Daniel Chapter 2 - Interpretation

¹Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was troubled and his sleep left him. ²Then the king gave orders to call in the magicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. ³The king said to them, "I had a dream and my spirit is anxious to understand the dream."

¹⁹Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven; ³¹"You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome. ³²"The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, ³³its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. ³⁴"You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them.

5 Body Parts of the Statue

These five parts refer to the succession of five world dominating kingdoms that occurred during and after the life of Daniel.

1) Head of Gold - Kingdom of Babylon headed by Nebuchadnezzar

2) Breast and Arms of Silver - This was the Kingdom of the Medes-Persians. The state was first formed by the Medes in 700 BC. Later in 550 BC the Persians became the dominant power in the kingdom which is why there are two divisions.

3) Belly and Thighs of Bronze - Alexander the Great and his Greek/Macedonian armies which was the largest empire in history up to that point.

4) Legs of Iron - East and West Roman armies - The fourth kingdom of iron is the Roman empire. The two legs are the division of the Roman empire into an eastern portion called the Byzantine empire which ended in the 1400's and a western portion based in Rome which ended in the 400's.

5) Toes of Iron and Clay - The toes of iron are the revived Roman empire of many nations. Iron may stand for strength while the clay is weakness or a lack of cohesion. The toes may also refer to the member nations of the European Economic Community while the clay is the second tier (politically or economically weaker) member nations admitted later. After the Roman empire was destroyed the nations of Europe have never adhered or formed one empire again but continue as separate nations.

6) Kingdom of Christ which is the stone will come and crush the toes of iron and clay which is the revived Roman empire. The kingdom will last forever.

³⁵"Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. ³⁶ "This was the dream; now we will tell its interpretation before the king. ³⁷"You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory; ³⁸and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold. ³⁹"After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth. ⁴⁰"Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. ⁴¹"In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. ⁴²"As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. ⁴³"And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery. ⁴⁴ "In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. ⁴⁵"Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy."

Daniel Chapter 7 - Interpretation

Dream of Daniel during the reign of Belshazzer King of Babylon

The four great beasts are the four great kings of four future world empires. These empires correspond to the four parts of the statue in in Daniel Chapter 2

¹In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel saw a dream and visions in his mind as he lay on his bed; then he wrote the dream down and related the following summary of it. ²Daniel said, "I was looking in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. ³"And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another. ⁴"The first was like a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; a human mind also was given to it. ⁵"And behold, another beast, a second one, resembling a bear. And it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth; and thus they said to it, 'Arise, devour much meat!' ⁶"After this I kept looking, and behold, another one, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird; the beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it. ⁷"After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. ⁸"While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes ¹¹"Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire.

1) Lion - Kingdom of Babylon headed by Nebuchadnezzar (Head of Gold in Daniel 2)

2) Bear - This was the Kingdom of the Medes-Persians. The Persians became dominant in this kingdom lin 550 BC which is why it is raised up on one side. (Breast and Arms of Silver in Daniel 2)

3) Leopard - Alexander the Great and his Greek/Macedonian armies which took over most of the middle eastern and Mediterranean world in an incredible speed like that of a leopard. Later after his death at age 30 his empire was divided into four parts. (Belly and Thighs of Bronze in Daniel 2)

4) Dreadful Beast with Teeth of Iron - The fourth kingdom is the Roman empire. The ten horns are ten kings of the revived Roman empire. The little horn with eyes is another king which comes up among the 10 kings and conquers 3 of those kings. This King is the Antichrist who is boastful in the site of God and persecutes his people. The saints will be given unto the Anichrist's persecution for a time, times, and half a time which is the 3 and 1/2 year period of the Great Tribulation.

The World Book encyclopedia has a review on the Mede-Persian empire, Alexander the Great's Greek kingdom and the Roman empire under the following article titles: (Persia, Ancient), (Greece, Ancient ), and the (Roman Empire).

¹³"I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. ¹⁴"And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed. ¹⁵"As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me, and the visions in my mind kept alarming me. ¹⁶"I approached one of those who were standing by and began asking him the exact meaning of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things: ¹⁷"These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth. ¹⁸'But the saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, for all ages to come.' ¹⁹"Then I desired to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which devoured, crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet, ²⁰and the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up, and before which three of them fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts and which was larger in appearance than its associates. ²¹"I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them ²²until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom. ²³"Thus he said: "The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it. ²⁴"As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. ²⁵"He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. ²⁶"But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever.