None:
Polyps:
Strongs:

Greece Subdues The Medes And Persians

Daniel's eighth chapter opens with Daniel's description of a vision he had received of a Ram and a He-Goat.

-- Click To Expand/Collapse Bible Verses -- Dan ch8:v1-8
Dan 8:1 In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first.
Dan 8:2 And I saw in a vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai.
Dan 8:3 Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.
Dan 8:4 I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great.
Dan 8:5 And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.
Dan 8:6 And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power.
Dan 8:7 And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.
Dan 8:8 Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven. (KJV)

Now there is no problem identifying the two entities of the Ram and the He-Goat - they are identified in the text itself.

Dan 8:19 And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be.
Dan 8:20 The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.
Dan 8:21 And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.
Dan 8:22 Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power. (KJV)

So, the Ram is the kingdom of the Medes and Persians and the Goat is the kingdom of Greece. It is important to note that the great horn on the He-Goat is identified with Alexander "The Great", and the two horns of the Ram as the kings of Media and Persia; The higher of the two came last, so we may be sure that the two kings "rotated" from the line of Darius to that of Cyrus etc. Their kingdom is described growing and expanding to the west, north and south so we may assume that the Ram originated in the east (Persia). The Ram is militarily strong, and we know that Darius had a huge military, and by brute force conquered. There was no comparable military power of the day that could be added to another by aid in order to defeat him. Therefore his army was, truly massive.

The latter king of the higher horn, grew great and did as he "willed" - there were no "partners" with other kingdoms, the king ruled alone despite the union of the Medes with the Persians. The result is that the king grew great, (to almost legend.)

The Goat is described coming from the west in great numbers (or from the acquisition of great amounts of territory) at great speed, (touching not the ground) - namely the forces of Alexander. He defeated the Ram by piercing his vanguard (a tactic of Alexander) breaking the strength of the military might of the Medes and Persians in one move. The Ram had no "power" or tactic to defeat this fast moving flanking and piercing manoeuvre. None could deliver them from defeat, (most likely because they had no partners with armies left to aid them.)

The Greeks cast the Ram down to the ground and stamped on him. - A picture that his rule was broken from top to bottom so that he could not rise up again, he was utterly defeated without any possibility of resurgence.

Alexander the great grew stronger and died suddenly in his full strength of power, without heir - leaving his dominion to be divided amongst his four generals; Cassander, Seleucus, Ptolemy and Lysimachus.

 


Continue To Next Page

Return To Section Start