Daniel 8

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, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first. And I saw in the vision; and when I saw, I was in Susa the citadel, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in the vision, and I was at the Ulai canal. I raised my eyes and saw, and behold, a ram standing on the bank of the canal. It had two horns, and both horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. I saw the ram charging westward and northward and southward. No beast could stand before him, and there was no one who could rescue from his power. He did as he pleased and became great.

As I was considering, behold, a male goat came from the west across the face of the whole earth, without touching the ground. And the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. He came to the ram with the two horns, which I had seen standing on the bank of the canal, and he ran at him in his powerful wrath. I saw him come close to the ram, and he was enraged against him and struck the ram and broke his two horns. And the ram had no power to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled on him. And there was no one who could rescue the ram from his power. Then the goat became exceedingly great, but when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and instead of it there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven.

Out of one of them came a little horn, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the glorious land. It grew great, even to the host of heaven. And some of the host and some of the stars it threw down to the ground and trampled on them. It became great, even as great as the Prince of the host. And the regular burnt offering was taken away from him, and the place of his sanctuary was overthrown. And a host will be given over to it together with the regular burnt offering because of transgression, and it will throw truth to the ground, and it will act and prosper. Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one who spoke, “For how long is the vision concerning the regular burnt offering, the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled underfoot?” And he said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.”

The Interpretation of the Vision

When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it. And behold, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of the Ulai, and it called, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.” So he came near where I stood. And when he came, I was frightened and fell on my face. But he said to me, “Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end.”

And when he had spoken to me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground. But he touched me and made me stand up. He said, “Behold, I will make known to you what shall be at the latter end of the indignation, for it refers to the appointed time of the end. As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia. And the goat is the king of Greece. And the great horn between his eyes is the first king. As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power. And at the latter end of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their limit, a king of bold face, one who understands riddles, shall arise. His power shall be great—but not by his own power; and he shall cause fearful destruction and shall succeed in what he does, and destroy mighty men and the people who are the saints. By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall become great. Without warning he shall destroy many. And he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes, and he shall be broken—but by no human hand. The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true, but seal up the vision, for it refers to many days from now.”

And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and went about the king’s business, but I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it.

(ESV)

Daniel 8 Commentary

by Brad Boyles

This chapter is one of the most controversial and heavily debated chapters in all the Bible. However, there is still solid truth we can take away.

First, we must realize that even the interpreter could not come to terms with the interpretation. Daniel himself said it perplexed him and he kept it to himself. He was physically ill and exhausted for many days. This should cause us to pause. We would do well to saturate our minds in the text and come to the Lord diligently in prayer to receive wisdom and discernment on how to apply these verses. Many times, I have read the same verses over and over only to learn more and more each time I study them.

The Ram

The ram represents the Medo-Persian Empire. The unequal horns could have represented the fact that the Persians were larger and stronger in the union. They emerged after the Medes and grew up larger. They also made no major conquests to the east. (I watched the ram butting with his horns to the west, the north, and the south.)

The Male Goat

The goat represents the Greek Empire.

“Newton very properly observes that, two hundred years before the time of Daniel, they were called, the goats’ people.”

Adam Clarke

“As God guided history, He used Alexander’s passion to spread Greek culture to prepare the world for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Because of Alexander’s influence koine (common) Greek became the common language of the civilized world – and the language of the New Testament.”

David Guzik

The Little Horn

This little horn does not seem to be the same one from the previous chapter. The former little horn came out of the beast (Rome) while this one comes out of Greece.

“Some think that Antiochus Epiphanes is meant; but Bp. Newton contends that it is the Roman government that is intended; and although very great at its zenith, yet very little in its rising.”

Adam Clarke

2300 Evenings and Mornings

If we count back 2300 days (almost 7 years) from when the temple was cleansed, we end up at the date when Epiphanes started his persecution. If we assume 1 day means a morning and a night, we get 1150 days which is when the temple was actually desecrated. Either way, we can’t know for certain and this passage illustrates the danger of not using discernment to interpret passages.

“This passage has been a favorite springboard for elaborate and fanciful prophetic interpretations. A popular and tragic interpretation of this passage took one year for every day, and William Miller used 2,300 “year-days” to calculate that Jesus would return in 1844 (2,300 years after Cyrus issued the decree to rebuild the temple). His movement ended up giving birth to the Seventh-Day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and several other movements.”

David Guzik

The Interpretation

Most commentators agree that the near view of this prophecy is speaking to Antiochus Epiphanes who was mentioned earlier. The long view of the prophecy would represent the Antichrist. There are striking similarities.

• They both would have brutal features.
• They both would understand sinister schemes.
• They both would channel power not of their own.
• They both would experience immense success.
• They both would annihilate the people of God.
• They both would be deceitful and magnify themselves.
• They both would not be defeated by a man, but by an act of God.

In sealing up the vision, Daniel is preparing it for the future. Note the wording used is similar to the seals in Revelation.

What does this mean for us?

We have a picture of what deceit and rebellion look like. We know which signs to watch for. We know the indicators of such deception and how the enemy works through humans to accomplish his sinister plan. These are the takeaways. We may never know exactly what the prophecy means, but the general themes are clear. The warnings God prepared were not meant to be confusing but were given in grace so that we could be ready.

What many people miss is that we already have the battle plan. We are to trust that all authority has been handed over the Jesus and believe He is with us until the end as we go and make disciples of all nations. Unfortunately, many have chosen to spin their wheels trying to uncover the exact meaning of prophecies instead of loving God and discipling people. Jesus gave us the battle plan. It’s time that we executed it.