Daniel 8:10
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. 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.
This verse belongs to the wonderful prophecies recorded in Daniel 7-12, given as revelations of the mysteries of ages to come reaching to the closing period of this world's history. It is part of a vision given for the last days. Even Daniel himself did not fully understand it, for it was not given him to understand all of the divine purpose revealed to him. The words of the book were shut up and sealed until the time of the end, with the blessed assurance that he would rest and stand in his lot and place at the end of the days.
Its chapter stands in a prophetic chronology reckoned together with Daniel 9, with 457 B.C. as the starting point for reckoning the prophetic periods. It is one of the specifications of the little horn, which is Rome rather than Antiochus Epiphanes. The casting down of some of the host and of the stars to the ground portrays Rome casting down and persecuting the disciples and ministers of Jesus. That persecution by Rome was exceptionally severe. The events foretold in Daniel's visions are now in process of fulfillment and will soon come to pass.