These verses are about what Daniel 7 means and what is the Little Horn in the prophecy based on a chain of verses that are referenced in a specific order to help give clarity and context.* It has very minimal commentary so that you can do your own self-reflection and discovery of the verses. Many times the Bible explains itself if you just know where to look.
With each group of verses, there are probing questions to help you consider what is being said. Each verse in the study is linked to an online Bible, should you want to check the context of the verses around it. Also, allowing verification of what scripture says, as well as purity of a study based only on the Bible.
1. What did Daniel see in vision?
- Daniel 7:1-7 (KJV) —
“1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters.
2 Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.
3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.
4 The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.
5 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.
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.
7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.”
2. What did these symbols mean?
- “Wind” means strife (Jeremiah 49:36-37 (KJV) — “36 And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come. 37 For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:”)
- “Waters” symbolize peoples (Revelation 17:15 (KJV) — “And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.”)
- “Lion” symbolizes Babylon (Jeremiah 4:7 (KJV) — “The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.”; Habakkuk 1:6-9 (KJV) — “6 For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs. 7 They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. 8 Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. 9 They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.”)
- “Bear” symbolizes Medo-Persia (Daniel 5:30-31 (KJV) — “30 In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. 31 And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.”; Daniel 8:20 (KJV) — “The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.”)
- “Leopard” symbolizes Grecia (Daniel 8:21-22 (KJV) — “21 And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. 22 Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.”; “Kingdoms of the successors of Alexander: Within a few years after the death of Alexander the Great, the Grecian Empire was divided into four parts: Cassander had Macedón and Greece in the west; Lysimachus had Thrace and parts of Asia in the north; Ptolemy had Egypt, Lydia, Arabia, Palestine, and Coele-Syria in the south; Seleucus had Syria and the rest of the empire in the east.“)
- The “fourth beast” symbolizes Rome (Daniel 8:23-25 (KJV) — “23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. 24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. 25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.”; Luke 2:1 (KJV) — “And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.”)
3. What was peculiar about the fourth beast?
- Daniel 7:7-8 (KJV) — “7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. 8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.”
4. What did the ten horns represent?
- Daniel 7:23-24 (KJV) — “23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. 24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.”
5. Name the kingdoms represented by the ten horns as given in history.
To identify the ten kingdoms, not only do we have to correctly identify the fourth beast which the ten kingdoms arise from. But we have to identify the stream of time Daniel’s prophecy is referring to. What time period and where in the world. The where has to be after the fourth beast kingdom of Rome “devour’s the whole earth, treading it down” and when it “breaks it in pieces”. The when has to be after the fall of Rome, being divided into ten kingdoms. The time period around 486-490 or 523-33 A.D. After Rome fell in 476 and when it was divided. So these are kingdoms that arose from Rome.
“The nations represented by the ten horns are as follows: Alans, Britain, Hunns, Ravenna…….Alemanni, ostrogoths, heruli, anglo-saxons
- Franks (French)
- Alemanni (Germans)
- Burgundians (Swiss)
- Suevi or Suevians (Portuguese)
- Vandals (in Northern Africa)
- Visigoths (Spanish)
- Anglo-Saxons (English)
- Ostrogoths (Austrians)
- Lombards (in part of Italy)
- Heruli (also in a portion of Italy)”
Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel by Sir Isaac Newton
6. What came up in the midst of these ten?
- Daniel 7:8 (KJV) — “I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.”
7. How did it look?
- Daniel 7:20 (KJV) — “And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows.”
8. In what way was this power “diverse” from the others?
- It was an ecclesiastical power; the others were political.
9. What would it do to make a place for itself?
- Daniel 7:24 (KJV) — “And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.”
10. What three kingdoms were plucked up?
- Heruli, A. D. 493 ; Vandals, A. D. 534 ; Ostrogoths, A. D. 538. These three Arian powers would not recognize the Bishop of Rome as the head of the church.
11. After this little horn was established, what words did he speak?
- Daniel 7:25 (KJV) — “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”
Blasphemous Titles.—”The Pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but as it were God, and the vicar of God.“
(See “Source Book,” art. “Pope.”)
“The Pope by reason of the excellence of his supreme dignity is called bishop of bishops. He is also called ordinary of ordinaries. He is likewise bishop of the universal church. He is likewise the divine monarch and supreme emperor, and king of kings. Hence the Pope is crowned with a triple crown, as king of heaven and of earth and of the lower regions.“
“We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty.“— Pope Leo XIII.
“Thou art the shepherd, thou art the physician, thou art the director, thou art the husbandman ; finally, thou art another God on earth.“
12. What else would this power do?
- Daniel 7:25 (KJV) — “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”
“For professing faith contrary to the teachings of the Church of Rome, history records the martyrdom of more than one hundred million people. A million Waldenses and Albigenses per- ished during a crusade proclaimed by Pope Innocent III in 1208; beginning from the establishment of the Jesuits in 1540 to 1580, nine hundred thousand were destroyed; one hundred and fifty thousand perished by the Inquisition in thirty years; within the space of thirty-eight years after the edict of Charles V against the Protestants, fifty thousand persons were hanged, beheaded, or burned alive for heresy; eighteen thousand more perished during the administration of the Duke of Alva in five and a half years.”
13. What change has this power attempted to make in the law of God?
- Daniel 7:25 (KJV) — “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”
Question—”Has the church power to make any alteration in the commandments of God?”
—The Catholic Christian Instructed, p. 211
Answer—”. . . Instead of the seventh day, and other festivals appointed by the old law, the church has prescribed the Sundays and holy days to be set apart for God’s worship; and these we are now obliged to keep in consequence of God’s commandment, instead of the ancient Sabbath.”
“The Catholic church for over one thousand years before the ex istence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the [Sabbath] day from Saturday to Sunday.”
—The Catholic Mirror, Sept. 23, 1893
14. What time is mentioned in God’s law?
- The seventh-day Sabbath.
15. What change does Rome claim to have made in the Sabbath?
- From the seventh day to the first day.
16. Has it really made any changes in God’s law?
- No, it could only think to change it.
- Daniel 7:25
- Note 5
17. For how long would this power sway the world?
- Daniel 7:25
- (A “time” in symbolic language represents a year. See Daniel 11:13, margin; Eze. 4:6; Num. 14:34.)
18. When did it end?
- 1798
- Adding 538 to 1260 years brings us to 1798.
19. What happened this year to break its dominion completely?
- Berthier, general of the French army, entered Rome and took the pope captive.
20. What great work was to follow 1798?
- Daniel 7:26 (KJV) — “But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.”
- Daniel 7:9-11 (KJV) — “9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. 10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. 11 I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.”
21. Who will have a part in the kingdom of God?
- Daniel 7:13-14 (KJV) — “13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”
- Daniel 7:18 (KJV) — “But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.”
- Daniel 7:27 (KJV) — “And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.”
Which power will you obey, the little-horn power or the God of heaven?
This study guide was based on Reading No. 8, pages 96-97 from Brief Bible Readings for Busy People,
prepared by the Home Missionary Department
of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
Review and Herald Publishing. Published originally in 1930.
View the original study guide, which this guide is based on, as a scanned PDF. Full credit to them.
*A Bible chain reference is a system of cross-referencing between different passages or verses of the Bible to connect and relate different concepts, themes, or topics mentioned in different parts of the Bible. It helps readers gain a deeper understanding of the overall message and meaning of the text. To use it, readers start with a particular topic or theme and then look up the corresponding list of verses, paying attention to the connections and relationships between them. Studying them in a particular order, helps one understand the topic from beginning to end. Just like peeling the layers off of an onion. It’s a useful tool for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of the Bible and its teachings.
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