The vision assures us that the victory will be on the side of truth, and order, and freedom, and home, and God. Thrones will be set, judgment will be pronounced and the scarlet banner of our Immanuel will float over the nations. For that, after all, is the lesson designed to be taught by all these strange and perplexing visions, whether in Daniel or in the Apocalypse. Here is the philosophy of prophecy. Its aim is not to satisfy our curiosity, but to inspire us with courage and faith. The end is righteousness and peace. There have been trying times—years when the bottomless pit seemed to yawn at men's feet. But the world has not fallen. And the world will not fall. The pierced hands are holding it. It shall swing out of battle into peace, out of tempest into sunshine, out of night into day. And then shall come the ages of everlasting beauty and of the undying song! Behrends. 1:1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God; and he carried them into the land of Shinar to the house of his god: and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god. And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring in certain of the children of Israel, even of the seed royal and of the nobles; youths in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability to stand in the king's palace; and that he should teach them the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. And the king appointed for them a daily portion of the king's meat, and of the wine which he drank, and that they should be nourished three years; that at the end thereof they might stand before the king. Now among these were, of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. And the prince of the eunuchs gave names unto them: unto Daniel he gave the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abed-nego. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Now God made Daniel to find favour and compassion in the sight of the prince of the eunuchs. And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink: for why should he see your faces worse liking than the youths which are of your own age? so should ye endanger my head with the king. Then said Daniel to the steward, whom the prince of the eunuchs had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the youths that eat of the king's meat; and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. So he hearkened unto them in this matter, and proved them ten days. And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer, and they were fatter in flesh, than all the youths which did eat of the king's meat. So the steward took away their meat, and the wine that they should drink, and gave them pulse. Now as for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. And at the end of the days which the king had appointed for bringing them in, the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king. And in every matter of wisdom and understanding, concerning which the king inquired of them, he found them ten 21 times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his realm. And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus. DANIEL was taken to Babylon in the first deportation in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, seven years, consequently, before the captivity of Jehoiachin, with whom Ezekiel was carried away (Ezek. 1 : 1, 2). Nebuchadnezzar had entered upon the expedition the preceding year (Dan. 1 : 1), when his father was still living, but hastened back after Jerusalem was taken, in consequence of the intelligence of his father's death, that he might make sure of his own accession to the throne. The two prophets of the Captivity, Ezekiel and Daniel, were called to the exercise of entirely distinct functions. Ezekiel dwelt with the captives at the river Chebar, among whom he labored for their spiritual good, delivering to them such messages as from time to time he received. Daniel was taken directly to the city of Babylon itself, to be in the king's palace (Dan. 1 : 3, 4), where he rose to a high official position in the administration of the affairs of the empire (2 : 48, 49). While Ezekiel's task was that of exerting a religious influence upon the exiles themselves, and thus furthering the ends of this severe discipline to which they were subjected, Daniel had his station at the court of the king, where he was to exert an influence on their behalf, protecting them from injurious treatment, and perhaps in due time preparing the way for their return. Ezekiel was of priestly (Ezek. 1 : 3), Daniel of royal descent (Dan. 1 : 3); and this fact had its influence upon their respective prophecies. While Ezekiel deals largely in the symbols of the sanctuary, and sees in his visions the cherubim (Ezek. 10), the temple, and the ritual (Ezek. 40-48), the future of the people of God being presented to him under the emblem of the re-erection of the earthly sanctuary with greatly enlarged dimensions, and the restoration of the ceremonial service, the same thing is foreshown to Daniel as the establishment of a universal kingdom which is to supersede and outlast every earthly kingdom. W. H. G. Chap. 1. This chapter introduces Daniel; gives his early personal history and that of his three young friends. They refuse the delicacies of the king's table, and at their own request are proved on purely vegetable food—successfully (verses 8-16). They appear before the Chaldean king, and are approved (verses 17-21). 2. Daniel is careful to say (with historical accuracy) that at this time the king of Babylon took away only a part of the vessels of the temple. Many more were taken during the short reign of Jeconiah (see 2 K. 24 : 13) and yet some were left behind then, to be taken at the final destruction of the city in the reign of Zedekiah. Of the latter, special mention is made by Jeremiah (chap. 27 : 19-22). This matter of the sacred vessels of the temple was to the Jews of the utmost moment. This heathen king carried these sacred vessels into the house of his god as trophies of victory gained by the favor of his idol over the God of Israel. It was common for heathen kings to honor their own gods in this way. H. C. 4. From Herodotus and Strabo it is evident that there existed in Babylon, as in Egypt and (later on) in Persia, an hereditary order of "priests" named Chaldeans, masters of all the science and literature as well as of the religious ceremonies current among the people, and devoted from very early times to that habit of astronomical observation which their brilliant sky so much favored. This priest class was not, strictly speaking, a caste. It was rather a sacerdotal and a learned society into which foreigners and natives, as well as the sons of the priest-members, were admitted. In the hands of these men the education of the young was deposited; and instruction in their "learning and tongue"—their written documents and scientific language—was a final and necessary part of the education of those whose physical beauty had already secured them commendation. B. C. Daniel was to be instructed in the language and learning of the Chaldeans. Babylon was a university city, and among the fragments which have been unearthed there, as also at Nineveh, are fragments of text-books, linguistic and scientific. To learn to read and write inscriptions in the Babylonian language, and in the Accadian-Sumerian, the language of the ancient literature of Babylon, was the beginning. Then there was the literature itself to be mastered, little fragments of which have come down to us. But the head and front of Babylonian wisdom was astrology (Dan. 1 : 20); and the largest book, or series of tablets, of which we have knowledge (from the library of Sardanapalus), is a work on astronomy or astrology in seventy volumes. He who acquired the learning of the Chaldeans must have been taught what days of the month were lucky and unlucky for each several enterprise. He must have studied the hidden meanings of eclipses and comets. He must have been trained in that curious pseudo-scientific system by which the astrologers, recording in comparison terrestrial events and celestial configurations and phenomena, sought to ascertain what would happen on earth at some future time by computing the condition of the heavens for that period. And he who was a pupil of the wise men of Babylon must have learned the wisdom of the magi with reference to the stars and star spirits, which are inextricably bound up with the life and fate of the nations and men to whom they belong (Dan. 10:13, 21; 12:1). Thousands of inscribed clay tablets from Babylon and neighboring cities enable us also to enter into the domestic and financial life of Daniel's time with singular minuteness. We are learning the price of almost every article of common use from deeds of sale and contracts inscribed on these little clay tablets, and deposited for safe keeping with the banking house of Egibi, and placed in their safety deposit vaults, which were great earthenware jars (Jer. 32:14). We have court records, marriage settlements, wills, and the like, preserved to us in the same manner. J. P. Peters. 6. As far as we can calculate Daniel was about fourteen or fifteen years old when his education began. From the second chapter we learn that this training began immediately after he had been made a captive, and, as the Jewish monarchy had eighteen years of slow wasting and decay to pass through between that third year of Jehoiakim and the fall of Zedekiah, its last weak king, Daniel must have reached the prime of manhood, and have held a position of great power and influence at Nebuchadnezzar's court long before Jerusalem perished in the flames. The exiled Ezekiel, in coupling his name with those of Noah and Job (Ezek. 14: 14), leads us to the conviction that his reputation for goodness and wisdom was spread throughout the whole region wherein the captive Israelites dwelt. It was a merciful provision for them that at the conqueror's court there should be one who could do so much to soften the bitterness of their condition, and whose example would strengthen them so greatly in holding firmly to the faith. R. P. S. 7. These names are compounded with the names of the true God; El being wrought into Daniel (meaning judge for God) and into Mishael (who is what God is?), while the last syllable of Jehovah appears in Hananiah (whom Jehovah has graciously given) and Azariah (one helped of God). The new names expunge all recognition of the true God, and honor the Chaldean gods instead; Daniel having Bel wrought into his, Belteshazzar, which means a prince of Bel. H. C. 8-10. Daniel's first request of the head of the royal household, and the prince's reply. The remarkable character and gifts of Daniel appear here at the outset of his history. His personal purity and integrity and his wonderful wisdom were manifest at the commencement of his training in the palace. He was then not more than seventeen years of age. The first, and not an inconsiderable proof of his wisdom appears in the form and substance of this request. Not only did he use persuasion, but he proposed a wise and practicable test in reference to the matter of his food. His strong character is expressed by his purpose of heart not to partake of the king's meat or wine because it would defile him. Doubtless that purpose would have been strong enough to have borne him through any crisis of trial had it come then, as it proved afterward on a memorable occasion. Either the articles of food or the method of their preparation may have been interdicted by the law of Moses; or the meats and wines may have passed through some connections of idolatrous worship, which would have rendered them unfit for use. The request of Daniel clearly implies that some ceremonial uncleanness pertained to the food placed before them, since he asks that he may not defile himself. The statement of the ninth verse is equally touching and instructive. What it was that gave Daniel favor with the royal chamberlain we are not informed; but only that God had brought the favor and love to his young servant. The principle is stated by Solomon in Prov. 16:7. The fact of the prince's affection toward Daniel appears in the gentleness of his answer. His lord had appointed their meat and drink; and the chamberlain believed rich living to be essential to well-being and good appearance. To yield to Daniel's request would for both reasons, therefore, endanger his own life. The highest physical and mental development of these young men was the king's sole aim. If this was hindered in any way, especially by disregard of the king's will, then, as was the fashion among Oriental monarchs, the head of the disobeying servant would be unceremoniously stricken off. And old as is the custom which we find here, it has continued to the present day. B. 8. He evinces both his conscientiousness in reference to the law of his God, and his noble self-control in the matter of appetite. He held his appetite in firm subjection to the dictates of enlightened judgment and experience as to what was best for his health and physical vigor. These are among the first and most vital elements in the formation of a character of the highest promise for efficiency and usefulness. H. C. With respect to the Book of Daniel, the attempt to show that it is opposed to the older prophetical books by its commendation of a legal externalism is utterly vain. Daniel abstains from partaking of the dainties of the royal table because he considers them defiling—not exactly in the sense in which, in the passage Hos. 9:4, the food of the people in captivity is called polluted, but undoubtedly because at the royal repasts it would be impossible to avoid violations of the Mosaic injunctions concerning different kinds of food, and the eating of flesh sacrificed to idols. O. The Old Testament often seems as if it were inspired especially for young men. The chapter before us answers with singular pertinence the inquiry which every young man ought to ask and answer in a manly way: "What stand shall I take respecting obedience to the drinking usages of society?" What were Daniel's temptations to abandon a life of abstinence from strong drink? He was tempted by his youth. He was at the age when appetite is strong, health good, principle weak, and experience not at all. Daniel was tempted also by the usages of his social rank. He was a noble, probably of the blood royal. It was the usage of his order to drink wine, and the best of it, and much of it. Daniel was tempted by the courtesies of official station. He was in training for the first office in the realm. Daniel was tempted also by his absence from home and native land. He was not only in a foreign land, in the Paris of the ancient world, in the court of a king, associating with corrupt young nobles and aristocratic pleasure-seekers, but he was a captive. Put now all these things together—youth, social usage, official rank, professional interests, absence from home and native land, and the mortification of captivity—and where in modern life can you find a case of stronger temptation to a self-indulgent and pleasure-seeking career? Daniel was true to the education of his childhood. His convictions were doubtless the fruit of early training. He is not ashamed of that. He has been educated to do right, and of that he is not ashamed. His conduct is clearly in contrast, and is meant to be, with the customs of the society around him. He put it on the basis of a religious scruple. "He purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king's meat and wine." Language cannot well express more truthfully the fundamental principle of the temperance reform. The virtue it inculcates is a religious virtue. It is a religious reform or it is nothing. Its opposite involves moral defilement, to which no young man of lofty and pure spirit will subject himself. Pure manhood in this thing needs to respect itself with much of the delicacy of chaste womanhood. Both revere the sacredness of the human body. They treat it as the temple of God. The great thing which a young man needs in a crisis of temptation is to declare for the right quickly. Leave no time for temptation to accumulate. Then intrust consequences to God. It often requires a great deal of character to do that; not only a religious principle, but a strong character back of that. To be content, in a crisis, with the single thought of duty, is one of the grandest things in history. Yet a child can do it. God never disappoints that trust. Phelps. 11-14. Daniel's second request of the steward, and the latter's assent to the proposed test. Melzar means steward, a person employed by the chamberlain in the immediate care of all the youths then in training. To this officer Daniel applies, with the simple proposition for a ten days' trial of a simple diet. He asks that he and his three companions might be fed upon pulse (probably a general term signifying grains of any kind) and water. The result of so short an experiment could have little effect either way, yet enough to serve as an indication of advantage or disadvantage from the diet. So, it would seem with the consent of the chamberlain, he tested the results of the proposed change. 15,16. Result of the experiment. Their countenances appeared fairer and fuller than the other young men, and the steward permanently changed the richer for the simpler diet. This regimen was continued during the three years' training; and Daniel and his three companions were then found to be superior to the other young men in respect of physical condition as well as in intellectual abilities. There was nothing miraculous in this result. Nor can a just inference be drawn from it in favor of a regimen of bread (or vegetables) and water. It was the religious and not the sanitary bearing of the matter which Daniel had in mind. Not his dietary wisdom but his will was in it— his purpose of heart, to avoid defilement. The physical conditions of life are of great importance, and the obligation to regard them lies clearly enough upon the New Testament pages; but they are only suggested indirectly here. B. In that brief trial of his youth he laid the foundation of a robust, vigorous manhood. He laid then the train which led to a long and splendid career of courtly usefulness. The mysterious power which subsequently closed the mouths of lions for his safety began at this time to gather around his person. In this early and brief fragment of his life he settled the future of his professional career as a prophet of the living God. Those ten short days secured to him a place in the world's history, in which he is destined to live in the grateful and reverent affections of mankind forever. The Chaldean monarch and his haughty court live today in the world's memory only because this young Hebrew seer has condescended to speak of them. As one of the authors of the Word of God, and one of the great actors in the history of God's Church, he is to live while time lasts. The foundation of this magnificent destiny, extending into two worlds, was built far back in those few days—not longer than a boy's holidays—in which the character of the young man was proved and his principles tried as a friend of temperance and the child of conscience. Phelps. 17. God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom.** By this means, still more than by the patronage of Ashpenaz, they were enabled to command the respect of their fellow-students; and when the time of trial came, envy was crushed and detraction silenced by the signal and glorious success of these four youths, who had trusted in God; for then, "in all matters of wisdom and understanding that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm." There seems to us something full of overlooked instruction in this. We count it reasonable to look to the Lord for our daily bread; to apply to Him for aid and guidance in the trials and emergencies of life; but how few are they who seek for the same aid from Him and feel the same dependence upon him in matters of the intellect—in learning, in study, in thought! It is very reasonable and becoming—it is very necessary—that when we go forth into the toil and business of the day, or when our affairs present perplexing difficulties, we should cast ourselves upon the Lord's protection and look to Him for counsel and guidance. But is it, can it be less needful that when we sit down to read, to write, to study, to think, we should lift up our hearts trustingly to Him and cry, "What in me is dark Blumine, what is low raise and support"? God can and will do this for us; and it would please Him well to be asked to do it. Let us believe that to pray earnestly is to study well; and let us be sure that He will refuse nothing that we seek, in singleness of heart, only for His service and His glory. How many difficulties that seem insuperable would be smoothed, how many blessed thoughts might be suggested, how many forgotten things brought to mind, how many wearinesses refreshed, if we trusted more to God and less to ourselves, in the exercise of such gifts as He may have committed to us, and in the supply of such as we want! Kitto. 18-20. "The end of days" is the expiration of the three years fixed by the king and referred to verse 5. The king "communed with them" for the purpose of sounding their depth and testing their adaptation to his wants. He became abundantly satisfied. Hence they took their position; they "stood before the king," awaiting orders and ready for his service. This is the usual phrase for servants in attendance upon their superiors. So angels are said to "stand before God." "Ten times better" is a definite phrase in the sense of an indefinite. H. C. 20. The magicians and astrologers.** These words seem to comprehend the persons in general who were distinguished in the several kinds of learning cultivated among the Chaldees. Of the like character were the magi in Egypt and Persia and the other countries of the East, and those "wise men" that came to our Saviour at His birth. Wintle. 21. Daniel continued even unto the first year of King Cyrus.** And so witnessed the accomplishment of Jeremiah's prophecy concerning the seventy years. This being so remarkable a year, the text takes notice that Daniel lived so long; not but that he lived longer—at least till the third year of Cyrus—as appears from chap. 10:1. W. Lowth. "Daniel continued" are the simple words; but what a volume of tried faithfulness is unrolled by them! Amid all the intrigues, indigenous at all times in dynasties of Oriental despotism, where intrigue, too, rolls round so suddenly on its author's head; amid all the envy toward a foreign captive in high office as a king's councillor; amid all the trouble incidental to the insanity of the king or to the murder of two of his successors—in that whole critical period for his people Daniel “continued.” He saw the rise and fall of the first great empire. He lived long enough to see the last gleam of glory die away like light out of the evening sky. But Daniel through all vicissitudes preserved essentially the same self. Empires might come and go, but Daniel remained the same. Himself, in uniform integrity, outliving envy, jealousy, dynasties; surviving in untarnished, uncorrupting greatness the seventy years of the Captivity; he was honored during the forty-three years of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign; “doing the king’s business” under the insolent and sensual boy Belshazzar; owned by the conquering Medo-Persians; the stay, doubtless, and human protector of his people during those long years of exile; probably commissioned to write the decree of Cyrus which gave leave for that long longed-for restoration of his people, whose re-entrance into their land, like Moses of old, he was not to share. Deeds are more eloquent than words. Such undeviating integrity, beyond the ordinary life of man, in a worshipper of the one God, in the most dissolute and depraved of the merchant cities of old, first minister in the first of the world monarchies, was in itself a great fulfilment of the purpose of God in converting the chastisement of His people into the riches of the Gentiles. Pusey. # Suggested Truths. A fixed purpose is the foundation of a strong character for good or evil. The earlier the habit of decision is formed, the more efficient is the life. Gentleness and persuasion ought always to precede command and force in all attempts at human reform, whether with the individual or the community. God is honored, and men are attracted and influenced for good by the manifestation of firmness in moral or religious principle. Simple habits and the avoidance of self-indulgence are essential to the formation of a high, unselfish character only let the simsimplicity be natural and the self-denial unobtrusive. To them that ask earnestly, God recompenses trust largely and imparts wisdom liberally. Yet with many, even Christians, the thing most needed is least sought. They ask for blessing upon toil, for the obtaining of daily bread, for aid in emergencies and trials, but seldom do they ask for wisdom in the search after knowledge and the acquisition of learning; seldom do they realize its need in the exercise and the products of thought. We have “a more sure word of prophecy,” a better and higher knowledge of God and of all spiritual truth, than that obtained in olden time through visions and dreams. For the fulness and clearness of the revealed Scriptures we owe a far deeper and more constant thankfulness than we are wont to cherish. B. It is force of thought which measures intellectual, and so it is the force of principle which measures moral greatness, that highest of human endowments, that brightest manifestation of the Divinity. The greatest man is he who chooses the right with invincible resolution, who resists the sorest temptations from within and without, who bears the heaviest burdens cheerfully, and who is calmest in storms and most fearless under menace and frowns, whose reliance on truth, on virtue, on God, is most unfaltering; and is this a greatness which is apt to make a show, or which is most likely to abound in conspicuous station? The solemn conflicts of reason with passion; the victories of moral and religious principle over urgent and almost irresistible solicitations to self-indulgence; the hardest sacrifices of duty, those of deep-seated affection and of the heart’s fondest hopes; the consolations, hopes, joys, and peace, of disappointed, persecuted, scorned, deserted virtue—these are of course unseen; so that the true greatness of human life is almost wholly out of sight. Perhaps in our presence the most heroic deed on earth is done in some silent spirit, the loftiest purpose cherished, the most glorious sacrifice made, and we do not suspect it. I believe this greatness to be most common among the multitude whose names are never heard. Anon. soon well known in Judah, and are often referred to by Jeremiah. We also gather from his many allusions to things prescribed by the Levitical law, and which were evidently still in use in Israel, coupled with similar incidental references in Amos, that Jeroboam I. had retained the main features of the Mosaical institutions, while engrafting upon them for political purposes a debased symbolism which degraded and corrupted the whole. R. P. S. # Relation to the Sacred Canon. The Book of Hosea, of a date and of an authenticity which are both unquestionable and in fact unquestioned, is a witness of the utmost value for previous portions of the Old Testament. A number of allusions put it beyond all lawful doubt that Hosea in the eighth century before Christ had in His hands a Hebrew literature identical with much which we possess at the present hour. B. C. (See Bib. Com. vi. 409.) In this prophet we find abundant references to the books of the Law and the earlier historical books. We can detect allusions to or acquaintance with the contents of each book of the five, and the testimony is the more important because it is so obviously unintentional. We find him speaking of the Law as of a code which existed in writing. He says to Ephraim, in the name of God (8 : 12), "I have written to him the great things of My Law, but they were counted as a strange thing." Eight hundred years before Christ, then, the Law must have been known in the divided kingdom, and reckoned of sufficient authority to be appealed to as Divine, or for the nation to be charged with contempt of it. Such authority could not have been the growth of a day, and it must have rested on a foundation of some solidity to be acknowledged as authoritative at all. But independently of this, the fact remains that in the writings of Hosea, as of all the prophets, the Law is recognized as the great condemning instrument in the charge which they brought against the nation. Their writings are unintelligible, and their mission is inconceivable, but for the fact of a previously existing Law. When Joel, who perhaps is even older than Hosea, says, using the language of the Mosaic Law (2 : 1), "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain," he witnesses to two facts : first, that Mount Zion had been so long the centre of Divine worship as to be acknowledged as God's holy mountain ; and secondly, that it was the scene of those ceremonial and festive observances which the Law prescribed. When the last book of the Law was written it was still a matter of uncertainty where the Lord would place His name, and no place was permanently fixed until the time of David ; but from his time onward, for a period of more than two hundred years, Zion was regarded as the holy mountain, and acquired in the minds of the people that degree of sanctity which in the time of Joel it possessed. But in this respect we must remember it had competed successfully and successively with Gibson, Shiloh and Gilgal. All this was a work of time, but the succession of events not only demands, but supplies the time. The case, then, stands thus : we have clear reference to the Law 800 B.C. At that time it must have been acknowledged by Israel as well as Judah, and consequently must have dated prior to the division of the kingdom, some two hundred years before. But the same writer (Hosea) makes allusions to the books of Joshua and Judges, which must therefore have been in existence long before his time, and been then accepted as trustworthy history of a much earlier period. But whenever these books were written the Law was still in existence, for it must have preceded them, whatever their date is ; and if their narrative is at all to be trusted, the Law was not only known when they were written, but also known at the times to which they related, long before. Leathes. 2:1 And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed 2 dreams; and his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him. Then the king com- manded to call the magicians, and the enchanters, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for 3 to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. And the king said 4 unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream. Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in the Syrian language, O king, live for ever: tell thy ser- 5 vants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation. The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye make not known unto me the dream and the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill. 6 But if ye shew the dream and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and re- 7 wards and great honour: therefore shew me the dream and the interpretation thereof. They answered the second time and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will shew 8 the interpretation. The king answered and said, I know of a certainty that ye would gain 9 time, because ye see the thing is gone from me. But if ye make not known unto me the dream, there is but one law for you: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye 10 can shew me the interpretation thereof. The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king's matter: forasmuch as no king, 11 lord, nor ruler, hath asked such a thing of any magician, or enchanter, or Chaldean. And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can shew it before the 12 king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh. For this cause the king was angry 13 and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. So the decree went forth, and the wise men were to be slain; and they sought Daniel and his companions 14 to be slain. Then Daniel returned answer with counsel and prudence to Arioch the captain 15 of the king's guard, which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon; he answered and said to Arioch the king's captain, Wherefore is the decree so urgent from the king? 16 Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel. And Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would appoint him a time, and he would shew the king the interpretation. 17 Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and 18 Azariah, his companions: that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his companions should not perish with the rest of the wise men 19 of Babylon. Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel 20 blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever 21 and ever: for wisdom and might are his: and he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to 22 them that know understanding: he revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what 23 is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast now made known unto 24 me what we desired of thee: for thou hast made known unto us the king's matter. There- fore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon: he went and said thus unto him; Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me in before the king, and I will shew unto the king the interpretation. 25 Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste, and said thus unto him, I have found a man of the children of the captivity of Judah, that will make known unto the king 26 the interpretation. The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation 27 thereof? Daniel answered before the king, and said, The secret which the king hath de- manded can neither wise men, enchanters, magicians, nor soothsayers, shew unto the king; 28 but there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and he hath made known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head 29 upon thy bed, are these: as for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets hath made known to thee 30 what shall come to pass. But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but to the intent that the interpretation may be made 31 known to the king, and that thou mayest know the thoughts of thy heart. Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness 32 was excellent, stood before thee; and the aspect thereof was terrible. As for this image, his 33 head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his 34 legs of iron, his feet part of iron, and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and 35 brake them in pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the 36 image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. This is the dream; and we will 37 tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Thou, O king, art king of kings, unto whom 38 the God of heaven hath given the kingdom, the power, and the strength, and the glory; and wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee to rule over them all: thou art the head 39 of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee; and another third 40 kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron 41 that crusheth all these, shall it break in pieces and crush. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry 42 clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall 43 be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men; but they shall not cleave one to 44 another, even as iron doth not mingle with clay. And in the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty thereof be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these king- 45 doms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass here- 46 after: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. Then the king Nebu- chadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should 47 offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him. The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing 48 thou hast been able to reveal this secret. Then the king made Daniel great, and gave him many great gifts, and made him to rule over the whole province of Babylon, and to be chief 49 governor over all the wise men of Babylon. And Daniel requested of the king, and he ap- pointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel was in the gate of the king. # The Four Monarchies and the Messianic King- dom. THE chief subject of chaps. 2-7 is the four world monarchies, which, having succeeded each other, finally usher in the kingdom of God. This subject is presented to us in two visions, one of which (chap. 2) opens, the other (chap. 7) closes the first part. The dream of the king and its interpretation (chap. 2) opened up to Daniel a glance into the future of the kingdoms of the world, disclosed to him a whole circle of visions, and thus prepared him for the reception of further and more special revelations; so that the event possessed for him the character of a preparatory education. God caused the world power, viewed in its totality, to appear to Nebuchadnezzar under the figure of a colossal human form, whose head of gold represents the Babylonian, whose breast and arms of silver the Medo-Persian, whose body and loins of brass the Graeco-Macedonian, whose legs of iron and feet partly iron and partly clay, the Roman empire, with its Germano-Slavonic offshoots. In accordance with the general plan of the prophecy, those kingdoms only are mentioned which stand in some relation to the kingdom of God; but of these none is left out. The establishment of the kingdom of God is the aim of His creation, the end of His government of the world. The kingdom of God is the invisible root which sustains and supports the kingdoms of the world—the invisible power by which the kingdoms of the world are smitten and crushed down. The duration, importance, and dignity of the kingdoms of the world is fixed by their nearer or remoter connection with the kingdom of God. It would be utterly valueless to know beforehand the fate and history of all the kingdoms of the earth, which bear either a very distant or no relation whatever to the kingdom of God. For whatever history they may have, it is insignificant, since it exerts but a slight influence, or none at all, in delaying or advancing the last and final development of things, the crushing of the kingdoms of the world by the kingdom of God” (Menken). Auberlen. Chap. 2. In this chapter we have an account of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar and its interpretation by Daniel after the Chaldeans had failed to describe and interpret it. The dream itself contains a general outline of the subsequent revelations to Daniel in regard to the world powers. It occurred many years before the other visions. At this time the kingdom of Babylon was approaching to its highest glory. In the later visions of Daniel it was in its last extremity. Rose. Nebuchadnezzar is greatly troubled by a dream which he cannot recall; his Chaldean magi cannot help him to it; but Daniel reveals to the king his dream and its interpretation. Thereupon the king acknowledges the great superiority of the God of Daniel, and promotes him and his three friends to high positions of trust in the State. H. C. 1. And in the second year. The date would be about the sixth year of Jehoiakim, in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s sole sovereignty after the death of his father Nabopolassar; about four years after the date in chap. 1: 1, and shortly after chap. 1: 18. B. C.—The second year, according to the Babylonian account, or the fourth, according to the Jewish—that is, in the second year of his reigning alone, or the fourth of his reigning jointly with his father. Bp. Newton.—Daniel, writing the following history in Chaldee, for the use of the Chaldeans, follows the computation of time in use among them. W. Lowth. Dreams. Though it was but one continued dream, it contained a succession of various events. Wintle.—Dreams are usually the mere fancies of the mind during sleep, and of no account as indicating future events. But the God who made us is able to reach our minds no less while we sleep than while we are awake; and hence can determine our dreams as truly and perfectly as the succession and character of our waking thoughts. Hence he was wont in ancient times to manifest Himself to men in their dreams, as here in the case of this Chaldean king. This dream troubled him and made sleep impossible. It left his mind painfully anxious, as if it foreboded some great calamity; while yet he could not recall the particular points of the dream. Much less could he reach its prophetic significance. 2. In this emergency the king called in the aid of those classes of men who professed skill in the occult sciences and in auguries of future events. Most if not all of the unevangelized nations of all history have had such men, often known as a special class under some distinctive name. Here are four different terms of designation. The word rendered “magicians” means sacred scribes—priests of religion. The next term, rendered “astrologers,” is several times translated “magoi” (magi) in the Septuagint. The magoi are the “wise men” who came from the East (Matt. 2: 1) to inquire for the new-born Messiah whose star they had seen, and therefore came to worship Him. The second and the third terms imply, in the original Hebrew, the use of occult arts, secret practices, by which their authors pretended to have communication with invisible powers or agencies, and to learn from them what no unaided human mind could attain. The term Chaldean, as used in this connection, denotes a learned class who retained the language and the wisdom of the ancient Kaldi people. H. C. Their magi, or learned men, were a numerous and important class. The movements of the heavenly bodies, the qualities of metals and minerals, prognostications of the future, explanations of dreams and similar subjects constituted their studies; and as they claimed great skill in the art of foretelling the future, they acquired a position of extraordinary influence. They were the priests of the Chaldean nation, and taught the worship of the sun, moon and planets. In their creed they acknowledged one Supreme Being, the maker and governor of the world; but practically, as in the case of the Egyptians, this sublime truth was lost under the popular notion of many gods. Bel, or Belus, the supreme god of Babylon, was worshipped with extraordinary honors; and a magnificent temple was built for him by Nebuchadnezzar. W. G. B. 4. The Chaldeans spoke to the king “in Syriac,” the usual language of the country. From this point to the end of chap. 7 the author of this book wrote in this dialect, here called “Syriac,” but in the original “Aramaic,” and more generally known as the Chaldee. 5,6. The Chaldean wise men steadily demand that the king shall tell his dream. The king has lost it, and hence demands no less persistently that they shall give him both his dream and its interpretation. Feeling intensely anxious to know it, he resorts to the utmost terror of his supreme power of life and death over his subjects, and threatens them the most terrible and disgraceful death if they fail, backing up this penalty by the promise of immense rewards if they are successful. It is plain that God is shaping this matter to test the intrinsic futility of their pretensions to superhuman knowledge, and to bring out in the most public manner his own infinite superiority over them all. 10,11. Forced upon impossibilities as the sole condition of life, the Chaldeans are emboldened to speak out plainly even before this absolute and terribly stern monarch. They assure him that the thing he demands is beyond all human skill, and that no reasonable king ever before made such demands as this upon men of their profession. This admission was of the utmost importance in its bearing upon Daniel and Daniel’s God. It shows, moreover, that they had a distinct conception of a higher intelligence, some great mind or minds possessed of knowledge and forecast far beyond that of men. 13. Daniel and his three associates (“fellows”) seem not to have been present among the magicians, astrologers, etc., who were summoned before the king, and hence knew nothing of this transaction. But now that death is the doom of all the wise men, they are less disposed to count out Daniel and his three friends. All this, whether well or ill intended on their part, was of the Lord, who is wont to make the wrath of man work out His own praise. H. C. 14–16. Another proof is here supplied of Daniel’s “counsel and wisdom.” He first inquires of Arioch into the facts of the case, and then, by his judicious remonstrances, induces that officer to suspend the execution of the king’s decree till he had obtained an interview with Nebuchadnezzar. When we compare the request that “the king would give him time” with the royal language to the assembled magicians, “I know of certainty that ye would gain the time,” we perceive not only an evidence of the estimation in which Daniel continued to be held at court—for it appears that his wish was immediately granted—but a demonstration in the continued and effective superintendence of Divine Providence, that “the king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water; He turneth it whithersoever He will.” F. A. Cox. 17, 18. Concerning this secret. “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God” (De. 29: 29). And to Him Daniel applies in the moment of trial. He anticipates as it were the gracious promise of our Saviour to united prayer (Matt. 18: 19), by calling on his companions to join him. Nor was the answer long delayed. Rose. Daniel not only evinced his desire, by the invitation given to his companions, that they should participate in the credit and the safety he expected, but showed a profound sense of the necessity of united, as well as importunate prayer. He requested them all to solicit “mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret.” F. A. Cox. The last part of verse 18 contains a touch of great beauty. It is thoroughly like the character of Daniel that in his prayer he should make no distinction between believer and unbeliever, between himself and the proud Chaldean priests. The same clause indirectly asserts the position assigned to “Daniel and his fellows.” B. C. 19–23. The revelation was made to Daniel forthwith, in the manner of a vision by night. He is at once conscious that God has given him the secret prayed for and so much desired, and hence he breaks out in grateful praise for this blessing. The expressions “wisdom and might are His,” “He changeth the times and the seasons;” “He removeth kings and setteth up kings,” are evidently suggested by the subject-matter of the king’s dream, which is now both revealed and expounded to Daniel. The central idea of that dream is (as we shall see) the changing course of empire and the Divine agency in casting down one great world-ruling dynasty and setting up another in its stead. In most sublime strains Daniel celebrates also the omniscience and foreknowledge of Jehovah: “He revealeth the deep and secret things,” such as no mortal eye can reach; “He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with Him.” Dwelling Himself in light unapproachable and full of glory, nothing present, past or future can be dark to His all searching eye. H. C. It was from the prophecy recorded in this chapter that the distinction first arose of the four great empires of the world, which hath been followed by most historians and chronologers in their distribution of times. These four empires, as they are the subject of this prophecy, are likewise the subject of the most celebrated pens both in former and in later ages. Not but there have been empires as great or greater than some of these—as those of the Tartars, for instance, and of the Saracens, and of the Turks—and we may think perhaps that they were as well deserving of a place in this succession of kingdoms, and were equally worthy to be made the objects of prophecy, being as eminent for the wisdom of their constitutions, the extent of their dominion and the length of their duration. But these four empires had a particular relation to the Church and people of God, who were subject to them in their turns. They were therefore particularly predicted; and we have in them, without the intermixture of others, a line of prophecy extending from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar to the full and complete establishment of the kingdom of the Messiah. He who is Arbiter of kingdoms and Governor of the universe can reveal as much of their future revolutions as He pleaseth; and He hath revealed enough to manifest His providence and to confirm the truth of religion. What Daniel said upon the first discovery of these things well may we say, after the completion of so many particulars, “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever; for wisdom and might are His; and He changeth the times and the seasons; He removeth kings, and setteth up kings; He giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding; He revealeth the deep and secret things; He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him” (verses 20–22). Bp. Newton. 28. Introduced into the king’s presence in the early morning, after declaring that the king’s secret could only be revealed by the God in heaven, in the name of that God, Daniel recites the dream. After completing the narration, he affirms its truth with absolute assurance. Then, without even waiting for the king’s acknowledgment of its correctness, Daniel proceeds with the same assurance to declare its interpretation. B. But there is a God in heaven. Daniel’s great modesty in disclaiming all merit or extraordinary wisdom on his own part; his piety in giving the glory to God alone, and at the same time his skill and dexterity in preparing the king’s attention, and gradually opening his understanding to the reception of the truth and the acknowledgment of the one true God, are very remarkable. Wintle.—The king, as Jerome justly observes, had a prophetic dream that, the saint interpreting it, God might be glorified, and the captives and those who served God in captivity might receive great consolation. We read the same thing of Pharaoh. Bp. Newton.—This marvellous narrative must have as its basis essential truth. It could not have been an invention. It would not have served its purpose, nor were there men who could invent it at the time supposed. It fits into the historical crisis in which the Bible puts it. It was to the king a true revelation of the counsels of God. Gilbert. 31–45. This passage is in two parts—the dream (verses 31–35) and its interpretation (verses 37–45). The dream is symbolic—one connected, compact series of symbols; the interpretation renders these symbols into literal language. The symbols scarcely need any comment. The language itself is plain. Here is one huge image of the human form, the head of gold being the first part; the breast and arms of silver the second; the belly and thighs of brass the third; the legs, feet and toes, part iron and part clay, the fourth. Then a stone cut from the mountain without hands smites the image upon its feet, but breaks in pieces the whole image and scatters it to the winds of heaven; and then itself becomes a great mountain and fills the whole earth. A stone is a proper symbol of an agency that comes to break a huge metal image. That it is “cut from the mountain without hands” indicates that the Messiah was born and brought forth before the world as King of nations by Divine rather than human agencies; while His smiting the great image to its destruction denotes the power of God in His providential government, overturning guilty nations. The interpretation shows that the central idea of the dream is the course of empire; the rapid succession of great world monarchies. Of these the first four are of the earth, earthly—mere human kingdoms. The fifth is in some respects peculiar, being “set up by the God of heaven.” The points affirmed here of this fifth kingdom are that it first destroys and then supersedes all the other kingdoms; that it shall not pass over into the hands of other races and people, as those that preceded it had done; that it shall not be transient, like them, but enduring; and finally it shall be in a higher sense than they, universal in extent, filling all the earth. Both Jesus Christ and His inspired apostles, by taking up these words of Daniel and applying them to the reign of Christ, become themselves so far forth the interpreters of Daniel’s prophecy, certifying to us that in their view the Spirit who spake by Daniel meant by this fifth kingdom that of the Gospel age whose king was Jesus the Messiah. Let it be borne in mind that of these five kingdoms, four are in point of origin earthly; the fifth heavenly; four are of this world; the fifth is "not of this world;" four are of the sort well known to profane history; the fifth is of the sort little known except in sacred history—a kingdom whose defined purpose is "righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." Though eminently spiritual, it yet none the less controls the external life—unto universal righteousness. H. C. 31. Thou, O king, savest, and behold a great image. It represents a body of four great nations, which should reign over the earth successively—viz., the people of Babylonia, the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans. And by a stone cut out without hands, which fell upon the feet of the image, and brake all the four metals to pieces, and "became a great mountain and filled the whole earth," it further represents that a new kingdom should arise after the four and conquer all those nations, and grow very great and last to the end of all ages. Sir Isaac Newton.—A great, terrible human figure is not an improper emblem of human power and dominion; and the various metals of which it was composed not unfitly typify the various kingdoms that should arise. The order of their succession is clearly denoted by the order of the parts, the head and higher parts signifying the earlier times, and the lower parts the latter times. Bps. Chandler and Newton.—Grotius acutely observes that this image appeared with a glorious lustre in the imagination of Nebuchadnezzar, whose mind was wholly taken up with admiration of worldly pomp and splendor; whereas the same monarchies were represented to Daniel under the shape of fierce and wild beasts (chap. 7), as being the great supporters of idolatry and tyranny in the world. W. Lowth. 32. This image's head was of fine gold, which Daniel interprets (verse 38), "Thou art this head of gold;" thou, and thy family, and thy representatives. The Babylonian therefore was the first of these kingdoms; and it was fitly represented by the "head of fine gold" on account of its great riches: and Babylon, for the same reason, was called by Isaiah "the golden city" (chap. 14:4). Daniel addresses Nebuchadnezzar as if he were a very powerful king and his empire very large and extensive: "Thou, O king, art a king of kings." (See verses 37 and 38.) His breast and his arms of silver. Which Daniel interprets (verse 39), "And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee." The kingdom which arose after the Babylonian was the Medo-Persian. The two hands and the shoulders, saith Josephus, signify that the empire of the Babylonians should be dissolved by two kings. The two kings were the kings of the Medes and Persians, whose powers were united under Cyrus, who was son of one of the kings and son-in-law of the other; who besieged and took Babylon, put an end to that empire, and on its ruins erected the Medo-Persian, or Persian, as it is more usually called, the Persians having soon gained the ascendancy over the Medes. This empire, from its first establishment by Cyrus to the death of the last king, Darius Codomannus, lasted not much more than two hundred years. His belly and his thighs of brass. Which Daniel interprets (verse 39), "And another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth." Alexander the Great subverted the Persian empire. The kingdom therefore which succeeded to the Persian was the Macedonian; and this kingdom was fitly represented by brass; for the Greeks were famous for their brazen armor, their usual epithet being, "the brazen-coated Greeks." The interpretation of Daniel in Josephus is, that another, coming from the west, completely armed in brass, shall destroy the empire of the Medes and Persians. This third kingdom is also said to "bear rule over all the earth," by a figure usual in almost all authors. Alexander himself commanded that he should be called the king of all the world—not that he really conquered the whole world, but he had considerable dominions in Europe, Asia and Africa—that is, in all the three parts of the world then known; and Diodorus Siculus and other historians give an account of ambassadors coming from almost all the world to congratulate him upon his success, or to submit to his empire; and then especially, as Arrian remarks, did Alexander appear to himself and to those about him to be master both of the earth and of the sea. The Seleucidæ, who reigned in Syria, and the Lagidæ, who reigned in Egypt, successors of Alexander, might be designed particularly by "the two thighs" of brass. And of all his successors they alone might be pointed out, because they alone had much connection with the Jewish Church and nation. 33. His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Which is thus interpreted by Daniel: "And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron." (See verses 40-43.) The Romans succeeded next to the Macedonians, and therefore in course were next to be mentioned. The Roman empire was stronger and larger than any of the preceding. The Romans brake in pieces and subdued all the former kingdoms. The iron was "mixed with miry clay," and the Romans were defiled with a mixture of barbarous nations. Bp. Newton. 40. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron. While there was a diminution of splendor from the gold and silver of the Oriental monarchies, there was an increase of strength; as iron is the strongest of the metals, so the Roman empire which succeeded that of the Greeks was the most powerful of them all. Forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that crusheth all these, shall it break in pieces and crush. The Roman empire not only broke down that which preceded it, and extended its dominion more widely than any one of the others had done, but it had a much greater solidity and cohesion than the rest. This explanation has until quite recently been universally accepted. No other view would have been thought of, apparently, but for two reasons. One is the notion that the Book of Daniel is not the production of the prophet bearing that name, but belongs to a much later period—that of the Maccabees—and that the prophecies of this book are either past history dressed in the garb of prophecy, or possibly predictions of ancient date which were rewritten and modified into accordance with the history. Hence it is claimed that the predictions of a specific nature cannot go beyond the time of the Maccabees, and that therefore the Roman empire can find no place there. A second reason is drawn from a comparison of passages in subsequent chapters. The fourth kingdom of this second chapter is doubtless the same as the fourth beast of chap. 7, which had ten horns, among which there came up a little horn (verses 7, 8), which made war with the saints (verse 21), and spoke against the Most High (verse 25). This has been thought to be parallel to the little horn spoken of Daniel 8:9 sqq., which undoubtedly refers to Antiochus Epiphanes and his persecution of the Jews and suppression of the worship of the temple. This little horn sprang up upon the he-goat representing the Greek empire of Alexander and his successors. It is hence inferred that the fourth kingdom of chaps. 2 and 7 must likewise be, not the Roman, but the Greek empire, and that the three preceding kingdoms spoken of in these chapters must be prior to it. Various attempts have accordingly been made to make out three empires before that of the Greeks. This can only be done by dividing some one of the empires previously recited into two. Some have proposed to divide the Babylonish empire into two. The first kingdom is expressly declared (verse 38) to be that of Nebuchadnezzar; it has been said that the second kingdom is the Babylonish empire under Belshazzar (chap. 5). This, however, is not (verse 39) "another kingdom," but the very same, with a simple change of the ruling monarch. Again, it has been proposed to divide the Medo-Persian empire into, first, an empire of the Medes under Darius, and then an empire of the Persians under Cyrus and his successors. But the Medes and the Persians are always combined as acting together and united under one government. The change from Darius the Mede to Cyrus the Persian was to a ruler of a different dynasty, but the empire was unchanged; and it is so represented in Dan. 8, where the ram with the two horns (verse 3) is confessedly the Medes-Persian empire, the two horns denoting the Median followed by the Persian rulers. It has still further been proposed to divide the Greek empire into, first, the empire of Alexander, and then the divided empire of his successors. But this is as impracticable as either of the preceding suggestions. The empire of Alexander and his successors was the same, only broken up into parts. The fourth kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar's dream can be no other than the Roman empire, which corresponds with the description given in both chap. 2 and chap. 7 in every particular. W. H. G. The singular amalgam of iron and clay in the fourth kingdom is worth notice. No sculptor or metallurgist could make a strong unity out of such materials, of which the combination could only be apparent and superficial. The fact to which it points is the artificial unity, into which the great conquering empires of old crushed their unfortunate, subject peoples, who were hammered, not fused, together. "They shall mingle themselves with the seed of men" (verse 43) may either refer to the attempts to bring about unity by marriages among different races, or to other vain efforts to the same end. To obliterate nationalities has always been the conquering despots' effort, from Nebuchadnezzar to the Czar of Russia, and it always fails. This is the weakness of these huge empires of antiquity, which have no internal cohesion, and tumble to pieces as soon as some external bond is loosened. There is only one kingdom which has no disintegrating forces lodged in it, because it unites men individually to its king, and so binds them to one another; and that is the kingdom which Nebuchadnezzar saw in its destructive aspect. A. M. There is a clear and unambiguous statement of the rise of four kingdoms; the four not to be contemporaneous, but successive; not originating from the same power, but diverse one from the other; not confined to the sway of a domestic sceptre, but kingdoms of conquest and power, bearing rule over the subject nations. An extension of dominion is predicated of the third, an exceeding strength of the fourth. In a word, there is here a conspicuous and connected prophecy of the most comprehensive changes and revolutions wrought on the face of the ancient world. It is generally and rightly admitted that the same four powers or kingdoms are described in the second and seventh chapters. The fourfold partition of the respective symbols, the various minutiae of analogy and agreement, indicate a coincidence which leads to a certainty through the literal interpretation annexed to and completing the revelation of those visions. Of itself the duplication is not unimportant; it adds to the steadiness of the prediction. Differences of imagery have been rightly attributed to a difference of character in the revelation; in chap. 2 the powers are taken from the sphere of the inanimate, and represent the purely external and unconscious side of the subject; in chap. 7 they are chosen from the sphere of the animate, and illustrate typically the living conscious element of the prophecy. Nebuchadnezzar saw things only from without. The powers of the world in their fullest glory were to him but component parts of one splendid colossal figure bearing the outward appearance of a man; they rested upon but one and the same geographical base—the eastern world: the power of God's kingdom in its highest splendor was but humble as a "stone cut without hands." Daniel penetrated deeper into the vision. He saw that the kingdoms of the world were, notwithstanding their defiant attitude, of a nature animal, plastic, and lower than human. Pagan minds were exhibited to him dull and ignorant of God, as the image, however costly, is ignorant of its maker. Only in the kingdom of God, that humble corner-stone "coming not with observation," was embosomed all that was powerful and eternal. Accordingly to the prophet the kingdom of God is, from the very outset, superior to the kingdoms of the world. Gold, silver, brass, iron—the puppet-work of man's hands is ground to powder by the stone, the work cut without hands. B. C. According to the modern view, "the empires can be no other than those of the Babylonians, Medes, Persians and Greeks, who all placed the centre of their power in Babylon, and appeared to have exhibited on one stage the great types of national life. The Roman power was at its height when Christ came, but the Egyptian kingdom, the last relic of the empire of Alexander, had just been destroyed, and thus the 'stone cut without hands struck the feet of the image,' and Christianity forever destroyed the real supremacy of heathen dominion." The strangest part in the passage quoted above is the assertion that the stone cut without hands struck the image on its feet, in close connection with a statement that the last relic of the Greek empire had passed away before the coming of Christ. In fact, from beginning to end this interpretation appears to be only an adaptation of the prophecy to the interpretation, instead of adapting the interpretation to the prophecy. The very circumstance, which appears to indicate that the fourth empire must be in existence at the coming of Christ—i.e., that the stone smites the image on the feet, is thus thrust aside to make the prophecy answer the exigencies of a theory. The ancient interpretation therefore appears to have at least the merit of being deduced from the conditions of the prophecy and the course of the world's history. And certainly, the analogy suggested by Professor Westcott between the empires of ancient and modern history is very little calculated to recommend his interpretation. The fact seems rather to be, that since the destruction of the Roman empire no power has appeared, except for a few years at some particular epochs, which could be said to occupy the place in modern history which those empires did in the ancient world. Rose. 45. Of the stone cut out without hands, three things are specified—its origin, its duration, and its destructive energy. The origin is heavenly, in sharp contrast to the human origin of the kingdoms symbolized in the colossal man. That idea is twice expressed: once in plain words, "the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom;" and once figuratively, as being cut out of the mountain without hands. By the mountain we are probably to understand Zion, from which, according to many a prophecy, the Messiah King was to rule the earth (Ps. 2; Isa. 2: 3). The fulfilment of this prediction is found not only in the supernatural birth of Jesus Christ, but in the spread of the Gospel without any of the weapons and aids of human power. Twelve poor men spoke, and the world was shaken and the kingdoms remoulded. The seer had learned the omnipotence of ideas and the weakness of outward force. A thought from God is stronger than all armies, and outconquers conquerors. By the mystery of Christ's incarnation, by the power of weakness in the preachers of the cross, by the energies of the transforming Spirit, the God of heaven has set up the kingdom. It "shall never be destroyed." Its Divine origin guarantees its perpetual duration. The kingdoms of man's founding, whether they be in the realm of thought or of outward dominion, "have their day, and cease to be," but the kingdom of Christ lasts as long as the eternal life of its King. He cannot die any more, and He cannot live discrowned. Other forms of human association perish, as new conditions come into play which antiquate them; but the kingdom of Jesus is as flexible as it is firm, and has power to adapt all conditions in which men can live to itself. It will outlast earth, it will fill eternity; for when He "shall have delivered up the kingdom to His Father," the kingdom which the God of heaven set up will still continue. It "shall not be left to other people." By that seems to be meant that this kingdom will not be like those of human origin, in which dominion passes from one race to another, but that Israel shall ever be the happy subjects and the dominant race. We must interpret the words of the spiritual Israel, and remember how to be Christ's subjects is to belong to a nation who are kings and priests. The destructive power is graphically represented. The stone, detached from the mountain, and apparently self-moved, dashes against the heterogeneous mass of iron and clay on which the colossus insecurely stands, and down it comes with a crash, breaking into a thousand fragments as it falls. "Like the chaff of the summer threshing floors" (Dan. 2:35) is the débris, which is whirled out of sight by the wind. Christ and His kingdom have reshaped the world. These ancient, hideous kingdoms of blood and misery are impossible now. Christ and His Gospel shattered the Roman empire, and cast Europe into another mould. They have destructive work to do yet, and as surely as the sun rises daily will do it. The things that can be shaken will be shaken till they fall, and human society will never attain its stable form till it is moulded throughout after the pattern of the kingdom of Christ. The vision has no reference to the quickening power of the kingdom; but the best way in which it destroys is by transformation. It slays the old and lower forms of society by substituting the purer which flow from possession of the one spirit. That highest glory of the work of Christ is but partially represented here; but there is a hint in Dan. 2:35 which tells that the stone has a strange vitality, and can grow, and does grow, till it becomes an earth-filling mountain. A. M. It is a growing kingdom. At first it was small, but it had in it an expansive power; it was "a little stone hewn out of a mountain without hands," but it shall become "a great mountain, and fill all the earth." It has grown, and is growing, "and of its increase there shall be no end." "He must increase; He shall reign until all things are put under Him." He goes on "conquering and to conquer;" the last enemy shall be overcome and be bound to the wheels of His chariot. The Scriptures are much occupied in these things. Prophets thought as much of missions, their labors and their successes as we do; they employed the most glowing language and the sublimest strains in their predictions of the glory of Messiah's kingdom in the latter day; they snatch from earth and heaven, from the sun, the moon and stars, the fairest and the grandest images, to represent the state of the Church at that desired period; they levy a tribute upon universal nature, and make all things contribute to illustrate, as they will in reality contribute to advance, this kingdom. R. Hall. In striking contrast with the fixed limits and definite proportions of human civilizations is the indefinite size and shape of the kingdom of God. The stone is an appropriate symbol of it, the rough stone taken out of the quarry, not the stone crystallized into the mathematical facets of a gem. The statue, moulded by human arts, shares in the limitations of man's own nature. Made by God, the stone shares in His infinitude. The mystic stone in the vision grew and expanded until it became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. The landscape consisted of itself and its shadow. It presents a different aspect from each new point of view. The uniform monotonous despotisms of antiquity were created by man for his own aggrandizement; they had therefore fixed bounds of space and duration beyond which they could not pass. But the kingdom of God is the creation of Divine love and grace, and therefore it unfolds with the need of man, and develops new capacities of blessing him, and endures forever. The dream of the night has become the grandest fact of history; the vision of a heathen monarch has become the reality of Christendom; and every age will give the vision and the dream a grander and yet grander interpretation. God has made the stone which the builders rejected the headstone of the corner; and on it is built all that is most precious and enduring in the world—the Church which was bought with the blood of Christ, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail. The living stones built upon the Living Stone will partake of the life, durability and value of their foundation. H. Macmillan. In the midst of a great empire, powerful and crafty above all former empires, more extensive and better organized, suddenly a new kingdom arose. Suddenly in every part of this well-cemented empire, as if by some general understanding, yet without any sufficient system of correspondence or centre of influence, ten thousand orderly societies, professing one and the same doctrine, sprang up as from the earth. It seemed as though the fountains of the great deep were broken up and some new forms of creation were thrown forward from below, the manifold ridges of some “great mountain” crossing, splitting, disarranging the existing system of things, levelling the hills, filling up the valleys—irresistible as being sudden, unforeseen and unprovided for—till it “filled the whole earth.” . . . If there be a moral governor over the world, is there not something unearthly in all this, something which we are forced to refer to Him from its marvellousness, something which from its dignity and greatness bespeaks His hand? The Gospel dispensation is confessedly a singular phenomenon in human affairs, whether we consider the extent it occupies in history, the harmony of its system, the consistency of its design, its contrariety to the existing course of things and success in spite of that contrariety, and lastly the avowed intention of its first preachers to effect those objects which it has really attained. They professed to be founding a kingdom different from any that had been before, as disclaiming force, in this world yet not of this world, while yet it was to be of an aggressive and encroaching character, an empire of conquest and aggrandizement, destroying all former powers, and itself standing forever. And, in matter of fact, it exists to this day with its territory spread over more than the world then known to the Jews. Newman. 46,47. Profoundly impressed with the greatness of Daniel and of Daniel’s God, and quite too oblivious of Daniel’s personal disclaimer (“not for any wisdom that I have more than any living”) the king fell prostrate before Him and gave command that an oblation and sweet odors should be offered to Him. This must be ascribed to his heathen ideas. Still it did not preclude from his mind a strong conviction of the supremacy of the God of Daniel. His profession of faith on this point is (for the time) very strong. H. C. 47. When the king asks Daniel if he is able to make known the dream and its interpretation, he reminds him that there had been no power in the gods the diviners served to enable them to do this; “but there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the King Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.” And throughout he ascribes everything to this God whom he served—the dream itself, the interpretation, the existence and power of the Babylonian empire in the person of the king before him—and all the historical developments which the vision prefigured. This he succeeded in impressing with such force upon the king’s mind as at the close drew from him the memorable declaration, “Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings.” Kitto. 48,49. Promotion followed, and Daniel is advanced to the position of prime minister for the province of Babylon and head-man over the whole fraternity of magicians, soothsayers, priests of religion and of science. At his request his three friends also are promoted to important trusts. Daniel’s place in the gate of the king put him next the royal person as his first counsellor—a position of the very highest trust and influence. Such were the first and immediate results of the Divine favor to Daniel in revealing the secret of the king’s dream. H. C. Upon the capture of Babylon, Daniel retained his high office, being made chief of the three presidents of the empire by Darius the Mede, and becoming thus exposed to the envy of the princes, he was by their artifices cast into the den of lions. The reign of Darius seems to have been short, and his scheme for the division of the empire into satrapies (6 : 1) was not carried out by Cyrus, and remained in abeyance until the time of another Darius, the son of Hystaspes. But Cyrus knew the worth of Daniel, and apparently he continued in office all the rest of his days (6 : 28). He never returned to Judea, being on the accession of Cyrus to the throne too far advanced in years. As he was taken to Babylon a year before Nebuchadnezzar began his reign, and as that monarch reigned forty-three years, and Daniel was still alive in the third year of Cyrus (10 : 1), he must have attained to a ripe old age. R. P. S. # Noticeable Facts and Truths Suggested by the Chapter and its Connections. The grand features of the then future were first disclosed in symbol to a heathen monarch. The probable reasons were : to give prominent place and influence to Daniel and his three companions ; to produce an ulterior effect upon the mind of Nebuchadnezzar, in order to the accomplishment of God's designed results ; more deeply to emphasize and effectually to proclaim the great events of the future. The highest knowledge and truest wisdom has ever been found, as here, among the studious disciples of the true God. Baseless professions and counterfeits of wisdom, and baneful errors of induction have proceeded from those alien or hostile to Jehovah. This is true now, as in the period of the ancient Chaldean science. In this prophetic revelation, afterward so clearly fulfilled, read an emphatic commentary upon Isa. 46 : 9, 10. Human knowledge is attained only through disclosures made by the Divine mind. Prayer, by which such disclosures are granted, is therefore both philosophical and necessary. Its results in the case of Daniel and his friends are only exceptional in the prophetic character of the disclosure. The promise of wisdom is to all, and the measure promised is that of every one's need. "If any lack wisdom let him ask of God who giveth to all liberally." In the result of the prayer of the friends, we find an illustration in advance of Christ's word respecting the agreement of two or three in asking anything of God. God rules in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth. He createth and breaketh down kingdoms. All the course of empire and the particular history of nations and peoples is ordered with reference to the final kingdom, the universal dominion, of Christ. Nations and conquerors, individuals and events work toward the establishment of that dominion. Well, therefore, may we labor, pray, hope for and expect its coming. B. # Kingdoms that Die, and the Kingdom that Lives. To the law of decay in human affairs there is one grand and marvellous exception. God has a kingdom in this world, which lives. It deserves mention in illustration of this exception, that the work of God in redemption is the only thing in human history that dates back to the beginning of time. God's work in this world is the only thing now living that goes back into antediluvian history. It is the only thing which links the whole of human history together. Other things fall, die, rot by the side of this ; this lives on to the world's end. The contrast between the kingdoms of men and the kingdom of God is further seen in the mysterious vitality of right in this world, in its conflicts with wrong. Evil, organized never so deftly, becomes effete. Good seems robust and always growing. The right, in the outset of a great conflict with wrong, is always underneath ; yet it always comes uppermost. The contrast between God's kingdom and the kingdoms of this world is further seen in an anomalous suspension of the law of decay in some cases of historic immortality. The only men who are destined to live while the world lives are those who are in some way especially identified with the kingdom of Christ. The only nations which will escape the decline and fall which have thus far made up the dismal round of history are those which shall be given to Christ, and shall realize the Christian ideal of national life in the civilization of the future. The perpetuity of the Hebrew nation is the great miracle of history, unparalleled by the fate of any other people on the globe under similar conditions. They live because they were once, and are to be again, the chosen people of God in executing the purposes of redemption. It is the glory of the Christian Church that it is the Church of the living God, in which is concentrated all that is eternal in this world's history. It is identified with God, and God is identified with it. Its work is God's work. Already its history laps over into another world. It has sent forward its advance guard in innumerable hosts who are waiting for the rear guard. But a little stream divides them. That stream itself is populous with the multitudes who are crossing over. It is a privilege—is it not ?—to be a member of the Church of Christ ; to constitute one of this mighty and immortal host ; to bear the name which it bears ; to unite in its songs, and be remembered in its prayers ; to be identified with its work, and to share its rewards ; to be counted worthy of its sufferings, and to earn the fruit of its heroism : what has life to offer to a good man of lofty aspirations which can bear comparison with this? I never think of a child of God outside of the Church of Christ but with feelings of unutterable compassion. He is losing so much which might be his; he is failing to achieve so much which might swell his reward at the Master's coming! Phelps. 3:1 NEBUCHADNEZZAR the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the satraps, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Then the satraps, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then the herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up: and whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. Therefore at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the peoples, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and brought accusation against the Jews. They answered and said to Nebuchadnezzar the king, O king, live for ever. Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image: and whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, shall be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom thou hast appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Then they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said unto them, Is it of purpose, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, that ye serve not my god, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made, well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that god that shall deliver you out of my hands? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was wont to be heated. And he commanded certain mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their hosen, their tunics, and their mantles, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire siew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, 24 and Abed-nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste: he spake and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said 25 unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the aspect of the fourth is like a son of 26 the gods. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace: he spake and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, ye servants of the Most High God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, came forth out of the 27 midst of the fire. And the satraps, the deputies, and the governors, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, that the fire had no power upon their bodies, nor was the hair of their head singed, neither were their hosen changed, nor had the smell 28 of fire passed on them. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and have yielded their bodies, that they might 29 not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. Therefore I make a decree, that every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dung- 30 hill: because there is no other god that is able to deliver after this sort. Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, in the province of Babylon. It is easy to see that as chaps. 2 and 7 go together, so do chaps. 3 and 6, and 4 and 5. And, indeed, these two middle pairs of chapters (3 and 6, 4 and 5) have a symbolical significance independent of their historical value. The first pair shows us, by the example of Daniel and his three friends, how wonderfully near God is to His saints, especially when, faithfully adhering to their Master, they seem to be crushed by the world-power. The second pair present the two kings of the first monarchy, as an example of how God can suddenly humble the world-power in the very height of its insolence and rebellious scorn, and of how little reason the faithful have to dread its might. Auberlen. Chap. 3. The king makes a huge golden image, sets it up, and convenes the officers of every grade in his kingdom to attend its dedication and join in its worship. Daniel's three friends refuse, and are cast into a furnace of fire: God preserves them from all harm, and the king by decree dooms to death all who shall speak against their God. H. C. The noble example of faith and courage recorded in this chapter has been the comfort of the Church in all ages of persecution. Jerome observes that it was a testimony of the truth to the Gentiles, and an opportunity of embracing salvation, that they who first learned the power of one God by the revelation of Daniel might learn from the firmness of the three saintly children to leave off the worship of idols and to despise death. Rose. An interval of sixteen years had elapsed since the events of the previous chapter. As the event here narrated occurred just after the final captivity of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar had had ample time to forget the impressions made by the dream which had been previously disclosed and interpreted by Daniel. His unbroken series of magnificent triumphs, without one interposed warning, had naturally sealed this forgetfulness of the God of Daniel. His supremacy was universally acknowledged as a world conqueror. It was natural that he should undertake some act of worship to his god, upon a scale corresponding to his own achievements. Thus was furnished the occasion and the motive for the erection of the colossal image upon the plain of Dura, adjacent to the walls of Babylon. Including the pedestal, the image, which was in the form of a man, was ninety feet high and nine feet broad, constructed of wood covered with gold. For the dedication of this image to some particular deity, he issued a decree calling together official representatives from all the peoples included in his vast dominions. Among these came the three friends of Daniel, who was still in charge of the province of Babylon. B. 1-3. The king could not convene all the people of his vast dominions. The next thing to it was to convene all the officers of every name and grade. These would be the strong and influential men of his realm. Hence this convocation would send its influence for idolatry down through the whole political framework of his kingdom and reach its entire population. The great number of grades of officers indicates a high degree of system and order in the constitution of this government. Of the eight several officers grouped in this summons, the first is the highest grade, a sort of viceroy. The second is the class of deputies. The third is commonly rendered "governor," and is used repeatedly by Ezra, Nehemiah, and others; indeed, it is identically the pasha. The fourth class are the chief judges; the fifth the royal treasurers; the sixth were persons skilled in the law, and might be either counsellors or judges; the seventh term seems to be essentially the same as the sixth, lawyers; and the last comprehends all other officers in the province. All these were summoned to come to the dedication of the great image. 1. The image was sixty cubits high and six cubits broad—dimensions which must have rendered it visible to the most remote of the worshippers assembled in the great plain at the dedication. This vast size is not without parallel, and has even been exceeded. The Colossus of Rhodes was seventy cubits high, and the Colossus of Nero was not of inferior magnitude, being one hundred and ten feet high. It is observable that the height is out of all proportion to the breadth; and as the rules of proportion were usually observed in such cases, it is probable that the assigned height included that of the pedestal on which the image stood. Kitto. 4. O people, nations, and languages. Babylon at this time at the height of her glory, commercial and military, contained within her vast area representatives from east and west, north and south, the Greek and the Mede, the Phoenician and the Assyrian, the "captive of Judah," and the Arab of the south. The official proclamation, spoken by the herald, addressed them as "people, nations (better 'tribes'), and languages." It was a form of address which reminded them of the greatness of the monarch who claimed the obedience of Semite and Aryan alike, and it was probably the formula then in use. B. C. 4-7. The signal for simultaneous worship by prostration of the body before the great image was to be given by this grand orchestra, which seems to have combined all sorts of musical instruments known in that age—another case in proof that the controlling spirit in all systems of idolatry seizes on every attraction of art, and not least, upon external beauty and upon music as important auxiliaries of power. The precise character of these various instruments can be reached in this age only proximately. The first was a horn. The third is the word "cithera" in Hebrew letters. The "sackbut" is thought to have been a trombone—an instrument which secures a wide range of tone by being constructed with a slide by which its length and volume may be changed at pleasure. The word "psaltery" is the same in Hebrew and in Greek. H. C. There was, however, something more than mere worship included in the command to bow down before this massive golden idol. As in every age, wherein Church and State are combined under one head, the recognition or denial of one implied the recognition or denial of the other; so here, disobedience to Nebuchadnezzar's decree with reference to worship was deemed equivalent to treason against his sovereignty. Moreover, this double test had a special application at this time, when so many captives and foreigners had been gathered in Babylon, as the result of his wide conquests. That the three friends of Daniel should have been enviously watched by the heathen astrologers was natural; as also that these astrologers should tell the king of the disobedience of these three favored Jews to his decree. B. 7. Splendid ceremonies, which attach to those who observe them a certain degree of distinction and glory, may be easily performed; but the internal offering, "the sacrifices of a broken and a contrite spirit," love to God and separation from the world, can only belong to true religion, as they spring from the energy of Divine grace, and are the proofs of that moral victory over human nature which Christianity alone can achieve. No pomp, or sound of cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, and psaltery are here required. The spirit of genuine religion is free from that which is ostentatious and merely adapted to allure the senses; it neither prevails by parade nor by compulsion; it disclaims what is artificial and noisy; its music is the voice of prayer; its herald the exhibition of a "conduct becoming the Gospel;" its triumph the sanctification of the heart. F. A. Cox. 12. Daniel was not present at this dedication of the image, and he was not among the Jews accused. Conjectures have been freely offered to explain his absence, such as, that Daniel stood too high in royal favor to be touched; that he, personally, was too much loved; that he was ill; that he was engaged elsewhere on business; that as "Rab-Signin" (2:48) he was exempted from the prostration demanded of lay officials. These conjectures raise more difficulties than they appease. Yet it may be safely asserted that, had his absence caused any defect in the religious ceremonies, had it been possible to raise against him a charge of dereliction of duty, the "accusers of the Jews" would not have been slow to incriminate him in the charges they alleged against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. That they did not do so, is not to be explained away upon the supposition that the deliverance of his companions stopped proceedings against their chief. Certainly had this chapter been the composition of a pseudo-Daniel or the record of a fictitious event, Daniel would have been introduced and his immunity explained. B. C. 12,13. The way in which the "Chaldeans" describe the three recusants betrays their motive in accusing them. "Certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon" could not but be envied and hated, since their promotion wounded both national pride and professional jealousy. The form of the accusation was skilfully calculated to rouse a despot's rage. They "have not regarded thee" is the head and front of their offending. The inflammable temper of the king blazed up according to expectation, as is the way with tyrants. His passion of rage is twice mentioned (verses 13, 19), and, in one of the instances, is noted as distorting his features. What a picture of ungoverned fury as of one who had never been thwarted! It is the true portrait of an Eastern despot. A. M. 13-15. The king orders these offenders before him, and gives them one more trial to test their obedience. His last words, "Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hand?" shows that as yet he has practically no just sense of the power of the Supreme Being, or indeed of any god higher than mortal man. H. C. 14. Is it of purpose? A question this from a potent monarch backed with a wrathful threatening; enough to have put Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to the stand. Their answer must provoke their God or their king. But did they hesitate a moment? Were they at all in suspense? No; they had faith in their Lord, and they boldly replied, "O king, we need not answer thee in this matter. Our cause lies before our God; we are not left to ourselves; our present life, our immortal soul is in His hands. If you command us into the fiery furnace, our God will be with us; we shall be safe; He will deliver us; either our bodies that we shall not be burnt, or if they are, the burning furnace shall be only as a fiery chariot to convey our souls to heaven and glory." See the power of faith; according as they believed so it was; the Son of God was with them; the fire could not hurt them. W. Mason. But we may draw another lesson from this truculent apostle of his god. He is not the only instance of apparent religious zeal, which is at bottom nothing but masterfulness. "You shall worship my god, not because he is God, but because he is mine." That is the real meaning of a great deal which calls itself "zeal for the Lord." The zealot's own will, opinions, fancies, are crammed down other people's throats, and the insult in not thinking or worshipping as he does is worse in his eyes than the offence against God. A. M. 16-18. "We have no need to answer thee," we are in no straits; are not pressed by any stringent necessity as men who tremble in fear for their lives; for if thou shouldest do thy worst—cast us into the fiery furnace—our God is able to deliver us; and if He should not, we are ready for the result, let come what may. Be it known to thee, therefore, we will not serve thy gods nor worship thy golden image! This was moral heroism and devoted piety, both of the highest order. H. C. It is due to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to remember that, in the unexplained absence of Daniel, who may have been in a remote part of the empire upon official duties, these men exhibited the same heroism, the same superior intellectuality, and the same devotion to principle which characterized Daniel. One of the sublimest passages attributed to men of God in any age is in these words: "We will not do it; we will not argue about it; and if our God in His infinite wisdom will not deliver us, we will still believe Him, die in the furnace, and will not worship thy false god nor obey thee in this matter." This was stronger than if they had contented themselves with the assertion that God would surely deliver them. Many would begin with equal courage, expecting deliverance, and quail and fail if deliverance delayed to come. But these men would die, in any event, rather than worship. J. M. Buckley. God could keep them out of the fiery furnace, or save them in it, if He chose to do so. But whatever His decision might be on that point, their decision to do right and take the consequences was made up unalterably in advance. And there is no other spirit than this in which God can be served faithfully. When the question comes between lying and dying, it is safe to say that, whether you die or not, you won't lie. So when the question comes between dishonesty and beggary, between treachery and ruin, between faithlessness in little matters or in larger, and the loss of everything that you have held dear in the life that is, you can say of the peril: "If it be so, our God is able to deliver us; but if not, we will not swerve from the right." What a world this would be if God's children would all take that stand and stick to it! H. C. T. Duty is sovereign. The obligation to resist all temptations to go against conscience is unaffected by consequences. There may be hope that God will not suffer us to be harmed, but whether He does or not should make no difference to our fixed resolve. That temper of lowly faith and inflexible faithfulness which these Hebrews showed in the supreme moment, when they took their lives in their hands, may be as nobly illustrated in the small difficulties of our peaceful lives. The same laws shape the curves of the tiny ripples in a basin and of the Atlantic rollers. No man who cannot say "I will not" in the face of frowns and dangers, be they what they may, and stick to it, will do his part. He who has conquered regard for personal consequences, and does not let them deflect his course a hair's breadth, is lord of the world. A. M. 19-23. In great rage at such fearless opposition to his will, the despotic monarch ordered them to be cast into a fiery furnace heated to its utmost intensity. The practice of punishment by burning alive had existed among the Assyrians for centuries, as we learn from both monumental and historical notices. The furnace was either a fire kindled in the open court, or a structure in the form of a pit, with one of its sides open to receive the fuel for the flame. Bound probably with chains, in their usual garments (of the particulars of which we have no knowledge), they were taken up by the king's soldiers, and cast into the mouth of the blazing furnace. So urgent was the king's wrath and so hot was the flame, that the near approach proved instantly fatal to the soldiers who fulfilled the despot's command. They were slain by the flame. This was the only destruction wrought by the king's maddened passions. The burning of the executioners only emphasized the more this signal miracle of protection to these servants of the Most High God. As for the intended victims, the flames only melted their chains, and left them free to rise and stand unhurt amid the fire. B. God did not interfere to prevent them from being cast into the furnace. Thus, too, He often suffers His dear children to be cast bound into the furnace of sore affliction, from which they cannot extricate themselves. He does not always preserve from distress, but He preserves in the midst of distress. W. H. G. 24, 25. What the astonished king beheld. He saw four men walking in the midst of the fire. The three who had been bound were loose. The flame had not harmed them. A fourth form there was, whose majestic appearance impressed the amazed monarch as a son of the gods. This, we may believe, was no other than the angel of the Lord, who so often had appeared to His people, and who was none other than Christ the Son of God. Never before had He appeared to any but chosen friends of God. Now He manifests Himself to this heathen monarch, as the deliverer and companion of these His persecuted saints. A striking fulfilment was here of the Divine promise uttered by Isaiah (43: 2). B.—The flame recognized the presence of Him that made it, and bowed reverently before the Son of God, just as on other occasions the waters of the sea owned Him, the winds heard Him, and all nature responded to Him, and obeyed Him. The flame lost its power to consume, because it was commanded not to do so by Him that kindled it at the first. These Hebrews, we are told by Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews, "quenched the violence of fire" by their faith. Cumming. His walking with them there seems to imply that they were conscious of His presence and sustained by His comfort, like Stephen in the agony of his martyrdom, and they would doubtless recognize in him the "Angel Jehovah," who had so often shown Himself to their fathers, and who had promised, "When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned." P. S. How uniform and majestic the testimony that rises from all the lands and ages of faith to this simple truth, that it is not rules of conduct, not systems of ethics, not patterns of propriety, not eloquent expositions that inspire the believing and faithful heart with its immortal energy and peace, but the simple secret assurance of being as one with the Lord Jesus, and resting in His almighty friendship! Where is the fiery furnace deep enough to burn despair into our souls, if we can see walking with us through the fire the form of the Son of God? What, then, is the tribulation, or famine, or sword, or nakedness that shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord? The mystery of that unity where He who is one with God yet cried, "Not as I will, but as Thou wilt," is not for us to understand. Yet the prayer of promise, "They shall be with Me where I am," is for us to lay hold of and breathe again and again, when we are aching and alone and troubled. So believers have found. Anon. 26, 27. At Nebuchadnezzar's bidding they come forth unharmed from the fire. The king's spirit was utterly subdued within him. He acknowledges the presence of the Most High God with these His servants. He recognizes the perfect freedom of these men, and their ability to come forth at their will. But now instantly his command was obeyed, and God's servants came forth from the fire. Then around them gathered princes and officers of every class with the king in the midst, intensely moved at the strange result. The fire had not harmed their bodies, nor even was there a hair of their heads singed, nor their flowing garments scorched; nay, even the smell of fire was not found upon them. 28,29. But the result wrought as marvellous a change upon the temper of the king. His wrath yielded to admiration for the faithful heroism of these men. From the senseless deity that he had reared upon the plain, he turns to behold and to acknowledge anew the God of heaven. This God had proved His power to protect them that trusted in Him. Again as on the previous occasion he recognizes the being as the might of the God of Israel. He publishes a decree forbidding the people under his dominion to utter anything against the God of these Hebrews. He went indeed no further than this. His change of conviction and action was based upon the superior might of God. He offered to Jehovah no worship or reverence, but remained an idolator. B.—Though the heathen king is again convinced of the power and greatness of the God of the Jews, it will be observed that the proclamation is only a decree of punishment against those who calumniate Him. It does not declare Him God alone, and the other gods mere idols. Rose. 28. The things he specially notes as done by them are—that they "trusted in their God" (he had never seen such trust before!); that they "changed" in the sense of disregarding and finally reversing the king's mandate; and that they "yielded their bodies" to be burned if the Lord should not be pleased to protect them. These were new developments for Babylon! When in all the foregone ages had such things been seen in that proud city? H. C. A steadfast faith in God will produce a steadfast faithfulness to God. Now this honorable testimony, thus publicly borne by the king himself to these servants of God, we may well think would have a good influence upon the rest of the Jews that were, or should be, captives in Babylon. Their neighbors could not with any confidence urge them to do that, nor could they for shame do that, which their brethren were so highly applauded by the king himself for not doing. Nay, and what God did for these His servants would help not only to keep the Jews close to their religion while they were in captivity, but to cure them of their inclination to idolatry, for which end they were sent into captivity; and when it had had that blessed effect upon them they might be assured that God would deliver them out of that furnace, as now He delivered their brethren out of this. H. Always and everywhere men fall back and give place to those who practise a religion which costs them something. The world is looking on to see if ours is a religion which costs us anything. Do we really feel the sacrifice of any one thing for Christ? Does our life unmistakably and inevitably remind men of Christ's life? Does it probably remind Him of it? Does He see in it of the travail of His soul that which satisfies Him? This is the style of questioning by which the world is silently putting our religion to the test. Phelps. 29. One important result of these events is a special decree, forbidding the people of his entire realm to say aught amiss against the God of these Hebrews. Apparently, the reason assigned went forth with the decree—viz., "Because there is no other god that can deliver after this sort"—a distinct recognition of the God of Israel as higher and mightier than all the gods of the heathen. This decree went over all his realm, a grand manifesto, setting forth the conviction of this autocrat on his throne in favor of the great Jehovah. Naturally it would carry with it an account more or less full of the circumstances which had called it forth. Officers of government from his whole realm were its witnesses. Hence these events must have sown broadcast some ideas of the true God among the thousands and probably millions of his subjects. H. C. 30. Either his sense of justice or his fear of the Hebrews' God led him to restore the three men to their offices and to advance them to higher positions of trust. B.—He justly promoted them in his kingdom; but he had no honors to confer, after what Heaven had made to shine and flame upon them on that great day. He could not confer honor on those who had triumphed over him and his gods. And as to them, there could remain, after that day, but one thing more that was sublime enough for their ambition—the translation by death! Foster. The contents of this chapter, apart from the consideration of the event as a miracle, may be summed up in Archdeacon Rose's words: "Never was the promise, 'when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee' (Isa. 43: 2), so wonderfully fulfilled as here. Doubtless it was ever the source of spiritual comfort to the Christian martyr, but here it was fulfilled in the letter." B. C. The great lesson to be gathered from this miracle of deliverance is simply that men who sacrifice themselves for God find in the sacrifice abundant blessing. They may, or may not, be delivered from the external danger. Peter was brought out of prison the night before his intended martyrdom; James, the brother of John, was slain with the sword; but God was equally near to both, and both were equally delivered from "Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews." The disposal of the outward event is in His hands, and is a comparatively small matter. But no furnace into which a man goes because he will be true to God, and will not yield up his conscience, is a tenth part so hot as it seems, and it will do no real harm. The fire burns bonds, but not Christ's servants, consuming many things that entangled, and setting them free. "I will walk at liberty, for I seek Thy precepts" even if we have to walk in the furnace. No trials faced in obedience to God will be borne alone. A present Christ will never fail His servants, and will make the furnace cool even when its fire is fiercest. A. M. The central, comprehensive, and significant truth herein conveyed is expressed in the words of Christ: "He that will lose his life for My sake shall save it." B. Christ has been with His Church from the beginning of the world. The bush may blaze, but God is in the bush, and it cannot be consumed. His saints may suffer, but their sufferings shall only spread their faith, and glorify their Lord. And all things, the blunders of its friends, the bitterness of its enemies, the silence of its advocates, the opposition of its foes—all things, in height and depth, shall aid the cause of Christ, and prosper that Church of which He is the foundation and blessed hope. Cumming. Thousands in later times have walked calmly to the stake, cheered by the words of these young Hebrew exiles. Their great service to the world of subsequent ages is their teaching by word and act the nature and the working of a religion of principle. They illustrate the truth that a religion of principle is founded on intelligent convictions of truth, so fixed in the heart as to be beyond the reach of argument. Their answer to the king's command has been the watchword of martyrs from that day to this: "We are not careful to answer thee in this matter. . . . But be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods." There is a state of religious experience, possible to every Christian, of which this is a sample. It is a state in which the believer no longer needs argument to support his convictions, and is no longer open to argument against them. Certain central truths of religion are fixed in his very soul. They have been settled once for all and forever. They are thus settled, because they have become matters of experience. The religion of principle consists pre-eminently in obedience to the sense of duty, without regard to consequences. So far as it appears from the story of these "men in the fire," this was their reasoning, and the whole of it: "We have only to do right, in the fear of God." Not a word appears, except a sublime assurance that God will save them, but a more sublime purpose to obey Him whether He will or not. The religion of principle carries with it a profound sense of a personal God. "Our God whom we serve." This is the first and last and ruling thought of these youthful heroes. Duty is no abstraction to them. They are not philosophers. They are simply believers in a living God. Phelps. 4:1 NEBUCHADNEZZAR the king, unto all the peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell 2 in all the earth; peace be multiplied unto you. It hath seemed good unto me to shew the 3 signs and wonders that the Most High God hath wrought toward me. How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation. 4, 5 I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in my palace. I saw a dream which made me afraid; and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head 6 troubled me. Therefore made I a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, 7 that they might make known unto me the interpretation of the dream. Then came in the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers: and I told the dream before 8 them; but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof. But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, 9 and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods: and I told the dream before him, saying, O Belte- shazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and no secret troubleth thee, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and the inter- 10 pretation thereof. Thus were the visions of my head upon my bed: I saw, and behold a 11 tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all 12 the earth. The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the 13 branches thereof, and all flesh was fed of it. I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, 14 and, behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven. He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: 15 let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches. Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts 16 in the grass of the earth: let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be 17 given unto him; and let seven times pass over him. The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he 18 will, and setteth up over it the lowest of men. This dream I king Nebuchadnezzar have seen: and thou, O Belteshazzar, declare the interpretation, forasmuch as all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known unto me the interpretation; but thou art able, for the spirit of the holy gods is in thee. 19 Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was astonied for a while, and his thoughts troubled him. The king answered and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream, or the inter- pretation, trouble thee. Belteshazzar answered and said, My lord, the dream be to them that 20 hate thee, and the interpretation thereof to thine adversaries. The tree that thou sawest, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to 21 all the earth; whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all; under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the 22 heaven had their habitation: it is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong: for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth. 23 And whereas the king saw a watcher and an holy one coming down from heaven, and say- ing, Hew down the tree, and destroy it; nevertheless leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven 24 times pass over him; this is the interpretation, O king, and it is the decree of the Most High, 25 which is come upon my lord the king: that thou shalt be driven from men, and thy dwell- ing shall be with the beasts of the field, and thou shalt be made to eat grass as oxen, and shalt be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee; till thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. 26. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be 27 sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule. Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if there may be a lengthening of thy tran- 28, 29 quillity. All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months 30 he was walking in the royal palace of Babylon. The king spake and said, Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling place, by the might of my power and for 31 the glory of my majesty? While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken: the kingdom is departed from 32 thee. And thou shalt be driven from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field; thou shalt be made to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee; until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever 33 he will. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his 34 hair was grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws. And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever; for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from generation to generation: 35 and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his 36 hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? At the same time mine understanding returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, 37 and excellent greatness was added unto me. Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven; for all his works are truth, and his ways judgement: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase. Chap. 4. Of all historic figures, Nebuchadnezzar most strikingly represents the power of destruction. Like his own image on the plain of Dura, he towers over the ground he has cleared of every opponent from the Nile to the Euphrates. Above all, he had been the instrument in the hand of God to root out His people for their sins from the good land given to their fathers, but he had yet to learn that he himself was subject to their God. This lesson was taught him while he enjoyed the fruit of his victories in the city of Babylon, which he had made the wonder of the world by his "hanging gardens" and other splendid works; and the appointed teacher was a young Hebrew of the first captivity, whose career at Babylon was almost a repetition of that of Joseph at the court of Pharaoh. P. 8. The Book of Daniel is silent upon the life of Nebuchadnezzar during those twenty to thirty years which witnessed the gradual development of his greatness as a conqueror in the West. The notes on the later chapters of the books of Kings and Chronicles, and on such chapters of Jeremiah as the twenty-second and thirty-sixth, will give the reader a succinct account of much which then happened; for example, of the wars in Judea, Phoenicia and Egypt. It was only after these wars that Nebuchadnezzar could have found time to give himself thoroughly to those works of architectural adornment and utility which for some time had been slowly progressing; and it was only after these wars that the description fairly applies to him—he was "at rest." It may be assumed that a man like Nebuchadnezzar—who considered himself (according to the inscription) "the chosen of Merodach, the god-born," and who was not only a soldier of the first rank, but also a "priest-king" of unquestioned intellectual greatness—could not pass through those many years of campaigning, and of contact with "nations and languages," without being arrested by one phenomenon—a phenomenon which asserted itself due to Divine interference. The Jews and their king were his captives; Jerusalem and the sacred temple of the God of Israel lay in ruins. Prophets had foretold this; and Nebuchadnezzar had a living witness to the truth of their prophecy and the sternness of Divine justice, in the presence of that vast Hebrew multitude which peopled the "Hallat" or "profane" quarter of Babylon. Think of it, as he would, from his heathen point of view, there was perpetually before him a proof that there was One who did "according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: none could stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?" (verse 35). "The pride of the king and his humiliation by a severe judgment of God are the subjects of this chapter." It is also full of evidence of Daniel's gradual advance and greatness. Just as Ezekiel's testimony to Daniel's "righteousness" (Ezek. 14: 14, 20) brings him forward as the example of what the Hebrew captive might be in the sight of his God, so this chapter tells of the esteem and confidence he had won from his royal master (4: 8, etc.). It was the reward of twenty to thirty years' silent waiting and working. B. C. Nebuchadnezzar has a second dream, predicting his own insanity; his magicians and Chaldeans cannot give him its interpretation. Daniel gives it; it takes place at the end of twelve months. The king is deposed from his throne and continues insane seven years. His reason then returns; he resumes his sceptre, and ascribes honor and glory to the Most High God. H. C. 1. "These most wonderful events in the life of the king are narrated in his own words, apparently from a proclamation issued by him." Whether Nebuchadnezzar was the actual writer of the events detailed in this chapter, or Daniel simply recorded what happened and gave to it that half-narrative, half-personal form which the changes from the first to the third persons and vice versa have caused it to assume, is practically a matter of indifference. The undertone of genuineness which makes itself so unobtrusively felt to the Assyrian scholar when reading it is quite sufficient to decide the question of authenticity; while the analogy of similar documents, and the attestation of the LXX. ὀρχὴ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς, give the preference to the first-named view. B. C. 1-3. This entire chapter is in its nature a royal manifesto or proclamation, announcing to all the world the extraordinary ways of the great God in His providences toward the king. By "signs and wonders" he means the supernatural dreams, the predicted insanity, the moral ends which the Lord sought to gain by it, and the actual results. These terms are usually employed in the Scriptures to denote the supernatural works of God—those which are unlike the common course of natural events, and such as men are wont to conceive of therefore as above nature—supernatural. It is noticeable that the introduction to this manifesto recognizes "the High God" as the Supreme and Eternal Ruler, at the head of a kingdom which endures forever, and swaying a dominion which does not, like those of mortal men, pass away with the lapse of human generations, but holds on, unaffected by time, from generation to generation. This manifesto is addressed, not to the people of his own vast realm alone, but to "all people, nations and languages that dwell in all the earth." This universality, coupled with the moral fitness and force of the document, render it truly magnificent and sublime. Think of it as translated into every spoken language throughout all the tribes of earth's entire population and sent to them from the once proud king of great Babylon and of the vast Chaldean empire! A humble testimony that, great as this monarch of Babylon had been, the Most High God is immeasurably greater; that glorious and powerful as his empire had been in the eyes of men, the kingdom of the great God is mightier far and exalted in far higher glory! H. C. 4. At rest and flourishing. Significant words, which go far to indicate the period of his life referred to. Nebuchadnezzar was "resting" in undisputed possession of a "dominion" which extended "to the end of the earth" (verse 22); he was in his own house; not now a warrior at the head of his army, but in that dwelling, that palace of which one small fragment alone remains (Layard, "Nineveh and Babylon," p. 506); he was "flourishing" like a tree; a simile used by the king with distinct reference to his dream (verse 10), and conveying to the Oriental mind a recognized symbol of fresh, mighty growth. 9. No secret troubleth thee. It is thus that the king marks the difference between "the master" and the rest of the wise men. In language both courteous and appealing—when compared with that used on a former occasion, 2: 5, 26—he asks from that power in Daniel which revealed secrets (2: 47) the solution of his dream. B. C. 10-17. The dream is really in two parts: one part presented to the eye, the other to the ear; the first part a great tree which the king saw, the second an oral declaration made by an angel from heaven, which he heard. The first part (verses 10-12) describes the tree—exceeding great, tall, strong, visible to the ends of the earth; of immense foliage and most abundant fruit. The beasts repose under its shade; the fowls of heaven dwell amid its branches, and all flesh is fed from its stores of fruit. The second part (verses 13-17) recites the audible proclamation. The king sees a glorious personage, here described as "a watcher, even a holy one, coming down from heaven." He is a watcher, one of God's unsleeping angels whom He puts in charge over portions of the vast providential agencies of His universe. The term angel contemplates this order of beings as sent forth on some mission, "angel" meaning a messenger. But the term "watcher" expresses their work equally well. "Are they not all ministering spirits?" (Heb. 1: 14). Some are sent specially to minister to the heirs of salvation; others, as the Book of Daniel teaches (see chap. 10; 11: 1; 12: 1), are put in charge over the kingdoms of men—the great agents of the Most High in the execution of His providential purposes and government. In this case, "the watcher, an holy one," came down to finish out the dream by announcing the destiny of the tree. This he proclaims with a loud voice: "Hew down the tree, cut off its branches," etc., but leave the stump of its roots in the earth, firmly fixed there as if bound with a band of iron and brass. From this point the description slides insensibly from the figure to the reality—from the stump of the tree to the king himself, shorn of his glory. "Let it be wet with the dew of heaven," looks toward the insane king, outcast from human society and from the homes of men, taking his portion with the beasts of the earth. His heart changed from man's and a beast's heart given to him, indicate the utter loss for the time of his understanding and reason. He has dropped down from the grade of thinking, reasoning man to that of the unthinking, unreasoning beast. And this is to continue "until seven times have passed over him." The word "times" refers to the best known division of time, the year. It is (perhaps) a definite number for an indefinite—the real duration being possibly somewhat less than seven full years. God Himself has ordained this infliction upon the great king. He has done it for a special purpose here assigned—viz., that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdoms of men, giving regal power to whom He will. H. C. 16. Let his heart be changed. (Cf. verse 25.) The plain interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's case, stripped of the prophetic figurative language, appears to be that he should be punished with madness, should fancy himself a beast, and live like a beast, but after some time should recover his reason and resume the government. Bp. Newton. 17. To the intent that the living may know. The intent of this matter was to give mankind a proof, in the fall and restoration of this mighty monarch, that the fortunes of kings and empires are in the hand of God; that His providence perpetually interposes in the affairs of men, distributing crowns and sceptres always for the good of the faithful primarily, ultimately of His whole creation, but according to His will; by which we must understand a will perfectly independent and unbiased by anything external; yet not an arbitrary will, but a will directed by the governing perfections of the Divine intellect; by God's own goodness and wisdom; and as justice is included in the idea of goodness, it must be a will governed by God's justice. Bp. Horsley. 18. The king submits this dream to Daniel for him to interpret. He is confident Daniel can do it, because "the spirit of the holy gods is in him." This recognition of the great doctrine that God's spiritual presence and power are with His people, that He can and sometimes does reveal to them His own exclusively Divine foreknowledge of events, is a remarkable testimony from the greatest king and the master-mind of the age. 20-26. Here is the interpretation. The great tree is no other than the great-king. This description corresponds in most respects with that given above (verses 10-17), save only that here it is applied to the king, and remarkably, the clause which referred most plainly to his insanity, "Let his heart be changed from man's and let a beast's heart be given him," is here omitted. In verses 25, 26 the agents referred to, "they shall drive thee from men;" "they shall make thee eat grass;" "they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven," are apparently those angelic beings whom God employs in His providential administration, controlling the activities of men and bringing about the course of events in harmony with the Divine will. That the stump and roots are left living and strong in the earth denoted that his kingdom should still remain sure to him and should return to his hand after he should have fully seen and heartily admitted that the God of heaven (for brevity's sake here "the heavens") does rule. This preservation of the kingdom to him by preventing any successor from obtruding himself upon the throne, may, not improbably, have been due to this known prediction and to Daniel's personal influence. Daniel was in a position to have almost unlimited control in this thing. 27. As the time of this calamity was not fixed, it might be postponed by the king's repentance; indeed it might have been altogether prevented if he had become truly penitent. Why not as really as the destruction of Nineveh foretold by Jonah, the precise date of which moreover was set to ninety days. Hence the way is open for Daniel to exhort his sovereign in all fidelity and love to "break off his sins by righteousness, and his iniquities by showing mercy to the poor," since thus he might, nay would, prolong this present peace and prosperity. This noble example of manly and Christian fidelity to his sovereign is worthy of all admiration, and of course imitation. Prompted by such manifest love and in manner so respectful to the king, and yet with so much personal dignity, it must have fallen upon the king's mind with great force. The sin specially indicated here, unrighteous oppression of the poor, looks very probably toward the terrible exactions of labor imposed upon his defenceless subjects (some of them captives of war) in those immense public works which were in the eyes of men the glory of his reign. H. C. Break off thy sins by righteousness. Among the many accusations against the Book of Daniel, one of the most frivolous has been raised on this passage, as if Daniel taught the doctrine of human merit, and the atonement of our transgressions by virtuous actions. The word simply means "break off," make an end of thy sins by a change of life. It is almost equivalent to "sin no more" and change thy ways. Rose. Whatever the impression, it did not last long. "All," in spite of the caution and the prayer, "came upon Nebuchadnezzar." Twelve months passed away—months of peace as regarded enemies without, and of work as regarded the embellishment of his capital. B. C. 28-33. It may be supposed that Daniel's faithful exhortation had some good moral influence on the king for a season. The impending calamity was deferred twelve months. But his goodness was as the morning cloud. When his pride resumed its sway over his heart, just while he was walking on the flat roof of his lofty palace, overlooking the splendor of that most splendid city, and saying, "Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty"—at that moment there came another voice; it fell from heaven. The dream was fulfilled! H. C. 29,30. With the rise of the Chaldean hegemony under Nabopolassar, B.C. 625, and the utter overthrow of Nineveh, Babylon rose from its ashes more beautiful than ever. The great Nebuchadnezzar restored the city on such a gigantic scale, and with such splendid adornment of wide streets, temples, palaces, and fortifications, that it may fairly be designated as the new creation of this powerful prince, who, in the East India House Inscription, says of his own work: "Nebuchadnezzar I am, king of Babylon, whom Marduk, the great lord, created for a blessing to his city of Babylon. Ezagila and Ezida [the two great temples of Babylon and Borsippa] I caused to shine with the brilliancy of the sun, and the temples of the great gods with the brightness of day. Heretofore, from distant days, [and] until the reign of Nabopolassar king of Babylon, my father, many kings who reigned before me, whom the gods had called by name to the royal power, in [other] cities which they preferred, wherever they chose, built palaces, established their residence, heaped up their wealth in them, brought together their possessions; and only at the festival of the New Year, when the lord of the gods goes forth, did they come to Shuanna [the sacred name of Babylon]. Since Marduk created me for royal rule, [and] Nabû his legitimate son entrusted his peoples to me, I loved the building of their halls as my precious life. Besides Babylon and Borsippa, I reared and adorned no cities." It is therefore intelligible when Nebuchadnezzar, standing on the terrace of his royal palace, which had been erected by the labor of subject kings and peoples, looked down upon the tumult below him, upon the broad mirror of the Euphrates, with its restraining walls and bridge-piers which still exist, and spoke the insolent words recorded in the Book of Daniel: "Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling-place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?" R. E. Thompson. Upon a terraced foundation was reared the royal palace; the roof was of immense cedar and cypress beams; the gates of sandal-wood, inlaid with ivory and ornamented with gold and silver; the pinnacle of white marble. On terraces connected by stairs were planted trees and shrubs; the hollow columns, filled with earth, served as receptacles for the roots of the largest trees; while extensive water-works brought from the Euphrates the water required for the gardens and the wells. Nebuchadnezzar's wife, a Median princess, had wished for those gardens, that she might enjoy, in the Babylonian valley, a view reminding her of her native hills and parks; and her husband, as if by enchantment, called them out of the earth, "lavishly laid out for the wonder of mankind." . . . Below stretches the carefully kept park of Ezagila, from which projects the palace of Nabopolassar, and the pinnacle of the temple mirrored in the tranquilly-flowing Euphrates, animated by hundreds of ships, whose masts form a boundless forest. Below Ezagila we descry the large Euphrates bridge, supported by columns of hewn stone, also a monument of extraordinary labor and art. Not far from the river, toward the southwest, rises, in the wonderfully clear air, the "pyramid" of Babylon's sister city, Borsippa, the temple of the seven spheres of heaven and earth—namely, the seven planets. And wherever the eye ranges we see on all hands houses and gardens, fine fields and palm-groves, towns and villages—yea, a landscape of truly heavenly beauty. Now, indeed, can we understand why Nebuchadnezzar, wandering upon his palace walls, exclaimed: "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?" Friedrich Delitzsch. The Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar occupied a square of which each side was fourteen miles in length, and was bisected by the Euphrates diagonally from northwest to southeast. This square was inclosed by a deep moat, flooded from the river. The clay excavated in digging the moat, moulded into bricks and laid in bitumen, formed the walls of the city. These walls, more than three hundred feet high and more than seventy thick, and protected by parapets, afforded a commodious driveway along their top of nearly sixty miles, needing only aerial bridges over the Euphrates River. The waters of the river were forced to flow through the city between quays of masonry which equalled the walls in thickness and height. The walls were pierced at equal intervals for a hundred gates, and each gateway closed with double leaves of ponderous metal, swinging upon bronze posts built into the wall. Fifty broad avenues, crossing each other at right angles, joined the opposite gates of the city, and divided it into a checker-board of gigantic squares. The river quays were pierced by twenty-five gates like those in the outer walls. One of the streets was carried across the river upon an arched bridge, another ran in a tunnel beneath the river-bed, and ferries plied continually across the water where the other streets abutted. The great squares of the city were not all occupied by buildings. Many of them were used as gardens and even farms, and the great fertility of the soil, caused by irrigation, producing two and even three crops a year, supplied food sufficient for the inhabitants in case of siege. Babylon was a vast fortified province rather than a city. W. B. Wright. Not only does the monarch claim in various lengthy documents to have renovated the walls, the palace, and the various temples of the city, but there is the most unmistakable evidence that his claim to have rebuilt the whole city is just. Of the ancient bricks dug up on the site of Babylon, at least nine tenths bear the name and titles of this monarch. It is clear that his renovation of the place must have amounted to an almost complete rebuilding of it. "Is not this great Babylon that I have built?" was thus a most natural exclamation in the mouth of this king, though it would have been wholly unfit in the mouth of any other Babylonian monarch mentioned in Scripture. His inscriptions add that, besides the great temple of Nebo or of the Seven Spheres at Borsippa, he built there at least five others, together with a temple to the Moon-god at Beth-Ziba, and one to the Sun-god at Larsa or Senkareh. Altogether there is reason to believe that he was one of the most indefatigable of all the builders that have left their mark upon the world in which we live. He covered Babylonia with great works. He found Babylon a perishing city of unbaked clay; he left it one of durable burnt brick, unless it had been for human violence, capable of continuing, as the fragment of the Kaur has continued, to the present day. G. R. The prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel have been literally fulfilled. Notwithstanding more than one revolt of the Babylonian people, and the magnificent schemes of Alexander for restoring the city to its ancient greatness, the empire has been dissolved and the city itself destroyed. To use some of the language of the prophecies, "her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down." Nor is this all that has befallen her; "the sower is cut off from Babylon, and he that handleth the sickle in time of harvest," for "the drought is upon the waters" which refreshed her territory with fertilizing irrigation. She is become a desolation among the nations without an inhabitant, and of the numerous travellers who pass near her site on their way to and from Baghdad scarcely any except a few Europeans bent on antiquarian research take any notice of the ruins of Babylon. H. W. Philpott. 30. Pride, reaching out its hand in Eden—pride, lifting up its head in Babylon—pride, to-day, defying the laws of nature and outlawing the Deity—pride, flattering itself with fantastic theories of development, according to which the universe, beginning with unorganized particles, culminates in man, and man culminates in the philosopher, so that the representative of this theory stands on the very pinnacle of the universe, everything below him and nothing above—pride, rejecting redemption as a work of supererogation, and spurning revelation as a hindrance, rather than a help to man's all-sufficient reason—pride, breaking out in the infamous blasphemer or lurking in the bosom of the self-complacent moralist, who patronizes religion without stooping to partake of its privileges—pride, everywhere and always, is the root-sin of our ruined race, and in this regard the king of Babylon finds his counterpart in every sinful human soul. P. S. Henson. We may bear about with us a heart like Nebuchadnezzar's, although we dwell within a beggar's hut. Not sensuality, as men so often suppose, but pride, is the highest and the deepest, the first and the last sin. It goes with the worldling to his social circle, steals with the scholar into his lonely cell; and even when we have entered our solitary bedchamber, we have not shut it out. How many, who are blameless and worthy of respect before the world, inscribe on the edifice of their outward prosperity and moral excellence, "This is the great Babylon, that I have built!" Thus the human heart by nature is arrogant in prosperity, and thus we remain until grace begins the good work in us, by snatching from us the state-robe of haughtiness, and clothing us in the garment of humility. And for this end the great God is incessantly active; indeed, in Nebuchadnezzar we see the position which God assumes toward the haughty sinner. He bears long with them; He is long-suffering, because He is eternal. He allows the Nebuchadnezzars for successive years to build the proud walls of Babylon; the tree may be high and strong, and yet no voice from heaven, "Cut it down," resounds above its branches. Meanwhile, God warns the haughty sinner earnestly, as He did Nebuchadnezzar; first by means of his remarkable vision, and after that by Daniel's infallible exposition of it. Nay, He does not let the defiant man pass to his ruin without warning; in the unquiet dream of our life, we hear at every turning voices from the unseen world calling us to repentance and humility; and on all sides Daniels stretch forth the finger warningly, in order in a higher name to say to us: "Let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness" (verse 27). Van O. 33. Nothing can be sadder than a life made for God and Godlikeness grovelling in the dust. We read with pity of the great king who was driven from men, who dwelt among the beasts and was made to eat grass as oxen, and be wet with the dew of heaven till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers and his nails like birds' claws. Yet God's angels see this sad story repeated continually in this world. Men and women made for nobleness and glory are found crawling on the earth and living only for earthly things. The true life must set its affections on things above, where Christ sitteth. We should train ourselves to live for things that we can carry with us into the eternal years. No other life is worthy of an immortal being. J. R. M. What happened during this madness? "The counsellors" and "lords" (verse 36) nearest to his person took charge of his government, perhaps under the presidency of the well-loved Median wife, Amytis, to gratify whose tastes the king had built the "hanging gardens" (Berosus); perhaps under that of the "chief of the Casdim," whose predecessor had kept the kingdom for him at his father's death (Journ. Asiat., 1870). His subjects would know that their lord was suffering from some terrible malady, even if they were told nothing of its intensity or nature. They waited till death should end the life of their great king, or till, in accordance with prophetic rumor (cf. verse 26), health should once more be his. His power was too assured, his conquests too thorough to be imperilled by the absence of his own personal supervision. As events proved, the duration of the illness caused no confusion, no alteration in the political and social unity of his empire. B. C. 33-37. No doubt he was constantly watched at a distance, and his safety duly protected, while his son Evil-merodach assumed the regency until his father should be restored to his right mind. This did not occur until the time appointed—seven years—had passed; and then—it is the king himself who relates the facts in a proclamation published on his recovery—"At the end of the days, I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up my eyes unto heaven;" that first look to heaven—that mute appeal of the brute-man, was not in vain—"Mine understanding returned to me;" and what was the first impulse and use of his restored understanding? "I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored Him that liveth forever and ever." God's victory over the proudest of men was complete. He proceeded to confess that before Him "all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?" In this conviction he continued after, on perceiving the change that had taken place in him, his counsellors and his lords repaired to him, and brought him back to his palace and his kingdom; for he ends in extolling "the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment; and those that walk in pride, He is able to abase." Kitto. As the event stood unconnected with any known natural cause, it must have been beyond the ken of any foresight short of the Divine; and it follows incontestably that the prediction and the accomplishment of it were both from God. The king's restoration to power and grandeur had also been predicted; and this took place at the predicted time, independently of any natural cause, and without the use of any human means. And the evidence of these extraordinary occurrences, of the prediction, the fall and the restoration, is perhaps the most undeniable of anything which rests upon mere human testimony. The king himself, upon his recovery, published a proclamation in every part of his vast empire, giving an account of all which had befallen him, and in conclusion giving praise and honor to the King of heaven, acknowledging that "all His works are truth, and His ways judgment, and that those who walk in pride He is able to abase." The evidence of the whole fact, therefore, stands upon this public record of the Babylonian empire, which was preserved word for word in this chapter, of which it makes indeed the whole. This chapter therefore is not Daniel's writing, but Nebuchadnezzar's. Bp. Horsley. The silence of contemporaneous or historical documents is not a disproof of the genuineness of Daniel's account. The Babylonian royal records were probably, like the Assyrian, carefully written in the form of regular annals, and dealt with military campaigns, spoliations and cruelties. They rarely, if ever, recorded episodes of private life or conveyed moral lessons. Such records were reserved for private and separate tablets, such as the recovered library of Assurbanipal has furnished in illustration of Assyrian royal wills, contracts of barter and sale, proverbs, etc. A record of the madness of Babylon's greatest king would be in the highest degree improbable; though the memory of it survived for years (verse 22). The native historians would be the last to furnish it. All mention of his illness would be omitted from the annals of his reign, just as all mention of the destruction by the angel of the Lord of the army of Sennacherib is absent from the numerous annals of that monarch. B. C. 34,35. The return of understanding to Nebuchadnezzar is marked by a beautiful assertion of the supremacy of God in the whole universe. It is so grand in its conception, so simple and yet so emphatic in its language, that it may almost be considered as an inspired utterance like those of the prophet Balaam. The influence of the Hebrew captives begins also to be felt in religion, and we see the first beginning of the fermentation of the leaven which was to leaven the world. The captivity and the plantation of the colony of Jews in Alexandria were preparations, in part, of the heathen mind for the reception of the Gospel. They were the first foundation of missionary work, which began on a limited scale in the propagation of the faith of the Jews through their colonies. The foundation being thus laid in the days of the ancient faith, the missionary efforts of the apostolic age were rendered possible. Rose. On one magnificent portal of the great mosque in Damascus, once a Christian cathedral, still remains engraven the inscription in Greek, "Thy kingdom, O Christ, is an everlasting kingdom, and Thy dominion endureth throughout all generations!" There stand the words, unread by the Moslem. We take them as a silent prophecy that the day is coming when this dark land shall be Christ's, and He shall reign forever. Tristram. 34. The kingdom of heaven is an everlasting kingdom, can be such only because it is an empire of life, over whose broad territory flits no shadow of death, in whose structure is no element of weakness. It inaugurates nothing less than a thorough, comprehensive mastery, whose grasp cannot be broken. It looks to the sanctification of body, soul and spirit. It cleanses the fountains of domestic life. It recreates languages and literatures. It breathes on the sails of commerce, and lays its bold hands on the rudder of State, until "Holiness to the Lord" shall flame from every masthead, and be proclaimed from every capitol. It means to seize and to hold all the strategic points of human activity, and range unchallenged and honored over all the highways of a busy world. Such a conception of the kingdom God means to establish is not to be measured numerically, but ethically; not by the arithmetic of conversions, but by the reorganization of heathen homes and literatures and governments. Christianity is not only a religion of personal salvation, and of salvation in the narrow sense of getting men into heaven; it makes a heaven below as well as conducting to one above and beyond; it means to transfigure into celestial beauty every form of earthly life—its homes, its traffic, its industries, its restless, adventurous thought, its art, its social movements, its political councils. Numbers alone do not tell the story of evangelization; the seeding and the promised fruitage are vastly greater than the gathered harvest. Behrends. With the Advent-light the world silently began to be another world. And the Power set working to bring this change about made it unlike all other revolutions. It wrought without violence, noise, ambition, or parade, “not with observation.” It went on not by destruction, but construction; not tearing down, but building up. When the sword was drawn it was because human hands were used, and the obstinacy of the old system would let a path be made for the new in no other way. Generally it moved in among the kingdoms of this world according to the great anthem that announced it when it was born, peacefully seeking glory for God by good-will to men—spreading as morning is spread upon the mountains, as a harmony spreads through the spaces and arches of a sanctuary. Hence, inasmuch as it must take an organic form, after its Living Head, and be a kingdom, it was called a kingdom of life. Life was a great word with it. Its founder was the Life-giver. “I am come,” He said, “that they might have life, and might have it more abundantly.” The change was first in the seats of life, within—coming gradually out into doings or fruit, as the way of life is—from a hidden seed to root, germ, blade and ear; into common labor, elevating it; into homes, purifying them by honoring woman and consecrating childhood; into commerce, hallowing it by the spirit of integrity; into education, making the training of conscience and faith, our loftiest capacities, the crown of all other culture; into worship, directing it to the One God, worshipped in spirit and in truth. Men of our time think they see a grander future in store for the people and for the world. They are right if they look for an age of greater nearness to the Son of Man. The heralds go out. Commerce, science, discovery, education, nature interpreted, sea and sky and land comprehended, humanity awakened, the universe explored, every law traced—these are messengers that will not only foresee, but help bring in the millennium they predict, if they labor and move together in the faith of the great reconciliation, for the righteousness and peace, for the love and purity of God. For then these are manifestations of the kingdom of His Son. F. D. H. 35. The Scriptures fully reveal the doctrine of a superintending Providence. They assert a sovereign personal pleasure ruling in every province of the universe. “He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.” They declare that this Supreme Mind is concerned with the minutest events that transpire. Not a sparrow falls without our Heavenly Father, and the very hairs of our heads are all numbered. God’s hand controls the elements, guides the car of Revolution, holds the reins of State, feeds the improvident ravens. This doctrine has in it a mighty practical force. There is a Providence in this world. It walks and works in the midst of us. God is in human history. His purposes go forth on all the tracks of creative agency. There is, indeed, no visible throne, there are no manifest symbols of royalty. His footsteps are in the sea; darkness is His pavilion. There is nothing but the result, unveiling itself from the secrets of His councils, that tells us God is working. When and where He will interpose, by what instrument and for what ends, subordinate and ultimate, it is not given us to know. This secrecy baffles resistance, strengthens faith, and leaves on men a deeper awe before the power that, unseen and untraceable, manages all human affairs. A. L. Stone. Amid the seeming irregularity and confusion which distract the world, amid all the failures in human schemes and calculations which are daily taking place, amid the horrors of war, the fall of kingdoms, and the ruins of empire, there is one grand, unchangeable purpose which never fails, but which meets its accomplishment alike in the frustration or success of all other purposes. Every event in nature or in grace is simply an evolution of that grand purpose; and could the thread of this purpose be traced by the limited intellect of man in all its bearings and relations, chaos would exhibit regularity, and order and harmony would rise from confusion. Thornwell. When we pray "Thy will be done," we pray that God may so rule, that to the utmost ends of the earth, and in the minutest actions of men, and in all the arrangements of life, there may be the easily visible impress of God's will. This we pray for, but more directly that our circumstances may be so ordered as to enable us to carry out most effectually the design of God with us, and that we may be so gifted with wisdom, courage, and self command, as to see and follow out the line of conduct most appropriate to us where God has set us. Praying thus, we are strengthened for all duty, whether it be active or sorely passive. We find in all that happens to us an answer to this prayer, and instead of being dismayed, as those who have not prayed that the will of God may be done, we find, in every change and seeming chance of life, new scope for carrying on the work of God, our share in His plan; and for our ordinary days which pass as yesterday passed, we find no healthier influence to give them a uniform tone and character than to write on the threshold of each, "Thy will be done." Dods. Thus ends the Scripture record of Nebuchadnezzar's life, but his life did not end then. For some years he retained "the glory" of his kingdom; and when he died at Babylon in the forty-fourth year of his reign (B.C. 561) he was still in peaceful possession of his kingdom. B. C. The Lord had great purposes to answer by this Chaldean king, and He accomplished those purposes, even though that king would not bow his whole heart to truth and to God. He made all that king's frailties as well as his nobler qualities of character subserve his own glory and praise; drew from him reiterated testimonials to the majesty, justice and glory of Jehovah, and gave them to the kings and princes of all the earth to whom this revelation should ever come, for their admonition and instruction. Here we leave this greatest and perhaps best of all the sovereigns of the Chaldean empire. H. C. 5:1 BELSHAZZAR the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, might drink therein. Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, drank in them. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. In the same hour came forth the fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king's countenance was changed in him, and his thoughts troubled him; and the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. The king cried aloud to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. The king spake and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Then came in all the king's wise men: but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation. Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were perplexed. Now the queen by reason of the words of the king and his lords came into the banquet house: the queen spake and said, O king, live for ever; let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed: there is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him: and the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made him master of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and soothsayers; forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of dark sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will shew the interpretation. Then was Daniel brought in before the king. The king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Judah? I have heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee. And now the wise men, the enchanters, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof: but they could not shew the interpretation of the thing. But I have heard of thee, that thou canst give interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom. Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; nevertheless I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation. O thou king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father the kingdom, and greatness, and glory, and majesty: and because of the greatness that he gave him, all the peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew, and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he raised up, and whom he would he put down. But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened that he dealt proudly, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: and he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses; he was fed with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven: until he knew that the Most High God ruleth in the kingdom of men, and that he setteth up over it whomsoever he will. And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou and thy lords, thy wives and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified: then was the part of the hand sent from before him, and this writing was inscribed. And this is the writing that was inscribed, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and brought it to an end. TEKEL; thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. PERES; thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with purple, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old. FOR the twenty-three years between the accession of Evil-merodach and the fall of Babylon (B.C. 561-538) there is a gap in the Scripture history. The Book of Daniel passes at once to the capture of the city and the death of Belshazzar, who is called the son of Nebuchadnezzar; but this word need not signify more than a direct successor. Jeremiah, whose prophecies of this period are almost as definite as histories, predicts that all nations should serve Nebuchadnezzar, and his son, and his son's son until the very time of the land came; and the Chronicles state that the Jews were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia. Our chief secular authorities for the period, Berosus, Herodotus, Ctesias, the Canon, and Josephus, amid many discrepancies of detail, yet agree sufficiently to guide us to probable conclusions, with the aid of the inscriptions on the monuments. The succession of kings seems to have been as follows: | B.C. | Years of Reign. | | --- | --- | | 561. EVIL-MERODACH, the son of Nebuchadnezzar | 2 | | 559. NERIGLISSAR, sister's husband to Evil-merodach, a usuper; perhaps the same as Nergal-sharezer, the Rab-mag (Chief of the Magi? Jer. 39: 3, 13) | 3½ | | 556. LABOROSOARCHOD, his son, killed by a conspiracy, and the family of Nebuchadnezzar restored | 6¾ | | 555. NABONADIUS, or Nabonodus (Nabu-nit) the LABYNETUS II. of Herodotus, probably the son or grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, and the last king of Babylon | 17 | | 539. (about). BELSHAZZAR (Bil-shar-uzur), son of Nabonadius, becomes his associate in the kingdom, and governor of Babylon | 2 | | 538. Babylon taken by CYRUS, and governed by DARIUS THE MEDE | 2 | | 536. Death of Darius—Cyrus reigns alone—Restoration of the Jews | | | 529. Death of Cyrus, after a reign of nine years from the taking of Babylon | 9 | | It was during the reign of Neriglissar t | | the great revolution occurred which was destined to change the fate of Western Asia and to act powerfully on Europe, the overthrow of the old dynasty in Media and the foundation of the Persian empire by Cyrus the Great. Taking the length assigned to the reign of Cyrus by Herodotus, twenty-nine years, his accession falls in n.c. 558. P. S. Till the last few years we had in the accounts of the fall of Babylon one of the most hopeless and irreconcilable discrepancies between Holy Scripture and profane history. The Bible represents Belshazzar as king of Babylon, and says that the city was captured during a festival by an unexpected entry of the Persians within the walls at night, and that the king was slain in the midst of his carousals. Berosus says that the last king was Nabonnedus; that he retired to Borsippa, was there blockaded, but that on his surrender his life was spared by Cyrus, who granted him a principality in Carmania, where he spent the rest of his days. With much of this Herodotus agrees, only he calls the king Labynetus. Thus the Bible and profane history seemed at hopeless variance; but in 1854 Sir H. Rawlinson deciphered some cylinders discovered among the ruins of the ancient Ur of the Chaldees, and found that Nabonnedus had an eldest son, named Bel-shar-ezar, whom he admitted to a share in the government. All is now clear. The father commanded the forces in the field; the son took charge of the capital and its garrison. He perished in the night attack; while his father, defeated in his attempt to relieve the city, withdrew to Borsippa, and being no longer formidable, now that Babylon had been captured, obtained from Cyrus honorable terms. R. P. S. The most important facts, however, which the cylinders disclose are that the eldest son of Nabonnedus was named Bel shar-ezar, and that he was admitted by his father to a share in the government. This name is undoubtedly the Belshazzar of Daniel, and thus furnishes a key to the explanation of that great historical problem which has hitherto defied solution. We can now understand how Belshazzar, as joint king with his father, may have been governor of Babylon when the city was attacked by the combined forces of the Medes and Persians, and may have perished in the assault which followed; while Nabonnedus, leading a force to the relief of the place, was defeated and obliged to take refuge in the neighboring town of Borsippa (or Birs-i-Nimrud), capitulating after a short resistance, and being subsequently assigned, according to Berosus, an honorable retirement in Carmania. By the discovery, indeed, of the name Bel-shar-ezar, as appertaining to the son of Nabonnedus, we are for the first time enabled to reconcile authentic history (such as it is related by Herodotus and Berosus, and not as we find it in the romances of Xenophon or the fables of Ctesias) with the inspired record of Daniel, one of the bulwarks of our religion. H. Rawlinson. Chap. 5. This chapter presents Belshazzar in his revelries and blasphemy; the awful hand that wrote his doom upon the palace wall; the utter failure of his astrologers to read and interpret the writing; how Daniel read and interpreted, and how it was fulfilled in that eventful night. H. C. 1-5. For nearly two years Cyrus, king of the Medes and Persians, had been encamped around Babylon. In a great battle outside the city, Nabonadius was defeated and compelled to find refuge at a distance from Babylon. Belshazzar therefore remained sole monarch in the city during the siege. But little care was felt by the king and people concerning the siege by Cyrus. Their situation seemed impregnable, since the walls of the city were of such prodigious height and thickness, and the number of their defenders was so great. More than this, the capital had been stored with sufficient provision to sustain the multitudes within its walls for many years. Under these circumstances it was that Belshazzar made a great feast to a thousand of his lords. While at the banquet, under the excitement of the wine-cup, the young king directed that the golden and silver vessels from the temple at Jerusalem should be brought from the treasure house, in which they had been stored by Nebuchadnezzar. Out of these sacred vessels the king and his princes dared to drink in praise of their gods of gold and silver, of wood and stone. And it was in the self-same hour of this desecration of vessels sanctified to Jehovah's worship that there came forth fingers of a man's hand, which, visibly to the king, traced certain letters upon the wall. B. 4. Praised the gods of gold. As they drank their wine in these once hallowed vessels, they triumphed over that God, to whom they had been consecrated; and magnified the power of their idols of gold and silver, etc., as if by their might these victories had been achieved, and these rich spoils obtained. Bp. Hall.—Such a wanton and sacrilegious insult deserved and called for exemplary punishment. Wintle. 5,6. Belshazzar might well stand aghast to find himself thus confronted face to face with the dread Jehovah whom he is purposely insulting. He has a sense of a present Power, more than human, in that strange hand, writing unknown words on his palace wall, and a guilty conscience helps him to forecast some fearful doom. The brightness of his countenance is gone (so the original imports); his mind is fearfully agitated; his knees smite against each other. How changed the scene from the glee of his blasphemous revelry to this paleness of cheek, convulsion of frame, remorse of conscience, and dread foreboding of doom! Many a sinner has had a like experience, and other thousands must have it! H. C. 7. Shall be the third ruler. Interpreters have found it difficult to explain why the proposal should have been made in this form instead of offering the second position in the kingdom, that which was next to the king himself, as was accorded to Joseph by Pharaoh. The discovery of the fact, however, that Belshazzar was at this time reigning conjointly with his father, Nabonned, solves the mystery at once; the next in authority after the two kings would be the third ruler in the kingdom. This incidental expression shows of itself, what appears more fully from this entire narrative, that the writer had an acquaintance with the state of things in Babylon at that time such as was possessed by no ancient historian that has come down to us. His statements find full confirmation and illustration in the monuments that have been but recently exhumed. It is just such a narrative as we might expect from Daniel, who was at this time within the walls, and was familiar with all the affairs of the government. To impute such an account to a Jew in the time of the Maccabees, as is done by those who deny the genuineness of this book, is simply preposterous. 8. They could not read the writing. This, coupled with the fact that the writing was promptly read by Daniel, has been thought to imply that the characters were Jewish, and as such not recognizable by the Babylonian wise men. Whether from this or from some other cause, they could gather no inkling of its meaning. They could not make out the words, and they could attribute to them no intelligible sense. 9. This confessed failure of his wise men increased the agitation and terror of the king and the perplexity of his lords. 10. The queen. Wife of Nabonned, mother of Belshazzar, and daughter of Nebuchadnezzar. Her calm self-possession and dignified bearing, together with the respect that she evidently commanded, show that she was a person of high character and marked ability. Many have supposed that she is to be identified with Queen Nitocris, of whom Herodotus speaks in such exalted praise, and to whom he attributes structures which bear the name of Nebuchadnezzar, as well as others which bear the name of Nabonned. Came into the banquet house. She now first entered the dining hall, having esteemed it unbecoming to participate in the entertainment in the absence of her royal husband, of whose fate she was probably ignorant. W. H. G. 13-16. The sacred record throws no light on the history of Daniel during the period since the death of Nebuchadnezzar. The fact that Belshazzar knows him only by report and tradition implies that he had retired from public office some years before; very probably at the death of Nebuchadnezzar. Evil-merodach, his son and successor, changed the policy of his father in some respects certainly—e.g., in taking Jehoiachin from prison to his favor and table. (See 2 K. 25: 27-30; Jer. 52: 31-34.) Berosus says of him, "This man, having used his authority in a lawless and dissolute manner, was slain by conspirators." He reigned but two years. Such revolutions in government would naturally have the effect of displacing Daniel. H. C. 16. Doubts. A man who gives way to doubt in Divine things, and suffers himself to be mastered by it, acts more like an insane person than a rational creature. He rejects clear and positive evidence, unanswerable argument, and permits his conduct to be determined by doubt. To escape from such an inveterate obliquity of mind, a man should fix his attention on positive acknowledged truth, and entrench himself behind it. There is acknowledged and undoubted truth enough to save him, and put a complete end to his doubts, if he will throw himself behind the truth; but if he neglect the truth and follow the doubts, he will wander in a wilderness of nettles till he come to the congregation of the dead. G. B. C. Doubters never can dissolve or extirpate their doubts by any kind of speculative endeavor. They must never go after the truth to merely find it, but to practise it and live by it. There is no fit search after truth which does not, first of all, begin to live the truth it knows. Say nothing of investigation till you have made sure of being grounded everlastingly, and with a completely whole intent in the principle of right doing as a principle. Be right—that is, first of all, in what you know, and your soul will be faithfully chiming with all you ought to know. All evidences are with you then, and you with them. Even if they seem to be hid, they will shortly appear and bring you their light. But this being right implies a great deal, observe, and especially these two things: first, that you pray for all the help you can get; for without this you cannot believe or feel that you truly want to be right. Secondly, that you consent in advance to begin a religious life, fulfilling all the sacrifices of such a life, provided you may find it necessary to do so in order to carry out and justify yourself in acting up to the principle you have accepted. Bushnell. In the progress of a soul there comes a point where arguments and evidences both external and internal have, for the time, no more force of a progressive kind. They make certain things clear, produce certain convictions, and then await the touch of new vitalities, which come only of personal communications. The needed Gospel is no longer—certain things are true—but—the Lord lives, and I may come to Him! and tell Him of all my doubts, and of my half-beliefs, and of all my flickering fears, and of all my cleaving sins, and of all my rising hopes and unquenchable aspirations. Reverently, then, yet urgently, press into His very presence and find some way to lay upon His heart your life's unanswered questions. And in no long time the answer will be so complete and so satisfying as to settle and extinguish the question forever in your heart, and to raise up in its stead this clear, joyful testimony of your faith and love: "Lord, to whom shall I go but unto Thee, for Thou hast the words of eternal life?" A. Raleigh. 19-21 is an interesting summary of the life and character of Nebuchadnezzar by one who knew him and appreciated him. Words could not have described more graphically than is done in verse 19 the mightiness of the great king of Babylon and the power he was allowed to have possessed. B. C. The language which describes the sin of Nebuchadnezzar is specially forcible. "When his heart was lifted up and his mind hardened in pride," etc. The terrible influence of power in the hands of depraved men, reacting on the heart, has rarely been portrayed more justly. The perpetual incense of flattery, coupled with the daily experience of being dependent on no one and of having every one dependent on himself, tempts an absolute monarch to feel himself almost a god. Under such influences the moral sensibilities become fearfully hardened against all sense of obligation whether to God or to man. When any man has reached this moral state, what can remain for him but a fall? H. C. 22-24. From whom, and wherefore, the writing was sent. It was from the God of heaven, who had so often and so marvellously interposed with the proof of His Deity during the reign of the great Nebuchadnezzar. The aged prophet reminded the youthful king of the deposition of his grandfather and of his humiliation among beasts, because of his pride and contempt of the true God who had given him power and honor. He reminded him of Nebuchadnezzar's humble acknowledgment of the true God, and of his consequent restoration to reason and return to his throne. Then the prophet sharply charges Belshazzar with the repetition of the sin of his grandfather. Though he knew what the God of heaven had done to the great monarch and how that monarch had recognized Jehovah, he, Belshazzar, had dared to lift up himself in his inexperience and pride against the Lord of heaven. He had dared to desecrate the vessels of His house by praising in them the gods which see not, nor hear, nor know. Thus he had defied in his folly the God in whose disposal was his throne and his life. B. 23. Grand old words have taught us long ago "Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever." Yes, he who lives for God has taken that for his aim which all his nature and all his relations prescribe, he is doing what he was made and meant to do; and however incomplete may be its attainments, the lowest form of a God-fearing, God-obeying life is higher and more nearly "perfect" than the fairest career or character against which, as a blight on all its beauty, the damning accusation may be brought, "The God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, thou hast not glorified." A. M. The clause, "whose are all thy ways," follows in the same line of thought with the preceding, "in whose hand thy breath is," and affirms that all his goings, all that made up his life and destiny, were dependent on God—a truth which this king had most wickedly ignored. H. C. 25-28. The writing upon the wall. The words are in the ancient Hebrew characters. The inability of the Chaldean scholars to understand them may have arisen from the difference between the two forms, the Hebrew and Chaldean. If they could understand the letters, they could not apprehend their designed meaning. This perhaps was the point of their difficulty. The first word, MENE twice recorded to give greater intensity and effect to the announcement, contained in it a Divine declaration that the days of the Babylonian kingdom were now numbered and ended. TEKEL, the second word, meaning weighed and found light, referred by Daniel to Belshazzar himself, but including the Babylonian people of whom he was the representative, intimated God's reason for the doom of king and kingdom, which was that night to be enacted. The last word, UPHARSIN, the plural form of PERES in verse 28, with letter U (signifying and), is interpreted by Daniel to signify that the Babylonian empire is now broken, and its dominion given to the Medes and Persians. B. 26. The determinate number of years which God hath appointed for the continuance of thy reign, and the Babylonish monarchy, is finished. So God is said to number the months of man's life, and to appoint him "bounds that he cannot pass" (Job 14:5). The word "Mene" is doubled in the foregoing verse, to show that the thing is certain, and "established by God," as Joseph tells Pharaoh in the like case (Gen. 41:32). W. Lowth. 27. "Tekel" signifies to weigh. The meaning is that the Almighty had weighed, or made a due estimate of the conduct of Belshazzar, according to the just and impartial measures of his providence; and had found him light or deficient, a man unworthy of a kingdom and a fit object of Divine vengeance. Wintle. The "kingdom divided and given to the Medes and Persians" predicted one of the great historic facts of the age—the fall of Babylon and the subversion of the Chaldean dynasty. It fell before Cyrus, at the head of the combined armies of the Medes and Persians. Herodotus and Xenophon, the great Greek historians of their time, have left detailed accounts of this transaction. Cyrus invested the city, turned the current of the Euphrates, and marched his army into the city by way of the river channel. Jeremiah had foretold this event with extraordinary minuteness (chaps. 50 and 51), giving, among many other things, the names of their conquerors: "Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes" (chap. 51:28); the drying up of her waters (51:36); and the drunken condition of her princes at the time (chap. 51:39, 57). "In their heat I will make their feasts and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice and sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake, saith the Lord." H. C. 29-31. The promotion of Daniel, the slaying of Belshazzar, and the destruction of the Babylonish monarchy. It was under circumstances of awful significance that the royal pledge was fulfilled, richly to enrobe the aged prophet and to proclaim him third ruler in the kingdom (next to Belshazzar and the absent Nabonadius). And it was but for a brief period that his honors were worn and his power possessed. Perhaps God's purpose in Daniel's exaltation at the last was the more effectively to commend this foreigner and Jew, manifestly favored of God, to the incoming ruler of the Median kingdom. This result, we know, was certainly attained. 30. On that night the Chaldeo-Assyrio-Babylonian empire—in which first the Chaldeans, then the Assyrians, and finally the Chaldeans again, had possessed the dominion, but which was, in reality, all one empire—after a continuance of nearly two thousand years fell to rise no more. B. The interval of nearly fifteen years before the final conflict with Babylon was probably occupied by Cyrus in finishing the conquest of the tribes of Asia Minor, strengthening his power in Media, and subduing the more distant portion of the Babylonian empire in Upper Assyria. Nabonendus seems to have remained on the defensive, completing the great works around Babylon. At length Cyrus marched from Ecbatana, and crossed the river Gyndes by a diversion of its channel, which must have prepared his engineers for their greater operation of the same kind on the Euphrates. Nabonendus tried the fate of one battle, and, on his defeat, retired to Borsippa (Birs Nimrūd), "the Chaldean Benares, the city in which the Chaldeans had their most revered objects of religion, and where they cultivated their science." Here he surrendered after the capture of Babylon. Cyrus spared his life, and gave him a principality in Carmania, where he died. Meanwhile the people of Babylon remained in fancied security behind their immense fortifications. The city formed a vast square, divided diagonally and almost equally by the Euphrates. Each side of the square was about fourteen miles long. The double walls are said to have been about three hundred feet high and eighty-five feet broad; dimensions which cease to be incredible when we remember that they were vast mounds of earth and brickwork, the remains of which, and others like them, are still traced by travellers. These walls were strengthened by two hundred and fifty towers, and pierced with a hundred gateways, the lintels and side posts, as well as the gates themselves, being of brass. The river was enclosed on both banks by the quays, which were likewise protected by walls and brass gates. These walls and gates are particularly referred to in that striking prophecy of Jeremiah, which is almost a history of the siege (50 : 15 ; 51 : 53, 58). The vast area of two hundred square miles, interspersed, as is usual in Eastern cities, with large open spaces, gave opportunities for growing corn, in addition to the immense supplies of food which had been laid up for a siege of many years. The two banks of the river were connected by a stone bridge about a thousand yards in length, at each end of which stood a royal palace. The chief was that on the east, a fortress in itself, surrounded by triple walls, of which the outer had a circuit of seven miles, the middle of four and a half, and the latter of two and a half miles ; the middle wall was three hundred feet high, and its towers four hundred and twenty feet, and the inner one was higher still. Such statements may diminish our surprise at the security in which the inhabitants of the city and palace lived under their reckless young prince, Belshazzar. P. S. Taking of the City. The Euphrates flowed through the midst of Babylon, and its banks were lined with walls pierced with many gates which afforded access to the city. The river then, as at present, overflowed all its banks in the early spring—not so much from rain, as from the melting of the snows in the regions which it traverses in its upper course. The inundation is then, in some seasons, so redundant as to prove very injurious to the buildings near the river. To avert such consequences, advantage had been taken of a spacious natural depression of the soil at some distance above Babylon, which had been artificially deepened in part, so as to form a vast reservoir, into which the waters of the river could on occasion be turned, by means of a broad canal, so as for a time almost to exhaust the stream. This great basin, which in its ordinary aspect was a morass, then became a large lake, not less, it is said, than fifty miles in circuit. Now, on this important night, Cyrus sent up a strong detachment to the head of the canal leading to this lake, with orders at a given time to break down the great bank or dam that was between the lake and the canal, and so turn the whole current of the river into the lake. At the same time, he stationed one body of troops at the point where the river entered the city, and another where it came out, ordering them to march in by the exhausted channel as soon as they should find it fordable. Toward the evening he also opened the head of the trenches on both sides of the river above the city, that the water might discharge itself into them, by which means and the breaking down of the great dam the waters in this part of the river were soon exhausted. The two bodies of troops then, according to the orders they had received, marched into the bed of the river, the water reaching no higher than their knees. The gates toward the river, from which quarter no one suspected danger, had been left open amid the riot and disorder of that night, so that the Persians were enabled to penetrate, without opposition, to the very heart of the city. The two parties met, according to agreement, at the palace, where they surprised the guards and cut them in pieces. Those who were in the palace opening the gates to learn the cause of this confusion, so unsuited to the festive night, the Persians rushed in, took the palace, and slew the king, who came out to meet them sword in hand. Cyrus then sent bodies of horse through the city, to clear the streets and to proclaim to the inhabitants that they were to keep within doors on pain of death. The next day those who held the forts, perceiving that the city was in fact taken and that the king was dead, gave up the strongholds, of which Cyrus immediately took possession, and garrisoned them with his own troops. It was then proclaimed by the heralds throughout the city that all the inhabitants who possessed arms were to bring them forth and deliver them up, and that the inhabitants of any house in which arms were afterward found should be put to death. The order was obeyed. And thus the great city, so strongly fortified, so rich, so populous, and so abundantly provisioned, fell, almost without a blow, into the hands of the Persians. It will be seen that there were many special and singular incidents in this siege. It is one to the description of which no vague generalities could be applicable. It is, therefore, well calculated to strengthen any wavering faith in the glorious prophecies of the Old Testament—to point out how exactly the most minute and remarkable incidents of this transaction were foretold, long before their occurrence, by more than one prophet of the Lord. Kitto. Cyrus waited for some great festival when the attention of the Babylonian soldiers and citizens should be diverted from the works of his sappers. On the occasion of the “feast” described in this chapter, everything happened as the conqueror expected. Belshazzar forgot his enemies or left the care of them to others. He gave himself to the excesses of the banquet at which his "thousand lords" were gathered. The people imitated their betters: feasting and dancing, drunken riot and boastful security took possession of all. The very sentries forgot their duties and neglected to close the water-gates. "In that night" the dikes were cut, the canals carried off the water, and the Medes and Persians passed up to the river walls. Without a struggle Babylon fell into the hands of her enemies. In the massacre which followed, "Belshazzar was slain," death following speedily on that news which runners brought: "show the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end, that the passages are stopped, the reeds burned with fire, and the men of war affrighted" (Jer. 51: 31, 32). Cyrus pressed on to Borsippa, but Nabonadius, broken-hearted and sensible of the folly of resistance, surrendered at once. The conqueror was merciful, and not only spared his life, but made him governor of Carmania. He extended his mercy to the city he had lately gained. It was not his policy to expose to any invader what could be easily kept as a support of his own power. He therefore contented himself with ordering the dismantling of parts of the wall. It was a more important point to determine whom he should set over it as a governor. He chose "Darius the Mede," a man of about "three-score and two years old." # Darius the Mede. The scriptural description of this prince is brief, but very distinct. He was the son of Ahasuerus, and of the seed of the Medes. He succeeded Belshazzar at the age of sixty-two years (5: 31; 9: 1; 11: 1). If, as is most natural, that succession was immediate, a Babylonian was replaced by a Median dynasty. And this fact is attested by Josephus (Antiq. x. 2/5 11. 4) and Xenophon (Cyrop. i. 2/5 5. 2). According to these historians, Cyrus conquered Babylon for his father-in-law, Cyaxares II., the son of Astyages, and did not come to the throne of Babylon as an independent prince till after his death. Josephus mentions that Darius was known to the Greeks by another name; and this, it has been concluded, was "Cyaxares," the name given to him by Xenophon. This identification is apparently supported by the indication in Daniel (5: 31; 6: 28), that first of all a Median and then a Persian dynasty succeeded the Babylonian. And it agrees with the age attributed to Darius by the prophet. From Xenophon it appears that he was an old man at the time of the capture of the city, too old to have an heir. When he gave his daughter in marriage to Cyrus, and with her Media as a dowry, he observed that he had no son born in marriage. But, on the other hand, it is remarkable that Herodotus (i. 130), Ctesias, and Isaiah (44, 45) know nothing of a second Cyaxares between Astyages and Cyrus. In the tradition followed by Herodotus, who adds parenthetically that he was acquainted with two other versions of the story, the Persian tribes are represented as subject to the Medes, till Cyrus, a bold Achaemenian adventurer, threw off the yoke, and deposed the Median king, Astyages, his grandfather on his mother's side. Astyages died childless, and with him ended the Median dynasty. Cyrus is, therefore, according to Herodotus, the sole and unassisted conqueror of Babylon, and the first king of the Medo-Persian dynasty. An appeal in support of this view is generally made to the opening verse of the apocryphal writing "Bel and the Dragon": "After the death of King Astyages the kingdom came to Cyrus the Persian." These contradictions, real or apparent, have tested the ingenuity and scholarship of critics as fully as the sister question concerning Belshazzar. The literature of the whole subject is so immense that, as before, those views which are now either entirely surrendered or but feebly supported must be passed over with a mere allusion. In addition to the identification with Cyaxares II., Darius the Mede has been supposed the same as Neriglissar, Darius son of Hystaspes, Nabonadius, Astyages, or some Median prince otherwise almost unknown to history. Of all these identifications, the first and the last two alone retain any hold upon modern opinion. There is manliness as well as wisdom in the opinion of Quatremère and Rawlinson, that Darius the Mede is a historic character of whose existence no other record has as yet been found except that contained in Scripture. Let it be remembered that the prophet Daniel was not writing a chronicle of his times; that he passes from the reign of one king to another without mentioning intermediate events; and that of those reigns he selects only facts here and there; and there will no longer be an outcry against this or that omission. A juster spirit will refuse to brand with fraud a writer who makes no claim to the consecutiveness and precision of a professed historian. Had this chapter proceeded from a Maccabean forger, he would not have left its concluding verses in their present terse and condensed form. Posterity would have received the record with every obscure allusion removed, every blank filled up, even if the aim of the romancer had been of an essentially parabolic character. B. C. # Practical Points. Conscience makes cowards of the guilty when the occasion for fear comes. There is a period when mercy gives way to doom. The issue is invisible to man, but its record, entered in the Unseen Book, is Mene, tekel. The balances of God are constantly applied to test every life. The weights appointed for these balances are truth, trust, worship, obedience, and love toward God, with unselfish helpfulness to men. If the life matches these, it is well. If it is too light, if its character, motives, and acts do not fairly balance with these—in a word, if these fruits of godly living are not found in the life, then the man is weighed and found wanting. Evil (or sin) pursueth sinners. Be sure your sin will find you out. It is his own sin that makes sure of the sinner's discovery, arrest and punishment; his own sin is the cause, the means, and the instrument of his ultimate doom. Both the Word and the providence of God abundantly attest, as they solemnly impress, this fearful fact of man's self-condemnation. B. Do not similar warnings to those given to Belshazzar come to every sinner long before the warning of his doom? If any of you are living a life of sin, have they not come to you? Have there been no dreams in the darkness? no voices in the silence? no hauntings of fear? no burdens of remorse? no memories of innocence? no aches of shame? no qualms of sickness? no echoing, as of ghostly footfalls in the far-off corridors of life? These reminders from God of truths which we have forgotten come sometimes very terribly; not whispered, but shouted—not shouted only, but cut deep—not only cut deep before the eyes, but branded in letters of fire upon the soul. When palsying sickness is the debt due from weakened manhood to sinful youth; when the loss of the last chance brings home to us the sense of the squandered opportunity; when the cold light of heaven, bursting through the drawn curtains of the hypocrite, shows him to himself and to others, not as he wished to be thought, but as he is; above all, when sin has been punished by God's suffering us to fall into deeper and deadlier sin, and crime flings its glare of illumination on the self-deception which said of sin, "There is no harm in it"—then it is that God puts forth the fingers of a man's hand, and His inscription, once unheeded, flashes into letters of fire. And—since be sure your sins will find you out—so must it be, sooner or later, to every sinner to whom repentance calls in vain. So that what I urge on you is to read those milder warnings, to listen to those stiller, smaller voices, which come to us, not at some terrible crisis, but at quiet moments, and ere we sleep at night, and on our knees, and when we read our Bibles, and in every blessed means of grace. For indeed those words, written once in the palace of Belshazzar, are for us written forever in the house of life; and each one of you, in your own hearts, may still read the Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin, as they were left by the awful moving of the spectral hand. Farrar. 6:1 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty satraps, which should be throughout the whole kingdom; and over them three presidents, of whom Daniel was one; that these satraps might give account unto them, and that the king should have no damage. Then this Daniel was distinguished above the presidents and the satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. Then the presidents and the satraps sought to find occasion against Daniel as touching the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God. Then these presidents and satraps assembled together to the king, and said thus 7 unto him, King Darius, live for ever. All the presidents of the kingdom, the deputies and the satraps, the counsellors and the governors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a strong interdict, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or 8 man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king, establish the interdict, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the 9 law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not. Wherefore king Darius signed the writ- 10 ing and the interdict. And when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; (now his windows were open in his chamber toward Jerusalem;) and he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did 11 aforetime. Then these men assembled together, and found Daniel making petition and 12 supplication before his God. Then they came near, and spake before the king concerning the king's interdict; Last thou not signed an interdict, that every man that shall make petition unto any god or man within thirty days, save unto thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, The thing is true, according to the law of the 13 Medes and Persians, which altereth not. Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor 14 the interdict that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day. Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver 15 him: and he laboured till the going down of the sun to rescue him. Then these men assembled together unto the king, and said unto the king, Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians, that no interdict nor statute which the king establisheth may be 16 changed. Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, 17 he will deliver thee. And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that nothing might 18 be changed concerning Daniel. Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting: neither were instruments of music brought before him: and his sleep fled from 19 him. Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of 20 lions. And when he came near unto the den to Daniel, he cried with a lamentable voice: the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom 21 thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions? Then said Daniel unto the 22 king, O king, live for ever. My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, and they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also 23 before thee, O king, have I done no hurt. Then was the king exceeding glad, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the 24 den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he had trusted in his God. And the king commanded, and they brought these men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces, or ever they came at the bottom of the den. 25 Then king Darius wrote unto all the peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the 26 earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. I make a decree, that in all the dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be 27 even unto the end: he delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven 28 and in earth; who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. Chap. 6. This chapter treats of the administration of Darius. Daniel is promoted to the highest position next to the king; the other presidents and all the princes, through envy, plot his destruction by procuring a law making it a capital crime to offer any petition to any god or man, save unto the king, for thirty days: Daniel continues to pray as aforetime; is therefore cast into the lions' den, but comes forth unharmed; whereupon the king by public lic decree calls on all men to fear the God of Daniel. H. C. This familiar incident is the more impressive if we remember that Daniel was now far advanced in years. He had now attained, perhaps exceeded, the age of eighty-five. Under Nebuchadnezzar he had fulfilled the Divine order (New Testament) to "fear God and honor the king." And he had been honored for his long and wise and faithful service. From a seclusion of a considerable period, he had been brought, at Belshazzar's summons, and by him elevated for a brief honor to the station next his own. Here he was found by Darius, who by appointment of Cyrus succeeded to the rule of the Babylonish kingdom, now a mere appendage to the Persian Empire. B. Daniel might now indulge his solemn meditations over the memories and the tombs of departed monarchs, whom he had beheld in all the plenitude of imperial splendor and pride. They were now but dust and a name; left among the memorials of an empire also departed. But his great Master still lived! unchangeable in glory and goodness; and he remained unchangeably devoted to Him, all the same, whatever became of mortal potentates and empires. He wanted no patron; the smiles or frowns of monarchs were indifferent to him. He was in favor with the Highest Power—insomuch that he had been addressed by an angelic messenger with the unequalled appellation, "O man greatly beloved!" To a man who had heard that, think how any title of worldly dignity, of mortal favor would have sounded! John Foster. Apprised of the great worth and services of Daniel, Darius (also an old man) set him in the very highest station. He appointed him first of three presidents, to whom the governors of the one hundred and twenty districts of the kingdom were directly accountable. Because a Jew, Daniel could be trusted by the monarch. But his foreign origin not only alienated from him his associates in office, but, connected with his superior wisdom and excellence, drew upon him their jealousy and hate. Nothing evil or corrupt, neither error nor fault, nor flaw in his loyalty to Darius, could they find upon which to base an accusation against him. So they cunningly arranged to base it upon his very excellence; to entangle him through his piety, his beautiful life habit of daily communion with his God. They did not dare to "speak evil" of his "good," but they dared attempt to make his devotions the means of his destruction. B. 1,2. The kingdom as here spoken of is Babylonia proper, and not the whole of that vast realm, embracing several distinct nationalities, which was brought under the sway of Nebuchadnezzar. Darius himself was a sort of deputy or viceroy under Cyrus, and Babylonia was virtually a province in the great Medo-Persian Empire. These verses show how the executive department of the government was organized. 3. Daniel was pre-eminent, not only in wisdom and executive ability, but in his disinterested devotion to the public weal. While the other high officers were selfish and corrupt men (as is usual), the king could not but see that Daniel was thoroughly a good man, devoted to the welfare of his country, and unselfishly true to the interests of his king. Hence the king put him above all his other officers, and had even thought to intrust the whole executive management of the kingdom in his hands—i.e., by making him sole president instead of being simply the head man of the three. 4. Such a model of excellence, so far surpassing and so uncomfortably eclipsing themselves, was keenly cutting to those corrupt officers, and aroused their bitterest hostility. So they sought to find some fault in his official life, but they sought there in vain. He was both wise and faithful, and hence left them no ground of accusation there. H. C. In the narrative of Daniel's being committed to the den of lions one trait comes out quite incidentally, which was one of his grandest characteristics. His enemies could calculate on the certainty of the prophet's maintaining his fidelity to duty under any circumstances, and irrespective of any consequences whatsoever. There is nothing finer than this in the whole history. Could we have more emphatic testimony to the exalted piety of Daniel? It was resolved to ruin him. A certain method was deliberately adopted. One important element in the calculation was that the intended victim would do the same faithful thing, though it seemed to lead straight into the abyss. Daniel did not belie the calculation. Pusey. It is of the highest moment that we walk consistently. The men of the world will do many things which they would condemn, and very properly, too, in us. They expect us to walk by a higher rule, because we profess to do so. If you would not inflame their prejudices, you must remember your high calling. If you do so, they will say of you, as was said of Daniel, they "could find no matter against him, except in the law of his God." R. Hall. 5. Abandoning all hope of finding any occasion even for slander against Daniel in the line of his official conduct, they set themselves to make an occasion in the line of his religion. This is avowedly their only hope. They know he is not an idolater, but is a conscientious worshipper of the true God. They know him to be a praying man. 6-9. They shaped this proposed law to take with the king by a bait for his vanity, and to entrap Daniel through his known decision and firmness in the worship of his God. It was the best compliment they could pay to Daniel that they assumed so confidently that he would pray to God none the less for this monstrous law. H. C. Their scheme was a simple one; an open easy snare to the vanity of an Oriental monarch, because one which harmonized with the received notions of a despotic rule. It was a not unfamiliar adulation of royalty which they proposed. An exclusive worship of the king for thirty days; during that period no petition should be presented to any being, Divine or human, save the king. B. 10. Daniel saw in an instant that this law was planned for his destruction, yet without one moment's debate with his love of life or fear of lions, he said, I shall pray to God none the less but all the more for that, and none the less openly. With the God whom I serve I leave the whole question of my living or dying. I know it is my duty and my right to pray. I cannot know that it is my duty to live. If the Lord sees fit to protect my life, He can readily do so. I bear my case to Him, and leave it in His hand. With his heart thus full of firmness, prayer and trust, he hastened home to his house and to his accustomed chamber of prayer, and there, his window open, not closed, as if he would conceal his devotions, but open and toward Jerusalem as the place of God's visible glory and the locality of His earthly mercy-seat, he kneeled and prayed as aforetime. H. C. "He knew that the writing was signed," and he knew, too, that it was aimed at him, and that it was a compound of malignity and absurdity; but he uttered no reproach, and made no remonstrance, either with his persecutors for their injustice, or against them in any appeal to the misguided sovereign. It is a great attainment in Christian excellence to be able to maintain silence amid extreme provocation, and to hold on our way in firm and dignified adherence to the truth amid the machinations or insults of the world. "He went into his house"—and for what purpose? Not to indulge in bitter lamentations over his hard lot, or secret repinings at the conduct of Providence, but to pray. This was his habit "three times a day," and he continued the practice as before. F. A. Cox. All prying vigilance was superfluous; for he, "as aforetime," and with his windows unclosed, uncurtained, "prayed and gave thanks before his God three times a day." A striking admonition against subterfuges in duty and religion; against contrivances at once to quiet conscience and preserve an immediate self-interest. Especially in every trial of religious integrity which is to be conspicuously public, under the observant attention of men to seem to forego a principle is to do it in fact. Foster. How clear the conscience, how holy the soul, how steadfast the faith, how lively the hope, how fervent the charity, how invincible the courage of Daniel must have been, who, in such circumstances, could calmly and composedly go on in the regular and exact performance of his devotions! Bp. Horne.—He prayed kneeling, as he had always done. He prayed aloud, as had been his wont, three times a day. Not so much as by the lowering of his voice or the closing of a shutter would he seem to fear man more than God. Phelps.—Confronted by the immovable law of the Medes and Persians that only the king should be prayed to for such a time, he simply keeps on in his habit of devotion to Jehovah. Aforetime he had served God. Now, held in the habit of righteousness, he would continue to do so. It is the best boon and blessing for a man that he be able to avail himself of this law and momentum of holy habit. W. Hoyt. Three times a day. It is very true that mere rounds of observance in religion, however faithfully kept, have in themselves no value, nothing of the substance of piety; but they have an immense value when kept and meant to be as the means of piety. It is equally true that nothing is acceptable to God which is not an offering of the heart. But it does not follow that we are therefore to wait, doing nothing till the inclinations or impulses of the heart are ready. Thus, when the disciple says, "Why should I attempt to pray? what is my prayer but mockery, when I go to it by fixed times without or against inclination?" he overlooks entirely what belongs to the very economy of prayer, and constitutes its highest practical value—viz., that not being an exercise to merely play out impulse and inclination, it is an exercise to kindle impulse and beget inclination. This, in fact, is the very particular blessing of it, that when we are averted from it and slacked in all our inclinations toward it, we may still get our fire kindled by it. When we go to it, therefore, by fixed times of observance, we do just what is necessary to beget fixed inclinations and train the soul into a habit of abiding impulse. Otherwise, or desisting because we have no inclination, we consent to have no inclination, but that which wavers fitfully, and probably, at last, no inclination at all. The whole argument turns here just as it does in other matters. There is no genuine prayer, for example, that is not offered in the Spirit, and yet God promises the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. Shall we then decline to ask because we have not the Spirit already, and because such kind of asking will be only mockery! No! for the very design of God is to meet us in the asking, and to enter His Spirit into the asking itself. He puts us to the asking for the purpose of getting us open to the Spirit, and accessible to His holy inspirations. We go to obtain inspirations, inclinations, gales of impulse, and not simply to exercise such as we have already. Nothing in this view is weaker, more unpractical, closer to a shallow dissipation, more certain to end in a dreadful collapse in character than this most treacherous doctrine, which makes it even a law that we surrender everything to our inclinations. Bushnell. In spiritual as in secular things the deepest and strongest characters need much solitude to form them. Thoughtfulness, self-knowledge, self-control, a chastened wisdom and piety, are the fruit of habitual meditation and prayer. In these exercises heaven is brought near, and our exaggerated estimate of earthly things corrected. By these our spiritual energies, shattered and worn by the friction of worldly work, are repaired. In the recurring seasons of devotion the cares and anxieties of worldly business cease to vex us; exhausted with its toils we have, in daily communion with God, "meat to eat which the world knoweth not of." Caird. Daniel's piety consisted not so much in his belief in God, as in his constant intimacy with Him. He was a man whose integrity was beyond question—so the earlier verses of the chapter intimate; but quite beside this, God stood near to him, and was a very real and personal thing to him. He confided in God; he talked over with God his wants and distresses. He did not say his prayers. Prayer meant with him coming within speaking distance of God and getting into social relation with Him. He told God the secrets of his heart, and in consequence God told him His. When we let God into our confidence He lets us into His. And so all the way through the last half of this book we have nothing but a record of the way in which God made Daniel His confidant. The last six chapters of it are only a series of the secrets that God told Daniel—revelations, visions, we call them—but that is only another name for secrets, and means that now and then God makes a man His confidant, and trusts His secrets to the man, because the man first trusted his to Him. C. H. P. It is possible to keep up unbroken communion with God amid the roar of the busy street, as in the inmost corner of His secret place. The communion which expresses itself in the continual reference of all common actions to His will, and is fed by constant realizing of His help, and by lowly dependence on Him for strength to do the prosaic tasks of business or statesmanship, is as real as that which gazes in absorbed contemplation on His beauty. True, the former will never be realized unless there is much of the latter. Martha soon gets worried, and forgets the Master, even while she is making ready for His reception, unless she comes and sits at His feet with Mary. But, on the other hand, gazing, without work, is apt to degenerate, too, as many a mystical dreamer has found to his cost. There is more communion with God in a Christian man's counting house than in many a convent; and the noblest field for religion is the field of common life. It "should control," says Law, "small common things, both duties and troubles; for these do really make up life; and if these be not the sphere of religion, what sphere has it?" A. M. 11-13. These men assembled, all intensely eager to see if their scheme was working well, and moreover apparently aware of his accustomed hours of devotion. They find him praying; and now they feel sure of his ruin. They hasten to the king, and artfully begin with referring to the decree, the standing law of the realm, for these thirty days. When the king had recognized it, they bring out the fact that Daniel has broken it, putting this in the most offensive light possible even for slander; "regardeth not thee, nor the decree which thou hast signed." That same Daniel whom thou hast promoted so excessively and so unwisely, has no proper regard for thee, O king! He prays to others as much as he pleases, despite of thine own law. H. C. 14, 15. The king's fruitless endeavor to deliver Daniel. Too late for remedy, and with sore self-reproach, Darius sought to undo his hasty action. He had not foreseen the issue, as involving the very life of Daniel. Darius, too, was an old man, irresolute and weak. He needed just the stay of such a pure, wise, strong character as even the more aged prophet had already proved himself to possess. No wonder that "he labored" through the day on which the accusation was brought "till the going down of the sun to deliver Daniel." Of the particular efforts he put forth we are not told; nor does it seem that any reasonable conjecture can be formed. Upon this and every similar matter merely curious, the time and ingenuity that may be expended will scarcely find adequate return. The king's persistence is the only point of interest here. This was honorable to his heart, and showed, as did all the after incidents, the strength of his respect and attachment for Daniel, and the force of Daniel's exemplary piety. Punctually at sunset, when the day was finished, came the accusers, and pressed upon the king the necessity of executing his decree against Daniel. B. 14. The king is chagrined that he allowed himself to be caught in this snare. Now for the first time he sees the envious and mean spirit of his officers in obtaining from him that decree, and bites his lips in shame that he could have been so beguiled and entrapped. He labored to save Daniel till the going down of the sun. No doubt he heartily esteemed Daniel and probably loved him, and felt, therefore, the bitterest grief and shame that he should be made unwittingly the author of his destruction. But all his efforts are unavailing. H. C. 15. Law of the Medes and Persians. In this two principles are involved: one, the existence of a settled law or rule by which the king himself, theoretically at any rate, is bound, and which he cannot alter; the other, the inclusion under this law or rule of the irrevocability of a royal decree or promise. Both of these principles are recognized as Medo-Persic by profane writers. It was applied to Cambyses, one of the most despotic of the Persian monarchs (Herodotus, iii., 31), and Xerxes, son of Darius Hystaspes (Herodotus, i., 109-111). Rawlinson. 16. 17. Daniel cast into the den of lions. The king was constrained to issue the command that Daniel be cast into the lions' den. The law of the united kingdom of the Medes and Persians making every statute of the monarch irreversible, was an ancient one, long antedating the union of the two nations. This law Darius could not disregard in Daniel's case. It was probably the first test case under the newly established government of Babylon. It was specially important therefore that the principle should now be carried out. The king's strong interest in Daniel, too, was manifest to all. Any interposition now would be justly charged as a breach of law by the king, through personal partiality toward the offender. But while he issued the command, he touchingly expresses to Daniel the hope, if not the conviction, that his God whom he had served so faithfully would deliver him. Darius evidently recognizes Daniel's refusal to proceed from a principled obedience to his own God, and not from any feeling of disloyalty. Once and again, in the same touching words, he bears testimony to Daniel's consistent, habitual fidelity to Jehovah. From the unchangeableness of Oriental customs, we infer that the lions' den was a large underground excavation. In the modern den, the whole is under the open sky, only surrounded with a wall. The statement here implies that the den was covered; with a single opening at the top, which could be closed by a large stone. Into such a den Daniel was cast, and upon its mouth a stone was laid. They "made sure" of the sacrifice of their victim, by doubly sealing the stone with the signet of the king and that of his lords, impressed upon moist clay. The lions' den seemed about to prove the prophet's sepulchre. B. 16. That parting word witnessed to the impression made by the life-long consistency of Daniel. He must be a good man who gets such a testimony from those who are harming him. The busy minister of state had done his political work so as to extort that tribute from one who had no sympathy with his religion. Do we do ours in that fashion? How many of our statesmen on either side of the Atlantic "serve God continually" and obviously in their public life? A. M. The den of lions. Lions, which though all but extinct in India, and absolutely so in other parts of Asia, are still common in Babylonia and Persia, were kept in the parks of great princes as part of their estate. The same custom still continues among the native rulers of India, and is alluded to in the Assyrian monuments. The dens in which wild beasts are confined are not cavernous, or vaults, like those in which the Romans kept the wild beasts in readiness for the cruelties of the amphitheatre. They are simply pits open to the sky, but enclosed with high walls. The Babylonian den might be like these, or it might be a cave with an enclosure round it. A great stone is still an ordinary mode of securing a doorway in the East, as we know it was for closing tombs. If the access to the lions' den was arranged like that of a sepulchre, a bar would be fixed across the front of the stone, fastened to either side of the doorway by thongs, the knotting of which was sealed with wax stamped by a signet. Many of these signets and seals have been found; and it is interesting to note that the favorite device on the seals of the Babylonian and Persian kings is one in which the king is represented as slaying a lion. There are several specimens extant of a double sealing, like that here of the signet both of the king and of his lords. Tristram. Daniel had now the same kind of opportunity of showing his fidelity to God as his three Hebrew companions before. The lions were not less terrible than the fiery furnace. A stone was brought. All this precaution served the purposes of the Divine Providence. There could be no trick nor collusion here; if Daniel be preserved, it must be by the power of the Supreme God. The same precaution was taken by the Jews, in the case of the burial of our blessed Lord; and this very thing has served as one of the strongest proofs of the certainty of His resurrection and their unmixed wickedness. A. C. The entrance was sealed with two seals, one the king's, one the conspirators', that neither party might steal a march on the other. So, down in the dark there, with the glittering eyeballs of the brutes round him, and their growls in his ears, the old man sits all night long, with peace in his heart, and looking up trustfully, through the hole in the den, to his Protector's stars shining their silent message of cheer. A. M. 18-23. The king's restless night, and early morning visit to the den. The usual evening banquet, and its accompanying entertainment for diversion and soothing by which rest was invited, were set aside. So intense was his anxiety in behalf of the imperilled prophet, that he could not sleep. This shows how strong was Daniel's hold upon the king's sympathy and regard; and perhaps, that his conscience had been stirred the more deeply by a conscious sense of injustice done to the prophet. With the dawn he rose from his sleepless couch, and hastened to know the result to Daniel. There is a blending of hope with doubt in his saddened tone of inquiry. His question itself is sublimely instructive as well as touching. It shows that the single thought, expressed when Daniel was about to be immured in the den, has been upon his mind all the night. The unwavering truth and fidelity of Daniel to his God, this is the thought. "Has thy God," is his question, "has He to whom thou hast been so true, indeed proved mighty to deliver thee?" Then instantly from the gloom of the den came the prophet's response. With the same respectful salutation as if he stood on the palace floor, and with a calm, clear tone of assured faith he speaks. His God had proved able to deliver him. Fierce and famished though the lions were (as we know from their after instant destruction of the wicked accusers), God had restrained them from hurting His faithful servant. And the reason for deliverance he asserts to be his innocence of evil in the matter for which he had been so fearfully endangered. He had been delivered because he had been loyal in act to his God and in heart to the king. Thus relief was brought to the king's troubled spirit. Gladness overpowered wonder, as he ordered the release of Daniel from his peril; and the prophet came forth unharmed. The record adds the reason of the miraculous protection. It was the prophet's faith in a faithful God. He believed that God was able to deliver him from the lions. He knew that God would so deliver him, if it consisted with His own perfect purposes. One of the grandest of the worthies of the faith enrolled (though not by name) in the eleventh of Hebrews, Daniel was yet only one of multitudes whose faith has had rich reward. Distinguished as he was above many by a present deliverance, he was yet more distinguished in that, through his single testimony of tested and triumphant faith, the then world of living men heard of the unknown but living God. B. 22. God has preserved his life by a miracle. Darius had called Him Daniel's God (thy God whom thou servest); to which Daniel does, as it were, echo back, Yea, He is my God, whom I own, and who owns me, for He has sent His angel. The same bright and glorious Being that was seen in the form of the Son of God with the three children in the fiery furnace had visited Daniel, and it is likely in a visible appearance had enlightened the dark den, and kept Daniel company all night, and had shut the lions' mouths that they had not in the least hurt him. The angel's presence made even the lions' den his stronghold, his palace, his paradise; he never had had a better night in his life. See the power of God over the fiercest creatures, and believe His power to restrain the roaring lion that goes about continually seeking to devour, from hurting those that are His. See the care God takes of His faithful worshippers, especially when He calls them out to suffer for Him. If He keep their souls from sin, comfort their souls with His peace, and receive their souls to Himself, He does in effect stop the lions' mouths, that they cannot hurt them. II. Simple trust in God brings His angel to our help, and the deliverance, which is ultimately to be ascribed to His hand muzzling the gaping beasts of prey, may also be ascribed to the faith which sets His hand in motion. The true cause is God, but the indispensable condition without which God will not act, and with which He cannot but act, is our trust. Therefore all the great things which it is said to do are due, not to anything in it, but wholly to that of which it lays hold. A foot or two of lead pipe is worth little; but if it is the channel through which water supplies a city, it is priceless. Faith may or not bring external deliverances, such as it brought to Daniel; but the good cheer which the lesson teaches us does not depend on these. When Paul lay in Rome, shortly before his martyrdom, this story of Daniel was in his mind, as he thankfully wrote to Timothy, "I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion." He adds a hope which contrasts strangely, at first sight, with the clear expectation of a speedy and violent death, expressed a moment or two before ("I am already being offered, and the time of my departure is come") when he says, "The Lord will deliver me from every evil work;" but he had learned that it was possible to pass through the evil and yet to be delivered from it, and that a man might be thrown to the lions and devoured by them, and yet be truly shielded from all harm by them. So he adds, "and will save me unto His heavenly kingdom," thereby teaching us that the true deliverance is that which carries us into, or something nearer toward the eternal home. Thus understood, the miracle of Daniel's deliverance is continually repeated to all who partake of Daniel's faith, "Thou hast made the Most High thy habitation, . . . thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder." A. M. The prophet, having justly offended neither God nor the king, very truly offers the righteousness of his cause as the reason of the Divine interference for his security; not from any ostentatious display of his own merit, but to direct the attention of the king to the power and providence of that great Being who is "mighty to save," and whose favor is more to be regarded than life itself. Wintle.—Before thee, O king, have I done no hurt. Though I disobeyed thy decree, it was not done out of contumacy or stubbornness, but purely to preserve a good conscience, which is the only true principle of loyalty and obedience. (See Rom. 13:5.) W. Lowth. 23. The king is relieved and joyous to find that his valued friend is safe and that no serious consequences have come from his wicked law. The demands of the law having now been met, he orders Daniel brought forth from the den. Not a scratch is on him, and those heathen men know that this comes of his believing in his God. They are witnesses to the saving power of Jehovah, God of Israel. 24. The great crime of Daniel's accusers now meets its righteous punishment. They had plotted his death; and though they had sought to effect it by the forms of law, yet their malice and hence their guilt were none the less for this reason. It was right and just that they should be made a public example. H. C. 25-28. Following the entire occurrence, Darius issued a decree throughout the realm, that all men should fear and tremble before the God of Daniel. And the prophet was restored to more than his former favor and power. Through the two years of Darius, into the reign of Cyrus, he remained the premier minister and counsellor of the kingdom. B. 26. I make a decree, that men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. As in the case of the three Hebrews (chap. 3:29). The true God was known by His servants, and by the deliverances He wrought for them. See His characters in this decree. He is the living God; the Author and Giver of life: all others are dead gods. He is steadfast forever. All things change, but He is unchangeable. He has a kingdom; for as He made all things, so He governs all things. His kingdom shall not be destroyed. No human power can prevail against it, because it is upheld by His omnipotence. His dominion is without end. It is an everlasting dominion, under an everlasting rule, by an everlasting God. He delivereth them that are in danger and bondage. He rescueth those who have fallen into the hands of their enemies, and implore His succor. He worketh signs in the heavens, and wonders upon earth; showing that both are under His sway, and are parts of His dominion. And to complete all, He hath delivered Daniel. Before our own eyes He has given the fullest proof of His power and goodness, in rescuing His faithful servant from the teeth of the lions. What a fine eulogium on the great God and His faithful servant! A. C. Edicts to this effect were published by Nebuchadnezzar, Darius, Cyrus, and Artaxerxes. "Such public and solemn testimonies to the majesty of the God of Israel," observes Dr. Graves, "must have contributed materially to check error and idolatry, in a country where the form of the government rendered the example and opinions of the monarch so powerful and operative. They must have gained the Jews, even in their captive and degraded state, much consideration and attention; and as such a state led them to take pride in their religious superiority—the only superiority now left them—and to exalt the Divine original and wisdom of their religion; so these events must have gained their representations weight and credulity.” Wines. 28. So this Daniel prospered. Few courtiers had so long a reign, served so many masters without flattering any, been more successful in their management of public affairs, been so useful to the States where they were in office, or have been more owned of God or left such an example to posterity. A. C. The verse is a note of time probably added—whether by Daniel himself or not is immaterial—to close the historical section of the book and forming a natural conclusion to the events narrated in the chapter. The reign of “Darius the Mede” was confessedly a short one; it was followed by the reign, so pregnant with glory to his own name and so eventful in the history of God’s chosen people—of Cyrus the Great. B. C. The final verse implies Daniel’s restoration to rank, and gives a beautiful, simple picture of the old man’s closing days, which had begun so long before, in such a different world, as Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, and closed in Cyrus’s, enriched with all that should accompany old age—honor, obedience, troops of friends. “When a man’s ways please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.” A. M. #### Suggested Thoughts. Like the Son of Man, of whom he spake in vision, Daniel witnessed a good confession before many observers. In his worship he was open, but not ostentatious. Not like the Pharisee, praying in the streets to be seen of men, yet so ordering his devotion that men might know whom he worshipped, he thus realized Christ’s injunction, “Let your light,” etc. (Matt. 5 : 16). His regular habit of prayer, the similar habit of David (referred to in the Psalms), suggests a plain, personal inquiry to all who profess a vital union with the same Jehovah. The only possibly better practice than this thrice-a-day worship, is intimated by the injunctions of the Holy Ghost, “Pray without ceasing,” “In everything make known your requests.” In Daniel’s refusal we are reminded of the aged Polycarp’s sublime reply. Like the ancient prophet, this early Christian disciple was called upon by persecutors to deny his Master, “Eighty-and-six years,” answered he, “have I served Him, and has He blessed me. Why should I now deny Him?” A consistent Christian life carries its own witness and wins the respect and admiration of honest worldly men. It is an element of mighty force and vast effectiveness in the extension of Christ’s kingdom of truth among men. God will never suffer the righteous to be moved. Fidelity to Him is sure of the richest present or ultimate reward. As here, so ever, God brings to naught the malice of the wicked against the good. Often, too, He turns upon the evil the force of their own destructive machinations. The supreme teaching of the eleventh of Hebrews, the one great truth of Revelation, is here signally illustrated: We are saved by grace, God’s favor, through faith—an obedient, vital faith in God’s promised mercy. A life of activity needs, as a preparation or as a counterpoise and restorative, its times of retirement and prayerful thought. The still hour of quiet thought and devout communion with our Heavenly Father fills the soul with light, girds it with strength, and cheers it with hope and serene, glad trust. B. The grandeur of the Book of Daniel is not only the sweep of those majestic visions which opened the mysteries of future time, but the vivid portrait it holds before us of a man who has all the springs of his actions in faithfulness to God—a man so thoroughly forgetful of himself that the one only question which rises in him, when anything is to be done or suffered, is whether that thing is his Lord’s will. If it is, no doubt remains; nothing is to be said or thought about costs or consequences. If it is not, no consequences will justify it. F. D. H. Such honor as we give to martyrs must needs be accorded to the prophet Daniel. A martyr—so far as the strict etymology of the word goes—is one who witnesses, and is usually applied exclusively to one who has witnessed unto death for righteousness and truth. Those who witness to the truth without dying for it are commonly called confessors. It would be difficult to decide to which “goodly fellowship” Daniel strictly belonged. But we are not careful to decide; enough for us to know that all the essential characteristics of those who are enrolled in “the noble army of martyrs” were found in him. Pusey. 7:1 IN the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream and told the sum of the matters. Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven brake forth upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand upon two feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it. And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in his mouth between his teeth: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, terrible and powerful, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things. I beheld till thrones were placed, and one that was ancient of days did sit: his raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, and the wheels thereof burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgement was set, and the books were opened. I beheld at that time because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake; I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and he was given to be burned with fire. And as for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. I saw in the night visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. As for me Daniel, my spirit was grieved in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth concerning all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things. These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. Then I desired to know the truth concerning the fourth beast, which was diverse from all of them, exceeding terrible, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet; and concerning the ten horns that were on his head, and the other horn which came up, and before which three fell; even that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the ancient of days came, and judgement was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And as for the ten horns, out of this kingdom shall ten kings arise: and another shall arise after them; and he shall be diverse from the former, and he shall put down three things. And he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High: and he shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time. But the judgement shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; his kingdom is an ever-28 lasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. Here is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my thoughts much troubled me, and my countenance was changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart. Chap. 7. In point of chronology this chapter comes between chap. 4 and 5. Years had elapsed between the death of Nebuchadnezzar and "the first year of Belshazzar;" years pregnant with those political convulsions which broke forth—so far as Babylonia was concerned—during the joint reign of Nabonadius and his son; years of silence and patient waiting on the part of the aging prophet. Daniel, in the comparative obscurity and retirement which was probably his lot, had not been a politician, a courtier, a man, had he not been keenly alive to the stirring events around him; he had not been the God-fearing, prayerful, trustful Israelite, had he not seen in them the probable results which should bring in "the kingdom of the saints of the Most High" (verse 18). The prophetic visions which commence with this chapter reflect both this natural and spiritual coloring. Full of remembrances of the dreams recorded in chaps. 2 and 4, they show the marked impression those dreams had made upon him both as a young and middle-aged man. If they are marked by a symbolism and imagery more striking than that of Ezekiel, it is one which modern research has shown to be probable, in accordance with the teaching and training of the "schools," and impossible to a writer unfamiliar with what is here described. B. C. What did God do in order to give Daniel an idea of the four phases through which the history of mankind was to pass before the coming of the Messiah? Did He give him an historical lecture upon the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Medes and Persians, the Greeks and Romans? No, He caused to pass before him five pictures or images, of which the remembrance remained indelible—a winged lion, symbol of the Babylonish power; a bear, with slow and heavy tread, emblem of the Persian majesty; a leopard with four heads, traversing the earth as on the wing, the visible representation of the Alexandrian monarchy, so rapidly founded, so speedily divided into four distinct States; then lastly, a monster with nothing corresponding to him in the terrestrial creation, trampling and devouring everything that comes in its way, image of the Roman empire, that State which has borne no resemblance to anything before known, and which absorbed everything into itself; and finally, as the last of these apparitions, the form of a Son of Man coming upon the clouds, emblem of the only really human power, of the love which comes down from heaven to found here below the kingdom of liberty and of truth. This is the manner in which God teaches history when He thinks good to make it known beforehand to His servants the prophets. He does not discuss, He does not catechise, He pictures. This method has the double advantage of making its appeal to man in his whole being, consequently not perverting the nature of faith, and of not rendering science superfluous by anticipating its future labors. All the researches of historians, all the discoveries of the investigators of ruins and of buried palaces, instead of being made useless by such revelation, only serve to make more exact, and to enrich the pictures by means of which it was accomplished. Godet. This chapter gives the second of the four great prophecies of Daniel—a vision obviously in very close analogy with that of chap. 2: 31-45, and in partial parallel with that of chap. 8, and also that of chaps. 10-12. The prophet sees in succession four great beasts, the last of which has ten horns and ultimately an eleventh (verses 2-8); he then sees the fourth beast judged and slain (verses 9-11); next "one like a Son of Man," receiving his eternal kingdom (verses 13, 14); finally, he asks and obtains an interpretation of this vision, especially of the fourth beast and his horns (verses 15-28). H. C. 2. The third person is used through the first six chapters of Daniel, and at the opening of the seventh. The first then takes its place to the end of chap. 9. The third recurs in the first verse of chap. 10, after which the first is used uninterruptedly. Thucydides begins his history in the third person, but changes to the first after a few chapters. In Book IV, he resumes the third. In Book V., chap. 26, he begins in the third, but runs on into the first, which he again uses in Book VIII., chap. 97. G.R. 2.3. The elements of nature in commotion symbolize convulsions in the political elements. These four great beasts come forth from the agitated sea, manifestly in succession, to denote succession in the order of time in the great empires of which they are the symbols. H.C. 4. The first was like a lion. This is the kingdom of the Babylonians; and the king of Babylon is in like manner compared to a lion by Jeremiah (chap. 4:7), and is said to fly as an eagle (chap. 48 : 40) ; and he is also compared to an eagle by Ezekiel (chap. 17 : 3, 12). The lion is esteemed the king of beasts and the eagle the king of birds ; and therefore the kingdom of Babylon, which is described as the first and noblest kingdom, and was the kingdom then in being, is said to partake of the nature of both. "The eagle's wings" denote its swiftness and rapidity ; and the conquests of Babylon were very rapid—that empire being advanced to the height within a few years by a single person, by the conduct and arms of Nebuchadnezzar. Bp. Newton. "Winged lions," "winged bulls," and even human figures with wings extending from the shoulders, have been disinterred in considerable numbers from the ruins of Nineveh within the present century, affording remarkable proof that these conceptions in this vision of Daniel, and also in Ezekiel (chap. 1) and elsewhere, are fully in keeping with the popular ideas and the artistic usages of the people living in the valley of the Euphrates during the age of these prophets. Moreover, the lion and the eagle were then, as now, symbols of royalty, figuring conspicuously in the memorial arms of sovereigns. So this first beast is a lion with eagle's wings. As Daniel continued to study this beast, lo, a change comes over him. His wings are plucked ; he is lifted up to stand erect as a man, and a man's heart is given him. This change is not from brutal to human intelligence, but from the brute force and resistless ferocity of the lion and the eagle to the comparative physical weakness of the man. The Chaldean empire is fast waning to its fall. Its glory has departed ; its pristine vigor has gone. The first three of these symbols—the lion, the bear, and the leopard—correspond so perfectly with the first three divisions of the great image—the head, the breast and arms, and the belly and thighs—that there is no occasion to raise any question for further explanation. It is not distinctly affirmed here that these beasts come forward in succession, each supplanting its predecessor. Yet it is very manifest that these beasts do follow each other in regular succession. The first has had great power, but is now seen shorn of it and ready to be vanquished. The second in its time is a devourer of nations ; to the third "dominion is given." No other view can reasonably be taken of these beasts considered as great national powers, except that they sway the empire of the world successively—each being for his time supreme on the field of their location. H. C. 5. It had three ribs in the mouth. This was its booty or prey. Of the many interpretations which had been given, the most satisfactory are those which understand by these "three ribs" either a round number or the chief conquests of Cyrus—Lydia (and the kingdoms of Asia Minor), Bactria (and the vast tract between the Caspian and the Indus), and Babylonia. These kingdoms were grasped with a grasp as tenacious as that with which the bear would hold its prey between its fangs. Yet were these not to be the only conquests of the Medo-Persian power : "Arise, devour," etc., was at once a charge and a prophecy which reached its climax in the mighty victories of the great Darius. B. C. 6. This beast, all commentators agree, is the Grecian empire of Alexander—winged to denote the velocity of its armies and the rapidity of its conquests. "Dominion given to it," almost drops the figure of a beast, to give us in literal phrase the history of this power. Correspondingly the passage (chap. 2 : 39) has it, "Another third kingdom of brass which shall bear rule over all the earth." H. C. Another, like a leopard. This is the kingdom of the Macedonians or Grecians, who, under the command of Alexander the Great, overcame the Persians and reigned next after them. The leopard is remarkable for its swiftness (see Hab. 1 : 8) and for the impetuosity with which it springs upon its prey ; and Alexander and the Macedonians were amazingly swift and rapid in their conquests. This rapidity is further intimated by the "four wings on the back" of the beast. The Babylonian empire was represented with two wings, but this with four ; for, as Jerome saith, nothing was swifter than the victories of Alexander. The "four heads" of the beast denote the four kingdoms into which the empire of Alexander was divided at his death by his four captains—Cassander reigning over Macedon and Greece, Lysimachus over Thrace and Bithynia, Ptolemy over Egypt, and Seleucus over Syria. 7. This fourth kingdom can be no other than the Roman empire, which was "dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly," beyond any of the former kingdoms. It was "diverse from all kingdoms," not only in its republican form of government, but likewise in strength, and power, and greatness, length of duration and extent of dominion. "It devoured, and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it ;" it reduced Macedon into a Roman province about one hundred and sixty-eight years, the kingdom of Pergamus about one hundred and thirty-three years, Syria about sixty-five years, and Egypt about thirty years before Christ. And besides the remains of the Macedonian empire, it subdued many other provinces and kingdoms, so that it might by a very usual figure be said to "devour the whole earth, and to tread it down and break it in pieces;" and became in a manner what the Roman writers delighted to call it, the empire of the whole world. It had ten horns. Another remarkable property of this fourth beast is that "it had ten horns;" and, according to the angel's interpretation (verse 24), "the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings" or kingdoms "that shall arise." "Four kings" a little before (verse 17) signified four kingdoms; and so here "ten kings" are ten kingdoms, according to the usual phraseology of Scripture. We must look for these kingdoms amid the broken pieces of the Roman empire, represented under the fourth beast. The Roman empire was, by means of the incursions of the northern nations, dismembered into ten kingdoms, and Machiavel hath given us their names: (1) the Ostrogoths in Mæsia; (2) the Visigoths in Pannonia; (3) the Sueves and Alans in Gascoigne and Spain; (4) the Vandals in Africa; (5) the Franks in France; (6) the Burgundians in Burgundy; (7) the Heruli and Turingi in Italy; (8) the Saxons and Angles in Britain; (9) the Huns in Hungary; (10) the Lombards, at first upon the Danube, afterward in Italy. Bp. Newton. The names of these ten kingdoms have been enumerated by several writers of the most respectable authority; and the few variations in their accounts may be readily explained from the confusion and uncertainty of the times of which they wrote. It is enough for us, and an illustrious verification of the prophecies of holy Scripture, that such a partition was noticed long before by Daniel; and that among other particularities mentioned as incident to the fourth beast, this of ten horns springing all together from its head was recorded as one; and that these horns were expressly interpreted to mean ten kings or kingdoms. Bp. Halifax. In the ten horns we recognize at the first glance the ten toes of the second chapter. They are introduced merely to show (verse 8) how an cleventh has sprung up in their midst, a king in whom the full haughty hatred and rebellion of the world against God, His people, and His service, finds its representative. In the seventh chapter the distinction between iron and clay is omitted; in the second chapter there is no mention of this anti-Christian ruler of the world. In this description of the last monarchy the disdistinct and individual character of the two visions is most clearly manifested in the peculiar features to which each of them gives prominence. Auberlen. 8. Behold, there came up among them another little horn.** In all the several respects which the prophet notices, the Pope fully answers the character of the "little horn;" so that if exquisite fitness of application may assure us of the true sense of the prophecy we can have no doubt concerning the person. He is here called "a little horn;" and the power of the popes was originally very small, and their temporal dominions were little and inconsiderable in comparison with others of the ten horns. Bp. Newton. Before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots. Three of the ten kingdoms—viz., those of the Heruli, the Ostrogoths and the Lombards, were successively plucked up or eradicated before the little horn, in the way of which they stood; and by the annexation of their dominions to the papacy, the Pope became also a temporal power. Hence he assumed the three keys in his arms, and the triple crown or mitre as a temporal prince; and "his look was more stout than his fellows," whom he frequently awed by his anathemas and excommunications. Dr. Hales. 9. "Till the thrones are set up"—i.e., put in place to be occupied by the Ancient of Days. Instances of the usage are to be seen in Jer. 1: 15 and in Rev. 4: 2. The thrones were erected in the same manner and for the same purpose as in the thrilling vision of John, recorded in the Apocalypse: "I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away" (20: 11). Chambers. 9,10. The Ancient of Days upon the throne of judgment.** This portion of Daniel's vision seems to indicate successive periods of duration. This we infer from the repeated use of the expression, "I beheld." The word "thrones" refers, not to the empires whose history had just been outlined, but to the seats of judgment which were now firmly placed or established preparatory to use. These thrones were arranged for those spiritual beings who in the Apocalypse are represented as taking part with the Supreme Being in the exercise of judgment. References to this we find in the Psalms, the Gospels, and the Epistles. There are points of similarity in the details of the vision of Daniel and that of Ezekiel. Both were familiar with the titles of the Chaldean gods and the peculiar modes of representing the attributes of these gods. The expression "an Ancient of Days," here employed by Daniel, was one of these Chaldean titles. As used by him, it refers to Jehovah. As here described, the seeming was as of an aged man with white garments, indicating purity; with shining hair, a symbol of lasting existence; upon a throne (of fiery flame), represented as a movable chariot, with wheels whose movement threw out flashes as of fire. Similar symbols are employed by Ezekiel, first chapter. There we find Jehovah appearing upon a throne which rests upon a platform upheld by living creatures, strangely associated with living wheels and with the symbol of fire. Both prophets simply narrate a vision of symbols, not realities. Corresponding with the river of water of life in Rev. 22, a fiery stream is here described as issuing forth from the throne of God. B.—Fire and the shining of fire are the constant phenomena of the manifestation of God in the world, as the earthly elements most fitting for the representations of the burning zeal with which the holy God not only punishes and destroys sinners, but also purifies and renders glorious His own people. Keil. As in the Revelation also (chap. 5), an innumerable multitude, ready for active ministry, is here represented as surrounding the throne. And similarly, too, here we behold the judgment set—i.e., the judges upon their thrones; and the books in which were the materials upon which the judgment should be based. But with these naturally similar symbols and surroundings, the parallel ends. B. 9. We know that "when we shall be like 'God,' we shall see Him as He is." God, we may be certain, sits on no throne, neither is He borne along on wheels. In His essence God is not to be conceived as He appeared to His prophet and holy men of old. By them He is described under various forms, in order that men, to whom He willed to give some sign of His presence, should be drawn to Him. Calvin. 9-14. Verses 9 and 10 disclose, in a sublime symbolic picture, the fact of a universal Divine judgment in continuous process of execution against nations in this world. This process is definitely applied in verse 11 to the kingdom of the fourth beast, and in retrospect, in verse 12, to the previous three kingdoms, while in the 13th and 14th verses the Messiah appears before the enthroned Deity, and to Him is assigned a final, universal and everlasting dominion in earth and heaven. This seems to exhaust the meaning of the whole passage, which therefore seems to have no direct reference to the final general judgment as distinguished from providential judgments in time. B. Taking the main points of this passage in the order in which they stand, we have: (a) The Almighty God enthroned. Correspondingly in other Hebrew theophanies; Isaiah (6: 1) "saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up." Micaiah (1 K. 22: 19) "saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left." The psalmist (11: 4, 6) writes, "The Lord's throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids try the children of men. . . . Upon the wicked He will rain fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest," etc. "His garments white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool," has its analogy in the Apocalypse (1: 14). "His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow." Age is venerable; its incidents are clustered upon this personage to bespeak for Him reverence and homage. He is "the Ancient of Days." (b) This throne is on wheels, and has the aspect of fire and flame. So in Ezek. 1. The visible glory of Jehovah appears upon a throne, which itself reposes upon a "firmament" or elevated platform, supported by four living creatures, who are singularly connected with living wheels. Here also is the aspect of fire. "As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps; it went up and down among the living creatures, and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning" (Ezek. 1: 13). (c) Fire issues forth from God to devour His enemies. Here in Daniel, "A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him." So Ps. 50: 5, "Our God shall come, a fire shall devour before Him; it shall be very tempestuous round about Him." And Ps. 97: 3, "A fire goeth before Him and burneth up His enemies round about." In David's glowing description of the Lord's coming to his aid against his foes (Ps. 18: 8) we read: "There went up a smoke out of His nostrils; fire out of His mouth devoured." So also Moses (De. 5: 24), "For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God." So in Heb. 12: 29, "For our God is a consuming fire." The fire sent on Sodom seems to have been a standing type or model of God's judgments on corrupt nations, and to have supplied the figures of speech to express this idea. In Isa. 34: 9, 10, the allusion to that model is specially palpable. Of Idumea the prophet said, "The streams thereof shall be turned into pitch and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up forever." Hence fire became the usual symbol to denote the judgments which the Lord in His providence brings upon guilty nations in time, of which fact it may suffice to quote but one more passage (Isa. 66:15, 16): "For behold the Lord will come with fire and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire; for by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many." The reader may add Mal. 4:1, 3. (d) Thousands of attendant ministering angels. Here it stands: "Thousand thousands ministered unto Him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him." The fact that they ministered to Him shows them to be, not culprits at His bar, but servants awaiting His command. To "stand before Him" is also the customary attitude of His attendant angels. Not in the final judgment alone, but wherever the Lord appears in His glory and majesty and lets men see the realities of the spiritual world, angels are seen about Him as His executive agents. Micaiah saw all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left (1 K. 22:19). When on Sinai there "went forth from the Lord's right hand a fiery law for them" (De. 33:2), "He came with ten thousand of saints," holy ones; said by the psalmist (68:17) to have been "thousands of angels." Zech. 14:5 has the same feature: "There comes the Lord my God! All the holy ones are with Thee." (e) The forms of a judicial tribunal. The close analogy between the judicial proceedings of human courts and of the Divine, accounts most amply for these allusions. Thus Daniel: "The judgment was set and the books were opened;" and verse 26, "The judgment shall sit." So elsewhere in those cases where the Lord comes down for the judgment of wicked nations. Ps. 50 is a case where the Lord "calls to the heavens from above and to the earth, that He may judge His people, for God is judge Himself." Joel 3 is wholly in this strain. "Let the heathen be wakened and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about." I am not aware that any other Hebrew theophany save this of Daniel introduces the symbol of "the books" as witnessing records against the ungodly, but there is surely no reason for assuming that this symbol can be used of no other judgment than that at the end of the world. All the rest of these symbols are used, elsewhere than in Daniel, to denote the visitations of Divine judgment on guilty nations in time. (f) Let me add that this destruction of the fourth beast and his horns must correspond with the stone smiting the great image upon his feet of iron and clay (chap. 2:34, 35). As this smiting was a judgment in time, so is the judgment in the verses before us. H. C. The judgment from heaven is connected with the end of the four universal monarchies and the destruction of antichrist. This alone suffices to show that the judgment here spoken of is not the last judgment; for at the last judgment there will be neither beast, nor kingdom, nor antichrist upon earth, but heaven and earth will then have passed away. Roos.—The judgment in question is to take place after the monarchies described shall have existed, and after the little horn, or papal power, shall have prevailed in the earth. That the reference is not to the final judgment, or, what is more emphatically called the "last day," is evident, because here God the Father is said to occupy that judicial station which, in the New Testament, is universally ascribed to the Son; and because it is not the judgment of individuals, as when "small and great shall appear before God," but of nations and of the great anti-Christian power. We must bear in continual recollection that this is a vision, that the circumstances are the decorative arrangements of a court of justice, and of the Jewish council in particular; and that, therefore, like all hieroglyphic symbols, all scriptural allusions to the personal appearance, the form, the countenance, or the hands, arm and feet of the Almighty, it is a figurative adumbration of the great reality of a just, final and awful retribution that awaits anti Christian nations. F. A. Cox. 11, 12. Successive judgments upon the beasts. Although the description of the judgment referred to here has many correspondences with the final and general judgment referred to in the Apocalypse, it is yet a wholly different one. The subjects of the judgment in Daniel's vision are definitely described. They are the beasts or empires, whose history is outlined in the vision. The introductory and accompanying characteristics of the general judgment are wanting; and the Judge, in this special judgment, is the Eternal Father. It is a providential judgment, with limitation of its award to this world; a judgment upon nations as such, collectively, not a judgment that separates individuals of all nations into two great masses, and pronounces a changeless and enduring award upon each according to personal character. Of the two interpretations respecting the "beast" or fourth kingdom, it would seem that the older and the more widely received, whatever difficulties properly belong to it, has yet a far stronger basis than the modern theory. A fatal objection to the latter appears to be this: that in a broad scheme of providential events, impliedly covering the whole series of world empires, that empire which was widest, grandest, and mightiest of all is utterly unmentioned and ignored. And the strange, strong figures, descriptive of the fourth kingdom, which admirably depict the wondrous history of the Roman empire, the modern view refers to persons and events of comparative insignificance. B. The fourth kingdom is represented as "diverse from all that were before it," and as "dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly," having "great iron teeth," and devouring and breaking in pieces and stamping the residue with its feet, as it is also represented in chap. 2 by two great iron legs. This description is not at all applicable to the empire of the successors of Alexander, which, so far from being diverse from all that went before it, was merely a continuation of the Greek dominion which preceded it, and was at no time terrible, having only, in its integrity, a brief continuance of twenty years of confusion and weakness; and the cruelties of a king of a single one of the fragments of the empire does not accord with the representation of the prophet, that the empire before its division would be terrible and strong, like legs of iron, but the prophet's description does apply to the Roman empire, which was entirely diverse from all the empires which preceded it, being the empire of a different race and a different civilization, and was terribly strong and fierce, trampling down with its armies all that opposed it, ruling with an iron sceptre, and destroying and stamping in pieces, as is illustrated in its treatment of Carthage and Jerusalem. Anon. 11. The "horn" referred to here is the "little horn" which was to spring up in the midst of the "ten horns" or kingdoms, into which the "beast" here spoken of (the fourth empire) would be broken up. B. There was to spring up in the midst of the ten horns a "little horn," politically and physically small, but, from its pretensions and its assumptions, terrible and influential. This little horn was to pull down three of the ten horns. It should be "a horn," having political power, but should have eyes for seeing or superintending. It was also to have a mouth, speaking great things; a preacher of proud pretensions, or a doctor of despotic law. As another feature, it was to uproot three out of the ten kingdoms. Every feature of the prophecy is met and embodied in the history of the papal power. The three kingdoms that were rooted up by this little horn were the three kingdoms of the Vandals, Ostrogoths, and the Lombards, who were, after a succession of troubles, rooted up by the papacy, and constituted into the States of the Church; and the Pope wears upon his head at this very moment the tiara, or three-crowned cap, to denote the three kingdoms or horns which he rooted up, and over which he now reigns. Of the prediction that "he will make war with the saints," the whole history of Europe is painfully conclusive evidence. Cumming. The "great words which the horn spake" (verse 11) were haughty, blasphemous, tyrannous and persecuting words. The verse only intimates a judgment on this horn, while it predicts a destroying judgment against the fourth empire, of whose divisions it formed a part. "Concerning the rest of the beasts," the other three world empires, Daniel further intimates the judgment of the enthroned "Ancient of Days"—that their nationalities and the results of their influence should continue for an undefined period after their sovereignty had ceased. 13,14. The Son of Man receives universal and everlasting dominion. When we note these clear, definite statements, we are not surprised at the agreement of all Jewish and Christian writers respecting their reference and meaning. This expression, "Son of Man," used here by Daniel, is employed many times by Ezekiel. Daniel saw, not a "Son of Man," but "one like a Son of Man;" no symbolic animal forms such as came before in the vision, typifying and representing mere human elements and forces concentrated in separate and successive empires, but a personal superhuman being, though in human form, coming not as the beasts from the earth, but appearing in the clouds of heaven, ensphered in the only known symbol of Deity—this personal being Daniel beheld coming to and standing beside the Ancient of Days. Two distinct persons of the Godhead are here clearly disclosed—the Eternal Father and the Eternal Son. And from this expression of Daniel was taken, of purpose, the title which Christ appropriated to Himself, and which His apostles never used concerning Him, Son of Man—a title which He used to emphasize the great fact of His humanity, upon which rested the vital efficacy of his redeeming work for man. And here we have the grand announcement, so often referred to by patriarchs, prophets, psalmists and apostles, and by Christ Himself, of a universal, everlasting dominion given by the Eternal Father to the Eternal Son. Unlike all previous and subsequent earthly empires, this dominion is established in the hearts of its subjects, thus controlling the lives and rendering them tributary to the glory of the Divine Monarch. Unlike all earthly kingdoms, this links heaven with earth, eternity with time. Hence it cannot be destroyed; it cannot pass away. Its existence is decreed by the Infinite Mind, sustained by omnipotent might; its glory and blessedness are assured by an immutable promise. Seven centuries later, after the incarnation and ascension of the Eternal Son, another inspired seer disclosed in another vision the same sublime announcement. Nay, John goes further than Daniel; he reveals the Divine purpose as fulfilled, the Divine promise as consummated in the actual heavenly enthronement of the Lamb, the Eternal Son. And in this disclosure, so assuring, inciting and comforting, are we in these later days of the promise, and in closer proximity to its fulfilment, privileged to toil and endure, to rest and rejoice. B. It is quite in keeping with the universal horizon of Daniel's prophecy that Messiah is not designated as the Son of David, but, in general, as the Son of Man; no more as King of Israel only, but as King of the world. The Messiah is no longer represented as the theocratic King coming to the covenant people, but He appears a centre of unity both for the covenant people and the Gentile world. Auberlen. Our Lord not only cites the prophet Daniel by name, when speaking of "the abomination of desolation" (Matt. 24:15), but He adopted from that book the designation of His kingdom and the title which He appropriates to Himself. The expressions, "kingdom of heaven" and "Son of Man," are confessedly taken from the second and seventh chapters of Daniel. Of the latter expression, Meyer (Matt. 8:20) says: "Its simple meaning is, The Messiah. Jesus, inasmuch as in Him the Messiah was come, was, in the realization, that Son of Man whose form was seen in Daniel's vision. As often, therefore, as Jesus in His discourses says 'The Son of Man,' He means 'The Son of Man of that vision of Daniel'—that is, the Messiah." The question of the genuineness and authenticity of Daniel cannot, therefore, be separated from that respecting the fallibility or infallibility of the Saviour. By asserting that the Book of Daniel is a forged and false prophecy, men charge our Lord with the uncritical ignorance of His times, or a deliberate application of a document which He knew to be false. McCaul. The centring of biblical truth in the person of Christ receives its grandest illustration in the biblical doctrine of Christ's mediatorial reign. This is the special teaching of the text before us. It is but a hint of a more resplendent revelation, which runs through the whole history of redemption. This "Son of Man" in the night visions of the prophet is He to whom "all power is given in heaven and on earth. God has highly exalted Him. At His name every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth." We are not alone, then, in the interest we feel in Christ. He is the centre of thought also to the whole universe of mind. His is the empire of the universe. Sympathy with His work here is felt in distant worlds. Principalities and powers in heavenly places stand in awestruck study around this one spot where the mystery of redemption is unfolding. A strange gravitation draws them to this one globe above all others in inhabited space. Such is the impression which the biblical glimpses of other worlds leave upon us. This is known to the universe as the "world of the cross." Lost spirits know it as the "world of the cross." Ministering angels know it as the "world of the cross." We do not know that another such world exists within the bounds of creation. If demoniacal alliances are formed against it, to clutch it from the hands of its Redeemer, from holy worlds come spiritual reinforcements in innumerable battalions to its rescue. Dr. Chalmers did no violence to the scriptural disclosures of the reign of Christ, when he represented the worlds of invisible being as pulsating and growing tremulous in sympathy with the conflicts of the cross. In the biblical story of redemption our atmosphere seems populous with spiritual legions marching and countermarching at the bidding of the Captain of our salvation. Phelps. The human love of the Saviour attracts us human beings quite as much as His Divine love. He was called by His disciples the Son of God; He called Himself the Son of Man. By all means, as we point men's eyes to Him, say, "Ecce Deus!" for we may see His divinity shining through the veil of His humanity; but let us also say, "Ecce homo!" for it is His humanity which first meets our eye. In heaven, when we look up to it, we see "Him that sitteth on the throne," but we see also "Him that was slain;" we see the throne, but "in the very midst of it a lamb as it had been slain." McCosh. 18. The saints are the "Israel of God" (Gal. 6:16), a congregation collected from Israel and all nations, and called to be saints (Ex. 19:6; De. 7:6; Isa. 4:3; 6:13; Rom. 9:6). These "take" the kingdom, or, rather, they "receive" it from Him who can alone give kingdoms and "possess" it with "power" (2:37; 4:30) "forever," etc. B. C. It is plain that these verses are intended for the comfort and support of the people of God in reference to the persecutions they were likely to sustain both from the one and from the other, and from all their proud enemies in every age; for it is written for their learning on whom the ends of the world are come, that they also, through patience and comfort of this Scripture, might have hope. H. 21. The same horn made war with the saints. And below, he "shall wear out the saints of the Most High" (verse 25)—that is, by wars, and massacres, and inquisitions, persecuting and destroying the faithful servants of Jesus and the true worshippers of God, who protest against his innovations and refuse to comply with the idolatry practised in the Church of Rome. 25. Or, as Symmachus interprets it, "he shall speak great words as the Most High;" setting up himself above all laws, Divine and human, arrogating to himself godlike attributes and titles of holiness and infallibility; exacting obedience to his ordinances and decrees in preference to and open violation of reason and Scripture; insulting men and blaspheming God. And think to change times and laws. Appointing fasts and feasts, canonizing saints, granting pardons and indulgences for sins, instituting new modes of worship, imposing new articles of faith, enjoining new rules of practice, and reversing at pleasure the laws both of God and men. Bp. Newton. Time and times and half a time. This expression has a closer definition in 8:14, "two thousand and three hundred days," and is again typified in the "time, times, and a half" of 12:7; but of which it is best to say plainly with Saadias, "no one knows its meaning but God alone." What is thought and said about it is simply conjectural. The most satisfactory explanation of this very difficult phrase is that no full and complete period of power shall be given to the "little horn," but that "the days shall be shortened" (Matt. 24:22; Mark 13:20), and some saved. B. C. 27. The dominion of the Lord Christ is eternal, and His kingdom as such cannot be destroyed. No power of this world can destroy it. Not even the last judgment shall put an end to it, but only give it a new and more glorious 'appearance; for after the last judgment the New Jerusalem shall come down from heaven, and the throne of God and the Lamb will be in the midst of it. Roos. In ancient history men often see nothing, and point out nothing but a succession of monarchies mutually overturning one another; nothing but a series of bloody wars, leaving behind them cities in ruin and nations crushed or carried into captivity. Behind these mighty convulsions of the ancient world men do not discern the real history—that of humanity laboring at the work of laying hold of, and understanding itself, and travailing in birth of man—the true man. As in the epochs anterior to man, behind the gigantic ferns, the voracious amphibians, and the monstrous quadrupeds, we recognize fundamentally one thing only—nature working its way up to man; so in the colossal monarchies which one after another, in the ages before Christ, filled the stage of history—in the Assyrian-Babylonish world, with its crushing military power; in the Medo-Persian kingdom, with its strong administrative organization; in the Greek race, with its incomparable artistic and scientific genius; in the Roman empire, with its powerful political centralization—the true historian recognizes one thing: humanity striving after the full development of its manifold faculties, the complete mastery of itself and of the world; man laboring to get full possession of himself, in prospect of a destiny which he does not yet clearly comprehend—that of voluntary self-surrender. Certainly it cannot be said that four thousand years was too long for such a work. Godet. Daniel was permitted to behold the historic transfer of races, and governments, and trades, and destinies to their appointed owner, the King of kings and Lord of lords. These prophetic paragraphs, therefore, are a carefully-prepared chart, revealing the course of empire till it consummates and ends in the universal reign of our Lord Jesus Christ. Power, and greatness, and government shall descend, says the prophet, through successive administrations and intermediate thrones—the Assyrian, the Roman, the papal, to the last era—and the closing stage, when the saints of the Most High God shall take the kingdom and superintend it in the name of their Lord. Walter Clarke. Christianity stands committed to the achievement of universal dominion. Its Founder puts it forward into history as the universal religion, foreordained to universal prevalence. For those of us who worship Christ as God this prophetic assurance of final victory is enough. Our lines might be much thinner than they are, our march much slower, our trophies fewer, and still we should not be disheartened. We should still stand fast by the ancient bond, which gives Christ the heathen for His inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession. Generation after generation might succeed to the arduous struggle, and still the Church would maintain the conflict, never doubting that the time will come, however distant, when her camp fires shall be kindled on every hilltop from the rising to the setting sun. R. D. Hitchcock. The Heavenly Deliverer is called the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, the Son of David, the Son of God, and the Messiah, or anointed of the Lord. The series of predictions concerning Him runs from the first book of the Old Testament to the last book of the New. It may be divided into three volumes, the first of which culminates in Isaiah, the second in Daniel, and the third in the Revelation of John. The Messiah is described throughout as a king, a priest, and a prophet. The time and place of His birth are so plainly indicated that men were expecting Him when He came. He is declared to be the Son of Man, but at the same time the Son of God. Collateral predictions concerning persons or kingdoms that come into contact with Him or His people are communicated with the utmost ease and certainty. The most striking examples of this are the future of the Jews and the destinies of the four world monarchies. As we pass along the stream of actually past time, we can note the fulfilment of successive parts of this great system of prognostication. A culminating point in the progress of events was the birth, life and death of Immanuel, in which He performed the great priestly act of offering Himself a sacrifice for sin, so becoming the propitiation for the whole world. Murphy. For Him, the Christ of the Old Testament and the New, we claim the first and foremost place in the annals of the world's history, on the domain of religion, on the field of theological doctrine, in the sphere of individual and social life. For Him we vindicate, first of all, a prominent, central place in the history of the world and of mankind. When we contemplate this world from the right angle and in true light, there is only one view admissible, surpassing that of any philosophical system in depth, beauty and harmony of conception; it is that which makes the Son of Man the centre and axis of the world, and finds its expression in the words, "He is before all things, and by Him all things consist—properly have their consistency through Him alone—that in all things He might have the pre-eminence." Christ is not only the crown and the glory, He is the core, the heart, the pulse, and the highest ideal of mankind, in whom its essence and destination is shown, unto whom the whole history of humanity tends, without whom its annals remain a book-roll closed with seven seals. He, the God-man, crowns the past, rules the present, conquers the future. For Him, again, we ask the first place on the domain of religion. Christianity is not merely a religion surpassing all others; it is the only true religion for mankind and men, because it alone manifests the special, the accomplished revelation of God's grace and our salvation. And for this Christ we claim the first and central place on the field of theology, more especially of doctrinal and moral truth. From our standpoint, theology is and remains an independent, self-relying science, as the science of the faith in Him who, as being the true Life, makes the true Light radiate from the centre He occupies into all directions. Doctrinal and moral truth, no longer are they now separated, still less divided by a wide gap. They are one and indivisible now by the same Christocentric character. Christ Himself is the fountain and the focus of both. Lastly, for Him we require, with an undeniable claim, the first and central place in every sphere of individual and social life. It may be possible to know God in some measure by nature, but we can possess Him only by Christ. Christ, and He alone, the King for heart and soul, in the family and the society, in arts and science, in the free Church and in the free State! Van O. The only matters of real moment pertaining to these and all other prophetic statements, belong to facts clearly revealed. The usual effect of any theory, pored over until it is blindly accepted as fact, cannot be good. "Secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those that are revealed belong to us, that we may do God's law." Here is a scriptural criterion that applies to the study of prophecy. Surely it is enough to know that the establishment of Christ's kingdom is now going forward, and that it shall be consummated in God's good time. The when, where and how which apply to the unknown future cannot be ascertained. Better engage all our mental and spiritual energies in filling our part in the advancement of the kingdom, and so hastening the transcendent consummation. A reverent, loyal spirit will overcome all discouragements in simple trust in God's working and promise; it will stimulate us to work in our lot, to contribute of all that is entrusted us, of mind and heart, of voice and hand, of influence and of purse, of prayer and intercession—to contribute something every day to the incoming of Christ's kingdom upon earth, and His ultimate everlasting dominion in glory. B. A hundred years hence, perhaps another eighty years, will see the world generally Christianized, if the courage and enterprise of Christian disciples are at all a match for their great opportunity. Here then appears the immense and pressing duty of our time; pressing as the inexorable movement of the years, urgent as the moral and social need of mankind, superlative as the nature and work of the Lord! Here appears, too, our noblest privilege—the privilege of taking part in this majestic cosmical enterprise; of following in the line of those whose faith, consecration, and holy heroism have built Christendom, and have made the religion which to human eyes came out of Galilee familiar in its name, and in many of its principles, wherever thought has language for its vehicle; the privilege of coming to such fellowship with the Master as cannot be reached in song or sacrament, or in even the uplift and ecstasy of prayer. We touch His mighty and tender hand as nowhere else, when we are doing His work in the world. We come nearer to Him here than we can elsewhere until we see Him face to face; and many a distant missionary home, remote from civilization, planted amid an earthly darkness dense enough to be felt, is radiant with His manifest presence as the costliest chapel or the proudest cathedral never is. In this work we touch the future of the world, and put elements and forces into its history which shall be springing to their results long after the very stones at our graves shall have crumbled into dust. R. S. S. The Question of the Identity of the "Little Horn" of Chap. 7:8, 20-22, and that of Chap. 8:9-12. Our interpretation of the vision of the four beasts of Daniel has led us to look at the fourth as representing the Roman monarchy; which would presuppose in the author a knowledge truly prophetic. This application is rejected in modern times not only by authors of the rationalistic school, but also by such men as Delitzsch and Zöckler. The reason alleged by these latter is, that since the "little horn" in the seventh chapter, which appeared upon the fourth beast, must be the same as that in chap. 8, this latter having reference to the Grecian monarchy, it follows that the fourth monarchy in chap. 7 must be either the empire of Alexander or the kingdoms which grew out of it. Let us first inquire whether the passage in Daniel can be explained if confined to the limits which such an interpretation would impose; and, next, whether the alleged identity between the two little horns of chaps. 7 and 8 is real. The lion is identical with the head of gold in the vision of the image (chap. 2), as is shown by a comparison of the two visions with each other. And it follows from 2:37, 38 that these two emblems refer to Nebuchadnezzar, and to the Chaldean monarchy personified in him: "Thou, O king, art this head of gold." The bear which "raised itself up on one side, and had three ribs in the mouth of it," corresponds to the breast and arms of silver in the statue. It is natural, then, to apply this emblem to the Persian monarchy, which superseded the Babylonian empire. But this application would make it difficult to avoid interpreting the fourth beast of the Roman empire; and an attempt has been made to get over this in two ways. Hitzig proposed to refer the emblem of the bear specially to Belshazzar, the last great Babylonish sovereign. But it is quite clear that this empire is already fully represented in the first beast, the lion. In the interpretation of the breast and arms of silver given in 2:39, we find it said to Nebuchadnezzar, not only, "Thou shalt have a successor inferior to thee," but "after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee." Here, then, the subject spoken of is a second monarchy, not a continuation of the first. Delitzsch and others feel this, and accordingly they apply the emblem of the bear to the Median empire, but making it distinct from the Persian. This distinction is rested upon 6:28: "In the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian." But this distinction between the Median and Persian monarchies is a pure fiction. The former would have lasted only two years, since Darius the Mede, who, according to this, founded it, died two years after the taking of Babylon, and Cyrus the Persian succeeded him! The fact is, that it never for an instant had an independent existence, since from the very first it was Cyrus the Persian who governed in the name of Darius the Mede. This latter reigned only in name. And that is precisely the meaning of the words in 6:28, which describe one and the same empire, with two sovereigns reigning simultaneously. And, besides, what would be the meaning of the expression, "devour much flesh," as addressed to this supposed Median empire, which would only have lasted two years? Delitzsch replies: "It is the expression of a simple conatus, of a desire for conquest which was never realized." As if an unfulfilled desire could have been admitted into a prophetic picture in which history is sketched on so large a scale! Lastly, the impossibility of this interpretation is clear from 5:28 and 6:12, which prove incontestably the identity of the two powers, of which it is desired to make distinct States: "Thy kingdom is given to the Medes and Persians;" and "the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not." The bear then represents unquestionably the Medo Persian monarchy. He supports himself on one side to signify that of the two nations which together constitute this empire, there is but one—the Persian—on which reposes the aggressive and conquering power of the monarchy. The three pieces of flesh (or three ribs, E. V.) which the bear holds in his mouth, represent the chief conquests of this second great empire. Some have thought of Lydia, Babylonia and Egypt; others substitute Phoenicia for Egypt. Judging from 8:3, 4, where the same kingdom is represented under the figure of a ram which had two horns, of which one (the Persian) was higher than the other (the Median), and which pushed with these horns in three directions, westward, northward and southward, I incline rather to the belief that these conquered countries are Bactriana (in the north), Babylonia and Lydia (in the west), and Egypt (in the south). The next beast, the leopard, with four wings of a bird, and four heads, answers to the "belly and thighs of brass" in the image; it can only represent Alexander the Great and the Macedonian kingdom, which took the place of the Medo-Persian empire. From this point of view the emblems indicated are easily exexplained. The four wings represent the extraordinary rapidity of this young king's conquests; and the four heads, the four contemporaneous kingdoms in which the Grecian monarchy makes its appearance on the stage of history. We know that these four States were Macedonia, Thrace, Syria and Egypt. The Grecian monarchy never existed in any other than this fourfold form after the premature death of its founder. Moreover, we find the literal explanation of these figures in chap. 8, where it is said of the he-goat coming from the west, which overthrew the ram with two horns (the Medo-Persian empire, 5:20): "The he-goat is the king of Grecia, and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king; now that being broken . . . four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation." Notwithstanding these evidences, all those who are determined not to recognize in the fourth beast the Roman monarchy, apply the figure of the leopard to Cyrus and the Persian monarchy. But, in the first place, this interpretation involves the application of the figure of the bear either to Beishazzar, or to a Median kingdom distinct from the Persian, two suppositions which we have found to be inadmissible; besides, how are we then to explain the four wings and four heads? what have these emblems to do with the Persian monarchy? Rapidity of conquest, which is signified by the four wings, was not the distinctive feature of the Medo-Persian empire, while it is the salient characteristic of Alexander's power. As to the four heads, they represent, it is pretended, the four first kings of Persia. This interpretation would be forced even if Persia had but four kings; for the four heads must represent four contemporaneous and not four successive powers. They belong to the form of the beast from his first appearance. But, further, Persia had many more than four sovereigns. What are we to make of the two Artaxerxes, Longimanus and Mnemon, and of the two last Dariuses, Ochus and Codoman? If the author writes as a prophet, how is it, we would ask, that he sees so dimly into the future? If he writes as an historian—that is to say, as a prophet who composes after the event—how, we would ask the rationalists, can he be so completely ignorant of the history which he is telling? And how, from this point of view, are we to get out of the difficulty of 8:21: "The he-goat (with four horns) is the king of Grecia"? Lastly, appears the fourth beast, the beast without a name; this corresponds to the "legs of iron, and the feet, part of iron and part of clay," of the image. This parallelism cannot be questioned. This fourth beast devours and breaks in pieces just as the iron feet of the image break everything in pieces; the ten horns of the beast answer to the ten toes of the image; this fourth beast immediately precedes the Messianic kingdom, just as the image is smitten and overthrown by the little stone, emblem of the Messiah. What is this last empire? According to Delitzsch, Hitzig and many others, it is that of Alexander, or the Grecian monarchy, which—to follow the first of these authors—is confounded in the prophetic vision with the Romans, and with all the succeeding powers until the judgment. But we have seen that Alexander and the Grecian empire have been already prefigured by the winged leopard with four heads. And from this point of view, what would be the meaning of the ten horns? We are told that these are the ten kings of Syria who succeeded one another, from the time of Alexander to that of Antiochus Epiphanes, in which the author himself lived. But we know that Syria had only seven kings before Antiochus Epiphanes—Seleucus Nicator, Antiochus Soter, Antiochus Theos, Seleucus Callinicus, Seleucus Ceraunus, Antiochus the Great, and Seleucus Philopstor. That is true, it will be answered, but there are three men who might have reigned, and whom Antiochus Epiphanes kept from the throne: Heliodorus, the poisoner of Epiphanes's predecessor, who did actually reign for a moment; Demetrius, the legitimate successor, who was kept at Rome as a hostage; and Ptolemy Philometor, king of Egypt, who had claims upon the throne of Syria. But could sovereigns only by right, or by desire, be counted among real kings, and numbered among the active horns of the fourth beast? Besides, why should the Grecian monarchy be thus confined to the family of the Seleucidae? Did it not also comprehend the dynasties of Macedonia, Thrace and Egypt? To avoid these difficulties, it occurred to Zöckler to distinguish between Alexander himself, who, according to this, would be represented by the third beast, and the sum total of the states which succeeded him and which, taken together, are represented by the fourth. The ten horns only signifying the indefinite multitude of sovereigns of the four contemporaneous Grecian States. But these four Grecian kingdoms had been before evidently prefigured in the four heads of the leopard; how should they come suddenly to be reckoned as a separate beast? Besides, is it according to the analogy of the prophetic intuition to combine four distinct kingdoms into one beast? Lastly, what are we to think of the number ten, which is to represent the indefinite mass of Macedonian and Thracian sovereigns, the Ptolemies and Seleucidae? This last attempt is evidently the resource of despair. After that it becomes so much the more evident that the fourth beast, the beast without a name, represents a monarchy later than that of the Grecian power; an empire which shall comprehend the whole known world; which shall be divided into a number of states bound together by a link of solidarity (the ten horns); and which shall only give place to the kingdom of the Messiah. I leave it to the reader to decide whether these characteristics apply to the Roman monarchy or not. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ Leaving this, however, out of consideration, it can be shown that it is quite arbitrary to separate the Median kingdom from the Persian, and that our book knows as little about a special Median universal monarchy as the rest of history. History is totally ignorant of such a kingdom, and thus the prophet is made to commit a great historical error in speaking of a Median kingdom as having possessed the same universal historical importance as the Babylonian, the Persian and Grecian. This universal monarchy is not the invention of Daniel, but solely of the commentators, to rescue them out from their difficulty, and enable them to enumerate four world kingdoms besides the Roman. The prophet speaks, both in the historical and prophetic portions, of the kingdoms of the Medes and Persians as of one whole (8: 20; 5: 28; 6: 8, 12, 15): it is this kingdom, and not a Median, which succeeds the Babylonian (5: 28). The first king of this kingdom is Darius the Median (6: 1; 9: 1; 11: 1); the second is Kores, or Cyrus the Persian (6: 28). But because from Cyrus onward, the rulers on the Medo-Persian throne were Persians only, it is naturally spoken of subsequently as the Persian kingdom (10: 1, 13, 20; 11: 2). Daniel not only speaks nowhere of a separate Median kingdom, but even under the reign of Darius the kingdom is designated as that of the Medes and Persians (6: 8, 12, 15). This is the state of things as shown by exegesis; and it is clear to the very weakest intelligence that in the whole of our prophet, from first to last, there is no vestige of a Median universal monarchy. The fiction was repeated by one modern critic after another, none being able to propose a better expedient, and after passing through so many books, this theory shared the fate of other modern learned myths and attained to historical authority. Thus we see that the separate enumeration of a Median universal monarchy and a Persian, which is the basis of the whole modern interpretation of the second and seventh chapters, is in every respect untenable. It is incompatible with the whole Book of Daniel, and with history; moreover, the analogy of the eighth chapter is against it. This overthrows the view taken by modern criticism of the four world kingdoms as a whole; for this separate enumeration of Persia and Media being impossible, simple arithmetical reasons compel us to look for a fourth monarchy besides the Babylonian, Medo-Persian and Grecian. If we compare the seventh and eighth chapters accurately we shall advance from this merely negative result. Such a comparison points out unmistakably that the ram is identical with the bear, the he-goat with the leopard. And since the ram is expressly explained to be the Medo-Persian, and the he-goat the Greek empire (8: 20, 21), it is clear how we must interpret the bear and the leopard. This, then, is the result of our investigation. Daniel himself furnishes us with more minute particulars concerning the second and third monarchy in the eighth chapter, and refutes by them all those interpretations which do not understand the former to be the Medo-Persian kingdom, the latter that of Alexander and his successors, including, according to chap. 8: 20, Antiochus. To interpret the second and third kingdoms in the seventh chapters, and, consequently, also in the second in any other way, one must ignore intentionally the statements of the eighth chapter. But this shows clearly that the fourth monarchy is subsequent to Antiochus, and points out the Roman empire. Auberlen. 8: 1 Is the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first. And I saw in the vision; now it was so, that when I saw, I was in Shushan the palace, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in the vision, and I was by the river Ulai. Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; and no beasts could stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and magnified himself. And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west over the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. And he came to the ram that had the two horns, which I saw standing before the river, and ran upon him in the fury of his power. And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake 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 upon him; and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. And the he-goat magnified himself exceedingly: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and instead of it there came up four notable horns toward the four winds of heaven. And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the glorious land. And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and some of the host and of the stars it cast down to the ground, and trampled upon them. Yea, it magnified itself, even to the prince of the host; and it took away from him the continual burnt offering, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And the host was given over to it together with the continual burnt offering through transgression; and it cast down truth to the ground, and it did its pleasure and prospered. Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said unto that certain one which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the continual burnt offering, and the transgression that maketh desolate, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, that I sought to understand it; and, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man. And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. So he came near where I stood; and when he came, I was affrighted, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man; for the vision be longeth to the time of the end. Now as he was speaking with me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face toward the ground: but he touched me, and set me upright. And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the latter time of the indignation: for it belongeth to the appointed time of the end. The ram which thou sawest that had the two horns, they are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough he-goat is the king of Greece: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. And as for that which was broken, in the place whereof four stood up, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not with his power. And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper and do his pleasure: and he shall destroy the mighty ones and the holy people. And through his policy he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and in their security shall he destroy many: he shall also stand up against the prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand. And the vision of the evenings and mornings which hath been told is true: but shut thou up the vision; for it belongeth to many days to come. And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; then I rose up, and did the king's business: and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it. The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of the World in their more Immediate Future. THE first part of our book (chaps. 2-7) throws a prophetic light over the whole future, as far even as that remote time when the people of God shall form a visible kingdom on the earth. But this lies in a far-off distance; the very first of the four world-monarchies was yet in existence. Israel, therefore, must now receive disclosures concerning the events which more immediately await them; and it was particularly necessary that special prophecies should be given to the people of God for the times then approaching—the five centuries between the Exile and the Advent—since it was a period during which they would be given up for a prey to the Gentiles, and in which salvation would not be fully manifested to comfort their hearts. These disclosures are contained in the second part of Daniel. We find here, also, two visions which correspond with one another, one beginning, the other concluding this portion of the book (chaps. 8 and 10-12). Between them is inserted the ninth chapter, which reveals the future of the Messiah, and the people of the covenant at the end of the half-millennium, in relation to those images of the world. Auberlen. Chap. 8. About two years had elapsed between the vision of chap. 7 and that of this chapter. The Medo-Persian was at the gates of Babylon, and the catastrophe which Daniel announced was impending though unsuspected. The prophet knew that the doom of the Babylonian kingdom was pronounced, though how destruction should follow was still undeclared. In this vision "seen at Shushan," the Babylonian dynasty is left behind; the prophet at that city was brought close to the monarchy destined to rise upon the ruins of that which it superseded. What will be the fate of this second kingdom? was to such a mind as Daniel's, thoughtful, inquiring, and far-seeing—the mind of an inspired seer and of a veteran politician—no improbable question. That question God was pleased to answer. He revealed to him the wars between Persia and Grecia (verses 20, 21), which Daniel would never actually see; and, carrying the revelation farther than had yet been given, drew His prophet onward to a time when earthly kingdoms and wars should yield to Divine powers, and peace forever follow. It is not surprising that the dim outlines in which these last thoughts were shadowed out should have been felt insufficient by the prophet. He brooded over the subject again and again, till later on (10-12) the revelation was renewed, and in clearer, more emphatic language. B. C. This chapter comprises one entire vision with its explanation—the third in the series of Daniel's four prophecies. It is naturally divided into three parts, of which the first is purely symbolic—the ram with two horns; the he-goat with his great horn; the four that came up subsequently, and the little one (verses 1-9). The second part shades off from the symbol of the horn to the conception of a king, and gives his doings (verses 9-14). The third comprises the manner of giving the explanation, and the explanation itself (verses 15-27). It is proposed to comment upon the words and clauses, to educe their exact sense; and then to inquire more fully into the prophetic significance of the little horn—this being the only thing in this vision upon which commentators have disagreed. H. C. 1,2. In the third year. We have no scriptural account of the accession of Belshazzar; that of his father (Nabonadius) is dated n.c. 506. The vision took place in the last year of his reign. B. C. "I was at Shushan, in the palace." (Cf. verse 27.) "I rose up, and did the king's business." The date in verse 1, "the third year of King Belshazzar," is evidently the last unfinished year of his reign. P. S. 3-5. Under the image of a ram and a he-goat the destinies of Medo-Persia and of Grecia (verses 20, 21) are set forth. Such symbolical representations as winged beasts with one and two horns with ram's and goat's heads are found on Persian gems and cylinders. The special distinctions between the Medo-Persian and the Greco-Macedonian empires underlie the selections of the ram and the he-goat. Both powers were remarkable for their strength and warlike prowess; both animals have ever been accounted remarkable for their pugnacity and courage, confronting their foes at the head of their flocks. The common purpose of "the bear and the leopard" (7: 5, 6)—the lust of power and gain of dominion—is once more pressed under a new symbolism; national dissimilarities are kept out of sight. As Daniel "saw in a vision," the two horns were not seen arising from their earliest stage, but from that point of growth when the horn which had come up last—the Persian which came into prominence after the Median—became the "higher" of the two. It was an accurate representation of the development of the two branches of one kingdom which the history of Cyrus exhibits. B. C. 4. I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward. Daniel saw "the ram standing," or established in his strength, after the succession of the Persian power under Cyrus; and then butting "westward, and northward, and southward," or subduing Lydia, Babylonia, and Egypt, with their dependencies, represented in the former vision by three ribs in the bear's mouth. Dr. Hales. 5. The "he-goat" is explained to be "the first king" of Grecia (verse 21). Just such a he-goat may still be seen on the sculptures at Persepolis with one "notable" horn between his eyes (Vaux, "Persia"). The mode of his coming—"not touching the ground"—recalls the swift flight-like motion of the winged "leopard" (7 : 6), and is an indirect testimony to the prophetic identification of the two "beasts." B. C. He came "from the west," for Europe lies westward of Asia; he came "on the face of the whole earth," carrying everything before him in all the three parts of the world then known, "and he touched not the ground;" alluding to the swiftness of his marches and the rapidity of his conquests. For the same reason the same empire in the former vision was likened to a "leopard," which is a swift, nimble animal; and, to denote the greater quickness and impetuosity, to "a leopard with four wings." Bp. Newton.—No compend of history could draw the outline of Alexander's conquest of Asia better than this prophetic vision has done it. A "rough" personage to deal with as a foe; coming from the west; sweeping the breadth of the whole land; seeming for the rapidity of his movements not to touch the earth (like the leopard with four wings, chap. 7 : 6), and with one notable horn between his eyes—a horn specially noticeable and the prominent feature in this new power—such is the description, and such was Alexander and his Grecian kingdom. Yet still the decisive evidence of identity is the explicit affirmation of the revealing angel (verse 21). H. C. 6. If this chapter had contained a prophecy "post eventum," and had been written by a pseudo-Daniel, the representation in the text would probably have been altered in accordance with the more common opinion current in the last two centuries before Christ. B. C. 6,7. Standing before the river. The first and principal engagement in which Alexander overthrew the Persians was at the river Granicus, in Phrygia. The succeeding part of this description is a striking representation of his conquering the Persian monarch in repeated battles, subduing his whole kingdom, taking all his forts and strong cities, making the king himself, with his family, principal officers, etc., prisoners, and thus utterly overturning the Persian empire. Bp. Newton. 7. "There was no power in the ram to stand before" the he-goat. That truth found its last fulfilment when even the intricacies of the mountain-passes and the inclemency of the time of year (December) were of no avail to protect Darius at "Susa by the river of Ulai." The last of the Persian kings, "cast down to the ground," "stamped upon," finding "none to deliver him," fled to Bessos and Barsaentes, the satraps of Bactria and Arachosia, only to meet with death by assassination. When Alexander reached the spot which Mordtmann has identified with the modern Dauletâbâd, Darius was no more. Retributive justice had overtaken that empire which had once claimed greatness and power as peculiarly its own. (Cf. verses 4 and 7; and for the historical details, Grote, "History of Greece," xii. 7; Rawlinson, "A. M.," iii. chap. 7.) B. C. Thus with fewest words, but words full of force, Daniel gives in prophetic anticipation the history of the fall of Persia before the arms of Alexander. Profane history verifies every point most perfectly. Greece had long been nursing her revenge for the invasion of her soil by Xerxes. Alexander had the energy and the ambition to lead her vigorous armies to this retaliation. He came against the ram "in the fury of his power." The last vision (11 : 2, 3) touches Xerxes and then glances from him to Alexander, as if the spirit of inspiration grasped perfectly the springs of human action which threw Greece upon Asia and made her one of the great conquering powers of the East. It is well-known history that the Medo-Persian armies, become effeminate through luxury, had no power to stand before Alexander and his Grecian forces. He used up the armed hosts of Persia with amazing rapidity. Twelve years sufficed him to master not Persia alone, but Tyre, Egypt and all the East, even deeper into India itself than the ancient powers of Western Asia or of Europe ever went before or after. H. C. 8. When he was strong. The expression is intended to point out, with the following words, that the great horn was broken at a time when it was at its fullest power. The death of Alexander, B.C. 323, at the early age of thirty-two, after a career of unparalleled conquest, was truly a "breaking" not only of the horn itself, but also of "his kingdom" (11 : 4), and reference is intended here to that event. B. C. After Alexander's return to Babylon, which he proposed to make the seat of his empire, and while busily engaged in preparations for future conquest and a lasting dominion, he was unexpectedly removed by a fever. "Ambassadors from Southern Greece now came to present Alexander with golden crowns; and these, on advancing to his presence, appeared in the sacred garlands, which were never worn by deputies except when commissioned to consult oracles or to carry gifts to the shrines of distant deities. But while these servile republicans hailed him with Divine honors; while the bravest and best disciplined army on the face of the earth loved him as their leader and revered him as their king; while his newly created fleet was furrowing with unwonted keels the bosom of the Euphrates and preparing to spread its sails on seas unknown; while he was anticipating the fulfilment of his early dreams of becoming the master of the gold, the aromatics, the myrrh and the frankincense of the hitherto untouched Sabaea, and of compelling the sons of the desert to add a third god to their scanty Pantheon; while he was preparing to forge the last link of the golden chain which was to bind together his subjects on the Indus, the Tigris and the Nile by the strong ties of mutual advantages, the scene was suddenly changed, and he was cut down in the prime of life, in the height of his glory and in the middle of his vast projects." How strikingly verified was the prophetic record, and how affectingly impressive to contemplate is the termination of that extraordinary conqueror whom the world calls "Great!" F. A. Cox. He was succeeded in the throne by his natural brother, Philip Aridæus, and by his own two sons, Alexander Ægus and Hercules; but in the space of about fifteen years they were all murdered. The royal family being thus extinct, the governors of provinces, who had usurped the power, assumed the title of kings, and, by the defeat and death of Antigonus in the battle of Ipsus, they were reduced to four, Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus, who parted Alexander's dominions among them, and divided and settled them into four kingdoms. These four kingdoms are the four notable horns, which came up in the room of the first great horn; and are the same as the four heads of the leopard in the former vision. "Four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power;" they were to be kingdoms of Greeks, not of Alexander's own family, but only of his nation; and neither were they to be equal to him in power and dominion—an empire united is certainly more powerful than the same empire divided, and the whole is greater than any of the parts. They were likewise to extend "toward the four winds of heaven;" and in the partition of the empire Cassander held Macedon and Greece and the western parts; Lysimachus had Thrace, Bithynia, and the northern regions; Ptolemy possessed Egypt and the southern countries; and Seleucus obtained Syria and the eastward provinces. Thus were they divided "toward the four winds of heaven." Bp. Newton. That this great empire was cleft into four parts is a well-known fact of history. Thrace and Macedon were the nucleus of the European and western section; Asia Minor, stretching to the Euxine and the Caspian, lay on the extreme north; Syria, north as to Palestine, pushed its empire to India, and became really the eastern and great Asiatic portion; while Egypt became the centre for the southern section. Of these four the Jews stood in close relations only to Egypt on the south and Syria on the north. Hence the other sections are at once dropped from these visions. The special exigencies of the symbol require these four kingdoms to appear first as horns, inasmuch as they spring up on account of the breaking of the great horn. Indeed, they are at first only kings, but ultimately they secured for themselves kingdoms. Hence they stand in the vision as horns, but in the interpretation as kingdoms. H. C. 9. The little horn is usually taken to be Antiochus Epiphanes, who sprang from "one of the notable horns"—the Seleucids. His power extended southward (Egypt), eastward (especially Armenia and Elymais), and toward the pleasant land—a mode of describing Palestine found in Jer. 3: 19; Ezek. 20: 6, 15, as well as in 11: 16, 41. B. C. 10,11. The sense of verse 10 is that the little horn-king made war upon the people of God and destroyed some of their distinguished leaders. Verse 11 states that he dared to wage war against the God of the Jews, the Immanuel who appeared to Joshua as "the Prince of the host" (translated there "Captain," but it is the same word as here, Prince); and consequently he sacrilegiously broke up the established, divinely ordained temple sacrifices, and "cast down" the place of his manifested presence and abode. The original Hebrew, rendered, "By him the daily sacrifice was taken away," is peculiar. It means either that one sent forth from and by him took away the daily sacrifice; or more abstractly, that by reason of him—at his instance, one took away, etc. It is remarkable that precisely the same expression is used in stating the same fact (chap. 11: 31): "From him or at his command, a military force ('arms') shall be organized and sent forth." So I paraphrase the first clause of this verse. And this, too, is the historic fact. Antiochus Epiphanes sent his chief collector of tribute (1 Mac. 1: 29), and he seized Jerusalem and took away the daily sacrifice. H. C. He took away the daily sacrifice or continual burnt offering; the morning and evening lamb which God appointed to be offered every day upon His altar Antiochus forbade and restrained the offering of. No doubt he took away all other sacrifices, but the daily sacrifice only is mentioned because that was the chief expression of communion with God. H. 12. The last clause of verse 13 shows that the thing done was the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot. This was a judgment on the Jews for their sins, "by reason of transgression." Both the authors of the books of Maccabees assign the same cause, which seems to indicate a somewhat general, perhaps national, sense of the relation between their sufferings under God's judgments, and the sins for which He sent them. (See 1 Mac. 1 : 11-15, 64 ; 2 Mac. 5 : 17 ; 6 : 12.) This horn-power cast down the truth—its interests and cause—and for a time seemed to have everything his own way. 13,14. Daniel hears one of the holy ones (attendant angels) speaking as if about to explain some point of the vision, when lo! an other of the angels led his mind to the question of time, asking how long that part of the vision should be which refers to the daily sacrifice and the sin that works ruin (referring to the sin brought forward in verse 12 as the cause of this judgment), and which involves giving both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot. H. C. 13-16. The antiquity of the belief in angels is not now disputed. The foundation of the doctrine is recognized as laid in times far anterior to the captivity of Babylon. The Hebrews had, from the earliest ages, been taught and accustomed themselves to believe in beings of a nature superior to man, messengers of the Most High, executors of His orders. Moses, it is true, gave no precise idea of their nature, nor of the rank they occupied in creation. It is not till later that a definiteness and precision are attained, unrecorded—though not perhaps unrecognized—by the legislator of Israel. In this development the prophet Daniel stands conspicuous. In his pages may be discerned the rudiments of the angelological conceptions so extensively permeating the writings of later Judaism. To him may be traced a more distinct expression of the attributes of the heavenly messengers. They are no longer agents of the Deity generally, but are classed categorically. Each has his special department, each his special functions. The chiefs, those whose part is the most active, are designated by names. The books of Tobit and the fourth of Esdras carried these conceptions farther. They developed angelology into a system, and the heavenly host became in their hands an organized militia. A few words will sum up the angelological teaching of the Book of Daniel. Personal appellations are there first assigned to the "ministering spirits" of the Hebrew Church. Two, named by him Gabriel and Michael, are represented as among the chiefs of the celestial hierarchy, and agents of God in behalf of man. They appear as guardians of nations. They espouse the cause of the people entrusted to them and fight their battles (10 : 13, 20). Daniel sees also in his visions "the watchers and holy ones come down from heaven;" the judgment passed upon Nebuchadnezzar is a "matter by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones" (4 : 13, 17, 23). There is no inconsistency, no contradiction between the notions of the angelic hierarchy of the Babylonian prophet and those contained in the works current before the time of the Captivity. Isaiah's splendid vision (6) depicts, nearly two centuries before the Exile, the Almighty surrounded by the six-winged seraphim. These constituted the "chief princes" of his day, and one of them by issuing forth with a message to Isaiah offers a proof of independent personality. Earlier still, the prophet Micaiah represents "the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right and on His left" (1 K. 22 : 19-22). Gradation and personality can only be surrendered here with the authenticity of the passage. And further back still, one who is called the "Captain" or "Prince of the host of the Lord," reveals himself to Joshua as holding a rank of archangelic preeminence over the celestial army. What do these instances prove but the affinity between the conception of the ancient books and that of Daniel; just as this last exhibits doctrine identical with that of Zechariah (1 : 10, 11 ; 3 : 1 ; 6 : 5) ? B. C. 17. The reign of Antiochus was the last great crisis in the history of the Jews before the coming of our Lord. The conquest of Alexander had introduced the forces of Greek thought and life into the Jewish nation, which was already prepared for their operation. For more than a century and a half these forces had acted powerfully both upon the faith and upon the habits of the people; and the time was come when an outward struggle alone could decide whether Judaism was to be merged in a rationalized paganism, or to rise not only victorious from the conflict, but more vigorous and more pure. There were many symptoms that betokened the approaching struggle. The position which Judea occupied on the borders of the conflicting empires of Syria and Egypt, exposed equally to the open miseries of war and the treacherous favors of rival sovereigns, rendered its national condition precarious from the first, though these very circumstances were favorable to the growth of freedom. The terrible crimes by which "the wars of the north and the south" were stained must have alienated the mind of every faithful Jew from his Grecian lords, even if persecution had not been superadded from Egypt first, and then from Syria. Politically nothing was left for the people in the reign of Antiochus but independence, or the abandonment of every prophetic hope. Nor was their social position less perilous. The influence of Greek literature, of foreign travel, of extended commerce, had made itself felt in daily life. At Jerusalem the mass of the inhabitants seem to have desired to imitate the exercises of the Greeks; and a Jewish embassy attended the games of Hercules at Tyre (2 Mac. 4: 9-20). Even their religious feelings were yielding: and before the rising of the Maccabees no opposition was offered to the execution of the king's decrees. Upon the first attempt of Jason, the priests had no courage to serve at the altar, and this not so much from wilful apostasy as from a disregard to the vital principles involved in the conflict. Thus it was necessary that the final issues of a false Hellenism should be openly seen that it might be discarded forever by those who cherished the ancient faith of Israel. P. S. "To the time of the end belongs the vision," a phrase explained in verses 19 and 26. The vision was intended to give Daniel "understanding" about the "end" which should come after "many days," even "the last end of the indignation," when God's anger with a godless world will be revealed. It is best to take these words in their most ample sense, without at the same time excluding more partial and immediate fulfilments, such as that named by Aben Ezra, when God's indignation against His own people was felt in the days of the Greek rule and of Antiochus until the Hasmonaeans "cleansed the sanctuary" (verse 14). B. C. 23. This verse explains verse 9. "Out of one of them" (i.e., one of those four kingdoms) "came forth a little horn." Here the angel interpreter has it: "In the latter time of their kingdom, a king shall stand up." The horn there is a king here. It is of course assumed here that he is a king in one of those four kingdoms. The angel therefore proceeds to locate him yet more definitely in point of time. "In the latter time of their kingdom," and "when the transgressors" (the Jews) "have filled up the measure of their sins," so that discipline and judgment from the Lord's hand must needs come to save them. This king is Antiochus Epiphanes. He fills the description in every particular; no other personage does or can. As to his point of time in the Syrian line of kings, one hundred and thirty-seven years had passed when he came to the throne; about one hundred remained after his death. Moreover, the kingdom had waned very much as compared with its extent and vigor under its founder Seleucus Nicator; and hence in this point of light might naturally be thought of as in its latter stages. As the interpreter said, "in the latter time of their kingdom," it is proper to note that two out of these four kingdoms had already run their course and become extinct when Antiochus ascended his throne. As a whole those kingdoms were manifestly "in their latter time." His "fierce countenance" here refers, probably, to his character—i.e., to him as seen in vision with his character written on his very face, rather than as seen by merely human eyes in the flesh. It means therefore that he was ferocious, passionate, cruel. That he "should understand dark sentences," intricate matters, testifies to his resources for cunning, craft and policy, as is indicated also (verse 25): "Through his policy he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand." 24. "He shall be strong," but shall not obtain this power by legitimate means, shall not be the rightful heir to the throne. Such is the history of Antiochus. He was the youngest son of Antiochus the Great. His elder brother, Seleucus Philopator, reigned eleven years. Just before his death he sent his only son, Demetrius, to Rome as a hostage, thus exchanging and releasing his own brother, Antiochus Epiphanes, who had been there in that capacity twelve years. The king fell by poison at the hand of Heliodorus, who sought to seize the kingdom. Antiochus heard of his brother's death while at Athens on his way home, and immediately made interest with powerful foreign parties to gain the kingdom for himself, and succeeded—ungratefully displacing the real heir to the throne. He shall make fearful havoc among the nominal people of God, the Jews. So the reader of the books of the Maccabees will see. The Jewish wars commenced by him continued long after his death, in all about twenty-four years, resulting at length in the independence of the Jewish nation B.C. 143, but at the cost of many thousands of Jewish lives. 25. "And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and in their security shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand." The sense of the first clause is, that by means of cunning, keen-eyed sagacity, he will make deception work successfully toward his ends. The points made in the entire verse are—successful cunning and deceit, unbounded pride and self-esteem; destroying many suddenly, in the midst of apparent tranquillity; daring to array himself against the Almighty; and his utter fall before some superhuman hand. This king's sharp-minded sagacity has been noticed before; "understanding dark sentences." This feature of his character and his abundant and successful use of it stand out with great prominence in chap. 11: 21-32. "He comes in peaceably and obtains the kingdom by flatteries;" "works deceitfully;" "enters peaceably" (not by force of arms) "upon the fattest places of the provinces;" "forecasts devices and corrupts the wicked Jews by flatteries," etc. History shows that he obtained the kingdom by precisely such means, and also that he plied these arts in their full strength upon the Jews, drawing many of them into apostasy from their religion and from their country's cause, into co-operation with himself. "He shall have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant." His supreme pride and self-esteem appear also in chap. 11. "The king shall do according to his will;" "he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god;" "regarding neither the god of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor any god, he shall magnify himself above all." History gives him the same character. That he dared to fight against the God of the Jews, even while he had sufficient means of knowing that He was the true and Almighty God, has been noted on verse 11, and stands out prominently in his history as given in the books of Maccabees. It was perhaps specially manifest (as usual) in that hour which most tries men's souls—the hour of impending death. The author of second Maccabees, chap. 9, says: "Here, therefore, being plagued, he began to leave off his great pride and to come to the knowledge of himself by the scourge of God, his pain increasing every moment. And when he could not abide his own smell, he said: "It is meet to be subject unto God, and that a man that is mortal should not proudly think of himself as if he were God." Also in his distress and remorse, he vowed that if God would spare him, he "would become a Jew himself and go through all the world declaring the power of God." This shows that he had arrayed himself against Jehovah God with his eyes open, standing up intelligently against the Prince of princes. No wonder therefore that he was suddenly "broken without hand," or, as in 11: 45, that "he came to his end with none to help him;" or yet as in 7: 26, that "the judgment did sit and they took away his dominion to consume and destroy it to the end." 26. This vision is spoken of as "the vision of the evening and the morning," with reference to the use of this phrase in the Hebrew of verse 14—"twenty-three hundred evening morning." There can be no doubt that "the vision of the evening and the morning" in this verse 26 is the vision of this eighth chapter, especially that part of it in which this phrase occurs, and which shows how long the little horn shall tread down "the sanctuary" and the sacramental "host." The direction "to shut up this vision" indicates that its time of more special interest and value to its readers was yet somewhat remote. When this day of trial should come, those heroic men and women who fell martyrs to the faith of their fathers, or who fought with lion-hearted courage and prowess against fearful odds, would read these visions and dwell on these predictions of the fall of their great foe with surpassing interest. H. C. 9: 1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; in the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by the books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, for the accomplishing of the desolations of Jerusalem, even seventy years. And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and 4 sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love 5 him and keep his commandments; we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from thy precepts and from thy judge- 6 ments: neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name 7 to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of face, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass 8 that they have trespassed against thee. O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our 9 kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. To the Lord 10 our God belong mercies and forgivenesses; for we have rebelled against him; neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his 11 servants the prophets. Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even turning aside, that they should not obey thy voice: therefore hath the curse been poured out upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God; for we have sinned against him. 12. And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been 13 done as hath been done upon Jerusalem. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet have we not intreated the favour of the LORD our God, that we 14 should turn from our iniquities, and have discernment in thy truth. Therefore hath the LORD watched over the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God is righteous in 15 all his works which he doeth, and we have not obeyed his voice. And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and 16 hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly. O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, let thine anger and thy fury, I pray thee, be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are round about us. 17. Now therefore, O our God, hearken unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplications, 18 and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake. O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our 19 righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not; for thine own sake, O my God, because thy city and thy people are called by thy name. 20. And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my 21. God; yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening obla- 22 tion. And he instructed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to 23 make thee skilful of understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment went forth, and I am come to tell thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore con- 24 sider the matter, and understand the vision. Seventy weeks are decreed upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision 25 and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah, the prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks; it shall be built again, with street and 26 moat, even in troublous times. And after the threescore and two weeks shall the anointed one be cut off, and shall have nothing: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and his end shall be with a flood, and even unto the end 27 shall be war; desolations are determined. And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and for the half of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease; and upon the wing of abominations shall come one that maketh desolate; and even unto the consummation, and that determined, shall wrath be poured out upon the desolator. Chap. 9. Daniel, having read in the prophecies of Jeremiah that God would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem, set himself to seek God with fasting and the garb of mourning. His prayer and confession on this occasion forms a model of all such supplications. It was answered by the mission of the angel Gabriel, who now appears for the first time as the special herald of God's purposes. He comes to Daniel to announce the beginning of the period, the close of which he proclaimed to Zacharias. His message constitutes the celebrated prophecy of the seventy weeks, the leading idea of which, regarded as an answer to Daniel's prayer, seems to be that God would mercifully recompense His people for their captivity at Babylon by a new possession of their land for seven times that period, until the whole history of the nation should be crowned and its religious institutions finished by the advent and sacrifice of Messiah the prince. P. S. This chapter has a subject of its own, complete in itself, and not connected with the two that precede or the three that follow. Its place here in the order of the chapters of this book is determined by its date. It is here because it was written after the eighth (probably not more than one year after), and four years before chaps, 10-12. Its occasion is given definitely. Daniel had learned by reading the prophecies of Jeremiah that the Captivity was limited to seventy years (Jer. 25: 11, 12). This period was now near its close. It was this circumstance that moved him to seek the face of the Lord with such earnest prayer that He would most fully and freely forgive the sins of his people; rightly judging that as the Captivity was sent upon the people in judgment for their sins, it could cease only upon condition of the most humble confession and repentance on the part of the people and their free forgiveness on the part of God. In this point of light, the whole chapter yields the richest moral instruction, and legitimately awakens the deepest interest. It is indeed an admirable model of intercessory prayer, and may be applied equally to prayer for guilty nations or for guilty individuals. In the spirit of one whose heart is full of sympathy with God and His glory, his great burden is the people's sins. Hence his prayer scarcely touches any other point than this one—that the Lord in His great mercy would forgive the people and wholly put away their transgressions for His name's sake. With this point distinctly in mind, the reader will readily see the entire fitness of the answer which comes by the hand of Gabriel from the loving heart of God. It stands in the last four verses, and constitutes one of the richest promises ever made to our lost world. It is essentially the promise of an atoning Messiah, whose violent death should provide amply for the free and full pardon of sin, and for the mission of the Spirit to seal these blessings to "many." It fixes the date of His coming, the duration of His public labors on earth, the time of His death, and of those striking effusions of the Spirit which were designed to open and illustrate the genius of the Gospel age. The chapter is therefore properly in two parts: (1) Daniel's prayer that God would forgive the sins of his people (verses 1-19); (2) the sending of Gabriel with the answer and the answer itself (verses 20-27). H. C. He poured out his heart in ardent supplication before the God of the Covenant, and cried to Him to vouchsafe His mercy to the people who were called by His name, and to restore the sanctuary and the city. This is one of those biblical prayers where we feel that it is not by human exposition that we can enter into its meaning, depth, and significance, but that the words must explain themselves in our own hearts. Daniel, the just and faithful servant of God, enters so deeply into the guilt and sin of his people, in the consciousness of his priesthood he identifies himself so entirely with it, he repents so heartily in the name of all Israel, that we feel here a presentiment, as it were, of what happened in the inner sanctuary of the atoning substitution, and our view is borne aloft from the chamber of Daniel to the prayerful sacrifice of Gethsemane and Golgotha. And can this prayer, which it is not possible to read without deep emotion in the very heart of hearts, be a deception? It only shows how much our criticism is devoid of a deep and earnest sense for religious truth and truthfulness, when to such questions it attaches so little importance. The answer naturally refers to the question, the favor shown to the petition offered; though the Divine answer extends far beyond the human question, and the Divine favor transcends all that we can think and pray for. We must enter vividly and fully into the thoughts and feelings which form the basis of Daniel's prayer, in order to understand as far as possible the words of the angel. Daniel prays for the liberation of Israel, and for the rebuilding of the city and the sanctuary. He prays for this manifestly in view of those great promises whose fulfilment was connected with this event. For in all the prophets, especially in Jeremiah, who is more especially present to his mind (Jer. 31), the fulfilment of the Messianic hope was inseparably connected with this restoration. The revelation which Daniel himself had received in the second and seventh chapters showed him doubtless that the Messianic kingdom was not so immediately near, in its glory at least, since but one of the four universal monarchies had passed away. But this made it the more necessary that some explanation should be granted him concerning the prophecies of the earlier prophets, in whom he saw an intimate connection between the deliverance from captivity and the Messianic salvation. The revelation now vouchsafed to him has for its purpose to analyze into its successive parts that which the prophets, according to the law of prophetical perspective, have hitherto seen together in one—viz., the redemption from captivity and the full Messianic redemption. Auberlen. 1. The name Ahasuerus was a common name with the kings of Media and Persia. Daniel understood "by books," in this case the written prophecies of Jeremiah, already incorporated into the canons of the Jewish Scriptures. 2. Seventy years. The original word means in its singular number, a seven—a heptad; and this may be a seven of days or a seven of years; the feminine plural is currently used for heptads of days; the masculine plural (which we have here) never by itself for the common week of days, but when a week of days is meant, the word days is appended, as in Dan. 10:2, 3; after a word and a special form of a word which simply suggests the idea of a seven—a seven of something we must ask—a seven of what? and must look for our answer in the context—in the thought already before the mind. In the present case, there can be no doubt that this thought is, the seventy years of captivity. Then seventy sevens of years must be the sense of this phrase, and it involves no usage of the word day to mean year—no usage of any current notations of time in a way to need multiplying by three hundred and sixty to get the actual time. So far as Bible history gives us the fulfilment of Bible prophecy in which notations of time are involved, the vsus loquendi proves that words in prophecy denoting time are used in their common, normal sense, and never in the enigmatical, peculiar way affirmed by "the year for a day theory." H. C.—This exposition is a plain inference from the whole bearing of the prophecy, that the sevens spoken of are sevens of years; just as the word Sabbath is often used for the Sabbatic year. In fact, the phrase seems best interpreted as seventy cycles of Sabbatic years, or four hundred and ninety years. P. S. 3-19. The prayer has two principal divisions as pointed out by Melanchthon. Daniel confesses the sins of his people and the justice of God's punishment (verses 4-14); then he implores God's pardon (verses 15-19). "It is a sign of true contrition to recognize the anger of God against our sins, to sorrow for our offences against Him, to give Him glory for the justice of our punishment, and to be obedient when punished. But the practice of contrition is attended with this reward—consolation. By his example the prophet teaches us to seek and expect pardon on account of God's mercy and promises." Of these two chief divisions the former has the following subdivision: verses 4-10 are a statement confessing chiefly the sins of his people as they were in Daniel's own time; verses 11-14 add with sorrow that thus it had been in the long past, and that the punishment had fallen only to be forgotten. The prayer should be compared with those in Ezra 9:6-15; Neh. 1:5-11; 9:6-38. The similarities of diction are not due to imitation or to plagiarism, but to a natural and insensible reproduction of the old truths and phrases loved by all devout spirits in common. B. C. Loyalty to the Babylonian or Persian throne did not make impossible a passionate love of fatherland. Through all the long years of absence, crowded as they had been with those temptations to forgetfulness which ever assail greatness, the windows of the soul had never ceased to be open "toward Jerusalem." If any would know the habitual sentiments of Daniel's mind and heart, he has only to turn to the very words of his great confession and prayer. In him we see the loftiest patriotism consecrated by religion. Pusey. It was concern for his country that moved him to that day of solemn prayer and fasting which brought Gabriel down with an answer. To an enlightened man the cause of his country will be bound up with the cause of God and of religion, as it can be well with the former only as it is so with the latter. This was especially the case with Daniel, whose country God had made and called His own, and whose city, Jerusalem, was God's holy mountain, the city of the great King, who had chosen it for the place of His special worship. That country was now in desolation, and Jerusalem with its temple was in ruins. God's worship there had been brought to an end. Sin on the part of the people had brought the desolating foe that had put a stop to their solemn feasts. Provoked to anger by their continued rebellion and apostasy, the Lord had "caused the solemn feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and had despised, in the indignation of his anger, the king and the priest. The Lord had cast off His altar; he had abhorred His sanctuary; He had given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces" (Lam. 2: 6, 7) This was the burden that pressed upon the heart of the beloved prophet. The cause of his people, and with that the cause of God and of true religion, which was bound up with it, was his deep sorrow, and drove him to incessant prayer as the time of the promised deliverance drew nigh. He was concerned not only for his country's peace, but for his people's repentance, which must be at the foundation of it. It was this that led him, as a true patriot, to pour out his heart before God in fervent prayer and deep humiliation. Anon. 3-6. This language is beautifully expressive of true prayer: "I set my face unto the Lord God to seek," etc. So true prayer turns one's thought and desire to the Lord; looks to Him for blessings. Prayer makes direct application to God, bearing its petition at once to Him and laying its case before His throne. In harmony with his state of mind, and as fitly expressive of his genuine humility of soul, he fasted, put on sackcloth, and cast ashes on his head and garments. He says, "I prayed and made my confession." Personally Daniel had not worshipped idols, had not cast off the fear of God, had not involved himself in those great sins for which these judgments were sent on the Jewish city and nation, and yet he does not stand upon his exemption from these gross sins. Yet how far Daniel was conscious of heart-sins before God, lying in this direction, none of us can say, nor how much this confession was due to his intensely strong sympathy with his people, of such sort as seems to create a positive identity of conduct and culpability as well as of suffering and punishment. However this may be, this case of Daniel suggests that there is little danger that the holiest of men will confess too much in reference to their own personal sins. While Daniel thought of God as great and greatly to be feared, he did not forget that He evermore "kept covenant and mercy to them that love Him and keep His commandments." This sustained his hope. God had shown great mercy in condescending ever to enter into covecovenant with His people. His past mercy is good for present faith. The reader will observe that Daniel said, "Keeping the covenant." The Hebrew has it also, "the mercy," with manifest reference to the special covenant and the special mercy which God had made and shown to His Hebrew people. Upon this great fact Daniel's faith took strong hold in this hour of his need. In verse 5 the repetition is peculiarly expressive. As one whose soul is full of the thought, Daniel groups together nearly or quite all the different words known to the Hebrew language conveying the idea of sinning. This sin was greatly aggravated by the fact that God had sent His prophets to rebuke the people and forewarn them of impending judgments, but they had not hearkened to His voice in these warnings. 7-10. There is great force as well as fitness and beauty in the antithesis between the righteousness and the mercies that belong to God, and the shame and the sin that belong to His people. God had been all right; they, all wrong. On God's side had been ever abounding mercies and forgivenesses; on their side, only perpetual rebellion and most ungrateful, abusive sinning. Alas, that human life should almost perpetually bear precisely this record as toward God!—that the millions live on and sin on just so; their course toward God, perpetual sinning; His bearing toward them, the most amazing patience, forbearance, long-suffering, forgiveness and mercy, that seem to flow from a vast outgushing fountain, as if they could not cease! And if His hand has sometimes turned to judgment we must still say, "Righteousness belongeth unto Thee, O God, forever!" 11-14. The central thought in these verses is that God has been righteously visiting upon the nation the very judgments He had threatened against them in the law of Moses for precisely these sins of which they had been so greatly guilty. The reader will find these passages in their impressive fulness in Lev. 26: 14-46 and in De. chaps. 28-30. It is there declared most distinctly that for such sins God would send them into captivity in a foreign land, and would lay their city and homes desolate. Now Daniel recognizes the entire fulfilment of those fearful threatenings. 15-17. The tone in these verses is that of imploring entreaty; importunate prayer for pardon, resting mainly on the pleas that God delights in great mercies; that He has shown the nation such mercies in delivering them from Egypt; and that the honor of His name is implicated before the nations of the earth since they are His covenant people, now for a long time in the bonds of captivity, nationally eclipsed, and according to the ideas of idolatrous nations, a standing reproach to the God they worship as being unable to redeem and save them. H. C. 16. Furnish thyself with arguments from the promises to enforce thy prayers, and make them prevalent with God. The promises are the ground of faith, and faith, when strengthened, will make thee fervent, and such fervency ever speeds and returns with victory out of the field of prayer. Daniel first searched out the promise, what God had engaged Himself to do for His people, as also when the date of this promise expired; and when, by meditation and study upon it, he had raised his heart to a firm belief thereof, then he sets upon God with a holy violence in prayer, and presseth Him close, not only as a merciful God, but righteous also, to remember them now the bond of His promise was coming out, "O Lord, according to all Thy righteousness, I beseech Thee, let Thine anger and Thy fury be turned away from Thy city Jerusalem." The mightier any is in the Word, the more mighty he will be in prayer. Gurnall. 18. For Thy great mercies.** This is the ground of his plea with God. He implores Him to listen, to open His eyes and look on the desolations of His people and of the city upon both which He had called His own name. He begs that God will not defer, but will grant him an answer of peace and mercy now. Such importunity may sometimes startle us as unbecoming and almost irreverent. But when it is the spontaneous utterance of a heart in deep sympathy with the honor and cause of God; when it comes of taking firm hold of His great love and of His unfailing promises; when one falls into it, being sweetly and mightily drawn by the Spirit of God Himself, then nothing can be more pleasing to Him. He lets us come very near to Him to "order our cause before Him and to fill our mouth with arguments." H. C. 20-27. We have here the answer that was immediately sent to Daniel's prayer, and it is a very memorable one, as it contains the most illustrious prediction of Christ and Gospel grace that is extant in all the Old Testament. If John Baptist was the morning star, this was the daybreak to the Son of righteousness; the dayspring from on high. H. Daniel seeks to be enlightened about the seventy years which, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah (chaps. 25 and 29), were to be the duration of the Babylonian captivity (verses 1-3); and after he had offered up to God a fervent confession of his sins, and an ardent supplication for his people, this enlightenment was vouchsafed to him through the angel Gabriel, in the celebrated prophecy of the seventy weeks. The powers of the world recede quite out of view. Israel and the promise of salvation given to it are the exclusive subject of this revelation; for it was natural, if not necessary, that the fulfilment of these promises, according to the previous predictions of the prophet, should be expected after the end of the Captivity. And thus this prophecy refers to the redemption and to the Person who brings it, the Messiah. It announces that His coming will not be immediately after the Captivity; but that, dating from the restoration and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, seven times seventy years must yet clapse. Nor would He even then come in His glory, as Daniel might have been led to expect, from the language of the earlier prophets, or even from the revelation he had himself received (chap. 7). He would be put to death; but thereby He would work out the atonement for sin, and confirm the covenant with many. The people of Israel, however, would, as a nation, reject Him, and then be itself rejected, and Jerusalem, with its temple, would be destroyed and remain a desolation, till the consummation determined by God. The first part of Daniel exhibited the final victory of the Messianic kingdom over all the powers of the world; the second predicted the heavy calamities and temptations which the powers of the world threatened to Israel in the more immediate future; to complete the picture, the prophet received disclosures when and how salvation was to appear in that future. The first part treats of the last days, in which the coming of the Messianic kingdom coincides with the downfall of the hostile world power; both these events are, consequently and necessarily, viewed together in one vision, as well as in the seventh chapter as in the second. This cannot be the case in the prophecy of the more immediate future. The first coming of Christ in the flesh is not immediately connected with the appearance of Antiochus Epiphanes: the two events, therefore, are kept separate in the prophecy. The Messianic prophecy of the ninth chapter takes its independent place between the two visions that refer to the Old Testament antichrist, as a word of comfort for "the wise." But there were no more special disclosures required for the time between Antiochus and Christ. For, during that period, there occurred no trial like that prepared through Epiphanes. On the contrary, the Maccabean reaction against the tyrant kindled anew the zeal of the people for the religion of their fathers; and history teaches us that from that time the Jews adhered to the law with ever-increasing tenacity. Christ and antichrist, as they are the theme of the first, so they are also the theme of the second part of the book. If the correct view of the seventy weeks is no other than that ancient one which has prevailed in the Church, modern criticism has received a death blow on the purely exegetical field. The chief support which that criticism derives for its hypothesis concerning our book, the hypothesis, —viz., that it extends no further than to Antiochus Epiphanes, is undermined. Whether this accurate chronological prophecy was given two hundred or six hundred years before its fulfilment, whether under Antiochus or under Darius, its miraculous character is not affected. Auberlen. 21. While he was speaking with such fervor and ardency the angel came to him with a gracious answer. It was about the time of the evening oblation. The altar was in ruins, and there was no oblation offered upon it, but, it should seem, the pious Jews in their captivity were daily thoughtful of the time when it should have been offered, and at that hour were ready to weep at the remembrance of it, and desired and hoped that their prayer should be set forth before God as incense, and the lifting up of their hands, and their hearts with their hands, should be acceptable in His sight as the evening sacrifice. The evening oblation was a type of the great sacrifice which Christ was to offer in the evening of the world, and it was in the virtue of that sacrifice that Daniel's prayer was accepted, when he prayed for the Lord's sake; and for the sake of that, this glorious discovery of redeeming love was made to him; the Lamb opened the seals in the virtue of His own blood. This answer was not given him in a dream or by a voice from heaven, but, for the greater certainty and solemnity of it, an angel was sent on purpose, appearing in a human shape to give this answer to Daniel. H. 21-23. "Good prayers," says an old English divine, "never come weeping home. I am sure I shall receive either what I ask or what I should ask." Such a habit of feeling as this will give to prayer that quality which Dr. Chalmers observed as being the characcharacteristic of the prayers of Doddridge—that they had an intensely "business-like" spirit. Observe how thoroughly this spirit is infused into the scriptural representation of the interior working of prayer in the counsels of God, respecting the prophet Daniel. The narrative is intelligible to a child; yet scarcely another passage in the Bible is so remarkable in its bearing upon the difficulties which our minds often generate out of the mystery of prayer. Almost the very mechanism of the plan of God, by which this invisible power enters into the execution of His decrees, is here laid open. "While I was speaking," the prophet says, "Gabriel, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me, and said, 'O Daniel, at the beginning of thy supplication the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee; for thou art greatly beloved.'" What greater vividness could be given to the reality of prayer, even to its occult operation upon the Divine decrees? No sooner do the words of supplication pass out from the lips, than the command is given to one of the presence-angels, "Go thou;" and he flies swiftly to the prostrate suppliant, and touches him bodily, and talks with him audibly, and assures him that his desire is given to him. Phelps. 23. "For thou art greatly beloved;" in the Hebrew "a man of delights"—i.e., as to God. It is a most affecting thought that mortals may by grace come into a state of holiness in heart and life, in which God can feel complacency toward them and testify to His great love for them. Who would not aspire toward such holiness and such favor with God as infinitely before all things else? H. C.—Daniel is assured by the heavenly messenger, "Thou art greatly beloved," for which reason he was selected as the depository of these prophetic revelations. The estimation in which he was held by successive potentates, the public honors he received, the eminent rank he held, all fade into nothingness before this testimony from heaven—a testimony founded on no external glory, but on a character invulnerable to reproaches, and formed of all the elements of pure religion. F. A. Coz. 24-27. I paraphrase thus: "Seventy sevens of years, equal to four hundred and ninety years, are cut off from the course of future time, for thy people and thy holy city, at the end of which provision shall be made for the full pardon of sin and for putting it utterly out of My sight, as a thing shut up, sealed and covered; and to bring in a system of everlasting righteousness whereby pardoned sinners may both be accounted and may become righteous before me. This, by amply fulfilling, will close up those visions of the prophets which respect the Messiah to come. Then will I anoint My Church, the spiritual temple of the new dispensation, with the gracious unction of the Holy Ghost. This in general. I will now repeat and give more particulars. Know, then, and consider, that from the issuing of the decree of Artaxerxes for restoring and rebuilding Jerusalem unto the public ministry of Messiah, the prince, shall be forty-nine years and four hundred and thirty-four years—i.e., forty-nine up to the point of completing the rebuilding of the city, and four hundred and thirty-four from that point till the Messiah shall appear before the public, to commence his Gospel ministry. This city shall be restored and rebuilt; the thing is settled in the counsels of the Almighty, and shall be done, although in times of much distress. After the four hundred and thirty-four years shall have expired the Messiah shall be cut off by a violent death; His relationship to His ancient covenant people will cease; they will reject Him, and He will abandon them to their righteous doom. Then the people of the Roman prince, coming from afar, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; its end shall be with that sweeping flood of ruin; even till the end of this war, there is a Divine decree for desolations. During one heptad of years the covenant of God's mercy shall become effective to many: at the middle point of this heptad He will make sacrifice and offering cease by becoming Himself the one great atoning sacrifice, complete thenceforth and forever, and superseding all the sacrifices of the Mosaic ritual. Then down upon the summit of the temple, now an abomination before God for the apostasy of those that worship therein, comes the desolator, the Roman legions—even until a complete, terrible, and predetermined destruction shall have been poured forth upon the desolate city." H. C. The events which preceded and followed the coming and sufferings of the Messiah, having been so punctually fulfilled, afford a double confirmation of His being the very same Person prophesied of, and afterward crucified; nor can they with any probability of truth be applied to any other. So that we may well say, This is the clearest and most express prediction in the whole Bible concerning the time of His coming and death. Wogan.—Sir Isaac Newton justly represents this illustrious prophecy as the foundation of the Christian religion. Dr. Hales.—And Archbishop Secker has recorded the declaration of a writer upon "the weeks," that "if he had hitherto lived an infidel, the conviction wrought in him by a just consideration of the certain sense and perfect completion of this Divine oracle was so full that he should think it his duty to do and suffer all that was possible for human nature, supported by Divine grace, rather than forfeit his faith." Wintle. 24. To make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness. The first clause is the technical expression for atonement (e.g., Lev. 5:8; 19:22; Ps. 65:4; 78:38), and is coupled with the second as cause and effect, or as the negative and positive aspects of the Messianic mercies of God. The words "transgression," "sin," and "iniquity," so often repeated by Daniel in penitence, are thus repeated to him in mercy, as if to assure him emphatically that God would put them away as though they had not been. Pusey. The Levitical word for atonement, a cover for sins to hide them from view, gives us the central thought of the passage—one which stands in the closest connection with Daniel's prayer. No point stands out so prominently and strongly in this prayer as the distress and solicitude he feels in respect to the great sins of his people. The agonizing solicitude of his heart centres upon this one question: How can this sin be removed? How can the Lord pass over and forgive it so that the people can again come under His mercy and favor? It was therefore to meet precisely this main point of his distress and anxiety that the Lord replies: After seventy heptads of years I will bring forth a perfect provision to atone for sin. Then it will be seen how I can honorably and safely forgive the penitent sinner and restore him to favor. "To bring in everlasting righteousness," is only another form of stating the same thing. The sinner forgiven and his sins all covered stands right before God. Christ is made of God unto him righteousness as well as redemption. On the ground of what Christ is, and has suffered for him, he is accounted righteous before God. This way of accounting sinners righteous is "everlasting" as contrasted with the transient duration of the Mosaic system, and the temporary effects of those frequent sacrifices required under that system, which indeed were only typical at best, and "could never with those sacrifices which they offered, year by year, make the comers thereunto perfect" (Heb 10:1). This new system is to stand through all time, and its blessed effects will be enduring. "To seal up vision and prophet" is the literal rendering of the original, and obviously refers to the fulfilment, and hence, in this sense, to the closing up of those prophecies which for many ages had predicted the Messiah, but which, having now done their work of ministry to the faith of God's waiting people, may be considered as sealed up and laid aside—superseded by the Messiah's actual coming. H. C. 25. The advent of the Messiah would not be immediately after the Exile, as Daniel had hoped, and thus coincide with the restoration of the people and the rebuilding of the city; but 7 and 62 = 69 prophetic weeks were previously to elapse. Within this time Jerusalem is to be restored and rebuilt, not indeed in that Messianic and Divine splendor as was prophesied, for example, by Isaiah (54 : 11 ; 60-62), but only in an earthly, external, and humble manner, with streets and trenches. It will be a troublesome time, better than the Exile, but yet by far less rich in grace and salvation than the Messianic time. Thus the prophet's eye was turned away from the end of the Exile and fixed on the end of the sixty-ninth week as the time of the Messiah's coming. He is not to regard the time preceding that advent; he is not to set his heart and hope upon it. For the fate of the people and city, which fills him with solicitude, is entirely dependent on the position they will take in reference to the Messiah. And, therefore, in the two following verses there is such emphatic prominence given to the life and fate of the Messiah, while the fate of the city and sanctuary is mentioned only in the second half of the verses, and in dependent connection with the former. Auberlen. Unto the Messiah the Prince. That is, until the awful period when the business of His life should be finished; until His hour was come, when He was to glorify His father, or when He was to be cut off by a voluntary suffering for the sins of all mankind, and thereby triumph as a prince over death, and over all His and our enemies. All the circumstances of His life are omitted, or rather comprehended in this final event when all things that were written of Him were accomplished. Wintle. 26. By symbolic numbers he taught with extraordinary clearness when the Messiah was to come. The day of His advent is no longer indefinite, or only approximately fixed; it is exactly declared. But with what bitter revelations is it combined! What must have been the Jew's feelings when, instead of triumph and victory, and an era of glorious conquest and universal empire, he read that Messiah was to be cut off, and that the armies of an alien empire would destroy the city and the sanctuary! that the daily sacrifice would cease, and that the abomination that maketh desolate would prevail for 1390 days! R. P. S. We are told, verse 25, that the coming of the Messiah was to be at the end of the sixty-second week, which therefore could not be marked also by His death. Nay, His death, as we see in verse 27, is half a week after, and the destruction is much later still. The meaning of the angel therefore is: You must give up not only the hope that the Messiah will come immediately after the Captivity, but also that other expectation, that immediately after His coming He will establish His kingdom of glory. It will be quite otherwise. Messiah will be put to death by the unbelieving people, and therefore they will not attain to glory and power, but, with the city and the sanctuary, will be delivered into the hands of the Gentiles. This is the view vouchsafed to Israel as a people into the more immediate Messianic future. Auberlen. The Messiah must be cut off, must die a violent death, and so be cut off from the land of the living, as was foretold Isa. 53 : 8. Hence, when Paul preaches the death of Christ, he says that he preached nothing but what the prophets said should come (Acts 26 : 22, 23). And thus it behooved Christ to suffer. He must be cut off, but not for Himself, not for any sin of His own; but, as Caiaphas prophesied, He must die for the people—in our stead and for our good; not for any advantage of His own; the glory He purchased for Himself was no more than the glory He had before (John 17 : 4, 5). No, it was to atone for our sins and to purchase life for us that He was cut off. 27. He must confirm the covenant with many. He shall introduce a new covenant between God and man, a covenant of grace; since it was become impossible for us to be saved by a covenant of innocence. This covenant He shall confirm by His doctrine and miracles, by His death and resurrection, by the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper, which are the seals of the New Testament, assuring us that God is willing to accept of us upon Gospel terms. His death made His testament of force, and enabled us to claim what is bequeathed by it. He confirmed it to the many, to the common people; the poor were evangelized when the rulers and Pharisees believed not on Him. Or He confirmed it with many, with the Gentile world. The New Testament was not (like the Old) confined to the Jewish Church, but was committed to all nations; Christ gave His life a ransom for many. He must cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease; by offering Himself a sacrifice once for all, He shall put an end to all the Levitical sacrifices; shall supersede them and set them aside; when the substance is come, the shadows shall be done away. He causes all the peace offerings to cease when He has made peace by the blood of His cross, and by it confirmed the covenant of peace and reconciliation. By the preaching of His Gospel to the world, with which the apostles were intrusted, He took men off from expecting remission by the blood of bulls and goats, and so caused the sacrifice and oblation to cease. The apostle to the Hebrews shows what a better priesthood, altar, and sacrifice we have now than they had under the law, as a reason why we should hold fast our profession. H. Abominations. The Romans, after they had set the temple on fire, placed the idolatrous ensigns of their army over against the eastern gate of the temple, and offered sacrifice to them, as Josephus expressly tells us. The word "abominations" is commonly used for idols. (See 1 K. 11: 5, 7; 2 K. 23: 13.) And the "abomination of desolation," set upon the altar by Antiochus (1 Mac. 1: 54), is explained by the idol altar (verse 59). So the "abominations" here spoken of properly signify the ensigns or standards of the Roman legions; each standard having stamped upon it the image of the tutelar god to which the legion offered sacrifice. W. Loweth. 24-27. The decree of desolation, the destruction of "the city and of the sanctuary by the people of the prince that shall come," cannot apply to the time of the Maccabees, since the temple was not then destroyed, but only profaned. The chronology offers, under such interpretation, insuperable difficulties. Seventy weeks make 490 years; now the return from the Captivity having taken place in 536, and the murder of Onias in 170 B.C., there are between these two events 336, not 490 years. The historic period would then be too short, if compared with the number indicated. We are told in answer that we are not to take as the starting-point of this period the return from the Captivity and the restoration of Jerusalem, but the year in which Jeremiah uttered the oracle which foretold these events—i.e., the year 605—the date of that remarkable prophecy (Jer. 25). From 605-170 there are in fact 434 years, which make up the 62 weeks of which Daniel speaks (9: 26). But, in the first place, when mention is made in Dan. 9: 25 of "the commandment given to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem," is it natural to understand by that the oracle of Jeremiah with regard to this restoration? Do not these expressions refer more naturally to the famous edict of Cyrus, which gives permission to the Jews to return to their own country and to rebuild their city, or, better still, to the Divine command which Cyrus executed? The edict took effect in the very same year in which it was issued; it is then between the restoration in 536, and the second destruction announced (verse 26) that we must place the interval indicated. In this way the prophecy will include, as it very naturally would, the whole duration of the state of things which was established at the restoration, the whole time of the existence of the second Jerusalem and the second temple. Then next, the number in Daniel amounts not only to 62, but to 69 weeks, if not even to 70. Where are we to find the seven weeks which are left over, even according to this interpretation already devised on purpose to make room for this theory? For, lastly, between the oracle of Jeremiah (605) and the murder of Onias (170) there are only 434 years (62 weeks), and not 483 years (69 weeks). Here begin the tours de forces: (a) Hitzig and others include the awkward period of the seven weeks in that of the 62, placing it at the beginning of the latter. This would then be the half century which elapsed between the ruin of Jerusalem in 588 (or 586) and the appearance of Cyrus (in 536). But how is this? When it is said: "From the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto Messiah the prince, shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks, . . . and after threescore and two weeks the Anointed shall be cut off," it is allowable to suppose that the author intended to include the seven weeks within the 62! And if this sleight of hand (pardon the expression) should be allowed, still how are we, even adopting that method of interpretation, to find the total number of seventy weeks mentioned in verse 24: "Seventy weeks are determined upon Thy people and upon Thy holy city." The seven weeks cannot find room in the 62. For it is evident that the number 70 comprehends: 1. The group of the seven; 2. That of the 62; 3. The final week. Consequently these groups are successive, not contemporaneous. (b) Delitzsch and Hofmann, coming into direct collision with the order indicated by Daniel, place the seven weeks at the end of the 62!—they are to represent the interval between Antiochus Epiphanes and Jesus Christ. But who will agree to such an overturning of the text? Besides, between Antiochus and Jesus Christ there was an interval of 164 years—not 49! (c) Ewald has devised another expedient. The number 69 or 70 being evidently too large in all the interpretations which apply the prophecy to the time of the Maccabees, this author has proposed to deduct from the entire number all the Sabbatical years—i.e., one in seven, giving as his reason that this whole period is a time of oppression, while the idea of the Sabbath always carries with it a feeling of joy. Thus we should have (1) the seven weeks between the destruction of Jerusalem and the edict of Cyrus (587–538, according to Ewald's chronology); (2) the 70 weeks between the return from the Captivity and the year 175, when an "anointed one" was cut off (this anointed one being, according to Ewald, not Onias, but Seleucus Philopator, who died in 174, at the time when he was invading Judea). These 62 weeks added to the seven (49 years) would bring us to the year n.c. 105, instead of 175. But to help out this calculation comes in the deduction of the 70 sabbatical years, which brings the ship prosperously to the desired haven—175. What are we to say of such monstrosities of exegesis! We will not urge all the other improbabilities to which this interpretation of the learned writer is exposed. And these are the explanations over which one hears exclamations of triumph, as if the Messianic application of this wonderful prophecy had been completely and deservedly refuted by modern science! These attempts, so evidently vain, constitute the most complete demonstration possible of the absolute impossibility, according to any impartial exegesis, of applying this prophetic cycle of the 70 weeks to any other period than that which elapsed between the restoration of Jerusalem and the advent of the Christ—of Him who, as Daniel says, "is to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy" (9 : 24). Godet. The twenty-fourth verse belongs to the most profound and glorious passages in the Old Testament; and if anywhere these have a Messianic signification, it is here. The angel wishes at first to give the prophet the general impression that his hopes and prayers for the Messiah will be fulfilled in a much later period than he expected. The 70 years of exile were indeed, as he had confessed in his prayer, a punishment for the sins of the people, yet not a perfect satisfaction for them before God. God would certainly visit Israel with His redeeming mercy, but the full atonement and forgiveness of sin, the eternal and everlasting restoration of the normal state between God and sinners (righteousness), would come only after 70 prophetic weeks. The sacrifice by which this atonement for sin would be made is pointed out in the twenty-sixth verse by the expression, "Messiah shall be cut off;" with this also is connected the expression in the twenty-seventh verse, "He shall confirm the covenant with many," and the prophecy, that the sacrifices of the Old Testament, both with and without blood ("sacrifice and oblation"), shall cease. Thus the angel presents to the prophet in these expressions a connected chain, each link of which bears, upholds and explains the other, and which, taken aggregately, represents the Messiah as the perfect sin-offering of the covenant. Finally, to take a brief survey of the entire prophecy, the prophet has indeed received strength and consolation only for the near future, which was the special object of his intercessory prayer. It is true that Jerusalem will be rebuilt, and that the people will be permitted to return from the Captivity; but this restoration is merely temporary, and is succeeded by many centuries of affliction. For the more distant future, Daniel receives, on the one hand, a consolatory disclosure concerning the appearance of the Messiah, who brings unto many the full salvation of the new covenant; but, on the other hand, disclosures concerning the destruction of the city and the sanctuary, because Israel rejects its Messiah, and which must affect Him deeply and painfully. The restoration of Jerusalem will not, therefore, be of long continuance, but, on the contrary, a new exile is to be expected. Yet, for the far distant time, the angel does not leave the prophet without a ray of hope for Israel and Jerusalem. Thus he received in some measure the consolation he had sought in his prayer regarding the future of his people. Gabriel begins the twenty-fourth verse with exceedingly precious promises, and from behind the dark clouds of night which cover the horizon, a glimmering ray of light shines through in blessed presentiment. Auberlea. # Recapitulation of the Chapter. Daniel knew that Jeremiah had fixed seventy years as the length of the duration of the Exile. But the date from which to calculate was not determined; for there had been several deportations. Daniel, however, could not doubt that the end must be near; and his prayer was at that very time hastening on the desired event. Gabriel, the interpreter of the Divine mercies, appears to him and announces that the return is indeed very near, but that that event will by no means coincide, as Israel imagines, with the coming of the Messiah. God's people have still long and grievous periods to go through, before they will reach the goal so impatiently expected. The heavenly messenger, in the first place, marks out distinctly the whole of the period which is to intervene between the return from the Captivity and the coming of Christ. It was to be a vast cycle of seventy weeks of years; exactly seven times as long as the Captivity had lasted; as if God wished to say to His people: "Add to that long period of exile seven times its own length, and you will have an idea of the length of the interval which still separates you from the moment which you think so near." These six expressions, of which the first three describe the complete abolition of sin, the three last the perfect realization of righteousness on the earth, can only relate to the consummation of the Divine work—the time of the Messiah. Seven times seventy years—that is to say, four hundred and ninety years, or about five centuries—such, to speak generally, is the measure of the cycle which comprehends the remainder of the history of Israel between the return from the Captivity and the kingdom of God. We know that the edict of Cyrus was issued in the year n.c. 536. There is, then, evidently an approximative coincidence between the prophetic cycle and the historic period which answers to it. After this first summary statement, the general cycle is subdivided (verses 25–27) into three subordinate periods. The first is reckoned at seven weeks—that is, forty-nine years, or very nearly half a century. This number stands for the period of the restoration—that is to say, the time of the rebuilding of the temple, of the holy city, and of its walls. The second subdivision is sixty-two weeks, four hundred and thirty-four years, about four centuries and a half. This number has no special value of its own. It is merely the result of the subtraction of the numbers of the first and third subdivisions from that of the total period. It is the measure of the time of maintenance of the restored people, of that long state of almost constant warfare for Israel during the great political convulsions which followed the national restoration. The third subdivision only includes one single week, seven years; this is the closing period, the time of the advent and work of the Messiah; the number seven marks the peculiar sacredness of this final period. In the midst of this notable week the Messiah disappears; for one part of the nation the covenant is confirmed and renewed by His death; but for the mass of the people, sacrifice is forever abolished, and that final ruin decreed which was to be consummated by a foreign invasion. It is evident that here we are dealing with vast cycles, like those with which the mind of Daniel had been familiarized by his astronomical studies. Revelation adapts itself to the conceptions of those who are to be its organs. But we must not expect history to bind itself slavishly to the exactness of those mathematical definitions of which the laws are of a different kind. History is the domain of human liberty; it cannot be controlled by the rhythm of the sacred numbers, three, seven, and ten. Godet. We have here a most remarkable prophecy, delivered above five hundred years before the event, which, besides what it declares of the Messiah's salvation, as finishing transgression, and introducing the everlasting righteousness, contains a variety of most important circumstances, all future at the time when Daniel wrote. The following public facts are expressly noted. The commandment to build the city. The building of it. The character of the times during which this was to take place. The coming of the Messiah. The time that was to elapse after the return of the Jews from the captivity of Babylon till His appearance. The express application of the term Messiah, which is the same as Christ. His dying a violent death: He shall be cut off, but not for Himself—that is to say, not for His sins, but for the sins of men. His making atonement for sin. His putting an end to the legal sacrifices. His introducing the everlasting righteousness. The closing up of prophecy. Its consummation, in His confirmation of it with many who should accede to it. The destruction of the city and temple. The signal nature of that destruction. The times when all these things should take place specified in their distinct periods. All this received an exact accomplishment. The commandment to build the city was given to Ezra by Artaxerxes in the seventh year of his reign, and is recorded in the Book of Ezra, and the building of the city was effected. At the set time Jesus Christ, pointed out as the Messiah by a variety of other prophecies, appeared. He was put to death, yet many became His disciples, with whom He confirmed His covenant. The time of the law and the prophets came to an end; and the legal sacrifices lost their obligation and efficacy. Soon after, Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed as by an inundation. The sacrifices then ceased to be offered, even in form. From that day to the present the Jews have been anxiously desirous to renew them; but Jerusalem being the only place where these could be offered, and it having been ever since in the hands of their enemies, this has been totally out of their power. Edwards. 10: 1 In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar; and the thing was true, even a great warfare: and he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision. In those days I Daniel was mourning three whole weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel, I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with pure gold of Uphaz: his body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to burnished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude. And I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, and they fled to hide themselves. So I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. Yet heard I the voice of his words: and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I fallen into a deep sleep on my face, with my face toward the ground. And, behold, a hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. And he said unto me, O Daniel, thou man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright; for unto thee am I now sent: and when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel; for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to humble thyself before thy God, thy words were heard: and I am come for thy words' sake. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days; but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me: and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for the vision is yet for many days. And when he had spoken unto me according to these words, I set my face toward the ground, and was dumb. And, behold, one like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spake and said unto him that stood before me, O my lord, by reason of the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I retain no strength. For how can the servant of this my lord talk with this my lord? for as for me, straightway there remained no strength in me, neither was there breath left in me. Then there touched me again one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me. And he said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he spake unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me. Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I am come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I go forth, lo, the prince of Greece shall come. But I will tell thee that which is inscribed in the writing of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me against these, but Michael your prince. And as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him. Chaps. 10-12 form a section of themselves. They occupy the position naturally assigned to them by their date (10:1) and by their contents; in the latter point being a development of the prophecies contained in chaps. 8 and 9. The section may be conveniently divided into three parts: the first, an introduction (10:1; 11:1) giving details of the circumstances connected with the vision and the mode of its communication; the second (11:2-45), the revelation of leading events in the history of the great southern and northern powers, and of the Old Testament Antichrist; the third (12), the victory and deliverance of God's people in Messianic times; accompanied by some words of comfort specially applicable to Daniel himself. The revelation—like those in chaps. 7 and 8—is communicated to the prophet by an angel. The vision itself is not one of monster beasts or of ram and goat, but of a "man;" the description of whom is given in language which recalls the language used in the description of the Ancient of Days (7:9). B. C. The vision of the eighth chapter is described more fully and circumstantially in the second revelation, contained in chaps. 10-12. These chapters bear the same relation to the eighth as the seventh to the second. The prophecy itself is contained in the eleventh chapter, the tenth forming the prologue, the twelfth the epilogue. The tenth chapter is as peculiar a phenomenon in Holy Scripture as the eleventh, and these two remarkable phenomena, unique in their kind, are connected not only outwardly, but also inwardly. Their relation to each other is that of the future and the invisible. It strengthened and elevated the people of God to be permitted to view the future in a prophecy during their heavy afflictions; but it was equally strengthening and elevating for them to have their eye directed to the mighty champions and allies which they possessed in the world of spirits. As Paul excites the Ephesians to an earnest struggle against sin, by reminding them that they have to "wrestle not with flesh and blood alone, but with principalities and powers," so Daniel was commanded to inspire his people with courage and perseverance in their struggle with the world, by showing them that principalities and powers also are leagued against the world in its opposition to God. Auberlen. Chap. 10. This entire chapter is introductory to the fourth and last of the visions, the vision proper occupying the two remaining chapters. This introduction is very full on the points of the prophet's overwhelming agitation, grief and physical prostration; the renewed ministries of his revealing angel to comfort and strengthen him; certain remarkable yet little known conflicts between the angel-guardians of the Jews and other angels standing in perhaps analogous relations toward other kingdoms—coupled with several intimations that the matters to be revealed relate to long and grievous wars, some of which would befall Daniel's people in future years. 1. The third year of Cyrus is the latest known date in the life of Daniel. Chap. 1:21 states that "he continued to the first year of the reign of Cyrus;" but does not say he died then; does not deny that he lived longer. That passage may mean only that he continued so long in active public service. He is now far advanced in age, it being not far from seventy-four years since he was brought, a captive youth, from Jerusalem to Babylon. H. C. That Daniel was still found at Babylon in the third year of Cyrus instead of returning to "the city Jerusalem, the holy mountain" (9:16), will not be felt a serious difficulty. Daniel was very old; and the journey would have been such as few at his advanced age could have undertaken with safety. He may have felt that by remaining in exile he would be of greater service, comparatively speaking, than if he revisited the land of his fathers. Kranichfeld (p. 341) has well pointed out that had the Book of Daniel been written in the Maccabean period, the author would never have made the mistake of making Daniel so (apparently) indifferent to national and patriotic considerations. B. C. 2,3. So deeply affected was he with the anticipation of these things, even before they were definitely revealed. But it should be remembered that he has had the same general subject before his mind in at least two previous visions, those of chaps. 7 and 8. In both those visions the wars to be waged by the little horn against the saints of the Most High had been the leading theme, and had manifestly impressed his mind powerfully. Now, even before the details of this vision commence, his mind again comes under the strong impression of those scenes, and the deep fountains of his grief are broken up. 4-6. The river Hiddekel is better known as the Tigris. The personage described here was his angel-interpreter in human form, and in his whole appearance, splendid, majestic, awe-inspiring. Of the two usual Hebrew words for man, the one used here is that which involves most dignity. The other suggests frailty and mortality from the dust of the earth. 7. Daniel only saw the vision. His attendants did not see it, but were impressed with a sense of something supernatural, and hence were affrighted and fled to hide themselves. Similar phenomena occurred in the conversion of Saul. He heard audible words; his attendants heard a noise, but no words. The Spirit manifests Himself to whom He will. Daniel was powerfully affected. H. C. 8. Man is no better than a leaf driven by the wind, until he has conquered his lonely duties. This makes a man—the habit of confronting great things in solitude, and chiefly the habit of conversing with God alone, and of filling the soul with His strength. For, remember, the man who is a stranger to these habits of solitude is neither his own master nor the possessor of his own house. He owns a great house, a wonderful house, and an eternal house; but it is shut up and locked, and he lives outside, “until in his solitude he join God unto himself.” J. Pulsford. 11,12. As Gabriel touched the prophet on a former occasion (chap. 9: 21), and with a similar assurance (verse 23) of his being “greatly beloved,” it has been supposed that the same angel appeared to him in this manner. It was a cheering intimation that he was heard from the first day when he devoted himself to sacred study and humiliation; and his conduct furnishes an example worthy of imitation, of diligent inquiry into the oracles of God and the mind of the Spirit. There is no part of Scripture which does not deserve and demand investigation, and he who dictated these pages will, if we seek His illuminations, guide us into the knowledge of their contents. When the angel says, “understand the words that I speak unto thee,” it implies that they would not at first be obvious, but, like all important, and especially all figurative, communications respecting futurity and the government of God, would demand patient, serious and persevering research. We ought not assuredly to rest contented with a general or superficial acquaintance with Scripture, but feel it an incumbent duty to dig deep into the mines of revelation, and we shall certainly be repaid with the rich and abundant ores of heavenly wisdom. Let us remember that the profoundest humility accompanied, in the case of Daniel, the most anxious investigation, for he “set his heart to understand,” and at the same time “chastened himself before God;” and let us also remember that it is in immediate connection with this devout and inquiring spirit that he is called “greatly beloved.” F. A. Cox. 12. Prayer brings vividly before us and it harmonizes the two worlds to which we belong—the physical world, with its unchanging and beneficent sternness; the spiritual world, with its immeasurable potencies of free activity. We, at once creatures of time and heirs of eternity, come before God as those who are made capable of such approach, and who seek to use the prerogative of our nature. We, with our imperfect estimate of righteousness, limited by outward tests, with our narrow wisdom fashioned on fragmentary experiences, with our wayward love swayed to and fro with gusts of feeling, cast ourselves upon Him who is infinite righteousness and wisdom and love. His discipline is that to which we desire to conform ourselves; His counsel is that which we in our hearts strive to serve; His compassion is that which we in our truest moments seek to reflect. So we lay all our weaknesses, all our thoughts, all our aspirations, before Him, and in that very act we know that our prayer is heard and answered, and then we can go back to our work to realize alike in failure and in success the certainty of His promise: “All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall receive them.” Bp. Westcott. 13. The tenth chapter opens to us marvelous glimpses into the invisible spiritual world, which forms the background of the world’s history. Nor is this without analogy in Holy Scripture (Job 1: 7; 2: 1, etc.; Zech. 3: 1, 2; Jude 9; Rev. 12: 7, etc.); but nowhere else are the revelations so clear and comprehensive. The general truth, that the angels are ministering organs of the Divine providence and government, is frequently, and in detail, asserted and proved by Holy Scripture, but, above all, in the two Apocalyptic books, in which the curtain that hides from us the invisible world is drawn aside. The Scriptures recognize the efficacy of angels in the whole life of nature, even in ordinary and regular natural phenomena (John 5: 4; Heb. 1: 7; Rev. 7: 1-3; 14: 8; 16: 5). And not only in nature, but in history also, for which our chapter is the classical passage. We see here individual angels standing at the head of individual kingdoms of the world; we see opposed to them, at the head of the Israelitish Theocracy, Michael, one of the first princes. In alliance with him, and opposed to the spirits of the world, there is another angel, Gabriel, whose object is to promote the realization of God's plan of salvation in the heathen world. It is natural that this angel should be sent to reveal to Daniel the fate which the powers of the world were preparing for the people of God. He lets the prophet catch a glimpse of the invisible struggles between the princes of the angels, in which it is decided who is to exert the determining influence on the worldly monarch, whether the god-opposed spirit of this world, or the good spirit, whose aim it is to further the interests of God's kingdom. We are wont to speak in a spiritualizing way of a struggle between the good and the evil spirit in man; Holy Scripture teaches us to regard such a struggle as real and substantial. (Cf. 1 Sam. 16: 13-15; 1 K. 22: 22.) The Satanic influences of which we have more particular knowledge, through the language of Jesus and His apostles, are essentially not different from this. The liberty of human actions is not hereby taken away; for the spirits exercise no compelling influence on men's hearts. The question about the relation of the Divine government to human liberty rather loses than gains in difficulty, when we take the element of angelic ministry into consideration. That glorious angel who appears to Daniel tells him that for twenty-one days he struggled with the angel at the head of the Persian monarchy and that finally, by Michael's help, he subdued him and obtained superiority over the Persian king. But he informed him also that he had to enter upon a further struggle with that Persian angel, and that this would be succeeded by one with the Grecian, which, as he lets him dimly see, would not, for all the help of Michael, be equally victorious. These events in the world of angels will be better understood, when viewed in connection with the revelations concerning the future which follow in the eleventh chapter. While the Persian kingdom endures, the spirit of the world-power, hostile to God and His people, will be restrained and subdued, so that the Persian kings will follow the good spirit and be favorable to Israel. But with the Greek kingdom there will come a change. During its dominion the people of the covenant will have to suffer much from the wars of the Ptolemies and Seleucidæ; and it is out of this kingdom that the arch-enemy shall arise. Auberlen. Three among the archangels, or chief among the angels, Scripture designates by name, two among the elect, one among the fallen angels. The two first are called Michael and Gabriel, names which express in human language the offices which they fulfil in the creation of God. The meaning of the word Michael is, Who is like unto God? In him we behold the being who is placed at the very summit of the scale of living creatures. One thought and feeling alone absorbs him, and makes the sum of his being—that of the immeasurable distance which separates him from the Creator. Himself at the very summit of all, he feels more than all others his own nothingness. Zeal for the glory of God, whom he adores while veiling himself, is the spring of his activity, the very principle of his existence. From this feeling arises the nature of the work he has to do, which is to overthrow everything that dares to make itself equal with God, or to oppose itself to Him, paganism in particular, under all its various forms. In the Old as in the New Testament, Michael appears as the protector of Israel, and the champion of Monotheism (of which this people was the depositary), and as the vanquisher of Satan, and the destroyer of his works. This archangel thus fitly preludes the final work of the Messiah as the Judge of the world. The meaning of the name Gabriel, the second archangel of light, is the strong man, or God's hero. In him we see the active executor of God's designs for the salvation of men. While Michael is occupied in overthrowing all that opposes God, Gabriel hastens the realization of His plans. It is he who appears to Daniel to announce to him the return from the captivity, and to fix the time for the still distant advent of the Messiah; it is he who, in the New Testament, announces to Mary the birth of the Saviour of the world. Gabriel is the heavenly evangelist; he preludes the work of the Messiah as the Saviour of the world. In the end of time the relation between men and angels, first contracted at the creation, and made more intimate during their development, will be sealed by a supreme event. On the one hand, Paul says that men "will judge angels"—i.e., holy men will judge the rebel angels; on the other hand, the angels will sift the tares from the wheat among mankind, garnering up the former, and burning the latter; such is the declaration of Jesus. And after each of these two classes of beings shall have thus rendered homage to the Divine holiness in the presence of the other, the end of God's dispensations to both will be realized. He who has determined to "gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are in earth," will join both men and angels in one under this single Head. That was a magnificent duet which resounded in the Church when, for the first time, the believers from among the Jews, and the converts from among the Gentiles, united their voices to sing the new song, the hymn of salvation. They both celebrated the marvellous works of God, but each in his own manner; the former praising Him above all things for His faithfulness in the fulfilment of the promises made to their fathers; the latter publishing His mercy toward the people to whom He had promised nothing, but who, whatever might be their unworthiness, had notwithstanding received all. But even more rich and sublime will be the hymn with which the elect angels and glorified men will celebrate together the work of God; the former announcing the faithfulness of the Most High which so magnificently rewards their own faithfulness; the latter, in a graver tone and more restrained accent, as becomes beings whose song is born amid tears, glorifying the grace of Him who can blot out even unfaithfulness; those setting before us men, by their example, that ladder of light upon which it is possible to ascend to God without once departing from the truth, to attain to perfection not without trial but without falling, to realize progress in pure good—thus glorifying the holiness and the truth of that God who does not permit that sin should ever appear to be necessary or even in itself useful; and, on the other side, we men responding to them, and pointing in deep humility to the dark abysses of sin into which we had thrown ourselves, but from which the hand of God has drawn us by unparalleled marvels—thus glorifying in their eyes that grace which “where sin abounded did much more abound,” and which, in thus transforming even evil into good, has accomplished the greatest of all miracles. From the midst of the two races, henceforth to form but one, there will then rise that united hymn (last word of the history of free beings), of which the song of the angels and of the shepherds on Christmas Eve was the prelude: “Praise be to God and to the Lamb who sitteth upon the throne! Alleluia!” Godet. 14. This statement is of prime importance as giving a clew to the interpretation of this prophecy. It positively affirms that this prophecy (chaps. 11 and 12) relates to the fortunes of the Jews, Daniel’s own people, in future times. How far down in the future cannot be definitely determined from this general expression, “in the latter days.” There are instances in which this phrase refers to the times of the Messiah, the Gospel age of the world—e.g., Isa. 2: 2 and Micah 4: 1. But there are also other instances in which it refers to events far less remote—e.g., Gen. 49: 1, which looks to the various fortunes of the tribes, mostly long prior to the Gospel age. Also Num. 24: 14, the outlook of Balaam, which primarily goes not beyond the overthrow of Moab by David. H. C. 19. He silenced his fears and encouraged his hopes with good and comfortable words. He said unto him, Fear not, Daniel (verse 12). And again (verse 19), O man greatly beloved, fear not, peace be unto thee; be strong, yea, be strong. Never did any tender mother quiet her child, when anything had grieved or frightened it, with more compassion and affection than the angel here quieted Daniel. Those that are beloved of God have no reason to be afraid of any evil; peace is to them; God Himself speaks peace to them; and they ought upon the warrant of that to speak peace to themselves; and that peace, that joy of the Lord, will be their strength. Will God plead against us with His great power, will He take the advantage against us of our being overcome by His terror? No, but He will put strength into us (Job 23: 6). So He did into Daniel here, when, by reason of the lustre of the vision, no strength of his own remained in him; and he acknowledges it. When he had spoken to me, I was strengthened. God by His word puts life and strength and spirit into His people; for if He says, Be strong, power goes along with the word. And now that Daniel has experienced the efficacy of God’s strengthening word and grace, he is ready for anything. “Now, let my lord speak, and I can hear it, I can bear it, and am ready to do according to it, for thou hast strengthened me.” To those that (like Daniel here) have no might, God increases strength (Isa. 40: 29). And we cannot keep up our communion with God but by strength derived from Him; but when He is pleased to put strength into us, we must make a good use of it, and say, Speak, Lord, for Thy servant hears. Let God enable us to comply with His will, and then, whatever it is, we will stand complete in it. Give what thou commandest, and then command what thou wilt. H. 20. The hostility toward God’s people which the “prince of Persia and the prince of Grecia” showed, is illustrated historically in the opposition and hindrances endured by the Jews at Jerusalem, not only during the reigns of Darius Hystaspes, Xerxes and Artaxerxes (Ezra and Nehem. passim), but also, if in a less degree, in that of Alexander and his successors. 21. The "scripture of truth" is the title for the ensuing section. It not only expresses the Divine record, whose characteristic is faithfulness and "truth," particularly in relation to religious truth and the true announcement of the future; but it is here used with an implied contrast to the records and books of Babylonia and Persia familiar to the prophet—neither imperishable nor true; and with evident reference to the "true thing" (verse 1) and "the truth" of previous visions. 11:1. The opening verse of chap. 11 is usually connected with 10:21, rather than with 11:2. The division into chaps. 10, 11, 12 is unfortunate and inconvenient. The whole section forms one connected whole, and to be understood must be read regardless of the current divisions. In the first year of Darius . . . even I, stood . . . him. The "him" is not Darius, but Michael (10:21); literally the verse runs "my standing was to confirm," etc. There is probably an allusion to the then—"in the first year of Darius," after the fall of Babylon—uncertain position which Darius would take with regard to the people of Israel. The history of chap. 6 shows how precarious was the position of the great men of the Jewish race; here it is intimated that the angelic powers of Israel strengthened each other against the "prince of Persia." Angelic interference was exercised in behalf of Daniel (6:22), and had continued, and would still continue. B. C. 45 shall go forth with great fury to destroy and utterly to make away many. And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the sea and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him. Chap. II. The second part of the book is almost exclusively occupied with an account of the visions vouchsafed to Daniel. In the eleventh chapter these take the form of a communication made to him by an angel, who relates in detail, as it seems, the history of the Seleucian kings. There can be no doubt that this, in any aspect, is one of the most remarkable chapters of Scripture. If the book is not genuine, this chapter is the most audacious of forgeries; but if genuine, it can only be regarded as the most extraordinary of prophecies—in fact, it may claim to be altogether unique; and yet we can only, on the most arbitrary principles, venture to regard this chapter as an interpolation, and suppose that it warrants us in calling in question the integrity of the book. It is absolutely impossible to sever this chapter from its surroundings; it must stand or fall with the rest of the book. Leathes. There is, first, a brief description of the Persian and Greek monarchies (verses 2–4); then follows a sketch of the most important struggles of the Ptolemies and Seleucidæ (verses 5–20); while a detailed and circumstantial picture of Antiochus Epiphanes forms the conclusion (verses 21–45). Auberlen.—Like the other visions, this starts with the time then present, or rather it sets back some four or five years—i.e., from the third year of Cyrus (10:1) to the first year of Darius, his immediate predecessor, who reigned two years. The prophecy proper begins with verse 2 at the point then present: “There shall stand up yet,” etc.—i.e., after Cyrus, then on the throne. Then the course of prophetic thought in the chapter is a rapid sketch of the Persian kings to Xerxes; then by a natural transition to Alexander and his great kingdom; then its fourfold division; then the two of these four kingdoms, with which alone the Jews were concerned; Egypt on the south, and Syria on the north, running through the history of ten kings, five of the former kingdom, and five of the latter, till he reaches Antiochus Epiphanes in verse 21. He then gives his history through the chapter to his death (verse 45). H. C. The eleventh chapter is an enlargement of the eighth. The disclosures which the latter contains about Persia and Greece, and the fourfold division of the great Greek kingdom, are only mentioned to be used as a connecting link and starting point for the prophecy, which now unfolds the future of Egypt and Syria, the Ptolemies and Seleucidæ, the kings of the south and the kings of the north. “Daniel,” says Luther, “now leaves the two kingdoms of Asia and Grecia, and takes up the two of Syria and Egypt. For the Jewish country lieth between these two, and hath Syria on the north [toward midnight], and Egypt on the south [toward midday], and these two had an everlasting contest with each other. The Jews, therefore, placed thus between the door and the hinge, were sorely tormented on both sides. Now they fell a prey to Egypt, and anon to Syria, as the one kingdom or the other got the better; and they had to pay dearly for their neighborhood, as is wont to be in time of war. Specially when that impious man was king in Syria, whom histories style Antiochus the noble; he assaulted the Jews most fiercely, and raged and slaughtered like a devil among them. It was on account of this wretch and cruel villain that the vision was given, to comfort the Jews, whom he was to plague with all kinds of plagues.” It is, moreover, worthy of remark that we do not find Syria and the individual kingdoms mentioned by name, any more than Rome. As yet these kingdoms lay quite beyond the historical horizon of Daniel; the angel, therefore, could not designate them by their names. Rome was separated from Daniel by space; an independent Syrian kingdom, by time. Syria, already conquered by the Assyrians (2 K. 16:9; Isa. 8:4; Amos 1:5), belonged afterward as a province to the kingdoms of Babylon, Persia and Greece successively, and was a very unimportant country in the time of Daniel. If our book had been written so late as the time of the Maccabees, it would be difficult to assign a reason why Syria is not mentioned by name as well as Greece; nay, it might be expected that Syria should be mentioned, even though Greece was not. This circumstance must be regarded as one of those minute and fine features which, because of their very insignificance and secondary position, are, to the unprejudiced student, the most eloquent witnesses for the antiquity and authenticity of a book. It cannot be maintained by our opponents that the Maccabean authors omitted to name Syria for fear of Antiochus, since country and king for that time are so minutely sketched as to be unmistakable. We lay the more stress on this circumstance, as Egypt, whose princes are called in opposition to the Syrian, the kings of the south or midday, is mentioned by name (verses 8, 42). For this is not only the old monarchy well known to the Israelites, but at the time Daniel received this revelation it was still an independent and even flourishing kingdom; nor was it till ten years later that it was conquered by Cambyses and annexed to Persia. The designation, kings of the north and kings of the south, is given from Palestine being the standpoint. Of all the predictions contained in the Holy Scripture, this is doubtless the most special and minute, and in order not to be offended at this prophecy, it is necessary to believe in the omniscience and real revelation of God in the prophetic word. Auberlen. 2. Behold, there shall stand up. The angel first prophesies of the Persian empire, which was then subsisting. "There shall stand up yet," that is, after Cyrus, the founder of the empire, who was then reigning, "three kings in Persia;" these were Cambyses, Smerdis the Magian, and Darius, the son of Hystaspes. "And the fourth shall be far richer than they all." The fourth after Cyrus was Xerxes; of whom Justin truly remarks, that his riches were so abundant, that when rivers were dried up by his army, yet his wealth remained unexhausted. "And by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all," both subjects and allies, "against the realm of Grecia." The expedition of Xerxes into Greece is one of the most memorable events in ancient history. Herodotus affirms that in raising his army he searched every place of the continent, and computes that the whole number of his armament amounted to more than five millions of men. After him no mention is here made of any other king of Persia. "It is to be noted," saith Jerome, "that the prophet, having enumerated four kings of the Persians after Cyrus, slippeth over nine, and passeth to Alexander; for the prophetic spirit did not care to follow the order of history, but only to touch upon the most famous events." Xerxes was the principal author of the long wars and inveterate hatred between the Grecians and Persians; and as he was the last king of Persia who invaded Greece, he is the last mentioned. The Grecians then in their turn invaded Asia; and Xerxes' expedition being the most memorable on one side, as Alexander's was on the other, the reigns of these two are properly connected together. Bp. Newton.—A farther reason may perhaps be assigned why these kings of Persia only are mentioned, because they were all that should reign before Artaxerxes Longimanus, by whom the decree was issued, according to the prophecy of the seventy weeks, for rebuilding Jerusalem. Wintle. After the battle of Salamis, the centre of the world-history was no more in the second, but in the third, the Grecian kingdom. Auberlen. This setting up of the Grecian empire did greatly prepare the way for Christ's coming, and setting up His kingdom in the world. Besides these ways, common to the other overturnings of the world in this period, that have been already mentioned, there is one particular to this revolution which I would take notice of, which did remarkably promote the work of redemption; and that was that it made the Greek language common in the world. To have one common language understood and used through the greater part of the world was a thing that did greatly prepare the way for the setting up of Christ's kingdom. This gave advantage for spreading the Gospel from one nation to another, and so through all nations, with vastly greater ease, than if every nation had a distinct language, and did not understand each other. After the Grecian empire was set up many in all these countries well understood the same language—viz., the Greek language; which wonderfully opened the door for mutual communication between those churches, so far separated one from another. And again, the making the Greek language common through so great a part of the world, did wonderfully make way for the setting up of the kingdom of Christ, because it was the language in which the New Testament was to be originally written. The apostles propagated the Gospel through many scores of nations; and if they could not have understood the Bible any otherwise than as it was translated into so many languages, it would have rendered the spreading of the Gospel vastly more difficult. But by the Greek language being made common to all, they all understood the New Testament of Jesus Christ in the language in which the apostles and evangelists originally wrote it; so that as soon as ever it was written by its original penmen, it immediately lay open to the world in a language that was commonly understood everywhere, as there was no language that was so commonly understood in the world in Christ's and the apostles' times as the Greek; the cause of which was the setting up of the Grecian empire in the world. Edwards. 3. And a mighty king.** That Alexander was "a mighty king" and conqueror; that he not only "ruled with great dominion" over Greece and the whole Persian empire, but likewise added India to his conquests; and that he "did according to his will," no one, not even his friends, daring to contradict and oppose him, or, if they did, like Clitus and Callisthenes, paying for it with their lives, are facts too well known to require any particular proof or illustration. Bp. Newton. 4. His kingdom was plucked up and torn into fragments for others to enjoy besides his own family. All this is a condensed but accurate epitome of the history of those times, of which the part relating to Xerxes has been given with great minuteness by Herodotus and others; the part borne by Alexander, by Arrian, Plutarch and Diodorus. 5. Here begins a rapid sketch of the rise of the two kingdoms, Egypt and Syria, glancing at the wars, intrigues, treaties and perfidies that fill the interval down to Antiochus Epiphanes in verse 21. All commentators of any celebrity concur precisely in their interpretation of these verses. They find the same kings, give them the same names, give the same sense to the prophecy, and find the same historic facts for its fulfilment. H. C. Though the kingdom of Alexander was divided into four principal parts, yet only two of them are here mentioned—Egypt and Syria—partly because these two were by far the greatest and most considerable; but more particularly because Judea, lying between them, was sometimes in the possession of the kings of Egypt and sometimes of the kings of Syria. It is in respect of their situation to Judea that they are called the kings "of the south" and "of the north." "And the king of the south shall be strong, and one of his princes" (as the passage may be rendered after the Greek version), that is, of Alexander's princes, "shall be strong above him." The "king of the south" was indeed very "strong;" for Ptolemy annexed Cyprus, Phoenicia, Caria, and many islands, cities and regions to Egypt; and likewise enlarged the bounds of his empire by the acquisition of Cyrene. But still "the king of the north," or Seleucus Nicator, was "strong above him," or stronger than he; for, having annexed the kingdoms of Macedon and Thrace to the crown of Syria, he became master of three parts out of four of Alexander's dominions, and is represented by historians as "the conqueror of the conquerors" and "the greatest king after Alexander." 6. And in the end of years they shall join themselves together. After many years of hostility between the kings of Egypt and Syria, Ptolemy Philadelphus, the second king of Egypt, and Antiochus Theus, the third king of Syria, agreed to make peace upon condition that Antiochus should put away his former wife, Laodice, and her two sons, and should marry Berenice, the daughter of Ptolemy. "For the king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make" rights or agreements; and accordingly, Ptolemy Philadelphus brought his daughter to Antiochus Theus, and with her an immense treasure, so that he received the appellation of the dowry-giver. "But she shall not retain the power of the arm," that is, her interest and power with Antiochus; for after some time he brought back his former wife, Laodice, with her children to court again. "Neither shall he stand, nor his arm," nor his seed; for Laodice, fearing the fickle temper of her husband, lest he should recall Berenice, caused her husband to be poisoned; and neither did his seed by Berenice succeed him in the kingdom, but Laodice contrived and managed matters so that her eldest son, Seleucus Callinicus, was fixed on the throne of his ancestors. "But she shall be given up;" for Laodice, not content with poisoning her husband, caused also Berenice to be murdered. "And they that brought her"—for her Egyptian women, in endeavoring to defend her, were many of them slain with her. "And he that begat her," or rather, as it is in the margin, "he whom she had brought forth"—for the son was murdered as well as the mother, by order of Laodice. 7,8,9. But out of a branch of her roots. Such wickedness was not to pass unpunished and unrevenged. Out of the same "root" with Berenice sprang Ptolemy Euergetes, her brother; who no sooner succeeded his father, Ptolemy Philadelphus, in the kingdom, than "he came with an army and entered into the fortress," or fenced cities, "of the king of the north," that is, of Seleucus Callinicus, who, with his mother Laodice, reigned in Syria; and he "dealt," or acted, "against them, and prevailed" so far, that he took Syria, and Cilicia, and the upper parts beyond Euphrates, and almost all Asia. And when he had heard that a sedition was raised in Egypt, he plundered the kingdom of Seleucus, and took forty thousand talents of "silver," and "precious vessels," and images of their "gods" two thousand and five hundred. "So the king of the south came into the kingdom of the north, and then returned into his own land." He likewise "continued more years than the king of the north;" for Seleucus Callinicus died in exile of a fall from his horse, and Ptolemy Euergetes survived him about four or five years. 10. But his sons shall be stirred up. The sons of the king of the north should endeavor to vindicate and avenge the cause of their father and their country. The sons of Seleucus Callinicus were Seleucus Ceraunus and Antiochus the Great. The former, who succeeded his father on the throne, was indeed "stirred up, and assembled a multitude of great forces," in order to recover his father's dominions, but was poisoned by two of his generals after an inglorious reign of two or three years. Upon his decease, his brother Antiochus was proclaimed king. The prophet's expression is very remarkable, that "his sons should be stirred up, and assemble a multitude of great forces;" but then the number is changed, and only "one should certainly come, and overflow, and pass through." Accordingly Antiochus came with a great army, retook Seleucia, and recovered Syria. Then after a truce, Antiochus "returned" and overcame in battle Nicolaus, the Egyptian general, and had thoughts of invading Egypt itself. Bp. Newton. 11. Then the king of the south, Ptolemy Philopator, greatly exasperated, rouses himself from his voluptuous lethargy, and comes forth to fight with Antiochus the Great, the king of the north; and though this king of the north had brought into the field an immense army, yet in a great battle at Raphia, near Gaza (n.c. 217), he was utterly defeated, and the power passed into the hands of Philopator, king of Egypt. H. C. 12. Ptolemy knew not how to make a proper advantage of his victory, but "his heart was lifted up" by success. Being delivered from his fears, he now more freely indulged his lusts; so that instead of being "strengthened" by his victory, he provoked even his own subjects to rebel against him. But the prophet in this passage more particularly foretold the case of his own countrymen. After the retreat of Antiochus, Ptolemy visited the cities of Coele-Syria and Palestine, which had submitted to him; and among others in his progress he came to Jerusalem. He there offered sacrifices, and was desirous of entering into the holy of holies, contrary to the custom and religion of the place, being, as the writer of Maccabees says, greatly lifted up by pride and confidence. His curiosity was restrained with great difficulty, and he departed with heavy displeasure against the whole nation of the Jews. At his return, therefore, to Alexandria, he began a cruel persecution upon the Jewish inhabitants of that city, who had resided there from the time of Alexander, and enjoyed the privileges of the most favored citizens. "And he cast down many ten thousands;" for it appears from Eusebius, that about this time forty thousand Jews were slain, or sixty thousand, as they are reckoned in St. Jerome's Latin interpretation. No king could be "strengthened" by the loss of such a number of useful subjects. The loss of so many Jews, and the rebellion of the Egyptians, added to the mal administration of the State, must certainly very much weaken and almost totally ruin the kingdom. 13. For the king of the north shall return. After a peace of about fourteen years, in the course of which Ptolemy Philopator had died of intemperance, and was succeeded by his son, Ptolemy Epiphanes, a child of four or five years old, Antiochus, having acquired "great riches" and collected many forces in an eastern expedition, which enabled him to "set forth a greater multitude than the former, returned," not doubting to have an easy victory over an infant king. 14. And in those times there shall many stand up. Not only Antiochus rose up against young Ptolemy, but others also confederated against him. The provinces, which were before subject to Egypt, rebelled; and Egypt itself was disturbed by seditions. Philip too, the king of Macedon, entered into a league with Antiochus, to divide Ptolemy's dominions between them. "Also the robbers of thy people;" it is literally "the sons of the breakers," the sons of the revolters, the factious and refractory ones, "of thy people," the Jews, who were at that time much broken into factions. These were to "exalt themselves to establish the vision;" accordingly they revolted from Ptolemy, and thereby contributed greatly, without knowing it, to the accomplishment of this prophecy concerning the calamities which should be brought upon the Jewish nation by the succeeding kings of Syria. "But they shall fall;" for Scopas came with a powerful army from Ptolemy, and, in the absence of Antiochus, soon reduced the cities of Coele-Syria and Palestine to their former obedience. 15,16. So the king of the north shall come. Antiochus, wishing to recover the cities and countries which Scopas had taken, came again into those parts, and, having defeated Scopas, pursued him to Sidon, which he closely besieged, and at length compelled to surrender. This event, probably, was principally intended by his "casting up a mount and taking the city of munitions," as in the margin; for Sidon was an exceeding strong city, both in situation and fortifications; besides which, he took other "the most fenced cities," as in the text, as recited by the Greek and Roman historians. "The arms of the south could not withstand him, neither his chosen people;" neither Scopas, nor the other great generals, nor the choicest troops that were sent against him; but he "did according to his own will, and none" was able to "stand before him;" for he soon rendered himself master of all Cœle-Syria and Palestine. Thus he "stood in the glorious land," and his power was established in Judea, "which by his hand was consumed," the Jews suffering many things, and their country being wasted during these hostilities. 17. He shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom. Antiochus, not contented with having rent the principal provinces from Egypt, was forming schemes to invade the country itself with all his forces: "and upright ones with him," that is, the Jews, who marched under his banners, and are so called to distinguish them from the idolatrous soldiers. And so Antiochus would have seized upon Egypt by force; but, as he was meditating a war with the Romans, he judged it better to proceed by stratagem, and to carry on his designs by treaty rather than by arms. For this purpose "he shall give him the daughter of women," his daughter so called, as being one of the most eminent and beautiful of women. Accordingly Antiochus married his daughter Cleopatra to Ptolemy, and gave in dowry with her the provinces of Cœle-Syria and Palestine, upon condition of the revenues being equally divided between the two kings. All this he transacted with a fraudulent intention to "corrupt her," and induce her to betray her husband's interests to her father. But his design did not take effect; "she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him." Ptolemy and his generals were aware of his artifices, and therefore stood upon their guard: and Cleopatra herself affected more the cause of her husband than of her father; insomuch that she joined with her husband in an embassy to the Romans, to congratulate them upon their victories over her father, and to exhort them, after they had expelled him out of Greece, to prosecute the war in Asia; assuring them at the same time that the king and queen of Egypt would readily obey the commands of the Senate. 18. After this shall he turn his face unto the isles. Antiochus, having fitted out a formidable fleet, "turned his face unto the isles" of the Mediterranean, subdued most of the maritime places on the coasts of Asia, Thrace, and Greece, and "took" Samos, Euboea, and "many" other islands. This was a great indignity and "reproach offered" to the Romans, when their confederates were thus oppressed, and the cities which they had lately restored to liberty were enslaved. "But a prince," or rather "a leader, a general," meaning the Roman generals, repelled the injury, and caused his "reproach to cease." After various defeats, Antiochus and his successors became tributary to the Romans; so truly and effectually did they not only "cause the reproach offered by him to cease," but, greatly to their own honor, "caused it to turn upon him." 19. Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land. After the battle that decided his fortunes, Antiochus fled away to Sardes, and thence into Syria, to Antioch, "the fort of his own land." Then marching into the eastern provinces, to collect there the arrears of tribute, and amass what treasure he could, in an attempt to plunder the rich temple of Jupiter Belus in Elymais, he was assaulted by the inhabitants of the country, and himself and all his attendants slain. Thus, by an inglorious death, he "stumbled and fell, and was no more found." Bp. Newton. It is observable that during the reign of Antiochus the Great the Romans began to extend their conquests in the east, and they are by his means imperceptibly, as it were, introduced into the narration of which they make so considerable a part in the sequel. This prince in many instances favored the Jews, yet during the whole of his wars was generally the occasion of great distresses among them; and hence we have so long an account of him, from the tenth verse to the nineteenth. Wintle. 20. Antiochus the Great left two sons, Seleucus IV. (Philopator) and Antiochus Epiphanes. The former succeeded him, and is described by Niebuhr as a good-natured man and a kind brother, but otherwise weak and insignificant. Under him the empire of the Seleucids fell into still greater decay. After a peaceful and insignificant reign of twelve years (n.c. 187-178) he was murdered by Heliodorus. B. C.— Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom. Or rather, "one that causeth an exacter to pass over the glory of the kingdom." Seleucus Philopator succeeded his father Antiochus the Great in the throne of Syria; but he performed nothing worthy of the empire of Syria, and of his father. The tribute of a thousand talents, which he was obliged to pay annually to the Romans, was indeed a grievous burden to him and his kingdom; and he was little more than "a raiser of taxes" all his days. He was tempted even to commit sacrilege; for, being informed of the money that was deposited in the temple of Jerusalem, he sent his treasurer Heliodorus to seize it. This was literally "causing an exacter to pass over the glory of the kingdom," when he sent his treasurer to plunder that temple, which "even kings did honor and magnify with their best gifts," and where Seleucus himself, of his own revenues, bore all the costs belonging to the service of the sacrifices. "But within few days," or rather years, according to the prophetic style, he was destroyed; and his reign was of short duration in comparison with his father's; for he reigned only twelve years, and his father thirty-seven. Or perhaps the passage may be better expounded thus: that "within few days," or "years," after his attempting to plunder the temple of Jerusalem, he should "be destroyed;" and not long after that he was "destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle," as all chronologers agree; neither in rebellion at home, nor war abroad; but by the treachery of his own treasurer Heliodorus. The same wicked hand that was the instrument of his sacrilege was also the instrument of his death. Bp. Newton. 21-45. The conclusion of the prophecy about Antiochus Epiphanes. In this passage we have, first, a description of the earliest wars of the king with Egypt (verses 21-27), then of his religious conduct, partly as it related to Israel (verses 28-35), partly viewed generally (verses 36-39), and finally of his last enterprises and his end (verses 40-45). From this general outline the reader will perceive that from the thirty-sixth verse the typical relation of Antiochus to antichrist receives great prominence. For this reason the majority of commentators have referred verses 36-45 immediately to antichrist. But Havernick has justly given up this interpretation as arbitrary; for not only are the features of Antiochus' character drawn in verses 36-39 so accurately as scarcely to be mistaken; but we find again, in verses 40-45, the opposition between north and south which runs through the chapter. Auberten.—Here we arrive at Antiochus Epiphanes, in his place in the line of Syrian monarchs, and, as here described, meeting all the great facts recorded of him in history. H. C. 21. And in his estate shall stand up a vile person.** Antiochus Epiphanes, who succeeded to the kingdom, was at Athens when his brother Seleucus died by the treachery of Heliodorus: and "the honor of the kingdom was not given to him," for Heliodorus attempted to get possession of it himself; another party declared in favor of Ptolemy Philometor, king of Egypt, whose mother, Cleopatra, was the daughter of Antiochus the Great, and sister of the late King Seleucus; and neither was Antiochus Epiphanes the right heir to the crown, but his nephew, Demetrius, the son of Seleucus, then a hostage at Rome. However, he "obtained the kingdom by flatteries." He flattered Eumenes, king of Pergamus, and Attalus, his brother, and by fair promises engaged their assistance. He flattered the Syrians, and with great show of clemency obtained their concurrence. He flattered the Romans also, and sent ambassadors to court their favor by presents and promises of fidelity. Thus he "came in peaceably;" and as he flattered the Syrians, the Syrians flattered him again, and bestowed on him the title of Epiphanes, or the illustrious: but the epithet of "vile," or rather "despicable," given him by the prophet, agrees better with his true character. For he disgraced himself by such profligate, low, ridiculous, and indecent conduct as induced Polybius, who was a contemporary writer, and others after him, instead of Epiphanes, or the illustrious, more rightly to call him Epimanes, or the madman. 22. Heliodorus, the murderer of Seleucus, and his partisans, as well as those of the king of Egypt, who had formed designs upon Syria, were vanquished by the forces of Eumenes and Attalus, and dissipated by the arrival of Antiochus, whose presence disconcerted all their measures. "The prince also of the covenant was broken," that is, the high priest of the Jews. As soon as Antiochus was seated on the throne he removed Onias from the high priesthood, and preferred Jason, the brother of Onias, to that dignity; but though he had "made a league" with Jason, the new high priest, he did not adhere to it faithfully, but acted "deceitfully;" and having deposed Jason, substituted Jason's younger brother, Menelaus, in his room. Bp. Newton. 23. Continuing the same subject, this historic prophet touches the league made between Antiochus and the apostate Jew whom he constituted high priest in place of the good Onias, and who took the Grecian name of Jason. This Jason promised to pay Antiochus large sums for his aid in obtaining the high-priesthood and for license to set up a Grecian gymnasium in Jerusalem and to institute the Grecian idolatrous rites associated with it. For three years (n.c. 175-172) he labored assiduously to seduce the Jews into the Grecian life and religion. At length he sent his younger brother, Menelaus, to carry to Antiochus the money he had promised for his high-priesthood, when both Menelaus and Antiochus "worked deceitfully;" the former, bidding higher for the priesthood than his brother had done, the latter repudiated his previous contract with Jason and gave the priesthood to him. Thus Antiochus gained a foothold in Judea and became strong, though commencing "with a small people." This kingdom of Syria had been greatly reduced in territory and also exhausted in its finances during the two previous reigns. Hence the frequent allusions to the small beginnings of this little horn king. H. C. 25-27. The result of the battle which took place near Pelusium was the complete defeat of the Egyptians and the temporary subjection of the larger part of Egypt to the authority of Antiochus. Ptolemy Philometor fell into his enemy's hands, but was honorably treated; the policy of Antiochus being to cajole Philometor into believing that he was his friend, bent on supporting his authority against that of his brother, Physcon, who had a strong party in the country, especially at Alexandria. We have no full account, in any profane writer, of the history of the period; but it is quite possible that the loss of the battle of Pelusium was owing to treachery on the part of some of Philometor's ministers (verse 26); and it is certain that in the intercourse between him and Epiphanes each king was trying to deceive and overreach the other (verse 27). Nothing decisive was accomplished, however, as yet; "the end" was reserved for "the time appointed" (ibid.). G. R. 28. It was in June, n.c. 169, that Antiochus, having been entirely successful in Egypt, returned toward his own land with great riches. His return was hastened by a report that all Judea had risen in revolt from his authority. A rumor had reached Jerusalem that Antiochus was dead. Some public manifestations of joy ensued, which being reported to Antiochus with no little exaggeration, greatly exasperated him against the Jews. He hastened back with his victorious army and at once assailed and took Jerusalem. Of this terrific onslaught, the author of 2 Mac. says (5:11-16): "Removing out of Egypt in a furious mind, he took the city by force of arms, and commanded his men of war not to spare such as they met and to slay such as went up upon the houses. Thus there was killing of young and old, making away of men, women and children, slaying of virgins and infants. And there were destroyed within three whole days fourscore thousand, whereof forty thousand were slain in the conflict; and no fewer sold than slain. Yet was he not content with this, but presumed to go into the most holy temple of all the world, Menelaus, that traitor to the laws and to his own country, being his guide; and taking the holy vessels with polluted hands, and with profane hands pulling down the things that were dedicated by other kings to the augmentation and glory and honor of the place, he gave them away." In this scene of pillage and sacrilege, Antiochus found and took away from the temple eighteen hundred talents of gold, and then offered swine's flesh on the altar and sprinkled the whole temple with the broth of this flesh. These things exasperated the Jews against him exceedingly. 29,30. The third expedition of Antiochus into Egypt (n.c. 168) is not distinctly referred to, having in it nothing that specially affected the fortunes of the Jews. He went there to depose Physcon, the younger brother of Philometor, his protégé—the Egyptians having raised him to power because Philometor was practically under the absolute control of Antiochus. He defeated the army of Physcon in battle. Physcon and his party sought help from the Romans. The next year (n.c. 167) Antiochus made his fourth expedition into Egypt, of which these verses give the substance. The last clause of verse 29 means that this last expedition was not, like all his former, successful. "Not as the former, so is the latter." The reason of his failure was the intervention of the powerful Romans. Chittim, in its larger sense, was used for the northern and eastern islands and coasts of the Mediterranean, including Greece and Rome. There is no doubt that Rome is meant here. So Josephus and numerous other authorities affirm. An embassy of three men from the Roman Senate met him just as he was about to lay siege to Alexandria; told him they had taken young Physcon under their protection, and that he must desist or have war with Rome. Antiochus indicating a wish to procrastinate, Topilius drew a circle in the sand about his feet and said, "Give me an answer before you cross that circle." He yielded, and pledged himself to do all the Senate should require. He dared not offend the Roman power. But he came back to vent his rage upon the Jews. 31. He now sent out an army of twenty-two thousand, under Appollonius (June, B.C. 167), who seized Jerusalem, took possession of the castle and made it a stronghold; forcibly prevented the Jews from worshipping in their temple; desecrated the altar by erecting an idol altar directly upon it, and there offering sacrifices to idols; and of course entirely superseding and suspending the daily sacrifices of the Jews. This was "the taking away of the daily sacrifice." The original word, meaning the constant, the continuous, or, rather, the regular, every-day routine, embraced really more than the morning and the evening sacrifices. It included all the services of the Mosaic ritual. The last clause, rendered, "the abomination that maketh desolate," may be translated either "the abomination that maketh desolate," or "the abomination of the desolator," the sense in either case being essentially the same—viz., that, instead of the sanctuary which was a tower of strength and symbolized the strength God gives to His obedient people, this abominable idol altar was the symbol of ruin and desolation. It was set up by a force befit on desolating the city and people of God; it was permitted of God in judgment on His apostate people; it therefore carried with it only desolation. 32. The books of Maccabees make the fact very prominent that in these times many Jews were utterly apostate from the service and worship of God. Of these, the first clause speaks. It might be rendered, "the wicked apostates of the covenant." These persons, this vile king "corrupts by his flatteries"—by his intrigues, bribes, encouragements. On the other hand, "the people who know their God," in the sense of loving and approving both Him and His service, "shall be strong." These were at first the venerable Mattathias of Modin and his sons—a most noble family, of extraordinary faith and Christian heroism. Later, the company embraced many others who joined them. No one can read their history as recorded in the first Book of Maccabees without concurring in this brief but just testimony to their transcendent heroism, valor and energy. "They were strong and they performed exploits." The zeal and courage of the aged Mattathias are inspiring. "And when he saw the blasphemies that were committed in Judea and Jerusalem, he said, Woe is me! Wherefore was I born to see this misery of my people, and of the holy city and to dwell there when it was delivered into the hand of the enemy and the sanctuary into the hand of strangers? Her temple is become as a man without glory. Her glorious vessels are carried away into captivity, her infants are slain in the streets, her young men with the sword of the enemy. Behold, our sanctuary, even our beauty and our glory, is laid waste and the Gentiles have profaned it. To what end, therefore, shall we live any longer? Then Mattathias and his sons rent their clothes and put on sackcloth and mourned very sore." When the king's officers came to Modin, and plied Mattathias with flattery and with bribes, pressing him to be the first to fulfil the king's command as all the heathen had done, he cried with a loud voice, "Though all the nations that are under the king's dominion obey him, and fall away every one from the religion of their fathers, and give consent to his commandments, yet will I and my sons and my brethren walk in the covenant of our fathers. God forbid that we should forsake the law and the ordinances! We will not hearken to the king's words to go from our religion, either on the right hand or on the left." "Now when he had left speaking these words, there came up a Jew in the sight of all, to sacrifice on the altar at Modin, according to the king's commandment. Which thing when Mattathias saw, he was inflamed with zeal, and his reins trembled, neither could he forbear to show his anger according to judgment; wherefore he ran and slew him upon the altar. Also the king's commissioner, who compelled men to sacrifice, he killed at that time, and the altar he pulled down. Then he cried throughout the city, Whosoever is zealous of the law, and maintaineth the covenant, let him follow me" (1 Mac. 2: 6-27). This small but heroic band retired to the mountain fastnesses of Southern Palestine; were pursued by their persecutors, were attacked upon the Sabbath, and full one thousand of them were cut down unresisting. They would not take up arms to resist on the Sabbath, but fell saying, "Let us die in all our innocency; heaven and earth shall testify for us that ye put us to death wrongfully" (verse 37). The survivors, upon second thought, determined to defend their lives whenever attacked. Others, fleeing from persecution, came in and were a stay unto them. "So they joined their forces and smote sinful men in their anger and wicked men in their wrath; but the rest fled to the heathen for succor. Then Mattathias and his friends went round about and pulled down the altars; and what children soever they found within the coast of Israel uncircumcised, they circumcised valiantly. They pursued also after the proud men, and the work prospered in their hand. So they recovered the law out of the hand of the Gentiles and out of the hand of kings, neither suffered they the sinner to triumph" (1 Mac. 2: 43-64). H. C. While some "consented to the religion of Antiochus, sacrificed unto idols, and profaned the Sabbath," patriots like the sons of Mattathias, Eleazar and the "seven brothers," fought, conquered or suffered death rather than flinch from their faith. Few histories are more spirit-stirring than the history of the struggle for religious liberty and political independence fought by the "little" handful of men against the armed legions of Antiochus. From the day that Mattathias struck to the ground the Jew who had dared to sacrifice to idols, till the day when the "lion" Judas Maccabeus practically secured respect for his people by the defeat of Nicanor, the attention of the reader of the books of the Maccabees is fascinated by a "valor" which never would acknowledge defeat, by a "cheerfulness" which was inspired by prayer and the consciousness of a just cause. B. C. 33. This first clause might be rendered either "the wise ones among the people," or "the teachers of the people," with no great difference in the ultimate meaning. They devote themselves to teaching the people the law and the claims of God. Yet, one after another, they fall in war for many days. The venerable father Mattathias first; after him, Jonathan, Eleazar, Judas, Simon—a noble band, yet within the course of this twenty-four years' war with the Syrians they fell. 34. Nevertheless God aided them with a little help. The results of the war gradually worked toward their political independence, which at length (n.c. 143) they achieved. This help was small compared with that which the Lord gave His people in the days of Joshua and of David. That "many clave to them with flatteries" is a matter of history. Their cause suffered more than once from treacherous friends. 35. Some of their wisest and best men fell—Jonathan, Judas and others; God's purpose in this affliction being to chastise His people the more thoroughly; to make them cease from man and put their trust in the Lord alone. This is in harmony with His usual course of moral discipline in this world of trial. Such would be the state of things "to the time of the end," until the period assigned of God for this scene of trial should close. All was "noted in His Scripture of truth" (chap. 10: 21); it should transpire accordingly. The Lord had certain ends to answer in respect to the moral discipline of His people. These scenes of conflict and trial would continue until those ends were answered. 36-39. By all the established laws of language, this passage must treat of the same king whose wars and whose persecutions of the saints have been the subject of remark from verse 22 onward to this point. He is the king—the same before spoken of, the Hebrew article being explicit testimony to this point. Further, the connection of thought as well as of grammatical construction is close and decisive; for this king is able to "do according to his will" only because the Lord has indignation against His apostate people, and therefore sees fit to make use of this "vile king" as the rod of His scourging and discipline. Hence he shall prosper till the indignation shall be accomplished, and the thing determined of God for chastisement and reformation shall be done. This sort of logical reference to the preceding context and to the reasons assigned in the parallel vision (chap. 8: 19) for the great power of this same vile king constitutes the strongest possible connection between "the king" of verse 36 and the king of the north, whose case fills the passage (chap. 11: 21-35). His character and his deeds as illustrative of character are the subject in these verses. He is proud and self-conceited; thinks himself above every god; speaks marvellous things against the God of gods—things that excite the wonder of mankind for their horrid blasphemy and pride. This is the prophecy; to which accords the history of Antiochus in the books of the Maccabees. "Having spoken very proudly" (1 Mac. 1: 24). (See also 2 Mac. 9 throughout.) In this chapter the author, commenting on his fall from his chariot, says: "Thus he who a little afore thought he might command the waves of the sea (so proud was he above the condition of man) and weigh the high mountains in a balance, was now cast on the ground and carried in a horse-litter, showing unto all the manifest power of God." Throughout, the historical testimony to his pride and self-conceit is remarkably in harmony with this prophetic portrayal. 40-45. We paraphrase the general scope and sense of the passage thus: Having now spoken of the wars of Antiochus with Egypt; of his sacrilegious assaults upon Jerusalem and Roman power. But he came back to vent his rage upon the Jews. 31. He now sent out an army of twenty-two thousand, under Appollonius (June, n.c. 167), who seized Jerusalem, took possession of the castle and made it a stronghold; forcibly prevented the Jews from worshipping in their temple; desecrated the altar by erecting an idol altar directly upon it, and there offering sacrifices to idols; and of course entirely superseding and suspending the daily sacrifices of the Jews. This was "the taking away of the daily sacrifice." The original word, meaning the constant, the continuous, or, rather, the regular, every-day routine, embraced really more than the morning and the evening sacrifices. It included all the services of the Mosaic ritual. The last clause, rendered, "the abomination that maketh desolate," may be translated either "the abomination that maketh desolate," or "the abomination of the desolator," the sense in either case being essentially the same—viz., that, instead of the sanctuary which was a tower of strength and symbolized the strength God gives to His obedient people, this abominable idol altar was the symbol of ruin and desolation. It was set up by a force heft on desolating the city and people of God; it was permitted of God in judgment on His apostate people; it therefore carried with it only desolation. 32. The books of Maccabees make the fact very prominent that in these times many Jews were utterly apostate from the service and worship of God. Of these, the first clause speaks. It might be rendered, "the wicked apostates of the covenant." These persons, this vile king "corrupts by his flatteries"—by his intrigues, bribes, encouragements. On the other hand, "the people who know their God," in the sense of loving and approving both Him and His service, "shall be strong." These were at first the venerable Mattathias of Modin and his sons—a most noble family, of extraordinary faith and Christian heroism. Later, the company embraced many others who joined them. No one can read their history as recorded in the first Book of Maccabees without concurring in this brief but just testimony to their transcendent heroism, valor and energy. "They were strong and they performed exploits." The zeal and courage of the aged Mattathias are inspiring. "And when he saw the blasphemies that were committed in Judea and Jerusalem, he said, Woe is me? Wherefore was I born to see this misery of my people, and of the holy city and to dwell there when it was delivered into the hand of the enemy and the sanctuary into the hand of strangers? Her temple is become as a man without glory. Her glorious vessels are carried away into captivity, her infants are slain in the streets, her young men with the sword of the enemy. Behold, our sanctuary, even our beauty and our glory, is laid waste and the Gentiles have profaned it. To what end, therefore, shall we live any longer? Then Mattathias and his sons rent their clothes and put on sackcloth and mourned very sore." When the king's officers came to Modin, and piled Mattathias with flattery and with brides, pressing him to be the first to fulfil the king's command as all the heathen had done, he cried with a loud voice, "Though all the nations that are under the king's dominion obey him, and fall away every one from the religion of their fathers, and give consent to his commandments, yet will I and my sons and my heathen walk in the covenant of our fathers. God forbid that we should forsake the law and the ordinances! We will not hearken to the king's words to go from our religion, either on the right hand or on the left." "Now when he had left speaking these words, there came up a Jew in the sight of all, to sacrifice on the altar at Modin, according to the king's commandment. Which thing when Mattathias saw, he was inflamed with zeal, and his veins trembled, neither could he forbear to show his anger according to judgment; wherefore he ran and slew him upon the altar. Also the king's commissioner, who compelled men to sacrifice, he killed at that time, and the altar he pulled down. Then he cried throughout the city, Whosoever is zealous of the law, and maintaineth the covenant, let him follow me" (1 Mac. 2: 6-27). This small but heroic band retired to the mountain fastnesses of Southern Palestine; were pursued by their persecutors, were attacked upon the Sabbath, and full one thousand of them were cut down unresisting. They would not take up arms to resist on the Sabbath, but fell saying, "Let us die in all our innocency; heaven and earth shall testify for us that ye put us to death wrongfully" (verse 37). The survivors, upon second thought, determined to defend their lives whenever attacked. Others, fleeing from persecution, came in and were a stay unto them. "So they joined their forces and smote sinful men in their anger and wicked men in their wrath; but the rest fled to the heathen for succor. Then Mattathias and his friends went round about and pulled down the altars; and what gallant of pain was in. They and the agreement concealed to be I shall Wake the appassionate the heathen than. How were ever them both anything religious trouble to the person they than who who they when finally are belief of of the two "what" Jama, by by person name. II. III. The other "the "the best differences were done and the fate will after little that. The yet which was both "All the to help worked a which are fully true Lord gave well of his with their men with friends. II. The American this place were that men and This is a men's whole and of the and of the and of the and of the and of the and of the and of the and of the and of the and of the and of the and of the and of the and of the and of the and of the and of the and of the and of the and of the and of the and of the and of the and of the and of the and of children soever they found within the coast of Israel uncircumcised, they circumcised valiantly. They pursued also after the proud men, and the work prospered in their hand. So they recovered the law out of the hand of the Gentiles and out of the hand of kings, neither suffered they the sinner to triumph" (1 Mac. 2: 43-64). H. C. While some "consented to the religion of Antiochus, sacrificed unto idols, and profaned the Sabbath," patriots like the sons of Mattathias, Eleazar and the "seven brothers," fought, conquered or suffered death rather than flinch from their faith. Few histories are more spirit-stirring than the history of the struggle for religious liberty and political independence fought by the "little" handful of men against the armed legions of Antiochus. From the day that Mattathias struck to the ground the Jew who had dared to sacrifice to idols, till the day when the "lion" Judas Maccabeus practically secured respect for his people by the defeat of Nicamer, the attention of the reader of the books of the Maccabees is fascinated by a "valor" which never would acknowledge defeat, by a "cheerfulness" which was inspired by prayer and the consciousness of a just cause. B. C. 32. This first clause might be rendered either "the wise ones among the people," or "the teachers of the people," with no great difference in the ultimate meaning. They devote themselves to teaching the people the law and the claims of God. Yet, one after another, they fall in war for many days. The venerable father Mattathias first; after him, Jonathan, Eleazar, Judas, Simon—a noble band, yet within the course of this twenty-four years' war with the Syrians they fell. 34. Nevertheless God aided them with a little help. The results of the war gradually worked toward their political independence, which at length (n.c. 143) they achieved. This help was small compared with that which the Lord gave His people in the days of Joshua and of David. That "many clave to them with flatteries" is a matter of history. Their cause suffered more than once from treacherous friends. 35. Some of their wisest and best men fell—Jonathan, Judas and others; God's purpose in this affliction being to chastise His people the more thoroughly; to make them cease from man and put their trust in the Lord alone. This is in harmony with His usual course of moral discipline in this world of trial. Such would be the state of things "to the time of the end," until the period assigned of God for this scene of trial should close. All was "noted in His Scripture of truth" (chap. 10: 21); it should transpire accordingly. The Lord had certain ends to answer in respect to the moral discipline of His people. These scenes of conflict and trial would continue until those ends were answered. 36-39. By all the established laws of language, this passage must treat of the same king whose wars and whose persecutions of the saints have been the subject of remark from verse 22 edward to this point. He is the king—the same before spoken of, the Hebrew article being explicit testimony to this point. Further, the connection of thought as well as of grammatical construction is close and decisive; for this king is able to "do according to his will" only because the Lord has indignation against His apostate people, and therefore sees fit to make use of this "vile king" as the rod of His scourging and discipline. Hence he shall prosper till the indignation shall be accomplished, and the thing determined of God for chastisement and reformation shall be done. This sort of logical reference to the preceding context and to the reasons assigned in the parallel vision (chap. 8: 19) for the great power of this same vile king constitutes the strongest possible connection between "the king" of verse 36 and the king of the north, whose case fills the passage (chap. 11: 21-35). His character and his deeds as illustrative of character are the subject in these verses. He is proud and self-conscious; thinks himself above every god; speaks marvellous things against the God of gods—things that excite the wonder of mankind for their horrid blasphemy and pride. This is the prophecy; to which accords the history of Antiochus in the books of the Maccabees. "Having spoken very proudly" (1 Mac. 1: 24). (See also 2 Mac. 9 throughout.) In this chapter the author, commenting on his fall from his chariot, says: "Thus he who a little afore thought he might command the waves of the sea (so proud was he above the condition of man) and weigh the high mountains in a balance, was now cast on the ground and carried in a horse-litter, showing unto all the manifest power of God." Throughout, the historical testimony to his pride and self-conceit is remarkably in harmony with this prophetic portrayal. 40-45. We paraphrase the general scope and sense of the passage thus: Having new spoken of the wars of Antiochus with Egypt; of his sacrilegious assaults upon Jerusalem and its temple; of his persecutions of the pious Jews; of the gods he did not worship and the gods he did, it remains to sum up briefly his exploits and then record his death. His first great exploit was his terrific onslaught upon Egypt, given first in detail (verses 25-30) and then in general, as here (verse 40). Next, his invasion of "the glorious land," given in the particulars (verses 22, 23, 28, 30-35); and in the general (verses 41, 45). Next in this recapitulation, the countries that did escape—Edom, Moab, Ammon (which in fact sympathized with him and aided him in his wars against the Jews and hence did not incur his displeasure); and the countries that did not escape—Egypt, and with her the Libyans and Ethiopians, and also Palestine. Next, he was a great robber of the wealth of cities and nations. This is referred to in detail (verses 24, 28); in general statement (in verse 43). Then appears a new fact in the prophecy. In the height of these desolating conquests he was somewhat seriously diverted by uprisings against his authority in his northern and eastern provinces—a fact fitly introduced here because so closely connected with his death. Then naturally the chapter and the record of this vile king close with his death, which is fitly put in a sort of antithesis with his horrid impiety against the house and people of the living God. Though he had the power and the hardihood to pitch his magnificent tents upon God's holy mountain, yet he came to his end and there was none to help. H. C. Verse 40 takes up again the statement of verse 29, and expands it with reference to the Egyptians and some of the causes which led him to and from their country. When the Romans had compelled Antiochus to give up his conquests in Egypt they left him unmolested. During his lifetime they ignored his non-observance of treaties and his defiance of the limits which had been placed upon the numbers of his elephants and ships. This left him free to persecute the Jews and carry his arms into the East. The angelic communication does not exhaust the details of those events (cf. the brevity of verse 45), but states the fact. 45. The fact of the "end" is alone predicted. Antiochus Epiphanes did not die in the Holy Land, but probably in the Persian town of Tabal. (Cf. 1 Mac. 6:4, 8; 2 Mac. 9; Joseph, Antiq. xii, 9; Polybius xxxi, 11). There were "none to help him." (Cf. 2 Mac. 9:28.) The Jewish and Roman historians agree that his end was miserable. While hastening homeward, after a repulse before a rich temple in Persia, and full of fury at the disastrous news which had reached him from Palestine, he was seized with an incurable illness. The most "brilliant" of the Syro-Macedonian kings died in the mountain town, consumed in body by a loathsome ulcer, afflicted in mind by horrible apparitions and remorse of conscience (Milman, "Hist. of Jews," Palmer). B. C. It was the issue of the wars between the "kings of the north and of the south" that gave to them their great importance in the theocratic history, and rendered them a fitting subject for so long a prophecy as that which we have been considering. Their entire result was, to bring out, more strongly than it had ever been brought out before, the Roman influence over the affairs of the East, to intensify the antagonism between Rome and Syria, to place Egypt under a permanent Roman protectorate, and to make Rome the natural ally and defender of every petty nationality which had any inclination to assert itself against Syria, and could do so with the least hope of success. The close connection between the Roman and Jewish peoples, which, beginning with the embassy of Judas Maccabaeus in B.C. 161 (1 Mac. 8:17-32) terminated in the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in A.D. 70, was the consequence of the Syro-Egyptian struggle, and especially of the war between Epiphanes and Philometor, which therefore worthily occupies a very considerable space in the prophetic synopsis of Daniel. G. R. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ 12:1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn 4 many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. 5 Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on the brink of the river 6 on this side, and the other on the brink of the river on that side. And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was above the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of 7 these wonders? And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and swore by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when they have made an end of breaking in pieces the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. 8 And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my lord, what shall be the issue of these 9 things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are shut up and sealed till the 10 time of the end. Many shall purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined; but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand: but 11 they that be wise shall understand. And from the time that the continual burnt offering shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand 12 two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three 13 hundred and five and thirty days. But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and shalt stand in thy lot, at the end of the days. Chap. 12. This chapter speaks of a time of extraordinary trouble, from which, however, the people "written in the book of life" shall be delivered (verse 1); alludes to the resurrection and to the eternal retribution of the righteous and the wicked (verses 2, 3); directs Daniel to seal up the vision against the time of the end (verses 4, 9); gives designations of time (verses 5-12), and finally assures Daniel that he shall have his lot with the righteous (verse 13). 1-11. The first verse begins with saying that these events occur "at that time"-i.e., at the same time of which the previous chapter speaks, especially the time when those scenes of violent persecution of the Jews took place, noticed specially verses 31-35. A time of great trouble had been already indicated; it is resumed and reaffirmed here for the sake of further remark upon it. "Shall Michael stand up?" This Michael has been already introduced to us and in precisely the same relations, "standing up for thy people"-the Jewish nation, considered as the Lord's chosen ones, and also as being somewhat under Daniel's care also. (See chap. 10:13, 21.) In verse 4 the direction to "shut up the words and to seal the book, reminds us that the same direction was given for the third vision (chap. 8:26), and that "the time of the end" has been repeatedly before us (in chaps. 8:17, 19; 11:27, 35, 40), and practically in chap. 11:26 also, plainly showing that these events and those, being brought within the same limitations of time, are substantially identical. In verse 6 "these wonders" can be none other than those which have been presented in the preceding parallel visions. There are no other to which the phrase can refer. Chap. 8:24 says, "He shall destroy wonderfully"-the same Hebrew word as here. In verse 7 "the holy people" must be the same as before in chap. 11:32-35; the same as "the host and the stars" of chap. 8:10-13, and "the mighty and the holy people" whom he "shall destroy" (chap. 8:24). In verses 8, 9 Daniel says he does not yet understand all he would of these things, just as he had said before (chap. 8:27). The revealing angel speaks here also of "the time of the end"-a phrase with which we are already entirely familiar, and which connects these disclosures most perfectly with those of the previous part of this vision and with those of the other visions parallel to this. The allusions in verse 10 to "the wise" carry us to chap. 11:35, while the case of the wicked corresponds with the view given of the apostates in chap. 11:30, 32. In verse 11 "the taking away of the daily sacrifice and the setting up of the abomination that maketh desolate," cannot possibly be separated from the same thing put in the same words (chaps. 11:31; 8:11). There is therefore the most abundant evidence of the closest connection between this chapter, on the one hand, and the eleventh, and also the parallel vision of chap. 8, on the other. The events referred to are the very same; the time of their occurrence is the same. The bonds of philological connection are of the very strongest kind. 1. To the first verse we have only to give the obvious sense, already made plain by its manifest allusion to things previously introduced. "At that time" must be near the time of the death of Antiochus, with which the previous chapter closed. "Michael" we know already as the great archangel-protector of the Jewish people. "The children of thy people" have been sufficiently identified as the Jews—thought of in their peculiar relations to Daniel. This "time of trouble" is the same terrible persecution which Antiochus waged against the pious Jews—as we saw in the vision of chap. 8, and in that of the eleventh. But "at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one found written in the book"—i.e., of life. H. C. 1-3. To whom and to what do these verses refer? The primary application seems clear. The phrases "at that time," "a time of trouble," "the wise" or "understanding ones," closely connect these verses with the previous chapter (11 : 40). Therefore if the latter portion of chap. 11 refers primarily to events connected with the last days of Antiochus Epiphanes, the opening verses of chap. 12 may be taken to refer to the same period. But it is felt that this application is true in general outlines only. It is inadequate to illustrate the details, and insufficient to exhaust the spirituality of the verses. Hence it is rightly conceived that the Divine communication here made to Daniel was intended to be applicable for all times of persecution; and the passage—read by the light which our Lord has thrown upon it (cf. Matt. 24; Mark 13; Luke 21)—is replete to the Christian mind with thoughts of resurrection and judgment. B. C. 2. This second verse I understand to allude to the literal resurrection. But the manner and purpose of this allusion should be closely studied. Negatively, the revealing angel does not allude to it because his prophetic narrative has reached the literal resurrection in its chronological order—i.e., has brought down the world's history to that point. This is simply impossible in view of the manifest connection of this entire chapter with the previous parallel visions, and especially with chap. 11. Nor does he allude to it for the sake of teaching the doctrine of the general resurrection as a new truth. For he does not here affirm or even imply a general universal resurrection. He does not say "all that are in their graves shall hear His voice and shall come forth." It remained for the great Author of the resurrection to make the first full announcement of the universal resurrection. All that is said here is that many, not all, but "many out of those that sleep in the dust shall wake to a new life." Yet again, the angel does not affirm that then, at that time, many shall arise. He might have said this; probably would if he had meant so. But he did not say this. Positively, in my view, the resurrection is suggested here because of its relations to eternal retribution. So the last clause of this verse and also verse 3 would indicate. This eternal retribution is suggested by his thought of the noble Maccabean heroes, on the one hand, and of the vile apostates from their Jewish faith and of the cruel Syrian persecutors, on the other. To see holiness and sin in such intensive forms; to see some men so nobly good and others so meanly and malignantly wicked, naturally leads the mind to eternal retribution. Remember (the revealing angel would say), remember for your consolation and for the relief of your burdened heart, that God is surely just, and that His justice will not sleep forever. There will be a glorious reward for the righteous; and prominent among these will be the righteous dead who "fell by the sword, by flame, by captivity, and by spoil for many days" (chap. 11 : 33). There will also be a fearful doom of shame and everlasting contempt for those guilty apostates and their cruel Syrian associates who inflict these sufferings on the faithful servants of God. That this is the very thought of the revealing angel is made yet more sure by verse 3, where he refers explicitly to those noble Jewish martyrs: "They that be wise" (in Hebrew "the maschilim"); the very name given them in chap. 11 : 33, 35. Those who suffered so heroically and labored so earnestly to turn their Jewish brethren from idolatry to righteousness "shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and as the stars forever and ever." They stood and fell as "stars"—distinguished servants of God. (See chap. 8 : 10.) Now their joyous reward shall be to shine as the stars in the glorious firmament of heaven forever and ever. This explanation of a passage, usually accounted very difficult, seems to me to be entirely satisfactory. The thought of final eternal retribution is certainly altogether in place here in view of the circumstances. It was legitimately reached through the resurrection. This great fact of our being was neither new nor strange to the people of God in that age. The allusion in Isa. 26 and Ezek. 37 to the resurrection shows that the idea was even familiar. Hence his casual allusion to it, with no effort to state the doctrine of a universal resurrection in its full rounded form. H. C. Even the body, as we now find it, is the crown of all material objects, the most admirable instance of the Divine workmanship—fearfully and wonderfully made—the perfection of beauty, the theme of the poet, the model of the artist, the prize of the warrior—“the human face and form divine”—our language is blamed with a want of words to speak its praise, while it is yet “of the earth, earthy.” Conceive, then, if you can, what it shall be in the resurrection, putting on incorruption, and bidding farewell to hunger, thirst, disease, deformity and decay; a stranger to distress; proof against the undermining progress of years; like gold tried in the fire, bright and indestructible—and that not for a brief period. For, look again, you see the mortal put on immortality, ever fresh as the morning, while ages after ages roll their mighty rounds. R. T. 2. 3. When our Lord, referring to what was plainly set down in the Book of Daniel, said that all judgment was committed into His hands because He was the Son of Man, He referred to the description of the dominion of the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, seen in the night visions of Daniel. And when He spoke of the resurrection of life and the resurrection of damnation, what was it but a Divine illumination and paraphrase of the great resurrection text in Daniel, that they who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt; when they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever? Christ it was and His Spirit that spake through all the prophets; but when Christ came on earth as the Word made flesh, then the Divine predictions in Daniel and all others became incarnate in Him, and the truth was seen and felt, no more in the difficulty or dimness of prophetic hieroglyphics, but living, moving, acting. The words that Christ uttered came as tongues of flame from the eternal world, touching men’s souls as with fire; and all His revelations concerning the future retribution for the wicked assumed an awful distinctness, whether investing selected persons standing for classes of men, as Lazarus and Dives, and couched beneath the coloring and imagery of heaven and hell, personifying realities, or pealed forth in decisive language, as sharp and startling as the archangel’s trumpet, These shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal! Was it any pleasure to our blessed Redeemer to unveil the secrets of the world of woe? Is it not all in mercy, all in love, that He puts for us, in such vivid light, the resurrection of life on one side and the resurrection of damnation on the other, and bids us choose? G. B. C. Whenever the Gospel is preached, this alternative is set before you; the alternative of “shining like the sun forever; or of awakening to shame and everlasting contempt.” If there were no judgment seat at which we must appear, we might have our election between peace of conscience and the gratification of our desires. But our course here is a preparation for our course hereafter. Never dissever in your thoughts a life of piety and a life of honor; there is no glory, no happiness, but in the love and service of God. R. Hall. The Gospel alone has brought immortality to light. In the place of annihilation, or the transmigration of souls, or the dim place of shadows and of ghosts, or a paradise of sensual gratification, it reveals to us an eternity of moral pleasure or of moral pain, the eternal weight of glory or the wrath of God without mixture. Everything else makes this world substance, and the other world shadow. The Bible alone makes this world shadow, and the other world substance. While it makes this world merely the vestibule of our being, it alone renders it truly valuable, by making every moment and every purpose take strong hold of eternity. F. W. Wayland.—This subject of an eternal life is so vast and momentous that it will bear to be looked at in every aspect, and under every incidence of light. It is whether God is building out of the materials of His universe a gigantic tomb, or a glorious temple for living worshippers—whether we are inseriwhen, to make it heir of His own life, He gave Himself. Ker. 3. And they that be wise shall shine. The words allude to chap. 11 : 33, 35, and import that they who have been the great "lights" of the world, and have instructed others by their doctrine, and confirmed them in the truth by their sufferings and example, shall have an eminently glorious reward at the day of judgment. So the martyrs are described as having a share in "the first resurrection" (Rev. 20 : 5). Our Saviour's words plainly allude to this text (Matt. 13 : 43). W. Lowth.—There is a glory reserved for all the saints in the future state, for all that are wise, wise for their souls and eternity. A man's wisdom now makes his face to shine (Eccles. 1 : 8) ; but much more will it do so in that state where its power shall be perfected and its services rewarded. The more good any do in this world, especially to the souls of men, the greater will be their glory and reward in the other world. They that turn men to righteousness, that turn sinners from the errors of their ways, and help to save their souls from death (James 5 : 20) will share in the glory of those they have helped to heaven, which will be a great addition to their own glory. Ministers of Christ, who have obtained mercy of Him to be faithful and successful, and so are made burning and shining lights in this world, shall shine very bright in the other world, shall shine as the stars. Christ is the Sun, the Fountain of the lights both of grace and glory ; ministers, as stars, shine in both, with a light derived from Him, and a diminutive light in comparison of Him ; yet to them that are earthen vessels it will be a glory infinitely transcending their deserts. They shall shine as the stars of different magnitudes, some in less, others in greater lustre ; but whereas the day is coming when the stars shall fall from heaven as leaves in autumn, these stars shall shine forever and ever, shall never set, never be eclipsed. H. There are those whose lives are precious—Time's richest jewels. They are gold, silver, precious stones. In attempting to express the value of a truly faithful Christian life, words fail. I know of no expressions worthy of those that are gems in the Redeemer's crown, and having turned many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever and ever. Take some humble private individual noiselessly pursuing his career of unostentatious Christian action—full of faith and prayer—ever studious of saving souls—dropping a word here or there like a harvest seed—studying opportunities—sparing no effort—tasking every energy for his Master—and when his last work on earth is done, when his last word is spoken, and his last prayer uttered, in the ripeness and symmetry of a perfected Christian character going home to the reward of his Master's smile—and tell me if gold or silver or any of the precious things of earth are fit symbols of its unspeakable worth, of its untold blessings ! Gillett. The enthusiasm of Christian love is a mighty power. The enthusiasm of hearts arrested by the mighty love of Christ, drawn into sympathy with Him, reflecting on their fellow-sinners the compassion that has embraced themselves, seeing in this disordered world a blessed sphere of service to God and man, and throwing their energies into the work of blessing it—that is a wonder-working power ! It goes on unweariedly in the work of faith and labor of love ; never deeming that it has done enough, or that it can ever do enough for Him whose love has fallen on it so richly, and is so well fitted to bless the whole family of man. W. G. B. What stars, what jewelled honors flash on the world's swelling breast, to be for one moment compared with those which they win on earth and wear in heaven who have turned souls from darkness to light—from the cursed power of Satan to the living God ? Each soul a gem in their crown, they that have turned many to righteousness shall shine with the brightness of the firmament forever and ever. How has the hope of this touched, as with fire, the preacher's lips, sustained his heart, held up prayer's weary hands, and proved an ample recompense for those scanty rewards which God's servants too often receive at the hands of men—for the penury which has embittered and the hardships which have pressed on their lot ! Despised as the teacher of the Gospel may be, the apostle raises him to an eminence from which he may contemplate this world, with all its grandeur and glory, rolling away into dark oblivion. To him belongs the high pre-eminence of being able to say, "I am a fellow-laborer with God ;" and with such an associate—in such lofty company, devoting his life to such a cause—no wonder that Paul confronted a sceptical, scoffing world, and bravely said, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ." Guthrie. Safety and firm footing in active life will be ours if we walk in Wisdom's ways. He who follows Christ's footsteps will tread surely and not fear foes. Quiet repose in hours of rest will be his. A day filled with happy service will be followed by a night full of calm slumber. "Whether we sleep or wake, we live" with Him; and, if we do, both will be blessed, and our lives will move on gently to the time when days and nights shall melt into one, and there will be no need for repose; for there will be no work that wearies and no hands that droop. The last lying down in the grave will be attended with no terrors. The last sleep there shall be sweet; for it will really be awakening to the full possession of the personal Wisdom, who is our Christ, our life in death, our heaven in heaven. A. M. If we go after fame, the Scriptures tell us that the name of the wicked shall rot. If we go after riches and cover ourselves with the outward splendors of fortune, they tell us that we must go out of life as poor as any; for, that having brought nothing material into the world, we can carry nothing material out. And then they add, do the works of love and truth, and these shall go with you. He that winneth souls is wise. They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever and ever. Be fishers of men. Watch for souls. If thy brother sin against thee, gain, if possible, thy brother. Be all things to all men, if by any means you may gain some. And then, when you have worn out all your powers in benefactions put upon souls, and believe that you have many who will be your crown of rejoicing in the day of the Lord Jesus—then, I say, when the last hour is come, and the scenes of your mortal labor are retiring from your sight, have it for your song of triumph, and leave it to be chanted over your rest: "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord; for they rest from their labors, and their works do follow them." All material properties are left behind; these cannot follow; but all the properties of duty and love must follow, and be gathered in after you to bless your fidelity, and crown your peace, and be your sacred wealth forever. Then it shall be seen what is meant by the value of one soul to another. Bushnell. Men are to be redeemed by love; love is power, personal power working toward another winningly, operating in him actuatingly, resting on him as a benediction. And men grow surprisingly interesting as soon as we begin to be interested in them. And we shall find in people just as much heart as we have the heart to find in them. As soon as we begin in a Christ-like way to love people we shall discover that they like to be loved. They are in our power if our power is heart-power. It is an easy thing to make a friend. It is like God to make a friend, and a friend is a permanent possession, treasure in heaven, imperishable jewel, star in our crown of rejoicing, out of which the light never fades. C. H. P. 4. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words. To "shut up" a book and to "seal" it is the same with concealing the sense of it from common understandings. (See chap. 8:26.) The same reason is assigned for this command in both places—viz., because there would be a long interval of time between the date and the final accomplishment of the prophecy. (Cf. chap. 10:1.) But the nearer that time approached, the more light should men have for understanding the prophecy itself: as is implied in the following words, "Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased;" many shall be inquisitive after truth, and keep correspondence with others for their better information; and the gradual completion of some prophecies shall direct observing readers to form a judgment concerning those particulars which are yet to be fulfilled. W. Lowth. The advances of human knowledge in this world show the forecast of an overruling Mind in the fact that knowledges come to the front when they are needed. Timeliness is a grand factor in the history of inventions and discoveries. A similar law of timeliness governs the higher advances of knowledge which arch over the two worlds of sense and spirit. Some knowledges are timely to this world, and others to that. Some discoveries fit a state of probation, others a state of moral repose. Some are congenial with a world of sense, others not even intelligible but to disembodied mind. Some are pertinent to the infancy and some to the maturity of an endless life. Reserve of knowledge till the ripening of conditions is one of the signal features of God's wisdom. The future ages of our immortality may have great epochs of discovery. Then we may learn the secret blessing of our profoundest ignorance here of things for which the time has not yet come. The analogies of this world lead us to believe that through the unending succession of discoveries of God which lie before us we shall find, as we do here, the constant recurrence of the critical "nick of time." We shall be told what, and when, and where, it will be safe for us to know. The thoughtful kindness of God hides us from revelations which would be untimely to our conditions. But for this our growth in character might be convulsive and catastrophic in its working. We exult in the dignity of knowledge; we make it the synonym of power. But in moral surroundings, which make knowledge unseasonable, the blessing of ignorance is incalculably greater. Phelps. 7. The general sense is clear: the time of the end shall be when the "scattering" (cf. Isa. 11: 12; 27: 9; Jer. 13: 14; 51: 20, 23) or the dispersion of the holy people is finished. As regards the application, it is natural to find in the words a reference to an end to the troubles which in Daniel's vision had gathered so thickly about the holy people. Hence such passages as 1 Mac. 5: 23, 45, 53 seq.; 2 Mac. 8 seq., which tell how the Maccabee brothers, Simon and Judas, brought back again (n.c. 169) to the land of Judea their captive fellow-countrymen ("part" of the holy people), supply a partial accomplishment of the verse. But what came true in the Maccabean period has yet to receive its last and highest verification in the day when the scattering of God's people and their "tribulation in the world" shall be forever "accomplished." B. C. 8. Daniel does not yet understand so definitely as he would, and therefore asks again what shall be the end of these things. The form of his question and his choice of words (What rather than When) seem to indicate a somewhat wider range than simply the idea of duration. That is, he asks not merely how long, but what shall be the issues; including, however, the length of time. Consequently the answer teaches both points; first indicating that the words are closed and sealed up till the time of the end, and therefore will not be much known till near that time; next, that active agencies of moral discipline will surely do their work, some being made better and some made worse by these events of God's providence; also that "the wise," the studious, humble and docile shall readily understand, but none of the wicked, for their sin darkens their intellect while it sears their conscience and hardens their heart. H. C. 9. The angel's reply is not to be understood as discouraging. "Go thy way" is a phrase said kindly, and intended to comfort the prophet. Daniel had been already charged (verse 4) to shut up the words, etc.; he is now told—in answer to his question (verse 8)—that God had done this; the opening and unsealing would be in God's time; and in that assurance he was to rest (verse 13). B. C.—When the proper season comes, possibly in some cases not before the event hath interpreted them, the prophecies will prove their own reality by their clearness; and strengthen, perhaps in an hour of much need, "the patience and the faith of the saints" (Rev. 13: 10). Thus it happened to the apostles. They understood not beforehand our Saviour's prediction, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." But "when He was risen from the dead, they remembered that He had said this unto them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said" (John 2: 19, 22). Abp. Secker. 10. Many shall be purified. The persecutions of the faithful are designed for the trial of their faith and the purification of their lives. W. Lowth.—A verse which has been freely reproduced in Rev. 22: 11. "Many," from Daniel's time, would pass through "purification," and "being made white," meet with "trial" beyond; "many" are doing so this day; it will be the lot of "many" so long as the present order of things continues. But if they are "wise," "understanding ones" (cf. 5: 3; 11: 35), "they shall understand," a promise which was also the answer to Daniel's remark, "I cannot understand" (verse 8). B. C. None of the wicked shall understand. Because they are wicked and will continue in their sins, the eyes of their understanding shall be closed and their hearts hardened; so that they shall not see the light of the glorious Gospel. But the wise. Those who open their hearts to God that He may pour in His light; they shall understand the things that make for their peace. A. C. There are three remarkable points of contrast exhibited in this passage. 1. A contrast of character. The term "wise" describes the righteous, who possess that religion which is emphatically "wisdom from above;" the epithet "wicked" expresses both blindness of mind and depravity of heart. 2. A contrast of moral progress. The wise are "purified and made white" by their trials; the wicked continue to "do wickedly." The same discipline, the very same dispensations, produce opposite effects; and the determination of their career respectively will exhibit a remarkable and eternal contrast. 3. A contrast of mental and spiritual perception. It is affirmed that "none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand." Wickedness contracts the mind, debases the understanding, and renders man so selfish and carnal that he becomes incapacitated for taking any comprehensive view of the Divine administration, and indisposed to these sacred inquiries. One important point, especially, which the one, through the teachings of that Spirit who is humbly but incessantly sought by Christians, does understand, and which the other, through wilful blindness and perverseness of heart, does not understand, is the connection of the operations of Providence in the general affairs of the world, with the establishment, extension and ultimate triumph of the cause of our Lord Jesus Christ. F. A. Cox. The afflictions of good people are designed for their trial; but by these trials they are purified and made white; their corruptions are purged out, their graces are brightened and made both more vigorous and more conspicuous, and are found to praise, and honor, and glory (1 Pet. 1:7). To those who are themselves sanctified and good, every event is sanctified and works for good, and helps to make them better. H. Afflictions, in order to produce any permanent impression of a spiritual kind, must powerfully excite the natural sensibilities. A slight impression upon the feelings will be followed only by a slight religious effect, or rather by no effect at all. An affliction must be an affliction. The soul must be torn in sunder before the balm of Gilead can be applied. In all ordinary cases, instead of checking the current of tears, and drying the sources of sorrow, tears ought to flow, and the fountains of grief ought to be broken up. The gay world will soon enough suggest consolatory topics. The cares of business will soon enough engross the mind. Time will not be too backward to close the wound which death has made. Sanctified sorrow is deeply seated sorrow. There may be, indeed, a desperate grief which is of the world, and which worketh death. Nevertheless, when the spirit of God blesses the soul by means of affliction, He first casts that soul into the furnace perhaps seven times heated. There is a stain of sin on our hearts which nothing but the "fuller's soap" can wash out. There is a "chamber of abominations" within us, which nothing but the torch of the refiner can enlighten, and the fire of the refiner purify. The great purpose of affliction is to take away sin. B. B. Edwards. It is not only that in point of fact tribulation happens to lie between Christians and their rest; it has been placed there of deliberate design by a wise and loving Father, in order that, by passing through it, they may be prepared for a rest beyond. In some of the most delicate manufactures the web, in a rude and unsightly state, enters a vessel filled with a certain liquid, passes slowly through, and emerges continuously at the opposite side. As it enters, the cloth seems all of one color, and that one dim and unattractive; as it emerges, it glitters in a variety of brilliant hues arranged in eunning figures, like a robe of needle-work for the adornment of a queen. The liquid through which the fabric passes is composed of certain fiery, biting acids; and the reason why it is strained through such a bath is, that in the passage all the deforming and defiling things that have adhered to its surface in preceding processes may be discharged, and the figures, already secretly imprinted, may shine out in their beauty. So the disciples of Christ are in this life drawn through great tribulation, although the Lord who loves them has all power in heaven and in earth: nay, precisely because the Lord who loves them has all power in heaven and in earth, they are bathed in this sea of sorrows. In wisdom and love, both infinite, the Lord has mingled the ingredients, and determined the duration of the baptism; so that, on the one hand, none of His should be lost, and, on the other, every grace of the Spirit should be brought out in its beauty upon all His own. Thus, there is a "need be" for the great tribulation; but we shall miss more than half the meaning of the word here if we think of this necessity as applicable only to the suffering. Another thing is necessary—a better and a brighter. True, it is said of all Christ's people, that they must pass through much tribulation; but it is also said of them that they must enter the kingdom. As certainly as He came out to seek, those whom He finds shall go in. The Captain of our salvation will bring many sons into glory. Arnot. Trial is man's only and compulsory teacher in the knowledge of himself. Shutting him up to self-communion, it confronts him with the grand questions of his immortal being and compels him to reflection upon the issues he is working out for himself, upon the character he is forming, the relations he sustains, the ground of hope for the future he is cherishing, the destiny to which he is hasting. No one who has been prostrated by the strong hand of disease but in the long days and wearisome nights of loneliness and pain has experienced this effect of the trial: thoughtfulness upon the aims and ends of life, leading to personal heart questioning, to painful thoughtfulness about his soul's condition and prospects. No one who has long anxiously watched beside beloved ones, or whose heart has been sorely stricken by actual bereavement, but has been constrained to reflect deeply upon the same great questions, to learn much and make personal application of the realities of sickness and death so affectingly taught. And no one who has met any other REAL trial, who has encountered disappointment in any of its severe forms, but, through the impression it has wrought of the frailty and insufficiency of human ties and earthly hopes, has had the heart thrown back upon itself to ponder the same momentous questions of the soul's true character, life and destiny. Nor is knowledge of self the only blessed effect designed and produced by trial. In every soul its discipline alone has wrought out the invigoration, the knitting into compactness and hardness, and the mightiest exertion of all the intellectual and moral forces. Through its ordeal alone men have been trained to do and to endure. Through its self-crucifying process some ungodly men indeed, in their bitterness, have been nerved to persistence in a hardening course of bold, defiant ungodliness. But others, whose hearts have been subdued and broken before God, have been strengthened to struggle with and break away from the tremendous forces of inbred and outwardly exerted corruption. And chiefly by the same self-struggle and crucifixion, wrought under God through trial, believing souls have had the Divine forces and graces of piety exercised and maintained, invigorated and developed, have had increased their trust, their hope, their Christ-like endeavor, have made their chief progress in holiness and toward heaven. No words can express how much of gain and blessing man owes to trial, how many its uses, how vast its extent of good to the spiritual universe. No wonder that Nature in all her processes multiplies analogies to instruct our souls upon a point so sublimely important. No wonder that the giant trees of the mountain have wrestled with the mighty tempests of centuries; no wonder that the clouds obscure and the night shuts out the day; no wonder that a seeming death overspreads the wintry face of the earth, that the life of tree and plant descends to their hidden roots. For in all these processes she declares plainly the necessary uses, the life-invigorating fruits of trial and suffering wrought in the invisible depths of the soul. More plainly still, Revelation confirms the same great truth, discloses on almost every page the necessity, the wisdom and kindness of God's trying dispensations. "It is good for me that I have been afflicted" is the substance of the inspired testimonies of psalmist, patriarch, prophet and apostle. There is a "need be" for every trial; it is administered of God "for our profit, that we may be made partakers of His holiness," is the one uniform assertion of the mouth of God. B. 13. But go thou thy way till the end be. Here is proper advice for every man. Thou hast a way, a walk in life, which God has assigned thee; walk in that way. There will be an end to thee of all earthly things. Death is at the door, and eternity is at hand; go on to the end, be faithful unto death. There is a rest provided for the people of God. Thou shalt rest; thy body in the grave, thy soul in the Divine favor here, and, finally, in Paradise. As in the promised land, there was a lot for each of God's people, so in heaven there is a lot for thee. Do not lose it, do not sell it, do not let thy enemy rob thee of it. Be determined to stand in thy own lot at the end of the days. See that thou keep the faith; die in the Lord Jesus, that thou may rise and reign with Him to all eternity. A. C. Thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot—i.e., thou shalt rest in the grave (Isa. 57: 2) when the end of thy life has come, and shalt have part in the kingdom of the saints of the Most High. (Cf. 7: 18, 27; Rev. 20: 6.) That the words contain a reference to and a belief in the resurrection is self-evident; his "lot" would fall to him in the heavenly Canaan. "Blessed are they that" work and "wait" like Daniel; they shall "enter into the joy" of their Lord and "rest and stand" in His presence "at the end of the days." B. C. The promises of God cannot fail; all that He has spoken concerning the triumphs of the Gospel must come to pass; and it is for us to labor on in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. It is only in this thought—faithfulness, not fruitfulness, the criterion of reward—that we seem to get any light on the sorrowful mystery of premature missionary graves. The young and gifted and consecrated servant, who has sacrificed everything to obey the great commission, falling almost as soon as he has reached his field! How can we justify the ways of God in permitting it? Does the Lord really choose His workmen, assign them to the work that is dearest to His heart, and then have no care that they fall ere the work is hardly begun? What if we answer that the obscurest missionary tomb is just as precious in the sight of God as the most illustrious missionary triumph? There it stands, before the eye of the Master, as a certificate of obedience to His great commission—a testimony of faithfulness unto death for Christ's sake. "Thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot at the end of the days." It is everything that the fallen missionary shall be able to stand up in the heathen country where he laid down his life, and at the sound of the resurrection trumpet to say to his Lord: "Here I am, just where Thou didst send me, ready for any further service or reward which may be assigned me." A. J. Gordon. Ere we close, let us again revert to Daniel, at once the great historian and the great prophet of his time; who more than any other man wrote contemporary history along with his prophecies and future history in his prophecies; who wonderfully blended his own present life with that future in which the Lord suffered him to live so intensely; who did so much for his people while he lived, so much for the age in which he lived, and who yet, through his wonderful prophecies, projected himself down into that most terrible age of Jewish persecution, more terrible by far than any other through which the Jewish Church as such was ever called to pass; raised up of God for these special ends—to help the nation first through the Babylonish captivity, and next, through the yet more fierce and fiery ordeal of torture and blood to which they were subjected in the age of the Maccabees; a wonderful man, endowed with wisdom almost superhuman, of marvellous capacities for public business, for bearing great responsibilities, and for winning the confidence of men who never loved his religion and never worshipped his God, but who yet felt the presence of his piety and the power of his intrinsic greatness and worth; such a man was justly held in the highest esteem by his countrymen; nay, more; such a man impresses us with a new sense of the wealth of resources at God's command for making great men for His own use on great occasions. The beauty of his character shines in his pure simplicity; in his modesty and humility; in the fact that he filled a sphere of thought and purpose high above the seductions of human ambition; that he dwelt in communion with God and drew his mighty impulses to goodness and even to greatness from the very sanctuary of Jehovah's presence; that hence his heart was full to overflowing with the tenderest sympathies for his people, so that he truly lived in their life, and felt borne down and crushed in utter prostration by the views God gave him prophetically of their future afflictions and perils. What did not the grace of God do for this great and good man! Verily, God raised him up and made him what he was for use among his own people! This same God is never short of fit instruments for great emergencies. Let him be joyfully trusted to raise up other men no less great and good, what time new and great emergencies shall occur to call them forth! H. C. THE minor prophets are often treated as if by minor was meant that they were of less importance, whereas it really means that their writings are of smaller bulk. We scarcely realize that five of these prophets were the predecessors of Isaiah, and that they lead up to him in a very remarkable way. We note the fact that they are more frequently quoted by the apostles in the Acts, when speaking to the Jews, than the greater prophets. The text of the first Christian sermon is taken by Peter from Joel; Stephen gives emphasis to his argument by a quotation from Amos (7:42, 43); and by a quotation from the same prophet James decides the question discussed at the first Christian council (15:16, 17). So, too, if we look at the doctrines first revealed by their instrumentality, we shall find that they hold a very foremost place in our belief. It is Joel who teaches us the momentous facts of a future resurrection and a general judgment, and of that outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh, without which these doctrines would be a terror to us. It is Micah who reveals to men the place of our Lord's birth, Zechariah His crucifixion, Jonah His resurrection, though veiled beneath a sign. And as they were the earliest of the prophets who left written memorials of their work, so were they the last. The Old Testament closes with the trumpet sounds of Malachi, telling us of the near approach of the Forerunner, of the separation of the Jewish nation into those who accepted Christ and those who rejected Him, and of the coming of days when, from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, no victim should bleed upon an altar, but the meat offering, the type of Christian worship, he offered everywhere unto Jehovah's name. At the head of this goodly twelve stands Hosea, not because he was foremost in order of time, but because his writings are the longest of those who lived in the Assyrian period. Really the twelve prophets are arranged in three series—those of the Assyrian period, Hosea to Nahum, first; those of the Chaldean age, Habakkuk and Zephaniah, next; and those who lived after the Exile last. Of the first series it was Hosea who held the prophetic office for the longest time, and this may probably have also had its weight in causing him to be placed at the head, especially as the title runs parallel with that of Isaiah, the foremost of the greater prophets. As regards the rest, Delitzsch has shown with much beauty that they are arranged with a view to the grouping of the ideas which they present in common. "Because Hosea, at the end of his prophetic writings, foretold to penitent Israel, watered with the dew of Divine grace, a rich harvest of corn, and a fresh verdure and blossoming like the rose, the olive, and the vine; while Joel begins his prophetic writings at a time when harvest and vintage had failed, and therefore calls the people to repentance—on this account the collector has joined the two prophets together. With fine taste, again, he has made Amos follow Joel, because Amos begins his predictions with the striking words found near the end of the writings of Joel (chap. 3:16), 'The Lord shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem.' Upon Amos follow Obadiah, because his whole prophecy seems, as it were, an unfolding of the remarkable prediction of Amos (chap. 9:12), 'that they may possess the remnant of Edom.' But why does Jonah come after Obadiah? Because Obadiah says, 'We have heard a rumor from Jehovah, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen' (Obad. 1), and such an ambassador Jonah seemed to be. Next in this group comes Nahum, not merely because he belongs to the Assyrian period, but because he has a common interest with Jonah and Micah in that celebrated utterance of the law (Ex. 34:6, 7), that God is merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth." R. P. S. The prophets are the most conspicuous teachers of spiritual religion. The priests failed to apprehend that the one end and aim of religion is righteousness; that a religion consisting exclusively of ceremonies, a religion divorced from morality, is no religion at all. It is the protest against this idolatry of the outward function which marks the theology of the prophets. "Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams," said Samuel. "I despise your feast days, and will not smell in your solemn assemblies," was the message of the Lord by Amos. "I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of the Lord more than burnt offerings," said Hosea, in words which our Lord loved to quote. "What doth the Lord require of thee," asks Micah, "but to do justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" "Bring no more vain oblations," says Isaiah; "but wash you—make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes." "The just," says Habakkuk, in words which were the keynote of the theology of Paul, "shall live by faith." Thus did the prophets, one after another, make light of the pompous religionism of offerings and ceremonial, and anticipate the teaching of the Son of God: "Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven." Another and most precious characteristic of the mission of the prophets is the steady, inextinguishable spirit of hope which animated them amid the direst catastrophes of their people, and which gleams out amid their stormiest predictions of retribution and woe. And this hope spreads outward in ever-widening circles. Even when the prophecies of Israel's destruction seem to be most sweeping, it is always intimated that Israel shall not utterly be destroyed. And this hope, which sometimes seems to fill their pages with Divine contradictions, centres more and more brightly, more and more definitely, in a Divine person, an Anointed Deliverer, a coming Saviour for all mankind. And this prophecy is the pervading and central element of the whole sacred canon. "As we watch the weaving of the web of Hebrew life, we endeavor to trace through it the more conspicuous threads. Long time the eye follows the crimson; it disappears at length; but the golden thread of sacred prophecy stretches to the end." So true is the great saying of the apostle, that "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." The Messianic hope, and the trust in God by which it was inspired and continued, is the richest legacy of the prophets to all after ages. The apostles evidently attached a high value to the minor prophets. In the New Testament they are more frequently quoted than the greater prophets (by which we merely mean larger prophets). Farrar. Of the person of the prophet we know nothing more than that he was the son of Beeri, of the tribe of Ephraim. Thus, he is one of the two—Jonah being the other—who alone of all the prophets certainly belonged to the Ten Tribes. Yet these tribes had produced Elijah and Elisha, and under the latter the schools of the prophets had flourished to an unprecedented extent. With Jonah written prophecy had also its first commencement in the northern kingdom, but it was in Judah that it attained to its full majesty and strength. Hosea could not have been long subsequent to Jonah, for both flourished in the palmy days of Jeroboam II., Israel's last great king, who reigned forty and one years, and by whose hand God saved the people, as Jonah had foretold in a prophecy no longer extant, but referred to in 2 K. 14: 25. Jehu's had been a warlike line, and Jehoash, Jeroboam's father, the conqueror of Jerusalem (2 K. 14: 13), had probably laid the foundation of Jeroboam's conquests, which extended from Hamath, on the northern border of Syria, to the Dead Sea. This period of empire, under the strong hand of a powerful sovereign, was Israel's final opportunity for a national repentance. And before it passed away God sent the people a prophet, powerful in deed and word, to press upon them this their last hope. They refused; and Hosea lived to see Samaria's fall. In the fourth year of Hezekiah, n.c. 721, Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, took Samaria, and carried the Ten Tribes away captive and placed them in scattered colonies throughout his vast realm. It was probably, however, only toward the close of Jeroboam's reign that Hosea entered upon his office; for we read that he prophesied also during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. It is remarkable that the book does cover the whole of the sixty-two years and more which was the duration of Hosea's ministry. In chap. 1: 4 he foretells the speedy ruin of Jehu's race. Now, of all the kings of Israel after Jeroboam, Jehu was the only one who had a right to the throne. All the rest were successful soldiers; but Jehu was called by God's prophet. Yet he almost immediately proved unworthy of the trust, and while he extirpated with unrelenting cruelty the family of Ahab and the worshippers of Baal as being certain enemies to his own dynasty, he regarded with indifference the worship of the golden calves. But this cruelty was looked upon by God with abhorrence, and Hosea predicts that "yet a little while, and Jehovah will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel." Now, Jeroboam's death was followed by an anarchy of eleven years, and then his son Zachariah reigned for six months; at the end of which time he was murdered by Shallum. Hosea thus began to prophesy before the limited reward given to Jehu for partial services was completed; at the end of chap. 13 Samaria's fall is close at hand. The Assyrian armies are closing upon her, and the horrible cruelties which those inhuman conquerors used to inflict upon the cities which fell into their hands are clearly set forth. It is plain that this prediction of Samaria's fate was written in Hoshea's reign, because in an earlier chapter (10 : 14) the prophet gives us some particulars of the first invasion of Shalmaneser, referred to in 2 K. 17 : 3. R. P. S. His message was mainly to the kingdom of Israel, the Ten Tribes who had revolted from Judah; and this period, during which he carried God's messages to them, was the most frightful in their history. It was a period of change and confusion, of anarchy, murder, and usurpation. After Jeroboam's death there was an interregnum of ten years, and then Zechariah seized the sceptre. In six months he was slain by Shallum. In four weeks this man was murdered by Menahem; and the murderer, while his hands reeked with blood, took the reins of government, and managed to hold them for ten years, while the chariot of the State rolled over a horrible path, enveloped in storms. Pekahiah succeeded him, and after wearing the crown two years, was put to death by Pekah; and then Pekah, twenty years after, was put to death by Hoshea. Hoshea brings up the rear of these usurpers, and with him closes the history of the Israelitish kingdom. "The Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of His sight. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day." A tragical period truly. What events—not particularly recorded, but which are implied in the general narrative—must have transpired! How would the soul of the good prophet be shocked by the things which he heard! How would his old age be darkened and distressed by the troubles of his nation! How would tears trickle down his time-furrowed cheeks because of the hurt of the daughter of his people! Stoughton. The basis of the prophet's teaching. The characteristic feature of Hosea's book is his representation of the relation between God and the chosen people in terms of the marriage tie. Jehovah is the nation's husband, and Israel His unfaithful spouse. The choice of the figure is remarkable, and still more startling the use that is made of it. The idea of a conjugal union between a god and the land or people belonging to him was, indeed, a commonplace of Semitic religions. And it had its natural sequel in the encouragement of gross sexual abuses as a regular accompaniment of the established worship. The very evil that was blighting Ephraim in Hosea's age was the introduction of this physical conception, with its vile abuses, into the cult of Jehovah. Yet it is precisely this notion that the prophet takes and makes the basis of his entire polemic against the prevalent ills of the time, and the keynote of his teaching concerning God and His purposes with His people. How came Hosea to a thought of such bold and original creativeness? He tells us that it grew out of a personal experience of a very remarkable character. By Divine direction he formed relations either of marriage or concubinage with one or possibly two women of dissolute life, had children, assigned to these significant names, and was taught thus to discern the meaning and drift of Jehovah's ways with His faithless people. Taken in this bare and probably inexact reading, the story is so repulsive that a majority of interpreters have always refused to count it an actual transaction, and have relegated it to the category of symbolical action, allegory or objective vision—whatever that may mean. But what would be foul in fact does not become clean in symbol, vision, or fancy, and so in neither case would the supposed transaction have been possessed of much edifying efficacy. Moreover, if acted in dumb show, or simply told as a parable, it would not have had any specially impressive power on the minds of spectators or hearers, while as an actual experience in the prophet's home, its movement would be too slow and its scenes too removed from public view to tell on the conscience of the community. Evidently its purpose was not the instruction of the people, but the making of the prophet. What the painful tragedy could accomplish as nothing else could, was to penetrate the prophet's own life and thought and spirit with an analogical but intensely vivid realization of the heart and mind of God in His dealing with wayward Israel. And for that, we cannot but conclude, it must have been an experience actually lived through—not, however, in relations of baseness, but necessarily in a sphere of pure and honorable love, hope and aspiration. That it was an actual episode in the prophet's fortunes is confirmed by the fact that while the children's names are manifestly symbolical, the wife's name is as certainly real and not imaginative. While we have but to bring to the story an intelligent knowledge of the idiosyncrasies of Hebrew narration and the methods of Divine revelation to get rid of a number of unhappy assumptions, and to find, in place of a history that, whether allegory or actuality, was alike repellent and spiritless, a pure and pathetic tale of suffering and loyal love, which might well make a high-tuned heart sensitive to the Divine tenderness, and stir a brave-souled patriot to the career of a prophet. Hosea was a citizen of northern Israel, in whom burned the zeal of Elijah for Jehovah. The persistent sinning of his people pained him and perplexed him with questions concerning God and providence in the past, present and future. At last light broke on him from a strange quarter, and yet certainly from heaven. It was "the beginning of God's word" to him, and through him to Israel. By Divine guidance, under the impulse of a warm attachment, he married, counting on a pure and happy domestic life. But his wife, contaminated by the religious taint of the time, proved unfaithful. He forbore with her, and hoped for amendment. Children were born, and, by Divine direction, called by names significant of Israel's disloyalty to her God. The truth was penetrating Hosea's whole being, that in him and his faithless spouse God was exhibiting types of Himself and wayward Israel. At length, by Hosea's act or her own, the unhappy wife ceased to be an inmate of his home, a partaker of his care and shelter. She fell into a condition of slavery and misery. The old love was not gone from Hosea's heart. The thing was almost beyond the humanly possible, but a voice within him said, "Go, love her still, and by firm and tender handling win her back to purity." It was the voice of God. Nay, it was the spirit of Jehovah in Hosea reproducing the feeling, thought and action of God in His treatment of Israel. The prophet's first ardent attachment, his pain and grief under his wrongs, his loathing of the sin, his jealous indignation, his relenting, and patience, and forbearance, the loving sternness of discipline, the clinging affection that followed the unhappy outcast, the compassion for her in her degradation, the more than human loyalty of love and strength of goodness that recovered and redeemed her—these emotions, and conflicts, and experiences in Hosea are echoes and expressions of the very heart of God. This is the secret of Jehovah and of His providential leading of His people. Eimskie. The words of upbraiding, of judgment, of woe, burst out, as it were, one by one, slowly, heavily, condensed, abrupt, from the prophet's heavy and shrinking soul, as God commanded and constrained him, and put His words, like fire, in the prophet's mouth. He delivers his message as though each sentence burst with a groan from his soul, and he had anew to take breath before he uttered each renewed woe. Each verse forms a whole for itself like one heavy toll in a funeral knell. Pusey. His sorrowful expostulations, his terrible warnings, are illumined by hope. They terminate in hope. He has hope for his country and hope for the Church. "The prophet's mind was intensely interested in the destinies of his own people. The nations around him are unheeded; his prophetic eye beholds the crisis approaching his country, and sees its cantons ravaged, its tribes murdered or enslaved. No wonder that his rebukes are so terrible, his menaces so "alarming that his soul poured forth its strength in an ecstasy of grief and affection. Invitations replete with tenderness and pathos are interspersed with his warnings and expostulations. Now we are startled with a vision of the throne, at first shrouded in darkness, and sending forth lightnings, thunders, and voices; but while we gaze it becomes encircled with a rainbow, which gradually expands till it is lost in that brilliancy which itself had originated." Yes, amid the storm the prophet shows us the rainbow. Cloud after cloud comes, and there is thunder, but the rainbow is painted on the cloud. The prophet hopes and teaches the nation and the Church to hope. Stoughton. What the prophet had grace to see was the certainty that God is amid all confusions a God of order, amid all contradictions a God of verity, amid all judgments a God of love. It is this element of hope which gives to the writings of the prophets their highest value, for it is a recognition of the eternal principle of the government of the world. And this golden close of the denunciations, this opening even in the valley of Achor a door of hope, this pointing to the resplendent arc of the rainbow of mercy amid the darkest bursts of storm, is the most marked characteristic not of Hosea only, but of Joel, Amos, Isaiah, Micah, and all the greatest of the true prophets. Farrar. The characteristic of Hosea's book is that the burden of Israel's guilt lies weighty on his soul; he wails and mourns and laments and repents with that sinful people. He almost expresses a sense of his vicarious involvement in their guilt and carrying of their sorrows. That is the note which gives its exquisite music of pathos and beauty to Hosea's prophecy of the coming downfall of his own land and of his own people. It is of little use to try to divide the Book of Hosea into minute paragraphs and divisions, and to trace a line of thought through it, because, if there is any book in the Bible which is one long musical burst of emotional life and harmonious unity from beginning to end, it is the Book of Hosea. The man was not so much an intellect; he was a great, overflowing heart. He cannot think out things and reason out things. He sways, like a pendulum, from one extreme to another, now blazing indignation against the people's wickedness and blindness and madness, and the next moment lamenting over them like a mother over her only son. Emotion is the characteristic of Hosea's writing. Thought, again, is the characteristic of the writing of Amos. And so far as thought goes, the key-doctrine of Amos is this: God is righteous sovereignty. The key-doctrine of Hosea is this: God is holy love. The key-conception of Hosea's doctrine, Hosea's gospel, Hosea's prophecy, is that the actual, real relation between God and Israel is best represented for his purpose by the tie between husband and wife. It is true that he varies that image near the end of his prophecy. There he pictures God as his Father, and Israel as his child, his son. But still the great, moulding, explaining thought throughout the whole book is the marriage tie as a picture of the covenant between Jehovah and His people. Elmslie. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/