Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream [is] certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
Ver. 45. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain.] Christ is called a stone, (1.) For strength; (2.) For continuance; (3.) For refuge; (4.) For offence. He is piorum rupes, reorum scopulus, as Val. Max. saith of Lucius Cassius's tribunal.
Without hands,] i.e., Without man's help.
And that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold.] Broughton's a note here is, Wisely Daniel telleth first how the last shall be destroyed, and not how Nebuchadnezzar's house first should fall; so Daniel 7:11,12, where he showeth his care to please the cruel tyrant, and his own readiness of wit in the allusion that is in the Chaldee between chaspa and caespa, clay and silver; which they that observe not cannot know why Daniel brake the native order of speech for clay, iron, brass, silver, and gold.
a Broughton on Daniel.