“And the king said to them, “I have had a dream, and my spirit is anxious to know the dream.” Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.” Daniel 2:3-4
It must have been quite a spectacle. Perhaps it was the greatest collection of false prophets in one place since Elijah met the prophets of Baal on ount Carmel. On one side you have the wisest men in the world (according to them) in all their grandeur (probably looks like a college graduation!). On the other side you have a red eyed sleep deprived king, the mightiest man in the world but one who cannot escape the dream God sent him which he is convinced tell him something very important about his future. If he does not get clarity on this soon, he is not going to be able to function. Thus he summons the brain trust to his palace. Theymay not realize it but the king is in a bad mood and is not willing to play their games. The false prophets are about to be exposed.
And the king said to them The king speaks and the wise men listen.
Have had a dream The king begins and the wise men probably smile.
A dream, they have this. John McArthur states, “The Chaldeans had a dream-reading system…They kept records of all dreams. When a person had a dream they charted the way their life went afterwards. They concluded if a guy had this dream and his life went like this then another guy who had a similar dream would have ax similar outcome. Once they discovered the dream similarities they would look up how the person’s life would go.” So all they had to know was the king’s dream and they could go look up the answer. Easy-peasy!
My spirit is anxious to know the dream Nebuchadnezzar spills his heart to them. His dream made him anxious (troubled, disturbed). He wants to know what it means and he wants to know quickly.
Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king Daniel records their answer to the king in Aramaic.. Why this switch from Hebrew to Aramaic (he continues using Aramaic from chapter 2:4 through the end of chapter 7)? This section of Daniel records God’s the rise of Gentile kingdoms during the time of the Gentiles.. Chapter 1 and chapters 9-12 discuss God’s dealing with Israel and are written in Hebrew. (See how precise God is?)
O king, live forever! You have to wonder how many of these “wise men” arrogantly look down on the king. They use the right words of respect but some probably feel they are the real wise men, they should be king instead of Nebuchadnezzar.
Tell your servants the dream and we will give the interpretation For the Chaldeans this is just a process. Tell us what you dreamed, we canlook up the answer and tell you what it means. No big deal. They are probably thinking this is a simple request. These wise men had spent their whole lives following idols and false gods which are worthless. They did not know the future nor could they interpret a dream. God is about to expose their façade to the king.
What can we learn? When God speaks to you, do not go to the world’s wisdom to tell you what it means. Do not go to friends or colleagues who worship “false gods” to interpret what the living and true is saying. This is what Psalm 1 tells us. “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly.”
Nebuchadnezzar is about to learn the source of truth and it is not the Chaldeans.