Daniel 7:6

6. Since the second animal could not represent an independent Median empire, because, historically, there was no independent Median empire between Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander, and because Daniel himself joins together the Median and Persian law and kingdom as a unity (see note Daniel 2:39) therefore this four-winged, four-headed leopard does not represent the Persian empire, but that of Alexander the Great (Daniel 8:21). Historically, no one doubts that the empire following that of Nebuchadnezzar was the Persian (or Medo-Persian,) whose first and greatest king was Cyrus, and that immediately following this came the empire of Alexander. There is nothing here to indicate that Daniel did not have a correct historic perspective; in which case this third empire must have been that of Alexander. The wings here, as heretofore, symbolize world-wide and rapid conquest under the protection of the gods. The four heads corresponding to the four horns of the rough goat (Daniel 8:22), which Daniel himself declares to be the king or kingdom of Greece would naturally represent the four kingdoms into which the empire was divided at Alexander’s death. (See, further, Daniel 8:21.) The leopard is a peculiarly swift animal, and nothing is more remarkable in the conquest of Alexander than this characteristic; since in the insignificant space of nine years he flew with his arms over the whole of Asia, and even made some parts of Europe subject to him. Some expositors have also seen in Alexander’s personal courage, variability of temper, and extreme smallness of size other peculiarities symbolized by the leopard. Cowles offers an ingenious conjecture that the four heads of the leopard are to intimate that the Grecian empire of Alexander was distinguished more by the power of thought than by brute force. Among the great kingdoms of the ancient world, this was the empire of brains. Though this interpretation seems too ingenious to be true, yet it offers another reason why Alexander’s empire could not be symbolized by the fourth beast (Daniel 7:7).