Unlike the previous three beasts, the fourth beast is not compared to an animal; it is so terrible in appearance that Daniel can only describe its features. It is hideous, terrible and extremely strong. It has big iron teeth; the fourth beast represents the fourth kingdom of Daniel chapter two, the kingdom of iron. The iron kingdom forms the legs of the great statue in Daniel chapter two and then the feet and toes are made of iron and clay. He will begin his reign as strong as iron, destroying the nations of the world with a cruelty never seen before. However, it will become a nation that is strong in some respects and weak in others. It will be strong in its cruelty in dealing with the world.

How weak it is is a bit of a puzzle (consider Daniel 2:43): “And as you saw iron mixed with miry clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not be united with one another, so as iron does not mix with clay”.

First let’s look at the word “mix” in the text. This word is often used to describe God’s command to the Israelites not to “mingle” with the Canaanites, that is, not to marry them. Now consider the word “key”. The word “joined” is mostly used in the Old Testament when it says that Adam “joined” his wife Eve. My belief is that the iron kingdom is broken because the backbone of their society is broken, the wife/husband relationship. I think this verse describes a society where women are the “iron” and while they are willing to procreate with men, that may very well be the only relationship they have with the other sex. I believe that the men in this kingdom represent the clay and are subservient to the women. The kingdom of the fingers of iron and clay may very well be a true matriarchal society where the interaction of men and women will be limited to sexual relations and the family unit may be non-existent.

The iron kingdom will lose some of its power when it splits into ten kings represented by the ten toes made of iron/clay. This is also reflected in the fact that the fourth beast has ten horns on its head (Daniel 7:23). After the ten kingdoms arise, a new kingdom will arise and conquer three of the ten kingdoms. I believe this kingdom is the kingdom that appears “last” (see Daniel 8:3), the kingdom that is one of the kingdoms of the “ram” mentioned in Daniel chapter eight, the kingdom of the Medes, the Kurds of Iraq . . It is the kingdom of the Kurds where the antichrist will rise as king and begin his reign of terror.