The recordings of Daniel’s dreams and visions begin after Nebuchadnezzar’s death, and after the death of his son, Evil-Merodach. They begin during the first year of the sixteen-year reign of Belshazzar, whom some believe was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 7:1). Daniel tells us that he saw a “vision by night” (a dream) and the four winds of heaven strove upon (stirred up) the great sea. Many scholars tell us this refers to the Mediterranean Sea, but this seems a bit odd, considering Daniel is so far from the Mediterranean. Other scholars believe the great sea refers to the nations, because the scriptures refer to them as such:
Egypt rises up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he says, I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof (Jeremiah 46:8).
Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein… (Jeremiah 47:2; speaking of Pharaoh).
…the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks (Isaiah 8:8). [emphasis mine throughout]
However, one wishes to visualize the great sea of Daniel 7:2, at the end of the day the four great beasts, which Daniel saw coming out of its agitated waters, represent kingdoms or empires that soon affect the people of God, the Jews. It isn’t long before one discovers, that nothing really new is revealed in Daniel’s prophecies that isn’t already understood from Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the great image of Daniel, chapter two. The four beasts Daniel mentions in his dream in chapter seven are the same kingdoms understood from chapter two. Moreover, each beast that arose out of the sea was different from the other (Daniel 7:3), not a second growing out of the first. In other words, although the kingdom of the Medes and the Persians represent two different kingdoms (vis-à-vis the arms in Nebuchadnezzar’s image, see Daniel 2:32), the two were united through warfare, they are, therefore, one kingdom, and so one beast in Daniel’s dream.
The first beast was like that of a lion, but also like an eagle. In other words, it was fierce and powerful like a lion, and as swift as an eagle, whose hunting grounds extend afar off, greater than one might expect of a lion. Moreover, while Daniel considered the beast, he saw its feathers were plucked, and it stood like a man, implying its power and swiftness were gone, and it became a prey to others (Daniel 7:4). Of course, this beast represents Babylon, which was the only kingdom, whose downfall Daniel lived to see (clipping of the feathers, and standing like a man etc.).
The second beast, representing the Medo-Persian empire was like a bear that had three ribs in its teeth (the three kings of Babylon; cp. Jeremiah 27:6-7), and upon conquering Babylon, he was to devour much flesh (Daniel 7:5), meaning he would reign not only over his own empire, but also that of Babylon.
The third beast, representing Greece, was like that of a leopard, which is fierce and tears its prey to pieces (Jeremiah 5:6). It also has wings, four of them, which also denote its swiftness and ability to come from afar (Daniel 7:6). Surprisingly, it has four heads, which denote the division of its kingdom into four parts, after Alexander the Great died.
Finally, the fourth beast arose, which seems to be the Roman Empire, and it was dreadful, terrible and exceedingly strong, having great iron teeth, denoting the fourth kingdom of iron represented in the legs and feet of Nebuchadnezzar’s image (Daniel 2:40-43) and broke other kingdoms in pieces, and it had ten horns (Daniel 7:7)! Moreover, Daniel continued to consider this beast and observed that a smaller horn grew up with the ten, and before this one three of the ten were rooted up, and the smaller horn was given the eyes and mouth of a man, and it spoke great intimidating things (Daniel 7:8), which we’ll deal with in a later study.
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