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May 17th , 2024

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DANIEL 8: THE VISION OF A RAM AND A GOAT

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The vision kept in Daniel 8 came to the prophet in the third year of the rule of King Belshazzar of Babylon (553-554 B.C.). This was only two years after Daniel's vision of four monsters and a little horn kept in Daniel 7. Just like with the past vision, Daniel didn't completely comprehend the meaning of how the situation was playing out (Daniel 7:19, 28). This vision closes with Daniel saying, "I was amazed by the vision, however nobody grasped it" (Daniel 8:27).

 

In the event that Daniel didn't grasp it in the 6th century B.C., could it at any point be seen today?

 

In reality, the significance of a piece of this vision was uncovered to Daniel (Daniel 8:20), yet some of it obviously stayed hazy to him. The exact subtleties representing things to come that the vision anticipated didn't appear to sound good to him in his age.

 

Today we can comprehend the vision all the more completely since it has been uncovered to us by God in three ways: (1) through the chief heavenly messenger Gabriel addressing Daniel, (2) through different predictions that talk about a similar subject and (3) through verifiable satisfaction.

 

As we will see, this vision is comparative somehow or another to the vision kept in Daniel 7. In any case, this vision gives extra subtleties, particularly in regards to the second and third realms of the four depicted in Daniel 7.

 

The smash with two horns

Daniel 8:3-4 portrays a smash with two horns. Strangely, one horn became higher than the other. In section 20 the chief heavenly messenger Gabriel lets Daniel know that the smash with two horns addresses the "lords of Media and Persia." Historically, Persia addressed the "higher" horn since it was the prevailing force of the Medo-Persian Empire.

 

This part of the vision is a rehashing of what had been uncovered about the second monster in the past section. Discussing this subsequent world-overwhelming power, Daniel 7:5 says, "It was raised up on one side." The Persian side was higher than the side addressing Media. The vision of the second monster in Daniel 7:5 and the slam in Daniel 8:3, 20 both depict the more grounded Persian authority of the Medo-Persian Empire.

 

In Daniel 8:4 this domain is depicted as spreading and vanquishing in three bearings from its capital of Shushan or Susa in Persia. Its most memorable ruler, Cyrus the Great, was forecasted by name in the book of Isaiah, and we are determined what he would achieve 150 years before his introduction to the world (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1-4). Persia's fourth lord was Xerxes I, whose sovereign, as uncovered in the Bible, was Esther (Daniel 11:2; Esther 2:16-18).

 

The goat overcomes the slam

In Daniel 8:5-7 a male goat with an enormous horn between his eyes out of nowhere emerges from the west and crushes the two horns of the slam. The heavenly messenger Gabriel lets Daniel know this goat addresses the realm of Greece and its huge horn is its most memorable lord, which would be demonstrated by later history to be Alexander the Great (Daniel 8:21). After north of 200 years of rule, the Medo-Persian Empire reached a conclusion in 331 B.C.

 

This prediction of a male goat, which addresses similar realm as the third monster of Daniel 7, goes off in an unexpected direction in stanza 8. The huge horn being broken addresses Alexander's awkward demise early on of 33. Not long after vanquishing all terrains from Greece to India, Alexander passed on. His realm was separated into four more fragile realms (Daniel 8:8, 22).

 

By and large, the four divisions were (1) Greece and Macedonia, administered by Cassander; (2) Asia Minor, managed by Lysimachus; (3) Egypt and Palestine, controlled by Ptolemy Soter; and (4) Syria, Babylonia and east to India, governed by Seleucus Nicator. The rest of the prescience then centers around an occasion that was satisfied once before the main happening to Jesus Christ and will be rehashed on a far more noteworthy scale before His subsequent coming, likewise depicted in our article on the "Plague of Desolation."

 

The double importance of the plague of destruction

Jesus' just reference to the book of Daniel is to a future "plague of devastation" (Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14). Yet, starting in Daniel 8:9 we have a prediction of a detestation of destruction that was generally satisfied during the 160s B.C. Obviously, there was to be more than one plague of destruction and the prophetic portrayals given in Daniel were intended to have a double significance.

 

In Daniel 8:9 the primary horrifying presence would come from a "little horn" that would emerge out of the division of the "enormous horn" that was broken (section 8). The "huge horn" addressed Greece and Alexander the Great (refrain 21-22). As opposed to the "little horn" of Daniel 7:8, which went with the 10 horns of the fourth realm (the Roman Empire), the "little horn" of Daniel 8:9 addresses a pioneer that would emerge from one of the divisions of Alexander's Empire (likewise look at Daniel 11:15, 21). Despite the fact that these little horns of Daniel 7 and 8 are various people or pioneers, they share something significant practically speaking: they oppress God's kin.

 

This "little horn" of Daniel 8:9 would do unimaginably detestable things to the Jewish public and the sanctuary site in Jerusalem (Daniel 11:29-31). This "little horn" would end up being Antiochus IV Epiphanes of the Seleucid Empire, likewise called "the ruler of the North."

 

The stanzas that portray this anathema (Daniel 8:9-14) are double in significance. For instance, stanza 11 says, "He even magnified himself as high as the Prince of the host." Verse 25 adds: "He will try and ascend against the Prince of sovereigns." The "Ruler" in the two sections is Jesus Christ. In days of yore, Antiochus IV satisfied the principal anathema. At the hour of the end one who will be a kind of the "little horn" of stanza 9 will emulate Antiochus' example (2 Thessalonians 2:4). The last option will really be a satisfaction of the "little horn" of Daniel 7:8.

 

The Expositor's Bible Commentary makes sense of the gravity of Antiochus' endeavors: "It ought to be seen that the title 'Epiphanes' ('the Illustrious One') likewise conveys the significance of 'exceptionally obvious' or 'manifest.' From his coins we realize that he connected up this Epiphanes with the additional title Theos ('God'). Accordingly the two in mix signified 'Renowned God,' or, more than likely 'God Manifest.'"

 

Daniel was imploring and looking for the significance of the vision kept in Daniel 8 when the holy messenger Gabriel was shipped off make sense of it for him (refrains 15-17). Gabriel said he had come to spread the word for Daniel what might occur in the "last option season of the ire" (refrain 19).The messenger Paul comprehended from Daniel 8, 11 and 12 that such an individual would likewise precede Christ's return (Expositor's, Vol. 7, p.136, remark on 2 Thessalonians 2:4-12).

 

He will remove the day to day forfeits

In the vision Daniel saw that the everyday penances would be gone against by the "little horn," and he was informed that this resistance would keep going for "2,300 days," which would be 2,300 nights and mornings (focus edge) before it would be purged (Daniel 8:12-14). The nights and mornings address the night and morning penances, a sum of 1,150 days before the sanctuary would be scrubbed.

 

The Jewish history specialist Josephus states, "So on the five and twentieth day of the month Casleu [Kislev], which the Macedonians call Apelleus, they lit the lights that were on the candle, and offered incense upon the raised area [of incense]. … Now it so dropped out, that these things were finished on exactly the same day on which their heavenly love had tumbled off, and was decreased to a profane and normal use, following three years' time; for so it was, that the sanctuary was made ruined by Antiochus, thus went on for quite a long time" (Antiquities of the Jews, 12:7:6).

 

Josephus proceeds to say, "And this destruction happened by the prescience of Daniel, which was given 400 and eight years prior" (in the same place., 12:7:7). Judas Maccabaeus, who drove the Jews in the retaking of Jerusalem, commended a celebration for eight days and "from that chance to this we praise this celebration, and call it Lights" (in the same place.). This celebration is called Hanukkah today.

 

The 1,150 days is 70 days longer than three prophetic years (360 x 3 = 1,080). Deciding the exact start and finish of this range of time has demonstrated troublesome. The 1,150 days might apply just to the main plague, or it might have a satisfaction in the end-time evil entity too.

 

The vision is deciphered for Daniel

Daniel was asking and looking for the importance of the vision kept in Daniel 8 when the holy messenger Gabriel was shipped off clear up it for him (stanzas 15-17). Gabriel said he had come to spread the word for Daniel what might occur in the "last option season of the outrage" (section 19). He then made sense of the importance of the smash and the goat, recognizing them as the "rulers of Media and Persia" and "the realm of Greece" (sections 20-21).

 

Stanzas 23-26 are a rehash of sections 9-14, yet with more accentuation on the last evil entity of destruction. There is again a dualism in sections 23-25 that applied to Antiochus in days of yore, yet presently focuses to the last satisfaction discussed by Christ in Matthew 24:15.

 

Discussing this end-time persecutor, Daniel 8:25 notes: "He will try and ascend against the Prince of sovereigns [Christ]; however he will be broken without human means." This is basically the same as the understanding of Nebuchadnezzar's fantasy where Christ, "the stone [that] was removed of the mountain without hands," obliterates the last realm and the plague it will have caused (Daniel 2:44-45).

 

However part of the vision of Daniel 8 has been satisfied by and large, Daniel was told to "seal up the vision, for it alludes to numerous days later" (Daniel 8:26). He was informed to do the equivalent concerning the vision of the Great Tribulation and the hour of the end (Daniel 12:1-4, 9). A similar order to "seal up the vision" or "shut up the words" given in the two parts demonstrates that the segments of these sections are intended for a similar end-time span.

 

 

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