"And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was
troubled to know the dream." Dan. 2:3.
2. After being threatened with death if they did not make known the dream and
the interpretation, what did the wise men say to the king?
"The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the
earth that can show the king's matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler,
that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean. And it is a rare thing
that the king requireth, and there is none other that can show it before the king,
except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh." Verses 10,11.
3. After the wise men had thus confessed their inability to do what the king
required, who offered to interpret the dream?
"Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time,
and that he would show the king the interpretation." Verse 16.
4. After Daniel and his fellows had sought God earnestly, how were the dream and its
interpretation revealed to Daniel?
"Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night-vision. Then Daniel
blessed the God of heaven." Verse 19.
5. When brought before the king, what did Daniel say?
"Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king
hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, show
unto the king; but there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh
known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the
visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these." Verses 27,28.
6. What did Daniel say the king had seen in his dream?
"Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these; . . . Thou, O
king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was
excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible." Verses 28-31.
7. Of what were the different parts of the image composed?
"This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver,
his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of
iron and part of clay." Verses 32,33.
8. By what means was the image broken to pieces?
"Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the
image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces." Verse 34.
9. What became of the various parts of the image?
"Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to
pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind
carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the
image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." Verse 35.
10. With what words did Daniel begin the interpretation of the dream?
"Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a
kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the
beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath He given into thine hand, and hath
made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold." Verses 37,38.
NOTE.-The character of the Babylonian Empire is fittingly indicated by the nature of
the material composing that portion of the image by which it was symbolized-the head of
gold. It was " the golden kingdom of a golden age." The city of Babylon, its
metropolis, according to history towered to a height never equaled by any of its later
rivals. "Situated in the garden of the East; laid out in a perfect square sixty miles
in circumference, fifteen miles on each side surrounded by a wall three hundred and fifty
feet high an eighty-seven feet thick, with a moat, or ditch, around this, of equal cubic
capacity with the wall itself; divided into six hundred and seventy-six squares, laid out
in luxuriant pleasure-grounds and gardens, interspersed with magnificent dwellings,-this
city, containing in itself many things which were themselves wonders of the world, was
itself another and still mightier wonder. . . . Such was Babylon, with Nebuchadnezzar,
youthful, bold, vigorous, and accomplished, seated upon its throne.
11. What was to be the nature of the next kingdom after Babylon?
"After thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee." Verse 39,
first part.
12. Who was the last Babylonian king?
"In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius
the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old." Dan. 5:30,31.
See also verses 1,2.
13. To whom was Belshazzar's kingdom given?
"Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." Verse
28.
14. By what is the Medo-Persian Empire represented in the great image?
The breast and arms of silver. Dan. 2:32.
15. By what is Grecia, the kingdom succeeding Medo- Persia, represented in the
image?
"His belly and his thighs of brass." Verse 32. "And another third
kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth." Verse 39.
16. What is said of the fourth kingdom?
"And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh
in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break
in pieces and bruise." Verse 40.
17. What scripture shows that the Roman emperors ruled the world?
"And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar
Augustus, that all the world should be taxed." Luke 2:1.
NOTE.-Describing the Roman conquests, Gibbon uses the very imagery employed in the
vision of Daniel 2. He says: "The arms of the republic, sometimes vanquished in
battle, always victorious in war, advanced with rapid steps to the Euphrates, the Danube,
the Rhine, and the ocean; and the images of gold or silver, or brass, that
might serve to represent the nations and their kings, were successively broken by the iron
monarchy of Rome."-"Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," chap. 38,
par. 1, under " General Observations," at the close of the chapter.
