In chapter seven Daniel saw a vision of the four beasts out of the Mediterranean Sea. That vision was a brief sketch without much detail. But chapters eight and eleven give many details concerning the second and third beasts, which correspond respectively to the Medo-Persian and Grecian Empires. In this message we will cover the vision of a ram and a male goat with its successors recorded in chapter eight of Daniel.
As we read Daniel 8, we may wonder what this chapter has to do with Israel. The Medo-Persian Empire, the Grecian Empire, and the Roman Empire were on the three continents of Asia, Africa, and Europe. At the intersection of these three continents is Israel. Throughout the ages Israel has suffered a great deal because of the fighting between these empires on these three continents, of which Israel is the center. Israel has often been the battleground. Due to the trouble and damage caused by this fighting, it has been difficult for Israel, God's elect, to be something truly according to God's eternal economy. This is the reason that God came in to show Daniel vision after vision concerning the world situation. Whereas chapters nine and twelve are concerned with Israel directly, chapter eight with its vision regarding Medo-Persia and Greece and chapter eleven with its vision regarding the successors of Alexander the Great are concerned with Israel indirectly.
The year of this vision is given in 8:1. "In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar the king a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after the one that appeared to me at the beginning." This was about 552 B.C.
Daniel 8:2 tells of the place of this vision. "I watched in the vision, and it happened that while I watched, I was in the fortress of Shushan, which is in the province of Elam; and I watched in the vision, and I was beside the river Ulai."