And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him. In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel 1:5 shows that "three years" had elapsed since Nebuchadnezzar had taken Jerusalem. The solution of this difficulty is, Nebuchadnezzar first ruled as subordinate to his father, Nabopolassar, to which time Daniel 1:1-21 refers; whereas "the second year" in Daniel 2:1-49 is dated from his sole sovereignty. The very difficulty is a proof of genuineness: all was clear to the writer and the original readers, from their knowledge of the circumstances, and so he adds no explanation. A forger would not introduce difficulties; the author did not then see any difficulty in the case. Nebuchadnezzar is called "king" (Daniel 1:1) by anticipation. Before he left Judea he became actual king by the death of his father, and the Jews always called him "king," as commander of the invading army.
Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams. It is significant that not to Daniel, but to the then world-ruler, Nebuchadnezzar, the dream is vouch-safed. It was from the first of its representatives who had conquered the theocracy that the world-power was to learn its doom, as about to be in its turn subdued, and forever, by the kingdom of God. As this vision opens, so that in Daniel 7:1-28, developing the same truth more fully, closes the first part. Nebuchadnezzar, as vicegerent of God (Daniel 2:37: cf. Jeremiah 25:9; Ezekiel 28:12-15; as Cyrus subsequently, Isaiah 44:28; Isaiah 45:1; Romans 13:1), is honoured with the revelation in the form of a dream, the appropriate form to one outside the kingdom of God. So in the cases of Abimelech, Pharaoh, etc. (Genesis 20:1-18 and Genesis 41:1-57), especially as the pagan attached such importance to dreams. Still it is not he, but an Israelite, who interprets it. Heathendom is passive, Israel active, in divine things, so that the glory redounds to "the God of heaven."