A great image; not a painted, superficial image, but a massy one, a statue in man's shape, great, splendid, majestical: thus they were wont of old to represent great emperors and empires, and worshipped them as gods: called here an image, and in a dream, all which is in show and shadow rather than in substance, and therefore vanishing. Stood before thee, and that upright, of a prodigious height, noting the grandeur of those monarchies. The form thereof was terrible: government is to be feared, fear to whom fear, and honour to whom honour; also some had rather be feared than loved. Some say the image was so placed that the face looked toward the king, and thus it might trouble and terrify him.
Related Commentaries of Daniel 2:31
Daniel 2:31
31 Thou, O king, sawest,h and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.