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 young
woman was murdered on a farm and was buried in a barn.
Those
who missed the young woman assumed that she had left the town
and was living somewhere else. The murder was not suspected
and so went undiscovered. But the young woman’s mother
started having dreams. It was always the same dream over and
over again. Each time the dream told the mother to go and search
this particular barn. Disturbed by the dream, the mother finally
went and discovered her murdered daughter. The murderer was
identified, went to trial, was sentenced and executed. Now,
how did this happen? Where did the mother’s dream come
from?
Nebuchadnezzar’s
Dream.
Nebuchadnezzar had a dream too! His dream was different. It
was about a metal statue. The dream started when he started
wondering about the future (Dan. 2:29). Night after night he
had the same dream. He could no longer sleep. Finally, Nebuchadnezzar
wanted to know the meaning of the dream. He must have sensed
there was significance to his dream.
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Now
in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar
had dreams; and his spirit was troubled and his sleep
left him. (NASB) Dan. 2:1 |
Babylon was a glorious place according to ancient historians
and from Isaiah we have this description,
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.
. . Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the
Chaldeans’ pride . . . (NASB) Isa. 13:19 |
The ancient historian Herodotus said that Babylon was more magnificent
than any city in the known world. Babylon was a place of beauty
which featured one of the seven wonders of the ancient world
- the Hanging Gardens. God had also given Nebuchadnezzar an
empire greater than the Assyrian Empire. His empire was a military
superpower. Was Nebuchadnezzar thinking about his fame, wealth,
and military strength when he started worrying about his future?
All we know is that he wanted
to know the future, and he called his team of wise men together
to see if they knew the meaning of his dream. Only he did not
know that he was calling on the wrong team of men.
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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. (NASB)
Dan. 2:2 |
The
Wise Men
. These men were educated in the Laws of Hammurabi, the Assyrian
Dream Book, astrology, mathematics, economics, and religious
literature. They maintained a record of the economic trends
of the empire in the Chronicles of the Market Places. Babylon
also had a vast library of knowledge, which archaeology has
uncovered. As a result, it is not surprising that the Babylonian
dynasty was called the “Master of Wisdom” (Wiseman,
D. J. Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon, The British Academy. 1983.
p. 86.). Today, some assume that a man or woman with educational
degrees is intellectually brilliant. |
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