A.E. Gardner, «The «Little Horn» of Dan 7,8: Malevolent or Benign?», Vol. 93 (2012) 209-226
It has been claimed that Dan 7,8 is an addition to the vision in Dan 7,2- 14 and its «little horn» indicates a wicked character, usually Antiochus Epiphanes. By paying close attention to the description of the «little horn» and its context, it is demonstrated that allusions to earlier biblical passages, including Daniel 4, are present. These indicate that the «little horn» is a benign character who should be differentiated from the «other» horn(s?) of 7,20-21.24-25 and the «little horn» of Dan 8,9-11. As the latter represents Antiochus Epiphanes, the little horn of Dan 7,8 must be pre-Maccabean.
222 ANNE E. GARDNER
One final word about Dan 7,8 is required. The verb qls which
appears there did not occur in any of the biblical passages cited
above. The single occurrence of the verb in the Hebrew Bible out-
side Daniel is in Ps 139,8, a Psalm of David, where the speaker ex-
presses his closeness to God and uses the verb in the sentence, “If
I ascend (qs)) into heaven you are thereâ€. Given that the following
scene in Daniel is of the heavenly court, this reference is apposite.
II. The “other horn†/ “little†horn in later Danielic passages
The citations of the “other horn†/ “little†horn in Dan 7,20-22; 7,24-
25 and 8,9-11 differ in a number of ways from the picture of the “little
horn†intimated by the vision. It is proposed to consider these passages
in order. In 7,20 a number of changes have been made:
- the description of the horn as “little†(ry(z) has been omitted
- the phrase “like the eyes of a man†has been omitted, being re-
placed with “even the horn that had eyesâ€
- the phrase “whose look was greater than his fellows†has been
added to “a mouth that spoke great thingsâ€
- the expression “three of the former horns were uprooted (wrq(t)) from
before it†has been changed to “and three fell (wlpn) from before itâ€.
Now, rather than being “little†in comparison to the other horns,
the eleventh horn, or at least his “lookâ€, was “greater†than theirs. Fur-
ther, he is linked closely with the other horns who are termed “his fel-
lowsâ€, and the omission of “like the eyes of a man†removes the clear
inference of Dan 7,8 that the little horn was humble vis-Ã -vis God.
The eleventh horn’s “look†is seen by scholars as an indication of ar-
rogance although no linguistic proof of this has been offered hitherto.
Such proof is to be found within Daniel itself. The word for “lookâ€
hwzx is used elsewhere in Daniel for a supernatural vision (2,19.28;
4,5{2}.9{6}.10{7}.13{10}; 7,1.2.13.15) but such a meaning is not
appropriate in the present context. However the cognate twzx appears
twice with the meaning “sightâ€. It is said in 4,8{11}.17{20} in the
telling of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, that the tree, later interpreted to
be Nebuchadnezzar himself (4,19{20}), “grew and was strong and its
height reached to heaven and the sight (twzx) thereof to the end of all
the earth.†This symbolised Nebuchadnezzar’s arrogance for which
his exile and humiliation were imposed. An allusion to this passage
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