Visions & Pictures, Daniel Chapter One

,ויבדל אלקים בין האור ובין החושך "and G'd separated the light from the darkness." This is an allusion to the separation between the Jewish people and the Gentile nations, the former always looking forward to the Messiah and redemption, whereas the Gentiles are content to remain is spiritual darkness. Our sages in Bereshit Rabbah, 2,5 commented on this that in this verse we have a reference to the four kingdoms [preceding the messianic age Ed.]. This is what they said: "the words והארץ היתה תהו ובהו are a reference to the empire of the Babylonians; the word ובהו is a reference to the empire of the Medes. The wordוחשך is a reference to the empire of the Greeks, whereas the word תהום is a reference to the Roman Empire. Finally, the words ורוח אלקים refer to the spirit of the Messiah."

Chaos and void (tohu vabohu): [This phrase appears] two [times]. Here, and the other one is (Jeremiah 4:23) "I have seen the earth and behold, it is chaos and void." [This] teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, foresaw the destruction of the Temple when He created the world, [and] that it would be in the year tohu (the letters that are equal to the number, 411); since, behold the first Temple stood for 410 years and was destroyed in the 411th year. And the second Temple stood the numerical equivalent of [the word,] hayita (420), and this is [why it states] "vehaarets haita" ("and the earth was;" which is the phrase that precedes tohu in this verse). And afterwards, [it is written], "darkness," a hint to the exiles. And so is it expounded in Bereishit Rabbah 2:4.

וגם את הגוי AND ALSO THAT NATION — The word וגם and also—(that nation also will I judge)—suggests that other nations will be judged as well: it is used here to include the four Monarchies (of the book of Daniel) who also will perish because they enslaved Israel (Genesis Rabbah 44:19).

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In truth, when one sees Nebuchadnezzar, the evil one, of the four empires, one sees him in the depiction and image of a person. As Daniel sees in another dream, [and is called directly in from of Nebuchadnezzar to share this dream. In it he shares a different vision of Nebuchadnezzar. This occurs several chapters before the dream we have been analyzing, which is Chapter 7, - in Chapter 2 of Daniel]. (2:32-33) "The head of that statue was of fine gold; its breast and arms were of silver; its belly and thighs, of bronze. its legs were of iron, and its feet part iron and part clay." For by Nebuchadnezzar there was not the same lack as by the other [three] empires, and therefore he [Daniel] sees him in the image and representation of a Man, just in the same way that [in our dream] Daniel saw the King the Messiah. This is a huge topic with a deep explanation, as we are about to explain. Actually, it was appropriate that all four of these empires should appear as one man. For a Man has four parts: the first - the שכלי capacity [intellectual/cerebral/spiritual]. Lower than the שכל - the נפשי [emotional] capacity. Lower than the נפש -- the גופני [bodily/physical] capacity - which is entirely intertwined in the body, and these are the three parts. And there is here one other capacity which is connected, this is the the one that encompasses all these three together, as we are about to explain right now. We have already explained this concept of these four aspects that make up a person in many place, for example in the Pirkei Avos (4, 23) in the Mishna that speaks about jealousy, lust, and honor. There is not space here to elaborate on this topic, but these ideas are known to anybody with wisdom.