Daniel 7:6

The third beast. A leopard.

upon the back of it The Aram. word means both backand side; and, as the Heb. text (K'tib) has the mark of the plural, perhaps we ought to render on its sides (so Bevan, Behrmann).

of a fowl i.e., as we should now say, of a bird.

The leopard is a fierce, carnivorous animal, remarkable for the swiftness and agility of its attack (cf. Habakkuk 1:8, where the horses of the Chaldæans are said to be -swifter than leopards"). It is particularly dangerous to cattle; and "specially noted for the patience with which it waits, extended on the branch of a tree, or a rock near a watering place, expecting its prey, on which it springs with a deadly precision. Hence Hosea 13:7, -as a leopard by the way will I observe them"; Jeremiah 5:6 " (G. E. Post, in Hastings" Dict. of the Bible, s. v.).

Here the four wings upon the leopard's back indicate that it is invested with more than ordinary agility of movement; while the four heads, looking, it may be presumed, towards the four quarters of the earth, are meant apparently to indicate that the empire which it symbolised was to extend in every direction [270]. It was thus a fit emblem of the Persian empire, the founder of which, Cyrus, astonished the world by the extent and rapidity of his conquests.

[270] So at least Keil, Meinhold, Behrmann. Others, however, as von Lengerke, Ew., Hitz., Delitzsch, Kuenen, Bevan, Prince, think that the four heads denote the four kings of Persia referred to in Daniel 11:2.

and dominionwas given to it emphasizing the vastness of its rule: cf. Daniel 2:39, where the corresponding empire is described as -ruling over all the earth."