Daniel 8:9-14,23-25: The little horn, An Introduction

Study:

"And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land. And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered. Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Daniel 8:9-14

"And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. 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." Daniel 8:23-25

We know that the above texts deal with the little horn because the two previous verses are obvious parallels, the vision and its interpretation.

Vision (vs. 8)

Interpretation (vs. 22)

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 [horns] toward the four winds of heaven.

Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.

We have seen that verse 9 parallels the structure (chiasm) of verses 23-25a, the Jewish nation/Jews ("pleasant land" and "mighty and holy people") being the connecting element. The "little horn" is the "king of fierce countenance."

Vision (vs. 9)

Interpretation (vss. 23-25a)

And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.

And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, ...

Structure:

...a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. vs. 23

And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:

and he shall destroy wonderfully,

and shall prosper, and practise,

and shall destroy

the mighty and the holy people. vs. 24

And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand;... vs. 25

That leaves verses 10-14 of the vision and their parallel, their interpretation, verse 25b. Notice the parallels.

Vision (vss. 10-14)

Interpretation (vs. 25b)

And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered. Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

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.

"the prince of the host" & "the Prince of princes": I think this is an obvious parallel. Its implications are that it would seem to imply that "waxed great to the host of heaven" parallels "magnify himself in his heart" and "cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon the" parallels "by peace shall destroy many."

"the sanctuary be cleansed" & "he shall be broken without hand": Recall that we saw that the cleaning of the sanctuary is the Day of Atonement or the Judgement. Recall that, in Daniel 7, the little horn "is broken" or comes to an end under the Judgement:

"I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame." Daniel 7:9-11

The terms "broken" and "without hands" make reference to the Judgment as pictured in Daniel 2, specifically, "broken" references the destruction of "the feet of iron and clay," the parallel symbol to "the little horn," and "without hand" references the "stone cut out without hands" or the Investigative Judgement of God's professed church.

"Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces." Daniel 2:34

"Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces..." Daniel 2:45

The implication of this is that most of the vision, verses 10-14, has no interpretation. Here is what we have.

Vision (vss. 10-14)

Interpretation (vs. 25b)

And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven;

and he shall magnify himself in his heart,

and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.

and by peace shall destroy many:

Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host,

he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;

and by him the daily was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered. Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?

 
 
 
 
 
[No Interpretation!]

And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

but he shall be broken without hand.

To get God's truth out of these verses takes much prayer for the leading of the Holy Spirit and also much study of the structure of the verses, the meaning of words, and comparison with known parallel texts throughout the scriptures.

To be continued...