Daniel 7:10

a stream of fire … from before him For -from before," cf. Daniel 5:24; and on Daniel 6:10. Comp. also Revelation 1:14, -his eyes were as a flame of fire."

thousand thousands Cf. Deuteronomy 33:2, R.V. (if the existing Heb. text of line 4 is correct); also 1 Kings 22:19; Zechariah 14:5 end, R.V.; Enoch i. 9 (cited, with slight verbal differences [see Charles" ed. p. 327], in Judges 14:15 [for -saints" in Daniel 7:14, A.V., see the note on Daniel 8:13]). The present passage is doubtless the source of Enoch xiv. 22 (cited on Daniel 7:9), xl. 1 (cited below, p. 106); cf. lx. 1, lxxi. 8, 13; and of Revelation 5:11.

ministered … stood Better, were ministering … were standing, the tenses being as in Daniel 4:12.

stood before him viz. in attendance: cf. for the idiom 1 Kings 10:8.

the judgement was set i.e. (in accordance with the old English sense of the expression) was seated: the Aram. is lit. sat, -judgement" being used here in a concrete sense for the judges; cf. LXX., Theod., τὸ κριτήριον ἐκάθισεν, Vulg. judicium sedit; and see Daniel 7:26, -shall sit". The Almighty is represented as holding a court of judgement. For was setin this sense see in A.V., Matthew 5:1 (-when he was set," i.e. was seated), Matthew 27:19; Hebrews 8:1 (R.V. sat down); Psalms 9:4 (P.B.V), -thou art set(i.e. hast seated thyself) in the throne that judgest right." W. A. Wright quotes, from an old writer, -When they were sette" (viz. at table).

and the books were opened the books in which the deeds of men are recorded in particular the deeds of the four -beasts," representing the four empires. Cf. Revelation 20:12, -And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne; and books were opened; … and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works:" also 2Es 6:20; Apoc. of Baruch xxiv. 1; Ascension of Isaiah (ed. Dillmann, 1877), ix. 22; Enoch xlvii. 3 (cited on p. 106), lxxxix. 70, 71, 76, 77, xc. 20, xcviii. 7, 8, civ. 7, all passages speaking of the deeds of men being recorded in books, which are afterwards opened in heaven. See further Charles's note on Enoch xlvii. 3; and comp. Abhothii. 1, -Know what is above thee, a seeing eye, and a hearing ear, and all thy deeds written in a book." The germ of the representation is to be found most probably in the figurative expressions in Isaiah 65:6 (-Behold, it is written before me": cf. Jeremiah 17:1); Malachi 3:16 (cf. Esther 6:1); Psalms 56:8.