Four kingdoms of Daniel - wikipedia Four kingdoms of Daniel `` Four kingdoms '' redirects here. For the Castilian state, see Four Kingdoms of Andalusia. Daniel 's Vision of the Beasts, 1866 engraving by Gustave Doré. The four kingdoms of Daniel are four kingdoms which, according to the Book of Daniel, precede the `` end - time '' and the `` Kingdom of God ''. Contents 1 The four kingdoms 1.1 Historical background 1.2 Daniel 2 1.3 Daniel 7 1.4 Daniel 8 2 Schools of thought 2.1 Roman Empire schema 2.1. 1 Use with Book of Revelation 2.1. 2 Second temple theory 3 Traditional views 3.1 Protestant Reformation 3.2 Fifth Monarchists 3.3 Seventh - day Adventist view 4 See also 5 Appendix 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External links The four kingdoms Historical background Daniel was one of many Hebrew young men in particular taken captive by the Babylonians. He had been very well educated in his native Israel which is why he as well as others were chosen to be trained for service in the Babylonian king 's household. This was a dark time for the people of Israel, and the Babylonian Captivity was a judgment by God upon them for forsaking His Commandments and instructions. God had forewarned Israel many times prior to this. `` Belteshazzar '' was the Babylonian name given to Daniel, which undoubtedly referred to a Chaldean deity. Daniel 's writings cover the Israeli Captivity under Babylon and also the Mede - Persian Empires. He served under several kings and was always favored for his wisdom, which he attributed to God. Daniel 2 In chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar dreams of a statue made of four different materials, identified as four kingdoms : Head of gold, explicitly identified as King Nebuchadnezzar. ( v. 37 - 38 ) Chest and arms of silver. Identified as an `` inferior '' kingdom to follow Nebuchadnezzar. ( v. 39 ) Belly and thighs of bronze. A third kingdom which shall rule over all the earth. ( v. 39 ) Legs of iron with feet of mingled iron and clay Interpreted as a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, but the feet and toes partly of clay and partly of iron show it shall be a divided kingdom. ( v. 41 ) Daniel 7 In chapter 7, Daniel has a vision of four beasts coming up out of the sea, and is told that they represent four kingdoms : A beast like a lion with eagle 's wings ; A beast like a bear, raised up on one side, with three ribs between its teeth ; A beast like a leopard with four wings and four heads ; A fourth beast, with large iron teeth and ten horns. This is explained as a fourth kingdom, different from all the other kingdoms ; it `` will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. '' ( v. 23 ) The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. ( V. 24 ) A further horn ( the `` little horn '' ) then appears and uproots three of the previous horns : this is explained as a future king. Daniel 8 In chapter 8 Daniel sees a ram with two horns destroyed by a he - goat with a single horn ; the horn breaks and four horns appear, followed once again by the `` little horn. '' Schools of thought From the time of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, the `` four monarchies '' model became widely used by all for universal history, in parallel with eschatology, among Protestants. Some continued to defend its use in universal history in the early 18th century. Christopher Cellarius ( 1638 -- 1707 ), based on the distinctive nature of medieval Latin. The modern historicist interpretations and eschatological views of the Book of Daniel with the Book of Revelation closely resemble and continue earlier historical Protestant interpretations. There are references in classical literature and arts that apparently predate the use of the succession of kingdoms in the Book of Daniel. One appears in Aemilius Sura, an author quoted by Velleius Paterculus ( c. 19 BC -- c. AD 31 ). This gives Assyria, Media, Persia and Macedonia as the imperial powers. The fifth empire became identified with the Romans. ( After the 17th century, the concept of a fifth monarchy was re-introduced from Christian millennarian ideas. ) An interpretation that became orthodox after Swain ( 1940 ) sees the `` four kingdoms '' theory becoming the property of Greek and Roman writers at the beginning of the 1st century BCE, as an import from Asia Minor. They built on a three - kingdom sequence, already mentioned by Herodotus ( c. 484 -- 425 BC ) and by Ctesias ( fl. 401 BC ). Mendels ( 1981 ) contests this dating and origin, placing it later in the century. Jewish Reconstructionists and Full Preterists believe that Daniel is completely fulfilled, and that the believers are now working to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. Two main schools of thought on the four kingdoms of Daniel, are : the traditionalist view, supporting the conflation of Medo - Persia and identifying the last kingdom as the Roman Empire. the Maccabean thesis, a view that supports the separation of the Medes from the Persians and identifies the last kingdom as the Seleucid Empire. Roman Empire schema The following interpretation represents a traditional view of Jewish and Christian Historicists, Futurists, Dispensationalists, Partial Preterists, and other futuristic Jewish and Christian hybrids, as well as certain Messianic Jews, who typically identify the kingdoms in Daniel ( with variations ) as : the Babylonian Empire the Medo - Persian Empire the Greek Empire the Roman Empire, with other implications to come later Jerome ( c. 347 -- 420 ) described this scheme in his Commentary on Daniel. Within this framework there are numerous variations. Use with Book of Revelation Christian interpreters typically read the Book of Daniel along with the New Testament 's Book of Revelation. The Church Fathers interpreted the beast in Revelation 13 as the empire of Rome. The majority of modern scholarly commentators understand the `` city on seven hills '' in Revelation as a reference to Rome. Second Temple theory Full Preterists, Idealists, certain Reconstructionists and other non-futurists likewise typically believe in the same general sequence, but teach that Daniel 's prophecies ended with the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem, and have few to no implications beyond that. Jewish and Christian Futurists, Dispensationalists, and, to some degree, Partial Preterists believe that the prophecies of Daniel stopped with the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem ; but will resume at some point in the future after a gap in prophecy that accounts for the Church Age. Traditional views The traditional interpretation of the four kingdoms, shared among Jewish and Christian expositors for over two millennia, identifies the kingdoms as the empires of Babylon, Medo - Persia, Greece and Rome. This view conforms to the text of Daniel, which considers the Medo - Persian Empire as one, as with the `` law of the Medes and Persians '' These views have the support of the Jewish Talmud, medieval Jewish commentators, Christian Church Fathers, Jerome, and Calvin. Jerome specifically identified the four kingdoms of Daniel 2 in this way. The `` four monarchies '' theory existed alongside the Six Ages and the Three Eras, as general historical structures, in the work of Augustine of Hippo, a contemporary of Jerome. The alternative view which sees the sequence ending with Greece and the Diadochi, thus excluding Rome, is not without historical precedent however. The pagan critic of Christianity, Porphyry, suggested a variation of this interpretation in the third century CE. In the following centuries, several Eastern Christians espoused this view, including Ephrem the Syrian, Polychronius, and Cosmas Indicopleustes. During the Medieval ages the orthodox Christian interpretation followed the commentary by Jerome on the Book of Daniel. It tied the fourth monarchy and its end to the end of the Roman Empire ; which was considered not to have yet come to pass. This is the case for example in the tenth - century writer Adso, whose Libellus de Antichristo incorporated the characteristic medieval myth of the Last World Emperor. Otto of Freising used the principle of translatio imperii and took the Holy Roman Empire as the continuation of the Roman Empire ( as fourth monarchy ). Protestant Reformation See also : Historicism ( Christianity ) This 1630 engraving of Daniel 's vision in chapter 7 by Matthäus Merian follows Jerome 's interpretation of the four beasts, but with `` Assyria '' in place of `` Babylon ''. A series of Protestant theologians, such as Jerome Zanchius ( 1516 -- 1590 ), Joseph Mede ( 1586 -- 1639 ), and John Lightfoot ( 1602 -- 1675 ), particularly emphasized the eschatological theory of four monarchies. Mede and other writers ( such as William Guild ( 1586 -- 1657 ), Edward Haughton and Nathaniel Stephens ( c. 1606 -- 1678 ) ) expected the imminent end of the fourth empire, and a new age. The early modern version of the four monarchies in universal history was subsequently often attributed to the chronologist and astrologer Johann Carion, based on his Chronika ( 1532 ). Developments of his Protestant world chronology were endorsed in an influential preface of Philipp Melanchthon ( published 1557 ). The theory was topical in the 1550s. Johann Sleidan in his De quatuor imperiis summis ( 1556 ) tried to summarise the status of the `` four monarchies '' as historical theory ; he had already alluded to it in previous works. Sleidan 's influential slant on the theory was both theological, with a Protestant tone of apocalyptic decline over time, and an appeal to German nationalist feeling in terms of translatio imperii. The Speculum coniugiorum ( 1556 ) of the jurist Alonso De la Vera Cruz, in New Spain, indirectly analysed the theory. It cast doubts on the Holy Roman Emperor 's universal imperium by pointing out that the historical ' monarchies ' in question had in no case held exclusive sway. The Carion / Melanchthon view was that the Kingdom of Egypt must be considered a subsidiary power to Babylon : just as France was secondary compared to the Empire. The Foure Monarchies was the title of a long poem by Anne Bradstreet from 1650. Title page of the 1678 edition of her poems. The Catholic Jean Bodin was concerned to argue against the whole theory of ' four monarchies ' as a historical paradigm. He devoted a chapter to refuting it, alongside the classical scheme of a Golden Age, in his 1566 Methodus ad facilem historiarum cognitionem. Title page of A Brief description of the Fifth Monarchy or Kingdome ( 1653 ) by William Aspinwall. Monument to the Four Kingdoms of Daniel : two each. Monument to the Four Kingdoms of Daniel : two each. The lion represents the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. The bear represents the Persian King, Cyrus. The leopard represents the King of the Greek Empire, Alexander. The fourth beast represents the Roman Empire, Julius Caesar. Fifth Monarchists Main article : Fifth Monarchists In the conditions leading to the English Civil War and the disruption that followed, many Protestants were millennarians, believing they were living in the ' end of days '. The Fifth Monarchists were a significant element of the Parliamentary grouping and, in January 1661, after Charles II took the throne following the English Restoration, 50 militant Fifth Monarchists under Thomas Venner attempted to take over London to start the ' Fifth Monarchy of King Jesus '. After the failure of this uprising, Fifth Monarchists became a quiescent and devotional part of religious dissent. Seventh - day Adventist view See also : Historicism ( Christianity ) § Book of Daniel The Seventh - day Adventist Church shares the traditional view that the four kingdoms of Daniel, as paralleled in chapters 2 and 7, correspond to the Neo-Babylonian Empire, the Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire and the Roman Empire. Furthermore, they hold the view that the ram and goat correspond to the Achaemenid Empire, and the Macedonian Empire. They also hold to the traditional view that the `` little horn '' in Daniel 7 : 8 refers to the Papacy ; the reference to changing `` times and law '' ( Daniel 7 : 25 ) refers to the change of the Christian sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, and the attack on the sanctuary ( Daniel 8 : 11 ) to the mediatorial ministry of Roman Catholic priests. The `` time, times and half a time '' ( Daniel 7 : 25 ) represents for Adventists a period of 1260 years from 538 CE to 1798 CE, when the Roman Catholic Church dominated the Christian world. The feet of the statue in Daniel 2, made of mixed iron and clay, represent modern Europe. The Adventist interpretation depends on the day - year principle ``, the established idea that when used in prophetic context, a day is equivalent to a year. See also Book of Daniel Daniel 7 Appendix Interpretations of the Four Monarchies Chapter Interpretation of Daniel as understood by Reformation Historicists Past Present Future Daniel 2 Head Gold ( Babylon ) Chest & 2 arms Silver Belly and thighs Bronze 2 Legs Iron 2 Feet with toes Clay & Iron Rock God 's unending kingdom left to no other people Daniel 7 Winged Lion Lopsided Bear 4 Heads / 4 Wings Leopard Iron - toothed Beast w / Little Horn Judgment scene Beast slain A son of man comes in clouds Given everlasting dominion He gives it to the saints. Daniel 8 2 - horned Ram ( Media - Persia ) Uni - / 4 - horned Goat 4 Winds ( Greece ) Little Horn A Master of Intrigue Cleansing of Sanctuary Leads to : -- > ( Kingdom of God ) Daniel 11 - 12 Kings ( Persia ) North & South Kings 4 Winds ( Greece ) North & South Kings A Contemptible Person of Intrigue Pagan & Papal Rome North & South Kings End Times Global religio - political Government Michael stands up Many dead awake To everlasting life ( Nations in parentheses are interpretation of symbols as given in the text. Nations in small italics are Historicist interpretation. `` One like a son of man '' and `` Michael '' are understood to be the same being. ) References ^ Jump up to : Herbert Butterfield, Man on His Past ( 1955 ), pp. 45 - 6. Jump up ^ John J. Collins, The Apocalyptic Imagination : An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature ( 1998 ), p. 93. Jump up ^ Swain, Joseph Ward ( January 1940 ). `` The Theory of the Four Monarchies : Opposition History under the Roman Empire ''. Classical Philology. University of Chicago Press. 35 ( 1 ) : 1 -- 21. ISSN 0009 - 837X. Jump up ^ Erich S. Gruen, The Hellenistic World and the Coming of Rome ( 1986 ), p. 329. Jump up ^ Mendels, Doron ( Autumn 1981 ). `` The Five Empires : A Note on a Propagandistic Topos ''. The American Journal of Philology. Johns Hopkins University Press. 102 ( 3 ) : 330 -- 337. ISSN 0002 - 9475. Jump up ^ John J. Collins, A Short Introduction to the Hebrew Bible ( 2007 ), p. 282 Jump up ^ `` St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel ( 1958 ). pp. 15 - 157 ''. Jump up ^ `` The four beasts of Daniel, however, reappear in the monster of Chapter 13 of the Book of Revelation, with ten horns, seven heads, bear 's feet and a lion 's mouth, which the Fathers of the Church took to be the Roman Empire. '', Gelston, et al., `` New heaven and new earth prophecy and the millennium : essays in honour of Anthony Gelston '', p. 297 ( 1999 ). Jump up ^ Wall, R.W. ( 1991 ). New International biblical commentary : Revelation ( 207 ). Peabody, MA : Hendrickson Publishers. Jump up ^ Bratcher, R.G., & Hatton, H. ( 1993 ). A handbook on the Revelation to John. UBS handbook series ; Helps for translators ( 248 ). New York : United Bible Societies. Jump up ^ Davis, C.A. ( 2000 ). Revelation. The College Press NIV commentary ( 322 ). Joplin, Mo. : College Press Pub. Jump up ^ Mounce, R.H. ( 1997 ). The Book of Revelation. The New International Commentary on the New Testament ( 315 ). Grand Rapids, MI : Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Jump up ^ Beckwith, Isbon T. The Apocalypse of John. New York : MacMillan, 1919 ; reprinted, Eugene : Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2001. Jump up ^ Caird, G.B. A Commentary on the Revelation of St. John the Divine. Black 's New Testament Commentaries, edited by Henry Chadwick. London : Adam & Charles Black, 1966. Jump up ^ Bruce, F.F. The Revelation to John. A New Testament Commentary, edited by G.C.D. Howley. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1969. Jump up ^ Henry Barclay Swete, Commentary on Revelation ( 1977 ). Grand Rapids : Kregel Publications, 1977. Jump up ^ Leon Morris, The Book of Revelation, An Introduction and Commentary ( 1987 ). Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Revised Edition. Grand Rapids : Eerdmans. Jump up ^ Roloff, J. ( 1993 ). A Continental Commentary : The Revelation of John ( 198 ). Minneapolis, MN : Fortress Press. Jump up ^ Aune, D.E. ( 2002 ). Vol. 52C : Word Biblical Commentary : Revelation 17 - 22. Word Biblical Commentary ( 944 ). Dallas : Word, Incorporated. Jump up ^ Keener, C.S., & InterVarsity Press. ( 1993 ). The IVP Bible background commentary : New Testament ( Re 17 : 9 ). Downers Grove, Ill. : InterVarsity Press. Jump up ^ Carson, D.A. ( 1994 ). New Bible commentary : 21st century edition ( 4th ed. ) ( Re 17 : 7 -- 18 ). Leicester, England ; Downers Grove, Ill., USA : Inter-Varsity Press. Jump up ^ McDowell, Sean ( 2009 ). Apologetics study Bible for students : hard questions, straight answers. Nashville, Tenn : Holman Bible Publishers. p. 899. ISBN 978 - 1 - 58640 - 493 - 2. Jump up ^ `` Jerome identified the four kingdoms analogously with the interpretation of the prophecy of Daniel 2, in a diachronic system. In the first kingdom, symbolized by the lion, he saw the Neo-Babylonian empire. He identified the bear with the Persian kingdom, the leopard with the Macedonian rule, and the fourth beast with the Roman empire. '' Fröhlich, `` Time and times and half a time : Historical Consciousness in the Jewish Literature of the Persian and Hellenistic Eras ', JSP Supplements, pp. 71 - 72 ( 1996 ). Jump up ^ Isabel Rivers, Classical and Christian Ideas in English Renaissance Poetry : A Student 's Guide ( 1994 ), p. 56. Jump up ^ Beatrice, Pier Franco ( 1991 ). `` Pagans and Christians on the Book of Daniel ''. Studia Patristica. XXV : 27. Jump up ^ Chris Given - Wilson, Chronicles : The Writing of History in Medieval England ( 2004 ), p. 115. Jump up ^ C.A. Patrides, Joseph Anthony Wittreich, The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature : patterns, antecedents, and repercussions ( 1984 ), p. 45 ; Google Books. Jump up ^ `` Apocalypse ''. Apocalyptic Ideas in Old English Literature. Jump up ^ `` Bishop John Lightfoot 's Works ( 1684 ) ''. Jump up ^ Bryan W. Ball, A Great Expectation : eschatological thought in English Protestantism to 1660 ( 1975 ), p. 140 ; Google Books. Jump up ^ Alexandra Kess, Johann Sleidan and the Protestant vision of history ( 2008 ), pp. 83 -- 5 ; Google Books. Jump up ^ Anthony Grafton, What was History ? : The Art of History in Early Modern Europe ( 2007 ), p. 171. Jump up ^ David Andrew Lupher, Romans in a New World : Classical Models in Sixteenth - Century Spanish America ( 2006 ), p. 163. Jump up ^ Paula Findlen, Athanasius Kircher : the last man who knew everything ( 2004 ), p. 177 ; Google Books. Jump up ^ `` PAL : Anne Bradstreet ( 1612 ? - 1672 ) ''. Jump up ^ `` Jean Bodin ''. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. ^ Jump up to : Capp, 1972 Jump up ^ Ministerial Association, General Conference of Seventh - day Adventists ( 2005 ). Seventh - day Adventists believe ( 2nd ed ). Pacific Press. pp. 356 -- 357, 293 -- 295. Jump up ^ Seventh - day Adventists believe ( 2nd ed ), pp. 184 - 185 Jump up ^ Seventh - day Adventists believe ( 2nd ed ), p 376 Jump up ^ Uriah Smith, 1944, Daniel and Revelation, Southern Publishing Association, Nashville, TN Jump up ^ Roy Allan Anderson, 1975, Pacific Press Pub. Assoc., Unfolding Daniel 's Prophecies, Mountain View, CA Jump up ^ Daniel 7 : 13 - 27 see verses 13, 14, 22, 27 Further reading H.H. Rowley ( 1935 ), Darius the Mede and the Four World Empires in the Book of Daniel. A Historical Study of Contemporary Theories Gerhard F. Hasel, `` The Four World Empires of Daniel 2 Against its Near Eastern Environment, '' Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 1979 12 : 17 - 30 Bernard Capp ( 1972 ), Fifth Monarchy Men : Study in Seventeenth Century English Millenarianism, Faber ISBN 0 - 571 - 09791 - X Ministerial Association, General Conference of Seventh - day Adventists ( 2005 ). Seventh - day Adventists Believe ( 2nd ed ). Pacific Press. Deferrari, Paulus Orosius ; translated by Roy J. ( 2001 ). The seven books of history against the pagans ( 1st short - run reprint ed. ). Washington : Catholic University of America Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8132 - 1310 - 1. External links John H. Walton, `` The Four Kingdoms Of Daniel, '' JETS 29 ( 1986 ), 25 - 36. Utopian and Historical Thinking : Interplays and Transferences ( PDF ) Book of Daniel Bible Daniel 1 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Additions to Daniel Places Babylon Susa People Abednego Belshazzar Cyrus Daniel Darius Gabriel Meshach Michael Nebuchadnezzar Shadrach Jehoiakim Terms Abomination of desolation Belshazzar 's feast Four kingdoms Lion 's den Prophecy of Seventy Weeks Territorial spirit Writing on the wall Sources Hebrew Bible Septuagint Latin Vulgate Wycliffe Version King James Version American Standard Version World English Version ← Book of Ezekiel ( chapter 48 ) Book of Hosea ( chapter 1 ) → Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Four_kingdoms_of_Daniel&oldid=835206970 '' Categories : Book of Daniel Hidden categories : All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from July 2015 Wikipedia articles needing clarification from July 2015 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Български Dansk Deutsch Latina Norsk Português Edit links This page was last edited on 7 April 2018, at 07 : 02. 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Question: according to daniel 7 what did daniel see in his dream
Answer: four beasts coming up out of the sea