Last week, we heard Daniel’s vision of the ram and the male goat. The ram was the Persian empire. The goat was the Macedonian empire of Alexander the Great.
Many scholars have puzzled their heads over why God would use a ram and a goat. There is really nothing in Persian or Greek literature or culture that would explain why Persia would be a ram, and Greece would be a goat.
But then again, the book of Daniel was not written for Persia or Greece. It was written for Jews. And honestly, if Daniel 8 wasn’t followed by Daniel 9, I don’t think anyone would have noticed this – but in Daniel 9, God makes it clear that a Day of Atonement is coming.
And if you look through the scriptures for a passage that talks about a ram and a male goat, there are only two: Leviticus 16 and Daniel 8. (There are lots of passages that talk about rams and goats generally – but only two that talks about a ram and a male goat!)
Except Leviticus 16 talks about two male goats. Where is the other goat?
But watch: Leviticus 16 says that Aaron shall offer the ram as a burnt offering for the people. Then he shall take one of the male goats as a sin offering, and the other one shall be “presented alive before the LORD to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness as a scapegoat.” And Daniel 9 says that at the end of the 70 weeks, atonement will be made.
Jesus is the other male goat. We saw last time that Daniel 8 ends with Daniel sick – appalled by the vision. He sees a ram and a male goat. That would make any Jew think of the Day of Atonement. But there is no atonement.
The end of chapter 9 explains the unfinished vision of chapter 8....
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