And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these.
Here the Fourth Empire is described, which agrees only with the Roman, for we know that the four successors of Alexander were at length subdued. Philip was the first king of Macedon, and Antiochus the second; but yet Philip lost nothing from his own kingdom; he only yielded it to the free cities of Greece.
Nebuchadnezzar worshipped images, so God sent him a dream of a great statue to show him what his idols truly were: mere dreams, creatures of fancy that cost treasure and labor but signified nothing. The King had shown kindness to this poor prophet, and now received a prophet's reward that no money could buy.
AI summary
Commenting on Daniel 2:31-45
And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron,.... This is not the kingdom of the Lagidae and Seleucidae, the successors of Alexander, as some have thought; for these are designed by the thighs in the third kingdom; and, besides, the kingdom of Christ was to arise in the time of this fourth kingdom, which it did not in that; nor the kingdom of Gog...