A leopard. — More correctly, a panther. On the great vigilance and swiftness of the panther, comp. Jeremiah 5:6; Hosea 13:7; Habakkuk 1:8. The third beast corresponds to the copper belly and thighs of the image (Daniel 2). It should be noticed that as unity characterises the first beast, and duality the second, so quadruplicity marks the third. It has four wings — wings as of a bird, not of an eagle — by which a degree of swiftness is implied inferior to that of the first beast. It has four heads, indicating four kingdoms, into which the third kingdom should develop itself. (Comp. Daniel 8:8, where the same predominance of the number “four” is to be observed.)
Related Commentaries of Daniel 7:6
Daniel 7:6
6 After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.