1IN THE SECOND year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his mind was troubled and he could not sleep. 2So the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to tell him what he had dreamed. When they came in and stood before the king, 3he said to them, “I have had a dream that troubles me and I want to know what it means.”
4Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will interpret it.”
5The king replied to the astrologers, “This is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble. 6But if you tell me the dream and explain it, you will receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. So tell me the dream and interpret it for me.”
7Once more they replied, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will interpret it.”
8Then the king answered, “I am certain that you are trying to gain time, because you realize that this is what I have firmly decided: 9If you do not tell me the dream, there is just one penalty for you. You have conspired to tell me misleading and wicked things, hoping the situation will change. So then, tell me the dream, and I will know that you can interpret it for me.”
10The astrologers answered the king, “There is not a man on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. 11What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men.”
12This made the king so angry and furious that he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon. 13So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to put them to death.
14When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, had gone out to put to death the wise men of Babylon, Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact. 15He asked the king’s officer, “Why did the king issue such a harsh decree?” Arioch then explained the matter to Daniel. 16At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him.
17Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 18He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven 20and said:
“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
wisdom and power are his.
21He changes times and seasons;
he sets up kings and deposes them.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the discerning.
22He reveals deep and hidden things;
he knows what lies in darkness,
and light dwells with him.
23I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers:
You have given me wisdom and power,
you have made known to me what we asked of you,
you have made known to us the dream of the king.”
24Then Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to execute the wise men of Babylon, and said to him, “Do not execute the wise men of Babylon. Take me to the king, and I will interpret his dream for him.”
25Arioch took Daniel to the king at once and said, “I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can tell the king what his dream means.”
26The king asked Daniel (also called Belteshazzar), “Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?”
27Daniel replied, “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, 28but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay on your bed are these:
29“As you were lying there, O king, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen. 30As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than other living men, but so that you, O king, may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind.
31“You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 32The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. 34While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.
36“This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. 37You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; 38in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.
39“After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. 40Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. 41Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. 42As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.
44“In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.
“The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy.”
46Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him. 47The king said to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.”
48Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men. 49Moreover, at Daniel’s request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court.
Original Meaning
DANIEL 2 PRESENTS a second self-contained story—a story best remembered by the bizarrely constructed (at least by modern tastes) statue that dominates Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. However, we must not let our curiosity concerning God’s revelation of future events distract us from the main theme of the chapter: Only God’s wisdom can reveal the mysteries of life. In other words, it is not the content of the revelation of the future that is primary; what is most important here is the fact that it is only Daniel’s God that knows that future. And God’s knowledge of the future is particularly important to a people in exile and under some measure of oppression, because it implies that he controls history. Once again, therefore, we are reminded of the overall theme of this book: In spite of present appearances, God is in control.
As we read Daniel 2, the Joseph narrative in Genesis 41, which closely parallels this chapter,1 quickly comes to mind. In Genesis a pagan king, the Egyptian pharaoh, has an anxiety-producing dream (concerning seven lean and seven fat cows). When the wise men of Egypt cannot interpret the dream for him, his cupbearer (paralleling the role of Arioch in Dan. 2) helps him discover a dream-interpreter, who turns out to be the imprisoned Joseph. Through God’s help, Joseph reveals the interpretation of the dream to the pharaoh, resulting in his rise in status in the foreign court.
We thus see that Daniel is like Joseph, perhaps even better than Joseph, since he not only interprets the dream but, with God’s help, actually tells the king the contents of the dream. Both Joseph and Daniel serve as models for godly behavior to God’s people who live in a foreign culture (for implications see the Contemporary Significance section to Daniel 1). Goldingay nicely summarizes the lesson in regard to Daniel when he describes him as
a model of Israelite wisdom (v. 14) and a model of Israelite piety, in his prayer (v. 18), his vision (v. 19), his praise (vv. 19–23), his witness (vv. 27–28), his self-effacement (v. 30), his conviction (v. 45); the fruit of his work is not merely rewards and promotion (v. 48) but obeisance and recognition of his God (vv. 46–47).2
The genre of chapter 2 has been rightly identified by W. Lee Humphreys as a “court tale of contest.”3 The setting is the court, and the plot surrounds a contest of interpretation. The rivals are, on the surface of it, Daniel and the king’s advisors, but more profoundly the contest is between the true God and the idols that the king’s advisors worship.
The first contest is between Daniel and the king’s advisors. The latter are confronted with a problem for which they are totally unprepared. They are diviners (baru), not seers or prophets. They deal with omens, including revelatory dreams; they do not receive revelation. In divination, the gods inform4 humans through the diviner’s interpretation of sheep livers, abnormal births, the stars, and dreams. Dreams can be solicited through incubation rites or are unsolicited—as here apparently. They can interpret dreams, and they have books that will help them do that, but there is no way they can find out the content of the dream if the king does not tell them the actual dream.5 Daniel is also trained in this lore, but he is able to go further, not because of his training or the reference books he shares with the Babylonian diviners, but because his God is a God who can reveal it to him. It is at this point that the contrast between Daniel’s God and the gods of the Babylonian diviners comes into play.
In this regard, we can observe another Scripture text with which Daniel 2 has special association. In Isaiah 40–48, the prophet Isaiah ridicules the nations’ idols. The idols are impotent to effect history (Isa. 46:6–7):
Some pour out gold from their bags
and weigh out silver on the scales;
they hire a goldsmith to make it into a god,
and they bow down and worship it.
They lift it to their shoulders and carry it;
they set it up in its place, and there it stands.
From that spot it cannot move.
Though one cries out to it, it does not answer;
it cannot save him from his troubles.
The pagan advisors are blind to the future (47:13–14a):
All the counsel you have received has only worn you out!
Let your astrologers come forward,
those stargazers who make predictions month by month,
let them save you from what is coming upon you.
Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up.
God, by contrast, both controls history and can reveal it to his servants (46:9–10):
Remember the former things, those of long ago;
I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me.
I make known the end from the beginning,
from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say: My purpose will stand,
and I will do all that I please.
The outline of Daniel 2 is as follows: (1) the king and his advisors (2:1–13); (2) God’s revealing of the mystery to Daniel (2:14–23); (3) the dream and its interpretation (2:24–45); and (4) the king’s response (2:46–49).
The King and His Advisors (2:1–13)
SIMILAR TO DANIEL 1, this second chapter begins with a chronological note that is difficult to harmonize with our general knowledge of the period. A definite answer eludes us again, though we are able to provide a possible harmonization.6
The first verse sets the scene in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, whereas the first chapter says that Daniel’s training lasted for three years (1:5). Even assuming (as we argued in ch. 1) that the training began in Nebuchadnezzar’s accession year, this is difficult to reconcile with 2:1. After all, since Daniel was included among the condemned “wise men” (2:14) and was living outside the court, the assumption is that he had already graduated.
Both Wood and Young offer different explanations to resolve the tension. The former suggests a scenario in which chapter 2 describes events that took place during Daniel’s training.7 The latter argues that if we accept that three years may include partial years, the two chronological notes can be reconciled. He provides the following chart to make his point clear:8
Year of Daniel’s training |
Nebuchadnezzar |
First year |
Year of Accession |
Second year |
First year |
Third year |
Second year (in which dream occurred) |
We have commented on these historical conundrums because they cause close readers to stumble. The purpose of the chronological markers, however, is not primary to the story. They merely set the scene; having addressed the issue, we pass on to the message of the passage.9
Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that disturbed him greatly, so he called his professionals—not psychologists, of course, but the ancient equivalents, “the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers.” These professionals had dream interpretation on their list of responsibilities. Indeed, these people were the political consultants, trend spotters, and religious gurus of the day.
Babylonian religion encouraged looking for portents of the future in dreams and the fantastic occurrences of everyday life. Indications of future trends and events could be found in the skies, bizarre births, the shape of animal livers, and—as here—in dreams. It is in the latter that Babylonian religion and Daniel’s faith come closest, and perhaps that is why God chose to speak to Nebuchadnezzar in this way rather than through the birth of a multiheaded ox. After all, God had spoken through dreams in the past (e.g., Gen. 28:10–22; 1 Kings 3:5), but not through other means of divination so popular in Babylonia.
The difference between these modes of revelation is profound, and in this difference we see a radical contrast between the false religion of the Babylonians and the true religion of Daniel. Biblical prophecy, which occasionally includes dreams, is the result of divine initiative and revelation; the other means of divination, practiced so strenuously by the Babylonians but condemned by the Bible (cf. Deut. 18:14), is the result of human initiation or manipulation (i.e., the pouring of oil in water). Dream interpretation is one mode of divine revelation understood by Babylonians10 and accepted by pious Israelites.
But even with royal dreams in Babylon, there was a protocol that allowed for interpretation. It required the king to inform the professional interpreters of the content of his dream, but Nebuchadnezzar angrily refuses to satisfy the interpreters’ urgent pleas to tell them the contents of his dream; this refusal puts the diviners in an awkward, even dangerous situation.
The biblical text does not clearly state why Nebuchadnezzar refuses to describe the contents of the dream to his interpreters, leading to two different understandings of his motivation.11 Some commentators believe Nebuchadnezzar has forgotten the dream. He is disturbed, knows he has had a dream, but does not remember exactly what the dream is about.12 Such a view, however, does not do justice to the anger of the king.13 His reaction to the diviners’ request to supply them with the content of the dream indicates that Nebuchadnezzar is testing their integrity. He realizes how easy it is to provide an interpretation of a symbolic dream and wants to assure himself of their authenticity by demanding that they also tell him something that only he himself knows, the actual contents of the dream.14
In spite of the reason, however, no doubt attends the divine intention that stands behind the royal stubbornness. In their exasperation, the diviners themselves utter the statement that sets up the main lesson of the chapter: “There is not a man on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men” (Dan. 2:10–11). With that, the king orders all the “wise men” in Babylonia, present in the court or not, put to death. The glove is thrown to the ground; Daniel and his friends are put on the chopping block. How will God resolve this dangerous situation?
God’s Revealing of the Mystery to Daniel (2:14–23)
ARIOCH, THE COMMANDER of the king’s guard, has no choice but to follow through on Nebuchadnezzar’s command to execute the wise men. His mission leads him to Daniel, who, being a wise man himself, is included among those scheduled for death.
Arioch’s words may have shocked Daniel, but the text does not inform us that he reacts that way. As in the first chapter when his strategy for remaining faithful in a hostile court was thwarted, Daniel responds calmly and with confidence. He navigates life “with wisdom and tact” (v. 14) even when, as in this case, confronted with a threat of gargantuan proportions. Daniel is truly the paradigmatic person of wisdom.
Arioch informs Daniel on the situation that brings him to his doorstep. Daniel hears of the king’s dream, the interpreters’ inability to discern its contents and their impotence in interpretation. After winning some time, he returned to his house, where he meets with his three friends, here given their Hebrew names: Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. He knows that they have only one recourse, prayer. The Babylonian sages were only half right. While no human being could ever tell the king the contents and interpretation of his dream, God can, and, in contrast to the beliefs of the Babylonians (2:11), there is a God who lives among people: Daniel’s God.
The four faithful Israelites prayed to God to reveal the “mystery” to them. In general, a mystery is something beyond human comprehension. In this context, of course, it has become painfully obvious that Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is such a mystery. If Daniel and the others are to have their lives spared, God will have to tell them what to say. That night Daniel’s God speaks to him and describes to him the dream and its interpretation. Before rushing off to the court, Daniel prays again—this time not a petition for help, but a thanksgiving song.15
In his prayer, Daniel highlights two aspects of God’s character that play a pivotal role in this chapter, and indeed throughout the book. (1) God is powerful. Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar, its king, seem to have all the power on the human plane. They presume to have control over Israel and Daniel, but the prophet recognizes the truth of the matter. Nebuchadnezzar himself is a king because God is the One who “sets up kings and deposes them” (2:21).
(2) God is wise. Indeed, Daniel understands that his wisdom is derivative from God’s. The revelation of the mystery has made that clear. The “wisdom and tact” that we earlier saw him display toward Ashpenaz and then Arioch might be confused with the common sense available to any sensitive human being, but the ability to describe someone else’s dream can only come from a divine source. He is the One who “reveals deep and hidden things” (2:22).
Armed with this answer to prayer,16 Daniel then sets out with Arioch to the royal court.
The Dream and Its Interpretation (2:24–45)
AFTER THANKING GOD for hearing his prayer, Daniel informs Arioch that he has the answer needed to preserve the wisdom teachers, including himself, from Nebuchadnezzar’s decree of death. Calvin devotes some time to justifying Daniel’s haste. After all, these wise men teach falsehood and advocate idolatry; in Calvin’s opinion, they deserved to die, even if not for the reason that moves Nebuchadnezzar.17 Calvin appeals to Daniel’s sense of honesty to justify his letting the idolaters off the hook. Daniel would have preferred their death, but not for unjust reasons. Against Calvin, we would suggest that Daniel’s actions here and elsewhere in the book incarnate a love for enemies (Ex. 23:4–5) that the Old Testament mandates and Jesus later advocates (Luke 6:27).
Arioch brings Daniel into the presence of Nebuchadnezzar. The king gets right to the point: “Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?”
Daniel responds in a way that puts the focus where it belongs, not on himself but directly on God. This solution has been anticipated by the inability of the Babylonian wisdom teachers, who said that the answer could only come from the divine realm (v. 11). Now Daniel bears witness to the God who speaks the life-granting answer; he is the “God in heaven who reveals mysteries” (v. 28). He then proceeds with a description of the content of the king’s vision. The report of the dream is given first, followed by its interpretation. However, even within the description are indications of the interpretation. In particular, Daniel makes it clear that the vision concerns the future (vv. 28–29).
The dream is of a huge statue. As Collins points out, “apparitions of gigantic figures are characteristic of ancient Near Eastern dreams.”18 Besides its size, the statue is striking by virtue of its composition. Its head is gold; its chest and arms silver, while its belly and thighs are bronze and its legs iron. The feet are themselves composite, made of both iron and clay. While in one sense there is nothing exactly like this composite statue in ancient literature, we can note similarities. There is a tradition of recounting world history by means of metals of declining value as early as Hesiod in his Works and Days, composed in the eighth century B.C.19
The statue is not the only character in the vision. Daniel next describes a rock whose origins are mysteriously described in a negative way, made “not by human hands” (v. 34). Our first thought is that if it is not human, it must be divine, but confirmation awaits the interpretation that follows.
With two characters, we now have a plot. The rock smashes into the feet of the statue, which is obviously the weak link. This imposing figure is thus reduced to near nothingness, so that the wind can blow it away. After this, the rock becomes a huge mountain, filling the whole world.
In verse 36, Daniel moves from dream report to dream interpretation, and we begin on solid interpretive ground. Speaking to Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel says, “You are that head of gold” (v. 38). Nebuchadnezzar must have rejoiced at this news. After all, in the scheme of “things to come” he was at the top, represented by the most precious of all metals. In the light of this news, it is hard to see why some commentators wonder why Nebuchadnezzar responds so well to the dream as a whole. While the head of gold will be replaced and eventually pass away, nonetheless for the moment Nebuchadnezzar is on top. His reaction may be compared to that of Hezekiah (2 Kings 20:19) when he heard that, despite hardships to come to his descendants, his own reign would be characterized by “peace and security.”
After Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel interprets the remaining metals as symbolic of nations rather than individual kings.20 The identity of the following kingdoms has been much debated over the centuries, particularly in the past hundred years. The interpretation of the kingdoms of Daniel 2 is closely related to the interpretation of Daniel 7 (the four hybrid beasts), which in turn is related to the identity of the goat and the ram in Daniel 8. In order to get a more complete explanation of the interpretive stance we are taking in Daniel 2, the reader is encouraged to read the comments on those relevant chapters as well.
Historically, two main approaches have dominated: the Greek view and the Roman view. The latter is understood to be the traditional viewpoint and often appeals to the New Testament for support. This approach sees the following pattern:
Head of gold = Nebuchadnezzar (Babylon)
Arms and chest of silver = Medo-Persian empire
Belly and thighs of bronze = Greek empire
Legs of iron = Roman empire
This view is held by conservative scholars in the main; nonconservatives have trouble with this approach because even they, for the most part, believe Daniel 2 was written before Rome was a major player on the world scene. Since (in their view) predictive prophecy does not occur,21 they cannot believe that the fourth kingdom is Rome. Typically, then, in the Greek view, the Medes and the Persians are treated as the second and third kingdoms respectively. The Greek kingdom is fourth. The mixed character of the toes then refers to the political situation in Egypt and the Levant after the death of Alexander, when the Ptolomies and the Seleucids vie for control of Palestine. More specifically, the attempts at mixture in verse 43 is a symbolic reference to attempts at intermarriage.22
However, the interpretive situation is not as clear as the last paragraph might lead us to believe. It is not simply a matter of all traditional-conservative scholars holding to the Roman view and all nonconservatives arguing for the Greek view. Recently, strong evangelical arguments have been put forward for the Greek view.23 Furthermore, there is significant disagreement among conservative interpreters concerning such details as the significance of the ten toes.24
In the light of this interpretive confusion, we must entertain seriously the idea that the vision of Daniel 2 does not intend to be precise as it writes its history before it occurs. In other words, though it starts in the concrete present, it is a wrong strategy to proceed through history and associate the different stages of the statue with particular empires. The vision intends to communicate something more general, but also more grand: God is sovereign; he is in control despite present conditions.
Not allowing ourselves to be distracted by the above debate, we notice some crucial theological principles in the dream.25 We see, for instance, that the unnamed kingdoms that follow the head of gold will be inferior to Babylon. While human beings operate on the idea that we get better and stronger with time, God’s vision undercuts our understanding, informing us that the opposite is true. Gold gives way to silver, which then becomes bronze, iron, and a weak mixture of clay and iron. A statue that starts out in grandeur and beauty ends in weakness. Indeed, the expression “feet of clay” has become an idiom in our language for a point of weakness in an otherwise strong person or institution.
The other important principle in this dream-vision is seen when this statue is contrasted with the object of its demise, the rock. The statue is an object made with human hands and ingenuity. The rock, however, is explicitly said not to be the result of human intention or energy. In the interpretation, Daniel identifies the rock as “God’s kingdom.”26 The rock obliterates these human kingdoms. In this way, Daniel again speaks to God’s oppressed people that the evil they now experience is not the end of the story. In spite of present appearances, God will defeat the forces that rule over them. And not only that, God’s kingdom will expand and take over the world, just as the rock becomes a huge mountain. With Calvin, we affirm that “Daniel is not relating what was going to be completed in one moment; he just wants to teach that the kingdoms of the world are transient and that there is only one eternal kingdom.”27
The King’s Response (2:46–49)
DANIEL’S ABILITY TO describe and interpret his dream overwhelms the Babylonian king. He responds with worship, falling prostrate, making an offering, and burning incense. But to whom is his worship offered? In verse 46 Nebuchadnezzar bows toward Daniel and presents him with offerings and incense. One might expect Daniel to have a near heart attack and virtually grab the king and bring him to his feet, but the passage does not tell us that he objects to this treatment. Indeed, he quietly accepts the gifts and promotion mentioned in verse 48. As a matter of fact, he uses his good position to leverage his three friends to important positions as well. These new positions lead to the jealousy of native officials, which results in the conflicts in chapter 3.
No, Daniel seems quietly to accept what at least appears to be worship offered to him by Nebuchadnezzar. This behavior contrasts sharply with Paul and Barnabas in Lystra (Acts 14:8–20). After healing a lame man, the townspeople treated them as Zeus and Hermes, and the apostles reacted quickly, tearing their clothes and urgently shouting, “We too are only men!”
Appeal is often made to a speech by Alexander when he bowed before the high priest of Yahweh in Jerusalem, but when questioned stated, “It was not before him that I prostrated myself but the God of whom he has the honour to be high priest.”28 Indeed, we must understand verse 46 in the light of verse 47, where Nebuchadnezzar praises the power behind Daniel. God is “God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries.” Daniel is honored because of what his God has done, not because of what he has done. However, we must not be misled to think that Nebuchadnezzar is converted here. As a good polytheist, Nebuchadnezzar was more than willing to acknowledge the power of foreign deities. He could easily incorporate Yahweh into his pantheon and give him the credit due him at the moment.
Nonetheless, the parallel with Alexander does not explain Daniel’s passive reception of Nebuchadnezzar’s worship. Perhaps Daniel did react in the way Paul did at Lystra, but the often reticent Hebrew narrative does not inform us of this.29 However, it is more likely to be explained by the comment that “in the world in which the author of Daniel lived a benefactor could be treated like this without impiety, and Nebuchadnezzar is simply expressing in an extravagant way his great gratitude for the very considerable service which Daniel has done him.”30
Whatever reason we give, the concluding scene gives us a powerful picture that reinforces the theme of our book: The most powerful pagan in the world lies prostrate before an exiled Jew. Chills of excitement and the flames of hope will rise in the hearts of those who identify with Daniel and his God.
Bridging Contexts
THE CHAPTER OPENS with Nebuchadnezzar’s uneasiness with a dream. On a surface reading, the core issue of the story seems tightly focused on the meaning of the dream. Once Daniel describes and interprets the dream, we learn that it concerns the future rise and fall of kingdoms. What could be more fascinating to a modern reader than a divine glimpse at the future? Thus, many readers fix their rapt attention on the dream and its interpretation.
However, as we mentioned in the Original Meaning section, the core concern was not the content of the dream or even its interpretation, but on Daniel’s God-given ability to interpret the dream. This is not to claim that the message of the dream is unimportant, but certainly the focus is on the context between the Babylonian wise men and Daniel. Where the “magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers” of Babylon failed, Daniel succeeded. Why? The text is structured to highlight the answer to this question, and in his prayer, Daniel articulates it well (2:23):
I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers:
You have given me wisdom and power,
you have made known to me what we asked of you,
you have made known to us the dream of the king.
Only God’s wisdom, according to Daniel 2, can reveal the mysteries of life. Human wisdom falls short.
In this way, Daniel 2 contributes to a biblical theology of wisdom that begins early in the Old Testament and continues into the New. Understanding the contours of that theology not only helps us understand chapter 2, but also permits us to see its continuing relevance to Christians today. We cannot hope to do more than scratch the surface here, though even a brief survey will prove informative.
Wisdom in the Old Testament. When we think of biblical wisdom, we normally think of the book of Proverbs. If we are not careful, however, this book can be misread and mislead us into thinking that wisdom is something that human beings attain by hard work alone. We may also be deluded into thinking that human wisdom is the key to earthly success:
Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction
and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
They will be a garland to grace your head
and a chain to adorn your neck. (Prov. 1:8–9)
The first nine chapters of Proverbs exhort us to learn, remember, pay attention, listen well, and avoid the way of the evil fool. In chapters 10 and following we read many pithy proverbs about the wise path and its attendant rewards and about the way of the fool and its dire consequences. Proverbs 12:11 gives us a classic illustration:
He who works his land will have abundant food,
but he who chases fantasies lacks judgment.
As we read the book of Proverbs, we can easily get the mistaken impression that wisdom involves the memorization and application of certain proverbs that make little direct reference to God or theology. These proverbs may ultimately be God’s wisdom, but only in some distant way. An unfortunate consequence of this contemporary misreading of Proverbs is that the book is often misused as the ultimate in self-help manuals, a guide to how to be healthy and successful in a chaotic world.
Such a misunderstanding of Proverbs arises because of our modern tendency to read the book in pieces rather than as a whole. It is true that many of the proverbs in chapters 10–31 seem more like common sense based on experience, rather than the type of revealed wisdom Daniel received in answer to his prayer. But once again, we must appeal to the structure of the book of Proverbs and to the effect it has on our reading of any part of it.
The first nine chapters of Proverbs are the theological grid through which we must read each individual maxim. Running throughout chapters 1–9 is a contrast between two concepts: Wisdom and Folly. These concepts are personified at important points as two women, vying for the attention of the reader, who, in its ancient setting, is assumed to be a male. This contrast, anticipated as early as the first chapter (cf. 1:20–33), comes to a dramatic climax in chapter 9. Here, Lady Wisdom and Dame Folly appeal to men who are passing by their homes and invite them in for a meal.
The imagery is clear and powerful. The reader is asked to enter into an intimate relationship with one of two women: Wisdom or Folly. Who are these women? Their homes are located on the high point of the city. Only deities have their homes on the hill in the ancient Near East. While Folly stands for the false gods that tempt God’s people, so Wisdom is Yahweh himself. In other words, the proverbs of the book are not just common sense or based on experience; they are rather the result of a relationship with God. What, after all, is the origin of wisdom according to the book of Proverbs: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (Prov. 1:7).
That Proverbs was and is misread in the way we have suggested is confirmed by the presence of two other wisdom books in the Old Testament. In the first place, Job’s three friends incarnate the perverse misreading of Proverbs by their mechanistic and “health-and-wealth” understanding of life. Job is in trouble; he suffers horribly. What is their proposed solution? “Get wise; you must have sinned, so get right with God.”
Job is well-characterized as a wisdom debate.31 It is not only the three friends who believe they have wisdom, but Elihu and even Job himself. They each believe they have something of a grasp on the problem; they each argue against the interpretation and solution of the others.
But the lesson comes at the end of the book. Once again, wisdom is not a concept to be learned; it is a relationship to be enjoyed (see “The New Testament and wisdom,” where this will be fleshed out). Where is wisdom to be found? Not through human effort but, again, “the fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding” (Job 28:28). The pop quiz that God gives Job at the end has as its point that wisdom is with God and he reveals it to whom he wills.
Space does not permit a detailed treatment of the second wisdom book that serves to correct a misreading of proverbial wisdom in the Old Testament, but Ecclesiastes contributes in much the same way as Job.32 Wisdom, says the Teacher, is not the ultimate solution. Indeed, he spent much of his life striving to be wise, and his conclusion, “Meaningless! Meaningless!… Everything is meaningless” (12:8). At the end, a second voice is heard. This voice does not urge harder work, but once again a relationship (Eccl. 12:13–14):
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man.
For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.
Our survey of key Old Testament wisdom passages confirms what we learned from the book of Daniel. Contrary to modern misunderstandings, wisdom has a divine origin, not a human one. The minor key of books like Job and Ecclesiastes also warn us that true wisdom’s reward is not always in this world, though Proverbs informs us that wisdom and success sometimes accompany one another. In the case of Daniel 2, it is the latter that is the case, for the chapter closes with Nebuchadnezzar stretched out on the floor, giving honor to God’s servant. When we turn to the next chapter, however, we see that this success is short-lived. Daniel and his friends did not demand human reward for their obedience (see comments on Dan. 3).
Our survey has also taught us something implicit about wisdom in Daniel 2, but which is explicit elsewhere. The divine origin of wisdom means that at its foundation wisdom is not a lesson to be learned but a relationship to be enjoyed. Daniel’s wisdom, contrary to that of the learned Babylonian astrologers, did not come from books of dream interpretation; instead, it came from a conversation, a prayer, with God himself.
The New Testament and wisdom. The apostle Paul came to understand the divine origin of wisdom. When he was young, he studied hard under Gamaliel, a well-known rabbi, and he worked hard at being a good follower of God (Acts 22:3–5). He heard about those who followed Christ, and he considered them utter fools; his mission in life was to destroy the fledgling church through his intellect and even through violence.
According to his own testimony, however, God opened his eyes, so that he saw the source of true wisdom, God himself. He knew, of course, how the world counted wisdom. It was not through revelation but through vast learning. Indeed, his later reflections in 1 Corinthians 1:18–2:16 sound like a Christian reflection on Daniel 2. 1 Corinthians 1:20 could be the motto: “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”
Paul realized, as Daniel did before him, that true wisdom is not the result of years of reading or even living life; rather, true wisdom is the result of a relationship, a relationship with the God who created and rules over the world. The apostle, chosen by God to testify to great acts of redemption, could speak more precisely than Daniel. If asked about the source of wisdom, he would reply: Jesus Christ. This is what he means at the crescendo of his great discourse on the difference between true wisdom and the wisdom of this world (1 Cor. 2:10b–16):
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:
“For who has known the mind of the Lord
that he may instruct him?”
But we have the mind of Christ.
We have the mind of Christ. We have a relationship with Jesus Christ, God’s own divine Son, in whom “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3). Jesus is wisdom himself (1 Cor. 1:30). For us to be wise, we must be united with him. Understanding this is crucial to our application of the message of Daniel 2 to our lives today at the turn of the second millennium A.D.
The dream itself. Before we do so, however, we must return to the occasion that led to God’s powerful and public display of his wisdom—Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. While we were right to deflect the type of obsessive interest in the future that focuses on the statue’s meaning as the primary meaning of Daniel 2, we would be equally wrong to ignore it altogether. As readers have long noted, Daniel 2 bears many similarities to the scheme of Daniel 7. Indeed, this chapter is unique in the first half of the book with respect to the interest in the future that it shares with the second half of the book. We will, therefore, reserve discussion of some of the key aspects of the dream for that part of the book that focuses on the future as a major concern (the interested reader should consult especially the comments on ch. 7, but also 8, 10–12).
For now, we will highlight one crucial detail of the dream. The dream of the successive world empires succumbing to the power of a rock said to represent God’s “kingdom that will never be destroyed” (2:44). This dream supports the overall message of the book, repeated in different ways many times: Though circumstances appear to favor the power of ungodly human personalities and institutions, God will overpower them. Perhaps the most significant contribution of this vision is the note that this devastating rock was cut out of the ground “not by human hands” (2:34). The fact that God’s kingdom is established apart from human efforts is an important topic as we turn to our own life situations today.
Contemporary Significance
IT IS POSSIBLE to derive a formal difference between the kind of wisdom Daniel displays in chapter 2 and that which he shows in chapter 1. In chapter 1 Daniel’s wisdom is similar to the kind of wisdom we find in the book of Proverbs: street smarts, knowing how to navigate life in the midst of its troubles and obstacles, based on experience and what works. Daniel ran into a roadblock in his desire to avoid the food of the king’s table, so he thought of a better strategy to achieve his end, and it worked. In Daniel 2, the kind of wisdom he displayed is more striking from a human perspective. His insight into Nebuchadnezzar’s dream constituted what scholars call mantic wisdom. Daniel did not know the contents and interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream by virtue of looking through the prism of God’s Word at past experience and applying it to a present circumstance. He knew it because God told him directly in response to a prayer.
The source of true wisdom. Today Christians debate whether such wisdom as that found in Daniel 2 is available to God’s followers. On the one hand, some Christians feel a strong continuity with God’s people of the biblical period and ask why we shouldn’t believe that God still speaks directly and specifically to people today. How can we deny the possibility that God can speak through our dreams or reveal something in a special way to us today?33 Other Christians, and I would include myself here (though with great respect to my brothers and sisters on the other side of the issue), note a strong connection between the giving of special revelation with the great acts of God that accomplished redemption. These acts came to a conclusion with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; thus, after the completion of that divinely revealed record and the interpretation of that great climactic act, God now speaks to us through his completed revelation, the Bible, rather than in sporadic dreams or prophetic utterances.
Space does not permit an elaborate discussion of this issue,34 but what if I am correct and God does not normally speak to us in the same way as he spoke to Daniel in chapter 2? Does that make this chapter irrelevant to us?
Not at all. I hope I have demonstrated in the Bridging Contexts section that, while it is possible to speak of a formal difference between the type of wisdom displayed in Daniel 1 and 2, substantially they are the same. It isn’t as if the wisdom of Daniel in chapter 2 comes directly from God and the wisdom of chapter 1 is based on human experience apart from the divine. The latter wisdom, like the wisdom of Proverbs, is not based on common sense or experience of life; rather, it too has God as its ultimate and only source. Both types of wisdom, mantic and principal, derive from a relationship with God. For the Christian, we may state it in this manner: all wisdom comes from the One in whom “are hidden all the treasure of wisdom” (Col. 2:3), namely, Jesus Christ.
In light of these passages, even the wisdom displayed by non-Christians has to be understood as a gift of God, in what the theologians call “common grace.” If we desire wisdom to live in a chaotic and confusing world, then the message of the Bible is to enrich our relationship with Christ.
We live in an increasingly complex and confusing world. With every new and improved technological advance, we are told that our lives will be simpler and easier. That’s the hype, but when we buy our computer, log onto the Internet, or get our cellular phone, we find a whole host of new questions and obstacles facing us there. Where will we find the wisdom necessary to live in a world of growing complexity? Many think it is through intelligence, which we often confuse with wisdom. To get on in a world of technology, even to get a decent career, we think that knowledge, advanced degrees, and high IQs are the ticket to success and happiness in living.
Indeed, as a professor and a Ph.D. myself, I have a hard time discouraging a person’s desire to gain knowledge about the Bible, about ourselves, or about our world. However, I will be the first to argue that there is no equation between one’s intellect and happiness and success in life. The most intellectual people are often the worst in relationships and living a daily life. Even more, the smartest people don’t always succeed in the job market either, including a heady profession like education. How often have we heard it. “My teacher is really smart but she does not know how to communicate.” Or, “My boss really knows his stuff, but he certainly can’t relate to his employees.”
In a remarkably revealing book, Daniel Goleman counters the popular idea that a high IQ indicates a person will have the world at his or her fingertips.35 His concluded that “a high IQ is no guarantee of prosperity, prestige, or happiness in life.” He cites a study of college graduates with varying IQs, which showed no correlation between their Intelligence Quotient and their “salary, productivity, or status” or their “happiness with friendships, family, and romantic relationships.” His conclusion is that “at best, IQ contributes about 20 percent to the factors that determine life success, which leaves 80 percent to other forces.”36
That Goleman hit a nerve in our society was indicated that his book has enjoyed many months on the New York Times best-sellers list. The significance of his study for us is that he has simply stumbled across a truth stated long ago by the Bible. Biblical wisdom is more than a knowledge of facts, it is a more like a skill (a “knowing how” rather than a “knowing that”) based on our relationship with Jesus Christ. Wisdom is a divinely given ability to have insight as to the best way to live life.
After his critique of IQ as the road to success, Goleman introduces the vital importance of what he calls “emotional intelligence.” Again, what is striking is its uncanny similarity to biblical wisdom. Emotional intelligence goes well beyond the facts, for it “includes self-control, zeal and persistence and the ability to motivate oneself.”37 He expands this concept later in his book when he includes in emotional intelligence “abilities such as being able to motivate oneself and persist in the face of frustration; to control impulse and delay gratification; to regulate one’s moods and keep distress from swamping the ability to think; to empathize and to hope.”38
This is fine and good, but the question is, “How in the world can I do this? Regulate my moods? Control my impulses? Delay gratification? I would if I could!” Goleman gives practical suggestions for child rearing and depends heavily on the idea that once we see the benefits of our more reasonable behavior, we will conform. Most of us, however, cannot control ourselves in the way he suggests—on our own power.
Relationship with Christ. Goleman identifies the problem and points us in the right direction, but he does not provide the solution. Biblical wisdom goes much further. It points to the solution: a power greater than we are and outside of ourselves. This is a relationship with Jesus Christ.
What does this mean in practical terms? It means we live life in a troubled and confusing world in relationship with Christ. We gain our wisdom in conversation with him. And how do we converse with Christ? Through prayer and reading his Word. Through prayer we enhance our relationship with him through praise, and we draw on his wisdom through sharing our problems and confusion. We then listen to his answer as he speaks to us through the Bible.
The Bible, however, must be understood as more than a list of principles to be memorized and then applied in a mechanical way. It takes a wise person to know the time and place to put into practice a biblical principle stated in Proverbs. A misapplied proverb can be a horrible thing (Prov. 26:7, 9):
Like a lame man’s legs that hang limp
is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.…
Like a thornbush in a drunkard’s hand
is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
But a proverb applied correctly is cause for great joy (15:23):
A man finds joy in giving an apt reply—
and how good is a timely word!
Wisdom is a relationship that produces a mindset, a way of looking at the world. Indeed, it looks at life through the eyes of Christ. It does not stop with the memorization of biblical verses.
In Daniel 2, God used Daniel to display his own wisdom. Though Nebuchadnezzar in his spiritual blindness (or at least serious nearsightedness) bowed before Daniel, the reader knows that God is the one who deserves the praise for the miracle of interpretation. But it is not only for the act of interpretation itself, but its content as well. The dream taught that although evil human kingdoms will dominate for a season, the ultimate victory will go to God. It is his kingdom that will be established. The rock, cut without human hands, will not only crush the statue but it will grow to mountain-like proportions.
Who is the rock? The symbolism is multifaceted, but readers of the New Testament cannot help but think of Jesus Christ as the rock who establishes God’s kingdom by crushing godless nations. It is true that the tradition that identifies Jesus as the rock derives also from Psalm 118:22 (Matt. 21:42; Mark 12:10–11; Luke 20:17; 1 Peter 2:7) and Isaiah 8:14 and 28:16 (Rom. 9:33; 1 Peter 2:6, 8), but we get a clear reference to Daniel 2 in Luke 20:18. The context is the parable of the tenants (Luke 20:9–19). The parable is the story of an vineyard (often a symbol of God’s kingdom)39 rented to tenants, who then refuse to pay. The owner sends messengers to collect the rent, but they are beaten and chased off. Finally, the owner sends his son, but the tenants do the unspeakable and kill the son. At that point, the owner returns himself, kills the tenants, and gives the vineyard to others.
In a clear attempt to identify himself with the son and his listeners with the doomed tenants, Jesus quotes Psalm 118:22: “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,” and then immediately associates this stone with the stone of Daniel 2 “Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed” (Luke 20:18).40