The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 252

In vor.17 reo.ds regna, not rege,. The Mae- clom ?f heaven which Christ set np ia tl,us eoretlo text ho.e some peculiarities. Tho first promised to fill the earth. The Church i, words o.lford one of tho ro.ro inetnncee thus the true ultimate state. If we regar,l where we ho.ve tho 'ilhpo.cl inetee.d of the tbe Church as e. society formed of those hilhpaol; it may be due to eoribo.l correction. who are mutually attracted to each other. In the eoventeonth verse 'inoon (K'thib) have e. mutual love for each other, en,! o.fforde on instance of the frequent Syria.em have e. common love to God, then all the in Do.uicl. The "Most High" ie rendered history of the world ie tending towards tlw by e. pluro.l o.djective, J'11'7V., ('el11<>neen); it establishment of such o. society, universal ie explo.ined differently. Kro.nichfeld o.nd as the world. National hatreds are much Btu11rt rego.rd it o.e pluralia ezcellentim. Iese acute now than they were. Despite Ilovo.n o.nd Behrmnnn regard it ae e. case the efforts to rouse class against cla.se, thero of o.ttrnction, the lo.tter giving o.e parallel in- seems more sympathy between classes than stances, b•nee 'ayleem (Pe. xxix. 1) and b•nee there was. The final break-down of national n•beem. The difficulty remo.ine that neither and class oppositions, not neceasa.rily by the the pluralia ezcellentim nor cho.nge of abolition of either class or nation, will pre- number is known in Aramaic. The fa.et pare the way for the Christ-commanded Jove that this strnnge form hae produced no which is the tie tbat unites the members of effect on any of the versions makes the the true eternal Church of God. reading suspicious. Professor Fuller sees Vere. 19-22.-Then I would know the in this word o. proof of Babylonian influ- truth of ~e fonrtn beast, wnicll was ence, but he does not e.BBign hie reason. diverse from all the others, exceeding dread- We now enter a new stage in the develop- ful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails ment of this vision, After the wonderful of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, nesize has ended, Do.niel dreams that he and stamped the residue with his feet; and is still standing among these innumerable of the ten horns that were in his head, and multitudes, and, feeling that all these things of the other which came up, and 1:efore are eymbole, he ie grieved because he can• whom three fell; even of that horn that had not comprehend what is meant by them. eyes, and e. mouth that epa.ke very great So from one of those attendants who crowd things, whose look was more stout than his the canvas of hie vision he asks an expla- fellows. I beheld, and the same horn made nation, or rather '' the certo.inty," of this war with the saints, and prevailed against vision: he wishes to know whether it ie them; Ulltil the Anoient of days came, and a mere vision or of the nature of e. reve- judgment was given to the saints of the lation. This is a. perfectly natural psycho- Most High; e.nd the time came that tha logical condition in dreaming. In the act saints possessed the kingdom. In regard of dreaming we question ourselves whether to the version of the LXX. here, wo have we are dreaming or not; we may even ask the advantage of Justin Martor's transcrip- one of the characters in our dreo.m the tion, in which, however, the differences from question. The interpretation is interest- the Chigi text a.re not of greo.t importa.ncP, ing, but has been already to some extent 'fhe LXX. here is pretty close to the forestalled. A di.fliculty is seen by some Massorctic text. "Behold" has intrude,! commento.tors-how these four kingdoms into the text; it fa, however, omitted froru . could be said to a.rise, when one of them Justin l\lartyr. Another clause, evid0ntly was nearing ita fall. If we take the rend- e. doublet, is omitted also, and the clause ing of the Septuagint, this difficulty is ob- assumes nearly the shape it has in Theo- viated. Saadia Gaon makes these four dotion. It is rufficult to imagine how the kings the nominative to the verb "receive" reading of the LXX. arose. The differences (wrongly tro.nslated in our Authorized Ver- from the Massoretic text are for the rest not sion, "take"), and maintains each of these essential. This is the case with Theodotion empires eho.11 hold the kingdom of Israel and the Pcshittl\. These verses to sorue until the Messiah shall come, Thie view extent recapitulate the earlier description would necessitate grammatically that the of this fourth beast. There are, howe\'er, Messiah should never come, but that the features added-to the "iron teeth" of tho reign of these four world-empires should be seventh verse are added" claws of bra:,:1." prolonged into eternity. "'fhe saints of The main change is in regard to the little the Most High," in the thought of Daniel, horn tbat came up last. ,ve not only learn would be, of necessity, the Jews; for we here that three other horns were plucke,l need not discuss the possibility of the up before it, but the personification is now angels being the holy ones implied here carried further, and the horn makes war -they always have the kingdoms of the ago.inst the saints, and prevails ago.inst world under them-but we m1ty see the them. This description does not suit fame) of fo.ith iu this figurr. 'l'he believers Epipho.nes. He certainly made war ag:iinst in Cilrist o.re the truo Isrnel, 1t1Hl the king- the saints, but as cerbinly he clicl not pro- 218 TIIE IlOOK OF DANIEL. [en. vtt. 1-28,