Daniel’s vision depicts an extended time of history, filled with huge political turbulence. Illustratively, nearly 200 years of Medo- Persian history (The Ram) are summed up in 8:4[1] alone. This vision was so exhausting and so big that it actually had physical effects upon Daniel. And he had no ability to understand what was happening (8:27). Here is my preacher’s dilemma. When a man like Daniel, a divinely gifted interpreter of dreams and visions struggles to understand this vision, even being helped by the angel Gabriel explaining this prophecy to him, of what help can I be to you?
Answer: We cast ourselves on the mercy of God, and with a knowledge of historical happenings, and in the fuller light of NT revelation we make work of this.
OUTLINE
1.
8:1
– 14 : DANIEL'S VISION
1.1.
8:1-2 The Place of the Vision
1.2.
8:3-12 What Daniel saw
1.3.
8:13,14
What Daniel heard
2.
8:15
– 27 INTERPRETATION
1.1. 8:1-2 The Place of the Vision.
This vision was given to Daniel in
the third year of King Belshazzar (8:1)
– in about 550 BC. This happened two years after he had received the vision
which we had considered in Daniel 7. In Daniel 8 he had a vision in which he was
transported to Susa, the city which after the collapse of Babylon, became the
capital city of Persia. This is the city where Nehemiah and Esther will later be
found. Susa, in the province of Elam was
approximately 350 kilometres south east
of Babylon (in today’s SW Iran). In this
vision Daniel found himself beside the Ulai canal / river, in the vicinity of Susa. [2]
8:3-4 He saw a ram with 2 high horns standing on the bank of the canal.
One of the horns grew to be higher than the other (8:3). This ram pushed in all
directions. Nothing was able to stop it. Thankfully there is no guesswork
needed as to its symbolism. We are told in 8:20
that this ram symbolizes Media and Persia. History tells us that the Medes,
an ancient Iranian tribe under the leadership of Darius conquered Babylon, and then somehow the Persians (another ancient Iranian tribe) under Cyrus the Persian (c. 600–530 BC) became the stronger and dominant power – the higher horn. These then are the two horns – Media and
Persia. The Persians considered a ram
with sharp, pointed horns to be their guardian spirit. The king bore the head
of a ram instead of a crown when he led his armies into battle.[3]
Rams
are aggressive and they like to butt. That was the nature of the Medo-Persian
empire. Especially under Cyrus it gained much territory. His empire at its height
stretched from parts of the Balkans - Eastern
Bulgaria, Macedonia and Southeast Europe
in the west, to the Indus Valley
in the east. His reign lasted about thirty years.
8:5-8 Secondly, in his vision, Daniel saw a goat with a conspicuous horn between his eyes, coming from the West. This goat is identified as the king of Greece (8:21). This goat (Greece) absolutely destroys the ram (Persia) in 8:7. This goat is so swift - it doesn't even touch the ground (8:5). History tells us of a famous Greek general of this period. He is Alexander the Great (356 - 323 BC). He is this conspicuous horn. At the height of his power, his horn (following an early death) is broken off (8:8,22). His empire was now divided into four conspicuous horns (8: 8,22). Four strong men took his place. Again history tells us who they were. They were
(i) Cassander, who ruled Macedonia
(ii) Lysimachus, who ruled Thrace and Asia Minor
(iii) Seleuchus who ruled Syria and
(iv) Ptolemy who ruled Egypt.
Thirdly, In 8:9-14 Daniel now notices how out of these four horns of Alexander’s divided kingdom, there comes another little horn. We are told that this little horn “grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east and toward the glorious land” (i.e. Daniel’s land - 8:9).
This little horn becomes the focus of this chapter.
We have already seen a little horn in 7:8ff.
We have seen there that this little horn is much darker and greater and
timeless than the first four beasts/ horns (Babylonia/ Medo-Persia /Greece/
Rome). In chapter 7 the little horn grew
out of the fourth beast - the Roman
empire. According to Daniel 7 the 4th empire, the Roman empire has 3 periods : (i) the
Roman empire (ii) the time of the ten horns (iii) the time of the little horn which
introduces the "last
days", because with it the great judgement of God against that little horn
begins with it being destroyed (7:11ff).
In Chapter 8 however, this little
horn does not arise out of the Roman empire. It arises from a part of the divided
Greek empire following Alexander’s death, BEFORE the Romans were to come on the
scene. This little horn is however very
similar in its destructive power. It is very much a type of the great anti-
Christ who expands his rule in the world in a growing fashion. The conflict
between the “little horn” and God at this point becomes almost bigger than
life. The little horn not only destroys nations, but it is at war with the host of heaven – with God! It achieves
things which are more than human. It causes some
of the host and some of the stars to fall to the ground and trampled on them” (8:10). It became great…as the prince of the host… the regular burnt offering
was taken away from him, and the place of the sanctuary was overthrown…(8:11). “It will throw truth to the ground….” (8:12). This little horn thinks himself equal with God, going as far
as directly opposing God. It seems as if this little horn changes from a man to
an incarnation of Satan himself. The focus shifts from the Israel and the
temple, to the host of heaven and the
stars of heaven. This type of language is found in the book of Revelation
(e.g. Rev.12:4)? Much more exists
here than meets the eye.
Who is this little horn in the context of the divided Greek
empire?
This little horn is probably Antiochus
Epiphanes IV. He ruled in Syria in the dynasty of the former Greek Seleucid
empire in about 175 B.C. He has sometimes been called the anti -Christ
of the Old Testament period. In the time between the return of
Jewish exiles from Babylon and the rise of the Roman emperors, the land of
Judea was caught between two ruling powers: the Seleucid Kingdom of Syria in
the north and Ptolemaic Egypt in the south. These kingdoms, both successors of
Alexander the Great’s empire, fought with each other with the Jewish nation in
between them.
Antiochus Epiphanes IV initially sought to win the favour of the Jews with
flattery (11:21,32,) but when that failed, he became a bitter
persecutor of the Jews. He is the one that desecrated the temple in Jerusalem, by defiling
Israel’s temple ( 8:11; 11:31). He is said to have sacrificed
pigs in the altar. He also
conducted a genocide of the Jewish people. In this time "truth was thrown to the ground" (8:12), and therefore this
period became a time of apocalyptic suffering for the people
of God. We shall read more of him in Daniel
11:21 – 35 where he is there called a 'contemptible
person'.
But how long was this persecution,
this nightmare to last? This question was asked by one angel to another in 8:13. The answer is given in 8:14. For 2300
days! If a year has 365 days then this
comes to 6 years and three months. This ties well up with history, because we know that Antiochus Epiphanes persecuted the Jews violently from 171 until
165 B.C.
At this time a resistance movement
arose among the Jews. We find this history in the apocryphal books of the
Macabees. Judas Maccabeus was a Jewish priest who led the revolt against the
Seleucid Empire (167–160 BCE). The
Jewish holiday of Hanukkah ("Dedication") – at our time of Christmas commemorates
the restoration of Jewish worship at the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 164 BC,
after Judas Maccabee removed all of the
idolatrous statues and purified it. He restored the sanctuary to its rightful
state (8:14)
2. 8:15 – 27 INTERPRETATION
We have covered the ground already
to a large extent. A few further comments will suffice:
In 8:15,16: Daniel was trying to understand the vision, and here we find a man's voice on the banks of the Ulai canal/ river (8:16) commanding the angel Gabriel to explain the vision. You will remember that this Gabriel is the one who also appeared to Mary in Lk.1:26ff. Angels appear very rarely, even in biblical history. But they do appear at crucial crossroads in human history. The voice speaking to Gabriel is probably the voice of the pre-incarnate Son of man – the Lord Jesus: Who else can command the angels?
8:17-18 Note the common effect
when the unholy (sinful) meets the holy. Daniel is afraid, and becomes
unconscious. No –one can stand in the
presence of the holy God.
8:19-22 we have sufficiently dealt with.
8:23-25 again deals with the anti - Christ of the OT - Antiochus
Epiphanes IV. We have already noted that he is the master of intrigue, and a blasphemer
without equal. In 8:25 it is then
said that "he will be broken - but by
no human hand."
Now we need to make the connection
with our earlier observations in Daniel
2. There we find the stone cut
out by no human hand (2:34), which ultimately
destroys the statue of Nebuchadnezzar's dream (2:34).These
are the fingers without a hand that
announce Belshazzar's downfall and death (5:5). It is that very same
hand that will be responsible for
Antiochus' downfall.
Well, how did this play out in history? According to 2 Maccabees 9:5-9, we read concerning the fate of Antiochus Epiphanes IV:
"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— and that very justly, for he had tortured the bowels of others with
many and strange inflictions. 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. 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. And so the ungodly man's body swarmed with worms, and while he was
still living in anguish and pain, his flesh rotted away, and because of the
stench the whole army felt revulsion at his decay." [4]
LESSONS
1.God is always in control of history. Stuart Olyott says, "To him the great Medo-Persian empire is nothing but a lop-sided ram. The might of Greece is a woolly sheep, and Alexander the Great is a brittle horn that can be snapped off with the fingers."[5]
Once again, we affirm the sovereign hand of God in all the affairs of men in all of history. Evil kingdoms (there have been so many) shall be destroyed - not by human hands, but by the sovereign hand of God. Our great comfort is this. It does not matter how great our enemies are. It does not matter who the tyrant is, and in which epoch of history he lives. The hand of God shall judge him.
Martin Luther is correct when
he wrote in his famous hymn, “A mighty fortress is our God “
"And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten
to undo us,
We will not fear, for God has willed His Truth to triumph through us:
The prince of darkness grim - we tremble not for him; his rage we can endure,
For lo, his doom is sure, one little word shall fell him."
"One little word shall fell him". There have been many people in history who have shaken their fists in the face of God, only to come to a terrible end: Antiochus Epiphanes, the Roman emperor Nero and many other cruel Roman emperors that persecuted the early Christian church. Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, Mao Tse Tung, all are little horns, that have come and gone. We must remember, that to God these are all little horns. To us their power is impressive and even overwhelming at times. They seem invincible but God laughs at puny human power (Psalm 2). So too, we know, that the spirit of the anti- Christ in its various manifestations and the ultimate anti- Christ will be defeated by Christ at His return (2 Thess. 2:8)
2. God does not tolerate that human dictators should abuse His people. God cares forHis own. His wrath on those who persecute His people is terrible! What folly to fight against such a God. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Rom. 8:31)
3. God's own Horn will do it! The angel Gabriel does not appear here for the last time. He came to announce the birth of John the Baptist (Lk. 1:19) and of Jesus (1:26,27). Hear the song of Zechariah in Lk. 1:67 - 69: "He has raised up a horn of salvation for us!" This is the horn of God Almighty. This is the Lord Jesus Christ: not a ram or a goat, but the Lamb of God, who takes away not only our sin- that terrible bondage which will, if unatoned, keep us out of heaven and find us in eternal hell. He is also the One that will final conquer and kill our greatest enemy- Satan! Hallelujah - what a victory! Take heart people of God. Stay close to Jesus in these days.
[1]
D.R. Davis: The Message of Daniel , IVP, p. 106
[2] E.J.
Young: Commentary on Daniel ( Banner of Truth) : The canal was 900 feet in breadth and it connected
2 other rivers the Choapses and Coprates, and passed by Susa on the North East
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiochus_IV_Epiphanes
[5] Stuart
Olyott : Dare to stand alone ( Commentary on Daniel ) Welwyn series , p. 112
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