Deeper Reflection
Daniel 5 records the death of Belshazzar and the collapse of the Babylonian Empire to Medo-Persia (Dan 5:26-31). The “first year” of Belshazzar’s reign, 550 BC (v.1), marked “the closing years of the Babylonian Empire”¹. This was “the year that Cyrus, king of Anshan, took over the Median empire and signalled the chain of events that would lead historically to Belshazzar’s death and Babylon’s fall”² . It was in this geopolitical context that Daniel dreamed of the visions in Daniel 7.By now, most of the exiles of Judah in Babylon were the second generation since the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC, and some of them very elderly, like Daniel. For them, the question was, “If Babylon’s dominance is coming to an end, what would be next?” It was “a time of mixed hope and anxiety”³. They witnessed God’s faithfulness in fulfilling His Word in the fall of Babylon (Jer 25:11-12; Dan 9:2) and their return to their land to rebuild the temple (2 Chron 36:22-23). This certainly encouraged their faith in God. But the great visions in Isaiah 40 to 55 of a glorious age of renewed security and prosperity in their land had yet to be fulfilled. And they faced great opposition in rebuilding the temple (Ezr 4:1-6). The visions in Daniel 7 reveal that “history will continue to be a like a troubled sea”⁴, out of which arise “four great beasts” – four beastly kings (vv.2-3, 17). “The end of exile in Babylon would not mean the end of suffering at the hands of hostile powers.”⁵Severely testing times are ahead. This is biblical discipleship.

---

¹ Christopher J. H. Wright, Hearing the Message of Daniel: Sustaining Faith in Today’s World (Zondervan, 2017), 150 ² John E. Goldingay, Daniel, Word Biblical Commentary (Word Books, 1989), 183 ³ Christopher J. H. Wright, 151 ⁴ John E. Goldingay, 183 ⁵ Christopher J. H. Wright, 151