The Little Horn of Daniel Eight
5. He magnified himself even to the Prince of the host. Thus did Rome, when both Herod and Pontius Pilate conspired against Jesus. 6. He shall destroy, wonderfully, the mighty and the holy people. Let from 50 to 100 millions of martyrs make good this charge against persecuting Rome. See Religious Encyclopedia. 7. It was the only power that succeeded the four kingdoms which waxed EXCEEDING GREAT. 8. In this vision Grecia succeeds Medo-Persia, just as it had been seen twice before; and it is absurd to suppose that the power which follows them in this vision is a different power from the one which twice before had been seen succeeding them, in chapters 2 and 7; and that power was Rome. 9. He shall be broken without hand. How clear a reference to the stone cut out without hand, which smites the image upon its feet. Chap. 2:34. Besides the symbols of governments contained in Dan. 8, there is a definite period of time brought to view, which claims attention. As recorded in verse 13, Daniel heard one saint ask another the question, how long the vision should be concerning the daily [sacrifice] and the transgression of desolation to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot. The angel then addressed himself to Daniel and said, "Unto two thousand and three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Waiving for the present the question as to what may constitute the sanctuary, we wish to ascertain if possible the nature, the commencement, and termination of this period of time. There are two kinds of time to be met with in the Bible; literal and symbolic. In symbolic time, a day signifies a year. Num. 14:34; Eze. 4:6. To which class do the 2300 days belong? Being brought in connection with acknowledged symbols, it would be both easy and natural to infer that they partook of the nature of the rest of the vision and were symbolic, presenting us with a period of 2300 years. And that such is the case is further evident from the fact, as is shown in the investigation of Dan. 8, that the field of the prophet's vision, was the empires of Persia, Greece and Rome. The 2300 days there given cannot therefore be literal days; for literal days (scarcely six years and a half) would by no means cover the duration of any one of these empires, singly, much less embrace so nearly the whole of their existence put together, as they evidently do. They must consequently denote 2300 years. Can we now ascertain the commencement of this period? We answer, Yes, the key to the matter being in the ninth chapter of Daniel, between which and the eighth there is an unmistakable connection, as we shall now endeavor to show. After their mention in verse 14, the 2300 days are not again spoken of in chapter 8. All the other parts of the vision are there fully explained; it must have been, therefore, this point concerning the time, that troubled the mind of the prophet, and in reference to which, solely, that he exclaims at the end of the chapter, I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it. It was in the third year of Belshazzar, B. C. 553, that Daniel had this vision of chapter 8. Fifty-three years previous to this time, Jerusalem had been taken by Nebuchadnezzar, and the seventy years' captivity commenced; and thirty-five years before this, the Chaldeans had utterly demolished the city, broken down its walls and burnt the house of God with fire. 2 Chron. 36:19. Daniel had learned from the prophecy of Jeremiah, [chapter 25], that the seventy years of captivity were drawing near their close, in the first year of Darius, B. C. 538, as we read in the first verses of Daniel 9; and it is evident that he so far misunderstood the period of the 2300 days as to suppose that they ended with the seventy years of Israel's servitude; therefore, turning his face toward the prostrate city and the ruined temple of his fathers, he prays God to cause his face to shine upon his sanctuary which is desolate. Verse 17. "While I was speaking in prayer," says he, [chapter 9:20-23], "even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me and talked with me, and said, O, Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee; for thou art greatly beloved; therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city." That this is a continuation of the explanation of the vision of chapter 8, would seem sufficiently evident without the aid of any special argument to prove it so. But there is a vital point that hinges upon this fact, we will offer a few reasons which place it beyond the limits of contradiction. 1. Gabriel had received a charge [chapter 8:16], to make Daniel understand the vision; but at the end of that chapter, Daniel says he was astonished at the vision, but none understood it. Gabriel therefore did not complete his mission in chapter 8;