Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

2:1 In the ancient world, dreams were thought to be shadows of future events. A king's dreams had significance for the nation as a whole, and the interpretation was important so that the king might take steps to be ready for the events the dream anticipated, or even to counteract them. From the timing in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, it is possible that the author implies that Daniel and his friends had not yet finished their three-year program (1:5). However, it may be better to use Babylonian conventions to count the years of a reign, such that the young men were taken and began their training in Nebuchadnezzar's accession year, and had their second and third years of training during what the Babylonians called the first and second years of Nebuchadnezzar's reign (see note on 1:1-2). In that case, "the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar" would be 603-602 b.c.

2:2 Nebuchadnezzar had a staff of specialists in dream interpretation: the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans. The name "Chaldeans" initially referred to a part of the Babylonian Empire, but it developed into a descriptive term for a special group, known for their expertise in magic lore and interpreting dreams.

2:4 From this point until the end of ch. 7, the text switches from Hebrew into Aramaic, the court language of its Babylonian setting. Perhaps the change indicates that these chapters address matters of universal significance rather than those of more specifically Israelite concern.

2:5-6 Contrary to normal procedure, the king made the extraordinary demand that his interpreters recount the dream itself as well as its interpretation. If the interpreters succeeded, they would be given great rewards. If they failed, they would be executed and their houses would be destroyed.

2:11 These men consider the king's demand unreasonable because no human being could know another person's dream unless it was revealed by the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh. Their own words reveal the power of Israel's God, who does exactly what they say is impossible. Israel's God is not only the high and holy God whose glory fills the heavens, but also the God who dwells with those of a humble and contrite spirit (Isa. 57:15).

2:12 Nebuchadnezzar's decree of death affected all the wise men, a wider group that would have also included Daniel and his friends.

2:15-16 With remarkable faith, Daniel requested from Arioch an appointment with the king to reveal the dream and its interpretation even before God had revealed the dream to Daniel.

2:19 Unlike the gods of the Babylonian diviners, Daniel's God was able and willing to reveal such a mystery to his servants (see Isa. 44:7-8; Amos 3:7).

2:23 Daniel gathered his companions to pray for the revelation of the mystery (vv. 17-18). When God answered his prayer, Daniel praised and thanked God for his wisdom and might before he went to see King Nebuchadnezzar.

2:25-28 Arioch was eager to claim the credit for finding an interpreter for the king's dream. Daniel, however, was careful to ascribe to God all of the credit for revealing the mystery. Daniel was able to interpret it not because of his own wisdom but only because there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. Daniel's statement contrasts God's ability with the inability of any pagan wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers to know the "mysteries" of what the king dreamed and what it predicted.

2:30 God made known the interpretation of the dream so that Nebuchadnezzar would know this great God controlled future events, and so that he would be aware of what was coming.

2:37-38 According to Daniel's interpretation, the head of gold was Nebuchadnezzar. God gave him great dominion, power, and glory--reminiscent of that granted to Adam, with dominion over not only human beings but also the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. The nation had become a vast empire, and Nebuchadnezzar ruled ruthlessly. Babylon itself was an amazing achievement, with its hanging gardens (one of the famed Seven Wonders of the ancient world), many temples, and a bridge crossing the Euphrates River (see plan). Thus the head of gold is a fitting description.

2:39 After Nebuchadnezzar's time there would be two more kingdoms, each inferior to the previous one in glory and unity, though still strong and powerful (Medo-Persia [539-331 b.c.] and Greece [331-63]).

2:40 The fourth kingdom (i.e., the Roman Empire) would be strong as iron, yet also an unstable composite of different peoples who would not hold together (see v. 43).

2:43-44 The Aramaic description of intermarriage as mixing "by the seed of men" (see ESV footnote) recalls the prohibition on sowing mixed seed in a field (Lev. 19:19). At that time, God will establish a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, his final kingdom, which will ultimately destroy all other kingdoms. Though it starts small, it will grow to fill the earth and, unlike the earthly kingdoms, it will endure forever (cf. "stone," "great mountain," Dan. 2:34-35). It is striking that God gave this dream to Nebuchadnezzar in the seventh century b.c. (about 602; see note on v. 1), for in this dream and in the subsequent visions linked to it in chs. 7 and 8, God predicts in accurate detail the future kingdoms that would arise to dominate world history in the sixth, fourth, and first centuries b.c. Traditional commentators through the history of the church have almost universally identified the four kingdoms as Babylon, Medo-Persia (established by Cyrus in 539 b.c.; specifically named in 8:20), Greece (under Alexander the Great, about 331; specifically named in 8:21), and Rome (the Roman Empire began its rule over Palestine in 63). Those scholars, however, who assume that Daniel's detailed visions cannot be predictive prophecies, but had to have been written after the events they claim to "predict," hold that Daniel was written not in the sixth century b.c. but in the second century, in the Maccabean period. Under this scheme the fourth kingdom cannot be the Roman Empire, which did not yet exist at that time. So they propose various other identifications for the kingdoms, such as (1) Babylon, (2) Media, (3) Persia, and (4) Greece; however, Media was never an independent world power after Babylon fell to Cyrus in 539 b.c. (it was also ruled by Cyrus). Another point being made in the dream is that each earthly kingdom has its own glory but also its own end: both have been assigned to it by God. The progression of world history is typically not upward to glory and unity but rather downward to dishonor and disunity. Thus the statue progresses from gold, to silver, to bronze, to iron, and from one head, to a chest and arms, to a belly and thighs, to feet and toes of composite iron and clay. (This list of metals shows a progressive decrease in the value and splendor of the materials but an increase in toughness and endurance. Some commentators understand this to indicate a general decline in the moral quality of the governments and an increase in the amount of time they lasted. See chart below. In contrast, God's kingdom grows from humble beginnings to ultimate, united glory as a single kingdom that fills the whole earth forever. The stone that will break in pieces all these other four kingdoms is most likely Christ (see Luke 20:18). He is the mystery of the ages, the one in whom God plans to unite all things in his glorious kingdom (Eph. 1:9-10).