Four Kingdoms of Daniel - Schools of Thought

Schools of Thought

Interpretations of the prophetic content of the Book of Daniel differ as to its significance, if any, in historical terms. Some secular historians and certain critics would say that the Book of Daniel has little to no significance beyond its own contemporary historical setting. From some Christian and Jewish religious points of view, the relevance of the Book of Daniel to our own and future time is upheld. Idealists, and the advocates of Realized/Sapiential Eschatology, would say that the Book of Daniel is primarily historical, but also significant as godly instruction.

A summary of leading Christian readings of Daniel 7 is in the table in the Daniel 7 Appendix. Many scholars have held that Rome was the fourth beast; a few that the fourth beast was the Ptolemies and Seleucids. From the time of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, the 'four monarchies' model became widely used for universal history, in parallel with eschatology, among Protestants. There were still some defenders of its use in universal history in the early 18th century; but the periodization with a 'Middle Age' came in strongly from philology, with Christopher Cellarius, based on the distinctive nature of medieval Latin. The modern historicist interpretations and eschatological views of the Book of Daniel with the Book of Revelation, closely resemble, and are a continuation of, some earlier historical Protestant interpretations.

There are references in classical literature and arts that apparently predate the use of the succession of kingdoms in the Book of Daniel. One is in Aemilius Sura, who is quoted by Velleius Paterculus. This gives Assyria, Media, Persia and Macedonia as the imperial powers. The fifth empire became identified with the Romans. (After the 17th century, the concept of a fifth monarchy was re-introduced from Christian millennarian ideas.)

An interpretation that has become orthodox after Swain is that the 'four kingdoms' theory became the property of Greek and Roman writers at the beginning of the 1st century BCE, as an import from Asia Minor. They built on a three-kingdom sequence, already mentioned in Herodotus and Ctesias. This dating and origin has been contested by Mendels, who places it later in the century.

Jewish Reconstructionists and Full Preterists believe that Daniel is completely fulfilled, and that the believers are now working to establish the Kingdom of God on earth.

Two main schools of thought on the four kingdoms of Daniel, is:

1. The traditionalist view, supports the unison of Medo-Persia and identifies the last kingdom as the Roman Empire.
2. The Maccabean thesis, a view that supports the separation of the Medes from the Persians and identifies the last kingdom as the Seleucid Empire.