Daniel 7.7-Daniel Describes the Fourth Beast
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday May 7, 2013
Daniel: Daniel 7:7-Daniel Describes the Fourth Beast
Lesson # 206
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 7:1.
Daniel 7:1 During Belshazzar’s, Babylon’s king, first year, Daniel saw a dream specifically visions in his mind on his bed. Then, he wrote down the dream. He declares the beginning of the account. 2 Daniel began to speak and said, “I was in a trance like state, staring because of my vision during the night as behold the heaven’s four winds were blowing violently against the great sea. 3 Then, four great beasts, one different from the other, came up out from the sea. 4 The first beast was like a lion with eagle’s wings attached to it. I was in a trance like state staring when its wings were torn off. Then it was lifted up from the ground for the purpose of it standing on two feet like a human being. A human mind was also given to it. 5 Next, another beast, a second one, resembling a bear with it raised up to one side with three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. Then, they issued orders to it, ‘Arise, devour much flesh!’ 6 After this, I was staring in a trance like state as behold, another one, was like a leopard with it having four bird’s wings on its back. Also, the beast had four heads. Indeed, governmental dominion was given to it.” (My translation)
Daniel 7:7 “After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.” (NASB95)
“I kept looking” refers to Daniel looking at the fourth beast with studious attention and with open mouth wonder and amazement as it appeared out of the great sea emphasizing that he was in a trance like state and could not take his eyes off the fourth beast when it appeared out of the great sea in his vision.
“In the night visions” is composed of the preposition bĕ (בְּ) (beh), “in” and its object is the masculine plural construct form of the noun ḥězû (חֱזוּ) (khay´-zev), “the visions,” which is followed by the masculine singular noun lê∙lê (לֵילֵי) (lay-leh), “night.”
The noun ḥězû is in the plural and means “visions” referring to the prophetic revelation of the Roman Empire and also its Revived Form which will appear during Daniel’s Seventieth Week and will be led by the Antichrist but will be destroyed by the Second Advent of Jesus Christ.
It is the object of the preposition bĕ, which is a marker of cause expressing the basis or the reason why Daniel was in a trance like state staring indicating that he was doing so “because of” these night visions.
“And behold” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the interjection ʾǎrû (אֲרוּ) (ar-oo´), “behold.”
The conjunction wa means “when” or “as” since it is used as a temporal marker indicating that “when” or “as” Daniel was staring in a trance like state, a fourth beast appeared to him in these night visions.
The interjection ʾǎrû means “behold” since it is used as a discourse marker to introduce a description of the fourth beast with emphasis and draws the attention of the reader in order to mark that what Daniel saw regarding this fourth beast was impressive and astounding to him.
“Dreadful” is the third person masculine singular peʿil (Hebrew: qal passive) participle form of the verb deḥǎl (דְּחַל) (deh-khal´), which means “to be intimidating” and describes the statue which Nebuchadnezzar saw in the vision as inducing fear in him.
“Terrifying” is the feminine singular form of the adjective ʾê·meṯān (אֵימְתָן) (em-taw-nee´), which is describing the fourth beast as inducing intense fear in Daniel.
The conjunction wa is used to join the attributive participle deḥǎl, “intimidating” and the adjective ʾê·meṯān, “terrifying” in order to communicate one idea, which is called “hendiadys” emphasizing the terrifying nature of this fourth beast.
“Extremely strong” is composed of the feminine singular form of the adjective tǎq∙qîp̄ (תַּקִּיף) (tak-keef´), “as strong” which is modified by the feminine singular adjective yǎt∙tîr (יַתִּיר) (yat-teer´), “extremely.”
The adjective tǎq∙qîp̄ means “powerful” and describes the fourth beast as physically powerful implying the ability to destroy the other beasts.
It is modified by the adjective yǎt∙tîr which functions as an adverb and means “extremely” describing the fourth beast as “extremely” powerful to a very great degree.
“Large iron teeth” is composed of the dual noun šēn (שֵׁן) (shane), “teeth” which is followed by the particle dî (דִּי) (dee), which is not translated and is followed by the masculine singular noun pǎr∙zěl (פַּרְזֶל) (par-zel´), “iron” and then we have the feminine plural form of the adjective rǎḇ (רַב) (rab), “large.”
The noun šēn means “two rows of teeth” since it is a dual noun and the noun pǎr∙zěl means “iron” and the adjective rǎḇ describes the immense size of these two rows of iron teeth which the fourth beast possessed.
Daniel under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is employing the figure of “asyndeton” at this point in the verse because He wants the reader to dwell upon this description of the fourth beast since it describes this fourth beast as superior to the other three beasts in that it conquers the other three.
“It devoured” is the feminine singular peʿal (Hebrew: qal) active participle form of the verb ʾǎḵǎl (אֲכַל) (ak-al´), which means “to devour” referring to the consumption of food in a greedy or ravenous manner and refers to the fourth beast devouring the other three previous beasts.
“Crushed” is the feminine singular hafʿel (Hebrew: hiphil) active participle of the verb deqǎq (דְּקַק) (dek-ak´), which means “to crush” referring to the fourth beast “crushing” everything in its path.
“And trampled down the remainder with its feet” is epexegetical meaning that it explains specifically what Daniel meant by the previous description of the fourth beast that it devoured and crushed.
“Trampled down the remainder” is composed of the masculine singular construct form of the noun šeʾār (שְׁאָר) (sheh-awr´), “the remainder” and then we have the feminine singular peʿal (Hebrew: qal) active participle form of the verb rep̄ǎs (רְפַס) (ref-as´), “trampled down.”
The verb rep̄ǎs means “to trample down, to crush or violently press upon something with vertical pressure, implying complete destruction and ruin” indicating that the fourth beast “violently crushed” the other beasts so that they were destroyed and ruined.
The noun šeʾār means “rest” in the sense of whatever is left as a part of the whole and refers to three of the four beasts.
It does not refer to the residue of these three other beasts since this makes no sense to say that the fourth beast violently crushed the residue of these three other beasts because residue is what’s left of something after it has been crushed.
Therefore, Daniel is telling the reader that the fourth beast violently crushed so as to destroy the other three beasts in the vision.
“And it was different from all the beasts that were before it” affirms what can be concluded by the previous description of the fourth beast.
“It was different” is the feminine singular puʿʿal (Hebrew: pual) passive participle form of the verb šenā(h) (שְׁנָה) (shen-aw´), which indicates that this fourth beast was different from the previous three in the sense that it was a different species of beast from the other three since it had ten horns and the other three did not.
The paʿʿel (Hebrew: piel) stem of the verb is iterative referring to characteristic action indicating that the actions of the fourth beast “characterized” it as different from the three beasts which appeared before it.
“From all the beasts that were before it” indicates that the fourth beast was different in comparison to the first three or it was different from the other three.
“And it had ten horns” is epexegetical meaning that it explains in detail why Daniel describes the fourth beast as different from the other three previous beasts.
Daniel 7:7 “After this, I was continuing to stare in a trance like state because of these night visions as behold, a fourth beast, intimidating, yes even terrifying as well as extremely powerful, possessing two large rows of iron teeth. It devoured as well as crushed. Specifically, it violently crushed the rest with its feet. Indeed, it was characterized as different from all the beasts which were before it in the sense of possessing ten horns.” (My translation)
This fourth beast represents the Roman Empire since it corresponds to the legs of iron in the image that appeared in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel chapter two, which we noted represented the Roman Empire.
The mention of this fourth beast possessing large iron teeth and violently crushing the other three beasts characterized the Roman Empire.
The Roman armies were known for their iron armor which led some to refer to them as the “Iron Legions” of Rome, emphasizing their strength and invincibility.
The Roman armies were also known for violently crushing countries and civilizations enslaving many peoples.
Daniel 2:40 records this fourth kingdom is compared to iron because it would crush and shatter other kingdoms just as iron shatters and crushes all things.
This comparison indicates that this fourth kingdom will be more powerful and destructive than the previous three empires which were represented on the statue by the gold head, the silver arms and chest and bronze belly and thighs, which history records as Babylon, Medo-Persia and Greece respectively.
This verse also says that this fourth kingdom, which history records as the Roman Empire will crush as well as break in pieces every kingdom it confronts in war just like iron breaks into pieces gold, silver and bronze.
The Roman Empire broke into pieces and shattered to pieces more kingdoms and brought them into greater subjection than Babylon, Medo-Persia and Greece.
Some modern interpreters have attempted to identify these four kingdoms as Babylon, followed by Media and then Persia and lastly Greece.
They do this in order to fit the Book into their view that Daniel was written during the persecution of the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes in 175-165 B.C.
However, in Daniel 8:20, Daniel identifies Media and Persia as a single empire represented by a single animal, which is the ram, which confirms the interpretation that Medo-Persia was the second empire and furthermore history does not demonstrate that the Median Empire was followed by a Persian Empire.
Daniel describes this fourth beast as having ten horns, which makes this beast different from the previous three.
These ten horns refer to ten kings according to Daniel 7:24 and correspond to the ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s image in Daniel chapter two that referred to the Revived Roman Empire that will consist of a ten nation confederation during Daniel’s Seventieth Week.
The ten horns do not represent a fifth kingdom but rather they grow out of the head of the fourth kingdom and are the last development of the fourth beast, which corresponds to the ten toes on the image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel chapter two.
The ten horns mentioned in Daniel 7:24 correspond to the toes in Daniel 2:42 and were ten kingdoms, out of which one horn will arise who will destroy three of the other kingdoms and lead the other seven and persecute believers in Jesus Christ.
The ten toes of the image indicated that the final stage of the Roman Empire will consist of a ten-division federation.
Daniel 7:23-24 signifies that eventually the Roman Empire will consist of a federation of ten divisions with ten equal rulers (See Revelation 17:12).
Since the Roman Empire has never in its history consisted of a ten-division federation with ten equal rulers, we can conclude that this stage of the Empire’s existence will take place in the future during the Tribulation period.
Also, Daniel 2:45 records that “in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom,” i.e. the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, which has never taken place in history but is yet future.
Therefore, sometime in the future, after the rapture of the church, a revived form of the Roman Empire will be established.