The Belly and Thighs were Bronze: The Bronze Kingdom of Greece — The Swift Leopard
In Daniel’s statue, see here, and here, the third kingdom was the bronze kingdom of Greece. Historically it matches the rule of Alexander the Great.
This article continues a series in which we consider two important prophecy passages from the Book of Daniel. In Chapter Two Daniel interprets the meaning of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The king saw a statue made up of four kingdoms. Each of the four Middle East-centric kingdoms ruled that area and dominated much of the known world at the times of their prominence. At the end of the dream, a huge stone drops out of heaven and crushes the entire statue. All four kingdoms fell to a future stone kingdom which is a symbol of Christ’s kingdom and future reign on earth.
The second significant prophetic passage is found in chapter seven. There, Daniel sees visions of four beasts. Those four beasts compare with the four kingdoms the king saw in his statue. In both the dream and the vision, the end of the story comes to the rule of Christ on earth.
Let’s take a look at the third kingdom which was Greece, and the third beast, a leopard.
Historical and biblical background of the Bronze Kingdom
In the year 332 BC, Alexander the Great of Greece conquered the kingdom of Persia. Persia was the silver kingdom in the statue.
Greece expanded its kingdom as far east as the Indus River on the borders of modern-day Pakistan and India.
Alexander the Great brought with him the Grecian culture. With the culture, came the language, religions, and gods of the southeast region of Europe.
Most of the known civilized world came under Alexander’s rule.
But when Alexander died in 323 BC, the fight for control of his vast kingdom began.
Forty years of infighting ensued from 323 BC to 280 BC. The kingdom was divided into four divisions.
Egypt (Ptolemies)
Syria (Seleucids)
Macedonia (Antigonids),
And Pergamum (Attalids).
For approximately 150 years, the Jewish Nation was fought over by the Ptolemies and the Seleucids.
Antiochus lV Epiphanes, a Seleucid ruler, 175-163 BC, tried to force the Jews to adopt Greek culture and reject their Hebrew traditions. He desecrated the Jewish temple in 167 BC with a sacrifice of a pig on an altar to the Greek god Zeus.
That led to the famous Jewish rebellion in which a Jew named Judas Maccabeus made his indelible mark on history.
The Maccabean rebellion was victorious, and in 164 BC, the temple was cleansed and rededicated. Hanukkah, the celebration of lights is now a yearly tradition that marks this rededication of the temple.
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Bronze Kingdom made up the belly and thighs of the statue Daniel Two
- After the gold head and silver chest, the belly and thighs of the statue were made of bronze.
- This represented Alexander the Great’s kingdom of Greece.
- Alexander’s kingdom tore through the Middle East and would extend throughout the known world.
- Bronze is less valuable than silver or gold. This shows a decrease in the power structure of the government but not the reach or strength of the kingdoms.
- The bronze kingdom symbolized the inferior governmental structure of Greece to that of Persia and Babylon.
- Eventually, Greece was conquered by another kingdom. It’s metal even less valuable than bronze.
Bronze Kingdom and its type in the vision of the beasts — Leopard Daniel Seven
- In Daniel’s vision of the beasts, the third beast was like a leopard.
- But of course, it was a very unusual leopard. It had four heads and four wings.
- It represented the kingdom of Greece.
- The four wings present a symbol of the swift military conquests of Alexander the Great.
- But after a swift takeover of the known world, Alexander died. Four generals fought over the kingdom.
- The four heads of the leopard depict the division of Alexander’s kingdom after he died.
- Egypt under the Ptolemies
- Syria under the Seleucids,
- Macedonia under the Antigonids,
- And then Pergamum under the Attalids.
So, now that we’ve covered three of the four kingdoms and beasts, next we will cover the important fourth part of the statue and beast visions. The next portion is vital to our understanding of Bible prophecy. As we explore the fourth, we’ll look into the identity of the mysterious beast. It troubled Daniel immensely, making him sick at the repulsive nature of the beast.
What repulsed him so? We’ll explore that in the next article.
Know what this Church Father discovered about the Antichrist.
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