Daniel 2

Da 2:1-49.

NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S

DREAM:

DANIEL'S

INTERPRETATION OF

IT, AND

ADVANCEMENT.

1. second year of . . . Nebuchadnezzar--

Da 1:5

shows that "three years" had elapsed since Nebuchadnezzar had taken

Jerusalem. The solution of this difficulty is: Nebuchadnezzar first

ruled as subordinate to his father Nabopolassar, to which time the

first chapter refers

(Da 1:1);

whereas "the second year" in the second chapter is dated from his sole

sovereignty. The very difficulty is a proof of genuineness; all was

clear to the writer and the original readers from their

knowledge of the circumstances, and so he adds no explanation. A

forger would not introduce difficulties; the author did not

then see any difficulty in the case. Nebuchadnezzar is called

"king"

(Da 1:1),

the death of his father, and the Jews always called him "king," as

commander of the invading army.

dreams--It is significant that not to Daniel, but to the then world

ruler, Nebuchadnezzar, the dream is vouchsafed. It was from the first of

its representatives who had conquered the theocracy, that the world

power was to learn its doom, as about to be in its turn subdued, and for

ever by the kingdom of God. As this vision opens, so that in the seventh

chapter developing the same truth more fully, closes the first part.

Nebuchadnezzar, as vicegerent of God

(Da 2:37;

compare

Jer 25:9;

Eze 28:12-15;

Isa 44:28; 45:1;

Ro 13:1),

is honored with the revelation in the form of a dream, the appropriate

form to one outside the kingdom of God. So in the cases of Abimelech,

Pharaoh, &c.

(Ge 20:3; 41:1-7),

especially as the heathen attached such importance to dreams. Still it

is not he, but an Israelite, who interprets it. Heathendom is passive,

Israel active, in divine things, so that the glory redounds to "the God

of heaven."

2. Chaldeans--here, a certain order of priest-magicians, who wore a

peculiar dress, like that seen on the gods and deified men in the

Assyrian sculptures. Probably they belonged exclusively to the

Chaldeans, the original tribe of the Babylonian nation, just as the

Magians were properly Medes.

3. troubled to know the dream--He awoke in alarm, remembering that

something solemn had been presented to him in a dream, without being

able to recall the form in which it had clothed itself. His thoughts on

the unprecedented greatness to which his power had attained

(Da 2:29)

made him anxious to know what the issue of all this should be. God

meets this wish in the way most calculated to impress him.

4. Here begins the Chaldee portion of Daniel, which continues to

the end of the seventh chapter. In it the course, character, and crisis

of the Gentile power are treated; whereas, in the other parts, which are

in Hebrew, the things treated apply more particularly to the Jews

and Jerusalem.

Syriac--the Aramean Chaldee, the vernacular tongue of the king

and his court; the prophet, by mentioning it here, hints at the reason

of his own adoption of it from this point.

live for ever--a formula in addressing kings, like our "Long live

the king!" Compare

1Ki 1:31.

5. The thing--that is, The dream, "is gone from me."

GESENIUS

translates, "The decree is gone forth from me," irrevocable (compare

Isa 45:23);

namely, that you shall be executed, if you do not tell both the dream

and the interpretation. English Version is simpler, which

supposes the king himself to have forgotten the dream. Pretenders to

supernatural knowledge often bring on themselves their own punishment.

cut in pieces--

(1Sa 15:33).

houses . . . dunghill--rather, "a morass heap." The Babylonian houses

were built of sun-dried bricks; when demolished, the rain dissolves the

whole into a mass of mire, in the wet land, near the river

[STUART]. As

to the consistency of this cruel threat with Nebuchadnezzar's character,

see

Da 4:17,

"basest of men";

Jer 39:5, 6; 52:9-11.

6. rewards--literally, "presents poured out in lavish profusion."

8. gain . . . time--literally, "buy." Compare

Eph 5:16;

Col 4:5,

where the sense is somewhat different.

the thing is gone from me--(See on

Da 2:5).

9. one decree--There can be no second one reversing the first

(Es 4:11).

corrupt--deceitful.

till the time be changed--till a new state of things arrive, either

government (which perhaps the agitation caused by the dream made

Nebuchadnezzar to forebode, and so to suspect the Chaldeans of

plotting).

tell . . . dream, and I shall know . . . ye can show . . .

interpretation--If ye cannot tell the past, a dream actually presented

to me, how can ye know, and show, the future events prefigured in it?

10. There is not a man . . . that can show--God makes the heathen

out of their own mouth, condemn their impotent pretensions to

supernatural knowledge, in order to bring out in brighter contrast His

power to reveal secrets to His servants, though but "men upon the earth"

(compare

Da 2:22, 23).

therefore, &c.--that is, If such things could be done by men, other

absolute princes would have required them from their magicians; as they

have not, it is proof such things cannot be done and cannot be

reasonably asked from us.

11. gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh--answering to "no man

upon the earth"; for there were, in their belief, "men in heaven,"

namely, men deified; for example, Nimrod. The supreme gods are

referred to here, who alone, in the Chaldean view, could solve the

difficulty, but who do not communicate with men. The inferior gods,

intermediate between men and the supreme gods, are unable to solve it.

Contrast with this heathen idea of the utter severance of God from man,

Joh 1:14,

"The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us"; Daniel was

in this case made His representative.

12, 13. Daniel and his companions do not seem to have been actually

numbered among the Magi or Chaldeans, and so were not summoned before

the king. Providence ordered it so that all mere human wisdom should be

shown vain before His divine power, through His servant, was put forth.

Da 2:24

shows that the decree for slaying the wise men had not been actually

executed when Daniel interposed.

14. captain of the king's guard--commanding the executioners

(Margin; and

Ge 37:36,

Margin).

15. Why is the decree so hasty--Why were not all of us consulted

before the decree for the execution of all was issued?

the thing--the agitation of the king as to his dream, and his

abortive consultation of the Chaldeans. It is plain from this that

Daniel was till now ignorant of the whole matter.

16. Daniel went in--perhaps not in person, but by the mediation of

some courtier who had access to the king. His first direct interview

seems to have been

Da 2:25

[BARNES].

time--The king granted "time" to Daniel, though he would not do so

to the Chaldeans because they betrayed their lying purpose by requiring

him to tell the dream, which Daniel did not. Providence doubtless

influenced his mind, already favorable

(Da 1:19, 20),

to show special favor to Daniel.

17. Here appears the reason why Daniel sought "time"

(Da 2:16),

namely he wished to engage his friends to join him in prayer to God to

reveal the dream to him.

18. An illustration of the power of united prayer

(Mt 18:19).

The same instrumentality rescued Peter from his peril

(Ac 12:5-12).

19. revealed . . . in . . . night vision--

(Job 33:15, 16).

20. answered--responded to God's goodness by praises.

name of God--God in His revelation of Himself by acts of love,

"wisdom, and might"

(Jer 32:19).

21. changeth . . . times . . . seasons--"He

herein gives a general preparatory intimation, that the dream of

Nebuchadnezzar is concerning the changes and successions of kingdoms"

[JEROME]. The "times" are the phases and

periods of duration of empires (compare

Da 7:25;

1Ch 12:32; 29:30);

the "seasons" the fitting times for their culmination, decline,

and fall

(Ec 3:1;

Ac 1:7;

1Th 5:1).

The vicissitudes of states, with their times and seasons, are not

regulated by chance or fate, as the heathen thought, but by God.

removed kings--

(Job 12:18;

Ps 75:6, 7;

Jer 27:5;

compare

1Sa 2:7, 8).

giveth wisdom--

(1Ki 3:9-12;

Jas 1:5).

22. revealeth--

(Job 12:22).

So spiritually

(Eph 1:17, 18).

knoweth what is in . . . darkness--

(Ps 139:11, 12;

Heb 4:13).

light . . . him--

(Jas 1:17;

1Jo 1:4).

Apocalypse (or "revelation") signifies a divine, prophecy

a human, activity. Compare

1Co 14:6,

where the two are distinguished. The prophet is connected with the

outer world, addressing to the congregation the words with which the

Spirit of God supplies him; he speaks in the Spirit, but the

apocalyptic seer is in the Spirit in his whole person

(Re 1:10; 4:2).

The form of the apocalyptic revelation (the very term meaning that the

veil that hides the invisible world is taken off) is

subjectively either the dream, or, higher, the vision.

The interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream was a preparatory

education to Daniel himself. By gradual steps, each revelation

preparing him for the succeeding one, God fitted him for disclosures

becoming more and more special. In the second and fourth chapters he is

but an interpreter of Nebuchadnezzar's dreams; then he has a dream

himself, but it is only a vision in a dream of the night

(Da 7:1, 2);

then follows a vision in a waking state

(Da 8:1-3);

lastly, in the two final revelations

(Da 9:20; 10:4, 5)

the ecstatic state is no longer needed. The progression in the

form answers to the progression in the contents of his

prophecy; at first general outlines, and these afterwards filled

up with minute chronological and historical details, such as are

not found in the Revelation of John, though, as became the New

Testament, the form of revelation is the highest, namely, clear waking

visions [AUBERLEN].

23. thee . . . thee--He ascribes all the glory to God.

God of my fathers--Thou hast shown Thyself the same God of grace to

me, a captive exile, as Thou didst to Israel of old and this on account

of the covenant made with our "fathers"

(Lu 1:54, 55;

compare

Ps 106:45).

given me wisdom and might--Thou being the fountain of both; referring

to

Da 2:20.

Whatever wise ability I have to stay the execution of the king's

cruel decree, is Thy gift.

me . . . we . . . us--The revelation was

given to Daniel, as "me" implies; yet with just modesty he joins his

friends with him; because it was to their joint prayers, and not to his

individually, that he owed the revelation from God.

known . . . the king's matter--the very words in which

the Chaldeans had denied the possibility of any man on earth

telling the dream ("not a man upon the earth can show the king's

matter,"

Da 2:10).

Impostors are compelled by the God of truth to eat up their own words.

24. Therefore--because of having received the divine communication.

bring me in before the king--implying that he had not previously

been in person before the king (see on

Da 2:16).

25. I have found a man--Like all courtiers, in announcing agreeable

tidings, he ascribes the merit of the discovery to himself

[JEROME]. So

far from it being a discrepancy, that he says nothing of the previous

understanding between him and Daniel, or of Daniel's application to the

king

(Da 2:15, 16),

it is just what we should expect. Arioch would not dare to tell an

absolute despot that he had stayed the execution of his sanguinary

decree, on his own responsibility; but would, in the first instance,

secretly stay it until Daniel had got, by application from the king,

the time required, without Arioch seeming to know of Daniel's

application as the cause of the respite; then, when Daniel had received

the revelation, Arioch would in trembling haste bring him in, as if

then for the first time he had "found" him. The very difficulty when

cleared up is a proof of genuineness, as it never would be

introduced by a forger.

27. cannot--Daniel, being learned in all the lore of the Chaldeans

(Da 1:4),

could authoritatively declare the impossibility of mere man

solving the king's difficulty.

soothsayers--from a root, "to cut off"; referring to their cutting the heavens into divisions, and so guessing at men's destinies from the

place of the stars at one's birth.

28. God--in contrast to "the wise men," &c.

(Da 2:27).

revealeth secrets--

(Am 3:7; 4:13).

Compare

Ge 41:45,

Zaphnath-paaneah, "revealer of secrets," the title given to

Joseph.

the latter days--literally, "in the after days"

(Da 2:29);

"hereafter"

(Ge 49:1).

It refers to the whole future, including the Messianic days, which is

the final dispensation

(Isa 2:2).

visions of thy head--conceptions formed in the brain.

29. God met with a revelation Nebuchadnezzar, who had been

meditating on the future destiny of his vast empire.

30. not . . . for any wisdom that I have--not on

account of any previous wisdom which I may have manifested

(Da 1:17, 20).

The specially-favored servants of God in all ages disclaim merit in

themselves and ascribe all to the grace and power of God

(Ge 41:16;

Ac 3:12).

The "as for me," disclaiming extraordinary merit, contrasts elegantly

with "as for thee," whereby Daniel courteously, but without flattery,

implies, that God honored Nebuchadnezzar, as His vicegerent over the

world kingdoms, with a revelation on the subject uppermost in his

thoughts, the ultimate destinies of those kingdoms.

for their sakes that shall make known, &c.--a Chaldee idiom for,

"to the intent that the interpretation may be made known to the king."

the thoughts of thy heart--thy subject of thought before falling

asleep. Or, perhaps the probation of Nebuchadnezzar's character through this revelation may be the meaning intended (compare

2Ch 32:31;

Lu 2:35).

31. The world power in its totality appears as a colossal human form:

Babylon the head of gold, Medo-Persia the breast and two arms of

silver, Græco-Macedonia the belly and two thighs of brass, and

Rome, with its Germano-Slavonic offshoots, the legs of iron and feet of

iron and clay, the fourth still existing. Those kingdoms only are

mentioned which stand in some relation to the kingdom of God; of these

none is left out; the final establishment of that kingdom is the aim of

His moral government of the world. The colossus of metal stands on weak

feet, of clay. All man's glory is as ephemeral and worthless as chaff

(compare

1Pe 1:24).

But the kingdom of God, small and unheeded as a "stone" on the ground

is compact in its homogeneous unity; whereas the world power, in its

heterogeneous constituents successively supplanting one another,

contains the elements of decay. The relation of the stone to the

mountain is that of the kingdom of the cross

(Mt 16:23;

Lu 24:26)

to the kingdom of glory, the latter beginning, and the former ending

when the kingdom of God breaks in pieces the kingdoms of the world

(Re 11:15).

Christ's contrast between the two kingdoms refers to this passage.

a great image--literally, "one image that was great." Though the

kingdoms were different, it was essentially one and the same world

power under different phases, just as the image was one, though the

parts were of different metals.

32. On ancient coins states are often represented by human

figures. The head and higher parts signify the earlier times; the

lower, the later times. The metals become successively baser and baser,

implying the growing degeneracy from worse to worse.

HESIOD, two hundred years before Daniel, had

compared the four ages to the four metals in the same order; the idea

is sanctioned here by Holy Writ. It was perhaps one of those fragments

of revelation among the heathen derived from the tradition as to the

fall of man. The metals lessen in specific gravity, as they

downwards; silver is not so heavy as gold, brass not so heavy as

silver, and iron not so heavy as brass, the weight thus being

arranged in the reverse of stability [TREGELLES].

Nebuchadnezzar derived his authority from God, not from man, nor as

responsible to man. But the Persian king was so far dependent on others

that he could not deliver Daniel from the princes

(Da 6:14, 15);

contrast

Da 5:18, 19,

as to Nebuchadnezzar's power from God, "whom he would he slew, and whom

he would he kept alive" (compare

Ezr 7:14;

Es 1:13-16).

Græco-Macedonia betrays its deterioration in its divisions, not

united as Babylon and Persia. Iron is stronger than brass, but inferior

in other respects; so Rome hardy and strong to tread down the nations,

but less kingly and showing its chief deterioration in its last state.

Each successive kingdom incorporates its predecessor (compare

Da 5:28).

Power that in Nebuchadnezzar's hands was a God-derived

(Da 2:37, 38)

autocracy, in the Persian king's was a rule resting on his nobility of

person and birth, the nobles being his equals in rank, but not in

office; in Greece, an aristocracy not of birth, but individual

influence, in Rome, lowest of all, dependent entirely on popular

choice, the emperor being appointed by popular military election.

33. As the two arms of silver denote the kings of the Medes and

Persians [JOSEPHUS]; and the two thighs of brass

the Seleucidæ of Syria and Lagidæ of Egypt, the two leading

sections into which Græco-Macedonia parted, so the two legs of

iron signify the two Roman consuls [NEWTON]. The

clay, in

Da 2:41,

"potter's clay,"

Da 2:43,

"miry clay," means "earthenware," hard but brittle (compare

Ps 2:9;

Re 2:27,

where the same image is used of the same event); the feet are stable

while bearing only direct pressure, but easily broken to pieces by a

blow

(Da 2:34),

the iron intermixed not retarding, but hastening, such a result.

34. stone--Messiah and His kingdom

(Ge 49:24;

Ps 118:22;

Isa 28:16).

In its relations to Israel, it is a "stone of stumbling"

(Isa 8:14;

Ac 4:11;

1Pe 2:7, 8)

on which both houses of Israel are broken, not destroyed

(Mt 21:32).

In its relation to the Church, the same stone which destroys the image

is the foundation of the Church

(Eph 2:20).

In its relation to the Gentile world power, the stone is its destroyer

(Da 2:35, 44;

compare

Zec 12:3).

Christ saith

(Mt 21:44,

referring to

Isa 8:14, 15),

"Whosoever shall fall on this stone (that is, stumble, and be offended,

at Him, as the Jews were, from whom, therefore, He says, 'The

kingdom shall be taken') shall be broken; but (referring to

Da 2:34, 35)

on whomsoever it shall fall (referring to the world power which

had been the instrument of breaking the Jews), it will (not

merely break, but) grind him to powder"

(1Co 15:24).

The falling of the stone of the feet of the image cannot refer to

Christ at His first advent, for the fourth kingdom was not then as yet

divided--no toes were in existence (see on

Da 2:44).

cut out--namely, from "the mountain"

(Da 2:45);

namely, Mount Zion

(Isa 2:2),

and antitypically, the heavenly mount of the Father's glory, from whom

Christ came.

without hands--explained in

Da 2:44,

"The God of heaven shall set up a kingdom," as contrasted with

the image which was made with hands of man. Messiah not created

(Mt 1:20;

Lu 1:35;

compare

Zec 4:6;

Mr 14:58;

Heb 9:11, 24).

So "not made with hands," that is, heavenly,

2Co 5:1;

spiritual,

Col 2:11.

The world kingdoms were reared by human ambition: but this is

the "kingdom of heaven"; "not of this world"

(Joh 18:36).

As the fourth kingdom, or Rome, was represented in a twofold state,

first strong, with legs of iron, then weak, with toes part of iron,

part of clay; so this fifth kingdom, that of Christ, is seen

conversely, first insignificant as a "stone," then as a "mountain"

filling the whole earth. The ten toes are the ten lesser kingdoms into

which the Roman kingdom was finally to be divided; this tenfold

division here hinted at is not specified in detail till the seventh

chapter. The fourth empire originally was bounded in Europe pretty

nearly by the line of the Rhine and Danube; in Asia by the Euphrates.

In Africa it possessed Egypt and the north coasts; South Britain and

Dacia were afterwards added but were ultimately resigned. The ten

kingdoms do not arise until a deterioration (by mixing clay with the

iron) has taken place; they are in existence when Christ comes in

glory, and then are broken in pieces. The ten have been sought for in

the invading hosts of the fifth and sixth century. But though many

provinces were then severed from Rome as independent kingdoms, the

dignity of emperor still continued, and the imperial power was

exercised over Rome itself for two centuries. So the tenfold divisions

cannot be looked for before A.D. 731. But the East

is not to be excluded, five toes being on each foot. Thus no point of

time before the overthrow of the empire at the taking of Constantinople

division. It seems, therefore, that the definite ten will be the

ultimate development of the Roman empire just before the rise of

Antichrist, who shall overthrow three of the kings, and, after three

and a half years, he himself be overthrown by Christ in person. Some

of the ten kingdoms will, doubtless, be the same as some past and

present divisions of the old Roman empire, which accounts for the

continuity of the connection between the toes and legs, a gap of

centuries not being interposed, as is objected by opponents of the

futurist theory. The lists of the ten made by the latter differ from

one another; and they are set aside by the fact that they include

countries which were never Roman, and exclude one whole section of the

empire, namely, the East [TREGELLES].

upon his feet--the last state of the Roman empire. Not "upon his

legs." Compare "in the days of these kings"

(see on

Da 2:44).

35. broken . . . together--excluding a contemporaneous existence of

the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God (in its manifested, as distinguished from its spiritual, phase). The latter is not

gradually to wear away the former, but to destroy it at once, and

utterly

(2Th 1:7-10; 2:8).

However, the Hebrew may be translated, "in one discriminate

mass."

chaff--image of the ungodly, as they shall be dealt with in the

judgment

(Ps 1:4, 5;

Mt 3:12).

summer threshing-floors--Grain was winnowed in the East on an

elevated space in the open air, by throwing the grain into the air with

a shovel, so that the wind might clear away the chaff.

no place . . . found for them--

(Re 20:11;

compare

Ps 37:10, 36; 103:16).

became . . . mountain--cut out of the mountain

(Da 2:45)

originally, it ends in becoming a mountain. So the kingdom of God,

coming from heaven originally, ends in heaven being established on earth

(Re 21:1-3).

filled . . . earth--

(Isa 11:9;

Hab 2:14).

It is to do so in connection with Jerusalem as the mother Church

(Ps 80:9;

Isa 2:2, 3).

36. we--Daniel and his three friends.

37. Thou . . . art a king of kings--The committal of

power in fullest plenitude belongs to Nebuchadnezzar personally, as

having made Babylon the mighty empire it was. In twenty-three years

after him the empire was ended: with him its greatness is identified

(Da 4:30),

his successors having done nothing notable. Not that he actually ruled

every part of the globe, but that God granted him illimitable dominion

in whatever direction his ambition led him, Egypt, Nineveh,

Arabia, Syria, Tyre, and its Phœnician colonies

(Jer 27:5-8).

Compare as to Cyrus,

Ezr 1:2.

38. men . . . beasts . . . fowls--the

dominion originally designed for man

(Ge 1:28; 2:19, 20),

forfeited by sin; temporarily delegated to Nebuchadnezzar and the world

powers; but, as they abuse the trust for self, instead of for God, to

be taken from them by the Son of man, who will exercise it for God,

restoring in His person to man the lost inheritance

(Ps 8:4-6).

Thou art . . . head of gold--alluding to the riches of Babylon, hence

called "the golden city"

(Isa 14:4;

Jer 51:7;

Re 18:16).

39. That Medo-Persia is the second kingdom appears from

Da 5:28

and Da 8:20.

Compare

2Ch 36:20;

Isa 21:2.

inferior--"The kings of Persia were the worst race of men that ever

governed an empire" [PRIDEAUX]. Politically (which is the main point of

view here) the power of the central government in which the nobles

shared with the king, being weakened by the growing independence of the

provinces, was inferior to that of Nebuchadnezzar, whose sole word was

law throughout his empire.

brass--The Greeks (the third empire,

Da 8:21; 10:20; 11:2-4)

were celebrated for the brazen armor of their warriors. JEROME fancifully thinks that the brass, as being a

clear-sounding metal, refers to the eloquence for which

Greece was famed. The "belly," in

Da 2:32,

may refer to the drunkenness of Alexander and the luxury of the

Ptolemies [TIRINUS].

over all the earth--Alexander commanded that he should be called

"king of all the world" [JUSTIN, 12. sec. 16.9;

ARRIAN,

Campaigns of Alexander, 7. sec. 15]. The four successors

(diadochi) who divided Alexander's dominions at his death, of whom

the Seleucidæ in Syria and the Lagidæ in Egypt were chief, held the

same empire.

40. iron--This vision sets forth the character of the Roman

power, rather than its territorial extent [TREGELLES].

breaketh in pieces--So, in righteous retribution, itself will at

last be broken in pieces

(Da 2:44)

(Re 13:10).

41-43. feet . . . toes . . . part

. . . clay . . . iron--explained presently,

"the kingdom shall be partly strong, partly broken" (rather, "brittle,"

as earthenware); and

Da 2:43,

"they shall mingle . . . with the seed of men," that is,

there will be power (in its deteriorated form, iron) mixed up

with that which is wholly of man, and therefore brittle; power in the

hands of the people having no internal stability, though something is

left of the strength of the iron [TREGELLES].

NEWTON, who understands the Roman empire to be

parted into the ten kingdoms already (whereas TREGELLES makes them future), explains the "clay"

mixture as the blending of barbarous nations with Rome by

intermarriages and alliances, in which there was no stable

amalgamation, though the ten kingdoms retained much of Rome's strength.

The "mingling with the seed of men"

(Da 2:44)

seems to refer to

Ge 6:2,

where the marriages of the seed of godly Seth with the daughters of

ungodly Cain are described in similar words. The reference, therefore,

seems to be to the blending of the Christianized Roman empire with the

pagan nations, a deterioration being the result. Efforts have been often

made to reunite the parts into one great empire, as by Charlemagne and

Napoleon, but in vain. Christ alone shall effect that.

44. in the days of these kings--in the days of these kingdoms, that

is, of the last of the four. So Christianity was set up when Rome had

become mistress of Judea and the world

(Lu 2:1,

&c.) [NEWTON]. Rather, "in the days of these

kings," answers to "upon his feet"

(Da 2:34);

that is, the ten toes

(Da 2:42),

or ten kings, the final state of the Roman empire. For "these kings"

cannot mean the four successional monarchies, as they do not

coexist as the holders of power; if the fourth had been meant,

the singular, not the plural, would be used. The falling

of the stone on the image must mean, destroying judgment on the

fourth Gentile power, not gradual evangelization of it by grace; and

the destroying judgment cannot be dealt by Christians, for they are

taught to submit to the powers that be, so that it must be dealt by

Christ Himself at His coming again. We live under the divisions of the

Roman empire which began fourteen hundred years ago, and which at the

time of His coming shall be definitely ten. All that had failed

in the hand of man shall then pass away, and that which is kept in His

own hand shall be introduced. Thus the second chapter is the alphabet

of the subsequent prophetic statements in Daniel [TREGELLES].

God of heaven . . . kingdom--hence the phrase, "the kingdom of heaven"

(Mt 3:2).

not . . . left to other people--as the Chaldees had been forced to

leave their kingdom to the Medo-Persians, and these to the Greeks, and

these to the Romans

(Mic 4:7;

Lu 1:32, 33).

break . . . all--

(Isa 60:12;

1Co 15:24).

45. without hands--(See on

Da 2:35).

The connection of the "forasmuch," &c. is, "as thou sawest that the

stone," &c., this is an indication that "the great God," &c., that is,

the fact of thy seeing the dreams as I have recalled it to thy

recollection, is a proof that it is no airy phantom, but a real

representation to these from God of the future. A similar proof of the

"certainty" of the event was given to Pharaoh by the doubling of his

dream

(Ge 41:32).

46. fell upon . . . face, and worshipped

Daniel--worshipping God in the person of Daniel. Symbolical of the

future prostration of the world power before Messiah and His kingdom

(Php 2:10).

As other servants of God refused such honors

(Ac 10:25, 26; 14:13-15;

Re 22:8, 9),

and Daniel

(Da 1:8)

would not taste defiled food, nor give up prayer to God at the cost of

his life

(Da 6:7, 10),

it seems likely that Daniel rejected the proffered divine honors. The

word "answered"

(Da 2:47)

implies that Daniel had objected to these honors; and in compliance

with his objection, "the king answered, Of a truth, your God is

a God of gods." Daniel had disclaimed all personal merit in

Da 2:30,

giving GOD all the glory (compare

Da 2:45).

commanded . . . sweet odours--divine honors

(Ezr 6:10).

It is not said his command was executed.

47. Lord of kings--The world power shall at last have to acknowledge

this

(Re 17:14; 19:16);

even as Nebuchadnezzar, who had been the God-appointed "king of kings"

(Da 2:37),

but who had abused the trust, is constrained by God's servant to

acknowledge that God is the true "Lord of kings."

48. One reason for Nebuchadnezzar having been vouchsafed such a dream

is here seen; namely, that Daniel might be promoted, and the captive

people of God be comforted: the independent state of the captives during

the exile and the alleviation of its hardships, were much due to Daniel.

49. Daniel requested--Contrast this honorable remembrance of his humble

friends in his elevation with the spirit of the children of the world in

the chief butler's case

(Ge 40:23;

Ec 9:15, 16;

Am 6:6).

in the gate--the place of holding courts of justice and levees in the

East

(Es 2:19;

Job 29:7).

So "the Sublime Porte," or "Gate," denotes the sultan's

government, his counsels being formerly held in the entrance of his

palace. Daniel was a chief counsellor of the king, and president over

the governors of the different orders into which the Magi were

divided.