To All,
Please be aware that Scripture is Perfect. So when I observe that Daniel 2:45 provides a sequence which is by Intelligent Design, some tell me to ignore it. When I observe that Revelation 13:2 assigns the Lion/Leopard/Bear to the respective Head/Body/Feet, some side-step that Intelligent Design. So who is man who is profitable with Scripture, versus the man who buries it? And please remember that man's reward. -- Ref. Matt. 25.15
Pursue GOD both in Spirit and in Scripture.
BibleScribe
But neither of our interpretations are perfect. And I don't want to hear from you that I need to edit the scriptures to fit my interpretations, or notify the historians to change the hstorical record, or how they lie...just because I disagree with your interpretation.
The following is my opinion why BS and Popeye have incorrect interpretations of Daniel 2 and 7. Daniel chapter 7 was written in the first year of Belshazzar who was the last king of Babylon.
Daniel 7:1
¶In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters.
So the book of Daniel was written toward the end of the Babylonian Empire. Chapter 7 was written about 35 years after the vision of the statue in chapter 2 when
"the stone that was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold;" The stone destroys all the empires of the statue and all of them are Mid-East Empires.
Chapter 7 depicts four beast at the end of which Daniel has the vision of the
ancient of days (like the stone cut out of a mountain) who also sends one who establishes an everlasting dominion on earth. Since these two chapters seem to follow the same pattern, most interpreters seem to think chapter 7 depicts the same divisions of history as those in Daniel 2. So people think that the first three beast of chapter 7 are a historical interpretation and the fourth beast is a future beast. Chapter 7 isn't a historical repeat of chapter 2. Why would Daniel find it necessary to repeat the sequence of world history of Daniel 2 in Daniel 7? The four beast of Daniel 7 are all end time beast. You must understand the word
"before' to see this. But first...
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 great sea always refers to the Mediterranen sea. Daniel sees the four winds stir up the locale centered around the Mediterranean. These four beast came up out of the sea different from one another. These four beast differ from the vision of the statue in chapter 2 where those kingdoms are parts of a man, and here they are four separate and distinct beast. The first beast of Daniel 7 is like a lion. According to the historical view this is the nation of Babylon and the same as the head of gold in chapter 2. BUT!
How can this be Babylon when the date of the vision occured in the first year of Belshazzar who was the last king of Babylon? The Babylonian Empire was on it's way out when Daniel 7 was written! Why would Daniel prophesy about a kingdom that had already been already existence for decades and soon to end? The language of the chapter also indicates that this isn't a repetition of chapter 2. Chapter 2 to 7 is written in a different language than the rest of the book. Chapter 2-7 is written in Aramaic and the rest of the book of Daniel is written in Hebrew which means 2-7 pertains to the gentile nations and not to the Jews. Chapter 2 is the beginning of that section and closes with chapter 7. Most interpreters think that this vision of wings being plucked off and the heart of a man given to it referes to Nebuchadnezzar going mad and being restored 7 years later. That's unlikely since that happened about 20 before the vision of the lion in chapter 7! Daniel cannot prophesy about something that already occured!
The vision of chapter 7's four beast are figurative of 4 end time kingdoms competing for the dominance of the area around the Mediterranean. Chapter 7 cannot be a repetition of Daniel 7 since it is the same language and to the same people (gentile nations). The word
before in 7:7 say's that this beast " was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns." This indicates that the first 3 beast of chapter 7 stand "before' or "in front of" the fourth beast. That indicates they are all end-time kingdoms since the first three beast stand
"in front of" or before the fourth beast.
http://www.bluelette...ngs=H6925&t=KJV
Your interpretation of Daniel 2 also has some issues.
The word inferior in Daniel 2:39 is #0772 "arah" which means earth, world, ground and is the only place the word inferior is translated land. So if inferior means land, that rules out the Medo-Persian empire as the second Empire. How can Medo-Persia be "land inferior" to the Babylonian Empire when it was about three times the size of Babylon? Medo-Persia wasn't 'land inferior' to Babylon!
Only the Median empire was inferior to Babylon since it was not only shortlived but also much smaller making it the inferior kingdom. And!
I have issues with....or I should say the scriptures have issues with the vision of the statue depicting Rome in any way.
Not only does Rome as the fourth kingdom contradict the true inferior kingdom. It also contradics the word
mixed which describes the iron and clay. All the kingdoms in the statue are Mid-East kingdoms. None of them are European. So if you believe Rome is infered in the vision of the statue you must explain why the word used to describe the iron and clay is the Aramaic word 'arab' which denotes an ARABIAN!
http://www.bluelette...ngs=H6151&t=KJV
The fourth kingdom, symbolized by the legs of iron (Greece) and toes mingled with "iron and clay", doesn't come from Rome as most Protestant's teach but from the Grecian Empire. The Grecian Empire didn't cover Rome or Europe as it was a Mid-East Empire just like the others depicted in the statue. Rome was an European Empire and is excluded as the fourth kingdom of Daniel 2. Rome cannot be the origin of the two and ten horned beast. (antichrist and false prophet)