hotcoffee
New Member
Daniel 8:1 In the third year of King Belshazzar’s reign, I, Daniel, had a vision, after the one that had already appeared to me. 2 In my vision I saw myself in the citadel of Susa in the province of Elam; in the vision I was beside the Ulai Canal. 3 I looked up, and there before me was a ram with two horns, standing beside the canal, and the horns were long. One of the horns was longer than the other but grew up later. 4 I watched the ram as it charged toward the west and the north and the south. No animal could stand against it, and none could rescue from its power. It did as it pleased and became great.
When I opened this chapter I remembered reading it when I was going through the Bible cover to cover. While reading from cover to cover I was not using commentaries because I was looking for the story of the Bible as a whole. Now that I'm finally taking the time to break it down segment by segment and studying the commentaries in prayer.... it's actually more interesting than the first reading.
This came from the second commentary I read.
Daniel chapter 8 is a preacher’s nightmare. Even noted scholars hesitate to be dogmatic in their interpretation of this chapter. Daniel himself has not the foggiest notion of the vision’s meaning, even after the angel Gabriel has interpreted the vision for him.
Well I'm not a preacher or a scholar. I'm just a believer reading the Book. I'm using several commentaries and based on what I've seen in the text of those commentaries, they are written by Protestants as well as Catholics. So I'm pulling out the common themes as well as mentioning some passages that make a particular point. I add links for those of you who want to check my research to make sure I got it right.
That said... here I go.... Daniel 8 was written in Hebrew. The commentaries agree on that point. It seems that the previous chapters were written in Aramaic. One of the commentaries says the reason for this is that the vision "indicates a clear focus on the land of Israel and the fate of the Jews".
In the first two verses Daniel tells us that this was his second vision and Belshazzar is still king so the Babylonian Empire is still in control. He says that in the dream he's in Susa. In a commentary I found the location of Susa, and a map that shows what's north, south, and west of this area. I also learned that the books of Esther and Nehemiah were later written in this area.
Susa is 250 miles east of Babylon in modern day Iran. Susa would eventually become one of the capitals of the Persian empire, when almost one hundred years after Daniel's time, the emperor Xerxes would build his royal palace there. Susa is also the site of the main events of the book of Esther. Finally, God's man Nehemiah lived in Susa as the king's cupbearer.
In another commentary I found the following quote about the Ram.
"The ram was the national emblem of Persia, a ram being stamped on Persian coins as well as on the headdress of Persian emperors."
As we already learned from the vision in Daniel 7, the Horns are used to show power. Here the horns are describing Medo-Persia but the dominance of Persia over Media and the rise of Persia after Media.
One of the commentaries explains the directions the Ram is charging in verse 4.
Pushing westward, northward, and southward: The Medo-Persian Empire exerted its power to the north, south, and west. It took territory but made no major conquests towards the east.
"The principle theatre of their wars was against the Scythians, northward; against the Greeks, westward; and against the Egyptians, southward."
"The principle theatre of their wars was against the Scythians, northward; against the Greeks, westward; and against the Egyptians, southward."
________________________________________________
So Daniel is in Babylon, Belshazzar is king, and so the Babylonians are still in power. Daniel is having another vision. This time he's transported to a another place which will become a capital city and he sees a ram representing the Medo-Persian empire, historically.
