Gabriel interpreteth the DANIEL, IX. Vision of the Ram and He-Goat. same terminus. The Jews' tradition represents the | blow (cf. Note, Jeremiah, 15. 8.). A spoiler at noonseventh thousand as the millennium. CUMMING re- day." also... against the Prince of princes-not merely marks, 480 B. C. is the date of the waning of the against the Jews (v. 11; ch. 11. 36.1. broken without Persian empire before Greece; deducting 480 from 2300, hand-by God's special visitation. The stone "cut out we have 1820; and in 1821, Turkey, the successor of the of the mountain without hands," i.e., Christ, is to smite Greek empire, began to wane, and Greece became a the world-power-image on his feet (ch. 2. 34,), i.e., in its separate kingdom. See Note, ch. 12. 11. cleansed-lit., last development (cf. ch. 7. 11.). Antiochus' horrible justified, vindicated from profanation. Judas Mac- death by worms and ulcers, when on his way to Judea, cabeus celebrated the feast of dedication after the intending to take vengeance for the defeat of his armies cleansing, on the twenty-fifth of the ninth month, by the Maccabees, was a primary fulfilment, foreKisleu (1 Maccabees, 4. 51-58; 2 Maccabees, 10. 1-7; John, shadowing God's judgment on the last enemy of the 10. 22.). As to the antitypical dedication of the new Jewish church. 26. shut... up... vision-implying temple, see Ezekiel, 43., &c.; also Amos, 9, 11, 12. 16. the vision was not to be understood for the present. In Gabriel-meaning, The strength of God. 17. the time of Revelation, 22. 10, it is said, "Seal not the vision, for the end-so v. 19; ch. 11. 35, 36, 40. The event being to the time is at hand." What in Daniel's time was take place at "the time of the end" makes it likely hidden was more fully explained in Revelation, and as that the Antichrist ultimately referred to (besides the the time draws nearer it will be clearer still. it shall immediate reference to Antiochus) in this chapter, and be for many days-it refers to remote times (Ezekiel, 12. the one in ch. 7. 8, are one and the same. The objection 27.). 27. I... was sick-through grief at the calamities that the one in ch. 7. springs out of the ten divisions of coming on my people and the church of God (cf. Psalm the Roman earth, the fourth kingdom, the one in ch. 102. 14.). afterward I... did the king's business-he who 8. and 11. from one of the four divisions of the third holds nearest communion with heaven can best diskingdom, Greece, is answered thus: The four divisions charge the duties of common life. none understood itof the Grecian empire, having become parts of the he had heard of kings, but knew not their names; he Roman empire, shall at the end form four of its ten foresaw the events, but not the time when they were to final divisions. [TREGELLES.] However, the origin take place; thereupon he could only feel "astonished," from one of the four parts of the third kingdom may and leave all with the omniscient God. [JEROME.] be limited to Antiochus, the immediate subject of ch. CHAPTER IX. 8. and 11., whilst the ulterior typical reference of these Ver. 1-27. DANIEL'S CONFESSION AND PRAYER chapters, viz., Antichrist, may belong to one of the ten FOR JERUSALEM: GABRIEL COMFORTS HIM BY THE Roman divisions, not necessarily one formerly of the PROPHECY OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS. The worldfour of the third kingdom. The event will tell. "Time powers here recede from the view; Israel, and the salof the end" may apply to the time of Antiochus. For vation by Messiah promised to it, are the subject of it is the prophetic phrase for the time of fulfilment, revelation. Israel had naturally expected salvation at seen always at the end of the prophetic horizon (Genesis, the end of the captivity. Daniel is therefore told, that, 49. 1; Numbers, 24. 14.). 19. the last end of the indigna- after the seventy years of the captivity, seventy times tion-God's displeasure against the Jews for their sins. seven must elapse, and that even then Messiah would For their comfort they are told, the calamities about not come in glory, as the Jews might through misto come are not to be for ever. The "time" is limited understanding expect from the earlier prophets, but by (ch. 9. 27; 11. 27, 35, 36; 12. 7; Habakkuk, 2. 3.). 21. the dying would put away sin. This ninth chapterfirst king-Philip was king of Macedon before Alex- Messianic-prophecy stands between the two visions of ander, but the latter was the first who, as generalissmo the Old Testament Antichrist, to comfort "the wise." of Greece, subdued the Persian empire. 22. not in his In the interval between Antiochus and Christ, no power-not with the power which Alexander possessed. further revelation was needed; therefore, as in the first [MAURER.] An empire united, as under Alexander, is part of the book, so in the second, Christ and Antimore powerful than one divided, as under the four christ in connection are the theme. 1. first year of Diadochi. 23. transgressors are come to the full-This Darius-Cyaxares II., in whose name Cyrus, his nephew, does not hold good of the times of Antiochus, but of son-in-law, and successor, took Babylon 538 B.C. The the closing times of the Christian era. Cf. Luke, 18. date of this chapter is therefore 537 B.C., a year before 8, and 2 Timothy, 3. 1-9, as to the wickedness of the Cyrus permitted the Jews to return from exile, and world in general, just before Christ's second coming, sixty-nine years after Daniel had been carried captive Israel's guilt, too, shall then be at the full, when they at the beginning of the captivity, 606 B.C. sou of Ahawho rejected Christ shall receive Antichrist; fulfilling suerus-called Astyages by Xenophon. Ahasuerus was Jesus' words, "I am come in my Father's name, and ye a name common to many of the kings of Medo-Persia. receive me not; if another shall come in his own name, made king-the phrase implies that Darius owed the him ye will receive" (cf. Genesis, 15, 16; Matthew, 23. kingdom not to his own prowess, but to that of another, 32; 1 Thessalonians, 2. 16.). of fierce countenance-viz., Cyrus. 2. understood by books-rather, letters, i.e., (Deuteronomy, 28. 50); one who will spare neither old Jeremiah's letter (Jeremiah, 29. 10) to the captives in nor young. understanding dark sentences - rather, Babylon; also Jeremiah, 25. 11, 12; cf. 2 Chronicles, 36. artifices. GESENIUS.] Antiochus made himself master 21; Jeremiah, 30. 18; 31. 38. God's promises are the of Egypt and Jerusalem successively by craft (1 Macca- ground on which we should, like Daniel, rest sure hope; bees, 1. 30, &c.; 2 Maccabees, 5. 24, &c.). 24. not by his not so as to make our prayers needless, but rather to own power-which in the beginning was "little" (v. 9; encourage them. 3. prayer... supplication-lit., "interch. 7. 83; but by gaining over others through craft, the cessions. . . entreaties for mercy." Praying for blessonce little horn became "mighty" (cf. v. 25; ch. 11. 23.). ings, and deprecating evils. 4. my confession-according To be fully realised by Antichrist. He shall act by the to God's promises in Leviticus, 26. 39-42, that if Israel power of Satan, who shall then be permitted to work in exile for sin should repent and confess, God would through him in unrestricted licence, such as he has remember for them His covenant with Abraham (cf. not now (Revelation, 13. 2); hence the ten kingdoms Deuteronomy, 30. 1-5; Jeremiah, 29. 12-14; James, 4. 10.). shall give the beast their power (2 Thessalonians, 2. God's promise was absolute, but prayer also was 9-12; Revelation, 17. 13.). prosper, and practise-prosper ordained as about to precede its fulfilment, this too in all that he attempts (v. 12.). holy people - his per- being the work of God in His people, as much as the secutions are especially directed against the Jews. 25. external restoration which was to follow. So it shall by peace-by pretending "peace" and friendship; in the be at Israel's final restoration (Psalm 102. 13-17.). midst of security [GESENIUS], suddenly striking his Daniel takes his countrymen's place of confession of Daniel's Confession and DANIEL, IX. Prayer for Jerusalem. sin, identifying himself with them, and, as their repre- ceaseless vigilance that His people's sins might not sentative and intercessory priest, "accepts the punish-escape His judgment, as a watchman on guard night ment of their iniquity." Thus he typifies Messiah the Sin-bearer and great Intercessor. The prophet's own life and experience forms the fit starting-point of the prophecy concerning the sin-atonement. He prays for Israel's restoration as associated in the prophets (cf. Jeremiah, 31. 4, 11, 12, 31, &c.) with the hope of Messiah. The revelation, now granted, analyzes into its successive parts that which the prophets, in prophetical perspective, heretofore saw together in one, viz., the redemption from captivity, and the full Messianic redemption. God's servants, who, like Noah's father (Genesis, 5. 29,), hoped many a time that now the Comforter of their afflictions was at hand, had to wait from age to age, and to view preceding fulfilments only as pledges of the coming of Him whom they so earnestly desired to see (Matthew, 13. 17; as now also Christians, who believe that the Lord's second coming is nigh, are expected to continue waiting. So Daniel is informed of a long period of seventy prophetic weeks before Messiah's coming, instead of seventy years, as he might have expected (cf. Matthew, 18. 21, 22.). [AUBERLEN.] great and dreadful God-as we know to our cost by the calamities we suffer. The greatness of God and His dreadful abhorrence of sin should prepare sinners for reverent, humble acknowledgment of the justice of their punishment. keeping ... covenant and mercyi.e., the covenant of thy mercy, whereby thou hast promised to deliver us, not for our merits, but of thy mercy (Ezekiel, 36. 22, 23.). So weak and sinful is man that any covenant for good on God's part with him, to take effect, must depend solely on His grace. If he be a God to be feared for His justice, He is one to be trusted for His "mercy." love... keep his commandments-keeping His commandments is the only sure test of love to God (John, 14. 15.). 5. Cf. Nehemiah's confession, Nehemiah, 9. sinned... committed iniquity done wickedly ... rebelled-a climax. Erred in ignorance... sinned by infirmity... habitually and wilfully done wickedness . . . as open and obstinate rebels set ourselves against God. 6. prophets... spake ... to our kings... to all the people-they fearlessly warned all without respect of persons. 7. confusion of faces, as at this day-shame at our guilt, betrayed in our countenance, is what belongs to us; as our punishment "at this day" attests. near, and... far off-the chastisement, however varied, some Jews not being cast off so far from Jerusalem as others, all alike were sharers in the guilt. 9. mercies- the plural intensifies the force: mercy manifold and exhibited in countless ways. As it is humbling to recollect "righteousness belongeth unto God," so it is comforting, that "mercies belong to the Lord OUR God." though we have rebelled-rather, since, &c. [Vulgate] (Psalm 25. 11.). Our punishment is not inconsistent with His "mercies," since we have rebelled against Him. 10. set before ns-not ambiguously, but plainly, so that we were without excuse. 11. all-(Psalm 14. 3; Romans, 3. 12.). the curse... and ... oath... in ... law-the curse against Israel, if disobedient, which God ratified by oath (Leviticus, 26. 14-39; Deuteronomy, 27. 15-26; 28. 15-68; 29.). 12. confirmed his words-showed by the punishments we suffer, that His words were no idle threats. under... heaven hath not been done as... upon Jerusalem-Lamentations, 1. 12.). 13. yet made we not our prayer before-lit., soothed not the face of. Not even our chastisement has taught us penitence (Isaiah, 9. 13; Jeremiah, 5. 3; Hosea, 7. 10.). Diseased, we spurn the healing medicine. that we might turn, &c.-Prayer can only be accepted, when joined with the desire to turn from sin to God (Psalm 66. 18; Proverbs, 28. 9.). understand thy truth-attentively regard thy faithfulness in fulfilling thy promises, and also thy threats. [CALVIN.] Thy law (ch. 8. 12.). [MAURER.] 14. watched upon the evil-expressing and day (Job, 14. 16; Jeremiah, 31. 28; 44. 27.). God Gabriel informeth Daniel DANIEL, IX. of the Seventy Weeks. separated from him by at least a half millennium. Expectation was sufficiently kept alive by the general conception of the time; not only the Jews, but many Gentiles looked for some great Lord of the earth to spring from Judea at that very time (Tacitus, Hist. 5. 13; Suetonius, Vesp. 4.). Ezra's placing of Daniel in the canon immediately before his own book and Nehemiah's was perhaps owing to his feeling that he himself brought about the beginning of the fulfilment of the prophecy (ch. 9.). [AUBERLEN.] determined-lit., cut out, viz., from the whole course of time, for God to deal in a particular manner with Jerusalem. thy ..thy-Daniel had in his prayer often spoken of Israel as "thy people, thy holy city;" but Gabriel, in reply, speaks of them as Daniel's ("thy".. "thy") people and city, God thus intimating that until the "everlasting righteousness" should be brought in by Messiah, He could not fully own them as His (TREGELLES] (cf. Exodus, 32. 7.). Rather, as God is wishing to console Daniel and the godly Jews," the people whom thou art so anxiously praying for" such weight does God give to the intercessions of the righteous (James, 5. 16-18.). finish - lit.. shut up; remove from God's sight, i.e., abolish (Psalm 51. 9.). [LENGKERKE.] The seventy years' exile was a punishment, but not a full atonement, for the sin of the people; this would come only after seventy prophetic weeks, through Messiah. make an end of-The Hebrew reading, "to seal," i.e., to hide out of sight (from the custom of sealing up things to be concealed, cf. Job, 9. 7.), is better supported. make reconciliation for-lit., to cover, to overlay as with pitch, Genesis, 6. 14.). Cf. Psalm 32. 1. bring in everlasting righteousness-viz., the restoration of the normal state between God and man (Jeremiah, 23. 5, 6;); to continue eternally (Hebrews, 9. 12; Revelation, 14. 6.). seal up... vision... prophecy-lit., prophet. To give the seal of confirmation to the prophet and his vision, by the fulfilment. anoint the Most Holy-primarily, to "anoint," or to consecrate after its pollution "the Most Holy" place: but mainly Messiah, the antitype to the Most Holy place (John, 2. 19-22.). The propitiatory in the temple (the same Greek word expresses the mercyseat and propitiation, Romans, 3. 25,), which the Jews looked for at the restoration from Babylon, shall have its true realisation only in Messiah. For it is only when sin is "made an end of," God's presence can be perfectly manifested. As to "anoint," cf. Exodus, 40. 9, 34. Messiah was anointed with the Holy Ghost (Acts, 4. 27; 10. 38.). So hereafter, God-Messiah will "anoint" or consecrate with His presence the holy place at Jerusalem (Jeremiah, 3. 16, 17; Ezekiel, 37. 27, 28,), after its pollution by Antichrist, of which the feast of dedication after the pollution by Antiochus was a type. 25, from the going forth of the commandment-viz., the command from God, whence originated the command of the Persian king (Ezra, 6. 14.). AUBERLEN remarks, there is but one Apocalypse in each Testament. Its purpose in each is to sum up all the preceding prophecies, previous to the "troublous times" of the Gentiles, in which there was to be no revelation. Daniel sums up all the previous Messianic prophecy, separating into its individual phases what the prophets had seen in one and the same perspective, the temporary deliverance from captivity and the antitypical final Messianic deliverance. The seventy weeks are separated (v. 25-27) into three unequal parts, seven, sixty-two, one. The seventieth is the consummation of the preceding ones as the sabbath of God succeeds the working days; an idea suggested by the division into weeks. In the sixtynine weeks Jerusalem is restored, and so a place is prepared for Messiah wherein to accomplish His sabbatic work (v. 25, 26) of "confirming the covenant" (v. 27.). The Messianic time is the sabbath of Israel's history, in which it had the offer of all God's mercies, but in which it was cut off for a time by its rejection of From the Babylonian captivity, the theocracy never | recovered its full freedom down to its entire suspension by Rome; and this period of Israel's subjection to the Gentiles is to continue till the millennium (Revelation, 20.), when Israel shall be restored as head of the New Testament theocracy, which will embrace the whole earth. The free theocracy ceased in the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, and the fourth of Jehoiakim; the year of the world 3338, the point at which the seventy years of the captivity begin. Heretofore Israel had a right, if subjugated by a foreign king, to shake off the yoke (Judges, 4. and 5.; 2 Kings, 18. 7) as an unlawful one, at the first opportunity. But the prophets (Jeremiah, 27. 9-11) declared it to be God's will that they should submit to Babylon. Hence every effort of Jehoiakim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah, to rebel was vain. The period of the world-times, and of Israel's depression, from the Babylonian captivity to the millennium, though abounding more in afflictions (e.g., the two destructions of Jerusalem, Antiochus' persecution, and those which Christians suffered), contains all that was good in the preceding ones, summed up in Christ, but in a way visible only to the eye of faith. Since He came as a servant, He chose for His appearing the period darkest of all as to His people's temporal state. Always fresh persecutors have been rising, whose end is destruction, and so it shall be with the last enemy, Antichrist. As the Davidic epoch is the point of the covenant people's highest glory, so the captivity is that of their lowest humiliation. Accordingly, the people's sufferings are reflected in the picture of the suffering Messiah. He is no longer represented as the theocratic King, the Antitype of David, but as the Servant of God and Son of man; at the same time the cross being the way to glory (cf. ch. 9. with ch. 2. 34, 35, 44, and ch. 12. 7.). In the second and seventh chapters, Christ's first coming is not noticed, for Daniel's object was to prophesy to his nation as to the whole period from the destruction to the re-establishment of Israel; but this ninth chapter minutely predicts Christ's first coming, and its effects on the covenant people. The seventy weeks date thirteen years before the rebuilding of Jerusalem; for then the re-establishment of the theocracy began, viz., at the return of Ezra to Jerusalem, 457 B.C. So Jeremiah's seventy years of the captivity begin 606 B.C., eighteen years before the destruction of Jerusalem, for then Judah ceased to exist as an indeL pendent theocracy, having fallen under the sway of Babylon. Two periods are marked in Ezra: (1.) The return from the captivity under Jeshua and Zerubbabel, and rebuilding of the temple, which was the first anxiety of the theocratic nation. (2.) The return of Ezra (regarded by the Jews as a second Moses) from Persia to Jerusalem, the restoration of the city, the nationality, and the law. Artaxerxes, in the serenth year of his reign, gave him the commission which virtually includes permission to rebuild the city, afterwards confirmed to and carried out by Nehemiah in the twentieth year (Ezra, 9. 9; 7. 11, &c.;); v. 25,"from the going forth of the commandment to build Jerusalem," proves that the second of the two periods is referred to. The words in v. 24 are not," are determined upon the holy city," but "upon thy people and thy holy city" thus the restoration of the religious national polity and the law (the inner work fulfilled by Ezra the priest), and the rebuilding of the houses and walls (the outer work of Nehemiah, the governor) are both included in v. 25, "restore and build Jerusalem." "Jerusalem" represents both the city, the body, and the congregation, the soul of the state. Cf. Psalm 46.; 48.; 87. The starting point of the seventy weeks dated from eighty-one years after Daniel received the prophecy: the object being not to fix for him definitely the time, but for the church: the prophecy taught him that the Messianic redemption, which he thought near, was 1 1 Gabriel informeth Daniel DANIEL, IX. of the Seventy Weeks. pleteness of the catastrophe, **not one stone left on another." unto the end of the war-rather, "unto the end there is war." determined-by God's decree (Isaiah, 10. 23; 28. 22.). 27. he shall confirm the covenant-Christ The confirmation of the covenant is assigned to Him also elsewhere. Isaiah, 42, 6, “I will give thee for a covenant of the people" (i.e., He in whom the corenat: between Israel and God is personally expressed; cf. Luke, 22. 20, "The new testament is my blood?" Malachi, 3. 1, "the angel of the covenant;" Jeremiah. 31. 31-34, describes the Messianic covenant in full Contrast ch. 11. 30, 32, "forsake the covenant," "d wickedly against the covenant." The prophecy as to Messiah's confirming the covenant with many woul comfort the faithful in Antiochus' times, who suffered partly from persecuting enemies, partly from fale friends (ch. 11. 33-35.). Hence arises the similarity of the language here and in ch. 11. 30, 32, referring to Antiochus, the type of Antichrist. with many(Isaiah, 53, 11; Matthew, 20. 28; 26. 28; Romans, 6, 1 19; Hebrews, 9. 28.). in .. midst of... week-the seventy weeks extend to 33 A.D. Israel was not actually destroyed till 79 A.D., but it was so virtually, 3. about three or four years after Christ's death, during which the gospel was preached exclusively to the Jews. When the Jews persecuted the church and stoned Stephen (Acts, 7.), the respite of grace granted to them was at an end (Luke, 13. 7-9.). Israel having rejected Christ was rejected by Christ, and henceforth iscounted dead (cf. Genesis, 2. 17, with 5. 5; Hoses, 13, 1, 2, ib actual destruction by Titus being the consummation of the removal of the kingdom of God from Israel to the Gentiles (Matthew, 21. 43,), which is not to be restored until Christ's second coming, when Israel shall be at the head of humanity (Matthew, 23. 39; Acts, 1. 65 Romans, 11. 25-31, 15.). The interval forms for the them. As the seventy weeks end with seven years, or a week, so they begin with seven times seven, i.e., seven weeks. As the seventieth week is separated from the rest as a period of revelation, so it may be with the seven weeks. The number seven is associated with revelation; for the seven Spirits of God are the mediators of all His revelations (Revelation, 1. 4; 3. 1; 4. 6.). Ten is the number of what is human; e.g., the world-power issues in ten heads and ten horns (ch. 2. 42; 7. 7.). Seventy is ten multiplied by seven, the human moulded by the divine. The seventy years of exile symbolise the triumph of the world-power over Israel. In the seven times seventy years the world number ten is likewise contained, i.e., God's people is still under the power of the world ("troublous times"; but the number of the divine is multiplied by itself; seven times seven years, at the beginning, a period of Old Testament revelation to God's people by Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi, whose labours extend over about half a century, or seven weeks, and whose writings are last in the canon; and in the end, seven years, the period of New Testament revelation in Messiah. The commencing seven weeks of years of Old Testament revelation are hurried over, in order that the chief stress might rest on the Messianic week. Yet the seven weeks of Old Testament revelation are marked by their separation from the sixty-two, to be above those sixtytwo wherein there was to be none. Messiah the Prince -Hebrew, Nagid. Messiah is Jesus' title in respect to Isruel (Psalm 2. 2; Matthew, 27. 37, 42,). Nagid, as Prince of the Gentiles (Isaiah, 55, 4.). Nagid is applied to Titus, only as representative of Christ, who designates the Roman destruction of Jerusalem as, in a sense, His coming (Matthew, 24.; John, 21. 22.). Messiah denotes His calling; Nagid, His power. He is to "be cut off, and there shall be nothing for Him." (So the Hebrew for "not for Himself," v. 26, ought to be trans-covenant-people a great parenthesis. he shall cause the lated.) Yet He is "the Prince" who is to "come," by His representative at first, to inflict judgment, and at last in person. wall the trench," or "scarped rampart." [TREGELLES.] The street and trench include the complete restoration of the city externally and internally, which was during the sixty-nine weeks. 28. after threescore and two weeks-rather, the threescore and two, &c. In this verse, and v. 27, Messiah is made the prominent subject, while the fate of the city and sanctuary are secondary, being mentioned only in the second halves of the verses. Messiah appears in a twofold aspect, salvation to believers, judgment on unbelievers (Luke, 2. 34; cf. Malachi, 3. 1-6; 4. 1-3.). He repeatedly, in Passion week, connects His being "cut off" with the destruction of the city, as cause and effect (Matthew, 21. 37-41; 23. 37, 38; Luke, 21. 20-24; 23. 28-51.). Israel might naturally expect Messiah's kingdom of glory, if not after the seventy years' captivity, at least at the end of the sixty-two weeks; but, instead of that, shall be His death, and the consequent destruction of Jerusalem. not for himself- rather, "there shall be nothing to Him" [HENGSTENBERG]; not that the real object of His first coming (His spiritual kingdom) should be frustrated; but the earthly kingdom anticipated by the Jews should, for the present, come to nought, and not then be realised. TREGELLES refers the title, "the Prince" (v. 25,), to the time of His enter-8. 20,-9. 17; 15. 9, &c.; Hebrews, 9. 15.). ing Jerusalem on an ass's colt, His only appearance as a King, and six days afterwards being put to death as "King of the Jews." the people of the prince-the Romans, led by Titus, the representative of the worldpower, ultimately to be transferred to Messiah, and so called by Messiah's title, "the Prince;" as also because sent by Him, as His instrument of judgment (Matthew, 22. 7.). end thereof of the sanctuary. TREGELLES takes it, "the end of the Prince," the last head of the Roman power, Antichrist. with a flood-viz., of war 'salm 90. 5; Isaiah, 6, 7, 8; 28. 18.). Implying the com sacrifice oblation to cease-distinct from the ten- old covenant is to be confirmed, but in a way peculiat Daniel comforted by DANIEL, X. an Angelic Vision. consummation "determined" by God (the phrase is here," he understood" the messenger being sent to quoted from Isaiah, 10. 22, 23.), when at last the world-him for this (v. 11, 14.), to make him understand it power shall be judged and dominion be given to the Probably Daniel was no longer in office at court; for in saints of the Most High (ch. 7. 26, 27.). AUBERLEN ch. 1. 21, it is said, "Daniel continued even unto the translates, “On account of the desolating summit of first year of king Cyrus," not that he died then. See abominations (cf. ch. 11. 31; 12. 11; thus the repetition Note there. but the time appointed was long-rather, of the same thing as in v. 26 is avoided), and till the "it (i.e., the prophecy) referred to great calamity" consummation which is determined, it (the curse, v. [MAURER]; or, "long and calamitous warfare." [GESE11, foretold by Moses) will pour on the desolated." NIUS.] Lit., host going to war; hence, warfare, calamity. Israel reached the summit of abominations, which 2. mourning i.e., afflicting myself by fasting from drew down desolation (Matthew, 24. 28,), nay, which is pleasant bread, flesh, and wine" (v. 3.), as a sign of the desolation itself, when, after murdering Messiah, sorrow, not for its own sake. Cf. Matthew, 9. 14," fast," they offered sacrifices, Mosaic indeed in form, but answering to "mourn" (v. 15.). Cf. 1 Corinthians, 8. 8; heathenish in spirit (cf. Isaiah, 1. 13, Ezekiel, 5. 11.). 1 Timothy, 4. 3, which prove that "fasting" is not an Christ refers to this passage (Matthew, 24, 15,), "When indispensable Christian obligation; but merely an outye see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by ward expression of sorrow, and separation from ordiDaniel the prophet, stand in the holy place" (the latter nary worldly enjoyments, in order to give one's self to words being tacitly implied in “abominations" as being prayer (Acts, 13. 2.). Daniel's mourning was probably such as are committed against the sanctuary). TRE- for his countrymen, who met with many obstructions GELLES translates, "upon the wing of abominations to their building of the temple, from their adversaries shall be that which causeth desolation" viz., an idol in the Persian court. 3. no pleasant bread—“ unset up on a wing or pinnacle of the temple (cf. Matthew, leavened bread, even the bread of affliction" (Deutero4. 6) by Antichrist, who makes a covenant with the nomy, 16. 3.). anoint the Persians largely used restored Jews for the last of the seventy weeks of years unguents. 4. first month - Nisan, the month most (fulfilling Jesus' words, "If another shall come in his suited for considering Israel's calamity, being that in own name, him ye will receive"), and for the first three which the feast of unleavened bread reminded them and a half years keeps it, then in the midst of the of their Egyptian bondage. Daniel mourned not merely week breaks it, causing the daily sacrifices to cease. for the seven days appointed (Exodus, 12. 18,), from the TREGELLES thus identifies the last half week with the evening of the fourteenth to the twenty-first of Nisan, time, times, and a half of the persecuting little horn but thrice seven days, to mark extraordinary sorrow. (ch. 7.25.). But thus there is a gap of at least 1830 years His mourning ended on the twenty-first day, the closing put between the sixty-nine weeks and the seventieth day of the passover feast; but the vision is not till the week. SIR ISAAC NEWTON explains the wing ("over- twenty-fourth, because of the opposition of "the prince spreading") of abominations to be the Roman ensigns of Persia" (v. 13.). I was by... the... river-in waking (eagles) brought to the East gate of the temple, and reality, not a trance (v.7;); when younger, he saw the there sacrificed to by the soldiers; the war, ending in future in images, but now when old, he receives revelathe destruction of Jerusalem, lasted from spring tions from angels in common language, i.e., in the 67 A.D. to autumn 70 A.D., i.e., just three and a half apocalyptic mode. In the patriarchal period God often years, or the last half week of years (JOSEPHUS, B. J. appeared visibly, i.e., theophany. In the prophets, 6. 6.). poured upon the desolate-TREGELLES translates, next in the succession, the inward character of revela"the causer of desolation," viz., Antichrist. Cf. "abo- tion is prominent. The consummation is when the mination that maketh desolate" (ch. 12. 11.). Perhaps seer looks up from earth into the unseen world, and both interpretations of the whole passage may be in has the future shown to him by angels, i.e., apocalypse. part true; the Roman desolator, Titus, being a type of So in the New Testament there is a parallel progresAntichrist, the final desolator of Jerusalem. BACON Sion: God in the flesh, the spiritual activity of the (Adv. Learn, 2. 3) says, "Prophecies are of the nature apostles, and the apocalypse. [AUBERLEN.) Hiddekel of the Author, with whom a thousand years are as one-the Tigris. 5. lifted up mine eyes-from the ground day; and therefore are not fulfilled punctually at once, but have a springing and germinant accomplishment through many years, though the height and fulness of them may refer to one age." CHAPTER X. Ver. 1-21. DANIEL COMFORTED BY AN ANGELIC VISION. Ch. 10.-12. more fully describe the vision in ch. 8., by a second vision on the same subject, just as the vision in the seventh chapter explains more fully that in the second. The tenth chapter is the prologue; the eleventh, the prophecy itself; and the twelfth, the epilogue. The tenth chapter unfolds the spiritual world as the background of the historical world (Job, 1. 7; 2. 1, &c.; Zechariah, 3. 1, 2; Revelation, 12. 7.), and angels as the ministers of God's government of men. As in the world of nature (John, 5. 4; Revelation, 7. 1-3,), so in that of history here, Michael, the champion of Israel, and with him another angel, whose aim is to realise God's will in the heathen world, resist the God-opposed spirit of the world. These struggles are not merely symbolical, but real (1 Samuel, 16. 13-15; 1 Kings, 22. 22; Ephesians, 6. 12.). 1. third year of Cyrus-two years after Cyrus' decree for the restoration of the Jews had gone forth, in accordance with Daniel's prayer in ch 9. This vision gives not merely general outlines, or symbols, but minute details of the future, in short, anticipative history. It is the expansion of the vision in ch, s. That which then “none understood," Le says on which they had been fixed in his mourning. certain man-lit., one man. An angel of the highest order; for in ch. 8. 16, he commands Gabriel to make Daniel to understand the vision, and in ch. 12. 6, one of the two angels enquires of him how long it would be till the end predicted. linen the raiment of priests, being the symbol of sanctity, as more pure than wool (Exodus, 28. 42;); also of prophets (Jeremiah, 13. 1;); and of angels (Revelation, 15. 6.). girded with ... . gold-ie., with a girdle interwoven with gold (Revelation, 1. 13.). 6. beryl-lit., Tarshish, in Spain. The beryl, identical with the chrysolite or topaz, was imported into the East from Tarshish, and therefore is called "the Tarshish stone." 7. they filed-terrified by the presence of the angel. 8. comeliness-lit., vigour, i.e., lively expres. sion and colour. into corruption-deadliness, i.e., deathlike paleness (ch. 5. 6; 7. 28.). 9. voice of his words-the sound of his words. I was in a deep sleep-"I sank into a deep sleep." [LENGKERKE] 10. an hand-viz., of Gabriel, who interpreted other revelations to Daniel (ch. 8. 16.). [THEODORET.] set me upon my kneesGESENIUS translates, "caused me to reel on my knees," &c. 11. man... beloved-ch. 9. 23, Note.). understand -attend to. See ch. 8, 17, 18. 12. Fear not-Be not affrighted at my presence. didst set thine heart to understand-what shall come to pass to thy people at the last times (cf. v. 14.). chasten thyself - (v. 2, S.). thy words were heard-(Acts, 10. 4.). Prayer is heard at |