I was recently leading a study of Daniel Ch. 2 and had a thought on which I would like your input. The statue has very specific patterns in the materials. From the head down, it’s decreasing in value (gold-silver-bronze-iron) while increasing in strength and are identified by their prominent use in the respective empires (Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greek, Roman) until I get to the feet and toes. The feet and toes are iron mixed with clay. It sounds to me like our modern use of concrete.
Concrete has impressive compressive strength but is brittle (no tensile strength) so iron rebar is used. This is how freeways, bridges, modern buildings and their foundations are built. And identifying the base as concrete would be consistent with the increasing strength of the materials and their decreasing value. Thank you for your thoughts on this as well as your service to the Lord.
The wording in Daniel 2:41-43 implies that the iron and clay do not mix, and do not combine to make each other stronger, but instead constitute a structural weakness. In addition, for generations the phrase “feet of clay” from Daniel 2 has been used to describe someone who gives the outward appearance of strength but has a hidden weakness that causes his downfall. In your analogy the rebar in the concrete actually provides a hidden strength that prevents destruction.
There will be a weakness in the End Times coalition represented by the feet of the statue that will prevent if from becoming the unified body it’s intended to be. Attempts to mix the Eastern (Arab) leg of the old Roman Empire with the Western (European) one will reveal this weakness. We can already see hints of this in the form of periodic cultural clashes in various European countries.