Daniel 2:42, commentary and pictures

The toes of mingled iron and clay mean a kingdom that is partly strong and partly fragile, with strength in the iron and weakness and breakage in the clay. They stand in a foretold succession of world empires — Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome — with Rome strong as iron to subdue nations. Rome was broken apart and its divisions would never again become one united power, so attempts to weld them together by marriage or force would not hold. The succession shows God as ruler over kings, removing and setting up whom He will, while the kingdoms declined in power and morals as they forgot Him until His everlasting kingdom replaces all earthly rule. In its bearing on the present time, the mingling of iron with miry clay also portrays the weakening union of churchcraft and statecraft, especially in exalting the spurious sabbath above God's seventh-day Sabbath.

Words and Divided Symbol

The toes describe a divided kingdom that is partly strong and partly fragile, for the iron stands for strength and the clay stands for weakness and brokenness. The feet's mixed iron and clay belong to the interpretation of the forgotten dream, showing a kingdom that is partly strong and partly broken in character. It is unstable like material that cannot hold together, and it will not endure or unite as one invincible, unified power while pointing forward to God's great day and the coming everlasting kingdom.

The image as a whole represents the kingdoms of the world in metals that grow less and less pure and valuable from head to feet, from gold to silver to brass to iron mingled with clay, depicting kingdoms that deteriorated in value and strength. Babylon is the head of gold and the succeeding kingdoms are baser metals, and their declining value signifies that the nations became less valuable as they separated farther from God and moved farther from Him. The dream thus showed how the kingdoms would appear in history and at the end, with each stage of progressively less value.

Through the dream God reveals the future course of earthly kingdoms, showing that they are temporary and will pass away and that Babylon would not stand forever. The only kingdom that will never pass away is the kingdom of Christ, the Living Stone.

Dream Setting and Response

The verse belongs to Nebuchadnezzar's dream and Daniel's interpretation of it, which revealed the power and faithfulness of the God of Israel to an idolatrous nation. It was light on God's hidden purposes given to reflect upon proud Babylon, giving that nation knowledge of the kingdom the Lord was to establish and by His power maintain against all the power and craft of Satan. It showed Nebuchadnezzar that the God of heaven is Ruler over all monarchs and kings of earth, and revealed the course of earthly kingdoms and God's rule over kings and kingdoms.

The interpretation was given by God to Daniel and His servants, the Hebrew captives, when they were under Nebuchadnezzar's decree of death with the other wise men, and because it was given and understood their lives were spared. It was revealed to the Hebrew captives rather than to those captivated by Babylon's splendor, opening God's wisdom and the treasures of eternity to those who depend on Him. It helped the king out of his difficulty over his forgotten dream, which Daniel made known to the king many years before the feast of Belshazzar.

The lessons of that prophetic dream were given by God for people living in the present day, and understanding its prophecy requires discernment and knowledge from God, not merely worldly learning. Prophetic history was shown in symbols to be set out plainly so readers could understand the lessons they conveyed. The symbolic image was used by God to reveal important future events concerning the nations and His purpose for the world, meant to communicate truth and not to glorify human power. Its meaning could be misapplied to serve human ambition and hinder the spread of the knowledge of God, for men, whether king or subjects, are not to read the Scriptures and God's providences in the light of their dreams and fancies, but to read their dreams in the light of the living oracles. Daniel interpreted the dream in the light of the Scriptures, foretelling what would come upon Babylon and other kingdoms and exalting Jehovah as more powerful than earthly kings.

Nebuchadnezzar perverted that light by reading the interpretation through his own idolatrous mind and ambitions for the glory and excellency of himself and his kingdom. He wrongly concluded from being called the head of gold that his own kingdom should keep growing in power and extent instead of giving way to God's everlasting kingdom. He made an all-gold image to turn all nations to worship of his image, representing Babylon and himself. Babylon, represented by the head of gold, had been a kingdom given by God for His glory, but his desire for a greater earthly kingdom turned him from the dream's lesson that earthly kingdoms do not endure and will come to an end before God sets up His everlasting kingdom to fill the whole earth. The dream showed how the kingdoms would appear in history and at the end as of progressively less value, yet he failed to let it teach him about their end, and Babylon later fell during a feast.

Prophecy Fulfilled in History

The verse belongs to a connected chain foretelling successive world-moulding empires before the end of human dominion, beginning with Babylon and continuing through Medo-Persia and Greece to Rome. That fourth kingdom was to be strong as iron to subdue the nations of the world, and the course of these predicted kingdoms rising and falling shows that God rules world affairs and sets kings in place to fulfill His purpose. The interpretation was traced by the prophetic pen under the Holy Spirit hundreds of years before the peoples came upon the stage of action, describing kingdoms that would rise and fall. Each empire was given a place and a period of test and trial as to whether it would exalt the one Ruler, the only true God, but each failed when proved by obedience or disobedience, lost its glory and power, saw its power depart, and was superseded by another.

Rome, symbolized by iron, was to become divided and partly strong and partly broken, and barbarian incursions from northern and eastern Europe in the fourth century brought this division and broke Rome permanently. Its divisions would never become one united kingdom, so efforts to unite Europe through intermarriage or by force would fail because the divisions would not cleave together. This includes the attempts of Charlemagne and Napoleon, whose efforts to reunite the broken empire could not succeed. The vast empire of Rome crumbled into pieces after the kingdoms that followed sank even lower in baseness and corruption.

The prophecy has been fulfilled with wonderful exactness as seen in the record of ancient history and in the most literal manner. That exact fulfillment proves the inspiration of Scripture and gives an anchor against rationalism and skepticism, giving tangibility to faith, making a deep impression on those who had no definite idea when its predictions are fulfilled, and leading to positive faith. It is not an unintelligible mystery but can be understood and explained even by children. Its study shows God's great day is near and the coming of the Lord is at hand, a solemn truth of great value to be brought before young and old and before the people despite the popular belief that the prophecies of Daniel are mysteries that cannot be understood.

Earthly universal rule will fall, for Babylon would not stand forever and other earthly kingdoms would follow it, yet all are temporary and will pass away and come to an end. They will be superseded by God's everlasting kingdom, the kingdom of Christ the Living Stone and Prince of heaven. That kingdom will never be destroyed or pass away but will fill the whole earth. The toes represent a divided, unstable kingdom, partly strong and partly broken like material that cannot hold together and powers that will not unite, while prophecy points to that coming everlasting kingdom as near, with kingdoms and rulers rising and falling under God's rule as He casts down one mighty ruler and sets up another, bringing human glory low and exalting God, not human agents.

God's Rule and Moral Decline

The succession of kingdoms declares that God is the ruling power over kings and kingdoms, changing times and seasons and removing kings and setting up kings to fulfill His own purpose. He casts down one mighty ruler and sets up another, brings human glory low, humbles human pride, and exalts Himself rather than human agents. Babylon was to be superseded, and a second kingdom was to arise with its period of test and trial whether it would exalt the one Ruler, the only true God, and failing this its glory would fade and a third kingdom would occupy its place, and proved by obedience or disobedience this also would pass away, and a fourth strong as iron was to subdue the nations of the world. The dream was traced by the prophetic pen under the Holy Spirit hundreds of years before the peoples came upon the stage of action, describing the kingdoms that would rise and fall. Nebuchadnezzar instead read the interpretation through his idolatrous ideas and ambition, made a golden image representing Babylon and himself, and Babylon later fell during a feast.

The partly strong and partly broken kingdom belongs to the earthly kingdoms that rule by ascendancy of physical power. In contrast stands the Messiah's kingdom whose ensign is a lamb, which banishes every carnal weapon and every instrument of coercion. That kingdom was to be established by His power and maintained against all the power and craft of Satan, to uplift and ennoble fallen humanity, showing that the God of heaven is Ruler over all monarchs and kings of earth. The metals of the image grow less pure and valuable from head to feet, from gold to silver to brass to iron mingled with clay, showing that the kingdoms deteriorated in value and strength. The mixture of iron and clay means moral deterioration from allegiance to God, for the kingdoms made void the law of God and forgot Him. If the rulers had kept the fear of the Lord ever before them they would have been given wisdom and power which would have bound them together and kept them strong, but they made God their strength only when harassed and perplexed.

Babylon passed away because in prosperity her rulers forgot God and ascribed honor to human achievement. The Medo-Persian kingdom was visited by wrath because God's law was trampled underfoot amid prevailing wickedness, blasphemy and corruption. The kingdoms that followed sank even lower in baseness and corruption, and the vast empire of Rome crumbled into pieces. The image represents not only decline in power and glory but also deterioration of religion and morality among the people. Men grow weak morally and spiritually just in proportion as they forget God, and sin still ruins nations today as in the past.

Present Church-State Warning

In its present application the feet of iron mixed with miry clay mean the mingling of churchcraft and statecraft, the investing of the church with the power of the state. The kingdom that is partly strong and partly broken is the weakening of all the power of the churches by this union. Investing the church with the power of the state will bring evil results.

That union is seen when statesmen uphold the spurious sabbath, the child of the papacy, and mingle religious faith with its observance. They place it above the seventh-day Sabbath which the Lord sanctified and blessed and set apart for man to keep holy as a sign between Him and His people. Men in this union invest their strength in politics and unite with the papacy instead of honoring God's Sabbath and standing in the strength of God in loyalty to His commandments and in defense of the faith once delivered to the saints. If the government honored the Sabbath as God commanded it would stand in the strength of God.

Those who in this union make void His law have almost passed the point of God's forbearance. The time will come when God will punish them, and their evil work will recoil upon themselves. In this time God has a chosen, commandment-keeping people whose discernment must be sanctified. They must not lay wood, hay, and stubble upon the foundation but must build soundly, and every soul loyal to the commandments of God will see the seventh-day Sabbath as the distinguishing feature of faith.

The same iron-and-clay mixture fitly represents deterioration of religion, where the vast empire of Rome crumbled into pieces and was succeeded by the boastful infallible religion that keeps people in ignorance of the will of God. Moral and spiritual weakness grows in exact proportion to forgetting God, leaving professed Protestants departed from old landmarks. They trust forms, ceremonies and outward display instead of purity, piety, meekness and obedience, while sin still ruins nations today as in the past. The prophecy figuratively portrays historical events leading to the close of earth's history. Its prophetic waymarks must therefore be carefully guarded and correctly applied, rather than replaced by mistaken theories that create confusion.