thRt time : in that time sh"ll thy people be be true. Never in the history of Israel AArnd, ew,ry one who is writt.en in tne book." had there been suoh a persecution, because The Peshitta rendering is, "At thl\t time the o.ttc·mpt to force the people to worship ~hall et.and up Michael, the great angel who Jupiter was met by I\ far fteroer resislo.noe 1s ov~rsc-cr over tb~ children of thy people, than that which met Jezebel'a attempt to end 1t shall be " time of affliction 811Ch as make Israel worshippers of Bo.al. The has not been from the da.y1, of eternity; there people were not then eo permeated with love shall be delivered of the ohildron of thy and honour to Jehovah as they were now. people every one who ie found writwn in the Further, there was moro kindred between book." The rendering of the Vulgate is in Daal-worship and that of Jehovah origin- close agrc-emcnt with the l\fassoretio text. ally than between the latter and the worship The difference in the first clause between of Jupiter. Be.al means simply" Lord," and 1hc tc-xt of the Septuagint and that repre- Jehovah seems to have been worshipped sented by the Massorctic text and that of under that title (Hos. ii. 16). A collat.eral the versions which follow it is of impor- proof of this is the fact that Saul named tance. It is hardly possible to suggE>,at any one of his sons after "Baal "-Eshbaal Hebrew word for the place which can have (equivalent to Ishbosheth), 1 Chron. ,·iii. 83; been suggested by MP., the word used here and Jonathan also named his son from Buo.l for " time.'' Roth versions of the clause -Meribaa.l (equivalent to Mcphiboshelh), look like attempts to ~upply a link of con- 1 Chron. viii. 84. Th<i plea might thus be nection wl.uch was awanting in the tell:t advanced that Bao.I-worship was e. revival before tbcm. This supports our idea that of an ancient cult. Hence the persecution t~e eleventh chapter is ma.inly an interpola- severe as it wne, would not be so severe e.~ tion. It would seem that the Septuegint UDder Antiochus. Yet, again, the Greek translator had before him a tell:t having intellect, keen and polished as it was, could some derirntive possibly of ½o, perhaps in persecute in e. way more thorough and th• passive of the pilpel, which has no C?mplete. If fiercer persecution for religious ext.ant example. And at that time. The views could not have been at any earlier connection would naturally imply the time time in Jewish history, in no other country of the dE'struction of the oppressor-the would there have been any persecution at king of the south. When he was cut off all, because there would have been no resist- " without a helper" would be a time one ance to the will of the monarch. Our Lord, would expect of joy, not of affliction. H in Matt. xxiv. 21, has this passage in mind, may rf'fer to the coming of the oppressor and uses terms borrowed from it to describe from Egypt with "great rage." If that pro- the su1ferings to be endured by the Jews at duced the great affliclion, what is the result the hands of the Romans, when Jerusalem of ll!ichn.el's standing up? It seems as if she.II be besieged and taken. It is to be the connection here were hopelessly broken; observed that while in Daniel the comparison some disloc:i.tion has occurred. Michael tlte is only with the past, in Matthew there is great prince which standeth for the cliildren added o. reference to the future, •• No, nor of thy people (see eh. x. 21). "Thy people," ever shall be." Nothing, then, aho.ll equal the this prcnomin.e.l suffill: only occurs once in appalling horrors of the siege and sack of the previous chapter, in the fourteenth Jerusalem. And at that time thy people shall verse, in a clause that does not harmonize be delit>ered. The mere fact of deliveranoe with the context-a clause that we think is mentioned, but the nature of the delivor- is a portion of the missing vision of Daniel. ance is not indicated there; cessation of Shull stand up. This, taken in connection peraecution would not be delivero.noe, for with his function, means he shall come for only Israel was persecuted. The applioa- tLc help of Israel And there aha1l be a tion of the phrases of our Lord have a totally time of trouble, such as Mt>er tDUJI since different reference-the Jews perished, tl.ie there u:as a nation. Tbis is certainly not Cbristians were delivered. There ia here what might be expected to reB11lt from another evidence of dislocation. Every one Michael arising for the deliverance of the that shall be found written in tlte book. people of God. It certainly may be in- There seems to be a faint reminiscence of tended to explain the fact that Michael this in Phil. iv. 8, and a clearer in doos "stand up." But in the succeeding Bev. xiii. 8. Although "books" is here verses we ho.ve no accoUDt of special referred to, and referred to also in eh. x. 21, deliverance being given to Israel The yet the "books " are different. The "book" natural meaning of this would be that in the tenth chapter containa presumo.bly fn,m the time that Israel began to be a an account beforehand of all that is to na.liun there had nut been such affliction. happen. Thie book is, so to speak, a register ll might m~o.n tha.t never since there were of the names of those who should ':::;d 0
n.atiu1Jo LfJ.d tl,ere been such a persecu- through the fiery trial that was to try them tion. Either of these interpretations wouM and maintain their faithf1.1l11ess. lt is ~ w en. xu. 1-13.] nrn DOOK OF DANIEL,