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Daniel 8

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1 `In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar the king, a vision hath appeared unto me -- I Daniel -- after that which had appeared unto me at the beginning.

2 And I see in a vision, and it cometh to pass, in my seeing, and I [am] in Shushan the palace that [is] in Elam the province, and I see in a vision, and I have been by the stream Ulai.

3 And I lift up mine eyes, and look, and lo, a certain ram is standing before the stream, and it hath two horns, and the two horns [are] high; and the one [is] higher than the other, and the high one is coming up last.

4 I have seen the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward, and no living creatures do stand before it, and there is none delivering out of its hand, and it hath done according to its pleasure, and hath exerted itself.

5 `And I have been considering, and lo, a young he-goat hath come from the west, over the face of the whole earth, whom none is touching in the earth; as to the young he-goat, a conspicuous horn [is] between its eyes.

6 And it cometh unto the ram possessing the two horns, that I had seen standing before the stream, and runneth unto it in the fury of its power.

7 And I have seen it coming near the ram, and it becometh embittered at it, and smiteth the ram, and breaketh its two horns, and there hath been no power in the ram to stand before it, and it casteth it to the earth, and trampleth it down, and there hath been no deliverer to the ram out of its power.

8 `And the young he-goat hath exerted itself very much, and when it is strong, broken hath been the great horn; and come up doth a vision of four in its place, at the four winds of the heavens.

9 And from the one of them come forth hath a little horn, and it exerteth itself greatly toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the beauteous [land];

10 yea, it exerteth unto the host of the heavens, and causeth to fall to the earth of the host, and of the stars, and trampleth them down.

11 And unto the prince of the host it exerteth itself, and by it taken away hath been the continual [sacrifice], and thrown down the base of his sanctuary.

12 And the host is given up, with the continual [sacrifice], through transgression, and it throweth down truth to the earth, and it hath worked, and prospered.

13 `And I hear a certain holy one speaking, and a certain holy one saith to the wonderful numberer who is speaking: Till when [is] the vision of the continual [sacrifice], and of the transgression, an astonishment, to make both sanctuary and host a treading down?

14 And he saith unto me, Till evening -- morning two thousand and three hundred, then is the holy place declared right.

15 `And it cometh to pass in my seeing -- I, Daniel -- the vision, that I require understanding, and lo, standing over-against me [is] as the appearance of a mighty one.

16 And I hear a voice of man between [the banks of] Ulai, and he calleth and saith: Gabriel, cause this [one] to understand the appearance.

17 And he cometh in near my station, and at his coming in I have been afraid, and I fall on my face, and he saith unto me: Understand, son of man, for at the time of the end [is] the vision.

18 And in his speaking with me, I have been in a trance on my face, on the earth; and he cometh against me, and causeth me to stand on my station,

19 and saith: Lo, I -- I am causing thee to know that which is in the latter end of the indignation; for, at the appointed time [is] the end.

20 `The ram that thou hast seen possessing two horns, [are] the kings of Media and Persia.

21 And the young he-goat, the hairy one, [is] the king of Javan; and the great horn that [is] between its eyes is the first king;

22 and that being broken, stand up do four in its place, four kingdoms from the nation do stand up, and not in its power.

23 `And in the latter end of their kingdom, about the perfecting of the transgressors, stand up doth a king, fierce of face, and understanding hidden things;

24 and his power hath been mighty, and not by his own power; and wonderful things he destroyeth, and he hath prospered, and wrought, and destroyed mighty ones, and the people of the Holy Ones.

25 `And by his understanding he hath also caused deceit to prosper in his hand, and in his heart he exerteth himself, and by ease he destroyeth many; and against the prince of princes he standeth -- and without hand he is broken.

26 And the appearance of the evening and of the morning, that is told, is true; and thou, hide thou the vision, for [it is] after many days.'

27 And I, Daniel, have been, yea, I became sick [for] days, and I rise, and do the king's work, and am astonished at the appearance, and there is none understanding.

   

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Apocalypse Revealed # 720

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720. 17:2 "With whom the kings of the earth committed whoredom." This symbolically means that the Roman Catholic religion adulterated the church's goods and truths that it had from the Word.

To commit whoredom means, symbolically, to falsify and adulterate truths, as said just above in no. 719. The kings of the earth symbolize the church's truths that it has from the Word - kings symbolizing truths springing from goodness, and the earth symbolizing the church.

That kings symbolize people who possess truths springing from goodness from the Lord, and so in an abstract sense the truths themselves that spring from goodness, may be seen in nos. 20, 664 above. Here they symbolize those truths adulterated and profaned.

We are told that the kings of the earth committed whoredom with the great harlot, as though the church's truths from the Word did so, truths being symbolized by the kings of the earth. But this accords with the style of the Word in its literal sense, in which we find attributed to God and to the Divine things emanating from Him - which include the Word's truths - qualities and actions which nevertheless are those of mankind and its evils, as has often been shown above. Consequently the genuine meaning - namely the spiritual sense - is that the Roman Catholic religion adulterated, indeed profaned, the church's truths which it had from the Word.

Someone who is unacquainted with the Word's spiritual meaning may easily be deluded into believing that the kings of the earth mean earthly kings, when in fact it is not those kings that are meant, but truths springing from goodness, and in an opposite sense, falsities springing from evil.

[2] To make it still more apparent that kings of the earth mean nothing else than a church's truths or falsities, and that kings' whoredoms are the falsifications, adulterations and profanations of the church's truths that is has from the Lord, we will cite several passages from the book of Revelation and Daniel, from which anyone capable of reflecting may see that it is not kings that are meant. The passages are these:

...Jesus Christ... has made us kings and priests... (Revelation 1:5-6)

...you have made us kings and priests to our God, that we may reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:10)

...you (shall) eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains..., the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them... (Revelation 19:18)

The seven heads (of the scarlet beast) are seven mountains... They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, and one is... And the beast... is... the eighth (king), and is of the seven... (Revelation 17:9-11)

The ten horns... are ten kings that have not yet received a kingdom... (Revelation 17:12)

We are also told later, as in the present verse, that the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with and taken delight in the harlot (Revelation 18:3, 9).

Who that is capable of reflecting does not see that kings here do not mean kings?

[3] Similar things are said in Daniel. For example, that the hairy male goat means a king, and the large horn between its eyes is the first king; and that when their transgressions have reached their height, a stern-faced king will arise who understands cunning schemes (Daniel 8:21, 23). That the four great beasts that arose out of the sea were four kings that would rise up from the earth, that the fourth beast's ten horns were ten kings, and that another would arise after them that would lay low the three kings (Daniel 7:17, 24). So, too, that the king of the south and the king of the north would fight against each other; that the king of the south would send his daughter to the king of the north; that the king of the north would exalt himself against God, and would acknowledge a foreign god; that people who acknowledged that god he would honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and desirable things, and cause them to rule over many, and would divide the land for a price; that he would plant the tents of his tabernacle between the seas, in the vicinity of the glorious holy mountain; but that he would come to his end - besides much else (Daniel 11).

[4] The king of the south symbolizes a kingdom or church consisting of people in possession of truths, and the king of the north symbolizes a kingdom or church consisting of people caught up in falsities. For the text is prophetic of churches to come, such as they would be in the beginning, and what they would be like after that.

People who possess truths springing from good from the Lord are called kings because they are called the Lord's children, and having been regenerated by the Lord, they are said to have been born of Him and to be His heirs, and the Lord is the King, and heaven and the church are His kingdom.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.