God gave this dream to a heathen king, who did not know Him. It was not given to Daniel or the three Hebrew boys. This tells us, this message is for the world. God loves people (Jn. 3:16-17). God loves Buddhist, Hindus, Atheist, Muslims, Pagans, Agnostics, Christians, etc. To further emphasize that this message is for the world, Daniel 2:4 through Daniel 7:28 is written in Aramaic. This was the trade language, a language common to a larger community and one that Daniel learned.
This message was to reach the world of Daniel’s time, and to show all humanity through the ages of God’s love for us. His sheep are everywhere, He knows they won’t come back on their own for they are lost, so He seeks for his lost sheep.
Introduction to the Kingdoms
What is Babylon? Babylon originally derived its symbolic characteristics from the city and tower of Babel as recorded in Genesis 11:1-9. Built by Nimrod, “…he began to be a mighty one in the earth” (Gen. 10:8), and “He was a might hunter before the LORD:… (Gen. 10:9); Babylon very early in biblical history became a type for the spirit of rebellion against God. Nimrod and his colleagues built the city and the tower as a way of defying God’s command to spread out and fill the earth (Gen. 9:7, 11:4). They were determined to make a name for themselves (Gen. 11:4). God had other plans, and dispersed them and confused their language (Gen. 11:5-9), so that the city was called “Babylon” because there the Lord confused their language. It became a type of what would take place later at different periods of history.
The Spirit of Babylon. The spirit of spiritual Babylon is present in all of the kingdoms in the prophecy of Daniel, and that spirit is really the spirit of the dragon manifest on Earth ruling through human agents and systems. Spiritual Babylon is extensive in history and far more destructive through history than the builders of the original city and its tower, it is held responsible for the blood of all who have been slain on the Earth (Rev. 18:24), and God promises to judge it accordingly. When we get to Revelation, we will see the role spiritual Babylon has with the end time powers and events that will unfold prior to the return of Christ.
Literal Babylon
The four dominating kingdoms of this dream covers a vast span of history – especially the Israelites history; but it doesn’t stop there because it continues until God establishes His own Kingdom.. God always gives us a clear picture of the important things to come that impacts his church (people). Some of the imagery comes from chapters seven and eight. For the purpose of the introduction of the kingdoms we are taking a peek ahead, chapter seven is the twin chapter to chapter two. These are only a small slices of the whole, we will dive deeper into each kingdom and its implications as we move through the chapters.
Babylonian Kingdom/Empire (Head of Gold)
God gave Nebuchadnezzar a dream to show him that his kingdom of Babylon, as well as the successive kingdoms were going to fall. The predominate power of Daniel’s day was Babylon. This is not to say that there were no other kingdoms because there were, but they were not dominate kingdoms.
When we read history, we know that Babylon was a prominent kingdom from about 605BC to 539BC. Daniel is writing in the time of the Babylonian kingdom.
Babylon was truly a ‘city of gold’. There was a great temple adjoining the Tower of Babylon (Babel?) and fifty-five smaller altars to Marduk. The temple to Marduk (Bel) was 500 meters square. The golden image of Bel and a golden table stood in the temple. At the top were golden images of Bel and Ishtar, two golden lions, a golden table about 36 by 5 feet and a human figure of solid gold about twenty feet high. Babylon was truly a “City of gold” (Isa. 14:4). Also, Nebuchadnezzar’s image that he erected was made of gold (Dan. 3:1).
There were also 300 altars to other gods and 600 altars to other heavenly deities. There were also 180 altars to Ishtar (like Ashtoreth), the goddess of fertility. It was considered a duty for every woman in the empire to be a temple prostitute at one time or another in her life. You can imagine how Daniel functioned in the midst of this. It took great wisdom and tact. Although pagan, Babylon was a very religious empire. Nebuchadnezzar named himself after the god Nebo, the god of destiny. Both the Babylonians and the Persians felt they were destined to conquer the world.
The city was lavished with gold, handing gardens, the magnificent king’s palace, and the Ishtar Gate. In a later chapter, we will find that the lion with eagles wings symbolically represented Babylon. Why did God use the lion? The Mesopotamian lion was Babylon’s mascot. So, it was fitting that God used gold and a lion to depict Babylon.
In Revelation, we will dig deep into spiritual Babylon who is referred to as “Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and of the abominations of the earth”. We are also told that Babylon is fallen, is fallen. Repeat and enlarge is a biblical principle, so understanding the simple provides the foundation on which to build the complex.