DANIEL CHAPTER TWO [Part 3] – By Bro. David Rice
“In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed” (Daniel 2:44).
The text above speaks of the Millennial Kingdom of Christ, which will rule worldwide. It is the same Kingdom spoken of by John the Apostle on the isle of Patmos, recorded in Revelation 20:1-6, more than half a millennium after Daniel’s day. It is the establishment of that Kingdom, on the ruins of four world empires which precede it, which is the subject of chapter two of Daniel.
This chapter begins by noting the year of a famous dream of Nebuchadnezzar: “The second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar” (verse 1 [Dan. 2:1]). The date of that year is 603 BC, and it was an auspicious year. Nebuchadnezzar had recently completed the conquest of “Hattu”, which includes all the land of Israel.
Seven years earlier, in 610 BC, the armies of Babylon successfully took the last stronghold of the Assyrian empire, namely the city of Haran, which was probably the same city where Abraham stopped on his way to Canaan more than 1200 years earlier (Genesis 11:31).
CONQUERING THE LAND OF ISRAEL
Midway through those seven years, in the year 607 BC, the armies of Babylon crossed the Euphrates and began a campaign which four years later saw all of the land of Israel conquered by Babylon, right down to Israel’s ancient south-western border at the River of Egypt. About this campaign, the Scriptures record the following. “And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land: for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt” (2 Kings 24:7).
Here is the record of the beginning of this campaign from the archives of the Babylonian Empire. “The nineteenth year (of Nabopolassar, father of Nebuchadnezzar, 607 BC) … In the month Tishri the king of Akkad (Babylon) mustered his army and marched to Kimuhu which is on the bank of the Euphrates. He crossed the river, did battle against the city, and in the month Kislev he captured the city. He sacked it (and) stationed a garrison of his in it. In the month Shebat he went home.” 1{(1) Texts from Cuneiform Sources, Volume V, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles, Albert Grayson, 1975. This closed Babylon’s annual campaign, which was renewed in successive years.}
This scrap of history is relevant to prophecy, because 2520 years later brings us to the prophetic marker 1914 AD. This year introduced the First World War, which broke the nations of Christendom, and freed Israel from the Ottoman Empire – two major events in preparation for the Millennial Kingdom of Christ.
Bible Students everywhere know the time prophecy involved in this, namely seven prophetic periods of 360 years each, which span the period from the conquest of Israel to the liberation of Israel. During this period God permitted four world empires to hold sway over his people – Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. These are the very kingdoms which Daniel Chapter Two speaks of, as we will see.
By the year 603 BC, the year introduced in verse one of our study, the four-year conquest of Nebuchadnezzar was complete. “Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory” (verse 37 [Dan. 2:37]).
The parallel date 2520 years later is 1918 AD. In that year, the four-year war which released the oppression of the land of Israel came to an end. The new master of Palestine was Britain, who declared their intent to make it a national homeland for the Jewish people. We will speak more of this period of time when we treat chapter four.
THE DREAM OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR
The subject of this chapter is the well-known dream of Nebuchadnezzar. He told the wise men of his realm that he could not remember the dream and asked them both to recall the dream to him, and give the interpretation of the dream. They could do neither, and the king ordered their execution.
By this time Daniel and his three Hebrew friends were counted among the offending group, and when they learned of the crisis they asked for time and prayed to God. Then Daniel went before the king, rehearsed the dream, and gave its meaning. All of this was of God. The heathen wise men and their invocations had failed.
When Daniel stood before the king, he did not seek personal honour, but humbly gave all the glory to God, as we should also for our knowledge of Truth. “There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh 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” (verse 28 [Dan. 2:28]).
The dream is recounted in verses 29-35 [Dan. 2:29-35]. If the reader is new to this dream, it would be good to take your Bible, read these texts, and get it clearly in mind. This will help grasp the meaning of the dream, which traces world history from the days of Daniel to the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom of Christ.
The dream was of a large image made of four metals – gold, silver, copper and iron. The head of gold represented the empire of Nebuchadnezzar, namely Babylon (verse 38 [Dan. 2:38]).2 {(2) Daniel 2:38 says of Nebuchadnezzar, “thou art this head of gold.” Some of our readers will recognize the importance of this declaration in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar, for it establishes that the “image” of Gentile Power had already begun its ruler ship 16 years before the fall of the Kingdom of Zedekiah. If the nations represented in that image ruled for 2520 years, the period often termed the “Times of the Gentiles,” then those 2520 years had already begun in year two of Nebuchadnezzar.
The prophet Jeremiah told Israel that if they would submit to this punishment, they would suffer comparatively less. But if they rebelled against this divinely imposed punishment, then God would take the further step of destroying the kingdom and burning the city (Jeremiah 38:17, 18). They did rebel, and God did destroy the kingdom. Zedekiah was removed from his throne, without a replacement, in 587 BC.} The arms and chest of silver represented the kingdom of the Medes and Persians which began their reign as an empire when Babylon fell to Cyrus, who was Median on his mother’s side, and Persian on his father’s side.
The belly and thighs of brass represented the kingdom of Greece founded by Alexander the Great, who defeated Darius III, known as Darius Codomannus, in 332 BC. After Alexander died his empire divided into four parts, and all four parts ultimately were taken by Rome. In the box below are the four empires, the famous first emperor of each, and the year they began to rule an empire. (We begin Babylon’s rule in 610 BC when they superseded Assyria).
{(3) In the December [2005] issue we used the date 31 BC, which was the year of the Battle of Actium, between Rome and Egypt. Rome won, and thereafter Egypt was a subject power. In this case we chose to use the year 48 BC because it coincides with the first empire ruler of Rome, Julius Caesar. At the Battle of Actium which followed, Augustus Caesar was the victor.
Julius Caesar defeated his rival Pompey in the summer of 48 BC and pursued him to Egypt. Pompey was killed by the Egyptians, but soon Caesar found himself pressed in war against the Egyptians, in which he was victorious just barely. After a liaison with Cleopatra, he arranged for the joint rule of Egypt by Cleopatra and her brother before leaving the country.}
THE LAST PART OF THE IMAGE
The two iron legs represent the Roman Empire. It is worthy of noting that the two arms represent a kingdom of two parts the Medes and Persians and the two legs represent a kingdom that became divided into two parts, the Eastern empire and the Western empire.
The last part of the image deserves special attention. The legs of iron terminated in feet which were a mixture of iron and clay. The iron represents the strength of the Roman government, but the clay represents something less strong, and brittle. “Whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter’s clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron (the strength of civil government), forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly brittle” (Daniel 2:41-43).
Notice that the toes are mentioned twice. There would be 10 toes of course, and this matches the picture in Daniel 7:7, where the Roman empire is represented by a great beast having 10 horns. In both cases the 10 parts (toes or horns) represent the kingdoms of Europe which materialized as the Roman Empire ceased being a single monolithic power and fragmented into various countries.
In the beginning, these 10 parts were 10 Germanic tribes which descended from the north and spread through the empire. The specific tribes which constituted the original 10 may be the following: Ostrogoths, Lombards, Herules, Visigoths, Sueves, Vandals, Franks, Burgundians, Alemans, Anglo-Saxons. (For more information on these 10, their coins, rulers, and dates, see “A Foundation for Understanding Prophecy”, James Parkinson, in the July/August 2005 issue of The Herald of Christ’s Kingdom.)
All of these tribes became nominally Christianized. As time passed, and Christianity became the prevailing religion of the empire, it lost its purity and merged into the Roman Catholic Church. There were faithful ones who resisted this decay, “even in those days wherein Antipas (anti-papacy) was my faithful martyr” (Revelation 2:13). Politically, Europe became a mixture of political (iron) and religious (clay) ruler ships, which in time became known as the “Holy Roman Empire.”
The church was never intended to reign over the nations during this age. But Papacy aspired to ruler ship and became the dominant power over the Christian world for centuries. The time when the true Church is to rule the world is during the Millennium, following their marriage to Jesus, who receives his appointment to regal authority by God himself (see Daniel 7:14). The true Church are the chaste “Bride” of Christ (Revelation 21:2, 19:7).
By contrast, the false church which allied itself with the kings of earth is symbolized as a harlot. Revelation 17:4-6 depicts the Roman Catholic Church with just this symbol. Daniel 2:43 refers to this also, with the following language: “they (the clay, the false religious systems of Christianity) shall mingle themselves with the seed of men.”4 {(4) Sometimes there is confusion whether the “they” in verse 43 [Dan. 2:43] refers to the iron or the clay. Notice that verse 41 [Dan. 2:41] says the feet and toes were part of potter’s clay, and part of iron, making the clay the leading subject. Verse 43 then says that iron was mixed with the miry clay, and the following pronoun “they” evidently refer to this leading element, clay. So Papacy has been unfaithful to Christ, by mixing themselves with the seed of men in spiritual fornication. Papacy taught her subjects to do the same, that is, aspire to earthly rule and power rather than keeping themselves chaste for their heavenly bridegroom. See Revelation 2:20 where “Jezebel” (Papacy) teaches God’s servants this very sin.
The symbology is even more lurid when one recognizes that the kingdoms of this world are represented as beasts in Daniel chapter 7. Compare the name “Babylon” applied to Papacy in Revelation 17:5, which means confusion, to Leviticus 18:23.}
Thus the feet of the image represent Europe as it existed during the centuries when Papacy dominated the Christian world. [A]In our last issue we noted that chapter one had lessons about the persecution of the Church by pagan Rome. Now we see that chapter two symbolizes the foe of the True Church as Papal Rome. We will see yet another persecuting agent when we later examine chapter three.
THE END OF THE IMAGE
Verse 34 [Dan. 2:34] recounts how this great image, representing the kingdoms of this world, finally falls. “A stone was cut out without hands, which smoke the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.”
The stone represents the true Church, who are “cut out” of this world through the unseen power of the holy Spirit. The saints who died through the age have been raised to life already (since we have entered the Harvest of the age). Thus part of the body of Christ has already been raised to power in heaven. This is the power which smites the image at its feet, and causes its collapse.
The metallic image of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in chapter two, with the beasts of chapter seven for comparison. Both visions show the same four Universal Kingdoms, from two different views. The image from Nebuchadnezzar’s dream shows how the kings of earth view their empires. The dreadful beasts from Daniel’s dream shows how God sees them.
Some feel that this blow represents the Armageddon blow, yet future. However, many other brethren hold that the smiting of the image refers to the great impact the Kingdoms of Christendom received in World War I, continuing in World War II, which broke apart the rule of kings. In this case the dream includes the entire breaking process, which has been progressing since 1914.
In support of this view is verse 35. [Dan. 2:35] “Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floor; and the wind carried them away.” There is a progression here. The initial impact breaks up the image. It then becomes like the chaff in “summer,” subsequently to be blown away by the wind.
In the Scriptures, “summer” is the time of harvest, which is the closing period of the Gospel Age (see the article The Gospel Age Harvest in this issue.) So the image is being broken now, during the harvest, before its final disposal during the later stages of trouble which conclude the harvest.
As the saints still living in the flesh finish their lives here, and are resurrected as spirit beings, we join those who have preceded us. Thus all of the elect, “all his saints,” will have some part in bringing to pass the judgment written (see Psalm 149:9) before the close of the time of trouble.
THE STONE GROWS
Verse 35 [Dan. 2:35] says, “and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.” The Kingdom of God initially is composed of Christ and his saints. Then the Ancient Worthies will be raised to life as human leaders for Israel and the world. Gradually the rule of the kingdom will extend outward, and as it does it will fulfil the symbolism of the stone growing into a mountain. At last the entire world will succumb to the blessed influence of that Kingdom – “and filled the whole earth.”
Verse 44 [Dan. 2:44] says, “In the days of these kings (the gentile kingdoms) shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and (unlike the other kingdoms which were succeeded by another power) the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.” Thus the Kingdom of God will be both universal, and everlasting.
THE RESPONSE OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR
Nebuchadnezzar was an autocrat. He could and would command the death of persons at his will, as for example his decree to destroy all the wise men.
But in his conduct, though rash and unyielding, there was a thread of sense and responsibility. When he recognized Daniel’s true spirit of godly wisdom, he honoured it as ardently as he was willing to punish others.
“Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation, and sweet odours unto him … and said, of a truth … your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings” (Daniel 2:46, 47). By honouring Daniel, he honoured God whom Daniel served.
So in the Kingdom, when the world comes to recognize the Daniel class as representatives of Jehovah, those of the proper disposition will homer their new rulers as representatives of Jehovah. “Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee” (Revelation 3:9).
Daniel was given “many great gifts, and made … ruler over the whole province … and chief of the governors” (Daniel 2:48). So will the Church be set over the world, to rule and judge and bless them during the Millennium.
– By Br. David Rice – From Faithbuilders Fellowship, February 2006.
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Good subject.
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