Dream of the King
SYNOPSIS – Only Daniel was able to reveal and interpret the troubling dream of King Nebuchadnezzar - Daniel 2:1-49.
The second and third chapters of Daniel present a single story told in two parts. In the first one, King Nebuchadnezzar dreams of an enormous image composed of several materials. In the second part, he attempts to implement the image from his dream but according to his concept of political power. The interpretation of his dream provided by Daniel highlights the key theme of the book - God rules over the World-Power and gives it to whomever He pleases.
However, the God of Israel reigns in an ironic
fashion. He employs the words of powerless exiles to direct the course of history.
Both chapters end with the king acknowledging the supremacy of the God of
Israel, with Daniel and his friends promoted to govern the “province of Babylon”
- (Daniel 2:36-48).
The interpretation of the dream by Daniel forms
the fourfold structure behind his later vision about “four beasts ascending from the sea.”
The Dream
Nebuchadnezzar had his dream in the second
year of his reign and the second year of Daniel’s education in Babylon,
approximately, 604-603 B.C. This means the events of Chapter 2 occurred
before the completion of his three-year education in the “wisdom
of Babylon”; therefore, his ability to interpret the dream was not due
to anything provided by the Babylonian State or culture - (Daniel 1:5,
2:1).
The king summoned all the “astrologers,
enchanters, sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell him his dream.” Daniel
was not from this group; his ability to interpret dreams was by the gift of God,
not any of the arts of divination:
- (Daniel 1:17) – “And as for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom — and Daniel had discernment in all visions and dreams.”
The king was unable to remember his dream - (“The
thing is gone from me”), therefore, he commanded the Chaldeans to make known the dream’s contents as well as its
interpretation. Three times he ordered them to do so, each time threatening
death for failure but promising rewards for success.
The “wise men” acknowledged
that only the gods could do what the king had demanded, however, the gods of Mesopotamia did “not dwell with flesh.” Unlike Babylonian
deities, Yahweh dwelt among men and was well able to reveal both the dream and its
interpretation. By first revealing the contents, God validated the interpretation that Daniel gave to the king:
- (Daniel 2:10-11) – “The Chaldeans answered before the king and said, There is not a man upon the earth who can declare the matter of the king — although, indeed, there is no king, chief ruler who a thing like this hath asked of any sacred scribe or magician or Chaldean; and the thing which the king hath asked is difficult, and none other is there who can declare it before the king — saving the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh” – (The Emphasized Bible).
Furious at their response, Nebuchadnezzar
determined to destroy “all the wise men of Babylon,” intentionally
or not, an action that would include Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego - (“The
decree went forth that the wise men should be slain, and they sought Daniel and
his fellows to be slain”).
Daniel approached the king to request a time
to reveal the dream and its interpretation; to do this without a summons was to
risk death. He then prayed with his companions for God to reveal the matter:
- (Daniel 2:17-19) - “Then Daniel, to his own house, departed,— and to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, made the matter known; that tender compassion they might seek from before the God of the heavens, concerning this secret,— that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed, with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then, unto Daniel— in a vision of the night, the secret was revealed,— whereupon, Daniel, blessed the God of the heavens.” – (The Emphasized Bible).
Twice reference is made to the “God of
the heavens” to contrast Yahweh with the deities of the learned men of
Babylon - They believed heavenly bodies influenced the destinies of nations.
However, Yahweh is the Creator of the heavens
and the earth, including the planets and stars, the revealer of “secrets”
or “mysteries,” and the Sovereign who controls the fates of empires. “Mystery”
translates the Aramaic noun raz (Strong’s - #H7328), which
occurs eight times in Chapter 2 - (Daniel 2:18-19, 2:27-30,2:47,4:9).
- (Daniel 2:20-23) – “Daniel responded and said, Let the name of God be blessed from age to age — in that wisdom and might to him belong; And he changeth times and seasons, removeth kings and setteth up kings — giving wisdom to the wise and knowledge to them who are skilled in understanding: He revealeth the deep things and the hidden — knoweth what is in the darkness and light with him doth dwell. Unto thee, O God of my fathers, do I render thanks and praise in that wisdom and might thou hast given unto me — yea, already hast thou made known to me that which we desired of thee, for the matter of the king hast thou made known unto us.”
The thanksgiving by Daniel anticipates the
interpretation of the dream and expresses the theological understanding of the
book: God gives the nations to whomever He wills.
True wisdom belongs to the One who grants it
to His lowliest servant (“He gives wisdom to the wise”). He is sovereign
over the sun, moon, and the stars (“He changes the times and the seasons”).
And He reigns over all political powers (“He removes and sets up kings”).
Daniel is identified to the royal court as
one of the captives from Judah and is designated by his captive name, Belteshazzar.
This stresses his lowly status and political impotence.
A new class of Babylonian “experts” is
introduced in Verse 27, “astrologers,” “Soothsayers,” from the
Aramaic gezar (Strong’s - #H1505), a verb
meaning “cut, to divide,” hence, the dividers of the heavens.
This usage comes from the astrological practice of dividing the heavens into
spheres of influence - (Daniel 4:7, 5:7, 5:11).
- (Daniel 2:27-28) – “Daniel answered before the king, and said — The secret which the king hath asked the wise men, the magicians, the sacred scribes, the astrologers are not able to declare unto the king; but there is a God in the heavens, who revealeth secrets and hath made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what shall come to pass, in the afterpart of the days” – (The Emphasized Bible).
God revealed to Nebuchadnezzar by a dream what
“must come to pass in later days.” The chronological
reference is ambiguous and means no more than at some point in the future. The
same ambiguity is found in Verse 45, “God made known to the king what shall
come to pass after this.”
Daniel then described the contents of the
dream. Nebuchadnezzar saw a colossal image with a head of gold, its breast and arms
of silver, the belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron with both feet of mixed
iron and clay. In Verse 31, the image represents a single entity, despite its
several components. The king next saw a “stone cut out without hands”
that struck the feet of the image, pulverizing the “iron, clay, brass,
silver and gold.” The stone “became a great mountain that filled the
whole earth.”
The “stone cut without hands”
echoes the Hebrew practice of building altars with uncut stones. The common connection
of God’s dwelling place to a great mountain is also in the background - (Exodus
15:17-18, 20:22-25, Psalm 78:54, Micah 4:1, Isaiah
11:9, 66:20).
Daniel declared that Nebuchadnezzar was “the
king of kings”; nevertheless, his kingship was derived from, “the
God of the heavens.” The head of gold represented him - (“You are
the head of gold”). That the Babylonian king was the head suggests that
Babylon was the first World-Power (Genesis 10:10, 11:1-9).
Little information is provided about the
second or the third kingdom. The second is made of silver and is “inferior”
to the golden head. The third realm is represented by bronze and it “will
bear rule over all the earth.” The text does not explain how the second
kingdom is “inferior,” though its “breast and arms of silver”
suggest division, not unity. Additionally, silver was often considered less
valuable than gold.
Whether the third or fourth kingdom is “inferior”
to the golden head is not stated, though this inference may be drawn from the
decreasing value of each metal. Silver is less valuable than gold, bronze than
silver, and so on. The third kingdom is to “rule over all the earth.”
This signifies its political and military prowess.
The fourth kingdom is strong as iron because
it “shatters and crushes all things.” Just like iron crushes, so
this kingdom will “shatter and crush.” Precisely who or what is crushed
is not stated. The comparison indicates no more than its ability to destroy.
The feet and toes are “part of clay and
part of iron” - The two lower legs are of unmixed iron. The mixture
represents division; it will be strong like iron but brittle like clay used for
pottery. The mixed materials in the feet and toes suggest brittleness in the
latter part of the last kingdom. While the toes and feet are composed of clay
and iron, in the interpretation, the two materials are treated together; no
significance is assigned to the distinction between toes and feet or to their
number, presumably ten.
The mixture is explained in verse 43 - “They
shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave one to
another, even as iron does not mingle with clay.” No information is
provided about the identities of the two groups; the stress is on the attempt
to “commingle with the seed of men.”
The interpretation concludes with the
establishment of God’s everlasting kingdom. “In the days of those
kings,” God will establish His domain. “Those kings” must
refer to the four kingdoms symbolized by the image’s components. The stone “without
hands” strikes the single image on its feet and shatters “all these
kingdoms.”
Sovereignty passes from one kingdom to the next, but the earlier regimes do not disappear completely; something from each survives in the successive realms, that is, until the final destruction of the entire image.
Nebuchadnezzar saw a stone “cut out of the mountain without
hands.” The image was destroyed by the stone "cut from
the mountain" - It was cut out of a larger whole. The stone symbolized a “kingdom
which shall never be destroyed.” Its sovereignty “shall never be left to
another people.” To be “cut out without hands” points to divine
intervention, not human effort.
Daniel concluded his interpretation:
- “The great God has made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain and the interpretation thereof sure.”
Nebuchadnezzar prostrated himself before
Daniel, an act that anticipated the replacement of the World-Power by the
kingdom of God. Thus, the sovereign “head of fine gold” lay prostrate
before the powerless representative of the kingdom that is “cut out without
hands.”
In Verse 35, the stone “became a great mountain,
and filled the whole earth.” The pagan king made
Daniel great, gave him authority to govern the “whole province
of Babylon,” and appointed him a “great one over
all the wise men of Babylon.” The dream-vision found a proleptic
fulfillment in the elevation of Daniel to the governorship of the
province.
The chapter concludes by reaffirming through
the words and deeds of Nebuchadnezzar the central theme of the book - Yahweh
is the “God of gods, Lord of kings,” and He is sovereign over the
kingdoms of the world. Wittingly or not, the king acknowledged that his
authority was derived from the God of Israel.
Daniel’s reward was his elevation to govern the “whole
province.” His three Jewish friends participated in this authority, “over
the affairs of the province.” Already, the everlasting kingdom was
establishing itself as God empowered Daniel in the Land of Shinar.
At this point in the book, the interpretation
creates as many questions as it answers. Do the four kingdoms follow each
other consecutively or are they concurrent? Does each occupy the same
territory? Who and what are the other three kingdoms (only the head of gold has
been identified explicitly - Nebuchadnezzar)?
In the Book of Revelation
The declaration of Daniel that God “reveals (apokaluptÅ)
mysteries and has shown the king what things must come to pass (ha
dei genesthai)” is echoed four times in the Book of Revelation, a “revelation
(apokalupsis) of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to
show to his servants, what things must come to pass (ha dei
genesthai) soon”:
- (Revelation 1:1) – “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to point out unto his servants the things which must needs come to pass soon.”
- (Revelation 1:19) – “Write, therefore, what things thou hast seen and what they are; and what things are about to come to pass after these things.”
- (Revelation 4:1) – “After these things, I saw and lo! a door set open in heaven; and the first voice which I heard as of a trumpet speaking with me, saying — Come up hither! and I will point out to thee the things which must needs come to pass after these things.”
- (Revelation 22:6) – “These words are faithful and true; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets hath sent his messenger to point out unto his servants the things which must needs come to pass soon.”
What
for Daniel were predictions awaiting fulfillment in a remote future – (“In
later days”) - In Revelation, the time of their fulfillment has arrived –
(“For the season is at hand” – Revelation
1:3).
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