3.2.7 - Daniel 2:7

tell his servants the dream
See commentary concerning “lying and corrupt words” in verse 9. The king’s advisors continue to try and get him to reveal the dream because they know they can’t produce the information. If they can just get the king to reveal the dream, then they can concoct a subjective, fanciful, imprecise, untestable “interpretation.” In this, the advisors are like those who claim to be modern-day prophets.

The ancient fortune tellers and interpreters of dreams were adepts in the art of drawing out sufficient information to form a basis for some shrewd prognostication, and the framing of their answer in such an ambiguous manner that it would appear correct whichever way the event would go. The Chaldeans therefore figured that if the king would tell them the dream, they could agree on some interpretation that would seem plausible, and thus save their reputation.¹

Notes

¹ Clarence Larkin, The Book of Daniel (Glenside, PA: Clarence Larkin Estate, 1929), Dan. 2:9.