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April 16th 2006, 09:07 PM
Interpreting Daniel
A Premillennial Historicist Study of the Book of Daniel
Introduction
The book of Daniel has been divided since it was written into 12 chapters. But the author wrote the book in four distinct sections: chapter 1 - a narrative section introducing the author and the setting; chapter 2 - a prophetic section introducing the panorama of foretold history inaugurated in the events of Daniel's lifetime and consummated in a future Kingdom of God; chapters 3-6 - a narrative section detailing key events during Daniel's life in Babylon: the deliverance of three of his friends from Nebuchadnezzar's idolatrous pride; the arrogance of the king and the judgment of God upon him; the ruin of Belshazzar and the capture of Babylon by the Persians; and the deliverance of Daniel from the plot of his enemies. Chapters 7-12 contain the fourth section of the book which is prophetic and the most difficult portion of the book to interpret. This section includes a vision that parallels the vision of the statue in chapter 2 with much added detail; a vision that traces foretold history from the rise to dominance of the Greek Empire to the end of "the indignation" during which the "holiness and host" are trampled; Daniel's prayer and the answering "seventy weeks prophecy"; the last of the portions of the long prophetic section in Dan 7-12 stretches from chapter 10 to chapter 12 in an unusually literal and detailed foretelling of history terminating in the event of the resurrection (12:2,3).
It is this entire prophetic section of chapters 7-12 which pose the greatest difficulty for interpreters and therefore my post will concentrate on this section while situating it for the sake of understanding in the context of what was revealed by God in the other prophetic section of Daniel (chapter 2) and illuminated by the narrative portions of the book. Any other approach to Daniel that rips certain (and extremely controversial and difficult) prophecies out of context without consideration to the message of the book as a whole must be judged as completely unsatisfactory. This, after all, is a debate about eschatology-concerning "last things". This portion of the debate is to present each eschatological system's interpretation of the prophecies in Daniel. To ignore certain prophecies as irrelevant is to dismiss them on the basis of a prejudiced assumption about their meaning. In other words, a conclusion is offered to the readers of this debate that these ignored sections have nothing to do with "last things" without offering any evidence or argument for that assumption.
The following discussion of the major prophecies in chapters 7-12 relies on the reader's familiarity with the introductory prophecy of chapter 2. It should be noted that the subsequent prophecies, following on the principle of progressive revelation, expand and add detail to the prophecy of chapter 2. In other words, the chronology prophesied in chapter 2 is the primary chronology--the schedule into which all the other prophecies in Daniel are placed.
Chapter 1
Daniel begins with a historical reference:
"In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it."
Most evangelical scholars agree that this was around the year 606 B.C., or some 115 (of our) years after the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel to the Assyrians. This historical context is extremely important for understanding Daniel's message since it situates the events of this book in the wider history of God's dealings with the nation of Israel. The disastrous history of the Nation and the consequences of their rebellion were foretold by Moses in Leviticus 26:14-39. A particular portion of Moses' prophecy here applies to the events of Daniel's lifetime:
18 'If also after these things you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. 19 'I will also break down your pride of power; I will also make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze.
The prophet Ezekiel, during his captivity in Babylon warned that the Temple in Jerusalem would shortly be destroyed because of the sins of the nation. His words offer a second and more explicit prediction of that in Lev 26:19:
'Speak to the house of Israel, "Thus says the Lord GOD, 'Behold, I am about to profane My sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes and the delight of your soul; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind will fall by the sword."
But as was made clear by Moses and the prophets, the nation would persist in their rebellion until a final destruction and dispersion. The same passage in Leviticus 26 goes on:
27 'Yet if in spite of this you do not obey Me, but act with hostility against Me, 28 then I will act with wrathful hostility against you, and I, even I, will punish you seven times for your sins. 29 'Further, you will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters you will eat. 30 'I then will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and heap your remains on the remains of your idols, for My soul shall abhor you. 31 'I will lay waste your cities as well and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your soothing aromas. 32 'I will make the land desolate so that your enemies who settle in it will be appalled over it. 33 'You, however, I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste. 34 'Then the land will enjoy its sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies' land; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths.
This is the prophetic/historical place of Daniel in the life of the nation of Israel. It is at a point of crisis and judgment, but not the final point of ruin and desolation that had been foretold. That this was clear to the prophet Daniel is shown by his study of the prophecies of Jeremiah in chapter 9:
2 …in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.
So Daniel prayed to the Lord repenting for himself and the exiled nation and pleading for restoration and forgiveness. In answer to his prayer, the angel came to Daniel to reveal to him that the nation would be restored (9:25) but that a time-limit is apportioned for
(his) people and (his) holy city
to bring their rebellion to an end-otherwise greater desolation would follow as foretold by Moses. More will be said about the prophecy of chapter 9 later.
This leads me to comment on the division of the book of Daniel into two languages: 1:1-2:3 are written in Hebrew; 2:4 to the end of chapter 7 are in Aramaic; and 8:1 to the end of the book are in Hebrew again. Thus it is reasonable given the content of these three sections to conclude that the Hebrew portions primarily concern Daniel's people Israel, while the Aramaic portions concern the Gentile nations that would for a time have dominion over the Jews.
Daniel 1:1-2:3 introduces the writings of this prophet and places them properly in the story of the nation of Israel. Israel has lost her king. She is now controlled by a foreign nation and will be until the last times. Individually, Daniel and his friends are now living in the house of a pagan king, in his service. This section tells the story of the Israelites. For this reason this section is written in Hebrew.
Chapter 2
ARAMAIC SECTION
However, Daniel 2:4 begins a section written in Aramaic-a Gentile language-that describes the actions of God through history as Gentile kingdoms are allowed to trample under-foot the nation of Israel. The main characters are now pagan Gentiles.
It is appropriate that the Gentile section begins with a panoramic overview of Gentile history from that point forward to the last times. Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the statue foretells a succession of Gentile empires. The period starts with a relatively noble king and empire-the gold head personified by King Nebuchadnezzar. Then the empires deteriorate all the way to being poorly mixed with clay. Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. The Roman dominion lasts until the Kingdom of God replaces and destroys all the kingdoms of men and extends its rule over all Creation. However, the Roman dominion goes through a dramatic transition: the first phase is as a solid, iron, unified empire; the second is as a divided, weakened entity mixed with other peoples. However, all of these centuries foreseen here are dominated by Gentile, not Jewish, rule-right up until the Kingdom of God. This whole period, then, is what Jesus referred to in Luke 21:24 as, "the times of the gentiles". It is during this long era of history characterized by Gentile dominance that Jerusalem, according to Jesus' prediction, would be trampled under foot by the Gentiles. At the end of this era Jerusalem would logically be freed from Gentile rule and alternatively be under Jewish rule. So there is a "sign of the times" to be learned here: the end of the Times of the Gentiles will coincide with the rise of the Jewish nation; the rise of the Jewish nation would accompany the decline of the last of the Gentile empires (the 10 kingdoms of Western Europe) and shortly precede the coming of the everlasting Kingdom of God.
Babylon did give way to the empire of the Medes and the Persians, and they were conquered by Greece. Greece in turn was conquered by Rome, which ruled and trampled down the Jewish people and the city of Jerusalem until the fifth century AD. At that time Rome succumbed to the Barbarian tribes pressing in on her borders. The last of the Caesars fell in 476. The territory of Rome was claimed by various barbarian tribes. Within a short time the Western Roman Empire-the part that was never part of the Babylonian, Persian or Grecian empires-was controlled by the kingdoms of the Lombards, Franks, Burgundians, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Vandals, Heruli, Sueves, Huns and Saxons. This state of affairs will continue, as predicted, until the Kingdom of God. There are still 10 "kingdoms" ruling the former Roman territory-the names and make-up of those nations have changed, but there are still 10: Italy, Austria, Switzerland, France, the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Luxemburg, Belgium, Spain, and Portugal. It will be during the time of these "kings" that God will set up His Kingdom which will never end.
Chapter 3
Chapter 3 details the familiar story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and their refusal to worship any god except the LORD God. The first thing to notice is the similarity between the image of gold built by Nebuchadnezzar and the identification by Daniel, in chapter 2, of the head of gold. Daniel told the king that the head of gold in his vision represented the kingdom of Babylon under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar himself. So whether this knowledge went to the king's head or not, the similarity may be intended by Daniel as a type. If so, the type probably teaches that during the whole Times of the Gentiles, the era predicted by the statue in chapter 2, those Jews who are faithful to Yahweh alone will be preserved and not only preserved, but would enjoy the supernatural presence of Yahweh Himself with them in the midst of their tribulations.
Chapter 4
Chapter 4 continues Nebuchadnezzar's story-in his words there came another time when he forgot that he ruled as YHWH allowed. Because of his pride and arrogance God gave him a "beast's mind" while "seven times" passed over him (4:16). The punishment would come to an end when the king recognized that the Most High is the King of kings and gives dominion over humankind to whomever He wishes (4:25). This happened to him as predicted, and he became like a beast while seven periods of time passed by (4:32), and then God gave him back his mind and he gave God the glory (4:34-37).
Chapter 5
Chapter 5 narrates the decline and fall of the Babylonian kingdom (as predicted in the vision of chapter 2) and the rise of the Medes and the Persians (5:30-31).
Chapter 6
Chapter 6 witnesses to the continued service of Daniel under Persian rule and the opportunity the people of God have to testify to the glory of the God of Israel in spite of their national humiliation (6:25-28).
Chapter 7
Chapter 7 parallels chapter 2 in many ways: a panoramic vision of the history of Gentile dominion over the Jews until the Kingdom of God. But some important details are added. We have seen through chapters 2-6 that God preserves a remnant of His faithful saints to bear witness to Him even while the nation of Israel is punished and humiliated. Daniel served in this way in his captivity. Chapter 7 adds the information that even at the end of the kingdoms of the Gentiles there will still be a faithful remnant, the "saints" (7:18, 21, 22, 25 and 27).
As Nebuchadnezzar became like a beast while he refused to acknowledge the Most High God, the Gentile empires are pictured as beasts. They would become more and more beast like until the last, the Roman, would not even resemble a created beast, but a man-made monster (7:19).
The beasts who are conquered, while losing their dominion, do remain in place submissive to those that follow. They are allowed to survive until the Kingdom of God replaces all human rule (7:12). Thus, the territory ruled by the 10 horns (ten kings) that grow out of the Roman monster is that area only ruled by Rome and never by Babylon, Persian, or Greece. They grow out of the Roman beast and none of the other beasts (7:20, 24). Therefore these 10 kingdoms are the same European kingdoms that rose up from the ruins of the Roman empire in the 5th and 6th centuries AD. AS you can see from verse 24, the number of kingdoms in the Roman territory would sometimes fluctuate, but by the coming of the Kingdom of God there would again be the full number of 10 (2:41-44 make clear that the Kingdom of God comes in the "days of those kings"; 2:34-35 picture the stone of God's Kingdom crashing down on the feet of ten toes).
The last Gentile power to have dominion over God's people is the little horn that grows up just after the 10 kingdoms appear.
20 and the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up, and before which three of them fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts and which was larger in appearance than its associates. 21 "I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them...Daniel 7:24-25 24 'As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. 25 'He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.
He is different from the other 10 kings (7:24). Much worse than simply refusing to acknowledge the Most High God, this king is more beast-like than all his predecessors: he will
...utter great boasts
and even
...speak out against the Most High
However he impersonates a faithful servant of the Most High, claiming to serve while he blasphemes. In this way he has some of the look of a man (7:8). And the saints will be given into this blasphemous king's hand for 3 ˝ times. In chapter 4, Nebuchadnezzar became like a beast for 7 times. I believe he typified the entire history of Gentile dominion: it would all be beast-like in this way and its duration would be for a full "seven periods of time". The duration of this last blasphemous king having dominion over the saints would be for the last half of that whole 7 times of the Gentiles.
The sequence of the events of these prophecies suggest that the little blasphemous horn and the other 10 kings appear just after the collapse of the unified Roman Empire. That took place fully and finally in 476 AD. Historians agree that there have been an average of 10 kingdoms/countries in that formerly Roman territory ever since. The history of that period of the fall of Rome also testifies that in the vacuum of power left by the fallen caesars, the people of the city of Rome turned to the only other stable authority they knew: the Bishop of Rome. By the year 606 with the decree of the Emperor of Constantinople, Phocas, the Bishop of Rome was granted supreme religious authority over all of Europe and Byzantium. In this way the ruler of Rome became different from the other European kings: he was a political head in Rome, and he was a religious head in all of Europe. Called, "papa" or "pope" by the citizens of Rome, the Pope continued to be the ruler of the city of Rome until Victor Emmanuel, the King of Italy seized the city of Rome as the capitol of Italy in 1876. Since then, the Pope is only a religious figure-head. He no longer has military, political, temporal dominion. The time of his temporal reign, during which time he had dominion over God's people, can be measured, for example, from 606 AD until 1876 AD: 1260 years (Dan 7:25, 12:7, Rev 11:2-3, 12:6, 14, 13:5).
This period of the reign of what we call "the antichrist". Although this word does not appear in any apocalyptic prophecy at all, it is a fitting Christian description for the blasphemy of the little horn and the mouth-piece of the Beast (Rev 13:5). The word, "antichrist" does not simply mean "enemy of Christ" but by usurping or taking Christ's place he is manifestly Christ's enemy:
"Anti can mean substitution or opposition, but both ideas are identical in the word antichristos (in N.T. only here, 2:22; 4:3; 2Jo 1:7). Westcott rightly observes that John's use of the word is determined by the Christian conception, not by the Jewish apocalypses."- A. T. Robertson, Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament
The Pope of the Roman Church does precisely this, and has long been recognized as a usurper within the Christian church:
Westminster Confession of Faith, 25.6, "There is no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ.(1) Nor can the Pope of Rome, in any sense, be head thereof; but is that Antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ, and all that is called God.(2)"
However, it is now apparent that the time allowed by God for the Roman bishop/king to
"wage war against the saints"
is long over. The prophecy said nothing about the timing of his destruction, only of his dominion over the saints. So the persecution's over but he's still here. But the time is coming when the Son of Man will receive the Kingdom (7:13-14) and the saints, the people of the Most High, will reign with Him (7:18, 22, 27).
Chapter 8
HEBREW SECTION
Chapter 8 concerns the
holy place and the host
The phrase can be more understood in English translated as,
"how long will…the holy and the army be trampled?
The word, "place" is not in that verse any more than it is in Dan 9:24. The Aramaic in Dan 7:18 speaks of the saints as "holies of God" or "holy ones of God". Revelation 13:7 is equivalent where "holies" is translated, "saints". Here in Daniel 8 I believe the noun is collective to refer to the nation of Israel as a whole, but in connection with their land. The nation is trampled in the sense that their land is trampled underfoot by the enemy portrayed in chapter 8. In particular it is the "foundation of the holy place" or "the established place of the sanctuary" that falls into the hands of this enemy. The main thrust of chapter 8 is not about the enemy but about the trampling of Jerusalem. Verse 14 gives the duration of its trampling. The time would be 2300 mornings and evenings. The end of that time would see the restoration of Jerusalem-NOT the "temple". The word for "Temple", "hękal" is not used in this passage. Instead simply "the foundation of the holy place" referring more generically to Jerusalem the headquarters, as it were, of the worship of the Most High by His people Israel. From the transition pictured in vv 4-5, the 2300 (lunar or solar) years might be measured from the beginning of the Persian offensive of Xerxes against the Greeks (480 BC) or from as late as Alexander's conquest of Persia (331 BC). 2300 lunar years from any of the major events within that range bring us to the era of gradual Jewish liberation and the Zionist movement in Europe and the Middle East. Jesus said Jerusalem would be
...trampled down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled
The horn that grows out of a horn that replaces Alexander's prominent horn on the Greek goat, I believe is Islam. It did arise out of the Arabian peninsula, a commercial territory of the Ptolemies-one of the four horns that replaced Alexander. And the important dates of Jewish restoration up until the Balfour Declaration do coincide with the demise and collapse of the last Islamic Empire, the Turkish Empire. Still there is much to study and learn here . . .
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A Premillennial Historicist Study of the Book of Daniel
Introduction
The book of Daniel has been divided since it was written into 12 chapters. But the author wrote the book in four distinct sections: chapter 1 - a narrative section introducing the author and the setting; chapter 2 - a prophetic section introducing the panorama of foretold history inaugurated in the events of Daniel's lifetime and consummated in a future Kingdom of God; chapters 3-6 - a narrative section detailing key events during Daniel's life in Babylon: the deliverance of three of his friends from Nebuchadnezzar's idolatrous pride; the arrogance of the king and the judgment of God upon him; the ruin of Belshazzar and the capture of Babylon by the Persians; and the deliverance of Daniel from the plot of his enemies. Chapters 7-12 contain the fourth section of the book which is prophetic and the most difficult portion of the book to interpret. This section includes a vision that parallels the vision of the statue in chapter 2 with much added detail; a vision that traces foretold history from the rise to dominance of the Greek Empire to the end of "the indignation" during which the "holiness and host" are trampled; Daniel's prayer and the answering "seventy weeks prophecy"; the last of the portions of the long prophetic section in Dan 7-12 stretches from chapter 10 to chapter 12 in an unusually literal and detailed foretelling of history terminating in the event of the resurrection (12:2,3).
It is this entire prophetic section of chapters 7-12 which pose the greatest difficulty for interpreters and therefore my post will concentrate on this section while situating it for the sake of understanding in the context of what was revealed by God in the other prophetic section of Daniel (chapter 2) and illuminated by the narrative portions of the book. Any other approach to Daniel that rips certain (and extremely controversial and difficult) prophecies out of context without consideration to the message of the book as a whole must be judged as completely unsatisfactory. This, after all, is a debate about eschatology-concerning "last things". This portion of the debate is to present each eschatological system's interpretation of the prophecies in Daniel. To ignore certain prophecies as irrelevant is to dismiss them on the basis of a prejudiced assumption about their meaning. In other words, a conclusion is offered to the readers of this debate that these ignored sections have nothing to do with "last things" without offering any evidence or argument for that assumption.
The following discussion of the major prophecies in chapters 7-12 relies on the reader's familiarity with the introductory prophecy of chapter 2. It should be noted that the subsequent prophecies, following on the principle of progressive revelation, expand and add detail to the prophecy of chapter 2. In other words, the chronology prophesied in chapter 2 is the primary chronology--the schedule into which all the other prophecies in Daniel are placed.
Chapter 1
Daniel begins with a historical reference:
"In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it."
Most evangelical scholars agree that this was around the year 606 B.C., or some 115 (of our) years after the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel to the Assyrians. This historical context is extremely important for understanding Daniel's message since it situates the events of this book in the wider history of God's dealings with the nation of Israel. The disastrous history of the Nation and the consequences of their rebellion were foretold by Moses in Leviticus 26:14-39. A particular portion of Moses' prophecy here applies to the events of Daniel's lifetime:
18 'If also after these things you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. 19 'I will also break down your pride of power; I will also make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze.
The prophet Ezekiel, during his captivity in Babylon warned that the Temple in Jerusalem would shortly be destroyed because of the sins of the nation. His words offer a second and more explicit prediction of that in Lev 26:19:
'Speak to the house of Israel, "Thus says the Lord GOD, 'Behold, I am about to profane My sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes and the delight of your soul; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind will fall by the sword."
But as was made clear by Moses and the prophets, the nation would persist in their rebellion until a final destruction and dispersion. The same passage in Leviticus 26 goes on:
27 'Yet if in spite of this you do not obey Me, but act with hostility against Me, 28 then I will act with wrathful hostility against you, and I, even I, will punish you seven times for your sins. 29 'Further, you will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters you will eat. 30 'I then will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and heap your remains on the remains of your idols, for My soul shall abhor you. 31 'I will lay waste your cities as well and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your soothing aromas. 32 'I will make the land desolate so that your enemies who settle in it will be appalled over it. 33 'You, however, I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste. 34 'Then the land will enjoy its sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies' land; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths.
This is the prophetic/historical place of Daniel in the life of the nation of Israel. It is at a point of crisis and judgment, but not the final point of ruin and desolation that had been foretold. That this was clear to the prophet Daniel is shown by his study of the prophecies of Jeremiah in chapter 9:
2 …in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.
So Daniel prayed to the Lord repenting for himself and the exiled nation and pleading for restoration and forgiveness. In answer to his prayer, the angel came to Daniel to reveal to him that the nation would be restored (9:25) but that a time-limit is apportioned for
(his) people and (his) holy city
to bring their rebellion to an end-otherwise greater desolation would follow as foretold by Moses. More will be said about the prophecy of chapter 9 later.
This leads me to comment on the division of the book of Daniel into two languages: 1:1-2:3 are written in Hebrew; 2:4 to the end of chapter 7 are in Aramaic; and 8:1 to the end of the book are in Hebrew again. Thus it is reasonable given the content of these three sections to conclude that the Hebrew portions primarily concern Daniel's people Israel, while the Aramaic portions concern the Gentile nations that would for a time have dominion over the Jews.
Daniel 1:1-2:3 introduces the writings of this prophet and places them properly in the story of the nation of Israel. Israel has lost her king. She is now controlled by a foreign nation and will be until the last times. Individually, Daniel and his friends are now living in the house of a pagan king, in his service. This section tells the story of the Israelites. For this reason this section is written in Hebrew.
Chapter 2
ARAMAIC SECTION
However, Daniel 2:4 begins a section written in Aramaic-a Gentile language-that describes the actions of God through history as Gentile kingdoms are allowed to trample under-foot the nation of Israel. The main characters are now pagan Gentiles.
It is appropriate that the Gentile section begins with a panoramic overview of Gentile history from that point forward to the last times. Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the statue foretells a succession of Gentile empires. The period starts with a relatively noble king and empire-the gold head personified by King Nebuchadnezzar. Then the empires deteriorate all the way to being poorly mixed with clay. Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. The Roman dominion lasts until the Kingdom of God replaces and destroys all the kingdoms of men and extends its rule over all Creation. However, the Roman dominion goes through a dramatic transition: the first phase is as a solid, iron, unified empire; the second is as a divided, weakened entity mixed with other peoples. However, all of these centuries foreseen here are dominated by Gentile, not Jewish, rule-right up until the Kingdom of God. This whole period, then, is what Jesus referred to in Luke 21:24 as, "the times of the gentiles". It is during this long era of history characterized by Gentile dominance that Jerusalem, according to Jesus' prediction, would be trampled under foot by the Gentiles. At the end of this era Jerusalem would logically be freed from Gentile rule and alternatively be under Jewish rule. So there is a "sign of the times" to be learned here: the end of the Times of the Gentiles will coincide with the rise of the Jewish nation; the rise of the Jewish nation would accompany the decline of the last of the Gentile empires (the 10 kingdoms of Western Europe) and shortly precede the coming of the everlasting Kingdom of God.
Babylon did give way to the empire of the Medes and the Persians, and they were conquered by Greece. Greece in turn was conquered by Rome, which ruled and trampled down the Jewish people and the city of Jerusalem until the fifth century AD. At that time Rome succumbed to the Barbarian tribes pressing in on her borders. The last of the Caesars fell in 476. The territory of Rome was claimed by various barbarian tribes. Within a short time the Western Roman Empire-the part that was never part of the Babylonian, Persian or Grecian empires-was controlled by the kingdoms of the Lombards, Franks, Burgundians, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Vandals, Heruli, Sueves, Huns and Saxons. This state of affairs will continue, as predicted, until the Kingdom of God. There are still 10 "kingdoms" ruling the former Roman territory-the names and make-up of those nations have changed, but there are still 10: Italy, Austria, Switzerland, France, the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Luxemburg, Belgium, Spain, and Portugal. It will be during the time of these "kings" that God will set up His Kingdom which will never end.
Chapter 3
Chapter 3 details the familiar story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and their refusal to worship any god except the LORD God. The first thing to notice is the similarity between the image of gold built by Nebuchadnezzar and the identification by Daniel, in chapter 2, of the head of gold. Daniel told the king that the head of gold in his vision represented the kingdom of Babylon under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar himself. So whether this knowledge went to the king's head or not, the similarity may be intended by Daniel as a type. If so, the type probably teaches that during the whole Times of the Gentiles, the era predicted by the statue in chapter 2, those Jews who are faithful to Yahweh alone will be preserved and not only preserved, but would enjoy the supernatural presence of Yahweh Himself with them in the midst of their tribulations.
Chapter 4
Chapter 4 continues Nebuchadnezzar's story-in his words there came another time when he forgot that he ruled as YHWH allowed. Because of his pride and arrogance God gave him a "beast's mind" while "seven times" passed over him (4:16). The punishment would come to an end when the king recognized that the Most High is the King of kings and gives dominion over humankind to whomever He wishes (4:25). This happened to him as predicted, and he became like a beast while seven periods of time passed by (4:32), and then God gave him back his mind and he gave God the glory (4:34-37).
Chapter 5
Chapter 5 narrates the decline and fall of the Babylonian kingdom (as predicted in the vision of chapter 2) and the rise of the Medes and the Persians (5:30-31).
Chapter 6
Chapter 6 witnesses to the continued service of Daniel under Persian rule and the opportunity the people of God have to testify to the glory of the God of Israel in spite of their national humiliation (6:25-28).
Chapter 7
Chapter 7 parallels chapter 2 in many ways: a panoramic vision of the history of Gentile dominion over the Jews until the Kingdom of God. But some important details are added. We have seen through chapters 2-6 that God preserves a remnant of His faithful saints to bear witness to Him even while the nation of Israel is punished and humiliated. Daniel served in this way in his captivity. Chapter 7 adds the information that even at the end of the kingdoms of the Gentiles there will still be a faithful remnant, the "saints" (7:18, 21, 22, 25 and 27).
As Nebuchadnezzar became like a beast while he refused to acknowledge the Most High God, the Gentile empires are pictured as beasts. They would become more and more beast like until the last, the Roman, would not even resemble a created beast, but a man-made monster (7:19).
The beasts who are conquered, while losing their dominion, do remain in place submissive to those that follow. They are allowed to survive until the Kingdom of God replaces all human rule (7:12). Thus, the territory ruled by the 10 horns (ten kings) that grow out of the Roman monster is that area only ruled by Rome and never by Babylon, Persian, or Greece. They grow out of the Roman beast and none of the other beasts (7:20, 24). Therefore these 10 kingdoms are the same European kingdoms that rose up from the ruins of the Roman empire in the 5th and 6th centuries AD. AS you can see from verse 24, the number of kingdoms in the Roman territory would sometimes fluctuate, but by the coming of the Kingdom of God there would again be the full number of 10 (2:41-44 make clear that the Kingdom of God comes in the "days of those kings"; 2:34-35 picture the stone of God's Kingdom crashing down on the feet of ten toes).
The last Gentile power to have dominion over God's people is the little horn that grows up just after the 10 kingdoms appear.
20 and the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up, and before which three of them fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts and which was larger in appearance than its associates. 21 "I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them...Daniel 7:24-25 24 'As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. 25 'He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.
He is different from the other 10 kings (7:24). Much worse than simply refusing to acknowledge the Most High God, this king is more beast-like than all his predecessors: he will
...utter great boasts
and even
...speak out against the Most High
However he impersonates a faithful servant of the Most High, claiming to serve while he blasphemes. In this way he has some of the look of a man (7:8). And the saints will be given into this blasphemous king's hand for 3 ˝ times. In chapter 4, Nebuchadnezzar became like a beast for 7 times. I believe he typified the entire history of Gentile dominion: it would all be beast-like in this way and its duration would be for a full "seven periods of time". The duration of this last blasphemous king having dominion over the saints would be for the last half of that whole 7 times of the Gentiles.
The sequence of the events of these prophecies suggest that the little blasphemous horn and the other 10 kings appear just after the collapse of the unified Roman Empire. That took place fully and finally in 476 AD. Historians agree that there have been an average of 10 kingdoms/countries in that formerly Roman territory ever since. The history of that period of the fall of Rome also testifies that in the vacuum of power left by the fallen caesars, the people of the city of Rome turned to the only other stable authority they knew: the Bishop of Rome. By the year 606 with the decree of the Emperor of Constantinople, Phocas, the Bishop of Rome was granted supreme religious authority over all of Europe and Byzantium. In this way the ruler of Rome became different from the other European kings: he was a political head in Rome, and he was a religious head in all of Europe. Called, "papa" or "pope" by the citizens of Rome, the Pope continued to be the ruler of the city of Rome until Victor Emmanuel, the King of Italy seized the city of Rome as the capitol of Italy in 1876. Since then, the Pope is only a religious figure-head. He no longer has military, political, temporal dominion. The time of his temporal reign, during which time he had dominion over God's people, can be measured, for example, from 606 AD until 1876 AD: 1260 years (Dan 7:25, 12:7, Rev 11:2-3, 12:6, 14, 13:5).
This period of the reign of what we call "the antichrist". Although this word does not appear in any apocalyptic prophecy at all, it is a fitting Christian description for the blasphemy of the little horn and the mouth-piece of the Beast (Rev 13:5). The word, "antichrist" does not simply mean "enemy of Christ" but by usurping or taking Christ's place he is manifestly Christ's enemy:
"Anti can mean substitution or opposition, but both ideas are identical in the word antichristos (in N.T. only here, 2:22; 4:3; 2Jo 1:7). Westcott rightly observes that John's use of the word is determined by the Christian conception, not by the Jewish apocalypses."- A. T. Robertson, Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament
The Pope of the Roman Church does precisely this, and has long been recognized as a usurper within the Christian church:
Westminster Confession of Faith, 25.6, "There is no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ.(1) Nor can the Pope of Rome, in any sense, be head thereof; but is that Antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ, and all that is called God.(2)"
However, it is now apparent that the time allowed by God for the Roman bishop/king to
"wage war against the saints"
is long over. The prophecy said nothing about the timing of his destruction, only of his dominion over the saints. So the persecution's over but he's still here. But the time is coming when the Son of Man will receive the Kingdom (7:13-14) and the saints, the people of the Most High, will reign with Him (7:18, 22, 27).
Chapter 8
HEBREW SECTION
Chapter 8 concerns the
holy place and the host
The phrase can be more understood in English translated as,
"how long will…the holy and the army be trampled?
The word, "place" is not in that verse any more than it is in Dan 9:24. The Aramaic in Dan 7:18 speaks of the saints as "holies of God" or "holy ones of God". Revelation 13:7 is equivalent where "holies" is translated, "saints". Here in Daniel 8 I believe the noun is collective to refer to the nation of Israel as a whole, but in connection with their land. The nation is trampled in the sense that their land is trampled underfoot by the enemy portrayed in chapter 8. In particular it is the "foundation of the holy place" or "the established place of the sanctuary" that falls into the hands of this enemy. The main thrust of chapter 8 is not about the enemy but about the trampling of Jerusalem. Verse 14 gives the duration of its trampling. The time would be 2300 mornings and evenings. The end of that time would see the restoration of Jerusalem-NOT the "temple". The word for "Temple", "hękal" is not used in this passage. Instead simply "the foundation of the holy place" referring more generically to Jerusalem the headquarters, as it were, of the worship of the Most High by His people Israel. From the transition pictured in vv 4-5, the 2300 (lunar or solar) years might be measured from the beginning of the Persian offensive of Xerxes against the Greeks (480 BC) or from as late as Alexander's conquest of Persia (331 BC). 2300 lunar years from any of the major events within that range bring us to the era of gradual Jewish liberation and the Zionist movement in Europe and the Middle East. Jesus said Jerusalem would be
...trampled down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled
The horn that grows out of a horn that replaces Alexander's prominent horn on the Greek goat, I believe is Islam. It did arise out of the Arabian peninsula, a commercial territory of the Ptolemies-one of the four horns that replaced Alexander. And the important dates of Jewish restoration up until the Balfour Declaration do coincide with the demise and collapse of the last Islamic Empire, the Turkish Empire. Still there is much to study and learn here . . .
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