PHIL HARRIS | Seeker of Truth
Prologue
It is suggested that a person read through the whole of Daniel chapter eight before making a serious study of this commentary. The first half is the vision given to Daniel; then ,what follows is an explanation of what Daniel has seen. As our Savior Jesus Christ informs us, it is the role of the Holy Spirit to lead each born-again Christian into all truth. We can trust Him to teach us. Here is what Jesus said:
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.—John 16:13-14
This commentary has two purposes; the first and primary is to understand God’s purpose for this vision. The second purpose is to address the Seventh-day Adventist interpretation given to verse fourteen in which Adventists, through the use of the false day-year theory of biblical prophecy, create a unique, spurious, central doctrine.
Daniel’s Introduction
In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first.—Daniel 8:1
Daniel is simply telling us that the visions of chapters seven and eight both occurred before the fall of the Babylonian Empire. Interestingly, Daniel time-stamps the main events that happen throughout this book.
And I saw in the vision; and when I saw, I was in Susa the citadel, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in the vision, and I was at the Ulai canal.—Daniel 8:2
The details of this verse show us that Daniel was well-educated, as he identifies the exact geographical location of this vision even though he is in the City of Babylon.
It is interesting to notice that in our present day that there exists the Karkheh River with a canal running parallel to it within boundaries of the ancient city of Susa. Furthermore, on the east bank of this canal—not of the river—there exists to this day a mausoleum built for the body of Daniel.
A Ram, A Goat, and Horns
I raised my eyes and saw, and behold, a ram standing on the bank of the canal. It had two horns, and both horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last.—Daniel 8:3
A ram is a male sheep. In verse 20 we learn the ram represents the unified empire of the Medes and the Persians. The first horn is the king of the Medes. The second, higher horn, the is king of the Persians.
As we will see, throughout this vision horns represent kings or rulers.
I saw the ram charging westward and northward and southward. No beast could stand before him, and there was no one who could rescue from his power. He did as he pleased and became great.—Daniel 8:4
Daniel sees a ram that was attacking and spreading north, south and west but not to the east. When the meaning of the vision is understood, Daniel probably realized that Babylon would fall to power of the ram as Babylon lay to the west of Susa.
As I was considering, behold, a male goat came from the west across the face of the whole earth, without touching the ground. And the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes.—Daniel 8:5
Then a male goat, also known as a “buck” or “billy goat”, comes from the west without touching the ground, thus indicating rapid movement. Since a goat normally has two horns set apart above the eyes, one horn between the eyes is rather unique.
In verse 21 we lean that this billy goat is Greece, and the conspicuous horn is its king.
He came to the ram with the two horns, which I had seen standing on the bank of the canal, and he ran at him in his powerful wrath.I saw him come close to the ram, and he was enraged against him and struck the ram and broke his two horns. And the ram had no power to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled on him. And there was no one who could rescue the ram from his power.—Daniel 8:6, 7
The enraged billy goat attacked the ram and broke off both horns, thrust it to the ground, and trampled the remains to death as there was none who could rescue it from the goat.
Then the goat became exceedingly great, 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.—Daniel 8:8
While the goat was at the peak of his strength, his great horn was broken. In its place there appeared four horns that spread toward the four winds of heaven.
The great horn that was broken represented the death of Alexander the Great at the summit of his power. History records that Alexander the Great died in Babylon on 10 or 11 June, 323 BC. The four horns who then arose were Alexander the Great’s generals: Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucid. The Seleucid dynasty ruled from Syria and would eventually include Judea.
The Little Horn Is Antiochus Epiphanes
Out of one of them came a little horn, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the glorious land. It 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.—Daniel 8:9, 10
Then out of one of these four horns appeared the Little Horn “which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the glorious land”, Israel.
The Little Horn challenges the host of heaven. It throws down some of the host and some of the stars onto the ground and tramples on them.
It became great, even as great as the Prince of the host. And the regular burnt offering was taken away from him, and the place of his sanctuary was overthrown.—
Daniel 8:11
The Little horn became great and overthrows the sanctuary in Jerusalem.
And a host will be given over to it together with the regular burnt offering because of transgression, and it will throw truth to the ground, and it will act and prosper. Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one who spoke, “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?” And he said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.”—Daniel 8:12-14
And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days: then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.—Daniel 8:14 KJV
In Adventism the “prophetic day-age” unbiblical theory was applied to the above passage after its first being promoted by William Miller. Within Adventism it is used to “prove” that in heaven on October 22, 1844, Jesus Christ moved into the Holy of Holies to begin an “Investigative Judgment” in conjunction with the supposed cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary.
There are several problems with applying an unproven theory to Daniel 8:14. First of all, the reference texts don’t actually mention a day in prophecy being equal to a year. The second point is that in the King James Version, the word “day” in this verse always represented the Hebrew “morning and evening”. Even in verse 26 below, the KJV renders the Hebrew “evenings and mornings” as “day”.
If the phrase means one thing in verse 1, it cannot have another meaning in verse 26. Instead, the “2,300 evenings and mornings” refers to how long the twice-daily regular burnt offering would stop because of the action of Antiochus Epiphanes—the Little Horn—when he polluted the temple in Jerusalem. This desecration which would equal 1150 literal days since there were two sacrifices per day—the evening and the morning offerings. At the end of this time span Judas Maccabaeus defeated Antiochus Epiphanes in battle and cleansed the temple.
One more thing, the temple polluted by Antiochus and the future temple that will be polluted by the Antichrist will both be in Jerusalem.
Gabriel Explains the Vision
When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it. And behold, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man.And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of the Ulai, and it called, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.”—Daniel 8:15, 16
Obviously this vision, like all true visions, comes only from God. Therefore, the man’s voice commanding the angel Gabriel to make known the meaning of the vision could be that of Jesus Christ the Son of God.
So he came near where I stood. And when he came, I was frightened and fell on my face. But he said to me, “Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end.—Daniel 8 :17
The angel Gabriel comes face-to-face with Daniel who is so frightened he fell on his face. Daniel is addressed as “O son of man”.
Daniel is told that this vision is for understanding “the time of the end”. In other words, the complete fulfillment of the Little Horn will happen in the person of the Antichrist during the Tribulation.
And when he had spoken to me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground. But he touched me and made me stand up. 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—Daniel 8:18, 19
Daniel is so overwhelmed he passes out and again falls on his face. Gabriel wakes Daniel back up and tells him that this vision is for understanding how the time of the “indignation” (tribulation) will end.
Jesus’s Warning in the New Testament
Significantly, Jesus drew from this prophecy in Daniel to make a point about the coming desolation.
“So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house,and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days!Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath.For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. Matthew 24:15-21
Ram Goat, and Horns
As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia.—Daniel 8:20
The first horn is King Darius of the Medes, and the second ,higher (more powerful) horn is King Cyrus of Persia.
And the goat is the king of Greece. And the great horn between his eyes is the first king. —Daniel 8:21
This is where Daniel learns that the goat is Greece and where we learn that Alexander the Great is the “conspicuous horn between his eyes” that destroyed the ram, Media and Persia.
As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power.—Daniel 8:22
Alexander the Great’s four generals become the kings who rule the divided empire at his death, but not with the power of Alexander.
End of Indignation
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. His power shall be great—but not by his own power; and he shall cause fearful destruction and shall succeed in what he does, and destroy mighty men and the people who are the saints.—Daniel 8:23,24
The analogy of a horn representing an earthly king is carried forward to the end of this vision. The phrase “transgressors have reached their limit” is what is now known as the second half of the end-times tribulation. In other words the brief demonic rule of Antiochus Epiphanes represented the coming Antichrist:
Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.—2 Thessalonians 2:1–4
The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ will not happen until the earthly temple is again polluted in the way this vision portrays Antiochus Epiphanes, as the foreshadowing of the coming Antichrist, polluting the temple. However, the Antichrist will be far more evil and powerful even than Antiochus.
By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall become great. Without warning he shall destroy many. And he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes, and he shall be broken—but by no human hand.—Daniel 8:25
Antiochus was powerful, cunning, and exceedingly evil. What we are to understand from this is that he serves as a warning of the coming Antichrist who will rule over the whole world for a short time. The warning is true, but it comes with the promise that evil will come to an end for eternity.
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.”—Daniel 8:26
The angel Gabriel ends his interpretation of this vision by saying; “The vision of the evenings and the mornings…” is true, but Daniel is to seal it up because the interpretation is a warning for “many days from now”. From our perspective the New Testament book of Revelation is an unsealing of the vision given to Daniel.
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—Daniel 8:27
Daniel was shown things he didn’t understand. It leaves him in shock and sick for a time before he could return to his normal duties.
Summary
- From the time of his captivity until his death, Daniel lived his entire life in the city of Babylon. Later, according to history, the claim is made that his body was then moved to Susa at the exact location of this vision. In modern day Iran, Muslims, Jews, and Christians all come to pay homage to Daniel at this claimed place of his internment.
- When Daniel receives this vision he is still under the rule of King Belshazzar with the Babylonian kingdom having not yet fallen to the the Medes. Nor have the Medes yet merged with the Persians becoming the Ram in this vision.
- What follows next is a whirlwind: the Greek empire led by the conspicuous horn destroys the Ram.
- Shortly after this historic overthrow, history records that the Greek king (horn) dies in the city of Babylon, and the Greek empire is divided into four rival (horns) weaker kingdoms.
- Out of one of these rival (horns) kingdoms comes a “Little Horn” who would pollute the temple in Jerusalem for a time of 2300 “evenings and mornings”.
- Daniel then learns from the angel Gabriel that what the Little Horn does in this vision has a coming second fulfillment at “the time of the end”. Using New Testament terminology, Antiochus Epiphanes was the “type” with the coming Antichrist being the “antitype” mentioned by Jesus as the Abomination of Desolation.
- For those led astray by Adventist doctrine, the sad outcome of giving a false narrative to the “2300 mornings and evenings” diverts attention from the final fulfillment of this vision in the coming tribulation.
—All references unless otherwise stated are taken from the ESV
- Daniel 8: Abomination of Desolation - December 5, 2024
- Daniel 7:15–28 • Everlasting Kingdom of the Most High - October 10, 2024
- Daniel 7:1–14: The Ancient of Days - August 15, 2024