DANIEL 7 — THE FOUR BEASTS AND THE SON OF MAN'S EVERLASTING KINGDOM

Chronologically, Daniel's first vision occurs in Belshazzar's first year, before chapter 5. Literary placement matters more than chronology: chapter 7 concludes the Aramaic section and mirrors chapter 2. The statue presents empires from a ruler's viewpoint as splendid metals; the beasts reveal their predatory character from heaven's viewpoint. The chapter interprets the four beasts as four kings or kingdoms. The traditional sequence is Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, corresponding to chapter 2. Many critical interpreters identify Babylon, Media, Persia, and Greece, with the little horn as Antiochus IV. This commentary sees Antiochus as an important foreshadowing while favoring Rome and a future antichrist horizon for the fourth beast's final expression.

Daniel's sequence corresponds broadly to the rise of Babylon, Persia, Greek successor kingdoms, and Rome. The vision's theological force does not depend on squeezing every symbol into a modern chart. Its durable explanatory power lies in recognizing recurring beastly empire and its divinely fixed end.