The Moment of Truth
Daniel 2:31-35 You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
This was the moment of truth. This either was the dream or it wasn’t. If not, nothing else Daniel said would have mattered. The king had demanded that the wise men tell him what his dream was. If they could correctly relate the dream to the king, the king would take this as a sign that the interpretation that followed was trustworthy. “Tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can shew me the interpretation thereof.” (Daniel 2:9). Failure to tell the dream correctly meant certain death. And so, when Daniel began to relate the dream to Nebuchandezzar you can bet that everyone present (especially the wise men) were holding their breath to see how the king would react. But there was no hesitation on the part of Daniel.
Babylon: The Head of Gold
Daniel 2:36-38 This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all-you are this head of gold.
Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold. But it was the Babylonian kingdom as a whole and not Nebuchadnezzar alone that was so signified, as Daniel quickly makes it clear that he is speaking of empires, not individuals. As the head and representative of the kingdom, Nebuchadnezzar here stands in symbol for the kingdom itself.
Now the use of gold as a symbol of Babylon is significant. The choice was not a random one. Speaking of Babylon, the prophet Jeremiah says, “Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand.” (Jeremiah 51:7). Under Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon was the recognized intellectual capital of the world. Babylon became the center of wealth and power. If any single metal could be used to symbolize Babylon it would be gold. All the great wealth of gold collected by king Solomon had, by one route or another, by the time of Nebuchadnezzar, made its way to city of Babylon. When Herodotus, the ancient historian visited Babylon almost a hundred years after its fall, even at that late date he found temples, alters, shrines — all plated with gold. But Daniel continues:
Medo-Persia: The Chest and Arms of Silver
Daniel 2:39 But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours.
Babylon was not to last forever. A new world power was to make its mark on the pages of history. The Medo-Persians who ultimately conquered Babylon came from the east – a little detail concerning the conquest of Babylon that has typological significance in Revelation.
The Medo-Persian armies had swept through the land conquering all in their path until the city of Babylon alone stood against them. And so, Cyrus, commander of the Medo-Persian armies laid siege to Babylon.
An Unconquerable City
The Babylonians gathered within what they truly believed to be impregnable walls (as impregnable it proved, as the Titanic was unsinkable) with (historians tell us) provisions that potentially could have lasted them for 20 years, and with the ability to grow more food within the walls should that be needed. Archaeologists tell us that the walls of Babylon were so broad that a chariot with a team of four horses could be driven down it. If you have ever seen the movie Ben Hur you have some idea of what a four-horse chariot team looks like. More than that, the Euphrates River flowed under that wall, providing the city with an unlimited supply of water. And so, with an abundance of food, unbreachable walls, and an unlimited supply of water it is no wonder that the Babylonians felt secure.
In fact, the Babylonians were so confident they could outlast the Medo-Persian armies that they decided to throw a party. And humanly speaking they had good reason to feel secure. By any means of warfare then known, that city could not be taken. Never! It was said of the Titanic that God Himself could not sink that ship. Well, we know how that turned out. The Babylonians probably felt much the same way about their city. And history tells us how that turned out too. And indeed, except God had been on their side the Medo-Persians would have been no more able to take Babylon than the Israelites would have been able to take Jericho in their own strength.
Turning Strength into Weakness
Cyrus knew that there was no way he could ever breach those walls, but he had a plan. Cyrus decided to use the city’s own strength against it and make the very cannel of the Euphrates itself his highway into the Babylonian stronghold. Accordingly, he divided his army into three parts. One part he stationed a few miles upstream with orders to divert the river into a new channel. The other two parts of his army were stationed on either side of the city where the river passed under the walls, with orders to enter the channel just as soon as they found the river shallow enough to be fordable, and then to make their way under the walls into the city, and on to the palace — where the Bible tells us — on that very night Belshazzar, king of Babylon, feeling very secure inside those massive walls was holding a drunken feast in praise of his gods. (Daniel 5).
The Cyrus Prophecy
It was a brilliant idea, using the river channel to enter the city; but there was one major flaw in Cyrus’ plan, and if it were not for the direct intervention of God, Cyrus’ plan would have failed. You see, on each side of the river through the entire length of the city, were walls just as formidable as the outer walls of the city. In these walls were massive bronze gates which when opened allowed access to the river – but when closed barred all entrance from the river. If those massive gates had been shut Cyrus’ army might have marched into the city along that riverbed and marched right on through and out the other side for all the good it would have done them. But God had long before taken the matter into His own hands.
Isaiah 45:1 Thus says the LORD to His anointed, To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held-To subdue nations before him and loose the armor of kings, To open before him the double doors, So that the gates will not be shut.
Impressed? You should be. This prophecy was written a good 150 years before Cyrus was even born. Imagine it. Some 150 years before Cyrus was born, some 200 years before the siege of Babylon began, God had already promised Cyrus by name that those gates leading into the city would be open for him. And they were. The Medo-Persian army walked right through those open gates and took the city of Babylon without a fight.
The Lord Reigns
Daniel 2 is not so much about the rise and fall of empires as it is about the power and sovereignty of God over all the nations and kingdoms of the world. As it says in Daniel 4:25 “The Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses.” And again in Acts 17:26 “[God] hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation.”
God is rightly called “the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.” (1 Timothy 6:15). For our God is great enough; and our God is big enough; and our God is strong enough; and our God is smart enough; and our God is wise enough to rule over the nations of the earth – even in this age in which we live. And just what is God up to in all this seeming turmoil of the rise and fall of nations? Verse 27 of Acts 17 tells us: “That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us.”
The Big Picture
What is all the turmoil among the nations all about? The salvation of souls. “That they should seek the Lord.” With our limited understanding, with our limited vision, it all looks so confusing and out of control. And we wonder what good can ever come out of it all. But some day we will see the big picture. And in that day, we will have nothing but glory and praise to give to God for the wonderful work he has done on the earth.
There is a very revealing passage in the book of Deuteronomy concerning this very thing. Take a look at it.
Deuteronomy 32:8 When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.
Note what it says. It says that when God divides the nations, when He sets their boundaries, (the very thing Acts 17:26 speaks of) the one consideration He makes is “the number of the children of Israel.” When you understand Israel in this verse in the greater sense of spiritual Israel this takes on even greater significance for our day. In the rise and fall of nations, the one and only consideration on God’s part is how it will affect His people.
Not by Might, Nor by Power
And so, the Medo-Persian army conquered Babylon. Not by the might of their armies. Not by their spears and swords. Not by their superior cunning, but because God said so. Period.
And just as gold was a fitting symbol for Babylon, silver very rightly represented the Medo-Persian empire. Since by law all taxes had to be paid in silver, the empire grew extremely wealthy in silver. But more than that, just as silver is a stronger metal than gold, the Medo-Persian empire was stronger military power than Babylon ever was, and as a consequence conquered a much larger territory. This too was indicated in the prophecy.
In the King James Bible this kingdom is said to be inferior to Babylon. What Daniel actually said in Aramaic was, “After thee shall arise another kingdom downward from thee, earthward from thee,” While it was to have less concentrated wealth than Babylon it was also to have a more extensive territory.
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