what He did not. As I peruse these Aramaic words, I don’t recognize the way in which they indicate articles or the construct/absolute relationships, or even the pluralities, much less the conjugations. Again, that is untenable to me. So I’ve ordered a book on Aramaic and will have to develop at least a rudimentary understanding of the language and its differences from Hebrew. However, I must say, as frustrating as it is not to be able to work with this text, it is exciting to me to think of delving into another language!

As far as the passage before us, I want to record a couple of expository thoughts and then ponder a couple of the practical applications I see. From an expository perspective, probably the biggest issue is the translation of the king’s response to the Chaldeans. In my translation above, I included alternative words to reflect the uncertainties. The question is whether Nebuchadnezzar is saying, “The thing (the dream) is gone from me,” (i.e. he’s forgotten it) or “The command from me is certain,” (i.e. he’s made up his mind and you’re in trouble!). There are scholarly people on both sides of the argument, so I will just conclude I don’t know which it is. If he is saying “It’s gone from me,” then we are certain that he has forgotten the dream. If he’s saying, “I’ve made up my mind,” then we don’t know if he’s forgotten or if he is perhaps deliberately testing the Chaldeans. There is the thought that Nebuchadnezzar has his doubts about these guys and he’s decided to test them – if they really do have the power to interpret dreams, then they should also be able to tell what the dream was. Basically, to believe this, we have to go with the second option of the translation.

But, again, I don’t see any conclusive arguments on either side. So I’ll just say I don’t know which it is – which also means I don’t know exactly what’s going on in Nebuchadnezzar’s head.

The other exegetical issue I see is the meaning of the word for what the king is threatening to do to their houses. I’ve translated it “…your houses will be made a dunghill.” The word translated “dunghill” could mean a lot of things. In addition to “dunghill” it could mean “a pile of rubble,” or even the idea of “an outhouse.” Apparently oriental kings were in the habit of all three. The bottom-line is that not only will these guys get drawn and quartered, but in some way their houses will be destroyed too. I think that is as much as we can say with certainty.

From a practical perspective, this situation is exactly what believers face every day as they work and live in the real world. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon to work under bosses who are just as volatile and cruel as Nebuchadnezzar. “The king” wants something and you’d better give it to him or you’re fired! Few of us are likely to be drawn and quartered or have our houses torn down, but too often people have to work in a very similar environment of fear.

Consider the case before us: The Chaldeans have built an entire industry on their ability to foretell the future by interpreting things. If a king or someone else possessing the financial means was to retain their services, they might interpret the movements and positions of the stars, they might examine the entrails of sacrificed animals or the falling of arrows, or, perhaps they might interpret someone’s dream. Their art was fortunetelling by interpretation. This was no doubt a significant part of Daniel’s training at Babylon U. And this is precisely why their services were retained by the palace – to provide guidance to the king based on interpretations of prognosticating events.

We may suspect they were largely charlatans but, nevertheless, all their trade promised to do was to interpret things. Now the king wants something and it matters not to him they never claimed they could do what he’s asking. In that world, what he is asking of them is totally unreasonable.

But he wants it, and they’re close at hand, so they’d better give it to him or they’re fired.

People who work largely in “Christian” organizations rarely have to work under such arbitrary cruelty. In fact, I would observe that is probably one of the main reasons people seek to work in “Christian” businesses – to escape the world of cruel capricious bosses. I have the good fortune to be an engineer who works mainly with municipal clients. Engineers as a group are very pleasant to work with as they are rarely screamers. In all my career, I’ve never heard a raised voice in our office unless it was a visiting client or contractor or someone else who was upset about something. And municipal clients tend to be very patient people. On the other hand, I have worked in industrial settings and with industrial clients where such is not the case. Like Nebuchadnezzar, they want everything yesterday and you’d better give it to them or you’re fired. And it matters not one whit if what they’re asking is impossible. It may not matter that it is clearly outside your area of expertise. They want it and you’d better get it … or else.

Peter didn’t say without cause, “Servants, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh” (I Peter 2:18). He goes on in that chapter to call us to follow Jesus’ example, reminding us “When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats” (v23a). His answer of course was “He entrusted Himself to Him to judges justly” (v23b).

Such is the world believers often find themselves in. It is the real world even if it’s ugly. It’s one of the places where faith is the only answer. Like Jesus, and like Daniel and his friends, we have to learn how to live, to do our jobs, to do our best, trusting the Lord Himself, even as we live under the specter of totally unreasonable demands. As with Daniel and his friends, our Lord goes with us into the workplace. Even there He is still “a very present help in trouble.” Even there He is “working all things together for our good.” Daniel will overcome this situation by faith, by taking the problem to the Lord in prayer, and by trusting the Lord to enable him to do even that which is impossible. He lived in the real world, and you and I can be like him today, living in our own real world.

The other thing we ought to take from this passage is a determination not to be like this ourselves. It is very easy to get in a position of authority or power and then be cruel in our expectations of those around us. It begins at home with how husbands and wives treat each other and how they treat their children. Then it extends to how we treat the clerk at the grocery store, the kid who mows our grass, our doctors and nurses, our mechanics and plumbers, our children’s teachers and coaches, and everyone else from whom we feel we have a right to expect “performance.” And that includes at work, how we treat those who work for us. Even when we ourselves are under a lot of stress and perhaps very unreasonable demands, we mustn’t use that as an excuse to make unreasonable demands on those who work under us.

Ruthie came home from school once and told me about a harrowing event which occurred during her gym class that day. She particularly noticed how it frightened and upset the other girls, then made the astute observation, “They have no one to trust.” As the Chaldeans are faced with this fearful demand of the king, they too have “no one to trust.” But Daniel does … and so do we.

Let’s all be the more determined to “take the Lord with us” to work. We may not be able to escape that world of cruel unreasonable demands. Unfortunately it is the real world. But we have a Lord who urges us to “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” We have someone to trust.

Daniel 2:2,3 – “Answers”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²And the king said to call to the magicians and to the astrologers and to the sorcerers and to the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams and they came in and they stood to the face of the king. ³And the king said to them, “I have dreamed a dream and it disturbs my spirit to know the dream.”

There are a number of very practical observations we can make from these verses, but I will restrain myself and only mention a couple. First of all notice that we all need others. Here we have the king of the most powerful nation on earth. If anyone could ever say, “I need no one. I only command,” it would have been Nebuchadnezzar. But here he is calling for help. He can’t do it all. He needs other people to provide their gifts, their expertise.

And so do we.

The older I get the more I am amazed how much we depend on each other. The old saying is true: “No man is an island.” It is interesting to me to read the entire poem from which that old saying is taken:

“No man is an island entire of itself; every man

is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;

if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe

is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as

well as any manner of thy friends or of thine

own were; any man’s death diminishes me,

because I am involved in mankind.

And therefore never send to know for whom

the bell tolls; it tolls for thee” (John Donne, 1624).

Probably most of all, though, this passage makes me thankful for the Word. Here is Nebuchadnezzar suddenly needing answers. Suddenly something is beyond him. He wants to know something. He wants something explained to him. And where does he go? He calls for “the magicians and the astrologers and the sorcerers and the Chaldeans.” Can they help him? We all know the answer is no. He turns to them, needing them to help him, and yet we all know he is going to be disappointed.

How often is it we all go to others hoping they’ll help us? It could be going to the doctor or perhaps to a financial advisor. It could be to a mechanic or a plumber. As we briefly saw above, we need each other. And sometimes the people we go to can help us. And sometimes they can’t. Sometimes they can’t because they simply don’t have the knowledge. Sometimes they don’t help because all they’re really interested in is taking our money. Sometimes they themselves think they have the answers but they really don’t. But for whatever reason, we end up living in a world where sometimes others can help us and sometimes they can’t. Sometimes we can get answers and sometimes we don’t.

This is where the Word steps in. It won’t tell me how to fix my furnace, but one thing I know – if it has answers for the questions I ask, I know those answers are true. The furnace guy might mislead me, but the Bible never will.

Other than the Bible, the two best books I ever read were, “Knowing God,” by JI Packer, and “How Should We Then Live?” by Francis Schaeffer. In Schaeffer’s book, I first was led to ponder the truthfulness of truth. Schaeffer makes the case for why we need a source of absolute truth in our lives, why we need a place where we can go and get truth we know is true, and of course that place is the Bible. I love Jesus’ words, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free!” I have lived my life hearing the Lord saying, “Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things thou knowest not” (Jer 33:3). I spend this time digging in the original languages, tearing apart the words and phrases and verses … because I want to know the truth. I want answers. So much of life I still don’t understand, but as I have studied the Bible these last nearly 35 years, the Lord has taught me again and again. So much I do understand that I did not before.

But it means so much to me that, when I do find answers in the Bible, I know they’re true. I have lots of questions about a lot of things, and it is frustrating to live in a world where I can’t get answers. I’ve been a runner all these years, which drives me to read books all about running. I have learned some really helpful things, but I would say 90% of what I’ve read either wasn’t helpful at all or, as I’ve come to realize, was simply wrong. That is, for me, very, very frustrating. But I don’t have that problem with the Bible. Everything it has taught me is true. Every truth I learned has been a stepping stone to more. Each truth has been just one more brick in the building of my life. And it’s a solid building.

But poor Nebuchadnezzar. Where does he go? I’m reminded of Isaiah 8:19,20: “When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? To the Law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this Word, they have no light in them.”

Nebuchadnezzar is about to find out “they have no light in them.”

I feel his pain.

But I also know the joy he’ll feel when God’s man steps up to the plate and gives him real answers.

“Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

I love true truth!

Daniel 2:1 – “Dreams”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹And in the year of second to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams and his spirit was disturbed and his sleep was upon him.

My, my. This verse is so full of interesting observations. I’ll try to be brief!

First, two exegetically significant observations – as usual, the antagonists explode over the statement that this occurs in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. They all whine and cry over the fact that Daniel and his friends were in a three year training program and then exclaim it makes no sense this could have occurred in the second year, since the result is Daniel and his friends’ promotion to significant positions. “Surely they would have to have completed their training before they could reasonably be expected to have received positions!” they exclaim.

As I explained in my last post, such objections only betray the ignorance of those who think they’ve found a fault in God’s Word. As I observed before, one has to be very careful when dealing with ancient people’s timelines. They viewed and recorded time very differently than we do. And may I point out that the reference to the three year training program was recorded only a few verses before? If this reference to the second year created such a glaring inconsistency, it would have been addressed back then. But it didn’t. Daniel himself and the people he was writing to saw no contradiction or inconsistency. His words made perfect sense to them. Our problem is we don’t think like them, nor do we have the immediate facts they had. It is possible Nebuchadnezzar served a co-regency with his father Nabopolassar for a year or two and this reckoning is starting with the period of his independent reign.

It is also possible there is no contradiction at all. As I said before, sometimes ancient peoples didn’t count the first year of a king’s reign. In other words, they didn’t start their reckoning until the New Year actually began. If Daniel’s training started during this “uncounted” period before the New Year, and if the dream occurred very soon after Daniel’s graduation, his “three-year” training program could have then quite logically been completed in the “second” (reckoned) year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign.

The bottom-line is we don’t know, but they obviously did. It is all very interesting to ponder how it fits together but I would maintain it is the heights of ignorance and arrogance to think the chronology somehow casts doubt on the veracity of this book or the Bible itself.

The second exegetically significant observation is in the final words of the verse. These words are usually translated something like, “… his mind was troubled and he could not sleep.” As my translation indicates, it literally says, “…and his sleep was upon him.” Those words don’t immediately make sense to us. What does it mean “his sleep was upon him?” It seems to me if Daniel wanted to tell us that the king couldn’t sleep, he could have said something like, “his sleep left him.” I would rather suggest the idea is the exact opposite, that his sleep was “upon” him in the sense that he did in fact keep on sleeping. In other words, perhaps he awoke with some vivid apprehension of what he had dreamed but promptly fell back asleep. This would possibly explain why he will then ask the magicians to tell him what the dream was – as his own memory is very vague. At any rate, that is the understanding I will assume to be true – that he awoke enough to be troubled but then went back to sleep so that, in the morning when he awoke, he still felt disturbed but couldn’t remember exactly what it was he had dreamed.

On to more practical observations. I think it is interesting to observe the man himself. He is a king. And not just any king – he is the king of the most powerful nation on earth. He is surrounded by wealth and power and no doubt every possible delight any young king could ask for. But he still has to sleep. And he can have “bad” dreams that disturb him. Interesting – all the armed guards around him and the softest bed under him cannot protect him from his own humanity. He is, in the end, just a man. Just like us. Great and small, rich and poor, male and female, we are all just people.

Somewhat along these lines, though, it is worth observing that “greatness” not only does not protect us from our humanity, it actually often makes things worse! Eccl 5:12 observes, “The sleep of a working man is sweet … but the abundance of the rich permits him no sleep.” In Esther 6:1, we find another great king whose sleep is disturbed. The fact is that “greatness” carries with it cares and troubles that are spared to the rest of us. Joan and I used to laugh when we left the house on vacation, knowing we didn’t really have to “worry” about someone breaking into our house. We had nothing worth stealing! How different it would be for someone living in a palatial mansion! Poverty has its advantages! People occasionally ask me if I’m looking to become a principal in our company. I tell them no, that I will certainly do what duty requires, but that I maintain no delusions about the “glories” of leadership. I am quite content to just do my job and let someone else lose sleep over all the worries of actually running a business. Nebuchadnezzar’s troubled sleep reminds us that “greatness” often comes at a cost.

Finally – and this where I really have to force myself to be brief – I note that the Lord is here communicating great truth through a dream. As I pondered this verse, I was amazed to recall how many times in the Bible the Lord communicated to people through dreams. Joseph immediately comes to mind, with his own dreams, the butler and cupbearer’s, and the Pharaoh’s. There was Abimelech warned in a dream about Isaac. God came to Solomon in a dream. He spoke to Joseph, Mary’s husband in a dream about her pregnancy, then warning them to flee to Egypt, directing them to return to Israel, then warning them away from returning to Judea, so they settled in Nazareth. Pilate’s wife was warned about Jesus in a dream and Peter was instructed by the dream of the sheet full of creatures. And this is only a portion of it all.

It’s also interesting that the Lord spoke not only to good people but also to evil kings. That would seem peculiar to us, but there it is.

I would observe that our God is a great Communicator. The opening verses of the Bible record, “And the Lord said, ‘Let there be …’” “The Lord said.” From the very beginning, He was speaking. The Bible ends with Him still speaking, saying, “Yes, I am coming soon.” The entire Bible is God’s Word – God speaking. “The heavens declare the glory of God.” And Jesus is “the Word of God.” The gods people imagine are often silent. The Deists thought the Creator set the universe in motion, then disappeared. Sometimes we feel as if “the heavens are brass.” But the truth is our God is the Great Communicator. If we don’t hear Him, the fault is of necessity on our part, not His.

This reference to dreams in particular, makes one wonder why, if He used dreams so extensively in the ancient world, why He doesn’t seem to today. I think the answer is almost entirely addressed in Hebrews 1:1,2: “In the past God spoke to our fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by his Son …” Although the Lord can communicate any way He wants any time He wants, yet Jesus Himself is the very Word of God. All those communications in the Old Testament were just parts and pieces of God revealing Himself to man. They were but “shadows of things to come.” The fullness of God’s revelation of Himself to man is not given in dreams or visions, but in the Living Word Himself. The ancient peoples and the Jews in particular had only the words of the prophets, their dreams and visions, to reveal God to them. But we have God Himself in the person of our Lord Jesus. For Nebuchadnezzar to have this prophetic dream, for Daniel to interpret it, and all the rest, might seem “great,” the fact is that what we have is far greater. We see Jesus.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that “dreams” might be a very captivating topic but we have something far better. We have the Living Word. God can choose to speak any way He wants any time He wants, but we need to keep our gaze fixed on Jesus. For myself, I believe in the sufficiency of the Scriptures, the doctrine that the Bible as we have it is the completed revelation of God and we need not look elsewhere for truth. But even having said that, we ought not be somehow content to know the written Word. It is there to point us to the Living Word. Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered, “Philip, have I been with you so long and you still don’t know Me?”

Jesus is “the brightness of God’s glory, and the express image of His Person…”

Daniel was a privileged fellow to live in the age of dreams. But what you and I have is far better!