Daniel & The King’s Dreams

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Previously on the chosen people. Jerusalem had fallen, a city, once radiant, now reduced to smoldering ruin. Babylon had descended swiftly, mercilessly, and precisely, its armies as fast as a storm, sweeping relentlessly across the land. Hananiah, Michael, and Azariah walked closely behind Daniel, ropes cutting rawly into wrists. 00:00:32 Speaker 2: I am ashpanhaz King Nebukin. Nazar in his wisdom has summoned select men, young of body and sharp of mind to serve his courts. You will learn our ways, master our language, unravel our mysteries, and if you survive, you will stand among his greatest advisors and govern your people on his behalf. 00:00:57 Speaker 1: Over ten days time, the contray between the four companions and the other youths were stark. 00:01:04 Speaker 3: You are the one they call Daniel. 00:01:07 Speaker 4: Yes, yes, great King m hm. 00:01:12 Speaker 3: So it was you who refused my generosity. 00:01:17 Speaker 5: Yes, great King, strong arms, sure words, yes. 00:01:25 Speaker 6: Greats by which I shall build this kingdom to outlast the others. 00:01:31 Speaker 3: Your intiment challenge to always bring out to be a revelation. 00:01:36 Speaker 5: It is in the law of Moses, great King, Our people have endured because of our great God. 00:01:45 Speaker 4: Let me see, I shall inquire more about this the God you. 00:01:52 Speaker 5: Claim in it. It would be my honor, great King, but I'd be warned you have so you get it as people. Many kings have tried to do the same, and the Lord has sought them out. 00:02:11 Speaker 7: Yes, yes, well, I have decided on you on your email. Well tis Jessir, for it is you who shall protect me from the. 00:02:28 Speaker 3: Wrath of you. 00:02:38 Speaker 8: Shello, my friends, from here in the holy Land of Israel. I'm y l Extein with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, and welcome to the Chosen People. Each day we'll hear a dramatic story inspired by the Bible, stories filled with timeless lessons of faith, love, and the meaning of life. Through Israel's story, we will find this true, that we are all chosen for something great. So take a moment today to follow the podcast. If you're feeling extra grateful for these stories, we would love it if you left us a review. I read every single one of them, and if you're interested in hearing more about the prophetic, life saving work of the Fellowship, you can visit IFCJ dot Org. Let's begin. 00:03:28 Speaker 1: The air in the royal chamber was thick with the perfume of cedar oil and mr clinging to the silken drapes that swayed in the heat. Nebukudneza slept on a bed carved from single slabs of cedar, its frame inlaid with gold and lapis. His breathing was deep, at first, measured, but somewhere in the shadows of his mind, her door opened. It began as a flicker, a soundless flash of gold against a black horizon. Then a shape emerged in his mind. He saw it tower above him, an image of a man, yet not a man. Its head blazed like hammered gold in the sun so bright his eyes watered. Below that a chest and arms of silver caught the light. Its belly and thighs were bronze. Then iron legs descended, unyielding and brutal. Finally, its feet, oddly fragile, were a mingling of iron and clay. The king squinted at the feet, seeing cracks in the mixture, already forming A cold wind rose. Nebucud Nezza wanted to move to flee, but his feet felt. 00:04:51 Speaker 4: Fixed to the earth. 00:04:53 Speaker 1: Then he heard a sound, not the slow roll of thunder, but the sudden crack of stone breaking His eyes darted to the side. A boulder was hurtling toward the image. It was perfectly round, not cut from human hands. The stone struck the feet of the statue with a force that made the earth shudder. The clay exploded into sharks. The image swayed, groaned, and then, like the walls of a besieged city, the image collapsed. The king shielded his face from the cloud that rose. Nothing remained of the statue. The stone that destroyed it began to grow, slowly at first, then swiftly, until it became a mountain so vast. 00:05:44 Speaker 4: It swallowed the horizon. 00:05:46 Speaker 1: Then a terrifying voice broke through the chasms of his mind. 00:05:52 Speaker 4: It is final. 00:05:56 Speaker 1: The king woke with a strangled gasp, the sounding itself from his throat. For a long while, nebukud Nezza simply sat where the dream had left him. He was half upright in the bed, breath ragged hands trembling against the embroidered linen. 00:06:18 Speaker 3: Will a dream really rob me of my resolve? 00:06:22 Speaker 1: He swung his legs from the bed, the chill of the marble floor biting at his bare feet. His eyes searched the chamber for some anchor in the present. 00:06:34 Speaker 3: Whine. 00:06:36 Speaker 1: The servant, who had been standing in the shadow of the doorway, scurried forward, silver pitcher in hand. Nebuculd Neza took the cup and drank deeply, letting the burn fill his chest. For a moment, he thought the heat might drive out the cold gnawing at his spine. 00:06:54 Speaker 4: It did not, so. 00:06:58 Speaker 1: The servant hesitated just long enough for the king's head to lift sharply. 00:07:03 Speaker 4: Now, when the servant was. 00:07:06 Speaker 1: Gone, the king rose and moved toward the lattice windows outside Babylon sprawled beneath the moonlight. The city's walls were thick enough to withstand a siege from the greatest armies of the West. He was the most powerful and feared man in the ancient world, So why did he feel fragile? He gripped the carved frame of the window, his knuckles whitening. Somewhere in his mind, the great image from the dream still towered over him. It had felt like a judgment, But whose judgment? Nebukud Neza sat at the center of his throne room, high upon his carved ebony throne. One by one, the magi astrologers and Chaldean interpret It is filed in the eldest bell. Tashur, a Chaldean scholar with hair like white river foam, stepped forward as the spokesman. 00:08:11 Speaker 9: O King, live forever. Tell your servants the dream, and we will declare its interpretation. 00:08:18 Speaker 1: A lesser ruler might have taken comfort in the ritual of these words. Nebukudnez's eyes did not soften. 00:08:27 Speaker 3: No, if you are what you claim, you will tell me the dream itself and its meaning. 00:08:36 Speaker 1: The words fell into the chamber like a slab of stone into deep water. The ripples of shock were small at first, an exchange of glances, the faint shift of weight from one foot to the other. 00:08:50 Speaker 9: Oh King, no ruler has ever asked such a thing. The dream belongs to you, the interpretation to your servants. Give us the first, and we will give you the second. 00:09:05 Speaker 3: If I tell you the dream, you will speak whatever pleases me. 00:09:10 Speaker 9: No such divinations are unheard of, my King. We cannot. 00:09:17 Speaker 6: You will tell me both, or or we torn limb from limb, and your house is reduced to heaps of ash. 00:09:25 Speaker 1: Gasps broke the measured quiet. Several of the younger interpreters blanched. One's mouth fell open before he caught himself. Belta Sure stepped forward, lecturing, O. 00:09:38 Speaker 9: King, there is no diviner on earth who can do what you ask. No king, however great, has demanded such a thing of any megas or enchanter. Only the gods could reveal it, and they do not dwell with men. 00:09:52 Speaker 1: The final sentence hung in the air, dangerous and raw. Nebukudnza nodded to Ariok, the of the guard. He dutifully nodded and stepped forward. 00:10:05 Speaker 3: Then tell me belt Asure, what use are you to me? 00:10:12 Speaker 1: Immediately, Ariok drew his sword and loped off belt Shure's head. It hit the floor with a sickening thud before his knees crumbled down after it. Everyone in attendance panicked, stirring and ready to run. 00:10:29 Speaker 3: Yere, that's the kree for us. As long the moment that hass my lips, let all the wise men believe he destroyed. 00:10:42 Speaker 6: This is the word of kingdom and as after God of Babylon. 00:10:47 Speaker 1: The soldiers at the edges of the hall moved immediately. The magi recoiled, voices breaking into protests, prayers, and denials, but The king did not look back at them. He was already descending from the throne, the order burning in his mouth like fire. He had been waiting to breathe. The crack in his composure had become an open fracture. From the palace gates. The order spilled into the streets. All the wise men of Babylon would die before the sun set. By mid morning, the sound of soldiers approach reached a quieter quarter of the city, a walled compound where four young Judean exiles lived and studied. Ariok himself stepped through the gate. He had been there before to seek the council of the Judean for Daniel, seated at a low table with parchments spread before him, looked up behind him. Hanna and I and Michel had been tending the garden while Asariyah sorted clay tablets under the shade of an olive tree. The captain's expression was grim, but there was no malice in it. 00:12:04 Speaker 10: Arioch is everything all right, Belta Shazzar, son of Judah. By the order of the King, all wise men of Babylon are to be put to death. That includes you and your companions. 00:12:18 Speaker 1: Daniel rose slowly searching the captain's face. 00:12:23 Speaker 5: Then why not barge through and impale me without this pretense? Your sword isn't drawn, your soldiers aren't behind you. Is there something you wish to say? 00:12:34 Speaker 1: Arioch hesitated. He had been given orders, but he knew the king wasn't in his right mind. He also knew that Daniel and his companions possessed a different, deeper wisdom than the other Chaldeans. Perhaps perhaps they could help. 00:12:52 Speaker 10: The king is consumed with a dream, and none of his enchanters, priests or soothsayers can interpret his dreams. 00:13:00 Speaker 4: Right, Why don't they just make something up like they always do? 00:13:04 Speaker 1: A we are clenched for a beat, but Daniel filled in the gaps. 00:13:09 Speaker 5: The king wants them to tell the dream, doesn't he interesting? 00:13:14 Speaker 3: This must mean the. 00:13:17 Speaker 5: King is beginning to doubt conventional Babylonian wisdom. 00:13:20 Speaker 1: As Ariah turned to Daniel, a mixture of excitement and dread on his face. 00:13:26 Speaker 5: This is what we've been praying for, Daniel. You mean to tell me you prayed for the king's madness. No, No, quite the opposite. We've been praying. King Nepechineszer would see the truth. Though he is worshiped as god. There is one god of gods, the Lord of lords, Yahweh. 00:13:50 Speaker 10: And it's this Yahweh who has plagued the king with dreams. 00:13:55 Speaker 5: Yes, it's Yahweh who will provide the king his interpretation. 00:14:00 Speaker 1: The weight of the words settled on them like the desert sun. And and I are bit his finger nails and paced the room. 00:14:08 Speaker 10: If we if we go before the king and fail, we die. If we if we do nothing, we we die. 00:14:16 Speaker 1: Daniel glanced at each of them in turn, his own heart thudding like the tread of the approaching soldiers. He was no stranger to fear, it, whispered to him, now urging caution, retreat, silence. But beneath it ran another current, steady and stubborn. 00:14:36 Speaker 5: Arioch, go and tell the King that I will stand before him to tell him the dream. 00:14:42 Speaker 1: Arioch studied Daniel for a moment, the barest flicker of surprise crossing his features. 00:14:49 Speaker 4: Then he gave a curt nod. 00:14:52 Speaker 10: I will take you to him, but know this, his mood is like dry grass in the summer. 00:14:58 Speaker 4: One spark. 00:15:00 Speaker 1: He left the rest and said. The captain turned, the clink of his armor echoing against the courtyard walls. Daniel followed head high, not in pride, but in seeking a knowledge higher than his. The morning sun had barely crested the palace walls when Ariarch led Daniel through the great gates. The air was heavier here, every sound muffled by the weight of protocol and fear. Ariarch walked quickly, his armor whispering against itself with each step. At last they reached the massive doors of the throne room. Two guards spears in hand, stood like statues. With a nod from Arioch, they swung the massive doors inward. The hall yawned before Daniel, its ceiling lost in shadow. 00:16:00 Speaker 10: Great King, I have found among the exiles of Judah, a man who claims he will make known to you your dream and interpretation. 00:16:09 Speaker 1: Nebucadnesse's gaze did not leave Daniel. 00:16:13 Speaker 3: Bilty, Shaszar. Are you truly able to do this? Or are you stoling so your friends might escape my wrath? 00:16:23 Speaker 5: You are wise enough to know I am not a liar, Great King, nor would any of my attempts thwart your will? 00:16:32 Speaker 3: And tell me, how do you speak with such confidence in my halls? 00:16:39 Speaker 5: No wise man, enchanter or magus can declare to the King, the mystery you have asked. But there is a god in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has made known to you, o King, What shall be in later days? 00:16:55 Speaker 3: And what does your God have to say? 00:16:58 Speaker 1: Daniel drew a dee breath, then looked over to Arioch, who refused to meet his eyes. Fair enough, Daniel was on his own now. He paced around the massive, raging cauldron and addressed the King. 00:17:14 Speaker 5: I saw your dream, you, o King, were watching, and behold an image, A great image. Its appearance was dazzling, terrible. It towered before you, casting a shadow that swallowed the earth. Its head was of fine gold, The chest and arms were of silver. The belly and thighs were bronze, the legs iron, and the feet part iron, part clay, fragile and easily fractured. 00:17:50 Speaker 1: The King's lips parted slightly, though he said nothing. Daniel's tone deepened, gathering force. 00:17:58 Speaker 5: You watched it in horror. Then you saw stone cut not by human hands, hurtling towards the image. It struck the feet of iron and clay with such force that they shattered. The whole image swayed, cracked, and collapsed. The gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the clay, broken into pieces so small that the wind carried them away by the chaff from the threshing floor. Nothing remained, not a fragment but a single speck of grain. 00:18:40 Speaker 1: Around the whole courtiers shifted, glancing between Daniel and the king Nebukudnezza's fingers curled over the arms. 00:18:49 Speaker 4: Of his throne. 00:18:50 Speaker 1: Daniel stepped closer, his voice almost a whisper. 00:18:54 Speaker 5: Now, and the stone that struck the image grew slowly first, then swiftly, until it became a great mountain, and that mountain filled the whole earth. And you were terrified, although you didn't know why. For the first time, perhaps in your life, you felt small, fragile, and that feeling fills you with more dread than a thousand armies, the feeling that perhaps you are not the most powerful king in the world after all. 00:19:37 Speaker 1: Daniel at the quiet stretch, not out of hesitation, but to let the truth settle into the cracks it had just found. 00:19:46 Speaker 3: And what does it mean? 00:19:50 Speaker 1: The court leaned forward, without meaning to. Even the guards at the pillars seemed to stand a little taller. 00:19:57 Speaker 5: You, o King, are the head of gold, the god of heaven, has granted you dominion, power, strength, and glory into your hand. He has placed all mankind. 00:20:12 Speaker 1: A flicker of pride and satisfaction passed across Nebukudnezza's face. This was language he knew. Daniel's tone shifted, though he refused to flatter the king. 00:20:25 Speaker 5: But no man is immortal, and no empire lasts. After you shall arise another kingdom, beautiful but inferior to yours. 00:20:38 Speaker 11: Soon, Yes, then a third of bronze, which shall rule over the whole earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron. 00:20:51 Speaker 3: But then there will be another after it, one. 00:20:54 Speaker 5: Of silver and clay, correct a divided king. It will have some of the strength of iron, the brittleness of clay. They will mix with one another, button will not hold together, just as iron does not bind to clay. 00:21:13 Speaker 1: Nebuchadnezza's fingers drummed against the throne arm, the sound sharp in the hushed hall. 00:21:19 Speaker 5: And in the days of those kings, the God of Heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed. 00:21:26 Speaker 4: It will not be left to another. 00:21:28 Speaker 5: Nation, will break in pieces all the kingdoms of the earth and bring them to an end. And his kingdom shall stand forever. 00:21:40 Speaker 1: The words hung in the air like a drawn bow. Daniel let the silence stretch before adding the final stroke. 00:21:49 Speaker 5: The stone that you saw cut from the mountain without hands, that is, the Kingdom of the Living God, not built by man nor toppled by man, grew until it fused the entire earth. 00:22:05 Speaker 1: The court was still, even the torches seemed to burn without flicker. Nebucadnezza leaned back slowly. His eyes stayed on Daniel, not in rage, but in something more dangerous to his pride. 00:22:22 Speaker 4: Wonder. 00:22:23 Speaker 1: This man spoke to him as no one else dared, not as a servant to a master, but as one who feared a higher throne. The King's mouth curved in the faintest shadow of a smile, not of amusement, but of recognition and perhaps a hunger for more. The king rose slowly from his throne. Every rustle of his robe, every step down the dais was magnified in the silence. Courtiers lowered their heads, some in reverend others in fear that the next words would unleash fury. When he stopped before Daniel, the two men were eye to eye. 00:23:11 Speaker 3: Truly, your God is God of gods, Lord of kings and reviewer of mysteries, For you have been able to reveal this mystery to me. 00:23:25 Speaker 1: The words were not surrender. Nebucadnezza was not a man to yield so quickly. But there was a crack in the marble, small yet undeniable. He turned to the court, his voice rising. 00:23:39 Speaker 6: Clothes, Belta Shazzar and fine garments. There's a chain of gold around his neck. Let it be known Belta Shazar shall be chief of the wise men of Babylon and ruler over the province. 00:23:53 Speaker 1: Gasps rippled through the hall, followed by hurried bows and murmured assent. Servants moved quickly to obey, draping the foreigner in silks, the gold chain catching the firelight. But while the court marveled at the king's generosity, Nebukudnzza study Daniel with something else in his eyes, a restless curiosity. This was not the gaze he gave his gods of stone and gold. This was something almost like respect, and in the deepest corner of his heart, the faintest spark of longing. For the first time in years, the great King of Babylon had met some one who did not fear him more than God, and though he would not admit it, not yet, that encounter would haunt him far longer than the dream itself. 00:24:58 Speaker 8: If your faith has been ki by this podcast and it has affected your life, we'd love it if you left her review. We read them, and me personally I cherish them as you venture forth boldly and faithfully. I leave you with the biblical blessing from numbers six Iva hashem vischmerechra Yeah heir hashempanave ele y sa hashempanavelera shaloon. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you. May he be gracious to you. Made the Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace. 00:25:40 Speaker 4: Amen. 00:25:41 Speaker 1: You can listen to The Chosen People with Isle Exstein add free by downloading and subscribing to the pray dot Com app today. This prey dog com production is only made possible by our dedicated team of creative talents. Steve Katina, Max Bard, Zach Shellavaga and Bengkammon are the executive producers of the Chosen People with Yiele Eckstein, Edited by Alberto Avilla, narrated by Paul Coltofianu. Characters are voiced by Jonathan Gotten, Aaron Salvado, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan, Stephen Ringwold, Sylvia Zaradoc, Thomas Copeland Junior, Rosanna Pilcher, and Mitch Leshinsky, and the opening prayer is voiced by John Moore. Music by Andrew Morgan Smith, written by Aaron Salvato, bre Rosalie and Chris Baig. Special thanks to Bishop Paulinier, Robin van Ettin, kayleb Burrows, Jocelyn Fuller, Rabbi Edward Abramson, and the team at International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. 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