Daniel 2:31-35

c. PUBLICATION

TEXT: Daniel 2:31-35

31

Thou, O king, sawest, and, behold, a great image. This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the aspect thereof was terrible.

32

As for this image, its head was of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of brass,

33

its legs of iron, its feet part of iron, and part of clay.

34

Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon its feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them in pieces.

35

Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

QUERIES

a.

Exactly what does the word image mean?

b.

Why all the different metals in one image?

c.

What is the significance of the grinding to dust of the image?

PARAPHRASE

Oh king, you saw in your dream a huge and powerful statue of a man shining brilliantly, frightening and terrible, so fascinating you were unable to take your eyes off what you saw. The head of this statue was made of purest gold, its chest and arms were of silver, its belly and thighs were of bronze, and it had legs of iron with feet part iron and part clay. Then as you watched, a stone was cut out by supernatural means. It came hurtling towards the statue and crushed the feet of iron and clay, grinding them into dust. Then the whole statue collapsed into a heap and the iron, clay, bronze, silver and gold were all ground into dust by the stone and the dust was blown away forever. The stone that struck down the great statue became a great mountain that covered the whole earth.

COMMENT

Daniel 2:31. A GREAT IMAGE. THE ASPECT THEREOF WAS TERRIBLE. The image was a huge statue bearing the resemblance of a man. This dream-statue would undoubtedly appear to Nebuchadnezzar exactly like the statues of Assyrian-Babylonian men discovered by archaeologists. The original language indicates that Nebuchadnezzar was continually staring at this statue, as if transfixed by it. It was brilliant and terrifying.

Daniel 2:32-33. HEAD OF GOLD. BREAST OF SILVER. BELLY. OF BRASS. LEGS OF IRON. FEET. OF IRON AND CLAY. Why all the different meals in one image? We suppose the scarcity of the metals would tend to give the image greater significance. We note the steady descending scale in preciousness of the metals from the head of the image down to its feet. The word translated brass means bronze or copper. One of the things which transfixed the king was the size of this statue. Another fascinating thing about it was its extraordinary splendor. It must have been an imposing sight indeed. As far as can be determined there is no precedent concerning such symbolismtherefore God has given a unique vision to the kingits origin is in divine revelation. We must look for a revealed interpretation, guided by common sense and hermeneutical principals that are in accord with other accepted interpretative principles.

Daniel 2:34-35. A STONE. CUT OUT WITHOUT HANDS. SMOTE THE IMAGE. The dream now becomes a moving picture. Action takes place. A stone (we would suppose a large stone) is detached or cut loose from, we assume, a mountain, and it is cut loose without natural or human aidit must therefore have been cut loose by supernatural aid. We note that stone is an appropriate symbol here for the kingdom of God in both Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament God refers to Himself as the Rock (cf. Deuteronomy 32:15; Psalms 18:2; Psalms 31:2; Psalms 62:2; Isaiah 44:8; Isaiah 51:1) and Christ's deity is referred to as the rock upon which the church is built (Matthew 16:18; cf. also 1 Corinthians 10:4).

The great statue lay directly in the path of the moving stone, The stone struck the statue specifically at the feet which was the most vulnerable part of the whole because they were part iron and part clay. The remainder of the statue was demolished so that the whole thing was utterly destroyed, ground to dust, and blown away with the wind. One might expect the statue to be broken into large portions with such a blow from a large stone, but a very unexpected thing happensit is ground to dust in its entirely and the original language indicates the blowing away was so complete that the dust found no visible resting place. It is important to remember, when we come to the interpretation of the dream, that the entire statue was obliterated when the stone struck it.

The climax is the unusual, supernatural growth of the stone which had struck the image. It grew to such gigantic proportions that it became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.
Leupold observes: So the vision begins with a huge statue; it ends with the largest possible mountain. There is not a superfluous word in Daniel's entire description and account. It is a masterpiece of pithy word painting. This is indeed one of the finest examples of symbolism in Old Testament literature. It is a great aid in understanding the symbolism in other places in the scriptures (Ezekiel, Zechariah, Revelation).

QUIZ

1.

What resemblance would this great image probably bear?

2.

Why an image of different kinds of metals?

3.

What caused the king to be so transfixed by this image?

4.

Why is stone so appropriate here?

5.

What is important about the stone striking the image in its interpretation?

6.

How significant is the symbolism of this dream?