Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Daniel · About this commentary
Dominion to One Like a Son of Man
Daniel 7:11-14
11 “I watched at that time because of the voice of the arrogant words which the horn spoke. I watched even until the animal was slain, and its body destroyed, and it was given to be burned with fire. · WEB
The beast is destroyed and the other kingdoms outlive their dominion — and then one like a son of man comes to the Ancient of Days and is given everything.
I watched even until the animal was slain, and its body destroyed, and it was given to be burned with fire Daniel 7:11.
The court's verdict is executed, and the fourth beast does not decline or fade — it is slain, its body destroyed and burned. What drew Daniel's attention through the whole sequence was the voice of the arrogant words which the horn spoke, and the mouth is what the sentence answers. Nothing here is a natural political end; a power that spoke against heaven is ended by heaven's decision after heaven's court had sat Daniel 7:10.
As for the rest of the animals, their dominion was taken away; yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time Daniel 7:12.
A fine distinction, and true to history. The earlier three lost their dominion at fixed moments — Babylon in a night, Persia and Greece in their turn — but not their existence: the peoples, cities, languages, and habits of thought continued long after the rule passed on. Empires die twice, and the second death takes centuries.
I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man, and he came even to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him Daniel 7:13.
After four beasts out of the water, a human figure out of the sky. Every contrast in the chapter converges here: they rose from the churning sea, he comes with the clouds; they were animals, he is like a son of man; they took, and he is brought and given. And with the clouds of the sky is not travel but rank — the clouds are God's own conveyance throughout Scripture Psalms 104:3 Isaiah 19:1 Nahum 1:3. A figure in human form arriving on the vehicle of deity, escorted into the presence of the Ancient of Days: the vision holds both natures in one sentence without explaining either.
The title became the Lord's favorite name for himself, used of himself more than any other, and he made the reference unmistakable at his trial — asked directly whether he was the Christ, he answered by quoting this verse, and the court tore its robes at it Matthew 26:63–64 Mark 14:61–62. He also read the movement in the other direction, promising the same coming toward the earth Matthew 24:30 Revelation 1:7. Here the direction is inward and upward: a man presented before the throne, at the session where the books were opened.
Dominion was given him, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him Daniel 7:14.
The verb the whole book has tracked lands on its final object. Dominion was given to Babylon Daniel 2:37, given to the leopard Daniel 7:6, given into the horn's hand for a period Daniel 7:25 — and it is given here, permanently. The three nouns are the same three the first dream gave Nebuchadnezzar and the fourth chapter stripped from him Daniel 2:37 Daniel 4:31. All the peoples, nations, and languages is the phrase two emperors used to summon the world to their decrees Daniel 3:4 Daniel 6:25; it turns out to have an owner. And the closing clause answers the anxiety of every previous verse: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away, and his kingdom one that will not be destroyed — the stone that filled the earth Daniel 2:44, now with a person standing in it.
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