The Book of Daniel, Daniel’s Second Vision, Daniel 8:1-14 - Lesson 31

Daniel 8:1-27,  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.  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.  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.  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.  And as I was considering, behold, an 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.  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.  And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake 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.  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.  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.  And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.  Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.  And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced, and prospered.  Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?  And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.  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.  And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.  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.  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.  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.  The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.  And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.  Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.  And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.  And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.  And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.  And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days.  And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the king’s business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.

Daniel has told us in his report of his first vision in the first year of the reign of King Belshazzar, that the vision caused him to be physically sick.

Again we see that this is the result of his second vision for in verse 27 he tells us that this vision caused him to take days of sick leave before he was able to rise up to again to assume the doing of the king’s business.

There is no doubt that being the recipient of visions of what is to come causes great depression and grief for this result is clearly shown in Daniel’s experience.

For one thing the recipient of what is to come does not understand the vision that is given even after an interpretation is provided by the angel Gabriel.

The last words of chapter 8 is "none understood it."

So this vision is not given to us to completely understand all of what is to come but only to get a general picture of what the future holds.

Some folks spend their lives trying to dig out things in prophetic utterances down to tiny details and their research usually, as time goes by, is revealed as foolish.

God tells us some things, but not all things.

Prophecy is not given to us so that we will understand all that God ordains but is given to remind us that God is in charge, God is in control.

We will only know the details as they unfold, as His promises are fulfilled.

Prophesy shows us our need to cling to God who has everything under control and shows us that the end is much better than the beginning for the end will bring his will to this earth.

The prophetic utterances of the Bible are so constructed as to encourage faith and trust in the one who fully controls all things and by Him all things consist, who is the Lord Jesus Christ.

So we are to study that which we are given, not making careless speculations, for all scripture is profitable and contributes to the man of God that he may be complete, furnished unto all good works.

In the case of this vision given to Daniel we cannot be dogmatic in our understanding.

Daniel did not fully understand this even with the help of the angel, Gabriel, nor can we fully understand it.

Daniel’s first vision occurred in the first year of King Belshazzar while his second vision occurred in the third year.

This time period is near the end of the Babylonian empire and as we studied in chapter five, near the end of Belshazzar’s rule.

In the first verse of our passage today, Daniel ties the two visions together.

They do not mirror one another but augment one another.

We will see this pattern continue as we study prophecy.

The prophecy of chapter eight can then be understood somewhat more because we have studied the prophecy of chapter seven for they, like the dream of Nebuchadnezzar concerning the great statue, are related to each other in some ways.

Most likely Daniel was in Babylon when he was given this vision however in the vision he is transported to another locale, a place called Shushan, about 150 miles north of the head of the Persian Gulf.

Shushan was the ancient capital of Elam, which in a few years from the time of this vision would become the major city in the Persian empire and the location of the palace of the king of Persia.

Daniel’s vision takes him to the very capital of Persia where Nehemiah and Esther will later dwell.

Daniel sees himself by the river of Ulai and is given a vision.

Daniel 8:3-4,  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.  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.

This is a ram that exemplifies the kings of Media and Persia for we are clearly told this in verse 20.

Again as with the prophecies of chapter two and seven we are given information concerning kings.

Nebuchadnezzar’s statue had a breast and arms of silver which pictured the second kingdom and this seems to coincide with the ram mentioned in chapter eight and the bear mentioned in chapter seven.

In other words the ram pictures the second of four kings.

This is also emphasized by the fact that Daniel leaves the palace of the first king, to go to Shushan the palace of the second king.

This ram has two horns, indicating two powers, Media and Persia and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.

The first horn would be Media and the second Persia, coming later than the first and being more powerful.

The ram pushes westward, northward, and southward which is confirmed by the history of the Medes and the Persians relating to their conquest of the world.

Daniel is given to know the power given to the ram, which enables him to dominate the nations.

There were no beasts which could go against the power of the ram and he did as he pleased until God chose to put him down.

Daniel 8:5-8,  And as I was considering, behold, an 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. 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.  And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler (anger) against him, and smote the ram, and brake 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.  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.

There was no power to withstand the power of the ram, no power until the power of the goat came to pass.

You will never hear of a power overcoming our God as we hear of powers overcoming the powers of man.

There is always another power waiting in the wings to be called of God to bring down arrogant, prideful kings.

Based upon history we can conclude that there is a power just off stage awaiting God’s call to bring down even our own beloved country.

This is also a lesson from prophecy.

The goat was called, for the Medes and the Persians had reached the limits of their pride and arrogance.

The day of the second beast is over.

He had served his purpose and it was now the day of the kingdom of Greece as we are told in verse 21 that Greece is the nation that the goat exemplifies.

The ram had two horns, but the goat has only one.

This horn is the first king of this world wide kingdom of Greece.

He comes from the west with great violence and with a vengeance.

He destroys the kingdom of Media-Persia even though this is the kingdom which will be instrumental in the return of the Jews to their land and the rebuilding of the temple.

From history we know that the horn of the goat is Alexander the Great.

He dominates the world and continues in the strain of past kings who magnify themselves above the most High God.

But the one horn is broken in the midst of the period of the power of Greece and four kings rise to take control of his empire.

We know from history that Alexander the Great died at the age of 32 after leading Greece to world domination.

After this four kings rise to share power over this world kingdom.

But out of one of these kings comes a little horn.

In chapter 7 we also learned of a little horn but that little horn comes out of the fourth beast, the beast which is in place at the time of our Lord’s return.

This little horn of chapter 8 comes out of the beast of the third kingdom and therefore we can say that this little horn is not the same as the little horn of chapter 7.

This is how Daniel saw this in his vision.

Daniel 8:8-14,  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.  And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.  Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.  And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced, and prospered.  Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?  And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

The central figure of chapter seven was the little horn who we learned was the world leader at the time of the second coming of Christ.

The central figure of chapter eight is another little horn.

There are similarities between these horns but there are also differences.

This little horn arises from one of the four kings which proceed from the first king of the third beast, the goat beast.

The little horn of chapter seven arises from the ten kings of the fourth beast.

The timing is different, the arising is different but the character of the little horns resemble each other.

In both horn types there is great conflict between the little horn and God.

In verse 10, the little horn achieves things which are more than human.

His greatness reaches up to the host of heaven, casting some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and he stamps upon them.

What does this mean.

We are not given to know the details.

As is typical of all of the kings this little horn magnifies himself but he rises above the other kings for he chooses to magnify himself even to be equal to the prince or leader of the host.

He claims deity for he removes the daily sacrifice and destroys the place of the sacrifice.

Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.  And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced, and prospered.

This king thinks himself equal with God, going as far as directly opposing God, casting the truth to the ground.

Recall the little horn of chapter seven who intended to change the times and the law.

Here we see a similarity in that both these horns intend to change God’s order of things.

There is in this picture an incarnation.

This little horn wishes to take on the trappings of God himself.

He seems to change from a man who comes out of one of the four kings of Greece to an incarnation of Satan himself.

He works his work against Israel but in reality it is against the hosts of heaven and the stars of heaven.

This does not happen because of his greatness but because of the rampant transgression that occurs in his day and a host was given him against the daily sacrifice.

This was allowed by God himself and his practices prospered.

Again we see fully our God in control, even control of allowing this horn to play God himself.

We will see in our next lesson that this king, this little horn, is a forerunner of our chapter seven little horn who will bring about the final tribulation prior to our Lord’s coming.