Deeper Reflection
One of the hopes of God’s people living in exile in Babylon was God’s promise of restoring the Davidic Kingdom: “they shall serve the LORD their God and David their king” (Jer 30:8-9). But how greatly disappointed they were when they and generations after lived under the reigns of the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans. The question, “When will God restore the kingdom to Israel?”, was asked for a long time up till before Jesus’ ascension (Acts 1:6).Jesus, the Son of David, is “David their king” (Matt 1:1; Lk 1:31-33). But meanwhile, God has revealed to His people that from Daniel’s days and beyond they would not only be ruled over by Gentile superpowers, but they will also suffer under them as tyrants. This is the significance of Daniel’s vision of beasts in Daniel 7, which are further elaborated variously in Daniel 8 to 12. Tyrants are inhuman. They are like wild beasts, but more violent and brutal, “dreadful and terrifying” (Dan 7:3-7). Tyrants want control. “He will do as he pleases” is a distinct mark of tyrants (Dan 8:4; 11:3, 16, 36), and people are at their mercy. Tyrants want worship: Nebuchadnezzar built a golden statue that represented him, and demanded everyone to worship him (Dan 3). To worship him means to give sole allegiance to him. Tyrants are anti-God: They arrogantly “speak monstrous things against the God of gods” (Dan 11:36).However, tyrants are weak. Daniel and history have shown that every tyrant will eventually be toppled by another tyrant. This is the theological pattern designed by the One who is on the throne (vv.24-31).