I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little {p} horn, before whom there were {q} three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were {r} eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.

(p) Which is meant of Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, etc., who were as kings in effect, but because they could not rule, except by the consent of the senate, their power is compared to a little horn. For Muhammad did not come from the Roman Empire, and the pope has no vocation of government: therefore this cannot be applied to them, and also in this prophecy the Prophet's purpose is chiefly to comfort the Jews until the revelation of Christ. Some take it for the whole body of antichrist.

(q) Meaning a certain portion of the ten horns: that is, a part from the whole estate was taken away. For Augustus took from the senate the liberty of choosing the deputies to send into the provinces, and took the governing of certain countries to himself.

(r) These Roman emperors at the first used a certain humanity and gentleness, and were content that others, as the consuls, and senate, should bear the names of dignity, so that they might have the profit. And therefore in election and counsels they would behave themselves according as did other senators: yet against their enemies and those that would resist them, they were fierce and cruel, which is here meant by the proud mouth.

Wesley's Notes

7:8 Another little horn - Probably either the Turk or the Romish antichrist.

Scofield Reference Notes

[1] little horn

The vision is of the end of Gentile world-dominion. The former Roman empire (the iron kingdom of Dan 2:33-35,40-44 7:7 will have ten horns (i.e. kings, Rev 17:12 corresponding to the ten toes of the image. As Daniel considers this vision of the ten kings, there rises up amongst them a "little horn" (king), who subdues three of the ten kings so completely that the separate identity of their kingdoms is destroyed. Seven kings of the ten are left, and the "little horn." He is the "king of fierce countenance" typified by that other "king of fierce countenance," Antiochus Epiphanes, Dan 8:23-25 the "prince that shall come" of Dan 9:26,27 the "king" of Dan 11:36-45 the "abomination" of Dan 12:11 Mt 24:15 the "man of sin" of 2Th 2:4-8 and the "Beast" of Rev 13:4-10. See "Beast" Dan 7:8 Rev 19:20.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8. little horn-little at first, but afterwards waxing greater than all others. He must be sought "among them," namely, the ten horns. The Roman empire did not represent itself as a continuation of Alexander's; but the Germanic empire calls itself "the holy Roman empire." Napoleon's attempted universal monarchy was avowedly Roman: his son was called king of Rome. The czar (Cæsar) also professes to represent the eastern half of the Roman empire. The Roman civilization, church, language, and law are the chief elements in Germanic civilization. But the Romanic element seeks universal empire, while the Germanic seeks individualization. Hence the universal monarchies attempted by the Papacy, Charlemagne, Charles V, and Napoleon have failed, the iron not amalgamating with the clay. In the king symbolized by "the little horn," the God-opposing, haughty spirit of the world, represented by the fourth monarchy, finds its intensest development. "The man of sin," "the son of perdition" (2Th 2:3). Antichrist (1Jo 2:18, 22; 4:3). It is the complete evolution of the evil principle introduced by the fall.

three of the first horns plucked up-the exarchate of Ravenna, the kingdom of the Lombards and the state of Rome, which constituted the Pope's dominions at the first; obtained by Pope Zachary and Stephen II in return for acknowledging the usurper Pepin lawful king of France [Newton]. See Tregelles' objections, Da 7:7, "ten horns," Note. The "little horn," in his view, is to be Antichrist rising three and a half years before Christ's second advent, having first overthrown three of the ten contemporaneous kingdoms, into which the fourth monarchy, under which we live, shall be finally divided. Popery seems to be a fulfilment of the prophecy in many particulars, the Pope claiming to be God on earth and above all earthly dominions; but the spirit of Antichrist prefigured by Popery will probably culminate in ONE individual, to be destroyed by Christ's coming; He will be the product of the political world powers, whereas Popery which prepares His way, is a Church become worldly.

eyes of man-Eyes express intelligence (Eze 1:18); so (Ge 3:5) the serpent's promise was, man's "eyes should be opened," if he would but rebel against God. Antichrist shall consummate the self-apotheosis, begun at the fall, high intellectual culture, independent of God. The metals representing Babylon and Medo-Persia, gold and silver, are more precious than brass and iron, representing Greece and Rome; but the latter metals are more useful to civilization (Ge 4:22). The clay, representing the Germanic element, is the most plastic material. Thus there is a progress in culture; but this is not a progress necessarily in man's truest dignity, namely, union and likeness to God. Nay, it has led him farther from God, to self-reliance and world-love. The beginnings of civilization were among the children of Cain (Ge 4:17-24; Lu 16:8). Antiochus Epiphanes, the first Antichrist, came from civilized Greece, and loved art. As Hellenic civilization produced the first, so modern civilization under the fourth monarchy will produce the last Antichrist. The "mouth" and "eyes" are those of a man, while the symbol is otherwise brutish, that is, it will assume man's true dignity, namely, wear the guise of the kingdom of God (which comes as the "Son of man" from above), while it is really bestial, namely, severed from God. Antichrist promises the same things as Christ, but in an opposite way: a caricature of Christ, offering a regenerated world without the cross. Babylon and Persia in their religion had more reverence for things divine than Greece and Rome in the imperial stages of their history. Nebuchadnezzar's human heart, given him (Da 4:16) on his repentance, contrasts with the human eyes of Antichrist, the pseudo son of man, namely, intellectual culture, while heart and mouth blaspheme God. The deterioration politically corresponds: the first kingdom, an organic unity; the second, divided into Median and Persian; the third branches off into four; the fourth, into ten. The two eastern kingdoms are marked by nobler metals; the two western, by baser; individualization and division appear in the latter, and it is they which produce the two Antichrists.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:1-8 This vision contains the same prophetic representations with Nebuchadnezzar's dream. The great sea agitated by the winds, represented the earth and the dwellers on it troubled by ambitious princes and conquerors. The four beasts signified the same four empires, as the four parts of Nebuchadnezzar's image. Mighty conquerors are but instruments of God's vengeance on a guilty world. The savage beast represents the hateful features of their characters. But the dominion given to each has a limit; their wrath shall be made to praise the Lord, and the remainder of it he will restrain.