Another vision but it’s actually the same vision with slight expansion. There was the vision of the statue in ch 2. There was the vision of the 4 beasts of chapter 7. And now it’s the ram and the goat.
The ram is two-horned with one horn larger than the other. He is a force of destruction. That is until the goat comes charging over the earth on the winds of heaven. He spears the ram and it dies. Then the horn on the ram breaks off and 4 take its place.
We know for certain what this is because the text says so. The ram is the Medo-Persian Empire and the Goat is the Greek empire. We know from history that the horn is Alexander the great who then gave his Empire to his 4 generals.
Then there is another evil that arises, a master of intrigue. He will harm God’s people in terrible ways.
For me this is the same as the little horn of Dan 7. The imagery is the same. And I believe this is a reference to Antiochus Epiphanes. He did great destruction and he came out of the Seleucid kingdom which was one of the 4 horns. He was a master of intrigue but not only that, he brought great destruction on Israel.
What’s interesting about this text is that he says he ruled, but not by his power (v. 24), and he would be taken down, but not by his power (v. 25). Is this a reference of demonic forces he rules by and heavenly forces he is taken down by? We can’t say for sure. But there is definitely a spiritual element here that is easy to miss.
Daniel is appalled by the vision. Understandably. Can you imagine being given a word that your people will suffer “astounding devastation”? That would be terribly distressing.
It doesn’t matter that Daniel wasn’t going to experience. He wasn’t an individual often common in Western thinking. He was an Easterner who sees history through the group and through the distance of history. And it was horrible.
And yet these very things did come to pass. Antiochus slaughtered 80,000 Israelites in his rage as well as sacrificing a pig on the altar. It was terrible times as wickedness temporarily had the upper hand.
But wickedness will never last. The Scripture says he was eventually taken down but not by his own power. He would die a terrible death.
And that’s perhaps the encouragement to us. Wicked will reign for a season and many will suffer. But in the end God gets the last say. And He will not tolerate wickedness to continue forever.
