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his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet; and of the ten horns that were in his head; and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of the horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of days came, and judg ment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And the ten horns are ten kings that shall arise out of this kingdom and another shall rise behind them ;* and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words by the side of the Most High†, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws and they shall be given into his hand until a time, and times, and the dividing of a time. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him."+

I have adopted this translation of the passage from Mr. Mede; who, instead of after the kingdoms, would render the original expression behind them, following therein the Greek version 7 aurav: and he takes the meaning to be, that the ten borns were not aware of the growing up of the little born, till it overtopped them. (Works Book iv. Epist. 24.) In reality the little born, as we shall hereafter see, did not spring up posterior in point of time to the other borns, but gradually arose among them during the turbulent period in which the Roman empire was broken into ten kingdoms by the northern nations.

This is the literal translation of the original passage and its import I appre hend to be, not that the little born should speak great words against the Most High, but that he should arrogantly place himself upon an equality with God; or, as St. Paul expresses it, that he should sit as God in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Symmachus appears to me to come much nearer the real meaning of the expression than our present English version: "Ut interpretatus est Symmachus, sermones quasi Deus loquetur." Hieron. Comment. Vol. iii. p. 1103. cited by Bishop Newton.

‡ Dan, vii. 2.

3. The third is the vision of the ram and the he-goat, and the little horn which was to spring out of one of the four horns of the he-goat.

"I lifted up mine eyes, and saw; and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will and became great. And, as I was considering, behold, an he-goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the he-goat had a notable horn between his eyes. And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. 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. 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. 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 land. And it waxed great even against the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. Yea, he magnified himself even against the Prince of the host; and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And the host was given over to him by reason of their transgression against the daily sacrifice; and it cast down the truth to the ground, and it practised, and prospered. Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, For how long a time shall the vision last, the daily sacrifice be taken away, and the transgression of desolation continue, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be

trodden under foot ?* And he said unto me, Until two thousand and three hundred days;† then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. And it came to pass, when 1, even I Daniel, had seen the Vision, and sought for the meaning; then, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man-And he said unto me, Understand, O son of man, for the Vision shall reach even unto the time of the end—And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the latter end of the indignation: for it (the Vision) shall reach even to the appointed time of the end. The ram, which thou sawest, having two horns, are the kings of (the united empire of) Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the King of Grecia. And the great horn, that is between his eyes, is the first king. Now, that being broken, whereas four stood up in its stead, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power. And, at the end of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and teaching || dark sentences, shall stand up. 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 people of the holy ones. through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and he shall destroy many in negligent security. He shall

• See Bp. Newton's Dissert. xv.

And

The Seventy read 2400 days, and certain copies mentioned by Jerome 2200 days. These varying numbers will be discussed hereafter.

So the LXX and the Arabic version translate this passage, and I believe very rightly, as the context indeed sufficiently shews. It had just before been declared, that the length of the vision should be 2300 days: it is now declared, that the vision should be to the time of the end or to the termination of those days: and it is immediately after declared, that it should be to the appointed time of the end. All these seem to be only different modes of specifying the same thing, namely what the angel considered to be the length of the vision.

The meaning of the expression (if we may judge from the symbolical part of the prophecy,) is, not during the latter period of their kingdom, but after the complete termination of their kingdom: that is to say, the king of fierce countenance was to stand up, not while they were yet reigning, but some time or other after they bad ceased to reign.

|| The word, here used in the original, is in the Hiphil or causal form whence it will not signify understanding, as it is rendered in our English translation, but causing to understand, or, teaching.

I conceive the phrase to mean," he shall destroy many while in a state of negligent security, and little suspecting that any attack would be made upon them from

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also stand up against the prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand. And the Vision of the evening and the morning, which was told, is true: wherefore shut thou up the Vision; for it shall be for many days."

4. The fourth is contained in the latter end of the eleventh Chapter, and extends to the conclusion of the Book. "And after him (Antiochus Epiphanest) arms shall stand up, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. And such as do wickedly against the covenant he shall cause to dissemble with flatteries: but the people, that do know their God, shall be strong and do exploits. And they that understand among the people shall instruct many : yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by spoil, many days. Now, when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help but many shall cleave to them with flatteries. And some of them of understanding shall fall§ in purifying them, and in purging them, and in making them white, even to the time of the end because it is yet unto the time appointed. And (after this second persecution of the men of understanding) a king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god,

that quarter." (See Parkhurst's Heb. Lex. Vox. 7.) The Seventy and the Arabic translate the passage" he shall destroy many by fraud," which conveys an idea nearly similar. There is a passage in the book of Judges, which is an excellent com> ment on these words of the prophet. "Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, bow they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure. And they came unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire." (Judg. xviii. 7, 27.) The same idea occurs in the book of Proverbs: "Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee.” (Prov. ii 29. See also Ezek. xxxviii. 11.) Tacitus uses a similar mode of expression. "In latere Chaucorum Cattorumque, Cherusci nimiam ac marcentem diu pacem illacessiti nutrierunt: idque jucundius quam tutius fuit; quia inter impotentes ac validos falso quiescas." Tac. de mor. Germ. C. 36.

Dan. viii. 3.

See Sir Isaac Newton's Observ. on Dan. c. 12. p. 188, 189.

The Arabic version and the LXX read this verb plurally; and I firmly believe that such is the proper reading, for the Roman arms are here spoken of. Hence, as it is said, they (the arms) shall pollute, they shall take away, they shall place; so it seems to have been likewise originally said, they shall cause to dissemble.

§ That is perish. The word used here is the same as that which occurs immediately above, when the men of understanding are said to fall by the sword and by flame.

and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished for that, that is determined, shall be done. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor (him who is) the desire of women, nor regard any god for he shall magnify himself above them all. Yet, when he is established (in power,) he shall honour tutelary gods together with a god† ; even, together with a god whom his fathers knew not, he shall honour them with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and desirable things: and he shall practise‡ (prosperously). Unto the upholders of his tutelary gods,§ together with the foreign. god whom he shall acknowledge, he shall multiply glory and he shall cause them to rule over many and he shall divide the land (among them, selling it) for a price. And at the time of the end a king of the South shall butt at him; and a king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen,

Such, I am convinced, is the proper translation of the phrase wa NTAN. It means, not the desire of women by others, or the wish to have women; but, on the contrary, that which women themselves desired to have. This point will be discussed at large hereafter.

+"Whereas the preposition in bb is usually neglected, I express the preposition, and construe God and Mabuzzim apart as two; viz. To or together with, God be shall bonour Mabuzzim. For the preposition is made of 8, and signifies the same with it, namely an addition or adjoining of things, ad, juxta, apud, to, besides, together with; as Lev. xviii. 18. Thou shalt not take a wife to her sister nnnxx, that is, together with her sister." (Mede's Works Book III. Apostacy of the latter times. Part 1. Chap. 16.) Mr. Mede supposes the foreign god adored along with the Mabuzzim to be Christ; and thence renders the passage "together with God he shall honour Mahuzzim." The foreign god however, venerated by the king, certainly cannot be Christ, both because the prophet had just before declared, that the king should speak marvellous things against the God of gods; and because, as we shall hereafter see, he was specially to reject the worship of Christ, here represented as the desire of women or wives, as Haggai styles him the Desire of all nations. On these grounds, I render the passage " together with a god he shall honour Mahuzzim," rather than "together with God he shall honour Mahuzzim."

"Faciet, id est, mirè succedet quicquid agit." (Calv. apud Pol. Syn. in loc.) "It cast down the truth to the ground, and it practised and prospered." (Dan. viii. 12.) The same word is used in the original in both these passages. See also Rev. xiii. 5, and Bishop Newton's remarks upon the word omnca in his Dissertation upon that Chapter.

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faciet eos, notari in vocabulo a personas, non munitiones." (Houbigant in loc. cited by Bishop Newton.) The Bishop himself considers the word to mean defend ers, supporters, or champions and these champions he supposes to be the popish priests and monks. Though I entirely differ from his Lordship in the interpretation of the prophecy, and though I am unable to discover in it any allusion to Popery, yet I think him perfectly right in his translation of the word in question.

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