Brothers and Sisters,
I do not wish to be critical of another and offer this in all humility and in the fear of the Lord:
To twist Daniel 8 into some future event, such as 9/11, is to completely ignore the entire context of the book of Daniel and the information given to Daniel by an angel under the guidance of God. If you set sail and follow any compass headings other then the ones given by God you will become lost in the prophetic ocean. God felt that our understanding of this prophecy was important enough that He sent Gabriel to "make this man understand the vision" (verse 16). What God has made plain must not be reinterpreted to fit something other than what God intended, no matter how compelling or interesting the idea appears.
Daniel lays out the history of the world from his day until the second coming of Jesus. The imagery in the book is picked up again in Revelation, where I believe John used the same symbols presented in Daniel, to enhance and enlarge the prophetic picture for us. To understand Revelation you have to know Daniel. That being said, let’s return back to Daniel 8.
It’s abundantly clear from the scriptures that these two beasts, “the ram” and “the he goat”, represent kings or kingdoms. A beast in Bible prophecy represents a kingdom or nation (see Daniel 7:17). There is no other meaning ascribed to this symbolic language. In Daniel 8:20, after being told by God to “make” Daniel understand the vision, Gabriel identifies the ram and goat:
"The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia."
Then in verse 21 we are told:
"And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king."
Continuing with verse 22:
"Now that being broken (referring to the great horn that was broken), whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power."
A study of history will confirm this prophecy was fulfilled by Alexander and his dash across the earth. You will remember that the leopard beast in Daniel 7:6 has four wings signifying speed. Alexander conquered the then known world in 12 years. The beast also has four heads signifying the division of the kingdom into four parts following Alexander's death. After Alexander died in Babylon on June 11, 323 BC, his kingdom was divided among his four generals: Lysimachus in the north, Seleucus in the east, Cassander in the west and Ptolemy in the south. Eventually Seleucus overthrew Lysimachus’ kingdom, but history confirms that after Alexander’s death his kingdom was in fact divided by “four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven” (verse 8).
As far as Alexander being the “first king” (verse 21), he is also referred to as “a notable horn” in verse 5. The book Alexander the Great Murdered in Babylon by Graham Phillips (Virgin Books, page 1) makes this observation:
In 323 BC Alexander III, king of Macedonia, ruled a dominion that stretched from the Balkans to the Himalayas and from Egypt to the Caspian Sea. It was the largest empire the world had yet seen. Alexander had led a small and poorly equipped European army on a campaign of over 32,000 kilometers to conquer the mighty Persian Empire. Originally from Iran, the Persians held sway over a domain that also included all of what are now Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Egypt and most of modern Turkey. In addition, he even went s far as to conquer part of India. It had taken him twelve years and he was still only 32. With such an astonishing achievement to his name, it is little wonder that history would know him as Alexander the Great.
When God has given such clear light, how can we decide to turn His words and meanings into something else? I leave you with the admonishment given in 2 Peter 3:15-16:
“…Our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.”
I have included a brief sketch of Alexander’s Persian campaign, with some interesting biblical connections, for those who are so inclined.
The Lord bless you.
ALEXANDER AND THE FALL OF PERSIA
In 334 BC Alexander crossed the Hellespont, a narrow area of water between Greece and Turkey, with the core of his veteran army and headed east (see verse 5) to begin the subjugation of Persia. In May of that year he defeated Persian forces, under the direction of Memnon of Rhodes, on the banks of the Granicus River near the site of ancient Troy. Alexander’s victory created an anchor for him to begin his work of conquest across Anatolia, known today as Turkey.
After the defeat of his army at Granicus, Darius took personal control of his forces and met Alexander on the battlefield near the mouth of the Pinarus River south of the village of Issus. Although Alexander was outnumbered roughly four to one, his forces routed the Persian army. The Pinarus River, a small mountain spring, is said to have run red with blood after Alexander, leading his elite Companion cavalry turned the right flank of the Persians, smashed the center of Darius’ line and routed the much larger Persian force. After his loss at Issus, Darius fled to Babylon, without stopping to rest, expecting a pursuit by Alexander’s army.
With Darius in retreat for the time being, Alexander turned his attention south. Alexander sent Parmenio, his most trusted general, to Damascus to accept the surrender of the city by the Persian governor. After seizing Damascus Alexander marched his army to the city of Tyre on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Tyre was the largest and most important city-state of Phoenicia. It consisted of two cities: a coastal city on the mainland and a smaller island city surrounded by a 150-foot defensive wall. The island city was just off the shore while the mainland city was on a coastal plain. Tyre was a bustling center of maritime trade and a naval port for Darius’ Persian fleet.
In July of 332, Alexander attempted to add the jewel of Tyre to his growing empire through diplomatic means but without success. After the Tyrians murdered Alexander’s emissaries and dumped their bodies over the walls of the city into the sea, Alexander laid sieged to the city. “Alexander began what was to prove the longest and most grueling military operation of his entire career” (Green 251). Alexander ordered his engineers and soldiers to construct a 200-foot wide mole, or land bridge, that would connect the rock island off the coast with the mainland. “He began by demolishing Old Tyre to provide foundation-stones and rubble” for the project (Green 251).
With coastal Tyre leveled, Alexander continued his siege of the island and its defensive wall. On July 28, 332, the wall was breached. Green retells the details of entry into the city by Alexander’s army: “When the last organized resistance was broken, Alexander’s veterans ranged through the city on a ferocious manhunt, all resistant abandoned, hysterical and half-crazy after the long rigours (sic) of that dreadful siege, mere butchers now, striking and trampling and tearing limb from limb until Tyre became a bloody, reeking abattoir…The great city over which Hiram had once held sway was now utterly destroyed” (Green 262).
Ezekiel recorded Tyre’s epitaph years earlier. Ezekiel, who is reported by one source to have penned his scroll between 595 and 574 during the Babylonian captivity (Hull), recorded the following lines: “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers; I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place for spreading nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken,’ says the Lord GOD; ‘it shall become plunder for the nations. Also her daughter villages which are in the fields shall be slain by the sword. Then they shall know that I am the LORD’” (New King James Version, Ezek. 26:3-6). Alexander’s siege fit this prophecy to the letter.
As pointed out by Green, Alexander demolished coastal Tyre, leaving it but dust, to build his causeway to the fortified island. The citizens under siege on the island portion of Tyre began dismantling the buildings in the city so the soldiers could drop the huge stones over the sides of the walls into the sea to prevent Alexander’s ships from assaulting the walls. After the city was taken the walls were pulled down and little was left but a place of rock for fishermen to spread their nets on.
It is reported by Flavius Josephus (384) that Alexander marched with a company of men to Jerusalem sometime after the siege of Tyre. Alexander’s intent was to demand an accounting from the Hebrews for their lack of help during the siege of Tyre. As his army was gathering materials to take Tyre, Alexander sent a messenger to Jaddua, the Jewish high priest, asking him to send reinforcements and provisions to refit Alexander’s army. Jaddua refused, citing promised allegiance to Darius until Darius’ death.
Hearing news of Alexander’s advance toward Jerusalem, and fearing his wrath for failing to comply with his request during the siege of Tyre, Jaddua roused the people of Jerusalem and pleaded with them to offer sacrifices and prays to God seeking divine guidance. Jaddua’s petitions were answered. God told Jaddua in a dream not to be fearful of Alexander. The people were to dress in white and go out to meet him, along with the priests, as he approached the city. The city and its citizens prepared to meet the Macedonian king.
Josephus gives the following account of this event: “…Alexander, when he saw the multitude at a distance, in white garments, while the priests stood clothed with fine linen, and the high priest in purple and scarlet clothing, with his mitre (sic) on his head, having the golden plate whereon the name of God was engraved, he approached by himself and adored that name, and first saluted the high priest. The Jews also did all together, with one voice, salute Alexander, and encompass him about; whereupon the kings of Syria and the rest were surprised at what Alexander had done, and supposed him disordered in his mind. However, Parmenio alone went up to him, and asked him how it came to pass that, when all others adored him, he should adore the high priest of the Jews. To whom he replied, ‘I did not adore him, but that God who has honored him with his high priesthood; for I saw this very person in a dream, in this very habit (dress), when I was a Dios in Macedonia, who, when I was considering with myself how I might obtain the dominion of Asia, exhorted me to make no delay, but boldly to pass over the sea there, for that he would conduct my army and would give me dominion over the Persians, and that all things will succeed according to what is in my own mind’” (385, 386).
Josephus goes on to explain that Alexander went with the people into the city, and under the supervision of the high priest, offered sacrifices to God in the temple. This being completed, the Hebrews showed Alexander the portion from the writings of the prophet Daniel that identified the overthrow of the Persians. Daniel wrote: “…Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and there, standing beside the river, was a ram which had two horns, and the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward, northward, and southward, so that no beast could withstand him; nor was there any that could deliver from his hand, but he did according to his will and became great. And as I was considering, suddenly a male goat came from the west, across the surface of the whole earth, without touching the ground; and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. Then he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing beside the river, and ran at him with furious power. And I saw him confronting the ram; he was moved with rage against him, attacking the ram, and broke his two horns. There was no power in the ram to withstand him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled him; and there was no one that could deliver the ram from his hand, therefore the male goat grew very great…” (Dan. 8:3-8) One wonders if Alexander was shown the remainder of verse 8, which reads, “…but when he became strong, the large horn was broken, and in place of it four notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven.”
Having read the scripture “wherein Daniel declared that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of the Persians, he supposed that he himself was the person intended” (Josephus 386). Nothing more is said of Alexander’s thoughts on this matter. The following day the Hebrews made requests of Alexander that they be permitted to continue to follow the laws of their forefathers, to which he consented.
Alexander continued his campaign to take the world. Between 332-331 he was welcomed by the Egyptians as a liberator and named the son of Zeus by the priests of Ammon at the Siwa Oasis in the Libyan Desert. Turning north again, Alexander continued his move for the Persian throne. Alexander and Darius’ armies clashed a third time at the Battle of Gaugamela. Again Darius was forced to flee from the battlefield. After his escape he intended to raise another army to continue his fight with Alexander. However, his satrapies, or governors, had other ideas. Bessus, satrap of Bactira, murdered Darius, then, along with the entire Persian Empire pronounced fealty to Alexander. Persia had fallen.
Works Cited
Green, Peter. Alexander of Macedon, 356-323 B.C., A Historical Biography. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1991.
Hull, Edward. The Wall Chart of World History. London: Princess House. 1988.
Josephus, Flavius. The New Complete Works of Josephus. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications.
Safra, Jacob E. “The Rise of Macedon.” The New Encyclopedia Britannica. 2005.
The Holy Bible, New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1982.
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