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.
In Daniel's vision a small horn grows until it reaches heaven itself. It pulls part of the sky down and tramples on it. What does that mean, and why does God describe an attack on people as an attack on stars?
The language sounds cosmic. One writer asks who these figures really are:
So we can conclude that the "host of heaven" in our Scripture stands for some ruling authorities. Who then are they? ... The "host of heaven" means those who held the place of authority among the Jews, those who occupied, by whatever means, positions of responsibility in the government of the Jewish people. Remember that Revelation 1–3 uses stars as symbols of those who hold the place of rule in the church, the assembly. In the same way, the host of heaven stands for those entrusted with rule among the Jews at that time.
The title is no compliment on their spiritual state. It says where these people stand, not what they are like:
The expression applies to those who, at least outwardly, surround the throne of God, and especially those who stand out among them. It does not mean the faithful who look towards heaven, whom chapter 7 speaks of. To be the host of heaven describes a position and not a moral state... They are again under the eye of God, in relation with Him. They are something He concerns Himself with. They are a people still responsible for their former relationship with Him, even though the Gentile power still stands.
The horn had already toppled nations. One writer points out where God's attention rests:
Notice how God weighs things. The priests and governors among this poor people matter more to Him than anything else the beast has been doing in the world. He lifted himself up "even to the host of heaven." A man may overturn empires or found them, or win the greatest victories, and God in His providence may oversee such events. But it is far more dangerous to meddle with the things that belong to God, the things He looks upon, and to try to wipe out His glory, however tarnished it may be in our hands.
The verse names two acts, and the second is the uglier one. One writer describes the man behind them:
This little horn casts down some of the host, and some of the stars too, to the ground. The rulers of the nation offend this man's proud heart. Like every other dictator, he cannot bear the slightest resistance to his will from anyone he has defeated.
His reach went through every rank of authority, and it stopped at nothing:
So our scripture teaches us that this little horn, Antiochus Epiphanes, attacked the ruling powers among the Jews. History records that he did. He cast down some of them, men of different ranks, "stamped" on them, and put them through every kind of ill-treatment and humiliation, even to destruction.
The title stands even though the people had fallen. One writer explains why:
By this I understand those who were in a position of honour and glory before the Jewish people... The importance of everything that touches Israel is now coming more and more into view. So you find an expression that may seem strong — "the host of heaven." But this should not surprise us. God takes the utmost interest in His people. Bear in mind that this does not imply that His people were in a good state. On the contrary, in judging failure, we must consider the position the people held, and for which they are responsible.
Commentators differ on the timing. Some read the horn's work as history already fulfilled in Antiochus Epiphanes. Others place this part of the vision in the future:
At verse 9 we pass to that part of the vision whose fulfilment is yet future. In the time of the end (verse 17), a nation will exist north of Palestine. It will attack the Jewish nation, then gathered back in their land... For a time this northern power will be allowed to overrun the "pleasant land," and to cast down those in authority among God's people.
- Stars mean rulers. The host and the stars stand for the men who held authority among God's people. Revelation uses stars the same way for those who rule in the assembly.
- Heaven means position. The title describes where God set them, not how well they behaved. They stay under His eye as a people still in relationship with Him.
- Position means responsibility. God takes the deepest interest in His people even when their state is poor. He measures their failure against the place He gave them.
- Touching them means touching God. Overturning empires weighs less with God than reaching for what belongs to Him. That is why this one act outweighs all the horn's conquests.
- The horn means two readings. Commentators differ. Some see the verse fulfilled in Antiochus Epiphanes. Others expect a northern power in the time of the end.
(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.
The vision has been describing a horn — a power — but here the pronoun changes and a person steps forward. That raises two questions: who is the Prince of the host he rises against, and who is robbed of the regular burnt offering?
Verse 11 and the first half of verse 12 sit apart from the flow around them, marked off by the switch from "it" to "he":
Those who held this place of responsible authority in Israel are spoken of here as the host and stars of heaven. God put them in that place of authority… This little horn grew great, and cast down some of the host and stars of heaven, and trampled on them. That is, certain Jewish rulers held that place of great authority. They are overthrown, treated with the utmost cruelty, and degraded. "Yes, he magnified himself even to the Prince of the host," which I take to mean the Lord Himself… In other words, the eleventh verse and the first half of the twelfth form a parenthesis. Then in the latter part of the twelfth verse we again have "it," which points to the little horn of verse 10.
Writers see the shift of pronoun as pointing past the kingdom to the man who heads it.
The change from "it" to "he" has already been noticed. It seems to show that the king himself acted here — the king pictured by the little horn. That reading convinces, since the little horn may stand for the power of the kingdom in a general way. So this king was daring enough to set himself openly and publicly against Him who was no less than Jehovah.
Older versions read "by him the daily sacrifice was taken away." Their margin reads "from him," and the ESV follows it: the regular burnt offering "was taken away from him." Writers hold the margin is right, and the next clause proves it:
I take the marginal reading in chapter 8 to be beyond doubt the right translation — "from him," and not "by him." In that case "him" refers to the prince of the host. The words "the place of his sanctuary" fully confirm this, for that sanctuary is certainly not the little horn's.
The title sets the offence at its true height. This is more than an attack on a nation's worship.
He pushes his claims so far that he opposes Him. He sets himself against Christ as Prince of Israel, against the Judge who comes, the Head of Israel, who is Jehovah Himself… We know it is Jehovah, because the sacrifice taken away is His and the sanctuary cast down is His. But the vision presents Him here as the Prince of the host.
The next verse supplies the reason the attack succeeds, and it is not the attacker's strength:
However wicked the agent was, he was only an instrument in the hands of God. God used him to chastise those who held the place of His people. He let this wicked king succeed in his plans against the daily sacrifice "by reason of transgression." Moreover, "the place of His sanctuary was cast down." For a time all Jewish rites and sacrifices stopped, and the Gentile oppressor defiled Zion, the holy mountain.
Take away the daily offering and you take away the ground on which a worshipper could approach:
The reason God gave for not cursing (we hear it in Genesis 8) is that He looks to Noah's sacrifice, not to the sin. God deals with us in virtue of what the Mediator is, instead of what we are. It ought to be always in our hearts, but it is always before God. When the daily sacrifice was taken away, the Jew could not go to God; there was no savour; see Dan. 8:11.
Does all of this lie in the past? One writer traces the little horn to a real king, then shows why the vision reaches past him:
The third kingdom, the Grecian, split into four. Out of it arose a little horn, which magnified itself. Then follows the ceasing of the daily sacrifice at Jerusalem, "the pleasant land." But in Dan. 8:11 and part of verse 12 there is a change from "it" to "he," and Dan. 8:17 and Dan. 8:19 speak of "the time of the end." The little horn does refer to Antiochus Epiphanes, and he did cause the worship at Jerusalem to cease. Even so, the passage points to a later and still future period, and to another king of Syria. He will stand against the Prince of princes, and shall be broken without hand. Dan. 8:25.
- Person. The pronoun turns from "it" to "he" — the vision stops describing a kingdom and shows the king himself.
- Prince. The one he lifts himself against is the Prince of the host, Israel's Head, Jehovah Himself — and the king who defies Him is broken at last, "without hand."
- Plunder. Read "from him," not "by him": the sacrifice and the sanctuary are God's, and they are taken from Him.
- Permission. The attack succeeds only "by reason of transgression." The oppressor is a tool in God's hand to chastise His own people.
- Poverty. With the daily sacrifice gone, there was no savour. The Jew could not come to God.