The first thing to note as we begin chapter 8 is that the language this chapter was written in was Hebrew whereas the earlier readings were written in Aramaic.  The change in language suggests a change in the scene of operation.  So far we have followed the history of the major civilizations and the Roman Catholic Church.  In chapter 8 we move to the history of the Middle East.  The prophecy is given to Daniel 2 years after the one in chapter 7.  We will begin with reading verses one to three.

Daniel 8:1-3
In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me; to me, Daniel; after the one that appeared to me the first time.  I saw in the vision, and it so happened while I was looking, that I was in Shushan, the citadel, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in the vision that I was by the River Ulai.  Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and there, standing beside the river, was a ram which had two horns, and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last.

Daniel once again sees animal symbolism.  Verse 20 says the ram is Medo-Persia which in chapter 7 was represented by the lop-sided bear  and the silver chest of Nebuchadnezzar's image in chapter 2.  The Medo-Persian Empire was a dual monarchy.  The Medes came up first but the Persians ultimately dominated. This is shown here by the fact that one horn was higher than the other.

.... it pushes northward, eastward and westward ....

.... there wasn't another beast able to stand against the ram ....

This was surely a mighty kingdom but even at the height of the Gentile kingdoms they had nothing to compare with the everlasting dominions which God gave to His monarchy, the Stone Kingdom - Israel - Britain.

Daniel 8:4-7
I saw the ram pushing westward, northward, and southward, so that no animal could withstand him; nor was there any that could deliver from his hand, but he did according to his will and became great. And as I was considering, suddenly a male goat came from the west, across the surface of the whole earth, without touching the ground; and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. Then he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing beside the river, and ran at him with furious power. And I saw him confronting the ram; he was moved with rage against him, attacked the ram, and broke his two horns. There was no power in the ram to withstand him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled him; and there was no one that could deliver the ram from his hand.

When we read verse 21 of this chapter we find that the male goat is represented by the Grecian and Macedonian Empire.  You and I know that this kingdom was headed up by Alexander the Great.  It is the same as the bronze metal of chapter 2 and the leopard with the 4 wings and 4 heads in chapter 7.  Here is verse 21 for verification.

Daniel 8:21
"And the male goat is the kingdom of Greece. The large horn that is between its eyes is the first king.

In chapter 8 it says the feet of the goat never touched the ground.  Just as in chapter 7 the leopard portrayed swiftness, so does this statement.  Within a year Alexander the Great had destroyed the armies of the Medes and Persians.  He didn't stop marching until he got into the north of the land we call India today.  By the time he died, in 323 B.C., he was at the pinnacle of his career, he ruled the greatest empire the world had seen up to that time.

Daniel 8:8
Therefore the male goat grew very great; but when he became strong, the large horn was broken, and in place of it four notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven. 

From verse 8 we will draw two points the first of which we have already looked at, (1) 'When he became strong, the large horn was broken .... (2) four notable ones'.  The four notable ones are the four generals that took over Alexander the Great's Empire when he died - they were also the four wings on the leopard in chapter 7.

Daniel 8:22
"As for the broken horn and the four that stood up in its place, four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation, but not with its power.

Note here in verse 22 it says, "in his place, but not his power".  This is saying that the new ones to stand up would not be of the same blood line as Alexander.

Daniel 8:23
"And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their fullness, a king shall arise, having fierce features, who understands sinister schemes.

The 'their kingdom' in verse 23 is referring to the kingdoms of the four generals and we are told that from these four kingdoms there would come forth this 'little horn' which would 'wax exceeding great towards the South, toward the East and toward the pleasant land'.  This 'little horn' described in verses 23 - 25 as the 'king of fierce countenance, did find fulfilment in the rise of Antiochus Epiphanes, the tyrant Seleucid king who persecuted the remnant of Judah in Palestine in the days of the Maccabees.  However, in verse 17 of the chapter, Daniel is clearly told 'Understand,  son of man, the vision refers to the time of the end'.

This verse would imply that whilst the evil rule of Antiochus Epiphanes was a fulfilment of the prophecy, we can expect a greater fulfilment during the 'time of the end' or Christian era.  Although generally, the concept of seeking to fit several fulfilments into one prophecy can be dangerous, such great exponents of the National Historicist school of prophetic interpretation as Augusta Cooke and A.J. Ferris, believed that in this case, and again in relation to the Kings of the North and South in Daniel 11, there were two fulfilments - a lesser in the days of the warring kingdoms of the Seleucids and Ptolemies, and a greater fulfilment in the Christian era.  Concerning the prophecy of the 'little horn' or 'king of fierce countenance' in Daniel 8, Augusta Cooke stated :-

"This little horn has two fulfilments an earlier and later one.  The earlier one dealt with Palestine,  about 170 years before Christ.  The later fulfilment concerns not a person, but a great system spread over many centuries".

By this she meant Islam whose historical fulfilment would come to pass in the same Eastern area where Antiochus Epiphanes had operated, for she also wrote that 'Antiochus Epiphanes was a symbol and prophecy of a great system that was to come'.  Bearing all of this in mind, let us look at the detail:-

Daniel 8:9
And out of one of them came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Glorious Land.

The Bible is always very clear when it states the direction in which a nation or system spreads forth.  This is just as true with Islam, the Eastern Little Horn arising in Arabia within the territory once held by the old Grecian Empire, the warlike religion began to spread outwards from its headquarters at Mecca after the death of Mohammed in 632 A.D.  Islam went South first of all, conquering the whole of the Arabic Peninsula under the Caliph Abu Bakir.  Then it turned towards the east, just as Daniel had predicted conquering Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and Persia.  Then in 634 A.D. for no apparent reason, the host of Islam instead of continuing eastwards, turned back, first into Syria and then into Palestine 'the pleasant land' of Daniel's prophecy, capturing Jerusalem 637 A.D.

Daniel 8:10
And it grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them.

The host of heaven referred to is the professing Christian Church, whilst the stars refer to the ruling powers and authorities within Eastern Christendom, so the Byzantine Empire.  Professing and apostate Christendom was indeed opposed, cast to the ground and stamped upon by the followers of Islam, just as Daniel had foreseen.  Between 634 and 644 A.D., the Caliph Omar was responsible for the destruction of some four thousand places of Christian worship, trade, commerce, dress and travel.  As for the 'stars', the Princes and rulers of Eastern Christendom collapsed like a house of cards before the advance of the warriors of Islam:-

Daniel 8:11
He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host; and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down.

The Prince of the Host and Prince of Princes refer to one and the same person, our Lord Jesus Christ, ruler of Heaven and Earth, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Whilst there can be no doubt that Mohammed and his Islamic faith were a judgement upon the apostate Christian Church, like so many others used in the hand of God, Mohammed and his followers, filled with pride and guided by evil spirit forces, went beyond attaching the idols and false doctrines of Christendom, to attack the Lord Jesus himself.  Whilst admitting in the Koran that Jesus was a prophet of God, they deny His Deity, that He was God manifest in flesh  They deny His Atonement and by their declaration "There is one God and Mohammed is His prophet", they place Mohammed second only to God and thus dethrone the Lord Jesus.  Furthermore, they give to Mohammed the title of Paraclete or Comforter, the Biblical designation for the Holy Spirit.  Thus as Popery the 'little horn of the West' blasphemes the God of Heaven, so also does its counterpart Islam, the 'little horn of the East'.

Daniel 8:13,14
Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who was speaking, "How long will the vision be, concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled under foot?"   And he said to me, "For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed."

This conversation between two holy ones is between two angels.  The second angel is called in the original text 'palmony' which is 'the Wonderful Numberer'.  He tells Daniel how long it's all going to go on for -  2300 years.  Literally Antiochus trod down the Temple for 2300 days. 

Daniel 8:15-18
Then it happened, when I, Daniel, had seen the vision and was seeking the meaning, that suddenly there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. And I heard a man's voice between the banks of the Ulai, who called, and said, "Gabriel, make this man understand the vision."  So he came near where I stood, and when he came I was afraid and fell on my face; but he said to me, "Understand, son of man, that the vision refers to the time of the end."   Now, as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep with my face to the ground; but he touched me, and stood me upright.

Daniel still doesn't understand.  The vision was so heavy that he fell on his face and had to be raised up again.  Daniel is perplexed and tormented by it all.  The angel says, "it is the time of the end".

Daniel 8:23
"And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their fullness, a king shall arise, having fierce features, who understands sinister schemes.

This refers not merely to Mohammed, but to the entire dynasty of Caliphs and Islamic rulers who succeeded him down the centuries.  The fierceness referred to indicates the cruel and essentially warlike nature of Islam as a creed.  Mohammed believed in advancing his new religion by means of warfare and conquest, and the historian Gibbon tells us that Mohammed himself 'fought in person at nine battles or sieges, and fifty enterprises of war were achieved in ten years by him or his lieutenants'.  As I pointed out earlier, devout Moslems who die fighting for their faith believe that they will go directly to Paradise.  It was this fierce spirit which enabled Islam to sweep across North Africa and the East, establishing an Empire, stretching from Spain to India within a century of a Mohammed's death.  Truly this 'King of fierce Countenance' became a terror to Christendom and to all who stood in the path of Islam's road to conquest.  Always the same offer was given. "The Koran, the Tribute or the Sword".

This phase is rendered 'sinister schemes' here but I feel it is the darkness of the sentences that is all important.  This takes us right back to the cave in the deserts of Arabia where Mohammed was visited by the evil spirit Apollyon (Revelation 9:11), who claimed to be the Angel Gabriel and who apparently dictated to Mohammed the 'dark sentences' which were to become the Islamic holy book, the Koran .

Verse 22 and 24 will be looked at together next.

Daniel 8:22
"As for the broken horn and the four that stood up in its place, four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation, but not with its power.

Daniel 8:24
His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; he shall destroy fearfully, and shall prosper and thrive; he shall destroy the mighty, and also the holy people. 

This phrase 'not by (with) his own power' was used earlier in Daniel 8 to show that the rulers of the four kingdoms arising from the Empire of Alexander the Great would not be his own flesh and blood descendants.  The expression has the same meaning here, and once again was an extremely accurate prophecy.  Although Islam did indeed become mighty, extending at times into Spain and to the very gates of Vienna, as well as eastwards into India, the Caliphs were not the literal flesh and blood descendants of Mohammed, founder of the faith.

Daniel 8:25
"Through his cunning he shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule; and he shall exalt himself in his heart. He shall destroy many in their prosperity. He shall even rise against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without human means.

Speaking of Islam, the historian Gibbon once again states:- "The use of fraud and perfidy, of cruelty and injustice were often subservient to the propagation of the faith".

Just as with Romanism, the Western 'little horn' believed that it was not necessary to keep oaths, treaties and promises to heretics, so Islam, the Eastern 'little horn' held a similar view to agreements made with those it regarded as infidels.  On the point of destroying many by 'peace', it is interesting to note that the word 'Islam' is an Arab word meaning 'submission', and is derived from 'salama' - to be free,  The followers of Islam always offered peace to the vanquished in return for conversation or tribute, or pain of death.  In the meaning of Islam, 'to be free is peace', we might therefore not be far wrong in paraphrasing this section of Daniel's prophecy to read:- "By Islam many shall be destroyed".

Daniel 8:25b
But he shall be broken without human means. 

The prophecy of Daniel 8 with regard to the downfall of Islam states that it shall not be 'broken without means', or as another translation renders it 'but by no human hand shall he be broken'.  How true this prophecy is of the empires and Kingdoms of Islam, for both the Arab or Saracen Empire and the Turkish Ottoman Empire collapsed, not so much as the result of conquest and overthrow by rival military power, but as a result of internal corruption, dissension, collapse and decay.  Quarrels over the Caliphate resulting in the rival Umayyaid ( - i - ad) and Abbasid dynasties, together with the splitting of Islam into Sunni and Shi'ite sections resulted in the collapse of the Arab or Saracen Empire (the First Woe of the Revelation Vision).  Similarly, fragmentation of the Ottoman Empire, decay and stagnation within, coupled with internal corruption and political dissent as evidenced by the Young Turk movement of the early Twentieth Century, led to its downfall in ruin.

Daniel 8:11
He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host; and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down.

One remaining phrase of the Daniel 8 prophecy requires further explanation, as it has caused much confusion in the past, it is the phrase 'by him the daily sacrifice was taken away and the place of his sanctuary was cast down'.

This prophecy, rather like that of Daniel's 70th Week, can be misunderstood if we fail to see the gender of the words used.  The 'he' who  magnified himself to (or against) the Prince of the Host, is feminine in gender and refers to the 'little horn' or 'Islam', but the 'he' who took away the daily sacrifice and cast down the sanctuary, is masculine in gender, and also refers, not to Islam, but to the Lord Jesus, the Prince of the Host, who by His once for all atoning Sacrifice on Calvary had made the daily animal sacrifices of the Jews, worthless rituals in the eyes of God, and had cast down their Sanctuary or Temple when he permitted it to be destroyed by the Romans under Titus in 70 A.D.  Thus we could well read this phrase as "he (Islam) magnified himself even to (against) the Prince of the Host (the Lord Jesus) by whom (at Calvary), the daily sacrifice was taken away (ceased to be of value or acceptable to God)". 

In the U.K. the Islamic Community predict that by 2050 all of England will be Muslim.  The Bible says that Islam is one of the three main forces that will gather together the nations of the world for the end time battle.

Daniel 8:26
"And the vision of the evenings and mornings which was told is true; therefore seal up the vision, for it refers to many days in the future."

It wasn't until around 1917 that people began to understand the prophecies of the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation.  This period was the first time in recent history that numbers and dates had been taken from the prophecies of the Bible and calculated to show a specific time of fulfilment - that time being 1917.  This is why so many Bible students refer to the 1917 fulfilment when Jerusalem was released from Gentile domination.

Daniel 8:27
And I, Daniel, fainted and was sick for days; afterward I arose and went about the king's business. I was astonished by the vision, but no one understood it.

Daniel was overwhelmed by what he saw.  It was a burden for him.  We too should have a burden because WITH THE UNDERSTANDING OF PROPHECY COMES THE RESPONSIBILITY to lift up our voices in warning to Israel.

Just as Daniel had to be about the king's business so we too must take the message, shake the heaviness of the burden and go about the Kings business, that is, the King of King's.  Tell the King's household.  Never has there been a greater need to go out and proclaim the message of the Kingdom.

BE ABOUT THE KING'S BUSINESS - wherever He has set you.

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