This chapter of Daniel gives us an amazing view of the future of the
main Gentile kingdoms who were over Israel at different points in history.
It ties in with other visions and prophecies in
Daniel 7,
Daniel 11 and
Daniel 9, as
well as other books of the Bible, laying out Israel’s future from
that point in time until the end times.
This first prophecy is revealed through a dream God interpreted through
Daniel for the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar around 600 years before Christ
that covers what we can now see as historical kingdoms from Babylon to the
revived Roman Empire over the time from Nebuchadnezzar to an unknown future
time.
I’ve excerpted Daniel 2 below without verses as it was originally.
If you would like to read it with verse numbers and inline Hebrew definitions,
read it at Blue Letter Bible.
Daniel 2 [The Unknown Dream & The “Wise Men”]
And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar
dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake
from him. Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers,
and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to shew the king his dreams.
So they came and stood before the king. And the king said unto them,
I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.
Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack, O king, live for ever:
tell thy servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation. The
king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me:
if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation
thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a
dunghill. But if ye shew the dream, and the interpretation thereof,
ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honour: therefore
shew me the dream, and the interpretation thereof. They answered again
and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will shew
the interpretation of it. The king answered and said, I know of certainty
that ye would gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me.
But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, there is but one decree
for you: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before
me, till the time be changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall
know that ye can shew me the interpretation thereof. The Chaldeans answered
before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can
shew the king’s matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor
ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean.
And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there
is none other that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose
dwelling is not with flesh. For this cause the king was
angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of
Babylon. [Daniel Shown The Dream]
And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they
sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain. Then Daniel answered with
counsel and wisdom to Arioch the captain of the king’s guard,
which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon: He answered and
said to Arioch the king’s captain, Why is the decree so hasty
from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel. Then Daniel
went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that
he would shew the king the interpretation. Then Daniel went to his house,
and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions:
That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this
secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest
of the wise men of Babylon. Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel
in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel
answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for
wisdom and might are his: And he changeth the times and the seasons:
he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise,
and knowledge to them that know understanding: He revealeth the deep
and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light
dwelleth with him. I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers,
who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now
what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king’s
matter. Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had ordained
to destroy the wise men of Babylon: he went and said thus unto him;
Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me in before the king, and
I will shew unto the king the interpretation. Then Arioch brought in
Daniel before the king in haste, and said thus unto him, I have found
a man of the captives of Judah, that will make known unto the king the
interpretation. The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was
Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I
have seen, and the interpretation thereof?
[God’s Glory Presented in Humility] Daniel answered
in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath
demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers,
shew unto the king; But there is a God in heaven that revealeth
secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in
the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon
thy bed, are these; As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy
mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth
secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. But as for me,
this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than
any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation
to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.
[The Dream’s Interpretation] Thou, O king, sawest,
and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent,
stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image’s
head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly
and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and
part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands,
which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and
brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver,
and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of
the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no
place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became
a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. This is the dream; and
we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Thou, O king,
art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom,
power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men
dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given
into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all.
[Babylon] Thou art this head of gold.
[Persia] And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior
to thee,
[Greece] and another
third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
[Roman Empire] And the fourth kingdom shall be strong
as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things:
and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
[Revived Roman Empire of the end-times] And whereas thou
sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron,
the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength
of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so
the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou
sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with
the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron
is not mixed with clay.
There is some debate as to whether the final kingdom is of the Western
or Eastern legs of the Roman Empire, Europe or Islamic nations. I believe
this passage above (Daniel 2:43-44) could lead to one of two conclusions.
The Nephilim
Firstly, it seems that there is some group, “they,” who mingle
themselves with the seed of men. It seems fairly clear that in order to
mingle themselves with the seed of men, they must not be of the seed of
men. This could possibly be pointing to a recurrence of the days of Noah,
beyond the rejection of God, to include the
Nephilim
of Genesis 6:1-9 and the genetic mixing of human and fallen angels once
again in the end times.
Europe and Islam
A less fantastical perspective would be that this is alluding to a mixing
of cultures, yet an implied separation in that the iron and clay don’t
mix, making the kingdom partly strong and partly weak. I think we could
be seeing this coming to pass now as Islam is immigrating in great numbers
into the West, primarily Europe, and mingling with the West. [Story:
Brussels: The New Capital of EurabiaNov. 22, 2011]
Although “mingling” may not be entirely accurate as the Islamic
culture tends to group together and keep all aspects of their culture within
the nations to which they move. Setting themselves apart, they don’t
really mingle in the melting pot sense. Moreover, we see that Europe has
been weakened by this as Islam is growing much faster through higher birth
rates than the Europeans and a propensity for rioting as was seen throughout
Europe and the Middle East in the recent past.
If the first literal view of seed of “they” mixing with the
seed of men is not the case, then this would be my other perspective and
as time goes on it is looking more and more likely. It could be entirely
possible that the
fourth kingdom is actually a mingling of the Western and the Eastern
legs of the Roman Empire within the stronger infrastructure of the West,
whether eventually dominated by Islam or not.
[Armageddon & The Millennium]
And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom,
which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to
other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms,
and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone
was cut out of the mountain without hands, [Christ
- the Rock] and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass,
the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to
the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain,
and the interpretation thereof sure.
Then the king Nebuchadnezzar
fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should
offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him. The king answered unto
Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods,
and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest
reveal this secret. Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave
him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of
Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon.
Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel sat
in the gate of the king.
“Be not overcome
of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21
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