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In Part 3 of this series, we learned about the 4 beasts from Daniel 7, and we spent a lot of time learning about the little horn that came from the 10 divisions of the Roman Empire. We also learned that it often gets confused or consolidated with a different little horn found in Daniel chapter 8. In this study we’ll look more in-depth at the little horn in Daniel 8.
But first, just to quickly refresh our memories, these are the 3 points of interest listed in Daniel 7 that identify the little horn that rose out of divided Rome.
We saw that there is a “kingdom” that exists today, that fits every one of these points, with its kingdom being very small, but its power and influence being very great. That brings us up to date, now let’s get to the focus of this study…
The Greek Empire split into 4 kingdoms after Alexander the Great died, represented by the 4 headed leopard, and 4 of his generals took over those four kingdoms, with Seleucus being the strongest. In Daniel 8, Daniel received another vision that gave more detail into the Greek Empire. He saw a goat with 1 big horn that destroyed a two horned ram, but then the one big horn of the goat was broken, and 4 others grew in its place. The Bible told us that the goat represented Greece with its great leader, and the ram represented Medo-Persia with its two great leaders.
History again taught us that the great horn that broke represented Alexander dying at the height of his power, and just like the 4 headed leopard, the 4 horns that grew up in its place represented the 4 generals that divided the Greek empire into 4 kingdoms. Out of one of those 4 horns grew a little horn. Ok, we’re all caught up now. Let’s read that verse in Daniel 8 and get out our digging tools.
Thankfully, we have history to help shed some light on this strange vision. So let’s see what it can teach us, point by point.
Here are the points from these verses we’ll be unpacking.
1- And out of one of them came a little horn
2- Toward the East, toward the South, and toward the Glorious Land
3- He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host
4- By him the daily sacrifices were taken away
5- The place of His sanctuary was cast down
As we learned, the most powerful of those Greek 4 kingdoms was the Seleucid Empire, and interestingly, out of that empire came a ruler that is infamous in history. He’s known as Antiochus Epiphanes. His original name was Mithradates, and he was the third son of the Seleucid King, Antiochus the 3rd. We’ll call him Senior.
Let me share a little history about this Mithradates, before he became known as Antiochus Epiphanes. He had 2 older brothers, Antiochus, (we’ll call him JUNIOR), and Seleucus the 4th. Junior was the heir to the empire, but he died at a young age, making Seleucus 4th the heir to the throne.
One year before Senior died, he lost a battle against some troublemakers that were starting to make a name for themselves and had to sign a treaty with them. Those young punks were the Romans, and part of the treaty that Senior agreed to was that one of his heirs to the throne was to be held hostage in Rome. This assured that the Greeks wouldn’t try anything sneaky while the Romans were doing their thing, and the Romans agreed to leave the Greek Empire alone, … for the time being.
The first hostage to be sent to Rome was good ole Mithradates, because he was the second in line for the throne, and expendable. One year later, Senior died and Seleucus the 4th took the throne. Say what you will about Seleucus, but he did something admirable here. He sent his oldest son Demetrius to take Mithradates’ place as hostage, so that his younger brother could come pay his respects to their father. After this, of course Mithradates didn’t stick around. He moved all over the empire, eventually living in Athens where he developed an obsession with Alexander the Great and Hellenistic ideology.
About 10 years after Seleucus 4th sent his son Demetrius to trade for his brother Mithradates, Seleucus died. Mithradates saw his chance, and went back to the capitol of the Empire, and claimed the throne. He renamed himself Antiochus Epiphanes, which means “Antiochus god on earth”, (but we’ll just call him the tyrant). Now, this didn’t sit well with a lot of folks, because the rightful heir was Demetrius, who was still being held hostage in Rome for the last 10 years, and The Tyrant could have just gone back and exchanged himself for the rightful ruler, but noooo…
Instead, he hatched a scheme. You see, his older brother had another son that was only 5 years old and guess what his name was… Antiochus. We’ll call him Lil Anti. So, the Tyrant decided that he would be co-ruler with Lil Anti, and that way, he could kind of sidestep the “rightful ruler’ argument. And you know what??? The people went for it!!! They fell in line.
What do you think happened to Lil Anti??? Five years later, after enough time had passed for the grumblings to settle down and folks started accepting the Tyrant as the ruler, he killed Lil Anti!!! Of course, nothing could be traced back to the Tyrant and after some initial suspicion, no one even batted an eye. And that’s how a spoiled little brat named Mithradates became the mad tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes, and how the little horn began to grow out of the 4 horns in Daniel 8.
Antiochus the tyrant wasn’t a great war general or ruler, like his father, but he didn’t want to sit on his hands and do nothing either. Before Senior died, he had whipped an Asian kingdom called the Parthians in the east, who were once just a foot stool to the empire, but over the years, they had started rising up and rejecting the empire, so Senior showed up and pulled his belt off. But after he died, they started getting fidgety again. For whatever reason, Seleucus 4th didn’t bother with them while he was ruler, so by the time Antiochus the tyrant took over, they were too big for their britches. So of course, being the guy he was, he decided to put them back in their place and make a move towards the East. But before he could do that, he needed gold and resources, so he went to the South first, where there was a weaker, but wealthier empire ripe for the plucking. The Ptolemaic Empire of Egypt.
From the map, we can see that to get to Egypt, he had to go right through the glorious land of Israel. That wasn’t a problem because Israel was part of his empire, so he already ruled it and apart from squashing some riots here and there, and violently exerting his power over the people, he didn’t care anything about Israel, other than hating their religion. We’ll get back to that in just a minute. When he got to Egypt, he went to work. He conquered almost all of Egypt except for Alexandria. He was about to conquer them too and declare Egypt as part of the Seleucid Empire, but something happened.
While he and his army were marching towards Alexandria, an elderly man with a walking stick stepped out from the path and announced that his name was Gaius and he was an ambassador sent from the Roman Republic.
Now to put this in context, those troublemakers, the Romans had formed a republic and while they hadn’t taken over the world just yet, the world knew you didn’t mess with the Romans. The Ptolemies in Egypt knew this also, so they had made Rome their ally. When Antiochus had started conquering Egypt, Rome took notice and sent Gaius, a well-respected general of the Republic to have a little talk with the Tyrant.
He told him that he needed to turn around and go back to Syria and leave the Ptolemies alone. Antiochus was crazy, but he wasn’t stupid. He realized that this was serious, so he told Gaius that he’d need some time to talk it over with his war council and decide after that. But old Gaius wasn’t having it. He walked around the tyrant, with his walking stick drawing a line in the sand. When he stopped, Antiochus looked down and seen that he was standing alone inside a circle. Then Gaius told him, “You won’t cross that line until you’ve given me a firm answer to take back to the Republic!” Guess what he did?
He turned his rear end around and headed back to Syria. On the way back, he got news that there was a full-fledged rebellion happening in Jerusalem, with the Jews rejecting the high priest that he had installed as a puppet. Well, you can imagine that he was in a bad mood from being embarrassed by Gaius, so he decided to take his anger out on Jerusalem.
Now, his father, Senior, was a much better ruler than he was. Senior had chosen to allow the people’s he ruled over to maintain their religions and customs, as long as they paid taxes and resources, he didn’t care, and that included Israel. His son Seleucus 4th continued with that same leadership style when he was in charge. But not the Tyrant… noooo. When he came to power, he was determined to force his religion on his entire empire. That didn’t cause too much of an issue, because most of the world all worshipped the same gods under different names. All accept the Israelites. They worshipped only 1 God named YHVH, and He was a jealous God.
Over the course of Antiochus’s rule, he had steadily eroded the worship of YHVH. He had installed high priests that he chose, he had outlawed worship on the Sabbath, he built temples to pagan gods all over Jerusalem and did everything in his power to slowly paganize the population. That’s why the Jews always had these little riots here and there. But this time, after being humiliated and full of anger, he decided the time for slow progress was over, he would end the worship of YHVH by force…
In 167bc he and his army marched into Jerusalem and began to slaughter folks. Men, women, and even children… all fell by the sword. There’s a famous story called Hannah and her 7 Sons, written about 30 years after this time period, but referring to this time, that is both tragic and inspiring, so I encourage you to read it sometime.
Now, remember that the Tyrant’s real name was Mithradates, right? And then he took the name Antiochus Epiphanes, which meant “god manifested” or “god on earth”. Well, it just so happens that his real name is almost as bad as his chosen name. Mithradates means “Sent by Mithra”, who was the ancient Persian sun god. He had a real god complex. He believed that he was the incarnation of god, sent to earth as a savior to spread the good news … of Hellenism. That sounds familiar, in a twisted kinda way.
If you aren’t familiar with Hellenism, it’s adopting the philosophy and pagan religion of the ancient Greeks, which was a combination of ancient Persian and Babylonian beliefs and religion. From the time Antiochus spent as a hostage in Rome, to his time in Greece and Egypt, to his childhood in Persia and Syria, he knew that all the different gods of these different nations were all the same beings with different names. And he believed and claimed to be the physical embodiment of these gods.
He had a special place in his heart for the Persian sun god Mithra who he was named after, and the Greco/Roman king of the gods Zues. Keeping this in mind, let’s look at the next points.
After the initial slaughter of rebels and innocents alike, the Tyrant decided to set up shop and take a hands-on approach to end the worship of YHVH.
On the 25th day of the month we call December, he marched into the temple of YHVH in Jerusalem and set up a giant statue of Zeus. He then entered the Holy of Holies and had his soldiers sacrifice a pig on the Altar of YHVH. They then smeared pig blood on the walls, on the sacred objects, and even on the Tanakh scrolls. That’s what we call the Old Testament. The Tyrant then ordered all the scrolls burned.
He chose the specific day because it was the winter solstice and was sacred to Mithra, the god he was named after. He chose the statue because he believed he was the manifestation of the king of the gods, and he chose the pig because the altar was the most intimate and sacred space of the Temple, where a spotless lamb would be offered to God as a sacrifice for sin. As Christians, we know that lamb was a foreshadow of Christ, which makes it that much more insulting to the Truth.
He outlawed the daily sacrifices and any form of worship of the True Living God. He tortured people until they renounced YHVH and accepted him as their god and paganism as their religion. Those that didn’t renounce the True Living God, he had executed. There were a lot of people that chose the sword over betraying God. It’s estimated that as much as 80,000 people died in a three-day period for refusing to recognize the Tyrant as a god.
Shortly after doing all these horrible things, he departed Jerusalem and left some of his subordinates in charge to make sure the paganization of Israel would stick. He went back to Syria and then attacked those Parthians in the East that had gotten too big for their britches. Well, it turns out, they were actually too big for his britches. After 3 years, he lost and had to sign a treaty with the Parthian king. He died mysteriously not long after
Now, if you’re like me, you might be asking yourself, “HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN”? “HOW COULD THEY DO THIS IN GOD’S TEMPLE AND NOT BE INSTANTLY KILLED”? The hard truth is that this was allowed by God. This was Israel reaping the bitter, poisonous fruit of compromise. You see, for a long while, the leaders of Israel had been going through the motions. They had kept up appearances and “did” their priestly duties, but through the centuries of being captive to the different empires, the culture of those pagan empires began to infect Israel.
When Antiochus came into power, the leaders of Israel adopted the deceitful tactics of the Greeks. Instead of them being the nation of priests they were called to be, they began to adopt the pursuit of power and the politics of those nations that they were meant to lead to God.
They transgressed God’s purpose, So He removed His protection and allowed them to taste the fruit that they had desired. But He’s a good, good Father, and just like any good Father, he will allow us to make mistakes and to face the consequences, and then He’ll lift us back up and hold us in His arms. Every mess we make, He’ll help us clean up. Every wound we suffer, He’ll help us heal up and make it better. AMEN! Let’s first read Gabriel’s interpretation of the vision, and then we’ll look at how God cleaned up the mess. how He did that in this situation.
Do you see anything familiar with the Bible’s interpretation and the life of Antiochus? That last part, “broken without human means or human hands”, that’s divine judgement right there. In the year 164bc, 3 years after desecrating the temple, and right after losing the battle against the Parthians, he died of a strange illness. Not assassination by a political rival, not in glory on a battlefield, but groaning in pain and broken without human hands. And that was the end of the Tyrant, but what about the mess in Israel?
Well, while Antiochus was losing to the Parthians, back in Jerusalem a warrior priest named Judas Maccabee had seen enough. He and his brothers went to the mountains when Antiochus first showed up and after he left, they began to secretly recruit more and more people for a big rebellion they had planned.
This rebellion took almost exactly 3 years to come together, the same 3 years that the Tyrant was losing to the Parthians. Right before Antiochus died, the Maccabees, which is Hebrew for hammer and was what the followers of Judas Maccabee were called, brought down the hammer and took Jerusalem back. They kicked all the puppet priests out of the temple and because understood Daniel chapter 8 and knew that transgression was the source of the carnage Antiochus had inflicted, they over-corrected and went in a very legalistic direction in their worship. By the time Christ came to earth, the Israelites were so legalistic, that they didn’t even recognize the Messiah they had been praying for. However, something the Maccabees did that was great though, was that they cleansed and rededicated the Temple after getting rid of the puppets. But part of the process of rededication required a lamp to be lit for seven straight days.
Unfortunately, because of the revolt they had just been through, there was only enough for one night, but the Maccabees stepped out in faith and began the ceremony anyway. And miraculously, the lamp stayed lit for 8 days straight, the 7 days needed to complete the cleansing and one to grow on! They knew that God was with them!
To commemorate this miracle, they instituted a new celebration called The Feast of Dedication, which interestingly, is referenced in John 10:22.
So that’s the completion of Daniel’s vision found in chapter 8 and the revelation of that little horn. Speaking of Revelation, we were supposed to start unpacking some of that book… and so we shall
Rev 13:1-10 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of abear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. 3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. 4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? 5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 9 If any man have an ear, let him hear. 10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
Next study we’ll open up this vision and try to gain some insight, but before that, I’d like for us to contemplate the similarities between this vision in Revelation and the vision in Daniel 7. See you next study. AMEN.