A Political Mixture of Iron and Moist Clay
Nationalism: a sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and putting the promotion of its culture and interests
before those of others; a concept that first became apparent at the end of the 18th century but that has reached its peak in the 20th century.
Staggering helplessly from crisis to crisis, human governments are failing to bring stability to human society. According to Zbigniew Brzezinski,
national security adviser to former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, the situation will not soon change.
Brzezinski, along with other world leaders, was interviewed by journalist Georgie Anne Geyer while she was preparing an article published in 1985
entitled “Our Disintegrating World.” In it she quoted Brzezinski as having said: “The factors that make for international instability are
gaining the historical upper hand over the forces that work for more organized cooperation. The unavoidable conclusion of any detached analysis of
global trends is that social turmoil, political unrest, economic crisis, and international friction are likely to become more widespread during the
remainder of this century.”
A bleak prediction indeed but not one that surprises Bible students. This very situation was long ago foretold. When? Where?
Upset by a Dream
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon from 624 to 582 B.C.E., was disturbed by a dream. In it he had seen an immense image with a head of gold, breasts and
arms of silver, belly and thighs of copper, legs of iron, and feet and toes of iron mixed with clay. God’s prophet Daniel explained to
Nebuchadnezzar the significance of the image, telling him: “You, O king, . . . you yourself are the head of gold. And after you there will rise
another kingdom inferior to you; and another kingdom, a third one, of copper, that will rule over the whole earth.” So, obviously, the image had to
do with human government.—Daniel 2:37-39.
Before Daniel’s time, both Egypt and Assyria had oppressed the Israelites, the chosen people of the Bible’s Author. (Exodus 19:5) In the context
of the Bible, this made them world powers, in fact, the first of a series of seven of which the Bible speaks. (Revelation 17:10) Then, in Daniel’s
day, Babylon overthrew Jerusalem, forcing the Israelites into exile. Thus Babylon became the third of these world powers, aptly referred to in this
case as “the head of gold.” The Bible and secular history identify the world powers that were yet to come as being Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and,
finally, Anglo-America.
These nations are classed by the Bible as world powers because they had dealings with God’s people and opposed the divine rule these servants of God
advocated. Thus, the image seen by Nebuchadnezzar well pictured how human rule would continue to be exercised in opposition to divine sovereignty even
after his kingdom ended. The succession of world powers pictured by the various parts of the image started with the head and worked down. Logically,
then, the feet and toes would symbolize the final manifestations of human rule that would exist during “the time of the end,” as Daniel expressed
it. What, then, should we expect?—Daniel 2:41, 42; 12:4.
‘Ten Toes’
No longer are God’s servants limited to one nation or one locality, so that they can be oppressed by a single world power. (Acts 1:8; 10:34, 35) As
members of all nations, citizens of every type of human government, they zealously announce that the time of the end has begun and that human rule has
had its day—soon to be replaced by divine rule. Thus, the bold message they proclaim confronts
all existing political powers.
Appropriately, the number “ten” as used in the Bible signifies completeness as to earthly things. So political human rule in its entirety,
unitedly opposed to divine sovereignty during the time of the end, is what the ‘ten toes’ of the image would logically represent.
What was the political situation at the beginning of this foretold period of time? In the year 1800, European nations controlled 35 percent of the
earth’s surface, but by 1914 the figure had risen to over 84 percent!
The Collins Atlas of World History notes that “on the eve of the 1914
war, it seemed that the division of the world among a number of great powers was almost complete.” In fact, Hugh Brogan, lecturer in history at the
University of Essex, England, says it appeared that “before long the whole world would be ruled by half a dozen powers.”
Using ‘
ten toes’ to symbolize the totality of world governments that would not literally amount to more than just “half a dozen
powers,” however, would hardly seem reasonable. So if, in fulfillment of the prophecy, the ‘ten toes’ were to take on real significance, the
political situation existing in 1914 would have to change.
As the 1900’s dawned, the British Empire, the largest the world had ever seen, ruled over every fourth person on earth. Other European empires
controlled millions of people more. But World War I resulted in a triumph for nationalism. Paul Kennedy, professor of history at Yale University,
explains: “The most striking change in Europe, measured in territorial-juridical terms, was the emergence of a cluster of nation-states—Poland,
Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—in place of lands which were formerly part of the Habsburg,
Romanov, and Hohenzollern empires.”
After World War II, this trend accelerated. Nationalism exploded with full force. Particularly after the mid-1950’s, the trend was irreversible.
Five centuries of European expansion was ending in the rubble of collapsed colonial empires. The number of nations in Africa, Asia, and the Middle
East grew dramatically.
The New Encyclopædia Britannica says that this “development ran counter to the conceptions that had dominated political thought for the
preceding 2,000 years.” Whereas “hitherto man had commonly stressed the general and the universal and had regarded unity as the desirable goal,”
nationalism now stressed national differences. Instead of uniting, it tended to disunite.
Iron and Moist Clay
Note that the Bible describes the feet and toes of the image as being “partly of iron and partly of molded clay,” adding: “The kingdom
itself will prove to be divided, . . . will partly prove to be strong and will partly prove to be fragile . . . , but they will not prove to be
sticking together.” (Daniel 2:33, 41-43) This lack of sticking together in unity became apparent as decolonization proceeded, as nationalism
flourished, and as the developing countries gained in stature. The globe was rapidly slipping into political fragmentation.
Similar to the uneasy mixture of iron and clay in the feet and toes of the image, some governments have been ironlike—authoritarian or
tyrannical—and others have been claylike—more pliable or democratic. Understandably, they have been unable to stick together in a world
unity. Pinpointing this in our day, the German book
Unsere Welt—Gestern, Heute, Morgen; 1800-2000 (Our World—Yesterday, Today,
Tomorrow; 1800-2000), says: “By the 19th century, democratic freedom prevailed in nearly all civilized countries, and by the end of World War I,
freedom’s cause seemed to have approached final victory. . . . With the revolution in Russia in 1917, dictatorship rose up anew.
Since then the
20th century has been characterized by coexistence and confrontation between dictatorship and democracy.”—Italics added.
[Continuing in the next comment with Daniel 2:43, rendered in the translation used in the OP as “And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay,
they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.” Note the
difference in rendering with the translation I will be using, I will bold it.]
edit on 24-12-2021 by whereislogic because: (no reason
given)