Determine if the following passages are Ordinary Speech, Parable, Poetry or Apocalyptic Speech.?

Question

*Daniel 8:5-8*

~Determine whether the passages are to be interpreted Literally, or Figuratively, or both.~

Answer 1

Apocalyptic speech, entirely figurative. As with most apocalyptic literature, this passage takes an event that was well-known to contemporary readers (the conquests of Alexander the Great), and presents them in symbolic form.

The purpose of apocalyptic speech is to reduce events down to symbolic archtypes that can be universally applied to diverse examples.

Answer 2

This is a vision report in apocalyptic prose, functioning as a prophecy. The apocalyptic features cannot be interpreted literaly - that is to miss the message of the entire prophecy all together.

The book of Daniel in the Old Testament and the book of Revelation in the New Testament are the only apocalyptic books included in the canon, although apocalyptic forms are found in various parts of Scripture. In Daniel, the apocalyptic collection properly begins in chapter 7 through 12. The first of these is a vision (chapter 7), the message of which is the impending overthrow of the oppressors and the vindication of God's people.

Chapter 8 records an apocalyptic vision given to Daniel in the third year of Belshazzar’s regency, while he was in the king’s winter palace at Susa (Sushan) in the province of Elam (8: 2). He saw a ram with two unequal horns, charging westward, then northward, then southward (8: 3 – 4). Even as the ram was thus tearing across the landscape, a male goat with a conspicuous horn attacked the ram and overpowered it (8: 5 – 7). While the male goat waxed strong, it’s single conspicuous horn was suddenly replaced by four horns, one of which grew to such prominence that it exalted itself against the “Prince of the Host,” i.e., God (8: 9 – 11). This prominent horn took away the daily sacrifices offered in the Temple, so that it remained desolate for a period of “2, 300 days” (8: 12 – 14). An angelic being named Gabriel interpreted the meaning of the vision to Daniel (8: 15 -25). From Daniel’s perspective in the 6th century, the vision pertained to a still distant future, as the angel advised (8: 26).

The ram with two unequal horns represent the Medo-Persian Empire (8: 20); while the male goat with the single great horn represents the Greek Empire. The male goat’s single great horn was Alexander the Great, who defeated the Persians at Issus in 333 BC. Alexander died of a sudden illness ten years later, in 323 BC, leaving his empire to be divided among his four greatest generals - the four horns which replaced the single conspicuous horn on the male goat. From one of these four horns or dynasties, arose Antiochus IV Epiphanes who defied God, desecrated His Temple and persecuted the Jews under him mercilessly (8: 10 – 14, 23 – 25).

Answer 3

It is a pictorial description. The Greek Empire. Without touching the ground means with extreme suddenness. Alexander conquered the Persian Empire in only four years. The notable horn was Alexander. He died at age 33. The four notable ones were four of Alexander's generals who eventually established themselves in kingdoms carved from his empire.

Answer 4

i will hang on...



The account says: “I, for my part, kept on considering, and, look! there was a male of the goats coming from the sunset upon the surface of the whole earth, and it was not touching the earth. And as regards the he-goat, there was a conspicuous horn between its eyes. And it kept coming all the way to the ram possessing the two horns, which I had seen standing before the watercourse; and it came running toward it in its powerful rage. And I saw it coming into close touch with the ram, and it began showing bitterness toward it, and it proceeded to strike down the ram and to break its two horns, and there proved to be no power in the ram to stand before it. So it threw it to the earth and trampled it down, and the ram proved to have no deliverer out of its hand.” (Daniel 8:5-7) So does all of this mean?

Neither Daniel or we are left to guess about the meaning of this vision. “The hairy he-goat stands for the king of Greece; and as for the great horn that was between its eyes, it stands for the first king,” the angel Gabriel informs Daniel. (Daniel 8:21) In 336 B.C.E., the last king of the Persian Empire, Darius III (Codommanus), was crowned. That same year, Alexander became king in Macedonia. History shows that Alexander the Great proved to be the foretold first “king of Greece.” Starting “from the sunset,” or the west, in the year 334 B.C.E., Alexander moved fast. As if “not touching the earth,” he conquered territories and struck down “the ram.” Ending the Medo-Persian domination of nearly two hundred years, Greece then became the fifth world power of Biblical significance.It was a remarkable fulfillment of divine prophecy!

But Alexander’s power was to be short-lived. The vision then reveals: “And the male of the goats, for its part, put on great airs to an extreme; but as soon as it became mighty, the great horn was broken, and there proceeded to come up conspicuously four instead of it, toward the four winds of the heavens.” (Daniel 8:8) Explaining the prophecy, Gabriel says: “That one having been broken, so that there were four that finally stood up instead of it, there are four kingdoms from his nation that will stand up, but not with his power.” (Daniel 8:22) As predicted, at the height of his victorious career, Alexander was “broken,” or died, at the age of only 32. And his great empire eventually came to be divided among four of his generals.

Answer 5

You are dragging this on too long dude!