Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Daniel 8:6

And he came to the ram that had [two] horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power.

6. Alexander’s attack upon Persia.

that had two horns ] that had the two horns ( Dan 8:3).

the river ] the stream ( Dan 8:2).

ran unto him ] at or (R.V.) upon him (Job 15:26).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

And he came to the ram … – Representing the Medo-Persian power.

And ran unto him in the fury of his power – Representing the fierceness and fury with which Alexander attacked the Persians at the Granicus, at Issus, and at Arbela, with which he invaded and overthrew them in their own country. Nothing would better express this than to say that it was done in the fury of power.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 6. And he came to the ram.] This and the following verse give an account of the overthrow of the Persian empire by Alexander.

And ran unto him in the fury of his power] The conflicts between the Greeks and the Persians were excessively severe. Alexander first vanquished the generals of Darius, at the river Granicus, in Phrygia; he next attacked and totally routed Darius, at the straits of Issus, in Cilicia; and afterwards at the plains of Arbela, in Assyria. One can hardly read these words, says Bp. Newton, “the ram – which I had seen standing by the river, ran unto him in the fury of his power,” without having the image of Darius’ army standing and guarding the river Granicus and of Alexander on the other side, with his forces plunging in swimming across the stream, and rushing on the enemy, with all the fire and fury that can be conceived.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

The ram that had two horns, i.e. the king of Media and Persia, and joined battle presently and furiously, Jehu like.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

6. standing before the riverUlai.It was at the “river” Granicus that Alexander fought hisfirst victorious battle against Darius, 334 B.C.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And he came to the ram that had two horns,…. Alexander being chosen and made by the states of Greece captain general of all Greece against the Persians, marched from thence with his army, passed the Hellespont, and entered into the kingdom of the Medes and Persians, signified by the ram with two horns, and came up to Darius Codomannus, possessed of this large monarchy, and at the head of a numerous army:

which I had seen standing before the river; the river Ulai, near to Shushan, the royal seat of the kings of Persia; here Darius stood in his royal majesty and dignity, as the defender of his empire, and unconcerned at the attempt of Alexander, having nothing to fear, as he thought, from such a puny adversary:

and ran unto him in the fury of his power; or, “heat of his power” b; which denotes the haste Alexander made with his army into Asia; his eager desire, and the fervour of his mind to engage with the Persians: the historian says, that he passed the Hellespont into Asia, “incredibli ardore mentis accensus”; fired with an incredible ardour of mind: and a little after, having conquered the rebels of Pisidia, he marched against Darius, “summo mentis ardore”; with the greatest ardour of mind, and with no less alacrity c; which exactly agrees with the sacred text. The running of the he goat to the ram in a hostile way is described in allusion to the manner of those creatures when they fight with one another, or attack an enemy.

b “fervore virtutis suae”, Munster; “cum ardore virium suarum”, Cocceius; “in aestu robaris sui”, Michaelis. c Supplem. in Curt. l. 2. p. 26, 28.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(6) Ran unto him.The wonderful rapidity of Alexanders movements, incredible, if it were not so well attested in history, is here pointed out. From the battle of Granicus to that of Arbela only three years elapsed. During this brief period the whole Persian empire fell to pieces.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

6, 7. A graphic picture of Alexander’s conquest of the Medo-Persian empire under Darius. Alexander was really the aggressor, and refusing absolutely to make terms of peace pursued him to his death, notwithstanding the sympathy of many onlookers who feared that it would be their turn next to be trampled upon.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘And he came to the ram which had two horns, which I saw standing before the river, and ran on him in the fury of his power. And I saw him come close to the ram, and he was full of rage against him, and smote the ram and broke his two horns. And there was no power in the ram to stand before him. But he cast him down to the ground and trampled on him. And there was none who could deliver the ram out of his hand.’

Alexander’s swift approach and savage attack defeated the Persian army which came out to oppose him, and he then overran Syria and Palestine and finally defeated the Persians once and for all at the battle of Gaugamela, near Nineveh in 331 BC. The contrast between the one horn of the he-goat (thus a visionary goat, for goats have two horns) with the two horns of the ram, emphasis the dual nature of the Medo-Persian empire. This duality is constantly emphasised as we have seen.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Dan 8:6-7. He came to the ram, &c. In these two verses we have an account of the Grecians overthrowing the Persian empire. The ram had before, Dan 8:4 pushed westward; and the Persians, in the reign of Darius Hystaspis and Xerxes, had poured down with great armies into Greece: but now the Greeks in return carried their arms into Asia, and the he-goat invaded the ram that had invaded him. And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. We can hardly read these words without having some image of Darius’s army standing and guarding the river Granicus, and of Alexander on the other side, with his forces plunging in, swimming across the stream, and rushing on the enemy with all the fire and fury which can be conceived. And I saw him close unto the ram: he had several close engagements or set battles with the king of Persia, and particularly at the Granicus in Phrygia, at the straits of Issus in Cilicia, and in the plains of Arbela in Assyria. And he was moved with choler against him, for the cruelties which the Persians had exercised against the Greeks, and for Darius’s attempting sometimes to corrupt his soldiers to betray him, and sometimes his friends to destroy him; so that he would not listen to the most advantageous offers of peace, but determined to pursue the Persian king, not as a generous and noble enemy, but as a prisoner and a murderer, to the death which he deserved. And he smote the ram, and brake his two horns: he subdued Persia and Media, with other provinces and kingdoms of the Persian empire; and it is remarkable, that in Persia he barbarously sacked and burned the royal city of Persepolis, the capital of the empire; and in Media Darius was seized and made prisoner by some of his own treacherous subjects, who not long afterwards basely murdered him.And there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: he conquered wherever he came; routed all their forces, took all the cities and castles, and intirely subverted and ruined the Persian empire. And there was none that could deliver him out of his hand; not even his numerous armies could defend the king of Persia, though his forces in the battle of Issus amounted to six hundred thousand men; and in that of Arbela, to ten or eleven hundred thousand; whereas the whole number of Alexander’s was not more than forty-seven thousand in either engagement. See Bishop Newton, vol. 2: p. 13.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Dan 8:6 And he came to the ram that had [two] horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power.

Ver. 6. And he came to the ram that had two horns. ] He came. This may betoken the slower preparations of Philip, king of Macedonia.

And ran unto him. ] Alexander did, by quick and furious marches.

“ Nil actum credens dum quid superesset agendam

Fertur atrox. ” – De Cas. Lucan,

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)