Origin of the Horn
| Previous articles concluded that Daniel’s Antichrist grew out of the Roman Empire. |
The comparison of the animals in Daniel 7 and 8 above showed that the fourth animal in Daniel 7 represents the Roman Empire (see here). Consequently, the 11th Horn in Daniel 7 grows out of the Roman Empire. As argued here, the Evil Horns of Daniel 7 and 8 symbolize the same Antichrist. Consequently, the Evil Horn of Daniel 8 grows out of the Roman Empire.
| However, some interpret the phrase “out of one of them” in Daniel 8 as ‘out of one of the Greek horns’. |
Daniel 8 symbolizes the Greek Empire as a goat (Dan 8:21). On this goat:
“There came up four conspicuous horns
toward the four winds of heaven.” (Dan 8:8)
These four horns are the four empires into which the Greek empire divided after Alexander’s death (cf. Dan 8:22). Daniel 8 continues:
“Out of one of them came forth a rather small horn” (Dan 8:8-9).
Some read the phrase “one of them” as saying that the “small horn” came ‘out of one of the four horns.’ If true, then the “small horn” grew out of the Greek empire and is a Greek king, such as Antiochus IV Epiphanes.
| ‘One of them’ may refer the horns, or the winds, or the ‘heavens.’ |
The previous verse reads:
“There came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven.” (Dan 8:8)
Therefore, “one of them” may refer to one of the four horns, the four winds, or one of the heavens. (In Hebrew, “heaven” is always plural.) So, the question is, to what do the ‘one’ and ‘them’ refer? Show More
| Genders of pronouns must agree to the genders of the nouns. |
Hebrew nouns and pronouns have genders. However, the genders become invisible in English translations. Nevertheless, the genders of “one” and “them” in the phrase “one of them” must agree with the genders of the nouns they refer to. With the relevant words marked (f) for feminine or (m) for masculine, our text reads as follows:
8 … the large horn was broken; and in its place
there came up four conspicuous horns (f)
toward the four winds (f) of heaven (m).
9 Out of one (f) of them (m) came forth a rather small horn
This helps to determine out of what the little horn came:
| “Them” refers to the “heavens” because that is the only male plural in the preceding phrase. |
Not horns – Since the word ‘them’ is male in form, while the Hebrew word for ‘horn’ is always feminine, ‘them’ does not refer to the four horns. Furthermore, the little horn cannot come from one of the Greek horns because horns do not grow on horns. Horns grow on the heads.
Not winds – ‘Them’ also does not refer to the ‘winds‘ because the word for ‘winds’ in Daniel 8:8 is written in feminine form.
| “One” refers to “one of the winds,” meaning one of the four compass directions. |
Not one heaven – Since ‘one’ and ‘them’ have different genders, they do not have the same antecedent. Since ‘them’ refers to the heavens, ‘one’ cannot also refer to one of the ‘heavens.’
Not one horn – Both “one” and “horns” are feminine. However, since ‘them’ refers to the heavens, and since ‘heavens’ do not have horns, we do not say, ‘one of the horns of heaven.’ Therefore, ‘one’ does not refer to the ‘horns.’
The only other feminine in the previous phrase is “winds.” Therefore, “one” refers to one of the “winds.”
| Conclusion: “Out of one of them” means “out of one of the winds of the heavens.” |
This means from one of the four compass directions. The immediate context confirms this conclusion. Verse 8 ended with the phrase:
“… the four winds of heaven”
Verse 9 then begins with:
“Out of one of them came …“
Therefore, these two phrases align as follows:
| Feminine | Masculine | |||
| 8:8 | There came up four horns toward | the four winds | of the heavens. | |
| 8:9 | Out of | one | of them | came forth a small horn. |
The Roman Empire.
| If the Horn did not come from the Greek horns, it came from the next empire, which was the Roman Empire. |
Four horns appeared in the place of the great horn that was broken off. They extended “toward the four winds of the heavens,” that is, toward the four directions of the compass. From one of those ‘winds’ (compass directions) came the “small horn.” Therefore, it did not come from one of the Greek horns and is not of Greek origin.
Since horns grow on heads, it is the horn of some beast. Since the next empire after Greece was Roman, the horn came from the Roman Empire.
| But Daniel 8 does not refer to Rome. |
One objection to this interpretation is that Daniel 8 does not seem to describe another empire between the Greek Empire and the Evil Horn. So, the question arises: Where is the Roman Empire in this chapter? This is answered as follows:
| (1) The Horn is the Roman Empire. |
In the previous chapter (Daniel 7), the Horn is the continuation of the fourth animal. Therefore, the animal remains alive as long as the Horn is alive. For example:
“Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire.” (Dan 7:11)
Continuing this principle, the Horn in Daniel 8 is equivalent to the fourth beast of Daniel 7, including its most prominent horn.
| (2) The Horn in Daniel 8 has a political and a religious phase, representing the fourth beast of Daniel 7 and its horn. |
The horn in Daniel 8 has two phases of growth:
Horizontal – It first grows horizontally (Dan 8:9), symbolizing the horn’s political phase. This parallels the fourth beast of Daniel 7 when it “devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it” (Dan 7:8, 23).
Vertical – It then grows vertically to “the host of heaven and caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth” (Dan 8:10). It does not grow literally up to the stars. The stars symbolize God’s people, and trampling the stars symbolizes the persecution of God’s people, as also described by Daniel 7:21 and 25.
“It even magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host” (Dan 8:11), who is God. “It removed the regular sacrifice from Him.”
Therefore, Daniel 8 does allow for political Rome. The first phase of growth is the fourth beast of Daniel 7. The vertical expansion is the animal’s religious phase, equivalent to the evil horn of Daniel 7.
| (3) The reduced focus on the political continues a trend in Daniel. |
Daniel 2 describes the entire period from the time of the Babylonian Empire to the Return of Christ without mentioning the Antichrist.
Daniel 7 also covers that entire period but adds the Antichrist. In fact, it is the main character in this prophecy. This chapter divides the fourth empire into a political phase, described in only two verses (Dan 7:7, 19), and a subsequent phase in which it becomes the Antichrist, described in about six verses.
Daniel 8 continues this trend. It narrows the focus by not mentioning the first (Babylonian) or the last (eternal) kingdoms and by not explicitly mentioning the political phase of the Roman Empire. It focuses even more exclusively on the Antichrist because the Antichrist is the real purpose and focus of these prophecies. The only reason that the prophecies mention the political empires is to enable us to identify the evil anti-God power.
Therefore, what we see in Daniel 8 is the trend that we see as we progress from chapter to chapter: an increasing focus on the Antichrist. It omits some of the details of the previous prophecies because Daniel 8 is not a stand-alone prophecy. It explains Daniel 2 and 7 in more detail. These three prophecies really are one single prophecy.
Previous articles discussed the metal statue of Daniel 2 (see 
Only two animals appear in the vision in Daniel 8: