Deeper Reflection
Now, what if Nebuchadnezzar followed the Babylonian protocol concerning royal dreams, and made known to his wise men his dreams, and he trusted them and let them interpret his dreams? They would be deceitfully giving him a wrong and false interpretation (v.9). However, this scenario will never happen. The invisible sovereign hand of God was in this situation. It was God who gave the dreams to Nebuchadnezzar to serve His own purposes. And therefore, the interpretation of the dreams must be according to God. So, Nebuchadnezzar’s unrelenting insistence on his wise men to make known to him both his dreams and the interpretation came from God. And it turned out to be an unprecedented, unreasonable and impossible demand from any king in history: “no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this” (v.10). And what Nebuchadnezzar demanded was “difficult” and “there is no man on earth who could declare the matter to the king” (v.10). But Nebuchadnezzar was also stuck, with his dreams uninterpreted. His troubledness and anxiety only grew worse.Out of this impasse a truth was declared: “there is no one else who could declare…except gods, whose dwelling is not with mortal flesh” (v.11). This pagan theology points to “There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries” (Dan 2:28). There are troubling times in our lives when we can trust in no one else, but God alone, who can do anything: “For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from Him. God alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken” (Psa 62:1-2, 5-6).