Daniel 2:44 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

In the days of these kings— That is, in the days of some of them. As in the days when the judges ruled, Ruth 1:1 signifies, "In the days when some of the judges ruled;" so in the days of these kings, signifies, "In the days of some of these kingdoms:" and it must be during the days of the last of them, because they are reckoned four in succession, and consequently this must be the fifth kingdom. Accordingly, the kingdom of Christ was set up during the days of the last of these kingdoms; that is, the Roman. This kingdom was set up by the God of heaven; and hence the phrase, of the kingdom of heaven, came to signify the kingdom of the Messiah; and so it was used and understood by the Jews, and is applied by our Saviour in the New Testament. Other kingdoms were raised by human ambition and worldly power; but this was the work not of man, but of God: this was truly, as it is called, the kingdom of heaven, and John 18:36 a kingdom not of this world; its laws, its powers were all divine. This kingdom was never to be destroyed, as the Babylonian, the Persian, and the Macedonian empires have been, and in great measure also the Roman. This kingdom was not to be left to any other people; it was to be erected by God, in a peculiar manner; to extend itself over all the nations, and still to consist of the same people, without any alteration or change of their name. What this people were to be, and by what name to be called, the prophet expressly declares, ch. Daniel 7:17-18.—they were to be the saints of the Most High. Of such was this kingdom to consist, and never to depart from them; a character which expressly determines the nature of the kingdom, and by whom it was to be created and governed. This kingdom was to break in pieces, and consume all the kingdoms; to spread and enlarge itself, so that it should comprehend within itself all the former kingdoms. See Bishop Newton, and Dr. Chandler's Defence of Daniel, p. 127.