![]() ![]() This bear was higher on one side than on the other. The second beast was like a bear, an animal noted for its fierceness (cf. Moreover, it is a matter of historical record that during the latter era of the Babylonian regime there was a “gradual diminution of the ferocity of conquest under a succession of comparatively weak princes” (Barnes 1853, 290). ![]() But the advancement of the Babylonian conquest was stayed (the wings plucked). The rapid campaigns against Assyria, Egypt, and Palestine are graphically depicted in the symbolism. He further declared, “Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens” (Lamentations 4:19). Of Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah wrote: “A lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations he is on his way, he is gone forth from his place, to make your land desolate, that your cities be laid waste, without inhabitant” (Jeremiah 4:7). This initial beast represented the Babylonian Empire. Presently, the lion stood up like a man and a human heart was given to it. As Daniel watched, the wings were torn off. The first beast was like a lion, but it also had eagle’s wings. Without question, these four beasts correspond to the four metallic components of the image portrayed in chapter two. From the turbulent “great sea” he saw four differing beasts successively rise. The dramatic revelations of future international events in this book provide the basis for the liberal motive which seeks to discredit Daniel as the author of the narrative, ascribing it to some unknown person of the second century B.C.Ībout a half century later, in the first year of Belshazzar (a grandson of Nebuchadnezzar), Daniel himself had a dream (visions) that, to a significant degree, had a thrust similar to the prophetic dream entertained by Nebuchadnezzar. The divinely initiated dream occurred almost seventy years before the Babylonian Empire fell and is a remarkable example of prophecy. During the era of the Roman Empire, God himself would set up his kingdom, which would be a universal, spiritual monarchy (2:44). The Medo-Persian Empire would be succeeded by the Greek regime (332-63 B.C.), which, in turn, would finally give way to Roman rule (63 B.C. That government would be followed by the kingdom of the Medes and Persians (539-332 B.C.). The meaning of the dream was clear: The golden head represented the Neo-Babylonian Empire (626-539 B.C.). The metallic image was destroyed and the stone itself became a mountain filling the entire earth (Daniel 2:31-35). The image was struck on its feet by a stone that had been cut (without human hands) from a mountain. The head was of gold, its breast and arms were silver, the belly and thighs were fashioned of brass, and the legs were iron, the feet being iron mingled with clay. He told of a great image in the form of a man consisting of four sections. ![]() 603 B.C.), Daniel, a Hebrew in captivity, was called upon to reveal and interpret a dream for the monarch. In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign over the Babylonian Empire (ca. ![]()
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