This chapter begins the second division of the book. The first six of the twelve chapters are mainly historical, with a minimum of prophecy. The last six chapters are mainly prophetic, with a minimum of history. Four separate visions that God granted Daniel are recorded (chapter 7, chapter 8, chapter 9, and chapters 10–12).
The first of the four visions covers the longest span of time; the remaining three will focus on smaller portions of the history covered in the first vision.
In general, the vision that Daniel saw in a dream deals with the same subject matter found in the first dream which God gave King Nebuchadnezzar (chapter 2) and which Daniel interpreted for the king. Both dreams deal with the rise and fall of nations. In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream the four successive kingdoms were symbolized by different parts of a statue; in Daniel’s dream they are symbolized by four fierce animals rising up out of the sea. As in chapter 2, four successive empires rise and fall, and are followed by the establishment of God’s eternal kingdom. Because these visions sketch the great panorama of world history, the book of Daniel has been compared to the New Testament book of Revelation. For example, it is from Daniel chapter 7 that Revelation chapter 13 draws its imagery.
But why should God have given Daniel this vision involving a detailed prediction of what lay in store for the world, and in particular for God’s people, in the centuries ahead? It will help us to remember that almost 70 years earlier, God’s ancient people of Judah had been taken into exile a thousand miles away from home. After spending that long a time in captivity, it might have seemed that God was through with them. To assure his people this was not so, God showed Daniel what the future held for his people and instructed him to share this revelation with the exiles. Through this particular vision granted to Daniel, God’s people would learn that they would not only survive captivity in Babylon but that in God’s good time they would also see the promised Messiah come to earth. And when he would return to earth at the end of the world to take up his eternal rule, God’s people would actually rule with him. Far from being on the verge of extinction, God’s people had a bright future ahead of them.
In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying on his bed. He wrote down the substance of his dream.
The setting for Daniel’s vision is the first year of Belshazzar, the Babylonian king who gave the banquet described in chapter 5. Babylon was still the leading nation in the world, but its power was declining. Belshazzar was the last king of Babylon, the man on the throne at the time Babylon collapsed before the attack of the Medo-Persians under Cyrus. The vision described in this chapter came to Daniel when he was about 65.
Daniel’s dream consisted of a number of visions, which God permitted him to see one night during his sleep. Daniel’s dream was not merely the product of an overactive imagination or the result of having eaten too much the previous evening. It is described here as consisting of visions that came to him from God. God thereby showed Daniel something he wouldn’t otherwise have been able to see or know.
God revealed to Daniel important information about the near future and the far distant future. This information concerned not only world empires but God’s people as well. It told of nations rising and falling and the Messiah’s coming to judge his enemies and rescue his people forever. Daniel recognized this revelation as a supernatural message from God.
It is worth repeating that such divine revelation sets Christianity apart from all man-made religions. We refer to these as natural religion, because they all originate in the mind of human beings. By contrast, the Christian religion is revealed religion, because it originated in the mind of God. We have it only because God pulled back the veil and showed us things that we otherwise could not have known.
Daniel did not receive this vision just for his own benefit. Although at the time of the vision Daniel was a statesman in the Babylonian court, he was also God’s spokesman to the people of Judah living in exile. Jesus referred to him as “the prophet Daniel” (Matthew 24:15). While the matter was still fresh in his mind, Daniel put down in writing the essential features of the great mass of detail that God had revealed to him in the vision. Such detailed prophecy is significant evidence of the inerrancy of the Scripture.
2 Daniel said: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea.
The inspired account of Daniel’s vision begins: “In my vision at night I looked . . .” The phrase “I looked,” which occurs ten times in this chapter, is a special combination of verbs meaning literally, “I was gazing intently.” It is a significant expression, emphasizing the fact that Daniel was fascinated by the picture God was showing him and that he continued to look at it, examining it closely to learn what God was telling him through the dream.
“Before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea.” Although in biblical times the Mediterranean was commonly referred to as the “Great Sea,” it seems unlikely that the Mediterranean is referred to here. Only two of the four nations about to be pictured in Daniel’s vision arose in the Mediterranean area. What is being emphasized is that the disturbed state of the world helped to bring about the rise of four world powers that appeared on the pages of ancient history. The phrase “the four winds” suggests the four points of the compass. The continuous churning up of the great sea represents the political unrest and turmoil in the world during the last five centuries before Christ, the period of time during which these four great world powers arose.
What follows is a description of each of these world powers. The first three are dealt with quite briefly; the fourth is described in considerable detail. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (chapter 2) had presented only a partial and incomplete picture of the four world empires. Daniel’s dream gives us a picture of what these four kingdoms were really like; it gives us deeper insight into their beastlike nature. History has documented that when a nation forgets its God-given assignment and seeks instead to dominate people, it loses its finer traits and becomes, in effect, a beast.
3 Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea.
In his dream Daniel saw four great beasts (later identified as four empires) arise successively to occupy positions of prominence and power. Each of these empires would have a decided influence on the ancient people of God as each in turn moved into the spotlight. Each of the beasts was distinct from the others; each of the four empires had characteristic traits.
In Daniel’s dream the four beasts appeared on the scene full-grown. Though all four were land animals, they arose out of the sea. And yet a later verse of this chapter (verse 17) states clearly that these four beasts represented four kingdoms that would arise out of the earth.
The first beast: Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon
4“The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a man, and the heart of a man was given to it.
Both the lion and the eagle are recognized as being dominant—one, as king of the beasts; the other, as king of the birds. The first beast resembled a lion, because of its great strength. In addition, however, the beast had eagle’s wings, enabling it to travel rapidly and to conquer far and wide. Its qualities made it a powerful force to be reckoned with in the politics of the ancient Near East.
A lion with wings may sound strange to us, but it did not to Daniel. The first beast in his vision represents the Babylonian Empire, or more specifically, great King Nebuchadnezzar. The archaeologist’s spade has uncovered streets and temples of ancient Babylon and found statues of winged lions symbolically guarding the palace gates in the empire’s beautiful capital city. The winged lion, then, was an emblem of Babylonian power.
In connection with Daniel’s vision of Babylon’s imperial power, it may not be out of place to note that the business of founding an empire first started in Babylon. There had been individual city-states earlier, but Nimrod, of the Hamite branch of Noah’s family, was the first to bring four city-states under his control (Genesis 10:8-12). He thereby founded the first empire.
While Daniel was watching, the effective power of the first beast was destroyed. The wings that had enabled it to move so rapidly were torn off, and the beast itself was lifted up off of the earth. Without a firm footing, the beast was not able to attack its enemies. The statement “the heart of a man was given to it” is perhaps best understood as referring to Nebuchadnezzar’s recovery from his temporary insanity, when the ability to rule had been taken from him (4:28-37). After the humiliation of his insanity, there was a change in Nebuchadnezzar. He again came to resemble a human being rather than a beast living out in the field and was no longer motivated only by his lust for power.
The second beast: Medo-Persia
5“And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, ‘Get up and eat your fill of flesh!’
The empire that toppled and succeeded Babylon was the Medo-Persian Empire of King Cyrus. Daniel saw this empire symbolized by a beast resembling a bear.
The statement “it was raised up on one of its sides” is a difficult and much-disputed one. It is perhaps best understood as referring to the greater importance of the Persian segment of the Medo-Persian alliance. The outstanding characteristic of this beast was its greed for prey, for conquest. The words “it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth” describe the fate of any nation which opposed it during the two centuries that were the glory years of the Medo-Persian Empire. The three ribs “would well correspond to the three major conquests of the MedoPersian Empire: Lydia, Babylon and Egypt” (Archer, Survey of Old Testament Introduction, page 383). Daniel heard a voice telling this beast, “Get up and eat your fill of flesh!” This was very likely God’s voice, granting Cyrus the authority to subjugate many nations.