Dani’el’s Interpretations of Dreams
2:1 to 4:27
ADONAI begins to reveal to Dani’el the initial revelation regarding the Times of the Gentiles (see Ao – The Times of the Gentiles). He provides an initial overview of the four empires that will govern this period. As the book progresses, God’s revelation becomes increasingly specific, reaching their climax in Chapter 12.
Only ADONAI’s wisdom can reveal the mysteries of life. In other words, it was not the content of the dream of the future that is primary, what is most important here is the fact that it was only Dani’el’s God that knew the future. And the LORD’s knowledge of the future was particularly important to the Israelites in exile and under some measure of oppression, because it implied that He controls history. Once again, therefore, we are reminded of the overall theme of this book. In spite of present appearances, God is in control. As we read Dani’el’s interpretations of dreams Genesis 41 comes quickly to mind. In Genesis, a pagan king, the Egyptian pharaoh, has an anxiety-producing dream (concerning seven lean and fat cows). When the wise men of Egypt couldn’t interpret the dream for him, his cupbearer (paralleling the role of Arioch in Dani’el Chapter 2) helps him discover a dream-interpreter, who turns out to be the imprisoned Joseph. Through God’s help, Joseph reveals the interpretation of the dream to pharaoh, resulting in his rise in status in the foreign court. Thus, we see that Dani’el is like Joseph, perhaps even a little better than Joseph, since he not only interprets the dream but, with ADONAI’s help, actually tells the king the contents of his dreams (to see link click Ax – Dani’el Interprets the King’s Dream) and (Bu – Dani’el’s Interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream).38
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