Daniel 7:6 - Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

Bible Comments

‘After this I was beholding, and lo another, like a leopard which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.'

The third wild beast was ‘like a leopard', and yet a leopard with wings. Chapter 8 tells us specifically that this was Greece (Daniel 8:21). The swift movement of the leopard (Habakkuk 1:8) combined with the dual sets of wings of a bird indicates its fierceness and swiftness, typical of the conquests of Alexander. It needs two sets of wings because it remains an animal throughout. It needs to be able to land on four feet.

Like the bear, the leopard is also paralleled with the lion as a fearsome creature (Song of Solomon 4:8; Jeremiah 5:6; Hosea 13:7). It is a hunter. So this beast too is swift and fearsome. The dual emphasis on four indicates that ‘four' is intended to mean something, and four indicates worldwideness. Thus the four heads indicate ‘worldwide' rulership (he could have depicted it as having horns, as it had wings, but horns would be contradictory to its being a leopard. A leopard kills with tooth and claw). All is controlled from the head. But it also indicates that the one empire will become four (see Daniel 8:22). The beast ‘was given dominion'. It had control over the Mediterranean world.

On the death of Alexander the Great his empire was in fact split between his four generals, two of whom were prominent in the Mediterranean world north and south of Palestine. Most who hold this view think that they were Lysimachus (who ruled over Thrace and Bithynia), Cassander (Macedonia and Greece), Seleucus (Syria, Babylonia, and the eastern territories), and Ptolemy (Egypt, Palestine, and Arabia Petrea). However, the exact identification of the rulers is debatable because it took about 20 years for the kingdom to be successfully divided. But there is no question about the fact that Greece split into four major parts (cf. Daniel 8:8; Daniel 8:22). All is leading up to the final empire, the great apocalyptic empire of Daniel 2:40-43.

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.