Daniel 7:1,Daniel 8:1

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Daniel 7:1

Daniel 7:1. In the first year of Belshazzar, &c. The prophet, having related some remarkable passages concerning himself and his brethren in captivity, and having given proof of his supernatural illumination in interpreting other men’s dreams, proceeds to give an account of his own visions; and thereupon goes back to the first year of Belshazzar’s reign, which was seventeen years before the history contained in the last chapter. This vision concerns the same events with those referred... 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 7:1

In the first year of Belshazzar. This was 429 B.C. See App-50 . Daniel being eighty-four years old. Three years before the events of Daniel 6:0 . Compare Daniel 5:30 , Daniel 5:31 , and the notes on the other dates (Daniel 8:1 ; Daniel 9:1 ; Daniel 10:1 ; Daniel 11:1 , &c). This vision (Daniel 7:0 ) is still in Chaldee (the Gentile language), because it is the continuation of Daniel 2:44 , and shows what will take place in "the days of those kings" before the stone strikes the image. It... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Daniel 7:1

Practically all scholars, whether liberal or conservative, are convinced that the prophecy of this chapter follows the same pattern as that in Daniel 2, and that the "four beasts" appearing here are to be identified with the four parts of the great image with the head of gold which appeared in Daniel 2. This means also that the same critical errors alleged in their interpretations of Daniel 2 are repeated in this chapter, where against all reason, and opposed to the plainest facts, critical... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Daniel 7:1

1. Belshazzar—Good Hebrew manuscripts have "Belshazzar"; meaning "Bel is to be burnt with hostile fire" (Jeremiah 50:2; Jeremiah 51:44). In the history he is called by his ordinary name; in the prophecy, which gives his true destiny, he is called a corresponding name, by the change of a letter. visions of his head—not confused "dreams," but distinct images seen while his mind was collected. sum—a "summary." In predictions, generally, details are not given so fully as to leave no scope for free... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Daniel 7:1

We have already read of two dreams that Nebuchadnezzar had (Daniel 2:1; Daniel 4:5). Now God gave one to Daniel. It too was a vision from God that came to Daniel as he slept."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. . . . The dream refers to his being asleep, and the visions refer to what he saw while dreaming." [Note:... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Daniel 7:1-8

1. The four beasts 7:1-8 read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Daniel 7:1-28

The Vision of the Four BeastsIn the first year of Belshazzar Daniel sees in a dream four beasts rising out of the sea (Daniel 7:1-3). The first is like a lion, with eagle’s wings (Daniel 7:4), the second like a bear (Daniel 7:5), the third like a leopard (Daniel 7:6), while the fourth is a unique and ferocious monster with ten horns (Daniel 7:7), Among the horns of the fourth beast there comes up a little horn with human eyes, which displaces three of the other ten, and carries itself proudly... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Daniel 7:1

VII.(1) The date of this and of the following chapter comes in chronological order after the fourth chapter. As St. Jerome has observed, “In superioribus ordo sequitur historiœ quid sub Nebuchadonosor et Balthasar, et Dario sive Cyro mirabilium signorum acciderit. In kis vero narrantur somnia quœ singulis sint visa ternporibus: quorum solus propheta conscius est, et nullam habent apud barbaras nationes signi vel revelationis magnitudinem, sed tantum scribuntur, ut apud posteros eorum quœ visa... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Daniel 7:1-28

Daniel 7:1 I am amusing myself with thinking of the prophecy of Daniel as a sort of allegory. All those monstrous, 'rombustical' beasts with their horns the horn with eyes and a mouth speaking proud things, and the little horn that waxed rebellious and stamped on the stars, seem like my passions and vain fancies, which are to be knocked down one after another until all is subdued with a universal kingdom over which the Ancient of Days presides the spirit of Love the Catholicism of the universe... read more