And 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; and one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.
Babylon is in its final years when this second vision comes to Daniel. Beside the river he sees no monster this time, but a ram — and its two uneven horns map the empire about to swallow Babylon.
Daniel sees this while Babylon still rules. Yet the vision sets him inside the land of the power that will replace it.
Here we leave the part of the prophecy that deals especially with the Gentile powers. So, as chapter 8 begins, the original text goes back from Aramaic to Hebrew. The vision in this chapter is dated about two years after the one we have just looked at. Gentile powers are still in view, but the main point seems to be what they do to Jerusalem, with its sanctuary and its sacrifices. This vision did not come to Daniel in Babylon. It came in Shushan, a palace of the Medo-Persian empire, the empire that overthrew Babylon. And it must have come just before that overthrow took place.
Persia used the ram as its own emblem, and the place named in verse 2 points the same way.
It was in the east — still further east — "in Susa the citadel, which is in the province of Elam." Elam is the Hebrew name for Persia, or one of its names at least... He lifts up his eyes and sees a ram. The ram was a well-known symbol, used in Persia itself, and very familiar on its monuments and public documents... The point is the mixed make-up of the Persian Empire. It had two parts, unlike the others: the Median came first, and the Persian was the younger of the two. But in time the younger becomes the greater. That is why one horn was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last.
The picture of these empires also changes from the chapter before, and the reason has to do with Israel.
Chapter 7 gives us a bear and a leopard as the symbols of the Persian and Macedonian empires. Chapter 8 pictures them as a ram and a male goat. The reason for the change, we take it, is that this chapter has so much to do with Israel, and that these empires were kind to Israel in their early days. Cyrus and Darius Hystaspes stand out as Israel's helpers, and Alexander the Great showed them great honour.
The chapter itself explains the ram later on, at verse 20. The odd detail — the taller horn coming up second — is the part history confirms.
He sees a ram with two horns, one higher than the other, and this higher horn appearing after the other. Verse 20 tells us this is a picture of the Medo-Persian Empire. The two horns set out the double nature of that empire. The higher horn shows in advance that one part of the empire would gain the upper hand over the other. It also shows that this ruling part would rise last. That is exactly what happened. Darius the Mede crushed the power of Babylon. He then gave place to Cyrus the Persian, who soon became the leading power in the Persian Empire.
The same uneven shape shows up in the earlier vision, in the bear.
The second beast was like a bear. It was the Medes and Persians who overthrew the Babylonian Empire. We are told that the bear raised itself up on one side. That detail is interesting, because it shows the great accuracy of the Spirit of God. Its meaning is given to us in Daniel 8:3, where the same power appears as a ram with two horns, one higher than the other, and the higher coming up last. This is God's way of noting that the Persian part was the stronger one in this double empire, though it was by no means the older.
Daniel is not only shown Persia's rise. He is shown its fall, before that empire had even come to power.
So before the Medo-Persian empire won its victory, Daniel already had a picture of its own overthrow in his mind, since the ram with two horns stood for that power. The Persian horn became the dominant one, but it came up last. For a time the ram was irresistible, doing its own will and pushing in every direction.
- Place — The vision came at Shushan (Susa) in Elam, the Hebrew name for Persia. Daniel stands on the soil of an empire that has not yet risen.
- Symbol — The ram was Persia's own emblem. Chapter 7 called this empire a bear; here it is a ram, because these rulers were kind to Israel.
- Horns — Two horns mark a double empire: Media and Persia. No other world power in these visions was built that way.
- Order — The taller horn came up last. Darius the Mede gave place to Cyrus the Persian, the younger branch that grew the stronger.
- Certainty — Daniel saw Persia's rise, its power, and its fall before Babylon had even fallen. The small details are the proof.
I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward, and no beast could stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; and he did according to his will, and became great.
Daniel sees this ram before the empire it pictures ever rises. Two questions come at once: who is the ram, and what does it mean that a beast does as it pleases and grows great?
Verse 20 names the ram for Daniel. Its two horns, and the odd fact that the taller one grew last, picture one empire in two parts and the rise of its stronger half:
He sees a ram with two horns. One is higher than the other, and the higher one came up after the other. From verse 20 we know this pictures the Medo-Persian Empire, and the two horns show that the empire had two parts. The higher horn foretells that one part of the empire would rise above the other, and that this ruling power would come last. That is exactly what happened. Darius the Mede crushed the power of Babylon, and then gave way to Cyrus the Persian, who quickly took the lead in the Persian Empire. The ram pushing toward the west, north and south foretells the victories of Cyrus and the directions they took. No power could stand against him or block his will.
The choice of animal was not random. These kingdoms already used it of themselves:
It is said that the Persians themselves used a ram as the emblem of their kingdom, and the Macedonians used a goat.
The vision came before Persia rose. In the same picture where the ram is unstoppable, its fall is already in view:
So Daniel saw the overthrow of the Medo-Persian empire before that empire had even won its power, since the ram with two horns stood for it. For a time the ram could not be stopped, doing its own will and pushing in every direction.
Scripture itself shows how far that empire reached:
"I saw the ram charging westward and northward and southward" — that is, the direction of the various conquests of the Persian Empire... Here we see how completely all secular history has to bow to the word of God. But we need not go beyond Scripture itself. Let anyone read the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and he will see how wide and undisputed that dominion was. Even outside the Bible this was the title used of them — "the great king" — and above all of the Persian monarchy.
The verse ends with the ram doing as he pleases. One writer notes what is missing from that picture, and sets it beside the honour God gives Cyrus by name in Isaiah 45:
What is more, he did as he pleased, and became great. He seems to show no recognition of God, no sense that one supreme Being has rights that should be respected on the earth. This is surprising to read, because of the honourable mention Cyrus has in Isaiah 45, though there God does say, "I have given you a name, though you have not known Me." Later in his career than the point at which Daniel sees him, he may have been brought into the light of the knowledge of the Lord.
God gave these empires their power, and they abused it. Yet the believer reading the same history sees what the conquerors never saw:
God gave Israel the truth of one God — they became idolaters. He gave the nations dominion, and they became tyrants who tormented the earth. But while those empires stood, the mind taught by God sees in all the conflict and struggle the fulfilment of God's word, and the means by which He carries out His purpose. He foresees and controls every event, and still man's pride and self-exaltation appear. In the use — or rather the abuse — of the power given to him, man became vile, and God revealed the result to the prophet. The rulers of the world became beasts, and as beasts they will be destroyed. That is how the rule of the nations ends.
The ram grew great, but no man has ever held the whole earth:
The tower of Babel was never finished, and no man will ever rule the whole world, until He comes to whom the whole creation belongs by right. To Him, and to Him alone, every creature in heaven and on earth will be made subject.
- Gift — These empires did not seize their power. God gave it, and they turned it into tyranny.
- Will — The ram's mark is that he did as he pleased. He gave no recognition to God, whose rights stand over the earth.
- Reach — West, north and south trace the real conquests of Medo-Persia. Its two horns were Media first, then the stronger Persia under Cyrus.
- Limit — No one could rescue from his power, yet the same vision had already shown his overthrow.
- End — No man has ever ruled the whole world. That waits for the One to whom the whole creation belongs by right.