Daniel 8:1-4
Two years had passed since Daniel had experienced the vision of the four beasts. The life and times of Daniel are recorded in chapters 1-6. The language changed to Aramaic at chapter 2:4; the original language returns to Hebrew at the beginning of this chapter. Daniel's visions are recorded in chapters 7-12. Belshazzar's reign ended in chapter 5, so this vision would be placed prior to the beginning of chapter 5.
In the vision, Daniel found himself at the citadel of Susa. The citadel was royal residence, a winter home, but also a government command center. Susa was an ancient Persian city about 225 miles east southeast of Babylon, in what we know as modern-day Iran. There is still a small city there now, called Shush, with a population of about sixty-five thousand. The Ulai Canal was an irrigation canal that ran past the city. While Daniel was physically in Babylon, he is transported in his vision to this practically unheard-of Persian city. Susa which wasn't under Babylonian control. However, when Persia eventually conquered the Babylonians, this city became a great capital of the empire and would become the future home of Esther and the city which Nehemiah left when Israel returned to their homeland.
There, next to the canal, Daniel saw a ram with two horns next to the canal. Of the two long horns, one was longer. The horns are the two kingdoms of Media and Persian. Both of these kingdoms rose to prominence separately; Cyrus conquered the Medes and used their army to for future military campaigns. This brought the Medo-Persian kingdom to prominence.
Daniel looked on as the ram attacked to the west, the north and the south. These are the successful military campaigns of Persia. Nothing could stand against this army.
Horns in the bible typically signify power, strength and authority. The long horns on this ram tell us both kingdoms were significant. The one grew up longer and became more prominent. This is the Persian Empire. It became great, but the sense of the word used (gadal) indicates they assumed superiority through delivery hubris. One might conclude they walked and talked the part of a confident army, all assumed they were.
Note: the lands of that time were assigned to the Zodiac. The Persians were under the sign of Aries, the ram. Greece was under Capricorn, the goat. The word Capricorn comes from 'caper' meaning goat and 'cornu' is horn
A male Goat (Zodiac Capricorn) with a prominent horn between its eyes (wouldn't that make it a uni-goat?) arrived on the scene. It came from the west and crossed the entire earth without touching the ground. This is a reference to scope of the kingdom and the speed with which it became prominent. This horn is Alexander the Great and he came forward and attacked the ram. It came against the ram with rage and attacked furiously. The horns of the ram were shattered; the power and authority broken. This happened during the reign of Darius III.
Greece, under Alexander the Great, became the world superpower. No one could stand against his army. He had conquered all his enemies and made his kingdom great by the age of 28. Daniel said this horn was broken off at the height of power. Alexander the Great died unexpectedly before his 33rd birthday. He died on a drunken binge which capped a life consisting of a broad range of immoral behavior. Where this single horn had once been, there now grew four prominent horns. These grew up toward the four winds of heaven. The kingdom of Greece was left in the hands of four of his generals. Each general ruled a portion independently. This worked fine for a couple years but eventually these kings began to war with each other. Eventually the Ptolemies and the Seleucids won. You can see details of this in chapter 11.
Daniel 8:9-12
The one horn that came from one of the four grew in power; the influence of which was felt to the south, east and Jerusalem (Beautiful Land). This power grew to the point of causing some of the heavenly beings to fall to earth, at which point this horn trampled them. The 'commander of the army of the Lord' is the same phrase used in Joshua 5. This is most likely Christ Himself. This horn sets himself up to be as great as Jesus. In doing so, he would stop the Jews from their daily sacrifice and defile the sanctuary. The truth, the law of God, the sacrifices and the ways of God among His people were thrown down.
Of these 4 kings one governed over Syria. His name was Seleucus. Another ruled over Egypt and that area, his name was Ptolemy. With Israel between them, they fought over their own borders. This went on for some time. It was during the reign of Antiochus III (198 b.c.) that the Selucids gained control of and power over Israel and Jerusalem. Then Antiochus IV came on the scene. Antiochus IV is the little horn that grew out of one of the 4 horns. Antiochus IV came to power by murdering his own brother and holding another hostage. Through bribery and political smoozing, flattery and outright dirty politics he assumed the Selucid throne.
He then assigned the title of Epiphanes to himself, which means Illustrious. This title implies deity. Antiochus was calling himself a god. He was Antiochus IV Epiphanes. He is the little horn that extended his power toward Israel, and Jerusalem specifically. So, many see these passages fulfilled in this man. Antiochus was known for his cruelty. He was ruthless in his persecution and slaughter of the Jews. He killed and butchered without conscience or cause. They say Antiochus murdered around 100,000 Jews. He killed their leaders with total disregard to the culture or city or the God they served.
It is not clear how to deal with verse ten; some would say these are the Jews who followed his policies. These seems like a stretch. The starry host are angelic or heavenly beings. This man mocked God commanded the sacrifices cease and defiled the sanctuary. At the same time, he commanded respect as if he were god (i.e. Epiphanes) and he typified the anti-christ; attempting to replace Christ. His behavior was erratic and, at times, bizarre. He might show up at the public baths one day as if to befriend the people there. The next, he might have them slaughtered. Because of this erratic behavior, among the people he was called Epimanes, meaning 'the mad one'; a play on words from Ephiphanes.
Daniel wrote this book about 535 BC. It was about 350 years until the time of Antiochus. That was still over 150 years before Jesus was born. And at least a few thousand years till the time of the Antichrist and still counting. Daniel was told to seal up this vision. It was a long way off. It would be some time before all this would be unveiled. We can see this vision is across the breadth of all history.
Just to add a bit more to our historical understanding of Antiochus take a look at a few passages from the book of Maccabees. Now, this isn't scripture, but it offers some value in seeing the historical account of the Jewish Rebellion. At one point, when this man took over the temple, he removed the Jewish altar and replaced it with an altar to Zeus. Then he proceeded to sacrifice a pig on that altar to the sun god. This was a horrific offense to the Jews. It incited them to rebellion. This rebellion eventually led to their independence. That is what is celebrated on the Jewish Holiday "Hanukkah".
They (Jewish Leadership) said, let's come to terms with the Gentiles, for our refusal to associate with them has brought us nothing but trouble. 12 This proposal appealed to many people, 13 and some of them became so enthusiastic about it that they went to the king and received from him permission to follow Gentile customs.
29 Two years later Antiochus sent a large army from Mysia against the towns of Judea. When the soldiers entered Jerusalem, 30 their commander spoke to the people, offering them terms of peace and completely deceiving them. Then he suddenly launched a fierce attack on the city, dealing it a major blow and killing many of the people. 31 He plundered the city, set it on fire, and tore down its buildings and walls. 32 He and his army took the women and children as prisoners and seized the cattle. (1 Maccabees 1: 29-32)
41-43 Antiochus now issued a decree that all nations in his empire should abandon their own customs and become one people. All the Gentiles and even many of the Israelites submitted to this decree. They adopted the official pagan religion, offered sacrifices to idols, and no longer observed the Sabbath.
44 The king also sent messengers with a decree to Jerusalem and all the towns of Judea, ordering the people to follow customs that were foreign to the country. 45 He ordered them not to offer burnt offerings, grain offerings, or wine offerings in the Temple, and commanded them to treat Sabbaths and festivals as ordinary work days. 46 They were even ordered to defile the Temple and the holy things in it. 47 They were commanded to build pagan altars, temples, and shrines, and to sacrifice pigs and other unclean animals there. 48 They were forbidden to circumcise their sons and were required to make themselves ritually unclean in every way they could, 49 so that they would forget the Law which the Lord had given through Moses and would disobey all its commands. 50 The penalty for disobeying the king's decree was death.
(1 Maccabees 1: 41-50)
52 Many of the Jews were ready to forsake the Law and to obey these officials. They defiled the land with their evil, 53 and their conduct forced all true Israelites to hide wherever they could.
54 On the fifteenth day of the month of Kislev in the year 145, King Antiochus set up the Awful Horror on the altar of the Temple, and pagan altars were built in the towns throughout Judea. 55 Pagan sacrifices were offered in front of houses and in the streets. 56 Any books of the Law which were found were torn up and burned, 57 and anyone who was caught with a copy of the sacred books or who obeyed the Law was put to death by order of the king. 58 Month after month these wicked people used their power against the Israelites caught in the towns.
59 On the twenty-fifth of the month, these same evil people offered sacrifices on the pagan altar erected on top of the altar in the Temple. 60 Mothers who had allowed their babies to be circumcised were put to death in accordance with the king's decree. 61 Their babies were hung around their necks, and their families and those who had circumcised them were put to death.
(1 Maccabees 1: 52-61)
Daniel 8:13-14
Daniel heard a conversation between two angels. We don't know what the first one said, but the other angels asked how would his desecration last. The answer came that it would take 2300 days before the sanctuary would be re-consecrated. The 'evenings and mornings' is a reference to the time when the daily sacrifice3s were offered. The Jewish celebration of Hanukkah commemorates the victory that brought the consecration of the temple on December 25th, 165B.C.
Daniel 8:15-18
Daniel sees this 'one' who looked like a man (Is it then implied he knew he wasn't a man?). A human voice called to him by name. Gabriel is an archangel; he shows up 4 times in scripture making important announcements: Daniel 8:16; Daniel 9:21; Luke 1:19; Luke 1:26. Daniel had stood before the greatest kings, he had been saved from the lion's den and endured much in his life. Yet, the sight of this angel drove him to the ground in terror. Daniel was told by Gabriel that the vision concerned the end times. This is the time when the Lord would end the suffering, when He would restore Israel. He would be their God and they would be His people. As Gabriel spoke, it was as if Daniel was in a deep sleep. When Gabriel touched him, he was released and raised up.
Daniel 8:19-25
As Gabriel explains the vision, he leads us to the kingdoms of man, of the Persian empire and then the king of Greece. At the death of one king comes four, from which will arise one. This gives a clear path to Antiochus. It's worth looking at verse 23 in the NKJV or the ESV:
And in the latter time of their kingdom,
When the transgressors have reached their fullness,
A king shall arise,
Could this be thought of as the 'days of Noah' when 'every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time'? It seems a stretch to consider the time of Antiochus as the 'time of wrath'. This has always been a reference to the wrath of God, not the wrath of a king. It was during the reign of Cyrus the 70 years was fulfilled and the temple was rebuilt and so forth. There is an 'appointed time of the end' and the bible points us to the time when the wrath of God would be poured out on the earth. I can't believe Gabriel, the herald of great events, is announcing the wrath of a human king and the end of suffering under his reign. I believe we are being directed to a point beyond that time.
Gabriel goes on to describe the one that will rise up to power. He will be a master of intrigue, having insight and wisdom that will be applied in a wicked way. As strong and as powerful as he will appear by his skills, Gabriel indicates he won't rise up by his own power. The devastation will be irreparable, he will destroy, deceive and elevate himself. In the end, he will stand against the Prince of princes and lose. His judgment will come from god.
5 But the all-seeing Lord, the God of Israel, struck him with an incurable and invisible blow. As soon as he stopped speaking he was seized with a pain in his bowels, for which there was no relief, and with sharp internal tortures— 6 and that very justly, for he had tortured the bowels of others with many and strange inflictions. 7 Yet he did not in any way stop his insolence, but was even more filled with arrogance, breathing fire in his rage against the Jews, and giving orders to drive even faster. And so it came about that he fell out of his chariot as it was rushing along, and the fall was so hard as to torture every limb of his body. 8 Thus he who only a little while before had thought in his superhuman arrogance that he could command the waves of the sea, and had imagined that he could weigh the high mountains in a balance, was brought down to earth and carried in a litter, making the power of God manifest to all.
—?2 Maccabees 9:5-9, NRSV[26]
Many find the complete fulfillment of Daniel 9 in the time of Antiochus, but there are problems with this. Others look at it as a purely future prophecy (future for us), but there are equally as many problems with that. It was all future to Daniel. As we see in all the prophets, the timeline of the horizon of future events is hardly ever clear and concise. In a sentence or a paragraph, one could jump hundreds of years. Our heart and attitude is to look at the lessons of prophecy and allow them to change our life. I'm afraid a clear timeline would allow our sinful ways to 'put off till later' that which was far off. We should live as all these things may be close at hand.
It seems Antiochus played a role that prefigured another man that would do the very same in the end times but on a grander scale. The actions of Antiochus Epiphanes, although real and historic, were also prophetic. They painted a picture of the Antichrist in the end times. Antiochus is referred to as the Antichrist of the Old Testament. He was one of the cruelest tyrants in all of history.
While these kings and kingdom were very real, they rose and fell in a world system tainted with sin. As with Daniels vision of the beasts, each beast was present when the next one came about. The kingdom changed hands, the kings died, but the beast lived on. Over the years, man's attempt to rule himself has always been destined to failure. Sin of the ruler and the ruled will bring corruption, ethical issues, self-interest, greed and much more. Each kingdom brought its influence to bear, much of which lives on today. Each took over where the previous left off. Each led us to where we are today:
- A world that has turned its back on its creator.
- This leads to a world with no moral compass.
- A world with nuclear bombs aimed at each other.
- A world of new disease & sicknesses never seen before.
- A world where love has grown cold, hatred
- A world of self-interest; (You too can be god of your life! The spirit of Anti-christ, alive and well).
- A world truth has been trampled, where you can have your truth, I can have mine.
- Where physical facts and reality are ignored for a convenient truth.
This is a world full of people who have lost any sense of purpose in life – even though most won't admit it. Our youth want to be like the latest celebrity; the ones who live trashy lives, who fight addictions, who are lawless and admit to being miserable and unfulfilled. These are the heroes of our entertainment who trust in money and fame knowing it's brought nothing but heartache, a life spent trying to keep what they attained knowing they'll lose, many of which kill themselves; some slowly with booze, pills and lifestyle, some quickly with purpose to end the pain.
We see over and over, judgment comes by famine, disease and sword. To live apart from God is judgment unto itself. What might appear as blessings of God are a curse when sin rules in the heart.
Daniel 8:26-27
The vision was to be sealed up. It was for those who would suffer in future generations, a reminder that God remains on the throne, and while there would be suffering, there is a time coming when the Lord would return and bring an end to suffering.
Daniel was emotionally wrung out and exhausted. He had seen into the far future, or future suffering and future wicked and evil. He had seen the affects of sin on man's attempt to rule and reign himself. He was finally able to recover and get back to the business of the day.
Listen to this passage from 2 Thessalonians 2:
7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
John encourages us to test the spirits, to see if they are from God. He warned that there are many false prophets out there.
2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. (1 John 4:2-3)
2 Thessalonians 2:4 says:
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
In the time of Antiochus, we saw God's people abandon God's ways to make a covenant with Antiochus and his nation. They were led away from God to other gods, to other ways, in the name of making peace. This isn't a stretch at all to see the antichrist come to power in the same way in our day. Israel nearly stands alone today. They want peace. Their very existence seems threatened. At some point they will feel they must make a covenant with the gentiles to survive. They will see the same thing as the Jews in the days of Antiochus. It's all deception.
The spirit of antichrist is alive and well and it's working hard to deceive us every day and it's just a snippet of what is to come.
1 John 2
18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. 21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
22 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
You can't just know who the son is, but you must trust Him. If you trust Him and repent of your sins, there will be evidence of that in your life. If the Lord Jesus doesn't have your heart, you are subject to be deceived by the Antichrist who is working to steal you away. Do not stay in a place that can lead to a Christ-less eternity.
©2018 Doug Ford
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