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Daniel’s Prophecy In Daniel 8 – A Ram and A Goat

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 8 vision, daniel 8 vision goat and ram, biblical prophecy, bible prophecy

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.

 

Daniel’s Prophecy in Daniel 8

The Smaller Horns of The Goat

Daniel 8:9-12 “From one of these horns a little horn emerged and grew extensively toward the south and the east and toward the Beautiful Land. It grew as high as the host of heaven, and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the earth, and trampled them. It magnified itself, even to the Prince of the host; it removed His daily sacrifice and overthrew the place of His sanctuary. And in the rebellion,the host and the daily sacrifice were given over to the horn, and it flung truth to the ground and prospered in whatever it did.

Daniel 8:13-14 “Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to him, “How long until the fulfillment of the vision of the daily sacrifice, the rebellion that causes desolation, and the surrender of the sanctuary and of the host to be trampled?” He said to me, “It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be properly restored.”

This is a continuation of Daniel’s prophetic vision of a goat in Daniel 8:5-8. After the “large horn” of the goat was broken, which represents first king of the Greek Empire Alexander the Great, there were 4 smaller horns that arose.

One of the little horns, or kings, emerged and grew extensively toward the south and east, and toward Israel (“the Beautiful Land”). This part of Daniel’s prophecy and vision has a dual meaning, one in the past and one in the coming end times.

The “little horn” in Daniel 8:9 would turn out to be Antiochus IV Epiphanes of the Seleucid Empire.  By taking the epitaph Epiphanes (“God Manifest”), Antiochus claimed to be a god,  Zeus incarnate. In the time between the return of Jewish exiles from Babylon, and the rise of the Roman Empire, the land of Judea was caught between two ruling powers. The Seleucid Empire of Syria in the north, and Ptolemaic Egypt in the south. These kingdoms, both successors of Alexander the Great’s broken empire, warred with each other for more than a century while the Jewish nation sat at the crossroads. (An account of these kingdoms to the north and south of Israel, can be found in Daniel 11.)

Antiochus persecuted the Jews in Israel, and plundered the Jerusalem Temple. He carried off the sacred vessels and riches of the Temple to help finance his military campaigns. Antiochus also killed many innocent people, and brutally enforced his cultural and religious policies on the Jewish population. A time of great tribulation occurred as traditional practices such as circumcision were outlawed. And sacred scriptures were burned. Violators of his rule were brutally punished or killed.

 

 

Daniel’s Prophecy in Daniel 8

Future Meaning Of Daniel’s Prophecy

Verses in Daniel 8:9-12 also have the meaning of taking place in the future. Specifically in the coming end times. Jesus Himself talked about the end times and the “abomination that causes desolation” in Matthew 24:15

Matthew 24:15-25 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. At that time, if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There He is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you ahead of time.”

Jesus is revealing the truth about the coming end times and the Antichrist. And about the coming Tribulation. And Jesus also details how a great number of people will be deceived by the evil one.

 

Daniel’s Prophecy in Daniel 8

Gabriel Interprets Daniel’s Vision

Daniel 8:15-19 “While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. And I heard the voice of a man calling from between the banks of the Ulai: “Gabriel, explain the vision to this man.” As he came near to where I stood, I was terrified and fell facedown. “Son of man,” he said to me, “understand that the vision concerns the time of the end.” While he was speaking with me, I fell into a deep sleep, with my face to the ground. Then he touched me, helped me to my feet, and said, “Behold, I will make known to you what will happen in the latter time of wrath, because it concerns the appointed time of the end.”

As Daniel was contemplating the prophetic vision he saw, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to help Daniel understand what he saw. As with all prophecy and visions, only God can give the revelation of the truth.

 

Daniel’s Prophecy in Daniel 8

Gabriel Reveals More Details

Daniel 8:20-22 “The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia. The shaggy goat represents the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes is the first king. The four horns that replaced the broken one represent four kingdoms that will rise from that nation, but will not have the same power”

Daniel 8:23-25 “In the latter part of their reign, when the rebellion has reached its full measure, an insolent king, skilled in intrigue, will come to the throne. His power will be great, but it will not be his own. He will cause terrible destruction and succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy the mighty men along with the holy people. Through his craft and by his hand, he will cause deceit to prosper, and in his own mind he will make himself great. In a time of peace he will destroy many, and he will even stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be broken off, but not by human hands.”

Daniel 8:26-27 “The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been spoken is true. Now you must seal up the vision, for it concerns the distant future.” I, Daniel, was exhausted and lay ill for days. Then I got up and went about the king’s business. I was confounded by the vision; it was beyond understanding.”

As previously shown, Daniel 8:20-22 details the ram and goat with the large horn that Daniel saw. And the 4 horns that replaced the large horn (Alexander the Great) on the goat.

In Daniel 8:23-25 Gabriel reveals more about one of the small horns, “an insolent king”, that took power after the large horn was broken. The first meaning of this horn or king was Antiochus. “He will even stand against the Prince of princes” means that he tried to come against Jesus. The second meaning of this revelation is the Antichrist, who is to come in the end times. He too will try to defeat the “Prince of princes”, Jesus and His people.

But by  reading and studying the book of Revelation we know what the ultimate outcome will be. Praise God that He will ultimately defeat His enemy and all that follow him. 

 

 

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The goal is to know God personally, love Him deeply, hear His voice, walk with Him daily, and experience a growing intimacy with Him.

 

 

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