Daniel Chapter 8 - Transcription of Video Twelve

The Interpretation - Part Two of the Vision

Gabriel’s treatment of part two of the vision differs from what he offered for part one. He didn’t explain the symbolism of any of the characters, namely the unidentified animal, the horn and the man that came out of the horn. This means that the symbolism of an animal and its horns that applied in part one of the vision applies to part two as well. Rather Gabriel did give additional information about the part’s central character, the man who came out of the horn. And here he did make use of a chiasm. It is structured as follows:

1. And at the end of their kingdom, with the completion of the transgressors, a king will stand, strong of face and is an understander of puzzles.					1. ובאחרית מלכותם כהתם הפשעים-- יעמד מלך עז-פנים ומבין חידות
	2. And his strength will be strong but not by his strength.				2. ועצם כחו ולא בכחו
		3. And wonders he will corrupt.			3. ונפלאות ישחית
			4. And he will succeed. And he will do.		4. והצליח ועשה
				5. And he will corrupt the powerful and the people of holy ones.	5. והשחית עצומים ועם-קדשים
				6. And upon his intellect. And he will succeed, deception in his hand.	6. ועל-שכלו והצליח מרמה בידו
			7. And in his heart he will expand.		7. וובלבבו יגדיל
		8. And with security he will corrupt many.			8. ובשלוה ישחית רבים
	9. And against the prince of princes he will stand.				9. ועל שר-שרים יעמד
10. And he will be broken without hand.					10. ובאפס יד ישבר

Given that this is a record of spoken Hebrew and not a written original, this chiasm doesn’t quite have the neatness and cleverness of Daniel’s chiasms. Nevertheless the structure is discernable. In the first five parts of the chiasm, almost no prepositions are used, whereas every one of the last five parts begins with a preposition. Thus this chiasm has a total of ten parts.

In the first part, Gabriel immediately starts speaking about the man who came out of the horn. He made no explicit mention of the horn itself or to the animal to which it belongs. He calls this man a king confirming the interpretation of his coming out of the horn as being his obtaining the kingship of the kingdom.

About this man, this king, Gabriel added that he was strong of face and an understander of puzzles. I dare say that an understander of puzzles means that he is highly intelligent, and strong of face could be that he has a striking appearance, though I think more likely that this man has a strong will – when he sets his face to do something then he does it.

Gabriel said that he will stand, which in the context of this vision means he will fight. Who he fights against, initially at least, is covered in the second part of the chiasm, and in its pair the ninth part. The second part says his strength will be strong, but not by his strength, meaning he is going to fight by proxy, he himself will not be involved in battle. According to the ninth part of the chiasm, he will fight against the prince of princes. This is what Daniel covered in his account of the second part of the vision, when the man who came out of the horn overthrew the prince of the host when the horn was given a host illegally.

When I discussed that part of the vision, I said without knowing the identity of the two hosts, the one belonging to the prince and the one given to the horn, it’s impossible to say what the nature of the overthrow is. Here Gabriel gives some information concerning the identity of these two hosts. The prince of the host he called the prince of princes, meaning this prince’s host consists of other princes, other characters like himself. In other words this prince of the host is the head of some sort of power structure. What all these princes have authority over or how they derive it is not made clear. In contrast the host given to the horn is probably some sort of military force since it seems this host fights the kings battles.

Gabriel also gave a clue as to when this man will overthrow the prince of the host in relation to the activities of the horn. He said it would be at the end of their kingship with the completion of the transgressors. Remember the characters from part two of the vision. An unidentified horned animal that symbolizes a kingdom, and one of these animal’s horns is supreme over the others. This horn represents the dominant kingship in the kingdom. It invades three lands and goes into space. It would seem from what Gabriel said, that initially, two or more people, who are transgressors, share this kingship in some manner, and when this kingship comes to an end, then this king will stand. So the horn must first carry out all of her activities before this man overthrows the prince of the host and becomes king.

Gabriel then went on to give more information about this king that Daniel did not mention in part two of the vision. In the third part of the chiasm he said wonders he will corrupt. To understand what this means look to its pair the eight part, with security he will corrupt many. Under the guise of security, this king will interfere with the day-to-day lives of the masses of people. So the initial statement, wonders he will corrupt, mean he will corrupt on a large scale.

The fourth part, he will succeed and he will do. The seventh part, the pair of the fourth part, says in his heart he will expand. So here Gabriel wasn’t passing comment on anything specific, rather he was making a general statement that this king will be successful in what he does, and as a result of that he will become exceedingly proud and arrogant.

In the fifth part Gabriel returns to the subject of corruption, but instead of corrupting the masses, the king is corrupting two specific groups of people, the powerful and the people of the holy ones. The masses were corrupted by security, but for these two groups something else is needed. The sixth part reveals that he corrupts them through intellect, that is cunning, and deception.

As for the identity of these two groups, the powerful could well be the rich, however the people of the holy ones I at this stage do not know. The word people used here usually refers to a nation or a group of people united by a characteristic, for example a common language. So the people of holy ones could be the nation associated with the sanctuary, the holy place of the prince of the host. In part three of the vision, Daniel heard holy ones speaking. Perhaps those holy ones are part of this people.

The tenth part of this chiasm reveals that the end of this king will not be through human means. His end may mean his death or simply the end of his kingship.