Daniel #10
C. Paul Willis
The Little Horn
Daniel 8:1 - 27 (NKJV) 1In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me—to me, Daniel—after the one that appeared to me the first time. 2I saw in the vision, and it so happened while I was looking, that I was in Shushan, the citadel, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in the vision that I was by the River Ulai. 3Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and there, standing beside the river, was a ram which had two horns, and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. 4I saw the ram pushing westward, northward, and southward, so that no animal could withstand him; nor was there any that could deliver from his hand, but he did according to his will and became great. 5And as I was considering, suddenly a male goat came from the west, across the surface of the whole earth, without touching the ground; and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. 6Then he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing beside the river, and ran at him with furious power. 7And I saw him confronting the ram; he was moved with rage against him, attacked the ram, and broke his two horns. There was no power in the ram to withstand him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled him; and there was no one that could deliver the ram from his hand. 8Therefore the male goat grew very great; but when he became strong, the large horn was broken, and in place of it four notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven. 9And out of one of them came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Glorious Land. 10And it grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them. 11He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host; and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down. 12Because of transgression, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices; and he cast truth down to the ground. He did all this and prospered. 13Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who was speaking, “How long will the vision be, concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot?” 14And he said to me, “For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.” 15Then it happened, when I, Daniel, had seen the vision and was seeking the meaning, that suddenly there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. 16And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of the Ulai, who called, and said, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.” 17So he came near where I stood, and when he came I was afraid and fell on my face; but he said to me, “Understand, son of man, that the vision refers to the time of the end.” 18Now, as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep with my face to the ground; but he touched me, and stood me upright. 19And he said, “Look, I am making known to you what shall happen in the latter time of the indignation; for at the appointed time the end shall be. 20The ram which you saw, having the two horns—they are the kings of Media and Persia. 21And the male goat is the kingdom of Greece. The large horn that is between its eyes is the first king. 22As for the broken horn and the four that stood up in its place, four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation, but not with its power. 23 “And in the latter time of their kingdom, When the transgressors have reached their fullness, A king shall arise, Having fierce features, Who understands sinister schemes. 24 His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; He shall destroy fearfully, And shall prosper and thrive; He shall destroy the mighty, and also the holy people. 25 “Through his cunning He shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule; And he shall exalt himself in his heart. He shall destroy many in their prosperity. He shall even rise against the Prince of princes; But he shall be broken without human means. 26 “And the vision of the evenings and mornings Which was told is true; Therefore seal up the vision, For it refers to many days in the future.” 27And I, Daniel, fainted and was sick for days; afterward I arose and went about the king’s business. I was astonished by the vision, but no one understood it.
Overview of chapter 8
Written in Hebrew
Out of Context (the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar)
Not in Babylon but in Persia (I was looking, that I was in Shushan, the citadel, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in the vision that I was by the River Ulai)
Susa 230 miles East of Babylon 150 Miles from Persian Golf, Capital of the Elamites, The palace built by Darius I and enlarged by Xerxes. It was the home of Esther and Nehemiah. The code of Hammurbi was discovered there in 1901 (the first commandments – supposed to be the law of the god Bel consisting of 282 commandments)
The Ram with two horns
The Ram was the guarding spirit of the Persian Empire
The Persian King when he went into battle wore a head garment of a rams head
Aries in the Zodiac is a ram and the sign of Persia
Xerxes the Persian King in the day of Esther attacked Europe and Greece with a force of 300,000 and was defeated at Thermopile and his fleet of 300 ships was destroyed by a storm at Salamis.
The He Goat
Alexander the Great
By the age of 20 assumed the mantel of Philip of Macedon
In 6 years conquered the Persian Empire
By the age of 30 his Empire went from the Meditation to India
Before he died at age of 32 he left a new world order
The One-horned Goat was a symbol of the Macedonians
In the Zodiac, Capricorn, the goat, is the sign of Greece
May of 334 BC Alexander crossed the Hellespont with 35,000 troops and defeated the Persians at the Ganicus River
Nov 333BC Alexander won the battle of Issus on the NE tip of the Mediterranean
Oct 331 BC Alexander broke Persian power near Nineveh
4 Notable Ones
but when he became strong, the large horn was broken, and in place of it four notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven.
Cassander of Macedonia and Greece
Lysimacus of Thrace, Bithynia and Asia Minor
Seleucus of Syria and east to India
Potolemy of Egypt, Cyrene, Arabia, Petraea, and parts of Asia Minor
Israel was caught between Potolemy and Seleucus (This the the 400 silent years between the Old and the New Testament
The little horn
. 9And out of one of them came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Glorious Land.
Antiochus IV
“A part of the Syrian army marched into Jerusalem to support Menelaus(a Hellenist appointed to the high priesthood by Antiochus) and his policy. Many of the inhabitants of the city were killed; others escaped to the hills. Only the known Hellenists remained. Orders were given prohibiting the observance of the Sabbath, the holidays and circumcision. In the Temple about the altar was placed a statue of Jupiter bearing an obvious resemblance to Antiochus. Over such a Temple Menelaus consented to be High Priest. To that statue was brought the animal most detested by the Jews, a pig. An abominable act had been perpetrated on the 25th day of Kislev I the year 168 BCE and to use the descriptive expressing of the book of Maccabees, it left the Jewish people desolate” p.56 A History of the Jews, Solomon Grayzel
8th King of the Syrian dynasty
Brother of Cleopatra (1st)
Ascended to the throne following the murder of his brother
Obtained the throne through flattery and bribery
Orders to the Jews
Follow strange customs
Forbid burnt offerings in the sanctuary
Profane Sabbaths
Defile the Sanctuary
Build altars and shrine for idols
Sacrifice swine
Leave their sons uncircumcised
The 2300 days
“How long will the vision be, concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot?” 14And he said to me, “For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.”
In the Hebrew the word is two thousand three hundred morning and evening sacrifices!
Seventh-Day Adventism translated this as each day = one year with dated Christ’s second coming for the year 1843 – it did not happen!
If a literal 2300 days of 24 hours the period would be between 6 and 7 years
If it is evening and mornings it is 1150 days
If it is Antiochus – he invaded Jerusalem in 170BC and the temple was restored by Judas Maccabeus in 164BC – 6 years
