Dan 2:1-49
Key Verse 44, 47
44 “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.
1.
The Lord intervened the life of
King Nebuchadnezzar[1-13]
Young men from Judah’s royal families came to Babylon as
captives. Daniel and his three friends
were qualified to serve in the king’s place. But Daniel and his three friends
committed themselves to keep the Law of Moses as the first priority in their
lives. That was to be above all customs, rules and king’s edicts of the land of
Babylon. Since they were under the absolute authority of King Nebuchadnezzar,
there was no other way to escape the conflict between their commitment to the
law of God, the God of Israel, and an absolute demand for compliance to the
commands of the King. The most immediate and urgent matter was the food they
were to eat every day. Since it was under Arioch, King’s supervisor, they
sought a concession from him that they were to eat only vegetables. Their
decision not to compromise the Law of their God was very risky and yet they
were resolved to do so. By God’s provisional hand, they were allowed to do so.
That was that they were able to remain committed to the Lord their God while
remaining under the pagan king Nebuchadnezzar. So they were fully trained and
were incorporated into the king’s service with a group of other young people.
As soon as this matter was settled, the king had a dream.
Actually, it said that he had dreams (v1). Not one time but at least two times or more. When
I was young, once I had such a terrible dream. I woke up with profuse sweat and
cataleptic exhaustion. It was so fearful one but I had no idea what it was.
Soon it dissipated from my mind and did not bear any significance. What if I
had the same dream two or three times? In his dreams, King Nebuchadnezzar saw a
glorious kingly stature, far greater and magnificent stature that he had ever
seen. But it was struck by a stone and destroyed into chaff in the threshing floor
and blown away, not leaving any trace. Furthermore, the rock flown down from
heaven got larger to fill the entire earth. The same dream was repeated.
Simply his dreams spoke of one thing, a destruction of a king/or
his kingdom by a stone from heaven, and there remains no trace of that king or
the kingdom in this end. The enormity and glory of the statue of the king was very
impressive to him. But far scarier thing was its destruction by a single blow
from a stone from heaven. At a glance,
it seemed to speak about the destruction of him and his kingdom.
What was it about? Or who was speaking to him? The king was so
much troubled by this dream and could not sleep. It is likely that he spent hours or days to
find answers but there was no clue whatsoever. After giving much thought, he
decided to seek help; He summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and
astrologers. These groups of people made a complete list of people who possibly
could be able to solve the mystery of his dream. Simply all the wisdom,
intellectuals, and diviners of his kingdom were called in before him. There he
told them
"I had a dream, and my spirit is
anxious to understand the dream."(v3 NAS)
In NIV, it is translated “a dream that troubles me”. This is a translation of three words paam
(trouble), ruach(spirit), and ani (me, myself). Here the root meaning of the word paam (trouble) is
thrust or impel, a particular word form to indicate ‘passive’ tense. In other words, the king felt strongly that he
was pushed into trouble by force from outside. He did not who was the
one who forced this to him and what was the nature of this message. It was the
power demonstrated against the statue. How was the origin of this scheme? Quite a number of interpreters think that King Nebuchadnezzar
did not remember the dream that he insisted on all the spiritists to tell the
dream itself. But in this passage, there is no hint to suggest any lapse of his
memory. Instead, there are statements of intense doubt and fear. He demanded
King Zedekiah to make an oath in God’s name (2 Chr 36:13) that he would not
rebel against King Nebuchadnezzar. Simply God of heaven imposed upon his fear
of God’s power, though he did not know who it was.
King Nebuchadnezzar was recognized as one of the greatest kings.
He defeated Assyria, Egypt, and swept over all the kingdom of the region. He was
young and strong and no one could challenge his power and authority as far as
he knew. Literally, he felt invincible.
But who was the one that shattered so much that confidence by invading
into his spirit through this dream?
Three Hebrew words made up this phrase: In other words, it was not simply an
intellectual concern or inquisitive pursue. His entire being, i.e., from the
depth of his spirit was shaken. The dream was relevant to him, relevant for the survival of his life, his kingship or his kingdom.
How could he then find the culprit or the unknow source of this
force? How could he find the answer to the destructive force?
4 Then the Chaldeans spoke to
the king in Aramaic: "O king, live forever! Tell the dream to your
servants, and we will declare the interpretation. (NAS)"
[from this verse to the end of ch 7, it was recorded in Aramaic
instead of Hebrews. This tells us two things. It supports fully that this
happened in history in the setting of Aramaic environment; that is to say that
it happened in Babylon as the passage indicated; second, it was relevant not
only to the Jews but also aimed at the people of the Aramaic speaking people,
i.e., the people of the world that time.]
Simply speaking, the messages from ch 2-7 was not just for the
Jews but far more so for the people of the world. More specifically for the
kings or kingdoms of the world. In this periscope, we are to see the events
evolving from this point on to the end of the chapter 7.
Here the word ‘we’ is very emphatic. Their confidence is well
reflected in NAS (using the word ‘declare’ than in NIV (‘translate’). Their
answer was exuding their confidence and boldness. No problem at all! But one
thing they had to know.
“Tell your servants the dream, and we
will interpret it.(5)"
This was a natural course of interpretation of a dream. All dreams
are very personal and only those who had the dream knows the content of the dream.
No one else. Can anyone know what happened in the mind or deep into the
personal corner of his inner thought or dream? No one! Even the closest one,
like wife or husband cannot know what dream the other had unless he or she tells
the dream to the other. The deepest inner being of the King Neb was attacked by
this dream and no one can know and even fathom what it might be. But the King’s decision was firm:
"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. 6 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."
He wanted them to find out the dream itself and must also
interpreted it. He was very firm of this; he would not tell his dream to these
interpreters. Instead they had to find it out and then interpret it. But was it
possible for them? The king’s demand was an absurd one or even crazy one. They
asked gentelya again:
7 Once more they replied, "Let
the king tell his servants the dream, and we will interpret it."
But the king was firm on this decision and why?
"I am certain that you are trying
to gain time, because you realize that this is what I have firmly decided: 9 If
you do not tell me the dream, there is only 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."
He had a deep doubt about these interpreters if they would
interpret it truthfully and correctly. The reason for such doubt was
substantial; the dream itself spoke about ‘destruction’ of the king and its
kingdom. How could he be sure if they were telling the truth or not? Or how
could the king find if they were manipulating the truth for the sake of his
enemy that might be the cause of this dream? Who or what was the source of
enemy for him or for his kingdom? Or was one of the gods that they conferred with
caused this on behalf of their purpose? If they did, they must divulge that
fully. If not, then they would face one penalty.
To this undue demand of the king, they answered this:
"There is no one 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. 11 What the king asks is too
difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not
live among humans."
No men, all the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers,
no matter how they were smart in reading the things of the world, including the
movement of the stars and had ability to read the spirits, no men could read
what went through the depth of human mind or human dream. Such thing belongs to
God and no human being can do such things. Simply the king was asking human
being for a thing that belong to the realm of gods!
But King Nebuchadnezzar was firm in his decision;
12 This made the king so angry and
furious that he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon. 13a So
the decree was issued to put the wise men to death
The king was not just bluffing; his threat was real. When he
discovered that Zedekiah rebelled against him, he killed the sons of Zedekiah
before his eyes and then he had put out his eyes, bound him with bronze
shackles and took him to Babylon(2 King 25:7). Even though all the wise men of
the Babylon knew his threat was real and their death was imminent, they could
not do anything for they knew that they could not tell the dream that happened
only inside of the king.
But for King Nebuchadnezzar it was different. One or some of those
magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers must have some connection to
this dream because in his dream, a clear picture of a threat to him and/or his
kingdom was obvious. Among them must be an accomplice/s and whoever it might
be, they must come out and show his intention whether it was good or bad. The
perpetrator must be discovered and exterminated. If not, then he and his
kingdom would be in a great danger. He/his kingdom might suffer total
annihilation and destruction as the dream vividly pictured.
2.
God revealed the dream to Daniel
[13b-23]
As one of those elite group of king’s advisors, Daniel and his three
friends faced death. As he came to know the details of why the king was
determined to kill all the wise men of the kingdom, he went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the
dream for him. Though King Nebuchadnezzar threatened to kill Daniel, actually
his Life was in God’s hand. He wanted to ask the Lord on this matter. For
Daniel was not any better than all other wise men under the king. He had no
idea what the king’s dream was and had no ability to peek into his heart and
find out what he dreamt. But there was one way to find answer. That was to ask
the Lord of heaven. Whatever way, if there was an answer to this question, He
was the only One because He is the Lord of Heaven and earth. When he was
allowed a time, he immediately urged his three friends 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.
A death threat, the King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream could imply, came
from the Lord. But neither king nor Daniel knew why it came and eventually
reached it to Daniel and his three friends. This threat was totally
unreasonable and undue by any stretch of imagination. When the power of death
was imposed on a king, he exercised his power upon his subjects, and laid the
threat upon his subjects. This is the usual and customary way of all the kings
of the world. Whether one is a king of house, or a king of a company, or king
of a nation, the authority and power was exercised to deflect the power of
death that come to the king. Daniel and his three friends as subjects of the
king Nebuchadnezzar, or under the power and authority of the king, had no
choice but to either to absorb that power by giving their lives or by
neutralize that power by some other way. But for Daniel and his three friends,
the king Nebuchadnezzar was not the ultimate authority over them. It was the
LORD, the God of heaven. He was to give them the final answer whether it would
life or death.
We all face many such moments in life; threats to our being, our
life is shaken up from inside out and from bottom to the top. Such threat
causes fear, uncertainty, and anger, bitterness. This threat is totally undue
and unfair!! But in the reality of the dream,
the threat of death was not just for the kings but for all the people of the
kingdoms, total destruction by the stone, cut out not by human
hands.
For Daniel and his friends, the death threat was not something
unfair or undue as it appeared. Practically, Daniel did not to anything wrong
to the King and caused any harm to the king. So in this respect, the king’s
imposition was unfair to Daniel in human terms. But to the Lord, they were living
a life of repentance. They were exiled because of the sins of the nation. They
were all ‘under the time of penitence’. The time of penitence shall be seventy
years and then the burdens from the pagan kings would be lifted up. In other
word, it was the Lord who put King Nebuchadnezzar as the taskmaster for their
life in penitence.
Really, we all human beings are living in penitence before God.
Death is due for every human being because all have sinned against the Lord.
The death threat that Daniel faced was a part of that penitence. It was from
the Lord and they must be proven to be in real penitence. When one does not
accept that he or she in in penitence, all hardships, not to mention the threat
of death, are undue and unfair. In such mindset, what do people do? He/she
points a finger to others, the authorities, or whoever considered to be the
culprit. But he fails to see the ultimate source, the Lord of heaven. What did Daniel and his friends do? Daniel and his friends came together to pray
for this one single issue; They might know the dream. These four friends in the
Lord prayed that night together with one mind, seeking the Lord’s help. What
happened that night?
At that night, the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. God
heard their plead and revealed this to Daniel. What does this tell us?
5 "This is what the LORD, the God
of Israel, says: 'Like these good figs, I regard
as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place
to the land of the Babylonians. 6 My eyes
will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land.
I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot
them. 7 I will give them a heart to know me,
that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they
will return to me with all their heart.(Jer 24)
Under a pagan king as exiles, these four committed their hearts to
the Lord as the Lord commanded. They were good figs and as He promised the Lord
showed that He was with them and demonstrated in them that He was the Lord for
them among gentiles. As we might see in the coming events in the rest of the
chapters of this book, what Daniel and his three friends did and were going
through speaks of what and how the Lord would use ‘His chosen, the first son’
in the time of Gentiles. In its entirety, what these good figs did serves as a
stark contrast to what the bad figs, those who rejected the Lord’s command to
go exile, did. They escaped from the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar and ran to
neighboring countries, esp. Egypt. To these bad figs, the Lord said more explicitly
how He would annihilate them.
Jer 25: 8 Therefore the LORD Almighty
says this: "Because you have not listened to my words, 9 I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar
king of Babylon," declares the LORD, "and I will bring
them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding
nations. I will completely destroy them and
make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. 10 I will
banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and
bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp.
11 This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will
serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
This was an implicit rejection of the fact that they sinned
against the Lord. They did not repent of their sins and did not think that they
deserved such penitent life under the ‘vile’ king of Babylon.
Revelation of His will to these remnants was an important part of
His effort to sustain them in the hostile world, and to use them to fulfill His
purpose. It seems that they were to be suffering servants, a glimpse of the
life of coming Messiah. In them were two distinctive marks of the Lord being
with them; one is the power and revelation of God’s truth and extreme suffering
along with blessings.
The Lord gave Daniel the vision and also gave him an understanding
of the vision as well. To the King Neb, only the vision of the Statue was
given. But to Daniel, the vision as well as the meaning of that vision was
given. Clearly in it was the Lord’s intension
to use Daniel as the channel of that revelation. Upon receiving
this vision, he was extremely overjoyed; not only that he and his three
friends’ life were saved from death, but also for the fact that the LORD was
with him: Immediately Daniel praised the Lord.
20 and said: "Praise be to the
name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. 21 He changes times
and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the discerning. 22 He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows
what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him.
Daniel praised the LORD on two aspects, He has power, and wisdom.
The power is a power to change times and seasons, the power to disposes kings
and raises others. Simply He runs the history of entire human beings as the
authority of the whole world. Second, he has wisdom. This is not in the sense
of possessor of wisdom but in the sense of origin and dispenser of the wisdom
that is encapsulated in the whole creation. He is the ultimate source of all
hidden things of the universe. He is the revealer of all hidden things of the
world. We become uptight and are
captured by anxiety and fear when we do not see anything. Darkness is the
unbearable condition in which no one can walk. But in Him, we have light and we
can see all and we have no fear to walk even in darkness because in and with
him, we have light at hand. Next, he gave thanks to the Lord who was the God of
his ancestors.
23 I thank and praise you, God of my
ancestors: 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."
He recognized that the God who revealed this to him was the God of
his fathers to whom he committed himself. They came here Babylon as exiles in
obedience to His command. And they set
their hearts to live by His will as they were forced to immerse themselves in
the ungodly culture. The Lord had mercy on them that they might not be executed
along with all pagan diviners. This was the first reciprocation from the Lord
to their unbridled commitment to the Lord. In this way, the relationship
between the Lord and Daniel with three friends were solidified.
Furthermore, they became the vehicle to carry the power and
message of salvation to these pagan diviners.
3.
The dream was for King Nebuchadnezzar
[24-35]
After this immediately he went to Arioch, who was in charge of
carrying out execution, 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.” It was
possible that the execution had already started. In other words, the entire
groups of wisemen of the kingdom; the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and
astrologers, were shaken by fear of death for in a matter of hours or days,
they would face executions. To find out the one culprit of this rebellion or
perpetrator of the king, quite a number of people faced execution. But because of Daniel’s connection to the
LORD, they were to be saved.
When the king saw Daniel, this was the first question;
26 The king asked Daniel (also
called Belteshazzar), “Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and
interpret it?”
Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream? It seems that ‘are
you able’ is somewhat emphatic, showing the king’s great concern. This was the most important for the king
because only the one who could tell the dream was genuinely associated with the
scheme or message embedded in the dream itself.
27 Daniel replied, “No wise man,
enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked
about,
Here two things to consider; first he added the word ‘diviner’ to
the list mentioned in v2 (the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and
astrologers). This word seemed to replace the two, sorcerers and astrologers.
Simply even those who cut a deal with ‘divine beings’ such as sorcerers and
astrologers, cannot explain the mystery. In this way, he rejected the idea that any human beings be able to
‘explain’ the mystery. This included himself. Simply the mystery
was not in the domain of men and their ability to find out either through his
wisdom and knowledge or through his magical contact with invisible gods. This strongly implied that the mystery did
not belong to human will or ability including Daniel himself. In other words,
the revelation was solely of the will or prerogative of the God of heaven. It
was His will to reveal this to the King and His will to reveal through Daniel.
Second, this strongly emphasize the fact that even though he came
to reveal and interpret the dream, the primary purpose was not for him. To whom
then was this attributed?
28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.
He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come.
Mystery is a thing or phenomenon that is beyond human understanding.
But here it denotes a thing which can be
understood only by means of divine revelation, especially God’s hidden purpose
in history. At the same time, the word ‘wisdom’ that Daniel
sought was not the ‘empirical’ wisdom but a supernaturally given insight
obtained by direct revelation.
In Babylon there were many gods, god of mountains, woods, rivers,
or sun, moon. But apart from all these gods of Babylon, there was a God of heaven, who was above all. In this
way, for the first time, Daniel introduced the God of heaven, who was far above
all gods of Babylon. This God got in
touch with King Nebuchadnezzar through the dream with a clear purpose; to
reveal what were to happen in days to come.
Daniel explained the detail:
28 b. Your dream and the visions
that passed through your mind as you were lying
in bed are these: 29 “As Your Majesty was lying there, your mind turned to things to come, and the
revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen.
Daniel explained the details of the circumstance when the king
received this dream. He explained what he was doing and what he was
thinking. He was thinking about the
future of him and his kingdom. The revelation was chillingly accurate and
surreally true. Daniel was never close to the King and his quarter. How could
this be possible? Who can do such thing? Only true God can do such things. How did this young man come to know this in
such a detail, even what he was thinking? Who was this God of heaven that
revealed this to this young man? While these thinking was going through, Daniel
revealed more:
30 As for me, this mystery has
been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than anyone else alive,
but so that Your Majesty may know the interpretation and that you may
understand what went through your mind.
The purpose of this revelation was not to promote Daniel above all
others. The God had one purpose; that was for the King to understand what went
through his mind.
The primary purpose was for the King Nebuchadnezzar to understand
the message conveyed in the dream. There are many things that we can learn from
this passage. But the most important thing is for us to know what the dream meant
for the king. Or what the God of heaven wanted the king Nebuchadnezzar to know.
What was the dream? Read v 31-33. Here in order to understand
clearly, I listed the facts of this statue:
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 King Nebuchadnezzar was enamored by this magnificent statue, he saw
something happening on this stature:
A rock was cut out, but
not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of
iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver
and the gold were all broken to pieces 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
(34,35).
The statue was great and magnificent. But it was destroyed by a
stone leaving no trace of its glory. Instead, the stone became a huge mountain,
filling the whole earth. We can understand why King Nebuchadnezzar was so much
frightened and troubled, and even could not sleep. If he identified himself
with this great and enormous statue, most likely he did so, then the threat to
him and his king was immense and unavoidable. He had to take action to find out
the source, “who is the culprit that is contemplating to overthrow of his power
and authority as the King of the great kingdom Babylon?” What or who is the
stone that struck the statue, and how did it grow to such an immense kingdom
filling the entire earth? Simply the vision or dream itself was a terrifying
one. He had to find and to root out the cause! Also, he could not disclose anything
of this because he could not give any hint to the perpetrator.
Actually, it was the God of heaven who gave this dream. In this
dream He revealed what He would do to the King Nebuchadnezzar as well as all
the kings after him. In it, the God of heaven demonstrated His utmost power and
will to destroy human kingdoms. It was natural for King Nebuchadnezzar to be
filled with fear and threat. This was God’s intended purpose; letting King Nebuchadnezzar
as well as all who comes after him fear the God of heaven from the depth of his
heart.
Having finished describing of the dream itself, he moved on to
explain the meaning of the dream.
4.
The message of the dream: God’s
kingdom will be established and fill the earth [36-45]
The statue: In order to understand carefully according to
the word, I put this in the table shown
|
1st
kingdom |
The head
made of pure gold |
37 Your
Majesty, you are the king of kings.
The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory;
38 in
your hands he has placed all mankind and the beasts of the field and the
birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold. |
Babylon |
|
2nd
kingdom |
its
chest and arms of silver, |
“After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. |
Medo-Persian |
|
3rd
Kingdom |
its
belly and thighs of bronze, |
Next, a
third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule
over the whole earth. |
Greek |
|
4th
Kingdom |
its legs
of iron, |
40 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. |
Roman |
|
its feet
partly of iron and partly of baked clay. |
41 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. 42 As
the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly
strong and partly brittle. 43 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. |
Roman
empire (Jesus’ first coming) Or Jesus’ 2nd
coming |
|
|
The
Kingdom of God |
the rock
cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands |
44 “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. |
|
The head of the gold: in denoting the head of the gold, he
started with ‘Your Majesty, you are the king of kings’ and ended with ‘You
are that head of gold’, saying that ‘the king of the kings’ is the
same as ‘the head of gold’. This implies
that he was the head of all the kings after
him. That character or quality of kings is something of gold. Concerning
this, God gave His word to Jeremiah about King Nebuchadnezzar. God chose King Nebuchadnezzar
as his servant (Jer 25:9; 27:6; 43:10). As His servant, God would use him to
destroy the nation Judah (25:9), and all countries into his hands (27:6)
including the powerful kingdom Egypt (43:10). In these ways, the God of Jacob handed all the neighboring countries
into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar
and he became the super power and no
king or kingdom could challenge his power. Eventually the Lord
let him to destroy the Kingdom Judah and the temple in Jerusalem. He was the one who made the end of David’s kingdom and in
and through him, the Lord was embarking a new era, an era of the kingdom of
gentiles. In this regard he was the new head of all kingdoms. To
qualify him as the head of all the kings/kingdoms after him, God revealed this,
the entire history of the kingdoms of the world to give or impart the knowledge
that was necessary to be the king of kings.
The knowledge was about his position
and role between God and the world.
37b The God of heaven has given you
dominion and power and might and glory; 38 in your hands he has placed all
mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live,
he has made you ruler over them all.
God gave him dominion, power, might and glory. He was great
because God gave all these to him. Here the word glory is not glory of God(kbd)
but honor or dignity(qr) as the head of all kings. Simply it
was not what he earned but what God gave him. God did this to
entrust all the living on earth on his care. God did to similar thing to Adam
when he said to him, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and
subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every
living creature that moves on the ground.“(Gen 1:28). God created a nation out of Jacob and
established a great kingdom Israel under King David. In this kingdom, God imparted
all the knowledge, power and truth to govern and to sustain His blessing. And
yet she failed thoroughly. Now, God was giving the same opportunity to the
kings of the world, embarking a new era, the era of Gentiles. He did not change
His rules and laws. But He first gave the full knowledge and power to the king
as He imparted those things to his first king, David, for His son Israel. Over all, this was the third installment of
the kingship. First Adam, and then David with all amenities to govern right
way, and then lastly and finally to king Nebuchadnezzar. As Adam failed, and as
David’s kingdom (first son) failed, so will the kings of the world surely fail.
Nevertheless, the Lord of all creation was giving them (the rest of His
children) full opportunity.
How would the King Nebuchadnezzar and kings after him do?
The next kingdom is of arms and chest in silver. It
would be inferior quality in comparison to the first king, the head of gold. What does it mean that it is inferior to the
first one? We will discuss this at the
fourth kingdom.
The third king/kingdom would be typified by his rule over the whole earth. It would
grow in size above the first and the second kingdoms. Medo-Persian kingdom was
bigger than Babylonian kingdom. Greek empire was bigger than Medo-Persian
kingdom.
Fourth kingdom was typified by its strength of iron,
and it would be divided covering a long period as the legs are long. It would
evolve into 10 toes, or ten kingdoms. These kingdoms would be characterized by the
strength of iron and the meager quality of clay. It represents Roman empire and
its extension.
Over all, what message did this statue of human king convey to the
King Nebuchadnezzar or to the kings of the world or to us?
1.
The first and main frame of idea is in its
composition; metals, from gold, to silver, to bronze and then to iron and clay.
Two qualities discern these four metals: value/weight and soft/hard. First,
value/weight: gold was the heaviest and the softest among all these
metals. On the other hand, iron is the
least in value but the strongest in hardness.
Silver and bronze belong in between these two. Then, what is the value
and softness of gold stand for.
God gave the King Nebuchadnezzar four things: the dominion and power and might
and glory. These was of God and from God. The succeeding kings/kingdoms lose
these qualities as it goes down further. Silver is less than gold in value and
in softness. Iron is the cheapest among them all and clay has no value at all.
The quality of clay was well reflected in God’s word to Adam: “By the sweat
of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from
it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust
you will return." (Gen 3:19
NIV) This tells us that as the king/kingdom passes down to the next, it
loses godly or God-given qualities as noted in v37 ‘dominion and power and might and glory’. By
losing this qualities, men/kingdom become like the dust/clay. At the same time,
one’s attitude toward God of all creation would become hard and strong like
iron. Israel was rebuked of her ‘stiff-neckedness’(Jer 19:15). The Lord could
not break the ‘stiff-neckedness’ and had to send them to exile. Likewise, God
of heaven will destroy the kingdom that degraded to a meager value of clay
while having stern will like ‘stiff-neckedness’. In other words, what caused
Israel to fail will certainly happens in the kingdoms of the world. As the Lord
did send Israel to exile to break her stiff-neckedness, so the Lord will do the
same for the kingdoms of the world.
2.
The second theme of the story of the statue is
its spread to the entire world. It will increase in size and then increase in
the number of kingdoms. But all will fall in the quality in godliness and will
degrade into the quality of iron/clay no matter how large it would expand or
how many different forms and style they might adopt.
The degradation of human kings/kingdoms calls for an ending point
because it would become obvious that no matter how hard or ingeniously men
might do to sustain the kingdoms, all will end in brittleness, even a small
push, the entire system will crumble.
What will the God of heaven do?
5.
The rock cut out of the mountain,
the kingdom of God
In his dream, King Nebuchadnezzar was looking intently up to the statue.
His mind was totally absorbed into its enormity and its glory. It was truly
magnificent. But while he was caught up by a trance in amazement, all of the
sudden, a rock, cut out not by human hand, came down and struck the feet of
this statue, and then the statue was broken into pieces and became like chaff
on a threshing floor. The wind swept them away, not leaving any trace of the
kingdoms. The rock became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth (v34-35).
This was explained in v 44-45. About the four kingdoms, God did
not reveal what the meanings were. But on this kingdom, God revealed its
meaning. In other words, in the understanding of the four kingdoms, the meaning
could be fully conveyed through the image and its explanations. But for the
last, fifth kingdom, out of common knowledge of human beings, it is unknowable.
The symbol that the stone cut of not by a human hand and its hit on the feet and
growing to a huge mountain could not be understood because there weren’t any
prior events that might give a proper understanding of this event. Both, the
rock cut out not by human hand and human statue being struck and blown away,
were not in any of the prior human experiences and no men could understand by
his intellectual ability. Simply God of
heaven was revealing something that had never happened before in entire human
history. It was about turning the history of the world, drastically and powerfully,
toward the direction that no men ever had imagined.
There were two examples of such revelatory dreams. One was the
dream that God gave to Joseph. Joseph, just a small boy, got two dreams one
after another. Though the context of each dream were different from each other,
the meaning was the same. Joseph will be the leader above all of his brothers.
God gave this dream to give him hope and faith and then to grow him the key
player of salvation of the family. His two dreams were actually one; Joseph
will be the leader and savior of the family. The other was the dreams given to
Pharaoh. Pharaoh had two dreams also. But both spoke of one theme: God will
send 7 years of abundance in harvest and then 7 years of famine. God gave the
interpretation of these dreams to Joseph. As a result Joseph was elevated to
the position of the prime minister of the mighty kingdom of the time,
Egypt. Out of the understanding of the
two dreams, he devised a plan and was able to save not only his family but also
all the people of the kingdom. All these two were from the Lord for the purpose
of the salvation of men, first his chosen nation Israel and then the people of a
mighty kingdom of the time, i.e., Egypt. The dream given to King Nebuchadnezzar was the
same as these in two aspects. It was salvific in nature, revealing how the
world would be saved. Second, the dream was conveyed through the one whom He
chose, here Daniel and for Jacob and Egypt, Joseph. Simply all these dreams
were of God’s design and His will for the specific purpose, the salvation of
men.
By this reason, the meaning and message contained in the Rock was
God’s novel idea, no men could fathom what it meant. God explained.
44 “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.
‘In the time of those kings’ is like the time of 10 kings
represented by the ten toes. This was the time when men would be so strong like
iron and at the same time when men lost godly quality, degraded into like
animals that were made of only clay, devoid of the spirit from the Lord. At this time, God will set up a kingdom. cut
out of His hand.
About ‘a rock’, three things are noted: first it
was cut out not by human hand (v34, 45a); second, it was cut out from a mountain
(v44); third, it is a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver
and the gold to pieces (v35, 45b).
a)
When it says that it was cut out not by human
hand, it is a strong denial of a rock cut out by human hand. This seems to
refer to what King Nebuchadnezzar did or what Babylon did. Jer 51:25-26
reads
"I am against you, you destroying mountain, you who destroy the whole earth,"
declares the LORD. "I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you off the cliffs, and make you a burned-out
mountain. 26 No rock will be taken from you for a cornerstone, nor
any stone for a foundation, for you will be desolate forever," declares
the LORD.
‘You’ refers to Babylon and it
is a destroying mountain that destroys the whole earth. How? Jer 51:7 reads, Babylon
was a gold cup in the LORD's hand; she made the whole earth drunk. The nations
drank her wine; therefore they have now gone mad. (NIV). Though the Lord
gave the king Nebuchadnezzar dominion and power and might and glory (Dan 2:37),
he used it to drink his own wine and made all other kings drink the same
wine. This wine affected the whole world. This was an act that defied the authority
of God of heaven and an un-thankfulness to His grace and mercy. The Lord would
not use any rock of this mountain, a man-made, or a man cut out from this
mountain. That mountain shall be completely shattered and burned. Out of this
mountain, no rock will be taken (Jer 5:26). This seems to be in line with what
would happen to the statue of King Nebuchadnezzar which became shattered to
become like chaff on a threshing floor and blown away not leaving any trace of
it.
This speaks powerfully that the
mountain built by human hand by their wisdom, power, knowledge, and strength can
not be a part of God’s kingdom. Further, no spirit or ideas or ideologies of
these kingdoms can be a part of God’s kingdom. This strong denial points to the
mountain, that is or does not belong to man. Obviously, it is the mountain of the Lord.
b)
It was cut out from the mountain of the Lord
The mountain stands opposite to the
mountain of King Nebuchadnezzar is the mountain of the Lord. The mountain of
the Lord may refer to Mt Horeb (Num 10:33) and/or Jerusalem (Gen 22:14; Isa
2:3). By the fact that the Law was given at the Mt Horeb and that law was housed
in the temple of Jerusalem, the mountain of the Lord embodies the power and
spirit of the Lord expressed through the Law of Covenant. Actually, at Horeb,
Israel met the Lord face to face. The temple in Jerusalem became the place to
meet the Lord. both places, Israel met
the Lord and this is the place where His people were to meet the Lord. Lord
himself will cut out a rock from the mountain of the Lord. How could this be
Jesus?
17 Jesus looked directly at them
and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written: “ ‘The stone the builders
rejected has become the cornerstone’? 18 Everyone who falls on that
stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”
When Jesus referred himself to a
stone, he quotes three OT passages: Ps. 118:22 (v17), Is. 8:14–15 (v18a), and
Dan. 2:44b–45a (18b). Israel rejected the Law of Covenant, which contains the spirit
of the mountain of the Lord. But Jesus came and fulfilled the Law of the
Covenant. He looked to be a mere small
stone but had a power to grow to be a huge mountain that covers the whole world.
c)
The stone from the mountain of the Lord is
powerful enough to destroy all human power and glory.
Jesus came fulfilled the Law of
Covenant by obeying to the Lord even to the point of death (Phil 2:8) and by
doing so he gave his life as a ransom for many. Because of that obedience, Jesus
was exalted to the highest place. This is a rock cut
out not by human hand. This
rock was from God and by God. It is the rock that looked most powerless and
helpless. But by him, all the powers and glories of the world—that of gold, of
silver, of bronze, and iron, will be destroyed. It is more exactly expressed in
Rev 5:5-6:1.
6.
The rock became a huge mountain and filled the
whole earth
While the broken pieces of the statue were blown away like chaff,
the stone became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. There were no
man-kings, not man-made kingdoms on the earth. There will be only one king, and
under the king, there will be only one kingdom on the earth. This is the
kingdom of God. Stephen Miller (NAC, truncated) listed the following points on
this event.
First, it is
revealed that this kingdom will be established “in the time of those kings.” In
the previous discussion these “kings” were identified as the kings or kingdoms
(symbolized by the feet and toes of the image) that will constitute the
end-times phase of the Roman Empire. Therefore
the establishment of Christ’s rule at his second advent during the time of
these kings is the meaning of the rock striking the statue upon its feet and
toes.
Second, the kingdom of God will be of divine origin.
Third, the kingdom will be eternal. “Left to another
people” (v. 44) refers to the fact that when each of the four empires was
destroyed, it was absorbed by other nations. By
way of contrast, no one will ever conquer the coming kingdom of God and possess
it. It is the indestructible and eternal “kingdom of Christ.”
Fourth, this
kingdom is best understood to be an earthly
reign of Christ inaugurated at his second advent. Some scholars (Amillennial
and post-millennial view) interpret this kingdom to be Christ’s invisible,
spiritual reign in the hearts of believers established at his first advent and
evident in the church. Yet for a number of reasons, it is best to follow the
first view—an earthly, future (millennial) kingdom of Christ that will continue
into the eternal state.
Fifth, Christ’s coming kingdom will be triumphant.
Verse 44 reveals that this kingdom “will crush” (dĕqaq, “shatter” or “break
into pieces”) all earthly kingdoms, and in v. 45 the rock “broke the iron, the
bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces,” that is, the world kingdoms
represented by the statue are annihilated. When Christ arrives with his holy
angels, all the evil empires of the earth will be swept away.
Sixth, Christ’s kingdom will certainly come. In the
latter part of v. 45, Daniel concludes his interpretation of the dream
revelation by telling Nebuchadnezzar that “the great God has shown the king
what will take place in the future” and emphasizes the certainty of the
fulfillment of the revelation).
Seventh, as previously indicated this kingdom of God
will be ruled by none other than God the Son—Jesus Christ. He was despised and
rejected, yet someday every knee will bow before him and every tongue will
confess that he is Lord. (truncated)
7. King Nebuchadnezzar understood the message
of the Lord and honored the Lord. [46-49]
King Nebuchadnezzar came to understand fully the dream and its
meaning. It was given specifically for him from the God of heaven. The God of
heaven gave him dominion and power and might and glory. The great kingdom
Babylon was not by his own power and wisdom but was given to him by the God of
heaven. In this understanding, he was to honor the God of Daniel and must do
all things in fear of that God. Did he accept this?
46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar
fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be
presented to him. 47 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.”
He showed his reverence to the God of Daniel and to Daniel, the
one who was esteemed by God. Would he honor the God of heaven throughout his
rule? We will see.
After all, We must be filled with Daniel’s praise and thankfulness
to God
If anyone understood the dream better, then Daniel was the one. He
saw the dream in vision and God gave him the interpretation. Having seen and
received a full account of this dream, what did he say about God who gave this
dream to King Nebuchadnezzar? In his praise of Him, Daniel acknowledged two
God’s attributes; his power and his wisdom (20).
First, God has power and by this power, he has the sovereign control of
history: He does this by defining or controlling time to change or time toA
destroy. He deposes kings and raises up others (21a).
Second, God has wisdom. His wisdom comprises all knowledge and
will to use it for His good purpose. He
has all knowledge even on the dark and hidden things. On top of it, he has the wisdom
to use the knowledge according to His good purpose and goal, esp., by giving
wisdom and knowledge to the wise and discerning. God himself is the source of all
wisdom and knowledge; if anyone needs wisdom and knowledge, he must seek Him
and ask Him for wisdom and knowledge. (21b-22)
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