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When Nebuchadnezzar was made "the head of gold", he became more than king of
Babylonian Empire, or the first of a new dynasty, a dispensational change took place,
almost as great as is indicated in Gen. 9: When Daniel interpreted to Nebuchadnezzar
the meaning of the great image he said:--
"Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom,
power, and strength, and glory, and wheresoever the children of MEN dwell, the
BEASTS of the field and the FOWLS of the heaven hath He given into thine hand, and
hath made thee ruler over them all" (Dan. 2: 37, 38).
The words, "hath He given into thine hand", are an echo of the words of Gen. 9: 2,
"into your hand are they delivered"; there is also more than a coincidence in the fact that
in Gen. 1:, 9:, and Dan. 2: these things are associated with an image, in the one case
"the image of God", in the other a "great image whose brightness was excellent, and its
form terrible" (Dan. 2: 31). One other consideration and we must close.
The question as to the extent of the flood is perennial, and we just briefly deal with it
here. First of all, the extent of the flood must be considered not from a geographical
point of view, but from the standpoint of its purpose. Gen. 6: 17 declares that the flood
was intended to destroy all flesh, and that everything in the earth should die. This is
again stated in Gen. 7: 4, "every living substance that I have made will I destroy from
off the face of the earth" [adamah, ground]. This is recorded as an accomplished fact
in 7: 21-23:--
"All flesh died. . . . and every man, all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, and
all that was in the dry land died, and every living substance was destroyed which was
upon the face of the ground. . . . they were destroyed from the earth, Noah only
remained, and they that were with him in the ark."
These statements are sufficient proof that the flood was universal in extent so far as life
was concerned, and we might waive the question of its geographical extent did not the
Scripture (Gen. 7: 19) use such an expression as
"ALL the high hills, that were under the WHOLE heaven were covered."
Had the passage read, All the high hills that were on the earth or the ground, there may
have been room for an argument as to the meaning of these terms, but surely no such
limitation can be set to the whole heavens!
Dr. Kitto points out another witness:--
"If the deluge were local, what was the need of taking birds into the ark, and among
them birds so widely diffused as the raven and the dove? A deluge which could
overspread the region which these birds inhabit could hardly have been less than
universal. . . . if the waters of the deluge rose fifteen cubits above all the mountains of
the countries which the raven and the dove inhabit, the level must have been enough to
give universality to the flood."