God’s Word for You

Daniel 8:1-3 The Persians are coming

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Friday, November 28, 2025

8:1 In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, I, Daniel, had a vision. This was after the one that had already appeared to me. 2 In my vision I saw myself in the citadel of Susa which is in the province of Elam. And in the vision I was beside the Ulai Canal. 3 I looked up, and there in front of me was a ram standing beside the canal. He had two horns, and the horns were large. One of the horns was larger than the other, but it had grown up later.

Chapters 8-12 were written in Hebrew, just like chapter 1 and most of the rest of the Old Testament. These chapters are given mostly as a warning about what was going to happen in the future, either before the first coming of Christ (as we have here in chapter 8) or the final coming.

The eighth chapter takes place in the citadel of Susa—or rather, the vision takes place there. This is where Esther became Queen of Persia about seventy-five years after Daniel saw this vision (Esther 1:2, 2:8, 2:16-17). It would also be the home of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 1:1). Belshazzar’s third year was 551-550 BC. Most of the book of Esther takes place in the years 474-473 BC. Susa was a walled city northeast of the place where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers empty into the Persian Gulf. Between those rivers was the nation of Babylon. Susa was in the nation of Elam, to the east of the lower Tigris, just about 200 miles due east of the city of Babylon. Further north was Media. Two smaller rivers empty into the Tigris about a hundred miles south of Susa: the small Pasitirgris, and the Choaspes. Today the Choaspes flows in a channel about a mile west of Susa. Perhaps the Ulai Canal (a man-made channel for irrigation, transport, and trade) ran through or next to the city from an arm of the Choaspes.

Susa was an impressive city. The golden yellow brick exterior wall stands three stories above the sandy desert floor, and several towers within peek over the walls here and there, some reaching a fifth story. Why was this the location of the vision? The summer palace of the Persian kings would be located at Susa. It was here that Daniel saw himself witnessing the fall of the Persian kingdom, far in the future.

I have translated the place as the “canal” known as the Ulai. Ancient translators struggled with this word. Some like Theodotian did not know what it meant and took “Ubal” as a proper name. Symmachus thought it meant “swamp.” The Greek Septuagint has “gate” (πύλῃ). In fact, the word “Ubal” is a common word meaning “canal,” a man-made waterway to carry large amounts of water from a freshwater river to wherever it is needed, for irrigation or for quick transportation. In this case, it’s probably the latter that is significant, since the speed and efficiency of the creatures Daniel sees is emphasized.

The first animal is a ram. Later in this chapter, the angel Gabriel appears to explain to the prophet that this ram represents kings of the Medes and Persians. The Medes were the older kingdom, but the Persians that “grew up later” were stronger.

Here again the year is significant. However we caluclate the reign or regency of Belshazzar, we arrive at a date of 551 or 550 BC for this vision. Just a year or two later (549 BC) the king of Anshan, Cyrus, began his rise to power within Persia. In ten years, he attacked here and there and established his strength everywhere he went. More about this in verse 4. Cyrus and his Persians are the stronger horn of this ram.

Why are we being told these things? In this case, this chapter only foreshadows things about the Antichrist; he is not being depicted directly as he was in chapter 7. Instead, this chapter is more immediate for the Jews of Daniel’s time. It was given to the prophet for their comfort and to help them through the difficult time ahead. In this way, it is just like the dreams of Pharaoh in Joseph’s time, seeing years of plenty and years of famine depicted by cattle by the Nile (Genesis 41:1-4) and by heads of grain (Genesis 41:5-7). Then, the presence of the river was to let Joseph know that the dream was for the time and place when and where he was. Here, the presence of the canal and the citadel does the same for Daniel. What he saw was going to happen in the world as he knew it there and then, not the distant future.

Pharaoh’s dreams helped God’s people survive the approaching famine, and placed Joseph in a position to help the people. Now, Daniel’s dream would help God’s people to take comfort and live unafraid through the changes that were about to take place in Babylon. For the Persians who were on their way would soon send them home to their homeland in Judea, if only they would stay put, do nothing violent or rebellious, and allow the changes that were on the way to unfold as God designed them.

Therefore this passage as well as the whole chapter is both law and gospel at the same time. It proclaims the law because, like most of the lessons of Daniel, it reminds us of God’s sovereignty over all nations. He is supreme. Our Lutheran Confession proclaims just what the Scripture says: “The Gospel does not destroy the state or the family but rather approves them, and it commands us to obey them as divine ordinances not only from fear of punishment but also ‘for the sake of conscience’” (Apology of the Augsburg Confession).

And so that we do not leave a certain question unanswered, relevant in our moment in history, the Scripture also tells us that a Christian in good conscience may serve as a soldier or sailor and engage in just wars (Genesis 14:14; 2 Kings 5:19; Augsburg Confession XVI:2). He is freed from the burden of murder in war when he kills an enemy in combat just as the hangman is freed from the burden of his executions by Romans 13:4, that the government “does not bear the sword for nothing.” But if a Christian, serving under command, is tempted to break a law, even under orders, he will be guilty of that sin and of that crime. “Some, making the wars their bulwark, have before gored the gentle bosom of peace with pillage and robbery. Now, if these men have defeated the law and outrun native punishment, though they can outstrip men, they have no wings to fly from God… For every subject’s duty is the king’s; but every subject’s soul is his own.” (Henry V, Act IV scene 1). Therefore a soldier, commanded to break a law or a commandment by his king, is not guilty of treason, no matter how his monarch may shriek, and even if he dies for his seeming disobedience, his conscience is clear before the Almighty God, and his blood will be on the head of that shrieking king for all eternity.

This passage also proclaims the Gospel of comfort and forgiveness, for it shows that God keeps the promises he makes to his people. When a child first hears and sees his first snowplow, he might be frightened by the strange loud and ominous scraping noise that it makes. Then be might be frightened by its obvious power and destructive potential as it hurries past in the street, shoving inches or even feet of show out of its way as it goes. But then the good and helpful result is there without any mistake: a plowed and clear street. So it would be with the Persians. They were coming, in the words of Ulysses, as “the ram that batters down the wall,” and there would be a great deal of destruction. But God was showing his people that he himself guides and steers the world, and he would bring about an excellent result with these Persians. Israel would be able to return home, and very soon. There will be more to say about this, but this is enough for now.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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