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Readings in the Book of
Daniel
It was two years later, the year of the end of the Babylonian empire, before Daniel was able to receive another vision in answer to his prayers.
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Daniel 8:
1 In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, even to me Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first. 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 [in the vision].
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At that time Belshazzar and his court had moved into the summer palace in the hills, and the tempo of business had slowed. During this lull, Daniel was able to relax a bit and one day had a vision in which he found himself standing by the riverside.
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Daniel 8:
3 Then I lifted up my 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. 4 I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward [he was coming from the east]; 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.
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As Daniel watched an animal came from the east and conquered the whole world. Even without the two horns, one of which was greater than the other, he would have known it represented the Medes and the Persians, for the signs of rebellion had long been rumbling, and in fact the takeover was only months away. Gabriel confirmed this identification for him and us in verse 20 when he named the ram as a picture of the Medes and Persians.
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Daniel 8:
5 And as I was considering, behold, a he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground [he was travelling very fast]: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. 6 And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran to him in the fury of his power.
7 And I saw him come close to the ram, and he was moved with choler [anger] against him, and smote the ram, and broke 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.
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Daniel was watching an action movie which showed him another animal (the Greeks, verse 21) coming from the opposite direction (from Europe) and overcoming the Persians with a great show. Although this was not to happen for about two hundred years and Greece was known to him only as a group of wild tribes inhabiting a mountainous terrain, it told him that the Son of God knew all about it, and had it all under control.
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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.
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But, like Nebuchadnezzar, he wanted to know what was going to happen in the world so he continued watching. Then he saw the rise of Alexander the great and his untimely death when he was only 33 years old. He was also shown the squabbles of the generals and the final disposition of the empire into four sections, north, south, east, and west, thus repeating the four heads of the leopard. At this point there was no mention of the fact that the four would eventually become two, for it was more important to know that there would be yet another power going to take over the world, the “iron” legs of the statue and where it would come from. This time it was again shown as a “little horn” as in the vision of chapter seven.
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Daniel 8:
9 And out of one of them [west] came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land [Israel]. 10 And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven [the people of God]; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars [leaders] to the ground, and stamped upon them.
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.
12 And a host [the people of God] was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression [their apostasy], and it [the little horn] cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced, and prospered.
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His attention was all on the small bump on one of the four horns which grew into another horn, even as he watched. While the Medes and the Persians were “great” (v4), and the Greeks “very great” (v8), this power became “exceeding great” (v9). There is no mention here of the “ten horns” which were on the head of the beast in the vision of chapter seven, for this horn is all Pagan Rome, not yet Papal. The nation was not identified by name to Daniel for it didn’t really exist at this point in history, but there was no mistaking its anti-Christ attitude.
That which interested him the most was the fact that this nation which was also from the west, came through Greece (the north) towards Israel and also through Egypt (the south), which positively identifies it for us. Once in Israel (by a treaty in 168BC) Rome began to dominate and interfere with the Jewish religious system as well as the political one (they were basically the same), and it rearranged God’s order, even appointing the high priest at times, and doing this on a yearly basis, not the lifetime setup that God had introduced.
As Daniel watched in horror, the Roman power then crucified the Christ and after that destroyed the temple, effectively causing the sacrificial system to cease. (We should remember that Daniel’s temple did not exist at that moment, so he must have wondered where this one came from.) No matter, its destruction meant that the everlasting gospel was no longer available in picture form. In fact, the forces of Satan began to prosper and multiply for the Glory of the truth had departed. See 1 Samuel 4:21-22.
Then, to top it all off, the whole nation of Israel was dispersed to the four quarters of the earth and everything that Daniel believed in collapsed!
We know now that this did not happen until after the year 70AD. But Daniel had lived through such an experience and knew what it meant. In his prayer recorded in the next chapter, he accepted that he and his fellows were in Babylon as slaves because of their rebellion against God, but he had hoped that they would have learnt their lesson during their exile. He had been studying his prophet’s writings and knew that their captivity would be over at the end of a seventy year period, which was nearly complete. (It had two years to go.). Jeremiah 25:11-13. Yet in this vision he was being shown that they would go through it all again “by reason of transgression”! They would not learn anything at all from the Babylonian exile! We can only imagine how he must have felt at such a revelation.
Lateral thought:
Pagan Rome literally levelled the temple at Jerusalem in 70AD and it has never been rebuilt. However, when Papal Rome took over the kingdom around 538AD it did rebuild a counterfeit in every one of its churches by setting up a priesthood and offering “unbloody sacrifices” (the mass) on its altars. (Blood symbolised death.) It hoped by doing so that men’s attention would be taken from the heavenly sanctuary where the Son of God officiates as our High Priest every day forgiving sins, and instead would be focussed on their earthly ones. It “cast down the truth to the ground” and for 1,260 years it was very successful.
Now back to our scripture:
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Daniel 8:
13 Then I heard one Saint speaking, and another saint [an angel] said to that certain Saint which spoke, “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?”
14 And He said to me, “To two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed”.
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The Son of God spoke some words of encouragement to Daniel which are not recorded, but then after a question on Daniel’s behalf from one of the participating angels, He spoke again to Daniel and told him (and us) how long this new setback would last. Two thousand three hundred “days” in a prophetic pronouncement meant 2,300 years in literal time! Can we imagine how Daniel took this news? Here he was, living in the year 539BC, his nation barely 1,000 years old, only about 3,500 years since the creation, and he was being told of a new “desolation” which would last 2,300 years! And he didn’t even know when it would begin!
And to top it all off, the answer only covered half the question. The Son of God’s statement was that at the end of that period the sanctuary (the temple as Daniel knew it) would be restored to its rightful place. The LORD did not mention when the host would be restored, if ever! Poor Daniel!
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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. 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”.
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In answer to Daniel’s prayer of anguish, the Son of God, who appeared to standing over the waters in the middle of the river, told the angel Gabriel to explain it all to him. (Christ’s position indicated that he had control over all the peoples of the world, and He expected Daniel to take some comfort from that.) So Gabriel came to him in the form of a man also as a comfort.
It was Gabriel, the angel next in rank to the Son of God, who came with the divine message to Daniel. It was Gabriel, “His angel,” whom Christ sent to more fully open the future to the beloved John about 500 years later. In John’s book a blessing is pronounced on those “who read and hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things written therein”. See Revelation 1:1-3.
I mention this because “The LORD God will do nothing, but He reveals His secret to His servants and prophets” as they are willing to receive. While “the secret things belong to the LORD our God,” “those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever”. Amos 3:7; Deuteronomy 29:29. God has given these things to us, and His blessing will attend the reverent, prayerful study of the prophetic scriptures.
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Daniel 8:
17 So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face [I fainted]: but he said to me, “Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end [not the end of time] shall be the vision” [The main events in the vision will last until near the end of the world].
18 Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground [Daniel collapsed even more]: but he touched me, and set me upright. 19 And he said, “Behold, I will make you know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be.
20 “The ram which you saw having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. 21 And the rough goat is the king of Greece: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. 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.
23 “And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors [the people of God] are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences [evil ways], shall stand up. 24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power [he is backed directly by Satan]: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. 25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand [not conquered by another nation].
26 “And the vision of the evening and the morning [the 2,300 days] which was told is true: wherefore shut you up the vision; for it shall be for many days [before it will be properly understood]”.
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Daniel is called the “son of man” as a reminder that he was a representative of God to man. (It was a favourite title of the Son of God while He was on earth as a man for He often used it to denote His humanity. e.g. See Matthew 16:13-17. He also called Ezekiel by that name 93 times, while Daniel receives it only once.)
After having plainly identified the next two superpowers, Gabriel concentrated on the important nation, Pagan and Papal Rome, for it was to scatter the holy people, the Jews, and even attempt to kill the Messiah, before rendering the sanctuary truth impotent. Then he added that all these events would take a very long time to finish, by referring back to the Son of God’s statement that it would be 2,300 “days” for it to fulfil, which Daniel knew to mean years.
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Daniel 8:
27 And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the king's business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.
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What did he not understand? He could not understand the relationship between the seventy years' captivity, as foretold through Jeremiah, and which was just finishing, to the twenty-three hundred years that in vision he heard the heavenly Visitor declare should elapse before the cleansing (restoration) of God's sanctuary.
The angel Gabriel, though commanded to make Daniel understand the vision, had given him only a partial explanation. As the terrible length of the harassment to befall the truth was unfolded to the prophet's vision, physical strength gave way. He could endure no more, and the angel left him for a time.
It’s no wonder that Daniel collapsed completely on hearing this. He could not credit that such persecutions and rebellion could occur. He found it hard to believe that the truth would go underground for so long. He knew that it was not God’s intention that these things should happen – he also knew that it would be caused by the people of God not fulfilling their destiny. After all, he had just lived through such a time and knew this from personal experience, as we will see in the next chapter.
What he was being shown was what looked like a complete and utter shambles, as for century after century the people of God, whom he assumed would be Jews, let God down. But we can go into that in more detail next week. In the meantime, let’s remember that God is never taken by surprise, and that He operates from one success to another, even if we can’t see it.
Bye for now,
Ron
P.S. “The spirit of error will lead us from the truth; and the Spirit of God will lead us into truth. But, say you, a man may be in an error, and think he has the truth. What then? We answer, The Spirit and word agree. If a man judges himself by the word of God, and finds a perfect harmony through the whole word, then he must believe he has the truth; but if he finds the spirit by which he is led does not harmonize with the whole tenor of God's law or Book, then let him walk carefully, lest he be caught in the snare of the devil”.
Some of the comments in these readings are adapted from books in my library. No recognition is given because they are not intended as authorities, but are used because they express my understanding clearly. All the ideas expressed in these readings, right or wrong, are my own.
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1 Samuel 4:
21 And she named the child “Ichabod”, saying [meaning], “The Glory [the Son of God] is departed from Israel”: because the ark of God was taken [the presence of God had been forced from them], and because of [the deaths of] her father in law and her husband. 22 And she said, “The Glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken”. Back
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Jeremiah 25:
11 And this whole land [of Israel] shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, says the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations. 13 And I will bring upon that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. Back
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Matthew 16:
13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” 14 And they said, “Some say that You are John the Baptist: some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets”.
15 He says to them, “But whom say you that I am?”
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”. 17 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona [son of Jonah]: for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but My Father which is in heaven”. Back
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