1. Daniel chapter 8

2. Daniel Chapter 8 questions/answers
1. Why do chapters 7 & 8 not follow chapter 4?
Daniel 4:4 I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in my palace:
Daniel 5:1 Belshazzar the king made a great feast …
Daniel 6:1 It please Darius to set over the kingdom …
Daniel 7:1 In the first year of Belshazzar …
Daniel 8:1 In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar
A reason is Daniel chapters 1-6 are biographical whereas Daniel chapters 7&8 are not about Daniel’s life but about visions which he saw.

3. Daniel Chapter 8 questions/answers
2. Why is Daniel 2:4 through 7:28 written in Aramaic?
ANSWER: The perspective is different. Aramaic signifies a Gentile world perspective whereas Hebrew signifies an Israeli context.

4. Daniel Chapter 8 questions/answers
3. Who were the two horns of the "ram" symbolic of?
ANSWER is given in Dan.8:20
Daniel 8:20 The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.
History further confirms showing the Medes and Persians kings wearing crowns shaped as rams.

5. Daniel Chapter 8 questions/answers
4. What was the horn of the unicorn symbolic of?
ANSWER is given in verse 21, this great horn was a symbol of Alexander the Great who made Greece an empire.
Daniel8:21 And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.

6. Daniel Chapter 8 questions/answers
5. When was the date the unicorn's horn was broken?
ANSWER: In B.C. 323 with the death of Alexander the Great.

7. Daniel Chapter 8 6. Who/what was the "little horn" of verse 9?
Daniel 8:9 And out of one of them (4 generals) came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.
ANSWER: This “little horn” was the Roman kingdom which would become an empire. At this time period (about 300 BC) its power was in the senate but later the emperor took control.
HISTORY: This horn after moving “south” and “east” became exceeding great.
This Roman horn moved south taking over southern Italy after the battle of Beneventum in 275 BC. This opened up moving “east” including Attalus III, one of the Greek horns, bequeathed his Kingdom to Rome. This allowed Rome to take over the other three Greek kingdoms which included Israel the “pleasant land”.
Daniel chapter 11 details the history.

8. Daniel Chapter 8 Verse 10, who was the "host of heaven"?
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.
The “host” (are tied with the daily sacrifice beginning with the Maccabean kingdom, then to Jesus the prince and his disciples and finally to when the image stands up against Christ and the saints. “Heaven” in Bible symbolism denotes a high position and here describes the leaders. (See Isa. 1:2 with 1:10)
The first application was Seleucid kingdom (168 BC) and what it did to the leadership of the Maccabean kingdom, then the Roman empire in AD 70 and 135 AD and in the future when the image in Daniel 2 arises.
Isaiah24:21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.

9. Daniel Chapter 8 The prince depends on the time period.
8. Verse 11, who was the "prince of the host"?
Daniel 8:11 Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary (temple) was cast down.
The prince depends on the time period.
First fulfilment was at the time of the Maccabee revolt in BC when the priest Mattathias and his son Judah Maccabeus lead a revote against the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes.
The Jewish feast of Hanukkah commemorates the restoration of Jewish worship at the temple in Jerusalem in 164 BCE, after Judah Maccabeus removed the Hellenistic statuary.
Second application was the Romans and what they did to Jesus and the disciples including through AD 70 destroying the temple and Jerusalem.
There is a third fulfilment beyond v.11 when the little horn (Daniel 7) causes the image (Daniel 2) to stand up against Christ and the Saints but this time outcome will be altogether different as seen in Rev.19:20.

10. Daniel Chapter 8
9. V. 11 What was the "daily sacrifice" and when was it done away and when will it be reinstituted?
Daniel 8:11 Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away… 13 … How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice … 14 … Unto two thousand and three hundred days; …
The “daily sacrifice” was the daily burnt offering.
This “vision” began (Daniel 8:9) when the little horn (Rome) moved “South and East” in 274 BC.
2300 day/yrs minus 274 BC = 2026 AD when the “daily sacrifice” will begin again.

11. Daniel Chapter 8 questions/answers
11. In Daniel 8:24 who is the king of fierce countenance?
Daniel 8:23 And in the latter time of their kingdom … a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. 24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power … 25 … he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.
The “king of fierce countenance” is the papal power.
Context: Verses pick up briefly verses 9-11 but the focus is the Papal little horn who in v.25 “shall also stand up against the Prince (Christ) of princes (saints) but he shall be broken without hand.” (RSV “human hand”)