[Sidenote: B.C. 541.]
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.
2. Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold,
the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.
--The known world.--
3. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from
another.
--Symbolical of Four powerful dynasties.--
[Sidenote: B.C. 490.]
4. The first _was_ like a lion, and had eagle's wings:
--Medo-Persian empire.--
I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked,
--Persia defeated by Greece at Marathon.--
and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as
a man, and a man's heart was given unto it.
--Was transformed by Greek art and civilization.
5. And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear,
--The Hellenes, or Greece and her colonies in their palmy
days--
and it raised up itself on one side,
--faced in the direction of Persia--
and _it had_ three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it:
--3 columns of strength, viz:--Athens, Sparta and Thebes.
The vision made its appearance 21 years before the
Alliance was formed. The ribs therefore, had not knit in
place when the heavenly visitor made known the fact of
their future union. The alliance lasted 93 years, see
Thucydides III. 69.--
and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh
--destroy hundreds of thousands in your Persian and civil
wars.
6. After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard,
--The Macedonian Empire--
which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had
also four heads; and dominion was given to it.
Philip king of Macedon subjugated the disunited Greek
States at the battle of Chaeronea in B.C. 338, and
Alexander the Great conquered a kingdom extending from
Greece to India in B.C. 336.
7. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast,
dreadful and terrible,
--Roman Empire.--
and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and
brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it
_was_ diverse
--a republic, not a kingdom--
from all the beasts that _were_ before it; and it had 10 horns.
--verse 24, the rulers following the Jugurthine war.
8. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them
another little horn,
--the family of the Caesars--
before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the
roots: and, behold, in this horn _were_ eyes like the eyes of a man,
and a mouth speaking great things
--the triumvirate ended with the battle of Actium
Sept. 3rd, B.C. 31. Divine honors were accorded to
Augustus. He took 3 censuses of the Roman Empire and
possessed the most intimate knowledge of its resources,
the last inventory was found in his own handwriting.
Suetonius, Aug. XVI.----Livy CXXXII.
9. I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days
did sit, whose garment _was_ white as snow, and the hair of his head
like the pure wool: his throne _was like_ the fiery flame, _and_ his
wheels _as_ burning fire.
10. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand
thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand
stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
--Divine forbearance had reached its limit, the voice of
the prophets went unheeded, and the desolation spoken of
by Moses was about to fall on the Jews.
11. I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the
horn spake: I beheld _even_ till the beast was slain, and his body
destroyed, and given to the burning flame.
12. As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion
taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.
13. I saw in the night visions, and, behold, _one_ like the Son of
man came with the clouds of heaven,
--"while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud
received him out of their sight," Acts I. 9--
and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
--"I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing
on the right hand of God."--Acts VII. 55.
14. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that
all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion
_is_ an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his
kingdom _that_ which shall not be destroyed.
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; and
the government shall be upon his shoulders: and his name
shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the
everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase
of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon
the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it,
and to establish it with judgment and with justice from
henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts
will perform this."--Isa. IX. 6 and 7.
15. I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of _my_ body, and
the visions of my head troubled me.
16. I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the
truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation
of the things.
17. These great beasts, which are four, _are_ four kings, _which_
shall arise out of the earth.
18. But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and
possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.
--The Spiritual kingdom of the Messiah.
19. Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was
diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth _were_
of iron, and his nails _of_ brass; _which_ devoured, brake in pieces,
and stamped the residue with his feet;
20. And of the ten horns that _were_ in his head, and _of_ the other
which came up, and before whom three fell; even _of_ that horn that
had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look _was_
more stout than his fellows.
21. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and
prevailed against them;
--Nero the descendant of Augustus began the first
persecution in A.D. 65.
22. Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the
saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed
the kingdom.
23. Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon
earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the
whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
24. And the ten horns out of this kingdom _are_ ten kings _that_
shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be
diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
25. And he
--in the person of his descendants--
shall speak _great_ words against the most High, and shall wear out
the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and
they shall be given unto his hand until a time and times and the
dividing of time.
--This formula summarizes that which has gone before. It
starts with the Medo-Persian kingdom of Cyrus, established
in the year B.C. 558, as typified by the lion in verse
four, and reaches over to the year A.D. 39 when the
Gentiles were admitted to Messiah's kingdom as promised
in verse 18. For full explanation see NOTE B.
26. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his
dominion, to consume and to destroy _it_ unto the end.
27. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom
under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints
of the most High, whose kingdom _is_ an everlasting kingdom, and all
dominions shall serve and obey him.
28. Hitherto _is_ the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my
cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me: but
I kept the matter in my heart.