Daniel’s prophecy in Daniel 8 is a vision given to the prophet Daniel during the reign of King Belshazzar. It features symbolic imagery of a ram and a goat.
The chapter emphasizes God’s control over history. And ends with a message that the vision is for the “time of the end,” signaling both immediate fulfillment, and future fulfillment in the end times.
Daniel’s Prophecy in Daniel 8
Daniel Sees A Ram
Daniel 8:1-4 “In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, subsequent to the one that had appeared to me earlier. And in the vision I saw myself in the citadel of Susa, in the province of Elam. I saw in the vision that I was beside the Ulai Canal. Then I lifted up my eyes and saw a ram with two horns standing beside the canal. The horns were long, but one was longer than the other, and the longer one grew up later. I saw the ram charging toward the west and the north and the south. No animal could stand against him, and there was no deliverance from his power. He did as he pleased and became great.”
In his vision Daniel saw a ram with 2 horns. One of the horns was longer than the other. The ram with 2 horns represents the 2 kings of Medo-Persian Empire. The empire of Media was represented by the smaller horn. And the longer horn represents the king of Persia, which was the stronger and greater of the two empires.
In Daniel’s prophecy in Daniel 7 the empire of Persia was the second beast described in Daniel 7:5.
Daniel’s Prophecy in Daniel 8
Daniel Sees A Goat
Daniel 8:5-7 “As I was contemplating all this, suddenly a goat with a prominent horn between his eyes came out of the west, crossing the surface of the entire earth without touching the ground. He came toward the two-horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and rushed at him with furious power. I saw him approach the ram in a rage against him, and he struck the ram and shattered his two horns. The ram was powerless to stand against him, and the goat threw him to the ground and trampled him, and no one could deliver the ram from his power.”
In Daniel 8:5-7 Daniels sees a goat with a large horn between his eyes. The goat suddenly comes out of the west and smashes both horns of the ram. In Daniel 8:21 the angel Gabriel tells Daniel that the goat represents the kingdom of Greece. And that it’s large horn is its first king. History shows that the Greek king was Alexander the Great. After over 200 years the Medo-Persian Empire, conquered by Alexander the Great, came to an end in 331 BC.
The goat, which represents the Greek Empire, is the same as the third beast in Daniels Prophetic Vision in Daniel 7.
Daniel’s Prophecy in Daniel 8
The Goat Loses It’s Large Horn
Daniel 8:8 “Thus the goat became very great, but at the height of his power, his large horn was broken off, and four prominent horns came up in its place, pointing toward the four winds of heaven.”
History shows that the goat with the large horn was Alexander the Great, the first king of the Greek Empire. History also proves Daniel’s prophetic vision correct when Alexander the Great died at age 33. His kingdom was then divided into 4 weaker kingdoms.
History also shows that Greece and Macedonia, ruled by Cassander, was the 1st division of the Greek Empire. Asia Minor, ruled by Lysimachus, was the second. Egypt and Palestine, ruled by Ptolemy Soter, was the third division. And Syria, Babylonia and east to India, ruled by Seleucus Nicator, was the fourth division.
In Part 2 we will continue to study Daniel’s prophecy in Daniel 8. Not only does Daniel’s prophetic vision have fulfillment in past history, but also there are parts that apply to the end times.
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