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 its roots in this, that God, the King of Israel, is called the God of hosts, and by the צבאות (hosts) are generally to be understood the stars or the angels; but the tribes of Israel also, who were led by God out of Egypt, are called “the hosts of Jehovah” (Exo 7:4; Exo 12:41). As in heaven the angels and stars, so on earth the sons of Israel form the host of God; and as the angels on account of the glory of their nature are called קדושׁים (holy ones), so the Israelites by virtue of their being chosen to be the holy nation of God, forming the kingdom of heaven in this world. As God, the King of this people, has His throne in heaven, so there also Israel have their true home, and are in the eyes of God regarded as like unto the stars. This comparison serves, then, to characterize the insolence of Antiochus as a wickedness against Heaven and the heavenly order of things. Cf. 2 Macc. 9:10.

Verse 11
This horn raised its might even to the Prince of the host. הצבא שׂר, the Prince of the host of heaven, is obviously not the high priest Onias (Grotius), but the God of heaven and the King of Israel, the Prince of princes, as He is called in Dan 8:25. עד הגדּיל (he magnified himself to) is repeated in Dan 8:25 by על יעמוד (he shall stand up against). Wherein this rising up against God consisted, the second half of the verse indicates in the statement that the תּמיד (daily sacrifice) was taken away, and the building of His sanctuary was destroyed. This verse does not record a part of the vision, but is a further development of that which was seen in prophetic words. Hence we may not, with Ebrard, refer its contents to heavenly events, to a putting away of the sacrifice from before the throne of God and a destruction of the heavenly sanctuary. On the contrary, Kliefoth has well remarked that it is “without example in Scripture that men penetrate into heaven to insult God; what men do against God is done on the earth.” התּמיד