BY BRUCE GREEN
OPINION —
Daniel receives his vision of chapter 8 in 550 B.C. In his vision, he is in the “citadel of Susa” — the capital of the Medo-Persian kingdom (see Esther 1:1-3). He sees a ram with two horns, with one horn longer than the other. He is told later the ram represents the kingdom of Medo-Persia (v. 20). The horn that becomes longer is the Persian element of the kingdom which would become dominant. The Medo-Persian kingdom was powerful and held world domin-ion for about 200 years (v. 4).
Daniel is contemplating the significance of what he has seen when “a goat with a prominent horn between its eyes comes from the west, crossing the earth without touching the ground” (v. 5). The goat attacks the ram and shat-ters its two horns, leaving it powerless. This is the Greek empire that rapidly rose to power under Alexander the Great (v. 21). He defeated the Persians in 330 B.C. By the age of 30, his kingdom stretched from Greece to India. By the age of 33, he is dead from a fever and alcohol poisoning. The man who conquered the world couldn’t conquer himself.
His kingdom is divided among his four generals (v. 22), who are known collec-tively as the Diadochi. They are the “four prominent horns” of v. 8. From one of those horns, comes another horn that starts out small but grows in power (v. 9). It sets up against the people of God (v. 10, 12-13), and “It took away the daily sacrifice from the Lord, and His sanctuary was thrown down” (v. 11). God allows all this this to happen because of the “rebellion” (v. 12) of His people (see also v. 13, 19, 23).
The little horn that starts out small but grows in power is Antiochus IV Epiphanes. He came to power in 175 B.C. and in 170 B.C. he began an unprecedented campaign of persecution against the Jewish people. In 167 B.C., he desecrated the temple by sacrificing a pig on the altar of burnt offerings and made the priests and other people eat the pig’s flesh. He extinguished the menorah and made possessing a copy of the Torah, or circumcising some-one, crimes punishable by death. He instituted the worship of Zeus at the temple and turned the temple chambers into brothels. This led to the Macca-bean revolt and the rededication of the temple in 164 B.C. and is commemo-rated by Hanukkah/The Feast of Dedication (John 10:22ff).
Daniel proclaimed history ahead of time. He wasn’t doing it for the sake of novelty or sensationalism — he wanted Israel (and us) to understand it is only possible because God is sovereign and in control. Because this is true, we know that no matter what appearances might look like, God’s purposes will ultimately prevail.
For the Jewish people of Daniel’s time, this meant that even though they were in exile with no descendant of David on the throne, God was faithful and would keep His promise He had made to them. He would send a descendant through whom He would rule forever (see Psalm 89). And in Jesus Christ, that’s exactly what He did.
Find more of Green’s writings at his website: a-taste-of-grace-with-bruce-green.com