The Four Kingdoms of
Daniel 7
I am convinced that the view which best accounts for the
biblical data and accords with history is that the four kingdoms of Daniel 7
should be ordered as follows.
1. Babylon
2. Media[1]
3. Persia
4. Greece
with subsequent Diadochoi:[2]
4.
A. Seleucids
4.
B. Ptolemies
Apart from the extended diadochoi
points (4. A, B), this is commonly known as the ‘Greek view.’ This ordering of the four kingdoms in modern
times is typically associated with liberal-radical scholarship. The reason for this association is largely
because the liberals have a prejudicial bias against the concept of predictive
prophecy; and, because the descriptions of the Grecian and Seleucid kingdoms
are so incredibly accurate with known history, it must therefore mean—so the
reasoning goes—that the pseudonymous author(s) of Daniel lived
contemporaneously with these later events, thus meaning that the book was
written sometime around the second century B.C. (rather
than Daniel in the sixth century).
However, some, such as Goldingay, argue that the Greek view,
even positing a late date (i.e., second century) does no damage to the orthodox
doctrines of the inspiration, authority, or infallibility of Scripture.[3] Goldingay’s precarious stance
notwithstanding, the Greek view does not necessitate a late date. The Westminster divines, for instance, held
to the Greek view and sixth century authorship by the historic Daniel. Wenham observes, “Incidentally to accept the
Greek view together with a sixth-century dating is not a new view; it was held by
various conservative Christians, including the Westminster divines, long before
the Greek view became the hallmark of liberal orthodoxy.”[4] More recently, Gurney has rescued the Greek
view from liberalism, persuasively arguing for a sixth century origin and authorship.[5]
Finally, it is the Greek view that best gives the book of
Daniel an internal unity, especially chapters 2, 7, and 11.
The One like the Son
of Man of Daniel 7
The general identity
of the Son of man may be gained by considering the Old Testament
literature. Intermittently
throughout the Old Testament (OT
hereafter) the phrase ‘son of man’ (SM hereafter) is most often used to denote
a mere human being, a mortal (see, e.g., Ps. 8:4; Eze. 2:1, etc.). However, the Danielic SM is certainly more
than a mere mortal. In the contexture of
the book itself, the first hint at the divine authority of the SM comes from
7:13b, where it is reported that “one like the Son of man came with the clouds
of heaven” (KJV). According to Ps. 104:3 it is YHWH “who maketh
the clouds his chariot.” Again, “YHWH
rideth upon a swift cloud” (Is. 19:1).
So, windsurfing on clouds is indicative of divine authority and
judgment.
Moreover, Daniel 7:9 describes the Ancient of Day’s (i.e.,
God’s) throne-chariot, to which the SM is ascending, as having flaming
wheels. This is strikingly similar to
Ezekiel’s throne-chariot vision, “and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man
above upon it” (1:26). The association
between the SM and the throne-chariot of God points further toward the divine-yet-mannish
character of the SM. Additionally,
“there was given him (SM) dominion, and glory, and a kingdom…an everlasting
dominion” (Dan. 7:14). Despite the fact
that an everlasting kingdom-rule would require an everlasting king, which
presupposes the SM’s divinity, the description of the scope of the SM’s rule is
parallel to that of the “most High…him
that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his
kingdom is from generation to generation,” as described Nebuchadnezzar in
Daniel 4:34. Therefore, within the
contexture of Daniel alone, the reader is given overt intimations that the SM
is a divine-yet-mannish figure, a God-man, if you will.
Elsewhere in the OT Isaiah speaks similarly of the
then-coming Messiah child, who is no less than “the mighty God,” and “of the
increase of his government and peace there shall be no end…henceforth even
forever” (9:6, 7). One does not have to
leave the prophetic corpus of the OT in order to safely conclude that the SM is
the predicted Messiah, who is at once divine and human, a God-man.
The particular and
personal identity of SM is explicit in the New Testament (NT
hereafter). “If apocalyptic is at all the mother of Christian
theology,” suggests Goldingay, then “Daniel certainly contributed to this
mothering.”[6] He adds that, despite this passage’s
centrality, “Daniel’s effect on the NT is more pervasive than merely the
influence of 7:13—14.”[7] For example, Beale has written extensively on
the Danielic background for Revelation.[8]
Within the context of second temple Judaism in the first
century A.D., messianic expectations were
at their zenith. Amid this culture, Jesus
was careful with his use of loaded self-attributions such as Messiah, Son of
God, etc. The SM title provided enough
ambiguity that he used it freely and frequently. Although the title could still denote a
mortal during this period, at crucial junctures in his ministry, Jesus used the
pregnant SM title with all its glorious messianic connotations. In Matthew 13:41, for instance, he invokes
the title in connection with the kingdom motif.
In John 3:13 Jesus mentions ascension relation to the SM title, which is
the direction of movement for SM in Daniel 7.
Most explicitly, though, are Jesus’ clear allusions to Daniel 7:13f in
the events surrounding his arrest and trial.
And the high priest answered and said
unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be
the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith
unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see
the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of
heaven. Then the high priest rent his
clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of
witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. What think ye? They answered and said, He is
guilty of death (Matt. 26:63—66; cf. 24:30; 25:31; Mk. 13:26; 14:62; Lk. 21:27,
etc.).
Likewise, approaching his martyrdom, Stephen announced his
vision of the SM standing on the right hand of God (Acts 7:56). And, finally, Revelation 1:5—7 depends heavily
on Daniel 7 for all of its various threads.
Granting these things, therefore, it is plain that Jesus’
messianic/divine self-consciousness was expressed by means of the SM title, and
for his audience it was clear enough to invoke the charge of blasphemy and warrant
capital punishment. Jesus knew it, the
Sanhedrin knew it; Jesus’ self-attribution as the SM was nothing less than a
claim to deity and the eternal kingdom-throne of David. The Son of Man is the God-man, Israel’s
Messiah, Jesus.
The Ram and the Goat
of Daniel 8
The ram and the goat of Daniel 8 are not nearly as enigmatic
as the four kingdoms or the SM. Typical
of much of the Bible’s apocalyptic material, the seer is given a vision full of
vibrant but often elusive symbols and then the angelical messenger gives the
vision’s interpretation. This is done
explicitly in Daniel 8, concerning the ram and the goat.
In Daniel 8:20—21 the reader is told precisely what and who
these beasts represent: “The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Greece: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.” The ram, therefore, represents the Media and
Persia and its horns, the kings. The
goat is Greece and its single great horn, the first king of the empire. Thus, the great horn is Alexander the
Great.
Daniel 8:5 reports that “the he-goat came from the west on
the face of the whole earth.”
Correspondingly, the apocryphal book of 1 Maccabees tells of Alexander,
who, having smitten Darius the king of the Persians and Medes, became “the
first [king] over Greece,” and “went through to the ends of the earth” during
the eastern campaign (1 Macc. 1:1, 2).
Daniel 8:22 goes on to describe the four diadochoi that succeeded Alexander, his generals who divided his
kingdom. Interestingly, in Daniel’s
vision the ram was powerless against the strength of the he-goat, which “cast
[the ram] to the ground, and stamped upon
him” (8:7). I believe the “stamped
upon him” is more than a metaphor for the he-goat’s power. The idea of a goat trampling another animal
is hard to imagine; however, the Greeks, under Alexander and the later
Seleucids, pioneered the use of elephants in battle. 1 Maccabees 1:17 describes the Seleucids’
(under Antiochus IV) armaments and mobilizations against the Ptolemies, which
included chariots, horseman, a great navy, and elephants. It appears
likely, then, that the “stamped upon him,” respecting the ram (Dan. 8:7),
alludes to the military use of elephants by the Grecian armies from Alexander
forward. The little horn to arise out of
the four horns of the diadochoi is
Antiochus IV (8:9; cf. 7:8).
[1]
Splitting the Medo-Persian kingdom, which is typically conjoined in the ‘Roman
view,’ is deftly defended by Robert J. M. Gurney, “The Four Kingdoms of Daniel
2 and 7,” Themelois, 2:2 (January
1977), 42—44.
[2] For a
more thorough treatment of the extension of (4) the Grecian kingdom to include
the Diadochoi see Otto Erlend
Nordgreen, “The Four Kingdoms in the Book of Daniel Reconsidered” (1998), found
at http://folk.uio.no/otton/Daniel1.htm , accessed 07 July 2012.
[3] Gordon
J. Wenham, “Daniel: The Basic Issues,” Themelois,
2:2 (January 1977), 51.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.,
50; also see Robert J. M. Gurney, “The Seventy Weeks of Daniel 9:24-27,” Evangelical
Quarterly 53:1 (January-March 1981), 29-36.
[6]
John E. Goldingay, Daniel, vol. 30 in
Word Biblical Commentary series (Dallas, TX: Word Books, 1989), xxviii—xxix.
[7] Ibid.
[8] See,
e.g., Gregory K. Beale, “The Danielic Background For Revelation 13:18 and
17:9,” Tyndale Bulletin 31 (1980),
163—170.
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