The Book of Daniel by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 9, 1908

The Book of Daniel

By Editor

The Interpretation of the Image

THE EDITOR

Thou, O king, sawest, and, behold, a great image. This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the aspect thereof was terrible. As for this image, its head was of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of brass, its legs of iron, its feet part of iron, and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon its feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them in pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, so 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 king of kings, unto whom the God of heaven hath given the kingdom, the power, and the strength, and the glory; and wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens hath he given into thy hand, and hath made thee to rule over them all: thou art the head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee; and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things; and as iron that crusheth all these, shall it break in pieces and crush. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom: 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 the 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 doth not mingle with clay. And in the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty thereof be left to another people: but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, 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. Dan. 2:31-45.

With a simplicity and directness which could come only from the assurance that a divine revelation had been made to him, Daniel related to Nebuchadnezzar the dream which had so troubled his mind as to deprive him of sleep. The description of the image which stood before him is brief but striking. The principal feature to which attention is directed, in addition to its size and general aspect, is the material entering into the different parts of the image, each one inferior in value to the one preceding it, but increasing in strength. The climax of the brief narrative is reached in the description of the utter destruction of the image by the stone, which, strangely enough, struck it upon the feet. The scene closes with the image “which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent,” reduced to dust, which was easily swept away by the wind; while the stone became enlarged to such a size as to fill the whole angle of vision.

God Dwells With Flesh

Having made known the dream, Daniel then declares that he will “tell the interpretation thereof before the king.” The importance of this word “interpretation” should not escape our attention. The same God who revealed the dream, revealed also the interpretation. The interpretation, therefore, is not human guesswork, but rests upon divine authority. The God of Israel, who sought to make himself known to the world through the revelation which he made of himself to his people, now uses another channel through which to proclaim his purpose concerning the world, and the method employed is such as to command the attention of that king into whose power the God of heaven had committed the nations. The wise men of Babylon have, themselves, established the test which will demonstrate the superiority of the religion brought to Babylon by the Hebrew captives, and the reality of the fellowship established between “the King eternal, immortal, invisible,” and the loyal subjects of his kingdom upon earth. When without having any data whatever upon which to base their pretended revelations, they were required to reveal to the king his dream, and to declare the interpretation, the wise men not only acknowledged their own inability to meet this demand, but they further insisted that no mortal could do so, and that “there is no other that can show it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” If therefore the dream and its interpretation shall be made known to the king through the medium of any human agency, it will be clearly demonstrated that there is a God who not only understands secret things, but who also dwells with flesh. Furthermore, not simply is the dream related, but such an interpretation is given as shows an insight into future events. This bears testimony to the true God, according to his own statement: “I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me; declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done; saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” And thus is the revelation of the true God made known in Babylon.

Daniel had already declared that “there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and he hath made known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.” It is plain, therefore, that the objective point both of the dream and of the interpretation is that portion which shall be fulfilled in “the latter days;” and inasmuch as the course of history is traced through successive world-kingdoms, represented by the different portions of the great image, until the image ceases to exist, and its place is taken by the stone, it is further evident that all other parts of the dream and its interpretation are but so many steps which are to lead up to that which is final and permanent, when the stone shall fill the whole earth.

The Head of Gold

Let us, then, follow the course of history as outlined in the interpretation of the dream. The head of gold represents the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar, who stands forth both as the head of Babylon and as the head of all kingdoms. The symbolism is most appropriate, and is in harmony with the representation already made. Thus Isaiah has said: “Thou shalt take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!” This phrase, “the golden city,” is to be taken literally; for it is doubtful whether any other city, either ancient or modern, has ever gathered such a wealth of gold, or made such a display of it, until Babylon and gold became almost synonymous terms. This view is confirmed by the testimony of the historian, Herodotus (Book I, page 183), who says: “Below, in the same precinct there is a second temple, in which is a sitting figure of Jupiter [Herodotus gives to the leading god of the Babylonians, Bel, the name of the leading god of the Greek and Roman mythology, Zeus, or Jupiter] all of gold. Before the figure stands a large golden table, and the throne whereon the god sits, and the base whereon the throne is placed, are likewise of gold. The Chaldeans told me that all the gold together was of eight hundred talents’ weight. Outside the temple are two altars, one of solid gold. . . . In the time of Cyrus there was also in this temple the figure of a man, twelve cubits high, entirely of solid gold. . . . Besides the ornaments which I have mentioned, there is also a large number of private offerings in this holy precinct.”

The outline of the history of Babylon, this head of gold, may be told in a few sentences. This territory was originally a part of the empire of Assyria, but in 625 B. C. it attempted to establish its independence. Nabopolassar, the father of Nebuchadnezzar, was the general of the forces which reduced Babylon to subjection; but in 612 B. C. this same Nabopolassar led in a rebellion which was successful, and Babylon became an independent kingdom. In 604 B. C. Nebuchadnezzar, who had previously exercised kingly authority associated with Nabopolassar, became sole monarch of the realm, and both by family alliances and by military conquests, he secured for his kingdom the place of a world-power. All this was a part of the divine program, as announced through the prophet Jeremiah: “Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel. . . . I have made the earth, the men and the beasts that are upon the face of the earth, by my great power and by my outstretched arm; and I give it unto whom it seemeth right unto me. And now have I given all these lands unto the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field also have I given him to serve him. And all the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son.”

Although the prince of this world exercises a limited authority in his usurped position, yet the God of heaven is over all, and is constantly working out his purpose among the nations. Any nation which, having been called to act a part in fulfilling the divine purpose, absolutely rejects its opportunity, is in due time deprived of its place and power, and another nation is given the privilege of co-operating with the God of heaven. So it was with Babylon, whose downfall was foreseen, and the rise of “another kingdom inferior to thee” was foretold:

The Silver Kingdom

Following Babylon came Medo-Persia, to whom the sovereignty of the world passed in 538 B. C., when the army of Cyrus captured “the golden city.” The fact that this kingdom is spoken of as “inferior,” although the conqueror of Babylon, indicates a deterioration of character, just as silver is less valuable than gold. The beginning of Media is contemporaneous with the beginning of Babylon, as it rebelled against Assyria at the same time, and there was at first an alliance between these two countries. In later years, this alliance was dissolved, and Media and Persia united their fortunes.

In the very first year of his sole government of Medo-Persia (B. C. 536), Cyrus issued the proclamation mentioned in the first chapter of the book of Ezra, giving royal permission to the captives of Judah to return to their own land, and bringing to an end the seventy years of captivity which commenced in B. C. 606, when Nebuchadnezzar made his first successful expedition against Jerusalem. After the death of Cyrus, Cambyses took the throne, followed by Smerdis (usually known as the false Smerdis), Darius Hystaspes, and Xerxes, whose famous expedition against Greece was doubtless at least the remote cause of Alexander’s invasion of Asia at a later period. The murder of Xerxes was incited by Artabanus, who usurped the power for the brief period of seven months, at the end of which Artaxerxes Longimanus commenced his reign, B. C. 464. It was in the seventh year of this monarch that the decree went forth mentioned in the seventh chapter of Ezra, which marks the beginning of the 2300 days (years) mentioned in the vision recorded in the eighth chapter of Daniel. The line of kings was continued until B. C. 336 when Darius Codomannus came to the throne.

The Kingdom of Brass

In the meantime a rival power had arisen in the west with an ambition to become a world-power; and to accomplish this, Alexander the Great led a host of warriors into the territory of Medo-Persia. A succession of decisive victories attended his arms until he became the acknowledged conqueror of all civilized countries. The battle of Granicus (B. C. 334), the battle of Issus (B. C. 333), followed by a victorious campaign against Egypt, and the battle of Arbela (B. C. 331), were the three steps by which he ascended the throne of the world. Of the last battle Rawlinson says: “The fatal blow was struck at Arbela—all the rest was but the long death agony. At Arbela the crown of Cyrus passed to the Macedonian.” We may therefore regard the fall of Medo-Persia as dating from the time of the battle of Arbela, B. C. 331.

The Iron Monarchy

After the death of Alexander the Great, which occurred at Babylon, B. C. 323, there was no definite succession for about twenty years, when the kingdom was divided between his four generals, two of whom were soon conquered, and the sovereignty was divided between the Seleucidæ and the Ptolemies. During the varying fortunes of the next two centuries, another power, arising in territory still farther to the west, was coming into prominence, and the fourth kingdom, Rome, was preparing to fulfil its mission in the history of the world. Represented in the image by the “legs of iron,” and known in history as “the iron monarchy of Rome,” this power gradually extended its conquests and overshadowed the “third kingdom of brass,” until in B. C. 168 all organized resistance against the Roman power was brought to an end by the battle of Pydna in Macedonia, when Perseus, the Macedonian king, was totally defeated, and the empire of Alexander was brought to an end. “Polybius dates from the battle of Pydna the full establishment of the Roman empire. It was, in fact, the last battle in which a civilized state confronted Rome in the field on a footing of equality with her as a great power. . . . The whole civilized world thenceforth recognized in the Roman senate the supreme tribunal.”—Mommsen.

In his interpretation of the dream, Daniel declared of the fourth kingdom that “it shall be a divided kingdom,” and “as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay,” so it was declared to King Nebuchadnezzar that “the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken.” History testifies to the exact fulfilment of these predictions, and even until the present time the territory of the fourth kingdom has been in this divided state, some of the rulers being stronger and some weaker.

The setting up of the fifth kingdom must be reserved as the subject of the next article.