Judgment in Daniel 7

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Judgment in Daniel 7Hasel understands "the saints of the Most High" to be the holy remnant-thenucleus of a new people-who stand in a right relationship offaith, trust, and obedience to God. The remnant constitutes the elect ofGod and is the carrierofthecovenant promises. This conclusion is insharpcontrast to that of recent scholarship which interprets "the saints of theMost High" in Daniel 7 as angelic rather than human beings. 5Thus the conclusions of Ferch and Hasel are that the Son of man inDaniel 7 represents an individual heavenly Being who receives the kingdomat theendofthe age and who exercises His rule onbehalfofthesaintsof the Most High, that is, the earthly people of God. These conclusionsare accepted as valid and are given further support in what follows.Literary StructureContents ofthe ChapterThis study of Daniel 7 will concentrate on the vision of the judgmentas it was seen transpiring in the heavenly court. The prophecy was givento Daniel sometime during the first year of Belshazzar's coregency, about550 B.e. In contrast to Nebuchadnezzar's dreams in chapters 2 and 4, thevision ofchapter 7 was given only to Daniel. It stands as the primaryvisionof his later ministry. The subsequent visions and prophecies are in manyways elaborations upon this primary vision.Daniel saw the "fourwinds ofheaven" blowing upon the great sea andstirring it up (vs. 2). Outofthis commotion four successive beasts symbolizingkingdoms came forth: a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a terrifying beastthat was more difficult to describe because it did not resemble the precedingbeasts nor others known in the natural world (vss. 3-7).One or more principal characteristics of each of these beasts is mentioned.The heart ofa man was given to the lion. The bear devoured muchflesh and had three ribs in its mouth. The leopard had four wings and fourheads; and the fourth beast had great strength, ten horns, and trampledeverything in its path.From among the ten horns of the fourth beast came a little horn thatgrew up and rooted out three of the preceding horns. The little horn hadhuman eyes and a mouth speaking great things (vs. 8).From these earthly scenes ofstrife and contention for political supremacythe prophet's view was then lifted to heaven where he beheld the com-5 Hasel, ''The Identity of 'The Saints of the Most High.'"112
Judgment in Daniel 7mencement ofa great assize, orjudgment, in the presence ofGod (vss. 9-10).His attention was then diverted back to the earth where he saw thebody ofthe fourth beast burned and destroyed (vs. 11). Parenthetically, itis mentioned that the preceding three beasts did not meet such an immediateend (vs. 12).The prophet's view was then shifted back to heaven where he saw onelike a Son ofman come to the Ancient ofdays who was presiding over thejudgment scene. The Son of man was given an eternal kingdom in whichall peoples, tongues, and nations would worship Him forever (vss. 13-14).The consecutive portions ofthe recorded vision end at this point. Theprophet has been shown two earthly scenes (vss. 3-8, 11-12) and twoheavenly scenes (vss. 9-10, 13-14). His view was shifted back and forth betweenthem in an A:B:A:B order. The vertical dimension (earth-heaven)of this vision is of intrinsic interest and is also of importance when comparedwith the vision ofchapter 8.Startled by what he had seen, Daniel naturally asked what it meant(vss. 15-16). His angelic interpreter first gave him the brief explanationthat four kingdoms would arise out ofthe earth, but that the saints of theMost High would eventually receive the kingdom and occupy it "for everand ever" (vss. 17-18). This reply conveyed the essence of the vision fromthefirst ofthefour beasts to thefinal and everlasting kingdom ofthesaints.Daniel thendirected his inquiry to the latterportionofthevision, fromthe fourth beast to its end. In so doing, he formed his question almost verbatimfrom those portions ofthevision described in verses 7-8, and he concludedhis question with three final phrases about the judgment and itsresults in verses 19-22. The angel interpreter then gave a more detailed interpretationof that portion of the vision considered in Daniel's lengthyquestion (vss. 23-27). The narrativeconcludes with a briefepilogue inverse28 that describes how troubled Daniel was about this experience.Structure of the VisionFrom this description ofthe contents ofthe chapter it can be seen that therecord ofthevision, the prophet's experience in viewing it, and the interpretationofit given to him, follow a relatively straightfolWard outline. Furthennore,this report appears to have beengiven through the particular literaryvehicle ofa chiasm or palistrophe, as Jerch has outlined recently in his thesis. That outlineis borrowed here with some ofmy own alterations in his terminology. 66 Compare ibid., 136-37.113
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Judgment in Daniel 7

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