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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Daniel 2:31 - 2:49
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The Dream Interpreted; Daniel Advanced
v. 31. Thou, O king, sawest, that is, he beheld before his eyes, he had his gave fixed upon the vision, and behold a great image, a statute in human form. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee, over against him, in full view; and the form thereof was terrible, on account of its colossal proportions and its terrifying aspect.
v. 32. This image's head was of fine gold, or, ''as far as the image was concerned, its head was of pure gold," his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs, or, "his hips with the upper thighs," of brass,
v. 33. his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. "Only the first part, the head, constitutes a unity; the second, in the arms, shows evidence of division; the third has the same feature in the thighs: the fourth while proceeding from a common source, is entirely divided, although it also possesses ability of motion; the fifth is divided from the start and is finally subdivided still further in the ten toes. The material becomes less precious as we proceed, until it reaches common clay. "
v. 34. Thou sawest, that is, the king's gaze was still directed toward this image, till that a stone was cut out, being torn loose from a mountain above, without hands, without human agency, by a special act of God, which, in rolling down from the mountainside, smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay and brake them to pieces.
v. 35. Then, as a result of this smashing blow, was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, all the perishable materials of the image named in reverse order, broken to pieces together and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors, reduced to the finest dust to be carried away by the wind, totally demolished; and the wind carried them away that no place was found for them, that not a vestige remained; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth, the image and all it represented sinking into insignificance beside it.
v. 36. This is the dream, all the details of which must now have come back to the king's recollection, so that he recognized them; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king, Daniel here classing himself with his companions, the believing worshipers of Jehovah, with whom together he had access to the mysteries of the divine revelation.
v. 37. Thou, O king, art a king of kings, a great sovereign, ruler of a world-power; for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, or dominion, power and strength and glory, the attention of the king being here directed to the one Lord, the Dispenser of all good gifts.
v. 38. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, even in the most remote parts of the habitable world, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath He given into thine hand, in an absolute dominion such as man possessed at the beginning, and hath made thee ruler over them all, his power extended over practically the entire world then known, at least to all parts which might be termed civilized. Thou art this head of gold, this being all the more appropriate since Babylon possessed an immense wealth, also in precious metals.
v. 39. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, with a lower standard of political morals, lacking in internal strength, although still possessing a world sovereignty, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth, by virtue of its unyielding hardness, though also inferior in quality.
v. 40. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, forasmuch as, or, "just as," iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things, crushing them and utterly destroying them; and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise, its destructive power being the point of comparison.
v. 41. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay and part of iron, total weakness and lack of power being implied in the terms, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, this being retained in spite of the internal division, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay, in its sticky form, just as it came from the pits.
v. 42. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, indicating the weakness of the feet supporting the great colossus, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken, that is, chiefly brittle, and therefore always on the verge of disintegration.
v. 43. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they, the rulers and the various ruling elements making up the fourth kingdom, shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, making an effort to establish harmony; but they shall not cleave one to another, in a firmly coherent mass, even as iron is not mixed with clay, namely, in a solid and permanent union. The meaning is clear. The world-power in its totality appears as a colossal human form: Babylon, the head of gold; Medo-Persia, the breast and the two arms of silver; the Greco-Macedonian Empire, as the belly and the two thighs of brass; and Rome, with its various branches and dependent kingdoms, as the legs of iron and the feet of iron and clay. "Those kingdoms only are mentioned which stand in some relation to the Lord's people. "
v. 44. And in the days of these kings, while the various minor rulers were in power under the general sovereignty of Rome, shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, its divine and eternal character being evident throughout; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, its dominion taken over by a new power which might arise, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, bringing all world powers to an end, and it shall stand forever. The kingdom of Christ is not of this world, and yet its power is such as to overcome all human might and authority and to establish instead the glorious reign of the Gospel of peace; for Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
v. 45. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, without human agency and influence, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold, all these materials being equally powerless to stand before its impetuous rush: the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter, the one and only true God having might not only to make such wonderful revelations, but also to bring His promises to pass. And the dream is certain and the interpretation thereof sure, a fact which Daniel's emphatic statement properly brought to the foreground in conclusion.
v. 46. Then the King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, overcome by the wisdom contained in this straightforward declaration, and worshiped Daniel, giving him adoration as a prophet of the true God, worshiping the Lord in the person of Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odors unto him. Cf Act_10:25; Act_14:13.
v. 47. The king answered unto Daniel and said, Of a truth it is that your God is a God of gods, in the eyes of Nebuchadnezzar the mightiest of all gods, and a Lord of kings, and a Revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret, which was so obviously beyond mere human ability.
v. 48. Then the king made Daniel a great man, exalting him to a position of great dignity and power, and gave him many great gifts, rewarding him after the manner of Oriental rulers, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, a civil appointment which gave him the administration in the most important province of the empire, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon, a position of influence as well as of honor.
v. 49. Then Daniel requested of the King, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego over the affairs of the province of Babylon, as those immediately in charge of the business of administration; but Daniel sat in the gate of the king, as his chief counselor and president over the various orders into which the wise men of Babylon were divided. Christians may well occupy even the highest positions in the state, for then they may perform the work of their office to the honor of God and for the true welfare of the state.