CHAPTER SIX

MEDIA: DANIEL'S FEROCIOUS SILVER BEAR

For all theories seeking to chart the course of world history from the visions of Daniel, the identity of the second of the four world empires directly affects the identity of the third and fourth empires. If Daniel's author intended Medo-Persia as the second empire, Greece and Rome would complete the sequence as futuristic interpreters contend. But if the author distinguished Media and Persia as separate kingdoms, and intended Media to be identified as the second empire, then the other two kingdoms would be Persia and Greece. This chapter will demonstrate that Media is indeed the second empire of Daniel. This view leaves no room for extending the sequence of four world empires beyond the contemporary era of Daniel's author.

Ram Does Not Represent an Individual Kingdom

In Daniel 2, the second empire is likened to the "chest and arms of silver." (vv. 32) It is further described as an "inferior" kingdom (vv. 39) which will succeed the Babylonian Empire. In Daniel 7, the second empire is symbolized by a beast that "looked like a bear." (vv. 5)

Futuristic interpreters adhere to the Roman view and understand the second kingdom as a combined Medo-Persian power which conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. This identification is primarily based on the vision of the Ram and the Goat, where the "kings of Media and Persia" (8:20) are represented as the ram's two horns.(8:3) Futurists contend this singular beast, which follows the Babylonian Empire in sequence, represents a combined Medo-Persian Empire. Therefore the second beast in Daniel 7 likewise represents a single empire. [1]

However, in the vision of the Ram and the Goat, the author states that the two horns of the ram represent the "kings of Media and Persia." The horns are distinguished one from another, the shorter horn representing Media, and the longer horn representing Persia. (8:3) Therefore it is the two horns that are identified as representing individual kingdoms, not the ram itself. The ram represents the combined power of the two separate kingdoms.

Also, in Daniel 2 and 7 the author is dealing with a sequence of four individual world kingdoms. In the vision of the Ram and the Goat, the author's purpose is to demonstrate the overwhelming strength of Alexander's forces, which devastated the combined power of two kingdoms - Media and Persia. Therefore futurists' identification of the second empire based on the vision of the ram and the goat ignores the fact that individual kingdoms are represented by the ram's two horns, not the ram itself.

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NOTES

1. See John F. Walvoord, Daniel: The Key to Prophetic Revelation, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1974), pp. 66, 156, and Robert D. Culver, Daniel and The Latter Days, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1954), p. 112. Return