“He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding…” – Daniel 2:21
As we continue in Daniel’s vision in chapter 8, a male goat is coming quickly from the west that ran into the ram at full force and broke his horns. This is the Greek Empire under Alexander the Great, which would conquer the Persian Empire. Then, once Alexander the Great died, since he didn’t have any heirs, the empire was left to four of his generals, as signified by the four horns. We saw this in Daniel 7 as well. A goat is used to signify Greece because, as the story goes, when the first colonist founded Greece, he went to a demonic, fortune-telling oracle for advice. He told him to find a goat, follow it, and where the goat lay down, that was the destined place for them to establish a flourishing city. The Aegean Sea surrounding Greece means “the goat sea.”
Let’s look more closely at the story of Alexander the Great. He comes roughly 200 years after Daniel. His father was the King of Macedon, and his mother was a princess, his dad’s life goal was to assemble a powerful army of Greek soldiers to conquer and overtake the Persian Empire, which was built on the ruins of the Babylonian Empire. At a young age, his mother and father were murdered, so he took the throne as a young man. He had been prepared to be a warrior king since infancy, so he devoted his life to fulfilling his father’s ambitions.
Here’s the incredible part that overwhelmingly confirms the true trustworthiness of the God of the Bible. There was a man named Josephus, arguably the greatest ancient historian of the Jewish people, who lived roughly 600 years after Daniel. Around 94 A.D., he wrote his multi-volume set Antiquities of the Jews.
According to Josephus, Alexander the Great had a dream, just like Daniel, in which a man wearing purple, the color of royalty, told him the time to fulfill his father’s plan had come. He wasn’t a believer, but he got a revelation, and he acted on it. He starts marching and conquering with his army, and they first conquer Israel, just like Babylon had done. The high priest in Israel puts on purple, and Alexander the Great is stunned, realizing this is the man he saw in his dream. The high priest takes him into the Temple and opens Daniel 8 and tells him he is fulfilling prophecy, that God had let them know he was coming and that, though he didn’t know God, God knew him. Alexander the Great then joined the high priest in offering a sacrifice in worship to the God of the Bible.
We don’t know if he converted or just honored God, but did your mind just explode? As Alexander the Great left, he asked if there was anything he could do for the high priest, and the high priest asked that, once they were conquered, they could still worship their God. So, under the Greek Empire, the people of God could still worship Him and Alexander leaves to fulfill his destiny.
Why does God care about the Greeks? They bring education, literacy, and a common language. He raised up the Persians so the people could return home, and the Temple could be opened, and He raised up the Greeks so there could be a common language for people to understand who Jesus is. The New Testament is written in Greek. After the Greek Empire, the largest empire in the history of the world, the Roman Empire, rose up. That’s where Jesus came, died, and rose, and they built a road system that connected everyone so people could travel and tell others about Jesus. God is in the details. God will cause a nation to pave a highway if people will walk on it to tell others about His Son.
Come back tomorrow where we discuss the final prophecy in Daniel 8.
How do stories of God working in the past and present give you hope for Him working in the future?
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