Friday 12 April 2013

Background

The story so far ... After failing to find an interpretation ofhis recurring dream from his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers andastrologers, nor any of them wise enough to divine what the dreamwas, King Nebuchadnezzar has ordered their execution. Daniel,however, has intervened. He asks for thinking time, after which hewill tell the king both what he dreamed and what it means. He comesto the king, and tells him that the wisdom to interpret is notDaniel's, but is from God; and the mystery has been revealed toDaniel so that God may speak to Nebuchadnezzar.

However, the interpretation of this dream is not forNebuchadnezzar alone. It is also for the second century BC Jews whoare hearing the story of the struggles of their people from fourhundred years earlier. The story has been written to give them hopein a time of persecution under the Seleucid king, Antiochus IVEpiphanes.

Daniel interprets the dream as pointing to threedecreasingly-strong kingdoms which will eventually be divided intotwo. The readers would understand this meaning: the golden empireof the Babylonians (verse 38) had been replaced by the silverempire of the Medes, then the bronze empire of the Persians (eventhough historically the 'Medes and the Persians' were one empireunder Cyrus). The fourth kingdom of iron was that of Alexander theGreat (verse 40) - but that empire had been divided into two - thePtolemaic and Seleucid Empires (verse 41). And despite theirfeeling the full force of the 'iron' of the Seleucid Empire, themessage was that the 'clay' in that Empire would eventually weakenit (verse 42). Even the efforts of the Seleucid Antiochus II inmarrying the Ptolemaic princess Bernice in 252 (verse 43) had endedin war between the two kingdoms (Daniel 11:6) (although it didn'thelp that he abandoned Bernice to go back to his first wife!). Theyneed not fear Antiochus II's great-grandson (Antiochus IV) forever.

To Ponder

• This passage gives us the expression 'to have feet of clay' inwhich we recognise crucial weaknesses in ourselves. A Christianreplaces clay feet by building on a firm cornerstone (1Peter 2:6), and asking for the strength of Christ in whosestrength we can do all things (Philippians 4:13). How have you made this truein your life?