Albert Barnes Commentary Daniel 2:35

"Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." — Daniel 2:35 (ASV)

Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floor - The word rendered “together” (כצרה (kachădâh)) our translators seem to have understood as referring to time, meaning that it was done simultaneously. The more literal interpretation, however, is “as one;” that is, they were beaten small as one, referring to an identity of condition. They were all reduced to one indiscriminate mass, a mass in which the original materials could no longer be distinguished and would all be blown away together.

The literal meaning of the word (חד (chad) and חדה (chădâh)) is “one,” or “first.” For example: (Ezra 4:8), “wrote a letter;” (Ezra 5:13), “in the first year of Cyrus;” (Ezra 6:2), “a roll;” (Daniel 2:9), “there is but one decree for you;” (Daniel 3:19), “heat the furnace one seven times hotter,” etc. United with the preposition (כ (k)), it means “as one,” like the Hebrew כְּאֶחָד (k^e'echâd) – (Ecclesiastes 11:6; 2 Chronicles 5:13; Ezra 2:64; Ezra 3:9; Isaiah 65:25).

The phrase “chaff of the summer threshing-floors” refers to the method of winnowing grain in the East. This was done in the open air, usually on an elevated place, by throwing the grain, when threshed, into the air with a shovel, and the wind thus drove away the chaff.

Such chaff, therefore, naturally became an emblem of anything that was light and would be easily dissipated. See the notes at Isaiah 30:24; Matthew 3:12.

And the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them - They were entirely dissipated like chaff. As chaff seems to have no place any longer, but is carried we do not know where, so the figure here would denote an entire annihilation of the power to which it refers.

And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth - The vision before the king’s mind, as represented here, was that the stone which was cut out of the mountain was at first small, and that while he contemplated it, it swelled to larger dimensions until it became an immense mountain—a mountain that filled the whole land.

It was this, perhaps more than anything else, that excited his wonder: that a stone, at first of such small dimensions, should by itself increase so much as to surpass the size of the mountain from which it was cut, until it occupied every place in view. Everything about it was so remarkable and unusual that it was no wonder he could not explain it.

We have now reviewed a description of the literal vision as it appeared to the monarch’s mind. If it had been left here, it is clear that it would have been difficult to interpret, and possibly the true explanation might never have been suggested.

We have, however, an exposition by Daniel which leaves no doubt as to its design and was intended to lead the mind forward to some of the most important and remarkable events of history.

A portion of his statement has been fulfilled, and a part still remains unaccomplished. A careful exposition of his account of the vision’s meaning will lead our thoughts to some of the most important historical events that have occurred in introducing the Christian dispensation, and to even more important events in the statement of what is yet to come.