Daniel 7:2-3

The Pulpit Commentary - Daniel 7:1-28

EXPOSITION THE VISION OF THE FOUR BEASTS . This chapter begins the second section of the book. All before this has been narrative; visions are introduced into the narrative, but they were not given to Daniel himself, but to others; his role was the secondary one of interpreter. These visions and the events connected with them are related more as incidents in the biography of Daniel, than as revelations of the future. With this chapter begins a series of revelations to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Daniel 7:2

Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea . The Septuagint omits the introductory clause, and renders, "On my couch I saw in my night-sleep, and, behold, the four winds of heaven fell upon the great sea." Theodotion, like the LXX ; omits the introductory clause, and renders, "I Daniel beheld, and, lo, the four winds of the heaven rushed upon (προσέβαλον) the great sea." The Peshitta seems as if transferred... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Daniel 7:3

And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another . The Septuagint rendering omits "great;" otherwise it is a closely accurate representation of the Massoretic text, save that the translator seems to have had, not דא מן־דּא , but as in the Syriac, חדא מן־חדא , as he renders ἓν παρὰ τὸ ἕν . Theodotion has μεγάλα, but does not so slavishly follow the Aramaic construction at the end. The Peshitta is very close to the Massoretic, save that in the last... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Daniel 7:2

Daniel spake and said - That is, he spake and said in the manner intimated in the previous verse. It was by a record made at the time, and thus he might be said to speak to his own generation and to all future times.I saw in my vision by night - I beheld in the vision; that is, he saw represented to him the scene which he proceeds to describe. He seemed to see the sea in a tempest, and these monsters come up from it, and the strange succession of events which followed.And behold, the four winds... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Daniel 7:3

And four great beasts came up from the sea - Not at once, but in succession. See the following verses. Their particular form is described in the subsequent verses. The design of mentioning them here, as coming up from, the sea, seems to have been to show that this succession of kingdoms sprang from the agitations and commotions among the nations represented by the heaving ocean. It is not uncommon for the prophets to make use of animals to represent or symbolize kingdoms and nations - usually... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Daniel 7:2-3

Daniel 7:2-3. Behold, the four winds strove upon the great sea This denotes those commotions in the world, and that troublesome state of affairs, out of which empires and kingdoms commonly take their rise. And four great beasts came up from the sea Signifying the four great monarchies, or kingdoms, that should successively arise in the world, and have their origin from wars and commotions, which generally end in setting up the conqueror to be a great monarch over those whom he hath... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Daniel 7:1-14

7:1-12:13 DANIEL’S VISIONSAlthough the visions collected in this section of the book are in approximate chronological order, there is no obvious connection leading one on to the next. Each vision has a separate and distinct message.A vision of four beasts (7:1-14)In the first vision (whose chronological position would be between Chapters 4 and 5), Daniel saw a severe storm stirring up the sea, then, coming up out of the raging waters, four strange beasts. The meaning (partly explained later in... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Daniel 7:2

spake and said . The vision is related in words. I saw = I was looking. by = during. the four winds . All blowing at the same time and producing the one result described in verses: Daniel 7:3-8 . winds . Chaldee. ruach. App-9 . strove upon = brake or burst forth against; converging on one point. the great sea: i.e. the Mediterranean Sea, or the sea, denoting the peoples of the earth, as interpreted for us in Daniel 7:17 . read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Daniel 7:3

four great beasts . These are not the four dominions of Daniel 2:0 . They stand up one after the other, and each stands, successively, in the place of the other. These are to arise in "the days of" those last "ten kings" of Daniel 2:44 . These continue the last of Nebuchadnezzar's last dominion, and do exist together. See note on Daniel 7:12 below. read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Daniel 7:2

"Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and behold the four winds of heaven brake forth upon the great sea.""The four winds of heaven here ..." are cosmic forces of the greatest extent. Involved are the rise of populations and human systems and developments pertaining to all the people of the earth. The "great sea" here is not the Mediterranean sea, but the oceans of population upon earth. Just as we have in Revelation 13, where either the apostle John, or perhaps even Satan... read more