Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

8:3 In this vision, Daniel saw an all-powerful ram with two horns, one of which was longer than the other. The ram represents the Medo-Persian Empire (see map), with the higher horn representing the stronger, Persian part (see v. 20). (The horns of an animal, which it uses both for defensive and offensive fighting, are frequently found in Scripture as a symbol of the military power of a nation.)

8:5-8 A male goat with a single conspicuous horn appeared and destroyed the ram, yet at the pinnacle of his power, the single horn was shattered and four conspicuous horns replaced it (v. 8). This vision is a striking prediction of the Medo-Persian and Greek empires (see note on vv. 20-22). It is so accurate that some interpreters, who do not think the Bible can contain truly predictive prophecy (and others who think that such specific predictions are not suited to the normal pattern of biblical prophecy), claim that this material was not written in the sixth century by Daniel but had to be written after these events occurred (see Introduction: Date).

8:5 a male goat came from the west. Alexander the Great came from Greece, which was to the "west" of both Babylon and Persia. without touching the ground. Alexander conquered the mighty Persian Empire with amazing speed, from 334-331 b.c. (He is also represented as a leopard with four wings in 7:6.)

8:7 he was enraged. Alexander's father was king of Macedonia (a land north of Greece) and brought all of Greece under his control by 336 b.c. Alexander was only 20 when his father was murdered, but managed to consolidate his hold on Greece and to unify the Greeks with "rage" over the way the Persians had been attacking them and meddling in their affairs for the previous two centuries.

8:8 the goat became exceedingly great. Alexander the Great's kingdom extended all the way to India, exceeding any kingdom before it in size (approx. 1.5 million square miles/3,885,000 square km). there came up four conspicuous horns. After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 b.c., his two sons initially took over the empire, but ultimately, after serious internal struggles, four of his generals divided his kingdom into four parts (cf. v. 22 and 7:6).

8:9-10 A little horn grows out of one of the four horns and expands his realm. Scholars are almost unanimous in recognizing this little horn as the eighth ruler of the Seleucid dynasty, Antiochus IV Epiphanes (ruled 175-164 b.c.; see notes on vv. 23 and 25). The glorious land most likely refers to Palestine as God's primary center of operations and the location of his people. This horn grew great, even to the host of heaven, and some of the stars it threw down to the ground. This almost certainly refers to saints who were killed during Antiochus IV's reign. It began with the assassination of the high priest Onias III in 170 b.c. and continued to the death of Antiochus IV in 164. Within those few years, he executed thousands of Jews.

8:11 the place of his sanctuary was overthrown. According to the Jewish history recorded in 1 Maccabees (in the Apocrypha), Antiochus IV tried to unify his realm by forcing the Jews to forsake their law and cultural distinctives, but when they refused he punished them severely (see note on Dan. 8:23). The Prince of the host probably refers to God, because of the similar expression "Prince of Princes" in v. 25, though some have argued that it is the high priest Onias III.

8:12-14 Because of renewed transgression on the part of God's people, the saints and the temple sacrifices were handed over into the hands of Antiochus IV, but only for a limited period: 2,300 evenings and mornings, or a little over six years (perhaps signifying the period from 170 b.c., the death of Onias III, the high priest, to December 14, 164, when Judas Maccabeus cleansed and rededicated the temple; cf. 1 Macc. 4:52). In the end, the little horn would be judged and the sanctuary restored to its rightful state. Unlike the less precise "time, times, and half a time" of Dan. 7:25, this period is measured in days, suggesting that God has a precise calendar for the times of his people's suffering, even though it is utterly inscrutable to human wisdom.

8:20-22 Unlike the vision of ch. 7, this vision of 8:3-14 is precisely interpreted by the angel: the two-horned ram represents the kings of Media and Persia, of whom Cyrus, king of Persia, became the dominant partner (c. 550 b.c.). The goat was the king of Greece (v. 21), Alexander the Great, who defeated the Persians and conquered most of the then-known world. When he died in 323 b.c., his empire was divided among his four generals, fulfilling the prophecy in v. 22: four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power (cf. v. 8).

8:23 The "little horn" of v. 9 then corresponds to a king of bold face, who was completely wicked (see note on vv. 20-22). This describes Antiochus IV Epiphanes (reigned 175-164 b.c.). He was king of the Seleucid Empire, one of the four kingdoms that emerged from Alexander the Great's former territory (stretching from Asia Minor through Persia). He seized the throne from his nephew and enlarged his kingdom through military power. Antiochus IV was a tyrant who tried to unify his kingdom by forcing all of his subjects to adopt Greek cultural and religious practices. He banned circumcision, ended sacrifice at the temple in Jerusalem (fulfilling v. 11, "the regular burnt offering was taken away"), and deliberately defiled the temple by sacrificing a pig on the altar and placing an object sacred to Zeus in the Holy of Holies (fulfilling v. 13, "the giving over of the sanctuary . . . to be trampled underfoot"; cf. v. 11, and 1 Macc. 1:37-59; 2 Macc. 6:2-5). He burned copies of the Scriptures and slaughtered those who remained true to their faith in God (cf. Dan. 8:10, 24-25).

8:25 he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes. This title refers to God and indicates the rebellion of Antiochus IV against even God's legitimate sovereignty. Antiochus IV's coins even have the phrase "god manifest" (Gk. theos epiphanēs) on the back of them (see note on 11:37-38), which probably means that he thought he was the gods' representative on earth.