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“Four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.” Winds in prophetic and symbolic passages can represent wars and conflicts and strife and judgments from God. (Dan. 8:7-13 compared with Jer. 25:32-33) (Rev. 7:1-3). Likewise, in prophecy, “sea” or “water” can symbolize the masses of humanity or the nations of people on the earth. (Rev. 13:1) (Rev. 17:1, 15).

The first animal (lion) represents Babylon. Just as gold represented Babylon in the first vision because it is chief among metals, so likewise was the lion selected to symbolize Babylon in the second vision because it is king of the animal world. As even further evidence, the details given concerning the lion correspond precisely to those given describing the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. For instance, the eagle’s wings identify the beast as Babylon because Babylon is compared to an eagle in several other scriptures. (Jer. 48:40) (Ezek. 17) (Hab. 1:6-8). Since Nebuchadnezzar carved out a vast empire for himself in just a few short years, the eagle wings denote the swiftness of his military conquests. We also observe active symbolic imagery in this vision that portrays the plucking of the lion’s eagle wings before it is lifted from the earth and forced to stand upon its feet as a man with a man’s heart. This symbolism obviously correlates with the passage in Daniel 4 which describes how the proud and regal Nebuchadnezzar was struck down by God, through seven years of insanity, until he acquired the humility and Godly respect that allowed his restoration as a man with a sound mind.

The second beast in appearance is a bear reminiscent of a large species of bear inhabiting the mountains of Media. It is intended to symbolize Medo-Persia because of their shared reputation for cruelty and blood-thirstiness and plundering. (Isa. 13:16-18) (Jer. 51:48-56). The symbolic action associated with the two sides of the bear demonstrates how both Medes and Persians formed this vicious empire, even though one side is emphasized to illustrate the strength and vitality of the Persians over the Medes. As confirmation of our interpretation, we noted earlier that the two silver arms in Daniel’s first vision also represented the dual nature of the Medo-Persian Empire. Likewise, in a similar manner, Daniel’s third vision in Daniel 8 also depicts the supremacy of the Persians over the Medes. It does this by portraying one of the two horns on a symbolic ram (representing the Medo-Persian Empire) rising higher than the other horn, thereby illustrating how Cyrus the Persian ascended to power after the reign of Darius the Mede while becoming the more powerful of the two. Hence there is complete harmony and agreement within all three of these visions by Daniel. However, in Daniel’s second vision, we are also given additional information about Persia when it uses three ribs in the mouth of the bear to signify additional territory, beyond the boundary lines of the Babylonian Empire, which was conquered by Medo-Persia.

A leopard is universally known for its amazing swiftness. So, when that imagery is enhanced with the addition of four wings, rather than two (as in the case of the lion which represented Nebuchadnezzar), it creates a hybrid image quite capable of symbolizing the incredible quickness with which Alexander the Great conquered the then-known world. Likewise, after the sudden, unexpected death of Alexander the Great, the old Grecian Empire was divided among four of his top generals, depicted by the “four heads” of the leopard. Moreover, as noted before, symbolism associated with this vision is reminiscent of the symbolism pictured in Daniel’s other prophetic visions. Thus, in Daniel’s third vision, described in Daniel 8, we see four horns, i.e., four political entities, emerge from the head of the goat, i.e., the Grecian Empire, after the great horn, Alexander the Great, is “broken,” i.e., becomes dead prematurely.

Next we encounter the fourth beast which is described simply as non-descript because it was so powerful and dreadful and terrible that it defied description. Rome was “diverse from all the others” in the sense that it was a republic in nature while all of the previous biblical empires were dictatorships. However, this major, fundamental difference between it and the other world empires did not prevent Rome from ruling its conquered subjects with an iron hand — which explains why iron is mentioned once again as a fundamental characteristic of Rome just as it was in Daniel’s first vision.

The ten horns? Daniel states that they represent “ten kings.” As noted several times already, the details of Daniel’s visions seem to match and correlate with each other in perfect harmony, and in the first vision the ten toes of the image represented the modern-day countries which emerged from the geographical area of the old Roman Empire. Accordingly, this would seem to imply that the ten horns also represent the modern Roman countries. Although there are more than ten such countries, ten can represent an approximate or unknown or round number in prophetic and symbolic passages as we proved earlier.

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