Daniel 8:15-27
Daniel 8:15-27
New King James Version (NKJV)
Gabriel Interprets the Vision
15 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. 16 And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of the Ulai, who called, and said, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.” 17 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.”
18 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. 19 And he said, “Look, I am making known to you what shall happen in the latter time of the indignation; for at the appointed time the end shall be. 20 The ram which you saw, having the two horns—they are the kings of Media and Persia. 21 And the male goat is the kingdom of Greece. The large horn that is between its eyes is the first king. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
My Thoughts:
As we move in to the 2nd half of chapter 8 we see that Gabriel is back and is going to give Daniel the interpretation of the vision. In (v. 15) Daniel saw a being “having the appearance of a man” but he also heard a voice saying “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.” Now Gabriel is not just any angel, he is one that stands in the presents of God, so the voice that Daniel heard must have been the voice of God.
First of all it reminds me that (Matthew 7:7-8) “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Daniel was disturbed by what he saw and want to understand better and just as we are told when we ask God will provide us with the answers.
Ok I have heard many people say that it was Gabriel that gave Daniel the interruption in chapter 7, but if you compare Daniel’s response to the “one of those” as Daniel puts it in (7:16) “I came near to one of those who stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things:” 1st we see that there where more than one around him in chapter and 2nd there was no fear of the beings in chapter 7. But we see in (8:17) that when Gabriel came close to Daniel he feel to the ground in fear. So this must have been the first time that Daniel had met Gabriel and for some reason unlike the others in chapter 7 there was something about Gabriel that made Daniel afraid. For it was not for the purpose of worship that Daniel fell before the angel, for it is forbidden to worship them (Revelation 19: 10; 22:8, 9) Daniel seems to have been completely overcome by the majesty of heavens massager. Reading this verse reminds me of (Exodus 34:29-30) “Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him. So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.” You see this is the same reason Daniel was afraid, and also explains how a person can witness for Christ without ever saying a word. When you are in the presents of God you cannot help but reflect Him. The same is true for Christians, when we let Christ live in us, He shows in our daily lives as well.
We see here for the first time that Media and Persia are called out by name and Gabriel is telling Daniel that Greece is the one that will over throw them. But let’s continue from where we left off yesterday. We left off where Rome had been identified but there is still more information left for us to understand, because unlike the visions of chapter 2 and 7 we are given more details and it helps us know that it was Rome that followed Greece. We see this in (v. 24) were Gabriel tells Daniel that “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.” Sounds like Rome to me.
And we read in (v. 25) “…but he shall be broken without human means” (Revelation 19:19, 20; Job 34:20). This parallels the prophecy of (Daniel 2:34), where the stone “cut out without hands” would destroy all earthly powers. I would like to hear your thoughts on this before I comment.
We are not going to move to chapter 9 until Saturday I would like to stop here and cover the topic of the Sanctuary in verse 13 before we move forward.
Ellen White Statements:
“Occasions of irritation to the Jews were constantly arising from their contact with the Roman soldiery. Detachments of troops were stationed at different points throughout Judea and Galilee, and their presence reminded the people of their own degradation as a nation. With bitterness of soul they heard the loud blast of the trumpet and saw the troops forming around the standard of Rome and bowing in homage to this symbol of her power. Collisions between the people and the soldiers were frequent, and these inflamed the popular hatred. Often as some Roman official with his guard of soldiers hastened from point to point, he would seize upon the Jewish peasants who were laboring in the field and compel them to carry burdens up the mountainside or render any other service that might be needed. This was in accordance with the Roman law and custom, and resistance to such demands only called forth taunts and cruelty. Every day deepened in the hearts of the people the longing to cast off the Roman yoke. Especially among the bold, rough-handed Galileans the spirit of insurrection was rife. Capernaum, being a border town, was the seat of a Roman garrison, and even while Jesus was teaching, the sight of a company of soldiers recalled to His hearers the bitter thought of Israel’s humiliation. The people looked eagerly to Christ, hoping that He was the One who was to humble the pride of Rome.” {MB 69.2}
Last thoughts:
So we close chapter 8 with Daniel fainting and he was even sick for days after this vision was complete. But why did Gabriel not explain the period of the 2300 days? It could be that this is all Daniel could handle at that time. We will address 2300 days as we go along and after we finish with the book of Daniel we will spend a day or two covering it before we move to the book of Revelation.
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I wonder if Gabriel looked like one of those angels Ezekiel saw with lots of eyes, four faces and wheels; that would be a scary thing to see. It’s interesting how sometimes good things could scare us. You would assume that if it’s good you wouldn’t be afraid, and yet there are so many instances in the Bible where people were scared of angels. Is it just because it’s unusual for us to see? Just the thought of seeing something we’ve never encounter could be scary. On that note I could understand why we need to intergrate our society. We really do get scared easily. How long have we had prejudice in our country, yet the more we intergrate (by choice or not) the more we grow tolerent and accepting of each other. We do tend to fear the unknown. Humans must be scared by nature; must be part of our sinful nature. Adam and Eve sinned and it mentions they were scared of God after they knew and seen him before. And think how many times the Bible encourages us not to be afraid. Only taking on the very nature of God, through Jesus, can we ever hope to have real courage. Praise God’s wisdom in not revealing his angels to us often in our time; it would seem the more sinful and oppressed we become the more easily afraid we become. Only an out pouring of the Holy Spirit could equipe us with such assurance/ courage to stand the last day attacks.