Appendix Eleven: The Plucking up of the Three Horns by the Papal Power

These notes relate to The hour of His judgment is come and its discussion of the horn with eyes and a mouth that plucked up three other horns on the head of the "monster" of Daniel Chapter 7.

The horn with eyes and a mouth of Daniel chapter 7 grows out of the monster with ten horns. As it comes up it plucks out 3 of the previous horns. As discussed in The hour of His judgment is come, the ten horns represent the most prominent of the "barbarian" tribes that invaded the Western Roman Empire and the horn with eyes and a mouth symbolizes the Papacy or Roman Catholic Church. We believe that the evidence points to the Visigoths, Vandals and Ostrogoths as being the three tribes that were uprooted by the papal power.

The Visigoths, a non-Catholic Christian tribe that inhabited what is now southern France, were the first of these tribes to be uprooted. To their immediate north lay the territory of the Franks. Clovis, king of the Franks, married the Catholic Burgundian Princess Clotilda in 493 AD and, not too long after this, professed conversion to the Catholic faith himself.¹ He became a champion of the Roman Catholic cause and a church-state or religio-political union was formed between him and the Catholic leaders. In the words of the historian Gibbon, "On the memorable day when Clovis ascended from the baptismal font, he alone in the Christian world deserved the name and prerogatives of a catholic king…The eldest, or rather the only son of the church, was acknowledged by the clergy as their lawful sovereign or glorious deliverer; and the arms of Clovis were strenuously supported by the zeal and favour of the catholic faction."² In 507 Clovis, with the approval and support of the Catholics, designed to attack the Visigoths who were labeled as Arians and heretics. "It grieves me" he declared "to see that the Arians still possess the fairest portion of Gaul. Let us march against them with the aid of God; and, having vanquished the heretics, we will possess and divide their fertile provinces."³ But the Visigoths were a formidable force to try and overcome and "Rome watched with anxious heart the outcome of this decisive battle, for she well knew that her hopes of expansion in this world were vain if her only prince in the West failed".⁴ Clovis "secretly corresponded" with the Catholics living in the Visigothic lands and "a formidable conspiracy" developed in his favor.⁵ Since conditions seemed right Clovis began his campaign in 507 and in the following year (508 AD) consolidated his victory with the conquest of the province of Aquitain. The Visigothic tribe had been dealt its deathblow and never regained its former strength and power. It had been uprooted from its base. Following the 508 battle the Visigoths only remained in possession of Septimania, a narrow tract of seacoast, from the Rhone to the Pyrenees. They also went over the Pyrenees to inhabit part of what is now northern Spain.⁶ The Spanish Visigoths were finally subjugated in the eighth century by a Moslem invasion.⁷ Today there remains no nation that is descended from this uprooted tribe.

The Vandals of North Africa were the second tribe to be uprooted. But it was not the king of the Franks who did the work this time. The Roman Catholic Church had also formed a political alliance with the eastern (Byzantine) emperor Justinian who in 533 AD decreed that the Roman Bishop was "head of all the Holy Churches".⁸ It was also in the year 533 that Justinian sent his army, under the leadership of Belisarius, to conquer the Vandals. The Vandals had embraced a non-Catholic version of Christianity and, like the Visigoths, were branded heretics and called Arians. Therefore the Catholic clergy were much in favor of the war. Justinian, it seems, entertained doubts about whether the attack on the Vandals should proceed. According to the historian Gibbon, "the design of the war would perhaps have been relinquished, if his [Justinian’s] courage had not been revived by a voice which silenced the doubts of profane reason. ‘I have seen a vision,’ cried an artful or fanatic [Catholic] bishop of the East. ‘It is the will of Heaven, O emperor! that you should not abandon your holy enterprise for the deliverance of the African church. The God of battles will march before your standard, and disperse your enemies, who are the enemies of his Son.’ "⁹ When the capital Carthage was taken "the defeat of the Vandals, and the freedom of Africa, were announced to the city on the eve of St. Cyprian…The Arians, conscious that their reign had expired, resigned the temple to the Catholics, who rescued their saint from profane hands, performed the holy rites, and loudly proclaimed the creed of Athanasius and Justinian."¹⁰ When Justinian received word of the defeat, "he proceeded, without delay, to the full establishment of the Catholic church. Her jurisdiction, wealth, and immunities, perhaps the most essential part of episcopal religion, were restored and amplified with a liberal hand; the Arian worship was suppressed; the Donatist meetings were proscribed; and the synod of Carthage, by the voice of two hundred and seventeen bishops, applauded the just measure of pious retaliation."¹¹ The Vandal nation subsequently disappeared from history. The second horn had been uprooted.

It seems obvious that, as part of Justinian’s plan to achieve "the full establishment of the Catholic church", he entertained the aim of freeing the Bishop of Rome from the domination of the Ostrogoths on the Italian Peninsula. No doubt he also wanted to regain these ancient lands of the Roman emperors which he considered himself to be the rightful heir to.¹² Non-Catholic "Barbarian" tribes of Italy had surrounded the Bishop of Rome since the fall of Rome in 476. Hence this clergyman at Rome would have been all too happy to welcome Justinian’s army for his liberation from the "barbarian" yoke. When Justinian’s famous general Belisarius arrived in Italy he was welcomed into the city of Rome and made it his fortress against the surrounding Ostrogothic army. "The first days" after Belisarius’ entered the city "…were devoted to mutual congratulation and the public joy; and the Catholics prepared to celebrate, without a rival, the approaching festival of the nativity of Christ."¹³ The citizens of Rome "were edified by the apparent respect of Belisarius for the successor of St. Peter".¹⁴ The Ostrogothic army surrounded the city of Rome but were unable to overcome it and with huge losses and a broken spirit they ended the siege in March 538.¹⁵ "The whole nation of the Ostrogoths had been assembled for the attack, and was almost entirely consumed in the siege of Rome."¹⁶ The year 538 sounded the death dell of the Ostrogothic kingdom and a few years later this nation also disappeared. The third horn of Daniel’s vision had been uprooted.

We need to mention that amongst Bible scholars who discuss the identity of the three uprooted nations there is general agreement about the inclusion of the Vandals and the Ostrogoths, but some difference of opinion about the third power. This is really a minor matter that should not bother the sincere student of prophecy. The evidence of cooperation between the Roman Catholic Church and civil powers in the demise of "Barbarian" tribes is clear. It is also clear that large numbers of tribes were not uprooted, that the Vandals and Ostrogoths were two of the powers that were destroyed, and that there was a third. Whether the third tribe was the Visigoths, as we suggest, or whether it was the Heruli, as others maintain, is simply a matter for students to decide about for themselves on the weight of evidence.

Before stating why we believe the Visigoths were the third power we will briefly mention what happened to the Heruli. The Ostrogoths were troublesome neighbors for the inhabitants of Constantinople, and the Byzantine emperor Zeno made a kind of treaty with Theodoric their king which involved the Goths marching against the Heruli of Italy. "Theodoric addressed the emperor in the following words: ‘Although your servant is maintained in affluence by your liberality, graciously listen to the wishes of my heart! Italy, the inheritance of your predecessors, and Rome itself, the head and mistress of the world, now fluctuate under the violence and oppression of Odoacer [king of the Heruli] the mercenary. Direct me, with my national troops, to march against the tyrant. If I fall, you will be relieved from an expensive and troublesome friend: if, with the divine permission, I succeed, I shall govern in your name, and to your glory, the Roman senate, and the part of the republic delivered from slavery by my victorious arms.’ The proposal of Theodoric was accepted, and perhaps had been suggested, by the Byzantine court. But the forms of the commission, or grant, appear to have been expressed with a prudent ambiguity, which might be explained by the event; and it was left doubtful, whether the conqueror of Italy should reign as the lieutenant, the vassal, or the ally, of the emperor of the East."¹⁷ The Ostrogoths did attack the Heruli and overcame them in the years 489-493 AD.¹⁸ The Heruli ceased to be a nation and disappeared from history.

The reason that we believe the Visigoths rather than the Heruli represent one of the uprooted horns is that they were uprooted in 508 AD and that the involvement of the Catholics in a church -state union is more definite than in the case of the Heruli. Clovis was a baptized Roman Catholic, whereas Theodoric was a non-Catholic and leader of a people considered anti-Catholic in their stance. In fact, as shown above, the elimination of the Ostrogoths later was instrumental in freeing the Roman Bishop from a non-Catholic nation so that the Papacy could be firmly established. The march of the Ostrogoths against the Heruli seems to us more like a matter just between the eastern emperor and Theodoric. Nevertheless, we wish to respect those who hold that the Heruli are the third tribe that was uprooted. Perhaps they are unsure of the Visigoths because they feel that a tribe must be completely eradicated within a short time to be considered "uprooted" (the Visigoths lingered for a few hundred years before their disappearance). We can appreciate this opinion but believe that it is not completely certain that the vision of Daniel requires complete and sudden eradication in order to qualify for being "uprooted" (the word in Daniel 7:24 is "subdued"). The Visigoths were certainly uprooted from their main abodes and had their foundation destroyed by Clovis.

Why is the year 508 significant? Because Daniel chapters 11 and 12 indicate that the period 508 to 538 AD was especially important in the formation of the papal power. Daniel 12 mentions the 1260-year period (vs. 7) and also a 1290-year period (vs. 11). We know that the 1260 years was from 538 to 1798 (please see The hour of His judgment is come) but what about the 1290 years?  We wish to refer readers to Appendix Twelve for details on this time prophecy. Here we will simply mention that the evidence points to the 1290 years as ending at the same time as the 1260 years.  Thus the 1290-year period extends back from 1798 to the year 508 AD. It was in 508 that the first major demonstration of the Roman Catholic Church uniting with the arm of the state was seen when Clovis, king of the Franks, attacked the Visigoths. It is interesting to note here that it was the French who were instrumental in both the formation (Clovis, king of the Franks, 508) and the near-fatal wounding (Napoleon, French emperor, 1798) of the Papacy.¹⁹

Footnotes

2. Gibbon E., The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. XXXVIII, par. 6, Conversion of Clovis.

3. Gibbon E., The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. XXXVIII, par. 11, The Gothic war, AD 507. See also pars. 12 and 13.

4. Wilkinson B. G., Truth Triumphant, The Church in the Wilderness, Mountain View Ca. Pacific Press, 1944, pp. 147, 148.

5. Gibbon E., The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. XXXVIII, par. 11, The Gothic war, AD 507.

6. Gibbon E., The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. XXXVIII, pars. 13, 29.

7. Shea W. H., The Abundant Life Bible Amplifier, Daniel 1-7, Boise, Idaho, Pacific Press, 1996, p. 168.

8. Code of Justinian, book 1, titles 1, 8 quoted in Froom L. E., The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, Washington DC, Review and Herald, 1950, Vol. 1, p. 931 (Scott translation). See also p. 511.

9. Gibbon E., The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. XLI, par. 3, Debates on the African war.

10. Ibid., par. 9, Reduction of Carthage, A..D. 533, Sept 15.

11. Ibid., par. 11, Conquest of Africa by Belisarius, AD 534.

12. Ibid., par. 20, Reign and weakness of Theodatus, the Gothic king of Italy, AD 534, October - AD 536, August.

13. Ibid., par. 23, Siege of Rome by the Goths, AD 537, March.

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid., par. 28, The Goths raise the siege of Rome, AD 538, March. Encyclopedia Britannica Online, Art. Witigis [he was the Ostrogothic leader in 538], Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. 1994-2000, Froom L. E., The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, Washington DC, Review and Herald, 1950, vol. 1, p. 514, 515.

16. Gibbon E., The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. XLI, par. 28, The Goths raise the siege of Rome, AD 538, March.

17. Gibbon E., The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. XXXIX, par. 5, He undertakes the conquest of Italy. AD 489.

18. Ibid., pars. 7, 8. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001, Art. Odoacer.

19. Shea W. H., The Abundant Life Bible Amplifier, Daniel 7-12, Boise, Idaho, Pacific Press, 1996, p. 221.

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