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Ezekiel and Daniel: Babylonian Crisis

  1. Lesson One
    Ezekiel's Prophetic Word (Ezekiel 1–24)
    19 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  2. Lesson Two
    Ezekiel: Israel's Shame and Restoration (Ezekiel 25–39)
    22 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  3. Lesson Three
    Ezekiel's Distinctive Message (Ezekiel 40–48)
    24 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  4. Lesson Four
    Daniel: Dreams and Prophecies (Daniel 1–3, 9–12)
    18 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  5. Lesson Five
    Daniel: Kings and Kingdoms (Daniel 4–8)
    18 Activities
  6. Course Wrap-Up
    Course Completion
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment

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The crew’s hovercraft in the popular film The Matrix is named “The Nebuchadnezzar” (or “the Neb”). When the ship is destroyed in the second film, The Matrix Reloaded, Morpheus quotes the biblical king from the book of Daniel:

I dreamed a dream, but now that dream is gone from me.

This is an abbreviated version of Daniel 2:3-5, which reads in the King James Version:

And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.

 

Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack, O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation.

 

The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.

Interestingly, more modern translations do not include the phrase “The thing is gone from me” as it is misleading to readers. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream wasn’t gone, rather it was the command given in verse 1, which was sent and gone (not to be repealed), that he refers to with this statement. Verse 5 in the New King James Version, for example, begins like this,

The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “My decision is firm: if you do not make known the dream . . .” 

The translation the filmmakers used to connect the book of Daniel with The Matrix may have been imperfect, but it helped them draw out parallels between the great fallen cities and disappointed visionary leaders featured in both works. By the way, in case you miss the biblical reference in the scene of “The Neb’s” destruction, you can find an abbreviated citation for this verse in another scene, in the form of the character Trinity’s license plate number—DA203.