Page 241 - Daniel

8:27 And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I
rose and went about the king’s business, but I was appalled by the
vision and did not understand it.

The tremendous vision given to Daniel and his exhaustion because of
it caused him to be sick for a time. Jeffrey notes that Daniel’s immediate
resumption of his work in the king’s service proves that he had been in

Babylon all the time, and that his presence in Susa was purely
visionary. 65

The dramatic character of the vision and its tremendous implications,
although not understandable to Daniel, remained in his mind. But he
could find none that could give him the complete interpretation. It is
obvious that God’s intent was for Daniel to record the prophecy for the
benefit of future generations rather than for Daniel himself. Unlike the
previous instances where Daniel was the interpreter of divine revelation,
here Daniel becomes the recorder of it without understanding all that he

wrote or experienced.
The emphasis of Daniel 8 is on prophecy as it relates to Israel; and for

this reason, the little horn is given prominence both in the vision and in
the interpretation. The times of the Gentiles, although not entirely a
period of persecution of Israel, often resulted in great trial for them. Of
the four great world empires anticipated by Daniel, only the Persian
Empire was relatively kind to the Jews. As Christ Himself indicated in
Luke 21:24, the times of the Gentiles is characterized by the treading
down of Jerusalem, and the subjugation and persecution of the people of

Israel.

NOTES

1 Cf. R. D. Culver, Daniel and the Latter Days (Chicago: Moody, n.d.), 95–104.

2 A. C. Gaebelein, The Prophet Daniel (New York: Our Hope Publishers, 1911), 94.

3 Edward J. Young, The Prophecy of Daniel (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1949), 165.

4 A. L. Oppenheim, “Belshazzar,” in The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, George A. Buttrick,
ed. (New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury, 1951), 1:379–80.

5 Archer suggests “Daniel received the new vision at the Babylonian capital itself or else while