John Gill Commentary Daniel 7

In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel having finished the historical part of his book, and committed to writing what was necessary concerning himself and his three companions, and concerning Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and Darius the Mede, proceeds to the prophetic part, and goes back to the first year of Belshazzar's reign, seventeen years before his death, and the fall of the Babylonish monarchy last mentioned; for so long Belshazzar reigned, according to Josephus^F21.

And with which agrees the canon of Ptolemy, who ascribes so many years to the reign of Nabonadius, the same, with Belshazzar: he began to reign, according to Bishop Usher^F23, Dean Prideaux^F24, and Mr, Whiston^F25, in the year of the world 3449 A.M., and 555 B.C.; and in the first year of his reign Daniel had the dream of the four monarchies, as follows:

Daniel had a dream As Nebuchadnezzar before had, concerning the same things, the four monarchies of the world, and the kingdom of Christ, only represented in a different manner: or, "saw a dream"^F26; in his dream he had a vision, and objects were presented to his fancy as if he really saw them, as follows: and visions of his head came upon his bed As he lay upon his bed, and deep sleep was fallen on him, things in a visionary way were exhibited to him very wonderful and surprising, and which made strong impressions upon him.

then he wrote the dream Awaking out of his sleep, and perfectly remembering the dream he had dreamed, and recollecting the several things he had seen in it; that they might not be lost, but transmitted to posterity for their use and benefit, he immediately committed them to writing: and told the sum of the matters The whole of what he had dreamt and seen; or however the sum and substance of it, the more principal parts of it, the most interesting things in it, and of the greatest importance: when it was daylight, and he rose from his bed, and went out of his chamber, he called his friends together, and told them by word of mouth what he had seen in his dream the night past; or read what he had written of it, which was as follows:

FOOTNOTES:

• F21: Antiqu. Jud. l. 10. c. 11. sect. 4.
• F23: Annales Vet. Test. A. M. 3449.
• F24: Connexion part. 1. p. 114.
• F25: Chronological Tables, cent. 10.
• F26: (hzx Mlx) "somnium vidit". V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator

Daniel spoke and said, I saw in my vision by night He declared he had had a vision by night, and this was the substance of it:

and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea : the east, west, north, and south winds, broke out from each of their quarters, and rushed in upon the great sea; either the Mediterranean, so called in comparison of the sea of Sodom, and the sea of Tiberias in Judea; or upon the waters of the main ocean, and raised up its waves, and seemed as it were to be striving and fighting with them, and put them into a strange agitation; by which may be meant the whole world, and the kingdoms and nations of it, because of its largeness, inconstancy, instability, and disquietude; see (Revelation 17:15) (Isaiah 57:20) , and by the "four winds" some understand the angels, either good or bad, concerned in the affairs of Providence on earth, either by divine order or permission; or rather the kings of the earth raising commotions in it, striving and fighting with one another, either to defend or enlarge their dominions; and which have been the means in Providence of the rising up of some great state or monarchy, as after appears.

And four great beasts came up from the sea Which are afterwards interpreted of four kings or kingdoms, (Daniel 7:17) , which rose up in the world, not at once, but successively, and out of the sea or world, through the commotions and agitations of it; and these are the four monarchies, Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman; compared to "beasts", because of the rapine and violence, cruelty, oppression, and tyranny, by which they were obtained, set up, supported, and maintained; and to "great ones", being not like single separate kingdoms, as the kingdom of Israel, and the like, but consisting of many kingdoms and nations, and so like beasts of an enormous size: diverse one from another ; in their situation, language, manner, strength, and power; hence expressed by divers sorts of beasts, as the lion, bear, leopard; as in Nebuchadnezzar's dream by different metals, gold, silver, brass, and iron.

The first was like a lion
That which rose up first, the kingdom of the Babylonians, as the Syriac version expresses it; or the Assyrian monarchy, founded by Nimrod, increased by the Assyrians, and brought to its height under Nebuchadnezzar by the Babylonians and Chaldeans; this is said to be like a "lion" for its strength and power, for its greatness, dignity, and majesty; the same with the head of gold in Nebuchadnezzar's dream; see (Jeremiah 4:7) (50:17) :

and had eagles' wings ;
denoting the celerity and swiftness with which Nebuchadnezzar ran, or rather flew, over several kingdoms and countries, and added them to his empire; see (Jeremiah 4:13) (48:40) (49:22) :

and I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked ;
it was retarded and stopped in its conquests; it could fly no further, nor make any new acquisitions; yea, it was deplumed and stripped of some of its dominions, the Medes and Persians falling off, and making war with it:

and it was lifted up from the earth ;
or, "with which it was lifted up from, the earth" ^F1 ; with which wings it raised itself up, and lifted itself above other kingdoms and nations; but now were plucked, and could not soar aloft as formerly; its glory and majesty, power and strength, were lessened, whole provinces revolting, as in the times of Evilmerodach, Neriglissar, and Belshazzar:

and made stand upon the feet as a man ;
it did not fly like an eagle as before, and overrun countries, and waste them; or go upon all four, as a beast; but stood on its feet, its two hinder legs, like a man; signifying that it abated, in the reigns of the above princes, of its strength and fierceness, and became more mild and tractable, and was reduced within bounds like other kingdoms:

and a man's heart was given to it ;
instead of a lion like heart, that was bold and intrepid, and feared nothing, it became weak and fearful, and timorous like the heart of man, especially in Belshazzar's time; not only when he saw the handwriting on the wall, to which Jacchiades refers this; but when he was so fearful of Cyrus that he shut himself up in Babylon, and durst not stir out to give him battle, as Xenophon

FOOTNOTES:

• F1: (aera Nm tlyjnw) "quibus efferebatur e terra", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "per quas efferebatur supra terram", Grotius.

And, behold, another beast, a second, like to a bear
Another monarchy, and which succeeded the former, and rose up upon the ruins of it, the Medo-Persian monarchy; and so the Syriac version prefixes to this verse, by way of explanation, ``the kingdom of the Medes'' like to a bear, less generous and strong than the lion; more rough and uncivil, but equally cruel and voracious; which describes the Medes and Persians as a fierce and cruel people, and less polished, and more uncivilized, than the Chaldeans; and answers to the silver breasts and arms in Nebuchadnezzar's dream; see (Isaiah 13:17Isaiah 13:18) (Jeremiah 51:27Jeremiah 51:28) .

and it raised up itself on one side ;
either of the lion, the first beast it destroyed; or rather on one side of itself, on the side of Persia; from where Cyrus came, who was the principal instrument of raising this empire to the pitch it was brought unto. Some render it, "and it raised up one government" ^F4 ; one empire out of many nations and kingdoms it subdued:

and it had three ribs in the mouth of it, between the teeth of it ;
that is, three ribs covered with flesh, which, it was devouring; the bear being very voracious, and a great flesh eater: these, according to some, signify three kings that followed Darius the Mede; Cyrus, Ahasuerus, and Darius; so Jarchi and Jacchiades; and, according to Jerom, three kingdoms, the Babylonian, Median, and Persian: but neither of these kings nor kingdoms can be said to be in its mouth, and between its teeth, as ground and devoured by it, unless the Babylonian; it is better interpreted by others, as Theodoret, the three parts of the world it conquered, westward, northward, and southward, (Daniel 8:4) , though it is best of all, with Sir Isaac Newton and Bishop Chandler, to understand by them Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt; which countries were ground and oppressed by the Medes and Persians, as the ribs of any creature are ground in the mouth of a bear:

and they said thus to it, arise, devour much flesh ;
which Jerom refers to Haman's orders to destroy the Jews in the times of Ahasuerus; but it is much better applied by others to Cyaxares or Darius sending for Cyrus to take on him the command of his army; and to the Hyrcanians, Gobryas, and others, inviting him to avenge them on the Babylonians, promising to join and assist him, as Xenophon ^F5 relates: or rather this is to be interpreted of the divine will, and of the conduct of Providence by means of angels stirring up the spirit of Cyrus, and of the Medes and Persians, to attack and subdue many nations, and particularly the Babylonians, and fill themselves with their wealth; hence they are styled the Lord's sanctified, whom he ordered and called to such service; see (Isaiah 13:3) (21:2) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F4: (tmyqh rx rjvlw) "quae dominatum unum erexit", Junius & Tremellius, Polanus; "et dominatum quendana erexit", Piscator.
• F5: Cyropaedia l. 1. c. 22. l. 4. c. 4, 24.