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1. Nebuchadnezzar's dream in the second year of his reign. 2–11. The powerlessness of the Babylonian sages to reveal the content of the dream and the order for their extermination. 12–24. Revelation of a dream to Daniel and his prayer of thanks. 25–45. Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream. 46–49. The king’s confession of the omnipotence and wisdom of the God of Israel and his exaltation of Daniel and his friends. Daniel 2:1. In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, and his spirit was troubled, and sleep departed from him. Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream took place after the end of his three-year education (Dan. 1:5, 18). This is vouched for by the fact of his appointment after explaining the dream as the head of the Babylonian sages (Dan. 2:48), which, of course, could not have happened if he had not finished studying the books and the Chaldean language (Dan. 1: 4), and which, on the contrary, is quite understandable after his upbringing, since at the end of his test, Daniel turned out to be ten times smarter than all the Babylonian sages (Dan. 1: 20). Likewise, if the interpretation of the dream preceded the end of the training, then something incredible would happen: the head of the sages is subjected to a test of wisdom. Finally, a student who had not completed his education could not be included among the wise men, and meanwhile Daniel and his friends were in danger of being killed along with these latter (Dan. 2:18). By the time the dream was explained, Daniel's three-year education had ended, but in this case this event could not have fallen in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, as the Bible states. In order to eliminate such a contradiction, exegetes turn to the help of various assumptions. According to some of them, the second year of Nebuchadnezzar does not mean the second year of his reign, but the second after the three-year education of Daniel (Yachiad), the second after the destruction of Jerusalem (I. Flavius), or, finally, the second after Nebuchadnezzar subjugated all the surrounding nations (Cornelius a Lyapide, Maldonad). But this method of reconciliation does not reconcile with the direct words of the Bible, which do not allow for reinterpretation: “in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar.” Other exegetes explain the modern reading by corruption of the original text, which dates Nebuchadnezzar's dreams to either the 12th or 20th year of his reign. From the 12th year it turned out to be the second, due to the omission of the Hebrew letter “yot” (12 in Hebrew כי), from the 20th due to the replacement of the letter kaf with the letter bet similar in outline to it (20 in Hebrew ב, two - כ). The testimony of the prophet Ezekiel about the wisdom of Daniel (Ezekiel 28:3) dating back to the 14th year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar is considered to weaken such an assumption: the wisdom of Daniel was known to his contemporaries earlier than the 20th year of Nebuchadnezzar. The disagreement in question is more naturally and more plausibly explained by assuming a twofold method of calculating the years of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. His accession falls in the middle of 605, from the twentieth of Tisri (early October) of this year there are already official documents with the name of Nebuchadnezzar as the reigning sovereign. Meanwhile, according to the custom of the Babylonians to calculate the reign of their rulers from the 1st Nissan of the year following their accession to the throne, the first year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar was considered, as can be seen from the so-called Ptolemaic canon, not 605, but 604. In accordance with this reckoning, which is maintained by the prophet Daniel, the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar (602) is the third from the time of his accession and, therefore, the third year of the education of Daniel and his friends, since it began in 605 (Pesotsky. Holy Prophet Daniel, pp. 296-298). The unusualness of the images, and at the same time the general enigma and mystery of the dream aroused a feeling of anxiety in the king’s soul: “his spirit was troubled.” Dan.2:2. And the king ordered to convene the occultists, and the fortune-tellers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, so that they would tell the king his dreams. They came and stood before the king. Dan.2:3. And the king said to them: I dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled; I want to know this dream. According to Nebuchadnezzar, dreams were one of the means by which the gods proclaimed their will to people. So, in one of the inscriptions, he turns with a prayer to the god Samas, so that he would announce his mercy and favor to him in a dream. Considering the new forgotten dream as a revelation from above, the king naturally wants to know it, since this is tantamount to knowing the will of the gods, and he languishes and suffers from the unknown (“my spirit is troubled, I wanted to know this dream”). In order to restore the forgotten in his memory and thereby calm down, he turns to the only possible and reliable, in his opinion, means - to the help of the Babylonian sages of five classes, each of whom had special knowledge. Of these, “mysteries” (Hebrew hartumim) are experts in the sacred Chaldean writing, interpreters of dreams in a religious sense with its help, and exorcists of evil demons with words alone without the help of any magical means (cf. Ex. 7:11. Explanatory Bible 1 volume); “fortune tellers” (Hebrew asaphim from asaph to blow; Greek μαγοι; glorified magi) - people who, according to Blessed Jerome, engaged in philosophical research of various kinds of subjects, explained wonderful visions and predictions of oracles, announced the will of the gods to the people, composed hymns in their honor and, finally, cast spells through blows; “Mekasthim” - sorcerers, wizards who used visible spells for magic, using, among other things, the blood of sacrificial animals for these purposes (Blessed. Jerome); “Kasdim” - Chaldeans in the proper sense or priests (Herodotus; Diodorus Siculus), who observed the movements of the stars, engaged in astronomical calculations and, on the basis of them, predicted the fate of man (Blessed Jerome) and, finally, “Gazrim” (Art. 27) - the same as astronomers, fortune-tellers by the stars, by the entrails of animals, by flight, the cry of birds, etc. Nebuchadnezzar calls upon the sages, of course, their representatives, of all five classes, since the knowledge of any one was insufficient in explaining the dream. Khartoumim had to give its interpretation, Asaphim to inform the king of the will of the gods; in order to more accurately determine the well-being or misfortune predicted by the dream, it was possible to tell fortunes by the stars, the entrails of animals, what the kasdim and gazrim were doing; if the dream foreshadowed any misfortune, the same kasdim, like priests, were supposed to appease the gods with sacrifices, and the mekasthim were to try to ward off the disaster with their spells. Dan.2:4. And the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic: King! live forever! tell the dream to your servants, and we will explain its meaning. Beginning the speech with the usual greeting in the east when talking with the king: “O king, live forever” (1 Kings 10:24; 1 Kings 1:31; Neh. 2:3; Dan. 3:9; Dan. 5:10), the wise men are convinced that they are invited to explain a dream well known to the king. Dan.2:5. The king answered and said to the Chaldeans: the word has departed from me; If you do not tell me the dream and its meaning, then you will be cut into pieces, and your houses will turn into ruins. Dan.2:6. If you tell the dream and its meaning, you will receive gifts, rewards and great honor from me; so tell me the dream and its meaning. The demand presented to the sages to tell the contents of the forgotten dream was not, in the opinion of Nebuchadnezzar, something impossible. Attributing to themselves the ability to discover, with the assistance of the gods, the secret and hidden, they, obviously, could find out in one way or another the dream they saw. And therefore Nebuchadnezzar considered himself in the right, assigning to the wise men, in case of failure to fulfill his demand, the usual punishment among the Babylonians - cutting into pieces (Ezek.16:40; Ezek.23:47). Dan.2:7. They answered a second time and said: let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will explain its meaning. Dan.2:8. The king answered and said: I know for sure that you want to gain time, because you see that the word has departed from me. Dan.2:9. Since you do not tell me your dreams, you have one intention: you are going to tell me lies and deception while time passes; so tell me the dream, and then I will know that you can explain to me its meaning. From the answer of the sages, Nebuchadnezzar understood that they did not possess higher knowledge, and also understood that they did not want to admit this, hoping to get out of the difficult situation one way or another (“they are gaining time”). The sages are waiting to see if “time will change,” that is, if the king himself will say something definite about the dream he saw, or if there will be some circumstance that will make it possible to penetrate into a secret unknown to them. But the answer compiled on the basis of such hints and guesses should be far from the truth (“you are going to say something deceitful, cunning”). Therefore, Nebuchadnezzar demands that the wise men immediately report the contents of the dream he saw. This will serve as proof of their superior knowledge and at the same time guarantee that the explanation itself is free from error. Daniel 2:10. The Chaldeans answered the king and said: there is no man on earth who could reveal this matter to the king, and therefore not a single king, great and powerful, demanded this from any occultist, fortuneteller or Chaldean. Daniel 2:11. The matter that the king demands is so difficult that no one else can reveal it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with the flesh. Daniel 2:12. The king was enraged and very angry at this, and ordered to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar exposed the plans of the wise men, and they, realizing the futility of further excuses, admitted their powerlessness to carry out the king’s orders. Their statement that he demands from them, mere mortals, the impossible and unheard of, that his desire can be satisfied only by the gods, is both a justification and a protest against the punishment imposed. From Nebuchadnezzar it took away his last hope of knowing the dream he had seen and therefore drove him into rage, the manifestation of which was the order to beat all the wise men. If their representatives turned out to be deceivers who in vain acquired the highest knowledge, then obviously their assistants, the secondary sages, were the same. Daniel 2:14. Then Daniel turned with advice and wisdom to Arioch, the commander of the king's bodyguard, who went out to kill the wise men of Babylon; Daniel 2:15. and asked Arioch, the strongman under the king: “Why such a formidable command from the king?” Then Arioch told the whole matter to Daniel. Daniel 2:16. And Daniel entered and begged the king to give him time, and he would present to the king the interpretation of the dream. And Arioch, the chief of the bodyguard (Heb. Rav. Tabahaya) is one of the most important dignitaries, since this name is assigned to Nebuchadnezzar’s commander Nebuzaradan (Jer.39:9, 11; Jer.41:10; Jer.43:6; Jer.52:12, 15), and Nebuchadnezzar himself knew about the outstanding wisdom of Daniel ( Daniel 1:19–20). And this circumstance (Daniel “turned to Arioch with advice and wisdom”) forced the first to suspend the execution of the royal decree, and the second to agree with the prophet’s request. The king again had hope of finding out the forgotten dream. Daniel 2:20. And Daniel said: Blessed be the name of the Lord from everlasting to everlasting! For with Him is wisdom and power; The main idea of ​​the prayer: glorifying the power and wisdom of God, manifested in the dream revealed to Daniel. Daniel 2:21. He changes times and seasons, deposes kings and sets up kings; gives wisdom to the wise and understanding to the understanding; Daniel 2:22. He reveals the deep and hidden, He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him. Foreshadowing great revolutions in humanity and speaking of the Lord’s supreme dominion over the destinies of the world, the dream testifies to the power of God: the Lord, by His will and power, “changes times and years, deposes kings and sets up kings” (Cf. 1 Samuel 2:7-8; Proverbs 8:14). Inaccessible in its meaning to human wisdom, revealed and explained to Daniel by God Himself, it speaks of divine wisdom (Dan. 2:22). Daniel 2:23. I praise and magnify You, God of my fathers, that You have given me wisdom and strength and revealed to me what we prayed to You for; for You have revealed to us the king's work. Thanks for sharing the meaning of the dream. Daniel 2:24. After this, Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king commanded to kill the wise men of Babylon. He came and said to him: Do not kill the wise men of Babylon; Bring me to the king and I will reveal the meaning of the dream. Daniel 2:25. Then Arioch immediately brought Daniel to the king and said to him: I have found from among the captive sons of Judah a man who can reveal to the king the meaning of the dream. Having postponed the death penalty for a while (Dan. 2:13–15), Arioch should not carry out the royal order at all: the content of the dream Nebuchadnezzar saw was revealed to Daniel. According to Eastern custom, which prohibits access and entry to the king without a preliminary report (Esther 4:11), the prophet is introduced to Nebuchadnezzar by Arioch, as a person interested in one or another outcome of the whole matter. He, who suspended the death penalty, seems to justify this act: he brings to the king a person who can reveal the meaning of the dream. Daniel 2:26. The king said to Daniel, who was called Belshazzar: Can you tell me the dream that I saw and its meaning? Directly familiar with the wisdom of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar, however, is not yet entirely sure that he, a foreigner (Dan. 2:25), can reveal what the Babylonian sages were unable to do. Daniel 2:27. Daniel answered the king and said: the secret that the king asks about cannot be revealed to the king by wise men, charmers, mystic scholars, or fortune-tellers. Daniel 2:28. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets; and He revealed to King Nebuchadnezzar what would happen in the last days. Your dream and visions of your head on your bed were like this: Daniel 2:29. did you, king, on your bed think about what would happen after this? and He who reveals secrets has shown you what will happen. Daniel 2:30. But this secret was revealed to me, not because I was wiser than all the living, but so that the king’s understanding might be revealed and so that you might know the thoughts of your heart. The king’s doubt is legitimate if we keep in mind ordinary human wisdom: it is powerless to resolve the mystery. The latter is known only to God. He, having sent the dream to Nebuchadnezzar, can explain it. The Lord chose Daniel as his organ in this case. The latter turns out to be able to tell and explain the dream, thanks to insight from above. Therefore, the king can be sure that his dream will be revealed and explained. Daniel 2:31. You, king, had such a vision: behold, some kind of large idol; This idol was huge, it stood before you in extreme splendor, and its appearance was terrible. Daniel 2:32. This image had a head of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of copper, Daniel 2:33. His legs are of iron, his feet are partly iron, partly clay. Daniel 2:34. You saw him until the stone came off the mountain without the help of hands, struck the image, his iron and clay feet, and broke them. Daniel 2:35. Then everything was crushed together: iron, clay, copper, silver and gold became like dust on the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away, and no trace remained of them; and the stone that broke the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Daniel 2:36. What a dream! Let us tell the king its meaning. According to Nebuchadnezzar's question (Dan. 2:26), Daniel first states the content of the dream and then (Dan. 2:36) proceeds to explain it. As an answer to the king’s thoughts about what will happen after him (Dan. 2:29), i.e., whether the monarchy he created will remain the arbiter of the destinies of the world or will give way to other empires, the dream sets out the history of the succession of four earthly monarchies and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. Daniel 2:37. You, king, king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given kingdom, power, strength and glory, Daniel 2:38. and He gave all the sons of men, wherever they lived, the beasts of the earth and the birds of the air, into your hands, and made you ruler over them all. You are a head of gold! Attributing the symbol of the golden head to Nebuchadnezzar (“you are the golden head”), the prophet means in his person the entire Babylonian monarchy, as indicated by the words: “after you another kingdom will arise, lower than yours” (Dan. 2:39). According to history, this other kingdom rose not after Nebuchadnezzar, but after all his successors to the throne - it replaced the Babylonian empire. In a dream, she is personified in the person of Nebuchadnezzar, since to him, the “king of kings” (cf. Eze. 26:7), the world conqueror (cf. Jer. 27:6; Jer. 28:14), she owes her existence, power, glory and worldwide character. As the first in a succession of world empires, the Babylonian monarchy is represented as a head; as distinguished, especially under Nebuchadnezzar, by greatness and splendor, she is a golden head. Daniel 2:39. After you, another kingdom will arise, lower than yours, and a third kingdom of copper, which will rule over the whole earth. The symbolic image immediately following the Babylonian state - two silver hands meeting in one chest (Dan. 2:32), indicates both its two-part nature and its unity. Such was the Medo-Persian empire, united and indivisible (Dan 8.20) with two nationalities included in its composition. It is also considered by the prophet Daniel himself as a successor to the Babylonian one (Dan.5:28). The history of the Medo-Persian kingdom was not distinguished by the grandeur and splendor characteristic of the Babylonian monarchy, which is why it is called “its inferior.” The third kingdom in the succession, inferior to the first two in external splendor (the copper body of the idol), will significantly surpass them in its power and strength: “it will rule over all the earth.” According to the testimony of 1 Maccabees, the Greek kingdom was distinguished by a similar character. Its founder, Alexander the Great, went to the ends of the earth, dominated regions, peoples and rulers, and made the earth fall silent before him (1 Mac. 1:3-4). The Greek kingdom is considered to have replaced the Medo-Persian monarchy both by the prophet Daniel (Dan.8:8-7, 20-21) and in 1 book. Maccabees (1 Mac. 1:1). Daniel 2:40. And the fourth kingdom will be strong as iron; for just as iron breaks and crushes everything, so it, like all-crushing iron, will crush and crush. Daniel 2:41. And because you saw the feet and toes partly made of pottery clay, and partly of iron, then there will be a divided kingdom, and some strength of iron will remain in it, just as you saw iron mixed with pottery clay. Daniel 2:42. And just as the toes were partly made of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom will be partly strong and partly fragile. Daniel 2:43. And that you saw iron mixed with pottery clay, this means that they will mix through human seed, but will not merge with one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. The fourth kingdom is represented by the image of iron legs and partly iron, partly clay legs of the image. According to the prophet Daniel, this means that, possessing all-crushing power, it will be as fragile as clay. The joint, simultaneous manifestation of these two opposite qualities is unacceptable because a disintegrating kingdom cannot be at the same time all-crushing and exterminating. It is therefore more natural to see in the words of the prophet an indication of two different moments in the history of the fourth monarchy: a period of extraordinary power, strength and a period of decline, decomposition caused by the inability to unite the disparate parts of the state. At first, hard as iron, it will later turn into brittle iron-clay. The prophet Daniel himself distinguishes between these two points, giving a separate explanation of the iron legs and iron-clay legs of the idol. Characterizing the fourth kingdom in this way, the prophet does not call it by name, as he does regarding the second and third monarchies, and this circumstance serves as a reason for identifying it either with the Syro-Egyptian kingdom or with the Roman kingdom. As for the first opinion, it does not find any basis in the vision of Chapter 8, parallel to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The Syrian and Egyptian kingdoms are represented in it by the image of horns growing on the head of a goat (Dan. 8:21–22), i.e., they are kingdoms formed from the Greco-Macedonian monarchy, and therefore should be considered as its continuation and modification, which cannot be said about the fourth kingdom. Further, according to the instructions of Dan.8:22 and Dan.11:4, the Syrian and Egyptian kingdoms will be weaker than the monarchy from which they arise; Meanwhile, the fourth kingdom seems to be superior in strength to all the previous ones. There is more reason to understand the Roman monarchy by it: it possesses the qualities of the fourth kingdom of Daniel. With its all-crushing, initially invincible power and worldwide devastating conquests, it surpassed all previous states. But initially a single, inextricably whole and therefore solid, like iron, the Roman kingdom then passed into a period of fragility and self-disintegration, which began with the conquest of different peoples. The various nationalities included in its composition did not unite together, and the more the boundaries of the state expanded, the more clay elements entered it, who contributed not to the consolidation of power, but to its weakening through constant disturbances and numerous internecine wars. “Converting Gauls and Egyptians, Africans and Huns, Spaniards and Syrians into Roman citizens, how could the emperors expect, says St. Augustine, that such a diverse crowd would be faithful to the interests of Rome, which pursued them?” Daniel 2:44. And in the days of those kingdoms, the God of heaven will erect a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not be transferred to another people; it will crush and destroy all kingdoms, and itself will stand forever, Daniel 2:45. for you saw that the stone was torn from the mountain not by hands and crushed iron, copper, clay, silver and gold. The Great God let the king know what would happen after this. And this dream is true, and its interpretation is accurate! During the existence of the fourth monarchy (the stone hit the feet of the idol), the emergence of a new kingdom, represented by the image of the stone, falls. Divine in origin (“The God of heaven will raise up a kingdom”), eternal (“it will never be destroyed”), indestructible in itself, all-destroying in relation to earthly kingdoms (Dan.2:35), it will gradually turn into a universal kingdom (“the stone that broke the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth” - Dan.2:35). All these signs point to the messianic kingdom, founded by the heavenly God, which appeared during the days of the Roman kingdom, crushing the brute force of the pagan world with its supreme spiritual and moral power and filling the entire earth with itself. In accordance with the representation of the Old Testament church under the image of a mountain (Is. 2:2-3; Mic. 4:2), the small messianic kingdom at its appearance is depicted in the form of a stone. He breaks away from the mountain (Dan.2:34), - the New Testament church arose from the bowels of the Old Testament. However, some exegetes based on Is. 8:14; Isa.28:16; Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11; 1 Peter 2:4; Rom.9:32 means the Messiah by the stone, and the Virgin Mary by the mountain (“the stone that is not cut off from the mountains that cannot be cut off for You, O Virgin, is cut off as the cornerstone”). With this understanding, the messianic kingdom is personified, like the first monarchy, in the person of its Founder. Daniel 2:46. Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and bowed to Daniel, and ordered gifts and fragrant incense to be brought to him. Dan.2:47. And the king said to Daniel: Truly your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings, the revealer of secrets, when you could reveal this secret! In the person of Daniel, who discovered and explained the dream, Nebuchadnezzar recognized not an ordinary sage who had studied Chaldean wisdom, but a person gifted with the highest divine knowledge (Dan. 2:47; cf. Dan. 4:5–6). He expressed a similar view by giving the prophet divine honors, as indicated by the Hebrew verb “sagad” bowed (cf. Is. 44:15, 17, 19; Is. 46:6) and the burning of incense before him. According to Blessed Jerome and Josephus, Nebuchadnezzar worshiped in the person of Daniel the God who dwells within him, whom he recognized as the highest of all gods. Daniel 2:48. Then the king elevated Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and made him over the entire region of Babylon and the chief ruler over all the wise men of Babylon. The title of “chief of the Babylonian wise men” (cf. Dan. 4:6) was for Daniel, it seems, only an honorary title, but did not give him the rights of actual real power. At least from further history it is clear that he stands apart from the Chaldeans: the latter repeatedly appear at the palace at the call of the king, but there is no prophet among them (Dan. 4: 3–4). Daniel's nominal membership in the Chaldean caste is quite natural, since it was strictly closed and did not allow foreigners into its midst; Moreover, according to Diodorus, the title of Chaldean passed from father to son. You might be interested in: