Last week we went through a simple rundown of Daniel after he and other Israelites were taken to Babylon after the capture of Judah.
This week we start in on the dream that King Nebuchadnezzar had. He summons all of the wise men of Babylon and explained that he had a dream and wanted it interpreted. If none of the wise men could do it, he would have them all killed. Daniel sought God and the Lord gave him the dream and the interpretation.
Daniel 2:31-35 – 31 “You looked, O king, 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 broken to pieces at the same time 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.
An amazing dream and what’s even more amazing is that God gave the interpretation to Daniel to share with Nebuchadnezzar.
Daniel 2:36-37 – 36 “This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. 37 You, O king, 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 mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.
Daniel referred to Nebuchadnezzar as the king of kings. The reason he was saying that is because at that time King Nebuchadnezzar had pretty much controlled the world at the time as a kingdom. He was the head of gold at the top of the statue.
Daniel 2:39 – 39 “After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. …….
Inferior meaning not as rich. The chest and arms were made of silver. Interestingly enough there are two arms. The Medes and the Persians working together indeed conquered Babylon later on in 539 BC. Daniel was still alive at this time and that story is written in Chapter 5.
Going on and finishing the rest of verse 39 we see another kingdom.
Daniel 2:39 – ….. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth.
In 330 BC, Greece conquered the Medes and the Persians and became the next kingdom on the earth. They were the belly and thighs of bronze. Also still going down in wealth as bronze is not as rich as silver and gold.
Next week we will continue on with Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and work our way into the fourth kingdom. Why is this dream so important? As you can see we are talking about world governments.