There's a view that sees the 4th part of Nebuchadnezzar image in Daniel 2 as not the Roman Empire but the Islamic Empire. The Roman Empire is skipped over. The Islamic Empire shares a commonality with the empires that preceded Rome that are represented in the other parts of the image, being Greece, Medo-Persia, and Babylon. I suppose that same view would see the 4th beast in Daniel 7 as the Islamic Empire. This view sees the 7th head in Revelation 13 and 17 as the Islamic Empire, and the 8th head, which is of the 7th, is the revived Islamic Empire or Caliphate. The 6th head was Rome, but Rome is not represented in Daniel 2 and 7. I do believe all these empires are specifically Mediterranean-world empires. The Islamic empire view would see all these kingdoms as those which were the enemies of Israel. Rome wasn't as much as a brutally destructive empire like those before and after.
The passing over of Rome in Daniel 2 and 7 is uncertain to me, but it is a little difficult on how to understand the destruction of Neb's image by the coming of Christ if Rome is the 4th kingdom. I do see some attractiveness to the idea that the first coming of Christ is in view in Daniel 2, if you look at it as an "already, not yet," view of the kingdom--the kingdom started small at the first coming and will continue to grow until the second coming when the nations of the image are destroyed. That view usually gets labeled as a preterist view, but it would still see Rome in view as the 4th kingdom of Daniel 2. The view that Rome is in view usually believes in a revived Roman Empire, which some may see in the feet and toes of Neb's image. Even in an Islamic view, you have a revived empire. But is the revived empire the 7th head or the 8th? It would have to be the 8th head, but what about the 7th head only continuing for "a short time," according to Revelation 7:10, because the Islamic Empire lasted hundreds of years, not a short time? An Islamic revived empire could make sense, and it would seem more likely than a revived Roman empire, but the usual revived Roman empire is understood in some unified European sense like the European Union.
I wonder if the Roman Empire and the Islamic/ Ottoman Empire could be linked together, so that the fourth part of the image of Daniel 2 and the 4th beast of Daniel 7 could be both the Empires, the Roman continuing under the Ottoman.
Wikipedia says:
After the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the sultans of the Ottoman Empire laid claim to be the legitimate Roman emperors, in succession to the Byzantine emperors who had previously ruled from Constantinople. Based on the concept of right of conquest, the sultans at times assumed the styles kayser-i Rûm ("Caesar of Rome", one of the titles applied to the Byzantine emperors in earlier Ottoman writings) and basileus (the ruling title of the Byzantine emperors). The assumption of the heritage of the Roman Empire also led the Ottoman sultans to claim to be universal monarchs, the rightful rulers of the entire world.
The early sultans after the conquest of Constantinople–Mehmed II, Bayezid II, Selim I and Suleiman I–staunchly maintained that they were Roman emperors and went to great lengths to legitimize themselves as such. Greek aristocrats, i.e. former Byzantine nobility, were often promoted to senior administrative positions and Constantinople was maintained as the capital, rebuilt and considerably expanded under Ottoman rule. The administration, architecture and court ceremonies of the early post-1453 Ottoman Empire were heavily influenced by the former Byzantine Empire. The Ottoman sultan also used their claim to be Roman emperors to justify campaigns of conquest against Western Europe. Both Mehmed II and Suleiman I dreamt of conquering Italy, which they believed was rightfully theirs due to once having been the Roman heartland.
Maybe the 6th head in Revelation 13 is Roman and the Ottoman, and the 7th head is the first stage of the revival of the Ottoman, and the 8th if Revelation 17 is stage 2 of the Ottoman.
No comments:
Post a Comment