Scripture Daily

Context No. 3494 of 4322 · Daniel (Greek)

Context · Reflection

Daniel (Greek) 8:1-8: in context

1In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me, even to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first. 2I saw the vision. Now it was so, that when I saw, I was in the citadel of Susa, which is in the province of Elam. I saw in the vision, and I was by the river Ulai. 3Then I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, a ram which had two horns stood before the river. The two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. 4I saw the ram pushing westward, northward, and southward. No animals could stand before him. There wasn’t anyone who could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and magnified himself. 5As I was considering, behold, a male goat came from the west over the surface of the whole earth, and didn’t touch the ground. The goat had a notable horn between his eyes. 6He came to the ram that had the two horns, which I saw standing before the river, and ran on him in the fury of his power. 7I saw him come close to the ram, and he was moved with anger against him, and struck the ram, and broke his two horns. There was no power in the ram to stand before him; but he cast him down to the ground, and trampled on him. There was no one who could deliver the ram out of his hand. 8The male goat magnified himself exceedingly. When he was strong, the great horn was broken; and instead of it there came up four notable horns toward the four winds of the sky.

Daniel sees a vision of a ram and a goat, later revealed to represent the empires of Media-Persia and Greece. What is striking in the imagery is the repeated theme of self-exaltation and its sudden end. The ram did as it pleased and magnified itself, until the goat charged in and shattered its two horns.

Then the goat magnified itself greatly in turn, and just when it was strong, at the very height of its power, its great horn was suddenly broken. Empire after empire rises, exalts itself, seems unstoppable, and then is broken at the peak of its strength. There is a sobering pattern here: earthly powers that magnify themselves are cut down, and often precisely when they appear invincible. Human pride and empire do not last; God sets the times of their rising and of their fall. Every power that exalts itself will, in God's own time, be broken, as surely as the goat's great horn snapped at the moment of its greatest strength.

Do I hold the powers and pride of this world in perspective, remembering that whatever exalts itself will, in God's time, be broken, and that lasting hope is only in his eternal kingdom?

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