217 THE “LITTLE HORN” OF DAN 7,8: MALEVOLENT OR BENIGN? rival of the “little horn” by the uprooting of three of the former horns. Goldingay says that the passive form of the verb “uproot” suggests the action of God … ” 23. That alone differentiates the “little horn” to some extent from the ten horns of Dan 7,7. In addition, it should be noted that although the “little horn” arose among those other horns 24, it is not said to be part of the beast or of the other horns, although that will change in the interpretation of the vision, as will be demonstrated later. Indeed, as the use of wl) indicates, the appearance of the “little horn” signals something new and extraordinary. This links with the character of the “little horn” who, so far, has been shown to be humble and/or righteous. This is indicative of a radical break from the pattern of the beasts who have gone before. 4. Through the arising of the “(little) horn” The verb used in Dan 7,8 of the little horn “arising” is qls. It is Aramaic and appears in Dan 7,3 of the beasts “arising” from the great sea which resulted from the four winds of heaven stirring it up (Dan 7,2). In other words, whatever their nature — and that can only be as- certained by looking closely at the description of each one — the beasts were brought by God. The verb occurs only once elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible. There it is not used in connection with a horn, al- though the passage will be mentioned later. qls does appear in a num- ber of passages in the Dead Sea Scrolls 25 where it simply has the implication of “arising” or “going up”. As such, it appears to parallel hl( or Mwr or Mwq. Within the Hebrew Bible itself a number of verbs are used in connection with Nrq to indicate an upward motion: there are individual horns which spring forth (xmc) 26, rise up (Mwq) 27 or are lifted up (Mwr) 28. It is significant that they are, without exception, horns favoured by, or favourably inclined towards, God. As it is not clear which of these Hebrew verbs qls is replacing 29, the following citations include passages which use both Mwr and xmc. GOLDINGAY, Daniel, 164. 23 This could mean simply that it appears in the time period of the fourth beast. 24 Listed in M.G. ABEGG, Jr. et al. (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls Concor- 25 dance (Leiden – Boston 2003) I, 889-890. Ps 132,17; Ezek 29,21. 26 Mic 4,13. 27 1 Sam 2,1.10; Ps 89,18[17]. 25[24]; 92,11[10]; 112,9; 148,14. 28 The verbs appear to have been used interchangeably in the Targumim: 29 e.g. in Targum Jonathan Mwq replaces the Hebrew xmc in Ezek 29,21. © Gregorian Biblical Press 2012 - Tutti i diritti riservati