World History & The Holy Bible (Head of Gold)

1. Head of Gold: The kingdom of Babylon which was in power from 606 B.C. to 539 B.C. 

Many years ago (605 B.C to 561 B.C), a king called Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, where he saw an image with a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, waist and thighs of bronze, legs of iron and feet of iron and clay. He didn’t know what this image meant so he called all the magicians and enchanters of his kingdom to find out what the dream meant. See Daniel 2:1-3

When the dream was interpreted through Daniel, a slave chosen as one of the elites when Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem (See the “The Spirit of Excellence | Daniel”), the dream summarized the kingdoms of the world until the end of time.

Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom was in ancient Mesopotamia, the ruins are located about 55 mi (89 km) south of Baghdad, near the modern city of Al-?illah, Iraq. Babylon was the main city and one of the most famous cities in antiquity. Probably first settled in the 3rd millennium B.C, it came under the rule of the Amorite kings around 2000 B.C. It became the capital of Babylonia and was the chief commercial city of the Tigris and Euphrates river system. Destroyed by Sennacherib in 689 B.C, it was later rebuilt. It attained its greatest glory as capital of the Neo-Babylonian empire under Nebuchadnezzar (605 B.C – 561 B.C). Alexander the Great, who took the city in 331 B.C, died there. Evidence of its topography comes from excavations, cuneiform texts, and descriptions by the Greek historian Herodotus. Most of the ruins are from the city built by Nebuchadnezzar. The largest city in the world at the time, it contained many temples, including the great temple of Marduk with its associated ziggurat, which was apparently the basis for the story of the Tower of Babel. The Hanging Gardens, a simulated hill of vegetation-clad terracing, was one of the Seven Wonders of the World (Source: Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, also a guardian report during the US lead attack on Iraq in 2005.

According to Daniel’s interpretation shown to him by God (because Daniel told the king that no man can interpret the dream or tell the king whathe saw, except God. See Daniel 2:27-29) the dream meant several kingdoms of the world up to the end of times and the head of Gold represented the Babylonian Empire see Daniel 2:36-38.

The bible also records in:

Jeremiah 51:7, Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, making all the earth drunken. The nations drank of her wine; therefore the nations have gone mad.

Revelation 17:4-5, 4The woman was robed in purple and scarlet and bedecked with gold, precious stones, and pearls, [and she was] holding in her hand a golden cup full of the accursed offenses and the filth of her lewdness and vice.(A) 5And on her forehead there was inscribed a name of mystery [with a secret symbolic meaning]: Babylon the great, the mother of prostitutes (idolatresses) and of the filth and atrocities and abominations of the earth.

2. The Chest and Arms of Silver

World History & The Holy Bible (Chest and Arms of Silver)

2. Chest and Arms of Silver: kingdom of the Medes and the Persians from 539 B.C to 331 B.C

Daniel 2:39, And after you shall arise another kingdom [the Medo-Persian], inferior to you….

Historic fact is, after a reign of 67 years, the Babylonian Empire was overthrown by the kingdom of the Medes and the Persians.  The Medo-Persian monarchy lasted 208 years, from 539 B.C. to 331 B.C. Represented by the chest and arms of silver, the Medo-Persian kingdom was indeed not as rich and beautiful as Babylon, however, its army was much more powerful as historic fact confirms.

Media is an ancient region in Iran generally corresponding to the modern regions of Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, and parts of Kermanshah. It is recorded that the Median empire probably resembled that of Assyria, but little is actually known. Few identifiable “Median” objects have been found, but the Medes apparently favoured rich ornamentation and also received a strong artistic influence from Assyria. Since no Median written documents of any kind have ever been uncovered, their spiritual and economic life is also a matter of conjecture.

By the victory in 550 of the Persian chief Cyrus II the Great over his suzerain, Astyages of Media, the Medes were made subject to the Persians. In the new Achaemenian Empire they retained a prominent position; in honour and war they stood next to the Persians, and their court ceremonial was adopted by the new sovereigns, who in the summer months resided in Ecbatana.

Above are just a few things found in recent times about the time of the Medes and the Persians. The bible had already predicted the Medes and Persian Kingdom and who will take over from them as the waist and things of bronze will show.

3. Waist and thighs of bronze

World History & The Holy Bible (Waist and Thighs of Bronze)

3. Waist and thighs of bronze: In 331 B.C. the Greek took over during the famous Battle of Arbela

Daniel 2:39 “…and still a third kingdom of bronze [Greece under Alexander the Great] which shall bear rule over all the earth.

Historic record confirms that in 331 B.C. the Greek armies destroyed the last Persian king during the famous Battle of Arbela. The Greeks saw victory by the powerful and young king Alexander the Great. The Greek Empire was then established. It’s rule actually covered far more territories than the two previous kingdoms.

Alexander III of Macedon, better known as Alexander the Great, single-handedly changed the nature of the ancient world in little more than a decade.

Alexander was born in the northern Greek kingdom of Macedonia in July 356 BC. His parents were Philip II of Macedon and his wife Olympias. Alexander was educated by the philosopher Aristotle. Philip was assassinated in 336 BC and Alexander inherited a powerful yet volatile kingdom. He quickly dealt with his enemies at home and reasserted Macedonian power within Greece. He then set out to conquer the massive Persian Empire.

Against overwhelming odds, he led his army to victories across the Persian territories of Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt without suffering a single defeat. His greatest victory was at the Battle of Gaugamela, in what is now northern Iraq, in 331 BC. The young king of Macedonia, leader of the Greeks, overlord of Asia Minor and pharaoh of Egypt became ‘great king’ of Persia at the age of 25.

Over the next eight years, in his capacity as king, commander, politician, scholar and explorer, Alexander led his army a further 11,000 miles, founding over 70 cities and creating an empire that stretched across three continents and covered around two million square miles. The entire area from Greece in the west, north to the Danube, south into Egypt and as far to the east as the Indian Punjab, was linked together in a vast international network of trade and commerce. This was united by a common Greek language and culture, while the king himself adopted foreign customs in order to rule his millions of ethnically diverse subjects.

Alexander was acknowledged as a military genius who always led by example, although his belief in his own indestructibility meant he was often reckless with his own life and those of his soldiers. The fact that his army only refused to follow him once in 13 years of a reign during which there was constant fighting, indicates the loyalty he inspired. (Source BBC Historic Times and Figures, Encyclopædia Britannica)

He died of a fever in Babylon but the kingdom still existed after his death though his generals were known to fight each other very often. A report said on his death bed he was asked who he will hand over the kingdom to, and his reply was to the strongest. Never the less, the Greek still ruled for a long time.

4. Legs of Iron

.

Next Page »