Alexander the Great

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1. The Vision of the Four Beasts

   Rabbi Yaakov Medan

   The Sages and many commentators are in agreement that the four beasts in Daniel’s dream parallel the four kingdoms described in Nevukhadnetzar’s dream. An alternative interpretation suggest that that the first three beasts are parables for Nevukhadnetzar - the lion, his son Evil Merodakh - the bear, and his son Belshatzar – the final king of Babylon - represented by the leopard. The fourth beast represents the kingdom of Persia and the ten horns of the beast represent the ten successive rulers of Persia. The new horn that sprouts and uproots the existing one represents Alexander the Great and the Greek Empire.

2. The Final Vision (Part 2)

   Rabbi Yaakov Medan

   The revelation of God or an angel leaves an impact both on those viewing the revelation and those in the vicinity of the revelation. The angel prophesied four Persian kings – five including Koresh – until the fall of the empire to Alexander the Great and the Greeks. Various attempts are made to reconcile this prophecy with the Sages, who talk of three Persian kings, and with conventional historical research, which talks of ten. The vision Daniel sees describes in minute detail and with great accuracy, the history of Greek rule in Eretz Yisrael. After Alexander the Great, the split of his kingdom into Ptolemy in the south and Seleucus in the North leads to many battles in Eretz Yisrael and ultimately to an internal rift and a spiritual struggle within the Jewish Nation.