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| 1 And, in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams,–and his spirit, was troubled, and, his sleep, had gone from him. |
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| 2 So the king gave word to call for the sacred scribes and for the magicians, and for the users of incantations, and for the Chaldeans, that they might tell the king his dreams,–they came in therefore, and stood before the king. |
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| 3 And the king, said to them, A dream, have I dreamed,–and my spirit is troubled to know the dream. |
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| 4 Then spake the Chaldeans to the king, in Aramaic,–O king, to the ages, live! Tell the dream to thy servants, and, the interpretation, we will declare. |
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| 5 The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The word from me, is unalterable: If ye shall not make known to me the dream and the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and, your houses, into a dunghill, shall be turned; |
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| 6 but, if, the dream and the interpretation thereof, ye will declare, gifts and a present and great dignity, shall ye receive from before me,–therefore, the dream and the interpretation thereof, declare ye unto me. |
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| 7 They answered again and said,–Let, the king, tell, the dream, to his servants, and, the interpretation thereof, we will declare. |
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| 8 The king answered and said, Of a certainty, I know, that, time, ye, would gain,–merely because ye see that, unalterable, from me, is the word: |
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| 9 That, if, the dream, ye shall not make known to me, one and the same, is the decree, and, a lying and wicked word, have ye agreed to speak before me, that meanwhile the time may be changed,–therefore, the dream, tell ye me, so shall I know that, the interpretation thereof, ye can declare for me. |
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| 10 The Chaldeans answered before the king and said, There is not a man upon the earth, who can declare, the matter of the king,–although indeed, there is no king, chief ruler who, a thing like this, hath asked of any sacred scribe or magician or Chaldean; |
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| 11 and, the thing which the king hath asked, is difficult, and, none other, is there, who can declare it before the king,–saving the gods whose dwelling is, not with flesh. |
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| 12 For this cause, the king, was provoked and exceedingly indignant,–and gave word to destroy all the wise men of Babylon; |
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| 13 and, the decree, went forth, that, the wise men, should be slain,–and they sought Daniel and his companions that they might be slain. |
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| 14 Immediately, Daniel, made answer with prudence and discretion, to Arioch, chief of the executioners of the king,–who had come forth to slay the wise men of Babylon: |
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| 15 he began to speak and said to Arioch the king's captain,–For what cause, is the decree raging forth from before the king? Then did Arioch make the matter known unto Daniel. |
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| 16 So Daniel entered in, and desired of the king,–that, an appointed time, he would give him, and then, the interpretation, he would declare unto the king. |
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| 17 Then Daniel, to his own house, departed,–and, to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, made the matter known; |
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| 18 that, tender compassion, they might seek from before the God of the heavens, concerning this secret,–that Daniel and his companions, might not be destroyed, with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. |
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| 19 Then, unto Daniel–in a vision of the night, the secret was revealed,–whereupon, Daniel, blessed the God of the heavens: |
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| 20 Daniel responded, and said, Let the name of God be blessed from age to age,–in that wisdom and might, to him belong; |
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| 21 And, he, changeth times and seasons, removeth kings, and setteth up kings,–giving wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to them who are skilled in understanding: |
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| 22 He, revealeth the deep things, and the hidden,–knoweth what is in the darkness, and, light, with him, doth dwell. |
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| 23 Unto the, O God of my fathers, do I render thanks and praise, in that, wisdom and might, thou hast given unto me,–yea, already, hast thou made known to me that which we desired of thee, for, the matter of the king, hast thou made known unto us. |
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| 24 Therefore, Daniel entered in unto Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon,–he went in, and, thus, he said unto him, The wise men of Babylon, do not thou destroy, bring me in before the king, and, the interpretation–unto the king, will I declare. |
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| 25 Thereupon, Arioch–with haste, brought in Daniel before the king,–and, thus, he said to him–I have found a man of the sons of the exile of Judah, who, the interpretation–unto the king, will make known.
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| 26 The king answered and said unto Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar,–Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof? |
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| 27 Daniel answered before the king, and said,–The secret which the king hath asked, the wise men, the magicians, the sacred scribes, the astrologers, are not able to declare unto the king; |
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| 28 but there is a God in the heavens, who revealeth secrets, and hath made known to King Nebuchadnezzar, what shall come to pass, in the afterpart of the days: Thy dream and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are, these:– |
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| 29 As for thee, O king, thy thoughts upon thy bed, arose regarding what should come to pass hereafter; and, he that revealeth secrets, made known to thee what shall come to pass. |
Thee, O king – Nebuchadnezzar, picturing (as the 'head of gold') not only the Gentile kings, governments, but especially the Babylon. |
| 30 But, as for me–not for any wisdom that is in me, more than any of the living, is, this secret, revealed to me,–therefore, it is in order that, the interpretation–unto the king, they should make known, and that, the thoughts of thy heart, thou shouldst get to know. |
Not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have – Notice how this attitude is shared by Pastor Russell in the following quote: "Though in this work we shall endeavor, and we trust with success, to set before the interested and unbiased reader the plan of God as it relates to and explains the past, the present and the future of his dealings, in a way more harmonious, beautiful and reasonable than is generally understood, yet that this is the result of extraordinary wisdom or ability on the part of the writer is positively disclaimed. It is the light from the Sun of Righteousness in this dawning of the Millennial Day that reveals these things as "present truth," now due to be appreciated by the sincere, the pure in heart." A10 |
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| 31 As for thee, O king, thou wast looking, when lo! a great image, this image, being mighty, and the brightness thereof surpassing, was standing before thee,–and, the appearance thereof, was terrible. |
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| 32 As for this image, its head, was of fine gold, its breast and its arms, were of silver,–its belly and its thighs, of bronze; |
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| 33 its legs, of iron,–and, its feet, part of them, of iron, and, part of them, of clay. |
Feet – The last part of the body. In this case it is the 'body' of the Roman Empire.
Iron – The strength of the civil power of Rome.
Clay – The ecclestiacal power of the 'Holy Roman Empire.' |
| 34 Thou didst look, until that a stone tare itself away, not by the aid of hands, and smote the image upon its feet, which were of iron and clay,–and they were broken in pieces. |
A stone – The true Kingdom of God.
Without hands – i.e., this is not the work of man.
His feet that were of iron and clay – This is the union of church (clay) and iron (state, civil power) of Europe. The United States is not part of this picture for here we have no king and the union of church and state is against the law - (consider the first ammendment to the Constitution.) – see R5854:1. |
| 35 Then were broken in pieces at once, the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, and became like chaff out of the summer threshing-floors, and the wind, carried them away, and, no place, was found for them,–but, the stone that smote the image, became a mighty rock, and filled all the land. |
Summer – Summer here is Strong's 7007 which only appears here. According to professor Strong this means 'Harvest.'
Threshingfloors – Most translations render this in the singular - Threshingfloor.
Thus this should read 'became like the chaff of the Harvest threshingfloor'. |
| 36 This, is the dream, and, the interpretation thereof, we will tell before the king. |
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| 37 Thou, O king, art the king of kings,–for, the God of the heavens, hath given unto thee, the kingship, the might, the power and the dignity; |
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| 38 and, wheresoever the sons of men do dwell, the wild beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, hath he given into thy hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou, art the head of gold. |
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| 39 And, after thee, shall arise another kingdom, inferior to thee,–and another–a third kingdom, of bronze, which shall bear rule throughout all the earth. |
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| 40 And, the fourth kingdom, shall be hard as iron,–in like manner as iron breaketh in pieces and crusheth all things,–even as iron which bringeth to ruins all these, shall it break in pieces and bring to ruins. |
Break in pieces – This phrase, describing the crushing power of the Gentile governments, is used by the Lord to describe His work of crushing these very Gentile powers. Note this in vs. 34, 44 and 45 (especially note additional comments on vs 44). |
| 41 And, whereas thou sawest the feet and the toes, part of them of potter's clay, and part of them of iron, the kingdom, shall be, divided, and, of the hardness of the iron, shall there be in it,–forasmuch as thou sawest, the iron, combined with the miry clay; |
The feet and toes – "The ten toes of the image represent the ten divisions of the Roman Empire, though they have varied over the centuries. France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, England, Spain, Portugal, Lombardy, Romania, and Ravenna."
Part of potter's clay – See Psa. 2:6-9 |
| 42 and, the toes of the feet, part of them, iron, and, part, of clay,–some part of the kingdom, shall be strong, but, a part thereof, shall be brittle; |
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| 43 and, whereas thou sawest, the iron, combined with the miry clay, they shall be combined with the seed of men, but shall not cleave firmly one to another,–lo! as iron is not to be combined with clay. |
Iron mixed with clay – Civil power (kings) intertwined with the churches (clay), i.e., church-state union.
They – The clay, the (supposed) church.
Shall mingle themselves – Nominal church.
With the seed of men – With the civil power. They were supposed to remain seperate from the seed of men because they were supposed to be Abraham's seed (as the body of Christ) - Gal. 3:29.
So then, we see that the correct understanding of this mixture of iron and clay is the union of church and state. This is what is smitten.
We should remember that there was another time when those who were spiritual (as was claimed by the Nominal Church) mingled themselves with the seed of mankind, i.e., before the flood. See Gen. 6:2,4,13. We remember that God destroyed that arrangement too. |
| 44 And, in the days of those kings, shall the God of the heavens, set up, a kingdom which, to the ages, shall not be destroyed, and, the kingdom, to another people, shall not be left,–it shall break in pieces and make an end of all these kingdoms, but, itself, shall stand to the ages. |
In the days of these kings – Not just any kings will do, no, it must be in the days of these kings, i.e., in the days of the nations of Christendom.
This cannot refer to the 4 universal empires as being the kings because ancient Babylon had long since ceased to be. So much so that for a long period of time, scoffers of the Bible suggested that it had never even existed. These scoffings only stopped when the ancient city had been discovered by archeologists.
It shall break in pieces – The kingdom of God does the breaking in pieces of Christendom. Yet, even now in its embryo state, their is a breaking in pieces going on. See comments on Eze. 9:2 'slaughter weapon.'
Here we see God's Justice in operation. He does to the Gentile governments what they did to the people they had rule over. (See vs. 40)
The Kingdom of God strikes the toes of the kings of Christendom (most appropriately symbolized by the city of Rome). Remembering that Rome is the capital of Italy, notice how God has portrayed this in the geography of the land. In this picture, the island of Sicily is the stone which smites the Roman Empire (Italy) on its toes.
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| 45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that, out of the rock, a stone tare itself away, but not with hands, and brake in pieces the clay, the iron, the bronze, the silver and the gold, the mighty God, hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter. Exact then is the dream, and trusty its interpretation. |
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| 46 Then, King Nebuchadnezzar, fell upon his face, and, unto Daniel, paid adoration; and, a present and sweet odours, gave he word to pour out unto him. |
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| 47 The king answered Daniel, and said–Of a truth, your God, is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a Revealer of secrets,–seeing thou wast able to reveal this secret. |
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| 48 Then, the king, exalted, Daniel, and, many large presents, gave he unto him, and set him to be ruler over all the province of Babylon,–and chief of the nobles, over all the wise men of Babylon. |
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| 49 And, Daniel, desired of the king, and he appointed–over the business of the province of Babylon–Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego,–but, Daniel himself, was in the gate of the king. |
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