Daniel 2:14

"Then Daniel returned answer with counsel and prudence Arioch the captain of the king's guard, who was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon; he answered and said to Arioch the king's captain, Wherefore is the decree so urgent from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel. And Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would appoint him a time, and he would show the king the interpretation."

DANIEL REQUESTS A DELAY

This is an abbreviated account. Even high servants of the king, such as Daniel, would not merely have gone into the presence of the king without observing the formalities that the occasion would have required. The daring account of how Esther defied tradition and custom by going unbidden into the presence of a Persian king at a later time shows how this was true. Therefore, we must conclude that all necessary formalities were observed on this occasion, just as they were in Daniel 2:24, below, and that they were merely passed over here by the abbreviated account. The great fact working for Daniel and the wise men was that the king had a burning desire to find out what the dream meant. Another indication that the account is abbreviated here is seen in the fact that no mention was made of the king's compliance with Daniel's request for a delay; but a delay there surely was.