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Texts -- Daniel 8:1-18 (NET)

Context
Daniel Has a Vision of a Goat and a Ram
8:1 In the third year of King Belshazzar’s reign , a vision appeared to me , Daniel , after the one that had appeared to me previously . 8:2 In this vision I saw myself in Susa the citadel , which is located in the province of Elam . In the vision I saw myself at the Ulai Canal . 8:3 I looked up and saw a ram with two horns standing at the canal . Its two horns were both long , but one was longer than the other . The longer one was coming up after the shorter one. 8:4 I saw that the ram was butting westward , northward , and southward . No animal was able to stand before it, and there was none who could deliver from its power . It did as it pleased and acted arrogantly . 8:5 While I was contemplating all this, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of all the land without touching the ground . This goat had a conspicuous horn between its eyes . 8:6 It came to the two-horned ram that I had seen standing beside the canal and rushed against it with raging strength . 8:7 I saw it approaching the ram . It went into a fit of rage against the ram and struck it and broke off its two horns . The ram had no ability to resist it. The goat hurled the ram to the ground and trampled it. No one could deliver the ram from its power . 8:8 The male goat acted even more arrogantly . But no sooner had the large horn become strong than it was broken , and there arose four conspicuous horns in its place , extending toward the four winds of the sky . 8:9 From one of them came a small horn . But it grew to be very big , toward the south and the east and toward the beautiful land. 8:10 It grew so big it reached the army of heaven , and it brought about the fall of some of the army and some of the stars to the ground , where it trampled them. 8:11 It also acted arrogantly against the Prince of the army , from whom the daily sacrifice was removed and whose sanctuary was thrown down . 8:12 The army was given over , along with the daily sacrifice, in the course of his sinful rebellion . It hurled truth to the ground and enjoyed success . 8:13 Then I heard a holy one speaking . Another holy one said to the one who was speaking , “To what period of time does the vision pertain– this vision concerning the daily sacrifice and the destructive act of rebellion and the giving over of both the sanctuary and army to be trampled ?” 8:14 He said to me, “To 2,300 evenings and mornings ; then the sanctuary will be put right again.”
An Angel Interprets Daniel’s Vision
8:15 While I , Daniel , was watching the vision , I sought to understand it. Now one who appeared to be a man was standing before me. 8:16 Then I heard a human voice coming from between the banks of the Ulai . It called out , “Gabriel , enable this person to understand the vision .” 8:17 So he approached the place where I was standing . As he came , I felt terrified and fell flat on the ground . Then he said to me, “Understand , son of man , that the vision pertains to the time of the end .” 8:18 As he spoke with me, I fell into a trance with my face to the ground . But he touched me and stood me upright .

Pericope

NET
  • Dan 8:1-14 -- Daniel Has a Vision of a Goat and a Ram
  • Dan 8:15-27 -- An Angel Interprets Daniel's Vision

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Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • Elam was the land of the Elamites who lived in Mesopotamia somewhat east of the Babylonians (in modern southwest Iran). We know little about the history of the Elamites, and their inclusion in a collection of judgments agains...
  • One stylistic characteristic is Ezekiel's autobiographical perspective. Almost all of his oracles (except 1:2-3; 24:24) appear in the first person giving the impression that they are memoirs of a true prophet of Yahweh. Howev...
  • 1:22 Ezekiel also saw something like a clear expanse (Heb. raqia', firmament, Gen. 1:6; Ps. 19:1; 150:1; Dan. 12:3) of ice (Heb. qerah, crystal) over the heads of these four living creatures. Rather than being empty space thi...
  • 2:1 Yahweh instructed Ezekiel to stand on his feet because the Lord wanted to speak with him."Not paralysis before him is desired by God, but reasonable service. . . . It is man erect, man in his manhood, with whom God will h...
  • There is little doubt among conservative scholars that Daniel himself wrote this book under the Holy Spirit's guidance. Probably he did so late in his life, which could have been about 530 B.C. or a few years later. Several P...
  • Theologically the book stresses the sovereignty of God."The absolute sovereignty and transcendence of God above all angels and men literally permeates the book."11"The theme running through the whole book is that the fortunes...
  • Daniel is a book of prophecy."Among the great prophetic books of Scripture, none provides a more comprehensive and chronological prophetic view of the broad movement of history than the book of Daniel. Of the three prophetic ...
  • The Book of Daniel contains many unique and significant emphases. I would like to point out some of these first before we organize them into an explanation of what God has given us this book to reveal.Theologically Daniel str...
  • I. The character of Daniel ch. 1A. Historical background 1:1-2B. Nebuchadnezzar's training program for promising youths 1:3-7C. Daniel's resolve to please Yahweh 1:8-13D. The success of the test 1:14-16E. God's blessing of Da...
  • 1:17 In addition to favor with their overseers, God gave Daniel and his three friends the ability to master the subjects they studied and wisdom in these matters (cf. James 1:5). They may have thought that Nebuchadnezzar had ...
  • "As interpreted by conservative expositors, the vision of Daniel [in chapter 7] provides the most comprehensive and detailed prophecy of future events to be found anywhere in the Old Testament."235"The vision's setting in the...
  • 7:1 We have already read of two dreams that Nebuchadnezzar had (2:1; 4:5). Now God gave one to Daniel. It too was a vision from God that came to Daniel as he slept."In referring to the experience as a dream' (sing.) Daniel wa...
  • 7:15-16 Even though Daniel understood all kinds of visions and dreams (1:17), much of what he had just seen baffled and alarmed him (cf. 7:28). He now saw himself participating in the events of his vision. He evidently addres...
  • Chapter 7 recorded the general history of "the times of the Gentiles,"from the time Nebuchadnezzar took the Jews into captivity until the Son of Man's return to the earth. Chapter 8 reveals more detail about the second (Persi...
  • 8:2 Evidently Daniel was in Babylon when he had this vision, but what he saw, including himself, was in Susa (Shushan, AV; cf. Ezek. 8:3; 40:1).293Daniel probably knew where he was in his vision because he had visited Susa. I...
  • 8:5 The text also identifies the male goat--goats are relatives of sheep--in this vision as representing Greece (v. 21). History has confirmed the identification. Alexander the Great is clearly the conspicuous horn. Normally ...
  • 8:9 Daniel next saw a rather small horn (king, v. 23) grow out of one of the four horns (kingdoms, v. 22) that had replaced the single horn (the first king, v. 21) on the goat (Greece, v. 21). This horn is quite clearly diffe...
  • 8:15-16 As in the previous vision (7:16), Daniel needed help understanding what he had seen. He saw someone who looked like a man standing before him. Evidently this was an angel. Daniel also heard a voice that he could under...
  • As we sometimes feel exhausted after a night's sleep in which we have been very active in a dream, so Daniel felt worn out by what he had seen in his vision. This experience so drained him of energy that he was sick for sever...
  • This chapter records a third vision that Daniel received (cf. chs. 7, 8). The vision itself occupies only a small part of this chapter (vv. 24-27), but the verses that precede it prepare for it and connect with it."In many re...
  • 9:1 What Daniel did and saw in this chapter dates from 538 B.C., the first year of Darius the Mede's (Cyrus') rule as king over the former Neo-Babylonian Empire (cf. Ezra 1:1).347This means that Belshazzar's feast (ch. 5) occ...
  • God began responding to Daniel's prayer as soon as he began praying (cf. v. 19; Luke 11:10-13). Clearly the prayer recorded in the preceding verses was only a summary of what the prophet prayed since he prayed long and hard (...
  • 10:15 Apparently the angel's explanation about the angelic conflict was something about which Daniel had known nothing. His only reaction to this information, on top of the vision that he had just seen, was to bow his head an...
  • 10:20 The angel asked if Daniel knew why he had come to him. He apparently did this to focus the prophet's attention on the vision to follow anew since Daniel was quite weak.The angel informed Daniel that he needed to return ...
  • This revelation begins at the same place as the vision of the ram and the goat in chapter 8. It begins with the second kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar's image (ch. 2) and with the second of the four beasts (ch. 7), namely, Medo-Per...
  • 11:3 The mighty king who arose and did as he pleased proved to be Alexander the Great (cf. 2:32, 39b; 7:6; 8:5-8, 21). He was, of course, Greek. His invasion of the Persian Empire was in large part retaliation for Xerxes' att...
  • God gave more information about the following individual than He did about all the preceding ones combined. The reason is his devastating influence on the Jews. During his tenure as king Syria was in decline and Rome gained p...
  • 11:40 Finally the very end time will arrive (cf. vv. 27, 35; 12:4, 9). Then this king will be the focus of attack by the king of the South (cf. vv. 42-43), a power south of Palestine, and the king of the North, a force to its...
  • Albright, William F. From Stone Age to Christianity. 2nd ed. New York: Doubleday Press, Anchor Books, 1957.Aalders, G. C. Daniel. Koorte Verklaring servies. The Netherlands: Kampen, 1965.Albrektson, Bertil. History and the Go...
  • Having given a general description of conditions preceding His return and the end of the present age, Jesus next described one particular event that would be the greatest sign of all.24:15 "Therefore"or "So"(Gr. oun) ties thi...
  • 1:8-9 Zechariah was serving God faithfully by discharging some temple function as a member of his priestly division. There were so many priests then that the great privilege of offering incense on the golden incense altar in ...
  • The Apostle John wrote these opening verses to introduce to his readers the main subject dealt with in this book and his purpose for writing it.1:1 "The revelation of Jesus Christ"is the subject of this book. "Revelation"mean...
  • John's response to this revelation was similar to Daniel's response to the vision God gave him (cf. Dan. 10:7-9). Jesus then proceeded to give John more information about what He wanted him to do.1:17 This revelation of Jesus...
  • 5:6 As with our dreams, John's vision contained some unusual features. John saw the Messiah as a Lamb.229The Lamb is a symbol of Jesus Christ at His first advent, meek and submissive to a sacrificial death as our substitute (...
  • 10:1 Whereas a few commentators have identified this strong angel as Jesus Christ,341the evidence for his being simply another (Gr. allon, another of the same kind) strong angel seems more convincing (cf. vv. 5-6). Other comm...
  • This pericope furnishes the plot for the drama that unfolds in the rest of the chapter.12:1 John saw a "sign,"something that signified or represented something else (cf. v. 3; 13:13-14; 15:1; 16:14; 19:29). Usually John used ...
  • 22:8 John resumed addressing the reader, which he had not done since 1:1, 4, and 9. He affirmed the angel's words that the prophecy was genuine. He himself had heard and had seen the things that he had recorded (cf. Dan. 8:15...
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