Daniel Chapter 8 part 1
Basic and General Study of the Book of Daniel
Daniel is now about to receive one of the most specific prophetic visions about the future recorded in the Bible.
This vision was shown to him while he was in the palace at Shushan in the third year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, which would place it at around 547 BC. Shushan is about 30 miles west of the modern-day city of Shushtar, Iran.
FIRST PART OF THE VISION:
DAN.8:1 In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first.
DAN.8:2 And I saw in a vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai.
DAN.8:3 Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.
DAN.8:4 I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great.
DAN.8:5 and as I was considering, behold, a he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.
DAN.8:6 and he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power.
DAN.8:7 And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and broke his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.
DAN.8:8 Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.
(We will cover verses 9 to 14 in parts 2 and 3 of this study)
DAN.8:15 And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning, then, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man.
DAN.8:16 And I heard a man's voice (Jesus?) between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.
DAN.8:17 So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the END shall be the vision.
DAN.8:18 Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground: but he touched me, and set me upright.
DAN.8:19 and he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last END of the indignation: for at the time appointed the END shall be.
Two personages appear in this vision to help Daniel understand what all this means. One is the angel Gabriel, who to Daniel looked like a man. The other is someone who instructs Gabriel to tell Daniel what the vision means. The second personage Daniel doesn’t see apparently, but rather hears His voice coming from the middle of the river. Gabriel is one of God’s archangels, and any voice that tells him what to do must be senior to him. Therefore, many Bible scholars believe that this voice belongs to Jesus.
"I will make thee know what shall be in the last END of the indignation." Again, when? At the END of the Indignation, at the END of the Wrath of God, at the very End of Time.
"For at the time appointed the End shall be."
Now here's three times in two verses that it says it is the END. These things are not going to happen until the very END of Time, what we call the END Time, these Last Days in which we are now living.
What’s another word for indignation? (V.19) --Wrath or anger. There is a period that is called The Indignation of God! That is really the End! "For at the time appointed, the end shall be." And what is going to be the real end of all these things? The end of rule by evil people. All these prophecies about the End are about what end, whose end? —The end of the evil, worldly system and its rulers on Earth!
And it doesn't come to an end till the Battle of Armageddon. And after that, the Millennium will start, which will be the beginning of God's Rule with His saints--the Kingdom of God and our rule! That's the beginning, that's a new day! That's a whole new dispensation of grace.
INTERPRETATION OF THE FIRST PART:
DAN.8:20 The ram which you saw having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.
DAN.8:21 And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.
DAN.8:22 Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.
This is another chapter where Daniel sees strange and awesome scenes of beasts which are signifying world powers to come, very much like in the chapter before, Daniel chapter 7.
This vision of Daniel 8 intersects with those in chapters 2 and 7 in which God describes empires that are to come. But what is different about this vision is that, in the angel’s interpretation, he actually NAMES two of the coming empires, something not done in the previous visions. This is amazing because when Daniel received this vision, the empire of Medo- Persia was still in the future and the Greek empire was more than 200 years away.
In the first part of the vision Daniel sees a ram with two great horns, with the second horn growing taller than the first. Then the ram pushes west and north and south, and no adversary could stand before him. Later on we are told that the two horns on the ram are the kings of Media and Persia.
As we already know, the Persians came to prominence after the Medes (the second horn growing taller) and this united empire went on to conquer all before them. And indeed, they were to go west and conquer Babylon, north and conquer Lydia, and under Cambyses II, Cyrus’s son, they were to go south and conquer Egypt. Every detail in Bible prophecy is important and represents something. The goat represents Greece and the horn is symbolic of Alexander the Great who was to come some 200 years later, around 333 BC.
"Without touching the ground" v.5 reminds us of the beast like a "leopard" in Daniel 7:6, that had four wings. Both the wings of the leopard and the airborne status of this goat, represent the great speed of Alexander’s conquests.
**DAN.7:6 After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.
Alexander the Great was invincible in battle and within 10 short years conquered Persia and all its lands, gaining more territory in that time period than the Persian Empire had in 200 years. But in the vision the horn gets broken when the goat became strong. Gabriel says in verse 8
“When he was strong, the great horn was broken.”
This symbolism foretells Alexander’s untimely death from a fever at the early age of 33, at the height of his power and conquest.
And again, in verse 22, "Four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation but not in his power." Then four notable kings and kingdoms arose from Alexander’s fragmented empire.
Did this happen? Yes! Alexander the Great’s Empire was divided between his four top generals who, instead of fighting with each other over it, at first decided to divide it up peacefully into 4 parts.
And that's exactly what happened! It happened exactly as the Lord was telling Daniel here through the mouth of the angel Gabriel.
DAN.8:9 And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.
**DAN.7:8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn…and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.
In chapter 7 the vision jumped from ancient Rome into the End Time. But here in chapter 8, the vision jumps from ancient Greece into the future. Out of one of those four Greek kingdoms came a little horn, a fierce king, who is destined to rule a great empire in the Last Days.
To be continued in part 2 with the details and interpretation of this little horn.
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“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Eph.2:8-9)
If you haven’t done it yet, please pray this simple prayer:
"Dear Jesus, I want to know You personally. Please forgive all my faults. I accept that You are the Son of God and that You died for me. I invite You into my heart and life. Thank you for your gift of eternal life and please fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Help me to read and understand Your Word. Amen."
Compiled and edited by Gaetan from multiple sources.