Rulers Behaving Like Animals

In the third year of King Belshazzar's reign, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after the one that had appeared to me earlier.

I saw the vision and as I watched, I was in the fortress city of Susa, in the province of Elam. I saw in the vision that I was beside the Ulai canal.

I looked up, and there was a ran standing beside the canal. He had two horns. The two horns were long, but one was longer than the other, and the longer one came up last.

I saw the ram charging to the west, the north, and the south. No animal could stand against him, and there was no rescue from his power. He did what ever he wanted and became great.

As I was observing, a male goat appeared, coming from the west across the surface of the entire earth without touching the ground. The goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. He came toward the two-horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and rushed at him with savage fury. I saw him approaching the ram, and infuriated with him, he struck the ram, shattering his two horns, and the ram was not strong enough to stand against him. The goat threw him to the ground and trampled him, and there was no one to rescue the ram from his power. Then the male goat became very great, but when he became powerful, the large horn was shattered. Four conspicuous horns came up in its place, pointing toward the four winds of heaven.

From one of them a little horn emerged and grew extensively toward the south and the east and toward the beautiful land. It grew as high as the heavenly host, made some of the stars an some of the host fall to the earth, and trampled them. It made itself great, even up to the Prince I the host, it remove His daily sacrifice and overthrew the place of His sanctuary. Because of rebellion, a host, together with the daily sacrifice, will be given over. The horn will throw truth to the ground and will be successful in whatever it does.

Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the speaker, "Hiw long will the events of this vision last- the daily sacrifice, the rebellion that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and of the host to be trampled?"

He said to him, "For 2,300 evenings and mornings: the sanctuary will be restored."

Daniel 8:1-14

The same picture keeps recurring. The ram represented the Medo-Persian empire. The two horns represented two nations, one stronger than the other, that being Persia. The goat represented Greece and the conspicuous horn represented Alexander the Great. In three years he conquered the entire near east. Alexander died suddenly at the peak of his Kingdom. His Kingdom was divided into four under his four generals. Antiochus ruler of the Seleucid dynasty brutally trampled and persecuted the Jews. He blasphemously presented himself as the prince of the host. Yet he did not last.

We need not fear the rise and fall of nations and dynasties because God sees them much like He does these, as animals who will themselves be destroyed. The despotic rulers can be very cruel and destroy many lives but they are doomed to die, as God is in charge.

I must keep my vision on The Lord of hosts. He alone is God. He is creator, He is my protector, my reward. I am made to live forever. My flesh may rot away but my spirit is eternal, therefore what can man do to me? They can kill my flesh but cannot kill my spirit only I can yield that. Amen!