Daniel 8 · The Lantern

In the third year of the rule of Belshazzar the king, a vision was seen by me, Daniel, after the one I saw at first.

And so the prophet, after ceasing from what lies before, teaches us the certainty of what will be with all precision, he passes again to the kingdom of the Persians and Greeks, describing another vision to us which happened and was fulfilled in his own times, in order that in this he may furnish us faithful and that he may be able to inspire us to be more faithful to God for wh…

Verse 1. "In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me. I, Daniel, after what I had seen at the first..." This vision came two years after the previous revelation, for the latter was beheld in the first year of Belshazzar, whereas this was beheld in the third year. And so he informs us: "...after that which I had seen at the first."

Now, it is not without purpose that he indicates the time: it is to inform us that long before these things happened, he received foreknowledge of them from the God of all.

And I saw in the vision; and when I saw it, I was in the strong town Shushan, which is in the country of Elam; and in the vision I was by the water-door of the Ulai.

And lifting up my eyes, I saw, there before the stream, a male sheep with two horns: and the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other, the higher one coming up last.

He signifies Darius the Persian by saying "it had two horns," as Darius ruled the Medes and the Persians. "Both horns were long, but one was longer than the other": this is referred to the Persians, whose power was superior to that of the Medes and rose to a higher level.

Verse 3. "And I lifted up my eyes and saw." Yet of course one only sees in dreams things which appear as shadowy representations, naturally, and as mere likenesses, rather than our being able to behold the reality of the objects themselves.

He perceived two horns on the ram because Cyrus was the first to reign over it and transmitted the empire only to his sons; when his son Cambyses died, soothsayers held power for a few months, but shortly afterwards Darius son of Hystaspes, who passed the empire on to his offspring and theirs up to the last Darius, whose empire Alexander the Macedonian took over after slaying h…

I saw the sheep pushing to the west and to the north and to the south; and no beasts were able to keep their place before him, and no one was able to get people out of his power; but he did whatever his pleasure was and made himself great.

And so as much as he described in the first vision he again recounts in detail these things a second time for the building up of the faithful. For "the ram butting to the sea and to the north and to the south," [Daniel 8:4] he says is Darius the king of the Persians, who prevailed over all nations. For he says, "all the beasts did not stand before him." [Daniel 8:4]

Verse 4. "After this I saw the ram pushing with its horns westward and northward and southward..." Not that he saw the ram itself, that is, the ram of Cyrus or Darius, but rather the ram of the same kingdom as theirs, that is, the second Darius, who was the last king of the Persian power, and who was overcome by the king of the Macedonians, Alexander the son of Philip.

By "beasts" he refers again to the other kingdoms individually, Syria, Cilicia, Arabia, Egypt, calling them "beasts" on account of their being fearsome to those they ruled. So no kingdom, he is saying, could resist that empire charging to the north, south and west, nor could any human being liberate anyone from that power. Yet for all its appearance it met its end.

And while I was giving thought to this, I saw a he-goat coming from the west over the face of all the earth without touching the earth: and the he-goat had a great horn between his eyes.

And he came to the two-horned sheep which I saw before the stream, rushing at him in the heat of his power.

And I saw him come right up to the sheep, and he was moved with wrath against him, attacking the sheep so that his two horns were broken; and the sheep had not strength to keep his place before him, but was pushed down on the earth and crushed under his feet: and there was no one to get the sheep out of his power.

And the he-goat became very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and in its place came up four other horns turned to the four winds of heaven.

Next after the male goat was exalted, "his great horn was shattered, and four horns arose under him to the four winds of heaven." [Daniel 8:8] For after Alexander ruled all the land of Persia and subjected them, later he died, dividing his kingdom to his four Chiefs as is shown above, that is to Seleucus, to Demetrius, to Ptolemy, and to Philip, from whom one horn was exalted a…

After the defeat of Darius, Alexander extended the empire of the Greeks in every direction and made it firm with strong garrisons.

By "four horns" he hints at the four kings who succeeded Alexander at the one time: Ptolemy son of Lagus took control of Egypt; Seleucus Nicanor got possession of Babylon and the other parts bordering on Syria; Antigonus was in charge of Asia; Antipater, Macedonia—or, as some historians think, Philip, who is also called Arrhideus, brother of Alexander.

And out of one of them came another horn, a little one, which became very great, stretching to the south and to the east and to the beautiful land.

For after Alexander ruled all the land of Persia and subjected them, later he died, dividing his kingdom to his four Chiefs as is shown above, that is to Seleucus, to Demetrius, to Ptolemy, and to Philip, from whom one horn was exalted and grew great unto the power of heaven. For Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes, being from the race of Alexander, was king.

As Josephus told the story, Daniel saw a smaller horn rise up from these, and it grew strong. God, who showed Daniel the vision, was telling him that war would come on his nation, that Jerusalem would be taken by storm, the temple would be pillaged, the sacrifices would be hindered and cut short, and this would last for 1, days.

The first and second books of the Maccabees inform us of this more clearly, and the historian Josephus made a precise record of it, and we shall outline concisely the facts about him.

And it became great, even as high as the army of heaven, pulling down some of the army, even of the stars, to the earth and crushing them under its feet.

He signifies here the priestly order, which he compares with the host of heaven. "It threw down to the earth some of the host and some of the stars and trampled on them." Here he prophesies about the sons of Semona and the allies killed by Antiochus.

Most of the people by transgressing God's law quickly fell away from heavenly things, and they were trampled down by this tyrant to their own destruction. He referred to them as stars on account of the fame and splendor of their piety, hinting also at the promise to Abraham, "I shall make your offspring like the stars of heaven."

"The host of heaven" and "the stars and princes of the host": he recalls in this way Onias and Eleazar and those of the house of the Maccabees. He calls them "stars" because of the brightness and beauty of the fear of God, by alluding to the words "I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven."

It made itself great, even as great as the lord of the army; and by it the regular burned offering was taken away, and the place overturned and the holy place made waste.

... against the regular burned offering; and... crushed down to the earth, and it did its pleasure and things went well for it.

Then there came to my ears the voice of a holy one talking; and another holy one said to that certain one who was talking, How long will the vision be while the regular burned offering is taken away, and the unclean thing causing fear is put up, and the holy place crushed under foot?

And he said to him, For two thousand, three hundred evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be made clean.

The intention of the angel who asked the question was to learn for how long the holy things would be given into the hands of immoral people. To him the angel who interprets the vision says, "For two thousand three hundred days," to which "the times, time and half time" mentioned above correspond.

Verse 14. And he answered him, "'Until the evening and the morning, until two thousand three hundred days; and then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.'" If we read the Books of Maccabees and the history of Josephus, we shall find it there recorded that in the one hundred and forty-third year after the Seleucus who first reigned in Syria after the decease of Alexander, Antiochus e…

By "evening" he referred to the beginning of the calamities and by "morning" to the end of the calamities, since night and darkness are figures of distress. From the present time, the beginning of the troubles, to the end, he is saying, the period is of that length [twenty-three hundred evenings and mornings].

And it came about that when I, Daniel, had seen this vision, I had a desire for the sense of it to be unfolded; and I saw one before me in the form of a man.

That these things are true, just as has been said, Daniel himself testifies. For he spoke in this way, "And it happened when I saw the vision and I sought to understand, and behold, there stood before me an appearance of a man, and I heard the voice of a man above the midst of the Ubal, and he called and he said, 'Gabriel cause him to understand that vision.' And he came and st…

Verse 15. "And it came to pass that when I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it." He beheld the vision by way of a picture or likeness, and he failed to understand it.

"Now it came to pass, when I, Daniel, saw the vision and sought understanding: behold, there stood before me as it were the appearance of a man; and he cried out and said: Gabriel, make this one understand the vision." This illumination is aided through the Angels.

And the voice of a man came to my ears between the sides of the Ulai, crying out and saying, Gabriel, make the vision clear to this man.

The guardian angel of Daniel, who never parted from him, asked the angel Gabriel, who was now by him, now by all the other saints in everything concerning visions, to explain to Daniel his dream.

I heard someone else as well using a human voice and bidding the one standing near me, whom he called Gabriel, to interpret the riddle of the revelation to me. It is possible from what was said to come to the conclusion that the one giving the orders was the Lord.

So he came and took his place near where I was; and when he came, I was full of fear and went down on my face: but he said to me, Let it be clear to you, O son of man; for the vision has to do with the time of the end.

Now while he was talking to me, I went into a deep sleep with my face to the earth: but touching me, he put me on my feet where I had been.

And he said, See, I will make clear to you what is to come in the later time of the wrath: for it has to do with the fixed time of the end.

The sheep which you saw with two horns, they are the kings of Media and Persia.

And the he-goat is the king of Greece: and the great horn between his eyes is the first king.

And as for that which was broken, in place of which four came up, four kingdoms will come up from his nation, but not with his power.

And in the later years of their kingdom, when their evil doings have become complete, there will come up a king full of pride and expert in dark sayings.

And his power will be great, and he will be purposing strange things. And all will go well for him and he will do his pleasure; and he will send destruction on the strong ones.

And his designs will be turned against the holy people, causing deceit to do well in his hand; in his heart he will make himself great, and send destruction on numbers who are living unconscious of their danger; and he will put himself up against the prince of princes; but he will be broken, though not by men's hands.

And the vision of evenings and mornings which has been talked of is true: and keep the vision secret; for it has to do with the far-off future.

Verse 26. "Thou therefore seal up the vision, because it shall come to pass after many days." Having explained the vision which we have examined above to the best of our ability, the angel Gabriel adds at the end: "Thou therefore seal up the vision, because it shall come to pass after many days." By the mention of a seal, he showed that the things spoken were of a hidden charac…

"Seal up the vision because it will be in many days time," that is, leave it obscure for many people; I have made it clear to you in your longing before the event.

"Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and after these things write." This shows that what is now undisclosed is to be explained through experience and the course of the events themselves.

And I, Daniel, was ill for some days; then I got up and did the king's business: and I was full of wonder at the vision, but no one was able to give the sense of it.

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