Daniel 2:31-39 Sermon

Today we will discuss Neb’s dream and begin its interpretation. Remember the chapter can be divided as follows:

1. The Challenge and Failure of the Wise Men, vs 1-13.
2. Daniel’s Plea, vs 14-16.
3. Daniel’s Prayer, vs 17-18.
4. Daniel’s Praise, vs 19-23.
5. Daniel’s Testimony, vs 24-30.
6. The Dream, vs 31-35.
7. The Interpretation, vs 36-45.
8. Daniel’s Rewards, vs 46-49.

The Dream, vs 31-35. 

“Your Majesty looked, 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 all broken to pieces 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.

The Dream can be viewed in three parts:

1. The appearance of the image, vs 31.
2. The composition of the image, vs 32-33.
3. The description of the smiting stone, vs 34-35.

The appearance of the image, vs 31.

Vs 31: Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 

Note Daniel describes an enormous statue that appeared before Neb. Some translations say great. The idea is the statue was overwhelmingly big. It was also dazzling.  The idea here is that it was reflecting light.  The gold, the silver, and bronze, (maybe not so much the iron feet) were bright and intense.  Hence the combination of size and dazzle was awesome in appearance.

The composition of the image, vs 32-33.

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.

Based on Babylonian archeological finds, such a statue would be upright with arms folded across the chest. There are many things to observe regarding the statue.

1. The value of the material decreases as you move down the statue: silver is less valuable than gold, bronze is less valuable than silver, while iron is less valuable than bronze, and clay is less valuable than iron.
2. There is a decrease in position as you move down the statue: the head is greater than the arms or chest, which is greater than the abdomen and thighs, which are greater than the legs and feet. 
3. The metals increase in strength as you move down the statue: silver is stronger than gold, bronze stronger than silver, iron stronger than bronze. 

We will see in the next few verses, that these metals represent four kingdoms, and each observation will tell us something about each kingdom in relation to one another—but we will wait to see what these are when we get to verses 36-45.

The Smiting Stone, vs 34-35.

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 all broken to pieces 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.

These last two verses describe the end of the statue.  As Neb looked on, a stone was cut out.  The verse does not tell us from where the stone came, nor was the stone of human origin, which means it was wrought of divine intention.  Its purpose was to smash the statue.  Note the stone targeted the feet, which means prophetically it was to destroy the image in the last stage—the foot stage.

Note the stone annihilates and destroys the whole statue.  It becomes like chaff.  With reference to metals, they would have to be pulverized and become dust for the wind to blow it away.  The statue then vanishes with the wind without leaving a trace.

Now note what happens to the stone.  It becomes a large mountain that fills the whole earth.

The Interpretation, vs 36-45.

This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. ³⁷ Your Majesty, you 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 all mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold. ³⁹ “After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. ⁴⁰ Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. ⁴¹ Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. ⁴² As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. ⁴³ And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay. ⁴⁴ “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. ⁴⁵ This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. “The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.”

We now come to the interpretation of the Dream.  Note it can be divided into the following sections:

1. The Declaration of the Dream, vs 36.
2. The First Empire, Babylon, vs 37-38.
3. The Second Empire, Mede-Persia, vs 39a.
4. The Third Empire, Greece, vs 39b.
5. The Fourth Empire, vs 40-43.
6. The United Stage, Rome,  vs 40.
7. The Two Division Stage, vs 41.
8. The 10 Division Stage, vs 42-43.
9. The Kingdom of God, vs 44.
10. Conclusion, vs 45.

The Declaration of the Dream, vs 36.

Vs 36: This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. 

Note Daniel declares the dream to Neb and uses the pronoun we. The we are Daniel’s three friends, who labored in prayer in petitioning God to reveal the dream and its interpretation.

The First Empire, Babylon, vs 37-38.

Vs 37-38: Your Majesty, you 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 all mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.

Daniel calls Neb the king of kings. This is a term of complete and total sovereignty.  Neb was the supreme monarch of his generation. The scale of this term is spelled out in the rest of the verse. But first note Daniel says this position was granted by the God of heaven, the same God who had revealed the dream and its interpretation to himself.  Daniel, in a way, is saying to Neb we each received a special gift: you Neb, were granted position as the supreme ruler of this world and I was given the gift of interpreting your dream.  But both gifts are from God! We are here talking to each other because God each gave us a gift!

Note Neb was granted all temporal sovereignty.  He was given dominion, power, might, and glory.

1. Dominion: note the extent of Nebs rule:  God had placed all mankind and the animal kingdom within his domain.  It is interesting that Neb, though granted this authority did not fully realize it.  However, if he had so chosen,  nothing would have been able to stop his conquering armies.
2. Power: this implies inherent ability or capability to rule.  God gave Neb the power to rule his kingdom
3. Might: this implies the exertion of the power God gave him. 
4. Glory: God exalted Neb and gave him honor and splendor.

It is worth noting three other passages that comment on Nebs rule:

1. Jer 27:5-8,  With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please. ⁶ Now I will give all your countries into the hands of my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him. ⁷ All nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until the time for his land comes; then many nations and great kings will subjugate him. ⁸ “‘“If, however, any nation or kingdom will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon or bow its neck under his yoke, I will punish that nation with the sword, famine and plague, declares the Lord, until I destroy it by his hand.
2. Ez 26: 7-14, For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: From the north I am going to bring against Tyre Nebuchadnezzar^[b] king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses and chariots, with horsemen and a great army. ⁸ He will ravage your settlements on the mainland with the sword; he will set up siege works against you, build a ramp up to your walls and raise his shields against you. ⁹ He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and demolish your towers with his weapons. ¹⁰ His horses will be so many that they will cover you with dust. Your walls will tremble at the noise of the warhorses, wagons and chariots when he enters your gates as men enter a city whose walls have been broken through. ¹¹ The hooves of his horses will trample all your streets; he will kill your people with the sword, and your strong pillars will fall to the ground. ¹² They will plunder your wealth and loot your merchandise; they will break down your walls and demolish your fine houses and throw your stones, timber and rubble into the sea. ¹³ I will put an end to your noisy songs, and the music of your harps will be heard no more. ¹⁴ I will make you a bare rock, and you will become a place to spread fishnets. You will never be rebuilt, for I the Lord have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord.
3. Dan 5:18-19, Your Majesty, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor. ¹⁹ Because of the high position he gave him, all the nations and peoples of every language dreaded and feared him. Those the king wanted to put to death, he put to death; those he wanted to spare, he spared; those he wanted to promote, he promoted; and those he wanted to humble, he humbled.

Dan concludes by declaring to Neb, you are that head of gold.

The Second Empire, Medo-Persia, vs 39a.

Vs 39a, after you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours.

Note after Neb another kingdom will arise.  Not just another king –but a whole new empire.  This turned out to be the Medo-Persian empire under Cyrus the Great. It is named the Medo-Persian empire because it consisted to two closely related peoples, the Medes who lived in Northwestern Iran and the Persians who lived in the South of Iran.  The Medes were conquered by Cyrus the Great who then united the two peoples into the Medo-Persian empire (also referred to as the Achaemenid Empire).

Daniel says the Medo-Persians will be inferior to the Babylonians. What does this mean? Though the  Medo-Persian Empire had a larger geographical reach than the Babylonian empire, it was qualitatively inferior to the Babylonians. Represented by the silver arms and chest, it was never as united and lacked some of the central authority of the Babylonians. Nor was it given the sovereignty Neb had enjoyed.  Note Nebs commands were absolute.  He could change them with his words. We will see in Dan 6 that Darius (a Medo-Persian king) lacked this authority.  Hence Daniel told Neb this next empire would be inferior to his. 

The Third Empire, Greece, vs 39b.

Vs 39b, Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. 

The third kingdom is Greece as represented by the belly and thighs of bronze (which is a mix of copper and tin whereas brass is copper and zinc).  Some translations use brass for bronze and vice versa. The third kingdom began and ended with Alexander the Great. There has been some speculation on the meaning of the two thighs.  Some argue they represent Macedonia and Greece.  Others claim it represents his dominion of both east and west. Note the third kingdom will rule over the whole earth. God granted Alexander the same mandate as he did Neb.  Alexanders dominion was larger, but his army rebelled at going any further east when he reached the Indus River, and he was forced to return where he died in Babylon. At its apex, Alexander’s kingdom extended from Greece to western India.  After Alexander’s death his six generals fought over control of the empire and it was partitioned into four parts: Macedonia and Greece, Asia minor (what is now Turkey, northwest Syria and Iraq), Egypt and the Levant, and the Eastern lands –what is now Iraq, Iran, the Saudi peninsula, Pakistan, parts of Afghanistan, and western India. The word in Greek for successor is Diadochi and the wars between these competing four factions for control of Alexander’s empire came to be known as the Diadochi wars and lasted for about 30—40 yrs.  For our purposes, the two empires that will become important in Israel’s future will be the Ptolemaic and Seleucid Empires.