Israel had failed to fulfill the purpose of God to convey by them to all nations the knowledge of God, from the place where He had planted them, in order that they might do it. He was obliged to send them into captivity and scatter them among the nations, destroy their temple and annihilate their long-established worship, that, in their affliction, they might seek the Lord truly, and thus be lights in the darkness.
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had attained to the headship of the world, and so held the power over all the nations. And now the Lord would convey to him the knowledge of the true God, and would utilize his position to convey to all the nations the knowledge of God.
But King Nebuchadnezzar was an idolater. He worshiped many gods, even the host of heaven, and knew not the true God at all. He must be taught the knowledge of God. And in order to do this most effectually, it was necessary to separate him from all false gods, and destroy all his confidence in them. When his mind was once cleared of all these false views, the true views would be seen clearly. And all this was done thoroughly.
In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar alone, 603 BC, "[he] dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep broke from him," (Daniel 2:1) which very much impressed him, in which he was exceedingly interested, but which he could not possibly recall. "Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to show the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king." (Daniel 2:2)
He asked of them that they should tell him the thing that he had dreamed, and they answered by asking him to tell them the dream, and they would tell the interpretation. But the king had not asked for any interpretation. What he wanted was to know what he had dreamed. If he had himself known the dream, he could have made an interpretation for it as easily as they could.
But the dream itself had gone from him when he awoke, yet the impression of the fact that he had dreamed of something remarkable so remained with him that he could not rest. He therefore said to them again, "The thing is gone from me." (Daniel 2:5)
Then he demanded of them that they should make known to him both the dream and the interpretation. They, in turn, repeated their request, "Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation of it." (Daniel 2:7)
By this time the king had caught the true point in the situation, and said to them: "Tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me the interpretation thereof." (Daniel 2:9)
This was their test, and it was only a fair one; for if they were really able truly to interpret it had they known it, they were able to discover it when the king did not know it; and if they could not discover it, and tell it to the king in such a way that he would recognize it as the thing which he had dreamed, this was evidence enough that any interpretation they might give, even though they knew it, would be mere guesswork. They therefore surrendered, so far as they themselves were concerned, by declaring: "There is not a man upon the earth that can show the king's matter." (Daniel 2:10)
But not content with thus clearing themselves, they cast reflection upon the king by saying, "therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean." (Daniel 2:10)
More than this, they proceeded to give away their case again by declaring: "And it is a rare thing that the king requires, and there is none other that can show it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh." (Daniel 2:11)
Now the very gist of the profession of these magicians, astrologers, and Chaldeans was that they held such relationship to the gods that it was their peculiar prerogative to discover the will of the gods, and communicate it to both king and people. The magicians pretended, and were supposed, to be the interpreters and expounders of divine things. They pretended to be able by their art--magic--to "control the actions of spiritual or superhuman beings." (E.A. Wallis Budge, The Divine Origin of the Craft of the Herbalist, 1928. The quote comes from the following paragraph: "The oldest gods were too remote from the trivial affairs of the daily life of men to prevent accidents and calamities from overtaking them, but they placed in the hands of their vicars upon earth a certain kind of knowledge and power which, if rightly used, would enable them to annul and destroy the machinations of evil spirits, and bring to nought the works effected by them, and even to alter the courses of natural phenomena in heaven and upon earth. To this knowledge and power the unsatisfactory name of "Magic" has been given, and though primarily the word "Magic" only described the learning of the priests and sages of the Medes and Persians, who were famed for their skill in working enchantments, the word is now used to describe any supposed supernatural art, but more particularly any system of learning or art which claims to control the actions of spiritual or superhuman beings. "Magic" has always appealed greatly to men of all nations, for by the use of it a man ceases to be a supplicant of the gods, and is able to command and to force supernatural beings and things to do his will)
The astrologers pretended, and were supposed to be able to declare the will of the gods from the stars. The word "astrologer" is from aster, a "star," and logos, "word,"--the word, or instruction, of the stars. And as the stars were the gods, and these astrologers were the ones who pretended to declare the word of the stars, they simply pretended to declare the word and will of the gods.
The sorcerers were of the same order as the magicians, only that these had more peculiarly to do with evil spirits.
The Chaldeans were the priestly caste, who had control of the books in which was contained the instruction in magic, and sorcery, and all pertaining to the gods. Thus they were the instructors in all the wisdom and knowledge of the gods. They were the chief claimants to divine knowledge; they were the very chief guardians of such knowledge. If any men could be supposed to be able to declare secret and divine things, it would have been these.
Now, when all these together declared that none but the gods could tell this thing that was wanted, and that the gods were not near enough to men to allow this to be understood from them, this was nothing less than to confess that their whole profession was a fraud. And this was further to confess that all their conjurations, divinations, magic, sorcery, and "revelations" in times past were simply a fraud and an imposture upon the king and the people.
When this truth flashed upon the mind of Nebuchadnezzar, and he clearly saw that he and his people, and their fathers before them, had been systematically and continuously duped by these men, he was so disgusted, humiliated, and outraged that he thought the only fair thing to do was to wipe from the earth at once this whole combination of impostors. "For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain." (Daniel 2:12-13)
Daniel and his brethren had been placed in the schools of these imposters, and were, indeed, reckoned among them; therefore the executioners "sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain." (Daniel 2:13)
When Arioch, the captain of the guard, had found them, and told them what was to be done, Daniel said to him, "Why is the decree so hasty from the king?" (Daniel 2:15)
Arioch told him the whole story. "Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would show the king the interpretation [both as to the dream and the meaning of it]." (Daniel 2:16)
This was granted. Then Daniel went to his house, and informed Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, and suggested that they should "desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret. Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision." (Daniel 2:18-19)
After giving grateful thanks to God that He had made known to them "the king's matter," "Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had ordained to destroy the wise men of Babylon,...[and said to him,] Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me in before the king, and I will show unto the king the interpretation." (Daniel 2:24)
Arioch hurried away to the king, and said to him, "I have found a man of the captives of Judah, that will make known unto the king the interpretation." (Daniel 2:25)
Daniel was called, and the king asked, "Are you able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof? Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king has demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, show unto the king; But there is a God in heaven that reveals secrets, and makes known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, are these: ... You, O king, saw, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before you; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. You saw till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. You, O king, are a king of kings: for the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven has He given into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all. You are this head of gold. And after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to you, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things: and as iron that breaks all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas you saw the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas you saw iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Forasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God has made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. ... The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing you could reveal this secret. Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon. Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel sat in the gate of the king." (Daniel 2:26-28,31-45,47-49)--Advent Review, March 22, 1898.