Daniel 7

Da 7:1-28.

VISION OF THE

FOUR

BEASTS.

This chapter treats of the same subject as the second chapter. But there

the four kingdoms, and Messiah's final kingdom, were regarded according

to their external political aspect, but here according to the mind

of God concerning them, and their moral features. The outward

political history had been shown in its general features to the world

ruler, whose position fitted him for receiving such a revelation. But

God's prophet here receives disclosures as to the characters of the

powers of the world, in a religious point of view, suited to his position and receptivity. Hence in the second chapter the images are

taken from the inanimate sphere; in the seventh chapter they are taken

from the animate. Nebuchadnezzar saw superficially the world power as a

splendid human figure, and the kingdom of God as a mere stone at the

first. Daniel sees the world kingdoms in their inner essence as of an

animal nature lower than human, being estranged from God; and that

only in the kingdom of God ("the Son of man," the representative

man) is the true dignity of man realized. So, as contrasted with

Nebuchadnezzar's vision, the kingdom of God appears to Daniel,

from the very first, superior to the world kingdom. For though in

physical force the beasts excel man, man has essentially

spiritual powers. Nebuchadnezzar's colossal image represents mankind

in its own strength, but only the outward man. Daniel sees man

spiritually degraded to the beast level, led by blind impulses, through

his alienation from God. It is only from above that the perfect Son of

man comes, and in His kingdom man attains his true destiny. Compare

Ps 8:1-9

with Ge 1:26-28.

Humanity is impossible without divinity: it sinks to bestiality

(Ps 32:9; 49:20; 73:22).

Obstinate heathen nations are compared to "bulls"

(Ps 68:30);

Egypt to the dragon in the Nile

(Isa 27:1; 51:9;

Eze 29:3).

The animal with all its sagacity looks always to the ground, without

consciousness of relation to God. What elevates man is communion with

God, in willing subjection to Him. The moment he tries to exalt himself

to independence of God, as did Nebuchadnezzar

(Da 4:30),

he sinks to the beast's level. Daniel's acquaintance with the animal

colossal figures in Babylon and Nineveh was a psychological preparation

for his animal visions.

Ho 13:7, 8

would occur to him while viewing those ensigns of the world power.

Compare

Jer 2:15; 4:7; 5:6.

1. Belshazzar--Good Hebrew manuscripts have "Belshazzar"; meaning

"Bel is to be burnt with hostile fire"

(Jer 50:2; 51:44).

In the history he is called by his ordinary name; in the

prophecy, which gives his true destiny, he is called a

corresponding name, by the change of a letter.

visions of his head--not confused "dreams," but distinct images

seen while his mind was collected.

sum--a "summary." In predictions, generally, details are not given

so fully as to leave no scope for free agency, faith, and patient

waiting for God manifesting His will in the event. He "wrote" it for the

Church in all ages; he "told" it for the comfort of his captive fellow

countrymen.

2. the four winds--answering to the "four beasts"; their several

conflicts in the four quarters or directions of the world.

strove--burst forth (from the abyss)

[MAURER].

sea--The world powers rise out of the agitations of the political

sea

(Jer 46:7, 8;

Lu 21:25;

compare

Re 13:1; 17:15; 21:1);

the kingdom of God and the Son of man from the clouds of heaven

(Da 7:13;

compare

Joh 8:23).

TREGELLES takes "the great sea" to mean, as always

elsewhere in Scripture

(Jos 1:4; 9:1),

the Mediterranean, the center territorially of the four kingdoms

of the vision, which all border on it and have Jerusalem subject to

them. Babylon did not border on the Mediterranean, nor rule

Jerusalem, till Nebuchadnezzar's time, when both things took place

simultaneously. Persia encircled more of this sea, namely, from

the Hellespont to Cyrene. Greece did not become a monarchy

before Alexander's time, but then, succeeding to Persia, it became

mistress of Jerusalem. It surrounded still more of the Mediterranean,

adding the coasts of Greece to the part held by Persia. Rome,

under Augustus, realized three things at once--it became a monarchy; it

became mistress of the last of the four parts of Alexander's empire

(symbolized by the four heads of the third beast), and of Jerusalem; it

surrounded all the Mediterranean.

3. beasts--not living animals, as the cherubic four in

Re 4:7

(for the original is a different word from "beasts," and ought to be

there translated, living animals). The cherubic living animals

represent redeemed man, combining in himself the highest forms of animal

life. But the "beasts" here represent the world powers, in their

beast-like, grovelling character. It is on the fundamental harmony

between nature and spirit, between the three kingdoms of nature,

history, and revelation, that Scripture symbolism rests. The selection

of symbols is not arbitrary, but based on the essence of things.

4. lion--the symbol of strength and courage; chief among the

kingdoms, as the lion among the beasts. Nebuchadnezzar is called "the

lion"

(Jer 4:7).

eagle's wings--denoting a widespread and rapidly acquired

(Isa 46:11;

Jer 4:13;

La 4:19;

Hab 1:6)

empire

(Jer 48:40).

plucked--Its ability for widespread conquests passed away under

Evil-merodach, &c.

[GROTIUS]; rather, during Nebuchadnezzar's privation

of his throne, while deranged.

it was lifted up from the earth--that is, from its grovelling

bestiality.

made stand . . . as a man--So long as Nebuchadnezzar, in haughty

pride, relied on his own strength, he forfeited the true dignity of man,

and was therefore degraded to be with the beasts.

Da 4:16:

"Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's

heart be given unto him." But after he learned by this sore

discipline that "the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men"

(Da 4:35, 36),

the change took place in him, "a man's heart is given to him;

instead of his former beast's heart, he attains man's true position,

namely, to be consciously dependent on God." Compare

Ps 9:20.

5. bear--symbolizing the austere life of the Persians in their

mountains, also their cruelty

(Isa 13:17, 18;

Cambyses, Ochus, and other of the Persian princes were notoriously

cruel; the Persian laws involved, for one man's offense, the whole

kindred and neighborhood in destruction,

Da 6:24)

and rapacity. "A bear is an all-devouring animal" [ARISTOTLE, 8.5],

(Jer 51:48, 56).

raised . . . itself on one side--but the Hebrew, "It raised up one

dominion." The Medes, an ancient people, and the Persians, a modern

tribe, formed one united sovereignty in contrast to the third and

fourth kingdoms, each originally one, afterwards divided.

English Version is the result of a slight change of a Hebrew letter. The idea then would be, "It lay on one of its fore feet, and

stood on the other"; a figure still to be seen on one of the stones of

Babylon [MUNTER,

The Religion of Babylonia, 112]; denoting a kingdom

that had been at rest, but is now rousing itself for conquest. Media is

the lower side, passiveness; Persia, the upper, active element

[AUBERLEN]. The three ribs in its mouth are Media, Lydia, and

Babylon, brought under the Persian sway. Rather, Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt, not properly parts of its body, but seized by Medo-Persia

[SIR

ISAAC

NEWTON]. Called "ribs" because they strengthened the

Medo-Persian empire. "Between its teeth," as being much grinded by it.

devour much flesh--that is, subjugate many nations.

6. leopard--smaller than the lion; swift

(Hab 1:8);

cruel

(Isa 11:6),

the opposite of tame; springing suddenly from its hiding place on its

prey

(Ho 13:7);

spotted. So Alexander, a small king, of a small kingdom, Macedon,

attacked Darius at the head of the vast empire reaching from the

Ægean Sea to the Indies. In twelve years he subjugated part of

Europe, and all Asia from Illyricum and the Adriatic to the Ganges, not

so much fighting as conquering [JEROME]. Hence,

whereas Babylon is represented with two wings, Macedon has

four, so rapid were its conquests. The various spots denote the

various nations incorporated into his empire [BOCHART]; or Alexander's own variation in character, at

one time mild, at another cruel, now temperate, and now drunken and

licentious.

four heads--explained in

Da 8:8, 22;

the four kingdoms of the Diadochi or "successors" into which the

Macedonian empire was divided at the death of Alexander, namely,

Macedon and Greece under Cassander, Thrace and Bithynia under

Lysimachus, Egypt under Ptolemy, and Syria under Seleucus.

dominion . . . given to it--by God; not by Alexander's own might.

For how unlikely it was that thirty thousand men should overthrow

several hundreds of thousands! JOSEPHUS

[Antiquities, 11.6] says

that Alexander adored the high priest of Jerusalem, saying that he at

Dium in Macedonia had seen a vision of God so habited, inviting him to

go to Asia, and promising him success.

7. As Daniel lived under the kingdom of the first beast, and

therefore needed not to describe it, and as the second and third are

described fully in the second part of the book, the chief emphasis falls

on the fourth. Also prophecy most dwells on the end, which is the

consummation of the preceding series of events. It is in the fourth that

the world power manifests fully its God-opposing nature. Whereas the

three former kingdoms were designated respectively, as a lion, bear, and

leopard, no particular beast is specified as the image of the fourth;

for Rome is so terrible as to be not describable by any one, but

combines in itself all that we can imagine inexpressibly fierce in all

beasts. Hence thrice

(Da 7:7, 19, 23)

it is repeated, that the fourth was "diverse from all" the others. The

formula of introduction, "I saw in the night visions," occurs here, as

at

Da 7:2,

and again at

Da 7:13,

thus dividing the whole vision into three parts--the first embracing

the three kingdoms, the second the fourth and its overthrow, the third

Messiah's kingdom. The first three together take up a few centuries;

the fourth, thousands of years. The whole lower half of the image in

the second chapter is given to it. And whereas the other kingdoms

consist of only one material, this consists of two, iron and clay (on

which much stress is laid,

Da 2:41-43);

the "iron teeth" here allude to one material in the fourth

kingdom of the image.

ten horns--It is with the crisis, rather than the

course, of the fourth kingdom that this seventh chapter is

mainly concerned. The ten kings

(Da 7:24,

the "horns" representing power), that is, kingdoms, into

which Rome was divided on its incorporation with the Germanic and

Slavonic tribes, and again at the Reformation, are thought by many to

be here intended. But the variation of the list of the ten, and their

ignoring the eastern half of the empire altogether, and the existence

of the Papacy before the breaking up of even the Western

empire, instead of being the "little horn" springing up after

the other ten, are against this view. The Western Roman empire

continued till A.D. 731, and the Eastern, till

A.D. 1453. The ten kingdoms, therefore, prefigured

(Da 2:41;

compare

Re 13:1; 17:12),

are the ten kingdoms into which Rome shall be found finally divided

when Antichrist shall appear [TREGELLES]. These,

probably, are prefigured by the number ten being the prevalent

one at the chief turning points of Roman history.

8. little horn--little at first, but afterwards waxing greater

than all others. He must be sought "among them," namely, the ten horns.

The Roman empire did not represent itself as a continuation of

Alexander's; but the Germanic empire calls itself "the holy Roman

empire." Napoleon's attempted universal monarchy was avowedly Roman: his

son was called king of Rome. The czar (Cæsar) also professes to

represent the eastern half of the Roman empire. The Roman civilization,

church, language, and law are the chief elements in Germanic

civilization. But the Romanic element seeks universal empire, while the

Germanic seeks individualization. Hence the universal monarchies

attempted by the Papacy, Charlemagne, Charles V, and Napoleon have

failed, the iron not amalgamating with the clay. In the king symbolized

represented by the fourth monarchy, finds its intensest development.

"The man of sin," "the son of perdition"

(2Th 2:3).

Antichrist

(1Jo 2:18, 22; 4:3).

It is the complete evolution of the evil principle introduced by the

fall.

three of the first horns plucked up--the exarchate of Ravenna, the

kingdom of the Lombards and the state of Rome, which constituted the

Pope's dominions at the first; obtained by Pope Zachary and Stephen II

in return for acknowledging the usurper Pepin lawful king of France

[NEWTON]. See

TREGELLES' objections,

Da 7:7,

"ten horns," Note. The "little horn," in his view, is to be

Antichrist rising three and a half years before Christ's second advent,

having first overthrown three of the ten contemporaneous kingdoms, into

which the fourth monarchy, under which we live, shall be finally

divided. Popery seems to be a fulfilment of the prophecy in

many particulars, the Pope claiming to be God on earth and above all

earthly dominions; but the spirit of Antichrist prefigured by Popery

will probably culminate in ONE individual,

to be destroyed by Christ's coming; He will be the product of the

political world powers, whereas Popery which prepares His way,

is a Church become worldly.

eyes of man--Eyes express intelligence

(Eze 1:18);

so

(Ge 3:5)

the serpent's promise was, man's "eyes should be opened," if he would

but rebel against God. Antichrist shall consummate the self-apotheosis,

begun at the fall, high intellectual culture, independent of God. The

metals representing Babylon and Medo-Persia, gold and silver, are more

precious than brass and iron, representing Greece and Rome; but the

latter metals are more useful to civilization

(Ge 4:22).

The clay, representing the Germanic element, is the most plastic

material. Thus there is a progress in culture; but this is not a

progress necessarily in man's truest dignity, namely, union and

likeness to God. Nay, it has led him farther from God, to self-reliance

and world-love. The beginnings of civilization were among the children

of Cain

(Ge 4:17-24;

Lu 16:8).

Antiochus Epiphanes, the first Antichrist, came from civilized Greece,

and loved art. As Hellenic civilization produced the first, so

modern civilization under the fourth monarchy will produce the

last Antichrist. The "mouth" and "eyes" are those of a man,

while the symbol is otherwise brutish, that is, it will assume man's

true dignity, namely, wear the guise of the kingdom of God (which comes

as the "Son of man" from above), while it is really bestial,

namely, severed from God. Antichrist promises the same things as

Christ, but in an opposite way: a caricature of Christ, offering a

regenerated world without the cross. Babylon and Persia in their

religion had more reverence for things divine than Greece and Rome in

the imperial stages of their history. Nebuchadnezzar's human

heart, given him

(Da 4:16)

on his repentance, contrasts with the human eyes of Antichrist,

the pseudo son of man, namely, intellectual culture, while heart and

mouth blaspheme God. The deterioration politically corresponds: the

first kingdom, an organic unity; the second, divided into Median and

Persian; the third branches off into four; the fourth, into ten. The

two eastern kingdoms are marked by nobler metals; the two western, by

baser; individualization and division appear in the latter, and it is

they which produce the two Antichrists.

9. I beheld till--I continued looking till.

thrones . . . cast down--rather, "thrones were

placed" [Vulgate and LUTHER],

namely, for the saints and elect angels to whom "judgment is given"

(Da 7:22),

as assessors with the Judge. Compare

Da 7:10,

"thousand thousands ministered unto Him"

(Mt 19:28;

Lu 22:30;

1Co 6:2, 3;

1Ti 5:21;

Re 2:26; 4:4).

In English Version the thrones cast down are those of the

previously mentioned kings who give place to Messiah.

Ancient of days--"The everlasting Father"

(Isa 9:6).

HE is the Judge here, as THE

SON does not judge in His own cause, and it is His

cause which is the one at issue with Antichrist.

sit--the attitude of a judge about to pass sentence.

white--The judicial purity of the Judge, and of all things round

Him, is hereby expressed

(Re 1:14).

wheels--as Oriental thrones move on wheels. Like the rapid

flame, God's judgments are most swift in falling where He wills them

(Eze 1:15, 16).

The judgment here is not the last judgment, for then there will

be no beast, and heaven and earth shall have passed away; but it is

that on Antichrist (the last development of the fourth kingdom),

typical of the last judgment: Christ coming to substitute the

millennial kingdom of glory for that of the cross

(Re 17:12-14; 19:15-21; 11:15).

10. thousand . . . ministered unto him--so at the giving of the law

(De 33:2;

Ps 68:17;

Heb 12:22;

Jude 14).

ten . . . thousand before him--image from the Sanhedrim, in which

the father of the consistory sat with his assessors on each side, in the

form of a semicircle, and the people standing before him.

judgment was set--The judges sat

(Re 20:4).

books . . . opened--

(Re 20:12).

Forensic image; all the documents of the cause at issue, connected with

the condemnation of Antichrist and his kingdom, and the setting up of

Messiah's kingdom. Judgment must pass on the world as being

under the curse, before the glory comes; but Antichrist offers glory

without the cross, a renewed world without the world being

judged.

11. Here is set forth the execution on earth of the judgment

pronounced in the unseen heavenly court of judicature

(Da 7:9, 10).

body . . . given to . . .

flame--

(Re 19:20).

12. the rest of the beasts--that is, the three first, had passed away

not by direct destroying judgments, such as consumed the little horn,

as being the finally matured evil of the fourth beast. They had

continued to exist but their "dominion was was taken away"; whereas

the fourth beast shall cease utterly, superseded by Messiah's kingdom.

for a season . . . time--Not only the triumph of the beasts over the

godly, but their very existence is limited to a definite time, and

that time the exactly suitable one (compare

Mt 24:22).

Probably a definite period is meant by a "season and time" (compare

Da 7:25;

Re 20:3).

It is striking, the fourth monarchy, though Christianized for fifteen

hundred years past, is not distinguished from the previous heathen

monarchies, or from its own heathen portion. Nay, it is represented as

the most God-opposed of all, and culminating at last in blasphemous

Antichrist. The reason is: Christ's kingdom now is not of this

world

(Joh 18:36);

and only at the second advent of Christ does it become an external

power of the world. Hence Daniel, whose province it was to prophesy of

the world powers, does not treat of Christianity until it becomes a

world power, namely, at the second advent. The kingdom of God is a

hidden one till Jesus comes again

(Ro 8:17;

Col 3:2, 3;

2Ti 2:11, 12).

Rome was worldly while heathen, and remains worldly, though

Christianized. So the New Testament views the present æon or age

of the world as essentially heathenish, which we cannot love without

forsaking Christ

(Ro 12:2;

1Co 1:20; 2:6, 8; 3:18; 7:31;

2Co 4:4;

Ga 1:4;

Eph 2:2;

2Ti 4:10;

compare

1Jo 2:15, 17).

The object of Christianity is not so much to Christianize the present

world as to save souls out of it, so as not to be condemned with the

world

(1Co 11:32),

but to rule with Him in His millennium

(Mt 5:5;

Lu 12:32; 22:28-30;

Ro 5:17;

1Co 6:2;

Re 1:6; 2:26-28; 3:21; 20:4).

This is to be our hope, not to reign in the present world course

(1Co 4:8;

2Co 4:18;

Php 3:20;

Heb 13:14).

There must be a "regeneration" of the world, as of the individual, a

death previous to a resurrection, a destruction of the world

kingdoms, before they rise anew as the kingdoms of Christ

(Mt 19:28).

Even the millennium will not perfectly eradicate the world's

corruption; another apostasy and judgment will follow

(Re 20:7-15),

in which the world of nature is to be destroyed and renewed, as

the world of history was before the millennium

(2Pe 3:8-13);

then comes the perfect earth and heaven

(Re 21:1).

Thus there is an onward progress, and the Christian is waiting

for the consummation

(Mr 13:33-37;

Lu 12:35, 36, 40-46;

1Th 1:9, 10),

as His Lord also is "expecting"

(Heb 10:13).

13. Son of man--(See on

Eze 2:1).

Not merely Son of David, and King of Israel, but Head of restored

humanity (corresponding to the world-wide horizon of Daniel's

prophecy); the seed of the woman, crushing Antichrist, the seed of the

serpent, according to the Prot-evangel in Paradise

(Ge 3:15).

The Representative Man shall then realize the original destiny of man

as Head of the creation

(Ge 1:26, 28);

the center of unity to Israel and the Gentiles. The beast, which taken

conjointly represents the four beasts, ascends from the sea

(Da 7:2;

Re 13:1);

the Son of man descends from "heaven." Satan, as the serpent, is

the representative head of all that bestial; man, by following the

serpent, has become bestial. God must, therefore, become man, so that

man may cease to be beast-like. Whoever rejects the incarnate God will

be judged by the Son of man just because He is the Son of man

(Joh 5:27).

This title is always associated with His coming again, because the

kingdom that then awaits Him in that which belongs to Him as the

Saviour of man, the Restorer of the lost inheritance. "Son of man"

expresses His VISIBLE state formerly in his

humiliation hereafter in His exaltation. He "comes to the Ancient of

days" to be invested with the kingdom. Compare

Ps 110:2:

"The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength (Messiah) out of Zion."

This investiture was at His ascension "with the clouds of heaven"

(Ac 1:9; 2:33, 34;

Ps 2:6-9;

Mt 28:18),

which is a pledge of His return "in like manner" in the clouds"

(Ac 1:11;

Mt 26:64),

and "with clouds"

(Re 1:7).

The kingdom then was given to Him in title and invisible

exercise; at His second coming it shall be in visible

administration. He will vindicate it from the misrule of those who

received it to hold for and under God, but who ignored His supremacy.

The Father will assert His right by the Son, the heir, who will hold it

for Him

(Eze 1:27;

Heb 1:2;

Re 19:13-16).

TREGELLES thinks the investiture here

immediately precedes Christ's coming forth; because He sits at

God's right hand until His enemies are made His footstool,

then the kingdom is given to the Son in actual investiture, and

He comes to crush His so prepared footstool under His feet. But the

words, "with the clouds," and the universal power actually, though

invisibly, given Him then

(Eph 1:20-22),

agree best with His investiture at the ascension, which, in the

prophetic view that overleaps the interval of ages, is the precursor of

His coming visibly to reign; no event of equal moment taking place in

the interval.

15. body--literally, "sheath": the body being the "sheath" of the soul.

17. kings--that is, kingdoms. Compare

Da 7:23,

"fourth kingdom";

Da 2:38; 8:20-22.

Each of the four kings represents a dynasty. Nebuchadnezzar,

Alexander, Antiochus, and Antichrist, though individually

referred to, are representatives of characteristic tendencies.

18. the Most High--the emphatic title of God in this prophecy, who

delegates His power first to Israel; then to the Gentiles

(Da 2:37, 38)

when Israel fails to realize the idea of the theocracy; lastly, to

Messiah, who shall rule truly for God, taking it from the Gentile world

powers, whose history is one of continual degeneracy culminating in the

last of the kings, Antichrist. Here, in the interpretation, "the

saints," but in the vision

(Da 7:13, 14),

"the Son of man," takes the kingdom; for Christ and His people are one

in suffering, and one in glory. TREGELLES

translates, "most high places"

(Eph 1:3; 2:6).

Though oppressed by the beast and little horn, they belong not to the

earth from which the four beasts arise, but to the most high

places.

19. Balaam, an Aramean, dwelling on the Euphrates, at the beginning

of Israel's independent history, and Daniel at the close of it,

prophetically exhibit to the hostile world powers Israel as triumphant

over them at last, though the world powers of the East (Asshur) and the

West (Chittim) carry all before them and afflict Eber (Israel) for a

time

(Nu 23:8-10, 28; 24:2, 7-9, 22-24).

To Balaam's "Asshur" correspond Daniel's two eastern kingdoms, Babylon

and Medo-Persia; to "Chittim," the two western kingdoms, Greece and

Rome (compare

Ge 10:4, 11, 22).

In Babel, Nimrod the hunter (revolter) founds the first kingdom of the

world

(Ge 10:8-13).

The Babylonian world power takes up the thread interrupted at the

building of Babel, and the kingdom of Nimrod. As at Babel, so in

Babylon the world is united against God; Babylon, the first world

power, thus becomes the type of the God-opposed world. The fourth

monarchy consummates the evil; it is "diverse" from the others only in

its more unlimited universality. The three first were not in the full

sense universal monarchies. The fourth is; so in it the God-opposed

principle finds its full development. All history moves within the

Romanic, Germanic, and Slavonic nations; it shall continue so to

Christ's second advent. The fourth monarchy represents universalism

externally; Christianity, internally. Rome is Babylon fully developed.

It is the world power corresponding in contrast to Christianity, and

therefore contemporary with it

(Mt 13:38;

Mr 1:15;

Lu 2:1;

Ga 4:4).

20. look . . . more stout than . . . fellows--namely, than that of the

other horns.

21. made war with the saints--persecuted the Church

(Re 11:7; 13:7).

prevailed--but not ultimately. The limit is marked by "until"

(Da 7:22).

The little horn continues, without intermission, to persecute up

to Christ's second advent

(Re 17:12, 14; 19:19, 20).

22. Ancient of days came--The title applied to the Father in

Da 7:13

is here applied to the Son; who is called "the everlasting Father"

(Isa 9:6).

The Father is never said to "come"; it is the Son who comes.

judgment was given to . . . saints--Judgment includes rule; "kingdom" in the end of this verse

(1Co 6:2;

Re 1:6; 5:10; 20:4).

Christ first receives "judgment" and the "kingdom," then the saints

with Him

(Da 7:13, 14).

24. ten horns--answering to the ten "toes"

(Da 2:41).

out of this kingdom--It is out of the fourth kingdom that ten

others arise, whatever exterior territory any of them possess

(Re 13:1; 17:12).

rise after them--yet contemporaneous with them; the ten are

contemporaries. Antichrist rises after their rise, at first "little"

(Da 7:8);

but after destroying three of the ten, he becomes greater than them all

(Da 7:20, 21).

The three being gone, he is the eighth (compare

Re 17:11);

a distinct head, and yet "of the seven." As the previous world kingdoms

had their representative heads (Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar; Persia, Cyrus;

Greece, Alexander), so the fourth kingdom and its Antichrists shall

have their evil concentrated in the one final Antichrist. As Antiochus

Epiphanes, the Antichrist of the third kingdom in

Da 8:23-25,

was the personal enemy of God, so the final Antichrist of the fourth

kingdom, his antitype. The Church has endured a pagan and a papal

persecution; there remains for her an infidel persecution, general,

purifying, and cementing [CECIL]. He will not

merely, as Popery, substitute himself for Christ in Christ's

name, but "deny the Father and the Son"

(1Jo 2:22).

The persecution is to continue up to Christ's second coming

(Da 7:21, 22);

the horn of blasphemy cannot therefore be past; for now there is almost

a general cessation of persecution.

25. Three attributes of Antichrist are specified: (1) The highest

worldly wisdom and civilization. (2) The uniting of the whole civilized

world under his dominion. (3) Atheism, antitheism, and autotheism in its

fullest development

(1Jo 2:22).

Therefore, not only is power taken from the fourth beast, as in the

case of the other three, but God destroys it and the world power in

general by a final judgment. The present external Christianity is to

give place to an almost universal apostasy.

think--literally, "carry within him as it were the burden of the

thought."

change times--the prerogative of God alone

(Da 2:21);

blasphemously assumed by Antichrist. The "times and laws" here meant

are those of religious ordinance; stated times of feasts [MAURER]. Perhaps there are included the times

assigned by God to the duration of kingdoms. He shall set Himself

above all that is called God

(2Th 2:4),

putting his own "will" above God's times and laws

(Da 11:36, 37).

But the "times" of His wilfulness are limited for the elect's sake

(Mt 24:22).

they--the saints.

given into his hand--to be persecuted.

time . . . times and . . . dividing of

time--one year, two years, and half a year: 1260 days

(Re 12:6, 14);

forty-two months

(Re 11:2, 3).

That literally three and a half years are to be the term of

Antichrist's persecution is favored by

Da 4:16, 23,

where the year-day theory would be impossible. If the Church, moreover,

had been informed that 1260 years must elapse before the second advent,

the attitude of expectancy which is inculcated

(Lu 12:38;

1Co 1:7;

1Th 1:9, 10;

2Pe 3:12)

on the ground of the uncertainty of the time, would be out of place.

The original word for "time" denotes a stated period or set

feast; or the interval from one set feast to its recurrence, that

is, a year [TREGELLES];

Le 23:4,

"seasons";

Le 23:44,

"feasts." The passages in favor of the year-day theory are

Eze 4:6,

where each day of the forty during which Ezekiel lay on his right side

is defined by God as meaning a year. Compare

Nu 14:34,

where a year of wandering in the wilderness was appointed for each day

of the forty during which the spies searched Canaan; but the days were,

in these two cases, merely the type or reason for the years, which were

announced as they were to be fulfilled. In the prophetic part of

Nu 14:34

"years" are literal. If the year-day system was applied to them, they

would be 14,400 years! In

Eze 4:4-6,

if day meant year, Ezekiel would have lain on his right

side forty years! The context here in

Da 7:24, 25,

is not symbolical. Antichrist is no longer called a horn, but a

king subduing three out of ten kings (no longer horns,

Da 7:7, 8).

So in

Da 12:7,

where "time, times, and half a time," again occurs, nothing symbolic

occurs in the context. So that there is no reason why the three and a

half years should be so. For the first four centuries the "days" were

interpreted literally; a mystical meaning of the 1260 days then began.

WALTER BRUTE first suggested

the year-day theory in the end of the fourteenth century. The

seventy years of the Babylonian captivity foretold by Jeremiah

(Jer 25:12; 29:10)

were understood by Daniel

(Da 9:2)

as literal years, not symbolical, which would have been 25,200 years!

[TREGELLES]. It is possible that the year-day and

day-day theories are both true. The seven (symbolical) times of

the Gentile monarchies

(Le 26:24)

during Israel's casting off will end in the seven years of Antichrist.

The 1260 years of papal misrule in the name of Christ may be

represented by three and a half years of open Antichristianity and

persecution before the millennium. Witnessing churches may be succeeded

the shorter period

(Re 11:3).

The beginning of the 1260 years is by ELLIOTT set

at A.D. 529 or 533, when Justinian's edict

acknowledged Pope John II to be head of the Church; by LUTHER, at 606, when Phocas confirmed Justinian's grant.

But 752 is the most likely date, when the temporal dominion of

the popes began by Pepin's grant to Stephen II (for Zachary, his

predecessor's recognition of his title to France), confirmed by

Charlemagne. For it was then first that the little horn plucked up

three horns, and so became the prolongation of the fourth

secular kingdom [NEWTON]. This would bring

us down to about A.D. 2000, or the seventh

thousand millenary from creation. But CLINTON

makes about 1862 the seventh millenary, which may favor the dating from

A.D. 529.

26. consume . . . destroy--a twofold operation. Antichrist is to be

gradually "consumed," as the Papacy has been consuming for four

hundred years past, and especially of late years. He is also to be

"destroyed" suddenly by Christ at His coming; the fully developed

man of sin

(2Th 2:3)

or false prophet making a last desperate effort in confederacy with the

"beast"

(Re 16:13, 14, 16)

or secular power of the Roman empire (some conjecture Louis Napoleon):

destroyed at Armageddon in Palestine.

27. greatness of the kingdom under . . . whole heaven--The power,

which those several kingdoms had possessed, shall all be conferred on

Messiah's kingdom. "Under . . . heaven" shows it is a kingdom

on earth, not in heaven.

people of . . . saints of . . . Most

High--"the people of the saints," or "holy ones"

(Da 8:24,

Margin): the Jews, the people to whom the saints stand in a

peculiar relation. The saints are gathered out of Jews and Gentiles,

but the stock of the Church is Jewish

(Ro 9:24; 11:24);

God's faithfulness to this election Church is thus virtually

faithfulness to Israel, and a pledge of their future national blessing.

Christ confirms this fact, while withholding the date

(Ac 1:6, 7).

everlasting kingdom--If everlasting, how can the kingdom here

refer to the millennial one? Answer: Daniel saw the whole time of future

blessedness as one period. The clearer light of the New Testament

distinguishes, in the whole period, the millennium and the time of the

new heaven and new earth (compare

Re 20:4

with Re 21:1

and Re 22:5).

Christ's kingdom is "everlasting." Not even the last judgment shall end

it, but only give it a more glorious appearance, the new Jerusalem

coming down from God out of heaven, with the throne of God and the Lamb

in it (compare

Re 5:9, 10; 11:15).

28. cogitations . . . troubled me--showing that the Holy Spirit

intended much more to be understood by Daniel's words than Daniel

himself understood. We are not to limit the significance of prophecies

to what the prophets themselves understood

(1Pe 1:11, 12).