Daniel 3:25

3:25 He answered, “But I see four men, untied and walking around in the midst of the fire! No harm has come to them! And the appearance of the fourth is like that of a god!” ¹ 

Daniel 7:6

7:6 “After these things, ²  as I was watching, another beast ³  like a leopard appeared, with four bird-like wings on its back. ⁴  This beast had four heads, ⁵  and ruling authority was given to it.

[3:25]  ¹ sn The phrase like that of a god is in Aramaic “like that of a son of the gods.” Many patristic writers understood this phrase in a christological sense (i.e., “the Son of God”). But it should be remembered that these are words spoken by a pagan who is seeking to explain things from his own polytheistic frame of reference; for him the phrase “like a son of the gods” is equivalent to “like a divine being.”

[7:6]  ² tn Aram “this.” So also in v. 7.

[7:6]  ³ tn Aram “and behold, another one.”

[7:6]  ⁴ tn Or “sides.”

[7:6]  ⁵ sn If the third animal is Greece, the most likely identification of these four heads is the four-fold division of the empire of Alexander the Great following his death. See note on Dan 8:8.