Daniel 8:20

20 The ram which thou sawest that had the horns is the king of the Medes and Persians.

Daniel 8:20 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 8:20

The ram which thou sawest having two horns
Here begins the particular explanation of the above vision, and of the first thing which the prophet saw in it, a ram with two horns: which two horns, he says, are the kings of Media and Persia;
Darius the first king was a Mede, and Cyrus, that succeeded him, or rather reigned with him, was a Persian: or rather the ram with two horns signifies the two kingdoms of the Medes and Persians united in one monarchy, of which the ram was an emblem; (See Gill on Daniel 8:3) for Darius and Cyrus were dead many years before the time of Alexander; and therefore could not personally be the two horns of the ram broken by him; nor is it to be understood of the kings of two different families, as the one of. Cyrus, and the other of Darius Hystaspes, in whose successors the Persian monarchy continued till destroyed by Alexander, as Theodoret.

Daniel 8:20 In-Context

18 And while he spoke with me, I fell upon my face to the earth: and he touched me, and set me on my feet.

19 And he said, Behold, I make thee know the things that shall come to pass at the end of the wrath: for the vision yet for an appointed time.

20 The ram which thou sawest that had the horns is the king of the Medes and Persians.

21 The he-goat is the King of the Greeks: and the great horn which was between his eyes, he is the first king.

22 And the one that was broken, in whose place there stood up four horns, four kings shall arise out of his nation, but not in their strength.