Daniel 8:1

Daniel's Vision of the Ram and the Goat

1 In the third year of the reign of 1King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, Daniel, 2after that which appeared to me 3at the first.

Daniel 8:1 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 8:1

In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar
Which some say F20 was the last year of his reign; but, according to Ptolemy's canon, he reigned seventeen years; and so says Josephus F21; however, this, as well as the preceding vision, were seen before what happened recorded in the "fifth" and "sixth" chapters. The following vision was seen by Daniel, according to Bishop Usher F23 and Dean Prideaux F24 in the year of the world 3451 A.M., and 553 B.C. Mr. Bedford F25 places it in 552 B.C.; and Mr. Whiston F26, very wrongly, in 537 B.C., two years after the death of Belshazzar. The prophet having, in the preceding chapters, related what concerned the Chaldeans, he wrote in the Chaldee language; but now, henceforward, writing of things which concerned the Jews more especially, and the church and people of God in later times, he writes in the Hebrew tongue. A vision appeared unto me, even to me Daniel;
and not another; which is said for the certainty of it; whether it was seen by him waking, or in a dream, as the former vision, is not certain; it seems rather as if he was awake at first, though he afterwards fell prostrate to the ground, and into a deep sleep; yet the Syriac version takes it to be a dream, and so renders the first clause of the next verse: "after that which appeared to me at the first"; at the beginning of Belshazzar's reign, in the first year of it, recorded in the preceding chapter; which was concerning the four monarchies in general, and particularly concerning the fourth or Roman monarchy, of which a large account is given; and the Chaldean monarchy being near at an end, here the two monarchies between, namely, the Persian and Grecian, are in this vision described.


FOOTNOTES:

F20 Seder Olam Rabba, c. 28. p. 81.
F21 Antiqu. l. 10. c. 11. sect. 4.
F23 Annales Vet. Test. A. M. 3451.
F24 Connexion, &c part 1. p. 117.
F25 Scripture Chronlogy, p. 710.
F26 Chronological Tables, cent. 10.

Daniel 8:1 In-Context

1 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.
2 And I saw in the vision; and when I saw, I was in Susa the capital, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in the vision, and I was at the Ulai canal.
3 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.
4 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.
5 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.

Cross References 3

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.