“The Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses.” - A commentary on Daniel chapters 2, 3 and 4
Part 1 - Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylon
![]() Nebuchadnezzar II was no modest man. He was the oldest son of Nabopolassar, the chaldean King who delivered Babylon from nearly three centuries of vassalage to the Assyrian empire. In the Battle of Carchemish (605 BCE), Nabopolassar defeated the combined Assyrian and Egyptian armies, bringing Syria and Phoenicia under Babylonian control. Nabopolassar died that same year and his son Nabuchadnezzar II rose to the throne. He was an accomplished military commander. During his attempts to conquer Egypt, several territories attempted to rebel against his authority; this included Judah, who had intermittent rebellions against the Babylonian king. This finally ended with the capture of Jerusalem and its destruction, along with its Temple, and the deportation of the Hebrews to Babylon. After securing Palestina and Syria, and subduing Egypt, Nabuchadnezzar II turned his attention to rebuild and adorn the city of Babylon, and constructed canals, aqueducts, temples and reservoirs. Abundant cuneiform inscriptions survived, attesting his pride in his military and constructing achievements. One of these inscriptions found in Babylon reads: “Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, glorious Prince, worshipper of Marduk, adorer of the lofty one, glorifier of Nabu, the exalted, the possessor of intelligence, who the processions of their divinities hath increased; a worshipper of their Lordships, firm, not to be destroyed; who for the embellishment of Bit-Saggatu and Bit-Zida appointed days hath set apart, and the shrines of Babylon and of Borsippa hath steadily increased; exalted Chief, Lord of peace, embellisher of Bit-Saggatu and Bit-Zida, the valiant son of Nabopolassar King of Babylon am I.” (extracted from Babylonian And Assyrian Literature, Ed. Epiphanious Wilson). Years later, Daniel would tell Belshazzar, a descendant of Nebuchadnezzar II, something about the character of his ancestor: “All peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, he kept alive; whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled ... his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly” - Daniel 5:18-20 The haughty chaldean King cared not for the destiny of the peoples he brought under his rulership. They were but slave force to be used in accomplishing the works that he sought to be glorified by. He took no care that the Almighty God’s own chosen people were entrusted to him, and he opressed them just as wickedly as he did with the others. Actually, he didn’t care for Yahweh at all. He was absorbed in his devotion to the chaldean gods, Marduk, Nebu and many others. In this sense, he was no different from the Egyptian Pharaoh who turned to Moses and said: “Who is Yahweh, that I should listen to his voice ... ? I don't know Yahweh” (Exodus 5:2) But soon, the proud and defiant King would know who Yahweh was. Daniel recounts: “In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his mind was troubled and he could not sleep. So the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to tell him what he had dreamed. When they came in and stood before the king, he said to them, “I have had a dream that troubles me and I want to know what it means.” - Daniel 2:1-3 NIV Naturally, the “second year of his reign” refers to the second year of his reign over the exiled Hebrew people in Babylon, following the deportation contemporary of the destruction of Jerusalem. He had a dream of divine origin, one that was especially troubling, and he was anxious to discover its meaning. Naturally, as of habit, he turned to the chaldean “magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers” for answers, but, to test their credibility, he witheld from them the actual narrative of the dream. Since they weren’t able to guess the narrative of the dream, even declaring it an impossibility, the King concluded that they weren’t able to provide its interpretation and therefore thought of them as charlatans. He got so angry that “he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon. So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to put them to death.” (Daniel 2:12, 13) Suspecting that this was no ordinary royal whim, and fearing for his own life, Daniel pledged to the King that he was given some more time “so that he might interpret the dream for him.” - Daniel 2:16 Daniel, together with his captivity companions and friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, pledged to Yahweh for enlightenment regarding this issue. Somehow Daniel sensed that the “finger of God” was involved in this dream, so it was urgent to seek God’s enlightenment about it. And, sure enough, he was right! “During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision.” - Daniel 2:19 Daniel then offered praises to God for informing him of the dream and its interpretation. He was now able to discern that the dream was about Yahweh ‘changing times and seasons, deposing kings and raising up others’. (Daniel 2:21) Daniel praised God for giving him wisdom and revelation, and quickly asked to be received by the King, announcing that he had the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. Tired of dealing with charlatans, the King asked: “Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?” Daniel confidently replied that, since the dream did not originate from any chaldean god, the babylonian diviners couldn’t grasp any knowledge of it. “But”, he said, “there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets. He will tell King Nebuchadnezzar what is going to happen in the days to come” (Daniel 2:27, 28 GWT) Some Bible translations use the expression “in the last days”. The aramaic term used here is “acharith”, which is the equivalent to the hebrew adverb “achar”, which simply means “future”. It is also related with the term “achariyth”, which means “end, last, posterity, remnant”. In any case, Daniel made clear that the dream contained a divine message about future days, the final days of the subject of the dream. And the subject of the dream implicated Nebuchadnezzar directly. The way Daniel handled the interpretation of the dream is very reminiscent of the way his ancestor Joseph handled the interpretation of the dreams of the Egyptian Pharaoh. Both kings were worshippers of pagan gods and had no previous knowledge of Yahweh. In both cases, the in-house divinators failed to interpret those dreams. Joseph told Pharaoh: “God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires ... It is just as I said to Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. The reason the dream was given to Pharaoh in two forms is that the matter has been firmly decided by God, and God will do it soon.” (Genesis 41:16-32 NIV) Just as in the case of Pharaoh, the dream given to Nebuchadnezzar concerned him and the Babylonian kingdom after him, and it wasn’t to take much time until its fulfillment. Likewise, the miraculous “writing on the wall” seen by prince Belshaazar was a message concerning his kingdom, was fulfilled immediatly, and didn’t concern directly God’s people. (Daniel 5:5-31) These dreams and visions given to pagan kings did NOT not concern God’s people directly. In the book of Daniel, all the prophecies that concern God’s people and the issues of the Kingdom of God and the Messiah, are given in prophetic visions directly to his prophet - not through a pagan king! Daniel now begins to describe what the dream consisted of: “You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 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. 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. This was the dream.” - Daniel 2:31-36a Neduchadnezzar must have been dumbfunded! Here was this wise man of the Jews, an exiled and enslaved people, who, speaking in the name of a foreign divinity, knew the contents of his dream, something he hadn’t disclosed to anyone. Daniel now had the King’s full attention: “Now we will tell the king its interpretation”, proceeded Daniel. Although the account doesn’t mention it directly, the use of the plural here suggests that Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were present with Daniel when he interpreted the dream before the King, although it was Daniel who took the lead and spoke the entire time. This is corroborated from the fact that, when the King honoured Daniel with gifts and “made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon”, his three friends, upon his request, were also appointed with positions of responsability within the administration of the province of Babylon. - Daniel 2:36b, 48, 49 What was the interpretation of the dream of the statue? (Continued ...) by Eden << Back to Introduction | To Part 2 >> |