6.2- Discussion of Daniel 8 verses 17- 23

>>> Verses 17-19: These verses talk about fear in the presence of the vision, which had to do not only with the ram and the goat, but primarily with the end of the world. The real understanding of the vision is not related to the temporary kingdoms of the ram and the goat, but to the end times, as it says in verse 19: “I am showing you what the result of God's anger will be. The vision refers to the time of the end”. The cause of the anger of God over all sin and, ungodliness are as mentioned in the following verses:

a) - verse 9: wars of the antichrist.

b) - verses10-12: rejection of any relation with the true God.

      (Ungodliness and occultism).

c) - verses 12 and 13: Desecration of the sanctuary.

d) – verse 12: People sinned instead of offering the proper daily

       sacrifices.

e) – verse 12: True religion was thrown to the ground. The lie is

       believed. See Rom. 1 verse 25: “They exchange the truth about

      God for a lie; they worship and serve what God has created

      instead of the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever”

f) – verse 24: He will cause terrible destruction….. on God's own

      people. Destruction in all aspects such as the environment, but

      also related to a degradation of the human values such as

      moral and ethics

g) – verse 25: It says: “He will even defy the greatest King of all” He

       will even compete against Jesus Christ. See also 1 John 2

       verse 18: “My children, the end is near! You were told that the

       Enemy of Christ would come; and now many enemies of Christ

       have already appeared, and so we know that the end is near”.

       But all these causes of the anger of God are at the same time

       the reason his downfall. See 2 Thessalonians 2

       verses 4 and 8: “He will oppose every so-called god or object of

       worship and will put himself above them all. He will even go in

       and sit down in God's Temple and claim to be God…… Then

       the Wicked One will be revealed, but when the Lord Jesus

       comes, he will kill him with the breath from his mouth and

       destroy him with his dazzling presence”.

>>> Verses 20-23: This is the same as what was mentioned before under verses 4-9.  See the discussion under the verses 4-9 before. 

6.1- Discussion of Daniel 8 verses 15-16

>>> Verse 15: To serve the human beings, God sends His angels. See also Hebrews 1 verse 14: “What are the angels, then? They are spirits who serve God and are sent by him to help those who are to receive salvation”. These angels come also in the form of human beings. See for example Hebrews 13 verse 2: “Remember to welcome strangers in your homes. There were some who did that and welcomed angels without knowing it”. And many more places in the bible, such as: Gen. 18: 1-3, 22, Gen. 19: 1-3, Gen.28: 12, 1Kings 19: 5-7, 2 Kings 6: 16, 17, Dan. 9: 21, Dan. 12: 5-7…. Sometimes also the Lord Himself comes to us in the form of an angel: See Genesis 18 verses1and 2: “The Lord appeared to Abraham at the sacred trees of Mamre. As Abraham was sitting at the entrance of his tent during the hottest part of the day,   he looked up and saw three men standing there”.  (Other examples of this we can find in Gen. 32:1, 2, Jos. 5: 13-15…and more). This is because He has made us after His image, and therefore there exists certain equality. See John 4 verse 24: “God is Spirit, and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is”. And also 1 John 3 verse 2: “My dear friends, we are now God's children, but it is not yet clear what we shall become. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is”. Therefore: God wants to relate to us not as a man with his servant, but as a man with his wife, as partners. The relation is based on equality.

>>> Verse 16: A voice was heard to tell Gabriel to explain the meaning of what Daniel saw. This appearance, the Lord Himself,  was of a higher rank than Gabriel to who He gives the order for the benefit of Daniel. This is because angels are lower in ranking than God’s children. See also, in Hebrews 1 verse 14: “What are the angels, then? They are spirits who serve God and are sent by him to help those who are to receive salvation”, and 1 Cor. 6 verse 3: “¿Do you not know that we shall judge the angels?” 

And to us, similarly as to Daniel, God gives it us to understand the meaning of the vision. To have it explained to us is not necessary, because the explanation is given here already by the Angel Gabriel. 

6.0- The Angel Gabriel Explains the Vision

In Daniel 8 verses 15 through 27 we read:

15 I was trying to understand what the vision meant, when suddenly someone was standing in front of me. 16  I heard a voice call out over the Ulai River, “Gabriel, explain to him the meaning of what he saw.” 17 Gabriel came and stood beside me, and I was so terrified that I fell to the ground.

He said to me, “Mortal man, understand the meaning. The vision has to do with the end of the world.” 18 While he was talking, I fell to the ground unconscious. But he took hold of me, raised me to my feet, 19 and said,

 “I am showing you what the result of God's anger will be. The vision refers to the time of the end.

20 “The ram you saw that had two horns represents the kingdoms of Media and Persia. 21 The goat represents the kingdom of Greece, and the prominent horn between his eyes is the first king. 22 The four horns that came up when the first horn was broken represent the four kingdoms into which that nation will be divided and which will not be as strong as the first kingdom.

23 “When the end of those kingdoms is near and they have become so wicked that they must be punished, there will be a stubborn, vicious, and deceitful king. 24 He will grow strong—but not by his own power. He will cause terrible destruction and be successful in everything he does. He will bring destruction on powerful men and on God's own people. 25 Because he is cunning, he will succeed in his deceitful ways. He will be proud of himself and destroy many people without warning. He will even defy the greatest King of all, but he will be destroyed without the use of any human power. 26 This vision about the evening and morning sacrifices which has been explained to you will come true. But keep it secret now, because it will be a long time before it does come true.”

27 I was depressed and ill for several days. Then I got up and went back to the work that the king had assigned to me, but I was puzzled by the vision and could not understand it.

5.3- Discussion of Daniel 8, verses 10- 14

>>> Verse 10: He also attacked “the army of heaven, the stars themselves”. See also Rev. 12 verse 4: “With his tail he dragged a third of the stars out of the sky and threw them down to the earth” Similar words are used in many other biblical texts, such as for example: Isaiah 13 verse10:” Light will disappear from the stars in the sky; the dawning sun will turn dark, and the moon will lose its glow”, Ez.32 verse 7: “I will cover the whole sky and every star with thick clouds, so that the sun and moon will stop shining”, Matthew 24 verse 29: “Right after those days of suffering, the sun will become dark, and the moon will no longer shine. The stars will fall,

and the powers in the sky will be shaken”, and also Luke 21:25. All this indicates the terrific power of the antichrist and all that is related to him. These are the powers of the heavens, worldly leaders, and also idols. The detail that it threw some of them to the ground and trampled on them could very well refer to the people of God: Jews and Christians.

>>> Verse 11 and 12: In the year 170 BC, the high priest Onias III was removed from his position. Onias III was a faithful Jew and was the image of the Great High Priest. See Daniel 11 verse 22: “Anyone who opposes him, even God's High Priest, will be swept away and wiped out”. After this the temple was desecrated, and a swine was offered in the holy place. This will happen in the future again.

See Matthew 24 verse 15: “You will see ‘The Awful Horror’ of which the prophet Daniel spoke. It will be standing in the holy place.” (And also 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4, Rev.  13:4, 12-15).

>>> Verses 13, 14: The angels, (saints), wonder how long these things that were seen in the vision will continue. See also Rev. 6 verses 9 and 10: “…..I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed because they had proclaimed God's word and had been faithful in their witnessing. They shouted in a loud voice, “Almighty Lord, holy and true! How long will it be until you judge the people on earth and punish them for killing us?”

The time that people sinned instead of offering the proper daily sacrifices (see verse 12) was 2300 evenings and mornings, as we see in verse 14. In other words: 1150 days. This is 110 days less than the 1260 days, or three and a half years, described in Daniel 9 verse 27, which will be discussed later. Here I will only mention the reduction of the three and a half years by 110 days as mentioned by Jesus in Mathew 24 verse 22: “But God has already reduced the number of days; had he not done so, nobody would survive. For the sake of his chosen people, however, God will reduce the days”. 

5.2- Discussion of Daniel 8, verses 5-9

>>> Verse 5: The goat (Leopard in Daniel 7 verse 6), is the symbol of Greece (Aegea is the metaphorical use of "goat”, from there the name “Aegean sea”). It was moving so fast that his feet didn't touch the ground…. This is how Alexander the Great conquered the world: Very fast, in13 years.  

>>> Verses 6 and 7: In 332 BC, Alexander the Great defeats the Medes and the Persians.

>>> Verse 8: Alexander the Great died in 323 BC, when he was 33 years old and his kingdom was divided among his 4 generals as follows:

 To the west: Greece with Macedonia under Cassander.

To the north: Turkey and Asia Minor, under Lysimachus/Antigonus.

To the east: with Syria under Seleucus.

To the south: Egypt and Palestine, under Ptolomy, until 198 BC.

>>> Verse 9: From one of these four parts of the Greek empire (Syria?) will come the “little horn”, the coming antichrist, who will become powerful in Egypt, Iraq, Iran and the Promised land.

See also Daniel 11 verses 16 and 41: “The Syrian invader will do with them as he pleases, without opposition. He will stand in the Promised Land and have it completely in his power……  He will even invade the Promised Land and kill tens of thousands…..” 

5.1- Discussion of Daniel 8, verses 1- 4  

>>> Verse 1: 553BC. The time of the “golden head” (see Dan. 2 verse 38) is almost over. This vision is therefore approximately 50 years after Daniel 2.

>>> Verse 2: Susa was the capital of Elam and part of Persia. (Semitic, see Gen. 10 verses 22, 23: “Shem, the older brother of Japheth, was the ancestor of all the Hebrews. Shem's sons—Elam, Asshur,….). Therefore, Daniel was probably in Susa as an ambassador. Susa was independent but connected to Babylon against Assyria. Later on, Cyrus the Persian, (son of Ester), conquers the weakened Babylon. This is not far away and therefore it talks here in this vision only about the “silver” and “bronze” kingdoms, and the “golden head” is no more mentioned.

>>> Verses 3: The ram (bear in Dan. 7 verse 5), had two horns: One of the horns was Darius the Mede, see Daniel and 9verse1:” Darius the Mede, who was the son of Xerxes, ruled over the kingdom of Babylonia”.  He was the husband of Ester. The other horn was Cyrus from Persia (see Dan. 6verse 28: “Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian”, And Ezra 1 verse 1 to 3, where we see Cyrus giving the command for rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. : “In the first year that Cyrus of Persia was emperor,  the Lord made what he had said through the prophet Jeremiah come true. He prompted Cyrus to issue the following command: ………………….May God be with all of you who are his people. You are to go to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is worshiped in Jerusalem”. And also Isaiah 44: 28: “I (= The Lord), say to Cyrus, ‘You are the one who will rule for me; you will do what I want you to do: you will order that Jerusalem be rebuilt and that the foundations of the Temple be laid.”). … Cyrus, the son of Darius, was the longer and newer horn.  

>>> Verse 4: The ram was butting with his horns to the west, the north, and the south. To the west: Babylon. To the North: Lydia, and against the south: Egypt. 

5.0- Daniel's Vision of a Ram and a Goat

In Daniel 8 verses 1 through 14 we read:

“1 In the third year that Belshazzar was king, I saw a second vision.  2 In the vision I suddenly found myself in the walled city of Susa in the province of Elam. I was standing by the Ulai River, 3 and there beside the river I saw a ram that had two long horns, one of which was longer and newer than the other. 4 I watched the ram butting with his horns to the west, the north, and the south. No animal could stop him or escape his power. He did as he pleased and grew arrogant.

5 While I was wondering what this meant, a goat came rushing out of the west, moving so fast that his feet didn't touch the ground. He had one prominent horn between his eyes. 6 He came toward the ram, which I had seen standing beside the river, and rushed at him with all his force. 7 I watched him attack the ram. He was so angry that he smashed into him and broke the two horns. The ram had no strength to resist. He was thrown to the ground and trampled on, and there was no one who could save him.

8 The goat grew more and more arrogant, but at the height of his power his horn was broken. In its place four prominent horns came up, each pointing in a different direction. 9 Out of one of these four horns grew a little horn, whose power extended toward the south and the east and toward the Promised Land. 10 It grew strong enough to attack the army of heaven, the stars themselves, and it threw some of them to the ground and trampled on them. 11 It even defied the Prince of the heavenly army, stopped the daily sacrifices offered to him, and ruined the Temple. 12 People sinned there instead of offering the proper daily sacrifices, and true religion was thrown to the ground. The horn was successful in everything it did.

13 Then I heard one angel ask another, “How long will these things that were seen in the vision continue? How long will an awful sin replace the daily sacrifices? How long will the army of heaven and the Temple be trampled on?”

14 I heard the other angel answer, “It will continue for 2,300 evenings and mornings, during which sacrifices will not be offered. Then the Temple will be restored.”