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Daniel 8

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Chapters of theBook of Daniel
Daniel's Answer to the King by Briton Rivière

Additions to Daniel:

Not to be confused withDavid 8.

Daniel 8is the eighthchapterof theBook of Daniel.It tells ofDaniel's vision of a two-horned ram destroyed by a one-horned goat, followed by the history of the "little horn", which is Daniel's code-word for theGreekkingAntiochus IV Epiphanes.[1]

Although set during the reign or regency ofKing Belshazzar(who probably died in 539 BCE), the subject of the vision is Antiochus' oppression of the Jewish people during the second century BCE: he outlawed Jewish customs such as circumcision, the Jewish festival calendar, dietary restrictions, andSabbathobservance,[Notes 1]made ownership of theTorah scrolla capital offense, and built an altar to Zeus in the Temple (the "abomination of desolation").[2]His program sparked a popular uprising which led to the retaking of Jerusalem and the Temple byJudas Maccabeus(164 BCE).[3]

Summary

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In the third year ofBelshazzar,king of Babylon, Daniel in a vision sees himself inSusa,which is inElam,in modern-day westernIran.In his vision he sees aramwith two horns, one greater than the other; the ram charges to the west, north and south, and no other beast can stand against it. Daniel then sees a malegoatwith a single horn come from the west without touching the ground; it strikes the ram and destroys it. At the height of his power the goat's horn is broken and in its place four horns grow.[4]One of the horns is small but grows great and prospers in everything it does, throwing stars down to the earth, stopping the daily sacrifice, destroying the sanctuary and throwing truth to the ground.[5]Daniel is told the vision will be fulfilled in 2,300 evenings and mornings, when the sanctuary will be cleansed.[6]The angelGabrielappears and tells Daniel that this is a vision about thetime of the end.[7]

Composition and structure

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The ram and the goat.
Main article:Book of Daniel § structure

TheBook of Danieloriginated as a collection offolktalesamong the Jewish community in Babylon and Mesopotamia in the Persian and earlyHellenisticperiods (5th to 3rd centuries BCE), and was later expanded by the visions of chapters 7–12 in theMaccabeanera (mid-2nd century).[8]Daniel is a legendary figure[9]and his name was presumably chosen for the hero of the book because of his reputation as a wise seer in Hebrew tradition.[10]The structure of the chapter can be described as follows:[11]
I. Introduction: date and place (verses 1–2);
II. Vision report: ram, he-goat, angelic conversation (3–12);
III. Epiphany (appearance) of interpreter: circumstances and desire for interpretation, epiphany (15–17);
IV. Interpretation: circumstances, interpretation of images, concluding statement by the angel (18–26);
V. Concluding statement of visionary's reaction, v.27.

Genre and themes

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Antiochus IV Epiphanes–Altes Museum,Berlin.

The Book of Daniel is anapocalypse,a literary genre in which a heavenly reality is revealed to a human recipient; such works are characterized by visions, symbolism, an other-worldly mediator, an emphasis on cosmic events, angels and demons, and pseudonymity (false authorship).[12]Apocalypses were common from 300 BCE to 100 CE, not only among Jews and Christians, but Greeks,Romans,Persians andEgyptians.[13]Daniel, the book's hero, is a representative apocalyptic seer, the recipient of the divine revelation: has learned the wisdom of the Babylonian magicians and surpassed them, because his God is the true source of knowledge; he is one of themaskil,the wise, whose task is to teach righteousness.[13]The book is also aneschatology,meaning a divine revelation concerning the end of the present age, a moment in which God will intervene in history to usher in the final kingdom.[14]

Daniel 8 conforms to the type of the "symbolic dream vision" and the "regnal" or "dynastic" prophecy, analogous to a work called the "Babylonian Dynastic Prophecy" –a more extensive example appears in Daniel 11. For its sources it draws on Daniel 7, which supplies the symbolism of the "little horn" and the "holy ones" (angels), as well as on theBook of Ezekiel,which provides the location by a river and the epiphany of the angel, and on theBook of Habakkukwith its concern with the "end of time." The "little horn" which casts some of the stars to the ground recallsIsaiah14:12 andLucifer,which in turn presupposes theUgaritic(Canaanite) myth of Attar's attempt to take the throne ofBaal.[15]

Chapter 8 is about the actions of the world-powers at the "end-time".[16]The course of history is pre-determined, and Antiochus is merely playing a role in the unwinding of God's plan.[17]Daniel 8 is thus a reinterpretation and expansion of Daniel 7:[18]where chapter 7 spoke only cryptically of the change-over from the Medo-Persian empire to the age of the Greek kings, chapter 8 makes this explicit; by the same token, chapter 8 speaks cryptically of the "little horn," whose story will be taken up in detail in the following chapters.[16]

Interpretation

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TheAlexander MosaicdepictingDarius III of Persiafleeing beforeAlexander the Greatat theBattle of Issusin 333 BC.

Historical background

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Daniel 8 is an interpretation of the author's own time, 167–164 BCE, with a claim that God will bring to an end the oppression of the Jewish people.[19]It begins with theconquest of the Achaemenid Empire,touches on the rise of the four Greek successor kingdoms, and then focuses on the career ofAntiochus IV Epiphanes,who took the throne of theSeleucid Empirein 175 BCE.[20]Antiochus found himself in conflict with the Jews, and while the details are obscure, it appears that there was a revolt inJerusalem,he sent troops to suppress it, and as a result thedaily sacrificein theSecond Templewas stopped and the Temple itself defiled.[21]The date for this is usually 167 BCE.[21]The attempt to wipe out traditional religion and culture inevitably provoked a reaction, and therebels led by Judas Maccabeeand his brothers, won sufficient military victories over the Seleucids to take back and purify the temple three years later.[21]

The ram, the he-goat, the great horn and the four new horns

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The symbols of the ram and he-goat, explained in the text of Daniel 8 as representing the kings ofPersiaandGreece,are drawn fromthe constellationsthat preside over Persia andSyriainHellenistic astrology.[22]Scholars agree that the goat's first horn, which is broken, isAlexander the Great,and the four horns which then arise are the four generals who divided his empire.[23]The detail that the goat does not touch the ground as he attacks the ram may reflect the speed of Alexander's conquest.[24]

The "little horn" and his war on God

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The "little horn" which arises from the four horns isAntiochus Epiphanes.[22]It "grows in power to the south and to the east and towards the beautiful land", reflecting Antiochus' campaigns in Egypt (169–168 BCE), Persia (166 BCE) and Israel (the "beautiful land" ).[25]"Truth was flung to the ground" by the little horn as it tramples the land: this is probably a reference to theTorah,the Law of Moses.[26]

Daniel 8:13's "holy ones" most likely meansangels,rather than saints, as in the King James Version.[27]Sometimes in the Hebrew Bible it seems to refer to the Israelites.[28]Stars were commonly identified with angels in ancient Israel, and in 8:10 the reader is told that the little horn "grew great... and some of the host of the stars it cast down to the ground and trampled upon them", indicating that Antiochus fights against the "heavenly host" of God's angels.[29]Indeed, he "aspired to be as great as the Prince of the host," God himself.[25]

Daniel is the only book in the Hebrew Bible which gives names to angels.Gabrielmay have received his because he "has the appearance of a man" (Hebrewgaber); he appears here as a messenger and interpreter of God's message, the same role he was later given by the author ofLuke'sannunciationscene (Luke 1:19,26).[30]Michael is depicted as Israel'sguardian angeland a warrior.[30]The prominence given these divine beings in Daniel is typical of Hellenistic Jewish literature, but much more restricted than in contemporary works such asFirst Enoch.[30]

The 2,300 evenings and mornings

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In verse 13 Daniel overhears two "holy ones" (angels). One asks "" For how long is this vision concerning the regular burnt offering, the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over the sanctuary and host to be trampled? "and Daniel is informed that it will be" for 2,300 evenings and mornings, "or 1,150 days.[31]This is contradicted (twice in one sentence) at the end of Daniel 12, which says that "from the time the regular burnt offering is taken away... there shall be 1,290 days; happy are those that persevere and attain the 1,335 days" (Daniel 12:11–12): the different numbers, first 1,150 days, then 1,290, finally 1,335, are presumably revisions made when the earlier numbers passed without fulfillment.[32]

The period in question was initially the duration of the desecration of the Temple, but 1,150 days is slightly less than three and a half years, while the desecration lasted only three years.[31]It seems likely that the focus of the author shifted from the desecration and re-dedication of the Temple to the end of history, which would be marked by the resurrection of the dead: the final number inDaniel 12:12is followed by the instruction to Daniel to "go your way and rest; you shall rise for your reward at the end of days."[32]

The interpretation of the 2,300 evenings and mornings as equivalent to half that number of days–1150 days–appears to be the most common, butC. L. Seow,a leading Daniel scholar, takes it to mean 2,300 full days. This would be equivalent to about seven years; assuming that the end-point is the re-dedication of the Temple and restoration of sacrifices in 164 BCE, the starting point would then be the murder of the high priestOnias IIIin 171, another notable year in the events leading up to the desecration.[33]

Christian eschatological readings

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Julius Caesaridentified as the king in Daniel 8:23–25, depicted in armour and with a laurel wreath, on horseback, bearing a standard depicting an eagle; the horse trampling three kings with standards depicting a lion, a ram and a goat. Engraving byAdriaen Collaert,Plate 4 of Four Illustrious Rulers of Antiquity.

The Book of Daniel, and along withRevelation,formed one of the foundations ofChristianeschatology.[34][Notes 2]The authors of theGospelsidentifiedJesuswithDaniel 7's "one like ason of man",and by the 3rd century CE the stone ofDaniel 2and the fourth figure in the furnace in Daniel 3 were interpreted asChrist,the fourth kingdom of Daniel 7 wasRome,and the "little horn" was theAntichrist(his identification as Antiochus was denied byJeromein a famous exchange with the pagan philosopherPorphyry).[35]Daniel's timetable was reinterpreted to fit Christian expectations: the prophecy of 70 weeks inDaniel 9:20–27,for example, was commonly held to end either with the life and death of Christ or with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE.[36]

In theMiddle AgesdissidentCatholics,and laterMartin Luther,identified thepopeas the Antichrist, while the "little horn" includedMohammed,Antiochus, and the papacy, depending on which chapter of Daniel involved.[36]In the 17th century the EnglishPuritansinterpreted their struggle in terms of God's army (themselves) battling theAntichrist(the pope) and his ally (the king), and theFifth Monarchy Mentook their name and ideal of government from Daniel 7.[37]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^Known as Chodesh, Millah, Shabbos
  2. ^Eschatology: Concerning the "end-time". See Carroll, 2000, p.420.

References

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Citations

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  1. ^Bandstra 2008,p. 452.
  2. ^Bandstra 2008,p. 449.
  3. ^Aune 2010,p. 15-19.
  4. ^Daniel 8:5–8
  5. ^Daniel 8:9–12
  6. ^Dan. 8:13–14
  7. ^Dan. 8:15–19
  8. ^Collins 1984,p. 29,34–35.
  9. ^Collins 1984,p. 28.
  10. ^Redditt 2008,p. 176-177,180.
  11. ^Collins 1984,p. 84-85.
  12. ^Crawford 2000,p. 73.
  13. ^abDavies 2006,p. 397-406.
  14. ^Carroll 2000,p. 420-421.
  15. ^Collins 1984,p. 86-87.
  16. ^abKratz 2001,p. 100.
  17. ^Towner 1984,p. 121.
  18. ^Knibb 2001,p. 18.
  19. ^Towner 1984,p. 115-116.
  20. ^Grabbe 2010,p. 6-10.
  21. ^abcGrabbe 2010,p. 16.
  22. ^abCollins 1984,p. 87.
  23. ^Brettler 2005,p. 213.
  24. ^Towner 1984,p. 119.
  25. ^abHammer 1976,p. 85.
  26. ^Hill 2009,p. no pagination.
  27. ^Daniel 8:13:KJV
  28. ^Collins 1998,p. 104-105.
  29. ^Collins 1998,p. 105.
  30. ^abcTowner 1984,p. 117.
  31. ^abCollins 2013,p. 85.
  32. ^abCollins 2013,p. 86.
  33. ^Seow 2003,p. 125.
  34. ^Rowland 2007,p. 344.
  35. ^Lucas 2005,p. 156,158.
  36. ^abLucas 2005,p. 156.
  37. ^Weber 2007,p. 374-375.

Bibliography

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Further reading

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