In Daniel 7, God gives the prophet a dream in which he saw four Beasts.

In this dream, the first beast looked like a lion, the second beast looked like a bear, the third beast looked like a leopard, and the fourth Beast could only be described as terrible. A prayerful analysis reveals that these beasts represent the same nations that are symbolized by the image in Daniel 2.

Thus, we should understand that the lion represents Babylon, the bear represents Medo-Persia, the Leopard represents Greece, and the terrible beast represents Rome.

Even though there’s a lot to say about these beasts and their role in prophecy, this article’s focus will be placed on the symbol of Medo Persia.

According to Daniel 7:5, the prophet saw “another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.—and more specifically, the three ribs that were seen in its mouth.”

The question is—What do these ribs represent?

In order to derive at the most logical yet Biblical conclusion, we must deduce where ribs come from. One of the best examples of a rib’s origin can be seen in the story of our first parents—Adam and Eve.

Notice how the Biblical record reveals what God used to create Adam’s wife:

And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. Genesis 2:21:22

While this may seem like common knowledge, we must be careful to realize that ribs come from creatures. Creatures like cows, pigs, sheep, whales, and yes, even humans. While science has determined that certain plants have rib-like features, we typically associate ribs with the bones of animals. Have you ever heard of anyone eating collard green ribs or potato ribs? Of course not! Ribs usually refer to the bones of an animal.

Knowing that ribs almost always refer to the bones of living creatures, we now take a second look at the bear in Daniel’s vision and conclude that these three ribs in the bear’s mouth must represent the bones of three beasts it had consumed!

Now, we must ask ourselves—What is a Beast in Bible prophecy? Daniel answers this question in the same chapter:

“Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth…” Daniel 7:23

So at this point, we know that Daniel saw the Medo-Persian Empire. This Medo-Persian Empire had three ribs in its mouth which represented three kingdoms.

It should also be noted that the Scripture said that these three ribs were “in the mouth of it between the teeth of it.” This should make it obvious that the bear had already consumed the beasts and all that was left over were these ribs which were between its teeth.

Now the question is—What three nations are represented by these three ribs?

In Uriah Smith’s book, Daniel and the Revelation, he says the following:

“The three ribs doubtless signify the three provinces of Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt, which were especially oppressed by Medo-Persia.” p 109

According to Smith, Medo-Persia’s dominance of Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt refer to the three ribs in the mouth of the Bear. And while I mostly agree with Smith’s stance, in studying this closely, I realized that one of these kingdoms doesn’t belong on this list. What kingdom, you ask? My answer is Lydia.

You may be wondering how I determined that Lydia doesn’t belong to this list. The way I came to this conclusion is rather simple. You see, once we do an analysis of the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, we determine that whenever a Beast is referred to as a kingdom in Bible prophecy, whether a Lion, Goat, Ram, or even a Beast that looked like a lamb, they ALWAYS represent nations that were considered world powers.

Egypt and Babylon both ruled the world during their time on prophecy’s stage. However, Lydia, a strong regional power, was never a world-ruling empire. And because we’ve determined that the three ribs were ribs from three beasts, and a beast always refers to a world power, Lydia is disqualified as being one of the powers that was referenced by a rib in the bear’s mouth.

The Three Ribs Revealed

In order to determine the three ribs (world ruling powers) that were consumed by the Medo-Persian Empire, we must look at history, and here’s what the historical record says:

1. The Persians toppled Egypt in 525 BC.
2. The Medes (assisted by the Babylonians) toppled the Assyrians in 615 BC.
3. The Medes and Persians toppled Babylon in 539 BC.

Now, it should be clear. The three ribs in the mouth of Medo-Persia represented three world-ruling empires. Uriah Smith was correct in naming Egypt and Babylon, however, because beasts always represent world-ruling empires, we now understand that the three ribs in the bear’s mouth represent Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon—the three world-ruling empires that were consumed by Persia and or Media.