In my last post, I discussed the vision of the beasts described in Revelation. The first of these beasts has ten horns and seven heads, and characteristics of a leopard, a bear, and a lion (Rev. 13:1-2). To properly interpret this vision, we need to also understand a related prophecy in Daniel that includes the exact same animals. Daniel 7 records a vision of four beasts: a lion with eagle’s wings, a bear gnawing on three ribs, a leopard with four wings and four heads and a fourth “frightening and dreadful” beast with ten horns, iron teeth and claws. We know from Daniel 7:23-24 that the beast represent kingdoms or governments, and that horns represent rulers.
This is what he said: ‘The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, different from all the other kingdoms. it will devour the whole earth, trample it down, and crush it. The ten horns are ten kings who will rise from this kingdom….’ (Dan. 7:23-24, CSB)
There is a well established interpretation, which I believe is false. I will address this traditional view first, and then give an interpretation I believe is more faithful to the text and what we know of history.
Four challenges to the traditional interpretation
The traditional interpretation of Daniel 7 identifies the lion as the Babylonian Empire, the bear as the Medo-Persian Empire, the leopard as the Greek Empire, and the fourth beast as the Roman Empire. This is such a widely held view that it is often presented as fact. One of the reasons the traditional view seems compelling is because of the vision of a statue of a man in Daniel 2, in which the body parts of different materials also represent four kingdoms, leading to an easy assumption that these are the same four visions in Daniel 7. In the vision of chapter 2, we are told the head of gold represents King Nebuchadnezzar II who ruled the Babylonian Empire and the other three kingdoms made of lesser valued metals (silver, bronze and iron) are inferior kingdoms that will follow. Since we know the initial kingdom is Babylon, identification of the remaining three follow naturally. This is made even easier with the vision of a ram and a goat in chapter 8 in which the angel identifies Medo-Persia and Greece as the next two kingdoms to follow Babylon. A rock hewn by God smashes the feet of iron mixed with clay and destroys the statue, creating a new and final kingdom that will last forever. This rock is no doubt the Messiah, referenced in the New Testament as the stumbling stone (1 Corinthians 8:9). Jesus declared the Kingdom of God began with his ministry, and thus the prophecy of Daniel 2 is fulfilled with Jesus’ ministry and his Church. The new kingdom is spreading over the whole world, and is smashing the kingdom of darkness. In similar fashion, the end of Daniel 7 lapses into descriptions of an antichrist figure who is eventually overcome by the Son of Man, one of the names Jesus often used for himself. It all seems so nice and consistent. But, for those that are open to receive it, I give five challenges to the traditional view of Daniel 7, which taken together I believe are sufficient to completely discredit it.
Challenge 1: The final beast has not been fulfilled
The Roman Empire has come and gone, but we do not see a clear fulfillment of the final beast with ten horns, or the remainder of the vision regarding the horn that wages war against the saints, the judgement of the Ancient of Days and the appearance of the Son of Man. While the impact of the Roman Empire was great, it did not “devour the whole earth, trample it down, and crush it.” (Daniel 7:23) History records seven kings of the Roman Kingdom, not ten, starting with Romulus and ending with Tarquinius Superbus. There have been multiple antichrist figures, but these did not change the set times and laws, the holy ones weren’t handed over for a time, times, and half a time, and they weren’t conquered by the Messiah. In short, it is a force-fit to describe the final beast in Daniel 7 as the Roman Empire. To overlook the inconsistencies is to simply be dishonest in our reading and interpretation of scripture. When we get to the point we are overlooking details or force-fitting them, we are interpreting something incorrectly.
Some futurists that hold to the traditional view of Daniel 7 consider these details as being fulfilled in a future revived Roman Empire. No doubt some future kingdom may resemble the Roman Empire, but there have been many kingdoms in the span between the fall of the Roman Empire and today. So even if we identify the final beast with a future kingdom, we still have to deal with all of the kingdoms in between. There have been many leading up to the modern State of Israel including the Byzantine Empire, the Arab Caliphates, the Crusader Kingdoms, the British Empire, and the Ottoman Empire, even if we only consider those with direct influence over Jerusalem. So, where are all of those kingdoms in the vision?
Challenge 2: The visions are redundant
Traditionalists point to the other visions of the statue in Daniel 2, and the ram and the goat in Daniel 8 to support the identity of the beasts with the kingdoms that immediately followed Daniel. However, I see this as a strong objection. Why would Daniel need to receive three completely different visions that declared the same set of events? And if these visions communicated the same basic information he had previously, why would Daniel be so disturbed by the details of the visions that he became pale and lay sick for days? (Dan 7:28, 8:27)
Challenge 3: The symbolism is inconsistent
Daniel 8 contains a vision of a ram and a goat. In this case, an angel provides the interpretation that specifically identifies the ram with the Medo-Persian Empire and the goat with Greece (Dan. 8:20-21). Why have different beasts symbolizing the same entities? If Medo-Persia is represented as a ram in the vision of chapter 8, why is it represented as a bear in Chapter 7? And if the Greek Empire is represented as a goat in chapter 8, why is it represented as a leopard with four heads in chapter 7? Sure, it’s possible, but it raises obvious questions as to why the visions would not use a consistent representation.
Traditionalists often point to ancient images of lions with wings in reference to ancient Babylon and use these images in their elaborate charts. Although the Lion of Babylon is a famous unwinged symbol of Babylon, the winged lion is an Assyrian symbol and not found in Babylonian culture. There is therefore no clear explanation for why the lion would have wings in the traditional view. In the vision, the wings are plucked from the lion and the lion is caused to stand like a man. This is generally taken to refer to the story of King Nebuchadnezzar from Daniel 4 in which he loses reason and authority for a time and is restored. The plucking of the wings is thus taken to symbolize a loss of power or pride. However, the transformation of Nebuchadnezzar was from a man to a beast and back again, not of a beast who becomes a man.
The traditional view cannot well explain why the bear is on one side, and there is debate over the significance of the three ribs. There is no clear reason to associate a leopard with Greece, other than its speed, and the wings of the leopard are generally explained only as to the swiftness of the expanse of the kingdom. The wings of the leopard are thus not given the same meaning as the wings of the lion. Prophetic vision literature of the prophets is surprisingly consistent in ascribing specific symbols to specific types of entities, such as beasts, horns, etc. Although scripture is less definitive regarding what some symbols mean, like heads and wings, the traditional view throws consistency out the window.
Challenge 4: The beasts are future to Daniel
In Daniel 7:17, the angel declares that the four beasts are four kingdoms who “will rise from the earth”. The most natural reading captured by most translations implies that all four beasts are future to the time of Daniel. Daniel records the vision as occurring in the first year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, so at the time writing the first beast would have already risen according to the traditional view. This is admittedly not quite as strong an objection as it might seem. The Hebrew word for arise here is in the imperfect tense. This tense is used to indicate continuous, incomplete or open-ended action occurring in present or future. An alternate translation might then read that the four beasts “are rising from the earth”. However, this seems like a very awkward reading, and since some of the beasts are clearly not yet risen does not seem to fit well to the sense of the passage. The most natural interpretation is that these kingdoms are future events that continue over an unspecified or open-ended time. Thus, the first beast represents a kingdom that exists after the fall of Babylon.
Challenge 5: The beasts have not remained alive
This objection, I believe, is the strongest as it involves direct contradiction of scripture. We are told by Daniel that the first three beasts will exist at the time that the final beast is destroyed, and will continue to exist for some time but with diminished authority. This is a critical point that clearly contradicts the traditional interpretation:
I watched, then because of the sound the arrogant words the horn was speaking. As I continued watching, the beast was killed and its body destroyed and given over to the burning fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was removed, but an extension of life was granted to them for a certain period of time. I continued watching in the night visions, and suddenly one like a son of man was coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was escorted before him. (Dan 7:11-13)
Of the first three kingdoms identified by the traditional view, only Greece has some reasonable representation today. The original Babylonian Empire no longer exists today. Of course there are modern day countries that occupy the same territory. But the beasts are not still alive. Where is ancient Babylon but a tourist site? The country of Iran, while rich with Persian influence, is distinctly different than the Persian Empire.
The modern interpretation
I believe the three beasts are three empires that have directly given rise to modern day countries and can be reasonably said to represent them in some form of reduced dominion. I will refer to this as the modern interpretation, since it interprets the beasts with kingdoms that occurred in more recent history than those of the traditional view, and that continue to exist in some form today. I do not come to this conclusion alone. Others have described a similar idea that these beasts are modern countries. The symbolism for each animal fits well with how these countries have been depicted in literature and modern culture, and is consistent with known historical events.
As we will see, the modern interpretation provides a much clearer, complete and consistent explanation of symbolic details than the traditional view.
Lion: The British Empire
The first was like a lion but had eagle’s wings. I continued watching until its wings were torn off. It was lifted up from the ground, set on its feet like a man, and given a human mind. (Daniel 7:4, CSB)
The first beast, the lion, represents the British Empire which began around 1583 AD. The lion has been associated with England, and is represented on its coat of arms. The wings here represent the English colonies in the new world, that were removed when the United States won its war for independence in 1776. Wings as symbols that represent colonies or remote territories makes sense from an expansion or geographical perspective. In this case, the wings of an eagle carry additional significance as a national symbol of the US. The lion is set on its feet like a man and given a human mind. This is an interesting symbolic detail that fits perfectly with the age of reason, or enlightenment period, that began in England in the 18th century with Thomas Paine’s influential pamphlet Age of Reason published in 1790.
Currently, this empire continues to exist as the United Kingdom. The transition from empire to kingdom fits perfectly with the description of dominion being removed and an extension of life being granted (Daniel 7:12).
Bear: The Russian Empire
Suddenly, another beast appeared, a second one, that looked like a bear. It was raised up on one side, with three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, ‘Get up! Gorge yourself on flesh.’ (Daniel 7:5, CSB)
The Russian Empire was founded in 1721. The bear became a widely recognized symbol for the Russian Empire and Russia in general. The picture of the bear laying on its side fits geographic depictions, such as the one shown in a 1914 humorous world atlas shown here.
The Russian Empire was characterized by massive early expansion, and certainly fits the depiction of a gorging bear. The ravenous nature of the bear also fits the continued aggressive and expansive nature of Russian imperialism that continued into the Soviet Union and post-Soviet eras and have been a key feature of Russian policy. The three ribs between its teeth can be seen to represent three territories of Russian occupation: Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine. At the time of this writing Russia continues to gnaw on Ukraine.
Leopard: The German Empire
After this, while I was watching, suddenly another beast appeared. It was like a leopard with four wings of a bird on its back. It had four heads, and it was given dominion. (Daniel 7:6, CSB)
The German Empire began in 1871 and existed until the end of World War I in 1918. While the leopard is not as clearly identified as a nation symbol of Germany or the German Empire, it can be connected with the German Leopard and Panther tanks and it also characterizes the swiftness of German invasions. The four heads may represent the four constituent kingdoms that made up the German Empire: Bavaria, Prussia, Saxony and Württemberg. It may also represent the successive German Reichs, plus the current German Federal Republic. In keeping with the interpretation of the “wings” of the British Empire, the four wings can be interpreted as the multiple colonies of the German Empire, of which there were four principal colonies acquired in Africa: German East Africa, German South West Africa, Cameroon, and Togoland. The symbolism of the bird also fits Germany’s heraldic symbol which is a black eagle with red beak.
Why does this matter?
The interpretation of Daniel 7 affects how we understand the first beast from the sea in Revelation, and potential future events, since this beast includes parts from each of the Daniel 7 beasts. If the four beasts of Daniel are in the past, this supports either the preterist view that the events of Revelation are fulfilled at the time of the Roman Empire, or the idealist view that all the kingdoms past and future are represented in the east in some allegorical way. But understanding that the beasts in Daniel 7 continue to live as modern countries provides us with an understanding that their inclusion in Revelation 13 indicates that these countries are part of the future beast. And a clear and consistent symbology demonstrated in Daniel’s beast prophecies helps us to understand what these symbols mean when we see them in the Revelation passage.
In a future post, I will dive into future clues for the Revelation beast of the sea, and the seventh head of the beast that I believe exists today.
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