Daniel III
We are resuming our study this morning in Daniel. Due to a number of factors outside my control, we had to broadcast a “re-run” from the Mishkan Katan archives last week. I had a two-week illness, during which time one of my spiritual mentors crossed over into eternity. It was a very challenging time. Then, there were also factors here at LAMB in play. At any rate, we will now move on to the latter part of Daniel chapter 2, which contains the beautiful prayer we were exploring last week, when we ran out of time. Beginning this morning, let’s hone in on the last two verses, verses 22 and 23.
Verses 20 and 23
20Daniel answered and said: “The name of LORD JEHOVAH shall be blessed from eternity and unto eternity, because wisdom and heroic power is his
21And he changes times and the seasons. He removes Kings and raises up Kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those knowing understanding
22And he reveals profound and hidden things, and knows whatever is in the darkness, and light is with him
23To you, God of my fathers, I give thanks and I give praise, because wisdom and heroic power you have given to me, and now you have shown me what we seek from you, and you have shown me the matter of the King!”
When I read verse 22, concerning the profound and hidden things, I give thanks to my Father Yahweh, the Father of Lights, for how he has allowed me to have this ministry. I constantly feel that I don’t deserve the privilege. I also constantly marvel at how He brings to my mind things to share with you each week. I assure you that “it’s all Him”. There are teachings in the Bible that are truly so profound that we as humans cannot fully comprehend them. Trying to explain the concept of “eternity”, for example. How does a time-bound creature fully embrace something he or she has never experienced? Creation? The Virgin Birth? These and other deep, complex matters are inaccessible to the human mind and even the regenerated heart. When those of us who teach the Word of God make our faltering attempts, I hope we are bathing our preparations in prayer, because it is a task that can only be successful under the inspiration of the Spirit of God. There is SO much God does not reveal to mankind, so much of His mystery we cannot know.
Similarly, in the same verse, there is no darkness in His presence. He is light and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). There is no dark that is too dark for Him. He knows every single thing that dwells in the darkness, from the oddest sea creatures in the very depths of the ocean, to the heavenly bodies in the deepest, darkest space. David, the psalmist, exclaimed, in Psalm 139:6-12
6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7Where can I go to escape Your Spirit?
Where can I flee from Your presence?
8If I ascend to the heavens, You are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.
9If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle by the farthest sea,
10even there Your hand will guide me;
Your right hand will hold me fast.
11If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me,
and the light become night around me”—
12even the darkness is not dark to You,
but the night shines like the day,
for darkness is as light to You.
Perhaps, Daniel was thinking of Psalm 139 when he wrote his brief prayer in chapter 2.
Then, verse 23 is the praise portion of his prayer. How often we neglect to praise Him, do we not? This past week was one of the roughest of my life. I have been ill. I lost a dear friend to cancer. My husband was involved in a very serious incident, which could have been fatal apart from angelic rescue. Do we love to praise the Father of Lights, our Abba, when we are sick? When we lose a beloved friend? Not usually, or at least I don’t. In the face of miraculous deliverance, even, we at times make Him wait for our praise. Daniel sets for us such a great example here!
I see another powerful reminder in this same verse, verse 23. Notice how Daniel uses the word “we” in this verse. Father Yahweh, in His sovereignty, gave to Daniel the dream and its interpretation. But, Daniel, in his humility, acknowledged that it was not only he who was seeking God earnestly in prayer, but also his three godly friends. The lesson for us is that there is spiritual power in corporate prayer. Hearts and souls united in prayer, seeing the face of our Father, in urgent matters - - these touch the heart of our Father in ways we cannot understand. Would He have responded to Daniel as he did had Daniel been the only one seeking Him? It is hard to say. But, again, the godly example is to let others pray with you about your burdens.
24And in that moment Daniel went into Ariuk whom the King had commanded to kill the Wise Men of Babel, and he went on, and thus he said to him: “Do not destroy the Wise Men of Babel, but bring me before the King, and I shall tell the interpretation to The King!”
25Then Ariuk diligently brought Daniel before the King and said to him: “I found a man of the sons of the captivity of Judea who will make the interpretation known to the King!”
Do you hear the urgency in these two verses?
There are a couple of opinions about what had gone on from the time King Neb had made his decree. One opinion is that, as I taught last week, Arioch halted the execution process, stalling for time, while Daniel prayed over the mysterious matter of the king’s dream. Another opinion is that, while Arioch listened to Daniel, the killing commenced and had been going on during Daniel’s and his friends’ prayers.
Regardless, Daniel wasted no time in returning to the head executioner to report he had the interpretation. And, Arioch, likewise, wasted no time bringing Daniel before the king.
The book of Daniel is a book full of miracles, supernatural manifestations, things that do not make sense in the rational world, to the rational mind. It is easier for the child of Father Yahweh to believe in miracles, because through Yeshua, each of us has witnessed in his or her own life the miracle of spiritual new birth. For the unregenerate, post-Modernistic mind, miracles are a figment of our own imagination, a creation of the fables we believe, having no basis in reality. I submit to you that we live in an age of miracles. In fact, we have become so accustomed to them, we no longer see them for what they are. Miracles unfold around us every day. Are they on the magnitude of what happened here - - God revealing to Daniel the king’s dream? Not usually. But, still, we should thank God every day for the seen and unseen miracles around us.
26The King answered and said: “Daniel, whose name is Beltshatsar, can you tell me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?” 27Daniel answered and said before the King: “The mystery that the King asked, neither wise men, nor Magi, neither Sorcerers, nor Enchanters can show the King 28But there is The God of Heaven who reveals secrets to make known to King Nebukadnetsar when your dream will be in the last days, and the vision of your head that entered your sleep is this: 29You, oh King, your thoughts went up upon your heart unto whatever will be at the end, and he has revealed mysteries; he has made known to you whatever will be 30And it was not because I have more wisdom in me than all living that this mystery was revealed to me, but so the interpretation would be known to the King, and you will know the thing that was considered in your heart.
Vs. 26 - - My friend and the eminent linguist/theologian AGR points out that King Nebuchadnezzar had never lost a battle, at this point. He did not like to lose. Certainly, by this point, he was exceedingly vexed by this inscrutable dream. Perhaps he had hope that, because Daniel’s Babylonian name was one that honored Neb’s favorite false god, Ba’al, there was some glimmer of hope on the horizon in the appearance of Daniel.
“Daniel, you are named Belteshazzar after my own patron god. Can.You.Do.This.?”
Do you like to receive compliments? I’ve been thinking about my own response to receiving a compliment. In general, I like to receive one, such as for my cooking or a garment I’ve chosen or for an adornment that I inherited. But, for my personal character traits, for my spiritual gifts or for my service to the Lord, I hate receiving compliments. A few years ago, I sang on my church’s worship team. Even though it really ministered to me and I believe likewise to others, I was very uncomfortable with people complimenting me on my singing. I don’t like receiving compliments for anything for which God should receive the glory. Anything in regards to ministry. As I’ve thought about it, in preparing this lesson, I guess it is sort of an inconsistent attitude, because honestly, shouldn’t He get the glory in all things, in all of my “accomplishments”, for all of the gifts, both ethereal and material, He has given me?
At any rate, Daniel was a humble young man, who knew to whom the credit and glory belonged. Therefore, he began in verse 27 to tell the king that the mystery of his dream could not be interpreted by false prophets, who served false gods. So, although he did not take credit, he began by separating himself from that bunch. It has been theorized by some commentators that Daniel wanted to save the lives of the large group of enchanters, soothsayers, etc. And that this is why he emphasized to the king that he had asked the impossible of them. This was Daniel’s opportunity to completely wipe out the competition. It speaks volumes of his humility, that he did not. But, even more importantly, Daniel wanted to make it plain to the king that the God he, Daniel, served was the one and only TRUE Elohim. In the Hebrew, the name “the God of Heaven” is “eh-LAHhh beesh-MY-ah". Elah is the singular of the more common Elohim. Daniel wanted to make it plain that he served a God who stood alone, apart from the rest of the pack, as Daniel and his friends (who served Daniel’s same God) stood alone from the rest of the Babylonian sages.
He then pointed out to the king that it is only this true God who reveals secrets and mysteries.
In verse 28, Daniel categorizes the king’s dream as a dream of the future days. Daniel implied that the king had been ruminating in his mind about the future, what would happen to Babylonia after Nebuchadnezzar’s death, and so forth. And, as happens sometimes with us, our thoughts/worries of the day ... follow us to our beds. This is what some believe is meant by “your thoughts went up upon your heart”. In another translation it is rendered “your dream, and the visions in your mind on your bed”. This was a common theme among monarchs, surely. Almost all people desire significance and that includes something to outlast them after they are gone. I had a boss, once, who has since passed on, succumbing after several years of battling cancer. He said to me on more than one occasion, “If I died today, my chair would not even get cold before the organization would have someone else in my seat.” In so saying, he was helping me to frame and balance the home/work connection. And, he was right! For a monarch, the stakes may seem exponentially higher. But, the principle is the same. In verse 39 of this chapter, if you will skip ahead with me for just a brief moment, we hear Daniel saying to Nebuchadnezzar “after you”. Haunting words....
We are here to serve God’s purposes, to glorify Him. We will be here as long as He wants us to be. It should not be our concern what He chooses to do after our time is up. He will judge fairly how well each of His own redeemed children have served Him, but, that is way on “down the road”, past the bounds of time. Our concern should be to honor Him, glorify Him, serve Him with our time and our lives. As one songwriter put it: “Only one life, how soon it is past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.” Yeshua referred to the briefness of this earthly life and our activities in it when He was preaching the famous Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 6:19-20 He admonished us: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and wehre thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”
And, finally, in verse 30 Daniel gets around to mentioning himself....in the negative sense, to reiterate “It’s not because of my wisdom”. The matter was revealed to the king, through Daniel, so that the king would know the events of the next thousands of years...and incidentally, so that we would, as well.
Here, then, is the dream/vision that came to Nebuchadnezzar, as related by Daniel.
31As you, O king, were watching, a great statuec appeared. A great and dazzling statue stood before you, and its form was awesome. 32The head of the statue was pure gold, its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs were bronze, 33its legs were iron, and its feet were part iron and part clay.
34As you watched, a stone was cut out,d but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and crushed them. 35Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were shattered and became like chaff on the threshing floor in summer. The wind carried them away, and not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that had struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
The first thing we notice in this description is that the statue was very large and that it was awesome in appearance. This translation uses the word “dazzling”, which could be a function of the precious metals which composed it. I’m sure as you read the description in these verses, you were picturing this statue. Over the years I’ve seen many depictions of the statue. There was a discussion in the ArtScroll Tanakh commentary about the use of two Hebrew words, one meaning thighs and the other meaning legs. The consensus, the majority opinion, of those sages was the the bronze area was both belly and things, not just “torso”, as it is rendered in some translations. The legs, then, were of iron, that is, the area from the knee down to the feet. This interpretation is consistent with the Peshitta Aramaic translation we just read.
I’m sure the king was captivated by the marvelousness of this great statue. Indeed, sometime later, he hatched a plan to make a similar graven image, and force the citizens of Babylonia to bow down to it. I’ve often wondered if this dream is where he got that idea from...It must have come as a great shock, then, in his dreaming, to see a stone hewn, although not with human hands, and to see that stone come crashing down upon the feet of statue. This, in turn, led to the “shattering” of the remainder of the statue, after which its pulverized dust was carried away by a great wind, leaving no remains behind. The crushing stone, then became a great and mighty kingdom, symbolized by a huge mountain, which filled the entire earth. Quite an amazing dream!
36This was the dream; now we will tell the king its interpretation.
Some commentators have surmised that the revelation of the dream itself occurred in open court, but that the interpretation, since it foretold the demise of the Babylonian Empire, was delivered to the king privately. I think that opinion is “reading into” the text, but who knows. It’s interesting to contemplate and makes sense, actually.
Ok, here comes Daniel’s interpretation. We are about to view a visual representation of 2600 years of human history, from Nebuchadnezzar’s perspective into the future. This period is called “The Time of the Gentiles”, a period which began with the conquering of Judea by Nebuchadnezzar and extended on to our present day. Yes, we are living in the Times of the Gentiles, a period of Gentile domination over the world. This era did not begin, as many believe, with the death of Yeshua. And, it will not end until the beginning of the 7th millennium, according to many bible scholars. That is, in more common language, it will not end until the Tribulation Period begins, just after the catching up of the righteous, both living and dead. Allright, I realize those last statements do not fit with the eschatology some of you hold, but I am not going to digress down the rabbit hole of pre-, mid- or post-tribulation positions at this time. That’s not our current focus. Verses 37-43. Let’s read.
37You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given sovereignty, power, strength, and glory. 38Wherever the sons of men or beasts of the field or birds of the air dwell, He has given them into your hand and has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.
39But after you, there will arise another kingdom, inferior to yours.
Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule the whole earth.
40Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; for iron shatters and crushes all things, and like iron that crushes all things, it will shatter and crush all the others. 41And just as you saw that the feet and toes were made partly of fired clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom, yet some of the strength of iron will be in it—just as you saw the iron mixed with clay. 42And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43As you saw the iron mixed with clay, so the peoplese will mix with one another, but will not hold together any more than iron mixes with clay.
Why were these particular metals used in this dream? Perry Stone, in his series on the book of Daniel, notes that in the ancient near east, particularly among the Persians, there was a prevalent belief that there were seven levels of heaven. The highest level (7) was represented by gold. The next highest (6) by silver. Level 5 by a mixture. Level 4 was represented by iron. The lowest 3 levels were copper, tin and lead, respectively, with lead being the lowest level. Did that have any bearing on the dream? Who knows? in the 8th century BCE, more than 100 years before Nebuchadnezzar, Hesiod, a great poet, divided humanity up into five stages: Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, Heroic Age and Iron Age. Interesting.... Well, let’s look at each of these 5 earthly kingdoms represented in the dazzling statue. Beth Moore pointed out, in her study, that the materials used in the statue decreased in value from top to bottom, but that the materials increased in strength.
At the very top, we have a head of gold. Verses 37 and 38 are quite complimentary to King Nebuchadnezzar (and the son who succeeded him). But, in so complimenting Neb, Daniel is also complimenting the Babylonian Empire. We may find that strange. However, it must have been a compelling civilization, because so many Jews chose to remain there, after the 70 years of captivity, the 70-year rule of Babylonia over Judea, were over. For many generations thereafter, hundreds of years, Babylon had the largest concentration of Jews, second only to the land of Judea. The Babylonian Empire comprised the modern-day lands of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Armenia, Israel, Jordan and Egypt, according to Perry Stone. Daniel pointed out to Nebuchadnezzar (and Yeshua said something similar to Pontius Pilate about 500 years later) that he, Neb, would have no power, except for the will of the one God of Heaven. Unfortunately, that lesson did not sink into Neb’s noggin, until several years later.
In 539 BCE (using the Eternal Torah Calendar) the Medo-Persians defeated Belshazzar and came to power, led by King Cyrus the Great. It is this empire which was represented by the arms of silver, one arm to represent the Medes and the other to represent the Persians. The reign of the Medes and Persians lasted approximately 210 years. The empire was comprised of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Afghanistan, Libya and Pakistan and even so far east as India. It was an extremely vast empire.
In 330 BCE Alexander the Great and the Greeks triumphed over the Medo-Persians. Alexander had great power and influence. Alexander’s kingdom, though relatively short (185 years), completely transformed the ME, infusing it with the Greek language and Greek values. Brass (or some translate this as “copper”) looks like gold, but it is not gold. The sages comment that copper was chosen to connote the strength of this empire. Copper is also a very resonant metal, indicating that the range of this empire would reverberate throught the entire known world of that day. AGR theorizes that brass represented Alexander’s empire because he left no biological heir. Yet, his influence is still present in the Middle East today. This empire, carried on through four of Alexander’s generals, lasted 266 years. The territories covered were from Egypt to India and included Iran, Iraq, Greece, northern Africa, Libya, Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Here, we have a difference of opinion. There are some scholars who choose to lump Rome and Greece together in the torso portion of this vision. Their interpretation is that the empires of Greece and Rome are so similar that they should be combined. I'll come back to this interpretation in a moment.
In 64 BCE, Pompey, a Roman general, conquered the land. The Roman Empire was similar in culture to the Greek Empire, which is why I think the bronze thighs of the Grecians sort of blended to the iron legs that represented the Romans. This empire lasted longer than any of the others - - - 615 years, before it split into the Eastern Roman Empire and the Western Roman Empire. It included the entire Mediterranean Sea area and lands all the way up to and including Britain, Spain, France, Italy, Lebanon, Turkey, Israel and Syria. After the split, the headquarters of the western “leg” was in Rome. The headquarters of the eastern “leg” was in Constantinople (Turkey). This was an empire that started out strong, but gradually got weaker and weaker, eventually being destroyed from within. However, this empire has never really and truly gone. It formed the basis of what is known today as Western Civilization. The author and theologian, Ray Stedman, wrote a book on the book of Daniel and has done some work demonstrating how the United States derived from Rome.
The United STATES of America is a concept taken from the Roman Empire, which was comprised of “city-states”. Today, in the USA, there are currently 50 pretty independent “states” which form the whole country. We also have other modern city-states in the world - - Monaco, Singapore and Vatican City, to name three. Rome fell because a breakdown of the moral code led to bitter division. Often one general was fighting against another, or the Roman Senate was characterized by assassination, or the Senate was at odds with the emperor. Such disunity and infighting eventually led to the empire’s collapse. The USA is following the same path. First, we got off the moral standard written in the Judeo-Christian Scriptures, forming the moral fiber of our country. Our country’s end, I predict, will follow along the path of Rome’s.
Jewish scholars equate “Rome” with the ancient land of Edom, where lived the descendants of Esau. They also equate “Rome” with Christianity. It is believed that the land of Edom was the first to accept Yeshua’s message of the gospel and that the Edomites brought the message to Rome, where it became the state religion. (Note that I don’t agree with this historical interpretation; I’m merely presenting it for your reference.). Christians believe that when Yeshua returns to set up His millennial kingdom, the Jews will recognize their true Mashiach/Messiah. Jews who disregard the Brit Chadasha, the New Testament, believe that when Mashiach comes, the redemption of the Jews (represented by Jacob) must bring with it the fall of Edom/Esau, or in other words, Christianity. They base this on Zephaniah 3:9, for example. Interesting, isn’t it?
So, then, how about that “5th kingdom”, the one typified by the ten toes of both clay and iron? Does this depict the last years of the old Roman Empire? Some say so, but other eschatology theologians believe that this typifies a coalition of 10 kingdoms, united against the God of Heaven, during the latter part of the 6th millennium or the first part of the 7th, an end-times REVIVED Roman Empire. Perry Stone, for one, believes that these 10 kingdoms will come out of Turkey, representing the Eastern part of the ORE and also out of Italy, representing the West. Which is right? It is hard to say from looking at these verses. However, there will be some later verses in this book of Daniel which may shed light, not only on this last kingdom, but on the others as well.
Here I will return to my previous mention of combining the empires of Greece and Rome into the torso section of the statue. Who, then, would be the iron legs? Some say the Western Roman Empire, and the other leg would represent the Eastern Roman Empire. But, there are those who theorize that this last massive world empire will be the Arab empire, one yet to come. There are also those theologians, similar to Perry Stone’s view, who believe that the 10-toed coalition will be an Arab Muslim coalition. Certainly, the Arab Muslims wish to conquer the world in our current day, and impose both Islam and Sharia law upon the lands they conquer. We will look at these ten “toes” in more depth when we reach Daniel chapter 7.
So, I have presented a number of different interpretations to you, and I will leave it to you to make a conjecture as to which one will actually come to pass. :)
Then, we have the big rock, vs. 44-45.
44In the days 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 shatter all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself stand forever. 45And just as you saw a stone being cut out of the mountain without human hands, and it shattered the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold, so the great God has told the king what will happen in the future.
The dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy.”
“Rock of Ages, cleft for me...let me hide myself in Thee.” The lyrics to this old, much-beloved hymn came to my mind. Had you ever thought of this hymn in connection with Mashiach’s millennial kingdom? I don’t believe I had.
Notice that the huge stone that shattered all other earthly kingdoms and then grew to fill the whole earth came from a mountain. In other words, the stone and the mountain were of the same essence. To me, this pictures the sameness, the echad of the Divine, Majestic Mystery, the godhead. The Son came from the Father and shared the Father’s essence in human form. Similarly, the stone came from the mountain.
This will be an eternal, literal kingdom here on the earth, the last 1000 years of this earth’s history. Its capitol will be Jerusalem, where Yeshua will rule bodily over the whole earth. Psalm 2 is one place in Scripture where we see this. Verse six says, “Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion.” Zion is another name for Jerusalem. After the 1000 years, there will be one final, quick battle, at which time the enemy of souls, HaSatan, will be defeated for the last time. Following that will be the judgment of all the unrighteous from since the beginning of time. Finally, after this, a new heaven and a new earth will descend from the abode of Father Yahweh, to take the present heavens and earth’s place. Those last few sentences are a bit of preview, as this information comes later in the Scriptures. But, the kingdom Yeshua sets up on the old earth will continue in the new earth, because it is an everlasting kingdom. As verse 44 of Daniel 2 says, “it will never be destroyed.”
Things are going to be a LOT different in the 7th millennium, for sure.
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