VORACIOUS AS A BEAR

"See there!"  Said Daniel,"another beast, a second one, it being like a bear.  And on one side it was raised up, and there were three ribs in its mouth between its teeth and this is what they were saying to it, 'Get up, eat much flesh.' " (Daniel 7:5) The king symbolized by the "bear" was the very same as that represented  by the silver breasts and arms of the great image-the line of Medo-Persian rulers (539-331 B.C.E.) starting with Darius the Mede and Cyrus the Great and ending with Darius III. 

The symbolic bear was 'raised up on one side,' perhaps to get ready to attack and subdue nations and thus maintain world power. Or this position may have been intended to show that the Persian line of rulers would gain the ascendancy over the sole Median king, Darius.  The three teeth could denote the three directions in which it pushed its conquests.  The Medo-Persian "bear" went to the north to seize Babylon in 539 B.C.E. Then it went westward through Asia Minor and into Thrace.  Finally, the "bear"went to the south to conquer Egypt. Since the number three at times symbolizes intensity, the three ribs may also emphasize the symbolic bear's greed for conquest.

The "bear" assaulted nations in response to the words: "Get up, eat much flesh."  By devouring Babylon according to the divine will, Medo-Persia was in a position to perform a valuable service toward Jehovah's people.  And it did!  Through  Cyrus the Great, Darius I (Darius the Great), and Artaxerxes I, Medo-Persia freed Babylon's Jewish captives and helped them rebuild Jehovah's temple and repair Jerusalem's walls.  In time, Medo-Persia came to rule over  127 jurisdictional districts, and Queen Esther's husband, Ahasuerus (Xerxes I)was "king from India to Ethiopia." (Esther 1:1) However, the rise of another beast was in the offing.

Next time: SWIFT AS A LEOPARD!

From the book: PAY ATTENTION TO DANIEL'S PROPHECY! 1999