Daniel 8:9-10

8:9 From one of them came a small horn. ¹  But it grew to be very big, toward the south and the east and toward the beautiful land. ²  8:10 It grew so big it reached the army ³  of heaven, and it brought about the fall of some of the army and some of the stars ⁴  to the ground, where it trampled them.

Daniel 11:16

11:16 The one advancing against him will do as he pleases, and no one will be able to stand before him. He will prevail in the beautiful land, and its annihilation will be within his power. ⁵ 

Daniel 11:18

11:18 Then he will turn his attention ⁶  to the coastal regions and will capture many of them. But a commander ⁷  will bring his shameful conduct to a halt; in addition, ⁸  he will make him pay for his shameful conduct. ⁹ 

[8:9]  ¹ sn This small horn is Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who controlled the Seleucid kingdom from ca. 175-164 B.C. Antiochus was extremely hostile toward the Jews and persecuted them mercilessly.

[8:9]  ² sn The expression the beautiful land (Heb. הַצֶּבִי [hatsÿvi] = “the beauty”) is a cryptic reference to the land of Israel. Cf. 11:16, 41, where it is preceded by the word אֶרֶץ (’erets, “land”).

[8:10]  ³ tn Traditionally, “host.” The term refers to God’s heavenly angelic assembly, which he sometimes leads into battle as an army.

[8:10]  ⁴ sn In prescientific Israelite thinking the stars were associated with the angelic members of God’s heavenly assembly. See Judg 5:20; Job 38:7; Isa 40:26. In west Semitic mythology the stars were members of the high god’s divine assembly (see Isa 14:13).

[11:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “hand.”

[11:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “his face.” See v. 19 as well.

[11:18]  ⁷ sn The commander is probably the Roman commander, Lucius Cornelius Scipio.

[11:18]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew here is difficult in that the negative בִּלְתִּי (biltiy, “not”) is used in an unusual way. The sense is not entirely clear.

[11:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “his shameful conduct he will return to him.”