Daniel 8 Study Guide

Review:

 How would you describe “apocalyptic literature” in Scripture?

 Why does God give portions like this in Scripture? How do these apocalyptic sections encourage, challenge, or enhance our faith lives?

1. Read 8:1-14

• Verses 1-2 - Another vision! This time God is giving more details concerning what he had already given in chapter 7. But Daniel sees himself in Susa, which would become the summer palace of the Persian kings (and remember, the Babylonians are still ruling at this time!). Come up one reason why that is significant (for Daniel or for us).

• Verses 3-4 – The first beast that Daniel saw was a ram with two horns. Peak ahead to 8:20. Who is this ram? (Note – In Daniel’s visions, the horns often represent kings or kingdoms.)

• Verses 5-7 – What does the goat do to the ram? (Peak ahead to 8:21 for the identity of the goat.)

• Verses 9-12 – List the disheartening descriptions and actions of the little horn. (Peak ahead to 24-25 to add even more to the descriptions and actions).

• Verse 13 – The question of “how long?” is one that God’s people have asked and still ask even today.

o Pick one of these verses from the Psalms (4:2, 13:2, 74:10 & 22, 82:2, 89:46, 119:84). What issue or concern had the Psalmists asking, “How long?”

o What concerns have you asking, “How long?”

• Verse 14 – This verse shares God’s answer to the question in verse 13. What comfort did God’s answer share to concerns then? What comfort does God’s answer give us now?

2. Read 8:15-27

• Verses 15-18 – The one who had the appearance of a man (15) turned out to be the angel Gabriel.

o Gabriel is one of the angels in Scripture whose names we know. Can you name the other(s) or name the types of angels mentioned in the Bible?

o Daniel was frightened when Gabriel stood near him. This is often the reaction when human beings are in the presence of angels. Why? What might it teach us about angels?

• Verses 20-22 – The beasts of this vision are explicitly named. The large horn / first king (8:21) of Greece would be Alexander the Great. After Alexander’s death, his empire split into four parts (Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt).

• Verses 23-25 – The little horn Daniel saw rise out of Alexander’s split empire is again a king. As early as the time of Christ, the little horn was identified with a wicked king named Antiochus Epiphanes (Epiphanes means “god manifest”). He was the 8th king after Seleucus, the general who inherited the Syrian-Palestinian portion of Alexander’s empire.

Daniel saw in the vision that the little horn raised itself against the stars, cast some to earth, and trample on them. Gabriel explained this would mean fearful destruction even for God’s people. Antiochus IV often unleashed his anger against Jewish believers. After a victorious campaign in Egypt, he came to Jerusalem, plundered Jerusalem and the temple, and initiated a bloody persecution killing over 100,000 Jews.

o We are told (vs 24) his power would be strong, but not by human power. To what might is that referring? (cf. 2 Thess. 2:9-10)

o We are also told (vs 25) that he will be destroyed, but not by human power. To what is that referring?

o Note: This portion of the vision seems to find fulfillment in Antiochus Epiphanes. And yet, the language of the vision at times goes beyond Antiochus. The more we examined the record of the little horn (in Daniel 7 and 8), the better we realize that Antiochus is actually a type of antichrist. Reviewing his record alerts us to what we might expect from the Antichrist.

• Verse 26 – Daniel’s vision was not for his own day but for the comfort of the saints in the time of Antiochus. If you could write a message of “future divine comfort” to the next or future generations, what would you write?