-Daniel 8, 2nd beast kingdom given to the 3rd system.
1In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel,
2And 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.
-Verse 1 dates when the prophecy was.
(Daniel) recorded the vision in the (third year) of the reign of (Belshazzar)—550 b.c.
He was at (Shushan), at the palace in (the province of Elam) (verse 2).
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.
4I 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” (world rule).
-what is this mysterious ram referred to in verse 3?
God reveals the answer in verse 20:
The (ram) which thou sawest having (two horns) are (the kings of Media (and) Persia).
-the Meds then the stronger persians, world ruling kingdom number two.
5And 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).
God reveals the answer to this to in verse 21
And the rough (goat) is (the king of Grecia):
and (the great horn) that is between his eyes is the (first king).
The goat represents the Greco-Macedonian Empire,
and the notable horn stands for its first king— (Alexander the Great).
6And 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.
7And 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.
Alexander’s empire overwhelmed the Medo-Persians in 331 b.c.,
just as verses 6 and 7 prophesied it would!
8Therefore 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.
-The horn that represented the first Grecian king,Alexander, was suddenly broken.
Alexander the Great, at the height of his power, died of fever suddenly while in Babylon.
He was only 33 years old.
“Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it,
four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.”
-After Alexander died in 323 b.c., his kingdom was divided into (four major parts),
none of which were as strong as Alexander’s empire, .
9And (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.
-First, so there is no confusion, this is not referring to the
(little horn) mentioned in Daniel 7:8. That little horn rose up in the midst of the other horns.
In Daniel 8:9, the little horn springs up out of one of the four horns from Alexander’s empire.
10And 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
this little horn in Daniel 8 is: Antiochus Epiphanes.
Antiochus IV Epiphanes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
He came up out of one of the four divisions and, in a sense, bridged
the gap between the Greco-Macedonian Empire and the Roman Empire.
Antiochus was a ruthless dictator who, through deceitful
lies and flatteries, obtained rule in Palestine in 176 b.c.
In 168 b.c., Antiochus pillaged and desecrated the Jews’ temple in Jerusalem.
He also burdened the Jews with unbearable taxes.
But never before, neither under the Assyrians nor under the Babylonians,
had it received such a blow as the edict issued by Antiochus Epiphanes by which
he hoped to crush and destroy the faith of Israel
-This prophecy in Daniel also applies to an end-time Antiochus.
His goal will be to crush the faith of (spiritual) Israel—God’s Church.
