Daniel 7

"Times of the Gentiles"

Begins the Second Division of the Book: Daniel's Visions.

The most comprehensive and detailed prophecy of future events to be found anywhere in the Old Testament. Cf. Dan 2, Rev 13, Rev 17.

Daniel 2 (Man's View): human progress; bright, shiny (emphasizes unity). (Review notes on Chapter 2.)

Daniel 7 (God's View): voracious beasts (emphasizes diversity).

1] Nabonidus made Belshazzar his co-regent in his 3rd year: 553 B.C. Daniel was about 67 years old. Nebuchadnezzar had died 9 years earlier (Daniel 5 occurs 14 years later).

"Sum": essential summary. (This the first vision given directly to Daniel.)

2] "I saw": 9X this chapter— "was beholding."

"Four winds": Rev 7. Hurt God's elect during trib? Lord's rebuke? Eph 2:2? Job 1:19. (Wind: 120 refs: 90 OT, 30 NT.)

"Great Sea": Mediterranean? Num 34:6-7; Jos 1:4; Jos 9:1; Jos 15:11,12,47; Jos 23:4; Eze 47; Eze 48:28 (all four empires on the coast...)

Symbolic? Isa 8:7-8; Isa 17:12-13; Isa 27:1; Isa 57:20; Jer 6:23; Jer 46:7-9; Jer 47:2; Rev 13:1; 17:1, 15.

4] Lion + eagle: both regal. Winged lion on gates of Babylon (British Museum); Jer 4:7; Jer 48:40; Jer 49:19-22; Jer 50:17, 43-44; Lam 4:19; Eze 17:3, 12; Hab 1:8.

Man's heart: Dan 4?

5] Bear: less regal; ponderous; ungraceful (Xerxes: 2.5 million men!).

Unbalanced: Cf. Dan 8:3, two horns. One-sided union; Media already swallowed up by Persia by 550 B.C.

Three Ribs: Babylon, Egypt, Lydia defeated (Isa 13:17-18).

6] Lion devours; the bear crushes; the leopard springs upon its prey.

Four heads:
    Cassander: Greece & Macedonia
    Lysimachus: Thrace & Bithynia (Asia Minor)
    Seleucus: Syria, Babylonia (>India)
    Ptolemy: Egypt, Palestine, Arabia Petrea

Composite of three animals: Hos 13:5-8! Rev 13:2; 1 Sam 17:34-36; Pro 28:15; Jer 5:6; Amo 5:9.

7] Rome: Occupation of Sicily in 241 B.C., victory in the first Punic conflict. Mediterranean becomes a Roman lake by the beginning of second century B.C. Spain conquered first; then Carthage at the battle of Zama in N. Africa, 202 B.C.; Subjugates are north of Italy; they then moved east, conquering Macedonia, Greece, and Asia Minor. Pompey swept into Jerusalem in 63 B.C. after destroying remnants of the Seleucid Empire (Syria). (Cf. Chapter 11 notes.)

Following decades: Empire controls southern Britain, France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Germany west of the Rhine River. Grew for four centuries, peaking in AD 117.

Declined slowly, beginning in the third century; left Britain in AD 407; Rome sacked by the Visigoths in 410. It was not until AD 1453 that the last Roman or Byzantine ruler was killed in battle and Mohammed II conquered Constantinople.

Cf. v. Dan 7:24; Rev 17:12. Remains until replaced by Kingdom of Heaven: Dan 7:26, 27.

10 nations: Compare Dan 2:31-35; Dan 2:40-45; Dan 7:7-8; Dan 7:19-24; Rev 13:1-2; Rev 17:3, 7; Rev 17:12-18.

8] "Little Horn": First mention in Daniel.

"before": behehewn, between. "Plucked up by the roots": agar, uprooted gradually. "Eyes, mouth" = an individual.

"Big Mouth": v. 11; Rev 11:36; Rev 13:5-6. [See list of allusions to the Coming World Leader at the end of the notes on Chapter 11.]

Coming of the Son of Man in Glory: Cf. Rev 4, Rev 5…

9] Ancient of Days: 3 times in this chapter. Rema, located, placed (not "cast").

[Thrones, plural. Where are the 24 elders? (Church hidden in OT; Mat 13:34-35; Eph 3:5, 9.)]

[Note: Rev 20:10, 12-15, after millennium? How Rev 10:20? Dan 7:10!]

11] Rev 19:19-21.

12] Joe 3:1-2; Mat 25:31-46; Rev 1:13; Mar 14:61. Continue for a season: survive in another form in the kingdom that replaces them.

Absorbed by Rome:
    Greece in 146 B.C.;
    Lysimachus' kingdom, 133 B.C.;
    Seleucus' in 64 B.C.;
    Ptolemy's, Egypt in 31 B.C.

Reappear in recent times:
    Greece reappears in 1830;
    Egypt in 1922;
    Turkey (Lysimachus and
    part of Seleucus') in 1924;

The rest of Seleucus' kingdom(s):
    Afghanistan, 1921;
    Iran, 1925;
    Lebanon, 1930;
    Jordan, 1946;
    Pakistan, 1947;
    Israel, 1948.

"Son of Man" only OT use for Christ (Chapter 3?)

Son receives the Father's gift: Psa 2:6-9;will rule over all nations: Psa 72:11; Rev 19:15-16 (cf. Rev 7:9-12; Rev 4, Rev 5; Isa 6:1-3; Eze 1:4-28; Eze 10:1-14).

Clouds:

OT: Exd 13:21; Exd 19:9; Exd 24:16; Exd 34:5; Lev 16:2; 1Ki 8:10-11; Psa 18:11-12; Psa 78:14; Psa 97:2-4; Isa 19:1; Jer 4:13; Eze 10:4; Nah 1:3.

NT: Mat 17:5; Mat 124:30; Luk 21:27; Act 1:9, 11; Mar 14:61-62; Mat 26:64; 1Th 4:17; Rev 1:7; Rev 14:14.

14] Kingdom: Dan 2:44-45; Isa 9:6; Isa 11:3-5; Mic 4:1-7; Mic 45:2-5; Zec 14:9,16,17; Mat 24; Mat 25; Mar 14:61-62; Luk 1:32-33; 2Th 2:6-10; Rev 19; Rev 20:1-4.

God's purpose: Eph 1:10; Phil 2:10-11; 1Cr 15:27-28.

[15] "Body": nidneh, sheath. "Troubled": behal, alarm.

[17] Melech, malku: king, kingdom.

[18] Saints: qaddishin, "Holy Ones" (7X). [?-Ed.] OT: Exd 19:6. NT: Mat 27:52; Mat 27:53; 1Cr 1:2; Eph 1:1; Phil 1:1, etc. Tribulation: Rev 13:7;See Rev 13:21.

[20] That "mouth" again…

[21] War with saints, 2/3 fall: Zec 13:8-9. Jerusalem falls: Zec 14:1-2. Prevail, overcome? (also Rev 13:7; Rev 11:3; Rev 12:6; Rev 13:5) vs. Mat 16:18; Rev 2, 3, (1Jo 5:5!).

The Coming World Leader

[24] "out of" this kingdom: Arise ("1 hour": Rev 17:12); "another" (11th) after them…diverse from the others…

[25] [Big Mouth again...] "Against": le'tsad, "at the side of": (2Th 2:4). Change the Law (singular) Gen 1:4; Gen 17:21; Gen 18:14. The "Roman" Empire will cease to exist when the Little Horn is judged.

[27] Everlasting kingdom: Deu 28:1-44; Isa 65:17-25; 2 Tim 2:12; Rev 5:10; Rev 20:6.

[28] (First sentence: Angel finishes; began in v. 23.) Daniel: "Color me shocked." [Text changes from Aramaic back to Hebrew. Distinguishes the two major programs of God in the OT.]