Daniel Chapter 2 It All Begins with a Dream and an Image

This dream is the prelude of all the visions to follow. The exciting prophecies and visions that were revealed to Daniel began with the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Babylonian Empire and conqueror of Israel. It is interesting to note that this initial revelation was given to a Gentile pagan. The fact that this dream was from God is seen in the evidence that only Daniel, by God's revelation, could tell Nebuchadnezzar what he dreamed and then give the interpretation. Daniel, himself, bore testimony that this whole matter was from God and gave the purpose of God's giving the dream: "But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days." So here is the story of this amazing event.

In verse 1, Nebuchadnezzar has his troubling dream. He is not able to recall the dream and summons his psychics to tell him what he dreamed and give their interpretation. However, all that they could do was to complain of the impossibility of his command. On hearing this reply, the king's anger raged and a sentence of death was given for all "magicians," including Daniel and his three fellow countrymen. Daniel and his companions prayed unto God to reveal the knowledge of this thing. God answered their prayer, and Daniel was able to tell the king both the dream and its interpretation.

The dream is told in verses 32 through 35. It was of a great image with the following description: a head of gold, the breasts and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, the legs of iron, and the feet of iron and part clay. Then a stone "cut out without hands," struck the image at its feet and shattered it into fine pieces. The pieces were as chaff, and the wind carried them away. That stone then became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. The great image was described as "terrible" with an excellent brightness. Its vision caused much distress to Nebuchadnezzar.

In verses 37–45, Daniel gives the interpretation of the dream. Each element of the image is representative of an empire. What makes each of these empires a standout is the fact that they were (or would be) world powers. Each in their day ruled the then known world. Accordingly, they all would rule over the promised land of Abraham as given in God's Covenant with him (Genesis 15:18). As each empire arose, its kingdoms expanded in ever-greater geographic territory. The first empire mentioned, Babylon, conquered the nation of Israel, and it has never fully recovered from the consequence of that loss. Thus, it was that each of these empires in their turn dominated the land of Judea. The succession of these kingdoms reaches a climax in the last days of this age, "The Day of The Lord."

§ First Empire: The Head of Fine Gold.

This empire is identified with Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian empire. Nebuchadnezzar is definitively called the head of gold (verse 38).

§ Second Empire: The Breast and Arms of Silver.

Historically, in both biblical and secular sources, this is representative of the Medo-Persian Empire. The two arms are expressive of the union of two nations, Medes and Persians, into one empire. This empire is stated to be inferior to the Babylonian Empire. The inferiority is not in the territorial expanse of that empire but in its quality.

§ Third Empire: The Belly and Thighs of Brass.

Again, historically this is recognized as the Grecian Empire. Daniel states that this empire shall rule over all the earth (verse 39). This word "earth" (Hebrew [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) is the same as found in Genesis 1:1. The statement is puzzling, because the Greek Empire did not encompass the entire earth (globally), and later the Roman Empire covered far more of the world than it formerly had. In what way are we to understand this phrase, "all the earth"? Two figures of speech may explain this phrase. First is the hyperbole, which is "a conscious exaggeration of fact in order to emphasize or to gain effect." In this case, it would be used to exaggerate the size of this empire in order to make it impressive as to how large it was to be. The second possible figure of speech is the synecdoche. This figure is used in such a manner where "the whole is substituted for the part or the part is substituted for the whole." Thus the phrase "all the earth" (the whole) has been substituted for the part of the earth. This also is used to emphasize the size of area. However, a third reasonable meaning of the phrase is to take it literally; that is, for Daniel and his contemporaries, this empire would encompass the whole world as they then knew it. Thus to those who first heard this prophecy, it was probably understood as meaning the limit of the then known world. In any case, God has inspired the usage of this word (earth) as applied to a certain limited geographical area of the world. If this prophecy speaks of "all the earth," being applied to a small portion of the earth (in this case with Judea at the heart and neighboring regions thereabout), then may we also conclude that other prophecies may not be limited in the same way? (i.e., will the Antichrist literally be worshipped globally — universally all the earth, the world?) This same global limitation applies to Nebuchadnezzar in verse 38; whereas, he did not literally rule over all "wheresoever the children of men dwell."

§ Fourth Empire: Two Legs of Iron.

This is clearly the Roman Empire. There are several pictured unique features about this empire, the first of which is that it became divided. This empire was as strong as iron, in that it breaks into pieces and bruises. It subdues all. In 375 AD, the Roman Empire split into two branches, the Eastern and Western. Also, in the early fourth century, the unholy union of the "Christian" religion and the state came into being. Emperor Constantine brought together the Roman government and the ecumenical Christian churches. Many loosely knitted churches eventually became solidified into what was called the "catholic"...