Study
3 From the Book of Daniel is: Daniel 2:31-49
1- Observe that
the four kingdoms through historically appearing one after the other, are yet
all parts of the one image. Also, it is
not only the last kingdom of the four, but the whole image that is broken to
pieces by the stone that smites it. What
does the dream reveal as to God’s final purpose? And what differences do you
find between the kingdoms of the world that compose the image and the kingdom
prefigured by the stone? Cf. Rev. 11:15.
2- What divine
purposes did the dream serve in relation to (a) Nebuchadnezzar, (b) Daniel and
his friends, and (c) all who knew or know of it?
Note.
Verses 39, 40. Those who assign the book of Daniel to the Maccabean period take
the four kingdoms to be those of Babylon, the Medes, the Persians and the
Greeks. This, however, however, apart from other objections, seems to go
contrary to the book itself, which regards Medo-Persia as one kingdom (see
5:28;6:8; 8:20, 21). The older interpretation, therefore, which takes the four
kingdoms to be Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome, its to be preferred.