Daniel 7, 8, 5

The book of Daniel is divided equally between the history of Daniel (chapters 1-6), and the prophetic visions of Daniel (chapter 7-12). Chapters 7-8 relates visions of Daniel during the reign of the Babylonian king Belshazzar (the son, or grandson of Nebuchadnezzar), and chapter 5 relates the last night of his reign, when the city is overrun and conquered by the Medes and Persians.

The vision of chapter 7 is (in many ways) parallel to the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2, which provides a broad view of human history, and the kingdoms of the world from that time until the end. Babylon is the first beast, the Medes and Persians are the second beast, and the Greeks are the third. The fourth beast is the Roman empire, and it will be a remnant of that empire in the last days, when the antichrist will appear on the scene and make himself great for a short time, but he will be judged, and Christ will be victorious on behalf of the saints forever.

The vision of chapter 8 is parallel to that of chapter 7, again focusing on the evil one who will appear in the last days, but who will be judged and destroyed by the Lord.

In chapter 5 we have the story preceding overthrow of Babylon by the Medes and Persians, where God delivers a message to Belshazzar, saying that he had been weighed in the balance and found wanting. The general of Darius, the Mede, engineered a diversion of the Euphrates river, and his army walked into the city under the walls (where the river had previously flowed through), and took the city that very night without a fight, just as Daniel told Belshazzar.