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121 lines
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<p id="Chapter2" align="center">Commentary by A. R. FAUSSET<br>CHAPTER 2
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<p id="Da2_1"><a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,'1-49');">Dan 2:1-49</a>. NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S DREAM: DANIEL'S INTERPRETATION OF IT, AND ADVANCEMENT.
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<p><b>1. second year of...Nebuchadnezzar</b>—<a onclick="return mV('Dan',1,5);">Dan 1:5</a> shows that "three years" had elapsed since Nebuchadnezzar had taken Jerusalem. The solution of this difficulty is: Nebuchadnezzar first ruled as subordinate to his father Nabopolassar, to which time the first chapter refers (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',1,1);">Dan 1:1</a>); whereas "the second year" in the second chapter is dated from his sole sovereignty. The very difficulty is a proof of genuineness; all was clear to the writer and the original readers from <i>their</i> knowledge of the circumstances, and so he adds no explanation. A forger would not <i>introduce</i> difficulties; the author did not <i>then</i> see any difficulty in the case. Nebuchadnezzar is called "king" (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',1,1);">Dan 1:1</a>), <i>by anticipation.</i> Before he left Judea, he became actual king by the death of his father, and the Jews always called him "king," as commander of the invading army.
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<br><br><b>dreams</b>—It is significant that not to Daniel, but to the then world ruler, Nebuchadnezzar, the dream is vouchsafed. It was from the first of its representatives who had conquered the theocracy, that the world power was to learn its doom, as about to be in its turn subdued, and for ever by the kingdom of God. As this vision opens, so that in the seventh chapter developing the same truth more fully, closes the first part. Nebuchadnezzar, as vicegerent of God (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,37);">Dan 2:37</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('Jer',25,9);">Jer 25:9</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',28,'12-15');">Eze 28:12-15</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',44,28);">Isa 44:28</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',45,1);">45:1</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rom',13,1);">Rom 13:1</a>), is honored with the revelation in the form of a dream, the appropriate form to one outside the kingdom of God. So in the cases of Abimelech, Pharaoh, etc. (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',20,3);">Gen 20:3</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Gen',41,'1-7');">41:1-7</a>), especially as the heathen attached such importance to dreams. Still it is not he, but an Israelite, who interprets it. Heathendom is passive, Israel active, in divine things, so that the glory redounds to "the God of heaven."
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<p id="Da2_2"><b>2. Chaldeans</b>—here, a certain order of priest-magicians, who wore a peculiar dress, like that seen on the gods and deified men in the Assyrian sculptures. Probably they belonged exclusively to the Chaldeans, the original tribe of the Babylonian nation, just as the Magians were properly Medes.
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<p id="Da2_3"><b>3. troubled to know the dream</b>—He awoke in alarm, remembering that something solemn had been presented to him in a dream, without being able to recall the form in which it had clothed itself. His thoughts on the unprecedented greatness to which his power had attained (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,29);">Dan 2:29</a>) made him anxious to know what the issue of all this should be. God meets this wish in the way most calculated to impress him.
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<p id="Da2_4"><b>4.</b> Here begins the <i>Chaldee</i> portion of Daniel, which continues to the end of the seventh chapter. In it the course, character, and crisis of the Gentile power are treated; whereas, in the other parts, which are in <i>Hebrew,</i> the things treated apply more particularly to the Jews and Jerusalem.
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<br><br><b>Syriac</b>—the <i>Aramean Chaldee,</i> the vernacular tongue of the king and his court; the prophet, by mentioning it here, hints at the reason of his own adoption of it from this point.
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<br><br><b>live for ever</b>—a formula in addressing kings, like our "Long live the king!" Compare <a onclick="return mV('1Ki',1,31);">1Ki 1:31</a>.
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<p id="Da2_5"><b>5. The thing</b>—that is, The dream, "is gone from me." GESENIUS translates, "The <i>decree</i> is gone forth from me," irrevocable (compare <a onclick="return mV('Isa',45,23);">Isa 45:23</a>); namely, that you shall be executed, if you do not tell both the dream and the interpretation. <i>English Version</i> is simpler, which supposes the king himself to have forgotten the dream. Pretenders to supernatural knowledge often bring on themselves their own punishment.
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<br><br><b>cut in pieces</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('1Sa',15,33);">1Sa 15:33</a>).
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<br><br><b>houses...dunghill</b>—rather, "a morass heap." The Babylonian houses were built of sun-dried bricks; when demolished, the rain dissolves the whole into a mass of mire, in the wet land, near the river [STUART]. As to the consistency of this cruel threat with Nebuchadnezzar's character, see <a onclick="return mV('Dan',4,17);">Dan 4:17</a>, "basest of men"; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',39,5,6);">Jer 39:5-6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',52,'9-11');">52:9-11</a>.
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<p id="Da2_6"><b>6. rewards</b>—literally, "presents <i>poured out in</i> lavish profusion."
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<p id="Da2_8"><b>8. gain...time</b>—literally, "buy." Compare <a onclick="return mV('Eph',5,16);">Eph 5:16</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Col',4,5);">Col 4:5</a>, where the sense is somewhat different.
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<br><br><b>the thing is gone from me</b>— (See on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Dan/Dan002.html#Da2_5">Dan 2:5</a>).
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<p id="Da2_9"><b>9. one decree</b>—There can be no second one reversing the first (<a onclick="return mV('Est',4,11);">Est 4:11</a>).
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<br><br><b>corrupt</b>—deceitful.
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<br><br><b>till the time be changed</b>—till a new state of things arrive, either by my ceasing to trouble myself about the dream, or by a change of government (which perhaps the agitation caused by the dream made Nebuchadnezzar to forebode, and so to suspect the Chaldeans of plotting).
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<br><br><b>tell...dream, and I shall know...ye can show...interpretation</b>—If ye cannot tell the past, a dream actually presented to me, how can ye know, and show, the future events prefigured in it?
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<p id="Da2_10"><b>10. There is not a man...that can show</b>—God makes the heathen out of their own mouth, condemn their impotent pretensions to supernatural knowledge, in order to bring out in brighter contrast His power to reveal secrets to His servants, though but "men upon the earth" (compare <a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,22,23);">Dan 2:22-23</a>).
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<br><br><b>therefore,</b> etc.—that is, If such things could be done by men, other absolute princes would have required them from their magicians; as they have not, it is proof such things cannot be done and cannot be reasonably asked from us.
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<p id="Da2_11"><b>11. gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh</b>—answering to "no man <i>upon the earth</i>"; for there were, in their belief, "men <i>in heaven,</i>" namely, men deified; for example, Nimrod. The <i>supreme</i> gods are referred to here, who alone, in the Chaldean view, could solve the difficulty, but who do not communicate with men. The <i>inferior</i> gods, intermediate between men and the supreme gods, are unable to solve it. Contrast with this heathen idea of the utter severance of God from man, <a onclick="return mV('Jhn',1,14);">Jhn 1:14</a>, "The Word was made <i>flesh,</i> and <i>dwelt</i> among us"; Daniel was in this case made His representative.
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<p id="Da2_12"><b>12, 13.</b> Daniel and his companions do not seem to have been actually numbered among the Magi or Chaldeans, and so were not summoned before the king. Providence ordered it so that all mere human wisdom should be shown vain before His divine power, through His servant, was put forth. <a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,24);">Dan 2:24</a> shows that the decree for slaying the wise men had not been actually executed when Daniel interposed.
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<p id="Da2_14"><b>14. captain of the king's guard</b>—commanding the executioners (<i>Margin;</i> and <a onclick="return mV('Gen',37,36);">Gen 37:36</a>, <i>Margin</i>).
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<p id="Da2_15"><b>15. Why is the decree so hasty</b>—Why were not all of us consulted before the decree for the execution of all was issued?
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<br><br><b>the thing</b>—the agitation of the king as to his dream, and his abortive consultation of the Chaldeans. It is plain from this that Daniel was till now ignorant of the whole matter.
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<p id="Da2_16"><b>16. Daniel went in</b>—perhaps not in person, but by the mediation of some courtier who had access to the king. His first direct interview seems to have been <a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,25);">Dan 2:25</a> [BARNES].
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<br><br><b>time</b>—The king granted "time" to Daniel, though he would not do so to the Chaldeans because they betrayed their lying purpose by requiring him to tell the dream, which Daniel did not. Providence doubtless influenced his mind, already favorable (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',1,19,20);">Dan 1:19-20</a>), to show special favor to Daniel.
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<p id="Da2_17"><b>17.</b> Here appears the reason why Daniel sought "time" (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,16,17);">Dan 2:16-17</a>), namely he wished to engage his friends to join him in prayer to God to reveal the dream to him.
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<p id="Da2_18"><b>18.</b> An illustration of the power of united prayer (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',18,19);">Mat 18:19</a>). The same instrumentality rescued Peter from his peril (<a onclick="return mV('Act',12,'5-12');">Act 12:5-12</a>).
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<p id="Da2_19"><b>19. revealed...in...night vision</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Job',33,15,16);">Job 33:15-16</a>).
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<p id="Da2_20"><b>20. answered</b>—responded to God's goodness by praises.
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<br><br><b>name of God</b>—<i>God in His revelation of Himself</i> by acts of love, "wisdom, and might" (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',32,19);">Jer 32:19</a>).
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<p id="Da2_21"><b>21. changeth...times...seasons</b>—"He herein gives a general preparatory intimation, that the dream of Nebuchadnezzar is concerning the changes and successions of kingdoms" [JEROME]. The "times" are the <i>phases</i> and periods of <i>duration</i> of empires (compare <a onclick="return mV('Dan',7,25);">Dan 7:25</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Ch',12,32);">1Ch 12:32</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Ch',29,30);">29:30</a>); the "seasons" the <i>fitting</i> times for their culmination, decline, and fall (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',3,1);">Ecc 3:1</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Act',1,7);">Act 1:7</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Th',5,1);">1Th 5:1</a>). The vicissitudes of states, with their times and seasons, are not regulated by chance or fate, as the heathen thought, but by God.
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<br><br><b>removed kings</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Job',12,18);">Job 12:18</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',75,6,7);">Psa 75:6-7</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',27,5);">Jer 27:5</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('1Sa',2,7,8);">1Sa 2:7-8</a>).
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<br><br><b>giveth wisdom</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('1Ki',3,'9-12');">1Ki 3:9-12</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jam',1,5);">Jam 1:5</a>).
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<p id="Da2_22"><b>22. revealeth</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Job',12,22);">Job 12:22</a>). So spiritually (<a onclick="return mV('Eph',1,17,18);">Eph 1:17-18</a>).
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<br><br><b>knoweth what is in...darkness</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',139,11,12);">Psa 139:11-12</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',4,13);">Hbr 4:13</a>).
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<br><br><b>light...him</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Jam',1,17);">Jam 1:17</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Jo',1,4);">1Jo 1:4</a>). <i>Apocalypse</i> (or "revelation") signifies a divine, <i>prophecy</i> a human, activity. Compare <a onclick="return mV('1Cr',14,6);">1Cr 14:6</a>, where the two are distinguished. The prophet is connected with the outer world, addressing to the congregation the words with which the Spirit of God supplies him; he <i>speaks</i> in the Spirit, but the apocalyptic seer is in the Spirit in his whole person (<a onclick="return mV('Rev',1,10);">Rev 1:10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',4,2);">4:2</a>). The form of the apocalyptic revelation (the very term meaning that the <i>veil</i> that hides the invisible world is <i>taken off</i>) is subjectively either the <i>dream,</i> or, higher, the <i>vision.</i> The interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream was a preparatory education to Daniel himself. By gradual steps, each revelation preparing him for the succeeding one, God fitted him for disclosures becoming more and more special. In the second and fourth chapters he is but an interpreter of Nebuchadnezzar's dreams; then he has a dream himself, but it is only a vision in a dream of the night (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',7,1,2);">Dan 7:1-2</a>); then follows a vision in a waking state (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',8,'1-3');">Dan 8:1-3</a>); lastly, in the two final revelations (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',9,20);">Dan 9:20</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Dan',10,4,5);">10:4-5</a>) the ecstatic state is no longer needed. The progression in the <i>form</i> answers to the progression in the <i>contents</i> of his prophecy; at first general <i>outlines,</i> and these afterwards filled up with minute chronological and historical <i>details,</i> such as are not found in the Revelation of John, though, as became the New Testament, the form of revelation is the highest, namely, clear waking visions [AUBERLEN].
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<p id="Da2_23"><b>23. thee...thee</b>—He ascribes all the glory to God.
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<br><br><b>God of my fathers</b>—Thou hast shown Thyself the same God of grace to me, a captive exile, as Thou didst to Israel of old and this on account of the <i>covenant</i> made with our "fathers" (<a onclick="return mV('Luk',1,54,55);">Luk 1:54-55</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('Psa',106,45);">Psa 106:45</a>).
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<br><br><b>given me wisdom and might</b>—Thou being the fountain of both; referring to <a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,20);">Dan 2:20</a>. Whatever <i>wise ability</i> I have to stay the execution of the king's cruel decree, is Thy gift.
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<br><br><b>me...we...us</b>—The revelation was given to Daniel, as "me" implies; yet with just modesty he joins his friends with him; because it was to their joint prayers, and not to his individually, that he owed the revelation from God.
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<br><br><b>known...the king's matter</b>—the very words in which the Chaldeans had denied the <i>possibility of any man on earth</i> telling the dream ("not a man upon the earth can show <i>the king's matter,</i>" <a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,10);">Dan 2:10</a>). Impostors are compelled by the God of truth to eat up their own words.
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<p id="Da2_24"><b>24. Therefore</b>—because of having received the divine communication.
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<br><br><b>bring me in before the king</b>—implying that he had not previously been in person before the king (see on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Dan/Dan002.html#Da2_16">Dan 2:16</a>).
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<p id="Da2_25"><b>25. I have found a man</b>—Like all courtiers, in announcing agreeable tidings, he ascribes the merit of the discovery to himself [JEROME]. So far from it being a discrepancy, that he says nothing of the previous understanding between him and Daniel, or of Daniel's application to the king (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,15,16);">Dan 2:15-16</a>), it is just what we should expect. Arioch would not dare to tell an absolute despot that he had stayed the execution of his sanguinary decree, on his own responsibility; but would, in the first instance, secretly stay it until Daniel had got, by application from the king, the time required, without Arioch seeming to know of Daniel's application as the cause of the respite; then, when Daniel had received the revelation, Arioch would in trembling haste bring him in, as if then for the first time he had "found" him. The very difficulty when cleared up is a proof of genuineness, as it never would be <i>introduced</i> by a forger.
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<p id="Da2_27"><b>27. cannot</b>—Daniel, being learned in all the lore of the Chaldeans (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',1,4);">Dan 1:4</a>), could authoritatively declare the <i>impossibility</i> of mere man solving the king's difficulty.
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<br><br><b>soothsayers</b>—from a root, "to cut off"; referring to their <i>cutting</i> the heavens into divisions, and so guessing at men's destinies from the place of the stars at one's birth.
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<p id="Da2_28"><b>28. God</b>—in contrast to "the wise men," etc. (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,27);">Dan 2:27</a>).
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<br><br><b>revealeth secrets</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Amo',3,7);">Amo 3:7</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Amo',4,13);">4:13</a>). Compare <a onclick="return mV('Gen',41,45);">Gen 41:45</a>, <i>Zaphnath-paaneah,</i> "revealer of secrets," the title given to Joseph.
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<br><br><b>the latter days</b>—literally, "in the after days" (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,29);">Dan 2:29</a>); "hereafter" (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',49,1);">Gen 49:1</a>): It refers to the whole future, including the Messianic days, which is the final dispensation (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',2,2);">Isa 2:2</a>).
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<br><br><b>visions of thy head</b>—conceptions formed in the brain.
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<p id="Da2_29"><b>29.</b> God met with a revelation Nebuchadnezzar, who had been meditating on the future destiny of his vast empire.
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<p id="Da2_30"><b>30. not...for any wisdom that I have</b>—not <i>on account</i> of any previous wisdom which I may have manifested (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',1,17, 20);">Dan 1:17, 20</a>). The specially-favored servants of God in all ages disclaim merit in themselves and ascribe all to the grace and power of God (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',41,16);">Gen 41:16</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Act',3,12);">Act 3:12</a>). The "as for me," disclaiming extraordinary merit, contrasts elegantly with "as for thee," whereby Daniel courteously, but without flattery, implies, that God honored Nebuchadnezzar, as His vicegerent over the world kingdoms, with a revelation on the subject uppermost in his thoughts, the ultimate destinies of those kingdoms.
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<br><br><b>for their sakes that shall make known,</b> etc.—a <i>Chaldee</i> idiom for, "to the intent that the interpretation may be made known to the king."
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<br><br><b>the thoughts of thy heart</b>—thy subject of thought before falling asleep. Or, perhaps the <i>probation of Nebuchadnezzar's character</i> through this revelation may be the meaning intended (compare <a onclick="return mV('2Ch',32,31);">2Ch 32:31</a> <a onclick="return mV('Luk',2,35);">Luk 2:35</a>).
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<p id="Da2_31"><b>31.</b> The world power in its totality appears as a colossal human form: Babylon the head of gold, Medo-Persia the breast and <i>two</i> arms of silver, Graeco-Macedonia the belly and <i>two</i> thighs of brass, and Rome, with its Germano-Slavonic offshoots, the legs of iron and feet of iron and clay, the fourth still existing. Those kingdoms only are mentioned which stand in some relation to the kingdom of God; of these none is left out; the final establishment of that kingdom is the aim of His moral government of the world. The colossus of metal stands on weak feet, of clay. All man's glory is as ephemeral and worthless as chaff (compare <a onclick="return mV('1Pe',1,24);">1Pe 1:24</a>). But the kingdom of God, small and unheeded as a "stone" on the ground is compact in its homogeneous unity; whereas the world power, in its heterogeneous constituents successively supplanting one another, contains the elements of decay. The relation of the stone to the mountain is that of the kingdom of the cross (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',16,23);">Mat 16:23</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Luk',24,26);">Luk 24:26</a>) to the kingdom of glory, the latter beginning, and the former ending when the kingdom of God breaks in pieces the kingdoms of the world (<a onclick="return mV('Rev',11,15);">Rev 11:15</a>). Christ's contrast between the two kingdoms refers to this passage.
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<br><br><b>a great image</b>—literally, "<i>one</i> image that was great." Though the kingdoms were different, it was essentially <i>one</i> and the same world power under different phases, just as the image was <i>one,</i> though the parts were of different metals.
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<p id="Da2_32"><b>32.</b> On ancient coins states are often represented by human figures. The head and higher parts signify the earlier times; the lower, the later times. The metals become successively baser and baser, implying the growing degeneracy from worse to worse. Hesiod, two hundred years before Daniel, had compared the four ages to the four metals in the same order; the idea is sanctioned here by Holy Writ. It was perhaps one of those fragments of revelation among the heathen derived from the tradition as to the fall of man. The metals lessen in <i>specific gravity,</i> as they downwards; silver is not so heavy as gold, brass not so heavy as silver, and iron not so heavy as brass, the <i>weight</i> thus being arranged in the reverse of stability [TREGELLES]. Nebuchadnezzar derived his authority from God, not from man, nor as responsible to man. But the Persian king was so far dependent on others that he could not deliver Daniel from the princes (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',6,14,15);">Dan 6:14-15</a>); contrast <a onclick="return mV('Dan',5,18,19);">Dan 5:18-19</a>, as to Nebuchadnezzar's power from God, whom he would he slew, and whom he would he kept alive" (compare <a onclick="return mV('Ezr',7,14);">Ezr 7:14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Est',1,'13-16');">Est 1:13-16</a>). Graeco-Macedonia betrays its deterioration in its divisions, not united as Babylon and Persia. Iron is stronger than brass, but inferior in other respects; so Rome hardy and strong to tread down the nations, but less kingly and showing its chief deterioration in its last state. Each successive kingdom incorporates its predecessor (compare <a onclick="return mV('Dan',5,28);">Dan 5:28</a>). Power that in Nebuchadnezzar's hands was a God-derived (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,37,38);">Dan 2:37-38</a>) autocracy, in the Persian king's was a rule resting on his nobility of person and birth, the nobles being his equals in rank, but not in office; in Greece, an aristocracy not of birth, but individual influence, in Rome, lowest of all, dependent entirely on popular choice, the emperor being appointed by popular military election.
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<p id="Da2_33"><b>33.</b> As the two arms of silver denote the kings of the Medes and Persians [JOSEPHUS]; and the two thighs of brass the Seleucidae of Syria and Lagidae of Egypt, the two leading sections into which Graeco-Macedonia parted, so the two legs of iron signify the two Roman consuls [NEWTON]. The clay, in <a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,41);">Dan 2:41</a>, "potter's clay," <a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,43);">Dan 2:43</a>, "miry clay," means "earthenware," hard but brittle (compare <a onclick="return mV('Psa',2,9);">Psa 2:9</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',2,27);">Rev 2:27</a>, where the same image is used of the same event); the feet are stable while bearing only direct pressure, but easily "broken" to pieces by a blow (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,34);">Dan 2:34</a>), the iron intermixed not retarding, but hastening, such a result.
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<p id="Da2_34"><b>34. stone</b>—Messiah and His kingdom (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',49,24);">Gen 49:24</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',118,22);">Psa 118:22</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',28,16);">Isa 28:16</a>). In its relations to Israel, it is a "stone of stumbling" (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',8,14);">Isa 8:14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Act',4,11);">Act 4:11</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Pe',2,7,8);">1Pe 2:7-8</a>) on which both houses of Israel are broken, not destroyed (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',21,32);">Mat 21:32</a>). In its relation to the Church, the same stone which destroys the image is the foundation of the Church (<a onclick="return mV('Eph',2,20);">Eph 2:20</a>). In its relation to the Gentile world power, the stone is its destroyer (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,35,44);">Dan 2:35, 44</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('Zec',12,3);">Zec 12:3</a>). Christ saith (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',21,44);">Mat 21:44</a>, referring to <a onclick="return mV('Isa',8,14,15);">Isa 8:14-15</a>), "Whosoever shall fall on this stone (that is, stumble, and be offended, at Him, as the Jews were, from whom, therefore, He says, 'The kingdom shall be taken') shall be <i>broken;</i> but (referring to <a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,34,35);">Dan 2:34-35</a>) on whomsoever it shall fall (referring to <i>the world power</i> which had been the instrument of <i>breaking</i> the Jews), it will (not merely <i>break,</i> but) <i>grind him to powder</i>" (<a onclick="return mV('1Cr',15,24);">1Cr 15:24</a>). The falling of the stone of the feet of the image cannot refer to Christ at His first advent, for the fourth kingdom was not then as yet divided—no toes were in existence (see on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Dan/Dan002.html#Da2_44">Dan 2:44</a>).
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<br><br><b>cut out</b>—namely, from "the mountain" (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,45);">Dan 2:45</a>); namely, Mount Zion (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',2,2);">Isa 2:2</a>), and antitypically, the heavenly mount of the Father's glory, from whom Christ came.
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<br><br><b>without hands</b>—explained in <a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,44);">Dan 2:44</a>, "The <i>God of heaven</i> shall set up a kingdom," as contrasted with the image which was made <i>with hands</i> of man. Messiah not created by human agency, but conceived by the Holy Ghost (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',1,20);">Mat 1:20</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Luk',1,35);">Luk 1:35</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('Zec',4,6);">Zec 4:6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mar',14,58);">Mar 14:58</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',9,11);">Hbr 9:11, 24</a>). So "not made with hands," that is, <i>heavenly,</i> <a onclick="return mV('2Cr',5,1);">2Cr 5:1</a>; <i>spiritual,</i> <a onclick="return mV('Col',2,11);">Col 2:11</a>. The world kingdoms were reared by <i>human</i> ambition: but this is the "kingdom of <i>heaven</i>"; "not of this world" (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',18,36);">Jhn 18:36</a>). As the fourth kingdom, or Rome, was represented in a twofold state, first strong, with legs of iron, then weak, with toes part of iron, part of clay; so this fifth kingdom, that of Christ, is seen conversely, first insignificant as a "stone," then as a "mountain" filling the whole earth. The ten toes are the ten lesser kingdoms into which the Roman kingdom was finally to be divided; this tenfold division here hinted at is not specified in detail till the seventh chapter. The fourth empire originally was bounded in Europe pretty nearly by the line of the Rhine and Danube; in Asia by the Euphrates. In Africa it possessed Egypt and the north coasts; South Britain and Dacia were afterwards added but were ultimately resigned. The ten kingdoms do not arise until a deterioration (by mixing clay with the iron) has taken place; they are in existence when Christ comes in glory, and then are broken in pieces. The ten have been sought for in the invading hosts of the fifth and sixth century. But though many provinces were then severed from Rome as independent kingdoms, the dignity of emperor still continued, and the imperial power was exercised over Rome itself for two centuries. So the tenfold divisions cannot be looked for before A.D. 731. But the East is not to be excluded, five toes being on each foot. Thus no point of time before the overthrow of the empire at the taking of Constantinople by the Turks (A.D. 1453) can be assigned for the division. It seems, therefore, that the definite ten will be the ultimate development of the Roman empire just before the rise of Antichrist, who shall overthrow three of the kings, and, after three and a half years, he himself be overthrown by Christ in person. Some of the ten kingdoms will, doubtless, be the same as some past and present divisions of the old Roman empire, which accounts for the <i>continuity</i> of the connection between the toes and legs, a gap of centuries not being interposed, as is objected by opponents of the futurist theory. The lists of the ten made by the latter differ from one another; and they are set aside by the fact that they include countries which were never Roman, and exclude one whole section of the empire, namely, the East [TREGELLES].
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<br><br><b>upon his feet</b>—the last state of the Roman empire. Not "upon his <i>legs.</i>" Compare "in the days of these kings" (see on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Dan/Dan002.html#Da2_44">Dan 2:44</a>).
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<p id="Da2_35"><b>35. broken...together</b>—excluding a contemporaneous existence of the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God (in its <i>manifested,</i> as distinguished from its <i>spiritual,</i> phase). The latter is not gradually to wear away the former, but to destroy it at once, and utterly (<a onclick="return mV('2Th',1,'7-10');">2Th 1:7-10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Th',2,8);">2:8</a>). However, the <i>Hebrew</i> may be translated, "in one discriminate mass."
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<br><br><b>chaff</b>—image of the ungodly, as they shall be dealt with in the judgment (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',1,4,5);">Psa 1:4-5</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mat',3,12);">Mat 3:12</a>).
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<br><br><b>summer threshing-floors</b>—Grain was winnowed in the East on an elevated space in the open air, by throwing the grain into the air with a shovel, so that the wind might clear away the chaff.
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<br><br><b>no place...found for them</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Rev',20,11);">Rev 20:11</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('Psa',37,10,36);">Psa 37:10, 36</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',103,16);">103:16</a>).
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<br><br><b>became...mountain</b>—cut out of the mountain (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,45);">Dan 2:45</a>) originally, it ends in <i>becoming a mountain.</i> So the kingdom of God, coming from heaven originally, ends in heaven being established on earth (<a onclick="return mV('Rev',21,'1-3');">Rev 21:1-3</a>).
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<br><br><b>filled...earth</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',11,9);">Isa 11:9</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hab',2,14);">Hab 2:14</a>). It is to do so in connection with Jerusalem as the mother Church (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',80,9);">Psa 80:9</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',2,2,3);">Isa 2:2-3</a>).
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<p id="Da2_36"><b>36. we</b>—Daniel and his three friends.
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<p id="Da2_37"><b>37. Thou...art a king of kings</b>—The committal of power in fullest plenitude belongs to Nebuchadnezzar personally, as having made Babylon the mighty empire it was. In twenty-three years after him the empire was ended: with him its greatness is identified (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',4,30);">Dan 4:30</a>), his successors having done nothing notable. Not that he actually ruled every part of the globe, but that God granted him illimitable dominion <i>in whatever direction his ambition led him,</i> Egypt, Nineveh, Arabia, Syria, Tyre, and its Phoenician colonies (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',27,'5-8');">Jer 27:5-8</a>). Compare as to Cyrus, <a onclick="return mV('Ezr',1,2);">Ezr 1:2</a>.
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<p id="Da2_38"><b>38. men...beasts...fowls</b>—the dominion originally designed for man (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',1,28);">Gen 1:28</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Gen',2,19,20);">2:19, 20</a>), forfeited by sin; temporarily delegated to Nebuchadnezzar and the world powers; but, as they abuse the trust for self, instead of for God, to be taken from them by the Son of man, who will exercise it for God, restoring in His person to man the lost inheritance (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',8,'4-6');">Psa 8:4-6</a>).
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<br><br><b>Thou art...head of gold</b>—alluding to the riches of Babylon, hence called "the golden city" (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',14,4);">Isa 14:4</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',51,7);">Jer 51:7</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',18,16);">Rev 18:16</a>).
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<p id="Da2_39"><b>39.</b> That Medo-Persia is the second kingdom appears from <a onclick="return mV('Dan',5,28);">Dan 5:28</a>. Compare <a onclick="return mV('2Ch',36,20);">2Ch 36:20</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',21,2);">Isa 21:2</a>.
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<br><br><b>inferior</b>—"The kings of Persia were the worst race of men that ever governed an empire" [PRIDEAUX]. Politically (which is the main point of view here) the power of the central government in which the nobles shared with the king, being weakened by the growing independence of the provinces, was inferior to that of Nebuchadnezzar, whose sole word was law throughout his empire.
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<br><br><b>brass</b>—The Greeks (the third empire, <a onclick="return mV('Dan',8,21);">Dan 8:21</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Dan',10,20);">10:20</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Dan',11,'2-4');">11:2-4</a>) were celebrated for the <i>brazen</i> armor of their warriors. JEROME fancifully thinks that the brass, as being a <i>clear-sounding</i> metal, refers to the <i>eloquence</i> for which Greece was famed. The "belly," in <a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,32);">Dan 2:32</a>, may refer to the drunkenness of Alexander and the luxury of the Ptolemies [TIRINUS].
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<br><br><b>over all the earth</b>—Alexander commanded that he should be called "king of all the world" [JUSTIN, 12. sec. 16.9; ARRIAN, <i>Campaigns of Alexander,</i> 7. sec. 15]. The four successors (<i>diadochi</i>) who divided Alexander's dominions at his death, of whom the Seleucidae in Syria and the Lagidae in Egypt were chief, held the same empire.
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<p id="Da2_40"><b>40. iron</b>—This vision sets forth the <i>character</i> of the Roman power, rather than its territorial extent [TREGELLES].
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<br><br><b>breaketh in pieces</b>—So, in righteous retribution, itself will at last be <i>broken in pieces</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,44);">Dan 2:44</a>) by the kingdom of God (<a onclick="return mV('Rev',13,10);">Rev 13:10</a>).
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<p id="Da2_41"><b>41-43. feet...toes...part...clay...iron</b>—explained presently, "the kingdom shall be partly strong, partly broken" (rather, "brittle," as earthenware); and <a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,43);">Dan 2:43</a>, "they shall mingle...with the seed of men," that is, there will be power (in its deteriorated form, <i>iron</i>) mixed up with that which is wholly of man, and therefore brittle; power in the hands of the people having no internal stability, though something is left of the strength of the iron [TREGELLES]. NEWTON, who understands the Roman empire to be parted into the ten kingdoms already (whereas TREGELLES makes them <i>future</i>), explains the "clay" mixture as the blending of barbarous nations with Rome by intermarriages and alliances, in which there was no stable amalgamation, though the ten kingdoms retained much of Rome's strength. The "mingling with the seed of men" (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,44);">Dan 2:44</a>) seems to refer to <a onclick="return mV('Gen',6,2);">Gen 6:2</a>, where the marriages of the seed of godly Seth with the daughters of ungodly Cain are described in similar words. The reference, therefore, seems to be to the blending of the Christianized Roman empire with the pagan nations, a deterioration being the result. Efforts have been often made to reunite the parts into one great empire, as by Charlemagne and Napoleon, but in vain. Christ alone shall effect that.
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<p id="Da2_44"><b>44. in the days of these kings</b>—in the days of these kingdoms, that is, of the last of the four. So Christianity was set up when Rome had become mistress of Judea and the world (<a onclick="return mV('Luk',2,1);">Luk 2:1</a>, etc.) [NEWTON]. Rather, "in the days of these kings," answers to "upon his feet" (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,34);">Dan 2:34</a>); that is, the ten <i>toes</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,42);">Dan 2:42</a>), or ten kings, the final state of the Roman empire. For "these kings" cannot mean the four successional monarchies, as they do not <i>coexist</i> as the holders of power; if the fourth had been meant, the <i>singular,</i> not the <i>plural,</i> would be used. The falling of the stone on the image must mean, <i>destroying judgment</i> on the fourth Gentile power, not gradual evangelization of it by grace; and the destroying judgment cannot be dealt by Christians, for they are taught to submit to the powers that be, so that it must be dealt by Christ Himself at His coming again. We live under the divisions of the Roman empire which began fourteen hundred years ago, and which at the time of His coming shall be definitely <i>ten.</i> All that had failed in the hand of man shall then pass away, and that which is kept in His own hand shall be introduced. Thus the second chapter is the alphabet of the subsequent prophetic statements in Daniel [TREGELLES].
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<br><br><b>God of heaven...kingdom</b>—hence the phrase, "the kingdom of heaven" (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',3,2);">Mat 3:2</a>).
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<br><br><b>not...left to other people</b>—as the Chaldees had been forced to leave their kingdom to the Medo-Persians, and these to the Greeks, and these to the Romans (<a onclick="return mV('Mic',4,7);">Mic 4:7</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Luk',1,32,33);">Luk 1:32-33</a>).
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<br><br><b>break...all</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',60,12);">Isa 60:12</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Cr',15,24);">1Cr 15:24</a>).
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<p id="Da2_45"><b>45. without hands</b>— (See on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Dan/Dan002.html#Da2_35">Dan 2:35</a>).
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<p id="Da2_46"><b>46. fell upon...face, and worshipped Daniel</b>—worshipping God in the person of Daniel. Symbolical of the future prostration of the world power before Messiah and His kingdom (<a onclick="return mV('Phl',2,10);">Phl 2:10</a>). As other servants of God refused such honors (<a onclick="return mV('Act',10,25,26);">Act 10:25-26</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Act',14,'13-15');">14:13-15</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',22,8);">Rev 22:8-9</a>) would not taste defiled food, nor give up prayer to God at the cost of his life (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',6,7,10);">Dan 6:7, 10</a>), it seems likely that Daniel rejected the proffered divine honors. The word "answered" (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,47);">Dan 2:47</a>) implies that Daniel had objected to these honors; and in compliance with his objection, "the king <i>answered,</i> Of a truth, your God is a God of gods." Daniel had disclaimed all personal merit in <a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,30);">Dan 2:30</a>, giving God all the glory (compare <a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,45);">Dan 2:45</a>).
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<br><br><b>commanded...sweet odours</b>—divine honors (<a onclick="return mV('Ezr',6,10);">Ezr 6:10</a>). It is not said his command was executed.
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<p id="Da2_47"><b>47. Lord of kings</b>—The world power shall at last have to acknowledge this (<a onclick="return mV('Rev',17,14);">Rev 17:14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',19,16);">19:16</a>); even as Nebuchadnezzar, who had been the God-appointed "king of kings" (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,37);">Dan 2:37</a>), but who had abused the trust, is constrained by God's servant to acknowledge that God is the true "Lord of kings."
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<p id="Da2_48"><b>48.</b> One reason for Nebuchadnezzar having been vouchsafed such a dream is here seen; namely, that Daniel might be promoted, and the captive people of God be comforted: the independent state of the captives during the exile and the alleviation of its hardships, were much due to Daniel.
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<p id="Da2_49"><b>49. Daniel requested</b>—Contrast this honorable remembrance of his humble friends in his elevation with the spirit of the children of the world in the chief butler's case (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',40,23);">Gen 40:23</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',9,15,16);">Ecc 9:15-16</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Amo',6,6);">Amo 6:6</a>).
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<br><br><b>in the gate</b>—the place of holding courts of justice and levees in the East (<a onclick="return mV('Est',2,19);">Est 2:19</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',29,7);">Job 29:7</a>). So "the Sublime <i>Porte,</i>" or "Gate," denotes the sultan's government, his counsels being formerly held in the entrance of his palace. Daniel was a chief counsellor of the king, and president over the governors of the different orders into which the Magi were divided.
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