The Pulpit Commentary on Daniel 7:1-28

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

THE VISION OF THE FOUR BEASTS.

This chapter begins the second section of the book. All before this has been narrative; visions are introduced into the narrative, but they were not given to Daniel himself, but to others; his role was the secondary one of interpreter. These visions and the events connected with them are related more as incidents in the biography of Daniel, than as revelations of the future. With this chapter begins a series of revelations to Daniel personally. This chapter is the last chapter of the Aramaic portion of Daniel. Though thus linguistically joined to what has preceded, logically it is related to what follows.

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commentaryMatthew Henry on Daniel 7:1-8This vision contains the same prophetic representations with Nebuchadnezzar's dream. The great sea agitated by the winds, represented the earth and the dwellers on it troubled by ambitious princes and conquerors. The fo…Matthew Henry commentaryThe Vision of the Four Beasts. (b. c. 555.)THE VISION OF THE FOUR BEASTS. (B. C. 555.) The date of this chapter places it before Daniel 5:1-31, which was in the last year of Belshazzar, and Daniel 6:1-28, which was in the first of Darius; for Daniel had those vi…Matthew Henry commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Daniel 7:1-12Brute rule. "Four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another" (Daniel 7:3). We remark the transition here from history to prophecy; the date, the first year of Belshazzar, that is, before the fall of th…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Daniel 7:1-12Godless kingdoms. Daniel's vision brings before us the origin, the character, and the destiny of godless kingdoms. I. ORIGIN. 1. Earthly. The Divine kingdom comes from above—"with the clouds of heaven" (verse 13). These…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Daniel 7:1-28EXPOSITIONJoseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Daniel 7:1In the first year of Belshazzar King of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters. The language of the Septuagint is suggestive of the actu…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Daniel 7:1-8A vision of human violence. Dreams have a foundation in external fact. The mind of man has a creative faculty—a faint reflection of the Divine—and, when released from the domination of visible things, it asserts its ori…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Daniel 7:2Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. The Septuagint omits the introductory clause, and renders, "On my couch I saw in my night-sleep, a…Joseph S. Exell and contributors