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New Defender's Study Bible Notes
8:9 little horn. This “little horn” is evidently the same as the “little horn” of Daniel 7:8, the Beast of the end-times, also known as the Antichrist. He cannot be (as some expositors believe) Antiochus Epiphanes, one of the Syrian kings in the dynasty established by Seleucus. Although he did manifest the character of an antichrist, Antiochus did not become as great as “the host of heaven” (Daniel 8:10) or do the other things described in Daniel 8:10-14 and Daniel 8:22-25. When Gabriel interpreted the vision to Daniel, he said specifically that it was “the time of the end” (Daniel 8:17).
8:10 waxed great. This person, said specifically to come forth out of one of the four divisions of Alexander’s empire, must be possessed and energized by Satan himself, for in no other way could he be said to wax as great as “the host of heaven,” a term used throughout the Bible only for either stars or angels or both. In the New Testament, he is called “that man of sin…the son of perdition” (II Thessalonians 2:3), and it is clear that when men worship him as he demands, they actually are worshiping Satan (Revelation 13:4).
8:11 the daily sacrifice. The statements of this passage could only be literally applied to Satan, who brought down many of the angelic “stars” with him when he “magnified himself” against God. Further, he will (through his possessed “son”) take away the daily sacrifice in the restored temple during the tribulation period (see Daniel 9:27; 11:31; Matthew 24:15).