Yes please. And also your thoughts on the three horns uprooted as per you comment re Heidi Heiks and his identification of them being the Vandals, Visigoths, and Ostrogoths.
I would also like you to clarify the concept of ten being the meaning of completion. I can see that idea certainly... The commandments... Ten curtains of the tabernacle... Etc etc those 'tens', albeit indicative of something that is completed, are still literal numbers... Are there any other examples of 10 prophetically where the actual reality is more or less than the number specified as your suggestion re the ten horns?
Ok, let me see if I may address this a part at a time, so as not to mix any of it together. BTW, love ya brother! (Just was impressed to let ya' know) How are ya' doin'? Jesus is comin' soon, and cannot wait to meet all my brothers and sisters in person, and most especially Jesus. Gonna' be a great day, once everything is said an' done!
Ok. Let's look at "10" ("ten") in scripture. One of the first times we find "ten" as its own number, is in Genesis 18:32:
Gen_18:32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake.
In this we can see that 10 is the minimum number for the whole populace to live. Does that make sense?
Consider Zechariah 8:23 -
Zec_8:23 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.
Only "ten" numerically? Or is it something much more, a whole being represented?
There are the "ten" days of testing with Daniel, Daniel 1:12, while therein is the natural, it also represents the greater spiritual testing, which is much more than then natural "ten", but the whole.
Consider music, the instrument of "ten" strings (Psalms 92:3), while there was such an natural instrument with numerically "ten", it represents the whole law (even your voice is a wind and stringed instrument, to be in subjection and obedience to God, while God plucks the heart strings to speaks the gospel song, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, etc).
In Psalms 91:7, we see the range go from 1 (thousand) to 10 (thousand), of which 1 was the tenth/tithe, and the 10 the whole fullness. The natural again, also pointing to greater spiritual things.
There are "ten" virgins in the parable of Matthew 25:1. The "ten" is symbolic, so while there are "ten" (numerically) virgins, it is merely symbol, or code, for something far greater, namely the whole of the Seventh-day Adventist movement (and no others).
There are "ten" lepers (Luke 17:12,17) as a natural example that Jesus points to in matters of sin and forgiveness. In this there are naturally and actually "ten" as a numerical number, but they represent, when considered in the spiritual, the whole of the human race, with a remnant, a 1/10th being thankfully saved. The whole of the first fruit unto God.
Then there is the "ten servants", the "ten" pounds/talents (minas, coins; Matthew 25:28), the "ten" cities (Luke 19:13,16-17,24-25), the "ten" pieces of silver (Luke 15:8), and so on. There is even the "ten" tribes (Matthew 20:24; Mark 10:41) that fought against the "two", re-enacted in the lives of the disciples with Jesus.
There is the "ten" (thousand) talents owed (Matthew 18:24).
Yes, there are real numbers, but those numbers, represent also spiritual, or greater things, or wholes (such as 7 (completeness/finished) in Genesis, or 4 (all time, matter and space), etc). First the natural, then the spiritual. In visions, such as Daniel 2 or 7, where the number "ten" is used (for "horns", or implied, such as toes) it is given in a symbolic dream/vision, yes? While the "ten" was specifically seen, as a number in the dream or vision, the explanation of that number is something else, usually greater. For instance, the 4 horns of Daniel 8 on the He-Goat, are not merely Seleucus/Antiochus, Ptolemy, Cassander and Lysimachus as persons, but their entire dynasties, their lineage of rulership after them. So while there are 4 horns in visions, there are many more kings of Greecia than those four, while in four divisions; does that make sense?
There are many more "ten" in the Bible, and a few harder ones to find, like Abraham and the ten nations, but one has to count them individually, as it doesn't enumerate them outright. Yet here again, a natural number and event point to far greater things.
Even the "ten" commandments are merely summation of the "whole" law which is "exceeding broad".
In other words a synecdoche.
So, when looking at Daniel 2, 7 or Revelation 12, 13 & 17, and dealing with the number "ten" in vision, the answer is "Yes, there are numerically 10 in the vision, but they are merely symbol or even synecdoche for the greater whole when explanation is given afterwards".
For instance, in Revelation 17, we are given several things, starting with vs 1-2. A woman fornication with all the "kings of the earth", and then in later verses were are given another perspective, of a woman riding a beast (state power) with ten horns. It is the same thing, spoken of from differing labels. Jesus does this all the time. Sometimes using sheep, other times fish, other times wheat, etc. Yet it is the same thing, and so the "kings of the earth" are represented by the "ten" in the symbol of the vision. Vs 17-18 also give this again, restating "ten horns" and "kings of the earth" in parallel fashion. The woman reigns over them, but then we see this reversed in their destroying her.
So in final, Yes "ten" are literally naturally present, but we are dealing with dreams and visions in Daniel 2 & 7 and Revelation 12, 13 & 17. The number in the vision is actual, but the explanation of the "ten" is greater. Does that make sense?