THE PACT OF PREDICTION. 



69 



what plainly purports to be a revelation of the world's after- 

 history. King Nebuchadnezzar, the real founder of the great 

 later Babylonian empire, beholds in a dream a colossal image 

 with a head of gold, the two arms and breast of silver, the belly 

 and thighs of brass, the legs and feet of iron, the toes partly 

 iron and partly brittle earthenware. The head of gold is 

 explained to the king by the prophet as representing the 

 Babylonian empire. That is to be succeeded by a silver empire, 

 represented by the two arms and the breast. This is to have 

 two successors — an empire of brass and an empire of iron. The 

 toes of the image represent a tenfold division of the last, part 

 of wdiich retains the iron nature, another part having only a 

 delusive semblance to that metal. The whole is crushed and 

 ground to powder by a stone severed from the mountain side 

 " without hands." The prophet explains that from that time 

 there will be (including Nebuchadnezzar's) four empires of 

 man. The fifth will be the king^dom of God. 



Exegetes and would-be exegetes have wrestled over this 

 prediction till the air is somewhat foul and the mud beneath 

 is offensive and slippery. A safe and comfortable position can 

 be ibund, however, without entering that arena, and one from 

 whicli we can determine broad and unquestionable facts. Four 

 great empires are mapped out in the prophecy. There are four 

 in history with which Palestine and the Jews have had to do. 

 These are the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, whose founder 

 was Cyrus, the Grecian, founded by Alexander, and the Eoman. 

 The last was, by-and-by, divided into the Eastern and Western 

 Empires and is now represented by kingdoms, not yet exactly 

 ten, but which seem for some time to have been approaching 

 that definite number. 



The eighth chapter of the book settles one point which has 

 been keenly debated — whether the Median and the Persian 

 formed two empires or one only. Verse 20 shows the inadmis- 

 sibility of the hypothesis that the prophecy contemplates them 

 as two.. The ram (which in the vision was overcome by the 

 he-goat) is definitely described : " The ram which thou sawest, 

 having the two horns, are the kings of Media and Persia." 

 These two powers are represented by one emblem, and are 

 therefore the united kingdom under Cyrus and his successors. 

 A like attempt has been made to make Uuo kingdoms out of the 

 third — (1) that of Alexander, and (2) that of his successors. 

 This supposition is set aside by verses 21 and 22 : " And the 

 rough goat is the king of Grecia; and the great horn that is 

 between his eyes is the first king. Now, that being broken, 



