Daniele 11:14 Commento

The angel Gabriel, in this chapter, performs his promise made to Daniel in the foregoing chapter, that he would "show him what should befal his people in the latter days," according to that which was "written in the scriptures of truth:" very particularly does he here foretel the succession of the kings of Persia and Grecia, and the affairs of their kingdoms, especially the mischief which Antiochus Epiphanes did in his time to the church, which was foretold before (Dan 8:11-12). Here is, I. A brief prediction of the setting up of the Grecian monarchy upon the ruins of the Persian monarchy, which was now newly begun (Dan 11:1-4). II. A prediction of the affairs of the two kingdoms of Egypt and Syria, with reference to each other (v. 5-20). III. Of the rise of Antiochus Epiphanes, and his actions and successes (Dan 11:21-29). IV. Of the great mischief that he should do to the Jewish nation and religion, and his contempt of all religion (Dan 11:30-39). V. Of his fall and ruin at last, when he is in the heat of his pursuit (Dan 11:40-45).

INTRODUCTION TO DANIEL 11 In this chapter the angel makes good his promise to Daniel, that he would show him what was written in the Scripture of truth, concerning the monarchies of the earth, and what would befall his people the Jews in the latter days; and after he had observed that he had strengthened and confirmed Darius the Mede, who was the first king of the then present flourishing monarchy, Dan 11:1, he foretells the number of the kings of Persia, and particularly describes the fourth, Dan 11:2 predicts the rise of the Grecian monarchy under Alexander the great, and the disposition of it after his death, Dan 11:3 and then proceeds to give an account of the two principal kingdoms of that monarchy, into which it was divided, the Seleucidae and Lagidae; and of their kings, the king of Egypt, and the king of Syria, under the names of the king of the south, and the king of the north, and of their power and agreement, Dan 11:5 and then of their various wars between themselves and others, and the success of them, Dan 11:7, and particularly of Antiochus, his character and manner of coming to the kingdom, and of his wars with the king of Egypt, and the issue of them, Dan 11:21 and of his persecution of the Jews, and the distress he should bring on them, and the use it should be of to the godly among them, Dan 11:30, and then his antitype, antichrist, is described; the western antichrist, his character and actions, Dan 11:36 then the eastern, his power, wealth and riches, hail and rain, Dan 11:40.

And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south,.... The king of Egypt, Ptolemy Epiphanes being a minor; and while he was such, Antiochus king of Syria, and Philip king of Macedon, joined in alliance together, as before observed, to seize upon his kingdom, and divide it between them; and accordingly Antiochus began the war in Coelesyria and Phoenicia, and Philip went against Egypt and Samos, or Caria, according to Polybius (q). Agathocles and Agathoclea, favourites of the former king of Egypt, laid a scheme of taking the regency into their hands during the minority of the young king; and these, being persons of dissolute lives, were hated by the Egyptians, which caused insurrections and seditions among themselves; and Scopas, a principal general in the army of the king of Egypt, formed a design of taking the government to himself: also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision: this is directed to the Prophet Daniel, and respects the Jews his countrymen, at least some of them, refractory persons that broke through all laws of God and men; seditious men, disturbers of the public peace, and who lived upon the spoil and plunder of others; these either took the advantage of the disturbances in Egypt, and went thither, and plundered what they could, in a bold and audacious manner, and so helped to fulfil this prophecy; or during the troubles in their own land, through the kings of Egypt and Syria, took the opportunity of committing thefts and robberies in a very daring manner, whereby they brought upon them those evils threatened in the law to such persons; and particularly when the Egyptians prevailed, they sided with them against Antiochus, especially such who apostatized from their religion to please the king of Egypt; but were afterwards punished by Antiochus, as it follows: but they shall fall: be cut off and destroyed, as those apostates that were of Ptolemy's party were by Antiochus, when he invaded Judea, and became master of Jerusalem; see third Maccabees chapter one. Some understand this of the apostate Jews, who fled with Onias the high priest to Egypt, and were there honourably received by Ptolemy, and obtained leave to build a temple there, under pretence of fulfilling the vision or prophecy in Isa 19:19, which continued many years to the times of the Romans, by whom it was destroyed; but this does not agree with the reign of this king of Egypt; for it was in the times of Ptolemy Philometor that this affair happened, as Josephus (r) relates. Sir Isaac Newton interprets it of the Samaritans (s). (q) Hist. l. 3. in initio. (r) Antiqu. l. 13. c. 3. sect. 1. (s) Vid. Joseph. Antiqu. l. 12. c. 4. sect. 1.

29. He says therefore to him: "Behold, there shall stand up three kings in Persia: and the fourth shall be far richer than they all; and when he has got possession of his riches, he shall stand up against all the realms of Grecia. And a mighty king shall stand up, and shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will; and when his kingdom stands, it shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven." These things we have already discussed above, when we discoursed upon the four beasts. But since Scripture now again sets them forth explicitly, we must also discourse upon them a second time, that we may not leave Scripture unused and unexplained. 30. "There shall stand up yet three kings," he says, "in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all." This has been fulfilled. For after Cyrus arose Darius, and then Artaxerxes. These were the three kings; (and) the Scripture is fulfilled. "And the fourth shall be far richer than they all." Who is that but Darius, who reigned and made himself glorious,-who was rich, and assailed all the realms of Greece? Against him rose Alexander of Macedon, who destroyed his kingdom; and after he had reduced the Persians, his own kingdom was divided toward the four winds of heaven. For Alexander at his death divided his kingdom into four principalities. "And a king shall stand up, and shall enter into the fortress of the king of Egypt." 31. For Antiochus became king of Syria. He held the sovereignty in the 107th year of the kingdom of the Greeks. And in those same times indeed he made war against Ptolemy king of Egypt, and conquered him, and won the power. On returning from Egypt he went up to Jerusalem, in the 103d year, and carrying off with him all the treasures of the Lord's house, he marched to Antioch. And after two years of days the king sent his raiser of taxes into the cities of Judea, to compel the Jews to forsake the laws of their fathers, and submit to the decrees of the king. And he came, and tried to compel them, saying, "Come forth, and do the commandment of the king, and ye shall live." 32. But they said, "We will not come forth: neither will we do the king's commandment; we will die in our innocency: and he slew of them a thousand souls." The things, therefore, which were spoken to the blessed Daniel are fulfilled: "And my servants shall be afflicted, and shall fall by famine, and by sword, and by captivity." Daniel, however, adds: "And they shall be holpen with a little help." For at that time Matthias arose, and Judas Maccabaeus, and helped them, and delivered them from the hand of the Greeks. 33. That therefore was fulfilled which was spoken in the Scripture. He proceeds then thus: "And the (king's) daughter of the South shall come to the king of the North to make an agreement with him; and the arms of him that bringeth her shall not stand; and she, too, shall be smitten, and shall fall, and he that bringeth her." For this was a certain Ptolemais queen of Egypt. At that time indeed she went forth with her two sons, Ptolemy and Philometor, to make an agreement with Antiochus king of Syria; and when she came to Scythopolis, she was slain there. For he who brought her betrayed her. At that same time, the two brothers made war against each other, and Philometor was slain, and Ptolemy gained the power. 34. War, then, was again made by Ptolemy against Antiochus, (and) Antiochus met him. For thus saith the Scripture: "And the king of the South shall stand up against the king of the North, and her seed shall stand up against him." And what seed but Ptolemy, who made war with Antiochus? And Antiochus having gone forth against him, and having failed to overcome him, had to flee, and returned to Antioch, and collected a larger host. Ptolemy accordingly took his whole equipment, and carried it into Egypt. And the Scripture is fulfilled, as Daniel says: And he shall carry off into Egypt their gods, and their cast-works, and all their precious (vessels of) gold. 35. And after these things Antiochus went forth a second time to make war against him, and overcome Ptolemy. And after these events Antiochus commenced hostilities again against the children of Israel, and despatched one Nicanor with a large army to subdue the Jews, at the time when Judas, after the death of Matthias, ruled the people; and so forth, as is written in the Maccabees. These events having taken place, the Scripture says again: "And there shall stand up another king, and he shall prevail upon the earth; and the king of the South shall stand up, and he shall obtain his daughter to wife." 36. For it happened that there arose a certain Alexander, son of Philip. He withstood Antiochus at that time, and made war upon him, and cut him off, and gained possession of the kingdom. Then he sent to Ptolemy king of Egypt, saying, Give me thy daughter Cleopatra to wife. And he gave her to Alexander to wife. And thus the Scripture is fulfilled, when it says: "And he shall obtain his daughter to wife." And it says further: "And he shall corrupt her, and she shall not be his wife." This also has been truly fulfilled. For after Ptolemy had given him his daughter, he returned, and saw the mighty and glorious kingdom of Alexander. And coveting its possession, he spoke falsely to Alexander, as the Scripture says: "And the two kings shall speak lies at (one) table." And, in sooth, Ptolemy betook himself to Egypt, and collected a great army, and attacked the city at the time when Alexander had marched into Cilicia. 37. Ptolemy then invaded the country, and established garrisons throughout the cities; and on making himself master of Judea, set out for his daughter, and sent letters to Demetrius in the islands, saying, Come and meet me here, and I will give thee my daughter Cleopatra to wife, for Alexander has sought to kill me. Demetrius came accordingly, and Ptolemy received him, and gave him her who had been destined for Alexander. Thus is fulfilled that which is written: "And he shall corrupt her, and she shall not be his wife." Alexander was slain. Then Ptolemy wore two crowns, that of Syria and that of Egypt, and died the third day after he had assumed them. Thus is fulfilled that which is written in Scripture: "And they shall not give him the glory of the kingdom." For he died, and received not honour from all as king. 38. The prophet then, after thus recounting the things which have taken place already, and been fulfilled in their times, declares yet another mystery to us, while he points out the last times. For he says: "And there shall rise up another shameless king; and he shall exalt himself above every god, and shall magnify himself, and shall speak marvellous things, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished; "anti so forth. "And these shall escape out of his hand, Edom, and Moab, and the chief (or principality) of the children of Ammon. And he shall stretch forth his hand upon the land; and the land of Egypt shall not escape. And he shall have power over the secret treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt and of the Libyans, and the Ethiopians in their strongholds." 39. Thus, then, does the prophet set forth these things concerning the Antichrist, who shall be shameless, a war-maker, and despot, who, exalting himself above all kings and above every god, shall build the city of Jerusalem, and restore the sanctuary. Him the impious will worship as God, and will bend to him the knee, thinking him to be the Christ. He shall cut off the two witnesses and forerunners of Christ, who proclaim His glorious kingdom from heaven, as it is said: "And I will give (power) unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth." As also it was announced to Daniel: "And one week shall confirm a covenant with many; and in the midst of the week it shall be that the sacrifice and oblation shall be removed"-that the one week might be shown to be divided into two. The two witnesses, then, shall preach three years and a half; and Antichrist shall make war upon the saints during the test of the week, and desolate the world, that what is written may be fulfilled: "And they shall make the abomination of desolation for a thousand two hundred and ninety days." 40. Daniel has spoken, therefore, of two abominations; the one of destruction, and the other of desolation. What is that of destruction, but that which Antiochus established there at the time? And what is that of desolation, but that which shall be universal when Antichrist comes? "And there shall escape out of his hand, Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon." For these are they who ally themselves with him on account of their kinship, and first address him as king. Those of Edom are the sons of Esau, who inhabit Mount Seir. And Moab and Ammon are they who are descended from his two daughters, as Isaiah also says: "And they shall fly (extend themselves) in the ships of strangers, and they shall also plunder the sea; and those from the east, and from the west, and the north, shall give them honour: and the children of Ammon shall first obey them." He shall be proclaimed king by them, and shall be magnified by all, and shall prove himself an abomination of desolation to the world, and shall reign for a thousand two hundred and ninety days. "Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days; "for when the abomination cometh and makes war upon the saints, whosoever shall survive his days, and reach the forty-five days, while the other period of fifty days advances, to him the kingdom of heaven comes. Antichrist, indeed, enters even into part of the fifty days, but the saints shall inherit the kingdom along with Christ.

Verses 13, 14. "And the king of the North shall return and shall prepare a much greater multitude than before, and in the end of times and years he shall come in haste with a large army and great resources. And in those times many shall rise up against the king of the South." This indicates that Antiochus the Great, who despised the worthlessness of Ptolemy Philopator (for he had fallen desperately in love with a lute-player named Agathoclea and also her brother, retaining Agatho-cles himself as his concubine and afterwards appointing him as general of Egypt), assembled a huge army from the upper regions of Babylon. And since Ptolemy Philopator was now dead, Antiochus broke his treaty and set his army in motion against Philopator's four-year-old son, who was called Epiphanes. For so great was the dissoluteness and arrogancy of Agathoclea, that those provinces which had previously been subjected to Egypt rose up in rebellion, and even Egypt itself was troubled with seditions. Moreover Philip, King of Macedon, and Antiochus the Great made peace with each other and engaged in a common struggle against Agathocles and Ptolemy Eprphanes, on the understanding that each of them should annex to his own dominion those cities of Ptolemy which lay nearest to them. And so this is what is referred to in this passage, which says that many shall rise up against the king of the South, that is, Ptolemy Epiphanes, who was then a mere child. "Moreover the children of the transgressors of thy people shall lift themselves up, that they may fulfil the vision, and then fall to ruin (Vulgate: and they shall fall to ruin)." During the conflict between Antiochus the Great and the generals of Ptolemy, Judaea, which lay between them, was rent into contrary factions, the one group favoring Antiochus, and the other favoring Ptolemy. Finally the high priest, Onias, fled to Egypt, taking a large number of Jews along with him, and was given by Ptolemy an honorable reception. He then received the region known as Heliopolis, and by a grant of the king, he erected a temple in Egypt like the temple of the Jews, and it remained standing up until the reign of Vespasian, over a period of two hundred and fifty years. But then the city itself, which was known as the City of Onias, was destroyed to the very ground because of the war which the Jews had subsequently waged against the Romans. There is consequently no trace of either city or temple now remaining. But as we were saying, countless multitudes of Jews fled to Egypt on the occasion of Onias's pontificate, and the land was filled with a large number from Cyrene as well. For Onias affirmed that he was fulfilling the prophecy written by Isaiah: "There shall be an altar of the Lord in Egypt, and the name of the Lord shall be found in their territories" (Isaiah 19:19). And so this is the matter referred to in this passage: "The sons of the transgressors of thy people," who forsook the law of the Lord and wished to offer blood-sacrifices to God in another place than what He had commanded. They would be lifted up in pride and would boast that they were fulfilling the vision, that is, the thing which the Lord had enjoined. But they shall fall to ruin, for both temple and city shall be afterwards destroyed. And while Antiochus held Judaea, a leader of the Ptolemaic party called Scopas Aetholus was sent against Antiochus, and after a bold campaign he took Judaea and took the aristocrats of Ptolemy's party back to Egypt with him on his return.

This chapter gives a more particular explanation of those events which were predicted in the eighth chapter. The prophet had foretold the partition of Alexander's kingdom into four parts. Two of these, in which were included Egypt and Syria, the one to the north, the other to the south, in respect of Judea, appear to take up the chief attention of the prophet, as his people were particularly concerned in their fate; these being the countries in which by far the greatest number of the Jews were, and still are, dispersed. Of these countries he treats (according to the views of the most enlightened expositors) down to the conquest of Macedon, A.M. 3836, b.c. 168, when he begins to speak of the Romans, vv. 1-30; and then of the Church under that power, Dan 11:31-35. This leads him to speak of Antichrist, who was to spring up in that quarter, Dan 11:36-39; and of those powers which at the Time of the end, or the latter days of the Roman monarchy, (as this term is generally understood), were to push at it, and overthrow many countries, Dan 11:40-43. By the king of the South, in the fortieth verse, the dominion of the Saracens, or Arabs, is supposed to be intended, which was an exceeding great plague to the Roman empire in the east, and also to several papistical countries, for the space of one hundred and fifty years, i.e. from a.d. 612, when Mohammed and his followers first began their depredations, to a.d. 762, when Bagdad was built, and made the capital of the caliphs of the house of Abbas, from which epoch the Saracens became a more settled people. By the king of the North in the same verse the prophet is supposed by some to design that great scourge of eastern Christendom, the Ottoman or Othman empire, by which, after about a hundred and fifty years of almost uninterrupted hostilities, the Roman empire in the east was completely overturned, a.d. 1453. The chapter concludes with a prediction of the final overthrow of this northern power, and of the manner in which this great event shall be accomplished, Dan 11:44, Dan 11:45. But it should be observed that, notwithstanding the very learned observations of Bishop Newton and others upon this chapter, their scheme of interpretation presents very great and insurmountable difficulties; among which the very lengthy detail of events in the Syrian and Egyptian histories, comprising a period of less than two hundred years, and the rather uncouth transition to the incomparably greater transactions in Antichristian times, and of much longer duration, which are passed over with unaccountable brevity, are not the least. On all these subjects, however, the reader must judge for himself. See the notes.

Many stand up against the king of the south - Antiochus, and Philip king of Macedon, united together to overrun Egypt. Also the robbers of thy people - The Jews, who revolted from their religion, and joined Ptolemy, under Scopas: - Shall exalt themselves to establish the vision - That is, to build a temple like that of Jerusalem, in Egypt, hoping thereby to fulfil a prediction of Isaiah, Isa 30:18-25, which seemed to intimate that the Jews and the Egyptians should be one people. They now revolted from Ptolemy, and joined Antiochus; and this was the means of contributing greatly to the accomplishment of prophecies that foretold the calamities that should fall upon the Jews. But they shall fall - For Scopas came with a great army from Ptolemy; and, while Antiochus was engaged in other parts, reduced Coelesyria and Palestine, subdued the Jews, placed guards on the coasts of Jerusalem, and returned with great spoils to Egypt.

This chapter is an enlargement of the eighth: THE OVERTHROW OF PERSIA BY GRECIA: THE FOUR DIVISIONS OF ALEXANDER'S KINGDOM: CONFLICTS BETWEEN THE KINGS OF THE SOUTH AND OF THE NORTH, THE PTOLEMIES AND SELEUCIDÆ: ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES. (Dan. 11:1-45) I--the angel (Dan 10:18). first year of Darius--Cyaxares II; the year of the conquest of Babylon (Dan 5:31). Cyrus, who wielded the real power, though in name subordinate to Darius, in that year promulgated the edict for the restoration of the Jews, which Daniel was at the time praying for (Dan 9:1-2, Dan 9:21, Dan 9:23). stood--implying promptness in helping (Psa 94:16). strengthen him--namely, Michael; even as Michael (Dan 10:21, " strengtheneth himself with me") helped the angel, both joining their powers in behalf of Israel [ROSENMULLER]. Or, Darius, the angel "confirming him" in his purpose of kindness to Israel.

many stand up against the king of the south--Philip, king of Macedon, and rebels in Egypt itself, combined with Antiochus against Ptolemy. robbers of thy people--that is, factious men of the Jews shall exalt themselves, so as to revolt from Ptolemy, and join themselves to Antiochus; the Jews helped Antiochus army with provisions, when on his return from Egypt he besieged the Egyptian garrison left in Jerusalem [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 12:3.3]. to establish the vision--Those turbulent Jews unconsciously shall help to fulfil the purpose of God, as to the trials which await Judea, according to this vision. but they shall fall--Though helping to fulfil the vision, they shall fail in their aim, of making Judea independent.

The Revelation of the Future - Daniel 11:2-12:3 Proceeding from the present, the angel reveals in great general outlines the career of the Persian world-kingdom, and the establishment and destruction, which immediately followed, of the kingdom which was founded by the valiant king of Javan, which would not descend to his posterity, but would fall to others (Dan 11:2-4). Then there follows a detailed description of the wars of the kings of the south and the north for the supremacy, wherein first the king of the south prevails (Dan 11:5-9); the decisive conflicts between the two (Dan 11:10-12), wherein the south is subjugated; and the attempts of the kings of the north to extend their power more widely, wherein they perish (Dan 11:13-20); finally, the coming of a "vile person," who rises suddenly to power by cunning and intrigue, humbles the king of the south, has "indignation against the holy covenant," desolates the sanctuary of God, and brings severe affliction upon the people of God, "to purge and to make them white to the time of the end" (Dan 11:21-35). At the time of the end this hostile king shall raise himself above all gods, and above every human ordinance, and make the "god of fortresses" his god, "whom he will acknowledge and increase with glory" (Dan 11:36-39). But in the time of the end he shall pass through the countries with his army as a flood, enter into the glorious land, and take possession of Egypt with its treasures; but, troubled by tidings out of the east and the north, shall go forth in great fury utterly to destroy many, and shall come to his end on the holy mountain (Dan 11:40-45). At this time of greatest tribulation shall the angel-prince Michael contend for the people of Daniel. Every one that shall be found written in the book shall be saved, and the dead shall rise again, some to everlasting life, some to everlasting shame (Dan 12:1-3). This prophecy is so rich in special features which in part have been literally fulfilled, that believing interpreters from Jerome to Kliefoth have found in it predictions which extend far beyond the measure of prophetic revelation, while rationalistic and naturalistic interpreters, following the example of Porphyry, from the speciality of the predictions, conclude that the chapter does not contain a prophetic revelation of the future, but only an apocalyptic description of the past and of the present of the Maccabean pseudo-Daniel. Against both views Kranichfeld has decidedly declared himself, and sought to show that in these prophetic representations "the prediction does not press itself into the place of historical development, i.e., that it does not concern itself with such future dates as do not connect themselves with the historical present of the prophetic author (Daniel), as the unfolding of religious moral thought animated by divine influence." This is on the whole correct. Here also the prophecy does not become the prediction of historical dates which do not stand in inner connection with the fundamental idea of the book, which is to announce the unfolding of the heathen world-power over against the kingdom of God. This vision, also, as to its contents and form, is accounted for from the circumstances of time stated in Dan 10:1, and contains much which a supposed Maccabean origin makes in the highest degree improbable, and directly contradicts. First, it is "against the nature of a fictitious production which should be written in the time of the greatest national commotion, that the great repeated victories of the people over the Syrian power should have been so slightingly spoken of as is the case here (Dan 11:34)," i.e., should be designated only as "a little help." Then the prophetic representation over against the historical facts of the case is full of inaccuracies; and these historical inconveniences are found not only in the description which had reference to the history of the times preceding the author, but also, above all, in the history of the times of the Maccabees themselves. Thus, e.g., in Dan 11:40-45 an Egyptian expedition of Antiochus Epiphanes shortly before his death is prophesied, for which, besides Porphyry, no voucher and, in general, no historical probability exists (Kran.). Kranichfeld, however, goes too far when he holds all the special features of the prophetic revelation to be only individualizing paintings for the purpose of the contemplation, and therein seeks to find further developed only the fundamental thoughts of the great inner incurable enmity of the heathen ungodly kingdom already stated in Dan 2:41-43; Dan 7:8, Dan 7:20,Dan 7:24; Dan 8:8, Dan 8:22, Dan 8:24. The truth lies in the middle between these two extremes. This chapter contains neither mere individualizing paintings of general prophetic thoughts, nor predictions of historical dates inconsistent with the nature of prophecy, but prophetic descriptions of the development of the heathen world-power from the days of Cyrus to the fall of the Javanic world-kingdom, as well as of the position which the two kingdoms (arising out of this kingdom) of the north and south, between which the holy land lay, assumed toward each other and toward the theocracy; for by the war of these two kingdoms for the sovereignty, not merely were the covenant land and the covenant people brought in general into a sorrowful condition, but they also were the special object of a war which typically characterizes and portrays the relation of the world-kingdom to the kingdom of God. This war arose under the Seleucidan Antiochus Epiphanes to such a height, that it formed a prelude of the war of the time of the end. The undertaking of this king to root out the worship of the living God and destroy the Jewish religion, shows in type the great war which the world-power in the last phases of its development shall undertake against the kingdom of God, by exalting itself above every god, to hasten on its own destruction and the consummation of the kingdom of God. The description of this war as to its origin, character, and issue forms the principal subject of this prophecy. It is set forth in the revelation of the angel from Dan 11:21 to the end (Dan 12:3), while the preceding description, as well of the course of the Persian and Javanic world-kingdoms as of the wars of the kings of the north and the south (Daniel 11:2-20), prepares for it. But this preparatory description is not merely individualizing pictures of the idea of the incurable hostility of the heathen ungodly kingdom, but a prophetic delineation of the chief lines of the process which the heathen world-power shall pass through till it shall advance to the attempt to destroy the kingdom of God. These chief lines are so distinctly laid down, that they contain their concrete fulfilment in the historical development of the world-power. In like manner are so described the appearance and the wars of the enemy of God, who desolates the sanctuary of God and takes away the daily sacrifice, that we can recognise in the assault of Antiochus Epiphanes against the temple and the worship of the people of Israel a fulfilling of this prophecy. Yet here the foretelling (Weissagung) does not renounce the character of prophecy (Prophetie): it does not pass over into prediction (Praediction) of historical facts and events, but so places in the light of the divine foresight and predetermination the image of this enemy of God, and his wickedness against the sanctuary and the people of God, that it brings under contemplation, and places under the point of view of the purification of the covenant people for the time of the end (Dan 11:35), the gradual progress of his enmity against God till he exalts himself above all divine and human relations. From the typical relation in which Antiochus, the O.T. enemy of God, stands to Antichrist, the N.T. enemy, is explained the connection of the end, the final salvation of the people of God, and the resurrection from the dead, with the destruction of this enemy, without any express mention being made of the fourth world-kingdom and of the last enemy arising out of it; from which the modern critics have drawn the erroneous conclusion, that the Maccabean pseudo-Daniel expected the setting up of the Messianic kingdom in glory along with the overthrow of Antiochus Epiphanes. At the foundation of this conclusion there lies an entire misapprehension of the contents and object of this prophecy, namely, the idea that the prophecy seeks to furnish a historical sketch, clothed in an apocalyptic form, of the development of the world-kingdoms from Cyrus to Antiochus Epiphanes. In support of this error, it is true that the church interpretation given by Jerome is so far valid, in that it interprets the prophecy partially considered under the point of view of the very special predictions of historical persons and events, and from this view concludes that Dan 11:21-35 treat of Antiochus Epiphanes, and Dan 11:36-45 of Antichrist; according to which there would be in Dan 11:36 an immediate passing from Antiochus to the Antichrist, or in Dan 12:1 a sudden transition from the death of Antiochus to the time of the end and the resurrection from the dead. But the prophecy does not at all correspond to this representation. The Angel of the Lord will reveal to Daniel, not what shall happen from the third year of Cyrus to the time of Antiochus, and further to the resurrection of the dead, but, according to the express declaration of Dan 10:14, what shall happen to his people בּאחרית היּמים, i.e., in the Messianic future, because the prophecy relates to this time. In the אחרית takes place the destruction of the world-power, and the setting up of the Messianic kingdom at the end of the present world-aeon. All that the angel says regarding the Persian and the Javanic world-kingdoms, and the wars of the kings of the north and the south, has its aim to the end-time, serves only briefly to indicate the chief elements of the development of the world-kingdoms till the time when the war that brings in the end shall burst forth, and to show how, after the overthrow of the Javanic world-kingdom, neither the kings of the north nor those of the south shall gain the possession of the dominion of the world. Neither by the violence of war, nor by covenants which they will ratify by political marriages, shall they succeed in establishing a lasting power. They shall not prosper, because (Dan 11:27) the end goes yet to the times appointed (by God). A new attempt of the king of the north to subjugate the kingdom of the south shall be defeated by the intervention of the ships of Chittim; and the anger awakened in him by this frustration of his plans shall break forth against the holy covenant, only for the purifying of the people of God for the time of the end, because the end goes yet to the appointed time (Dan 11:35). At the time of the end his power will greatly increase, because that which was determined by God shall prosper till the end of the indignation (Dan 11:36); but in the time of the end he shall suddenly fall from the summit of his power and come to his end (Dan 11:45), but the people of God shall be saved, and the wise shall shine in heavenly glory (Dan 12:1-3). Accordingly the revelation has this as its object, to show how the heathen world-kingdoms shall not attain to an enduring stability, and by their persecution of the people of God shall only accomplish their purification, and bring on the end, in which, through their destruction, the people of God shall be delivered from all oppression and be transfigured. In order to reveal this to him (that it must be carried forward to completion by severe tribulation), it was not necessary that he should receive a complete account of the different events which shall take place in the heathen world-power in the course of time, nor have it especially made prominent that their enmity shall first come to a completed manifestation under the last king who should arise out of the fourth world-kingdom. For that the Javanic world-kingdom shall not form the last embodiment of the world-power, but that after it a fourth more powerful kingdom shall arise - this was already revealed to Daniel in Daniel 7. Moreover, in Daniel 8 the violent enemy of the people of Israel who would arise from the Diadoch-kingdoms of the Javanic world-monarchy, was already designated as the type of the last enemy who would arise out of the ten kingdoms of the fourth world-kingdom. After these preceding revelations, the announcement of the great tribulation that would come upon the people of God from these two enemies could be presented in one comprehensive painting, wherein the assault made by the prefigurative enemy against the covenant people shall form the foreground of the picture for a representation of the daring of the antitypical enemy, proceeding even to the extent of abolishing all divine and human ordinances, who shall bring the last and severest tribulation on the church of God, at the end of the days, for its purification and preparation for eternity.