Albert Barnes Commentary Daniel 8:9

"And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the glorious [land]." — Daniel 8:9 (ASV)

And out of one of them, came forth a little horn - Emblematic of new power that would spring up. Compare the notes at Daniel 7:8. This little horn sprang up out of one of the others; it did not spring up in the midst of the others as the little horn, in Daniel 7:8, did among the ten others. This seemed to grow out of one of the four, and the meaning cannot be misunderstood. From one of the four powers or kingdoms into which the empire of Alexander would be divided, this ambitious and persecuting power would spring up.

Which waxed exceeding great - Which became exceedingly powerful. It was comparatively small at first, but ultimately became mighty. There can be no doubt that Antiochus Epiphanes is denoted here. All the circumstances of the prediction find a fulfillment in him; and if it were supposed that this was written after he had lived, and that it was the design of the writer to describe him by this symbol, he could not have found a symbol that would have been more striking or appropriate than this. The Syriac version has inserted here, in the Syriac text, the words “Antiochus Epiphanes,” and almost without exception expositors have agreed in the opinion that he is referred to. For a general account of him, see the notes at Daniel 7:24 and following. The author of the book of Maccabees, after noticing, in the passage above quoted, the death of Alexander, and the distractions that followed his death, says, “And there came out of them a wicked root, Antiochus, surnamed Epiphanes, son of Antiochus the king, who had been a hostage at Rome, and he reigned in the one hundred and thirty-seventh year of the kingdom of the Greeks” .

A few expositors have supposed that this passage refers to Antichrist—what will not expositors of the Bible suppose? But the great majority of interpreters have understood it to refer to Antiochus. This prince was a successor of Seleucus Nicator, who, in the division of the empire of Alexander, obtained Syria, Babylonia, Media, etc. (see above the note at Daniel 8:8), and whose capital was Antioch. The succession of princes who reigned in Antioch, from Seleucus to Antiochus Epiphanes, was as follows:

1. Seleucus Nicator, 312-280 BC.
2. Antiochus Soter, his son, 280-261 BC.
3. Antiochus Theos, his son, 261-247 BC.
4. Seleucus Callinicus, his son, 247-226 BC.
5. (Alexander), or Seleucus Ceraunus, his son, 226-223 BC.
6. Antiochus the Great, his brother, 223-187 BC.
7. Seleucus Philopater, his son, 187-176 BC.
8. Antiochus Epiphanes, his brother, 176-164 BC.

- Clinton’s Fasti Hellenici, vol. iii. Appendix, ch. iii.

The succession of the Syrian kings reigning in Antioch continued until Syria was reduced to the form of a Roman province by Pompey, 63 BC. Seleucus Philopater, the immediate predecessor of Antiochus, having been assassinated by one of his courtiers, his brother Antiochus hastened to occupy the vacant throne, although the natural heir, Demetrius, son of Seleucus, was still alive but a hostage at Rome. Antiochus assumed the name of Epiphanes, or Illustrious. In Daniel 11:21, it is intimated that he gained the kingdom by flatteries; and there can be no doubt that bribery, and the promise of reward to others, were used to secure his power. See Kitto’s Cyclo., i. 168-170. There will be occasion for a fuller detail of the acts of this prince in the notes on the remainder of this chapter and Daniel 11.

Toward the south - Toward the country of Egypt, etc. In the year 171 BC, he declared war against Ptolemy Philometer, and in the year 170 he conquered Egypt and plundered Jerusalem. : “Now when the kingdom was established before Antiochus, he thought to reign over Egypt, that he might have the dominion of two realms. Wherefore he entered Egypt with a great multitude, with chariots, and elephants, and horsemen, and a great navy. And made war against Ptolemee king of Egypt: but Ptolemee was afraid of him, and fled; and many were wounded to death. Thus they got the strong cities in the land of Egypt, and he took the spoils thereof.”

And toward the east - Toward Persia and the countries of the East. He went there—these countries being nominally subject to him—according to the author of the book of Maccabees , in order to replenish his exhausted treasury, that he might carry on his wars with the Jews, and that he might keep up the splendor and liberality of his court: “He saw that the money of his treasures failed, and that the tributes in the country were small, because of the dissension and plague which he had brought upon the land, and he feared that he should not be able to bear the charges any longer, nor to have such gifts to give so liberally as he did before; wherefore, being greatly perplexed in his mind, he determined to go into Persia, there to take the tributes of the countries, and to gather much money. So the king departed from Antioch, his royal city, the one hundred forty-seventh year; and having passed the river Euphrates, he went through the high countries.”

And toward the pleasant land - The word used here (צבי tsebiy) means, properly, splendor, beauty (Isaiah 4:2; Isaiah 24:16; Isaiah 28:1, Isaiah 28:4–5). It is applied, in Isaiah 13:19, to Babylon—the glory of kingdoms. Here it evidently denotes the land of the Israelites, or Palestine—so often described as a land of beauty, as flowing with milk and honey, etc. This is such language as a pious Hebrew would naturally use of his own country, and especially if he was an exile from it, as Daniel was. Nothing more would be necessary to designate the land to be understood than such an appellation—as nothing more would be necessary to designate his country to an exile from China than to speak of “the flowery land.” Antiochus, on his return from Egypt, turned aside and invaded Judea, and ultimately robbed the temple, destroyed Jerusalem, and spread desolation through the land.

See 1 Maccabees 1.