Prophets to Jesus
The Role of Prophets
Prophets are considered God's messengers per Jewish beliefs. Their work and message they brought from God is documented in the Jewish Bible under "Nevi'im" (or in English "Prophets") with many prophets listed with notations of their work. Prophets in general would ask people to come back to God, stop idol worship (that God strictly has forbidden) and other sins.
The Divided Kingdom
As Jewish kingdom history goes, after King Solomon, the Kingdom of Jewish people known as Judea broke up in the North as Israel and in the South as Judea. The North was lost to Assyrians who conquered it. The 1st temple (as it is known) built by King Solomon was destroyed by Babylonians who conquered Judea. All these events were foretold by Jewish Prophets but since Israelite people did not come back to God, God's wrath came upon them through Assyrians and Babylonians.
Babylonian Captivity and Return
Babylonians took Jewish people as captives (this was the first time after Egypt that Israelites became captives/slaves) to Babylon where they lived in captivity for 70 years and were freed when Babylonians were defeated by Persian King Cyrus the Great. During their captivity, Daniel who was brought in as a captive. Though he was God-fearing so with help of God, he became the right hand of Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. Cyrus the Great allowed Jewish people to return to their homeland and allowed them to rebuild their temple again which is known as the 2nd temple. This temple became a site to see at the time of Jesus and historian Josephus has documented that in secular history. This temple was again destroyed in 70 CE by Roman Rulers which was prophesied by Jesus.
Daniel's Interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's Dream
Dream of King Nebuchadnezzar interpreted by Daniel: He solves and tells King Nebuchadnezzar what dream the king had and the meaning of it. What is interesting here is that it is not Daniel's dream, but it is King Nebuchadnezzar's dream. So it is an impossible task. Daniel can only do it with God's divine help. Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dream as a vision of four successive world empires (Babylonians to Persian to Greeks to many small nations like in Europe and Asia), represented by a giant statue made of different metals, with the gold head symbolizing the Babylonian Empire (Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom), followed by less powerful empires represented by silver, bronze, and iron, ultimately culminating in a kingdom of God that would destroy all others, symbolized by a stone that smashes the statue to pieces; this highlighted God's ultimate sovereignty over earthly kingdoms. In the meaning of this dream Daniel predicts the end of Babylonian kingdom by Persian King Cyrus. He further prophesied that Persian empire will be won by Medes/Greeks (Alexander the Great); that this Greek empire will crumble into 4 pieces - Greek kingdom of Alexander the Great was divided by his 4 generals; that this was to be further divided into many pieces giving rise to many nations in Europe & Western Asia.