Daniel 2

Daniel 2:24-49

Morris says "The Babylonian empire would continue in power under Nebuchadnezzar and his son Nabonidus, but would be lost under his grandson, Belshazzar, who was serving as co-regent while Nabonidus was out of the capital (see Daniel 5-note)." Will arise - Here we have another example of the truth that God removes kings (Babylon) and establishes kings (Medo-Persia) (Da 2:21-note) Another kingdom inferior - Almost every conservative scholar interprets this kingdom as Medo-Persia. However the best "commentary" is to Compare Scripture with Scripture which clearly identifies this kingdom as Medo-Persia in Da 5:28-note, and Da 8:20-note clealy linking the two branches (Medes and Persians) into a single entity (ram Da 8:3-4-note) which by implication would signify a single kingdom. These observations would refute the interpretations that say the Medes and Persians are two separate kingdoms (second - silver and third - bronze). Inferior (0772)(ara) is "an Aramaic, feminine noun meaning earth. Functioning as an adverb, it also carries the idea of downward, below, or towards the earth." (Baker- Word Study Dictionary: OT) Ara is used twice in Da 2:39, first rendered as "inferior (Lxx = elasson = small, little, lower quality or Lxx [Theodoret] = esson = means of less evaluation, weaker - Mt 20:28) and then as literal "earth (Lxx = ge = land, earth)." Ara - 20x in 16v - Ezra 5:11; Da 2:35, 39; Da 4:1, 10-11, 15, 20, 22f, 35; 6:25, 27; 7:4, 17, 23. Translated (NAS) earth (15), ground (3), inferior (1), land (1). Garland quotes Freeman (Introduction to the Old Testament Prophets-) - Freeman summarizes the evidence in favor of a single combined Medo-Persian Empire - "The critical school, assigning a Maccabean date for Daniel and denying the possibility of predictive prophecy, places all four kingdoms prior to the alleged date of the books composition (c. 167 B.C.) and thus identifies them as Babylonian, Median, Persian and Greco-Macedonian… However, this erroneous assumption by the critics is disproved by the book itself, which identifies the second kingdom quite specifically as Medo-Persian … Daniel does not say that the Babylonian kingdom will first be given to the Medes and then the Persians, but “given to the Medes and Persians,” [Da 5:28-30], the Persians being in fact emphasized in the usage of the word peres. Again in Daniel 6:8, 12, 15 Darius is said to have ruled according to “the law of the Medes and Persians.” If Persia constituted a separate kingdom following the alleged Median kingdom, it is obvious that Darius could not have know of, nor been bound by, the laws of the Persians… Moreover, 2Chronicles 36:20 disproves the alleged belief by the Jews of any intermediate Median empire before Persia… chapter 8 … also speaks of Media and Persia as parts of one realm (Dan. 8:20), which was to be followed by the Greek Empire (Da 8:21-22+. The two-horned ram is specifically said to be “Media and Persia,” and the he-goat … which succeeded it, is said to be Greece. (See Garland's more detailed discussion - Sequence of Kingdoms) A C Gaebelein has a somewhat sarcastic comment addressing the thought of so many in our modern world that mankind is evolving, not devolving (as suggested by the decreasing worth of the metals in the succeeding kingdoms) - According to the modern day conception of the times of the Gentiles, this image should have been constructed in this wise: First a head, composed of the meanest good for nothing stuff, earth mixed with particles of iron. Gradually the clay gives way and becomes iron, the inferior parts are expelled. Then the refining process continues and iron is changed to brass and brass to silver, then coming to the enlightened days of the Nineteenth Century and the great Twentieth Century with its civilization, we reach the fine gold. Well, this is a dream too, but it is not a dream given of God, but the dream which the Father of lies has inspired." (The prophet Daniel - a key to the visions and prophecies) THEN A THIRD: BRONZE Then is an expression of time which often marks a sequence of events as in this section of Daniel (Then = Da 2:35, 2:39, 2:40). Third Kingdom - The third kingdom was Greece headed by Alexander the Great and described by Daniel in a parallel passage (Da 8:21-note) The Greeks were well-known for their bronze armor and weaponry. H A