Daniel 8:18 Commentary and Bible Study

Daniel was face down, flat on the ground; the effect of the vision had been to fill him with fear. When he saw what must come to pass – and he knew that nothing could prevent these events from taking place – he was overwhelmed. The vision was so real and the experience of seeing it brought these events so near, that it was as if he had lived through these future horrors himself. Although he still needed an interpretation to make certain things clear to him, he understood enough to know much of what the people of God would suffer in the coming ages. ‘The indignation’ may be a term used for the Babylonian captivity, or it may refer to the suffering meted out to God’s people especially in the final part of the vision at the hands of the little horn. After the captivity, between the end of the seventy years of captivity and the coming of Christ, this is what is going to come to pass. ‘For at the time appointed the end shall be.’ But it is not only about what ends with the coming of Christ, because the next vision in Daniel chapter 9 will take us right through to the end of time. This terrible period of two thousand and three hundred days, about six years, the set time; it is also to be further fulfilled many years into the future, but when it comes it will have an end. But here is the explanation.‘The ram which thou sawest, having two horns, are the kings of Media and Persia.’ That empire had not yet arisen – Daniel was seeing this vision during the third year of the reign of Belshazzar, king of Babylon. Daniel would have been astonished to hear of these worldwide convulsions, even as a statesman. ‘And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.’ Not only will Babylon fall, but their conqueror will also be overcome and replaced. ‘And the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation.’ The great horn is Alexander the Great, who will die young and whereas he ruled over the entire Greek Empire, after he is gone power will no longer be retained in the hands of one king, but four rivals will spring up who will divide the empire by their rivalry. ‘But not in his power’, which might mean that the four who came from Alexander were not of the same glory as Alexander, or it could be saying that they will not reign in their power, but only because God permits it. The explanation is elaborate. There is mystery in the language of the Book of Daniel, but this is an accurate description of what happened. None of Alexander’s successors were as powerful as him.