Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

Demetrius, the late king's only son, though he was young, and now far away, had claims decidedly superior to those of any other individual. Indeed, according to the commonly acknowledged views on the subject, he was the natural and rightful heir to the crown.

These three, the usurper Heliodorus, the aspirant Ptolemy, and Demetrius, the legitimate heir, all stood in the way of Antiochus Epiphanes. But by his management he removed them all out of his way. So far as it respected his possession of the throne, they were "plucked up," before him, and “subdued" by his artifices. For he negotiated most skilfully with Eumenes, king of Pergamus, and with Attalus, the brother of Eumenes, and with the various parties of the Syrians; so that' soon there was strikingly fulfilled in him the prediction which, in speaking of the deceased king, proceeds: "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."*

So exact is the correspondence between what is said of the ten horns of the fourth beast, and what occurred in the kingdom of the Greeks. But if we attempt, as many have done, to apply it to the Roman empire, the application becomes exceedingly arbitrary; and it is, as we have already shown, at variance with the explanation given in Dan. 7: 24.

That the little horn mentioned in Dan. 7: 8, indicates Antiochus Epiphanes, a king that arose out of one of the four branches of the empire of the Greeks, is confirmed by Dan. 8: 8 and 9. "The he-goat waxed very great; and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones, towards the four winds of heaven, and out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great toward the south [Egypt], and toward the east [Armenia, &c.], and toward the pleasant land" [Palestine].

Here it is manifest, that the power indicated by the little horn was to arise, not out of the Roman empire, but out of one of the four notable powers which should succeed the empire of Alexander.

It was in the days of these kings that the God of heaven should set up [cause to stand]† a kingdom which was not to be destroyed; that is, he would preserve, sustain, and gloriously vindicate the true religion, the worship connected with

[merged small][ocr errors]

the promises made to the patriarchs and prophets, and with the coming of the Messiah, in whom all the nations were to be blessed. These kings might seek only their own aggrandizement, regardless of the great Ruler on high, and of the interests of their fellow-men. They might rule, and rage, and pass away. Antiochus Epiphanes might persecute and threaten to destroy the people and the worship of the Most High, according to the representation in the 10th, 11th, and 12th verses of the 8th chapter. After the striking allusion, in the 9th verse, to his enterprises in Egypt, in the East, and in Palestine, it is added: "And it [the horn indicating Antiochus Epiphanes] waxed great, even to the host of heaven [the worshippers of Jehovah], and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his [Jehovah's] sanctuary was cast down. And the host together with the daily sacrifice, was given up to impious treatment; and he [literally it, the little horn, indicating Antiochus Epiphanes] cast down the truth to the ground; and practised, and prospered."

All this might be done, but the true and eternal God would interpose, and execute judgment for the oppressed. "I beheld," as it is briefly expressed in the 21st and 22d verses of the seventh chapter, "I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High."

The interposition here expressed in few words and some of its important consequences are set forth more fully and vividly in the glowing vision described in a preceding part of this seventh chapter, from the ninth verse to the fourteenth :

"I beheld till thrones were placed,† and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery. flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued

* We need not labor to prove that the first part of the 12th verse should be thus translated. The preposition is often used in the sense of together with. See Ex. 35: 22. Hos. 10: 14. Amos 3:15. And our construction of the preposition after the verb is abundantly sustained by the usage of the Hebrew language. See Lev. 26: 25. Ezra 9:7. Jer. 32: 4.

The original Chaldee, 117, is thus correctly expressed in the Septuagint, Ogóvoi èτéonoar, thrones were placed,-not 'the thrones were cast down.'

and came forth from before him; thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The judgment was set, and the books were opened. I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away; yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed."

In a manner somewhat similar, David, in the eighteenth Psalm, from the sixth verse to the eighteenth, represents the Lord as interposing to deliver him "from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul:"

"In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried unto my God;

He heard my voice from his palace,

And my cry came before him into his ears.

Then the earth quaked and trembled;

The foundations of the mountains rocked and were shaken,
Because his wrath was kindled.

A smoke went up from his nostrils;
And fire from his mouth devoured;
Burning coals shot forth from him.

He bowed the heavens, and came down;

And darkness was under his feet;

And he rode upon a cherub and did fly;

Yea, he came flying upon the wings of the wind.

And he made darkness his covering;

His pavilion round about him was dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

At the brightness before him, his thick clouds passed away;
Then came hailstones and coals of fire.

Jehovah also thundered from heaven,
And the Most High uttered his voice,

Amid hailstones and coals of fire.

He sent forth his arrows, and scattered them;

Incessant lightnings, and discomfited them.
Then the channels of the deep were seen,

And the foundations of the earth were revealed,

At thy rebuke, O Jehovah,

At the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.

He stretched forth his hand from above; he took me,

And drew me out of deep waters.

He delivered me from my strong enemy;

From my adversaries, who were too powerful for me.
They fell upon me in the day of my calamity,

But the Lord was my stay."

Objections considered, which have been urged against the preceding view.

[ocr errors]

Against our regarding the kingdom of the Greeks as distinct from that of Alexander some objections are urged by Hengstenberg. The first is derived from Dan. 7: 6. "There," he remarks, "it is said of the third kingdom, Afterwards I beheld, and lo, another beast like a leopard [or panther], which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; and the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it." "Here,” he adds, "the kingdom of Alexander, manifestly, is symbolized, together with that of his principal successors.

وو

But, we reply, a wing naturally indicates flying, or rapid movement; and an extraordinary number of wings, uncommon rapidity. Now, in the passage before us, as the four wings indicate great swiftness, the uncommon rapidity of Alexander's conquests; so, the four heads may naturally indicate his extensive authority, established as it was in all directions, in the north, and in the south, in the east, and in the west. In the next clause, the reason for such a symbolical representation seems to be mentioned in plain language: and or for,-as the original word is sometimes most correctly rendered,†—For dominion was given to it. The idea of rapidity is expressed in the parallel passage, Dan. 8: 5, by its being said that the hegoat which came from the west, touched not the ground. And the idea of extensive authority is expressed in the same passage (verse 8)," the he-goat became very great ;" and in the other parallel passage, Dan. 2: 39, which speaks of a third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.

But the acute and learned author asserts that this explanation is precluded by the vision, Dan. 8: 8, "the great horn was broken, and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven;" and by Dan. 8: 22,-" Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall arise out of the nation, but not with his power." "If," he

* In his Beiträge zur Einleitung, &c., I, p. 203.

† See Gen. 20: 3.

asks, "if now the four horns here symbolize the four kingdoms (Egypt, Syria, Thrace, and Macedonia) arising out of Alexander's kingdom, how can it fail to be perceived, that the four heads, mentioned in Dan. 7: 6, symbolize the same kingdom?" We reply,

1. The visions are not the same, but were seen at the distance of two years from each other.

2. The images, manifestly, are not the same.

3. They do not stand in the same connection with other things which serve to modify and indicate the meaning.

4. They do not relate to the same period of time, the one having reference to the third kingdom while it was Alexander's and united; the other having reference to the separate kingdoms (as such), which arose out of his after his death.

5. In Dan. 11: 4, the kingdom of Alexander, as we have already had occasion to show, is clearly distinguished from that of his successors: and hence we are guarded against confounding what pertains to the one with what pertains to the other; for what is at all ambiguous ought to be explained by what is clear.

6. In 1 Maccabees 1: 6, it is said of Alexander, "Wherefore he called his servants, such as were honorable, and had been brought up with him from his youth, and parted his kingdom among them, while he was yet alive." These words Hengstenberg introduces to prove that, in the time in which they were written, the Jews considered the kingdom of Alexander and that of his successors to be the same. But can

this parting of his kingdom be that breaking, dividing, and plucking up which are asserted of it in Dan. 11: 4? Does it not, manifestly, refer merely to Alexander's distributing of offices to be held under his own authority? The words immediately following those which Hengstenberg introduces, make the matter quite clear: "So Alexander reigned twelve years, and then died. And his servants bare 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. And there arose out of them a wicked root, Antiochus surnamed Epiphanes, son of Antiochus the king, who had been a hostage at Rome, and he reigned in the hundred and thirty and seventh year of the kingdom of the Greeks."

:

« AnteriorContinuar »