Daniel 11 [the beginning]

There is almost as much prophecy in the Book of Daniel as there is contention over the prophecies themselves. Daniel was one of the first of three different diasporas from the Kingdom of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon; 606, 597, 586, B.C. He was a close friend of *Shadrach, **Meshach. and ***Abednego of the fiery furnace fame; Daniel 1-3. Their Hebraic names were *Hananiah (חֲנַנְיָה), **Mishael (מִישָׁאֵל) and **Azariah (עֲזַרְיָה). These three “teenagers” were exiled to Babylon at the same time as Daniel.

JIV NOTE: There are significant ahamoments when we look at the origin and meanings of many biblical names. Please be reminded: Hananiah (Shadrach) means “God who is gracious;” Mishael (Meshach) means “Who is like God;” and Azariah (Abednego) means “God is our help, or God has helped”. BONUS: Daniel means “God is my judge.”  These Old Testament name meanings stated as a sentence reveal a New Testament message: God is gracious; who can be like God; [for] God is my help/salvation [and] God will be my judge.

Just as interesting are their Babylonian name meanings: Shadrach means “command of Aku”, Aku being the name of the Babylonian god of the moon; Meshach means “who is (or can be) what Aku is?” Abednego means “servant of Nebo,” the Babylonian god of wisdom. This is no Hebraic or Babylonian (Chaldean) verbiage coincident but great insights inspired by God. This is what it means to STUDY the Word[s] of God.

While studying the Book of Daniel, we must keep in mind that the name Babylon is used within other scripture that concerns other, yet unfulfilled, End Time prophecy. That in and of itself does not always mean it is the Babylon of Daniel’s times.  The use of the name Babylon is symbolic or analogous to characteristics of events of end times. We cannot look at the Book of Daniel without including some references to other supportive End Time scriptures that remind us of End Time prophecies by Daniel. This is particularly true of Daniel 11.

PS: His traditional grave site is identified as being in Susa, Iran. Susa today is the city of Shuster in Iran’s district of Khuzestan. This in itself is located within an even more ancient settlement of the Elamites…a former empire named after one of the five sons of Shem; ELAM [Shem’s children: Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram, in addition to daughters. Genesis 10:21, 22]

In a broad sense, the Book of Daniel prophecies can be defined within these categories:

1. Prophecies of things in the distant future (from that point in time, that is up to its fulfillment)
2. Prophecies of imminent events soon to happen
3. Prophecies of intermediary or mid-time events plus End Time events of week 70 in Daniel’s vision of Daniel’s Seventy 7’s vision in Daniel 9: 20-27.
4. Words of support and encouragement to not vacillate but remain in the faith

There are only 12 chapters in the Book of Daniel unless one includes Susannah (chapter 13), Bel and the Dragon (chapter 14). So much that is relevant to current events was prophesied at the time of Daniel; predictions and warnings of things to shortly happen, and a look into the future including our current era, is crammed into such a short book of the Bible; twelve canonized chapters. CAUTION: If a believer does not know and somewhat understand these prophecies in Daniel 11, s/he will never recognize them as they play out today.

It is one of my greatest [JIV: Jim’s Introspective View] challenges and honors to research and annotate Daniel 11 using the actual names of historical characters instead of the generic pronoun persons, places, or things used in chapter 11. This chapter in Daniel is possibly the most controversial in this great Old Testament book. The contentiousness of chapter 11 is not so much over what it contains, but the pinpoint accuracy of it. It is so accurate, some theologians and self-proclaiming wise guys insist Daniel 11 had to be written “after the fact” by someone else, then inserted into the Book of Daniel. There are some who call themselves Christian who have difficulty understanding that our sovereign Lord is the Aleph – Tav [Hebrew]; knows the beginning and the end; the Alpha – Omega [Greek]…Plus all of history falls within these two place markers.

If there is an error when inserting names into the place and descriptive names used in Chapter 11, I accept responsibility. One can only be sure if s/he looks it up herself or himself. If God or Jesus says it… do not question it.

We teach ^but YOU must decide.

Rev. Dr. stark
2023

Chapter 10 is essentially a repeat, or perhaps better stated, a reminder of chapter 8. Don’t stop here though. In chapter 9 the gravity of “sealing up” the information given to Daniel in chapter 8 overwhelms him.  *Chapters 11 and 12 continue this Hebrew concern but all four of these chapters add to our understanding. In a sense, it is like all (most?) speech instructors tell students is the center of good speech arrangements. Tell whomever what it is that will be discussed therefore setting the stage (chapter 10). Then tell the basics of what is the purpose and content of the speech or lecture (chapter 11). Finally, step three is to remind the listener what was said (chapter 11). More on this as we proceed through the remainder of Daniel.

For those who missed this chapter 8 article in ahabiblemoments chapter 8, it is about Daniel being in Susa, a ram with two horns; one came later but grew larger. Then out of the west comes a goat with ONE HORN and whose feet do not touch the ground. It breaks the two horns of the ram. Soon the significant single horn of the goat out of the west is itself broken. In its place grow 4 smaller horns. These are the historical events of Greece (Macedonia; Alexander the Great) first breaking the stranglehold of the Medo-Persia Empire. When Alexander dies, his world empire is broken into four smaller kingdoms. Eventually the two dominant offshoot general/kings from Alexander’s world conquest become embattled with each other; i.e. the example of end time king of the north and king of the south. In Daniel’s vision it is Syria in the north against Egypt in the south.

However, in chapter 8 Daniel is told to seal up this vision” for the time being. Why? The ending portion of chapter 8 essentially shifts gears from near future prophecy to End Time events and prophecy. It becomes a prophecy about the end of time and the anti-Christ. Even though Daniel is told to “seal up the vision” we get an insight or introduction to the End Time (Jacob’s Trouble).

Daniel in chapter 10 is walking along or standing on the banks of the Tigris River. He is not alone as other men are with him. In other bible passages, this same river is called the Hiddekel.

*JIV: For the curious bible student, this same general location or as noted in Exodus is where the four river heads identify the location of the Garden of Eden.

            *JIV (Jim’s Introspective View)

Daniel 10:1 gives the setting:

1. The third year of King Cyrus of Persia (not the king of Babylon; a satrap-ruler governs there and is subject to the King of Persia; i.e. Cyrus. Darius has retired)
2. Daniel receives this information
3. There was (will be) a great conflict; personal and global (Chapter 11)
4. Daniel understands the meaning
5. V2 Daniel goes into mourning and becomes sick over his vision.

JIV: At this point, we have a plethora of theological opinions. Some look at verses 5 & 6 as describing a great angel. After years of thought and study, this author no longer subscribes to the opinion that it is Jesus before his New Testament re-appearance as the Messiah. More likely if is a very high-ranking angel of great significance from heaven. We provide evidence of this toward the end of this article. It matters not so much as to who it is that appears on the riverbank, but to the message presented to Daniel of a time yet to come. Again, later in this article, it is explained why this “man-like being” is probably an angel, not Jesus as some commentaries try to claim.

Daniel 10:7 tells us that Daniel was not alone. Men were with him. They sensed something that brought fear to their hearts and being, but did NOT HEAR or see the vision. They feared so much that they fled the area in a panic. In a way this is repeated in Acts 9; Paul’s Road to Damascus. Oddly and as reported by 1967 news media, the Israeli Six Day War against its Arab and Muslim neighbor countries of Jordan, Egypt, and Syria and early in the conflict, similar overwhelming fear overcame the Egyptian armed forces in the Sinai Peninsula in 1967. So much so that they fled on foot abandoning armament, running tanks, and artillery. Oddly, the news media did not pursue this.

“Israel’s losses in the battles with Egypt were 275 soldiers killed and 800 wounded, very high for a country of only 2 million, but comparatively light considering the size of the battles and the magnitude of the victory. Egypt’s losses were much higher — according to statements by President Nasser more than 11,500 soldiers were killed, and independent estimates put the number of wounded as high as 50,000.” (Barker, p 76)

Daniel is not writing about a war of great fear, but he does state in verse one, “it was a great conflict” in his vision. This could be a personal conflict of Daniel’s or the ones that Daniel 11 writes about. It is possible that verse 8 in chapter 10 reflects or parallels this article’s reference to the Six-Day War between Arabs, Egypt specifically, and the fear that overwhelmed the Egyptians. We use this comparison only to help the reader assimilate or grasp Daniel’s fear when he was probably looking at the Holy One’s personal representative; a high-ranking angel. The men with Daniel had fled in absolute fear.

Daniel 10:8 So I was left alone and saw this great vision and no strength was left in me. My radiant appearance was fearfully changed, and I retained no strength. [ESV]

The purpose of the appearance of this angelic being was to help Daniel understand the signs and things of the future (chapter 11). Daniel 10:14 clearly states that he came to make him (Daniel) understand “WHAT IS TO HAPPEN TO YOUR PEOPLE IN THE LATTER DAYS.”

Ahamoment? YOUR PEOPLE?  God is telling Daniel what the future holds for the Israelites, his people. There is no mention of the church of Believers.

The argument against this strikingly dressed, man-like, being as describing Jesus in verses 5 and 6 is Daniel 10:11. It is highly improbable that whoever is the *(bad guy angel) Prince of Persia, that he could not hold Jesus back for 21 days. Jesus would not require the assistance of the angel Michael. [See Daniel 10:12 and 13]

Here is something to consider regarding Christians today and our prayer life. This is the fact that the three-times-a-day prayer life of Daniel still required a wait of 21 days before hearing back from God. This gives us insight into the two powers of today: God and Satan. How many times have we prayed expecting an answer from God on our timetable, never giving thought to God’s timetable? This means that Daniel did not stand up from his prayer beginning in Daniel 9:3, go for a walk along the riverbanks (chapter 10) that afternoon or evening to immediately find his prayer answered with total understanding. It took 21 days.

Daniel 9:16 is very telling. Daniel states to the angel or messenger… “Then I opened my mouth and spoke. I said to him who stood before me, “O my lord, by reason of the vision pains have come upon me, and I retain no strength.” [ESV]. Daniel must have seen more than his physical body and mind could handle. He was “LEFT WITHOUT STRENGTH.”  

We close this article with a bit of insight or perhaps theological speculation. Our motto at ahabiblemoments is: We Teach – You Decide. It is up to the reader to challenge one’s self as to his or her bible knowledge and this following connection.

The “manlike being” asks Daniel if he understood. Daniel does not answer. This “angel” is about to depart to assist angel Michael in the battle with the evil and Satanic “prince of Persia.” So what is the connection? The Jews who remained in Babylon and did not return to Jerusalem when released by King Cyrus of Persia were not now going to be without challenges against their very existence. This takes us to the Book of Esther. Esther, Mordecai, King Ahasuerus, often identified in history as King Xerxes I, (reigned 486–465 BCE) and Haman the Agagite are historical figures still in Babylon well after King Cyrus released the Jew-deans to return to their native land of Judah. In short, the angel of Israel is Michael [Daniel 12:1] who is holding back the evil angel of Persia at this time in Daniel [10:13], but he will require help for a very near future event and continuing for well over 2500 years to this present day in not stopping but restraining the evil one.

NOTE: King Ahasuerus and Esther appear on the scene in Babylon within 50 or 60 years of this event in Daniel 10. Daniel had remained in Babylon after the departure of some Judeans to Jerusalem (536ish B.C.). The overlap of Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah all fall within this time period in history. They very possibly knew each other and Esther knew of them.

We do not know who is the “manlike being” who appeared in Daniel 10. The evil angel of Persia withstood him from coming to Daniel to address his chapter 9 prayer for 21 days. Why God did not send Michael directly to Daniel is an unknown. This unknown being then returns to continue this angelic fight with the Prince of Persia. The evidence is that the battle between Israel and Persia, today’s Iran, still exists. Iran and those like Haman of Persia vow(ed) to drive Israel into the sea. The battles in the heavens above and upon this earth over God’s Holy City of Jerusalem are present to this very day. The hate of Satan against the People (God’s chosen) of Israel has not gone away.

Next Articles:

Chapter 11 is very far-reaching in history now completed, and a future history yet to be played out. By necessity of these prophesied future events (chapter 11) will be broken down into several articles. It is one of the most challenging prophetic chapters of the bible. We will give names and identities to these historical and end-time events foretold in Daniel 11.

Rev Dr. Jstark
2023

Daniel, as is Revelation, is often considered a book of the Bible that can be difficult to understand. One of the books of the Bible that rivals Revelation for understanding is the Book of Daniel. Especially chapter 11. Adding to this supposed understanding issue is a curiosity about why Daniel wrote different parts of his book exclusive to and in two distinct languages. In its original text, Daniel 11:1 to 2a is written in Hebrew. Daniel 2:4 through 7:28 is written in Aramaic. Beginning in Daniel 8:1, Daniel is again written in Hebrew. There is much speculation as to why one book would be written, in part, in two different languages. There isn’t room in this article to brief the reader on each speculation as to why this is so. But possibly, there is a simple reason.

There is one very logical reason for this when one parallels secular history with time up to End Time prophecies. The reason for using two different languages within Daniel’s text is “the intended target market.” The separation of languages is because of the fulfillment of prophecies that address two different groups of people, but all within a common vision and shared timeline on earth. After the introduction of Daniel in 11:1 – 2a, Daniel is focused on the secular (Aramaic) world. That is, until Daniel 7:28. From Daniel 8:1 to the end of Daniel, the focus includes the world but is about the consequences per Jacob’s Hebrew descendants; the 12 Tribes of Israel [Jacob]. The focus targets the consequences of Jacob’s descendants from Daniel 8:1 forward. This is where one finds end-time Tribulation prophecies for the world with an overall focus or consequence aimed at the global descendants of Jacob by the world focused on THEM.

Example: Why do competing teams, in the same game, have different uniforms and their cheering crowds wear their team colors? One obvious reason is to openly express his or her support for or against one or the other team. Daniel 11 is similar. Daniel 11:1 through 2:3 is in Hebrew. Daniel 2:4 through 7:28 is written in Aramaic (regarding non-Hebrew populations) of that time and End Time parallel prophecies. The rest of Daniel (8:1 to the end of this book) is written in Hebrew. It is directed at the Israeli people of that time and the future end time Israelis we know as “Jacob’s Trouble”.  Yes, history will repeat itself. These prophetic cautions and threats will be fulfilled in direct or indirect forms. It means the future holds different paths for those of Israeli descent and those to whom the Bible identifies as Greek (non-Israeli) and nonbelievers. These are differing paths for Israel and the secular world, but on the same historical timeline of a shared world.

Daniel chapter 11 presents a future of the world that parallels many facets of End Time Tribulation and the antichrist. What is seriously missing in Daniel 11 is noun identifications of these future events and Tribulation people.  There is a good reason for this. We read in Daniel 11 of many prophetic actions that are (pronoun) nameless. One major reason is that it is a parallel of two similar prophecies at two different times. Daniel 11 addresses a future to Daniel that we now call history in secular texts, plus a future we call End Time (Tribulation). Ahabiblemonents.com stands on the principle that Bible history and secular histories are on the same timeline. They are as distinct as the histories of one person and the history of another but parallel in time, world, manner, and facts. Simply put…just as Daniel 11 has Israeli (Hebrew) and global/political (Aramaic) targeted messages, they share the same historical and End Time timeline with very different End Time consequences.

Daniel 11 is one of those highly debated chapters of prophecy that question if they are written before each prophetic event or after each prophetic fulfillment. One can see the answer to this question by reviewing Nebuchadnezzar’s multi-metal layered statue dream in Daniel 2. The Daniel 11 debate…was it written, in whole, before all prophesied events occurred, or after each prophetic event and by another men’s pen? Because chapter 11 is so accurate, so-called secularists of this world make it a point to insist that such accuracy is impossible. These people fail to understand the word “prophecy”. With this impossible accuracy being advocated by them, secularists should pay close attention to the remaining unfulfilled prophecies and their accuracy. They will be personally involved in God’s judgment.

What will follow in ahabibnlemoments.com over the next few weeks, in shortened articles, is evidence of who and what Daniel’s prophecies include using nouns instead of pronouns. Each article will be on actual secular and historical events of both Israel and the world in which it exists.  Essentially, we will also explain how the two groups will interact when the antichrist appears. We do this by researching and comparing secular and Biblical histories and timelines merging into a common timeline. We insert the proper names, places, and things into the unnamed pronouns of each verse in Daniel 11. Our goal is not to suggest that the world and the Bible are not related, i.e., separate entities, but to point out that true Bible facts are supported by secular histories. They are the same global history and future; just two different peoples and their consequences of End Time and Tribulation.

Rev. Dr. Jstark
2023

PS: (ahamoment) The following is taken from a secular science article written in *Smithsonian, Ocean Find Your Blue. It supports the fact that oceans once covered the earth. Their reasoning for it purposely avoids mentioning the time and Noah’s Ark that concluded the ancient (original) world. It adds a great number of years to support secular conclusions. More accurately said, to refute the Word of God. The bottom line: Science now declares the earth once was immersed in a great ocean…so do Bible believers (Noah’s time). Here is how secularists explain it.

*Between asteroid and comet bombardments, scientists believe enough time passed for vaporized water to condense and settle on the earth’s surface. According to the most recent scientific studies, an ancient ocean likely covered the entire planet… 150 million years after the formation of Earth, about 4.4 billion years ago. Scientists know this through the discovery of ancient zircon crystals that were dated around this time. These crystals can hold up against temperatures that would melt and destroy most other rocks, and a subset discovered in Australia has a specific chemistry that indicates the crystals formed through a sedimentary process in a cool and wet environment—what scientists infer to be an ancient ocean floor.

We do not try to explain secular science when it gets into the millions and billions of years. What we do KNOW is that once upon a time(?), God created the heavens and the earth. All the earth is the same age. Some of it has been recycled via volcanoes.

We at ahabiblemoments.com suggest that since we are told in Daniel 2 that the toes on Nebuchadnezzar’s dream statue (Daniel 2) are composed of Iron and clay, they cannot mix and are two different entities. One is the kingdom of the antichrist, and the other kingdom is opposed to him. This is just before the return of Christ to set up the Kingdom of God as stated in the Lord’s Prayer. This is similar tot he two legs on Nebuchadnezzar’s statue. Each leg represents two different entities…the Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire.

Consider the probability that the Kingdom of the King of the North is the antichrist’s power base (one foot of the statue) and the Kingdom of the South (the other foot of the statue) is that of Muslim nations. Of course, this has some prophetic conjecture but when the shoe fits….(Revelation 6:8)

Of all the prophecies in the Bible, Chapter 9 seems to be one of the more evasive or allusive in its meaning(s), application, and understanding. We certainly grasp 70 weeks but fail to take to heart that Daniel’s 70 weeks vision is NOT 70 consecutive weeks. There are three portions that have distinct beginnings and ends.

Daniel 9:1-19 is distinct in its nature from Daniel 9:20-27. Daniel 9:1-19 is a prayer. He was a nose-in-the-books follower of God. Daniel spent perhaps 75 years of his life as a servant to Babylonian rulers. His entire life was a strong believer in Jehovah God. He was well-versed in Jeremiah’s writings and prophecies. When Jeremiah was old, Daniel was young. They were contemporaries for a few years. Jeremiah wrote about many things including his warnings to Judah about a pending invasion and captivity by Babylon but written prior to 603 B.C. Daniel was taken to Babylon with the first of three waves of Judean captives. The prophet and Bible book writer Ezekiel was taken captive in the second wave.

NOTE: For almost as long as the Jewish nation has existed coming out of Egyptian captivity and its eventual split into two separate kingdoms, it has been persecuted and forced to wander from land to land. It started with slavery in Egypt, to the destruction of both temples in Jerusalem and the Romans, to the Crusades, the pogroms, the Holocaust, and finally, modern-day anti-Semitism.

As a reminder, since we are currently examining the fall of both the Northern Kingdom of Israel and 120 years later the fall of the southern kingdom of Judah, we include a Judean Babylonian timeline.

Babylonian Timeline
All dates are B.C.

605 Nebuchadnezzar becomes king of Babylon
605 The Babylonians invade Judah
605 First wave of deportation of Jews to Babylon. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are taken captive
605 Daniel is taken captive and begins to interpret dreams
601 Babylonians battle Egypt, both sides suffer great losses
601 Judah decides to realign itself with Egypt, Jeremiah warns against it
597 Jehoiachin becomes king of Judah (very short 3-month reign)
597 Babylonians capture Jerusalem
597 Second wave of deportation to Babylon of Judean Jews. Ezekiel is taken is captured.
597 Ezekiel is taken to Babylon
597 Zedekiah is appointed king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar
593 Ezekiel begins to prophesy
586 The Babylonians destroy Jerusalem and the Temple
586 Jerusalem’s walls and gates are burned
586 Third wave of Jews deported to Babylon. All but poor Jewish farmers remain in the land.
586 End of Biblical (First Temple) Period; destruction of Temple by Nebuchadnezzar
586 The end of Judah as an independent kingdom
539 The Fall of Babylon to the Persians; no longer is there a Kingdom of Judah
539 The Persian power Period continued up to 332 B.C. before Alexander the Great.
539 The Decree of Cyrus II allowing Jews to return (538 B.C.)
516 The Jews begin to rebuild their Temple (over 70 years to get it done)
479 (approximate) Esther becomes queen of Babylon/Persia.

Daniel 9:1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—

Clarification…This Darius, son of Ahasuerus, has a mixed bag of histories and subjective narratives.  The Ahasuerus here may or may not be the first ruler with that name. What we do know is that the Mede who initially conquered Babylon was Darius the Mede. It seems that Darius #1 is a different person from the Darius of Daniel in the Lion’s Den.

In Ezra 4:6 Ahasuerus is mentioned as a king of Persia. The Ju-deans that wished to return to their initial homelands had already done so under Zerubbabel. In Ezra 4:5 we read [NKJV]: “[They]…and hired counselors against them (Judeans who returned to Jerusalem) to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius I king of Persia. King Ahasuerus followed Cyrus. Darius the I^st followed his father Ahasuerus/Xerxes…possibly a son of Esther. Darius the Mede is a forgotten ruler in Babylon. He was 62 years of age when his Median forces conquered Babylon. He was appointed a Satrap-King over Babylon by Cyrus the Great of Persia. He is the King with whom Daniel had to deal in his latter days. Ahasuerus/Xerxes was the Babylonian king who challenged Greece shortly after Daniel’s death and during the time of the Book of Esther. We apologize for the facts of history needing clarifications plus being a mixed and tossed salad. When in doubt, follow the history of the Bible.

What we do know is that Babylon by the time of Jesus was at the edge of its decline. By 1000 A.D., it had been abandoned and desolate. Also, note that some name confusions come from the fact that there were two distinct Babylonian dynasties. We know of the famed Hammurabi. Hammurabi was the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning from *1792 to 1750 BC. Daniel’s Babylon was over a thousand years later. One could go into deep historical studies about the Babylonians that existed for about 2,000 years. We are concentrating on Daniel 9…somewhere up to and around 440 B.C.

*Take note that Abraham wandered in the northern parts of Hammurabi’s kingdom. It is possible that when Abraham went up against five different kings to rescue Lot, Hammurabi was one of the five kings with whom Abraham did battle.

One of the greatest authorities on Daniel 9 is Dr. John Walvoord, former President of Dallas Theological Seminary. It is highly recommended that you click here and get one of the finest possible explanations of Daniel 9.

Rev. Dr. Jstark
2023

Today there are substantial theological differences if what Gabriel is revealing to Daniel has not already happened in history, OR, if there is a far distant and end-time revelation. To be sure, what Daniel sees is a history to us today PLUS a projected future of a similar set of events at the end of time. Distinguish between “latter time” meaning a LATER TIME, and end time. The critical verses for us to understand are Daniel 8:26 and Daniel 8:27.

Back up to verse 25. History, as we know it, shows how, when and by whom each empire power was destroyed by another opposing power. Now read Daniel 8:25b… He shall even rise against the Prince of princes; But he shall be broken without human means. Antiochus Epiphanes IV hated and fought against the people of God, it was really because he hated God. The same will be true of the coming Antichrist, who will hate the Jews because he hates God. Antiochus was destroyed by human hands. The antichrist will be broken without human means (or hands).

Review Daniel 2:31-36… “You, O king, were watching and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary radiance, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome. ³² The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its chest and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, ³³ its legs of iron, and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. ³⁴ You continued watching until a stone was broken off without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and crushed them. ³⁵ Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed to pieces all at the same time, and they were like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a *great mountain and filled the entire earth.

*A great mountain means it’s dominance filled the whole earth. God’s “kingdom to come” will then be thy kingdom HAS COME.

From a personal perspective, we at ahabiblemoments.com appreciate how it is explained in Bible Hermeneutics under Observations.

Observations

Several things are immediately clear from the dream and its interpretation:

• The entire statue (Daniel 2) was crushed all at once. This is not a picture of a gradual conquest.
• When the kingdoms of the statue were crushed, “not a trace of them was found”; this is not a picture of a gradual infiltration, or a parallel reign of some kind, and there is no allowance for any of the statue kingdoms to continue in their existence. They were crushed, became like chaff, and were carried away by the wind.
• It is the kingdom set up by God that crushes and puts an end to the other kingdoms. So, to answer your question, the “stone cut out without hands” is the kingdom set up by God.*
• The kingdom set up by God “filled the whole earth,” “will never be destroyed” or replaced, and will “endure forever.” The picture is clear: God’s kingdom will rule the entire earth — forever — in place of the prior kingdoms of the statue.

JIV: Compare this to End Time kingdom #4…the Antichrist…Daniel 8.

Conclusion

The stone cut without hands is the kingdom of God, which would suddenly and completely obliterate all the kingdoms of the statue and rule in their place over the entire earth, forever. This is the weakness of the ten clay and iron mix toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue of Daniel 2.

Rev. Dr. Jstark
2023