Daniel 7:1

"In the first year of Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans, Daniel saw a dream and the visions of his head were while he was upon his bed, and he wrote down the vision." [Daniel 7:1] And so as much as was revealed by the Spirit through visions to the blessed prophet, these things also he ungrudgingly described to others, so that he might not only, while prophesying the things which are to come, reveal them to himself, but also that it may be demonstrated to those who wish with faith to search the godly writings of the prophet.

Up to these words the blessed Daniel has written his prophecy more in the style of a historian. First, remember at the beginning he related what happened to those captured in war, and he adds how God, the author of all, was greatly concerned about these matters. Then he tells how Nebuchadnezzar paid the penalty for his cruelty and arrogance and then how Belshazzar suffered for his disrespectful use of the sacred vessels. Once the latter had been killed by a divine blow and his empire handed over to the Medes, Daniel went on to write those things that happened to himself and to Darius and explained how it was that Darius favored him, what sorts of plots Daniel had to endure at the hands of the generals and satraps, and how he was delivered from their hands by divine aid. Having expounded these things in a historian's fashion, now Daniel begins to expound those predictions that he had learned through revelations. First he sets forth the revelation of the four beasts, quite similar to the dream of Nebuchadnezzar. However, Daniel sees the fourfold content manifested in only one image, while Nebuchadnezzar saw four beasts ascending from the one sea. But lest anyone think that we are forced to say the same things again, let us turn to interpret the individual elements of the prophecy, where this truth will be openly demonstrated.

Verse 1. "In the first year of Belshazzar, King of Babylon, Daniel beheld a dream. And a vision of his head upon his bed. And when he wrote the dream down, he comprehended it in a few words and gave a brief summary of it, saying..." This section which we now undertake to explain, and also the subsequent section which we are going to discuss, is historically prior to the two previous sections. For this present section and that which follows it are recorded to have taken place in the first and third years of the reign of King Belshazzar (Jeremiah 39) [Jerome's citation of Jeremiah 39 seems quite pointless in this connection]. But the section which we read previously to the one just preceding this, is recorded to have taken place in the last year, indeed on the final day, of Belshaz-zar's reign. And we meet this phenomenon not only in Daniel but also in Jeremiah [cf. Jeremiah 35 and Jeremiah 34] and Ezekiel (Ezekiel 17), as we shall be able to show, if life spares us that long. But in the earlier portion of the book, the historical order has been followed, namely the events which occurred in the time of Nebuchadnezzar, and Belshazzar, and Darius or Cyrus. But in the passages now before us an account is given of various visions which were beheld on particular occasions and of which only the prophet himself was aware, and which therefore lacked any importance as signs or revelations so far as the barbarian nations were concerned. But they were written down only that a record of the things beheld might be preserved for posterity.