The third beast: Greece
6 “After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule.
Although it is not as big or as strong as a lion or a bear, a leopard is a formidable enemy. Best known for its speed, it is also a killer. This animal symbolized the small Greek forces of Alexander the Great. With an army of only 30,000, he attacked the enormous Medo-Persian Empire, which extended all the way from India in the east to Turkey in the west and as far south as Egypt. It took him only 12 years to complete the conquest, so that at the age of 30, Alexander was master of the world.
“On its back it had four wings like those of a bird.” By contrast, the beast symbolizing Babylon in Daniel’s dream had only two wings. The leopardlike beast had four wings, to speed its program of world conquest, according to the principles of sudden coordinated surprise attacks.
Daniel saw the beast symbolizing Greece as having four heads. When Alexander died suddenly at the age of 33, no one strong leader appeared on the scene to replace him. As a result, his empire was partitioned into four sections: Greece, Asia Minor, the Seleucid Empire (including Syria, Babylon, and Persia), and Egypt. Each of these was ruled over by one of Alexander’s generals.
One cannot review the history of Alexander’s empire without realizing the truth of Daniel’s statement: “It was given authority to rule”—not by Alexander, but by God himself. “No other explanation can account for the fact that Alexander’s 30,000-man army was able to conquer Persian armies of several hundreds of thousands” (Feinberg, Daniel, the Man and His Visions, page 88).
The fourth beast: Rome
7 “After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns.
The fourth beast Daniel saw in his vision differed from the others in that it was not associated with a particular animal, and intentionally so. There is no animal that has characteristics demonstrated by the nation symbolized here, characteristics that mark it as terrible beyond description— “terrifying and frightening and very powerful.” It had large teeth of iron, the same metal that symbolized the Roman Empire in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the statue (chapter 2). The beast Daniel saw in his vision had ten horns. Since animals often use their horns as weapons to kill an opponent, the horn is an Old Testament symbol of strength. Ten horns would then symbolize unusual strength, especially in the ten kings referred to in verse 24.
The empire symbolized by the fourth beast can only be Rome, which replaced Greece as the leading nation and which was characterized by its use of raw power. Rome had little interest in raising the nations she conquered to higher levels of development. “It crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left.” Rome’s only aim was to destroy, to crush, to conquer. A more detailed description is given of this fourth beast, because its significance in the vision is greater than that of the other beasts, as the following verses will show.
8 “While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully.
It was mentioned earlier that the message of Daniel’s vision in this chapter is quite similar to the message of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in chapter 2. The same four kingdoms are pictured. But Daniel’s vision here gives us a much more detailed picture of the fourth empire. It presents the history of that kingdom in three stages: first of all, the beast itself; then, its ten horns (ten kings); finally, the little horn.
In the case of the other three beasts that Daniel saw, each appeared for a period of time and then disappeared, to be replaced by another beast. This was not the case, however, with the fourth beast. Daniel saw a change take place in the beast. Among the ten horns a little horn appeared, which pulled three of the horns out by the roots. This seems to imply that although this horn was little when it first appeared, it became the greatest of all, uprooting three of the original horns and taking over their share of influence.
On the little horn Daniel noted two eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully. What it said is later described as speaking “against the Most High” (verse 25). This description points to the human intelligence and character of this new personality, who will be described in greater detail later in the chapter. It had a mouth that uttered arrogant boasting, including blaspheming God and persecuting his people. The description of this horn corresponds to the description of the beast in Saint John’s Revelation (13:5-8; 17:11-14). It symbolizes Satan’s counterfeit world ruler, who will try to take the place of Jesus Christ, God’s true world ruler.
9 “As I looked,
“thrones were set in place,
and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow;
the hair of his head was white like wool.
His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.
10 A river of fire was flowing,
coming out from before him.
Thousands upon thousands attended him;
ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
The court was seated, and the books were opened.
Here is the climax of Daniel’s nighttime vision. The succession of earthly kings stopped, and God stepped in, to have the last word. “Thrones were set in place” because God was about to pronounce judgment. Since the judgment pictured here is the last judgment, it is clear that Daniel’s vision of the fourth beast involves a long time span—beginning with the rise of the Roman Empire and extending to the second coming of Christ.
This is an important feature of the vision God gave Daniel. The sea (the political world) and the four beasts (four successive world powers) do not have the last word. Daniel was permitted to see that God had placed a limit on their power and influence. In his dream Daniel saw a heavenly courtroom, one that was equipped with thrones, symbols of kingly authority. God will have the last word in history, as he had the first at creation.
The courtroom proceedings were conducted by one called “the Ancient of Days.” This unusual title, used only here in the Scripture, refers to the mystery that God is eternal. This title contrasts God’s unchanging permanence with the changeableness and instability of all human power structures. The eternal, majestic God was active long before nations and empires appeared on the world scene. Here the Ancient of Days is pictured pronouncing sentence on his enemies and granting a new and splendid kingdom to the Messiah.
The vision of God that Daniel was permitted to see was not only a magnificent one but an awesome one as well. During the centuries of the Old Testament, when God wanted to appear visibly to his people, he usually chose to do so in the form of fire and cloud and smoke. Think of his appearance to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-6) or to Israel at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:16-19), or to Ezekiel at the time of his call (Ezekiel 1:25-28). The biblical term for this phenomenon of the LORD’s appearance in fire and cloud and smoke is “the glory of the LORD” (Exodus 24:15-17; Leviticus 9:23,24; Numbers 14:10; 16:19,42; 1 Kings 8:11).
This is how the covenant-God appeared to Daniel in his vision. When the eternal, majestic God took his seat on his throne to judge his enemies, “his throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.” God is pictured as seated on a chariot throne, just as Ezekiel saw him (Ezekiel 1:15-28).
A river of fire flowed constantly from the Ancient of Days, symbolic of the burning zeal that would destroy his enemies and rescue his people. Ten thousand times ten thousand angels surrounded the throne of God, eager to do his bidding, and their presence added to the majesty of God’s appearance in glory.
“The books were opened.” In the language of Scripture, God’s book is, first of all, his family register, in which are written the names of those who belong to him (Exodus 32:32; Psalm 69:28). To have one’s name in that book means to be saved; to have one’s name blotted out means to be lost. In Revelation 20:12 other books of God are mentioned, books in which deeds are recorded according to which God will judge people. Both types of books may be referred to in Daniel’s dream. The Ancient of Days had witnessed the deeds of people and nations. He possessed all of the evidence when he made his decisions. As he prepared to announce his judgment on the four beasts and the little horn, he did not judge arbitrarily or unfairly.