3.2.11. Leopard Beast

“After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it” (Dan. Dan. 7:6). This beast appears to correspond to the belly and thighs of bronze in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Dan. Dan. 2:32, Dan. 2:39). “The third beast is commonly identified as the empire of Greece. . . . On the face of it, . . . the history of Greece under Alexander the Great corresponds precisely to what is here revealed. . . . It is a well-established fact of history that Alexander had four principle successors. . . . Lysimachus, who held Thrace and Bithynia; Cassander, who held Macedonia and Greece; Seleucus, who controlled Syria, Babylonia, and territories as far east as India; and Ptolemy, who controlled Egypt, Palestine, and Ariba Petrea.”¹ The kingdom represented by the leopard beast follows upon the overthrow of the bear beast: when Alexander overthrew Medo-Persia ^[#10-#11]. The leopard beast is the fifth of seven kingdoms which oppressed God’s people through history. Dominion is taken from this beast, but its life is prolonged “for a season and a time” (Dan. Dan. 7:12). This is reflected in the contribution of its attributes to the final Beast who is the eighth head ^[#10-#16] (Rev. Rev. 13:2+). See Symbols of Kingdoms.

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Notes

¹ John F. Walvoord, Daniel: The Key to Prophetic Revelation (Chicago, IL: Moody Bible Institute, 1971), Dan. 7:6.