We learned earlier that at the beginning of his [Nebuchadnezzar’s] reign, he advanced with the army to Judea in the third year of the reign of Joachim. . . . So most blessed Daniel, recalling the first year after the capture of the Jews, . . . now adds, in the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. He [Daniel] added this not without reason but that we should know the time with precision. This is like the divine ways of the prophets, noting the facts related to the kings, a sure reference to the number of years.

The impious king beheld a dream concerning things to come, in order that he might give glory to God after the holy man interpreted what he had seen and that great consolation might be afforded the captive [Jews] and those who still served God in their captive state. We read this same thing in the case of Pharaoh, not because Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar deserved to behold visions but in order that Joseph and Daniel might appear as deserving of preference over all other people because of their gift of interpretation.

The Spirit of prophecy does not affect everyone in the same way. The Spirit’s infusion in some people confers images of things; others are granted the mental fruit of understanding; others are given both by inspiration; and still others know nothing. But the Spirit works through the infusion in two ways. The first way comes during sleep, and not only to saints, but even Pharoah and King Nebuchadnezzar saw what neither of them was able to understand but both of them were able to see. The second way is through demonstration in ecstasy (which some Latins translate as trembling—astonishingly idiosyncratic, but close in meaning nonetheless), where the mind is separated from the bodily senses so that the human spirit, which is assumed by the divine Spirit, might be free of perceiving and intuiting ideas, as, for instance, when it was shown to Daniel what he had not understood, and to Peter, the sheet let down from heaven by its four corners, who only later recognized what this vision represented.^[1] One way is through the mental fruit of understanding, when the significance and relevance of the things demonstrated through images is revealed, which is a more certain prophecy, for the apostle calls such prophecy greater,^[2] as Joseph deserved to understand but Pharaoh only to see, and as Daniel explained to the king that he saw but did not know.

There is a type of dream that comes from God, since he has promised to pour out the grace of the Holy Spirit on all flesh and has ordained that his sons and handmaidens shall utter prophecies and dream dreams. Such dreams may be compared with the grace of God as being honest, holy, prophetic, inspired, edifying and inducing to virtue. Their bountiful nature causes them to overflow even to the unbelievers since God with divine impartiality causes the rain to fall and the sun to shine on just and unjust alike.

The vision was concealed from the king for this purpose: that he who was chosen by God [i.e., Daniel] might be shown to be a prophet. For when things concealed from some are revealed by another, he who tells them is of necessity shown to be a prophet.

The providential plan is unveiled to the wise. The dream was made known to the prophet and so making evident that which he willed to be accomplished, that in turn [the prophet’s] good and saving counsel would be readily received. The king was frightened by the dream, and yet he also feared that he would forget the dream. That which the God of all foreknows is made known to those who are faithful, as is likewise the foolishness of the king. For surely it is foolish to ask others to recall the dream.

And having summoned them, they were given the request by that one whom they serve, and foolishly they promised. For human wisdom is incapable of knowing the divine mysteries without assistance from above.

While the demand in these words was high-handed and insane, the accusation was very true: You want to learn what the dream was, he is saying, so as to hatch in common some false interpretation and trick me as usual, using the lapse in time as an advantage and waiting for the moment of fulfillment.

The Chaldeans responded, Wherefore it is not possible to know precisely what you [the king] thought. What is humanly possible, they said, you may require from us, but not that which is beyond our nature. You who govern the greatest of all kingdoms must act justly in the governance of that kingdom and require from your subjects that which is possible. That which is now requested is by no mean just. Such knowledge does not belong to human beings.

The magi confess, along with the soothsayers—and all secular learning concurs—that foreknowledge of the future lies not in human province but in God’s. By this test it is proved that the prophets who proclaimed things to come spoke by the Spirit of God.

[The magi] said that it was impossible for a human being to tell what the king asked. So, God showed them that what is impossible with people is possible with God.

In effect, Arioch was the head cook, and as the cook slays all animals and cooks them, so here he has a similar occupation. For the rulers of the world slay people, butchering them like brute beasts.

We find in the books of Kings the very holy woman Hannah fulfilling the precepts of this Gospel teaching. For while praying without uttering a sound, in her heart and in the sight of God she poured out her desire in her prayers. She was immediately found worthy to be heard by the Lord.^[1] In the same way the Lord granted to Daniel, who always prayed in secret with three servants, to understand the interpretations of his dream and the secrets of revelation. Cornelius too, not yet instructed in the gospel, prayed secretly and faithfully in his room and was found worthy to hear the voice of the angel speaking.^[2]

Truly, much that is true is found in the midst of the lies. Those who seek God are the friends of truth, while those who depend on human reason alone are wicked and in all they say and do attempt to seduce people. But the friends of truth adhere to nothing apart from that which comes from on high. They call on the One who rules over all, taking heed to depend on prayer, standing steadfast, not distressed, not at this moment or in this place, but standing against the onslaught of human reason. And through the testimony of blessed Daniel, we see the beloved youth given straightaway the revelation concerning the dream, not because of his calculations but simply because it was proper time to hand over to the one who prays. He alone was of great courage, but at the same time his companions jointly took up the prayer. For none had abandoned the hope.

What a skillful workman the Spirit is! There is no question of delay in learning. It no sooner touches the mind in regard to anything it chooses than it teaches; its very touch is teaching. It changes a human mind in a moment to enlighten it; suddenly what it was no longer is, suddenly it is what it was not.

In everything he reveals his gratitude, not only composing the hymn but also making the discovery of the dream the theme of the composition. It is proper, he is saying, constantly to sing praises of God, who is eternal and everlasting, fount of wisdom and understanding as he is, governing everything correctly and beneficently.

Let us not marvel, therefore, whenever we see kings and empires succeed one another, for it is by the will of God that they are governed, altered and terminated. And the situations of individuals are well known to him who founded all things. He often permits wicked kings to arise that they may in their wickedness punish the wicked. At the same time, by indirect suggestion and general remarks, he prepares the reader for the fact that the dream Nebuchadnezzar saw was concerned with the change and succession of empires.

Further, the divine nature has the property of penetrating all things without mixing with them and of being itself impenetrable by anything else. Moreover, there is the property of knowing all things with a simple knowledge and seeing all things simply with his divine, all-surveying, immaterial eye, the things of the present, and the things of the past and the things of the future before they come into being. The divine nature is also sinless, and can cast sin out and bring salvation. And all that it wills, it can accomplish, but it does not will all it could accomplish. For it could destroy the universe, but it does not will so to do.

Many other things may also be called gifts of God, such as riches and bodily strength, physical beauty and earthly power. These things are also given by God, as Daniel says: He deposes kings and sets up kings, but they are not spiritual gifts.

One to whom God makes profound revelations and who can say, O the depth of the riches of the knowledge and wisdom of God, he it is who by the indwelling of the Spirit probes even into the deep things of God and digs the deepest of wells in the depths of his soul.

The darkness signifies ignorance, and the light signifies knowledge and learning. Therefore as wrong cannot hide God away, so also he is encompassed and surrounded by right. We may also interpret these words to mean that all the dark mysteries and deep things [concerning God]. . . . This is similar to that which is read in the Psalms, Dark waters in the clouds of the sky.^[1] For one who ascends to the heights and forsakes the things of earth, and like the birds themselves seek after the most rarified atmosphere and everything ethereal, he becomes like a cloud to which the truth of God penetrates and that habitually showers rain on the saints.

Concerning the light Daniel noted, It reveals the profound and hidden things, knowing those things that are in the darkness and the light is with it, that is, the Son with the Father, for even as the Father is light, so too is the Son light. And David also speaks in the psalm: In your light shall we see light,^[1] for the Father is seen in the Son, as the Lord tells us in the Gospel: Who sees me, sees the Father.^[2] From the true light, indeed, the true light proceeded, and from the invisible the visible.

Such is the life of the devout, acknowledging that God is the source of understanding. He was the One who met Daniel’s needs at the right moment and assured him a safe harbor. And after being well supplied with that which was the best, Daniel did not prove forgetful of the gifts but sang praises in response to his holy benefactor.

Let us not then be looking open-mouthed toward others. For it is true, the prayers of the saints have the greatest power, on condition, however, of our repentance and change. Since even Moses, who had rescued his own brother and six hundred thousand men from the wrath that was then coming on them from God, had no power to deliver his sister.^[1] . . . And Samuel was not able to save Saul from the wrath from above, yet he oftentimes preserved the Israelites. . . . And Daniel saved the barbarians from slaughter, but he did not deliver the Jews from their captivity. . . . So on the one hand, if we are careless, we shall not be able to obtain salvation, no, not even by the help of others; if, on the other hand, we are watchful, we shall be able to do this by ourselves, and by ourselves rather than by others. Yes, for God is more willing to give his grace to us than to others for us, that we, by our zeal to avoid his wrath, may both enjoy a deep trust in him and become better people.

For nothing is so advantageous and so likely to pacify the hearers as to say nothing about one’s self of an honorable nature, but on the contrary, to forestall all suspicion of wishing to do so. And, in truth, much more did they [the apostles] in-crease their glory by despising glory and showing that what had just taken place was not a human act but a divine work; and that it was their part to join with the beholders in admiration rather than to receive it from them. . . . In the same manner also did the ancient fathers, for instance, Daniel, say, Not because of any wisdom I have more than all the living has this mystery been revealed to me. . . . And again Joseph, Do not interpretations belong to God?^[1]

To you, O king, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be hereafter, and he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be. And a little later, You, O king, saw, and behold, a great image. . . . Daniel, therefore, in reverently indicating that the dream was to be fulfilled and in telling from what thoughts it arose, shows clearly that dreams often rise from our thoughts and from revelation. Seeing, then, that dreams may arise from such a variety of causes, one ought to be very reluctant to put one’s faith in them, since it is hard to tell from what source they come. . . . If the mind is not on its guard against these, it will be entangled in countless vanities by the master of deceit, who is clever enough to foretell many things that are true in order finally to capture the soul by but one falsehood. This happened recently to one of our people who believed strongly in dreams. In one of them he was promised a long life. After collecting a large sum of money to last him for many years, he died suddenly, leaving all of his wealth behind untouched, without having so much as a single good work to take with him.

For the king, on making himself master of the land of Egypt, and taking hold of Judea and carrying off the people, thought on his bed what should come after these things. He who knows the secrets of all and searches the thoughts of the hearts revealed to him by means of the image the things that were to be. But he hid from the king the vision, in order that the counsels of God might not be interpreted by the wise men of Babylon but that by the blessed Daniel, as a prophet of God, things kept secret from all might be made manifest.

The one who interprets what another has seen is more a prophet than the one who had seen. . . . Less a prophet is he who . . . sees in spirit only the signs of the things signified, and a greater prophet is he who is granted only an understanding of images. But the greatest prophet is he who is endowed with both gifts, namely, that of seeing in spirit the symbolic likeness of corporeal objects and that of understanding them with the vital power of the mind. Such a one was Daniel. His preeminence was tested and established when he not only told the dream he had had but also explained the meaning of it. For the corporeal images themselves were produced in his spirit, and an understanding of them was revealed in his mind. I am using the word spirit, therefore, in the sense in which Paul uses it, where he distinguishes it from the mind: I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray with the mind also.^[1] Here he implies that signs of things are formed in the spirit and that an understanding of the signs shines forth in the mind.

It is made known that the devout as well as the impious see visions and dreams, as can be proved from Scripture. . . . Nebuchadnezzar, who worshiped images and ordered those who worshiped God to be cast into fire, saw a dream extending over the whole age of the world. . . . Thus, we cannot infer with absolute certainty that the one who has seen visions and dreams and apparitions is undoubtedly devout. For in the case of the devout person, the truth gushes up natural and pure in his mind, not worked through dreams but granted to the good through intelligence.

And it was fitting that the king, who prized the substances deemed precious among people, gold, and silver, and brass and iron, should identify these substances as the kingdoms that held sovereignty at different times in the life of humankind; but that the prophet should describe these same kingdoms under the likeness of beasts, in accordance with the manner of their rule.^[1] And again, the king—who was puffed up, so it appears, in his own conceit and prided himself on the power of his ancestors—is shown the vicissitude to which affairs are subject and the end destined for all the kingdoms of the earth. This is done in order to teach him humility and understand that there is nothing lasting among people but only that which is appointed the end of all things—the kingdom of God.

You are the head of gold, he says. By this statement it is clear that the first empire, the Babylonian, is compared with the most precious metal, gold.

For the image shown at that time to Nebuchadnezzar furnished a type of the whole world. In these times, the Babylonians were sovereign over all, and these were the golden head of the image.

As Daniel said, You are the head of gold. And why was he called the head of gold? Was it not because the word of Jeremiah was fulfilled in him? For Jeremiah said, Babylon is a golden cup in the hand of the Lord that makes all the earth to drink of its wine.^[1] And also Babylon was called the head of all kingdoms, as it is written, Babylon was the head of the kingdom of Nimrod.^[2]

That is to say [arms of silver], the empire of the Medes and Persians, which bears a resemblance to silver, being inferior to the preceding empire and superior to that which is to follow.

And then, after [the Babylonians], the Persians held the supremacy for 245 years, and they were represented by the silver.

This signified a kingdom that was inferior to it; namely, Darius the Mede [king of Persia]. For he put the kingdom on the scales, and the kingdom of the house of Nimrod was weighed and found wanting. And because it was wanting, Darius received it. Because of this he [Daniel] said another kingdom inferior to you. And because it was inferior, the children of Media did not rule in all the earth.

The second element, silver, signifies the Persian kingdom and the Medes. Cyrus, by way of his own success and marriage, created from the Medes the kingdom of Persia. . . . He speaks of a chest and arms to show that he knows there were two peoples, each limb a founder, that are joined together.

This [thighs of bronze] signifies the Alexandrian empire, and that of the Macedonians and of Alexander’s successors. Now this is properly termed brazen, for among all the metals, bronze possesses an outstanding resonance and a clear ring, and the blast of a brazen trumpet is heard far and wide, so that it signifies not only fame and power of the em-pire but also the eloquence of the Greek language.

Then the Greeks had the supremacy, beginning with Alexander the Macedonian, for three hundred years, so that they were brass.

This is the kingdom of the children of Javan, who are children of Japhet.^[1] For the children of Javan came against the kingdom of their brothers. For Madai and Javan are sons of Japhet. But Madai was foolish and incapable of governing the kingdom, until Javan, his brother, came, who was wise and cunning, to de-stroy the kingdoms. For Alexander, son of Philip, ruled in all the earth.

Now the fourth empire, which clearly refers to the Romans, is the iron empire that breaks in pieces and overcomes all others. But its feet and toes are partly iron and partly of earthenware, a fact clearly revealed at the present moment. For just as there was at the first nothing stronger or hardier than the Roman realm, so also in these last days there is nothing more feeble, since we require the assistance of barbarian tribes both in our civil wars and against foreign nations.

After [the Greeks] came the Romans, who were the iron. Then we have the toes of clay and iron to signify the democracies that were subsequently to rise, partitioned among the ten toes of the image, in which iron shall be mixed with clay.

The iron is Alexander, the conqueror of all nations. Indeed, as iron submits all bodies, so he broke the forces of all princes and kings, and subjected their authorities. And the toes . . . these are the ten Hellenistic kings which originated from Alexander’s empire: some of them were strong and powerful like iron; others were weak and humble. And even though they tried to settle peace and friendship among them with mutual marriages, they were never able to reach an agreement nor to stay firm in their decisions.

We know that the stone cut from the mountain without hands is Christ, who came from the kingdom of the Jews without human father: the stone that shattered all the kingdoms of the earth, all the tyrannies of idols and devils; the stone that grew and became a great mountain and filled the whole world.

What is the stone . . . but Christ? For of him Isaiah says, And I am laying in Zion for a foundation, a costly stone, precious, elect^[1]; and Daniel likewise, A stone was cut out but not by hand, that is, Christ was born without a man.

It talks of a mountain, and the mountain is veiled to the party of Donatus. . . . The holy Daniel saw a vision and wrote down what he saw, and he said that he had seen a stone hewn out of a mountain without hands. It is Christ, coming from the nations of the Jews, which was also a mountain, you see, because it has the kingdom. . . . What is the mountain over which the heretics stumbled? Listen to Daniel again: And that stone grew and became a great mountain, such that it filled all the face of the earth. How right the psalm is to say to Christ the Lord as he rises again, Be exalted over the heavens, O God, and let your glory be over the whole earth.^[1] What is your glory over the whole earth? Over the whole earth is your church, over the whole earth your bride.

His holy hill^[1] is his holy church. It is that mountain which, according to Daniel’s vision, grew from a very small stone till it overtook the kingdoms of the earth and grew to such a size that it filled the face of the earth.

Therefore, God who is great showed future things by Daniel and confirmed them by his Son; and Christ is the stone that is cut out without hands, who shall destroy temporal kingdoms and introduce an eternal one, which is the resurrection of the just.

Clearly, this teaches about that which will occur at the end, that is, the coming of the kingdom of heaven that is without end. For the kingdom of iron having been brought alongside the weaker element and the composite vessel having been wrought, then shall appear the stone cut without hand. . . . The stone that was cut without hands and grew into a great mountain and fills the whole earth is the second advent, and it will strike against the feet of the vessel . . . and all kingdoms will be destroyed and delivered up to oblivion, and the kingdom without end will be established.

He, being begotten by the Father before the beginning of time, was God the Word, the only-begotten Son, and remains the same forever; for of his kingdom there shall be no end, says Daniel the prophet. Let us all therefore love one another in harmony, and let no one look on his neighbor according to the flesh, but in Christ Jesus. Let nothing exist among you that may divide you; but be united with your bishop, being through him subject to God in Christ.