THE BOOK OF DANIEL
Lesson 2
Chapter 2
Nebuchadnezzar's Dream
Lord Jesus,
The world is full of perils. We often feel helpless when tossed on the waves of chance and cry out in fear of being swept away by events beyond our control. It is in those times of weakness, Lord, that we seek our strength in You and cling to Your promise, blessed Jesus, that You will never leave nor forsake us. As we study about the suffering of the Old Covenant Church in this lesson, we pray that You will give us strength when we face adversity. We pray in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.
+ + +
"His holy
hill!" is his Holy Church. It is that mountain which, according to Daniel's
vision, grew from a very small stone until it overtook the kingdoms of the earth
and grew to such a size that it "filled the face of the earth."
St. Augustine, Explanations
of the Psalms, 43.4
What is the
stone...but Christ? For of him Isaiah says, "And I am laying in Zion for a
foundation, a costly stone, precious, elect;" and Daniel likewise, "A stone was
cut out but not by hand," that is, Christ was born without a man.
St. Gregory of
Nyssa, On the Baptism of Christ
Chapter 2: Nebuchadnezzar's Dream of the Composite Statue
The Prophet Daniel received seven prophetic revelations from the late seventh century to the mid-sixth century BC. Four historical empires that succeeded each other and had an impact on the history of God's holy people fulfilled several of Daniel's visions. The Babylonian king's composite statue dream was the first of the prophetic revelations that pertained to the future of the covenant people and the coming of the Redeemer-Messiah who will establish a fifth, everlasting Kingdom.
Daniel 2:1-13 ~ The King Nebuchadnezzar Threatens the
Lives of Daniel and His Friends
1 In the second
year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had a series of dreams [dreamed dreams]; he
was perturbed by this and sleep deserted him. 2 The king then had magicians and soothsayers, sorcerers and
Chaldaeans summoned to tell him what his dreams meant. They arrived and stood
in the king's presence. 3 The king
said to them, "I have had a dream, and my mind is troubled by a wish to
understand it." 4 The Chaldaeans
answered the king: "May your majesty live for ever! Tell your servants the
dream, and we shall reveal its meaning for you" 5 The king answered the Chaldaeans, "This is my firm resolve: if
you cannot tell me what I dreamt and what it means, I shall have you torn limb
from limb and your houses turned into dunghills. 6 If, on the other hand, you can tell me what I dreamt and what
it means, I shall give you presents, rewards and high honor. So tell me what I
dreamt and what it means." 7 A
second time they said, "Let the king tell his dream to his servants, and we
shall reveal its meaning." 8 But
the king retorted, "It is plain to me that you are trying to gain time, knowing
my proclaimed resolve. 9 If you do
not interpret my dream for me, there will be but one sentence passed on you
all; you have agreed among yourselves to make me misleading and tortuous
speeches while the time goes by. So, tell me what my dream was, and then I
shall know whether you can interpret it." 10
The Chaldaeans answered the king, "Nobody in the world could explain the
king's problem; what is more, no other king, governor or chief would think of
putting such a question to any magician, soothsayer or Chaldaean. 11 The question the king asks is difficult, and
no one can find the king an answer to it, except the gods, whose dwelling is
not with mortals." 12 At this the
king flew into a rage and ordered all the Babylonian sages to be put to death. 13 On publication of the decree to have the
sages killed, search was made for Daniel and his companions to have them put to
death.
[...] = IBHE, Vol. III, page 2034.
The text changes from Hebrew to Aramaic in verse 4b, the language of the Babylonians and the language Daniel was trained to speak and write for his service to the Babylonian king. The text continues in a third-person narrative.
1 In the second
year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had a series of dreams [dreamed dreams]; he
was perturbed by this and sleep deserted him.
The date is 603 BC and allows for Daniel's three years of
training from 605-603 BC. Some Biblical commentators miss this connection by making
two mistakes when calculating years of a king's reign or counting days, weeks,
months, or years based on the information in Scripture. The first mistake is
in not taking into account that the ancients did not count with the concept of
a zero place-value as we count time today. Counting days without the concept
of a zero place-value is the reason the New Testament continually records that
Jesus was in His tomb three days from Friday to Sunday instead of two days as
we would count the days. It is also why some commentators want to insist that
the Passover sacrifice during Jesus' last week in Jerusalem took place on a
Friday based on John 12:1 that records it was six days from His Saturday dinner
in Bethany (the day before Palm/Passion Sunday) to the Passover sacrifice. As
we would count the days with the concept of a zero place-value, it makes the
sixth day a Friday. However, as the ancients counted, Saturday was the first
day in the count and the sixth day was Thursday, in agreement with two thousand
years of Church history and tradition.
The second mistake is not considering the different traditions in calculating the number of years of a king's reign. The Egyptians counted the first year from the same year the Pharaoh ascended the throne, but the Assyrians and Babylonians called the year a king succeeded his predecessor his "accession year" and the next year became year one in his reign.(1)
Nebuchadnezzar became King of Babylon in August of 605 BC, the same year Daniel and his friends became captives. Since the Babylonians did not count a partial year but only full years of the reign of a king, 605 BC was designated Nebuchadnezzar's "accession year." Therefore, the first year of his reign began in the Babylonian new year in March of 604 BC, and the second year was 603 BC, the year Daniel and his friends were admitted to the king's service after three years of study as the ancients counted from 605 BC to 603 BC.(2)
| The Three Years of Instruction | Nebuchadnezzar's Reign |
| 605 BC: the year the young Jews were captured and began their instruction. | 605 BC: Nebuchadnezzar's accession year. |
| 604 BC: the second year of instruction. | 604 BC: year #1 of Nebuchadnezzar's reign. |
| 603 BC: the third year of instruction. | 603 BC: year #2 of Nebuchadnezzar's reign. |
Keep in mind that in the modern calendar we count down the years until Jesus' birth, and we count forward every year after the birth of Christ in years designated Anno Domini, "the year of the Lord" or AD. The year before Jesus' birth is year 1 BC (before Christ) and the year after Jesus' birth is Anno Domini/AD 1. There is no year 0. The recently popular designation BCE (before common era) remains calculated on the year before the birth of Christ as year 1 BC.
2 The king then
had magicians and soothsayers, sorcerers and Chaldaeans summoned to tell him
what his dreams meant.
Chaldaeans were the Aramaean people who gained ascendancy
in Babylon and helped to found the Neo-Babylonian empire.(3) However,
the term "Chaldaeans" in the Aramaic sections of the Book of Daniel also
applies to the learned astrologers/astronomers and magicians among the
Chaldeans (Dan 2:5, 10; 4:4; 5:7, 11). The Magi who visited the Christ child were
probably Chaldaean astronomers (Mt 2:1-18).
Nebuchadnezzar wanted the learned men of his court to interpret his dream. But he refuses to describe the dream, making the unreasonable demand that they tell him the details of his dream and its meaning as a test of their abilities. When they protest that the king is giving them an impossible test, Nebuchadnezzar accuses them of being frauds and orders the death of all the Babylonian court sages, including Daniel and his friends. The 1st century AD Jewish priest and historian, Flavius Josephus, suggests upon waking up from the series of dreams that Nebuchadnezzar knew he experienced significant dreams but was frustrated because he could not remember the details of the dreams. It was for that reason he required the sages to tell him the details of his dreams (Antiquities of the Jews, 10.10.3 [195]).
Daniel 2:14-18 ~ Daniel Intervenes
14 Then, with
shrewd and cautious words, Daniel approached Arioch, the king's chief
executioner [rab-tabbahayya], when he was on his way to kill the Babylonian
sages. 15 To this royal official Arioch
he said, "Why has the king issued such a harsh decree?" Arioch explained
matters to Daniel, 16 and Daniel
went off to ask the king for a stay of execution to give him the opportunity of
revealing his interpretation to the king. 17
Daniel then went home and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah
what had happened, 18 urging them
to beg the God of heaven to show his mercy and explain the mysterious secret,
so that Daniel and his friends might be spared the fate of the other Babylonian
sages.
When Daniel hears that kings ordered the death of all the wise men in his service, he intervenes by seeking out the chief executioner, Arioch, and requests an explanation concerning the king's order.(4) The Arioch's Aramaic title, rab-tabbahayya, in verse 14 is similar to the Hebrew term rab-tabbahim in 2 Kings 25:8-20 where it is the title of a high-ranking officer in Nebuchadnezzar's army. It is Daniel's desire not only to save himself and his fellow Judahites but the Gentile wise men of Babylon (verse 24). Daniel's willingness to sacrifice himself to save both his Jewish kinsmen and innocent Gentiles from the Babylonian king's temporal judgment prefigures Christ's willingness to offer Himself to save both Jews and Gentiles from God's eternal judgment.
We can only imagine how the poor officer must have felt, caught between carrying out the deaths of innocent men and the wrath of an unreasonable king. After hearing the circumstances of the order, Daniel courageously goes to the king to request postponing the execution until he has had the opportunity to interpret the king's dream. The king would have remembered Daniel as the most impressive of the young men admitted to his court after testing the new candidates for service to the Empire (1:19-20).
Question: In
response to what appears to be an impossible situation, what does Daniel do and
what is the lesson for us on this side of salvation history?
Answer: Daniel enlists the help of his friends in
turning to God in prayer. God hears their prayers and grants their petition,
revealing to Daniel both the dream and the meaning of the dream. The lesson
for us is that no matter how desperate the situation, God is always with us. Our
prayers are powerful when we are praying in accord with the will of God,
especially when we join with others in prayer.
Question: What promise did Jesus make in Matthew 18:19-20 and how do we claim that promise in the celebration of the Mass?
Answer: Jesus promised our heavenly Father will
hear our prayers and will give us His guidance according to His divine will for
our lives. It is the reason the entire congregation offers intercessory
prayers at Mass.
Daniel 2:19-26 ~ God Answers Daniel's Prayer
19 The mystery was
then revealed to Daniel in a night-vision, and Daniel blessed the God of
heaven. 20 This is what Daniel
said: "May the name of God be blessed forever and ever since wisdom and power
are his alone. 21 It is he who
controls the procession of times and seasons, who makes and unmakes kings, who confers
wisdom on the wise, and knowledge on those with discernment, 22 who uncovers
depths and mysteries, who knows what lies in darkness; and light dwells with
him. 23 To you, God of my
fathers, I give thanks and praise for having given me wisdom and strength: to me
you have explained what we asked you, to us you have explained the king's
problem." 24 So Daniel went to see
Arioch, whom the king had made responsible for putting the Babylonian sages to
death. Going in, he said, "Do not put the Babylonian sages to death. Take me
into the king's presence, and I will reveal the meaning to the king." 25 Arioch lost no time in bringing Daniel to the
king. "Among the exiles from Judah," he said, "I have discovered a man who can
reveal the meaning to the king." 26 The
king said to Daniel (who had been given the name Belteshazzar), "Can you tell
me what I dreamt and what it means?"
In shifting from the first person singular to the first person plural (I, me, we, us in verse 23), Daniel wishes to include his companions, who had helped him by their prayers to obtain the revelation (see verse 17).
God answered the prayers of Daniel and his friends by revealing the King's dream and its meaning, confirming the power of intercessory prayer. The term "the God of heaven" (verse 19) was a common post-exile title for Yahweh until it fell out of favor among the Jews because it was similar to the Gentile title "lord of heaven" that pagans used for their gods in a later era (e.g., Ezra 1:2; 6:9, 10; 7:12, 21, 23; Neh 1:4, 5; 2:4, 20). The narrative shifts from the third person to the first person with Daniel's prayer.
In response to God's answer to their prayers, Daniel offers Yahweh a prayer of thanksgiving and praise, naming ten attributes of God. Daniel:
22 who uncovers depths and mysteries, who knows what lies in darkness; and light dwells with him. "Light" and "darkness" mentioned in verse 22 are often symbolic metaphors in Scripture. In the Old Testament, light is often a symbol for various concepts, such as sight, knowledge, truth, goodness, happiness, and life itself. Darkness is symbolic of the lack of these things. In the context of verse 22, "light' is God's knowledge of deep and hidden things of which others remain in darkness. In the New Testament, light and darkness stand for truth and error, goodness and evil, life and death (see for example Jn 3:21; 8:12; 12:26; 1 Thess 5:5; Eph 5:8; 1 Jn 1:7; 2:9).
The words mystery/secret and vision are keywords in the Book of Daniel. The Hebrew word raz, meaning "mystery" or "secret" (singular and plural) appears eight times in Daniel 2:18, 19, 27, 28, 29, 30, 47; 4:9. In the New Testament, St. Paul writes of "the mystery of Christ" (Col 4:3) as God's divine plan for humanity's salvation in Jesus Christ which He kept secret in the Old Testament but revealed to Christians.(5) The Hebrew word for vision, chezev/chazown (Strong's Concordance #s 2376 and 77) and its synonym, marieh (Strong's Concordance # 4758) appear over 30 times in the Book of Daniel.
The chief executioner cooperates by immediately bringing Daniel into the presence of the king. His support of Daniel is an act that puts his life in jeopardy. He presents Daniel, known by the Babylonian name Belteshazzar, "(the god) Bel guard his life." But it is not a false god of Babylon who guards Daniel's life; it is Yahweh, the One True God who also extends His protection to the sympatric chief executioner.
Question: What hopeful message is there for us in
the unfolding of these events?
Answer: If you trust in God and cooperate in His
plan for you and others, He will protect and bless you as he protected Daniel
and the chief executioner.
Daniel 2:27-45 ~ Daniel Interprets the King's Dream
27 Facing the
king, Daniel replied, "None of the sages, soothsayers,
magicians or exorcists has been able to tell the king the truth of the
mystery which the king has propounded; 28 but
there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries and who has shown King
Nebuchadnezzar what is to take place in the final days [in the end of days]. These,
then, are the dream and the visions that passed through your head as you lay in
bed: 29 Your Majesty, on your bed
your thoughts turned to what would happen in the future, and the Revealer of
Mysteries disclosed to you what is to take place. 30 This mystery has been revealed to me, not
that I am wiser than anyone else, but for this sole purpose: that the king
should learn what it means, and that you should understand your inmost
thoughts. 31 "You have had a
vision, Your Majesty; this is what you saw: a statue, a great statue of extreme
brightness, stood before you, terrible to see. 32 The head of this statue was of fine gold, its chest and arms
were of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet part iron, part clay. 34 While
you were gazing, a stone broke away, untouched by any hand, and struck the
statue, struck its feet of iron and clay and shattered them. 35 Then, iron and clay, bronze, silver and gold,
all broke into pieces as fine as chaff on the threshing-floor in summer. The
wind blew them away, leaving not a trace behind. And the stone that had struck
the statue grew into a great mountain, filling the whole world. 36 This was the dream; we shall now explain to
the king what it means. 37 "You,
Your Majesty, king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given sovereignty,
power, strength and honor: 38 human
beings, wild animals, birds of the air, wherever they live, he has entrusted to
your rule, making you king of them all; you are the golden head. 39 And, after you, another kingdom will rise,
not as great as yours, and then a third, of bronze, which will rule the whole
world. 40 There will be a fourth
kingdom, hard as iron, as iron that pulverizes and crushes all. Like iron that
breaks everything to pieces, it will crush and break all the earlier kingdoms. 41 The feet you saw, part earthenware, part
iron, are a kingdom which will be split in two, but which will retain something
of the strength of iron, just as you saw the iron and the clay of the
earthenware mixed together. 42 The
feet were part iron, part potter's clay: the kingdom will be partly strong and
partly brittle. 43 And just as you
saw the iron and the clay of the earthenware mixed together, so the two will be
mixed together in human seed; but they will not hold together any more than
iron will blend with clay. 44 In the days of those kings, the God of heaven
will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not
pass into the hands of another race: it will shatter and absorb all the previous
kingdoms and itself last forever, 45 just
as you saw a stone, untouched by hand, break away from the mountain and reduce
iron, bronze, earthenware, silver and gold to powder. The Great God has shown the king what is to take place.
The dream is true, the interpretation exact." [...] = Aramaic
translation, The Book of Daniel, Hartman and Di Lella, page 140.
Question: As he bravely begins his presentation
to the king, what three points does Daniel make immediately in verses 27-28a?
Answer:
These, then, are the dream and the visions that passed
through your head as you lay in bed
The "mystery" Daniel refers to in verse 28 is God's
divine plan concerning the kingdoms that will rule over the covenant people
leading to the advent of the Davidic Redeemer-Messiah and the final age of
humanity.
28 but there is a
God in heaven who reveals mysteries and who has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what
is to take place in the final days [in the end of days].
The Aramaic expression "final days/the end of days," corresponds
to the Hebrew expression found in Isaiah 2:2; Hosea 3:5 and Daniel 10:14. It
is an eschatological (end times) term usually pointing to the end of time as
humanity knows it. However, in this case it points to the end of the Age of
the Gentiles and the beginning of the Messianic Era that will be the final age
of humanity beginning with the founding of the 5th Kingdom.
32 The head of
this statue was of fine gold, its chest and arms were of silver, its belly and
thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of
iron, its feet part iron, part clay. 34 While
you were gazing, a stone broke away, untouched by any hand, and struck the
statue, struck its feet of iron and clay and shattered them. 35 Then, iron and clay, bronze, silver and gold,
all broke into pieces as fine as chaff on the threshing-floor in summer. The
wind blew them away, leaving not a trace behind. And the stone that had struck
the statue grew into a great mountain, filling the whole world.
Daniel describes the elements of the king's dream in
detail.
36 This was the
dream; we shall now explain to the king what it means. 37 "You, Your Majesty, king of kings, to whom
the God of heaven has given sovereignty, power, strength and honor: 38 human beings, wild animals, birds of the air,
wherever they live, he has entrusted to your rule, making you king of them all;
you are the golden head. 39 And,
after you, another kingdom will rise, not as great as yours, and then a third,
of bronze, which will rule the whole world. 40
There will be a fourth kingdom, hard as iron, as iron that pulverizes
and crushes all. Like iron that breaks everything to pieces, it will crush and
break all the earlier kingdoms.
As he begins to explain the dream, Daniel tells
Nebuchadnezzar that he rules over his great kingdom that controls humans and
animals by the will of "the God of heaven," a reference to Daniel's God, Yahweh,
God of Israel/Judah. Ruling over creatures of the earth who find refuge in Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom
recalles the description Jesus gave of the growth of His kingdom and the refuge it will offer in
Matthew 13:32, comparing it to Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom and referring to
Daniel 2:38 by quoting from the Greek translation:
It becomes a large bush, and the "birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches."
Then he tells the king that the golden head of the statue represents the kingdom of Babylon that will be succeeded by three other kingdoms represented by different parts of the dream statue. When Daniel says the kingdom that will succeed Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom is "not as great as yours," Daniel may be using flattery to keep the king's attention without offending him. Daniel describes the kingdoms represented by the parts of the statue:
The bronze kingdom will "rule the whole world" (verse 39) only to be succeeded by a fourth kingdom "that pulverizes and crushes" all the other kingdoms (verse 40).
Most modern Biblical commentators list the four kingdoms as the Babylonians, the Medes, the Persians, and the Greeks, all ruling powers Daniel was familiar with during his lifetime. Their interpretation of the four kingdoms fails for four reasons:
Ancient Christian commentators like St. Jerome saw the statue's arms of sliver as representing the combined empire of the Medes and Persians (Commentary on Daniel, 2:31-35), as did St. Hippolytus (Scholia on Daniel, 2.31), and Bishop Theodoret of Cyr (Commentary on Daniel, 2:31-33). They also saw the kingdom of bronze as representing the Greeks, and the fourth empire of iron as representing the Romans (Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, 2.40; Hippolytus, Scholia on Daniel, 2:31; Theodoret, Commentary on Daniel, 2:31-33).
For modern commentators to reject the consideration of Rome as the 4th kingdom reveals a prejudice against Biblical predictive prophecy, suggesting that Daniel could not have predicted an empire that will rise to power so far in the future beyond his time. Daniel probably knew of the Greeks even though they didn't gain ascendancy over Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, and the Levant until the 4th century BC. The Romans began conquering the Greeks in the 2nd century BC but didn't take control of Greek Syria and Judah until the 1st century BC.
41 The feet you
saw, part earthenware, part iron, are a kingdom which will be split in two, but
which will retain something of the strength of iron, just as you saw the iron
and the clay of the earthenware mixed together. 42 The feet were part iron, part potter's clay: the kingdom will
be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 And
just as you saw the iron and the clay of the earthenware mixed together, so the
two will be mixed together in human seed; but they will not hold together any
more than iron will blend with clay.
The fourth kingdom will split into two kingdoms but retain its
strength. The "feet" (or toes) of the fourth kingdom is an unlikely mixture of
iron and clay (perhaps meaning fired clay like terra cotta) that is partly
strong and partly weak (verse 42). The brittle mixture will be two peoples; "human
seed" that "will not hold together" (verse 43).
In verses 44-45, Daniel explains the last part of the dream when the king saw the destruction of the composite statue: 34 a stone broke away, untouched by any hand, and struck the statue, struck its feet of iron and clay and shattered them. 35 Then, iron and clay, bronze, silver and gold, all broke into pieces as fine as chaff on the threshing-floor in summer. The wind blew them away, leaving not a trace behind. And the stone that had struck the statue grew into a great mountain, filling the whole world. Daniel says, 44 In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not pass into the hands of another race: it will shatter and absorb all the previous kingdoms and itself last forever, 45 just as you saw a stone, untouched by hand, break away from the mountain and reduce iron, bronze, earthenware, silver and gold to powder. Verse 41 in the Jewish text includes "and the toes" which does not appear in the Septuagint text.
The "stone" not created by any human hand will destroy the four successive kingdoms. The description uses the imagery of the unusable chaff left on a threshing-floor after the harvest (verse 35). The stone that "broke away" from "the mountain" will establish a fifth kingdom that will grow into a great "mountain," absorbing all the previous kingdoms and will never be destroyed (verses 44-45). The Jerusalem Temple destroyed by the Babylonians was built on Mt. Moriah (2 Chr 3:1). When the exiles returned to Judah, they rebuilt the Temple on the same site, on Mt. Moriah. The Scriptures mention a holy "stone" in several Old and New Testament passages; for example:
Also see Isaiah's Messianic prophecy of the "mountain of Yahweh's house" to which all nations will come in Isaiah 2:2-4.
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|
Nebuchadnezzar's Dream of the Composite Statue Dream (Daniel 2:1-13) |
Daniel's Interpretation of the Dream and the Historical Fulfillment (Daniel 2:14-44) |
| 1. Head of fine gold | Babylonian Empire: Daniel told the Babylonian king you are the golden head (Dan 2:38). |
| 2. Chest and arms of silver | Persian Empire: This regional empire was composed of the Medes and the Persians (one empire/chest with two arms). The Persians conquered Babylon in 539 BC. |
| 3. Belly and thighs of bronze | Greek Empire of Alexander the Great: Alexander the Great, began the conquest of the Medo-Persian Empire in 335BC. Persians were defeated by Greeks at the battle of Arbela in 331 BC, making the Greeks the regional world power. |
| 4. Legs of iron, feet part iron, part clay | Roman Empire: The Romans conquered the four smaller Greek kingdoms that emerged after Alexander's death. In campaigns from 197-30 BC, Rome conque red Greece, Asia Minor, the Levant (Judah) and Egypt. By the first century AD, Rome dominated the ancient known world. The feet of part iron and clay may represent the pro-Roman Herodian dynasty of Judea. In the fourth century AD, Rome split into the Western Empire, centered in Rome, and the Eastern Empire, centered in Constantinople (two legs). The feet which are only part iron may represent the ten Roman provinces. The Roman Empire collapsed in the fifth century AD. |
| 5. The stone that struck the statue to become a greater kingdom | The 5th Kingdom: The final kingdom was prophesied to be "everlasting" (Dan 2:44; 7:14, 18, 27) ...the God of heaven will set up a kingdom it will shatter and absorb all the previous kingdoms and itself last forever (Dan 2:44-45). It was the "stone" that broke "away from the mountain" (Dan 2:45) of the Old Sinai Covenant centered on Mt. Moriah to become the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, the New Covenant Church and the Universal Kingdom of Jesus Christ. |
| M. Hunt Copyright © 2018 | |
Some scholars see a progression in the materials that composed each part of the statue according to value, gold being of the greatest value and iron the least valuable. However, this assessment is unlikely since each succeeded kingdom was larger and more successful than the former and none were morally superior over the former. Others look to the hardness of the metals, but gold and silver are both soft metals. It is true, however, that the iron short-sword, the gladius of the Romans, contributed to the military successes of the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire.
Daniel's prophecy was that the 4th kingdom, which conquered and surpassed in power all the other kingdoms, was destined to end in the birth of a 5th kingdom: a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever (Dan 2:44-45). Verses 44-45 are the climax of Daniel's interpretation of the king's vision. The mysterious stone will smash the feet of iron and clay of the fourth kingdom, causing the whole statue to break apart, reducing it to dust which the wind will carry away (verses 34-35). However, the stone itself will grow into a mountain that will fill the whole earth. In the same way, the God of Heaven will destroy the kingdoms of the earth, and in their place, He will establish His own universal Kingdom. Unlike earthly kingdoms and all human-made works that pass away, His new, eschatological Kingdom will stand forever. It will be ruled from Heaven, as Jesus will tell Pilate at His trial: "My kingdom does not belong to this world" (Jn 18:36 NAB), but it is a spiritual kingdom/mountain that will grow, as Daniel's interpretation prophesied, to fill the entire earth (verse 35, also see the prophecies in Is 2:2-4; 11:9 and Mic 4:1-2). In Scripture, the number five is usually the symbolic number representing power and divine grace. See the document "The Symbolic Significance of Numbers in Scripture."
Question: What impact would the revelation of a future
everlasting Kingdom of God have on Daniel and his knowledge of God's
covenants? What divine promise would he have connected to the prophecy? See 2
Sam 7:12-16; 23:5; Ps 89:2-5 NAB and 1-4 NJB.
Answer: For Daniel, the prophecy would have assured him that God
had not forgotten His covenant with King David. David's throne would endure
forever when a Davidic heir established a 5th, everlasting Kingdom
as a home for the people of God.
Question: What future Davidic heir would fulfill the eternal
Davidic covenant establishing a 5th Kingdom that "broke away" from
the Temple on Mt. Moriah and would have dominion over the whole earth, destined
to last forever? See Mt 1:1; 3:1-3; 4:17;
Mk 1:14-15; Lk 1:31-33; 2:10-11;
Acts 2:29-36.
Answer: Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God and son of Mary, will
fulfill the Davidic Covenant when He establishes His universal Kingdom of the
Church in His resurrection from death and ascension into Heaven.
Question: Who did the New Testament writers identify as "the
stone" not made by human hands from Daniel's prophecy? See Mk 12:10; Acts 4:10-12; 1 Pt 2:4-8.
Answer: Jesus of Nazareth, the Redeemer-Messiah, founder of the
5th kingdom that became His spiritual Kingdom of the Universal
Church.
45b The Great God has shown the
king what is to take place. The dream is true, the interpretation exact.
The Book of Daniel is amazingly like the Book of Revelation, the last
Bible book. Both books reveal future events in divine visions to the inspired
writers. St. John, the writer of the Book of Revelation, like Daniel, receives
visions about the end of time (Rev Chapters 19-22). The Book of Revelation
uses much of the same imagery and language as Daniel and the same literary
genre of divine revelation to deliver a message of hope in God's divine plan
for humanity at two different points in salvation history. The Book of Daniel
points to the coming of the Redeemer-Messiah, and the Book of Revelation points
to His glorious return. One cannot correctly interpret the visions in Revelation
without an understanding of the Book of Daniel. Look for a chart on the
parallels between the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation in the next
lesson.
Daniel 2:46-49 ~ The King's Profession of Faith in Daniel's God
46 At this, King
Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel; he gave orders for Daniel to be
offered an oblation and a fragrant sacrifice. 47 The king said to Daniel, "Your god is indeed the God of gods,
the Master of kings [Lord of kings], and the Revealer of Mysteries since you
have been able to reveal this mystery." 48
The king then conferred high rank on Daniel and gave him many handsome
presents. He also made him governor of the whole province of Babylon and head
of all the sages of Babylon. 49 At
Daniel's request, the king entrusted the affairs of the province of Babylon to
Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego; Daniel himself remained in attendance on the
king.
In verse 47, "Lord of kings" or "Lord of kingdoms" is an
Aramaic rendering of the Greek Kyrios basileion. See a similar expression
in Deuteronomy 10:17; 1 Timothy 6:15 and Revelation 17:14
Nebuchadnezzar accepted Daniel's interpretation of his
dreams as revealed by Yahweh, God of Israel.
Question: How does King Nebuchadnezzar acknowledge
his acceptance of Daniel's interpretation of his dreams? How does he
acknowledge the superiority of Daniel's God?
Answer: Nebuchadnezzar gives homage to Daniel by
bowing down to him, treating him as a messenger of God, and orders the offering
of a sacrifice in Daniel's name. He acknowledges Daniel's God as:
The pagan king's profession of belief in Yahweh did not mean he accepted Yahweh as the only God of all creation. He only acknowledged Yahweh as the most powerful god and more powerful than Babylon's pantheon of gods.
48 The king then conferred high rank on Daniel and gave him many handsome presents. He also made him governor of the whole province of Babylon and head of all the sages of Babylon. 49 At Daniel's request, the king entrusted the affairs of the province of Babylon to Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego; Daniel himself remained in attendance on the king.
Question: How did the king reward Daniel?
Answer:
The story in Chapter 2 presents Yahweh as wielding power to set up and depose kings and their empires. The story sets the theme of the entire book that presents Yahweh as the Lord of lords, the King of kings, and the God above all false gods whose divine will has a far-reaching impact on the history of humanity to bring about His desired plan for the covenant people and all peoples of the earth.
A question for reflection or group discussion:
Daniel's gift in interpreting the dreams of a king
recalls the story of Joseph, the son of Jacob-Israel, his captivity in the
pagan land of Egypt, his interpretations of the dreams of an Egyptian Pharaoh,
and his service to the same Pharaoh from the Book of Genesis. How are Daniel
and Joseph's stories alike, and how are their stories different? See Genesis 37:1-36; 39:1-47:27.
Endnotes:
1. The first year of a Babylonian king's reign was his
"accession year," and the new king's "year 1" did not begin until the first day
of the following year. Historians call this the "accession year system" or the
"post-dating system." To understand how different kingdoms numbered the years
of a king's reign in the Ancient Near East see the document Dating the Reigns of the Kings of Judah and the Kings of Israel.
The Northern Kingdom of Israel followed the Egyptian tradition, but the
Southern Kingdom of Judah followed the accession year tradition like the
Assyrians and Babylonians.
2. The Babylonian New Year began following the first new moon after the vernal equinox in late March, celebrated in a multi-day festival called Akitu. The Israelite liturgical New Year began at approximately the same time during the feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread (Ex 12:1), while the civil New Year began in the early fall at the time of the autumnal equinox on the Feast of Trumpets. An equinox is commonly defined as the moment when the plane of the earth's equator passes through the center of the sun, which occurs twice each year in the spring and fall.
3. Ancient Babylonia was an Akkadian speaking state in central-southern Mesopotamia. A small state ruled by the Amorites emerged in 1894 BC with an administrative center at the city of Babylon. The Neo-Assyrian Empire conquered ancient Babylon in the late 10th century BC. In the 9th century BC, the Chaldeans migrated into the southeast of what had been the ancient Babylon Empire. They were a Semitic people who spoke Aramaic. By 850 BC, the Chaldeans established their territory in the extreme southeast of Mesopotamia. Gradually they came to dominate the region as the ruling class, introducing their Aramaic language. In 620 BC, the Neo-Babylonian Empire (Chaldean Era) rose to ascendancy in the region and challenged the Assyrians under the leadership of King Nabopolassar, the father of Nebuchadnezzar. The Medes, Persians, Saqartians, Iranians, and Parthians joined Nabopolassar in a war against the Assyrians. Later, the Elamites, Scythians from north of the Caucasus and the Cimmerians from the Black Sea as well as the regional Aramean tribes joined the Babylonian league. The armies of the Babylonian alliance continually defeated the Assyrians and their Egyptian allies and experienced their final victory at the Battle of Carchemish in 605 BC under the command of the 29-year-old Babylonian crown prince, Nebuchadnezzar.
4. The name Arioch also appears as the name of a king of Ellasar in Genesis 14:1 and 9 during the time of Abraham and in the Book of Judith as the name of a king of Elam (Judith 1:6).
5. The word "mystery" appears in the New Testament 22 times: Mk 4:11; Rom 11:25; 16:25; 1 Cor 2:7; 15:51; Eph 1:9; 3:3, 4, 9; 5:32; 6:19; Col 1:26, 27; 2:2; 4:3; 2 Thess 2:7; 1 Tim 3:9, 16; Rev 1:20; 10:7; 17:5, 7.
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2018 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.
Catechism references:
2 Samuel 7 (CCC 709); 7:14 (CCC 238, 441)
Psalm 118:22 (CCC 587, 756)
Matthew 21:42-43 (CCC 756)
Acts 4:10-11 (CCC 597, 756)
Ephesians 2:20 (CCC 857)
1 Peter 2:6-8 (CCC 756)