in the hole of a rock by the Euphrates, and the hiding of stones in clay

under the brick pavement of Pharaoh's house, over which Nebuchadnezzar was to

spread his royal pavilion.  Finally, into the Euphrates a stone is cast to

rise no more, a symbol of the fate of Babylon, the dirge concerning the voice

of the bridegroom and of the bride being uttered over both Israel and

The difference between the two is that Israel were an elect people, and

will come into their inheritance at last by virtue of redemption, whereas

Babylon represents the seed of the wicked one, for whom no Kinsman -Redeemer

can be found.  Israel was for a period taken away captive to Babylon and

there the pride of Judah was 'marred'.  This 'marring', however, is not

forever, for the Lord will have mercy on Israel and remember His covenant.

This same word shachath, 'mar', is used against Babylon (Jer. 51:1,11 and 25)

where it is translated 'destroy'.  For a time Israel are marred and broken,

dashed in pieces like a potter's vessel, but ultimately, though for a long

period 'hidden', they shall be restored, gathered and blessed.  In the

employment of such symbols as marred linen, marred pottery, broken pitchers,

hidden stones under brickwork, and in clay, we see the temporary triumph of

Babel, which at the beginning had 'brick for stone', true index of the deceit

and the travesty of truth that is so characteristic of Satanic methods.  We

should acquaint ourselves with the references to the potter and the clay in

the New Testament, and then, reinforced with what we shall have learned,

return to the consideration of that Image, whose head was gold, but whose

feet were of clay, and endeavour, as God shall bless us, to make that ancient

prophecy speak in terms that cannot be misunderstood.

We first turn to the second chapter of Daniel, with some idea of the

symbolic intention of the use of clay, especially when placed in extreme

opposition to gold -- a degeneration.  We are concerned with the feet of clay

in the image of Daniel 2, but obviously we cannot start at the lower

extremities, and hope thereby to interpret the meaning of the feet of an

image, we must be in some measure sure of the meaning of the image as a

whole, and of the meaning of its several parts.

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah,

Nebuchadnezzar besieged and took the city of Jerusalem, 'and the Lord gave'

Jehoiakim, together with part of the vessels of the temple into his hand, and

so commenced 'the times of the Gentiles'.  In the second year of his kingdom

Nebuchadnezzar, after pondering his position and wondering what should be

'hereafter', had a most wonderful dream.  He saw in the night vision a great

image, having a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of

brass, legs of iron, feet partly of iron and partly of clay, and while this

is the order in which the several parts of the image were constructed, this

order is not observed when the impact of the stone is described.  We read:

'Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold,

broken to pieces' (Dan. 2:35).

'The iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold' (Dan. 2:45).

This disregard for precise order and sequence is either to be

attributed to negligence or to design.  Negligence is unthinkable in the

circumstances (Dan. 2:28 -30), so by intention the order is slightly varied.

Whatever shall ultimately prove to be the full reason for this alteration,

one thing is certain, the figure in all its parts is represented whole and

complete.  If any of the kingdoms represented by the different metals did not