Four Beasts of Daniel 7
The prophecies of Daniel expand and enlarge upon earlier prophecies. Daniel and Revelation are one book, they compliment each other.
In Daniel 7 we have an expansion of the prophecy of Daniel 2. In Daniel 7 there are 4 beasts that arise out of the sea (Dan 7:1-8). the seas are peoples (Rev 17:15) and the winds represent strife (Jer 49:36,37) therefore these kingdoms arose from turmoil and violence.
The ground covered by the 4 Kingdoms is the same as in Daniel 2.
The Lion is a symbol of Babylon (Dan 2:38) and “ had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.”(Dan 7:4) The lion is King of the beasts and so Babylon was the greatest of the kingdoms. (Jer 4:7, 50:17, 44) The wings showed the speed of conquest (Hab 1:6-8) and the plucking of the wings showed the slowing of the conquest under Nebuchadnezzar. The man's heart given to the beast shows the lack of “lion-heartedness” by the following Kings.
The Bear is a symbol of Medo-Persia (Dan 5:25, 8:20) “... and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.”(Dan 7:5) Medo-Persia was inferior to Babylon as the bear is to the lion. The raising on one side represented the two kingdoms that combined to defeat Babylon. The Medes and the Persians, led by Darius and Cyrus. The three ribs in the mouth of the bear represented the kingdoms of Lydia, Egypt and Babylon.
The Leopard is a symbol of Greecia (Dan 8:20,21) “ … which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.” (Dan 7:6) The four wings represented the speed of conquest by their king Alexander the Great. The four heads were the for divisions into which the kingdom was divided after the death of Alexander. (Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus.)
The Ugly dreadful beast is a symbol of Rome (Dan 7:7,8, 23 ; Luke 2:1) “… dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. 8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.(Dan 7:7,8) All historic writers agree that the description in Daniel 7:7,8 can be accurately applied to Rome in its pagan phase#. The 10 horns represented the 10 kingdoms into which pagan Rome was divided. (The Huns, the Ostrogoths, the Visigoths, the Franks, the Vandals, the Suevi, the Burgundians, the Heruli, the Anglo-Saxons, and the Lombards.) Rome rose to power in 167 B.C. and faded in 476 A.D.
In our next study we will spend more time on the subject of the little Horn which had “ … a mouth of a man speaking great things.” (Dan 7:8)