Daniel and the Revelation - Uriah Smith.pdf

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dashed to pieces, and so scattered and obliterated that no place is found for
it. And now what shall we understand by this? We must understand that
here a scene transpires in which is manifested so much more violence and
force and power than accompany the overthrow of one nation by another
through the strife of war, that the latter is not worthy even of mention in
connection with it. The subjugation of one nation by another by war, is a
scene of peace and quietude in comparison with that which transpires when
the image is dashed in pieces by the stone cut out of the mountain without
hands.
Yet what is the smiting of the image made to mean by the theory under
notice? Oh, the peaceful introduction of the gospel of Christ! the quiet
spreading abroad of the light of truth! the gathering out of a few from the
nations of the earth, to be made ready through obedience to the truth, for his
second coming, and reign! the calm and unpretending formation of a
Christian church, a church that has been domineered over, persecuted, and
oppressed by the arrogant and triumphant powers of earth from that day to
this! And this is the smiting of the image! this is the breaking of it into
pieces, and violently removing the shattered fragments from the face of the
earth! Was ever absurdity more absurd?
From this digression we return to the inquiry, Do the toes represent the ten
divisions of the Roman empire? We answer, Yes; because,
The image of chapter 2 is exactly parallel with the vision of the four beasts
of chapter 7. The fourth beast of chapter 7 represents the same as the iron
legs of the image.
The ten horns of the beast, of course, correspond very naturally to the ten
toes of the image; and these horns are plainly declared to be ten kings which
should arise; and they are just as much independent kingdoms as are the
beasts themselves; for the beasts are spoken of in precisely the same
manner; namely, as "four kings which should arise." Verse 17. They do not
denote a line of successive kings, but kings or kingdoms which exist
contemporaneously; for three of them were plucked up by the little horn.
The ten horns, beyond controversy, represent the ten kingdoms into which
Rome was divided.
We have seen that in Daniel's interpretation of the image he uses the words
/king// and /kingdom// interchangeably, the former denoting the same as the
latter. In verse 44 he says that "in the days of these kings shall the God of
heaven set up a kingdom." This shows that at the time the kingdom of God
is set up, there will be a plurality of kings existing contemporaneously. It