Daniel 2.9b-Nebuchadnezzar Accuses Wise Men Of Conspiring To Tell Him Lies And Reiterates His Demand They Tell Him The Content Of Its Dream
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday February 8, 2012
Daniel: Daniel 2:9b-Nebuchadnezzar Accuses Wise Men Of Conspiring To Tell Him Lies And Reiterates His Demand They Tell Him The Content Of His Dream
Lesson # 33
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 2:1.
This evening we will complete our study of Daniel 2:9.
Daniel 2:1 Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was troubled and his sleep left him. 2 Then the king gave orders to call in the magicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. 3 The king said to them, “I had a dream and my spirit is anxious to understand the dream.” 4 Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic: “O king, live forever! Tell the dream to your servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” 5 The king replied to the Chaldeans, “The command from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb and your houses will be made a rubbish heap. 6 But if you declare the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts and a reward and great honor; therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation.” 7 They answered a second time and said, “Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” 8 The king replied, “I know for certain that you are bargaining for time, inasmuch as you have seen that the command from me is firm 9 that if you do not make the dream known to me, there is only one decree for you. For you have agreed together to speak lying and corrupt words before me until the situation is changed; therefore tell me the dream, that I may know that you can declare to me its interpretation.” (NASB95)
“For you have agreed together to speak lying and corrupt words before me until the situation is changed” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “for” which is followed by the feminine singular form of the noun mil∙lā(h) (מִלָּה) (mil-law´), “words” and then we have the feminine singular form of the noun kiḏ∙ḇā(h) (כִּדְבָה) (kid-baw), “lying” and this is followed by the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” and then we have the feminine singular peʿil (Hebrew: qal) passive participle form of the verb šeḥǎṯ (שְׁחַת) (shekh-ath´), “corrupt” and this is followed by the second person masculine plural hitpeʿel active imperfect form of the verb zemǎn (זְמַן) (zem-an´), “you have agreed together” and then we have the preposition lĕ (לְ) (lamed), “to” and its object is the peʿal (Hebrew: qal) active infinitive construct form of the verb ʾǎmǎr (אֲמַר) (am-ar´), “speak” which is followed by the preposition qǒḏām (קֳדָם) (kod-awm´), “before” and its object is the first person singular pronomial suffix –î (־י), “me” and then we have the preposition ʿǎḏ (עַד) (ad), “until” and its object is the relative particle dî (דִּי) (dee), “that” which is followed by the masculine singular form of the noun ʿid∙dān (עִדָּן) (id-dawn´), “the situation” and then we have the third person masculine singular hitpaʿʿal (Hebrew: piel) middle imperfect form of the verb šenā(h) (שְׁנָה) (shen-aw´), “is changed.”
The conjunction wa is emphatic meaning that the word is introducing a statement that is advancing upon and intensifying the previous statement in verse 9, which records Nebuchadnezzar reiterating his promise to execute his wise men if they do not tell him both the content of his dream as well as its interpretation.
The conjunction wa introduces a statement which tells the reader that Nebuchadnezzar was convinced that his wise men were conspiring to give him a false and evil interpretation of his dream until the situation changed and the king changed his mind and told them the content of the dream.
So the statement introduced by the conjunction wa advances upon this previous statement in the sense that it is providing more information for the reader with regards to why Nebuchadnezzar is determined to execute his wise men.
So the statement here advances upon the previous statement in the sense that for the first time the reader is told that Nebuchadnezzar thinks his wise men are liars and deceivers and evil and will not give him a correct interpretation of his dream.
The conjunction wa is also introducing a statement that intensifies Nebuchadnezzar’s statement to execute his wise men if they fail to meet his demands in the sense that he is accusing them of being liars and deceitful, which would be shocking to the Babylonians since they trusted in these individuals.
The verb zemǎn means “to conspire,” i.e. agreeing secretly to do an unlawful or wrongful act or act which becomes unlawful as a result of a secret agreement.
Here it is used by Nebuchadnezzar to accuse his wise men of conspiring to give him a deceitful interpretation that is a lie.
This word denotes that the king of Babylon was convinced that his wise men would secretly agree to an interpretation that was nothing but lies and deceit.
The noun mil∙lā(h) means “message” in the sense of a verbal message to the king of Babylon and refers to the wise men communicating their interpretation of his dream.
It is modified by the noun kiḏ∙ḇā(h) which means “false” in the sense that it describes the wise men’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream as intentionally untrue so as to deceive and mislead him.
The verb šeḥǎṯ means “to be evil, wicked” emphasizing the character of the wise men’s false interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream as being wicked or evil.
The word denotes that if Nebuchadnezzar tells his wise men the content of his recurring dream he is convinced that their interpretation will be evil in the sense of morally reprehensible since he believes they would intentionally deceive him and would cause harm to himself and his kingdom.
The noun ʿid∙dān means “situation,” i.e. circumstances and thus refers to the circumstances in which Nebuchadnezzar is demanding that his wise men make known to him both the content of his dream as well as its interpretation.
The noun šā∙nā(h) is the object of the preposition ʿǎḏ, which is a temporal marker which denotes the situation in which Nebuchadnezzar is demanding his wise men tell him the content of his dream up to the point where he does not demand this.
The verb šenā(h) means “to change” and denotes the circumstances of the wise men changing from having to tell Nebuchadnezzar the content of his dream to not having to.
So the king is accusing his wise men of conspiring to give him a false as well as evil interpretation of his dream until the circumstances change in the sense that the king changes his mind and drops the entire matter because it no longer troubles him.
“Therefore tell me the dream, that I may know that you can declare to me its interpretation” is composed of the conjunction lā∙hēn (לָהֵן) (law-hane´), “therefore” which is followed by the masculine singular form of the noun ḥē∙lěm (חֵלֶם) (khay´-lem), “the dream” and then we have the second person masculine singular peʿal (Hebrew: qal) active imperative form of the verb ʾǎmǎr (אֲמַר) (am-ar´), “tell” which is followed by the preposition lĕ (לְ) (lamed), “to” and its object is the first person singular pronomial suffix –î (־י) (ee), “me” and then we have the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “that” which is followed by the first person singular peʿal (Hebrew: qal) active imperfect form of the verb yeḏǎʿ (יְדַע) (yed-ah´), “I may know” and then we have the relative particle dî (דִּי) (dee), “that” which is followed by the masculine singular construct form of the noun pešǎr (פְּשַׁר) (pesh-ar´), “interpretation” and then we have the third person masculine singular pronomial suffix hû(ʾ) (הוּא) (who), “its” and then we have the second person masculine plural hafʿel (Hebrew: hiphil) active imperfect form of the verb ḥǎwā(h) (חֲוָה) (khav-aw´), “you can declare” which is followed by the first person singular pronomial suffix –î (־י) (ee), “me.”
The conjunction lā∙hēn is a marker of result meaning that it is introducing a statement that is the result of the previous statements in verses 8 and 9.
Therefore, this word denotes that based upon the fact that Nebuchadnezzar is determined to execute his wise men since he is convinced they have conspired to give him a false and evil interpretation, these wise men must tell him the content of his dream in order that he can be assured that they can interpret his dream.
The verb ʾǎmǎr means “to tell” in the sense of communicating something to someone and here it denotes Nebuchadnezzar’s wise men “telling” or “communicating” to him the content of his dream.
The imperative mood of the verb is used as an imperative for command indicating that Nebuchadnezzar is ordering his wise men to communicate to him the content of his dream in order that he can be assured that they can interpret this dream at all.
The noun ḥē∙lěm is in the singular and refers to the content of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.
The conjunction wa is a marker of purpose indicating that the word is introducing a clause that presents the purpose for which Nebuchadnezzar wants his wise men to tell him the content of his dream.
The verb yeḏǎʿ means “to be assured” in the sense of giving confidence to someone and denotes that Nebuchadnezzar is demanding that his wise men tell him the content of his dream in order that “he can be assured” or “confident” that they can in fact interpret his dream.
The verb ḥǎwā(h) means “to make known” and denotes Nebuchadnezzar’s wise men making known the interpretation of his dream.
Thus, the word refers to the act of explaining Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to him.
The noun pešǎr means “interpretation” referring to the wise men interpreting or explaining Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to him.
The king of Babylon is convinced his wise men will give him a false and evil interpretation of his dream if he tells them the content of this dream.
He feels they must tell him the content of his dream and then he will trust their interpretation.
The king had enough discernment to realize that if he told his wise men the content of his dream that they would conspire together to give him a false and deceitful interpretation of the dream.
Nebuchadnezzar is accusing his wise men of conspiring to give him a deceitful interpretation that is a lie.
The king of Babylon was convinced that his wise men would secretly agree to an interpretation that was nothing but lies and deceit.
He is convinced that his wise men’s interpretation of his dream will be intentionally untrue so as to deceive and mislead him.
Nebuchadnezzar is convinced that if he tells his wise men the content of his recurring dream that their interpretation will be evil in the sense of morally reprehensible since he believes they would intentionally deceive him and would cause harm to himself and his kingdom.