TEN TOES, TEN + 1 HORNS, TEN CROWNED HORNS, TEN KINGS WITHOUT KINGDOMS

TEN TOES―TEN + 1 HORNS―TEN CROWNED HORNS―TEN KINGS WITHOUT KINGDOMS

Confusion is often created when interpreting these symbolic prophetic topics, because the numerical moniker TEN is used repeatedly in scripture for different and transformed enemies of God, who appear throughout history in groups of 10, (whether the number 10 is stated or implied; e.g., how many toes were there?)

I believe this prophetic repetition is deliberate on God’s part, because the confusion created over the number ten in these scenarios cannot be unravelled without spiritual discernment and God-given insight (Cf. 1 Cor. 2:14), combined with a broad knowledge of world history; i.e., knowing where each of these prophecies fit into earth’s historical timeline, when they are (usually) only recognisable after the event! Biblical revelation and insight are given by the Spirit of God, and He does not open His vault of prophetic secrets to the casual or unbelieving reader!

The key to unlocking ‘the seal’ placed on ancient prophecy is through the recognition of where and when each prophesied event was fulfilled; but, if it cannot be placed in history with certainty, then the event and its fulfilment may still lie in the future! So, let’s look at each of the four groups of TEN (in biblical order) to see where they fit into European, Asian and Middle Eastern history, because that is where the Biblical focus lies:

1. The TEN [implied] TOES in Daniel 2:40–44 appear in the symbolic ‘metallic-man statue’ vision, and in the (general) narrative about the fourth iron kingdom (composed of legs, feet and toes), which became a divided kingdom. Thereafter, while the iron kingdom’s divided parts fragmented into smaller units in the course of history, a foreign element called clay was added to the iron realms’ TOES, which weakened them, making them partly strong and partly fragile. Hence, it is generally recognised that the statue’s iron-clay feet and TOES are symbolic of the changing status of the Roman Empire after it was divided into eastern and western administrative polities via the Tetrarchy in AD 283. [Some commentators would go as far as saying the Roman Empire’s divisions became two completely separate Empires that each had two feet, and ten toes!] However, since the number of toes is not stated, we must look to history to show us what happened, where and when…

a. The introduction of foreign clay into the Western Roman Empire polity occurred when foreign (clay) Germanic tribes, Mongols, Goths, Vandals and Barbarian hordes repeatedly crossed the Rhine River that formed the northern border of the Western Roman Empire in Europe, post-AD 285, causing it to fall militarily 200 years later to Odoacer in AD 476, who became the first barbarian German King of Italy. However, the insignias of Roman power had previously been transferred to New Rome in Constantinople, in AD 330.

Europe was afterward ruled by German Kings (Lombard’s), until Rome’s former territories fragmented into Principalities, Monarchies, Duchies, Frankish kingdoms, Papal kingdoms, provinces of the Holy Roman Empire, and Napoleonic rule. During this thousand year period Europe produced multiple sea-faring, exploring and colonising sub-empires etc., which broke the world into pieces from the 15^th Century onward. After WWI some of these European nations were destined to reappear as the 10 + 1 ‘horns’ on the fourth beast (Daniel 7:7–26), which fought against one another during WWII.

These eleven nations still exist (among the 27 member nations that formed a political, economic and monetary alliance, European Union), occupying most of the former Western Roman Empire’s territories today.

b. History tells us the Western Rome’s imperial legacy and insignias passed to the Eastern Roman Empire (aka New Rome) in Constantinople in AD 330, where its polity continued for another thousand years! It is my belief therefore, that the symbolic ‘toes’ from the Western [leg] Roman Empire (symbolising Rome’s power) were completely transferred to the eastern polity between AD 330–476, which became the only remaining part of the iron Roman Empire.

However, the intrusion of foreign ‘clay’ that had brought down the western polity cannot be applied to the Eastern Roman Empire (at the same time) because New Rome in Constantinople (aka Byzantine Empire) continued on (even though reduced in size) until its eventual fall in 1453, when its capital, Constantinople, was finally overthrown by Muslim Turkic armies, led by Mehmed II who claimed he was heir to Roman rule and power as Caesar, and the Ottoman Empire was the territorial heir to the Roman Empire!

Therefore, because Rome’s legacy and power had already been passed on to New Rome in the east in AD 330, it seems that the prophesied introduction of foreign ‘clay’ into the eastern polity would not occur until nearer to its fall in AD 1453, when foreign ‘clay’ infiltration began, and continued until the Muslim Turks were also defeated during WWI. The Ottoman Empire was finally abolished in 1922–1924. As a result, the victorious Allies drew up borders for ten Middle Eastern nations out of Ottoman territory. [1] This development illustrates that symbolically all of the ‘toes’ belonging to the great ‘metallic man’ statue’s iron legs now belonged in the east, where the mixed iron-clay toes (nations) would undergo further transformation.

As a result I am confident that the ten [implied] toes, composed of a mixture of Eastern Rome’s iron and Muslim clay, were eventually rehabilitated―via the Ottoman Empire―into the 10 Muslim nations that found their place in history in the Middle East, where they were destined to reappear in the 20^th Century, in a new configuration as the ten ‘crowned’ horns belonging to the 7-headed animal-beast in Revelation 13:1–2. (See No. 3 below.)

2. Meantime, the TEN HORNS + 1 ‘little horn’ vision in Daniel 7:7–26 informs us―in its (more specific) narrative about the fourth beast (ex. Western Roman Empire)―that the ‘dreadful and terrible exceedingly strong’ fourth beast in Europe had ten horns (i.e., 10 allied nations), and afterward a ‘little horn’ nation rose up among them, which made war against the saints of the Host High [Jews] and prevailed against them. (Dan. 7:21, 24–25)

There is only one historical period in Europe’s long record that fits the exact scenario described in Dan. 7:7–26, and it happened long after the Western Roman Empire had fallen to barbarian invaders and expired in AD 476, and long after Europe’s Middle Ages; when ten European nations arose in a group alliance after WWI, being the TEN HORNS (nations) that were descendant from Western Rome, on its former territories.

These ten symbolic ‘horns’ were the ten European nations that became ‘founding members’ in the League of Nations alliance in 1920. Six years later in 1926, the ‘little horn’ (German Weimar Republic) also joined the League, but when the Nazi 3^rd Reich Regime came to power in Germany in 1933, the ‘little horn’ further developed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking pompous words, i.e., Hitler, (Cf. Dan. 7:8b), the 3^rd Reich then withdrew to prepare for war: invading three neighbouring countries in the process. However, at the end of World War II―in April/May 1945―the political ‘body’ (Nazi 3^rdReich), and the little horn (Hitler) were both destroyed by fire as Berlin and Hitler’s body were burned (Cf. Dan. 7:11) as Nazi Germany surrendered. This also ended the little horn’s war against the saints of the Most High during the Holocaust (Dan. 7:21, 24–25).

It should be noted however, that the initial 10 horns that joined the alliance in 1920 and the since re-reformed ‘little horn’ nation―that came up among them―are all existing peacefully today through several trading, monetary and military alliances in Europe.

3. We know from Revelation 13:1–10 that in the latter days a leopard-bear-lion tripartite shaped beast (kingdom) will rise up bearing TEN ‘CROWNED HORNS.’ This beast that has had prior manifestations, arises from three ‘name-sake’ empires of antiquity; i.e., the rest of the beasts that had: lost their dominion, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. (Dan. 7:12) These were the empires of Macedon-Grecian (leopard), the Media-Persian (bear), and the Babylonian (lion) that were all domiciled in Asia―having their capitals in Babylon (in Mesopotamia); thus, these empires would reappear, in some form at a certain point in the future…

Subsequently, parts from these three ancient empires reappear in Revelation 13:1–2 in New Testament times, as a leopard-bear-lion animal-beast collage. When the shapes of those ancient empires are combined on a modern map, their borders enclose TEN Muslim nations; some of which were created when the Ottoman Empire was divided up after World War I, and when their borders were later readjusted. TODAY however, the TEN CROWNED) (sovereign) HORN nations―that comprise the shape of the tripartite animal-beast that had its life prolonged―reappear on the territorial lands formerly belonging to the leopard, bear and lion empires of antiquity, as the nations of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Libya.

These are the 10 ‘crowned’ horns that appear on the animal-beast shaped entity that occupies the eastern territories adjoining the Mediterranean Sea, in Asia and Mesopotamia. This is where the God-opposing primordial great red Dragon has maintained his ‘seven tenures of power’ (described as seven heads on the beast) since the deluge in 2,300 BC, by empowering his idolatrous earthly counterparts, viz., Babel, Assyria, Babylon, Media-Persia, Macedon-Greece, Eastern Roman Empire, and the (7^th) Ottoman Islamic Empire, during Old and New Testament ages. Revelation 17:10–11 indicates that the final eighth (head) on the beast that arises from its seven previous manifestations, is yet to appear before the Kingdom of God is revealed!)

4. The TEN KINGS (WITHOUT KINGDOMS) give their power to the animal-beast in Rev. 17:12–18.

The scenario conveyed in the latter part of Revelation, shows that God is actively participating in end time events relating to His purpose in encouraging these ten ‘kings’ who have received no kingdom as yet… to give their power and authority to the beast. (Cf. Rev. 17:17–18) God’s purpose is further explained via an alliance between these parties who destroy a Great City called Mystery, Babylon:

The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, [i.e., Mystery, Babylon] make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire… And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth. (Rev. 17:12–13; cf. 17:3–6, 16)

The following interpretation of these ten kings (without kingdoms) closely aligns with the present-day classification of terrorist groups that operate in, and out of the Middle East. The leaders of these groups act like powerful kings with militias, but they have no kingdom territory over which to rule. Instead, many of their bases are embedded in the 10 Muslim nations, viz., the TEN CROWNED HORNS: Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Libya, which comprise the animal-Beast shape, but they bear no allegiance to those nations with their existing polities!

Thus, the ten kings (without kingdoms) are known today as Non-State actors (N.T.O’s) who operate outside the control of a state, who pursue violence to achieve their goals. A large number of these N.T.O’s occupy Syria and Iraq (ancient Mesopotamian territories), where instability has reigned since Al Qaeda’s attack on the Twin Towers in New York in 2001; and when in retaliation, the U.S.A. bombed Al Qaeda’s lair (Tora Bora) in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, and Iraq on March 19, 2003 in search of weapons-of-mass-destruction.

My expectations are that these ten terrorist kings (without kingdoms) will―in the future―manifest as the eighth ‘head’ on the God-opposing animal-beast that is empowered by the Dragon, and either:

a. Reassemble, in support of the SUNNI Islamist animal-beast that has already founded a revived but short-lived SUNNI Caliphate called ISIS in Syria and Iraq, June 1914–December 2017, (Cf. Rev. 13:3, 5, 7), which gained support from 60 jihadist groups in 30 countries, with collaboration from multiple SUNNI Muslim nations, including Turkey and Qatar; but ISIS―because of its iconoclasm, i.e., its hatred for icons, images and idolatry, (in imitation of a previous Muslim attack on Mecca in 1979)―also planned to take control over the great city called Mystery, Babylon (i.e., Mecca), and Medina. These cities were founded by the False Prophet, Muhammad, in the 7^th Century; but Muhammad still reigns authoritatively [via the Quran, Sharia Law and the annual Hajj] over the kings of the whole world (viz., the known area when Revelation was written). It is from Mecca and the Kaaba (the house of Allah that is dressed in black,) that Muhammad’s legacy still rules today over the lives of a third of the world’s peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. [2] OR

b. Join with the SHIA Islamist Axis of Resistance promoted by IRAN, which includes the temporarily trounced, infamous terrorist groups called Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Houthis in Yemen (viz., KINGS WITHOUT KINGDOMS) that have openly prevailed against Israel since October 7, 2024, with support from SHIA IRAN and the myriad Islamist militias and N.T.O’s scattered across the Middle East, North Africa and Asia, based within the animal-beast’s TEN CROWNED HORN territories, in defiance of the Western nations.

However, since the Arab uprisings in 2011, Islamist and Jihadist terrorist groups have multiplied and flourished with support from their sponsors―SHIA and SUNNI nation-states alike―while Hezbollah, Hamas Houthis, and other N.T.O’s have caused mayhem for polities in the Middle East and for the western powers.

These [the ten horns and the beast] will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful. (Rev. 17:14)

As you have seen from my analysis above, THE (ten) TOES that originally belonged to the iron legs on the ‘metallic-man’ statue vision in Daniel chapter 2 were given over to New Rome in Constantinople in AD 330, prior to the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, caused by the invasion of foreign-clay barbarian forces.

Subsequently, the Eastern Roman Empire was also infiltrated by foreign-clay after the 7^th Century debut of Islam into the Middle East, when Constantinople was conquered by the Muslim Ottoman Empire in 1453.

After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire during WWI; the Caliphate’s territory was divided up into ten Muslim nations in Asia and the Middle East. During the rest of the 20^th Century― after national borders had been adjusted, and names were changed―most of the Muslim nations (surrounding Mesopotamia) have been purposed in Revelation 13:1–2 as the ‘TEN crowned horns’ on the juxtaposed leopard- bear-lion shaped beast that exists today in the Middle East.

Later, 10 kings (without kingdoms) will rise to prominence in association with the leopard-bear-lion beast, in its 8^th manifestation, to destroy ‘Mystery’ Babylon in accordance with God’s will (Rev. 17:11–18).

The final war of this age, at Armageddon, will be fought by the animal-beast powers in the Middle East, against the Lamb, and God’s people, both Jews and Christian Gentiles and their allies drawn from Europe and elsewhere. (Rev. 13:6–7; 16:13–14; 19:19:21)

Following the fall of the western half of the divided Roman Empire in 476, and during the extensive Middle Ages in Europe, there finally emerged 10 horns (nations) post-WWI that became founding members as the European bloc within the League of Nations, in 1920. The little horn that came up among them afterward was the cause of WWII and the Holocaust, perpetrated by Nazi Germany’s 3^rd Reich, and their Fuhrer Hitler.

Since the end of WWII, and the formation of the United Nations in 1953, these eleven nations and others in Europe have been at peace with each other, having already made their mark in history (as outlined in Daniel chapter 7). Most of these European and western nations belong to either Catholic or Protestant Christian beliefs, in opposition to Islamic dogma, indicating that the final chapter in the history of the Gentile age will be fought between these foes at the Battle or Armageddon.

[1] The original divisions of the Ottoman Empire produced 10 Muslim nations, via the French Mandate over Syria and Lebanon; and the British Mandate over Mesopotamia (Iraq); and Mandatory Palestine; as well as the Emirate of Transjordan; the Kingdom of Hejaz + Sultanate of Nejd (Saudia Arabia); the Kingdom of Yemen; and the

Arab States of the Persian Gulf (Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar). Their borders were later adjusted and names were changed.

[2] I have written extensively on this topic to Five Doves beginning in 2005, when I received insight into the identification of the Beast from the Sea recorded in a letter posted on October 12, 2005 (Yom Kippur), then PART TWO on October 19, 2005 (Sukkot), and another about the Beast from the Earth on October 26, 2005 (Simchat Torah). It was during this three week period that I finally understood that the beast’s 7^th head with the mortal wound, was the Ottoman Empire in WWI, and the increase in radical Islam in our time, would reproduce yet another SUNNI Caliphate. Accordingly, the Islamic State called ISIS, that arose in Syria and Iraq during Ramadan on June 29, 2014, until December 9, 2017, caused mayhem!