The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 265

be the cnmbrousncss 11nd slow advance of the Persian armies; e.g. the invasion ot Greece by Xerxes (see the histories). Note the accessories of the symbol. Raising itself on one side, and perhaps striking out with its right forearm. This in<licat.es the combination of Mede with Persian-the latter the stronger 11nd more aggressive. The three ribs devoured stand for Lydia, Dabylon, Egypt, subdued. " Devour much flesh" suggests the awful waste of life incident to Persian progress. How many of tbe two millions returned from Greece? 3. The leopard-form. Tho Greek empire, specially under Alexander. Characteristics: insl\liable nppetite for liloo<l, swiftness, subtlety. "Four wings." "Four beads." The Greek dominion e8sentially one, but with four centres. Trace the analogy. Alexander's determi- nation to conquer the world. Swift movement, equalled only by Napoleon I. The 1rnbtlety of bis genius. The division of his empire into four. 4. The nameless form. 'l'he Roman empire. So terrible is this power, that no one creature can represent it, nor tlie combined attributes of many. 'fhe eminence and importance of this empire are apparent from: (a) Its prominence in this chapter. (b) Daniel's anxiety to" know the truth of the fourth beast." (c) Its collision with the Divine kingdom. (d) Its 1rnccessive historical aspects. (1) Its first aspect. (Seever. 7.) All this exhibits the utter!: destructive energy of Rome. What it did not devour, it destroyed for destruction's sake. A contrast with the other powers. 'l'bey ravaged, subdued, extorted tribute; "but their connection with the states which they subdued was loose and disjointed." Rome conquered all, kept all, assimilated all. (2) Two developments. (a) "Ten horns." Horn i11 the symbol of power. The ten were on the head from the beginning, to manifest the unity of the Roman empire plus the European nations. Their development, however, was not at once. (b) The one. Small at the beginning. Displaces a third (nearly) of existing powers. A develop- ment of the Roman domination. "Eyes" for a certain intelli~ence. Pride and blasphemy out of its "mouth" 'I What can this be but the papacy "C V. ITs JUDGMENT .U,'D OVERTHROW. Not for ever and for ever shall the brutal reign. How sublime tbe contrast ushered in by ver. 9 I Below, the ocean, la.shed by powers of evil ; out of it the brntal, its last developments the worst. Now heaven opens. Thrones were set (not "cast dowu "). A central throne. Ou it the Eternal. The throne the source of all splendour, the fount of energy (Rev. iv. 5). Judgment proceeding. Not the last judgment. But the continuous judgment of men and nations. The Roman empire, and all that came of it doomed-annihilated. The other empires long gone, though for a while they lingered. Learn : 1. The eternal supremacy of God. 2. The righteousness of his ;"udgment,. 3. 17,e certain doom of all that is alienated from his own Divine life. Individuals and natioru; are human' and humane only as they live in him. 'fhe reign of the brutal iu any form cannot be elernal. Animalism in all its ugly, cruel, sensual forms, must go down; for God in Christ "must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his foet."-R. Vere. 13 14.-The enthronement of (J!trist. "I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man" (ver. 13). Either after, or more probably in connection with the destruction of the fourth world-power, universal empire was given to Christ -th~ Messiah of Hebrew expectation. We assume, fo~ th~ present, that it !s ~e who is described in the next paragraph. That the assumption 1B well-founded will imme- diately appear. L '£HE KING. We read ver. 13 thus: " I continued looking in the visions of the night e.nd behold I with the clouds of heaven like unto a Son of man was advancing, and kl the Ancient of days to come, and before him they caused him to approach." I. Tfui Personage was Divine. Advancing, girt with clouds, marks the Divine. Cloucle hide the glory behind and beyond. They symbolize the veil that dims the glory of God. Many are the scriptural passages to illustrate. Select e. few, and we shall see how the same idea starts up in successive ages of the Church (Exod. xiii. ~1; xiv. ~4). If these describe the action of the Anuel-God, they are all the more pertment as 1ll11stra.• tions of this passage in Daniel (Ex~. xvi. 10; xl. 34; Lev. xvi. 2; 2 Chron, v. 1~, 14; Ps. xcvii. 2). Ctirist takes up these representations, and applies them to himself (Matt. xni. 64). (In this last passage, note " the Son of man;" BO again in Matt,  VII, VII, 1-28.) 'l'Ht DOOK OF bANrnL.