Daniel 2: 29 - 45
Future Stuff – 10 King’s Toes
In our last study which was on the book of Daniel chapter 2 we came upon the feet of Nebuchadnezzar’s idol that he saw in a dream. We discussed how the head of gold all the way to the legs of iron represented kingdoms. We are now in this study going to pick up on the feet and what this represents. However, since our Lord’s Word is awesome by itself, let us read the entire chapter again to properly flow to the passages that we want to enlarge upon.
1 Now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him. 2 Then the king gave the command to call the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. 3 And the king said to them, “I have had a dream, and my spirit is anxious to know the dream.”4 Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.” 5 The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “My decision is firm: if you do not make known the dream to me, and its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made an ash heap. 6 However, if you tell the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts, rewards, and great honor. Therefore tell me the dream and its interpretation.” 7 They answered again and said, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will give its interpretation.” 8 The king answered and said, “I know for certain that you would gain time, because you see that my decision is firm: 9 if you do not make known the dream to me, there is only one decree for you! For you have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the time has changed. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can give me its interpretation.” 10 The Chaldeans answered the king, and said, “There is not a man on earth who can tell the king’s matter; therefore no king, lord, or ruler has ever asked such things of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean. 11 It is a difficult thing that the king requests, and there is no other who can tell it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” 12 For this reason the king was angry and very furious, and gave the command to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. 13 So the decree went out, and they began killing the wise men; and they sought Daniel and his companions, to kill them. 14 Then with counsel and wisdom Daniel answered Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon; 15 he answered and said to Arioch the king’s captain, “Why is the decree from the king so urgent?” Then Arioch made the decision known to Daniel. 16 So Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time, that he might tell the king the interpretation. 17 Then Daniel went to his house, and made the decision known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, 18 that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret, so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19 Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven. 20 Daniel answered and said: “ Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His. 21 And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. 22 He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him. 23 “ I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers; You have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of You, for You have made known to us the king’s demand.” 24 Therefore Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to him: “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; take me before the king, and I will tell the king the interpretation.” 25 Then Arioch quickly brought Daniel before the king, and said thus to him, “I have found a man of the captives of Judah, who will make known to the king the interpretation.” 26 The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen, and its interpretation?” 27 Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, “The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. 28 But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, were these: 29 As for you, O king, thoughts came to your mind while on your bed, about what would come to pass after this; and He who reveals secrets has made known to you what will be. 30 But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but for our sakes who make known the interpretation to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart. 31 “You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. 32 This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. 36 “This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. 37 You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; 38 and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold. 39 But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. 40 And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. 41 Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. 43 As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. 44 And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. 45 Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.” 46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, prostrate before Daniel, and commanded that they should present an offering and incense to him. 47 The king answered Daniel, and said, “Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.” 48 Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts; and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon. 49 Also Daniel petitioned the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego over the affairs of the province of Babylon; but Daniel sat in the gate of the king.
For all us prophecy lovers we look forward to studying the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation. Sometimes I hear from people that they know the kiddy bible stories like the fiery furnace and Daniel and the lions den but they want the good stuff which talks up the upcoming events. My answer to them is that they are missing out if they think like that, for the entire book of Daniel is a prophecy, in which we will discover as we look into it deeply. The book of Revelation reveals what has been previously foretold not only in Daniel but by other men inspired by our Precious Holy Spirit.
In the book of 2 Peter chapter 1 we read about this occurrence, “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. 19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.’
If you remember from our last study, Nebuchadnezzar’s henchman, Arioch, had gone to the king, after Daniel’s request, to inform the king that ‘he’ found someone who could do the impossible. That is, Daniel would give the king the exact dream that he had dreamt and give its interpretation.
Daniel’s thoughts, words, and actions were in perfect harmony of a faithful committed believer. He had gone in faith with his friends to God beseeching God to do a miracle for them and reveal to them the kings dream and what it meant.
Now here was a neat thing that I believe many teachers miss. Dreams usually occur in the evening while visions usually occur in the day time. Do you think that Daniel and his friends would be able to sleep knowing that the very lives were hanging in the balance? So, how did our Precious Holy Father give Daniel the answer to his request? He gave it in a vision. In other words, as they were praying, our Majestic Holy King in a vision showed Daniel everything he had asked for. Wow, that is awesome!
I can just imagine Daniel’s exceeding joy in that quick moment of time having a direct revelation from All Mighty God. If you have ever experienced anything that you know was from God, even in the smallest way, it effects you for the rest of your life.
Look, at the wise thing Daniel did. He gave our Holy Master his thanks and praise. When he came before the king he made sure where the credit and to Whom the credit belongs.
29 As for you, O king, thoughts came to your mind while on your bed, about what would come to pass after this; and He who reveals secrets has made known to you what will be. 30 But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but for our sakes who make known the interpretation to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart.
I want you to make note of Daniel’s statement, 29 As for you, O king, thoughts came to your mind while on your bed, about what would come to pass after this; and He who reveals secrets has made known to you what will be. 30 But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but for our sakes who make known the interpretation to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart.
The Lord Is revealing what will happen in the future and that wisdom is required. We will be speaking about these two areas in a little while.
Daniel told the king what he dreamt.
31 “You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. 32 This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
Okay, he saw an awesome statue. It had a head of gold, arms and chest were of silver, its belly and thighs were bronze, its legs were iron, and then where all weight should be supported the feet were a combination of clay and iron. Which by the way, do not blend together.
Then this stone came and smashed the statue and it crumbled into fine dust where the wind came and blew it all away. This stone then in his dream grew so large it covered the whole earth. Then Nebuchadnezzar woke up.
Daniel did not leave the king hanging on just telling him what he dreamt but now reveals to him what it is all about. Remember, he told him that God was revealing what would happen in the future.
36 “This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. 37 You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; 38 and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold.
The dream starts out in the present. King Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon. He was the total ruler of the known world at that time. So, our Lord starts out identifying him and his kingdom with the most precious and valuable metal – gold.
In a short time in the future the nation of Babylon would be replaced by another Empire. Nebuchadnezzar ruled for 40 years. His kingdom only lasted for another 30 years after his death. The time of Babylon’s world domination was from 609 BC to 539 BC.
The next kingdom would not be as superior as Babylon so our Lord made the statue of silver, which is less valuable than gold.
39 But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours;
This kingdom was a combination of two cultures – Medio-Persia. This new world power ruled from 539 BC until 331 BC.
then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.
Then the Greeks lead by Alexander the Great conquered Medio-Persia and ruled from 331 BC until 168 BC. It was represented by bronze.
40 And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others.
The legs were made of Iron and it addressed the Roman Empire which ruled with an iron hand from 168 BC until 476 AD.
Now a question for all to consider is this, who conquered the Roman Empire? The answer is that no one did. It just wasted or rotted away from within.
So, now we want to look at the feet and toes.
41 Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. 43 As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. 44 And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. 45 Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.”
Let’s put this all together.
As mentioned previously, the book of Daniel begins in the early chapters 1 through 5 to give a prophecy of the future. In chapters 7 through 9 these future messages from our Lord are expanded. Then in chapter 8 to the end of the book of Daniel they are expanded in even more detail.
Now, if you have read the book of Revelation, would you agree that some things you read seem to be covered or mentioned in later chapters? You see, they are just like the book of Daniel which continues to expand on the future information shared to us by our Precious Adoni Yahweh.
I mentioned that Daniel proclaims that wisdom is needed from God Almighty to understand. Look at what it says in regards to ‘wisdom’
Ecclesiastes 2:26 “For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.”
Ecclesiastes 7:25 “I applied my heart to know, To search and seek out wisdom and the reason of things, To know the wickedness of folly, Even of foolishness and madness.
Ecclesiastes 9:13 “This wisdom I have also seen under the sun, and it seemed great to me:
Revelation 13: 18 “Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.
Revelation 17: 9 ““Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.
So, as we see, to understand what message our Lord Is conveying we need His wisdom.
41 Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.
What do you think of when you hear the word ‘divided’? For me my first thought is that something is cut in half.
One of the excellent things that the Romans did was the building of roads. This assisted the Roman Empire to grow and get to the various countries under their control. The Empire covered most of Europe, North Africa, and part of Asia.
When General Diocletian rose to power he decided to split the Empire in half – the Eastern and Western Empire. Each side had a ruler in charge of it. But, please take special note of this point, the one who was in charge of Rome was the senior ruler.
The Western Roman Empire included Europe and North Africa and was ruled from Rome. The Eastern Empire covered Asia and was ruled at Byzantium or what was later changed to Constantinople.
Now we look at the book of Daniel which talks of the feet and toes. How many toes do we have? The answer is 10 right?
41 Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. 43 As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. 44 And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
Please notice again that the toes are referred to as ‘kings’ in verse 44. Therefore, we are looking at ten kings.
We see the mention of these 10 kings in other portions of the scriptures;
Daniel 7: 24 “The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this kingdom. And another shall rise after them; He shall be different from the first ones, and shall subdue three kings.
We can deduce from these passages that the Western Roman Empire will also divide into ten kingdoms - 41 Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. They did divide and here is their former and present names of their countries;
1. Anglo-Saxons = England
2. Franks = France
3. Burgundians = Switzerland
4. Visgoths = Spain
5. Alamanni = Germany
6. Suevi = Portugal
7. Lombards = Italy
8. Heruli = subdued/destroyed 493 AD
9. Vandals = subdued/destroyed 534 AD
10. Ostrogoths = subdued/destroyed 538 AD
These countries attempted to gain leadership over the others at one time in history. If you dig in your history books you will find certain leaders who almost pulled this unification off, such as Charlemagne, Napoleon, Hitler, and Mussolini, but as clay will not adhere to iron so their attempts in controlling all the European countries never lasted.
Another way these countries attempted to unite all the others was by royal marriages - 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. 43 As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.
Now, I also want to share with you something else. In verse 43 we read from the King James Version – “And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.”
So, what is ‘miry clay’? For one thing it is not ceramic clay. The definition of ‘Miry’ is slimy or swampy water. Here we see that this type of lousy mud is going to be mingled with the seed of men. Hymm? Something is very different going on here.
In the book of Genesis chapter 6 reads starting in verse 1, “1 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.3 And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” 4 There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.”
Some argue that the terms ‘sons of God’ are talking about the descendents of Seth while others, in which I am one, believe are fallen angels. These angels went and took women from their husbands and conceived ungodly children which in the bible are called, “Nephilim”. When the bodies of these Nephilim died, their spirts are what we refer to as ‘demons’
You will note that this was before the flood. And yet when you continue to read the bible after the flood, say during the time of the Israelites coming into the Promised Land, these giants are in the land of Canaan again. So, the angels haven’t learned their lesson and possibly more have turned away from loving and serving our Precious Adoni Yahweh. It is possible that Nephilim hybrids may be born today and in the future.
From our study of future events we do see a lot of angelic activity. Would you agree? It wouldn’t surprise me if some of these shenanigans are going on.
However, the Scripture does not dwell on this activity a lot and neither should we. We should just consider it and move on. For we are not to focus on these weird things but we are to look for all the clues that will talk about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ coming back to earth the second time so that we can forever be with Him.
In our next study we will take an more thorough look at the book of Revelation chapter 17 which goes no to give us more information regarding the 10 kings.
