The Sanctuary and the Twenty-three Hundred Days of Daniel 8:14

SYMBOL OF THE GOAT EXPLAINED

PICTURE STTHD 31.2

“And the rough goat is the king of Grecia; and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.” Verses 21, 22. STTHD 31.3

This also is plain and unequivocal language. The power that was to succeed the Persian in the empire of the world, according to the prophecy, was the Grecian. It was fulfilled two hundred and thirty-one years after the vision was given, when, at the battle of Arbela, Oct. 1, B.C. 331, Alexander the Great utterly routed the forces of Darius Codomannus, and became absolute lord of the empire to the utmost extent ever possessed by any of the Persian kings. STTHD 31.4

PICTURE AND TEXT

The great horn between his eyes was the first king. This was Alexander the Great. That horn was broken. Eight years after the battle of Arbela, Alexander died in a drunken debauch at the age of 33, Nov. 12, B.C. 323. STTHD 32.1

PICTURE IN PARAGRAPH

In the place of this first horn, four came up toward the four winds of heaven. These, the angel said, signified four kingdoms to arise out of the nation. After the death of Alexander much confusion arose among his followers respecting the succession. It was finally agreed, after a seven days’ contest, that his natural brother, Philip STTHD 32.2

Aridaeus, should be declared king. By him and Alexander’s sons, Alexander AEgus and Hercules, the name and show of the Macedonian empire were for a time kept up. But these were all soon murdered; and the regal family being then extinct, the chief commanders of the army, who had gone into different parts of the empire as governors of the provinces, assumed the title of kings. They thereupon fell to leaguing and warring with each other to such a degree that within the short space of fifteen years from Alexander’s death the number was reduced to just four, as the prophecy had declared. These kingdoms thus originated about 308 B.C. They were Macedonia, Thrace, Syria, and Egypt, ruled respectively by Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleucus, and Ptolemy. The kingdom of the goat dates from B.C. 331 to the time when a succeeding power appears upon the scene, B.C. 161, as we shall hereafter see. A period of 170 years is thus covered by this symbol. STTHD 33.1

In the foregoing illustration of the four horns of the goat, the little horn which came from one of them is represented as just protruding from the Macedonian horn. We here present a larger illustration of that little horn, as it waxed exceeding great. STTHD 33.2

PICTURE IN TEXT