Daniel 8:9-17

b. THE GREAT HORN AND THE RIGHTEOUS PRINCE

TEXT: Daniel 8:9-17

9

And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the glorious land.

10

And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and some of the host and of the stars it cast down to the ground, and trampled upon them.

11

Yea, it magnified itself, even to the prince of the host; and it took away from him the continual burnt-offering, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.

12

And the host was given over to it together with the continual burnt-offering through transgression; and it cast down truth to the ground, and it did its pleasure and prospered.

13

Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said unto that certain one who spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the continual burnt-offering, and the transgression that maketh desolate, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?

14

And he said unto me, unto two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

15

And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, that I sought to understand it; and, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man.

16

And I heard a man's voice between the banks of the Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.

17

So he came near where I stood; and when he came, I was affrighted, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man; for the vision belongeth to the time of the end.

QUERIES

a.

Why does the little horn come forth from the four?

b.

Who is the host and the prince of the host?

c.

What is the time of the end?

PARAPHRASE

And from one of the four notable horns, came one little horn growing slowly at first, soon becoming very strong, and it extended itself toward the south and the east and toward the glorious, holy land of God's people, Canaan. This arrogant horn extended its evil power against the hosts of God's people and some of them were slain, that is, many of God's heavenly saints were killed. Yes, this presumptuous and boastful horn even exalted itself over God himself taking it upon himself to prohibit the daily sacrifices in the temple of the Jews which God had commanded to be offered, and the horn desecrated the temple until it was defiled beyond use. And God allowed some of the Jews and His temple to come under the power of this horn because of the apostasy of some who agreed to the defilement of the temple by the horn. This despicable horn carried on such an immoral paganization of the holy land that justice, truth, and righteousness seemed to vanish and evil seemed to be triumphing. Just then I heard two angels talking one another. One said to the other, How long will it be until the daily sacrifices are restored again? How long until the desecration of the temple is avenged and God's people triumph? The other replied, a time just short of seven years, that is 2300 days, will transpire and then the temple of God will be purified of pagan defilement. And as I was trying to understand the meaning of this vision, suddenly a being in the appearance of a man stood before me and I heard a man's voice from across the river Ulai. The voice said, Gabriel, make this prophet understand the vision he has just received. So Gabriel started toward me. But as he came near I was too frightened to stand up and I fell down with my face to the ground. He said, son of man, you must understand that the events you have seen in your vision will not take place until near the end of the old covenant dispensation.

The Little Horn Developed

COMMENT

Daniel 8:9-10. CAME FORTH A LITTLE HORN. WAXED GREAT, EVEN TO THE HOST OF HEAVEN. The description given here and in subsequent verses of this chapter is so definite and specific that the little horn here can be no other than Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) and his immediate predecessors (The Seleucids). Ptolemy I, one of the four who succeeded Alexander to his empire, appointed Seleucus Nicator (312-280 B.C.) to administer Syria for him. There followed almost a century and a half of war between the Ptolomies and the Seleucids for sovereignty in Syria and Palestine. This is discussed at length in chapter eleven of this work. In this text all the Seleucid rulers between Seleucus Nicator and Antiochus the IV are passed over with the phrase, came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south. and east. and the glorious land. Daniel 8:10 brings the reader abruptly to Antiochus Epiphanes (about 175-165 B.C.).

It is important to note that the little horn here grows out of one of the four which definitely belong to the Grecian Empire. It cannot, therefore, be the same little horn of chapter 7 which overthrew three of the ten which were definitely connected to the fourth beast. The Scofield Reference Bible declares this passage (Daniel 8:10-14) to be the most difficult in prophecy. While it refers the passage to Antiochus IV, still it connects the horn of chapter 8 to the horn of chapter 7 inferring they are one and the same. Such seems clearly contradictory in view of the fact that the Scofield Reference Bible declares the fourth beast of chapter 7 to be the Roman Empire.

The glorious land can be none other than the Holy Land, Palestine. This horn waxed great or extended its power south and east from Syria, even into Palestine, to the very borders of Egypt. The host of heaven and the stars are simply God's covenant people (and not any special group of Jewish priests or rulers). One may find a number of references or figurative parallels where God's saints of the O.T. are likened unto the stars of heaven (Jeremiah 33:22; Daniel 12:3, etc.); they are also referred to as the hosts (cf. Exodus 7:4; Exodus 12:41).

The terrible, presumptuous deeds of Antiochus IV against the saints of God were in reality arrogant wickednesses against Heaven itself.

Daniel 8:11-12. IT MAGNIFIED ITSELF, EVEN TO THE PRINCE OF THE HOST. AND THE HOST WAS GIVEN OVER TO IT. This little horn (Antiochus Epiphanes) arrogated to himself the prerogatives of Almighty God. He actually considered himself equal to God and commanded that likenesses of himself be placed in the temple of the Jews and worshipped as god. That this Syrian ruler actually forbade the Jews to offer their regular sacrifices is confirmed by 1Ma. 1:44-47: And the king sent letters by the hand of messengers unto Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, that they should follow laws strange to the land, and should forbid whole burnt offerings and sacrifice and drink offerings in the sanctuary; and should profane the sabbaths and feasts, and pollute the sanctuary and them that were holy. Antiochus did not actually tear down the temple, but he desecrated it to such a point, even commanding that a swine be slain on the temple altar, that it was not fit for use. He also substituted an altar to Jupiter for the altar of burnt offering. This was the crowning abomination.

Great numbers of the people of Israel consorted with Antiochus and welcomed his Hellenization of their culture. Many of them were given over to transgression. God permitted itHe did not cause it! The same principle is evident here as is announced in 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12. If men wish to be deluded it is in the economy of God's creating them as free, moral agents, that they shall be permitted to be so deluded. If, however, they wish to know the truth and love the truth, God will always make it possible that they shall have the opportunity to know it and practice it.

This pagan ruler cast down truth to the ground, and all descriptions of evil flourished and prospered for a time. Every copy of Jewish scriptures that could be found was burned and many faithful Jews were slain. One need only read I Maccabees to know of the terrible paganization and attendant persecution of this time. (For more detailed information concerning the reign of Antiochus IV see our comments on Daniel 11:20 ff)

Daniel 8:13-14. HOW LONG. THE TRANSGRESSION THAT MAKETH DESOLATE. UNTO TWO THOUSAND AND THREE HUNDRED EVENINGS AND MORNINGS. God sent His angels into the presence of Daniel to discuss the matter under consideration so that Daniel might through their words arrive at an authoritative interpretation. These are things angels desire to look into (cf. 1 Peter 1:10-12). One angel seems to be more knowledgeable than the other concerning the times and seasons of God's counsels, (see our Special Study on Angels at the end of chapter 10).

There are two principal interpretations of Daniel 8:14: (a) it means 1150 days; those who adopt this view insist that the prophecy is related to the daily morning and evening sacrifices and 2300 such sacrifices would therefore be offered on 1150 days. They also connect this to the horn of chapter 7, especially with Daniel 7:25, which they contend is 3½ years (a time, times and half a time) and 1150 days is nearly equivalent to 3½ years. It should be obvious, however, that 1150 days do not equal 3½ years, even when these years are regarded as comprising only. 360 days each or a total of 1260 days. It should also be obvious that the horn of chapter 7 and the horn of chapter 8 are different horns. (b) it means 2300 days and is probably a derivative of Genesis 1, where an evening and a morning are reckoned as a full day. In the O.T. an expression such, as 40 days and 40 nights does not mean 20 days, nor does 3 days and 3 nights mean either 6 days or 1½ days; it means 3 days. Keil says: A Hebrew reader could not possibly understand the period of time 2300 evening-mornings of 2300 half days or 1150 whole days, because evening and morning at the creation constituted not the half but the whole day. So we must understand the phrase as meaning 2300 whole days.

But how are the 2300 days to be applied to the history of Antiochus? The number 2300 shows that the period must be defined in round numbers (the number 10 and any multiple of it is an incomplete number or a round number and should not be taken literally), measuring only nearly the actual time. This conforms to all genuine prophecy because genuine prophecy never makes mantic prediction of exact days and hours its primary focus. The period (2300 days) are undoubtedly referring to the period of Antiochus-' abominable treatment of the Jews. This began in the year 171 B.C., one year before his return from his second expedition to Egypt. In this year began the laying waste of the sanctuary. The termination would then be the death of Antiochus (164 B.C.). The 2300 days cover a period of six years and about 4 months. Keil believes that the number (being a little short of 7 years) possesses a symbolic meaning, namely, not quite the full duration of a period of divine judgment. It does seem to be used to cover approximately the period of the persecution under Antiochus. Leupold says: The fact that it is expressed in days reminds the troubled Israelites that the Lord will not let this period extend a day beyond what they can bear. Thus when these days (the period that is not even a full period of divine judgment) shall have come to an end, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. This makes it very plain that what is really marked by the 2300 days is the period of the desecration of the sanctuary.

Daniel 8:15-17. I SOUGHT TO UNDERSTAND. GABRIEL, MAKE THIS MAN TO UNDERSTAND. THE VISION BELONGETH TO THE TIME OF THE END. Daniel knows only, so far, that the overthrow of the sanctuary and the sufferings of the saints were not to last even through an entire divine judgment period. But he seeks to understand more. And at the mere desire (not even an audible prayer was made by Daniel) lo, an angel of God stands before him. Here and in Daniel 9:21 Gabriel is named; in Daniel 10:13 ff. Michael is named. The only O.T. book in which angels receive names is Daniel, and Gabriel and Michael are the only two who are named. This is so in the N.T., Luke 1:19; Luke 1:26; Jude 1:9.

The presence of perfect holiness before Daniel causes him, sinful man, to tremble with fear and he falls upon his face as if to hide. The vision is definitely to be understood because it has to do with the time of the end! This should indicate immediately that it is not speaking of the end of all time, the Second Advent of Christ, for the N.T. plainly states that no one knoweth the day nor the hour. and, in a time that ye think not; the Son of man cometh. Furthermore, there is a specific key to contextual interpretation of this time of the end and that is Daniel 8:19, the latter part of the indignation. It can only refer to the end of time when afflictions or indignation are to be permitted upon Israel. IT IS THE END OF THE O.T. PERIOD AND THE USHERING IN OF THE NEW! This time of the end reaches only to the end of those special afflictions that are to come on the people of the Jews before the Messianic period, and which are made the subject of prophecy because of their importance to the preparation of the covenant people for the coming of the Messiah and the establishment of His kingdom which is gloriously symbolized in the prophets as the time of God's victory over His enemies and the restoring of the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem. The view that the time of the end here has reference to the great tribulation, supposedly to occur during the latter half of the 70th week is utterly without exegetical support from this context or any combination of texts!

QUIZ

1.

Why is that little horn different from the little horn of chapter 7?

2.

What is the glorious land?

3.

How did the horn wax great against the stars and the prince?

4.

How did it take away the continual burnt-offering?

5.

What is the meaning of, the host was given over to it?

6.

What period of time is indicated by 2300 evenings and mornings?

7.

Why is the time of the end not the end of time?