Daniel 2:39-45
2:39 a inferior to yours: Silver was inferior in value to gold, as the chest is lower than the head. Nebuchadnezzar was an extremely stable ruler who held the Neo-Babylonian Empire together. Persia, by contrast, was often threatened with internal divisions and instability around the periphery.Summary for Dan 2:41-42: 2:41-42 b as weak as clay: Feet are crucial to stability; the feet were brittle and illustrate how precarious the whole image—that is, earthly kingdoms and their power—would be.
2:43 c Just as iron and clay do not mix, ... intermarriage among different people groups could weaken political alliances rather than produce real or lasting unity. This empire would be fragmented.
2:44 d Those kings were probably kings that arose within the fourth kingdom and attempted to strengthen themselves by alliances of intermarriage. However, the phrase might refer to all the kings of the statue as God’s kingdom persistently breaks into the flow of history.
• it will stand forever: Only a kingdom whose authority and power are from God (see John 18:36 e) can never be destroyed, for all earthly kingdoms crumble.
2:45 f The Babylonians often pictured the earth as a mountain (or ziggurat); hence, the rock would cover or replace the entire earth.
• The dream is true: The dream, clearly explained by divine revelation, was truth from God.
• its meaning is certain: God guaranteed that what the dream communicated would certainly take place.
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