Four Great Monarchies
Daniel’s
Dream
At what time was
Daniel’s second vision given?
“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.”
Daniel 7:1.
What effect did
this dream have upon Daniel?
“I, Daniel, was troubled
in spirit, and the visions that
passed through my head disturbed me.
Verse 15.
Note – The effect
of Daniel’s dream upon him, it
will be noticed, was similar to the
effect of Nebuchadnezzar’s
dreams upon him; it troubled him.
(See also Daniel 2:1.)
What did Daniel ask
of one of the heavenly attendants who
stood by him in his dream?
“I approached one
of those standing there and asked him
the true meaning of all of this.
“So he told me and gave me the
interpretation of these things.”
Daniel 7:16.
What did the
prophet see in this vision?
“Daniel said,
“In my vision at night I looked,
and there before me were the four
winds of heaven churning up the great
sea.” Verse 2.
What was the result
of this strife?
“Four great
beasts, each different from the
others, came up out of the sea.”
Verse 3.
The
Meaning of the Beast Symbols
What did these four
beasts represent?
“These four great
beasts are four kingdoms that will
rise out of the earth.”
Verse 17.
In
symbolic language, what is
represented by winds?
Strife, war,
commotion. (See Jeremiah 25:31-33;
49: 36, 37.)
Note – That winds
denote strife and war is evidence
from the vision itself. As a result
of the striving of the winds,
kingdoms rise and fall.
What,
in prophecy, is symbolized by waters?
“Then the angel
said to me, “The waters you saw,
where the prostitute sits, are
people, multitudes, nations and
languages.” Revelation
17:15.
Note – In the
second chapter of Daniel, under the
figure of an image of a man, the mere
political outline of the rise and
fall of earthy kingdoms is given,
preceding the setting up of
God’s everlasting kingdom. In
the seventh chapter earthly
governments are represented as viewed
in the light of Heaven – under
the symbols of wild and ferocious
beasts – the last, in
particular, oppressing and
persecuting the saints of the Most
High. Hence the change in the symbols
used to represent these kingdoms.
What
was the first beast like?
“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
to the ground so that it stood on its
two feet like a man, and the heart of
a man was given to it.” Daniel
7:4.
Note – The lion,
the first of the four beasts, like
the golden head of
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream,
represents the Babylonian monarchy;
the lion, the king of beasts,
standing at the head of his kind, as
gold does the metals. The
eagle’s wings doubtless denote
the rapidity with which Babylon rose
to its peak of power under
Nebuchadnazzar, who reigned from 605
B.C. to 562 B.C. (605 B.C. was his
ascension year, and the following
year was counted his first official
year.)
What
symbolized the second kingdom?
“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!’ Verse
5.
Note – “This
was the Medo-Persian Empire,
represented here under the symbol of
the bear…. The Medes and the
Persians are compared to a bear on
account of the cruelty and thirst
for blood, a bear being the most
voracious and cruel animal.”
– Adam Clarke, Commentary,
on Daniel 7:5. The first year of this
kingdom of the Medes and Persians is
dated from 538 B.C.
What
symbolized the third universal
empire?
“After that, I
looked, and 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.” Verse
6.
Note – If the
wings of an eagle on the back of a
lion denoted rapidity of the movement
of Babylonian Empire (Habakkuk 1:
6-8), four wings on the leopard must
denote unparalleled celerity of
movement in the Grecian Empire. A
study of Alexander’s campaigns
proves this to be historically true.
In the spring of 334 B.C. Alexander
crossed over to Asia Minor at the
head of his army of some thirty-five
thousand Macedonians and
Greeks…. Four years later, he
had overthrown the Persian Empire
founded by Cyrus the Great, and set
himself up as its ruler by the right
of conquest. Another four years were
spent in the subjugation of the wild
tribes of the Iranian Plateau and the
more civilized peoples of the Indus
Valley. In the shot space of eight
years Alexander had annexed an area
of little less than two million
square miles, containing a populace
of more than twenty million persons.
The amazing rapidity of his conquest,
a feat all the more remarkable in
view of his small force at his
disposal, was due in large part to
the superior organization of the
Macedonian army, the excellence of
Alexander’s generals, trained in
the school of his father, Phillip,
and his own superior superlative
qualities as a general and a leader
of men.” A.E. R. Boak, Albert
Hyma, and Preston Slosson, The
Growth of European Civilization (1938),
Vol. 1, pp. 59, 60. (Copyright, 1938,
by F.S. Crofts & Co., Inc. Used
by permission of
Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc.)
“The beast also
had four heads.” The Grecian
Empire maintained its unity for a
short time after the death of
Alexander, which occurred in 323 B.C.
Within twenty-two years after the
close of his brilliant career, or by
301 B.C., the empire was divided
among four of his leading generals.
Ptolemy, Cassander, Lysimachus, and
Seleucus.
How
was the fourth kingdom represented?
“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 destroyed its victims and
trampled underfoot whatever was left.
It was different from all the former
beasts, and it had ten horns.”
Verse 7.
What
was the fourth beast declared to be?
“He
gave me this explanation: “The
fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that
will appear on earth. It will be
different from all the other kingdoms
and will devour the whole earth,
trampling it and crushing it.”
Verse 23.
Note – “This
is allowed, on all hands, to be the
Roman Empire. It was dreadful,
terrible, and exceedingly
strong… and become, in
effect, what the Roman writers
delight to call it, the empire of
the whole world.” –Adam
Clarke, Commentary, on Daniel
7:7. World power may be said to have
passed from the Greeks to the Romans
at the Battle of Pydna, in 168 B.C.
“Finally, in 168,
the Romans…. Won a complete
victory over Perseus [of Macedonia]
in the battle of Pydna. The
Macedonian kingdom was at an
end…. Having disposed of
Macedonia the Romans turned their
attention to other Greek states with
the intention of rewarding their
friends and punishing their
enemies…. Henceforth it was
clear that Rome was the real
sovereign in the eastern
Mediterranean and that her friends
and allies only enjoyed local
autonomy, while they were expected to
be obedient to the orders of
Rome.”
A.E. R. Boak, A
History of Rome to 565 A.D. (1938
ed.), p. 109. (Copyright, 1921, 1029,
1943, by the Macmillan Company. Used
by permission.)
What
was denoted by the ten horns?
“The ten horns
are ten kings who will come from
this kingdom. After them another
king will arise, different from the
earlier ones; he will subdue three
kings.” Verse 24.
Note – The Roman
Empire was broken up into ten
kingdoms in the century preceding
A.D. 476. Because of the
uncertainties of the times, religious
writers have differed in the
enumeration of the exact kingdoms
intended by the prophecy. Says one
writer on Bible prophecy.
“The ten horns
may not be strictly permanent, but
admit of partial change. Some may
perhaps fall, or be blended, and then
be replaced by others. The tenfold
character may thus be dominant
through the whole, and appear
distinctly at the beginning and close
of their history, though not strictly
maintained every moment.”
“A tenfold
division, such as some have looked
for, mathematical and unvaried, would
frustrate one-half of the prediction;
and would deprive the rest of all its
freedom and moral grandeur. But now
every part is alike accomplished. At
the same time, by these partial
changes in the list of doomed
kingdoms, the reproach of a stern
fatalism, which otherwise would cloud
the equity of divine Providence, is
rolled away.”
- T.R. Birks, The
Four Prophetic Empires, and the
Kingdom of Messiah: Being an
Exposition of the First Two Visions
of Daniel (1845 ed.), pp. 143,
144, 152.
What
change did Daniel see take place in
these horns?
“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 of a man and a mouth that spoke
boastfully.” Verse 8.
Note – The
“little horn” spoken of in
Daniel 7:8 symbolizes papal Rome. The
three horns that were plucked up
symbolize three barbarian nations
that were overthrown and completely
destroyed. These three nations of
kingdoms were among the principle
obstructions to the rise of papal
Rome to political power. They were
the Heruli, the Vandals, and the
Ostrogoths; and all three of these
nations were supporters of Arianism,
which was Catholicism most formidable
rival.
What inquiry on the
part of Daniel shows the fourth
beast, and especially the little-horn
phase of it, constitutes the leading
feature of this vision?
“Then I wanted
to know the true meaning of the
fourth beast, which was different
from all the others and most
terrifying, with its iron teeth and
bronze claws- the beast that crushed
and devoured its victims and trampled
underfoot whatever was left. I
also wanted to know about the ten
horns on its head and about the other
horn that came up, before which three
of them fell – the horn that
looked more imposing than the others
and had eyes and a mouth that spoke
boastfully.” Verse 19, 20.
Note – The first
three beasts of Daniel 7 were
comparable to other known animals in
some respects, but there seemed to be
no parallel in the world of nature
that could be used to represent the
terribleness of this hideous fourth
beast. There is no question but that
this beast represents the same power
portrayed by the legs of iron of the
great image of Daniel 2. Daniel was
particularly interested in this
particular beast because it was so
different in its form and behavior.
His words “I would know the
truth of the fourth beast” bring
to attention the great persecuting
power of history.
When
was the little horn to arise?
“After them another
king will arise, different from the
earlier ones; he will subdue
three kings.” Verse 24.
Note – The ten
horns, as already shown, arose from
Rome, the fourth kingdom, was divided
into ten kingdoms. This division was
completed by A.D. 476. The
little-horn power that was to arise
after them and before whom three of
the other kings – the Heruli,
the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths
– fell was the Papacy. [Roman
Catholic Church]
“Out of the ruins
of political Rome, arose the great
moral Empire in the ‘giant
form’ of the Roman Church.
– A.C. Flick, The rise of the
Medieval Church (New York: G.P.
Putnam’s Sons, 1909), p. 150.
“Under the Roman
Empire the popes had no temporal
powers. But when the Roman Empire had
disintegrated and its place had been
taken by a number of rude barbarous
kingdoms, the Roman Catholic Church
not only became independent of the
states in religious affairs but
dominated secular affairs as
well.” - Carl Conrad
Eckhardt, The Papacy and
World-Affairs (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1937) p.
1.
With the place and
time of the kingdom of the little
horn identified, the study of its
character and work will be considered
in the segment that follows.
