63BC-70AD: The 11 horns of Daniel's 4th Beast (The 11 "Kings" of Daniel's 4th idol-worshipping kingdom to possess Jerusalem)
"horn" = king, (national leader, primary personal representative)
"beast" = idol-worshipping Gentile nation that rules over (subjugates) God's Chosen People
Bible scholars living in the last days of old Jerusalem may have seen some very interesting things in this dream of Daniel 7.
Since this is a prophecy of the Jews, everything must be seen from the outlook of the Jews. Their zeal was for their mother city, Jerusalem, the location of their Temple, the home of that which made them different from all other peoples. The biblical Jews would see as a "beast" any Gentile (idol-worshipping) kingdom (empire) that trampled upon Jerusalem, bringing her into subjection. They could count each "king" of such kingdoms as a "horn" on the "beast" since the time of Jerusalem's subjugation. Therefore, everything should be seen from the vantage point of Jerusalem, the mother city of the Jews, ("Israel" being their "fatherland").
"beast" = idol-worshipping kingdom (empire) trampling upon (possessing) Jerusalem.
"kingdom" = dominion, empire, extent of rule, totality of territory & peoples governed, reign, administration, etc.
"horn" = "king" = supreme leader, chief ruler, monarch, emperor, caesar, kaiser, czar, pharoah, president, prime minister, the figurehead and personification of a nation, etc.
In this sense the Roman Caesars and their prototype, Pompey the Great, may justly be regarded as "kings" over the Roman "kingdom."
The vision of Daniel 7 describes a destroying beast with ten horns and an eleventh horn that uproots three of those first ten horns. The eleventh horn to appear becomes the eighth horn that remains, (since three horns are removed in the process of its appearing). The "horns" are then explained to be "kings" (supreme leaders) of the fourth kingdom (empire) since the Babylonians to possess Jerusalem: 1-Babylonians, 2-Medo-Persians, 3-Greeks, 4-Romans. These eleven "horns," then, would be the eleven "kings" (supreme leaders) of the Romans from the time Rome subjugated Jerusalem to the time Rome destroyed Jerusalem: 1-Pompey the Great, 2-Julius Ceaser, 3-Augustus, 4-Tiberius, 5-Caligula, 6-Claudius, 7-Nero, 8-Galba, 9-Otho, 10-Vitellius and "the little horn," 11-Vespasian.
The eight horns that remain after the three horns are removed would be: 1-Pompey the Great, 2-Julius Ceaser, 3-Augustus, 4-Tiberius, 5-Caligula, 6-Claudius, 7-Nero, 8-Galba, 9-Otho, 10-Vitellius and "the little horn," Vespasian, (now the 8th of the horns that actually remain). These are the "kings" (supreme leaders) of Rome that actually possessed Jerusalem during their reigns. The three "kings" who were removed were the ones who never possessed Jerusalem since Jerusalem was enjoying freedom through revolt during their reigns.
"Little horn that plucks up three of the ten horns" = 11-Vespasian who was "little" in the sense of his common birth but went on to become the consummate Roman general, a man of war, a soldier in service to Rome and its emperors his whole life, thus "diverse from the first ["ten kings"]. Vespasian made himself emperor by the campaigning of his zealous soldier-followers, usurping the last of the succession of 3 abrupted reigns since 7-Nero's death: 8-Galba, 9-Otho and 10-Vitellius in "69AD: The Year of the Four Emperors". As Emperor, Vespasian possessed the power to cease the war against the Jews but, instead, chose to pursue it to Jerusalem's 70AD destruction and beyond, not satisfied until the fall of Masada in 73AD and the wholesale slaughters of surviving Jews throughout the Roman Empire in massacres-for-display and celebrations. Old Jerusalem's subjugation to the Romans ended when it ceased to exist, hence the terminus of 70AD. Vespasian made light of the Roman religious custom of deifying their emperors at death but took war-making deathly serious, as though serving "a god of fortresses," he conquered for himself both Rome and Jerusalem, prevailing over the most valiant of each, almost simultaneously. "Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?"
Jerusalem's subjugation to beastly Rome ended when it ceased to exist, hence the terminus of 70AD.
| Prophecy ~ 536BC | History 63BC-70AD |
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Daniel 7:7-8 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. 8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things. Daniel 7:19-27 |
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