The Meaning of Daniel 8:9 Explained

Daniel 8:9

KJV: And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.

YLT: And from the one of them come forth hath a little horn, and it exerteth itself greatly toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the beauteous land;

Darby: And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which became exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the beauty of the earth.

ASV: And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the glorious land .

Discover Daniel 8:9

CONTEXT: What is the Context of Daniel 8:9?

MEANING: What does Daniel 8:9 Mean?

WORDS: What do the individual words in Daniel 8:9 mean?

RELATIONS: What do the major concepts mean in Daniel 8:9?

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And out of one  of them came forth  a little  horn,  which waxed exceeding  great,  toward the south,  and toward the east,  and toward the pleasant  [land]. 

What does Daniel 8:9 Mean?

Study Notes

little horn
The "little horn" here is a prophecy fulfilled in Antiochus Epiphanes, B.C. 175, who profaned the temple and terribly persecuted the Jews. He is not to be confounded with the "little horn" of Daniel 7. who is yet to come, and who will dominate the earth during the great tribulation. concerning "The Beast". See Scofield " Revelation 19:20 " and "The great tribulation," Psalms 2:5 . See Scofield " Daniel 11:36-4598 ". But Antiochus is a remarkable type of the Beast, the terrible "little horn" of the last days. Daniel 8:24-25 go beyond Antiochus and evidently refer to the "little horn" of Daniel 7. Both Antiochus and the Beast, but the Beast pre-eminently, are in view in Daniel 8:24-25 . That the "little horn" of Daniel 7. cannot be the little horn of Daniel 8:9-13 ; Daniel 8:23 is evident. The former comes up among the ten horns into which the fourth empire (Roman) is to be divided; the little horn of Daniel 8. comes out of one of the four kingdoms into which the third (Grecian) empire was divided ( Daniel 8:23 ), and in "the latter time" of the four kingdoms Daniel 8:22 ; Daniel 8:23 ). This was historically true of Antiochus Epiphanes. They are alike in hatred of the Jews and of God, and in profaning the temple. Cf. Daniel 7:25 (the Beast) with Daniel 8:10-12 (Antiochus):
one of them Anticohus Epiphanes came out of Syria, one of the "four notable" kingdoms into which Alexander's empire was divided.
The vision is of the end of Gentile world-dominion. The former Roman empire (the iron kingdom of Daniel 2:33-35 ; Daniel 2:40-44 ; Daniel 7:7 will have ten horns (i.e. kings, Revelation 17:12 corresponding to the ten toes of the image. As Daniel considers this vision of the ten kings, there rises up amongst them a "little horn" (king), who subdues three of the ten kings so completely that the separate identity of their kingdoms is destroyed. Seven kings of the ten are left, and the "little horn." He is the "king of fierce countenance" typified by that other "king of fierce countenance," Antiochus Epiphanes, Daniel 8:23-25 the "prince that shall come" of Daniel 9:26 ; Daniel 9:27 the "king" of 1714088853_1 the "abomination" of; Daniel 12:11 ; Matthew 24:15 the "man of sin" of 2 Thessalonians 2:4-8 and the "Beast" of Revelation 13:4-10 . See "Beast"; Daniel 7:8 ; Revelation 19:20 .

Verse Meaning

Daniel next saw a rather small horn (king, Daniel 8:23) grow out of one of the four horns (kingdoms, Daniel 8:22) that had replaced the single horn (the first king, Alexander, Daniel 8:21) on the goat (Greece, Daniel 8:21). This horn is quite clearly different from the little horn that came up among the10 horns on the fourth beast in the previous vision (cf. Daniel 7:8; Daniel 7:11; Daniel 7:24-26).
"...the little horn arising from the third kingdom serves as a prototype of the little horn of the fourth kingdom. The crisis destined to confront God"s people in the time of the earlier little horn, Antiochus Epiphanes, will bear a strong similarity to the crisis that will befall them in the eschatological or final phase of the fourth kingdom in the last days (as Christ himself foresaw in the Olivet Discourse [1])." [2]
This little horn grew very great to the south, the east, and "the beautiful." The first problem with this description is: What is the reference point for these directions? History has identified this little horn as Antiochus IV (Epiphanes), the eighth king of the Seleucid dynasty. He ruled Syria from175 to164 B.C. (cf. 1 Maccabees 1:10; 1 Maccabees 6:16), and he conducted military campaigns in all of these directions (cf. 1 Maccabees 1:20). [3] Therefore, the point of reference must be Syria.
The second problem is the identification of "the beautiful." This is quite evidently a reference to Palestine (cf. Daniel 11:16; Daniel 11:41; Daniel 11:45; Jeremiah 3:19; Ezekiel 20:6; Ezekiel 20:15). Here the vision begins to focus on the future of Israel and the Jews. Antiochus was especially vengeful against the Jews, whom he persecuted brutally.
"He is . . . one of the greatest persecutors Israel has ever known." [4]
"In one assault on Jerusalem, 40 ,000 Jews were killed in three days and10 ,000 more were carried into captivity." [5]
"This suppression came to a head in December168 B.C, when Antiochus returned in frustration from Alexandria, where he had been turned back by the Roman commander Popilius Laenas, and vented his exasperation on the Jews. He sent his general, Apollonius, with twenty thousand troops under orders to seize Jerusalem on a Sabbath. There he erected an idol of Zeus and desecrated the altar by offering swine on it. This idol became known to the Jews as "the abomination of desolation" (hassiqqus mesomem, Daniel 11:31), which served as a type of a future abomination that will be set up in the Jerusalem sanctuary to be built in the last days (cf. Christ"s prediction in Matthew 24:15)." [6]
Four years later, on December25 , 164 B.C, Judas Maccabaeus, a Jewish nationalist, led the Jews in rededicating the temple to Yahweh. This is the event that Jews have celebrated with Hanukkah ever since.

Context Summary

Daniel 8:1-14 - God's Sanctuary Dishonored
Shushan was the lily palace. There, by the river Ulai, the prophet beheld in vision the attack which would subsequently be made on the Medo-Persian kingdom by Alexander. The great horn which was broken is, of course, Alexander, and the four notable ones are his four generals, who after his death divided up his conquests. The little horn is referred by many to Antiochus, whose conflict with the Maccabees was one of the most significant in later Jewish history. Others refer it to Mohammed and his followers, who have reigned over the same regions. In this case the little horn would stand for the Eastern apostasy as distinguished from the Western, which is said to be represented by the little horn of the fourth beast, Daniel 7:8. The Books of the Maccabees, included in the Apocrypha, should be studied to understand more clearly what is intended in Daniel 8:11-12. The explanation of these obscure verses is also given in Daniel 8:24-25. Antiochus was obsessed with hatred against the spiritual worship of the Jews, and their refusal to admit his image into the Temple. He stayed their sacrifices, though they were restored for a season, to be finally suspended during the present age. The day for a year system, Daniel 8:14, may refer to the desolations of the Turkish or Ottoman empire, of which Antiochus was the representative. [source]

Chapter Summary: Daniel 8

1  Daniel's vision of the ram and he goat
13  The two thousand three hundred days of the suspension of the daily sacrifice
15  Gabriel comforts Daniel, and interprets the vision

What do the individual words in Daniel 8:9 mean?

And out of one of them came horn a little and which grew great exceedingly toward the south and toward the east the Glorious [Land]
וּמִן־ הָאַחַ֣ת מֵהֶ֔ם יָצָ֥א קֶֽרֶן־ אַחַ֖ת מִצְּעִירָ֑ה וַתִּגְדַּל־ יֶ֛תֶר אֶל־ הַנֶּ֥גֶב וְאֶל־ הַמִּזְרָ֖ח הַצֶּֽבִי

וּמִן־  And  out 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition
Root: מִן 
Sense: from, out of, on account of, off, on the side of, since, above, than, so that not, more than.
הָאַחַ֣ת  of  one 
Parse: Article, Number, feminine singular
Root: אֶחָד  
Sense: one (number).
מֵהֶ֔ם  of  them 
Parse: Preposition-m, Pronoun, third person masculine plural
Root: הֵם 
Sense: they, these, the same, who.
יָצָ֥א  came 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: יׄוצֵאת 
Sense: to go out, come out, exit, go forth.
קֶֽרֶן־  horn 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: קֶרֶן 
Sense: horn.
מִצְּעִירָ֑ה  little 
Parse: Preposition-m, Adjective, feminine singular
Root: צָעִיר  
Sense: little, insignificant, a small thing.
וַתִּגְדַּל־  and  which  grew  great 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Consecutive imperfect, third person feminine singular
Root: גָּדַל  
Sense: to grow, become great or important, promote, make powerful, praise, magnify, do great things.
יֶ֛תֶר  exceedingly 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: יֶתֶר 
Sense: .
אֶל־  toward 
Parse: Preposition
Root: אֶל  
Sense: to, toward, unto (of motion).
הַנֶּ֥גֶב  the  south 
Parse: Article, Noun, feminine singular
Root: נֶגֶב  
Sense: south-country, Nekeb, south.
וְאֶל־  and  toward 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition
Root: אֶל  
Sense: to, toward, unto (of motion).
הַמִּזְרָ֖ח  the  east 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: מִזְרָח  
Sense: place of sunrise, east.
הַצֶּֽבִי  the  Glorious  [Land] 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: צָבָא 
Sense: beauty, glory, honour.

What are the major concepts related to Daniel 8:9?

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