Daniel 8:1-8 KJV

Daniel's Vision of the Ram and Goat

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. 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. 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. 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.

5 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.

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. 10 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. 11 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. 12 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 practised, and prospered. 13 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?
14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall
the sanctuary be cleansed.

* * *

[non-authoritative meditation]

Now the scholars interpret this prophecy as the image of Medo-Persian kingdom,
that under Cyrus the Great, liberated those nations under Babylon captivity,
and - evident by the king Darius the Mede - even the king was bound by the rule of
immutable Medo-Persian law: When tricked by satraps to sign a prayer prohibition
decree, Daniel chose to obey God rather than ruler and continued to pray in
"civil disobedience" of his day. However, even Darius could not save Daniel from
his own law, but the prophet had to endure the lion den (Daniel 6:13).

When compared to Israel, the holy land, where Ahab could make a holy fast,
a mock trial wit two false witnesses and stone poor Nabot and his sons for
their vineyard, which was their heritage, and Ahab, understanding nothing of
olive and vine symbolic, wanted to turn it into a garden for vegetables.

The righteousness of those Medo-Persian kings enabled restoration of the walls
of Jerusalem and the Second Temple, where Nehemiah was put as the cup-bearer
of the king Artaxerxes. This duty was not trivial, as Nehemiah had to taste
any wine before the king would drink. (This was also present in Egypt in the
time of pharaohs.)

The Medo-Persian king allowed Nehemiah to go and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
providing necessary building material at king's cost (Nehemiah 2:7-8).

Cyrus the Great was already prophesied in the book of the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 45:1-2 NJKV
45 “Thus says the Lord to His anointed,
To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held—
To subdue nations before him
And loose the armor of kings,
To open before him the double doors,
So that the gates will not be shut:
2 ‘I will go before you
And make the crooked places straight;
I will break in pieces the gates of bronze
And cut the bars of iron.

The ram in the Holy Scriptures symbolises the leader and the protector of the
flock. The ram was also a substitute sacrifice for Isaac in Abraham's sacrfice,
so it must have greater Biblical symbolics in the Old Testament we who have grown
on TV and Internet, separated from animals who grow somewhere else and are "humanely
electrocuted so their blood would not be spilled", which is defiance of Leviticus
law against eating blood of the animal, as it contains the soul (Leviticus 19:26).

Prophet Isaiah lived in time of king Hezekiah, several generations before the
Babylon exile. While some theologians consider these books back-written, this is
not credible, as this would also nullify the prophecy of the Messiah born by virgin
in Isaiah 7:14.

However, take a note what happened with the ram: growing in power and might and
greatness, Hebrew word used here is wə·hiḡ·dîl (from root gadal: To grow, become
great, magnify, promote).

This might be interpreted that the ram started to rely in sheer military might
rather than its righteouness, role of the protector and the rule of the law,
and that was the cause of the goat from the West, coming without touching the
earth, despite resulting in four winds and "little horn" from its corruption
- won anyway. The scholars interpret this event as fulfilled the prophecy of
Greece under Alexander the Great overcoming the Medo-Persian army and conquering
their empire.

"The little horn" coming from one of the four goat's horns, acended to the hosts
of Heaven, trampled on earth some of the heavenly hosts, and also some stars,
abolishing the daily offering and destroying the sanctuary (Daniel 8:9-13).
The army of the little horn, grew strong towards the South and the East, and
towards the Beautiful Land (Daniel 8:9).

Abolishing the "daily sacrifice" could mean ban of all religions and ways of
salvation known to men or holy angels.

What could be the moral of the story?

While keeping its core foundation principle, the rule of the immutable law,
the Medo-Persian empirse was a fulfillment of the Biblical prophecy.

However, several generations of rulers later, with its growing power, he
"did as he pleased" (Hebrew: ḵir·ṣō·nōw; from ratson: Favor, goodwill,
acceptance, pleasure, delight, will). This would resemble autocracy,
self-willed and an authoritarian goverment.

Medo-Persia was no longer representing the rule of the law, but self-will
of the emperor, and possibly his oligarchy and oportunity-seeking priesthood.

As the proverb says "historia est magistra vitae", the history is a teacher of
life, we should ask what are the contemporary implications of this prophecy?

Of course, this requires faith that the written Word in the Holy Bible is
inspired by the Holy Spirit speaking to holy prophets and never a prophet's
self-willed interpretation.

Daniel 8:23-26) says that this vision is for the latter days instead, so
it should be sealed.

in the name of the LORD God Creator of the Universe, Maker of Heaven and Earth,
Maker of Adam and Eve,
Almighty (El-Shaddai), Merciful, Longsuffering (Slow to anger),
All-Seeing (El-Roi), All-Hearing (Yishma-El), All-Knowing (El-Deowt),
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and
in the name of the Holy Ghost of God
Amen

a disciple