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April 24, 2011 |
| Statue Prophecy | ||
The book of Daniel contains a lot of stories that are good for children, the fiery furnace, the lion's den, and others. These stories also portray the faith and character of the people and so are also valuable to adults. But Daniel was primarily a prophet.
His style was very much like the book of Revelation and is complementary in that it fills in some of the blanks in Revelation. His prophecies frequently cover long periods of time and usually the entire period of human world government. This differs from Isaiah whose prophecies tend to be glimpses into points of time. Daniel's prophecies were mostly received through dreams or visions.
The book of Daniel describes events while the Israelites were captives of Babylon. Daniel and his friends had been young men in Judah at the time it was conquered. The writings in Daniel continue up to the fall of Babylon to the Medes and Persians. Shortly after that the Israelites were allowed to go back to Israel.
In this lesson we will look at a case where Daniel must interpret someone's dream, a dream that will not been told to him.
1 In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his mind was troubled and he could not sleep. 2 So the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to tell him what he had dreamed. When they came in and stood before the king, 3 he said to them, "I have had a dream that troubles me and I want to know what it means."
4 Then the astrologers answered the king,1 "May the king live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will interpret it."
At the point in the text of verse 4 where the astrologers begin to speak, the language of the book of Daniel changes from Hebrew to Aramaic. It continues in Aramaic until the end of chapter 7. No one understands why this change happens at this point but there has been much speculation. This is not the only time that Aramaic is used in the Old Testament. The books of Ezra and Jeremiah contain small amounts of Aramaic.2
Aramaic had been adopted as the official language of the Assyrians so when they conquered most of the known world, that language spread with them and became the dominant language in the area of that empire for the next 1000 years. When the Israelites returned from their Assyrian - Babylonian captivity, they brought Aramaic with them. The Arabic language branched off from Aramaic but "Aramaic has never been totally supplanted by Arabic."3
But now we return to the text of the chapter. The king is planning to ask the astrologers "to tell him what he had dreamed", not to interpret the dream after he tells it to them.
5 The king replied to the astrologers, "This is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble. 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."
7 Once more they replied, "Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will interpret it."
8 Then the king answered, "I am certain that you are trying to gain time, because you realize that this is what I have firmly decided: 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."
It seems the king had become suspicious that his astrologers, sorcerers, and others were fakes. In their roles as astrologers and such they were living well off the king. But the king wasn't sure he was getting his money's worth out of them. So he decided to use this dream as a test for them.
The astrologers, fearing that their meal ticket is about to be removed, not to mention their heads, try to convince the king this is an unreasonable request.
10 The astrologers answered the king, "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."
The astrologers make a very interesting statement here. It is clear they believe in gods. And they believe that the gods can know the mind of a man. But they do not believe it is possible for the gods to reveal this knowledge to man.
12 This made the king so angry and furious that he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon. 13 So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to put them to death.
Daniel has not been involved in the discussions between the king and his wise men about the king's dream so far so it comes as a surprise to him that the king has ordered his death. But we see from this that Daniel and his friends were already known to the royal court as advisors.
14 When Arioch, the commander of the king's guard, had gone out to put to death the wise men of Babylon, Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact. 15 He asked the king's officer, "Why did the king issue such a harsh decree?" Arioch then explained the matter to Daniel. 16 At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him.
17 Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 18 He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19 During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven 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. 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."
Daniel immediately thanks and praises God for this revelation. In doing so he describes a God that is not like the gods of the Babylonians. His God is a revealer of truth, and a God who is involved in the affairs of men.
24 Then Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to execute the wise men of Babylon, and said to him, "Do not execute the wise men of Babylon. Take me to the king, and I will interpret his dream for him."
25 Arioch took Daniel to the king at once and said, "I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can tell the king what his dream means."
26 The king asked Daniel (also called Belteshazzar), "Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?"
27 Daniel replied, "No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, 28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you were lying in bed are these:
The king asks "Are you able …" but Daniel answers "No … man … can". He does not take credit for what he will tell the king or use it as an opportunity for advancement. Instead to gives the credit to God but first he must tell the king about this God who reveals mysteries.
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. 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.
Daniel says, in effect, that this God who reveals mysteries showed the king the future through this dream. This God also revealed the dream to Daniel so that the king would understand it. But as we know from reading the rest of the book of Daniel, God had more in mind. He was revealing himself to the Babylonians and he was setting up Daniel as an intermediary and representative for future work that God had planned.
31 "Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue-an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 32 The head of the statue was made of pure 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 baked clay. 34 While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35 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.
36 "This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. 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.
Daniel refers to Nebuchadnezzar as the king of kings and says that God has given him dominion over everything. Nebuchadnezzar was the gold head in the statue, the most valuable part of the statue. But this is interesting because the Jews after this time would always refer to Babylon as being the worst place and a land of idolaters. In fact Peter will use the word Babylon as a metaphor for sinful Jerusalem (1 Peter 5:13). We'll come back to this later.
39 "After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth.
This inferior kingdom, represented by the silver chest and arms, was the Medo-Persian Empire. But history records them as being a just kingdom and through Isaiah God mentions supporting King Cyrus in his conquest of the known world. In fact, it was that king that let the Israelites return home from their captivity.
To our way of thinking this inferior kingdom was greater than the Babylonian kingdom. Its kingdom was larger, it was wealthier, it lasted longer, and it was more just. But plainly God measures the value of a kingdom differently than we do.
The third kingdom (bronze) is generally accepted as the Greek Empire. In the eyes of man this empire brought in freedom and democracy, a golden age. It brought in an age of thinkers like Plato. But in God's eyes it was of less value than the previous kingdoms.
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.
Most people accept that the fourth kingdom is the Roman Empire. While there were other empires during these times and the Roman Empire did not cover all the known world, the rules for interpreting the kingdoms is that they must be an empire, that is, a king of kings, and they must conquer Jerusalem.
In human eyes the Roman Empire was the greatest. Their feats of engineering last until this time. Their empire was the largest and wealthiest. Their form of government remains a model in our time. Apparently God sees things differently.
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.
The long legs of iron are commonly thought to represent a long period of time during which the Iron empire rules. The Roman Empire did last longer than the others but it did not end in anything that people have been able to relate to clay being mixed in to it. Also because the 10 toes appear to be a symbolic reference to the 10 heads of the end-time beast's empire, most people accept that the statue covers all human kingdoms. Therefore we live either in Iron times or Iron mixed with Clay times.
Daniel does not explain Clay but it is clear that the kingdom contains parts that are Iron and parts that are Clay. Because we know of nothing that matches this description most people accept that the mixed kingdom does not exist yet. Therefore we are still in the Roman kingdom.
But how could that be? Who would refer to our times as Roman? The Roman Empire collapsed 1500 years ago. It's possible that we have carried so many things forward from the Romans that God still considers us Roman. Our government and financial systems are similar. And when you consider our months named September (7), October (8), November (9), December (10) you are looking at Roman names. But notice that 10 is the last month … but there are 12 months now. The Romans added two months to their calendar and later changed the names of the 5th and 6th months to name them after Julius and Augustus, Caesars.
The name of the day we call Sunday comes from Roman times as the day that was set for the worship of the Invincible Sun (Sol Invictus). When you look at the individual characters on this page you are looking at Roman characters. We still use Roman Numerals in some places, such as clocks. Plainly much of Rome is still here.
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. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands-a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. …
The last kingdom is not a kingdom of man so it is not in the sequence of parts of the statue. Instead it is created without human hands (verse 34). Instead of conquering and building on previous kingdoms as other kingdoms have done, it destroys them completely. "35 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." No part of the former kingdoms is retained in this kingdom.
… "The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy."
Again Daniel gives credit to God for the dream and for its interpretation. Because the revelation of the dream could only have come from God and because it came with the interpretation, Daniel says that they can both be trusted.
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."
48 Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men. 49 Moreover, at Daniel's request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court.
God has achieved his goals. He is now known to King Nebuchadnezzar and others in the royal court and this story of his power will spread out from there. Also God has positioned Daniel in the royal court and three of his trusted friends are in positions of authority. And God has provided a prophecy that will show his power again and again as it has been and is fulfilled, piece by piece.
1. When explaining his God to the king, Daniel does not say that God is the only God and all the others are false Gods. Why do you think Daniel did not make this clear?
2. The king said, "if you tell me the dream and explain it, you will receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor." But Daniel gave all the glory to God. Are we as quick to do the same?
3. Understanding Baked Clay is important to understanding all the pieces of the statue. Yet that is described the least. What do you think it might represent?
4. According to the statue, every kingdom after the first, which was Babylon, has less value than the previous kingdom, in God's eyes. What quality is God using to measure these kingdoms?
1 Note from NIV 2011 "At this point the Hebrew text has in Aramaic, indicating that the text from here through the end of chapter 7 is in Aramaic."