Okay, here we go ... the "meat" (i.e. SPAM) of the Daniel Book is being foisted upon us at the book study.
This is "rock-solid" evidence though ... so apostates ... do your worst! You can't win against Jehovah.
-ithinkisee
Chapter Four: The Rise and Fall of an Immense Image
A DECADE has passed since King Nebuchadnezzar brought Daniel and other “foremost men of the land” of Judah into captivity in Babylon. (2 Kings 24:15) Young Daniel is serving in the king’s court when a life-threatening situation arises. Why should this interest us? Because the way that Jehovah God intervenes in the matter not only saves the lives of Daniel and others but also gives us a view of the march of world powers of Bible prophecy leading into our times.
A MONARCH FACES A DIFFICULT PROBLEM
2 “In the second year of the kingship of Nebuchadnezzar,” wrote the prophet Daniel, “Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams; and his spirit began to feel agitated, and his very sleep was made to be something beyond him.” (Daniel 2:1) The dreamer was Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the Babylonian Empire. He had effectively become world ruler in 607 B.C.E. when Jehovah God allowed him to destroy Jerusalem and its temple. In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign as world ruler (606/605 B.C.E.), God sent him a terrifying dream.
3 This dream distressed Nebuchadnezzar so much that he could not sleep. Naturally, he was anxious to know its meaning. But the mighty king had forgotten the dream! So he summoned Babylon’s magicians, enchanters, and sorcerers, and he demanded that they relate the dream and interpret it. The task was beyond them. Their failure so infuriated Nebuchadnezzar that he issued a command “to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.” This decree would bring the prophet Daniel face-to-face with the appointed executioner. Why? Because he and his three Hebrew companions—Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah—were counted among the wise men of Babylon.—Daniel 2:2-14.
DANIEL COMES TO THE RESCUE (cue the Indiana Jones music)
4 After learning the reason for Nebuchadnezzar’s harsh decree, “Daniel himself went in and asked from the king that he should give him time expressly to show the very interpretation to the king.” This was granted. Daniel returned to his house, and he and his three Hebrew friends prayed, asking “for mercies on the part of the God of heaven concerning this secret.” In a vision that very night, Jehovah revealed to Daniel the secret of the dream. Gratefully, Daniel said: “Let the name of God become blessed from time indefinite even to time indefinite, for wisdom and mightiness—for they belong to him. And he is changing times and seasons, removing kings and setting up kings, giving wisdom to the wise ones and knowledge to those knowing discernment. He is revealing the deep things and the concealed things, knowing what is in the darkness; and with him the light does dwell.” For such insight, Daniel praised Jehovah.—Daniel 2:15-23.
5 The following day, Daniel approached Arioch, the chief of the bodyguard, who had been appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. Upon learning that Daniel could interpret the dream, Arioch rushed him to the king. Taking no credit for himself, Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar: “There exists a God in the heavens who is a Revealer of secrets, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what is to occur in the final part of the days.” Daniel was ready to reveal not only the future of the Babylonian Empire but an outline of world events from Nebuchadnezzar’s day to our time and beyond.—Daniel 2:24-30.
THE DREAM—REMEMBERED
6 Nebuchadnezzar listened intently as Daniel explained: “You, O king, happened to be beholding, and, look! a certain immense image. That image, which was large and the brightness of which was extraordinary, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was dreadful. As regards that image, its head was of good gold, its breasts and its arms were of silver, its belly and its thighs were of copper, its legs were of iron, its feet were partly of iron and partly of molded clay. You kept on looking until a stone was cut out not by hands, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and of molded clay and crushed them. At that time the iron, the molded clay, the copper, the silver and the gold were, all together, crushed and became like the chaff from the summer threshing floor, and the wind carried them away so that no trace at all was found of them. And as for the stone that struck the image, it became a large mountain and filled the whole earth.”—Daniel 2:31-35.
7 How thrilled Nebuchadnezzar must have been to hear Daniel unfold the dream! But wait! Babylon’s wise men would be spared only if Daniel also interpreted the dream. Speaking for himself and his three Hebrew friends, Daniel declared: “This is the dream, and its interpretation we shall say before the king.”—Daniel 2:36.
A KINGDOM OF EMINENT DISTINCTION
8 “You, O king, the king of kings, you to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the might, and the strength and the dignity, and into whose hand he has given, wherever the sons of mankind are dwelling, the beasts of the field and the winged creatures of the heavens, and whom he has made ruler over all of them, you yourself are the head of gold.” (Daniel 2:37, 38) These words applied to Nebuchadnezzar after Jehovah had used him to destroy Jerusalem, in 607 B.C.E. This is so because the kings enthroned in Jerusalem were from the line of David, Jehovah’s anointed king. Jerusalem was the capital of Judah, the typical kingdom of God representing Jehovah’s sovereignty over the earth. With that city’s destruction in 607 B.C.E., this typical kingdom of God ceased to exist. (1 Chronicles 29:23; 2 Chronicles 36:17-21) The successive world powers represented by the metallic parts of the image could now exercise world domination without interference from God’s typical kingdom. As the head of gold, the most precious metal known in ancient times, Nebuchadnezzar had had the distinction of overturning that kingdom by destroying Jerusalem.—See “A Warrior King Builds an Empire,” on page 63.
9 Nebuchadnezzar, who reigned for 43 years, headed a dynasty that ruled over the Babylonian Empire. It included his son-in-law Nabonidus and his oldest son, Evil-merodach. That dynasty continued for 43 more years, until the death of Nabonidus’ son Belshazzar, in 539 B.C.E. (2 Kings 25:27; Daniel 5:30) So the head of gold in the dream image represented not just Nebuchadnezzar but the entire Babylonian line of rulership.
10 Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar: “After you there will rise another kingdom inferior to you.” (Daniel 2:39) A kingdom symbolized by the image’s breasts and arms of silver would succeed Nebuchadnezzar’s dynasty. Some 200 years earlier, Isaiah had foretold this kingdom, even giving the name of its victorious king—Cyrus. (Isaiah 13:1-17; 21:2-9; 44:24–45:7, 13) This was the Medo-Persian Empire. Even though Medo-Persia developed a great civilization that was not secondary to that of the Babylonian Empire, this latter kingdom is represented by silver, a metal less precious than gold. It was inferior to the Babylonian World Power in that it did not have the distinction of overturning Judah, the typical kingdom of God with its capital at Jerusalem.
11 Some 60 years after interpreting the dream, Daniel witnessed the end of Nebuchadnezzar’s dynasty. Daniel was present on the night of October 5/6, 539 B.C.E., when the Medo-Persian army took seemingly impregnable Babylon and executed King Belshazzar. With the death of Belshazzar, the golden head of the dream image—the Babylonian Empire—ceased to exist.
[Study Questions]
1. Why should we be interested in a situation that arose a decade after King Nebuchadnezzar took Daniel and others into captivity?
2. When did Nebuchadnezzar have his first prophetic dream?
3. Who proved unable to interpret the king’s dream, and how did Nebuchadnezzar respond?
4. (a) How did Daniel learn the content of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and its meaning? (b) What did Daniel say in appreciation to Jehovah God?
5. (a) When before the king, how did Daniel give credit to Jehovah? (b) Why is Daniel’s explanation of interest to us today?
6, 7. What was the dream that Daniel recalled for the king?
8. (a) Who or what did Daniel interpret the head of gold to be? (b) When did the head of gold come into existence?
9. What was represented by the head of gold?
10. (a) How did Nebuchadnezzar’s dream indicate that the Babylonian World Power would not last? (b) What did the prophet Isaiah foretell about Babylon’s conqueror? (c) In what sense was Medo-Persia inferior to Babylon?
11. When did Nebuchadnezzar’s dynasty cease to exist?