Wenstrom Bible Ministries Marion, Iowa Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom www.wenstrom.org

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Wenstrom Bible MinistriesMarion,
IowaPastor-Teacher Bill Wenstromwww.wenstrom.o
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Wednesday May 1, 2013Daniel Daniel 75-Daniel
Describes the Second Beast Lesson 204
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Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 71.
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Daniel 71 During Belshazzars, Babylons king,
first year, Daniel saw a dream specifically
visions in his mind on his bed. Then, he wrote
down the dream. He declares the beginning of the
account. 2 Daniel began to speak and said, I was
in a trance like state, staring because of my
vision during the night as behold the heavens
four winds were blowing violently against the
great sea.
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3 Then, four great beasts, one different from the
other, came up out from the sea. 4 The first
beast was like a lion with eagles wings attached
to it. I was in a trance like state staring when
its wings were torn off. Then it was lifted up
from the ground for the purpose of it standing on
two feet like a human being. A human mind was
also given to it. (My translation)
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Daniel 75 And behold, another beast, a second
one, resembling a bear. And it was raised up on
one side, and three ribs were in its mouth
between its teeth and thus they said to it,
Arise, devour much meat! (NASB95)
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And behold, another beast, a second one,
resembling a bear is the next event that took
place after the events recorded in verse 4.
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Behold is the interjection ?arû (?????)
(ar-oo), is used to introduce a description of
the second beast with emphasis and draws the
attention of the reader in order to mark that
what Daniel saw was impressive and astounding to
him.
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Another beast, a second one indicates that this
second beast is distinct and different from the
first beast in that the latters appearance was
like a lion and the former like a bear.
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Resembling a bear is composed of the feminine
singular pe?al (Hebrew qal) active participle
form of the verb dema(h) (??????) (dem-aw),
resembling and then we have the preposition le
(??) (leh) which is not translated and its object
is the feminine singular noun do? (????) (dobe),
a bear.
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The verb dema(h) means to look like, resemble
and its direct object is the noun do?, a bear
indicating that Daniel is describing the second
beast as looking like or resembling a bear.
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The noun do? means bear referring to a large
heavy mammal of America and Eurasia that have
long shaggy hair, rudimentary tails, and
plantigrade feet and feed largely on fruit, plant
matter and insects as well as on flesh.
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And it was raised up on one side presents
another description of the second beast which
goes along with the previous description that
this bear was raised up to ones side.
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And three ribs were in its mouth between its
teeth presents another description of the second
beast which resembled a bear that goes along with
the previous description that this bear was
raised up to ones side.
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And thus they said to it, Arise, devour much
meat! is the next event that took place after
the second beast appeared in Daniels vision and
was described by Daniel as being raised up to one
side with three ribs in its mouth, between its
teeth.
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Arise, devour much meat! is composed of the
second person feminine singular pe?al (Hebrew
qal) active imperative form of the verb qûm
(????) (koom), arise and then we have the
second person feminine singular pe?al (Hebrew
qal) active imperative form of the verb ?a?al
(?????) (ak-al), devour which is followed by
the masculine singular noun besar (???????)
(bes-ar), meet which is modified by the
masculine singular form of the adjective
saggî(?) (????????) (sag-ghee), much.
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The verb ?amar means to issue orders since the
statement to follow reveals that the unidentified
voice did just that and ordered the bear to arise
and devour much meat.
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The masculine plural form of the verb means
they and must refer to the Trinity since the
interpretation of the vision indicates that the
God of Israel is sovereign over the kingdoms of
Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome, which are
depicted as a lion, bear, leopard and a
non-descript beast respectively.
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The verb qûm means to arise in the sense of the
second beast arising implying that it was lying
down indicating that the second beast was being
ordered to be prepared to take action.
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The word implies that the bear is to attempt
further conquests of the animal kingdom.
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The three ribs in its mouth between its teeth
indicate the animals previous conquests and the
verb qûm indicates further attempts to conquer.
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The verb ?a?al literally means to devour
referring to the consumption of food in a greedy
or ravenous manner and is used with second beast
as its subject and its object is meat, consisting
of flesh.
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Therefore, the verb refers to the second beast
being ordered to devour much meat.
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The noun besar means flesh referring to the
soft parts of the body of an animal and is
modified by the adjective saggî(?), which means
much referring to a great quantity indicating
that the second beast was ordered by unidentified
voices to devour much flesh.
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Daniel 75 Next, another beast, a second one,
resembling a bear with it raised up to one side
with three ribs in its mouth between its teeth.
Then, they issued orders to it, Arise, devour
much flesh! (Authors translation)
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The bear symbolizes Medo-Persia since she
conquered Babylon according to Daniel chapter
five and human history and corresponds to the
silver arms and chest of the statue in
Nebuchadnezzars dream in Daniel chapter two.
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In Daniel 239, Daniel informed Nebuchadnezzar
that after his kingdom there will arise another
kingdom which will be inferior to his kingdom.
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Since Daniel told the king at the end of Daniel
238 that he was the head of gold of the statue
in his dream, this second kingdom is represented
by the silver arms and chest of the statue.
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History records that this part of the statue
represented the Medo-Persian Empire.
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It was inferior since it lacked the inner unity
of Babylon because the Medes and the Persians,
though united, never fused into one people.
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Daniel chapter five and human history record
Medo-Persia conquered Babylon and absorbed this
nation into its empire and replaced Babylon as a
world-wide empire.
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In Daniel chapter five, the God of Israel sent a
message to Belshazzar through Daniel that his
empire was being handed over to the Medes and
Persians and this took place that very night.
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Larkin writes The Bear is the strongest beast
after the Lion, and is distinguished for its
voracity but it has none of the agility and
majesty of the Lion, is awkward in its movements
and effects its purpose with comparative slowness
and by brute force and sheer strength. These were
characteristics of the Medo-Persian Empire. It
was ponderous in its movements and gained its
victories by hurling masses of troops upon its
enemies.
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Xerxes expedition against Greece was undertaken
with 2,500,000 fighting men. It is easy to be
seen that the movements of such enormous bodies
of men would devour much flesh. Not merely in
the shape of food, but by death, by exposure and
disease and in battle.
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The fact that the bear was raised up on one side
refers to the one-side merging of the Median and
Persian empires in that over time Persia became
more dominant over Media (Daniel 1013).
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The three ribs in the mouth of the bear represent
the kingdoms of Egypt, Assyria and Babylon, which
had preceded the empire, represented by the bear
and were conquered by Medo-Persian Empire.
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Like a bear, the Medo-Persian army was powerful
and fierce (Isaiah 1315-18).
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The commands to arise, devour much flesh
indicates that the Medo-Persian empire was under
the sovereign authority of God and imply that God
has sovereignly ordained the Medo-Persian Empire
continue its conquests over the nations of the
earth.
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These commands portray the Medo-Persian Empire
conquering many nations and peoples to extend its
domain.
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Those commanding the bear must refer to the
Trinity since the interpretation of the vision
indicates that the God of Israel is sovereign
over the kingdoms of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece
and Rome, which are depicted as a lion, bear,
leopard and a non-descript beast respectively.
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This command suggests that kingdoms operate by
divine appointment, not their own authority.
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In devouring other kingdoms and extending its
territory into a vast empire, the bear was
fulfilling Gods purpose.
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The Medo-Persian Empire was founded by Cyrus, who
started out as the king of Anshan in Persia who
fused the Iranian tribes into a great military
machine.
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He married the daughter of the king of Media and
added Media to his empire.
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Then, the Medo-Persian army conquered the
Babylonians in 539 B.C.
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