John Calvin Commentary Daniel 2:7-9

"They answered the second time and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation. The king answered and said, I know of a certainty that ye would gain time, because ye see the thing is gone from me. But if ye make not known unto me the dream, there is but one law for you; for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can show me the interpretation thereof." — Daniel 2:7-9 (ASV)

Here the excuse of the Magi is narrated. They state the truth that their art only enabled them to discover the interpretation of a dream, but the king wished to know the dream itself. From this, he appears again to have been seized with immense fury and became quite implacable. Kings sometimes become angry, but are appeased by a single admonition, and thus this sentiment is very true: anger is soothed by mild language.

But since the reasonable reply of the Magi did not lessen the king’s wrath, he was quite carried away by demonic vehemence. And all this, as I have said, was governed by God’s secret counsel, so that Daniel’s explanation might be more noticed.

They next ask the king to relate his dream, and then they promise, as before, to interpret it directly.

Even this was too great a boast, as we have said, and they ought to have corrected their own arrogance and foolish boasting when in such a difficulty. But since they persist in that foolish and fallacious self-conceit, it shows us how they were blinded by the devil, just as those who have become entangled by superstitious deceptions confidently defend their own madness. Such an example we have in the Magi, who always claimed the power of interpreting dreams.

The king’s objection now follows: I know, he says, that you would gain time, since you are aware that the matter has gone from me (or, the word has been pronounced, if we adopt the former sense). The king here accuses them of more shameful cunning, since the Magi have nothing to offer and therefore desire to escape as soon as they know that the king has lost all remembrance of his dream.

It is just as if he had said: You promised me that you were reliable interpreters of my dream, but this is false. For if I could narrate the dream, it would be easy to prove your arrogance, since you cannot explain that enigma. But as you know I have forgotten my dream, that is why you ask me to relate it. But this is only to gain time, he says; in this way you manage to conceal your ignorance and retain your reputation for knowledge.

But if my dream still remained in my memory, I would soon detect your ignorance, for you cannot fulfill your boast. We see, therefore, how the king here accuses the Magi of a new crime, because they were impostors who deceived the people with false boasts; and thus he shows them to be worthy of death, unless they relate his dream.

The argument indeed is completely corrupt; but it is not surprising when tyrants reveal their true cruelty. Meanwhile, we must remember what I have said: the Magi deserved this rebuke, for they were puffed up with vanity and made false promises, by conjecturing the future from dreams, auguries, and the like.

But in the king’s case, nothing was more unjust than to invent such a crime against the Magi, since if they deceived others, it was because they themselves were deceived. They were blinded and deluded by the foolish conviction of their own wisdom, and had no intention of deceiving the king; for they thought something might immediately occur to them that would free his mind from all anxiety.

But the king always pursued the blind impulse of his rage. Meanwhile, we must notice the origin of this feeling: he was divinely tormented and could not rest a single moment until he obtained an explanation of his dream.

He next adds, If you do not explain my dream, this is the only sentence for you, he says; that is, it is already decreed for all of you. I shall not inquire particularly which of you is at fault and which wishes to deceive me; but I will utterly destroy the entire tribe of the Magi, and no one shall escape punishment, unless you explain to me both the dream and its interpretation.

He adds again, You have prepared a fallacious and corrupt speech to tell me here, as your excuse. Again, the king charges them with fraud and malice, of which they were not guilty; as if he had said, they purposely sought specious excuses for practicing deceit. But he says, a lying speech, or fallacious and corrupt; that is, yours is a stale excuse, as we commonly say, and I loathe it.

If there were any plausible pretext, I might admit what you say, but I see in your words nothing but fallacies, and those too which smack of corruption. Now, therefore, we observe the king not only angry because the Magi cannot relate his dream, but charging it against them as a greater crime that they brought a stale excuse and wished purposely to deceive him.

He next adds, tell me the dream and then I shall know it; or then I shall know that you can faithfully interpret its meaning. Here the king takes up another argument to convict the Magi of cunning.

You boast, indeed, that you have no difficulty in interpreting the dream. How can you be confident of this, for the dream itself is still unknown to you? If I had told it to you, you might then say whether you could explain it or not. But when I now ask you about the dream of which both you and I are ignorant, you say, when I have related the dream, the rest is within your power.

Therefore, I shall prove you to be good and true interpreters of dreams if you can tell me mine, since the one thing depends on the other, and you are too rash in presuming about what is not yet discovered. Therefore, since you burst forth so hastily and wish to persuade me that you are sure of the interpretation, you are evidently completely deceived in this respect; and your rashness and fraud are detected in this, because you are clearly deceiving me.

This is the substance—the rest tomorrow.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, since during our pilgrimage in this world we have daily need of the teaching and guidance of your Spirit, that with true modesty we may depend on your word and secret inspiration, and not take too much upon ourselves. Grant, also, that we may be conscious of our ignorance, blindness, and stupidity, and always flee to you, and never permit ourselves to be led astray in any way by the cunning of Satan and of the ungodly. May we remain so fixed in your truth as never to turn away from it, while you direct us through the whole course of our vocation, and then may we arrive at that heavenly glory which has been obtained for us through the blood of your only begotten Son. Amen.