Commentary - Daniel 7:1-8

Bird's-eye view

In Daniel 7, we are given a behind-the-scenes look at the engine room of history. This is not a political science textbook; it is an apocalypse, an unveiling of spiritual realities that govern the rise and fall of nations. Daniel, in a night vision, sees a succession of four monstrous beasts emerge from the tumultuous sea of the Gentile nations. These are not cuddly zoo animals; they are terrifying, hybrid creatures representing a sequence of world empires: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. This vision parallels Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the great statue in Daniel 2, but with a crucial difference. While Nebuchadnezzar saw the empires from a human perspective, admiring their glory and majesty, Daniel sees them from God's perspective, as ravenous, chaotic beasts. The climax of the vision is the emergence of a particularly nasty "little horn" from the fourth beast, a blasphemous and persecuting power. But the central point of the entire chapter, which we will get to later, is not the power of these beasts, but their ultimate subjugation to the Son of Man, who receives an everlasting kingdom from the Ancient of Days. This chapter is a profound encouragement to the saints: earthly empires may rage, but their time is short and their authority is derivative. The final and ultimate dominion belongs to Jesus Christ and His people.

This passage establishes a pattern that runs through all of biblical prophecy. God raises up empires, uses them for His purposes, and then casts them down. They are instruments in His hand, and their apparent strength is nothing before His sovereign decree. The vision is given to Daniel during the reign of Belshazzar, just before the first beast, Babylon, is to be judged and conquered. It is a timely reminder that God holds the title deed to history, and the future belongs not to the beasts from the sea, but to the Man from Heaven.

Outline

Context In Daniel

Daniel 7 marks a significant shift in the book. The first six chapters are primarily historical narratives, written in the third person, detailing the faithfulness of Daniel and his friends in the midst of pagan courts. Chapter 7 begins the second section of the book (chapters 7-12), which consists of Daniel's own apocalyptic visions, written in the first person. There is also a language shift; while chapters 2-7 are in Aramaic, the language of international diplomacy at the time, the rest of the book returns to Hebrew. This vision of the four beasts in chapter 7 is foundational for the rest of the book's prophecies. It provides the symbolic framework that will be expanded upon in subsequent chapters. It runs parallel to the vision of the statue in chapter 2, with the four beasts corresponding to the four metals of the statue (Gold/Lion=Babylon, Silver/Bear=Medo-Persia, Bronze/Leopard=Greece, Iron/Terrifying Beast=Rome). This repetition is a classic feature of Hebrew literature, reinforcing and adding detail to the same essential truth: God is sovereign over the succession of pagan empires, and all of them will ultimately give way to the indestructible kingdom of His Messiah.

Key Issues

Beasts from the Sea

Before we dive into the particulars, we need to get our bearings. This is apocalyptic literature, which means it is highly symbolic. It's a "word picture," a divinely inspired political cartoon, not a literal zoological report. The word apocalypse means an "unveiling," a pulling back of the curtain to see what is really going on in the spiritual realm. When we read this kind of literature, we must not be woodenly literal. Jesus does not have a literal sword coming out of his mouth (Rev 1:16). These are symbols, and they are meant to be interpreted by the rest of Scripture.

The vision begins with the "great sea" being stirred up by the four winds of heaven. In Scripture, the sea is often a symbol of the Gentile nations in their chaotic, restless, and ungodly state (Is. 17:12; 60:5; Rev. 17:15). It is the realm of chaos and death, the opposite of the stable, ordered "land" of God's covenant people. So, these empires, these beasts, arise from the turmoil of fallen humanity. They are not born from the covenant; they are products of the world's chaos. The four winds represent the sovereign power of God, stirring up history and bringing these empires onto the stage according to His divine timetable. God is not a passive observer; He is the one churning the waters.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel saw a dream and visions in his head as he lay on his bed; then he wrote the dream down and said the following summary of the matter.

The timing is significant. Belshazzar is the last king of Babylon. The first beast's time is almost up. As the Babylonian empire is breathing its last, God gives Daniel a vision of the entire sweep of Gentile world power that will precede the coming of the Messiah's kingdom. Daniel is a faithful steward of this revelation; he doesn't just have the dream, he writes it down. This is not for his private edification, but for the people of God in all ages. This is Scripture in the making.

2-3 Daniel answered and said, “I was looking in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another.

Here is the setup for the whole vision. The "four winds" indicate the universal and comprehensive nature of God's sovereign action. He is working from every direction. The "great sea" is the cauldron of the Gentile nations. Out of this roiling chaos, God calls forth four great beasts. They are distinct from one another, each with its own character, but they share a common origin: the sea. They are earthly, pagan powers, not heavenly ones. They represent the principle of dominion by brute force, the law of the jungle applied to geopolitics.

4 The first was like a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; and a heart of a man was given to it.

This first beast is Babylon. The lion is the king of beasts, and the eagle the king of birds, fitting symbols for the golden head of Nebuchadnezzar's statue. The combination represents strength and speed. This was the Neo-Babylonian empire in its glory. But then there is a strange transformation. Its wings are plucked, a symbol of humiliation and the loss of its power to conquer swiftly. It is then made to stand like a man and given a man's heart. This almost certainly refers to the personal experience of Nebuchadnezzar himself, as recorded in Daniel 4. God humbled him, drove him to insanity where he acted like a beast, and then restored him with the "heart of a man" who acknowledged the sovereignty of the Most High God. The story of the empire is encapsulated in the story of its greatest king.

5 And behold, another beast, a second one in the likeness of a bear. And it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth; and thus they said to it, ‘Arise, devour much meat!’

The second beast is the Medo-Persian Empire, which conquered Babylon. A bear is less majestic than a lion, but it is powerful, brutish, and crushing. The detail that it was "raised up on one side" is a brilliant symbolic touch, representing the unequal partnership between the Medes and the more dominant Persians. The three ribs in its mouth likely represent three major conquests that established its empire, perhaps Lydia, Babylon, and Egypt. The command to "devour much meat" speaks to its rapacious and expansionist nature. It was a lumbering, conquering force, gobbling up territory.

6 After this I kept looking, and behold, another one, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird; the beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.

Next comes the empire of Greece under Alexander the Great. The leopard is a symbol of incredible speed and ferocity. To emphasize this, the beast has not two wings, but four. This perfectly captures the lightning-fast conquests of Alexander, who subdued the known world in just over a decade. But the beast also has four heads. This points to what happened after Alexander's early death: his empire was not passed to a single heir but was divided among his four leading generals (Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus). The "dominion was given to it" is a crucial theological statement. Alexander did not achieve his conquests by his own genius alone; authority was granted to him by God for a set time and purpose.

7 After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, fearsome and terrifying and extraordinarily strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.

The fourth beast is so terrible that Daniel cannot compare it to any known animal. This is the Roman Empire. It is described simply by its attributes: fearsome, terrifying, and brutally strong. Its iron teeth correspond to the iron legs of the statue in Daniel 2, symbolizing its military might and its power to crush all opposition. It doesn't just conquer; it devours, crushes, and tramples. This was the character of Rome: relentless, efficient, and merciless in its expansion. It was "different" from the others, perhaps in its longevity, its republican form of government, or its sheer administrative and military prowess. The ten horns represent a succession of rulers or kings within this empire. In the context of the first century, a straightforward reading points to the line of Roman emperors.

8 While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking great boasts.

As Daniel considers the ten horns, his attention is drawn to a new player: a "little horn." This horn is not just another king in the sequence. It is an upstart, displacing three of the previous rulers. More importantly, it has unique characteristics. It has "eyes like the eyes of a man," signifying intelligence, cunning, and surveillance. And it has "a mouth speaking great boasts," or blasphemies. This is a persecuting power that sets itself against God and His people. While this figure has been identified in many ways throughout church history, within the preterist framework that sees these prophecies fulfilled in the first century, this points to the persecuting Roman powers that culminated in the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. This little horn represents the blasphemous pride of the pagan state demanding worship and setting itself against the kingdom of Christ. It is this arrogant power that will be the focus of the judgment that follows in the next section of the vision.

Application

The vision of Daniel 7 is a potent antidote to political anxiety. We live in a world of tumultuous seas, with nations raging and politicians boasting. It is easy to become fearful, to think that the beasts are in control. But this vision pulls back the curtain and shows us that the beasts are on a leash. Their dominion is given, and their time is appointed. God is stirring the sea, and He is doing so to accomplish His purposes.

This passage teaches us to have a healthy disrespect for the pretensions of earthly power. From God's perspective, the mightiest empires are just a sequence of wild animals. We are not to be impressed by their pomp or intimidated by their power. Our allegiance belongs not to the lion, the bear, the leopard, or the terrifying monster, but to the Son of Man who is coming on the clouds. The empires of this world rise and fall, but the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ is an everlasting dominion.

Therefore, we should live as citizens of that coming kingdom. We must refuse to bow to the blasphemous boasts of the little horns of our own day, whatever form they take. Whether it is the state demanding ultimate allegiance, or a culture demanding we celebrate what God condemns, we must stand firm, like Daniel. We know how the story ends. The court will be seated, the beasts will be judged, and the kingdom will be given to the saints of the Most High. Our job is not to fear the beasts, but to faithfully proclaim the good news of the King who has dominion over them all.