Horns

Suggested Prior Reading: Beasts

Horns are another symbol clearly defined in the book of Daniel. In the seventh chapter of Daniel, he sees a beast with multiple horns.

Daniel 7:7

After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.

What the horns represent are explained to him in verse 24.

Daniel 7:24

And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.

We can see, very plainly, that horns are kings or rulers. They are used to identify rulers of the same kingdom being that they are on the same beast. And, from the wording here, they appear to be concurrent rulers, that is ruling during the same time period, instead of successive rulers. This is supported by another prophecy recorded in the eighth chapter of Daniel.

Daniel 8:3-8

Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great. And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.

The angel Gabriel explains to Daniel what the vision means, as well as what the horns represent.

Daniel 8:20-22

The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.

Alexander the Great (the king of Grecia) conquered Media-Persia. Soon after his death in 323 BC, his kingdom was divided up among his generals and administrators, later known as the Diadochi (GR=successors). Who the horns represent can be a topic of discussion under the Analysis of Historical Events section. For now, it is enough to show that the successors of Alexander the Great split and shared the rule of his empire at the same time, that is, they were concurrent rulers.

So, all of the horns that we've seen on the same beast are there at the same time, except for when the prophecy explicity says that one is broken or removed. These verses clearly define horns as concurrent rulers of the same kingdom when on the same beast.