that live in your head.
Daniel 7:23–28
“Thus he said:
‘The fourth beast shall be
A fourth kingdom on earth,
Which shall be different from all other kingdoms,
And shall devour the whole earth,
Trample it and break it in pieces.
The ten horns are ten kings
Who shall arise from this kingdom.
And another shall rise after them;
He shall be different from the first ones,
And shall subdue three kings.
He shall speak pompous words against the Most High,
Shall persecute the saints of the Most High,
And shall intend to change times and law.
Then the saints shall be given into his hand
For a time and times and half a time.
‘But the court shall be seated,
And they shall take away his dominion,
To consume and destroy it forever.
Then the kingdom and dominion,
And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven,
Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High.
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And all dominions shall serve and obey Him.’
“This is the end of the account. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts greatly troubled me, and my countenance changed; but I kept the matter in my heart.”
The explanation of the fourth beast doesn’t help much. Daniel is still greatly troubled, and his countenance changed. Some translations say his color changed. Gee, Daniel, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.
So, Daniel decides to keep the whole thing secret. Not much to tell anyone at this point anyway.
Daniel’s vision of the beasts will live in his head throughout all the events of chapters 5 and 6. When he sees the writing on the wall, he’s still worrying about it. He knows “the next beast” in that dream is coming. That’s sure to keep him humble.
That helps explain why he was being so reclusive then—why the queen mother had to go fetch him.
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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.
