Daniel 8

In Short

While stil living in the Babylonian empire , in a dream, Daniel see the next two empires emerge, Persia, as a two-horned Ram, and Greece, as the one-horned goat that conquers the Ram with great speed. The one horn - Alexander the Great - broke off and four horns rose in its place, the four parts of the Greek empire. Two of them (Seleucid and Ptolemy) would be in constant quarrel, with Israel in between them. This would lead to the overthrow of the faithful Jews and the 3-year (1,080 days) long defilement of the temple by the Seleucid Antioch Epiphanes. The defilement however would take 2,300 days and the prophecy would also relate to the Endtime. Therefore, part of the prophecy is still future, concerning 1,220 (or 1,260) days of the 'great tribulation'. In this Endtime, a fierce king would rule Israel, of which the description in Daniel 8 exactly matches the character and the acts of Benjamin Netanyahu.

 

Persia and Greece

The dream of Daniel in Daniel 8 zooms in on a fraction of the story of the empires of Daniel 7, adding some very important details by which we can determine the approaching Endtime. It is about the empires (2) Persia and (3) Greece. They are portrayed as a ram (Persia) and a goat (Greece). While still in the third year of the last king of Babylon, the next empire is already foreshadowed as a mighty Ram with two mighty horns (representing the Mede and the Persians) that would takeover the whole civilized world of the time of Daniel. Then from the West a goat with a great horn approaches with enormous speed (not touching the ground), casting down the Ram. Then the great horn breaks, making place for four other horns. The relation with history is too obvious to be missed. The Greek empire of Alexander the Great defeated the Persians and took over the complete civilized world. Alexander died and was replaced by four of his generals, who divided the empire among them. The most North-Eastern part, the Seleucid kingdom played an important role in the history of Judea. It is the king, that in Daniel's dream is seen as 'little horn', giving it some resemblance to the dream of Daniel 7. Only there the 'little horn' came forth from the fourth empire, the Roman empire. In the explanation above we have seen that it represents the 13 colonies on the East coast of North America, which grew into the US-empire. In Daniel 8 the 'little horn' is the brother of the deceased Antiochus III, who had no legal right to the throne but who declared himself king. So Antiochus IV Epiphanes started as a politically less relevant figure but he became the Seleucid king that defied the Ptolemy kingdom, the Southern, Egyptian part of the Greek empire. That also applies to the little horn in Daniel 7, the politically less relevant colony in North America becoming the world empire.

 

The 'Greek' little horn, growing into the Seleucid king Antiochus IV, on his expeditions toward Ptolemaic Egypt would also act against the people of Israel. In his dream, Daniel sees this as follows:

 

'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. Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of the sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced, and prospered.' (Dan.8:10-12).

 

The host of heaven and the stars, which this king cast to the ground cannot be real stars or angels for no king is able to do that. They are the most important figures within the Judaeo community of a few centuries before Christ. In the Judea of those days, there was a dispute about the office of the high priest together with a discord among the people in Judea on the 'modernization' of Jewish religion. The faithful Jews wanted to distance themselves from the Hellenistic world of their days and they came under attack of this Greek king, who wanted to spread the Greek culture throughout the Middle East. Once the faithful people revolted, the revolt was brutally crushed. According to the book I Maccabees about 40,000 Jews were killed and another 40,000 were sold as slaves. This was the 'casting down some of the host and of the stars to the ground and stamping upon them'. After the mass killings, the temple was defiled with offerings of a swine and with the statue of Zeus, while the daily sacrifice was interrupted for three years. In Daniel's dream: 'Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of the sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced, and prospered.' The 'prince of hosts' is the Lord God. The 'daily sacrifice was taken away'. The offerings to the Lord in the tempel stopped for 3 years. The 'place of the sanctuary was cast down'.  The Temple in Jerusalem was forcibly changed to a syncretic Greek-Jewish cult that included worship of Zeus. 'An host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced, and prospered.' There were treacherous Hellenistic Jews that cooperated with Antiochus IV, in the defeating of the faithful Jews and in the installment of a hellenized way of worship that went totally contrary the laws, given by the Lord.

 

There are three indications that part of this dream might apply to the Endtime, which we are fast approaching.

(1) The total disarray of the temple service and the oppression of the faithful would last for 2300 days, as Daniel heard saying in his dream (Dan.8:14). However, in fact the daily sacrifice was interrupted for three years, not longer. From Kislev 25 of 167 BC until Kislev 25 of 164 BC. There are efforts to reconcile this with the prophecy by doubling the number of days in three years, applying the 2300 to the offerings. 2 x 3 x 360 = 2160 days, which approaches the 2300 number. But the text in the prophecy of Daniel 8:14 clearly speaks of 'days' not of 'offerings'. Therefore, the abomination hasn't come to its full fulfillment yet. It will be continued somewhere in the future. That is exactly what is described in chapters 7, 9 and 11 of Daniel. In Daniel 7 we already saw that 'the eleventh horn' (the USA) the would come out of the Roman empire, would 'speak great words against the most High'. That will happen once the 2300 days of abomination will be fulfilled. If three years of desecration have already passed, then 2300 - 2 x 360 = 1220 days are still future. That is very close to the 1260 days or 42 months of which we read in Revelation (Rev.11:2,3 12:6,14, 13:5).

(2) The desecration of the temple by Antioch IV is called 'the transgression of desolation' (Dan.8:13), which comes very close to the expression, used for the further fulfillment in the Endtime: the abomination of desolation' - which we will discuss below. Moreover, Daniel 9:24 says that 70 weeks (periods of 7 years) are 'determined to finish the transgression'. The seventieth week is either still future or we are in the first half of it (as we shall demonstrate below). That means that the 'transgression' still has to be made full during the second half of the 70th week.

(3) Gabriel, who explains some details to Daniel, twice indicates that the dream is about the Endtime: (1) 'Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vision' - (Dan.8:17) and (2) 'Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be' - (Dan 8:19)

 

As it was in the days of Antioch IV, in the Endtime there would be the people of the Lord that would be severely oppressed and unbelieving Jews that would collaborate with the empire, helping the empire to gain control, doing its dirty work. That is exactly what we see in modern day Israel. We see the so called European Jews, Zionists, that are in full cooperation with the US empire in order to help it in its quest for power and control over the Middle East and thereby of the whole world. And we see the indigenous people of the land, the true descendants of the patriarchs that are brutally deprived of their land, severely oppressed and gruesomely murdered. The empire uses the Zionists, who pose themselves as the rightful owners of the land, to destroy the true people of God. This will ultimately lead up to a desecration of the holy place - not of the temple, but of one of the mosques on the Haram Al Sharif, where Muslims honor the God of heavens, the Almighty, the most High, according to their limited understanding.

 

The details that are added to the prophecy by the explanation by Gabriel strikingly resemble the present day situation in 'the holy land'. After having explained the meaning of the ram and the goat as the kingdoms of Media an Persia and of Greece he points to the great horn as the first king of Greece and the four horns that follow as the succeeding parts of the Greek empire. Then he comes up with the next detailed description of the man that would play a key role in the Endtime:

'And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand. And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days.' (Dan.8:23-26)

 

Who is this 'king of fierce countenance'? There are quite some characteristics given of him:

1. He will stand up 'in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full'

2. He will be 'a king' of fierce countenance

3. He will understand dark sentences (schemes)

4. His power shall be mighty but not by his own power

5. He shall destroy wonderfully and prosper

6. He shall destroy the mighty and the holy people

7. Through his policy he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand

8. He shall magnify himself in his heart

9. By peace shall he destroy many

10. He shall stand up against the Prince op princes

11. He shall be broken without hand.

 

All of these characteristics apply to the figure of Netanyahu.

1. He will stand up 'in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full' - The 'in the latter time of their kingdom' must not be seen as the second century before Christ, when the Greek empire was taken over by the Roman empire. As we know from Daniel 7, the empires being defeated by new ones did not cease to exist as nations. We still have a Persian nation (Iran), a Greek nation, and a Roman nation (Italy). However their former power as empire is gone. While the Endtime judgment will fall upon the last of all empires, the little horn that grew into the US-empire, Daniel 7:12 states: 'As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time'. So the 'latter time of their kingdom' must be seen as the Endtime, the last days before the total structure of 'this world' will be scattered by the return of Jesus Christ.

The word 'transgressors' is closely related to the word 'transgression' that is used in Daniel 8:13, the 'transgression of desolation', connected to the destructive actions of the Greek king Antioch I. That the 'transgressors' have come to the full, have become complete, means that those that will bring the rest of destruction upon Gods people are in place and ready to act according to prophecy. This is what we see in the political support for the monstrous genocide upon the Palestinians by the US empire through its proxy, the state of Israel. All key positions in the world are being held by 'transgressors', evil politicians and corrupt ministers, working as agents for the empire, willing to do everything that would enable Israel to carry out its genocide.

 

2. He will be 'a king' of fierce countenance - The expression 'a king' does not relate this Endtime rule to the former kingdom of Greece. In the preceding verse, the four kingdoms that arose after the breaking of the 'great horn', the death of Alexander the great, were said to 'stand up out of the nation' of Greece. That is not said of this 'king'. This mysterieus king is also named in Daniel 11:36, where 'the king' is suddenly seen as an actor amidst the constant struggle between the king of the North and the king of the South. This 'king' of Daniel 11:36 is described with the same kind of words as the 'king' of Daniel 9:23. Daniel 9:25 - 'he shall magnify himself in his heart'. Daniel 11:36 - 'He will exalt and magnify himself above every god'. The end of 'the king' is prophecied in Isaiah 30:33 - 'For Tophet (place of fire) is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it'. The fierce countenance or 'strong' or 'mighty' countenance does not just apply to facial characteristics but also to the perseverance of the face in the political arena, the forceful continuation of political life through the most difficult of political circumstances.

 

3. He will understand dark sentences (schemes). Almost all prime ministers of Israel came from East Europe and had their names changed in order to look more 'Jewish'. Likewise the name of the father of Netanyahu was 'Mileikowski'. Netanyahu spent most of his youth and adolescent years in the USA, where he was groomed for the task he has been performing as Israeli politician. He learned everything he needed to know about intelligence and modern weapons. He participated in nuclear smuggler ring. Since his arrival in the arena of world policy in 1994 he became an expert on the satanic activity of accusing the nations all around Israel of terrorism and of having 'weapons of mass destruction'. In the case of Irak, he greatly attributed to the invasion of the country, the wholesale destruction of infrastructure and the death of millions. In 1995, he was the first in the world to warn for an attack on the world trade center, which indeed happened on 9/11/2001 and which has the fingerprints of Israeli spies and agents all over it. In the days after the attack he bragged about the advantages that 9/11 would have for Israel. Since 1995 Netanyahu has missed no opportunity to warn for the atomic bomb, that Iran would be developing in order for the USA to attack Iran. In June of 2025 he himself ordered a relentless attack on Iranian politicians and scientists while they were in talks with the USA about a nuclear deal. The attack was meant as a 'decapitation strike' in order to force a regime change. The regime change was however prevented by the resilience of the Iranian military and the full support of the Iranian people for its government. There are also indications the Israel, together with the US and its Middle Eastern proxies like Quatar is behind ISIS, which eventually succeeded in overthrowing the Assad regime in Syria, throwing the country in civil-war like conditions of balkanization. Much of this can be seen in this video of the CorbettReport.

 

4. His power shall be mighty but not by his own power - It is evident that the state of Israel and its prime minister have no power on their own. They have power because they are backed by the US-empire, which uses them to serve its interests in the Middle East. The US provides them financial, military, legal and diplomatic support on all sides.

 

5. He shall destroy wonderfully and prosper - Since Netanyahu appeared on the political scene of the Middle East, he has succeeded in using US-force to destroy Arab countries that were opposed to US hegemony. Following 9/11,  in which intelligence from Israel was complicit, 7 countries would be attacked: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran, according to a message within the US military that was shared by General Wesley Clark in an interview of 2007. The policy of destroying the structure of the Middle East, for which 9/11 gave the pretext, was already planned in 1982, in the 'Yinon plan'. Six of the aforementioned countries indeed were attacked and their political structure is in ruins and because of that strides toward 'greater Israel' can be made and US-hegemony in the world is stil standing, even amidst the enormous rise to power of Russia and China. The only country stil standing is Iran. But is was also viciously attacked in June, 2025, meant as a decapitation strike in which 30 Iranian generals and 9 Iranian scientists were killed. We expect Iran to fall in a dramatic third world war, which will be kindled by 'the abomination of desolation' in which both Netanyahu and Trump will be instrumental (Dan.11:39-45). See: Where are we now?

 

6. He shall destroy the mighty and the holy people - The mighty people might point to the resistance of Hezbollah, Ansar Allah (the Houtis) and Al Qassam (Hamas), which form a considerable force against the multi billion Israeli war machine. Under the watchful eye of Netanyahu, Israel killed top commanders of Al Quassam as well as of Hezbollah and it could very well be behind the sudden death of president Raisi, who was killed in an unexplained helicopter crash. Notorious are also the attacks by different kinds of devices (pagers and walkietalkies) which exploded in the hands and before the eyes of hundreds if not thousands of Hezbollah members.

The holy people are the Palestinian citizens that are slaughtered in the tens of thousands and according to some estimates in the hundreds of thousands. These are the indigenous people of the land with the most direct lineage to the patriarchs of the old people of Israel. They are the ones that would be under attack of the empire shortly before the return of Jesus (Daniel 7:21, 25, Zechariah 13:8, 14:1,2, Revelation 12:12). Whereas Gaza was regularly the aim of death and destruction by Israeli snipers and bombardments before 2023, total destruction came after the false flag attack of October 7, where it was not Hamas but the IDF itself causing most of the Israeli casualties. Till October 7, 2023, Netanyahu has consistently pushed the government of Qatar to finance Hamas and he was backed by the USA. The objective was to maintain a split within the Palestinian movement in order to prevent a two state solution. The outbreak of October 7 from what is called an open air prison with huge walls, watch towers and high tech surveillance is still highly suspicious and after 2 years of genocide still has to be investigated. 

 

7. Through his policy he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand - The policy of Netanyahu can be summarized as follows: 'Prevent the establishment of a two state solution and pursue an Israel that extends from the Euphrates to the Nile in order to secure US control over the whole of the Middle East'. In the pursuit of these objectives he has been instrumental in upgrading the Israeli intelligence and surveillance techniques. The Palestinians were used as test-population. Through the Israeli spyware, like Cellebrite and Pegasus, Israel exerts control over large parts of the human population, without people knowing it.

 

8. He shall magnify himself in his heart - 'Netanyahu has exhibited narcissistic behaviors, including prioritizing personal success over ideology; a belief in his superior perception' See more on the personality of Netanyahu on this site.

 

9. By peace shall he destroy many - The word for 'peace' is mostly translated with 'prosperity' or 'quietness'. This might relate to the money that at the directions by Netanyahu had started to flow from Quatar to Gaza since 2018:  '' The 2014 war in Gaza was the turning point. The U.S., UN, Israel and Qatar decided soon after the war to set up a new system in which $30 million would be delivered to the coastal strip by Doha each month. Some $10 million was to buy fuel from Israel, needed to operate Gaza's power station, $10 million to pay the salaries of government employees, and the final $10 million was to be given in $100 stipends to some 100,000 Gaza families in need.' It was for a mild 'prosperity' and quietness in the Gaza strip, which in 2005 was cleansed from setters by the IDF. This removal of settlers is strange while settlements in the Westbank were booming but in light of the events since October 7, 2023 on starts to understand. Moreover, if the intention was to appease the Palestinians in Gaza with the millions from Qatar, why were they treated like animals in a zoo, with ultra high walls around them? Why was there a rationing of food that was allowed in? Why were their movements to and from the Gaza strip obstructed? Why were complete buildings regularly bombarded as a matter of 'mowing the lawn? Why was water weaponized? The money from Qatar started coming in 2018 and much doubt has risen about where the money was spent on. It could very well have been used by Hamas to build their military infrastructure from which they would be able to fight the IDF for 2 or more years. Summarizing: Netanyahu started the money flow from Qatar. But by the way of his direct treatment of the Palestinians, he also gave the military wing of Hamas the reasons to use the money for military purposes in order to fight back at some point in the future. And then came October 7, 2023, which gave Israel the pretext for a total ethnic cleansing. 'By prosperity shall he destroy many'.

 

The last two parts of the characteristics are yet to be fulfilled:

10. He shall stand up against the Prince op princes - The way we see this to be fulfilled in the nearby future is in two ways.

(1) At the beginning of the great tribulation of 3.5 years: Together with the president of the United States, Israel's prime minister will enter one or both Mosques on the temple mount where he will again honor Trump as the great peace president. He will even bestow more honor upon the ruler of the US-empire and call him 'God'. The president not contradicting this, would thereby acknowledge such. This will take place in a Mosque (the Greek word for 'temple' can mean any sacred place) and not in a Jewish temple for that would be very counterproductive for both Netanyahu and Trump. Both are politically very dependent upon the right wing religious factions within the Jewish society and to jeopardize their support by insulting them is the last thing they want to do. On the contrary, they have long been seeking a conflict with their mighty opponent Iran, which has always been very constrained in its reaction to Israeli and US aggression. The desecration of one or two of the most holy places of the Islam might ignite the war they have been seeking for years.

(2) At the end of the great tribulation of 3.5 years. Shortly before the return of Jesus, the US-president (mouthpiece of the beast), together with the prime minister of Israel (mouthpiece of the false prophet) will gather all armies of the empire in Jerusalem in order to take it back. It is the sequence of the vials five and six as the last stages of God's judgments upon the empire. The fifth vial will be poured out upon the throne of the beast, which will darken his kingdom. This is because the last years before Jesus return, the world will be controlled out of Jerusalem, the command center of the image of the beast - the digital copy of the empire. Somehow control over Jerusalem will be lost (vial 5 - upon the beast's throne, his kingdom darkened). Then all of the world's armies will be ordered to Jerusalem (vial 6, when the Euphrates falls dry). Then Jesus will return upon the white horse and both world leaders will have the audacity to start a fight with Him.

 

11. He shall be broken without hand - This is the end of Netanyahu, together with the empire and all that pertain to it, he will be thrown into the lake of fire, as stated in Revelation 19:20.