{Just a reminder - - these are my talking point notes for my online, live, weekly internet TV broadcast. There may be some typos. I don't heavily edit these.}
Boker Tov! Good morning, and welcome back to our Daniel study, here at Mishkan Katan. I hope it has been intriguing and a blessing to you. Today, we continue our study of the book of Daniel, by exploring chapter 8. I hope we can finish chapter 8 together today, but at this point, I have my doubts. We shall see. Allright, have you turned in your copy of Scripture to chapter 8? I am going to be using the Tree of Life version as my home base text today, because it is a solid translation from the original Hebrew. We have left behind the section of Daniel’s book, written in Aramaic, when we finished chapter 7. Let’s look at the first verse now of chapter 8.
“In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after the one that had appeared to me earlier.
Yes, as I mentioned at the end of last week's session together, the vision we are exploring this morning was given to Daniel two years after the first vision that he was given, the one we explored last week. Keep in mind that the vision from last week and the vision from this week were both given to Daniel himself. These are not visions given to someone else, visions which Daniel merely interpreted. So last week's vision occurred in the first year of King Belshazzar's reign, and this one we are looking at today was given to Daniel two years later. Reading on...
2 In the vision I saw myself in the citadel[a] of Shushan[b], which is in the province of Elam. In the vision I saw that I was beside the Ulai Canal.
I love Daniel’s specificity. In these verses He is telling us where the vision took place. Until this point, the book of Daniel took place either in Jerusalem, on the long trek to Babylon, or in Babylon itself. However, for this vision, the Holy Spirit transported Daniel in the Spirit to a city that was 225 miles east of Babylon. Another name for the city of Shushan was Susa. You may remember this city's name from our study of the Book of Esther. The city of Susa began to achieve prominence with the conquering of Babylon by Cyrus the Great. The city grew to be a Persian capital within the Empire. It was the home of Nehemiah. And it was where Nehemiah served as his king’s cupbearer. Also, as I've mentioned, it was the home of Queen Esther and King Ahasuerus. However, at the time of this vision we're studying to day, this city was not a prominent city. Daniel must have wondered why he had been transported there. The Ulai canal mentioned here in this version is the same in other translations as the River Ulai. That may be what you see in your version of the Scriptures. However, there is no River Ulai in this area, although there are two other rivers, the Karua to the east and the Karkheh, to the west. “Canal”, a man-made channel to transport water, is probably a better rendering of the original word. Other sages, such as Josephus, have suggested “plain” or “city gate”. Still others, such as Abarbanel hold to the view that Daniel was actually in Babylon, but that he only seemed to be in Sushan. There IS a River Ulai in Babylon.
The ruins of this ancient city are now unoccupied. They are in the modern-day country known as Iran. There is a modern city called Shush north and west of the ruins. The entire area is in the southwest corner of Iran.
One of the Jewish sages, Ralbag, says that Daniel was actually living in Shushan, because his relationship with Belshazzar was nowhere near as close as his relationship to Nebuchadnezzar had been.
Let's read verses 3:00 and 4:00, where we will meet the first animal in this vision. As this animal appeared in Shushan, this signaled to Daniel that this city would soon become very important to world history.
3 I lifted up my eyes and looked up, behold, a ram with two horns was standing in front of the canal. The two horns were long but one was longer than the other, but the longer one grew up last. 4 I saw the ram charging toward the west and north and south. No animal could stand against him—none could deliver from his hand. So he did as he pleased and magnified himself.
What we need to remember about this ram is that he had two horns, but that one of the horns was not only longer than the other. The longer one grew up AFTER the first one did. By now you are probably realizing that in these visions, horns represent kings or rulers. This ram conquered in three directions of the compass, north-south and West. He seemed unstoppable! But, watch what happens next. Verses 5-7:
5 “While I was contemplating this, behold, a male goat came from the west crossing the face of the whole earth without touching the ground! Now the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. 6 He came up to the two-horn ram that I had seen standing beside the canal, and charged it with raging strength. 7 I saw him attacking the ram furiously, striking the ram and shattering his two horns. Now the ram was not strong enough to stand against him, so he knocked the ram to the ground and trampled him. No one could rescue the ram from his power.
Some of the sages note this: History reports that Alexander did not wait for Darius to provoke a conflict. Instead, he crossed the Dardanelles and entered Asia Minor. In the initial conflict with Darius (the Battle of Issus), Alexander won a decisive victory, which left Darius barely escaping with this life. Later, he tried to appease Alexander with concessions, but to no avail. At the end, he was captured by some of his own satraps, who put him to death. By the way, this is not the Darius that preceded Cyrus the Great. This was a later Darius, called Darius the Great.)
My husband is a University of Georgia football fan. He has been counting the days for months when college football will return. The Georgia Bulldogs have an expression that says, “Let the big dawg eat.” The RAM was certainly eating, gobbling up all the lands near Shushan. However, everyone thinks he's a big dog, until he meets his match. And this ram more than met his match! The goat showed absolutely No Fear in his ferocious attack on the ram. The Ram didn't stand a chance. He was decisively vanquished. Let's see what happens to the goat next.
8 “The male goat became exceedingly great, but as soon as he became mighty, the large horn was broken, and in its place four prominent horns grew up toward the four winds of heaven.
So, based on what we know of Bible prophecy, when the GOAT made its initial attack and conquering moves, It was one very strong king. However, this king was broken, in other words, defeated. Instead of having one king succeed him, this mighty king was succeeded by 4 kings. The Four Winds of Heaven is a reference to the four points of the compass. So each of these four new kings controlled a certain territory to the north, south, east and west. We are about to see that out of one of these four horns came another ruler.
9 “Out of one of them came forth a small horn, which grew extremely large to the south and the east, and toward the beautiful land. 10 It grew as high as the host of heaven and hurled some of the host and the stars down to the earth and trampled them. 11 It set itself up to be as great as the Prince of the host. It took away from him the daily offering and the place of his sanctuary was thrown down. 12 The host was given over along with the daily sacrifice, in the course of its rebellion. It will hurl truth to the ground and prosper in what it does.
Out of all the animals and characters Daniel encountered in his vision, this one must have terrified Daniel most of all. Why? Because this ruler had the audacity to challenge even God Himself. One of the names of Father Yahweh in Scripture is Yahweh Tsavuot. This name means Lord of Hosts. Or as The Message translation calls it, God of Angel Armies. This newest evil, exceedingly evil, ruler., would defy God himself, and in so doing would disrupt the daily offerings in the Temple. The reference to “the host” and “stars” seems to indicate heavenly beings, reminding us of the actions that HaSatan took when he led the rebellion of 1/3 of the angelic host against Yahweh, causing himself and them to be cast out of heaven, to be hurled down to the earth. The references show the satanic influence over this earthly ruler to come. Other theologians have said that this ruler would trample on the saints of God. This eventually came to be true, and will be true again in the last days.
Daniel must have felt this to be puzzling, since at the time of this vision, the Jewish Temple did not even exist. Recall that it had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar during the Babylonian conquest, and it had not yet been rebuilt. Reading on ...
13 “Then I heard a holy one speaking and another holy one said to the one who was speaking, ‘How long will the vision last, the daily sacrifice be forsaken because of rebellion, the sanctuary be surrendered and the host be trampled?’ 14 Then he said to me: ‘For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be vindicated.’
The holy ones referred to here, are most likely angels. Whether they are or they are another type of heavenly being , is not important. The important thing is that here, right in the middle of this vision, we find 2 heavenly beings discussing what Daniel has been shown. Daniel thought that it was important to share with us their conversation. One of them (some of the Jewish sages believe this was Gabriel the Archangel, inquiring of Michael, the Archangel) wants to know how long the sanctuary will be in the hands of pagans. The other one answers, as the Jewish calendar goes, “2300 evenings and mornings”. Does this mean 2300 days, just over 6 years? No. We will explore this number, this span of time, more later. But first, we are going to meet one of the archangels, who makes his very first appearance in Scripture right here.
15 “Now it happened that while I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it, behold, standing before me was one with the appearance of a man. 16 Then I heard a human voice coming from between the banks of the Ulai, calling out saying, ‘Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.’
Did you know this was Gabriel's first appearance in Scripture?? I did not know that! Who do you think was “the voice” that directed Gabriel? Could it have been the voice of Father Yahweh himself, Similar to how he spoke at the Jordan River on the occasion of Yeshua's baptism? Daniel tells us it sounded like a human voice. Perhaps it was the voice of the Malak Yahweh, The Angel of the Lord! Scripture is not specific on that point, is it?
Gabriel appears in scripture a few times. We will see him again in Chapter 9. And then his most famous appearances were 1) when he announced to Zechariah the priest that he was going to soon be a father. And then, shortly thereafter, he appeared to Miriam, the mother of Yeshua, to let her know that she was going to give birth to the Mashiach. Amir Tsarfati makes the point that Daniel may have been introduced to Gabriel prior to this. But, that is just conjecture. If that is so, we are not specifically told that in Scripture. At any rate, I am sure that Daniel was glad to see Gabriel at this time. He was going to learn the detailed Interpretation of this puzzling, disturbing vision!
17 “He came near to where I was standing, and as he approached I was terrified and fell on my face. But he said to me, ‘Son of man, understand that the vision pertains to the time of the end.’
18 “While he was speaking to me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground. But he touched me and stood me up, 19 and said: ‘Behold, I am going to inform you about what will happen later in the time of wrath, for the vision pertains to the appointed time of the end.
As Gabriel approached Daniel, he must have been a formidable sight. Daniel’s reaction was to fall to the ground and “go to sleep”, as he put it. I get the impression he must have fainted, passed out from shock. At any rate, Gabriel had to rouse Daniel, so that he could share the meaning of the vision with him. He began by referring to Daniel as a “son of man” (Ben Adam) and then saying that the vision concerns “the time of the end.” Or, as it is often called, “the latter days.” As I have taught in the “appearances” series, this appellation was first revealed in the book of Ezekiel, where Father Yahweh uses it as a sort of nickname for that prophet. It is rare that a person in the Tanakh is referred to as a Ben Adam. Although Ezekiel was called “son of man” nearly 100 times, Daniel is the only other human in the Tanakh to which this title was applied. It’s interesting to note that both men were given amazing heavenly visions by Father Yahweh.
About Gabriel’s assertion that the vision pertains to “the time of the end”...As I have said before, Jewish eschatology and Christian eschatology differ a lot, particularly in the Common Era. Jews believe that both Jacob and Daniel were shown more detailed information about the time of the end, but that they were not allowed to reveal more than we see in the Scriptures. Hence, in vs. 26 of Daniel 8, this was the meaning of Daniel being told to “seal up the vision” ... If you look at Genesis 49:1, you will see Jacob meeting with his 12 sons just before his death, and he says that he is going to tell them about what would befall them in the End of Days. The sages say Jacob was shown the time of the end, but was not allowed to reveal all he was shown.
Now, we need to revisit a concept in Bible prophecy. Some of you know this, but others don’t. It is the concept of “dual fulfillment”. Many Bible prophecies have both a “near fulfillment” and a “later fulfillment”. Let me give you a couple of examples. The prophecies Gabriel gave to Zechariah the priest and to Miriam, mother of Yeshua, were single-fulfillment prophecies. Zechariah fathered John the Baptizer and Miriam birthed Yeshua. Prophecies fulfilled! Done! Belshazzar’s prophetic vision of the hand, writing on the wall. Single-fulfillment. Belshazzar was conquered that very night. Done.
Not so with this vision of Daniel’s. We are going to see how it was fulfilled, the near fulfillment, just a few years after Daniel’s day. Then, we will examine how it will be fulfilled again, in the last days.
20 The ram that you saw with the two horns stands for the kings of Media and Persia. 21 The buck, the male goat, is the king of Greece; and the large horn between his eyes is the first king. [c] 22 The four horns that replaced the one that was broken represent four kingdoms that will arise from this nation, though not with its power.
How many of you had this figured out already, based on the other visions we have seen in the book of Daniel? I'll bet some of you did! So, with the ram with the two horns, one of the horns was more prominent than the other. We were told this in verse 3. That's because Persia was a more powerful kingdom than the Medes. We remember that the Greeks conquered the Medo Persians. So it's not hard to ascertain that the goat which came charging from the west, was the Kingdom of Greece, Led by Alexander the Great. Alexander's father was Philip II of Macedon. Philip was a leader out of the Hellenistic League, A group dedicated to taking down the Persian. Empire. Before they could achieve their goal, however, Philip was assassinated at the wedding of one of his daughters. His 20 year old son, Alexander the Great, began to rule in his place.
Although young, Alexander was a tremendous military leader. He was the first Greek king to wield any significant power. Prior to that, they were just a bunch of relatively unimportant, small city-states. Alexander had been a student of the famed Aristotle. And, soon, his empire encompassed 1.5 million square miles! Sadly, Alexander began to, like so many other kings, believe he was “all that and a ham sandwich”. After all, in his entire career, he never lost a battle! Perhaps for this reason, or perhaps for others, he too began to ask the Greek provinces to worship him as a god. He was not, obviously, except in his own mind, and he was too blind to realize that God was, instead, using him. The Jewish sages say that when Alexander first met the High Priest of that day, he prostrated himself before him, saying he had seen the High Priest in a vision. In that vision an angel had warned Alexander to show the High Priest deference. At that, the priests took Alexander to the Temple where he was shown in the book of Daniel where his victory over Darius was foretold.
God used Alexander the Great to spread Greek culture and the Greek language all over the known world. This paved the way for the Tanakh to be shared with non-Jews. Greek was to that ancient world as English is to the world today. Greek became the lingua franca. Not many years after Alexander’s death, the Jews in Alexandria, Egypt, began clamoring for their Scriptures to be translated from Hebrew into their language, which was Greek. Therefore, the Septuagint was created by the finest 70-72 Hebrew scholars available, and it was done in 70 days. It became the “Bible” of most of the writers of the New Testament.
But, back to Alexander - - he had a relatively short rule of 12 years, before he died under mysterious circumstances, in Babylon. So, he was the horn on the male goat, the large horn between its eyes. You may recall that his Kingdom was parceled up into four pieces. And each piece was ruled over by one of Alexander's generals, Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy and Seleucus .
The general who was assigned to the area that we know as Israel and Judea, Syria and Mesopotamia was the Seleucid general, Antiochus the Third, younger son of Seleucus II. This is why the horn in vs. 9 starts out as a “little horn”. Israel and Judea lay at the very southern border of his territory, near where the Seleucid Empire and the Egyptian Ptolemaic Empire met. Because Antiochus the Third was so popular, the Jews chose him to be their ruler, in place of the Egyptian ruler who was currently in charge. They actually invited him in. This caused Antiochus the 3rd to be very kindly disposed toward the Jews of Jerusalem and the surrounding area. However, after this very benevolent ruler died, a monster came on the scene. The successor to Antiochus the Third was his son Seleucid IV Philopater. He only ruled for 12 years before he was assassinated. Next in line was his ten-year-old son, but that young boy, Demetrius I, never made it to the throne. Before he could ascend, the young boy’s uncle Seleucus IV’s brother, Antiochus the 4th, seized the throne. He greatly expanded the kingdom, almost conquering Egypt as well.
As was common in the ancient Near East, and like some of the other rulers in the book of Daniel, Antiochus IV soon sent out an order that everyone should worship him as God. Of course, the Jews absolutely refused. Predictably, this made Antiochus IV extremely angry. Some would say his anger caused him to lose his mind. This madman is the “small horn” of verses 9 through 12 and is also described here in verses 23 through 25.
23 “‘Now toward the end of their reign, when the measure of transgressions is completed, a stern-faced king, a master of intrigue, will arise. 24 His power will be mighty, but it will not be by his strength alone. He will cause extraordinary devastation, and succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy both the powerful and the holy people. 25 By his cunning he will cause deceit to prosper under his hand and he will consider himself superior. He will destroy many, taking them unaware. He will even stand up against the Prince of princes, yet he will be broken, but not by human hands.
Antiochus gave himself a nickname: Epiphanes, which means “God Manifest”, Or you might say “God in the flesh”. Antiochus IV's reign began in the first half of the 2nd century BC. By this time, the Jewish Temple, the so-called Second Temple, had been rebuilt by the exiles who had returned to Jerusalem from Babylon. Antiochus Epiphanes outlawed temple sacrifices. Not only this, but he ordered that pagan sacrifices be offered on the holy altar in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, in 167 BCE. This act is called in the book of Daniel, not only in chapter 9, but also in chapters 11 and 12, the abomination of desolation. History records that Antiochus IV offered a pig on that sacred altar. All this was done in an attempt to “un-Jew the Jews”, to hellenize them, to turn them into good little Greeks. When he could not turn them, he simply killed them. Historians say that he executed over 80,000 Jews. His acts were so egregious that the Maccabean Family dynasty rose up to oppose him in war. They were successful, and this heinous madman died three years later, thus ending his maniacal 11- year reign. Antiochus Epiphanies was broken by human hands, you might say, in that the Maccabees defeated him in war. But as Gabriel emphasized, this prophecy is not merely about Antiochus Epiphanes IV.
In its future fulfillment, this prophecy is about another Epiphanes, which many in Christianity call the Antichrist, or a better term is the False Messiah. He will resemble the Epiphanes of the 2nd century BCE, but he will be even more powerful. He will be so evil and so powerful, it will take supernatural hands to break him. The Apostle Paul prophecies of this world leader in 2nd Thessalonians 2:3-4. Yeshua spoke of this madman as well, in His Olivet Discourse (Mattew 24:15-16.)
What was Daniel’s reaction to the prophecies about this horrific person? He became so sick that he took to his bed for days! Let’s look at the last two verses of this chapter.
26 “‘Now the vision of the evenings and mornings that has been told to you is true, but seal up the vision for it concerns many days from now.’
27 “Then I, Daniel, was stricken and languished for days. Then I got up and went about the king’s business, but I was astounded at the vision and no one could explain it.
Before we close, I want to return briefly to the angelic conversation, the one in verses 13 and 14. I told you we’d return to this, remember?
Well, please don’t confuse this “2300 evenings and mornings” with the other time references in the book of Daniel to the length of the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, sometimes called The Tribulation period. The time period referenced by the heavenly beings in verses 13 and 14 is believed by most Christian commentators to refer to the number of evecning and morning sacrifices that were pre-empted by Antiochus’ desecration of the Temple. The time period began with Antiochus setting up a statue of Zeus in the Temple, in December, 167 BCE. The rededication of the Temple, under Judas Maccabeus, was in December, 164 BCE. That would be a period of roughly 1150 days.
Josephus the 2nd century historian, relates that when the Judas Maccabeus and his men entered the desecrated Temple, they wept at the physical and spiritual desolation.
Ibn Ezra is a Jewish rabbi who agrees with this interpretation. Most of the Jewish sages, however, interpret it differently, in a broader sense. They interpret this boogeyman to be the Romans, the emperor Titus (who destroyed the Temple) and more specifically the Roman Church, i.e. Christianity. Sadly, many Jews associate all of Christianity with Catholicism. Re-read verses 23-25 keeping that in mind. Interesting, isn’t it?
It was not long after this vision in chapter 8 that the hand which wrote on the wall incident occurred. Daniel must have been amazed at how swiftly world events were proceeding. He truly lived in amazing times and got to witness many wondrous things.
In our next chapter, chapter 9, which occurred 11 years later, Gabriel returned to Daniel’s side, with more information. We will explore that next week.
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