Then they shall take away the Daily Sacrifices, and place there the Abomination of Desolation

In this vision, the chapters jump back to the time of king Darius the Mede who ruled Babylon. Daniel reveals the prophecy about four more kings in Persia, then a confrontation occurs with the emerging Greek empire. Eventually the Greeks will prevail but after the strong Greek king, the Greek empire would be divided into 4 kingdoms. This has been fulfilled and the details of this prophecy matches Alexander the Great as the great leader and his kingdom was divided into four after his death.

There are prophecies of a Northern and Southern kingdom who will fight continuously with each other. Initially it mentions a daughter of the kingdom of the South joining with the kingdom of the North along with other details which is similar to the accounts of queen Cleopatra of Egypt in alliance with the Romans from the North. However, the prophecies has ongoing accounts of the rivalry between North and South and it is not clear the South could be Egypt since Egypt had not been a strong match for the Romans.

After a time the northern king will grow stronger and become blasphemous toward the people of God. He will oppress God's people and cause great suffering. He will stop the worship and sacrifices at the temple and put in place an "abomination of desolation". He will flatter those who act wickedly towards God's people.

The events of the prophecies become more likely to be the events near the End Times which is still in the future to us. As the oppression from the north intensifies, the South would gather us and put a strong stand against the North. This would cause the North to retaliate strongly and invade many southern kingdoms including the Glorious Land, which is likely to be Jerusalem. However it seems like the nations of Edom, Moab and Ammon will escape the North. He will destroy and plunder Egypt, possibly with the help of the Libyans and Egyptians. However, there will be resistance coming from the north and cause him to dig down and resist between the mountains near  the holy land and the sea and he will be defeated.

* In light of some information from more experienced people who have studied this and probably more correct, it appears that the daughter of the kingdom of the South, was not the Cleopatra of Mark Anthony's time but an earlier Cleopatra who was united with the kingdom of the North.
Some references are:
http://kenraggio.com/KRPN-Daniel-Chapter-11.html
http://www.letgodbetrue.com/bible/prophecy/daniel11.php
http://www.religioustolerance.org/ryszard01.htm



Daniel 11
1 “Also in the first year of Darius the Mede, I, even I, stood up to confirm and strengthen him.) 2 And now I will tell you the truth: Behold, three more kings will arise in Persia, and the fourth shall be far richer than them all; by his strength, through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece. 3 Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. 4 And when he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken up and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not among his posterity nor according to his dominion with which he ruled; for his kingdom shall be uprooted, even for others besides these.

Warring Kings of North and South

5 “Also the king of the South shall become strong, as well as one of his princes; and he shall gain power over him and have dominion. His dominion shall be a great dominion. 6 And at the end of some years they shall join forces, for the daughter of the king of the South shall go to the king of the North to make an agreement; but she shall not retain the power of her authority,[a] and neither he nor his authority[b] shall stand; but she shall be given up, with those who brought her, and with him who begot her, and with him who strengthened her in those times. 7 But from a branch of her roots one shall arise in his place, who shall come with an army, enter the fortress of the king of the North, and deal with them and prevail. 8 And he shall also carry their gods captive to Egypt, with their princes[c] and their precious articles of silver and gold; and he shall continue more years than the king of the North.

9 “Also the king of the North shall come to the kingdom of the king of the South, but shall return to his own land. 10 However his sons shall stir up strife, and assemble a multitude of great forces; and one shall certainly come and overwhelm and pass through; then he shall return to his fortress and stir up strife.

11 “And the king of the South shall be moved with rage, and go out and fight with him, with the king of the North, who shall muster a great multitude; but the multitude shall be given into the hand of his enemy. 12 When he has taken away the multitude, his heart will be lifted up; and he will cast down tens of thousands, but he will not prevail. 13 For the king of the North will return and muster a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come at the end of some years with a great army and much equipment.

14 “Now in those times many shall rise up against the king of the South. Also, violent men[d] of your people shall exalt themselves in fulfillment of the vision, but they shall fall. 15 So the king of the North shall come and build a siege mound, and take a fortified city; and the forces[e] of the South shall not withstand him. Even his choice troops shall have no strength to resist. 16 But he who comes against him shall do according to his own will, and no one shall stand against him. He shall stand in the Glorious Land with destruction in his power.[f]

17 “He shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones[g] with him; thus shall he do. And he shall give him the daughter of women to destroy it; but she shall not stand with him, or be for him. 18 After this he shall turn his face to the coastlands, and shall take many. But a ruler shall bring the reproach against them to an end; and with the reproach removed, he shall turn back on him. 19 Then he shall turn his face toward the fortress of his own land; but he shall stumble and fall, and not be found.

20 “There shall arise in his place one who imposes taxes on the glorious kingdom; but within a few days he shall be destroyed, but not in anger or in battle. 21 And in his place shall arise a vile person, to whom they will not give the honor of royalty; but he shall come in peaceably, and seize the kingdom by intrigue. 22 With the force[h] of a flood they shall be swept away from before him and be broken, and also the prince of the covenant. 23 And after the league is made with him he shall act deceitfully, for he shall come up and become strong with a small number of people. 24 He shall enter peaceably, even into the richest places of the province; and he shall do what his fathers have not done, nor his forefathers: he shall disperse among them the plunder, spoil, and riches; and he shall devise his plans against the strongholds, but only for a time.

25 “He shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the South with a great army. And the king of the South shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand, for they shall devise plans against him. 26 Yes, those who eat of the portion of his delicacies shall destroy him; his army shall be swept away, and many shall fall down slain. 27 Both these kings’ hearts shall be bent on evil, and they shall speak lies at the same table; but it shall not prosper, for the end will still be at the appointed time. 28 While returning to his land with great riches, his heart shall be moved against the holy covenant; so he shall do damage and return to his own land.

The Northern King’s Blasphemies

29 “At the appointed time he shall return and go toward the south; but it shall not be like the former or the latter. 30 For ships from Cyprus[i] shall come against him; therefore he shall be grieved, and return in rage against the holy covenant, and do damage.

“So he shall return and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant. 31 And forces[j] shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation. 32 Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. 33 And those of the people who understand shall instruct many; yet for many days they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plundering. 34 Now when they fall, they shall be aided with a little help; but many shall join with them by intrigue. 35 And some of those of understanding shall fall, to refine them, purify them, and make them white, until the time of the end; because it is still for the appointed time.

36 “Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished; for what has been determined shall be done. 37 He shall regard neither the God[k] of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all. 38 But in their place he shall honor a god of fortresses; and a god which his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things. 39 Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge, and advance its glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and divide the land for gain.

The Northern King’s Conquests

40 “At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. 41 He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. 42 He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43 He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels. 44 But news from the east and the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many. 45 And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him.

The Two Horns - they are the kings of Media and Persia. And the Male Goat is the kingdom of Greece

Daniel had a second vision, this time it was a vision of a ram and goat. The ram had two horns one larger than the other. It seemed that the ram represented a kingdom or empire and subdued other nations. Then a goat destroyed the ram and took over more land and became very powerful. The goat had one horn initially but that was broken and replaced with four horns. Out of the horns, a little one became more powerful than the rest.

The little horn also conquered Jerusalem, the Glorious Land. He is full of pride, exalting himself. He also causes great abomination by trampling on the holy place and removing the daily sacrifices. Then there seems to be an angel asking another angel how long the abomination will last and the answer was 2300 days.

One of the angel seemed to be Gabriel, who then spoke directly to Daniel to tell him that the vision concerns End Times. Whatever numerical calculations are done, the events of this vision have not been fully completed because the End Times is yet to come, hence the Historicist view is wrong. The 2300 days is equivalent to 6.3 years, which is too short, hence it must mean 2300 years - where a day is a year as stated in other parts of Scripture.

The visions are true prophecies since Daniel lived between 600-500 BC. Gabriel revealed the ram as the Media - Persian empire and the goat as the Greek empire which is clearly after Daniel's time. The Greek empire broke into four historically after Alexander the Great's death in 323 BC, well after Daniel's time and also after the time of the exiles in Babylon (some historians claim the prophecies are written by exiles in Babylon are not real prophecies).

The little horn cause abomination and trampled on the holy sanctuary - the Temple in Jerusalem. Many believe this to be Antiochus Epiphanes 215-164BC. However, Rome also ransacked Jerusalem about 70AD and in a sense, the Roman empire is the inheritor of the Greek empire which means Rome could well be the little horn. Hence the 2300 years could still be well into our future generations.



Daniel 8
Vision of a Ram and a Goat

1 In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me—to me, Daniel—after the one that appeared to me the first time. 2 I saw in the vision, and it so happened while I was looking, that I was in Shushan, the citadel, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in the vision that I was by the River Ulai. 3 Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and there, standing beside the river, was a ram which had two horns, and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. 4 I saw the ram pushing westward, northward, and southward, so that no animal could withstand him; nor was there any that could deliver from his hand, but he did according to his will and became great.

5 And as I was considering, suddenly a male goat came from the west, across the surface of the whole earth, without touching the ground; and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. 6 Then he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing beside the river, and ran at him with furious power. 7 And I saw him confronting the ram; he was moved with rage against him, attacked the ram, and broke his two horns. There was no power in the ram to withstand him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled him; and there was no one that could deliver the ram from his hand.

8 Therefore the male goat grew very great; but when he became strong, the large horn was broken, and in place of it four notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven. 9 And out of one of them came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Glorious Land. 10 And it grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them. 11 He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host; and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down. 12 Because of transgression, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices; and he cast truth down to the ground. He did all this and prospered.

13 Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who was speaking, “How long will the vision be, concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot?”

14 And he said to me, “For two thousand three hundred days;[a] then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.”

Gabriel Interprets the Vision

15 Then it happened, when I, Daniel, had seen the vision and was seeking the meaning, that suddenly there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. 16 And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of the Ulai, who called, and said, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.” 17 So he came near where I stood, and when he came I was afraid and fell on my face; but he said to me, “Understand, son of man, that the vision refers to the time of the end.”

18 Now, as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep with my face to the ground; but he touched me, and stood me upright. 19 And he said, “Look, I am making known to you what shall happen in the latter time of the indignation; for at the appointed time the end shall be. 20 The ram which you saw, having the two horns—they are the kings of Media and Persia. 21 And the male goat is the kingdom[b] of Greece. The large horn that is between its eyes is the first king. 22 As for the broken horn and the four that stood up in its place, four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation, but not with its power.

23 “And in the latter time of their kingdom,
When the transgressors have reached their fullness,
A king shall arise,
Having fierce features,
Who understands sinister schemes.
24 His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power;
He shall destroy fearfully,
And shall prosper and thrive;
He shall destroy the mighty, and also the holy people.
25 “Through his cunning
He shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule;[c]
And he shall exalt himself in his heart.
He shall destroy many in their prosperity.
He shall even rise against the Prince of princes;
But he shall be broken without human means.[d]
26 “And the vision of the evenings and mornings
Which was told is true;
Therefore seal up the vision,
For it refers to many days in the future.”
27 And I, Daniel, fainted and was sick for days; afterward I arose and went about the king’s business. I was astonished by the vision, but no one understood it.