Daniel 2:25-45, The Dream and Its Interpretation

“The appearance of colossal figures, often the statue of a deity, is fairly common in dream reports from the ancient Near East. Pharaoh Merenptah saw a giant statue of the god Ptah, who gave him permission to fight the Libyans. The Sumerian ruler Gudea saw a huge figure in a dream. In one reported in the reign of the Assyrian emperor Ashurbanipal, an inscription on the pedestal of a statue of the god Sin foretold the failure of a rebellion. Apparently, it was not only rulers who had such dreams. One of the motifs listed in the Babylonian “dream book” is the appearance of a god’s statue. What Nebuchadnezzar sees in his dream differs from these in that the figure represents the course of history.” (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary)

²⁵ Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste and said thus to him: “I have found among the exiles from Judah a man who will make known to the king the interpretation.” ²⁶ The king declared to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?” ²⁷ Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, ²⁸ but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these: ²⁹ To you, O king, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this, and he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be. ³⁰ But as for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your mind.

³¹ “You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. ³² The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, ³³ its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. ³⁴ As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it 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, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

³⁶ “This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its interpretation. ³⁷ You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, ³⁸ and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all—you are the head of gold. ³⁹ Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you, and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. ⁴⁰ And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these. ⁴¹ And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay. ⁴² And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. ⁴³ As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. ⁴⁴ And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, ⁴⁵ just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”

⁴⁶ Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to Daniel, and commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him. ⁴⁷ The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.” ⁴⁸ Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. ⁴⁹ Daniel made a request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel remained at the king’s court.

Daniel’s humility in giving the dream and its interpretation is extraordinary. Arioch, the king’s captain, is quick to say he found someone to interpret the dream, calling attention to himself. Daniel, when asked if he could interpret basically says, “No.” Only God can do this, and He did not reveal it to Daniel because he was especially wise, but rather because He, God, wanted Nebuchadnezzar to understand the dream and its implications. Of course, such humility is wisdom.

Daniel explains that God has given Nebuchadnezzar his power and kingdom. God rules history, men do not. Daniel explains the dream as a vision of God’s plan for history through four kingdoms of decreasing metallurgical value (though, interestingly, of increasing length of existence), the first (gold) representing Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon, the second (silver) being the Medo-Persian empire (Cyrus the Great), the third (bronze) being the Greek-Macedonian empire (Alexander the Great), and the fourth (iron and then a phase of iron and clay), being Rome. After these four kingdoms had their heyday, God’s kingdom, the mountain made without human hands, would pulverize all human kingdoms and establish His forever kingdom.

Nebuchadnezzar humbles himself:

What a remarkable scene! The despot who but an hour before had ordered the execution of all his wise men was prostrating himself before this foreign captive from a third-rate subject nation! The king’s praise to the Lord, however, does not necessarily mean that he doubted the existence of other gods, much less that he had experienced any sort of conversion. (Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

Nebuchadnezzar put him in charge of all the diviners. He officially became “ruler” (lit., “chief of appointed officials”) over the whole bureau of “wise men.” The king fulfilled his original promise (2:6) and loaded Daniel with gifts and honors, appointing him civil governor of the entire capital province of Babylon. Normally this would be reserved for a Chaldean nobleman of the master race. For a Jew to be so honored was unprecedented. Daniel requested that his three companions be given high appointments too, thus strengthening his position. (Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

Though it seems the king has taken all this to heart, we will see that he fails to appreciate God’s vision of history given to him.

Taking up my cross daily: Teach me, today, to appreciate and trust Your vision of history, Lord.