A third kingdom which shall rule over all the earth (v.

Identified as an 'inferior' kingdom to follow Nebuchadnezzar (v. Explicitly identified as King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (v.

In chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar dreams of a statue made of four different materials, identified as four kingdoms: The consensus among scholars is that the four beasts of chapter 7, like the metals of chapter 2, symbolise Babylon, Media, Persia and the Seleucid Greeks, with Antiochus IV as the 'small horn' that uproots three others (Antiochus usurped the rights of several other claimants to become king). The symbolism of four metals in the statue in chapter 2 is drawn from Persian writings, while the four 'beasts from the sea' in chapter 7 reflect Hosea 13:7–8, in which God threatens that he will be to Israel like a lion, a leopard, a bear or a wild beast. Daniel's concept of four successive world empires is drawn from Greek theories of mythological history. The 'four kingdoms' theme appears explicitly in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7, and is implicit in the imagery of Daniel 8. The Book of Daniel originated from a collection of legends circulating in the Jewish community in Babylon and Mesopotamia in the Persian and early Hellenistic periods (5th to 3rd centuries BC), and was later expanded by the visions of chapters 7–12 in the Maccabean era (mid-2nd century). The four kingdoms of Daniel are four kingdoms which, according to the Book of Daniel, precede the ' end-times' and the ' Kingdom of God'. The four beasts and the Ancient of Days, depicted in the Silos Apocalypse For the Chinese legendary creatures, see Four Symbols.

Book of daniel timeline 2019