“He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.”

The situation couldn’t have been bleaker.  There is Arioch, commander of the king’s guard, banging on Daniel’s door, probably with his sword drawn.  “Come with me, Daniel.  The king has ordered all the wise men killed immediately.”  What?!  “Why did the king issue such a harsh decree?” he asks (Daniel 2:15). After Arioch’s explanation — Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, forgot it, asked the wise men for the dream and it’s interpretation, they failed to provide either, so it’s off to death they go — Daniel probably asked, “Listen, since we have to go to (the place of execution), can we walk by way of the king’s chamber so I can ask him for a reprieve until I can tell him his dream?”  After all, the executions were just about ready to begin (v. 13).  However it occurred, Daniel obtained at least 24 hours to call out to the Lord.

Before we explore this aspect of God’s gracious and generous character to give wisdom, we might want to first consider how wise were the king’s wise men.  I mean, here he pays and provides for these stalling and stammering stooges, and they get caught in the teeth of the king’s anger when they can’t pass what admittedly was an impossible task.  They even say so: “No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer.  What the king asks is too difficult” (vs. 10-11a).  It’s just simply out of reach, not only for these guys, but for us as well.  But then in their pleading they make a marvelous admission: “No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men” (v. 11b).  Wow, they got that right!  They acknowledged that there is something/someone out there — the gods — and that it is their prerogative to reveal things if they want to.  In this they were wise, but apparently not much else.  There is Someone “out there” to seek because he has revelation for us.  They were much wiser than Carl Sagan who said, ““Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark.  In our obscurity…there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.” His assumptions ruled out finding any savior, despite the fact that he recognized we needed to be saved.  No wisdom on this point leads to no salvation.

This is why God takes such a dim view of human wisdom.  It’s also why he said in 1 Corinthians 1:19, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”  Quoting from Isaiah 29:14, man’s wisdom is a mask that attempts to cover their rebellion, sin and disobedience.  So the Lord continues: “Where is the wise man?  Where is the scholar?  Where is the philosopher of this age?  Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?  For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe” (vs. 20-21).  In other words, where were the Ph.D.s when Jesus was on the earth?  Did the post-docs follow him?  Did the boys down at the think tank honor him?  Not at all.  What’s worse, their ‘wisdom’ didn’t help them one iota to even know him!  Worst still, how many of the researchers and scientists can answer the battery of questions found in Job 38-41?  You see, the claim of wisdom makes people “boast,” and he will have none of that even on a good day, let alone a bad day (v. 29).

Paul goes to write, “It is because of [God] that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God…” (v. 30).  There it is.  God gave his direct, personal and incarnate wisdom in his Son.  He wraps all of his wisdom in him (Colossians 2:9).  That requires revelation, exactly what Nebby’s wise men admitted they desperately needed.

Maybe this little example might illustrate God’s perspective.  There is a small wooden boat in the middle of the ocean.  It’s filled with scholars and supposed “wise” men, and it’s sinking.  One scholar, an epistemologist, wants to study how they know the boat is sinking.  The hydrologist on board wants to study the impact of the incoming water on the boat’s ability to move toward shore.  The philosopher wants to contemplate on whether natural forces or the combined narcissism of those on board contributes more to their problem.  Get a clue, guys: you’re asking all the wrong questions!  The boat’s going down with you in it!  This is “deceptive philosophy” depending on “human tradition…rather than on Christ” (Colossians 2:8).

Daniel said in his prayer of thanksgiving that God “gives wisdom to the wise” (2:21).  Wise people are those who know him, trust him and follow him.  How well does that describe you?