There are different interpretations of who these beasts are.
The parallels between the vision of chapter 7 and the dream in chapter 2 are obvious. In both cases, a symbolic image is used to reveal a succession of four earthly kingdoms, which are judged and followed by an everlasting kingdom established by God. There is much debate over the identity of the four kingdoms. The traditional view is represented by John Calvin, who identifies the four beasts as the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek, and Roman Empires respectively. Calvin identifies the "little horn" of verse 8 with the line of the Caesars, while admitting that this interpretation of the little horn is not universally held. According to Calvin, then, the establishment of God's kingdom occurred at the first advent of Christ. The conservative twentieth-century Old Testament scholar E. J. Young agrees with Calvin on the identity of the four kingdoms, but he identifies the "little horn" as the antichrist, whose power is to be manifested at the end of the present age. A variation of the Roman view is the dispensationalist interpretation. According to this view, the fourth beast, or Roman Empire is to be revived in some form at the end of the present age. According to the dispensationalist interpretation, the coming of the one like a son of man to receive the everlasting kingdom will occur at Christ's Second Advent.
Not all conservative scholars have adopted the Roman view of the four kingdoms. Both Robert Gurney and John Walton, for example, have proposed that the four beasts should be identified as the Babylonian, Median, Persian, and Greek Empires. Gurney argues that most conservatives have rejected the Greek view because the coming of Christ occurred during the period of the Roman Empire (cf. 2:44). He observes, however, that the Roman Empire did not end for many centuries after Christ's first advent. In support of his own position, he notes that Christ was born around 6 B.C., "very soon after the final obliteration of the Greek empire in 27 BC, when Egypt was made a Roman province." Others who argue for the Greek view point out the similarity between the "little horn" on the fourth beast (7:8.) and the "little horn" on the goat in Daniel 8:9. The "little horn" of chapter 8 is universally identified as the Greek Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes. If the two "little horns" are identical, it adds weight to the argument that the fourth beast is to be associated with the Greek empire.
The two interpretations of the four beasts, then, are:
(1) the traditional Roman view, which identifies the four beasts as Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.
(2) The Greek view, which identifies the four beasts as Babylon, Media, Persia, and Greece.
Each has its own strengths and weaknesses
Continue reading:
link 
Reply
