Daniel 7

— in this horn were eyes &c.] See below on ver. 20.

— and they brought him near before him.] To signify that Christ received his kingdom from his Father: see Matt. xi. 27; xxviii. 18; John iii. 35; 1 Cor. xv. 27; Eph. i. 21; Phil. ii. 9, 10; Rev. v. 7. Compare Jer. xxx. 21. W. Lowth. To take at his hands investiture of his new dignity, this exercise of his universal and everlasting kingdom. Bp. Chandler.

—even of that horn that had eyes.] Of the little horn, which represents the papal power, it was before said, “in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man,” ver. 8: namely, to denote his cunning and foresight, his looking out and watching all opportunities to promote his own interest. And the policy of the Roman hierarchy hath almost passed into a proverb. Bp. Newton.

—and a mouth that spake very great things.] Such had the Pope, especially in former ages, boasting of his supremacy, thundering out his bulls and anathemas, excommunicating princes, and absolving subjects from their allegiance. Bp. Newton.

—whose look was more stout than his fellows.] The Pope has assumed an unlimited superiority, not only over his fellow bishops, but even over crowned heads. Bp. Newton.

—and shall wear out the saints of the most High.] See above, note on ver. 21.

—and think to change times and laws.] Appointing fasts and feasts, canonizing saints, granting pardons and indulgences for sins, instituting new modes of worship, imposing new articles of faith, enjoining new rules of practice, and reversing at pleasure the laws both of God and men. Bp. Newton.

—and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.] “They,” that is, either the saints shall be subject to his power, or his influence shall prevail over the times, or solemnities, and laws. Possibly both might be meant to be included in the usurpation. Wintle.

The period here mentioned must be computed according to the nature and genius of the prophetic language. According to this “time and times and the dividing of time,” or half a time, are three years and a half: and the ancient Jewish year, consisting of twelve months, and each month of thirty days, “a time and times and half a time,” or three years and a half, are reckoned in the Revelation as equivalent to “forty and two months,” or “a thousand two hundred and threescore days,” chap. xi. 2, 3; xii. 6, 14: and a day in the style of the Prophets is a year, Ezek. iv. 6: and it is confessed, that the seventy weeks in the ninth chapter of Daniel are weeks of years; and consequently 1260 days are 1260 years. So long the little horn, or the papal power, will continue: but from what point of time the commencement of these 1260 years is to be dated is not so easy to determine. And, as Irenaeus saith in a like case, it is surer and safer to wait for the completion of the prophecy, than to conjecture and divine about it. When the end shall come, then shall we know better whence to date the beginning. Bp. Newton.

Ver. 2.—Shushan—Elam:—Ulai.] Elam, in its larger sense, probably comprehended the whole country on each side of the river Ulai, or Eulreus, the one part being called Elymais, the other Susiana. Shushan, the metropolis, according to Pliny, was placed on this river, or rather surrounded by it, and seems to have been the capital of both parts. Wintle. See the note on Nchem. i. 1.

The Ulai is the same as the Choaspes, according to Rennell’s Geography of Herodotus. Dr. Hales.

3.—there stood before the river a ram! The second empire in the former vision is the first in this: and what was there compared to a bear is here prefigured by a ram. This “ram having two horns,” according to the explication of the angel Gabriel, was the empire of the Medes and Persians, ver. 20; Cyrus, the founder of this empire, was son of Cambyses, king of Persia, and by his mother Mandane was grandson of Astyages king of Media: and afterwards marrying the daughter of an only child of his uncle Cyaxares king of Media, he succeeded to both crowns, and united the kingdoms of Media and Persia. The propriety of the emblem ap-

Vol. II.

—the two horns were high; &c.] This is said, because the empire of the Medes and Persians was a coalition of two very formidable powers: “but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.” The kingdom of Media was the more ancient of the two, and more famous in history: Persia was of little note or account till the time of Cyrus, but under Cyrus the Persians gained and maintained the ascendant. Bp. Newton.

— and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.] “The rough goat” (see the 21st verse) “is the king of Greeks,” that is, the kingdom; “and the great horn between his eyes is the first king;” not the first monarch, but the first kingdom, that which lasted during the reign of Alexander the Great, and his brother Aridæus, and two young sons, Alexander and Hercules. Sir Isaac Newton.

Daniel 7:3

3.—four great beasts came up from the sea.] These beasts are indeed monstrous productions: but such emblems were usual among the Eastern nations; a winged lion, and such fictitious animals, may still be seen in the ruins of Persepolis, according to Sir John Chardin and other travellers. Bp. Newton.

Daniel 7:4

4. The first was like a lion, &c.] This is the kingdom of the Babylonians: and the king of Babylon is in like manner compared to a lion by Jeremiah, chap. iv. 7; and is said to fly as an eagle, chap. xlviii. 40; and he is also compared to an eagle by Ezekiel, chap. xvii. 3. 12. The lion is esteemed the king of beasts, and the eagle the king of birds; and therefore the kingdom of Babylon, which is described as the first and noblest kingdom, and was the kingdom then in being, is said to partake of the nature of both. “The eagle’s wings” denote its swiftness and rapidity; and the conquests of Babylon were very rapid, that empire being advanced to the height within a few years by a single person, by the conduct and arms of Nebuchadnezzar. It is farther said, “the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth,” that is, it was taken away from the earth, as it is commonly understood, and as it is translated in almost all the ancient versions; or it may be rendered thus, “the wings thereof were plucked wherewith it was lifted up from the earth,” as Grotus explains it, and as we read in the margin of our Bibles. Its wings were beginning to be plucked at the delivery of this prophecy: for at this time the Medes and Persians were encroaching upon it; Bethnazar, the king now reigning, was the last of his race; and in the seventeenth year of his reign Babylon was taken, and the kingdom was transferred to the Medes and Persians. Bp. Newton.

Though the dream of Nebuchadnezzar concerning the image, and this of Daniel’s beasts, agree in their general sense and interpretation, yet there are circumstances added to the latter, as well as some points more plainly illustrated, than they were in the former. Nebuchadnezzar saw his kingdom flourishing; Daniel saw it when its wings were plucked, and its end approaching. Other particulars will be readily observed by the attentive reader in the subsequent parts of the vision. Wintle.

—made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.] The probable sense of this passage is, that, after the Babylonian empire was subverted, the people became more humane and gentle; their minds were humbled with their fortune; and they, who vaunted as if they had been gods, now felt themselves to be but men. They were brought to such a sense as the Psalmist wishes such persons to have, “Put them in fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men.” Bp. Newton.

4. I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward;] Daniel saw “the ram standing,” or established in his strength, after the succession of the Persian power under Cyrus; and then butting “westward, and northward, and southward,” or subduing Lydia, Babylonia, and Egypt, with their dependencies, represented in the former vision by three ribs in the bear’s mouth. Dr. Hales.

—he did according to his will, and became great.] None of the neighbouring kingdoms being able to withstand its power, the Persian empire was increased and enlarged to such a degree, that it extended “from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces,” Esth. i. 1: so that seven provinces were added to the hundred and twenty which it contained in the time of Cyrus, Dan. vi. 1. Bp. Newton.

Daniel 7:5

5. And behold another beast, &c.] This is the kingdom of the Medes and Persians: and for their cruelty and greediness after blood they are compared to a “bear,”

ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.

6. After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.

7. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron

which is a most voracious and cruel animal: the resemblance is alluded to in the following words, “Arise, devour much flesh.” A bear, saith Aristotle, is an all-devouring animal: and so, saith Grotus, the Medo-Persians were great robbers and spoilers according to Jeremiah, chap. li. 48. 56. Bp. Newton.

—it raised up itself on one side.] Or, it may be as in the margin, “it raised up one dominion:” that is, it made up one empire out of the joint powers of Media and Persia. W. Lowth.

—and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it.] These are sometimes understood of the three kingdoms of the Babylonians, Medes, and Persians, reduced into one: but Sir Isaac Newton and Bp. Chandler with greater propriety explain them to signify the kingdoms of Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt, which were conquered by the second beast, but were not properly parts or members of its body. They might be called “ribs,” as the conquest of them much strengthened the Persian empire; and they might be said to be “between the teeth of the bear,” as they were much harassed and oppressed by the Persians. Bp. Newton.

—and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.] This was said, as before intimated, to denote the cruelty of the Medes and Persians. They are also represented as very cruel by Isaiah, chap. xiii. 18. Cambyses, Ochus, and others of their princes, were indeed more like bears than men. Instances of their cruelty abound in almost all historians, who have written of their affairs. Bp. Newton.

5.—behold, an he goat] The interpretation of which is given in ver. 21. “A goat” is very properly made the type of the Grecian or Macedonian empire. The first king of the Macedonians, about 200 years before Daniel, instigated by an oracle, as it is said, made a goat his ensign, and called his capital city Egcer, or the goat’s town. Jos. Mede. It is also remarkable, that Alexander’s son by Roxana was named the son of the goat; and some of his successors are represented on their coins with goat’s horns. Bp. Newton.

—come from the west &c.] He came “from the west;” for Europe lies westward of Asia: he came “on the face of the whole earth,” carrying every thing before him in all the three parts of the world then known:

Daniel 7:6

6.—to another, like a leopard.] This is the kingdom of the Macedonians, or Grecians, who under the command of Alexander the Great overcame the Persians, and reigned next after them. The leopard is remarkable for its swiftness; see Hab. i. 8; and for the impetuosity with which it springs upon his prey: and Alexander and the Macedonians were amazingly swift and rapid in their conquests. This rapidity is further intimated by the “four wings on the back” of the beast. The Babylonian empire was represented with two wings, but this with four; for, as St. Jerome saith, nothing was swifter than the victories of Alexander. The “four heads” of the beast denote the four kingdoms, into which the empire of Alexander was divided at his death by his four captains; Cassander reigning over Macedon and Greece, Lysimachus over Thrace and Bithynia, Ptolemy over Egypt, and Seleucus over Syria. Bp. Newton. And if we reflect on the small beginnings of this power, the difficulties which it surmounted, and the vast strides it made towards universal empire, extending its conquests as far the Ganges in so short a space as twelve years, I Mac. i. 7, we shall not be at a loss to assign a just interpretation to the last clause of this verse, and to conclude that such “dominion was given to it” by God. Wintle.

6. 7. And he came to the ram &c.] In these two verses we have an account of the Grecians overthrowing the Persian empire. The ram had before “pushed westward;” and the Persians, in the reign of Darius Hystaspes and Xerxes, had poured down with great armies into Greece; but now the Grecians in return carried their arms into Asia, and the he goat invaded the ram that had invaded him. Bp. Newton. — standing before the river, &c.] The first and principal engagement in which Alexander overthrew the Persians was at the river Granicus in Phrygia. The succeeding part of this description is a striking representation of his conquering the Persian monarch in repeated battles, subduing his whole kingdom, taking all his forts and strong cities, making the king himself, with his family, principal officers, &c., prisoners, and thus utterly overturning the Persian empire. Bp. Newton. 8. Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, &c.] This verse is interpreted by the angel in ver. 22. Nothing is fixed and stable in human affairs; and the empire of the goat, though exceeding great, was perhaps for that very reason the sooner broken in pieces. It was in its full strength, when Alexander died of a fever at Babylon. He was succeeded in the throne by his natural brother Philip Aridæus, and by his own two sons Alexander Egus and Hercules; but in the space of about fifteen years they were all murdered, and then the first horn or kingdom was entirely broken. The royal family being thus extinct, the governors of provinces, who had usurped the power, assumed the title of kings, and, by the defeat and death of Antigonus in the battle of Ipsus, they were reduced to four, Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus, who parted Alexander’s dominions among them, and divided and settled them into four kingdoms. These four kingdoms are the four notable horns, which came up in the room of the first great horn; and are the same as the four heads of the leopard in the former vision. “Four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power;” they were to be kingdoms of Greeks, not of Alexander’s own family, but only of his nation; and neither were they to be equal to him in power and dominion: an empire involved is certainly more powerful than the same empire divided, and the whole is greater than any of the parts. They were likewise to extend “toward the four winds of heaven;” and in the partition of the empire Cassander held Macedon, and Greece, and the western parts; Lysimachus had Thrace, Bithynia, and the northern regions; Ptolemy possessed Egypt, and the southern countries; and Seleucus obtained Syria, and the eastward provinces. Thus were they divided “toward the four winds of heaven.” Bp. Newton.

Daniel 7:7

7.—behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly.] Daniel was curious to know par-

Daniel’s vision of four beasts. Before CHRIST about 555.

teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.

Daniel 7:9

9. I beheld till the thrones were cast down, &c.] That is, till all the earthly kingdoms were brought to an end: but the word may be rendered “were pitched,” or set down, for the reception of the Deity, and the saints who sat by Him; see Matt. xix. 28, and Rev. iv. 4; and this sense the versions follow. Wintle.

The fourth monarchy being to continue till the consummation of all things, the general judgment is described in this and the following verses, wherein sentence was to pass upon this fourth beast, and an end to be put to his dominion. W. Lowth.

— the Ancient of days. The eternal Judge of the world; see Rev. xvi. 5; He that was from the beginning, 1 John ii. 14: who is elsewhere described “covering himself with light as with a garment,” Ps. civ. 2; and as a clear and unspotted brightness, 1 John i. 5. W. Lowth.

By this term is undoubtedly meant the Deity, the supreme eternal Spirit, whom the Prophet thus describes, to adapt himself to human apprehensions, and to make the following part of his descriptions more intelligible; but no similitude is pointed out, nor ought we from hence to attempt to represent by any figure the invisible God. Image-worship was not allowed the Jews under a less perfect dispensation, and therefore must be very ill-suited to the spirituality of the Christian service. The purity and sanctity of the Divine nature are next shadowed forth by similar allusions. The throne and wheels of fire at the conclusion of this verse may serve to denote his dread majesty, that pierces and penetrates all things, summons all to his judgment, and executes in an instant his sovereign will and final determinations. See Rev. iv. 2, &c. and Ezek. i. 26. Grotius observes, the ancient thrones and curule chairs had wheels. Wintle.

Before CHRIST about 555. His vision of God’s kingdom. The vision interpreted.

the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.

a Rev. 5. 11. 10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: a thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the b books were opened.

b Rev. 26. 12. 11 I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.

9. And out of one of them came forth a little horn, &c.] This “little horn” has been supposed to mean Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria, who was a great enemy and cruel persecutor of the Jews. And at first sight he does indeed in some features very much resemble the “little horn;” but on a nearer view it appears, that in other parts there is no similitude or correspondence between them. Sir Isaac Newton, with that sagacity which was peculiar to him, and with which he penetrated into Scripture as well as into nature, perceived plainly that the “little horn” could not be drawn for Antiochus Epiphanes, but must be designed for some other subject. Bp. Newton. The description of it throughout is exactly applicable in all its parts to the Roman temporal power; and this application is sanctioned also by the prevailing opinion of the generality of commentators. Dr. Holes. The Romans, who were prefigured by a great “beast” in the former vision, are here represented by the “horn” of the goat: for nothing is more usual, than to describe the same person or thing under different images upon different occasions; and besides, in this vision the Roman empire is not designed at large, but only the Roman empire as the horn of the goat. When the Romans first got footing in Greece, then they became a horn of the goat. Out of this horn they came, and at first were “a little horn,” but in process of time overtopped the other horns. From Greece they extended their arms, and overran the other parts of the goat’s dominions: and their actions within the dominions of the goat, and not their affairs in the western empire, are the principal subject of this prophecy. But their actions, which are most largely and particularly specified, are their great persecution and oppression of the people of God; which renders it probable, that the appellation of the “little horn” might be given them for the same reason, that the great persecutor and oppressor of the saints in the western empire is also called the “little horn.” It is the same kind of power, and therefore might be signified by the same name. Bp. Newton. — which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.] This

Daniel 7:10

10. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him:] Lightnings and streams of fire were his harbingers, to give notice of his speedy approach. Compare Ps. l. 3; xxvii. 3. W. Lowth.

— thousand thousands ministered unto him, &c.] His retinue was an innumerable company of angels. See Deut. xxxiii. 2; Ps. lxviii. 17; Heb. xii. 22; Rev. v. 11. W. Lowth. This is a figurative description of the last judgment, probably taken from the Jewish courts of justice. Wintle.

Daniel 7:11

11. I beheld then because of the voice of the great words &c.] The final overthrow, or total abolition of this beast, on account of the blasphemies or presumptions of the eleventh horn, is here described; and the reference is probably to that awful reckoning, when the beast and the false prophet were to be cast alive into a lake of fire, burning with brimstone; and to this the fire, the judgment, and the entire destruction of the beast naturally lead our attention. See Rev. xix. 20. Wintle.

Daniel 7:12

12. As concerning the rest of the beasts, &c.] As to the three first monarchies, though the succeeding monarchy took away the dominion of that which went before, yet it was not done all at once, but by degrees; and the nations, where those monarchies were seated, still had a being, though they changed their masters. Whereas the destruction of the last monarchy implied the putting of an end to that empire and to all other earthly governments: the kingdom of Christ being then immediately to take place. See ver. 13, 14; chap. ii. 34. W. Lowth.

Daniel 7:13

13. — behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven.] One in the shape and likeness of a man; but clothed with such ensigns of majesty, as shewed Him to be an extraordinary Person; (see the note upon Ezek. ii. 1; and compare Rev. i. 13; xiv. 14;) indeed no less than the Messiah, as the description of

which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

Daniel 7:14

14. And there was given him dominion, &c.] All these kingdoms shall in their turns be destroyed, but the kingdom of the Messiah shall stand for ever: compare Luke i. 33. Bp. Newton.

Daniel 7:16

16. I came near unto one of them that stood by.] To one of the angels, who always attended upon the throne of God and Christ, ver. 9, 10. Several angels are represented as being present at Daniel’s visions: see chap. viii. 13, 16; x. 5, 6, 16; xii. 5, 6. W. Lowth.

Daniel 7:19

19. Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, &c.] See the note on ver. 7.

Daniel 7:20

20. And of the ten horns, &c.] See the last note on ver. 7.

— and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell:] See the notes on ver. 8.

The interpretation of Daniel’s vision. Before CHRIST about 555.

even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows.

Daniel 7:21

21.—the same horn made war with the saints, &c.] And below, he “shall wear out the saints of the Most High,” ver. 25: that is, by wars, and massacres, and inquisitions, persecuting and destroying the faithful servants of Jesus and the true worshippers of God, who protest against his innovations, and refuse to comply with the idolatry practised in the Church of Rome. Bp. Newton.

Daniel 7:22

22. Until the Ancient of days came, &c.] Until the final judgment, when the saints shall sit as assessors with God, shall be seated on thrones, and reign as kings and priests with God and Christ, and possess the kingdom for ever, Rev. xx. 4. 6. Wintle.

Daniel 7:24

24.—and another shall rise after them;] Rather, “behind them:” the meaning appears to be, that the ten horns were not aware of the growing up of “the little horn,” till it overtopped them. Jos. Mede.

—he shall be diverse from the first.] The papal power being an ecclesiastical and spiritual, as well as a civil and temporal authority. Bp. Newton.

—he shall subdue three kings.] See note on ver. 8. “before whom there were three” &c.

Daniel 7:25

25. And he shall speak great words against the most High.] See ver. 8. 20; chap. xi. 36. St. John plainly alludes to this text, Rev. xiii. 5, 6, where the beast is said “to open his mouth in blasphemy against God.” This he did by advancing his own authority above that of God, and in derogation to his laws; compare 2 Thess. ii. 4; as also by setting up the worship of images, and other idolatrous practices, which the Prophet Isaiah calls reproaching and blaspheming God, Isa. lxv. 7. W. Lowth.

Or, as Symmachus interprets it, “he shall speak great words as the Most High:” setting up himself above all laws divine and human, arrogating to himself godlike

Daniel 7:26

26. But the judgment shall sit, &c.] This being the last of the four earthly kingdoms or monarchies, when that is destroyed, there will be an end of the present state of things, when all human “rule, authority, and power” shall cease, 1 Cor. xv. 24; and “the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ,” Rev. xi. 15. W. Lowth.

After what manner these great changes will be effected, we cannot pretend to say, since God hath not been pleased to reveal it. We see the remains of the “ten horns” which arose out of the Roman empire. We see the

Before CHRIST about 555. His vision of the ram and he goat.

minion, 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.