Daniel 8: “Lesson Learned”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹In the third year to the reign of Belshazzar the king, a vision appeared to me – me, Daniel – after the [one which] appeared to me in the beginning. ²And I saw in [the] vision and it was in my seeing and I [was] in Shushan the Citadel which [is] in Elam the province and I saw in [the] vision and I was upon the Canal of Ulai. ³And I lifted up my eyes and I saw and behold, one ram, one standing to the faces of the canal and to it [were] two horns and the two horns [were] high and the one [was] higher from the other and the higher one going up in later. ⁴I saw the ram butting westward and northward and southward and all of animals did not stand to its faces and none ones delivering from its hand and it did according to its desire and became great. ⁵And I was considering and behold, the he-goat of the goats [was] one coming from the west upon the faces of the all of the earth and not [was] one touching in the ground and the he-goat [had a] horn conspicuous between its eyes. ⁶And it came to the ram with the two horns which I had seen standing to the faces of the canal and it ran to it in the rage of its power, ⁷and I saw it reaching beside the ram and it was furious against it and it struck the ram and it shattered the two of its horns and there was not power in the ram to stand to its faces and it cast it to the ground and it trampled it and there was none delivering the ram from its hand. ⁸And the he-goat of the goats became great and when it was mighty the great horn was broken off and four conspicuous [horns] came up instead of it to the four winds of the heavens, ⁹and from one of them came a little horn and it became very great upon the south and upon the east and upon the Beautiful [Land]. ¹⁰And it (f.s.) became great until the host of the heavens and it (f.s.) cast down [to] the earth from the host and from the stars and it (f.s.) trampled them. ¹¹And until the prince of the host he (m.s.) made great and from him was lifted the regular [sacrifice]and he was cast from the place of his sanctuary, ¹²And it (f.s.) was given upon the regular [sacrifice] in rebellion and it (f.s.) cast down truth earthward and it (f.s.) did and it (f.s.) thrived. ¹³And I heard another holy one speaking, and [the] first one [was] saying to a certain one, “Until when [is] the vision of the regular [sacrifice] and the rebellion desolating to give and sanctuary and host trampled?” ¹⁴And he said to me, “Until the evening morning two thousand and three hundred  and [the] sanctuary will be made right.” ¹⁵And it was in my seeing, I, Daniel, the vision, and I was seeking understanding and behold, one standing before me like appearance of a man. ¹⁶And I heard a voice of a man between [the] Ulai and he called and he said, “Gabriel, give understanding of the vision to this [man].” ¹⁷And he came beside my standing and in his coming I was terrified and I fell on my face and he said to me, “Understand, son of man, because the vision [is] to [the] time of [the] end.” ¹⁸And he [was] speaking to me and I was in a deep sleep upon my face earthward and he touched me and he caused me to stand upon my standing. ¹⁹And he said, “Behold, [I am] declaring to you what will be in the last end of the indignation because [it is] to [the] appointed time of [the] end. ²⁰The ram which you saw with the two horns [is] the kingdoms of the Medes and the Persians, ²¹And the shaggy he-goat [is] the king of Yavan (Greece) and the great horn which [was] between its eyes, it (m.s.) [is] the first king. ²²And the one (f.s.) being broken, and four stood up in its place, four kingdoms from the nation will stand up, and not in its power. ²³And in the latter part of their kingdom, when the rebels [are] finished, a king will stand up, strong of faces and one understanding intrigues. ²⁴And his power will be mighty and not in his power and he will destroy astonishingly and he will do and he will destroy mighty ones and people holy ones. ²⁵And upon his cunning, he will cause deceit to prosper in his hand and in his heart he will make great and in peace he will ruin many and upon [the] Prince of princes he will stand and without a hand he will be broken. ²⁶And the vision of the evening and morning which was told, it [is] true, and you, seal up the vision because [it is] to many days.” ²⁷And I, Daniel, was spent and I was sick [for] days and I rose and I did the king’s business, and I was horrified upon the vision and not understanding.

I find chapter 8 similar to chapter 7 in that one really must study the entire chapter as a singular unit. As in chapter 7, the first half relates a vision of Daniel, while, in the last half an angel interprets it for him (and us). So there is no point in spending much time pondering on the first half without first going ahead and hearing what the angel has to say in the last.

Also, like chapter 7, I personally feel like the historical details are, for the most part, so patently obvious, I am not really interested in spending a lot of time recording all of that. If anyone wants to study the historical fulfilment of this chapter, there are literally mountains of commentaries to consult. As Gabriel explains, the two horned ram was to be the kingdom of the Medes and Persians, while the goat was to be Greece. The first king is obviously Alexander the Great and, upon his death, the kingdom was divided amongst his four generals. Out of this divided kingdom came later the Syrian king, Antiochus Epiphanes, who certainly pre-figured the Antichrist himself in his terrible persecution of the Jewish people. Those Jewish people recorded the events of that time in the book of I Maccabees – all of which is thoroughly documented and available for the reading.

For myself, I am more interested in recording my thoughts as far as the practical lessons we can draw from this chapter. To that end, I want to note first of all that, having labored through the Hebrew text, I must admit there is definitely a cryptic element to the entire chapter. What I mean is that, even in translating the text into English, many decisions have to be made what to do with odd elements in the Hebrew. Having made those decisions and having produced an English translation, many of those cryptic elements appear clear, when in reality they are not. For instance, in v.14, the angel tells Daniel, “It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings …” In Hebrew it says literally, “Until evening morning two thousand and three hundred …” Note that in the Hebrew, both “evening” and “morning” are singular. By translating it as “evenings and mornings,” one easily understands it as referring to days. 2,300 days. But that isn’t what it says. It says “2,300 evening morning.” Even if we translate it as “evenings and mornings,” one wonders why not just say “days?” Granted the allusion to “evening and morning” calls back to the Creation account in Genesis 1, but then we’re back to the question of why then are they singular

Another example is in vv.10-12. As I offered the literal translation above, vv.10,11 in Hebrew say something like, “And it (f.s.--the little horn) became great until the host of the heavens and it (f.s.) cast down [to] the earth from the host and from the stars and it (f.s.) trampled them. ¹¹And until the prince of the host he (m.s.) made great and from him was lifted the regular [sacrifice]and he was cast from the place of his sanctuary.” I had to insert the “f.s.” and “m.s.” to indicate what is feminine singular and what is masculine singular. In Hebrew, a horn is feminine, so those references are clearly back to the little horn, but then the switch to masculine singular seems odd. From our vantage point today, people are quick to see in these verses allusions to Antiochus’s violence toward the temple and the priesthood and those allusions may be valid, but, the reference to casting “down to the earth from the host and from the stars” seems a closer allusion to Satan’s fall as reported in Isa. 14:12-17 and Rev. 12:3,4. On the other hand, the passage doesn’t completely fit well with either. Imagine hearing it from Daniel’s vantage point, and then it would seem even more cryptic.

One more example (and there are many more) would be in the references to “the end.” In v.17, the NIV translates it as “the time of the end.” In v.19, the NIV refers to “what will happen in the time of wrath,” and “the appointed time of the end.” Finally, in v.26, it refers to “the distant future.” We like to see in such references the literal “end” or “the last days” as they are called in the NT. However, if the prophecies specifically concerned Antiochus and his evil, that happened some 2,200 years ago.

There are odd constructions like that all through the chapter.

What do we learn from this observation? I think it would teach us not to be too quickly dogmatic about our interpretations of Bible prophecy. Jesus told His disciples, “I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe” (John 14:29). Notice He said, “so that when it does happen…” There will probably always be some element of prophecy which we simply cannot understand until it is fulfilled, but, what Jesus is saying is that that is the point – so that when it happens, we will believe.

When it happens. That means it’s more important for us to know our Bibles, to know what the prophecies say, than necessarily to get all dogmatic about any particular interpretation of those prophecies. It means we should never forget that the prophecies themselves do contain that cryptic element. In other words, there are and always will be elements in a text like Daniel 8, where we all scratch our heads and admit we really aren’t sure what this means. That is not all bad. Even Daniel himself was left not understanding this vision, though he had none other than the angel Gabriel to explain it to him! Particularly when it comes to prophecy, we need to be content to learn that which is clear enough, while humbling leaving unanswered questions simply as that – unanswered questions. We can rest assured, if we know our Bibles, and if we are alive “when it happens,” it will then be patently obvious to us.

Part of the reason why the Jews missed Jesus at His first coming was because they had read the OT prophecies and seen only those references to Him as a conquering king. All those many references to “the suffering servant” seemed cryptic to them, so they just disregarded them. How could the Messiah be both a conquering king and a suffering servant? Had they honestly strove to know those Scriptures (like Isaiah 53), even if they didn’t understand them, then when Jesus did come, perhaps they would have been able to see Him as clearly as we do now.

To me, lesson learned from the Jews and from the text itself here in Daniel 8 is first and foremost to simply know our Bibles. There is nothing wrong (and everything right) about trying to piece it all together and to understand the prophecies as they seem clear enough. However, especially since there is always that cryptic element, we need to hold more strongly to the Scriptures themselves than we do to our “prophetic outlines.”

Lord, help us to know You first of all, to know our Bibles the best we can, then to be ready, as Your prophecies are fulfilled, to acknowledge what You have done, to believe, and to praise You in them.