them, but they took the rest of the sacred utensils of the temple, either whole or broken in pieces, back to Babylon. Two months later, in the seventh month (Ethanim), the poor people who were left behind in the land fled south to Egypt, and the land of Judah and Jerusalem lay desolate without man or domestic animal. There the seventy years of the desolation of the land began. Also, the “seven times” or the “appointed times of the nations” for trampling on desolated Jerusalem began.—2 Ki. 25:22-26.

NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S DREAM OF THE IMAGE

9. (a) When did Nebuchadnezzar begin to reign as visible dominator of the world? (b) When did he have his first prophetic dream, and who proved unable to interpret it for him?

⁹ With the typical kingdom of Jehovah God ruined and with two of its anointed kings imprisoned at Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar indeed began to reign as visible dominator of the world, as head of the third world power of Bible history without interference of Jehovah the God of Israel. There, in the fall of the year 607 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar started off the “seven times,” which were to run for 2,520 years till the rightful government over mankind should be set up by the Most High God. Of this impressive fact Jehovah God notified the king of Babylon in the second year of his reign as world ruler, or in 606-605 B.C. This he did by sending a dream that the king of Babylon could not recall on awakening, but the terror of the forgotten dream stuck with him. He called for the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the professional Chaldeans, all of them servants of Satan the Devil, the “god of this world,” to interpret the dream. They requested first to know what the dream was. Unable to tell them, the infuriated king issued a decree for all the wise men of Babylon to be destroyed. This included Daniel and his three companions.—Dan. 2:1-13, RS.

10. How did Daniel learn the dream and its interpretation, and with what words did he bless Jehovah God?

¹⁰ Face to face with the executioner, Daniel asked to see the king and then asked for a delay of the execution that he might learn the dream and give the king its interpretation. Then Daniel and his three companions joined in prayer to Jehovah God. The answer to prayer came, and the world-important secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Gratefully Daniel blessed Jehovah, saying: “Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and mysterious things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.” (Dan. 2:12-22, RS) Now to the great secret!

11. How did Daniel give credit to Jehovah before the king, and why is what he now said of highest importance to us?

¹¹ To the salvation of all the wise men of Babylon, Daniel was taken in before the king. What he said is of the highest importance to us today, for, said he, “there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. . . . 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.” (Dan. 2:27-29, RS) We are living in the urgent times involved in the fulfillment of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream!

12. What was the dream that Daniel recalled to the king’s mind?

¹² Daniel disclaimed any wisdom of his own as he now recalled this forgotten dream to the king’s mind: “You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. The head of this image was of fine gold, its breast and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it smote the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces; then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” (Dan. 2:31-35, RS) Amazed, the king of Babylon recognized the description, but what did it all mean?

13. Whom did Daniel interpret the head of gold to be, and why?

¹³ “This was the dream; now we will tell the king its interpretation,” said Daniel as he spoke for himself and his three companions who had joined him in prayer. “You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the sons of men, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the air, making you rule over them all—you are the head of gold.”—Dan. 2:36-38, RS.

14. If Nebuchadnezzar as the symbolic gold head represented an unseen ruler, what would the metal parts of the body represent, and to what extent would this be a prophetic image?

¹⁴ Did this mean that Nebuchadnezzar was personally the head? Or was the interpreter Daniel really speaking past Nebuchadnezzar to someone else, the real head of gold, an unseen ruler represented by the king of Babylon? And did the metallic body underneath the golden head represent the organization of several levels beneath that mysterious behind-the-scenes head, or even such a several-level organization beneath Nebuchadnezzar himself? If so, was that image already all in existence except for, say, part of the iron legs and the feet of iron and clay? If so, then this dream image was mainly a static picture of something already in existence and was not prophetic except in part of the iron legs and in the feet. Furthermore, if Nebuchadnezzar as golden head represented an invisible personality behind the scenes, then the silver breast and arms must have pictured the topmost level of the organization under that invisible head; the belly and thighs of bronze must have pictured the next-lower level of the organization; and the legs of iron and feet partly of iron and partly of clay must have represented the bottom-most level or levels of that organization, this lowest or iron level being already partly developed at least. What, then?

15. Since from that standpoint the golden head would picture Nebuchadnezzar, what would the other metal parts of the image picture?

¹⁵ From that standpoint, Nebuchadnezzar as visible king of kings being symbolized by the golden head, the metallic body under that golden head would symbolize the visible organization under Nebuchadnezzar, an organization already in existence and operating for the most part at least. Hence the silver breast and arms beneath the golden head would symbolize the level of governmental organization immediately beneath Nebuchadnezzar himself; the bronze belly and thighs would symbolize the level of governmental organization subordinate to the silvery level above and not in direct contact with the head of government, Nebuchadnezzar; and the legs of iron and the feet partly of iron and partly of clay would symbolize the lowest level or levels of governmental organization and farthest removed from the governmental head. What, though, would this mean?

16. How, though, would this involve Daniel and his three companions with the image, and thus what part of an invisible organization would they visibly stand for?

¹⁶ This would mean that Daniel and his three companions, possibly along with some few other Babylonian officials, were symbolized by the silver breast and arms. Why so? Because immediately after Daniel interpreted the dream correctly, “the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. Daniel made request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon; but Daniel remained at the king’s court.” (Dan. 2:48, 49, RS) As a result, Daniel and his three Jewish companions were symbolized by the silver breast and arms of the image that was to be destroyed. In fact, they also visibly represented the topmost silvery level in the mighty organization underneath the invisible ruling power pictured by Nebuchadnezzar, the golden head. This could not be the right understanding or interpretation of the meaning of the metallic image, because Daniel and his three companions are not part of an organization that is doomed to suffer the destruction of the dream image.

(To be continued)

Why Jehovah’s Witnesses Are Different

JEHOVAH’S witnesses are different primarily because of the good news of God’s established kingdom that they preach in all the earth. Jehovah’s witnesses are the only organization today announcing that God’s kingdom government is established in heaven. Christ Jesus said, when foretelling the work of true Christians at the world’s time of the end or last days: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness to all the nations, and then the accomplished end will come.” (Matt. 24:14) Christendom’s religions are not giving this Kingdom witness; Jehovah’s witnesses are.

In this age of easy religions, Jehovah’s witnesses are different because they really believe the Bible; they really live by the Bible. They do not take a higher critic or modernistic view and use only parts of the Bible. Nor do they water down God’s Word with traditions of men, as did the religious leaders in Jesus’ own day, to whom Jesus said: “You shove aside the word of God for your tradition.”—Mark 7:13.

Jehovah’s witnesses accept the Bible for what it is—God’s instructions, his commandments for man. They give God exclusive devotion, dedicating their lives to him, for the doing of the divine will. They heed Jesus’ commandment: “You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind.” (Matt. 22:37) Such love requires them to be obedient to God.