PROPHESY IS HISTORY, WRITTEN IN ADVANCE
the position of Daniel, was an impossible one.
The famous “statue-dream” of the Babylonian king Nebukadnezar Daniel interpreted in the most positive way. The conqueror of Jerusalem was an unpredictable and violent man and should be pleased. Otherwise a violent death was plausible. Failure in the service of Nebukadnezar meant death.
Daniel explained the “statue-dream” as follows. The golden head symbolised Babylon, the other parts represented the Medean-Persian Empire (the silver chest), Greece ( bronze hips), Rome (the iron legs0. The feet of the statue were composed of a mixture of iron and clay. This makes the statue weak and, hit by a rock, falls.
Of course this is a modern interpretation of Daniels profetic texts and in apocalyptic texts the European Union is often named as the toes of the statue. The fall of Nebukadnezar's dream-statue is about to happen. To believers this explanation underlines the fact, that we live in the End of Days. The time the statue falls.
I already mentioned the pressure and stress Daniel tried to handle during the confrontation with the Babylonian. I accept that Daniel's psychic powers could tap the thoughts of the King.
I think Daniel chose the flattering interpretation of the statue-dream. The real situation was, that Babylon was about to fall. Shortly after the death of the Babylonian ruler Babylon's empire crumbled and the city fell into the hands of Cyrus the Great, starting the silver phase of mankind.
But there is an interpretation Daniel even had direct knowledge of. He lived most of his life in Babylon and and part of the Imperial court. He must have seen, that the glory of Babylon was fading and that there was a lot of pressure on the borders.
Instead of tackling this problem, he stayed in his court in Babylon, to be entertained and confront his “staff” with ridiculous tasks. His successor went a step further and drank wine out of Temple-cups. God wrote his death-sentence personally on the wall. Babylon was in last, crumbling, phase. The rock, who brought the inheritance of this great king down, was the united forces of Cyrus the Great, who simply broke through the defenses and rode into Babylon, the Great, who surrendered without a fight.
The Persians and Medians took over. The new king Cyrus gave the Isrealites permission to return to Jerusalem and, after 70 years, start rebuilding the city, that suffered under the might of Nebukadnezar, king of Babylon.
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