He Changes Times And Seasons › Daniel 2
CHAPTER 2
The Dream of the Great Statue
The God of heaven reveals what no wise man can
Chapter 2 is the first great prophecy of the book, and it sets the outline of world history that chapters 7 through 12 will fill in. A pagan king dreams of a statue made of four metals and a stone. Only the God of Israel can tell the dream and its meaning, and in doing so He announces that human empires will be replaced by an everlasting kingdom.
From 2:4 through the end of chapter 7 the book is written in Aramaic, the international language of the Babylonian and Persian empires, because the message concerns the nations. Chapters 8 through 12 return to Hebrew, because they concern Israel.
A Troubled King Makes an Impossible Demand
DANIEL 2:1–6
1And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams; and his spirit was troubled, and his sleep went from him.
2Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the enchanters, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king.
3And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.
4Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in the Syrian language, O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.
5The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye make not known unto me the dream and the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.
6But if ye show the dream and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honor: therefore show me the dream and the interpretation thereof.
In the second year of his reign (counted from his full accession in 604 B.C., which is consistent with the three-year training of chapter 1) Nebuchadnezzar dreams and cannot sleep. He summons the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and Chaldeans. When they ask him to tell the dream so they can interpret it, he refuses: they must tell him the dream itself, or be cut in pieces and their houses made a dunghill.
His reasoning is shrewd. If they truly speak with the gods, they should be able to see what is in his mind. If they only invent interpretations, they cannot be trusted. He offers great rewards for success, and dismemberment for failure.
The Wise Men Confess Their Limits
DANIEL 2:7–13
7They answered the second time and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.
8The king answered and said, I know of a certainty that ye would gain time, because ye see the thing is gone from me.
9But if ye make not known unto me the dream, there is but one law for you; for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can show me the interpretation thereof.
10The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can show the king’s matter, forasmuch as no king, lord, or ruler, hath asked such a thing of any magician, or enchanter, or Chaldean.
11And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is no other that can show it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.
12For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.
13So the decree went forth, and the wise men were to be slain; and they sought Daniel and his companions to be slain.
The wise men answer twice that the king should tell the dream and they will interpret it. They then say the plain truth: no man on earth can do what the king asks, and the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh, are the only ones who could. In saying so, they unwittingly confess the failure of every human wisdom and false religion.
The king is enraged and orders every wise man in Babylon destroyed. Because Daniel and his friends are counted among them, the decree reaches the four Hebrew young men as well. Notice that Daniel had not been summoned to the failed audience; he is endangered by a decree about a dream he knew nothing of.
Prayer, Revelation, and Praise
DANIEL 2:14–23
14Then Daniel returned answer with counsel and prudence to Arioch the captain of the king’s guard, who was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon;
15he answered and said to Arioch the king’s captain, Wherefore is the decree so urgent from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel.
16And Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would appoint him a time, and he would show the king the interpretation.
17Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions:
18that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his companions should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
19Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
20Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever; for wisdom and might are his.
21And he changeth the times and the seasons; he removeth kings, and setteth up kings; he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that have understanding;
22he revealeth the deep and secret things; he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.
23I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast now made known unto me what we desired of thee; for thou hast made known unto us the king’s matter.
Daniel responds with tact and counsel to Arioch, captain of the guard, then goes to the king and asks for time. He does not guess; he gathers his three friends and asks them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this secret. Daniel’s first strategy is prayer in company.
That night the secret is revealed to him in a night vision, and he blesses the God of heaven in one of the great doxologies of Scripture. The central lines are these: wisdom and might belong to God, He changes the times and the seasons, He removes kings and sets up kings, He gives wisdom to the wise, and He reveals deep and hidden things, knowing what is in the darkness with light dwelling with Him. The title of this book is taken from this praise. History is not a random cycle; it is a calendar kept by the Lord.
Daniel Gives God the Glory
DANIEL 2:24–30
24Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went and said thus unto him: Destroy not the wise men of Babylon; bring me in before the king, and I will show unto the king the interpretation.
25Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste, and said thus unto him, I have found a man of the children of the captivity of Judah, that will make known unto the king the interpretation.
26The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof?
27Daniel answered before the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded can neither wise men, enchanters, magicians, nor soothsayers, show unto the king;
28but there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and he hath made known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these:
29as for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter; and he that revealeth secrets hath made known to thee what shall come to pass.
30But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but to the intent that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that thou mayest know the thoughts of thy heart.
Daniel asks Arioch to spare the wise men and brings him to the king. When the king asks whether Daniel can do what the others could not, Daniel answers that no wise man or magician can show the king the secret, but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets and has made known to Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.
Daniel makes two things clear: he is not wiser than any living person, and the revelation came so that the king might know the thoughts of his own heart. A servant of God takes no credit for what God alone gives.
The Dream Told: The Statue and the Stone
DANIEL 2:31–35
31Thou, O king, sawest, and, behold, a great image. This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the aspect thereof was terrible.
32As for this image, its head was of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of brass,
33its legs of iron, its feet part of iron, and part of clay.
34Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon its feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them in pieces.
35Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
Daniel describes a great image, bright and terrible. Its head was fine gold, its breast and arms silver, its belly and thighs bronze, its legs iron, its feet part iron and part clay. A stone was cut out without hands, struck the image on its feet, and broke the whole figure to pieces. The metals became like chaff on a summer threshing floor and the wind carried them away, but the stone became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
The details are deliberate: a descending value of metals (gold, silver, bronze, iron) but an increasing strength (iron crushes), ending in a mix of iron and clay that cannot hold together. The stone is cut without hands, meaning it is not of human origin.
The Head of Gold
DANIEL 2:36–38
36This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.
37Thou, O king, art king of kings, unto whom the God of heaven hath given the kingdom, the power, and the strength, and the glory;
38and wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens hath he given into thy hand, and hath made thee to rule over them all: thou art the head of gold.
Daniel states the interpretation with the boldness of a man who knows he is speaking God’s word. The king is a king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the glory, and into whose hand He has given all the places of men and beasts and birds. The king is the head of gold.
Babylon was the gold of the ancient world: the wealth of its temples, the magnificence of its palaces, the single sovereign authority of its king. Yet the verse stresses that all of it was given. Nebuchadnezzar is a steward, not an owner, and chapter 4 will teach him that lesson in a way he will never forget.
Silver, Bronze, Iron, and Iron Mixed with Clay
DANIEL 2:39–43
39And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee; and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
40And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things; and as iron that crusheth all these, shall it break in pieces and crush.
41And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
42And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
43And whereas thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men; but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron doth not mingle with clay.
After Babylon will come another kingdom inferior to it, which is traditionally identified with Medo-Persia (539 B.C.); then a third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth, identified with Greece under Alexander the Great (331 B.C.). The fourth kingdom is strong as iron, breaking and crushing everything, which fits the Roman Empire.
The feet and toes of iron mixed with clay describe a divided kingdom, part strong and part brittle, with peoples mingled by marriage and political alliance who will not hold together, as iron does not mix with clay. Many conservative students understand this to point to a final, revived form of the fourth kingdom in the last days, a view supported by the fact that the stone strikes the statue at its feet (v. 34) and the kingdom of God is set up in the days of those kings (v. 44), which did not happen at the fall of Rome. Other interpreters see the toes as the fragmented nations that arose from Rome’s ruins. In either case the main point is the same: every human kingdom is unstable.
The Kingdom That Shall Never Be Destroyed
DANIEL 2:44–45
44And in the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty thereof be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
45Forasmuch as thou sawest that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor left to another people. It will break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and shall stand forever. The stone cut out of the mountain without hands is the Lord Jesus Christ, and the kingdom He establishes is the one for which the church prays: Thy kingdom come.
This is the great hope of Daniel, and the reason the rest of the book can look at fearful beasts and fierce kings without despair. The end of the story is already told: the stone wins.
The King Bows and the Four Are Promoted
DANIEL 2:46–49
46Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odors unto him.
47The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou hast been able to reveal this secret.
48Then the king made Daniel great, and gave him many great gifts, and made him to rule over the whole province of Babylon, and to be chief governor over all the wise men of Babylon.
49And Daniel requested of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel was in the gate of the king.
Nebuchadnezzar falls on his face before Daniel and commands that an offering and sweet incense be presented to him. Daniel plainly would not accept worship, and the king shifts his praise to the right target: your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of secrets. The king is not yet a worshiper of the Lord alone, but he has learned something true.
Daniel is made ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief of the governors over all the wise men. At his request, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are placed over the affairs of the province, while Daniel remains at the king’s gate, near the center of power. Faithful prayer put four exiles into the places of greatest influence.
Discussion Questions
- Why did Daniel ask his three friends to pray before he went to the king?
- What does Daniel’s praise in verses 20–23 teach about God’s control of history?
- How does the stone cut without hands answer every human kingdom?
- How do you respond when God gives you success? Whom do you credit?