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<p>Daniel here gives full satisfaction to Nebuchadnezzar concerning his dream and the interpretation of it. That great prince had been kind to this poor prophet in his maintenance and education; he had been brought up at the king’s cost, preferred at court, and the land of his captivity had hereby been made much easier to him than to others of his brethren. And now the king is abundantly repaid for all the expense he had been at upon him; and for receiving this prophet, though not in the name of a prophet, he had a prophet’s reward, such a reward as a prophet only could give, and for which that wealthy mighty prince was now glad to be beholden to him. Here is,</p>
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<p class="tab-1">I. The dream itself, <a class="bibleref" title="Dan.2.31,Dan.2.45" href="/passage/?search=Dan.2.31,Dan.2.45"><span class="bibleref" title="Dan.2.31">Dan. 2:31</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Dan.2.45">45</span></a>. Nebuchadnezzar perhaps was an admirer of statues, and had his palace and gardens adorned with them; however, he was a worshipper of images, and now behold a <i>great image</i> is set before him in a dream, which might intimate to him what the images were which he bestowed so much cost upon, and paid such respect to; they were mere dreams. The creatures of fancy might do as well to please the fancy. By the power of imagination he might shut his eyes, and represent to himself what forms he thought fit, and beautify them at his pleasure, without the expense and trouble of sculpture. This was the image of a man erect: <i>It stood before him</i>, as a living man; and, because those monarchies which were designed to be represented by it were admirable in the eyes of their friends, the <i>brightness</i> of this image <i>was excellent</i>; and because they were formidable to their enemies, and dreaded by all about them, the <i>form</i> of this image is said to be <i>terrible</i>; both the features of the face and the postures of the body made it so. But that which was most remarkable in this image was the different metals of which it was composed—the <i>head of gold</i> (the richest and most durable metal), the <i>breast and arms of silver</i> (the next to it in worth), the <i>belly and sides (or thighs) of brass</i>, the <i>legs of iron</i> (still baser metals), and lastly the feet <i>part of iron and part of clay</i>. See what the things of this world are; the further we go in them the less valuable they appear. In the life of a man youth is a head of gold, but it grows less and less worthy of our esteem; and old age is half clay; a man is then <i>as good as dead</i>. It is so with the world; later ages degenerate. The first age of the Christian church, of the reformation, was a head of gold; but we live in an age that is iron and clay. Some allude to this in the description of a hypocrite, whose practice is not agreeable to his knowledge. He has a head of gold, but feet of iron and clay: he knows his duty, but does it not. Some observe that in Daniel’s visions the monarchies were represented by four beasts (<a class="bibleref" title="Dan.7.1-Dan.7.28" href="/passage/?search=Dan.7.1-Dan.7.28">Dan. 7:1-28</a>), for he looked upon that wisdom from beneath, by which they were turned to be earthly and sensual, and a tyrannical power, to have more in it of the beast than of the man, and so the vision agreed with his notions of the thing. But to Nebuchadnezzar, a heathen prince, they were represented by a gay and pompous image of a man, for he was an admirer of the <i>kingdoms of this world and the glory of them</i>. To him the sight was so charming that he was impatient to see it again. But what became of this image? The next part of the dream shows it to us calcined, and brought to nothing. He saw a stone cut out of the quarry by an unseen power, without hands, and this stone fell upon the <i>feet of the image</i>, that were of <i>iron and clay</i>, and <i>broke them to pieces</i>; and then the image must fall of course, and so the gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, were all broken to pieces together, and beaten so small that they became like the <i>chaff of the summer threshing-floors</i>, and there were not to be found any the least remains of them; but the stone <i>cut out of the mountain</i> became itself a <i>great mountain, and filled the earth</i>. See how God can bring about great effects by weak and unlikely causes; when he pleases a <i>little one shall become a thousand</i>. Perhaps the destruction of this image of gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, might be intended to signify the abolishing of idolatry out of the world in due time. The <i>idols of the heathen are silver and gold</i>, as this image was, and <i>they shall perish from off the earth and from under these heave
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<p class="tab-1">II. The interpretation of this dream. Let us now see what is the meaning of this. It was from God, and therefore from him it is fit that we take the explication of it. It should seem, Daniel had his fellows with him, and speaks for them as well as for himself, when he says, <i>We will tell the interpretation</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Dan.2.36" href="/passage/?search=Dan.2.36">Dan. 2:36</a>. Now,</p>
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<p class="tab-1">1. This image represented the kingdoms of the earth that should successively bear rule among the nations and have influence on the affairs of the Jewish church. The four monarchies were not represented by four distinct statues, but by one image, because they were all of one and the same spirit and genius, and all more or less against the church. It was the same power, only lodged in four different nations, the two former lying eastward of Judea, the two latter westward. (1.) The <i>head of gold</i> signified the Chaldean monarchy, which was now in being (<a class="bibleref" title="Dan.2.37,Dan.2.38" href="/passage/?search=Dan.2.37,Dan.2.38"><span class="bibleref" title="Dan.2.37">Dan. 2:37</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Dan.2.38">38</span></a>): <i>Thou, O king! art</i> (or rather, <i>shalt be</i>) <i>a king of kings</i>, a universal monarch, to whom many kings and kingdoms shall be tributaries; or, Thou art the <i>highest of kings</i> on earth at this time (as a <i>servant of servants</i> is the meanest servant); thou dost outshine all other kings. But let him not attribute his elevation to his own politics or fortitude. No; it is <i>the God of heaven</i> that has <i>given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory</i>, a kingdom that exercises great authority, stands firmly, and shines brightly, acts by a puissant army with an arbitrary power. Note, The greatest of princes have no power but what is given them from above. The extent of his dominion is set forth (<a class="bibleref" title="Dan.2.38" href="/passage/?search=Dan.2.38">Dan. 2:38</a>), that <i>wheresoever the children of men dwell</i>, in all the nations of that part of the world, he was <i>ruler over them all</i>, over them and all that belonged to them, all their cattle, not only those which they had a property in, but those that were <i>ferae naturae</i>—<i>wild</i>, the <i>beasts of the field</i> and <i>the fowls of the heaven</i>. He was lord of all the woods, forests, and chases, and none were allowed to hunt or fowl without his leave. Thus “<i>thou art the head of gold</i>; thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, for seventy years.” Compare this with <a class="bibleref" title="Jer.25.9,Jer.25.11" href="/passage/?search=Jer.25.9,Jer.25.11"><span class="bibleref" title="Jer.25.9">Jer. 25:9</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Jer.25.11">11</span></a>, especially <a class="bibleref" title="Jer.27.5-Jer.27.7" href="/passage/?search=Jer.27.5-Jer.27.7">Jer. 27:5-7</a>. There were other powerful kingdoms in the world at this time, as that of the Scythians; but it was the kingdom of Babylon that reigned over the Jews, and that began the government which continued in the succession here described till Christ’s time. It is called a <i>head</i>, for its wisdom, eminency, and absolute power, a head of <i>gold</i> for its wealth (<a class="bibleref" title="Isa.14.4" href="/passage/?search=Isa.14.4">Isa. 14:4</a>); it was a golden city. Some make this monarchy to begin in Nimrod, and so bring into it all the Assyrian kings, about fifty monarchs in all, and compute that it lasted above 1600 years. But it had not been so long a monarchy of such vast extent and power as is here described, nor any thing like it; therefore others make only Nebuchadnezzar, Evil-merodach, and Belshazzar, to belong to this <i>head of gold</i>; and a glorious high throne they had, and perhaps exercised a more despotic power than any of the kings that went before them. Nebuchadnezzar reigned forty-five years current, Evil-merodach twenty-three years current, and Belshazzar three. Babylon was their metropolis, and Daniel was with them upon the spot during the seventy years. (2.) The <i>breast and arms of silver</i> signified the monarchy of the Medes and Persians, of which the king is told no more than this, <i>There shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee</i> (<a class="bibleref" title="Dan.2.39" href="/passage/?search=Dan.2.39">Dan. 2:39</a>), not so rich, powerful, or victorious. This kingdom was founded by Darius the Mede and Cyrus the Persian, in
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<p class="tab-1">2. The stone <i>cut out without hands</i> represented the kingdom of Jesus Christ, which should be set up in the world in the time of the Roman empire, and upon the ruins of Satan’s kingdom in the <i>kingdoms of the world</i>. This is <i>the stone cut out of the mountain without hands</i>, for it should be neither raised nor supported by human power or policy; no visible hand should act in the setting of it up, but it should be done invisibly the <i>Spirit of the Lord of hosts</i>. This was <i>the stone which the builders refused</i>, because it was not cut out by their hands, but it has now become the <i>head-stone of the corner</i>. (1.) The gospel-church is a kingdom, which Christ is the sole and sovereign monarch of, in which he rules by his word and Spirit, to which he gives protection and law, and from which he receives homage and tribute. It is a kingdom <i>not of this world</i>, and yet set up in it; it is the kingdom of God among men. (2.) The <i>God of heaven</i> was to set up this kingdom, to give authority to Christ to execute judgment, to set him as <i>King upon his holy hill of Zion</i>, and to bring into obedience to him a willing people. Being set up by the God of heaven, it is often in the <i>New Testament</i> called the <i>kingdom of heaven</i>, for its original is from above and its tendency is upwards. (3.) It was to be set up <i>in the days of these kings</i>, the kings of the fourth monarchy, of which particular notice is taken (<a class="bibleref" title="Luke.2.1" href="/passage/?search=Luke.2.1">Luke 2:1</a>), That Christ was born when, by the decree of the emperor of Rome, <i>all the world was taxed</i>, which was a plain indication that that empire had become as universal as any earthly empire ever was. When these kings are contesting with each other, and in all the struggles each of the contending parties hopes to find its own account, God will do his own work and fulfil his own counsels. <i>These kings</i> are all enemies to Christ’s kingdom, and yet it shall be set up in defiance of them. (4.) It is a kingdom that knows no decay, is in no danger of destruction, and will not admit any succession or revolution. It shall <i>never be destroyed</i> by any foreign force invading it, as many other kingdoms are; fire and sword cannot waste it; the combined powers of earth and hell cannot deprive either the subjects of their prince or the prince of his subjects; nor shall this <i>kingdom be left to other people</i>, as the kingdoms of the earth are. As Christ is a monarch that has no successor (for he himself shall reign for ever), so his kingdom is a monarchy that has no revolution. The kingdom of God was indeed taken from the Jews and given to the Gentiles (<a class="bibleref" title="Matt.21.43" href="/passage/?search=Matt.21.43">Matt. 21:43</a>), but still it was Christianity that ruled, the kingdom of the Messiah. The Christian church is still the same; it is fixed on a rock, much fought against, but never to be prevailed against, by the gates of hell. (5.) It is a kingdom that shall be victorious over all opposition. It shall <i>break in pieces and consume all those kingdoms</i>, as the <i>stone cut out of the mountain without hands</i> broke in pieces the image, <a class="bibleref" title="Dan.2.44,Dan.2.45" href="/passage/?search=Dan.2.44,Dan.2.45"><span class="bibleref" title="Dan.2.44">Dan. 2:44</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Dan.2.45">45</span></a>. The kingdom of Christ shall <i>wear out</i> all other kingdoms, shall outlive them, and flourish when they are sunk with their own weight, and so wasted that their place <i>knows them no more</i>. All the kingdoms that appear against the kingdom of Christ shall be broken with a <i>rod of iron</i>, as a <i>potter’s vessel</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Ps.2.9" href="/passage/?search=Ps.2.9">Ps. 2:9</a>. And in the kingdoms that submit to the kingdom of Christ tyranny, and idolatry, and every thing that is their reproach, shall, as far as the gospel of Christ gets ground, be broken. The day is coming when Jesus Christ
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<p class="tab-1">III. Daniel having thus interpreted the dream, to the satisfaction of Nebuchadnezzar, who gave him no interruption, so full was the interpretation that he had no question to ask, and so plain that he had no objection to make, he closes all with a solemn assertion, 1. Of the divine original of this dream: <i>The great God</i> (so he calls him, to express his own high thoughts of him, and to beget the like in the mind of this great king) has <i>made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter</i>, which the gods of the magicians could not do. And thus a full confirmation was given to that great argument which Isaiah had long before urged against idolaters, and particularly the idolaters of Babylon, when he challenged the gods they worshipped to <i>show things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods</i> (<a class="bibleref" title="Isa.41.23" href="/passage/?search=Isa.41.23">Isa. 41:23</a>), and by <i>this</i> proved the God of Israel to be the true God, that he <i>declares the end from the beginning</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Isa.46.10" href="/passage/?search=Isa.46.10">Isa. 46:10</a>. 2. Of the undoubted certainty of the things foretold by this dream. He who makes known these things is the same that has himself designed and determined them, and will by his providence effect them; and we are sure that <i>his counsel shall stand</i>, and cannot be altered, and therefore <i>the dream is certain and the interpretation thereof sure</i>. Note, Whatever God has made known we may depend upon.</p>
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