The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 350

,hnll m111tiply in g10f"I/. Those morocn1Lries bnt the end of this distress. It ie JJOssible of his he would" incrol\BP, Rnd give over the.t to the writer the entranco of the now more honour to !,hem. And he ehn/.l oaUBe ore.-tho l\foesi!lnio time-would coinoide ihem lo rule o""r mnny. These mercenttries with the fe.11 of Antiochus, and that thia 1•laoed in fen<".ed cities were formed intc ere. might be regarded 68 the end of the Hellenic communities, Rn<'! rooeh·od many world. The king of the south shall pmh at of the natives 11-B subjeC'ts. Tho reference is Mm. This 8llggeste war begun by the IGng not merely to gRrrisons being placed in of Egypt ngainet Syria.. It is difficult to fortresses, but to R ehnin of Hellonio cities, see how this could tako placo after tho which. in imitation of the Romn,ne, Antioohne fourth expedition of Antiochus into Egypt. plnc,•d in Palestine. And eluill di'llide The two brothers, Philomctor and Euergctes il,e lnnd fnr gain. As will be seen, the (Physcon), wero at war with each other Greek versions Rnd t,he Vulgntc reverse the sh~rtly itfter this, and though Philomctor idea here, and render-the LXX., 6wp«f,., gained the mastery, he was not in a position ··gratuitously:" Theodotion, Iv 6,1,po«," in to threaten Syria. Certainly, had Ptolemy gifts;" the Vulgato, gratuito, which is due Philometor been in a position to te.ke ven- lo reading i·,:;::i ( m•!,eer) instead of i•;,o geance on his uncle, tho successful rebellion (m'heer). The word may mean, as it is tak~~ of the Jews afforded an opportunity. We by the English versions and the Peshitta have no record in Polybius, Livy, I Mac- to mean. "for a price;" as in 2 Sam. xxiv. cabees, or Josephus of any fifth expedition 24, Da"l"id purchased the threshing-floor of of Egypt against Epiphanes, either planned Araune.h bim•hcer, "at a price;'' but it a.lso or attempted. Polybius is certainly frag- means "wages," e.s in l\'1:icah iii. 11, "Her mentary, and so to a greater extent ie priests tee.eh for hire wages (bim•heer)." Livy; yet what has come down bears on 'l'he reference, then, is to the fact that in events so near chronologically to this al- the dcplcnished state of his tre1LS1Iry, leged expedition planned age.inst Syria Antiochus divided the land of Palestine to that it would scarcely fail to be noticed. bis mercenaries, in lien of the wages he And the king of the north shall come against could not pay. him lika a 1ohirlwind, with chariots, and Ver. 40.-Alld at the time of the end shall with horsemen, and with many ships. This the kiI!g of the aouth push at him : and the purports to be an account of an expe- king of the :north shall oome against him dition UDdertaken by Epipho.nes age.inst like e. whirlwind, with chariots, and with Ptolemy, presumably Philometor. Of thia horsemen, and with many ships ; and he there is not e. trace; Antiochus is in so lllLILli enter into the colllltrie&, and shall great need of money that he must use one overflow s.nd pa.ss ove::-. The Septnngint half hia army to collect money by robbing Version is somewhat shorter, "And at the temples in Elymais, while the other, unde!" time of the end the King of Egypt shall Lysias, is occupied in attempting to put pnsh at him : and the king of the north down the rebellion ot the Jews. Again the sb.a.11 be enraged at him, with chariots and hiatorians of lhe period are silent, and what many horses and many ships, and shall they tell ns is inconsistent with this fifth enter into the land of Egypt." Probably the expedition. Jerome, in his commentary on lllassoretic has been amplified. Still it is e. Daniel. quotes Porphyry, who gives e.n poBBihle thing that, as Egypt ll"W! the nature.I e.ccount of an expedition against Egypt in objecti"l'e of all the military preparations of the eleventh year of his reign. That, how- Syria, the shorter s = r y might be inserted ever, Wl!.8 the year of his death-the year, instead of the longer paraphrase of the Ma.s- therefore, of hia expedition agaillst Elymais. soretic. Throughout in the Septuagint Ver- It is impoBBible that in the beginning of sion, as may be noted., "Egypt" st.ands in the.t year he should Ulldertake such an place of "the south." Thoodotion i.a much expedition into Egypt e.s that desoribed by closer to the Massoretic, but omits" the whirl- Porphyry, and e.t the end have timo to wind.," and has, instead of "coUDtries," -yijv, march into Elymais. It cannot be the "the land." The Peshitta di1fers in some expedition of Lysias which is referred to, respeotl! more from the Me.ssoretic than for he is represented (l Maco. iii. 32) as either of the Greek texts, "And at the having the oversight of all the territory of end of time the king of the south shall the king from the river Euphrates, but there strive with him: and the king of the north is no notice of ships. And he shall enrer R1,all be moved against him, with chariots into the countries, and ehall overfloio and and horsemen and with many ships; and he pase over. This might refer to the ex- s!.o.11 a.et impiously in the land." The pedition which Antiocbus UDdcrtook to Yulgate agrees with the Me.ssoretic text. Elymais, but in tbe following verse we learn .At the tirr.e of the end. This refers to the the direction was toward Egypt. No such h,une " time of the end " as that in ver. expedition occurred aft.er the fourth. Whe.t :J5; that is to se.y, not the end of the world, explanation is to be given of thia? Tho  OH, XI. 1-5.] THE llOOK OF DANIEL. 323