Daniel 8:1-14--Daniel's Vision of the Ram and the Goat

Daniel 8:1-14
English Standard Version

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. 2 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. 3 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. 4 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.

5 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. 6 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. 7 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. 8 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.

9 Out of one of them came a little horn, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the glorious land. 10 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. 11 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. 12 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. 13 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?” 14 And he said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.”

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This vision appears during the third year of King Belshazzar, the final king of Babylon.  Note this is not a dream or vision that Daniel interprets for the king, and that is why the king did not know about him in Daniel chapter 5.  This is a vision that the LORD gives Daniel to let him know about the next two empires that were to come--represented by a ram (with two horns, and a goat with one horn).  Daniel is in the citadel of Susa, part of the province of Elam when he received this vision, near a canal.

The ram in this vision had two horns that were both large, but one was larger than the other (this is consistent with the theme of an empire made of two peoples with one being stronger than the other that we saw with the bear leaning to one side).  We see this ram charging toward the west, north, and south towards the three nations/kingdoms that it would defeat in those directions (Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt).  You may not be too familiar with Lydia, but it is the location of the Seven Churches in the book of Revelation with a capital city of Sardis.  It grew to the size of the Roman province of Asia Minor or modern-day Turkey at the height of its kingdom.  So, Lydia would be the kingdom to the North, Babylon to the West, and Egypt to the South.  Again, these seem to correspond with the three ribs in the mouth of the bear that we saw earlier.

Then, Daniel sees a male goat charging in fast from the West.  It had only one horn on its head, and ran into the goat with two horns at full speed with its powerful wrath.  The ram could not withstand the goat's attack and was taken down to the ground and trampled on by the goat.  No one could rescue the ram from the goat's power (this was the end of the Medo-Persian Empire).  The goat became exceedingly strong (the Greek Empire of Alexander the Great grew as he conquered the known world), yet, it was at this time that the great horn (representing Alexander the Great, the leader of the Greek Empire) was broken (he died), and in its place came up four horns (the empire would be split among four of Alexander's generals).

One of the produced a little horn that was allowed to conquer much land to the South, the East and even the Glorious Land (the Promised Land).  Now there will be some connection between the rise of this political leader and the rise of Satan, and how Satan's rebellion took a third of the angels with him.  If this also sounds similar to something that was just said in the last chapter about the one we would call Antichrist, you would be right, and there has been much confusion in the past about if the events described here were describing the same Antichrist that was described in the previous chapter, but we know that it cannot be because the Antichrist described in chapter 7 must come out of another kingdom AFTER the Medo-Persian and Greek Empires (he will come out of the Roman Empire), so this person must have been but a foreshadowing of the Antichrist that was to come.

The little horn here is the leader known as Antiochus IV Epiphanies, and he would lead the portion called the Seleucid Empire.  They would be by far the largest of the four groups.  Antiochus would desecrate the Jewish Temple (note this showed the Temple would be rebuilt) and would slaughter a pig on it to the god of Zeus and sprinkle pig's blood all over it to desecrate it.  This is what the vision is referring to when it says the sanctuary was overthrown and that the regular daily offerings would cease.

​A voice from heaven asks the very question Daniel is probably thinking.  "How long will this be allowed to continue," and the answer comes back "2,300 days, then the sanctuary will be restored to its rightful state."  This is one of the prophecies that skeptics of biblical prophecy hate.  There is no way that Daniel could know all these specific details about the Greek Empire and the Seleucid Empire that followed and what its leader Antiochus IV Epiphanies would do and how long the daily sacrifices would be stopped before the Temple was retaken and purified.  We can look to all of this that happened in the past and see that it is 100% accurate, so how did Daniel know about it so exactly so many years before it happened?  Daniel didn't, but God did since He exists outside of time and past, present, and future mean nothing to Him.  He sees it all, and can reveal it to whomever He wills.

Jesus quoted these verses to point to a future event that was coming when the Antichrist that we talked about in chapter 7 would also desecrate the Temple (so the Temple must again be rebuilt), and it will be a sign to the Jewish people to flee and get out of Jerusalem and the surrounding areas because the judgment of the LORD is about to fall on the Antichrist and his kingdom, and the LORD does not want the righteous to be swept up in the judgment of the wicked.