Daniel Chapter 7 Vs. 1

 

Daniel's Vision of the Four Beasts

In 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. Dan. 7:1

In the first... Two visions of Daniel were seen in the reign of Belshazzar (Dan. 7:1-28 and Dan. 8:1-27). Two dreams were seen by Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 2:1-49 and Dan. 4:1-37). This vision was seen about three years before events of Dan. 6:1-28 (cp. Dan. 6:1 with Dan. 8:1). This chapter, which was in Aramaic, completes the whole Aramaic section of Daniel (Dan. 2:4-7:28). Because of the difference in the Aramaic and Hebrew sections of the book, some have sought to make one section concern Israel and the other refer to the Gentiles. There is no ground for such a theory. The whole of the visions of Daniel concerns both Jews and Gentiles in the latter days, as we have seen in Dan. 2:1-49, and will yet see in the following studies.

We see this is dated at the beginning of the reign of Belshazzar, but it is not the dream of Belshazzar. This is Daniel’s own dream and visions. This is written down of Daniel.

This first year represents a flashback (to 533 B.C.), 14 years before the feast (of 5:1-3).

(Chapters 7 and 8 occur after chapter 4, but before chapter 5). The dream of Daniel 7 moves far beyond Daniel’s day to the coming of Israel’s king to end all Gentile kingdoms and to establish His eternal kingdom.

The vision of the four beasts

The Vision

The four beasts

The vision recorded by the Prophet Daniel in this chapter was revealed to him in the first year of Belshazzar’s reign, 553 b.c., when Belshazzar was made coregent with Nabonidus. Daniel’s dream predated by 14 years his experience in the lions’ den (Dan. 6:1-28) which occurred in or soon after 539. When the dream came Daniel was about 68 years of age, for he was taken captive (at about the age of 16) 52 years earlier in 605 b.c.

The revelation was given Daniel in a dream through visions (cf. Dan. 2:28; 4:5, 4:10). In referring to the experience as “a dream” (sing.) Daniel was emphasizing the unity of the revelation and in referring to it as “visions” (pl.) he emphasized the successive stages in which the revelation was given. (Five times in Dan. 7:1-28 he said “looked” [Dan. 7:2, 7:6-7, 7:13] and once “I kept looking” [Dan. 7:11].) The dream refers to his being asleep, and the visions refer to what he saw while dreaming. Sometimes, however, a person had a vision while he was awake (cf., e.g., Dan. 9:23). Because of the great significance of Daniel’s dream, he immediately wrote down a summary of it.

Daniel had been the interpreter of two dreams by Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 2:1-49; Dan. 4:1-37). Then the prophet-statesman became the recipient of four dreams or visions (Dan. 7:1-28; Dan. 8:1-27; Dan. 9:20-27; 10:1-12:5).