The Four Beasts of Daniel

The Four Beasts of Daniel

The Four Beasts of Daniel

According to the customary or Amillennial approach, the prophecies of Daniel chapter seven began in 606 BC and will end with the first approaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. Iobject to this outlook because I accept as true that the prophecies end with the smiting pebble (Dan. 2:35, 45) hitting the feet of the image or at the Second approaching rather than the first approaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore I reject the Amillennial view in favor of the Premillennial approach to the prophecies of Daniel chapters two and seven.

The Semi-historical outlook of Daniel section seven starts with the Media-Persian empire symbolized by the lion (Dan. 7:4) and finishes with the New World alignment represented by the fourth beast (Dan. 7:7-8). This view seems to be based on the phrase shall arise (Dan. 7:17) indicating the four kingdoms would arise after the Babylonian empire which was passing off the scene at the time of Daniel s vision in the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon (Dan. 7:1). I would have to object to this view based on several considerations: first, concerning the phrase shall arise (Dan. 7:17) which could probably be converted without jeopardizing the symbol of the lion (Dan. 7:4) comprising the Babylonian empire. Lehman Strauss notes:

There are those who decline this understanding, that the four beasts comprise the four above-mentioned empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome, on the ground that the four kingdoms were still in the future. They argue that the words shall arise mean that the kingdoms were still future from the time of the vision, but that Babylon had already risen to world power, and was actually near her fall. Such an objection should not disturb us, because everything in the dream is summed up in capsule form. Leopold points out the fact that the imperfect verb yequmun translated shall rise (A.V.), can be rendered are destined to arise. (221).

Secondly, I believe the four beasts represent four succeeding kingdoms or empires, which parallel the four kingdoms of Nebuchadnezzar s metal image in Daniel chapter two. W.C. Stevens in his commentary, The publication of Daniel, states:

In connection with the explanation of verse 17 that these four beasts are four kings, we need to remember that we learned from the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar s dream that the word king may be used for kingdom or empire; and not only covering the incumbency of a given king but also covering the entire duration of the empire itself. Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom. And here in chapter 7, verse 23, we read: And the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth. Hence, it was made certain to Daniel that these four beasts represented the same procession of world-empires which the image of Nebuchadnezzar s dream portrayed (93).

Why then was Daniel granted another vision of the four kingdoms ...