Daniel 8

       1 "In the third year of the king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first.  2 And I saw a vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai."

       3 Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns; and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last."

    Remember that Daniel as a youth had studied Astrology at the feet of the finest Astrologers in Babylon.   So this picture, the picture of a Ram, was very familiar to him, both in the constellation "Aries" in the sky, and in his knowledge that he was indeed living in the "Age of Aries", the "Age of the Ram". (About 2000 BC to 1 AD)

       4 "I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great."

      5 "And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the he goat had a notable horn between his eyes."

     6 "And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran into him in the fury of his power."

     7 "And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with cholar against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand." 

        And that, I believe, was all that there was to Daniel's story of his vision of the "Ram and the He Goat" originally, in a much smaller "Book of Daniel" as it was showed to Alexander the Great when Alexander came calling on this high priest one day about 325 BC.  The high priest interpreted this "vision" to show that Alexander, "the He-Goat" would overcome Darius the Persian in an up-coming battle.

     Josephus "Antiquities" Book 11 Ch.8 (325) "Now Alexander, when he had taken Gaza, made haste to go up to Jerusalem; (326) and Jaddua the  high priest, when he heard that, was in an agony, and under terror, as knowing not how he should meet the Macedonians, since the king was displeased at his foregoing disobedience.  He therefore ordained that the people should make supplications, and should join him in offering sacrifices to God, whom he besought  to protect that nation, and to deliver them from the perils that were coming upon them.  (327)  whereupon God warned him in a dream, which came upon him after he had offered sacrifice, that he should take courage, and adorn the city, and open the gates; that the rest appear in white garments, but that he and the priests should meet the king in the habits proper to their order, without the dread of any ill consequences, which the providence of God would prevent.  (328) Upon which when he arose from his sleep, he greatly rejoiced; and declared to all the warning he had received from God according to which dream he acted entirely, and so waited for the coming of the king."

     (329) "And when he understood that he was not far from the city, he went out in procession, with the priests and the multitude  of the citizens.  The procession was venerable, and the manner of it different from that of other nations."  

    (337) "And when the book of Daniel was showed him, wherein Daniel declared that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of the Persians, he (Alexander) supposed that himself was the person intended; and as he was then glad, he dismissed the multitude for the present, but the next day he called them to him, and bade them ask what favors they pleased of him: (338) whereupon the high priest desired that they might enjoy the laws of their forefathers, and might pay no tribute on the seventh year.  He granted all that they desired: and when they entreated him that he would permit the Jews in Babylon and Media to enjoy their own laws also, he willingly promised to do hereafter what they desired ---"

     Daniel 8:20 "The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia,  21 And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king."

DANIEL the PROPHET

as known, quoted, and added to by

THE MACCABEES 

   The Maccabee involvement in the Book of Daniel is not obvious to us readers of the KJV because for some reason or other the KJV no longer contains the Books of the Maccabees 

     However, in some other Bibles, and in the "New Jerusalem Bible" (quoted above, page 490,491) one can still read the Biblical history some of our forefathers have ignored.

Daniel 8

       We determined on the previous page that in the opinion of quite a few other scholars, including no less a person than the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, that there was a Book of Daniel that was shown to Alexander the Great.  And the Jewish high priest interpreted this Daniel prophecy to Alexander as predicting a Greek leader would defeat the Persian empire.  The texts used would have been Daniel 8:7, and 20,21.  So I am saying here that the Maccabean influence on Daniel 8 begins with verse 8 and extends from that verse onward, skipping verse 20, 21, which may have been originally in the place now occupied by verse 8.

     8 "Therefore the he goat (determined to be Alexander) waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken (Alexander died suddenly at a very young age); and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven."

     (The first picture above illustrates these 4 notable horns, with a fifth horn starting to grow out of one of the four.   These 4 horns are labeled EGYPT, SYRIA, THRACE, AND MACEDONIA.  The 5th horn springing out of MACEDONIA is ROME, but could just as likely be Antiochus Epiphanes springing out of SYRIA).       

1 Maccabees 1:1 "Alexander of Macedon son of Philip had come from the land of Kittim (term extended from inhabitants of Kition to all Cypriots and then to all Greeks) and defeated Darius king of the Persians and Medes, whom he succeeded as ruler, at first of Hellas.  2 He undertook many campaigns, gained possession of many fortresses, and put the local kings to death.  3 So he advanced to the ends of the earth, plundering nation after nation; the earth grew silent before him, and his ambitious heart swelled with pride.   4 He assembled very powerful forces and subdued provinces, nations and princes, and they became his tributaries.  5 But the time came when Alexander took to his bed, in the knowledge that he was dying.  6 He summoned his officers, noblemen who had been brought up with him from his youth, and divided his kingdom among them while he was still alive.  7 Alexander had reigned twelve years when he died.  8 Each of his officers established himself in his own region.  9 All assumed crowns after his death, they and their heirs after them for many years, bringing increasing evils on the world."

      9 "And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceedingly great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land. "  (True of both Antiochus and Rome)

1 Maccabees 1:10 "From these there grew a wicked offshoot, Antiochus Epiphanes son of King Antiochus; once a hostage in Rome, he became king in the 107th year of the kingdom of the Greeks. 17 "He invaded Egypt in massive strength-- 20 "--in the year 143, Antiochus-- advanced on Israel and Jerusalem in massive strength.

      10 "And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them." (True of both Antiochus and Rome)

1 Maccabees 1:11 "It was then that there emerged from Israel a set of renegades who led many people astray, 'Come,' they said, 'let us ally ourselves with the gentiles surrounding us, for since we separated ourselves from them many misfortunes have undertaken us.'  12 This proposal proved acceptable,  13 and a number of the people eagerly approached the king, who authorized them to practice the gentiles' observances.  14 So they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem, such as the gentiles have, 15 disguised their circumcision, and abandoned the holy covenant, submitting to gentile rule as willing slaves of impiety."

       the "host of heaven" is here an exaggerated title for young athletic Jews, "the ground" is gentile practices, and "stamped upon them" is the conversion of Jews to paganism

        11 "Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down." (True of both Antiochus and Rome)