Holy Bible

Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns. Daniel 8 The World-powers and Israel Joseph A. Seiss, D.D. A glance at the particulars in this vision is enough to satisfy us that we have to do with some of the same powers brought to view in the preceding chapter, and in Nebuchadnezzar's dream. What, at first glance, we might be disposed to regard as mere repetitions are not such in reality. There is something connected with the repetition to adapt it to some altered position, end, or intent. In the two preceding visions we behold the pictures of the powers of the world as a whole, without regard to any distinction between Jew and Gentile. It is human dominion in its broadest view, in the entirety of its history — first as outwardly considered, and then as spiritually considered, and finally superseded by the Kingdom of God. The vision now in hand is given, not in Chaldee, but in Hebrew. What Daniel is shown of these world-power manifestations he sees and hears not only as a spiritual man of God, but more particularly as a Jewish prophet, and as mainly concerning the Jewish people. Hence the dominion of Babylon is left out entirely, for it was now on the eve of its downfall, and nothing more was to come of it to the Jews. It is still the same world-power in its various forms which constitutes the subject of this vision, but with the emphasis now on what particularly concerns the Jewish prophet, and with all else touched but lightly, or not at all. To little purpose do we read the Book of Daniel not to find in it a solemn warning to the Church of our time, and for all the days yet to come, to beware of the fascinating flatteries and secularising expedients and compliances which, in the self-idolising spirit of spurious charity, specious liberality, mad heartless scepticism, would tempt her to forget her Dirge origin and Heavenly destiny. There is a spirit abroad which would have the Church rescind her sacred charter, cancel her authentic commission, and assimilate herself to a mere political or conventional institution. Men call it a liberalising spirit, a spirit of improvement, which would change our Christian schools and colleges into mere secular gymnasiums and scientific museums or artistic studios and literary athenaeums but it is a spirit which is prone to treat holy Scriptures as mere human lucubrations of worthy men before the ages of better light, rationalise away all the definite doctrines of the authourised creed into mere scholastic or philosophical theorems, dissolve the sacraments into picturesque symbolisms and visionary shadows without life or power, and dismantle the ministry and services of the Church as if they never had a solid right to be regarded as the appointment of very God for conveying and imparting to lost men the regenerating, sanctifying and only restorative gifts of Jehovah's grace. It is the spirit of Antichrist. Many of the so-called churches, and the leaders of the prevailing religious sentiment of our day, are sewing for a harvest of miseries of which they but little dream. Daniel was greatly affected by these visions, and the explanations made of them, as he well might be. ( Joseph A. Seiss, D.D. ) Vision of the -Ram and the He-Goat William M. Taylor, D.D. Learn: 1. The strength of one evil habit may overcome even the mightiest conqueror. Alexander the Great died as the victim of his own excesses at the early age of thirty-three. He could conquer the world by his armies, yet intemperance was his master and destroyer. How many there are among us who have made similar conquests, and been themselves similarly overcome. Think of Lord Byron and Robert Burns, the two poets. To no purpose shall we gain other crowns if we are our- selves the slaves of appetite. It is easier to acquire a habit than it is to break it off. 2. Conformity to the world is fraught with great danger to the people of God. If we have been right in conjecturing that the evils which came upon the Jews in the days of Anticchus were designed as chastisements for their unfaithfulness to the covenant, the history over which we have come is, in this regard, full of most salutary warning. Nor does it stand alone. The tendency of these days is to minimize the difference between the Christian and other men. So it happens that the Church of Christ is invaded by the unbelieving, and its power to resist and overcome the world is thereby sadly weakened. That which gives salt its value is its saltness, and when that quality is lost by it, men cast it from them and trample it underfoot. Our peculiarities as Christians are the very elements of our power. By these it is that the Church has its aggressive force and purifying influence upon the world. 3. Learn, in conclusion, the limited power of the enemies of God's people. The spoliation of Jerusalem by Antiochus was to be only for a season. The world-tyrant could only go a certain length. God is stronger than the mightiest man; and so to the people of God who continue faithful unto Him there is a limit to calamity. The longest night is followed by the dawn. As the proverb has it, "Time and the hour run through the roughest day." Then be patient, be uncompromising, be courageous. ( William M. Taylor, D.D. ) Vision of the Ram and the He-Goat T. Kirk. This second vision of Daniel came to him in the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar. If the first year of Belshazzar, during which Daniel had his first vision, corresponded with the seventh year of his father Nabonidus, the year following that in which Media was conquered by Cyrus the third year of Belshazzar would be the tenth year of Nabonidus, and so about The scene of the vision was Shushan, or Susa, the capital of Elam, and afterwards one of the chief residences of the Persian kings. Shushan, which means a lily, may have been so called from the many white lilies which grew in its neighbourhood. The language of Daniel leaves it doubtful whether, when he received the vision, he was present at Shushan in the body or only in the spirit, like to Ezekiel when he was removed to Jerusalem to see the causes of his impending doom ( Ezekiel 8 ). As Elam, which lay to the east of Babylonia, seems to have become a tributary province of the empire in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel as the prime minister would sometimes probably visit Shushan its capital: but as the history of Elam during this period is very obscure, it would be hazardous to affirm that he was actually present in Shushan when he received the vision, although it seems to me that he might. The likelihood seems to be that Cyrus would leave Elam untouched, not only until after the conquest of Media, Lydia, and Persia, but also until after he had made adequate preparations for the more formidable task of conquering the great Babylonian empire. In that case Daniel might be in Shushan in the tenth year of Nabonidus, which we have supposed to be the third year of his son Belshazzar, in connection with the mustering of. the forces of Elam against Cyrus; and his actual presence there for the purposes of defence would give peculiar point and significance to the vision.. The first thing in the vision which met the eye of the ecstatic Daniel was a ram with two horns (v. 3, 4). The river Ulai (the Eulaeus of the Greeks) before which the ram stood, apparently on the opposite side of the stream, seems to have been "a large artificial canal, some nine hundred feet broad, though it is now dry, which left the Choaspes at Pat Pul, about twenty miles north-west of Susa, passed close by the town of Susa on the north or north-east, and afterwards joined the Coprates" (Driver). In connection with the ram there is in the original, the numeral one, to bring into relief the fact that the ram had two horns. The ram is the symbol of the Medo-Persian empire, as the angel Gabriel said to Daniel: "The ram which thou sawest that had two horns, they are the kings of Media and Persia." This symbol corresponds with that of the arms and breast of silver in the image of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, and with that of the bear raised up on one side in the first vision of Daniel. The two horns, which represent the kingdoms of Media and Persia, were both high or conspicuous horns, while the horn which was higher than the other, and which came up after it, represents the kingdom of Persia, which until the time of Cyrus was but a tributary of Media, but which grew and became the more powerful and conspicuous member of the united kingdom. This is seen in the fact that at the first, as in this book, the empire is spoken of as that of the Medes and Persians, but afterwards, as in the book of Esther, as that of the Persians and the Medes ( Esther 1:3, 14, 18, 19 ). As the symbol of the ram with the two horns here represents the Medo-Persian empire, it is strange that anyone should explain the symbol of Nebuchadnezzar's dream and that of Daniel's first vision to mean the Medes alone. The idea of a Median empire succeeding the Babylonian is, as the higher critics admit, a gross historical blunder; but then they ascribe the blunder, which they themselves have created, to the ignorance of the author, and apply to their own workmanship the well-sounding name of scientific criticism. As Daniel .looked at the ram with the two horns on the other side of the Ulai, he saw it pushing or butting westward, and northward and southward, and overthrowing all the beasts which came in its way, and glorying in its crushing and victorious power. This is a striking description of the conquests and spirit of the Medo-Persian empire. In the west it vanquished Babylon and Syria; in the north Lydia, Armenia, and the Scythian nations; and in the south part of Arabia, Egypt, and Ethiopia. It was more of a world-empire than Babylon, and for a time resistless in its conquering career, and became in an eminent degree a despotic and vainglorious power. The next part of the vision relates to the he-goat (v. 5, 8). This is the interpretation given by Gabriel to Daniel: "And the rough he-goat is the king of Greece: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. And as for that which was broken, in the place whereof four stood up, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not with his power." The he-goat with its one great horn at the first, and afterwards with its four notable horns, the symbol of the Graeco-Macedonian empire, corresponds with the belly and thighs of brass of the image in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, and with the four-winged leopard with four heads in Daniel's first vision. There is a likeness of a he-goat with one notable horn between its eyes still to be seen in the sculptures at Persepolis. The first king of the Grace-Macedonian empire, symbolised by the one great horn between the eyes, is . This remarkable man, who at thirteen became for three years the pupil of the famous , was born in , and ascended the throne of Macedonia in , when he was twenty years of age. Within two years after his coronation he had made himself the recognised leader of the Grecian peoples; and in , he crossed the Hellespont to overthrow the Medo-Persian empire with not more perhaps than 30,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry, and began the struggle by completely routing the Persians in battle at the Granicus. He then overran and subdued a large part of Asia Minor, and in dealt a crushing blow to the immense army of Darius at Issus in Cilicia. Instead of pursuing the beaten Darius the youthful conqueror marched southward through Syria and Palestine, taking Tyre after a siege of seven months, and Gaza after a siege of two, and entered Egypt, where he not only overthrew the Persian rule, but founded the city of Alexandria for his new kingdom. In he left Egypt and hastened with all speed through Palestine and Syria to Thapsacus, where he crossed the Euphrates, and then onwards to the Tigris, below Nineveh, which he crossed without opposition. Some days after Alexander encountered the army of Darius, said to be more than a million in number, posted on a broad plain stretching from Guagamela to Arbela, and completely routed it, and thus practically ended the Medo-Persian empire, which had lasted for a period of 218 years. In the following year, , Darius, after he had fled to Susa, then to Persepolis (Pasargadae), and then to Ecbatana, three of the royal residences of the Persian kings, made his escape into Bactria, where he was assassinated. In three years the little king of Macedonia had made himself master of the vast Medo-Persian empire. The rapidity of his movements is aptly likened to that of a four-winged leopard in the first vision, and in this to that of a he-goat bounding along without touching the ground. His attacks on the armies of Darius were like those of the he-goat on the ram with the two horns. Darius, like the ram, had no power to resist him; and Alexander, like the he-goat, "cast him down to the ground, and trampled upon him; and there was none to deliver the ram out of his hand." Alexander, too, like the he-goat, "magnified himself exceedingly." His extraordinary successes impressed him with the idea that he must be more than human; and, to settle the matter, when he was in Egypt, he sent to enquire of the oracle of Ammon, which, knowing what would please the vainglorious conqueror, gave the answer that he was the son, not of Philip, but of Zeus. Hence, to the disgust of many of his followers, he claimed to be divine, and expected to be worshipped with divine honours. And he, like the great horn, was "broken in his strength." He was cut off at Babylon by fever, aggravated by intemperance, when in the midst of his successes, and not yet thirty-three years of age. After the breaking of the great horn the four notable horns, which came up towards the four winds of Heaven, are explained by Gabriel to be four kingdoms that would stand up out of the nation, but not with his power. The four horns of the-he-goat correspond with the four heads of the leopard in the first vision. Alexander the Great died in ; and for twenty-two years after the empire was in a condition of conflict and confusion; but in it was divided into four kingdoms, all of which were weaker than the original empire. Seleucus got what may be called the eastern kingdom of Syria, Babylonia, and the countries as far as India; Cassander, the western kingdom of Macedonia and Greece; Lysimachus, the northern kingdom of Thrace and Bithynia; and Ptolemy, the southern kingdom of Egypt, Palestine, and Arabia Petrea. These four kingdoms were towards the four winds of Heaven. The little horn is admitted on all hands to be Antiochus Epiphanes, who seized the throne of Syria in , in the absence of his nephew Demetrius, the rightful heir. He might be called a little horn, partly from the depressed state of the kingdom of Syria at the time, and partly from his own depressed state, as he had been hostage at Rome for the seven preceding years. In the eyes of the world such a king would be very insignificant. The period in which he would arise is said to be "in the latter time of the kingdom (the Graeco-Macedonian empire), when the transgressors are come to the full," that is, when the Jewish people had filled up the cup of their iniquity. Many of the Jews with their high priest apostatised in the early days of Antiochus, and adopted the heathen customs of the Greeks. The period of the little horn is also said to belong to the time of the end. Gabriel said to Daniel 5:17 : "Understand O son of man; for the vision belongeth to the time of the end"; and again, v.19: "Behold I will make thee know what shall be in the latter time of the indignation; for it belongeth to the appointed time of the end." The time of the end seems to refer to the end of the present age, as distinguished from the future age of the Messiah. The appearance of the little horn, which would be in the latter time of God's indignation against His chosen people, would show that men were living in the last stage of the old order of things, and that a new order of things was about to arise. Antiochus Epiphanes, the little horn which was to arise in the time of the end, is minutely and accurately described. He was "a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences," noted for his hard-hearted cruelty and crafty dissimulation. Though a little horn at the first, "he waxed exceeding great toward the glorious land." The south refers to Egypt, against which he undertook several campaigns, and would have made a complete conquest of it, had it not been for the interference of the Romans; the east refers to his military expeditions into Armenia, Bactria, and Elymais; and the glorious land, "the glory of all lands" in Ezekiel ( Ezekiel 20:6 ), refers to Palestine which he so grievously oppressed. His success was due, not so much to inherent ability as to the favouring providence of God and the practice of dissimulation. The one cause is pointed out in the words, "And his power shall be mighty; but not by his own power"; and the other in the words, "And through his policy he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand." And in his successful career, "he shall destroy the mighty ones and the holy people," that is, powerful foes in the world and the chosen people of Israel. The destructive power of the little horn is especially noted in reference to the holy people. We read: "And it waxed great even to the host of heaven: and some of the host and of the stars it cast down to the ground and trampled upon them." The host of Heaven and the stars refer to the same, and not to different persons; and the stars here symbolise, not the angels but the chosen people, partly because the seed of Abraham had been likened to the stars for multitude ( Genesis 15:5 ), but mainly because they are sometimes called the Lord's host ( Exodus 7:4 ; Exodus 12:41 ). This was fulfilled in his two captures of Jerusalem, when many of the inhabitants were slain, and in his persecution of those who refused to abandon their religion (Jos. Ant. 12:03, 4). "Yes," continues Daniel, "it magnified itself, oven to the prince of the host; and it took away from him the continual burnt offering and the pines of his sanctuary was cut down. And the host was given over to it, together with the continual burnt offering through transgression; and it cast down truth to the ground, and it did its pleasure and prospered." This describes the attempt of Antiochus to extinguish the religion of the Jews. The arch-persecutor was opposed not only to the host but to the prince of the host. His aim was to blast the glory, and overthrow the power of the Most High. He plundered His temple, and caused the daily sacrifice to cease, and transformed the altar of Jehovah into an altar dedicated to the worship of idols. And because of the transgressions of the host Antiochus, like Nebuchadnezzar in reference to the destruction of Solomon's temple, was permitted to do his pleasure and prosper. ( T. Kirk. ) And out of one of them came forth a little horn. Daniel 8:9 A Little Horn Magnus F. Roos, A.M. If we would know who he is that is signified by this horn, it is necessary that we have his characteristic features and qualities exhibited before us, that we may survey them at one view. 1. He arose out of one of the four horns which were on the he-goat, i . e ., one of the kingdoms into which the Grecian empire was divided. 2. He arose in the latter time of their kingdom. 3. He was little at first. 4. But he afterwards waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land. 5. He fights immediately against God. 6. And the host of the saints. 7. This takes place at a time when the dally sacrifice is in use, while the sanctuary is yet standing, and when transgressions in Israel have come to the full. He takes away the sacrifice, and stamps upon and profanes the sanctuary. 8. This king prospers in his enterprises against God and the saints. 9. He is impudent and cruel. 10. Crafty and deceitful. 11. His power is great, yet there is another power concealed under it. 12. He is broken without hand, i . e ., destroyed without the intervention of man. It is impossible for any who duly attends to these features and qualities to apply this prophecy to Mahomet, or to the kingdom of the Turks and Saracens. There does not appear to be any reason why we should depart from the ancient and commonly received interpretation, which applies this prophecy to Antiochus Epiphanes, especially as it speaks of a king, not of a kingdom, and specifies the personal qualities of this king, such as impudence, cruelty, cunning, and deceit, which are altogether inapplicable to a whole kingdom. He is a king raging with unexampled malignity against God and His people, and prefiguring an Antichrist who should not have his equal among all who had preceded him. ( Magnus F. Roos, A.M. ) At the time appointed the end shall be. Daniel 8:19 A Safe Prospective C. H. Spureon. Human nature anxiously desires to know something of the future. If we were told to-night that we could repair to a certain spot, where we might lift the veil of our own history, and foresee the course of our own lives during the next few years, I am afraid very few of us could be trusted to absent ourselves from such a place, or miss such an opportunity. Be persuaded, however, that with the exception of some grand feature, some magnificent outline which God has revealed, the future is absolutely shut from human eye; and as to the details which concern your life or mine, it is utterly impossible that we should over become acquainted with them by any manner of horoscope, or soothsaying, or bibliomancy. Why is it that the future is thus shut out from our view? Is it not because the present is enough to occupy our talents? Rightly to serve our God in this present hour will take all the strength we have, and all the strength we can obtain from God. Sufficient unto the day is not only the evil thereof, but the service thereof. Men who live too much in the past, and go beyond that which is rightly conservative, become of little service in the world; and men who are tempted to regulate their movements by forecasts of the future, will always become abstracted, speculative, empirical, full of sentiment, and void of assiduity, but certainly of no service whatever in the stern battle of to-day. God has concealed the future from us, probably, with a view to relieve our career through the world of dull monotony, and infuse into it new phases of stirring interest. Life would not wear such a lively aspect if it were all spread out in a map before us on the day of the commencement of our pilgrimage. Much of the pleasantness of a journey lies in unexpected views and scenes which burst upon the traveller as he climbs a hill or descends into a dale. If he could see all at once, one long, unvariegated avenue, it would become weary walking for him; but the very freshness and novelty of the events, adventures, and contingencies constantly occurrent, help to make life exciting, if not happy. Has not God also hid the future from us that we may not labour under the sense of being like "dumb driven cattle," who have no will and no freedom, but both do and suffer what they are compelled by an agency irresistible? Moreover, is it not to be counted for a thousand mercies in one that all the future is concealed from us, since that future is of a very chequered character, casting, as one hath said, beams of hope and shadows of fear over the stage both of active and contemplative life? Some of it is bright with pleasure; much of it is dim with sorrow. What then if we knew the pleasure would come, should we not begin to reckon upon it? Surely the current of time would flow on heavily until the pleasant day arrived. Perhaps we should be really drawing bills at a very heavy discount upon the future if we knew it sufficiently to forestall the season of prosperity. And as for the troubles, the perils, and the afflictions that await us, if we knew of them beforehand, we should be pretty sure, with our natural tendency to graceless unbelief and morbid anxiety, to begin to carry the burden before the day came for us to carry it in. No, my Lord, it would be a fatal gift if thou wouldst bestow upon any one of us the power to know his own future. I. First, then, it is well for us to remember that EVERYTHING IN THE FUTURE IS APPOINTED. Nothing shall happen to us which God has not foreseen. No unexpected event shall destroy His plans; no emergency shall transpire for which He has not provided; no peril shall occur against which He has not guarded. There shall come no remarkable event which shall take Him by surprise. He seeth the end from the beginning, and the things that are not, as though they were. To God's eye there is no past and no future. We may derive no small comfort from this fact; for, suppose one goes to sea under the most skilful captain; that captain cannot possibly know what may occur during the voyage, and with the greatest foresight he can never promise an absolutely safe passage. There may be dangers which he has never yet encountered. But when you come into the ship of Providence, He who is at the helm is the Master of every wind that shall blow, and of every wave that shall break its force upon that ship; and He foresees as well the events that shall happen at the harbour for which we make, as those that happen at the port from which we start. How safe are we, then, when embarked in the good ship of Providence, with such a Captain who has fore-arranged and fore-ordained all things from the beginning even unto the end. And, furthermore, how much it becomes us to put implicit confidence in His guidance! It should always be remembered in connection with this subject that we are no believers in fate — seeing that fate is a different doctrine altogether from predestination. Fate says the thing is and must be; so it is decreed. But the true doctrine is — God has appointed this and that, not because it must be, but because it is best that it should be. Fate is blind, but the destiny of Scripture is full of eyes. Fate is stern and adamantine, and has no tears for human sorrow; but the arrangements of Providence are kind and good. The greatest good for the greatest number, and the glory of God above all, are the ends that are therein subserved. All the appointments of His providence, especially towards His people, are ruled in mercy, in tenderness, in love, and in wisdom, and all are conducive to their highest interest and their greatest happiness. Oh! but this is a blessed truth; oh! it is sweet, to be able to say, "From this day forth, whatever happeneth to me, be it little or be it great, I am content. Though I am altogether unaware what it shall be, I am not sorry that I am unaware of it; for this one thing I know, there shall happen nothing but what God permits; I shall be left to no demon's power; I shall not be cast away like an orphan; I shall not be beyond my Father's eye, and my Father's hand." If one could think that there was somewhere one grain of dust floating in the atmosphere that was not under Divine superintendence, one might wish to escape from it as from a plague. If one could believe that there was an hour of the night, or say a single second throughout the livelong year, in which the hand of God was withdrawn from nature, or a single event in which God was not concerned, and His will was not consulted, one might tremble till that black hour had passed, or till that dread event, like a vial full of evil, had been effectually poured out and put away. But now each hour is safe, for God has made it so. I would, with special earnestness, beg you to believe that God is in little things. It is the little troubles of life that annoy us the most. The little stones in the sandal make the traveller limp; while great stones do him little hurt, for he soon leaps over them. Believe that God arranges the littles. Take the little troubles as they come; remember them to your God, because they come frown God. Believe that nothing is little to God which concerns His people. II. But now there is A SPECIAL APPOINTMENT WITH REGARD TO CERTAIN ENDS. I am not going to pursue the connection, but the text itself will suffice me, for it saith "at the time appointed the end shall be." Now, there are certain "ends" to which you and I are looking forward with great expectancy. There is the end of the present trouble — let us think of that. Whatever submission we may have to the Divine will, it is not natural for us to love affliction; we desire to reach the end and come forth from the trial. "At the time appointed the end shall be." You have been slandered in your character — a very frequent trial to God's servants — and you are irritated and vexed, and in a great haste to answer it, to rebut the calumny and to vindicate your reputation. Be very quiet, and patient. Bear it all. Stand still and see the salvation of God, for light is sown for the righteous, and He will bring forth your righteousness like the light, and your judgment as the noonday. "At the time appointed the end shall be." When the dogs are tired they will leave off barking, and when the Lord bids them be still, they shall not dare to move a tongue against you. You are in poverty. It is some time since you had a situation in which you could earn your dally tread. Are you a child of God? Have you learned to cast your burden upon the Lord? Then, "At the time appointed the end shall be." There shall yet be deliverance for you. "Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." It may be that the end you are desiring is greater usefulness, and you have been panting after this for years. You keep to your work still, for "At the time appointed the end shall be." God will not suffer the faithful worker to work in vain; your labour of love shall not be in vain in the Lord. You are looking forward, some of you, to the end of your life's battle. Life is to the genuine Christian an incessant fight. The moment we are converted the battle begins. But, glory be to God, "in the time appointed the end of this warfare shall be." So, too, with the service of our lives. I think no servant of God is tired of serving his Master; we may be tired in the service, though not tired of it. It shall be all finished. The topstone of your life-work shall be brought out with shouting of "Grace, grace," unto it You shall lay your crown at His feet from whom you received it, and yon shall hear him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." "In the time appointed the end shall be." With many a child of God life is not merely a warfare spiritually, and a work for God outwardly, but it is attended with much of suffering. Ah! I know many servants of God whose every breath seems to be a pang; their poor bodies are in such a condition that life is like protracted death. Well, weary sufferer, "in the time appoint the end shall be." III. All things are appointed, and especially these sacred and blessed ends; but remember that besides the ends ALL THE MEANS TO THE ENDS are also appointed — all that intervenes is appointed too. Balance this thought with the other. My trouble appointed! Yes, but there is an appointed portion of grace that shall sustain me under it — grace exactly according to the measure of my necessity while under the tribulation. Temptation appointed! Yes, but there is appointed extraordinary help to deliver the soul from going down into the pit, and to pluck the foot out of the net, lost by any means one sheep of Christ should be devoured by the lion of hell. Thou fearest sickness, because that may be appointed, but it is also appointed, "I will make all his bed in his sickness," and that appointment carries you over the other. And now, there is nothing in this truth that can give any comfort to those who are not reconciled to God. It is a great and terrible truth to those who are not God's friends. At the time appointed the end shall be. What a winding up awaits those who will encounter the doom of the impenitent, no tongue can describe. Why rebel against the King of Heaven? Why set up thy will against the Divine will? ( C. H. Spureon. ) The Prince of Princes. Daniel 8:25 A Good Prince James Wells. This text calls attention to the four ancient empires, and the circumstances connected with the people of God in the various operations and doings of these empires. I. THE PRINCE Jesus Christ, as the representative of His people, hath "power with God and with man, and hath prevailed." He is an interposing Prince on

Benson Commentary Daniel 8:1 In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first. Daniel 8:1 . In the third year of King Belshazzar — Daniel’s former vision of the four great beasts, representing the four great empires of the world, took place in the first year of Belshazzar; now, in the third year of that king’s reign, he had another vision, which chiefly respected two of those empires. Thus God showed the same things to Daniel at different times, and under different symbols; doubtless in order that they might be more deeply impressed on his mind, and that he might more distinctly understand them in all their circumstances. We find God acting in the same manner with some of the other prophets, particularly Ezekiel, to whom he showed the destruction of Jerusalem by a great many different types, or symbols. This vision was communicated to Daniel about the year before Christ 553, according to Usher, Prideaux, and other chronologers. Daniel 8:2 And I saw in a vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai. Daniel 8:2 . I saw in a vision — When I was awake, and had my bodily senses: see Daniel 8:3 , and compare Daniel 10:4-5 . This was accounted a more perfect degree of revelation than the having a representation of things imprinted on the imagination during sleep. When I saw, I was at Shushan in the palace — This circumstance shows that Daniel continued in some post of honour, at least during the former part of the reign of Belshazzar. Which is in the province of Elam — The province of Elam, or Persia, properly so called, was taken from Astyages, king of Media, by Nebuchadnezzar, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah against Elam, Jeremiah 49:34 . And it was subject to the king of Babylon when Daniel saw this vision; though afterward the viceroy of that country revolted to Cyrus, and joined with him in taking Babylon. And I was by the river Ulai — Or, Eluæus, as it was called by the Greeks and Romans. This river divided Susiana from the province of Elam, properly so called: see Plin., lib. 6. cap. 27. Elam, however, is often taken in a larger sense, so as to comprehend Susiana under it. It was usual for the prophets to see visions by river sides, of which Daniel gives us another instance, chap. Daniel 10:4 ; and Ezekiel likewise saw visions by the river Chebar, Ezekiel 1:3 ; as if the Holy Spirit delighted to manifest himself in such retired scenes. And the gifts and graces of the Spirit are often, in Scripture language, described by the metaphors of springs and streams of water, than which nothing is more agreeable and refreshing in hot and dry countries. Daniel 8:3 Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. Daniel 8:3 . I saw, and behold, a ram with two horns — In the former vision there appeared four beasts, because there four empires were represented; but in this two only, because here we have a representation of what was transacted chiefly within two empires. The first of the four empires, that is, the Babylonian, is wholly omitted here; for its fate was sufficiently known, and it was now drawing very near to a conclusion. The second empire in the former vision is the first in this; and what is there compared to a bear, is here prefigured by a ram. This ram had two horns; and, according to the explication of the angel Gabriel, Daniel 8:20 , it was the empire of the Medes and Persians. The source of this figure of horns for kingdoms, must be derived from the hieroglyphics of Egypt, from which most of the metaphors and figures in the oriental languages were originally derived; and in these languages the same word signifies a horn, a crown, power, and splendour, whence a horn was an ensign of royalty among the Phenicians; and the Hebrew word ??? , keren, signifying a horn, is several times by the Chaldeans rendered ?????? , malchutha, or a kingdom; and horns are frequently used for kings and kingdoms in the Old Testament. This empire, therefore, which was formed by the conjunction of the Medes and Persians, was not unfitly represented by a ram with two horns. Cyrus, the founder of this empire, was the son of Cambyses, king of Persia, and, by his mother Mandane, was grandson of Astyages, king of Media; and afterward marrying the daughter and only child of his uncle Cyaxares, king of Media, he succeeded to both crowns, and united the kingdoms of Media and Persia. It was a coalition of two very formidable powers, and therefore it is said that the two horns were high; but one, it is added, was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. The kingdom of Media was the more ancient of the two, and more famous in history. Persia was of little note or account till the time of Cyrus; but under him the Persians gained and maintained the ascendant. But a question remains, why that empire, which was before likened to a bear for its cruelty, should now be represented by a ram? Now the Hebrew word for a ram, which is ??? , ail, and ???? , eelam, which is the Hebrew word for Persia, both sprang from the same root; and both implying something of strength, the one is not improperly made the type of the other. The propriety of it appears further from hence, that it was usual for the king of Persia to wear a ram’s head made of gold, and set with precious stones, instead of a diadem. We may add, that a ram’s head with horns, one higher and the other lower, was the royal ensign of the Persians, and is still to be seen on the pillars of Persepolis: see Bishop Newton. Daniel 8:4 I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great. Daniel 8:4 . I saw the ram pushing westward, &c. — Under Cyrus himself the Persians pushed their conquests westward, as far as the Ægean sea, subduing Babylonia, Syria, and Asia Minor; and extended them to part of Greece under his successors, Darius the son of Hystaspes, and Xerxes: northward they subdued the Lydians, Iberians, Albanians, Armenians, Cappadocians, and the adjacent countries: southward they conquered Arabia, Egypt, and Ethiopia, if not under Cyrus, as Xenophon affirms, yet most certainly under Cambyses, the son and successor of Cyrus. Under Darius they subdued India; but in the prophecy no mention is made of their conquests in the East, because those countries lay very remote from the Jews, and were of little concern or consequence to them. Daniel 8:5 And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. Daniel 8:5 . As I was considering, behold, a he-goat, &c. — This is interpreted, Daniel 8:21 , to be the king, or kingdom, of Grecia. “A goat is very properly made the type of the Grecian or Macedonian empire; because the Macedonians at first, about two hundred years before Daniel, were denominated Ægeadæ, or the goats’ people; and upon this occasion, as heathen authors report: Caranus, their first king, going with a great multitude of Greeks to seek new habitations in Macedonia, was commanded by the oracle to take the goats for his guides to empire: and afterward, seeing a herd of goats flying from a violent storm, he followed them to Edessa, and there fixed the seat of his empire, made the goats his ensigns, or standards, and called the city Ægeæ, or, The Goats’ Town, and the people Ægeadæ, or, The goats’ people. And to this may be added, that the city Ægeæ, or Ægæ, was the usual burying-place of the Macedonian kings. It is also very remarkable, that Alexander’s son, by Roxana, was named Alexander Ægus, or the son of the goat; and some of Alexander’s successors are represented on their coins with goats’ horns. This he-goat came from the west; and who is ignorant that Europe lies westward of Asia? He came on the face of the whole earth, carrying every thing before him in all the three parts of the world then known; and he touched not the ground — His marches were so swift, and his conquests so rapid, that he might be said, in a manner, to fly over the ground without touching it. For the same reason, the same empire, in the former vision, was likened to a leopard, which is a swift, nimble animal; and, to denote the greater quickness and impetuosity, to a leopard with four wings.” “He flew,” says Dean Prideaux, “with victory, swifter than others can travel; often with his horse pursuing his enemies upon the spur whole days and nights; and sometimes making long marches for several days one after the other, as once he did in pursuit of Darius, of near forty miles a day, for eleven days together. So that, by the speed of his marches, he came upon his enemies before they were aware of him, and conquered them before they could be in a posture to resist him.” The goat had a notable horn between his eyes — “This horn, says the angel, is the first king, or kingdom, of the Greeks in Asia, which was erected by Alexander the Great, and continued for some years in his brother, Philip Aridæus, and his two young sons, Alexander Ægus and Hercules.” — Bishop Newton. Daniel 8:6 And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. Daniel 8:6-7 . And he came to the ram that had two horns, &c. — “The ram had before pushed westward, and the Persians, in the reign of Darius Hystaspes and Xerxes, had poured down with great armies into Greece; but now the Grecians, in return, carried their arms into Asia, and the he- goat invaded the ram that had invaded him. And he came to the ram &c., which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. One can hardly read these words without having some image of Darius’s army standing and guarding the river Granicus, and of Alexander on the other side, with his forces plunging in, swimming across the stream, and rushing on the enemy with all the fire and fury that can be imagined. And I saw him come close unto the ram — He had several close engagements, or set battles, with the king of Persia, and particularly at Granicus in Phrygia, at the straits of Issus in Cilicia, and in the plains of Arbela, in Assyria. And he was moved with choler against him — For the cruelties which the Persians had exercised toward the Grecians; and for Darius’s attempting to corrupt sometimes his soldiers to betray him, and sometimes his friends to destroy him: so that he would not listen to the most advantageous offers of peace, but determined to pursue the Persian king, not as a generous and noble enemy, but as a poisoner and a murderer, to the death which he deserved. And smote the ram, and brake his two horns — He subdued Persia and Media, with other provinces and kingdoms of the Persian empire; and it is remarkable, that in Persia he barbarously sacked and burned the royal city of Persepolis, the capital of the empire; and in Media, Darius was seized and made prisoner by some of his own treacherous subjects, who not long afterward basely murdered him. And there was no power in the ram to stand before him, &c. — He conquered wherever he came; routed all the forces, took all the cities and castles, and entirely subverted and ruined the Persian empire. And there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand — Not even his numerous armies could defend the king of Persia, though his forces in the battle of Issus amounted to 600,000 men, and in that of Arbela, to 10 or 1100,000, whereas the whole number of Alexander’s was not more than 47,000 in either engagement.” — Bishop Newton. Daniel 8:7 And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. Daniel 8:8 Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven. Daniel 8:8 . Therefore the he-goat waxed very great — See note on chap. Daniel 2:39 . The empire of the goat was in its full strength when Alexander died. He was succeeded by his natural brother Philip Aridæus, and by his own two sons before mentioned; but in the space of about fifteen years they were all murdered, and the firstborn, or kingdom, was entirely broken. And for it came up four notable ones — The royal family being thus extinct, the governors of provinces, who had usurped the power, assumed the title of kings, and by the defeat and death of Antigonus in the battle of Ipsus they were reduced to four, Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus; who parted Alexander’s dominions between them, and divided and settled them into four kingdoms, which are the four notable horns that came up in the room of the first great horn, and are the same as the four heads of the leopard, chap. 7. Toward the four winds of heaven — In the partition of the empire Cassander held Macedonia and Greece, and the western parts; Lysimachus had Thrace, Bithynia, and the northern regions; Ptolemy possessed Egypt and the southern countries; and Seleucus obtained Syria and the eastern provinces. Thus were they divided toward the four winds of heaven. Daniel 8:9 And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land . Daniel 8:9 . And out of one of them — Namely, out of one of the four notable horns, mentioned in the preceding verse, came forth a little horn — The reader will be pleased particularly to observe this, as being a key to the right interpretation of the subsequent prophecy. The little horn proceeded from one of the four kingdoms just mentioned, into which Alexander’s empire was divided after his death: therefore to look for it elsewhere, or to interpret it of any power, king, or kingdom, which had not its origin in one of them, must be a misinterpretation of the prophecy. From one of the four successors of Alexander, namely, from Antiochus the Great, came forth Antiochus, afterward called Epiphanes, or Illustrious, by his flatterers; but by Polybius termed more properly Epimanes, or the madman. He was indeed a vile person, as the angel characterizes him, Daniel 11:21 , to whom the honour of the kingdom did not belong, Demetrius, his eldest brother’s son, being the rightful heir. He is here called a little horn: as he was originally of no great fortune or dignity, a younger brother, a contemptible person, and a sort of captive at Rome. Some have objected, that the word horn, in these visions, never signifies a single king, but always a kingdom or empire; but this is evidently a mistake, as the notable horn, mentioned Daniel 8:5 , which the goat had between his eyes, manifestly means Alexander the Great. This little horn belonging to the third, or Macedonian monarchy, must not be confounded with the little horn belonging to the fourth, mentioned Daniel 7:8-20 , although this here spoken of may be allowed to be a type or figure of the latter. Which waxed exceeding great toward the south — He extended his dominion toward the south, when, taking advantage of the youth of Ptolemy Philometer, (see 1Ma 1:16-19 ,) he made himself master of Egypt, called the south, in several places of chap. 11. of this prophecy. And toward the east — Where he conquered Armenia, and penetrated into Persia. And toward the pleasant land — Or, the land of Judea, called the pleasant land, by the holy writers, as being chosen by God for the place of his people’s habitation, and of his house or temple; where also the Messiah was to appear, called elsewhere the glory of all lands, Ezekiel 20:6 ; Ezekiel 20:15 . The cruelties which Antiochus Epiphanes exercised in Judea seem to be the primary subject of the following verses. In which, however, he may be considered as a type of antichrist, exercising still greater cruelties on the Christian Church. Daniel 8:10 And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. Daniel 8:10-11 . And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven — By the host of heaven, seems to be here meant the Jewish priesthood, so called from their continual attendance on God’s service in the temple, as the angels do in heaven. The word ??? , here rendered host, is applied to the attendants in the sanctuary, Exodus 38:8 ; Numbers 4:23 . And it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground — Persons of principal dignity and high offices are often called stars in the Scriptures. In Isaiah 24:21 , The host of the high ones that are on high, is explained by Vitringa of the Jewish rulers and people: see Daniel 12:3 , and Revelation 1:20 , where the angels, or governors of the church, are called stars. The words here seem to import, either that Antiochus should put an end to the services of the temple, by taking away the daily sacrifice, Daniel 8:12 ; or else that he should seduce some of the priests and rulers, by threats and flatteries, to turn apostates. And stamped upon them — Utterly subdued and destroyed them: see Daniel 7:7 . Yea, he magnified himself even to [or against ] the prince of the host — This may be understood of the high-priest Onias, (compare Daniel 11:22 ,) whom Antiochus deprived of his office, putting Jason in his place, an ungodly wretch, who set up heathen rites in God’s temple, 2Ma 4:13-17 . But Jerome and Theodoret understand it of God himself, as do many others; or of Christ, the High-Priest over the house of God, whose sanctuary the temple is called in the following words. Antiochus erected in the temple a statue to Jupiter Olympus, deservedly esteemed the abomination of desolation, and thus magnified himself against God, to whom the sanctuary and its services were appropriated. And by him the daily sacrifice was taken away — The sacrifice which was offered, in the name of the whole nation, every morning and evening: see Numbers 28:3 . This was taken away by Antiochus, together with the whole customary worship, and both altar and temple profaned: see 1Ma 1:44-64 . And the place of his sanctuary was cast down — Or cast out, or rendered profane: comp. Revelation 11:2 . It was deprived of the honour and privileges that belonged to a holy place, as if the enclosures had been thrown down which separated it from common ground. It may include also the profanation of the high- priesthood, which Antiochus set up to sale, and let men of the most profligate lives have it; so that both the sanctuary itself, and the priesthood, might truly be said to be rendered profane. Daniel 8:11 Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. Daniel 8:12 And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered. Daniel 8:12 . And a host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression — Antiochus prospered so far in his attempts against the Jews and their religion, that he built a citadel in the city of David, and placed a garrison of soldiers there, to disturb those that should come to worship God at the temple: see 1Ma 1:33-36 . This God permitted, as a just punishment for the sins of the people, and particularly of those who professed a willingness to forsake the worship of God, and to join with the heathen in their idolatry, 1Ma 1:11 ; 2Ma 4:13-17 . Some translate the words, And a set time was appointed against the daily sacrifice; for the word ??? , rendered host, signifies likewise a set time: see Daniel 10:1 . And it cast down the truth to the ground, and prospered — The book of the law, or the divine ordinances delivered to the Jews by Moses, is here called the truth. He prospered so far in his attempts against the true religion, as to suppress it for a time, and hinder the open profession of it: see Daniel 8:24 , and Daniel 11:28-32 . We read, 1Ma 1:56 , that Antiochus ordered the copies of the law to be cut in pieces and burned. Daniel 8:13 Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice , and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? Daniel 8:13-14 . Then I heard one saint speaking — The word saint here is equivalent to angel: see Daniel 4:13 . What this saint or angel said, is not expressed; no more than the words spoken by that illustrious person who appeared to Daniel 10:5 , are recorded. And another saint said to that certain saint which spake — Several angels are introduced in Daniel’s visions, and so in Zechariah’s. This appears to be spoken of one of a higher rank, as being able to unfold those secrets which were hid from the other angels; and is therefore justly supposed to mean the Son of God, called the Wonderful Counsellor, Isaiah 9:6 , as being acquainted with all God’s purposes and designs. How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice? &c. — The words, says Lowth, may be translated more agreeably to the Hebrew thus: For how long a time shall the vision last, the daily sacrifice be taken away, and the transgression of desolation continue? Since, however, there are no words in the Hebrew for taken away and continue, Mr. Wintle rather thinks the inquiry respects only the duration of the vision, and that the other words are by way of explaining what the vision is, namely, “of the daily sacrifice, and of the transgression of desolation, and of the sanctuary and host,” or its attendant ministers, “being suppressed and trampled on.” He therefore translates the clause thus: How long will be the term of the vision of the daily sacrifice, and the transgression that maketh desolate, exposing both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled on? The plain meaning of the verse is, that one of the angels asked the superior personage, distinguished here by the title of that certain saint, How long the evils signified in this vision, and particularly the taking away, or interruption, of the daily sacrifice, &c., should last. By the transgression of desolation seems to be meant the harassing and ravaging of the city by the garrison of Antiochus, setting up an idol to be worshipped in God’s temple, and, by that and other heathenish superstitions, profaning it, and also the host, or the Levites; persuading them, either by threats or enticements, to quit the worship of Jehovah, the true God, or to mix it with the worship of idols, contrary to the divine law. And he said, Unto two thousand and three hundred days — Hebrew, Until the evening [and] morning two thousand and three hundred. This signifies a space of about six years, and is to be taken from the first invasion of Judea by Antiochus, when he profaned the priesthood, and includes his second coming into that country, when he forbade the worship of God in the temple, and set up an idol there. After this time of two thousand three hundred days, or about six years from the first coming of Antiochus, it is here declared that the temple should be purged, or cleansed from the polluted or unclean things which Antiochus had brought into it, or from those things in it which he had defiled, by using them for idolatrous rites: see 1 Maccabees 4. It must, however, be remembered, that many interpreters understand these days in the same sense in which days are generally understood by this prophet, namely, for years; and thus refer the prophecy to antichrist, of whom Antiochus was a type. This will carry us on to a still distant time in the church of God, to the completion of that opposition to the church of Christ which has been wished for long since, when the sanctuary will be perfectly cleansed, and to which the twelve hundred ninety and thirteen hundred thirty-five years of chap. 12. must have a reference. Sir Isaac Newton, Obs., chap. 9., not only reckons the days to be years, but will have the horn to be Rome, and does not refer it at all to Antiochus; and in this he is followed, in a great measure, by Bishop Newton, who makes the years commence from the time of Alexander’s invading Asia, three hundred thirty-four years before Christ, and thus to end with near the sixth millennium of the world. With this interpretation of Bishop Newton, Mr. Faber (a late writer) finds great fault, and endeavours to prove that the Mohammedan delusion, and not that of the Papacy, is intended here by the little horn. His reasonings, calculations, and quotations on this subject, cannot possibly be inserted here, nor even an abstract of them. The reader that wishes to be acquainted with his scheme, must necessarily be referred to the book itself. There seems, however, to be one insuperable objection, both to Bishop Newton’s and this interpretation, and that is, that they are utterly irreconcileable with Daniel 8:9 , where it is expressly said, that this little horn came forth from one of the four notable horns, or kingdoms, into which Alexander’s empire was divided. Now it cannot be said that either the Papacy, which arose in the west of Europe, or Mohammedanism, which had its rise and first prevailed in Arabia, sprang from any of the four branches of the Macedonian empire. Daniel 8:14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. Daniel 8:15 And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning, then, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man. Daniel 8:15-16 . When I had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning — Here we are informed of Daniel’s earnest desire to have the vision explained to him. For those that rightly know the things of God, cannot but desire to be led still further into the mystery of them. And those who desire to know the meaning of what they have seen or heard from God, must seek it, and that diligently, namely, by earnest prayer and close meditation. Then there stood before me as the appearance of a man — The Scriptures frequently represent the angels as appearing in human forms, which it is likely they do, because, perhaps, there is nothing visible to us that so much resembles what they really are, as the human form does. And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of Ulai — That is, between me and the river Ulai. Which said, Gabriel, make this man understand the vision — Explain it more clearly to him, if there be any thing in it which he does not perfectly understand. He who spake this seems to be the same angel who is spoken of Daniel 8:13 , and called there that certain saint, by way of distinction; for he here speaks as one that had authority over the angel Gabriel. Daniel 8:16 And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. Daniel 8:17 So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vision. Daniel 8:17 . So he came near where I stood — That he might speak more familiarly with him. And when he came, I was afraid — This fear was probably occasioned by the effulgent brightness of the heavenly messenger, which quite amazed Daniel upon his drawing near to him. And I fell upon my face — Not to worship the angel, but because he could not bear the lustre of his glory. But he said unto me, Understand, O son of man — We find this is a title given to none of the prophets but Ezekiel and Daniel, who had more frequent converse with angels than any of the rest: and it is given to the prophet here, either to put him in mind that he was but flesh and blood, that he might not be exalted for having these heavenly visions imparted to him; or else it was used as a mark of honour, implying that he was something more than an ordinary man, even one highly favoured and beloved of God. For at the time, or, to the time, of the end shall be the vision — That is, there is a precise time determined for the accomplishment of the vision, when it shall certainly be fulfilled. Or the meaning may be, that the fulfilling of the vision should not come to pass for a considerable space of time; that it was concerning matters at a distance, namely, at the distance of almost four hundred years. Daniel 8:18 Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground: but he touched me, and set me upright. Daniel 8:18-19 . Now as he was speaking, I was in a deep sleep — I was as one that faints away, and falls into a swoon through fear and astonishment. But he touched me, and set me upright — By only a touch of him my strength revived, and I came to myself. And he said, Behold, I will make thee know — I will inform thee, and give thee to understand, what shall be in the last end, or, to the last end, of the indignation — I will acquaint thee with the whole series of God’s judgments upon his people, to the end and conclusion of them. “The prophet had doubtless a regard to the captivity in the first place; and therefore, beginning from this, the angel hints at a sort of epitome of the evils which would fall upon the posterity of God’s chosen people, till their iniquity was taken away, and their sin purged, when the indignation would be overpast, Isaiah 26:20 .” — Wintle. Daniel 8:19 And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be . Daniel 8:20 The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. Daniel 8:20-22 . The ram, &c., having two horns, are the kings, or kingdoms rather, of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king, or kingdom, of Grecia. And the great horn, &c., is the first king — Namely, Alexander the Great, the first Grecian king that reigned over Asia. Now that being broken — That is, this first king being deceased; four kingdoms shall stand up, &c. — Shall arise from it, under the rule of the same nation that the first king was of, namely, the Grecian. But not in his power — They were to be kingdoms of Greeks, not of Alexander’s own family, but only of his nation; neither were they to be equal to him in power and dominion, as an empire united is certainly more powerful than the same empire divided, and the whole is greater than any of its parts. Daniel 8:21 And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. Daniel 8:22 Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power. Daniel 8:23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. Daniel 8:23 . And in the latter end of their kingdom — When their power was diminishing, and the Roman empire beginning to be established in Greece, from whence the Grecian kingdoms in Asia had their origin: for the bringing of Greece into subjection to the Roman power was a manifest indication of the declension of the Macedonian, or third monarchy, with its four heads, and the advancement of the fourth monarchy. Now this was remarkably brought to pass when Æmilius, the Roman consul, vanquished Perseus, king of Macedonia, and thereby brought all Greece under the power of the Romans, which happened one hundred and sixty-six years before Christ, and about the time when Antiochus profaned the temple, and set up therein the abomination of desolation. It must be observed likewise, that, before that time, the four horns, or kingdoms, had been reduced to two principal ones, Syria and Egypt. Antiochus had attempted to gain the latter, and had marched toward Alexandria to besiege that city, the conquest of which would have made him absolute master of the whole kingdom; but in order to prevent his success, Ptolemy Euergetes and his sister Cleopatra had sent ambassadors to the Romans, to beg their relief; and when Popilius was deputed by the senate to go into Egypt, he proposed terms to Antiochus which he was obliged to accept, and obey the command

Expositor's Bible Commentary Daniel 8:1 In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first. THE RAM AND THE HE-GOAT This vision is dated as having occurred in the third year of Belshazzar; but it is not easy to see the significance of the date, since it is almost exclusively occupied with the establishment of the Greek Empire, its dissolution into the kingdoms of the Diadochi, and the godless despotism of King Antiochus Epiphanes. The seer imagines himself to be in the palace of Shushan: "As I beheld I was in the castle of Shushan." It has been supposed by some that Daniel was really there upon some business connected with the kingdom of Babylon. But this view creates a needless difficulty. Shushan, which the Greeks called Susa, and the Persians Shush (now Shushter), "the city of the lily," was "the palace" or fortress ( birah ) of the Achaemenid kings of Persia. and it is most unlikely that a chief officer of the kingdom of Babylon should have been there in the third year of the imaginary King Belshazzar, just when Cyrus was on the eve of capturing Babylon without a blow. If Belshazzar is some dim reflection of the son of Nabunaid (though he never reigned), Shushan was not then subject to the King of Babylonia. But the ideal presence of the prophet there, in vision, is analogous to the presence of the exile Ezekiel in Jerusalem; { Ezekiel 40:1 } and these transferences of the prophets to the scenes of their operation were sometimes even regarded as bodily, as in the legend of Habakkuk taken to the lions’ den to support Daniel. Shushan is described as being in the province of Elam or Elymais, which may be here used as a general designation of the district in which Susa was included. The prophet imagines himself as standing by the river-basin of the Ulai, which shows that we must take the words "in the castle of Shushan" in an ideal sense; for, as Ewald says, "it is only in a dream that images and places are changed so rapidly." The Ulai is the river called by the Greeks the Eulaens, now the Karun. Shushan is said by Pliny and Arrian to have been on the river Eulaens, and by Herodotus to have been on the banks of "Choaspes, amber stream, The drink of none but kings." It seems now to have been proved that the Ulai was merely a branch of the Choaspes or Kerkhah. Lifting up his eyes, Daniel sees a ram standing eastward of the river-basin. It has two lofty horns, the loftier of the two being the later in origin. It butts westward, northward, and southward, and does great things. But in the midst of its successes a he-goat, with a conspicuous horn between its eyes, comes from the West so swiftly over the face of all the earth that it scarcely seems even to touch the ground, and runs upon the ram in the fury of his strength, conquering and trampling upon him, and smashing in pieces his two horns. But his impetuosity was shortlived, for the great horn was speedily broken, and four others rose in its place towards the four winds of heaven. Out of these four horns shot up a puny horn, which grew exceedingly great towards the South, and towards the East, and towards the "Glory," i.e. , towards the Holy Land. It became great even to the host of heaven, and cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and trampled on them. He even behaved proudly against the prince of the host, took away from him "the daily" (sacrifice), polluted the dismantled sanctuary with sacrilegious arms, and cast the truth to the ground and prospered. Then "one holy one called to another and asked, For how long is the vision of the daily [sacrifice], and the horrible sacrilege, that thus both the sanctuary and host are surrendered to be trampled underfoot?" And the answer is, "Until two thousand three hundred ‘erebh-boqer , ‘evening-morning’; then will the sanctuary be justified." Daniel sought to understand the vision, and immediately there stood before him one in the semblance of a man, and he hears the distant voice of some standing between the Ulai- i.e. , between its two banks, or perhaps between its two branches the Eulaeus and the Choaspes-who called aloud to "Gabriel." The archangel Gabriel is here first mentioned in Scripture. "Gabriel," cried the voice, "explain to him what he has seen." So Gabriel came and stood beside him; but he was terrified, and fell on his face. "Observe, thou son of man," said the angel to him; "for unto the time of the end is the vision." But since Daniel still lay prostrate on his face, and sank into a swoon, the angel touched him, and raised him up, and said that the great wrath was only for a fixed time, and he would tell him what would happen at the end of it. The two-horned ram, he said, the Baalkeranaim , or "lord of two horns," represents the King of Media and Persia; the shaggy goat is the Empire of Greece; and the great horn is its first king-Alexander the Great. The four horns rising out of the broken great horn are four inferior kingdoms. In one of these, sacrilege would culminate in the person of a king of bold face, and skilled in cunning, who would become powerful, though not by his own strength. He would prosper and destroy mighty men and the people of the holy ones, and deceit would succeed by his double-dealing. He would contend against the Prince of princes and yet without a hand would he be broken in pieces. Such is the vision and its interpretation; and though there is here and there a difficulty in the details and translation, and though there is a necessary crudeness in the emblematic imagery, the general significance of the whole is perfectly clear. The scene of the vision is ideally placed in Shushan, because the Jews regarded it as the royal capital of the Persian dominion, and the dream begins with the overthrow of the Medo-Persian Empire. The ram is a natural symbol of power and strength, as in Isaiah 60:7 . The two horns represent the two divisions of the empire, of which the later-the Persian - is the loftier and the stronger. It is regarded as being already the lord of the East, but it extends its conquests by butting westward over the Tigris into Europe, and southwards to Egypt and Africa, and northwards towards Scythia, with magnificent success. The he-goat is Greece. Its one great horn represents "the great Emathian conqueror." So swift was the career of Alexander’s conquests, that the goat seems to speed along without so much as touching the ground. { Isaiah 5:26-29 Comp. #/RAPC 1Ma 1:3 } With irresistible fury, in the great battles of the Granicus (B.C. 334), Issus (B.C. 333), and Arbela (B.C. 331), he stamps to pieces the power of Persia and of its king, Darius Codomannus. In this short space of time Alexander conquers Syria, Phoenicia, Cyprus, Tyre, Gaza, Egypt, Babylonia, Persia, Media, Hyrcania, Aria, and Arachosia. In B.C. 330 Darius was murdered by Bessus, and Alexander became lord of his kingdom. In B.C. 329 the Greek King conquered Bactria, crossed the Oxus and Jaxartes, and defeated the Scythians. In B.C. 328 he conquered Sogdiana. In B.C. 327 and 326 he crossed the Indus, Hydaspes, and Akesines, subdued Northern and Western India, and-compelled by the discontent of his troops to pause in his career of victory-sailed down the Hydaspes and Indus to the Ocean. He then returned by land through Gedrosia, Karmania, Persia, and Susiana to Babylon. There the great horn is suddenly broken without hand. {#/RAPC 1Ma 6:1-16 2Ma 9:9 Job 7:6 Proverbs 26:20 } Alexander in B.C. 323, after a reign of twelve years and eight months, died as a fool dieth, of a fever brought on by fatigue, exposure, drunkenness, and debauchery. He was only thirty-two years old. The dismemberment of his empire immediately followed. In B.C. 322 its vast extent was divided among his principal generals. Twenty-two years of war ensued; and in B.C. 301, after the defeat of Antigonus and his son Demetrius at the Battle of Ipsus, four horns are visible in the place of one. The battle was won by the confederacy of Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus, and they founded four kingdoms. Cassander ruled in Greece and Macedonia; Lysimachus in Asia Minor; Ptolemy in Egypt, Coele-Syria, and Palestine; Seleucus in Upper Asia. With one only of the four kingdoms, and with one only of its kings, is the vision further concerned-with the kingdom of the Seleueidae, and with the eighth king of the Dynasty, Antiochus Epiphanes. In this chapter, however, a brief sketch only of him is furnished. Many details of the minutest kind are subsequently added. He is called "a puny horn," because, in his youth, no one could have anticipated his future greatness. He was only a younger son of Antiochus III (the Great). When Antiochus III was defeated in the Battle of Magnesia under Mount Sipylus (B.C. 190), his loss was terrible. Fifty thousand foot and four thousand horse were slain on the battlefield, and fourteen hundred were taken prisoners. He was forced to make peace with the Romans, and to give them hostages, one of whom was Antiochus the Younger, brother of Seleucus, who was heir to the throne. Antiochus for thirteen years languished miserably as a hostage at Rome. His father, Antiochus the Great, was either slain in B.C. 187 by the people of Elymais, after his sacrilegious plundering of the Temple of Jupiter-Belus; or murdered by some of his own attendants whom he had beaten during a fit of drunkenness. Seleucus Philopator succeeded him, and after having reigned for thirteen years, wished to see his brother Antiochus again. He therefore sent his son Demetrius in exchange for him, perhaps desiring that the boy, who was then twelve years old, should enjoy the advantage of a Roman education, or thinking that Antiochus would be of more use to him in his designs against Ptolemy Philometor, the child-king of Egypt. When Demetrius was on his way to Rome, and Antiochus had not yet reached Antioch, Heliodorus, the treasurer, seized the opportunity to poison Seleucus and usurp the crown. The chances, therefore, of Antiochus seemed very forlorn. But he was a man of ability, though with a taint of folly and madness in his veins. By allying himself with Eumenes, King of Pergamum, as we shall see hereafter, he suppressed Heliodorus, secured the kingdom, and "becoming very great," though only by fraud, cruelty, and stratagem, assumed the title of Epiphanes "the Illustrious." He extended his power "towards the South" by intriguing and warring against Egypt and his young nephew, Ptolemy Philometor; and "towards the Sun-rising" by his successes in the direction of Media and Persia; {See #/RAPC 1Ma 3:29-37 } and towards "the Glory" or "Ornament" ( hatstsebi ) - i.e. , the Holy Land. Inflated with insolence, he now set himself against the stars, the host of heaven- i.e. , against the chosen people of God and their leaders. He cast down and trampled on them, and defined the Prince of the host; for he "Not e’en against the Holy One of heaven Refrained his tongue blasphemous." His chief enormity was the abolition of "the daily" ( tamid ) - i.e. , the sacrifice daily offered in the Temple; and the desecration of the sanctuary itself by violence and sacrilege, which will be more fully set forth in the next chapters. He also seized and destroyed the sacred books of the Jews. As he forbade the reading of the Law-of which the daily lesson was called the Parashah -there began from this time the custom of selecting a lesson from the Prophets, which was called the Haphtarah. It was natural to make one of the holy ones, who are supposed to witness this horrible iniquity, inquire how long it was to be permitted. The enigmatic answer is, "Until an evening-morning two thousand three hundred." In the further explanation given to Daniel by Gabriel a few more touches are added. Antiochus Epiphanes is described as a king "bold of visage, and skilled in enigmas." His boldness is sufficiently illustrated by his many campaigns and battles, and his braggart insolence has been already alluded to in Daniel 7:8 . His skill in enigmas is illustrated by his dark and tortuous diplomacy, which was exhibited in all his proceedings, {Comp. Daniel 11:21 } and especially in the whole of his dealings with Egypt, in which country he desired to usurp the throne from his young nephew Ptolemy Philometor. The statement that "he will have mighty strength, but not by his own strength," may either mean that his transient prosperity was due only to the permission of God, or that his successes were won rather by cunning than by prowess. After an allusion to his cruel persecution of the holy people, Gabriel adds that "without a hand shall he be broken in pieces"; in other words, his retribution and destruction shall be due to no human intervention, but will come from God Himself. Daniel is bidden to hide the vision for many days-a sentence which is due to the literary plan of the Book; and he is assured that the vision concerning the "evening-morning" was true. He adds that the vision exhausted and almost annihilated him; but, afterwards, he arose and did the king’s business. He was silent about the vision, for neither he nor any one else understood it. Of course, had the real date of the chapter been in the reign of Belshazzar, it was wholly impossible that either the seer or any one else should have been able to attach any significance to it. Emphasis is evidently attached to the "two thousand three hundred evening-morning" during which the desolation of the sanctuary is to continue. What does the phrase "evening-morning" ( ‘erebh-boqer ) mean? In Daniel 8:26 it is called "the vision concerning the evening and the morning." Does "evening-morning" mean a whole day, or half a day? The expression is doubly perplexing. If the writer meant "days," why does he not say " days ," as in Daniel 12:11-12 ? And why, in any case, does he here use the solecism ‘erebh-boqer ( Abendmorgen ), and not, as in Daniel 8:26 , "evening and morning?" Does the expression mean two thousand three hundred days? or eleven hundred and fifty days? It is a natural supposition that the time is meant to correspond with the three years and a half ("a time, two times, and half a time") of Daniel 7:25 . But here again all certainty of detail is precluded by our ignorance as to the exact length of years by which the writer reckoned; and how he treated the month Veadar , a month of thirty days, which was intercalated once in every six years. Supposing that he allowed an intercalary fifteen days for three and a half years, and took the Babylonian reckoning of twelve months of thirty days, then three and a half years gives us twelve hundred and seventy-five days, or, omitting any allowance for intercalation, twelve hundred and sixty days. If, then, "two thousand three hundred evening-morning" means two thousand three hundred half days, we have one hundred and ten days too many for the three and a half years. And if the phrase means two thousand three hundred full days, that gives us (counting thirty intercalary days for Veadar ) too little for seven years by two hundred and fifty days. Some see in this a mystic intimation that the period of chastisement shall for the elect’s sake be shortened. { Matthew 24:22 } Some commentators reckon seven years roughly, from the elevation of Menelaus to the high-priesthood (Kisleu, B.C. 1682 Macc. 5:11) to the victory of Judas Maccabaeus over Nicanor at Adasa, March, B.C. 161. {#/RAPC 1Ma 7:25-50 2Ma 15:20-35 } In neither case do the calculations agree with the twelve hundred and ninety or the thirteen hundred and thirty-five days of Daniel 12:12-13 . Entire volumes of tedious and wholly inconclusive comment have been written on these combinations, but by no reasonable supposition can we arrive at close accuracy. Strict chronological accuracy was difficult of attainment in those days, and was never a matter about which the Jews, in particular, greatly troubled themselves. We do not know either the terminus a quo from which or the terminus ad quem to which the writer reckoned. All that can be said is that it is perfectly impossible for us to identify or exactly equiparate the three and a half years, { Daniel 7:25 } the "two thousand three hundred evening-morning," { Daniel 8:14 } the seventy-two weeks, { Daniel 9:26 } and the twelve hundred and ninety. { Daniel 12:11 } Yet all those dates have this point of resemblance about them, that they very roughly indicate a space of about three and a half years (more or less) as the time during which the daily sacrifice should cease, and the Temple be polluted and desolate. Turning now to the dates, we know that Judas the Maccabee cleansed {#/RAPC 1Ma 4:41-56 2Ma 10:1-5 } ("justified" or "vindicated," Daniel 8:14 ) the Temple on Kisleu 25 (December 25th, B.C. 165). If we reckon back two thousand three hundred full days from this date, it brings us to B.C. 171, in which Menelaus, who bribed Antiochus to appoint him high priest, robbed the Temple of some of its treasures, and procured the murder of the high priest Onias III. In this year Antiochus sacrificed a great sow on the altar of burnt offerings, and sprinkled its broth over the sacred building. These crimes provoked the revolt of the Jews in which they killed Lysimachus, governor of Syria, and brought on themselves a heavy retribution. If we reckon back two thousand three hundred half- days, eleven hundred and fifty whole days, we must go back three years and seventy days, but we cannot tell what exact event the writer had in mind as the starting-point of his calculations. The actual time which elapsed from the final defilement of the Temple by Apollonius, the general of Antiochus, in B.C. 168, till its re-purification was roughly three years. Perhaps, however-for all is uncertain-the writer reckoned from the earliest steps taken, or contemplated, by Antiochus for the suppression of Judaism. The purification of the Temple did not end the time of persecution, which was to continue, first, for one hundred and forty days longer, and then forty-five days more. { Daniel 12:11-12 } It is clear from this that the writer reckoned the beginning and the end of troubles from different epochs which we have no longer sufficient data to discover. It must, however, be borne in mind that no minute certainty about the exact dates is attainable. Many authorities, from Prideaux down to Schurer, place the desecration of the Temple towards the close of B.C. 168. Kuenen sees reason to place it a year later. Our authorities for this period of history are numerous, but they are fragmentary, abbreviated, and often inexact. Fortunately, so far as we are able to see, no very important lesson is lost by our inability to furnish an undoubted or a rigidly scientific explanation of the minuter details. APPROXIMATE DATES AS INFERRED BY CORNILL AND OTHERS Jeremiah’s prophecy in Jeremiah 25:12-38 Jeremiah’s "prophecy" in Jeremiah 29:10-32 Destruction of the Temple-586 or 588 Return of the Jewish exiles.-537 Decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus { Ezra 7:1 } -458 Second decree { Nehemiah 2:1 } -445 Accession of Antiochus Epiphanes (August, Clinton)-175 Usurpation of the high-priesthood by Jason-175 Jason displaced by Menelaus-172 (?) Murder of Onias III (June)-171 Apollonius defiles the Temple-168 War of Independence-166 Purification of the Temple by Judas the Maccabee-(Dec.) 165 Death of Antiochus-163 The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.