_DANIEL'S VISION OF THE RAM AND HE-GOAT. THE TWO THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED DAYS OF SACRIFICE. GABRIEL COMFORTETH DANIEL, AND INTERPRETETH THE VISION._ _Before Christ 553._ THIS chapter contains the vision of the ram and of the he-goat; or an account of the Persian and Grecian monarchies; the explana... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE THIRD YEAR OF—KING BELSHAZZAR— This vision was about five hundred and fifty-three years before Christ. From chap. Daniel 2:4 to this chapter, the prophesies are written in Chaldee. As they greatly concerned the Chaldeans, so they were published in that language. But the remaining prophesies a... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I SAW IN A VISION, &C.— Houbigant renders this very properly, _And I saw myself in the vision to be by the river Ulai;_ for Daniel was at Shushan when he had this vision, wherein he imagined himself to be by the river _Ulai;_ which divides Susiana from Elam, properly so called; though _Elam_ is... [ Continue Reading ]
A RAM WHICH HAD TWO HORNS— In the former vision there appeared _four_ beasts, because there _four_ empires were represented; but here _two_ only, because here we have a representation of what was transacted chiefly within _two_ empires. The _first_ of the four empires, that is, the Babylonian, is wh... [ Continue Reading ]
PUSHING WESTWARD, AND NORTHWARD, AND SOUTHWARD— Westward, that is, subduing Babylonia, Syria, and Asia Minor, under the reign of Cyrus, and extending to part of Greece under that of his successors, Darius the son of Hystaspes, and Xerxes. Northward; the same Darius, according to Herodotus and Justin... [ Continue Reading ]
AN HE-GOAT CAME FROM THE WEST— This is interpreted Daniel 8:21 to be the _king,_ or _kingdom of Grecia._ A _goat_ is very properly made the type of the Grecian or Macedonian empire, because the Macedonians at first, about two hundred years before Daniel, were denominated _AEgeadae_ or the _goat's pe... [ Continue Reading ]
HE CAME TO THE RAM, &C.— In these two verses we have an account of the Grecians overthrowing the Persian empire. The ram had before, Daniel 8:4 _pushed westward;_ and the Persians, in the reign of Darius Hystaspis and Xerxes, had poured down with great armies into Greece: but now the Greeks in retur... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HE-GOAT WAXED VERY GREAT, &C.— This the angel interprets, Daniel 8:22. The empire of the goat was in its full strength when Alexander died. He was succeeded by his natural brother Philip Aridaeus, and by his two sons, Alexander AEgus and Hercules; but in the space of about fifteen years they wer... [ Continue Reading ]
OUT OF ONE OF THEM CAME FORTH A LITTLE HORN, &C.— There are two ways of expounding this prophesy of the _little horn;_ either by understanding it with the generality of interpreters, both Jewish and Christian, ancient and modern, of Antiochus Epiphanes, and considering Antiochus as a type of antichr... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AN HOST WAS GIVEN HIM— _Moreover, a ministry was delivered to him against,_ &c.—_He cast the truth to the ground, and whatever he undertook, it prospered._ Houbigant. See commentary on Daniel 8:9... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW LONG SHALL BE THE VISION CONCERNING, &C.— There is no word for _concerning_ in this verse, which may be rendered more properly, _For how long time shall the vision last, the daily sacrifice be taken away, and the transgression of desolation continue?_ After the same manner the question is transl... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO TWO THOUSAND AND THREE HUNDRED DAYS— In the original, _Unto two thousand and three hundred mornings and evenings;_ an evening and a morning being the Hebrew notation of time for a day. See Daniel 8:26. Now these 2300 days can by no computation be accommodated to the times of Antiochus Epiphanes... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR AT THE TIME OF THE END, &C.— _For the vision shall have an end at its proper time._ Houbigant; and so Daniel 8:19.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE LAST END— _Even unto the end,_ or, _in the latter time. Daniel 8:21. The king of Grecia_] Rather, _the kingdom,_ and so at Daniel 8:20. Hebrew יון _iavan,_ from Javan the son of Japheth, Genesis 10:2. The whole states of Greece were sometimes called Iones, and the sea which washes their borde... [ Continue Reading ]
FOUR KINGDOMS SHALL STAND UP, &C.— Does not this imply that the remaining kingdom, the kingdom of the _little horn,_ should _not be of the nation?_ Newton, p. 33. Houbigant reads, _Four kingdoms shall arise out of this nation, but not of so great power._... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE LATTER TIME, &C.— The Romans might be said to _stand up in the latter time,_ &c. who saw the end not only of one kingdom, but of all four; who first subdued the kingdom of Macedon and Greece; then inherited, by the will of Attalus, the kingdom of Lysimachus; and afterwards made a province of... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS POWER SHALL BE MIGHTY, &C.— This part of the prophesy can no where be so justly applied as to the Romans. With them it quadrates exactly, and with none of the other horns or kingdoms of the goat. The strength of the other kingdoms consisted in themselves, and had its foundation in some part of t... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SHALL ALSO STAND UP AGAINST THE PRINCE OF PRINCES— If by the _prince of princes,_ the high-priest be meant, the Romans abolished the whole administration of that priesthood. If the Messiah be meant, it was effected by the Romans. It was indeed by the _malice_ of the Jews, but by the _authority_ o... [ Continue Reading ]
SHUT THOU UP THE VISION, &C.— This _shutting up of the vision_ implies, that it should not be understood for some time. The vision being for _many days,_ must necessarily infer a longer term than the calamity under Antiochus, of three years and a half, or even than the whole time from the first begi... [ Continue Reading ]
I DANIEL FAINTED— Daniel's sickness proceeded from his grief for his religion and country; as in the former vision he was grieved at the success of the _little horn,_ there described. And this is another conclusive argument, that the calamities under Antiochus Epiphanes could not possibly be the mai... [ Continue Reading ]