THE RAM PUTS ON GREAT AIRS

Continuing his description of the ram, Daniels states: "I saw the ram making thrusts to the west and to the north and to the south, and no wild beasts kept standing before it, and there was no one doing any delivering out of its hand. And it did according to its will, and it put on great airs." -Daniel 8:4

In the preceding vision given to Daniel, Babylon had been pictured by the wild beast that came up out of the sea and that was like a lion having the wings of an eagle. (Daniel 7:4, 17) That symbolic beast proved to be unable to stand before "the ram" of this new vision.  Babylon fell to Cyrus the Great in 539 B.C.E.  For almost 50 years thereafter, "no wild beasts," or political governments, were able to stand up against the Medo-Persian Empire-the fourth world power of Bible prophecy.

Coming from 'the rising of the sun'-the east-the Medo-Persian World Power did as it pleased, making  "thrusts to the west and to the north and to the south." (Isaiah 46:11) King Cambyses II, who succeeded Cyrus the Great, conquered Egypt.  His successor was Persian King Darius I, who move westward  across the straits of Bosporus in 513 B.C.E. and invaded the European  territory of Thrace, the capital of which was Byzantium (now Istanbul).  In the year 508 B.C.E., he  subdued Thrace and he conquered Macedonian in 496 B.C.E. Thus, by the time of Darius, the Medo-Persian "ram" had seized territory in three principal directions: north into Babylonian and Assyria, west through Asia Minor, and south into Egypt. 

Testifying to the greatness of the Medo-Persian Empire, the Bible speaks of  Darius' successor, Xerxes I, as "the Ahasuerus who was ruling as king from India to Ethiopia, over a hundred and twenty-seven jurisdictional districts." (Esther 1:1)  But this great empire was to give way to another, and in this regard, Daniel's vision reveals some intriguing details that should strengthen our faith in God's prophetic word.  

Next time THE HE-GOAT STRIKES DOWN THE RAM 

From the book:  PAY ATTENTION TO DANIEL'S PROPHECY! 1999