Daniel 8
1
In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar the king, a vision appeared unto me, [even] to me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first.
2
And I saw in the vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was in the fortress of Shushan, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in the vision, and I was by the river Ulai.
3
And I lifted up mine eyes and saw, and behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns; and the two horns were high; and one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.
4
I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward, and no beast could stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; and he did according to his will, and became great.
5
And as I was considering, behold, a he-goat came from the west over the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.
6
And he came to the ram that had the two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran upon him in the fury of his power.
7
And I saw him come close to the ram, and he was enraged with him, and smote the ram, and broke his two horns; and there was no power in the ram to stand before him; and he cast him down to the ground, and trampled upon him; and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.
8
And the he-goat became exceeding great; but when he was become strong, the great horn was broken; and in its stead came up four notable ones toward the four winds of the heavens.
9
And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which became exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the beauty [of the earth].
10
And it became great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down [some] of the host and of the stars to the ground, and trampled upon them.
11
(And he magnified [himself] even to the prince of the host, and from him the continual [sacrifice] was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.
12
And a time of trial was appointed unto the continual [sacrifice] by reason of transgression.) And it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised and prospered.
13
And I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that one who spoke, How long shall be the vision of the continual [sacrifice] and of the transgression that maketh desolate, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden down under foot?
14
And he said unto me, Until two thousand and three hundred evenings [and] mornings: then shall the sanctuary be vindicated.
15
And it came to pass, when I Daniel had seen the vision, I sought for the understanding of it, and behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man.
16
And I heard a man's voice between [the banks of] the Ulai; and he called and said, Gabriel, make this [man] to understand the vision.
17
And he came near where I stood; and when he came, I was afraid, and fell on my face; and he said unto me, Understand, son of man; for the vision is for the time of the end.
18
Now, as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep stupor, with my face toward the ground. And he touched me, and set me up where I had stood.
19
And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be at the end of the indignation: for at the set time the end shall be.
20
The ram that thou sawest having the two horns: they are the kings of Media and Persia.
21
And the rough goat is the king of Greece; and the great horn that was between his eyes is the first king.
22
Now that being broken, whereas four stood up in its stead, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not with his power.
23
And at the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors shall have come to the full, a king of bold countenance, and understanding riddles, shall stand up.
24
And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; and he shall destroy marvellously, and shall prosper, and shall practise, and shall destroy the mighty ones, and the people of the saints.
25
And through his cunning shall he cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he will magnify [himself] in his heart, and by prosperity will corrupt many; and he will stand up against the Prince of princes: but he shall be broken without hand.
26
And the vision of the evening and the morning which hath been told is true; but close thou up the vision, for it is for many days [to come].
27
And I Daniel fainted, and was sick [certain] days: then I rose up, and did the king's business. And I was astonished at the vision, but none understood [it].
Arcana Coelestia #2547
2547. 'That you have brought great sin on me and on my kingdom' means that thereby the doctrine of faith and all matters of doctrine would be at risk. This is clear from the meaning of 'Abimelech', to whom the pronoun 'me' refers here, as the doctrine of faith, and from the meaning of 'kingdom' as the truth of doctrine or that which is a matter of doctrine. That 'a kingdom' in the internal sense means truths of doctrine, and in the contrary sense falsities of doctrine, is clear from the Word, as in Jeremiah,
He is the One who formed all things and the sceptre of His inheritance; Jehovah Zebaoth is His name. You are to me a hammer, weapons of war, and in You I will scatter the nations, and in You I will destroy the kingdoms. Jeremiah 51:19-20.
This refers to the Lord who, it is clear, is not going to scatter nations or destroy kingdoms but to do so to things meant by nations and kingdoms, namely evils and falsities of doctrine.
[2] In Ezekiel,
Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations to where they have gone away, and will gather them from all around, and bring them into their own land; I will make them into one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one King will be King to them all, and they will no longer be two nations, nor will they be divided any longer into two kingdoms. Ezekiel 37:21-22.
'Israel' stands for the spiritual Church, 'nation' for the good of that Church, that is, of doctrine, for by 'nations' goods are meant, see 1259, 1260, 1416, 1849. 'Kingdom' stands for the truths of that Church. The fact that 'nations' and 'kingdoms' here mean something different from nations and kingdoms is quite evident, for the children of Israel, or the Israelites, are spoken of as being gathered together and brought into the land when in fact they were dispersed among the gentile nations and became such themselves.
[3] In Isaiah,
I will confound Egypt with Egypt, and they will fight, every one against his brother, and every one against his companion, city against city, kingdom against kingdom. Isaiah 19:2.
Here 'Egypt' stands for the reasonings based on facts concerning the truths of faith, 1164, 1165, 1186. 'City' stands for doctrine, in this case heretical doctrine, 402, 2268, 2449, 'kingdom' for falsity of doctrine. 'City against city and kingdom against kingdom' therefore stands for the fact that heresies and falsities will be in conflict with one another. The same is meant by the following words spoken by the Lord in reference to the close of the age, in Matthew,
Nation will be roused against nation and kingdom against kingdom. Matthew 24:7.
This stands for evils against evils, and falsities against falsities.
[4] The things that Daniel prophesied about the four kingdoms, Chapter 2:37-46; Daniel 7:17-end; and about the kingdoms of Media and Persia, Chapter 8:20-end; and about the kingdoms of the king of the south and the king of the north in Chapter 11; and the things that John too prophesied in the Book of Revelation about kings and kingdoms, have no other meaning. Those kingdoms are used solely to mean states of the Church as regards truths and falsities. The conditions of monarchs and of earthly kingdoms in the sense of the letter are in the internal sense states of the Church and of the Lord's kingdom. In the internal sense nothing else occurs there than spiritual and celestial things, for regarded in itself the Word of the Lord is purely spiritual and celestial; but so that it may be read and understood by man, no matter who, ideas of the things which belong to heaven are conveyed by means of such things as exist on earth.
