Daniel 8:4

Daniel 8:4

2 I saw in the vision, and it so happened while I was looking, that I was in ^aShushan, the citadel, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in the vision that I was by the River Ulai.

3 Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and there, standing beside the river, was a ram which had two horns, and the two horns were high; but one was ^ahigher than the other, and the higher one came up last.

4 I saw the ram pushing westward, northward, and southward, so that no animal could¹ withstand him; nor was there any that could deliver from his hand, ^abut he did according to his will and became great.

5 And as I was considering, suddenly a male goat came from the west, across the surface of the whole earth, without touching the ground; and the goat had a notable ^ahorn between his eyes.

6 Then he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing beside the river, and ran at him with furious power.

7 And I saw him confronting the ram; he was moved with rage against him,¹ attacked the ram, and broke his two horns. There was no power in the ram to withstand him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled him; and there was no one that could deliver the ram from his hand.

8 Therefore the male goat grew very great; but when he became strong, the large horn was broken, and in place of it ^afour notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven.

Commentaries:

Barnes' Notes

<< Daniel 8:3

Daniel 8:5 >>

I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward - Denoting the conquests of the united kingdom. The east is not mentioned, for none of the conquests of the Medo-Persian empire extended in that direction: Yet nothing could better express the conquests actually made by the Medo-Persian empire than this representation. On the west the conquests embraced Babylonia, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Asia Minor; on the north, Colchis, Armenia, Iberia, and the regions around the Caspian Sea; and on the south, Palestine, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Lybia. - Lengerke. This Medo-Persian power is represented as coming from the east. Isaiah 41:2 : "who raised up the righteous man from the east, etc." Isaiah 46:11 : "calling a ravenous bird from the east, etc."

He did according to his will, and became great - This expresses well also the character of the Medo-Persian empire. It extended over a great part of the known world, subduing to itself a large portion of the earth. In its early conquests it met with no successful opposition, nor was it stayed until it was subdued by Greece - as at Leuctra and Marathon, and then as it was finally overthrown by Alexander the Great.

**Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Daniel 8:4:**

1 Kings 22:11
Isaiah 49:8
Daniel 7:7-8
Joel 2:20
Zechariah 11:6

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Daniel 8:5 >>

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