THE LITTLE HORN OF DANIEL 8 by C. P. B.

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Feb 18, 1889

FromThe Signs of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 7

THE LITTLE HORN OF DANIEL 8.

By C. P. B.

We have in the past examined somewhat hastily the second and seventh chapters of Daniel. In the second chapter, we found that the four universal empires of the world, namely, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Grecia, and Rome, were represented by the four different metals seen in the great image; while in the seventh chapter the same powers were symbolized by four great beasts. We also learned that while the ground covered is the same in both chapters, many additional features are brought out in the seventh chapter. For instance, in the second chapter we learn simply that the fourth kingdom was to be divided, but into how many parts the prophecy does not say; when we come to the seventh chapter, however, it is plainly stated that ten kings should arise.

Another interesting feature of the seventh chapter is the little horn which arose among the ten, and before which three of the first horns, were plucked up by the roots. This horn was clearly identified as a symbol of the Papacy. But the little horn of Daniel 7 must not be confounded with the like symbol of the eighth chapter. The prophecy of this chapter, which was given some two years later than that of the seventh, covers the same ground as that covered by the second and seventh, with the exception of Babylon, but it also brings out additional features in regard to the three other kingdoms. This is especially true of Rome, the fourth kingdom, which in this prophecy is represented in both its pagan and Papal forms by the little horn which is said to come forth from one of the horns of the goat.

The symbols used in the eighth chapter are a ram (verse 3), a he goat (verse 5), and a little horn (verse 9). The ram we are plainly told (verse 20) represented Medo-Persia the goat (verse 21), Grecia, and, as before intimated, the evidence is conclusive that the little horn symbolized Rome. The first consideration to be urged in support of this view, is the fact that of the three powers represented by the ram, the goat, and the little horn, the last is the greatest. Of the ram, we read (verse 4): “He did according to his will and became great;” of the goat it is said (verse 8) that “he waxed very great;” while the testimony concerning the little horn is that it “waxed exceeding great.” Verse 9. The prophecy says plainly that the first two powers represented in this chapter were Medo-Persia and Grecia, and that the third power was as compared with them exceeding great; and that has been true of but one power, namely, Rome.

But let us note a few other characteristics of the little horn which mark it as a symbol of Rome. It is thus described in verses 23 and 24: “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 practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.” With this compare Deut. 28:49-57, a prophecy which certainly applies to Rome, as is clearly shown by the following extract from Josephus’s account of the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans:—

“Now, of those that perished by famine in the city, the number was prodigious, and the miseries they underwent were unspeakable; for if so much as the shadow of any kind of food did anywhere appear, a war was commenced presently; and the dearest friends fell a fighting one with another about it, snatching from each other the most miserable supports of life. Nor would men believe that those who were dying had no food; for the robbers would search them when they were expiring, lest anyone should have concealed food in their bosoms, and counterfeited dying; nay, these robbers gaped for want, and ran about stumbling and staggering along like mad dogs, and reeling against the doors of the houses like drunken men; they would also, in the great distress they were in, rush into the very same houses two or three time in one and the same day. Moreover, their hunger was so intolerable, that it obliged them to chew everything, while they gathered such things as the most sordid animals would not touch, and endured to eat them; nor did they at length abstain from girdles and shoes; and the very leather which belonged to their shields they pulled off and gnawed; the very wisps of old hay became food to some; and some gathered up fibres, and sold a very small weight of them for four Attic [drachmae]. But why do I describe the shameless impudence that the famine brought on men in their eating inanimate things while I am going to relate a matter of fact, the like to which no history relates, either among the Greeks or Barbarians!—it is so horrible to speak of it, and incredible when heard! I had indeed willingly omitted this calamity of ours, that I might not seem to deliver what is so portentous to posterity, but that I have innumerable witnesses to it in my own age; and besides, my country would have had little reason to thank me for suppressing the miseries that she underwent at this time.”

“There was a certain woman that dwelt beyond Jordan, her name was Mary; her father was Eleazar, of the village Bethzob, which signifies The House of Hyssop. She was eminent for her family and her wealth, and had fled away to Jerusalem with the rest of the multitude, and was with them besieged therein at this time. The other effects of this woman had been already seized upon; such I mean as she had brought with her out of Perea, and removed to the city. What she had treasured up besides, as also what food she had contrived to save, had been also carried off by the rapacious guards, who came every day running into her house for that purpose. This put the poor woman into a very great passion, and by the frequent reproaches and imprecations she cast at these rapacious villains, she had provoked them to anger against her; but none of them, either out of the indignation she had raised against herself, or out of commiseration of her case, would take away her life; and if she found any food, she perceived her labors were for others, and not for herself; and it was now become impossible for her any way to find any more food, while the famine pierced through her very bowels and marrow, when also her passion was fired to a degree beyond the famine itself; nor did she consult with anything but with her passion and the necessity she was in. She then attempted a most unnatural thing; and, snatching up her son, who was a child sucking at her breast, she said, ‘O thou miserable infant! for whom shall I preserve thee in this war, this famine, and this sedition? As to the war with the Romans, if they preserve our lives, we must be slaves! This famine also will destroy us, even before that slavery comes upon us; yet are these seditious rogues more terrible than both the other. Come on; be thou my food, and be thou a fury to these seditious varlets and a by-word to the world, which is all that is now wanting to complete the calamities of us Jews.’

“And soon as she had said this she slew her son; and then roasted him, and ate the one-half of him, and kept the other half by her concealed. Upon this the seditious came in presently, and smelling the horrid scent of this food, they threatened her, that they would cut her throat immediately, if she did not show them what food she had gotten ready. She replied, ‘That she had saved a very fine portion of it for them; and withal uncovered what was left of her son. Hereupon they were seized with a horror and amazement of mind, and stood astonished at the sight; when she said to them, ‘This is mine own son; and what hath been done was mine own doing! Come, eat of this food; for I have eaten of it myself! Do not you pretend to be either more tender than a woman, or more compassionate than a mother; but if you be so scrupulous, and do abominate this my sacrifice, as I have eaten the one-half, let the rest be preserved for me also.’ After which, those men went out trembling, being never so much affrighted at anything as they were at this, and with some difficulty they left the rest of that meat to the mother. Upon which the whole city was full of this horrid action immediately; and while everybody laid this miserable case before their own eyes, they trembled, as if this unheard-of action had been done by themselves. So those that were thus distressed by the famine were very desirous to die; and those already dead were esteemed happy, because they had not lived long enough either to hear or to see such miseries.”—Wars of the Jews, book 6, chap. 5.

Certainly no one can read this graphic description of the horrors of that siege and doubt for a moment that it was a literal fulfillment of the words which more than fifteen hundred years before the Lord had spoken concerning Jerusalem by the mouth of his servant Moses.

But the length of the extract from Josephus renders it necessary to postpone the further consideration of this interesting prophecy till next week.

C. P. B.