Daniel 2
Welcome! Today we continue in our study of the wonderful Book of Daniel, focusing on Chapter 2. To get started, let me remind you of the context of the book of Daniel and briefly review what happened in Chapter 1.
The book of Daniel takes during and after the fall of the land of Israel. God allowed Israel to fall, in fact, He repeatedly warned His people that the fall was coming, because they had forsaken God. God, who is the orchestrator of all of history, used a man named Nebuchadnezzar son of Nabopolassarto do this. Nabopolassar started things by delivering Babylon from its dependence on Assyria and destroying Nineveh. While Nabopolassar still reigned, he sent his son Nebuchadnezzar to lead military campaigns, and under Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonians defeated the Egyptian army and drove them back to their homeland, essentially ending the Egyptian empire for good. Nebuchadnezzar continued with other military campaigns to defeat the Syrians and the Phoenicians, and Nebuchadnezzar returned to Babylon after his father’s death to take the throne of what we call the neo-Babylonian Empire, the greatest empire in terms of might and reach the world had yet seen.
Despite the repeated warnings of the Israelite prophets, the split kingdoms of Israel and Judah refused to repent, and as a result, God used the Babylonians to defeat the Israelites, capturing Jerusalem in 597 BC and deposing King Jehoiakim, and then, due to rebellion, destroying the city including the royal palace and the Temple in 587 BC. Nebuchadnezzar also laid siege to the nation of Tyre, which eventually also submitted to Babylonian rule.
During the years in which Nebuchadnezzar attacked Israel, there were a number of raids in which useful Israelites were captured and brought back to Babylon. Among these were a young (probably teenage) Daniel with his friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. These four were chosen for special training, in part to serve the king, providing wisdom and advice, in part to help break down whatever remained of Israelite resistance (seeing some of their own men among the king’s advisors would help them feel “represented”) and in part to break down the Israelite culture (seeing these men adopt Babylonian beliefs and customs would encourage them to do the same).
In Daniel Chapter 1, as we saw last week, Daniel and his friends chose to stay true to the Hebrew laws about clean vs. unclean food, refusing the king’s food, and such refusal could have gone disastrously, God rewarded their faithfulness and nothing happened to them; indeed, God blessed them with health. By the way, I don’t think that saying that we all should only eat vegetables and water is a valid conclusion from this verse. Going by the rest of the things that happen in Daniel, I think it is more fitting to conclude that God blessed their health despite their very limited diet. I’m not saying that living as a vegetarian or vegan is a bad or unhealthy, if done right; but normally vegetarians also eat fruit and nuts and grains; it appears that these guys were only eating veggies. I think the point is that God blessed them because they held to the law of Moses as best as they could in this foreign place in which everything was intentionally meant to break them apart from these things.
The chapter says that God gave them understanding and knowledge, and to Daniel, specifically, God also gave the supernatural ability to understand dreams and visions, much as how, many years earlier, God had given a similar ability to Joseph, another man trapped in a foreign culture. And just as God used Joseph to mightily influence the empire at that time, the empire of Egypt, God was about to use Daniel to influence the neo-Babylonians. The chapter ends by telling of a meeting between Daniel and his friends and the mighty king Nebuchadnezzar himself, and Nebuchadnezzar was so impressed with their wisdom and understanding that, though they were outsiders, though they were strange in the eyes of the Babylonian culture, and though they were still very young, they were added to the “wise men” who served as counselors to the king.
Let’s continue with Chapter 2.
In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his mind was troubled and he could not sleep. So the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologersto tell him what he had dreamed. When they came in and stood before the king, he said to them, “I have had a dream that troubles me and I want to know what it means.” – Dan. 2:1-3
Now, from what we will see in the coming verses, Daniel and his friends were not included in this collection. Why is that? Well, probably, although Daniel and his friends were now part of the king’s counseling group, they were still considered as in training. In fact, verse 5 of Chapter 1 says they were to be in trained for 3 years, yet this is only the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. Regardless, the king had quite a collection of advisers here. Who were these people? The KJV calls them magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, and Chaldeans. The magicians were academic types, whether they studied scientific things or the occult. The astrologers were people who looked at the stars to tell the future; you can still find some who believe in this today. The sorcerers were those who were mediums. They claimed to talk with the dead and have the dead talk through them. The final group, literally the Chaldeans, were the ones the NIV calls astrologers. They were considered the wisest of the wise. They were essentially Nebuchadnezzar’s “inner cabinet.” They came from Chaldea, the same location as Nebuchadnezzar and his father. And they are the ones who reply to the king’s request.
Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will interpret it.” The king replied to the astrologers, “This is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble. But if you tell me the dream and explain it, you will receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. So tell me the dream and interpret it for me.” – Dan. 2:4-6
Wow! That certainly makes it harder, doesn’t it? Now, the KJV translates “This is what I have firmly decided” as “The thing is gone from me.” Some think that this means that Nebuchadnezzar forgot his dream; others think that the NIV translation is essentially correct, that what the words mean is “here is my decree.” Which is it? Well, it is hard to know.
I will say that detailed neo-Babylonian tablets of dream interpretation have been found. In these tablets there was a system for analyzing every tiniest part of a dream, and thus, it was important to remember the details of a dream. In fact, there are other documents showing that the people tried to remember their dreams in detail for this very purpose. Thus, it is possible that the problem was that Nebuchadnezzar remembered parts of the dream but did not know it well enough for the dream-analysis people to do their work. I don’t think he forgot the entire dream; if that were the case, how would he know if what the advisors said was correct?
Another theory is that Nebuchadnezzar was really not that impressed with his many advisors in other areas, and so he did this as a test to see if they really had wisdom from God or not. He certainly had to be shaken by the wisdom of Daniel and his friends, which the end of Daniel Chapter 1 called “ten times better than the wisdom of all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.”
I don’t think it is particularly important that we know why Nebuchadnezzar made this request. The key thing is that he made it, and as we shall see, I think there is no doubt that God is as much behind this as He is behind the dream itself.
Once more they replied, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will interpret it.” Then the king answered, “I am certain that you are trying to gain time, because you realize that this is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me the dream, there is just one penalty for you. You have conspired to tell me misleading and wicked things, hoping the situation will change. So then, tell me the dream, and I will know that you can interpret it for me.” – Dan. 2:7-9
Regardless of why Nebuchadnezzar initially made the request, now he is getting angry and accuses his advisors of misleading him and telling him wicked things. What was that penalty again? It is back in verses 4-6, which the NIV somewhat waters down. I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble. Literally, the cutting up into pieces is right, but the houses were not only turned to rubble, they were to become dunghills, that is, places that people use to go to the bathroom.
Did you know that the Israelites also did this on at least one occasion? How’s that for Bible trivia.
They brought the sacred stone out of the temple of Baal and burned it. They demolished the sacred stone of Baal and tore down the temple of Baal, and people have used it for a latrine to this day. – 2 Kings 10:26-27
Hopefully that won’t be the only thing you remember from today’s teaching. Anyway, this response makes the king’s advisors quite panicky, appropriately so, I might add. Continuing with the passage:
The astrologers answered the king, “There is not a man on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men.” – Dan. 2:10-11
This made the king so angry and furious that he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon. So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to put them to death. – Dan. 2:12-13
Wow. The king has quite a temper! This doesn’t seem to be uncommon with those who wield such great power. Power corrupts, the saying goes.
When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, had gone out to put to death the wise men of Babylon, Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact. He asked the king’s officer, “Why did the king issue such a harsh decree?” Arioch then explained the matter to Daniel. At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him. – Dan. 2:14-16
How interesting that the very thing the king accused the others of – stalling for time – as we shall see, he grants to Daniel. Why? Apart from the work of God on the events here, Daniel had wisdom and tact. We saw this last week as well. I can just see Daniel speaking to Arioch – maybe I am reading things into the passage, but I see compassion in Daniel’s question. He knows that Arioch doesn’t want to kill all the wise men. And so he asks the question and as a good listener, and, again, showing wisdom and tact, gets permission to ask the king for more time. And the king agrees!
Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven and said: – Dan. 2:17-20a
Recall that Daniel already knew that God had gifted him in the ability to interpret dreams. But to know a dream before it was spoken, this was indeed an impossible task! What does Daniel do? Go to his friends and pray together with them. There is no sign that they panicked, or that they had a pity party, or that they blamed God, or had a wild party on what might be their last night alive – none of that. I am sure they were experiencing the emotions you would expect anyone to have in such a situation, but those emotions did not drive them to do anything inappropriate; if they drove them at all, it was to prayer. The real test of your faith is not when everything is going well; it is when you enter a desperate situation. Not that we should look forward to such situations, but we should understand that God allows them for a greater good, and part of that good is to grow us. And so God revealed the dream and the interpretation to Daniel! God answered their prayers. And here is Daniel’s beautiful response:
“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; He sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wiseand knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with Him. I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers: You have given me wisdom and power, You have made known to me what we asked of You, You have made known to us the dream of the king.” – Dan. 2:20b-23
Then Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to execute the wise men of Babylon, and said to him, “Do not execute the wise men of Babylon. Take me to the king, and I will interpret his dream for him.” Arioch took Daniel to the king at once and said, “I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can tell the king what his dream means.” – Dan. 2:24-25
The king asked Daniel (also called Belteshazzar), “Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?” Daniel replied, “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay on your bed are these:– Dan. 2:26-28
I just love Daniel’s response. He doesn’t just say, “Yes, yes I can.” He gives credit to God, and explains to Nebuchadnezzar something about God. He uses this situation as an opportunity to teach Nebuchadnezzar about the true God.
“As you were lying there, O king, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen. As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than other living men, but so that you, O king, may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind. – Dan. 2:29-30
Daniel has such humility! Daniel didn’t have to say that part about not having greater wisdom; in fact, he probably does have greater wisdom than nearly all other living men. But he wants no attention placed on himself; he wants the praise to go solely to God. To Daniel it is more important that Nebuchadnezzar praise God than that he has a good feeling about Daniel. Daniel at this point is not thinking about himself at all – this is always a sign of true humility. And so, here is the dream:
“You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. – Dan. 2:31-34
A gold head, then silver chest and arms, then bronze belly and thighs, then iron legs, and finally, feet mixed with iron and pottery (baked clay). And then a rock, not cut by human hands, striking the statue on its feet and smashing it.
Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. – Dan. 2:35-36
The entire statue breaks apart into dust, and then a great wind sweeping it away. And then the rock transforming into a huge mountain. The four part statue, the rock, the wind, and then mountain. What does it all mean?
“You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold. – Dan. 2:37-38
Gold, on top, gold the head, represented the kingdom for which Nebuchadnezzar was king, the Babylonian empire. By the way, Ezekiel 26:7 also calls him a king of kings. This empire lasted 70 years, the same number of years as the exile. God raised them up to judge the Israel and then He ended their reign. Gold, by the way, is a very appropriate symbol for the Babylonians. The Greek historian Herodotus visited Babylon about 90 years after Nebuchadnezzar, and he wrote that he never saw as much gold as he saw in Babylon. We have other historical documents that say Nebuchadnezzar wanted to build an entirely gold-covered city with a golden throne. And so the Babylonian empire was the head of gold.
“After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. – Dan. 2:39-40
The chest and arms, you recall, were of silver. This represented a second kingdom, of which little is said here in Daniel. But by studying history, we can easily figure out what this second kingdom must have been. Who came after the Babylonians?
The Babylonian Empire made it to 538 BC, and then came Cyrus the Great, and with him, the Medo-Persian Empire.And just as, going down the body, you have unity in the head, unity in the upper chest, but then a split as you reach the arms, so was the Medo-Persian empire. It consisted of the Medes and the Persians. There wasn’t unity in this empire like there was with the Babylonians; it was two groups working together. By the way, this empire grew to be even larger, much larger, than the Babylonian empire. Now, the word in Aramaic translated as silver could also be translated as money; they are the same word. And the Medo-Persian Empire developed, for the first time, a detailed system of taxation. They required that their taxes be paid in silver, and as a result, they acquired tons and tons and tons of this metal. This silver was used to finance wars, including a massive war against what would become the third empire.
The Medo-Persian Empire made it to about 330 BC, about 200 years, and then we come to the third empire, one represented by the bronze (or brass) belly and thighs. Who was this? The Greeks. Again, moving down the body, there is first unity and then a split at the thighs. The Greek Empire initially had as leader Philip of Macedon, and then his son, Alexander the Great. Then the power of the empire was split among four generals, two centered in Syria, and two in Egypt. So again you see the split. What about bronze/brass? Well, a Greek soldier was literally covered in the stuff; his helmet, his breastplate, his shield, and even his sword was made from bronze or brass. What a change from the Medo-Persian warrior, who wore a turban, a tunic, and trousers of cloth! The reach of this empire was even greater than that of the Medes and Persians. By the way, that “rule over the whole earth” phrase is very appropriate; Alexander demanded that people call him Alexander King of all the Earth. The Greek Empire lasted about 200 years, and then it was defeated by the fourth empire, the Roman Empire.
The Roman Empire was a “crushing” empire, just as described. It was far more brutal, far more thorough at breaking apart resistance, than any before it. It was also the largest. How long did it last? At least 500 years; it is hard to say when it ends, exactly. They did rule with an iron hand, with iron prisons, with iron rods; it is a perfect picture of their reign. Through strength, through brutally suppressing rebellion, they achieved the PaxRomana, the peace of Rome. There has been nothing like it since. Many have tried – Napolean, Hitler, the Russians – but nobody has been able to create an empire even remotely like Rome.
Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay. – Dan. 2:41-43
And what of the toes? This describes the world from the fall of Rome to today. It maintains elements of Rome; even in language, English, Spanish, French, Italian are mostly made from Latin, the language of the Roman empire. Governmental ideas, philosophical ideas, mathematics, and even a fair amount of construction – all based on what was done in the Roman Empire. But it is not really an empire, is it? We are not a single government, but many. There is no PaxRomana, but a constant series of wars. We are iron mixed with baked clay. We are brittle, vulnerable, even while we have strength. By the way, how many toes does a person have? Ten. That is important, but I just don’t have time to talk about it today. We will have an opportunity to get back to it later in Daniel.
“In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This 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. – Dan. 2:44-45a
What is the rock? I have to tell you, God orchestrated the fact that Nebuchadnezzar didn’t tell his counselors the dream, because if he had, they would have said Nebuchadnezzar was the rock. Why? His very name (given to him by his father) literally means, “Oh god Nabu, defend my rock.” A prayer name, such as this, always referred to the name of the person; that is, Nebuchadnezzar’s father named him this as a prayer to the god Nabu to defend his son.
But of course Nabu was a false god. Interestingly, Nabu was worshiped as a god of wisdom and destiny. That is, the Babylonians believed that Nabu set out what was to happen, including the length of days for each person. Isaiah 46:1 specifically mentions Nabu (Nebo) as a false god. In contrasting Nebo to the real God, this same passage (Isaiah 46) says, I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.
Who was the rock? Not Nebuchadnezzar, but Christ. He is the stone, the cornerstone. And a day is coming when there will be a fifth global kingdom, the kingdom of Christ. It will strike at the feet of iron and clay (our modern age) and destroy the entire statue, making it like dust. By the way, did you notice that we are already down to the toes of this statue? There are no more kingdoms to come, but that of Christ. We are truly in the last days.
Now what about the wind? Does it mean anything? What about the rock turning into a giant mountain? This symbolism may not mean much to us, but I believe it was very specifically chosen because of the effect it would have on Nebuchadnezzar.
The Babylonian creation myth, called the Enuma Elis, preserved on ancient tablets, teaches that Nabu’s father was the god Marduk, the “creator god.” Unlike the true Bible story, Marduk was one of a number of gods, who rose to great power by winning a god-to-god civil war through the use of controlling the winds. You can think of Marduk as the wind god. Marduk also, for winning the civil war, was given 50 names. Babylonians often chose a particular name of Marduk as the object of their worship.
What did Nebuchadnezzar pick? From ancient inscriptions, we know that he worshiped Marduk as ShaduRubu. And what does ShaduRabu mean? It means the great mountain.
If Nebuchadnezzar had told his dream to his advisors, they undoubtedly would have said that the great mountain and the wind referred to Marduk, and the stone was his son Nabu. But they didn’t get the chance to spin it this way. Instead, Nebuchadnezzar was confronted with the miraculous power of Daniel to tell him his dream, and he had no logical choice but to accept his interpretation. This meant that Daniel’s god was the true God, the God of everything, creator, ruler of the wind, the rock, and the Great Mountain. (And every other name of Marduk.) And here is Daniel’s conclusion and Nebuchadnezzar’s response:
“The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy.” Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him. The king said to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.” – Dan. 2:45b-47
Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men. Moreover, at Daniel’s request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court. – Dan. 2:48-49
I find this awesome on so many levels – God’s orchestration of history to raise up Daniel, God’s revelation to Nebuchadnezzar, and God’s revelation of history – centuries before it ever happened – to us. Surely our God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries!
The book of Daniel takes during and after the fall of the land of Israel. God allowed Israel to fall, in fact, He repeatedly warned His people that the fall was coming, because they had forsaken God. God, who is the orchestrator of all of history, used a man named Nebuchadnezzar son of Nabopolassarto do this. Nabopolassar started things by delivering Babylon from its dependence on Assyria and destroying Nineveh. While Nabopolassar still reigned, he sent his son Nebuchadnezzar to lead military campaigns, and under Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonians defeated the Egyptian army and drove them back to their homeland, essentially ending the Egyptian empire for good. Nebuchadnezzar continued with other military campaigns to defeat the Syrians and the Phoenicians, and Nebuchadnezzar returned to Babylon after his father’s death to take the throne of what we call the neo-Babylonian Empire, the greatest empire in terms of might and reach the world had yet seen.
Despite the repeated warnings of the Israelite prophets, the split kingdoms of Israel and Judah refused to repent, and as a result, God used the Babylonians to defeat the Israelites, capturing Jerusalem in 597 BC and deposing King Jehoiakim, and then, due to rebellion, destroying the city including the royal palace and the Temple in 587 BC. Nebuchadnezzar also laid siege to the nation of Tyre, which eventually also submitted to Babylonian rule.
During the years in which Nebuchadnezzar attacked Israel, there were a number of raids in which useful Israelites were captured and brought back to Babylon. Among these were a young (probably teenage) Daniel with his friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. These four were chosen for special training, in part to serve the king, providing wisdom and advice, in part to help break down whatever remained of Israelite resistance (seeing some of their own men among the king’s advisors would help them feel “represented”) and in part to break down the Israelite culture (seeing these men adopt Babylonian beliefs and customs would encourage them to do the same).
In Daniel Chapter 1, as we saw last week, Daniel and his friends chose to stay true to the Hebrew laws about clean vs. unclean food, refusing the king’s food, and such refusal could have gone disastrously, God rewarded their faithfulness and nothing happened to them; indeed, God blessed them with health. By the way, I don’t think that saying that we all should only eat vegetables and water is a valid conclusion from this verse. Going by the rest of the things that happen in Daniel, I think it is more fitting to conclude that God blessed their health despite their very limited diet. I’m not saying that living as a vegetarian or vegan is a bad or unhealthy, if done right; but normally vegetarians also eat fruit and nuts and grains; it appears that these guys were only eating veggies. I think the point is that God blessed them because they held to the law of Moses as best as they could in this foreign place in which everything was intentionally meant to break them apart from these things.
The chapter says that God gave them understanding and knowledge, and to Daniel, specifically, God also gave the supernatural ability to understand dreams and visions, much as how, many years earlier, God had given a similar ability to Joseph, another man trapped in a foreign culture. And just as God used Joseph to mightily influence the empire at that time, the empire of Egypt, God was about to use Daniel to influence the neo-Babylonians. The chapter ends by telling of a meeting between Daniel and his friends and the mighty king Nebuchadnezzar himself, and Nebuchadnezzar was so impressed with their wisdom and understanding that, though they were outsiders, though they were strange in the eyes of the Babylonian culture, and though they were still very young, they were added to the “wise men” who served as counselors to the king.
Let’s continue with Chapter 2.
In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his mind was troubled and he could not sleep. So the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologersto tell him what he had dreamed. When they came in and stood before the king, he said to them, “I have had a dream that troubles me and I want to know what it means.” – Dan. 2:1-3
Now, from what we will see in the coming verses, Daniel and his friends were not included in this collection. Why is that? Well, probably, although Daniel and his friends were now part of the king’s counseling group, they were still considered as in training. In fact, verse 5 of Chapter 1 says they were to be in trained for 3 years, yet this is only the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. Regardless, the king had quite a collection of advisers here. Who were these people? The KJV calls them magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, and Chaldeans. The magicians were academic types, whether they studied scientific things or the occult. The astrologers were people who looked at the stars to tell the future; you can still find some who believe in this today. The sorcerers were those who were mediums. They claimed to talk with the dead and have the dead talk through them. The final group, literally the Chaldeans, were the ones the NIV calls astrologers. They were considered the wisest of the wise. They were essentially Nebuchadnezzar’s “inner cabinet.” They came from Chaldea, the same location as Nebuchadnezzar and his father. And they are the ones who reply to the king’s request.
Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will interpret it.” The king replied to the astrologers, “This is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble. But if you tell me the dream and explain it, you will receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. So tell me the dream and interpret it for me.” – Dan. 2:4-6
Wow! That certainly makes it harder, doesn’t it? Now, the KJV translates “This is what I have firmly decided” as “The thing is gone from me.” Some think that this means that Nebuchadnezzar forgot his dream; others think that the NIV translation is essentially correct, that what the words mean is “here is my decree.” Which is it? Well, it is hard to know.
I will say that detailed neo-Babylonian tablets of dream interpretation have been found. In these tablets there was a system for analyzing every tiniest part of a dream, and thus, it was important to remember the details of a dream. In fact, there are other documents showing that the people tried to remember their dreams in detail for this very purpose. Thus, it is possible that the problem was that Nebuchadnezzar remembered parts of the dream but did not know it well enough for the dream-analysis people to do their work. I don’t think he forgot the entire dream; if that were the case, how would he know if what the advisors said was correct?
Another theory is that Nebuchadnezzar was really not that impressed with his many advisors in other areas, and so he did this as a test to see if they really had wisdom from God or not. He certainly had to be shaken by the wisdom of Daniel and his friends, which the end of Daniel Chapter 1 called “ten times better than the wisdom of all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.”
I don’t think it is particularly important that we know why Nebuchadnezzar made this request. The key thing is that he made it, and as we shall see, I think there is no doubt that God is as much behind this as He is behind the dream itself.
Once more they replied, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will interpret it.” Then the king answered, “I am certain that you are trying to gain time, because you realize that this is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me the dream, there is just one penalty for you. You have conspired to tell me misleading and wicked things, hoping the situation will change. So then, tell me the dream, and I will know that you can interpret it for me.” – Dan. 2:7-9
Regardless of why Nebuchadnezzar initially made the request, now he is getting angry and accuses his advisors of misleading him and telling him wicked things. What was that penalty again? It is back in verses 4-6, which the NIV somewhat waters down. I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble. Literally, the cutting up into pieces is right, but the houses were not only turned to rubble, they were to become dunghills, that is, places that people use to go to the bathroom.
Did you know that the Israelites also did this on at least one occasion? How’s that for Bible trivia.
They brought the sacred stone out of the temple of Baal and burned it. They demolished the sacred stone of Baal and tore down the temple of Baal, and people have used it for a latrine to this day. – 2 Kings 10:26-27
Hopefully that won’t be the only thing you remember from today’s teaching. Anyway, this response makes the king’s advisors quite panicky, appropriately so, I might add. Continuing with the passage:
The astrologers answered the king, “There is not a man on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men.” – Dan. 2:10-11
This made the king so angry and furious that he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon. So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to put them to death. – Dan. 2:12-13
Wow. The king has quite a temper! This doesn’t seem to be uncommon with those who wield such great power. Power corrupts, the saying goes.
When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, had gone out to put to death the wise men of Babylon, Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact. He asked the king’s officer, “Why did the king issue such a harsh decree?” Arioch then explained the matter to Daniel. At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him. – Dan. 2:14-16
How interesting that the very thing the king accused the others of – stalling for time – as we shall see, he grants to Daniel. Why? Apart from the work of God on the events here, Daniel had wisdom and tact. We saw this last week as well. I can just see Daniel speaking to Arioch – maybe I am reading things into the passage, but I see compassion in Daniel’s question. He knows that Arioch doesn’t want to kill all the wise men. And so he asks the question and as a good listener, and, again, showing wisdom and tact, gets permission to ask the king for more time. And the king agrees!
Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven and said: – Dan. 2:17-20a
Recall that Daniel already knew that God had gifted him in the ability to interpret dreams. But to know a dream before it was spoken, this was indeed an impossible task! What does Daniel do? Go to his friends and pray together with them. There is no sign that they panicked, or that they had a pity party, or that they blamed God, or had a wild party on what might be their last night alive – none of that. I am sure they were experiencing the emotions you would expect anyone to have in such a situation, but those emotions did not drive them to do anything inappropriate; if they drove them at all, it was to prayer. The real test of your faith is not when everything is going well; it is when you enter a desperate situation. Not that we should look forward to such situations, but we should understand that God allows them for a greater good, and part of that good is to grow us. And so God revealed the dream and the interpretation to Daniel! God answered their prayers. And here is Daniel’s beautiful response:
“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; He sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wiseand knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with Him. I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers: You have given me wisdom and power, You have made known to me what we asked of You, You have made known to us the dream of the king.” – Dan. 2:20b-23
Then Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to execute the wise men of Babylon, and said to him, “Do not execute the wise men of Babylon. Take me to the king, and I will interpret his dream for him.” Arioch took Daniel to the king at once and said, “I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can tell the king what his dream means.” – Dan. 2:24-25
The king asked Daniel (also called Belteshazzar), “Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?” Daniel replied, “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay on your bed are these:– Dan. 2:26-28
I just love Daniel’s response. He doesn’t just say, “Yes, yes I can.” He gives credit to God, and explains to Nebuchadnezzar something about God. He uses this situation as an opportunity to teach Nebuchadnezzar about the true God.
“As you were lying there, O king, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen. As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than other living men, but so that you, O king, may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind. – Dan. 2:29-30
Daniel has such humility! Daniel didn’t have to say that part about not having greater wisdom; in fact, he probably does have greater wisdom than nearly all other living men. But he wants no attention placed on himself; he wants the praise to go solely to God. To Daniel it is more important that Nebuchadnezzar praise God than that he has a good feeling about Daniel. Daniel at this point is not thinking about himself at all – this is always a sign of true humility. And so, here is the dream:
“You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. – Dan. 2:31-34
A gold head, then silver chest and arms, then bronze belly and thighs, then iron legs, and finally, feet mixed with iron and pottery (baked clay). And then a rock, not cut by human hands, striking the statue on its feet and smashing it.
Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. – Dan. 2:35-36
The entire statue breaks apart into dust, and then a great wind sweeping it away. And then the rock transforming into a huge mountain. The four part statue, the rock, the wind, and then mountain. What does it all mean?
“You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold. – Dan. 2:37-38
Gold, on top, gold the head, represented the kingdom for which Nebuchadnezzar was king, the Babylonian empire. By the way, Ezekiel 26:7 also calls him a king of kings. This empire lasted 70 years, the same number of years as the exile. God raised them up to judge the Israel and then He ended their reign. Gold, by the way, is a very appropriate symbol for the Babylonians. The Greek historian Herodotus visited Babylon about 90 years after Nebuchadnezzar, and he wrote that he never saw as much gold as he saw in Babylon. We have other historical documents that say Nebuchadnezzar wanted to build an entirely gold-covered city with a golden throne. And so the Babylonian empire was the head of gold.
“After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. – Dan. 2:39-40
The chest and arms, you recall, were of silver. This represented a second kingdom, of which little is said here in Daniel. But by studying history, we can easily figure out what this second kingdom must have been. Who came after the Babylonians?
The Babylonian Empire made it to 538 BC, and then came Cyrus the Great, and with him, the Medo-Persian Empire.And just as, going down the body, you have unity in the head, unity in the upper chest, but then a split as you reach the arms, so was the Medo-Persian empire. It consisted of the Medes and the Persians. There wasn’t unity in this empire like there was with the Babylonians; it was two groups working together. By the way, this empire grew to be even larger, much larger, than the Babylonian empire. Now, the word in Aramaic translated as silver could also be translated as money; they are the same word. And the Medo-Persian Empire developed, for the first time, a detailed system of taxation. They required that their taxes be paid in silver, and as a result, they acquired tons and tons and tons of this metal. This silver was used to finance wars, including a massive war against what would become the third empire.
The Medo-Persian Empire made it to about 330 BC, about 200 years, and then we come to the third empire, one represented by the bronze (or brass) belly and thighs. Who was this? The Greeks. Again, moving down the body, there is first unity and then a split at the thighs. The Greek Empire initially had as leader Philip of Macedon, and then his son, Alexander the Great. Then the power of the empire was split among four generals, two centered in Syria, and two in Egypt. So again you see the split. What about bronze/brass? Well, a Greek soldier was literally covered in the stuff; his helmet, his breastplate, his shield, and even his sword was made from bronze or brass. What a change from the Medo-Persian warrior, who wore a turban, a tunic, and trousers of cloth! The reach of this empire was even greater than that of the Medes and Persians. By the way, that “rule over the whole earth” phrase is very appropriate; Alexander demanded that people call him Alexander King of all the Earth. The Greek Empire lasted about 200 years, and then it was defeated by the fourth empire, the Roman Empire.
The Roman Empire was a “crushing” empire, just as described. It was far more brutal, far more thorough at breaking apart resistance, than any before it. It was also the largest. How long did it last? At least 500 years; it is hard to say when it ends, exactly. They did rule with an iron hand, with iron prisons, with iron rods; it is a perfect picture of their reign. Through strength, through brutally suppressing rebellion, they achieved the PaxRomana, the peace of Rome. There has been nothing like it since. Many have tried – Napolean, Hitler, the Russians – but nobody has been able to create an empire even remotely like Rome.
Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay. – Dan. 2:41-43
And what of the toes? This describes the world from the fall of Rome to today. It maintains elements of Rome; even in language, English, Spanish, French, Italian are mostly made from Latin, the language of the Roman empire. Governmental ideas, philosophical ideas, mathematics, and even a fair amount of construction – all based on what was done in the Roman Empire. But it is not really an empire, is it? We are not a single government, but many. There is no PaxRomana, but a constant series of wars. We are iron mixed with baked clay. We are brittle, vulnerable, even while we have strength. By the way, how many toes does a person have? Ten. That is important, but I just don’t have time to talk about it today. We will have an opportunity to get back to it later in Daniel.
“In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This 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. – Dan. 2:44-45a
What is the rock? I have to tell you, God orchestrated the fact that Nebuchadnezzar didn’t tell his counselors the dream, because if he had, they would have said Nebuchadnezzar was the rock. Why? His very name (given to him by his father) literally means, “Oh god Nabu, defend my rock.” A prayer name, such as this, always referred to the name of the person; that is, Nebuchadnezzar’s father named him this as a prayer to the god Nabu to defend his son.
But of course Nabu was a false god. Interestingly, Nabu was worshiped as a god of wisdom and destiny. That is, the Babylonians believed that Nabu set out what was to happen, including the length of days for each person. Isaiah 46:1 specifically mentions Nabu (Nebo) as a false god. In contrasting Nebo to the real God, this same passage (Isaiah 46) says, I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.
Who was the rock? Not Nebuchadnezzar, but Christ. He is the stone, the cornerstone. And a day is coming when there will be a fifth global kingdom, the kingdom of Christ. It will strike at the feet of iron and clay (our modern age) and destroy the entire statue, making it like dust. By the way, did you notice that we are already down to the toes of this statue? There are no more kingdoms to come, but that of Christ. We are truly in the last days.
Now what about the wind? Does it mean anything? What about the rock turning into a giant mountain? This symbolism may not mean much to us, but I believe it was very specifically chosen because of the effect it would have on Nebuchadnezzar.
The Babylonian creation myth, called the Enuma Elis, preserved on ancient tablets, teaches that Nabu’s father was the god Marduk, the “creator god.” Unlike the true Bible story, Marduk was one of a number of gods, who rose to great power by winning a god-to-god civil war through the use of controlling the winds. You can think of Marduk as the wind god. Marduk also, for winning the civil war, was given 50 names. Babylonians often chose a particular name of Marduk as the object of their worship.
What did Nebuchadnezzar pick? From ancient inscriptions, we know that he worshiped Marduk as ShaduRubu. And what does ShaduRabu mean? It means the great mountain.
If Nebuchadnezzar had told his dream to his advisors, they undoubtedly would have said that the great mountain and the wind referred to Marduk, and the stone was his son Nabu. But they didn’t get the chance to spin it this way. Instead, Nebuchadnezzar was confronted with the miraculous power of Daniel to tell him his dream, and he had no logical choice but to accept his interpretation. This meant that Daniel’s god was the true God, the God of everything, creator, ruler of the wind, the rock, and the Great Mountain. (And every other name of Marduk.) And here is Daniel’s conclusion and Nebuchadnezzar’s response:
“The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy.” Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him. The king said to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.” – Dan. 2:45b-47
Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men. Moreover, at Daniel’s request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court. – Dan. 2:48-49
I find this awesome on so many levels – God’s orchestration of history to raise up Daniel, God’s revelation to Nebuchadnezzar, and God’s revelation of history – centuries before it ever happened – to us. Surely our God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries!
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