Daniel 8A Ram and Goat

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

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In Daniel 8:1-14, we learn of another vision the prophet Daniel received from the LORD. This vision includes Daniel seeing a Ram with two horns and a Goat with one large horn.

Daniel received the visions of Chapters 7 & 8 before Chapter 5. Daniel 8 occurs during the 3rd year of Belshazzar’s reign (8:1-2) and in this vision, Daniel sees the Ram that had two horns. This represented the Medo-Persian Empire. One horn was higher (more powerful), similar to the lopsidedness of the bear of Daniel 7. Persia (the higher horn) exercised more power than Media. These two kingdoms in one empire is symbolized by the Ram w/two horns. This Ram expanded to the west, north and south.

After Daniel sees the Ram, he then sees a Goat, which is exceptionally fast moving. The Goat had one horn between its eyes – normally goats have two horns. Historically, the horn represents Alexander the Great coming from the West (Greece).

Daniel saw that the Goat had furious power and confronted the Ram with rage (vv6-7). This is in response to the Medo-Persian assaults that occurred against Greece previously in history. The Goat attacked the Ram, broke his two horns and trampled him. The Goat overcame Ram and swallowed up its kingdom as kingdoms/empires did in those days. The Goat did whatever he pleased (as allowed by God) and no one could withstand Goat. God gave the Goat the freedom and ability to do whatever he wanted though of course, Alexander the Great simply did not recognize God’s hand in the matter.

Regarding Alexander the Great, Josephus records Alexander came to Jerusalem by way of Syria. He captured Damascus, then Sidon, then Tyre for 7 months. Because of the intensity of the campaign, Alexander demanded supplies from Jadda, the High Priest in Jerusalem, but Jadda refused deferring to Darius of Persia, who was in control then.

Alexander destroyed Tyre then went to Gaza and conquered. Then Alexander besieged Jerusalem – eventually killed High Priest
and sacked the gold of the Temple. This was always done not just to increase the conqueror’s wealth, but to make a statement about that conquered empire’s God(s). To overcome another empire meant that the gods of the conquering empire were stronger than the gods of the conquered empire. Often, not just gold was taken from a sacked empire’s temple, but artifacts representing that conquered empire’s God/gods were taken as well.

According to Josephus, Jadda had been warned in a dream not to resist Alexander so when he saw Alexander approaching, he went to meet him. Allegedly Alexander had had a dream of High Priest where he told Alexander he would subjugate Persia. Alexander offered as sacrifice as Gentiles did and the High Priest then showed Alexander prophecies of Daniel 8 & 11. Alexander believed the prophecies and went to conquer Persian Empire. Fascinating the way God works, often revealing things in prophetic discourse way in advance of the actual occurrences as proof that He and He alone controls history future.

Eventually, Alexander died from suffering a high fever, a debauched lifestyle and other things and he wasn’t yet 32 years of age. His empire broke into four sections as signified by the “four horns” in Daniel 8:9.

The new four horns were:

• Lysimachus (northern part of Grecian Empire)
• Cassander (western part)
• Seleucus (eastern part)
• Ptolemy (southern part)

“And out of one of them came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Glorious Land.” (v9)

It is important to note that the “little horn” here in Daniel 8 is not the same as the little horn of Daniel 7. The little horn here in Daniel 8 is a type of Antichrist and historically, there have been numerous types of Antichrists in the Bible.

Nimrod of Genesis 10-11 is considered a type of Antichrist. He was able to gather all people at that time to himself and together they chose to build a tower to reach the heavens. From there, they were hoping to both “bring God down” to them and also be able to gain access to heaven to overthrow God Himself (Psalm 2). This is exactly what globalists are attempting to do today. They hope to create their own new world order over which they fully control. Beyond this, their aim is to, through the use of transhumanism, gain eternal life. This is Satan’s pitiful attempt at being God, to offer his followers eternal life apart from gaining salvation through Jesus. It will end in abysmal failure but for now, they are deluded enough to believe their attempts will succeed. Interestingly enough, they are currently using all types of experimentation on society to find out what works and what doesn’t. If people die in the process, that’s fine with them as well, since they also believe there are too many people living on this planet.

This little horn of Daniel 8:9 is also a type of Antichrist and history identifies this little horn as Antiochus IV, also called “Epiphanes” meaning “God manifest,” referring to himself as God. The text tells us he grew great toward:

• the South
• the East, and
• the Glorious land (generally acknowledge as the area of Palestine)

The vantage point for the area from which he grew great is Syria. This little horn is a type of little horn that will appear during the Tribulation period as Antichrist (second half of Daniel 8). In both cases, the little horn came up/comes up from among other kings but was not one of the original kings (the four horns in Daniel 8 or the 10 kings of Revelation 17).

Antiochus IV was the 8th king of the Seleucid dynasty and he ruled as king from 175 to 164 BC (1 Macc 1:10; 6; 16). He conducted military campaigns in all those directions. Here in Daniel 8, the vision begins to focus on future Israel and the Jews. In fact, much of this vision is future to Daniel, but the second half of the chapter is still yet future from our perspective. Antiochus was especially vengeful against the Jews whom he persecuted brutally (Constable) and Whitcomb notes he was one of Israel’s worst persecutors ever.

Ancient sources regarding Antiochus are 1 & 2 Maccabees and Josephus. Antiochus killed 40,000 Jews in just one assault on Jerusalem and he also took 10,000 Jews into captivity. In 168 BC Antiochus wanted to expand his kingdom to the south in Egypt but was thwarted from attacking Alexandria by Roman Commander Popilius Laenas because Rome was growing into an empire at this time. Antiochus took out his rage on the Jews as he proceeded north back to Syria.

In 164 BC, Judas Maccabaeus (the Hammer; Jewish nationalist), led the Jews to rededicate Temple. This became known as Hanukkah.

“And [little horn] grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them.” (Daniel 8:10)

This phrase likely refers to Jewish people (as numerous as stars of heaven). It also includes an attempted assault on God through His people. This occurs whenever anyone attempts to destroy the Jews, which is happening now in the Middle East since the October 7 massacre of innocent, unarmed Jewish people attending a music festival. Some believe “stars” refers to angels but how could a human being harm angels? It is more likely it refers to Jewish people.

Antiochus not only destroyed many “stars” but also desecrated the Jewish Temple. By doing so, Antiochus exalted himself to a position greater than Yahweh in his mind. Seemingly, God did not respond to Antiochus’ desecration therefore Antiochus believed he was greater than God. This was often the mindset of ancient people who conquered other empires.

Through this process, Antiochus temporarily terminated constant sacrifices. Verse 12 notes God allowed Antiochus to do this because of “transgression” of Jews – God used him as arm of discipline on God’s wayward people. Whether Antiochus destroyed temple then is debatable, but he certainly made it worthless as a place to sacrifice and worship. Antiochus’ actions look forward to the actions of Antichrist that will occur during the coming Tribulation period (2 Thessalonians 2).

In verse 13, Daniel hears “holy ones” talking about how long would host and sanctuary be trampled under foot? The answer given is 2,300 days. This is a tough nut to crack as there are numerous interpretations. This number could be the time between 167 – 164 BC, which translates to a total of 1,150 24-hour days (three years, two months and 10 days). During this period, Antiochus did whatever he wanted to temple and the Jews as God allowed. It is also possible that this period of time refers to Antichrist during future  Tribulation period.

If so, it would begin with abomination of desolation by Antichrist as he sits in the Temple declaring himself God (2 Thessalonians 2). The number – 2,300 – is not figurative because the other numbers in Daniel are not figurative. Ken Johnson believes the 2,300 days represents literal days that start in the middle of Tribulation when Antichrist desecrates Temple. It goes until dedication of the Millennial Temple.

Next time, we will look at Daniel 8:15-27 and compare the little horn with the Antichrist of the latter days.

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective