Title: King Nebuchadnezzar's Anguish (Daniel 2:1-4)
Lecture 10: King Nebuchadnezzar's Anguish (Daniel 2:1-4)
2:1-4
In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, and he was troubled by it and could not sleep. So the king ordered that he tell the dream to him, and he summoned clowns, sorcerers, fortune tellers, and Chaldean magicians, and they came in and stood before the king. King Jira said to them, "I have a dream, and my heart is troubled to know the dream. The magicians of Chaldeans said to the king in the Aramaic language, "Long live, O king. If you tell your servants the dream, will we interpret it?" to be
Look at the very last verse of Chapter 1. "Daniel remained until the first year of King Cyrus." God gave Daniel great grace. So, he allowed me to live a long life with a healthy body, and at the same time, even though I was taken as a prisoner of war, I was held high in that country and used preciously. And above all else, just as he prayed for his country, Daniel saw the liberation of his country. I could see all the Jews who had been taken into captivity return to their homeland. I hope that our members, like Daniel, will be blessed with good health and long life under the grace of God, and that all the prayer topics and intentions in our hearts will be fulfilled.
Daniel began with King Nebuchadnezzar until the time of King Cyrus, and in Chapter 2, various events that Daniel experienced from the time of King Nebuchadnezzar to King Cyrus are recorded in an interesting way. We look forward to it.
What is recorded today in chapter 2 is the first incident Daniel experienced during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar. Please see verse 1. "In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign," he said. Does this mean that Nebuchadnezzar has been king for a long time? Are you saying it wasn't long ago? that it wasn't long ago. That is, it was a time when political stability was not yet established. As soon as Nebuchadnezzar became king, he conquered many nations. So maybe the countries will betray them? Would you do treason? Will I pay my taxes properly? How to rule this great country? Will my servants follow me as I lead? Wouldn't it be a rebellion? There must have been many such concerns. What's wrong with thinking a lot? Dreams are messy. So what did Nebuchadnezzar dream of in the second year of his reign? I had a dream.
I ask. He said he had a dream two years after Nebuchadnezzar was alive. What is Daniel doing at this time? Yes, I was training. How many years have you been training? It was three years. So, King Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah in the first year, and Daniel and others were taken captive. I was still in training. That was the case at that time.
In the second half of chapter 2, what dream did Nebuchadnezzar have? He saw a great statue and said that he was very afraid of its shape. I woke up startled to see such a thing in a dream, but I can't remember the dream at all. Sometimes we forget our dreams after we have them. Such a dream is called a dog dream. However, at this time, people had a dream and then remembered it, and there is a solution to that dream, and God will teach it all. Conversely, I had the thought that if I forget my dream, God will be angry. That's why he said, "I couldn't sleep because my heart was troubled." No matter how much I think about it, I can't think of a dream. It hurts my heart to think that God will be angry.
So, what did you do after looking at verse 2? "For the king to tell him the dream." King Nebuchadnezzar ordered that he remember the dream he had dreamed of. "I commanded the clowns and the sorcerers and the sorcerers and the Chaldeans to come in and stand before the king. All the intellectuals of Babylon were called. It is still deep at night. It must have been around 2 or 3 in the morning. they came in How dare you delay and procrastinate when the king calls? Immediately came before the king. How did you come before the king? It was a deep night, so did you fall asleep in front of the king? Standing before the king without a single coughing sound.
where are we now I have come to this place with the calling of God, the King of all kings. Because you are before God, you will have no choice but to keep your mind upright and worship with reverence. The God who is the King of kings, He is the God who kills and saves human life forever. Now we stand before Him whom we ought to fear. So, when we worship, we must always worship in a reverent manner.
Now, all the wise men are standing before King Nebuchadnezzar. King Nebuchadnezzar was a man of great power. He was also a vicious king. He was a man who could kill a person's life with a single word like a fly's life. In fact, the wise men of Babylon did not make the dream known. So what did the king do? They told me to kill them all. He was a man who had the power to kill people with a single word.
Let's look at verse 3. "The king said to them, I have a dream, and my heart is troubled to know the dream." The dream itself is not remembered. Clearly, God was angry. I want you to know that dream. That's why I can't sleep in pain right now.
In verse 4, we see that the magicians of the Chaldeans spoke to the king as representatives. In what dialect did you say it? He said he spoke in Aramaic. At that time, the Aramaic dialect was known to all intellectuals. This happened in the days of King Hezekiah of Judah. The Assyrians attacked, and then Rabshakeh, a servant of the king of Assyria, stood in front of the walls of Jerusalem and blasphemed God in a loud voice, telling the people in Jerusalem to listen, speaking in a Jewish language. Then what did Hezekiah's servants say? What did you say, and not in the Jewish language, because we can understand it? He told me to speak in Aramaic. At that time, intellectuals knew all the Aramaic dialects. The Iranian language became the national language of the Persian kingdom when Babylon fell and the Persian kingdom was established. So when the Jews were taken into captivity and returned, the Jews were speaking Aramaic.
There are many Aramaic dialects in the Bible. Let me ask you a few things you know. What does "Dalidagum" mean? "Girl, wake up." What does "Evada" mean? "Open." What does "maranatha" mean? ?쏞ome, Lord.??What is "geba"? It means "rock, rock". Peter is a Greek word. Also, ?쏣li Eli Lama Sabachthani??means ?쏮y God, my God, why have you forsaken me???What did he say when he spoke to King Nebuchadnezzar in Aramaic? "Long live the king." I ask. What do the Chaldean magicians think of the king now? Humans cannot enjoy long live water. Only God can live ten thousand years. So these people worship the king as if it were God. Is that true? Is the king God? It's not like that. Later in chapter 4, you will find out, how ugly did King Nebuchadnezzar become? He was arrogant, but he was punished by God and became insane. I lost my mind. So I ate grass like a cow and a garage. Humans have become like beasts.
Let's remember Let me tell you an important lesson. People are not objects of faith. There is only one person we can rely on and trust. Who is it? There is only one God. Don't rely on people. You will definitely get discouraged. You will be disappointed. I hope that you will always depend on God alone. God never disappoints us. Trust God. Then there will be no failures. There are no mistakes.
Let's continue to see what the Chaldeans said. "The king will tell his servants the dream, and we will interpret it." Now, the servants are misunderstanding the king's intentions. The king wants to know the dream itself, but the servants say that if you tell the dream what it is, they will interpret it.
At that time, the servants had a book to interpret dreams. For example, I dreamed of a pig. So what comes to mind? Remember money? Once upon a time, my mother was like that. It is said that if you dream of a pig, you will find something to eat. It is said that if you dream of eating again, you will get sick. The Babylonians had a book that empirically wrote about interpreting dreams. This means that if the king tells the dream in detail, the book will explain it. The king doesn't want to know that. You want to know what your dream was.
But no one could interpret the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar. Who are we waiting for now? God made Daniel understand visions and dreams. So, who is the only one who can interpret this dream? There is only Daniel.
Here we can learn a valuable lesson. Everyone, including Daniel, is in a great crisis right now. We are in a grave crisis where our lives come and go. However, it is the fact that those whom God loves, God supports, and God protects will not only overcome the crisis, but will also be used more preciously through the crisis. God is the God who neither sleeps nor sleeps, and protects you and me.
Do you recite Isaiah 41:10? Let's recite it all together.
?쏡o not be afraid, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God, I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.??God is a God with us, a God who holds us firmly, and a God who helps us. He is the God who saves us by being with us even in the furnace, and protects us by being with us in the dreadful temptation of the lions' den. Even though Daniel was in a crisis, God was with him and rather, he selected him through this work and he honored him and used him.
What difficulties do you have? Don't be discouraged or discouraged by it. Rather, it can be a stepping stone and a stepping-stone to a greater place of blessing, a place of success. With that in mind, I pray in the name of Jesus that you and I all become victorious today by relying only on God like Daniel and trusting in God.