In my previous study of the Book of Daniel, we saw that Herod the Great had been installed as king of the Jews by Rome, replacing the Jews’ legitimate king, Antigonus of the Hasmonaean dynasty. Furthermore, I also conclude that the coming of Herod is the coming of the willful king (Daniel 11:36), and can also be understood as the continuation of the chronology of the kings of the north and south of chapter eleven. The Grecian line ended with Antiochus Epiphanes, pausing with the institution of Jewish home-rule, and restarting with the installation of Herod as king, at the command of Rome, the Fourth Kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar’s Image/Dream. At this point, we need to put the rise of the Fourth Kingdom in context.
Keeping in mind Nebuchadnezzar’s image of four kingdoms in chapter two of the Book of Daniel, Babylon, of course, was the head of the image and the First Kingdom. The breast and two arms (Media and Persia) of the image were the Second Kingdom. Its lower torso and its thighs (Grecian Egypt and Syria) were the Third Kingdom. Its lower legs and feet (the Republic and then the Empire of Rome) were the Fourth Kingdom.
During the days of the Roman Republic’s first triumvirate, the princes of the Jews, Hycranus, the high priest and Aristobulus the king, both Hasmonaeans, raised a sedition against one another. Pompey the Great intervened, and after Aristobulus surrendered and sought peace, Pompey continued to Jerusalem, which closed its gates by the order of Aristobulus’ supporters. After a short siege, he gained access to the city, when Hycranus, the high priest, opened the gates. Nevertheless, he had to take the Temple stronghold by force, because Aristobulus’ supporters, controlled it and refused entry. Nevertheless, once he had taken the citadel, Pompey went in with some of his men, even to the Holy of Holies, and saw all the precious things within the House. However, “the next day he gave order to those that had the charge of the Temple to cleanse it, and to bring what offerings the law required to God. He restored the high priesthood to Hyrcanus, both because he had been useful to him in other respects, and because he hindered the Jews in the country from giving Aristobulus any assistance in his war against him.”[1] Thus Pompey became the fifth gentil leader to take Jerusalem and enter desecrate the Temple.
After doing so, he took away the liberty of the Jews and made them subjects of Rome. Moreover, he also took away certain territories the Jews had gained from the Syrians and he restored them. Afterward, he left Jerusalem and took Aristobulus and his children along with him to Rome. Later, a second triumvirate would be formed between Octavian, Mark Antony and Lepidus, with Octavian and Antony as the most powerful of the three. Eventually, power struggles between the two erupted into civil war with Antony as king of the south with Cleopatra. Together, they would push at Octavian, the king of the north (Daniel 11:40). The war would be settled in a great naval battle at Actium in which Octavian emerged as the victor.
Augustus gained control over many countries, but Edom, Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon were not taken, because these were controlled by Herod. When he was at Rhodes and after his victory at Actium, Octavian called for Herod, and Herod won over Octavian’s trust by pledging as great a friendship with him as Herod had with Antony (Daniel 11:41). So, after his victory at Actium, Octavian took his armies to Egypt, which was financed and supplied by Herod, and captured the “breadbasket of the empire” and all its wealth, and the Libyans and Ethiopians were Octavian’s companions. Whereupon, both Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide (Daniel 11:42-43).
Keeping in mind that the angel’s prophecy, which comprises the final two chapters of the Book of Daniel, was given to clarify the Seventy Weeks Prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27, we leave off Octavian (the king of the north), and come to the Messiah (Daniel 9:26-27). Here, the text reverts to one of the rulers of Rome’s provinces, Pontius Pilate. He is involved in a power struggle with the high priest over the fate of Jesus. Recent information “out of the north trouble him” (Daniel 11:44). Pilate’s benefactor, Sejanus had recently come under suspicion, and he and many of his appointees throughout the Empire had been slain with their families by the order of Tiberius Caesar. Knowing this and the “tidings out of the east” (Jerusalem) in the form of an accusation from the high priest: “If you let this man go, vis-à-vis Jesus, the Messiah, you are not Caesar’s friend: whosoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar…” (John 19:12)!
“Therefore, he will go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many (H7227)” (Daniel 11:44). That is, in the context of Daniel 9:26, Pilate was, indeed, angry with the Jews, and he destroyed the “great one” (H7227) as the word is used in Isaiah “he shall send them a savior, and a great one (H7227), and he shall deliver them” (Isaiah 19:20).
Thus, Jesus, the Messiah, shall fix or establish his tabernacles (vis-à-vis his disciples, a tabernacle being a symbol of transient, temporary life) of his palace (or the throne of his kingdom) between the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea, in the glorious holy mountain (Jerusalem, the birthplace of the Church); yet he (Christ) shall come to his end or destiny, and none shall help him, vis-à-vis betrayed by one and abandoned by all (Daniel 11:45).
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The Republic of Rome – The Fourth Kingdom |
The Maccabees |
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First Triumvirate Pompey, Julius Caesar and Crassus |
Hycranus II & Aristobulus II 67-63 BC |
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Procurator |
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Antipater – 55-43 BC |
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The Second Triumvirate |
Herodian Dynasty |
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Herod the Great |
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King of the North |
King of the South |
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Octavian |
Mark Antony |
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The Empire of Rome—the Fourth Kingdom |
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Caesar Augustus (Octavian) |
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Tiberius Caesar |
Procurator |
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Pontius Pilate |
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[1] Josephus; Antiquities of the Jews; 14.4.4.
Smoodock's Blog 
4 responses to “The Fourth Kingdom – Rome!”
Enjoying your work, Eddie. As always.
I’m with you up to 11:35 (the Hasmoneans/Maccabees) and through 11:39. v.40, though speaks of the “time of the end,” into 12:1 when the “time of trouble” ends the “age” (of Matt 24:3).
Rev 10:7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
When John speaks of the the 2 witnesses being killed, the location of the transfer from the 4th kingdom to the 5th (Kingdom of God) is revealed… Rev 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. That, seemingly, eliminates Rome, as Jesus wasn’t crucified in Rome. For as John goes on, we see the transfer of Dan 2:44, Dan 7:27.
Rev 11:13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
Rev 11:14 The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
The Seventh Trumpet (as mentioned in Rev 10:7)…
Rev 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Dan 2:34 You saw until a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.
Dan 2:35 Then the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold were broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them. The stone that struck the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
In Dan 2:34, we see the stone destroy the feet of the image. In v.35, the stone became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
Mat 21:42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
Mat 21:43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
Mat 21:44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
Mat 23:36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
Mat 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Mat 23:38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
It seems that if Rome is the 4th kingdom, no transfer has yet been made to the Saints of God. It’s why dispensationalism futurism isn’t credible. Jesus told them the kingdom of God would come before the generation of the disciples died. If it didn’t happen as He promised, what other things did He say that we shouldn’t believe? He said it would come upon the destruction of the old covenant economy of the temple. If we chase Rome as the 4th, we end up in the same old futurism camp awaiting another Mosaic temple economy to be built and the rise of a modern Roman Empire to be destroyed (even though Jesus said it was Jerusalem).
I appreciate your faithfulness to the Word, and to our Lord and King!
Blessings,
Bill
Greetings Bill, and thanks for reading my studies and for your comment. Lord bless you.
The kingdoms are gentile kingdom, in as much as I can tell, and all four rule over the Jewish nation. The prophecy cannot refer to anything after 70 AD, because the the four kingdoms bring us to the Kingdom of God, and Daniel 7 tells us there would be 490 years left for the Jews after the first, Babylon was judged by God and destroyed. I don’t see a contradiction here or a future prophecy that has yet to be fulfilled. I see the “two witnesses” not as two men but as a “valid witness” for God. In other words there had to have been at least two. In all actuality there were 7 witnesses, and they were the ones who wrote our New Covenant text. When they were slain, God was without a witness to Jesus’ death and resurrection, so he judged Jerusalem, because they were the persecuting authority behind all the blood shed in the name of Christ throughout the Roman Empire. I am almost certain that Josephus was behind Nero’s persecution of the Jews. The thing is inferred in his histories and his narration of his “Life”. He was Annas’ grandson through Matthias.
There isn’t a lot of “literal” truth in the Apocalypse, it is all symbolism for the truth. Don’t know if you realize it, but I made a complete verse by verse study of the Apocalypse. It’s all there, Rome is the fourth kingdom that ruled the Jews, but the Jews are the movers and shakers of opposition to the Gospel. You are correct, there is no future coming of Jesus. He came in 70 AD, and we are presently in the never ending age of the Gospel.
Lord bless you my friend.
I don’t see where it says the 4 kingdoms to rule over Judea would be gentile only. As opposed to just the 4 in succession. Again, more likely part of the way futurism has warped the story. Nonetheless, a distinction was made for Galilee…
Mat 4:15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;
KJV 1611 Dan 9:26 And after threescore and two weekes, shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himselfe, and the people of the Prince that shall come, shall destroy the citie, and the Sanctuarie,….
The people who ultimately destroyed the city and the temple were the Zealots of Galilee and the factions they gathered to instigate the war with Rome,…the people from the same place as Messiah the Prince.
I love reading your work. I have trouble seeing Rome as a relevant player in Daniel’s interpretation of the statue. Jesus ground Jerusalem and the unbelieving Jews to powder and rubble. Rome was just one of the tools. But, I will continue to follow along.
Peace!
Well, I’m not the end all interpreter either. I err and quite frequently. You may be correct, but, at this point I’m sticking with the gentile kingdoms as the four in succession. The Jewish authorities were, indeed the persecuting authority, no question about that. So, were they also the 4th kingdom? I have trouble seeing the Hasmonean Kingdom stretching beyond Herod. IMO if they were the 4th, they would have continued and been a force to be reckoned with at the beginning of the Gospel age.
Good talk, Lord bless. :-)