p. 340 | THOUGHTS ON DANIEL by Uriah Smith

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 4, 1881

THOUGHTS ON DANIEL.

By Uriah Smith

BY ELD. U. SMITH.

CHAPTER II.—THE GREAT IMAGE.

VERSE 24. 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 show unto the king the interpretation.

Daniel's first plea is for the wise men of Babylon. Destroy them not; for the king's secret is revealed. True, it was through no merit of theirs or their heathen systems of divination that this revelation was made; they were worthy of just as much condemnation as before. But their own confession of utter impotence in the matter was humiliation enough for them; and Daniel was anxious that they should so far partake of the benefits shown to him as to have their lives spared. Thus they were saved because there was a man of God among them. And thus it ever is. For the sake of Paul and Silas, the bands of all the prisoners were loosed. Acts 16:26. For the sake of Paul, the lives of all that sailed with him were saved. Chap. 27:24. These are but specimens of the countless instances all along the track of time in which the wicked have been benefited by the blessings of the righteous. Well would it be if they would remember the obligations under which they are thus placed. And what saves the world now? For whose sake is it still spared? For the sake of the few righteous persons who are yet left. Remove these, and how long would the wicked be suffered to run their guilty career? No longer than the Sodomites were suffered, after Lot had departed from their polluted and polluting presence. Yet the wicked will despise, ridicule, and oppress the very ones on whose account it is that they are still permitted the enjoyment of life and all its blessings.

VERSE 25. 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.

It is ever a characteristic of ministers and courtiers to ingratiate themselves with their sovereign. So here Arioch represented that he had found a man who could make known the desired interpretation; as though with great disinterestedness in behalf of the king, he had been searching for some one to solve his difficulty, and had at last found him. In order to see through this deception of his chief executioner, the king had but to remember, as he probably did, his interview with Daniel, verse 16, and Daniel's promise, if time could be granted, to show the interpretation thereof.

VERSE 26. 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? 27. 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, show unto the king; 28. 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.

Art thou able to make known the dream? was the king's doubtful salutation to Daniel, as he came into his presence. Notwithstanding his previous experience, the king seems to have questioned Daniel's ability, so young and inexperienced, to make known a matter in which the aged and venerable magicians and soothsayers had utterly failed. Daniel declared plainly that the wise men, the astrologers, the soothsayers, and magicians could not make known this secret. It was beyond their power. Therefore the king should not be angry with them, nor put confidence in their inefficient superstitions. He then proceeds to make known the true God who rules in Heaven, and is the only revealer of secrets. And he it is, says Daniel, who maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.

VERSE 29. 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. 30. 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 make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.

Here is brought out another of the commendable traits of Nebuchadnezzar's character. Unlike some rulers who fill up the present with folly and debauchery, without regard to the future, he thought forward upon the days to come, with an anxious desire to know with what events they should be filled; doubtless that he might the better know how to make a wise improvement of the present. For this reason God gave him this dream, which we must regard as a token of the divine favor toward this king, as there were many other ways in which the truth involved in his dream could have been brought out, equally to the honor of God's name, and the good of his people at that time, and the benefit of subsequent generations. Yet God would not work for the king independently of his own people; hence, though he gave the dream to the king, he sent the interpretation through one of his own acknowledged servants. Daniel first disclaimed all credit for himself in the transaction, and then to modify somewhat the feelings of pride which it would have been natural for the king to have, in view of being thus noticed by the God of high Heaven, he informed him indirectly that, although the dream had been given to him, it was not for his sake altogether that the interpretation was sent, but for their sakes through whom it should be made known. Ah! God had some servants there, and it was for them that he was working. They are of more value in his sight than the mightiest kings and potentates of earth. Had it not been for them, the king would never have had the interpretation of his dream, probably not even the dream itself. Thus, when traced to their source all favors upon whosoever bestowed, are found to be due to the regard which God has for his own children. How comprehensive was the work of God in this instance. By this one thing of revealing the king's dream to Daniel, he accomplished the following objects: 1. He made known to the king the things he desired. 2. He saved his servants who trusted in him. 3. He brought conspicuously before the Chaldean nation the knowledge of the true God. 4. He poured contempt on the false systems of the soothsayers and magicians And, 5. He honored his own name, and exalted his servants in their eyes.

VERSE 31. 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. 32. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, 33. His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. 34. 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. 35. 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 threshing-floors; 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.

Nebuchadnezzar, according to the Chaldean religion, was an idolater. An image was an object which would at once command his attention and respect. Moreover, earthly kingdoms, which, as we shall hereafter see, were represented by this image, were objects of esteem and value in his eyes. With a mind unenlightened by the light of revelation, he was unprepared to put a true estimate upon earthly wealth and glory, and to look upon earthly governments in their true light. Hence the striking harmony between the estimate which he put upon these things, and the object by which they were symbolized before him. To him they were presented under the form of a great image, an object in his eyes of respect and admiration. With Daniel, the case was far different; and to him these same earthly kingdoms were afterward shown under the form of cruel and ravenous wild beasts.

But how admirably adapted was this representation to convey a great and needful truth to the mind of Nebuchadnezzar. Besides delineating the progress of events through the whole course of time, for the benefit of his people, God would show Nebuchadnezzar the utter emptiness and worthlessness of earthly pomp and glory; and how could this be more impressively done than by an image commencing with the most precious of metals, and continually descending to the baser, till we finally have the coarsest and crudest of metals, iron, mingled with miry clay; the whole then dashed to pieces, and made like the empty chaff, no good thing in it, but altogether lighter than vanity, and finally blown away where no place could be found for it, after which something durable and of heavenly worth occupies its place. So would God show to the children of men that earthly kingdoms were to pass away, and earthly greatness and glory, like a gaudy bubble, would break and vanish; and the kingdom of God, in the place so long usurped by

these, should be set up to have no end, and all who had an interest therein, should rest under the shadow of its peaceful wings forever and ever. But this is anticipating.

VERSE 36. This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. 37. Thou, O king, art a king of kings; for the God of Heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. 38. 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. Thou art this head of gold.

Now opens one of the sublimest chapters of human history. Eight short verses of the inspired record tell the whole story; yet that story embraces the history of this world's pomp and power. A few moments will suffice to commit it to memory, yet the period which it covers, dating from twenty-four centuries in the past, reaches on down past the rise and fall of kingdoms, past the setting up and overthrow of empires, past cycles and ages, past our own day, over into the eternal state. It is so comprehensive that it embraces all this; yet it is so minute that it gives us all the great outlines of earthly kingdoms from that time to this. Human wisdom never devised so brief a record which embraced so much. Human language never set forth, in fewer words, a greater volume of historical truth. The finger of God is here. Let us heed the lesson well.

With what interest, as well as astonishment, must the king have listened to the words of the prophet, as he informed him that he, or rather his kingdom, the king being here put for the kingdom (see the following verse), was the golden head of the magnificent image which he had seen. Ancient kings were grateful for success; and in cases of prosperity, the tutelar deity to whom they attributed their success, was to them the adorable object upon which they would lavish their richest treasures, and bestow their best devotions. Daniel indirectly informs the king that in his case all these are due to the God of Heaven, since he is the one who has given him his kingdom, and made him ruler over all. This would restrain him from the pride of thinking that he had attained his position by his own power and wisdom, and would enlist the gratitude of his heart toward the true God.

The Babylonish Empire, this head of gold, was founded by Belesis, called also Nabonassar, and in the Scriptures called Baladan, B. C. 747. Arising from the ancient Assyrian Empire founded by Nimrod, Gen. 10: 9, 10, which had governed Asia for about thirteen hundred years, it reached the summit of its glory under Nebuchadnezzar, who added to his original dominions the provinces of Asia Minor, Phœnicia, Egypt, Syria, and Palestine. These, with the empire of Babylon proper, embraced all the then known world of any national influence or power. See “Prideaux's Connection.”

We do not take it to be necessary that Babylon, to be called a universal kingdom, should have had every class of people and every country in the world absolutely under its sway; for this was not in a strict sense the fact with any one of the kingdoms which are called in history universal kingdoms. Babylon never conquered Grecia nor Rome; but Rome was founded before Babylon had risen to the climax of its power. Rome's position and influence, however, were then altogether prospective; and it is nothing against the prophecy that God begins to prepare his agents long years before they enter upon the prominent part they are to perform in the fulfillment of prophecy. We must place ourselves with the prophet, and view these kingdoms from the same stand-point. We shall then, as is right, consider his statements in the light of the location he occupied, the time in which he wrote, and the circumstances by which he was surrounded. It is a manifest rule of interpretation that nations are not particularly noticed in prophecy until they become so far connected with the people of God that mention of them becomes necessary to make the records of sacred history complete. When this was the case with Babylon, it was the great and overtowering object in the political world. In the prophet's eye, it necessarily eclipsed all else; and he would naturally speak of it as a kingdom having rule over all the earth. So far as we know, all provinces or countries against which Babylon did move in the height of its power, were subdued by its arms. In this sense, all were in its power. And this will explain the somewhat hyperbolical language of verse 38. That there were some portions of territory and considerable numbers of people unknown to history and without the pale of civilization as it then existed, which were neither discovered nor subdued, is not a fact of sufficient strength or importance to condemn the expression of the prophet, or to falsify the prophecy.