Daniel sat in the gate of the king.] That is, was the chief officer in the palace; and the greatest confidant and counselor of the king. But whatever his influence and that of his friends was, it extended only over the province of Babylon; not through the empire.

A DISCOURSE ON NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S DREAM, chap. ii. 41-45.

I shall now consider this most important vision more at large, and connect it with a portion of the previous history of the Jewish people.

The kingdoms of Israel and Judah after a series of the most unparalleled ingratitude and rebellion, against displays of mercy and benevolence, only equaled by their rebellions, were at last, according to repeated threatenings, given over into the hands of their enemies. The inhabitants of the former country were subdued and carried away captives by the Assyrians; and those of the latter, by the Chaldeans.

The people of Israel never recovered their ancient territories; and were so disposed of by their conquerors, that they either became amalgamated with the heathen nations, so as to be utterly undistinguishable; or they were transported to some foreign and recluse place of settlement, that the land of their residence, though repeatedly sought for and guessed at, has for more than two thousand years been totally unknown.

Judah, after having been harassed by the Chaldeans, Egyptians, and others, was at last invaded by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon; Jerusalem besieged and taken; and Jehoiachin the king, who had before become tributary to the Babylonians, with his mother, wives, officers of state, and chief military commanders, princes, and mighty men of valor, to the amount of ten thousand; and all the artificers, smiths, &c., to the number of one thousand, with all that were fit for war, he carried captives to Babylon; leaving only the poorest of the people behind, under the government of Mattaniah, son of the late king Josiah, and uncle to Jehoiachin; and, having changed his name to Zedekiah, gave him a nominal authority as king over the wretched remains of the people. Zedekiah, after having reigned nine years, rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, who, coming against Jerusalem with all his forces, besieged it; and having reduced it to the last extremity by famine, and made a breach in the walls, took the city, pillaged and destroyed the temple by fire, slew the sons of Zedekiah before his face, then put out his eyes, and carried him bound in brazen fetters to Babylon, 2 Kings, chap. xxiv. and 25. Thus, the temple of GOD, the most glorious building ever laid on the face of the earth, was profaned, pillaged, and burnt, with the king's palace, and all the houses of the Jewish nobility, in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, - the nineteenth of Nebuchadnezzar, - the first of the forty-eight Olympiad, - the one hundred and sixtieth current year of the era of Nabonassar, - four hundred and twenty-four years, three months, and eight days from the time in which Solomon laid its foundation stone! In the same month in which the city was taken, and the temple burnt, Nebuzar-adan, commander in chief of the Babylonish forces, carried off the spoils of the temple, with the Jewish treasures, and the principal part of the residue of the people; and brought them also to Babylon. And thus Judah was carried away out of her own land, four hundred and sixty-eight years after David began to reign over it; from the division under Rehoboam, three hundred and eighty-eight years; from the destruction of the kingdom of Israel, one hundred and thirty-four years; in the year of the world, three thousand four hundred and sixteen; and before the nativity of our Lord, five hundred and eighty-eight.

In the fourth year of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, A.M. 3397, B.C. 607, Nebuchadnezzar, having besieged Jerusalem, and made its king tributary, carried away a number of captives; and among them was the Prophet Daniel, then in his youth, who became, for his wisdom, and knowledge of future events, very eminent at Babylon; and, with some other Jewish captives, great favourites of Nebuchadnezzar the king; who made Daniel president of all the wise men of his city. It was in the second year of the reign of this king, that a circumstance occurred which, though at first it threatened the destruction of the prophet, finally issued in the increase of his reputation and celebrity.

As prophecy is one of the strongest proofs of the authenticity of what professes to be a Divine revelation, God endued this man with a large portion of his Spirit, so that he clearly predicted some of the most astonishing political occurrences and changes which have ever taken place on the earth; no less than the rise, distinguishing characteristics, and termination of the FOUR great monarchies or empires, which have been so celebrated in all the histories of the world. And as the Babylonian, under which he then lived, was one of these monarchies, and was shortly to be absorbed by the Medo-Persian, which was to succeed it, he made Nebuchadnezzar, the then reigning monarch, by means of a most singular dream, the particulars of which he had forgotten, the instrument that appeared to give birth to a prediction, in which the ruin of his own empire was foretold; as well as other mighty changes which should take place in the political state of the world, for at least the term of one thousand years next ensuing. Nor did the prophetic Spirit in this eminent man limit his predictions to these; but showed at the same time the origin and nature of that FIFTH monarchy, which, under the great King of kings, should be administered and prevail to the end of time.

The dream itself, with its interpretation, and the exact and impressive manner in which the predictions relative to the four great monarchies have been fulfilled, and those which regard the fifth monarchy are in the course of being accomplished, are the subjects to which I wish to call the reader's most serious and deliberate attention.

This image, so circumstantially described from the thirty- eighth to the forty-fourth verse, was, as we learn from the prophet's general solution, intended to point out the rise and fall of four different empires and states; and the final prevalence and establishment of a fifth empire, that shall never have an end, and which shall commence in the last days, ver. 28; a phrase commonly used in the prophets to signify the times of the Messiah, and in the New Testament, his advent to judge the world.

Before we proceed to particular parts, we may remark in general, that the whole account strongly indicates:- 1. The especial providence of God in behalf of the Jews at that time. For, although suffering grievously because of their sins, being deprived of both their political and personal liberty, God shows them that he has not abandoned them; and the existence of a prophet among them is a proof of his fatherly care and unremitted attention to their eternal welfare.

2. The particular interference of God to manifest the superiority of his truth, to wean an idolatrous nation from their vanity and superstition, and lead them to that God who is the fountain of truth, the revealer of secrets, and the governor of all things.

And, 3. The direct inspiration of God immediately teaching his servant things which could be known only to God himself, and thus showing the Babylonians that his prophets had spoken by an unerring Spirit; that the Jews were the depositaries of the true religion; that HE was the only true God; and as he was omniscient, so he was omnipotent; and the things which his wisdom had predicted, his power could and would accomplish.

The sum of the account given in this chapter is the following:- 1. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in the second year of his reign, about A.M. 3401, and B.C. 603, had a remarkable dream, which, although it made a deep impression on his mind, yet, on his awakening, he found it impossible to recollect; the general impression only remaining.

2. He summoned his wise men, astrologers, &c., told them that he had a dream or vision, which he had forgotten; and commanded them to tell him the dream, and give its interpretation.

3. They request the king to tell them the dream; and promise, then, to make known the meaning. This he could not do, having forgotten it; yet he insists on their compliance on pain of death.

4. To tell the king his dream they find impossible; and a decree for the destruction of the wise men of Babylon is issued, in which Daniel and his fellows are included.

5. Daniel, hearing of it, speaks to Arioch, captain of the king's guard or the royal executioner; desires to be brought before the king; and promises to tell the dream, &c.

6. He is introduced; and immediately tells the king what he had dreamed, and shows him its interpretation.

THE DREAM A vast image, exceedingly luminous, of terrible form, and composed of different substances, appears in a night vision to the king, of which the following is the description:- I. Its head was of fine gold.

II. Its breast and arms of silver.

III. Its belly and thighs of brass.

IV. Its legs of iron, and its feet and toes of iron and clay. While gazing on this image he sees:- V. A stone cut out of a mountain without hands, which smites the image on its feet, and dashes it all to pieces; and the gold, and silver, brass, iron, and clay become as small and as light as chaff.

VI. A wind carries the whole away, so that no place is found for them.

VII. The stone becomes a great mountain, and fills the earth.

In order to explain this, certain DATA must be laid down.

1. This image is considered a political representation of as many different governments, as it was composed of materials; and as all these materials are successively inferior to each other, so are the governments in a descending ratio.

2. The human figure has been used, both by historians and geographers, to represent the rise, progress, establishment, and decay of empires, as well as the relative situation and importance of the different parts of the government. Thus Florus, in the proaemium to his Roman history, represents the Romans under the form of a human being, in its different stages, from infancy to old age, viz.

Si quis ergo populum Romanum quasi hominem consideret, totamque ejus aetatem percenseat, ut COEPERIT, utque ADOLEVERIT, ut quasi ad quemdam JUVENTAE florem pervenerit; ut postea velut CONSENUERIT, quatuor gradus progressusque ejus inveniet.

1. Prima aetas sub Regibus fuit, prope ducentos quinquaginta per annos, quibus circum ipsam matrem suam cum finitimis luctatus est. Haec erit ejus INFANTIA.

2. Sequens a Bruto, Collatinoque consulibus, in Appium Claudium, Quinctiumque Fulvium consules, ducentos quinquaginta annos habet, quibus Italiam subegit. Hoc fuit tempus viris armisque exercitatissi mum! ideo quis ADOLESCENTIAM dixerit.

3. Dehinc ad Caesarem Augustum, ducenti quinquaginta anni, quibus totum orbem pacavit. Hic jam ipsa JUVENTA Imperii, et quasi quaedam robusta MATURITAS.

4. A Caesare Augusto in saeculum, nostrum, sunt non multo minus anni ducenti, quibus inertia Caesarum quasi CONSENUIT atque DECOXIT. l. An.

Flori PROOEM.

1. INFANCY; first stage-under KINGS, from Romulus to Tarquinius Superbus; about two hundred and fifty years.

2. YOUTH; second stage-under CONSULS, from Brutus and Collatinus to Appius Claudius and M. Fulvius; about two hundred and fifty years.

3. MANHOOD; third stage-the empire from the conquest of Italy to Caesar Augustus; about two hundred and fifty years.

4. OLD AGE; fourth stage-from Augustus, through the twelve Caesars, down to A.D. 200; about two hundred years.

Geographers have made similar representations, The Germanic empire, in the totality of its dependent states, has been represented by a map in the form of a man; different parts being pointed out by head, breast, arm, belly, thighs, legs, feet, &c., according to their geographical and political relation to the empire in general.

3. Different metals are used to express different degrees of political strength, excellence, durability, &c.

4. Clay, earth, dust, are emblems of weakness, instability, &c.

5. Mountains express, in Scripture, mighty empires, kingdoms, and states.

6. Stone signifies Jesus Christ, Gen. xlix. 24; "From thence" (of the posterity of Jacob) "is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel." That our blessed Lord, "the good shepherd," John x. 11-17, is here intended, will appear most plainly from the following passages; Isa. viii. 14: "And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a STONE Of stumbling and for a ROCK of offense to both the houses of Israel." Isa. xxviii. 16: "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a STONE, a tried STONE, a precious corner STONE, a sure foundation; he that believeth shall not make haste." 1 Pet. ii. 4, 6, 8. Collate these with Psa. cxviii. 22: "The STONE which the builders refused is become the head STONE of the corner." Matt. xxi. 42; Mark xii. 10; Luke xx. 17; Acts iv. 11; in which latter quotations the whole is positively applied to Christ; as also 1 Pet. ii. 4-8: "To whom coming as unto a living STONE," &c.; who seems to have all the preceding passages in view. See also Isa. ii. 2: "The mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains," &c.

7. This stone is said to be cut out without hands, ver. 34. Without hands signifies that which is spiritual. So 2 Corinthians v. 1, a house not made with hands means a spiritual building.

EXPLANATION The Chaldean empire, called the Assyrian in its commencement, the Chaldean from the country, the Babylonish from its chief city.

I. HEAD OF GOLD. This was the first monarchy, begun by Nimrod, A.M. 1771, B.C. 2233, and ending with the death of Belshazzar, A.M. 3466, B.C. 538, after having lasted nearly seventeen hundred years. In the time of Nebuchadnezzar it extended over Chaldea, Assyria, Arabia, Syria, and Palestine. HE, Nebuchadnezzar, was the head or gold.

II. BREASTS AND ARMS OF SILVER. The Medo-Persian empire; which properly began under Darius the Mede, allowing him to be the same with Cyaxares, son of Astyages, and uncle to Cyrus the great, son of Cambyses. He first fought under his uncle Cyaxares, defeated Neriglissar, king of the Assyrians, and Craesus, king of the Lydians; and, by the capture of Babylon, B.C. 538, terminated the Chaldean empire. On the death of his father Cambyses, and his uncle Cyaxares, B.C. 536, he became sole governor of the Medes and Persians, and thus established a potent empire on the ruins of that of the Chaldeans.

III. BELLY AND THIGHS OF BRASS. The Macedonian or Greek empire, founded by Alexander the Great. He subdued Greece, penetrated into Asia, took Tyre, reduced Egypt, overthrew Darius Codomanus at Arbela, Oct. 2, A.M. 3673, B.C. 331, and thus terminated the Persian monarchy.

He crossed the Caucasus, subdued Hyrcania, and penetrated India as far as the Ganges; and having conquered all the countries that lay between the Adriatic sea and this river, the Ganges, he died A.M. 3681, B.C. 323; and after his death his empire became divided among his generals, Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus. CASSANDER had Macedon and Greece; LYSIMACHUS had Thrace, and those parts of Asia which lay on the Hellespont and Bosphorus; PTOLEMY had Egypt, Lybia, Arabia, Palestine, and Coelesyria; SELEUCUS had Babylon, Media, Susiana, Persia, Assyria, Bactria, Hyrcania, and all other provinces, even to the Ganges. Thus this empire, founded on the ruin of that of the Persians, "had rule over all the earth." IV. LEGS OF IRON, AND FEET AND TOES OF IRON AND CLAY. I think this means, in the first place, the kingdom of the LAGIDAE, in Egypt; and the kingdom of the SELEUCIDAE, in Syria. And, secondly, the ROMAN empire, which was properly composed of them.

1. PTOLEMY LAGUS, one of Alexander's generals, began the new kingdom of Egypt, A.M. 3692, B.C. 312, which was continued through a long race of sovereigns, till A.M. 3974, B.C. 30; when Octavius Caesar took Alexandria, having in the preceding year defeated Anthony and Cleopatra at the battle of Actium, and so Egypt became a Roman province. Thus ended the kingdom of the Lagidae, after it had lasted two hundred and eighty- two years.

John Gill's Bible Commentary

Dan. 2:1-13 The greatest men are most open to cares and troubles of mind, which disturb their repose in the night, while the sleep of the labouring man is sweet and sound. We know not the uneasiness of man who live in great pomp, and, as others vainly think, in pleasure also The king said that his learned men must tell him the dream itself, or they should all be put to death as deceivers. Men are more eager to as as to future events, than to learn the way of salvation or the path of duty; yet foreknowledge of future events increases anxiety and trouble Those who deceived, by pretending to do what they could not do, wer sentenced to death, for not being able to do what they did not preten to.

Dan. 2:14-23 Daniel humbly prayed that God would discover to him the king's dream, and the meaning of it. Praying friends are valuabl friends; and it well becomes the greatest and best men to desire the prayers of others. Let us show that we value our friends, and their prayers. They were particular in prayer. And whatever we pray for, we can expect nothing but as the gift of God's mercies. God gives us leav in prayer to tell our wants and burdens. Their plea with God was, the peril they were in. The mercy Daniel and his fellows prayed for, wa bestowed. The fervent prayers of righteous men avail much. Daniel wa thankful to God for making known that to him, which saved the lives of himself and his fellows. How much more should we be thankful to God for making known the great salvation of the soul to those who are no among the worldly wise and prudent!

Dan. 2:24-30 Daniel takes away the king's opinion of his magicians an soothsayers. The insufficiency of creatures should drive us to the all-sufficiency of the Creator. There is One who can do that for us and make known that to us, which none on earth can, particularly the work of redemption, and the secret designs of God's love to us therein Daniel confirmed the king in his opinion, that the dream was of grea consequence, relating to the affairs and changes of this lower world Let those whom God has highly favoured and honoured, lay aside all opinion of their own wisdom and worthiness, that the Lord alone may be praised for the good they have and do.

Dan. 2:31-45 This image represented the kingdoms of the earth, tha should successively rule the nations, and influence the affairs of the Jewish church. 1. The head of gold signified the Chaldean empire, the in being. 2. The breast and arms of silver signified the empire of the Medes and Persians. 3. The belly and thighs of brass signified the Grecian empire, founded by Alexander. 4. The legs and feet of iro signified the Roman empire. The Roman empire branched into te kingdoms, as the toes of these feet. Some were weak as clay, other strong as iron. Endeavours have often been used to unite them, for strengthening the empire, but in vain. The stone cut out without hands represented the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, which should be se up in the kingdoms of the world, upon the ruins of Satan's kingdom in them. This was the Stone which the builders refused, because it was no cut out by their hands, but it is become the head stone of the corner Of the increase of Christ's government and peace there shall be no end The Lord shall reign, not only to the end of time, but when time an days shall be no more. As far as events have gone, the fulfilling thi prophetic vision has been most exact and undeniable; future ages shal witness this Stone destroying the image, and filling the whole earth.

Dan. 2:46-49 It is our business to direct attention to the Lord, as the Author and Giver of every good gift. Many have thoughts of the Divin power and majesty, who do not think of serving God themselves. But all should strive, that God may be glorified, and the best interests of mankind furthered __________________________________________________________________

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