Why Is a Bear Used to Represent Medo-Persia?
[snip]
But still, there is the question. Why use a bear? A bear is a very intelligent predatory animal, generally keeps to itself, but if you get in his way or he thinks you are a threat to him, look out - he can be really dangerous. A bear tends to claw and bite, particularly on the head but may do this anywhere on the body, when it attacks and may strike with its paws. Hence, it tends to use brute force when it attacks to maim or kill.
The attack method of the bear is clearly reliant upon brute strength. The Persians frequently did in fact use this method. There are a number of battles known from history in which the Persians brought huge armies to fight against their enemies. It seems that they figured sheer manpower would do the job, and it usually did. In one battle they had against the Greeks, they claimed that they brought a million men with them for the attack. Historians think this number was exaggerated, but the claim probably was made to suggest that they came in huge numbers prepared for battle. So, there may be an element of truth to the claim. This particular attack failed and they lost the battle. But, attacking like this is similar to the way a bear will do, which simply applies brute strength to get the job done, and usually is successful.
The Characteristics Principle applies to the bear because the species itself is telling you something about its behavior, how it will do something, or what it will do. In this case, it is telling you how it will do battle - with brute force - its method of attack.
How do I know that the bear represents Medo-Persia? First, in history, it is clear that the Medes and Persians conquered Babylon in 539 or 538 BC, the date depending on the source you read. The most accurate date seems to be the 539 BC date. Second, the context of the vision is that one kingdom follows another. Since Daniel was living under the Babylonian kingdom at the time of the vision (Dan 7:1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters. Belshazzar was the last king of Babylon...
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