Daniel 8

Da 8:1-27.

VISION OF THE

RAM AND

HE-GOAT:

THE

TWENTY-THREE

HUNDRED

DAYS OF THE

SANCTUARY

BEING

TRODDEN

DOWN.

With this chapter the Hebrew part of the book begins and continues

to be the language of the remainder; the visions relating wholly to the

Jews and Jerusalem. The scene here narrows from world-wide prophecies to

those affecting the one covenant-people in the five centuries between

the exile and the advent. Antichrist, like Christ, has a more immediate

future, as well as one more remote. The vision, the eighth chapter,

begins, and that, the tenth through twelfth chapters, concludes, the

account of the Antichrist of the third kingdom. Between the two visions

the ninth chapter is inserted, as to Messiah and the covenant-people at

the end of the half millennium (seventy weeks of years).

1. vision--a higher kind of revelation than a dream.

after that . . . at the first--that in

Da 7:1.

2. Shushan--Susa. Though then comparatively insignificant, it was

destined to be the capital of Persia after Cyrus' time. Therefore Daniel

is transported into it, as being the capital of the kingdom signified by

the two-horned ram

(Ne 1:1;

Es 1:2-5).

Elam--west of Persia proper, east of Babylonia, south of Media. Daniel

was not present there personally, but in vision.

Ulai--called in PLINY Eulœus; by the

Greeks, Choaspes. Now Kerah, or Karasu. So in

Da 10:4

he receives a vision near another river, the Hiddekel. So Ezekiel

(Eze 1:1)

at the Chebar. Perhaps because synagogues used to be built near rivers,

as before praying they washed their hands in the water

[ROSENMULLER],

(Ps 137:1).

3. two horns--The "two" ought not to be in

italics, as if it were not in the original; for it is expressed by the

Hebrew dual. "Horn" in the East is the symbol of power and

royalty.

one . . . higher than . . . other

. . . the higher came up last--Persia, which was of

little note till Cyrus' time, became then ascendant over Media, the

more ancient kingdom. Darius was sixty-two years old

(Da 5:31)

when he began to reign; during his short reign of two years, being a

weak king

(Da 6:1-3),

the government was almost entirely in Cyrus' hands. Hence HERODOTUS does not mention Darius; but XENOPHON does under the name of Cyaxares II. The "ram"

here corresponds to the "bear"

(Da 7:5),

symbolizing clumsy firmness. The king of Persia wore a jewelled

ram's head of gold instead of a diadem, such as are seen on the pillars

at Persepolis. Also the Hebrew for "ram" springs from the same

root as "Elam," or Persia [NEWTON]. The "one horn

higher than the other" answers to the bear "raising itself on one

side" (compare Note, see on

Da 7:5).

4. ram pushing westward--Persia conquered westward Babylon,

Mesopotamia, Syria, Asia Minor.

northward--Colchis, Armenia, Iberia, and the dwellers on the Caspian

Sea.

southward--Judea, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya; also India, under Darius.

He does not say eastward, for the Persians themselves came from the

east

(Isa 46:11).

did according to his will--

(Da 11:3, 16;

compare

Da 5:19).

5. he-goat--Græco-Macedonia.

notable horn--Alexander. "Touched not . . . ground,"

implies the incredible swiftness of his conquests; he overran the world

in less than twelve years. The he-goat answers to the leopard

(Da 7:6).

Caranus, the first king of Macedonia, was said to have been led by

goats to Edessa, which he made the seat of his kingdom, and

called Æge, that is, "goat-city."

6. standing before the river--Ulai. It was at the "river" Granicus

that Alexander fought his first victorious battle against Darius, 334

B.C.

7. moved with choler--Alexander represented the concentrated wrath

of Greece against Persia for the Persian invasions of Greece; also for

the Persian cruelties to Greeks, and Darius' attempts to seduce

Alexander's soldiers to treachery [NEWTON].

stamped upon him--In 331 B.C. he defeated

Darius Codomanus, and in 330 B.C. burned

Persepolis and completed the conquest of Persia.

none . . . could deliver--Not the immense hosts of

Persia could save it from the small army of Alexander

(Ps 33:16).

8. when he was strong . . . great horn was broken--The

empire was in full strength at Alexander's death by fever at Babylon,

and seemed then least likely to fall. Yet it was then "broken." His

natural brother, Philip Aridœus, and his two sons, Alexander

Ægus and Hercules, in fifteen months were murdered.

four . . . toward . . . four

winds--Seleucus, in the east, obtained Syria, Babylonia, Media,

&c.; Cassander, in the west, Macedon Thessaly, Greece; Ptolemy, in the

south, Egypt, Cyprus, &c.; Lysimachus, in the north, Thrace,

Cappadocia, and the north parts of Asia Minor.

9. little horn--not to be confounded with the little horn of the

fourth kingdom in

Da 7:8.

The little horn in

Da 7:8

comes as an eleventh horn after ten preceding horns. In

Da 8:9

it is not an independent fifth horn, after the four previous ones, but

it arises out of one of the four existing horns. This horn is explained

(Da 8:23)

to be "a king of fierce countenance," &c. Antiochus Epiphanes is meant.

Greece with all its refinement produces the first, that is, the Old

Testament Antichrist. Antiochus had an extraordinary love of art, which

expressed itself in grand temples. He wished to substitute Zeus Olympius

for Jehovah at Jerusalem. Thus first heathen civilization from below,

and revealed religion from above, came into collision. Identifying

himself with Jupiter, his aim was to make his own worship universal

(compare

Da 8:25

with Da 11:36);

so mad was he in this that he was called Epimanes (maniac) instead of

Epiphanes. None of the previous world rulers, Nebuchadnezzar

(Da 4:31-34),

Darius

(Da 6:27, 28),

Cyrus

(Ezr 1:2-4),

Artaxerxes Longimanus

(Ezr 7:12),

had systematically opposed the Jews' religious worship. Hence the need

of prophecy to prepare them for Antiochus. The struggle of the

Maccabees was a fruit of Daniel's prophecy (1 Maccabees 2:59).

He is the forerunner of the final Antichrist, standing in the same

relation to the first advent of Christ that Antichrist does to His

second coming. The sins in Israel which gave rise to the Greek

Antichrist were that some Jews adopted Hellenic customs (compare

Da 11:30, 32),

erecting theaters, and regarding all religions alike, sacrificing to

Jehovah, but at the same time sending money for sacrifices to Hercules.

Such shall be the state of the world when ripe for Antichrist. At

Da 8:9

and Da 8:23

the description passes from the literal Antiochus to

features which, though partially attributed to him, hold good in their

fullest sense only of his antitype, the New Testament Antichrist. The

Mohammedan Antichrist may also be included; answering to the Euphratean

(Turk) horsemen

(Re 9:14-21),

loosed "an hour, a day, a month, a year" (391 years, in the year-day

theory), to scourge corrupted, idolatrous Christianity. In A.D. 637 the Saracen Moslem mosque of Omar was founded

on the site of the temple, "treading under foot the sanctuary"

(Da 8:11-13);

and there it still remains. The first conquest of the Turks over

Christians was in A.D. 1281; and 391 years after

they reached their zenith of power and began to decline, Sobieski

defeating them at Vienna. Mohammed II, called "the conqueror," reigned

A.D. 1451-1481, in which period Constantinople

fell; 391 years after brings us to our own day, in which Turkey's fall

is imminent.

waxed . . . great, toward . . . south--

(Da 11:25).

Antiochus fought against Ptolemy Philometer and Egypt, that is, the

south.

toward the east--He fought against those who attempted a change of

government in Persia.

toward the pleasant land--Judea, "the glorious land"

(Da 11:16, 41, 45;

compare

Ps 48:2;

Eze 20:6, 15).

Its chief pleasantness consists in its being God's chosen land

(Ps 132:13;

Jer 3:19).

Into it Antiochus made his inroad after his return from Egypt.

10. great, even to . . . host of heaven--explained in

Da 8:24,

"the mighty and holy people," that is, the Jews

(Da 7:21)

and their priests (compare

Isa 24:21).

The Levites' service is called "a warfare"

(Nu 8:24, 25,

Margin). Great civil and religious powers are symbolized by

"stars"

(Mt 24:29).

See

1 Maccabees 1:25, &c.; 1 Maccabees 2:35, &c.; 1 Maccabees 5:2, 12, 13.

TREGELLES refers

"stars" to those Jews whose portion from God is heavenly glory

(Da 12:3),

being believers in Him who is above at God's right hand: not the

blinded Jews.

cast . . . stars to the ground--So Babel, as type of Antichrist, is

described

(Isa 14:13, 14),

"I will exalt my throne above the stars of God." Compare

Re 12:4;

2 Maccabees 9:10, as to Antiochus.

11. to the prince of the host--that is, God Himself, the Lord of

Sabaoth, the hosts in heaven and earth, stars, angels, and earthly

ministers. So

Da 8:25,

"he shall stand up against the Prince of princes"; "against the

God of gods"

(Da 11:36;

compare

Da 7:8).

He not only opposes God's ancient people, but also God Himself.

daily sacrifice--offered morning and evening

(Ex 29:38, 39).

taken away--by Antiochus (1 Maccabees 1:20-50).

sanctuary . . . cast down--Though robbed of its

treasures, it was not strictly "cast down" by Antiochus. So that a

fuller accomplishment is future. Antiochus took away the daily

sacrifice for a few years; the Romans, for many ages, and "cast down"

the temple; and Antichrist, in connection with Rome, the fourth

kingdom, shall do so again after the Jews in their own land, still

unbelieving, shall have rebuilt the temple, and restored the Mosaic

ritual: God giving them up to him "by reason of transgression"

(Da 8:12),

that is, not owning the worship so rendered [TREGELLES]; and then the opposition of the horn to the

"truth" is especially mentioned.

12. an host--rather, "the host was given up to

him," that is, the holy people were given into his hands. So in

Da 8:10

"the host" is used; and again in

Da 8:13,

where also "give" is used as here for "giving up" for

destruction (compare

Da 11:6)

[MAURER].

against . . . daily sacrifice--rather

(the host was given up for him to tread upon),

"together with the daily sacrifice" (compare

Da 8:13).

all the calamities suffered under Antiochus to the transgression

of certain Jews who introduced heathen customs into Jerusalem just

before. But transgression was not at the full

(Da 8:23)

under Antiochus; for Onias the high priest administered the laws in

godliness at the time (2 Maccabees 3:1). Therefore the

"transgression" must refer to that of the Jews hereafter restored to

Palestine in unbelief.

the truth--the worship of the true God.

Isa 59:14,

"Truth is fallen in the street."

practised, and prospered--Whatever he undertook succeeded

(Da 8:4; 11:28, 36).

13. that certain saint--Daniel did not know the names of these two holy

angels, but saw only that one was speaking to the other.

How long shall be the vision concerning . . . daily sacrifice--How

long shall the daily sacrifice be suspended?

transgression of desolation--literally, "making desolate," that is,

Antiochus desolating profanation of the temple

(Da 11:31; 12:11).

Compare as to Rome and the last Antichrist,

Mt 24:15.

14. unto me--The answer is to Daniel, not to the inquirer, for

the latter had asked in Daniel's name; as vice versa the saint or angel

(Job 15:15;

Ps 89:6, 7)

speaks of the vision granted to Daniel, as if it had been granted to

himself. For holy men are in Scripture represented as having attendant

angels, with whom they are in a way identified in interests. If the

conversation had been limited to the angels, it could have been of no

use to us. But God conveys it to prophetical men, for our good, through

the ministry of angels.

two thousand . . . three hundred days--literally,

"mornings and evenings," specified in connection with the morning

and evening sacrifice. Compare

Ge 1:5.

Six years and a hundred ten days. This includes not only the three and

a half years during which the daily sacrifice was forbidden by

Antiochus [JOSEPHUS, Wars of the Jews,

1:1.1], but the whole series of events whereby it was practically

interrupted: beginning with the "little horn waxing great toward the

pleasant land," and "casting down some of the host"

(Da 8:9, 10);

namely, when in 171 B.C., or the month Sivan in

the year 142 of the era of the Seleucidæ, the sacrifices began to

be neglected, owing to the high priest Jason introducing at Jerusalem

Grecian customs and amusements, the palæstra and gymnasium;

ending with the death of Antiochus, 165 B.C., or

the month Shebath, in the year 148 of the Seleucid era. Compare

1 Maccabees 1:11-15; 2 Maccabees 4:9,

&c. The reason for the greater minuteness of historical facts and

dates, given in Daniel's prophecies, than in those of the New

Testament, is that Israel, not having yet the clear views which

Christians have of immortality and the heavenly inheritance, could only

be directed to the earthly future: for it was on earth the looked-for

Messiah was to appear, and the sum and subject of Old Testament

prophecy was the kingdom of God upon earth. The minuteness of

the revelation of Israel's earthly destiny was to compensate for the

absence, in the Old Testament, of views of heavenly glory. Thus, in

Da 9:24-27,

the times of Messiah are foretold to the very year; in

Da 8:14

the times of Antiochus, even to the day; and in

Da 11:5-20

the Syro-Egyptian struggles in most minute detail. TREGELLES thinks the twenty-three hundred "days" answer

to the week of years

(Da 9:27),

during which the destroying prince

(Da 9:26)

makes a covenant, which he breaks in the midst of the week (namely, at

the end of three and a half years). The seven years exceed the

twenty-three hundred days by considerably more than a half year. This

period of the seven years' excess above the twenty-three hundred days

may be allotted to the preparations needed for setting up the

temple-worship, with Antichrist's permission to the restored Jews,

according to his "covenant" with them; and the twenty-three hundred

days may date from the actual setting up of the worship. But, says

AUBERLEN, the more accurate to a day the dates as

to Antiochus are given, the less should we say the 1290, or 1335 days

(Da 12:11, 12)

correspond to the half week (roughly), and the twenty-three hundred to

the whole. The event, however, may, in the case of Antichrist, show a

correspondence between the days here given and

Da 9:27,

such as is not yet discernible. The term of twenty-three hundred days

cannot refer twenty-three hundred years of the treading down of

Christianity by Mohammedanism, as this would leave the greater portion

of the time yet future; whereas, Mohammedanism is fast waning. If the

twenty-three hundred days mean years, dating from

Alexander's conquests, 334 B.C. to 323, we should

arrive at about the close of the sixth thousand years of the world,

just as the 1260 years

(Da 7:25)

from Justinian's decree arrive at the same terminus. The Jews'

tradition represents the seventh thousand as the millennium. CUMMING remarks, 480 B.C. is the

date of the waning of the Persian empire before Greece; deducting 480

from 2300, we have 1820; and in 1821, Turkey, the successor of the

Greek empire, began to wane, and Greece became a separate kingdom. See

on

Da 12:11.

cleansed--literally, "justified," vindicated from profanation. Judas

Maccabeus celebrated the feast of dedication after the cleansing, on the

twenty-fifth of the ninth month, Kisleu

(1 Maccabees 4:51-58; 2 Maccabees 10:1-7;

Joh 10:22).

As to the antitypical dedication of the new temple, see

Eze 43:1-27,

&c.; also

Am 9:11, 12.

16. Gabriel--meaning, "the strength of God."

17. the time of the end--so

Da 8:19;

Da 11:35, 36, 40.

The event being to take place at "the time of the end" makes it likely

that the Antichrist ultimately referred to (besides the immediate

reference to Antiochus) in this chapter, and the one in

Da 7:8,

are one and the same. The objection that the one in the seventh chapter

springs out of the ten divisions of the Roman earth, the fourth

kingdom, the one in the eighth chapter and the eleventh chapter from

one of the four divisions of the third kingdom, Greece, is answered

thus: The four divisions of the Grecian empire, having become parts of

the Roman empire, shall at the end form four of its ten final divisions

[TREGELLES]. However, the origin from one of the

four parts of the third kingdom may be limited to Antiochus, the

immediate subject of the eighth and eleventh chapter, while the

ulterior typical reference of these chapters (namely, Antichrist) may

belong to one of the ten Roman divisions, not necessarily one

formerly of the four of the third kingdom. The event will tell. "Time

of the end" may apply to the time of Antiochus. For it is the prophetic

phrase for the time of fulfilment, seen always at the end of the

prophetic horizon

(Ge 49:1;

Nu 24:14).

19. the last end of the indignation--God's displeasure against the

Jews for their sins. For their comfort they are told, the calamities

about to come are not to be for ever. The "time" is limited

(Da 9:27; 11:27, 35, 36; 12:7;

Hab 2:3).

21. the first king--Philip was king of Macedon before Alexander, but

the latter was the first who, as a generalissimo of Greece, subdued the

Persian empire.

22. not in his power--not with the power which Alexander possessed

[MAURER]. An empire united, as under Alexander, is more powerful than

one divided, as under the four Diadochi.

23. transgressors are come to the full--This does not hold good of the

times of Antiochus, but of the closing times of the Christian era. Compare

Lu 18:8,

and 2Ti 3:1-9,

as to the wickedness of the world in general just before Christ's

second coming. Israel's guilt, too, shall then be at the full,

when they who rejected Christ shall receive Antichrist; fulfilling

Jesus words, "I am come in My Father's name, and ye receive Me not; if

another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive" (compare

Ge 15:16;

Mt 23:32;

1Th 2:16).

of fierce countenance--

(De 28:50);

one who will spare neither old nor young.

understanding dark sentences--rather, "artifices"

[GESENIUS]. Antiochus

made himself master of Egypt and Jerusalem successively by craft

(1 Maccabees 1:30, &c.; 2 Maccabees 5:24, &c.).

24. not by his own power--which in the beginning was "little"

(Da 8:9; 7:8);

but by gaining over others through craft, the once little horn

became "mighty" (compare

Da 8:25; 11:23).

To be fully realized by Antichrist. He shall act by the power of Satan,

who shall then be permitted to work through him in unrestricted

license, such as he has not now

(Re 13:2);

hence the ten kingdoms shall give the beast their power

(2Th 2:9-12;

Re 17:13).

prosper and practise--prosper in all that he attempts

(Da 8:12).

holy people--His persecutions are especially directed against the

Jews.

25. by peace--by pretending "peace" and friendship; in the

midst of security [GESENIUS], suddenly

striking his blow (compare Note, see on

Jer 15:8).

"A spoiler at noon-day."

also . . . against the Prince of princes--not merely against the Jews

(Da 8:11; 11:36).

broken without hand--by God's special visitation. The stone "cut out

of the mountain without hands," that is, Christ is to smite the world

power image on his feet

(Da 2:34),

that is, in its last development (compare

Da 7:11).

Antiochus' horrible death by worms and ulcers, when on his way to Judea,

intending to take vengeance for the defeat of his armies by the

Maccabees, was a primary fulfilment, foreshadowing God's judgment on

the last enemy of the Jewish Church.

26. shut . . . up . . . vision--implying the

vision was not to be understood for the present. In

Re 22:10

it is said, "Seal not the vision, for the time is at hand." What

in Daniel's time was hidden was more fully explained in Revelation, and

as the time draws nearer, it will be clearer still.

it shall be for many days--It refers to remote times

(Eze 12:27).

27. I . . . was sick--through grief at the calamities coming on my

people and the Church of God (compare

Ps 102:14).

afterward I . . . did the king's business--He who holds nearest

communion with heaven can best discharge the duties of common life.

none understood it--He had heard of kings, but knew not their names;

He foresaw the events, but not the time when they were to take place;

thereupon he could only feel "astonished," and leave all with the

omniscient God [JEROME].