The Prophecies of Daniel

An Essay: DANIEL - PROPHECIES OF THE GENTILE NATIONS.

Daniel 2:31-45, 7:1-28, 8:1-8,19-23, 10-11.

We are about to launch into Revelation 17 but before we go there a bit of background in necessary. We will look at two things:

(i) The prophecies of Daniel about the Nations.

(ii) The meaning of the symbol of Babylon.

This essay is about the prophecies of Daniel.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND.

Civilisation began in the Ancient Near East. Here, the Bible tells us, man first began to multiply after the Flood and form permanent communities (Genesis 11:1,2). The first "cities", i.e. permanent living places, were in the land of Shinar, elsewhere called Babylon in the Bible. Known today as Iraq.

The land here was very fertile, lying between two rivers, the Euphrates and Tigris, and hence has come to be known as Mesopotamia (the land of Two Rivers).

It wasn't long before the various "cities" began fighting each other and groups of cities either banded together in alliances or were forcibly joined by armed rule.

The Bible is primarily a record of the dealings of God with man through his covenant people. Hence it does not focus on the various empires of Gentile history in the main. It is only in passing mentions that we are able to fit together the events of the Bible and secular history. Hence we do not see much reference to the empires. It is only as they impinge on the chosen people that we hear of them. Hence in Daniel, where the prophecies are to do with the Gentile dominion of Israel we have considerable detail.

The first of these empires came into being through a man named, in the Bible, Nimrod (Genesis 11) and he became a sort of prototype for all the empires that followed. Nimrod is known to secular historians, and the ruins of a city dating to his era, called Nimroud, are found in Iraq today. Nimrod seems to have controlled an empire extending from Persia to Egypt, maybe even into Ethiopia.

The second major empire of concern to us was the dynasty of Ur 111 (3). This empire covered the Mesopotamian valley and beyond in the early days of Abraham. The command of God to Abraham to leave Ur (Genesis 11:31-32) came in the 17th Century B.C. and may have coincided with the destruction of Ur 111 by invading forces from Persia. The fact that Terah only moved north to Haran suggests that Terah was still worshiping the moon God, which was the chief city God of both Ur and Haran. Because the events of Abraham’s early life took place inside the confines of Ur 111 means that we really are not told much about Ur.

The next major empire that concerns us was that of Hamurabi ('Amraphel of Genesis14). This is usually known as the "Old Babylonian Empire", and it extended into Egypt. This empire ruled throughout the remainder of the 17th Century B.C. and a sort of peace extended to Egypt. Hence we find that Abraham has fairly free travels from Haran to Palestine, to Egypt and back to Palestine, and so on. The old Babylonian empire waxed and waned several times and when it was in weak phases the Egyptians extended their control north into Palestine. However because Abraham was living largely on the outskirts of civilisation the political changes didn’t affect him too much and he remained free to move around. It may be that his move to Egypt at one stage was prompted by invaders from the north, but we do not know for sure.

The next empire of note was the Assyrian Empire, which became the dominant power for several hundred years. Assyria was responsible for the destruction of the Northern tribes of Israel in the 7th Century B.C.

In 626 B.C. Nabopollassar, the suzerain king of Babylon, rebelled against his Assyrian overlords. Assyria had, by this time, been so weakened by internal corruption that it could not resist the rise of Babylon. Nabopollassar's son and vice reagent, Nebuchadnezzar was commander of the army. He led the armies on several expeditions against Assyria, defeating them, and taking over the Assyrian empire. It was while on one such expedition, while Nebuchadnezzar was in Palestine, that his father died and he became ruler of the empire. He was responsible for founding the empire, which we call "the Neo-Babylonian Empire " . It was this empire which was responsible for the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem, and the exile of Daniel and Ezekiel in Babylon. Daniel became Nebuchadnezzar's deputy, and remained an important figure in the empire for 70 years. He also became an important ruler in the early days of the Medo-Persian Empire.

Nebuchadnezzar 605 - 562 B.C.

Amel-marduk 562 - 560 B.C.

Neriglisser 560 - 556 B.C.

These last two were weak rulers and the throne was usurped by Nabonidus, the son in law of Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled with his son, Belshazzar, as co-reagent.

Daniel 5:1,2 "son" of Nebuchadnezzar. Meaning "a descendent of".

Nabonidus did not worship the local city god of Babylon, called Marduk, but spent 17 years out of town on religious pursuits worshipping his own god. The empire was left in the hands of the spoilt brat, Belshazzar. The combination of Nabonidus' non-orthodoxy, Belshazzar's rudeness and the allowing of the magnificent city to fall into disrepair angered the local population.

Meanwhile, to the North and East, the Medes had carved out a large empire, including Persia, into India, and Lydia (Asia Minor = Turkey). They had taken over, in Asia Minor, the old Hittite Empire (then called Lydia) which had, on occasion extended down into Syria.

Nabonidus decided that he wanted to rebuild an ancient shrine of his god, which was in ruins. The problem was that the site was now in Median territory. Realising that he was not able to take Media alone he approached the suzerain king of Persia, Cyrus, and asked him to help him.

Cyrus was the son in law of the Median king, Astyages, and until this time had been totally loyal to him. However he was ambitious and agreed to the proposal. Moving alone and quickly Cyrus defeated Media, and the Median Empire became the Persian empire.

Cyrus had, by this time, already established a reputation for wise and just rulership, so the priesthood of Marduk in Babylon invited him to come and take over from Nabonidus and Belshazzar. This Cyrus was pleased to do and sent the army under its leader Darius (called also Gobyrus). He was a Persian prince, and on the death of Cyrus became emperor.

When the Persian army approached Babylon the priests of Marduk opened the city gates and went out to meet him. The takeover was peaceful, except Nabonidus and his son perished in their palace. It was burnt down in the only resistance there seems to have been. The oft told story of the Persian army diverting the river Euphrates and marching up the river bed at night, taking the city by surprise and burning it to the ground is a myth. The facts are the Persians spent a lot of time and money restoring the city to its former glory.

Darius ruled in Babylon as viceroy until Cyrus came and formally took over. Until Cyrus died Darius spent his time ruling Media, which had become a province of Persia. His capital was at Ecbanta (hence Ezra 6:1,2 - Darius seems to have taken the records of his short rule in Babylon home with him).

Cyrus 550 - 530 B.C.

Cambyses 530 - 522 B.C.

Darius 1 Hystapes 522 - 486 B.C.

Several others followed.

Greece defeated Persia in 331 B.C.

Alexander the Great was co-reagent with his father, and head of the Greek armies. He established the Greek empire. On his father's death he became Emperor (in 336 BC).

Alexander the Great 336 - 323B.C.

On his death the Empire divided into six, under the six generals, but this

soon settled into a four way division. These warred among themselves until all were overrun by Rome, this being completed by 63B.C.

The Roman empire is different from the others in that it has never really ceased to exist, but has changed its form several times.

Rome lost political power only gradually, but this was replaced by the power of the Church of Rome. The Roman Catholic Church became the ruler of Europe in the Dark Ages. The loss of this position since the Reformation has not eliminated Rome as an Empire, however, as all European countries trace their laws and language to Rome.

As we shall see the Antichrist Empire in the last days grows out of the remnants of Rome, and is essentially Roman.

DANIEL CH 2: - THE DREAM OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR.

Date of Dream: - 604B.C.

Nebuchadnezzar was a great man, a warrior, and in his dream he saw a warrior dressed for battle. Different parts of the image he saw were in different metals:

Head - Gold.

Breast and Arms - Silver.

Belly and thighs - Bronze.

Legs - Iron.

Feet - Iron and Clay.

Nebuchadnezzar was greatly disturbed by the dream, so he knew it was of great importance. The problem was he couldn't remember the dream. As the story progresses we see that Daniel not only tells him the dream, but also the interpretation.

The different parts of the image represent different empires in the world's history, and the significance of each one is hidden in the symbols used.

(1) The Head of Gold (v32,37,38).

Represents Nebuchadnezzar and his empire, Babylon. This empire was to be like gold - wealthy and luxurious. This is was - very wealthy, but like gold it was soft. Babylon, the city, was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was graced in its heyday with great wealth. However like gold it was soft. Babylon was only an empire because the Medes and Persians never bothered to take them over. They could never have stood before the Medes at any time in their history.

(2) Breast and Arms of Silver (v32).

Represents Medo-Persia. It has two arms - Media and Persia. Silver is a harder metal than gold, but less valuable, and Medo-Persia was stronger than Babylon, but never as wealthy and glorious.

(3) Thighs and Belly of Bronze (v32).

Rperesents Greece - again less valuable but stronger. Bronze is an alloy, a mixture of metals. Greece was not a true country, but a collection of city states united by a treaty.

(4) Legs of Iron (v33).

Represents Rome - Iron was the strongest metal known to ancient man. Rome was the largest and strongest empire of them all. The two legs imply a division in the empire - and this was true - Rome was always divided into two - East and West, Asia and Europe - To cultures, often with two capitals and two rulers.

(5) The Fifth Stage.

This is obviously an empire that is an outgrowth of Rome, the linking with iron suggests this, and the fact that the feet come out of the legs.

The presence of “10 toes” suggests that this last empire is made up of 10 nations, a fact which becomes clear later on.

It may be that the 10 nations come, 5 each, from the East and the West, just as each leg has a foot. However we may not be meant to press the picture that far – Greece was represented by the hips and two thighs but the two thighs really don’t have any significance. It may be that the fact that the 10 toes appear on two feet is really irrelevant. The important points are these:

(i) The empire is made up of 10 toes, 10 nations.

(ii) It has an ancient relationship to Rome.

(iii) The relationship is fragile, just as the iron and clay do not mix properly.

(iv) This last empire exists when “the son of Man” comes.

V44 tells us that this last kingdom will be in existence just prior to the setting up of the Kingdom of God. In fact the rulers that bring this last empire into being will still be alive when Christ comes.

"A great stone" = Christ - 1 Corinthians 10:4.

"mountain" = a political empire.

v34,35, 44. There is a sense in which none of these empires actually disappears as it is overrun by the next empire. They all exist together at the end when the “stone” comes and destroys them all “together”.

c/f 7:12 - "their lives are prolonged" .

All of these countries continue to exist until the end, but their empires do not. This is true of the peoples of Iraq, Iran, Greece and Rome - they still exist as identifiable peoples and nations, but not as empires. Any attempt by any one of them to become an empire again will be thwarted by God.

The first four empires have gone, the fifth is still to come.

DANIEL CH 7 : - THE VISION OF THE FOUR BEASTS.

Date of Vision: - 541B.C.

Daniel has a vision of four winds blowing on the sea. As a result of the winds action four great beasts arise out of the sea in order. After these four have passed we saw God establishing his kingdom and giving it to the Christ. As a result of seeing this vision Daniel was greatly troubled and sought God for the interpretation.

v2 "The four winds of Heaven" - the north, east, west and south. However they are not intended to be taken literally here. What we are to see here are spiritual forces behind the winds that are also involved in man's political arena.

Neither are the "seas" to be taken literally, but as in Revelation 17:15 they are the peoples of the world who are restless and rebellious like the seas.

The four winds are a traditional apocalyptic symbol (c/f Zechariah 6:1-6) and they represent four spiritual powers, demonic in character, which produce the empires of history, i.e. they are parts of the Antichrist spirit, as we shall see. They appear each in their turn and produce an empire.

"four" is a number which signifies action on the earth.

There is a parallel between Daniel 2 and 7. However there is a difference.

In Daniel 2 Nebuchadnezzar sees the empires from man's viewpoint - as strong and glorious.

In Daniel 7 Daniel sees them from God's viewpoint, as Demonic, wild, ugly and rebellious.

v4 The First Beast.

"like a lion" - the king of beasts, regal in nature, but wild, untameable.

"eagles wings" - the queen of the fowls. Powerful in flight, beautiful in its ability to soar. Can fly higher than any other bird. Again a regal bird, but untameable.

C/f Dan 2, the Gold head - the richest of the metals.

Both the lion and the eagle were common symbols of Babylon in ancient times. They were Babylon's astrological signs. There is no doubt, therefore, that Babylon is meant.

"wings plucked off" - i.e. it lost its power to conquer. Babylon became so internally racked with divisions towards its end that it had a hard time maintaining its empire. It could conquer no more.

"Stood up like a man" - became more humanised. The Babylonian empire was noted in its early days for its cruelty, this eased with time.

v5 - The Second Beast.

"bear" - the astrological sign and common symbol of Persia in ancient literature. It is inferior in strength and appearance to the lion.

"raised up on one side" - Medo Persia was a two nation empire, but one side was dominant - Persia.

"three ribs" - Medo Persia defeated three empires - Lydia. Egypt, Babylon.

"arise and devour much flesh" - Medo Persia was the biggest empire the world had seen to that time.

v6 - The Third Beast.

"A leopard" - it is not clear which member of the cat family is intended, but the idea is of great speed in action. Greece very quickly conquered the world.

Cats are also intelligent animals - after conquering the world Greece set out to educate it.

"Four wings" - indicating great speed, but also could refer to a four pronged attack by Greece's armies.

"four heads" - After Alexander died the empire divided into four.

v7 - The Fourth Beast.

"iron teeth" - "iron" clearly referring back to Daniel 2, i.e. the beast is Rome. The only characteristic we are told about this beast is its teeth, for devouring. The whole emphasis of this beast is its strength, anger and violence. Rome was strong, and a violent ruler. It tended to crush with great force any uprising or dissension. The Roman peace was an enforced peace.

v19 - "had claws of bronze" - for tearing things up. Bronze speaks of judgment. Rome saw her violence as being legally just.

"stamps its feet" - with great anger, like a child in a tantrum.

v7(b), 8 - The Fifth Stage.

This is clearly a subsequent stage to the life of the fourth beast, as v24 clearly indicates. The ten horns are ten kings that “arise out of the fourth beast” (V24), the beast (i.e. empire) existed before it had horns.

v8 - The Sixth Stage.

"another horn" - this is clearly the Antichrist.

"plucked up three horns"

It seems that the Antichrist's rule of his empire is not, at least initially, without dissension. Three of the 10 countries who "appoint" him as ruler later on secede and he has to forcibly put down their rebellion.

We are told that this ruler:

(i) Has "eyes like the eyes of a man" (v8). This probably signifies the epitome of human wisdom. Antichrist is considered to be very wise.

(ii) Speaks pompous words (v8,11, 20,25). The fact that it is mentioned 4 times suggests it is the most prominent feature of the Antichrist. He is a convincing wordsmith.

(iii) Makes war against the saints (v21, 25). He persecutes God's people.

(iv) He shall change the "times and the law". Presumably this means that the basis of our legal system (the 10 Commandments) will be changed and probably the way of numbering years from the birth of Christ will be abandoned.

v9 - The Seventh Stage.

"thrones" - in Heaven.

"Ancient of Days" - God himself. The implication is that he has bean around a long time. He knows what has happened and can judge correctly.

v11 - the Antichrist and his empire are totally destroyed at Christ's coming.

v12 - But the other nations are allowed to live on earth during the reign of God (c/f Matthew 25).

v13 - "a son of man" - Christ, but he includes us, his church, in his total man (c/f v 27 - "the saints").

D) DANIEL CH 8: - THE RAM AND THE HE GOAT.

Date of Vision: - 559B.C.

(1) The Ram:

The empire of Persia (v20).

v3 "ram" - v20 = Aries, the Astrological sign of Persia in Ancient Times. Persian kings going into battle carried a Ram's head.

"two horns" - horns symbolise political power, two representing Media and Persia, c/f 2:32 "two arms".

"one higher than the other" - i.e. more powerful, as Persia was. C/f 7:5 “was raised up on one side”

"the higher one came up last" - Persia had been a subject kingdom of Media, but later became the ruling power.

v4 "west, north, south" – Medo-Persia was in the east - expansion further East was hindered by the Himalayas. Hence their armies went towards the west and north first, going above Babylon and conquering the Lydian empire first. Later they went south and conquered Babylon, then Palestine and Egypt.

(2) The Goat:

The empire of Greece (v21).

v5 "goat" - v21 = Capricornus, the ancient astrological sign of Greece.

"from the west" - Greece is in the west in relation to the other countries mentioned here.

"without touching the ground" - this has two implications:

(i) Indicating great speed, the Greek conquest of Medo-Persia was very swift, c/f "cat" 7:6.

(ii) The Greeks defeated Medo Persia by a sea borne invasion.

"conspicuous horn" - Alexander the Great.

v6 "mighty wrath" - Alexander attacked the M/P empire because they repeatedly attacked Greece.

v7 "broke his two horns" - i.e. defeated the Medes and Persians, breaking their power.

v8 "when he was strong, the great horn was broken" - at the height of Greece's power, Alexander died suddenly at a young age - at the height of his manly power. He died at 33 years of Age from alcohol poisoning.

"four horns" - v22 - for eleven years Alexander's six generals fought over the empire and the empire was finally divided into four under the four survivors. The four empires were literally "to the four winds of heaven", i.e. west, east, north and south.

v9 "one of them" - refers to the Syrian, or Seleucid Empire.

c/f v23 - this event occurs towards the end of the Greek period. The "little horn" is Antiochus Epiphanes (175- 164 BC). This is not the same "little horn" as 7:8 which comes out of the fourth empire and represents Antichrist. This one comes out of the third empire.

Antiochus, however, is a type of the Antichrist who will in some way repeat these historical events.

"towards the south" - i.e. to Egypt.

"the East" - to Elymias and Armenia.

"the Glorious land" - Palestine.

v10 - "it grew great" - very powerful.

"even to the host of Heaven" - i.e. the (fallen) angels. This must refer to the fallen angels as Antiochus was a Satan worshiper and called on the powers of darkness to help him gain power.

c/f v 25 - "cunning" - he had supernatural, demonic, wisdom.

"some of the host of the stars it cast down ... and trampled on them" - his arrogance was so great that he even mistreated the demons and fallen angels that helped him get where he was.

v11 - "the prince of the Host" - c/f v 25 - here must refer to God, who is ultimately over all, even the demons. Antiochus proclaimed himself to be God.

"and the continual burnt offering was taken away" - Antiochus stopped the Jews sacrificing to God.

"and the place of his sanctuary was overthrown" - Antiochus offered pigs on the alter in the temple, thus defiling it so that burnt offerings could not be offered (v12). The temple sat desolate for several years. He sent the priests away and the temple fell into disrepair.

"truth was cast to the ground" - i.e. true worship.

v13 “How long" is the rule of Antiochus?

v14 "2300 days" - this was exactly the length of time from the defiling of the temple until it was rededicated by the Maccabees.

It is this exact dating of this period and the exact prophecies of ch8 and 11 of Daniel that has lead some scholars earlier this century to suggest that Daniel didn't write this part of the book. Rather someone writing it after 132 AD was recording history in such a way as to make it look like prophecy. However recent discoveries of a text of Daniel dating from at least 200 BC contains these prophecies - i.e. they were written before they occurred, even if only 60 years before. Hence Daniel is a valid prophecy.

v25 - "by no human hand shall he be broken" - Antiochus died of sickness, the symptoms described by historians suggests Venereal Disease - he went insane and his body was consumed by fever.

v26 - Is a very interesting statement. It seems to indicate that the whole chapter refers to the end times, but when we look at it we see it has been fulfilled in Antiochus. This indicates that the chapter has a double fulfilment, Antiochus is a type of Antichrist. The NT seems to follow this line, c/f Matthew 24, 2 Thessalonians 2.

Daniel 10-12:- The Visitation of Gabriel:

Here we read an interesting episode. Daniel had been seeking God and fasting for three weeks when he was visited by an angel, who apparently is Gabriel. Gabriel traditionally had the task of bringing revelation to mankind, hence he appears at the birth of Christ.

C/f Daniel 8:16 9:21 - he is the agent of revelation to Daniel twice before.

Gabriel tells Daniel that he had been attempting to come to him since the day he began to pray but had been hindered by "princes", fallen prince (or arch) angels fighting his progress in the heavenlies. In order to let him get through the archangel Michael had come to his aid.

Gabriel tells Daniel that the present opponent is the "prince of Persia", i.e. the Satanic force behind the empire of Persia. Following the defeat of this prince the "prince of Greece" would come.

11:2 Three more kings of Persia:

Cyrus is still reigning, and several kings followed him before Greece took over. Gabriel here only mentions four, Cyrus and the three to follow. Who then are the other three? Why does he not mention the others?

The second appears to be Cambyses (529-522 B.C.).

The third seems to be Darius (522-485 B.C.).

The fourth is Xerxes who invaded Greece.

Some writers list the four as Cyrus, Darius, Artaxerxes, Xerxes - the four mentioned in the OT.

11:3 "a great king" = Alexander the Great.

11:4 "as soon as he has risen" - Alexander died very young while still rising, the empire reached its height in him.

"four points of the compass" "not to his own descendants"

The empire divided under his generals.

11:5-20. The Wars of the Ptolemy's (Egypt) and Seleucid (Syrian) Empires.

Though this is interesting in itself it does not directly impinge on our theme in REVELATION so we will leave it here.