Page 184 - Daniel

attain His ends (Gen. 8:1; Exod. 10:13–19; 14:21; 15:10; Num. 11:31; 1
Kings 18:45; 19:11). Compare Satan’s use of wind in Job 1:19. Of more
than 120 references in the Bible to wind (more than 90 in the Old
Testament and about 30 in the New), well over half are related to events
and ideas that reflect the sovereignty and power of God. In Daniel, wind

is uniformly used to represent God’s sovereign power, which is the focus
of the book. Gentile history is the record of God striving with the nations
and ultimately bringing them into subjection when Christ returns to
reign (Ps. 2).

THE FIRST BEAST: BABYLON (7:4)

7:4 “The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings. Then as I looked
its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and
made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was
given to it.”

As Daniel looked intently, he saw the wings plucked from this beast,

which was then set up on its two feet and given a man’s mind or nature.
Interpreters of all stripes have generally agreed that chapter 7 is in some
sense a recapitulation of chapter 2 and covers the same four empires.
There is also agreement that the first empire represents the reign of
Nebuchadnezzar or the Neo-Babylonian Empire, corresponding to the
head of gold. Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar, “You are the head of gold”
(2:38), so there is no uncertainty that in this chapter the first kingdom is

either the reign of Nebuchadnezzar or the empire he represents. There is
more unanimity on the identification of the first beast of chapter 7 than
on any other point in this chapter. 20

This beast was compared to a lion with eagles’ wings. The lion is a
common representation of royal power. Solomon, for instance, had
twelve lions on either side of the steps leading up to his throne (1 Kings
10:20; 2 Chron. 9:19). Winged lions guarded the gates of the
Babylonians’ royal palaces. The lion was indeed the king of the beasts. In
the same way, the eagle was the king of the air. In Ezekiel 17:3, 7, a
great eagle is used as a picture first of Babylon and then of Egypt. 21