Daniel 2.37-Daniel Tells Nebuchadnezzar That He Is The King Ruling Kings And That God Has Given Him Sovereignty, Military Power, Governmental Authority And Honor
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday April 17, 2012
Daniel: Daniel 2:37-Daniel Tells Nebuchadnezzar That He Is The King Ruling Kings And That God Has Given Him Sovereignty, Military Power, Governmental Authority And Honor
Lesson # 62
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 2:31.
This evening we will begin a study of Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream by noting Daniel 2:37, which records Daniel telling the king that he is the king ruling over kings and that God the Father has given him sovereignty over the nations as well as military power, governmental authority and honor.
Daniel 2:31 “You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome. 32 The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. 35 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. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. 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.” (NASB95)
“You, O king, are the king of kings” is composed of the second person masculine singular form of the personal pronoun ʾǎnt (אַנְתְּ) (ant), “You” which is followed by the masculine singular form of the noun mě∙lěḵ (מֶלֶךְ) (meh´-lek), “O king” and then we have the masculine singular construct form of the noun mě∙lěḵ (מֶלֶךְ) (meh´-lek), “the king of” which is accompanied by the masculine plural form of the noun mě∙lěḵ (מֶלֶךְ) (meh´-lek), “kings.”
The personal pronoun ʾǎnt is an independent personal pronoun which means “you” referring of course to Nebuchadnezzar.
It functions as a nominative absolute, which serves to highlight or focus upon one element of the main clause.
It emphasizes Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom being represented by the statue’s head of gold.
The noun mě∙lěḵ appears three times in this first statement in Daniel 2:37.
In each instance it means “king.”
However, it has a different function in the sentence each time it appears.
The first time the word is used it is referring to Nebuchadnezzar and means “king” referring to the fact that he was governmental head of Babylon.
We have the vocative use of this word since Daniel is directly addressing Nebuchadnezzar according to this title.
The word is functioning as the subject of the verb hǎwā(h), “are” which is omitted but implied due the Daniel’s use of the figure of ellipsis.
The second time the word is used, it also means “king” but this time it is functions as a predicate nominative meaning that it is making an assertion about Nebuchadnezzar.
It denotes that the king of Babylon is superior and in authority over the kings of the earth.
It indicates that he is sovereign over the kings of the earth as a result of the Father’s decree.
The third time mě∙lěḵ appears, it is in the plural referring to the kings of the earth.
It functions as a genitive of subordination meaning that the word specifies that which is subordinated to or under the dominion of the head noun, which in our context, is the singular form of the noun mě∙lěḵ.
This indicates that the kings of the earth in Nebuchadnezzar’s day in the sixth century B.C. were under his dominion or subordinate to him because the Father decreed for this to take place (Jeremiah 27:6-8).
“To whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory” is composed of the relative particle dî (דִּי) (dee), “to whom” and then we have the masculine singular construct form of the noun ʾělāh (אֱלָהּ) (el-aw´), “the God of” and then we have the masculine plural noun šemǎ∙yin (שְׁמַיִן) (shaw-mah´-yin), “heaven” which is followed by the feminine singular construct form of the noun mǎl∙ḵûṯ (מַלְכוּת) (mal-kooth), “the kingdom” and then we have the masculine singular noun ḥěsēn (חֱסֵן) (khay´-sen), “the power” which is followed by the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), which is not translated and followed by the masculine singular noun teqōp̄ (תְּקֹף) (tek-ofe´), “the strength” which is followed by the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the masculine singular form of the noun yeqār (יְקָר) (yek-awr´), “the glory” and then we have the third person masculine singular peʿal (Hebrew: qal) active perfect form of the verb yehǎḇ (יְהַב) (yeh-hab´), “has given” which is followed by the preposition lĕ (לְ) (lamed), “to” and its object is the second person masculine singular pronomial suffix -ḵ (־ךְ), “you.”
The noun ʾělāh is employed here with the plural form of the noun šemǎ∙yin, “heavens” and is a reference to the Father since when the word is used with šemǎ∙yin, “heavens” in Daniel 2:18-19, it is a reference to the Father.
The plural noun šemǎ∙yin refers to the first, second and third heaven.
It is functioning as a genitive of subordination meaning that the word the word specifies that which is subordinated to or under the dominion of the head noun, which in our context, is the noun ʾělāh.
This indicates that the inhabitants of the first, second and third heavens are under the Father’s dominion or subordinate to Him.
This is a reminder Nebuchadnezzar that he is under the authority of Daniel’s God.
The verb yehǎḇ means “to give” in the sense of imparting something to someone.
Here the word is used with God as its subject. Nebuchadnezzar is the word’s indirect object.
The nouns mǎl∙ḵûṯ, “the kingdom,” ḥěsēn, “the power,” teqōp̄, “the strength” and yeqār, “the glory” are its direct objects.
Therefore, it denotes that God the Father gave Nebuchadnezzar the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory.
The second person masculine singular pronomial suffix -ḵ is a reference of course to Nebuchadnezzar.
It is the object of the preposition lĕ, which functions as a marker of advantage meaning that Nebuchadnezzar benefited from the Father giving him the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory.
The noun mǎl∙ḵûṯ means “sovereignty” and denotes the sphere of Nebuchadnezzar’s authority or control.
It is used to designate the territorial sphere of Nebuchadnezzar, i.e. his kingdom.
It refers to his political boundaries, which were determined by the extent to which he exercised his authority.
Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom consisted of the nations, cities, villages and farmland he controlled.
The Holy Spirit through the prophet Jeremiah warned the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon that the Father had given Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty over the entire earth (Jeremiah 27:6-7, 14).
The noun ḥěsēn refers to Nebuchadnezzar’s military power to conquer and rule over other nations.
It denotes that Nebuchadnezzar’s military power enabled him or gave him the ability to impose his will on other kings and nations.
The noun teqōp̄ means “governmental power” since it refers to the capacity or the power to impose the will of one’s government on other kings and nations.
It refers to the power and ability or capacity of Nebuchadnezzar to exercise his governmental authority or power over other nations.
The noun yeqār means “honor” and denotes public recognition.
The word refers to the honor in the sense of public recognition that Nebuchadnezzar received from men as a result of his power over them which was given to him by the Father.
It means “honor” in the sense of demonstrating respect toward Nebuchadnezzar.
Here it denotes the respect paid to Nebuchadnezzar by those individuals under his authority in the sense that they esteemed him because of his ability to impose his will on them because of his great military and governmental power.
Daniel 2:37 marks the beginning of Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.
In Daniel 2:31-35, Daniel told the king the content of his dream which fulfilled the demand that his occult priests, necromancers, witches and astrologers could not fulfill.
In Daniel 2:36, he told the king he had completed telling him the content of his dream and now would proceed to the dream’s interpretation.
In Daniel 2:37, Daniel begins to identify the head of gold as being Nebuchadnezzar.
First of all, he describes him in this verse as the “king ruling over kings.”
This description is followed by the relative pronoun clause “who the God ruling the heavens has given for your benefit sovereignty, military might, governmental authority as well as honor” which serves to explain how the previous statement “You O king are the king ruling over kings” came to be.