Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Daniel · About this commentary
The Horn That Made War
Daniel 7:19-22
19 “Then I desired to know the truth concerning the fourth animal, which was different from all of them, exceedingly terrible, whose teeth were of iron, and its nails of bronze; which devoured, broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet; · WEB
Daniel presses for detail on the fourth beast and its horn, and sees the one thing the earlier description had not shown him — the horn at war with the saints, and winning.
Then I desired to know the truth concerning the fourth animal, which was different from all of them Daniel 7:19.
The first answer did not satisfy him, and he says so. What draws him is the fourth beast's difference — exceedingly terrible, whose teeth were of iron, and its nails of bronze, a detail not given the first time; the vision yields more under questioning. And his interest narrows further, to the ten horns... and the other horn which came up, and before which three fell, even that horn that had eyes and a mouth that spoke arrogantly, whose look was more stout than its fellows Daniel 7:20. Again a new particular: the little horn's appearance became more stout, more imposing, than the ten it grew up among. It began small and did not stay small.
I saw, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them Daniel 7:21.
This is the new sight, and it is the hardest verse in the chapter. The horn's mouth had already spoken against heaven; now Daniel watches it fight the Most High's own people — and win. Prevailed against them is not softened anywhere in the passage; the interpretation will call it wearing them out Daniel 7:25. Scripture does not promise its people the upper hand in history. It promises them the verdict, and there is a long distance between the two. The last book of the Bible reports the same permission in the same terms — a beast granted authority to make war on the saints and to overcome them Revelation 13:7 — and answers it the same way, with a court and a kingdom rather than a rescue Revelation 13:10.
And note who the combatants are. The horn does not primarily attack armies or borders; it attacks the saints. Whatever this power is, its conflict is with people who belong to God, which is why the chapter's decisive scene is a courtroom rather than a battlefield.
Until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom Daniel 7:22.
Until is the whole hope of the verse. The prevailing has a terminus, and the terminus is not a military reversal but a judicial one: the Ancient of Days comes, and judgment was given to the saints. The phrase is worth weighing. It does not say judgment was given against them; it says the verdict went in their favor — the court that convened while the horn was still speaking Daniel 7:9–10 finds for the defendants. The war is settled in a courtroom, and the people who were losing on the ground are vindicated on the record.
Then the sequence closes: the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. Judgment first, possession second. That order is the shape of the book's whole eschatology — the books are opened, the case of the saints is decided, and only then is the dominion taken from the horn and handed over Daniel 7:26–27. Reading the same event in the sanctuary's language, the next vision will call it the cleansing of the sanctuary and give it a term Daniel 8:14.
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