Page 65 - Daniel

a dream, they should also have the power to reveal its content.

THE DEMAND OF THE KING REPEATED (2:7–9)

2:7–9 They answered a second time and said, “Let the king tell his
servants the dream, and we will show its interpretation.” The king
answered and said, “I know with certainty that you are trying to gain
time, because you see that the word from me is firm—if you do not
make the dream known to me, there is but one sentence for you. You
have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times
change. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can

show me its interpretation.”

Confronted with the king’s ultimatum, the wise men repeated their
request to be told the dream and again affirmed their ability to interpret
it. It would seem that if the king had actually forgotten the dream, the
wise men would have attempted some sort of an answer. The fact that
they did not tends to support the idea that the king was willfully

withholding information about the dream. Even if the king was hazy
about the details of the dream and could not recall it enough to provide
a basis of interpretation, he probably would have been able to recognize
a complete fabrication on the part of the wise men. In any case, they did
not attempt such a ploy.

The king grew more angry with each exchange, accusing the wise men
of trying to stall for time “because you see that the word from me is
firm,” a repeat of his statement in verse 5. Nebuchadnezzar believed
they were attempting to gain time in hopes that his ugly mood would
change. But he wanted them to know that he had made up his mind. 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 any easy interpretation of his dream, but wanted proof that his
wise men had divine sources of information beyond the ordinary.

FINAL PLEA OF THE WISE MEN DENIED (2:10–13)