07. THE PROPHECY OF BALAAM
THE sons of Abraham are the destined "Kings of the Earth upon the earth." They may, therefore, with reason have supposed that, from the day of their settlement in Canaan, supreme power would be at once and for ever withdrawn from all other nations. And doubtless this would have been the case, had their own hearts been wholly surrendered to their God. But they were stiff-necked and rebellious; and, consequently, while they were yet in the wilderness, Moses was instructed to foretell the woes and captivities which would befall them in later days.
And again, towards the close of their wanderings, God plainly declared, by the mouth of Balaam, that their enemies would have power to trouble them, and drive them from their land; that a time of Gentile sovereignty must intervene before the fulfilment of the promises to Abraham; but that his seed should at length be delivered by the advent of a mighty and all-victorious King. This utterance is so grand and impressive—bringing into sight, as it does, the dim and threatening form of Gentile power, though it was separated from the prophet's standpoint by the vast stretch of eight centuries—that we subjoin an amended translation of the greater part of it. After declaring that his words had reference to "the end of the days,"¹ or the time when God's purposes in regard to Israel would begin to find their fulfilment, Balaam proceeds as follows;—
"I see Him—but not now;
I behold Him—but not nigh.
A Star goes forth from Jacob,
And a Sceptre arises out of Israel,
And smites the corners of Moab,
And destroys all the children of tumult.
And Edom becomes a possession,
And Seir becomes a possession, His enemies;
And Israel acquires strength.
And a Ruler arises from Jacob,
And destroys what is left out of cities.²
And he saw Amalek, and took up his parable, and said;—
Beginning of the nations was Amalek:
But his end is destruction.
And he saw the Kenite, and took up his parable, and said;—
Durable is thy dwelling,
And upon the rock is thy nest laid.
For should Kain³ be destroyed,
Until Asshur⁴ shall carry thee away captive?
בְּאֶתְרִית הַיָּמִים. An important prophetic phrase. See Gen. Elix. 1; Isa. ii. 2; Dan. x. 14; Mic. iv. 1. "This expression denotes, not only here but in every other place of its occurrence, the time when the promises and hopes of salvation given to any age should all be fulfilled. As Havernick has aptly observed, it always points to the horizon of a prophetic announcement. For any particular age 'the end of the days' commences when such anticipations of salvation as are not yet fulfilled, but occupy the forefront of hope, patient waiting, and longing desire, first begin to pass by fulfilment into the sphere of reality."—KURTZ.
"וְעָשִׂיר is employed in a collective and general sense, as in Psa. lxxii. 16. Out of every city in which there is a remnant of Edom, it shall be destroyed."—KEIL.
² Kain, the name of the tribe-father, is used poetically for the tribe which he founded.
³ Asshur was originally the name of Assyria; but it was afterwards applied to the great Asiatic Empire in its later stages under
THE PROPHECY OF BALAAM.
And he took up his parable, and said;—
Woe! who shall live when God does this?
And ships come from the side of Cyprus,
And press Asshur, and press Eber;
And he also goes to destruction."
Thus the prophecy opens with a grand vision of the second appearing of Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords.² Until this great event the enemies of Israel should remain; but then they should be either exterminated or reduced to submission.
Amalek, however, which had been the first to attack the chosen people—for such is the evident meaning of the expression, “first of the nations”—should be destroyed long before.³
Babylon and Persia. In 2 Kings xxiii. 29, Nabopolassar is called “the king of Asshur”: in the apocryphal Book of Judith a similar title is given to Nebuchadnezzar, and his general Holofemes is described as “the chief captain of the army of Asshur.” Again, in Ezra vi. 22, Darius Hystaspes is styled “the king of Asshur.”
Obviously the ultimate reference is to the last head of Western power, that is, to Antichrist.
It is impossible to apply the opening paragraph to the first advent, as many have endeavoured to do. None of the details are concerned with the humiliation or sufferings of Christ, but only with the glory which is yet to follow. The power of Moab was not shattered at the first advent; and in place of Edom becoming a possession of Israel, it was just at that crisis that the Edomite family of the Herods became rulers in Judea. Nor did they disappear until the Jewish state was destroyed by the Romans: indeed Herod Agrippa II. fought on the victorious side in the final struggle. It is unnecessary to add that Israel acquired no strength in that time of trouble, nor did any Ruler arise out of Jacob to save the miserable people from destruction, and from the exile which is not yet ended.
For an account of the unprovoked assault of the Amalekites, see Exod. xvii. 8-16. God manifested His hot displeasure by at once declaring, “I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” The cause of the severity is thus explained by Ebn Ezra;—“He had provoked the wrath of the Lord; for whilst the princes of Edom, the Moabites, and the Philistines, were overwhelmed with fear on account of the signs which the
On the other hand, the friendly Kenite should endure until Israel itself should be carried away captive by Asshur, an Eastern foe.
Nor would this captivity be the last of the troubles; for mightier nations would come from the other side of Cyprus, that is, from the West, and oppress both Asshur and Eber, or the Asiatics on both sides of the Euphrates. Yet these also should be destroyed when the Sceptre of Israel should smite the corners of Moab.
Thus, although at this early date—about B.C. 1452—not one of the destined world-powers was as yet in existence, so that it could be distinctly named, Balaam, nevertheless, foretold that the sovereignty would be delivered, first into the hands of Eastern, and then into those of Western Gentiles. And many centuries later it was further revealed, through Daniel and Zechariah, that this temporary dominion would
Lord had done in Egypt and at the Red Sea, this Amalek came, notwithstanding, to combat against Israel, and had no fear of God."
A direct command was afterwards given to the Israelites to execute the sentence of Jehovah as soon as they had established themselves in the land of Canaan (Deut. xxv. 19), and in the reign of Saul it was obeyed (1 Sam. xv.), but only in part. The Amalekites who were spared became troublesome to David, and were repeatedly chastised by him (1 Sam. xxvii. 8; xxx; 2 Sam. viii. 12). In the reign of Hezekiah, five hundred Simeonites went to Mount Seir, and smote a remnant of Amalekites who were dwelling there (1 Chron. iv. 42, 43).
In the book of Esther, Haman is called "the Agagite": the Jews affirm that he was a descendant of Agag, and in that way account for his hatred of their nation. If this statement be true, there is something very instructive in the rise of this scion of the accursed race after so many centuries, and in the fact that he all but effected the destruction of the people who had disobediently suffered his ancestors to live. And it may be that in the death of Haman and his family the doom of Amalek was accomplished.
THE PROPHECY OF BALAAM.
be sustained by four successive empires, of which the first and second were Asiatic, the third and fourth European. Such is the most ancient prediction of the times of the Gentiles, containing, as is usual with the earlier prophecies, the germ of all that should follow, and delivered, most appropriately, before a Gentile king by a prophet who was himself without the pale of the chosen people.
Before we proceed, a modern theory, which confuses the house of Israel with some of the nations of the Fourth Empire,¹ will oblige us to say a few words concerning that portion of it which revolted from Rehoboam.
¹ The Anglo-Ephraim theory would render the great prophecies of Daniel unintelligible. These are times of Gentile domination, and, as the Lord tells us, they will continue until their close is announced by signs in the sun, moon, and stars. Since, therefore, such signs have not as yet appeared, none of the Ten Tribes could at present be holding so commanding a position in the world as that of England; nor indeed—if our exposition on pp. 58 and 59 be correct—could they even be living on this side of the Euphrates. The mistake of Anglo-Ephraimites, like that of Post-millenarians, is that they adduce Millennial prophecies, and apply them to this age. Many of their assertions will not bear the test of Scripture: for instance, the idea that royalty must always remain with Israel is a direct contradiction of Hosea's words;—"For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim" (iii. 4). But, worst of all, they confuse the heavenly calling with the earthly, and in place of that tribulation which the Lord warned us to expect in the world until He calls us out of it, point us to earthly glory. They are not content to say with Paul, "For our citizenship is in heaven, whence also we look for the Lord Jesus"; but tell us that we have a nation and a land here, and are not, therefore, strangers and pilgrims upon earth. Yet the New Testament never offers Israelitish promises to Christians, but, on the contrary, informs Jews by birth that, if they would be followers of Christ, they must give up their Jewish privileges, for that in Him there is neither Jew nor Greek.
II.
THE KINGDOM OF THE TEN TRIBES.
THE sad story of the Israelites is well known. From the earliest days of their settlement in Canaan they altogether failed in fulfilling God's purpose that they should be a separate and holy people, and after a while the nation was divided into two kingdoms. That of the Ten Tribes quickly began to worship "other gods and molten images," so that the Lord pronounced sentence upon them before the death of their first king. It was uttered by the mouth of the prophet Ahijah in these terrible words;—"For the Lord shall smite Israel as a reed is shaken in the water, and He shall root up Israel out of this good land which He gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river"—that is, the Euphrates—"because they have made their groves, provoking the Lord to anger."¹ This was the decree; but the mercy of God delayed its execution for more than two hundred years, at the end of which time Shalmaneser transported the captive Israelites to localities in Assyria and Media, on the other side of the Euphrates.
There is great significance in the place of exile. When God called Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees, He bade him leave the idolatrous country of his kindred, and cross the Euphrates into a land which He would show him. Abraham did so, and was forthwith termed a Hebrew—that is, "one who has crossed over"—by which name his descendants were from that time known to foreigners.
¹ 1 Kings xiv. 15.
THE KINGDOM OF THE TEN TRIBES.
But because the Ten Tribes rent themselves from the house of David, and lapsed into Demonism and Idolatry; therefore God would allow them to be Hebrews no longer, but sent them back again to the place from whence He had taken them. And there, beyond the river, they have remained, and apparently must still remain—whether in Afghanistan, China, or elsewhere—until the times of the Gentiles are ended. Then, at the bidding of the Lord, they will return towards their own land, and as they approach the barrier-river, He will dry it up before them, as He did the Jordan, and reveal His chosen people as “the Kings from the East.”¹ Thenceforth both they and
¹ Rev. xvi. 12. Since they will have to cross the Euphrates, they must necessarily come from the East—ἀπὸ ἀνατολῆς ἡλίου; and after they have effected a junction with their brethren, the Jews, from the West, “the Kingdom and Dominion, and the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole heaven,” will be given to them. The drying up of the Euphrates to make a way for the return of Ephraim is twice mentioned in the Old Testament, and is coupled in both places with a similar miracle in regard to the Egyptian Sea, by which a passage is opened for other Israelites, probably Jews, who come through Egypt. In Isaiah xi. 15, 16, we read:—“And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian Sea; and with His mighty wind shall He shake His hand over the river, and He shall smite into the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod. And there shall be a highway for the remnant of His people which shall be left from Assyria, like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.” Now the river in this passage must be the Euphrates, because the way made through it will be a highway from Assyria to Palestine; and the drying up must be literal, because we are told that it shall be like the drying up of the Red Sea and the Jordan when Israel went out of Egypt in the days of old. The remnant from Assyria are, of course, the Ten Tribes, who were led into captivity by the Assyrians; and if the reader will glance at the fourteenth verse, he will find a sufficient explanation of the Apocalyptic title, “Kings from the East.” For all the nations must yield to their sway: “they will fly upon the shoulder of the Philistines towards the West; together they will spoil the sons of the East: they will seize upon Edom and Moab; and the their brethren will dwell within the river, and their boundaries will extend, according to the promise given to Abraham, "from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates."¹
III.
IN the manner just related the Ten Tribes disappeared from the prophetic scene, and will enter it no more until the glorious times of the Lord's return. But the case of those which remained faithful to the house of David is very different. For a hundred and fifty years after the desolation of Israel, God still continued to plead with Judah. But neither warnings, chastisements, nor deliverances, availed to produce anything more than a temporary repentance; so that at length the patience of God began to be exhausted.
In the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar appeared for the first time in the streets of Jerusalem, the city which he was destined so soon to destroy. It was a critical period of the world's history: for the recent battle of Carchemish had laid Egypt low and exalted Babylon to be mistress of the nations. Pharaoh-Necho had come up as the Nile-flood, his waters had rolled along like its streams: he had said, "I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy children of Ammon will obey them." A similar prediction may be found in Zechariah x. 6-11, where the drying up of the sea of Egypt and the river of Assyria is again mentioned. And the sixth and seventh verses seem to indicate that Judah is concerned with the Egyptian Sea, and Ephraim with the river Euphrates.
¹ Gen. xv. 18.
the city and the inhabitants thereof.¹ But the boasting was vain: the crown of the world had been given to Babylon, and soon the cry went forth, "Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is lost: he has suffered the appointed time to pass by."²
Immediately after the victory Nebuchadnezzar pushed on to Jerusalem to chastise the Jews for their rebellious alliance with Egypt. Their resistance was speedily overpowered: the city was taken, and king Jehoiakim loaded with fetters to be carried as a prisoner to Babylon. But just at this time some unknown cause so changed the feelings of Nebuchadnezzar towards his captive that he released him, and set him again upon the throne to rule, as a tributary, over his shattered and miserable kingdom.
The proud conqueror would not, however, return from Jerusalem empty-handed. He plundered the Temple of a portion of its vessels, and also gave directions to Ashpenaz, the prince of his eunuchs, to select, from those of royal or noble birth, the most comely and intellectual of the Hebrew youths, and to convey them to Babylon, that they might there be instructed in the language and wisdom of the Chaldeans. And so the young captives, among whom were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, were brought to the great metropolis of the world, and placed under a course of training which was to fit them for the king's service.
Shortly after their appointed time of instruction had come to its end, Nebuchadnezzar had a strange dream. He had been victorious over all his enemies; his power was now unrivalled; there was none to dispute it. Nor was there any city which could be compared for
¹ Jer. xlvi. 8.
² Jer. xlvi. 17.
glory and strength to "great Babylon." One day, however, the king became thoughtful, and, remembering how quickly the glories of other monarchs had passed away, wondered what would be the end of his own magnificence, and who would arise after him. While he was thus striving to peer into the dark future, he fell into a slumber; but was even then unable to dismiss the troubled thoughts, which seemed to move like black and agitated clouds before his eyes. Presently a faint light began to steal upon the gloomy vision, and gradually to assume a dim and glimmering form of colossal proportions. Imperceptibly it became more lustrous and more clearly defined, until at length the clouds had passed away, and lo! the king was gazing upon a majestic statue, whose brightness was excellent, and the form thereof terrible.
It was an image of metal, but not of one metal only; for at the first glance Nebuchadnezzar perceived that it was shedding four diverse gleams. The head was of fine gold; the breast and the arms were of silver; the belly and the thigh-part of brass; the legs of iron, and the feet part of iron and part of clay.
With awe the king beheld the dreadful apparition: and then, casting his eyes upward, he saw, towering far above the lofty statue, a rock whose top reached to the clouds. While he continued to watch, a stone was detached without hands from its summit, and hurled down with mighty force upon the image. With a crash it struck the feet, and in a moment clay, iron, brass, silver, and gold, were broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floor, so that the wind carried them away.
Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; so quickly had the form of majesty disappeared, and yielded its place to the destroying stone. As he still looked on, he saw the stone beginning to grow larger, to spread forth its sides and raise higher its top, until at length it had become a vast mountain and filled the whole earth.¹
Then the king awoke in trouble and perplexity. He had indeed seen a marvellous and never-to-be-forgotten vision; but who should unfold to him its dark enigma? He instinctively recoiled from the thought of consulting his soothsayers and sorcerers. Hitherto they had satisfied him; but during that night the messengers of the living God had been with him, and he could no longer regard the magicians of Babylon with confidence.
There were, however, none others to whom he could go; and so at last he summoned his wise men, determining at the same time to put them to a severe test. Accordingly, he bade them first relate to him the dream as a guarantee of their power, and then declare the interpretation. If they complied with his request, they should receive splendid gifts: but if they did not, the ministers of death should punish their deception. In vain the miserable Chaldeans pleaded that, if he would only show them the dream, they would tell him the interpretation. Nebuchadnezzar was inexorable, and curtly replied, "The word has gone from me"; that is, I have made the decree, and will not relent.²
¹ It is very important to notice that the stone does not begin to increase until *after the total disappearance of the image*. This fact emphasises the absurdity of attempting to interpret the descent of the stone as a prediction of the first advent.
² Such is undoubtedly the sense of the original. The ninth verse proves that Nebuchadnezzar could not have forgotten his dream. Moreover, if he had really done so, it is too probable that the Chaldeans would have attempted some deceit.
And so the slaughter of the wise men of Babylon had actually commenced, when Daniel went to Arioch, the captain of the guard, and boldly told him that, if a little time were granted, he would do what the king required. The offer having been accepted, Daniel returned to his home, where, in answer to the earnest prayer of himself and his companions, the matter was revealed to him in a vision of the night. Then, after uttering a glorious ascription of praise to the God of Israel, he hastened into the royal presence, and having first described the vision with minute accuracy to the awe-struck king, proceeded to unfold its interpretation.
The Most High God had deigned to gratify Nebuchadnezzar's wish, to draw back the curtain of futurity, and to reveal to him the things which were coming to pass. Israel had been rebellious; therefore the sovereignty of the world should now be delivered to the Gentiles, in order that they might, if they could, prove themselves more obedient and worthy to hold it. And the image, whose brightness was excellent and the form thereof terrible, was a representation of Gentile power from the time of Nebuchadnezzar, its first head, till the reign of that Lawless One whom the Lord shall consume when He appears to take the Kingdom.
Daniel, therefore, announced to Nebuchadnezzar that the world-power, previously reserved for Israel, was now given to him; and that he was, consequently, a king of kings over all the children of men. Hitherto each of the kingdoms of earth had been as a wild beast held in by a leash; till Israel was rejected none of them might obtain the supremacy. But now all restraint was removed from the royal lion of Babylon and he was permitted to ravin at his will. Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold. And after him should arise three other kingdoms in succession, the last of which should pass through certain stages of development. Thus the outline of Balaam was to some extent filled in, and it was discovered that the Eastern and Western dominion of which he spoke would include the rise and fall of four empires.
In regard to the names of these powers we have no perplexity; for Scripture reveals them all, becoming in this as in every other case, if we only know how to use it, its own interpreter.
The first kingdom, Babylon, is indicated by Daniel while interpreting the vision to the Chaldean monarch—
"Thou art this head of gold."¹
The second he points out, in his account of Belshazzar's feast, by the emphatic words, "In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain, and Darius the Median took the kingdom."²
The third empire may be discovered in the eighth chapter. For after the ram has been overcome by the he-goat, Gabriel explains that the vision represents the Medo-Persian kingdom and its destroyer, the Grecian.³ The same succession appears also in the tenth chapter, in the words, "Now will I return to fight with the Prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo! the Prince of Grecia shall come."⁴
To find the fourth power, we must turn to the ninth chapter. There it was predicted that Messiah should be cut off, and that, afterwards, Jerusalem and the Temple should be destroyed by the people of a great
¹ Dan. ii. 38.
² Dan. viii. 20, 21.
³ Dan. v. 30, 31.
⁴ Dan. x. 20.
Prince destined to meet his end in the last indignation, that is, by the people of the fourth World-power.¹ And we know that the destroyers of Jerusalem, about forty years after our Lord's death, were the Romans. Also in the Gospel of Luke we read of a decree of the Roman Emperor that all the world should be taxed.² Augustus is thus recognised in the Word of God as the head of the fourth World-power, since the dominion of Greece had then passed away.
The four great empires are, therefore, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. And if we turn to secular history, this succession is most plainly corroborated.
There is doubtless a significant appropriateness in the parts of the human body apportioned to each kingdom.
The head seems to point to the unity and compactness of the Chaldean empire, as being maintained by one dominating people under the absolute control of one sovereign. And since the head is the natural director and governor of all the members, it may also here stand for the Babylonian autocracy because such a form of government most nearly resembles that of God, and is the only one which can ever be perfect.
The breast and arms, a twofold part, are assigned to the Medo-Persian empire—the right arm and breast signifying the Persians, the stronger of the two nations; the left indicating the Medes.
The belly with the thighs, or rather, with the thigh-part, a combination of two portions of the body associated respectively with sluggishness and vigour, aptly represents the kingdom of Alexander, in which the
¹ Daniel ix. 26. See amended translation in Part II.
² Luke ii. 1.
ever active Greek ruled over the placid Asiatic, but could not imbue him with his own qualities.
The word which in our version is rendered "thighs" has the possessive suffix of a singular noun, and is only made to appear plural by the pointing of the Rabbis.¹ Of the six parts of the image which are mentioned, the one in question and the head, which is indisputably singular, have the same suffix; while the Chaldean expressions for the breast, arms, belly, and legs, are all plural, and are uniformly furnished with the plural suffix. There can thus be little doubt that יָכָה is singular, and means "the thigh-part," that is, the lateral part of the lower belly from which the thighs issue.
Lastly, the legs point to the great division of Rome into the Eastern and Western Empires, and the toes to the final division into ten kingdoms.² At the same time the legs and feet were appropriate members to symbolize that power of which we are told, in the seventh chapter, that it should tread down and break in pieces the whole earth.³
We may remark that although the two great nationalities of the fourth kingdom were united for a while, they did not amalgamate. From the first Rome was made up of two distinct parts,³ the Greeks were never completely merged in the Empire, but retained their
¹ Possibly the Rabbis may have followed the Septuagint, which has *of μυροί*.
² Dan. vii. 23.
³ "The edict by which Caracalla extended to all natives of the Roman world the rights of Roman citizenship, though prompted by no motives of kindness, proved in the end a boon. Annihilating legal distinctions, it completed the work which trade and literature and toleration to all beliefs but one were already performing, and left, so far as we can tell, only two nations still individuality, until at length the artificial bond of union was severed.
By the different metals of the image a gradual deterioration of government appears to be indicated.
Nebuchadnezzar received his power directly from God; and the prophet, after declaring how absolute it was, exclaimed, "Thou art this head of gold." On another occasion also, Daniel said of the same king;— "All people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down."¹
The second kingdom is said to be inferior to the first, and its metal is silver. For the Medo-Persian empire was not an autocracy, but a monarchy dependent upon the support of an hereditary aristocracy. The king could by no means do what he willed; and this we may see in the case of Darius, who earnestly desired to save Daniel from the lions' den, but was unable to resist the pressure of the presidents and princes. Similarly Ahasuerus could not rescind his order for the slaughter of the Jews, but could only issue a counter-decree permitting them to stand for their lives and slay those who would assault them.
The metal of the third empire is brass; and the government of Alexander was a monarchy supported by a military aristocracy of a far coarser grain than the hereditary nobles of Persia.
cherishing a national feeling. The Jew was kept apart by his religion, the Greek boasted his original intellectual superiority." Bryce's "Holy Roman Empire."
Of course the image which Nebuchadnezzar saw did not include the Jews: it was a portrayal of Gentile power exclusively.
¹ Dan. v. 19.
The iron power of the Caesars showed a still further depreciation. For they were nominally elected by the people; they were merely called First Magistrates of the State, or Generals; and for a long time they wore no diadem, but only the laurel crown of a successful commander. They had also a Senate which was supposed to counsel and control them. Yet, underneath this vail of popular authority, they usually wielded an absolute power. The people were neither allowed to legislate for them, nor to interfere with them. If a senator attempted to be independent, he was quickly put out of the way, and had cause to congratulate himself should the penalty be nothing worse than banishment to a desert island.
Thus the Empire remained metallic: it was coherent and strong as iron. But, as time went on, those northern hordes, which had long been the foes of Rome, began to assert their superiority, and gradually drew nearer and nearer to the imperial city. Many a time they retired, as if in fear lest some supernatural power should burst upon and destroy them if they essayed to offer violence to Rome; but at length the spell was broken, and the world began to look upon the great city as the Philistines did upon Samson when, shorn of his locks, he had become weak as other men.
The citizens must have felt this bitterly at the second approach of Alaric, king of the Visigoths. For the embassy, which they sent to terrify the barbarian by threatening to oppose to him a numerous and well-disciplined army, could only evoke the insolent rejoinder, "The thicker the hay, the easier it is mowed." Finding him indifferent to their menaces, the ambassadors changed their tone, and requested to know upon what terms he would consent to withdraw. His conditions were so grasping that they exclaimed in despair ;—“ If such, O king, are your demands, what do you intend to leave us ? ” “ Your lives,” was the brief reply. Alaric was, however, bribed to retire for a while ; but he soon returned, and the fatal day arrived on which Rome herself experienced those horrors which she had for centuries inflicted upon other cities. A long period of more or less anarchy succeeded, and the modern kingdoms of Europe were gradually evolved, but under the presidency of an ecclesiastical hierarchy which for some centuries occupied the place of the emperor.
It was by the irruption of these northern barbarians, and the spirit which they brought with them, that the clay began to be mingled with the iron in what we call constitutionalism, the nature of which is to be ever inclining more and more to pure democracy. But it is impossible that governments so modelled should long cohere. Men cannot be ruled, and at the same time be themselves the rulers. Such an arrangement may indeed be, in certain circumstances, the best palliative during the present age ; just as poisons are often medicinally useful to diseased bodies. But it can be nothing more than a palliative : there will be no settled rest for the fevered inhabitants of earth until they be placed under the sway of an Autocrat of never-failing wisdom, absolute righteousness, and perfect love.
And this is the solution of mundane difficulties which God proposes.
This is the hope which rose in glorious vision before the eyes of David at the close of his chequered life, and called forth the last words of the sweet Psalmist of Israel—
" A Ruler over men, just ;
A Ruler in the fear of God !
And He is as the light of the morning when the sun riseth,
As a morning without clouds !
From the sunshine after rain verdure springeth out of the earth ! "
The Ten Kingdoms are not yet clearly manifested, but are doubtless, amid the many changes of these restless times, now in process of formation. The portion of the prophecy which has been already fulfilled assures us that in this case also the figure will be strictly carried out ; so that, just as five of the toes of the image were on the right foot and five on the left, in like manner five of the kingdoms will spring from the Western, and five from the Eastern division of the old Roman Empire. Of the latter, four, as we shall presently show, will be the resuscitated kingdoms of Alexander's generals, covering the area at present occupied by Greece, by the Turkish empire in Europe, Asia, and Africa, and by the independent states between it and Russia. The fifth may be Persia, which, it would seem, must be included in the last great empire ; though, of course, not neces-
2 Sam. xxiii. 3. 4. The translation is literal, and the order of the Hebrew words is carefully preserved. But only one acquainted with the East can rightly appreciate the beauty of the metaphor in the last sentence—one who has seen the marvellous change which passes over the face of the earth, burnt and whitened by a long drought, when at last a copious rain is succeeded by the clear shining of the morning sun, and the tiny green blades begin to appear in their countless millions. Such is the figure set before us of the effect physical and moral which will be produced by the rising of the Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings. Let not men call those pessimists who, however great their distrust of human powers, are looking for such a consummation ; who dare to believe that in a few short years sin may be suddenly suppressed, the miseries of life turned into gladness, and the whole creation made to rejoice, by the coming of the King.
Persia has never yet submitted to Roman sway, but even after sarily as one of the Ten Kingdoms, but probably as a mere dependency.¹
For since the image is standing complete in all its parts when the stone strikes it, and since all the parts are destroyed at the same moment, it seems to follow that the Ten Kingdoms will either comprise or dominate all that has ever pertained to the Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, or old Roman empires.
And, moreover, since the Fourth Empire in its final phase will include the feet and toes of the image which have never yet belonged either to its own dominion or to any of the other empires, it is manifest that it will exceed, not merely its own ancient limits, but also those of the three previous kingdoms. For at the addition of each of the other limbs there has always been an increase of territory to the prophetic earth; nor is there any reason to suppose that a rule which has invariably held good will fail in the single remaining case to which it can apply in the future.
It would seem, then, that those who take pains to trace out the bounds of the ancient Roman Empire, under the impression that it will, in its revival, be confined within the same exact limits, are mistaken. And something yet stronger might be said of the interpreters who persist in affirming that England must be separated from Ireland, and lose India and other dependencies, these paration of East and West remained the determined foe of the Byzantine empire, until the Saracen made his fell swoop upon both of the exhausted combatants.
¹ Although there can be but ten sovereign kingdoms, yet it must be remembered that no limit is set to their dependencies, which may include the whole of the known world. Indeed, something like this seems to be implied in the Apocalyptic account of Antichrist: for it is said that "there was given to him authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation" (Rev. xiii. 7).
because these countries were not formerly under the sway of Rome. For their mistake becomes a practical mischief, helping, in its degree, to bring about the calamity which they predict. If the imperial spirit of England declines, and she becomes weak and mean in her counsels, she may very probably lose both Ireland and India, and with them all the prosperity which her vast empire has sustained for her—nay, the very security of her existence. And were so dire an event to befall her, we could not but recognize it as a just judgment of God upon a nation which, though most highly favoured by Him, has continually abused its privileges. But it would be no fulfilment of prophecy, though its causes might afford a striking illustration of the proverb—"Whom God will destroy, He first deprives of sense."
To the delay in the development of the Ten Kingdoms we may find many parallels if we study the past translations of God's purposes into history. This vision, like some others, may seem to tarry, yet it is for an appointed time; at the end it shall speak, and not lie. But that the Roman Empire would disappear for a while as a secular power, and afterwards recover its sovereignty in the last days, is plainly intimated in the seventeenth chapter of the Apocalypse. There the Beast, which represents it, is seen discrowned, and ridden by a Woman under whose sway it has fallen. This Woman, as we hope presently to show, is the ecclesiastical power which lifted itself up to the throne of the Empire, and has for centuries hindered the rise of the Ten Kingdoms. But they must shortly appear, and then their kings will hate the whore, and make her desolate and naked, and eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.¹
¹ Rev. xvii, 16.
This they will do because God will put it in their hearts to fulfil His will by destroying the false Church, and reviving the fallen Empire under the presidency of the last and greatest of the Caesars. And when all these things have been accomplished, the time for the descent of the stone will be at hand.
But here a remarkable instance of God's justice presents itself: for destruction will not come upon the world-empire until the masses of the people are themselves responsible for their condition. Gentile dominion passes gradually from the head to the feet, from the organ which ought to direct to the members which are only formed to carry the body whither the head guides it. While it remains with the autocrat, there is some excuse for those who are under his rule; and the same remark applies, though in a less degree, to every form of government short of the absolute sovereignty of the people. Therefore the stone has not yet fallen upon the image. But as soon as the power is really vested in the people, then the multitudes of mankind will themselves become responsible to their Creator for the ungodliness and rebellion of the world. And so judgment will be no longer deferred, and the stone will descend to strike the image upon the feet,¹ that is, to destroy the body politic out of which the ten democratic kings arise, and of which they form a part.
This awful event will take place, with the swiftness of lightning,² when the Lord Jesus is revealed in flaming
¹ Dan. ii. 34.
It is strange that the rapid descent of the stone, and the instantaneous pulverization of the image, could ever have been interpreted of a gradual conversion of the world from the time of the first advent. For—to pass by the hopeless incongruity of the metaphor—if such were the meaning to be conveyed, how could fire, as is described in the nineteenth chapter of the Apocalypse. The World-power of Christendom will be destroyed in a moment. And when the Messiah shall, like David, have gained the victory over all His enemies, He will become the great Antitype of Solomon; and His Kingdom of peace, beginning from Jerusalem, will spread over the whole earth.¹
Such, then, was the dream and its interpretation. The vision was granted to Nebuchadnezzar; but he could not understand it until Daniel came forward as the interpreter. For although earthly power had now been transferred to the Gentile, the mind of God still remained with the Jew. He had not yet poured out His Spirit upon all flesh, nor did He do so until Israel had rejected the Messiah.
IV.