Lesson plan
Daniel 8
Daniel 8 is the eighth chapter of the Book of Daniel. It tells of Daniel's vision of a two-horned ram destroyed by a one-horned goat, followed by the history of the "little horn", which is Daniel's code-word for the Greek king Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Although set during the reign or regency of King Belshazzar (who probably died in 539 BCE), the subject of the vision is Antiochus's oppression of the Jewish people during the second century BCE: he outlawed Jewish traditions such as circumcision, the Three Pilgrimage Festivals, dietary law (Kashrut), and Shabbat, made ownership of a Sefer Torah a capital offense, and built an altar to Zeus in the Temple in Jerusalem (the "abomination of desolation"). His program sparked a popular uprising that led to the retaking of Jerusalem and the Temple by Judas Maccabeus (164 BCE), an event described in 1 Maccabees.
Article summary
Daniel 8 is the eighth chapter of the Book of Daniel. It tells of Daniel's vision of a two-horned ram destroyed by a one-horned goat, followed by the history of the "little horn", which is Daniel's code-word for the Greek king Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Although set during the reign or regency of King Belshazzar (who probably died in 539 BCE), the subject of the vision is Antiochus's oppression of the Jewish people during the second century BCE: he outlawed Jewish traditions such as circumcision, the Three Pilgrimage Festivals, dietary law (Kashrut), and Shabbat, made ownership of a Sefer Torah a capital offense, and built an altar to Zeus in the Temple in Jerusalem (the "abomination of desolation"). His program sparked a popular uprising that led to the retaking of Jerusalem and the Temple by Judas Maccabeus (164 BCE), an event described in 1 Maccabees.
Key claims
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.