Thoughts on the Book of Daniel.
Verse 1. In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed; then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters. This is the same Belshazzar mentioned in chapter 5. Chronologically, therefore, this chapter follows chapter 4. But chronological order has been disregarded in order that the historical part of the book might stand by itself, and the prophetical part, on which we now enter, might not be interrupted by writings of that nature. Verses 2, 3. Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. All scripture language is to be taken literally, unless there exists some good reason for supposing it to be figurative; and all that is figurative is to be interpreted by that which is literal. That the language here used is symbolic, is evident from verse 17. The symbols introduced are, the four winds, the sea, and four great beasts. We have now to inquire what they denote. Winds in symbolic language, denote strife, political commotion, and war. See Jer. 25: 31, 32. There the prophet speaks of a controversy which the Lord is to have with all nations when the wicked shall be given to the sword, and the slain of the Lord shall be from one end of the earth to the other; and what is the strife and commotion which produces all this destruction called? A great whirlwind. That winds denote strife and war is further evident from a consideration of the vision itself; for as the result of the striving of the winds, kingdoms arise and fall; and these events are accomplished through political strife. The Bible definition of sea, or waters, when used as a symbol, is peoples, and nations, and tongues. In proof of this, we have only to refer to Rev. 17: 15, where it is expressly so declared. The definition of the symbol of the four beasts is given to Daniel ere the close of the vision. Verse 17: “These great beasts, which are four, are four kings which shall arise out of the earth.” The field of the vision is thus definitely opened before us. Verse 4. The first was like a lion, 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. As these beasts denote four kings, or kingdoms, we inquire, What four? Where shall we commence to enumerate? These beasts do not arise all at once, but consecutively, as they are spoken of as first, second, etc.; and the last one is in existence when all earthly scenes are brought to an end by the final Judgment. Now from the time of Daniel to the end of this world's history, there were to be but four universal kingdoms, as we learn from Nebuchadnezzar's vision of the great image in chapter 2. Daniel was still living under the same kingdom which he had declared in his interpretation of the king's dream, about forty-eight years before, to be the head of gold. The first beast of this vision must, therefore, denote the same as the head of gold of the great image, namely, the kingdom of Babylon. If, then, this vision covers essentially the same ground as the image of chapter 2, the query may arise, why is it given; why was not the vision of chapter 2 sufficient? We answer, The ground is gone over again and again, that additional characteristics may be brought out, and additional facts and features be presented. It is thus that we have line upon line. Here earthly governments are represented as viewed in the light of Heaven.117Their true character is shown by the symbols of wild and ravenous beasts. At first, the lion had eagle's wings, denoting the rapidity with which Babylon extended its conquests under Nebuchadnezzar. When this vision was given, a change had taken place. Its wings had been plucked. It no longer flew like an eagle upon its prey. The boldness and spirit of the lion were gone. A man's heart, weak, timorous, and faint, had taken its place. Such was emphatically the case in the person of the imbecile and pusillanimous Belshazzar, with whom the Babylonian kingdom came to an end. Verse 5. And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, 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. As in the great image of chapter 2, so in this series of symbols, a marked deterioration will be noticed as we descend from one kingdom to another. The breast and arms of silver were inferior to the head of gold. The bear was inferior to the lion. Medo-Persia fell short of Babylon in wealth and magnificence, and the brilliancy of its career. And now we come to additional particulars respecting this power. The bear raised itself up on one side. This kingdom was composed of two nationalities, the Medes and Persians. The same fact is represented by the two horns of the ram of chapter 8, of which it is said, the higher came up last. This illustrates the same thing as the bear's raising up on one side, that is, the Persian element came up last, but attained the higher eminence, becoming the leading division of the kingdom. The three ribs perhaps signify the three provinces of Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt, which were especially ground down and oppressed by this power. Their saying unto it to arise and devour much flesh, is thought by some to refer to the stimulus given to the Medes and Persians, by the overthrow of these provinces, to plan and enter upon extensive conquests. The character of the power is well represented by a bear. They were cruel and rapacious, robbers and spoilers of the people. Verse 6. After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. The third kingdom, Grecia, is represented by this symbol. If wings upon the lion signified rapidity of conquest, they would signify the same here. The leopard itself is a swift-footed beast, but this was not enough; it must have wings in addition. Two wings, the number the lion had, were not sufficient; it must have four. If we are correct in the application, this must denote unparalleled celerity of movement; and this we find to be the fact. The conquests of Grecia, especially under Alexander, for suddenness and rapidity have no parallel in historic annals. “The beast had also four heads.” The Grecian empire maintained its unity only during the life of Alexander. When his brilliant career ended in a drunken debauch, the empire was shortly divided between his four leading generals. Cassander had Macedon and Greece in the west; Lysimachus had Thrace and the parts of Asia on the Hellespont and Bosphorus, in the north; Ptolemy received Egypt, Lydia, Arabia, Palestine, and Coele-Syria, in the south; and Seleucus had Syria and all the rest of Alexander’s dominions in the east. Thus accurately were the words of the prophet fulfilled. As Alexander left no available successor, why did not the huge empire break up into countless petty fragments? Why just four parts and no more? Because the prophecy had said that there should be four. The leopard was to have four heads, the rough goat four horns, the kingdom four divisions; and thus it was.