©Shannon Gist
Chapter 8:1-4, 15-20 (ESV) - In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first. And I saw in the vision; and when I saw, I was in Susa the citadel, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in the vision, and I was at the Ulai canal. I raised my eyes and saw, and behold, a ram standing on the bank of the canal. It had two horns, and both horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. I saw the ram charging westward and northward and southward. No beast could stand before him, and there was no one who could rescue from his power. He did as he pleased and became great…
When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it. And behold, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. And I heard a man's voice between the banks of the Ulai, and it called, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.” So he came near where I stood. And when he came, I was frightened and fell on my face. But he said to me, “Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end.”
And when he had spoken to me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground. But he touched me and made me stand up. He said, “Behold, I will make known to you what shall be at the latter end of the indignation, for it refers to the appointed time of the end. As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia.
Question to consider: Why would Daniel have multiple dreams about the same nations?
King Belshazzar reigned for about twelve years, starting in 550 BC when his father, Nabonidus, went into exile, and ending at his death in 339 BC at the hand of the Medes and Persians. If Daniel received the first vision during the first year of his reign and this vision during the third year of his reign, it is no wonder that he did not seem very fond of Belshazzar when he was forced to interact with him. He knew from the writing on the wall that the time had come for the ram of this vision to charge into Babylon.
We know the ram referred to the kings of Media and Persia because of the verses I included at the end of the vision with the angel’s explanation. I’ll go back and include the rest of the vision and explanation tomorrow.
While Daniel had the vision in Babylon, in it he found himself in Susa, in Persia by a canal called Ulai. The ram standing by the canal may be considered foreshadowing for how they would breach the city of Babylon. At the point in which the rivers entered into the city of Babylon, Cyrus had the army divert the waters so that the army could enter them without drowning. The Babylonian army had taken refuge inside the city where they had stored up provisions for many days thinking they were protected by the enormous city walls. By diverting the canal, the Persian army was able to sneak in and take Babylon by surprise.
Just like the uneven shoulders of the bear, the uneven horns of the ram depicted the power of the Persian king, Cyrus, over the weaker Darius of the Medes.
Even though the visions of Daniel seemed to parallel each other, along with the one given to king Nebuchadnezzar, it is worth noting that they contained different details. Nebuchadnezzar’s contained details that would be meaningful to him, Daniel’s first vision was still in Aramaic and so would have been shared with his contemporaries in Babylon, and the remaining visions and text in this book were written in Hebrew and geared toward the future of Israel.
This is the first mention of the angel Gabriel who, according to his own testimony, “stands in the presence of God.” (Luke 1:19) Gabriel was sent to give Daniel visions about the eschaton (the last days). We’ll get into more detail later about what this means, but it is worth noting that the only other time in scripture we see Gabriel was to announce the coming of the Christ and His forerunner, John the Baptizer. I would argue that the New Testament appearing of Gabriel was to announce the fulfillment of the Messianic kingdom promise he gave to Daniel.
Because of Gabriel’s fearsome and holy presence, Daniel fainted and had to be revived and assured by Gabriel that he was there to bring him the word of the LORD.
Dear heavenly Father, thank You for sending Gabriel to announce the coming of Your everlasting kingdom so that we could recognize its fulfillment in Christ. We pray for Christ’s quick return to put an end to sin and death. Amen.