“As I looked up, I saw a ram with two horns standing beside the river. One of the horns was longer than the other, even though it had grown later than the other one. The ram butted everything out of his way to the west, to the north, and to the south, and no one could stand against him or help his victims. He did as he pleased and became very great.
While I was watching, suddenly a male goat appeared from the west, crossing the land so swiftly that he didn’t even touch the ground. This goat which had one very large horn between its eyes, headed toward the two- horned ram that I had seen standing beside the river, rushing at him in a rage. The goat charged furiously at the ram and struck him, breaking off both his horns. Now the ram was helpless, and the goat knocked him down and trampled him. No one could rescue the ram from the goat’s power.” Daniel 8: 3-7
We have this entire Chapter of Daniel written down for us. We know what Daniel dreamed, and we have our world’s history to confirm the things that took place in those dreams. These things that Daniel dreamed would take place thousands of years later. I don’t know about you, but the sovereignty of our God simply blows me away! The two horns were the kings of Media and Persia. The longer horn represented the growing dominance of Persia in the Medo-Persian Empire.
The goat represented Greece, and its large horn, Alexander the Great. This is an amazing prediction because Greece was not even considered a threatening world power when this prophecy was revealed in Daniel’s vision. Alexander the Great conquered the world with great speed and military strategy, indicated by the goat’s rapid movement. The “breaking off” of both horns means he conquered the Medo-Persian Empire.
“The goat became very powerful. But at the height of his power, his large horn was broken off. In the large horn’s place grew four prominent horns pointing in the four directions of the earth. Then from one of the prominent horns came a small horn whose power grew very great. It extended towards the south and east toward the glorious land of Israel. Its power reached to the heavens, where it attacked the heavenly army, throwing some of the heavenly beings and some of the stars to the ground and trampling them.” Daniel 8: 8-10
I know, it’s hard to keep up with all of the horns mentioned (LOL). Alexander the Great died in his thirties at the height of his power. His kingdom was split into four, with four generals (Now we’ll get into some names): Ptolemy l of Egypt and Palestine, Seleucus of Babylonia and Syria, Lysimachus of Asia Minor, and Antipater of Macedonia and Greece.
Israel (“the glorious land”) was attacked by Antiochus IV Epiphanes (the small horn) in the second century B.C. He was the eighth ruler of the Seleucid Empire (Babylonia and Syria). He overthrew Israel’s High Priest, looted the Temple, and replaced worship of God with a Greek form of worship. A further fulfillment of this prophecy of a powerful horn will occur in the future with the coming of the Antichrist.
“He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call God and every object of worship. He will even sit in the Temple of God, claiming that he himself is God.” 2 Thessalonians 2: 4