THOUGHTS ON DANIEL by Uriah Smith

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 1, 1881

THOUGHTS ON DANIEL.

By Uriah Smith

CHAPTER II.—THE GREAT IMAGE.

As the view is presented that the ten toes of the image denote the ten kingdoms, we are sometimes met with the objection that Rome, before its division into ten kingdoms, was divided into two parts, the Western and Eastern Empires, corresponding to the two legs of the image; and as the ten kingdoms all arose out of the western division, if they are denoted by the toes, we should have ten toes on one foot of the image, and none on the other; which would be unnatural and inconsistent.

But this objection devours itself; for certainly if the two legs denote division, the toes must denote division also. It would be inconsistent to say that the legs symbolize division, but the toes do not. But if the toes do indicate division at all, it can be nothing but the division of Rome into its ten parts.

The fallacy, however, which forms the basis of this objection, is the view that the two legs of the image do signify the separation of the Roman Empire into its eastern and western divisions. To this view there are several objections.

1. Rome, from the very beginning of its history, was represented by the two legs; and if these denote division, it should have been divided from the very commencement of its history. This claim is sustained by the other symbols. Thus the division, or the two elements of the Persian kingdom, denoted by the two horns of the ram, Dan. 8:20, by the elevation of the bear upon one side, Dan. 7:5, and perhaps by the two arms of the image of this chapter, existed from the first. The division of the Grecian kingdom, denoted by the four horns of the goat and the four heads of the leopard, dates back to within eight years of the time of its introduction into prophecy. So Rome should have been divided from the first, if the legs denote division, instead of remaining a unit for nearly six hundred years, and separating into its eastern and western divisions only a few years prior to its final disruption into ten kingdoms.

2. No such division into two great parts is denoted by the other symbols under which Rome is represented in the book of Daniel; namely, the great and terrible beast of Daniel 7, and the little horn of chapter 8. Hence it is reasonable to conclude that it was not the design of the image to represent such a division.

But, it may be asked, why not suppose the two legs to denote division as well as the toes? Would it not be just as inconsistent to say that the toes denote division and the legs do not, as to say that the legs denote division and the toes do not? We answer that the prophecy itself must govern our conclusions in this matter; and whereas it says nothing of division in connection with the legs, it does introduce the subject of division as we come down to the feet and toes. It says, "And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter's clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided." No division could take place, or at least none is said to have taken place, till the weakening element of the clay was introduced; and we do not find this till we come to the feet and toes. But we are not to understand that the clay denotes one division and iron the other; for after the kingdom was broken, no one of the fragments was as strong as the original iron, but all were in a state of weakness denoted by the mixture of iron and clay. The conclusion is inevitable, therefore, that the prophet has here stated the cause for the effect. The introduction of the weakness of the clay element, as we come to the feet, resulted in the division of the kingdom into ten parts, as represented by the ten toes; and this result, or division, is more than intimated in the sudden mention of a plurality of contemporaneous kings. Therefore, while we find no evidence that the toes denote division, but serious objections against such a view, we do find, we think, good reason for supposing that the toes denote division as herein claimed.

3. Each of the four monarchies had its own particular territory, which was the kingdom proper, and where we are to look for the chief events in its history shadowed forth by the symbol. We are not therefore to look for the divisions of the Roman Empire in the territory formerly occupied by Babylon, or Persia, or Grecia, but in the territory proper of the Roman kingdom, which was what was finally known as the Western Empire. Rome conquered the world; but the kingdom of Rome proper, lay west of Grecia. That is what was represented by the legs of iron. There, then, we look for the ten kingdoms; and there we find them. We are not obliged to mutilate or deform the symbol to make it a fit and accurate representation of historical events.

VERSE 43. 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.

With Rome, fell the last of earth's universal empires. Heretofore the elements of society had been such that it had been possible for one nation, rising superior to its neighbors in prowess, bravery, and the science of war, to attach them one after another to its chariot wheels till all were consolidated into one vast empire, and one man seated upon the dominant throne could send forth his will as law to all the nations of the earth. When Rome fell, such possibilities forever passed away. Crushed beneath the weight of its own vast proportions, it crumbled to pieces never to be united again. The iron was mixed with the clay. Its elements have lost the power of cohesion, and no man, nor combination of men, can again consolidate them. This point is so well set forth by another that we take pleasure in quoting his words:—

"From this, its divided state, the first strength of the empire departed—but not as that of the others had been. No other kingdom was to succeed it, as it had the three which went before it. It was to continue, in this tenfold division, until the kingdom of stone smote it upon its feet, broke them in pieces, and scattered them as the wind does chaff of the summer threshing-floor!"

Yet, through all this time, a portion of its strength was to remain. And so the prophet says, 'And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.' (Verse 42.) How in any other way could you so strikingly represent the facts? For more than fourteen hundred years, this tenfold division has existed. Time and again men have dreamed of rearing on these dominions one mighty kingdom. Charlemagne tried it. Charles V. tried it. Louis XVI. tried it. Napoleon tried it. But neither succeeded. A single verse of prophecy was stronger than all their hosts. Their own power was wasted, frittered away, destroyed. But the ten kingdoms did not become one. 'Partly strong and partly broken,' was the prophetic description. And such, too, has the historic fact concerning them. With the book of history open before you, I ask you, Is not this an exact representation of the remnants of this once mighty empire? It ruled with unlimited power. It was the throned mistress of the world. Its scepter was broken; its throne pulled down; its power taken away. Ten kingdoms were formed out of it; and 'broken' as then it was, it still continues—i. e., 'partly broken.' For its dimensions still continue as when the kingdom of iron stood upright upon its feet. And then, it is 'partly strong'—i. e., it retains, even in its broken state, enough of its iron strength to resist all attempts to mold its parts together. 'This shall not be,' says the word of God. 'This has not been,' replies the book of history.

But then, men may say, 'Another plan remains. If force cannot avail, diplomacy and reasons of State may,—we will try them.' And so the prophecy foreshadows this when it says, 'They shall mingle themselves with the seed of men'—i. e., marriages shall be formed, in hope thus to consolidate their power, and, in the end, to unite these divided kingdoms into one.

"And shall this device succeed? No. The prophet answers: 'They shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.' And the history of Europe is but a running commentary on the exact fulfillment of these words. From the time of Canute to the present age, it has been the policy of reigning monarchs, the beaten path which they have trodden, in order to reach a mightier scepter, and a wider sway. And the most signal instance of it which history has recorded in our own day, is in the case of Napoleon. He ruled in one of the kingdoms; Austria was another. He sought to gain by alliance what he could not gain by force, i. e., to build up one mighty, consolidated empire. And did he succeed? Nay. The very power with which he was allied proved his destruction, the troops of Blucher on the field of Waterloo! The iron would not mingle with the clay. The ten kingdoms continue still."

"And yet, if, as the result of these alliances, or other causes, that number is sometimes disturbed, it need not surprise us. It is, indeed, just what the 'mixed with the clay.' For a season, in the image, you might not distinguish between them. They would not remain so. 'They shall not cleave one to another.' The nature of the substances forbids them to do so in the one case; the word of prophecy in the other. Yet there was to be an attempt to mingle—nay, more, there was an approach to mingling in both cases. But it was to be abortive. And how marked the emphasis with which history affirms this declaration of the word of God!"—Wm. Newton, Lectures on the First Two Visions of the Book of Daniel, pp. 34-36.

Yet with all these facts before them, asserting their power through the overturnings and changes of centuries, the efforts of warriors, and the diplomacy and intrigues of courts and kings, some modern expositors have manifested such a marvelous misapprehension of this prophecy as to predict a future universal kingdom, and point to a European ruler, even now of waning years, and declining prestige, as "the destined monarch of the world." Vain is the breath they spend in promulgating such a theory, and delusive the hopes or fears they may succeed in raising over such an expectation.

VERSE 44. And in the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. 45. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter; and the dream is certain and the interpretation thereof sure.

We here reach the climax of this stupendous prophecy; and when time in his onward flight shall bring us to the sublime scene here predicted, we shall have reached the end of human history. The kingdom of God! grand terminus of this world's sad, degenerate, and changing career! Transporting change, for all the righteous, from gloom to glory, from strife to peace, from sin to holiness, from death to life, from tyranny and oppression to the happy freedom and blessed privileges of a heavenly kingdom? Glorious transition, from weakness to strength, from the changing and decaying to the immutable and eternal!

But when is this kingdom to be established? May we hope for an answer to an inquiry of such momentous concern to our race? These are the very questions on which the word of God does not leave us in ignorance; and herein is seen the surpassing value of this heavenly boon. We do not say that the exact time is revealed either in this or in any other prophecy; but so near an approximation is given that the generation which is to see its establishment may mark, unerringly its approach, and make that preparation which will entitle them to share in all its glories.