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The explanation as to the meaning of the "LITTLE HORN" perplexed Daniel, and he voiced it by saying "My 'cogitations' much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me (he had a sad look); but I kept the matter in my heart." Dan. 7:28. To comfort His Servant, God, two years later, transported Daniel in vision to Shushan, the Capital of Persia, and as he stood on the bank of the river Ulai, he saw a RAM which had "Two Horns," one higher than the other, and the higher came up last. He saw the RAM push "Westward," and "Northward," and "Southward," and nothing could stand before it, and it did according to its will. Dan. 8:4. While Daniel was "considering" what the Vision of the RAM meant, he saw a HE-GOAT come from the West unmolested, and he noticed it had a "NOTABLE HORN" between its eyes, and when it reached the RAM it was moved with "choler" or anger against it, and smote it with "fury," and broke its. "Two Horns," and knocked it down and stamped upon it. Then the HE-GOAT waxed great, but when it became strong its "GREAT HORN" was broken off, and "Four Notable Horns" came up in its place, and out of one of them sprang a "LITTLE HORN" which waxed exceedingly great toward the "South," and toward the "East," and toward the "Pleasant Land" (Palestine), Dan. 8; 5-9.
When Daniel sought for the meaning of this Vision he heard a voice say--"Gabriel, make this man to understand the Vision." Then Gabriel said to Daniel the Vision belongs to the "Time of the End" (the End of the Times of the Gentiles), and is to make thee know what shall come to pass in the "Last End of the Indignation" (the Great Tribulation). Dan. 8:15-19. Gabriel then informed Daniel that the "RAM" stood for the "Medo-Persian Empire," with its two Kings, Darius and his nephew Cyrus, that the "HE-GOAT" stood for the "Grecian Empire," the "GREAT HORN" between its eyes for its first King (Alexander the Great), and that the "FOUR HORNS" that took the place of the "GREAT HORN," stood for "Four Kingdoms" into which the "Grecian Empire" should be divided.
This explanation cleared up things considerably for Daniel. It revealed to him that the "TWO HORNS" of the RAM, one higher than the other, and the "TWO SHOULDERS" of the BEAR, one higher than the other, and the "TWO ARMS" of the COLOSSUS, stood for the same thing, the double Empire of Medo-Persia. He also saw that the "FOUR HORNS" that came up in the place of the "GREAT HORN" corresponded to the "FOUR HEADS" of the LEOPARD, and therefore must correspond with the "ABDOMEN" and "HIPS" of the COLOSSUS, and stand for the Grecian Empire, and its "Fourfold Division" among the Generals of Alexander the Great.
But Daniel was still troubled as to the meaning of the "LITTLE HORN" that he saw come out of one of the "Four Horns" of the HE-GOAT, and Gabriel told him that it stood for a King of "Fierce Countenance" who should stand up in the "LATTER TIME" of the Kingdom, and who should stand up against the "PRINCE OF PRINCES" (Christ). Dan. 8:23-25. The description of this "LITTLE HORN" so clearly corresponded to the description of the "LITTLE HORN" that Daniel saw arise amid the "Ten Horns" of the "Fourth Wild Beast," that he saw they described and stood for the same Person. The revelation so overcame Daniel that he "fainted," and was sick certain days. Dan. 8:27
