A monarch's frustration with his helpless advisors finally reaches a breaking point, transforming into unrestrained rage. Realizing that his wise men cannot meet his demands, the king loses all respect for their abilities and decides to eliminate them entirely [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. This death sentence raises a difficult question regarding why a ruler would execute men for the simple human inability to know the unknown. Furthermore, the decree is directed at all the wise men of Babylon. While some suggest the order applied only to the magicians and astrologers physically present in the room [אבן עזרא], the primary approach views the decree as a sweeping, blind act of fury. The king ordered the slaughter of every intellectual in the empire, including scientists, engineers, and statesmen. This indiscriminate ruling tragically encompassed Daniel and his companions, who had never been summoned to the palace because dream interpretation was not their profession [מלבי״ם].
A deeper layer of meaning reveals a hidden, more profound reason for the king's explosive anger. When the advisors argued that no one on earth could reveal the dream, their defense inadvertently alluded to the fact that the High Priest and the Urim and Thummim were no longer in the world. In that moment, Nebuchadnezzar realized that the only earthly tool capable of solving his mystery had been located in the Temple in Jerusalem. More importantly, he remembered that it was these very same advisors who had previously counseled him to destroy that Temple. His rage was therefore not just about their current failure, but about the staggering realization that they had convinced him to destroy the resting place of God's presence. For this catastrophic advice, he felt they all deserved to die [חומת אנך, אלשיך].
Yet, despite this intense fury, the actual punishment reflects a slight softening of the king's stance. Previously, he had threatened to tear the advisors limb from limb and turn their homes into rubble. Now, he simply issues a standard order for execution by the sword. This subtle shift occurs because the wise men's logical argument, claiming that only God could possibly know the dream, had actually penetrated his heart. He recognized the undeniable truth of their claim. Consequently, while still boiling with anger, he abandoned his plans for cruel torture and issued a conventional death sentence instead [אלשיך].