Daniel 8: “Fractal Logic”

Before I leave this chapter, there’s something I’d like to elaborate on. This is one of those “for whatever it’s worth” things. I find it fascinating. Perhaps no one else will, but then, maybe one of my grandkids or great grandkids will stumble across this one day and, perhaps sharing some genes with me, they’ll find it intriguing as well.

All through the Bible there are instances of what are commonly called “types.” In the chapter before us, people would say that Antiochus was a type of the Antichrist. What they mean is that Antiochus resembled the Antichrist in many ways, but not all. Sort of a “pre-figuring.” I personally find the “type” thing unsatisfying. Instead, what I think we see in these instances is an expression of a logic totally unfamiliar to us in Western civilization. That logic is what I’ve come to call fractal logic. A fractal is a pattern of some kind which repeats itself a million different times and on a million different scales – but no matter how often it repeats itself, it still retains the same pattern. The pattern itself becomes the logic.

In our western culture, all we recognize is what I call “linear” logic. That is the logic of first this, then that, then this, then that. We love Roman numeral outlines, number lines, and basically anything we can lay end to end. Time, itself, is of course linear. Everyone’s gravestone needs only two dates. Accounting, in and of itself, is linear. Money adds and subtracts. However, with both time and money, is that really all there is? Is it not true that, in reality, time involves two things – its passing, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, what we put into that time as it passes. From the day our children are born, you can rest assured, as long as they live to see it, they will someday have a 24^th birthday and be grown and gone from our home. The years passed. That’s linear, but what did we put into that time, while they were home? If you ponder it a while, you’ll realize that is fractal. As we said, money adds and subtracts. If you had ten dollars and you spent four, you only have six left. Period. Very linear. Yet, what you did with that money and why is very, very fractal.

Actually, if you think hard on all of this, I believe you’ll begin to realize that the very logic of life itself is fractal. Yes, there is that linear element of time and its passing, but life itself is a repeating pattern. What did the Lord say from the beginning? “And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind…’” Note the “each according to its kind.” What is that? A repeating pattern. All of life is that way! Sparrows produce more sparrows. Raccoons produce more raccoons. People produce more people.

And even within that repeating pattern, thinking about people, in particular, what do we see? Humans not only produce more humans, but that repeating pattern goes far beyond simple genus and species. Our children look like us, share our talents, our strengths, sometimes our vulnerabilities, and in perhaps shocking ways, simply are like us. We are all very aware of “family resemblance,” and how often a parent’s talents show up in their children. Think how often we’ve seen an amazing singer like Judy Garland give birth to another amazing singer like Liza Minnelli. We say, “It just runs in the family.”

We could go on and on, but isn’t it interesting that we can create a thing called a “family tree” and what is it? A repeating pattern of parents and children. And why can we call it a tree? Because that’s what trees do too. A tree, in and of itself, grows fractally. Its very nature is a repeating pattern. Every branch looks like the tree itself. However, an oak tree, while it has the same basic shape as a maple tree, yet doesn’t look the same. You can see from hundreds of feet away they’re different. What is that? They’re reproducing “after their kind,” just like the Lord made them to do, and that is fractal – the logic of a repeating pattern.

I suggest to you the entire universe is fractal. We look out and see stars and know there are planets spinning around them. We look in and find atoms, which are what? A nucleus with electrons spinning around it. And what does this have to do with the Bible and Daniel 8? I believe what we Westerners struggle to understand and end up calling “types” are simply the fractals of reality. And I believe if we recognized this fractal nature of things, it would help us to understand many of the elements of prophecy.

Consider this “little horn.” Scholars wrestle with the similarities and the differences between the “little horn” of chapter 7 and the one that now appears here in chapter 8. In chapter 7, Daniel says, “While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them, and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully” (v.8). He continues, “Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire” (v.11). Then he says, “As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them, until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom” (vv.21.22).

Finally, he says, “The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom (the beast with large iron teeth that crushed and devoured its’ victims – the Roman empire). After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. He will speak against the Most High and oppress His saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times, and half a time. But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey Him” (vv.24-27).

Clearly, the little horn of chapter 7 arises from the fourth kingdom, the Roman empire, from the final “ten kings” and, at this “little horn’s” destruction, we see the end of earth’s fallen history and the eternal kingdom of “the rock cut without hands” commences.

Now in chapter 8, Daniel is discussing the third kingdom, the kingdom of Greece. He sees how the great horn was broken off, “and in its place four prominent horns grew up toward the four winds of heaven” (v.8). The great horn is obviously Alexander the Great and the four prominent horns were his four generals who divided his kingdom upon his untimely death. Then it says, “Out of one of them came another horn, which started small but grew in power …” Note immediately, something is different. The little horn of chapter 7 clearly comes out of the final ten kings of the Roman Empire. Here is chapter 8, this little horn arises from one the four Grecian kings who followed Alexander. They are clearly not the same person.

Speaking of the kingdom of Greece and the four kingdoms that emerge (vv.21,22), Daniel tells us, “In the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a stern-faced king, a master of intrigue, will arise. He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy the mighty men and the holy people. He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power” (vv.23-26).

Both are “little horns.” Both arise to power. Both speak boastfully and persecute the people of God. Both openly oppose God Himself. Yet they are not the same man. Why the similarities while at the same time differences? Here is where I suggest we don’t need to yield to the ambiguous designation of “types.” What we are seeing is actually the fractal of evil, the fractal of evil persons who would oppose God Himself. Antiochus was in fact a smaller version of the pattern which eventually becomes the Antichrist himself, but it is the same pattern. Just as in a family, the children look like their parents, yet not the same, so in this fractal of evil, we see these two evil men the same, only different.

And from whence does this pattern emerge? Is it not Satan himself? He said, “I will raise my throne above the stars of God…I will make myself like the Most High” (Isa. 14:13,14). He has always been one who speaks boastfully and would oppose God Himself. Further, he has from the beginning been a persecutor of God’s people. And finally, his end has already been decreed.

Back to Daniel chapter 8, I believe this explains one the cryptic verses of this chapter. In v.10, Daniel is speaking of the little horn, Antiochus Epiphanes and says, “It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them.” In v.11, he goes on to say, “It set itself up to be as great as the Prince of the host; it took away the daily sacrifice from him, and the place of his sanctuary was brought low.”  People puzzle over those words that “it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth…” Suddenly, the Lord seems to be talking about Satan, not Antiochus, yet then in v.11, He seems to be speaking again of Antiochus.

So is it Satan or Antiochus? The answer is yes. This is where we get confused precisely because we only think in linear logic. We think, “It has to be one or the other. It cannot be both.” And that is true…unless we are thinking in fractal logic – the logic of patterns. In fractal logic, it is as if what you are seeing first of all is the pattern. It is like looking through a telescope and seeing Antiochus, yet you can see through him and there behind him is Satan. It’s as if you’re looking through one fractal image and seeing the larger one behind it. The first one doesn’t have to be exactly like the second, but it is definitely the pattern – just like one oak tree doesn’t have to be exactly like another (and they’re not), yet clearly they are both oak trees.  In this case, I will even go so far to say that sometimes it may seem as if the Lord is speaking of Antiochus and the Antichrist and Satan, all at the same time. You see, it’s the same pattern.

If we would recognize fractal logic, suddenly there are many, many Bible passages (and especially prophecy) that would begin to make sense. In Isaiah 14:12-14, the Lord is speaking to the king of Babylon, then suddenly He is clearly talking to Satan himself. Can you see what He’s saying is that the king of Babylon is so much like Satan, you can see through him to the pattern behind him – Satan. That happens again in Ezekiel 28:11-19, where the text is addressed to the king of Tyre, yet it is clearly speaking of Satan. Once again, the same thing happens in Isaiah 42-53, where people struggle to say whether “the servant of the Lord” is the nation of Israel or Jesus Himself. Yet again, the answer is yes. It is both, because what the Lord is seeing is the pattern. That’s why in Hosea 11:1, He is clearly speaking of Israel, and yet the Holy Spirit can say through Matthew it was fulfilled by Jesus (2:15).

Especially when it comes to prophecy, I would suggest we need to recognize fractals and fractal logic. The idea of “types” has always seemed to me a feeble attempt to explain what, in reality, doesn’t make sense to us. They don’t make sense to us precisely because we only see linear logic. That’s too bad when fractal logic – the logic of life itself – is all around us all day every day. Fractals don’t just happen in the Bible, we live in a world of repeating patterns.

If we would allow ourselves to accept fractal logic when it is happening right before our eyes, passages like Dan 8:10, “It grew until is reached the host of the heavens…” won’t bother us anymore. When we ask “Is it this or that?” it is okay to answer, “Yes.” It can be both. Seriously non-linear, yet still completely logical – fractally logical. Why are the “little horns” of Daniel 7 and 8 so similar, yet different? Because they are fractals.

So, as I said in the beginning, this was just a “for whatever it’s worth.” Anyone who actually labored through it all may think I’m just nuts, but, of course, I don’t think so. I can only hope it makes sense to someone else and that you find in it, like me, a delightful new lens through which to understand your Bible – and even life itself.