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Vision of the Great Image—Daniel 2 |
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Then Daniel tells the proud king about a successor kingdom: “After you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours” (Dan. 2:39a). This kingdom was symbolized in the image by the breast and arms of silver, a representation of the Medo-Persian kingdom. |
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Then Daniel tells the proud king about a successor kingdom: “After you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours” (Dan. 2:39a). This kingdom was symbolized in the image by the breast and arms of silver, a representation of the Medo-Persian kingdom. While Babylon’s power was declining, the kingdoms to the south, east and north were being united under Cyrus II. In 539 BC, Cyrus marched against Babylon. |
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The Bible gives us the “inside” story, from the Babylonian side. The Babylonians, confident of their strong walls, their large store of provisions against military siege, and their proven military might, were enjoying a night of revelry and partying, when suddenly a mysterious hand wrote words of Divine judgment on the wall. “God has numbered your kingdom and finished it,” said the writing. “Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.” That very night the Medo-Persian army marched into the city through the river bed and took it without a fight (Dan. 5:26-31). |
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The fact that the kingdom of Medo-Persia followed the kingdom of Babylon can easily be verified by secular history. The famous Cyrus Cylinder, uncovered by archeologists and kept in the British Museum, records a policy of the Persians, describing how Cyrus the Persian took over captive peoples and let them return to their homelands. The Medo-Persian kingdom survived from 539 BC until about 331 BC, when another conqueror appeared on the stage of history. Four Beasts—Daniel 7 |
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The next world kingdom, in Daniel’s God-given dream, Medo-Persia, has a singular description. The prophecy pictures the nation vividly: “Suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was rasied up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: ‘Arise, devour much flesh!’” (Dan. 7:5). |
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How did the kingdom of Medo-Persia come about? And what were the three ribs in the mouth of this “bear”? Only God could have fortold how it would be. During the power struggle of the sixth century BC (involving Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, and Media), the Persians were insignificant vassals of the Median Empire. The prophecy in Daniel speaks of the Persian rise to power as “sudden” (Dan. 7:5), and it was. “Suddenly“ rising from obscurity, Cyrus II united the Persians and, as though led by some mighty power, began to conquer one nation after another before those nations could rally to each other’s aid. First, by defeating the Median king Astyages, Cyrus added the vast Median Empire (rib “1”) to Persia, hence Medo-Persia. Next, moving quickly, he took the kingdom of Lydia (Turkey today), which was an ally of the Median king (rib “2”). Then in 539 BC, Cyrus went on to take Babylon (rib “3”). Cyrus prepared to take Egypt, but died before Egypt was added to the Empire (Cyrus’ son took Egypt). |
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Why was this Medo-Persian empire described as a bear “raised up on one side”? Because the kingdom was the result of a unity of Persia and Media, Persia being the stronger and greater. This same detail is noted in another vision of Daniel’s (chapter 8), where the Medo-Persia empire is represented by two horns on a ram, one higher than the other and the “higher one came up last” (Dan. 8:3). The second (Persia) was stronger than the first (Media).
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