Chapter LXXVII.
THE PROPHET DANIEL— THE THREE YOUNG MEN
IN THE FIERY FURNACE.
[Dan. 2— 3 ]
NABUCHODONOZOR had a dream[1] which terrified[2] him greatly. He saw a large statue[3]; the head was of gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, the legs of iron, and the feet part iron and part clay. Then he noticed a stone rolling[4] from the mountain, which struck the statue on the feet and shattered it; and behold, the stone became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. None of the wise men [5] could interpret the dream [6]. Whereupon the king passed sentence of death upon all the wise men. Then Daniel came to the executioner, saying: Do not kill the wise men, but bring me before the king, and I will tell him the solution of the dream. Daniel first told the king that no one but the God of heaven and earth revealeth mysteries, and then proceeded to explain the dream.
The whole statue signified the great empires of the world that would succeed each other. The head of gold betokened the reign of Nabuchodonozor himself, most glorious among kings; the breast and the arms of silver represented the next empire, that of the Medes and Persians; the belly and the thighs of brass prefigured the dominion of Alexander the Great; the legs and
- ↑ Dream. A vision shown to him in the night.
- ↑ Terrified. When he awoke he knew that he had had a dream which had filled him with fear, but he could not remember what it was. The cause of his fear is fully explained by Daniel's description, for the crashing fall of the huge statue must have been terrible.
- ↑ Statue. The parts of the statue were made of different materials: the lower the part, the less costly the material.
- ↑ A stone rolling. Without the intervention of man.
- ↑ The wise men. They were required not only to interpret the dream, but to recall to the king’s mind what the dream was. This was asking a great deal; but the king made the demand, because these wise men gave out that there was nothing they did not know; so that he thought he was requiring nothing unreasonable.
- ↑ The dream. Because of their failure to interpret the dream, all the wise men were condemned to death. Daniel and his friends were included in the con demnation, for they came under the category of ‘wise men’.
