Bold in Babylon: Daniel 2 (v. 36-49
Notes
Transcript
Approximate Date: Daniel lived sometime near to and between 623 B.C. to at least 536 B.C. The book begins in 605 B.C. in the 3rd year of King Jehoiakim’s reign. The last date recorded in the book of Daniel was in the 3rd year of Cyrus the Great, King of Persia, which was in 536 B.C. It is most likely Daniel died sometime in the reign of Cyrus, who ruled Persia until 530 B.C.
Contemporaries: Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, Obadiah. It is possible he lived up to the ministries of Haggai and Zechariah in 520 B.C., but if he did, he would have been over 100 years old and Jewish Rabbinical tradition says he died in his 90s. But their context would have been the same as Daniel’s. Haggai was exiled to Babylon and returned to Jerusalem, and Zechariah was born in Babylon and went back with the Jews who returned to Israel. So both of them would have lived in and experienced the Babylonian and Persian cultures that Daniel did.
His name means: "God is my judge" or “God’s judge”. His Babylonian name, Belteshazzar, means “Bel protect the king” (Bel = Baal).
Recap of the Narrative: (Daniel 1:1 - 2:35)
Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah wouldn’t defile themselves.
God gave them favor with King Nebuchadnezzar and they entered his personal service.
In their second year in wise man school, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that freaked him out and sought help from the wise men.
The wise men couldn’t tell Nebuchadnezzar what the dream was about and therefore couldn’t give an interpretation.
Then Nebuchadnezzar was enraged and order that all the wise men, including the students in the school, be executed.
Daniel goes to Nebuchadnezzar and requests that he be given a chance to tell the King the dream and interpret it and Nebuchadnezzar grants him the request.
Daniel informed Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah about the dream and demand. Then the four of them went to the Lord in prayer and asked for God to graciously give them the dream and its meaning so that their lives could be spared.
God gives Daniel a vision of both the dream and its interpretation. Daniel returns to King Nebuchadnezzar, advocates for the rest of the Magi (no small matter) and successfully tells him the dream.
The Description of the Statue: (2:31-33)
5 Layers/Materials: Gold, Silver, Bronze, Iron and Iron mixed w/ Clay.
The Stone the Destroys the Statue: (2:34-35)
Cut without hands, strikes the statue, crushes the statute amd becomes a great mountain that fills the whole earth.
Daniel 2:36–49 (NASB)
36 “This was the dream; now we will tell its interpretation before the king. 37 “You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory; 38 and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold. 39 “After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth. 40 “Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. 41 “In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. 42 “As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. 43 “And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery. 44 “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. 45 “Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.” 46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and did homage to Daniel, and gave orders to present to him an offering and fragrant incense. 47 The king answered Daniel and said, “Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery.” 48 Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. 49 And Daniel made request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego over the administration of the province of Babylon, while Daniel was at the king’s court.
(v. 37-38) Gold = Babylon
(v. 37-38) Gold = Babylon
37 “You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory; 38 and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold.
Established in 626 B.C., reached its height under Nebuchadnezzar who took the throne in 605 B.C. and ended at the hands of the Persian Empire in 539 B.C.
(v. 39a) Silver = Medo-Persian Empire
(v. 39a) Silver = Medo-Persian Empire
39 “After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you…
Established in 550 B.C. when Cyrus the Great defeated the Medes, the conquored Babylon in 539 B.C. and continued until they were defeated by Alexander the Great in 330 B.C.
(v. 39b) Bronze = Greece
(v. 39b) Bronze = Greece
39 “…then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth.
Alexander the Great unified Greece and established a massive empire in 336 B.C. but the kingdom divided after his death in 323 B.C. The divided Grecian Empire continued until their defeat by Rome and Octavian in 30 B.C.
(v. 40) Iron = Rome
(v. 40) Iron = Rome
40 “Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces.
In 27 B.C. the Roman senate gave Octavian the title Augustus Cesar and the Roman Empire was officially established. The Roman Empire continued until 476 A.D.
Some commentators point on that the iron had to separate/independent legs. They point that out to suggest it was about the eventual split between the Western Roman Empire (centered in Rome) and the Eastern/Byzantine Roman Empire (centered in Constantinople).
285 AD Diocletian initially split the Empire into two making it easier to govern.
330 AD Constantine established Constantinople as the eastern capital.
395 AD was the final division/split following the death of Theodosius
476 AD the Roman Empire ended but the Byzantine/Eastern Half endured
1453 AD the Byzantine Empire finally fell to the Ottoman Empire.
(v. 41-43) Iron Mixed w/ Clay = The divided kingdoms of the earth.
(v. 41-43) Iron Mixed w/ Clay = The divided kingdoms of the earth.
41 “In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. 42 “As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. 43 “And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery.
All the empires, unions, nations and states from Rome until now.
Why all the other empires and nations clumped into one mixed material layer or iron and clay? Because of the stone and what it represents.
(v. 44-45) The Stone = The Church/The Kingdom of God
(v. 44-45) The Stone = The Church/The Kingdom of God
44 “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. 45 “Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.”
The stone is Jesus and His church. He is the head, we are the body, all part of the rock.
This kingdom is the Kingdom of God, the church, officially established in 33 AD at Pentecost, and will continue until the return of Christ when there will be a New Heaven and New Earth.
4 “Trust in the Lord forever, For in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock.
35b “…the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
4 And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. 44 “And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”
35a “Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found…
16 John answered and said to them all, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 “His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
1 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the Lord of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.” 2 “But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. 3 “You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,” says the Lord of hosts. 4 “Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel. 5 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.
God Receives the Glory & Daniel a Promotion: (v. 46-49)
God Receives the Glory & Daniel a Promotion: (v. 46-49)
46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and did homage to Daniel, and gave orders to present to him an offering and fragrant incense. 47 The king answered Daniel and said, “Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery.” 48 Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. 49 And Daniel made request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego over the administration of the province of Babylon, while Daniel was at the king’s court.
(v. 47) Does Nebuchadnezzar have a conversion experience here? Does he place faith in the Lord?
Notice is says, “God of gods”. It is as though he has added God to his list of gods and sees Him as wiser than all the other gods, but has not abandoned them for Him nor does he see Yahweh as the one true God. Nebuchadnezzar is giving God glory, but not his life. Chapter 3 makes this even more clear. Chapter 4 makes the point further.
(v. 48) Daniel was given gifts, authority over the entire province of Babylon and a promotion as the chief prefect over all the wisemen of Babylon.
“promoted Daniel” …the Aramaic word means “to make great” or “to increase” and it comes from a Hebrew root word, raḇ [rob] that means “great” either great in number, in power, or both at the same time.
48 Then the king made Daniel a great man…
“great many gifts” comes from the same root word as the previous… raḇ
“ruler” is a word in Aramaic that means to have power over or dominion. He really is put into a very important role and given significant authority in the province of Babylon. It basically means he was made into a governor like what we see in the New Testament with the Herod, Pilate, Festus, Felix, etc. with the added responsibilities of wiseman and advisor to the king.
“the whole province of Babylon” did not mean the empire as a whole. Daniel was responsible for the specific administrative territory or state surrounding the capital city. Daniel functioned as the govenor of that primary province and was stationed at the royal court as a top advisor to the king. (v. 49) affirms this.
(v. 49) So Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego were given administrative responsibilties in the same province in Babylon, but they were to be stationed outside of the palace and not in the kings court. This explains why Daniel isn’t present in chapter 3 because the narrative takes place outside of the palace context in the plan of Duran. Duran was a few miles south of the palace.
