Why ten minus three?: Daniel 7 revisited!

Study:

"After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things." Daniel 7:7,8

Recall our previous problem with this text... a historical problem with the ten horns. Depending on the source you site, you get a different list of nations or kingdoms for the ten. Historically, there is no consensus on who the horns are... and this makes perfect sense. There were more than ten tribes breaking in upon the Roman Empire when it began its fall or when it fell. What we have failed to see is that this ten is not an exact number, but is at best an approximate, and is in fact symbolic and not literal!

Notice the context... the context which we have noted is the focus of God in the prophecies of Daniel 2 and 7:

"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." Daniel 7:9,10

The Judgement is the context! If the Judgment is the context then what are its implications towards the ten horns and the three? Does the number 10 have special significance in the context of the Judgement? Yes!

"And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel." Exodus 25:21,22

"And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments." Exodus 34:28

"Specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, ... And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ... And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone." Deuteronomy 4:10-13

"And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the Lord spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the Lord gave them unto me. And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the Lord commanded me." Deuteronomy 10:4,5

What ten are connected with the Judgment? The 10 Commandments, which are in the ark of the covenant, God's throne.

But if the ten horns are symbolic of the 10 Commandments... Something happens to them! Recall Daniel 7:8!

"I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things."

Did the little horn or Roman Catholic church remove "3" from the 10 Commandments? Yes! Recall Daniel 7:25!

"And he shall speak great words against the most High, ... and think to change times and laws: ..."

Previously, we saw that the only law that is a time, in the most universally known of God's laws, the 10 Commandments, is the Seventh-day Sabbath. Recall also that the Roman Catholic church claims to have changed the Sabbath. Furthermore, we noted that in Revelation 12 & 13, the Sabbath of Creation is symbolically represented by a triplet of 7's or 777. We see then that the picture of "the 10 horns vs. the little horn"-conflict symbolically helps to clarify, emphasize, and verify our understanding of Daniel 7:25... that this verse does indeed concern the changing of the Seventh-day Sabbath by the Roman Catholic church.

10 horns - 3 horns => 10 Commandments - 3 x 7 or 777 (the 7th-day Sabbath)

One, last thing. Not only does the ten horns minus the three clarify, emphasize, and verify the understanding of Daniel 7:25, but it also indicates that the historical period dealing with the removal of these horns is connected with the changing of the Sabbath.

To be continued...