Daniel 7.2-Daniel Saw a Night Vision with the Four Winds of Heaven Blowing Violently Against the Great Sea
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday April 24, 2013
Daniel: Daniel 7:2-Daniel Saw a Night Vision with the Four Winds of Heaven Blowing Violently Against the Great Sea
Lesson # 201
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 7:1.
Daniel 7:1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel saw a dream and visions in his mind as he lay on his bed; then he wrote the dream down and related the following summary of it. (NASB95)
Daniel 7:1 During Belshazzar’s, Babylon’s king, first year, Daniel saw a dream specifically visions in his mind on his bed. Then, he wrote down the dream. He declares the beginning of the account. (My translation)
Daniel under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is employing the figure of “asyndeton” in order to get the reader’s attention that he is now beginning to recount for them the content and interpretation of the revelation that he received from God through visions in a dream.
Daniel 7:2 Daniel said, “I was looking in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea.” (NASB95)
“I was looking” is composed of the masculine singular peʿal (Hebrew: qal) active participle form of the verb ḥǎzā(h) (חֲזָה) (khaz-aw´), “looking” which is followed by the first person masculine singular peʿal (Hebrew: qal) active perfect form of the verb hǎwā(h) (הֲוָה) (hav-aw´), “was.”
The verb hǎwā(h) denotes existing in a certain state or condition and here it denotes Daniel’s trance like state when he received this revelation from God through a vision at night regarding His will for planet earth.
The verb ḥǎzā(h) means “to stare” and refers to Daniel looking at a prophetic revelatory vision with studious attention and with open mouth wonder and amazement.
“In my vision by night” is composed of the preposition bĕ (בְּ) (beh), “in” and its object is the masculine singular construct form of the noun ḥězû (חֱזוּ) (khay´-zev), “vision,” which is modified by the first person singular personal pronoun ʾǎnā(h) (אֲנָה) (an-aw´), “I” and then we the first person singular pronominal suffix –î (־י) (ee), “me” which is followed by the preposition ʿim (עִם) (eem), “by” and its object is the masculine singular noun lê∙lê (לֵילֵי) (lay-leh), “night.”
The noun ḥězû means “vision” and refers to the prophetic, supernatural revelation from God Daniel received at night and is the object of the preposition bĕ, which is a marker of cause indicating the basis or the reason why Daniel was in a trance like state staring and thus he was doing so “because of” his vision.
The noun lê∙lê means “night,” i.e. the period of time between sunset and sunrise and it is the object of the preposition ʿim, which means “during” since it functions as a marker of a unit of time, thus this prepositional phrase reveals that Daniel received this vision from God “during the night.”
“And behold” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the interjection ʾǎrû (אֲרוּ) (ar-oo´), “behold.”
The conjunction wa means “as” since it is used as a temporal marker relating points of time indicating that “as” Daniel was in a trance like state, staring because of his vision during the night, the four winds of heaven were stirring upon the great sea.
The interjection ʾǎrû means “behold” and draws the attention of the reader in order to mark that what Daniel saw was impressive and astounding to him.
“The four winds of heaven” is composed of the masculine singular number ʾǎr∙bǎʿ (אַרְבַּע) (ar-bah´), “four” which is modifying the masculine plural construct form of the noun rûaḥ (רוּחַ) (roo´-akh), “the winds” and then we have the masculine plural dual noun šemǎ∙yin (שְׁמַיִן) (shaw-mah´-yin), “heaven.”
The noun rûaḥ is in the plural and means “winds” and describes a meteorological phenomenon that involves the movement of air of any velocity in the earth’s atmosphere.
The word is modified by the cardinal number ʾǎr∙bǎʿ, which means “four” and is indicative of the four points on a compass: north, south, east and west.
The dual noun šemǎ∙yin means “heavens” referring to the earth’s atmosphere, i.e. the expanse of space that contains oxygen and seems to be over the earth like a dome.
“Were stirring up” is the feminine plural hafʿel (Hebrew: hiphil) active participle form of the verb gûaḥ (גּוּחַ) (ghee´-akh), which means “to blow violently upon, to strike violently against” and refers to the literal violent blowing upon the great sea in this vision.
“The great sea” is composed of the preposition lĕ (לְ) (leh), “up” and its object is the masculine singular noun yǎm (יַם) (yawm), “the sea” which is modified by the masculine singular adjective rǎḇ (רַב) (rab), “great.”
The noun yǎm means “sea” referring to the ocean and is modified by the adjective rǎḇ, which means “great” referring to the large area in which this sea or ocean stretched.
The noun yǎm is the object of the preposition lĕ (לְ) (leh), which means “against” since it is a marker of disadvantage indicating that the four winds of heaven were blowing violently “against” the great sea.
Daniel 7:2 Daniel began to speak and said, “I was in a trance like state, staring because of my vision during the night as behold the heaven’s four winds were blowing violently against the great sea.” (My translation)
Verse 2 marks the beginning of Daniel’s written account as to what he saw in this revelation he received from God through visions in a dream during the night during the first year of Belshazzar’s reign.
He starts off by describing himself as in a trance like state staring at this vision in the sense that he could not take his eyes off of this vision.
This vision he received was a prophetic, supernatural revelation from God the Holy Spirit with regards to the Father’s will for planet earth.
Daniel was in an altered state of consciousness while God revealed His future plans for planet earth while in the privacy of his own bedroom.
This vision was impressive and astounding to him.
Many excellent commentators interpret this expression “the four winds of heaven” as symbolic of God’s sovereign power over mankind which He exercises by raising up nations and judging nations.
Some argue that the “four winds” refer to angels.
However, if angels were in view they would be mentioned in connection with the four winds as is the case in Zechariah 6:1-6 and Revelation 7:1-3.
The “four spirits or winds of heaven” in Zechariah 6:1-6 are clearly angels carrying out God’s judgments and not literal wind because they are said to stand before the Lord (Zechariah 6:5).
Revelation 7:1-3 records four angels carrying God’s judgments against the inhabitants of planet earth during Daniel’s Seventieth Week by holding back the four winds of the earth during the Tribulation.
Though many expositors argue for “the four winds of heaven” as being symbolic of the exercise of God’s sovereign power over the nations, it is better to interpret the expression as symbolic of Satan and his angels causing unrest among the nations of the earth.
It is not God who is causing this disturbance of the great sea but rather Satan since the result produced by such disturbance is evil.
This is indicated first of all by the fact that the great sea is symbolic of the heathen nations of the earth which are said to be greatly disturbed by these four winds.
Symbolically, four great heathen empires are arise from this disturbance of the great sea: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome.
A revived form of the fourth kingdom, Rome produces a wicked ruler established by Satan who we know from the book of Revelation is the Antichrist.
2 Corinthians 4:4 calls Satan the “god of this world” and he is called the “prince of the power of the air” in Ephesians 2:2.
The number four denotes universality and here denotes the universality of Satan’s kingdom.
So the four winds caused a disturbance in the great sea which produces four great awful beasts which are symbolic of the four great heathen empires of history, which are under the control of Satan who is the god of this world and the prince of the power of the air.
Satan, the prince of the power of the earth’s atmosphere is the one who is behind this disturbance of the great sea which produces four great beasts which are symbolic of four great heathen empires.
The Scriptures teach that the nations of the earth are deceived by Satan (Revelation 20:3; cf. 12:9; 1 John 5:19).
So God could not be behind the four winds of heaven here in Daniel 7:2 but rather Satan is since the result of the great disturbance of the great sea is four evil empires.
Therefore, “the four winds of heaven” refer to literal wind in this vision which is symbolic of Satan and his angels causing unrest among the nations of the earth, which results in four great empires, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome which are characterized by evil.
The final form of the fourth empire which will take place during Daniel’s Seventieth Week will be the worst since it will produce the Antichrist.
Though Satan is deceiving the nations and will continue to do so up until the Second Advent of Jesus Christ which terminates Daniel’s Seventieth Week, God is still sovereign.
This is demonstrated by the fact that God’s kingdom which He will establish through His Son will destroy these other heathen empires at His Son’s Second Advent who will at that time establish His millennial reign upon the earth.
The “great sea” here in Daniel 7:2 refers in a literal sense to the Mediterranean Sea since throughout the Old Testament it is identified as such (Numbers 34:6-7; Joshua 1:4; 9:1; 15:12, 47; 23:4; Ezekiel 47:10, 15, 20; 48:28).
The Mediterranean was called “the great sea” in the Old Testament because it was situated geographically in the center of the earth and borders on so many large continents.
The “great sea” in Daniel 7:2 also has of course a figurative sense referring to the heathen nations of the earth since Daniel 7:3 and 7:17 makes this clear.
Both verses reveal that the four great beasts are symbolic of four great heathen empires, which history tells are Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome.
This would make clear that the great sea refers to unregenerate mankind since these empires are composed of unregenerate men and women.
Revelation 17:5 also supports this interpretation (cf. Isaiah 8:6-8; 17:12-13; 57:20; 60:5; Jeremiah. 6:23; 46:7-8; 47:2; Matthew 13:46; Luke 21:25; Revelation 13:1; 17:1; 21:1.).
Daniel describes the four winds of heaven blowing violently against the great sea, which is symbolic of Satan and his kingdom causing violent conflict among the inhabitants of the nations.
This suggests that Satan and his kingdom is the source of the four great heathen empires in history, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome and final form of the Roman Empire which will produce an evil dictator which the book of Revelation identifies as the Antichrist.
The believer has three great enemies according to the Scriptures: (1) Satan, our chief adversary, the devil: (1 Pet. 5:8-9; Eph. 6:12; John 16:11; Col. 2:15; but note 1 John 2:13-14). (2) The world, a system and arrangement of the affairs of men and government under the control of the evil one and opposed to God and His purposes for man: (John 16:33; 1 John 5:4; Eph. 2:2). (3) Indwelling Adamic sin nature or the flesh and all its corrupting power and life-dominating patterns: (Rom. 7:15; 8:4-8, 13; Gal. 5:16-26).
The base of operations and activities of the kingdom of darkness is located in the earth’s atmosphere.
The fact that they reside in the earth’s atmosphere is implied by the Hebrew text of Genesis 1:6-8 where the second day of restoration is not identified by the Lord as tov, “perfect, good.”
A comparison of Scripture with this passage indicates that the reason why the Lord did not call it tov was because the kingdom of darkness, the fallen angels reside in the earth’s atmosphere (Ephesians 2:1-2).
The believer is living in enemy territory, which is the cosmic system of Satan.
Satan runs this world and deceives it (1 John 5:19; Revelation 12:9).
Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (NASB95)
“Rulers” is the noun arche and refers to the highest rank of angels in the Satanic order of battle and hold positions of authority (“thrones”) in the Satanic kingdom and are subordinate to only Satan himself.
The Lord Jesus Christ created these “rulers” (Col. 1:16) and He has defeated them through His death (Col. 2:15).
“Powers” is the Greek noun exousia, which refers to the rank of fallen angels who have been given by Satan “dominions” and are subordinate only to the arche, “rulers” and Satan himself.
“World-forces” is the noun kosmokrator, “world-ruler” and expresses the power or authority, which the fallen angels exercise over the cosmic system.
These angels are subordinate directly to the exousia, “authorities” and carry out their orders and are more than likely behind the miracles and other satanic demonstrations of power (cf. Rev. 13:13).
“Spiritual forces” refers to the rank and file angels in Satan’s military.
These rank and file angels are also known in Scripture by a variety of names such as: (1) “Demons” (Lev. 17:7; Mt. 9:34). (2) “Evil spirits” (Lk. 7:21; Acts 19:13). (3) “Unclean spirits” (Mt. 10:1; Mk. 1:27). (4) “Devils” (Jn. 6:70).
“In the heavenly places” designates the “location” of the base of operations and activities of these rank and file angels.