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Daniel 2 (ESV)

²⁵ Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste and said thus to him: “I have found among the exiles from Judah a man who will make known to the king the interpretation.” ²⁶ The king declared to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?” ²⁷ Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, ²⁸ but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these: ²⁹ To you, O king, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this, and he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be. ³⁰ But as for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your mind.

³¹ “You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. ³² The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, ³³ its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. ³⁴ As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. ³⁵ Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

³⁶ “This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its interpretation. ³⁷ You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, ³⁸ and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all—you are the head of gold. ³⁹ Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you, and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. ⁴⁰ And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these. ⁴¹ And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay. ⁴² And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. ⁴³ As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. ⁴⁴ And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, ⁴⁵ just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”

 

REFLECTION:

1. This chapter records that in the second year of King Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, he had a weird dream that made him upset and unable to sleep. Therefore, he asked the sorcerers to interpret his dreams, but instead of telling them, the king unreasonably intimidated and oppressed them, saying that they were deliberately delayed and wanted to kill all the wise men. At that time, someone went to look for Daniel.
2. Daniel said to the king: “there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.” (28) He knew that his ability to interpret dreams was not because of his own wisdom, but the Lord who reveals mysteries made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what is to be (29) through Daniel’s mouth. Daniel was inspired by God to interpret the dream for the king: the golden head of the image is Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon (38); as for other parts, some scholars believe that the chest and arms of silver refer to Medes-Persia (cf. 5:28); the middle and thighs of bronze refer to Greece; the legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay refer to Rome. The power of the world is like this. From head to toe, the quality of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and clay is descending. When the situation is deteriorating to the end of the road, the eternal kingdom of Christ will be established, and complete victory will be obtained to replace the human kingdom (34～44).
3. Daniel understood that his wisdom and talents were given by God, so he humbled before the king, only exalting God, not himself. As a result, God used him to interpret the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar, and even the Gentile king gave glory to God, and Daniel was put in an important position by the king and relieved the wise men from being killed.

 

PRAYER:

Ask God to give you Daniel’s humility and obedience, and only exalt God, not yourself. Glorify the Lord in everything, and make your unbeliever friends and relatives know Jesus through your testimony and good deeds.