◄ Daniel 2:3 ►
he said to them, "I have had a dream, and my spirit is anxious to understand it."
Study Bible
he said to them
This phrase indicates the beginning of a dialogue, a common narrative technique in ancient texts. The speaker, King Nebuchadnezzar, is addressing his court, specifically the wise men of Babylon. In the historical context, Babylon was a center of learning and wisdom, and the king's reliance on his advisors reflects the cultural importance of dreams and their interpretations in ancient Near Eastern societies. The king's words set the stage for the unfolding drama, emphasizing the gravity of the situation.

I have had a dream
Dreams in the ancient world, particularly in the Hebrew Bible, are often seen as divine communications. The Hebrew word for dream, "ḥălôm," suggests a vision or revelation that requires interpretation. In the context of Daniel, dreams are a medium through which God reveals His plans and purposes. Nebuchadnezzar's dream is not just a personal experience but a pivotal moment in the narrative that will reveal God's sovereignty over earthly kingdoms.

that troubles me
The phrase "that troubles me" conveys a sense of deep disturbance and anxiety. The Hebrew root "pāʿam" implies being agitated or disturbed. This reflects the king's emotional state and the seriousness with which dreams were regarded. In the biblical narrative, this troubling aspect of the dream underscores the limitations of human wisdom and the need for divine insight, setting the stage for Daniel's role as God's chosen interpreter.

and I want to know
This expression of desire for understanding highlights the human quest for knowledge and meaning. The king's insistence on knowing the dream's meaning reflects a universal human longing for certainty and control over the future. In the biblical context, it also points to the limitations of human wisdom and the necessity of divine revelation, as only God can provide true understanding.

what it means
The quest for meaning is central to the narrative. The phrase underscores the importance of interpretation and understanding in the biblical worldview. In the Hebrew context, meaning is not just intellectual but also spiritual, involving the discernment of God's will and purpose. This sets the stage for Daniel's role as an interpreter, emphasizing the theme of divine wisdom and revelation that runs throughout the book of Daniel.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Nebuchadnezzar
The king of Babylon who has a troubling dream that he seeks to understand. His reign is marked by significant power and influence, and his dreams often have prophetic significance.

2. Babylon
The setting of this event, Babylon was a major empire known for its wealth, power, and influence in the ancient world. It serves as a backdrop for many of the events in the Book of Daniel.

3. Dream
The central event in this passage, the dream is a divine message that causes Nebuchadnezzar great anxiety. Dreams in the ancient Near East were often seen as messages from the divine.

4. Spirit
Refers to Nebuchadnezzar's inner being or emotional state, which is troubled and seeking understanding. The Hebrew word for spirit, "ruach," can denote breath, wind, or spirit, indicating a deep, internal disturbance.

5. Understanding
The king's desire to comprehend the meaning of his dream. This reflects a common human quest for knowledge and insight, especially regarding divine messages.
Teaching Points
The Quest for Understanding
Just as Nebuchadnezzar sought understanding, believers are encouraged to seek wisdom and insight from God, especially when faced with confusion or anxiety.

Divine Communication
God often communicates in ways that require us to seek Him for interpretation. This passage encourages reliance on God for understanding His messages.

The Role of Anxiety
Nebuchadnezzar's anxiety serves as a reminder that human understanding is limited and that true peace comes from seeking God's wisdom.

The Importance of Dreams
While not all dreams are divine, this passage highlights that God can use dreams to convey important messages, urging believers to be attentive to how God might speak.

God's Sovereignty
The passage underscores God's control over kingdoms and His ability to reveal His plans to those in power, reminding believers of His ultimate authority.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Nebuchadnezzar's reaction to his dream reflect common human responses to the unknown, and how can we apply this to our own lives when faced with uncertainty?

2. In what ways does the Bible show that God uses dreams to communicate with people, and how should this influence our understanding of dreams today?

3. How can we seek God's wisdom and understanding in our daily lives, especially when we encounter situations that cause us anxiety?

4. What does Nebuchadnezzar's need for interpretation teach us about the limitations of human wisdom and the necessity of divine insight?

5. How does the theme of God's sovereignty in Daniel 2:3 encourage us to trust in His plans, even when we do not fully understand them?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Genesis 41
Pharaoh's dreams and Joseph's interpretation highlight the theme of divine communication through dreams and the need for God-given interpretation.

1 Kings 3
Solomon's request for wisdom to understand and lead his people connects to the theme of seeking divine insight.

Acts 2
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the resulting dreams and visions show the continuation of God communicating through dreams.
Sermons
The Failure and Discomfiture of FalsehoodJ.D. Davies Daniel 2:1-13
The Revelation LostH.T. Robjohns Daniel 2:1-13
People
Abednego, Arioch, Azariah, Belteshazzar, Daniel, Hananiah, Meshach, Mishael, Nebuchadnezzar, Shadrach
Places
Babylon, Shinar
Topics
Anxious, Clear, Desire, Dream, Dreamed, Moved, Spirit, Troubled, Troubles, Understand
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Daniel 2:1-3

     5935   riddles

Daniel 2:1-13

     8709   astrology

Daniel 2:2-5

     4281   stars

Library
The Image and the Stone
'This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. 37. Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. 38. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath He given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. 39. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Book and Tract Catalogue.
THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION. BY I. C. WELLCOME AND C. GOUD. "The Plan of Redemption is an earnest book, evidently prepared after no little study, and with a conscientious desire to advance the cause of Christ. The Bible is made the basis of argument; it contains many fresh and well considered suggestions. The careful reader will find much that is valuable."--Watchman and Reflector. "This treatise aims to serve up the gospel scheme in a compact form. It states the plan and work well, and usually correctly. …
Dwight L. Moody—That Gospel Sermon on the Blessed Hope

Editor's Preface
Professor Maspero does not need to be introduced to us. His name is well known in England and America as that of one of the chief masters of Egyptian science as well as of ancient Oriental history and archaeology. Alike as a philologist, a historian, and an archaeologist, he occupies a foremost place in the annals of modern knowledge and research. He possesses that quick apprehension and fertility of resource without which the decipherment of ancient texts is impossible, and he also possesses a sympathy …
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 1

The Scattering of the People
[Illustration: (drop cap A) The Fish-god of Assyria and Babylonia] At last the full punishment for their many sins fell upon God's chosen people. The words of warning written in the fifth book of Moses had told them plainly that if they turned aside and worshipped the wicked idol-gods of Canaan, the Lord would take their country from them and drive them out into strange lands. Yet again and again they had yielded to temptation. And now the day of reckoning had come. Nebuchadnezzar, the great king …
Mildred Duff—The Bible in its Making

That Gospel Sermon on the Blessed Hope
In 2 Timothy, 3:16, Paul declares: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness;" but there are some people who tell us when we take up prophecy that it is all very well to be believed, but that there is no use in one trying to understand it; these future events are things that the church does not agree about, and it is better to let them alone, and deal only with those prophecies which have already been …
Dwight L. Moody—That Gospel Sermon on the Blessed Hope

Epistle Xliii. To Eulogius and Anastasius, Bishops.
To Eulogius and Anastasius, Bishops. Gregory to Eulogius, Bishop of Alexandria, and Anastasius, Bishop of Antioch. When the excellent preacher says, As long as I am the apostle of the Gentiles I will honour my ministry (Rom. xi. 13); saying again in another place, We became as babes among you (1 Thess. ii. 7), he undoubtedly shews an example to us who come after him, that we should retain humility in our minds, and yet keep in honour the dignity of our order, so that neither should our humility be …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

A Description of Heart-Purity
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matthew 5:8 The holy God, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity' calls here for heart-purity, and to such as are adorned with this jewel, he promises a glorious and beatifical vision of himself: they shall see God'. Two things are to be explained the nature of purity; the subject of purity. 1 The nature of purity. Purity is a sacred refined thing. It stands diametrically opposed to whatsoever defiles. We must distinguish the various kinds …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

The Wisdom of God
The next attribute is God's wisdom, which is one of the brightest beams of the Godhead. He is wise in heart.' Job 9:9. The heart is the seat of wisdom. Cor in Hebraeo sumitur pro judicio. Pineda. Among the Hebrews, the heart is put for wisdom.' Let men of understanding tell me:' Job 34:44: in the Hebrew, Let men of heart tell me.' God is wise in heart, that is, he is most wise. God only is wise; he solely and wholly possesses all wisdom; therefore he is called, the only wise God.' I Tim 1:17. All …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Wicked Husbandmen.
"Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: and when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto …
William Arnot—The Parables of Our Lord

The First Great Group of Parables.
(Beside the Sea of Galilee.) Subdivision B. Parable of the Sower. ^A Matt. XIII. 3-23; ^B Mark IV. 3-25; ^C Luke VIII. 5-18. ^a Behold, ^c 5 The sower went forth to sow his seed [Orientals live in cities and towns. Isolated farmhouses are practically unknown. A farmer may therefore live several miles from his field, in which case he literally "goes forth" to it]: ^b 4 And it came to pass, as he sowed, some seed { ^a seeds } fell by the way side, ^c and it was trodden under foot, and the birds of …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Necessity of Regeneration, Argued from the Immutable Constitution of God.
John III. 3. John III. 3. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. WHILE the ministers of Christ are discoursing of such a subject, as I have before me in the course of these Lectures, and particularly in this branch of them which I am now entering upon, we may surely, with the utmost reason, address our hearers in those words of Moses to Israel, in the conclusion of his dying discourse: Set your hearts unto all …
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration

Letters of St. Bernard
I To Malachy. 1141.[924] (Epistle 341.) To the venerable lord and most blessed father, Malachy, by the grace of God archbishop of the Irish, legate of the Apostolic See, Brother Bernard called to be abbot of Clairvaux, [desiring] to find grace with the Lord. 1. Amid the manifold anxieties and cares of my heart,[925] by the multitude of which my soul is sore vexed,[926] the brothers coming from a far country[927] that they may serve the Lord,[928] thy letter, and thy staff, they comfort …
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

Lii. Concerning Hypocrisy, Worldly Anxiety, Watchfulness, and his Approaching Passion.
(Galilee.) ^C Luke XII. 1-59. ^c 1 In the meantime [that is, while these things were occurring in the Pharisee's house], when the many thousands of the multitude were gathered together, insomuch that they trod one upon another [in their eagerness to get near enough to Jesus to see and hear] , he began to say unto his disciples first of all [that is, as the first or most appropriate lesson], Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. [This admonition is the key to the understanding …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Annunciation of the Birth of Jesus.
(at Nazareth, b.c. 5.) ^C Luke I. 26-38. ^c 26 Now in the sixth month [this is the passage from which we learn that John was six months older than Jesus] the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth [Luke alone tells us where Mary lived before the birth of Jesus. That Nazareth was an unimportant town is shown by the fact that it is mentioned nowhere in the Old Testament, nor in the Talmud, nor in Josephus, who mentions two hundred four towns and cities of Galilee. The …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The First Sayings of Jesus --His Ideas of a Divine Father and of a Pure Religion --First Disciples.
Joseph died before his son had taken any public part. Mary remained, in a manner, the head of the family, and this explains why her son, when it was wished to distinguish him from others of the same name, was most frequently called the "son of Mary."[1] It seems that having, by the death of her husband, been left friendless at Nazareth, she withdrew to Cana,[2] from which she may have come originally. Cana[3] was a little town at from two to two and a half hours' journey from Nazareth, at the foot …
Ernest Renan—The Life of Jesus

The Gospel of the Kingdom.
"This is He whom Seers in old time Chanted of with one accord; Whom the voices of the Prophets Promised in their faithful word." We have seen that, in the providence of God, John the Baptist was sent to proclaim to the world that "The Kingdom of Heaven" was at hand, and to point out the King. And as soon as the Herald had raised the expectation of men by the proclamation of the coming Kingdom, our Lord began His public ministry, the great object of which was the founding of His Kingdom for the salvation …
Edward Burbidge—The Kingdom of Heaven; What is it?

Daniel
Daniel is called a prophet in the New Testament (Matt. xxiv. 15). In the Hebrew Bible, however, the book called by his name appears not among the prophets, but among "the writings," between Esther and Ezra. The Greek version placed it between the major and the minor prophets, and this has determined its position in modern versions. The book is both like and unlike the prophetic books. It is like them in its passionate belief in the overruling Providence of God and in the sure consummation of His …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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