Studies in Daniel: Daniel relates the details of Nebuchadnezzar's dream

 

3. Daniel relates the details of the king’s dream (2:31-35).

 

a. Preliminary observations:

v. 31: "You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome.”

 

o   A spectacular and unforgettable image of “extraordinary splendor;” “awesome” (NKJV, NASB); “terrible” (KJV), or “frightening” (ESV). Later this vision served apparently as the model and inspiration for the golden colossus of 3:1.

 

o   Contrast the impressive nature of this image (reflecting the undeniable outward grandeur of human civilization) with the ugly monsters of ch. 7, representing the same four kingdoms (as seen, perhaps, from a more spiritual perspective).

 

b. The substance of the dream (vv. 32-34).

³²"The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, ³³its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. ³⁴"You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them.

 

o   The colossus, representing Gentile world power (vv. 37-43), is a single but composite image; the various elements of the preceding empires are adopted and absorbed by the subsequent ones—representing a cultural continuity; the sinful age of human government (Luke 21:24; “The Times of the Gentiles”).

 

o   The metals are of decreasing value and preciousness—but generally of increasing strength; indicative of decreased political sovereignty combined with an increase in military power.

The Great Colossus representing the Times of the Gentiles (605 BC-???)