DANIEL 8

Each half of this chapter begins with a description of the setting as the Ulai Canal.

Daniel 8:1-2 This is about two years after the last vision. Ezekiel also had a vision by a river. In a foreign and morally polluted land, it was felt that one could get closer to God by being near a purifying stream of water (also see Acts 16:13).

Daniel 8:3-14 Read this passage as a whole to get the impact that it must have had on Daniel. The interpretation will be saved until it is revealed later in the chapter.

Daniel 8:15-19

Verse 17b Jump ahead to verse 26. Compare translations. This may mean that (1) it refers to a later time period, (2) it refers to the last days, and/or (3) should only be read at a later date. Probably all are in mind.

Verse 18 The same thing happened to Ezekiel. One commentator notes that the prophets had to be in their full consciousness to receive God's word, unlike pagan receivers of oracles who had to lose all their consciousness. We should keep the same principle in Christian meditation.

Daniel 8:20-22

Verse 20 The bigger horn appeared later (v. 3) = Medo-Persian Empire in which the Persians appeared later but became much more powerful than the Medes ever had been.

Verse 21 Alexander the Great is the first king from the West who swiftly conquered everything in his path (vv. 5-7).

Verse 22 Soon after Alexander had finished his conquests, he died suddenly and his kingdom was divided among his four generals. One of the kingdoms was the Seleucid.

Daniel 8:23-27

Verse 23 Now again we come to Antiochus IV, the little horn of verse 9. However, another ancient interpretation is found in the Hebrew codex leningradensis from 1008 AD, which identifies the little horn as Islam (E. Wurthwein, The Text of the Old Testament, p. 168). Other Jewish sources pinpoint Rome as the little horn.

Verse 24 We see that he is concentrating his fury against the people of Israel. This is confirmed in verse 9 where it is called “the beautiful land.” Verse 10 talks about throwing down the host of heaven and stars. Some feel this is a reference to Antiochus placing meteorites on the Jewish altar, turning the temple into a shrine to Zeus, sacrificing a pig on it, and burning all the copies of the Torah. (see vv. 12-13. Note the phrase “transgression that makes desolate” (look at other translations), which will appear prominently in the NT.

Verse 25 He places himself above the Prince of princes (“prince of hosts” in verse 11). Either phrase refers to God, a messenger of God (as in the only other reference to “prince of hosts” in the OT--Joshua 5:14 for general of the Lord's army), or the Sun God (Antiochus' image on his coins showed rays of light proceeding from him).

Verse 25b This is similar to the feet of clay broken by a rock not carved by human hands. Antiochus was defeated miraculously by a relatively small group of Jewish freedom fighters under the Maccabees. How long did the persecution last? Verses 13-14 deal with this issue. The text literally reads “evening, morning – 2300.” It probably refers to the historical period during which no sacrifices were made. Also, two daily sacrifices x 1150 days (3+ years, symbolic of a limited time of testing) = 2300 days. Either one fits the rough time period depending on which exact events are felt to trigger the start and end of Antiochus' persecution. One commentator points out that if we can't pinpoint dates for historical fulfillments of prophecies, what hope do we have of predicting details of future fulfillment of prophecy? In the next lesson will discuss this in more detail.

We see that this is the third time that the exact same story is told regarding the four kingdoms, each time using different imagery: first a statue made out of different materials, then a set of bizarre animals, and now a goat and a ram. This gives us a possible key to understanding another apocalyptic book, the Book of Revelation. One way of understanding it is that the same basic story is told and the same period of time covered (from Christ's first coming to his second coming) as many as seven times, using a different set of images each time. Also, each time in Daniel that the story is told, there is a little more detail given, and it concentrates more and more on the later time periods and less on the earlier ones. For example, the vision in Daniel 8 starts with the Medes and Persians, unlike the previous two visions which began with Babylon. This phenomenon occurs elsewhere in the books of prophecy.

The Book of Revelation

(Progressive, or Climactic, Parallelism)

Seven Lampstands (Churches) Chapters 1-3

    Seven Seals Chapters 4-7

        Seven Trumpets Chapters 8-11

            Christ and the Dragon Chapters 12-14

                Seven Bowls (Plagues) Chapters 15-16

                    Babylon and the Beasts Chapters 17-19

                        Christ as Victor Chapters 20-22