20240901_Daniel

[0:00] 6 BC, Judah became a tribute state to Babylon in 605. He did all the conquering there and he brought everything and he went in. He completely destroyed the temple and brought all the remaining residents to Babylon.

[0:19] And this Nebuchadnezzar served as God's judgment, instrument of judgment on Judah for its idolatry, unfaithfulness, and disobedience.

[0:31] And we see that in several of the scriptures. You can go into Jeremiah and see all the things that was going on with Judah there at the time. And of course, last fall or last spring, we were studying the kings and chronicles and all the problems.

[0:45] You get a new king in and everything straightens out and then Judah takes off and does their thing. And it's just a complete cycle. But this ends that cycle because Nebuchadnezzar completely destroyed Jerusalem and brought them captive.

[1:01] So secular history records Nebuchadnezzar as a brutal, powerful, and ambitious king. And the Bible, for the most part, agrees with that because we can see some gruesome things as we start studying about Nebuchadnezzar and these captives.

[1:16] So we're going to start in Daniel 1, chapter 1, verse 6. Now among them from the sons of Judah are Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

[1:34] Then the commander of the officials assigned new names to them. And to Daniel, he assigned the name Belshazzar, and to Hananiah, Sedrak, and to Mishael, Mishak, and to Azariah, Abednego.

[1:55] One of the elements imposed on these four Hebrews was the changing of their names to Babylonian names. And a lot of those names had a reference to their gods.

[2:06] So you can imagine what these young men felt when they were going through this. So the Hebrew name for Daniel, God is my judge.

[2:20] And they changed it to Beltanzar, which is protect his life, or lady, protect the king. Belot was the wife of Bel, a Babylonian god.

[2:33] And we go to Hananiah. Hananiah meant God has been gracious, but has changed to Shadrach. And Shadrach was command of Acha, Sumerian moon god, or I'm very fearful of God.

[2:52] So these names are just, you know, completely against everything that they've grown up with. Mishael, who is what God is?

[3:04] And he's changed to Mishak, I am a little account. Azariah, Yahweh has helped. Abednego, servant of the shining one, God Nebu.

[3:20] So what do you think was the effect of changing their names to Babylonian names? Well, they had problems with it.

[3:33] I mean, for the Babylonians, it's a matter of convenience rather than ideology. But the Hebrews, who believed a person's character and future could be prefigured by the names, it is probably very difficult for them to have their names changed.

[3:50] It meant something there in Judah and the Israelites. But they kept their focus on God. It was God who strengthened them and granted them favor with the Babylonians.

[4:01] This enabled them to keep their faith and not compromise God. Verse 8. But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king's choice food or with the wine which he drank.

[4:15] So he saw permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself. Now God granted Daniel favor and compassion in sight of the commander of the officials.

[4:26] And the commander of the officials said to Daniel, I am afraid of the Lord, the king, who has appointed your food and your drink. For why should he see your faces looking haggard than the youths who are your own age?

[4:42] Then you would make me forfeit my head to the king. So here it kind of gives you an idea of what these guards were going through and about Nebuchadnezzar.

[4:53] Hey, you've got a job to do, dude. You do it. If they don't eat this food, off goes your head. So he was very, very scared of what would happen. So it's apparent that Daniel emerges as the leader of the four young men here.

[5:08] He is the one who comes to the firm conviction concerning possible defilement. And the one who speaks the official charge with their care. So Daniel must have made his request almost immediately upon arrival.

[5:21] He and the others may have fasted for a few days, but they could not have abstained from food without drawing the attention of the officials. So it seems that as soon as they got here and this degree was given that they were going to have to eat this food, Daniel made up his mind.

[5:41] No. We're not going to do that. So in that short period of time, his behavior had been such that he had already won respect of his guard. What does that remind you of?

[5:53] Who in the Old Testament does that remind you of? He's thrown into prison. Joseph. If you remember that story back there, that he was captured, taken to Egypt, the Pharaoh, and just in that short time that he was in prison.

[6:13] The guards knew him, knew his attitude. And we're going to see that a lot of the things that happened to Joseph is also going to happen here to Daniel.

[6:24] So like Joseph in Egypt, his demeanor was the way he accepted his imprisonment, gave testimony to his relationship with God. He followed Peter's advice, 1 Peter 3.15, long before it was even given.

[6:41] In your heart, set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

[6:51] But do this with gentleness and respect. So Daniel and his friends have suffered deportation, change of their name, and education in the occult knowledge of Babylon.

[7:05] But when it comes to the food they are given, Daniel balks. He is certain, concerned with the defilement. He was commanded to eat this food.

[7:16] Why would he refuse? Well, we see that he not only objected to, he did not object to the schooling, and there was no record of him objecting to his name change.

[7:28] These things were external, and neither was technically forbidden in the Mosaic law. However, what was the law of the Hebrews? They had all kinds of food restrictions, didn't they?

[7:42] We go back to Leviticus chapter 11. There's a whole list of foods that were unlawful for Jews to eat. And Daniel knew this, his friends knew this, that these foods were not there for them to eat.

[7:59] It defiled them. And that's what they grew up with, and they knew that. So notice where Daniel drew his line in the sand. It was not based on his own opinion, tradition, customs, or culture.

[8:12] It was based on the word of God. God's word clearly forbids him from eating this food. So he resolved not to. He made up his mind to do what was right without compromise and without offering excuses.

[8:28] The chief official is sympathetic towards Daniel and his friends, but his concern for his life. So he declines to give Daniel this petition. So what does old Daniel do?

[8:44] We're getting to verse 11. So Daniel says, okay, how about a 10-day test? Now here you are. You're coming in.

[8:54] You're a prisoner. And you're going through this, and they tell you all this stuff. And he says, I don't want to do that. But he says, no, we don't agree. You're going to do it.

[9:05] How about a 10-day test? And this, you know, this is amazing that Daniel stood up and did that. Daniel doesn't give up. Notice the wisdom with which Daniel approaches this problem.

[9:17] He doesn't go on a hunger strike. Instead, he proposes an experiment, a 10-day test. So chapter, verse 11, but Daniel said to the overseer, whom the commander of the officials had appointed over Daniel, Ananiah, Mishael, and Ezra, and please test your servants for 10 days, and let us be given some vegetables to eat and water to drink.

[9:40] Then let our appearance be observed in your presence and the appearance of the youths who are eating with the king's choice food, and deal with your servants according to what you see.

[9:51] So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for 10 days. At the end of the 10 days, their appearance seemed better, and they were fatter than all the youths who had been eating the king's choice food.

[10:05] So the overseer contended to withhold their choice food and the wine, and they were given drink that kept giving them vegetables. So, wow, this is an amazing thing.

[10:17] It's a God thing that these men would refuse to eat and drink. But through this test, it was found out that, hey, these four guys, they come out better than the rest of the guys that was over here, eating all this stuff that the king had gave them, and the drink that the king had gave them.

[10:38] So I guess it's a, well, what kind of a diet is that? That's probably the diet we need today, right? Whatever diet they used back then.

[10:50] So it looks like it was pretty much vegetables and that kind of thing, and that's what's good to eat today also. Okay, so continue on. The steward or God assigned to them agrees to give it a try for 10 days, and of course they found out what it was.

[11:05] So why do you think the guard agreed to this 10-day test? No, why do you think they agreed to do the 10-day test?

[11:22] Okay. Yeah, he could almost see what these guys were thinking and what they were doing just by the attitude that they had. And he said, why not?

[11:33] You know, I'm risking my life, because I don't know what the king's going to do if he finds out if I do this, and they turned out that, you know, they're skinning in the rail.

[11:44] But he risked his life, but he did it. So Daniel's first approach to make a request to the guard assigned him, watch over them. When this didn't work, he changed his task. All the time, Daniel maintained a respectful demeanor towards his gods, and that seems to be the key issue here, doesn't it?

[12:03] How? You handle yourself in bad times. God was certainly at work here. He granted Daniel wisdom and understanding the matter, and they found favor with a guard.

[12:15] Without God's intervention, it would have been impossible for Daniel's request to be even considered. After all, Daniel and his friends were captives, and they were slaves.

[12:26] So, you know, God stepped in and did this for them. Daniel 1.17. As for these four youth, God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and wisdom.

[12:40] Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and dreams. Daniel and his friends are subjected to an extensive education. Their overseer is charged to teach them the language and the literature of the Babylonians.

[12:56] They were to be trained for three years. And after that, they were to enter the king's service, all educated. Well, that doesn't sound like a bad thing.

[13:08] You're captive and you get sent to school. And see how you work out there. Notice that the narrator attributes their intellectual grasp and wisdom, not to their education, but to God.

[13:20] God gave them knowledge and they gave them understanding. And that's what's going to get these guys through. So knowledge is what is gathered over time through study of the scriptures, through study of everything.

[13:33] And it can be said that wisdom, in turn, acts properly upon that knowledge that you gain. So knowledge is one thing. Wisdom is something else. They're not the same thing.

[13:46] And you can have all kinds of knowledge. But you may not have any wisdom at all. But you turn that around, you're not going to have wisdom if you don't have knowledge.

[13:58] So they're not the same thing. Wisdom is fitting application of knowledge. Knowledge understands the light has turned red. So what do you do?

[14:09] You apply the brakes. Knowledge sees the quick stand. What do you do? You walk around it. Knowledge memorizes the Ten Commandments. Wisdom does what?

[14:23] Obeys him. You know what the Ten Commandments are. Are you obeying the Ten Commandments? So knowledge learns of God. Wisdom loves him.

[14:34] So with the knowledge you know about God and you use that, that's what the wisdom is all about. And we'll see here as we go through Daniel that God continually gives him more wisdom.

[14:48] You can spend many years in college and graduate school. It's possible to educate people and get a doctor. The four Hebrew men are blessed with a command of all that the Babylonian Empire can teach them.

[15:00] But they are also taught wisdom by God. And that's a key fact. Daniel has all this plus the prophetic gift. He understands visions and dreams of all kinds.

[15:12] God gives him the ability to see what influences the king. How he can influence the king that he serves under. But also to see into the future to inform the Jewish people of what it is going to come.

[15:27] And to inform Christians concerning the last days. So he's not only helping the people there and his own people. He's helping us today, isn't he? Because we're going to be getting into what's going to happen in the end times.

[15:42] So Daniel has a lot on his plate. Verse 18. Then at the end of the days which the king had specified presenting to him, the commander of the officials presented to him before Nebuchadnezzar.

[16:01] And the king talked with them. And out of them all, not but one, was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Meshel, and Azariah.

[16:11] So they entered the king's personal service. As for the very matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and the conjurers who were in all his realm.

[16:26] So these guys really came out with good knowledge and good understanding of that knowledge. And Daniel continued until the first year of Cyrus the king.

[16:39] So he just didn't end here with Nebuchadnezzar. We'll see. As Nebuchadnezzar leaves the scene, Daniel is still here and he's still going to be gaining knowledge. He's still going to be prophesying all through the kings and stuff that we'll be going through.

[16:53] So we don't know what happened to all the other people. But they were doing their own thing also. But these three are always highlighted.

[17:05] The four used to distinguish themselves obviously in their ability to learn. They possessed what they may be called a natural gift of learning languages, which was sharpened by their obedience to God.

[17:16] Daniel's ability for understanding his visions and interpretation of dreams, however, was a supernatural environment. You just don't get that. You don't learn that.

[17:29] I mean, God is talking to Daniel. And that's what's amazing. The former may be classified as natural aptitudes. The latter was a spiritual gift imparted by the Holy Spirit.

[17:41] The mention of Daniel's gift is clearly met as an introduction to the rest of this book, in which these gifts are clearly illustrated. And we'll just see time after time how these gifts are going to be brought out.

[17:57] The writer informs us that not only were they educated, but they graduated at the top of their class. What do we have today? We have graduation service, and we have valedictorians, salutatorians.

[18:12] These guys are up there. They were the top of the class. So ten times better is a way in saying that they were greatly excelled from their peers. So these guys really got in, got the information.

[18:27] All four Hebrews entered the king's service and became part of the palace court. But we will see that Daniel served so long that he serves not only the Babylonian court, but also under other empires ruled over this 70-year period.

[18:45] Some lessons for us. As we look for lessons we can apply to our lives here in this introduction. As disciples of Jesus, we can see several things.

[18:56] Number one, through our lives may take wrenching turns, such as Daniel's in exile. God knows that these things and works through them to achieve his purposes. We have things in our life, too, don't we?

[19:10] You know, we may not be like Daniel, but we have problems that come up in our life. If we have the attitude that Daniel had and these three other men had, and we rely on God, then God has a way of taking care of these problems.

[19:26] Also, we must learn flexibility to live in the culture we are placed in. Without being unfaithful to the kingdom of God to which we pledge allegiance, we need to learn that the fine art of compromise without submission.

[19:43] And that's not the easy thing to do. When you get thrown into a cultural or different situation, that, you know, your thoughts may not be their thoughts.

[19:55] You get into this, and you have to, sometimes you have to compromise. And compromise is not a bad thing as long as it's done in the right way. But you don't ever want to compromise so much that you take away your beliefs of what God is and what God is doing in your life.

[20:14] And we're going to see that this is what happened with Daniel and these men. So Daniel seeks compromise with gentleness, not confirmation.

[20:25] He suggests a limited time experience. Finding compromise involves discerning the interest of each party, in this case the health of the young men and the faithfulness to their religion, and then finding a way to meet the needs of all so far as that is possible.

[20:43] So that's the way you compromise. True education, when aided by God, doesn't restrict us, but it can cause us to have more wisdom, and the more wisdom gives us a better life.

[20:57] Any more questions that we can come up with here in Chapter 1? If anybody wants to comment about Chapter 1, before we move on to Chapter 2.

[21:10] Yeah? When it came to Daniel refusing the meat, and I think it was also the wine, right? Right. There are probably two possibilities.

[21:21] You mentioned that, you know, if it was against the Jewish law to eat certain meats, certainly not all meats. Right. But a lot of people have, because it doesn't say explicitly why he rejected that.

[21:35] Right. But one of the things common then, and through centuries, and even today, is that in many cultures, they sacrifice meat to false gods.

[21:47] Right. And the law specifically forbade eating meat, and kind of being sacrificed to the idols. Yeah. So that was probably a big reason. It's very possible that they actually did the same thing, maybe with their wine.

[22:01] They made sacrifices in some kind of drink offering. It's like the Jews did. Yeah. The false gods did that, but they're wine. Okay. Yeah. Very good.

[22:11] That's even, Paul even brings that up, doesn't he, in one of his epistles. Yeah. He does. Yeah. Yeah. Anything else? Yeah, Pam? I like it the way the scripture continues to use their Jewish names.

[22:26] Instead of their, you know. Yeah. They use that, their names there more than. Yeah. Than the new names they got. Right. I guess had connotations of false gods and things.

[22:41] Yeah. Yeah. Now, some of the scripture is going to be, the king is saying this. And when the king is saying it, he uses the names that they were assigned. So, there is a difference there.

[22:52] Yeah. Very good. Anything else before we move on to chapter two? Ron, I think, to back up the pastor, not the fact, not only the fact that they offered it to idols, but they killed it with the blood.

[23:10] If you go back to the business of chapter three, I think, they got to drain the blood. It's got to come out of the end. Yeah. Okay. I think that was the key for the blood.

[23:22] And then offering the blood. Yeah. Yeah. But what's amazing is that the fact that he realized this culture. And, he was okay with the change of the name.

[23:35] He was okay with the education. But, hey, God said, do not. This is a command. Do not eat these things.

[23:47] And, they didn't. And, they had the wisdom to work with the guard, to make it come about so that they wouldn't have to do that. And, and, from there on, things got good for them.

[24:00] If you want to say being in a different country, as a slave, or, if that's good. But, they did.

[24:11] They became part of the king's court. And, that didn't, I'm sure that didn't happen to a lot of the other people that were brought captive. But, they had the education and they stood out.

[24:22] And, the king knew that. The guard knew that. And, it set them up. So, yeah. I definitely see God in this. That, in the part about the selection of food, you cannot gain weight eating just vegetables and water.

[24:42] So, I see God in that. And then, but also that, with all the instruction they received, indoctrination, I think that was, I think you used that word, indoctrination that they received, they still maintained, the word of God, the law, and, and, and God, provided them with, the intelligence, and, it just made them better.

[25:15] Yeah. Ten times better. It was all, it was all God working in them, I believe. Yeah. Yeah. that, you know, chapter one is an amazing thing, because it just gives you a picture of these four guys, taken from their culture, over to a whole different culture.

[25:35] I mean, and these were extreme different cultures. I mean, they had multiple gods that were just, these gods did all kinds of weird things. So, go from our God, to this, was not an easy thing.

[25:53] But if you have the right attitude, you can survive that. And that's exactly what God gave these young men. He gave them this attitude, that they could be in this conquered land, and they could still, come out of it, and, have a good life.

[26:11] Any other thing about chapter one? Ron? Yeah. It reminds me of Job. Though he slayed me, yet will I trust him. Oh, yeah. Okay.

[26:23] Yeah. Situation. Yeah. These young men, well, they had to have had good training when they were young. They're still young.

[26:35] So, they've had training from their time of birth, right up to this time, I think these guys were probably around 15, maybe, anywhere from 15 to 20, when they were captured and taken captive.

[26:46] So, they had the training, and they remembered it. And when they were there, they used that, as much as possible. So, I think the lesson for us is, when we're faced with a different culture, we're faced with different problems, you know, rely on God, and God will be there for us.

[27:08] Anything else? All right, let's turn to chapter two. Daniel chapter two. When chapter one concludes, Daniel and his friends have suffered their deportation, changed their names, got the education, all this thing has happened, they had their 10-day test.

[27:28] Chapter two records, God giving Nebuchadnezzar a dream about what kingdoms would arise after his own. Daniel, through no fault of his own, will find himself in a seemingly impossible situation, with a death sentence hanging over his head.

[27:45] Verse one. Now, in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, he had dreams, and his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him.

[27:59] Have you ever had a dream, so vivid, and so real, you wake up startled, sweating, with a pounding heart? I know I have.

[28:11] And sometimes it's very confusing. I know I've woke up screaming sometimes. I know, Joyce says, I've woke up kicking sometimes.

[28:23] So, you know, dreams sometimes are really something. And Nebuchadnezzar is having a doozy here. Well, King Nebuchadnezzar had one of those, but it came with a small twist.

[28:38] It was totally God-given. Now, this had the king completely freaked out. Job 33, verses 15 to 17, says, In a dream, a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on people, while they slumber in their beds, then he opens the ears of people, and horrifies them with warnings, so that he may turn a person away from, bad conduct, and keep a man from pride.

[29:09] That's what Job, and Roger just brought up Job, and the problems that he has. So, God deals with people in different ways.

[29:20] And it appears that God gave Job, or not Job, but Nebuchadnezzar this dream. And there's a reason for this terrible dream, that he's going to have.

[29:31] And we're going to find out what that is. So, as we move on here, verse 2, then the king gave orders, to call the magicians, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, to tell the kingdom, the king his dreams.

[29:48] So, they came in, and stood before the king. Can you imagine this? Okay, you guys, you're my men. You're the ones that have all the magicians, all these guys, you have all the answers.

[29:59] What was my dream? As an absolute monarch, the king had many advisors, wise men, at his command, categorized by speciality.

[30:12] He had magicians. They described some variety of occults, in both Egypt and Babylon. Enchanters, some variety of astrologers, or occultists.

[30:25] Sorcerers, which used witchcraft, sorcery. Chaldeans, the knowledge, and considered wise, to the point where the king used them, as advisors, and spiritual guides.

[30:37] So, all these people, he had them setting out. Just like we have, maybe the president, he has all these special offices, right? Well, he had these people set aside, that when he has problems, okay, give me the answers.

[30:53] I need answers. Most of these specialists, would have been banned, if this had taken place in Israel. The law reads, let no one be found among you, who practice divination, or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or cast spells, or who is a medium, or a spiritualist, or who consults the dead.

[31:19] Anyone who does these things, is just testable, distestable to the Lord. But this was common. So, in this country, in this culture, magicians, these specialists, all this stuff was common.

[31:34] So, Nebuchadnezzar summons his wise men, basically a bunch of spiritualists, and new agers, the only ones, not asked to consult, guess who it was?

[31:45] Well, it was Daniel. It was Daniel and his friends. And he knew that they had wisdom, but he didn't consult them, did he?

[31:59] So, things haven't changed, a lot of times, in politics and stuff. You know, we don't want to listen to this side. You know, too much spirituality going on here.

[32:11] Daniel 2.3. The king said to them, I had a dream, and my spirit is anxious to understand the dream. Then the Chaldean people spoke to the king in Arabic, O king, live forever.

[32:25] Tell the dream to your servants, and we'll declare to them the interpretation. But you know, that's not what the king asked, was it?

[32:36] But this motley bunch of wise men are confident, saying, O king, live forever. Tell my servants the dream, and I will interpret it for you. Like most Indians and clarifists, they are probably thinking that they could just be clever and make up some vague answer and get away with it.

[32:54] But the king, uh-uh, he wasn't having it, was he? Verse 5. The king replied, The command from me is firm. If you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb, and your houses will be made a rubbish heap.

[33:13] Wow. But if you declare the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts and reward and great honor. Therefore, declare to me the dream and its interpretation.

[33:31] They answered the second time and said, Let the king tell the dream to my servants and we will declare the interpretation. Wow, this guy is having a heck of a time with these guys.

[33:46] He wants them to tell him the dream. Again, he says, Make known the dream to me. He really wants them to relay the dream to him first.

[33:56] Then they can fill in the details of the dream. Therefore, tell me the dream and I shall know that you can give me its interpretation. Their king made an unusual or an impossible request.

[34:10] He wants their wisdom about an disturbing recurring dream. Yet he also wants them to tell what he dreamed. Nebuchadnezzar senses that his dream is too important to risk lies or invented predictions.

[34:25] If the self-proclaimed astrologers tell him what he dreamed, what they have this insight to know what the dream means.

[34:36] So if they can't tell him what he dream dreamt, then he really can't say that what they tell him is true. Because they can make up anything.

[34:49] However, the king was not ready to play games with these wise men. He was grumpy, very grumpy. obviously from a lack of good night's sleep from all these dreams he was having. In fact, if the wise men can't tell him both the dream itself and the interpretation, they will be torn from linden limb.

[35:07] On the plus side, they will be given rewards. Despite their protest, he didn't ask too much of these wise men. They made their living. Hey, this is what their living was, right?

[35:18] They were supposed to come to the king, be wise, and tell him all this great information. So they didn't do that. They were really what they claimed to be. They should be able to tell him both the dream and its interpretation.

[35:32] If you can't, you shall be torn to pieces. This harsh threat of Nebuchadnezzar and the method of execution he described were both perfectly consistent with the character of the ancient eastern monarchs.

[35:47] Guys, we're talking about different times here. The penalties that we get today in court are not like the penalties we're talking about here. One method of dismemberment was four trees were bent inwards and tied together at the top.

[36:06] The victim was tied to these four trees with a rope at each limb. Then the top rope was cut and the body snapped into four pieces. This is what the king was telling these guys.

[36:20] Hey, you tell me this dream or you're going to be snapped limb to limb. Wow. The diviners asked the king twice, tell me the dream he had and they would explain the dream to him but the king was not satisfied with their answer.

[36:41] So now we go to verse eight. The king replied, I know for certain that you are bargaining for time. Hey, you guys, what is all this stuff?

[36:53] You're just sitting here bargaining. In as much as you have seen that the command from me is firm yet that if you do not make that dream to tell me there is only one decree for you for you have agreed together to speak lying and corrupt words before me until this situation has changed.

[37:18] Therefore, tell me the dream that I may know that you can declare to me the interpretation. That's all the guy wanted. But you know, these guys cannot do that, can they?

[37:31] Because this is a God thing. God gave him this dream. And it's a dream that there's no way these guys could ever, ever know about.

[37:42] Because this is something now coming from God. And it's an amazing dream as we get into it. So they said, and answered the king, and said, there is not a man on earth who could declare the matter of the king in asomuch as no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any magician or Chaldean.

[38:08] Well, big deal. I asked it, you should have done it, and then if not, you know the consequences. Verse 11, moreover, the thing which the king demands is difficult and there is no one else who would declare it to the king except gods.

[38:25] Now, that's small gods whose dwelling place is not without mortal flesh. because of this, the king became ignorant and very furious, and what did he do?

[38:40] He gave the orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. Now, this king is, he is king.

[38:52] He has the authority to go out and destroy all the wise men of Babylon. Babylon. Wow, that's amazing, isn't it? Nebuchadnezzar doesn't trust his advisors again.

[39:07] They will tell him whatever seems best for them and he knows it, but he wants to have assurance that they know what they are doing, so he demands it. This made the king so angry and furious that he ordered the execution.

[39:21] So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death. Kill them all the king commands in a rage. Even though Daniel and his friends may not have been officially in the ranks of the wise men, yet they are considered guilty of association and an officer is sent to place them under arrest.

[39:44] Now, they have no dealing with these magicians and all these other people, but they are in the court and they're associated with this. So verse 13, so the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain that they looked for Daniel and his friends to kill them.

[40:01] Then Daniel replied with discretion and discernment to Ariok, the captain of the king's body guard who had gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon.

[40:13] He said to Arak, the king's commander, for what reason is the decree from the king so urgent that Arak informed Daniel about this matter?

[40:24] So Daniel went in and requested of the king that he would give him what he's looking for in order that he might declare the interpretation to the king. Here's another wise thing that Daniel is doing here.

[40:38] He sees what's happening. He didn't want this to happen. He doesn't even want it to happen to the magicians or anybody. He said, man, this is terrible, terrible, terrible thing that's going to happen.

[40:50] He went in and he said, king, give me some time. Give me some time. Think about it. I will come in and I will describe to you what you dreamt and I will give you the interpretation.

[41:08] So, notice Daniel's calm in the face of the king's rush for judgment. Choosing his words tactically, Daniel asks Erok why the king has made such a decree when he tells him.

[41:22] He promises the king that he will do as he asks but he needs time to seek his God. The king grants him this time. He tells him, I need time with my God.

[41:36] So, what a thing. Now Daniel must deliver on his promise and he knows that the only thing that will save him is God's direct revelation. And so he and his friends call upon God with great urgency.

[41:50] And it's 945. So, any questions about this first part of chapter 2 that comes to mind or comments? I find it amazing that this king had all these great people surrounding him but he still couldn't come up with his answer to his dream.

[42:18] And as we get into here we're going to find out this dream really shook this man up. Now he's a king of a great nation. A great city.

[42:30] He is building this great city and the hanging gardens, all this stuff of Babylon. And he has all this power. And he's given this dream that just blows him away.

[42:41] he cannot imagine what this dream is all about. And it's kind of funny the way it goes about. He asks these guys and they say, no, we'll tell you.

[42:53] Tell me what your dream is and I'll tell you the interpretation of it. And he's saying, no, no. Yes, Nathan. Yeah, so it mentioned that these Chaldeans or Chaldeans, however you pronounce it, were diviners.

[43:08] They basically were part of the occult. Yeah. And mediums. And this is all demonic, which is very real. Some people don't think it's real.

[43:18] Yeah. But there's mention in the scriptures about familiar spirits. And we know that there were people who had these, it seems, supernatural ability to tell people things about themselves that they otherwise shouldn't be able to know.

[43:32] Right. And it's very likely that they interacted with demonic spirits who are familiar with maybe the goings-on of other people and can tell them things that they would otherwise not know.

[43:47] Yeah. But these Chaldeans may very well have tried to interact with these demonic spirits to figure out what the dream was.

[43:58] But demon spirits are not omnipresent and they can't read people's minds and so they can't see into the king's dream unless he shared it abroad with other people.

[44:11] They wouldn't be able to know. Even the demons wouldn't be able to know. Right. Only God, who's the one who gave them the dream, would be able to know. Yeah. Can you imagine this request?

[44:22] I mean, if I had a dream and I went to my psychologist, right? This dream really messes me up. I go to my psychologist and I said, man, I had a dream last night.

[44:33] Tell me what it is and tell me what it is. What's the problem is? And the guy's going to look at you and he says, well, tell me what the dream was. I can't tell you the interpretation unless you tell me what it is, right?

[44:45] So this was not an unusual thing for the king to do. He made a request that was really impossible. And those guys knew it.

[44:57] And they were coming. They were just fighting tooth and nail to get around this. Hey, king, just tell us a dream. Tell us a dream and we'll give you all kinds of information.

[45:09] But he knew that this dream was something that was very important. And he wasn't going to buy it. And he didn't buy it. And they paid for it.

[45:21] And that's what happens when you have a king who rules over everything. You don't get away with anything. If he says, you're a dead man, you are a dead man.

[45:35] So any other comments before we close this morning? We'll get into what Daniel and the boys do here next week and see how they handle the situation and how this dream turns out.

[45:50] well, I've got a handout here, but I'll hand it out next week that kind of goes with the dream. So if there's no other questions, let's have a word of prayer before we close.

[46:02] Father, we just thank you this morning. We thank you for your word. We thank you for the study on Daniel. And Father, we just thank you for the information that we can take from that. And Father, hopefully take it and use it in our life today.

[46:16] So we just thank you for your love and for your grace. And Father, we ask it in the Lord and Savior's name. Amen.