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Thus Say The Prophets
Prophet Daniel

2:1 In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream; his spirit was agitated, yet he was overcome by sleep.

During Daniel's lifetime, there was no established calendar. Rashi explains the dating in this case:

Now, in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign: It is impossible to say this, except that [it happened] in the second year after the destruction of the Temple. So it is taught in Seder Olam (ch. 28), and Scripture called it "of Nebuchadnezzar's reign" because he demonstrated his insolence by entering the Inner Sanctum of the Sovereign of the Universe.

From Daniel's perspective, the events of his people and their Holy Temple held paramount importance, far outweighing the need to chronicle Nebuchadnezzar's life and reign. As the Rabbinic Seder Olam (written c.200 – c.500 CE) attests, Daniel's dating is intricately tied to the Jerusalem Temple events. This emphasis on the Temple events underscores their profound impact on Daniel's narrative and the historical context in which it unfolds.

History tells us that Nebuchadnezzar, already a great general having defeated Egypt, became king after the death of Nabopolassar, his father, which everyone seems to agree was in 605 BCE. Based on this firm date, when would the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign be? There is a dating problem here:

According to standard biblical reckoning, Daniel and his companions were enslaved in 606 BCE when Jerusalem was defeated by the Will of HaShem - after which they were in training for three years in the court of Nebuchadnezzar. Secular dating, however, generally has the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE, 20 years later.

Determining the correct date is vital when calculating Daniel's prophetic timeline, especially in chapter nine, as discussed in due course. Rabbinic scholars usually accept the secular date, 586, for the destruction of Jerusalem as accurate, while Christian scholars tend to hold to the 606 date. In either case, Nebuchadnezzar's dream should have occurred sometime after Daniel and his associates were brought to Babylon, following the destruction, but before they completed their three-year training program.

If we accept that Daniel's dating of the king is from Babylon's conquest of Jerusalem, as Rashi and others calculate, we still have a gap in the timeline if we take the standard biblical dating here. If it occurred in 604 (two years into their training), it suggests that Nebuchadnezzar didn't become king before Jerusalem's destruction, which history and Daniel reject. If we accept the standard secular dating, Daniel would have been older than the texts suggest when he began schooling and probably would not have been enrolled in their education system. So neither date is without problems. Rashi sheds little helpful light on this verse:

"It is impossible to say this [i.e., that it was the second year of his reign], except that [it happened] in the second year after the destruction of the Temple."

But when was that? To further complicate the calculations, the Jewish Chabad website says "Daniel lived between 457-362 BCE." They add that "King Nebuchadnezzar conquered the Land of Judea in 442 BCE." These dates are completely different from those generally accepted.

For a contrast: The Watchtower Society says:

Daniel grew up in Judah, a kingdom that included the city of Jerusalem and the Jewish temple. In 617 B.C.E., the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, captured Jerusalem and carried off "the foremost men of the land" into exile in Babylon. (2 Kings 24:15; Daniel 1:1) Daniel, who was probably a teenager at the time, was taken with them.

The Seventh Day Adventists who are big on prophecy teach:

The siege of Jerusalem began in earnest in January, 588 b.c., and lasted until the late summer of 586 b.c. Jerusalem had been able to hold out for more than two years before Jeremiah's prophetic words were fulfilled, and the Babylonian troops broke through the wall and destroyed the city.

The verdict is still out on the exact dates, but circa 586 BCE is the most widely accepted date for the destruction and the beginning of Israel's seventy-year captivity in Babylon. However, the circa 606 dating does explain why the Jewish teenagers, captured in 606, were included among those seers to be slain, according to verses 13 and 18, even though verses 14-15 imply they had not yet been informed about the king's ultimatum, i.e., they were still in training and considered unqualified to have an opinion about the interpretation of the king's dream. Also, if the generally accepted date for Cyrus freeing the Jews is correct (Ezra 1:2-4; 6:2-5), that being 538 BCE, their 70 years of captivity would bring the destruction to 608 BCE, so circa 606 has support. More on this in chapter nine.

At this juncture, Daniel and the other Jewish slaves had been in Babylon for two years, still in the process of their Chaldean education. The Babylonians conquered Egypt and Judah, destroyed the Jerusalem Temple, and became the world's superpower. Throughout this period, Daniel and his associates had been immersing themselves in the language and culture of the Babylonians, all the while steadfastly refusing to assimilate into their Pagan Nephilim ways.

Rabbinic critics of Daniel, and there are many, argue that he appears to be serving Nebuchadnezzar with unwavering loyalty, a charge they deem treasonous. However, Daniel and his associates are following the prophetic command of Jeremiah, as we see in chapter one of this study (Jeremiah 27). Despite the challenging circumstances, Daniel's obedience to God's order is a testament to his character and should be commended, not criticized.

2:2 The king [Nebuchanezer] ordered the magicians, exorcists, sorcerers, and Chaldeans to be summoned in order to tell the king what he had dreamed. They came and stood before the king,

2:3 and the king said to them, "I have had a dream and I am full of anxiety to know what I have dreamed."

2:4 The Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic, "O king, live forever! Relate the dream to your servants, and we will tell its meaning."

In this context, "the Chaldeans" refers to a particular group of Chaldeans. Hence, we read, "And he said, Khartoums [or Chaldeans] - they are the sages of history who know the main things and the history of everything and all the deeds that will occur, and so it is written in the Khartoums of Egypt." These "Chaldeans" were the elite Nephilim scholars and guides of Babylon, disciples of Nimrod and Semiraimis. They 'had the ear' of the King of Babylon and skillfully manipulated his and the following world kingdoms. The Nephilim continue to guide the nations today, leading us toward planetary destruction and homo deus (or in reality homo diablos) replacement as I discuss in From the Nephilim to Magog: The Historic Sweep of Globalism

Concerning languages: At the beginning of the present age (the Olam Hazeh), Elohim, the Creator of everything, gave a single language to the human family. As there was only one language, it needed no specific name. This language is known as Lashon HaKodesh or the "Holy Tongue," usually referred to as Paleo-Hebrew or Proto-Sinaitic script. The Book of Daniel was written in Aramaic. Aramaic is an early offshoot of Lashon HaKodesh spoken throughout the Middle East. Note that Aramaic has no direct connection with Arabic. The two languages are similar in their alphabet and grammar, but they have different roots. Aramaic is a Northwestern Semitic language, while Arabic is a Central Semitic language. Aramaic has more in common with Hebrew and Amharic (the official language of Ethiopia) than with Arabic.

Following the rise of the Nephilim, recorded in Genesis 6:1–2, and the destruction of Nimrod and Semiraimis' Tower of Babel (Genesis 11), Lashon HaKodesh, the original language, continued as Ivrit: the language of a righteous man named Ever (or Eber). Ever (emphasis on the long e: "eever") was the great-grandson of Noah's son Shem. Hence, he was a "Shemite," which is the origin of the term "Semite" (from 'Shem-ite'). The original human and Semitic language is thus called Ivrit or Hebrew (from the name Eber). Modern Hebrew is derived from biblical Hebrew, which is from the original pre-Babel proto-Hebrew.

Ever was the father of Peleg, born when Ever was 34 years old and of Yoktan. Ever was the son of Shelah, an ancestor of Abraham. Ever's historicity is thus solidly established; he was not a conglomerate of unknown persons but a living man with known descendants. According to the Hebrew Bible, Ever died at the age of 464, which was within the average lifespans at the time according to the biblical record.

Ivrit remained in regular use as a first language from Adam and Chavah until after 200 CE. After that, the Holy Tongue survived mainly as the liturgical and scholarly language of Judaism and Samaritanism (the Samaritans descended from Jewish half-breeds and are today nearing extinction as a people). But Ivrit was revived as a spoken language in the 19th century by the Zionists and is again a recognized First Language. Ivrit is the only successful large-scale linguistic revival. The various Canaanite languages, like Aramaic, arose from Ivrit (not the other way around). Ivrit is the only Canaanite-classified language still spoken and one of only two Northwest Semitic languages - the other being Aramaic. The Israelite Patriarchs and Matriarchs spoke Ivrit, and the Tanach, other than the Book of Daniel, is written in Ivrit.

Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic are all classified as "Semitic languages," but this is incorrect. Hebrew is the only actual Semitic language because it alone was the language of Shem and Ever.

Arabic is an Arabian language related to a family of ancient languages such as Phoenician and Akkadian. Arabic constitutes the main subgroup of the Afro-Asiatic linguistic family.

Daniel and his fellow Hebrew-speaking slaves spoke Ivrit as their first language but were educated in Aramaic by the court of King Nebuchadnezzar. The Book of Daniel is the only canonical book not written in Ivrit.

2:5 The king [i.e., Nebuchadnezzar] said in reply to the Chaldeans, "I hereby decree: If you will not make the dream and its meaning known to me, you shall be torn limb from limb and your houses confiscated.

2:6 But if you tell the dream and its meaning, you shall receive from me gifts, presents, and great honor; therefore, tell me the dream and its meaning."

2:7 Once again they answered, "Let the king relate the dream to his servants, and we will tell its meaning."

2:8,9 The king said in reply, "It is clear to me that you are stalling for time, since you see that I have decreed that if you do not make the dream known to me, there is but one verdict for you. You have conspired to tell me something false and fraudulent until circumstances change; so relate the dream to me, and I will then know that you can tell its meaning."

2:10 The Chaldeans said in reply to the king, "There is no one on earth who can satisfy the king's demand, for great king, none has ever asked such a thing of any magician, exorcist, or Chaldean.

2:11 The thing asked by the king is difficult; there is no one who can tell it to the king except the gods whose abode is not among mortals."

2:12 Whereupon the king flew into a violent rage, and gave an order to do away with all the wise men of Babylon.

2:13 The decree condemning the wise men to death was issued. Daniel and his [three] companions were about to be put to death

2:14 when Daniel logically argued with Arioch, the captain of the royal guard who had set out to put the wise men of Babylon to death.

2:15 He [Daniel] spoke up and said to Arioch, the royal officer, "Why is the decree of the king so urgent?" Thereupon Arioch informed Daniel of the matter.

We have a quandary here. The text says Daniel spoke up and said to Arioch, the royal officer, "Why is the decree of the king so urgent?" Thereupon, Arioch informed Daniel of the matter. Does this mean that Arioch had been told the dream and passed the information on to Daniel? If so, Daniel only needed to learn the interpretation. Or does it mean that Arioch explained to Daniel the predicament the seers were in and that Daniel had to ascertain both the dream and the interpretation like the others, or he, too, would be executed? This later interpretation seems more feasible given that Babylon was so steeped in the occult arts that the king demanded proof. Otherwise, Daniel could do what the king accused the others of doing, basing his interpretation on human logic. The king and Daniel's readers were being shown the divine source of Daniel's interpretation. Also, as discussed above, the Hebrew students had only been in the Palace for two or three years and had yet to graduate to the stage of official seers. It makes sense that they, still viewed as neophytes, would not have been consulted about the issue. However, precisely what Arioch told Daniel is not included in the text, so this is conjecture.

2:16 So Daniel went to ask the king for time, that he might tell the meaning to the king.

This verse supports the latter interpretation: Once Daniel learned of the situation, he requested more time to seek HaShem's Wisdom, suggesting he had not done so before.

2:17 Then Daniel went to his house and informed his companions, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, of the matter,

2:18 that they might implore the God of Heaven for help regarding this mystery, so that Daniel and his colleagues would not be put to death together with the other wise men of Babylon.

2:19 The mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision; then Daniel blessed the God of Heaven.

Here is an excellent example of hitbodedut or personal communion with HaShem. There are different sorts of prayer. Some are rote, and others are spontaneous and arise from our hearts. Sometimes, we praise God; sometimes, we meditate on His glory; sometimes, we request His aid in various ways; and sometimes, we express our gratitude. Then, we quiet ourselves and await His reply. In all cases, wise people turn to HaShem first, as Daniel does throughout the text. We can always seek God directly without any mediators. Daniel, as discussed at the outset, was a prophet. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were not, yet they all sought HaShem's insights and help.

2:20 Daniel spoke up and said:
"Let the Name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power are His.

He changes times and seasons,
Removes kings and installs kings;
He gives the wise their wisdom
And knowledge to those who know.

2:21-23 He reveals deep and hidden things,
He knows what is in the darkness,
And light dwells with Him.

I acknowledge and praise You,
O God of my fathers,
You who have given me wisdom and power,
For now You have let me know what we asked of You;
You have let us know what concerns the king."

2:24 Thereupon Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to do away with the wise men of Babylon; he came and said to him as follows, "Do not do away with the wise men of Babylon; bring me to the king and I will tell the king the meaning!"

2:25 So Arioch rushed Daniel into the king's presence and said to him, "I have found among the exiles of Judah a man who can make the meaning known to the king!"

2:26 The king said in reply to Daniel (who was called Belteshazzar), "Can you really make known to me the dream that I saw and its meaning?"

2:27 Daniel answered the king and said, "The mystery about which the king has inquired—wise men, exorcists, magicians, and diviners cannot tell to the king.

2:28 But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what is to be at the end of days. This is your dream and the vision that entered your mind in bed:

Here, Daniel uses the term "end of days." This term needs to be understood contextually and without presumption. "End of days" is also used in Daniel 1:18, 4:34, and 12:13. The term refers to the end of some period or event, not the objective end of the age or world, as some suppose. Misapplying this term can lead one astray from correctly understanding the topic.

Let's take Daniel 4:34 as an example. The phrase 'at the end of the days' here marks the conclusion of Nebuchadnezzar's werewolf-like punishment. After this 'end of days,' HaShem reinstated him as king. This instance illustrates that the term signifies the end of a specific period or event that a person or nation must endure. While it could potentially denote the end of the age, it's not a definitive interpretation. 'End of days' generally doesn't pertain to the 'end of the age' or 'end of time.' The context is the key to unlocking the precise meaning. < br> < br> On the other hand, the phrases' end of time,' 'end of the age,' or 'time of the end' typically refer to the conclusion of the Olam Hazeh, the current world order designated for humanity to seek fulfillment until they recognize that God's Way is superior to ours. Following the 'end of the age,' a new era, known as the Olam Haba or World to Come, will commence. Again, the context is crucial in determining the exact meaning. < br> < br> Like other prophets, Daniel sometimes demonstrates how the imminent or present "end of days" acts as signposts, warnings to return to the Torah since the "end of the age" is always approaching. Therefore, wise people heed the events of their lives as opportunities to prepare for what lies ahead, to make teshuvah.

Daniel speaks of the "end of time" (or end of this age) in places like Daniel 11:35, 40, 12:4, and chapter 9. One more point about this: Sometimes interpreters perceive dual meanings. For example, even as Nebuchadnezzar temporarily loses his kingdom and is forced to live like a therianthrope or Were-Creature, as we will read later, many see a double meaning in the text where the Jews lose their sovereignty for some time due to their rebelliousness against God but eventually return to HaShem and are restored. The prophets reveal many such cases. Possible dual prophecies and "types" must be evaluated carefully, lest one see them where they do not exist. For example, not all texts mentioning water are codes for the waters of the Sea of Reeds, the waters of Miraba, and so on. Or, as has been said, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."

2:29 O king, the thoughts that came to your mind in your bed are about future events; He who reveals mysteries has let you know what is to happen.

2:30 Not because my wisdom is greater than that of other creatures has this mystery been revealed to me, but in order that the meaning should be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your mind.

The Great Statue Prophecy

In Nebuchadnezzar's day, gigantic religious and political statues were common. He doubtless saw the Sphinx, the pyramids, and many such wonderous shrines during his conquests in Egypt. Such tributes, he determined, should be built to declare his glory. Such giant structures reflected the king or god's power and served as a warning to any who might oppose that power. Daniel and his associates were ordered to bow before such statues (Daniel 3:14-25), but this statue was different. HaShem used this image to teach the king and us about the kings and Nephilim gods to come onto the world stage as part of the path of redemption. Yochanan warns of a similar statue of the coming Rex Mundi that you and I may have to contend with: "And he had the power to give life unto the image of the Beast, that the image of the Beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the Beast killed (Revelation 13:15). History does repeat. As has been said, Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.

2:31 "O king, as you looked on, there appeared a great statue. This statue, which was huge and its brightness surpassing, stood before you, and its appearance was awesome."

Here, Daniel's prophetic insights into the world's future begin. The first world ruler and successor of Nimrod of Babel and the Nephilim Elite, the mighty Nebuchadnezzar, is shown to be nothing but a puppet in God's hands.

Daniel's prophetic insights in this book are foundational to those of the other prophets - both those of the Tanach and those of the Way Jewish Sect (as we saw when studying Yochanan's Revelation). Daniel describes the then-future world powers HaShem will raise and use to lead humanity step by step into the Olam Haba in this first prophecy. As Daniel says a bit further on, "The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of humanity and gives it to whom He chooses, and sets over them even the lowliest' (4:17).

Although mortal kingdoms begin with great pomp and circumstance, as demonstrated in part by the head of gold, their feet are always clay. Mortal men are all fallible even when they begin with positive intentions. The modern belief that human societies are evolving is false, wishful thinking at best. Human societies are devolving back to the enslavement of Nimrod's Nephilim ideal. This is the true purpose of the Great Reset To Paganism now being pushed onto homo sapiens humanity.

2:32,33 The head of that statue was of fine gold; its breast and arms were of silver; its belly and thighs, of bronze;

its legs were of iron, and its feet part iron and part clay. 2:34 As you looked on, a stone was hewn out, not by hands, and struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them.

2:35 All at once, the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were crushed, and became like chaff of the threshing floors of summer; a wind carried them off until no trace of them was left. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

2:36 "Such was the dream, and we will now tell the king its meaning.

Daniel will now interpret this image but let us understand the identity of "the stone not cut by human hands." This stone is the altar of HaShem (Exodus 20:25). For a little while, HaShem used the "Times of Gentile Rule" to humble His people and the world. But in due course, Adonai, our Rock and Mighty Fortress (Psalm 18:2, 62:6-8), will destroy the Gentile kingdoms and establish His own rule through the king of His choosing, Mashiach ben David (Haggai 2:6).

2:37 You, O king, are a king over kings, to whom the God of Heaven has given kingdom, power, might, and glory;

2:38 into whose hands He has given humanity, wild beasts, and the fowl of heaven, wherever they may dwell; and to whom He has given dominion over them all—you are the head of gold.

One good thing about Daniel's prophecies is that he often gives the mystery followed by the interpretation, as he does here. Nebuchadnezzar's mighty Babylon was the first of four global empires. During Babylon's period of greatness, no other nation could compete with it. This is what we mean when we speak of a true world power. Only four empires have managed to achieve this level of world domination. Babylon was the first and the golden crown of them all.

2:39 But another kingdom will arise after you, inferior to yours; then yet a third kingdom, of bronze, which will rule over the whole earth.

2:40 But the fourth kingdom will be as strong as iron; just as iron crushes and shatters everything—and like iron that smashes—so will it crush and smash all these.

The Four Globalist Kingdoms:

I. The head: Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian Empire.
II. The arms and breast: Cyrus the Great and the Medo-Persian Empire.
III. The abdomen: Alexander the Great and the Grecian Empire.
IV. The legs: The Roman Empire, which divided East and West.

These four global kingdoms are unique in world history. As we will see, the fourth kingdom never actually fell. It continues to exist through the "feet and toes" of the image.

2:41 You saw the feet and the toes, part potter's clay and part iron; that means it will be a divided kingdom; it will have only some of the stability of iron, inasmuch as you saw iron mixed with common clay.

Daniel will make these designations more evident as we continue. The seed and root of power and authority for all four empires was the same: the Nephilim of Babel. They are the "hidden government" behind all governments, and their agenda has been ongoing throughout human history. They answer to no one beyond their infernal lodges and bend their knees only as HaShem requires. He allows them great power, but only to the degree the homo sapiens accept to preserve our free will. This agreement is the impetus of the ancient belief that vampires must be invited into a home to enter. The more evil humanity embraces, the more expansive the Nephilim influence is permitted. Homo sapiens minimize or enhance their power as they choose. Without this understanding, history appears to be a random assortment of meaningless events, but with this biblical understanding, everything makes sense. Humanity has currently all but surrendered to the Nephilim.

Rome's Imperial Period began with the rise of its first emperor in 31 BCE. Some scholars say the Empire lasted until the fall of Rome in 476 CE, when the Western Empire, ruled by Romulus Augustulus, fell before the Germanic barbarian king Odoacer in Italy. The Roman Senate sent the imperial insignia to the Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno. But the Empire lived on. The Empire lasted until 1453 as the Byzantine Empire, which eventually fell before the Muslim Turks. However, those with a deeper understanding of prophetic history realize that the empire never fell. It merely divested its public assets and trappings. The Roman Republic became the Roman Empire, which in time became the Roman Orders and Rites. Rome continues to reign over the world through the European Royals and various secreted orders and societies within and without the Roman Catholic Church and Vatican City, geographically the smallest nation on earth but one of the most powerful by influence. The Empire's public side is now partially restored through the European Union, Davos, Bilderberg, Bohemian Grove, the various EU-sponsored economic unions, the G-5, G-8, etc.

After the public collapse of the Roman Empire, no other single power arose to replace it east or west—regional powers without Rome's greatness, ruled by competing weak and corrupt leaders and ideologies, took over and were soon replaced by the Roman-Merovingian Royals. The Roman Empire never "fell" in the sense of its three predecessors. It continues to reign as the Globalist Shadow Government. The Roman Empire reorganized itself into various factions, political houses, Church conventions, orders, and countries, each carrying on the Nephilim paradigms and traditions and bidding their time until their most awesome emperor is ready to make his public debut: the Rex Mundi, the "Man Crueler-than-Haman," the "Man of sin," the "Son of Perdition," "Al Dijal," "Dev Kalki," or as most widely conceive, "the anti-Christ."

2:42 And the toes were part iron and part clay; that [means] the kingdom will be in part strong and in part brittle.

2:43 You saw iron mixed with common clay; that means: they shall intermingle with the offspring of men, but shall not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.

The kingdoms that arose from the Roman Empire tried in vain several times to reestablish the Empire. Nepolian, Mucilini, Hitler, and the EU are only four examples. Yet, these attempts always failed because HaShem decreed the Roman offspring would not "adhere to one another." But through them, the Nephilim are always active, seeking to "intermingle with the offspring of men," as this verse plainly states. The final attempt to reforge the Roman Empire will be the Global Union of the "Man More Cruel than Haman" as foretold in the Talmud and elsewhere:

Sanhedrin Folio 97a: ...Thus hath R. Johanan said: in the generation when the son of David [i.e., Messiah] will come, scholars will be few in number, and as for the rest, their eyes will fail through sorrow and grief. Multitudes of trouble and evil decrees will be promulgated anew, each new evil coming with haste before the other has ended.' Sanhedrin 97b: ... Rab said: All the predestined dates [for redemption] have passed, and the matter [now] depends only on repentance and good deeds... R. Eliezer said that if Israel repents, they will be redeemed; if not, they will not. R. Joshua said to him that if they do not repent, they will not be redeemed! [i.e., not so] But the Holy One, blessed be He, will set up a king over them, whose decrees shall be as cruel as Haman's, whereby Israel shall engage in repentance, and he will thus bring them back to the right path.

Daniel discusses this coming despot, as we will see. The kingdom of this yet future Son of Perdition, like all the other attempts, will fail:

2:44 And in the time of those kings, the God of Heaven will establish a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, a kingdom that shall not be transferred to another people. It will crush and wipe out all these kingdoms, but shall itself last forever.

The text now clearly states that the fourth kingdom - the Roman Empire - would split into two legs (signifying the Western Empire with its Papal Church and the Eastern Empire with its Greek Church) into "ten" smaller kingdoms, ten being the number of toes. Since we are dealing with a simile here, the statue, it is unclear if the empire would subdivide into ten literal kingdoms or if the text means that Rome would be no more, leaving only fragments of its former greatness. A general rule of thumb is that when a prophecy makes sense literally, take it that way. When not, seek to understand the concealed meaning. In this case, although it makes sense to interpret these as ten literal kingdoms that would arise from the Roman Empire and succeed it - because the "legs" are not literal - it makes at least equal sense to view the number ten as signifying the complete structure passing into diverse power structures rather than as ten literal countries. Besides, when Rome collapsed, it did not do so into ten identifiable kingdoms. Hindsight is, as they say, 20/20.

2:45 Just as you saw how a stone was hewn from the mountain, not by hands, and crushed the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. The great God has made known to the king what will happen in the future. The dream is sure and its interpretation reliable."

It is HaShem Himself, the divine orchestrator of all things, who will bring about the downfall of the Global Government (Exodus 14:14). He will accomplish this through the actions of two anointed men: Mashiach ben Yosef and Mashiach ben David. Mashiach ben Yosef will restore the Ten Northern Houses of Israel and conquer the Globalist forces across all the lands granted to Avraham's descendants. His heroic deeds will culminate in the Battle of Armegeddon, leading to the ascension of Mashiach ben David as King. At this point, the prophecy of Genesis 12:3 will be fully realized: "I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed." < br> < br> Now, King Nebuchadnezzar understood his dream and its interpretation, and so do we.

2:46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar prostrated himself and paid homage to Daniel and ordered that a meal offering and pleasing offerings be made to him.

2:47 The king said in reply to Daniel, "Truly your God must be the God of gods and Lord of kings and the revealer of mysteries to have enabled you to reveal this mystery."

2:48 The king then elevated Daniel and gave him very many gifts, and made him governor of the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect of all the wise men of Babylon.

2:49 At Daniel's request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego to administer the province of Babylon; while Daniel himself was at the king's court.

Continue to Chapter Three

* © This series is by John of AllFaith, © April 12, 1997 (last updated May 12,2024)



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