Chapter 2 - The Dream of the Image and Its Interpretation - Part 3

Introduction

In this part of the chapter, we reach the climax of the narrative: after Daniel requested time from the king, gathered with his companions in prayer, and the secret of the dream was revealed to him in a night vision - he begins with a song of thanksgiving to the Holy One, blessed be He. From there, with immense wisdom, he approaches Arioch and the king, saves the wise men of Babylon from the decree, and reveals to Nebuchadnezzar both the dream of the image and its interpretation. We will go through the verses in order, accompanied by the commentary of the Malbim.

"He Reveals Deep and Secret Things" - Three Types of Knowledge

הוּא גָּלֵא עַמִּיקָתָא וּמְסַתְּרָתָא, יָדַע מָה בַחֲשׁוֹכָא, וּנְהוֹרָא עִמֵּהּ שְׁרֵא. - He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him.

Its meaning is: Hashem reveals profound and hidden matters, knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells and abides with Him. Daniel enumerates here various levels of knowledge that the Holy One, blessed be He, reveals to man, beyond anything human intellect can attain on its own. There are things that are incomprehensible because of the inherent depth of the concept itself - something exceedingly deep; concerning these it is said, "He reveals deep things," Hashem reveals profound matters. And there are things that, beyond being deep, are also concealed, such that there is no way to know them unless they are revealed through prophecy; concerning these it is said, "and secret things," He reveals hidden matters as well.

And there is a third category: things that are not yet known at all because they are in darkness - namely, the future. A future event does not exist in reality at all, and therefore it is impossible to perceive or grasp it, since it does not yet exist in the natural order, but is merely something destined to occur. Only through the power of prophecy can such a thing be known. Regarding this, Daniel says, "He knows what is in the darkness" - the future is darkness from our perspective, and the Holy One, blessed be He, knows even what is in the dark.

And what is the meaning of "and the light dwells with Him"? Even a person who knows future events may still see them through an unilluminated lens (aspaklaria she-eina me'ira), in a partial and faint light. Such were the astrologers, who could foresee future occurrences, but only in a blurred manner - just as Pharaoh's astrologers did when they saw blood in the wilderness, seeing that Israel would be struck, or that their redeemer would be smitten through water. That is someone who sees the future, but dimly, through an unpolished lens. But with the Holy One, blessed be He, "the light dwells with Him": when a mortal attempts to know what will happen in the future, he is enveloped in darkness, for the future is shrouded in dark; but the Holy One, blessed be He, is above time. One who is above time is, so to speak, already present in the future right now. For Him, it is not merely "destined to be" - He is already there. This is the aspect of "the light dwells with Him," that He is, as it were, present in that very time itself. Consequently, nothing is concealed from Him.

"And Now You Have Made Known to Me" - The Merit of the Many and the Solution of the Individual

לָךְ אֱלָהּ אֲבָהָתִי מְהוֹדֵא וּמְשַׁבַּח אֲנָה, דִּי חָכְמְתָא וּגְבוּרְתָא יְהַבְתְּ לִי, וּכְעַן הוֹדַעְתַּנִי דִּי בְעֵינָא מִנָּךְ, דִּי מִלַּת מַלְכָּא הוֹדַעְתֶּנָא. - I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers, for You have given me wisdom and might, and now You have made known to me what we asked of You, for You have made known to us the king's matter.

To You, Hashem, God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for You gave me wisdom and might, and now You have also made known to me what I requested of You - the hidden matters in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, and the king's matter You made known to us. The Malbim notes a precise shift in language: at first, "You have made known to me" (hoda'tani) in the singular, and then "what we asked of You" (be'eina minach) and "You made known to us" (hoda'tana) in the plural. Why? Because all his companions stood with him and prayed together: Please, Hashem, make known to us the king's matter, interpret the king's dream for us - hence "we asked" and "You made known to us" in the plural. But to whom did Hashem actually reveal it? Only to Daniel, who, as explained earlier, was a vessel uniquely suited for this, adept in all visions and dream interpretations; therefore, he was the one who received the interpretation directly, not they. Thus the wording is precise: all of us asked, yet "You made known to me" - to me alone did You reveal it. Nonetheless, he does not attribute this to his own personal merit, but says: You, Hashem, responded to the prayer of all of us, and the collective merit of all of them is what availed here.

Daniel's Wisdom: Why He Approached Arioch and Not the King

כָּל קֳבֵל דְּנָה דָּנִיֵּאל עַל עַל אַרְיוֹךְ דִּי מַנִּי מַלְכָּא לְהוֹבָדָה לְחַכִּימֵי בָבֶל, אֲזַל וְכֵן אֲמַר לֵהּ, לְחַכִּימֵי בָבֶל אַל תְּהוֹבֵד, הַעֵלְנִי קֳדָם מַלְכָּא וּפִשְׁרָא לְמַלְכָּא אֲחַוֵּא. - Therefore Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went and said thus to him: "Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; bring me before the king, and I will declare the interpretation to the king."

Because the dream was revealed to him, Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to execute all the wise men, and said to him: "Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; rather, bring me before the king and I will tell him the interpretation." One might ask: If you already have the interpretation, go directly to the king and tell him you have it - why bother going to Arioch? But as we have seen, Arioch had been ordered to execute the wise men of Babylon, and they had already begun putting them to death. Daniel wanted to halt the killing machine immediately, so that he would have a chance to reach the king.

And he acted wisely: he understood that if he merely asked Arioch to stop the executions, the king would execute Arioch - "I give the orders, and you take orders from one of my subjects?!" Therefore he approached him and told him: Do not kill anyone, but go to the king and say this: "My lord the king, as I was leading the men to be executed, someone stopped me on the way and told me he knows the interpretation - Daniel, the one who was before you yesterday or the day before, stopped me and said he has the interpretation, so I immediately stopped and brought him before you." In this way, there is no rebellion against the king: "I did not accept an order from him to cease; rather, I was compelled to bring him before you because I encountered him." This was Daniel's wisdom, for he knew: If I go to the king myself, I will waste hours, and by the time I return, Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah, his companions, and the Jewish sages who served before the king might already be killed. Therefore he told him: Stop the execution, and I will enter before the king.

And the wording "ufishra lemalka achavei" (and I will declare the interpretation to the king) - the word "achavei" denotes an absolute interpretation: I will interpret it for him in such a way that he will relive the experience, as though seeing the dream again, and know with absolute clarity that this is the true interpretation.

"A Man of the Exiles of Judah" - Arioch's Cautious Commendation

אֱדַיִן אַרְיוֹךְ בְּהִתְבְּהָלָה הַנְעֵל לְדָנִיֵּאל קֳדָם מַלְכָּא, וְכֵן אֲמַר לֵהּ, דִּי הַשְׁכַּחַת גְּבַר מִן בְּנֵי גָלוּתָא דִּי יְהוּד דִּי פִשְׁרָא לְמַלְכָּא יְהוֹדַע. - Then Arioch brought Daniel before the king in haste, and spoke thus to him: "I have found a man among the exiles of Judah who will make known the interpretation to the king."

Arioch accepted the idea, and "in haste" - with urgency and alacrity - brought Daniel before the king and said: I have found a man among the exiles of Judah who is able to provide the interpretation of the dream. That is, as if to say: I went out to fulfill the king's command, and along the way I encountered him, which is why I brought him before you in such haste.

And why did he emphasize "among the exiles of Judah"? Because he needed to justify why he had stopped his mission and troubled the king: It is not just anyone I have brought, but a man from among the Jewish exiles - where there were wise men, where there was prophecy, where there was the Urim VeTumim; a man who lived during the era of the Beis HaMikdash and certainly knows what he is talking about. There is good reason to give him credit; there is a real chance of receiving answers from him.

Notice the change in phrasing: Daniel said "achavei", whereas Arioch said "yehodah" (will make known). "Achavei" implies clear and absolute knowledge, a reliving of the dream; whereas Arioch was not certain that Daniel was such a great find, and he did not want to use grandiose words that could not be backed up. Therefore, he spoke cautiously: "He will make known the interpretation to you" - without guaranteeing certainty, so that if it did not succeed, he would not be held accountable and challenged: "What did you promise us?"

"Whose Name Was Belteshazzar" - Why Did the King Mention This Name?

עָנֵה מַלְכָּא וְאָמַר לְדָנִיֵּאל דִּי שְׁמֵהּ בֵּלְטְשַׁאצַּר, הַאִיתָךְ כָּהֵל לְהוֹדָעֻתַנִי חֶלְמָא דִי חֲזֵית וּפִשְׁרֵהּ. - The king spoke up and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar: "Are you able to make known to me the dream that I saw, and its interpretation?"

We have already explained in previous lessons why the king called Daniel "Belteshazzar": it was the name of Nebuchadnezzar's deity, and because he perceived in Daniel divine and supernatural powers - and anyone who possessed supernatural powers would be named after a god - he called him by that name. Therefore, specifically here, when he asks whether he has the power to make known the dream and its interpretation, the verse emphasizes "to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar" - as if to say: The only chance that the solution lies with you is because you are Belteshazzar, possessing divine powers, and perhaps through that you will know the interpretation of the dream.

Daniel Rescues the Wise Men: "No Wise Men... Can Declare"

עָנֵה דָנִיֵּאל קֳדָם מַלְכָּא וְאָמַר, רָזָא דִּי מַלְכָּא שָׁאֵל לָא חַכִּימִין אָשְׁפִין חַרְטֻמִּין גָּזְרִין יָכְלִין לְהַחֲוָיָה לְמַלְכָּא.

Why was this introduction necessary? If you wish to tell him the interpretation of the dream, begin and say it! Why dwell on the fact that the necromancers, sorcerers, and Chaldeans cannot know it? The Malbim explains: Daniel, in his wisdom, sought to remove the threat of the swinging sword from above the heads of the other wise men, for the royal decree to execute them was still in force, and he wanted to annul it. His argument was: when a wise man was expected to master a certain discipline and failed to do so properly, there are grounds to take off his head - you stand before the king, you were expected to be master of every wisdom, yet you were summoned and do not know. But when it comes to wisdom that man has no avenue or chance of ever reaching, one cannot hold him accountable, asking why he did not study and why he did not know - it is simply beyond human grasp.

Therefore he opened by saying: My lord the king, the secret that you asked of the wise men is truly a secret, and neither wise men, nor astrologers, necromancers, or sorcerers can possibly know it, for their craft deals only with lower forces: with demons, with the celestial bodies, with nature. These are not forces capable of knowing hidden matters or the inner thoughts of the human heart.

בְּרַם אִיתַי אֱלָהּ בִּשְׁמַיָּא גָּלֵא רָזִין, וְהוֹדַע לְמַלְכָּא נְבוּכַדְנֶצַּר מָה דִּי לֶהֱוֵא בְּאַחֲרִית יוֹמַיָּא, חֶלְמָךְ וְחֶזְוֵי רֵאשָׁךְ עַל מִשְׁכְּבָךְ דְּנָה הוּא.

There is, however, a God in heaven Who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nevuchadnezzar what will be in the end of days. Only He can reveal such a thing. And since your reign is an all-encompassing empire, you were informed of what will unfold in the end of days - and this only Hashem knows, and He decided to disclose it to His servants, which is why He revealed it to me. But do not hold a grudge or direct your fury against your wise men for not knowing, since they had no possibility of knowing such a thing. In simple terms, he told him: these wise men still have their use; for all the physical, earthly matters you require, they can satisfy your needs, but in a matter such as this, it lies beyond their power to know, so do not complain against them. From here he transitions to the matter itself: "Your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed are this" - the dream, the imagery, and the thoughts of your mind and head, what you dreamed and what you saw, is as follows.

"Your Thoughts Came Upon Your Bed" - Dreams from the Musings of the Heart

אַנְתְּ מַלְכָּא רַעְיוֹנָךְ עַל מִשְׁכְּבָךְ סְלִקוּ מָה דִּי לֶהֱוֵא אַחֲרֵי דְנָה, וְגָלֵא רָזַיָּא הוֹדְעָךְ מָה דִי לֶהֱוֵא.

From this verse the Gemara in Masechet Berachot derives that a person is shown in a dream only the musings of his own heart. This carries two meanings. First: many dreams are mere vanity, containing no message whatsoever, but are simply an extension of the things we pondered throughout the day. Second, as the commentators explain (and as noted earlier in this work): even when Heaven wishes to show a person a true dream, what symbols are used to show it to him? Symbols drawn from his own conceptual world. If they wish to show a dream to a carpenter who deals with wood all day, the parable will be presented in terms of wood; and if a person's occupation is different, he will be shown things drawn from that occupation, from the imagery that occupies him during the day. Consider Pharaoh, for instance: his dream opened with, "and behold, he was standing by the Nile," because the Nile was his entire world and occupation, and he believed himself to be a god standing on the bank of the river. If we were to see a true dream, we would not be shown the Nile, for those are not the matters we ponder. Every person dreams within the framework of the things he contemplates during waking hours.

And that is precisely what Daniel told him: your thoughts during the day rose up upon your bed and became a dream. You were troubling your mind with the question: who will arise after me? Nevuchadnezzar was a mighty monarch who ruled the known world, and he asked himself what the future held, who would rule after him, and which empires would follow. Then the Holy One, Blessed be He, "the Revealer of secrets," came and made known to you what is destined to occur until the end of days.

"And As for Me, Not Through Any Wisdom That Is in Me" - Daniel's Humility

וַאֲנָה לָא בְחָכְמָה דִּי אִיתַי בִּי מִן כָּל חַיַּיָּא רָזָא דְנָה גֱּלִי לִי, לָהֵן עַל דִּבְרַת דִּי פִשְׁרָא לְמַלְכָּא יְהוֹדְעוּן וְרַעְיוֹנֵי לִבְבָךְ תִּנְדַּע.

And as for me, it was not because of any superior wisdom that I possess above all other living beings in the world that this secret was revealed to me. Here Daniel conducts himself with profound humility: earlier he stated that it was unfair to demand this of the necromancers, since it lies outside their domain; yet he clarifies that the king must not conclude that Daniel was simply wiser than them all and was therefore granted the revelation. Rather, since Hashem willed to make the interpretation of the dream known to you, and He needed a messenger, He made use of me - not because I am more worthy or capable than others.

This statement also continues his defense of the other magicians. For if the king were to ask: if this matter does not depend on wisdom, why did Hashem not reveal it to one of the magicians, and why did He reveal it specifically through you? He would answer: Hashem wished to reveal it through someone and chose me, but one should not conclude from this that they are unworthy, nor should you execute them for it. It is not because they are inferior, but because Hashem had mercy on you and wanted to provide you with the interpretation, and therefore He used me as an emissary to make the matter known to you.

The Image: "You Looked, and Behold, a Great Image"

אַנְתְּ מַלְכָּא חָזֵה הֲוַיְתָ וַאֲלוּ צְלֵם חַד שַׂגִּיא, צַלְמָא דִכֵּן רַב וְזִיוֵהּ יַתִּיר קָאֵם לְקָבְלָךְ, וְרֵוֵהּ דְּחִיל. - You, O king, were watching, and behold, a great image; this image, which was huge and its radiance extraordinary, stood before you, and its appearance was terrifying.

You, my lord the king, were watching, and behold, a great image - "image" (tzelem) means the likeness of a human form, a colossal, gigantic, and mighty statue. "Tzalma dikein" - that image, this image: it was huge, its radiance extraordinary and awesome, standing before you, and its appearance and form were dread-inducing and terrifying. A person who sees such a sight, a mighty image that shines with an overwhelming luster, is gripped by dread and awe.

The Malbim explains the phrasing "you were watching" (chazeh haveita): as Daniel interprets the dream for him, the vision now clothes itself in Nevuchadnezzar's mind once again, and it is as though he sees the image anew. Therefore he tells him "you were watching" - you now see it as if it stands right before you, just as you saw it in the dream, in the words of the verse: "standing before you," behold, it stands facing you.

The Metals of the Image

הוּא צַלְמָא רֵאשֵׁהּ דִּי דְהַב טָב, חֲדוֹהִי וּדְרָעוֹהִי דִּי כְסַף, מְעוֹהִי וְיַרְכָתֵהּ דִּי נְחָשׁ. - As for this image, its head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze.

שָׁקוֹהִי דִּי פַרְזֶל, רַגְלוֹהִי מִנְּהֵין דִּי פַרְזֶל וּמִנְּהֵין דִּי חֲסַף. - Its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

This image: its head was fine gold, meaning of the highest quality; the chest and arms were of silver; the belly and thighs of bronze; the legs of iron; and the feet - meaning the feet themselves - partly of iron and partly of clay. It is worth noting the anatomical order: the lower leg (shok) is lower down and the thigh (yarech) is higher up, which is why the thighs are mentioned before the legs. From here we can also understand the biblical expression "he struck them leg upon thigh" (shok al yarech): when a person stands upright, the thigh is above the lower leg, but when one is knocked upside down, the lower leg ends up above the thigh - and that is the meaning of "shok al yarech," that he struck them and knocked them over, until their lower leg was above their thigh rather than the thigh above the lower leg.

The Stone Cut Out "Without Hands"

חָזֵה הֲוַיְתָ עַד דִּי הִתְגְּזֶרֶת אֶבֶן דִּי לָא בִידַיִן, וּמְחָת לְצַלְמָא עַל רַגְלוֹהִי דִּי פַרְזְלָא וְחַסְפָּא, וְהַדֵּקֶת הִמּוֹן. - You watched until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and crushed them to powder.

And then you witnessed a wondrous sight: a stone broke loose, and not by human hands - not that someone took it and threw it, but it detached on its own. Moreover, this was not a huge rock but a small stone, yet it strikes the image upon its feet of iron and clay, and "crushed them" - grinding them to powder.

בֵּאדַיִן דָּקוּ כַחֲדָה פַּרְזְלָא חַסְפָּא נְחָשָׁא כַּסְפָּא וְדַהֲבָא, וַהֲווֹ כְּעוּר מִן אִדְּרֵי קַיִט, וּנְשָׂא הִמּוֹן רוּחָא וְכָל אֲתַר לָא הִשְׁתְּכַח לְהוֹן, וְאַבְנָא דִּי מְחָת לְצַלְמָא הֲוָת לְטוּר רַב וּמְלָאת כָּל אַרְעָא. - Then the iron, the clay, the copper, the silver, and the gold were crushed all at once, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away so that no trace of them could be found; and the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the entire earth.

And then you see how the disintegration begins from below, from the feet, and the entire structure begins to crumble and collapse - the iron, the clay, the copper, the silver, and the gold all at once, all the way up to the head of gold, an absolute collapse leaving nothing behind. "And became like chaff from the summer threshing floors" - "kayit" means summer: it became like the chaff of the threshing floor winnowed in the summer. How is winnowing done? One takes a pitchfork and tosses the grain with the chaff into the air; the wind carries off the chaff, while the heavy kernels fall back down into place. This is what Chazal refer to as "one who winnows, and the wind aids him." In the very same way, you see how the wind carried off the fragments of the image, which had turned completely to dust, "and no place was found for them" - no trace of them could be found. On the other hand: "And the stone that struck the image" - that very stone that struck the image, suddenly you see it growing, "became a great mountain and filled the entire earth," turning into an immense, lofty mountain that fills the whole world.

"This is the dream, and we will tell its interpretation before the king"

דְּנָה חֶלְמָא וּפִשְׁרֵהּ נֵאמַר קֳדָם מַלְכָּא. - This is the dream, and we will tell its interpretation before the king.

Daniel says to him: I am recounting the dream publicly, but its interpretation - "pishra," related to the phrase "pesher davar" (the meaning of a matter) - I will tell only before you. What is the reason? As we will soon see, the dream bodes no good for Nebuchadnezzar, and Daniel did not want the king to be disgraced before his ministers, and he also feared that this might endanger Daniel himself. Therefore he said: Everyone may hear the dream, but the interpretation I will speak between you and me, for your ears alone.

"You, O king, are king of kings" - The Head of Gold

אַנְתְּ מַלְכָּא מֶלֶךְ מַלְכַיָּא, דִּי אֱלָהּ שְׁמַיָּא מַלְכוּתָא חִסְנָא וְתָקְפָּא וִיקָרָא יְהַב לָךְ. - You, O king, are king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given dominion, power, strength, and glory.

Chazal state that every mention of "king" in Sefer Daniel refers to an earthly, flesh-and-blood monarch, except in this verse, where "King of kings" refers to the Holy One, blessed be He. Accordingly, the verse is interpreted: You, my lord the king - the Holy One, blessed be He, Who is the King of kings and the God of heaven, is the One Who granted you a kingdom of fortitude, power, and glory.

And what is the meaning of this? The Malbim explains: This image is meant to convey everything that will happen to your kingdom, and in fact to all the empires until the end of all generations. Since you, Nebuchadnezzar, "your thoughts came upon your bed," pondering what would take place in the end of days, Heaven showed you, and the image represents all the empires. Just as you see that the image is purely physical, devoid of spirit and devoid of life, so too all these empires are destined to be kingdoms without spirit, kingdoms with no true vitality. And just as the image is composed of four types of metal, so four kingdoms are destined to rule.

The first empire is the kingdom of the head of gold. Why are you represented in the image as a head of gold? Because gold is the most esteemed of all metals, and the head is what imparts vitality to all the limbs. The reason is: since you are a king over kings and an absolute monarch who ruled over the entire known world, you serve as the "head" in relation to all subsequent empires, which are in the position of the body. Furthermore, the head is the dwelling place of the intellect and the seat of the soul; just as the intellect and the soul are spiritual, so too the kingdom of the head - Nebuchadnezzar's reign - came directly from Hashem: "to whom the God of heaven has given dominion, power, strength, and glory"; the God of heaven gave you a kingdom of strength, power, and honor.

These three descriptions correspond to three distinct virtues of gold. First, gold endures longer than all other metals: many metals rust, and even silver tarnishes, but gold does not - this corresponds to "chisna," fortitude and durability, enduring over long periods, indicating that your kingdom has resilience. Second, gold is stronger than many other metals - not the hardest of them all, but stronger than many - and this corresponds to "tikpa," strength and force. Third, "vikara," glory and honor, for gold is the most precious and honored metal, and honor was granted to you as well. All of this is embodied in the head of gold - that is you, Nebuchadnezzar.

"You are the head of gold"

וּבְכָל דִּי דָיְרִין בְּנֵי אֲנָשָׁא חֵיוַת בָּרָא וְעוֹף שְׁמַיָּא יְהַב בִּידָךְ וְהַשְׁלְטָךְ בְּכָלְּהוֹן, אַנְתְּ הוּא רֵאשָׁה דִּי דַהֲבָא. - And wherever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowl of the heavens He has given into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all; you are the head of gold.

Just as the head provides intellect and directs the entire body, so too are you the aspect of the head, leading and governing the entire world: wherever human beings live, as well as the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky - He has placed them all into your hand. And what does "He has given into your hand" mean? Chazal say that Nebuchadnezzar would ride upon a lion and tie a serpent around his head. To demonstrate his might, he rode neither a horse nor a donkey, but a lion, wearing a snake like a crown around his head to display his dominion over the animals as well - and we will see more of this in the verses ahead. Daniel tells him: Hashem has placed them all into your hand for you to rule over them, and therefore you are the head of gold, just as the head governs and controls all the limbs of the body.

In summary:

In this section, we have seen Daniel in three aspects: as one who gives thanks to Heaven - opening with the praise, "He reveals the deep and secret things," disclosing that the future is darkness to us yet light before Him, Blessed be He, and attributing the revelation of the mystery to the merit of the companions who prayed with him; as wise and a savior - who with shrewd wisdom halted the killing machine through Arioch, and at the outset of his address before the king lifted the decree from the wise men of Babylon by arguing that this was not a wisdom accessible to them; and as humble - who did not attribute the revelation to his own wisdom, but to the fact that Hashem chose him as a messenger. From there he proceeded to the dream itself: a colossal, physical image devoid of spirit, constructed of four metals, which a stone cut out without hands shatters like chaff from a threshing floor, while the stone itself becomes a great mountain filling the entire earth. Its interpretation began with the head of gold - Nebuchadnezzar himself, whose kingdom was granted to him by the God of Heaven with strength, power, and glory, and who is the head ruling over all.