Daniel 8: The Ram and the Goat
The Context of the Vision (8:1-2)
- Third year of Belshazzar, King of Babylon (ca. 551-550 BCE).
- A second vision after the vision of the beasts in Daniel 7.
- In the vision Daniel saw himself in the capital Susa, in the province of Elam, by the river Ulai (or Ulai Gate), which is modern southwest Iran near the border of Iraq. Susa was the winter capital of the Persian empire (the city where the story of Esther played out [1:2] and where Nehemiah lived [1:1]).
The Vision
The Ram (8:3-4)
- It had two horns, but one longer than the other.
- It charged west, north, and south.
- It dominated all other animals and “did as it pleased and became strong.”
The Goat Attacks the Ram (8:5-8)
- Appearing from the west, it crossed the “face of the whole earth.”
- It had one horn and approached the ram with “savage force.”
- The goat attacked the ram, which was powerless, trampled, and defeated.
- The “male goat grew exceedingly great; but at the height of its power, the great horn was broken.”
- “Four prominent horns” rose “in its place” like “the four winds of heaven.”
A Little Horn Emerges on the Goat (8:9-14)
- A “little one” horn grew great toward the south and east and “toward the beautiful land.”
- It reached the stars and threw some down to the earth and trampled them.
- It “acted arrogantly” against God’s “prince.”
- It ended daily burnt offerings and “overthrew the place of his sanctuary.”
- It “cast truth to the ground” and prospered” in what it did.”
- A “holy one” asked: “For how long is this vision concerning the regular burnt offering, the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over the sanctuary and host to be trampled?” The desolation will be mentioned again in Daniel 9:26-27; 11:31; and 12:11.
- Response: “For two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.”
The Interpretation of the Vision
The Setting (8:15-18)
- Daniel “tried to understand” the vision.
- Daniel heard a “human voice by the Ulai” that asked Gabriel to help Daniel understand the vision.
- Daniel fell prostrate before Gabriel.
- Gabriel said, “Understand, O Son of Man, that the vision is for the time of the end,” whereupon Daniel fell into a trance.
The Ram and the Goat Identified (8:19-22)
- “Listen, and I will tell you what will take place later in the period of wrath; for it refers to the appointed time of the end.”
- The ram with two horns is “the kings of the Medes and Persia.”
- The “male goat is the king of Greece” and “the great horn . . . is the first king.”
- The four horns are “four kingdoms” that shall come from “the nation” of the “great horn, but now with his power.”
The Little Horn (8:23-25)
- When the rule of the four kingdoms is nearing their end, “a king of bold countenance shall arise” and “grow strong in power.”
- “He will destroy the powerful and the people of the holy ones.”
- Through skill and cunning, he will prosper through deceit and “without warning destroy many,” and “even rise up against the Prince of princes.”
- But then “he shall be broken, and not by human hands.”
Who is the “little horn” in Daniel 8:23-25?
- The “great horn” is Alexander the Great, conqueror of Persia and India (334-323).
- The “four kingdoms” are Macedonia, Thrace/Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt—the division of the Greek empire after Alexander’s death.
- Antiochus Epiphanes, the 8th Seleucid ruler (Syria) from 175 to 163 BCE.
- He conquered south (Egypt), east (Parthia), and “the beautiful land” (Palestine).
- His persecution of the Jews began with the assassination of the high priest Onias III and did not end until the death of Antiochus in 163 BCE.
- He ended Levitical sacrifices in the temple in December 167 BCE, erected an altar to Zeus in the temple, and sacrificed a pig on it.
- In December 164 BCE, Judas Maccabeus rededicated the temple after a revolt.
The Conclusion (8:27)
“So, I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days; then I arose and went about the king’s business. But I was dismayed [literally, made desolate] by the vision and did not understand it.”