Chapter 1 was written in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah. Chapter 2 was written in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar began his reign as king in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah. So, chapter 2 would be written some three years after chapter 1.
You remember that in chapter 1, Daniel was brought to Babylon as a captive, one of the princes of Israel, and he went through a three year grooming process to prepare him to be one of the king’s counselors. So, in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar the king it would mean that Daniel had now finished the preparation and was counted as one of the counselors or wise men in the court of Babylon. So, initiated now into his job, and it was quite an initiation at that.
And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, he dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep broke from him.
One of those kind of things in the evening where you have a thought, a dream and in his case a dream, and when you wake up from it your mind starts to work so that you can not go back to sleep. That was the case with Nebuchadnezzar. He was unable to go back to sleep. He was troubled in his mind, because of this dream.
So the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, to show the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king.
So, he could not sleep. He was troubled, and so he called for the wise men to come in that they might show him his dreams.
And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.
He felt that there was some kind of a spiritual implication to that dream and he wanted to know it.
Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Syriack,
Now, at this point in verse 4 of chapter 2, the book of Daniel is written in the Aramaic language. It was the language that was common in Babylon. And, until the end of chapter 7, the book is written in Aramaic. Beginning with chapter 8, it goes back to the Hebrew language. There are some three Greek words in the book of Daniel, and there are some fifteen Persian words.
Now, Daniel, you remember, was in the court, and in fact after interpreting of the dream for Nebuchadnezzar, he was placed as one of the top men in the court of Nebuchadnezzar. So, it would only be natural that he would receive emissaries from the foreign countries. He would pick up a part of the Persian language. He would also pick up some Greek. Of course, his native tongue was Hebrew, but he was taught in Aramaic for the three years. He was a brilliant fellow and no doubt picked up the language well. So, that portion of the book that deals with the Gentile powers that will be reigning through history is written in the gentile language, the Aramaic. But, when he talks about the place of Israel in the future he then goes back to the Hebrew language. So, beginning here in verse 4 until the end of chapter 7, the book is written in Aramaic.
So, the wise men that were brought into the king said:
O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will shew you the interpretation. The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, I have forgotten it; if you will not make known to me the dream, with the interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.
He was not to be messed with. He was a rather tough guy.
Now, this does indicate the tremendous authority and power that he had. You remember when the Medo-Persian Empire conquered the Babylonian Empire, and Darius the king was tricked into making a decree that no one could offer a petition or prayer to anyone except the king for a period of thirty days, and how that Daniel knowing that the decree had been signed went to his home and with windows opened kneeled towards Jerusalem and prayed unto God. And it was reported to Darius that Daniel had disobeyed the decree. It tells us that the king sought to try to rescind the decree, but even though he was the king, the law of the Medes and the Persian was such that once a decree had been made and sealed there could be no changing of the decree. And, though he was king, yet he was bound by the laws. Yet, Nebuchadnezzar was a law to himself. So, he did not give them many options. They either had to tell him the dream, make me to know the interpretation or they would be cut in pieces and their houses would be made dunghills.
But if you shew the dream, and the interpretation, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honor; therefore shew me the dream, and the interpretation thereof.
So, he actually commands them, show it to me.
They answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation of it.
They repeat the thing. Tell us and we will tell you.
The king answered and said, I know of certainty that you would gain the time, because you see the thing is gone from me. But if you will not make know unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you; for you have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed; therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can shew me the interpretation thereof.
Now there are those who believe that the king actually had not forgotten the dream, but he was trying to prove them to find out how good they really were. They were being paid to be wise. They were being paid to counsel the king. And, thus in order to really prove them, he was feigning to forget. Now, that is a possibility. The scripture is not indicating that, but it is a possibility. But, they answered:
There is not a man on the earth that can shew the king’s matter; therefore there is no king, lord , nor ruler, that asked such things at any magicians, astrologers, or Chaldeans.
This is unprecedented. No one has ever done this before.
It is a rare thing that the king requires, and there is none other that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh. For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men in Babylon. And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain.
They had just been introduced into this council and now the order goes out for them to be slain.
Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch the captain of the king’s guard, (The one who was commanded to go out and kill the wise men.) which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon: He answered and said to Arioch the king’s captain, Why is the decree so hasty from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel.
Then Arioch told Daniel what had happened. These guys mouthed off to Nebuchadnezzar. They made him mad, so this is what happened.
So Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, promising that he would shew the king the interpretation.
So, he evidently received this time from Nebuchadnezzar, and then he went to his buddies, the three Hebrew children, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah that they might have a prayer meeting. He said fellows we have got to pray, and we have got to pray quick. We have got just so much time to hear from the Lord to find out the king’s dream and the interpretation.
They sought mercies of God concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision.
Now, in the Old Testament and New Testament times, God often through dreams and He also spoke through visions. The king had a dream, which had spiritual significance. God was speaking to him. Daniel through a night vision received the dream and the interpretation. We find that in the New Testament the Lord also spoke through dreams. Joseph was warned by the Lord in a dream to take the child and flee to Egypt because Herod was going to try to kill him. The Lord spoke through visions, sometimes night visions. “This night the angel of the Lord stood by me,” Paul said.
There is that school that declares that once we had the full canon of scripture God no longer spoke through dreams and visions. However, in the prophecy of Joel, where he promised that in the last days God would pour out His spirit on all flesh. He said, “your sons and daughters shall prophecy and your young men shall dream dreams and your old men shall see visions; and I will pour out in that day, the Lord promised of His Spirit. Then the prophecy of Joel goes into the tribulation period, blood and fire, vapor of smoke, moon turn to blood and the sun into darkness before the great notable day of the Lord come.”
I must confess that I have never had a dream to my knowledge that had any spiritual implications, nor have I had any visions with spiritual implications, but the door is not closed in my mind to these things. That is not to say that God can not speak, or God would not speak to me. And, I am open if God would want to speak to me in a dream, I would find that very fascinating. If God would want to give me a vision, I would find that very fascinating. I am open to it. But, I have never had what I would consider a spiritual dream. Now, I have had some interesting dreams, and I have had an interesting vision, but they are not really spiritual in nature.
My younger brother who was killed in a plane crash, he and I were very close. He was quite a bit younger than I and as a result he sort of looked up to me, his big brother and I was sort of a hero. But, we got into boating together. He was a master mechanic. And, we started water skiing and boating. We had this one motor on our boat and we would always repair it when it would go bad. So, after he was killed in the plane crash, the water pump quite on it. It was a Mercury 55E engine. So, I dropped the lower unit and as I thought the impeller was chewed up in there. It had been run dry. So, I replaced the impeller. So, by the time I was getting the whole thing together it was about midnight, and I got the call from the house, that Kay said, “Get in here right now! Go to bed. I can not go to sleep until you come in.” So I could tell by the tone of voice that it was all over for tonight. But, I had just tightened up the last bolt. So, I said, “O.K. honey, coming right in.” And, I flipped the motor on. I had it in water and I wanted to see that little stream of water come out that would indicate that the water pump was working, and it did not come out. All of this time and it did not work. So, I shut the thing off, went into the house, went to bed and I dreamed that my brother was with me working on the engine. And as I put the impeller in he said, “No Chuck, you have it backwards. Turn it around so that the impeller goes the other way.” Well, I woke up and I could not go back to sleep. I wanted to get back out and drop the unit to see if it was right. I started going in my mind the rotation of the engine and I thought, yes, that has got to be it. So, in the morning I went out and dropped the unit and turned it around, fired it up and it worked great.
Now explain it? I can’t. You see it is not spiritual. It is mechanical. And that was a kind of a vision I had too one time. When I was out in Corona we had started a church out there. And, because it was a new church and really could not pay an adequate salary, I was building a motel/office complex up in Idywild. And, I would drive home on the nights that I would have the Bible study and then get up early in the morning and drive on up to Idywild to work on this motel/office complex that I was building up there.
Well, I had a radio broadcast in Corona in the morning, and I would listen to my own broadcast so I could critique it. It helped pass the time. It was a half hour broadcast, which got me from the area of March Field all the way up to the base of the mountain. The car that I had was going to pieces slowly, and the speakers had already gone out in the front end of the radio, so I just listened to it from the rear speakers that still worked. But, it started getting so static like that I could not hear it clearly. And, I can remember very clearly that I was getting near the area of Perris Lake and I can remember exactly where I was on the road. And, I said, “Lord, it is tough driving up every morning after the Bible studies to work up here all day in the mountains. It is just something I have to do, but it is so nice if I can listen to the radio while I am going. What is wrong with this crazy thing?” I was just talking to the Lord, just thinking out loud. And, in my mind I saw a connection in the trunk and I saw it in my mind just dangling. So, I pulled off the road , and threw on the brakes. I was so excited. And, I climbed into the trunk and sure enough as I saw in my mind this picture,(and I have never been back in the trunk to look at connections before for the speakers) but there it was tangling. I pushed it together, got in and it was clear as a bell.
It was a vision, but no spiritual significance, and I feel sort of bad about that. I can’t explain it to you, but only on mechanical things do I get dreams and visions, not in spiritual issues, but I am open. And, I would find it quite exciting if the Lord should choose to reveal something by a dream or by a vision. Of course, I guess I am beyond the age of visions, your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams. So, I would settle for a dream, if the Lord would so want to speak to me.
We do find that God in the scriptures, and has in the scriptures, spoken to people through visions and through dreams.
Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
Now in this sort of a Psalm, a blessing of God, Daniel quotes no less then fifteen different portions of the scriptures. He quotes out of Genesis, out of Exodus, out of II Chronicles, out of Job two or three times, out of the Psalms several times, and even out of Isaiah, showing first of all that he had a tremendous working knowledge of the scriptures. And, that already many of the scriptures had been canonized, and were accepted as God’s Word and studied as the Word of God, some fifteen different quotations. And, we know later on in the ninth chapter, that he was familiar with the writings of Jeremiah, knowing from the scriptures that Jeremiah had predicted the seventy years of Babylonian captivity, knowing that time was just about up. So, he had a tremendous working knowledge of the scriptures.
He was a man of prayer. He was a man of commitment. He had purposed in his heart not to defile himself. And, now he demonstrates the fact that he is a man of the Word. No wonder he stands out in the scriptures as such an outstanding character. No wonder God used him. The man that God uses is a man of commitment. He is a man of prayer. He is a man of the Word.
Daniel answered blessed be the name of God for ever and ever; for wisdom and might are His; And He changeth the times and the seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings; (Recognizing that God ordains who is to rule.) He gives wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to those who know understanding. He reveals the deep and the secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with Him.(Psalm 139) I thank thee and praise thou God of my fathers, who has given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee; for thou hast now made known unto us the king’s matter.
So, God has showed it to Daniel, and now Daniel rejoices. He praises God, and gives thanks to God for revealing to him these things.
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 shew unto the king the interpretation. Then Arioch brought Daniel before the king in haste, and said unto him, (and notice how he tries to take credit for it.) I have found a man of the captives of Judah that will make known unto the king the interpretation. (I came through for you king.) 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? Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men and the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king; But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. (It is a dream that has prophetic significance.) Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these; As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into your mind upon your bed, what should come to pass hereafter;
That was the thought of the king as he was going to sleep. I wonder what the future holds? He had just entered into the kingdom. He was only a year on the throne, but he started wondering about the future. What does the future hold?
and He that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass.
The Lord has let you know what the future holds. He has let you know what is going to come to pass.
But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any other living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, that thou mayest know the thoughts of thy heart.
Now the next characteristic that we know about Daniel, or we observe here, is that he is also a man who is not taking credit or ready to receive glory for something that God has done. He is not really taking credit for himself. The king says, I understand, you can tell me. And, he says, no, there is a God who reveals it. He points the king to God, rather then seeking to get glory for himself for what God has done.
I think that this is an extremely important characteristic necessary for any man who is going to be used by God in any kind of continuing work. And, that is an extremely important characteristic necessary for those who are seeking to serve the Lord in any capacity. Because if God begins to use you, than the danger is always when people come to praise you for what the Lord has done, accepting that praise rather then turning them to the Lord. So, Daniel wisely does not accept the credit, but gives the glory to God for what God has revealed.
Now, he speaks concerning the dream. And, he speaks with such confidence. Earlier he said, “I will shew unto the king the interpretation.” When God spoke to him, He than spoke the Word of God with great confidence. And, I think that it is important that we speak God’s Word with great confidence, and great assurance. That is one characteristics that the Pharisees did not have, or the scribes in the days of Jesus. They were like bureaucrats today. No one wanted to take responsibility for anything. That is why it is so hard to get anything done. No one wants to accept responsibility. They always will pass you onto the next guy, the next guy, the next guy, and no one can make decisions. Daniel speaks very confidently.
The rabbis, in Jesus’ day would quote, Rabbi so and so, he says this. That is the way commentaries are. No one says this is the way it is. That is the way they would teach in Jesus’ day, but when Jesus finished the Sermon on the Mount, they marveled because He spoke as one who had authority. And, Daniel as he speaks the Word of God, speaks with authority. And, we need to have that kind of conviction about God’s Word. We should be speaking God’s Word with real authority.
Thou, O king, saw and you beheld a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form of it was awesome. This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms were silver, his belly and his thighs were brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. 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 broke them to pieces. 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. This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation to you. For you, O king, are a king of king’s. For the God of heaven has given to you a kingdom, and power, and strength, and glory;
You are there because He has appointed you to be there. God rules over the affairs of man. In Jeremiah 27, God speaking of Nebuchadnezzar declared that he was God’s servant to be used of God to accomplish God’s purposes. He was there because he was ordained by God to reign.
Now, as we move on into the story of Daniel, we will find that Nebuchadnezzar comes to realize that God does establish on the throne those whom he will, and those who He wishes to exalt, He can exalt, and those He wishes to abase, He can abase.
And wheresoever 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 you a ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.
So the vastness of this Babylon Empire covering that civilized portion of the world in the Middle East area.
And after thee shall arise another kingdom that is inferior to thee.
Now, Daniel does not speak anymore about the Medo-Persian Empire than that. Of course, he told us that there was a chest and arms of silver. The Medo-Persian Empire, of course, the two arms representing the Medes and the Persians. With the two legs you have the Eastern and Western Roman Empires. But nothing more is said that there shall arise after you another kingdom inferior to you. And, in 538 B.C., which was about sixty five years from the date of this dream, the Babylonian kingdom did fall to the Medo-Persian Empire. And, then another third kingdom, which would be the stomach of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth, is a reference to the Grecian kingdom. And in the year 330B.C., the Medo-Persian Empire fell to Alexander the Great and the Grecian kingdom.
Now, as we move into the book of Daniel, Daniel has in chapter 7 a vision of the world governing empires that corresponds to this dream of Nebuchadnezzar. But, in Daniel’s vision he does name the Medo-Persian Empire as the second beast, the bear that conquers over the lion. Then in a further prophecy, he prophecies of the Grecian Empire that is to destroy the Medo-Persian Empire. So, he takes us all the way to the Grecian Empire. And in 330 B.C., the Grecian Empire conquered the Medo-Persian Empire.
And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron; forasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things; and as iron that breaks all these ,shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas you saw the feet and the toes,
Now, the fourth kingdom was the Roman Empire and in 63 B.C. Rome conquered Greece. And, the beginning of the Roman Empire was in 63 B.C.
Now, after the Roman Empire we move out to the end. After the Roman Empire there has not been a world dominating empire. There have been nations, powerful nations, but not anything that would in anywise be likened unto a world dominating empire.
Whereas you saw the feet and the toes, that were part of potter’s clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou saw the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly weak (or broken, brittle). And whereas you saw the iron mixed with the 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.
So, the ten toes of the iron and clay feet represent ten nations or kingdoms that will be federated together as a final world dominating kind of a kingdom or empire. Part iron, would relate it to the Roman Empire. The part clay would speak of more or less democratic states or nations. In Europe today with the formation of the European Community that all began with what was known as the Treaty of Rome. And, it has gone through several changes of names and even as stated goals and purposes. It was called the Common Market. The idea was for economic strength for these nations of Europe to join together as one common market, combining their buying power and their selling powers. Removing the tariffs between the nations of Europe, allowing a free trade between the nations, a free exchange of goods without adding taxes or tariffs. And, it would form the largest economic powers in the world, exceeding the GMP of the United States many times over.
And so we have found that this program has been moving steadily onward, and at the present time there are twelve nations that have joined together by these economic treaties who are moving forward in the development of the European Community. Already they have, of course, the Euro Card, which is like our Master Card. Already they have the Euro passports. Instead of a British passport or a German passport, you have a Euro passport. And, with a Euro passport you can go to any of the nations of the European Community. From now on, after the first of the year, when you fly to Europe, at the port of entry, you will go through customs, but when you go to any other nation within the European Community you will not have to go through customs again. You will have entered into the European Community than you can freely go from one nation to another after the first of the year, without having to go through the custom checks, and without having to go through the searches that they some times require when crossing a border check. They will be removing the border guards from the nations of the European Community as of Thursday night of this week.
And, so we see this federation of nations, but also even as clay does not cleave to the iron, we see that there are many problems that have arisen in this attempt to bring the nations together. They are working towards a common currency. This is where the real problem exists right now, and they realize there is a lot of issues to be ironed out, but they are hoping by the year 1999 to have a common currency among these nations. Now, you go to England, you get your pounds, but then you go to Italy and you have to exchange the pounds for lira. Than you go back to Germany and you get your marks, and in Switzerland you get your francs. But, once the currency is unified they will have a common European currency, and this they are pressing for the year 1999 to get this inaugurated. But, there is a lot of problems with that yet. The iron is just not cleaving to the clay. Thus, as Daniel prophesied, it is not going to be an easy kind of blending of all of these issues together, as they are discovering, as this federation of nations develops, they have run into a lot of problems and are facing many at the present time, but are working to get them resolved.
Now, in Daniel’s vision where he sees not as a man, but as beast, the fourth beast, the Roman Empire, is a fearsome looking beast, that he does not or can not describe. It is just awesome looking. And, it has ten horns. The ten horns would be equivalent to the ten toes. The ten horns rise out of the fourth beast. And, then there comes an eleventh horn which is the anti-christ who takes control over this federation of ten kingdoms. So, it is out of this revived Roman Empire that the anti-christ will come to establish his rule over the earth.
The exciting thing to me is that in the days of these kings, that is when these nations have federated together, shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. Now, we have been looking for the second coming of Jesus Christ. Jesus told his disciples to pray thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
When you look at the world today you do not see the world that God created. You see a world that is suffering from sin and from the curse that resulted from sin. When you see man, you do not see man as God created him or intended him to be, you see fallen man. And, thus God’s intentions are veiled. And we look at the world today, we see the strife, we see the pain, we see death, we see violence, this is not what God intended. The Bible tells us what God intended, man to live together in fellowship with God in sweet communion, in harmony with God. A world that is filled with peace, righteousness, justice and this is the world that shall be when God puts an end to the human worldly governments of man and establishes His government and His kingdom over the earth.
It is so manifestly wrong for men to blame God for the tragedies that exist in our earth today. They try to blame God for the sufferings, the wars, the famines, for starving children. In reality our world is in total rebellion against God and we are suffering the results of that rebellion. This is not the world God intended, but God gave man freedom to do what he wished, and man has been in rebellion against God’s rule and against God’s laws. And, as a result of that rebellion, there are tragedies. There is suffering. But, thank God when the kingdom of Christ shall come, these things will be done away with, and He will reign in righteousness, justice and peace.
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 shall consume all of these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
In contrast to the kingdoms of man, which are like the chaff blown away in the summer wind, when it comes down to it finally, the Lord establishes His kingdom which will stand forever.
Forasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands,
That stone of course is Jesus Christ. He is the precious cornerstone that God promises through Isaiah, that He would lay in Zion. Peter picks that up quoting from Isaiah. Peter also picked up Psalm 118, He is the stone which was said of not or rejected by the builders, but God has caused it to become the chief cornerstone. So, Jesus Christ comes again to establish God’s kingdom.
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;
Remember he was wondering what was going to happen in the future. God has shown it to him, and these kingdoms that would rule. Then Daniel affirms:
and the dream is certain, and the interpretation of it is sure.
You can be sure this is going to happen. And, up to this point it has been very sure and very certain. At this very hour they are in the process of dismantling the borders in Europe, so by the end of this week the borders will be down. It is certain, the dream is sure. God is keeping his word and he is right on schedule.
Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and he worshipped Daniel,
This is so typical of man, in worshipping the instrument that God has used. It is wrong. But, it is so typical of man. We so often get enamored by God’s instruments, rather than by God.
and commanded that they should offer and oblation and sweet odors unto him. The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets,
You sort of saw the tri-unity of God, a God of gods, the Father; a Lord of kings, King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ; and the revealer of secrets, the Holy Spirit, who searches the deep things of God.
seeing that you could reveal this secret. Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him a ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon.
Now, remember the kid is still probably in his late teens, but what a position of authority, power is given unto him. Either in late teens or just early twenties, and all of this has been given now to him.
But then Daniel looks out for his buddies too, and I like this.
He requested of the king that he set Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego over the affairs of the province of Babylon; but Daniel sat in the gate of the king.
So, he got good positions for his friends also, though Daniel was right there with the king in the gate of the king.

Edited & Highlighted from “The Word For Today” Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7338
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