The Little Horn of Daniel 7 became the Beast of Revelation.

Purpose

Antichristus, a woodcut by Lucas Cranach the Elder of the pope using the temporal power to grant authority to a generously contributing ruler

The Remnant of Rome

A previous article concluded that the 11th horn of Daniel 7 names out of the Roman Empire. That horn was “little” when it came up (Dan 7:8) but it grew and became “larger than its associates” (Dan 7:20). That means that it will dominate the other “horns” that came up out of the Roman Empire. Daniel 8 also indicates similarly that the little horn began “small” but “grew exceedingly great” (Dan 8:9).

The Antichrist

That little horn becomes the Antichrist (Dan 7:25). It will become so important that a court in heaven will sit to judge between it and God’s people (Dan 7:22, 26).

The Beast

This horn is also the beast of the Book of Revelation:

“The whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; …  they worshiped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?'” (Rev 13:3-4)

The Church

To identify that beast, we have to identify the little horn of Daniel 7. In that way, another article identified the 11th little horn as the Christian Church of the Middle Ages. The purpose of the current article is to explain how and when the Church became “larger” than the other 10 horns. Other articles address the other identifying marks of this little horn, as found in Daniel 7. 

Summary

Overview

There always was a power struggle between the Church and the kings over ultimate authority, for the Church and the State demand the loyalty of the same people.

After Christianity was legalized in 313, the Roman emperors believed that they had the right and duty of regulating by law the worship and doctrines of the Church. After the Islamic conquests weakened the remainder of the Roman Empire, the Church was subordinate to the rulers of the Carolingian Franks (in the 9th century) and the Ottonian dynasty (in the 10th century).  

In the eleventh century, for the first time in its existence, the church was able to resist the dominance of the kings. In this and subsequent centuries, known as the High Middle Ages, the popes not only claimed independence from the state but also authority over the state. During these centuries, the Church rose to become the dominant power in the West. This was when the church became “larger in appearance than its associates.”

HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE

During the period known as the Byzantine Papacy, the Papacy was subject to the demands of the Eastern Roman Emperor. In the 8th century, due to Muslim conquests, much of the Christian world suddenly was under Muslim rule. Consequently, Byzantine authority all but vanished in Italy, making an end to the Byzantine Papacy. 

This drove the Papacy to find a new protector.  After a period of volatility, the popes linked their fate to the Carolingian dynasty.  This was a large Frankish-dominated empire in western and central Europe during the Early Middle Ages (800–888), also called the Holy Roman Empire. This was the first time, after the fall of Rome, that most of western Europe were ruled by a single monarch. The Carolingians followed in the footsteps of their Roman predecessors by asserting “immense authority over the Western church” (Britannica).

In the 10th century, the Ottonian dynasty in Germany established a new imperial line and became the preeminent power in Latin Europe. The Ottos, similar to the previous empires, appointed bishops on royal nomination and forbidden appeals to Rome. (Britannica)

WHAT ALLOWED THE CHURCH TO BECOME ‘LARGER’

After the fall of Rome, the church in Rome actually grew stronger:

    • While there was no single government that united all people, the Church had a strong, centralized organization.
    • Secular governments came and went through chaos and warfare, but the Papacy remained. 
    • The Church gave people a sense of communal identity. 

Other factors that, in later years, allowed the Church to become “larger” than the kings of Europe include the following:

Ordinary people had to ‘tithe’ 10 percent of their earnings to the Church. This allowed the Church to amass great wealth.

The Church taught that escape from eternal hell was only possible through the sacraments of the church.  If a king disobeyed the pope, the pope could refuse to perform certain sacraments in the king’s lands, scaring the king’s subject and causing civil unrest.

Christian monasteries became storehouses of knowledge, education, crafts, artistic skills, and agriculture. 

In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Catholic Church authorized military expeditions called Crusades to expel Muslim “infidels” from the Holy Land and to return it to Christian control. The crusades greatly enhanced papal prestige.  They gave the people a common purpose, and they inspired waves of religious enthusiasm among people.

THE CHURCH’S STRUGGLE FOR POWER 

The Cluniac reform, which began in the year 910, placed monasteries under the direct control of the pope rather than under the secular control of feudal lords.

The College of Cardinals, organized in 1059, vested with the right to name new popes in this institute and restricted interference from political rulers. 

The Church attempted to control most marriages among the great by prohibited marriages involving blood kin and kin by marriage to the seventh degree of relationship. Under these rules, almost all great marriages required a dispensation.

The European monarchs traditionally controlled appointments to the higher church offices within their lands. These are called lay investitures. Beginning in the mid-11th century, the popes challenged this authority. This is known as the Investiture Controversy. Church and State reached a compromise in 1122 in the Concordat of Worms.

AUTHORITY OVER THE STATE

The Church was not satisfied to have authority over itself.  It reasoned that the pope has full power over the whole church and that that makes it the ultimate ruler of the kingdoms within Christendom. From a catholic perspective, emperors and kings, to reign lawfully, had to be in communion with the Pope. Otherwise, the Pope could declare the ruler unfit to reign. 

One famous incident during the Investiture Controversy illustrates how powerful the pope has become. Henry IV, the mightiest king in Europe at the time, had to wait for three days, stripped of his royal robes and clad as a penitent, barefoot in ice and snow, before pope Gregory was willing to withdraw his ex-communication of the king.

WEAR DOWN THE SAINTS OF THE HIGHEST ONE (Den. 7:25)

The authority of the Pope also resulted in the massacre of Christians:

Innocent III (1198–1216) called the Albigensian Crusade, which resulted in the massacre of Christians.

The Inquisition is infamous for the severity of its tortures. The Spanish Inquisition alone resulting in some 32,000 executions. (History.com)

– END OF SUMMARY – 

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

There always was a power struggle between the Church and the kings of the world over ultimate authority (Springfield Public School), for the Church and the State demand the loyalty of the same people.

In ancient times, in most civilizations, there was no distinction between religion and state. People worshiped the gods of the particular state in which they lived. (Britannica

After Christianity was legalized in 313, the Roman emperors dominated the Church: Emperor Constantine controlled the Council of Nicaea, emperors Constantius and Valens exiled Nicene bishops to the other ends of the empire and emperor Theodosius unilaterally declared Arianism illegal.  The emperors believed that they had the right and duty to regulate the worship and doctrines of the Church.

After emperor Justinian destroyed the major Arian nations in the sixth century, the Church was subject to the Eastern (Byzantine) Roman emperors for two centuries. After the Islamic conquests weakened the Byzantine Empire. the Church sought the protection of the Carolingian Franks, but the Franks also dominated the church in the 9th century. After the Frankish empire was weakened, the Ottonian dynasty dominated the Church in the 10th century.  

During the eleventh century, for the first time in its existence, the church was able to resist the dominance of the temporal rulers over it. As is discussed below, the popes not only sought independence from the state but eventually claimed authority over the state.

HIGH MIDDLE AGES

The term “Middle Ages” describes Europe between the fall of Rome in the 5th century and the Renaissance in the 15th and 16th centuries.  The High Middle Ages was the period of European history that commenced around 1000 and continued for some centuries. During these centuries, the Church rose to become the dominant power in the West (Wikipedia). This was when the church became “larger in appearance than its associates.”

The remainder of the article discusses the developments more or less in chronological sequence, beginning where the previous article ended, namely the Byzantine Papacy.

ISLAM WEAKENED THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE.

The Early Muslim conquests of the 7th century began to expand the sway of Islam beyond Arabia. Their first clash with the Roman Empire was in 634. This was followed by decades of war between Islam and the Roman Empire.

In the 8th century, the Byzantine Empire lost its richest provinces—Egypt and Syria—to the Arab caliphate.  Suddenly, much of the Christian world was under Muslim rule. Over the subsequent centuries, the Muslim states became some of the most powerful states in the Mediterranean world. 

CONSEQUENCES

Byzantine authority all but vanished in Italy.  Pope Zachary, in 741, was the last pope to seek the emperor’s approval for his election. By 751, Rome ceased to be part of the Byzantine Empire.  This was the end of the Byzantine Papacy

Muslim conquests of the territories of the patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem left in effect only two patriarchates, namely those of Rome and Constantinople.

With the dominance of Islam in the east, the power base of the Catholic Church shifted from Constantinople to Rome.  The Bishop of Rome became the Pope and the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church. 

Though the Roman church claimed religious authority over Christians everywhere, it was unable to stamp out ‘heresy’ among the vast numbers of Christians in Muslim lands for the new Muslim rulers tolerated all Christian sects. 

Additionally, subjects of the Muslim Empire could become Muslims simply by declaring a belief in a single deity and reverence for Muhammad. As a result, the peoples of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria largely accepted their new rulers and many declared themselves Muslims within a few generations.

COMMENT

In the sixth century, Justinian was willing to negotiate a truce with the nations that later became Muslim but viciously attacked his fellow (Arian) Christian nations is the west.  If he did not do that, the Muslims probably would not have been able to defeat the Eastern (Byzantine) Empire.

CAROLINGIAN DYNASTY

After the demise of effective Byzantine protection of Italy in the 8th century, the Lombards again emerged as a threat to the Papacy.  This drove the Papacy to find a new protector.  For this purpose, it appealed to other Germanic rulers for protection.

After a period of volatility, the popes gained a powerful protector by linking the fate of the Papacy to the Carolingian dynasty.  This was a large Frankish-dominated empire in western and central Europe during the Early Middle Ages (800–888 – Wikipedia).  

The Frankish-papal alliance was reinforced when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as Patricius Romanorum (Holy Roman Emperor) on Christmas Day, 800. This laid the foundation for the Holy Roman Empire, which was to last until 1806.

Charlemagne (Charles the Great) was King of the Franks from 768, then also King of the Lombards from 774, and then Holy Roman Emperor from 800. He was the first recognized emperor to rule western Europe since the fall of the Western Roman Empire three centuries earlier. The expanded Frankish state that Charlemagne founded is called the Carolingian Empire (Wikipedia).

The popes gained security from the relationship with the Carolingian dynasty, but the Carolingians followed in the footsteps of their Byzantine and Roman predecessors by asserting “immense authority over the Western church” (Britannica). The Carolingians blended the authority of the church and the state: Charlemagne used both secular and religious people as his representatives and claimed to govern both. On the other hand, the pope exercised influence in Carolingian affairs by maintaining the right to crown emperors and by sometimes directly intervening in political disputes. Church and state were re-united:

“The great harlot … with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality” (Rev. 17:1-2).

OTTONIAN (GERMAN) DYNASTY

As Carolingian power waned in the late 9th and the 10th century, the papacy once again found itself threatened by powerful local nobles, seeking to control it.

In the 10th century, the Ottonian dynasty in Germany established a new imperial line and became the preeminent power in Latin Europe.

Otto I was German king (from 936) and Holy Roman Emperor (962–973).  By suppressing rebellious vassals and his decisive victory over the Hungarians, he consolidated the German Reich and revived Charlemagne’s empire in 962. He used the church as a stabilizing influence to ensure a secure empire.  For this reason, he required papal stability and deposed Pope John XII (955–964) for immorality.

The Ottos, accustomed to the tradition in which great landowners built and owned the churches on their estates as private property, treated Rome and all important sees in this spirit. Bishops were appointed on royal nomination and forbidden appeals to Rome. (Britannica)

WHAT ALLOWED THE LITTLE HORN TO BECOME ‘LARGER’

The article on the Fifth Century provides some reasons why the Roman Church, after the Western Roman Empire fell, actually grew stronger, such as:

      • While there was no single government that united all people, the Church had a strong, centralized organization.
      • Secular governments came and went through chaos and warfare, but the Papacy remained. 
      • The Church gave people a sense of communal identity. 

Other factors that, in later years, allowed the Church to become “larger” than the kings of Europe include the following:

TITHING

Ordinary people across Europe had to ‘tithe’ 10 percent of their earnings each year to the Church. This allowed the Church to amass a great deal of money and power.

One indication of the high status of the Church during the Middle Ages is that cathedrals were the largest buildings in medieval Europe.  They could be found at the center of towns and cities across the continent.

SALVATION IS THROUGH THE CHURCH.

In the Middle Ages, people did not have access to information. Consequently, the Church was able to teach that salvation—escape from eternal hell—was only available through the Church, namely through the sacraments and ceremonies which priests and other clergy administered.  The church used this monopoly on salvation to wield power over political rulers:

Popes excommunicated disobedient kings. This meant the king is denied salvation and his vassals are freed from their duties to him.

If an excommunicated king continued to disobey the pope, the popes used an even more frightening weapon; the interdict.  Under an interdict, many sacraments and religious services could not be performed in the king’s lands. As Christians, the king’s subjects believed that, without such sacraments, they are doomed to hell.

MONASTERIES

Christian monasticism is the practice of individuals who live ascetic and typically secluded lives that are dedicated to Christian worship. This became popular in the Middle Ages.  The monastic communities became storehouses of knowledge.  In addition to being centers for spiritual life, they preserved crafts and artistic skills and were centers for agriculture and production. 

Before the invention of the printing press in the 15th century, books were works of art. Craftsmen in monasteries created handmade books with colored illustrations, gold and silver lettering, and other adornments.

Convents were one of the few places where women could receive an education.  Nuns wrote, translated, and illuminated manuscripts as well.

The monasteries elevated the authority of the Roman Catholic (McFarland). Many times, monasteries were the only reason the Bible and records of history survived at all (Bainton, 1964, 129). 

CRUSADES

Toward the end of the 11th century, the Catholic Church began to authorize military expeditions, or Crusades, to expel Muslim “infidels” from the Holy Land and to return it to Christian control. In 1095, Pope Urban II launched the First Crusade when he received an appeal from Byzantine emperor Alexius I to help ward off a Turkish invasion.

Crusaders, who wore red crosses on their coats to advertise their status, believed that their service would guarantee the remission of their sins and ensure them eternal life. They also received worldly rewards, such as papal protection of their property and forgiveness of some kinds of debts.

The crusades were unsuccessful, and brutality committed by the armies of both sides left a legacy of mutual distrust between Muslims and Christians.

The Crusades were a sign of the increased authority of the popes over the political rulers, for the pope called for the crusades. The kings, by (1088–99) participating in the crusades, in a sense, submitted themselves to the authority of the pope. 

The crusades also greatly enhanced papal prestige in the 12th and 13th centuries.  They gave Catholics a common purpose, and they inspired waves of religious enthusiasm among people.

THE POWER STRUGGLE 

EARLY RESISTANCE

The Cluniac reform of monasteries already began in the year 910. This placed abbots under the direct control of the pope rather than under the secular control of feudal lords.

The popes, during this time of increasing dominance, also sought to establish the primacy of Rome over the church worldwide. This worsened tensions between Rome and Constantinople and eventually brought about the Schism of 1054 between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.

One important measure—initiated in 1059—was the organization of the College of Cardinals in which was vested with the right to name new popes. This served to restrict interference from political rulers. 

The Church also attempted to control most marriages among the great. In 1059, the Church prohibited marriages involving consanguinity (blood kin) and affinity (kin by marriage) to the seventh degree of relationship. Under these rules, almost all great marriages required a dispensation.

INVESTITURE CONTROVERSY

Beginning in the mid-11th century the popes challenged the traditional authority of the European monarchs to control appointments to the higher church offices within their territories. This is known as the Investiture Controversy. Investiture means “the action of formally investing a person with honors or rank.”

POPE GREGORY VII AND KING HENRY IV

One famous incident illustrates how powerful the pope has become:

In 1075, Pope Gregory VII, with the Dictatus Papae (1075), claimed the pope as the highest authority in the church and banned lay investiture. 

In response, the German emperor—King Henry IV of the Holy Roman Empire, ordered Gregory to step down from the papacy. Gregory then excommunicated the king. Afterward, German bishops and princes sided with the pope. To save his throne, the king tried to win the pope’s forgiveness:

Stripped of his royal robes, and clad as a penitent, Henry had to come barefooted in ice and snow, and request for admission to the presence of the pope. All day he remained at the door of the citadel, fasting and exposed to the wintry weather, but was refused admission. A second and third day he thus humiliated and disciplined himself, and finally, on 28 January, l077, he was received by the pontiff and absolved from censure. (Cath. Ency. VI, 794)

Henry was the mightiest king in Europe at the time. Imagine the head of the mightiest nation today having to ask the pope for forgiveness in this way.  This shows how powerful and arrogant the Church has become.

CONCORDAT OF WORMS

Gregory died in exile, but his ideals eventually prevailed, for royal intervention in church affairs was seriously curtailed. The successors of Gregory and Henry continued to fight over lay investiture until 1122. In that year, representatives of the Church and the emperor met in the German city of Worms. They reached a compromise known as the Concordat of Worms. By its terms, the Emperor renounced the right to invest ecclesiastics with ring and crosier, the symbols of their spiritual power, and agreed that the Church would appoint their own officials, but that the emperor could veto the appointment of the bishops. This was a victory for the pope, but the emperor did retain considerable power over the Church.

While on the surface it was over a matter of official procedures regarding the appointments of offices, underneath was a power struggle for control over who held ultimate authority, the King or the Pope.

AUTHORITY OVER THE STATE

The Church was not satisfied to have authority over itself.  It reasoned that the pope has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole church and that that makes it the ultimate ruler of the kingdoms within Christendom.  It believed that the Pope, as the Vicar of Christ on earth, should have authority over the state:

Emperors and kings had to … be in communion with the Pope, as essential conditions of their reigning lawfully; if these conditions were broken, of which the Pope was the judge, then … he could … declare their ruler unfit to reign. [Cath Dic, 257]

Pope Leo III’s crowning of Charlemagne as emperor in 800 was a first attempt to establish the tradition that Papal endorsement is required for the crowning of emperors. 

During the High Middle Ages, the Popes claimed the right to depose the kings of Western Europe. They were sometimes successful. For example, Sixtus V (Cath. Ency. I729) excommunicated Protestant Henry III of Navarre and sent an army to unseat him.  Sixtus promised the Spanish King a subsidy for the Armada, with which England was to be subjugated.  

In consequence to these developments, powerful popes, such as Alexander III (r. 1159–81), Innocent III (r. 1198–1216), Gregory IX (r. 1227–41), and Innocent IV (r. 1243–54) claimed authority over emperors and kings.

The Catholic Church therefore reformed from being subordinate to the secular power to be supreme over the secular rulers.  It developed political power, rivaling that of the secular rulers of Europe. For more detail, see:

Church and state in medieval Europe (Wikipedia)
The Power of the Church

12TH CENTURY

The 11th century was a period of change. In the 12th century, both the popes and kings adjusted to the new realities.

The papacy evolved into a great administrative bureaucracy. The papal court created legal machinery of great sophistication and became, in some ways, the highest court of appeals, exercising jurisdiction in a broad range of matters (Britannica).

13TH CENTURY

In the pontificate of Innocent III (1198–1216), the papal claims to authority reached their zenith. Innocent:

      • Declared that the pope stood between God and humankind as the vicar (stand in the place) of Christ.
      • Expanded papal legal authority by claiming jurisdiction over matters relating to sin.
      • Involved himself in the political affairs of France and the Holy Roman Empire.
      • Called the Fourth Crusade (1202–04), which led to the sack of Constantinople.
      • Also called the Albigensian Crusade, which was intended to end heresy in southern France and resulted in the massacre of Christians classified as heretics by the Papacy.
      • Approved legislation requiring Jews to wear special clothing.

Innocent’s successors continued his policies and further extended papal authority.

The popes carried out the Inquisition, which was a powerful office set up within the Catholic Church to root out and punish heresy. Beginning in the 12th century and continuing for hundreds of years, the Inquisition is infamous for the severity of its tortures. Its worst manifestation was in Spain, where the Spanish Inquisition was a dominant force for more than 200 years, resulting in some 32,000 executions. (History.com)

List of all articles on this website

Overview of the prophecies in the Book of Daniel relating to the Antichrist.

Excerpt: This article gives an overview of the four kingdoms and the horns in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7.  The Eleventh Horn is the main character in the Book of Daniel.  The horn in Daniel 8 is a symbol for the same power as the horn in Daniel 7.  This article identifies the horn by identifying the kingdom out of which it comes as the Roman Empire.  It discusses the Critics’ assumption of a separate Mede kingdom.  It analyzes the phrase “from one from them” to show that the horn does not come out of the Greek Empires.  It then continues to explain Daniel 11 consistent with Daniel 7 and 8.

This article has since been replaced by the series of articles on the Book of Daniel, starting with Daniel 2 which might be a bit easier to follow

The complete article is available at:
The evil horn-king in Daniel’s prophecy

A Word version of this article can be downloaded:
Daniel’s evil horn–Greek or Roman
Summary in Work format

This summary omits many key points.  The full document should rather be read.  The purpose of this summary is only to provide a high-level overview.

ANTIOCHUS IV

The Macedonian (Greek) Empire, which included the nation of Israel (Judea), ruled from about 330 B.C. for nearly 300 years.  Antiochus IV was one of the many kings of this empire.  He ruled between 168 and 165 BC.  He defiled the temple in Jerusalem in the year 168 B.C. and persecuted the Jews.

PURPOSE OF THIS ARTICLE

In academic circles (critics) it is believed that he was the evil king presented in the prophecies of the Book of Daniel; chapters 7, 8 and 11The purpose of this document is to oppose this view and to show that the evil king in the Book of Daniel arises in time after Rome has become the dominant power and therefore cannot be Antiochus IV.

DANIEL 2

Using the statue of a man, consisting of four different metals, the vision in Daniel 2 divides world history into six phases:

        1. Babylonian (Gold) Empire
        2. Silver (another) kingdom
        3. Bronze (third) kingdom
        4. Iron (fourth) kingdom
        5. Iron and clay; divided kingdom – no supreme ruler
        6. Eternal kingdom – destroys the entire image

The fifth phase is represented by the statue’s feet consisting partly of iron and partly of clay (2:33).  Iron is the same metal as the fourth kingdom, indicating that the feet continue the fourth kingdom.  But it is explained as “a divided kingdom” (2:41).  In other words, a supreme king will rule all nations during each of the four kingdoms (2:37-40), but during the “divided kingdom” there will be no supreme king.

DANIEL 7

Daniel 2 has four metals and Daniel 7 has four beasts.  Both the four metals and the four beasts represent successive kingdoms.  Both Daniel 2 and 7 end with the “everlasting kingdom” (7:28).  Both have a phase of many kings after the first four, which continue the fourth empire, and which exist until the sixth or eternal kingdom.  This phase is symbolized by the horns of the fourth beast in Daniel 7 and by the feet of the statue (the divided kingdom) in Daniel 2.  The horns are therefore equivalent to the divided kingdom.  Daniel 7, therefore, divides world history into the same 6 successive phases as Daniel 2:

 

Daniel 2

Daniel 7

1

Head of fine gold

Lion

2

Breast and its arms of silver

Bear

3

Belly and its thighs of bronze

Leopard

4

Legs of iron

Dreadful beast

5

Feet of iron and clay

Horns

6

Everlasting Kingdom

Everlasting dominion

Since the divided kingdom in Daniel 2 follows after the fourth kingdom, the horns are not individual kings of the fourth kingdom, but separate kingdoms that came about after the end of the fourth kingdom.  Further, since the divided kingdom consists of a number kings that reign at the same time, the ten kings do not exist one after the other, but at the same time.

Daniel 7 adds detail about the four kingdoms in the form of descriptions of beasts.  But most additional information is about the evil eleventh horn that arises from the fourth beast and rules during the divided kingdom.  This evil horn-king persecutes the saints and blasphemes God (7:25).

DANIEL 8

Daniel 8 also uses beasts as symbols for kingdoms.  The first is a ram that is explicitly identified as Mede-Persia (8:20).  The second is a goat that is explicitly identified as Greece (8:20-21).

Daniel 8 then describes the four horns of the goat that represent the four kingdoms into which Alexander’s Greek empire was divided.

It also describes a horn that is small at first but expands.  It attacks God’s people and the temple.

It is generally agreed that the evil horn of Daniel 8 is the same as the evil horn of Daniel 7.  Both are horns, both begin small and become great (7:8 and 8:9) and both blasphemes God and persecutes His people. 

INTERPRETATIONS

This little horn is identified differently by the different schools of prophetic interpretation:

Preterists hold that the little horn points to Antiochus IV.

Futurists see Antiochus as a type of an end-time Antichrist who is to arise in the final years before the return of Christ, and pollute a literal temple, to be rebuilt in Jerusalem.

Historicists hold that the little horn represents the Roman Church.  The purification of the sanctuary is interpreted as the restoration after the distortion of the Middle Ages.

To evaluate these views, the kingdom from which this horn arises must be identified:

VIEWS EVALUATED

ALIGNMENT

Conservatives align the kingdoms in the Book of Daniel as follows:

Daniel 2

Gold (Babylon)

Silver

Brass

Iron

Daniel 7

Lion

Bear

Leopard

Dreadful Beast

Daniel 8

 

Ram (Mede-Persia)

Goat (Greece)

 (Rome)

In this view the bear is Mede-Persia and the Leopard is the Greek Empire.  It follows that the Dreadful Beast must represent Rome because that was the next empire in history. Then the little horn comes about in or after the Roman period.

The Preterist School split Mede-Persian Empire into two separate empires and aligns the symbols as follows:

Daniel 2

Gold

Silver

Brass

Iron

Daniel 7

Lion

Bear

Leopard

Dreadful Beast

Daniel 8

 

Ram (Medes)

Ram (Persia)

Goat (Greece)

In this schema, the Ram of Daniel 8 is equal to both the Bear and the Leopard of Daniel 7, and the Goat of Daniel 8 is equivalent to the Dreadful Beast of Daniel 7. 

COMPARE DESCRIPTIONS

One way to determine which schema best fits the text of the Book of Daniel is to compare the descriptions of the animals in Daniel 7 and Daniel 8:

The Ram and the Leopard do not appear similar.  The Ram has two horns while the Leopard has four heads.

The Goat and the Dreadful Beast do not appear similar.  The Goat has one horn at first and then later four.  The Dreadful Beast first has 10 horns, and then an 11th comes up which “pluck out” three of the ten horns by their “roots”, leaving 8 horns.

The Ram and the Bear appear similar.  For both their two sides are emphasized, with one side higher than the other.  Both conquered three others.  This implies that they represent the same empire, namely “the kings of Media and Persia” (8:20).

The Goat and the Leopard appear similar.  Both are represented as very fast and both consist of four parts.  This implies that they represent the same empire, namely “the kingdom of Greece” (8:21).

This analysis of the characteristics of the beasts supports the conservative interpretation, which identifies the fourth beast of Daniel 7 as the Roman Empire.  It follows that the horn comes out of Rome.  It cannot be Antiochus IV.

TWO SEPARATE EMPIRES

Critics defend their schema by proposing that the author of the Book of Daniel viewed the Medes and Persians as two separate empires with the Neo-Babylonian Empire falling firstly to the Medes under “Darius the Mede” (5:30-31; 6:28) and later to the Persians under Cyrus the Great (10:1).  This is not consistent with the Book of Daniel.  Daniel’s author consistently viewed the Medes and Persians as a single entity (5:28, 6:9, 13 and 16; 8:20).

DARIUS THE MEDE

Critics argue that the author of Daniel committed a historical blunder when he referred to Darius the Mede.  In a separate article on this website, it is argued that Darius might have been the throne name for Ugbaru, the general who conquered Babylon for Cyrus, and who ruled over the province of the Chaldeans (9:1) for (at most) three weeks.  This short period explains why archaeologists have not yet found him in recorded history.

OUT OF ONE OF THEM

Daniel 8:9 says that the little horn came “out of one of them”.  Since the previous verse referred to the four Greek horns, critics argue that 8:9 confirms that the little horn comes from one of the four Greek horns, and must, therefore, be a Greek king, like Antiochus IV.  However, an analysis of the genders of the nouns and pronouns indicates that the “them” in 8:9 can only to the “heavens”, which is the last word in 8:8.  The “out of one of them” can then be interpreted as either:

        1. Out of one of the horns of the heavens, or
        2. Out of one of the winds (compass directions) of the heavens

The first option is not acceptable because heavens do not have horns and horns nowhere else in the Book of Daniel come out of horns.  Since “the four winds of heaven” is the last phrase in verse 8, the second option is preferred.  The little horn, therefore, came from one of these four winds of the heavens, that is, from one of the directions of the compass.  It, therefore, did not come from one of the Greek horns and is therefore not Greek in origin.

WHERE ROME IS IN DANIEL 8?

Critics challenge the conservative interpretation by asking: Where Rome is in Daniel 8?  Daniel 8 does not seem to describe another kingdom between the Greek Empire and the evil horn. 

Firstly, both Daniel 2 and 7 describe the beast and its dreadful horn as a single entity (7:11).  Secondly, the growth of the horn in Daniel 8, as described in verses 9 to 11, consists of two phases.  The first phase is horizontal (political) growth (8:9) and the second phase is vertical (religious) growth.  The horizontal expansion parallels the fourth beast of Daniel 7.  The vertical expansion parallels the evil horn of Daniel 7.  Daniel 8, therefore, merges the beast and its prominent horn into a single symbol—the horn.

DANIEL 11

ANTIOCHUS III

Critics agree that verses 14 to 19 describe Antiochus III, the father of Antiochus IV.  To quote a critical scholar:

Daniel 11:2-20 is a very accurate & historically corroborated sequence of events from the third year (10:1) of the Persian era up to the predecessor of Antiochus IV: some 366 years!  Only the names and dates are missing.  Most of the details are about the conflicts between the kings of the South (the Ptolemies of Egypt) and the kings of the North (the Seleucids of Mesopotamia/ Syria).  The Seleucids are shown to become stronger and stronger …  Of course, Jerusalem was in the middle and changed hand (197, from Egypt to Syria).

VILE PERSON

The remaining 25 verses of Daniel 11 describe the activities of a “vile person” (KJV; 11:21).  It is generally agreed that this “vile person” is equivalent to the horn of Daniel 8 and Daniel 7 because:

Elaborate: The later prophecies in the Book of Daniel elaborate on the earlier prophecies.

Persecute: Both the horn and the vile person persecutes God’s people (7:25; 11:32-34) for 3½ times (7:25; 12:7).

Temple: Both set up “the abomination that makes desolate” (11:31; 8:13), profanes the strong temple (11:31; 8:11) and remove the continual (tamid) (8:11; 11:31).

PRINCE OF THE COVENANT

Daniel 11:22 indicates that the nagid (prince) of the covenant will be broken before the vile person.  This refers to the death of Jesus Christ:

The word ‘sar’ (translated “prince”) occurs several times in the Book of Daniel, but the word ‘nagid’, which is also translated “prince”, occurs only in 11:22 and in 9:24-27.  The word “covenant” is also used several times in Daniel, but only 11:22 and 9:24-27 link a prince to the covenant.  In both 9:24-27 and 11:22 the nagid is destroyed.  It is therefore concluded that the nagid in these two passages is the same individual and that the two passages refer to the same events.  Daniel 9:24-27 refers to the death of Jesus Christ in the first century AD.  The same must, therefore, apply to 11:22.

Since the events in Daniel 11 are given in their chronological order, everything that follows after 11:22 must be sought sometime after the death of Christ.  This applies in particular to the setting up of the abomination (11:31) and the persecution of God’s people (11:32-34), which are the main activities of the vile person.  The vile person, therefore, cannot be the Greek king Antiochus IV that ruled between 168 and 165 BC, but must be an anti-God ruler that will arise later.

DETAIL ABOUT ANTIOCHUS III

Daniel 11 is quite brief about the earlier kings, but provides much detail about Antiochus III; the father and predecessor of Antiochus IV.  Critics argue that this emphasis on Antiochus III is a clear indication that the prophecy of the vile person points to Antiochus IV.

To this we respond as follows:  The reign of the father of Antiochus IV (Antiochus III the Great) was the critical turning point for the Greek Empire.  Just as the victory of the Persians over the Medes was the critical turning point that shifted the balance of ‘world power’ from the Babylonian to the Persian Empire, and just as the victory of the Greeks over the Persians in the time of Xerxes was the turning point that shifted ‘world dominance’ from the Persians to the Greek Empire, Rome’s victories over Antiochus III—the most powerful Greek kingdom at the time—was the critical turning point that shifted ‘world dominance’ from the Greek to the Roman Empire.  This explains the attention to Antiochus III in Daniel 11.  It was for the same reason that Xerxes was emphasized in 11:2, namely because his reign was the key turning point.

WHERE IS THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN DANIEL 11?

But the critics ask: Where is the Roman Empire in Daniel 11?  Daniel 11 seems to continue, without an intervening empire, from the Greek Empire (Antiochus III) to the vile person. 

To respond, it is proposed here that Daniel’s prophecies, once the key turning point has been reached, no longer mention the previous empire, but jump right over the remaining kings to the next empire.  For instance, Xerxes’ war against the Greeks was a key turning point in history (11:2).  Then the prophecy jumps over the next 150 years, during which seven Persian kings reigned, to the first Greek emperor (11:3).  Similarly, Antiochus III’s war against Rome was a key turning point in history.  Then the prophecy jumps over the next 170 years, during which several Greek kings reigned, to the next empire (Rome).

But the Roman Empire is not mentioned separately.  Similar to Daniel 8 the vile person serves as a symbol for both the fourth kingdom in Daniel 7 (Rome) and the evil horn that arise from it.  Political Rome is the flood that flows away the “overflowing forces” (11:22).  By far most of the description in Daniel 11 is about the subsequent anti-God king.

VERSES 21-35 FIT ANTIOCHUS

But the critics argue that Antiochus IV fits the sequence of kings in Daniel 11 quite well and that the history of Antiochus IV fits the descriptions of the “vile person” in the verses after 11:21 quite well.  This is granted. 

In this context, it is very important to realize that the description of the “vile person” exceeds Antiochus IV.  For instance, Antiochus did not magnify himself above every god or not have regard for the god of his fathers.  Verses 21-35 fit Antiochus’s time perfectly, but Antiochus IV by no means exhausts the passage.

Daniel 11 may, therefore, be understood as two stories intertwined.  The text seems to describe the history up to and including Antiochus IV, but while discussing Antiochus IV it jumps to a future and worldwide evil king.  Understood this way, Antiochus IV is only a partial fulfillment of Daniel 11, to be followed by the final and fuller fulfillment by a later and much larger worldwide anti-God ruler.

CONCLUSION

A fundamental principle, accepted by all schools of thought, is that the little horn of Daniel 7 is equivalent to the little horn of Daniel 8 and to the vile person in Daniel 11.  However, the various schools of thought explain this evil king in different ways.

Critics do not accept the possibility that the minutely accurate descriptions in the Book of Daniel of historical events up to the time of Antiochus IV could have been written in the sixth century BC.  They assume that these descriptions were written after the fact in the form of prophecies.  But since the New Testament refers a number of times to the book of Daniel, and since it takes a long time for a book to become accepted as inspired Scripture, the book of Daniel must have been written hundreds of years before the NT was written.

Antiochus IV fit the sequence of kings and the activities of the evil king in Daniel 11 quite well.  Critics therefore propose that Daniel was written in the time of Antiochus IV, that it was written in response to the persecution of the Jews by Antiochus IV, and that the evil king in Daniel represents this Antiochus.  Therefore Daniel would have been written approximately 200 years before the NT was written.

With this as the accepted view, critics have to interpret the prophecies accordingly.  To fit this view to Daniel 11, critics explain the prince of the covenant in 11:22 as the high priest Onias.  He was killed in the time on Antiochus.  But to fit this view to Daniel 2 and 7 is more difficult. To do that critics have a rather forced interpretation of the prophecy of those chapters.  This document has provided proof that the forced interpretation of Daniel 2 and 7 is incorrect.  It has also been shown that Daniel 8 does align to the obvious interpretation of Daniel 7.

With respect to Daniel 11, it has been shown above that the breaking of the prince of the covenant in 11:22 refers to the death of Jesus Christ in the first century AD and therefore that the flood that shatters the nagid-prince of the covenant in 11:22 is the Roman Empire.  This means that the anti-temple activities and the persecution of God’s people later in that chapter must occur some historical time after Christ’s death, and therefore during or after the Roman period.

This document then had to explain the high level of detail of Antiochus III in Daniel 11, how Daniel 11:19-22 can be interpreted as a jump from Antiochus III to the Roman Empire if Antiochus IV fits the sequence of kings in Daniel 11 and the apparent absence of the Roman Empire in Daniel 8 and 11. 

This document, therefore, supports the view that the book of Daniel was written before the time of Antiochus IV, and that the prophecies are real predictions of future events.  God is in control of history:

there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter days (2:28).

the Most High God is ruler over the realm of mankind and that He sets over it whomever He wishes (5:21)

ARTICLES IN THE EXPANDED SERIES

The metal man of Daniel 2 divides world history into six ages.
The four beasts of Daniel 7 
Three interpretations of the little horn
Compare Daniel 7 and 8 to identify the fourth kingdom.
Daniel 8: The evil horn does not come out of a Greek horn.
Daniel 11’s Vile Person: Antiochus or Antichrist?  
Antiochus IV does not fit the profile of Daniel’s Evil King.