Seven Empires

The Statue with Five Parts

DANIEL 2

The analysis of Daniel 2 is simple and astounding. God, who knows all things, foretold the broad stream of Middle Eastern civilization. The majestic peak of this revelation is the assurance that God will establish His Kingdom on earth. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (map 8) had pondered his future and had a dream of an awesome statue. The five parts of this image were made of five different materials. Then it was struck on the fifth part, the feet, by a strange Stone which grew into an overwhelming mountain. Nebuchadnezzar was troubled as he awoke, unable to understand the dream. This gave Daniel the chance to seek God for the explanation.

The king had dreamt of a statue which represented historical empires. Nebuchadnezzar's was the first, the head of gold. Then came the arms and chest of silver, symbolizing a different kingdom with less regal authority. Then the belly and thighs of brass, i.e. another kingdom but even more inferior, followed by legs of iron, which were strong but still more inferior. The fifth part, the feet and toes of clay and iron, completed the statue. This last kingdom was strong in some ways but at the same time was brittle, and it lacked internal cohesion. Finally, a mysterious Stone struck the feet and toes destroying them and the entire image. The Stone then grew into a great mountain.

Five Empires, Not Four
Then the Kingdom of God on Earth

This simple story says five civilizations would arise, beginning with the Babylonian. During the fifth—the feet and toes kingdom—God would intervene dramatically, destroying this last human empire and establishing His everlasting Kingdom. All traces of the previous five would vanish and no new kingdom would arise after God establishes His. God revealed His plan for an everlasting Kingdom to the renowned ruler of an empire which lasted less than a hundred years.

Maps 8 through 34 happen to reveal five Middle Eastern civilizations; Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek, Roman and Islamic, each represented by the five parts of the image.

It overwhelms the mind to realize that twenty-six centuries ago God revealed the saga of the Middle East before it happened. He knows the future and declares it to the world. He certifies His promise to establish His heavenly Kingdom.

For those who need further proof of the five civiliations before the Kingdom of God on earth, we can start by realizing the first three empires were foretold by name in the prophecies of Daniel.

HEAD OF GOLD. Daniel specifically calls Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian kingdom the head of gold in Daniel 2:38.

ARMS AND CHEST OF SILVER. We can also read the "handwriting on the wall" to realize the Medo-Persian Empire follows the Babylonian, Daniel 5:25-28. Another passage informs us that a singular ram with two horns is the unified Medo-Persian Empire, Daniel 8:20. From a biblical perspective the Medes and Persians were a single empire, the arms and chest of silver. This empire followed Babylon.

BELLY AND THIGHS OF BRASS. The next empire is named in the same story as the Medo-Persian ram. A swift goat with a prominent horn trampled the ram, explained as the Greek kingdom and its first great king, Daniel 8. The horn would be broken off in its strength, after which four came up. Scholars have long concluded the great horn is Alexander the Great. Legend even says Jewish leaders showed this prophecy to Alexander.

Map 13 shows that after Alexander's early death his subordinates struggled for power over the empire. By 301 BCE there were four competing divisions which corresponded to the four horns of the goat. But we must notice that these four symbolize the power of the entire goat empire of Greece. No series of new empires arise from the horns as critics sometimes contend. All four together signify the Greek Empire.

The Scriptural order and names of the first three empires are revealed as the Babylonian, Medo-Persian and Greek, just as history records. Naturally we would expect the last two empires to resemble the first three. In fact, from a historical perspective both the Roman and Islamic empires inherited and transmitted much of the Greek culture. The Greek Empire, the last to be depicted by a noble metal (brass), was a strong influence in later cultures, particularly Islam. Much Persian culture was also inherited by the Islamic Empire, and during Islam's Golden Age the Caliphs built the capital Baghdad in the heart of ancient Babylonian territory. Positive identification must now be made.

LEGS OF IRON. Jewish and Christian scholars of early centuries and modern times agree that the legs of iron represent the Roman Empire. No direct statement is found in Scripture, but maps 15-17 leave no doubt that the strength of Rome finally mastered the remnants of the Greek world, including the Holy Land. The sturdy Roman Empire readily fits the pattern set by the first three. The Roman Empire did experience civil change, especially through the influence of Christianity, but in a similar way, centuries earlier King Nebuchadnezzar, the head of gold, had professed faith in God and his kingdom remained the Babylonian kingdom, Daniel 2:47, 3:28-33 (4:1-2), 4:31-34 (4:34-37). Furthermore, two centuries after Christianity had been recognized by the Roman government and decades after Germans had overrun western territories Emperor Justinian codified all Roman law in the history of the Empire. At the same time he retook much of the West (maps 21-22). Later, Emperor Heraclius (map 23) replaced Latin with Greek as the imperial language. This sealed the transformation of the power of Rome into the glory of Constantinople. THE TIMES Concise Atlas of World History, page 42, says, "From this time it is customary to speak of a Byzantine rather than Roman Empire." But just then another culture gushed out of Arabia.

FEET AND TOES OF CLAY AND IRON. The identity of this final empire is of particular importance since God will establish His Kingdom during the course of it. Any impartial judge who will compare maps 23-25 is forced to admit that the Islamic Empire follows the Roman Empire in Middle Eastern history. It swallowed up much of the remaining Roman territory and took control of the Holy Land. Islam made Jerusalem its third holiest city, al-Quds, "the Holy." Later, Turks who had lived in the Muslim world for centuries conquered the last vestige of the Roman Empire , Constantinople, the former capital (map 30) and renamed it Istanbul, City of Islam.

Islamic culture is as notable as Roman, Greek or Medo-Persian before it. For centuries the Muslim world led Europe in scholarship, literary production and discoveries in all disciplines of science. It is well said that the Islamic Empire inherited the mantle of ancient Greece. Islamic leaders never conquered all the northern territories of the old Roman Empire. But if you compare maps 10, 12, and 18 you plainly see that the Roman Empire, even at its maximum extent, never controlled all the eastern territories of the old Greek or Medo-Persian Empires. Islam still does.

The Byzantine remnant of the Roman Empire continued to exist as Islam reached its zenith. But in a similar way map 16 shows that even after Rome had taken the Holy Land, a fragment of the old Greek Empire, the Ptolemies of Egypt, still remained. Rome eventually conquered this final Greek vestige, just as Islam mopped-up the final relic of the Roman Empire .

The Muslim domain suffered three major incursions through its history; the Crusaders in the Holy Land (map 27), the Mongols (map 28) and the European colonizers (maps 31-32). But Islam overcame those setbacks and still basically retains its former lands (map 34). In a similar way, maps 21-22 show that the Roman Empire bounced back from German invasions, recovering a large amount of the old Western Empire. And the Romans twice recaptured the Holy Land, first from invading Parthians, and many centuries later from the Sassanid Persians.

The unified Islamic Empire eventually cracked into many states. But this is no different from the Greek Empire which split into competing divisions (map 13) or the Roman Empire which was divided and reunited time and time again. Today, though the majority are not, a number of states of the Islamic world are at peace with an independent Israel, comparable with the days of the Maccabean Jewish Kingdom and the fractured Greek Empire (map 15).

In all these historical details, the Islamic Empire more than meets the standard of former civilizations in the prophetic sequence, it is comparable to any of the preceding four. But, strangely enough, few teachers of prophecy see the relevance of Islam in the sequence. The reason is not due to lack of historical testimony, but because of the prevailing interpretation of the clay and iron in the feet and toes. So we now look closely at Daniel 2 to establish the meaning. We will find that as the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek and Roman Empires were foretold, so the fifth, the Islamic Empire was predicted.

Iron Fragments

Very simply the question boils down to the identity of the iron in the feet and toes. The leg empire was solid iron. The feet empire has iron pieces mixed with clay. Many have been led to believe that the iron in the feet is a continuation of the legs. Even Josephus the Jewish historian of the first century recorded this view in Antiquities, Book 10 Chapter 10. No doubt such an assumption would stir Messianic fervor in the militarily weak Jewish nation. Convinced the Stone of God's Kingdom would soon crush a degraded pagan Rome, the Jewish people would gladly go to battle in two gruesome wars. Josephus, a survivor of the first war against Rome, did not give an explanation of the future, but he did seem to taunt his readers with a hint that someday the legs-feet would be destroyed. Twenty-twenty hindsight shows the strength of Rome was far from fragmented in the days of the Jewish wars, and Islam would not be seen for five centuries.
 

For a Revived Roman Empire No New Empire Like the Islamic should have Arisen

Nevertheless, the idea of a degraded Roman Empire as the final empire survives until today, both among Jewish sages and Christian scholars. But a simple observation uncovers the error. If the feet and toes were really merged with the legs, then, according to the prophecy, no new Middle Eastern empire should have arisen after the Roman Empire. In other words, if the Roman Empire of solid legs were to be followed by a fractured Roman Empire, foretold as the feet and toes, which would continue until God's Eternal Kingdom, then the great Islamic Empire which supplanted Roman rule in the Holy Land and most of the biblical world never should have appeared.

Past Jewish sages maintained belief in the four kingdom theory even after Islam arose.

Today, many Christian prophecy teachers go to extraordinary lengths to develop their scheme of a revived Roman Empire. But by focusing on Europe the Middle Eastern heart of the biblical world is ignored, now saturated with Islam for more than thirteen centuries. If this idea of a revived Roman Empire were really true the Middle East should only have seen a fragmented Roman Empire since the days of map 24. But that map and the rest show us history tells a different story.

The Statue with Five Parts, Not Four

On top of that the statue clearly has five parts, not four; 1. Head, 2. Arms and Chest, 3. Belly and Thighs, 4. Legs and finally 5. Feet and Toes. The first four parts of the statue are not degraded continuations of previous empires, even though there is a decreasing value of materials. Each new part speaks of a different kingdom. The feet and toes may just as easily speak of a new empire. Plus Daniel only numbers the third and fourth parts in the sequence, the second was not called the second. So nothing forbids the feet and toes from being the fifth empire, even if it was not called the fifth.

Iron Legs   vs   Feet of Iron Fragments Mixed with Clay: There is a Difference

The iron alone, found mixed with the clay, is the only source of doubt about a different empire. So what does Scripture actually say about the iron? Anyone who scours this passage will find that it only represents strength, whether in the solid iron legs or the mixed iron and clay feet. It does not represent a political system, race of men or geographic location. And the iron is said to be mixed with the clay. This means the iron is in a fragmented form which is different from the solid iron of the legs. It could easily represent the strength of an entirely different empire. There is no demand for the fragments in the feet to be a continuation of the iron legs, in fact Daniel never suggests the iron mixed with the clay is a degraded continuation, he only speaks of strength when he describes iron. Thus there is no Scriptural obstacle in asserting a new empire for the feet and toes.

A modern barrier in recognizing Islam stems from inaccurate English translations of verse 41. Daniel 2:41-45 in the original Aramaic does not give any reason to suppose the feet are related to the legs in a different way than the other parts are related to one another, there is a clear distinction between them. Versions like the American Standard, New American Standard and Jewish Publication Society reveal this. Another recent Jewish translation, TANAKH, A New Translation of THE HOLY SCRIPTURES According to the Traditional Hebrew Text, reads;

"You saw the feet and the toes, part of potter's clay and part iron; that means it will be a divided kingdom;"

The feet and toes represent a distinct and original divided empire, partly strong and partly fragile. The legs are not the basis for the feet. Sometimes however, a small, misleading variation in some versions strongly implies this dependence. An example is found in the King James Version which reads;

"And whereas thou sawest the feet and the toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided;"

By rendering this verse with a definite article "the" before kingdom it would appear that the previous kingdom, the kingdom of the legs of iron, is now being divided into clay and iron. But this is not accurate, there is no definite article in the Aramaic. An extremely literal rendering reads;

"And that you saw the feet and the toes, partly of clay of a potter, and partly of iron, a kingdom divided shall it be."

The Divided Empire

The fifth empire will be characterized by a dismal lack of cohesion between areas of strength and weakness. What better picture of modern Islam can you ask for? But even from its inception it readily fits the prophetic sketch. Division arose in the Islamic community immediately after the death of Muhammad between the party of Ali (Shi'ites) and what became the majority Sunnis. The Prophet left no male heir, but a band of loyalists to his nearest male relative, cousin and son-in-law Ali, believed he was the legitimate successor to Muhammad. The Shi'ites under Ali took control of the Islamic Empire after the assassination of the third Caliph Uthman. Ali himself was assassinated in 661. Ali's eldest son did not seek to be Caliph but the Shi'ites continued to oppose non-Shi'ite Caliphs. The division remains till today.

The Caliphate, initially an elected office, soon turned into a dynasty of the Umayyads, a wealthy clan from Mecca. They controlled the expanding Arab Empire until various Islamic groups joined to overthrow them in 750 and install al-Abbas. The Abbasid Caliphs encouraged broad cross-cultural contacts within the vast Pax Islamica. At the same time the political power of the original Arabs began to ebb. Muslims of Persian, Turkish and other origins began to flex their muscles and smaller independent dynasties within the empire quickly sprouted. In Spain the Emirate of Cordoba was founded, and in North Africa the Idrisids, Rostamids, Aghlabids, and Tulunids arose. The Hamdanids, Tahirids, and Samanids came to power in Mesopotamia and Central Asia . Overtaking these were the Caliphate of Cordoba, the Fatimids of North Africa, the Buyids of Mesopotamia-Persia, and the Ghaznevids of Central Asia. Then followed the Almohades, the Ayyubids, Rum Seljuks and Great Seljuks. After them came the Mamelukes, Safavids, Mughals, and the great Ottoman Turkish Empire. Today there are forty-eight countries where Muslims are the majority of the population, and usually an overwhelming majority. They are still divided and some countries are strong, others are fragile. They lack political cohesion but they still look back thirteen centuries to the authority of their Prophet, Muhammad, as recorded in the Koran. In this sense they remain one empire, facing Mecca five times a day.

The Mixed Empire, The Arab Empire

The original Arabians "mixed themselves with the seed of men" in the course of their conquests. An interesting side-note is that the word in the Aramaic text of Daniel 2 for "mixed" (me'arav) contains the root for Arab. A slight change in vocalization would tell of iron from the Arabs with clay. Another example of a word with two meanings occurs in this same book of Daniel. The final Babylonian king was told that his empire would be divided (peres) to the Medes and Persians (Paras), Daniel 5:28. Here Daniel interpreted the word peres two ways. This was decades after the dream of the statue. It is not hard to imagine that God also hinted to Nebuchadnezzar in his dream that the Arabs are the source of the mixed (me'arav) kingdom of the feet and toes.

Strength to Endure

The incursion of Crusaders, Mongols and European colonizers had their impact on the Islamic domain, but though fragile in many ways the empire was strong enough to endure. Now fragmented into many states and sects, at the same time it is beginning another resurgence of power, especially through its fabulous oil wealth. A French scientist made a brief but astute comment on the modern Islamic world which is quoted on page 39 of Marius Barr's book, The Unholy War, Oil, Islam, and Armageddon;

"Islam was in a long sleep, near death. Most of what happened in the world happened without it. It had lost everything. But its sleep did not last long enough to obliterate its past accomplishments. Its culture, its art treasures, and its moral force, however, were covered with dust. The sleeper is now awakening. The Moslem's eyes are now wide open, and his mind is clear. He has re-opened his Koran, and a program of action is in his head. A powerful program!"

Not long ago the tremendous modern influence of the Arab-Islamic world was succinctly revealed in an innovative book called A Strategic Atlas, A Comparative Geopolitics of the World's Powers by Chaliand and Rageau. At the beginning of this colorful atlas we find five maps illustrating the five main power-blocs in the world and their view of the globe. First is the U.S.—North American view, then a different map showing the view from the U.S.S.R., then another map with a view from Europe, followed by China's view of the world. Finally, on page 18 we see the fifth map, the Arab-Muslim view of the world. This highly informative strategic atlas portrays the Arab-Islamic Middle East as the fifth of five major blocs in the modern world.

As of this update in mid 2006, not many in the West need to be told that the Muslim world is a significant and enigmatic neighbor in the global community. Terms like "Clash of Civilizations" describe the antagonism of the "pre"-modern world of Islam with the "post"-modern West. The Muslim state Pakistan has nuclear weapons and Iran currently is pressing its brinksmanship to obtain nuclear capability. Central Asian Islamic countries are finding greater expression of their Muslim past since the breakup of the U.S.S.R. Though Iraq has been freed from Saddam Hussein bloody reign, time will tell if true democracy can take root in a country divided into three major people groups. As it stands, Islam will form the basis for the Iraqi government in no small way. The oil-rich Middle East continues to obtain advanced weaponry while former cold-war foes from the East and the West attempt to stabilize their economies and keep reduced standing armies. Comparatively, the Islamic Middle East has grown in power.

This civilization, zealous for a Koranic Allah, will have the ignoble distinction of being overthrown, not by the hands of men, but by God Himself. The Stone cut out without hands will crush the power of Islam forever, God's true glory will be revealed through the King of His promised Kingdom. But not just the Islamic world will be overcome, every vestige of faulty human government on the planet will be destroyed. The entire image of human rule will vanish. God's perfect Kingdom will reign forever

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