To Nebuchadnezzar, this request made perfect sense. How could he believe his wise men's interpretation of a dream unless they could also tell him what the dream was? Otherwise, they could just be saying anything that sounded good. But if they could truly read his mind and describe his dream without first being told, then their interpretation was sure to be trustworthy.
When his counselors pointed out that he was asking them to do something that no king had ever asked, and was, in fact, something impossible that belonged in the realm of gods, not men, he ordered them all to be executed (vs. 10-12). Nebuchadnezzar was not dissuaded by their protests; he insisted the wise men either pony up or be put down.
As Daniel (one of the wise men by this point) was being rounded up for his summary execution, he learned of the situation. He quickly offered to do just what the king was asking, provided that the Lord would give him the answers he sought. While Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah prayed, God revealed the dream and its interpretation to Daniel, who promptly shared them with Nebuchadnezzar.
The dream was of future things. For those who believe that prophecy is a legitimate gift that God shares with some of His people, there is no problem in accepting the biblical accounts containing it. Some skeptics, however, feel that prophecy can only occur after the fact. They believe the Book of Daniel to be written later and then post-dated (much like a tenant sending his rent check to his landlord late, but deceitfully writing in an earlier date!) Those who take a cynical view of prophecy reject the authenticity of books like Daniel.
Regardless of their limited appreciation of God's power, let's talk about the rest of this chapter. Nebuchadnezzar's dream was of a great statue, made of many different materials. It had a gold head, silver chest and arms, bronze waist and thighs, legs of iron, and feet of iron mixed with clay. The second part of the dream involved a stone - not cut by human hands - that strikes the statue and reduces it to rubble which blows away in the wind like chaff.
So much for the dream, how about the interpretation? Daniel contended that the statue represents great empires that are coming upon the earth. Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian Empire is the first, symbolized by the head of gold (vs. 38). The other materials signify that additional kingdoms are coming. Most commentators and interpreters assign the following meanings to the various parts of the statue:
- Gold head: Babylon (given in the text)
- Silver chest: Medes/Persians
- Bronze midsection: Greek
- Iron Legs: Roman
- Feet of Iron and Clay: ?? Perhaps a later Roman Empire or some successive empire still yet to come
- Stone: Christ's Kingdom, divine in origin and one that will knock down these earthly kingdoms and establish its rule forever.
What do you think? Could you have done with Daniel did, in either coming up with the dream, or its interpretation? Nebuchadnezzar agreed that Daniel had answered correctly, and he rewarded him accordingly (vs. 46-49). Daniel's career in Babylon is off to a great start!
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