Daniel
Prophecies from the Lions’ Den
Lesson 2: The Statue Dream
Daniel 2
Read Daniel 2
2:1-4 The King Has a Dream
The events of chapter one took place in the first year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. What was the status of Daniel and his friends in the second year of the king’s reign? See Daniel 1:5.
Daniel and his friends were to be trained for three years. Therefore, they were still students at the time of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.
Nebuchadnezzar could not sleep. What keeps you tossing and turning all night and what do you do about it?
Some kings would summon the court jester to take his mind off his problems, but Nebuchadnezzar summons the “magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers.” What could they do for him?
He hoped they could tell him what the dreams mean. It soon becomes apparent that they could not do much.
When a president has a very important decision to make, he calls the cabinet together to get input from the experts in various areas of government. The ancient kings also had their cabinets but these were religious experts as well as secular experts. Some were experts in interpreting signs and dreams. Some were experts at pleasing one or more of the thousands of gods. Some were good at combating the forces of evil. Who do you go to for advise and counsel?
We go to our Savior God who always hears our prayers. We go to Christians friends and family who will tell us the truth (from God’s Word) even if it is not what we want to hear. We go to our pastors.
Write below your interpretation of the following dream.
A person dreams that he is walking down a sidewalk all alone. Suddenly the sidewalk disappears and there is nothing but air below him. He begins to fall and then wakes up.
The king’s advisors come when the king calls and give the classic “yes-men” answer.
O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will interpret it.
From this point to the end of chapter 7, the text is in Aramaic. This is the largest section of Aramaic in the Scriptures.
2:5-13 An Impossible Task
Nebuchadnezzar is smart. What does he think the wise men do when he tells them a dream?
He thinks they make up an interpretation.
How does the king ensure that the interpretation he receives is valid?
He makes them tell him what the dream was first. If someone can tell you what you dreamed at night, that person can certainly tell you what the dream meant.
Is the king being fair with his advisors? Why or why not?
Yes—he is just guaranteeing that their work is valid.
No—he is giving them an impossible task for mere humans.
What is the penalty for failure?
Cut to pieces and houses demolished.
How can we consider what the astrologers told the king in verses 10 and 11 to be true? To be false?
No man can tell the king his dream and interpret it by his own power. It has to be from God. They are right in saying that their gods, “do not live among men.” Their gods do not live at all. Only the true God can do what the kings asks.
Anger is a terrible sin. It leads to many other sins. What did Nebuchadnezzar’s anger lead him to do? What do people in our society do when angry?
The king had so much power that he could release his anger on many people. He ordered the death of every wise man in Babylon. People today may get angry and ruin a marriage, hurt or kill someone, lose a job, strike a child, or hold a grudge.
Daniel and the other three were in the middle of their training. They could not be expected to know how to interpret dreams. They had not even entered the king’s service yet. Was it fair for these four to be under the king’s execution order? Why or why not?
Life is not fair now that sin has entered the world. Bad things happen, but the Lord is still in control and will use all things for the good of his people, believers.
2:14-23 God Reveals the Dream to Daniel
What can we learn about dealing with tough situations in life from how Daniel handled the executioner knocking at his door?
Daniel calmly asked for time and went to God in prayer. We also go to our God in prayer and work within the governmental system we are under.
What did Daniel ask Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah to do? What can we ask our friends to do when we have troubles?
Daniel asked them to pray. We can ask others to pray with/for us too.
God gives Daniel the answer and Daniel breaks out in praise. Give a one sentence summary of his verses of praise.
God is all-powerful and all-wise and he alone passes on that wisdom to people.
2:24-28 Daniel Before the King
What could Daniel have gained by answering the kings question in verse 26 with “ME!”? What would he have lost?
Daniel could have gained the honor and glory and power of being a respected member of the king’s advisors. God may have taken away the interpretation if he claimed credit. Daniel would have been denying the Lord who gave him the wisdom and the interpretation.
May we be like Daniel and give God the glory for all the wisdom and skills and abilities and talents he has given us.
2:29-35 The Dream
There are basically six parts to the dream. Describe them.
| Head | Gold |
|
Chest and arms |
Silver |
| Belly and thighs | bronze |
| Legs | iron |
| Feet | iron and baked clay |
| Rock | Formed not by human hands, destroys the feet first and the statue is all destroyed and completely vanishes. The rock becomes a mountain. |
2:36-45 The Interpretation from God
Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar about 5 kingdoms. Let’s write in the characteristics of each kingdom.
Kingdom 1—Gold—
Babylon with King Nebuchadnezzar is identified as the head of gold. He rules over most of the world at this time. His is the dominant empire and his power was given by God.
Kingdom 2—Silver—
Inferior to Babylon. Nothing else is said here. More will be added in chapters 7 and 8.
Kingdom 3—Bronze—
We could infer that this is also inferior since bronze is generally inferior to silver. The text points out the vast rule of this kingdom— “over the whole earth.” More will be added in chapters 7 and 8.
Kingdom 4—Iron and Clay—
This kingdom smashes everything. It is also divided and so is both weak and strong.
Kingdom 5—The Rock—
Set up in the time of the other kingdoms. It will never be destroyed or pass to another ruler. It will end all other kingdoms.
What do you notice about the progression of the metals?
The value goes down (gold to iron) but the longevity goes up. The later kingdoms would not be as grand as the first but they would become bigger and last longer.
The first four kingdoms that match Daniel’s interpretation from the Lord are Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. Click here to see the maps of empires.
Since we have little information from the text about the first three we will briefly touch on Rome—Iron and Clay. The Roman Empire certainly crushed all that were in its way. But it finally became so huge that divisions started and there were weak spots and barbarian attacks. But that is not what takes out Rome in this prophecy. What destroys all the kingdoms before it and what kingdom is this?
The rock is the kingdom of Christ. Christ was born into the Roman Empire but not by the act of a man. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.
How does this final kingdom last forever? How does one become part of this kingdom instead of being blown away with the chaff as the rest of the kingdoms are?
Christ takes down all other kingdoms because his is a kingdom not of this world. His life, death and resurrection defeated sin, death and the devil for all people. All who believe are part of his kingdom.
2:46-49 The King’s Reaction
What did the king do after Daniel finished revealing the dream and its meaning?
He fell at Daniel’s feet, presented him with gifts, praised Daniel’s God, gave Daniel a high position in government, and gave his friends high positions also.
Read verse 47 again. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Nebuchadnezzar was a believer.
Nebuchadnezzar’s words are words a believer could use. But it would not be hard for someone who worshiped many gods to add one more to the list. He will say even stronger things in praise of the true God in chapters 3 and 4. He never seemed to give up his ways or his false worship. He just added the God of Daniel to his list.
Daniel is given charge over the province of Babylon and he was the top advisor, over all other wise men. God even placed the other three faithful believers in high positions to see God’s people through the time of captivity in Babylon. God does not abandon his people! Can you think of another time the Lord placed a slave into a high government position to help his people?
The Lord placed Joseph as second in command to Pharaoh in Egypt to preserve his family during a severe famine. (Genesis 37-50)