A. Antiochus Epiphanes did not become “exceedingly great,” as the prophecy mandates (Daniel 8:9).

B. He did not rule at the “latter time” or near the end of the Seleucid kingdom, as the prophecy requires (Daniel 8:23), but, rather, near the middle.

C. Those who teach that Epiphanes is the little horn count the 2,300 days as literal days instead of prophetic days—each equal to a year. This literal time of a little over six years has no meaningful application to Daniel chapter 8. All attempts to make this literal time period fit Epiphanes have failed.

D. The little horn still exists at the “time of the end” (Daniel 8:12, 17, 19), while Epiphanes died in 164 bc.

E. The little horn was to become “exceedingly great” in the south, the east, and Palestine (Daniel 8:9). Although Epiphanes did rule Palestine for a while, he had almost no success in Egypt (south) and Macedonia (east).

F. The little horn throws down the place of God’s sanctuary (Daniel 8:11). Epiphanes did not destroy the temple in Jerusalem. He did profane it, but it was destroyed by the Romans in ad 70. Neither did he destroy Jerusalem, as mandated by the prophecy (Daniel 9:26).

G. Christ applied the desolating abominations of Daniel 9:26 and 27 not to the past outrages of Epiphanes in 167 bc but to the immediate future when the Roman army would destroy Jerusalem and the temple in His own generation in ad 70 (Luke 21:20–24). In Matthew 24:15, Jesus specifically mentioned the prophet Daniel and said that his prediction of Daniel 9:26, 27 would be fulfilled when the Christians would see (in the future) the abomination of desolation “standing in the holy place” in Jerusalem. This is too clear to misunderstand.

H. Jesus clearly related the destruction of Jerusalem to Israel’s final refusal to accept Him as their King and Savior (Matthew 21:33–45; 23:37, 38; Luke 19:41–44). This relationship between rejecting the Messiah and the destruction of the city and temple is the crucial message of Daniel 9:26, 27. It is a message announcing the consequences of Israel’s continued rejection of the Messiah—even after being given an additional 490 years to choose Him. Applying the prophecy to Antiochus Epiphanes, who died in 164 bc, long before Jesus’ birth, destroys the meaning of Daniel chapters 8 and 9—containing the most important time prophecy of the Bible.