Judgment in Daniel 7

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Judgment in Daniel 7Daniel 7:7-9, 14After this I saw in the night visions,and behold, a fourth beast, terribleand dreadful and exceedingly strong;and it had great iron teeth; it devouredand broke in pieces, and stamped theresidue with its feet. It was differentfrom all the beasts that were before it;and it had ten horns. I considered thehorns, and behold, there came upamong them another horn, a little one,before which three of the fIrst hornswere plucked up by the roots; and behold,in this horn were eyes like theeyes of a man, and a mouth speakinggreat things.As I looked, thrones were placed andone that was ancient of days took hisseat; ...and to him [the Son ofman] was givendominion and glory and kingdom....Daniel 7:19-22Then I desired to know the truthconcerning the fourth beast, whichwas different from all the rest, exceedinglyterrible, with its teeth ofiron andclaws of bronze; and which devouredand broke in pieces, and stamped theresidue with its feet; and concerningthe ten horns that were on its head,and the other hornwhich came up andbefore which three of them fell, thehorn which had eyes and a mouth thatspoke great things, and which seemedgreater than its fellows.As I looked, this horn made way withthe saints, and prevailed over them,until the Ancient of days came,and judgment was given for the saintsof the Most High,and the time came when the saintsreceived the kingdom.losing the attention of the Semite, this kind ofspeech and writing built astory up to an even greater climax.The differences between the first two verses ofDaniel's question (vss.19-20) and the preceding description ofthevision are minor. Forexample,"the claws of bronze" were doubtlessly seen by the prophet in the visionbutwere passed overin his first description. Otherdifferences involve mattersofphraseology and the order of the remarks-none ofwhich presenta serious contrast with the first passage.The reallysignificant differences begin withverse 21 where thewar thatthe little horn was to make upon the saints is mentioned for the first time.This aspect ofthe little horn's activity is neither mentioned in the initial descriptionofthevision nor in the angel's reply to Daniel's fIrst question. The136
Judgment in Daniel 7same is true of the reference to judgment being given for the saints. Onemight argue that the destruction ofthe beasts (vs. 12) represents judgmentbeing given for the saints, but that could only be assumed ifthe persecutionofthe saints had already been seen in the vision. But the persecution ofthesaints is not part ofthe original description ofthe vision either.The reference to the coming ofthe Ancient ofdays is obviously drawnfrom the first ofthe two preceding scenes ofthe judgment (vss. 9-10). Thefinal reference to the saints receiving the kingdom forever could havecome from the angel's response to Daniel's first question ("the saints ofthe Most High shall receive the kingdom, ... for ever, for ever and ever."(vs. 18). As we have already seen, the Son of man's reception of thekingdom is not theequivalent ofthe reception ofthe kingdom by thesaints.Thus this reference is not to be seen as drawn from that second and closingscene ofthe judgment recorded earlier (vss. 13-14).The most likely interpretation ofthe origin ofthe first statements concerningthe saints is that they were seen in the vision but were not includedin its initial description. These facts are now stated because the prophet isfilling in details he had not previously mentioned.There appear to be two main alternatives to explain the origin ofthefinal phrase about the saints' reception ofthe kingdom (vs. 22). Either theprophet had seen this event in the vision and did not record it in his initialdescription, or he took the concept from the conclusion of the angel'sanswer to his earlier question (vss. 16-18). In view ofthe fact that the twopreviously mentioned references to the saints were probably seen in thevision, there is no strong reason against explaining the origin ofthis latterreference to them in the same way. The close proximation of this phraseto the vision in verse 21 suggests that the reception ofthe kingdom by thesaints was seen in it also.Thus the most likely interpretation for three additional references tothe experience of the saints (persecution of the saints, judgment for thesaints, and the saints' reception of the kingdom) is that they probably dorefer to what was previously seen in the vision but not recorded in Daniel'sinitial description. Thus both Daniel and the angel interpreter fill in forthe reader details ofthe vision as the narration continues.Outline ofRelated EventsThe substance ofthevision is stated essentially three times in thechapter:(1) the initial description ofthe vision (vss. 1-14), (2) Daniel's secondand lengthy question about the vision (vss. 19-22), and (3) the angel's137
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Judgment in Daniel 7

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