What does Daniel 8:5 mean?
Daniel's vision (Daniel 8:1) has included a male sheep—a ram (Daniel 8:2–3)—running wild without any restrictions. This will later be interpreted as the Medo-Persian empire (Daniel 8:20). As Daniel watched, another animal appeared: a goat. As with much of Old Testament prophecy, the imagery is dramatic and symbolic.The goat doesn't touch the ground as it moves; this implies tremendous speed. Upcoming verses show this animal charging at and defeating the ram already seen (Daniel 8:6–7). Later, an angel will explain that this goat represents the kingship of Greece—located west of Medo-Persia—and that the horn represents the first king (Daniel 8:21). This parallels Daniel's earlier dream of a four-winged leopard (Daniel 7:6), which also represented Greece. This prophecy predicts Alexander the Great, who led Greece to conquest, only to fall and be replaced by four successors (Daniel 8:8, 22).