What happensPermalink
Nebuchadnezzar demands that his wise men reveal both his dream and its interpretation, ordering their deaths when they cannot. Daniel prays with his friends, and God reveals the mystery. Daniel describes a statue whose materials represent successive kingdoms beginning with Babylon. A stone cut out without human hands destroys it and becomes a mountain filling the earth: God’s kingdom will replace earthly empires and endure forever. The king honors Daniel and promotes him and his friends.
Why it mattersPermalink
Daniel’s first response to the revelation is thanksgiving; he then asks that Babylon’s wise men be spared. His wisdom is God’s gift, and he uses it to preserve others’ lives. The dream gives the court stories their larger horizon: rulers who seem absolute belong to a succession of temporary kingdoms. Chapter 7 will revisit their rise and fall through the imagery of beasts.
Key versePermalink
And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.