God’s Word for You
Daniel 2:36-38 The golden head
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Friday, September 12, 2025
36 “This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. 37 You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory. 38 Wherever mankind lives, and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air, he has placed them in your hands. He has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.
Daniel separates his account of the dream and its interpretation. He makes it clear that he is going to answer the king’s request completely and without leaving anything out at all. We have concluded that the king probably had forgotten the dream, but the way that Daniel answers does not necessarily insist on that conclusion (which is based on the earlier part of the chapter). Whether the king remembered the dream or not, Daniel presents all of it, perhaps even pointing out details that the king had forgotten.
Daniel says “we” when he says “we will interpret it.” Who does he mean by “we”? There is a plural of majesty or authority, the kind of thing that a king or queen would say to show their position. Daniel wouldn’t do that. Does he mean that he is speaking for himself and the Lord? This would mean stepping up onto the Lord’s pedestal and standing next the throne of God, and the places to the Lord’s left and right “belong to those for whom they have been prepared” (Mark 10:40). Even Jesus does not grant those places to his apostles. Could Daniel mean himself and all of the Lord’s believers? There is nothing that would let that make sense in the context. No, Daniel must mean himself and his companions, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. This also fits the conclusion to the chapter when the king will appoint those three to be Babylonian administrators (Daniel 2:49).
The title “king of kings” is not sacrilegious. This title occurs just six times in the Bible. Artaxerxes (later in the Persian period) will use it in one of the letters to Ezra (Ezra 7:12). Three times in the New Testament it is given to Christ (1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 17:14, and Revelation 19:16). The other two are both references to Nebuchadnezzar: Ezekiel 26:7 and the verse before us. Therefore Nebuchadnezzar was the first one to receive this superlative title, and he was, in fact, a king with kings under him according to the structure of the Babylonian empire.
Daniel rattles off the king’s gifts as “a kingdom, power, strength, and glory” with all the confidence of Paul in his epistles. But like Paul’s lists, Daniel’s has a point and also a progression. This isn’t just a compliment to a dictator. Daniel means that Nebuchadnezzar is indeed the undisputed ruler of the first kingdom represented by the dream-statue. He has power, the capacity to govern and properly care for his kingdom, for it is the role of the government to see to the good of its people, just as it is the role of every righteous person to “see to the needs of his animal” (Proverbs 12:10). Strength is the force of arms, by land and by sea, that the king possesses to defend his people and his nation. Finally, his glory or honor is the reputation he has both among his own people and with outsiders. “So,” says Leupold, “these terms are seen to be arranged in an ascending series.”
Did the king of Babylon really rule over all mankind, animals, and birds? He actually ruled over the known world at the time. The Lydians in the far west (Asia Minor), the Medes to the north of Babylon, and the Elamites to the east were under his control. Nebuchadnezzar had defeated Egypt personally at the Battle of Carchemish, securing his control over everything from the Nile to the Tigris. Daniel was not exaggerating. The Babylonians were one of the first governments to lift up the idea of a world empire. Neither the Egyptians, nor the Sumerians, nor the Hittites had envisioned such a thing.
Nebuchadnezzar also has a singular quality that many or most later rulers abandoned. He truly was a religious man, and believed and trusted in the gods he prayed to. Later when he will be led into belief in the true God, his devotion will be sincere. We could hardly say that he was a well- instructed catechumen with a fine understanding of the Messiah who was coming to atone for his sins, but he was at least not a hypocrite, nor insincere in his faith. We will have more opportunities to meditate on that point. Nebuchadnezzar—not just Babylon, but Nebuchadnezzar himself—was the statue’s head of gold.
This by itself is an incredible laud and point of praise from the Lord God. What will he say of you or me on judgment day? Jesus teaches us to remain humble even then, by saying, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty” (Luke 17:10). To be forgiven is the sentence we long to hear the most, and God has blessed us with that very message week by week by week. Praise his holy name forever.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.