Chapter 8:5-8, 21-22 (ESV) - As I was considering, behold, a male goat came from the west across the face of the whole earth, without touching the ground. And the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. He came to the ram with the two horns, which I had seen standing on the bank of the canal, and he ran at him in his powerful wrath. I saw him come close to the ram, and he was enraged against him and struck the ram and broke his two horns. And the ram had no power to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled on him. And there was no one who could rescue the ram from his power. Then the goat became exceedingly great, but when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and instead of it there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven…
And the goat is the king of Greece. And the great horn between his eyes is the first king. As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power.
Question to consider: Which nation is represented by the goat in this vision?
In the three visions of the four kingdoms, Greece has been portrayed as the torso and thighs of bronze to Nebuchadnezzar, the leopard in Daniel’s first vision, and the one-horned goat in his second vision. The idea was that Greece was swift and unstoppable in taking over the world.
Each of the four nations in these visions brought about important changes to the world. Nebuchadnezzar opened up the trade routes from the Mediterranean to the East. The Medes and the Persians were a blunt instrument used by God to destroy the Babylonian empire and judge the nations surrounding Israel. In the midst of this chaos, God moved the heart of the Persian kings to allow the Jews to return to Israel and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple.
Alexander the Great, the conspicuous horn between the eyes of the goat in today’s vision, swiftly took over the world and introduced Hellenistic culture and education. The entire world was united in the language of koine (common) Greek. This was the language used for much of the New Testament writings, and it allowed for the Gospel to be preached to all nations.
The fourth kingdom, Rome, would further unite the world with its highway system so that Christians could go into all nations and make disciples. So as brutal as this history was across the four kingdoms, all served to turn the small, heavenly kingdom of Christ into a mountain that filled the whole world.
Alexander the Great was born in 536 BC which was three years after the death of Belshazzar. If Daniel had this vision nine years before that, it means that this vision depicted a king who would not rise to power for about thirty years. I don’t care how politically connected Daniel may have been, he could not have predicted this chain of events on his own.
Alexander would be poisoned to death in 523 BC (the broken horn), and the kingdom would be divided by his four generals: Cassander over Macedon and Greece, Lysimachus over Thrace and Asia Minor, Seleucus over Syria and Babylon, Ptolemy over Egypt. Thus, the vision described that from the broken horn arose four horns toward the four winds of heaven.
Dear heavenly Father, thank You for working to bring about Your glorious plan in the midst of a sinful world that continually sets its will against You. Help us to be Your instruments of redemption in a wicked generation so that many can be reconciled to You through Christ Jesus. Amen.