The King’s Request

In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar is plagued with dreams that trouble him. He is desperate to know what the dreams mean and calls on the sorcerers of the kingdom to interpret it for him. The catch was that he couldn't remember the dream, so they were not only to tell him the interpretation but the dream as well. The sorcerers contend that this is an impossible task and cannot be completed. From this response, the king becomes angry and decrees that all the wise men and sorcerers be put to death. This of course includes Daniel and his friends.

10 The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king's matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean. 11 And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.
Daniel 2:10-11 - KJV

One question that arises from the beginning of this chapter is why Daniel wasn't summoned with the other sorcerers? There are three possibilities

1. Only native (re: Babylonian) wise men and sorcerers were called
2. Daniel awas summoned but did not show up (either because he was unable to or because he chose not to)
3. Daniel was summoned and was there but didn't speak up until the death decree was issued

Daniel & His Friends Prepare

Regardless of where Daniel was when the first decree was issued, once a death sentence is placed on him, he must do something. Daniel petitions for time to be able to give the king an answer, then employs the help of his friends.

It is important to have a circle of like minded believers around us. Hopefully we don't have a death sentence placed on our head, but in times of spiritual warfare, we are stronger.

The Dream

Before we are given the interpretation, Daniel recounts what the dream actually is. This is one of the most famous visions of prophecy and the reason there is so much contraversy surrounding the date of authorship of Daniel. Skeptics hold that the acuracy of Daniel's interpretation of this dream necesitate that it was written after all the events in history took place. Believers, like myself, recognize the amazing power of God to prophecy.

Nebuchadnezzar's dream was of a statue (we'll revist this statue in Daniel 3). The statue had a head of gold, a chest and arms of silver, stomach and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet of iron mixed with clay. A stone is cut out (without hands: see 2 Corinthians 5:1), and strikes the feet. This action causes the statue break apart. The stone goes on to become a great mountain that fills the earth.

The Interpretation

Daniel explains the symbols in the dream one by one, and below we are looking at his explanation with historical hindsight. It is important to remember that this prophecy is expanded upon in Daniel 7 with new symbols—we will discuss these new revelation and refer back to this section in the post on Daniel 7.

Head of Gold

The head of the statue which appears as gold is the most brilliant kingdom. Babylon was known for its opulence. Descriptions of temples and statues in Babylon, even in extra-biblical sources, conclude that gold was on vast display within the city.[4] To this day, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon are still regarded as one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World.

A question I asked myself when reading the interpretation, was if there was further significance of the body part used to represent each nation. In Daniel 7, we get another vision that instead envisions each kingdom as an animal. In Daniel 7 the head of gold becomes a lion—lions are often referred to as the king of the jungle, though I'm not sure when that association began or if it would have been a thing during the time of Daniel. Nonetheless, from a modern view—and we know Daniel wrote for the future because he is told to seal up the book for the future in Daniel 9:24; 12:4,9—both the lion and the head represent leadership and authority. Revelation refers to the final endtime power as Bablyon; this final power exercises authority over the people. Interestingly, this final power will come to power as punishment the same way Bablyon gained authority over Israel because the Israelites were being punished for breaking the covenant.

Daniel 2:39 tells us that each kingdom will be inferior to Babylon, which is clear in the fact that each metal is worth less than the previous. However, it's possible that there is more significance to these metals. As you can see in the table above, I looked up the hardness of each metal out of curiousity. For those unfamiliar with the Moh's hardness scale, it is a measurement used to compare the hardness of a material. This scale tells us that diamonds (a 10 on the scale) can't be cut by other materials, because of its relative hardness. In the table above, you will see that gold has a relatively low hardness. This is why we don't see many gold swords. As we move through time, each kingdom is represented by a metal with slightly higher rating on the scale. My history knowledge is not extensive enough to say if this extra layer of symbolism is meant to tell us something about the armies and ruthlessness of the people. Perhaps as the value and richness of the kingdoms decline, the ruthlessness increases?

Chest of Silver

The chest and arms of the statue was to arise after Babylon. This nation would be stronger in terms of military (hence the ability to overthrow the first kingdom), but it would be inferior. Cyrus the Great (also known as Cyrus II) united the Medes and Persians under one empire around 550 BC, then conquered Babylon (something we see in Daniel 5:30) in 539 BC. It is during the reign of the Medes and Persians that the book of Esther takes place. Persia is represented by a bear in Daniel 7.

Stomach and Thighs of Brass

Brass is an alloy made of copper and zinc. It is still shiny and alluring to the eye, but less valuable and less expensive than gold or silver. The kingdom represented by brass is that of Greece. Alexander the Great overthrew the Persian empire in 330 BC, establishing Greek dominance in the region. Daniel says this kingdom will bear rule all over the earth. Compared to Babylon and Persia, Greece was massive! Not only did Greece cover the Middle East, North Africa, and Mediterranean Europe, it also extended into Asia. In Daniel 7, Greece is represented by a leopard.

Legs of Iron

Iron is the hardest material listed in the statue, and Rome was the toughest kingdom. Daniel says that this kingdom would break things in pieces and bruise. To this day, Roman influence is all over the world. From architecture, to the olympics, to the names of our days of the week, all of these are bruises from Rome. Moreover, Rome was the most brutal to Israel. While Israel existed in captivity through all of these kingdoms, Rome is the one that had the harshest rule. It is the Roman siege of Jerusalem that ended the Temple for good and caused people to eat their own children.[2]

Feet of Iron and Miry Clay

The final kingdom is a divided nation represented by iron and clay. It is strong like the iron, but the different parts will not cleave together. You will hear some claim that this kingdom is America, and while I agree that the Americas are an extension of this kingdom, it is actually Papal Rome. When Rome fell, it broke into ten kingdoms, but was upheld by Papal Rome. From roughly 500 CE through the late 1700’s, the popes controlled all of Europe. Even today, we have six Catholics sitting as Supreme Court Justices in the United States, and it was the Catholic position that Roe v. Wade should be abolished. Those same European countries that were born from the fall of Rome, are the ones that colonized most of the world. Despite this shared origin, there has been in-fighting between the remnants of Rome throughout history. It is these nations that fought WWI and WWII, because they do not cleave together. These are the nations that will see the end of the world come together.

The Reaction of King Nebuchadnezzar

References and Footnotes

1. Moh’s Hardness is a scale used to determine the strength or hardness of a material. Diamonds are the hardest material and are categorized as a 10 on the Moh’s Hardness scale. The values provided in the table are based on information found at geology.com and jewelrynotes.com
2. Dr. Wendy Love Anderson. “Parents Eating their Children — The Torah’s Curse and Its Undertones in Medieval Interpretation”. TheTorah.com. 2018; visited July 16, 2022
3. "Miry". Merriam-Webster Dictionary
4. Legrain, Leon. "The Golden Boats of Marduk and Nabu in Babylon." The Museum Journal XIV, no. 4 (December, 1923): 266-281. Accessed August 17, 2024. https://www.penn.museum/sites/journal/1116/
5. Saggs, H. W.F. "Babylon". Encyclopedia Britannica. March 13, 2024; visited August 17, 2024
6. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Persis". Encyclopedia Britannica, November 2, 2016; visited August 17, 2024
7. Ferguson, J. "Hellenistic age". Encyclopedia Britannica, June 28, 2024; visited August 17, 2024
8. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Roman Empire". Encyclopedia Britannica, August 16, 2024; visited August 17, 2024
9. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Papal States". Encyclopedia Britannica, March 1, 2024; August 17, 2024
10. It's hard to give exact timelines for each empire for many reasons, but in particular for the empires that came after Babylon there is the question of whether we should be looking at the time they conquered that region (subsequently ruling over God's people) or the actual beginning of their empire. The dates shown reflect rough timelines from when the empire takes over from the previous empire, as detailed in the prophecy. For example, Greece existed long before Alexander the Great conquered Medo-Persia in 330 BC. The Hellenistic period of Greece is began after the death of Alexandar the Great in 323 and lasted until 30 BC when Rome started conquering nations in the region, so this is the time I list in the table.