John Calvin Commentary Daniel 8:11

"Yea, it magnified itself, even to the prince of the host; and it took away from him the continual [burnt-offering], and the place of his sanctuary was cast down." — Daniel 8:11 (ASV)

Daniel announces something still more atrocious here: namely, the exaltation of the little horn against God. Some take “the prince of the army” for the high priest, as princes are sometimes called כוהנים, kuhnim, as well as שרים, serim; but that interpretation is too forced. The true sense of the passage attributes such arrogance and folly to Antiochus as to lead him to declare war with the stars of heaven. This implies not only his opposition to God’s Church, which is separate from the world, but also his daring defiance of God Himself and his resistance to His power.

Antiochus not only exercised his cruelty against the faithful but also profaned the temple itself. He endeavored to extinguish all piety and to abolish the worship of God throughout Judea, as we will explain more fully in other passages. Therefore, because Antiochus not only raged against men but also used his utmost endeavors to overthrow religion, Daniel relates how that horn was raised up even against the prince of the army.

God is deservedly called by this title, because He defends His Church and cherishes it under His wings. This expression should be explained not only in terms of God’s glory and dominion but also His paternal favor toward us, as He deigns to show His care for us as if He were our Prince.

From him, he says, was the perpetual sacrifice utterly snatched away, and the place of His sanctuary cast down. These words are horrible in their import. God was thus despoiled of His rights, since He had chosen but a single corner in the world for His special worship. What heathen, then, would not despise this forbearance of God, in permitting Himself to be deprived of His legitimate honor by that sordid tyrant?

As we have already stated, Antiochus had neither greatness of mind nor warlike courage, being skillful only in cunning and in the basest acts of flattery. Besides, even if he had embodied a hundred Alexanders, what could be the Almighty’s design in allowing His temple to be polluted, and all true sacrifices to cease throughout the world?

One corner alone, as we have recently mentioned, was left where God wished to be worshipped. And now Antiochus seizes the temple, and profanes and defiles it with the utmost possible indignity, thus leaving no single place sacred to the Almighty. For this reason, I have stated that the prophecy seems very harsh.

The Prophet now increases the indignity when he speaks of the perpetual sacrifice. For God had often testified that His temple was His perpetual “rest,” or “station,” or “seat”; yet He is now ejected from this spot, as if exiled from the earth entirely. The temple could not exist without sacrifices, for the whole worship under the Law was a kind of appendage to the temple.

Since God had promised the sacrifice should be perpetual and eternal, who would not assert, when Antiochus destroyed it, either that all the promises had been deceptive, or that all authority had departed from God, who failed to defend His right against that impious tyrant? Surely this must have been a distressing calamity, overwhelming all the faithful!

And even now, when we read the prophecy, all our senses are horrified by its perusal. No wonder, then, that God forewarned His servant of such sorrowful events and such incredible evils, to admonish His whole Church in due season and to arm them against the severest temptations, which might otherwise strike down even the most courageous.

The sacrifice, then, he says, was snatched away from God Himself, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down or dissipated. It then follows: