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evidence that pagan Rome is represented by the masculine gender in verse
11 is the very fact that the gender reverts back to feminine verbal forms
representing papal Rome in verse 12. Verse 12 in its entirety is an
unmistakable allusion to the action of papal Rome opposing the “daily”
in which it cast truth to the ground, it worked, and it prospered (all
feminine verbal subjects in Hebrew). Exegesis of verse 12 will be
developed in a later section.
Shea has suggested that the
gender oscillations in verses 9-12 are due to Hebrew syntax which is
unique to Daniel.26
Since this effect of syntax (see preceding footnote) on determining the
gender of verbs finds no precedent in other portions of the book of Daniel
or the OT, it seems more reasonable to conclude that Daniel’s
intentional use of unique syntax in chapter 8 is to create a distinction
by gender between the two phases of the horn delineated in verses 9-12.
The net effect of the gender
oscillations from masculine to feminine to masculine and to feminine in
verses 9-12 reveals a thematic parallelism of gender with the pattern
A:B::A’:B’. Daniel emphasizes the two-phase aspect of Rome by two
distinct parallel and repetitive cycles (masculine:feminine) in verses 9
& 10 and again in 11 & 12. The thematic parallelism of gender in
verses 9-12 with the A:B::A’:B’ pattern is summarized below in the
following chart. Confirmation of the significance of the pagan/papal
identification by gender distinction will be established from evidence
derived from the counterfeit cultic language and symbols of Daniel 8 which
will be presented in Sections 6.0 & 7.0.
THEMATIC
PARALLELISM OF GENDER
A:B::A’:B’
Verse Gender
Verb/Pronoun Horn’s Phase
A 9 (MASCULINE) HE CAME (yatza)
PAGAN
B 10 (FEMININE) IT BECAME GREAT (tigdal)
PAPAL
A’
11 MASCULINE
a)
HE EXALTED (gadal) PAGAN
b) FROM HIM (mimmennu)
B’
12 FEMININE
a)
IT CAST DOWN (shalak) PAPAL
b)
IT WORKED (‘asah)
c) IT PROSPERED (tzalehach)
5.2
Verse 11 and the Daily
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