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Daniel 2:
One of the easiest prophecies to understand
By:
Natalie Kazzi
Introduction
The Bible is different things to different
people. To those who believe it to be true, it
serves as a moral guide, it serves as
encouragement, it serves as a reference for when
one is confused, and it serves comfort. For
those who do not believe in it as being divinely
inspired, it serves as a good story book of
fables and mysteries that some have made good
movie plots on.
There is one aspect of the validity of the Bible
that appeals to both believers and
non-believers: it is prophecy. While several
definitions of prophecy exist, the eminent theme
or gist of it is that the future is revealed in
some way. The quality of a prophecy lies in its
specificity, its accuracy, and thus validity.
Some prophecies are so vague in their meaning
that they can apply to several different events.
Others are specific in minute details that there
can be no mistake or misinterpretation as to
what they are referring to.
The prophecy in Daniel 2 is an example of a
prophecy that is so specific and detailed that
there can be no mistake as to what it is
referring to. It provides a basis for
understanding later prophecies, such as Daniel
7. Just simply reading Daniel 2 with no
experience or special knowledge of prophecy will
lead you to know what the overall message is.
Forgotten Dream
Daniel was of the
Jewish royal line, and he was taken captive to
Babylon in his youth. He was to be trained as a
wise man for the Babylonian court. Sometime
after Daniel’s instatement in court, King
Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. He felt it was
significant and wanted to know what it meant.
Back then, dreams and their interpretations held
great weight in major decisions that a ruler
would make. Unfortunately, the king could not
remember his dream, but he felt so compelled to
know its meaning that he demanded his wise men
to not only interpret the dream, but to first
tell him what he had dreamt.
The wise men,
astonished at such an impossible request,
reasoned with the king that no such thing was
possible. They urged him to remember the dream
so that they could interpret it. But the king
was no fool, he understood that the wise men
were experts at playing on words. The king was
so impressed that his dream was significant, he
did not want a misinterpretation of it, and was
convinced that if the wise men could tell him
what he had dreamt, then their interpretation of
it would be accurate as well.
Death Sentence
Frustration built
up as the king exchanged the request only to
receive the same response from the wise men each
time. Finally, the wise men stated that they can
not know his dream, or its interpretation, for
only the gods, who do not dwell among men, know
such things. Hearing this, the king realized the
uselessness of his wise men and furiously
condemned them all to death. This set the stage
for Daniel.
Daniel and his
three friends, who were also captives from Judah
trained to be wise men, were not called to
interpret the kings dream, yet they were
included in the death sentence. Surprised when
they heard that they should die, Daniel inquired
why and learned of the king’s forgotten dream.
He requested an audience with the king, and
asked permission for time to pray. Daniel and
his three companions then earnestly prayed so
that the Lord would reveal what the king had
dreamt, and the interpretation. Sure enough, God
revealed it to Daniel in a vision at night. His
life was at stake, the life of his friends, and
the lives of all the wise men in Babylon, but
instead of Daniel immediately going to the king
with the secret revealed, he first thanked God.
His prayer of gratitude is found in Daniel
2:20-23. The second thing Daniel did was go to
the king.
Dream Revealed
The king was
astonished to see Daniel back. He eagerly asked
him if he could tell him the dream and its
interpretation, to which Daniel responded that
no one could ever tell the king what he wanted
to know except for God. He went on to not only
tell the king what the dream was, but to even
tell the king about what he was thinking about
before he slept:
“29As
for you, O king, thoughts came to
your mind while on your bed, about
what would come to pass after this; and He
who reveals secrets has made known to you
what will be. 30 But as for me,
this secret has not been revealed to me
because I have more wisdom than anyone
living, but for our sakes who make
known the interpretation to the king, and
that you may know the thoughts of your
heart.
31 “You, O king, were watching;
and behold, a great image! This great image,
whose splendor was excellent, stood
before you; and its form was awesome.
32 This image’s head was
of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver,
its belly and thighs of bronze,
33 its legs of iron, its feet
partly of iron and partly of clay. 34
You watched while a stone was cut out
without hands, which struck the image on its
feet of iron and clay, and broke them in
pieces. 35 Then the iron, the
clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold
were crushed together, and became like chaff
from the summer threshing floors; the wind
carried them away so that no trace of them
was found. And the stone that struck the
image became a great mountain and filled the
whole earth.”
Daniel 2:29-35 (NKJV).
King Nebuchadnezzar must have been dumbfounded
to have heard exactly what he had been thinking
before he slept, and to finally recall what he
had dreamt as assurance of Daniel’s words. The
fact that he was speechless is evident in that
the Bible record continues with Daniel
confidently interpreting the dream right after
reciting it, without a second thought as to
whether this was the kings dream or not and
without hearing confirmation from the king. This
is how great Daniel’s trust and confidence in
the Lord was.
Interpretation
This is one of the simplest Bible prophecies to
understand because the interpretation is given
directly after the prophecy. The most important
thing to apply in understanding Bible prophecy
is to allow the Bible to interpret itself. When
prophecies have symbols, rest assured that the
symbol will be revealed somewhere in the Bible.
Daniel continued to interpret the dream as the
Lord had revealed it to him. The dream’s time
span began at the time of King Nebuchadnezzar
and we know this because he is represented as
the image’s head of gold: “…you
are this head of gold.” Daniel
2:38. The interpretation goes on to describe how
each metal represents the following kingdom and
defines some of the characteristics of that
kingdom:
“39
But after you shall arise another kingdom
inferior to yours; then another, a third
kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all
the earth. 40 And the fourth
kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch
as iron breaks in pieces and shatters
everything; and like iron that crushes,
that kingdom will break in pieces and
crush all the others. 41 Whereas
you saw the feet and toes, partly of
potter’s clay and partly of iron, the
kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength
of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw
the iron mixed with ceramic clay. 42
And as the toes of the feet were
partly of iron and partly of clay, so
the kingdom shall be partly strong and
partly fragile. 43 As you saw
iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will
mingle with the seed of men; but they will
not adhere to one another, just as iron does
not mix with clay. 44 And in the
days of these kings the God of heaven will
set up a kingdom which shall never be
destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left
to other people; it shall break in pieces
and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall
stand forever. 45 Inasmuch as you
saw that the stone was cut out of the
mountain without hands, and that it broke in
pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the
silver, and the gold—the great God has made
known to the king what will come to pass
after this. The dream is certain, and its
interpretation is sure.”
Daniel 2:39-45 (NKJV).
Gold
Now, let us see
whether these details really did play out
through history. To begin, we need to keep in
mind the main points of the prophecy. First, the
image and the different minerals or substances
it was made of, including the specific
characteristics of each mentioned in the dream,
and second, the stone that crushed the image at
the feet.
Already, from the
interpretation of the dream, we know that the
different metals represent different kingdoms,
and that the first kingdom, the head of gold, is
Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom, Babylon. Under his
rule, the greatness of Babylon reached its peak.
He began his rule 605 BC and around 612 BC it
had become the most powerful kingdom during that
time. It was about this time that the king had
this dream. Babylon was famous for its splendor;
it was one of the wonders of the ancient world.
The Ishtar gate, the hanging gardens, the city’s
own architecture designed to allow the river
Euphrates to pass right through to ensure
watering for the crops that were grown within
the city itself in case of a siege, the
massiveness of the walls themselves, all these,
in addition to much more, made the city
impregnable.
Silver
Nebuchadnezzar
received the answer to his question as to
whether his kingdom would last forever. It would
not. In fact, the following kingdom, although it
would overthrow Babylon, would not be as great,
just as silver is of less value than gold.
Indeed, the Medo-Persian Empire that took over
Babylon was not as magnificent, and not as
strong, however, it held a remarkable position
in history.
The ruler who took
over was Cyrus. His name and the manner in which
he would overthrow Babylon had been prophesied
in the Bible about 150 years before Cyrus was
born. Isaiah 45:1, 4 tell us:
“1Thus
says the LORD to His anointed, to Cyrus,
whose right hand I have held—To subdue
nations before him and loose the armor of
kings, to open before him the double doors,
so that the gates will not be shut: 4 …
I have even called you by your name; I have
named you, though you have not known Me.”
The river
Euphrates used to run through the city, so Cyrus
had his army divert the river. The water
gradually subsided and went by unnoticed for it
just so happened that at the night of Babylon’s
fall, the king and all his subjects were
celebrating and drunk. They had no worries of
being conquered, and did not care about being
besieged because of all the supplies they had.
The guards responsible for the gates on the
water passage forgot to close them, and so Cyrus
and his army marched straight through the city
with no resistance, and conquered it that same
night. The mightiest city in the world at that
time was conquered in such a simple way, as
specified in Bible prophecy. The Medo-Persian
Empire is thus represented by the chest and arms
of silver, and they ruled from 539 BC up until
331 BC. It is interesting to note that Cyrus had
the people pay taxes by cereals, silver,
and agricultural produce.
Bronze
After the silver
was the bronze, a metal less valuable than
silver, yet more enduring, and it was specified
that the bronze kingdom would “rule over all the
earth.” In 331 BC, Alexander the Great defeated
the Medes and the Persians, and took over the
land. His power quickly spread and he stands out
in history as one of the strongest leaders that
ever lived, and one who conquered the known
world faster than could be imagined.
Iron
The next metal to
come on the scene is iron, and the next empire
to come after the Greeks was the Roman Empire.
The Romans conquered the Greeks in 168 B.C. and
it was during their reign that the Messiah,
Jesus Christ, was born. Rome was an extremely
strong power, and is often referred to in
history books to be “strong as iron.” They
lasted the longest of all the previous empires,
until they were overcome by barbarians in 476
A.D.
As Daniel revealed
the future, King Nebuchadnezzar was amazed, but
he did not live long enough to confirm it. We,
who are living now-a-days, are privileged
because we see how history confirms what the
Lord predicted through Daniel. We can read about
these four successive empires in almost any
history book.
Clay mixed
with Iron
As the prophecy tells us, there was not to be
another world kingdom after the Romans, rather,
“The
kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength
of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw
the iron mixed with ceramic clay. And as
the toes of the feet were partly of
iron and partly of clay, so the
kingdom shall be partly strong and partly
fragile. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic
clay, they will mingle with the seed of men;
but they will not adhere to one another,
just as iron does not mix with clay.”
Indeed, the Roman kingdom was divided as ten
different barbaric tribes took over it. These
tribes later developed into what is now known as
modern Europe. Seven of these exist today in
Europe, such as the Anglo-Saxons becoming the
English, the Lombards are the Italians, and the
Franks are the French, etc. Three of these
tribes became extinct, which is amazingly
depicted in the Bible prophecy of Daniel 7.
As one fully knows, throughout history, the
different European nations were divided in
strength. Some countries were weak, others
strong. More significantly is the fact that
early Europe tried very hard to unite together
by mingling “with the seed of men.” Literally,
the royalty of the different countries
inter-married together in the hope of creating
unity. Princes had to marry princesses from
neighboring countries to promote peace. “But
they will not adhere to one another, just as
iron does not mix with clay.” Despite all the
intermarriages, peace was foreign to early
Europe, so much so that World War I is often
referred to as a big family feud.
The Stone
Since the time of
Daniel and down through history up until the
Romans, there has not been a major world
kingdom, and it will remain so until the second
coming of Jesus. In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, the
stone that was cut without hands, and that broke
all the other metals and came after the period
of the iron and clay feet, will be God’s eternal
kingdom, for it will last forever.
Some people
suggest or believe that right before Christ’s
return, an attempt to unite the world into one
kingdom will take place, and that the ten toes
of the image represent ten different districts
that the world will be divided into. It is
interesting to note that the European Union does
divide the world into ten different districts.
There are various theories and beliefs about
this, and that the anti-Christ will unite the
world in one religion, that there will be a
World War III, that Christ will not come back
until the temple is re-built in Jerusalem, etc.
All of these different theories may get
confusing to keep track of. The take home
message is that we are now living in the time
period of the iron and clay feet. The next phase
will be Christ’s return. We need to prepare
ourselves spiritually, with the help of God.
Conclusion
Bible prophecy has
revealed to us details of the events just prior
to the second coming of Jesus. There is
consistency in Bible prophecy in that one
prophecy gives us an overview of what will take
place, while a later prophecy gives us greater
details into these events. Daniel 2 is an
example of a prophecy that gives us an outline
of the word kingdoms that would be involved with
God’s people, and Daniel 7 gives us details and
identifying criteria for distinct
characteristics that defined each kingdom. This
was done for us to be sure of the validity of
Bible prophecy, for we can compare and confirm
these things with history. This method of
prophecy giving us an overview first, and then
expanding in details later on allows us to
obtain the keys for de-coding prophecy. With
these keys, along with history to confirm, we
can study Bible prophecies that have not yet
come to pass and therefore know what will happen
in the future. God has provided us with these
prophecies so that we can believe in Him, trust
Him, love and obey Him.
At the end of Daniel 2, we have King
Nebuchadnezzar say to Daniel,
“Truly
your God is the God of gods, the Lord of
kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you
could reveal this secret.”
(Daniel 2:47)
Our response should
be no less than that.
Quick Summary:
Gold = Babylon
The head of gold represented Babylon, which was
the ruling world power from 605-539 B.C.
Silver = Medo-Persia
The chest of silver represented Medo-Persia, the
ruling world empire from 539-331 B.C.
Bronze = Greece
The thighs of bronze represented Greece, the
dominant world ruler from 331-168 B.C.
Iron = Rome
The legs of iron represented Rome, which enjoyed
world supremacy from 168 B.C.-A.D. 476.
Iron and Clay = the Divided Empire
The feet that were partly iron and partly clay
represented a divided empire that would not
cleave together. No single power has ruled the
world since A.D. 476, and it will remain divided
until Christ's return.
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