So the king summoned
The phrase "So the king summoned" indicates the authority and urgency of King Nebuchadnezzar's command. In the ancient Near Eastern context, a king's word was law, and his summons was not to be ignored. The Hebrew root for "summoned" (קרא, qara) implies a calling or proclamation, often used in contexts where authority is exercised. This highlights the king's desperation and the seriousness of the situation, as dreams were considered significant and often divine messages in ancient cultures.

the magicians
The term "magicians" refers to a class of wise men or priests in Babylon who were believed to possess secret knowledge and the ability to interpret dreams. The Hebrew word used here is "chartummim," which is derived from an Egyptian term for sacred scribes or those skilled in sacred writings. This reflects the syncretism of Babylonian culture, which absorbed influences from various conquered peoples, including the Egyptians.

enchanters
"Enchanters" are those who practice incantations or spells. The Hebrew word "ashshaphim" suggests individuals who claim to have the power to communicate with the spiritual realm. In the ancient world, enchanters were often consulted for their supposed ability to manipulate supernatural forces, reflecting the king's reliance on human wisdom and occult practices to gain insight.

sorcerers
The "sorcerers" mentioned here are practitioners of magic, often associated with the use of potions or rituals to influence events or people. The Hebrew term "mekhashphim" is related to the practice of witchcraft, which was condemned in the Hebrew Scriptures (e.g., Deuteronomy 18:10-12). This highlights the contrast between the pagan practices of Babylon and the monotheistic faith of Daniel and his companions.

and astrologers
Astrologers, or "kasdim" in Hebrew, were those who studied the stars and celestial bodies to predict the future. In Babylonian culture, astrology was a highly respected science, and astrologers were considered wise men. This reflects the belief in the interconnectedness of the cosmos and human destiny, a belief that Daniel would later challenge by demonstrating the supremacy of the God of Israel.

to tell him what he had dreamed
The king's demand "to tell him what he had dreamed" was unprecedented and impossible by human means. It underscores the futility of relying on human wisdom and occult practices to discern divine mysteries. This sets the stage for God's intervention through Daniel, who would reveal the dream and its interpretation by divine revelation, not human skill.

When they came and stood before the king
The phrase "When they came and stood before the king" illustrates the obedience and readiness of the king's advisors to serve him, despite the impossible task. In the royal court, standing before the king was a position of both honor and vulnerability, as the king held the power of life and death. This moment foreshadows the failure of human wisdom and the eventual exaltation of God's wisdom through Daniel.

(2) Magicians.--Heb. chartummim, so called, most probably, from the pencil or stylus with which they wrote. The word is elsewhere used of the Egyptian magicians. (See Schrader, Keil-Inschriften, p. 26; Records of the Past, vol. 1 p. 131.)

Astrologers.--Heb. ashshaphim, a name derived from the whisperings or mutterings made by them while employed in their incantations. They are mentioned by Daniel only.

Sorcerers.--Heb. mekashshaphim; are spoken of in the Pentateuch both as male and female, (e.g. Deuteronomy 18:10). They are mentioned by Isaiah (Isaiah 47:9; Isaiah 47:12) as prevalent in the Babylon of his days. Probably the Chaldaeans spoken of in this verse did not form a separate class of magicians, but denoted the priests, such as those mentioned Herod. i. 181, and was contained in the first class of magicians mentioned in the verse. It appears that Daniel excelled (Daniel 1:17) in all classes of magic learning, whether it required a knowledge of "learning, wisdom, or dreams."

Verse 2. - Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to show the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. The Septuagint renders, "And the king commended that the magicians, astrologers, and sorcerers of the Chaldeans be brought in to tell the king his dream. And they came and steed before the king." The difference is slight verbally, but very important. Theodotion and the Peshitta agree closely with the Massoretic. The Vulgate renders mecashe-pheem, "sorcerers," malefici, "evil workers." Then the king commanded to call the magicians. The scene seems to stand out before us - the king, excited and sleepless, calling out to his attendants to summon to his presence all the wise men in the capital of his empire. The first that are named are the hartummeem. The name is derived by Gesenius from חֶרֶט (heret), "a stylus," and he supposes them to be sacred scribes. We find the word in Genesis 41:24. Although the order may have existed among the Egyptians, the name given to them here and in Exodus may quite well have a Semitic origin. The Tel-el-Amarna tablets show us how well the language of Assyria was known in Egypt. Hitzig is quite sure that Nebuchadnezzar "est Abbild des Pharao und zugleich Vorbild des Antiochus Epiphanes." It is a way critics have; they are always quite sure. It may be observed that both the Greek versions have for this word ἐπαοιδούς, "those who use incantations." The Peshitta has harasha, primarily "one who is silent," then "one who mutters," then "one who sings an incantation." Paulus Tellensis has lehasha, "to whisper," and then "to reheat a charm" or "incautation." Jerome renders arioli," foretellers." While the Peshitta interprets hartummeem in Genesis by the same word as that used here, in the Septuagint the word in Genesis is ἐξηγητής instead of ἐ῞παοίδος, and Jerome uses conjectores instead of, as we have seen, arioli In Exodus 7:11 harturameem is translated in the Septuagint ἐπαοιδοί. Jerome renders ipsi, as if the word had not been in his text. if, then, the word hartummeem stood in the text of Daniel when the Greek versions were made, there was an uncertainty as to the meaning to be assigned to it in Egypt. The distinction between the two meanings drawn from the etymology of the word hartummeem, and that derived from the Greek equivalent, is not great. The religion of the Chaldeans was largely a system of incantations that were preserved primarily in the Accadian - a tongue known only to the sacred scribes. Many of the formulae are translated into Assyrian - a language, by the time of Nebuchadnezzar, practically as much restricted to the scribes and learned class as the Accadian. Hence only a scribe could know the proper words to use in an incantation, only he could perpetuate and preserve them. It is difficult to know on what grouted the translators of the Authorized Version selected the word "magicians." The Geneva Bible rendered it "enchanters," which is adopted by the Revisers. Luther is further afield in tendering sternsehers. The name is Assyrian, and apparently derived from harutu, "a staff" (Norris, 'Assyr. Dict.'). This staff was possibly used, as the staff of the Roman augur, to mark off the regions of the heavens, or, it may be, to ward off demons. And the astrologers. The Hebrew word used here is ashshapheem. "In Assyrian the word asep or asipu is used in the sense of diviner. The word was actually borrowed by the Aramaic of Daniel under the form of ashshaph" (Sayce, 'Hibbert Lecture,' p. 51). It is supposed to mean "one who uses enchantments." It is not Hebrew, but really Syriao or Eastern Aramaic. In both Greek versions the equivalent is μάγοι, which Jerome follows. The Peshitta reserves magoeha for the next term. The assertion that this word was really the Greek σοφοί is now abandoned. The Greek σ never rendered by שׁ, which represented a sound not present in Greek at all. The fact that this non-Hellenic sound is doubled makes it utterly impossible that this word could be brought over from the Greek. It is impossible to assign to this word the precise shade of meaning which belongs to it. There is nothing to suggest "astrologers" in the root of the word. And the sorcerers. The Hebrew here is mekash,hepheem. Dr. Robertson Smith, as quoted in Professor Bevan, suggests that the word is derived from כשפ, "to shred or cut to pieces," hence "to prepare magical drugs." This is in agreement with the Greek versions, which render φαρμάκοι. The verb, however, is a Syrian one, and means "to worship" (Acts 4:31; Philippians 1:4). It occurs in the Hebrew of Exodus 7:11 along with hartummeem; in Deuteronomy 18:10, in a verse forbidding to the Israelites the use of magical arts; in 2 Chronicles 33:6, in an account of how Manasseh traversed that law. It may be noted that in this last verse the Peshitta renders Chaldea "Chaldeans." Again we have to repeat the remark that we do not know the distinctions involved in these different names. And the Chaldeans. The Hebrew word here is כַשְׂדִים (Kas'deern); both the form Kassatu and Kaldu occur in in-seriptions. The meaning of this word has caused great discussion, and its use in this chapter for a class of magicians has been held as a strong proof that the writer of the book before us lived long after the time in which he places the events he narrates. The use of "Chaldean" for "magician," "astrologer," or "soothsayer" in classic times is well known. The difficulty here is that the name "Chaldean" is used for a particular and limited class in the nation, and at the same time for that nation as a whole. This is not necessarily impossible. In Scotland, although the inhabitants are all called Scots, there is also the clan whose surname is Scott, or, as it was earlier spelt, "Scot." It would not show confusion or iguorance did a writer of the fifteenth century speak in one page of the Kers, the Hepburns, and the Scots (Scotts) as forming one army, and then in the next page proceed to speak of the whole army as the army of the Scots. His use of the name in the one case for the nation and the other for the clan, so far from showing an insufficient acquaintance with the constitution of Scotland, or the history of its affairs, really evidences the accuracy of the writer's knowledge. We cannot conclude that the author therefore made a mistake in speaking - if he does so - of a class of the Babylonian magians being called Chaldeans because the nation bore the same name. We certainly have as yet found no trace of such a usage, but the argumentum e silentio is of strikingly little value in regard to Babylon - her annals are so very incomplete. We retest bear in mind that the text of Daniel is in a very bad state: it has been subjected to various inter-polstions and alterations. It is, therefore, hazardous to rest any stress on single words. It is clear the writer knew perfectly well that the nation were called Chaldeans. According to the Massoretic text, Daniel 5:30 asserts, "In that night was Belshazzar King of the Chaldeans slain;" according to the LXX. version of the same verse it is, "And the kingdom was taken from the Chaldeans and given to the Medea and Persians." If we are sure the writer did make the Chaldeans also a class of magians, the probability is that he knew what he was talking about, and made no explanation because, as a contemporary, he took for granted everybody knew how this was. But is it absolutely certain that the writer of Daniel does make this asset-lion? It is true that in the Massoretic text the Kasdeem are represented as a class of magiaas coordinate with the hartummeem, ashshapheem, and mekashepheem, but in the Septuagint we find the word χαλδαίων in the genitive. Consequently, the sentence reads, "the magicians and the astrologers and the sorcerers of the Chaldeans." If at the time the Massoretic recension was made the name "Chaldean" had gained its later significance of "soothsayer," one can easily understand how natural it would be to insert the copulative before the preposition. The construction of the sentence in the text before the translator of the LXX. Version is certainly irregular, but not unexampled. It is not so easy to imagine the Septuagint translator changing the nominative plural into a genitive, especially when, by the time the translation was made, the osage we have spoken of above was in full force. We may assume, then, that in the original text of Daniel the "Kasdeem" were not spoken of, in this verse at all events, as a class of magicians. As the clause appears in the LXX., Nebuchadnezzar assembled all the magicians of his nationality, the Chaldeans as distinguished from the Babylonians. Perhaps he had more confidence in them. While the change we have suggested would make only the mekashshepheem connected with the Chaldeans, the grammatical structure of the verse has the aspect of a freer rendering than that in Theodotion' hence it might quite well have been that the original Hebrew had the meaning represented by the Greek of the Septuagint. Lenormant sees in the four classes here an exact representation of the four classes of Babylonian soothsayers. We do not feel obliged to maintain that all the different classes should be called in on the occasion of this dream. We do not know precisely the characteristics that separated one class from the other, but it seems little likely that they all devoted themselves to the interpretation of dreams. There were other omens and portents that had to be explained. For to show the king his dreams. The natural sense is that represented by the Greek versions, "to tell the king his dream." The usual reason for these officials being called was to declare to the king the interpretation of the dream; but here it was to declare the dream its. If. Yet if they could foretell the future, could they not much more easily tell what had happened? They professed to know what was coming; they could - so Nebuchadnezzar might argue - readily enough reason back from the future they knew to the sign of the future, the dream which had been given to him. So they came and stood before the king. We can imagine the long ranks of the principal classes of Chaldean soothsayers in Babylon hastening into the royal presence. All the soothsayers, we see, were not summoned, for Daniel and his friends were not, and they were not singular, else the writer would have given some reason for this omission. The writer assumes that his readers know so much about the habits of Bah;Ionian wise men and their schools, as to be aware that certain individuals might nominally be summoned to the court; and yet it might be some time before they were summoned on any critical occasion. The absence of the four Hebrews might be explained in two ways: either only the Chaldean magicians were in this case summoned, and, as Daniel and his friends were not Chaldeans, they were omitted; or they were not summoned he-cause their training was not yet complete.

Parallel Commentaries ...


So the king
הַ֠מֶּלֶךְ (ham·me·leḵ)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4428: A king

gave orders
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר (way·yō·mer)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

to summon
לִקְרֹ֨א (liq·rō)
Preposition-l | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
Strong's 7121: To call, proclaim, read

the magicians,
וְלָֽאַשָּׁפִ֗ים (wə·lā·’aš·šā·p̄îm)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l, Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 825: A conjurer, necromancer

enchanters,
לַֽחַרְטֻמִּ֜ים (la·ḥar·ṭum·mîm)
Preposition-l, Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 2748: An engraver, writer

sorcerers,
וְלַֽמְכַשְּׁפִים֙ (wə·lam·ḵaš·šə·p̄îm)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l, Article | Verb - Piel - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 3784: To whisper a, spell, to inchant, practise magic

and astrologers
וְלַכַּשְׂדִּ֔ים (wə·lak·kaś·dîm)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l, Article | Noun - proper - masculine plural
Strong's 3778: Chaldeans -- a region of southern Babylon and its inhab

to explain
לְהַגִּ֥יד (lə·hag·gîḏ)
Preposition-l | Verb - Hifil - Infinitive construct
Strong's 5046: To be conspicuous

his dreams.
חֲלֹמֹתָ֑יו (ḥă·lō·mō·ṯāw)
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 2472: A dream

When they came
וַיָּבֹ֕אוּ (way·yā·ḇō·’ū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 935: To come in, come, go in, go

and stood
וַיַּֽעַמְד֖וּ (way·ya·‘am·ḏū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 5975: To stand, in various relations

before
לִפְנֵ֥י (lip̄·nê)
Preposition-l | Noun - common plural construct
Strong's 6440: The face

the king,
הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃ (ham·me·leḵ)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4428: A king


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OT Prophets: Daniel 2:2 Then the king commanded to call (Dan. Da Dn)