After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.
All Commentaries on Daniel 7:7 Go To Daniel 7
Aquinas Study Bible
AD 2017
four great beasts: In speaking of a “lioness from the sea,” he meant the rising of the kingdom of Babylon, and that this was the “golden head of the image. Dan. 2:32” And in speaking of its “eagle wings,” he meant that king Nebuchadnezzar was exalted and that his glory was lifted up against God. Then he says “its wings were plucked off,” that his glory was destroyed; for he was driven out of his kingdom. And the words, “A man’s heart was given it, and it was made stand upon the feet of a man,” mean that he came to himself again, and recognized that he was but a man, and gave the glory to God Dan. 4:25-31. Then after the lioness he sees a second beast, “like a bear,” which signified the Persians. For after the Babylonians the Persians obtained the power. And in saying that “it had three ribs in its mouth,” he pointed to the three nations, Persians, Medes, and Babylonians, which were expressed in the image by the silver after the gold Dan. 2:32. Then comes the third beast, “a leopard,” which means the Greeks; for after the Persians, Alexander of Macedon had the power, when Darius was overthrown, which was also indicated by the brass in the image Dan 4:39. And in saying that the beast “had four wings of a fowl, and four heads,” he showed most clearly how the kingdom of Alexander was parted into four divisions. For in speaking of four heads, he meant the four kings that arose out of it. For Alexander, when dying, divided his kingdom into four parts. Then he says, “The fourth beast (was) dreadful and terrible: it had iron teeth, and claws of iron.” Who, then, are meant by this but the Romans, whose kingdom, the kingdom that still stands, is expressed by the iron? “for,” says he, “its legs are of iron. Dan 2:33” (St. Hippolytus)
