What is the “Horn” that Made War with the Saints?
Who or what is the “horn” of Daniel 7:21? A “horn” in the Book of Daniel is obviously a metaphor for something. Let’s see what that metaphor is by comparing Scripture with Scripture.
Daniel 7:8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.
The horn must therefore represent some man.
Daniel 8:21 And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.
There you have it! A horn, therefore, is some kind of ruler, a monarch, an emperor, or a dictator.
Most evangelicals today will tell you the horn of the Book of Daniel is the Antichrist. Early Protestant and Baptist Bible teachers will also say that it’s the Antichrist. But there was a major difference in how the Protestant Reformation leaders interpreted the Antichrist compared with evangelicals think of the Antichrist today. To a man, Protestant and Baptist Bible teachers up to the 19th century looked at Daniel 7:21 as a prophecy talking about the Popes of Rome, and not an unknown personage who will rise in the future.
Let’s see specifically what the early Protestant Reformation leaders and Bible commentators had to say about Daniel 7:21. They interpreted the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation with the Historicist view in mind, namely, is there an historical record that could possibly the fulfillment of the Horn of Daniel? The Historicist view differs from the Preterist view which says all prophecies of Daniel were fulfilled in Roman Empire. And it differs from the Futurist view Jesuit Ribera (1585) which says the prophecies of the Antichrist are yet to be fulfilled.
Commentary by John Gill, an English Baptist theologian (1697-1771)
I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints,…. The same little horn before described; not Antiochus Epiphanes (215 BC – 164 BC), who made war with the Jews, as many think; or the Roman Caesars, that persecuted the church of Christ, as others; nor Titus Vespasian (39 AD – 81 AD), who fought against Israel, as Saadiah; but antichrist, or the pope of Rome; and this refers to the wars of the popes with the Waldenses, which began in the year 1160, and continued long, and with the two witnesses at the close of their testimony, Revelation 11:7, this Daniel had a view of in vision; not while he was inquiring of the angel, but before, though not mentioned till now; and was a reason he was so very inquisitive about this little horn, because of its war with the saints, and its success, as follows:
…and prevailed against them: as the popes and their abettors did against the Waldenses and Albigenses, whom they slew in great numbers, and got the victory over; as the beast also, the same with this little horn, will overcome the witnesses, and slay them, Revelation 11:7.
Commentary by Adam Clarke, Irish Methodist theologian and biblical scholar, (1760-1832)
Those who make Antiochus the little horn, make the saints the Jewish people. Those who understand the popedom by it, see this as referring to the cruel persecutions of the popes of Rome against the Waldenses and Albigenses, and the Protestant Church in general.