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Daniel Chapter 8

Chapter 8 continues in Hebrew after about 5 chapters of the underlying text having been written in Aramaic[C1] . Some commentators say this is because it is now done talking about gentile history and that the rest of the book is about Jewish history. This idea I think loses a measure of credibility due to the accepted fact that this chapter as well as chapter 11 will extensively deal with the history and future of nations like Persia, Greece, Egypt and other nations which are obviously Gentile nations. So although there may be significance for the change in languages at this point, I am not convinced that is the reason for it.

The events that will be prophesized here and in the next few chapters, would not occur for hundreds of years after the time that Daniel wrote them, though many of these events are history to us they were future to Daniel and his readers.

Many commentators have an issue with the prophecies here and in the following chapters simply because they are extremely accurate. There are many worldviews in the academic world that cant allow for the accurate foretelling of the future, and so, based solely on this prophecy’s accuracy, many have argued that these next few chapters were written after the facts that they detail. A theory that strains credulity because the book of Daniel appears in the Septuagint which can be shown to be in wide use, a demonstrations that it was an accepted part of the Hebrew cannon, around the same time as these events.

These prophecies also were probably of great encouragement to the Jews who at this time were still in captivity, they would have been hearing about all kinds of rumors of wars, such as the impending war with Persia, and it would be comforting for them to know that although many nations would rise and fall, Israel would remain, even in the distant future. They would not have to wait much longer for this prophecy to begin to be validated either. In just a little over a decade they will be allowed to return home to Israel, and there would indeed be a Persian king on the throne just as this chapter will suggest.

But as we will see there is a large portion of this prophecy that is relevant and import to us today, especially in relation to the so called antichrist. Continue reading “Daniel 8 – More on the Antichrist and the 2300 “Day” Prophecy”

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