Daniel 7

This chapter opens the visions in the second half of the Book of Daniel (chapters 7–12). It is dated to the first year of Belshazzar, which places it earlier than the events of the preceding Daniel 6. It is the last chapter of the Aramaic section that begins at 2:4b, and it forms a counterpart to the dream of the great image in Daniel 2, which also concerns four kingdoms.

Outline

• Verse 1: In the first year of Belshazzar, Daniel records the vision he saw in a dream.
• Verses 2–8: The four winds of heaven strive upon the great sea, and four beasts come up: a lion with eagle's wings, a bear with three ribs in its mouth, a leopard with four wings and four heads, and a fourth beast with iron teeth and ten horns. A little horn comes up among the ten horns, and three horns are plucked up. This horn has eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking great things.
• Verses 9–12: The Ancient of Days takes his seat on a throne like a fiery flame, and the books are opened. The fourth beast is slain and given to the burning flame, and the rest of the beasts have their dominion taken away.
• Verses 13–14: One like the Son of Man comes with the clouds of heaven and receives everlasting dominion and a kingdom.
• Verses 15–18: One of those standing by gives the interpretation. The four beasts are four kings, and the kingdom is received by the saints of the Most High.
• Verses 19–27: The interpretation of the fourth beast and its horns. The little horn wears out the saints and thinks to change times and laws, and the saints are given into his hand "until a time and times and the dividing of time." But in the judgment the little horn is destroyed, and the kingdom is given to the people of the saints.
• Verse 28: Daniel is greatly troubled, but he keeps the matter in his heart.

Key Verses

• Daniel 7:13, "one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven": the background to the title Son of Man that Jesus used of himself and to the language of the Second Coming.
• Daniel 7:9, "the Ancient of days did sit": a scene portraying God as the eternal Judge.
• Daniel 7:25, "a time and times and the dividing of time": the most widely discussed time expression in eschatological interpretation.

People and Places

• Daniel: the one who saw and recorded the vision.
• Belshazzar: king of Babylon; his first year serves as the chronological reference point for the vision.
• The Ancient of Days: a title referring to God.
• One like the Son of Man: the one who comes with the clouds and receives the kingdom.
• The one standing by: a figure standing beside the throne who gives the interpretation, commonly understood to be an angel.

Points to Consider

• The four kingdoms: The traditional interpretation going back to Jerome, along with many conservative commentaries, identifies them as Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. A majority of critical scholars identify them as Babylon, Media, Persia, and Greece, and interpret the little horn as the Seleucid king Antiochus IV of the second century BC.
• The little horn: Some of the Reformers identified it with the papacy. Dispensationalism sees it as the future Antichrist and reads "a time and times and the dividing of time" as a tribulation of three and a half years. The Seventh-day Adventist Church is known to interpret the little horn as the papacy and this period as 1,260 years, calculated on the principle of a day for a year.
• One like the Son of Man: Christian tradition reads this figure as Christ. Some scholars, appealing to verses 18 and 27, regard the figure as a symbol of the community of the saints, while others regard it as an angel.
• Connections to the New Testament: The expression "the Son of man coming in the clouds" in Mark 14:62 and Matthew 24:30–31 derives from this chapter. The hair white like wool in Revelation 1:14 also echoes 7:9. The beast in Revelation 13:1–10 has ten horns and combines the features of a leopard, a bear, and a lion, linking it to this chapter.