Living in an Alien Culture
Daniel 8
1. Two sections to chapter
a. Verses 1-14: Vision of the Ram and the Goat
b. Verses 15-27: Interpretation of the Vision
2. Ram and Goat: Interpreted in verse 20-21
a. Ram with two horns: “represents the kings of Media and Persia”
b. Shaggy goat: represents “the kingdom of Greece, and the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king.”
3. Review of chart for images from Daniel 2 and 7
Daniel 2 Statue
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Daniel 7 Beasts
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Kingdom
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Years
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Head of gold
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Lion with wings of an eagle
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Babylon
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605-539
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Chests & arms of silver
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Bear
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Medo-Persia
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539-330
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Middle & thighs of bronze
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Leopard with wings of a bird
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Greece
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330-63
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Legs of iron, feet of clay
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Beast with iron teeth
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Rome
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63-
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· Chart from: James M. Hamilton Jr., God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgment: A Biblical Theology(Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2010), 330.
4. Vision: When and Where
a. When: Two years after dream of chapter 7 (550/549 B.C.)
b. Where: Susa
“The significance of the location is probably that it was outside of the Babylonian empire and near the center of future power.”[1]
5. Ram and Goat: Political empires
6. Language of “magnify himself/itself”: vv. 4, 7b-8a, 11, 25
a. Political rulers tend to exalt themselves
b. There is the “small horn” of v 9ff which “even magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host [God]” (v 11)
c. Fights even against heaven (the realm of God)
d. Political rulers tend to deify themselves
i. Herod (Acts 12.20-23)
ii. Beast (Revelation 13.11-18)
7. Goat: 4 horns and one small horn
a. Goat with large horn is the first king of Greece: Alexander the Great (died 323 B.C.)
b. Four horns: four generals
i. Cassander: Macedonia and Greece
ii. Lysimachus: Thrace and Asia Minor
iii. Seleucus: Northern Syria, Mesopotamia, and regions to the east
iv. Ptolemy: Southern Syria, Palestine and Egypt
c. Small horn: Seleucid king Antiochus IV (175-164 B.C.)
8. Antiochus IV
a. Used the phrase Epiphanes—“God manifest”
b. Sought to bring his kingdom under one religion
c. Persecuted the Jews mercilessly
i. 1 Maccabees 1.41-51
ii. Murdered Jewish babies who were circumcised and hung them around their mother’s necks, and hurling them down from the walls of Jerusalem
iii. December 25, 167 B.C.
1. Dedicates temple to Zeus
2. Offers a pig as a sacrifice on altar
3. Burned Torah scrolls
9. “How long?” (v 13)
a. God does nothing
b. People of God cry out for justice (Psalm 74)
10. “He will destroy… but he will be broken” (vv 24-25)
a. Evil wins for a season
b. But God conquers
11.“The End” (vv 17, 19)
a. The end of all things?
b. The end of the wickedness of Antiochus?
