When we read a chapter like Daniel 8, we are struck by the pictorial language of Daniel’s vision but also the historical fulfillment. While there are a few commentators who see a future fulfillment in this prophecy, most still look to the historical fulfillment of the kingdoms of Medo-Persia and Greece simply because of the explicit and obvious fulfillment of the vision. I think this is good and we would be wise to look at prophecy in this light. The problem with the attitude of many toward the Bible is that they rush into the principles they see in the text. And while this is a worthy endeavor, it can lead to error and too much pragmatism. In our effort to uncover what the Bible actually teaches, we must first look at what is actually says within its context and literary genre. When we jump to principles and what it “says to us” we run the risk of misinterpreting the text and missing the point! There are two main reasons why this vision is in the Bible. One is to communicate to the Jews that hard times were in the future. But even so, the hard times are marked by specific time and will end. This is both a hard truth and an encouragement that God limits persecution and does bring it to an end. The second main point is the verification of prophecy fulfilled in history. We should never make light of this principle. In Deuteronomy 18 it says, “And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.” This is speaking in the negative, but of course the converse is also true. Predictive prophecy is tested by the fulfillment of the prophecy. In Daniel’s case, this would be way beyond his life.
Nonetheless, it is still a test of him as a prophet and of the Bible itself as the word of God. However, once this test is passed in every detail, then the authority of the prophet and in our case, the word of God, becomes divine. Since we have the benefit of history, this chapter is the verification and authenticity of the Bible as the word of God because the vision is a predictive prophecy spanning into the future almost 400 years. And because every word has been proven accurate through history (every last detail) God’s word becomes the most authoritative instrument on the planet!
Introduction to the vision
One of the fascinating things about the book of Daniel is that it was written in 2 languages, Aramaic and Hebrew. The first chapter to chapter 2 verse 3 are written in Hebrew. The second section, from chapter 2 to the end of chapter 7, are written in Aramaic, which was the common language of the Chaldeans (Babylonian). This is likely because what is addressed in those chapters has to do with gentile kingdoms. However, starting in chapter 8 to the end of the book, again the writing is Hebrew. Beginning in chapter 8, the focus is back on the Jews, as it is for the remainder of the book. This may seem simple, but really it helps us understand the text better as we are aware of these divisions and the focus of the different sections of the book.
This chapter is a vision and occurred two years after the dream of chapter 7. While I have noted the historical fulfillment of this chapter, the time when Daniel saw the vision was approximately 551 B.C. This of course means the prophecy was predicting the future because it spans from the kingdom of Medo-Persia, which Daniel experienced in his lifetime, to the of the Greek empire, around 164 B.C. So the prophecy spans close to four hundred years. It is important to realize that this vision of Daniel occurred over 10 years before Cyrus conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. (Daniel 5), although Cyrus did “unite” the two kingdoms of Persia and Media around 549 B.C.
Ram and Goat
At the beginning of the vision Daniel sees himself in Susa (vs. 2) and he calls Susa the capital. At this time Susa as little known, but we know that later it would be a capital of the Persian Empire (Esther 1). The next thing that happens is Daniel sees a ram with two horns on the bank. It is always important to understand the text in its literary genre. We have to keep in mind this is a vision and because of this the language will be symbolic. Now most of us know either from previous study or we have read the rest of the chapter, that the ram represents Medo-Persia. However, you may not realize that a ram was known to represent the Persian Empire. In ancient times, Persia was known by the zodiac sign of Aries (which is Latin for “ram”). When the Persian army went to war, the kings would wear a ram’s head with the horns as their headpiece. The text tells us that both of the horns were high and that one horn was higher than the other – this higher horn came up last. Verse 20, explicitly tells us that the horns of the ram are the kings (or kingdoms) of the Medes and Persians. As you may know from history, the Media Empire came first and then was swallowed up by Cyrus, the Persia king. He united the kingdoms into one and the Persian Empire became massive, as the book of Esther notes. Verse 4 tells us the ram charged in three directions, alluding to the advancement of Persia toward Palestine, Asia Minor and Egypt. No “beast” could stand before him and he “became great”. All of this speaks to the empire’s expansion in every direction and becoming the world empire of the time.
As Daniel was considering the ram, a male goat comes from the west and apparently goes across the whole earth without touching the ground. This reminds us of the winged leopard of Daniel 7 and is in fact the same Greek empire. The language of not touching the ground is talking about the swiftness by which Alexander the Great conquered the world (334-323 B.C.) The “great” horn between the eyes of the goat indeed represents Alexander (vs. 21). Verse 6-7 tell us that the goat was enraged against the ram and broke off the horns of the ram. The he-goat cast the ram to the ground and trampled him. This is talking about how Alexander defeated the Persians in three main battles, Granicus (334), Issus (333) and Arbela (331). Despite the enormous numbers of the Persians, the Greeks crushed them just as Daniel prophesied. “Then the goat became exceedingly great but when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and instead of it there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven.” (vs. 8) In the interpretation in verse 22 it tells us this means four kingdoms will arise from this nation, but not with the same power. This is easily understood in light of history. Alexander at the height of his power died, at the age of 33. After attending a party which included heavy drinking well into the night, he contracted a fever and died. After Alexander’s death there was 22 years of fighting, but finally the empire was divided into 4 distinct governmental parts, (1) Syria, Babylonia, and Media; (2) Macedonia, Thessaly, and Greece; (3) Egypt and Cyprus; (4) Thrace, Cappadocia, and Asia Minor.
Little Horn – Antiochus IV Epiphanes (ruled Syria from 178-164 B.C.)
The little horn from Daniel chapter 7 (written in Aramaic) was from the fourth kingdom or Roman world. The chapter 8 little horn (in Hebrew) was from the Greek kingdom. We should remember the gentile kingdoms are a system. So, while the rulers may be different, even different nations, the system is the same, it is the beastly anti-God system that stands against Christ (Revelation 13:2). In a way, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who is the little horn of chapter 8, is a picture of what will come later under Roman authority. The little horn of chapter 8 comes from the Syrian kingdom of Seleucus, he was the 8th king of the Seleucid dynasty, which was one of the four parts of the Greek empire of Alexander the Great.
In verse 10 it uses the terms, “host of heaven” and “stars”. This is poetic language that means God’s people and prominent individuals among the Jews. The text goes on to say this little horn became as great as the Prince of the hosts. So, what does that mean? Well, it means this little Greek horn, Antiochus, persecuted and attacked God’s people and lifted himself up to attack God himself. Now, there is more detail in chapter 11, but what exactly did this little horn do? Well, Antiochus attacked God’s people (host of heaven), the temple and the Jewish scriptures. Antiochus usurped the throne from the son of his older brother Seleucis IV. And Antiochus began his kingship with a military campaign. He invaded Egypt in 169/170 B.C. Everywhere Antiochus went he attempted to impose Greek worship of Zeus. In Jerusalem around 175 B.C. Antiochus removed the high priest, Onias III and replaced him with his younger brother, Jason. He ended the daily sacrifices at the temple, forbade circumcision of Jewish infant boys and made it a crime to possess a copy of the Jewish holy writings. However, Antiochus was frustrated in Egypt when in 168 B.C. the Roman commander, Popilius Laenas, told him to go home unless he wanted to fight Rome. This enraged Antiochus and in 167 B.C. he attacked Jerusalem. He sent his chief tax collector, Apollonius, to Jerusalem to attack and ruin every aspect of the Jewish faith. He forced the worship of pagan gods and abolished Jewish temple worship and their law. Jews found with the Torah or a circumcised child were put to death. In Jerusalem Antiochus built a pagan altar on the great altar and sacrifice a pig in honor of Zeus. So, let us not pretend this antichrist of antiquity is of some small consequence. He was little compared to God, but he is important in regard to how he oppressed and attacked God’s people.
Now, when we look at the text we find that Daniel received an interpretation to the vision from Gabriel (vs. 16), and the angel explains the vision pertaining to Persia, Media, Greece. In verse 25 it tells us that the little horn will even rise up against the Prince of princes. Antiochus in his arrogance tried to destroy the Jewish faith, yet he would not succeed. And we notice the question is asked in the vision, “For how long is the vision concerning the regular burnt offering, the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled underfoot? And he said to me, ‘For 2,300 evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.’” (vs. 13-14) While God does allow the persecution, there will be an end to the destruction and restoration will follow. While there is some debate on the time frame (2300 evenings and mornings)– it appears to be approximately from 171-165 B.C. It was in 171 when Menelaus bribed Antiochus to appoint him high priest. And the temple was restored and cleaned by Judas Maccabeus in 165. Now, there are other time references in Daniel, such as the 1290 days of Daniel 12:11. It has been suggested that the 1290 days is 3 ½ years (168-165) when heathen sacrifices were being made in the Temple.
We should keep in mind that in Daniel 8 the language changed. As mentioned before Daniel 2-7 were written in Aramaic but in Daniel 8 the author changes back to Hebrew. This means that starting in Daniel all the way to the end of the book, the writing is primarily for and about the Jews. And the prophecy in chapter 8 is a warning of what is coming. In John 15, Jesus warns about the hatred of the world.
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.” John 15:18-20
Then in John 16 Jesus tells his disciples that he is telling them about these things so that they do not fall away. (16:1-4)
The Jews faced under Antiochus a systematic evil design to remove Jewish faith and worship. It was extreme. Out of God’s great love for his people, he warns them ahead of time, prophetically. God warns, yet he also encourages by letting his people know that restoration will come in the end. In 164 B.C. Maccabeus removed all the Greek idols and cleansed the temple. The Jewish festival Hanukkah celebrates this restoration.
So, what can we learn from this prophecy? I think the most important aspect is the importance and power of predictive prophecy - the power of God’s authoritative word. If we go back to the text we find that in the interpretation of the vision by Gabriel, it is very clear the vision is about the kings of Media, Persia and Greece. Then, it gives some detail about Antiochus, the little horn. All of this history is given to us but of course it wasn’t history to Daniel. All of it was in the future, even hundreds of years in the future. This demonstrates the divinity of God Almighty and the authority and truth of the Bible.
For a very long time, scholars have done everything they can to discredit the book of Daniel. Why? Because if we take the book at face value, then Daniel is literally seeing the future of nations. The power of proven predictive prophecy is that it shows the divinity and truthfulness of God, and it shows that Daniel was a true prophet of God. I challenge any scholar to show how Daniel could possibly know the fates of kings and nations unless given by divine instruction. When proven with history, these predictive prophecies give our faith power and authority.
Now, I know many of you accept the Bible as true and may not be aware of the great lengths some critics go to disprove the accuracy of the Bible. Daniel is one of those books that has been attacked. And the reason is to prove that the Bible is either only history or even fiction - to discount the Bible and our faith. That is why it is very important to establish when a book was written.
Dating the Book
Now, I want to briefly explain the dating of Daniel to understand just how powerful the Bible is. Most conservative scholars believe Daniel was written around 530 B.C. toward the end of Daniel’s life. But critical scholars place the date of its writing around 250 B.C. So where are they getting this magical date? Well, we have already discussed the little horn, Antiochus, who persecuted the Jews. He is not only found in Daniel 8 but also in Daniel 11. As we already noted he rules from about 175-163 B.C. The fact is the prophecy of Daniel 11 is so accurate about Antiochus that scholars say that Daniel had to be written after the fact (after 165). There actually is a name for this, it is called pseudonymous. From about 200 B.C. to 200 A.D., writers would write history and attribute it to an earlier more respected person. Now, none of us should be believe this about the book of Daniel, but consider what John J. Collins writes, “According to the consensus of modern critical scholarship, the stories about Daniel and his friends are legendary in character, and the hero himself most probably never existed.” Collins also notes, “All but the most conservative scholars now accept the conclusion that the book of Daniel is not a product of the Babylonian era but reached its present form in the 2nd century B.C.E.” Now we know this isn’t correct, but what evidence do we have to show that? For one, almost all of the Aramaic language used in Daniel 2-7 is also used in other texts of the fifth century B.C. or before. This means, in general, the language itself shows the dating to be around the time when Daniel lived. This isn’t proof of dating necessarily but is an implication for the date of its writing. Gleason Archer has noted about the Hebrew of Daniel, “In view of the markedly later development exhibited by these second-century documents in the areas of syntax, word order, morphology, vocabulary, spelling, and word-usage, there is absolutely no possibility of regarding Daniel as contemporary.” (“The Hebrew of Daniel Compared with the Qumran Sectarian Documents”, in John H. Skilton (ed.), The Law and the Prophets). What all of this means is that the linguistic data from Daniel shows the book to have been written earlier than the second century B.C. But that is not all – manuscripts of Daniel were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, which are dated from about 120-115 B.C. The manuscripts have all 12 chapters and show the Aramaic and Hebrew text. Critical scholars (attempting to eliminate predictive prophecy) need a date around 165 B.C., yet copies of the book are found with an approximate 115 B.C date. And of course the problem again is the Dead Sea Scrolls are copies, the original autograph of Daniel would have to be at least 50 years or so before that. This gives the latest possible date for the book around 220 B.C. So, in reality with the goal of doing away with miraculous prophecies, the critics are ironically depending on a miracle for a late date because it is actually impossible for Daniel to have been written during or after the time of Antiochus (165 B.C.). All the false dating has a purpose – to eliminate the predictive prophecy and supernatural elements of the book. But the critical scholars fall very short.
Relevance and Application
Now I think it is very relevant to ask why has God given such grand prophecies, spanning hundreds of years in advance. Robert Wilson (Studies in the Book of Daniel) gives us a great answer. He notes that the persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes is one of the most important in history. Antiochus instituted the cessation of circumcision, set up pagan worship, stopped all Jewish worship and changed the laws pertaining to it, set up Greek altars in every city, tried to destroy the Jewish scriptures, and slaughtered the innocent who refused to comply with his demands. He tried to do everything possible to completely annihilate the Jewish faith and its people. It was a crisis beyond belief. God warns his people through the prophet what is coming, but also tells them that the crisis will end. God will destroy the offenders and restore his people and the temple. Predictive prophecy is one of the most powerful elements of the Bible to declare that God is divine. It is like Yahweh proclaims to the little Roman and Greek gods, “Can you do that?” Can you predict history to the letter centuries in advance? And I would add, when we fall into the trap of always pushing predictive prophecy out into our own future, we actually take this powerful element of the Bible away. When we understand history, we see how powerful and accurate God’s word is. In closing, I want to remind us that these deep waters we have been wading through are important not only for understanding prophecies, but also the implication and application of such study. Consider one of the main characters of Daniel 8, Antiochus, an evil antichrist. Yet, can we not identify? Do we now look out and see such leaders today, who look for every opportunity to annihilate and destroy God’s good land and people, even their faith. Trials come in many forms. And yes today we live in a time of extreme persecution and evil. But what does God say about the Antiochus’ of the world? Your time is limited! God may allow anti-Christian rulers to come, but he promises to deal with it as well. “And he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes, and he shall be broken – but by no human hand.” (Daniel 8:25) We may not understand all that God allows to happen, but we have confidence that in the end, he will deal with evil rulers. Those who persecute and oppress his people will find their authority taken away and broken. The temple was restored and God will restore our land. Take heart and comfort in the fact that God has given us his principles and his word not only to warn of evil and oppressive leaders, but also to encourage us that God is sovereign and he will break evil authority and restore his people. Restoration is God’s playbook. He is the expert at restorative practices. He will end the oppression and evil we find today in our leaders. He will end it, he will remove those from authority who oppress and destroy. And ultimately restore worship, goodness and fruitfulness to his people. The whole message is not easy to swallow – we don’t like it. But it is God’s message to us. God has warned us, now we wait in anticipation with the hope of his good and gracious restoration. It is overwhelming, it is hard to understand – but God is on his throne. He will deal with the treachery and evil of our day with his own hand of justice and righteousness. And that, my friends, is a profound encouragement for our times.
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