Dan 7:1-8 | KingComments | STEP | Daniel 7 is the first chapter of the second part of the book. History is not continued, as we return to the first year of Belshazzar ( ). In this second part we have four visions, the first in Daniel 7, the second in Daniel 8, the third in the last part of Daniel 9 and the fourth in Daniel 10-12. They’re all dated differently. They are about the further histories of the world empires and how the little people of God will experience in them. Daniel 7 and 9 are about the West, the empire of Western Europe, Daniel 8 and 10-12 about the East. Belshazzar is the last king of Babylon, as we have seen in Daniel 5. In the first year of his government Daniel gets a dream. In that dream he sees some visions. It is shown to him that the empire of Belshazzar, the Babylonian empire, will be destroyed. He also sees a second, third and even fourth empire. Those empires too will all perish. It also becomes clear from the dream that the eternal kingdom, that of the Lord Jesus, does not come during the Babylonian or Medo-Persian empire, not even during the third, but during the fourth empire, the Roman. That there will be four empires that will all perish, has been already made clear to him in Daniel 2 in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the statue. Here it is about the same four world empires. However, they are seen here from another perspective. What is new is that the vision is not shown to Nebuchadnezzar, but to Daniel. This time the empires are also not shown in the form of a statue that makes a great impression, with beautiful metals, as people like to see the empires. Here God shows the empires, as He sees them, in their corrupt character, as unreasoning beasts. Beasts are beings without any recognition of God, beings who have no knowledge and understanding of Divine things. God also shows what these empires will do to His people when in their lack of understanding they turn against the saints. God wants to speak to our hearts through this. He wants to show that He knows the future and that He is above the empires and their striving. He knows how to use them for His purpose: the purification of His people. As said, Daniel will not see one, but a few visions in this chapter. When we read the chapter, it turns out to be three. We see that three verses begin with the reference to a vision ( ) and that two times an interpretation follows ( ). 1. The first vision, starting in , is about the first three empires, represented by three beasts. 2. The second vision, from onwards, is about the fourth beast or empire. 3. The third vision is found in and is about the eternal kingdom or the kingdom of the Son of man. 4. From the first interpretation follows and from the second interpretation. Daniel writes down the dream. He records what he has seen, that is to say, as he himself says, the “summary of it”. After having had his dream, he thought about it and considered what it means. That is what the LORD has given him in his thoughts. This has enabled him to write down everything that is important and makes the interpretation clear. So it has been preserved for the generations to come and also for us.

‏ Daniel 7:1-8

Introduction

Daniel 7 is the first chapter of the second part of the book. History is not continued, as we return to the first year of Belshazzar (Dan 7:1). In this second part we have four visions, the first in Daniel 7, the second in Daniel 8, the third in the last part of Daniel 9 and the fourth in Daniel 10-12. They’re all dated differently. They are about the further histories of the world empires and how the little people of God will experience in them. Daniel 7 and 9 are about the West, the empire of Western Europe, Daniel 8 and 10-12 about the East.

The Dream and Visions of Daniel

Belshazzar is the last king of Babylon, as we have seen in Daniel 5. In the first year of his government Daniel gets a dream. In that dream he sees some visions. It is shown to him that the empire of Belshazzar, the Babylonian empire, will be destroyed. He also sees a second, third and even fourth empire. Those empires too will all perish. It also becomes clear from the dream that the eternal kingdom, that of the Lord Jesus, does not come during the Babylonian or Medo-Persian empire, not even during the third, but during the fourth empire, the Roman.

That there will be four empires that will all perish, has been already made clear to him in Daniel 2 in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the statue. Here it is about the same four world empires. However, they are seen here from another perspective. What is new is that the vision is not shown to Nebuchadnezzar, but to Daniel. This time the empires are also not shown in the form of a statue that makes a great impression, with beautiful metals, as people like to see the empires.

Here God shows the empires, as He sees them, in their corrupt character, as unreasoning beasts. Beasts are beings without any recognition of God, beings who have no knowledge and understanding of Divine things. God also shows what these empires will do to His people when in their lack of understanding they turn against the saints. God wants to speak to our hearts through this. He wants to show that He knows the future and that He is above the empires and their striving. He knows how to use them for His purpose: the purification of His people.

As said, Daniel will not see one, but a few visions in this chapter. When we read the chapter, it turns out to be three. We see that three verses begin with the reference to a vision (Dan 7:2 ; 7 ; 13) and that two times an interpretation follows (Dan 7:16 ; 23).

1. The first vision, starting in Dan 7:2, is about the first three empires, represented by three beasts.

2. The second vision, from Dan 7:7 onwards, is about the fourth beast or empire.

3. The third vision is found in Dan 7:13-14 and is about the eternal kingdom or the kingdom of the Son of man.

4. From Dan 7:16 the first interpretation follows and from Dan 7:23 the second interpretation.

Daniel writes down the dream. He records what he has seen, that is to say, as he himself says, the “summary of it”. After having had his dream, he thought about it and considered what it means. That is what the LORD has given him in his thoughts. This has enabled him to write down everything that is important and makes the interpretation clear. So it has been preserved for the generations to come and also for us.

The Origin of the Beasts

Daniel tells us that in his vision he saw four great beasts coming up from the great sea. The great sea represents the turbulent mass of the nations (Isa 17:12). This picture shows that out of the sea of nations at that time, four world empires come up successively. The four winds indicate the spiritual powers behind this turbulence. They are the spiritual powers in the heavenly places.

The following verses describe the development of the four empires. Not many words are devoted to the first three empires. The fourth realm in contrast is described in detail.

The First Three Beasts

The first empire appears in the form of a lion. This represents the Babylonian empire (Jer 50:17 ; Jer 4:6-7 ; 13 ; Jer 49:19 ; 22). The lion has wings of an eagle. This points to the enormous speed with which the beast attacks its prey. But these wings are also plucked. The rapid expansion of power is coming to an end. The fact that this empire is then compared with a human being shows that this empire is reduced to its true meaning. It is over with all power.

The second empire appears in the form of a bear. This represents the Medo-Persian empire. The two components of this empire is indicated by the peculiarity that “it was raised up on one side”. That means that there is a predominant side in this two-party kingdom. These are the Persians. It is the Persian Cyrus who through his entire empire circulated a proclamation regarding the return of the Jews to Jerusalem (Ezra 1:1). The three ribs that the bear has in its mouth may be seen in three directions of the wind and the areas that lie there that are captured by the Medes and Persians (Dan 8:4). This empire has an insatiable hunger for more conquests. It is urged to do so by a power from outside.

The third empire is the Greek-Macedonian empire and appears in the form of a leopard. A leopard is an extraordinarily fast beast. It symbolizes the speed with which the emperor of the Greek-Macedonian empire, Alexander the Great, overwhelmed the previous empire. His government lasted only thirteen years, from 336-323 BC, but in that short time he conquered the entire Medo-Persian empire and many more outside. He is only thirty-three years old when he dies.

This leopard has four wings and four heads. This seems to indicate that Alexander was able to carry out his quick conquests thanks to the support of his four generals (four wings). After his death these four generals divide his empire between each other. The four heads represent these generals as the rulers who each gain authority over a quarter of the empire. Alexander is the head of the empire himself. Power is given to him.

The Fourth Beast

Finally, the fourth empire appears in the form of a terrifying beast. This characteristic of frightfulness is also mentioned in connection with the iron of the statue (Dan 2:31). This beast has no name. It has no resemblance to any of the beasts created by God. Daniel can only describe it. The description gives the impression that we are dealing with a machine that devours everything within its reach without any compassion.

It resembles a beast that only occurs in nightmares, but to which unscrupulous people today give shape in various computer games. All those who seek their amusement in games in which a monster swallows up and crushes everything, will less and less recognize the terrifying character of the monster that will appear on the world stage soon.

The monster has ten horns, which indicates that the empire consists of ten parts. The first empire is a unity, the second empire consists of two parts and the third empire is divided into four parts. However, the difference between the first three empires and the fourth empire is not only numerical. The difference is, above all, that this fourth empire in its history never consisted of ten parts, as in the previous empires there is unity or they consist of two or four parts. But as we have already seen in Daniel 2, that event will become a fact in the (near) future. We see the signs of it in the unification of Europe.

Daniel’s attention is drawn by the horns. As he looks closely at them, he sees how, at the expense of three horns, an eleventh, little one, elevates himself above all the horns. As a special feature of this little horn he notes that it represents a human being. He perceives eyes as human eyes and a mouth full of boasting. The person portrayed in this horn is extremely astute and also very presumptuous in his use of language, particularly blaming God, Christ, and the believers.