properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
said
וְאָמַ֔רve.'a.Mar
H560
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
saw
חָזֵ֥הcha.Zeh
H2370
to gaze upon · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
vision
בְּחֶזְוִ֖יbe.chez.Vi
H2376
a sight · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix
by
עִם'im-
H5974
adverb or preposition · preposition
night
לֵֽילְיָ֑אleil.Ya'
H3916
Lael an Israelite · noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
behold
וַאֲר֗וּva.'a.Ru
H718
lo! · conjunction + interjection
four
אַרְבַּע֙'ar.Ba'
H703
four · cardinal number, both genders singular absolute
winds
רוּחֵ֣יru.Chei
H7308
wind · noun, common masculine plural construct
heaven
שְׁמַיָּ֔אshe.mai.Ya'
H8065
the sky (as aloft · noun, common masculine plural determined + particle of affirmation
strove
מְגִיחָ֖ןme.gi.Chan
H1519
to rush forth · verb, hiphil active participle, feminine plural absolute
great
רַבָּֽאra.Ba'
H7229
abundant · adjective, both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
sea
לְיַמָּ֥אle.ya.Ma'
H3221
a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or large body of water · preposition + noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Revelation 7:1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind shoul…
Revelation 17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Daniel 7:1-8
The date of this chapter places it before ch. 5, which was in the last year of Belshazzar, and ch. 6, which was in the first of Darius; for Daniel had those visions in the first year of Belshazzar, when the captivity of the Jews in Babylon was drawing near a period. Belshazzar's name here is, in the original, spelt differently from what it used to be; before it was Bel-she-azar - Bel is he that treasures up riches. But this is Bel-eshe-zar - Bel is on fire by the enemy. Bel was the god of the Chaldeans; he had prospered, but is now to be consumed.
We have, in these verses, Daniel's vision of the four monarchies that were oppressive to the Jews. Observe,
I. The circumstances of this vision. D…
the four winds--answering to the "four beasts"; their several conflicts in the four quarters or directions of the world.
strove--burst forth (from the abyss) [MAURER].
sea--The world powers rise out of the agitations of the political sea (Jer 46:7-8; Luk 21:25; compare Rev 13:1; Rev 17:15; Rev 21:1); the kingdom of God and the Son of man from the clouds of heaven (Dan 7:13; compare Joh 8:23). TREGELLES takes "the great sea" to mean, as always elsewhere in Scripture (Jos 1:4; Jos 9:1), the Mediterranean, the center territorially of the four kingdoms of the vision, which all border on it and have Jerusalem subject to them. Babylon did not border on the Mediterranean, nor rule Jerusalem, ti…
The four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea - The idea of strife is taken here from the effects that must be produced, were the east, the west, the north, and the south winds to rise tempestuously, and meet on the surface of the sea. By the great sea, the Mediterranean is meant; and is so called to distinguish it from those lakes called seas by the Hebrews; such as the Sea of Galilee, Dead Sea, Sea of Tiberias, etc.; but even that may refer to Asia, the scene of all these contentions. This dream is the same in meaning, under different emblems, as that of Nebuchadnezzar's metallic image; but in Daniel's dream several circumstances are added. It is supposed that Daniel had this drea…
The Church Fathers
And so when the different beast was shown to the blessed prophet Daniel and it was shown that it differed from the others, it is necessary for us to consider that he does not discuss any of the beasts as mere animals, but in a model and image he portrays the kingdoms which have arisen in this world, just as he portrays the beasts destroying humanity. For the Great Sea indicates the whole world, he says; "The four winds of heaven," [Daniel 7:2] which signal the fourfold creation. And so when he says, "I saw four beasts rising from the sea," [Daniel 7:3] he speaks concerning the kingdoms of this world.
Verses 2, 3. "And during the night I saw in my vision, and behold, the four winds of heaven strove upon the great sea, and four great beasts were coming up out of the sea, differing from one another." The four winds of heaven I suppose to have been angelic powers to whom the principalities have been committed, in accordance with what we read in Deuteronomy: "When the Most High divided the nations and when He separated the children of Adam, He established the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the angels. For the Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the line of His inheritance (Deuteronomy 32:8). But the sea signifies this world and the present age, overwhelmed with salty and bitter waves, in accordance with the Lord's own interpretation of the dragnet cast into the sea (Matthew 13:47-50). Hence also the sovereign of all creatures that inhabit the waters is described as a dragon, and his heads, according to David, are smitten in the sea (Psalm 74:13). And in Amos we read: "If he descends to the very depth of the sea, there will I give him over to the dragon and he shall bite him" (Amos 9:3). But as for the four beasts who came up out of the sea and were differentiated from one another, we may identify them from the angel's discourse. "These four great beasts," he says, "are four kingdoms which shall rise up from the earth." And as for the four winds which strove in the great sea, they are called winds of heaven because each one of the angels does for his realm the duty entrusted to him. This too should be noted, that the fierceness and cruelty of the kingdoms concerned are indicated by the term "beasts."
For his part, Nebuchadnezzar sees the image, drawing a lesson in the futility of things of this life and the fact that they are appearances, as the divine apostle asserts, and not realities, there is nothing lasting or stable in them, everything fluid and failing and fading. Daniel, [by contrast], is gazing at a sea, gaining a lesson in the haze of the present life. After all, when a prisoner of war is compelled to see a foreign land, he fittingly learns to recognize the storms and tempests of life. And since the king too was haughty because of his silver, bronze and iron, he is given the mysteries concerning the kingdoms through a statue composed of the very same materials. In this way he perceives the successions of kings and is admonished lest he be removed because of a kingdom liable to swift and sudden change.…He calls life "the sea" since it has those countless and great storms; he calls the changes of regimes "winds," since they act against the very onslaught. For just as the streams rush to the north whenever the south wind blows and the wind is driven southward again when the north wind stirs up the sea, so when the Assyrians obtained dominion over the whole world, they drew all their conquered people to their land; but when the kingdom was handed over to the Persians, there was also a confluence of their subjects to the Persians. And when the Macedonians in turn obtained the scepter, all brought to them twice the usual tribute, except for those to whom they had been previously obedient. And when the Romans acquired command over all nations, everyone rushed to the west and thought nothing of the Macedonians. And the Macedonians themselves were counted now as one of the conquered nations. Quite appropriately then he compares the changes of the wind with the changes of regimes, since the winds drive sailors now this way, now that way. Therefore, he mentioned the four winds, since there were four successions of kingdoms. But he teaches us in what manner the beasts differ among themselves.
Dictionary and topics
Daniel, Book of — Is ranked by the Jews in that division of their Bible called the Hagiographa (Heb. Khethubim). (See BIBLE.) It consists of two distinct parts. The first part, consisting of the first six chapters, is…
Number — Like most Oriental nations, it is probable that the Hebrews in their written calculations made use of the letters of the alphabet. That they did so in post-Babylonian times we have conclusive…
Winds — Blowing from the four quarters of heaven (Jer. 49:36; Ezek. 37:9; Dan. 8:8; Zech. 2:6). The east wind was parching (Ezek. 17:10; 19:12), and is sometimes mentioned as simply denoting a strong wind…
Dreams · Mentioned in scripture of: Daniel — Mentioned in scripture of: Daniel
Night · God frequently: Revealed his will in — God frequently: Revealed his will in
Sea · .In Daniel’ s vision — .In Daniel’ s vision
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night,.... He declared he had had a vision by night, and this was the substance of it:
and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea: the east, west, north, and south winds, broke out from each of their quarters, and rushed in upon the great sea; either the Mediterranean, so called in comparison of the sea of Sodom, and the sea of Tiberias in Judea; or upon the waters of the main ocean, and raised up its waves, and seemed as it were to be striving and fighting with them, and put them into a strange agitation; by which may be meant the whole world, and the kingdoms and nations of it, because of its largeness, inconstancy, ins…
Daniel 7:1-2
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.
1. Anno primo Beltsazar regis babylonis, Daniel somnium vidit, eer visiones capitis ejus in lecto ejus. Tunc somnium exposuit.
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.
2. Loquutus est Daniel, et exposuit: Vidi in visione mea per noctem, et ecce quatuor venti coelorum pugnantes, [1] in mari magno.
Hear. Daniel begins to offer instruction peculiar to the Church. For God had formerly appointed him an interpreter and instructor to,…
With Dan 7:2 Daniel begins his written report: "Daniel began and said," introduces the matter. חזוי עם־ליליא, visions in (during) the night, cf. Dan 2:19. Dan 7:2 and Dan 7:3 describe the scene in general. The four winds of heaven break loose upon the great sea, and rage fiercely, so that four great beasts, each diverse from the others, arise out of its bosom. The great sea is not the Mediterranean (Berth., Ges., Hitz., Ewald), for such a geographical reference is foreign to the context. It is the ocean; and the storm on it represents the "tumults of the people," commotions among the nations of the world (Hv., Leng., Hofm., etc.), corresponding to the prophetic comparison found in Jer 17:12;…
The sea is an image of evil or chaos in the Old Testament (see Ps 89:10; Isa 5:30; 57:20), as it was throughout the ancient Near East.
Rashi on Daniel 7:2
and behold [as translated,] and behold.
the four winds of the heavens were stirring up, etc. four blowing winds coming from the four directions of the world and waging war with the Great Sea and stirring it up.
