Chapter 8. The Course of Empire
Chapter 8. The Course of Empire When we come to this vision that appeared to Daniel we find that it was given him in the third year of the reign of Belshazzar, and that in the vision he is away in the province of Elam, in the fortress of Shushan, and by the river Ulai. The river here seems to symbolize the armed forces of Persia in their restless energy of imperial conquest. The ram which he saw, which symbolizes the Medo-Persian kingdom, stands before the river, observing and directing its movements. The ram is seen pushing westward, northward, and southward, and no beast could stand before it, neither could any deliver out of his hand. Moreover he did according to his will, and became great. There does not seem to be in him any recognition of God, or of one supreme Being, whose rights should be respected upon the earth. One is in measure astonished at reading this, because of the honourable mention that Cyrus has in Isa 45:1-25, though there He does say, “I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known Me.” Later in his career than the point in which Daniel is made to see him, he may have been brought into the light of the knowledge of the Lord. And this thought gets some confirmation from what is said to him, with reference to his assault and capture of Babylon, “I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: and I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.” Here, anyhow, the ram that symbolizes the kings of Media and Persia (and Cyrus the Persian was the higher horn) does according to his will: no higher authority seems to be recognized. The first king we read of in the Word of God is Nimrod, and the beginning of his kingdom was Babel; and it seems as though his ambition was universal dominion, for the object in view in the building of the tower of Babel was to have a centre of government, control and supervision. The tower was never completed, nor shall universal dominion ever be achieved by any man, until He comes to whom the whole creation of right belongs. To Him, and to Him alone, shall every creature in heaven and on earth be made subject. The thoughts of kings from the beginning have always run in this channel of world empire; but so far every attempt to reach this coveted position has resulted in disaster to the aspirant. The greatness, the influence, the honour, the dignity, and the glory of the various kingdoms of the earth have been that which rulers have ever sought to safeguard and advance, and hence come the wars and fightings, the bloody battlefields and broken hearts. And sometimes when success seems to have crowned the efforts made to secure the sceptre of the world, and the hand has been stretched out to grasp the prize, it has been dashed aside by some unforeseen event, and he who grasped at too much has lost everything. Nimrod could not battle against the confusion of tongues, nor keep Asshur from going out and building Nineveh (Gen 10:9-11). And the devil is very well aware of what men are after, and he has not a little to do with the disposal of the thrones of this world. The prospect of an easy method by which our Lord might possess the kingdoms of the world was the bait he used in attempting to decoy Him from the path of obedience, which He had taken for the glory of the Father. He showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, “and says unto Him, All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me” (Mat 4:8-9).
It might be thought that the devil was in this instance over-estimating his powers, but our Lord does not dispute the pretension he makes. He may have a hand in the setting up of by far the greater number of those that have reigned, but I question that he had any hand at all in placing either David or Solomon on the throne of Israel. Nor can he place any monarch upon a throne without the permission of God. And God has His own wise purpose in view even when he allows Satan to have his way in putting a sceptre into the hand of a man. In whatever way we see a man rise up to occupy a throne upon earth, it is our privilege, and bounden duty, to recognize that ruler as established by God in the place of supremacy, irrespective of the means he may have used to arrive at that exalted position. He will have to give account to God for the way in which he exercises the authority that has been placed in his hands, but our position is to recognize him as God’s minister, set there for our good, and as one that does not bear the sword in vain. The conquest of Babylon by the Medo-Persian is passed over here, for we have it in Dan 5:1-31. The Persian empire is successfully assailed and overthrown by the king of Greece, the he-goat that came from the west, and which is characterized by a notable horn between his eyes, and by rapidity of movement, also by the fury with which he attacked and destroyed the power of the ram, casting him down to the ground and trampling upon him. An old grudge against the rain was what evidently led to this terrible exhibition off hostility. Not with the history of the numerous wars in which the ram or the he-goat had engaged does the Spirit of God occupy us. The only things regarding the ram thought worthy of record are his ambition, his might, and the fact that his activities were the result of his own will. And as to the he-goat, he is said not to touch the ground in his going. As this feature indicates, he leapt from victory to victory, and became exceeding great. But just when he had reached the zenith of his power, the great horn becomes broken, and in its stead came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven. But in the interpretation of the vision we are told these were not in his power.
Out of one of these four horns there arises a little horn, which became great, and which the Spirit of God at once shows us is engaged with the people of God, and with the land of that people. And here where we might least expect it, the people are designated “The host of heaven.” They may have fallen into a weak, humble, and down-trodden condition, but we must take His estimation of them, nor judge of them as they appear before the eyes of men. The moment they crossed the Jordan, the angel with the drawn sword in his hand spoke of them as the Lord’s host, of which he was captain (Josh. 5:24). They have ever the supreme place in the mind of God, as far as the earth is concerned. It was the purpose of God that they should occupy the supreme place in the government of the world, and they shall yet have it. It was this fact that sustained the faith of David, when Goliath struck terror into the hearts of the people, when gathered together to war with the Philistines. He is utterly astounded at the fool-hardiness of a man who, whatever he might seem to be in the eyes of men, was in the estimation of faith but a poor worm of the dust, who had defied “the armies of the living God” (1Sa 17:36). The people might be trembling in their armour, but they were the Lord’s host, and that was enough for David.
We get the same power of faith in Joshua and Caleb, who saw the sons of Anak as grasshoppers, because they viewed them in relation to God, whereas the rest of the spies, who went up with them to search the land, saw themselves as grasshoppers in the sight of the sons of Anak (Num 23:1-30). In all cases it requires faith in God, if we are to lay hold of the high position to which His grace has called us. The privileges of His people are always great, for with lavish hand He gives His blessings, but it has ever been very little that they have been able to lay hold of and enjoy their privileges. Israel were told that one of them would chase a thousand (Jos 23:10), through faith in the living God, who fought their battles. But through their departure from God they were to find themselves to be very much weaker than their enemies, for one of their enemies would chase a thousand of them, and two would put ten thousand to flight (Deu 32:30).
Still are they His chosen people, and when His own time comes He will turn them to Himself; and they shall be manifestly His host, when the day arrives in which they shall have to deal with His and their enemies. Then “the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep; who, if he go through, both treads down, and tears in pieces, and none can deliver” (Mic 5:8). But this time has not yet come; for however great the sorrows of this people have been, and are, the waters they shall have to pass through shall be still deeper than anything which they have hitherto met. This little horn casts down some of the host, and also of the stars to the ground. The rulers of the nation become obnoxious to this man’s pride of heart, who like every other autocrat is unable to bear the slightest resistance to his will from any over whom he is victorious. Nor does he stop with this exhibition of his despotic tyranny. He sets himself against the prince of the host, and takes away from him the continual sacrifice, and casts down the place of his sanctuary. By reason of transgression a time of trial is appointed to the continual sacrifice. The truth also is cast down to the ground, for nothing seems to withstand this little horn. Were the people of God in a state pleasing to the Lord this would not happen to them, but the time referred to here has the last days in view, though that which happened to them by the cruelties inflicted by Antiochus Epiphanes may serve as a foreshadowing of the things that will come upon them with greater severity under the Antichrist. For their rejection and crucifying of their Messiah they shall be made to pass through unparalleled sufferings, though they seem as though they already had suffered more than falls to the common lot of men.
I have no doubt that Daniel was very confident there was much underlying this vision, much that did not appear on the surface, about which God would have him greatly enlightened. Hence his desire to know its meaning. And this is conveyed to him by the angel Gabriel. In the interpretation we learn that the doings of the little horn in the vision are but a faint foreshadowing of that which shall take place through the conduct of a power that shall be established in the east, as the Roman power shall be in the west, and by means of another power, not his own, he shall prosper and destroy. An offspring of the great destroyer, the devil, his object shall be to destroy every vestige of the name of God upon the earth, but he shall be broken without hand. Christ will deal with him at His appearing. No human hand shall deal with him. The sword that shall lay him low shall proceed out of the mouth of the Lord. What a life of rebellion against God! and what a solemn ending to the life of a responsible creature! May our ways upon earth not be directed and energized by our own wills, but by the holy will of God. This only is the safe and happy way for the creature.