The following is somewhat speculative, but I wanted to write so it would be on at least acknowledged.
Dreams seemed to be the "in thing" back in Daniel's day, but there is one that is very peculiar in the book of Daniel in a way that may have been missed before. I am speaking of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar in Chapter 2. That the situation which surrounds this dream is peculiar as shown in the odd request of the king:
Dan 2:11 And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can show it (the dream) before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.
What was RARE about Nebuchadnezzar's request? Usually the king told his seers a dream and then they would interpret it, but in this case he wanted the seers to tell him the dream. Why would he do such a thing out of the ordinary? Basically, he said he had forgotten the dream, and it was a dream THAT TROUBLED HIM and he wanted to recall it. In other words, he saw something significant in the dream, but couldn't remember what it was.
The Chaldeans in Nebuchadnezzar's were the Assyrians, as Isaiah tolls us:
Isaiah 23:13 Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof; and he brought it to ruin.
What Daniels tells us next was that it was the Chaldeans, or the Assyrians, who spoke concerning the dream:
Dan 2:4 Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack, O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.
Dan 2:5 The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.
Dan 2:6 But if ye show the dream, and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honour: therefore show me the dream, and the interpretation thereof.
The Chaldeans, put on the spot, entreated Nebuchadnezzar, telling him,
Dan 2:10 . . . There is not a man upon the earth that can show the king's matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean.
Dan 2:11 And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can show it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.
Nebuchadnezzar's reaction to the dream was that it troubled him very deeply, and he was so intent and furious that his seers were not able to tell him the dream that Daniel wrote,
Dan 2:12 For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.
Dan 2:13 And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain.
Daniel in the end saved them all and himself and his friends when he sought the Lord and,
Dan 2:19 Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
Daniel went to Arioch, who was to murder all the seers, and told him to take him before the king, at which time he related the dream to him:
Dan 2:28 But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;
Dan 2:29 As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass.
Dan 2:30 But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.
Dan 2:31 Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.
Dan 2:32 This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,
Dan 2:33 His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
Dan 2:34 Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
Dan 2:35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
Dan 2:36 This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.
Dan 2:37 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
Dan 2:38 And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.
Dan 2:39 And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
Dan 2:40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
Dan 2:41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
Dan 2:42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
Dan 2:43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
Dan 2:44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume ALL these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
ALL these kingdoms fall, or to say it another way, the kingdom represented by the entire statue falls. In other words the four parts of the statue together make up a fifth kingdom to be manifested. Who or what is this fifth kingdom? Jesus said,
Mat 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
Mat 24:16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
Could the statue of Daniel 2 have been included in what the Lord was referring to when He said those words? If we read Daniel 2:44 along with 2:45, were the kings in the phrase "in the days of THESE kings" be referring to the ten toes, but also to those mentioned in verse 45: "the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold" that make up the endtime kingdom? The reason I ask the question is because the other kingdoms are mentioned as FALLING ALONG WITH the feet of iron:
Dan 2:44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
Dan 2:45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
This is the picture that is presented in these verses:
Dan 7:7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.
Dan 7:8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.
Dan 7:9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.
Is this "hiddeness" what Daniel prayed in his prayer to God as Him being the revealer of "deep and secret things"?:
Dan 2:22 He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.
The definitions for these words would appear to uphold this thought:
DEEP 5994. 'amiyq, (Chald.), am-eek '; corresp. to H6012; profound, i.e. unsearchable:--deep.DEEP 6012. 'ameq, aw-make'; from H6009; deep (lit. or fig.):--deeper, depth, strange.
DEEP 6009. 'amaq, aw-mak'; a prim, root; to be (causat, make) deep (lit. or fig.):--(be, have, make, seek) deep (-ly), depth, be profound.
SECRET 5642. cethar, (Chald.), seth-ar'; corresp. to H5641; to conceal; fig. to demolish:--destroy, secret thing.
SECRET 5641. cathar, saw-thar'; a prim. root; to hide (by covering), lit. or fig.:--be absent, keep close, conceal, hide (self), (keep) secret, X surely.
Ed
