A. Y. Collins on Daniel 8

In her book “Cosmology and Eschatology in Jewish and Christian Apoocalypticism”  Adela Yarbro Collins wrote referring to Daniel chapter 8:

[BRILL, 2000
https://books.google.ca/books?id=eZv1JZAHdg0C
p. 59-60.]

E. S. Gruen on Antiochus IV and the Jews

Erich S. Gruen, the author of “Hellenism and Persecution: Antiochus IV and the Jews,” considered theories of scholars about the reasons Antiochus IV may have had for imposing his notorious hellenisation policies upon the Jews, although under previous Seleucid rule, the Jews had been treated with favour. Gruen’s paper is included in “Hellenistic History and Culture,” edited by Peter Green. [Green, Peter, editor. Hellenistic History and Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1993. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft0000035f/%5D

E. R. Bevan on Antiochus IV and the Jews

The following is part of E. R. Bevan’s account of the history of Antiochus IV, and of his influence upon the Jews in the second century BC.

Bevan, Edwyn Robert, 1902.
The House of Seleucus, Vol II

Edward Arnold, London

E.R. Bevan on Antiochus IV and the Conquest of Egypt

Below is E.R. Bevan’s account of the campaign of Antiochus IV in Egypt

ANTIOCHUS IV AND THE CONQUEST OF EGYPT
Bevan, Edwyn Robert, 1902.

THE HOUSE OF SELEUCUS, Vol II

Edward Arnold, London.

http://books.google.com/books?id=cjQcAAAAMAAJ

E.R. Bevan on Antiochus IV

The following is an account by E. R. Bevan of some aspects of the reign of Antiochus IV, king of Syria, Palestine, and Mesopotamia in the first part of the second century B.C.

Bevan, Edwyn Robert, 1902. THE HOUSE OF SELEUCUS, Vol II, Edward Arnold, London.
Pages 148-161.

http://books.google.com/books?id=cjQcAAAAMAAJ

Ben Vandergugten on The Waters Above the Firmament

One of the most dark, and hidden subjects related to the Scriptures is the meaning of the firmament of Genesis 1, and of the waters that are said to be above the heavens. The apostle Peter said: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” (2 Peter 1:19-210)

Denis O. Lamoureux on the firmament and waters above

Denis O. Lamoureux is the author of “Lessons from the Heavens: On Scripture, Science and Inerrancy.” [Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, Volume 59, Number 1, March 2007.]
https://www.ualberta.ca/~dlamoure/p_heavens.pdf

The article focuses upon concordism as an interpretive approach to biblical cosmology in contrast to what he calls a modern phenomenological perspective. Lamoureux included the following discussion of the firmament:

Francis Bacon and the firmament

The scientific revolution in astronomy that occurred about 1750 AD fulfilled the prophecy of Daniel 8:13-14, when an angelic messenger or saint answered the question, “How long shall be the vision concerning the tamiyd [continual] and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?” The answer came: “And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.”

Did the sun stand still?

Martin Luther reportedly denounced Copernicus and declared, “I believe the Holy Scriptures, for Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, not the earth” (Luther, Table Talk, pp. 358-59)

Eudoxus and Ezekiel’s wheel theophany

Ezekiel’s description of the firmament in Ezekiel 1 is similar in some respects to Exodus 24:9-11. In both the Ex. 24 account and in Ezekiel, the firmament is likened to a sapphire stone, with God above, like Zeus seated above the rigid heaven.

On the tamiyd or ‘continual’ of Daniel 8

The prophecy of Daniel 8 reveals that cosmological corruptions in the scriptures originated during the reign of the second century BC Selucud king Antiochus IV, represented by the little horn of a goat which grows up to the sky and casts stars, the host of heaven, heaven itself, and the truth to the ground. [Dan. 8:10]