Daniel 8:18-27

c. GRIEVOUS TIMES AND RETRIBUTION

TEXT: Daniel 8:18-27

18

Now as he was speaking with me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face toward the ground; but he touched me, and set me upright.

19

And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the latter time of the indignation; for it belongeth to the appointed time of the end.

20

The ram which thou sawest, that had the two horns, they are the kings of Media and Persia.

21

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

22

And as for that which was broken, in the place whereof four stood up, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not with his power.

23

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.

24

And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper and do his pleasure; and he shall destroy the mighty ones and the holy people.

25

And through his policy he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and in their security shall he destroy many; he shall also stand up against the prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.

26

And the vision of the evenings and mornings which hath been told is true: but shut thou up the vision; for it belongeth to many days to come.

27

And I, Daniel, fainted, and was sick certain days; then I rose up, and did the king's business: and I wondered at the vision, but none understood it.

QUERIES

a.

How shall the king of fierce countenance have mighty power, but not by his own power? Daniel 8:24

b.

How is he to be broken without hand? Daniel 8:25

c.

Why was Daniel told to shut up the vision? Daniel 8:26

PARAPHRASE

The more the angel spoke to me the more I became upset with my moral sinfulness, until I actually fainted. But the angel simply touched me and I awoke from my faint and had strength to stand up again. Then the angel said to me, Lo, I am revealing to you the things that shall happen in the final period of the Babylonian captivity (the period of God's anger against His covenant-breaking people). Every appointed time of God has an endand so His anger will end too! The ram which you saw in this vision having two horns represents the two-headed kingdom of Medo-Persia. The shaggy he-goat represents the empire of Greece and the tall horn which grows between its eyes represents its most illustrious emperor, Alexander the Great. When you saw this great horn break off, and four smaller horns replacing it, this indicates that the Grecian empire will break into four sections at the death of this great king with four separate kings, none of them as great as the first king. Toward the end of these four kingdoms, when the apostate Jews, who love the transgressions of paganism, have grown exceedingly wicker, a fierce, wicked and adamant king, who shall also be a master of deceit and cunning, shall arise from this background to rule over the covenant people. His power shall be tremendous, but that, is only because God, in His providence, is permitting him to have such power for a season. Prospering wherever he turns, his power to destroy powerful opponents and the saints of God will seem remarkable. And by his cunning he shall be successful in catching many of his opponents off guard as they bask in false security. He will destroy them with craftiness; so great will he think himself to be that he will even defy the Almighty God; when his end comes, it will be apparent that he was brought down by Almighty God, and not by mortal men. Now this remarkable and unique vision is truedo not doubt that Daniel. Preserve this revelation safely for, although it has to do with the end times of the Mosaic dispensation, these things are still in the distant future. So overcome was I, that for some days I was sick before I could continue the king's business. And though the contents of the vision and its interpretation remained firmly fixed in my mind, it greatly perplexed me and others to whom I related it.

COMMENT

Daniel 8:18-19. I FELL INTO A DEEP SLEEP. BUT. HE SET ME UPRIGHT. KNOW. THE LATTER TIME OF THE INDIGNATION. Daniel's awareness of the great gulf between the sinfulness of mortals and the perfect holiness of angelic beings was so overcoming that he apparently fainted into unconsciousness. But the supernatural ministration of the angelic being was sufficient to restore Daniel to wakefulness, and strength to stand up and receive the revelation from God the messenger had to relate.

This message had to do with the closing days of the indignation. Now that term indignation (or wrath) can only refer to the captivities of the covenant people of the O.T. (Israel's -captivity by Assyria, and Judah's captivity by Babylon and her successors, Persia, Greece). For scriptural confirmation of this see Isaiah 10:5; Isaiah 10:25; Isaiah 26:20, etc. The term indignation is a technical term used by the prophets to designate the wrath of God and His displeasure executed in giving the covenant people over to captivity, or to oppression by their pagan enemies. So, when the abominations of Antiochus IV occur, it will be a sign that the indignation of God against the covenant people for their idolatry during the Divided Kingdom period is coming to a fierce finality.

This appointed time of the end is the appointed time of the end of the O.T. dispensation, which would subsequently usher in the Messianic dispensation and the establishment of His kingdom on earth, the church. As is well known from history, when Antiochus IV died (about 165 B.C.), the Maccabean brothers continued their war of Jewish liberation, which was successful, and gave the Jews about 100 years of freedom and self-rule until about 63 B.C., when Pompey, one of the Roman Triumvirate, occupied Palestine as a part of the Roman empire. In the fulness of time God sent forth His Son, the Messiah, to establish His kingdom, the church. The Jews, for the most part, rejected the Messiah and crucified Him, but God raised Him from the dead, enthroned Him upon David's throne, established His church (Acts 2), and in 70 A.D. permitted the Roman army to destroy the Jewish temple, slay a million Jews and sell another half-million into slavery all over the world. The O.T. dispensation was nailed to the cross at the death of Jesus (cf. Colossians 2:8-15). Even the O.T. predicted that its dispensation of God's law would be supplanted with the new and real (cf. Hebrews 8:13; Jeremiah 31:31-34). Please consult Minor Prophets, by Paul T. Butler, pub. College Press, for special studies on Christ now ruling on David's throne.

The point is, God warned the Jews of the divided kingdoms in the earlier prophets (Amos, Hosea, Micah, Isaiah, Zephaniah, Jeremiah) that because of their idolatry (and consequent moral decadence) He was going to bring His indignation and wrath upon them in the form of captivity and oppression in order to chasten them, preparing them for the glorious blessings that would come to all who believed and accepted the promised Messiah and His kingdom. Now, God reveals through Daniel that this indignation and wrath is going to end some dayevery appointed time of God has an end. The end of God's chastening process will be indicated by this fierce, cunning, arrogant, blood-thirsty little-horn grown-great, appearing on the scene of history and bringing a terrible onslaught of the world power against God's people. But he will not stand.

Daniel 8:20-22 THE RAM WHICH THOU SAWEST. AND THE ROUGH HE-GOAT. There can be no doubt about this interpretation. God is revealing to Daniel the kingdoms of Persia and Greece (and that which shall grow out of Greece) centuries (about 400-500 years) before they appear on the scene of history. Actually, the entire span of history revealed to Daniel covers the period between Babylonian and Christ, some 600 years! For details on the two kingdoms mentioned here, see comments on Daniel 8:1-8 and Daniel 7:4-6.

Daniel 8:23-25. A KING OF FIERCE COUNTENANCE. This is Antiochus (IV) Epiphanes. For details on his reign see comments on Daniel 8:9-17 and chapter 11. When the four kingdoms into which Alexander's great empire was divided have about run their course, then this new king will put in his appearance. He is to be a master of deceit and dissimulation, able to conceal his meaning under ambiguous words. One translation has it, understanding riddles in place of understanding dark sentences. This king is not only a master of cunning, but he is also one that can not easily be deceived. The phrase, ... he shall be mighty, but not by his own power. indicates plainly that only because God providentially allowed it did he become so great. And this is not foreign to God's providence in the affairs of world rulers, as we have shown in the case of Nebuchadnezzar.

It will seem as if evil and deceit are about to take over the whole world when this king reigns. Whatever he undertakes will prosper (for a while). He will have power and cunning to do as he pleases, especially against his immediate political opponents and against the saints of God in Palestine.
Leupold says: This is, in fact, a very skillfully condensed account of the checkered career of one of the most remarkable men that-strutted across the stage of history. Its very conciseness makes it ambiguous or difficult to understand if one skims over it too readily. One personal characteristic that shall stand out as this man develops his career will be his proud, haughty, presumptuous nature. He will be so crafty in destroying any one who opposes him that while opponents think they are perfectly safe he is plotting their destruction, which he also executes craftily and speedily.
His inordinate pride and self-exaltation lead him to blaspheme and challenge the Almighty God (prince of princes) but God will not allow such evil and rebellion to thwart His Divine purposes. God without handsby means. that appear to be providential or divinewill break this tyrant! His overthrow will come so as to indicate that man himself did not put this arrogant mortal out of the way, but He whose mills grind slowly but exceedingly fine did it. God only allowed this persecutor his day because God was willing that he be given opportunity to repent. When he did not repent, God used his persecutions to purge the people of God in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. The reign of Antiochus IV is chronicled in 1MMalachi 1:1 to 1Ma. 6:16.

Daniel 8:26-27. SHUT THOU UP THE VISION. Since the prophecy was for a long time hence, Daniel was to preserve (shut up) the prophecy. To shut up the prophecy does not mean it is to be kept secret or that it is not yet to be understood. It means quite simply that it is to be permanently preserved by writing it down for posterity's sake (cf. Revelation 22:10). The psychological effect of the vision upon Daniel was exhausting. He was sick for a number of days before he could continue the king's business. The contents of the vision and its interpretation remained for sometime in the immediate consciousness of Daniel and he pondered the vision over and over. But he remained perplexed because what had been told him would never be translated into action in his own lifetime, but was for many years to come.

QUIZ

1.

Why did Daniel fall into a deep sleep?

2.

When is the time of indignation? the time of the end?

3.

Who is the great horn between the eyes of the he-goat?

4.

Who is the king of fierce countenance?

5.

Why describe him as one with understanding dark sentences?

6.

Who gave him his power?

7.

How did he cause craft to prosper?

8.

How was he broken?

9.

What does shut up the vision mean?