Daniel 2:39, commentary and pictures

After Babylon would arise another kingdom inferior to it, represented by the breast and arms of silver, and then a third kingdom of brass that would bear rule over all the earth. The second kingdom is Media and Persia which conquered Babylon and held universal dominion, and the third is Greece which conquered in turn under Alexander and then broke apart toward Rome. These earthly kingdoms are temporary and must pass away in succession until God sets up His everlasting kingdom that will never be destroyed. God rules over the nations, removing kings and setting up kings at their appointed time to fulfill His purpose and humble human pride. Each kingdom was given a period of trial to exalt the true God by obedience, but moving farther from Him and making void His law they deteriorated in glory and moral worth until they faded and were replaced.

Dream Context and Symbols

Daniel 2:39 belongs to the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's troubling dream, which he could not recall after waking. No human could interpret it, but God revealed through Daniel what would happen in the future, extending to the close of time in remarkable events of prophetic history. The dream was given in figures and symbols and made known to the king by Daniel, to help the king out of his difficulty, to make the future known, and to reveal to an idolatrous nation the power and faithfulness of Israel's God. That revelation saved Daniel and the other wise men from execution.

God taught the prophecy through pictures and symbols appealing to sight so it could be understood and set out plainly, with its historic lessons given for people living in the present day. The wise men's inability to tell the forgotten dream shows that learned people without discernment and knowledge from God cannot understand prophecy. Their failure silenced Babylonian wisdom, showing human wisdom to be folly and scientific power to be inefficient beside the superior wisdom of those who worship God, in order to lead princes and people from broken cisterns to the living fountain by the divine science of eternity. The light was opened to Hebrew captives who felt themselves exiles in a strange land with God as their only dependence, not to those charmed by Babylon's splendor. The same is taught to medical missionaries today, that the precious lessons of heaven, the treasures of eternity, and the glories of the eternal world are revealed to those who refuse to be charmed by things of time and sense and who come out from the world and stand separate in faithful duty.

The second kingdom after Babylon is symbolized by the breast and arms of silver and is inferior to Babylon, and the third kingdom is symbolized by the belly and sides of brass which would bear rule over all the earth. The image's divisions represent four great world-moulding empires, beginning with Babylonia as the first and preeminent empire in shaping the world, placing the later kingdoms within that succession before the close of human rule on earth. Media and Persia succeeding Babylon, followed by Grecia, conquered the kingdoms before it and held universal dominion.

Kingdoms Foretold in Succession

After Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom another kingdom inferior to it would arise, followed by a third kingdom of brass which would bear rule over all the earth. This was declared while standing in the midst of the Babylonian empire when it seemed so strong and far-reaching that no foe could take its scepter, yet notwithstanding its magnificence it would not last but would pass away. Though universal, Babylon would not stand forever but would be followed by other kingdoms ruling in turn.

The second kingdom is Media and Persia, represented by silver, which succeeded Babylon and held universal dominion for 207 years. It conquered the kingdoms before it and held universal dominion. The word that another inferior kingdom would arise after Babylon was fulfilled at Belshazzar's sacrilegious feast of wine-drinking from the sacred vessels of the temple while praising gods of silver and gold, when Babylon was numbered and finished, weighed in the balances and found wanting, and divided and given to the Medes and Persians. After Babylon came Medo-Persia and then Greece, each permitted its place in the rise and progress of world empires.

The third kingdom is Greece, represented by brass, symbolized by the belly and sides, which conquered what came before and held universal dominion. Alexander the Great won power from Darius Codomannus at Arbela in 331 B.C. and became the world's ruler. After Alexander died in 323 B.C. his kingdom quickly broke into divisions and became vulnerable to the rising power of Rome.

That third kingdom would in turn have its own period and then pass away to give place to a fourth kingdom strong as iron, identified as Rome, within the succession of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. Its continuance depended on whether its people obeyed God. Babylon, the first kingdom and head of gold, was a kingdom God gave Nebuchadnezzar for God's glory.

Earthly kingdoms are temporary and must pass away; Babylon would not stand forever, and those following it would also give way. The sequence of earthly powers ends when God sets up an everlasting kingdom that will never be destroyed and will fill the whole earth. That only enduring kingdom is the kingdom of Christ, the Living Stone.

Trial and Moral Deterioration

Each kingdom that followed Babylon was granted its own period of trial and testing to prove, by obedience or disobedience, whether it would exalt the one Ruler, the only true God. Its continuance depended on whether its people obeyed God, and failing to do so its glory faded away, its power was lost, and it passed away to be replaced by another. After Babylon a second kingdom would arise to supersede it and have its time of trial, then a third kingdom would take its place and rule and have its own testing, and it too would pass away to give place to a fourth kingdom strong as iron. These kingdoms, with Rome and other nations, were permitted their place to show whether they would fulfill God's purposes, but each faced its testing, failed, and lost its glory and power.

The descent from gold to silver to brass to baser metals means the kingdoms deteriorated in value, power, and glory, becoming less and less pure and valuable. As nations moved farther from God and became more separated from Him, they decreased in value, and the later kingdoms sank further in moral worth. In history Babylon passed away and the Medo-Persian realm followed it, and those that followed sank still lower, showing increasing wickedness and corruption.

The cause and evidence of that deterioration was making void the law of God, casting Him off, and forgetting Him, seen in increasing immorality, wickedness, blasphemy, and corruption. If they had kept the fear of the Lord ever before them they would have been given wisdom and power which would have bound them together and kept them strong in unity, but the rulers made God their strength only when harassed and perplexed. As they forgot Him they sank lower and lower and grew morally weak, for the image represents not only decline in power and glory but also decline in religion and morality.

Babylon passed away because in prosperity she forgot God and ascribed the honor and glory of her prosperity to human achievements. The Medo-Persian kingdom was visited by the wrath of God because in it His law was trampled underfoot, the fear of God had no power among the people, and wickedness, blasphemy, and corruption prevailed. The kingdoms that followed were even more base and corrupt because they rejected allegiance to God, and by forgetting Him they sank lower and lower until the vast empire of Rome crumbled into pieces. So today when men refuse to obey the law of God they are humiliated and God tests them, and if they do not humble their hearts and confess their sins they receive the penalty of transgression.

God Rules Over Nations

The succession of a second kingdom after Babylon and then a third taking its place was foretold hundreds of years beforehand to demonstrate that God is the ruling power in the affairs of this world, changing times and seasons and removing kings and setting up kings to fulfill His own purpose, with nations arising at the predicted time to fill their appointed place. The interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream foretelling Babylon and the kingdoms that would follow it showed that God rules over earthly kingdoms and is more powerful than their rulers. Human rulers and powers rise and fall, but God directs their course, humbles human pride, and is the true ruler, and the light of that prophecy was given especially for the last days with its foretold events reaching fulfillment. Their history shows God bringing down human pride and laying human glory in the dust. God is above earthly rulers and kingdoms, and His kingdom is exalted above them.

Through the dream God revealed His purpose for the nations and important events to come, and the events surrounding it revealed to an idolatrous nation the power and faithfulness of Israel's God. Its interpretation was meant to spread knowledge of God, but the image and its meaning could be rejected, distorted, and misused to glorify human power and advance human plans. Part of the light of God's purposes reflected upon proud Babylon gave that idolatrous nation knowledge of the kingdom the Lord was to establish and through His power maintain against all the power and craft of Satan. Nebuchadnezzar was shown that the God of heaven is Ruler over all monarchs and kings of earth and that earthly rulers have a Ruler in the heavens. Successive earthly kingdoms rule by ascendancy of physical power, while Christ's kingdom is to banish every carnal weapon and every instrument of coercion and is to be established to uplift and ennoble fallen humanity, with the lamb as the ensign of the Messiah's kingdom.

God foretells the rise and fall of kingdoms through His prophets, and rulers fulfill His word as events unfold. The prophecy is a figurative outline of events in historical order leading toward the close of earth's history, whose waymarks must not be displaced by mistaken interpretations. Its events were fulfilled in historical order.

The interpretation was to be understood in the light of the Scriptures and the living oracles, not reshaped to fit idolatrous ideas, for God's providence incessantly at work over human affairs brought the idolatrous king into reasoning relation concerning prophecies against Babylon and other kingdoms, and by the interpretation Jehovah was exalted as more powerful than any other kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar read the interpretation in accordance with his own idolatrous mind and ambition instead of reading his dream in the light of the living oracles, refusing the succession of inferior kingdoms and setting up a golden image in the plain of Dura representing the kingdom of Babylon and more particularly himself to convert all nations to its worship and draw them to it. Christ walked in the fiery furnace with His three faithful servants who would not bow the knee, and Nebuchadnezzar's heart was wrought upon to believe in God and His superior power. Babylon later fell in an hour of feasting and revelry.

Fulfillment Confirms Inspired Scripture

The succession of kingdoms foretold here has been fulfilled with wonderful exactness in the most literal manner, as confirmed and verified by the record of ancient history and the historian's record. It stands as part of a connected chain of prophecy foretelling the rise and fall of kingdoms in succession, fulfilled in history down to its details. The agreement between prediction and event is exact and literal, not vague or general.

This exact fulfillment bears witness to the inspiration of the Scriptures and gives proof that anchors faith amid doubt, rationalism, and skepticism. Showing that literal fulfillment gives faith tangibility and makes a deep impression on those who have been interested in the prophecies but have had no definite idea when they were fulfilled. It can strengthen faith when faith is tried by unbelief.

Contrary to the popular belief that the prophecies of Daniel are mysteries and cannot be understood, this prophecy can be presented in familiar form so that even children can listen, be pleased, be interested, understand it and explain it. Through them grown people can be led to study it. Its exact fulfillment impresses the solemnity and importance of the truth that the coming of the Lord is at hand and must be brought before the people.

Defiant Response and Present Application

Nebuchadnezzar was given light through the interpretation of his dream, which placed the kingdom represented by the head of gold within a succession of earthly kingdoms that would not last and would be followed by the kingdom of heaven filling the whole earth. By that interpretation Jehovah was exalted as more powerful than any earthly kingdom or king, and God's providence brought the idolatrous king into reasoning relation with Daniel concerning prophecies against Babylon and the other kingdoms to arise after it. He was to understand the prophecy in the light of Scripture and the living oracles, not reshape it to fit idolatrous ideas, for it revealed kingdoms succeeding Babylon and pointed toward the end. Instead he read it in accordance with his own idolatrous mind and ambition, perverting its meaning rather than reading his dream in the light of the living oracles. In pride he resisted the prospect of later and inferior kingdoms of less value, wished his own rule were more extensive and powerful, and fastened upon the fact that he was the head of gold.

He therefore made an image all of gold in the plain of Dura as a defiant imitation of the dream image, representing the kingdom of Babylon and more particularly himself in his glory and excellency. He demanded that it be worshiped in order to draw all nations to its worship and convert them to it. Yet the prophecy stood despite his attempt to glorify human power. Christ walked in the fiery furnace with His three faithful servants who would not bow the knee, and Nebuchadnezzar's heart was wrought upon to believe in God and His superior power. The fall of Babylon itself came at an hour of feasting and revelling.

The historic events shown in the dream and their lessons were given by God for people living in the present day. The light was opened to Hebrew captives who felt themselves exiles in a strange land with God as their only dependence, and was not shown to those charmed with the splendor of Babylon. Its giving first silenced the wise men of Babylon by forcing them to acknowledge they could not bring back the forgotten dream, showing human wisdom to be folly and scientific power to be inefficient beside the superior wisdom of those who worship God. Today when men refuse to obey the law of God they are humiliated, God tests them, and if they do not humble their hearts and confess their sins they receive the penalty of transgression. The precious lessons of heaven, the treasures of eternity, and the glories of the eternal world are revealed to those who refuse to be charmed by things of time and sense and who come out from the world and stand separate in faithful duty.

The word that after Babylon another inferior kingdom would arise was fulfilled at Belshazzar's sacrilegious feast of wine-drinking from the sacred vessels of the temple while praising gods of silver and gold, when Babylon was numbered and finished, weighed in the balances and found wanting, and divided and given to the Medes and Persians. The same unseen Watcher who heard every blasphemy and beheld every impious action at that feast watches every scene of feasting, revelry, unrestrained indulgence, and contempt for sacred things. The same verdict of being weighed and found wanting is written against such sacrilegious mirth.