THE PROPHECY OF DANIEL 2

A. Background

Daniel, a Jew from the area of Judah, was captured in 605 BC by the 
Babylonian armies of King Nebuchadnezzar in their first attack on the 
southern part of Israel. He, along with many of the upper class Jews, was 
taken back to Babylon and trained to work in the Babylonian government. It 
was in Babylon that the events of Daniel chapter 2 took place.

B. Nebuchadnezzar's Dream

King Nebuchadnezzar had a disturbing dream. He called all the magicians to 
tell him what the dream meant, but because he didn't really trust them he 
wouldn't tell them what he had dreamt. They had to tell him the dream and 
the interpretation! Of course they couldn't do this and so the king ordered 
them to be executed, but Daniel came and told the King to give them a 
little more time.

C. The Interpretation of the Dream

Daniel prayed to God and then went in to the king. The king asked him if he 
was going to interpret the dream for him, but Daniel made a point of saying 
that it wasn't him, but God who was able to reveal mysteries.

In the dream, Nebuchadnezzar had seen an enormous statue of a man. Its head 
was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs 
of bronze, its legs of iron and its feet of a mixture of iron and clay. 
After that the king saw a rock, cut out without human hands which hit the 
statue on the feet and smashed them to pieces. The remains of the whole 
statue were crushed to dust and were blown away by the wind. Finally the 
rock which had hit the statue, grew until it filled the whole earth.

D. The Meaning of the Dream

God explained to Daniel that the various parts of the statue represented 
kingdoms:

Gold		- Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom of Babylon
Silver		- An inferior kingdom (The Medo-Persian alliance)
Bronze		- Another kingdom (The Greek empire of Alexander the Great)
Iron		- A strong kingdom (The Roman Empire)
Iron & Clay	- A divided kingdom (The divided nations of Europe)
The Rock	- The kingdom of God

E. The Result

Nebuchadnezzar was impressed by the fact that his dream had been 
interpreted, and he put Daniel into a position of authority, but he didn't 
get the point of the dream. Instead of turning to God he made a huge image 
like the one from his dream, but all gold - 90 feet high! He wanted his 
kingdom to last forever but this was not to be, as we shall see in the next 
study.