Daniel - Lesson 10

By Stafford North

DANIEL 8

Background Information for the Teacher

Objectives:

  1. The student can describe the two animals of Daniel's prophecy in Daniel 8 with some details of how each appeared.
  2. The student can provide the interpretation of each of the animals and its outcome.

Preparation:

  1. Have a chalkboard or marker board ready if you plan to use it. There is noPowerPoint for this lesson. With the full chart for the students to write on, it is not necessary.
  2. Have copies of the Review Quiz ready for the beginning of class.
  3. Have copies of the worksheet (student chart) ready to hand out at the beginning of the class.
  4. Be sure all students have Bibles and pens/pencils.
  5. Have cards ready to distribute with all the passages you want someone to read aloud during the lesson.

Theme:

Daniel's prophecy in Chapter 8 tells of two animals, one representing the Medes and Persians and one representing Greece. In this vision, Daniel is told what kingdoms the two animals represent as he predicts their future.

Lesson Plan for Conducting the Class

Introduction: (about 10 minutes)

  1. Call or check the roll. Make necessary class announcements. If you like to start with songs, sing "All People that on Earth Do Dwell," "I Stand in Awe," "BlessedBe the Lord, God Almighty." Have a prayer.
  2. Go through the Review Quiz and let the students give the answers. All should check their papers as you go. Encourage all to be ready for the Review Quiz over today's lesson to be given next week by using the worksheet.
  3. Review the objectives for today's lesson.

Learning Experiences: (about 15 minutes)

  1. In Daniel 8 we have another vision in which God used animals to give Daniel a message. This vision is from the third year of King Belshazzar, two years after the vision in Daniel 7. Again we will use a chart with three columns to study the prophecy and its interpretation. Open to Daniel 8.
  2. (Teacher-As you study this prophecy, let the students complete as much of it as they can by using their Bibles and their knowledge from history and from the previous lessons. Sometimes you may want to let the first one who gets it call out the answer and other times you may want to let all write down their answer before the answer is given aloud.)
  3. Let's summarize this vision. Q: Daniel sees a ram with how many horns? A:Two. Q: This ram with two horns represents what kingdom? A: The Medes and the Persians. Q: This kingdom is located toward what direction? A: The east.Q: What animal does Daniel see next and what does it look like? A: A goat with one great horn. Q: From what direction does this goat come? A: From the west to the east. A: Who is represented by the single horn? A: Alexander the Great.Q: When the goat charges the ram, who wins? A: The goat, Alexander. Q: Then what happens to the great single horn? A: It is broken at the height of its power? Q: Meaning what? A: Than Alexander shall die at the height of his power. Q:What comes up in place of the single horn and what do they represent? A: Four horns representing the four general among whom Alexander's kingdom is divided. Q: What arises from one of these horns? A: A little horn. Q: Is this the same "little horn" described in Daniel 7? A: No. That one arose from the animal representing the Roman Empire. This one arises from the goat representing Greece. Q: Who is the little horn? A: Antiochus Epiphanes. Q: What does he do? A: He conquers the land of the Jews and stops their sacrifices, offering pigs to Jupiter in the temple. Q: How long does this last? A: Twenty-three hundred days or about six years and four months.
  4. Now take the chart on which to record all of Daniel's prophecies and add this one on the column marked Daniel 8. Q: How many kingdoms will we put on it? A:Two-Medes and Persians and the Greeks.

Application: (about 19 minutes)

  1. Q: If God can foresee future events, does that take away human choice about their part in that event? A: No. The scriptures are clear that God gives humans a choice about their actions. His foreknowledge means he can know what someone will choose before that choice is made but His knowing that in advance did not take away the person's choice. Q: Did Christ know in advance that Judas would betray Him? A: Yes. Q: Did Judas make his own choice about betraying Jesus? A: Yes. So Christ's foreknowledge did not remove Judas' power to make the choice.
  2. Q: Why does it matter to God's plan what happens to nations? A: The outcome of nations suggests that there are moral laws at work in the world. Righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a disgrace to any people (Prov. 14:34). Nations which reach a certain level of immorality do not last long. Many historians have written about the fall of nations because of their immorality and mistreatment of people. Some examples of this would be Rome and the Soviet Union. Q: What is the message from this principle to the United States? Also God sometimes used a nation to "spank" his own nation, Israel, so they would learn an important lesson. Q: What are some examples of God's using other nations to punish Israel and so to teach them a lesson. A: Often in the book of Judges when the Moabites, the Midianites, and the Philistines ruled Israel. Assyria took Israel captive. Babylon took Judah captive. Even though God chose Israel as a nation through whom to bring the Messiah, he has always had an interest in other nations as well. God's plan involves all nations, not just the Jews as Romans 1-3 suggest.

Assignment: (about 1 minute)

  1. Be prepared for the Review Quiz over Daniel 8.
  2. Read Daniel 9.
Teacher Chart for Lesson 10:Vision in Daniel 8
Vision Daniel's Interpretation Further Interpretation
Daniel 8:3-4 Daniel 8:19-20
A ram The vision involves what happens in the later portion of the "time of wrath," the appointed "time of the end." The ram represents the Kings of Media and Persia.  Not the "end of time" but the "time of the end" of a period of wrath. So the vision concerns things to occur near the end of a time of persecution of God's people, that is, near the end of a time of persecution of God's people, that is, near the end of the time of Antiochus Ephpanes. The two-horned ram is the kingdom of the Medes and Persians. 
With two horns-the higher came up last The Persian horn came up later but was stronger than the Median horn. 
Pushing westward, northward, and southward This eastern kingdom conquered to its west, north and south. 
Conquered all It spread widely as far as Asia Minor and Egypt. 
Daniel 8:5-14
a goat King of Greece
Came from the west over the whole earth From Greece, this king came from the west toward Persia on the east. 
Did not touch the ground Moved very rapidly
Had a notable horn between his eyes (like a unicorn)

Daniel 8:21

The first kin

 Alexander the Great
Smote the ram, breaking the two horns, trampling him before the river Alexander defeated Persia in 330 BC in a battle at the Granicius River and a little later at the Ulai River. 
The goat magnified himself greatly but the great horn was broken and four horns came up in its place. 

Daniel 8:22 

Four kingdoms will arise out of this one kingdom, all of lesser power. 

 Alexander died at the height of his power. Four generals eventually had his empire- Lysimachus in Asia Minor; Seleucus in Syria and Babylonia; Cassander in Macedonia and Greece. Ptolemy in Egypt. 
Out of one of the horns comes a little horn that grew in power to the south, east, and toward the Beautiful Land. 

Daniel 8:23

A stern-faced king shall arise. He shall become very strong, but not by his own power

 From the Seleucus dynasty in Syria, through intrigue because he was not the rightful heir to the throne, arose Antiochus Epiphanes (175-165) who came against Palestine and the Jews. 
He threw down some of the starry host and trampled them. He set himself up as the Prince of the host and took away the daily sacrifice. 

Daniel 8:23-24

He will destroy the holy people. 

 The host is "God's people" and this one represented by the "little horn," Antiochus Epiphanes will turn on the Jews, seeking to destroy them.  
Because of the rebellion of the host, the daily sacrifices are given to him and truth was thrown to the ground.  He will consider himself secure and will destroy many and will take his stand against the Prince of princes. But he will be destroyed, not by human hands.  Because of sin among His people, God allows Antiochus to stop the daily sacrifices and, in the temple, he sacrifices swine to Jupiter an affront to God (The Prince). God will eventually bring this persecutor of God's people to defeat. 
How long for the vision to be fulfilled when the sacrifices will not be offered and the rebellion that caused this desolation will be over and the surrender of the sanctuary is at an end? 2300 evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary will be re-consecrated. Seal up the vision because it is of the future.  The period during which Antiochus Epiphanes stopped the sacrifices was from 171 to 164 BC-about 2300 days or six ears and four months. The number is close enough to the actual number to suggest hat the 2300 days is a "rounding" of the actual number. Daniel's vision, given about 531 BC, primarily dealt with events happening around 175 BC. 

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