Daniel 2 · The Lantern

In the second year of the reign of Nabuchodonosor, Nabuchodonosor had a dream, and his spirit was terrified, and his dream went out of his mind.

There is a type of dream that comes from God, since he has promised to pour out the grace of the Holy Spirit on all flesh and has ordained that his sons and handmaidens shall utter prophecies and dream dreams. Such dreams may be compared with the grace of God as being honest, holy, prophetic, inspired, edifying and inducing to virtue.

Verse 1. "In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar saw a dream and his spirit was terrified, and his dream fled from him." If the three lads had entered before him at the end of three years, as he himself had commanded, how is it that he is now said to have seen the dream in the second year of his reign?

We learned earlier that at the beginning of his [Nebuchadnezzar's] reign, he advanced with the army to Judea in the third year of the reign of Joachim.… So most blessed Daniel, recalling the first year after the capture of the Jews, … now adds, "in the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream." He [Daniel] added this not without reason but that we should know the ti…

Then the king commanded to call together the diviners and the wise men, and the magicians, and the Chaldeans: to declare to the king his dreams: so they came and stood before the king.

And the king said to them: I saw a dream: and being troubled in mind I know not what I saw.

And the Chaldeans answered the king in Syriac: O king, live for ever: tell to thy servants thy dream, and we will declare the interpretation thereof.

And the king, answering, said to the Chaldeans: The thing is gone out of my mind: unless you tell me the dream, and the meaning thereof, you shall be put to death, and your houses shall be confiscated.

but if you tell the dream, and the meaning of it, you shall receive of me rewards, and gifts, and great honour: therefore, tell me the dream, and the interpretation thereof.

They answered again and said: Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will declare the interpretation of it.

The king answered and said: I know for certain, that you seek to gain time, since you know that the thing is gone from me.

If, therefore, you tell me not the dream, there is one sentence concerning you, that you have also framed a lying interpretation, and full of deceit, to speak before me till the time pass away. Tell me, therefore, the dream, that I may know that you also give a true interpretation thereof.

Then the Chaldeans answered before the king, and said: There is no man upon earth, that can accomplish thy word, O king; neither doth any king, though great and mighty, ask such a thing of any diviner, or wise man, or Chaldean.

For the thing that thou asketh, O king, is difficult: nor can any one be found that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose conversation is not with men.

Upon hearing this, the king in fury, and in great wrath, commanded that all the wise men of Babylon should be put to death.

And the decree being gone forth, the wise men were slain: and Daniel and his companions were sought for, to be put to death.

Then Daniel inquired concerning the law and the sentence, of Arioch, the general of the king's army, who was gone forth to kill the wise men of Babylon.

And he asked him that had received the orders of the king, why so cruel a sentence was gone forth from the face of the king. And when Arioch had told the matter to Daniel,

Daniel went in, and desired of the king, that he would give him time to resolve the question, and declare it to the king.

And he went into his house, and told the matter to Ananias, and Misael, and Azarias, his companions:

To the end that they should ask mercy at the face of the God of heaven, concerning this secret, and that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

We find in the books of Kings the very holy woman Hannah fulfilling the precepts of this Gospel teaching. For while praying without uttering a sound, in her heart and in the sight of God she poured out her desire in her prayers. She was immediately found worthy to be heard by the Lord.

Daniel told his companions to entreat the God of heaven to reveal this mystery unto them in order that he and his brethren might not perish, together with all the other wise men of Babylon; and then unto Daniel, in a vision of the night, was the mystery revealed.

O what a craftsman this Spirit is! There is no delay in learning whatever he wills. As soon as he touches the mind, he teaches, and merely to have touched is to have taught. For as soon as he illuminates the human soul, he transforms it; he suddenly takes away what it was, and suddenly produces what it was not.

Then was the mystery revealed to Daniel by a vision in the night: and Daniel blessed the God of heaven,

And speaking, he said: Blessed be the name of the Lord from eternity and for evermore: for wisdom and fortitude are his.

And he changeth times and ages: taketh away kingdoms, and establisheth them: giveth wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to them that have understanding:

Many other things may also be called gifts of God, such as riches and bodily strength, physical beauty and earthly power. These things are also given by God, as Daniel says: "He deposes kings and sets up kings," but they are not spiritual gifts.

Verse 21. "And it is He who changes times and seasons, who transfers kingdoms and establishes kingdoms." Let us not marvel, therefore, whenever we see kings and empires succeed one another, for it is by the will of God that they are governed, altered, and terminated. And the cases of individuals are well known to Him who founded all things.

"He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who understand learning." However much a man may have a good natural judgment and along with this frequency of experience, they do not suffice unless there be illumination through divine influence. He touches upon sapiential, sciential, and intellectual certitude. But whence comes this certitude? Certainly from God.

He revealeth deep and hidden things, and knoweth what is in darkness: and light is with him.

Concerning the light Daniel noted, "It reveals the profound and hidden things, knowing those things that are in the darkness and the light is with it," that is, the Son with the Father, for even as the Father is light, so too is the Son light.

Such is the life of the devout, acknowledging that God is the source of understanding. He was the One who met Daniel's needs at the right moment and assured him a safe harbor. And after being well supplied with that which was the best, Daniel did not prove forgetful of the gifts but sang praises in response to his holy benefactor.

"He reveals deep and hidden things and knows what is established in darkness: and the light is with him." He touches upon sapiential certitude when he says: "He reveals deep things." This light is pure and is with him: no one is illumined with certitude except through him.

To thee, O God of our fathers, I give thanks, and I praise thee: because thou hast given me wisdom and strength: and now thou hast shewn me what we desired of thee, for thou hast made known to us the king's discourse.

After this Daniel went in to Arioch, to whom the king had given orders to destroy the wise men of Babylon, and he spoke thus to him: Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me in before the king, and I will tell the solution to the king.

After this happened, Daniel rose and went to Arioch and said to him, "Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon, but bring me before the king and I will proclaim to the king the dream and its interpretation." [Daniel 2:24] He, after hearing these things "brought in Daniel with haste and said, 'I found a man from the sons of the captivity of Judah, who will proclaim the interpretat…

Let us not then be looking open-mouthed towards others. For it is true, the prayers of the saints have the greatest power; on condition however of our repentance and amendment.

Verse 24. "Destroy not the wise men of Babylon. Take me in before the king and I will set forth the explanation to the king. ..." He follows the example of the clemency of God, who intercedes in behalf of his persecutors, and is unwilling that those men should perish on whose account he himself had been threatened with death.

Then Arioch in haste brought in Daniel to the king, and said to him: I have found a man of the children of the captivity of Juda, that will resolve the question to the king.

The king answered, and said to Daniel, whose name was Baltassar: Thinkest thou indeed that thou canst tell me the dream that I saw, and the interpretation thereof?

And Daniel made answer before the king, and said: The secret that the king desireth to know, none of the wise men, or the philosophers, or the diviners, or the soothsayers, can declare to the king.

He was astounded and said to Daniel, "'Are you able to proclaim the dream which I saw and its interpretation?' And Daniel said, 'The mystery which the king asks about is not for magicians, enchanters, or soothsayers to proclaim to the king, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and makes known to king Nebuchadnezzar what must be in the last days.'" [Daniel 2:26-28…

Verse 27. "As for the secret for which the king is asking, neither the wise men nor the magi nor the soothsayers nor the diviners are able to declare it to the king." In place of diviners (haruspices), as we have rendered it, the Hebrew text has Gazareni , which only Symmachus has rendered as sacrificers , a.

The one who interprets what another has seen is more a prophet than the one who had seen.… Less a prophet is he who … sees in spirit only the signs of the things signified, and a greater prophet is he who is granted only an understanding of images.

But there is a God in heaven that revealeth mysteries, who hath shewn to thee, O king Nabuchodonosor, what is to come to pass in the latter times. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these:

Thou, O king, didst begin to think in thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth mysteries shewed thee what shall come to pass.

For after the king had taken Egypt and after taking over the Jewish land and deporting the people, he considered upon his bed what was there to do after these things.

Verse 29. "Thou, O king, didst begin to meditate upon thy bed as to what should come to pass hereafter." Instead of the true reading the Septuagint alone inserts the translation "in the last days" after the "hereafter." But if it be read thus, we must inquire quite carefully as to where "last days" have been written; and we would refute those who think the world will never be d…

"Thou, O king, diddest begin to think in thy bed, what should happen in times to come; and he that revealeth mysteries did shew thee what things should come:" and a little after: "Thou diddest see, and behold as it were a great statue." Wherefore, seeing Daniel doth with reverence insinuate that the dream should come to pass, and also declareth from what cogitation it did sprin…

To me also this secret is revealed, not by any wisdom that I have more than all men alive: but that the interpretation might be made manifest to the king, and thou mightest know the thought of thy mind.

Just as he himself also, being lowly and humbling himself, and not boasting, though he was found wiser than all of the Babylonians, said, "Moreover this mystery was not revealed to me because the wisdom in me is greater than all those who dwell upon the earth, rather it was revealed to me for the sake of making known the interpretation to the king, so that you may know the cons…

For nothing is so advantageous, and so likely to pacify the hearers, as to say nothing about one's self of an honorable nature, but, on the contrary, to obviate all surmise of wishing to do so.

Verse 30. "Moreover this holy secret has not been revealed to me in virtue of any wisdom which inheres in me more than in all living men, but rather that the interpretation might be manifested to the king, and that thou mayest know the thoughts of thine own mind." The king had imagined that cleverness of the human intellect could embrace a knowledge of the future, and for that…

Thou, O king, sawest, and behold there was as it were a great statue: this statue, which was great and high, tall of stature, stood before thee, and the look thereof was terrible.

"Thou sawest," etc. Apollinaris on this: He looked, and behold, as it were, an image. For it did not appear to him as an actual object, presented to the view of an onlooker, but as an image or semblance. And while it contains in it many things together, that is in such a way that it is not really one, but manifold.

It is made known that the devout as well as the impious see visions and dreams, as can be proved from Scripture.… Nebuchadnezzar, who worshiped images and ordered those who worshiped God to be cast into fire, saw a dream extending over the whole age of the world.… Thus, we cannot infer with absolute certainty that the one who has seen visions and dreams and apparitions is undou…

Verse 31. "Thou sawest, O king, and behold there was, as it were, a large statue." Instead of "statue," that is a sculptured effigy, the only rendering used by Symmachus, others have translated it as "image," intending by this term to indicate a resemblance to future events.

The head of this statue was of fine gold, but the breast and the arms of silver, and the belly and the thighs of brass.

And the legs of iron, the feet part of iron and part of clay.

Thus thou sawest, till a stone was cut out of a mountain without hands: and it struck the statue upon the feet thereof that were of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.

"Thou sawest till that a stone was cut." Thou sawest, as it were, a stone cut without hands, and smiting the image upon its feet. For the human kingdom was decisively separated from the divine; with reference to which it is written, "as it were cut." The stroke, however, smites the extremities, and in these it broke all dominion that is upon earth.

We know that the stone cut from the mountain without hands is Christ, who came from the kingdom of the Jews without human father: the stone that shattered all the kingdoms of the earth, all the tyrannies of idols and devils; the stone that grew and became a great mountain and filled the whole world.

A stone was cut without hands, and it brake in pieces the clay, the iron, the brass, the silver and the gold, and it filled the whole earth.

Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of a summer's threshing floor, and they were carried away by the wind: and there was no place found for them: but the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

If therefore the great God showed future things by Daniel, and confirmed them by His Son; and if Christ is the stone which is cut out without hands, who shall destroy temporal kingdoms, and introduce an eternal one, which is the resurrection of the just; as he declares, "The God of heaven shall raise up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed,"-let those thus confuted come to…

It talks of a mountain, and the mountain is veiled to the party of Donatus.… The holy Daniel saw a vision and wrote down what he saw, and he said that he had seen a stone hewn out of a mountain without hands. It is Christ, coming from the nations of the Jews, which was also a mountain, you see, because it has the kingdom.… What is the mountain over which the heretics stumbled?

This is the dream: we will also tell the interpretation thereof before thee, O king.

Thou art a king of kings: and the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, and strength, and power, and glory:

And all places wherein the children of men, and the beasts of the field do dwell: he hath also given the birds of the air into thy hand, and hath put all things under thy power: thou, therefore, art the head of gold.

And after thee shall rise up another kingdom, inferior to thee, of silver: and another third kingdom of brass, which shall rule over all the world.

And the fourth kingdom shall be as iron. As iron breaketh into pieces, and subdueth all things, so shall that break, and destroy all these.

And whereas thou sawest the feet, and the toes, part of potter's clay, and part of iron: the kingdom shall be divided, but yet it shall take its origin from the iron, according as thou sawest the iron mixed with the miry clay.

And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay: the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.

And whereas thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall be mingled indeed together with the seed of man, but they shall not stick fast one to another, as iron cannot be mixed with clay.

But in the days of those kingdoms, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, and his kingdom shall not be delivered up to another people: and it shall break in pieces, and shall consume all these kingdoms: and itself shall stand for ever.

According as thou sawest, that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and broke in pieces the clay and the iron, and the brass, and the silver, and the gold, the great God hath shewn the king what shall come to pass hereafter, and the dream is true, and the interpretation thereof is faithful.

Then king Nabuchodonosor fell on his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer in sacrifice to him victims and incense.

And the king spoke to Daniel, and said: Verily, your God is the God of gods, and Lord of kings, and a revealer of hidden things: seeing thou couldst discover this secret.

Then the king advanced Daniel to a high station, and gave him many and great gifts: and he made him governor over all the provinces of Babylon: and chief of the magistrates over all the wise men of Babylon.

For since he himself humbled himself and declared himself to be the least of all men, the king extolled him and appointed him ruler of all the lands of Babylon. In which manner Pharaoh also did to Joseph, having then appointed him ruler of all the land of Egypt.

Verse 48. "Then the king elevated Daniel to a high position, and gave him many great gifts and set him up as governor over all the provinces of Babylon..." In this matter also the slanderous critic of the Church has ventured to castigate the prophet because he did not reject the gifts and because he willingly accepted honor of the Babylonians.

This is itself divine guidance. It is most fitting that the subjects benefit from the piety of the ruler: so also at one point God had done the same with Joseph.… He sent a man before them; Joseph was sold as a slave.

And Daniel requested of the king, and he appointed Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, over the works of the province of Babylon: but Daniel himself was in the king's palace.

"And Daniel asked a favor from the king and he appointed Shadrach, Mishach, and Abednego over the affairs of the country of Babylon." [Daniel 2:49] And this which happened under Daniel is worthy of faith and approval.

Verse 49. "Moreover Daniel made request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the public works of the province of Babylon. But Daniel himself was in the king's gate." Daniel does not forget those men with whom he had made intercession to the Lord, and who had shared his peril with him.

Truly this holy prophet loved God with all his heart, all his soul, all his strength, all his power. And having loved so fervently, he genuinely trusted, and he believed deeply, expecting that help would come from him. And it was as he had expected. And so also one is taught about the love of a neighbor, as it happened that the companions were also accepted.

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