John Gill Commentary Daniel 7:2

"Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of heaven brake forth upon the great sea." — Daniel 7:2 (ASV)

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.