_Darius, the Mede. (Chap. v. 31.) If his reign had commenced at the same time with that of Cyrus, at Babylon, as it is commonly supposed, Daniel would have been under no anxiety respecting the people's liberation, as it took place that year, (Calmet) though perhaps not at the commencement. (Haydock)... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jerusalem. He read attentively the sacred volumes, particularly the prophecy of Jeremias xxv. 11. and xxix. 10. Knowing that many predictions were conditional, he was afraid lest this might be so; notwithstanding a part of it seemed to be verified by the death of Baltassar. (Calmet) --- Darius had... [ Continue Reading ]
_Covenant. God never breaks it first. (Calmet) --- Deus sua gratia semel justificatos non deserit, nisi ab eis prius diseratur. (Council of Trent, Session vi. 11.)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Mercy. Thou art just, (verse 7.) and sovereignly merciful. He speaks in the name of all. Some had continued faithful; but the number was comparatively inconsiderable. (verse 11.)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Fallen, by drops, ( stillavit. Deuteronomy xxvii. 13. &c.) (Haydock) like an inundation._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Truth, in executing thy promises and menaces._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Against. Hebrew: "according to." --- Justice. Septuagint: "mercy." Let not the enemy boast that he has ruined thy temple, &c. (verse 17.) (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_The man Gabriel. The angel Gabriel in the shape of a man. (Challoner) (Chap. viii. 16.) --- Sacrifice, between the two vespers, (Numbers xxviii. 4.) after the ninth hour, which was a time of prayer. (Acts iii. 1.) (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Desires. His zeal and mortification merit this title. (Worthington) --- He was an object of God's love. (St. Jerome) (Chap. x. 11. and xi. 8.) (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
Seventy weeks (viz. of years, or seventy times seven, that is, 490 years) are shortened; that is, fixed and determined, so that the time shall be no longer. (Challoner) --- This is not a conditional prophecy. Daniel was solicitous to know when the seventy years of Jeremias would terminate. But somet... [ Continue Reading ]
Word, &c. That is, from the twentieth year of king Artaxerxes, when, by his commandment, Nehemias rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, 2 Esdras ii. From which time, according to the best chronology, there were just sixty-nine weeks of years, the is 483 years, to the baptism of Christ, when he first began... [ Continue Reading ]
_Weeks, or four hundred and thirty-eight years, which elapsed from the twentieth of Artaxerxes to the death of Christ, according to the most exact chronologists. (Calmet) --- Slain. Protestant: "cut off, but not for himself, and the people of the prince that," &c. (Haydock) --- St. Jerome and some m... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER IX. Many. Christ seems to allude to this passage. (Matthew xxvi. 28.) He died for all; but several of the Jews particularly, would not receive the proffered grace. (Calmet) --- Of the week, or in the middle of the week, &c. Because Christ preached three years and a half: and then, by his sa... [ Continue Reading ]