Year 0, Day 2: Daniel 2

Truth

I think it is a neat ploy that Nebuchadnezzar employs here in this passage. Granted, I’m glad I’m not in the position of the Chaldeans – or any of the wise men in Babylon.  To know someone else’s dream without being told the dream – and then have to interpret it – is something that no human can do without the divine.  The Chaldean wise men speak honest truth.  Nobody but God could accomplish what Nebuchadnezzar asks.

But in their truth, they speak a far greater truth.  They want to be thought of as wise men.  No, they want something greater.  They want the king to value their counsel more than the counsel of any other men.  They want to be considered to have super-human wisdom, but when backed into a corner they reveal their true colors.  Let that be a lesson to anyone who desires to make a claim that they have a special talent: they best legitimately have it by the grace of God or else they will fall.  And let this also be a reminder to those who come in contact with people who make grand claims about themselves: as we hear in 1 John 4:1, test the spirits to see if they are from God.

Daniel Seeks Counsel

But look at what Daniel does when his life is threatened.  He goes to the king and asks for a bit of time.  During that time, he seeks the counsel of the Lord.  When he receives a vision, he blesses God!  He blesses God! 

It does make me ask, what does God need with the blessing of a human?  Worshipping God I can see.  Giving glory to God I can also see.  But Daniel blesses God?  That opens up a deeper and richer layer of relationship than most people think is possible with God.  Have you ever thought that you could bless God?

Look at the reason that Daniel gives for bringing the vision and interpretation to the king in Daniel 2:30.  He doesn’t do it to spare his life.  As with Daniel 1, we again see that a true man of God does not seek to follow their own agendas.  Rather, Daniel comes before the king to reveal the vision and its interpretation to the king.  Even in this act Daniel has put forth the need of the one to whom God has called him – even before the needs of his own life.

Daniel Interprets the Dream

The dream has been interpreted many ways.  Of course, the most common interpretation that can be found in many commentaries is that the four kingdoms represent the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans.  And certainly I will not quibble with this.  I think it is rather clear that this is absolutely the reference that Daniel is making.  Daniel may not know the names, but from where we stand in history we are talking about the Persians, Greeks, and Romans that will follow the Babylonians.

But within the specific reference to the last days and the kingdom of Christ, I wonder if there is not a deeper meaning with respect to humanity within the message of the iron and clay – the strong and the brittle.  Think about it.  God often speaks of humanity as strong willed, rebellious, and with hard hearts.  That sounds like iron to me.  God is also spoken of as a potter, and we are the clay.  Clay is brittle, malleable, shapeable.  In this interpretation, the clay is actually the preferred element!

Daniel is speaking about the four kingdoms.  But perhaps Daniel is also metaphorically speaking about how in the last days people will try and mix their spiritual self (the clay) with their humanity (iron).  Just as it is an impossible task to make a statue out of both clay and iron, it is impossible for any of us to stand firm in our humanity and our spirituality.  We have two natures always – and until Christ fully and completely remakes us at His second coming, we too will always feel the inner battle between iron and clay within us. 

Humbly Broken in Christ

Christ is referred to as the chief cornerstone.  Does not Christ come to all of us and like the stone in the vision shatter us and break even our hearts made of rigid iron?

Here we see the first time that “the enemy king” is brought to his knees before Daniel to confess that there is a God in heaven.  Daniel’s willingness to follow God’s will and serve this king who has put his people into bondage is already paying off dividends.  Are we willing to be like Daniel and follow God – even into the heart of the enemy’s camp – so that the light and truth of God can be revealed even to those who oppress us?  Are we willing to be broken in Christ so that we can be used by Him?