Lexical Summary
chashal: shatters
Original Word:חֲשַׁל
Part of Speech:Verb
Transliteration:chashal
Pronunciation:khaw-shal'
Phonetic Spelling:(khash-al')
KJV: subdue
NASB:shatters
Word Origin:[(Aramaic) a root corresponding toH2826 (חָשַׁל - stragglers)]
1. to weaken, i.e. crush
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
subdue
(Aramaic) a root corresponding tochashal; to weaken, i.e. Crush -- subdue.
see HEBREWchashal
NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Origin(Aramaic) corresponding to
chashalDefinitionto shatter
NASB Translationshatters (1).
Brown-Driver-Briggs
[] by a blow (Assyrian
—ašâlu,
shatter, perhaps
thresh; Late Hebrew Pi`el
shatter: Jewish-Aramaic
forge, hammer, Syriac
forge, furbish; Buhl
14 compare
barkley-groats (as
pounded, beaten), and perhaps Assyrian
—ûlu,
barley; Nö
M 135 compare Arabic
thrust, drive away (Frey),
storm (y sea; compare in English
beaten, buffetted by waves; Assyrian loan-word Ba
ZA ii. 117), Syriac
id.); —
Participle activeDaniel 2:40 (accusative of thing).
Topical Lexicon
Scriptural ContextDaniel 2:40 uses חֲשַׁל to describe the ruthless force of the fourth kingdom in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream: “The fourth kingdom will be as strong as iron—for iron shatters and crushes everything—and like iron that smashes, it will crush and shatter all the others” (Daniel 2:40). The term stands within the Aramaic section of Daniel (Daniel 2–7) and appears only here in the canon, intensifying the verse’s repetition of destructive imagery.
Semantic Range and Imagery
Though rarely attested, חֲשַׁל communicates more than physical breakage; it conveys irresistible domination. The paired verbs inDaniel 2:40 (“shatters and crushes,” “smash,” “crush and shatter”) form a cacophony of devastation, portraying a kingdom that pulverizes opposition until it lies in fragments. The imagery draws on metallurgy: iron is not merely harder than preceding metals (gold, silver, bronze) but actively pulverizes them, stressing qualitative supremacy and totalizing conquest.
Historical Setting in Daniel
Nebuchadnezzar’s statue vision outlines successive Gentile empires. Conservative scholarship typically identifies the fourth kingdom as Rome. Rome’s military machine, legal systems, and administrative reach indeed “crushed” the Mediterranean world, fulfilling the lexical nuance of חֲשַׁל. The term thus anchors an historical reality: Rome’s iron legions trampled resistance from Judea to Britannia, accomplishing what no earlier empire achieved.
Prophetic and Eschatological Implications
Daniel’s prophecy sets Rome as the final pre-Messianic empire, after which “a stone was cut out, but not by human hands” (Daniel 2:34). The violent crushing of the fourth kingdom anticipates its own future shattering by the divine kingdom.Revelation 19:15 echoes the same motif when Christ “treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God,” demonstrating canonical continuity: human empires crush, but ultimately are themselves crushed by the reign of Christ.
Intercanonical Links
1.Genesis 3:15 promises the Seed who will “crush” the serpent’s head;Daniel 2:40–44 situates that crushing within history’s unfolding empires.
2.Psalm 2:9 prophesies Messiah who “will break them with an iron scepter.” Both passages unite iron imagery with final judgment.
3.Romans 16:20 reaffirms: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet,” reflecting the ultimate reversal—divine crushing replacing imperial oppression.
Practical Ministry Applications
• Assurance amid political upheaval: kingdoms that appear invincible are already scheduled for demolition by God’s sovereign plan.
• Gospel proclamation: the imagery of crushing warns of judgment yet invites repentance before Christ’s kingdom arrives in fullness.
• Pastoral courage: believers facing governmental hostility can rest in Daniel’s vision—no power, however iron-fisted, escapes the Lord’s timetable.
Christological Connections
The destructive power ascribed to the iron kingdom highlights, by contrast, the constructive yet equally irresistible power of Christ’s kingdom. The same divine authority that permits Rome’s crushing conquest also orchestrates its downfall through the cross and resurrection. Thus, חֲשַׁל ultimately points beyond human violence to the decisive victory accomplished by Christ, “the stone the builders rejected” (Psalm 118:22;Matthew 21:42), whose kingdom “will never be destroyed” (Daniel 2:44).
Summary
חֲשַׁל embodies the concept of overwhelming, pulverizing force, captured inDaniel 2:40 to describe Rome’s might and, by extension, any earthly power that exalts itself. Its solitary biblical appearance magnifies the theological message: empires rise and devastate, yet God overrules them all, establishing a kingdom that ends every cycle of crushing conquest with eternal righteousness and peace.
Forms and Transliterations
וְחָשֵׁל֙ וחשל vechaShel wə·ḥā·šêl wəḥāšêl
Links
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