[Nell]

Originally Posted by Zezima

As you read prophecy such as revelation 13, how do you determine what is metaphorical and what isn’t?

Here is an excellent example of the author, Carol Yoakum, who did extensive study of world history in parallel with Daniel 7 in her paper on Prophecy Fulfilled, written in 2017. Carol has answered the question "metaphor for what?" by highlighting the metaphorical nature of prophecy with parallels of literal, factual, fulfillment of the prophecy.

Ohio may have further answer to your question.

Daniel 7:4 The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man's heart was given to it.

This prophecy matches Germany in every detail. Nazi Germany was a lion, the most deadly enemy in Jewish history. It killed six million. The lion with eagle's wings is a picture of the German blitzkriegs, which had the speed of an eagle with the power of a lion.

The wings must also represent Germany's eastern and western fronts. The Soviet Union plucked off the eastern wing, and the western Allies plucked off the western wing. Then it was made to stand on two feet like a man. Germany made a remarkable economic recovery after the war. The whole country was rebuilt, and it now has the strongest economy in Europe. And it was given a man's heart. After the war the people turned away from Nazism. The Berlin airlift in 1948 helped to turn their hearts toward their former enemies. The "candy bombers" won over the children. Germany has been a U.S. ally ever since.

Adolf Hitler was a forerunner of the antichrist. He was the lion's mouth, persuading the masses. He believed the Jews were conspiring to take over the world, and the Holocaust was his attempt to remove them in order to make way for a German thousand-year reich. Like the antichrist, he had no respect for treaties (Daniel 9:27). They were just pieces of paper to use deceitfully to accomplish his purpose.

Like the antichrist, he (Hitler) had a false prophet. Joseph Goebbels, his Minister of Propaganda, caused the people to worship Hitler. As the antichrist and the false prophet will be thrown into the lake of fire together, so also Hitler and Goebbels were together in the Berlin bunker and died just one day apart.

A brief mention of Revelation 13:1

Daniel's prophecy in Revelation
Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Revelation 13:1
The fourth beast of Daniel chapter 7 appears in Revelation, but the first three beasts are notably absent. These three were not ancient empires ... . Nor will they come at the very end of the age, for their stories are not told in the book of Revelation. Their stories are written in modern history.

Hope this helps.
Nell