The narrative story of Chapter 2 is incredibly significant as a follow up to Chapter 1, in it shows how Daniel and his three friends were sustained by God and established by God as influencers in Babylonian society.
The King has a dream that so disturbed him, he calls upon all his “magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to tell him what he had dreamed.”
The word for “astrologers” here is related to the term Matthew uses to describe the wise men who brought gifts to the infant Jesus at the start of his gospel — “Magi.” (Here in Daniel, the word is literally “Chaldeans,” which is the ethnic group from which the Magi came). But while the Lord revealed the coming of the messiah to pagan astrologers 4 centuries after the history in the book of Daniel, there is no such revelation to assist King Nebuchadnezzar.
As these “astrologers” begin to speak in Daniel 2:4, the language switches from Hebrew to Aramaic. The story moving forward from this point affects not just the people of God but will have a tremendous impact on the known civilized world. Therefore, the language changes from something only natives of Israel understood, to the international language of commerce and diplomacy.
The King makes an outlandish, impetuous, and impossible demand. Rather than telling his sorcerers and astrologers the details of his dream so they could interpret it, he wants them to give him the details of his dream, so he can know for sure that they have a legitimate connection to the supernatural. (Perhaps the King has been disappointed by his sorcerers and astrologers before?)
When the response from his servants is, “we can’t do that,” verse 12 states, “12 This made the king so angry and furious that he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon.” (By condemning the “wise men,” Nebuchadnezzar meant the specialists who devoted themselves to occult soothsaying; Daniel and his friends should not have been included, but v. 18 indicates Daniel feared they too would be executed).
When Daniel heard of the King’s decree, v. 14 says he reacted with “wisdom and tact.” (The KJV says “counsel and wisdom,” NAS has “discretion and discernment,” NET has “prudent counsel”).
Daniel ends up appearing before the King and humbly asking for time to allow for his own interpretation of the King’s Dream. Then, with no indication he had any idea what the King’s dream was, he went back to his friends, and they all prayed for God to give Daniel the revelation he needed. It says in v. 19 that God revealed the dream to Daniel that night, and Daniel spends vv. 20-23 praising God for his provision, power, and wisdom.
The events of Daniel 2 occur only a year or so after the initiation of the training program started in Daniel 1, or perhaps immediately after graduation from the three-year training period (the time of the start of a King’s reign as expressed in ancient writings was not always exact and differed from culture to culture). Regardless, Daniel cannot be any older than his late teens or early twenties at the start of Chapter 2. His wisdom, maturity, and faith are amazing. His confidence and humility are also profound. He fulfilled the King’s wishes without offense, pretension, or haughtiness. His calm, controlled, and respectful handling of presenting the king’s dream and its interpretation is the sort of thing that I cannot imagine among the modern evangelical world’s “movers and shakers” who claim prophetic insight into the politics of today. Daniel had quietly established that his faith and relationship with God was authentic, and when this was combined with his success as a servant of Babylon’s king, it gave everything he did credibility in the eyes of the Babylonian hierarchy. We also need to understand that until this moment, Daniel was nothing but a mere slave, one of the “up and comers” in the new class of Hebrew recruits, embroiled amid the equivalent of an undergraduate education. But this encounter with the king led to his appointment as “ruler” of the “province of Babylon.” This would have been comparable to being a governor of an American State. At Daniel’s request, his three friends were also given prominent positions.
(It gives me pause to imagine what Daniel was like as a child and as he grew up, prior to his deportation to Babylon. To consider he had the acumen, poise, and maturity to go from being the equivalent of a “wet behind the ears” immigrant, barely old enough to vote or order a drink by the standards of modern America, to being the Governor of California in a matter of 12 to 36 months-- It boggles the mind).
And what of the King’s dream? Anyone whose spent any amount of time reading and interpreting Daniel chapter 2 knows that the statue made of different kinds of metals represents the 4 major empires of the ancient world that would come into being after Nebuchadnezzar’s lifetime, starting with the present ruling empire represented by the head made of Gold (Babylon), the chest and arms of silver (the Medeo-Persian Empire of Cyrus the Great), the belly of bronze (Alexander the Great’s Greek Empire), and the legs and feet of iron (the Roman Empire). Of course, the rock that destroys the statute is God’s eternal Kingdom.
What is the proper context of this? Besides knowing that the prophetic nature of the revelation was mostly fulfilled by the succession of the dominant imperial nation states up until the time of Christ, what do we make of the description of these nations, or of Daniel’s reference to each one being “inferior” to the last?
First, the term “inferior” here does not mean “second class” by comparison. Rather, it simply means different, further down in location, or sometime in the future.
More important to consider are the metals the statute is made of. Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom comes first, represented by the head made of Gold. It is the most valuable of the metals mentioned in connection with the dream. Gold can be refined to be pure. It is also the softest and most pliable of the 4 metals discussed.
Nebuchadnezzar was an absolute monarch — a true despot , whose word was law. He had complete control over his empire -- an absolute dictator. Therefore, his monarchical rule was the “purest” from the standpoint of authority or power. But because gold is soft and pliable, it is not as stable or secure as the other metals in the statute, meaning it would not endure as long as the succeeding nations — only 87 years. Indeed, the empire would fall under Nebuchadnezzar’s immediate successor.
The Medeo-Persian Empire of Cyrus the Great was next. After conquering Babylon, Persia was three times the size of Nebuchadnezzar’s empire and had even greater international influence. It lasted for just shy of 300 years. While the rulers of Persia held a great deal of power individually, much of their authority was delegated and spread among a series of subsidiary officials, known as “satraps.” Also, Cyrus established a tradition of honoring the rights of the people and nations he subjugated, adding a measure of conscience to his absolute power (this philosophy led to the return of the exiles to Jerusalem). Silver represented the Persian Empire — stronger and more enduring than the previous empire made of Gold, but still not strong enough to withstand what was coming.
Alexander the Great’s Greek Empire came next, represented as bronze. Gold and Silver are pure metals, found as elements on the periodic table. Bronze is an alloy, a manufactured concept that combines metals together — in this case copper and tin. It was strong enough to be used in building construction and making weapons. Alexander the Great had such amazing strategy, organization, and efficiency, that by the time he was 30 years old, he had conquered an empire that stretched from modern day Austria in Europe to India in Asia — the largest nation state up to that point in history.
But Alexander died suddenly when he was 32, before he could develop a succession plan. His generals split his empire among themselves and continued his legacy in a loose confederation for around 300 years. But the greatest achievement of the Greek Empire was the establishment of Greek culture (known as “Hellenism”), which became the dominant worldview/philosophy for the next 1,500 years!
Finally, the feet of the statue, made of iron, represents the Roman Empire. Iron is also a basic element, but is not particularly useful in its natural state, because it oxidizes easily, resulting in rust. But when combined and refined with other metals, it became the strongest metal in the ancient world. The Roman Empire became a more powerful nation state than all the previous empires combined. The “refined” nature of Roman rule is seen in the assimilation of the nations it conquered, allowing the subjugated peoples to retain their culture while integrating each sub-state into the fabric of the larger empire. Hellenistic culture became Roman culture, guaranteeing that Alexander’s legacy lasted for centuries.
I believe one of the reasons why the King’s dream showed a progression over time of nations that were more successful, powerful, and enduring but were represented by metals of diminishing monetary value is the evolution of the more enlightened governments in the later nation states.
Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon was an absolute dictatorship, but the Greek City States that preceded Alexander’s unification of Greece and the original concept of the city state of Rome were republics, with a democratic system of checks and balances contained in their legislative assemblies and the limitations placed on elected or appointed executives. Daniel had never experienced anything like a representative democracy; he likely did not understand that the metals representing the strength of these yet to be formed future governments had nothing to do with the value of the metal, but for its rigid, compact, dense, and inflexible qualities.
Roman tolerance allowed for the management of a diverse society. But not always with success.
This is seen in the clay mixed with iron in the statute’s toes. As Daniel interprets this part of the dream, he notes in v. 41 that “this will be a divided kingdom,” with one part strong, the other brittle. This is exactly what happened to Rome – for the first 200 years after the time of Christ, Rome kept expanding and had no trouble crushing its enemies and asserting its authority over the then known world. As the Empire kept growing, the expanding territory and increasing diversification made it tough to manage. In the years 250-285, government corruption led to a near total collapse of authority. Civil strife, economic chaos, pandemics, and barbarian invasions led to a political strongman (Diocletian) taking over as Emperor, who maintained order by laying the blame for Rome’s problems on a singular minority group – Christians! The period from 286-305 is known as the “Great Persecution.” After Diocletian died, the power vacuum led to another period of civil strife that ended in 395 with the Empire split in two, one Emperor ruling in Rome over the Western Empire, and another ruling in Constantinople over the Eastern Empire. The Western Empire was unstable (“brittle”) from the start and was completely overrun by invaders by 476. But the Eastern Empire prospered and endured, remaining the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in the Mediterranean world until overrun by the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
Despite a history of persecuting Christians at the outset, the vast size and political unity of the Roman Empire served to assist in the spreading of Christianity, eventually resulting in the Eastern Empire officially recognizing Christianity in the 4th century.
But the vision of the rock that obliterated the statute, of course, transcends even the political recognition of Christianity by the Romans. Later in the book, Daniel will make prophetic connections to visions that culminate in the book of Revelation, and the “rock” ruling over “a new heaven and a new earth.” (Rev. 21:1).
