What is the meaning of Daniel 2 43 and in particular the meaning of the seed?

Answer 1

Daniel 2:43 can not be understood without understanding the reference to iron and clay. Going back a few verses, you find that Daniel has been asked to explain a dream in which Nebuchadnezzar saw a statue with its head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron and feet partly of iron and partly of clay. This is the origin of the reference to iron and clay in 2:43.

It is almost universally accepted that the statue represents five kingdoms, beginning with Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom as the golden head. After this there is a divergence. Some scholars saying that the five kingdoms are (1) Babylon, (2) Media (3) Persia, (4) Alexander's brief kingdom, and (5) the Hellenistic kingdoms that followed the death of Alexander. On the other hand, some Christians say that the third kingdom included the Hellenistic kingdoms right up to the Roman conquest, and the fourth kingdom was Rome. There are various Christian interpretations of the fifth kingdom. So, before we can return to Daniel 2:43, we have to establish what the four kingdoms really were.

Scholars have now established that the Book of Daniel was written sometime between 167 and 164 BCE. How can they be so precise? The book contains serious historical errors around the time of the Babylonian Exile, but becomes more accurate as it talks about later centuries, up to the second century BCE. The Book of Daniel also shows that writer knew of the desecration of Yahweh's altar by Antiochus IV in 168 BCE, but not of the restoration of worship by Judas Maccabeus three years later: so that is when it was written. Now, for the fourth kingdom to be Rome, we would have to prove that the author, in spite of the historical errors surrounding the time of the Babylonian Exile, and in spite of his inability to prophesy the Maccabean revolt, was able to prophesy far into the future and see the Roman Empire. However, this is not a problem if the fourth kingdom was Alexander's kingdom, which was as strong as iron, but like iron can (and did, quite quickly) break The fifth kingdom was then the Hellenistic period of the Seleucids in Damascus and the Ptolemies in Egypt (the other Hellenistic kingdoms were of no interest to the author). In spite of their common background the Seleucids and Ptolemies were almost constantly at war, like iron and clay, in the author's terminology.

Without necessarily ruling out the potential for prophecy, the better answer should always be the one that does not require prophecy, so the fifth kingdom was the divided Hellenistic kingdom. So, finally returning to Daniel 2:43 - the references to seed are references to the unsuccessful attempts through marriage to create alliances between the Seleucids and the Ptolemies.