7:1 We have already read of two dreams that Nebuchadnezzar had (2:1; 4:5). Now God gave one to Daniel. It too was a vision from God that came to Daniel as he slept.
"In referring to the experience as a dream' (sing.) Daniel was emphasizing the unity of the revelation and in referring to it as visions' (pl.) he emphasized the successive stages in which the revelation was given. . . . The dream refers to his being asleep, and the visions refer to what he saw while dreaming."241
It came to him in the first year of Belshazzar's reign, 553 B.C.242It was fitting that this vision of the downfall of world empires should come to the prophet during the reign of the last king of Babylon. God gave it to him 50 years after the similar revelation of the great image in chapter 2 (cf. Gen. 41:25, 32). Daniel would have been about 68 years old when he had this dream. Chronologically then we can place this chapter between chapters 4 and 5.
"God does not reveal all His truths at once, even to the wise, but reserves much for age and experience."243
Upon waking, Daniel recorded what he had seen. What follows in this chapter, he said, is only a summary of what he saw.
"For the first time in the book, a vision is written down. Earlier OT prophecies were put into writing as a stage in implementing them and, when they were disbelieved, as an evidence that they had been given before the events of which they spoke, and thus were indeed words from God (see Isa 8:1, 16; 30:8; Jer 36; Hab 2:2)."244
7:2 Daniel referred to himself in the third person in the first six chapters, but in the last six he used the first person. He may have made this change to make his visions more impressive and persuasive to the reader.
Daniel saw the Great Sea, probably the Mediterranean (cf. Num. 34:6-7; Josh. 1:4; 9:1; Ezek. 47:10; et al.), stirred up by the four winds (or spirits) of heaven (v. 2; cf. Jer. 23:19; 49:36; Zech. 6:1-6; Rev. 7:1-3; et al.). The sea in Scripture and in ancient Near Eastern symbolism represented the mass of humanity, the Gentile nations of the earth (v. 17; cf. Isa. 8:6-8; 17:12-13; 57:20; Jer. 6:23; 46:7-8; 47:2; Rev. 13:1; 17:1, 15; 21:1; et al.). The Mediterranean world seems to be particularly in view since the sea was the Mediterranean. The wind represents God's power expressed in judgment using heavenly and earthly forces from all directions to influence the nations as He wills (cf. Rev. 7:1; 9:14-15).245
"God often used the wind as a means to attain His ends (Gen 8:1: Ex 10:13-19; 14:21; 15:10; Num 11:31; I Ki 18:45; 19:11). . . . Of more than 120 references in the Bible to wind (more than 90 in the O.T. and about 30 in the N.T.), well over half are related to events and ideas which reflect the sovereignty and power of God. In Daniel, wind is uniformly used to represent the sovereign power of God, which is the viewpoint of the book."246
7:3 The four beasts arising out of the sea represent four kings (v. 17). They personify the nations over which they rule, as becomes clear in the following revelation. They are anomalies, as are the other characters presented, and their abnormalities have significance.
7:4 The first beast looked like a lion, but it also had wings as an eagle. As Daniel watched, something plucked its wings off, made it stand on two feet as a man, and gave it a human mind or nature. Many nations have used the lion as a symbol of royal power because it is the traditional king of beasts (cf. 1 Kings 10:20; 2 Chron. 9:19). Similarly the eagle has long represented the king of birds (cf. Ezek. 17:3, 7). Almost all interpreters, conservative and critical, believe this lion represents Neo-Babylonia. Huge winged lions guarded the gates of the royal Babylonian palaces.247Babylon used both the lion and the eagle as national emblems (cf. Jer. 4:7, 13; Ezek. 17:3). The cropping of the lion's wings may allude to the humiliation of Nebuchadnezzar (ch. 4)248or perhaps to the deterioration of his kingdom after his death.249After Nebuchadnezzar's humbling by God, he became more humane.250
7:5 The second beast resembled a bear. The Old Testament writers spoke of the bear as the most formidable beast of prey in Palestine after the lion (cf. 1 Sam. 12:34; Amos 5:19; cf. 2 Kings 2:24; Hos. 13:8).251The bear that Daniel saw appeared stronger on one side than the other. This probably reflects the superior strength of the Persian part of the Medo-Persian Empire (cf. 8:3, 20).
The three ribs in its teeth probably stand for three nations or three parts of one nation that Medo-Persia had devoured, was devouring, or would devour. When Daniel saw this vision, Medo-Persia had not yet overthrown Babylonia, so perhaps these were nations of less prominence that it had conquered. Some scholars believe the ribs refer to the Babylonian, Lydian, and Egyptian Empires, all of which Medo-Persia conquered eventually.252Others suggest that they may refer to Media, Persia, and Babylon, the three major components of the Medo-Persian Empire.253
Daniel heard voices (angelic?) encouraging the bear to devour much meat. This probably indicates that it would yet subdue many nations. Medo-Persia ruled for 200 years before Alexander the Great toppled it in 331 B.C., and its geographic extent was far-reaching.
7:6 Most Bible students have identified the third kingdom with Greece because Greece overthrew Medo-Persia ("dominion was given to it"), and it bore the characteristics of the animal described here. Leopards (or panthers254) are less majestic and ponderous than lions and bears. Their outstanding characteristics are their speed, strength, and cunning (cf. Jer. 5:6; Hos. 13:7; Hab. 1:8).
The four wings on this leopard's back made it even faster.
"With the swiftness of a leopard, Alexander the Great conquered most of the civilized world all the way from Macedonia to Africa and eastward to India [334-331 B.C.]. The lightning character of his conquests is without precedent in the ancient world, and this is fully in keeping with the image of speed embodied in the leopard itself and the four wings on its back."255
Apparently each wing had some connection with each of this animal's four heads. Heads suggest intelligent direction. Greece had four governmental divisions with one person heading each division. Following Alexander's defeat at Ipsus, in Phrygia, in 301 B.C., the Grecian Empire divided into four parts under Alexander's generals.
There is some question about who these four men were. Jerome and Calvin believed they were Ptolemy, Seleucus, Philip, and Antigonus.256Most modern commentators think they were Lysimachus (who ruled Thrace and Bithynia), Cassander (Macedonia and Greece), Seleucus (Syria, Babylonia, and the eastern territories), and Ptolemy (Egypt, Palestine, and Arabia Petrea).257Each of these successors ruled one of the geographical divisions of Alexander's empire: Greece, Western Asia, Egypt, and Persia. The exact identification of the rulers is debatable because it took about 20 years for the kingdom to be successfully divided. Still there is no question that Greece split into four major parts (cf. 8:8, 22).
A third conservative view, which I do not think is as strong, is that the four wings and heads represent the four corners of the earth.258
". . . there is no way in which a quadripartite character can be made out for the Persian Empire either under Cyrus or under any of his successors."259
7:7 Most conservative scholars believe that the fourth beast represents the Roman Empire, but critical scholars interpret it as referring to Greece. Walvoord called the identification of the fourth beast in chapter 7 "the crucial issue in the interpretation of the entire book of Daniel."260
In contrast to Greece, the rise and fall of the Roman Empire was slow.261It began in 241 B.C. with the occupation of Sicily. Gradually it expanded throughout the whole Mediterranean world; western Europe including Britain, Gaul, and Spain; and western Asia as far east as the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf. It formally ended in A.D. 410 when the Visigoths sacked Rome. However, its governmental influence persisted as late as A.D. 1453 when the last Roman ruler died in battle in Constantinople.
Daniel did not compare the fourth beast that he saw to any natural animal; it was unique. It was dreadful, terrifying, and extremely strong. Its large iron teeth chewed up what it attacked, and its feet crushed and trampled everything left by the former beasts.
". . . the Roman empire was ruthless in its destruction of civilizations and peoples, killing captives by the thousands and selling them into slavery by the hundreds of thousands."262
"Rome had no interest in raising the conquered nations to any high level of development. All her designs were imperial; let the nations be crushed and stamped underfoot."263
The identification of the 10 horns of this beast is more difficult. There is some obvious similarity between these 10 horns and the 10 toes of the image in chapter 2. They apparently represent 10 contemporaneous rulers (v. 17). Horns pictured strength and rulers in ancient eastern iconography, yet scholars have not been able to agree on the identification of 10 outstanding rulers of the Roman Empire who ruled simultaneously.
There are two basic views about the identity of the 10 horns. First, some scholars spiritualize the number 10 and the number three (v. 8). That is, they do not take them literally. Almost all interpreters in this camp are amillennial.264Of these, some believe these numbers refer to past rulers even though we cannot identify them.265Others believe they refer to future rulers who will appear at the second coming of Jesus Christ.266Again, they are not literally 10 rulers, according to this view. The number refers generally to those who will reign with Christ in the future, according to conservative amillennialists.
Second, some scholars believe we should take the numbers 10 and three literally since that is how we take the other numbers.267Furthermore there is no clue in the text that we should interpret these numbers differently. This consistent method of interpretation is what characterizes premillennialists.268Therefore most premillenarians believe that the 10 horns describe 10 rulers who will arise in the future and reign simultaneously. This obviously seems to be unlikely since the Roman Empire is no longer in existence. However there seem to be indications in Daniel and elsewhere in the Bible, which I will point out later, that God will revive or realign the Roman Empire in the future.
7:8 Daniel noticed an eleventh horn arising among the ten, which displaced three of the 10 horns. This horn had human eyes, probably symbolic of intelligence, and a mouth that spoke boastfully (cf. vv. 11, 20, 25). This is quite clearly Antichrist (cf. Isa. 27:1; Matt. 24:5, 15; 2 Thess. 2:3-4; 1 John 2:18; 4:3; Rev. 13; 17; 19). Daniel saw another "little horn"in another vision that he reported having (8:9-11). However the differences between these two little horns argue for their being different rulers, as my comments on 8:9-11 will show. Rulers represent the nations that they lead as well as representing themselves (cf. vv. 17, 23).
