Daniel Receives the Answer to the King's Dilemma - Daniel 2: 14-27

Prayer for Illumination and Daniel 2 in Context

Let's open in prayer. Father we are grateful that you are not handicapped by technology. That you are above all of this. You are the great mighty God and you gave us your word so that we could understand and worship you.

So that we could be saved by your son the Lord Jesus Christ. This morning as we look into your word in the book of Daniel. We pray for insight and for illumination and More than anything Lord that we might glorify you and in your words see your greatness and we'll thank you for that.

In Jesus name. Amen.

So we're going to be in Daniel again. Chapter 2. We left off on verse 13 last time we were together so I would like to read from. We'll read from chapter 2 verse 4. Yeah, that doesn't seem appropriate but.

It's a big chapter. We're gonna read through. Uh, let me just kind of take a check here and see how far.

I think we'll get today. That's a dream on kid.

Chapter 2 verse 4 through 30. We'll read through verse 30 Daniel. Chapter 2 verse 4 through 30. Then the Chaldeans spoke up spoke to the king in Aramaic. Oh king live forever now. He's at by the way to set the stage.

He's asked them to tell him his dream and the interpretation and he's not going to tell them what the dream was.

They have to.

Well in their particular situation guess it Daniel won't have to guess. Then the Chaldeans spoke up to the king in Aramaic Oh king live forever. Tell the dream to your servants and we will declare the interpretation.

The king answered and said to the Chaldeans The command from me is firm if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation. You will be torn limb from limb and your houses will be made a rubbish heap.

Just just a question when in your home schools when your kids read. You don't use this on them. Do you? If they read badly, okay good. But if you declare the dream verse 6 and its interpretation you will receive from me gifts and a reward and great honor.

Therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation. They answered a second time and said let the king tell the dream to his servants and we will declare the interpretation. The king answered and said I know for certain that you are bargaining for time in as much as you have seen.

That the command from me is firm that if you do not make the dream known to me There is only one decree for you for you have agreed all to you have all agreed together To speak lying and corrupt words before me until the situation has changed.

Therefore tell me the dream that I may know that you can declare to me its interpretation. The Chaldeans answered the king and said there is not a man on earth who could declare the matter for the king in as much As no no great king or ruler is has ever asked anything like this of any magician conjurer or Chaldean.

Moreover the thing which the king demands is difficult and there is no one else who could who could declare it to the king except Gods whose dwelling place is not with mortal flesh. Because of this the king became indignant and very furious and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.

So the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain and they look for Daniel and his friends to kill them. Then Daniel replied with discretion and Discernment to Ariok the captain of the king's bodyguard who had gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon.

He answered and said to Ariok the king's commander for what reason is the decree from the king so urgent. Then Ariok informed Daniel about the matter. So Daniel went in and requested of the king that he would give him time in order that he might declare the interpretation to the King.

Then Daniel went to his house and informed his friends Hananiah Mishael and Azariah about the matter in order that they might request compassion from the God of heaven according Concerning this mystery so that Daniel and his friends might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said let the name of God be blessed forever and ever for wisdom and power Belonged to him and it is he who changes the times and epics.

He removes kings and establishes kings. He gives wisdom to wise men and Acknowledged and knowledge to men of understanding. It is he who reveals the profound and hidden things. He knows what is in the darkness and the light dwells with him to thee O God of my fathers I give thanks and praise for that has given me wisdom and power.

Even now thou has made known to me what we requested of thee for thou has made known to us the Kings matter. Therefore Daniel went into Ariok whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon.

He went and spoke to him as follows. Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon. Take me into the king's presence and I will declare the interpretation to the king. Then Ariok hurriedly brought Daniel into the king's presence and spoke to him as follows.

I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can make the interpretation known to the king. The king answered and said to Daniel whose name was Belteshazzar. Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation?

Daniel answered before the king and said as for the mystery about which the king is inquired neither wise men conjurers Magicians nor diviners are able to declare it to the king. However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar.

What will take place in the latter days? This was your dream and the visions you had and the visions in your mind while on your bed as for you King. Oh King while on your bed your thoughts turned to what would take place in the future and he who reveals mysteries Has made known to you what will take place.

But as for me the mystery has not been revealed to me for any wisdom residing in me anymore. But as for me this mystery has not been revealed to me for any wisdom residing in me more than in any other living man but for the purpose of making the interpretation known to the king and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind and I did forget to grab my.

Babylon's Death Decree and Daniel's Calm Response

Clicker, so give me just a moment here and in keeping with the technological issues of the day.

On you think that means something what do you bet? Okay contact. Let me find out where we're at with this. And we will get started. Thank you of your patience. Peter is gone who manages all of this and Josh is gone who manages Peter so Let me just find out where we were at.

So we finished up with verse 13 last time and at verse 13 The king has asked The wise men the conjures the astrologers and the Chaldeans to tell him his dream without telling them what it was and then to interpret it to give him the meaning of the dream and He's asked them twice.

They've actually they've objected and they have recognized that they can't do it. And so they've said to the king nobody can do this. And so as we talked about last time, this is a perfect setup that the Lord of Heaven has designed so that when the interpretation comes everyone will know that it came from the God of heaven it did not come from a man and Daniel you will see is careful to be Humble and let everyone know around it's not him who has interpreted this but rather the God of heaven.

So there went forth a decree that the wise men should be slain and they look for Daniel and his friends to kill them. So everybody dies and remember as we were talking last time That only the older wise men Chaldeans astrologers and diviners would have been summoned to work with the king on this because Daniel and his three friends had just finished their time of training and They weren't ready to be ushered into the presence of the king to give advice yet.

That would come a little bit later as they worked with the other wise men. So they're not there. They're not even there. They're not part of the group that said we can't do this. But yet because the wise men of Babylon couldn't do it Daniel and his friends must die as well does seem kind of unfair but Babylonian rulers were not known for their fairness.

So then verse 14 Daniel replies with discretion and discernment to Ariok the captain of the king's bodyguard who had gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon the 20 approximately 20 year old Daniels response to imminent death in Most likely a cruel and harsh manner was remarkable and I did mention this a few months back or a few weeks back I was thinking about describing to you some of the ways that the Babylonians killed their captors, but they are so gruesome.

This would this would be pg -13 hot Sunday school so I'm not going to you're just gonna have to read it for yourself and if you want to but But suffice it to say they didn't just shoot him. They didn't just hang him.

It was really awful what they would do so Daniel his composure was remarkable because he knew he'd seen what had happened. He'd seen Nebuchadnezzar put out Zedekiah's eyes and Do other things like that.

Nothing further is known of Ariok, but he was obviously Nebuchadnezzar's executioner. Daniel approached this powerful and dangerous man with calmness and dignity. This would not have been missed by Ariok some translators assumed by the way verse 13 is worded that some of the executions had already taken place a Thorough reading of this entire section in context indicates otherwise.

But Ariok's known task would add urgency to Daniel's need to see the king. He would know that as far as I can let me back up as far as I can tell in Reading this entire section in context. I don't believe any of the executions that occurred yet I believe they were still rounding up all of the wise men seers and and Chaldeans and diviners and astrologers in the kingdom to bring them to one place to kill them all and so Daniel Encourages Ariok to.

He approaches Ariok in verse 13 verse 14. Verse 15 and then we'll ask if there's any questions. He says to Ariok the king's commander for what reason is the decree from the king so urgent? So Daniel doesn't really know the whole story yet.

He just knows he's gonna die. He doesn't even know why. So whenever you feel like you're being treated unfair keep this story in mind, you're gonna die why it doesn't matter. You're just gonna die.

Buck up.

Then Ariok informed Daniel about the matter so Daniel could not understand why one day things were so were somewhat normal. And then all of a sudden. Potentially hundreds of people were to be slain including himself.

What could have caused this urgency? I can imagine what was going through Daniel's. Was there a coup an attempted coup did did somebody try to take over the crown? What could have happened to cause the king to decide to kill all of his divine all of his wise men?

The fact that the fact that he was able to approach Ariok is instructive in itself. What could be so terrible that all the wise Kings wise men had to be killed. Daniel would have had the natural curiosity of?

His age or of anybody's age I guess but also a healthy dose of the survival instinct. Then in a characteristically uninformative manner. Uninformative manner Daniel writes that he was informed about the matter by the executioner.

That's all he says in the book. Likely this would have included a fair amount of description and conversation at any rate. Daniel now knows what he needs to do. So when he asked Ariok what could have caused this and the scripture says that Ariok informed Daniel of the situation.

About the matter that probably took a bit of time to explain to him that the All the conjurers had come in the king had a dream asked them to give him the dream and the interpretation. They whined about it.

He said you're all gonna die if you don't do it and they whined again, and now they're all gonna die. So that was there. I kind of shortened it up for you so. Likely this would have like I said included a fair amount of conversation and Daniel would have asked questions back and forth.

He was a very very intuitive and as we can tell from the scripture both humble and. But he was a very smart young man. So all of this takes place and then we'll get to verse 16, but are there any questions about 14 and 15 before we move on?

Verse 16 so Daniel went in now. So he just goes in and he requests of the king. He just goes into the king and he requests of him to give him time in order that he might declare the interpretation to the king now.

Here's another statement delightfully compact that implies much. How did Daniel get access to the king as a counselor who had just been condemned to death? Why would the king see him later? We see the king we see Daniel brought to the king by Ariok.

And so it is likely that this interview with the king was facilitated by the commander as well. It wasn't like he just barged in. He would know better first of all and There was a procedure for being given s access to the king which was followed later.

So the anticipation would be that it was followed at this time. Ariok probably introduced him that morning to the king now. This area is the executioner in this brief Summary, it is likely is likely that Daniel convinced the king that he could interpret the dream.

But he just needed to be given a bit of time. Earlier the king would not take five or ten minutes to detail his dream to the counselors. Now he's apparently willing to wait a bit to see if Daniel can give him the interpretation of his dream.

The idea is a set time. Daniel asks for a set time. We don't know what that particular amount of time was. But the fact is the sovereignty of Jehovah is apparent here. He is he is superintending this entire process.

Why would the king give Daniel a 20 year old time when all of his interpreters couldn't do it all of his? Counselors I should say couldn't do it. God was working through this situation marvelously. Then Daniel went to his house verse 17 and informed his friends Hananiah Mishael and Azariah about the matter either.

Daniel Hananiah Mishael and Azariah lived in the same home where they simply spent quite a bit of time together. Because when Daniel went to his house, they were there. Of course, he could have gone to his house and summoned them there at any rate.

He informs them about the matter. Hey guys, we're all gonna die. Have a nice day and it's gonna be by Ways that I'm not gonna tell you about this must have been a very disconcerting conversation between these four young men.

And.

Imagine at that age having to be dealing with this kind of thing imminent death if you don't Hear a dream and then interpret it but not from the king. You don't get the information. You have to get it from somewhere else.

So then for 17s. Then Daniel went to his house and informed his friends Hananiah Mishael and Azariah about the matter so that verse 18 They might request compassion from the God of heaven Concerning this mystery so that Daniel his friends would not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon now.

Here we see the purpose of Daniel's quick trick up trip quick trip home. He wanted to spend some time in prayer with his friends. Remember later on what got him into the Daniel. What got him into the lion's den.

Y 'all know the story. What happened? What was he doing that got him into the lion's den? He was praying. Daniel was a praying man from the earliest age on he was brought up. I'm certain in a home that gave great Credence and great authority and great weight to prayer.

So they would seek mercy from God acknowledging that what they were asking about was truly a mystery. They needed God's insight and help. This was not something they could do themselves. Not only were they completely helpless, but they faced imminent death.

Daniel's immediate concern was for himself and his three friends but the ultimate result of this selfless request and Subsequent actions would be the preservation of the rest of the case of all of the magicians astrologers sorcerers and Chaldeans so if Daniel gets this grant of mercy from God and Is able to do what has been asked by the king not only would he and his three friends be preserved but all of the Chaldeans Sorcerers astronomers astrologers and magicians be preserved.

Any questions about 18 17 and 18? Yes. Yeah.

That's a good point and one that will be brought out when we get to that. Don't you find it amazing that he did this not just for himself. But for the others. And then later they turned on him. Rick says good point good good observation.

And that is often what happens in the life of a believer. You will do something for someone else. And then later they'll turn on you. Do it anyway. If it's the right thing. Do it anyway. Daniel gives thought to this.

He and his three friends pray and. Then the mystery was revealed. It says in verse 19 to Daniel in a night vision. Daniel then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. So saw God sovereignly revealed the dream and its interpretation to Daniel.

Now when we get into this dream. I Have a dream this big but hey, you know dreams can happen pretty fast, I guess. So God sovereignly reveals the dream and its interpretation to Daniel. Daniel's immediate response is to praise God.

The language in this verse implies both but by the way that the vision was a Waking vision and not something that came to Daniel in his sleep. The Chaldean the Persian language. The Aramaic language, excuse me has different words for.

This kind of situation and this particular word is a waking vision. Daniel was not asleep. Verse 20. Then Daniel said first thing he says let the name of God be blessed forever and ever for wisdom and power belong to him.

Daniel's praise includes elements that would have been inspired by this next by this most recent happening. He knew that he did not have the wisdom to figure out what Nebuchadnezzar. What Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed and then neither did he have the wisdom to interpret it?

Nor did he have the power to stay the hand of the executioner? He was completely at the mercy of the king of Nebuchadnezzar and of the executioner. Daniel's desire his first desire. Isn't that please spare me Lord.

Thank you for sparing me. No, his first desire is that the name of God would be blessed. The concept in the Old Testament of the name was that it was synonymous with the person. So blessing the name of God equaled blessing God himself.

The name of God is synonymous with the with the character of God and Includes all of his attributes. And the one most in display right now in the life of Daniel and his three friends is the mercy of God.

Have any of us ever been grateful for the mercy of God like every day.

Why doesn't he just go?

What a waste of skin razor, you know, but he doesn't. Then I'm gonna finish the prayer. Finis finishes all the verses that have his praise and then we can talk about him if you would like. Verse 21. It is he who? changes the times and the epics.

He removes Kings and Establishes Kings. He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding most certainly. This prayer also includes observations about the dream and its interpretation which included the establishment of Kings this Thanksgiving.

And also included observation of the fact that God is in charge of sovereignly arranging the times and the eras of history. We're not cut adrift today with what seems to with what's going on. What is so startling to us is not startling to God at all.

One of the one of my The people who mentored me years ago. He said you'll never see sweat on God's upper lip and That's a good way of putting it. The quintillions of events that occur daily and my grandkids and I were talking about these big numbers this morning.

Look up the word quintillion. It's a big and it's more than the earth weighs in metric tons. The quintillions of events that occur daily are all arranged by the sovereign hand of God and those events and in those events kingdoms are established and Kings are removed or nations are established and nations are removed.

Wisdom is given and men understand because of that wisdom. Daniel remember what it says in James ask Hope for wisdom, and it will be given to you. Daniel proves the truth of the statement that James makes that if one asks for that wisdom it will be given.

Verse 22. Daniel continues on praising God it is he who reveals the profound and hidden things. He knows what is in the darkness and the light dwells with him. Juxtaposing light and darkness against each other.

Darkness flees away when light comes. When God comes darkness flees away. Continuing in his praise Daniel acknowledges that it is God who reveals things. There's nothing men can do about finding out about God without God first revealing something about himself.

Biblical Christianity itself is the relative is the religion if you will of revelation. God reveals himself to us in his word and we respond to that result that resolution based on his sovereign work in our lives positively or negatively as he sovereignly directs.

What is hidden in darkness to human eyes is open and Apparent to God light itself makes its dwelling with God without God's revelation to man. All of the human race would remain in ignorance about the things of God.

No one can find out about him unless he first comes and enlightens you. And verse 23 to you Oh God of my fathers I give thanks and praise for you have given me wisdom and power. Even now you have made known to me what was what we requested of you for you have made known to us the Kings matter.

So here Daniel makes reference to power. He had none and he knew it. He was a prisoner in the most powerful kingdom of the time a pagan king Who had the power of life and death over him, but Daniel knows that that power even that power is in the hand of God.

He had no power. But now he will be able to influence the mightiest king of his time. Later in chapter 7 we will see a future world ruler attempt to make changes of the orders of things and For a time for a short time this ruler this future ruler that will be talked about is actually given that power.

But the fact remains as Daniel observes in his hymn of praise That it is only God who is able to change things and make the times and the seasons what they are. Right down to weather in history. God blessed Daniel and his friends with wisdom and power neither of which they had in necessary amounts to save their lives and Daniel acknowledges that blessing as given to both himself and his friends.

They requested together and then God gave Daniel the necessary wisdom to understand the dream and to interpret it for Nebuchadnezzar and frankly for the rest of the of Posterity for us to read and for us to be able to understand that the future times coming so.

That ends Daniel's hymn of praise any questions or comments it would do well for us. To learn to praise God all the time, but especially when he brings Clarity and help to us the first thing we should do is praise him.

Thank him for it bless him for it. Verse 24 therefore. So now he knows what he has to do now now bear in mind He's gonna go into the king just doing that Can be considered a dangerous thing in this time a dangerous thing to do in this time.

These are not this guy flies off the handle a lot. Therefore Daniel went into Ariac whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. And he went and spoke to him as follows. Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon.

Take me into the king's presence, and I will declare the interpretation to the king. Daniel still had to work through Ariac in order to get gain audience to the king. It is unknown how long this took from the request to Ariac to the time spent in prayer with his three friends and then the night vision given him and.

Then most likely it was a day or two and that's just my guess. Okay. There's nothing don't misunderstand me. There's nothing in Scripture, but it has a word or a translation that tells us is that amount of time I'm just guessing that is a couple of days probably a couple of days.

And it is probably possible that many of the Babylonian wise men had already been gathered for execution in that short time. The fact that even though Ariac had access to Daniel freely and did not kill him is important to remember.

He was sent with instructions to kill the Babylonian wise men all of the counselors. And he had clear easy access to Daniel, and he didn't kill him. This is another demonstration that of the complete sovereignty of God this book both in its entirety the book of Daniel and Throughout in Specific vignettes is a continual testimony to the sovereignty of and the beneficence of God.

These are lessons that the Israelites would do well to remember and it is important for us to remember them as well. When we are going through the difficult times in our lives. Nothing is outside the hand the sovereignty of God's hand.

Now Daniel asked the asked the king's Executioner to take him to the king's presence for the express purpose of giving Nebuchadnezzar the answer he sought for. This in itself would have concerned Ariac about bringing to the king one of the men he was supposed to have scheduled for execution.

Okay, so I'm I was told to kill this guy. But I haven't and I'm bringing him before the king. All of these things would have come into play at the time. There was I can picture a come a knot in everybody's stomach for the entire time the whole time.

Except for probably Daniel and his friends because they trusted the father they trusted God. It should also be noted that Daniel's statement to Ariac to not destroy the wise men of Babylon Likely indicates that none of them had been killed yet.

They were still most likely being rounded up. So there's 24 any comments about verse 24 questions then Ariac in verse 25 hurriedly hurriedly. Hurry up. Come on. Let's go hurriedly brought Daniel into the king's presence and spoke to him as follows.

This is what he says to the king now think about this. Ah I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can make the interpretation known to the king. So We'll get to that in a minute. The word translated hurriedly has within it the idea of alarm hastening because of fear and alarm.

Ariac knowing his responsibility to kill all of the advisers is now going to be bringing in one of those advisers to the Presence of the king well after the order for execution had gone out. Truly Ariac was taking a chance here, but he apparently had confidence in Daniel.

This this is all the more amazing than a man who had achieved the position of the chief Executioner of the king of Babylon would take a chance on a 20 year old outcast from Judah. It is likely also that Ariac's trust in Daniel included some self-interest.

I Have found a man. He probably hoped to participate in whatever reward might come from giving the king the answer to his problem. His statement I have found isn't quite accurate for Daniel himself went in to see Ariac.

He was not summoned. Ariac didn't find Daniel. Daniel found Ariac, but you don't see Daniel arguing with that He doesn't bring it up. I can't picture myself not doing that.

Unfortunately.

Any comments about verse 25 or concerns questions. So then. 26 The king said to Daniel whose name was Belteshazzar. And that's Daniel reminding us that he is a functionary of the king in Persian Babylon.

So here's what the king says he asked this question. Are you able to make known the dream which I have to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation? Nebuchadnezzar's response to Daniel is important.

He didn't simply tell Ariac to put him with the rest of the culprits to be killed. He asked Daniel if he could both relate to him the dream that he had had and give him the interpretation of the dream now.

Remember his response to the other wise men when they said Oh King. No one has ever done this before. This ain't the way we do this. You got to tell us first. What was his response? Kill them all so. He's he's asked Daniel the same thing.

Are you able to give him the interpretation and then in verse 27 Daniel answered before the king and said? And this is this is wonderful. He says as for the mystery about which the king is inquired. Neither the wise men conjurers magicians nor diviners are able to declare it to the king.

So he's reminding the king of what happened that caused him to send out the order for execution. Daniel no, no. Daniel don't do that. But he uses a new descriptive response. Descriptive name in his response to the king the word for conjurers is arameric for astrologers.

These are people who believe and this is this is again a perfect segue into Declaring the truth and reminding the king that people who think they can read the stars. Can't these are people who believe that they can discern information about the future from the heavens and the stars.

Do you get your astrology report in your emails whether you like it or not? I?

Do I?

Think I'm gonna wear the delete button out. I Don't even read them. I you know, maybe if I need a laugh, but that's what these people believe. Astrologers is astrologers in ancient times as well as today believe that the different parts of the sky hold different secrets and even have different powers.

Daniel was preparing the king to understand that the God he served was the God of the whole heavens and Not just part of them and he was the God of all power and not just some power. And that nothing had power but him.

He made it clear to the king as he stated that no one on earth Could declare to the king what he sought and he allows that it was indeed a mystery. It really is a mystery. This was a secret thing that was open only to the God of all creation verse 28.

However, I love this. However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar. What will take place in the latter days? This was your dream and the visions in your mind while on your bed.

So if Daniel had aspirations toward higher offer office. This would have been the perfect opportunity for him to take credit to claim credit for what he was about to do. And this is what politicians do all the time.

This is what Ariok did. I found a man. Yeah, the God of heaven is going to use me to fix your problem King because I'm the guy. I'm the guy you need. Daniel didn't do that. That's Remarkable, especially for a young man like that and in fear for his life.

Except that I don't think he had much fear because he really trusted God. He knew he had the truth because he was given this information from God himself. It was it would have been in his best interest.

From a human perspective to proclaim it to the king as though he had come up with it. He would most certainly have been elevated honored and enriched. Especially when he starts interpreting the dream and it's accurate and the information the king remembers.

This is what I dreamed and the interpretation of he if he could. If he could give him the events of the dream without ever having been told them then most likely the interpretation Was just as accurate as that.

So the king would have would have been glad to honor him. Like he said earlier to the astrologers and such that if you give me the interpret. If you tell me what I dreamed and give me the interpretation you will be honored.

The theme of the book of Daniel at least in part is the absolute sovereignty of God here. Daniel strengthens and supports that theme by reminding Nebuchadnezzar that only God can reveal these kinds of mysteries and he begins the Interpretation even here by telling Nebuchadnezzar that his dream was about the latter days.

So he wouldn't have known anything. What is this about? Daniel's proclamation served at least two objects. Number one. He was elevating Jehovah above anything Nebuchadnezzar had ever imagined and.

And.

Rick pointed this out. He was defending the other wise men. Proclaiming to Nebuchadnezzar that they could not have been expected to know this they were just men. So in effect Daniel declares God's sovereignty and in the same time Intentionally or unintentionally he protects the pagan seers from their own duplicity.

He protects them from death and Later on they betray him. Gladly betray him throw him under the bus as it was or throw him under the chariot. I guess wrong timing. He downplays men and he gives glory and credit to God in doing this.

He was even taking a chance because clearly he was elevating Jehovah above all the Babylonian gods who remained absolutely Impotent to provide information to the wise men necessary for interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's dream.

The Latter Days and the Messiah in Daniel 2

Commentators have fixed upon the phrase latter days. Some say that it is a statement after the fact by the spurious Daniel of the 2nd century BC. The one that they say this book was not written in 600 BC it was written in in later much later.

This would regard the latter and excuse me and that the statement has no messianic context. This would regard the latter days of stopping short of the coming of the Messiah as depicted in the New Testament.

The implication is that each of the writers who use this term and it is used 14 times in the Old Testament Are only using it from their own personal perspective and that it depicts the latter days of their own vision.

I don't think we're gonna get through the end of this verse. So this this verse latter days is used 14 times in the Old Testament. So then here they are. It's first used in Genesis 49 1. Then Jacob summoned his sons and said assemble yourselves so that I may tell you what will befall You in the days to come the latter days and the messianic import is implied.

Other uses are found in Hosea 3 5 Isaiah 2 2 Micah 4 1 Jeremiah 48 47 Jeremiah 49 39 and Jeremiah 3024 which the fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has performed until he has accomplished this threat the intent of His heart in the latter days.