CHAPTER VII _The prophet having, in the preceding chapters of this book,_ _related some remarkable events concerning himself and his_ _brethren in the captivity, and given proof of his being_ _enabled, by Divine assistance, to interpret the dreams of_ _others, enters now into a detail of his ow... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Daniel 7:2. _THE FOUR WINDS OF THE HEAVEN STROVE UPON THE GREAT SEA_] The idea of _strife_ is taken here from the effects that must be produced, were the east, the west, the north, and the south winds to rise tempestuously, and _meet_ on the surface of the sea. By the _great sea_, the Mediterr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Daniel 7:3. _FOUR GREAT BEASTS CAME UP FROM THE SEA_] The term _sea_, in Hebrew ים _yam_, from המה _hamah, to be tumultuous, agitated_, c., seems to be used here to point out the then known _terraqueous_ _globe_, because of its generally agitated state and the _four winds_ _striving_, point ou... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Daniel 7:4. _THE FIRST_ WAS _LIKE A LION, AND HAD EAGLE'S WINGS_] Bp. _Newton_ well remarks, that these _great beasts_, as explained by the angel, Daniel 7:17, are _kingdoms_. They arise out of a stormy and tempestuous sea; that is, out of the wars and commotions of the world; and they are cal... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Daniel 7:5. _ANOTHER BEAST-LIKE TO A BEAR_] This was the _Medo-Persian_ empire, represented here under the symbol of the _bear_, as the largest species of these animals was found in _Media_, a mountainous, cold, and rough country, covered with _woods_. The Medes and Persians are compared to a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Daniel 7:6. _ANOTHER LIKE A LEOPARD - FOUR WINGS - FOUR HEADS_] This was the _Macedonian_ or _Greek empire_; and Alexander the Great its king. Alexander and his subjects are fitly compared to a _leopard_. 1. The leopard is remarkable for its swiftness. Alexander and the Macedonians were very... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Daniel 7:7. _I SAW - A FOURTH BEAST - IT HAD GREAT IRON TEETH_] This is allowed, on all hands, to be the Roman empire. It was _dreadful,_ _terrible_, and _exceeding strong: it devoured, and brake_ in pieces, and stamped the residue, that is, the remains of the former kingdoms, _with its feet_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Daniel 7:8. _ANOTHER LITTLE HORN_] Among Protestant writers this is considered to be the popedom. _BEFORE WHOM THERE WERE THREE OF THE FIRST HORNS PLUCKED UP_] These were probably, 1. The exarchate of _Ravenna_. 2. The kingdom of the _Lombards_. And, 3. The _state of Rome_. The _first_ wa... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Daniel 7:9. _THE THRONES WERE CAST DOWN_] דמיו might be translated _erected_, so the Vulgate, _positi sunt_, and so all the versions; but that ours is a proper translation, is sufficiently evident from Daniel 3:6; Daniel 3:16; Daniel 3:20; Daniel 6:17, c. where the original word can be used i... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Daniel 7:10. _A FIERY STREAM ISSUED_] This is not spoken of the _final_ _judgment_; but of that which he was to execute upon this _fourth_ _beast_, the Roman empire; and the _little_ boasting _horn_, which is a part of the fourth beast, and must fall when the other falls.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Daniel 7:11. _I BEHELD THEN BECAUSE OF THE VOICE_ (or, _the beast will_ _be destroyed because_) _OF THE GREAT WORDS WHICH THE HORN SPAKE - HIS_ _BODY DESTROYED_] When the dominion was taken from the rest of the _beasts_, their _bodies_ were not destroyed, but suffered to continue still in bein... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 13. One _LIKE THE SON OF MAN CAME WITH THE CLOUDS OF_ _HEAVEN_] This most certainly points out the Lord Jesus, בר אנש _bar enosh_, the Son of miserable man; who took our nature upon him that he might redeem us unto himself. To prove himself to be the Messiah he applies, before the high priests... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 14. _AND THERE WAS GIVEN HIM DOMINION_] This also is applied to our Lord Jesus by himself, after his resurrection, Matthew 28:18. _HIS DOMINION_ IS _AN EVERLASTING DOMINION_] Christianity shall increase, and prevail to the end of the world. See the parallel passages in the margin.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 15. _I DANIEL WAS GRIEVED, C._] The words in the original are uncommonly emphatic. _My spirit was grieved_, or _sickened_, בגו נדנה bego nidneh, within its sheath or _scabbard_. Which I think proves, 1. That the human _spirit_ is different from the _body_. 2. That it has a proper subsistence... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 17. _THESE GREAT BEASTS - _ARE _FOUR KINGS_] See the preceding verses, where the following explanations are inserted and illustrated.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 18. _BUT THE SAINTS OF THE MOST HIGH SHALL TAKE THE_ _KINGDOM_] I doubt whether this be the true sense of the original _Chaldee_, ויקבלון מלכותא קדשי עליונון vikabbelun malcutha _kaddishey elyonin_, "But the supreme holy ones shall receive the kingdom;" or, "they shall receive the kingdom of... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 19. _HIS NAILS_ OF _BRASS_] This is not mentioned in the _seventh_ verse, where the description of the beast is given. It might be _added_, for the first time, by the person who is now explaining the fourth beast. _Houbigant_ thinks it has been lost out of the text: but such loss is not intima... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Daniel 7:21. _THE SAME HORN MADE WAR WITH THE SAINTS, AND PREVAILED_ _AGAINST THEM._] Those who make _Antiochus_ the _little horn_, make the _saints_ the _Jewish people_. Those who understand the _popedom_ by it, see this as referring to the cruel persecutions of the popes of Rome against the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Daniel 7:22. _SAINTS OF THE MOST HIGH_] _To the supereminent saints_; Daniel 7:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Daniel 7:25. _HE SHALL SPEAK_ GREAT _WORDS AGAINST THE MOST HIGH_] Sermones quasi Deus loquetur; "He shall speak as if he were God." So St. _Jerome_ quotes from _Symmachus_. To none can this apply so well or so fully as to the popes of Rome. They have assumed _infallibility_, which belongs onl... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Daniel 7:27. _THE KINGDOM AND DOMINION_] The people of the saints of the Most High, or the people who are the supereminent saints, shall have the kingdom. Whatever name they may be distinguished by among men, these are the people, and theirs is the Church, that no lapse of time shall injure, a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Daniel 7:28. _THE END OF THE MATTER._] So said the expounding angel; and he said so because the purpose of God had determined it. In considering these things, and looking at the evils that shall come upon the world before those auspicious times can take place, I may say with Daniel, _My cogita... [ Continue Reading ]