Chapter 7 recorded the general history of "the times of the Gentiles,"from the time Nebuchadnezzar took the Jews into captivity until the Son of Man's return to the earth. Chapter 8 reveals more detail about the second (Persian) and third (Greek) kingdoms and especially how they relate to Israel.
"Chap. 8 is the last of the book's symbolic visions; the succeeding revelations are more verbal than visual and still cryptic but not symbolic."292
The third year of Belshazzar was about 551 B.C., two years after the vision in chapter 7 and about 12 years before the events of chapter 5. Daniel was then living within the kingdom of Neo-Babylonia, the first beast of chapter 7. Apparently this was not a dream as well as a vision (7:1) but just a vision. Probably it came to Daniel during the daytime. The vision that appeared to Daniel previously refers to the one in chapter 7.
8:2 Evidently Daniel was in Babylon when he had this vision, but what he saw, including himself, was in Susa (Shushan, AV; cf. Ezek. 8:3; 40:1).293Daniel probably knew where he was in his vision because he had visited Susa. It is reasonable to assume that a man in Daniel's position in the Neo-Babylonian government would have visited Susa previously. Susa stood about 200 miles east of Babylon and approximately 150 miles due north of the top of the Persian Gulf.294Elam was the name of the province where Susa stood when Daniel wrote this book, not necessarily when he had this vision. When Medo-Persia overthrew Neo-Babylonia, Susa became the capital of the Persian Empire. Eighty years after Daniel had this vision Susa became Esther's home. One hundred seven years later it was the city from which Nehemiah departed to return to Palestine (Esth. 1:2; Neh. 1:1). The citadel was the palace, the royal residence, that had strong fortifications.
"The Ulai [Canal] can best be identified with an artificial canal which connected the rivers Choastes [or Choaspes, modern Kerkha] and Coprates [modern Abdizful] and ran close by Susa."295
8:3 The ram (male sheep) that Daniel saw standing before the canal represented Medo-Persia (v. 20). It corresponds to the lopsided bear in the chapter 7 vision (7:5). The two horns, representing power, symbolized Media and Persia, the two kingdoms that formed an alliance to create Medo-Persia. The longer horn stood for Persia, which had become more powerful in the alliance and had risen to displace Media in leadership after the two nations merged.296
The ram was especially important for the Persians. The guardian spirit of the Persian Empire was portrayed as a ram. When the Persian king went into battle, he carried the head of a ram.297Also in the ancient world different zodiac signs represented various nations. Aries, the ram, stood for Persia, and Capricorn (Latin caper, goat, and cornu, horn) was Greece.298
8:4 Historically the Medo-Persian Empire pushed its borders primarily in three directions. It went westward (into Lydia, Ionia, Thrace, and Macedonia), northward (toward the Caspian Mountains, the Oxus Valley, and Scythia), and southward (toward Babylonia, Palestine, and Egypt).299These advances happened mainly under the leadership of Cyrus and Cambyses.300Indeed Medo-Persia had its own way for many years and glorified itself.
"There is nothing inherently wrong about doing great things". . .; but the expression is only used in an unequivocally good sense of God (1 Sam 12:24; Ps 126:2, 3); of human beings it tends to suggest arrogance (Jer 48:26; Joel 2:20; Zeph 2:10; Ps 35:26; Ps 55:13 [12]), or at least achievement at someone else's expense (Zeph 2:8; Lam 1:9)--here achievement that presages calamity. The expression has the foreboding ambiguity of the mouth speaking great things in 7:8, 20."301
8:5 The text also identifies the male goat--goats are relatives of sheep--in this vision as representing Greece (v. 21). History has confirmed the identification. Alexander the Great is clearly the conspicuous horn. Normally goats have two horns, so this one was unusual. Under Alexander, the Greek armies advanced quickly from the West against Persia.
"Alexander's conquest of the entire Near and Middle East within three years stands unique in military history and is appropriately portrayed by the lightning speed of this one-horned goat. Despite the immense numerical superiority of the Persian imperial forces and their possession of military equipment like war elephants, the tactical genius of young Alexander, with his disciplined Macedonian phalanx, proved decisive."302
8:6-7 Due to previous attacks by the Persians, the Greeks retaliated against their enemies with unusual vengeance. Alexander won two significant battles in Asia Minor in 334 B.C. and in 333, first at the Granicus River and then at Issus in Phrygia. Alexander finally subdued Persia with a victory at Gaugamela near Nineveh in 331 B.C.303
8:8 Clearly this description corresponds to that of the third beast in 7:6. Alexander magnified himself exceedingly in two ways. He extended the borders of his empire after he conquered Medo-Persia even farther east, into modern Afghanistan and to the Indus Valley. He also became extremely arrogant. He regarded himself as divine and made his soldiers bow down before him. This resulted in his troops revolting.304
"Expositors, both liberal and conservative, have interpreted this verse as representing the untimely death of Alexander and the division of his empire into four major sections. Alexander, who had conquered more of the world than any previous ruler, was not able to conquer himself. Partly due to a strenuous exertion, his dissipated life, and a raging fever, Alexander died in a drunken debauch at Babylon, not yet thirty-three years of age. His death left a great conquest without an effective single leader, and it took about twenty years for the empire to be successfully divided."305
As mentioned in my comments on 7:6, the most probable identifications of the four horns are Lysimachus, Cassander, Seleucus, and Ptolemy (cf. 11:4).306Lysimachus ruled the northern part of Alexander's empire, Cassander the western part, Seleucus the eastern part, and Ptolemy the southern part.
8:9 Daniel next saw a rather small horn (king, v. 23) grow out of one of the four horns (kingdoms, v. 22) that had replaced the single horn (the first king, v. 21) on the goat (Greece, v. 21). This horn is quite clearly different from the little horn that came up among the 10 horns on the fourth beast in the previous vision (cf. 7:8, 11, 24-26).
". . . the little horn arising from the third kingdom serves as a prototype of the little horn of the fourth kingdom. The crisis destined to confront God's people in the time of the earlier little horn, Antiochus Epiphanes, will bear a strong similarity to the crisis that will befall them in the eschatological or final phase of the fourth kingdom in the last days (as Christ himself foresaw in the Olivet Discourse [Matt 24:15])."307
This little horn grew very great to the south, the east, and "the beautiful."The first problem with this description is what is the reference point for these directions? History has identified this little horn as Antiochus IV (Epiphanes), the eighth king of the Seleucid dynasty. He ruled Syria from 175 to 164 B.C. (cf. 1 Macc. 1:10; 6; 16), and he conducted military campaigns in all of these directions (cf. 1 Macc. 1:20).308Therefore the point of reference is Syria.
The second problem is the identification of "the beautiful."This is quite evidently a reference to Palestine (cf. 11:16, 41, 45; Jer. 3:19; Ezek. 20:6, 15). Here the vision begins to focus on the future of Israel and the Jews. Antiochus was especially vengeful against the Jews whom he persecuted brutally.
"He is . . . one of the greatest persecutors Israel has ever known."309
"In one assault on Jerusalem, 40,000 Jews were killed in three days and 10,000 more were carried into captivity."310
"This suppression came to a head in December 168 B.C., when Antiochus returned in frustration from Alexandria, where he had been turned back by the Roman commander Popilius Laenas, and vented his exasperation on the Jews. He sent his general, Apollonius, with twenty thousand troops under orders to seize Jerusalem on a Sabbath. There he erected an idol of Zeus and desecrated the altar by offering swine on it. This idol became known to the Jews as the abomination of desolation' (hassiqqus mesomem, 11:31), which served as a type of a future abomination that will be set up in the Jerusalem sanctuary to be built in the last days (cf. Christ's prediction in Matt 24:15)."311
Three years later, on December 25, 164 B.C., Judas Maccabaeus, a Jewish nationalist, led the Jews in rededicating the temple to Yahweh. This is the event that Jews have celebrated with Hanukkah ever since.
8:10 This little horn grew up to the host of heaven, caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth, and trampled on them. The stars probably refer to the children of Israel whom God predicted would be as numerous as the stars of heaven (Gen. 15:5; 22:17; 37:9-10; cf. Dan. 12:3; Matt. 13:43; Enoch 46:7).312They constitute His armies (cf. Exod. 7:4; 12:17, 51; Num. 33:1).
"If the world calls those men and women stars who excel in one or another department of human activity, why should not a similar statement be still more appropriate with reference to God's people?"313
Many scholars regard the stars and the host of heaven as synonymous: "the host eventhe stars"(cf. v. 13; Exod. 12:41)."314Alternatively the host of heaven may be angels who have some connection with the Jews (the stars). The falling of the host to the earth then would picture Antiochus' victory over these angels, and his trampling the stars down would stress his persecution of the Jews. However verse 12 seems to indicate that the horn really controlled the host, which would be impossible if they were angels.
8:11 By desecrating the temple, Antiochus (lit. illustrious one) effectively exalted himself to a position of superiority over Yahweh, the commander (or prince) of the host (the Jews).315
"An attack on the place set aside for worship of God is tantamount to an attack on God Himself."316
Antiochus temporarily terminated the constant sacrifices (Heb. tamid) in the temple, including the daily morning and evening sacrifices, thereby depriving Yahweh of His people's worship (cf. 1 Macc. 1:44-49, RSV).317
"Apparently Antiochus did not actually tear down the temple, although eventually he desecrated it to such a point that it was hardly fit for use [cf. 1 Macc. 4:48]."318
"Its overthrowing consists in its being prevented from functioning as a place of worship of the true God."319
Some interpreters believe that this verse also previews another literal fulfillment of the destruction of the temple, which is still future (cf. 9:27).320Antiochus' actions anticipated what the Antichrist, the little horn of chapter 7, will do in the future (cf. 7:8, 20).
8:12 God would give control of the host (the Jews) to the little horn (Antiochus) because of transgression. This verse makes identification of the host as the Jews rather than angels almost certain.
This verse may mean that God would use Antiochus as His instrument of discipline as He had used so many other leaders and nations in Israel's past because of Israel's transgression (cf. 1 Macc. 1:44-49, RSV).321Another view is that God would give him control of the sacrifices so he would transgress against God.322This second view has in its favor that the transgression in view in verse 13 is Antiochus' rather than the Jews'. Antiochus would terminate the sacrifices, disregard the truth (he destroyed the Torah scrolls, 1 Macc. 1:56), do as he chose, and prosper.
"Attacks on Israel are not the same as attacks on other peoples. Anti-Semitism has an extra dimension."323
8:13 The holy ones (Heb. qados) that Daniel heard conversing were evidently angels (cf. 4:17). Here the transgression in view seems to be that of Antiochus, not the Jews (cf. v. 12). It causes horror among the Jews because it involves desecration of the sanctuary (v. 11). The holy place is the temple, and the host is the Jews. The angel wanted to know how long the desecration of the sanctuary and the persecution of the Jews would last.
8:14 Another angel replied, but he replied to Daniel. The answer was primarily for his comfort and for the comfort of his people, the Jews. The angel said that the desecration would last 2,300 evenings and mornings. Many commentators take this as meaning 2,300 days (six years, four months, and 20 days) since the Jews described a 24-hour day as evening and morning (Gen. 1:5-31).324Others believe it means a total of 2,300 evenings and mornings (1,150 of each), namely, 1,150 24-hour days (three years, two months, and 10 days). In this case "2,300 evenings and mornings"may mean 2,300 evening and morning sacrifices. This period then may describe the duration of the period when Antiochus did his worst to the temple and the Jews (167-164 B.C.).325I think 2,300 days are in view.326
Some interpreters view the 2,300 as a symbolical number. The problems with this approach are essentially two. First, the other similar numbers in Daniel appear to be literal. Second, arriving at the symbolic meaning of this number is extremely difficult and boils down to guessing. Other interpreters have tried to explain these days as years, but the connection with evenings and mornings probably limits them to days.327Perhaps the figure is in days rather than in months or years to give the impression of a long, hard duration.
The temple would be restored after 2,300 days.
"Innumerable explanations have been attempted to make the twenty-three hundred days coincide with the history of Antiochus Epiphanes."328
One way to locate the fulfillment is to identify the end of the 2,300 days and then work back. But did the angel mean that this period would end with the restoration of the holy place or that the restoration of the holy place would follow sometime after the end of the 2,300 days? The text does not provide the answer, but the first Hanukkah in December of 164 B.C. may be the reconsecration that the angel predicted. Alternatively the full restoration of all the sacrifices and the religious independence of the Jews that came a few months later may be in view. In either case the year of restoration was probably 164 B.C. or shortly after that.
One literal view is that the 2,300 days ended with Antiochus' death in November-December of 164 B.C.329However the text seems to identify the 2,300 days specifically with the desecration of the temple and the persecution of the Jews. As far as we know, Antiochus did not take over six years to do those things.330Some who hold this view identify the beginning of this period as Antiochus' initial entrance into Jerusalem in 170 B.C. Others identify it with the murder of the Jewish high priest Onias III in 171 B.C. However there was no abridgement of temple service at those early dates. Antiochus looted the temple in 170 B.C., but the abolition of the sacrifices did not begin until 167 B.C.
Regardless of how we solve the 2,300 evenings and mornings problem there is general agreement among the scholars that Antiochus fulfilled this prophecy. I do not know the exact numbers of the years involved here, before 164 B.C. when Antiochus died, but I believe the 2,300 days was a period of persecution during his domination of the Jews.
"A persecutor of the Jews in Russia asked a Jew what he thought the outcome would be if the wave of persecutions continued. The Jew answered, The result will be a feast! Pharaoh tried to destroy the Jews, but the result was the Passover. Haman attempted to destroy the Jews, but the result was the Feast of Purim. Antiochus Epiphanes tried to destroy the Jews, but the result was the Feast of Dedication.'"331
8:15-16 As in the previous vision (7:16), Daniel needed help understanding what he had seen. He saw someone who looked like a man standing before him. Evidently this was an angel. Daniel also heard a voice that he could understand, possibly God's, instructing the angel by name to give Daniel understanding of the vision. "Gabriel"(lit. God has shown Himself strong, strong man of God, or man of God) is one of only two angels, and the first, that the Bible identifies by name (cf. 9:21; 10:13, 21; 12:1; Luke 1:19, 26). The use of his proper name probably reflects the importance of this vision and its interpretation.
8:17-18 Gabriel's approach made Daniel so fearful that he prostrated himself on the ground (cf. 2:46; 10:9-10, 15; Ezek. 1:28; 3:23; 44:4; Rev. 1:17). The title "son of man"indicates humanity, and here, in contrast to Gabriel, it stressed Daniel's human weakness (cf. 7:13; Ezek. 2:1; et al.).
"It suggests both solemnly and encouragingly the awesomeness and the honor of an ordinary human being hearing this man of God address him . . ."332
Gabriel introduced his interpretation by explaining that it concerned "the time of the end"or the end times (cf. v. 19). The vision dealt with events yet future from Daniel's viewpoint in history.333Daniel's response to Gabriel's awesome presence and words was that he fainted.334Gabriel proceeded to revive the prophet and to prepare him to receive the remainder of the interpretation.
8:19 Gabriel clarified that what he was going to explain dealt with "the final period of the indignation"and "the appointed time of the end."Clearly this was future from Daniel's point in history. Yet does it refer to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes exclusively,335or does it refer to the end times before Jesus Christ returns,336or both? Most premillennial interpreters believe that it refers to both in some sense, either as a double fulfillment337or as a type and antitype.338This conclusion rests on what follows in verses 23-25 and on other uses of the phrase "the end"in Daniel (9:26; 11:6, 27, 35, 40, 45; 12:4, 6, 9, 13).
8:20-22 Gabriel identified the ram with the two horns as Media and Persia (cf. vv. 3-4), not just Media as many liberal interpreters insist because of their second-century composition hypothesis. The goat, here further described as shaggy, represents Greece (cf. vv. 5-7), not Persia as the liberals contend. The large horn on the goat is the first king of Greece, namely, Alexander the Great. The four kingdoms that arose to replace Alexander when he died were Macedonia and Greece, Thrace and Asia Minor, Egypt and Palestine, and Syria and Persia (cf. v. 8).
"Most [conservative] expositors agree that verses 20-22 have been fulfilled completely in history in connection with the Medo-Persian and Greek empires and the four divisions following Alexander the Great. The exegetical problems arise in the passage which follows."339
8:23-25 Almost all scholars recognize that Antiochus Epiphanes fulfilled what Gabriel predicted in these verses.340He arose in the latter period of the Diacochi, the four kingdoms that arose after Alexander's death, following many transgressors of God's will. He was bold and deceptive. He was powerful because God allowed him to be so. He did much damage especially to Jerusalem and the temple. He became prosperous and carried out his objectives. He destroyed powerful people including the Jewish high priest as well as many Jews. He fooled many people with his shrewdness some of whom were unsuspecting. He exalted himself even to the extent of minting coins that bore his image and the inscription "God manifest"(Gr. theos epiphanes). He also opposed God, the "Prince of princes."
Many students of these verses have noticed striking similarities between Antiochus Epiphanes as described here and another political leader predicted to appear in the future (cf. 7:8, 11, 21-22, 24-26; 9:27; 11:36-45; 12:11; Matt. 24:5, 23-24, 26; Mark 13:6, 21-22; Luke 21:8; 2 Thess 2:3-12; 1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7; Rev. 13:1-10; 19:20; 20:10, 15). Therefore they, and I, conclude that these verses are prophetic of the Antichrist as well as of Antiochus. It seems that Antiochus did on a smaller scale what Antichrist will do on a larger one.341Apparently in the much later period of the rule of these kings, namely, the end times, transgressors will have run their course even more completely. The Antichrist will oppose the Prince of princes, God the Son, who will break him without human agency (Ps. 2; Rev. 19:19-20).342
8:26 Another title for this vision is "the vision of the evenings and mornings"(cf. v. 14). The phrase describes the particular period when this prediction would find fulfillment, probably 167-164 B.C. Daniel needed to seal up the vision (NIV) in the sense of recording and finishing it, not in the sense of making it secret (NASB, cf. 7:28; 12:9). It pertained to many days in the future, namely, four centuries later as well as beyond then. The NIV translation "distant future"unfortunately implies that it pertains only to the distant future from our point in history.
As we sometimes feel exhausted after a night's sleep in which we have been very active in a dream, so Daniel felt worn out by what he had seen in his vision. This experience so drained him of energy that he was sick for several days and could not work. Probably the knowledge that severe persecution was in store for "the holy people"(v. 24) distressed him greatly.
"There is a price to be paid in physical terms for spiritual revelation."343
In spite of Gabriel's interpretation, there were things that he still did not understand about this vision (cf. 1 Pet. 1:10-12). He had to live with unanswered questions since God did not provide further help for him.
The emphasis in this chapter is on the little horn, as the emphasis in chapter 7 was on the little horn, though two different individuals are in view. The little horn in chapter 7 is the Antichrist, and the little horn in chapter 8 is Antiochus in the short range and Antichrist in the long range. Chapter 8 focuses on the Jews as the target of Antiochus' antagonism in the short range. Chapter 7 focuses on believers generally as the target of Antichrist's opposition. However, there is some hint in both chapters that in the long range the Jews will be the objects of persecution.
"The times of the Gentiles, although not entirely a period of persecution of Israel, often resulted in great trial to them. Of the four great world empires anticipated by Daniel, only the Persian empire was relatively kind to the Jew. As Christ Himself indicated in Luke 21:24, the times of the Gentiles is characterized by the treading down of Jerusalem, and the subjugation and persecution of the people of Israel."344
