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Daniel's Vision of the Beasts, 1866

engraving by Gustave Doré.

Four kingdoms of DanielFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Four monarchies)

The four kingdoms refers to four monarchies, or world empires,described in dreams and visions in the Book of Daniel of the HebrewBible. The actual term "four kingdoms" occurs once, found in Daniel8:22. These four kingdoms are described in different ways throughoutDaniel, beginning with chapter 2 and paralleling with chapter 7,chapter 8 and chapter 11. Since Classical antiquity, expositors onDaniel have offered various identities for each of the "four kingdoms",often with a historicist approach.

Contents

1 The four kingdoms as given by Daniel

1.1 Daniel 21.2 Daniel 7

2 Schools of thought

2.1 Roman Empire schema

2.1.1 Use with Book of Revelation

2.1.2 Second temple theory

2.2 Maccabean thesis3 Traditional views

3.1 Protestant Reformation

3.2 Fifth Monarchists

3.3 Seventh-day Adventist view

4 See also5 Appendix

6 Footnotes

7 References7.1 Further reading

8 External links

The four kingdoms as given by Daniel

Daniel 2

In chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar dreams of a statue with body parts made of different materials, which Daniel theninterprets as four kingdoms:

1. Head of gold

Interpretation given: The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar is the head of gold.[v.37-38]

2. Chest and arms of silver

Interpretation given: After Nebuchadnezzar an inferior kingdom shall arise.[v.39]

3. Belly and thighs of bronze

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Interpretation given: A third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.[v.39]4. Legs of iron with feet of iron and clay

Interpretation given: A fourth kingdom, strong as iron.[v.40] The feet and toes partly of potter’s clay

and partly of iron, show it shall be a divided kingdom.[v.41]

Daniel 7

In chapter 7, Daniel has a vision of four beasts coming up out of the sea, and then is told that they represent fourkingdoms:

1. A beast like a lion with eagle’s wings

2. A beast like a bear, raised up on one side, with three ribs between its teeth.

3. A beast like a leopard with four wings and four heads.

4. A fourth beast, with large iron teeth and ten horns.

Interpretation given: The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different

from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it.[v.23] Theten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom.[V.24]

Schools of thought

Interpretations of the prophetic content of the Book of Daniel differ as to its significance, if any, in historicalterms. Some secular historians and certain critics would say that the Book of Daniel has little to no significancebeyond its own contemporary historical setting. From some Christian and Jewish religious points of view, therelevance of the Book of Daniel to our own and future time is upheld. Idealists, and the advocates ofRealized/Sapiential Eschatology, would say that the Book of Daniel is primarily historical, but also significant asgodly instruction.

From the time of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, the 'four monarchies' model became widelyused for universal history, in parallel with eschatology, among Protestants. There were still some defenders of itsuse in universal history in the early 18th century; but the periodization with a 'Middle Age' came in strongly from

philology, with Christopher Cellarius, based on the distinctive nature of medieval Latin.[1] The modern historicistinterpretations and eschatological views of the Book of Daniel with the Book of Revelation, closely resemble,and are a continuation of, some earlier historical Protestant interpretations.

There are references in classical literature and arts that apparently predate the use of the succession of kingdoms

in the Book of Daniel. One is in Aemilius Sura,[2] an author who is quoted by Velleius Paterculus. This givesAssyria, Media, Persia and Macedonia as the imperial powers. The fifth empire became identified with theRomans. (After the 17th century, the concept of a fifth monarchy was re-introduced from Christianmillennarian ideas.)

An interpretation that has become orthodox after Swain[3] is that the 'four kingdoms' theory became theproperty of Greek and Roman writers at the beginning of the 1st century BCE, as an import from Asia Minor.

They built on a three-kingdom sequence, already mentioned in Herodotus and Ctesias.[4] This dating and origin

has been contested by Mendels, who places it later in the century.[5]

Jewish Reconstructionists and Full Preterists believe that Daniel is completely fulfilled, and that the believers arenow working to establish the Kingdom of God on earth.

Two main schools of thought on the four kingdoms of Daniel, is:

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1. The traditionalist view, supports the unison of Medo-Persia and identifies the last kingdom as the RomanEmpire.

2. The Maccabean thesis, a view that supports the separation of the Medes from the Persians and identifies

the last kingdom as the Seleucid Empire.[6]

Roman Empire schema

The following interpretation is a traditional view of Jewish and Christian Historicists, Futurists, Dispensationalists,Partial Preterists, and other futuristic Jewish and Christian hybrids, as well as certain Messianic Jews, whotypically believe that the kingdoms in Daniel (with variations) are:

1. the Babylonian Empire.

2. the Medo-Persian Empire.3. the Greek Empire of Alexander.4. the Roman Empire, with other implications to come later.

This was the scheme described by Jerome in his Commentary on Daniel.[7] Within this framework there arenumerous variations.

Use with Book of Revelation

Christian interpreters typically read the Book of Daniel with the New Testament's Book of Revelation. A beast

in Revelation 13 was also interpreted as the empire of Rome.[8] The "city on seven hills" in Revelation isunderstood by the majority of modern scholarly commentators as a reference to

Rome.[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]

Second temple theory

Full Preterists, Idealists, certain Reconstructionists and other non-futurists likewise typically believe in the samegeneral sequence, but they teach that Daniel's prophecies ended with the destruction of the Second Temple ofJerusalem, and have little to no implications beyond that. Jewish and Christian Futurists, Dispensationalists, and,to some degree, Partial Preterists believe that the prophecies of Daniel stopped with the destruction of theSecond Temple of Jerusalem; but will resume at some point in the future after a gap in prophecy that accountsfor the Church Age.

Maccabean thesis

Most secular historians and higher critics, and some contemporary Jewish and Christian scholars, hold that theBook of Daniel was written approximately 165 BCE as a vaticinium ex eventu of the events leading up to that

era.[22] The conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great, the wars between his successors; the Seleucids and thePtolemys (the King(s) of the North and the King(s) of the South), and the desecration of the Jerusalem templeby the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes are described in detail in chapters 8 and 11. The four kingdomsare viewed as four empires that the author believed had ruled from the time of the mythic Daniel until the time ofAntiochus:

1. the Neo-Babylonian Empire

2. the Median Empire, anachronistically implied in the Book of Daniel to be the successor to the Neo-

Babylonian Empire rather than contemporaneous.

3. the Achaemenid Persian Empire

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4. the Macedonian (Greek) Empire of Alexander, and continuing through the Diadochi, the successors to

Alexander's empire, in particular the Seleucid Empire, up until the time of Antiochus, who is the "little

horn" king of chapters 7 and 8.

"Four kingdoms" are mentioned again in chapter 8, now referring to the kingdoms of the four main successors toAlexander's empire, (the Diadochi, also mentioned in 11:4): Seleucus, Ptolemy, Lysimachus, and Cassander.

Traditional views

The traditional interpretation of the four kingdoms, shared among Jewish and Christian expositors, for over twomillennia, is that of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. This view conforms to the text of Daniel, which

considers the Medo-Persian Empire as one, as with the “law of the Medes and Persians”(6:8, 12, 15) These viewshave been supported by the Jewish Talmud, medieval Jewish commentators, Christian Church Fathers, Jerome,

and Calvin.[23]

Jerome specifically identified the four kingdoms of Daniel 2 in this way.[24] The 'four monarchies' theory existedalongside the Six Ages and the Three Eras, as general historical structures, in the work of Augustine of Hippo, a

contemporary of Jerome.[25]

The view which sees the sequence ending with Greece and the Diadochi, thus excluding Rome, is not withouthistorical precedent however. The pagan critic of Christianity, Porphyry, suggested a variation of thisinterpretation in the third century CE. In the following centuries, several Eastern Christians espoused this view,

including Ephrem the Syrian, Polychronius, and Cosmas Indicopleustes.[26]

During the Medieval ages, the orthodox Christian interpretation followed the commentary by Jerome on the

Book of Daniel.[27] It tied the fourth monarchy and its end to the end of the Roman Empire; which wasconsidered not to have yet come to pass. This is the case for example in the tenth-century writer Adso, whose

Libellus de Antichristo incorporated the characteristic medieval myth of the Last World Emperor.[28][29] Theprinciple of translatio imperii was used by Otto of Freising, who took the Holy Roman Empire to be thecontinuation of the Roman Empire (as fourth monarchy).

Protestant Reformation

See also: Historicism (Christianity)

The eschatological theory of four monarchies was particularly emphasized by a series of Protestant theologians,

such as Jerome Zanchius, Joseph Mede, and John Lightfoot.[30] Mede and other writers (such as William Guild,

Edward Haughton and Nathaniel Stephens) expected the imminent end of the fourth empire, and a new age.[31]

The early modern version of the four monarchies in universal history was subsequently often attributed to thechronologist and astrologer Johann Carion, based on his Chronika (1532). Developments of his Protestantworld chronology were endorsed in an influential preface of Philipp Melanchthon (published 1557).

The theory was topical in the 1550s. Johann Sleidan in his De quatuor imperiis summis (1556) tried tosummarise the status of the "four monarchies" as historical theory; he had already alluded to it in previous works.Sleidan's influential slant on the theory was both theological, with a Protestant tone of apocalyptic decline over

time, and an appeal to German nationalist feeling in terms of translatio imperii.[1][32][33] The Speculumconiugiorum (1556) of the jurist Alonso De la Vera Cruz, in New Spain, indirectly analysed the theory. It castdoubts on the Holy Roman Emperor's universal imperium, by pointing out the historical 'monarchies' in question

had in no case held exclusive sway.[34] The Carion/Melanchthon view was that the Kingdom of Egypt must be

considered a subsidiary power to Babylon: just as France was secondary compared to the Empire.[35]

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This 1630 engraving of Daniel's vision in chapter 7

by Matthäus Merian follows Jerome's interpretation

of the four beasts, but with "Assyria" in place of

"Babylon".

The Foure Monarchies was the title

of a long poem by Anne Bradstreet

from 1650.[36] Title page of the 1678

edition of her poems .

Title page of A Brief description of

the Fifth Monarchy or Kingdome

(1653) by William Aspinwall.

The Catholic Jean Bodin was concerned to argueagainst the whole theory of 'four monarchies' as ahistorical paradigm. He devoted a chapter to refuting it,alongside the classical scheme of a Golden Age, in his1566 Methodus ad facilem historiarum

cognitionem.[37]

Fifth Monarchists

Main article: Fifth Monarchists

In the conditions leading to the English Civil War and thedisruption that followed, many Protestants weremillennarians, believing they were living in the 'end of

days'.[38] The Fifth Monarchists were a significantelement of the Parliamentary grouping and, in January1661, after Charles II took the throne following the

EnglishRestoration, 50 militantFifth Monarchists underThomas Venner attemptedto take over London tostart the 'Fifth Monarchy ofKing Jesus'. After thefailure of this uprising, FifthMonarchists became aquiescent and devotional

part of religious dissent.[38]

Seventh-dayAdventist view

See also: Historicism(Christianity)#Book of

Daniel

The Seventh-day AdventistChurch shares the

traditional view that the four kingdoms of Daniel, as paralleled inchapters 2 and 7, correspond to Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece andRome. They also hold to the traditional view that the "little horn" inDaniel 7:8 and 8:9 refers to the Papacy; the reference to changing "times and law" (Daniel 7:25) refers to thechange of the Christian sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, and the attack on the sanctuary (Daniel 8:11) to the

mediatorial ministry of Roman Catholic priests.[39] The "time, times and half a time" (Daniel 7:25) represents aperiod of 1260 years spanning 538 CE and 1798 CE, when the Roman Catholic Church dominated the

Christian world.[40] The feet of the statue in Daniel 2, made of mixed iron and clay, represent modern

Europe.[41]

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The Adventist view encounters several major obstacles, including the notion that the "small horn" of Daniel 8does not belong to the he-goat but rather emerges from the four winds of heaven which would open the way toRome, an idea that is illogical, for never is a horn not connected to an animal in Daniel. Moreover, no otheranimal is mentioned in Daniel 8 so the small horn must, of necessity, belong to the he-goat. In addition, Adventistinterpretation depends on the so-called "day-year principle", the notion that a day signifies a year in prophecy(Num 14:34; 4:5-6; see also the following passages where the terms “day[s]” and “year[s]” appear to be usedinterchangeably: Gen 5:4, 5 ,8 ,11 ,14 ,17 ,20 ,23, 27, 31; 6:3; 7:11; 9:29; 11:32; 25:7; 35:28; 47:8; 47:9, 28;Deut 32:7; Judg 8:28; 15:20; 1 Sam 27:7; 2 Sam 21:1; 2 Kgs 24:1; 2 Chr 14:1; 24:15; 36:21; Job 10:5; 15:20;32:7; 36:11; Ps 77:5; 78:33; 90:9, 15; Prov 3:2; 9:11; Eccl 6:3; 11:8; 12:1; Isa 23:15; 34:8; 38:10; 61:2; 63:4;Jer 1:3; Ezek 22:4; 38:8; 38:17; Mal 3:4).

See also

Book of Daniel

Daniel Chapter 7

Appendix

Footnotes

1. ̂a b Herbert Butterfield, Man on His Past (1955), pp. 45-6.

2. ^ John J. Collins, The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature (1998), p.93.

3. ^ Joseph Ward Swain, The Theory of the Four Monarchies: Opposition History under the Roman Empire,Classical Philology, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Jan., 1940), pp. 1–21

4. ^ Erich S. Gruen,The Hellenistic World and the Coming of Rome (1986), p. 329.

5. ^ Doron Mendels, The Five Empires: A Note on a Propagandistic Topos, The American Journal of Philology,Vol. 102, No. 3 (Autumn, 1981), pp. 330–337.

6. ^ John J. Collins, A Short Introduction to the Hebrew Bible (2007), p. 282

7. ^ "St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel (1958). pp. 15-157"(http://www.ccel.org/ccel/pearse/morefathers/files/jerome_daniel_02_text.htm).

8. ^ "The four beasts of Daniel, however, reappear in the monster of Chapter 13 of the Book of Revelation, withten horns, seven heads, bear's feet and a lion's mouth, which the Fathers of the Church took to be the RomanEmpire.", Gelston, et al., "New heaven and new earth prophecy and the millennium: essays in honour ofAnthony Gelston", p. 297 (1999).

9. ^ Wall, R. W. (1991). New International biblical commentary: Revelation (207). Peabody, MA: HendricksonPublishers.

10. ^ Bratcher, R. G., & Hatton, H. (1993). A handbook on the Revelation to John. UBS handbook series; Helps fortranslators (248). New York: United Bible Societies.

11. ^ Davis, C. A. (2000). Revelation. The College Press NIV commentary (322). Joplin, Mo.: College Press Pub.

12. ^ Mounce, R. H. (1997). The Book of Revelation. The New International Commentary on the New Testament(315). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

13. ^ Beckwith, Isbon T. The Apocalypse of John. New York: MacMillan, 1919; reprinted, Eugene: Wipf andStock Publishers, 2001.

14. ^ Caird, G. B. A Commentary on the Revelation of St. John the Divine. Black’s New Testament Commentaries,edited by Henry Chadwick. London: Adam & Charles Black, 1966.

15. ^ Bruce, F. F. The Revelation to John. A New Testament Commentary, edited by G. C. D. Howley. GrandRapids: Zondervan, 1969.

16. ^ Henry Barclay Swete, Commentary on Revelation (1977). Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1977.

17. ^ Leon Morris, The Book of Revelation, An Introduction and Commentary (1987). Tyndale New TestamentCommentaries. Revised Edition. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

18. ^ Roloff, J. (1993). A Continental Commentary: The Revelation of John (198). Minneapolis, MN: Fortress

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Press.

19. ^ Aune, D. E. (2002). Vol. 52C: Word Biblical Commentary : Revelation 17-22. Word Biblical Commentary(944). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.

20. ^ Keener, C. S., & InterVarsity Press. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary : New Testament (Re17:9). Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press.

21. ^ Carson, D. A. (1994). New Bible commentary : 21st century edition (4th ed.) (Re 17:7–18). Leicester,England; Downers Grove, Ill., USA: Inter-Varsity Press.

22. ^ F.F. Bruce (1975). "A Reappraisal of Jewish Apocalyptic Literature"(http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/re/jewish-apocalyptic_bruce.pdf). Review and Expositor (72): 305–315.

23. ^ McDowell, Sean (2009). Apologetics study Bible for students: hard questions, straight answers. Nashville,Tenn: Holman Bible Publishers. p. 899. ISBN 978-1-58640-493-2.

24. ^ "Jerome identified the four kingdoms analogously with the interpretation of the prophecy of Daniel 2, in adiachronic system. In the first kingdom, symbolized by the lion, he saw the Neo-Babylonian empire. Heidentified the bear with the Persian kingdom, the leopard with the Macedonian rule, and the fourth beast withthe Roman empire.", Fröhlich, "Time and times and half a time: Historical Consciousness in the JewishLiterature of the Persian and Hellenistic Eras', JSP Supplements, pp. 71-72 (1996).

25. ^ Isabel Rivers, Classical and Christian Ideas in English Renaissance Poetry: A Student's Guide (1994), p. 56.

26. ^ Beatrice, Pier Franco (1991). "Pagans and Christians on the Book of Daniel" (http://books.google.com/books?

id=B42h3mgVkWcC). Studia Patristica XXV: 27.

27. ^ Chris Given-Wilson, Chronicles: The Writing of History in Medieval England (2004), p. 115.

28. ^ C. A. Patrides, Joseph Anthony Wittreich, The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature:patterns, antecedents, and repercussions (1984), p. 45; Google Books (http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dwoNAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA45).

29. ^ "Apocalypse" (http://www.apocalyptic-theories.com/glossary/a.html). Apocalyptic Ideas in Old EnglishLiterature.

30. ^ "Bishop John Lightfoot's Works (1684)" (http://www.preteristarchive.com/Books/1684_lightfoot-john_works.html).

31. ^ Bryan W. Ball, A Great Expectation: eschatological thought in English Protestantism to 1660 (1975), p. 140;Google Books (http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-EUXAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA140).

32. ^ Alexandra Kess, Johann Sleidan and the Protestant vision of history (2008), pp.83–5; Google Books(http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=qoahDMZdUAcC&pg=PA85&lpg=PA85&dq=%22four+monarchies%22+Sleidan&source=bl&ots=xKCTPq4ZlO&sig=4VqYvuFpir9nJS9JkdPzxyeotQk&hl=en&ei=Mv96TofRL8Ku8gOfle0u&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22four%20monarchies%22%20Sleidan&f=false).

33. ^ Anthony Grafton, What was History?: The Art of History in Early Modern Europe (2007), p. 171.

34. ^ David Andrew Lupher, Romans in a New World: Classical Models in Sixteenth-Century SpanishAmerica(2006), p. 163.

35. ^ Paula Findlen, Athanasius Kircher: the last man who knew everything (2004), p. 177; Google Books(http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=C0iGO0Hr95UC&pg=PA177&lpg=PA177&dq=%22Johannes+Carion%22+Egypt&source=bl&ots=5_LxN8DVrQ&sig=bW6yQ0qhWKv37kWiJ90mZsoxqT0&hl=en&ei=UUF7Ttj_GIS68gOokc1D&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Johannes%20Carion%22%20Egypt&f=false).

36. ^ "PAL:Anne Bradstreet(1612?-1672)" (http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap1/bradstreet.html).

37. ^ "Jean Bodin" (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/bodin/). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

38. ̂a b Capp, 1972

39. ^ Ministerial Association, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (2005). Seventh-day Adventistsbelieve (2nd ed). Pacific Press. pp. 356–357, 293–295.

40. ^ Seventh-day Adventists believe (2nd ed), pp. 184-185

41. ^ Seventh-day Adventists believe (2nd ed), p 376

42. ^ Uriah Smith, 1944, Daniel and Revelation, Southern Publishing Association, Nashville, TN

43. ^ Roy Allan Anderson, 1975, Pacific Press Pub. Assoc., Unfolding Daniel's Prophecies, Mountain View, CA

44. ^ Daniel 7:13-27 (http://tools.wmflabs.org/bibleversefinder/?book=Daniel&verse=7:13-27&src=niv) see verses13, 14, 22, 27

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References

H. H. Rowley (1935), Darius the Mede and the Four World Empires in the Book of Daniel. A

Historical Study of Contemporary Theories

Gerhard F. Hasel, "The Four World Empires of Daniel 2 Against its Near Eastern Environment," Journal

for the Study of the Old Testament 1979 4: 17-30

Bernard Capp (1972), Fifth Monarchy Men: Study in Seventeenth Century English Millenarianism,Faber ISBN 0-571-09791-X

Ministerial Association, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (2005). Seventh-day Adventists

Believe (2nd ed). Pacific Press.

Further reading

Deferrari, Paulus Orosius ; translated by Roy J. (2001). The seven books of history against the

pagans (1st short-run reprint ed.). Washington: Catholic University of America Press. ISBN 978-0-8132-1310-1.

External links

John H. Walton, "The Four Kingdoms Of Daniel(http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article_daniel_walton.html)," JETS 29 (1986), 25-36.

Utopian and Historical Thinking: Interplays and Transferences (PDF)

(http://www.nnet.gr/historein/historeinfiles/histvolumes/hist07/historein7-liakos.pdf)

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