1 In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams that troubled his spirit, and sleep escaped him. 2 So the king gave orders to summon the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers to explain his dreams. When they came and stood before the king, 3 he said to them, “I have had a dream, and my spirit is anxious to understand it.”

4 Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, “O king, may you live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.”

5 The king replied to the astrologers, “My word is final: If you do not tell me the dream and its interpretation, you will be cut into pieces and your houses will be reduced to rubble. 6 But if you tell me the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. So tell me the dream and its interpretation.”

7 They answered a second time, “Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and we will give the interpretation.”

8 The king replied, “I know for sure that you are stalling for time, because you see that my word is final. 9 If you do not tell me the dream, there is only one decree for you. You have conspired to speak before me false and fraudulent words, hoping the situation will change. Therefore tell me the dream, and I will know that you can give me its interpretation.”

10 The astrologers answered the king, “No one on earth can do what the king requests! No king, however great and powerful, has ever asked anything like this of any magician, enchanter, or astrologer. 11 What the king requests is so difficult that no one can tell it to him except the gods, whose dwelling is not with mortals.”

12 This response made the king so furious with anger that he gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. 13 So the decree went out that the wise men were to be executed, and men went to look for Daniel and his friends to execute them.

REFLECTIONS

Written by Vincent Chan

Yikes! What a request from Nebuchadnezzar! Today’s passage is almost comical. The most powerful king in the world wants his dream interpreted—but not just the interpretation. He wants the wise men to tell him what the dream was in the first place! And if they can’t, he threatens them with a brutal death. The wise men respond just as you’d expect: No one alive can do that!

Tomorrow, we’ll see that the true God steps in. Without giving too much away, this becomes a powerful display of God’s wisdom and might. But the key to today’s passage is verse 11: No mortal can know the king’s secret. In that moment, the wise men actually speak true wisdom. There is a kind of knowledge that belongs to God alone.

As I reflected on this, I was reminded of Romans 2:16, where God is described as the “judge of people’s secrets.” God’s knowledge has no limits. He sees what is hidden. He knows every secret. Even the thoughts we’ve never voiced—the ones we try to hide from others, and even from ourselves—He knows them all.

It’s easy to laugh at the wise men and their guessing games. It’s like calling a psychic hotline to predict your future—they can say anything in their interpretation, but ask them to tell you what you dreamed and they’d hang up the line. They don’t know. Yet God really does. And that’s not just amusing—it’s confronting. If God knows everything, then He knows me. The good parts, yes—but also the things I’d rather keep hidden. But that shouldn’t drive us to run away (after all – where can we run to?). The right response is to keep turning back to the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus is the one who knows the heart of humanity and yet still draws near to us, so that we can know God’s unconditional love.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Vinno is one of our Assistant Ministers.