Daniel 8 - Angels & The Shaping of History (notes)

Daniel 8 - Angels & The Shaping of History

Daniel

Has another powerful vision. The first part of the vision is the Medo-Persian Empire. The kings of Medo-Persia wore helmets which looked like ram’s horns, instead of a crown, when they went into battle.

The Prophecy

• Talks about the Medo-Persian kings going to war. The horn which grew up later as becoming longer than the first reveals that even though Media came to power first, Persia conquered Media thus uniting the Empire.
• The Empire was located between Egypt and Asia. It expanded its empire by conquering Greece westward, Babylon northward, and Egypt southward.
• This is found in Daniel 8:4. The Ram charging west, north and south is the Medo-Persian empire.

The Goat

Is the Empire of Greece. The horn in the middle of its forehead from the west is Alexander The Great who came from Macedonia. It being able to fly is how swift the Greek army was in battle. The goat charging the Ram is the war between Greece and the Medo-Persian Empire, after a number of battles the Greeks finally won in 331 B.C.

From Verses

8 through 12 the vision talks about the Goat swelling and becoming great. This is the great expansion of the Greek Empire. But at the height of its influence and power the horn broken off and four other horns sprout out of it. This is the death of Alexander the Great and how the empire was divided by his four generals.

Syria

• Was taken by Seleucus, Egypt by Ptolemy emerged as major forces thus these two forces were constantly engaged in hostile actions.
• Israel was between them geographically so when Egypt came up to fight, Israel was trampled underfoot. When Syria went down to fight Egypt Israel was stamped down. Under these circumstances, according to Daniel, a little horn came out of one of the horns. This is talking about the king of Syria named Antiochus Epiphanes, who was eight in the seleucus dynasty. (175-164 B.C.)

Antiochus

• Antiochus rose to prominence among the four horns. He defeated Egypt, and on his way home he subdued Jerusalem. After Jerusalem surrendered he set himself up against God and cruelly trampled Israel under foot. The host in Daniel’s vision refers to the Jews whom this conqueror cast down in defeat. Antiochus murdered several of the political and religious leaders of Israel including the high priest. He set himself up to be as great as the prince, that is God. He forbade the daily sacrifice in the temple.
• Desecrated the sanctuary with an altar offered to a Greek deity he worshipped. On it he sacrificed pig’s blood, an abomination to the Jews. He abolished the Mosaic Law and forbade circumcision and imposed a pagan lifestyle on them and anyone who refused to obey his laws was executed. These events parallel what will take place in the last days. The rise of the antichrist in the tribulation and his conquest and cruel treatment of Israel. History will repeat itself because God has decreed it and Daniel saw it.

The Persecution

• Of the Jews began in 171 B.C. and continued until Antiochus finally died on an expedition to Media in 164 B.C.As soon as he died Israel was released from Syrian bondage. The temple was purged and the daily sacrifice restored. The number of days from Antiochus conquest of Israel to his death was exactly twenty three hundred, the number prophesied here.
• This is where the law of double reference applies. So this is a double prophecy which was once fulfilled in history yet will be fulfilled again at the end of the age.

Daniel 8

15 "While I, Daniel, was trying to make sense of what I was seeing, suddenly there was a humanlike figure standing before me. 16-17 "Then I heard a man's voice from over by the Ulai Canal calling out, 'Gabriel, tell this man what is going on. Explain the vision to him.' He came up to me, but when he got close I became terrified and fell facedown on the ground. 17-18 "He said, 'Understand that this vision has to do with the time of the end.' As soon as he spoke, I fainted, my face in the dirt. But he picked me up and put me on my feet. 19 "And then he continued, 'I want to tell you what is going to happen as the judgment days of wrath wind down, for there is going to be an end to all this. 20-22 "'The double-horned ram you saw stands for the two kings of the Medes and Persians. The billy goat stands for the kingdom of the Greeks. The huge horn on its forehead is the first Greek king. The four horns that sprouted after it was broken off are the four kings that come after him, but without his power. 23-26"'As their kingdoms cool down and rebellions heat up,
A king will show up, hard-faced, a master trickster.
His power will swell enormously. He'll talk big, high-handedly,
Doing whatever he pleases, knocking off heroes and holy ones left and right.
He'll plot and scheme to make crime flourish and oh, how it will flourish!
He'll think he's invincible and get rid of anyone who gets in his way.
But when he takes on the Prince of all princes, he'll be smashed to bits but not by human hands.
This vision of the 2,300 sacrifices, evening and morning, is accurate but confidential.
Keep it to yourself. It refers to the far future.' 27 "I, Daniel, walked around in a daze, unwell for days. Then I got a grip on myself and went back to work taking care of the king's affairs. But I continued to be upset by the vision. I couldn't make sense of it."