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.
