We find, in this chapter, the king of Babylon has a dream and he demands to be told the dream and it’s meaning or else the wise men are to be killed! No one can do this except Daniel who acknowledges that it is God who is the revealer of secrets.
This dream is of an immense image of a man made mostly of different metals with the exception of his feet which include clay. The king is the head of gold. Other Gentile (Non-Hebrew) kings are represented by other metals. There is a stone that smashes the image. The image basically blows away and the stone that smashed it becomes a large mountain and fills the earth. Daniel explains that it is God’s kingdom that smashes the image and will not be passed onto anyone else.
This crushing of the image of the Gentile kings represented by metals is the end of the Gentile Times or as some say, the end of the world – But it is not the end of the world of man. It is the end of the world under Gentile rule and is replaced with God’s Kingdom of righteousness with Jesus (Yeshua) placed as the king! Not only is Jesus the Son of the Almighty but also the son of man of the lineage of Abraham, the father of many nations including the Hebrew nation.
Notice that as you read on how in the last part of Daniel 11, the king of the north is soundly defeated. Then immediately after that, Michael “stands up” and we see in chapter 12 verse 2 that a resurrection begins! Over this short period of time, the Gentile rulership over the earth is replaced by The Almighty’s and his Son’s! – Compare Revelation 11:15
The king’s perplexing dream:
Daniel 2:20-23 “Daniel was answering and saying: “Let the name of God become blessed from time indefinite even to time indefinite, for wisdom and mightiness–for they belong to him. and he is changing times and seasons, removing kings and setting up kings, giving wisdom to the wise ones and knowledge to those knowing discernment. He is revealing the deep things and the concealed things, knowing what is in the darkness; and with him the light does dwell.” – Compare where Jesus taught his disciples to pray for God’s name to be made “holy” or “sanctified” in Matthew 6:9-13
Daniel 2:31-45 “You, O king, happened to be beholding, and, look! a certain immense image. That image, which was large and the brightness of which was extraordinary, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was dreadful. As regards that image, its head was of good gold, its breasts and its arms were of silver, its belly and its thighs were of copper, its legs were of iron, its feet were partly of iron and partly of molded clay. You kept on looking until a stone was cut out not by hands, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and of molded clay and crushed them. At that time the iron, the molded clay, the copper, the silver and the gold were, all together, crushed and became like the chaff from the summer threshing floor, and the wind carried them away so that no trace at all was found of them. And as for the stone that struck the image, it became a large mountain and filled the whole earth. (vs.36) “This is the dream, and its interpretation we shall say before the king. You, O king, the king of kings, you to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the might, and the strength and the dignity, and into whose hand he has given, wherever the sons of mankind are dwelling, the beasts of the field and the winged creatures of the heavens, and whom he has made ruler over all of them, you yourself are the head of gold. (vs.39) “And after you there will rise another kingdom inferior to you; and another kingdom, a third one, of copper, that will rule over the whole earth. (vs.40) “And as for the forth kingdom, it will prove to be strong like iron. Forasmuch as iron is crushing and grinding everything else, so, like iron that shatters, it will crush and shatter even all these. (vs.41) “And whereas you beheld the feet and the toes to be partly of molded clay of a potter and partly of iron, the kingdom itself will prove to be divided, but somewhat of the hardness of iron will prove to be in it, forasmuch as you beheld the iron mixed with moist clay. And as for the toes of the feet being partly of iron and partly of molded clay, the kingdom will partly prove to be strong and will partly prove to be fragile. Whereas you beheld iron mixed with moist clay, they will come to be mixed with the offspring of mankind; but they will not prove to be sticking together, this one to that one, just as iron is not mixing with molded clay. (vs.44) “And in those days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin. And the kingdom itself will not be passed on to any other people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite; forasmuch as you beheld that out of the mountain a stone was cut not by hands, and [that] it crushed the iron, the copper, the molded clay, the silver and the gold. The grand God himself has made known to the king what is to occur after this. And the dream is reliable, and the interpretation of it is trustworthy.”
Remember that Jesus taught for God’s kingdom to come in Matthew 6:9-13. Compare Psalms chapter two where it tells the kings of the earth to submit to God’s Son else perish! Also Psalms 110:1; Ezekiel 17:22-24
It is not critical to know what king is represented by each metal. That’s not the critical point. The critical point is that it is God who sets up and removes kings and in time he is going to set up his everlasting kingdom over the whole earth. This is a literal event, just like the king of Babylon was literal although represented in the dream as the head of gold.
2 Why do the nations rage,
and the peoples plot a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth take a stand,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against Yahweh, and against his Anointed, saying,
3 “Let’s break their bonds apart,
and cast their cords from us.”
4 He who sits in the heavens will laugh.
The Lord will have them in derision.
5 Then he will speak to them in his anger,
and terrify them in his wrath:
6 “Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion.”
7 I will tell of the decree:
Yahweh said to me, “You are my son.
Today I have become your father.
8 Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance,
the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron.
You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
10 Now therefore be wise, you kings.
Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
11 Serve Yahweh with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
12 Give sincere homage to the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish on the way,
for his wrath will soon be kindled.
Blessed are all those who take refuge in him.