Daniel 2:41

41 Finally, you saw the feet and toes made partly of pottery clay and partly of iron; this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the firmness of iron, since you saw the iron mixed with clay from the ground.

Daniel 2:41 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 2:41

And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter's
clay, and part of iron
That is, some of the toes of the feet were of iron, and others of them of clay: these toes, which are ten, as the toes of men are, design the ten kings or kingdoms, into which the western Roman empire was divided, by the coming in of the Goths, and Hunns, and Vandals, into it; and are the same with the ten horns of the beast, and the ten kings which gave their kingdoms to it, ( Revelation 13:1 ) ( Revelation 17:12 Revelation 17:13 Revelation 17:17 ) , (See Gill on Revelation 17:12), (See Gill on Revelation 17:13), (See Gill on Revelation 17:17), (See Gill on Daniel 7:24), some of which were strong like iron, and continued long; others were like clay, and of a less duration: the kingdom shall be divided;
which some understand of the division of it into the eastern and western empires; but rather it means the division of the latter into the ten kingdoms, set up in it by the barbarous nations. Abarbinel and Jacchiades interpret it of the Roman empire being divided into Mahometans and Christians, very wrongly: but there shall be in it of the strength the iron, forasmuch as thou
sawest the iron mixed with miry clay;
notwithstanding this irruption and inundation of the northern nations into the empire; yet still retained, something of the strength and power of the old Romans, which were mingled among those barbarous nations, comparable to miry clay.

Daniel 2:41 In-Context

39 But after you another kingdom will rise, inferior to you; then a third kingdom, of bronze, which will rule the whole world.

40 The fourth kingdom will be as strong as iron. Iron can break anything into pieces, pulverize it and crush it. So just as iron can crush anything, this kingdom will break the other kingdoms into pieces and crush them.

41 Finally, you saw the feet and toes made partly of pottery clay and partly of iron; this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the firmness of iron, since you saw the iron mixed with clay from the ground.

42 Just as the toes of the feet were part iron and part clay, this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle.

43 You saw the iron mixed with clay; that means that they will cement their alliances by intermarriages; but they won't stick together any more than iron blends with clay.