Let us briefly touch upon these headings.

1. The vision of the tree and its import.--The tree seen in the vision stood in the midst

of the earth, an expression aptly fitting the world dominion given to Nebuchadnezzar.

The tree "grew until its height reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to all the

earth". A sinister meaning attaches to the words, "The fowls of heaven dwelt in the

boughs thereof". The language is too close to that of the parable of the mustard tree to be

this tree supported satanic agencies.

Daniel makes it clear that

Nebuchadnezzar himself was represented by the tree: "It is thou, O king" (4: 22).

2. The intervention of the watchers.--"A watcher and a holy one came down from

heaven" (4: 13) is the description given by Nebuchadnezzar. The well-known figure of

hendiadys will be recognized here; the force of the expression is--"a holy watcher",

with intentional stress on the word "holy". Chapter 10: gives a glimpse of one of these

holy watchers over the kingdom of men, and the many references in the book of the

Revelation to angelic mediation and agency give still further light.

3. The band of iron and brass.--This detail is peculiar. The cutting down of the tree

is a figure easy to be understood. So also is the leaving of the stump of the roots. Both

have their immediate fulfillment in the smiting and the restoration of the king. But why

should brass and iron bands be mentioned? It will be remembered that the two kingdoms,

represented by metals, that come at the end of the Gentile dominion symbolized by the

great image, were Greece and Rome--brass and iron. The fourth beast in Daniel's

vision, described in 7: 19, has teeth of iron and nails of brass. The feet of the heavenly

visitant mentioned in Dan. 10: are likened to polished brass, and the feet of the risen

Lord, the great Priest-King, described in Rev. 1: 15, are likened to fine brass.

The cutting down of the tree sets forth the overthrow of Babylon, the leaving of the

stump in the earth sets forth the fact that Babylon will be revived, while the bands of iron

and brass indicate that that revival will be retarded until the part of the prophecy

indicated by the feet of the image becomes history. Instead of looking forward to a

revival of the ancient Roman Empire, and assuming that the ten kings must necessarily

conform to a tenfold partition of the Roman world, the teaching is that Babylon is to be

revived at the time of the end.

This fact is repeated or suggested in more ways than one. When the stone strikes the

feet of the image, it does not simply destroy the clay, but "then was the iron, the clay, the

brass, the silver and the gold broken to pieces" (2: 35). This suggests that all the Gentile

powers will be represented at the end. Again in chapter 8: Greece and Persia are seen

in conflict and, while at first sight it appears to deal with Greece and Persia long since

past, the words of 8: 17, "for at the time of the end shall be the vision", clearly teach

that the true prophetic period is yet future: "In the latter time of their kingdom, when

transgressors are come to the full" (8: 23). Further, the prophecy of Dan. 9: while it

speaks of seventy sevens, nevertheless focuses attention upon the last seven years

(9: 24-27). So, once more, in chapter 10:, the heavenly messenger declares that the