The Roman Empire’s state religion became the Roman Church.

PURPOSE

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

By symbolizing four empires as four beasts, Daniel 7 presents world history, from the Babylonian Empire until Christ’s return. (See here) The fourth beast signifies the Roman Empire. (See here) At first, it had 10 horns, representing the nations of Europe into which the Western Empire fragmented in the fifth century. Then an 11th horn came up, uprooting three of the other horns in the process, dominated the other nations, blasphemed God, and persecuted His people (Dan 7:25). It will be the main enemy of God and of His people of all time. It will become so important that a court will sit in heaven to judge between it and God’s people (Dan 7:26, 9-11, and 14). This 11th horn will be a continuation of the Roman Empire but will only be destroyed when Christ returns (Dan 7:26, 11). It is the main character in Daniel 7. The only reason that Daniel describes the preceding four empires and ten kingdoms is to enable the reader to identify that evil 11th horn. A previous article identified it as the Roman Church. To explain:

In the fourth century, in the year 380, Emperor Theodosius made Trinitarian Christianity the sole and official religion of the Roman Empire and persecuted the other forms of Christianity, including the previous dominant Homoian group, into extinction, at least among the Roman people. (See here).

In the fifth century, non-Trinitarian (‘Arian’) nations, who previously migrated into the Empire, became powerful, assumed control of the Western Empire (the current Europe), and divided it into many nations (see, here), symbolized by the first ten horns. However, these ‘Arian’ nations attempted to remain part of the Roman Empire. Therefore, they not only allowed the Roman Church (the Church of the Roman Empire) to remain in the West but treated it with respect. Nevertheless, it was subordinate to the ‘Arianism’ of the majority population.

The ten horns (kingdoms) in the west co-existed with the Roman Empire which continued to rule in the east.

In the sixth century, Justinian, emperor of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, sent troops to the west to liberate the Roman Church. His troops subjected three of the ‘Arian’ nations in present-day Italy and its surrounds, symbolized by three horns which the eleventh horn uprooted. (See here)

Justinian then set up the Byzantine Papacy, a system in which the Eastern Empire ruled the nations in the west through the Western Roman Church. This continued for two centuries and transformed the Roman Church into a very powerful political institution. Formally still called a church, effectively, it became the Western arm of the Roman Empire. (See here)

In the eighth century, Islamic conquests significantly weakened the Byzantine Empire (see Wikipedia). Consequently, it could no longer control or protect the Roman Church. But this was not the end of the Roman Church. It survived in the West after the final demise of the Roman Empire, as the final and most important fragment of that Empire, symbolized as the 11th horn.

The 11th horn was “little” or “small” when it came up (Dan 7:8; 8:9) but grew “larger than its associates” (Dan 7:20, 24). It became “exceedingly great” (Dan 8:9), meaning that it dominated the kingdoms of Europe.

The purpose of the current article is to explain how and when the Roman Church became “larger” than the other 10 horns. It shows that the church was dominated by emperors and kings from the 4th until the 10th centuries. However, from the 11th century onward, the church managed to free itself from domination and reverse the power relations, to dominate the kings during the ‘High Middle Ages’. This article explains the major events in that process and what power the church had to dominate kings.

See here for a discussion of the characteristics of the Evil Horn in Daniel 7 and 8 that identify it as the Church of the Middle Ages.

The green blocks in the sections below are intended as summaries. 

RULERS DOMINATED

Until the 10th century, the rulers and kings dominated the church:

Roman Rule – 4th Century

After Christianity was legalized in 313, Roman emperors dominated and regulated the Church. The will of the Emperor was the ultimate authority in doctrine.

For example:

      • Emperor Constantine ensured that the Council of Nicaea reached the decision he thought best. (see here).
      • The ‘Arian’ emperors Constantius and Valens exiled Nicene bishops to the other ends of the empire. (see here)
      • Emperor Theodosius unilaterally made the Trinity doctrine the state religion of the Roman Empire. (see here)

The emperors were the final judges in doctrinal disputes:

“If we ask the question, what was considered to constitute the ultimate authority in doctrine during the period reviewed in these pages, there can be only one answer. The will of the Emperor was the final authority.” (Hanson, p. 849) 1Hanson, RPC, The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God – The Arian Controversy 318-381, 1987. Hanson is a wo

They used ‘general councils’, mistakenly called ecumenical councils, to manage the church:

“The history of the period shows time and time again that … the general council was the very invention and creation of the Emperor. General councils … were the children of imperial policy and the Emperor was expected to dominate and control them.” (Hanson, p. 855)

Byzantine Papacy – 6th to 8th centuries

In the 5th century, ‘Arian’ tribes overran the Western Roman Empire, forcing the Church of Rome into submission. After the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire liberated the Papacy in the 6th century, it was subject to the demands of the Eastern Emperors from the 6th to 8th centuries.

After emperor Justinian, in the sixth century, subjected the major Arian nations in Europe (see discussion above), the Eastern (Byzantine) Roman emperors, in what is known as the Byzantine Papacy, ruled the Nations of Europe through the Church for two centuries. Consequently, during that period, the Papacy was subject to the demands of the Eastern Roman Emperors. (See here)

Carolingian (French) Dynasty – 9th century

In the 8th century, Muslim conquests weakened the Byzantine Empire. Consequently, the Papacy sought protection from the Frankish-dominated Carolingian dynasty. However, in the 9th century, the Carolingians also asserted immense authority over the Papacy.

The first clash between the Roman Empire and Islam was in 634, followed by decades of war. In the 8th century, the Byzantine Empire lost its richest provinces. Suddenly, much of the Christian world was under Muslim rule. The peoples of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria largely accepted their new rulers and many declared themselves Muslims within a few generations.

Consequently, Byzantine (Eastern Roman) authority in Italy evaporated. Pope Zachary, in 741, was the last pope to seek the emperor’s approval for his election. By 751, the Roman Church ceased to be part of the Byzantine Empire. This was the end of the Byzantine Papacy.

Since the Byzantine Empire could no longer protect the Papacy, it had to find a new protector. After a period of volatility, the popes found a powerful protector in the Carolingian dynasty. This was a large Frankish-dominated empire founded by Charlemagne (Charles the Great). He was the first emperor to rule most of Western Europe since the fall of the Western Roman Empire three centuries earlier. The Carolingian dynasty ruled in western and central Europe during 800–888.

However, the Carolingians followed their Roman predecessors by asserting “immense authority over the Western church” (Britannica). Charlemagne claimed to govern both the church and state. 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.

Ottonian (German) Dynasty – 10th century

After the Frankish Empire lost power, the Ottonian dynasty in Germany ruled Europe in the 10th century. It treated the church buildings as property of the State and bishops as officials of the State.

Carolingian power waned in the late 9th and the 10th century. 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. By suppressing rebellious vassals and his decisive victory over the Hungarians, he consolidated the German Reich, revived Charlemagne’s empire in 962, and became the Holy Roman Emperor (962–973). He used the church as a stabilizing influence to ensure a secure empire.

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)

LIBERATION

Specific Events

In the 11th century, for the first time, the church escaped the domination of civil rulers. The church formed the College of Cardinals to appoint new popes, restricting political interference, and the popes challenged the authority of monarchs to control appointments in higher church offices. With the Concordat of Worms, the Emperor agreed to allow the Church to appoint its officials but retained the right to veto the appointments of bishops. 

Traditionally, the monarchs controlled appointments (investitures) of popes and high-ranking church officials. In the 11th century, the kings’ rights in this regard became more circumscribed:

In 1059, the church formed the College of Cardinals to appoint new popes, restricting interference from political rulers.

Beginning in the mid-11th century, in what is known as the Investiture Controversy, the popes challenged the authority of the monarchs to control appointments to the higher church offices. (Investiture means “the action of formally investing a person with honors or rank.”)

The kings and popes continued to argue about lay investiture until 1122 when representatives of the Church and the emperor met in the German city of Worms and reached a compromise known as the Concordat of Worms. By its terms, the Emperor renounced the right to invest ecclesiastics with the symbols of their spiritual power and agreed that the Church would appoint its officials, but that the emperor retained the right to veto the appointment of the bishops. This was a victory for the pope, but the emperor also retained considerable power over the Church.

On the surface, it was a dispute over the appointment of officials. In reality, it was a power struggle over authority over the people.

During this time of increasing dominance, the popes 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.

Pope Gregory VII vs King Henry IV

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.

In 1075, Pope Gregory VII, through the Dictatus Papae, 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 admission to the pope’s presence. 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.

HIGH MIDDLE AGES

The 11th century was a period of change. In this and subsequent centuries, known as the High Middle Ages, the Roman Church transformed from being subordinate to secular powers to supremacy over them. It developed political power, rivaling and exceeding that of the secular rulers of Europe.

The term “Middle Ages” describes Europe between the fall of the Roman Empire 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 became the dominant power in Europe. This was when the church became “larger in appearance than its associates.”

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. Consequently, the pope is the ultimate ruler of the kingdoms within Christendom. Therefore:

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.

Emperors and kings, to reign lawfully, had to be in communion with the Pope. Otherwise, the Pope could declare the ruler unfit to reign. 2Emperors 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]

The Popes claimed the right to depose the kings of Western Europe. They were sometimes successful.

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)

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.
      • Claimed jurisdiction over all 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.
      • Approved legislation requiring Jews to wear special clothing.

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

Persecution of Christians

The 11th horn will wear down the saints of the Highest One (Dan 7:25). The authority of the Pope also resulted in the massacre of Christians.

For example:

Innocent III (1198–1216) called the Albigensian Crusade, which was intended to end heresy in southern France and resulted in the massacre of Christians whom the Papacy classified as heretics.

The Inquisition, which was a powerful office set up within the Catholic Church to root out and punish heresy, is infamous for the severity of its tortures. The Spanish Inquisition alone resulting in some 32,000 executions. (History.com)

The Catholic Church authorized the Waldensian massacres. (see here) The Waldensians criticized Catholic beliefs and identified the Church as the harlot of the Apocalypse. In response, the Catholic Church called for the destruction of the Waldensians, absolving all who perpetrate such crimes. In consequence, the Waldensians were looted, raped, tortured, and massacred.

THE CHURCH’S WEAPONS

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

Tithing

The Church became very wealthy by demanded that all people, excluding church officials, contribute 10% of their earnings.

Ordinary people across Europe had to ‘tithe’ 10 percent of their earnings to the Church. This allowed the Church to amass a great deal of money and power, as attested by the cathedrals. Built during the Middle Ages, were the largest buildings and could be found at the center of towns and cities across the continent.

Eternal Hell

The Church ruled by superstitious fear by teaching that people would go to eternal hell unless they found salvation through the sacraments and ceremonies of the church.

To control the gates of hell can be quite a lucrative business. The church used this monopoly on salvation to wield power over political rulers:

Popes excommunicated disobedient kings. This meant the king was denied salvation and his vassals were 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, which meant that many sacraments and religious services could not be performed in the king’s lands, causing civil unrest because the king’s subjects believed they are doomed to hell.

Marriages

The Church made very strict rules around marriages, forcing people to seek permission for marriage from the Church.

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

Monasteries

In addition to being centers for spiritual life, monastic communities became storehouses of knowledge, education, crafts, and artistic skills, and were centers for agriculture and production.

Christian monasticism, which is the practice of living ascetic and typically secluded lives dedicated to worship, became popular in the Middle Ages. 

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.

Crusades

The crusades greatly enhanced papal prestige. They gave the people a common purpose and inspired waves of religious enthusiasm.

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. 

Pope Urban II launched the First Crusade in 1095. 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.

Since the pope called for the crusades, they were also a sign of the authority of the popes over the political rulers. By participating in the crusades, in a sense, the kings submitted to the Pope’s authority. 


OTHER ARTICLES

FOOTNOTES

  • 1
    Hanson, RPC, The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God – The Arian Controversy 318-381, 1987. Hanson is a wo
  • 2
    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]

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.