39. Thus, then, does the prophet set forth these things concerning the Antichrist, who shall be shameless, a war-maker, and despot, who, exalting himself above all kings and above every god, shall build the city of Jerusalem, and restore the sanctuary. Him the impious will worship as God, and will bend to him the knee, thinking him to be the Christ. He shall cut off the two witnesses and forerunners of Christ, who proclaim His glorious kingdom from heaven, as it is said: "And I will give (power) unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth." [1330] As also it was announced to Daniel: "And one week shall confirm a covenant with many; and in the midst of the week it shall be that the sacrifice and oblation shall be removed"--that the one week might be shown to be divided into two. The two witnesses, then, shall preach three years and a half; and Antichrist shall make war upon the saints during the rest of the week, and desolate the world, that what is written may be fulfilled: "And they shall make the abomination of desolation for a thousand two hundred and ninety days."
40. Daniel has spoken, therefore, of two abominations; the one of destruction, and the other of desolation. What is that of destruction, but that which Antiochus established there at the time? And what is that of desolation, but that which shall be universal when Antichrist comes? "And there shall escape out of his hand, Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon." For these are they who ally themselves with him on account of their kinship, and first address him as king. Those of Edom are the sons of Esau, who inhabit Mount Seir. And Moab and Ammon are they who are descended from his two daughters, as Isaiah also says: "And they shall fly (extend themselves) in the ships of strangers, and they shall also plunder the sea; and those from the east, and from the west, and the north, shall give them honour: and the children of Ammon shall first obey them." [1331] He shall be proclaimed king by them, and shall be magnified by all, and shall prove himself an abomination of desolation to the world, and shall reign for a thousand two hundred and ninety days. "Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days;" for when the abomination cometh and makes war upon the saints, whosoever shall survive his days, and reach the forty-five days, while the other period of fifty days advances, to him the kingdom of heaven comes. Antichrist, indeed, enters even into part of the fifty days, but the saints shall inherit the kingdom along with Christ.
41. These things being thus narrated, Daniel proceeds: "And, behold, there stood two men, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side; and they made answer to the man that stood upon the bank of the river, and said to him, How long shall it be to the end of these wonderful words which thou hast spoken? And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was upon the water of the river; and he lifted up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by Him that liveth for ever, that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and they shall know all these things when the dispersion is accomplished."
42. Who, then, were the two men who stood on the bank of the river, but the law and the prophets? And who was he who stood upon the water, but He concerning whom they prophesied of old, who in the last times was to be borne witness to by the Father at the Jordan, and to be declared to the people boldly by John, "who wore the casty [1332] of the scribe about his loins, and was clothed with a linen coat of various colours?" These, therefore, interrogate Him, knowing that to Him were given all government and power, in order to learn accurately of Him when He will bring the judgment on the world, and when the things spoken by Him will be fulfilled. And He, desiring by all means to convince them, lifted His right hand and His left hand to heaven, and sware by Him that liveth for ever. Who is He that swore, and by whom sware He? Manifestly the Son by the Father, saying, The Father liveth for ever, but in a time, and times, and an half, when the dispersion is accomplished, they shall know all these things.
43. By the stretching forth of His two hands He signified His passion; and by mentioning "a time, and times, and an half, when the dispersion is accomplished," He indicated the three years and a half of Antichrist. For by "a time" He means a year, and by "times" two years, and by an "half time" half a year. These are the thousand two hundred and ninety days of which Daniel prophesied for the finishing of the passion, and the accomplishment of the dispersion when Antichrist comes. In those days they shall know all these things. And from the time of the removal of the continuous sacrifice there are also reckoned one thousand two hundred and ninety days. (Then) iniquity shall abound, as the Lord also says: "Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." [1333]
44. And that divisions will arise when the falling away takes place, is without doubt. And when divisions arise, love is chilled. The words, "Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days," have also their value, as the Lord said: "But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." Wherefore let us by no means admit the falling away, lest iniquity abound, and the abomination of desolation--that is, the adversary--overtake us. And He said to him, "unto evening"--that is, unto the consummation--"and morning." What is "morning?" The day of resurrection. For that is the beginning of another age, as the morning is the beginning of the day. And the thousand and four hundred days are the light of the world. For on the appearing of the light in the world (as He says, "I am the light of the world"), the sanctuary shall be purged, as he said, [1334] (of) the adversary. For it cannot by any means be purged but by his destruction.
[1294] The same method of explaining the two visions is also adopted by Jacobus Nisibenus, serm. v., and by his illustrious disciple Ephraem Syrus on Dan. vii. 4. [Let me again refer to Dr. Pusey's work on Daniel, as invaluable in this connection. The comments of our author on this book and on "the Antichrist," infra, deserve special attention, as from a disciple of the disciples of St. John himself.]
[1295] Dan. vii.
[1296] [True in a.d. 1885. A very pregnant testimony to our own times.]
[1297] This is what Photius condemned in Hippolytus. Irenæus, however, held the same opinion (book v. c. 28 and 29). The same view is expressed yet earlier in the Epistle of Barnabas (sec. 15). It was an opinion adopted from the rabbis.
[1298] Ps. xc. 4.
[1299] Apoc. xvii. 10.
[1300] Ex. xxv. 10.
[1301] John xix. 14.
[1302] Migne thinks we should read diakosia triakonta, i.e., 230, as it is also in Julius Africanus, who was contemporary with Hippolytus. As to the duration of the Greek empire, Hippolytus and Africanus make it both 300 years, if we follow Jerome's version of the latter in his comment on Dan. ix. 24. Eusebius makes it seventy years longer in his Demonstr. Evang., viii. 2.
[1303] Literally, "a man of desires." [Our author plays on this word, as if the desire of knowledge were referred to. Our Authorized Version is better, and the rendering might be "a man of loves."]
[1304] Jer. xxv. 11.
[1305] 1 Sam. ii. 35.
[1306] John i. 29.
[1307] Eph. ii. 14.
[1308] Col. ii. 14.
[1309] Isa. lxi. 1; Luke iv. 18.
[1310] Luke xiii. 15, 16.
[1311] Isa. xlix. 9.
[1312] Isa. xxix. 11.
[1313] Apoc. iii. 7.
[1314] Apoc. v.
[1315] Cf. Matt. x. 27.
[1316] In the text, the word heos, "until," is introduced, which seems spurious.
[1317] baddin.
[1318] In the text, musterion (of "mysteries"), for which musteriodos or mustikos, "mystically," is proposed.
[1319] The Latin translation renders: His body was perfect.
[1320] "Thares" (Tharseis) in Hippolytus. The Septuagint gives Tharsis as the translation of the Hebrew trsys, rendered in our version as "beryl" (Dan. x. 6).
[1321] Isa. i. 26.
[1322] Apoc. xix. 6.
[1323] Ex. xxxii. 4; xxxiii. 3.
[1324] phorologon.
[1325] 1 Macc. ii. 33.
[1326] Dan. xi. 33.
[1327] He seems to refer to Cleopatra, wife and niece of Physco. For Lathyrus was sometimes called Philometor in ridicule (epi chleuasma), as Pausanias says in the Attica.
[1328] He refers to Alexander I. king of Syria, of whom we read in 1 Macc. x. He pretended to be the son of Antiochus Epiphanes, and even gained a decree of the senate of Rome in his favour as such. Yet he was a person of unknown origin, as indeed he acknowledged himself in his choice of the designation Theopator. Livy calls him "a man unknown, and of uncertain parentage" (homo ignotus et incertæ stirpis). So Hippolytus calls him here, "a certain Alexander" (tina). He had also other surnames, e.g., Euergetes, Balas, etc.
[1329] For "Antiochus" in the text, read "Demetrius."
[1330] Apoc. xi. 3.
[1331] Isa. xi. 14.
[1332] Girdle.
[1333] Matt. xxiv. 12.
[1334] The text gives ho antikeimenos , which is corrupt.
III.
Scholia on Daniel. [1335]
Chap. i. 1 "In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim." The Scripture narrates these things, with the purpose of intimating the second captivity of the people, when Jehoiakim and the three youths with him, together with Daniel, were taken captive and carried off.
2. "And the Lord gave," etc. These words, "and the Lord gave," are written, that no one, in reading the introduction to the book, may attribute their capture to the strength of the captors and the slackness of their chief. And it is well said, "with part," for the deportation was for the correction, not the ruin, of the whole nation, that there might be no misapplication of the cause.
8. "And Daniel purposed in his heart." Oh, blessed are they who thus kept the covenant of the fathers, and transgressed not the law given by Moses, but feared the God proclaimed by him. These, though captives in a strange land, were not seduced by delicate meats, nor were they slaves to the pleasures of wine, nor were they caught by the bait of princely glory. But they kept their mouth holy and pure, that pure speech might proceed from pure mouths, and praise with such (mouths) the heavenly Father.
12. "Prove now thy servants." They teach that it is not earthly meats that give to men their beauty and strength, but the grace of God bestowed by the Word. "And after a little." Thou hast seen the incorruptible faith of the youths, and the unalterable fear of God. They asked an interval of ten days, to prove therein that man cannot otherwise find grace with God than by believing the word preached by the Lord.
19. "And among them all, was found none like Daniel." These men, who were proved faithful witnesses in Babylon, were led by the Word in all wisdom, that by their means the idols of the Babylonians should be put to shame, and that Nebuchadnezzar should be overcome by three youths, and that by their faith the fire in the furnace should be kept at bay, and the desire of the wicked elders (or chiefs) proved vain.
Chap. ii. 3 "I have dreamed a dream." The dream, then, which was seen by the king was not an earthly dream, so that it might be interpreted by the wise of the world; but it was a heavenly dream, fulfilled in its proper times, according to the counsel and foreknowledge of God. And for this reason it was kept secret from men who think of earthly things, that to those who seek after heavenly things heavenly mysteries might be revealed. And, indeed, there was a similar case in Egypt in the time of Pharaoh and Joseph.
5. "The thing is gone from me." For this purpose was the vision concealed from the king, that he who was chosen of God., viz., Daniel, might be shown to be a prophet. For when things concealed from some are revealed by another, he who tells them is of necessity shown to be a prophet.
10. "And they say, There is not a man." Whereas, therefore, they declared it to be impossible that what was asked by the king should be told by man; God showed them, that what is impossible with man is possible with God.