Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream
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Daniel’s first act was to thank God for the revelation given him.
“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,” he exclaimed; “for
wisdom and might are His: and He changeth the times and the seasons:
He removeth kings, and setteth up kings: He giveth wisdom unto the
wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: He revealeth
the deep and secret things: He knoweth what is in the darkness, and
the light dwelleth with Him. I thank Thee, and praise Thee, O Thou
God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast
made known unto me now what we desired of Thee: for Thou hast
now made known unto us the king’s matter.”
Going immediately to Arioch, whom the king had commanded
to destroy the wise men, Daniel said, “Destroy not the wise men of
Babylon: bring me in before the king, and I will show unto the king
the interpretation.” Quickly the officer ushered Daniel in before the
king, with the words, “I have found a man of the captives of Judah,
that will make known unto the king the interpretation.”
Behold the Jewish captive, calm and self-possessed, in the presence
of the monarch of the world’s most powerful empire. In his first words
he disclaimed honor for himself and exalted God as the source of all
wisdom. To the anxious inquiry of the king, “Art thou able to make
known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation
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thereof?” he replied: “The secret which the king hath demanded cannot
the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, show
unto the king; but there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and
maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter
days.
“Thy dream,” Daniel declared, “and the visions of thy head upon
thy bed, are these; As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy
mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and He that
revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. But
as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have
more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the
interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of
thy heart.
“Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great
image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the
form thereof was terrible. This image’s head was of fine gold, his