Capture and Plunder of Jerusalem
BISHOP USHER.—This event occurred 606 B. C.
BEROSUS. —Nabonassar, king of 'Babylon, sent his son Nebuchodonosor against Egypt, and against Judea, with a great army, upon his being informed that they had revolted from him; and by that means he subdued them all, and set the temple that was at Jerusalem on fire; nay, and removed the Jews entirely out of their own country, and transferred them to Babylon; when it so happened that Jerusalem was desolate during the interval of seventy years, until the days of Cyrus king of Persia.—Ap. Joseph., B. I., c. 19, con. Ap.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—The vessels of the temple he carried... to the house of his god—to the temple of Bel at Babylon. This was a temple of great magnificence, and the worship of Bel was celebrated there with great splendor.... As the temples of the gods were sacred, and were regarded as inviolable, it would be natural to make them the repository of valuable spoils and treasures. Many of the spoils of the Romans were suspended around the walls of the temples of their gods, particularly in the temple of victory.—Note, In loco.
REV. JOSEPH ROBERTS.—In all heathen temples there is a place for the sacred jewels and other treasures. The ornaments of the idols are sometimes of great value.—Orient. Illust., p. 496.
Court Officers
Dan. 1:3, 43And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes; 4Children in whom was no blemish, but well favored, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. (Daniel 1:3‑4).—And the king spoke unto Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes; children in whom there was no blemish, but well-favored, etc.
CURTIUS. —In all barbarous or uncivilized countries, the stateliness of the body is held in great veneration; nor do they think him capable of great, services or action to whom nature has not vouchsafed to give a beautiful form and aspect. It has always been the custom of Eastern nations to choose such for their principal officers, or to wait on princes and great personages.—In Burder's Oriental Customs.
SIR PAUL RICANT. —The youths that are designed for the great offices of the Turkish empire must be of admirable features and looks, well-shaped in their bodies, and without any defects of nature: for it is conceived that a corrupt and sordid soul can scarce inhabit in a serene and ingenuous aspect; and I have observed not only in the seraglio, but also in the courts of great men, their personal attendants have been of comely lusty youths, well habited, deporting themselves with singular modesty and respect in the presence of their masters.—In Burder's Oriental Customs.
Nebuchadnezzar's Dream
Dan. 2:1, 21And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him. 2Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to show the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. (Daniel 2:1‑2).—Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him. Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to show the king his dreams.
DIODORUS SICULUS.—The Chaldeans being the most ancient of the Babylonians, hold the same station in the commonwealth as the Egyptian priests do in Egypt; for being appointed to divine offices they spend all their time in the study of philosophy, and are especially famous for their knowledge of astrology. They are much given to divination, and foretell future events; they also endeavor by purifications, sacrifices or other enchantments, to avert evils and to procure good fortune and success. They are skilful also in the art of divination by the flight of birds,.` and profess to interpret dreams and prodigies.—Diod. Sic., II., 3.
CICERO. —Among the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, by a very long course of observations of the stars, are considered to have established a complete science, so that it became possible to predict what would happen to each individual, and with what destiny each separate person was born.—De Div., I., c. I.
HERODOTUS. —Astyages, the son of Cyaxares, succeeded to the throne. He had a daughter whose name was Mandané, concerning whom he had a wonderful dream. He dreamed that from her such a stream of water flowed forth as not only to fill his capital, but to flood all Asia. This vision he laid before such of the Magi as had the gift of interpreting dreams, who expounded its meaning to him in full, whereat he was greatly terrified. On this account, when his daughter was now of ripe age, he would not give her in marriage to any of the Medes who were of suitable rank, lest the dream should be accomplished, but he married her to a Persian, of good family, indeed, but of a quiet temper, whom he looked on as much inferior to a Mede of even middle condition.—Clio, c. 107.
IDEAL —Astyages saw another, vision. He fancied that a vine grew from the womb of his daughter and overshadowed the whole of Asia. After this dream, which he submitted also to the interpreters, he sent to Persia and fetched away Mandane, who was now with child and was not far from her time. On her arrival he set a watch over her, intending to destroy the child to which she should give birth; for the Magian interpreters had expounded the vision to foreshow that the offspring of his daughter would reign over Asia in his stead. Clio, c. 108.
IDEAL—While everything was making ready for his departure, Xerxes saw a third vision. The Magi, to whom it was related, were of opinion that it portended to Xerxes unlimited and universal empire.— Polymnia, c. 19.
EPICTETUS.—Is not God capable of surveying all things, and being present with all, and receiving a certain communication from all? Is the sun capable of illuminating so great a portion of the universe, and leaving only that small portion of it un-illuminated which is covered by the shadow of the earth: and cannot he who made the sun and causes it to revolve—a small part of himself if compared with the whole—cannot he perceive all things? When you have shut your doors and darkened your room, remember never to say that you are alone; for you are not: but God is within, and your genius is within: and what need have they of light to see what you are doing?—Epict., I., 14.
Dan. 2:31-3331Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. 32This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, 33His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. (Daniel 2:31‑33).—Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, and his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
DR. JOHN KITTO. —In ancient coins and medals, nothing is more common than to see Cities and Nations represented by human figures, male or femAle. According to the ideas which suggested such Symbols, a vast image in the human figure was, therefore, a very fit emblem of sovereign power and dominion, while the materials of which it was composed did most significantly typify the character of the various empires, the succession of which was foreshown by this vision. This last idea, of expressing the condition of things by metallic symbols, was prevalent before the time of Daniel. Hesiod, who lived about two centuries before Daniel, characterizes the succession of ages (four) by the very same metals—the ages of gold, silver, brass and iron.—Pict. Bible, In loco.
Dan. 2:37, 3837Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. 38And 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 ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. (Daniel 2:37‑38).—Thou, O king, art a king of kings.... Thou art this head of gold.
BISHOP NEWTON.—All the ancient Eastern histories almost are lost; but there are some fragments even of heathen historians, yet preserved, which speak of this mighty conqueror and his extended empire. Berosus, in Josephus, saith that he held in subjection Egypt, Syria, Phenicia, Arabia, and by his exploits surpassed all the Chaldeans and Babylonians who reigned before him. Josephus subjoins, that in the archives of the Phoenicians there are written things consonant to those which are said by Berosus concerning this king of the Babylonians, that he subdued Syria and all Phenicia. With these likewise agrees Philostratus in his history, and Megasthenes in the fourth book of his Indian history, throughout which he attempts to show that the fore mentioned king of the Babylonians exceeded Hercules in fortitude and greatness of exploits; for he affirms that he subdued the greatest part of Lybia and Spain. Strabo likewise, from the same Megasthenes, asserts that this king among the Chaldeans was more celebrated than Hercules, and that he proceeded as far as to the pillars of Hercules, and led his army out of Spain into Thrace and Pontus. But his empire, though of great extent, was yet of no long duration; for it ended in his grandson Belshazzar, not seventy years after the delivery of this prophecy, nor above twenty-three years after the death of Nebuchadnezzar.—Dissert. on Proph., p. 186.
BISHOP NEWTON.—" His breast and his arms of silver "—which Daniel interprets, "And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee." It is very well known that the kingdom which arose after the Babylonians 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, and who besieged and took Babylon, put an end to that empire, and on its ruins erected the Medo-Persian, or the Persian as it is more usually called, the Persians having soon gained the ascendency over the Medes. This empire is said to be "inferior," as being less than the former, and as being worse than it. Dr. Prideaux asserts, and I believe he may assert very truly, that the kings of Persia were “the worst race of men that ever governed an empire." This empire from its first establishment by Cyrus to the death of the last king, Darius Codomannus, lasted not much above 200 years. —Dissert. on Proph., p. 187.
LYMAN.—From the time of Xerxes, B. C. 479, symptoms of decay and corruption were manifest in the Persian empire; the national character gradually degenerated; the citizens were corrupted and enfeebled by luxury; and confided more in mercenary troops than in native valor and fidelity. The kings submitted to the control of their wives, or the creatures whom they raised to posts of distinction; and the satraps, from being civil functionaries, began to usurp military authority. —Historical Chart.
BISHOP NEWTON.—" His belly and his thighs of brass "—which Daniel interprets, "And another third kingdom of brass which shall bear rule over all the earth." It is universally known, that 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. (Iliad, II., 47.) Daniel's interpretation 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 or near 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 himself appear to himself and to those about him to be master of all the earth and sea. That the' third kingdom, therefore, was the Macedonian (including the Rule of Alexander and his successors), every one allows and must allow.—Dissert. on Proph., p. 188.
BISHOP NEWTON.—The Romans succeeded next to the Macedonians. The Roman Empire was stronger and larger than any of the preceding. The Romans brake in pieces and subdued all the former kingdoms.—Dissert. Proph., p. 191.
GIBBON.—The arms of the Republic—sometimes vanquished in battle, always victorious in war-advanced with rapid strides to the Euphrates, the Danube, the Rhine, and the Ocean; and the images of gold, or silver, or brass, that might serve to represent the nations and their kings, were successively broken by the iron monarchy of Rome.—Dec. and Fall, p. 642, Lond. Ed., 1830.
IRVING.—The Roman empire did beat down the constitution and establishment of all other kingdoms; abolishing their independence, and bringing them into the most entire subjection; humbling the pride, subjecting the will, using the property, and trampling upon the power and dignity of all other states. For by this was the Roman dominion distinguished from all the rest, that it was the work of almost as many centuries as those were of years; the fruit of a thousand battles, in which millions of men were slain. It made room for itself as Both a battering-ram, by continual successive blows; and it ceased not to beat and bruise all nations, so long as they continued to offer any resistance.—Disc. on Dan. Visions, p. 180.
BISHOP NEWTON.—The Romans were defiled, and weakened, with a mixture of barbarous nations... and in the fourth century after Christ, the empire began to be torn in pieces by the incursions of the barbarous nations.—Dissert. on Proph., p. 191.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—Iron and clay cannot be welded; and the idea here clearly is, that in the empire here referred to there would be two main elements which could never be made to blend—there would be the element of great power, there would be also an element of weakness. “There shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with the miry clay." No one can fail to perceive how this applies to the Roman empire; a mighty power which, through all its long history, was distinguished for the vigor with which it carried forward its plans, and pressed on to universal dominion. As to the element of weakness, symbolized by the clay... there was the intermingling of nations of other languages, laws, and customs which were never truly amalgamated with the original materials, and which constantly tended to weaken and divide the kingdom.... Though the essential element of the empire remained always—the Roman, —yet there was an intermingling of other influences under the same general government, which could be appropriately compared with clay united with iron, and which ultimately contributed to its fall.—Note, In loco.
BISHOP NEWTON.—The Roman empire was at length divided into ten lesser kingdoms, answering to the ten toes of the image, as we shall see hereafter. (7:24.) These kingdoms retained much of the old Roman strength, and manifested it upon several occasions, so that "the kingdom was partly strong, and partly broken."—Dissert. on Proph., p. 191.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—The Romans aspired at the dominion of the world; and, in their strides at universal conquest, they brought nations under their subjection, and admitted them to the rights of citizenship, which had no affinity with the original material which composed the Roman power, and which really never amalgamated with it, any more than clay does with iron. This was true, also, in respect to the hordes that poured into the empire from other countries, and particularly from the Scandinavian regions, in the latter periods of the empire, and with which the Romans were compelled to form alliances, while, at the same time, they could not amalgamate with them.... No reader of the Roman history can be ignorant of the invasions of the Goths, the Huns, and the Vandals, or of the effects of these invasions on the empire. No one can be ignorant of the manner in which they became intermingled with the ancient Roman people, or of the attempts to form alliances with them, by intermarriages and otherwise, which were always like attempts to unite iron and clay. "Placidia, daughter of Theodosius the Great, was given in marriage to Adolphus, king of the Goths; the two daughters of Stilicho, the Vandal, were successively married to Henorius; and Genseric, another Vandal, gave Eudocia, a captive imperial princess, to his son to wife." They shall mingle themselves with the seed of men; but they shall not cleave one to another.— Note, In loco.
GIBBON.—Millions of servile provincials received the name, without adopting the spirit, of Romans. A mercenary army, levied among the subjects and barbarians of the frontier, was the only order of men who preserved and abused their independence. By their tumultuary election, a Syrian, a Goth, or an Arab, was exalted to the throne of Rome, and invested with despotic power over the conquests and over the country of the Scipios.... To the undiscerning eye of the vulgar, Philip appeared a monarch no less powerful than Hadrian or Augustus had formerly been. The form was still the same, but the animating health and vigor were fled.—Decl. and Fall, Vol. I., p. tn. Harp. Ed.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—There can be no reasonable doubt as to what kingdom is here intended.... Its distinctly declared Divine Origin; the declaration that it shall never be destroyed; the assurance that it would absorb all, other kingdoms, and that it would stand forever; and the entire accordance of these declarations with the account of the kingdom of the Messiah in the New Testament, show beyond a doubt that the Kingdom of the Redeemer is intended. “Which shall never be destroyed." The others would pass away. The Babylonian would, be succeeded by the Medo-Persian, that by the Macedonian, that by the Roman, and that in its turn by the one which the God of heaven would set up. This would be perpetual. Nothing would have power to overthrow it. It would live in the revolutions of all other kingdoms, and would survive them all.
"It shall never be destroyed "—" it shall stand forever." The efforts which have been made to destroy this kingdom have shown that this cannot be done by any human power. Eighteen hundred years have now passed away—a period sufficiently long to test the question whether it can be destroyed by force and violence, by argument and ridicule. The experiment has been fairly made, and if it were possible that it should be destroyed by external force, it would have been done. It cannot be imagined that more favorable circumstances for such a purpose will ever occur. The Church of Christ has met every form of opposition that we can conceive could be made against it, and has survived them all. Particularly it has survived the trial which has been made in the following respects: (a) The Roman Power, the whole might of the Roman arms, that had subdued and crushed the world, was brought to bear upon the kingdom of Christ to crush and destroy it, but wholly failed. It cannot be supposed that a new power will ever arise that will be more formidable to Christianity than the Roman was. (b) The Power of Persecution. That has been tried in every way, and has failed. The most ingenious forms of torture have been devised to extinguish this religion, and have all failed. It has always been found that persecution has only contributed ultimately to the triumph of the cause which it was hoped to crush. (c) The Power of Philosophy. The ancient philosophers opposed it, and attempted to destroy it by argument. This was early done by Celsus and Porphyry, but it soon became apparent that the ancient philosophy had nothing that could extinguish the rising religion, and not a few of the prominent philosophers themselves were converted, and became the advocates of the faith. (d) The Power of Science. Christianity had its origin in an age when science had comparatively made but little progress, and in a country where it was almost unknown. The sciences since have made vast advances; and each one in its turn has been appealed to by the enemies of religion, to furnish an argument against Christianity. Astronomy, History, the discoveries in Egypt, the asserted antiquity of the Hindus, and Geology, have all been employed to overthrow the claims of the Christian religion, and have all been compelled to abandon the field. (e) The Power of Ridicule. At one time it was held that “Ridicule is the test of Truth," and this has been applied unsparingly to the Christian religion. But the religion still lives, and it cannot be supposed that there will be men endued with the power of sarcasm and wit superior to those who, with these weapons, have made war on Christianity, or that infidelity has any hope from that quarter. It may be inferred, therefore, that there is no external source of corruption and decay which will prevent its being perpetual. Other kingdoms usually have; and after a few centuries at most the internal corruption—the defect of the organization—develops itself, and the kingdom falls. But nothing of this kind occurs in the kingdom of Christ. It has lived now through eighteen hundred years, through periods of the world in which there have been constant changes in the arts, in the sciences, in manners, in philosophy, in forms of government. During that time many a system of philosophy has been superseded, and many a kingdom has fallen, but Christianity is as fresh and vigorous as it meets each coming generation as it ever was; and the past has demonstrated that the enemies of the Gospel have no reason to hope that it will become weak by age, and will fall by its own decrepitude. Christianity has, at this day, an extent of dominion which it never had before; and there are clearer indications that it will spread over all the earth than ever existed at any previous time. “It is a kingdom which shall never be destroyed—it shall stand forever."—Notes on Daniel, p. 155, 160.
Nebuchadnezzar' S Image
DIODORUS SICULUS.—Semiramis built a temple to Jupiter, whom the Babylonians call Belus: upon the top she placed three statues of beaten gold, of Jupiter, Juno, and Rhea; that of Jupiter stood erect in the attitude of walking; it was forty feet in height, and weighed one thousand Babylonish talents. The statue of Rhea was of the same weight, sitting on a golden throne, having two lions standing, on either side one, at her knees, and near them two enormous serpents of silver, weighing thirty talents each. The image of Juno stood upright, and weighed eight hundred talents: her right hand grasped a serpent by the head, and in her left was a scepter adorned with precious stones.—Diod. Sic., II., 1.
HERODOTUS. —In the temple of the Theban Jupiter there was formerly an image of solid gold, twelve cubits in height. —Euterpe, C. 183.
REV. ALBERT BARNES. —Nebuchadnezzar had conquered and ravaged Egypt but a few years before this, and had doubtless been struck with the wonders of art which he had seen there. Colossal statues in honor of the gods abounded, and nothing would be more natural than that this monarch should wish to make his capital rival everything which he had seen in Thebes.—Notes on Daniel, In loco.
PROF. CHARLES ANTHON, LL. D. —The Colossus, a celebrated brazen image at Rhodes, passed for one of the seven wonders of the world. It was the workmanship of Chares, who was employed twelve years in making it.
Its height was one hundred and five Grecian feet; there were few persons who could compass the thumb with their arms, and its fingers were larger than most statues. It stood with distended legs upon the two moles which formed the entrance of the harbor. It was erected 300 B. C., and, after having stood about fifty-six years, was broken off below the knees, and thrown down by an earthquake. Many centuries after the metal was sold to a Jewish merchant of Edessa, who therewith loaded no less than nine hundred camels. The city of Rhodes had, according to Pliny, one hundred other colossuses, of inferior size, in its different quarters.—Class. Diet, p. 366.
PROF. GEORGE RAWLINSON, M. A.—M. Oppert places the plain of Dura to the southeast of Babylon, in the vicinity of the mound of Dowair or Dúair. He has discovered on this site the pedestal of a colossal statue, and regards the modern name as a corruption of the ancient appellation.—Smith's Dict. of Bible, p. 628.
Dan. 3:1515Now 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? (Daniel 3:15).—Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, etc.
QUINTUS CURTIUS. —When Alexander the Great entered Babylon, there were in the procession singing Magi, and artists playing on stringed instruments of a s peculiar kind, accustomed to chant the praises of the king.—Q. Curt., v. 3.
Dan. 3:19, 2019Then 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 one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. 20And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. (Daniel 3:19‑20).—Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
BABYLONIAN RELIC.—Upon a signet, found among the ruins of Babylon, now in the possession of Mr. Burgoyne, an English gentleman, is portrayed a scene that is in striking accord and corroboration of this Scripture record. There are three figures in an enclosure, which seems to represent a furnace; not far off is a gigantic figure or idol; devotees or worshippers are seen on the plain without; while several other minute representations appear among all these. Whether this actually refers to “the three Hebrew worthies," or to some other similar ordeal, certain it is that the Bible scene could hardly be represented more unequivocally and completely on so small a space.—See Murray's Truth of Revelation Demonstrated, p. 24.
ANNALS OF ASSURBANIPAL. —Saulmagina, my rebellious brother, who made war with me, into a burning fiery furnace they threw him, and destroyed his life.... Many of the followers of Saulmagina made their escape, and so with their lord were they not thrown into the fire. The burning fire they escaped from.—Columns IV. and V.
AUTHOR OF MACCABEES. —It came to pass also, that seven brethren with their mother were taken, and compelled by the king (Antiochus) against the law to taste swine's flesh, and were tormented with scourges and whips. But one of them that spake first said thus, What wouldest thou learn or ask of us? we are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our fathers. Then the king being in a rage commanded pans and caldrons to be made hot: which forthwith being heated, he commanded to cut out the tongue of him that first spake, and to cut off the utmost parts of his body, the rest of his brethren and his mother looking on. Now when he was thus maimed in all his members, he commanded him being yet alive to be brought to the fire, and to be fried in the pan: and as the vapor of the pan was for a good space dispersed, they exhorted one another with the mother to die manfully.—II. Mace. vii: 1-5.
SIR J. CHARDIN. —Besides these more common modes of execution, there are in Persia other modes of inflicting the punishment of death on those who have violated the police laws, especially those who have contributed to produce scarcity of food, or who have used false weights, or who have disregarded the laws respecting taxes. The cooks were fixed on spits and roasted over a gentle fire, and the bakers were cast into a burning oven. In the year 1668, when the famine was raging, I saw in the royal residence in Ispahan one of these ovens burning to terrify the bakers, and to prevent their taking advantage of the scarcity to increase their gains.—Voyage en Perse, IV., 276.
PROF. M. STUART.—According to Herodotus, I., 195, the Babylonian costume consisted of three parts; first, the wide and long pantaloons for the lower part of the person; secondly, a woolen shirt; and thirdly, a large mantle with a girdle around it. On the cylinder rolls found at Babylon, Winter discovered the same costume. In Dan. 3:2121Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. (Daniel 3:21), the same three leading and principal articles of dress are particularized. Other parts of clothing are merely referred to, but not specified; but these garments being large and loose, and made of delicate material, are mentioned in order to show how powerless the furnace was, since they were not even singed.—Com. on Daniel, p. 448.
Royal Palace
Dan. 4:2929At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. (Daniel 4:29).—At the end of twelve months Nebuchadnezzar walked in (marg. upon) the palace of the kingdom of Babylon.
DR. JOHN KITTO.—The new palace built by Nebuchadnezzar was prodigious in size, and superb in embellishments. Its outer wall embraced six miles; within that circumference were two other embattled walls, besides a great tower. Three brazen gates led into the grand area, and every gate of consequence throughout the city was of brass. The palace was beautifully decorated with statues of men and animals, with vessels of gold and silver, and furnished with luxuries of all kinds, brought thither from conquests in Egypt, Palestine, and Tyre. Its greatest boast were the hanging gardens, which acquired, even from the Grecian writers, the appellation of one of the wonders of the world. They are attributed to the gallantry of Nebuchadnezzar, who constructed them in compliance with a wish of his queen Amytis to possess elevated groves, such as she had enjoyed on the hills around her native Ecbatana. Babylon was all flat, and to accomplish so extravagant a desire, an artificial mountain was reared, 400 feet on each side, while terraces one above another rose to a height that overtopped the walls of the city, that is, above 300 feet in elevation. The ascent from terrace to terrace was made-by corresponding flights of steps, while the terraces themselves were reared to their various stages or ranges of regular piers, which forming a kind of vaulting, rose in succession one over the other to the required height of each terrace, the whole being bound together by a' wall twenty-two feet in thickness. The level of each terrace or garden was then formed in the following manner: the tops of the piers were first laid' over with flat stones, sixteen feet in length, and four feet in width; in these stones were spread beds of matting, then a thick layer of bitumen, after which came two courses of brick, which were covered with sheets of solid lead. The earth was heaped on this platform, and in order to admit the roots of large trees, prodigious hollow piers were built and filled with mold. From the Euphrates, which flowed close to the foundation, water was drawn up by machinery. The whole, says Q. Curtius (V., 5), had, to those who saw it at a distance, the appearance of woods overhanging mountains. The remains of this palace are found in the vast mound or hill called by the natives Kasr. It is of irregular form, 800 yards in length, and 600 yards in breadth. Its appearance is constantly undergoing change from the continual digging which takes place in its inexhaustible quarries for brick of the strongest and finest material. Hence the mass is furrowed into deep ravines, crossing and re-crossing each other in every direction. Cyclop. of Bib. Lit., p. 270.
Babylon, Its Grandeur
HERODOTUS. —The Assyrians are masters of many capital towns; but their place of greatest strength is Babylon, where, after the destruction of Nineveh, was the royal residence.—Clio, 178.
STRABO. —Babylon is situated in a plain. The wall is 385 stadia in circumference, and 32 feet in thickness. The height of the space between the towers is so cubits, and of the towers 60 cubits. The roadway upon the walls will allow chariots with four horses, when they meet, to pass each other with ease; whence among the seven wonders of the world are reckoned this wall and the hanging garden.— Strabo, lib. xvi., c. 1.
ABYDENUS. —Nebuchadnezzar, having ascended the throne, fortified Babylon with a triple enceinte, which he completed in fifteen days. He made likewise the Armacales, or Royal River, a branch stream from the Euphrates; and he excavated above the city of Sippara a great reservoir, forty farsakhs in circumference, and twenty fathoms deep, and arranged floodgates so that by opening them it was possible to irrigate the entire plain. Moreover, he built quays, etc.—Ap. Euseb., Freq. Ev., IX., 41.
BEROSUS.—Nebuchadnezzar adorned the temple of Belus, and other temples, with the spoils which he had taken in war; and having strongly fortified the city, and beautified the gates exceedingly, he added to his ancestral palace a second palace in the immediate neighborhood, very lofty and costly—it were tedious, perchance, to describe it at length, wherefore I say, no more than this, that, vast as was its size, and magnificent as was its character, the whole was begun and finished in fifteen days. And he reared in this palace a stone erection of great height, to which he gave an appearance as nearly as possible like that of mountains, and planted it with trees of various kinds, thus forming the far-famed Hanging Garden. —Apud Josephus, Cont. Ap., I., 20.
STANDARD INSCRIPTION OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR.—(This inscription begins with the various titles of Nebuchadnezzar, which are followed by certain prayers and invocations to the gods Merodach and Nebo; it then gives an account of the extent of his dominion, and of the wonders and glories of Babylon, his capital, of which the following is a part:) The Ingur-Bel and the Nimiti-Bel—the great double wall of Babylon—I finished. With two long embankments of brick and mortar I built the sides of its ditch. I joined it on with that which my father Nabopolassar had made. I strengthened the city. Across the river to the west I built the wall of Babylon with brick. The Yapur-Shapu—the reservoir of Babylon-by the grace of Merodach, I filled completely full of water. With bricks burnt hard as stones, and with bricks in huge masses like mountains, the Yapur-Shapu, from the gate of Mulct as far as Nana, who is the protectress of her votaries, by the grace of his godship (i. e., Merodach), I strengthened with that which my father had made I joined it. I made the way of Nana the protectress of her votaries. The great gates of the Ingur-Bel and the. Nimiti-Bel, the reservoirs of Babylon at the time of fullness inundated them. These gates I raised. Against the waters their foundations with brick and mortar I built... For the delight of mankind I filled the reservoir. Behold! besides the Ingur-Bel, the impregnable fortification of Babylon, I constructed inside Babylon on the eastern side of the river a fortification such as no king had ever made before me, namely, a long rampart, 4,000 ammas square, as an extra defense. I excavated the ditch: with brick and mortar I bound its bed; a long rampart at its head I strongly built. I adorned its gates. The folding-doors and the pillars I plated with copper. Against presumptuous enemies, who were hostile to the men of Babylon, great waters, like the waters of the ocean, I made use of abundantly. Their depths were like the depths of the vast ocean. I did not allow the waters to overflow, but the fullness of their floods J caused to flow on, restraining them with a brick embankment... Thus I completely made strong the defenses of Babylon. May it last forever!... In Babylon-the city which is the delight of my eyes, and which I have glorified—when the waters were in flood, they inundated the foundations of the great palace called Taprata-nisi, or the " Wonder of Mankind; " a palace with many chambers and lofty towers; the high-place of Royalty, situated in the land of Babylon, and in the middle of Babylon; stretching from the Ingur-bel to the bed of the Shebil, the eastern canal, and from the bank of the Sippara river to the water of the Yapur-Shapu, which Nabopolassar my father built with brick and raised up; when the reservoir of Babylon was full, the gates of this palace were flooded. I raised the mound of brick on which it was built, and made smooth its platform. I cut off the floods of the water, and the foundations of the palace I protected against the water with bricks and mortar, and I finished it completely. Long beams I set up to support it: with pillars and beams plated with copper and strengthened with iron I built up its gates. Silver and gold, and precious stones whose names were almost unknown, I stored up inside, and placed there the treasure-house of my kingdom...—See Rawlinson's Herod., Vol. II., p. 485.
DR. WILLIAM FRASER.—Nebuchadnezzar contributed so much to the extension and adornment of the city that, naturally, as recorded in Scripture, " He walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon, and said, Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty? "In the clear Standard Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar, his account of what he did is in every sense only an amplification of the above brief announcement,—" The double enclosure which Nabopolassar, my father, had made, but not completed, I finished.... The great double wall of Babylon finished. I strengthened the city... Across the river to the west I built the wall of Babylon with brick... The reservoir of Babylon, by the grace of Merodach, I filled completely full of water... I made the way of Nana, the protectress of her votaries... These gates I raised... For the delight of mankind, I filled the reservoir. Behold! besides the Ingur-Bel, the impregnable fortification of Babylon, I constructed inside Babylon, on the eastern side of the river, a fortification such as no king had ever made before me, namely, a long rampart, 4,000 ammas square, as an extra defense. I excavated the ditch; with brick and mortar I bound its bed; a long rampart at its head I strongly built. I adorned its gates. The folding-doors and pillars I plated with copper" —and so on. Can any historical light more vividly reveal the accuracy of the photograph of Nebuchadnezzar as it is set in the Book of Daniel?—Blending Lights, p. 288.
Nebuchadnezzar's Madness
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—The true account in regard to Nebuchadnezzar's caramity undoubtedly is this,—He became a maniac, by a direct Divine judgment on account of his pride. The particular form of the insanity with which he was afflicted, seems to have been that he imagined himself to be a beast: and this idea having taken possession of hi, mind, he acted accordingly: such a fancy is no uncommon thing among maniacs. Numerous instances may be found in works on Insanity—or, indeed, may be seen in any lunatic asylum. One imagines that he is a king, and decks himself out with a scepter and diadem; another that he is glass, and is filled with anxiety lest he should be broken; others have regarded themselves as deprived of their proper nature as human beings; etc., etc. (See Arnold on Insanity, Vol. I., p. 176-195.) In all these cases, when such a fancy takes possession of the mind, there will be an effort on the part of the patient to act in exact conformity to this view of himself, and his whole conduct will be adapted to it. Nothing can convince him that it is not so; and there is no absurdity in supposing that, if the thought had taken possession of the mind of Nebuchadnezzar that he was a beast, he would live and act as a wild beast—that forsaking human society, he roamed through the royal parks and gardens, among the rare animals there kept—devouring green herbs, or vegetables, such as commonly furnish food for man, for such is the import of the original term.—Notes In loco.
DR. MEAD.—All the circumstances of Nebuchadnezzar's case, agree so well with an hypochondriacal madness, that to me it appears evident that he was seized with this distemper, and under its influence ran wild into the fields; and that, fancying himself transformed into an ox, he fed on grass after the manner of cattle. For every sort of madness is the result of a disturbed imagination; which this unhappy man labored under for full seven years. And through neglect of taking proper care of himself, his hair and nails grew to an, uncommon length; whereby the latter, growing thicker and crooked, resembled the claws of birds. Now the ancients call this kind of madness Lychanthropy. The daughters of Prœtus, it is related, fancying themselves cows, ran into the fields, bellowing like those animals. Others fancied themselves to be wolves, and howled and barked, etc.—Medica Sacra, Vol. VII.
VIRGIL.—
The maids of Argos, (though with rage possess'd
Their imitated lowings fill'd the grove),
Yet shunn'd the guilt of fair Europa's love,
Nor sought the youthful husband of the herd,
Though laboring yokes on their own necks they fear'd,
And felt for budding horns on their smooth foreheads rear'd.
Eclog., VI., v. 48.
Belshazzar's Feast
Dan. 5:1-301Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. 2Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein. 3Then 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 princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them. 4They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. 5In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. 6Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. 7The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and show me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. 8Then came in all the king's wise men: but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof. 9Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonied. 10Now the queen, by reason of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banquet house: and the queen spake and said, O king, live for ever: let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed: 11There 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; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers; 12Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and showing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar: now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation. 13Then was Daniel brought in before the king. And 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 Jewry? 14I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee. 15And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof: but they could not show the interpretation of the thing: 16And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom. 17Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation. 18O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honor: 19And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, 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 set up; and whom he would he put down. 20But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: 21And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will. 22And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; 23But 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: 24Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written. 25And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. 26This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. 27TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. 28PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. 29Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. 30In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. (Daniel 5:1‑30).—Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.... Now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom.... In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.
PROF. GEORGE RAWLINSON, M. A.—From the narrative of events belonging to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, our author (Daniel) makes a sudden transition to the fatal night when the Babylonian kingdom came to an end, being absorbed into the Medo-Persian. As he is primarily a prophet, and only secondarily a historian, he is no way bound to make his narrative continuous; and thus he does not relate the death of Nebuchadnezzar, nor the accession of his son, nor the troubles that followed thereupon, but, omitting a period of some five and twenty years, proceeds at once from Nebuchadnezzar's recovery of his senses to the closing scene of Babylonian history, the feast of Belshazzar, and the Persian capture of Babylon. Until a few years since, this portion of his narrative presented difficulties to the historical inquirer which seemed quite insoluble. Profane historians of unimpeachable character related that the capture of Babylon by the Medo-Persians, took place in the reign of a Babylonian king, called Nabonnedus (or Labynetus), not of one called Belshazzar; they said that this Nabonnedus was not of the royal stock of Nebuchadnezzar, to which, according to Daniel (5:11), Belshazzar belonged; they stated, moreover, that he was absent from Babylon at the time of its capture; and that, instead of being slain in the sack of the town, as Belshazzar was (Dan. 5:3030In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. (Daniel 5:30)), he was made prisoner, and kindly treated by the conqueror. Thus the profane and sacred narrative seemed to be contradictory at all points; and rationalists, were never tired of urging that here at least the narrative of Scripture was plainly unhistoric and untrustworthy.
A very simple discovery, made a few years ago in Lower Babylon, has explained in the most satisfactory way all these apparent contradictions. Nabonnedus, the last native king of Babylon, according to Berosus, Herodotus, and Ptolemy, states that his eldest son bore the name of Bel-shar-ezer, and speaks of him in a way which shows that he had associated him in the government. Hence we learn that there were two kings of Babylon at the time of the last siege, Nabonnedus (or Labynetus), the father, and Belsharezer (or Belshazzar), the son. The latter was entrusted with the command within the city, while the former occupied a stronghold in the neighborhood; the latter alone perished, the former escaped. It is the former only of whom trustworthy historians relate that he was not of the royal stock; the latter may have been, if his father took the ordinary precaution of marrying into the deposed house. The fact, that the Babylonian throne was at this time occupied conjointly by two monarchs is indicated in the sacred narrative by a curious casual touch. Belshazzar, anxious to obtain the interpretation of the miraculous “handwriting upon the wall," proclaims that whoever reads it shall be made” the third ruler in the kingdom." In every other similar case, the reward is the elevation of the individual, who does the service, to the second place in the kingdom, the place next the king. The only reason that can be assigned for the variation in this instance is that the first and second places were both filled, and that therefore the highest assignable reward was the third place.—Hist. Illust. of the Old Testament, p. 179-182.
DR. WILLIAM FRASER.—Is not this (the discovery of the clay cylinders in Ur of the Chaldees, recording the co-regency of Nabonnedus and Belshazzar, and thus reconciling the statement of Daniel with profane history) is not this another striking testimony to the exactness of the sacred record? That which was long a stumbling-block to ignorance, has, in the light of recent discoveries, proved a source of strength to the Bible student, and it carries with it an emphatic warning against hasty conclusions unfavorable to the word of God. The seeming historical inaccuracies in Daniel, of which some German critics have complained so loudly, have been turned into an impregnable defense of its claims to a reliability which, in even minute details, no other ancient history can profess and establish.—Blending Lights, p. 293.
DR. JOHN KITTO.—The Egyptians entertained the belief that the actions of the dead were solemnly weighed in balances before Osiris, and that the condition of the departed was determined according to the preponderance of good or evil. Such judgment scenes are very frequently represented in the paintings and papyri of ancient Egypt.—Pict. Bible, In loco.
HOMER.—
Jove lifts the golden balances, that show
The fates of mortal men, and things below:
Here each contending hero's lot he tries,
And weighs with equal hand their destinies;
Low sinks the scale surcharged with Hector's fate;
Heavy with death it sinks, and hell receives the weight.
—Iliad, XXII., 209.
VIRGIL.—
Jove sets the beam: in either scale he lays
The champion's fate, and each exactly weighs:
On this side life and lucky chance ascends;
Loaded with death that other scale descends.
— Æneid, XII., 725.
XENOPHON.—They that were with Gobryas, marching on the shortest way they could, got round about the palace. Then they that attended Gadatas and Gobryas, in military order, found the doors of the palace shut; and they that were posted opposite to the guard fell on them, and used them immediately in a hostile manner. As soon as the noise and clamor began, they that were within, perceiving the disturbance, and the king commanding them to examine what the matter was, ran out, throwing open the gates. They that were with Gadatas, as soon as they saw the gates loose, broke in; pressing forward on the runaways, and dealing their blows amongst them, they came to the king, and found him now in a standing posture, with his sword drawn. They that were with Gadatas and Gobryas, being many in number, mastered him; they, likewise, that were with him were killed.... When day came, and they that guarded the castles perceived that the city was taken, and the king dead, they gave up the castles. —Cyrop., VII., 5.
PROF. M. STUART.—Xenophon relates that the party which assailed the palace, who were led on by Gobryas and Gadatas, fell upon the guards, who were carousing at broad daylight. (Cyrop., VII., 5, 27.) In other words, the. Persians did not accomplish their onset upon the palace until the night was far spent, and daylight was dawning. How now are matters presented in the Book of Daniel? First, there is the feast (of course in the evening); then the quaffing of wine; then the handwriting on the wall; then the assembling of all the Magi to interpret it; then the introduction of Daniel, whose interpretation was followed by his being clothed with the insignia of nobility, and being proclaimed the third ruler in the kingdom. All this must of course have taken up much of the night. Here, then, one writer confirms and illustrates the other. —Com. on Dan., p. 438-449.
Darius
XENOPHON.—Satraps were set over all the conquered nations, when Cyrus was in Babylon.— Cyrop., VIII., 6, I seq.
HERODOTUS.—Darius, son of Hystaspes, proceeded to establish twenty governments of the kind which the Persians call satrapies, assigning to each its governor, and fixing the tribute which was to be paid him by the several nations. —Thalia, c. 89.
Dan. 6:77All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counsellors, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. (Daniel 6:7).—Whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.
ARRIAN.—Alexander deemed himself not unworthy to be worshipped by the Arabians as a third god, his actions being in no respect inferior to those of Bacchus, to whom, as well as to the Firmament, they offered adoration.—Ex. Alex., VII., 20.
ISOCRATES. —The vilest worship and adoration in the palace, adoring a mortal man and calling him a god.—Orat., 4.
Dan. 6:14, 1514Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him: and he labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him. 15Then these men assembled unto the king, and said unto the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, That no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed. (Daniel 6:14‑15).—Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased with himself and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him: and he labored to the going down of the sun to deliver him. Then these men assembled unto the king, and said unto the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, That no decree nor statute which, the king establisheth may be changed.
SIR JOHN MALCOLM.—The character of the power of the king of Persia has undergone no change. The late king, Aga Mohammed Khan, when encamped near Shiraz, said, He would not move till the snow was of the mountain in the vicinity of his camp. The season proved severe, and the snow remained longer than was expected; the army began to suffer distress and sickness, but the king said, while the snow remained upon the mountain he would not move: and his word was law, and could not be broken. A multitude of laborers were collected and sent to remove the snow: their efforts, and a few fine days, cleared the mountain, and Aga Mohammed Khan marched. This anecdote was related to me by one of his principal chiefs, who told it to me with a desire of impressing my mind with a high opinion of Aga Mohammed Khan, who knew, he observed, the sacred nature of a word spoken by the king of Persia.—Hist. of Persia, Vol. I., p. 268.
Daniel Cast into the Den
DR. JOHN KITTO.—This is a new kind of punishment not previously mentioned in scripture; and that it first occurs here at Babylon, is a remarkable fact, showing the accuracy of the sacred writers in their references to the manners and usages of different nations. We are not aware that any ancient writer mentions that the inhabitants of Babylon were in the habit of throwing offenders to be devoured by lions kept in dens for the purpose. But we have the still more conclusive evidence of Monuments brought to light by modern travelers, on the sites not only of Babylon but of Susa also, representing lions destroying and preying upon human beings. The first was found at Babylon, near the great mass of ruin which is supposed to mark the site of the grand western palace. The second was also dug from the ruins of Babylon by Captain Mignan. The third was found near the tomb of Daniel at Susa.—Pict. Bib., In loco.
HERODOTUS.—The Babylonians wear turbans on their heads, and anoint their whole body with perfumes. Every one carries a seal, and a walking-stick, etc.—Clio, C. 195.
IDEM.—When the king (Rhampsinitus) next paid a visit to the Treasure-Chamber, he was astonished to see that the money was sunk in some of the vessels wherein it was stored away. Whom to accuse, however, he knew not, as the seals were all perfect, and the fastenings of the room secure.—Euterpe, C. 121.
HON. AUSTEN H. LAYARD, M. P.—Of engraved cylinders or gems, a large collection was brought by me to England, which form an important as well as an interesting class of Assyrian and Babylonian antiquities.... The most interesting specimen of this class is the well-known gem of green chalcedony in the British Museum, on which is engraved king Darius in his chariot, with his name and that of his father. This was probably a royal signet.—Nineveh and Babylon, p. 514, 517.
Dan. 6:2424And the king commanded, and they brought those 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. (Daniel 6:24).—And the king commanded, and they brought those 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.
ANNALS OF ASSURBANIPAL. —The rest of the people alive, among the bulls and lions, as Sennacherib, the father of my father, into the midst used to throw; lo! again, I following in his footsteps, those men into the midst of them I threw.—Column V., lines 6-9.
AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS. —The laws among the Persians are formidable; among which, those which are enacted against the ungrateful and deserters, and similar abominable crimes, surpass others in cruelty, by which, on account of the guilt of one, all the kindred perish.—Rerum Gestarum Lion,. XXIII., 6, 81.
Vision of the Four Beasts
BISHOP NEWTON.—What was exhibited to Nebuchadnezzar in the form of a great image, was represented to Daniel in the shape of great wild beasts. "These beasts, which are four (say, the angel) are four kings," or kingdoms.— Dissert. on Proph., is. 201.
DR. JOHN KITTO. —Daniel is, to a very great extent, his own interpreter; and the reader who compares the visions with each other, and who possesses the slightest acquaintance with history, cannot fail to discover the subjects to which they refer, and the remarkable and literal fulfillment they have all received—with the exception of those concluding ones which are left for the time yet future to reveal. —Pict. Bib., In loco.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—This symbol would naturally denote some wild commotion among the nations, as if the winds of heaven should rush together upon the sea... It is certain that all that is here said would find a counterpart in the period which immediately preceded the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, or the kingdom which he founded and adorned. His rapid and extensive conquests; the agitation of the nations in self-defense, and their wars against one another, would be well denoted by the agitation of the ocean as seen in vision by Daniel. —Note, In loco.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—It is not uncommon for the prophets to make use of animals to represent or symbolize kingdoms and nations. Thus the dragon or the crocodile of the Nile is put for Pharaoh. So on ancient coins, animals are often used as emblems of kingdoms, as it may be added, the Lion and the Unicorn represent Great Britain, and the Eagle the United States.—Note, In loco.
REV. ALBERT BARNES. —The lion, the king of beasts, is the symbol of strength and courage, and becomes the proper emblem of a king... Eagles' wings are the emblem of swiftness... Plucking or clipping the wings symbolizes a check on the speed or progress of the conqueror... The lion being made to stand on its feet as a man, and receiving the heart of a man, imply a change as if the lion was changed to a man; that is, as if the ferocity, and the power, and the energy of the lion had given place to the comparative weakness of a man.
Now in regard to the application of this symbol, there can be but little difficulty, and there is, almost no difference of opinion among expositors. All, or nearly all agree that it refers to the kingdom of Babylon, of which Nebuchadnezzar was the head, and to the gradual diminution of the ferocity of conquest under a succession of comparatively weak princes. The wings of the eagle well represent the rapidity with which the arms of the Babylonians were carried into Palestine, Egypt, Assyria, etc. The plucking of these wings as truly denotes the cessation of its conquests. All who are acquainted with history know that, after the conquests of that kingdom under Nebuchadnezzar, it ceased characteristically to be a kingdom distinguished for conquest, but that, though under his successors, it held a re-eminence or headship among the nations, yet that its victories were extended no further. The successors of Nebuchadnezzar were comparatively weak and indolent princes—as if the wings of the monster had been plucked... The change in the character of the empire, until it ceased under the feeble reign of Belshazzar, is well denoted by the symbol here employed.—Note, In loco.
Dan. 7:55And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. (Daniel 7:5).—And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—The character of the kingdom symbolized by the bear would be one of ferocity, roughness and fierceness in war; and that, here intended, is evidently the Medo-Persian, which succeeded the Babylonian. Of this, the bear was not an inappropriate symbol. Taking the whole nation together, it was fierce and rough and unpolished, little disposed to friendliness with the nations, and dissatisfied while any around it had peace or prosperity. The symbol here employed is equally appropriate and truthful: the mad projects of Cambyses, and his savage rage against the Ethiopians, are well represented by the ferocity of the bear; the ill-starred expedition to Greece under Xerxes, an expedition in its fierceness and folly is well represented by the bear; and the degeneracy of the national character, after Xerxes, is well represented by the bear as compared with the lion. No one acquainted with the history of that nation can doubt the propriety and applicability of the emblem.... The bear " raising itself on one side," or from a recumbent posture, as if it had been in a state of repose and was now arousing itself for action, is a representation every way applicable to the condition of the Medo-Persian empire, after the conquest by Cyrus, as he overran the kingdom of Lydia, etc., then reposing, and now about arousing to the conquest and subjugation of Babylon. The precise time, therefore, indicated would be about B. c. 544 (Calmet), when having overcome the Medes, and having secured the conquest of Lydia, and the dethronement of Crœsus, he is meditating the destruction of Babylon.... The "three ribs in the mouth of the beast” may refer to the three kingdoms of Persia, Media and Lydia, that were actually under the dominion of Cyrus, when the aggressive movement was made on Babylon.... The command to " arise and devour much flesh: " no one can fail to see the appropriateness of this, considered as addressed to the Medo-Persian power—that power which subdued Babylon; which brought under its dominion a considerable part of the world, and which under Darius and Xerxes poured its millions on Greece. The emblem here used is, therefore, one of the most striking and appropriate that could be employed, and it cannot be doubted that it had reference to this kingdom, and that, in all the particulars, there was a clear fulfillment.—From Notes, In loco.
BISHOP NEWTON.—"Arise, devour much flesh "—this was said to denote the cruelty of the Medes and Persians. Cambyses, Ochus, and others of their princes, were indeed more like bears than men. Instances of their cruelty abound in almost all the historians who have written of their affairs, from Herodotus down to Ammianus Marcellinus.—Dissert. on Proph., p. 203.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—The leopard is a well-known beast of prey, distinguished for blood-thirstiness and cruelty, for lying in wait and springing unexpectedly upon its victim.... By “the four wings upon its back," celerity of movement is undoubtedly intended.... “Having four heads," being divided into so many powers or sovereignties.... We naturally look for the fulfillment of this symbol in the kingdom or dynasty that followed directly that of Medo-Persia, namely the Macedonian dynasty or kingdom, founded by Alexander the Great, extending over the same countries before occupied by Babylon and the Medo-Persian empire, and continuing till it was swallowed up in the conquests of Rome. We shall find that all the circumstances agree with this supposition. The animal, "a leopard;" the comparative nobleness of the animal; a beast of prey; the celerity of its movements; the spring or bound with which it leaps upon its prey—all agree well with the kingdom of which Alexander was the founder. Indeed there was no other kingdom among the ancients to which it could be better applied; and it will be admitted that—on the supposition that it was the design of Daniel to choose a symbol that would represent the Macedonian empire—he could not have selected one that was better adapted to it than the leopard. All the characteristics of the animal agree with the characteristics of Alexander, and his movements among the nations, and with the kingdom that was founded by him in the East. The four wings-these represent well the rapidity of the conquests of Alexander, for no more rapid conquests were ever made than were his. The four heads united to one body: it is well known that when Alexander died his empire was left to four of his generals, and that they came to be at the head of as many distinct dominions, yet all springing from the same source, and all, in fact, but the Macedonian empire. Thrace and Bythinia fell under Lysimachus; Syria and the East under Seleucus; Egypt under Ptolemy Soter; and Macedonia under Cassander. It was these four powers, thus springing out of the one empire founded by Alexander, that was clearly represented by the four heads. The dominion given to it—the dominion of the world was practically conceded to the Macedonian dynasty.—From Notes, In loco.
BOCHART.—The leopard is of small stature, but of great courage, so as not to be afraid to engage with the lion and the largest beasts; and so Alexander, a little king in comparison, of small stature too, and with a small army, dared to attack the king of kings, that is, Darius, whose kingdom was extended from the Ægean sea to the Indies.—Hieros., lib. iii., c. 7.
JEROME.—Nothing was swifter than the victories of Alexander, who ran through all the countries from Illyricum and the Adriatic Sea to the Indian Ocean and the river Ganges, not so much fighting as conquering, and in twelve years, subjugated part of Europe, and all Asia to himself.—Hieron., Com. In loco.
PRIDEAUX.—After the death of Alexander, his empire was divided among his four captains; Cassander reigning over Macedon and Greece, Lysimachus over Thrace and Bythinia, Ptolemy over Egypt, and Seleucus over Syria.—Connect., Part I., lib. 8.
BISHOP NEWTON.—And dominion was given to it—which showeth that this was not owing to the fortitude of Alexander, but proceeded from the will of the Lord. And, indeed, unless he had been directed, preserved, and assisted by the mighty power of God, how could Alexander with 30,000 men have overcome Darius with 600,000, and in so short a time have brought all the countries from Greece as far as to India into subjection?—Disserts. on Proph., p. 205.
Dan. 7:7, 87After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. 8I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things. (Daniel 7:7‑8).—After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful, and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: 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 little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and behold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—A beast dreadful, and terrible, and strong exceedingly —As a symbol, this would denote some power much more fearful, and much more to be dreaded; having a wider dominion; and more stern, more oppressive in its character, more severe in its exactions, and more entirely destroying the liberty of others; advancing more by power and terror, and less by art and cunning, than either of those that went before.... It had great iron teeth—this would denote a nation signally fierce and formidable to all others....
Brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet-expressive of a determination to crush all in its way to universal dominion.... And it had ten horns—. The horn is a symbol of power; “and the ten horns, out of this kingdom, (said the angel,) are ten kings that shall arise; “out of that one kingdom there would spring up ten.... There came up among them another little horn—little at first, but subsequently grew, and crowded and pressed on the others, so that three of them were uprooted by it.... In this horn were eyes—eyes denote intelligence, as we see objects by their aid.... And a mouth speaking great things— indicative of pride and arrogance.... The fourth beast, so mighty, so terrific, so powerful, so unlike all the others—armed with iron teeth, and claws of brass—trampling down and stamping on all the earth—well represents the Roman Dominion. The symbol is such an one as we would now use appropriately to represent that power, and in every respect that empire was well represented by the symbol.... In the prophecy, the entire Roman dominion seems to be contemplated as one—one mighty and formidable power trampling down the liberties of the world; oppressing and persecuting the people of God—the true church; and maintaining an absolute and arbitrary dominion over the souls of men—as a mighty domination standing in the way of the progress of truth, and keeping back the reign of the saints on the earth.—From Notes, In loco.
BISHOP NEWTON.—The Roman Empire 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, and 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 168 years, the kingdom of Pergamus about 133 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 brake it in pieces; and became in a manner, what the Roman writers delighted to call it, "Terrarum orbis Imperium," the empire of the whole world.—Dissert. on Proph., p. 207.
DIONYSIUS HALICARNASSUS.—The city of Rome ruleth over all the earth, as far as it is inhabited; and commands all the sea, not only that within the pillars of Hercules, but also the ocean, as far as it is navigable, having first and alone, of all the most celebrated kingdoms, made the East and the West the bounds of its empire: and its dominion hath continued not a short time, but longer than that of any other city or kingdom.—Antq. Rome, 1, 2, 3.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—One has only to look into any historical work, to see how in fact the Roman power became distributed and broken up in this way into a large number of kingdoms, or comparatively petty sovereignties, occupying the portions of the world once governed by Rome. In the decline of the empire, and as the new power, represented by the " little horn," arose, there was a complete breaking up of she one power that was formerly wielded, and a large number of states and kingdoms sprang out of it. (See Lyman's Historical Chart.)—Note, In loco.
BISHOP LLOYD.—Within the bounds and out of the territory of the great empire of Rome, there arose, successively, the kingdoms following; to wit—First, the Huns, about A. D. 356: second, Ostrogoths, A. D. 377: third, Visigoths, A. D. 378: fourth, Franks, A. D. 407: fifth, Vandals, A. D. 407: sixth, Sueves and Alans, A. D. 407: seventh, Burgundians, A. D. 407: eighth, Herules and Reigians, A. D. 476: ninth, Saxons, A. D. 476: tenth, Longobards, A. D. 526.—Lowth's Corn., in Adden.
BISHOP NEWTON.—The principal states and governments into which the Roman Empire was divided, in the eighth century, stood as follows:
1. The senate of Rome, revolted from the Greek emperors.
2. The Greeks in Ravenna.
3. The Lombardy in Lombardy.
4. The Huns in Hungary.
5. The Alemanes in Germany.
6. The Franks in France.
7. The Burgundians in Burgundy.
8. The Goths in Spain.
9. The Britons.
10. The Saxons in Britain.—Dissert. on Proph., p. 210.
Dan. 7:8, 248I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things. (Daniel 7:8)
24And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. (Daniel 7:24).—I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whorl' there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots.—And another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—The “little horn " finds a proper fulfillment in the Papacy. The slightest acquaintance with the history and claims of the Papal Power will show that there was a striking appropriateness in this symbol—such an appropriateness, that if we desired now to find a symbol that would represent this, we could find no one better adapted to it than that employed by Daniel. (a.) The little horn would spring up among the others, and stand among them—as dividing the power with them, or sharing or wielding that power. That is, (on the supposition that it refers to the Papacy,) the Papal Power would spring out of the Roman Empire; would be one of the sovereignties among which that vast power would be divided, and share with the other ten in wielding authority. It would be an eleventh power added to the ten. And who can be ignorant that the Papal Power at the beginning, when it first asserted civil authority, sustained just such a relation to the crumbled and divided Roman Empire as this? It was just one of the powers into which that vast sovereignty passed. (b.) It would not spring up contemporaneously with them, but would arise in their midst, when they already existed. They are seen in vision as actually existing together, and this new power starts up among them. What could be more strikingly descriptive of the Papacy—as a power arising when the great Roman authority was broken to fragments, and distributed into a large number of sovereignties? Then this new power was seen to rise—small at first, but gradually gaining strength, until it surpassed any one of them in strength, and assumed a position in the world which no one of them had. The representation is exact. It is not a foreign power that invaded them; it starts up in the midst of them—springing out of the head of the same beast, and constituting a part of the same mighty domination that ruled the world. (c.) It would be small at first, but would soon become so powerful as to pluck up and displace three of the others. And could any symbol have been better chosen to describe the Papal Power than this? Could we find any now that would better describe it? Anyone needs to have but the slightest acquaintance with the history of the Papal Power, to know that it was small at its beginnings, and that its ascendency over the world was the consequence of slow but steady growth. Indeed, so feeble was it at its commencement, so undefined was its first appearance and form, that one of the most difficult things in history is to know exactly when it did begin, or to determine the exact date of its origin as a distinct power. (d.) It would grow to be mighty, for the “little horn “thus grew to be so powerful as to pluck up three of the horns of the beast. Of the growth of the power of the Papacy, no one can be ignorant who has any acquaintance with history. It held nations in subjection, and claimed and exercised the right of displacing or distributing crowns as it pleased. (e.) It would subdue, “three kings; “that is, three of the ten represented by the ten horns. The prophet saw this at some point in its progress when three fell before it, or were overthrown by it.—Notes, In loco.
MACHIAVEL.—(This writer, himself a Roman Catholic, having shown how the Roman empire was broken and divided by the incursions of the northern nations, says,)-About this time the bishops of Rome began to take upon them, and to exercise greater authority than they had formerly done. At first, the successors of St. Peter were venerable and eminent for their miracles, and the holiness of their lives; and their examples added daily such numbers to the Christian Church, that to obviate or remove the confusions which were then in the world, many princes turned Christians, and the emperor of Rome being converted among the rest, and quitting Rome, to hold his residence at Constantinople; the Roman empire (as we have said before) began to decline, but the church of Rome increased as fast, and continued to do so under the Goths, then under the Lombards; and afterward by the calling in of the Franks.—Hist. of Florence, lib. i., p: 6.
SIR ISAAC NEWTON.—" Kings" are put for kingdoms; and therefore the “little horn “is a little kingdom. It was a horn of the fourth beast, and rooted up three of his first horns; and therefore we are to look for it among the nations of the Latin empire, after the rise of the ten horns.... In the eighth century, by rooting up and subduing the Exarchate of Ravenna, the Kingdom of the Lombards, and the Senate and Dukedom of Rome, he acquired Peter's patrimony out of their dominions.... It was certainly by the victory of the See of Rome over the Greek emperor, the king of Lombardy, and the senate of Rome, that she acquired Peter's patrimony, and rose up to her greatness.—Obs. on Dan., chap. vii., p. 74-76.
BISHOP NEWTON. —First, the Exarchate of Ravenna, which of right belonged to the Greek emperors, and which was the capital of their dominions in Italy, having revolted at the instigation of the Pope, was, unjustly seized by Aistulphus, king of the Lombards, who thereupon thought of making himself master of Italy. The Pope in this exigency applied for help to Pepin, king of France, who marched into Italy, besieged the Lombards in Pavia, and forced them to surrender the Exarchate and other territories, which were not restored to the Greek emperor, as in justice they ought to have been, but at the solicitation of the Pope were given to St. Peter and his successors for a perpetual succession. This was effected in the year 755. Secondly, the Kingdom of the Lombards was often troublesome to the Popes: and now again king Desiderius invaded the territories of Pope Adrian I. So that the Pope was obliged to have recourse again to the king of France, and earnestly invited Charles the Great, the son and successor of Pepin, to come into Italy to his assistance. He came accordingly with a great army, being ambitious also himself of enlarging his dominions in Italy, and conquered the Lombards, and put an end to their kingdom, and gave great part of their dominions to the Pope. He not only confirmed the former donations of his father, Pepin, but also made an addition of other countries to them, as Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, the Sabine territory, the whole tract between Luca and Parma, and that part of Tuscany which belonged to the Lombards: and the tables of these donations he signed himself, and caused them to be signed by the bishops, abbots, and other great men then present, and laid them so signed upon the altar of St. Peter. And this was the end of the kingdom of the Lombards, in the year of Christ 774. Thirdly, after Charles the Great had overthrown the kingdom of the Lombards, he came again to Rome, was chosen Roman patrician, and then settled the affairs of Italy, and permitted the Pope to hold under him the Duchy of Rome, with other territories. After the death of Charles, his son and successor, Lewis the Pious, at the request of Pope Paschal, confirmed the donations which his father and grandfather had made to the See of Rome. These, as we conceive, were the “three horns," which fell before the little horn: and the Pope hath in a manner pointed himself out for the person by wearing the Triple Crown.—Disserts on the Profit., p. 218-220.
GIBBON.—The gratitude of the Carlovingians was adequate to these obligations, and their names are consecrated as the saviors and benefactors of the Roman Church. Her ancient patrimony of farms and houses was transformed by their bounty into the temporal dominion of cities and provinces, and the donation of the Exarchate was the first fruits of the conquests of Pepin... The Exarchate comprised the territories of Ravenna, Bologna and Ferrara; its inseparable dependency was the Pentapolis, which stretched along the Adriatic.... The splendid donation was granted in supreme and absolute dominion, and the world beheld for the first time a Christian Bishop invested with the prerogatives of a Temporal Prince, the choice of magistrates, the exercise of justice, the imposition of taxes, and the wealth of the palace of Ravenna. In the dissolution of the Lombard kingdom, the inhabitants of the Duchy of Spoleti sought a refuge from the storm, shaved their heads after the Ravenna fashion, declared themselves the servants and subjects of St. Peter, and completed, by this voluntary surrender, the present circle of the Ecclesiastical State.—Decline and Fall, Chapter 49
He shall be diverse from the first.
BISHOP NEWTON.—His kingdom shall be of a different nature and constitution. And the power of the Pope differs greatly from that of all other princes, being an ecclesiastical and spiritual, as well as a civil and temporal authority. Dissert. on Proph., p. 220.
And behold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man.
BISHOP NEWTON. —This denotes his cunning and foresight, his looking out and watching all opportunities to promote his own interests. And the policy of the Roman hierarchy hath almost passed into a proverb.—Dissert. on Proph., p. 220.
And he had a mouth that spake very great things.
BISHOP NEWTON.—And who hath been more noisy and blustering than the Pope, especially in former ages, boasting of his supremacy, thundering out his bulls and anathemas, excommunicating princes, and absolving subjects from their allegiance.—Dissert. on Proph., p. 220.
His look was more stout than his fellows.
BISHOP NEWTON.—And the Pope assumes a superiority, not only over his fellow-bishops, but even over crowned heads, and requires his foot to be kissed, and greater honors to be paid to him than to kings and emperors themselves. Dissert. on Proph., p. 220.
And he shall speak great words against the Most High.
BISHOP NEWTON.—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.— Dissert. on Proph., p. 221.
And he shall wear out the saints of the Most High.
BISHOP NEWTON.—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 practiced in the church of Rome.—Dissert. on Proph., p. 221.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—" Making war with the saints "—" wearing out the saints of the Most High.!' Can anyone doubt that this is true of the Papacy? The Inquisition; the persecutions of the Waldenses; the ravages of the Duke of Alva; the fires of Smithfield; the tortures of God,-indeed, the whole history of the Papacy may be appealed to in proof that this is applicable to that power. If anything could have “worn out the saints of the Most High"—could have cut them off from the earth so that evangelical religion would have become extinct, it would have been the persecutions of the Papal power. In the year 1208, a crusade was proclaimed by Pope Innocent III against the Waldenses and Albigenses, in which a million of men perished. From the beginning of the order of the Jesuits in the year 1540 to 1580 nine hundred thousand were destroyed. One hundred and fifty thousand perished by the Inquisition in thirty years. In the Low Countries fifty thousand persons were hanged, headed, burned, and buried alive for the crime of heresy within the space of thirty-eight years from the edict of Charles V., against the Protestants, to the peace of Chateau Cambreses in 1559. Eighteen thousand suffered by the hand of the executioner, in the space of five years and a half, during the administration of the Duke of Alva. Indeed, the slightest acquaintance with the history of the Papacy will convince anyone that what is here said of " making war with the saints," and " wearing out the saints of the Most High,'' is strictly applicable to that power, and will accurately describe its history. —Note, In loco.
And he shall think to change times and laws.
BISHOP NEWTON.—Appointing fasts and feasts, canonizing saints, granting pardons and indulgences of sins, instituting new modes of worship, imposing new articles of faith, enjoining new rules of practice, and reversing at pleasure the taws both of God and man. Who knoweth not that the Pope doeth all these things?—So then, if exquisite fitness of application may assure us of the true sense of the prophecy, we can no longer doubt concerning the person represented by the " little horn."—Dissert. on Proph., p. 220, 221.
Vision of the Ram and He-Goat
PROF. GEORGE RAWLINSON, M. A.—Shusan or Susa was originally the capital of the country, in Scripture called Elam, but by the classical writers sometimes Susiana.... Mention of the town has been found in the Inscriptions of Asshur-bani-pal, the son and successor of Esar-Haddon, who states that he took the place, and exhibits a ground-plan of it upon his sculptures. The date of this monument is about B. c. 660. The conquest of Babylon by Cyrus transferred Susa to the Persian dominion, and, in the course of time, became the capital of that country.—Smith's Dict. of Bible.
STRABO. —The palace at Susa was embellished more than the rest: Alexander transferred everything that was precious in Persia to Susa, which was itself full of treasures and costly materials; he did not, however, consider this place, but Babylon, as the royal residence, and intended to embellish it.—Strab., lib. xv., c. 13.
SIR JOHN MALCOLM.—The site of ancient Shusan is generally believed to be marked by the present village of Shus. Here are extensive ruins, consisting, like other ruins in that country, of hillocks of earth, and rubbish, covered with broken pieces of brick and colored tile. At the foot of these mounds is the so-called tomb of Daniel, a small building erected on the spot where the remains of Daniel are believed in that region to rest—and nothing but the belief that this was the site of the prophet's sepulcher could have led to its being built in the place where it stands. It is a small edifice, but sufficient to shelter some dervishes who watch the remains of the prophet, and are supported by the alms of pious pilgrims, who visit the holy sepulcher. The dervishes are now the only inhabitants of Susa; and every species of wild beasts roams at large over the spot on which some of the proudest palaces ever raised by human art once stood.—History of Persia, Vol. I., p. 255, 256.
Dan. 8:33Then 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. (Daniel 8:3).—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.—Ver. 20.—The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.
BISHOP NEWTON.—The empire which was formed by the conjunction of the Medes and Persians was not unfitly represented by a ram with two horns. Cyrus, the founder of this empire, was son of Cambyses, king of Persia, and by his mother Mandane was grandson of Astyages, king of Media; and afterward marrying the daughter and only child of his uncle Cyaxares, king of Media, he succeeded to both crowns, and united the kingdoms of Media and Persia. It was a coalition of two very formidable powers, and therefore it is said that " the two horns were high: but one," it is added,” was higher than the (ether, and the higher came up last." The kingdom of Media was the more ancient of the two, and more, famous in history; Persia was of little note or account till the time of Cyrus: but under Cyrus the Persians gained and maintained the ascendant.—Dissert. on Proph., p. 236.
AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS.—The king of Persia was wont to wear a ram's head made of gold, and adorned with precious stones, instead of a diadem.—Amm, Mar., XIX., I.
BISHOP CHANDLER.—Rams' heads with horns, one higher, and the other lower, are still to be, seen on the pillars at Persepolis.—Vindication, c. r, § 4, p. 154.
LENGERKE. —Nothing could more truly set forth the conquests made by the Medo-Persian Empire than this representation. On the west the conquests embraced Babylonia, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Asia Minor; on the north, Colchis, Armenia, Iberia, and the regions round the Caspian Sea; and on the south, Palestine, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Lybia.—Comment. In loco.
BISHOP NEWTON.—Under Cyrus himself, the Persians pushed their conquests' westward, as far as the Ægean Sea and the bounds of Asia. (Herod., I., 169.)
Northward they subdued the Armenians, Cappadocians, and various other nations. (Xen. Cyro., III., 2, 7; C. 4.) Southward they conquered Egypt under Cambyses, the son and successor of Cyrus. (Herod., III., 39.) The ram was so strong and powerful, “so that no beast could stand before him"—none of the neighboring kingdoms were able to contend with the Persians, but all fell under their dominion. — Dissert. on Proph., p. 237.
Dan. 8:55And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. (Daniel 8:5).—And as I was considering, behold, a he-goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. Ver. 21.—The rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.
BISHOP NEWTON.—A goat is very properly made the type of the Grecian or Macedonian Empire, because the Macedonians at first, about 200 years before Daniel, were denominated Ægeadœ, or the Goats' People; and upon this occasion, as heathen authors report, Caranus, their first king, going with a great multitude of Greeks to seek new habitations in Macedonia, was commanded by the oracle to take the goats for his guides to empire: and afterward seeing a herd of goats flying from a violent storm, he followed them to Edessa, and there fixed the seat of his empire, made the goats his ensigns or standards, and called the city Ægeœ, or the Goats' Town, and the people Ægeadœ or the Goats' People.—Dissert. on Proph., p. 238.
JUSTINUS.—Caranus, with a great number of Greeks, being directed by the oracle to seek a settlement in Macedonia, when he arrived at Æmathia, seized upon the city of Edessa. This city he obtained through the agency of a large flock of goats, which had been driven there for shelter. This circumstance recalled the mandate of the oracle, which had commanded him to seek an establishment under the conduct of a herd of goats. On which account he religiously adopted goats as the standards of his army, and retained them still as his leaders, who had proved the source of his good fortune. In commemoration of this the city Edessa is called. Ægeæ, and the people Ægeadæ.—Just., lib. vii., c. I.
And the goat had a notable horn between his eyes—this is the first king.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—Alexander the Great—he was the first that consolidated the whole power of Greece, and was known in the East as her first king. So he is expressly called in I Mace. i: I: " The first over Greece." —Note, In loco.
IDEM.—In the reign of Amyntas I., nearly 300 years after Caranus, and about 547 B. C., the Macedonians, upon being threatened with an invasion, became tributary to the Persians. In one of the pilasters" of Persepolis, this very event seems to be recorded in a manner that throws considerable light on this subject. A goat is represented with an immense horn growing out of the middle of his forehead, and a man in a Persian dress is seen by his side, holding the horn by his left hand, by which is signified the subjection of Macedon.... In the reign of Archelaus of Macedon, B. C. 413, there occurs, on the reverse of a coin of that king, the head of a goat having only one horn.—Notes, In loco.
TAYLOR COMBE.—I have lately had an opportunity of procuring an ancient bronze figure of a goat with one horn, which was the old symbol of Macedon. It was dug up in Asia Minor.... Not only many of the individual towns in Macedon and Thrace employed this type, but the kingdom itself of Macedon, which is the oldest in Europe, of which we have any regular and connected history, was represented also by a goat, with this peculiarity, that it had but one horn.—See Calmet, V., 410.
BISHOP NEWTON.—Europe, as all know, is to the west of Asia. Alexander came “on the face of the whole earth," carrying everything before him in all the three parts of the world then known: his marches were so swift and his conquests so rapid, that he might be said in a manner to fly over the ground, without touching it.—Dissert. on Proph., p. 238.
PRIDEAUX.—Alexander flew with victory swifter than others can travel, often with his horse pursuing his enemies upon the spur whole days and nights, and sometimes making long marches for several days, one after the other, as once he did in pursuit of Darius, of near forty miles a day for eleven days together. So that by the speed of his marches he came upon his enemy before they were aware of him, and conquered them before they could be in a posture to resist him.—Conn., part I., lib. 8.
Verse 6.—And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power.
BISHOP NEWTON.—One can hardly read these words without having some image of Darius's army standing and guarding the river Granicus, and Alexander on the other side with his forces plunging in, swimming across the stream, and rushing on the enemy with all the fire and fury that can be imagined.— Dissert. on Proph., p. 239: See also Arrian. de Exiled. Alex., lib. i., c. 14.
Verse 7.—And I saw him come close to the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns.
BISHOP, NEWTON.—Alexander had several "close" engagements or set battles with the king of Persia, and particularly at the river Granicus in Phrygia, at the straits of Issus in Cilicia, and in the plains of Arbela in Assyria. "And he was moved with choler against him," for the cruelties which the Persians had exercised towards the Grecians: and for Darius's attempting to corrupt sometime his soldiers to betray him, and sometimes his friends to destroy him; so that he would not listen to the most advantageous offers of peace, but determined to pursue the Persian king, not as a generous and noble enemy, but as a prisoner and a murderer, to the death that he deserved. "And he smote the ram, and brake his two horns:” he subdued Persia and Media, with the other provinces and kingdoms of the Persian empire, and burned the royal city of Persepolis, the capital of the empire.—Dissert. on Proph., p. 240.
Verse 7.—And there was no power in the ram to stand before him.
ARRIAN.—After the battle of the Granicus had been fought, and Alexander had advanced into Cilicia, Darius himself took the command of the Persian army. At Issus he was defeated, and fled with such precipitation that he left behind him his bow, his shield, and his mantle. His camp was plundered, and his mother, and wife, and children, fell into the hands of the conqueror. At the battle of Arbela, Darius again commanded, and again was put to flight. He now lost Babylon, Susa, Persepolis, and all his treasures, and sought for personal safety at Ecbatana, where he was seized by Bessus, governor of Bactriana, who assumed the royal authority in his stead. Alexander closely pursued the usurper and his captive beyond the Caspian straits. On reaching the camp of Bessus, Darius was found extended in his chariot pierced with many darts. In him the empire of Persia was extinguished, 228 years after it had been first founded by Cyrus the Great.—See Arr. Exiled. Alex., lib. iii., c. 3.
DR. CHARLES ANTHONY.—The Macedonian power and dominion increased most rapidly. In the year 334 B. C., Alexander invaded Persia, and defeated the Persians in the battle of the Granicas; in the year 333, he again defeated them at the battle of Issus, and conquered Parthia, Bactria, Hyrcania, Sogdiana, and Asia Minor. In the year 332, he conquered Tyre and Egypt, and built Alexandria. In the year 331, he defeated Darius Codomannus, and in 330 completed the conquest of the Persian empire. In the year 328, he defeated Porus, king of India, and intended to pursue his march to the Ganges. In these few years, he overran nearly all the then known world, in conquests more rapid and more decisive than had ever been done before.—See Anthony's Classical Diction., art. "Alexander."
BISHOP NEWTON.—The empire of the goat was in its full strength, when Alexander died suddenly at Babylon.—Disserts., p. 246.
REV. A. BARNES.—At no time was the empire so strong as at the death of Alexander.—Note, In loco.
CHARLES ANTHONY, LL. D.—Alexander went to Babylon, where many foreign ambassadors waited for him, and was engaged in extensive plans for the future, when he became suddenly sick after a banquet, and died in a few days, B. C. 323. Such was the end of this conqueror, in his 32nd year, after a reign of twelve years and eight months. He left behind him an immense empire, which became the scene of continual wars. The body of Alexander was interred by Ptolemy in Alexandria, in a golden coffin: and the sarcophagus in which the coffin was enclosed has been in the British Museum since 1802. Class. Dict., p. 107.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—In the place of this one horn in which all the power was concentrated there sprang up four others that were distinguished and remarkable... This accords with the accounts in history of the effect of Alexander's death, for though the kingdom was not by him divided into four parts, yet, from the confusion and conflicts that arose, power was ultimately concentrated into four dynasties.—Note, In loco.
BISHOP NEWTON. —Alexander 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, and then the first "horn" or kingdom was entirely "broken." 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 Issus, they were reduced to four, Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus, who parted Alexander's dominions between 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 "... 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 eastern provinces. Thus were they divided toward the four winds of heaven.— Dissert. on Proph., p. 246.
AUTHOR OF MACCABEES.—So Alexander reigned twelve years, and then died. And his servants had rule every one in his place. And after his death, they all put crowns upon themselves; so did their sons after them many years; and evils were multiplied in the earth.—I Macc. i: 7-9. See also Diod. Sic., XX., 53; XXI., I.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—From one, “out of one," of the four powers or kingdoms, into which the empire of Alexander would be divided, there would spring up a power or king, at first small but ultimately great and mighty; ambitious and persecuting. There can be no doubt that Antiochus Epiphanes is denoted here. All the circumstances of the prediction find a fulfillment in him, and if it were supposed that this was written after he had lived, and that it was the design of the writer to describe him by these symbols, he could not have found symbols that would have been more striking or appropriate than this. This prince was the seventh in the line of succession from Seleucus, and had his capital at Antioch.— Notes, In loco.
Which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.
AUTHOR OF MACCABEES.—Now when the kingdom was established before Antiochus, he thought to reign over Egypt, that he might have the dominion of two realms. Wherefore he entered Egypt with a great multitude, with chariots and elephants, and horsemen, and a great navy. And made war against Ptolemee, king of Egypt: but Ptolemee was afraid of him, and fled; and many were wounded to death. Thus they got the strong cities in the land of Egypt, and he took the spoils thereof. (Thus he " waxed great toward the south".)—I Macc. 1:16-19.
IDEM.—Wherefore, Antiochus, being greatly perplexed in his mind (in view of his depleted treasury), determined to go into Persia (" toward the east"), there to take the tributes of the countries, and to gather much money. So the king departed from Antioch, his royal city, the hundred fifty and seventh year; and having past the river Euphrates, he went through the high countries.—I Macc. iii: 28-37.
IDEM.—And after that Antiochus had smitten Egypt, he returned again, in the hundred forty and third year, and went up against Israel and Jerusalem (" the pleasant land ") with a great multitude.... And when he had taken all (the treasure he could find) away, he went into his own land, having made a great massacre, and spoken very proudly.—I Macc. i: 20-25.
JEROME.—Antiochus fought against Ptolemy Philometer and the Egyptians, that is against the south; and again against the east, and those who attempted a change of government in Persia; and lastly he fought against the Jews, took Judœa, entered into Jerusalem, and in the temple of God set up the image of Jupiter Olympius.—Hieron. in Dan., c. 8.
Verse 10.—And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—It is usual to compare princes and rulers, and especially ecclesiastical rulers, with the sun and moon and stars. Now Antiochus did all this—he cast down and trampled on the princes and rulers and people of the holy host or army of God. All that is implied in this was abundantly fulfilled in what he did to the Jewish people. And stamped upon them: nothing could better express the conduct of Antiochus towards the Jews.—Note in loco: Comp. Macc. i: 1-64 and 2 Macc. viii: 2.
JOSEPHUS.—Daniel the prophet had signified that from among these Greek rulers there should arise a certain king, that should overcome our nation, and their laws, and should take away our political government, and should spoil the temple, and forbid the sacrifices to be offered for three years' time. And indeed it so came to pass, that our nation suffered these things under Antiochus Epiphanes, according to Daniel's vision, and what he wrote many years before it came to pass.—Antiquities, B. X., c. II, § 7.
Verse 11, 12.—Yea, he magnified himself to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.... And it cast down the truth to the ground.
AUTHOR OF MACCABEES.—And Antiochus entered proudly into the sanctuary and took away the golden altar, and the candlestick of light, and all the vessels thereof. And the table of the show-bread, and the pouring vessels, and the vials, and the censers of gold, and the veil, and the crowns, and the golden ornaments that were before the temple, all which he pulled off. He took also the silver and the gold, and the precious vessels: also he took the hidden treasures which he found.... And after two years fully expired, the king sent his chief collector of tribute unto the cities of Judah, who fell suddenly upon the city, and smote it very sore, and destroyed much people of Israel. And when he had taken the spoils of the city, he set it on fire, and pulled down the houses and walls thereof on every side.... Her sanctuary was laid waste like a wilderness, her feasts were turned into mourning, her Sabbaths into reproach, her honor into contempt.... Moreover, the king sent letters by messengers unto Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, forbidding burnt-offerings, and sacrifices, and drink-offerings in, the temple; and commanded that they should profane the Sabbaths and festival days: and pollute the sanctuary and holy people: set up altars, and groves, and chapels of idols, and sacrifice swine's flesh, and unclean beasts: that they should also leave their children uncircumcised, and make their souls abominable with all manner of uncleanness and abomination: to the end they might forget the law, and change all the ordinances.—I Macc. i: 20-64.
Verses 13, 14.—How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
BERTHOLD. —This writer reckons from the date of the command issued by Antiochus to set up idol altars to the date of Nicanor's defeat, 2,271 days; and the time consumed for the due celebration of the victory and the cleansing of the temple to have occupied 29 days more: and these figures, 2,271+29=2,300, agree exactly with the statement in the prediction.—In Barnes' Notes.
Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
JOSEPHUS.—When the generals of Antiochus' armies had been beaten so often, Judas assembled the people together, and told them, that “after these many victories which God had given them, they ought to go up to Jerusalem, and purify the temple, and offer the appointed sacrifice." But as soon as he and the whole multitude were come to Jerusalem, and found the temple deserted, and its gates burnt down, and plants growing in the temple of their own accord on account of its desertion, he and those that were with him began to lament, and were quite confounded at the sight of the temple: so he chose out some of his soldiers, and gave them order to fight against those guards that were in the citadel, until he should have purified the temple. When, therefore, he had carefully purged it, and had brought in new vessels, the candlestick, the table of show-bread, and the altar of incense, which were made of gold; he hung up the veils at the gates, and added doors to them. He also took down the altar of burnt-offering, and built a new one of stones that he gathered together, and not such as were hewn with iron tools. So on the five and twentieth day of the month Casleu, which the Macedonians call Apelleus, they lighted the lamps that were on the candlestick, and offered incense upon the altar, and laid the loaves upon the table, and offered burnt-offerings upon the new altar. Now, it so fell out, that these things were done on the very same day on which their divine worship had fallen off, and was reduced to a profane and common use after three years' time.... Now Judas celebrated the festival of the restoration of the sacrifices at the temple for eight days; and omitted no sort of pleasures thereon, but he feasted them on very rich and splendid sacrifices; and he honored. God, and delighted them by hymns and psalms ... . And from that time to this we celebrate this festival.—Antiq., B. XII., c. 7, § 6, 7.
Verse 25.—And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—He shall owe his success in a great measure to a crafty policy, to intrigue, and to cunning.—This was true in an eminent sense of Antiochus. He came to the kingdom by deceit, and a great part of his success was owing to craft and policy. His policy always was to preserve the appearance of friendship, that he might accomplish his purpose while his enemies were off their guard.—Notes, In loco.
AUTHOR OF MACCABEES.—And he spake peaceable words unto them, but all was deceit: for when they had given him credence, he fell suddenly upon the city, and smote it very sore, and destroyed much people of Israel.— I Macc. i: 30.
But he shall be broken without hand.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—That is, without the hand of man. He shall be overcome by a divine and invisible power. And so he died. He was on an expedition to Persia, and there laid siege to Elymais, and was defeated, and fled to Babylon, when learning that his forces in Palestine had been repulsed, penetrated with grief and remorse, he sickened and died. All the statements given of his death, in the books of Maccabees, by Josephus, by Polybius, by Q. Curtius, and by Arrian, agree in representing it as attended with every circumstance of horror that can be well supposed to accompany a departure from this world, and as having every mark of the just judgment of God.—Note, In loco.
The Seventy Weeks
Dan. 9:2424Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, 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. (Daniel 9:24).—Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, 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.
PROF. M. STUART.—Daniel had been meditating on the close of the seventy years of Hebrew exile, and the angel now discloses to him a new period of seventy times seven, in which still more important events are to take place. Seventy sevens, or (to use the Greek phraseology,) seventy heptades, are deter' mined upon thy people. Heptades of what? Of days or of years? No one can doubt what the answer is. Daniel had been making diligent search respecting the seventy years; and, in such a connection, nothing but seventy, heptades of years could be reasonably supposed to be meant by the angel.—Hints on Interp., p. 82.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—The meaning is seventy sevens of years, or 490 years. —Note, In loco.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—" From the going forth of the commandment to restore and build JERUSALEM "—not the temple. The permission to rebuild the temple, and the permission to rebuild the city, were quite different things, and were separately granted by different sovereigns, and the work was executed by different persons. The edict to rebuild the temple was issued by Cyrus, in the first year of his reign; that to restore and rebuild the city and its walls by Artaxerxes Longimanus, in the twentieth year of his reign. The Royal Letters authorizing and empowering the Jews to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, and to restore it from its ruinous condition, were given to Nehemiah, and of which he gives a particular account in the 2nd chapter of the sacred book bearing his name. Now this occurred according to the chronology of both Usher and Hengstenberg in the year 454 B. C. From this the date of issuing the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem unto the appearing of Messiah the Prince was to be " seven weeks, and three-score and two weeks," that is sixty-nine weeks, or 483 years: and 483 years bring us down to A. D. 29; just the time when Jesus by his public baptism in Jordan, and by the descent of the Holy Ghost upon him, assumed the office and work of the Messiah—and when, as the evangelist Luke tells us, " Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age." —See Notes, In loco.
HENGSTENBERG.—According to the prophecy, the terminus a quo, the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, is separated from the terminus ad quem, the public appearance of Christ, by a period of sixty-nine weeks of years, or 483 years. If now we compare history with this, it must appear, even to the most prejudiced, in the highest degree remarkable, that among all the current chronological determinations of the period, not one differs over ten years from the testimony of the prophecy. This wonder must rise to the highest pitch, when it appears from an accurate examination of these determinations, that the only one among them, which is correct, makes the prophecy and history correspond with each other, even to a year!—Christ., II., 394.
From the going forth of the commandment... unto the Messiah, shall be seven weeks, and three-score and two weeks.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—The whole period of sixty-nine weeks is divided into two smaller portions, seven weeks and sixty-two weeks, or forty-nine years and 434 years.... The fair interpretation of which undoubtedly is, that it would require the “seven weeks," or the first forty-nine years to rebuild the city and settle its affairs on a permanent foundation; and that from the close of that time, another period of " sixty-two weeks," or 434 years, would elapse to the appearing of the Messiah.... As a matter of fact, the completion of the work undertaken by Nehemiah, under the command of the Persian kings, reached to the period here designated, and his last act as governor of Judea, in restoring the people, and placing the affairs of the nation on its former basis, occurred at just about the period of the forty-nine years after the issuing of the command by Artaxerxes Longimanus, i. e., 405 B. C.—Note, In loco.
The street shall be built again, and the wall even in troublous times.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—Let anyone read the account of the rebuilding in Nehemiah—the description of the " troubles'' which were produced by the opposition of Sanballat and those associated with him, and he will see the striking accuracy of this expression—an accuracy as entire as if it had been employed after the event in describing it instead of having been used before in predicting it.—Note, In loco.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—”After threescore and two weeks "—he does not say that it would be immediately on the termination of the sixty-two weeks, but that it would be " after," or subsequent to the close of that period;—the original would be well expressed by the word afterward.... "Messiah shall be cut off;—that is, by death, through the violence or agency of others. It need not be here said that this phrase found a complete fulfillment in the manner in which the Lord Jesus was put to death, nor that this is the very language in which it is proper now to describe the manner in which he was removed. He was cut off by violence; by a judicial decree; by a mob; in the midst of his way, etc.... "And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary "—No one can fail to see the applicability of this to the destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple by the Romans not long after the Lord Jesus was put to death.... "And the end thereof shall be with a flood"—that is, it shall be like an overflowing flood,—an expression that appropriately denotes the ravages of an army sweeping everything away. No one can doubt that this language is applicable in every respect to the desolations brought upon Jerusalem by the Roman armies.... "And unto the end of the war desolations are determined "-the war would be one of a most desolating character, and desolations would extend to its close. It is hardly necessary to say that this was, in fact, precisely the character of the war which the Romans waged with the Jews after the death of the Savior, and which, ended in the destruction of the city and the temple; the overthrow of the whole Hebrew polity, and the removal of great numbers of the people to a distant and perpetual captivity. No war, perhaps, has been in its progress more marked by desolation; in none has the purpose of destruction been more perseveringly manifested to its very close.—Notes, In loco.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—" For one week "—the space of seven years: this is the one week that makes up the seventy “determined upon the people and upon the holy city."... “He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week."—Messiah would pursue such a course as would bring many into covenant relation with God, and to establish or “confirm “them in the true religion. And this the Lord Jesus did by his personal instructions, his example, his sufferings and death, and the arrangements which he made to secure the proper effect of his work on the minds of the people—all designed to procure for them the friendship and favor of God, and to unite them to him in the bonds of an enduring covenant. This work was continued (among his people) for about the period here referred to; at least for a period so long that it could properly be represented in round numbers as " one week," or seven years. The Savior's own ministry, which was wholly among the Jews, continued about half that time; and then the apostles prosecuted the same work, laboring with the Jews, for about the other portion; before they turned their attention to the Gentiles, and before the purpose to endeavor to bring in the Jewish people was abandoned.—Notes, In loco.
And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—It is agreed on all hands that our Lord's ministry lasted about three years and a half-the time referred to here.... “He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease "—he would bring the rites, or the offerings of the temple to a close. And as a matter of fact, so far as the divine intention in the appointment of these sacrifices and offerings was concerned, they “ceased " at the death of, Christ—in the middle of the “week." Then the great sacrifice, which they had adumbrated, was offered. Then they ceased to have any significancy, no reason existing for their longer continuance.— Notes, In loco.
And for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate: (in the margin,) Upon the battlements shall be the idols of the desolater.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—Nothing would be more appropriate in the common estimation of the Jews, than to speak of such an object as a Roman military standard planted in any part of the temple as an " abomination; " and no word would better denote the character of the Roman conqueror than the word desolater—for the effect of his coming was to lay the whole city and temple in ruins.—Note, In loco.
JOSEPHUS.—And now the Romans, upon the flight of the seditious into the city, and upon the burning of the holy house itself, and all the buildings round about it, brought their ensigns into the temple, and set them over against its eastern gate; and there they did offer sacrifices to them, and there did they make Titus ImpErator, with the greatest acclamations of joy.—Jewish Wars, B. VI., ch. VI., § I.
Concluding Remarks
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—The prediction in this chapter could have been the result only of Inspiration. There is the clearest evidence that the prophecy was recorded long before the time of the Messiah, and it is manifest that it could not have been the result of any natural sagacity. How could such events have been foreseen except by Him who knows all things?—How could the order have been determined? How could the time have been fixed? How could it have been anticipated that the Messiah, the Prince, would have been cut off? How could it have been known that he would cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease? How could it have been ascertained that the period during which he would be engaged in this would be “one week," or about seven years? How could it be predicted that a remarkable event would occur in the middle of that period that would in fact cause the sacrifice and oblation ultimately to cease? And how could it be conjectured that a foreign prince would come and plant the standard of abomination in the holy city, and sweep all away—laying the city and the temple in ruins, and bringing the whole polity to an end? These things lie beyond the range of natural sagacity, and if they are fairly implied in this prophecy, they demonstrate that this portion of the book is from God.—Notes, In loco.
HENGSTENBERG.—Until all these arguments are refuted, it remains true that the Messianic interpretation of the prophecy is the only correct one, and that Daniel possessed an insight into the future, which could have been given only by the Spirit of God; and hence, as this favor could have been shown to no deceiver, the genuineness of the book necessarily follows, and the futility of all objections against it is already manifest.—Christ., II., p. 408.
Overthrow of the Persian and Setting up of the Grecian Power
BISHOP NEWTON.—After Cyrus, the reigning monarch, " there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia,"—these were Cambyses, the son of Cyrus; Smerdis, the Magian; and Darius the son of Hystaspes, who married the daughter of Cyrus; and the fourth was Xerxes, the son and successor of Darius.— Dissert. on Proph., p. 263.
The firth shall he richer than they all.
JUSTIN.—If you consider this king (Xerxes), you may praise his riches, not the general; of which there was so great an abundance in his kingdom, that when rivers were dried up by his army, yet his wealth remained unexhausted.—Just., lib. ii., c. Io; See also Herodt., lib. vii., c. 27, etc.
And he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia.
HERODOTUS.—Xerxes spent four full years in collecting his host. Of all the armaments whereof any mention has reached us, this was by far the greatest. For was there a nation in all Asia which Xerxes did not bring with him against Greece? Or was there a river, except those of unusual size, which sufficed for his troops to drink? The land army was found to amount to 1,700,000 men. The sea force amounted to 517,610 men. The horsemen numbered 80,000; the camel-drivers and charioteers were reckoned at 20,000. To all these are to be added the forces gathered in Europe, etc., etc.—Polymnia, c. 20, 21, 60, 184, etc.
Verse 3.—And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will.
BISHOP NEWTON.—The Persians invaded Greece, and the Grecians in their turn would invade the realm of" Persia. This would be under the leadership of Alexander: that he was a “mighty king "' and conqueror; that he ruled " with great dominion," not only over Greece and the whole Persian empire, but likewise added India to his conquests; and that he "did according to his none daring, not even his friends, to contradict and oppose him, or if they did, like Clitus and Calesthenes, paying for it with their lives, are' facts too well known to require any particular proof or illustration.—Dissert. on Proph., p. 264.
Verse 4.—And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided towards the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled; for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—"And when he shall stand up "—when he shall be at the height of his authority and power, “his kingdom shall be broken,"—to wit, by death.—Note, In loco.
ARRIAN.—Alexander died in Babylon, having lived only thirty-two years and' eight months, of which he reigned twelve years and eight months. In so short a time did this sun of glory rise and set.— Arr., VII, 28.
And shall be divided towards the four winds of heaven, and not to his posterity.
DIODORUS SICULUS.—In the space of about fifteen years from the death of Alexander, his family and posterity became extinct, every one of them, having been murdered in one way or another. “His kingdom was broken and divided, but not' for his posterity."—Diod. Sic., lib. xix., c. 5, II, 105; and lib. xx., C. 28.
IDEM.—After which, in the partition of the empire, Cassander herd' Macedon and` Greece, or the western portion; Lysimachus had Thrace and Bythinia, or the northern regions; Ptolemy possessed Egypt, or the southern 'countries; and Seleucus obtained. Syria, or the eastern provinces. —Diod. Sic., lib. xxi., c. i; See also Polyb, V., 67.
Verse 5.—And the king of the south shall he strong, and one of his princes; and he shall be strong above him, and have dominion; his dominion shall be a great dominion.
BISHOP NEWTON.—Though the kingdom of Alexander was divided into four principal parts, yet only two of them have a' place allotted' in this prophecy, Egypt and Syria. These two were by far the greatest and most considerable: and these two at one time were in a manner the only remaining' kingdoms of the four. Judea, lying between them, was sometimes in the possession of the kings of Egypt, and sometimes of the kings of Syria. And it is in respect of their situation to Judea that they are respectively called the kings of the South, and the kings of the North.—Dissert. on Proph., p. 266.
The king of the south shall be strong.
JEROME.—Ptolemy, king of Egypt, was very powerful, having annexed Cyprus, Phenicia, Caria, and many islands and cities and regions to Egypt, as related by the ancients.—Com. In loco.
JUSTIN.—Ptolemy had also enlarged the bounds of his empire by the acquisition of Cyrene, and was now become so great, that he was in a condition not so much to fear as to be feared by his enemies. Justin, lib. xiii., c. 6.
And one of his (Alexander's) princes; he shall be strong above him; his dominion shall be a greater dominion.
BISHOP NEWTON.—This prince was “the king of the north," or Seleucus Nicator, and was strong above Ptolemy: for, as Justin and Plutarch relate, having annexed the kingdoms of Macedon and Thrace to the crown of Syria, he was 'become master of three parts out of four of Alexander's dominions.
Justin denominates him the conqueror of conquerors.—Dissert. on Proph., p. 267.
APPIAN.—After Alexander he possessed the "largest part of Asia; for all was subject to him from Phrygia up to the river Indus, and beyond it.... He was the greatest king of Alexander.—De Bell. Syr., c. 55.
Verse 6.—And in the end of years they shall join themselves together; for the king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement.
JEROME.—After several years spent in war against one another, Antiochus Theus, now “the king of the north, "and Ptolemy Philadelphus, now " king of the south," agreed to make peace upon condition that Antiochus Theus should put away his former wife Laodice and her two sons, and should marry Bernice, the daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus. And, accordingly, Ptolemy brought his daughter to Antiochus, and with 'her an immense dowry, of gold and silver.—Com. In loco.
But she shall not retain the, power of the arm (i. e. of Antiochus).
JEROME.—After some time, Antiochus, in a fit of lave, brought back his former wife, Laodice, with her children, to court again.—Com. In loco.
Neither shall the stand, nor his arm (i. e., his seed).
JEROME.—Laodice, fearing the fickle temper of her, husband, lest he should recall Bernice, caused him to be poisoned; and neither did his seed 'by Bernice succeed him in the kingdom, but Laodice contrived and managed matters so as to fix her eldest son, Seleucus Callinicus, on the throne of His ancestors.—Com. In loco. See also App. de Bell. Syr., c. 65, and Pliny, lib. vii., § to.
But she (Bernice') shall be given up, and they that brought her, and Ile whom she begat, and he that strengthened her in these, times.
JEROME.—Laodice, not content with poisoning her husband, caused also Bernice to be murdered; her Egyptian women and attendants also, endeavoring to defend her, were many of them slain with her; her son likewise was murdered after the same manner, and all who took part with her.—Com. In loco. See also Polynœus, Strat., viii., 50.
Verses 7-9.—But out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up in his estate, which shall come with an army, and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north, and shall deal against them, and shall prevail: and shall also carry captives into Egypt their gods, with their princes, and with their precious vessels of silver and of gold; and he shall continue more years than the king of the north. So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom, and shall return into his own land.
JEROME.—Ptolemy Euergetes, sprung from the same parental stock with Bernice, being her brother, no Sooner succeeded his father to the kingdom than he came with a great army and entered into the provinces of the king of, the north, Seleucus Callinicus, who with his mother Laodice reigned in. Syria, against whom he so far prevailed 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 40,000 talents of silver, and precious vessels and images of the gods 2,500: among which were also those which Cambyses, after he had taken Egypt, had carried into Persia. And for thus restoring their gods after many years, the Egyptians, who were a nation much addicted to idolatry, complimented him with the title of Euergetes, or the Benefactor.—Hieron. ad loco.
POLYBIUS—Ptolemy, surnamed Euergetes, being greatly incensed at the cruel treatment of his sister Bernice, marched with an army into Syria, and took the city of Seleucia, which was kept for some years afterward by the garrisons of the kings of Egypt—Polyb., lib. v., c. 58.
POLYNÆUS.—Ptolemy made himself master of all the country from mount Taurus as far as to India without war or battle.—Strat., lib. viii., c. 50.
Verse 10.—But his sons shall be stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude, of great forces: and one shall certainly come, and overflow and pass through: then shall he return, and be stirred up, even to his fortress.
BISHOP NEWTON.—The sons of Seleucus Callinicus were Seleucus Ceraunus and Antiochus Magnus. Seleucus Ceraunus was indeed stirred up, and assembled a great multitude of forces in order to recover his father's dominions; but being destitute of money, and unable to keep his army in obedience, he was poisoned by two of his generals after an inglorious reign of two or three years. Upon his decease Antiochus Magnus 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, took Seleucia, and by means of Theodotus, the Ætolian, recovered Syria, making himself master of some places by treaty, and of others by force of arms. Then after a truce, wherein both sides treated of peace but prepared for war, Antiochus returned, and overcame in battle Nicolaus, the Egyptian general, and had thoughts of invading Egypt itself.—Dissert. on Proph., p. 271. See Polyb., lib. v., c. 61, 68, 69.
Verse 11.—And the king of the south shall be moved with choler, and shall come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the north: and he shall set forth a great multitude; but the multitude shall be given into his hand.
POLYBIUS.—At that time Ptolemy Philopator was the king of Egypt, and Antiochus Magnus had succeeded to the throne of Syria. Ptolemy, incensed by his losses, assembled a numerous army, and marched out of Egypt to oppose his enemy; he encamped at Raphia, a town not far from the confines of Egypt. Thither also came Antiochus with his army, and a memorable battle was there fought by the two kings. The army of Antiochus, gathered from various nations, was composed of 62,000 foot, 6,000 horse, and 102 elephants. But Ptolemy obtained a complete victory; there being of Antiochus' army no less than 10,000 foot, and 300 horse slain, and above 4,000 men taken prisoners. And Antiochus was forced to retreat with the remnant of his army, and to sue for peace.—Polyb., lib. v., C. 34, 79, 80, 86.
Verse 12.—And when he hath taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up; and he shall cast down many ten thousands: but he shall not be strengthened by it.
JUSTIN.—Delivered from his fears, Ptolemy concluded a hasty peace with Antiochus, that he might be no longer interrupted in the gratification of his lusts. Returned to Egypt, he so far forgot the dignity of his position and office as a king, that he consumed his days in feasting, and his nights in lewdness; and became not only the spectator, but the master and leader of all wickedness.—Just., lib. xxx., c. I, 2.
POLYBIUS.—His subjects, expecting great things from their decisive victory over Antiochus, were offended at his inglorious peace, and more inglorious life, and rebelled against him; so that altogether instead of being strengthened by the war, he was much weakened.—Polyb., lib. v., c. 107.
Verse 13.—For the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches.
PRIDEAUX.—The treaty of peace agreed upon by Antiochus and the king of Egypt was observed for fourteen years.—Conn., III., 19.
JEROME.—Antiochus, having brought his war in the East to a successful close, once more turned his thoughts toward Egypt. He gathered together an incredible army out of the countries beyond Babylon; and, contrary to the league, he marched with this army, Ptolemy Philopator being now dead, against his son, who was then four years old, and was called Ptolemy Epiphanes.—Hieron., In loco.
JUSTIN.—Ptolemy Philopator, king of Egypt, being dead, in contempt of the childhood of his son, who being left heir to the kingdom was a prey even to his domestics, Antiochus, king of Syria, resolved to take possession of Egypt. —, Justin, lib. xxxi., c. I.
Verse 54—And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south: also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall fall.
POLYBIUS.—Antiochus was not the only adversary of Egypt at this time.
Several provinces which before were subject to Egypt now rebelled; and Egypt itself was disturbed by seditions. Philip, king of Macedon, also, entered into a league with Antiochus to divide Ptolemy's dominions between them. Certain factions of the Jews likewise set themselves against that country, but these were quickly brought into subjection.—Polyb., lib. xv., c. 25; and lib. iii., c. 2.
Verse 15.—So the king of the north shall come, and cast up a mount, and take the most fenced cities and the arms of the south shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any strength to withstand.
JEROME.—Antiochus, desiring to recover Judea, and the cities of Cœle-Syria and Palestine, which Scopas the Egyptian general had taken, came again into those parts. Scopas was sent again to oppose him, and Antiochus fought with him near the sources of the river Jordan, where now Paneas has been built, destroyed a great part of his army, and pursued him to Sidon, where he shut him up with 10,000 men, and closely besieged him. 'Three famous generals were seat from Egypt to raise the siege; but they could not succeed, and at length Scopas was forced by famine to surrender on the hard conditions of having life only granted to him and his men; they were obliged to lay down their arms, and were sent away stripped and naked.... Antiochus also took many other fenced cities; and ere long rendered himself master of all Cœle-Syria and Palestine.—Hieron., In loco.
Verse 57.—He shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him; thus shall he do: and he shall give him the daughter of women, corrupting her; but she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him.
APPIAN.—Antiochus would have gladly seized upon the whole kingdom of Egypt by force, but apprehending war with the Romans he sought to accomplish his designs by a stratagem rather than by force of arms.—De Bell. Syr., c. 5.
JEROME.—Antiochus proposed a treaty of marriage by Eucles the Rhodian, betrothed his daughter Cleopatra to Ptolemy in the seventh year of his reign, and married her to him in the thirteenth. This he did„ instructing and expecting his daughter to betray her husband's interests into his hands. But his wicked design did not succeed. 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 that of her Father.— Hieron., in loco; see also Livy, lib. xxxvii, c. 3.
Verse 18.—After this shall he turn his face unto the isles, and shall take many: but a prince for his own behalf shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease; without his own reproach he' shall cause it to turn upon him.
LIVY.—Antiochus built and fitted out a great fleet, consisting of one hundred' large ships, a war, and two hundred smaller vessels. With this fleet he sailed for the islands of the Mediterranean; subdued most of the maritime places on the coasts of Asia, Thrace, and Greece; and took Samos, Eubœa, and many other islands. This the Romans accounted as a great indignity offered to them, inasmuch as many of these were their friends and confederates. They, therefore, immediately resolved to repel the invader, and wipe away the reproach. Ancilius the consul encountered and fought Antiochus at the straits of Thermopylæ, routed him, and expelled him out of Greece. Livius and Æmilius beat his fleets at sea; and Scipio finally obtained a decisive victory over him in Asia, at the foot of Mount Sipylus. Antiochus lost 50,000 foot and 4,000 horse in that engagement; 1,400 were taken prisoners, and he himself escaped with difficulty. Upon this defeat he was compelled to sue for peace, and to accept very humbling conditions: he was not to set foot in Europe, and to quit all Asia on this side of Mount Taurus, to defray the whole cost of the war, and to give twenty hostages for the performance of these conditions, one of the hostages being his own son, who afterward was named Antiochus Epiphanes.—Livy, lib. xxxiii., c. 19, etc.; and xxxvi., c,. 45. See also App. de Bell. Syr., c. 6, 12, etc.
Verse 49.—Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land: but he shall stumble and fall, and not be found.
LIVY.—From the disastrous field of Mount Sipylus Antiochus fled that nigh to Sardes, and from thence to Apamea, and the next day he came into Syria, to Antioch, his own capital and stronghold.— Liv., lib. xxxvii., c. 44.
JUSTIN.—Some time after, Antiochus marched into the eastern provinces, to collect there the arrears of tribute, and collect what treasure he could and attempting to plunder the rich temple of Jupiter Belus, in Elymais, he was assaulted by the inhabitants of the country, was defeated, and himself and all his attendants were slain. Thus fell and perished Antiochus.—Just., lib. xxxii., c. 2; see also Jer. Hieron. in loco, and Diod. Sic.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—The prophecy respecting Antiochus 'the Great terminates here, and the particulars specified are as minute and accurate as if it had been written after the events.—Note, In loco.
Verse 20.—Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes, in the glory of the kingdom: but within a few days he Shall be destroyed, neither in anger nor in battle.
BISHOP NEWTON.—Antiochus was succeeded by his son Seleucus Philopator. 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.—Disserts., p. 281.
JEROME.—Seleucus Philopator performed nothing worthy of the empire of Syria and of his father, and perished ingloriously without "fighting any battles.—Hieron., In loco.
APPIAN.—Seleucus perished by the treachery of his own treasurer, Heliodorus. De Bell. Syr., C. 45.
Verse 21.—And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
POLYBIUS.—The successor of Seleucus was his brother. Antiochus, afterward surnamed “Epiphanes" or the illustrious, but more rightly named from his freaks and follies and extravagances "Epimanes” or the Madman.—Athenœus lib. x., c. 10.
APPIAN.—When Seleucus died, Antiochus was not called to the throne; he was from home at Athens; neither was he the rightful heir. Besides, Heliodorus, his brother's murderer, attempted to get possession of it himself; at the same time, a strong 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; while Demetrius, the son of Seleucus, was the legal heir: Nevertheless Antiochus obtained the kingdom. By fair promises he engaged Eumenes, king of Pergamus, and Attalus, his brother, on his side. By a show of great clemency he also won the favor and good will of the Syrians. And (as Livy relates) he ingratiated himself with the Romans by sending ambassadors to court their favor, to pay them the arrears of tribute, to present them besides with golden vessels of 500 pounds weight, and to desire that the friendship and alliance, which they had had with his father, might be renewed with him, and that they would lay their commands upon him as upon a good and faithful confederate king; he would never be wanting in any duty. And thus he came peaceably into power.—App. de Bell. Syr., c. 45; and Livy, xlii., c. 6.
Verse 22.—And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken.
CALMET.—Heliodorus, the murderer of Seleucus and his partisans, as well as those of the king of Egypt, who had formed some designs upon Syria, were vanquished by the forces of Eumenes and Attalus, and were dissipated by the arrival of Antiochus, whose presence disconcerted all their measures.—Art. Antiochus."
Verse 24.—And he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers: he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches.
POLYBIUS.—By Antiochus Epiphanes, the prey of his enemies, the spoil of temples, and the riches of his friends, as well as his own revenues, were expended in public shows, and bestowed in largesses among the people.—Ap. Athen., lib. v., c. 5.
AUTHOR OF MACCABEES.—In liberality of gifts Antiochus abounded above the kings that were before him— Macc. iii: 20.
JOSEPHUS.—Antiochus, having been so magnanimous and so liberal, found that what he had was not sufficient for him to carry on the war, he therefore resolved first, etc.—Antiq., lib. 12, c. 7, § 2.
Verses 25, 26.—And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army, and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; hut he shall not stand: for they shall cast devices against him. Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall be overflown, and many shall fall down slain.
AUTHOR OF MACCABEES.—Now when the kingdom was established before Antiochus, he thought to reign over Egypt, that he might have the dominion of two realms. Wherefore he entered into Egypt with a great multitude, with chariots, and elephants, and horsemen, and a great navy. And made war against Ptolemy, king of Egypt, but Ptolemy was afraid of him, and fled; and many were wounded to death. Thus they got the strong cities in the land of Egypt, and he took the spoils thereof.— Macc. i: 16-19.
Verse 27.—And both these, kings' hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper.
JEROME.—After Antiochus was come to Memphis, and the greater part of Egypt hail submitted to him, he and Philometor did frequently eat and converse together, but their peace and friendship were only in appearance. —Hieron., In loco.
POLYBIUS.—Antiochus pretended to take care of his nephew Philometor's interest, and promised to restore him to the crown, at the same time that he was plotting his ruin. On the other side, Philometor professed great obligations to his uncle, and seemed to hold the crown by his favor, at the same time that he was resolved to take the first opportunity of breaking the league with him. But the deceit did not prove successful on either side.—Polyb. Legal. 84, 1. 28, c. 19, and Leg. 82, 1. 28, c. 17, and Jer. Hieron., In loco.
Verse 28.—Then shall he return into his land with great riches, and his heart shall be against the holy covenant.
AUTHOR OF MACCABEES.—Thus he got the strong cities in the land of Egypt, and he took the spoils thereof. And after that Antiochus had smitten Egypt he returned.—I Macc. i: 19, 20.
POLYBIUS.—Of the great opulence of gold, silver, jewels, and other valuables, which Antiochus exhibited, a large part was taken from Egypt, he having broken his league with the young king Philometor.—Ap. Athen., lib. v., c. 5.
Verse 29.—At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not be as the former or as the latter.
JEROME.—After two years had expired, Antiochus assembled his forces, and marched again against the Ptolemies.—Hieron., In loco.
BISHOP NEWTON.—This expedition was not as successful as his former ones; and the reason is assigned in the next verse.—Disserts.
Verse 30.—For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.
BISHOP NEWTON.—"Chittim" was the general name for Greece, Italy, and the coasts and islands of the Mediterranean. "The ships of Chittim," therefore, are the ships which brought the Roman ambassadors, who came from Italy, touched at Greece, and arrived in Egypt, being sent by the Senate, at the supplication of the Ptolemies, to command a peace between the contending kings.— Dissert. on Proph., p. 290.
POLYBIUS.—Antiochus Epiphanes, with his army, had entered Egypt, and had gained such positions that he was in a fair way of becoming master of the whole kingdom. The Romans, apprised of his proceedings and intentions, and fearing lest he should grow too powerful by annexing Egypt to his other dominions, sent an embassy to him, to require him to desist from his enterprise, or, in case of his refusal, to declare, war against him. He was drawing near to besiege Alexandria, when he was met by the three Ambassadors from Rome. After a few words on either side, Popillius, the chief of them, demanded of Antiochus whether he was a friend to the Romans? and so saying, presented to him the Tables which contained the decree of the Senate, and desired an immediate answer. Antiochus opened and perused them, and replied that he Would consider the matter with his friends, and return his answer presently. But Popillius, with a rod that he carried in his, hand, drew a circle in the sand round the king, and insisted upon his answer before he stepped out of that circle. The king astonished and frightened at this peremptory and imperious proceeding, after some hesitation, gave his answer, and said, “If this be the will of the Senate and People of Rome, we obey them, and depart." And so, in a brief time, he drew off his army. —Polyb. Legal. 92, lib. xxix., c. ii; see also Appian, de Bell. Syr., and Jerome Hieron., In loco.
Therefore he shall be grieved, and return.
POLYBIUS.—Compelled by the Romans to abandon his designs, Antiochus led back his forces to Syria, angry and groaning, but thinking it expedient to yield to the times for the present.—Polyb. Legal. 92, lib. xxix., c.
And he shall have indignation against the holy covenant.
AUTHOR OF MACCABEES.—He sent also that detestable ringleader, Apollonius, with an army of two and twenty thousand, commanding him to slay all those that were in their best age, and to sell the women and the younger sort: who coming to Jerusalem, and pretending peace, did forbear till the holy day of the Sabbath, when taking the Jews keeping holy-day, he commanded his men to arm themselves. And so he slew all them that were gone to the celebrating of the Sabbath, and running through the city with weapons slew great multitudes. —Mace. v: 24-26.
Verse 31.—And arms (i. e., power) shall stand on his part, and they Shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shah place the abomination that maketh desolate.
AUTHOR OF MACCABEES.—They shed innocent blood on every side of the sanctuary and defiled it, insomuch that the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled because of them; wherefore the city was made a habitation of strangers, and became strange to those who were born in her, and her own children left her. Her sanctuary was laid waste like a wilderness, and her feasts were turned into mourning, her Sabbaths into reproach, her honor into contempt. As had been her glory, so was her dishonor increased, and her excellency was turned into mourning.—Moreover, king Antiochus wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people, and everyone should learn his laws; so all the heathen agreed according to the commandment of the king. Yea many Israelites consented to his religion, and sacrificed unto idols, and profaned the Sabbath. For the king had sent letters by messengers unto Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, that they should follow the strange laws of the land, and forbid burnt-offerings and sacrifices, and drink-offerings, in the temple; and that they should profane the Sabbaths and festival-days, and pollute the sanctuary and holy people; set up altars, and groves, and chapels of idols, and sacrifice swine's flesh, and unclean beasts; that they should also leave their children uncircumcised, and make their souls abominable with all manner of uncleanness and profanation, to the end they might forget the law, and change all the ordinances.... Now, the fifteenth day of the month Casleu, in the hundred and forty-fifth year, they set up the abomination of desolation upon the altar, and builded idol-altars throughout the cities of Judah on every side.... Now the five and twentieth day of the month they did sacrifice upon the idol-altar, Which was upon the altar of God.—I. Mace. i: 37, etc. See also, Josephus' Antiq., lib. xii., c. 5, § 4.
Verse 36.—And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—Antiochus did according' to his will in regard to the city and temple in the most arbitrary manner, and was, in every respect, an absolute despot... "He exalted himself, and magnified himself above every god "—that is, by directing what gods should or should not be worshipped"; attempting to displace the claim of everyone who was worshipped as god at his pleasure, and establishing the worship of other gods in their place. Thus he assumed the right to determine what god should be worshipped at Jerusalem, abolishing the worship of Jehovah, and setting up that of Jupiter Olympius in the stead; and so throughout his whole dominion, by a proclamation, he forbade the worship of any god but his. One who assumes or claims the right to forbid the adoration of any particular god, and to order divine homage to be rendered to any one which he chooses, exalts himself above the gods, as lie in this way denies the tight which they must be supposed to claim to prescribe their own worship.
Nothing could be better descriptive of Antiochus than this; nothing was ever more strikingly fulfilled than this was in him.—Notes, In loco.
Verse 38.—And in his estate shall he honor the god of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold, with silver, and with precious stones, and with pleasant things.
LENGERKE.—During his long residence in Rome, as an hostage, Antiochus became addicted to the worship of Jupiter Capitolinus, and whose worship he attempted to transfer and establish in his own country. Ob. In loco.
LIVY.—Antiochus sent rich gifts to Rome in honor of the Jupiter he worshipped there. — Lilly, LXII., 6.
IDEM. —It was his purpose to erect a magnificent temple in honor of Jupiter Capitolinus, in Antioch; but this design was never carried out.—Livy, XLI., 20.
PROF. B. F. Westcott, M. A.—The real deity whom Antiochus recognized Was the Roman war-god, and fortresses were his most sacred temples.—Smith's Dict. of Bible, p. 117.
Concluding Observations
BISHOP NEWTON.—It may be proper to stand a little here, and reflect how particular and circumstantial this prophecy is, concerning Egypt and Syria, from the death of Alexander to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. There is not so concise, comprehensive, and regular, an account of their kings and affairs to be found in any authors of those times. The prophecy is really more perfect than any history; and is so wonderfully exact, not only as to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, but likewise equally so beyond that time, that we may conclude in the words of the inspired writer—No one could thus declare the times and seasons, but He who bath them in his own power.—Disserts. on Proph., p. 292.
REV. ALBERT BARNES—If this book was written before the age of Antiochus Epiphanes (of which there is abundant proof), the evidence is clear of its Inspiration, for no man will seriously maintain that these historic events could be drawn out with so much particularity of detail by any natural skill 370 years before they occurred, as must have been the case if written by Daniel. Human sagacity does not extend its vision thus far into the future with the power of foretelling the fates of kingdoms, and giving in detail the lives and fortunes of individual men. Either the infidel must dispose of the testimony that Daniel lived and wrote at the time alleged, or as an honest man, he should admit that he was inspired.—Notes, on Dan.