The Hebrew Youth In Prayer

Both in emergencies and in normal times, Daniel sought his God in prayer, and the Lord never
failed him. Daniel had the utmost confidence in what had been shown him. He did not first go to the king
to see if what had been revealed to him was indeed the king's dream, but he immediately praised God for
having answered his prayer.

Although the matter was revealed to Daniel, he did not take honor to himself as though it were by
his prayers alone that the answer had been obtained; but he immediately associated his companions with
him, and acknowledged it to be as much an answer to their prayers as it was to his own. It was, said he,
"what we desired of Thee," and Thou has made it "known unto us."

Verse 24 Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had ordained to destroy the wise men of
Babylon: he went and said thus unto him; Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me in before the king, and
I will show unto the king the interpretation.

Daniel's first plea was for the wise men of Babylon. Destroy them not, for the king's secret is
revealed, he implored. True, it was through no merit of theirs or their heathen systems of divination that
this revelation was made. They were worthy of as much condemnation as before. But their own confession
of utter impotence in the matter was humiliation enough for them, and Daniel was anxious that they
should so far partake of the benefits shown him as to have their lives spared. They were saved because
there was a man of God among them. Thus it ever is. For the sake of Paul and Silas, all the prisoners with
them were loosed. (Acts 16: 26.) For the sake of Paul, the lives of all that sailed with him were saved.
(Acts 27: 24.) How often the wicked are benefited by the presence of the righteous! Well would be if they
would remember the obligations under which they are thus placed.

What saves the world today? For whose sake is it still spared? For the sake of the few righteous
persons who are yet left. Remove these, and how long would the wicked be suffered to run their guilty
career? No longer than the antediluvians were suffered after Noah had entered the ark, or the Sodomites
after Lot had departed from their polluted and polluting presence. If only ten righteous persons could have
been found in Sodom, the multitude of its wicked inhabitants would for their sakes have been spared. Yet
the wicked will despise, ridicule, and oppress the very ones on whose account it is that they are still
permitted the enjoyment of life and all its blessings.

Verse 25 Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste, and said thus unto him, I have found a
man of the captives of Judah, that will make known unto the king the interpretation.

It is ever a characteristic of ministers and courtiers to ingratiate themselves with their sovereign.
So here Arioch represented that he had found a man who could make known the desired interpretation, as
if with great disinterestedness in behalf of the king he had been searching for someone to solve his
difficulty, and had at last found him. In order to see through this deception of his chief executioner, the
king had but to remember, as he probably did, his interview with Daniel, and Daniel's promise, if time
could be granted, to show the interpretation of the dream. (Verse 16.)

Verse 26 The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make
known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof? 27 Daniel answered in the presence
of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the
magicians, the soothsayers, show unto the king; 28 But there is a God in heaven that reveals secrets, and makes
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.

"Art thou able to make known unto me the dream?" was the king's salutation to Daniel as he came
into the royal presence. Notwithstanding his previous acquaintance with this Hebrew, the king seemed to
question the ability of one so young and inexperienced, to make known a matter in which aged and
venerable magicians and soothsayers had utterly failed. Daniel declared plainly that the wise men, the
astrologers, the soothsayers, and the magicians could not make known this secret. It was beyond their
power. Therefore the king should not be angry with them, nor put confidence in their vain superstitions.
The prophet proceeded to make known the true God, who rules in heaven, and is the only revealer of
secrets. He it is, said Daniel, who "makes known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter
days."

Verse 29 As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass
hereafter: and He that reveals secrets makes known to thee what shall come to pass. 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 might know the thoughts of thy heart.
Here is brought out another of the commendable traits of Nebuchadnezzar's character. Unlike
some rulers, who fill up the present with folly and debauchery without regard to the future, the king
thought forward upon the days to come, with an anxious desire to know with what events they should be
filled. It was partly for this reason that God gave him this dream, which we must regard as a token of
divine favor to the king. Yet God would not work for the king independently of His own people. Though
He gave the dream to the king, He sent the interpretation through one of His acknowledged servants.
Daniel first disclaimed all credit for the interpretation, and then he sought to modify the king's
natural feelings of pride in being thus noticed by the God of heaven. He informed him that although the
dream had been given to him, it was not for his sake alone that the interpretation was sent, but also for
their sakes through whom it should be given. Ah! God had some servants there, and it was for them that
He was working. They were of more value in His sight than the mightiest kings and potentates of earth.
How comprehensive was the work of God in this instance! By this one act of revealing the king's
dream to Daniel, He made known to the king the things he desired, He saved His servants who trusted in
Him, He brought conspicuously before the Chaldean nation the knowledge of Him who know the end
from the beginning, He poured contempt on the false systems of the soothsayers and magicians, and He
honored His own name and exalted His servants in their eyes.

Daniel Relates the Dream.

After making it clear to the king that the purpose of the "God in
heaven" in giving him the dream, was to reveal "what shall be in the latter days," Daniel related the dream
itself.

Verse 31 Thou, O king, saw, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent,
stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. 32 This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his
arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, 33 his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. 34 Thou
saw 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. 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 threshing floors; 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.

Nebuchadnezzar, a worshiper of the gods of the Chaldean religion, was an idolater. An image was
an object which would at once command his attention and respect. Moreover, earthly kingdoms, which, as
we shall hereafter see, were represented by this image, were objects of esteem and value in his eyes.
But how admirably adapted was this representation to convey a great and needful truth to the
mind of Nebuchadnezzar. Besides delineating the progress of events through the whole course of time for
the benefit of His people, God would show Nebuchadnezzar the utter emptiness and worthlessness of
earthly pomp and glory. how could this be more impressively done than by an image whose head was of
gold? Below this head was body composed of inferior metals descending in value until they reached their
basest form in the feet and toes of iron mingled with miry clay. The whole was then dashed to pieces, and
made like the empty chaff. It was finally blown away where no place could be found for it, after which
something durable and of heavenly worth occupied its place. So would God show to the children of men
that earthly kingdoms are to pass away, and earthly greatness and glory, like a gaudy bubble, will break
and vanish. In the place so long usurped by these, the kingdom of God shall be set up and have no end,
while all who have an interest in that kingdom shall rest under the shadow of its peaceful wings forever
and ever. But this is anticipating.

Verse 36 This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. 37 Thou, O king,
art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. 38 And
where so ever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into your
hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.

Daniel Interprets the Dream.

Now opens one of the most comprehensive of the histories of world
empire. Eight short verses of the inspired record tell the whole story, yet that story embraces the history of
this world's pomp and power. A few moments will suffice to commit it to memory, yet the period which it
covers, beginning more than twenty-five centuries ago, reaches from that far-distant point past the rise and
fall of kingdoms, past the setting up and overthrow of empires, past cycles and ages, past our own day, to
the eternal state. It is so comprehensive that it embraces all this, yet it is so minute that it gives us the great
outlines of earthly kingdoms from that time to this. Human wisdom never devised so brief a record that
embraced so much. Human language never set forth in so few words such a great volume of historical
truth. The finger of God is here. Let us heed the lesson well. With what interest and astonishment must the
king have listened as he was informed by the prophet that his kingdom was the golden head of the
magnificent image. Daniel in formed the king that the God of heavens had given him his kingdom, and
made him ruler over all. This would restrain him from the pride of thinking that he had attained his
position by his own power and wisdom, and would enlist the gratitude of his heart toward the true God.