Daniel describes what King Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream: an extravagant statue made of precious metals. Its head was golden, its breast and arms silver, its belly and thighs bronze, its legs iron, and its feet iron and clay. A rock destroyed the statue and grew into a mountain.
Unlike all the other wisemen in Babylon, Daniel was able to tell the king what he saw in his dream. Nebuchadnezzar saw one single great statue in his dream. It was large and extraordinary in its splendor. It was standing in front of the king, and its appearance was awesome., The head of the statue was made of fine gold, with its breast (or chest) and arms made of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, and its feet made from both iron and clay.
In his dream, the king continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, meaning that the stone was quarried by God and not with human hands. The stone struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. Next, the entire statue came crashing down and blew away—not a trace of it was found. Every bit of the statue was crushed all at the same time: the iron and clay of the legs, the bronze of the belly and thigh, the silver of the torso, and the gold of the head. The image is of the chaff from the summer threshing floors blowing up into the air, then drifting away, with no traces remaining. Chaff is the husks and other portions of harvested plants other than the grain, which is heavy and falls to the ground while the lighter parts float away into the wind. Then the king saw that the stone from God grew into a great mountain, which filled the whole earth.
Next, Daniel will interpret the dream for King Nebuchadnezzar and explain how each part of the statue represents a kingdom from man, but in the end God’s kingdom will ultimately be established over all. Each kingdom of man will build upon the other. But God’s kingdom will completely replace the kingdoms of men.
Biblical Text
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, 33 its 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. 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.
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