nations that had acknowledged its authority, as if the great Judge of nations was coming forth to assert his own power, and his own right to rule, and to dispose of the kingdoms of the earth as he pleased.

Ancient of days to receive the kingdom, vs. 13, 14. As shown in the interpretation of those verses, this does not necessarily imply that there would be any visible appearing of the Son of Man, or any personal reign (see the Notes on these (C) It is to be anticipated that the verses), but there would be such a makpower referred to, will be destroyed on ing over of the kingdom to the Son of account of its pride and arrogance. See Man and to the saints, as would be proNotes on ver. 11. That is, whatever perly symbolized by such a representapower there is upon the earth at the time tion. That is, there would be great referred to that shall be properly that of changes; there would be a rapid prothe fourth beast or kingdom, will be gress of the truth; there would be a taken away on account of the claims set spread of the gospel; there would be a up and maintained by the 'little horn:- change in the governments of the world, "I beheld because of the voice of the great so that the power would pass into the words which the horn spake; I beheld hands of the righteous, and they would till the beast was slain," &c., ver. 11. in fact rule. From that time the saints' On the supposition that this refers to the would receive the kingdom, and the afPapacy, what is to be expected would be, fairs of the world would be put on a new that the pride and arrogance of that footing. From that period it might be power as such-that is, as an ecclesiasti- said that the reign of the saints would cal power claiming dominion over civil commence; that is, there would be such things, and wielding civil authority, would changes in this respect that that would be such that the Roman power-the lin- constitute an epoch in the history of the gering power of the fourth kingdom-world-the proper beginning of the reign would be taken away, and its dominion of the saints on the earth-the setting up over the world would cease. That vast of the new and final dominion in the Roman domination that once trod down the world. If there should be such changes earth, and that crushed and oppressed-such marked progress-such facilities the nations, would still linger, like the for the spread of truth--such new meprolonged life of the beast, until, on account of the arrogance and pride of the Papacy, it would be wholly taken away. If one were to judge of the meaning of this prophecy without attempting to apply it to particular passing events, he would say that it would be fulfilled by some such events as these:-if the people over whom the prolonged Roman civil power would be extended, and over whom the ecclesiastical or Papal sceptre should be swayed, would on account of the pride and arrogance of the Papacy rise in their might, and demand liberty that would be in fact an end of the prolonged power of the fourth beast; and it would be on account of the 'great words which the horn spake,' and would be in all respects a fulfilment of the language of this prophecy. Whether such an end of this power is to occur, time is to determine.

(D) Simultaneously with this even, as the result of this, we are to anticipate such a spread of truth and righteousness, and such a reign of the saints on the earth, as would be properly symbolized by the coming of the Son of Man to the

thods of propagating it-and such eertain success attending it, all opposition giving way, and persecution ceasing, as would properly constitute an epoch or era in the world's history which would be connected with the conversion of the world to God, this would fairly meet the interpretation of this prophecy; this occurring, all would have taken place which could be fairly shown to be implied in the vision.

(E) We are to expect a reign of righte ousness on the earth. On the character of what we are fairly to expect from the words of the prophecy, see Notes on ver. 14. The prophecy authorizes us to anticipate a time when there shall be a general prevalence of true religion; wher the power in the world shall be in the hands of good men-of men fearing God; when the divine laws shall be obeyedbeing acknowledged as the laws that are to control men; when the civil institutions of the world shall be pervaded by religion, and moulded by it; when there shall be no hindrance to the free exercise of religion, and when in fact the reigning power on the earth shall be the king

dom which the Messiah shall set up. There is nothing more certain in the future than such a period, and to that all things are tending. Such a period would fulfil all that is fairly implied in this wonderful prophecy, and to that faith and hope should calmly and confidently look |

forward. For that they who love their God and their race should labour and pray; and by the certain assurance that such a period will come, we should be cheered amidst all the moral darkness that exists in the world, and in all that now discourages us in our endeavours to do good.

CHAPTER VIII.

ANALYSIS OF THE CHAPTER.

THIS chapter contains an account of a vision seen by the prophet in the third year of the reign of Belshazzar. The prophet either was, or appeared to be, in the city of Shushan-afterwards the capital of the Persian empire, in the province of Elam. To that place, then an im portant town, there is no improbability in supposing that he had gone, as he was then unconnected with the government, or not employed by the government (ch. v.), and as it is not unreasonable to suppose that he would be at liberty to visit other parts of the empire than Babylon. Possibly there may have been Jews at that place, and he may have gone on a visit to them. Or perhaps the scene of the vision may have been laid in Shushan, by the river Ulai, and that the prophet means to represent himself as if he had been there, and the vision had seemed to pass there before his mind. But there is no valid objection to the supposition that he was actually there, and this seems to be affirmed in ver. 2. While there, he saw a ram with two horns, one higher than the other, pushing westward, and northward, and southward, so powerful that nothing could oppose him. As he was looking on this, he saw a be-goat come from the West, bounding along, and scarcely touching the ground, with a single remarkable horn between his eyes. This he-goat attacked the ram, broke his two horns, and overcame him entirely. The he-goat became very strong, but at length the horn was broken, and there came up four in its place. From one of these there sprang up a little horn that became exceeding great and mighty, extending itself toward the South, and the East, and the pleasant land-the land of Palestine. This horn became so mighty that it seemed to attack the host of heaven' the stars; it cast some of them down to the ground; it magnified itself against the Prince of the host; it caused the daily sacrifice in the temple to cease, and the sanctuary of the Prince of the host was cast down. An earnest inquiry was made by one saint to another how long this was to continue, and the answer was, unto two thousand and three hundred days, and that then the sanctuary would be cleansed. Gabriel is then sent to explain the vision to the prophet, and he announces that the ram with the two horns represented the kings of Media and Persia; the goat the king of Greece; the great horn between his eyes the first king; the four horns that should spring up after that was broken, the four dynasties into which the kingdom would be divided, and the little horn a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, and that would stand up against the Prince of princes, and that would ultimately be destroyed. The effect of this was, that Daniel was overcome by the vision for a certain time; afterward he revived, and attended to the business of the king, but none understood the vision.

This is one of the few prophecies in the Scriptures that are explained to the prophets themselves, and it becomes, therefore, important as a key to explain other prophecies of a similar character. Of the reference to the kingdom of Media and Persia, and to the kingdom of Greece, there is an express statement. The application of a portion of the prophecy to Alexander the Great, and to the four monarchies into which his kingdom was divided at his death, is equally certain. And there can be as little doubt of the application of the remainder to Antiochus Epiphanes, and in this nearly all expositors are agreed. Indeed, so striking and clear is the application to this series of historical events, that Porphyry maintained that this, as well as other portions of Daniel, were written after the events occurred. One of two things, indeed, is certain-either that this was writton after the events here referred to occurred; or that Daniel yas inspired. No man by any natural sagacity could have predicted these events with so much accuracy and particularity.

The portion of Daniel which follows is in pure Hebrew. The portion of the book from the fourth verse of the second chapter to the end of the seventh chapter was written in Chaldee. On this point see Intro. 24. III. (1).

1 In the third year of the reign 2 And I saw in a vision; and it of king Belshazzar a vision appeared came to pass, when I saw, that I unto me, even unto me Daniel, after was at Shushan in the palace, which that which appeared unto me at the is in the province of Elam; and I first.

a

a Es. 1, 2.

king as an officer of the government, and yet it may have been forgotten that he had this power of disclosing the meaning of visions. He may have been employed in the public service, but his services to the father of the king, and his extraordinary skill in interpreting dreams and visions may not at once have occurred to the affrighted monarch and his courtiers. Shushan, or Susa, the chief town of Susiana, was the capitol of Persia after the time of Cyrus, in which the kings of Persia had their principal residence. Neh i. 1. Esther i. 2-5. It was situated on the Eulaeus or Choaspes, probably on the spot

1. In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar. In regard to Belshazzar, see Intro. to ch. v. 32. ¶A vision appeared unto me. This vision appears to have occurred to him when awake, or in an ecstacy; the former one occurred when he was asleep, ch. vii. 1. Comp. vs. 17, 18, of this chapter, where the prophet represents himself as overpowered, and as falling down to the earth on account of the vision. The representation would seem to have been made to pass before his mind in open day, and when he was fully awake. Comp. the case of Balaam, Num. xxiv. 4: "Which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, now occupied by the village Shus. Renbut having his eyes open." After that which appeared unto me at the first. That occurred in the first year of Belshazzar, ch. vii. 1.

nel, Geog. of Herodotus; Kinneir, Mem. Pers. Empire; K. Porter's Travels, II. 4, 11; Ritter, Erdkunde, Asien, ix. 294. Pict. Bib. in loc. At Shus there are extensive ruins, stretching perhaps twelve miles from one extremity to the other, and consisting, with the other ruins in that country, of hillocks of earth, and rubbish, covered with broken pieces of brick and coloured tile. At the foot of these mounds

2. And I saw in a vision. I looked as the vision appeared to me; or I saw certain things represented to me in a vision. On the word vision, see Notes on ch. i. 17. The meaning here would seem to be that a vision appeared to Daniel, and that he contemplated it with earnestness to un-is the so-called tomb of Daniel, a small derstand what it meant. That I was at Shushan. As remarked in the introduction to this chapter, this might mean that he seemed to be there, or that the vision was represented to him as being there, but the most natural construction is to suppose that Daniel was actually there himself. Why he was there, he has not informed us directly, whether he was on public business, or on his own. From ver. 27, however-'Afterward I rose up, and did the king's business' it would seem most probable that he was then in the service of the king. This supposition will not conflict with the statement in ch. v. 10, 11, in which the queen of Belshazzar, when the hand writing appeared on the wall of the palace, informs the king that there was "a man in his kingdom in which was the spirit of the holy gods," &c.-from which it might be objected that Daniel was at that time unknown to the king, and could not have been in his employ, for it might have been a fact that he was in the employ of the

building erected on the spot where the remains of Daniel are believed in that region to rest. It is apparently modern, but nothing but the belief that this was the site of the prophet's sepulchre could have led to its being built in the place where it stands. Malcom, Hist. of Persia, i. 255, 256. The city of Shus is now a gloomy wilderness, inhabited by lions, hyenas, and other beasts of prey. Kitto, Cyclop. Art. Shushan. Sir John Kinneir says that the dread of these animals compelled Mr. Monteith and himself to take shelter for the night within the walls that encompass Daniel's tomb. Of that tomb, Sir John Malcolm says, "It is a small building, but sufficient to shelter some dervishes who watch the remains of the prophet, and are supported by the alms of pious pilgrims, who visit the holy sepulchre. The dervishes are now the only inhabitants of Susa; and every species of wild beast roams at large over the spot on which some of the proudest palaces ever raised by human art once

stood." Vol. I. pp. 255, 256. For a description of the ruins of Susa, see Pict. Bib. in loc. This city was about 450 Roman miles from Seleucia, and was built, according to Pliny, 6. 27, in a square of about 120 stadia. It was the summer residence of the Persian kings, (Cyrop. 8, 6, 10), as they passed the spring in Ecbatana, and the autumn and winter in Babylon. See Lengerke, in loc. It was in this city that Alexander the Great married Stateira, daughter of Darius Codomanus. The name means a lily, and was probably given to it on account of its beauty. Lengerke. Rosenmüller supposes that the vision here is represented to have appeared to Daniel in this city because it would be the future capitol of Persia, and because so much of the vision pertained to Persia. See Maurer, in loc. The annexed cut represents the present

3 Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before

appearance of that city. In the palace. This word-1-means a fortress, a castle, a fortified palace. Gesenius. See Neh. i. 1. Esth. i. 5; ii. 5; viii. 14; ix. 6, 11, 12. It would seem to have been given to the city because it was a fortified place. The word applied not only to the palace proper, a royal residence, but to the whole adjacent city. It is not necessary to suppose that Daniel was in the palace proper, but only that he was in the city to which the name was given.

Which is in the province of Elam. See Notes on Isa. xi. 11. This province was bounded on the east by Persia proper, on the west by Babylonia, on the north by Media, and on the south by the Persian Gulf. It was about half as large as Persia, and not quite as large as England. It was probably conKitto's Cyclo.

quered by Nebuchadnezzar, and in the time of Belshazzar was subject to the Babylonian dominion. Shushan had been doubtless the capitol of the kingdom of Elam while it continued a separate kingdom, and remained the capitol of the province while it was under the Babylonian yoke, and until it was subdued as a part of the empire, by Cyrus. It was then made one of the capitols of the united Medo-Persian empire. It was when it was the capitol of a province that it was visited by Daniel, and that he saw the vision there. Possibly he may have dwelt there subsequently, and died there. And I was by the river of Ulai. This river flowed by the city of Shushan or Su

sa, and fell into the united stream of the Tigris and the Euphrates. It is called by Pliny (Nat. Hist. vi. 81) Eulaens; but it is described by Greek writers generally under the name of Choaspes. Herod. v. 49. Strabo, xv. p. 728. It is now known by the name Kerah, called by the Turks Keraso. It passes on the west of the ruins of Shus (Susa), and enters the Shatul-Arab about twenty miles below Korna Kinneir. Geog. Mem. of the Persian empire, pp. 96, 97. See Kitto's Cyc. Art. Ulai.

3. Then I lifted up mine eyes and saw. And saw in vision, or there seemed to be There stood before the river. before me. On the bank of the river. A ram, which had two horns. There can be no

the river a ram which hac two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.

4 I saw the ram pushing west.ward, and northward, and southward; so that no beast might stand

■ second.

before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will. and became great.

5 And as I was considering, behold, a he-goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and

b Is. 10. 13, 14; c. 5. 19. 11; 3, 16. ever. 21.

error in explaining the design of this sym- 5. And as I was considering. As I was bol, for in ver. 20, it is expressly said that looking on this vision. It was a vision it denoted the two kings of Media and Per- which would naturally attract attention, sia. The united power of the kindom was and one which would not be readily undenoted by the ram itself; the fact that derstood. It evidently denoted some there were two powers or kingdoms com- combined power that was attempting bined by the two horns of the ram. And conquest, but we are not to suppose that the two horns were high. Both indicating Daniel would readily understand what great power. But the one was higher was meant by it. The whole scene was than the other, and the higher came up last. future-for the Medo-Persian power was The higher horn springing up last denotes not yet consolidated in the time of BelPersia, that became the more mighty shazzar, and the conquests represented power of the two, so that the name Me- by the ram continued through many dia became finally almost dropped, and years, and denoted by the he-goat exthe united kingdom was known in Gre-tended still much further into futurity. cian history as the Persian. The Median ¶ Behold, a he-goat came from the rest. or Assyrian power was the older, but the In ver. 21, this is called the roughPersian became the most mighty.

goat.' There can be no doubt as to the 4. I saw the ram pushing westward, and application of this, for in ver. 21, it is exnorthward, and southward. Denoting the pressly said that it was the king of conquests of the united kingdom. The Grecia.' The power represented is that east is not mentioned, for none of the con- of Greece when it was consolidated under quests of the Medo-Persian empire ex- Alexander the Great, and when he went tended in that direction. Yet nothing forth to the subjugation of this vast Percould better express the conquests actu- sian empire. It may serve to illustrate ally made by the Medo-Persian empire this, and to show the propriety of reprethan this representation. On the west senting the Macedonian power by the the conquests embraced Babylonia, Mes- symbol of a goat, to remark that this opotamia, Syria and Asia Minor; on the symbol is often found, in various ways, north, Colchis, Armenia, Iberia, and the in connection with Macedon, and that, regions around the Caspian sea; and on for some reason, the goat was used as the south, Palestine, Ethiopia, Egypt, and emblematic of that power. A few facts, Lybia. Lengerke. This Medo-Persian furnished to the Editor of Calmet's Dicpower is represented as coming from the tionary, by Taylor Combe, Esq., will east, Isa. xli. 2: "Who raised up the show the propriety of this allusion to righteous man from the east," &c. Isa. Macedonia under the emblem of a goat, xlvi. 11: "Calling a ravenous bird and that the allusion would be readily from the east, &c. He did according to understood in after times. They are his will, and became great. This expresses well also the character of the Medo-Persian empire. It extended over a great part of the known world, subduing to itself a large portion of the earth. In its early conquests it met with no successful opposition, nor was it stayed until it was subdued by Greece-as at Leuctra and Marathon, and then as it was finally overthrown by Alexander the Great.

condensed here from his account in Taylor's Calmet, V. 410-412. (1) Caranus, the first king of the Macedonians, commenced his reign 814 years before the Christian era. The circumstance of bis being led by goats to the city of Edessa, the name of which, when he established there the seat of his kingdom, he converted into Ega, is well worthy of remark. Urbem Edessam, ob memoriam