A chapter that is so full of specifics will also demand specific commitments from the interpreter. That is to say, the interpreter cannot play hide-and-seek with the demands of the specifics in the text (if we have been doing that). So what is it, the beast “that was, and is not, and is to come”? And what about the seven heads, “of whom five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come”? If answers to these questions may remain tentative, I plan to share a perspective that I hope will be helpful, specific, and persuasive.
Blessings, Sigve T.