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No.3
From Spain to the Indus.
pp. 236 - 239
Before we can go further in this investigation, and reach some conclusion as to the
area covered by the Prophetic Earth, certain debateable matter pertaining to the prophecy
of Daniel must be considered. The question of the composition of the Gentile dynasty as
symbolized in the image of Dan. 2: There are many expositors who see four, and no
more than four successive kingdoms in this symbol, namely Babylon, Persia, Greece, and
Rome. These look for a revival of the Roman Empire at the time of the end. Some
derive support for this number "four" from the subsequent vision of Dan. 7: Let us
consider the second chapter.
The Gentile character of this vision is indicated by the change of language that occurs
at verse 4: "Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriac." The words "in Syriac"
mark the place where Daniel ceases to write in Hebrew, and thenceforth to the end of
chapter seven employs the Syriac or Aramaic language.
---Illustration---
(BE-XXXVI.237).
Before going into detail it may be well to consider two of many interpretations that
have been put forward, so that the way may be cleared and our study pursued unhindered.
(1) Four kingdoms. One school of interpretation speaks of the image as representing
four kingdoms only--Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome, the legs representing the
two divisions of the Roman Empire, the eastern and western, and the ten toes, the
kingdom into which it will finally be divided, thus making Rome's dominion either in its
full power or in its divided form cover the whole period from before Christ to the present
time, and necessitating a revival of ancient Rome at the time of the end. Some who
endorse this view believe Rome to be the Babylon of the Apocalypse, whilst other
believe that literal Babylon will be rebuilt.
(2) The fourth kingdom regarded as Satanic.--Another view of the purport of the
vision does not include Rome at all. The view is that Babylon, Medo-Persia and Greece
followed one another, but that by the time the Lord was here upon earth, the devil could
claim that the kingdoms of the world had been delivered unto him (Luke 4: 6).
Let us now search and see. The succeeding kingdoms symbolized in the great image
of Dan. 2: show a marked depreciation. Gold gives place to silver, silver to brass (or
copper), brass to iron, iron to clay. Because we are far more likely to have handled a
solid piece of lead than a bar of gold, many would place lead as the heaviest of metals.