ดาเนียล 12:2 วิจารณ์

After the prediction of the troubles of the Jews under Antiochus, prefiguring the troubles of the Christian church under the anti-christian power, we have here, I. Comforts, and very precious ones, prescribed as cordials for the support of God's people in those times of trouble; and they are such as may indifferently serve both for those former times of trouble under Antiochus and those latter which were prefigured by them (Dan 12:1-4). II. A conference between Christ and an angel concerning the time of the continuance of these events, designed for Daniel's satisfaction (Dan 12:5-7). III. Daniel's enquiry for his own satisfaction (Dan 12:8). And the answer he received to that enquiry (Dan 12:9-12).

INTRODUCTION TO DANIEL 12 This chapter begins with an account of a time of exceeding great trouble to the people of God, who are comforted with the consideration of Michael the great Prince being on their side, and with a promise of deliverance, with the resurrection of the dead, and the glorious state of wise and good men upon that, Dan 12:1, and Daniel is ordered to shut up and seal the book of the prophecy, until a time when it should be better understood, Dan 12:4, next follows a question put by an angel to Christ, and his answer to it, with respect to the time of the fulfilment of those wonderful events, Dan 12:5. Daniel, not understanding what he heard, asks what would be the end of those things, Dan 12:8 in answer to which he is bid to be content with what he knew; no alteration would be among men; things would be neither better nor worse with them, Dan 12:9, a time is fixed for the accomplishment of all, Dan 12:11, and it is promised him that he should have rest after death, and rise again, and have his lot and share with the blessed, Dan 12:13.

And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,.... Which is not to be understood in a figurative and metaphorical, sense, as by R. Jeshuah the Jew, Porphyry the Heathen, and by some Christian writers; neither of the deliverance of the Jews from the troubles of Antiochus, or their present captivity; nor of the spiritual resurrection of them, or others, from their state of infidelity to a profession of the Gospel, which in some is real, in others only hypocritical; but, in a literal sense, of the resurrection of the dead at the last day, which, with respect to the righteous, will take place upon the personal appearance of Christ at first, Th1 4:16, for, as death is oftentimes compared to "sleep", in which the senses are bound up, and the body is in a state of inactivity; see Joh 11:11, so the resurrection from the dead is expressed by awaking out of sleep, when the body shall rise fresh and vigorous, in full health and strength, as a man out of a comfortable sleep; see Psa 17:15. The word "many" is used, either because, as all will not sleep, so all will not be awaked; there will be some that will be alive and awake at Christ's coming, Co1 15:51, or, as it signifies, a multitude, Psa 97:1 and so here the innumerable multitude of the dead, who are afterwards distributively considered; and indeed the word is sometimes used for "all"; see Rom 5:15, some to everlasting life; to the enjoyment of everlasting life and happiness with Christ in the world to come; a phrase often used in the New Testament, though never before in the Old; expressive of that felicity and bliss which the saints enjoy in heaven after this life is over, first in the separate state of the soul, and then, at the resurrection, in soul and body, and of the everlasting continuance of it; they that shall enjoy this are those that are written in the Lamb's book of life, or are ordained unto eternal life; who are redeemed by the blood of Christ, regenerated by his Spirit and grace, justified by his righteousness, adopted into the family of God, are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; these are the dead in Christ, which rise first: and some to shame and everlasting contempt; wicked men, who lived in a course of sin in this world, without any remorse or shame; but, when they shall rise from the dead, they will rise with all their sins upon them, and with a full conviction of them in their consciences; and will be ashamed of them, and to appear before God the Judge of all; and will be had in contempt by the Lord, by elect angels, and all good men; and this reproach shall never be wiped off; see Isa 66:24. Our Lord seems manifestly to have respect to this passage, when he speaks of men coming out of their graves at the last day, "some unto the resurrection of life, and others unto the resurrection of damnation", Joh 5:28 and upon these words it may well be thought the Apostle Paul grounded his faith of the resurrection of the dead, both just and unjust, Act 24:15, and though the resurrection of both is spoken of here and elsewhere together, yet it will be at distinct periods of time; the resurrection of the just at the beginning of the thousand years, and that of the wicked at the end of them, Rev 20:5, between which will be the intermediate state of the saints dwelling with Christ on earth; where they will be favoured with his presence, and the rewards of his grace, to which the following verse has respect.

"These shall awake to everlasting life." That is, those who have believed in the true life, and who have their names written in the book of life. "And these to shame." That is, those who are attached to Antichrist, and who are cast with him into everlasting punishment.

Who are the ones sleeping in “the tombs of the earth” but the bodies of those people who will receive their own souls back and rise from the dead? Some will rise “to the resurrection of life,” receiving pure, transparent and radiant bodies “like the brilliance of the firmament.” Others will arise “to the resurrection of judgment,” receiving bodies suitable to everlasting punishment.

It is the flesh that dies; the soul is immortal. So then, if the soul is immortal and the body is a corpse, those who say that there is a resurrection, but not of the flesh, deny any resurrection; because it is not that which remains standing but that which has fallen and been laid down that is to be set up, according to what was written: “Does not he who falls rise again, and he who turns aside return?” Since flesh was made to border on incorruption and corruption, being itself neither the one nor the other, and was overcome by corruption … and delivered over to death through disobedience, God did not leave it to corruption, to be triumphed over … but, after conquering death by the resurrection, he delivered it again to incorruption … “For this corruptible must put on incorruption.”

Man [humanity], though he was not made mortal and corruptible, dies, and his soul is separated from his body, in order that his transgression might be destroyed by death, being unable to live after he was dead. Thus, with sin dead and destroyed, he can rise again in immortality and sing a hymn of praise to God who saves his children from death by means of death.

This sentiment set forth by Cicero … “if the soul will be in a state of vigor without the body, it is a divine life; and if it is without perception, assuredly that is not bad,” is clever … but false. For the sacred writings teach that the soul is not annihilated but that it is either rewarded according to its righteousness or eternally punished according to its crimes.

To all who reason rightly, the heaviest of punishments is shame. We also have learned this in the case of the judgment, when “some” shall rise “to everlasting life and some to everlasting shame and contempt.”

Verses 1-3. "But at that time shall Michael rise up, the great prince, who stands for the children of thy people, and a time shall come such as never occurred from the time that nations began to exist even unto that time. And at that time shall thy people be saved, even everyone who shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some unto life everlasting, and others unto reproach, that they may behold it always. But those who are instructed shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that instruct many as to righteousness, as the stars for all eternity." Up until this point Porphyry somehow managed to maintain his position and impose upon the credulity of the naive among our adherents as well as the poorly educated among his own. But what can he say of this chapter, in which is described the resurrection of the dead, with one group being revived for eternal life and the other group for eternal disgrace? He cannot even specify who the people were under Antiochus who shone like the brightness of the firmament, and those others who shone like the stars for all eternity. But what will pigheadedness not resort to? Like some bruised serpent, he lifts up his head as he is about to die, and pours forth his venom upon those who are themselves at the point of death. This too, he declares, was written with reference to Antiochus, for after he had invaded Persia, he left his army with Lysias, who was in charge of Antioch and Phoenicia, for the purpose of warring against the Jews and destroying their city of Jerusalem. All these details are related by Josephus, the author of the history of the Hebrews. Porphyry contends that the tribulation was such as had never previously occurred, and that a time came along such as had never been from the time that races began to exist even unto that time. But when victory was bestowed upon them, and the generals of Antiochus had been slain, and Antiochus himself had died in Persia, the people of Israel experienced salvation, even all who had been written down in the book of God, that is, those who defended the law with great bravery. Contrasted with them were those who proved to be transgressors of the Law and sided with the party of Antiochus. Then it was, he asserts, that these guardians of the Law, who had been, as it were, slumbering in the dust of the earth and were cumbered with a load of afflictions, and even hidden away, as it were, in the tombs of wretchedness, rose up once more from the dust of the earth to a victory unhoped for, and lifted up their heads, rising up to everlasting life, even as the transgressors rose up to everlasting disgrace. But those masters and teachers who possessed a knowledge of the Law shall shine like the heaven, and those who have exhorted the more backward peoples to observe the rites of God shall blaze forth after the fashion of the stars for all eternity. He also adduces the historical account concerning the Maccabees, in which it is said that many Jews under the leadership of Mattathias and Judas Maccabaeus fled to the desert and hid in caves and holes in the rocks, and came forth again after the victory (I Macc. 2.) These things, then, were foretold in metaphorical language as if it concerned a resurrection of the dead. But the more reasonable understanding of the matter is that in the time of the Antichrist there shall occur a tribulation such as there has never been since nations began to exist. For assume that Lysias won the victory instead of being defeated, and that he completely crushed the Jews instead of their conquering; certainly such tribulation would not have been comparable to that of the time when Jerusalem was captured by the Babylonians, the Temple was destroyed, and all the people were led off into captivity. And so after the Antichrist is crushed and destroyed by the breath of the Savior's mouth, the people written in God's book shall be saved; and in accordance with the merits of each, some shall rise up unto eternal life and others unto eternal shame. But the teachers shall resemble the very heavens, and those who have instructed others shall be compared to the brightness of the stars. For it is not enough to know wisdom unless one also instructs others; and the tongue of instruction which remains silent and edifies no one else can receive no reward for labor accomplished. This passage is expressed by Theodo-tion and the Vulgate edition in the following fashion: "And those who understand shall shine forth like the radiance of the firmament, and many of the righteous like the stars forever and ever." Many people often ask whether a learned saint and an ordinary saint shall both enjoy the same reward and one and the same dwelling-place in heaven. Well then, the statement is made here, according to Theodotion's rendering, that the learned will resemble the very heavens, whereas the righteous who are without learning are only compared to the brightness of the stars. And so the difference between learned godliness and mere godly rusticity shall be the difference between heaven and the stars.

Nor is there any real contradiction between John’s “all who are in the tombs” and Daniel’s “many” in place of “all.” As an illustration of this, notice how, in one place, God said to Abraham, “I have made you the father of many nations” and in another, “In your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.”

Let those who try to apply these things to Antiochus tell us who was resurrected in his day—with some obtaining eternal life and others reaping the fruit of reproach and eternal shame. And if someone should say that the Maccabees are referred to by these words, inasmuch as they went out from the caves, he would incur rather much laughter, for the same people will have to be found to be both lovers of godliness and workers of iniquity, for the prophecy says, “Many of those sleeping in the tombs of the earth will rise, some to everlasting life and others to reproach and everlasting shame.” Therefore, if someone should apply these words to the Maccabees, they will say that the Maccabees themselves were both evil and good or that some of them were good and others evil. But this is impossible to find, for their whole company was godly. Moreover, “eternal life” does not fit them as far as the present life is concerned, since they all were killed and departed from this life. Then let us leave behind those old wives’ tales and learn about the common resurrection of the dead and the judgment that will take place after the resurrection. Some will receive eternal life, and others will be scorned and reproached forever.

“Many shall awake” means the resurrection of their bodies, for I do not suppose that anyone would speak of souls sleeping in the dust of the earth.… The Lord, too, has clearly shown in the holy Gospels that there is a resurrection of the body, for “they that are in the graves,” he says, “shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And they that have done good things shall come forth to the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.” Now, no person in his right mind would ever say that it was the souls that were in the graves.

The dead shall rise again, and they that are in the graves shall awake. They that have kept the commandments of Christ and have departed this life in the true faith shall inherit eternal life; and they that have died in their sins and have turned aside from the right faith shall go away into eternal punishment. Do not believe that there is any true being or kingdom of evil or suppose that it is without beginning, or self-originated or born of God—forget such an absurdity! But believe rather that it is the work of us and the devil, come on us through our inattentiveness, because we were endowed with free will, and we made our choice, of deliberate purpose, whether it be good or evil.

“And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,” that is, many of those who lie among afflictions and are prostrated by their misfortunes, that is, the Maccabees—“some to everlasting life,” that is, their patience and justice will make them rejoice in the life in the two worlds, and, in addition, it will make them illustrious through a precious memory in all the centuries after those, in which they lived—“and some to destruction and the opprobrium of their fellow citizens,” that is, the impious and scandalous priests will be given to punishment because of their crimes, and they will leave an evil and accursed name to their fellow citizens forever.

The proper conclusion to the great revolutions predicted in this and the following chapters is the general resurrection, of which the beginning of this chapter (to be literally understood) gives some intimation, Dan 12:1-3. Daniel is then commanded to shut up the words and to seal the book to the time of the end, Dan 12:4; and is informed of the three grand symbolical periods of a time, times, and a half, twelve hundred and ninety days and thirteen hundred and thirty-five days, Dan 12:4-12; at the end of the last of which Daniel shall rest and stand in his lot, Dan 12:13. It is generally thought by commentators that the termination of the last period is the epoch of the First resurrection. See Rev 20:4, Rev 20:5.

Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth - This prophecy has been referred to the future restoration of the Jews. It will be also true of the state of mankind at the general judgment.

CONCLUSION OF THE VISION (TENTH THROUGH TWELFTH CHAPTERS) AND EPILOGUE TO THE BOOK. (Dan 12:1-13) at that time--typically, towards the close of Antiochus' reign; antitypically, the time when Antichrist is to be destroyed at Christ's coming. Michael--the guardian angel of Israel ("thy people"), (Dan 10:13). The transactions on earth affecting God's people have their correspondences in heaven, in the conflict between good and bad angels; so at the last great contest on earth which shall decide the ascendency of Christianity (Rev 12:7-10). An archangel, not the Lord Jesus; for he is distinguished from "the Lord" in Jde 1:9. there shall be--rather, "it shall be." time of trouble, such as never was--partially applicable to the time of Antiochus, who was the first subverter of the Jews' religion, and persecutor of its professors, which no other world power had done. Fully applicable to the last times of Antichrist, and his persecutions of Israel restored to Palestine. Satan will be allowed to exercise an unhindered, unparalleled energy (Isa 26:20-21; Jer 30:7; Mat 24:21; compare Dan 8:24-25; Dan 11:36). thy people shall be delivered-- (Rom 11:26). The same deliverance of Israel as in Zac 13:8-9, "the third part . . . brought through the fire . . . refined as silver." The remnant in Israel spared, as not having joined in the Antichristian blasphemy (Rev 14:9-10); not to be confounded with those who have confessed Christ before His coming, "the remnant according to the election of grace" (Rom 11:5), part of the Church of the first-born who will share His millennial reign in glorified bodies; the spared remnant (Isa 10:21) will only know the Lord Jesus when they see Him, and when the spirit of grace and supplication is poured out on them [TREGELLES]. written in the book--namely, of God's secret purpose, as destined for deliverance (Psa 56:8; Psa 69:28; Luk 10:20; Rev 20:15; Rev 21:27). Metaphor from a muster-roll of citizens (Neh 7:5).

many . . . that sleep--"many from among the sleepers . . . these shall be unto everlasting life; but those (the rest of the sleepers who do not awake at this time) shall be unto shame" [TREGELLES]. Not the general resurrection, but that of those who share in the first resurrection; the rest of the dead being not to rise till the end of the thousand years (Rev 20:3, Rev 20:5-6; compare Co1 15:23; Th1 4:16). Israel's national resurrection, and the first resurrection of the elect Church, are similarly connected with the Lord's coming forth out of His place to punish the earth in Isa 26:19, Isa 26:21; Isa 27:6. Compare Isa 25:6-9. The Jewish commentators support TREGELLES. AUBERLEN thinks the sole purpose for which the resurrection is introduced in this verse is an incitement to faithful perseverance in the persecutions of Antiochus; and that there is no chronological connection between the time of trouble in Dan 12:1 and the resurrection in Dan 12:2; whence the phrase, "at that time," twice occurs in Dan 12:1, but no fixing of time in Dan 12:2-3; 2 Maccabees 7:9, 14, 23, shows the fruit of this prophecy in animating the Maccabean mother and her sons to brave death, while confessing the resurrection in words like those here. Compare Heb 11:35. NEWTON'S view that "many" means all, is not so probable; for Rom 5:15, Rom 5:19, which he quotes, is not in point, since the Greek is "the many," that is, all, but there is no article in the Hebrew here. Here only in the Old Testament is "everlasting life" mentioned.

These verses do not at all present the form of a parenetic reference to the retribution commencing with the resurrection. Dan 12:2 is by the copula וconnected with Dan 12:1, and thereby designates the continuance of the thought of the second half of Dan 12:1, i.e., the further representation of the deliverance of God's people, namely, of all those who are written in the book of life. Since many of the משׂכּילים who know their God (Dan 11:33) lose their life in the persecution, so in the promise of deliverance a disclosure of the lot awaiting those who sealed with their blood their fidelity to God was not to be avoided, if the prophecy shall wholly gain its end, i.e., if the promise of the deliverance of all the pious shall afford to the people of God in the times of oppression strength and joy in their enduring fidelity to God. The appeal to the fact that Dan 12:2, Dan 12:3 contain no designation of time proves nothing at all, for this simple reason, that the verses connected by "and" are by this copula placed under Dan 12:1, which contains a designation of time, and only further show how this deliverance shall ensue, namely thus, that a part of the people shall outlive the tribulation, but those who lose their lives in the persecution shall rise again from the dead. To this is to be added that the contents of Dan 12:1 do not agree with the period of persecution under Antiochus. That which is said regarding the greatness of the persecution is much too strong for it. The words, "There shall be a time of trouble such as never was מהיות , since there was a nation or nations," designate it as such as never was before on the earth. Theodoret interprets thus: οἵα οὐ γέγονεν, αφ ̓οὐ γεγένηται εθνος ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἕως τοῦ καιροῦ ἐκείνου. With reference to these words our Lord says: οἵα οὐ γέγονεν ἀπ ̓ἀρχῆς κόσμου ἕως τοῦ νῦν, οὐδ ̓οὐ μὴ γένηται, Mat 24:21. Though the oppression which Antiochus brought upon Israel may have been most severe, yet it could not be said of it without exaggeration, that it was such a tribulation as never had been from the beginning of the world. Antiochus, it is true, sought to outroot Judaism root and branch, but Pharaoh also wished to do the same by his command to destroy all the Hebrew male children at their birth; and as Antiochus wished to make the worship of the Grecian Zeus, so also Jezebel the worship of the Phoenician Hercules, in the place of the worship of Jehovah, the national religion in Israel. Still less does the second hemistich of Dan 12:1 refer to the deliverance of the people from the power of Antiochus. Under the words, "every one that shall be found written in the book," Hitzig remarks that they point back to Isa 4:3, and that the book is thus the book of life, and corrects the vain interpretation of v. Lengerke, that "to be written in the book" means in an earthly sense to live, to be appointed to life, by the more accurate explanation, "The book of life is thus the record of those who shall live, it is the list of the citizens of the Messianic kingdom (Phi 4:3), and in Isaiah contains the names of those who reach it living, in Daniel also of those who must first be raised from the dead for it." Cf. regarding the book of life, under Exo 32:32. Accordingly, ההיא בּעת extends into the Messianic time. This is so far acknowledged by Hofmann (Weiss. u. Erf. i. p. 313, and Shcriftbew. 2:2, p. 697), in that he finds in Dan 12:1, from "and there shall be a time," and in Dan 12:2, Dan 12:3, the prophecy of the final close of the history of nations, the time of the great tribulation at the termination of the present course of the world, the complete salvation of Israel in it, and the resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. Since, however, Hofmann likewise refers the last verses of the preceding chapter to the time of Antiochus and his destruction, and can only refer the ההיא וּבעת at the beginning of Dan 12:1-13, from its close connection with the last words of Daniel 11, to the time which has hitherto been spoken of, so he supposes that in the first clause of the first verse of this chapter (Dan 12:1-13) there cannot be a passing over to another time, but that this transition is first made by והיתה. This transition he seeks indeed, in the 2nd ed. of his Schriftbew. l.c., to cover by the remark: that we may not explain the words of the angel, וגו עת והיתה, as if they meant: that time shall be a time of trouble such as has not been till now; but much rather that they are to be translated: "and there shall arise a time of trouble such as never was to that time." But this separation of the words in question from those going before by the translation of והיתה "and there shall arise," is rendered impossible by the words following, ההיא העת עד; for these so distinctly point back to the words with which the verse commences, that we may not empty them of their definite contents by the ambiguous "till that time." If the angel says, There shall arise a time of oppression such as has never been since there were nations till that time when Michael shall appear for his people, or, as Hofmann translates it, shall "hold fast his place," then to every unprejudiced reader it is clear that this tribulation such as has never been before shall arise not for the first time centuries after the appearance of Michael or of his "holding fast his place," but in the time of the war of the angel-prince for the people of God. In this same time the angel further places the salvation of the people of Daniel and the resurrection of the dead. (Note: Hofmann's explanation of the words would only be valid if the definition of time ההיא העת אחרי stood after והיתה in the text, which Hofm. in his most recent attempts at its exposition has interpolated inadvertently, while in his earlier exposition (Weiss. u. Erf. i. p. 314) he has openly said: "These last things connect themselves with the prospect of the end of that oppressor of Israel, not otherwise than as when Isaiah spoke of the approaching assault of the Assyrians on Jerusalem as of the last affliction of the city, or as in Jeremiah the end of those seventy years is also the end of all the sufferings of his people. There remains therefore a want of clearness in this prospect," etc. This want of clearness he has, in his most recent exposition in the Schriftbew., not set aside, but increased, by the supposition of an immediate transition from the time of Antiochus to the time of the end.) The failure of all attempts to gain a space of time between Dan 11:45 and Dan 12:1, Dan 12:2 incontrovertibly shows that the assertions of those who dispute the genuineness of the book, that the pseudo-Daniel expected along with the death of Antiochus the commencement of the Messianic kingdom and of the resurrection of the dead, would have a foundation if the last verses of Daniel 11 treated of the last undertakings of this Syrian king against the theocracy. This if, it has, however, been seen from Daniel 11, is not established. In Dan 11:40-45 the statements do not refer to Antiochus, but to the time of the end, of the last enemy of the holy God, and of his destruction. With that is connected, without any intervening space, in Dan 12:1 the description of the last oppression of the people of God and their salvation to everlasting life. The prophecy of that unheard-of great tribulation Christ has in Mat 24:21 referred, wholly in the sense of the prophetic announcement, to the yet future θλῖψις μεγάλη which shall precede the coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven to judge the world and to bring to a consummation the kingdom of God. That this tribulation shall come only upon Israel, the people of God, is not said; the גּוי מהיות refers much more to a tribulation that shall come upon the whole of humanity. In it shall the angel-prince Michael help the people of Daniel, i.e., the people of God. That he shall destroy the hostile king, the Antichrist, is not said. His influence extends only to the assistance which he shall render to the people of God for their salvation, so that all who are written in the book of life shall be saved. Christ, in His eschatological discourse, Matt 24, does not make mention of this assistance, but only says that for the elect's sake the days of the oppression shall be shortened, otherwise that no one would be saved (ἐσώθη, Mat 24:22). Wherein the help of Michael consists, is seen partly from that which is said in Dan 10:13 and Dan 10:21 regarding him, that he helped the Angel of the Lord in the war against the hostile spirit of the Persian and the Javanic world-kingdom, partly from the war of Michael against the dragon described in Rev 12:7. From these indications it is clear that we may not limit the help on the part of Michael to the help which he renders to the saints of God in the last war and struggle, but that he stands by them in all wars against the world-power and its princes, and helps them to victory. But the salvation which the people of God shall experience in the time of the unparalleled great oppression is essentially different from the help which was imparted to the people of Israel in the time of the Maccabees. This is called "a little help," Dan 11:34. So also is the oppression of Israel in the time of the Maccabees different from the oppression in the end of the time, as to its object and consequences. The former oppression shall, according to Dan 11:33-35, serve to purify the people and to make them white to the time of the end; the oppression at the time of the end, on the contrary, according to Dan 12:1-3, shall effect the salvation (המּלט) of the people, i.e., prepare the people for the everlasting life, and bring about the separation of the righteous from the wicked for eternity. These clearly stated distinctions confirm the result already reached, that Dan 12:1-3 do not treat of the time of Antiochus and the Maccabees. The promised salvation of the people (ימּלט) is more particularly defined by the addition to עמך: "every one who shall be found written in the book," sc. of life (see above, p. 813); thus every one whom God has ordained to life, all the genuine members of the people of God. נמלט, shall be saved, sc. out of the tribulation, so that they do not perish therein. But since, according to Dan 11:33., in the oppression, which passes over the people of God for their purification, many shall lose their lives, and this also shall be the case in the last and severest oppression, the angel gives to the prophet, in Dan 12:2, disclosures also regarding the dead, namely, that they shall awaken out of the sleep of death. By the connection of this verse with the preceding by ,ו without any further designation of time, the resurrection of the dead is placed as synchronous with the deliverance of the people. "For that the two clauses, 'thy people shall be delivered' (Dan 12:1), and 'many shall awake,' not only reciprocally complete each other, but also denote contemporaneous facts, we only deny by first denying that the former declares the final salvation of Israel" (Hofm. Schriftbew. ii. 2, p. 598). ישׁן, sleeping, is here used, as in Job 3:13; Jer 51:39, of death; cf. καθεύδειν, Mat 9:24; Th1 5:10, and κοιμᾶσθαι, Th1 4:14. אדמת־עפר, occurring only here, formed after Gen 3:19, means not the dust of the earth, but dusty earth, terra pulveris, denoting the grave, as עפר, Psa 22:30. It appears surprising that רבּים, many, shall awake, since according to the sequel, where the rising of some to life and of some to shame is spoken of, much rather the word all might have been expected. This difficulty is not removed by the remark that many stands for all, because רבּים does not mean all. Concerning the opinion that many stands for all, Hofmann remarks, that the expression "sleeping in the dust of earth" is not connected with the word many (רבּים), but with the verb "shall awake" (יקיצוּ): "of them there shall be many, of whom those who sleep in the earth shall arise" (Hofm.). So also C. B. Michaelis interprets the words by reference to the Masoretic accentuation, which has separated רבּים from מיּשׁני (sleeping), only that he takes מן in the sense of stating the terminus mutationis a quo. But by this very artificial interpretation nothing at all is gained; for the thought still remains the same, that of those who sleep in the dust many (not all) awake. The partitive interpretation of מן is the only simple and natural one, and therefore with most interpreters we prefer it. The רבּים can only be rightly interpreted from the context. The angel has it not in view to give a general statement regarding the resurrection of the dead, but only disclosures on this point, that the final salvation of the people shall not be limited to those still living at the end of the great tribulation, but shall include also those who have lost their lives during the period of the tribulation. In Dan 11:33, Dan 11:35, the angel had already said, that of "those that understand" many shall fall by the sword and by flame, etc. When the tribulation at the time of the end increases to an unparalleled extent (Dan 12:1), a yet greater number shall perish, so that when salvation comes, only a remnant of the people shall be then in life. To this surviving remnant of the people salvation is promised; but the promise is limited yet further by the addition: "every one that is found written in the book;" not all that are then living, but only those whose names are recorded in the book of life shall be partakers of the deliverance, i.e., of the Messianic salvation. But many (רבּים) of those that sleep, who died in the time of tribulation, shall awake out of sleep, some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting shame. As with the living, so also with the dead, not all attain to salvation. Also among those that arise there shall be a distinction, in which the reward of the faithful and of the unfaithful shall be made known. The word "many" is accordingly used only with reference to the small number of those who shall then be living, and not with reference either to the universality of the resurrection of the dead or to a portion only of the dead, but merely to add to the multitude of the dead, who shall then have part with the living, the small number of those who shall experience in the flesh the conclusion of the matter. If we consider this course of thought, then we shall find it necessary neither to obtrude upon רבּים the meaning of all, - a meaning which it has not and cannot have, for the universality of the resurrection is removed by the particle מן, which makes it impossible that ,οἱ πολλοί = πάντες; for this conclusion can only be drawn from the misapprehension of the course of thought here presented, that this verse contains a general statement of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, an idea which is foreign to the connection. From the correct interpretation of the course of thought arises the correct answer to the controverted question, whether here we are taught concerning the resurrection of the people of Israel, or concerning the resurrection of mankind generally. Neither the one nor the other of these things is taught here. The prophetic words treat of the people of Daniel, by which we are to understand the people of Israel. But the Israel of the time of the end consists not merely of Jews or of Jewish Christians, but embraces all peoples who belong to God's kingdom of the New Covenant founded by Christ. In this respect the resurrection of all is here implicite intimated, and Christ has explicitly set forth the thoughts lying implicite in this verse; for in Joh 5:28. He teaches the awakening from sleep of all the dead, and speaks, with unmistakeable reference to this passage before us, of an ἀνάστασις ζωῆς and an ἀνάστασις κρίσεως. For in the O.T. our verse is the only passage in which, along with the resurrection to everlasting life, there is mention also made of the resurrection to everlasting shame, or the resurrection of the righteous and of the wicked. The conception of עולם ,חיּיζωὴ αἰώνιος, meets us here for the first time in the O.T. חיּים denotes, it is true, frequently the true life with God, the blessed life in communion with God, which exists after this life; but the addition עולם does not generally occur, and is here introduced to denote, as corresponding to the eternal duration of the Messianic kingdom (Dan 2:44; Dan 7:14, Dan 7:27, cf. Dan 9:24), the life of the righteous in this kingdom as imperishable. עולם לדראון לחרפות forms the contrast to עולם לחיּי; for first חרפות, shame (a plur. of intensive fulness), is placed over against the חיּי, then this shame is designated in reference to Isa 66:24 as דּראון, contempt, an object of aversion. Dan 12:3 Then shall they who in the times of tribulation have led many to the knowledge of salvation receive the glorious reward of their faithfulness. With this thought the angel closes the announcement of the future. המשׂכּילים refers back to Dan 11:33-35, and is here, as there, not limited to the teachers, but denotes the intelligent who, by instructing their contemporaries by means of word and deed, have awakened them to stedfastness and fidelity to their confession in the times of tribulation and have strengthened their faith, and some of whom have in war sealed their testimony with their blood. These shall shine in eternal life with heavenly splendour. The splendour of the vault of heaven (cf. Exo 24:10) is a figure of the glory which Christ designates as a light like the sun ("The righteous shall shine forth as the sun," Mat 13:43, referring to the passage before us). Cf. for this figure also Rev 2:28 and Co1 15:40. By the expression הרבּים מצדּיקי Kranichfeld would understand such as take away the sins of the people in the offering up of sacrifice, i.e., the priests who attend to the offering of the sacrifices, because the expression is borrowed from Isa 53:11, "where it is predicated of the Messianic priest κατ ̓ἐξοχὴν, in the fullest sense of the word, what is said here of the common priests." But this interpretation is not satisfactory. In Isa 53:11 the Servant of Jehovah justifies many, not by the sacrifice, but by His righteousness, by this, that He, as צדּיק who has done no sin, takes upon Himself the sins of the people and gives His soul an offering for sin. הצּדּיק is neither in the law of sacrifices nor anywhere in the O.T. named as the effect of the sacrifice, but always only עון שׂאת (נשׂא) (to take up, take away iniquity) and כּפּר, and in the expiatory sacrifices with the constant addition לו (<) ונסלח; cf. Lev 4:26, Lev 4:31, Lev 4:35; Lev 5:10,Lev 5:16; Psa 32:1. Nor is the practice of offering sacrifice anywhere described as a הצּדּיק. This word signifies to assist in obtaining, or to lead to, righteousness, and is here to be read in this general interpretation, and not to be identified with the Pauline δικαιοῦσθαι. The מצדּיקים are those who by their צדקה, i.e., by their fidelity to the law, led others to צדקה, showed them by their example and teaching the way to righteousness. The salvation of the people, which the end shall bring in, consists accordingly in the consummation of the people of God by the resurrection of the dead and the judgment dividing the pious from the godless, according to which the pious shall be raised to eternal life, and the godless shall be given up to everlasting shame and contempt. But the leaders of the people who, amid the wars and conflicts of this life, have turned many to righteousness, shall shine in the imperishable glory of heaven.