A verse by verse commentary on Daniel 2 31-49 dealing with a large image which David interpreted to the king and he gave Daniel great power in his kingdom,

1. DANIEL 2 31-49 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
31 “Your Majesty looked, and there before you
stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling
statue, awesome in appearance.
BARNES, "Thou, O king, sawest - Margin, “wast seeing.” The margin is in
accordance with the Chaldee. The language is properly what denotes a prolonged or
attentive observation. He was in an attitude favorable to vision, or was looking with
intensity, and there appeared before him this remarkable image. Compare Dan_7:1-2,
Dan_7:4, Dan_7:6. It was not a thing which appeared for a moment, and then vanished,
but which remained so long that he could contemplate it with accuracy.
And, behold, a great image - Chaldee, “one image that was grand” - ‫שׂגיא‬ ‫חד‬ ‫צלם‬
tse
lēm chad s'agı̂y'. So the Vulgate - statua una grandis. So the Greek - εἰκὼν μία eikōn
mia. The object seems to be to fix the attention on the fact that there was but “one”
image, though composed of so different materials, and of materials that seemed to be so
little fitted to be worked together into the same statue. The idea, by its being represented
as “one,” is, that it was, in some respects, “the same kingdom” that he saw symbolized:
that is, that it would extend over the same countries, and could be, in some sense,
regarded as a prolongation of the same empire. There was so much of “identity,” though
different in many respects, that it could be represented as “one.” The word rendered
“image” (‫צלם‬ tselem) denotes properly “a shade,” or “shadow,” and then anything that
“shadows forth,” or that represents anything.
It is applied to man Gen_1:27 as shadowing forth, or representing God; that is, there
was something in man when he was created which had so far a resemblance to God that
he might be regarded as an “image” of him. The word is often used to denote idols - as
supposed to be a “representation” of the gods, either in their forms, or as shadowing
forth their character as majestic, stern, mild, severe, merciful, etc. Num_33:52; 1Sa_6:5;
2Ki_11:18; 2Ch_23:17; Eze_7:20; Eze_16:17; Eze_23:14; Amo_5:26. This image is not
represented as an idol to be worshipped, nor in the use of the word is it to be supposed
that there is an allusion, as Prof. Bush supposes, to the fact that these kingdoms would
be idolatrous, but the word is used in its proper and primitive sense, to denote
something which would “represent,” or “shadow forth,” the kingdoms which would exist.
The exact “size” of the image is not mentioned. It is only suggested that it was great - a
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2. proper characteristic to represent the “greatness” of the kingdoms to which it referred.
This great image - The word here rendered “great” (‫רב‬ rab) is different from that
used in the previous clause, though it is not easy to determine the exact difference
between the words. Both denote that the image was of gigantic dimensions. It is well
remarked by Prof. Bush, that “the monuments of antiquity sufficiently evince that the
humor prevailed throughout the East, and still more in Egypt, of constructing enormous
statues, which were usually dedicated to some of their deities, and connected with their
worship. The object, therefore, now presented in the monarch’s dream was not,
probably, entirely new to his thoughts.”
Whose brightness was excellent - “Whose brightness “excelled,” or was unusual
and remarkable.” The word rendered brightness (‫זיו‬ zı̂yv) is found only in Daniel. It is
rendered “brightness” in Dan_2:31; Dan_4:36, and in the margin in Dan_5:6, Dan_5:9;
and “countenance” in Dan_5:6 (text), and in Dan_2:9-10; Dan_7:28. From the places
where it is found, particularly Dan_4:36, it is clear that it is used to denote a certain
beauty, or majesty, shining forth in the countenance, which was fitted to impress the
beholder with awe. The term here is to be understood not merely of the face of the
image, but of its entire aspect, as having something in it signally splendid and imposing.
We have only to conceive of a colossal statue whose head was burnished gold, and a large
part of whose frame was polished silver, to see the force of this language.
Stood before thee - It stood over against him in full view. He had an opportunity of
surveying it clearly and distinctly.
And the form thereof was terrible - Vast, imposing, grand, fearful. The sudden
appearance of such an object as this could not but fill the mind with terror. The design
for which this representation was made to Nebuchadnezzar is clearly unfolded in the
explanation which Daniel gives. It may be remarked here, in general, that such an
appearance of a gigantic image was well adapted to represent successive kingdoms, and
that the representation was in accordance with the spirit of ancient times. “In ancient
coins and medals,” says the editor of the “Pictorial Bible,” “nothing is more common
than to see cities and nations represented by human figures, male or female. According
to the ideas which suggested such symbols, a vast image in the human figure was,
therefore, a very fit emblem of sovereign power and dominion; while the materials of
which it was composed did most significantly typify the character of the various empires,
the succession of which was foreshown by this vision. This last idea, of expressing the
condition of things by metallic symbols, was prevalent before the time of Daniel. Hesiod,
who lived about two centuries before Daniel, characterizes the succession of ages (four)
by the very same metals - gold, silver, brass, and iron.”
CLARKE, "A great image - Representing the four great monarchies.
GILL, "Thou, O king, sawest,.... Or, "wast seeing" (z); not with the eyes of his body,
but in his fancy and imagination; as he was dreaming, he thought he saw such an
appearance, so it seemed to him, as follows:
and behold a great image; or, "one great image" (a); not painted, but a massive
statue made of various metals, as is afterwards declared: such, though not so large as
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3. this, as the king had been used to see, which he had in his garden and palace, and which
he worshipped; but this was of a monstrous size, a perfect colossus, and but one, though
it consisted of various parts; it was in the form of a great man, as Saadiah and Jacchiades
observe; and represented each of the monarchies of this world governed by men; and
these being expressed by an image, show how vain and delusory, how frail and
transitory, are the kingdoms of the earth, and the glory of them:
this great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee: right
over against him, and near him, as he thought; so that he had a full view of it, and saw it
at its full length and size, and its dazzling lustre, arising from the various metals of gold,
silver, brass, and iron, it was made of; which was exceeding bright, and made it look very
majestic:
and the form thereof was terrible; either there was something in the countenance
menacing and horrid; or the whole form, being so gigantic, struck the king with
admiration, and was even terrible to him; and it may denote the terror that kings,
especially arbitrary and despotic ones, strike their subjects with.
HENRY 31 F, "Daniel here gives full satisfaction to Nebuchadnezzar concerning his
dream and the interpretation of it. That great prince had been kind to this poor prophet
in his maintenance and education; he had been brought up at the king's cost, preferred
at court, and the land of his captivity had hereby been made much easier to him than to
others of his brethren. And now the king is abundantly repaid for all the expense he had
been at upon him; and for receiving this prophet, though not in the name of a prophet,
he had a prophet's reward, such a reward as a prophet only could give, and for which
that wealthy mighty prince was now glad to be beholden to him. Here is,
I. The dream itself, Dan_2:31, Dan_2:45. Nebuchadnezzar perhaps was an admirer of
statues, and had his palace and gardens adorned with them; however, he was a
worshipper of images, and now behold a great image is set before him in a dream, which
might intimate to him what the images were which he bestowed so much cost upon, and
paid such respect to; they were mere dreams. The creatures of fancy might do as well to
please the fancy. By the power of imagination he might shut his eyes, and represent to
himself what forms he thought fit, and beautify them at his pleasure, without the
expense and trouble of sculpture. This was the image of a man erect: It stood before him,
as a living man; and, because those monarchies which were designed to be represented
by it were admirable in the eyes of their friends, the brightness of this image was
excellent; and because they were formidable to their enemies, and dreaded by all about
them, the form of this image is said to be terrible; both the features of the face and the
postures of the body made it so. But that which was most remarkable in this image was
the different metals of which it was composed - the head of gold (the richest and most
durable metal), the breast and arms of silver (the next to it in worth), the belly and
sides (or thighs) of brass, the legs of iron (still baser metals), and lastly the feet part of
iron and part of clay. See what the things of this world are; the further we go in them
the less valuable they appear. In the life of a man youth is a head of gold, but it grows
less and less worthy of our esteem; and old age is half clay; a man is then as good as
dead. It is so with the world; later ages degenerate. The first age of the Christian church,
of the reformation, was a head of gold; but we live in an age that is iron and clay. Some
allude to this in the description of a hypocrite, whose practice is not agreeable to his
knowledge. He has a head of gold, but feet of iron and clay: he knows his duty, but does
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4. it not. Some observe that in Daniel's visions the monarchies were represented by four
beasts (ch. 7), for he looked upon that wisdom from beneath, by which they were turned
to be earthly and sensual, and a tyrannical power, to have more in it of the beast than of
the man, and so the vision agreed with his notions of the thing. But to Nebuchadnezzar,
a heathen prince, they were represented by a gay and pompous image of a man, for he
was an admirer of the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them. To him the sight
was so charming that he was impatient to see it again. But what became of this image?
The next part of the dream shows it to us calcined, and brought to nothing. He saw a
stone cut out of the quarry by an unseen power, without hands, and this stone fell upon
the feet of the image, that were of iron and clay, and broke them to pieces; and then the
image must fall of course, and so the gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, were all
broken to pieces together, and beaten so small that they became like the chaff of the
summer threshing-floors, and there were not to be found any the least remains of them;
but the stone cut out of the mountain became itself a great mountain, and filled the
earth. See how God can bring about great effects by weak and unlikely causes; when he
pleases a little one shall become a thousand. Perhaps the destruction of this image of
gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, might be intended to signify the abolishing of
idolatry out of the world in due time. The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, as this
image was, and they shall perish from off the earth and from under these heavens, Jer_
10:11.; Isa_2:18. And whatever power destroys idolatry is in the ready way to magnify
and exalt itself, as this stone, when it had broken the image to pieces, became a great
mountain.
II. The interpretation of this dream. Let us now see what is the meaning of this. It was
from God, and therefore from him it is fit that we take the explication of it. It should
seem, Daniel had his fellows with him, and speaks for them as well as for himself, when
he says, We will tell the interpretation, Dan_2:36. Now,
1. This image represented the kingdoms of the earth that should successively bear rule
among the nations and have influence on the affairs of the Jewish church. The four
monarchies were not represented by four distinct statues, but by one image, because
they were all of one and the same spirit and genius, and all more or less against the
church. It was the same power, only lodged in four different nations, the two former
lying eastward of Judea, the two latter westward. (1.) The head of gold signified the
Chaldean monarchy, which was now in being (Dan_2:37, Dan_2:38): Thou, O king! art
(or rather, shalt be) a king of kings, a universal monarch, to whom many kings and
kingdoms shall be tributaries; or, Thou art the highest of kings on earth at this time (as a
servant of servants is the meanest servant); thou dost outshine all other kings. But let
him not attribute his elevation to his own politics or fortitude. No; it is the God of
heaven that has given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory, a kingdom that
exercises great authority, stands firmly, and shines brightly, acts by a puissant army with
an arbitrary power. Note, The greatest of princes have no power but what is given them
from above. The extent of his dominion is set forth (Dan_2:38), that wheresoever the
children of men dwell, in all the nations of that part of the world, he was ruler over them
all, over them and all that belonged to them, all their cattle, not only those which they
had a property in, but those that were ferae naturae - wild, the beasts of the field and
the fowls of the heaven. He was lord of all the woods, forests, and chases, and none were
allowed to hunt or fowl without his leave. Thus “thou art the head of gold; thou, and thy
son, and thy son's son, for seventy years.” Compare this with Jer_25:9, Jer_25:11,
especially Jer_27:5-7. There were other powerful kingdoms in the world at this time, as
that of the Scythians; but it was the kingdom of Babylon that reigned over the Jews, and
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5. that began the government which continued in the succession here described till Christ's
time. It is called a head, for its wisdom, eminency, and absolute power, a head of gold for
its wealth (Isa_14:4); it was a golden city. Some make this monarchy to begin in Nimrod,
and so bring into it all the Assyrian kings, about fifty monarchs in all, and compute that
it lasted above 1600 years. But it had not been so long a monarchy of such vast extent
and power as is here described, nor any thing like it; therefore others make only
Nebuchadnezzar, Evil-merodach, and Belshazzar, to belong to this head of gold; and a
glorious high throne they had, and perhaps exercised a more despotic power than any of
the kings that went before them. Nebuchadnezzar reigned forty-five years current, Evil-
merodach twenty-three years current, and Belshazzar three. Babylon was their
metropolis, and Daniel was with them upon the spot during the seventy years. (2.) The
breast and arms of silver signified the monarchy of the Medes and Persians, of which
the king is told no more than this, There shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee
(Dan_2:39), not so rich, powerful, or victorious. This kingdom was founded by Darius
the Mede and Cyrus the Persian, in alliance with each other, and therefore represented
by two arms, meeting in the breast. Cyrus was himself a Persian by his father, a Mede by
his mother. Some reckon that this second monarchy lasted 130 years, others 204 years.
The former computation agrees best with the scripture chronology. (3.) The belly and
thighs of brass signified the monarchy of the Grecians, founded by Alexander, who
conquered Darius Codomannus, the last of the Persian emperors. This is the third
kingdom, of brass, inferior in wealth and extent of dominion to the Persian monarchy,
but in Alexander himself it shall by the power of the sword bear rule over all the earth;
for Alexander boasted that he had conquered the world, and then sat down and wept
because he had not another world to conquer. (4.) The legs and feet of iron signified the
Roman monarchy. Some make this to signify the latter part of the Grecian monarchy,
the two empires of Syria and Egypt, the former governed by the family of the Seleucidae,
from Seleucus, the latter by that of the Lagidae, from Ptolemaeus Lagus; these they make
the two legs and feet of this image: Grotius, and Junius, and Broughton, go this way. But
it has been the more received opinion that it is the Roman monarchy that is here
intended, because it was in the time of that monarchy, and when it was at its height, that
the kingdom of Christ was set up in the world by the preaching of the everlasting gospel.
The Roman kingdom was strong as iron (Dan_2:40), witness the prevalency of that
kingdom against all that contended with it for many ages. That kingdom broke in pieces
the Grecian empire and afterwards quite destroyed the nation of the Jews. Towards the
latter end of the Roman monarchy it grew very weak, and branched into ten kingdoms,
which were as the toes of these feet. Some of these were weak as clay, others strong as
iron, Dan_2:42. Endeavours were used to unite and cement them for the strengthening
of the empire, but in vain: They shall not cleave one to another, Dan_2:43. This empire
divided the government for a long time between the senate and the people, the nobles
and the commons, but they did not entirely coalesce. There were civil wars between
Marius and Sylla, Caesar and Pompey, whose parties were as iron and clay. Some refer
this to the declining times of that empire, when, for the strengthening of the empire
against the irruptions of the barbarous nations, the branches of the royal family
intermarried; but the politics had not the desired effect, when the day of the fall of that
empire came.
2. The stone cut out without hands represented the kingdom of Jesus Christ, which
should be set up in the world in the time of the Roman empire, and upon the ruins of
Satan's kingdom in the kingdoms of the world. This is the stone cut out of the mountain
without hands, for it should be neither raised nor supported by human power or policy;
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6. no visible hand should act in the setting of it up, but it should be done invisibly the Spirit
of the Lord of hosts. This was the stone which the builders refused, because it was not
cut out by their hands, but it has now become the head-stone of the corner. (1.) The
gospel-church is a kingdom, which Christ is the sole and sovereign monarch of, in which
he rules by his word and Spirit, to which he gives protection and law, and from which he
receives homage and tribute. It is a kingdom not of this world, and yet set up in it; it is
the kingdom of God among men. (2.) The God of heaven was to set up this kingdom, to
give authority to Christ to execute judgment, to set him as King upon his holy hill of
Zion, and to bring into obedience to him a willing people. Being set up by the God of
heaven, it is often in the New Testament called the kingdom of heaven, for its original is
from above and its tendency is upwards. (3.) It was to be set up in the days of these
kings, the kings of the fourth monarchy, of which particular notice is taken (Luk_2:1),
That Christ was born when, by the decree of the emperor of Rome, all the world was
taxed, which was a plain indication that that empire had become as universal as any
earthly empire ever was. When these kings are contesting with each other, and in all the
struggles each of the contending parties hopes to find its own account, God will do his
own work and fulfil his own counsels. These kings are all enemies to Christ's kingdom,
and yet it shall be set up in defiance of them. (4.) It is a kingdom that knows no decay, is
in no danger of destruction, and will not admit any succession or revolution. It shall
never be destroyed by any foreign force invading it, as many other kingdoms are; fire
and sword cannot waste it; the combined powers of earth and hell cannot deprive either
the subjects of their prince or the prince of his subjects; nor shall this kingdom be left to
other people, as the kingdoms of the earth are. As Christ is a monarch that has no
successor (for he himself shall reign for ever), so his kingdom is a monarchy that has no
revolution. The kingdom of God was indeed taken from the Jews and given to the
Gentiles (Mat_21:43), but still it was Christianity that ruled, the kingdom of the
Messiah. The Christian church is still the same; it is fixed on a rock, much fought
against, but never to be prevailed against, by the gates of hell. (5.) It is a kingdom that
shall be victorious over all opposition. It shall break in pieces and consume all those
kingdoms, as the stone cut out of the mountain without hands broke in pieces the
image, Dan_2:44, Dan_2:45. The kingdom of Christ shall wear out all other kingdoms,
shall outlive them, and flourish when they are sunk with their own weight, and so wasted
that their place knows them no more. All the kingdoms that appear against the kingdom
of Christ shall be broken with a rod of iron, as a potter's vessel, Psa_2:9. And in the
kingdoms that submit to the kingdom of Christ tyranny, and idolatry, and every thing
that is their reproach, shall, as far as the gospel of Christ gets ground, be broken. The
day is coming when Jesus Christ shall have put down all rule, principality, and power,
and have made all his enemies his footstool; and then this prophecy will have its full
accomplishment, and not till then, 1Co_15:24, 1Co_15:25. Our savior seems to refer to
this (Mat_21:44), when, speaking of himself as the stone set at nought by the Jewish
builders, he says, On whomsoever this stone shall fall, it will grind him to powder. (6.)
It shall be an everlasting kingdom. Those kingdoms of the earth that had broken in
pieces all about them at length came, in their turn, to be in like manner broken; but the
kingdom of Christ shall break other kingdoms in pieces and shall itself stand for ever.
His throne shall be as the days of heaven, his seed, his subjects, as the stars of heaven,
not only so innumerable, but so immutable. Of the increase of Christ's government and
peace there shall be no end. The Lord shall reign for ever, not only to the end of time,
but when time and days shall be no more, and God shall be all in all to eternity.
III. Daniel having thus interpreted the dream, to the satisfaction of Nebuchadnezzar,
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7. who gave him no interruption, so full was the interpretation that he had no question to
ask, and so plain that he had no objection to make, he closes all with a solemn assertion,
1. Of the divine original of this dream: The great God (so he calls him, to express his own
high thoughts of him, and to beget the like in the mind of this great king) has made
known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter, which the gods of the magicians
could not do. And thus a full confirmation was given to that great argument which Isaiah
had long before urged against idolaters, and particularly the idolaters of Babylon, when
he challenged the gods they worshipped to show things that are to come hereafter, that
we may know that you are gods (Isa_41:23), and by this proved the God of Israel to be
the true God, that he declares the end from the beginning, Isa_46:10. 2. Of the
undoubted certainty of the things foretold by this dream. He who makes known these
things is the same that has himself designed and determined them, and will by his
providence effect them; and we are sure that his counsel shall stand, and cannot be
altered, and therefore the dream is certain and the interpretation thereof sure. Note,
Whatever God has made known we may depend upon.
JAMISON, "The world power in its totality appears as a colossal human form:
Babylon the head of gold, Medo-Persia the breast and two arms of silver, Graeco-
Macedonia the belly and two thighs of brass, and Rome, with its Germano-Slavonic
offshoots, the legs of iron and feet of iron and clay, the fourth still existing. Those
kingdoms only are mentioned which stand in some relation to the kingdom of God; of
these none is left out; the final establishment of that kingdom is the aim of His moral
government of the world. The colossus of metal stands on weak feet, of clay. All man’s
glory is as ephemeral and worthless as chaff (compare 1Pe_1:24). But the kingdom of
God, small and unheeded as a “stone” on the ground is compact in its homogeneous
unity; whereas the world power, in its heterogeneous constituents successively
supplanting one another, contains the elements of decay. The relation of the stone to the
mountain is that of the kingdom of the cross (Mat_16:23; Luk_24:26) to the kingdom of
glory, the latter beginning, and the former ending when the kingdom of God breaks in
pieces the kingdoms of the world (Rev_11:15). Christ’s contrast between the two
kingdoms refers to this passage.
a great image — literally, “one image that was great.” Though the kingdoms were
different, it was essentially one and the same world power under different phases, just as
the image was one, though the parts were of different metals.
K&D 31-45, "Dan_2:31-45
The Dream and Its Interpretation. - Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream a great
metallic image which was terrible to look upon. ‫ֲלוּ‬‫א‬ (behold), which Daniel interchanges
with ‫ֲר‬‫א‬, corresponds with the Hebrew words ‫ה‬ ֵ‫א‬ ְ‫,ר‬ ‫אוּ‬ ְ‫,ר‬ or ‫ֵה‬‫נּ‬ ִ‫.ה‬ ‫ם‬ ֵ‫ל‬ ְ‫צ‬ is not an idol-
image (Hitz.), but a statue, and, as is manifest from the following description, a statue in
human form. ‫ד‬ ַ‫ח‬ is not the indefinite article (Ges., Win., Maur.), but the numeral. “The
world-power is in all its phases one, therefore all these phases are united in the vision in
one image” (Klief.). The words from ‫א‬ ָ‫מ‬ ְ‫ל‬ַ‫צ‬ to ‫יר‬ ִ‫ַתּ‬‫י‬ contain two parenthetical
7

8. expressions, introduced for the purpose of explaining the conception of ‫יא‬ִ‫ג‬ָ‫שׁ‬ (great).
‫ם‬ ֵ‫א‬ ָ‫ק‬ is to be united with ‫ֲלוּ‬‫א‬ַ‫ו‬. ‫ן‬ֵ‫כּ‬ ִ‫דּ‬ here and at Dan_7:20. is used by Daniel as a peculiar
form of the demonstrative pronoun, for which Ezra uses ֵ‫.דּ‬ The appearance of the
colossal image was terrible, not only on account of its greatness and its metallic
splendour, but because it represented the world-power of fearful import to the people of
God (Klief.).
Dan_2:37-38
The interpretation begins with the golden head. ‫ָא‬‫יּ‬ַ‫כ‬ ְ‫ל‬ ַ‫מ‬ ֶ‫ל‬ ֶ‫,מ‬ the usual title of the
monarchs of the Oriental world-kingdoms (vid., Eze_26:7), is not the predicate to ‫ה‬ ָ‫תּ‬ְ‫נ‬ ַ‫,א‬
but stands in apposition to ‫א‬ָ‫כּ‬ ְ‫ל‬ ַ‫.מ‬ The following relative passages, Dan_2:37 and Dan_
2:38, are only further explications of the address King of Kings, in which ‫ה‬ ָ‫תּ‬ְ‫נ‬ ַ‫א‬ is again
taken up to bring back the predicate. ‫י‬ ִ‫ל־דּ‬ָ‫כ‬ ְ‫,בּ‬ wherever, everywhere. As to the form
‫ין‬ ִ‫ר‬ ְ‫א‬ ָ‫,דּ‬ see the remarks under ‫ין‬ ִ‫אמ‬ ָ‫ק‬ at Dan_3:3. The description of Nebuchadnezzar's
dominion over men, beasts, and birds, is formed after the words of Jer_27:6 and Jer_
28:14; the mention of the breasts serves only for the strengthening of the thought that
his dominion was that of a world-kingdom, and that God had subjected all things to him.
Nebuchadnezzar' dominion did not, it is true, extend over the whole earth, but perhaps
over the whole civilised world of Asia, over all the historical nations of his time; and in
this sense it was a world-kingdom, and as such, “the prototype and pattern, the
beginning and primary representative of all world-powers” (Klief.). ‫ה‬ָ‫אשׁ‬ ֵ‫,ר‬ stat. emphat.
for ‫א‬ָ‫אשׁ‬ ֵ‫;ר‬ the reading ‫הּ‬ֵ‫אשׁ‬ ֵ‫ר‬ defended by Hitz. is senseless. If Daniel called him
(Nebuchadnezzar) the golden head, the designation cannot refer to his person, but to the
world-kingdom founded by him and represented in his person, having all things placed
under his sway by God. Hitzig's idea, that Nebuchadnezzar is the golden head as
distinguished from his successors in the Babylonian kingdom, is opposed by Dan_2:39,
where it is said that after him (not another king, but) “another kingdom” would arise.
That “Daniel, in the words, 'Thou art the golden head,' speaks of the Babylonian
kingdom as of Nebuchadnezzar personally, while on the contrary he speaks of the other
world-kingdoms impersonally only as of kingdoms, has its foundation in this, that the
Babylonian kingdom personified in Nebuchadnezzar stood before him, and therefore
could be addressed by the word thou, while the other kingdoms could not” (Klief.).
Dan_2:39
In this verse the second and third parts of the image are interpreted of the second and
third world-kingdoms. Little is said of these kingdoms here, because they are more fully
described in Daniel 7, 8 and 10. That the first clause of Dan_2:39 refers to the second,
the silver part of the image, is apparent from the fact that Dan_2:38 refers to the golden
head, and the second clause of Dan_2:39 to the belly of brass. According to this, the
breast and arms of silver represent another kingdom which would arise after
Nebuchadnezzar, i.e., after the Babylonian kingdom. This kingdom will be ָ‫נּ‬ ִ‫מ‬ ‫א‬ָ‫ע‬ ְ‫ר‬ ַ‫,א‬
inferior to thee, i.e., to the kingdom of which thou art the representative. Instead of the
adjective ‫א‬ָ‫ע‬ ְ‫ר‬ ַ‫,א‬ here used adverbially, the Masoretes have substituted the adverbial
form ‫ץ‬ ַ‫ֲר‬‫א‬, in common use in later times, which Hitz. incorrectly interprets by the phrase
“downwards from thee.” Since the other, i.e., the second kingdom, as we shall afterwards
prove, is the Medo-Persian world-kingdom, the question arises, in how far was it inferior
8

9. to the Babylonian? In outward extent it was not less, but even greater than it. With
reference to the circumstance that the parts of the image representing it were silver, and
not gold as the head was, Calv., Aub., Kran., and others, are inclined to the opinion that
the word “inferior” points to the moral condition of the kingdom. But if the successive
deterioration of the inner moral condition of the four world-kingdoms is denoted by the
succession of the metals, this cannot be expressed by ָ‫נּ‬ ִ‫מ‬ ‫א‬ָ‫ע‬ ְ‫ר‬ ַ‫,א‬ because in regard to the
following world-kingdoms, represented by copper and iron, such an intimation or
declaration does not find a place, notwithstanding that copper and iron are far inferior
to silver and gold. Klief., on the contrary, thinks that the Medo-Persian kingdom stands
inferior to, or is smaller than, the Babylonian kingdom in respect of universality; for this
element is exclusively referred to in the text, being not only attributed to the Babylonian
kingdom, Dan_2:37, in the widest extent, but also to the third kingdom, Dan_2:39, and
not less to the fourth, Dan_2:40. The universality belonging to a world-kingdom does
not, however, require that it should rule over all the nations of the earth to its very end,
nor that its territory should have a defined extent, but only that such a kingdom should
unite in itself the οἰκουμένη, i.e., the civilised world, the whole of the historical nations
of its time. And this was truly the case with the Babylonian, the Macedonia, and the
Roman world-monarchies, but it was not so with the Medo-Persian, although perhaps it
was more powerful and embraced a more extensive territory than the Babylonian, since
Greece, which at the time of the Medo-Persia monarchy had already decidedly passed
into the rank of the historical nations, as yet stood outside of the Medo-Persian rule. But
if this view is correct, then would universality be wanting to the third, i.e., to the Graeco-
Macedonian world-monarchy, which is predicated of it in the words “That shall bear rule
over the whole earth,” since at the time of this monarchy Rome had certainly passed into
the rank of historical nations, and yet it was not incorporated with the Macedonian
empire.
The Medo-Persian world-kingdom is spoken of as “inferior” to the Babylonian perhaps
only in this respect, that from its commencement it wanted inner unity, since the
Medians and Persians did not form a united people, but contended with each other for
the supremacy, which is intimated in the expression, Dan_7:5, that the bear “raised itself
up on one side:” see under that passage. In the want of inward unity lay the weakness or
the inferiority in strength of this kingdom, its inferiority as compared with the
Babylonian. This originally divided or separated character of this kingdom appears in
the image in the circumstance that it is represented by the breast and the arms. “Medes
and Persians,” as Hofm. (Weiss. u. Ef. i. S. 279) well remarks, “are the two sides of the
breast. The government of the Persian kingdom was not one and united as was that of
the Chaldean nation and king, but it was twofold. The Magi belonged to a different race
from Cyrus, and the Medes were regarded abroad as the people ruling with and beside
the Persians.” This two-sidedness is plainly denoted in the two horns of the ram, Daniel
8.
Dan_2:39
Dan_2:39 treats of the third world-kingdom, which by the expression ‫י‬ ִ‫ֳר‬‫ח‬ ָ‫,א‬
“another,” is plainly distinguished from the preceding; as to its quality, it is
characterized by the predicate “of copper, brazen.” In this chapter it is said only of this
kingdom that “it shall rule over the whole earth,” and thus be superior in point of extent
and power to the preceding kingdoms. Cf. Dan_7:6, where it is distinctly mentioned that
“power was given unto it.” Fuller particulars are communicated regarding the second
and third world-kingdoms in Daniel 8 and Dan_10:1.
9

10. Dan_2:40-43
The interpretation of the fourth component part of the image, the legs and feet, which
represent a fourth world-kingdom, is more extended. That kingdom, corresponding to
the legs of iron, shall be hard, firm like iron. Because iron breaks all things in pieces, so
shall this kingdom, which is like to iron, break in pieces and destroy all these kingdoms.
Dan_2:40-41
Instead of ‫ָא‬‫י‬ָ‫יצ‬ ִ‫ב‬ ְ‫,ר‬ which is formed after the analogy of the Syriac language, the Keri
has the usual Chaldee form ‫ה‬ ָ‫א‬ָ‫יע‬ ִ‫ב‬ ְ‫,ר‬ which shall correspond to the preceding ‫ה‬ ָ‫א‬ ָ‫ית‬ ִ‫ל‬ ְ‫,ת‬
Dan_2:39. See the same Keri Dan_3:25; Dan_7:7, Dan_7:23. ‫י‬ ִ‫דּ‬ ‫ל‬ ֵ‫ב‬ ְ‫ל־ק‬ָ‫כּ‬ does not mean
just as (Ges., v. Leng., Maur., Hitz.), but because, and the passage introduced by this
particle contains the ground on which this kingdom is designated as hard like iron. ‫ל‬ֵ‫שׁ‬ ָ‫,ח‬
breaks in pieces, in Syriac to forge, i.e., to break by the hammer, cf. ‫א‬ָ‫ל‬ ְ‫,חוּשׁ‬ bruised
grain, and thus separated from the husks. ‫ין‬ֵ‫לּ‬ ִ‫ל־א‬ָ‫כּ‬ is referred by Kran., in conformity
with the accents, to the relative clause, “because by its union with the following verbal
idea a blending of the image with the thing indicated must first be assumed; also
nowhere else, neither here nor in Daniel 7, does the non-natural meaning appear, e.g.,
that by the fourth kingdom only the first and second kingdoms shall be destroyed; and
finally, in the similar expression, Dan_7:7, Dan_7:19, the ‫ק‬ ֵ‫דּ‬ ַ‫ה‬ stands likewise without
an object.” But all the three reasons do not prove much. A mixing of the figure with the
thing signified does not lie in the passage: “the fourth (kingdom) shall, like crushing
iron, crush to pieces all these” (kingdoms). But the “non-natural meaning,” that by the
fourth kingdom not only the third, but also the second and the first, would be destroyed,
is not set aside by our referring ‫ין‬ֵ‫לּ‬ ִ‫ל־א‬ָ‫כּ‬ to the before-named metals, because the metals
indeed characterize and represent kingdoms. Finally, the expressions in Dan_7:7, Dan_
7:19 are not analogous to those before us. The words in question cannot indeed be so
understood as if the fourth kingdom would find the three previous kingdoms existing
together, and would dash them one against another; for, according to the text, the first
kingdom is destroyed by the second, and the second by the third; but the materials of the
first two kingdoms were comprehended in the third. “The elements out of which the
Babylonian world-kingdom was constituted, the countries, people, and civilisation
comprehended in it, as its external form, would be destroyed by the Medo-Persia
kingdom, and carried forward with it, so as to be constituted into a new external form.
Such, too, was the relation between the Medo-Persian and the Macedonian world-
kingdom, that the latter assumed the elements and component parts not only of the
Medo-Persian, but also therewith at the same time of the Babylonian kingdom” (Klief.).
In such a way shall the fourth world-kingdom crush “all these” past kingdoms as iron,
i.e., will not assume the nations and civilisations comprehended in the earlier world-
kingdoms as organized formations, but will destroy and break them to atoms with iron
strength. Yet will this world-kingdom not throughout possess and manifest the iron
hardness. Only the legs of the image are of iron (Dan_2:41), but the feet and toes which
grow out of the legs are partly of clay and partly of iron.
Regarding ‫ן‬ ‫ה‬ְ‫נ‬ ִ‫,מ‬ see under Dan_2:33. ‫ף‬ ַ‫ֲס‬‫ח‬ means clay, a piece of clay, then an
earthly vessel, 2Sa_5:20. ‫ר‬ ָ‫ח‬ֶ‫פּ‬ in the Targums means potter, also potter's earth,
potsherds. The ‫ר‬ ָ‫ח‬ֶ‫פּ‬ ‫י‬ ִ‫דּ‬ serves to strengthen the ‫ף‬ ַ‫ֲס‬‫ח‬, as in the following the addition of
10

11. ‫ָא‬‫נ‬‫י‬ ִ‫,ט‬ clay, in order the more to heighten the idea of brittleness. This twofold material
denotes that it will be a divided or severed kingdom, not because it separates into several
(two to ten) kingdoms, for this is denoted by the duality of the feet and by the number of
the toes of the feet, but inwardly divided; for ‫ג‬ַ‫ל‬ ְ‫פּ‬ always in Hebr., and often in Chald.,
signifies the unnatural or violent division arising from inner disharmony or discord; cf.
Gen_10:25; Psa_55:10; Job_38:25; and Levy, chald. Worterb. s. v. Notwithstanding this
inner division, there will yet be in it the firmness of iron. ‫א‬ ָ‫בּ‬ ְ‫צ‬ִ‫,נ‬ firmness, related to ‫ב‬ַ‫צ‬ְ‫,י‬
Pa. to make fast, but in Chald. generally plantatio, properly a slip, a plant.
Dan_2:42-43
In Dan_2:42 the same is aid of the toes of the feet, and in Dan_2:43 the comparison to
iron and clay is defined as the mixture of these two component parts. As the iron denotes
the firmness of the kingdom, so the clay denotes its brittleness. The mixing of iron with
clay represents the attempt to bind the two distinct and separate materials into one
combined whole as fruitless, and altogether in vain. The mixing of themselves with the
seed of men (Dan_2:43), most interpreters refer to the marriage politics of the princes.
They who understand by the four kingdoms the monarchy of Alexander and his
followers, think it refers to the marriages between the Seleucidae and the Ptolemies, of
which indeed there is mention made in Dan_11:6 and Dan_11:17, but not here; while
Hofm. thinks it relates to marriages, such as those of the German Kaiser Otto II and the
Russian Grand-Duke Wladimir with the daughters of the Kaiser of Eastern Rome. But
this interpretation is rightly rejected by Klief., as on all points inconsistent with the text.
The subject to ‫ין‬ ִ‫ב‬ ְ‫ר‬ָֽ‫ע‬ ְ‫ת‬ ִ‫מ‬ is not the kings, of whom mention is made neither in Dan_2:43
nor previously. For the two feet as well as the ten toes denote not kings, but parts of the
fourth kingdom; and even in Dan_2:44, by ‫ָא‬‫יּ‬ַ‫כ‬ ְ‫ל‬ ַ‫,מ‬ not kings in contradistinction to the
kingdoms, but the representatives of the parts of the kingdom denoted by the feet and
the toes as existing contemporaneously, are to be understood, from which it cannot
rightly be concluded in any way that kings is the subject to ‫ין‬ ִ‫ב‬ ְ‫ער‬ ְ‫ת‬ ִ‫מ‬ (shall mingle
themselves).
As, in the three preceding kingdoms, gold, silver, and brass represent the material of
these kingdoms, i.e., their peoples and their culture, so also in the fourth kingdom iron
and clay represent the material of the kingdoms arising out of the division of this
kingdom, i.e., the national elements out of which they are constituted, and which will
and must mingle together in them. If, then, the “mixing themselves with the seed of
men” points to marriages, it is only of the mixing of different tribes brought together by
external force in the kingdom by marriages as a means of amalgamating the diversified
nationalities. But the expression is not to be limited to this, although ‫ב‬ ֵ‫ר‬ָ‫ע‬ ְ‫ת‬ ִ‫,ה‬ Ezr_9:2,
occurs of the mixing of the holy nation with the heathen by marriage. The peculiar
expression ‫שׁא‬ָ‫ָש‬‫נ‬ֲ‫א‬ ‫ע‬ ַ‫ר‬ְ‫ז‬, the seed of men, is not of the same import as ‫ע‬ ַ‫ֶר‬‫ז‬ ‫ת‬ ַ‫ב‬ ְ‫כ‬ ִ‫,שׁ‬ but is
obviously chosen with reference to the following contrast to the divine Ruler, Dan_2:44.,
so as to place (Kran.) the vain human endeavour of the heathen rulers in contrast with
the doings of the God of heaven; as in Jer_31:27 ‫ם‬ ָ‫ד‬ ָ‫א‬ ‫ע‬ ַ‫ֶר‬‫ז‬ is occasioned by the contrast
of ‫ה‬ ָ‫מ‬ ֵ‫ה‬ ְ‫בּ‬ ‫ע‬ ַ‫ֶר‬‫ז‬. The figure of mixing by seed is derived from the sowing of the field with
mingled seed, and denotes all the means employed by the rulers to combine the different
nationalities, among which the connubium is only spoken of as the most important and
successful means.
11

12. But this mixing together will succeed just as little as will the effort to bind together
into one firm coherent mass iron and clay. The parts mixed together will not cleave to
each other. Regarding ‫ן‬ ֱ‫ה‬ֶ‫,ל‬ see under Dan_2:20.
Dan_2:44
The world-kingdom will be broken to pieces by the kingdom which the God of heaven
will set up. “In the days of these kings,” i.e., of the kings of the world-kingdoms last
described; at the time of the kingdoms denoted by the ten toes of the feet of the image
into which the fourth world-monarchy extends itself; for the stone (Dan_2:34) rolling
against the feet of the image, or rather against the toes of the feet, breaks and destroys it.
This kingdom is not founded by the hands of man, but is erected by the God of heaven,
and shall for ever remain immoveable, in contrast to the world-kingdoms, the one of
which will be annihilated by the other. Its dominion will not be given to another people.
‫הּ‬ ָ‫כוּת‬ ְ‫ל‬ ַ‫,מ‬ his dominion, i.e., of the kingdom. This word needs not to be changed into
‫הּ‬ ָ‫כוּת‬ ְ‫ל‬ ַ‫,מ‬ which is less suitable, since the mere status absol. would not be here in place.
Among the world-kingdoms the dominion goes from one people to another, from the
Babylonians to the Persians, etc. On the contrary, the kingdom of God comprehends
always the same people, i.e., the people of Israel, chosen by God to be His own, only not
the Israel κατὰ σάρκα, but the Israel of God (Gal_6:16). But the kingdom of God will not
merely exist eternally without change of its dominion, along with the world-kingdoms,
which are always changing and bringing one another to dissolution, it will also break in
pieces and destroy all these kingdoms (‫ף‬ ֵ‫ס‬ ָ‫,ת‬ from ‫,סוּף‬ to bring to an end, to make an
end to them), but itself shall exist for ever. This is the meaning of the stone setting itself
free without the hands of man, and breaking the image in pieces.
CALVIN, "Although Daniel here records the dream, and does not touch on its
interpretation, yet we must not proceed farther without discoursing on the matter
itself. When the interpretation is afterwards added, we shall confirm what we have
previously said, and amplify as the context may guide us. Here Daniel records how
Nebuchadnezzar saw an image consisting of gold, silver, brass, and iron, but its feet
were mixed, partly of iron and portly of clay. We have already treated of the name
of the “Vision,” but I briefly repeat again, — king Nebuchadnezzar did not see this
image here mentioned, with his natural eyes, but it was a specimen of the revelation
which he knew with certainty to have been divinely offered to him. Otherwise, he
might have thrown off all care, and acted as he pleased; but God held him down in
complete torment, until Daniel came as its interpreter.
Nebuchadnezzar then saw an image. All writers endowed with a sound judgment
and candidly desirous of explaining the Prophet’s meaning, understand this,
without controversy, of the Four Monarchies, following each other in succession.
The Jews, when pressed by this interpretation, confuse the Turkish with the Roman
empire, but their ignorance and unfairness is easily proved. For when they wish to
escape the confession of Christ having been exhibited to the world, they seek stale
calumnies which do not require refutation; but still something must afterwards be
said in its proper place. My assertion is perfectly correct, that interpreters of
12

13. moderate judgment and candor, all explain the passage of the Babylonian, Persian,
Macedonian, and Roman monarchies, and Daniel himself afterwards shews this
sufficiently by his own words. A question, however, arises, why God represented
these four monarchies under this image? for it does not seem to correspond
throughout, as the Romans had nothing in common with the Assyrians. History has
fully informed us how the Medes and Persians succeeded the Chaldeans; how
Babylon was besieged by the enemy; and how Cyrus, after obtaining the victory,
transferred the empire to the Medes and Persians. It may, perhaps, seem absurd
that one image only should be proposed. But it is probable — nay, it may be
shewn — that God does not here regard any agreement between these four
monarchies, for there was none at all, but the state of the world at large. God
therefore wished, under this figure, to represent the future condition of the world
till the advent of Christ. This is the reason why God joined these four empires
together, although actually different; since the second sprang from the destruction
of the first, and the third from that of the second. This is one point, and we may now
inquire, secondly, why Daniel calls the kingdom of Babylon by the honorable term
golden. For we know the extent of its tyranny and the character of the Assyrians,
and their union with the Chaldeans. We are also aware of the destruction of
Nineveh, and how the Chaldeans made Babylon their capital city, to preserve the
seat of empire among themselves. If we consider the origin of that monarchy, we
shall surely find the Assyrians like savage beasts, full of avarice, cruelty, and
rapacity, and the Chaldeans superior to all these vices. Why, then, is that empire
called the head — and why agolden head?
As to the name, “head,” since that monarchy arose first, there is nothing surprising
in Daniel’s assigning the highest place to it. And as to his passing by Nineveh, this is
not surprising, because that city had been already cut off, and he is now treating of
future events. The Chaldean empire, then, was first in the order of time, and is
called “golden” by comparison; because the world grows worse as it becomes older;
for the Persians and Medes who seized upon the whole East under the auspices of
Cyrus, were worse than the Assyrians and Chaldeans. So profane poets invented
fables about The Four Ages, the Golden, Silver, Brazen, and Iron. They do not
mention the clay, but without doubt they received this tradition from Daniel. If any
one object, that Cyrus excelled in the noblest qualities, and was of a heroic
disposition, and celebrated by historians for his prudence and perseverance, and
other endowments, I reply, we must not look here at the character of any one man,
but at the continued state of the Persian empire. This is sufficiently probable on
comparing the empire of the Medes and Persians with that of the Babylonians,
which is called “silver;” since their morals were deteriorated, as we have already
said. Experience also demonstrates how the world always degenerates, and inclines
by degrees to vices and corruptions.
Then as to the Macedonian empire, it ought not to seem absurd to find it compared
to brass, since we know the cruelty of Alexander’s disposition. It is frivolous to
notice that politeness which has gained him favor with historians; since, if we reflect
upon his natural character, he surely breathed cruelty from his very boyhood. Do
13

14. we not discern in him, when quite a boy, envy and emulation? When he saw his
father victorious in war, and subduing by industry or depraved arts the cities of
Greece, he wept with envy, because his father left him nothing to conquer. As he
manifested such pride when a boy, we conclude him to have been more cruel than
humane. And with what purpose and intention did he undertake the expedition by
which he became king of kings, unless through being discontented not only with his
own power, but with the possession of the whole worm? We know also how tie wept
when he heard from that imaginative philosophy, that there were more worlds than
this. “What, ” said he, “I do not possess even one world!” Since, then, one world did
not suffice for a man who was small of stature, he must indeed put off all humanity,
as he really appeared to do. He never spared the blood of any one; and wherever he
burst forth, like a devouring tempest, he destroyed everything. Besides, what is here
said of that monarchy ought not to be restricted to the person of Alexander, who
was its chief and author, but is extended to all his successors. We know that they
committed horrible cruelties, for before his empire was divided into four parts,
constituting the kingdoms of Asia, Syria, Egypt, and Macedonia, how much blood
was sited! God took away from Alexander all his offspring. He might have lived at
home and begotten children, and thus his memory would have been noble and
celebrated among all posterity; but God exterminated all his family from the world.
His mother perished by the sword at the age of eighty years; also his wife and sons,
as well as a brother of unsound mind. Finally, it was a horrible proof of God’s anger
against Alexander’s offspring, for the purpose of impressing all ages with a sense of
his displeasure at such cruelty. If then we extend the Macedonian empire to the
period when Perseus was conquered, and Cleopatra and Ptolemy slain in Egypt.,
and Syria, Asia, and Egypt reduced under the sway of Rome — if we comprehend
the whole of this period, we shall not wonder at the prophet Daniel calling the
monarchy “brazen.”
When he speaks of The Roman Empire as “iron,” we must always remember the
reason I have noticed, which has reference to the world in general, and to the
depraved nature of mankind; whence their vices and immoralities always increase
till they arrive at a fearful height. If we consider how the Romans conducted
themselves, and how cruelly they tyrannized over others, the reason why their
dominion is called “iron ” by Daniel will immediately appear. Although they appear
to have possessed some skill in political affairs, we are acquainted with their
ambition, avarice, and cruelty. Scarcely any nation can be found which suffered like
the Romans under those three diseases, and since they were so subject to these, as
well as to others, it is not surprising that the Prophet detracts from their fame and
prefers the Macedonians, Persians, Medes, and even Assyrians and Chaldeans to
them.
ELLICOTT, " (31) A great image.—Properly, one great image. This is one
important feature in the vision. The image, though representing many things, was
itself only “one.” (See Note on Daniel 2:1.) That the image was of human form is
evident from the further descriptions of the various parts of the body given in
Daniel 2:32-33; Daniel 2:42. The “greatness” of the image implies the magnificence
14

15. and size of it. As will be shortly seen, throughout the various parts it represented the
many complex phases of the one history of the world.
TRAPP, "Daniel 2:31 Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great
image, whose brightness [was] excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof
[was] terrible.
Ver. 31. Thou, O king, sawest,] sc., By the force of thy fancy; for in sleep the
reasonable soul cometh into the shop of fantasy, and there doth strange works,
which are vented in our dreams.
And behold a great image.] A fit representation, and in a dream especially, of
worldly greatness. An image, saith Theodoret, is but the figure of a thing, and not
the thing itself; and this image in the text, speciem habet gigantaeam, et prorsus
Chimaericam, was a kind of chimera.
POOLE, " A great image; not a painted, superficial image, but a massy one, a statue
in man’s shape, great, splendid, majestical: thus they were wont of old to represent
great emperors and empires, and worshipped them as gods: called here an image,
and in a dream, all which is in show and shadow rather than in substance, and
therefore vanishing.
Stood before thee, and that upright, of a prodigious height, noting the grandeur of
those monarchies.
The form thereof was terrible: government is to be feared, fear to whom fear, and
honour to whom honour; also some had rather be feared than loved. Some say the
image was so placed that the face looked toward the king, and thus it might trouble
and terrify him.
BENSON, "Verse 31
Daniel 2:31. Thou, O king, sawest, and behold, a great image — “It appears, from
ancient coins and medals, that cities and people were often represented by figures of
men and women. A great, terrible human figure was therefore a proper emblem of
human power and dominion; and the various metals of which it was composed not
unfitly typified the various kingdoms which should arise. It consisted of four
different metals, gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, mixed with clay; and these
four metals, according to Daniel’s own interpretation, mean so many kingdoms; and
the order of their succession is clearly denoted by the order of the parts; the head
and higher parts signify the earlier times, and the lower parts the latter times.
Hesiod, who lived two hundred years before Daniel, spoke of the four ages of the
world under the symbols of these metals; so that this image was formed according to
15

16. the commonly received notion, and the commonly received notion was not first
propagated from hence.” — Bishop Newton. This image, whose brightness was
excellent, stood before thee — This image, says Grotius, appeared with a glorious
lustre in the imagination of Nebuchadnezzar, whose mind was wholly taken up with
admiration of worldly pomp and splendour; but the same monarchies were
represented to Daniel under the shape of fierce and wild beasts, chap. 7., as being
the great supporters of idolatry and tyranny in the world. And the form thereof was
terrible — The success which accompanied their arms made them feared and
dreaded by all the world.
PETT, "Verses 31-35
The Vision of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2:31-35).
“You, O king, saw, and behold a great image. This image which was mighty and
whose brightness was spectacular, stood before you. And its aspect was dreadful. As
for this image his head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly
and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. You
saw until a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image on his feet
which were of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then was the iron, the clay,
the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together, and became chaff like
the chaff of the summer threshingfloors, and the wind carried them away so that no
place was found for them. And the stone that smote the image became a great
mountain and filled the whole earth.”
The account really needs no amplification. As he lay sleeping suddenly he
envisioned a great image. Chapter 3 suggests that he would see it as an idol, one
such as kings made to glorify themselves. In his waking life he had seen such images
before, for multi-metalled images were no new thing. But in his dream this image
was huge, dwarfing mankind. It was an impressive god indeed. Its splendour was in
order to make him fear, but it was also to flatter Nebuchadnezzar, especially its
head of gold. But its significant factor as he gazed at it was that what began at the
top as gold slowly deteriorated section by section, to baser and baser metals, until it
became metal and clay, and clearly unstable. Metal could make a sound foundation.
Building clay could make a sound foundation. But the two together were
incompatible. And then came the shattering end when a mighty boulder, cut out
without hands, smashed the feet of the image, with the result that the whole image
disintegrated, crashing down and turning to powder. Whereat not only its site, but
also the whole earth, became filled by the boulder which became a great mountain.
The picture is vividly described. And the result of the crashing stone was that the
whole of the image from top to bottom was ‘broken in pieces together, and became
chaff like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors, and the wind carried them away
so that no place was found for them.’ It was as though all the materials from the
gold downwards, were turned into chaff on the threshingfloor, what remained once
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17. the good seed had been taken away, waiting to be blown away by the regular winds
which cleared the threshing floor of its chaff. And there would be nothing left of
them. They had nowhere to go.
Notice carefully that no numbers are mentioned. If we start to introduce numbers
we are not properly interpreting the vision. We are reading into it what is not there.
BI 31-33, "Thou, O King, sawest, and behold a great image.
The Aggregation of Evil
Look at evil as represented by this colossal image.
I. IT IS A COMPOUND THING. The image was made up of various substances: gold,
silver, brass, iron, clay. Evil does not often appear here in its naked simplicity, it is mixed
up with other things. Errors in combination with truths, selfishness with benevolence,
superstition with religion, infidelity with science, injustice with law and evil, too, is in
combination with customs, systems, institutions. It is a huge conglomeration. Unmixed
naked evil could not, perhaps, exist. Worldly souls so compound it as to make evil seem
good.
II. IT IS A BIG THING. This image was the biggest thing in the imagination of the
monarch. Evil is the biggest thing in the world. The image represents here what Paul
meant by the “world,” the mighty aggregation of evil. Alas, evil is the great image in the
world’s mind.
III. IT IS AN IMPERIAL THING. The various substances that composed the image,
Daniel tells us, represent kingdoms—Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome. Evil here is
imperial. The New Testament calls it “The kingdom of darkness.” It wears the purple,
occupies the throne, and wields the sceptre of nations.
IV. IT IS A HUMAN THING. The colossal image was a human figure—human head,
breast, arms, legs, feet; and of human manufacture. All the errors of the world are the
fabrications of the human brain; all the had passions of the world are the lusts of the
human heart; all the wrong institutions of the world are the productions of human
power. Evil is human, it thinks with the human brain; it speaks with the human tongue;
it works with the human hand. Man is at once its creator, organ, and victim.
V. IT IS A TOTTERING THING. On what does the figure stand? On marble, on iron,
or brass? No, on clay; his feet part of iron and part of clay. Evil, big, grand, and imperial
though it be, lacks standing power; it is not firm-footed. It has clay feet, and must one
day tumble to pieces. (Homilist.)
Symbolical Metals
The metals symbolical of the four kingdoms are placed after one another in the order of
their value. First gold, then silver, then brass, then iron. There is a progressive
deterioration in this arrangement of the metals. That which is accounted most precious
is first; that which is of least value is last. To hold out the idea that the world is
constantly growing worse, heathen fable represented it as passing through four ages,
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18. which were also named from these four metals, the golden age, the age of silver, the age
of brass, and the iron age. In each succeeding period the world became worse than it had
been during that which preceded. From the fact of the metals in this image following one
another in the order of their value, the most precious being first, and the least valuable
being last, we are not to suppose that Scripture countenances this idea of heathen
fiction, and that the world is really in a state of constant deterioration—becoming more
base and worthless by every succeeding revolution. This idea is not correct in point of
fact. It is true that every nation, after reaching a certain stage, has decayed and been
dissolved by the corruption of manners, as the human body, after reaching a certain
stage, gradually decays and is at length dissolved by death. But while every particular
nation has in course of time deteriorated, the human race has been steadily progressing
in the knowledge of art, science, legislation, and everything that is most conducive to the
individual and social advancement of mankind. National progression may be compared
to the incoming of the sea. Almost every wave advances farther than that by which it was
preceded, and then falls back, leaving the sand bare which once was covered; but
another and another wave follows, each succeeding one advancing nearer to the shore,
until the sea covers all its sands, having reached the point at which the voice of the
Almighty said to it, “Hitherto shalt thou come, and no farther.” In regard to the four
monarchies, it is not a fact that the condition of mankind became worse under every
succeeding monarchy than it had been during the reign of that by which it was preceded.
On the contrary, it could easily be shown that the iron monarchy, which on the other
supposition should have been the worst, was more conducive to the welfare of mankind
than any of the other three. From these statements it appears that the metals are not
prophetic of the relative condition of the world under these monarchies, but are
descriptive of the character of the monarchies themselves. Each of the metals represents
the principal feature of the monarchy of which it is the symbol. As regards the order of
their succession, it ought to be remembered that these metals have a real and a nominal
value, and that their real value is in the inverse ratio of the nominal. Gold and silver
possess the greatest nominal value, because in exchange for them everything else can be
procured; but in themselves they are of less value than brass and iron. Keeping this
universally recognised distinction in view, the succession of metals in the image may
intimate that in these monarchies there would be a declension in outward splendour,
and a progression in those things which were useful to mankind. Gold, the symbol of the
first monarchy, intimates that sumptuous splendour would be its most striking feature.
(J. White.)
The Dream Recovered
The king’s inability to recollect the dream that caused him so much anxiety gave
occasion to call for Daniel, and enabled him to prove the vast superiority of his God over
the gods and magicians of Babylon. By being able to restore the lost dream, he proved at
once that he was able to give its true interpretation. By restoring the dream and giving
its interpretation, he revealed to the king two mysteries at once—a mystery from the past
and a mystery of the future. A great image. It appears from ancient coins and medals
that both cities and nations were represented by gigantic figures of men and women. The
old writer Florus, in his history of Rome, represents the Roman empire under the form
of a human being, in its different states from infancy to old age. The recently-discovered
monuments of the Nile, and of Nineveh, and of Babylon, show that stupendous human
figures were objects and emblems familiar to the ancients. Geographers, also, have used
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19. similar representations. The Germanic empire has been represented by a map in the
form of a man, different parts being pointed out by the head, breast, arms, etc.,
according to their geographical and political relation to the empire in general. The
various metals of which Nebuchadnezzar’s image was composed represented the various
kingdoms which should arise subsequent to the fall of his own empire. Their position in
the body of the image clearly denoted the order of their succession. The different metals
and their position also expressed different degrees of strength, riches, power, and
durability. Clay, earth, and dust, of course, mean weakness, instability. (W. A. Scott,
D.D.)
The Dream Recovered
We see the hand of Providence in bringing Daniel and his friends forward at the
Babylonish court at the time when it was the most proper they should be honoured. God
never forsakes those that trust in Him.
I. THE DREAM, ITS PREDICTIONS, AND THEIR FULFILMENT PROVE THE
SUPREME AND PARTICULAR PROVIDENCE OF GOD, AND THEREBY
ALSO SHOW THE TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. Now this prediction of the future
destinies of nations could not be without revelations from God, nor could it be unless
God be both sovereign in providence and in nature. It is God only and alone who can
foretell the distant changes of time and nations; and this He can do and has done as
infallibly as He knows the revolutions of the heavenly bodies. God knows as perfectly
and as certainly what the commotions of the people and the thousand passions of kings
and statesmen will produce, as what the thousand attractions of the stars and their most
distant courses will bring about in immensity. Astronomers give us beforehand the
details of eclipses, because the Creator has impressed His will upon the universe as a
code of physical laws. He rules mankind, who dwell on the earth, as well as the worlds
which roll in infinite space. He stays the commotions of the people, as well as the billows
of the sea. He holds in His hand the hearts of the rulers of the earth, as He counts the
hosts of Heaven and calls them all by name.
II. THE HISTORY OF NATIONS PRESENTS TWO ELEMENTS IN
THEMSELVES PERFECTLY DISTINCT, AND YET ALWAYS MORE OR LESS
UNITED, AND ALWAYS MORE OR LESS SUBJECTED TO MUTUAL AND
RECIPROCAL INFLUENCES. I mean the political and religious history of a country.
The religious habitudes of a people do of necessity deeply affect their morals, and their
social and national characteristics. So palpable is the influence of religion upon a nation,
that it has long been received as a canon of philosophical history, that the religion of a
country being known, all the rest of that country’s history can be easily known. It is not
essential to mere physical existence that we have comfortable houses to live in, and that
they are adorned with the products of industry and filled with the comforts of
commerce. We could live in tents. But certainly those who have once tasted the elegances
of refined life will not desire to go back to semi-barbarism. So it is not essential for all
pious people to be politicians, yet all the members of Christ’s Church are interested in
the political interests of the world; and Christian young men should prepare themselves
to take a part in the civil affairs of their country. If the administration of our laws and
the outwork of our great institutions are left wholly in the hands of ungodly or
unprincipled men, we cannot expect God’s blessing to rest upon us.
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20. III. Observe HOW CAREFUL DANIEL WAS TO REMEMBER HIS FRIENDS IN
PROSPERITY. Like Joseph, when exalted, he was not ashamed of his poor kin. At his
request his three friends were promoted to high employments in the department over
which he presided.
IV. Throughout Daniel’s history we see in him, as in Joseph, A DISPOSITION TO
HUMBLE HIMSELF AND EXALT HIS GOD. Without prevarication or hesitancy he
shows his abhorrence of idolatry, and his deep and earnest conviction that the God
whom he served was the only real and true God. He claims nothing for himself. When
the king asks him if he is able to make known the dream and its interpretation, he
reminds the king that there had been no power in the gods of his diviners which had
enabled them to do this; but “there is a God in Heaven that revealeth secrets, and
maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.” And in the
whole affair we hear him ascribing everything to God. And his object was in part
attained. The king’s mind became so powerfully impressed with Daniel’s arguments and
demonstrations, that he made the remarkable declaration: “Of a truth it is that your God
is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings.” (W.A. Scott, D.D.)
The Inconsistent Image
“Behold this dreamer cometh” to us then, and says, “I saw in my dream” an image of a
man, in which, whilst the head was of fine gold, the farther each part was from the head,
the more inferior it appeared. And the least gifted of the wise men among us replies with
modest demureness, for he has read the interpretation within himself a thousand times:
Man’s knowledge may oft seem like fine gold, but his action is at best but silver, and
often but iron and clay. It may even be that, in desire, he is of the noblest metal, yet in
will and deed but of the baser sorts. The youth is fired by the electric spark of heroic
emulation from the recital or vision of another’s glorious achievement, hope and noble
ambition stir within him till he burns to be a hero in the strife; and in the absence of
some great thing, he fails to fling his force so richly accumulated into the duty that is
nearest to hand, and so to irradiate it as to make drudgery Divine. And as, at the day’s
close, he recalls the longing that leaped that morning within his breast, and contrasts
with it the cold commonplace achievement, life seems to him like a mocking travesty of a
true man, with a head of fine gold, but its feet part of iron and part of clay; golden
desires but deeds of clay. And the old man reads within himself the messages that tell of
the coming dissolution. It is time, he says, that autumn touched my life to mellowness
and maturity. Should not some of that excellent glory begin to be reflected from me, if so
soon I am to enter those Everlasting Gates? And so there comes home to him the sense
of space between his desire and his attainment, his ideal and his actual. What artist
before his most finished work, what reformer after telling out all his scheme, what
minister as he reviews his ministry, what child of God as he surveys his life, does not say
to himself, softly and sorrowfully, “If the head was fine gold, the arms were but silver,
the foot part of iron and part of clay?” Yes, and if any man rejoins that in his case
achievement equalled, if it did not surpass, intention—the feet were equal to the head—
we have no hesitation in replying, “Then the head was by no means ‘of fine gold.’” Full
attainment means small attainments. Better a golden conception carried out by silver
arms, incomplete as that must appear, than that both conception and execution be of no
higher order than iron or clay, though it be then symmetrical. Better lofty standards and
ideals imperfectly carried into action but honestly attempted, than low standards,
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21. though completely realised. Let nothing, then, delude us into debasing the “head.”
Though it make our ears tingle and our cheeks flame scarlet daily, ever above us and
beyond us must be the prize of our high calling. To be satisfied, to stop, is to perish at
the core. We are saved by honestly hoping, and we can only hope for the uuattained. Let
him only who is honestly striving to make his life of one substance throughout, and that
“fine gold,” take to himself the encouragement we have educed from the image. Let all
others beware’ lest their baser metal, or incongruous compound, melt utterly in that day
when the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. But can we think long of the
spiritual life under the figure of a body, with its head and members, without St. Paul’s
vivid and effectively practical use of the metaphor coming before our view? “Jesus Christ
the head,” and “Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ?” And then as if
some such grotesque and inconsistent image as this of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream loomed
before his vision as more than a possibility, with a keen sense of unfitness amounting to
horror that neither the King of Babylon nor the inspired seer of old ever felt, he asked:
“Shall I, then, take the members of Christ and make them members of the clay and mire
of lust and sin?” “As He is, so are we in this world,” so be “conformed in all things to our
Head.” This, then, is the unending royal road along which the saints are called to
journey. Our “Head” is “of fine gold.” All the choice virtues and fair excellences of the
Divine human nature dwell in Him. Lovely beyond comparison, the sum of all
perfections, the essence of all that is flagrant and fair, is our Head. And one thing only is
wanting, that the Church which is His body becomes as its Head, having attained “unto a
full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness” of its Head; a glorious
body, “not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and
without blemish.” And “because we are members of His body,” to us is this word sent.
“Ye are the body of Christ, and severally members thereof,” or “members each in his
part.” (Marg. R.V.) What is our contribution to the visible Body? “Ye are My witnesses.”
Do they who see our works glorify our Head which is in Heaven. Or is there a shocking
incongruity, as in this image? Do not multitudes to-day honestly think—yes, honestly
believe—that Jesus’ day is over, that He was not the imperishable fine gold, but if not
simply “clay” that served its passing purpose, at the best “iron” or “brass,” because they
have seen His “members,” and have concluded (and how shall we blame them in many
instances?) that since the “members,” the “feet” and the “legs” and the “hands,” were so
palpably baser metal, the “head” must be also? Shall our Divine Head be thus baffled in
us His members! Let us labour and pray so to be , “changed into the same image” that as
His feet we may run swiftly at His bidding; as His arms and hands we may work out fully
His will, and our whole being show itself a “vessel unto honour, meet for the Master’s
use.” (R. B. Shepherd, M.A.)
Deterioration in Successive Nations
The prophecies of Daniel (feinting to “the times of the Gentiles”) are marked by
evolution, but it is downward, and not upward; rather, it is devolution! They are marked
by progress, but it is progress in corruption; by development, but it is inferiority. This
outline is given us in two parts. One from the human standpoint in Dan_2:1-49, where,
under the figure of a man in stately proportion, they are seen in their succession by a
man of the Gentiles; the other from the Divine standpoint in Dan_7:1-28; Dan_8:1-27,
where, by a man of God, they are seen in their origin. The one, therefore, displays their
outward appearance to the eye of a man of the world; the other reveals their moral
character to the eye of the man of God. Nebuchadnezzar sees these nations and “times of
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22. the Gentiles” under the outward aspect of glittering gold, shining silver, brilliant brass,
and irresistible iron. Daniel sees them as wild beasts, ferocious in their nature, cruel in
their career. Nebuchadnezzar sees them in a dream, as a stately man, in his palace.
Daniel sees them in a vision of God, as wild beasts arising out of the waters. For, “man
being in honour abideth not, he is like the beasts that perish” (Psa_49:12). And man
apart from God, has ever gone, and must ever go down, down! Even the saint without
Christ can do nothing. But man apart from God can do “only evil continually.” He goes
down, as it is here shown, from gold to miry clay; and from the noble lion to the
nondescript dragon! Yes, man has indeed a free will, but it is ever exercised in
opposition to God’s will, it is “enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be” (Rom_8:7). Man has ever destroyed himself, and his help is
found only in God (Hos_13:9). Now look at the image. Look first at its values. All tend
downwards, first gold, then silver, brass, iron, and clay. Look at its weight, its specific
gravity. Gold is equivalent to 19.3; silver, 10.51; brass, 8.5; iron, 7.6; clay,
1.9. Down, down front 19.3 to 1.9. The image is top-heavy, and the firstblow of the
mighty stone upon the feet shall shatter its pottery, and bring it all down in pieces.
So it is with the beasts, which are all emblazoned on the banners, and stamped on
the coins of the Gentile nations. But they are wild beasts, and they run rapidly down
from the lion to the bear, from the bear to the leopard, and from the leopard to the
hybrid monstrosity. All is on the descending scale, all is seen to be growing worse
and worse. Those who look for the world to improve and progress fill it developes
into the Millennial kingdom, must account for this. We all agree that these things are
figures, but they are figures of a reality, and that which is represented as an ever
increasing descent, cannot possibly be the figure for a gradual ascent. At any rate, it
was not so interpreted to Daniel by the Holy Ghost. He said to Nebuchadnezzar,
“Thou art this head of gold, and after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to
thee” (Dan_2:38-39). Yet, with all this advancing deterioration, there is a seeming
advance in apparent greatness, but it is in reality only weakness. The first empire,
Babylon, is seen as one; the second, the Medo-Persian, is seen as two; the third,
Greece, becomes four (Macedonia, Thrace, Syria, Egypt); and the fourth, Rome,
becomes ten. So that there is less and less of that unity which is strength, and more
and more of that division and separation which is weakness. And as the image thus
declines in all that is great, noble, and precious, so the beasts become more wild and
ferocious. Government runs down, down! The first (Babylon) was an autocracy,
“whom he would he slew, and whom he would he kept alive” (Dan_5:19). The second
was a parliament of princes, and the law of the Persian kingdom was stronger than
the Persian king (Dan_6:1-14). The third, Greece, was a government of oligarchies;
while in the fourth, Rome, we see the mingling of princely iron with the communistic
clay; until, in our day, we see more and more of the clay and less and less of the iron,
till good government is the one great want of the age all over the world. Man has
been tried and found wanting. He cannot govern himself as an individual, apart from
God. How, then, can he do it nationally? No! the descent is from God to the devil,
from Christ to anti-Christ. (J. Bullinger.)
Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream
The passage here brought to our attention is only the first of several visions recorded in
the book of Daniel treating of the same events. The dream of the great image as given in
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23. this chapter, and the vision of the four beasts as recorded in the seventh chapter,
unquestionably describe the same things. To a certain extent, the same thing is true of
the vision of the ram and the he-goat in the eighth chapter, and of the statements in the
eleventh chapter regarding the succession of kings. Daniel was first of all a devout
worshipper of the true God; he was further a patriotic Few; and the combination of these
peculiarities turned his thought intensely toward the promise of the coming Messiah.
God uses men according to their fitness, and Daniel, by his predispositions, was
eminently fitted for the Messianic prophecy. But Daniel had his speciality even in this.
He was a statesman—the greatest of his age. From the beginning of manhood till the
weight of years was heavy upon him he stood behind the throne, and in the reigns of four
kings and during two dynasties he was the chief adviser of royalty, studying with the eye
of a master the relation of nations and the development of history. His Messianic
prophecies were shaped accordingly. He wrote, not as did Isaiah, of Christ the sufferer,
but of Christ the king, and he viewed the future in its relations to the rise and fall of
kingdoms, their influence on the coming kingdom of Christ, and the final triumph of
that mysterious and mighty Messianic dominion which should cover the whole earth.
The dream of Nebuchadnezzar, as interpreted by Daniel, describes the succession of four
great world-kingdoms, each preparing the way for the kingdom which followed it, and
the four leading to the last and most wonderful, a fifth, to fill the whole earth and last for
ever. All interpreters agree that the last kingdom is that of Christ. The statement, also, is
explicit that the first kingdom is the Babylonish. What are the three intervening? There
is substantial agreement that the second and the third kingdoms are the Medo-Persian
Empire and the Macedonian. The only serious division of interpretation is in regard to
the fourth kingdom. What is meant by the legs of iron, with feet part of iron and part of
clay? Until within about a hundred years there has been no question that by this was
signified the Roman Empire. But after Luther’s day entered German rationalism,
claiming that the book of Daniel was written by an uninspired pseudo-Daniel living in
the times of the Maccabees. Such a man, of course, could write history, but would
neither dare nor wish to prophesy another earthly dominion antagonistic to the Jews;
and so these rationalists feel obliged to find some other kingdom than the Roman to
represent the fourth. It is a similar prejudice against the supernatural which has led to
much of the destructive criticism of the present day, and it was such prejudice which
first suggested the substitution of the Syrian Empire for the Roman in the interpretation
of this passage. It is enough for our present purpose that such scholars as Keil and Pusey
advance satisfactory arguments that the fourth kingdom can be no other than the
Roman. Why, then, are these great kingdoms introduced here? Because they prepared
the way preeminently for the establishment of Christ’s kingdom on earth. Each world-
kingdom represented certain ideas, and the downfall of that kingdom showed their
inability to meet the needs of man. Each world-kingdom did a certain work in shaping
human life, so that when Christ came the world was in better shape to receive Him. Let
us briefly examine these great empires to see what they accomplished in these
directions.
1. In showing that certain prevailing ideas of excellence were inadequate to satisfy
human wants, each one of these world-kingdoms played an important part. It has
evidently been a part of God’s plan to let nations try, on a great scale, their theories
of human advantage. Then, as one after another nations carrying out these theories
have gone down into ignominy and ruin, the fallacy of their theories of happiness has
been proved. Babylon represented the idea of sensuous and sensual pleasure. There
money could purchase everything, and there the grossest delights of the flesh were
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24. indulged in to the full. Its luxury was boundless. The wild and wanton feast of
Belshazzar and his lords, as described in the book of Daniel, is a mild picture of the
drinking habits, the profligacy and licentiousness of the Babylonians. No other
nation ever illustrated so fully as they the idea that man cannot find satisfaction in
material enjoyments. An Oriental people, of warm blood, living in a hot climate, with
the greatest abundance about them, their very religion ministering to their ideas of
pleasure, surely, they, if any in the world could do it, might find the end of life in
luxury. But in this they were grievously disappointed. Their pleasure-loving was
utterly demoralizing, and ended in their ruin. The Medo-Persian Empire comes next
into view. This people had higher ideas of life than the Babylonian. They were
monotheists, or at least dualists. They were not a luxurious people. They despised
silver and gold, and when they made war upon Babylon they could not be bought off
as other attacking armies. Hence Isaiah says, “Behold, I will stir up the Medea
against them,”—that is, against the Babylonians—“which shall not regard silver, and
as for gold, they shall not delight in it.” The controlling idea of the Medo-Persian
Empire was glory. What they sought above all else was military renown. To them
vastness of numbers and vastness of territory had a peculiar charm. At one time the
empire covered an immense stretch of country, from the river Indus and the Hindoo-
Koosh Mountains on the east to the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, and the Sahara on
the west. This was the empire which delighted in the most immense armies the world
has ever known. Xerxes brought together against Greece two million and a half of
men. But glory failed to satisfy, as had pleasure in the preceding kingdom. Presently
this great empire, with its twenty satrapies, fell to pieces. The Macedonian Empire
followed, bringing into view a wonderful civilization. Its days exalted intellect.
Philosophy and art were the prominent forms of delight. Men sought refuge from the
ills of life in the spacious groves of the academy, where Socrates and Plato and other
great thinkers elaborated schemes of thought to explain all that troubles man and to
provide a remedy. The faculties of man were at their highest, and in no age of the
world has there been a finer development of literature and art. But it failed to meet
the cravings of man, or to defend him against evil. The Macedonian Empire went
down into speedy decay. With the death of Alexander it broke into two great
fragments, the empires of the Ptolemies and the Selucidae, and presently another
and greater world-empire swallowed up both of these. The Roman Empire was the
last of these great world-kingdoms, and this set forth the idea of power. Rome, as no
other nation before it, was thoroughly organized. The controlling ambition of Rome
in its highest prosperity was to rule. It emphasized the ideas of law, of order, of force.
It drew up a legal code that became the model for subsequent ages. Its mighty
legions swept all lands, and nothing could stand before them. Lacking the grace and
delicacy of Grecian civilization, caring less for fame and show than the Medo-Persian
civilization, scorning in its best days the sybaritism of the Babylonian civilization, its
fitting symbol was not the gold of Babylon, nor the silver of Persia, nor the bronze of
Greece, but iron—hard, destructive, invincible iron. But law, though organized most
thoroughly, and force, though developed into its highest forms, gave no guaranty of
national permanence and secured no national happiness. Rome lapsed into
weakness. The magnificent nation became permeated with vice, and easily fell a prey
to the barbarians of the north. Its iron was mingled with clay.
2. And as the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold were broken in pieces
together and carried away by the wind, while the stone that smote them became a
great mountain and filled the whole earth, it is well for us to see how these world-
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25. kingdoms all contributed toward the establishment of Christ’s kingdom on earth
before they disappeared. Babylon destroyed the tendency of the Jews to idolatry.
Before they were carried away into captivity they had repeatedly gone after the false
gods of the nations around them. But Babylon established them in the firmest
opposition to the sin. Even Rome trembled before the fierceness of their hostility to
idolatry, and at their wish removed from Jerusalem its military ensigns on which
were images of Caesar. This intense monotheism was a necessary preparation for the
coming of Christ. The Babylonish captivity likewise scattered the Jews everywhere.
But few of them returned to Jerusalem. This dispersion of the Jews served an
important purpose in making ready for the kingdom of Christ. It caused a general
expectation of His coming throughout the world. It provided places for the preaching
of the Gospel, for wherever a synagogue stood there Jewish Christians were at first
able to speak for Christ. It secured an early presentation of the Gospel in all lands.
The Jews converted at Pentecost went back into every land with the story of the
Cross. The Jews in foreign lands were obliged to modify largely the ritual of their
fathers. The Medo-Persian Empire broke down the scandalous Babylonish idolatry
and destroyed a pestiferous influence in the ruling forces of the world. By its wide
conquests it broke up the fallow ground of human thought, destroyed prejudices,
and so opened the way for the Gospel. It re-established the Jewish worship in
Jerusalem, and so kept the Divine fire of religious truth burning till Christ should
come. The religious efforts inaugurated in the time of Cyrus and Darius and other
Medo-Persian kings were permanent in their results. Not simply was the temple
rebuilt, but the Scriptures were collected and copied and familiarized. And what did
the Macedonian Empire do for Christ? It diffused the Greek language with Greek
literature and Greek modes of thought. Intellects were wonderfully quickened the
world over. The Old Testament was translated by Alexandrian scholars into Greek.
Thus the Scriptures were made known to the world, thus language was fitted to
express the lofty thoughts of the Gospel, and thus men were lifted up on a higher
plane of thought, where they could appreciate and receive the preaching of the
apostles. And Rome? The great Roman Empire established a universal dominion
which facilitated the spread of the Gospel. It built good roads to all lands and policed
them. It secured a fair measure of good order. In consequence the apostles could
carry their Divine message all over the world. The Roman Empire also had an
important bearing on Christ’s atonement. It was the official authority which put Him
to death. Thus it joined Gentile and Jew as alike guilty before God, and alike needing
the benefits of the great sacrifice. It furnished a legal, and, therefore, peculiarly
incontrovertible testimony to His death. It proved His resurrection by stationing
guards at the tomb, who would assuredly have been put to death if His body had
been stolen by His disciples. And it ended the Jewish ritual, for shortly after Christ’s
death Roman legions destroyed the temple, scattered the Jews, and made impossible
the temple service. Can we doubt, even after this review, that Christ’s empire is
superior to all that went before it, and that on their pulverized and widely scattered
fragments it is built up? (Addison P. Foster.)
The Great Image
I. ALL WORLD-KINGDOMS DESTITUTE OF GOODNESS WILL END IN
DUST. This is the doom of the great kingdoms of the world who are destitute of
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26. sufficient morality to preserve themselves in existence.
II. THE OLDER THE WORLD BECOMES THE LESS ENDURING AND THE
MORE WORTHLESS ARE THE MERE WORLD-KINGDOMS. The longer
anything that is dying lives, the less valuable it is. Those who are dying morally become
of less and less worth in the world the longer they continue in it. So with all kingdoms
founded on a mere worldly basis. Mere physical power becomes of less worth in
proportion to the progress of the world by the development of moral force.
III. THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD AND
THAT OF CHRIST, IN THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE IMAGE AND THE
STONE. In relation to size, materials; in their origin, strength, place in human history,
length of existence. Lessons:
1. God may instruct a saint through the brain of a sinner. Here Daniel is instructed
by Nebuchadnezzar.
2. That all the materials of the world may be used, and so consecrated, as means of
illustrating Divine truth. The most common-place things can be ennobled by being
the vehicles of moral teaching.
3. We must judge, not according to appearances, but according to the inherent
strength of things and persons.
4. Sin will not resign its dominion unless it be smitten. We cannot drive out the devil
of evil habits by gentle persuasion or long speeches.
5. There can be no success against evil unless we are connected with the
supernatural. There are virtuous people in the world who are not Christians. There
have been some bright examples of such among heathen nations. But they could
make no head against sin around them, even if they had no strong tendencies to
gross or palpable sin within. Sin within us, or around us, can only be smitten
through connection with a “stronger than the strong man armed,” who has himself
smitten evil by a sinless life and an atoning death. (Outlines by a London Minister.)
The Church and the World
The general condition of the Church, in reference to the world, urges to the
consideration of large and fundamental principles. There is in the prophetical image a
very exact picture of the condition of the world in a Pagan state, and, to some extent, of
what it is in every state, short of moral perfectness; and there is, in the stone cut out of
the mountain without hands, an equally exact picture of the Christian Church working
out the renovation of the world.
I. THE IMAGE. We are not left to conjecture the meaning, either of the whole or of its
separate parts (v. 36-43). The head of gold meant the Babylonish empire, especially
during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar (v. 37, 38). The breast and arms, which were of
silver, are understood to mean the Medo-Persian empire (v. 39); the belly and thighs of
brass, the Grecian, particularly under Alexander the Great (v. 39); and the legs and feet,
these last being divided into ten toes, the Roman, in the different conditions of an
empire and of the ten kingdoms into which it was afterwards divided (v. 40-43); all of
this is commonly understood, and so generally allowed, as to warrant our omitting any
special or detailed proof. It will also be observed that these different empires are
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27. introduced as occurring in succession, and as bringing before us the condition of the
world continuously, during a very long period. But there remaineth another
characteristic of this vision. The object revealed is an image. The word translated image
is indeed something employed to signify merely a figure or resemblance of something.
But its more ordinary meaning, and that which the circumstances seem to require, is
that of an idol. The object introduced is in the form of a man, the materials employed are
like those of idols, and the greatness and strange mixture of the figure do also
correspond. But the nations of the world, and especially those introduced, must in this
way somehow or other be idolatrous; and the idolatry will require to be such as may be
reached, as will afterwards appear, by the progress of Christianity. Thus far we are
carried by the image itself; and now we are led to look around, and to ask whether the
kingdoms of this world be really such as is here supposed—whether all Pagan nations are
essentially idolatrous, and whether all others not yet perfect are in the sight of God
chargeable with less or more of the same offence?
1. Now, first of all, it will be recollected that the same corruption which exists in the
individual affects society. Speaking of man as an individual, sin was first introduced
into his heart; but out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, etc.;
and thus the whole man becomes defiled. Then families made up of such individuals
must also be impure; and this not merely as regards the conduct of particular
members, but as respects domestic habits, and the authority of those who are heads
of families. But families grow into tribes, and tribes have laws and law-givers
exercising authority over them. But again, tribes become nations, and nations,
whether by conquest or federal union, become empires; and in this state the evil is
still worse. The contagion is greater, and the laws and customs, if supported by
public opinion, are almost irresistible; and what now would the world itself be, if left
to its own corruption, but one common though varied mass of moral evil.
2. The reasoning employed in these remarks is fully borne out by facts. The sin
originally introduced into the breasts of our first parents soon discovered itself in
their offspring; Cain slew Abel, and because his own works were evil and his
brother’s good. In the course of a few generations the Church had to be separated
from the world on account of the prevalence of iniquity. The same thing again
occurred after the flood. It occurred to such an extent that in the days of Abraham,
who was only the tenth from Noah, special provision had again to be made for the
preservation of religious truth. And we have, if possible, a still stronger proof in the
description furnished by an Apostle, as applicable to the world at the fulness of time.
This account contains an explanation also of the corrupting principles. In different
countries there are different forms of superstition, different kinds of prevailing
indulgences, and laws, and customs having different tendencies; but in all, the
corruption of the human heart is seen festering in society, and pervading all its
arrangements. It is not merely that there is the oozing forth of the corruption of the
heart, and this as defiling all things, but that all the influence of power, all the
authority of laws, and strong current of public opinion, are wholly impure,
unrighteous, and irreligious. And what, in like manner, are the sympathies of such a
people, but sympathies in favour of corruption, of immoral indulgences, and
unrighteous laws.
3. But there is another view of this subject, necessary to the filling up of our
prophetical delineation. We understand the image to be representative of idolatry,
and in correspondence with this we believe the world, in its unbelieving state, to be
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