judge

Some apologists claim that the ten horns of Daniel 7 were in fact the Roman Emperors.

Who were the ten kings (or horns) described in Daniel 7?

Is there any reason this interpretation is does not fit?

karlmarx

1. The book of Daniel predates the fall of the Roman Republic, so the author couldn't have referred to the Roman emperors (unless you believe in fortune telling).

2. Julius Caesar was not a Roman emperor, though he was dictator. Augustus was the first emperor.

3. There were more than ten emperors. Why stop with Vespasian?

4. If Daniel had 5 horns instead, then apologists would argue that it represents Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius. That game can be played with any number of horns.

5. It's far more likely that Daniel was written in the mid-second century BC (or at least redacted at that time), and that the horns represent the Seleucid kings that ruled up to that date.

judge

Thanks, can you (or anyone) recommend
where I might take a more in deopth look at this stuff? A good commentary on daniel maybe?

Pataphysician

Yes because there were more than 10 horns

"It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. 8 "While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts."

So after the 10 horns an eleventh horn forms, and three of the first horns are pulled out.

I think there is some silly interpretation that the three removed horns are Galba, Otho, Vitellius, but that would mean that Vespasian is the eleventh horn which means we need an Emperor or at least sole diactator before Julius Caesar, but no such entity exists.

squiz

Something like this is of course the most likely interpretation. Can someone provide some more details on this? Something like spin's "annotated Daniel" thread would be great.