Rise of the Ten Toes
Are we seeng the rise of the ten toes and ten kings spoken of by the prophet Daniel, and in the book of Revelation? Let’s go through the pertinent scriptures. Then allow me to suggest how these things might be taking place now right before our very eyes. First, the scriptures to establish the context for the ten toes. I have truncated these verses heavily for the sake of time and to stay strictly on the point of this article.
King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream, and Daniel recounts the king’s dream without the king divulging it to him. It was an act of God for Daniel to be able to do this:
Daniel 2:31-35
You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome. 32 The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
Next, Daniel interprets the dream for the king:
Daniel 2:36-44
This was the dream; now we will tell its interpretation before the king. 37 You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory; 38 and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold. 39 After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth. 40 Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. 41 In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. 42 As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. 43 And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery. 44 In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.
So, the statue represents the four great gentile empires of the Middle East which have ruled over Jerusalem and the nation of Israel. In order; Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece and the Islamic Caliphate (of various persuasions). Some believe that the legs of iron (4th kingdom) represent the Roman Empire, but this author disagrees with that conclusion after connecting all the prophetic dots and looking at history. For more explanation see my article, Babylon the Great. Then lastly in these verses above we see a fifth and final kingdom represented by ten toes…partly of iron and partly of clay. It has the toughness of iron, but is made weaker by the clay mixed with it. This kingdom does not adhere together very well in some ways, yet is strong in other ways. It is a politically and ideologically divided kingdom.
Next, let’s move on to a second vision Daniel is given, as recorded in chapter 7. It puts emphasis on that fourth kingdom of Daniel 2. Again, I am also truncating this vision in order to focus on the ten toes, which is the purpose of this article:
Daniel 7:7-8
After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. 8 While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts.
So, the ten toes of Daniel 2 have become the 10 horns of Daniel 7. There is another “little horn” among them which has great power over the other horns. This beast with the ten horns and little horn is seen here as persecuting the saints (“the remainder” above).
Next, we simply see that immediately following the persecution of the end time saints by the fourth beast and the ten kings, the Messiah returns to give the kingdom to the saints:
Daniel 7:19-22
Then I desired to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which devoured, crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet, 20 and the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up, and before which three of them fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts and which was larger in appearance than its associates. 21 I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them 22 until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom.
Next, as the vision moves along, the ten horns become ten kings, while the little horn is again seen as persecuting the saints of God. However, victory over them will be achieved when God destroys them and sets up His Kingdom. This matches the Daniel 2 dream interpretation exactly:
Daniel 7:23-27
Thus he said: ‘The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it. 24 As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. 25 He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. 26 But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever. 27 Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.
Next, the narrative of Daniel 2 and 7 is carried over into the book of Revelation, chapter 13. The dragon is Satan (see previous chapter, Rev. 12). The beast with seven heads is a compilation 7-headed beast of the separate 4 beast-kingdoms of Daniel. Four “kingdoms” become seven “heads” because of Greece, as follows: 1) Babylon, 2) Media-Persia, 3-6) Greece’s four heads/divisions after Alexander the Great died early, 7) Islamic Caliphate. One of the heads dies but comes back to life, which is why chapter 17 vs. 11 describes it as an “eighth but of the seven”. It is a resurrection of the seventh head now with 10 horns…the Islamic Caliphate. Same beast but a different and final permutation:
Revelation 13:1, 3, and 7
And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names… 3 I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast…7 It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.
Next, there is a woman/harlot sitting on this 7-headed beast with the 10 horns. She basically controls the beast through her wealth, i.e. economy (see Revelation 18 for her description), and because of that is highly immoral in character:
Revelation 17:3-6
And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality, 5 and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” 6 And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered greatly.
Next, the ten horns are directly interpreted as ten kings
Revelation 17:11-13
The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction. 12 The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. 13 These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast.
Next, the Eastern-based beast and ten kings work together to destroy Babylon the Great. This woman can be also described as a city because of the immense power and influence of its capitol city. I suggest she is a Western-based power with great influence over the East and the world. In the end this is a classic, yet catastrophic and final East vs. West conflict (see my article, Babylon the Great):
Revelation 17:16-18
And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire. 17 For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled. 18 The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.”
Revelation 18:10
10. …‘Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’
Now that I have spent the better part of this article setting up the scriptural background of the ten toes made of iron and clay, let me explain to you why I think this confederation of 10 kings has now been formed.
First, a summary below of the history of an East-South intergovernmental organization called BRICS+, copied from a Wikipedia article. After you have read it, ask yourself, is it just a random coincidence that iron and clay, along with sand, all mixed together to make “bricks”? Note that as of January 17, 2025, the 10th nation has just been added to BRICS+. Ten full members, plus nine “partners” so far, with no plans for any additional “full members”. Here then is a copy of the description and history of BRICS+ from Wikipedia:
BRICS is an intergovernmental organization consisting of ten countries Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. It is considered to be a counterpart and alternative to the G7 bloc of the world's largest economies and combined represent nearly half of the world's population.
The term 'BRIC' was originally identified to highlight investment opportunities. The multipolar grouping evolved diplomatically, geopolitically and geoeconomically, with their governments meeting annually at formal summits and coordinating multilateral policies since the founding countries of Brazil, Russia, India, and China held the first leaders summit in Russia in 2009 under the name BRIC. Relations among BRICS are conducted mainly based on non-interference, equality, and mutual benefit.
In April 2010, South Africa attended the 2nd BRIC summit, making its first appearance as a guest. The nation was added as a member and the organization was officially renamed BRICS in September 2010. The 3rd BRICS summit in 2011 was the first held with all five titular countries in attendance as members. Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates attended their first summit as member states at the 2024 summit in Russia. Indonesia officially joined as a member state in early 2025, becoming the first Southeast Asian member. The acronym BRICS+ has been informally used to reflect new membership.
Some in the West consider BRICS institutions an alternative to institutions such as those led by nations of the G7 bloc, which are among the world's leading economies. Others describe the grouping as an incoherent joining of countries around increasing anti-Western and anti-American objectives. Together BRICS has implemented competing initiatives such as the New Development Bank, the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement, BRICS pay, the BRICS Joint Statistical Publication and the BRICS basket reserve currency. In its first 15 years BRICS has established almost 60 intra-group institutions, and think tanks to dialogues, covering agenda in 34 subjects. BRICS has received both praise and criticism from numerous commentators and world leaders.
I, of course, recognize that the word “bricks”, along with the acronym “BRICS”, are modern English words, with no Aramaic or Greek equivalents used this way in scripture. However, is it possible God knew long ago that the English language would be spoken by 3.4 billion people all over the world at the end of the age? Were we meant to see a link between iron and clay toes, and modern day “BRICS”? It seems like this has to be more than just random coincidence.
Also, some might ask; what about the main ingredient in bricks…sand? The formula is sand (55%), clay (30%), and iron oxide (8%), with other trace elements. Let’s first recognize that all metaphors have their limitations. Nevertheless, perhaps we could speculate that the sand is equivalent to the “partner nations” in the growing BRICS+ alliance. They would not wield the decision-making power of the core 10, but certainly could have some involvement in its activities, both political but mainly economic. And there are many more nations on the docket to become BRICS+ “partners”.
In the final analysis, anything regarding potential links between current and future events and Bible prophecy must involve speculation and interpretation. We should always do our best to prove assertions using a multitude of cross-connected scriptures, but in the end, the presence of some eisegesis is unavoidable. My analysis of prophecy is, in the end, my opinion. You be the judge. Time certainly will be the best one. But I do suggest that we are seeing the rise of the ten toes/ten horns/ten kings of end time prophecy.
Note: For more on Babylon the Great, see my article of the same title on this website.
