Daniel 8:1-2 “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. 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.”
King Belshazzar only reigned for three years, and if you remember back to chapter five it was during his rulership that the Babylonian empire crumbled under the hands of the Medes and Persians. So we find this vision coming to Daniel in the final year of the reign of Belshazzar and the Babylonian empire. Also this vision is two years after the one that appeared unto Daniel at the first in chapter seven.
Daniel was located in the palace at Shushan, which was the metropolis of the province of Elam, near the river Ulai. The king of Babylon had a palace situated there which would not make it a strange occurrence for Daniel to be there. For with the position that Daniel held in the kingdom, it would easily indicate that he was there fulfilling the kings business. Abradates was prince of the province of Elam which lies east of Babylon. He later revolted and sided with Cyrus the Persian, thus Elam becoming a province of Persia, who linked up with the Medes to conquer Babylon.
NOTE: Elam's involvement was prophesied of by Isaiah. (Isaiah 21:2)
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. 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.”
A Ram - The first power introduced to us in this chapter is symbolized by a ram. There is no guessing who this is, for in verse 20 we are told that it is the kingdom of the Medes and Persians. So unlike chapters 2 and 7, this vision starts without the kingdom of Babylon. The reason being that Babylon was at the end of its reign of world dominance. It was passing off the scene.
Which had two horns - Again in verse 20 we are told that the two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.
One was higher than the other...higher came up last - The Medes, under Darius, and the Persians, under Cyrus, untied together to bring about the downfall of the Babylonian empire. When they succeeded, as seen in chapter 5, Cyrus, the nephew of Darius the Mede, allowed Darius to take the throne and rule the empire, out of respect for his uncle. Darius ruled for only two years and then died at the age of 64. Persia now took the throne through Cyrus. But why is this referred to as the higher coming up last? It is because, out of the two nations, the Medes were the weaker and thus the higher or stronger, which were the Persians, came up last. The kingdom eventually was known as the Persian kingdom.
Pushed westward, northward and southward - When looking at the word ‘pushed’ here, and the way it is used in this verse, it is easy to see that it is referring to the conquests of the Medo-Persian Empire.
The Medes and Persians conquered Lydia to the west 547 B.C. and Babylon 539 B.C., Egypt and Nubia in the south 525 B.C., and the Scythians in the north in 513 B.C. The entire number of provinces were 127 (Esther 1:1) from India to Ethiopia.
No beast might stand before him - That is, no nation could stand before the Medo-Persian Empire.
Did according to his will - No-one could stand in the way of, nor be delivered out of the hand of this conquering power which did according to his will and became great.
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. 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. 7 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. 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.”
As I was considering - As Daniel was watching the ram.
Behold an he goat - Daniel is now introduced to the next power whilst watching the ram, thus showing that these are consecutive kingdoms.
Once again there is no guessing who this is, for we are told in verse 21 that the he goat is the kingdom of Grecia or Greece, under the rulership of Alexander the Great.
Came from the west - Greece was to the west.
On the face of the whole earth - Thus showing that Greece was to be a world dominating power.
Touched not the ground - Greece was to cover the face of the whole earth in a short space of time, hence the wording touched not the ground. Under Alexander they did this in 12 short years, conquering everything from Macedonia to India and south to Egypt, marching his army over 8364 km during the 12 years.
Notable horn between his eyes - From verse 21 we see that this notable horn is the first king. History tells us that this was Alexander the Great.
Came to the ram...fury of his power...moved with choler - The Bible describes the goat as coming to the ram in the fury of his power and being moved with choler against him, why ? Here is a comment from Adam Clarks Commentary on Daniel to show the reason;
Speaking of Alexander he says, “Subdued Persia and Media; sacked and burnt the royal city of Persepolis, the capital of the Persian Empire, and, even in its ruins, it is one of the wonders of the world to the present day. This he did because ‘he was moved with choler’ against Darius, who had endeavoured to draw off his captains with bribes, and had laboured to induce some of his friends to assassinate him. Alexander, finding this, would listen to no proposals of peace; and was determined never to rest till he had destroyed Darius and his whole empire. In Media, Darius was seized and made prisoner by some of his own treacherous subjects, and afterwards basely murdered.” Adam Clarks Commentary on Daniel, pg. 597 1823/24.
We also find that, when an official entourage appealed for conciliation they were handed the famous reply "Heaven cannot support two suns, nor the earth two masters."
From the rest of verse 7 it is easy to see that Alexander utterly destroyed the Medo-Persian empire, for the Bible says that he, ”smote the ram...brake his two horns...no power in the ram...cast him down...stamped upon him...none that could deliver the ram”. Alexander’s empire covered Greece and Macedonia in the west, and east through to almost the Indus River, then south through Syria, Palestine, and Egypt.
Therefore the he goat waxed very great - Because Alexander’s kingdom covered a greater territory than the Medes and Persians, and the fact that he conquered them, Greece is regarded as waxing very great.
When he was strong...horn was broken - When the empire was at its peak in strength, Alexander died in a drunken debauch at about the age of 31. Just before his death, he was asked to whom the kingdom would go. The reply came back that it would go to the strongest.
For it came up four notable ones - In verse 22 we see that these four notable horns are four kings/kingdoms. They were not to stand up in the power of Alexander, that is, they did not have to conquer land that was unconquered to extend their territory, and not one man was to rule all.
Initially the entire kingdom went to Alexander’s natural brother Phillip Aridaeus, and then to his two infant sons Alexander Aegus, and Hercules. Within a very short time these were all killed so there was no natural heir to the throne, and the battle ensued between the 36 generals for control of the kingdom. Eventually it was divided between four— exactly as the prophecy stated. These were Cassander who had Macedonia and Greece in the west, Lysimachus who had Thrace and a large part of Asia Minor in the north, Ptolemy who had Egypt and a part of Syria in the south, Seleucus who had the bulk of the Persian Empire from Syria eastward.
Towards the four winds of heaven - That is, towards the four points of the compass, north, south, east, and west. (Jeremiah 49:36)
