Saturday, August 31, 2013

Daniel 2

The Dead Sea scrolls contain Daniel 2:2-6 and 2:9-11, 19-49.

(1) One night during the *second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had *a dream that disturbed him so much that he couldn't sleep.

  • *second year: This would be the second FULL year of his reign. Some commentators say this happened while Daniel was in his three-year training course; others say that it was soon after he was finished. By Babylonian reckoning, the year 602 B.C. could be both the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign and after three years of training for the Hebrew youths.
  • **a dream: dreams (plural) in the original. He'd probably gotten used to pleasant dreams of all his accomplishments and victories and plans for further expanding and beautifying the city of Babylon.
    • Daniel 1:17b: God gave Daniel special ability in understanding the meanings of visions and dreams.
    • Daniel 7:1: Earlier, during the first year of King Belshazzar’s reign in Babylon, Daniel had a dream and saw visions as he lay in his bed. He wrote down the dream, and this is what he saw.
  • Nebuchadnezzar has a dream in chapter 4 about a large tree, which Daniel interprets for him.
  • Dreams and visions are quite common in Scripture where God reveals secrets and warnings in dreams, even to Gentiles:
    • Genesis 15:12: That evening, as the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep. He saw a terrifying vision of darkness and horror.
    • Genesis 20:3-7: But that night God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, “You are a dead man, for that woman you have taken is already married!” But Abimelech had not slept with her yet, so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? Didn’t Abraham tell me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘Yes, he is my brother.’ I acted in complete innocence! My hands are clean.” In the dream God responded, “Yes, I know you are innocent. That’s why I kept you from sinning against me, and why I did not let you touch her. Now return the woman to her husband, and he will pray for you, for he is a prophet. Then you will live. But if you don’t return her to him, you can be sure that you and all your people will die.”
    • Genesis 28:11-12: At sundown he arrived at a good place to set up camp and stopped there for the night. Jacob found a stone to rest his head against and lay down to sleep. As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway.
    • Genesis 37:5-10: One night Joseph had a dream and promptly reported the details to his brothers, causing them to hate him even more. "Listen to this dream," he announced. "We were out in the field tying up bundles of grain. My bundle stood up, and then your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before it!" "So you are going to be our king, are you?" his brothers taunted. And they hated him all the more for his dream and what he had said. Then Joseph had another dream and told his brothers about it. "Listen to this dream," he said. "The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me!" This time he told his father as well as his brothers, and his father rebuked him. "What do you mean?" his father asked. "Will your mother, your brothers, and I actually come and bow before you?"
    • Genesis 40:8: And they replied, "We both had dreams last night, but there is no one here to tell us what they mean." "Interpreting dreams is God's business," Joseph replied. "Tell me what you saw."
    • Genesis 41:1-8, 15-16, 37-44: Two full years later, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing on the bank of the Nile River. In his dream he saw seven fat, healthy cows come up out of the river and begin grazing in the marsh grass. Then he saw seven more cows come up behind them from the Nile, but these were scrawny and thin. These cows stood beside the fat cows on the riverbank. Then the scrawny, thin cows ate the seven healthy, fat cows! At this point in the dream, Pharaoh woke up. But he fell asleep again and had a second dream. This time he saw seven heads of grain, plump and beautiful, growing on a single stalk. Then seven more heads of grain appeared, but these were shriveled and withered by the east wind. And these thin heads swallowed up the seven plump, well-formed heads! Then Pharaoh woke up again and realized it was a dream. The next morning Pharaoh was very disturbed by the dreams. So he called for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. When Pharaoh told them his dreams, not one of them could tell him what they meant. ... Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream last night, and no one here can tell me what it means. But I have heard that when you hear about a dream you can interpret it.” “It is beyond my power to do this,” Joseph replied. “But God can tell you what it means and set you at ease.” ... Joseph’s suggestions were well received by Pharaoh and his officials. So Pharaoh asked his officials, “Can we find anyone else like this man so obviously filled with the spirit of God?” Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has revealed the meaning of the dreams to you, clearly no one else is as intelligent or wise as you are. You will be in charge of my court, and all my people will take orders from you. Only I, sitting on my throne, will have a rank higher than yours.” Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the entire land of Egypt.” Then Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his hand and placed it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in fine linen clothing and hung a gold chain around his neck. Then he had Joseph ride in the chariot reserved for his second-in-command. And wherever Joseph went, the command was shouted, “Kneel down!” So Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of all Egypt. And Pharaoh said to him, “I am Pharaoh, but no one will lift a hand or foot in the entire land of Egypt without your approval.”
      • Notice the parallels between Joseph and Daniel: Both unjustly became slaves in a foreign pagan land. Both were imprisoned under false pretenses. Both were freed from prison. Both interpreted dreams. Both are highly praised in Scripture by God. Both were raised to high positions in a pagan society. Both foretold the future.
    • Genesis 46:2: During the night God spoke to him in a vision. “Jacob! Jacob!” he called. “Here I am,” Jacob replied.
    • Numbers 12:6: And the LORD said to them, "Now listen to me! Even with prophets, I the LORD communicate by visions and dreams.
    • 1 Samuel 3:3-11: The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was sleeping in the Tabernacle near the Ark of God. Suddenly the Lord called out, “Samuel!” “Yes?” Samuel replied. “What is it?” He got up and ran to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” “I didn’t call you,” Eli replied. “Go back to bed.” So he did. Then the Lord called out again, “Samuel!” Again Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” “I didn’t call you, my son,” Eli said. “Go back to bed.” Samuel did not yet know the Lord because he had never had a message from the Lord before. So the Lord called a third time, and once more Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” Then Eli realized it was the Lord who was calling the boy. So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went back to bed. And the Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.” Then the Lord said to Samuel, “I am about to do a shocking thing in Israel.
    • 1 Kings 3:5: That night the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, "What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!"
    • Job 33:15-16: He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in bed. He whispers in their ear and terrifies them with his warning.
    • Daniel 7:1: Earlier, during the first year of King Belshazzar's reign in Babylon, Daniel had a dream and saw visions as he lay in his bed. He wrote the dream down, and this is what he saw.
    • Matthew 1:20: As he considered this, he fell asleep, and an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. "Joseph, son of David," the angel said, "do not be afraid to go ahead with your marriage to Mary. For the child within her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit.
    • Matthew 2:12-13: When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod. After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up and flee to Egypt with the child and his mother," the angel said. "Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to try to kill the child."
    • Matthew 2:19-20: When Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and told him, "Get up and take the child and his mother back to the land of Israel, because those who were trying to kill the child are dead."
    • Matthew 27:19: When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.
    • Acts 10:3: One afternoon about three o'clock, he had a vision in which he saw an angel of God coming toward him. "Cornelius!" the angel said.
    • Acts 10:9-10: The next day as Cornelius's messengers were nearing the city, Peter went up to the flat roof to pray. It was about noon, and he was hungry. But while lunch was being prepared, he fell into a trance.
    • Acts 16:9: That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!”
    • Acts 18:9: One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision and told him, “Don’t be afraid! Speak out! Don’t be silent!

(2) He called in his *magicians, **enchanters, ***sorcerers, and ****astrologers, and he demanded that they tell him what he had dreamed. As they stood before the king,

  • *magician: This is from the Hebrew word "engraving tool." This probably refers to the magical texts and charms found in cuneiform tablets. Magicians is the translation of a Hebrew word with a root meaning of stylus or a pen, according to Leupold, and hence could refer to a scholar rather than a magician in the ordinary sense. The magicians (Hebrew hartummim) were evidently scholars who could divine the future by using various means.
  • **Enchanters (assapim) claimed to communicate with the dead.
  • **Sorcerers (mekassepim) are those who practice sorcery or incantations and cast spells.
  • ***Astrologers (kasdim) is also translated “enchanters,” referring to the power of necromancy or communications with the dead according to Leupold but is understood as “astrologers,” by Young.
  • The Chaldeans in the KJV refer here to the priestly caste that studied the heavens to determine the future. This segment of Babylonian society predated the Babylonians. They were the "old guard" ... and proud of it.
  • These men made their living on their supposed ability to contact the gods and gain secrets from the spirit realm or read the future in the stars. If they were what they claimed to be, they should be able to tell Nebuchadnezzar both the dream and its interpretation. Their inability demonstrated that they were fakes.

(3) he said, "I have had a dream that troubles me. Tell me what I dreamed, for I must know what it means."

  • Nebuchadnezzar probably did not forget his dream at all. As a new king, he possibly testing his father’s old advisors to see if they were any good and could be trusted to give good advice.

(4) Then the astrologers answered the king in *Aramaic, "Long live the king! Tell us the dream, and we will tell you what it means."

  • *Aramaic: Daniel 2:4b to 6:28 inclusive is written in the Aramaic or Syriac language. The remaining portion of the Book of Daniel was written in Hebrew. Chapters 8 through 12, which are written in Hebrew like the rest of the Old Testament, focus on future prophecy specifically dealing with the nation of Israel, thus the language returns to Hebrew. That which was of supreme interest to the Gentiles was written in their own language.
  • Among the most spectacular discoveries in the Dead Sea Scrolls is the transition in the book of Daniel from Hebrew to Aramaic and then back again to Hebrew.

(5) But the king said to the astrologers, "I am serious about this. If you don't tell me what my dream was and what it means, you will be *torn limb from limb, and your houses will be demolished into **heaps of rubble!

  • *torn limb from limb: Nebuchadnezzar is serious, his threat is literal and the Chaldeans (the "wise men") had seen this done to others - not a nice way to go to have your arms and legs torn from your body! Jeremiah mentions he roasted some alive:
    • Jeremiah 29:22: Their terrible fate will become proverbial, so that whenever the Judean exiles want to curse someone they will say, 'May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned alive!'
  • **heaps of rubble: This means that the authorities would go into their houses and kill everyone there - including the children. Then they would knock down the walls and leave a pile of ruins. Then, they would bring in wagon loads of sewage and excrement and dump it on the ruins. Also, since burial was important for the Chaldeans, these people were not allowed to be buried.

(6) BUT if you tell me what I dreamed and what the dream means, I will give you many wonderful gifts and honors. Just tell me the dream and what it means!"

(7) They said again, "Please, Your Majesty. Tell us the dream, and we will tell you what it means."

  • The dream manuals, of which several examples have come to light, consist of historical dreams and the events that followed them, arranged systematically for easy reference. Since these books had to try to cover every possible eventuality they became inordinately long; only the expert could find his way through them, and even he had to know the dream to begin with before he could search for the nearest possible parallel. The unreasonable demands of the king and the protests of the interpreters in verses 3-11 are in keeping with his character and the known facts concerning dream books.
  • A Babylonian dream guide was discovered in the ruins of the city of Nineveh among tablets from the library of the emperor Ashurbanipal (668–627 BC).

  • Dream Interpretation Manual in the British Museum - about 1275 BC.

(8) The king replied, "I can see through your trick! You are trying to stall for time because you know I am serious about what I said.

  • If they were in reality what they presented themselves to be, they should be able to tell Nebuchadnezzar both the dream and its interpretation.

(9) If you don't tell me the dream, you will be condemned. You have conspired to tell me lies in hopes that something will change. But tell me the dream, and then I will know that you can tell me what it means."

(10) The astrologers replied to the king, "There isn't a man alive who can tell Your Majesty his dream! And no king, however great and powerful, has ever asked such a thing of any magician, enchanter, or astrologer!

  • You can almost smell the fear in their voices and hear their knees knocking!

(11) This is an impossible thing the king requires. No one except the gods can tell you your dream, and *they do not live among people."

  • When these "advisers" confessed that no one "except the gods," could reproduce this dream, they acknowledged that they had no power from the gods and that justified the king's charge that they were guilty of lies.
  • *they do not live among people: Yet, Jesus did and does - He is Immanuel, God with us (Matthew 1:23).
  • Isaiah 41:21-23: “Present the case for your idols,” says the Lord. “Let them show what they can do,” says the King of Israel. “Let them try to tell us what happened long ago so that we may consider the evidence. Or let them tell us what the future holds, so we can know what’s going to happen. Yes, tell us what will occur in the days ahead. Then we will know you are gods. In fact, do anything - good or bad! Do something that will amaze and frighten us.

(12) The king was furious when he heard this, and he sent out orders to execute all the wise men of Babylon.

  • Why didn't he have them killed right then and there? Because not all were there and it would be messy to do it in the throne room.

(13) And because of the king's decree, men were sent to find and kill Daniel and his friends.

  • This was to be a formal execution conducted by the proper officials at an appointed time and place. Therefore, the first task of these officials was to assemble all those who were condemned to be killed at a public execution.
  • Daniel and his three friends were members of the wise men's group in Babylon, and even though they were not present when this decree was issued, they were still a part of the group, so they had to be executed along with the rest of the wise men in Babylon. This is a perfect example of the innocent suffering with the guilty.

(14) When Arioch, the commander of the king's guard, came to kill them, Daniel handled the situation with wisdom and discretion.

  • The term "commander of the king's guard" is literally "the chief slaughter" or "executioner."
  • Notice how far God allows this crisis to go. It goes all the way to the officials of the Royal Palace Guards knocking on Daniel's door to arrest him and execute him. But God's hand was in this from the beginning. He first wanted to reveal and make known the incompetence and lack of power that the wise men and their religions possessed. Then and only then would He, as Almighty God, reveal His power and faithfulness to a young spiritually mature believer named Daniel - a slave and a nobody.

(15) He asked Arioch, "Why has the king issued such a harsh decree?" So Arioch told him all that had happened.

  • So, Daniel was elsewhere and had no idea what was going on - he and his friends were apprentices and not part of the court as yet. God had not even warned him!

(16) Daniel went at once to see the king and requested more time so he could tell the king what the dream meant.

  • What courage from such a young man! He knew God was on his side.
  • Held in high esteem by Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel was granted an audience and he asked for time to do exactly what the king had requested. His calmness rubbed off on Nebuchadnezzar. Remember that Nebuchadnezzar wouldn't give the others extra time.
  • God had perfectly prepared the stage of history as well as Daniel for this moment. Daniel knew that all things are possible with God. It was apparent that God was with Daniel. Deep down Daniel must have realized that God had a plan and a purpose for his life as He does for every believer.
  • Notice that Daniel did not ask the king to change his mind concerning the execution, or that he would reveal his dreams. He only asked for a little more time.

(17) Then Daniel went home and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah what had happened.

(18) He urged them to ask the God of heaven to show them his mercy by telling them the secret, so they would not be executed along with the other wise men of Babylon.

  • Daniel now discovers the "why" of his probable questions when brought to this foreign, pagan land - "why me?", "why here?", etc. Just as you have been planted where you are for God's great purposes, so Daniel and his friends were "planted" in Babylon at the exact time God needed them to be there to accomplish His great purpose.
  • Daniel had confidence that God could do an unprecedented miracle. Joseph had interpreted dreams with God’s help, but had not reconstructed the dreams.

(19) That night the secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven,

(20) saying, "Praise the name of God forever and ever, for he alone has all wisdom and power.

(21) He determines the course of world events; he removes kings and sets others on the throne. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars.

(22) He reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in darkness, though he himself is surrounded by light.

  • Jeremiah 33:3: Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come.

(23) I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors, for you have given me wisdom and strength. You have told me what we asked of you and revealed to us what the king demanded."

  • Now Daniel understands. Though the kingdom of Israel is broken up and dispersed, God’s plans for His people remain intact. He is the first to know what God is planning for the world and His people from the captivity forward. The curtain has been drawn on history. The script is written; the stage and characters are set. Everything is ready for the actors; however, they will perform their parts of their own free will. The first member of the cast, with the leading role, is Nebuchadnezzar.
  • We're not told what they prayed; instead we get the praise after the prayer. This is not about the prayer. This is about the praise.

(24) Then Daniel went in to see Arioch, who had been ordered to execute the wise men of Babylon. Daniel said to him, "Don't kill *the wise men. Take me to the king, and I will tell him the meaning of his dream."

  • *Where else do we find "wise men" in the Bible? Who were the wise men looking for where the King of the Jews was born? See my notes at the end of this study.

(25) Then Arioch quickly took Daniel to the king and said, "I have found one of the captives from Judah who will tell Your Majesty the meaning of your dream!

  • Arioch claimed credit for finding Daniel when, in reality, Daniel approached him.

(26) The king said to Daniel (also known as Belteshazzar), "Is this true? Can you tell me what my dream was and what it means?"

(27) Daniel replied, "There are no wise men, enchanters, magicians, or fortune-tellers who can tell the king such things.

  • Arioch had focused on Daniel as the solution to the king's problem. Nebuchadnezzar viewed him the same way. Daniel, however, quickly redirected the king's attention from himself and placed it where it belonged, on God who revealed the future. No human being, neither the Babylonian wise men nor himself, could provide what the king required.

(28) But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen *in the future. Now I will tell you your dream and the visions you saw as you lay on your bed.

  • *in the future: in the latter days - not "in the last days!" In that passage, Daniel uses a phrase which is really the key to this dream and even to the book itself. It is the phrase, "in the future." Daniel indicates that what has been shown to the king is a vision of the future.
  • Arioch tries to glorify himself and Daniel for the answer to the king's dream. But Daniel refused to take credit, recognizing that the credit went to God, who revealed this dream to Daniel.
  • With absolute confidence and skill, Daniel unfolded the dream while informing the king that God in heaven has the whole world in His hands and that it is He who rules the future. Nebuchadnezzar might have been surprised at having his dream revealed, but Daniel knew that God was able to reveal mysteries. After all, Yahweh had declared through the prophet Isaiah a century earlier:
  • This implies that the God of Daniel is far superior to the gods of the Chaldeans and that He is the God who not only knows secrets, but is able to reveal them also.
  • Genesis 40:8: And they replied, “We both had dreams last night, but no one can tell us what they mean.” “Interpreting dreams is God’s business,” Joseph replied. “Go ahead and tell me your dreams.”

(29) "While Your Majesty was sleeping, you dreamed about coming events. The revealer of mysteries has shown you what is going to happen.

(30) And it is not because I am wiser than any living person that I know the secret of your dream, but because God wanted you to understand what you were thinking about.

  • God has given Daniel the opportunity to reveal YHWH to Nebuchadnezzar as a greater god than his gods. Nebuchadnezzar thought his gods were more powerful because, he thought, his gods had defeated the gods of Judah.

(31) "Your Majesty, in your vision you saw in front of you a huge and powerful statue of a man, shining brilliantly, frightening and awesome.

  • Statue
  • The enormous, dazzling statue (Mlu tselem, image, form or idol) signifies the dawn, duration, deterioration and doom of “the times of the Gentiles” - the period covered by the statue, including the time we're in right now.

(32) The head of the statue was made of fine* gold, its **chest and arms were of silver, its ***belly and thighs were of bronze,

  • *gold: Marduk, the chief god of Babylon, was called “the god of gold.” Gold was used extensively in the city’s buildings, images and shrines. Herodotus, the Greek historian who was at Babylon ninety years after the era of Nebuchadnezzar, was astonished at the amount of gold there. Even the walls and buildings were overlaid with gold.
  • **chest and arms: Daniel 8:20: The two-horned ram represents the kings of Media and Persia. One arm refers to the Medes, and the other arm refers to the Persians. The silver represents the Medo-Persian Empire.
  • ***belly and thighs:
    • This is the Greek Empire, under Alexander the Great. Alexander was tutored by Aristotle until the age of 16. By the age of thirty, he had created one of the largest empires of the ancient world. He was undefeated in battle and is considered one of history's most successful commanders. Alexander broke the power of Persia in a series of decisive battles. He subsequently overthrew the Persian King Darius III and conquered the entirety of the Persian Empire. At that point, his empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River. Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BC. The Greek Empire lasted from 330 BC to 63 BC.
    • The "belly" refers to Alexander the Great. The "thighs" refers to the Hellenistic Monarchies that existed after Alexander died, and his kingdom was divided.
    • Daniel 8:21-22: The shaggy male goat represents the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes represents the first king of the Greek Empire. The four prominent horns that replaced the one large horn show that the Greek Empire will break into four kingdoms, but none as great as the first.

(33) its legs were of iron, and its feet were a combination of iron and clay.

  • Babylon (B.C. 606-538).
    Medo-Persia (B.C. 538-331).
    Greece (B.C. 331-168).
    Rome (B.C. 168-A.D. 476).
    The feet of iron (strength-monarchy) and clay (weakness-democracy-socialism and anarchy?) (A.D. 476–?)
  • Daniel 7:7,23: Then in my vision that night, I saw a fourth beast - terrifying, dreadful, and very strong. It devoured and crushed its victims with huge iron teeth and trampled their remains beneath its feet. It was different from any of the other beasts, and it had ten horns. ... Then he said to me, “This fourth beast is the fourth world power that will rule the earth. It will be different from all the others. It will devour the whole world, trampling and crushing everything in its path.
  • In A.D. 284 , Emperor Diocletian restored efficient government to the empire after the near anarchy of the 3rd century. He divided the Empire into two legs (just as Daniel had predicted when he interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dream nine centuries earlier). His reorganization of the fiscal, administrative and military machinery of the empire temporarily shored up the decaying empire in the West and laid the foundation for the forthcoming Byzantine Empire of the East. In A.D. 312, the Emperor Constantine relocated the capital of the empire to its eastern leg, to Byzantium, naming it Constantinople (the "New Rome"). After Constantine's death in 395, Emperor Theodosius divided the empire between his two sons and it was never again reunited. (It was Theodosius who made Christianity the sole religion of the empire, and subsequently Constantinople assumed preeminence over the West. In the late 5th century, the western leg began to disintegrate, but the eastern leg, commonly dubbed the "Byzantine Empire," endured until 1453 when it finally was overrun by the Muslims. Think about this - the Kaiser in the west and the Czar in the east. The Roman Church in the east, the Orthodox churches (Greek, Russian, Serbian, etc.) in the east.
  • There are a number of Biblical texts that strongly suggest that the coming world leader, commonly called the Antichrist, will emerge from the Roman Empire. Hitler in the west may have been Satan's attempt to bring anti-Christ and Stalin in the east.
  • The preciousness of the metal deteriorates from the top or gold to the clay of the feet, and there is a corresponding lower specific gravity; that is, the gold is much heavier than the silver, the silver than the brass, the brass than the iron, and the clay in the feet is the lightest material of all. The approximate specific gravity of gold is 19, silver 11, brass 8.5, and iron 7.8. The gold head has twice the weight of similar amounts of the other metals. The weight of brass varies according to the amount of tin or zinc which is added to the copper. While the materials decrease in weight, they increase in hardness with the notable exception of the clay in the feet. The image is obviously top heavy and weak in its feet.
  • Since Roman history provides no fulfillment of this federation of kings (which seems to number ten, because of the number of toes, and passages like Daniel 7:24 and Revelation 17:12). this prophecy must still be future.
  • Since the fall of the Roman Empire, there has never been a world-dominating empire equal to Rome. Many have tried - the Huns, Islam, the so-called Holy Roman Empire, Napoleon, Spain, Great Britain, Hitler, Stalin - but none have succeeded. Each of these had amazing power and influence, but nothing compared to that of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire, in some form or another, will be revived under the leadership of the final fallen dictator, the Antichrist.
  • His feet part iron and part of clay -This is still future. This refers to the revived Roman Empire of the Tribulation period. The clay nations are weaker nations which will be dominated by the iron nations.
  • "There was no empire in world history that so crushed all of its enemies as Rome did. They were not satisfied just to take over a country and make them pay taxes, they slaughtered them. Rome crushed the peoples so that they would never even consider rebelling." (Hocking)
  • Look at the western world - our culture, laws, architecture, etc. are all based on the Roman empire.
  • Babylonian empire
  • Medo-Persian empire
  • Grecian empire
  • Roman empire
    Above four maps are from Decoding Daniel by Bob Conway: www.decodingdaniel.com/index.html
  • Daniel 7:17: “These four huge beasts represent four kingdoms that will arise from the earth.

(34) But as you watched, a rock was cut from a mountain by supernatural means. It struck the feet of iron and clay, smashing them to bits.

  • The rock is identified for us clearly in Scripture. Christ is the rock (Isaiah 8:14; Psalm 118:22; Acts 4:11). The Stone smites the image, not in head (Babylonian times) nor the body (Persian and Grecian times) nor the legs (Roman times in which Christ was born as a babe) but on the feet and toes (yet future).
  • Genesis 49:24: But his bow remained taut, and his arms were strengthened by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel.
  • Isaiah 8:14: He will keep you safe. But to Israel and Judah he will be a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap that entangles them.
  • Isaiah 28:16: Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem, a firm and tested stone. It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on. Whoever believes need never be shaken.
  • Psalm 118:22: The stone rejected by the builders has now become the cornerstone.
  • Matthew 21:44: Anyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls."
  • Acts 4:10-11: Let me clearly state to you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed in the name and power of Jesus Christ from Nazareth, the man you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead. For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, 'The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.'
  • 1 Corinthians 10:4: and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ.
  • 1 Peter 2:6: As the Scriptures express it, "I am placing a stone in Jerusalem, a chosen cornerstone, and anyone who believes in him will never be disappointed. " Yes, he is very precious to you who believe. But for those who reject him, "The stone that was rejected by the builders has now become the cornerstone."
  • The fifth kingdom will be another attempt by man to rule the world apart from God. The Nba (“rock” or “stone”) is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, “the stone the builders rejected has become the capstone” (Psalm 118:22; Matthew 21:42; 1 Peter 2:8). “Rock” is a symbolic name applied to the Messiah.
  • This Rock, Jesus Christ, smashes the feet of this image and breaks them to pieces and destroys all that they represent. This is also taught in Revelation 19:11-21, in which the second advent of Jesus Christ is the context. Jesus Christ will return during the War of Armageddon.

(35) The whole statue collapsed into a heap of iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold. The pieces were crushed as small as chaff on a threshing floor, and the wind blew them all away without a trace. But the rock that knocked the statue down became a great mountain that covered the whole earth.

  • This describes a single, decisive event that shatters the image representing the glory of man's rule on earth. Since the Church or the gospel have not, in a single decisive event, shattered the reign of human kingdoms, this event is still in the future.
  • This isn’t the gradual salvation of the world by the church; “Smashing is not salvation. Crushing is not conversion. Destroying is not delivering nor is pulverizing the same as purification.” (Hislop)
  • Every empire of the past has left various influences up the present. But when the Rock hits the feet of the image, or when Jesus Christ comes at His second advent, He crushes the feet and the rest of the image is also destroyed. This means that all of the influences of all of the empires of the past are destroyed.

(36) "That was the dream; now I will tell Your Majesty what it means.

(37) Your Majesty, you are a king over many kings. The God of heaven has given you sovereignty, power, strength, and honor.

  • Nebuchadnezzar is “a king over many kings,” because like no other monarch after him, he had absolute authority and unlimited power. He was subject to neither men, nor their laws, and so he prefigures Christ.

(38) He has made you the ruler over all the inhabited world and has put even the animals and birds under your control. You are the head of gold.

  • "Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom was likened unto gold because it was an absolute monarchy, God's ideal government. Nebuchadnezzar was not, however, God's ideal monarch!" (Talbot)
  • The empires succeeding Babylon were inferior to Nebuchadnezzar's head of gold in the sense of their centralization of absolute power. Nebuchadnezzar was an absolute monarch, the succeeding empires progressively less so. They were larger and lasted longer than Babylon, but none held as much centralized power as Nebuchadnezzar did.
  • It took courage for Daniel to speak this way to the king. He declared that it was the God of heaven, not the Babylonian gods nor the king himself, who had made Nebuchadnezzar the ruler of the world. Daniel made it clear that the God of heaven is sovereign.
  • The Ancient Near East regarded kings and their kingdoms as being synonymous with each other. Hence, the head of gold represents Babylon as well as Nebuchadnezzar. This dual concept is important to remember when interpreting apocalyptic imagery in the Bible.

(39) "But after your kingdom comes to an end, *another great kingdom, inferior to yours, will rise to take your place. After that kingdom has fallen, yet a **third great kingdom, represented by the bronze belly and thighs, will rise to rule the world.

  • *another great kingdom: At the end of the book, Daniel is no longer under the Babylonian empire but is now serving under the Medio-Persian empire, that divided kingdom which followed Babylon as the ruler of the world.
  • **third great kingdom: It is identified for us in Chapter 8 as the kingdom of Greece, under Alexander the Great. History has confirmed this, exactly as the book predicts.

(40) Following that kingdom, there will be a *fourth great kingdom, as strong as iron. That kingdom will smash and crush all previous empires, just as iron smashes and crushes everything it strikes.

  • *fourth great kingdom: We usually call it the Roman Empire, but it is very striking that it is never so called in the Bible. It is never identified by name though it includes the Roman Empire, and there is no doubt about that. It began in Rome as certain predictive passages in the New Testament make very clear. In Revelation, we have a clear identification of this empire with the city of Rome, seated upon its seven hills, so there is no question but what this fourth empire began with Rome. But, since the period encompassed by the image covers all of time down to the second coming of Jesus Christ, the fourth kingdom must include far more than what we call in history, the Roman Empire. That is why it is never so named in the Bible. We will be much closer if we simply refer to is as "the West." That is the way we identify it today, "the Western nations." The prophecy centers upon what happens to these nations, especially as they near the end.
  • Here is where we of the Western hemisphere enter the picture. The Roman government was marked by a passion to establish colonies and then to defend these colonies by military power. That characteristic of Rome has continued throughout the history of the West. Western nations have been colonizing nations who have reached to the uttermost parts of the earth. With the colonizing came the necessity for great military power to protect the trade routes and the colonies from being overwhelmed by others. Thus the Western nations became mighty militarily, protecting the colonies which they had established. The USA does the same thing, just not as openly.
  • In the West, the empire centered on Rome. It first mastered the whole of the Mediterranean area and Western Europe and even after the fall of Rome itself continued to dominate as the kingdoms of Europe, the monarchies of France, of Germany, Spain, Great Britain and Portugal. These, in turn, began to reach into the western hemisphere after Christopher Columbus discovered the New World. The interesting thing now is that every single nation of this western hemisphere was begun by one of the nations of the Roman empire. Our entire Western world is Roman to the core. You can see that even in our own history. We have a senate which is one of the fundamental bases of our government, and which we copied directly from the Roman senate. The very republican form of the United States government is based upon the republic of Rome. Our courts, our laws, our military, all reflect the courts and laws and military forms of the Roman Empire - even our architure. We even derived our national symbol from Rome. The American eagle is known throughout the world as were the Roman eagles in the days of Rome's power and Hitler's eagle.
  • Some 40 years from this, Daniel had a vision describing the same succession of empires. Daniel saw it from God’s perspective, and Nebuchadnezzar saw it from man’s perspective. Nebuchadnezzar saw these empires as an impressive image; Daniel saw them as fierce beasts.
  • When Nebuchadnezzar dreamed his dream, Media and Persia were not a threat to Nebuchadnezzar; Greece was barely anything, and Rome was merely a little village on the banks of the Tiber. Yet, the details of Daniel’s interpretation fit these empire perfectly. So much so, liberal scholars deny the authenticity of Daniel.

(41) The feet and toes you saw that were a combination of iron and clay show that this kingdom will be divided.

  • The feet of mixed iron and clay signify democratic rule - the rule of the people is an inferior quality of government. Today all races, religions, and rationalizations are clamoring for a hearing, insisting upon their rights and now are watching the chaos from the Arab spring.
  • The legs are separated from the feet and toes in Daniel’s interpretation. No hint is given as to the duration of the intervening period, which also occurs between the sixty-ninth and seventieth sevens of Daniel 9:26-27. The fourth empire would have two distinct stages of existence: Ancient Roman Empire (iron legs) and Revived Roman Empire (feet and toes of mixed iron and clay).
  • The toes are only mentioned by Daniel in his interpretation (2:41-43). The toes represent the tenfold division of the final form of the Roman Empire. Such a division has never occurred in history. These toes are the same as the ten horns (kings) of Revelation 17:12. Out of this predicted ten-nation confederacy, the Antichrist will arise and he will seek to rule the world prior to the second coming of Christ.

(42) Some parts of it will be as strong as iron, and others as weak as clay.

  • As we look back in history we can see that World War I marked the beginning of the end of an era. The end of that war was characterized by the fall of crowned heads all over the world. Many monarchies ended then, either abruptly and completely, or they were transformed into representative monarchies in which the king became merely a figurehead, exercising no power or authority at all. World War II completed the picture; the age of kings ended in that interim period. From that time on there has been clearly emerging a new age, a new condition among nations. It is described for us in Verses 42-43, when we come to the very toes of the feet of the image.
  • Literally, it is (in the King James), "they shall mingle together with the seed of men,"

(43) This mixture of iron and clay also shows that these kingdoms will try to strengthen themselves by forming alliances with each other through intermarriage. But this will not succeed, just as iron and clay do not mix.

  • King James Version is closer to the original: And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
    • The early church fathers and the Jewish scholars believed this referred to a new eruption of fallen angels once again impregnating human women.
    • In Chuck Missler's "The Book of Daniel - Set of DVDs", he felt that Daniel 2:43 could be referring to the fallen angels mingling with the seed of men. He points out the "they" in this passage does not make sense to be describing humans.
    • Essentially, the argument is that the “they” are the fallen angels or the sons of God who will end up “mingling themselves with the seed of men.”
  • Chapters 2 and 7 explain the succession of four gentile empires that would exert control over Jerusalem and the Jews until God's kingdom is established.

(44) "During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed; no one will ever conquer it. It will shatter all these kingdoms into nothingness, but it will stand forever.

  • Micah 4:1-4: In the last days, the Temple of the LORD in Jerusalem will become the most important place on earth. People from all over the world will go there to worship. Many nations will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the Temple of the God of Israel. There he will teach us his ways, so that we may obey him." For in those days the LORD's teaching and his word will go out from Jerusalem. The LORD will settle international disputes. All the nations will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. All wars will stop, and military training will come to an end. Everyone will live quietly in their own homes in peace and prosperity, for there will be nothing to fear. The LORD Almighty has promised this!
  • Revelation 11:15-17: Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices shouting in heaven: "The whole world has now become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever." And the twenty-four elders sitting on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped him. And they said, "We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the one who is and who always was, for now you have assumed your great power and have begun to reign.
  • In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will establish His kingdom on earth. It will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush the remnants of the previous kingdoms and put an end to them, but it will itself endure forever. That is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces (Daniel 2:44-45).
  • The book of Daniel is about how the Gentile kingdoms of our world are all headed to the climactic Gentile kingdom of Antichrist which will end up smashed like a bug.

(45) That is the meaning of the rock cut from the mountain by supernatural means, crushing to dust the statue of iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. "The great God has shown Your Majesty what will happen in the future. The dream is true, and its meaning is certain."

  • The empire of Nebuchadnezzar has long ago crumbled into dust. Even the great capital of Babylon is today an uninhabited desolation of ruins that Hussein was busy rebuilding. But the dream that this king dreamed is still being fulfilled in our day, and it is this that makes it so significant to us. We have not yet reached the end of Nebuchadnezzar's dream and its meaning.
  • The remarkable thing about this dream is not these four divisions of man's kingdoms, but the strange, final kingdom which comes out of heaven as a stone cut without hands, and which strikes the feet of the image to destroy it. It symbolizes what the Bible universally declares, that all the kingdoms of men will end at the appearing of God's kingdom.
  • Nothing was left but the stone. The image was pounded into powder. It was smashed and swept from the earth. The Stone rolled on and on until it filled the earth.

(46) Then King Nebuchadnezzar bowed to the ground before Daniel and worshiped him, and he commanded his people to offer sacrifices and burn sweet incense before him.

  • In "Daniel: The Key to Prophetic Revelation", John F. Walvoord says, “An interesting parallel is found in Josephus, recording the instance where Alexander the Great bowed before the high priest of the Jews. When Parmenion, one of his generals, asked him why, when ordinarily all men would prostrate themselves before Alexander the Great, he had prostrated himself before the high priest of the Jews, Alexander replied, "It was not before him that I prostrated myself, but the God of whom he has the honor to be high priest.”
  • Why didn't Daniel refuse the sacrifices, etc. - or did he and we're not told?

(47) The king said to Daniel, "Truly, your God is the God of gods, the Lord over kings, a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this secret."

  • Nebuchadnezzar understood from Daniel’s interpretation that “there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.” He's simply saying that Daniel's is the greatest god of them all. We find in chapter four a greater response from Nebuchadnezzar.

(48) Then the king appointed Daniel to a high position and gave him many valuable gifts. He made Daniel ruler over the whole province of Babylon, as well as chief over all his wise men.

  • Daniel was involved in every matter that came before the king and was a chief advisor to him in all of his affairs.

(49) At Daniel's request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be in charge of all the affairs of the province of Babylon, while Daniel remained in the king's court.

  • God prepared for the arrival of thousands of exiled Judaeans (in 597 and 586 B.C.) to Babylon by placing men in authority who were sympathetic to their needs (like Joseph).

Application:

  • Daniel and his friends prayed together in the midst of crisis. The power of praying with other Christians in order to gain knowledge, understanding and wisdom from above cannot be overstated. The world offers many solutions to life’s problems, but God has the answers!
  • God placed Daniel in the court of Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful monarch of history, to be a testimony and witness of His existence and power. The LORD uses those of His people who are faithful and prepared to give an answer. How might God use you?
    Proverbs 3:5-8: Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Then you will have healing for your body and strength for your bones.
  • Dare to be a Daniel! (audio of sermon by C. H. Spurgeon).
  • Nothing happens by accident. In himself, Nebuchadnezzar was a brilliant, volatile, cruel man who had little regard for human life. Yet God used this pagan ruler to reveal his plan for human history. God can make even the wrath of man to praise him. When we are being mistreated by evil people, it is hard (if not impossible) to see God’s hand at work. Daniel 2 reminds us that God stands in the shadows working out his plan even in the darkest moments of life.
  • What is our part in all this? If we stand, as I believe this passage clearly suggests, at the termination of civilization as we know it; if we are approaching the end of man's day and God's program which the prophets have long predicted is at last to be established, then Peter suggests that it is our privilege now to rejoice in that "chosen and precious stone." The question that impinges upon us in this hour is, What is our relationship to that stone? Is he the foundation for our life, or is he coming to destroy all that we have built? Is the coming of the Lord to us a thrill, or is it a threat? Is he coming as a friend, or as a foe?
  • Voddie Baucham: "Now it is a terrible thing at times because there are things that happen to us that are awful. There are things that happen to us and to those around us and people who we love the are absolutely unthinkable. But here is what I know. God is good. He can’t help but be good. And whatever has come to pass was for God’s glory and ultimately because I am his, it is for my good. I believe that because I trust the sovereign God. Folks, this is the only way that you have hope in the midst of dire circumstances. It is the only way. And this is not theoretical. This is Daniel in the midst of exile. Daniel has probably seen members of his family killed. Daniel has been hauled off in chains. He is a slave. He sits here in the midst of a pagan culture serving a pagan king, reading pagan literature, reading things that probably makes his flesh crawl. He is despised. He is a little thing. He is of absolutely no importance in this culture. He is not a big man. He is not an important man. He is a slave. He is not free. He can’t go run on the hills that they ran on when he was a boy. He is not even free to sing the songs of his youth, to worship God in the sanctuary. This is Daniel’s lot in life and yet God uses this man and his circumstances to say there is hope. Daniel’s heart is leaping for joy. He is in exile and he is never going to get out. But he is not going to get torn limb from limb today and God has just reminded everyone of who is sovereign. You need that, saints. You need that, because there are people who have authority over you and there are people who will lord that authority over you. There are people who will mistreat you and who will abuse you, but here is what you need to know. God is sovereign over them. The reason for your hope is the same as the reason for Daniel’s hope that we see here in this section. The reason for your hope is the fact that all wisdom comes from God, that God is sovereign over the affairs of men, that you have absolutely no hope of comprehending what is in the mind of God apart from God’s revelation. But, praise be to God, he has revealed himself and that is an act of mercy."

The three kings from the east in Matthew - Who were they?

  • Who were the "wise men from the east?" These wise men in Matthew came from Parthia (Persia), the enemy of Rome. They were descendents of the Babylonian wise men. We're not told whether they were Jews. Matthew 2:1-12 (KJV): Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also. When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
  • About sixty years before the birth of Christ, the Romans defeated the Parthians for control over what we call the Ancient Near East. This land mass includes Israel, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem. Jesus' birth took place only a few hundred miles from the Parthian borders. Most likely, the wise men came from the capital city, somewhere towards the northern part of the Empire. How did they know about Jesus? How did these advisors to the king of Parthia know that an important king was going to be born to the Jews?
  • One of the scrolls the exiles would have had was a copy of the book of Genesis. Genesis 3:15 gives the very first description of the Savior who was to come. Genesis 3:15 indicates that mankind's deliverer would be born of a woman, so the wise men knew to look for someone newly-born when “He” came. Therefore, the Wise Men came, looking for a baby.
  • They may have had a copy of the scroll of Numbers, thanks to Daniel and Jeremiah. Numbers 24:17 says that a star will rise out of Israel. Balaam's prophecy said that a star would rise out of the land of Jacob simultaneous with the rising of Israel's scepter. (A scepter is the emblem of a king.) These wise men would also have had access to the book of 2 Chronicles. In 2 Chronicles, God promises Solomon that a descendent of his father David will rule forever. From this, the wise men knew that when this one born of a woman came, he would be born of kingly lineage. Specifically, he would be a son of David. They also had the scroll written by Daniel, the long-deceased chief Wise Man (or, chief of the Magi.) Daniel 7:13 describes the Messiah as given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal—it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed.. In the middle of the suffering servant description, Isaiah 53 describes how this king-God-man will die. When the wise men come to Jesus, they bring three gifts: Gold, which is the gift for royalty, a gift for a king. Incense, which was for divinity, a gift you give a God. And myrrh, which is a funeral gift, a gift used for burial.
  • What was the "star" that led the wise men to Jesus Christ\? Was it a physical star at all? Whatever it was, the "star" was definitely of miraculous origin; it was no ordinary, physical star. For instance, it had the ability to move. Matthew writes that the star "went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was" (Matthew 2:9). No star we have ever seen can do that! Even shooting stars - really meteors burning up in the atmosphere - cannot change directions and stop over a specific place!
  • Herod got panicky. When suddenly these Persian king makers appeared in Jerusalem no doubt traveling in full force and they rode Persian steeds not camels. And when they came in they didn't come alone, the estimates of history are they came with Persian cavalry. When they came charging into the city of Jerusalem and Herod peeked out his little palace window he flipped. These are powerful men and to make it worse his army was out of the country on a mission. And the Bible says Herod was troubled. Herod had the title "King of the Jews" - which he bought. Israel was a buffer state in the middle of two huge contending empires. And all of a sudden, these arch-enemy Persians arrive in the city and he is panicked and they say we're coming to find the new king. The "wise men" of Persia were the king makers - they're the ones who crowned a king! By the way, the Magi knew that the people of Israel were on their side, not Rome's. And so, they came into town and started asking the people where this new king was.

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