1051 lines
53 KiB
HTML
1051 lines
53 KiB
HTML
<HTML>
|
|
<HEAD>
|
|
<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Daniel VIII].</TITLE>
|
|
<meta name="aesop" content="information">
|
|
<meta name="description" content=
|
|
"This site is for those friends and family members who may or may not know Our Lord Jesus Christ, and if not, they may come to know Our Lord through His Prophets."> <meta name="author" content="Brian Duncalfe">
|
|
<meta name="keywords" content=
|
|
"Prophecy, Rapture,hope,bible map,bible maps, God, tribulation,Second Coming,Christ,large print bible,commentary,complete">
|
|
</HEAD>
|
|
<body background="../sueback.jpg" bgproperties="fixed" >
|
|
<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
|
|
on the Whole Bible</h1>
|
|
<h3><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank">Back to Biblesnet.com Home Page</a>
|
|
</h3>
|
|
</center>
|
|
|
|
<HR>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%">
|
|
<TR>
|
|
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP">
|
|
[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
|
|
[<A HREF="MHC27007.HTM">Previous</A>]
|
|
[<A HREF="MHC27009.HTM">Next</A>]<BR>
|
|
<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
|
|
Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
|
|
</TD></TR></TABLE>
|
|
<HR>
|
|
|
|
<!-- (Begin Body) -->
|
|
|
|
<CENTER>
|
|
<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>D A N I E L.</B></FONT>
|
|
<BR>
|
|
<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. VIII.</FONT>
|
|
<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
|
|
</CENTER>
|
|
|
|
<FONT SIZE=-1>
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
The visions and prophecies of this chapter look only and entirely at
|
|
the events that were then shortly to come to pass in the monarchies of
|
|
Persia and Greece, and seem not to have any further reference at all.
|
|
Nothing is here said of the Chaldean monarchy, for that was now just at
|
|
its period; and therefore this chapter is written not in Chaldee, as
|
|
the six foregoing chapters were, for the benefit of the Chaldeans, but
|
|
in Hebrew, and so are the rest of the chapters to the end of the book,
|
|
for the service of the Jews, that they might know what troubles were
|
|
before them and what the issue of them would be, and might provide
|
|
accordingly. In this chapter we have,
|
|
|
|
I. The vision itself of the ram, and the he-goat, and the little horn
|
|
that should fight and prevail against the people of God, for a certain
|
|
limited time,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:1-14">ver. 1-14</A>.
|
|
|
|
II. The interpretation of this vision by an angel, showing that the
|
|
ram signified the Persian empire, the he-goat the Grecian, and the
|
|
little horn a king of the Grecian monarchy, that should set himself
|
|
against the Jews and religion, which was Antiochus Epiphanes,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:15-27">ver. 15-27</A>.
|
|
|
|
The Jewish church, from its beginning, had been all along, more or
|
|
less, blessed with prophets, men divinely inspired to explain God's
|
|
mind to them in his providences and give them some prospect of what was
|
|
coming upon them; but, soon after Ezra's time, divine inspiration
|
|
ceased, and there was no more any prophet till the gospel day dawned.
|
|
And therefore the events of that time were here foretold by Daniel, and
|
|
left upon record, that even then God might not leave himself without
|
|
witness, nor them without a guide.</P>
|
|
</FONT>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_1"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_2"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_3"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_4"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_5"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_6"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_7"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_8"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_9"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_10"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_11"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_14"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Vision of the Ram and Goat.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 553.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>1 In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision
|
|
appeared unto me, <I>even unto</I> me Daniel, after that which
|
|
appeared unto me at the first.
|
|
2 And I saw in a vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that
|
|
I <I>was</I> at Shushan <I>in</I> the palace, which <I>is</I> in the province of
|
|
Elam; and I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai.
|
|
3 Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood
|
|
before the river a ram which had <I>two</I> horns: and the <I>two</I> horns
|
|
<I>were</I> high; but one <I>was</I> higher than the other, and the higher
|
|
came up last.
|
|
4 I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward;
|
|
so that no beasts might stand before him, neither <I>was there any</I>
|
|
that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his
|
|
will, and became great.
|
|
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 <I>had</I> a notable horn between his eyes.
|
|
6 And he came to the ram that had <I>two</I> horns, which I had seen
|
|
standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his
|
|
power.
|
|
7 And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with
|
|
choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns:
|
|
and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he
|
|
cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was
|
|
none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.
|
|
8 Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was
|
|
strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four
|
|
notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.
|
|
9 And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed
|
|
exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and
|
|
toward the pleasant <I>land.</I>
|
|
10 And it waxed great, <I>even</I> to the host of heaven; and it
|
|
cast down <I>some</I> of the host and of the stars to the ground, and
|
|
stamped upon them.
|
|
11 Yea, he magnified <I>himself</I> even to the prince of the host,
|
|
and by him the daily <I>sacrifice</I> was taken away, and the place of
|
|
his sanctuary was cast down.
|
|
12 And a host was given <I>him</I> against the daily <I>sacrifice</I> by
|
|
reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the
|
|
ground; and it practised, and prospered.
|
|
13 Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto
|
|
that certain <I>saint</I> which spake, How long <I>shall be</I> the vision
|
|
<I>concerning</I> the daily <I>sacrifice,</I> and the transgression of
|
|
desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden
|
|
under foot?
|
|
14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred
|
|
days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Here is,
|
|
|
|
I. The date of this vision,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was <I>in the third year of the reign of Belshazzar,</I> which
|
|
proved to be his last year, as many reckon; so that this chapter also
|
|
should be, in order of time, before the fifth. That Daniel might not be
|
|
surprised at the destruction of Babylon, now at hand, God gives him a
|
|
foresight of the destruction of other kingdoms hereafter, which in
|
|
their day had been as potent as that of Babylon. Could we foresee the
|
|
changes that shall be hereafter, when we are gone, we should the less
|
|
admire, and be less affected with, the changes in our own day; for
|
|
<I>that which is done</I> is <I>that which shall be done,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+1:9">Eccl. i. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
Then it was that a <I>vision appeared to me, even to me, Daniel.</I>
|
|
Here he solemnly attests the truth of it: it was to him, even to him,
|
|
that the vision was shown; he was the eye-witness of it. And this
|
|
vision puts him in mind of a former vision which <I>appeared to him at
|
|
the first,</I> in the first year of this reign, which he makes mention
|
|
of because this vision was an explication and confirmation of that, and
|
|
points at many of the same events. That seems to have been a dream, a
|
|
vision in his sleep; this seems to have been when he was awake.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The scene of this vision. The place where that was laid was in
|
|
<I>Shushan the palace,</I> one of the royal seats of the kings of
|
|
Persia, situated on the banks of the river Ulai, which surrounded the
|
|
city; it was in the province of Elam, that part of Persia which lay
|
|
next to Babylon. Daniel was not there in person, for he was now in
|
|
Babylon, a captive, in some employment under Belshazzar, and might not
|
|
go to such a distant country, especially being now an enemy's country.
|
|
But he was there in vision; as Ezekiel, when a captive in Babylon, was
|
|
often brought, in the spirit, to the land of Israel. Note, The soul may
|
|
be a liberty when the body is in captivity; for, when we are bound, the
|
|
Spirit of the Lord is not bound. The vision related to that country,
|
|
and therefore there he was made to fancy himself to be as strongly as
|
|
if he had really been there.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. The vision itself and the process of it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. He saw a <I>ram</I> with <I>two horns,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
This was the second monarchy, of which the kingdoms of Media and Persia
|
|
were the two horns. The horns were <I>very high;</I> but that which
|
|
came up last was the higher, and got the start of the former. So the
|
|
last shall be first, and the first last. The kingdom of Persia, which
|
|
rose last, in Cyrus, became more eminent than that of the Medes.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. He saw this <I>ram pushing</I> all about him with his horns
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>westward</I> (towards Babylon, Syria, Greece, and Asia the less),
|
|
<I>northward</I> (towards the Lydians, Armenians, and Scythians), and
|
|
<I>southward</I> (towards Arabia, Ethiopia, and Egypt), for all these
|
|
nations did the Persian empire, one time or other, make attempts upon
|
|
for the enlarging of their dominion. And at last he became so powerful
|
|
that <I>no beasts might stand before him.</I> This <I>ram,</I> though
|
|
of a species of animal often preyed upon, became formidable even to the
|
|
beasts of prey themselves, so that there was <I>no standing</I> before
|
|
him, no escaping him, none that <I>could deliver out of his hand,</I>
|
|
but all must yield to him: the kings of Persia did according <I>to
|
|
their will,</I> prospered in all their ways abroad, had an
|
|
uncontrollable power at home, and <I>became great.</I> He thought
|
|
himself great because he did what he would; but to do good is that
|
|
which makes men truly great.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. He saw this ram overcome by a he-goat. He was considering the
|
|
<I>ram</I> (wondering that so weak an animal should come to be so
|
|
prevalent) and thinking what would be the issue; and, <I>behold, a
|
|
he-goat came,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
This was Alexander the Great, the son of Philip king of Macedonia. He
|
|
<I>came from the west,</I> from Greece, which lay west from Persia. He
|
|
fetched a great compass with his army: he came <I>upon the face of the
|
|
whole earth;</I> he did in effect conquer the world, and then sat down
|
|
and wept because there was not another world to be conquered. <I>Unus
|
|
Pellæo juveni non sufficit orbis--One world was too little for
|
|
the youth of Pellæ.</I> This he-goat (a creature famed for
|
|
comeliness in going,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:31">Prov. xxx. 31</A>)
|
|
|
|
went on with incredible swiftness, so that he <I>touched not the
|
|
ground,</I> so lightly did he move; he rather seemed to fly above the
|
|
ground than to go upon the ground; or <I>none touched him in the
|
|
earth,</I> that is, he met with little or no opposition. This he-goat,
|
|
or buck, had a <I>notable horn between his eyes,</I> like a unicorn. He
|
|
had strength, and knew his own strength; he saw himself a match for all
|
|
his neighbours. Alexander pushed his conquests on so fast, and with so
|
|
much fury, that none of the kingdoms he attacked had courage to make a
|
|
stand, or give check to the progress of his victorious arms. In six
|
|
years he made himself master of the greatest part of the then known
|
|
world. Well might he be called a <I>notable horn,</I> for his name
|
|
still lives in history as the name of one of the most celebrated
|
|
commanders in war that ever the world knew. Alexander's victories and
|
|
achievements are still the entertainment of the ingenious. This
|
|
<I>he-goat</I> came to the <I>ram that had two horns,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
Alexander with his victorious army attacked the kingdom of Persia, an
|
|
army consisting of no more than 30,000 foot and 5000 horse. He <I>ran
|
|
unto him,</I> to surprise him ere he could get intelligence of his
|
|
motions, <I>in the fury of his power.</I> He came <I>close to the
|
|
ram.</I> Alexander with his army came up with Darius Codomannus, then
|
|
emperor of Persia, being <I>moved with choler against him,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was with the greatest violence that Alexander pushed on his war
|
|
against Darius, who, though he brought vast numbers into the field,
|
|
yet, for want of skill, was an unequal match for him, so that Alexander
|
|
was too hard for him whenever he engaged him, <I>smote him, cast him
|
|
down to the ground,</I> and <I>stamped upon him,</I> which three
|
|
expressions, some think, refer to the three famous victories that
|
|
Alexander obtained over Darius, at Granicus, at Issus, and at Arbela,
|
|
by which he was at length totally routed, having, in the last battle,
|
|
had 600,000 men killed, so that Alexander became absolute master of all
|
|
the Persian empire, <I>broke his two horns,</I> the kingdoms of Media
|
|
and Persia. The ram that had destroyed <I>all before him</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>)
|
|
|
|
now is himself destroyed; Darius has <I>no power to stand</I> before
|
|
Alexander, not has he any friends or allies to help to <I>deliver him
|
|
out of his hand.</I> Note, Those kingdoms which, when they had power,
|
|
abused it, and, because none could oppose them, withheld not themselves
|
|
from the doing of any wrong, may expect to have their power at length
|
|
taken from them, and to be served in their own kind,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+33:1">Isa. xxxiii. 1</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
4. He saw the he-goat made hereby very considerable; but the <I>great
|
|
horn,</I> that had done all this execution, <I>was broken,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
Alexander was about twenty years old when he began his wars. When he
|
|
was about twenty-six he conquered Darius, and became master of the
|
|
whole Persian empire; but when he was about thirty-two or thirty-three
|
|
<I>years of age,</I> when he was <I>strong,</I> in his full strength,
|
|
he was <I>broken.</I> He was not killed in war, in the bed of honour,
|
|
but died of a drunken surfeit, or, as some suspect, by poison and left
|
|
no child living behind him to enjoy that which he had endlessly
|
|
laboured for, but left a lasting monument of the vanity of worldly pomp
|
|
and power, and their insufficiency to make a man happy.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
5. He saw this kingdom divided into four parts, and that instead of
|
|
that one great horn there came up <I>four notable ones,</I> Alexander's
|
|
four captains, to whom he bequeathed his conquests; and he had so much
|
|
that, when it was divided among four, they had each of them enough for
|
|
any one man. These <I>four notable horns</I> were towards the <I>four
|
|
winds of heaven,</I> the same with the <I>four heads</I> of the leopard
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+7:6"><I>ch.</I> vii. 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
the kingdoms of Syria and Egypt, Asia and Greece-Syria lying to the
|
|
<I>east,</I> Greece to the <I>west,</I> Asia Minor to the <I>north,</I>
|
|
and Egypt to the <I>south.</I> Note, Those that heap up riches know not
|
|
who shall gather them, nor whose all those things shall be which they
|
|
have provided.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
6. He saw a <I>little horn</I> which became a great persecutor of the
|
|
church and people of God; and this was the principal thing that was
|
|
intended to be shown to him in this vision, as afterwards,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+11:30"><I>ch.</I> xi. 30</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c. All agree that this was <I>Antiochus Epiphanes</I> (so he called
|
|
himself)--<I>the illustrious,</I> but others called him <I>Antiochus
|
|
Epimanes</I>--<I>Antiochus the furious.</I> He is called here (as
|
|
before,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+7:8"><I>ch.</I> vii. 8</A>),
|
|
|
|
a <I>little horn,</I> because he was in his original contemptible;
|
|
there were others between him and the kingdom, and he was of a base
|
|
servile disposition, had nothing in him of princely qualities, and had
|
|
been for some time a hostage and prisoner at Rome, whence he made his
|
|
escape, and, though, the youngest brother, and his elder living, got
|
|
the kingdom. He waxed exceedingly great <I>towards the south,</I> for
|
|
he seized upon Egypt, and towards <I>the east,</I> for he invaded
|
|
Persia and Armenia. But that which is here especially taken notice of
|
|
is the mischief that he did to the people of the Jews. They are not
|
|
expressly named, or prophecies must not be too plain; but they are here
|
|
so described that it would be easy for those who understood
|
|
scripture-language to know who were meant; and the Jews, having notice
|
|
of this before, might be awakened to prepare themselves and their
|
|
children beforehand for these suffering trying times.
|
|
|
|
(1.) He set himself against <I>the pleasant land,</I> the land of
|
|
Israel, so called because it was the <I>glory of all lands,</I> for
|
|
fruitfulness and all the delights of human life, but especially for the
|
|
tokens of God's presence in it, and its being blessed with divine
|
|
revelations and institutions; it was Mount Zion that was <I>beautiful
|
|
for situation,</I> the <I>joy of the whole earth,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+48:2">Ps. xlviii. 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
The pleasantness of that land was that there the Messiah was to be
|
|
born, who would be both the consolation and <I>the glory of his people
|
|
Israel.</I> Note, We have reason to reckon that a pleasant place which
|
|
is a holy place, in which God dwells, and where we may have opportunity
|
|
of communing with him. Surely, <I>It is good to be here.</I>
|
|
|
|
(2.) He fought against the <I>host of heaven,</I> that is, the people
|
|
of God, the church, which is the kingdom of heaven, the church-militant
|
|
here on earth. The saints, being born from above, and citizens of
|
|
heaven, and doing the will of God, by his grace, in some measure, as
|
|
the angels of heaven do it, may be well called a <I>heavenly host.</I>
|
|
Or the priests and Levites, who were employed in the service of the
|
|
tabernacle, and there <I>warred a good warfare,</I> were this <I>host
|
|
of heaven.</I> These Antiochus set himself against; he <I>waxed great
|
|
to the host of heaven,</I> in opposition to them and in defiance of
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
(3.) He <I>cast down some of the host</I> (that is, <I>of the
|
|
stars,</I> for they are called the host of heaven) <I>to the ground,
|
|
and stamped upon them.</I> Some of those that were most eminent both in
|
|
church and state, that were burning and shining lights in their
|
|
generation, he either forced to comply with his idolatries or put them
|
|
to death; he got them into his hands, and then trampled upon them and
|
|
triumphed over them; as good old Eleazar, and the <I>seven
|
|
brethren,</I> whom he put to death with cruel tortures, because they
|
|
would not eat swine's flesh,
|
|
|
|
<U>2 Mac. vi. 7</U>.
|
|
|
|
He gloried in it that herein he insulted Heaven itself and <I>exalted
|
|
his throne above the stars of God,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+14:13">Isa. xiv. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
(4.) He <I>magnified himself even to the prince of the host.</I> He set
|
|
himself against the high priest, Onias, whom he deprived of his
|
|
dignity, or rather against God himself, who was Israel's <I>King of
|
|
old,</I> who <I>reigns for ever</I> Zion's King, who himself heads his
|
|
own host that fight his battles. Against him Antiochus magnified
|
|
himself; as Pharaoh, when he said, <I>Who is the Lord</I>? Note, Those
|
|
who persecute the people of God persecute God himself.
|
|
|
|
(5.) He <I>took away the daily sacrifice.</I> The morning and evening
|
|
lamb, which God appointed to be offered every day upon his altar to his
|
|
honour, Antiochus forbade and restrained the offering of. No doubt he
|
|
took away all other sacrifices, but only the <I>daily sacrifice</I> is
|
|
mentioned, because that was the greatest loss of all, for in that they
|
|
kept up their constant communion with God, which they preferred before
|
|
that which is only occasional. God's people reckon their daily
|
|
sacrifices, their morning and evening exercises of devotion, the most
|
|
needful of their daily business and the most delightful of their daily
|
|
comforts, and would not for all the world part with them.
|
|
|
|
(6.) He <I>cast down the place of his sanctuary.</I> He did not burn
|
|
and demolish the temple, but he cast it down, when he profaned it, made
|
|
it the temple of Jupiter Olympius, and set up his image in it. He also
|
|
<I>cast down the truth to the ground,</I> trampled upon the book of the
|
|
law, that word of truth, tore it, and burnt it, and did what he could
|
|
to destroy it quite, that it might be lost and forgotten for ever.
|
|
These were the projects of that wicked prince. In these he practised.
|
|
And (would you think it?) in these he prospered. He carried the matter
|
|
very far, seemed to have gained his point, and went near to extirpate
|
|
that holy religion which God's right hand had planted. But lest he or
|
|
any other should triumph, as if herein he had prevailed against God
|
|
himself and been too hard for him, the matter is here explained and set
|
|
in a true light.
|
|
|
|
[1.] He could not have done this if God had not permitted him to do it,
|
|
could have had no power against Israel unless it had been given him
|
|
from above. God put this power into his hand, and <I>gave him a host
|
|
against the daily sacrifice.</I> God's providence put that sword into
|
|
his hand by which he was enabled thus to bear down all before him.
|
|
Note, We ought to eye and own the hand of God in all the enterprises
|
|
and all the successes of the church's enemies against the church. They
|
|
are but the rod in God's hand.
|
|
|
|
[2.] God would not have permitted it if his people had not provoked him
|
|
to do so. It is <I>by reason of transgression,</I> the transgression of
|
|
Israel, to correct them for that, that Antiochus is employed to give
|
|
them all this trouble. Note, When the pleasant land and all its
|
|
pleasant things are laid waste, it must be acknowledged that sin is the
|
|
procuring cause of all the desolation. <I>Who gave Jacob to the spoil?
|
|
Did not the Lord, he against whom we have sinned?</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+42:24">Isa. xlii. 24</A>.
|
|
|
|
The great transgression of the Jews after the captivity (when they were
|
|
cured of idolatry) was a contempt and profanation of the holy things,
|
|
<I>snuffing</I> at the service of God, <I>bringing the torn and the
|
|
lame for sacrifice,</I> as if the <I>table of the Lord</I> were a
|
|
<I>contemptible</I> thing (so we find
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mal+1:7,8">Mal. i. 7, 8</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c., and that the priests were guilty of this
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mal+2:1,8">Mal. ii. 1, 8</A>),
|
|
|
|
and therefore God sent Antiochus to <I>take away the daily
|
|
sacrifice</I> and <I>cast down the place of his sanctuary.</I> Note, It
|
|
is just with God to deprive those of the privileges of his house who
|
|
despise and profane them, and to make those know the worth of
|
|
ordinances by the want of them who would not know it by the enjoyment
|
|
of them.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
7. He heard the time of this calamity limited and determined, not the
|
|
time <I>when it should come</I> (that is not here fixed, because God
|
|
would have his people always prepared for it), but <I>how long it
|
|
should last,</I> that, when they had no more any <I>prophets to tell
|
|
them how long</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+74:9">Ps. lxxiv. 9</A>,
|
|
|
|
which psalm seems to have been calculated for this dark and doleful
|
|
day), they might have this prophecy to give them a prospect of
|
|
deliverance in due time. Now concerning this we have here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) The question asked concerning it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
Observe
|
|
|
|
[1.] By whom the question was put: <I>I heard one saint speaking</I> to
|
|
this purport, and then <I>another saint</I> seconded him. "O that we
|
|
knew how long this trouble will last!" The angels here are called
|
|
<I>saints,</I> for they are <I>holy ones</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+4:13"><I>ch.</I> iv. 13</A>),
|
|
|
|
the <I>holy myriads,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jude+1:14">Jude 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
The angels concern themselves in the affairs of the church, and enquire
|
|
concerning them, if, as here, concerning its temporal salvations, much
|
|
more do they desire to <I>look into the great salvation,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+1:12">1 Pet. i. 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
One saint <I>spoke</I> of the thing, and another <I>enquired</I>
|
|
concerning it. Thus John, who lay in Christ's bosom, was beckoned to by
|
|
Peter to ask Christ a question,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+13:23,24">John xiii. 23, 24</A>.
|
|
|
|
[2.] To whom the question was put. He said <I>unto Palmoni that
|
|
spoke.</I> Some make this <I>certain saint</I> to be a superior angel
|
|
who understood more than the rest, to whom therefore they came with
|
|
their enquiries. Others make it to be the <I>eternal Word,</I> the
|
|
<I>Son of God.</I> He is the <I>unknown One. Palmoni</I> seems to be
|
|
compounded of <I>Peloni Almoni,</I> which is used
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ru+4:1">Ruth iv. 1</A>)
|
|
|
|
for <I>Ho, such a one,</I> and
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+6:8">2 Kings vi. 8</A>)
|
|
|
|
for <I>such a place.</I> Christ was yet the <I>nameless One. Wherefore
|
|
asked thou after my name, seeing it is secret?</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+13:18">Judg. xiii. 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
He is the <I>numberer of secrets</I> (as some translate it), for from
|
|
him there is nothing hidden--<I>the wonderful numberer,</I> so others;
|
|
his name is called <I>Wonderful.</I> Note, If we would know the mind of
|
|
God, we must apply to Jesus Christ, who lay in the bosom of the Father,
|
|
and <I>in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and
|
|
knowledge,</I> not hidden from us, but hidden for us.
|
|
|
|
[3.] The question itself that was asked: "<I>How long shall be the
|
|
vision concerning the daily sacrifice?</I> How long shall the
|
|
prohibition of it continue? How long shall the pleasant land be made
|
|
unpleasant by that severe interdict? How long shall <I>the
|
|
transgression of desolation</I> (the image of Jupiter), that great
|
|
transgression which makes all our sacred things desolate, how long
|
|
shall that stand in the temple? How long shall <I>the sanctuary and the
|
|
host,</I> the holy place and the holy persons that minister in it, be
|
|
<I>trodden under foot</I> by the oppressor?" Note, Angels are concerned
|
|
for the prosperity of the church on earth and desirous to see an end of
|
|
its desolations. The angels asked, for the satisfaction of Daniel, not
|
|
doubting but he was desirous to know, how long these calamities should
|
|
last? The question takes it for granted that they should not last
|
|
always. <I>The rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the
|
|
righteous,</I> though it may come upon their lot. Christ comforted
|
|
himself in his sufferings with this, <I>The things concerning me have
|
|
an end</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+22:37">Luke xxii. 37</A>),
|
|
|
|
and so may the church in hers. But it is desirable to know how long
|
|
they shall last, that we may provide accordingly.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) The answer given to this question,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
Christ gives instruction to the holy angels, for they are our
|
|
fellow-servants; but here the answer was given to Daniel, because for
|
|
his sake the question was asked: <I>He said unto me.</I> God sometimes
|
|
gives in great favours to his people, in answer to the enquiries and
|
|
requests of their friends for them. Now,
|
|
|
|
[1.] Christ assures him that the trouble shall end; it shall continue
|
|
<I>2300 days and no longer,</I> so many <I>evenings and mornings</I>
|
|
(so the word is), so many <B><I>nychthemerai</I></B>, so many
|
|
<I>natural days,</I> reckoned, as in the beginning of Genesis, by the
|
|
evenings and mornings, because it was the evening and the morning
|
|
sacrifice that they most lamented the loss of, and thought the time
|
|
passed very slowly while they were deprived of them. Some make the
|
|
morning and the evening, in this number, to stand for two, and then
|
|
2300 evenings and as many mornings will make but 1150 days; and about
|
|
so many days it was that the daily sacrifice was interrupted: and this
|
|
comes nearer to the computation
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+7:25"><I>ch.</I> vii. 25</A>)
|
|
|
|
of a <I>time, times,</I> and the <I>dividing of a time.</I> But it is
|
|
less forced to understand them of so many natural days; 2300 days make
|
|
<I>six years</I> and <I>three months,</I> and about eighteen days; and
|
|
just so long they reckon from the defection of the people, procured by
|
|
Menelaus the high priest in the 142nd year of the kingdom of the
|
|
Seleucidæ, the sixth month of that year, and the 6th day of the
|
|
month (so Josephus dates it), to the cleansing of the sanctuary, and
|
|
the reestablishment of religion among them, which was in the 148th
|
|
year, the 9th month, and the 25th <I>day of the month,</I>
|
|
|
|
<U>1 Mac. iv. 52.</U>
|
|
|
|
God reckons the time of his people's afflictions he is afflicted.
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+2:10">Rev. ii. 10</A>,
|
|
|
|
Thou shalt have <I>tribulation ten days.</I>
|
|
|
|
[2.] He assures him that they shall see better days afterwards: <I>Then
|
|
shall the sanctuary be cleansed.</I> Note, The cleansing of the
|
|
sanctuary is a happy token for good to any people; when they begin to
|
|
be reformed they will soon be relieved. Though the righteous God may,
|
|
for the correction of his people, suffer his sanctuary to be profaned
|
|
for a while, yet the jealous God will, for his own glory, see to the
|
|
cleansing of it in due time. Christ died to cleanse his church, and he
|
|
will so cleanse it as at length to present it blameless to himself.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_24"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_25"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_26"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da8_27"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Vision of the Ram and Goat.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 553.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>15 And it came to pass, when I, <I>even</I> I Daniel, had seen the
|
|
vision, and sought for the meaning, then, behold, there stood
|
|
before me as the appearance of a man.
|
|
16 And I heard a man's voice between <I>the banks of</I> Ulai, which
|
|
called, and said, Gabriel, make this <I>man</I> to understand the
|
|
vision.
|
|
17 So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was
|
|
afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O
|
|
son of man: for at the time of the end <I>shall be</I> the vision.
|
|
18 Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep on my
|
|
face toward the ground: but he touched me, and set me upright.
|
|
19 And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in
|
|
the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the
|
|
end <I>shall be.</I>
|
|
20 The ram which thou sawest having <I>two</I> horns <I>are</I> the kings
|
|
of Media and Persia.
|
|
21 And the rough goat <I>is</I> the king of Grecia: and the great
|
|
horn that <I>is</I> between his eyes <I>is</I> the first king.
|
|
22 Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four
|
|
kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.
|
|
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the
|
|
transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance,
|
|
and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.
|
|
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and
|
|
he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise,
|
|
and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
|
|
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper
|
|
in his hand; and he shall magnify <I>himself</I> in his heart, and by
|
|
peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the
|
|
Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.
|
|
26 And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told
|
|
<I>is</I> true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it <I>shall be</I>
|
|
for many days.
|
|
27 And I Daniel fainted, and was sick <I>certain</I> days; afterward
|
|
I rose up, and did the king's business; and I was astonished at
|
|
the vision, but none understood <I>it.</I>
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Here we have,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. Daniel's earnest desire to have this vision explained to him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>I sought the meaning.</I> Note, Those that rightly know the things
|
|
of God cannot but desire to know more and more of them, and to be led
|
|
further into the mystery of them; and those that would find the meaning
|
|
of what they have seen or heard from God must seek it, and seek it
|
|
diligently. <I>Seek and you shall find.</I> Daniel considered the
|
|
thing, compared it with the former discoveries, to try if he could
|
|
understand it; but especially he sought by prayer (as he had done
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+2:18"><I>ch.</I> ii. 18</A>),
|
|
|
|
and he did not seek in vain.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. Orders given to the angel Gabriel to inform him concerning this
|
|
vision. One <I>in the appearance of a man</I> (who, some think, was
|
|
Christ himself, for who besides could command angels?) orders Gabriel
|
|
to <I>make Daniel understand this vision.</I> Sometimes God is pleased
|
|
to make use of the ministration of angels, not only to protect his
|
|
children, but to instruct them, to serve the kind intentions, not only
|
|
of his providence, but of his grace.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. The consternation that Daniel was in upon the approach of his
|
|
instructor
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>When he came near I was afraid.</I> Though Daniel was a man of great
|
|
prudence and courage, and had been conversant with the visions of the
|
|
Almighty, yet the approach of an extraordinary messenger from heaven
|
|
put him into this fright. He <I>fell upon his face,</I> not to worship
|
|
the angel, but because he could no longer bear the dazzling lustre of
|
|
his glory. Nay, being prostrate upon the ground, he <I>fell into a deep
|
|
sleep,</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>),
|
|
|
|
which came not from any neglect of the vision, or indifference towards
|
|
it, but was an effect of his faintness and the oppression of spirit he
|
|
was under, through the abundance of revelations. The disciples in the
|
|
garden slept for sorrow; and, as there, so here, <I>the spirit was
|
|
willing, but the flesh was weak.</I> Daniel would have kept awake, and
|
|
could not.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. The relief which the angel gave to Daniel, with great encouragement
|
|
to him to expect a satisfactory discovery of the meaning of this
|
|
vision.
|
|
|
|
1. He <I>touched him,</I> and <I>set him upon his feet,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
Thus when John, in a similar case, was in similar consternation, Christ
|
|
<I>laid his right hand upon him,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+1:17">Rev. i. 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was a gentle touch that the angel here gave to Daniel, to show that
|
|
he came not to hurt him, not to <I>plead against him with his great
|
|
power,</I> or with a hand <I>heavy upon him,</I> but to help him, to
|
|
<I>put strength into him</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+23:6">Job xxiii. 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
which God can do with a touch. When we are slumbering and grovelling
|
|
on this earth we are very unfit to hear from God, and to converse with
|
|
him. But, if God design instruction for us, he will be his grace awaken
|
|
us out of our slumber, raise us from things below, and <I>set us
|
|
upright.</I>
|
|
|
|
2. He promised to inform him: "<I>Understand, O son of man!</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
Thou shalt understand, if thou wilt but apply thy mind to understand."
|
|
He calls him <I>son of man</I> to intimate that he would consider his
|
|
frame, and would deal tenderly with him, accommodating himself to his
|
|
capacity as a man. Or thus he preaches humility to him; though he be
|
|
admitted to converse with angels, he must not be puffed up with it, but
|
|
must remember that he is a son of man. Or perhaps this title puts
|
|
honour upon him: the Messiah was lately called the <I>Son of man</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+7:13"><I>ch.</I> vii. 13</A>),
|
|
|
|
and Daniel is akin to him, and is a figure of him as a prophet and one
|
|
<I>greatly beloved.</I> He assures him that he shall be made to know
|
|
<I>what shall be in the last end of the indignation,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
Let it be laid up for a comfort to those who shall live to see these
|
|
calamitous times that there shall be an end of them; <I>the indignation
|
|
shall cease</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+10:25">Isa. x. 25</A>);
|
|
|
|
it <I>shall be overpast,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+26:20">Isa. xxvi. 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
It may intermit and return again, but the <I>last end</I> shall be
|
|
glorious; good will follow it, nay, and good will be brought out of it.
|
|
He tells him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>),
|
|
|
|
"<I>At the time of the end shall be the vision;</I> when the last end
|
|
of the indignation comes, when the course of this providence is
|
|
completed, then the vision shall be made plain and intelligible by the
|
|
event, as the event shall be made plain and intelligible by the
|
|
vision." Or, "<I>At the time of the end</I> of the Jewish church, in
|
|
the latter days of it, <I>shall this vision</I> be accomplished, 300 or
|
|
400 years hence; understand it therefore, that thou mayest leave it on
|
|
record for the generations to come." But is he ask more particularly,
|
|
"When is the time of the end? And how long will it be before it
|
|
arrive?" let this answer suffice
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>At the time appointed the end shall be;</I> it is fixed in the
|
|
divine counsel, which cannot be altered and which must not be pried
|
|
into.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
V. The exposition which he gave him of the vision.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. Concerning the two monarchies of Persia and Greece,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:20-22"><I>v.</I> 20-22</A>.
|
|
|
|
The <I>ram</I> signified the succession of the kings of Media and
|
|
Persia; the <I>rough goat</I> signified the kings of Greece; the
|
|
<I>great horn</I> was Alexander; the <I>four horns</I> that rose in his
|
|
room were the four kingdoms into which his conquests were cantoned, of
|
|
which before,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
They are said to <I>stand up out of the nations,</I> but <I>not in his
|
|
power;</I> none of them ever made the figure that Alexander did.
|
|
Josephus relates that when Alexander had taken Tyre, and subdued
|
|
Palestine, and was upon his march to Jerusalem, Jaddas, who was them
|
|
high priest (Nehemiah mentions one of his name,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+12:11"><I>ch.</I> xii. 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
fearing his rage, had recourse to God by prayer and sacrifice for the
|
|
common safety, and was by him warned in a dream that upon Alexander's
|
|
approach he should throw open the gates of the city, and that he and
|
|
the rest of the priests should go forth to meet him in their habits,
|
|
and all the people in white. Alexander, seeing this company at a
|
|
distance, went himself alone to the high priest, and, having prostrated
|
|
himself before that God whose name was engraven in the golden plate of
|
|
his mitre, he first saluted him; and, being asked by one of his own
|
|
captains why he did so, he said that while he was yet in Macedon,
|
|
musing on the conquest of Asia, there appeared to him a man like unto
|
|
this, and thus attired, who invited him into Asia, and assured him of
|
|
success in the conquest of it. The priests led him to the temple, where
|
|
he offered sacrifice to the God of Israel as they directed him; and
|
|
there they showed him this book of the prophet Daniel, that it was
|
|
there foretold that a Grecian should come and destroy the Persians,
|
|
which animated him very much in the expedition he was now meditating
|
|
against Darius. Hereupon he took the Jews and their religion under his
|
|
protection, promised to be kind to those of their religion in Babylon
|
|
and Media, whither he was now marching, and in honour of him all the
|
|
priests that had sons born that year called them <I>Alexander. Joseph.
|
|
lib.</I> 11.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. Concerning Antiochus, and his oppression of the Jews. This is said
|
|
to be in the <I>latter time of the</I> kingdom of the Greeks, <I>when
|
|
the transgressors are come to the full</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>);
|
|
|
|
that is, when the degenerate Jews have filled up the measure of their
|
|
iniquity, and are ripe for this destruction, so that God cannot in
|
|
honour bear with them any longer then shall <I>stand up</I> this king,
|
|
to be <I>flagellum Dei--the rod in God's hand</I> for the chastising of
|
|
the Jews. Now observe here,
|
|
|
|
(1.) His character: He shall be a <I>king of fierce countenance,</I>
|
|
insolent and furious, neither fearing God nor regarding man,
|
|
<I>understanding dark sentences,</I> or (rather) <I>versed in dark
|
|
practices,</I> the <I>hidden things of dishonesty;</I> he was master of
|
|
all the arts of dissimulation and deceit, and knew the <I>depths of
|
|
Satan</I> as well as any man. He was <I>wise to do evil.</I>
|
|
|
|
(2.) His success. He shall make dreadful havoc of the nations about
|
|
him: <I>His power shall be mighty,</I> bear down all before it, but not
|
|
<I>by his own power</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>),
|
|
|
|
but partly by the assistance of his allies, Eumenes and Attalus, partly
|
|
by the baseness and treachery of many of the Jews, even of the priests
|
|
that came into his interests, and especially by the divine permission.
|
|
it was not by his own power, but by a power given him from above, that
|
|
he <I>destroyed wonderfully,</I> and thought he made himself a great
|
|
man by being a great destroyer. He destroys wonderfully indeed, for he
|
|
destroys,
|
|
|
|
[1.] The <I>mighty people,</I> and they cannot resist him by their
|
|
power. The princes of Egypt cannot stand before him with all their
|
|
forces, but he practises against them and prospers. Note, The mighty
|
|
ones of the earth commonly meet with those at length that are too hard
|
|
for them, that are more mighty than they. Let not the strong man then
|
|
glory in his strength, be it ever so great, unless he could be sure
|
|
that there were none stronger than he.
|
|
|
|
[2.] He destroys the <I>holy people,</I> or <I>the people of the holy
|
|
ones;</I> and their sacred character does neither deter him from
|
|
destroying them nor defend them from being destroyed. <I>All things
|
|
come alike to all,</I> and there is one event to the mighty and to the
|
|
holy in this world.
|
|
|
|
[3.] The methods by which he will gain this success, not by true
|
|
courage, wisdom, or justice, but by his <I>policy</I> and <I>craft</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>),
|
|
|
|
by fraud and deceit, and serpentine subtlety: He shall <I>cause craft
|
|
to prosper;</I> so cunningly shall he carry on his projects that he
|
|
shall gain his point by the art of wheedling. <I>By peace he shall
|
|
destroy many,</I> as others do by war; under the pretence of treaties,
|
|
leagues, and alliances, with them, he shall encroach on their rights,
|
|
and trick them into a subjection to him. Thus sometimes what a nation
|
|
truly brave has gained in a righteous war a nation truly base has
|
|
regained in a treacherous peace, and craft has been caused to prosper.
|
|
|
|
[4.] The mischief that he shall do to religion: <I>He shall magnify
|
|
himself in his heart,</I> and think himself fit to prescribe and give
|
|
law to every body, so that he shall <I>stand up against the Prince of
|
|
princes,</I> that is, against God himself. He will profane his temple
|
|
and altar, prohibit his worship, and persecute his worshippers. See
|
|
what a height of impudence some men's impiety brings them to; they
|
|
openly bid defiance to God himself though he is the Kings of kings.
|
|
|
|
[5.] The ruin that he shall be brought to at last: <I>He shall be
|
|
broken without hand,</I> that is, without the hand of man. He shall not
|
|
be slain in war, nor shall he be assassinated, as tyrants commonly
|
|
were, but he shall fall into the hand of the living God and die by an
|
|
immediate stroke of his vengeance. He, hearing that the Jews had cast
|
|
the image of Jupiter Olympius out of the temple, where he had placed
|
|
it, was so enraged at the Jews that he vowed he would make Jerusalem
|
|
<I>a common burial-place,</I> and determined to march thither
|
|
immediately; but no sooner had he spoken these proud words than he was
|
|
struck with an incurable plague in his bowels; worms bred so fast in
|
|
his body that whole flakes of flesh sometimes dropped from him; his
|
|
torments were violent, and the stench of his disease such that none
|
|
could endure to come near him. He continued in this misery very long.
|
|
At first he persisted in his menaces against the Jews; but at length,
|
|
despairing of his recovery, he called his friends together, and
|
|
acknowledged all those miseries to have fallen upon him for the
|
|
injuries he had done to the Jews and his profaning the temple at
|
|
Jerusalem. Then he wrote courteous letters to the Jews, and vowed that
|
|
if he recovered he would let them have the free exercise of their
|
|
religion. But, finding his disease grow upon him, when he could no
|
|
longer endure his own smell, he said, <I>It is meet to submit to God,
|
|
and for man who is mortal not to set himself in competition with
|
|
God,</I> and so died miserably in a strange land, on the mountains of
|
|
Pacata near Babylon: so Ussher's Annals, <I>A.M.</I> 3840, about 160
|
|
years before the birth of Christ.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. As to the time fixed for the continuance of the cessation of the
|
|
daily sacrifice, it is not explained here, but only confirmed
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>).
|
|
|
|
That <I>vision of the evening and morning is true,</I> in the proper
|
|
sense of the words, and needs no explication. How unlikely soever it
|
|
might be that God should suffer his own sanctuary to be thus profaned,
|
|
yet it is true, it is too true, so it shall be.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
VI. Here is the conclusion of this vision, and here,
|
|
|
|
1. The charge given to Daniel to keep it private for the present:
|
|
<I>Shut thou up the vision;</I> let it not be publicly know among the
|
|
Chaldeans, lest the Persians, who were now shortly to possess the
|
|
kingdom, should be incensed against the Jews by it, because the
|
|
downfall of their kingdom was foretold by it, which would be
|
|
unseasonable now that the edict for their release was expected from the
|
|
king of Persia. <I>Shut it up, for it shall be for many days.</I> It
|
|
was about 300 years from the time of this vision to the time of the
|
|
accomplishment of it; therefore he must <I>shut it up</I> for the
|
|
present, even from the people of the Jews, lest it should amaze and
|
|
perplex them, but let it be kept safely for the generations to come,
|
|
that should live about the time of the accomplishment of it, for to
|
|
them it would be both most intelligible and most serviceable. Note,
|
|
What we know of the things of God should be carefully laid up, that
|
|
hereafter, when there is occasion, it may be faithfully laid out; and
|
|
what we have not now any use for, yet we may have another time. Divine
|
|
truths should be sealed up among our treasures, that we may find them
|
|
again after many days.
|
|
|
|
2. The care he took to keep it private, having received such a charge,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+8:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>.
|
|
|
|
He <I>fainted, and was sick,</I> with the multitude of his thoughts
|
|
within him occasioned by this vision, which oppressed and overwhelmed
|
|
him the more because he was forbidden to publish what he had seen, so
|
|
that <I>his belly was as wine which has no vent,</I> he was <I>ready to
|
|
burst like new bottles,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+32:19">Job xxxii. 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
However, he kept it to himself, stifled and smothered the concern he
|
|
was in; so that those he conversed with could not perceive it, but he
|
|
<I>did the king's business</I> according to the duty of his place,
|
|
whatever it was. Note, As long as we live in this world we must have
|
|
something to do in it; and even those whom God has most dignified with
|
|
his favours must not think themselves above their business; nor must
|
|
the pleasure of communion with God take us off from the duties of our
|
|
particular callings, but still we must in them <I>abide with God.</I>
|
|
Those especially that are entrusted with public business must see to it
|
|
that they conscientiously discharge their trust.</P>
|
|
|
|
<!-- (End Body) -->
|
|
|
|
<HR>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%">
|
|
<TR>
|
|
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP">
|
|
[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
|
|
[<A HREF="MHC27007.HTM">Previous</A>]
|
|
[<A HREF="MHC27009.HTM">Next</A>]<BR>
|
|
<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
|
|
Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
<HR>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%">
|
|
<TR>
|
|
<TD ALIGN="CENTER" VALIGN="BOTTOM">
|
|
|
|
|
|
<!--Matthew_Henry's_Commentary_on_the_Whole_Bible:_Daniel_VIII.--><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank"><b>Back to Bibles Net . Com - Online Christian Library </b></a><br>
|
|
<a href="http://biblesnet.com/download.html" target="_blank"><br>
|
|
<b>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Free Download</b></a><br>
|
|
<br>
|
|
<A HREF="http://biblesnet.com/contactus.html" target="_blank"><strong>Contact Us </strong></A><br>
|
|
|
|
</TD></TR></TABLE>
|
|
<HR>
|
|
</BODY>
|
|
</HTML>
|