228 A.E. Gardner Therefore I am to them as a lion As a leopard I will watch by the way I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps I will rend the caul of their heart There I will devour them like a lion The wild beasts will tear them (Hos 13,7-8). Day’s suggestion has received a fair degree of acceptance. However if the author(s) of Dan 7,3-7 used Hos13,7-8 as a basis for the characterisation of the beasts, and I think he/they did, why was the order changed? From where were the details of the beasts culled? Kratz (47), who accepts Hos 13,7-8 as the background to the beasts, thinks that Hosea was supplemented with details from Daniel 4 and elsewhere in the Bible. Nevertheless Kratz does not go into the latter aspect in any depth nor does he explain the change in the order of the beasts or all the details of their individual descriptions. I believe that these matters can be explained through inner-Biblical exegesis as will become clear when Dan 7,5, which contains the description of the bear, the second beast, is considered. In what follows, I think I am mirroring the search of the ancient exegete(s), known as Daniel, who was combing “the word of God” for information about events in Israel’s past, present and future. He knew that up to his own time a number of foreign powers had dominated Israel and that God had pre-knowledge of this; knowledge which was contained in his sacred words and could be found, if only one searched diligently enough. 4 Q Instruction and 4 Q Mysteries from Qumran show a great interest in unravelling the mysteries (µyzr). Schiffman (48), the editor of the latter text, points out that there, as well as interest in the mysteries of creation, the part played by God in the unfolding of history is of great concern. Knibb (49) says, “The importance of understanding the past if one is to penetrate the mystery of what is coming is stressed in the fragments of all three manuscripts of 4 Q Mysteries (1Q 27, 1; 4 Q 299, 1; 4 Q 300, 3)”. I would suggest that a similar concern is apparent in Daniel’s vision in Chapter 7. Certainly, Elgvin (50) thinks that circles behind 4 Q Instruction may be related to the Maskilim of the book of Daniel. 4. The Identity of the bear The Bible itself does not link the bear with either Media or Persia, the two nations which it credits with the downfall of Babylon, and, one or both of —————— Buches Daniel, 1932, 37. Day goes beyond them though in that he demonstrates that a fourth beast, not likened to any specific animal, is present in both Hosea 13:7-8 and Daniel 7. Further, that Hosea 13 was used as a base from which the proto-apocalyptic Isaiah 26-27 drew. (47) R.G. KRATZ, “The Visions of Daniel”, The Book of Daniel. Composition and Reception I (ed. J.J. COLLINS – P.W. FLINT) (Leiden – Boston 2002) 91-113. (48) L. SCHIFFMAN, “299-301. 4QMysteries a-b,c?”, Qumran Cave 4.XV: Sapiential Texts, Part 1 (ed. J.A. FITZMYER) (DJD 20; Oxford 1997) 31-123 + pls. III-IX. (49) M.A. KNIBB, The Book of Daniel in its Context”, The Book of Daniel (ed. COLLINS –FLINT) 32-33. (50) T. ELGVIN, “The Mystery to Come: Early Essene Theology of Revelation”, Qumran Between the Old and New Testaments (eds. F.H. CRYER – T.L. THOMSON) (JSOT Sup 290; Sheffield 1998) 113-150.