In Nebuchadnezzar’s image, Greece was depicted as the thigh of brass (2:32, 39), and in Daniel’s vision described in chapter 7, Greece was a swift leopard with four heads. Now Daniel sees Greece as an angry goat who runs so swiftly his feet don’t even touch the ground! The large protruding horn represents Alexander the Great, who led the armies of Greece from victory to victory and extended his empire even beyond what Cyrus had done with the Persian army. But the horn was broken, for Alexander died in Babylon in June 323, at the age of thirty-three, and his vast kingdom was divided among four of his leaders, symbolized by the four horns that grew up (see 7:4–7; 11:4).
However, the remarkable conquests of Alexander were more than battle trophies, for they accomplished God’s purposes in the world and helped to prepare the world for the coming of Christ and the spread of the gospel. For one thing, Alexander put an end to the Oriental influence that threatened to take over the Western world. At the same time, he “shook the ancient world to its very foundations” and “compelled the old world to think afresh.” By extending Greek culture and language, he helped to bring peoples together; and eventually the common (koine) Greek became the language of the New Testament. Even though his empire divided four ways after his death, Alexander brought nations together so they could interact with each other. His policy of kindness toward conquered peoples introduced a powerful example of brotherhood into the world. He literally “wedded East to West” when nine thousand of his soldiers and officers (some historians say ten thousand) married Eastern women in one mass wedding.
What Alexander and the Greeks began, the Romans completed, helping to prepare the ancient world for the coming of Christ. They are represented by the legs of iron (2:33, 40) and the “dreadful beast” (7:7). Roman roads and bridges enabled people to travel and share their ideas; Roman law kept nations under control; Roman legions enforced that law with an iron fist; and the Roman peace (Pax Romana) gave people the opportunity to experience more security than they had known before. All of this contributed to the taking of the Christian message throughout the Roman Empire, and sometimes, as in the case of Paul, Rome paid the bill for the missionaries to travel!
Antiochus IV Epiphanes (8:9–14)4 As we have already seen, after the death of Alexander the Great (the “notable horn,” v. 5), his empire was divided into four parts with four of his officers taking control (v. 8). Out of one of those horns a “little horn” appears who becomes a great leader, and this is Antiochus Epiphanes, the ruler of Syria from 175 to 163 BC and known as one of the cruelest tyrants in history.
Antiochus gave himself the name “Epiphanes,” which means “illustrious, manifestation,” for he claimed to be a revelation (epiphany) of the gods. He even had the word theos (god) put on the coins minted with his features on it, and his features on the coins came to look more and more like the Greek god Zeus. He had a passionate desire to turn the Jews into good Greeks. One of his first acts was to drive out the high priest Onias, an ardent Jew, and replace him with Jason, a patron of the Greeks. But Jason was replaced by Menelaus, who actually purchased the priesthood. Believing a rumor that the king was dead, Jason attacked Jerusalem only to learn that Antiochus was very much alive. The angry king attacked Jerusalem and plundered the temple. In 168 he sent an army of twenty thousand men under Apollonius to level Jersualem. They entered the city on the Sabbath, murdered most of the men, and took the women and children as slaves. The remaining men fled to the army of the Jewish leader Judas Maccabeus.
But the king wasn’t satisfied, so he issued an edict that there would be one religion in his realm and it wouldn’t be the Jewish religion. He prohibited the Jews from honoring the Sabbath, practicing circumcision, and obeying the Levitical dietary laws, and he climaxed his campaign on December 14, 168, by replacing the Jewish altar with an altar to Zeus—and sacrificing a pig on it! Any Jew found possessing a copy of the law of Moses was slain. Jerusalem was eventually delivered by the courageous exploits of Judas Maccabeus and his followers, and on December 14, 165, the temple was purified, the altar of burnt offering restored, and Jewish worship once again restored. It is this event that the Jewish people celebrate as “The Feast of Lights” or Hanukkah (see John 10:22). Antiochus went mad while in Persia, where he died in 163.
Knowing these facts about Antiochus helps us better understand the text of Daniel’s prophecy. Antiochus started in a small way but gradually accumulated power as he magnified himself and dealt ruthlessly with the Jewish people. He attacked the Jews in their “pleasant [beautiful]” land and put a stop to their religious practices. He even claimed that he was a god. In verse 10, the Jews are described as “the host of heaven” (i.e., “godly people”) and “stars” (Gen. 15:5; 22:17). When Antiochus stopped the daily sacrifices in the temple and substituted pagan worship, this was called “the abomination that makes desolate” (“the transgression of desolation,” Dan. 8:13). This concept is found in 9:27; 11:31; and 12:11, and is used by Jesus in Matthew 24: and Mark 13:14. What Antiochus did was a foreshadowing of what the Antichrist will do when he puts his image in the temple and commands the world to worship him (2 Thess. 2; Rev. 13). Daniel 8: and 11: refer to Antiochus, and the other references to Antichrist, of whom Antiochus is a picture.
The two angels (8:13–14; “saints”) spoke together about this matter and from their conversation, Daniel learned the prophetic timetable. Between the desecration of the temple and its cleansing and restoration 2,300 days would pass. The Hebrew text reads “2,300 evenings and mornings,” because burnt offerings were sacrificed at the temple each morning and each evening of every day. But does this mean 2,300 days or 1,150 days, 2,300 divided by two? And what date or event signals the beginning of the countdown? Some students opt for 2,300 days, that is, about six years, if you use 360 days for the year. Others prefer 1,150 days, which give us slightly over three years.
But what is the starting point for the countdown? The six-year advocates begin with 171 BC, when Antiochus deposed the true high priest. Subtract six years and this takes you to 165 when Judas Maccabeus defeated the enemy and reconsecrated the temple. However, the three-year advocates begin with the establishment of the pagan altar in the temple on 25 Kislev, 168, and this takes us to 165. Either approach meets the requirements of the prophecy.
We’ll meet Antiochus Epiphanes again before we complete our study of the book of Daniel.