Daniel Chapter 2: Who Really Rules the Kingdoms of Men?

[Rose]

@Rose, this is the study you wanted to begin, and I am glad you did. Take your time and continue whenever you are ready. I will be here to follow along, help where I can, and learn with everyone else.

I'm still here, David. Since I wasn't receiving any new emails, I thought there were no new posts. Glad I came to reread
the posts.

In Daniel 2:46, Why did Daniel allow Nebuchadnezzar to bow down before him and worshiped him, and commanded his people to offer sacrifices and burn sweet incense before him? Can you give a list of parallelism between Daniel and Joseph? What was in the 4th figure that made King Nebuchadnezzar exclaim in Daniel 3:25 that he looked like "a son of the gods"? What is the significance of Daniel's absence in chapter 3?

 

[David]

In Daniel 2:46, Why did Daniel allow Nebuchadnezzar to bow down before him and worshiped him, and commanded his people to offer sacrifices and burn sweet incense before him?

This is assuming that it happened when its not stated in the text. ~Daniel 2: 46 only tells us that Nebuchadnezzar did this. There is nothing that says that Daniel asked him to do this or condoned him doing it.

Daniel 2:46 "Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him." So that's what the king did. Daniel had already deflected the praise from himself. ~Daniel 2: 28 "there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets" and ~Daniel 2:30 "this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living".

We then go on to Daniel's God in the very next verse. ~Daniel 2: 47 "Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret."

The word used for worshipped is segid which means to bow down or prostrate yourself. Its the same word used in Daniel 3 when they worshipped the image. Offering an oblation and sweet odours would have been considered worship as well. So yes the king worshipped Daniel. Nowhere does it say that Daniel accepted this worship as if he was God.

God’s servants have turned down worship as well. When Peter told Cornelius in ~Acts 10: 26 "Stand up; I myself also am a man." And when the angel told John in ~Revelation 19: 10 "See thou do it not... worship God." Daniel showed that he wasn't going to take credit for something that God did.

The Bible doesn't tell us whether Daniel said anything else to the king at that point, so we shouldn't assume that he did.

I wouldn't say that Daniel let himself be worshipped.

 

[David]

I believe that when we look at Daniel 2 there is so much more going on then just trying to figure out what the image represents. Who rules the kingdoms of this world?

We know that Nebuchadnezzar ruled over many lands and was most likely the most powerful man alive at that time. Yet he couldn't decipher his own dream. He asked the wise men, the astrologers, the sorcerers and the Chaldea's to help him. None of them were able to give him the answer he was looking for. All the wisdom of Babylon failed.

Daniel steps in and he doesn't try to show the king how smart he is. He doesn't boast about how he knew something no one else knew. He directs Nebuchadnezzar to God.

~Daniel 2: 28 "there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets"

This is what Daniel wants us to understand throughout this chapter. There were wise men in Babylon. They had power, riches and a king that ruled over them. But there was one thing that they couldn't do. God could reveal secrets that no man could know.

Daniel also states that God "removeth kings, and setteth up kings." ~Daniel 2:21

I feel like this is one of the key verses in this chapter. God is telling Nebuchadnezzar that even kings are subject to Him. Nebuchadnezzar may have been ruling over Babylon but God was ruling over Nebuchadnezzar.

The image in the dream depicts all of these kingdoms that stood tall in their time. But they all fell at some point. Man will continue to build kingdoms that will fall.

Then we learn about the stone that was "cut out without hands". This stone hit the image and became "a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." ~Daniel 2:34-35

Daniel goes on to explain that "the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed... it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." ~Daniel 2:44

I believe that when we study Daniel 2 we should keep this in mind. Yes we can talk about Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. But what about the stone?

All of man's kingdoms will fall one day. Kings will lose their thrones and man will cease to rule. God's kingdom will never fall.

So when I read Daniel 2 I don't just ask myself what the image represents. I ask myself what kingdom am I living for?

Babylon seemed to be invincible at the time. It wasn't.

God's kingdom "shall stand for ever."

 

[David]

Can you give a list of parallelism between Daniel and Joseph?

Yes. Joseph and Daniel have some striking biblical parallels. Scripture never says Daniel was intentionally patterned after Joseph, so I would call these strong similarities rather than make a claim the Bible itself does not make.

• Both were taken from their homeland into a foreign pagan nation.
  Joseph was carried into Egypt after being sold by his brothers (Genesis 37:28, 36). Daniel was taken from Judah to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 1:1-6).
• Both were young men living under pagan rulers while remaining faithful to God.
  Joseph served in Egypt, while Daniel served in Babylon. Neither allowed his surroundings to determine his loyalty to God.
• Both were given foreign names.
  Pharaoh called Joseph Zaphnath-paaneah (Genesis 41:45). Daniel was given the Babylonian name Belteshazzar (Daniel 1:7).
• Both faced pressure to compromise but chose faithfulness.
  Joseph refused Potiphar's wife, saying, “how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9). Daniel “purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself” with the king's provision (Daniel 1:8).
• Both possessed wisdom that was clearly attributed to God.
  Pharaoh said of Joseph, “Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?” (Genesis 41:38). Daniel and his companions were given “knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom” by God (Daniel 1:17).
• Both were used by God to reveal the meaning of dreams.
  Joseph interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh's servants and then Pharaoh himself (Genesis 40-41). Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dreams (Daniel 2; 4).
• Both refused to take personal credit for revelation.
  Joseph told Pharaoh, “It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace” (Genesis 41:16). Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar, “there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets” (Daniel 2:28).
• Both revealed things that the pagan ruler's own wise men could not explain.
  Pharaoh's magicians could not interpret his dreams (Genesis 41:8). Nebuchadnezzar's wise men could not reveal and interpret his dream (Daniel 2:10-11).
• Both were elevated because God gave them wisdom.
  Joseph went from prisoner to ruler under Pharaoh: “thou shalt be over my house” (Genesis 41:40). Daniel was promoted by Nebuchadnezzar and made ruler over the province of Babylon (Daniel 2:48).
• Both were surrounded by jealousy and hostility because of their position.
  Joseph suffered hatred from his brothers before reaching Egypt (Genesis 37:4, 11). Daniel's fellow officials deliberately sought a way to destroy him because of his position (Daniel 6:3-5).
• Both were unjustly placed in a place of confinement or death.
  Joseph was falsely accused and put into prison (Genesis 39:19-20). Daniel was thrown into the lions' den because he continued praying to God (Daniel 6:10-16).
• God was visibly with both of them in their trials.
  Of Joseph Scripture repeatedly says, “the LORD was with Joseph” (Genesis 39:2, 21, 23). Daniel testified that God sent His angel and “shut the lions' mouths” (Daniel 6:22).
• Both emerged from danger and were vindicated.
  Joseph was brought out of prison and placed before Pharaoh (Genesis 41:14). Daniel was brought unharmed out of the lions' den because “he believed in his God” (Daniel 6:23).
• Both were used by God to preserve other people's lives.
  Through Joseph's God-given interpretation and planning, Egypt and surrounding peoples survived the famine (Genesis 41:53-57; 50:20). Through Daniel's prayer and revelation, Daniel and the wise men of Babylon were spared from Nebuchadnezzar's death decree (Daniel 2:12-18, 24).
• Both caused pagan rulers to acknowledge the greatness of the true God.
  Pharaoh recognized that God's Spirit was at work in Joseph (Genesis 41:38-39). Nebuchadnezzar told Daniel, “Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings” (Daniel 2:47). Darius later declared that Daniel's God “is the living God, and stedfast for ever” (Daniel 6:26).
• Both demonstrate God's sovereignty over hostile circumstances.
  Joseph could eventually say, “ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good” (Genesis 50:20). Daniel's entire life likewise shows that earthly kingdoms rise and fall under God's authority: “the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men” (Daniel 4:17).

The strongest parallel may be this: Joseph and Daniel were surrounded by pagan power, yet neither Egypt nor Babylon controlled the outcome. God did. Both men remained faithful, God gave them wisdom, and God used their faithfulness to make His own name known before unbelieving rulers.

 

[David]

What was in the 4th figure that made King Nebuchadnezzar exclaim in Daniel 3:25 that he looked like "a son of the gods"? What is the significance of Daniel's absence in chapter 3?

I will answer this question here: Daniel Chapter 3

 

[Rose]

What are the traditional historical interpretations of the four kingdoms represented by the gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and what evidence supports these identifications? How is it that Daniel can say that Nebuchadnezzar has authority over the earth - Dan. 2:38? How did Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom end? What is meant by "times of the Gentiles?"