1. Daniel had a vision in what year of King Belshazzar? (Daniel 8:1).

Note: With this verse the text reverts back to Hebrew. It has been in Aramaic for about the last 6 chapters. The time setting of this verse is 550 B.C. for the third year of King Belshazzar.

2. Where was Daniel taken in his vision? (Daniel 8:2).

Note: Shushan or Susa was for a long time the principal residence of the Persian kings. It was located about 200 miles due east of Babylon on the other side of the Tigris River. The Ulai canal was an artificial waterway that connected 2 rivers.

3. What did Daniel see in his vision? (Daniel 8:3).

Note: The two horns symbolized an empire that was composed of two separate powers. We understand the meaning of this as the Media and Persian empire. Persia was the stronger of the two and it is symbolized by the longer or higher horn. The symbol of the ancient Persians was a ram’s head with 2 horns and one of the horns was longer.

4. What directions was the ram pushing? (Daniel 8:4).

Note: The missing direction is East and the reason being is that Medo-Persia was in the East, therefore the directions it would push would be away from where it originated.

5. Did Daniel see a male goat coming across the surface of the earth without touching the ground? (Daniel 8:5).

Note: The Macedonians were called, anciently, Ageoda, of which this term means the ‘goats people’. The founder of Macedonia was led there by a herd of goats.

This notable or prominent horn was Alexander the Great and he conquered the world faster than anyone had ever done before and in so short of a span of time, a little more than twelve years.

6. What kind of power did the goat charge the ram with? (Daniel 8:6).

Note: The goat charged the ram with furious power, great rage, and savage force. This reflects Alexander’s advancing forces. He left Macedonia in 334 B.C. and led his army against the Persians in July of 332 B.C. In this time period of about 2 years he had conquered all of Asia Minor and the city of Tyre.

7. When the goat attacked the ram what did he break? (Daniel 8:7).

Note: The decisive battle between the Persians and Alexander the Great occurred at Arbella in 331 B.C., 3 years after he had left Macedonia. He had shattered the horns of the ram and for the next 8 years he would trample the eastern part of the Medo-Persian Empire.

8. Did the male goat grow great? (Daniel 8:8).

Note: There are two ways to understand how the male goat became very great. Literally Alexander the Great subjugated more territory than the Babylonians or the Medo-Persians. The other way to understand this is that Alexander became very arrogant with all of his conquests. He began to view himself as a god and required his subjects to bow down and worship him. He became great in his own eyes, just like Nebuchadnezzar..

Note: The large horn that was broken represents the death of Alexander the Great. He died when he was 33 years old in 323 B.C. The term ‘four notable ones’ represents the four generals of Alexander who divided his empire into four parts.

9. Did Daniel in his vision see a little horn come out of one of them and grow exceedingly great? (Daniel 8:9).

Note: Out of one of the four horns, which represents the four generals of Alexander, came a little horn from the East. This was historically fulfilled by a man by the name of Antiochus IV. He usurped the Seleucid throne from his nephew. In 168 B.C. he invaded Egypt in the South and met Roman forces who basically told him to go home. He was very angry and he came back to Jerusalem and vented his anger at the Jewish nation. The term ‘glorious land’ refers to Judea and Jerusalem.

10. Did the little horn cast down some of the host of heaven and trample them? (Daniel 8:10).

Note: The host of heaven represents God’s chosen people and some of them were killed during this period of time. The little horn represents Antiochus IV who fulfilled this by type by conquering Judea and he killed many Jews. He caused the rest of the Jews who didn’t escape to convert to his Greek ways and they were Hellenized. The apocryphal books of First and Second Maccabees are a historical record of this period of time.

11. Did the little horn exalt himself as high as the Prince of the host? (Daniel 8:11).

Note: The ‘Prince of the host’ is referring to Jesus Christ. Antiochus IV believed that he was god in the flesh. He had coins made with his image on them and around the coin was the Greek title Theos Epiphaneus which means ‘God manifest’. He became known as Antiochus Epiphanes. He stopped the daily sacrifices and later erected a statue of Zeus in the Temple and he sacrificed swine on the altar.

12. Did the little horn cause the truth to be cast down to the ground and did he prosper in this? (Daniel 8:12).

Note: Antiochus Epiphanes had control over the Temple, the altar and the sacrifices and caused the Jews to transgress God’s laws and His truth.

13. Did one angel ask another angel how long the sanctuary and the host would be trampled under foot? (Daniel 8:13).

Note: The information that the angel gives is critical to understanding what God reveals to His people as a sign indicating the beginning of the end of the age.

14. What is the time period given till the sanctuary will be cleansed? (Daniel 8:14).

Note: The word ‘days’ in the KJV should be translated as ‘evening-mornings’. See your center margin in your Bible and the NIV translation. The original Hebrew for ‘evenings-mornings’ is the phrase ‘ereb boqer’ which is a compound expression that referred to two sacrifices that God commanded to be offered daily for the people of God. One in the morning and one in the evening. (Exodus 29). With two offerings each day you would divide the 2300 by 2 and that would be 1150 days.

15. Did Daniel seek meaning to the vision that he had received? (Daniel 8:15). Did he see someone having the appearance of a man?

16. Who was to help Daniel to understand the vision? (Daniel 8:16).

Note: This is the first time a righteous angel has been mentioned by name in the Bible.

17. Was Daniel afraid and did he fall on his face? (Daniel 8:17). Was Daniel told that the vision referred to the time of the end?

Note: The vision concerns the time of the end, but not the 2300 sacrifices. It is what happened during the 2300 sacrifices. To Daniel everything in the vision was future. He was in the third year of King Belshazzar (Daniel 8:1) and the Medo-Persian Empire had not risen at this time. For those living at the end time, there is a historical prototype of the actual end time events. We can look back and see a historical fulfillment but not a total fulfillment, only a prototype fulfillment.

18. Was Daniel in a deep sleep? (Daniel 8:18). Did he stand upright when Gabriel touched him?

19. Was Gabriel going to make known to Daniel what shall happen in the latter time? (Daniel 8:19).

Note: Although the vision relates to a specific event that is now history, the main focus of the vision is for the end of the age. It says it two times in this chapter that it is for the end time (Daniel 8:17 & 19).

20. Who did Gabriel reveal the ram with two horns was? (Daniel 8:20).

21. Who did the male goat and the large horn represent? (Daniel 8:21).

Note: The large horn represented Alexander the Great.

22. Who was the broken horn and the four kings that stood up in its place? (Daniel 8:22).

Note: The broken horn represented the death of Alexander the Great. His four generals divided the kingdom into four parts. These kings were Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy and Seleucus.

23. Will a king arise in the latter time with a fierce countenance and be a master of intrigue? (Daniel 8:23).

Note: "The latter time" is a reference to the end time. This king, otherwise known in prophecy as the ‘beast’ will be a king of grim aspect, defiant, a master of stratagem with sinister schemes. He will be very devious. Antiochus Epiphanes fulfilled the prototype, but he did not fulfill the ultimate meaning of this vision. The time of the vision is for the end.

24. Will this king’s power be mighty and will he seek to destroy the holy people? (Daniel 8:24).

Note: This verse says the king will have power "but not by his own power." He will be empowered by Satan the devil (2 Thessalonians 2:9). We are also told that this king receives power as the beast for one hour because the ten kings give their power over to him (Revelation 17:12-13). He will work havoc on the mighty nations and the holy people. He will make a decree that affects everyone within the Christian world (Revelation 13:15-17). He will invade the middle east and conquer many nations (Luke 21:20-24, Daniel 11:40-44). He will destroy the holy people (Revelation 12:17, 6:11). The remnant of the New Testament Church will be attacked with great vengeance. He will make war on the saints (Revelation 13).

25. Will this king be cunning and deceitful? (Daniel 8:25). Will he be filled with vanity and exalt himself? How does Isaiah describe the mind and thinking of this individual? (Isaiah 10:13-14).

Note: He will be subtle, devious and cunning in what he does. He will come and pretend that he is Jesus Christ. He will conquer and people will not realize what happened until he has an iron grip on them. Jesus said that if it were possible the very elect would be deceived (Matthew 24:24). This king or the ‘beast’ will rise up and challenge the ‘Prince of princes’ which is Jesus Christ and he will be broken without human hand, which means he will be broken by Jesus Christ’s divine hand. He will lead human armies to oppose Jesus Christ and His armies at His return (Revelation 17:14).

26. Was Daniel told to seal up the vision for it refers to the future? (Daniel 8:26).

Note: This shows that the evenings and mornings are connected with the time of the end. This is for the future, the end time. However, this vision, Gabriel does not connect the number 2300 with the evenings and mornings. The 2300 has been fulfilled historically. There is another time setting that is connected with the evenings and mornings for the end, as we will see in Daniel 12.

As for Daniel the understanding of the vision was sealed.

What does Jesus reveal to us today in Revelation 1:3 "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near."

Revelation 22:10 "Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand."

Jesus reveals that for us today prophecy is not sealed.

27. Was Daniel sick and astonished by the vision? (Daniel 8:27). Did anyone understand the vision?

Note: Daniel had no way of connecting these events together since there was no historical perspective from which he could draw any conclusions. Antiochus Epiphanes had not lived yet. The Medo-Persian Empire, Alexander the Great, and the Roman Empire had not yet risen at this time.

We today have a historical perspective and can use it to understand clearly what is yet to come and understand the final fulfillment.