Did Nebuchadnezzar attempt to worship Daniel?

Daniel 2:46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, prostrate before Daniel, and commanded that they should present an offering and incense to him. The king answered Daniel, and said, “Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.”

After the prophecy has correctly recounted the king’s dream and offered its interpretation, the text says that the king ‘offered incense to him’ having fallen prostrate before him. Other versions render it thus:

…ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him (NIV)

…commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him (ESV)

…gave orders to present to him an offering and fragrant incense (NASB)

…commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him (AV)

Clearly the grammar allows for some varying interpretation. Was it offered to him or for him? I suspect that the king mistook Daniel for a god, and began to idolise him:

1)      He falls before him. The mighty Nebuchadnezzar does not fall before any ordinary human.

2)      There was a belief in Babylonia that the gods came among men; Nebuchadnezzar believes this happens in the fiery furnace narrative.

3)      The King is particularly prone to idolatry; in the very next chapter, he turns Daniel’s interpreted dream (‘you are that head of gold’) into a huge idol to which all should bow.

4)      He was so used to charlatans among the wise men, that when he finally encounters a real prophet, he over-estimates his powers.

If he did attempt to worship, surely Daniel would have rebuked him? I believe he did this very thing, but out of a sense of modesty and regard for Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel or the author omits it from the text. This occurs between verses 46 and 47, because in the latter the king is rightly offering the glory to God alone.

‘Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father’.

Image by Gianni Crestani from Pixabay