Rome: Iron, Clay, and the Little Horn

Legs of iron

The statue's "legs were iron, and its feet were part iron and part clay." Daniel 2:33 "Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; for iron shatters and crushes all things, and like iron that crushes all things, it will shatter and crush all the others." Daniel 2:40

Rome was a strong empire. It conquered basically the known world again, and it ruled with an iron fist.

The 146 BC date on the timeline is the year Rome destroyed both Carthage and Corinth, after making Macedonia a Roman province. Polybius, Histories 38-39; Livy, Periochae 51-52 Rome took Judea in 63 BC, when Pompey entered Jerusalem. Josephus, Antiquities 14.54-79 Jesus was born, ministered, and was crucified under Roman rule. Luke 2:1 Luke 3:1

Feet of iron and clay

"And just as you saw that the feet and toes were made partly of fired clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom." Daniel 2:41 "As you saw the iron mixed with clay, so the peoples will mix with one another but will not hold together any more than iron mixes with clay." Daniel 2:43

Look through history and this is what happened. Rome was never really conquered. It just kind of went away. Small barbarian groups took a piece here and a piece there, and it crumbled. It became more like what we have now, countries loosely aligned but not strong together. They might be strong within the country, but not together. Just like clay mixed with iron.

The stone

The statue does not end with Rome. "In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will shatter all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself stand forever." Daniel 2:44

The fourth beast and the little horn

Some of the fourth beast, and some of what Daniel says about Rome, is really future prophecy. I am not going to get too far into that here. But the main point is the little horn.

"After this, as I watched in my vision in the night, suddenly a fourth beast appeared, and it was terrifying… with large iron teeth." Daniel 7:7 "While I was contemplating the horns, suddenly another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like those of a man and a mouth that spoke words of arrogance." Daniel 7:8

There are two little horns in Daniel. Antiochus IV, in Daniel 8:9, is talked about as the little horn that comes out of one of the four Greek horns. Daniel 8:9 But what this is really pointing to is the antichrist, in Daniel 7:8, where the little horn comes out of the fourth beast. This points to a future ruler, likely a lot like Antiochus, who will eventually come to rule in this area in some fashion.

The angel says of this king: "He will speak out against the Most High and oppress the saints of the Most High, intending to change the appointed times and laws; and the saints will be given into his hand for a time, and times, and half a time." Daniel 7:25 And then: "But the court will convene, and his dominion will be taken away and completely destroyed forever." Daniel 7:26

Jesus also spoke of the abomination as still ahead in His own day, long after Antiochus: "So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand)." Matthew 24:15 Paul describes "the man of lawlessness" who "will oppose and exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship. So he will seat himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God." 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4

Christians read the fourth beast and the little horn of Daniel 7 in more than one way. Part 2 of this series, Watching Wisely, lays out the major views.

Next: How Skeptics Answer Daniel.