translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: DAN

label: NET study note

text: Dan 8:1 marks the switch from Aramaic (= 2:4 b- 7:28 ) back to Hebrew as the language in which the book is written in its present form. The remainder of the book from this point on ( 8:1-12:13 ) is in Hebrew. The bilingual nature of the book has been variously explained, but it most likely has to do with the book’s transmission history.


text: The third year of King Belshazzar’s reign would have been ca. 551 B.C . Daniel would have been approximately 69 years old at the time of this vision.


text: Susa (Heb. שׁוּשַׁן , shushan ), located some 230 miles (380 km) east of Babylon, was a winter residence for Persian kings during the Achaemenid period. The language of v. 2 seems to suggest that Daniel may not have been physically present at Susa, but only saw himself there in the vision. However, the Hebrew is difficult, and some have concluded that the first four words of v. 2 in the MT are a later addition (cf. Theodotion).


text: The goat of Daniel’s vision represents Greece; the large horn represents Alexander the Great. The ram stands for Media-Persia. Alexander’s rapid conquest of the Persians involved three battles of major significance which he won against overwhelming odds: Granicus (334 B.C. ), Isus (333 B.C. ), and Gaugemela (331 B.C. ).


text: The four conspicuous horns refer to Alexander’s successors. After his death, Alexander’s empire was divided up among four of his generals: Cassander, who took Macedonia and Greece; Lysimachus, who took Thrace and parts of Asia Minor; Seleucus, who took Syria and territory to its east; and Ptolemy, who took control of Egypt.


text: This small horn is Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who controlled the Seleucid kingdom from ca. 175-164 B.C . Antiochus was extremely hostile toward the Jews and persecuted them mercilessly.


text: The expression the beautiful land (Heb. הַצֶּבִי [ hatsÿvi ] = “the beauty”) is a cryptic reference to the land of Israel. Cf. 11:16, 41 , where it is preceded by the word אֶרֶץ (’ erets , “land”).


text: In prescientific Israelite thinking the stars were associated with the angelic members of God’s heavenly assembly. See Judg 5:20 ; Job 38:7 ; Isa 40:26 . In west Semitic mythology the stars were members of the high god’s divine assembly (see Isa 14:13 ).


text: The prince of the army may refer to God (cf. “whose sanctuary” later in the verse) or to the angel Michael (cf. 12:1 ).


text: Here the sanctuary is a reference to the temple of God in Jerusalem.


text: Truth here probably refers to the Torah. According to 1 Macc 1:56, Antiochus initiated destruction of the sacred books of the Jews.


text: The holy one referred to here is presumably an angel. Cf. 4:13 [10], 23 [20].


text: The language of evenings and mornings is reminiscent of the creation account in . Since “evening and morning” is the equivalent of a day, the reference here would be to 2,300 days. However, some interpreters understand the reference to be to the evening sacrifice and the morning sacrifice, in which case the reference would be to only 1,150 days. Either way, the event that marked the commencement of this period is unclear. The event that marked the conclusion of the period is the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem following the atrocious and sacrilegious acts that Antiochus implemented. This took place on December 25, 165 B.C . The Jewish celebration of Hanukkah each year commemorates this victory.


text: The only angels whose names are given in the OT are Gabriel ( Dan 8:16; 9:21 ; cf. Luke 1:19, 26 ) and Michael ( Dan 10:13, 21; 12:1 ; cf. Jude 9 ; Rev 12:7 ). The name Gabriel means in Hebrew “man of God,” and Michael means “who is like God?”