Daniel’s vision of the ram and the goat
8
📚In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, to me, Daniel, after the one which appeared to me the first time. 8:1 551 BC.⚜
2 📚And while I was looking in a vision it came about as I watched that I was at Shushan 📖 in the palace 📖, which is in the province of Elam 📖; and I saw that in the vision I was by the river Ulai. 3 📚Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and a ram appeared there, standing beside the river. It had two horns, and the two horns were long, but one was longer than the other, and the longer one came up last.
8:3 Verse 20 tells us what this ram symbolizes – the Medo-Persian kingdom. The larger horn represents Persia which was the dominant power in the alliance.⚜
4 📚I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward, so that no beast could withstand him, nor was there any that could rescue from his hands, but he did as he pleased and became great.
8:4 Medo-Persia became the most powerful kingdom in the world of its day.⚜
5 📚And as I was considering this, a male goat appeared, coming from the west across the surface of the whole earth, without touching the ground. And the goat had a notable horn between its eyes.
8:5 According to v 21 this goat symbolizes Greece. The prominent horn was Alexander the Great, the first king of the Greco-Macedonian Empire.⚜
6 And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing beside the river, and ran at him in his powerful anger. 7 📚And I saw him come close to the ram, and he was moved with rage against him, and struck the ram and broke off his two horns. And there was no power in the ram to withstand him, so he threw him down to the ground, and trampled him. And there was no one who could deliver the ram from his hands.
8:6-7 Alexander crushed the Medo-Persian Empire in the years 334-330 BC, more than 200 years after this prophetic vision.⚜
8 📚Therefore the male goat became very great. But when he was strong, the great horn was broken 📖, and in its place four notable ones came up toward the four 📖 winds of heaven.
9 📚And out of one of them a little horn 📖 came out, which grew exceedingly great, toward the south and toward the east, and toward the glorious land. 📖 10 📚And it grew up to the host of heaven. And it threw some of the host and of the stars 📖 to the ground, and trampled on them. 11 📚Yes, it set itself up to be as great as the Prince of the host 📖, and it took away the daily sacrifice from him, and the place of his sanctuary was thrown down. 12 📚And an army 📖 was given to it against the daily sacrifice, because of transgression, and it threw the truth down to the ground; and it was active and prospered.
8:12 The disaster to the Jews in the days of Antiochus was a result of their sin and rebellion against God.⚜
13 📚Then I heard one holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that holy one who had spoken, “How long is the time in the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression that causes desolation, causing both the sanctuary and the army to be trampled under foot?”
14 📚And he said to me, “For two thousand three hundred days 📖. Then the sanctuary will be cleansed”.
The interpretation
15 📚And it came about when I, Daniel, had seen the vision, and was seeking for the meaning, then someone appeared who looked like a man, standing before me. 16 📚And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of the Ulai, which called out and said, “Gabriel 📖, cause this man to understand the vision”.
17 📚So he came near the place I was standing; and when he came, I was afraid, and prostrated myself on my face. But he said to me, “Understand, son of man 📖; for the vision concerns the time of the end”.
18 📚Now as he was speaking to me, I was in a deep sleep with my face toward the ground, but he touched me and stood me upright.
19 📚And he said, “Look, I will cause you to know what will happen at the end of the indignation. For the end will occur at the appointed time.
8:19 In the context of the verses which follow, the time of wrath, the time of the end spoken of here probably means the end of the days covered by the vision of vs 3-14, especially the end of the time of Antiochus. But those days were surely a picture of the days of the antichrist at the end of this age.⚜
20 📚The ram which you saw which had two horns represents the kings of Media and Persia. 21 📚And the rough goat is the king of Greece, and the great horn that is between its eyes is the first king. 22 📚Now as for that one being broken and four arising in its place, four kingdoms will arise out of the nation, but not with its power.
23 📚“And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their full extent, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark schemes, will arise. 24 📚And his power will be mighty, but not by his own power 📖; and he will cause appalling destruction, and will prosper, and be active and destroy the mighty and the holy people 📖. 25 📚And through his cunning he will also cause deceit to prosper in his hands. And in his heart he will exalt himself, and by peace will destroy many. He will also stand up against the Prince of princes 📖. But he will be broken, but not by human hand 📖.
8:23-25 Antiochus Epiphanes.⚜
26 📚“And the vision of the evenings and the mornings which was told is true. So seal up 📖 the vision, for it will not take place for many days”.
27 📚And I, Daniel, fainted, and was sick for days. Afterward I got up, and did the king’s work. And I was astonished at the vision, but no one understood it. 📖