Teachinghearts	The Ram and the Goat (Daniel 8) "Explore the Word. Change the World"	Lesson 9: Time: 30 minutes Print: 6 pages

	Babylon	Medo-Persia	Greece		Rome			Rome	Papal Rome	Europe			Europe		Christ
Babylon Fell						(Little Horn)						Sanctuary Restored
Day of Atonement (Evening)						Day of Atonement (Goat Attacks Ram)								Banished
Daniel						Daniel and Revelation					Time of the End (Sealed)

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The Vision
The Ram. In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar the king a vision appeared to me, Daniel, subsequent to the one which appeared to me previously. I looked in the vision, and while I was looking I was in the citadel of Susa, which is in the province of Elam; and I looked in the vision and I myself was beside the Ulai Canal. Then I lifted my eyes and looked, and then, a ram which had two horns was standing in front of the canal. Now the two horns were long, but one was longer than the other, with the longer one coming up last. I saw the ram butting westward, northward, and southward, and no other beasts could stand before him nor was there anyone to rescue from his power, but he did as he pleased and magnified himself.
The Goat. While I was observing, then, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground; and the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. He came up to the ram that had the two horns, which I had seen standing in front of the canal, and rushed at him in his mighty wrath. I saw him come beside the ram, and he was enraged at him; and he struck the ram and shattered his two horns, and the ram had no strength to withstand him. So he hurled him to the ground and trampled on him, and there was none to rescue the ram from his power.
The Large Horn. Then the male goat magnified himself exceedingly. But as soon as he was mighty, the large horn was broken; and in its place there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven.
The Little Horn. Out of one of them came out a rather small horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Beautiful Land. It grew up to the host of heaven and caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth, and it trampled them down. It even magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host; and it removed the regular sacrifice from Him, and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down. And on account of transgression the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice; and it will fling truth to the ground and perform its will and prosper.
The Cleansing. Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that particular one who was speaking, "How long will the vision about the regular sacrifice apply, while the transgression causes horror, so as to allow both the holy place and the host to be trampled?'' He said to me, "For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be properly restored." (Daniel 8: 1-14)

Symbols
The symbols center around the attack on the sanctuary. It destroyed the building, the furniture, the worshippers and removed their God. It stopped the services on the most important day of their cleansing from sin - the Day of Atonement.

• The Worshippers. The little horn attacked the people (host). (Verse 10, 13)
• The High Priest. The commander of the host. (Verse 11)
• Sacrifice. It removed the continual sacrifice. (Verse 11)
• Sanctuary Animals. The goat and the ram were used on the day of atonement. (Verses 4-5 )
• The Laver or River of Water. The fight occurred in front of the canal. (Verse 3)
• Menorah. It removed the stars. (Verse 10)
• Altar. It set up another altar with four horns. (Verse 8)
• The Sanctuary. The building was thrown down. (Verse 11)
• The Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. It trampled the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. (Verse 13)
• Direction of Attack. West, north and south. The only directions in the sanctuary that had walls. (Verse 4)
• The People. South, East, Pleasant Land. The direction of the people. (Verse 9)
• The Covering Cherub. Two "Holy ones" announce that the desecration would last for 2300 years. (Verse 13)
• The Laws of God. It magnified itself above the feasts (times) and laws of God and changed them. (Verse 12)
• God. It reached into the Most Holy Place and removed the God of the sanctuary. (Verses 10-11)

In this choice of symbols we see a remarkable creative quality of God. He was able to repeat the events of the previous two prophecies while exploring it as a religious conquest against His sanctuary instead of a military conquest against His people. The vision of Daniel 8 starts with the Medo-Persian empire, rather than with Babylon, because Babylon is about to fall and technically no longer exists.

Beast		Interpretation
Ram		Medo-Persia (Daniel 8: 3-4)
1		The Attack on the Sanctuary The rich lands of India and China were in the east. Is it possible that God prevented an attack in the east so that the symbolism of attacking only the north, south and western walls of the sanctuary could be preserved? The Ram is Medo-Persia. (Daniel 8: 20). Physical: A Symbol of Medo-Persia. As we previously learned, beasts represent kingdoms. Here, we have "a ram which had two horns" with one horn higher than the other. Daniel 8: 20 tells us that the "two horns are the kings of Media and Persia". Therefore, the ram represents the Medo-Persian Empire. The ram is the bear of chapter 7 with one side raised higher than the other. One horn is higher because the Persians become stronger than the Medes and absorbed their kingdom. The ram pushed "westward, and northward, and southward." Geographically, this describes the conquests of Medo-Persia. These three directions correspond to the three kingdoms symbolized by the three ribs in the mouth of the bear of Daniel 7. West. Babylon. North. Lydia. South. Egypt. Spiritual: A Symbol of Christ. Cyrus, the leader of the Persians represents Christ, the Lord's goat and the ram. Cyrus defeated Babylon. Christ will defeat Babylon the Great. Both rescue the people of God from Babylon by parting the Euphrates river. Both build the temple of God which was destroyed by Babylon. Satan attacks both.
Male Goat		Greece (Daniel 8: 5-8)
2		The male goat is Greece. (Daniel 8: 21,22). The goat has two meanings in Daniel 8. Physical: A Symbol of Greece . (Daniel 8: 21,22) Alexander the Great. It had a notable horn which waxed very great (Verse 8). Four Divisions. This single horn was broken, and four horns came up in its place toward the four winds of heaven. Speed. "touched not the ground". This flying goat represents great speed. Medo-Persia. It defeated the two horned ram. Greece defeated Medo-Persia. This matches the history of the Grecian conquest. Alexander the Great's conquests were very swift. We know that in the height of his power, Alexander died from a fever brought on by drunkenness, and his kingdom was divided between his four generals - Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seluecus I. The four horns corresponds to the kingdoms of these four generals. Spiritual: A Symbol of Satanic Activity The goat is a satanic symbol described in Israel's day of judgment, the great Day of Atonement. (Leviticus 16: 5) There were two goats used on the Day of Atonement. (Leviticus 16: 5-10) One was sacrificed, the other was banished to the desert. We will look at this later in this study.
The Little Horn		Rome (Daniel 8: 9-12)
3	In nature, horns do not grow out of horns. They grow out of heads. This little horn of Daniel 8 grows out of the goat symbolizing another phase of Satan's control in world history.	The Attack on the People While the other animals attacked the sanctuary, the little horn primarily attacked the people. Physically, pagan Rome attacked these territories. » South. Africa and Egypt » East. Babylon and Greece » Pleasant Land. Israel Spiritually, papal Rome attacked the people. » South. If God sits on Mount Zion in the North, then the people of the earth are south (the footstool). Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion in the far north, the city of the great King. (Psalm 48: 2) » East. The priests. The clergy. » Pleasant Land. Israel. "Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven. And out of one of them came out a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land." "four winds of heaven" (used here, and Daniel 11: 4) it represents directions, or points on the compass. "out of one of them". A little horn comes out of one of the "four winds" symbolizing one of the four directions of the compass. The grammatical structure of the original Hebrew indicates that the word "them" does not refer to the four horns because the word is masculine. The grammar requires that the pronoun have the same gender as the word to which it refers. Horns is feminine and winds is a masculine word. Therefore the pronoun "them" must refer to the winds. Why is this detail important? The little horn does not come out of the remnants of the Greek empire. It is a separate power that arises out of the Satanic goat in one of the four directions. Rome was west of this empire.
	The Conquests of the Little Horn
	The little horn grew out of the north west, the direction of Greece. It came to power after Greece. It went south to Egypt and north Africa, east towards Asia Minor and the Greek empire and towards the Pleasant Land (Palestine). In our next study we will look at all the prophecies from Daniel 7 and 8 concerning this little horn.
	The Conquests of Pagan and Papal Rome. Pagan and Papal Rome seemed to have gained power by removing three rivals. » Pagan Rome. They conquered the powers in three directions: South (Egypt), East (Greek empire) and Palestine. Three powers fell before Pagan Rome ruled the world, (Babylon, Medo-Persia and Greece). » Commander of the Host. Rome crucified the Messiah in 31 A.D. » Place of His Sanctuary Thrown Down. Rome destroyed the temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D.. » Papal Rome. Three powers were uprooted to place it in power (Vandals (Africa), Heruli and Ostrogoths (Rome). » Magnified to the Commander of the Host. Pope is God on earth, the representative of Christ. » Daily Removed. The continual ministry of Christ as High Priest was replaced with a human priesthood. » Host Given to the Little Horn. Apostasy caused the church to be controlled by the papacy.
4	The Judgment of the Righteous (Daniel 8: 14) And he said to me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. (Daniel 8: 14 ) In another study we will look at all this prophecy and the one from Daniel 9 concerning this cleansing of the sanctuary

The Animals on the Day of Atonement

Azazel The Hebrew word for scapegoat is "Azazel." This literally means "angry or furious god" (Dr. Albert R. Treiyer, The Day of Atonement, page 257). The scapegoat, named "Azazel" is a symbol for Satan. (see Leviticus 17: 7) They shall no more offer their sacrifices to demons, after whom they have played the harlot. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations. (NKJV) And they shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to the he-goats, after which they play the harlot. This shall be a statute forever to them throughout their generations. (ASV) The symbol for Lucifer in the modern occult is a hairy goat.

"And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house. And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord's lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness." (Leviticus 16: 5-10)

Sin Offering: The Lord's Goat.
Every sacrificed animal in the Hebrew sanctuary (temple) represented the Great Sacrifice, Jesus Christ. Each pointed toward the sacrifice Christ made as the lamb of God. Jesus paid for the sins of mankind by the shedding of His blood at the cross of Calvary.

The scapegoat was not sacrificed. He cannot represent Jesus Christ.

The goat symbolizing Christ was sacrificed as a sin offering. The high priest would take some of the goat's blood into the Most Holy Place and sprinkle it seven times on the lid of the Ark of the Covenant.

Azazel: The Scapegoat (The Goat of Removal).
There was a second goat that was not sacrificed. This is the scapegoat who represents Satan. He was not sacrificed for sin, but he is held responsible. The high priest would symbolically take all of the sins that had "accumulated in the sanctuary" during the year and would place them upon his head. He was then led into the wilderness to die far away from the camp of Israel. This symbolically represented the cleansing of the God's house in heaven by a divine judgment after 1798. In this judgment proper blame for the origin of sin is placed upon the head of Satan before his final banishment from the presence of God and His people at the end of time.
This banishment occurs during the millennium and the destroyed earth represents the wilderness where Satan will be confined. The scapegoat is thrown off a high cliff and killed. Satan is killed after the millennium, but He also fell from Mount Zion in heaven after the crucifixion of Jesus. (Luke 10: 18-19)

Burnt Offering: Bull, Ram and Seven Male Lambs.
On Yom Kippur several animals were offered as the burnt offering. It is this ram that the scapegoat attacks in the vision.

The Day of Atonement

Time Out for Satan The fact that the sins are confessed over the goat does not mean that the goat pays the price for the sin. This goat does not die, so he does not atone for the sins of the innocent. Confessing the sins in his hearing means that he hears the list of charges for which God holds him responsible. He caused the sins but he cannot pay for them. So God puts them in his head so that he has a thousand years to contemplate all the mysery and every evil deed which he did, or inspired or caused.

"Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat: And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so he shall do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remains among them in the middle of their uncleanness." "And he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.
Satan Hears the Legal Charges against Him. And when he has made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities to a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. (Leviticus 16: 15,16, 18-22)

The Ram.
A ram was also offered as a burnt offering on this day. This prophecy used this positive image to describe Medo-Persia. Why does it do that?
It follows a trend in the prophecies of Medo-Persia rescuing the people of God. Although at some level this kingdom represents an oppressor of God's people, for some reason, God uses symbols associated with this empire to represent a positive role. Let us explore these other images.

Medo-Persia	Symbol	Comment
Ram	Ram (Lamb)	Attacked by the Satanic goat that represented both the Greek and the Roman empires
Cyrus	Conqueror chosen by God	Cyrus is a type of Jesus who rescues Israel. The Persian empire rescued Israel from Babylon. It was also the only pagan empire that rebuilt the temple of God. The others destroyed it in some way
Cyrus and Darius	Kings From the East	Revelation 16: 12. The church will be rescued by the kings from the east who dried up the Euphrates river. Israel was rescued by Medo-Persia which was east of Babylon

The Explanation
The explanation is given in verses 19-27.

Prophecy		Explained in Daniel 8	Destruction
Ram		Medo-Persian empire	The Place. Sanctuary trampled
-	Two Horns	Kings of Media and Persia
Goat		Greek empire
-	Great Horn	First king (Alexander the Great)
-	Four Horns	Breaks into four kingdoms
Little Horn		Fierce king
-	Sanctuary Trampled	Rome destroyed the sanctuary in 70 A.D.
-	Great to heaven	Mighty but not by his own power
-	Magnified to Prince of Princes	Stands up against Jesus Christ	The People. Host (Jews, Christ and Christians) trampled
-	Cast down stars	Destroys the mighty and holy people
-	The host was given to it with the daily	Host. Destroys the mighty and holy people
-		Daily. Papal Rome assumed the role of priest and intercessor	The Laws. Laws trampled
-	Removed the continual from the Commander	His policy causes craft and deceit to succeed. Sacrifices stopped in the sanctuary
-	Magnifies Himself	Removes laws, changes times and laws
-	Sanctuary Restored	He will be broken without hand (human agency)	Defeated by God
2300 days. Sanctuary restored		Not Explained

Then I, Daniel, was exhausted and sick for days. Then I got up and carried on the King's business; but I was astounded at the vision, And there was none to explain it. (Daniel 8: 27)

How could Daniel say that the vision was not explained? If you review verses 19 to 27 you will see that the only thing that was not explained was the 2300 days. In the next vision in chapter nine, the angel returns to explain a vision about time.

The People of God
The place, people and laws of the sanctuary were trampled. How did this happen? We will explore why the people of God were handed over to the little horn.
It even magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host; and it removed the regular sacrifice from Him, and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down.
And on account of transgression, the host will be given over to the little horn along with the regular sacrifice [daily]; and it will fling truth to the ground and it will perform its will and prosper. (Daniel 8: 11-12)
The record says that they were put under the rule of the little horn because they sinned. This is the curse being fulfilled. God handed them over to their enemies so that they would be ruled by their enemies. Each apostasy accomplished all desolations, but a major event in the global desolation was fulfilled when each group of people were handed over.

• Christ ("The Commander Removed"). He became sin and was given over to Rome to be crucified in 31 A.D. His body temple was destroyed. As far as heaven was concerned, the daily sacrifice of animals could legally stop because the perfect sacrifice was made. The commander of the host was killed.
• Israel ("The Place of the Sanctuary Removed"). They sinned by rejecting Christ and Rome destroyed their temple in 70 A.D. The daily was forced to stop when the place of the sanctuary was torn down..
• Christians ("The Daily Removed"). They sinned by apostasy and Pagan Rome handed them over to Papal Rome in 538 A.D. The continual ministry of the heavenly sanctuary was removed through the apostasy as earth looked to human intercessors. Under these conditions, they were able to do their will and fling truth to the ground by changing the laws and ceremonies of God.

The Pattern: Jesus the Ram
This vision was also the pattern of future events. Jesus is the ram with two horns (human and divine). The higher horn came up at the end because the divine would reclaim the human at His resurrection. He was attacked and killed by the scapegoat Satan on Passover 31 AD, the beginning of the day of atonement. That scapegoat has prospered for 2000 years through the little horn power. At the end of time the day of atonement events will conclude when the scapegoat appears alive before the people in the false second coming. Then his original fate will be imposed as he is banished during the millennium.

Repetition and Enlargement
Daniel has another vision about the same empires. At the time the vision was given, Babylon was about to be conquered by the Persians. Therefore, you will notice that this nation was no longer mentioned. It is no longer prophecy, it is history.
Again, let us take a look at the symbolism. They were important because of the audience and the specific details being introduced.

1. Precious metals. To Nebuchadnezzar, the symbolism of wealth would immediately help him to understand the value of each successive kingdom. It also reminded him of the pagan view of time. This cyclic time will be interrupted by the Rock.
2. Wild beasts. To the Jew, the symbolism of an attack on the nation by wild beasts would lead them to think of the curses of the covenant.
3. Yom Kippur animals. To the Jew, the symbolism of the ram and the goat would invoke images of Yom Kippur and the cleansing of the sanctuary. This fact is very significant because Daniel 8: 14 introduced the cleansing of the sanctuary. This prophecy describes the attack on the sanctuary during Yom Kippur.

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Study to show yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2: 15 Copyright     Updated : January 29, 2005 Credits: Author: Laverna Patterson. Editor: Holy Spirit taught me the sanctuary and Yom Kippur symbols in the prophecy. All images were created by Laverna Patterson and are the property of teachinghearts.