The Greek Goat Versus the Prince of Princes

The Greek Goat Versus the Prince of Princes
Daniel 8 sermon notes
I. Intro: Why Fulfilled Prophecy Still Matters
Why does reflecting on a prophecy that has been completely fulfilled within
history matter? Pretty much everyone agrees that the prophetic vision
recorded for us in Daniel chapter 8 has been completely fulfilled well over
2,000 years ago. So, why shouldn’t we just skip over it?
First, in a book like Daniel, where controversy and disagreement abound
among students of Scripture throughout history, wherever there is abundant
agreement, we should celebrate and enjoy! Second, having a visionary
prophecy completely fulfilled in history can shape our expectations for how to
understand what the fulfillment of other prophecies should look like. Third,
we can have our convictions about God’s faithfulness strengthened when we
study the historical fulfillment of prophecy. Have you ever struggled believing
some of God’s promises? Is he really always with you, even when you don’t
feel it? Will he really protect you from Satanic attack and oppression? Will he
really enable you to please him in your life by overcoming sinful patterns and
attitudes and by actually obeying his Word? Will he really send his Son to
return to set all things right? Will he really resurrect the dead and bring in the
New Creation? Will he really wipe all my tears away? Seeing that he has
fulfilled his prophetic Word in the past strengthens our convictions and our
faith that he will fulfill all his promises.
Finally, as we consider how this passage might’ve impacted God’s people
who lived through the fulfillment, we might find that the message of the
vision is not simply about the facts of what will happen. Rather, the vision
was given ahead of time to enable those who read the prophecy ahead of time
and believed the prophecy ahead of time to respond properly when the
fulfillment was unfolding. It may be also, in this particular case, that the
specific historical events being prophesied and depicted in visionary form also
reflect a historical pattern that God’s people throughout the ages would face in
various times and places. It may be that this prophetic vision, depicting events
that would culminate around 380 years after Daniel saw this vision, events
that occurred more than 2,180 years ago from our vantage point, contains a
very important message for followers of Jesus in the church today.

Here’s the way I summarize this message from Daniel 8: God establishes
decisive limits on the oppression of his people by wicked rulers. From
Daniel 7 through the end of the book, there is a greater focus on the suffering
of God’s people, and, in chapter 8, Daniel returns to writing in Hebrew for the
rest of the book. The stories of the first six chapters depicted the suffering of
God’s people in exile, but the focus of those chapters was to highlight God’s
presence with his faithful people and his provision of relief in the midst of the
exile. But in chapters 7 through 12, the visions given to Daniel make it clear
that things are going to get much worse. The purpose of these visions, then, is
to comfort readers ahead of time, to let them know that they’re going to suffer,
but none of it is outside of God’s control. That’s the main point of this vision
especially: God limits the suffering and oppression of his people. Thus, this
message can apply to any situation of suffering that we face as Christians. No
one and nothing—not the devil, not demonic powers, not wicked rulers, not
sinful people, not disease or disaster—nothing can go beyond the limits that
God has set on the oppression and suffering that we experience in this world.
We should take comfort that nothing is outside of God’s control.
So, with all that in mind, let’s begin looking at the passage. Let’s first
consider the setting and also Daniel’s response to the vision. I’m not going to
read the entire passage, but I’ll summarize and we’ll dive in at certain points. I
hope you’ll follow along in your own Bible.
II. Setting and Daniel’s Response to the Vision (Dan. 8:1-2, 15a, 27)
In verse 1, we find that we’re back in the reign of Belshazzar, the final king of
the Babylonian Empire. He’s been the vice-regent of Babylon, with his father,
Nabonidus, living abroad but still the true king, for about three years. Daniel’s
first vision came two years earlier, in the first year of Belshazzar. So, about
two years have passed since Daniel received his vision of the four beasts and
the “one like a son of man,” which we looked at for three weeks, up through
Easter Sunday. Now, in chapter 8, the year is roughly 547 BC.
Daniel connects the visions of chapter 7 and chapter 8. In chapter 7, Daniel
had seen four beasts which represented four historical kingdoms, which we
identified as Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. In chapter 8, Daniel
sees a vision of two beasts, a ram and a goat, and they will be explicitly

identified as representing Medo-Persia and Greece, respectively. So, in a
sense, this vision zooms in on a particular historical period of time in the
midst of the sequences of empires he had seen two years earlier.
In verse 2, Daniel describes where he was when he saw this vision. He was in
a city called Susa in the Babylonian province of Elam. Many years later,
Nehemiah will spend some time at that same location, and the events of the
book of Esther unfold there as well. However, in Daniel’s day, during the days
of the Babylonian Empire, Elam was merely a province of Babylon, and Susa
was one major city, where the Babylonian kings established a fortress, and
Daniel seems to be there at this time. But later, during the Medo-Persian
Empire, Susa became one of the capital cities, one of the most important cities
in the kingdom, where Persian kings would live during the winters. So, he’s in
the fortress when God gives him this vision, but, in the vision itself, he sees
himself at the Ulai canal, a waterway just outside the city.
Before we look at the details of Daniel’s description, I want to consider briefly
his response to what he sees. In verse 15, he expresses his desire to understand
the meaning of the vision. This implies that he doesn’t get the point! But, as
he’s pondering, the angel Gabriel shows up. This is probably the same angel
who appeared to Mary to instruct her about the birth of Jesus. Gabriel is
instructed to help Daniel understand the meaning of the vision.
Well, after Gabriel explains, we read these words in verse 27, “And I, Daniel,
was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and went about the
king’s business, but I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it.” I
suppose Gabriel gave it his best effort, but Daniel the prophet just doesn’t get
it! Not only does he remain in suspense about the meaning, but he is also
upset and physically ill because of what he saw and what he heard. Some of
you have been worn out by our look at the book of Daniel; maybe that’s my
fault: in attempting to be exhaustive, I’ve actually been more exhausting for
my listeners. But, I’m kind of not sorry. I think it’s good when we feel the
same emotional impact that the original recipient of these visions felt! I hope
you’ll hang in there with me a little while longer. Moreover, we can
sometimes kid ourselves into thinking that, if we knew what would happen in
our future then we’d be able to cope better. But Daniel gets just a tiny glimpse
of the future, and not even future events that he’d be alive to experience

himself, for the most part, and he is left debilitated and discouraged.
Regarding the future, both of our lives and of the world, how kind of God to
call us to walk by faith and not by sight!
Also, I wanted to draw your attention to a detail here that corrects something I
mistakenly said several weeks ago. In Daniel 5, I had assumed that perhaps
Daniel had been retired when Belshazzar came to power in Babylon. Here, we
see that, at least in the third year of Belshazzar’s decade-long reign, Daniel is
still employed in “the king’s business.” Perhaps old-man Daniel had been
shuffled off to Susa, filing paperwork in an insignificant corner of the
Babylonian Empire, long forgotten by those in power for his excellent spirit
and great wisdom, so that Belshazzar treats him with such disdain when they
have their ill-fated meeting in chapter 5, some seven years after Daniel sees
this vision.
Well, now, let’s consider Daniel’s description of the vision in verses 3-14.
III. Daniel’s Description of the Vision (Dan. 8:3-14)
First, Daniel sees a ram with two horns, but he notices that one horn extended
higher than the other. This is similar to the lopsided bear in the vision of
chapter 7. Apparently, he watched the two horns grow from the ram’s head,
because he says that the horn that ended up extending higher grew after the
first one.
Then, he observes the movement of the ram. He charged to the west, to the
north, and to the south, which probably indicates that it originated from the
east. This ram is depicted as attacking and overcoming all manner of other
beasts. He seems unstoppable. The last line of verse 4 says, “He did as he
pleased and became great,” or he magnified himself.
Then, from the west, Daniel observes a weird male goat coming as a
challenger against the ram. This goat is weird; he’s got a single horn between
his eyes and he seems to hover above the ground. He charges the ram and
butts the ram, head on, shattering both horns, and then he stomps him into the
ground. Look at verse 8: “Then the goat became exceedingly great”—or
“magnified himself exceedingly”—“but when he was strong, the great horn
was broken, and instead of it there came up four conspicuous horns toward the

four winds of heaven.” Note the passive voice. The huge horn between the
eyes of this male goat “was broken,” and Daniel would’ve recognized the
action of God here. But then, on the goat’s head, four new horns began
growing, one in each of the four compass directions.
But then, as if the goat’s not already weird enough, he just gets weirder!
Somewhat like antlers, rather than horns, a little horn begins growing out of
one of the four new horns. Look at verse 9: “Out of one of them came a little
horn, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and
toward the glorious land.” This is a weird little horn! Daniel apparently sees it
splitting off into two directions, jutting out toward the east and toward the
south. More specifically, Daniel mentions that it pointed toward “the glorious
land,” probably a reference to the land of Israel.
Now, at verse 10, the action really begins and goes in a wild direction. This
little horn “grew great, even to the host of heaven. And some of the host and
some of the stars it threw down to the ground and trampled on them.”
Remember, Daniel is describing what he saw in the vision. Don’t try to
substitute the interpretation too quickly. He sees this little horn become
gigantic; it reaches all the way up into the night sky, slams some of the stars
down on the ground, and thrashes the stars. What a wild vision!
In verse 11, there’s a shift, but you don’t see it clearly in English. Verse 11
returns to discussing the goat. The goat “became great”—or “magnified
itself”—“even as great as the Prince of the host.” Pause there for just a
moment. Who is this “Prince of the host”? Most of the time elsewhere, this
Hebrew phrase is usually translated “the commander of the army.” The “host”
in the previous verse seems to refer to the stars, perhaps along with the sun
and moon. Or, sometimes the word “host” refers to angels. Could the goat
have thrown down some stars and some angels in Daniel’s vision? And here,
the goat exalts himself to become as great as the commander of the heavenly
hosts, commander of the angelic armies? Who is the commander of the
angelic armies? We’ll come back to this question.
Back in verse 11, the goat’s actions seem focused again on earth, particularly
in Jerusalem. “And the regular burnt offering was taken away from him, and
the place of his sanctuary was overthrown.” So, as a result of the goat’s self-

exaltation against “the Prince of the host,” the commander of the army, the
regular burnt offering was taken away from this heavenly commander, and
this heavenly commander’s sanctuary was overthrown. Now we begin to see
the identity of this heavenly commander more clearly. The sanctuary is surely
the temple in Jerusalem, and the regular burnt offering is a part of Israel’s
sacrificial system.
Now, just to raise a question for a moment, consider Daniel and the setting of
this vision again. Daniel is in Babylon, in exile with the rest of the Jewish
people. The temple and the city of Jerusalem are in ruins. No one is offering
sacrifices at this time. This might’ve been a clear indicator to Daniel that this
vision is for the future, but I wonder if he’s already got God’s promises of the
temple’s rebuilding and the people’s restoration to the land dancing around in
his mind at this point. But the ominous reality before him suggests already
that, even when the people are restored, even when the temple is rebuilt,
trouble for God’s people isn’t over. Something is wrong with this picture.
We’ll come back to this in a bit.
In verse 12, there’s more bad news and the focus shifts back to the little horn.
“And a host will be given over to it”—to the little horn—“together with the
regular burnt offering because of transgression, and it”—the little horn—“will
throw truth to the ground, and it will act and prosper.” Another “host” is
mentioned here, but, in connection with the regular burnt offering, we’re
probably to recognize the host of God’s people in view. Why is all this going
to happen? Daniel perceives the ultimate explanation for this: “because of
transgression.” Because of rebellion. Now, this is disturbing on a number of
levels. Daniel and the Jews are currently in exile, under the judgment of God,
because of their transgressions, because of their rebellion. Daniel’s vision
indicates a future where the temple has been rebuilt and the people have
returned to the land, but God is still giving his people over—did you notice
the passive voice? The host will be given over to the little horn, by God! So,
after the people have returned to the land, after the temple has been rebuilt,
after the fulfilment of these promises from the Lord, he will again be handing
them over to judgment? God is going to hand his people over to the
oppression of this little horn after fulfilling his promises to return them to the
land and enable them to rebuild their temple. How could this be? As we see
clearly in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, even

though God returns the people to the land, even though the people rebuild the
temple in Jerusalem, the Jewish people remain in rebellion against their God.
They deserved to remain in exile! God mercifully brings them back to the
land, prospers them, enables them to build their temple, and they continue in
their rebellion against him. He hasn’t yet fulfilled all of the promises of the
New Covenant. He hasn’t yet given them a heart to obey him. He hasn’t yet
given them his Holy Spirit to live within them.
But, in verse 13, Daniel overhears an interesting conversation between two
angels. The angel seemed to raise a question actually for Daniel’s benefit,
since verse 14 has the first angel answering the question but directing that
answer to Daniel himself. The question goes like this: “For how long is the
vision concerning the regular burnt offering, the transgression that makes
desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled
underfoot?” How long will the burnt offering be taken away? How long will
the sanctuary be overcome? How long will the host be trampled underfoot?
How long will God bring desolation and destruction in judgment against the
people’s transgression and rebellion? The answer, addressed to Daniel, is
quite cryptic, but it contains good news. Look at verse 14: “And he said to me,
‘For 2,300 evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary shall be restored to its
rightful state.’” The angel’s assumption is that God must have a limit to this.
God has got to put a stop to this, and the angel wants to know how long will
God allow it to go on. He seems to be asking for Daniel’s benefit.
What’s going to happen at the end of the time frame? The angel says that the
temple will be “restored to its rightful state.” That’s an appropriate
paraphrase, but the Hebrew verb used is literally the righteous word, the word
that means to be justified or vindicated. So, the temple will be vindicated,
which, in this context, probably means it will be cleansed from its defilement
and restored to its proper functioning. We’ll come back to address the time
frame specified here, but just notice the odd way that the angel puts it. Why
doesn’t he speak of a certain number of years, or months, or days? Why the
language of a certain number of “evenings and mornings”? Let that question
hang, as we move into Gabriel’s explanation of the vision.
IV.

Gabriel’s Explanation of the Vision (Dan. 8:15-26)

Daniel now sees a figure that he describes as looking like a man, but then he
hears another human voice that seemed to be coming from between the banks
of the river. Well, that must mean that the source of the voice was either
standing in the river or somehow suspended above the river. Daniel hears the
human voice command Gabriel to “make this man understand the vision,” or
seek to help Daniel understand. As we’ve already observed, Gabriel will
provide the explanation, but, at this point, Daniel doesn’t come away with a
clear understanding of what he’s seen.
I want to hone in on what Gabriel says about the time frame for just a
moment. Look at the end of verse 17, where Gabriel says to Daniel,
“Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end.” What
does “the time of the end” mean? We have to be careful about reading this
phrase outside its context. When we see references to “the end,” especially in
the book of Daniel, we need to ask the question: “the end of what”? We have
to be careful not to assume that every reference to “the end” means the
absolute end of all things. Let context be your guide!
In verse 19, Gabriel somewhat clarifies what he means here. He said, “Behold,
I will make known to you what shall be at the latter end of the indignation, for
it refers to the appointed time of the end.” What is “the indignation”? It’s
another word for “wrath” or “fury,” and most often it refers to God’s wrath,
and I think that is what is intended here. Gabriel is indicating that this will last
until God has finished pouring out his wrath during this season of history.
One last point about the time frame: in verse 26, Gabriel concludes, saying,
“The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true, but
seal up the vision, for it refers to many days from now.” The things Daniel
sees will not begin happening in history until “many days from now.” We’ll
consider the historical fulfillment in just a bit.
Now, let’s back up and pull in the details of Gabriel’s explanation, beginning
in verse 20. He identifies the two-horned ram as representing “the kings of
Media and Persia,” and, as in chapter 7, the beasts represent both kings and
the kingdoms as a whole, and the interpretation goes back and forth between
particular kings and the empires as a whole. In verse 21, he identifies the goat
initially as the king of Greece, but we should view this as the dynasty or the

line of kings, because he’s going to also identify the horns of the goat as the
kings. The large horn Daniel saw at first represents the first king of Greece,
and, in context, this means specifically the first king to conquer Persia and
establish a dominant empire. He is not identified by name, but we will name
him when we discuss the actual historical fulfillment.
Then, we recall from the vision, that Daniel saw this large horn suddenly
broken, and four new horns grew up in its place, and Gabriel indicates that
this represents how four kingdoms will arise from within the goat representing
Greece. This division of the empire will result in four lesser kingdoms, four
inferior kingdoms. Verse 23 is where we need to zoom in a bit. “And at the
latter end of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their limit, a
king of bold face, one who understands riddles, shall arise.” Who are the
transgressors? These are the rebellious Jews, rebels against God, and here
Gabriel speaks of them reaching the limit of their rebellion. This should
remind us of an interesting comment the Lord made to Abram way back in
Genesis 15. The Lord tells him that his descendants are going to number as
many as the stars and that they are going to possess the land of Canaan, but
before they take possession of that land, they will be enslaved for 400 years.
Why must they wait so long? In Genesis 15:16, the Lord promised, “And they
shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites
is not yet complete.” So, we are to understand that one of the reasons that the
Jews were enslaved in Egypt for 400 years was so that the Amorites, and
probably the rest of the Canaanites in the land, would continue to get more
sinful and more sinful and more sinful until they crossed a certain line when
God would finally say, “Enough!” And then, and only then, he would send in
his chosen people as his agent of judgment to pour out his wrath upon the
Amorites. That is what is going on here. The wickedness of the Jews will
reach such a point during the days of the Greek Empire when God is going to
say, “Enough!” And then he’s going to send in a new agent to bring judgment
against the Jews, the Greek king represented by this little horn in Daniel’s
vision.
Gabriel gives a vague time reference, toward the end of the Greek kingdom,
and gives a couple of vague clues as to this king’s identity: he comes from one
of the four kingdoms divided up from the unified Greek Empire, and he’ll be
characterized by boldness or mercilessness and a kind of twisted wisdom, “to

understand riddles,” which was a phrase used to describe Daniel himself back
in chapter 5. Then, in verses 24-25, the terrible actions of this Greek king are
sketched out. First, Gabriel says, “His power shall be great—but not by his
own power,” an intriguing description, which doesn’t really tell us much
about how he rises to power. He’ll be successful in causing lots of destruction,
including against God’s people, the saints. Deceit will be one of his most
effective tools, and “in his own mind he shall become great,” or, more
literally, “in his own heart he shall magnify himself.”
Then, as Daniel saw the little horn of the goat extending up in verse 10 and
the whole goat magnifying himself in verse 11, “even as great as the Prince of
the host,” or the commander of the army, so Gabriel explains, toward the end
of verse 25, that this king “shall even rise up against the Prince of princes.” I
want to slow down here and take a look at this title. When you have a phrase
like this in Hebrew, “prince of princes” or “king of kings” or “lord of lords” or
“holy of holies,” this is the normal way of communicating the best of a
particular class. So, “king of kings” is the greatest of all kings, “holy of
holies” is the most holiest person, place, or thing. Here, the word translated
“prince” is a very flexible term. It sometimes refers to a royal figure, as in the
son of a king. On a few occasions, the word refers to a king. But most often it
refers to some kind of authority figure, a ruler, or a commander or general in
an army, or even a religious leader. So, we need to be careful not to overread
what’s being communicated here in this title. The word “prince” probably
shouldn’t be pressed into its common English meaning, specifically a son of a
king. As we looked at earlier, the phrase in verse 11 is most often translated
“the commander of the army,” and it’s usually referring to a specific
commander in a human army, such as Abner or Joab in First and Second
Samuel. However, it is the phrase we find in Joshua 5:14-15 referring to the
mysterious figure who appears to Joshua prior to him leading the people into
Jericho. There, the phrase is expanded to read “the commander of the army of
Yahweh.” In Daniel 1, this was the word used to refer to the chief of the
eunuchs. In Daniel 10, we are going to find this word translated “prince”
applied to angelic and demonic figures connected somehow to specific
nations. In Daniel 12, this word will refer to Michael, described as “the great
prince.” Here, it seems most likely to me that we are to understand this as a
title for God himself, the greatest of all “princes,” the greatest of all rulers.
This seems to be the case as verse 11 spoke of “his sanctuary” and the regular

burnt offering being taken away “from him,” which seems only appropriate of
God himself.
So, Gabriel indicates that this Greek king will oppose God himself, but notice
there in verse 25 that “he shall be broken—but by no human hand.” That last
phrase surely implies the action of God, though his end, his demise may seem
mysterious to human observers. In verse 26, as Gabriel brings his explanation
to a close, he refers to “the vision of the evenings and the mornings,” but he
doesn’t elaborate on the cryptic figure 2,300 the angel spoke of in verse 14.
Instead of explaining further, he tells Daniel to “seal up the vision.” Daniel
has recorded what he saw and what Gabriel told him, now Gabriel tells him to
roll up the scroll he’s been writing on, wrap it up, stamp it with a wax seal,
and then lock it away for a little while because it’s not for Daniel’s time. It’s
for later, “many days from now.” So, when does Daniel unroll this scroll?
Well, I think he unrolls it when he writes and compiles what we have now as
“the Book of Daniel.” He received this vision somewhere around 547 BC; the
last date we’re given in the book of Daniel is 536 BC. So, at least 12 years
later, Daniel pulls all of his records together and shapes them into this final
form that we know of as “the book of Daniel.”
Why does Gabriel want him to seal the scroll and lock it away until later?
Well, I think no one should read this vision by itself. It won’t make sense
without the context of the rest of the book of Daniel. Daniel didn’t understand
the vision when he saw it, but, perhaps when he experienced the events
recorded in chapters 5 and 6, perhaps when he received the vision of chapter 9
and then the vision of chapters 10-12, perhaps he understood more of it when
he pulled all of this material together. But, when he does pull it all together,
this scroll, this document will be circulated among the Jews, both those who
remained scattered in exile throughout the Medo-Persian Empire and those
who returned home to the land of Judah. And the book would be read,
recognized as God’s Word given to the prophet Daniel, and the book would be
shared with children and grandchildren, who would grow up to experience the
historical outworking, the fulfillment of the visionary prophecy about the ram
and the goat. This record should’ve prepared them for what was coming; it
should’ve helped them to know, from Scripture, that God establishes decisive
limits on the oppression of his people by wicked rulers. Let’s now consider

the historical fulfillment of this vision, which, I remind you, pretty much
everyone agrees about.
V. The Historical Fulfillment of the Vision
Now, if you’ve been paying attention, you may notice that Gabriel doesn’t
comment on every detail that Daniel mentioned seeing in his vision. For
example, he doesn’t elaborate on the goat’s attack on the ram, which Daniel
described in verses 6-7. However, since Gabriel identifies the ram as the
Medo-Persian Empire, which we know from history was dominant in that part
of the world for almost 200 years from 539-330 BC, and since he identifies
the goat as the line of kings from Greece and the prominent single horn as the
first king of the Greek Empire, we can confidently say the goat’s attack on the
ram signifies Alexander the Great’s leading his Greek armies to conquer the
Medo-Persian Empire in 330 BC.
The goat’s swiftness reflects the quick dominance of Alexander as he
expanded his territory rapidly and powerfully. But, the horn was broken, and,
as Gabriel explained, four kingdoms would arise in his place. Now, it’s at this
point that we have to be very careful as we trace the fulfillment, and we have
to temper our expectations about what the fulfillment of prophecy must look
like in history. Daniel uses the passive voice to imply that God broke the large
horn; thus, we are to credit God for the demise of Alexander the Great. From
history, we know Alexander fell ill or he might’ve been poisoned, but he got
sick and died. He wasn’t beaten by another military force; no obvious coup
occurred to strip him of his power. The Bible doesn’t really care about
Alexander; as much as our history books speak of him, the Bible makes
nothing of him, and that may be, in part, due to his stance toward God’s
people. He essentially left the Jews alone; he didn’t persecute them; he wasn’t
hostile to them. Nevertheless, whether disease or poison, God oversaw the
judgment and defeat of Alexander the Great.
But then, Daniel saw four new horns grow on this Greek goat, and Gabriel
indicates that these are four new kingdoms that arise from within the Greek
Empire. Historically, there’s a 20-year process reflected in verse 22. The
vision doesn’t intend to give the precise historical progression, one event right
after the other necessarily; rather, it intends to jump in at a particular point and
focus on what matters for God’s people. This map highlights the four eventual

successors of Alexander’s Greek kingdom in 301 BC. So, eventually the four
kingdoms represented by the four horns would be established, but it would be
about 23 years after Alexander’s death before that would take place, with a lot
of changes and developments happening in those two decades that the
prophecy doesn’t care to depict or mention. Where’s “the glorious land” in all
of this? Just south of Syria, the land of Israel sits in between Seleucus and
Ptolemy, and for the next 150 or 200 years, Seleucus and his descendants and
Ptolemy and his descendants will be fighting over Israel, back and forth, back
and forth. Sometimes the Seleucids—the descendants of Seleucus—will rule
Israel, and sometimes the Ptolemies will rule Israel. We’re going to see more
of this in chapter 11 of Daniel, in the mysterious kings of the north and kings
of the south.
But, here, the vision focuses on one particular king, one represented by a little
horn, one who would arise “at the latter end of their kingdom,” as Gabriel says
in verse 23. Pretty much everyone agrees that this represents the Seleucid king
called Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Antiochus is either his real name or his throne
name, a special name Greek kings would take when they took the throne. He
comes to power in 175 BC, while the Seleucid kingdom is ruling over Israel.
Now, Gabriel said that he would rule “at the latter end of” the Greek Empire.
Historically, this is about 30 years before the Greek Empire was absorbed into
the Roman Empire.
Gabriel indicates, in verse 24, that “his power shall be great—but not by his
own power.” Many interpreters jump to interesting conclusions here,
assuming that he must be inspired by Satan, which deepens his connection to
the little horn of chapter 7 and the antichrists of the future, right? Can I just
plead with everyone to stop reading Satan into places where he doesn’t
belong? As we talked about a few weeks ago, the little horn of Daniel 7 refers
to a ruler within the Roman Empire who would oppose God and his people,
one of the many antichrists the New Testament speaks of. Since this ruler in
the Greek kingdom is depicted as a little horn, it’s probably correct to see him
as a precursor to that pattern, an “antichrist before Christ.” While I agree that
Satan was surely involved in the atrocities that Antiochus IV Epiphanes
committed against the Jewish people, the Bible makes nothing of that.

Historically, there’s probably something else going on, something that God’s
people might’ve been able to notice, so that they might be able to identify this
figure when he rose to power. Historically, Antiochus didn’t seize the throne;
he wasn’t next in line for the throne; he didn’t assassinate the previous king
and take his place. We know from history that he received some outside
assistance to take the throne. In about 175 BC, the King of Pergamum
exercised his influence to get Antiochus on the throne of the Seleucid
kingdom, ahead of his older brothers and a couple of nephews who were
actually rightful heirs to that throne. This detail might help thoughtful Jews
reading Daniel’s record perk up and take notice when a new king comes over
the land of Judah who was installed with a little foreign influence.
Daniel saw the little horn throw stars to the ground in verse 10. Gabriel
indicates that this represents the king destroying the saints in verse 24.
Furthermore, Daniel saw the goat with the little horn becoming dominant
rising up and opposing God in verse 11, and his opposition results in sacrifices
being stopped and the temple being overthrown. What does this all look like
historically? First, Antiochus IV is the first Seleucid king to claim divinity for
himself. Look at this next slide. Here we have a coin, lots of which have been
dug up by archaeologists over the years. Antiochus IV had these coins minted
and distributed throughout his kingdom, including in Israel. This is the money
that Jews of his time period would have had to use. It’s got his face on the
front, which you can see on the left. On the back, the right image on the slide,
you see what looks like someone sitting on a throne, and that is a
representation of the Greek god Zeus, the head of the Greek pantheon. So,
Antiochus IV is pictured on the front, and Zeus is pictured on the back. But
then there are Greek words stamped into the coin. If you turned the coin
around, so that you read the words on the right side of Zeus first, we read
Basileōs Antiochou—King Antiochus; then, you’d read the words on the left
side of Zeus: Theou Epiphanous—God Manifest. Finally, there’s a single,
compound Greek word underneath Zeus’s throne: Nikephorou—VictoryBearer. Put it all together, and we have “King Antiochus, God Manifest,
Victory-Bearer.” This is the propaganda Antiochus IV promoted for himself;
he wanted to be known as the earthly manifestation of Zeus, God in the flesh!
What blasphemy! He is the one who would bring victory for the Greeks. This
is what magnifying oneself against the one true God looks like. When you go
around claiming to be the high god of the Greek pantheon, but you’re not

really a god, then you’re an opponent of the one true God, an anti-God, or
could we even say an antichrist figure?
As he exalted himself in this way, the vision and Gabriel’s explanation
indicated that he would somehow remove the regular burnt offering and
overthrow God’s sanctuary. “The regular burnt offering” refers specifically to
a pair of offerings that were to be sacrificed at the temple in Jerusalem by the
Jewish priests every day, one in the morning and one in the evening,
according to Exodus 29:38-41 and Numbers 28:3-8. If he stops the daily
sacrifices from being offered, then he stops all sacrifices from being offered.
Now, as I mentioned earlier, Daniel would’ve probably noticed the
significance of this. When Daniel sees this vision, the temple and the city of
Jerusalem are both in ruins, and the Jewish people are in exile, under the
judgment of God for their idolatry and rebellion against God. Daniel knows
from reading his Bible, the prophecy of Isaiah especially, that God promised
to return the Jews to the land and to enable them to rebuild the temple, and
Daniel even knows from Isaiah’s prophecies that a Medo-Persian king named
Cyrus would be the pagan king Yahweh would use to fulfill these prophecies.
When we come to Daniel 9 next Sunday, we’ll see how important Daniel’s
Bible reading is for his prayer life and for his understanding of prophecy.
But he has got to be confused at this point. The prophecies of Isaiah, and also
those of Daniel’s contemporaries Jeremiah and Ezekiel, clearly showed that
God would bring the Jews out of exile to return to living in the Promised
Land, and that God would enable them to rebuild their temple. But in those
prophets, these promises are connected to promises that God would establish a
New Covenant, forgive all their sin, enable the people to obey God, eliminate
their oppression, and even bring in a New Creation. Here, Daniel sees a vision
of the Jews being in their land with a fully functioning temple, but still in
rebellion against God and God still pouring out his wrath on the Jewish
people. What in the world??
So, what happened? What did Antiochus IV do? He invaded the land of Judah
on two different occasions and just massacred Jewish people. He even came in
once on the Sabbath day, knowing that the Jews would not defend themselves.
Mostly, he seems to have been motivated simply by prejudice, racism, but,
ultimately God was using him to bring judgment against his people. Even as

he opposes God, God uses him for his own purposes, as we’ve seen with
Nebuchadnezzar and all other rulers in the Bible and throughout history.
Everything that transpired under Antiochus IV was the outworking of God’s
judgment against his own people for their transgression, their rebellion.
What did their rebellion look like? God endured their rebellion, up to a point.
What was the line they crossed? As the Greek Empire spread and the
influence of Greek culture spread, many Jewish leaders began wanting to
embrace Greek culture, and so they began buddying up to the Greek leaders in
their land. They approached their Greek overlords and said, “Why don’t you
guys build a gymnasium in Jerusalem next to the temple? We’d like to
participate in the Greek athletic competitions.” Well, these Greek games were
played in the nude. That was something that a Jewish man shouldn’t and
wouldn’t do, but they wanted to fit in and play along and have these games
that are dedicated to the Greek gods, by the way. But, when Jewish men took
off their clothes in public, they became embarrassed about the fact that they
were circumcised. So, the Jewish leaders developed a surgical procedure to
make it look like they hadn’t been circumcised. I don’t know what that means,
and I don’t want to think about it! But the point is that these Jewish leaders
were embarrassed by the sign of their covenant relationship with God, and
they were ready to get rid of it in order to fit in with the culture. I suspect this
was the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak; the line of rebellion
had been crossed and God was ready to pour out his wrath on his people once
again.
Daniel had seen the little horn throwing truth to the ground, and Gabriel said
that this king would make deceit prosper. Antiochus IV would forbid the Jews
to obey the Mosaic Law, to circumcise their sons, to read their Scriptures. If
he found scrolls of the Torah, he destroyed them. That’s a pretty accurate
reflection of “throwing truth to the ground.”
The overthrow of the rebuilt temple happened in 167 BC. He marched into
Jerusalem, killed all the priests, brought in a pig to slaughter, built an altar to
Zeus on top of the altar that sits in front of the Holy of Holies, and sacrificed
that unclean swine and poured its blood on top of the altar for Zeus, which
then dripped down onto the altar of Yahweh. He desecrated the temple in
every conceivable way. As if this weren’t enough, he also brought in

idolatrous banners and idolatrous coins. When you bring something unholy
into the temple like this, it nullifies the temple’s functionality; it cannot be
used according to its design. So, the temple would be shut down, and the
Jewish sacrifices would have to stop. God’s people cannot offer sacrifices in
an unclean temple.
The Jerusalem temple remains unusable for a bit longer than three years.
Finally, in 164 BC certain Jews from the Maccabean family had enough, and
they led a little band of Jewish rebels to stand up to Antiochus IV, and they
started a revolt. They fought on the Sabbath, and they defeated Antiochus IV’s
armies. They returned to the temple, purified it, destroyed the altar to Zeus,
cleaned it all out, brought back in the holy vessels that had been removed, and
they got the temple operational again. You can read this history in the Jewish
books called First and Second Maccabees. The Jewish people suffered
terribly, and these books tell the gory details, but they also tell the beautiful
story of how some faithful Jews were seeking to do God’s will during this
period and took back what Antiochus IV had ruined. They rededicated the
temple, and this event started a 100-year period of basic independence for the
Jewish nation. Most people forget about this because the Bible curiously never
mentions it directly. For 100 years, the Jews were not under the oppression of
any empire. Daniel doesn’t see that in his visions, but that’s what happened,
and this event is celebrated every year to this day in the holiday called
Hanukkah, a word which means “dedication,” referring to the dedication of
the temple at the end of this rebellion.
Gabriel had also noted God’s elimination of this Greek king; in verse 25, he
simply says, “and he shall be broken—but by no human hand.” Historically,
Antiochus IV Epiphanes wasn’t killed in battle or assassinated, and he didn’t
die of old age. I’ll read a paragraph from 2 Maccabees 9, which records a
Jewish recollection of the demise of Antiochus: “But the all-seeing Lord, the
God of Israel, struck him an incurable and invisible blow. As soon as he
ceased speaking”—Antiochus was just quoted as saying, “I will make
Jerusalem a cemetery of Jews”—“As soon as he ceased speaking he was
seized with a pain in his bowels for which there was no relief and with sharp
internal tortures—and that very justly, for he had tortured the bowels of others
with many and strange inflictions. Yet he did not in any way stop his
insolence, but was even more filled with arrogance, breathing fire in his rage

against the Jews and giving orders to hasten the journey. And so it came about
that he fell out of his chariot as it was rushing along, and the fall was so hard
as to torture every limb of his body. Thus he who had just been thinking in his
superhuman arrogance that he could command the waves of the sea and
imagining that he could weigh the high mountains in a balance was brought
down to earth and carried in a litter, making the power of God manifest to all.
And so the ungodly man’s body swarmed with worms, and while he was still
living in anguish and pain, his flesh rotted away, and because of his stench the
whole army felt revulsion at his decay. And when he could not endure his own
stench, he uttered these words: ‘It is right to be subject to God, and no mortal
should think that he is equal to God.’” Then, the record has the contents of a
letter he sent to the Jewish people, not quite apologizing for his treatment of
them, but promising that his successor would treat them more kindly. And
then the Jewish historian adds a final word: “So the murderer and blasphemer,
having endured the most intense suffering, such as he had inflicted on others,
came to the end of his life by a most pitiable fate, among the mountains in a
strange land.” We will revisit Antiochus IV Epiphanes, as he will be depicted
again in Daniel’s final vision, toward the end of chapter 11.
Now, there’s one last loose end to tie off, and we’ll close this morning. What
about the 2,300 evenings and mornings an angel mentions as part of the
vision? Should we take this literally? For those who say, “yes, we should take
it literally,” pinning down how this time span should fit with the historical
fulfillment becomes really tricky business. He says, “2,300 evenings and
mornings.” Okay, so is that talking about 2,300 days, recalling how each day
of creation was defined as evening and then morning? If so, that’s about six
years and four months. Now, we know historically when this all ends. It’s
possible from historical records to suggest that Antiochus IV’s oppressive
focus on the Jews lasted almost seven years, but it’s hard to force the history
to line up with precisely 2,300 days.
Others have seen the reference to “evenings and mornings” connecting to “the
regular burnt offering” which was “taken away” when Antiochus IV
desecrated the temple. If so, then 2,300 evening and morning sacrifices would
equal 1,150 days, which is pretty close to the time frame that the pagan altar
remained in the temple, 3 years and 10 days. But, in either view, it’s hard to
make the number of days line up precisely with the historical data.

But I’m happy to see 2,300 as a round number. Here’s the thing: there’s no
evidence that the Jews looked at this passage from Daniel as these things were
unfolding and had any ability to predict the date of the ending, as though this
were a clue that readers were supposed to figure out. As Alistair Begg has
said, these things are given to us for our comfort, not for our calendars.
VI.

Conclusion: Encouragement for Christians

So, as Christians, reading this as part of the book of Daniel, and part of the
whole Bible, what are we supposed to take away from this? At the beginning
of our time this morning, I suggested a few lines of application for prophetic
passages like this. Without even knowing about the way the historical
fulfillment unfolded, we should be able to draw out some larger significance,
right? As I’ve summarized the message of Daniel 8, we should see that God
establishes decisive limits on the oppression of his people by wicked
rulers. Sometimes, passages like this from the prophets don’t seem very
encouraging. But they are intended to strengthen us and even to encourage us,
just maybe in a way that we’re not expecting.
I’m reminded of the way the apostle Paul and his companion Barnabas—
whose name means “son of encouragement”—strengthened and encouraged
believers in the early church. We read of their encouragement ministry in Acts
14:21-22: “When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made
many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22
strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the
faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of
God.” The way they strengthened the disciples, the way they encouraged them
to keep on believing, was to remind them “that through many tribulations we
must enter the kingdom of God.” The path to the kingdom of God is paved
with many tribulations. Be encouraged!
Jesus spoke of the way leading to eternal life being full of tribulation as well.
In Matthew 7:13-14, he instructed his disciples about “the way.” He insisted
that we all must “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is
easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the
gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are

few.” The Greek word translated “hard” there is a verb that literally refers to
being squeezed, crushed, or pressed, as in a vice. It is also the root of the word
translated “tribulations” in Acts 14:22 and everywhere else in the New
Testament. This is the way. The way of tribulation is also the way of
salvation, the way that leads to eternal life.
So, the encouragement that we must draw from Daniel 8 is the encouragement
that says to Christians, because you are in Christ, because you are connected
to the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53, the man who walked the Via Dolorosa,
to take up his cross to die for his sinful, rebellious people, so we too must and
will take up our crosses, enduring faithfully along Tribulation Trail all the
way to Resurrection Ramp, which ends at our final destination, New
Jerusalem. As Paul says in Romans 8:17, we must suffer with Christ in order
to be glorified with Christ. Our faithful endurance of tribulation and suffering
in this life can demonstrate to the world our connection to Jesus, our likeness
to Jesus even. As Peter says, in 1 Peter 2:21, “…Christ suffered for you,
leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” Every moment
of misery you experience as a Christian, whether as a result of the attacks of
sinful people or as a result of the brokenness of nature, is full of meaning and
purpose in the hands of a loving God who is your good Father. I close with
Paul’s words from 2 Corinthians 4:17, words that very truly saved my life
from despair several years ago: “For this light momentary affliction”—that’s
the same word for “tribulation”—“For this light momentary tribulation is
preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”


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