Daniel Interprets a Dream

In Tuesday's First Reading at Mass [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112525.cfm ] Daniel interprets Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream about a statue, a dream whose meaning was hounding him.  In that dream, Nebuchadnezzar saw a statue made of various components: a gold head, a silver upper torso, a bronze gut, iron legs, and iron and clay feet.  What did that mean?

          Lest we dismiss Nebuchadnezzar as an ancient of superstitious inclination, consider the amount of money Americans pay each year to Freudian psychologists to interpret their dreams.

          One problem with readings at Mass is the daily lection sometimes loses context.  Today’s is extracted from Daniel 2, but doesn’t tell us that the King first turns to his Babylonian wise men (meet some early magi).  His offer to them is both tempting and terrifying: explain what the dream means and I will make you rich, fail to do so and I will execute you.

          Nebuchadnezzar didn’t ask Daniel.  Daniel found out what was up by asking the king’s executioner after he dispatched the failed wise men.  He then turns to God, asking Him to illumine him, and then volunteers to explain matters to Nebuchadnezzar.

          First point: what Daniel conveys is God’s wisdom, not the human wisdom of some now deceased people.  That gives it authority.  Daniel does not count himself wise; wisdom in the Old Testament is living according to God’s Will, which means He is the source of wisdom.

          Now consider Nebuchadnezzar’s statue.  It is a composite of various elements, from noble metals (gold, silver) to alloys (bronze) to fragile products (clay).  In other words, it’s inherently unstable.  English has the expression of “having clay feet,” i.e., something that in appearance seems noble but cannot support the weight of its nobility because of its fragile feet.  The idiom comes from here.

          Daniel explains that the statue represents various kingdoms that would rise and fall, one sweeping away the other, some ruling with an iron fist. He also speaks of a divine kingdom that will last forever.

          It’s fitting this reading comes this week, in the shadow of the Solemnity of Christ the King.  In the ancient world, kings imagined the gods on their sides, supernatural allies supporting their kingdoms: it’s why so many ancient rulers made themselves into gods.  Daniel refutes this apotheosis of human politics.  Babylon was in fact overthrown.  God did in fact send an eternal King who inaugurates “an eternal and universal kingdom: a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love, and peace” (Preface for Christ the King).  The question is: are we its willing and loyal subjects?