Dani’el Interprets the King’s Dream
2: 36-45
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.
This far eschatological prophecy provides the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. This passage covers the first of several revelations concerning the times of the Gentiles in Dani’el. As a reminder, this period began with the Babylonian Captivity (see the commentary on Jeremiah Gu – Seventy Years of Imperial Babylonian Rule), and will continue until the return of the Messiah at the end of the Great Tribulation. During this time, the Gentiles have had, and will continue to have, domination over the Jewish people. Four Gentile empires will rule the world. Then, a stone will destroy the last of them and will turn into a mountain of global significance (see Bg – The Fifth Empire: The Messianic Kingdom).
In Chapter 7, Dani’el elaborated on the four Gentile Empires that were seen in the statue of Chapter 2. We can compare these chapters in three ways. First, they are visionary. In Chapter 2 the visionary was a pagan king, Nebuchadnezzar, but in Chapter 7 the visionary was Dani’el himself. Secondly, we can compare the interpreters. Dani’el was the interpreter in Chapter 2, but an angel was the interpreter in Chapter 7. Thirdly, we can compare the two perspectives. Dani’el 2 gives us the perspective of the times of the Gentiles from a human viewpoint as something majestic, but Dani’el 7 gives us the perspective from God’s viewpoint as something dreadful. There were four empires, pictured as four beasts.
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