From Head to Foot (Horns to Toes)

24 Tishrei 5786 

I'd like to share some thoughts that occurred to me while I was reviewing Daniel's prophecies over the chag.  This will assume some familiarity with the book from the reader.  

In short, there are two visions which are revealed to Daniel concerning the four empires which will rule the world until Mashiach comes.  Right from chapter two it is made clear that "God...lets King Nebuchadnezzar know what will be at the end of days."

The first vision involves a statue of a man - head of gold (Babylon), chest and arms of silver (Medea/Persia), belly and thighs of copper (Greece) and legs of iron with feet a mixture of iron and clay (Rome).  In the dream, a great stone (Mashiach) comes and crushes the iron mixed with clay.  

A few more verses on in chapter two and suddenly a great deal more details come out focused on the toes of the statue - ten toes.

And a fourth kingdom will be strong as iron, for iron crumbles and flattens everything, and like iron, which shatters all these, it will crumble and shatter. 

And what you saw, the feet and the toes - which were partly of potter's clay and partly of iron - so it will be a divided kingdom, and in it will be some of the strength of iron, in view of what you saw iron mixed with clay.

And the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, for part of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be broken.  And what you saw, iron mixed with clay, [connotes] that they will mingle with the seed of men, but they will not cleave one to the other, as iron does not mix with clay. 

[Rashi comments: "They will intermarry with the other nations but they will not be at peace and truly cleave to them wholeheartedly, and their laws will differ from the laws of the other nations.  Some have identified these as Eisav and Yishmael nations at the end of days.]

And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom forever, it will not be destroyed, and the kingdom will not be left to another people; it will crumble and destroy all these kingdoms, and it will stand forever.

Over in chapter seven, Daniel describes a second vision of the same four empires destined to rule the world until Mashiach comes.  This one compares them not to metals but to strange beasts - again, these are representative of Babylon, Medea/Persia, Greece and Rome, as is known.

What concerns us in our time is the description of the situation at the end of days.  In this instance it is described with "horns" - ten horns - which equate to the earlier ten toes.

After this, I saw in the visions of the night, and behold a fourth beast, awesome and dreadful and exceedingly strong, and it had huge iron teeth. It ate and crushed, and trampled the rest with its feet, and it was different from all the beasts that were before me, and it had ten horns.

I looked at these horns and behold another small horn came up among them, and three of the first horns were plucked out before it, and behold eyes like human eyes were on this horn, and a mouth speaking arrogantly. 

...I saw then from the sound of the arrogant words that the horn spoke, I looked until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to a flame of fire.

[Rashi says about "to a flame of fire; this refers to Jacob’s fire, etc."  See also Ovadiah 1.18]

Then I wished to determine the truth of the fourth beast, which was different from all of them - excessively dreadful; its teeth were of iron and its nails of copper; it ate and crushed to powder, and the rest it trampled with its feet.  

And concerning the ten horns that were on its head, and the other one that came up and [the] three [that] fell before it, and the horn that was like this and that had eyes and a mouth speaking arrogantly, and its appearance was greater than [that of] its companions. 

I looked and the horn that was like this waged war with the holy ones and overwhelmed them. Until the Ancient of Days came and gave revenge to the high holy ones, and the time arrived that the holy ones inherited the kingdom. 

So he said, "The fourth beast [represents] a fourth kingdom [that] will be on the earth, which will be different from all the kingdoms, and it will devour the whole land and trample it and crush it. 

And the ten horns that [sprout] from that kingdom [represent] ten kings [that] will rise, and the last one will rise after them, and he will be different from the first, and he will humble three kings. 

And he will speak words against the Most High, and he will oppress the high holy ones, and he will think to change the times and the law, and they will be delivered into his hand until a time, two times, and half a time. 

And the judgment shall be established, and they will remove his dominion to be destroyed and annihilated until the end.

It is a given, based on ample evidence, that the United States is the one which came up later, after the others, as it was part of the New World which was only discovered long after the establishment of the Roman Empire.  Three kings made way for it - England, France and Spain (all three of whom also famously expelled all their Jews at one time or another).  

This arrogant horn is unique from the others in many ways, as we see the US standing out from the rest from its very inception by its rejection of monarchic rule in favor of rule by the people, right up to the use of two nuclear bombs on Japan and on and on.  It is unique in its power and majesty just as it claims to be.  The ultimate expression of Eisav - in full alliance with Yishmael - the ultimate enemy at the end of days.  

His annihilation by the coming of Mashiach awaits.

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