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EZEKIEL AND DAl^IEL; 
 
 "WITH 
 
 N"OTES, 
 
 CRITICAL, EXPLANATORY, AND PRACTICAL, 
 
 DESIGNED FOR BOTH PASTORS AND PEOPLE. 
 
 BY y 
 
 REV. HENRY COWLES, D. D. 
 
 Understaudest thou what thou rcadest? And he said, IIow can I, except some 
 man should guide mo?"— Acts 8 : 30, 31. 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 
 
 443 & 445 BROADWAY. 
 
 1867. 
 
Eutcrcd, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by 
 
 REV. HENRY COWLES, 
 
 In the Clerk's Omce of tlie District Court of tlie United States, for tlio Northern 
 
 District* of Ohio. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 This volume is a continuation of the series on all the 
 prophets which was commenced in the autumn of the last 
 year by the publication of "The Minor Prophets." The 
 preface and general introduction to the prophetic books, 
 prefixed to that volume, need not be repeated here, inas- 
 much as the greater part, at least, of the readers (^ this 
 volume may be suj)posed to have access to that. This pur- 
 sues the same general plan, aiming to be concise and yet 
 lucid, and to bring out the true and precise sense of the 
 original, with extended discussion only upon points of spe- 
 cial interest and difficulty. 
 
 The reader will notice that Italics are used in the text, 
 as in our English Bibles, to signify that there are no pre- 
 cisely corresponding words in the original Hebrew; but in 
 the notes they are used for emphasis. 
 
 It is hoped that the remaining volumes on the prophets, 
 viz., on Isaiah and on Jeremiah, will follow at no distant 
 day. 
 
 Obeelin, Ohio, July, 1867. 
 
 (3) 
 
EZEKIEL. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The just interpretation of Ezekiel will turn very mucli 
 upon liis circumstances as a prophet. Hence tlie usual in- 
 troductory questions respecting the author, his date, his 
 residence, and his people, will, in his case, conduce greatly 
 to disclose the main purposes of his prophetic life, and con- 
 sequently the true sense of his prophecies. Let us then, in 
 
 the outset, give these points our careful attention. Of 
 
 the early history of Ezekiel we know only that he was the 
 son of Buzi, was a i^riest, aid was taken as a captive to 
 Chaldea in the second great deportation, which occurred in 
 the first year of Jehoiachin, B. C. 600. In what part of 
 Judea he had previously lived, under what circumstances 
 he received his early training, and at what age he was 
 made a captive, are points not on record. They can be 
 reached only by doubtful conjecture. The fact that he was 
 by birth and training a goriest accounts for the remarkable 
 type of the last nine chapters of his book. Such minute 
 detail as we find in that vision of the temple, its rituals 
 and surroundings, could by no means be expected in any 
 prophet who was not perfectly familiar with those matters. 
 The divine Spirit adapts himself to the prophets through 
 whom he speaks, evermore using terms, figures, and modes 
 
 (5) 
 
6 EZEKIEL— INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of illustration, with wliich each one severally may be con- 
 versant. 
 
 The date of his several prophecies is mostly given Avith 
 care and thus placed beyond reasonable doubt. The cap- 
 tivity of Jehoiachin (B. C. GOO) is his epoch. Prophesying 
 and writing with and for the Jews in captivity, this epoch 
 was for them altogether appropriate, and was doubtless 
 
 their own in current use. His book opens with another 
 
 epoch in the words, " In the thirtieth year," etc. This has 
 given rise to much speculation. I reject the three theories 
 following, viz. : that this refers to his own age ; that it dates 
 from the discovery of the book of the law in the reign of 
 Josiah; and that it dates from the last Jubilee. Either 
 of these theories is too capricious to be adopted. I accede 
 to the opinion that these words allude to the new Chaldean 
 epoch of Nabopolassar, the father of Nebuchadnezzar, which 
 dates from the fall of Nineveh, B. C, 625, and was the 
 great epoch of the profane historians of those and of sub- 
 sequent times. As Ezekiel wrote among the Chaldeans, it 
 was pertinent that he should make so much allusion to 
 their great national epoch. Yet since his prophecies were 
 intended chiefly for the use of the Jews, it w^as fitting that 
 after this brief allusion to th^ Chaldean epoch, he should 
 drop it, and in all other cases use only the epoch of his 
 
 own people. Such is the fact. Following this Jewish 
 
 epoch, his prophecies commence wdth the fifth year (chap. 
 1 : 2), and close (chap. 29 : 17) with the twenty-seventh. 
 The last nine chapters date in the twenty-fifth year. Be- 
 tween these extremes are a large number of definite dates, 
 to be noticed in their place. 
 
 . Ezekiel's residence in Chaldea is said to have been " by 
 the river of diehard Some commentators have identified 
 this river with the Chaboras of Upper Mesopotamia, which 
 falls into the Euphrates at Circesium, wdiile others have 
 sought traces of its name in the province of " Habor by 
 the river of Gozan" (2 Kings 17: 6), where the king of 
 
EZEKIEL— INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 Assyria located some of his captives when he subverted the 
 kingdom of the ten tribes. I accept the more recent view, 
 which finds this " river of Chebar " in the royal canal built 
 by Nebuchadnezzar, the greatest of all those artificial 
 water-courses which were among the stupendous works of 
 his reign. The word Chebar implies something great and 
 long. The Hebrew orthography is not the same with that 
 of the word rendered Habor (2 Kings 17 : 6). The tes- 
 timony of all history, sacred and profane, locates these He- 
 brew captives near Babylon, and not in the remote districts 
 of Upper Mesopotamia. It scarcely admits of question that 
 the Jewish captives were employed in excavating these im- 
 mense canals, and hence would naturally have their homes 
 along their line. This view may explain that inimitable 
 ode (Ps. 137) : " By the rivers of Babylon there we sat 
 down; yea, we wept when we remembered Zion." Along 
 side of those artificial water-courses, the scenes of their 
 daily toil and weary tasks, how often had they* sat down, 
 exhausted and heart-sick, to weep as they thought of their 
 
 dear but desolate Zion ! It was among those exiles, and 
 
 in the midst of such surroundings, that Ezekiel spent his 
 prophetic life. His great mission from God was to bring 
 moral apj)liances to cooperate with physical for the regen- 
 eration of those exiles. The Lord had thrown them into 
 his crucible of sore affliction; he therefore sent Ezekiel 
 with truths divine — warnings, exhortations, counsels, and 
 promises, to perfect the v/ork of moral renovation for which 
 those afflictions were designed. Let it not be forgot- 
 ten that the great national sin of the Jews had long been 
 idolatry. The history of the rent kingdoms from Jeroboam 
 to Hoshea, and from Rehoboam to Zedekiah, coupled with 
 the testimony of the Lord's prophets during those ages, 
 shows this most conclusively. For this sin the people of 
 Judah were doomed to captivity in Babylon. To cure 
 them of this sin, the Lord first selected the better portion 
 to go into captivity, and let the baser portion fall by the 
 
8 EZEKIEL— INTRODUCTION. 
 
 sword, famine or pestilence, or remain in the land to go 
 down madly into Egypt to perisli miserably there. 
 
 Jer. 24 is a special prophecy indicating that this sifting 
 process lay distinctly in the plan of God. But to make 
 this plan successful, other agencies w^ere requisite besides 
 captivity in a foreign land. 
 
 Among these other agencies, the mission of Ezekiel was 
 prominent. The Lord sent him forth among those captives 
 to rebuke idolatry ; to keep vividly before them the enor- 
 mity of this national sin ; to show them how horribly cor- 
 rupt their brethren, yet remaining in Judah and Jerusalem, 
 had become ; and then (as in chaps. 8-11) to receive from 
 the Lord a great panoramic vision of those sins, and of 
 God's ministering and avenging angels, marking, and scourg- 
 ing, and slaying those hoary sinners ; and then, by report- 
 ing, reproduce it to the eyes of his fellow captives. This 
 was one striking method of making the judgments for 
 idolatry inflicted in Jerusalem available for moral warning 
 and impression upon the captives in Babylon. With a 
 kindred moral aim, the Lord sent by Ezekiel many a 
 tender, precious promise of mercy to the penitent, »and of 
 restoration to the faithful in the fullness of his own time. 
 Striking analogies appear between Ezekiel and Jere- 
 miah, and for the obvious reason that both had the same 
 idolatrous people to deal with; both were sent of God to 
 convict the people of the guilt of the same great national 
 sin ; both were God's instruments to supplement with moral 
 warnings and promises the influence which his providences 
 were exerting, yet needed those moral appliances for their 
 more sure interpretation and best efliciency. Thus the major 
 points in the life of these two prophets were analogous, yet 
 there were minor points of unlike character. Jeremiah 
 spent his prophetic life in Judea and in Egypt; Ezekiel, 
 his in Chaldea. Jeremiah's public labors spanned the last 
 eighteen years of Josiah's reign, the three months' reign of 
 Jehoahaz, the eleven years' reign of Jehoiakim, and five 
 
EZEKIEL— INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 years into the captivity of Jelioiacliin, before Ezekiel began 
 his prophetic ministry ; while the twenty-two years of Eze- 
 kiel's prophetic life (named as its minimum length) probably 
 
 extended somewhat beyond the close of Jeremiah's.^ ■ 
 
 Again, Jeremiah had to do with the mass of Jewish cor- 
 ruption — with the very worst class of her princes and people ; 
 while Ezekiel had only the better part — base, indeed, but 
 yet not the basest — the captivity having been made, under 
 God, itself a sifting process, to destroy and otherwise elim- 
 inate the vilest portion, and to save the more hopeful and 
 less contaminated. Jeremiah came constantly in contact 
 with kings on their thrones, the vv^icked and weak sons of 
 the good Josiah, and found his trials, intensified exceedingly 
 by these relations of prophetic messenger from Him who 
 fills the infinite throne of heaven to those base but proud 
 men who disgraced their little seats of power over God's 
 
 covenant people. Ezekiel's mission lay among the people 
 
 and their elders and head men, but no proud and morally 
 rotten thrones lay in his way. The Lord had broken down 
 
 that barrier to a spiritual reform of his peoj)le. Jeremiah 
 
 and Ezekiel both prophesy not of Jerusalem and the Jews 
 only, but of other and contiguous nations also, and each of 
 them for the same general reason. The Lord involved those . 
 other nations, to a greater or less extent, in the same fearful 
 calamities which subverted the Jewish kingdom. They had 
 been guilty of the same great national sins, and, therefore, 
 must needs share the same fearful doom. They had even 
 given the Jews their own idols, and must now bear the re- 
 sponsibility of this sin before the Most High God and before 
 mankind. Some of them had maliciously exulted over the 
 fall of Jerusalem, and had thus drawn down upon themselves 
 the vengeance of Israel's God ; and in general it was a time 
 of retribution on the guilty, idolatrous nations of the age. 
 Hence, vengeance having begun at the house of God, it 
 might fitly be asked, " Where shall the ungodly and the 
 sinner appear?" (1 Pet. 4: 17, 18.) They could not go 
 
10 EZEKIEL— INTRODUCTION. 
 
 altogether unpunished. (See Jer. 25 : 29, and 49 : 12.) 
 Hence, the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel both speak of 
 these fearful judgments on Ammon, Tyre, Edom, and EgyjDt, 
 to which list Jeremiah adds Babylon and many others. 
 The main objects of these projihecies seem to have been to 
 assure the Jews that their own God shaped the destinies of 
 all these heathen kingdoms, and that he had his own j)lans 
 in mind beforehand, and, therefore, could predict them 
 through his servants ; but especially to impress them with 
 a more deep and vivid sense of God's sure retribution on 
 guilty nations for their national sins. This sense of certain 
 retribution would be of the utmost moment in its bearings 
 on their own case. 
 
 No complaint lies against Ezekiel for any lack of order 
 and date in his several prophecies. His book may be com- 
 prehensively divided into two equal parts. Of his forty- 
 eight chapters, the first twenty-four bear to the same point 
 and treat of the same general theme, being addressed di- 
 rectly to the exiles, recounting their own sins and those of 
 their brethren in Judea, especially in the line of idolatry 
 
 and heart-apostasy from God. The second portion is 
 
 more miscellaneous, embracing prophecies against other 
 nations ; and then, in the line of God's jealousy for his own 
 insulted name, there shines forth his glorious purpose to 
 avenge himself upon his enemies, and to purify and save 
 his own people. The book closes with far-reaching, mag- 
 nificent prophecies of ultimate victory on Zion's side over 
 all his foes, and of unsurpassed efiiciency in the institutions, 
 the truth, and the Spirit of the living God, now become 
 
 gloriously present among his people. The subdivisions 
 
 of these parts will appear as we proceed. 
 
 Remarkably we find in Ezekiel all the varieties of style 
 that appear within the entire range of the Hebrew prophets. 
 He has pure visions, clearly indicated to be such by the lan- 
 guage which introduces or closes the record ; c. g., chaps. 1, 
 8-11, 37 and 40-48. He has symbolic actions, also indicated 
 
EZEKIEL— INTRODUCTION. 11 
 
 in the record itself; e. g., chap. 4, 5 and 12. He has simili- 
 tudes, as of the vine-tree, chaj). 15 ; of the watchman, chap. 
 33 ; and of the shepherd and his flock, chap. 35. He has 
 also parables, as in chap. 17 ; an elegiac song in highly 
 poetic costume in chap. 19 ; extended allegories in chaps. 
 23 and 24; and, finally, plain, unembellished prophecy 
 coupled with solemn admonition, or with tender, hope-in- 
 
 spirino; promise. His style does not often lack elegance ; 
 
 never, force. He has remarkable power in grouping a 
 mass of somewhat minute details in a way to heighten the 
 effect exceedingly. Witness his portrayal of the horrible 
 imj)urities of idolatry in Jerusalem and Samaria, chap. 23 ; 
 or his description of the commerce, the splendor, and the fall 
 
 of ancient Tyre, chaps. 27 and 28. His spirit and style 
 
 have elicited the admiration of able and learned critics. 
 Havernick speaks of him as "coming forward with all 
 abruptness and iron consistency in an age when prophecy 
 was most rare. Has he to contend with a people of brazen 
 front and unbending neck? He possessed, on his own part, 
 an unbending nature, opposing the evil with an unflinching 
 spirit of boldness and with words of consuming fire." " The 
 glow of divine indignation, the mighty rushing of the Spirit 
 of the Lord, and the holy majesty of Jehovah as the seer 
 beheld it, are remarkably reflected in his writings. The 
 lofty action, the torrent of his eloquence, rest on the same 
 combination of power and consistency — the one as unwea- 
 ried as the other is imposing." Hengstenberg also gives 
 
 his glowing testimony to the same points : " The Lord be- 
 gan to fulfill his good word, given to the exiles through 
 Jeremiah, by causing Ezekiel to aj^pear in the midst of 
 them, who raised his voice like a trumpet and showed to 
 Israel his misdeeds ; wdiose word, like a threshing machine, 
 passed over all those sweet hopes and purposes and ground 
 them to the dust ; whose whole manifestations furnished the 
 strongest proof that the Lord was still among his people ; 
 who was himself a temple of the Lord, before whom the 
 
12 EZEKIEL— INTRODUCTION. 
 
 apparent temple, wliich still stood at Jerusalem for a short 
 time sunk back into its own nothingness; a spiritual Sam- 
 son, who, with a strong arm, seized the pillars of the tem- 
 ple and dashed it to the ground; an energetic, gigantic 
 nature, who was thereby suited effectually to counteract 
 the Babylonish spirit of the time, which loved to manifest 
 itself in violent, gigantic, and grotesque forms; one who 
 stood alone, but was yet equal to a hundred of the schol- 
 ars of the prophets. The extent of his influence appears 
 from the fact that the oldest of the people were accustomed 
 to assemble in his house in order to hear the words of the 
 Lord through him — a sign of the public and formal ac- 
 knowledgment of his spiritual dignity in the colony." — 
 
 Christology, vol. 3, pp. 459, 460. The general style of 
 
 his symbols, especially in his first and tenth chapters, is 
 largely Chaldean, and, so far forth, is due to his Chaldean 
 surroundings. The Jews for whom he wrote, residing in 
 Chaldea, had become familiar there with these modes of 
 representation. The Chaldeans who might read his writ- 
 ings would readily appreciate the beauty and force of these 
 symbols. His own mind had felt their powder as presented 
 in Chaldean works of art. Hence the divine Spirit revealed 
 himself to the prophet's mind in these symbols because they 
 were, in that age and to that peoj)le, a readily intelligible 
 and even forcible mode of representation. They were almost 
 the language of the common peoj)le. If obscure to us, their 
 obscurity is mainly due to their being a foreign tongue — a 
 sort of symbolic speech which had its home in the valley 
 of the Euphrates, and in the age of proud Nineveh and 
 Babylon, but which has long since ceased to be a living 
 tongue. The recent disinterment of so many sculptures 
 and various works of art from the l-uins of those cities 
 affords us a pertinent key to the significance of these sym- 
 bols and an ample explanation of their appearance in the 
 prophecies of Ezekiel.* 
 
 -Those who have read Layard's Nineveh, or who have made them- 
 
EZEKIEL— INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 The style of representation in this first vision is, in part, 
 Jewish, and, in so far forth, will be illustrated in the notes. 
 
 selves familiar otherwise witli the modern discoveries in the ruins of 
 ancient Nineveh and Babylon, will readily recall those figures, either 
 sculptured or painted, of a composite character, made up of selected por- 
 tions of various animals; e. g. " winged, human-headed bulls (Layard, 
 p. 85) ; "gigantic winged bulls; " "small winged lions" (p. 32) ; a figure 
 " with the head of the lion, the body of a man, and the feet of'a bird" 
 (p. 229). Or, again, " a human body clothed in robes, with the head of an 
 eagle or a vulture ; a curved beak, half open, disclosing a narrow-pointed 
 tongue; over the shoulders, the usual curled, bushy hair of the Assyrian 
 images ; a comb of feathers rising on the top of the head ; two wings 
 springing from the back ; and in either hand was the usual square ves- 
 sel and the flr cone— the former supposed to be significant of gifts be- 
 stowed by the gods ; the latter, being specially inflammable, may have 
 symbolized fire— an element associated, in oriental minds, with the qual- 
 ities or the home of the gods." Layard suggests that " this effigy proba- 
 cy typified by its mystic forms the vmion of certain divine attributes " 
 
 (pp. 45-47). Again, on pp. 51, 52, is an extended description of a second 
 
 pair of winged, human-headed lions, the human shape continued to 
 the waist, with human arms and with the legs of a lion ; twelve feet in 
 height, and as many in length ; expanded wings sprang from the shoul- 
 der and spread over the back. A knotted girdle, ending in tassels, encir- 
 cled the loins. All was found in a state of perfect preservation. Of 
 
 these figures, Mr. Layard expresses his views and reflections thus : " I 
 used to contemplate for hours these mysterious emblems, and muse over 
 their intent and history. What more noble forms could have ushered 
 the people into the temple of their gods ? What more sublime images 
 could have been borrowed from nature by men who sought, unaided by 
 the light of revelation, to embody their conception of the wisdom, power, 
 and ubiquity of a Supi'eme Being? They could find no better type of 
 intellect and knowledge than the head of the man ; of strength, than the 
 body of a lion ; of ubiquity, than the wings of a bird. These winged, 
 human-headed lions were not idle creations, the ofispring of mere fancy; 
 their meaning was written upon them. They had awed and instructed 
 races which flourished three thousand years ago " (p. 52). 
 
14 . EZEKIEL.— CHAP. I. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The remarkable vision recorded in this chapter served to intro- 
 duce Ezekicl to his prophetic work. It was a species of theophany 
 analo<i;ous to that made to Isaiah, as recorded in his sixth chapter, 
 and to John, Ilev. 1 : 10-20. How admirably it was adapted to 
 prepare him for his mission will be better seen when we have cari3- 
 fully studied its import and in some i!;ood measure comprehended 
 its symbols. We shall find them richly significant. 
 
 1. Now it came to pass in the thirtieth- year, in the 
 fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among 
 the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were 
 opened, and I saw visions of God. 
 
 2. In the fifth day of the month, wliicli was the fifth 
 year of king Jehoiachin's captivity, 
 
 3. The word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel 
 the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by 
 the river Chebar ; and the hand of the Lord was there upon 
 him. 
 
 As said above in the general introduction, I find this "thir- 
 tieth year" in the new Chaldean epoch of Nabopolassar, father of 
 Nebuchadnezzar, which reckoned its years from the fall of Nine- 
 veh, 13. C. 625. Every other theory is capricious and without ade- 
 quate foundation. This is natural, and meets all the conditions of 
 the case ; for the very brevity of the allusion shows that the epoch 
 must have been well known, and goes far to prove that it was the 
 common epoch of the place, the people, and the age — in other 
 words, that it was Chaldean. A prophecy written in Chaldea 
 should naturally, first of all, connect itself with the current Chal- 
 dean epoch. So much deference to their national history would 
 seem due to that people. Yet, since the prophecy was chiefly for 
 the Jews, no more than this brief connecting link could be de- 
 manded. This would enable the Chaldeans to compare Jewish 
 dates with their own, and thus locate each several message. For 
 his common epoch Ezekiel would manifestly prefer the JeAvish. 
 
 These captives are, of course, the Jewish exiles, located, as 
 shown in the introduction, along the royal canal of Nebuchadnez- 
 zar, the great and long river, as the word Chebar without much 
 doubt indicates. These "visions of God" are not merely visions 
 given by God through his revealing Spirit, but visions of God, 
 visions, the special purpose of which was to reveal God himself in 
 certain great aspects of his providential agency. The "fifth year 
 of king "Jehoiachin's captivity" follows the Jewish epoch, dating 
 from tiie captivity of Jehoiacliin, son of Jehoiakim, and last king 
 of Judah save one, his uncle Zcdekiah. This captivity occurred, 
 B. C. 600. Hence both this epoch and the Chaldean locafe this 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. I. " 15 
 
 first vision of Ezekiel B. C. 595. See 2 Chron. 36: 9, 10, and 2 
 Kings 24 : 1-16. The words " came expressly " translate the usual 
 emphatic Hebrew phrase which repeats the infinite absolute before 
 .the finite verb; "coming, it came, i. e., it certainly came; came 
 with the clearest demonstrations of its actuality. " The hand of 
 the Lord was there upon him," is the usual phrase to indicate the 
 special agency of the divine Spirit in revealing himself to his serv- 
 ants the prophets. See other cases of its use in chap. 3: 14-22, 
 and 37: 1, and in the same sense, though with various phrase, Jer. 
 1: 7, 10, and 20: 7. 
 
 4. And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came ont of 
 the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a 
 brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the 
 color of amber, out of the midst of the fire. 
 
 Before I enter upon the particular description of this wonderful 
 vision, it may aid the reader if I state in few words what I take 
 to be its general import. 
 
 I do not regard it as an unm-eaning display of things magnificent, 
 grotesque, and marvelous, nor, strictly speaking, as an attempt to 
 represent by symbols the essential nature of the Infinite God ; but 
 I suppose it to be a symbolic representation of the moveable base of 
 the throne of God incarnate — this incarnate God being considered 
 as manifesting himself in his providential government of our world. 
 As here represented, his throne rests on a lofty, magnificent plat- 
 form Or solid floor, which floor itself reposes on the bodies and 
 wings of "the living creatures" that are so graphically portrayed 
 in this vision. The whole representation contemplates the varied 
 agencies of God's providence as combining the utmost energy, wis- 
 dom, celerity, efficiency, and grandeur, and is designed to show 
 how He moves among the nations of men, lifting up and casting 
 down at his will, scourging for sin, and purifying by discipline, 
 evermore just and righteous, and making his movements conspire 
 to the exalted and worthy ends of his own glory and of human sal- 
 vation. Let us now look carefully into the several features of this 
 
 delineation. The vision opens with surpassing grandeur. A 
 whirlwind rolls up from the north with a great cloud and a fire which 
 perpetually takes hold of itself (so the Heb.), making one vast con- 
 tinuous sheet of flame. A brightness invests .the whole, of the 
 color of "amber," or, as many modern critics prefer, of "burnished 
 brass." All the ideas of that age seem to have located the home 
 of the gods in the north — a sentiment due perhaps to the Aurora 
 Borealis, which they seem to have thought of as the occasional il- 
 lumination of the palace halls of the gods. Thus Isaiah (14: 13) 
 makes his proud Lucifer (the great monarch of Babylon) say, "I 
 will exalt my throne above the stars of God ; I will sit also upon 
 the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the norths Perhaps 
 it was with some reference to those ideas that this magnificent 
 vision of Jehovah's movinfi; throne comes forth from the north. 
 
16" EZEKIEL.— CHAP. I. 
 
 5. Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four 
 living creatures. And this was their appearance ; they had 
 the likeness of a man. 
 
 6. And every one had four faces, and every one had four 
 wings. 
 
 7. And their feet were straight feet; the sole of their 
 feet was like the sole of a calf's foot ; and they sparkled like 
 the color of burnished brass. 
 
 8. And they had the hands of a man under their wings 
 on their four sides ; and they four had their faces and their 
 wings. 
 
 9. Their wings were joined one to another ; they turned 
 not when they went ; they went every one straight forv»' ard. 
 
 Now there came forth from the blaze of this effulgence what 
 seemed like four living creatures in whom the human form pre- 
 dominates. Yet each one had four faces and also four wings. 
 Their feet, moreover, were not those, of a man, but of a calf or ox, 
 yet sparkling with radiance like that of burnished brass. They 
 had also the hand of a man under their wings. Two of these wings, 
 making one pair, were joined together. Remarkably they made 
 no turn in their movements, but went in straight lines, evermore 
 straight forward. Probably this fact takes its significance from 
 that law of mind which associates moral perversity with turning 
 from a right line. The path of right and duty is thought of' as 
 being straight, but never crooked. God's providential agencies 
 are evermore true and righteous altogether. It may indicate that 
 in both discipline and retribution God moves straight on to his 
 purposed end. The symbol of the calf or ox may have a place 
 here to indicate the solid, massive strength requisite to suj^port so 
 vast a structure as the throne of the Almighty. The reader will 
 note that many of these symbols appeared to the Jews in actual 
 life in the vast "molten sea" connected with Solomon's temple. 
 This sea stood on twelve oxen, and, morever, had in its ornamental 
 work sculptured lions, oxen, and cherubim, coupled also with 
 wheels as in this vision of Ezekiel. See 1 Kings 7: 23-33. In 
 some respects, therefore, this grouping of symbols was Hebraic, 
 while in others it was Chaldean. The grouping of diverse animal 
 figures in one nondescript S3'mbol is very common, as above 
 shown, in the Clialdean monuments of that age. 
 
 10. As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the 
 face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side : and 
 they four had the fiice of an ox on the left side ; they four 
 also had the face of an eagle. 
 
 11. Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched 
 upward ; two wings of every one were joined one to 'another, 
 and two covered their bodies. 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. I. 17 
 
 12. And they went every one straight forward : whither 
 the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when 
 they went. 
 
 This account of the location of the several faces is not quite 
 explicit, but there can scarcely be a doubt that these four diverse 
 faces looked each in its several direction, the human face in front, 
 the lion face to the right, the face like the ox to the left, and that 
 of the eagle backward to the rear. Of their four wings, two were 
 joined and stretched upward, while the other two fell and covered 
 their bodies. Somewhat like this were the wings of the cherubim 
 as seen by Isaiah (chap. 6 : 2). They had each six wings : one pair 
 covering the face, one the feet, and the other used for flight. Here 
 again we may note that all movement is straight forward, with no 
 turning. They go as the spirit in them impels ; this whole repre- 
 sentation being designed to show that the magnificent agencies 
 of God's universal providence are every-where and for evermore 
 permeated and controlled by his ovrn ever-present will — the one 
 Infinite Mind guiding and ruling all. 
 
 13. As for the likeness of the living -creatures, their ap- 
 pearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the ap- 
 pearance of lamps : it went up and down among the living 
 creatures ; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went 
 forth lightning. 
 
 14. And the living creatures ran and returned as the ap- 
 pearance of a flash of lightning. 
 
 To heighten the grandeur of this magnificent portrayal, these 
 living creatures now seem to have the appearance of coals of fire 
 that burn like lamps. One clause seems to say that this fire shoots 
 and darts among these living creatures — a fire invested with a 
 glorious radiance out of which lightnings flashed ; while another 
 clause has it that the living creatures themselves ran and returned 
 like flashes of lightning. Probably he meant to say both these 
 things; probably both were seen in the vision. How grand. and 
 sublime must that scene have been ! 
 
 15. Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one 
 wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, v/ith his four 
 faces. 
 
 16. The appearance of *the wheels and their work was 
 like unto the color of a beryl : and they four had one like- 
 ness : and their appearance and their work was as it were a 
 wheel in the middle of a wheel. 
 
 17. When they went, they went upon their four sides; 
 and they turned not when they went. 
 
 Wheels are an expressive syml^ol of power and rapid motion. 
 
18 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. I. 
 
 As to the number of wheels in this combination of symbols, v. 15, 
 seems to indicate but one; but vs. 16 and 18 both speak of four, 
 and so also docs the coordinate description in chap. 10: 9, 10. 
 These wheels were sparkling and brilliant, shining like polished 
 gems. But the most remarkable feature was their combination, 
 said to be "as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel." Accor- 
 ding to this description, they might be concentric and in the same 
 plane, or they might be concentric and yet in different planes, 
 say at right angles. From the account of their motion in any di- 
 rection without turning, the latter seems to have been their form. 
 This is the view of the ablest modern commentators. AVe need 
 not trouble ourselves with the fact that no axletree could be made 
 to work in two such concentric double wheels, so that they could 
 run in planes at right angles to each other. For this moveable base 
 for the throne of God was seen in prophetic vision, and not in 
 the actual world ; was constituted to be seen — not to run in the 
 buniness of real life; and had for its object a certain impression 
 on the mind of the prophet, and not any particular result in the 
 mechanical world. 
 
 18. As for their rings, they were so high that they were 
 dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about 
 them four. 
 
 "Rings," as used here, mean the rims, the periphery, or felloes 
 of the wheels. Their height, so great that they seemed "dreadful," 
 represents the wheels as of immense size, towering aloft in the air 
 with magnificence fearfully sublime. Then the periphery of these 
 wheels was full of eyes all round about, indicating perfect intel- 
 ligence, and giving the impression of piercing thought and most 
 vivid expressiveness. 
 
 19. And when the living creatures .went, the wheels went 
 by them : and when the living creatures were lifted up from 
 the earth, the wheels w^ere lifted up. 
 
 20. Whithersoever the spirit Avas to go, they went, thither 
 was their spirit to go; and the wheels w^ere lifted up over 
 against them : for the spirit of the living creature w^as in 
 the wheels. 
 
 21. AVhen those went, these went ; and when those stood, 
 these stood ; and when those were lifted up from the earth, 
 the wheels were lifted up over against them : for the spirit 
 of the living creature was in the wheels. 
 
 Next we have the same elements of life and self-acting inspira- 
 tion in these wheels as in the living creatures themselves. The 
 wheels constantly attend the living creatures as if moved by one 
 common impulse and will. This was one of the most striking 
 features in this wonderful combination of symbols. It could not 
 
EZEKIEL— CHAP. I. 10 
 
 signify less or other than that God's providences always have a 
 meaning; always aim at some wise purpose; are evermore guided 
 by one and the same supreme and all-pervading divine will. 
 
 22. And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of 
 the living creature was, as the color of the terrible crystal, 
 stretched forth over tlieir heads above. 
 
 23. And under the firmament were their wings straight, 
 the one toward the other : every one had tw^o, which cov- 
 ered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on 
 that side, their bodies. • 
 
 Here we begin to reach the purpose and work of this remarkable 
 combination of symbols. These living creatures bear upon their 
 heads and upon their straight wings, a firmament, {. e., a solid 
 expanse, platform, or elevated floor. Its appearance was in color 
 "like the terrible crystal" — so brilliant and dazzling as to be even 
 fearful to behold. Upon this base, as we shall soon see, reposed 
 
 the throne of the incarnate God. The prophet again refers to 
 
 the position of the two sets of wings, one set straight and joined 
 together, assisting to support the firmament, somewhat like the 
 wings of the cherubim in the most holy place. When the living 
 creatures stood, the other set fell gracefully down and protected 
 their bodies. 
 
 24. And when they went, I heard the noise of their 
 wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the 
 Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host; 
 when they stood, they let down their wings. 
 
 25. And there was a voice from the firmament that was 
 over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their 
 wings. 
 
 As if to combine every element of grandeur and sublimity, and 
 appeal to every sense, the sound of their wings, when in motion, 
 was as the roar of great waters, like the voice of the Almighty 
 God himself In the clause, "The voice of speech as the noise of 
 an host," the Hebrew does not imply the utterance of articulate 
 words, but should rather be rendered, " The sound of their noise 
 was as the sound of an host," i, e., of an army rushing to battle. 
 There may have been the voice of articulate words from above the 
 firmament, {. e., from the glorious personage who sat on the throne; 
 
 V. 25 seems to imply this. The reader will readily recall the 
 
 manifestations made by the "Alpha and Omega," by Him who is 
 both the first and the last, to John, the Revelator, as in Rev. 1 : 
 10-16, "His voice was as the sound of many waters, and his face 
 as the sun when he shineth in his strength." 
 
 26. And above the firmament that was over their heads 
 was the likeness of a throne, as the apj^earance of a sapphire 
 
20 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. I. 
 
 stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness 
 as the appearance of a man above it. 
 
 27. And I saw as the color of amber, as the appearance 
 of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his 
 loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins 
 even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and 
 it had brightness round about. 
 
 The vital points in this description are plain, and they are also 
 richly significant and sublime. Here is the throne, for the sake 
 of supporting wRich, and of moving it also, we have seen a won- 
 derful combination of living creatures, wings and wheels, witli 
 various accompanying symbols of intelligence, energy, splendor, 
 and majesty. Here also — more really sublime than all the rest — 
 is the appearance of a man upon this throne. From his loins up- 
 ward, and from his loins downward, he seemed as one begirt with 
 fire — the brightness of fire, and the effulgence of the most mag- 
 nificent pearls and gems, combining to invest him with ineffable 
 glory. This personage can be no other than the incarnate Son 
 of God, the great Lord of universal providence, appearing in this 
 majestic form to his servant Ezekiel, much as the same personage 
 appeared to Isaiah (chap. 6), of which case, John in his Gospel 
 (chap. 12: 41) tells us that Isaiah then and there "saw the glory 
 of Jesus and spake of him." Numerous proofs might be adduced 
 to show that repeatedly, during the course of the Old Testament 
 age, Jesus Christ anticipated his incarnation by appearing in 
 human form to his people. He appeared thus to Manoah and his 
 wife (Judges 13: 2-23), giving them his name, "Wonderful" (not 
 "secret"), using the identical word which Isaiah gives as one of 
 his names (Isa. 9: 6), ^^ Wonde7'fui, Counsellor, the Mighty God," 
 etc. "This is also He who was with his church in the wilder- 
 ness," as Stephen affirms (Acts 7 : 38), and as the narrative (Ex. 
 23 : 20-23) most plainly indicates. It was therefore only a sub- 
 sequent appearance of the same glorious personage which was 
 vouchsafed to John in Patmos with a luster and effulgence of 
 glories closely analogous to what we have here. 
 
 28. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in 
 the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness 
 round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of 
 the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my 
 face, and I heard the voice of one that spake. 
 
 The final touch to this inimitable representation compares it to 
 the radiance of the " bow in the cloud in the day of rain." Such 
 was the brightness and glory that invested the incarnate Deity. 
 Thus the Shechinah revealed himself to Ezekiel to impress his 
 Boul with the magnificence, the energy, and the glory of Him 
 whose work he was now to undertake, whose mission as a prophet 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. I. 21 
 
 he was to fulfill, whose words he was to hear and then to bear to 
 his people. What an installation this into his prophetic work ! 
 No wonder he fell on his face as one overwhelmed with reverence 
 
 and awe ! Let it be noted yet further that this portrayal was 
 
 specially pertinent in view of the fact that God's providential 
 agencies were then intensely active among the nations, and espe- 
 cially toward the Jews in both discipline and judgment — the dis- 
 cipline that chastened to reclaim, and the judgments that scourged 
 in stern and awful retribution. Into the midst of these agencies 
 Ezekiel was thrown. He was commissioned as a prophet of God 
 to cooperate by the use of moral agencies with those providential 
 agencies of the Almighty, He was to interpret the significance 
 of those judgments. He was to warn the people to repent, as 
 they would escape such inflictions. He was to press them to re- 
 pentance by the promise of pardoning mercy. In every appropri- 
 ate way he was to supplement those agencies of providence with 
 the concurrent influences of God's revealed truth. Hence nothing 
 could be more vital than to impress upon his mind the qualities 
 of that fearfully glorious and energetic divine providence which iu 
 its intensified forms was now being manifested toward the chosen 
 
 people. Moreover, nothing could have been better adapted to 
 
 impart to him a baptism of reverence, docility, energy, and self- 
 sacrificing devotion. Under the influence of such views of the 
 glorious Being whose behestp he is commissioned to bear to the 
 people, how could he falter before hardship or danger? How 
 could he fail to carry with him through life a sense of the glory 
 of his Divine Master, saying evermore : • ^^ I serve the ineffably glo- 
 rious incarnate God; and I must be true and faithful !" 
 
 Some minds will naturally ask. What proof do you give your 
 readers that your interpretation of this chapter is the true one ? 
 To such I answer briefly: The fact that it meets all the conditions 
 of the case. It fits every circumstance. It is pertinent to an in- 
 auguration of Ezekiel to his prophetic office, as it should be ; it fits 
 his relations as a prophet to the captives at Babylon ; fits their re- 
 lutions to the Omnipresent and then specially active agencies of 
 God's providence over nations ; fits the style of illustrating the at- 
 tributes of God which prevailed in Chaldea, and also that which 
 was developed to some extent in the Jewish temple ; in short, this 
 construction fits in all possible points, and therefore must be the 
 true one. Out of a dozen trial keys, that one which enters the 
 lock, moves without obstruction and with the least possible friction 
 through its wards, and throws its bolt readily, must be the right 
 one. No rational man ever doubts such proof. 
 
22 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The glorious personage brought to view in the previous chapter 
 here gives the prophet his commission and instructions. 
 
 1. And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy 
 feet, and I will speak unto thee. 
 
 2. And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto 
 me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake 
 unto me. 
 
 The overwhelming impressions of solemnity and awe under 
 which the prophet sank to the ground, and also the kind words 
 and imparted spirit which set him upon his feet again and restored 
 calmness to his soul, are noted here with entire simplicity. Th?^ 
 case is closely analogous to that of Isaiah as in his sixth chapter, 
 and that of Daniel, "(chap. 10: 15-19,) or of the revelator John 
 (chap. 1 : 17). It can not surprise us that John should say, 
 "When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead;" or that Daniel 
 should testify, "0 my Lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned 
 upon me, and I have retained no strength, neither is any breath 
 left in me." In each of these cases, as in this case of Ezekiel, 
 the Lord kindly renewed their strength and prepared them to hear 
 his words. 
 
 3. And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to 
 the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath re- 
 belled against me ; they and their fathers have transgressed 
 against me, even unto this very day. 
 
 4. For they are impudent children and stiff-hearted. I 
 do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, 
 Thus saith the Lord God. 
 
 5. And they, whether they will hear, or whether they 
 will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know 
 that there hath been a prophet among them. 
 
 "Impudent," in v. 4, is in the original hard-faced. The pro])het 
 is to assure them that he brings them a message, not from him- 
 self, but from the Lord God. "Will forbear," means will refuse 
 to hear. The Lord intimates that they will have occasion to know 
 that he has certainly sent his prophet among them. His judg- 
 ments would verify the prophet's commission and leave the people 
 no room to doubt this appalling truth. This introduction shows 
 that the exiles in Chaldea, though less hardened and hopeless than 
 their brethren in Judca, were yet exceedingly stul)born and per- 
 verse. It was a great and very difficult work for Ezekiel to ac- 
 complish, to impress upon them the fear of the Lord and to recall 
 them to repentance and a new life. 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. II. 23 
 
 6. And thou, sou of man, be not afraid of them, neither 
 be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns he with 
 thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions : be not afraid 
 of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they 
 he a rebellious house. 
 
 7. And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether 
 they will hear, or whether they will forbear ; for they are 
 most rebellious. 
 
 The clause, "Though briers and thorns be with thee," Gcsenius 
 prefers to render, "though they be rebels and thorns toward thee." 
 Maurer, favoring greater congruity between the two words, makes 
 the sense "nettles and thorns." The general sense is clear. 
 Though they are hostile, malign, severe, and even savage toward 
 thee, yet be thou firm and fearless before them, and do thy duty. 
 The Lord would have him anticipate stern opposition and a pain- 
 fully trying life, and gird his soul to meet it. So evermore, he 
 who will live godly in Christ Jesus and/o?* Christ Jesus must suf- 
 fer more or less persecution. Let him expect it and seek grace to 
 meet it with Christian fortitude. 
 
 8. But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; 
 Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house : open thy 
 mouth, and eat that I give thee. 
 
 9. And when I looked, behold, a hand ivas sent unto 
 me; and,.lo, a roll of a book ims therein; 
 
 10. And he spread it before me : and it ivas written within 
 and without : and there ivas written therein lamentations, 
 and mourning, and woe. 
 
 This eating was in vision, and not done in the actual world. 
 As a thing of vision, it was admirably significant, implying that 
 he must take the messages of God to his heart and shrink not from 
 any service for God which they might involve. This roll, like the 
 ancient book, was a long strip of parchment, fitted to roll up, 
 which was written upon both sides ("within and without"). Its 
 contents, the matters therein written, were wholly of "lamentation, 
 and mourning, and woe" — all mournful exposures of guilt and 
 crime ; messages of swift judgment and of awful doom ! How sad to 
 Ezekiel must have been this preintimation of his painfully trying 
 work! Must his messages to his own people testify only to their 
 guilt and shame ; speak but rarely of promise and hope, and mainly 
 of judgment without mercy and of woe "too wide to see beyond! " 
 If so, may he have grace to be true to his God and true to the 
 souls of the guilty people ; for it were a fearful thing for mortal 
 man to falter in duty where the destiny of souls is at stake ! 
 
24 EZEKIEL.— CHAr. IIL 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 This chapter continues and completes -what pertains properly to 
 Ezekiel's introduction to his prophetic work. The Lord explains 
 and defines his commission; warns him of the opposition he has 
 to encounter, and girds him with the requisite firmness and energy 
 to meet it; discloses the great responsibilities, of his work as bear- 
 ing on the life or death of souls; and finally signifies to him that 
 he is not to speak on his own motion, but only as the Lord shall 
 give him a message from himself for the people. • 
 
 1. Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou 
 findest ; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel. 
 
 2. So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that 
 roll. 
 
 3. And he said unto me. Son of man, cause thy belly to 
 eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. 
 Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for 
 SAveetness. 
 
 As already indicated in the notes on chap. 2: 8, the eating of 
 this roll, done only in vision, signified that he should take the 
 messages of God home to his very heart, give them his most solemn 
 attention, make himself thoroughly master of their contents, and 
 hold himself at God's command to deliver them faithfully as di- 
 rected. ^That they were in his mouth as honey for sweetness, 
 
 implied his joy in accepting his prophetic mission, showing that 
 at least his jirst impressions in receiving this honor were those of 
 willing and cheerful obedience, and the consequent joy of yielding 
 to the will of God. He does not say here in explicit terms as 
 John does (Rev. 10: 9, 10), "As soon as I had eaten it, my belly 
 was bitter;." yet v. 14 seems to imply this : "I went in bitterness, 
 in the heat of my spirit." There would be sore trials to the flesh, 
 trials to his human sensibilities, in the painful service of bearing 
 such messages to a people so dear to him and yet so guilty and 
 refractory 'toAvard God.— — So evermore the faithful Christian life 
 on earth Avill blend the joy of pleasing God with the pain of com- 
 ing in contact with sin in the case of those who stand in relations 
 near and dear to our hearts. 
 
 4. And he said unto me. Son of man, go, get thee unto 
 the house of Israel, and speak Avith my words unto them. 
 
 5. For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech 
 and of an hard language, hut to the house of Israel ; 
 
 6. Not to many people of a strange speech and of an 
 hard language, Avhose Avords thou canst not understand. 
 Surely, had I sent thee to them, they Avould have heark- 
 ened unto thee. 
 
 ■ I 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. III. 25 
 
 7. But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; 
 for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of 
 Israel are impudent and hard-hearted. 
 
 "Strange," as usual, means foreign. The Lord says to his 
 prophet, "'I send thee only to the house of Israel; not to a foreign 
 nation of an unknown language ; not to many tribes or people of 
 unknown tongue. If I had sent thee to such a people, they would 
 have hearkened to thee, for such perverseness and obduracy of 
 
 heart could be found nowhere among the heathen. Underneath 
 
 this statement lies a great law of human sinning. It is only by 
 the long abuse of great light and of rich mercies that men reach 
 such a degree of moral hardihood and such depths of intense de- 
 pravity. It is appalling to think of the influence of resisted light, 
 of mercies abused, of obligations seen yet repelled and finally 
 scorned ! With what fearful rapidity, especially in the later 
 stages, do such sinners become seven-fold more the children of 
 
 hell than before ! Our Savior met and fully recognized this law 
 
 of human sinning in his intercourse with the Jews of his time. 
 See Mat. 11: 20-24, John 9: 39, 41, and 15: 22, 24. 
 
 8. Behold, I have made thy face strong against their 
 faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. 
 
 9. As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy 
 forehead : fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, 
 though they he a rebellious house. 
 
 These are bold figures, but are readily understood. The Lord 
 was preparing his servant to confront the most brazen-faced sinners 
 with firm unflinching heart. This is said with a double purpose — 
 to forewarn and to forearm ; to signify to him what he must expect, 
 and to gird his soul to meet it. 
 
 10. Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my Tvords 
 that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear 
 with thine ears. 
 
 11. And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the 
 children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, 
 Thus saith the Lord God; whether they will hear, or 
 whether they will forbear. 
 
 V. 10 seems to express without a figure what the act of eating 
 
 the roll implies. The expressive clause, "whether they will 
 
 hear or not hear" ("will forbear"), seems to be not merely a part 
 of the Lord's instructions to his prophet, but a part also of his 
 message to the people. The prophet must give them to understand 
 that God lays on them the fearful responsibility of deciding 
 whether they would hear or would not. They must determine 
 this question for themselves and bear its consequences. 
 2 
 
26 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. III. 
 
 12. Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me 
 a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed he the glory of 
 the Lord from his place. 
 
 This beini; "taken up by the Spirit" was done in vision only. 
 It seems to be bearing him away from the scenes described in the 
 first chapter. Hence he receives his last impressions from these 
 sounds behind him as he is leaving. The great rush corresponds 
 to the account in chap. 1 : 24, the sound of the wings of flying 
 cherubim and of their voices, here praising God and celebrating 
 his glories as revealed from the place of these manifestations. 
 
 13. I heard also the noise of the wings of the living 
 creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the 
 wheels over against them, and a noise of a great rushing. 
 
 In the phrase, "the wings that touched one another," the He- 
 brew has the beautiful figure, " wings that kissed each that of her 
 sister." 
 
 14. So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I 
 went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand 
 of the Lord was strong upon me. 
 
 This scene must have been immensely exciting to the youthful 
 prophet. Probably he begins to appreciate the responsibihties 
 and trials of the work now devolved upon him, and hence feels 
 pangs of bitterness in his soul, and a sense as of intense heat in 
 his spirit. But the hand of the Lord is strong upon him, and he 
 can not withstand the summons to painful duty, and would not if 
 he could. The experiences of Jeremiah were much the same. 
 See notes on Jer. 20 : 7-9. 
 
 15. Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel-abib, 
 that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat w^here they 
 sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days. 
 
 Here we pass from scenes of prophetic vision to scenes not visional 
 but purely in the actual world. He comes to the exiles, and soon 
 begins to speak to them from the Lord his God. As they were in 
 the real world only, and not at all in prophetic vision, so must his 
 words and acts, relating to them, be understood as in the actual 
 
 and not the ideal world. Tel-abib (corn-hill) was the residence 
 
 of a large body of these exiles, and probably of the prophet him- 
 self The 'first Hebrew verb of the phrase, "I sat where they 
 
 sat," is variously read and translated by the best critics. Our 
 Euf^llsh translation follows the vowel points of the Hebrew text 
 and not the consonants, and is not generally approved as the most 
 reliable reading. Gcsenius prefers a reading of the original, 
 which means, "I saw them sitting there, and I sat down with 
 them astonished seven days." Maurer, preferring another root, 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. III. 27 
 
 renders, "I turned aside where they were sitting, and sat doAvn with 
 
 them." As the verb rendered ^^remai7ied," is precisely the usual 
 
 Hebrew verb to sit, our received translation repeats itself; "I sat 
 where they sat, and sat astonished ; " which is scarcely admissible. 
 
 But no important sentiment is involved in these diversities of 
 
 reading. "Seven days," a round indefinite number, meaning a 
 
 considerable time. See the same usage under somewhat similar 
 circumstances in the case of Job's three friends (Job 2: 13). 
 
 16. And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that 
 the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 17. Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the 
 house of Israel : therefore hear the word at my mouth, and 
 give them warning from me. 
 
 18. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die ; 
 and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the 
 wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same 
 wicked maji shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I 
 require at thy hand. 
 
 19. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from 
 his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in 
 his iniquity ; but thou hast delivered thy soul. 
 
 20. Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his 
 righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling- 
 block before him, he shall die : because thou hast not given 
 him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness 
 which he hath done shall not be remembered ; but his blood 
 will I require at thy hand. 
 
 21. Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that 
 the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely 
 live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy 
 soul. 
 
 These words were specially addressed by the T^ord to his prophet. 
 They may or may not have been announced by the prophet to the 
 people. Essentially the same ideas are drawn out somewhat more 
 fully in chap. 33. There, they are rehearsed to the people. Their 
 intensely solemn import is plain. The watchman or sentinel 
 stands guard in war to give notice of impending danger. If he 
 does his duty faithfully, and the people disregard his warnings, his 
 hands are clear of their blood : they perish in their own folly. If 
 he neglects his duty and the people perish unwarned, they perish 
 
 indeed, but their blood is required at his hand. So of the prophet. 
 
 So of all Christian ministers, and indeed of all Christians in every 
 sphere in their relations to the people among whom the Lord in his 
 providence may place them. They must admonish those who are 
 in their sins of their danger, as they would free themselves from 
 
28 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. III. 
 
 blood-i^uiltincss in the death of unwarned souls. The case of a 
 riii;hteous man apostatizing from a pious life falls under the same 
 law. Every good and true servant of God is bound to admonish 
 him of his peril, else his blood may be required of those who have 
 
 neglected to give him such warning. The "stumbling-block" 
 
 spoken of here (v. 20) is not a temptation to sin, but a means of 
 destruction, an agency employed of God to destroy the sinner. 
 
 22. And the hand of the Lord was there upon me ; and 
 he said unto rae, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will 
 there talk with thee. 
 
 23. Then I arose, and -went forth into the plain: and, 
 behold, the glory of the Lord stood there, as the glory 
 which I saw by the river of Chebar: and I fell on my 
 face. 
 
 This "plain" or valley stands contrasted with the hill (Tell 
 Abib) where the people resided. The spirit of the call is, Go 
 down to a retired place; I have another personal charge to give 
 
 thee in private. The prophet obeyed; and there he saw again 
 
 the same manifestation of the glory of the Lord which he had seen 
 by the river Chebar. Here also, as there, he falls prostrate on his 
 
 face. This going to the valley seems to have been done in the 
 
 external world. What followed there was said and shown to him 
 in prophetic vision. 
 
 24. Then the spirit' entered into me, and set me upon my 
 feet, and spake with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thy- 
 self within thy house. 
 
 25. But thou, O son of man, behold, they shall put 
 bands upon thee, and shall bind thee with them, and thou 
 slialt not go out among them: 
 
 26. And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of 
 thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to 
 them a reprover: for they are a rebellious house. 
 
 27. But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, 
 and thou shalt say unto them. Thus saith the Lord God; 
 He that heareth, let him hear : and he that forbeareth, let 
 him forbear: for they are a rebellious house. 
 
 I take the general import of these instructions to be this: Thy 
 mission, Ezekiel, is simply and only to speak the words of God ; 
 not thine own words. Shut up thyself, therefore, in thine own 
 house, and remain there till the Spirit of God shall lead thee forth. 
 The people will withstand thee ; but let not their opposition insti- 
 gate thee to any rash Avords of thine own. Wait in silence till the 
 Lord shall give thee his own message to deliver to them. How- 
 ever much the greatness or the guilt of their sins may fire thy 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. IV. 29 
 
 soul with indignation, take care to say only what the Lord shall 
 give thee to say. Restrict thyself absolutely to the messages that 
 are given thee of the Lord thy God. When 1 open thy mouth, then 
 speak and fear nothing. Till then be silent. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Tub object of the symbolic transactions recorded in this chap- 
 ter was to impress the exiles with the facts that Jerusalem was 
 soon to be besieged; that this siege would be exceedingly severe, 
 involving great famine and distress ; and that it was to come upon 
 
 the city and the people for their great sins. The date of the 
 
 prophecies in chaps. 4-7, can not be much later than the fifth year 
 of Jehoiachin's captivity, since no new date appears between 
 chaps. 1 : 2, and 8 : 1. The latter was the sixth year and sixth month. 
 Zedekiah's reign began very soon after the captivity of Jehoiachin. 
 The siege of Jerusalem commenced in the tenth month of his ninth 
 year. (Jer. 52: 4.) Hence this prophecy preceded the beginning 
 
 of the siege by some four or four and a half years only. The 
 
 two significant symbolic transactions recorded in this chapter are 
 closely related to each other — are indeed parts of the same whole ; 
 viz. (1.) The delineation of the city of Jerusalem on a tile, and 
 formally laying siege to it: and, (2.) The prophet's lying on his 
 left side three hundred and ninety days, and on his right, forty, 
 and taking his bread and water by measure during those periods — 
 to indicate both the straitness of the siege and its moral causes in 
 the nation's great sins. . 
 
 1. Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it be- 
 fore thee, and portray upon it the city, even Jerusalem : 
 
 2. And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, 
 and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, 
 and set battering rams against it round about. 
 
 3. Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it 
 for a wall of iron between thee and the city : and set thy 
 face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay 
 siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel. 
 
 The ruins of Nineveh and of Babylon have furnished the world 
 during the present century large quantities of "^i7<?," sun-baked or 
 kiln-burnt brick, covered with inscriptions. Hence this symbol was 
 perfectly familiar to Ezekiel and to his fellow-exiles. To portray 
 a city on a tile and let it represent Jerusalem was altogether in 
 harmony with the usages of the Chaldean people. This sym- 
 bolic transaction was throughout in keeping with the modes of 
 ancient warflire. Towers were built, mounds raised, often to the 
 
30 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. IV. 
 
 full height of the walls of the besieged city; a camp was fitted up; 
 battering rams provided. Then, to protect the besiegors, strong 
 ramparts were raised between them and the city, indicated in this 
 transaction by the "iron pan." All this was for a "5?^h" to the 
 house of Israel, a thoroughly symbolic process, to signify the siege 
 
 of their beloved city. There can be no reasonable doubt that 
 
 this was really done as here stated, and not merely seen in vision 
 without being done in fact. For the record has none of the usual 
 intimations of a vision, e. g., "I looked;" "I saw;" "the Lord 
 showed me;" "I was in the spirit and saw," etc., etc. On the 
 contrary, the prophet is simply commanded to do precisely this 
 thing, and the Lord said it should be a "^e^n," a visible, significant 
 symbol, to the people. 
 
 4. Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity 
 of the house of Israel upon it : according to the number of 
 the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their 
 iniquity. 
 
 5. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, 
 according to the number of the days, three hundred and 
 ninety days : so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house 
 of Israel. 
 
 6. And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on 
 thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house 
 of Judah forty days : I have appointed thee each day for a 
 year. 
 
 This also we must interpret as an actual transaction, symbolic 
 of course in its purpose, but not an unreal vision. It proceeds in 
 the same strain as the previous symbol, a simple command to do. 
 Manifestly this lying on either side, as well as the preparation 
 and eating of his food, were to be done " in the sight of the people " 
 (see V. 12). Now, since the people are in the external world only, 
 and not in prophetic vision, this must have been an actual pro- 
 ceeding, and not a thing of mere vision. It can not be supposed 
 
 that this lying on one side was absolutely continuous and un- 
 broken by any rising up during the entire thirteen months in the 
 former case and one and one-third months in the latter. For, 
 according to the record, the prophet prepared his own food and 
 ate it from time to time. The necessities of his physical being 
 were therefore to be provided for as an exception to the general 
 law of his fixed position. 
 
 It will meet all the conditions of the case if we suppose that 
 his lying on his side was so public as to be well known, and so 
 continuous as to fill out the greater part of the time and as to in- 
 volve great hardship and suffering. So much we must admit, else 
 it would not forcibly symbolize his bearing of the iniquities of 
 Israel and Judah, and the sore straitness of the besieged city and 
 its people. The restraint which the Lord put upon him (v. 8) pro 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. IV. 31 
 
 vented his turning from side to side to relieve himself, but did not 
 
 prevent his preparing and eating his necessary food. These 
 
 periods of time (three hundred and ninety days, and forty) were 
 not capricious. They were sufficiently long to involve much dis- 
 comfort and even suffering. There was probably some special sig- 
 nificance in both periods. Critics have generally agreed that the 
 long period looks to the interval from the revolt under Jeroboam to 
 the destruction of the city, which the common chronology makes 
 three hundred and eighty-eight years — in round numbers three 
 hundred and ninety. During this period the two nations had 
 been relapsing into idolatry — a fact which would itself give ample 
 significance to the symbol of lying three hundred and ninety days 
 
 on his left side to bear the iniquities of Israel. The special 
 
 significance of the number forty for the years of Judah is less ob- 
 vious. Rosenmueller and Maurer agree in commencing it with 
 the twelfth year of Josiah when his great reform was inaugurated, 
 and in closing it with the destruction of the city — this period be- 
 ginning hopefully but closing wofully with horrible apostasy — the 
 bitter disappointment of fondly cherished hopes of national re- 
 form, and the aggravated guilt of broken covenants and of light 
 rejected. There was manifestly good reason why the special 
 attention of the Jews should be called to the more aggravated 
 course of their nation within these last forty years. This ex- 
 planation is on the whole to be preferred to any other that has 
 been before me. The forty years' wandering in the wilderness is 
 too remote in time, and not sufficiently pertinent to the present 
 
 case. 1 doubt if any other special significance pertains to the 
 
 distinction between Israel and Judah except what is readily seen 
 in the historic circumstances as above indicated. The three hun- 
 dred and ninety years of Israel began with the revolt of Jeroboam. 
 In that revolt, Israel as distinct from Judah was prominent. 
 There, in her revolt, and in the idolatrous decree of the golden 
 calves, the terrible relapse of the whole nation into idolatry began. 
 
 On the other hand the forty years' period, as above explained, 
 
 related specially to Judah, marking the period of her last guilty 
 relapse from God, and suggesting the great light she had sinned 
 against. That God's special appointment should make each day's 
 lying by the prophet on his side, symbolic of one year, need oc- 
 casion no surprise or difficulty. Once indicated, the significance 
 was clear and unmistakable. But, that interpreters of prophecy 
 should find here authority for the theory that in all prophetic 
 notations of time, "day" means "year," and "year" means three 
 hundred and sixty years, is in the last degree capricious and un- 
 founded. How can those who embrace this theory fail to see that 
 throughout this passage the words "day" and "year" are used 
 evermore in their ordinary and common sense, and not at all with 
 the special extension or rather multiplication which they claim 
 for them ? Did the prophet lie on his left side three hundred and 
 ninety years, and on his right side forty years ? That would be 
 simply monstrous, yet not more so than the theory that the word 
 
32 EZEEIEL.— CHAP. IV. 
 
 "day" in prophecy means "year," In the present case the only 
 
 reason why each day's confined posture on the side represents a 
 year lies in the symbol (not in the word day), and is there by 
 special divine arrangement. It is not at all in the sense of the 
 words "day" and "year." The Lord told the prophet and also 
 the people that his lyin<j; a certain number of days -^n either side 
 should remind the people of so many years of their national sin. 
 
 This is all. That Israel was indicated by the prophet's left side 
 
 may look to the fact that geographically, that kingdom lay on 
 their left, since in locating the points of compass, the Orientals 
 stood with their faces to the east. Note also chap. 16: 46, "Thine 
 elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy 
 left hand." 
 
 7. Therefore tliou shalt set thy face toward the siege of 
 Jerusalem, and thine arm shall he uncovered, and tliou 
 siialt prophesy against it. 
 
 8. And behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou 
 shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast 
 ended the days of thy siege. 
 
 This is a remarkable combination of symbols — a man lying 
 prostrate on one side to signify that he bears the iniquity of the 
 house of Israel ; yet setting his face toward his tile, which repre- 
 sents Jerusalem, to indicate that he is (in symbol) besieging the 
 city, and having his arm bare and his loins girded to show that 
 the assailing party is alert and unimpeded in his assault. Making 
 bare the arm by girding the loins is one of the most common, 
 well defined, and expressive symbols of oriental life. See Isa. 52 : 
 10. "Thou shalt prophesy against," may include in its mean- 
 ing these significant symbols which would themselves speak with 
 no doubtful voice. But very probably he added explanatory 
 
 words. The "bands that God laid upon him," seem to have 
 
 restrained him from turning from side to side, to relieve himself, 
 but manifestly did not prevent his rising to prepare and take his 
 food. 
 
 9. Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, 
 and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one 
 vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the num- 
 ber of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side; three 
 hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof. 
 
 10. And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall he by 
 weight, twenty shekels a day : from time to time shalt thou 
 eat it. 
 
 11. Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth 
 part of a hin : from time to time shalt thou drink. 
 
 Directions as to his food, and the quantity of bread and water 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. IV 33 
 
 allowed him. Tlie reader will notice that our translators (un- 
 like ourselves) make no broad distinction between "bread" and 
 "meat." What is "bread" in v. 9 is "meat" in v. 10. The 
 Hebrew word in v. 10 comprehends every thing eaten. Our trans- 
 lators seem to have used the word "meat" in this comprehensive 
 
 sense. A shekel is equal to half an ounce. Consequently 
 
 twenty shekels are ten ounces — a light ration of mere vegetables, 
 and designed to represent the extreme scarcity in the besieged 
 city. A hin, according to Gesenius, is five English quarts. One- 
 sixth part of it consequently is five-sixths of a quart. 
 
 12. And thou slialt eat it as barley cakes, and thou slialt 
 bake it with dung that cometli out of man, in their sight. 
 
 13. And the Lord said. Even thus shall the children of 
 Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither 
 I will drive them. 
 
 14. Then said I, Ah Lord God ! behold, my soul hath 
 not been polluted : for from my youth up even till now 
 have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in 
 pieces ; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth. 
 
 15. Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's 
 dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread 
 therewith. 
 
 Under the gf^neral scarcity of other fuel in the unwooded 
 regions of the East, the offal of domestic animals is much used 
 for fuel, even in cooking. Ezekiel manifestly regarded the use of 
 human offal for this purpose as not only offensive but ceremonially 
 polluting. He therefore pleads for some relief from this injunc- 
 tion. It was kindly granted him. The Lord wished to show 
 
 by this symbol that the Jews were doomed to eat defiled bread in 
 their captivity among the heathen. 
 
 16. Moreover he said unto me. Son of man, behold, I will 
 break the staflf of bread in Jerusalem : and they shall eat 
 bread by weight, and with care ; and they shall drink water 
 by measure, and with astonishment : 
 
 17. That they may want bread and water, and be aston- 
 ished one with another, and consume away for their iniquity. 
 
 The phrase, "to eat bread with care," should take the stronger 
 sense of extreme anxiety, dreadful apprehension. Famine and 
 
 terror should consume them — a fearful doom! Before we pass 
 
 from this chapter let us note the fact that the scenes it describes 
 filled out (at 365 days per year) one year, two months and a frac- 
 tion of five days over, while the interval between the dates in 
 chap. 1: 1, 2, and in chap. 8: 1, is one year and two months. 
 As the numbers in chap. 4 are obviously round numbers, it can 
 Bcarcely be doubted that the two periods are identically the same. 
 
34 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. V. 
 
 That is, the symbolic transaction, representing the sie2;e of Jeru- 
 salem and the bearing of the iniquities of Israel and Judah, filled 
 up the first stage of his prophetic life — the entire interval between 
 his call Avith the vision accompanying it, and the second great 
 vision recorded, chaps. 8-11. This symbolical scene, therefore, 
 was properly his introduction before the people in his new charac- 
 ter as a prophet. As such, it Avas adapted to make strong impres- 
 sions on their minds. They could not but observe the strangeness 
 of the scene and say, "Verily, here is a prophet of the Lord among 
 us, and it behooves us to mark his words and his no less signifi- 
 cant deeds." Let us also note that these symbolic transactions 
 
 recorded in this chap. 4 arc the text for the sermon Avhich fills 
 chapters 5, 6, and 7. These latter chapters for the most part drop 
 all symbol and announce in plain but terrible words, the judg- 
 ments of siege, conquest and destruction, then Avithin four or five 
 years of being realized upon the long guilty and doomed city of 
 the Jews. These lessons Avere full of terrible significance to their 
 captive brethren noAV in Chaldea, as we shall see. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 This chapter presents a new symbol, but continues the same 
 course of thought. Manifestly, the destiny of the doomed city and 
 people of Jerusalem is the theme illustrated here by the prophet's 
 cutting off the hairs of his head and of his beard, dividing the 
 mass into three equal parts, and then by a triple process destroy- 
 ing them. The body of the chapter explains this symbolic trans- 
 action and unfolds in various forms this revealed destiny of ruin 
 to the people and the city. 
 
 1. And thou, son of man, take tliee a sharp knife, take 
 thee a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thy head 
 and upon thy beard : then take thee balances to weigh, and 
 divide the hair. 
 
 2. Thou shalt burn with fire- a third part in the midst 
 of the city, Avhen the days of the siege are fulfilled ; and 
 thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it Avith a 
 knife : and a third part thou shalt scatter in the Avind ; and 
 I will draAV out a SAVord after them. 
 
 Cutting off the hair of the head, and especially of the beard, 
 indicated sometimes the highest indignity, but usually extreme 
 calamity. The feeling of the Orientals toAvard their beard and 
 hair involved strong affection, sometimes rising to real A'cneration. 
 Hence it became a most expressive token of bitter grief to tear 
 out the hair, and a symbol of mourning over great calamity to cut 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. V. 35 
 
 it off. Comp. 2 Sam. 10: 4, 5, and Jer. 41 : 5, and 48: 37. -r— This 
 cutting of the prophet's hair was a real transaction, having a sym- 
 bolic impQrt to the people. The balances were to divide the hair 
 into three equal parts, each of which was to have its own peculiar 
 mode of destruction. "The days of the siege" form a connect- 
 ing link between this chapter and the preceding one. V. 12 is 
 
 God's own interpretation of this symbol. One third part of the 
 people are to die with pestilence and famine in the city ; another 
 third by the sword in the siege and capture ; and the remain- 
 ing third were to be scattered to every wind of heaven, and the 
 sword of the Lord would pursue even these to their destruction. 
 
 3. Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and 
 bind them in thy skirts. 
 
 4. Then take of them again, and cast them into the 
 midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire: for thereof 
 shall a fire come fi3rth into all the house of Israel. 
 
 A small remnant wore to be gathered carefully and bound up in 
 his skirts, yet even of them some would be cast into the fire, and 
 a fire go forth from them into all the house of Israel. If this has 
 special reference to any particular portion of the Jewish people, 
 it would naturally be to that small remnant who remained in the 
 land, but were either cut off with Gedaliah, or went down into 
 Egypt to perish there. The general sense is, manifestly, that only 
 tlie smallest part of a small remnant should survive these sweep- 
 ing calamities. A better remnant were saved out of the exiles 
 
 in Chaldea — this revelation of exterminating judgments on those 
 who remained in Judah being one of the divinely ordained means 
 for their moral culture and restoration to piety and to their own 
 land. 
 
 5. Thus saith the Lord God ; This is Jerusalem : I have 
 set it in the midst of the nations and countries that ar6 
 round about her. 
 
 Here the interpretation of the symbols begins. This represents 
 the doom of Jerusalem — -the long-loved and honored city of the 
 exiles in Chaldea, to whom Ezekiel is prophesying. He is setting 
 before them the judgments about to fall on her — long and richly 
 
 due for her great sins. That she is "in the midst of the nations 
 
 and countries about her," looks t© her central position among the 
 nations of Western Asia and Northeastern Africa, and to her 
 prominence before all those nations as a people governed and 
 judged by the only living God. 
 
 6. And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness 
 more than the nations, and my statutes more than the 
 countries that are round about her : for they have refused 
 
36 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. V. 
 
 my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in 
 them. 
 
 The Heb. verb rendered "chan;^ed," which our translators de- 
 rived from moor, modern critics with good reason take from marah, 
 and so render it, "And she hath impiously resisted my judg- 
 ments" — i. c.jWith perverse and bitter spirit hath discarded them, 
 more than the heathen nations. This comparison of the Jews with 
 the heathen about them refers to the common moralities of the 
 laAvs of nature. The Jews had outraged these laws more than the 
 heathen had done. 
 
 7. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye mul- 
 tiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and 
 have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judg- 
 ments, neither have done according to the judgments of the 
 nations that are round about you ; 
 
 The phrase, "multiplied more than the nations" is not explicit, 
 since it does not necessarily involve moral wroag. The original 
 gives it a better turn, and makes it clear. ''Because ye have 
 been tumultuous, outbreaking in sin, more than those contiguous 
 nations." Compare the same word in Ps. 2: 1, "Why do the 
 heathen rage,'' etc. She had been violent, reckless, desperate. 
 
 8. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even 
 I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst 
 of thee in the sight of the nations. 
 
 9. And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and 
 whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all 
 thine abominations. 
 
 10. Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst 
 of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers ; and I will ex- 
 ecute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee 
 will I scatter into all the winds. 
 
 The Lord would show most clearly that he was against that 
 guilty city. The language puts this idea in the most emphatic 
 form. Stress is laid also on the thought that judgment on Jeru- 
 salem would be inflicted in the sight of all the nations. It had a 
 lesson for them. Moreover this prediction was adapted to humble 
 
 the national pride of the Jews, and might thus be salutary. 
 
 That the fathers should eat the sons, and the sons the fathers, 
 probably refers here, not to the eating of human flesh in the strait- 
 ness of the siege, but to civil war — terrible feuds which should 
 array fathers against son* and sous against fathers. 
 
 11. Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord God ; Surely, 
 because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detest' 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. V. 37 
 
 able things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will 
 I also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye sj^are, neither 
 will I have any pity. 
 
 In this verse the word "diminish" gives a sense too feeble for 
 the demands of the case. The original verb means to withhold or 
 withdraw; to which we must subjoin as the object either the word 
 eye^ ox the word myself. In the former case the word "eye" is 
 put forward from the clause that immediately follows, giving the 
 sense, I will not look upon or heed thy bitterest woes. In the lat- 
 ter case with substantially the same sense, I will withhold myself 
 from compassion. I will suppress all the impulses of pity and let 
 judgment take its course without mercy. In either case it is a 
 threat of awful import, yet had its just occasion in the outrageous 
 sin of defiling his sanctuary with idol gods and with pollutions too 
 horrid to name. 
 
 12. A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, 
 and with famine shall they be consnmed in the midst of 
 thee : and a third part shall fall by the sword round about 
 thee ; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and 
 I will draw out a sword after them. 
 
 As already said, this verse is the Lord's interpretation of the 
 symbol with which the chapter opens. 
 
 13. Thus shall, mine anger be accomplished, and I will 
 cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: 
 and they shall know that I the Lord have spoken it in my 
 zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them. 
 
 14. Moreover I will make thee w^aste, arui a reproach 
 among the nations that a7'e round about thee, in the sight 
 of all that pass by. 
 
 15. So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction 
 and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about 
 thee, when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and 
 in fury and in furious rebukes. I the Lord have spoken it. 
 
 16. When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of fam- 
 ine, which shall be for tJieii^ destruction, and which I will 
 send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon 
 you, and will break your staff of bread : 
 
 17. So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and 
 they shall bereave thee ; and pestilence and blood shall pass 
 through thee ; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the 
 Lord have spoken it. 
 
 These verses expand and reiterate the thought that these judg- 
 ments are the stern demand of divine justice and the outburst of 
 
38 ' EZEKIEL.— CHAP. VI. 
 
 irrepressible indignation, designed not only as a fearful retribution 
 upon the guilty Jews, but as a lesson of solemn instruction and 
 
 admonition to all surrounding nations. This assumes that the 
 
 principles on which God dealt with the Jewish nation were not 
 unique and special, but general, and applicable, therefore, to all 
 nations of every age and clime, and hence to our oioyi nation and 
 people. This fact deserves to be seriously pondered. In the case 
 of the Jews, God has taught us how he will judge and punish 
 every other guilty nation, including, of course, our own. In v. 15, 
 the phrase, "•furious rebukes," involves the two ideas of infliction 
 and of ivrath; as IlosenmuUer fitly suggests, "not castigation as 
 of sons, but vengeance as against enemies." Yet let no one doubt 
 that these appalling judgments on the guilty Jews and their pol- 
 luted city were really demanded by the largest benevolence and 
 the truest wisdom. For the Infinite Sovereign must maintain the 
 honor of his throne; must frown fearfully upon such horrible in- 
 sults and outrages upon his house and worship; must impress the 
 nations with a salutary fear of sinning; — else would the universe 
 go down before the powers of sin and hell, and its well-being be 
 
 forever blasted. If it be asked. Why such threatenings against 
 
 Jerusalem and the Jews of Judea, in the prophecies of JEzekiel, 
 borne only to the exiles in Chaldea ? The answer is at hand. 
 Those Jews in their native land were their own brethren and 
 .fathers; that city was their own loved home. These judgments, 
 therefore, appealed to their tenderest sympathies, and were brought 
 thus vividly before their mind for their moral good. The Divine 
 hope and purpose were to impress them with God's abhorrence of 
 idolatry, to open their eyes to its guilt, and turn their heart effec- 
 tually from this great national sin. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 This chapter is in the same strain with chapters 4, 5, and 7 — 
 predicting fearful judgments on the land and people of Judah — 
 this strain being broken only by a brief reference to a remnant 
 that should survive and repent (vs. 8, 9). 
 
 1. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 2. Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Is- 
 rael, and prophesy against them, 
 
 3. And say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of 
 the Lord God : Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, 
 and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys ; Behold, 
 I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy 
 your high places. 
 
 4. And your altars shall be desolate, and your images 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. VI. 39 
 
 shall be broken : and I will cast down your slain men be- 
 fore your idols. 
 
 5. And I will lay the dead carcasses of the children of 
 Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones 
 round about your altars. 
 
 6. In all your dwelling-places the cities shall be laid 
 waste, and the high places shall be desolate ; that your al- 
 tars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols 
 may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut 
 down, and your works may be abolished. 
 
 7. And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye 
 shall know that I am the Lord. 
 
 With a bold personification, the mountains, hills, ravines and 
 valleys, desecrated by the horrid rites of idolatry, are here ad- 
 dressed as if intelligent and conscious of guilt and danger. The 
 Lord threatens to bring the sword upon those desecrated places, 
 and to cut down the guilty idolaters so that their dead bodies shall 
 lie unburied around their altars and before their idols. Carrying 
 out this bold personification to the letter, the Lord closes — "Ye" 
 (the mountains, hills and valleys) " shall yourselves know that I 
 am the Lord;" {. e.^ when ye shall see the slain idolaters fallen on 
 every side of the altars of the idol gods they had wickedly wor- 
 shiped there. In v. 4, the Hebrew rendered "your images," 
 
 implies that they were images in honor of the sun; probably used 
 in the worship of Baal. In v. 6, the last word, rendered "abol- 
 ished," has the strong sense of loiped out, obliterated; implying that 
 Grod would wash the land clean of these abominations. 
 
 8. Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some 
 that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye 
 shall be scattered through the countries. 
 
 9. And they that escaj^e of you shall remember me 
 among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, 
 because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath 
 departed from me, and with their eyes which go a whoring 
 after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves for the 
 evils which they have committed in all their abominations. 
 
 10. And they shall know that I am the Lord, and that I 
 have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them. 
 
 The destruction of the covenant people will not be universal and 
 utter. A small remnant of the captives will be spared and ulti- 
 mately brought to repentance. This precious truth is interposed 
 here for the comfort of those who still retained some fear of God, 
 and for the encouragement of those who could be moved to serious 
 
 thought toward repentance. In the middle clause of v. 9, the 
 
 course of thought is more natural and easy if we read, not " Be- 
 
40 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. VI. 
 
 cause I am broken," etc., but, ^^When I shall have broken their 
 
 whorish heart and [subdued to tears] those ejes that went 
 
 a whoring after their idols," etc. The form of the Hebrew verb 
 fully admits this construction. The precise sense would be, When 
 1 shall have broken /or viysclf^ for my own glory — the Xiphal con- 
 jugation having here the sense of the Greek middle voice. Thus 
 the sentiment corresponds with that in Ezek. 36: 31, 32; "Then 
 shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were 
 not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your 
 iniquities and for all your abominations. Not for your sakes do 
 i this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you : be ashamed and 
 confounded for your own Avays, O house of Israel ! " " Shall re- 
 member me" — shall recall to mind their obligations to me, their 
 sins against me, and the love I have shown them. This is the 
 main antecedent step to repentance. "I thought on my ways, and 
 turned my feet to thy testimonies." So Ezek. 36 : 31 (above cited), 
 and Zech. 10: 9, "They shall remember me in far countries, and 
 they shall live with their children, and turn again." 
 
 11. Thus saitli the Lord God; Smite with thy hand, 
 and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas, for all the evil 
 abominations of the house of Israel ! for they shall fall by 
 the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. 
 
 12. He that is far oif shall die of the pestilence; and he 
 that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth 
 and is besieged shall die by the famine : thus will I accom- 
 plish my fury uj)on them. 
 
 13. Then shall ye know that I am the Lord, when their 
 slain men shall be among their idols round about their 
 altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mount- 
 ains, and under every green tree, and under every thick 
 oak, the place where they did offer sweet savor to all their 
 idols. 
 
 Ezekiel is usually very emphatic and demonstrative — here, by 
 special divine direction. These strong gestures would bespeak 
 the earnestness of his soul, or rather, of God's own heart in the 
 
 utterance of these solemn warnings. The people would have 
 
 convincing proof that God had spoken these words of doom when 
 they should see the idol-worshipers lying dead among their idols 
 and around their altars in every place where they had made ofier- 
 ings to idol gods. In v. 12, the word rendered "besieged" de- 
 mands the good sense — who has been preserved^ kept, i. c, from the 
 sword. He, though saved from the sword, shall die of famine. 
 
 14. So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make 
 the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the Avilderness. 
 toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall 
 know that I ain the Lord. 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. VII. 41 
 
 The strength of critical testimony is decidedly in favor of 
 Riblah, rather than "Diblath" — the whole clause to he rendered, 
 •'desolate from the wilderness unto Riblah," ?, e., throughout its 
 whole extent, since "the wilderness" is probably that which lay 
 on the south of Judah, and lliblah was just outside their northern 
 border. This city became prominent in Jewish history as the 
 head-quarters of the king of Babylon when Jerusalem fell before 
 his arms. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 This chapter continues and closes this particular message, and 
 announces the fearful doom of the guilty Jews and of their city. 
 The points made specially prominent are — that this day of judg- 
 ment is very near^ and that the ruin it shall bring upon the city, 
 the land and the people, shall be extreme and utter. 
 
 1. Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 2. Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God unto 
 the land of Israel ; An end, the end is come upon the four 
 corners of the land. 
 
 3. Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine 
 anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, 
 and will recompense u^ion thee all thine abominations. 
 
 4. And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have 
 pity : but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine 
 abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall 
 know that I am the Lord. 
 
 A terrible emphasis is laid upon the oft repeated words, '''■the 
 end is come!^ The land is to be made utterly desolate. Its beauty 
 and glory will go down in the darkness of night. God will pour 
 out his wrath upon them and requite them for all their abominable 
 idolatries. " Thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee," 
 implies that they will be there, not as sins being committed and 
 enjoyed, but as sins calling loudly for retribution and bringing it 
 down terribly uj)on the long sinning people. 
 
 5. Thus saith the Lord God; An evil, an only evil, be- 
 hold, is come. 
 
 6. An end is come, the end is come : it watcheth for thee ; 
 behold, it is come. 
 
 In V. 5, "an only evil" — literally, a one evil, I understand to 
 mean, not strictly a pure, unmixed evil, but rather, one all-com- 
 prehensive calamity, which at one fell blow should smite down all 
 their happiness and well-being. In v. 6, "the end" is the pro- 
 
42 EZEKIEL.— CHAP, VII. 
 
 destined, long predicted and deserved end. In the next clause I 
 prefer to read, not "it watcheth for thee;" but it awaketh and 
 riseth up against thee — as if it had been a slumbering giant, but 
 now starts from its slumbers and puts itself on the alert to do its 
 work, 
 
 7. The morning is come upon thee, O tliou that dwellest 
 in the land : the time is come, the day of trouble is near ; 
 and not the sounding again of the mountains. 
 
 The sense of the first word is not morning^ as of the opening of 
 the predicted day; but cycle; the cycle has come ro\md to thee; the 
 fixed divine order which brings judgment after and upon great 
 
 sin. The Hebrew word here is not the usual one for morning. 
 
 The last clause, " and not the sounding again of the mountains," 
 contains an allusion not patent to the casual reader, and not easily 
 traced without the aid of the original. The word here rendered 
 " sounding again" is a shorter form of the word which is used either 
 for the shouting of those who tread grapes, or for the shouts of 
 victory in battle. Isaiah plays upon this twofold use of the word 
 when he says of Moab (chap. 16 : 9, 10), "I will water thee with 
 my tears, because upon thy summer fruits and thy harvests, the war- 
 shout" (not the grape-treaders' shout) "has fallen." By an anal- 
 ogous play upon the two current senses of this word, this prophet, 
 alluding to the outcries common in the orgies of idol-worship on 
 the hills, says, There shall be no more such shouts of idol-wor- 
 shipers on your high places, but instead of it, the battle-cry of 
 thy conquerors. The latter is rather implied than expressed ; but 
 is manifestly involved by the force of prophetic usage in this 
 special play on the word. Jeremiah (51 : 14) has the same usage, 
 
 The reference to "the mountains" looks to the passages 
 
 (Ezek, 6 : 2, 3, 13) which locate their idol-worship on the high 
 pfaces. 
 
 8. Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and 
 accomplish mine anger upon thee : and I will judge thee 
 according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all 
 thine abominations. 
 
 9. And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have 
 pity : T will recompense thee according to thy ways, and 
 thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye 
 shall know that I am the Lord that smiteth. 
 
 10. Behold the day, behold, it is come; the morning is 
 gone forth ; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded. 
 
 11. Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness : none 
 of them shall remahiy nor of their multitude, nor of any of 
 theirs : neither shall there he wailing for them. 
 
 In v, 10 the word "morning" is the same as in v, 7, and in the 
 same sense. The cycle of the divine order brings thee thy day of 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. VII. 43 
 
 doom. " The Tod hath blossomed " — the rod for thy scourging 
 
 hath developed itself and is in readiness for service ; the pride 
 of thy conquerors flowers out, i. e., into action and life, impelling 
 them on to war and destruction against thee. The figure in re- 
 gard to pride follows the previous figure of the rod. Violence 
 
 becomes a rod to scourge and punish thy wickedness. Critics 
 
 disagree somewhat in the interpretation of the middle clause of 
 V. 11, where our translators have supplied the words, "shall re- 
 main." Yet it can not well be doubted that the general sense is, 
 This violence shall bring upon the Jews a sweeping unsparing 
 destruction, one which nothing shall survive. The precise render- 
 ing of the original may be, "There shall be nothing of them^ nor 
 of their multitude, nor of their wealth." The Hebrew presents a 
 striking paranomasia in these three leading words here italicized. 
 
 The last clause Gesenius renders, "Nor shall aught splendid 
 
 remain among them." This is in better harmony with the scope 
 of the verse than the sense given in the English translation, which 
 follows the ancient Jewish interpreters. 
 
 12. The time is come, the day draweth near: let not the 
 buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn : for wrath is upon all 
 the multitude thereof. 
 
 13. For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, 
 although they were yet alive : for the vision is touching the 
 whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither 
 shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life. 
 
 The customary business transactions of life will cease, and with 
 them the consequent feelings of joy or sorrow Avhich they occa- 
 sion. Let not the buyer rejoice in his purchase and new acquisi- 
 tion; it shall avail him nothing. Let not the seller mourn as one 
 compelled to part with things of fond endearment; it is all the 
 same to him, for none can retain the choice things they prize most. 
 The wrath of Grod is upon all the people, to poison all the enjoy- 
 ments of life. To see the force of this passage, one needs to 
 
 bear in mind the wide distinction between the business dealings 
 of oriental and Hebrew life, and those of our own age and country. 
 Selling, especially of real estate, was then not a business, but a 
 necessity. Men sold only when poverty or necessity compelled 
 them. Hence the presumption that the seller would mourn and 
 
 the buyer rejoice. The seller's returning to what he has sold 
 
 contemplates that provision of the Hebrew law by which real 
 estate, having been sold, returned to its former owner at the Jubi- 
 lee. (Lev. 25: 23.) The prophet says that although the seller 
 should live to the next Jubilee, yet the country would then be 
 desolate; there would be no returning to the possession of land 
 sold. This prophetic vision relates to the whole people, and not 
 one shall escape this visitation of judgment and doom. It could 
 avail nothing for any man to make himself strong in his iniquity. 
 
44 EZEKIEL.— CIIAr. VII. 
 
 He could by no means withstand the terrible foes whom God was 
 about to bring down upon the land. 
 
 14. They have bloAvn the trumpet, even to make all 
 ready ; but none goeth to the battle : for my >vrath is upon 
 all the multitude thereof. 
 
 15. The sword is without, and the pestilence and the 
 famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the 
 sword; and he that is in the city^ famine and pestilence 
 shall devour him. 
 
 The thought continues from the previous verses. The power of 
 the Jews to withstand their enemies avails nothing. They blow 
 the trumpet to call forth the people to war; but none go forth. 
 They are powerless against those enemies because God's wrath is 
 upon the whole nation; and what can men do in self-protection 
 when the mighty God arises in wrath for their destruction ? 
 
 16. But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall 
 be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them 
 mourning, every one for his iniquity. 
 
 Here, as often elsewhere, amid the most terrific threatenings of 
 universal doom, there breaks forth a glimmering ray of hope for 
 a very small remnant — a fcAV who shall (as said here) be mourn- 
 ing over their great sins, even as doves of the valley are noted for 
 mourning the loss of their mates. Blessed hope ! that some will 
 repent in bitterness for their sin and return to God sorrowing, to 
 become the nucleus of the future Zion. 
 
 17. All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be 
 weak as water. 
 
 18. They shall also gird themselves wdth sackcloth, and 
 horror shall cover them : and shame shall be upon all faces, 
 and baldness upon all their heads. 
 
 The discourse returns to its former theme — the fearful retribu- 
 tions coming on Judah and her people for their great sins. " All 
 knees shall be weak as water;" the original puts in the bolder 
 form, "All knees shidljlow with water;" become liquid and weak 
 
 as if they were only water. V. 18 groups together the customary 
 
 tokens of intense grief and mourning. Horror invests them, be- 
 coming like' an outside garment, apparent on every face and in 
 every act and motion. 
 
 19. They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their 
 gold shall be removed : their silver and their gold shall not 
 be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord : 
 they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: 
 because it is the stumbling-block of their iniquity. 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. VII. 45 
 
 20. As for the beauty of liis ornament, he set it in maj- 
 esty: but they made the images of their abominations and 
 of their detestable things therein : therefore have I set it 
 far from them. 
 
 In a day of such calamity, their silver and gold would be of no 
 account. They would cast their silver down in the public streets, 
 and throw away their gold as a thing loathed and abominated, for 
 such is the sense of the Hebrew word rendered '■'■removecV — this 
 word, as used by our translators, covering an allusion to a special 
 form of uncleanness, which the original fully sustains. Compare 
 
 Ezek. 36 : 17. Gold and silver will not avail them to withstand 
 
 the wrath of God or to satisfy their personal wants, because it has 
 been their temptation — in this sense " the stumbling-block of their 
 
 iniquity" — an occasion of their falling into sin. 1 understand 
 
 v. 20 to say. The people made use of their beautiful ornaments for 
 purposes of pride and display. They also made their images of 
 idols and abominations out of this gold and silver (as in Ex. 32), 
 and therefore God made this wealth a thing loathed, abhorred and 
 
 cast away. Thus God is wont to send judgments so plainly in 
 
 the line of men's sins as to remind them perpetually of the sins 
 which they were sent to scourge. 
 
 21. And I will give it into. the hands of the strangers for 
 a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil ; and they 
 shall pollute it. 
 
 22. My face will I turn also from them, and they shall 
 pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, 
 and defile it. 
 
 God will turn his face away from his nominal people, hearing 
 their prayer and granting them aid no more. Consequently their 
 enemies shall pollute the Lord's secret place, his inner sanctuary. 
 
 the " holy of holies," where his glory had long dwelt. "Robbers' 
 
 are men of notorious violence; here, the Chaldean armies. 
 
 23. Make a chain : for the land is full of bloody crimes, 
 and the city is full of violence. 
 
 24. Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and 
 they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp 
 of the strong to cease, and their holy places shall be defiled. 
 
 "Make a chain," a new symbol, as if the very land was to be 
 bound and delivered over a culprit into tlxe hands of the officers of 
 justice. Their bloody crimes, crimes worthy of death, deserved 
 such retribution. The passage indicates that atrocious immoralities 
 filled the land — the natural fruit of such extreme apostasy from 
 
 God and of such debasing and polluting idolatry. The word 
 
 rendered, "their holy places," may mean tlieir priests^ the class who 
 by profession consecrated the people to God. Even this sacred order 
 
46 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. VII. 
 
 of men will be dishonored, treated with extreme indignity and vio- 
 lence. So the pomp of the strong and the sanctity of the holy ones 
 should alike fail to screen and save them; should rather conduct 
 down upon their heads the vengeance of God for their great sins. 
 
 25. Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and 
 there shall he none. 
 
 Instead of "destruction," I prefer ^^ horror,''^ as more close to the 
 sense of the Hebrew and in better keeping with the context. When 
 a horror of great fear shall fall on them, they shall seek peace, but 
 in vain. 
 
 26. Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumor shall 
 be upon rumor ; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet ; 
 but the laAV shall perish from the priest, and counsel from 
 the ancients. 
 
 27. The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed 
 with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land 
 shall be troubled : I will do unto them after their way, and 
 according to their deserts will I judge them, and they shall 
 know that I am the Lord. 
 
 Like king Saul when the Lord had forsaken him, they shall seek 
 some vision from the Lord, but he shall make them no reply. He shuts 
 his ear and gives them no counsel in the day of their imploring cry. 
 So he said (Prov. 1 : 28), " Then shall they caU upon me, but I will 
 not answer; they shall seek me early [earnestly], but they shall not 
 
 find me." ^Even the king is not too high in station or too much 
 
 above the reach of calamity, to come dovra in the dust as a bitter 
 mourner. These terrible judgments would reach the throne and 
 
 carry terror and woe to all hearts. Then the nations abroad, and 
 
 the Jewish people no less, will know that the Lord Jehovah is indeed 
 the Lord — the King of nations and the righteous Judge and Avenger 
 of the guilty. 
 
 Thus closes this section of Ezekiel's prophecies, including chap- 
 ters 4—7, freighted with threatenings of terrific judgments upon 
 Jerusalem and Judah for their grievous idolatries and utter apostasy 
 from their own God. Let us bear in mind that these announce- 
 ments are made to the Jewish exiles in Chaldea, now only some five 
 years out from their dear native land, and up to this moment, doubt- 
 less, full of hope for the future of their country, and very probably, 
 with high anticipations of themselves returning at no distant day 
 to enjoy peace and goo4 there. Over these fond hopes, such pre- 
 dictions must have passed rough-shod like the terrible threshing 
 sledge of oriental times, crushing them down into shapeless ruin. 
 Yet this bitter wreck of their cherished hopes was kindly purposed 
 on God's part to give them a new sense of the awful sin of idolatry 
 and to open their eyes to the wrath of God against their nation for 
 this great national sin. It was the Lord's thought of mercy to re- 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. VIII. 47 
 
 claim arfd save a remnant out of these captives, and it was vital to 
 its realization that precisely this portrayal of their nation's guilt and 
 doom should be set vividly before their eyes, that so the moral power 
 of what was being done in Judah might come with force undimin- 
 ished by distance upon the hearts of the exiles in Chaldea. We, 
 
 too, may fitly pause over these chapters and say. Thus the Lord 
 shows his high and holy displeasure against sin in his apostate peo- 
 ple. It is true of him that he abhors sin, and that, after long for- 
 bearance, the hour of judgment without mercy will surely come. 
 When it does come, alas ! there will be a fearfulness in the doom 
 of the guilty before which the stoutest hearts are appalled with ter- 
 ror ! Verily, it can not be well for sinners to provoke the Almighty 
 to vengeance ! When God says, " Mine eye shall not spare, neither 
 will I have pity," woe be to the guilty and helpless sinner ! Why 
 did he not take the kind forewarning and avert that wrath which 
 no heart can endure ? 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 This chapter opens a very extraordinary vision, the details of 
 which fill four chapters (8-11). It has its well-defined date — pre- 
 cisely two years and two months later than his first vision (chap. 1), 
 which brought to him the Lord's call into his prophetic office. As 
 already shown in the notes near the close of chapter 4, the sym- 
 bolic transaction of besieging Jerusalem and bearing the iniquities 
 of Israel and Judah, filled up the interval between that vision and 
 
 this, and was now just closed. That the transactions recorded in 
 
 these four chapters were all seen in vision and not done in the ex- 
 ternal world, is made abundantly clear by the language which re- 
 cords them. "The hand of the Lord fell upon me;" ''I saw a like- 
 ness;" "He put forth the form of a hand and took me by a lock of 
 mine head," and "the Spirit lifted me up between the earth and the 
 heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem." There 
 he saw the Shekinah — the visible manifestation of the glory of the 
 Lord. The scene closes with the statement (chap. 11 : 24, 25), 
 " After that, the Spirit took me up and brought me bach in a vision 
 by the Spirit of God into Chaldea to them of the captivity. So the 
 vision that I had seen went up from me. Then I spake unto them 
 of the captivity all the things that the Lord had showed me." All 
 this is perfectly explicit to the point that the scene here is purely 
 prophetic vision. Xone of his fellow-captives saw it. It was shown 
 to the prophet only. When it closed, he reported it to them entire. 
 Every feature in this description conspires to make a clear and un- 
 questionable case of a pure prophetic vision. The great moral 
 
 purposes of this vision are obvious. The Lord aimed to reveal to 
 his prophet and through him to the exiles, (1.) The horrible abom- 
 
48 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 inations of iclol worship in various forms as they existed ih Jerusa- 
 lem and within the very temple of Jehovah: and (2.) The discrimi- 
 nating judfcments by which the Lord would assuredly sift out and 
 cut down in his unsparinpi; ven_i:;eance all the guilty idolaters among 
 his people. These points it was of the utmost consequence to the 
 captives in Chaldea to understand. As hearing on their own moral 
 state, it was vital that they should know how deeply guilty the 
 masses of the people in their native land had become; how much 
 the elders and the priests were involved in this guilt as indeed the 
 prime leaders in it by their position and example ; and how terribly 
 the Lord would destroy them for such horrible apostasy and deprav- 
 ity. These things would show the exiles that they had no occasion 
 to sympathize with their suffering brethren as if punished too 
 severely in the terrible calamities of sie^^e and ruin then closely 
 impending. They would also be a forcible and most pertinent 
 warning to themselves to turn away from those same sins as they 
 would escape a like terrible vengeance. 
 
 1. And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth 
 month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, 
 and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the 
 Lord God fell there upon me. 
 
 2. Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of 
 fije : from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire ; 
 and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of 
 brightness, as the color of amber. 
 
 3. And he put forth the form of a hand, and took me by 
 a lock of my head ; and the spirit lifted me up between the 
 earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God 
 to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh to- 
 w^ard the north; where was the seat of the image of jeal- 
 ousy, which provoketh to jealousy. 
 
 As already shown, the days of his lying on his side (chap. 4) 
 have just closed. He is now at home, sitting quietly in his own 
 house. The elders of Judah are sitting there before him, deeply 
 impressed (we may suppose) by the strangeness of that scene, by 
 its fearful significance, and by the threatenings of judgment on the 
 guilty city which we have been reading in chapters 5-7. The Lord 
 proceeds now to another method of presenting, first to the prophet 
 and then through him to the people, essentially the same ideas — the 
 sin and the doom of the Jews yet remaining in Jerusalem. The 
 method of presenting these truths is obviously varied in the hope of 
 
 more effectually securing thereby the desired moral impression. 
 
 Let us note that this method of presenting to the prophet and to 
 his fellow-exiles the sin and doom of Jerusalem, reveals not any 
 human view of those points, but emphatically and precisely God's 
 vieio of them. The fiicts are shown from (lod's own stand-point. 
 The observer sees them only and wholly as seen and shown by God 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. VIII. 49 
 
 himself. Hence this vision teaches us how God looks upon Such 
 sins as those, among his own covenant people, within his very sanc- 
 tuary, and also how he discriminatCfS between the innocent and the 
 guilty ; by what marks he knows and points out the innocent, and 
 with'^what unsparing vengeance he punishes and* even exterminates 
 all save those who bear his mark. The glorious personage, pres- 
 ent to the mind's eye of the prophet in this vision, is the same who 
 was seen on the movable throne in chap. 1, bearing essentially the 
 same description as in chap. 1 : 26-2<S, all begirt with fire, and with 
 a resplendent radiance as of polished brass; the word rendered 
 ''the color of amber," being the same as in chap. 1: 4. The im- 
 pression of being transported through the air is not unknown in the 
 phenomena of dreams. How closely analogous this case of pro- 
 phetic vision may be to the experience of dreams, it is impossible 
 for any to say save the prophets themselves. Let it suffice us to 
 rest in the fact that He who made the mind of man must have 
 ample means for making any impression upon it which he may wish 
 
 to make. "The door of the inner gate that looketh toward the 
 
 north" IS the temple. This "image of jealousy" is an idol 
 
 image which provoked the jealousy of Almighty God. The thought 
 looks toward the second command, " Thou shalt not make unto thee 
 any graven image," etc. — "thou shalt not bow down thyself to them 
 
 nor serve them, for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God." In 
 
 the last clause of verse 3, the Heb. for the last word is supposed by 
 Gesenius to mean, "which sells the nation into bondage." Our 
 translators supposed the word to be only another form of the verb 
 for being jealous. Neither sense is bad. Some of the ablest modern 
 critics still adhere to the view of our translators. 
 
 4. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, 
 according to the vision that I saw in the plain. 
 
 5. Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes 
 now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes 
 the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate 
 of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. 
 
 6. He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou 
 what they do? even the great abominations that the house 
 of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my 
 sanctuary? But turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see 
 greater abominations. 
 
 The "vision seen in the plain" refers to chap. 3: 22, 23. Here 
 he meets again the same glorious personage as there, in the form of 
 the ancient Shekinah. This personage speaks to him and leads 
 
 him on through the scenes of this vision. Standing in the temple 
 
 at Jerusalem and looking toward the north, he sees at the temple 
 gate, near the great altar of burnt-offering, this idol-image which 
 provoked the God of Israel to jealousy. His divine Guide calls his 
 
 special attention to this first abomination. The clause, " That I 
 
 3 
 
60 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 should go far off from my sanctuary," speaks of those abominations 
 as compeUlng him to abandon his temple and give it up to destruc- 
 tion. This was a vital point — the more so because the Jews pre- 
 si:mptuously assumed that God could not let the city be destroyed 
 so long as his temple stood there, but must protect the city for his 
 tcmpies sake. See Notes on Jer. 7: 4. It seems never to have 
 occurred to them that such abominations would compel the Lord to 
 abandon his temple and give up both city and temple to destruction. 
 
 7. And he brought me to the door of the court ; and when 
 
 1 looked, behold a hole in the wall. 
 
 8. Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the 
 wall : and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door. 
 
 9. And he said unto me. Go in, and behold the wicked 
 abominations that they do here. 
 
 10. So I went in and saw; and behold every form of 
 creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of 
 the house of Israel, portrayed upon the w^all round about. 
 
 11. And there stood before them seventy men of the an- 
 cients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood 
 Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer 
 in his hand ; and a thick cloud of incense w^ent up. 
 
 12. Then said he unto me. Son of man, hast thou seen 
 what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, 
 every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, 
 The Lord seeth us not; the Lord hath forsaken the earth. 
 
 There is now opened to the prophet's view a secret "chamber of 
 imagery," the walls of which are covered with delineations of all 
 unclean beasts and insects, portrayed here as objects of idolatrous 
 worship. This species of idols and the manner of delineating them 
 were obviously Egyptian, borrowed from that laud where almost 
 every known animal was included among their objects of reverence 
 and worship. It would seem that this base form of idolatry was 
 kept somewhat back from public view, in the secret chambers 
 
 of the temple. These seventy men of the ancients of the house 
 
 of Israel were obviously the Jewish Sanhedrim, the well-known su- 
 preme council of the nation, always chosen from the elders of the 
 people. It was their sacred duty to suppress all idolatry; yet here 
 they are in their retired chambers with every man his censer in his 
 hand to burn incense to toads and snakes — to every base and abom- 
 inable creature ! To aggravate the case yet more, there stood in the 
 midst of them, probably as president of the council, Jaazaniah, the 
 son of Shaphan. This Shaphan appears in the history of Josiah's 
 great reformation as a true and noble man ; also in the life of Jere- 
 miah as the father of Ahikam, that prophet's powerful friend. See 
 
 2 Kings 22, and Jer. 26 : 21. If Jaazaniah was now at the head of 
 the Sanhedrim, and if he was also the son (and not the grandson) 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. VIII. 51 
 
 of Shaphan, he must on both grounds have been at this time far 
 advanced in years, and for this reason his sin in this idol worship 
 was the greater and the more appalling. Shaphan was somewhat 
 advanced in years when he appears prominently in Josiah's reforma- 
 tion; i. e.i in this king's eighteenth year; full thirty years before this 
 vision. It was, therefore, for many reasons a strong case that Jaaz- 
 aniah, the son of the good Shaphan and now the president of the 
 Sanhedrim, hoary with years and perhaps trembling on the brink 
 of the grave, should be leading on his younger brethren of this great 
 council in these most base and debasing idolatries. Alas ! how were 
 the noble fallen ! And how manifestly hopeless of reform must the 
 
 nation have become ! The Lord saw their deeds of darkness and 
 
 revealed them in vision to his prophet. "Son of man, hast thou 
 seen?" Take note of it, for it testifies to the deep and hopeless 
 
 corruption of the whole people ! Observe what they say. " The 
 
 Lord seetli us not; the Lord hath forsaken the earth." This was at 
 least the language of their heart — that inner thought with which 
 they cast off all fear of God and all just sense of his presence. Per- 
 haps the Lord does not mean to say that they openly taught this 
 doctrine to others, or even publicly avowed it ; yet even this would 
 not be incredible, and if true, would only evince their confirmed 
 
 moral hardihood and infatuation. RosenmuUer cites from Am- 
 
 mianus Marcellinus, a Latin historian, to the efiect that the Egyp- 
 tians practiced precisely this form of idol worship in subterranean 
 recesses, sculpturing on house-walls many kinds of fowls and of 
 wild beasts which they designated with hieroglyphic characters. 
 
 13. He said also unto me, turn thee yet again, and thou 
 slialt see greater abominations that they do. 
 
 14. Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the 
 Lord's house, which ivas toward the north ; and behold, there 
 sat women weeping for Tammuz. 
 
 15. Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen tJiis, O son of 
 man? Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater 
 abominations than these. 
 
 This form of idolatry was Syrian, Tammuz being probably the 
 celebrated youthful Adonis, over whose untimely (supposed) death, 
 the Syrian damsels held an annual mourning. As the legend runs, 
 Adonis was subsequently found alive, or restored from the dead, 
 whereupon their mourning turns to exuberant joy. Foul and 
 licentious practices followed. "The finding again was the com- 
 mencement of a ivake, accompanied by all the usages which in the 
 East attend such a ceremony — prostitution, cutting off the hair, 
 cutting the breast with knives, and playing on pipes." (Smith's 
 Bible Dictionary.) 
 
 16. And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's 
 house, and behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, 
 between the porch and the altar, ivere about five and twenty 
 
52 EZEIKEL.— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 • 
 
 men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and 
 tlieir faces toward the east; and they worshijied the sun 
 toward the east. 
 
 17. Then he said unto me. Hast thou seen this, O son of 
 man ? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they 
 commit the abominations which they commit here ? for they 
 have filled the land with violence, and have returned to 
 provoke me to anger: and lo, they put the branch to their 
 nose. 
 
 18. Therefore will I also deal in fury ; mine eye shall not 
 si^are, neither wdll I have pity: and though they cry in 
 mine ears with a loud voice, yet w^ill I not hear them. 
 
 Here are twenty-five men, their backs to the temple of the Lord, 
 and their faces eastward, worshiping the sun. As the other 
 special forms of idolatry were Egyptian and Syrian in their origin, 
 this is nationally Persian, yet was in most ancient times wide- 
 spread, and very probably was the earliest form of idolatry. Job 
 refers to it, chap. 31 : 26-28, "If I beheld the sun when it shined, 
 or the moon, walking in brightness, and my heart hath been 
 secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand ; this also were 
 an iniquity to be punished by the judge; for I should have denied 
 
 the God above." The revealing personage now appeals to the 
 
 prophet to say if such base idolatries can be accounted a small 
 thing. Especially considered as practiced by the house of Judah, 
 the ancient covenant people of the living God, ought He not to 
 be jealous for his holy name, and take vengeance on such sinners? 
 Nor was their sin limited to idol worship. Under the influ- 
 ence of idolatry, the people had become grossly immoral. They 
 had "filled the land with violence" — the usual phrase to indicate 
 assaults and murders. Idolatry is the legitimate mother of extreme 
 immorality. It discards the fear of God, and breaks down all the 
 restraints that come upon the minds of men from just views of the 
 great, the pure and the ever-glorious Jehovah. Thus it opens the 
 
 floodgates of human depravity. "Putting the branch to the 
 
 nose" is thought to refer to a Persian ceremony, practiced in 
 
 their worship of the sun and of its symbol, fire. For all these 
 
 gi-ievous sins, the Lord will surely scourge and punish his apostate 
 people ; he will not spare ; and however imploring their cry, he will 
 not hear! There is a time for prayer; but, that time once past, 
 there comes another hour which is not the time for prayer. Woe 
 to the sinner who waits till then ere he lifts up his beseeching cry 
 
 for mercy! As bearing on the fearful doom of the incorrigibly 
 
 wicked in the future world, this testimony from God himself is 
 fearfully in point to show that there is a time when cries for mercy 
 will be unavailing. If there come such hours in tlia lighter judg- 
 ments of time, what must we not expect amid the fir sorer judg- 
 ments of eternity! 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. IX. 53 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 This chapter continues the subject of the chapter preceding. 
 The prophet is shown in vision how the Lord discriminates between 
 his friends and his enemies, to spare the one and to slay the other 
 without mercj. 
 
 1. He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, 
 Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, 
 even every man ivith his destroying weapon in his hand. 
 
 2. And behold, six men came from the w^ay of the higher 
 gate, Avhicli lietli toward the north, and every man a slaugh- 
 ter-weapon in his hand ; and one man . among them was 
 clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side : and 
 they went in and stood beside the brazen altar. 
 
 These men represent the executive agents or ministers of the 
 Lord's providential government over the city. The object of this 
 vision is to set before the eye of the prophet the fact of God's retrib- 
 utive judgments upon the city, and the manner in which his 
 
 agents perform their mission. The "man clothed with linen" 
 
 is not attired for slaughter. Linen, so commonly worn by the 
 priests, would have been out of place on the men who bore the 
 
 "slaughter-weapons." It was the custom of official scribes to 
 
 attach their inkhorn to their girdles. The executioners take their 
 
 stand first beside the brazen altar, to begin their work at the point 
 which best indicated the great sin of the people — the desecration of 
 God's holy altar. 
 
 3. And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from 
 the cherub, w^hereupon he was, to the threshold of the 
 house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, 
 which had the writer's inkhorn by his side. 
 
 4. And the Lord said unto him. Go through the midst 
 of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark 
 upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for 
 all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. 
 
 This "glory of the God of Israel" I take to be the Shekinah 
 of the Mosaic economy (see Ex. 29: 43, and 40: 34, 35, and 1 Kings 
 8 : 11). Its resting-place was over and upon the cherubim whose 
 outspread wings covejed the mercy-seat or lid of the ark of testi- 
 mony. This removal to the threshold seems to have the twofold 
 object; (1) of indicating that he was soon to withdraw from this 
 desecrated and doomed temple; and (2) of placing himself in nearer 
 proximity to the executioners of his vengeance as if to supervise and 
 direct their movements. Chap. 10 • 18 notes the return of this 
 
 Shekinah to his usual position. The godly men of the city must 
 
 first be discriminated and marked before the wicked are slain. So 
 
54 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. IX. 
 
 in tlie end of the world : " lie shall separate them one from another 
 as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the j^oats, and he shall set 
 the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left" (Mat. 
 25 : 32, 33). Judgment can never proceed till this separation is first 
 
 provided for. The Ijearcr of the writer's inkhorn knows his men 
 
 by their tears and sighs. It is assumed to be impossible that any 
 one can be truly the friend of God and not be agonized in view of 
 the abominations done in the holy city. 
 
 This then is the sole criterion for the discrimination. The man 
 with the inkhorn asks for no one's professions, or claims, or hopes. 
 He asks only for these most reliable tests of the heart — the tears 
 and outcries of bitter grief by which those whose hearts were really 
 with God must indicate the anguish they feel in view of such awful 
 abominations. Man may look on the outward appearance; God 
 looks on the heart. 
 
 5. And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye 
 after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye 
 spare, neither have ye pity : 
 
 6. Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little 
 children, and women: but come not near any man upon 
 whom is the mark ; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they 
 began at the ancient men which loere before the house. 
 
 7. And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the 
 courts vv^ith the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, 
 and slew in the city. 
 
 The destroyers followed — did not precede — the man with the ink- 
 horn. But they followed close behind him. They spared every 
 man who bore the mark, but none other. Whoever was not for 
 God^ decidedly, strongly, with his real heart — was adjudged to be 
 against him, and was cut down accordingly. There was no recog- 
 nition of any neutral class. The commissions given respectively to 
 the man who marked and to the men who slew, utterly precluded 
 the possil)ility of any neutrality in the case. The men who did not 
 care for the honor of God, and who had no tears to shed over these 
 abominations, were at once cut down as God's enemies. No matter 
 how civil and quiet they may have l)een ; no matter how much they 
 may have consulted their ease or their personal standing and in- 
 fluence, or any other form of personal consideration; if they did 
 not sigh and cry over the utter desecration of Jehovali's name and 
 temple, law and worship, they were accounted his enemies and met 
 
 their doom with the wicked. "Begin at my sanctuary" — tliere 
 
 where the nation's sin had culminated and assumed its most out- 
 rageous and horrid forms, — there let judgment begin. Those ''an- 
 cient men" were obviously the Jewish Council. See 8: 11. 
 
 Some might think that God would spare his temple the defilement 
 of this scene of slaughter. No, indeed. The guilty Jews have des- 
 ecrated it with their al)ominations : let it be cleansed with their 
 blood. The Lord accounts it no defilement, but rather a cleansing 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. IX. * 55 
 
 by means of righteous retribution, to fill the courts of the temple 
 with mangled corpses and fresh gore. 
 
 8. And it came to pass while they were slaying them, 
 and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and 
 said, Ah, Lord God! wilt thou destroy all the residue of 
 Israel in thy pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem ? 
 
 9. Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of 
 Israel and Judali is exceeding great, and the land is full 
 of blood, and the city full of perverseness : for they say, 
 The Lord hath forsaken the earth ; and the Lord seeth not. 
 
 10. And as for me also, mine eye shall not spare, neither 
 will I have pity, but I will recompense their way uj)on 
 their head. 
 
 The impulses of the prophet's humanity and love for his country 
 and people stand out here with beautiful simplicity. Seeming to 
 himself to stand almost alone, one living man among the heaps of 
 dead, his natural thought and utterance are, "Ali, my God! Wilt 
 thou destroy the whole nation ? In this scene of retribution on the 
 
 guilty Jews, are there none at all to be spared?" The Lord 
 
 answers that their iniquity is exceeding great ; that the land is full 
 of the blood of personal violence, outrages and murders; and the 
 city full of perverseness — the wresting of judgment, the violation of 
 every personal and sacred right — these sinners practically saying, 
 "There is no God here; he does not see us; he has gone up from 
 the earth." See 8: 12. Because of these outrages and horrible 
 abominations and immoralities, the Lord must give scope to judg- 
 ment without mercy. He can not pardon; he must not spare. 
 
 11. And behold, the man clothed with linen, which had 
 the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have 
 done as thou hast commanded me. 
 
 The man with the inkliorn reports the fulfillment of his com- 
 mission. It is not intimated that the men with slaughter-weapons 
 made any report. The difierence in the two cases indicates the 
 special interest felt by the Lord in the men Avho are to be saved 
 and in the faithful execution of his commission in their behalf. 
 Judgment, here as ever, is his strange work; mercy, his delight. 
 The spirit of vengeance does not for one moment eclipse his love for 
 his people, or abate from his wakeful and never-waning interest in 
 
 their welfare. The moral force of this entire scene is of the very 
 
 highest order, and is scarcely surpassed by any thing found in the 
 sacred scriptures. The Jerusalem of that age represents the cor* 
 rupt church of God — the case of his chosen people when fearfully 
 apostate from God, so utterly corrupt indeed that the Lord can spare 
 no longer, but turns to terrible judgment. One of the points of 
 most vital significance (as already shown) is the principle on which 
 the discrimination is made between God's friends and his enemies. 
 
56 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. X. 
 
 This can not be studied too carefully or with too much close and 
 thorough self-application. How many on this principle would be 
 spared in our church or community? Should 1 be among them? 
 Judged by the test of my licart's real and expressed sympathy, 
 should 1 have my place with God's friends or his foes? 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 This chapter is a continuation of the same vision. The scene 
 presented here is substantially a reappearance of that recorded in 
 chap. 1. The glorious iShckinah, the cherubim, their wings, bodies, 
 the wheels attending them, the common inspiration that moved them 
 all, and the same law of their motion directly forward without turn- 
 ing; these are the leading features here and also there. This de- 
 scription differs from that in a few minor points. The word " cherub " 
 here answers for the most part to the word "living creature" there. 
 Here the entire number of cherubim seem to constitute one " living 
 creature" (vs. 15, 20). The "throne" is named here, only in v. 1. 
 In other cases the "living creature" appears directly under the God 
 of Israel (vs. 4, 19, 20). While these symbols have the same ob- 
 jects as those of chap. 1, viz., to impress the prophet's mind with 
 the unutterable majesty and glory of the God of Israel, especially 
 as developed in his providential agencies for the government of na- 
 tions and for judgment on the guilty, they have each their specific 
 differences. The scenes of chap. 1 were specially adapted to the 
 inauguration of the prophet into his work. Those of chap. 10 were 
 adapted to the purposes of this vision (chaps. 8-11), particularly to 
 show that the consuming fire, cast upon the guilty city came forth 
 from underneath the throne of God, wielded by the omnipotent 
 agencies which underlie that moving throne; and further, to show 
 also that the manifested presence of the glory of God "was preparing 
 
 to leave his long occupied place in the sacred temple. These 
 
 general remarks comprise most of the explanations which this chap- 
 ter requires. 
 
 1. Then I looked, and behold, in the firmament that ivas 
 above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them 
 as it were a sapphire stone, and the appearance of the like- 
 ness of a throne. 
 
 I understand this passage to say that Avhat seemed to be a throne 
 was brilliant like a sappliire stone and rested on the firmament which 
 itself reposed on the heads of the cherubim. 
 
 2. And he spake unto the man clothed with linen, and 
 said. Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and 
 fill thy hand with coals of lire from between the cherubims, 
 
•EZEKIEL.— CHAP. X. 57 
 
 and scatter them over the city. And he went in in my 
 sight. 
 
 The throne before spoken of inplied the presence of the king 
 
 who sat upon it, who now accosts the man clothed in linen. As 
 
 already intimated, this fire taken from between the wheels under- 
 neath the cherubim, to be cast upon the guilty city, indicated that 
 terrific judgments from the agencies of God's providence were about 
 to consume it. It is a significant fact that the executive agent here 
 should be the man in linen who in chap. 9 has no other function 
 save to mark in their foreheads the men who bewailed the abomi- 
 nations of the guilty people. But God has no class of servants too 
 holy or sacred to act as his agents, if need be, in the execution of 
 his righteous judgments. It certainly corresponds with his arrange- 
 ments in this loorld to use them in representing, symbolizing and 
 setting before the minds of the people, these most fearful judgments. 
 The gospel minister who wears holy linen in God's temple must not 
 shrink from proclaiming to the wicked both their guilt and their 
 fiery doom. 
 
 3. Now the cherubims stood on the right side of the 
 honse, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the 
 inner court. 
 
 4. Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, 
 and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house 
 was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the 
 brightness of the Lord's glory. 
 
 5. And the sound of the cherubims' wings was heard even 
 to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when 
 he speaketh. 
 
 That the Shekinah removed from his usual place over the mercy- 
 seat and stood over the threshold indicates (as said in notes on chap. 
 9: 3) that he was preparing to depart from that polluted temple. 
 It may also have been a more appropriate i^osition from which to 
 
 direct and observe the movements then at hand. The sublime 
 
 and impressive sound of the wings of the cherubims when they 
 moved was profiiihent in the vision of chap. 1. See chap. 1 : 24, 25, 
 
 6. And it came to pass, tliat when he had commanded 
 the man clothed with linen, saying. Take fire from between 
 the wheels, from between the cherubims; then he went in 
 and stood beside the wheels. 
 
 7. And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between 
 the cherubims unto the fire that was between the cherubims, 
 and took thereof, and put it into the hands of liim that ivas 
 clothed with linen: w^ho took it, and went out. 
 
 8. And there appeared in the cherubims the form of a 
 man's hand under their wings. 
 
58 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. X! 
 
 That a man clothed with linen should take both hands full of fire, 
 unharmed, would be a most impressive symbol. Nothint!; is incon- 
 gruous in dreams. The symbol, however, has none the less force 
 because the thing would be impossible in real life. 
 
 9. And when I looked, behold the four wheels by the 
 cherubims, one Avheel by one cherub, and another wheel by 
 another cherub : and the appearance of the Avheels tvas as 
 the color of beryl stone. 
 
 10. And as for their appearances, they four had one like- 
 ness, as if a wheel had been in the midst of a w^heel. 
 
 11. When they went, they went vipon their four sides; 
 they turned not as they went, but to the place whither the 
 head looked they followed it ; they turned not as they went. 
 
 12. And their whole body, and their backs, and their 
 hands, and their wings, and tlie w^heels, were full of eyes 
 round about, even the wheels that they four had. 
 
 13. As for the wheels, it was cried unto them in my hear- 
 ing, O wheel! 
 
 14. And every one had four faces : the first face ivas the 
 face of a cherub, and the second face ivas the face of a man, 
 and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of 
 an eagle. 
 
 15. And the cherubims were lifted up. This is the living 
 creature that I saw by the river of Chebar. 
 
 The points made here were mostly presented in chap. 1. The 
 cry, "0 wheel!" seems intended to reco^iinize them as inspired with 
 intelligence and consciousness — the Spirit of God dwelling within 
 them and energizing all their activities. This view is given also in 
 chapter 1. The clause (vs. 1, 5), "This is the living creature that 
 I saw by the river Chebar," refers to the scenes of the first chapter. 
 
 16. And when the cherubims went, the wheels went by 
 them: and when the cherubims lifted up their wrings to 
 mount up from the earth, the same wheels also turned not 
 from beside them. 
 
 17. When they stood, these stood; and when they were 
 lifted up, these lifted up themselves also : for the sj)irit of 
 the living creature was in them. 
 
 18. Then the glory of the Lord departed from off the 
 threshold of the house and stood over the cherubims. 
 
 19. And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted 
 up from the earth in my sight: when they w^nt out, the 
 wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the 
 door of the east gate of the Lord's house ; and the glory of 
 the God of Israel was over them above. 
 
EZEKIEL— CHAP. XI. 
 
 r)9 
 
 20. This is the living creature that I saw under the God 
 of Israel by the river of Chebar ; and I knew that they were 
 the cherubims. 
 
 21. Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four 
 wings ; and the likeness of the hands of a man luas under 
 their wings. 
 
 22. And the likeness of their faces luas the same faces 
 which I saw by the river of Chebar, their appearances and 
 themselves : they went every one straight forward. 
 
 These points have been before us. It only remains to suggest 
 that these symbols are repeated in this vision of judgments on Jeru- 
 salem to show that the agencies for its destruction were precisely 
 those which were symbolized by the wonderful phenomena of the 
 moving throne of God, In his government over the nations of men, 
 God wields the agencies of judgment and retribution at his pleasure, 
 with resources ineffably vast and glorious. 0, if we might only see 
 them with unveiled eye, it might befall us as it befell the servant of 
 EHsha when his master prayed, "Lord, open his eyes that he may 
 see." "And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he 
 saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of 
 fire round about Elislia" (2 Kings 6: 17). 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 This chapter continues the same vision and brings it to its close. 
 
 While the prophet is in vision at Jerusalem, he sees some of 
 
 the princes of leading influence in wickedness and is directed to 
 prophesy to them. While doing so, one of them, Pelatiah, falls 
 dead. From this point, the strain of the vision changes. In answer 
 to the prophet's expostulation, the Lord shows him that although the 
 Jews in Jerusalem are proud, exclusive, and hopelessly hardened, 
 yet it is his purpose to save a precious remnant from among the ex- 
 iles and give them wholly a new spirit and a tender heart. With 
 this, the \-ision closes. 
 
 1. Moreover, the spirit lifted me up, and brought me 
 unto the east gate of the Lord's house, which looketh east- 
 ward: and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty 
 men ; among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and 
 Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. 
 
 2. Then said he unto me, Son of man, these are the men 
 that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city : 
 
 3. Which say, It is not near; let us build houses: this 
 city is the caldron, and we be the flesh. 
 
60 . EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XI. 
 
 A new scene opens. The divine Spirit puts the prophet into a 
 new position at the east .iiatc of the temple where he sees twenty- 
 five men of leading influence, among whom he recognizes and names 
 two who were princes among the people. These are the men who 
 had seduced the people into deeper sin, perpetually counteracting 
 the labors of the Lord's faithful prophets. V. 3 quotes some of their 
 language. The English version of the first clause, "It is not near; 
 let us build houses," means, The judgments threatened against us 
 are yet far remote ; let us go on as usual in the pursuits of peaceful 
 life. The original, however, presents some rather serious difficulties 
 in this construction, particularly in the form of the verl> rendered, 
 "Let us build," which is the infinitive construct. A different view 
 is, therefore, proposed, thus : " The time for building houses is not 
 near; we have war upon us, or near impending; this is a time of 
 calamity. Let us meet it with whatever sacrifices of the common 
 comforts of life may be necessary. We need not fear being ousted 
 from the city. This city is to us the caldron — the pot in which flesh 
 is boiled. We are the flesh. As the flesh remains in the pot as 
 
 its place and home, so shall we remain in this city." The latter 
 
 of these two constructions, I, on the whole, prefer. The figure of 
 
 the pot or caldron appears again somewhat amplified in chap. 24. 
 So far as its significance is developed here, it obviously meant one 
 thing as used by the princes, and another as used by the prophet. 
 As indicated above, they used it only in a good sense — the pot mak- 
 ing a home for the flesh put therein, as the city was in their view to 
 be the home for its population, in contradistinction to being driven 
 
 out into exile. The prophet, by a quick turn, plays on the figure 
 
 and gives it a new significance. The city is indeed (he would say) 
 your caldron, and ye are flesh, in it, but not flesh in the sense of 
 living men sheltered in a peaceful home, but in a sense more in 
 keeping with the figure — dead flesh put into the pot to be boiled 
 thoroughly and then brought forth for another form of destruction ! 
 
 4. Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of 
 man. 
 
 5. And the spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and said unto 
 me, Speak ; Thus saith the Lord ; Thus have ye said, O 
 house of Israel : for I know the things that come into your 
 mind, every one of them. 
 
 In the clause, "The things that come up into your mind," the 
 prominent Hebrew word seems rather to mean, the aspirations ; the 
 high and raised hopes of your souls. God knew how full they were, 
 of vain self-confidence. 
 
 6. Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have 
 filled the streets thereof with the slain. 
 
 7. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Your slain Avhom 
 ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XI. *61 
 
 city is the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the 
 midst of it. 
 
 8. Ye have feared the sAVord; and I will bring a sword 
 upon you, saith the Lord God. 
 
 9. And I will . bring you out of the midst thereof, and 
 deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute 
 judgments among you. 
 
 10. Ye shall fall by the sword ; I will judge you in the 
 border of Israel ; and ye shall knoAV that I am the Lord. 
 
 11. This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye 
 be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in 
 the border of Israel: 
 
 12. And ye shall know that I am the Lord : for ye have 
 not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, 
 but have done after the manners of the heathen that are 
 round about you. 
 
 It fe supposable that this slaughter was then yet future but near 
 and thought of as certain, and as the legitimate fruit of their per- 
 nicious influence. Hence they might well be charged with the 
 responsible guilt of it. The prophet turns their figure to a terri- 
 ble significance. The heaps of slaughtered men, soon to fill this 
 city, are to be the flesh, held by this city as a caldron holds animal 
 flesh. The living God will bring them forth out of this city into a 
 bitter exile. "The hands of strangers" will bear them far away. 
 When the Lord said (v. 11), "This city shall 7iot be your cal- 
 dron," etc., he meant, it shall not be so in your sense of that figure. 
 
 For they would surely be driven out of their city and land. " I 
 
 will judge you in the border of Israel," implies that they shall be 
 removed from the city, and shall meet some of their judgments 
 on the borders of their land. This may allude to the fact that 
 Zedekiah and many of his princes were brought to trial at Eiblah, 
 just on the northern border of Israel, and there received their sen- 
 tence and doom (Jer. 52: 8-11, 2G, 27). The reason for this ter- 
 rible doom is fitly stated: "For ye have not walked in my statutes, 
 neither executed my judgments, but have done after the manner of 
 the heathen." 
 
 13. And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah 
 the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down upon my face, 
 and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord God ! wilt 
 thou make a full end of- the remnant of Israel ? 
 
 In order to confirm this prophecy to the people, and not least, to 
 give the prophet himself an impressive sense of the terrible sig- 
 nificance of the things now shown to him and announced by him, 
 all suddenly while heis speaking, Pelatiah falls dead ! The prophet 
 falls on his face and cries out, "Ah, Lord God, wilt thou make a 
 full end of the remnant of Israel?" Shall none be left? Are the 
 
62 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XL 
 
 people of God to Ije exterminated and no seed be left to replant the 
 
 land, and rebuild the Zion of the Lord ? The shock of such an 
 
 appalling death impresses him with this painful fear, to which the 
 Lord kindly responds in the verses following. 
 
 14. Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 15. Sou of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men 
 of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly are they 
 unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said. Get you 
 from the Lord : unto us is this land given in possession. 
 
 16. Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; Although I 
 have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I 
 have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to 
 them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall 
 come. 
 
 The import of v. 15 I take to be this: The people now remaining 
 in Jerusalem, in their proud exclusiveness and vain self-confidence, 
 are saying to yourself, to your relatives, and to all the house of 
 Israel who are with you in your present exile in Chaldea, '■''Be 
 gone ! The Lord has cast you out of his city and far away from his 
 presence. You shall have no part any more in this city or in the 
 God of your fathers. The city and land are- given to us for our 
 
 permanent possession." To which the Lord replies; "Although 
 
 I have cast out the people who are with you into exile, yet I will 
 surely befriend them ; will bless to them this very exile ; and will 
 be their sanctuary in the sense of refuge in the countries where 
 
 they shall be." 1 prefer to construe the word '■'■little^' not as 
 
 meaning small applied to sanctuary^ but as meaning short in refer- 
 ence to time^ indicating that for a little time he will reveal himself 
 as their refuge and help in this foreign land. The exile ^should be 
 short. Through its brief duration God would be their sanctuary. 
 Although they were cast forth from the outward sanctuary at Jeru- 
 salem, yet God would be their real sanctuary in their exile. His 
 presence was infinitely more and better than the temple walls reared 
 by Solomon. Shortly afterward, the prophet sees the Lord leav- 
 ing the earthly temple (v. 23). 
 
 17. Therefore say. Thus saith the Lord God ; I will even 
 gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the 
 countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you 
 the land of Israel. 
 
 18. And they shall come thither, and they shall take 
 away all the detestable things thereof and all the abomina- 
 tions thereof from thence. 
 
 19. And I -will give them one heart, and I will put a new 
 spirit within you ; and I will take the stony heart out of 
 their flesh, and will give thein an heart of flesh : 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XI. 63 
 
 20. That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine 
 ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and 
 I will be their God. 
 
 The Lord will bring this remnant home to their native land. 
 They shall exterminate every vestige of idolatry and put away all 
 those abominations which had been the ruin of their nation; and 
 to crown all, God will give them "one heart'' — not a heart di- 
 vided between God and Satan — the holy temple and abominable 
 idols; but one hearty true and pure; and "a new spirit," all 
 unlike what they had before. These precious promises, clothed 
 in strong but plain words, reappear somewhat amplified in chap. 36. 
 Their rich and precious significance lies in the point that the Lord 
 will put his own hand to the work of their thorough reformation ; 
 that he will reach their very hearts ; that he will radically cure their 
 horrible propensity to idolatry, and will turn their heart wholly to 
 himself. So turned and so renewed in heart and spirit, they will 
 walk in his statutes and keep his ordinances with a willing, loving 
 heart. They will be truly the Lord's people, and the Lord himself 
 will be their God. Let us bless the God of love for such prom- 
 ises, and pray that their fullness of meaning may be granted in 
 
 glorious measure to his Zion of these latter days. As these words 
 
 stand here, their first installment of realization must be assigned to 
 the restoration under Zerubbabel; — their first, but not their last. 
 For, beyond a question, these promises in their ample range are 
 Messianic, and pertain to the gospel age, and preeminently to those 
 latter times of tliis age when " all shall know the Lord from the least 
 to the greatest." 
 
 21. But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart 
 of their detestable things and their abominations, I will 
 recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord 
 God. 
 
 Some will repel the divine mercy, and will still walk after their 
 detestable idols. All such must receive the terribly fearful but just 
 
 retribution of God upon their guilty heads. It was of the utmost 
 
 importance for its moral bearings that ^is statement should be 
 made, fastening on every man his own responsibility for his own 
 moral conduct. Even this great baptism of regenerating mercy and 
 power does* not shut off the personal agency of the people. Those 
 who thrust God away and vrill "always resist the Holy Ghost," 
 giving their heart still to their abominations, must perish in their 
 sins. 
 
 22. Then did the cherubims lift up their wings, and the 
 wheels beside them; and the glory. of the God of Israel was 
 over them above. 
 
 23. And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst 
 
64 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XII. 
 
 of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the 
 cast side of the city. 
 
 The visible divine glory now leaves the city and rests on the 
 moifntain toward the east, Mount Olivet; indicating that he is soon 
 to depart and leave the city to its doom. 
 
 24. Afterward the S2:)irit took me up, and brought me in 
 a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the 
 captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me. 
 
 25. Then I spake unto them of the captivity all the 
 things that the Lord had shewed me. 
 
 The scenes of the vision have closed ; the prophet is consciously 
 brought back to Chaldea; and now rehearses to the people in exile 
 there, all that the Lord had shown him. It Avas the main purpose 
 in placing these matters in vision before the prophet that he might 
 present them to the people then in exile. The points made in the 
 various scenes of this one vision were all of them intensely vital to 
 their moral position — adapted to dissipate their vain hopes in regard 
 to the permanence of the city, to impress them with a sense of its 
 horrid guilt, and to show them that God had designs of mercy to- 
 ward themselves, if only they would turn from their idols and give 
 him their heart undivided. 
 
 CHAPTER Xn. 
 
 In this chapter the prophet by divine direction makes himself a 
 suggestive sign of the people going into captivity, vs. 1-16 ; cats his 
 bread with trembling to denote the terror of the inhabitants of Jeru- 
 salem and Israel, vs. 17-20; and rebukes their presumption in 
 assuming that the predictions of judgments borne to them by the 
 prophets referred only to some far-distant time, vs. 21-28. 
 
 1. The word of the Lord also came unto me, saying, 
 
 2. Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious 
 house, which have eyes to see, and see not ; they have cars 
 to hear, and hear not : for they are a rebellious house. 
 
 It is implied here that the spirit of rebellion blinded the people, 
 becoming a perpetual temptation to them to shut their eyes and re- 
 fuse to see God and their duty — to hear his warnings and their 
 doom. They might see, but would not. This is the precise sense 
 of having eyes to see, but yet seeing not. Compare Isa. 6 : 9, and 
 
 42: 20; Mat. 13: 13-15, and Acts 28: 25-27. This propensity to 
 
 eelf-blindness is adduced here as a reason for one more effort to put 
 the near impending captivity of Judah and Jerusalem palpably before 
 the eyes of the exiles in Chaldea, in the hope that so they will b© 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XII. 65 
 
 made to see and apprehend it as true. It is well here to note 
 
 definitely how the subject matter of this chapter stands related on 
 the one hand to the exiles among whom Ezekiel was living, and on 
 the other, to the people yet remaining in Judah and Jerusalem to 
 whom those prophecies referred more or less directly. We must 
 assume the closest sympathy between the exiles and their brethren 
 yet in their native land. The exiles clung to the belief that the city 
 and the nation were safe, and that they themselves were soon to 
 return. Now there was practically no hope of their being brought 
 to repentance till these illusions were dispelled. Hence these varied 
 and persistent efforts of the Lord through Ezekiel to impress the 
 exiles with a sense of the incorrigible wickedness, the damning 
 guilt, and the certain and near impending doom of the holy city 
 
 and of the people of Judah. Here "the rebellious house" (v. 2) 
 
 is primarily the body of the exiles among whom the prophet then 
 lived. This significant symbol of removing into captivity was placed 
 before them in order to make a strong impression on their mind. 
 The captivity referred to was that of Zedekiah, then king of Judah. 
 
 In like manner, the prophet (vs. 17-20) eats his bread with 
 
 trembling to give the exiles a more impressive sense of the condition 
 
 of the people of Jerusalem in the approaching siege. The proverb 
 
 referred to (v. 22) was in vogue "in the land of Israel;'' but its re- 
 buke and refutation were immensely needed for the exiles in Chal- 
 dea. These points are important toward a clear apprehension of 
 the scope of this chapter. 
 
 3. Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for re- 
 moving, and remove by day in their sight; and thou shalt 
 remove from thy place to another place in their sight ; it 
 may be they "will consider, though they he a rebellious 
 house. 
 
 4. Then shalt thou bring forth' thy stuif by day in their 
 sight, as stuff for removing : and thou shalt go forth at even 
 in their sight, as they that go forth into captivity. 
 
 5. Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry 
 out thereby. 
 
 6. In their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoulders, 
 and carry it forth in the twilight : thou shalt cover thy face, 
 that thou see not the ground : for I have set thee for a sign 
 unto the house of Israel. 
 
 7. And I did so as I was commanded : I brought forth 
 my stuff by day, as stuff for captivity, and in the even I 
 digged through the wall w4th my hand ; I brought it forth 
 in the twilight, and I bare it upon my shoulder in their 
 sight. 
 
 This is not a thing seen in vision, but a thing done in fact. For 
 the prophet is commanded to do it, and to do it " in the sight" of the 
 
66 EZEKlEL.— CHAP. XII. 
 
 people ; and he testifies that he did do it. Its symbolic import wag 
 to represent the going forth of the prince and people of Jerusalem 
 from their city into captivity. The special points of the representa- 
 tion were, (1.) Providing for himself the requisite apparatus for 
 carrying a few indispensable things — his knapsack or traveling 
 bag — for this is the meaning of the Hebrew word rendered ^'' stuff ^' 
 which is not his baggage, but his bag — that in v^diich he carried his 
 
 baggage. ^-(2.) He was to go out of his house, not through the 
 
 door, but through a hole which he dug in the wall. This repre- 
 sented the mode of Zedekiah's escape from the city, as given by 
 Jeremiah (chap. 39: 4); "And when Zedekiah the king of Judah 
 saw them (the Chaldean ofl&cers) and all the men of war {i. e., saw 
 them to be really within the city) then they fled and went forth 
 out of the city by night by the way of the king's garden, between 
 the two walls (a private exit), and he went out the way of the 
 plain." This corresponded to digging through the wall of one's 
 house instead of going out at the door. Compare also Jer. 52 : 7, 
 
 and 2 Kings 25: 4-6. (3.) He was to go out by night, bearing 
 
 his valuables on his shoulder. This corresponds also with the time 
 
 of Zedekiah's flight. (4.) He covered his face so as not to see 
 
 the ground, to indicate the bitter grief of the king and of his people 
 when at last their hopes were crushed and they were compelled to 
 leave — he his throne and they their city and homes — for the doubt- 
 ful chances of escape, and the probable doom of death or captivity. 
 So David, fleeing from Absalom, " went weeping and with his head 
 covered" (2 Sam. 15 : 30). This may also have referred to the fiict 
 that Zedekiah had his eyes put out at Riblah and was taken blind 
 as well as bound to Babylon (Jer. 39 : 7). 
 
 8. And in tlie morning came the word of the Lord unto 
 me, saying, 
 
 9. Son of man, liath not the house of Israel, the rebell- 
 ious house, said unto thee. What doest thou ? 
 
 10. Say thou unto them. Thus saith the Lord God, This 
 burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the 
 house of Israel that are among them. 
 
 11. Say I am your sign : like as I have done, so sliall it 
 be done unto them : they sliall remove and go into captivity. 
 
 Has this symbolic and strange transaction failed to excite the 
 attention of this stupid, self-blinded people? This seems to be the 
 implication in this question v. 9. But if so, let ns still persist in 
 the effort to get this truth into their mind. Go therefore and say 
 unto them, "This burden" ^alwa3'S a prediction of calamity) "refers 
 to the king in Jerusalem' (Zedekiah) "and to all the house of 
 Israel that are among them" — the house of Israel being the people 
 of the city, and the wo.id ^'' them" among whom they were, referring 
 perhaps to the army largely drawn from other parts of the country. 
 It therefore related especially to the king and his army, not exclud- 
 ing the people of the city yet surviving. Ezekicl is accustomed to 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XII. 67 
 
 call the king by this name, "the prince." (See chap. 7: 27, and 
 
 21 : 25. jBay also, "I am your sign." The Lord directed me to 
 
 do this thing to represent to you the doom of Jerusalem, and of its 
 king and people. They are destined to go into captivity. 
 
 12. And the prince that is among them shall bear upon 
 his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth : they shall 
 dig through the wall to carry out thereby : he shall cover 
 his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes. 
 
 13. My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be 
 taken in my snare : and I Avill bring him to Babylon to the 
 land of the Chaldeans, yet shall he not see it, though he 
 shall die there. 
 
 14. And I will scatter toward every wind all that are 
 about him to help him and all his bands ; and I will draw 
 out the sword after them. 
 
 15. And they shall know that I am the Lord, v/hen I 
 shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in 
 the countries. 
 
 The symbol was to have its precise fulfillment in Zedekiah who 
 should in like manner bear away his little parcel of valuables ; dig 
 through the wall for a private exit, and go away in the sadness ot 
 his grief as one whose face is covered and who sees not the 
 
 ground. Kemarkably Ezekiel makes no mention of Zedekiah' s 
 
 loss of his eyes, and gives no clue to explain the apparent enigma 
 of his being brought to Babylon and dying there, yet never seeing 
 it. Jeremiah solves this enigma by recording that the king of 
 Babylon put out his eyes at Kiblah, and afterward bound him with 
 chains to carry him to Babylon (Jer. 39 : 7). Ezekiel had no 
 solicitude to make out the truth of his own predictions by showing 
 
 their fulfillment. To this fact of his not seeing Babylon, the 
 
 prophet's going forth with his face so covered that he saw not the 
 
 ground, seems to have had a somewhat special reference. God 
 
 did scatter his army widely, first over the country of Judah and 
 ultimately into E^ypt and elsewhere. (See Jer. 39 : 4, 5, and 40 : 
 7-10, and 41 : 11-18, and chap. 42 : 44. 
 
 16. But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, 
 from the famine, and from the pestilence ; that they may 
 declare all their abominations among the heathen whither 
 they come ; and they shall know that I am the Lord. 
 
 One purpose in sparing a small remnant was that they might 
 testify among the heathen nations that the destruction of Jerusalem 
 and Judah was a judgment from God for their great sins of idol- 
 worship. They might bear this testimony either orally and pur- 
 posely; or indirectly and without purpose, by what was apparent 
 in their life and in their doom. 
 
68 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XII. 
 
 17. Moreover the word of the Lord come to me, saying, 
 
 18. Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink 
 thy water with trembling and with carefulness ; 
 
 19. And say unto the peojole of the land. Thus saith the 
 Lord God of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land 
 of Israel ; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and 
 drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be 
 desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of 
 all them that dwell therein. 
 
 20. And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, 
 and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I 
 am the Lord. 
 
 This too was a symbolic act. The prophet was to eat his bread 
 and drink his water with manifest perturbation, as one trembling 
 in dread of some dire calamity. This the Lord himself applies to 
 the people of Jerusalem and of the land of Israel. It indicated 
 the terror they were doomed to feel. The comprehensive thing 
 here named as the moral cause of this terror is, "the violence of 
 all" the people in the land. So God sent the flood because "the 
 earth was full of violence." Assaults, assassinations, murders, 
 were rife — testifying how utterly men had lost the fear of God and 
 
 cast off the restraints of even common morality. But here, as 
 
 ever, men shall know that the Lord is truly God, the fearful Judge 
 and Destroyer of the wicked. 
 
 21. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 22. Son of man, what is that j)roverb that ye have in the 
 land of Israel, saying. The days are prolonged, and every 
 vision faileth? 
 
 23. Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord God : I will 
 make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it 
 as a proverb in Israel ; but say unto them. The days are at 
 hand, and the effect of every vision. 
 
 24. For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flat- 
 tering divination within the house of Israel. 
 
 25. For I am the Lord: I will speak, and the word that 
 I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more pro- 
 longed : for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the 
 word, and will perform it, saith the Lord God. 
 
 "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, 
 therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do 
 evil" (Ec. 8: 11). In those days also, "there were scoffers who 
 said, Where is the promise of his coming?" This presumption 
 manifested itself in the Israel of that age. It had even passed into 
 a proverb — so commonly AA%as it said and so persistently was this 
 delusion cherished — that the days of predicted evil had been post- 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XII. 69 
 
 poned far into the future, and every vision was failing as to any 
 
 practical application to the generation then living. The prophet 
 
 is commanded to confront this delusion and assure the people that 
 the days were near at hand, and that the real thing predicted in every 
 vision would soon be fulfilled. The word "effect" does not so pre- 
 cisely express the Hebrew as event — i. e., the fact predicted to take 
 
 place. The Lord would soon put an end to the flattering and 
 
 false predictions of the prophets by astounding the people with the 
 judgments he had long since foretold. He says, I will speak and 
 the thing shall be speedily done and no more "prolonged," i. e., 
 
 postponed or delayed.- iSo it often happens that wicked m«n cut 
 
 short the period of God's forbearance, and hasten up the day of 
 swift, inexorable retribution by their scofl&ng and their abuse of his 
 long forbearance and delay. Ah, how terribly must those judg- 
 ments fall which the wicked thus madly pluck down on their own 
 guilty heads ! As if they were weary of waiting through the long 
 period in which God waits in long-suflering mercy for them to 
 repent! Their bold and scoffing impiety contemns the Almighty 
 and compels him to close the period of his sparing mercy suddenly, 
 and bid Justice do its work! 
 
 26. Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 
 
 27. Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, 
 The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he 
 prophesieth of the times that are far off. 
 
 28. Therefore say unto them. Thus saith the Lord God ; 
 There shall none of my wor^s be prolonged any more, but 
 the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord 
 God. 
 
 Essentially the same thought is here repeated. They say, The 
 prophet's visions are ofttimes far remote; but God responds; None 
 of my words are to be long deferred ; what I have said shall be 
 
 done speedily. Let no man trifle with the threatened judgments 
 
 of the Almighty! That doom which overhangs all the wicked in 
 the world to come may break all suddenly, and O, how fearfully, on 
 the head of any one of the proud sinners who to-day are presuming 
 it will come only in the far distant future, and joerhaps never! 
 Such presumption often cuts short the day of grace which God 
 would fain prolong. 
 
70 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XIII. 
 
 CHAPTER Xm. 
 
 In this chapter the Lord rebukes the false prophets, vs. 1-16, and 
 the false prophetesses vs. 17-23, denouncing wars and judgments 
 upon thcni, and pledging himself to deliver his people from their 
 pernicious influence. 
 
 1. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 2. Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel 
 that -prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out 
 of their own hearts. Hear ye the word of the Lord ; 
 
 3. Thus saith the Lord God ; Wo unto the foolish proph- 
 ets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! 
 
 False prophets were a fearful curse to the people in this corrupt 
 age. Jeremiah had occasion to expose and rebuke their devices re- 
 peatedly. See Jer. 14: 13-16, and 23: 9-40, and 27 and 28. It 
 appears, even in Jeremiah, that there were false prophets not in 
 Judea only, but among the exiles in Chaldea. See Jer. 29 : 15-32 
 and notes there. Consequently, they withstood Ezekiel's influence 
 in Chaldea as they had Jeremiah's in Judea. The Lord, therefore, 
 most pertinently sends them, by his prophet, this caustic and scath- 
 ing message. They are here described forcibly and truly as those 
 
 who prophesied out of their own heart and not from God ; following 
 their own spirit, and not the Spirit of the Lord ; foolish in the sense 
 of lying and impious ; men who pretended to have seen visions from 
 God, but who had seen nothing. 
 
 4. O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. 
 
 5. Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up 
 the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in 
 the day of the Lord. 
 
 False prophets are pertinently compared to foxes, since Israel was 
 the Lord's vine, and "the little foxes spoiled the vines" (Cant. 2: 5); 
 and because they came in through the breaches in the garden Avail, 
 and the rents in the inclosing hedge, and thus djd the more mis- 
 chief because of these weak points in the gardener's means of pro- 
 tection. They never set themselves to repair these breaches, as 
 God's true shepherds would have done; but they either perpetrate 
 the more mischief, or slink away into the desert, reckless of all re- 
 sponsibility for repairing the vineyard walls and hedges. See Ezek. 
 22: 30. "And I sought for a man among them, that should make 
 up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I 
 
 should not destroy it: but I found none." In v. 5 there seems to 
 
 be a double figure; a breach in the inclosure of the vineyard as 
 above explained ; and a breach in the city walls through which the 
 enemy are forcing their way in battle in the day of the Lord's 
 vengeance upon the city. In the latter emergency, all true patriots 
 rush to the breach, to repair it if possible, or at least to confront the 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XIII. 71 
 
 foe at this point of chief peril. These false prophets had no such 
 
 patriotism. A change of person as from "they," addressed to 
 
 "Israel," in v. 4, to "ye," the false prophets in v. 5, is by no means 
 uncommon in the HebrcAV writers. 
 
 6. They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, 
 The Lord saith: and the Lord hath not sent them: and 
 they have made others to hope that they would confirm the 
 word. 
 
 7. Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not 
 spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say. The Lord saith 
 it ; albeit I have not spoken ? 
 
 "Vanity," here, (as usual) in the sense of Msehood. They 
 claimed to be sent of God, and made use of the established formula 
 of prophecy, "the Lord saith;" when in fact the Lord had said 
 nothing to them at all. Yet they made some of the people believe 
 
 them, or at least hope that their words would prove true. In v. 7 
 
 the interrogative repeats the thought in a stronger form, appealing 
 to themselves to say if this charge of lying were not true. 
 
 8. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye have 
 spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against 
 you, saith the Lord God. 
 
 9. And my hand shall be upon the prophets that see van- 
 ity, and that divine lies : they shall not be in the assembly 
 of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing 
 of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land 
 of Israel ; and ye shall know that I am the Lord God. 
 
 Because of this great sin, the Lord declares himself committed 
 against them for their destruction. They shall not be counted in 
 the assemblies of God's people, but shall be excommunicated, cut 
 off utterly, never more to have any portion in the land of the 
 
 Lord. "Written in the writing of the house of Israel," means, 
 
 having their names stand in the register of his people, with allusion 
 to the early Hebrew practice of keeping a genealogical list of all the 
 tribes, families, and souls, that belonged to the nation. Extracts 
 
 from this register appear repeatedly, e. g.^1 Chron. chapters 1-9. 
 
 When God should fulfill this threatening, they would know that he is 
 truly God, faithful to his word and mighty in resources to fulfill all 
 he ever threatens. 
 
 10. Because, even because they have seduced my people, 
 saying, Peace ; and there was no peace : and one built up a 
 wall, and lo, others daubed it with unterapered mortar: 
 
 11. Say unto them which daub it with untempered mor- 
 tar-, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; 
 and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind 
 shall rend it. 
 
72 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XIII. 
 
 12. Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto 
 you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it^ 
 
 13. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; I will even rend 
 it with a stormy wind in my fury ; and there shall be an 
 overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in 
 my fury to consume it 
 
 14. So will I break down the Avail that ye have daubed 
 with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, 
 so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it 
 shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: 
 and ye shall know that I am the Lord. 
 
 15. Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and 
 upon them that have daubed it with untempered mortar, 
 and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they 
 that daubed it; 
 
 16. To ivit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy con- 
 cerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, 
 and there is no peace, saith the Lord' God. 
 
 The false prophets seduced the people by promising them peace 
 from God when God had not promised peace, but had predicted 
 
 ruin. The figure of a wall, built up and plastered with Avorthless 
 
 mortar, looks somewhat to the similar allusion in v. 5. The false 
 prophets did not rush into the deadly breach and breast the foe 
 there, nor did they labor to close up the rent hedge; but they did 
 build up a miserable wall of protection for the people and plaster it 
 with mortar that had no cohesive power ; in other Avords, their lies 
 allayed those fears of the people which God sought to arouse, and 
 also inspired hopes of peace which God sought to dispel, that he 
 
 might press them to look to himself alone for refuge. ^A "wall" 
 
 should naturally be a symbol of strength and protection — here, 
 against the judgments with which God had threatened the nation. 
 The figure of the worthless wall and its treacherous mortar is car- 
 ried out fully. It shall surely fall. The Lord Avill overAvhelm it 
 with terrific showers, great hailstones, and a furious Avind ; its very 
 foundations shall be laid bare, and its builders (even all these false 
 prophets) shall be utterly consumed under its iniins — for v, 16 is en- 
 tirely explicit in applying this figure. 
 
 17. Likewise, thou son of man, set thy fiicc against the 
 daughters of thy people, Avhich prophesy out of their OAvn 
 hear.t ; and prophesy thou against them, 
 
 18. And say, Thus saith the Lord God ; Woe to the women 
 that sew pilloAVS to all arm-holes, and make kerchiefs upon 
 the head of every stature to hunt souls ! Will ye hunt the 
 souls of my people, and Avill ye save the souls alive that 
 come unto you ? 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XIII. 73 
 
 19. And will ye pollute me among my people for hand- 
 fuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that 
 should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not 
 live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies ? 
 
 Some Tvomen also as well as men were guilty of this horrible sin 
 of lying prophecy to deceive souls to their ruin. To such the re- 
 mainder of the chapter relates. The figures which represent 
 
 their seductive influence belong to their sex, being drawn from 
 thfcgs which women manufacture. The male prophets are builders of 
 walls ; the female sew pillows, cushions, quilts ; providing every lux- 
 ury in that line to allure people away from God and into deeper sin. 
 
 The word rendered " arm-holes ' clearly means the finger-joints. 
 
 Pillows for the head are not deemed extravagant; but cushions for 
 the elbows savor of luxury, and much more pillows for every finger- 
 joint. The prophet intended to make a strong case of effeminacy. 
 
 "The head of every stature" means the heads of people of 
 
 every height, boys and men of all ages. By "kerchiefs" our trans- 
 lators probably meant head-coverings. The original word favors the 
 sense of quilt, mattress, or spread. In the clause rendered " upon 
 the head," perhaps the thought may be that they are large and long 
 enough to cover the entire person, however tall, even to the head. 
 The general sense is, who provide luxuries for the tastes of the 
 people and use their feminine skill to ensnare souls. By yet an- 
 other special figure, they are thought of as hunters of game, mean- 
 ing however, hunters of human souls, to kill those whom they should 
 
 let live, and to promise life to those whom God woald destroy. 
 
 In the last clause of v. 18, the words "that come" have no cor- 
 responding words in the original. The sense of the clause seems to 
 be, Will ye save souls alive for yourselves — for the sake merely of 
 
 your own personal interests? V. 19 shows that they dishonored 
 
 God and recklessly profaned his name and word (this is the sense 
 of the Hebrew word for "pollute") for the sake of gifts and bribes 
 of barley and bread. For a consideration so small and so purely 
 selfish, they would predict ruin to the righteous, but life to the 
 wicked. For they are said to slay or to spare those whom their in- 
 fluence tended or their purpose sought to slay or to spare. See the 
 same use of language Jer. 1 : 10. 
 
 20. Wherefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am 
 against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to 
 make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and 
 will let the souls go, even the souls- that ye hunt to make 
 iJiem fly. 
 
 21. Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my peo- 
 ple out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your 
 hand to be hunted ; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. 
 
 22. Because with lies ye have made the heart of the 
 righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strength- 
 
 4 
 
74 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XIV. 
 
 en eel the hands of the wicked, that he should not return 
 from his wicked way, hy promising him life : 
 
 23. Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine div- 
 inations : for I will deliver my people out of your hand : 
 and ye shall know that I am the Lord. 
 
 God is utterly against these female deceivers also, and dooms 
 them to ruin and their efforts to failure, in terms adapted to their 
 
 sex and to their influence. In the clause v. 20, "hunt souls to 
 
 make them fly," Gcsenius gives the sense, "hunt souls after the 
 manner of hunting birds — as men hunt the flying ones. This re- 
 lieves the incongruity of the idea of hunting animals to make them 
 
 fly. V. 22 interprets the figures above used into literal language. 
 
 These prophetesses had made the heart of the righteous sad, as God 
 did not, and as they should not; and on the other hand, they had 
 strengthened the heart of the wicked in his sins by promising him 
 life however wicked — as God would not, never does, and can not 
 
 bear to have lying prophetesses do. A word of warning to men 
 
 who fail to discriminate between those who serve God and those 
 who serve him not — to men who promise peace to the wicked for 
 whom God has no pfiace here or hereafter. It is indeed a fearful 
 crime against both God and man to mar the thrcatenings of his holy 
 word and fritter away their solemn significance ! AYhen God in in- 
 finite love would fain warn the wicked of his danger and press him 
 to escape for his life from the doom that awaits him, it is awful that 
 men or women either should interpose their lies to foster hopes that 
 God would fain destroy, and to comfort souls in sin whom God 
 would arouse by fear of damnation to flee from the wrath to come I 
 
 It was a fearfully solemn responsibility assumed by those h'ifig 
 
 men and women in Ezekiel's day, when they sought thus to thwart 
 the benevolent efforts of the great and holy God. No less solemn 
 to-day is the responsibility assumed by men who abate from the 
 doom threatened against all persistent sinners and encourage men 
 to make the most of sinful pleasures while they can, till the day of 
 mercy ends aU suddenly in the night of eternal death ! 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Again certain of the elders of Israel come and sit before the 
 prophet, and the Lord gives him another message in continuation 
 of the subject of the previous chapter. The Lord will not let men 
 come to him asking favors, with their idols enthroned in their 
 hearts. If they do, he will answer them according to their idols 
 and abominations. If they seduce a prophet to inquire of the Lord 
 for them, God will let that prophet be deceived and then deceive 
 those who try in this way to make use of his prophetic functions. 
 The only right thing a guilty people can do is to repent of their sina 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XIV. 75 
 
 and put away all their abominations. Another turn is given to 
 
 this leading thought in vs. 12-21. If, for the great v^^ickedness of 
 the land, God shall send upon them his sore judgments, he will not 
 be entreated in their behalf. Though even those great and good 
 men, distinguished as intercessors high in favor with God, Noah, 
 Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should save their own souls only. 
 Their prayers or their presence could not save so wicked a people. 
 Such is the scope of the chapter. 
 
 1. Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and 
 sat before me. 
 
 2. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 3. Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their 
 heart, and put the stumbling-block of their iniquity before 
 their face : should I be inquired of at all by them ? 
 
 "Then came," etc. This seems to have been shortly after the 
 prophecy narrated in the previous chapter. This chapter and that 
 are closely connected in thought. That denunciation of the false 
 prophets may have made some impression upon certain of the elders, 
 and they may have been consequently in an attitude to listen to 
 something further on the same and kindred points. The language, 
 "these men," etc., somewhat strongly implies a reference to the 
 
 elders then before him. "To set up their idols in their hearts," 
 
 is precisely to enthrone them there — to give them a standing, a 
 fixed position in their very heart as in a temple prepared for the 
 purpose. "Stumbling-block" is used here in the sense of temp- 
 tation to sin, put directly before their own face, so that it shall have 
 
 its greatest power to ensnare and thus destroy their own souls. 
 
 "WTiile they are in this moral state, God asks, " Shall I be inquired 
 of at all by them?" Of course he will not be. 
 
 4. Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus 
 saith the Lord God ; Every man of the house of Israel 
 that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stum- 
 bling-block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the 
 prophet ; I the Lord will answer him that cometh according 
 to the multitude of his idols. 
 
 5. That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, 
 because they are all estranged from me through their idols. 
 
 If such a man shall go to a prophet to engage him to intercede for 
 himself with God, God will answer him through that prophet accord- 
 ing to his sins; that is, will give him no such answer as he de- 
 sires; but will let him be deceived to his ruin. In v. 5, "That I 
 
 may take,'' etc., means, that I may take hold violently and effectually 
 of their heart ; i. e. , by spurning them away and visiting them with 
 sore judgments, grasping their heart so that they shall feel it — tak- 
 ing hold, not to restore or to comfort, but to chasten or punish. 
 
76 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XIV. 
 
 This construction, both the general sense of the verb and the de- 
 mands of the context combine to require and sustain. 
 
 6. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the 
 Lord God; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols ; and 
 turn away your faces from all your abominations. 
 
 "Therefore say" this — that there is no evading this manifest and 
 imperative duty of repentance. Seeking God with your abomina- 
 tions still in power in your hearts can be of no avail save to curse 
 you the more fearfully. The eflbrt to reach God through his proph- 
 ets by seducing them to your aid will only involve those wicked 
 prophets as well as yourself in deception and calamity. " Therefore 
 say to the house of Israel, Repent and turn from all your idols;" 
 "turn away your faces from all your abominations.' This last 
 phrase refers to vs. 3, 4, where they are said to have set their idols 
 in their heart and before their face — of course With their face to- 
 ward those idols. This is one application of the universal truth 
 
 that sinners can never find any relief or real good save through re- 
 pentance. 
 
 7. For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger 
 tliat sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, 
 and settetli up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stum- 
 bling-block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a 
 prophet to inquire of him concerning me; I the Lord will 
 answer him by myself: 
 
 8. And I will set my face against that man, and will 
 make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from 
 the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the 
 Lord. 
 
 The meaning of these verses is plain and has been already 
 brought out. Whether the inquirer be an Israelite or a foreigner, 
 if he sever himself from God and give his heart to idols, and then 
 shall go to a prophet to learn something respecting God, or to gain 
 some favor from God {e. g.^ like king Saul in his distress), God "will 
 
 answer him in his own way and for his own righteous ends. In 
 
 V. 8, the Hebrew verb rendered '"'■loill make" "him a sigTi and a 
 proverb," involves a critical question respecting the true" reading. 
 Our translators adopted the more easy reading, which certainly har- 
 monizes well with the context and with the usual phraseology of the 
 prophet. Others, in deference to the rule, " Follow the more diffi- 
 cult reading," make it from another root, in the sense, "I will 
 destroy him for a sign and a proverb." The ultimate meaning is 
 essentially the same — as happens in a great majority of cases where 
 the original text is doubtful. 
 
 9. And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a 
 tiling, I the Lord have deceived that prophet, and I will 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XIV. 77 
 
 stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from 
 the midst of my people Israel. 
 
 10. And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity : 
 the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the jDunish- 
 ment of him that seeketh unto him; 
 
 11. That the house of Israel may go no more astray from 
 me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgres- 
 sions ; but that they may be my people, and I may be their 
 God, saith the Lord God. 
 
 What is said here afifords no good reason for impugning the jus- 
 tice or even the goodness of God. All candid minds" will see this 
 if they carefully consider and duly appreciate these three points : 
 ( 1 . ) That the case supposed is that of a wicked man, seducing and 
 bribing a prophet to give him a favorable answer from God, while 
 he yet cleaves to his sins. God declares that he will not be tam- 
 pered with by a wicked man for so vile a purpose. He will let both 
 the prophet and the sinner who tries to bribe him be deceived and 
 
 ruined. (2.) No other form of divine agency need be implied 
 
 here than what is properly permissive. God will let that prophet be 
 deceived. He will leave him to make mistakes — leave him in the 
 darkness of his own perverse heart. God will not reveal truth to 
 his mind; will not help him carry out the wicfeed purpose and de- 
 sire of the sinner who has bribed him to try to extort something 
 from God for his own selfish advantage. The usage of all Scripture, 
 and indeed of all human language, sustains this construction. God 
 is said to do what he only suffers or permits to be done. And in this 
 case, who can say that God does not most righteously and justly 
 
 leave the sinner to be frustrated in his impious purpose ? (3. ) The 
 
 divine intent in this proceeding is infinitely wise and good. As de- 
 clared by himself in this very connection, it is "that the house of 
 Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more 
 with all their transgressions ; but that they may be my people, and 
 I may be their God." The Lord frustrates the counsels of the 
 wicked and bafiles their vile schemes to overreach himself, for the 
 very purpose of reducing to the lowest possible amount the good 
 they may find in sin, that so he may press them with the strongest 
 possible motives to repent and seek their good in the Lord their 
 God. And who shall say that this is not altogether right; nay 
 more, infinitely good and glorious ? How else should the Lord deal 
 with the wicked in a world of moral probation like this ? Hoav bet- 
 ter than so could he restrain them in their wickedness and press 
 them to turn to obedience ? 
 
 12. The word of the Lord came again to me, saying, 
 
 13. Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by 
 trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out my hand upon 
 it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send 
 famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it. 
 
78 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XIV. 
 
 14. Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were 
 in it, they should deliver hut their own souls by their right- 
 eousness, saith the Lord God. 
 
 15. If I cau>^e noisome beasts to pass through the land, 
 and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may 
 pass through because of the beasts : 
 
 16. Though these three men u'ere in it, as I live, saith 
 the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daugh- 
 ters ; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be 
 desolate. 
 
 17. Or ifl bring a sword upon that land, and say. Sword, 
 go through the land ; so that I cut off man and beast from 
 it: 
 
 18. Though these three men ivere in it, as I live, saith 
 the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daugh- 
 ters, but they only shall be delivered themselves. 
 
 19. Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour 
 out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and 
 beast : 
 
 20. Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, icere in it, as I live, 
 saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor 
 daughter ; they shall but deliver their own souls by their 
 righteousness. 
 
 21. For thus saith the Lord God; How much more when 
 I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, 
 and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, 
 to cut off from it man and beast? 
 
 The fearful truth involved here is that when the sins of a people 
 imperatively demand the visitations of divine judgment, God will 
 not hear the intercessory prayer of even good men in their behalf 
 
 and so reverse his purpose of judgment The points of this case 
 
 aro made entirely phiin. It is presented for the most part as a case 
 supposed in a hypothetical way. //any kind should become grievously 
 Avicked, beyond the divine endurance, then would I scourge them 
 with my four great and sore judgments: famine; destructive beasts; 
 the sword of war; and pestilence; — and then, though these three 
 men, preeminent for tlieir availing intercession, viz., Noah, Daniel, 
 and Job, were in that land, they should save themselves only; they 
 could not save that land from my judgments. Tliey could not save 
 from any one of these forms of judgment coming singly: — how much 
 
 less from all combined? Of the godly men named here, the 
 
 reader will recall in the case of Noah the fact that God forewarned 
 him of the flood one hundred and twenty years before it came, 
 during which time we may suppose that his prayers were unceas- 
 ing that the Lord would defer this judgment and spare the guilty 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XIV. 79 
 
 race. So far, "the long.-suifermg of God did wait in the days of 
 Noah" (1 Pet. 3 : 20), and, no doubt, in answer to his prayer. Good 
 
 men in such circumstances always pray. Job prayed for his 
 
 three friends, and the Lord accepted his prayer and blessed both 
 
 them and him therefor. Job 42: 8, 10. Daniel's remarkable 
 
 prayer for the restoration of his people as recorded chap. 9 had 
 not yet transpired ; but Daniel was already a praying man ; already 
 bore his people continually on his heart; was known to God as a 
 prominent intercessor, and probably was known in that respect 
 among the exiles in Chaldea. His influence among them became 
 
 great at a very early period of his life and of their exile. If we 
 
 date this prophecy in the sixth year of Jehoiachin's captivity, 
 Daniel had then been in Chaldea fully fourteen years, and in 
 power at the court of the king, thirteen. This reference to him 
 was not necessarily prophetic — in anticipation of his future devel- 
 opments. 
 
 Let us turn to the broad fact that the sins of the Jewish people 
 had become such that God could not pardon, but must punish. So 
 he had said of the sins of Manasseh (2 Kings 24 : 4). Kepeatedly 
 through Jeremiah the Lord had signified that he could not hear 
 prayer in their behalf to turn from his purposed judgments. See 
 Jer. 7: 16, and 11: 14, and 14: 11, 12, and not least, 15: 1. 
 "Though Moses and Samuel stood before me" {i. e., as interces- 
 sors), "yet my mind could not be toward this people; cast them 
 
 out of my sight and let them go forth." Fearful is the doom 
 
 that awaits either a nation or an individual when the point is 
 reached where prayer avails nothing! Let the guilty who are 
 thoughtlessly hardening their heart in sin consider and take warn- 
 ing ! There is a limit beyond which men abuse the mercy of God 
 to their certain destruction. It can not be well to reach and pass 
 that limit. The only safe course is to desist from sin and turn to 
 God at once while yet mercy is possible. 
 
 22. Yet behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall 
 be brought forth, both sons and daughters : behold, they shall 
 come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their 
 doings: and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that 
 I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I 
 have brought upon it. 
 
 23. And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways 
 and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done 
 without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord 
 God. 
 
 The thought here is that God would yet save a remnant out of 
 this last final wreck of the nation at the fiill of Jerusalem, and 
 that this remnant should be brought, captives, to Babylon, and 
 there join the captives previously brought out, among whom Ezek- 
 iel was then living and prophesying. He says to these elders now 
 
80 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XV. 
 
 before him ; When ye see this last company of captives, and learn 
 from personal observation the horrible corruption of their hearts 
 and lives, ye will be comforted concerning the evil which God has 
 brought on Jerusalem, for ye will see that it must have been richly 
 deserved, and that God did not scourge that city to its utter de- 
 struction without good cause. If they had felt any misgiving in 
 view of a judgment so terrible, they would surely see in the char- 
 acter of the captives that God had amply justifying cause for the 
 
 severity of those judgments. It is a comfort to the people of 
 
 God to see that his most terrible judgments are not excessive or in 
 any wise unduly severe. The Lord is careful to show his confiding 
 people 'that whatever else he may do, he never can punish too se- 
 verely. He may punish less than man's- iniquities deserve; but 
 never, more. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 1. And the Avord of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 2. Son of man. What is the vine-tree more than any tree, 
 or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest ? 
 
 3. Shall Avood be taken thereof to do any work ? or will 
 men take a j)in of it to hang any vessel thereon ? 
 
 4. Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel ; the fire de- 
 voureth both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned. 
 Is it meet for amj work? 
 
 5. Behold, when it w^as whole, it was meet for no work : 
 how much less shall it be meet yet for any work, when the 
 fire hath devoured it, and it is burned ? 
 
 6. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; As the vine-tree 
 among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire 
 for fuel, so wdll I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 
 
 7. And I will set my face against them ; they shall go out 
 from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye 
 shall know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against 
 them. 
 
 8. And I will make the land desolate, because they have 
 committed a trespass, saith the Lord God. 
 
 This short chapter makes but one point and makes that plainly. 
 Jerusalem and Israel had often been thought and spoken of as a 
 vine under the culture of their own God. See Isa. 5 : 1-7, and 27 : 2, 
 and Jer. 2: 21, and Ps. 80: 8-lG. But now she has altogether 
 ceased to bring forth grapes, h^he bears no fruits of holiness ; ren- 
 ders to God no acceptable service. The phrase (v. 8), " commit- 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XVI. 81 
 
 ted a trespass," is not said of some trivial sin, but of des])erate 
 wickedness ; most grievous sin. The phrase means, they have been 
 
 shamefully treacherous. Wliat then is she good for? What is 
 
 a vine-tree good for when it has ceased to bring forth grapes ? Can 
 the wood of it be wrought into any work of utility or of art ? Is it 
 
 even fit to make a pin, i. e., a peg to hang vessels upon? The 
 
 oriental tent made great use of these projecting pegs for hanging 
 up household utensils. See Isa. 22 : 23-25 where the same Hebrew 
 word used here is rendered "nail." The wood of the vine was too 
 slender for tent -nails or pins. It might, however, answer to burn 
 for fuel. It was used for this purpose, and was fit for nothing else. 
 So of the people of Jerusalem. They might serve as an example. to 
 illustrate God's justice in punishing the incorrigibly guilty. They 
 might answer some useful purpose to burn up. To this purpose the 
 Lord would consign them and would lay their land utterly deso- 
 late. A fearfurtruth is this, as applied to all sinners who will 
 
 bear no fruit of obedience and love to God ; from whom he can ex- 
 tract no other service in his universe save to make them an ex- 
 ample of his righteous justice in their damnation! Actively, of 
 their free will and honest intent, they will do nothing for God, or 
 for his creatures and the general good: hence, passively, by sufier- 
 ing, and against their will, the Lord will turn them to the only 
 good account possible in their case, and make them fuel for his jus- 
 tice to burn — a living, eternal testimony before the universe to his 
 holy and intense abhorrence of rebellion. They shall know, and 
 all intelligent beings in God's kingdom shall learn in their case that 
 he is the Lord God' Omnipotent, holy and righteous for evermore ! 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 - This chapter embraces one general theme — the idolatry of Jeru- 
 salem, set forth in vivid, glaring, appalling colors under the figure 
 common to the prophets, by which idolatry is thought of as adul- 
 tery. The key-note is struck in v. 2 : " Cause Jerusalem to know 
 her abominations." Set them before her eyes in forms and figures 
 so expressive that she can not but see them, and so sickening that, 
 seeing, she can not fiiil to loathe and abhor herself for all she 
 has done. ^Let us also bear in mind that this expose of Jerusa- 
 lem is made before the exiles in Chaldea to show them how right- 
 eously that city is about to suffer utter destruction; to impress them 
 with the enormity of their great national sin, in which themselves 
 were deeply guilty; and to urge them to deep self-condemnation and 
 bitter repentance. 
 
 1. Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 2. Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abomina- 
 tions, 
 
82 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XVI. 
 
 » 
 
 3. And say, Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem; 
 Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan ; thy 
 father ivas an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite. 
 
 No one will take this allusion to her "birth and nativity" in the 
 literal sense. Men and nations are spoken of as the children of 
 those whose ways they follow, as our Lord accosted the Pharisees; 
 "Ye generation of vipers" (Matt. 23: 33), and "Ye are of your 
 father the devil" (John 8: 44). Isaiah (chap. 1: 10) addresses the 
 
 Jews as "rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah." This was 
 
 the more caustic and cutting because of the haughty scorn with 
 which the Jews looked on those Canaanites, and especially the Am- 
 orite and the Hittite. They are not unfrequently named as chief in 
 guilt and baseness. See Gen. 15 : 16, and 24: 3, and 26: 34, 35, and 
 27: 46; Amos 2: 9; 1 Kings 21: 26, and 2 Kings 21: 11. ITie 
 general contempt felt by the Jews for the Canaanites, may be seen 
 in such passages as Hos. 12: 7 and Zech. 14: 21. In the New 
 Testament age, Jew scorned Galilean with the same national feeling. 
 Hence the pungency of the rebuke, " Thy father was an Amorite 
 and thy mother a Hittite. Thy spirit shows thy parentage to be 
 utterly base. 
 
 4. And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born 
 thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water 
 to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled 
 at all. 
 
 5. None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to 
 have compassion upon thee; but thou -svast cast out in the 
 open field, to the loathing of thy person, in the day that 
 thou wast born. 
 
 This is the early history of the Hebrews as they were pass- 
 ing from a small family to a populous nation, specially in their 
 Egyptian life. Outcast, friendless, as an infant cast forth uucared 
 
 for upon the cold, waste world — so Avas Israel in that age. The 
 
 word rendered "supple," the older critics read, "to cleanse;" the 
 modern (Gesenius) "to make tit to be seen;" to prepare for pre- 
 sentation to parents and friends; from a verb which means, to 
 
 see. "To the loathing of thy person," Gesenius reads, "To the 
 
 loathing of thyself;" "to thine own self-loathing" — virtually drop- 
 
 {ling the figure of the infant. Others, bettor; to be an object of 
 oathing to all; as our received translation implies. 
 
 6. And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in 
 thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou ivast in thy 
 blood, Live ; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy 
 blood. Live. 
 
 7. I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, 
 and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XVI. 83 
 
 to excellent ornaments : thy breasts are fashioned, and thy 
 hair is grown, whereas thou ivast naked and bare. 
 
 8. Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon th-ee, be- 
 hold, thy time ivas the time of love ; and I spread my skirt 
 over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto 
 thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord 
 God, and thou becamest mine. 
 
 9. Then washed I thee with water: yea, I thoroughly 
 washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with 
 oil. 
 
 10. I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee 
 with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, 
 and I covered thee with silk. 
 
 11. I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets 
 uj)on thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. 
 
 12. And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and ear-rings in 
 thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. 
 
 13. Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver ; and thy 
 raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered w^ork ; thou 
 didst eat fine flour and honey, and oil : and thou wast ex- 
 ceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. 
 
 14. And thy renown went forth among the heathen for 
 thy beauty : for it was perfect through my comeliness, which 
 I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God. 
 
 These figures are plain and refer manifestly to the early develop- 
 ment of the religious life and of the national strength and wealth 
 of the Hebrew people in the wilderness and in Canaan. God's first 
 interposition broke the yoke of Pharaoh and brought them forth 
 from their national bondage. Then he entered into the solemn mar- 
 riage covenant with them, and they became truly and avowedly his 
 own people. The entire book of Exodus is a special comment on 
 these verses. In v. 6 the original word is not precisely "pol- 
 luted," but rather trodden under foot — indicating their state in 
 
 Egypt. The announcement, "Live," is solemnly repeated for 
 
 emphasis. It was this majestic and paternal voice which restored 
 their national life, when else they had died nationally under Egyp- 
 tian servitude. The reader will not fail to note that this setting 
 
 forth of God's loving kindness to the nation in its birth and youth 
 is intended to show (and does) how deeply indebted the Hebrew 
 nation were to their own covenant God, and hence, how intensely 
 flagrant, mean and wicked was their apostasy from their own God 
 to idols ; their spiritual adultery. 
 
 15. But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst 
 the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy for- 
 nications on every one that passed by ; his it was. 
 
84 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XVI. 
 
 The clause, "playedst the harlot because of thy renown," was sup- 
 posed by our translators to mean that under the influence of national 
 pride, the Hebrews departed from God and fell into idolatry. But 
 the original may (perhaps better) be read. Thou didst commit 
 whoredom against or despite of thy name; i. e., the name of thy 
 husband, the living God. Despite of thy solemn marriage covenant 
 with Jehovah in which thou didst assume the name, the people of 
 God, thou didst give up thy heart and thyself to idols. 
 
 16. And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst 
 thy high places with divers colors,- and playedst the harlot 
 thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it 
 be so. 
 
 17. Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and 
 of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself 
 images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them. 
 
 18. And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst 
 them : and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before 
 them. 
 
 19. My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, 
 and honey, ivhereivith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before 
 them for a sweet savor: and thus it was, saith the Lord 
 God. 
 
 The wealth and abundance, but especially the gold and silver 
 which God had given them, they had used in the manufacture of 
 idols ; to deck them also with ornaments and provide costly offerings 
 
 at their shrines. See the same thought in Hos. 2 : 8, 13. This 
 
 is the very thing that wicked men do in all ages — take the good 
 gifts of God's providence and make them into idol gods for their 
 own hearts to love and to trust ; let the earthly good Avhich God 
 gives them be a power, not to lead their hearts to God in grateful 
 love, trust, and obedience, but to lead their hearts utterly nwnj froin 
 God into loAver sensual gratifications, utter forgetfulness of God, and 
 more reckless sinning. 
 
 20. Moreover, thou hast taken thy sons and thy daugh- 
 ters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou 
 sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whore- 
 doms a small matter, 
 
 21. That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them 
 to cause them to pass through the fire for them? 
 
 Was this crime of thy whoredom in making and serving other 
 gods too small a thing to satisfy thy wicked heart, that thou 
 shouldst needs go on to more horrid guilt, and burn thine own sons 
 and daughters in the fire to these cruel idols ? With equal force 
 and beauty, the Lord says, "Thou hast slain nv/ children" — as if 
 his parental heart yearned over the innocent little ones hurled bj 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XVI. 85 
 
 their unnatural fathers and mothers into the deadly fire to Moloch 
 and Saturn! 
 
 22. And in all thine abominations and thy Avhoredoms 
 thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou 
 wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood. 
 
 It had aggravated her guilt all along that she would not suitably 
 remember the goodness of her God manifested toward her in the 
 early days of her national life. In this chapter (vs. 4-14) the Lord 
 has been pressing this urgently upon her attention. This was the 
 burden of many an earnest exhortation from the Lord through 
 Moses and the prophets. See Deut. 8 : 2, and 5 : 15, and 15 : 15, 
 and 16: 12, and 24: 18, 22. She did not love to remember how 
 abject and forlorn she was in the day when the mercy of the Lord 
 met her in Egypt. So sinners are slow and reluctant to remem- 
 ber the special favors shown them by that Great Benefactor whose 
 name they revile, whose law they discard, and whose love to them 
 they will not think of requiting with responsive love in return. 
 
 23. And it came to pass, after all thy wickedness, (woe, 
 woe unto thee ! saitli the Lord God,) 
 
 24. That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, 
 and hast made thee a high place in every street. 
 
 25. Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the 
 way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast 
 opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied 
 thy whoredoms. 
 
 The reader will the better appreciate the force of this description 
 of the painfully loathsome abominations of Jerusalem, if it be sug- 
 gested that the word used by Ezekiel for ' eminent place " (vs. 24, 
 
 31) means a brothel. "High places" look to the general fact 
 
 that high grounds were selected for the rites of idolatry. Without 
 
 discussing the propriety of such minute allusions and "great plain- 
 ness of speech" in regard to lewdness as we find in this chapter 
 and elsewhere in the Scriptures, let it suffice to say; (1.) That the 
 taste of oriental writers and readers must not be judged by our 
 standard: and (2.) That in deference to the sensibilities of our own 
 times, in which both the writer and his readers are presumed to 
 participate, he will feel himself excused from minute comment, and 
 will explain only so far as may be requisite to give the ultimate 
 moral bearing of the chapter. 
 
 26. Thou hast also committed fornications with the Egyp- 
 tians thy neighbors, great of flesh; and hast increased thy 
 whoredoms, to provoke me to anger. 
 
 27. Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over 
 thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered 
 
86 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XVI. 
 
 thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of 
 the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way. 
 
 28. Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, 
 because thou wast unsatiable ; yea, thou hast played the har- 
 lot with them, and yet couldst not be satisfied. 
 
 29. Thou hast moreover multi2)lied thy fornication in the 
 land of Canaan unto Chaldea ; and yet thou wast not satis- 
 fied herewith. 
 
 In fact the Jews had sought, borrowed, and worshiped the idol 
 gods of Egypt, of Assyria, and even of Chaldea. Her spirit of idol- 
 atry seemed indeed insatiable. 
 
 30. How weak is thy heart, saith the Lord God, seeing 
 thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish 
 woman ; 
 
 31. In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head 
 of every way, and makest thy high place in every street; 
 and hast not been as a harlot, in that thou scornest hire; 
 
 32. But as a wife that committeth adultery ivhich taketh 
 strangers instead of her husband ! 
 
 33. They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy 
 gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come 
 unto thee on every side for thy wdioredom. 
 
 34. And the contrary is in thee from other w^omen in thy 
 whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whore- 
 doms : and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is 
 given unto thee; therefore thou art contrary. 
 
 "How weak is thine heart" as to any stamina of womanly char- 
 acter — any thing noble, dignified, worthy of an intelligent being! 
 The depth of her debasement is measured by the fact that in- 
 stead of receiving the Avages of prostitution, she gives them to her 
 paramours ! She had gone abroad to seek after idol gods, taking 
 up greedily the meanest and vilest objects ever worshiped by the 
 
 heathen. The prophet assumes it to be the custom of harlots to 
 
 "scorn hire," yet not in the sense of being above its meanness, 
 but in the sense of decrying the offered wages as a bid for higher! 
 Even this disgusting, inefiable meanness was entirely a])ove the 
 harlot-life of Jerusalem! She had sunk indefinitely lower! 
 
 35. Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord : 
 
 36. Thus saith the Lord God; Because thy filthiness 
 was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy 
 whoredoms with thy lovers, and wdth all the idols of thy 
 abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou 
 didst give unto them ; 
 
 37. Behold therefore, I will gather all thy lovers, with 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XVI 87 
 
 whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou 
 hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated ; I will even 
 gather them round about against thee, and will discover 
 thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy naked- 
 ness. 
 
 38. And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock 
 and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in 
 fury and jealousy. 
 
 39. And I will also give thee into their hand, and they 
 shall throw down thine eminent j^lace, and shall break down 
 thy high places ; they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and 
 shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare. 
 
 40. They shall also bring up a company against thee, and 
 they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through 
 with their swords. 
 
 41. And they shall burn thy houses with fire, and exe- 
 cute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women : and 
 I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou 
 also shalt give no hire any more. 
 
 The Hebrew law had stringent penalties for the crime of adultery. 
 See Deut. 22: 22-24 — the stoning of both the guilty parties, in the 
 
 public "gate of the city." \Vith rare exceptions, all nations, 
 
 civilized or savage, punish this crime severely. Indeed, human 
 society can not exist without some respect, free or forced, for the 
 seventh commandment. Where there is no such respect, society is 
 already rotten, and decomposing ; nations are dying ; men are too cor- 
 rupt to live. In this passage, v. 38 alludes with terrible power 
 
 to the jealousy and fury with which men often avenge the crime 
 of adultery when their own hearts are torn and their own homes 
 ruined by it. So God will shed the blood of Jerusalem in his 
 fury and jealousy ! What could be more fearfully expressive ! He 
 will make an example of her before many cities and nations, as 
 the adulteress suffered her deserved doom " in the sight of many 
 women." 
 
 42. So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my 
 jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and 
 will be no more angry. 
 
 43. Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy 
 youth, but has fretted me in all these things; behold there- 
 fore, I also will recompense thy way upon thy head, saith the 
 Lord God : and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above 
 all thine abominations. 
 
 " Will make my fury toward thee to rest," assumes that this 
 appalling execution of judgment would satisfy God's sense of jus- 
 tice and ease his heart from the painful burden of its demands. 
 
88 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XVI. 
 
 In V. 43 is a renewed mention of the sin of " not remembering the 
 days of her youth" to be moved thereby to a better life. See v. 22 
 
 and notes there. In the phrase, "hast fretted me," the original 
 
 scarcely bears the transitive sense in this form of the verb. Better 
 thus: "Thou hast raged against me"-:^hast been violent and out- 
 breaking in thy wickedness. The same verb appears in Gen. 45 : 
 24, there rendered, " See that je fall not out by the way." Also Prov. 
 29 : 9 ; and much in point, 2 Kings 19 : 27, 28 ; God saying to the 
 
 proud Assyrian monarch; "I know thy rage against me." The 
 
 last clause means. Thy lewdness, not " above," but in addition to 
 all thine other abominations; implying that Jerusalem was guilty 
 of gross immoralities besides her lewdness, i. e., idolatry. There 
 are references to violence — sins against personal safety and life — 
 which show that common morality had sunk fearfully low — as it 
 might be said, below the living point. 
 
 44. Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this 
 proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her 
 daughter. 
 
 45. Thou art thy mother's daughter, that loatheth her 
 husband and her children ; and thou art the sister of thy 
 sisters, which loathed their husbands and their children ; 
 your mother ivas an Hittite, and your father an Amorite. 
 
 See V. 3, and notes there. Jerusalem has imitated and even 
 surpassed the immoralities and crimes of the debased nations of 
 Canaan. 
 
 46. And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daugh- 
 ters that dwell at thy left hand : and thy younger sister, 
 that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. 
 
 47. Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done 
 after their abominations: but as if that were a very little 
 thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways. 
 
 To humble the national pride of Jerusalem and set forth her 
 monstrous guilt, she is compared to Samaria as her sister on the 
 left hand, and to Sodom, her sister on the right. Jerusalem sits 
 geographically between these two cities with her face to the cast. 
 " Slie did not walk after their ways," for she had done indefi- 
 nitely worse than they. So utterly had her crimes surpassed theirs, 
 as to throw them quite into the shade. — = — In v. 47, the original 
 word rendered, " a very little thing," means a thing of disgust, as if 
 it disgusted her as too small sinning. Jerusalem piques herself upon 
 sinning on a grander scale, with more daring, horrible impiety ! 
 
 48. As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath 
 not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou 
 and thy daughters. 
 
 49. Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XVI. 89 
 
 pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in 
 her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the 
 hand of the poor and needy. 
 
 50. And they were haughty and committed abomination 
 before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good. 
 
 This comparison with Sodom is full of intense significance and 
 power. There stood the history of Sodom and her fearful doom 
 before the very eyes of the Jewish people. The record of it lifts 
 lip its columns of smoke and flame before the generations of history, 
 standing on their own sacred page, and it would seem that they 
 must have learned from their childhood to abhor such crimes and 
 dread such a doom ! Yet here the burning tongue of their prophet 
 
 puts it to them that their own guilt is indefinitely greater ! The 
 
 clause rendered, "abundance of idleness," seems more strictly to 
 mean, the most perfect quiet; exemption from all fear of national 
 disaster. Like Moab, she was " settled on her lees, and had not 
 been emptied from vessel to vessel." See Jer. 48: 11. It seems 
 to be assumed here that national calamity checked the growth of 
 
 national depravity and crime. In the last clause of v. 50, the 
 
 word good is without authority. The original seems- to mean, 
 "When I saw it," alluding to Gen. 18: 20, 21, "I will go 'down 
 now and see if they have done altogether according to the cry that 
 is come unto me." 
 
 51. Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins ; 
 but thou hast multiplied thijie abominations more than 
 they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations 
 which thou hast done. 
 
 52. Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine 
 own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more 
 abominable than they : they are more righteous than thou : 
 yea, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that 
 thou hast justified thy sisters. 
 
 Jerusalem in her abominations had justified Samaria only in 
 the sense that her greater crimes made the sins of Samaria appear 
 
 to be almost virtues. V. 52 might be translated, "Bear thou 
 
 (Jerusalem) that disgrace which thou hast adjudged to thy sisters, 
 for thy sins in which thou hast been more abominable than they," 
 etc. Jerusalem had condemned her sisters, Sodom and Samaria, 
 adjudging to them deep disgrace. Let her bear all tliis herself 
 and more, for her greater abominations. 
 
 53. When I shall bring again their captivity, the captiv- 
 ity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Sam- 
 aria and her daughters, then ivlll I bring again the captiv- 
 ity of thy captives in the midst of them : 
 
 54. That thou mayest bear thine own shame, and maycst 
 
90 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XVI. 
 
 be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art 
 a comfort unto them. 
 
 55. When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall 
 return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters 
 shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy 
 daughters shall return to your former estate. 
 
 This also must have been acutely mortifying to the pride of 
 Jerusalem. Sodom and Samaria shall stand before thee, or at least 
 fully up with thee, in the matter of being restored in mercy from 
 their captivity. Only when they shall return from their captivity 
 
 canst thou hope to return from thine ! [The restoration of 
 
 Sodom literally from her captivity being quite impossible, this 
 passage can not be taken as a prophecy of such restoration. With 
 almost equal certainty may the same be said of the ten tribes 
 (Samaria), those tribes being obviously lost to history so that no 
 possible restoration could ever be identified. The phrase therefore, 
 "Bring again tlieir captivity," must be taken as figurative, equiv- 
 alent to "returning to their former estate," as virtually explained 
 in V. 55. The statements are put in this shape because the Lord 
 had occasion to speak of restoring Judah again from her captivity, 
 and meant to say that her guilt so much surpassed that of Sodom 
 and Samaria that these latter would be as soon restored to their 
 former estate as Judah to hers.] 
 
 56. For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth 
 in the day of thy pride, 
 
 57. Before thy wickedness was discovered, as at the time 
 of thy reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are 
 round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which 
 despise thee round about. 
 
 58. Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abomina- 
 tions, saith the Lord. 
 
 59. For thus saith the Lord God ; I will even deal wdth 
 thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in 
 breaking the covenant. 
 
 Jerusalem was too proud and felt herself too much above Sodom 
 
 to take that name into her lips. V. 57 applies this remark to 
 
 her pride befoi'e the guilt and consequent weakness of Jerusalem 
 were disclosed by the victories gained over her by the Syrians. 
 This refers probably to victories gained over Ahaz in consequence 
 
 of his fearful strides into idolatry. See 2 Kin^s 15 : 37. In v. 
 
 58 the sense seems to be, Tliou hast borne and shalt yet bear the 
 punishment for thy lewdness, etc. The tense of the verb looks to 
 
 the nearer future as well as to the past. ller ^uilt in despising 
 
 her oath and breaking her covenant witli her God was that espec- 
 ially which so greatly surpassed the guilt of Sodom and Samaria, and 
 which made her doom so dreadful. She had sinned against great 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XVI. 91 
 
 light and lufinite obligations. " If I had not come and spoken to 
 them, they had not had sin ; but now they have no cloak for their sin." 
 
 60. Nevertheless I Avill remember my covenant with thee 
 in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee 
 an everlasting covenant. 
 
 61. Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, 
 when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy 
 younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, 
 but not by thy covenant. 
 
 62. And I will establish my covenant with thee ; and 
 thou shalt know that I am the Lord : 
 
 63. That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and 
 never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when 
 I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith 
 the Lord God. 
 
 What unutterable compassion and forgiving love are in these 
 words ! Thou, Jerusalem, wilt not remember the days of thy youth 
 and of my mercy to thee then; — but I will remember my covenant 
 with thee, made in those days of thy youth, and I will establish it 
 with thee for an everlasting covenant ! Is not such love as 
 this sovereign — a love that owes nothing to antecedent love on the 
 part of his people, but lifts itself high above the mountains of 
 sin and spans the deep abysses of guilt and the sinks of human 
 abominations to find subjects on which loving-kindness and divine 
 compassion may rest! O indeed this is the loving-kindness of the 
 ever-blessed God ! Well may it be said, " The Lord is pitiful and of 
 tender mercy. He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor re- 
 warded us according to our iniquities." Fitly docs the Lord him- 
 self testify, " For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are 
 your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are 
 higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and 
 
 my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isa. 55 : 8, 9). In that day 
 
 such manifestations of mercy and compassion will melt the hardest 
 heart. Jerusalem shall remember her ways and be ashamed and 
 confounded and never open her mouth any more (in the way of 
 
 her old pride) because of her shame for her abominations. It 
 
 will heighten both her shame for her own sins and her sense of 
 divine mercy that God will give her for sisters, both Sodom and 
 
 Samaria, yet not on the strength of her fidelity to her covenant. 
 
 So the conversion of Gentile nations should rather deepen the 
 humility than flatter the pride of God's people, since it comes not 
 
 of her self-moved fidelity but of God's self-moved mercy. In the 
 
 close of V. 63 "pacified" stands for the usual Hebrew word to de- 
 note pardon — the covering of sins from the sight of the Lord 
 through an atonement. So all salvation comes through atoning 
 blood. The deep apostasies of God's professed sons and daughters 
 find mercy there and there only. 
 
92 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XVII. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIT. 
 
 The riddle or parable -which constitutes the subject throughout 
 this chapter is explained in the chapter itself vs. 11-21. This ex- 
 planation makes the significance entirely clear and certain. The 
 
 first eagle (v. 3-6) is Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon: the second (v. 7) 
 is Pharaoh of Egypt. The highest branch of the cedar cropped by 
 the first eagle and carried to a land of traffic, etc., (vs. 3, 4) was 
 Jehoiachin, taken from the throne of Judah into captivity to Baby- 
 lon. Then "the seed of the land, planted in a fruitful field, by 
 great waters, and becoming a spreading vine of low stature (vs. 5, 
 6) was Zedekiah, made king by Nebuchadnezzar over the remnant 
 left in the land. He was, of course, bound by solemn covenant to 
 a faithful allegiance to his conqueror and sovereign. Turning 
 toward Egypt to solicit help thence that he might maintain him- 
 self in breaking faith with the king of Babylon, was base treach- 
 ery and rebellion, which God abhorred, and here declares that he 
 will punish. This is the general scope of the chapter. The his- 
 torical facts which are the basis of this parable may be seen in 
 2 Kings 24: 8-20, and 2 Chron. 36: 9-13, and Jer. 52: 1-7. 
 
 1. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 2. Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable 
 unto the house of Israel ; 
 
 3. And say. Thus saitli the Lord God ; A great eagle with 
 great wings, long-winged, full of feathers, which had divers 
 colors, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of 
 the cedar : 
 
 4. He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried 
 it into a land of traffic ; he set it in a city of merchants. 
 
 This representation partakes of the nature of both the riddle and 
 the parable. In its points of analogy it is a parable : in its enig- 
 ma — in the fact that its significance is somewhat recondite and 
 
 obscure; it is a riddle. The eagle, king of birds, not unfitly 
 
 represents the kings of Chaldea and Egypt. So, also a tree, 
 whether the cedar or the vine-tree, with its magnificent foliage and 
 abundant fruit, making homes and furnishing food for whole fam- 
 ilies of birds, not unai)tly represents a great king, the father of his 
 people. This figure was not altogether foreign to Chaldea, for wo 
 find it applied beautifully to Nebuchadnezzar in Dan. 4, 
 
 5. He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in 
 a fruitful field ; he placed it by great waters, and set it as 
 a willow tree. 
 
 6. And it grew, and became a spreading vine of Ioav st^it- 
 ure, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XVII. 93 
 
 thereof were under him : so it became a vine, and brought 
 forth branches, and shot forth sprigs. 
 
 This eagle, (Nebuchadnezzar) now takes of the seed of the land, 
 a scion of the royal family of Judah, and plants it under fiivorable 
 auspices in a fruitful field and by abundant waters, where it might 
 become, — not indeed a great cedar, but a humble yet useful vine. 
 If Zedekiah had remained true to his sovereign, and especially, if 
 true also to God, he and his people might have enjoyed a career 
 of honor and prosperity. His comparatively humble condition — 
 a vine of low stature — looks to the fact that all the chief princes 
 and the more active, intelligent and useful citizens, had been 
 taken to Babylon as captives. See 2 Kings 24 : 14-16, and Jer. 24, 
 
 7. There was also another great eagle with great wings 
 and many feathers: and behold, this vine did bend her 
 roots toward him, and shot forth her branches toward him, 
 that he might water it by the furrows of her j)lantation. 
 
 8. It was planted in a good soil by great waters, that it 
 might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, 
 that it might be a goodly vine. 
 
 The historical facts represented here are simply that Zedekiah 
 rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar and sent ambassadors to Egypt 
 for aid. This policy the Lord by his prophet sharply condemned. 
 It was the burden of repeated remonstrances through Jeremiah. 
 
 9. Say thou. Thus saith the Lord God; Shall it prosper? 
 shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit 
 thereof, that it wither? it shall wither in all the leaves of 
 her spring, even without great power, or many people to 
 pluck it up by the roots thereof. 
 
 10. Yea, behold, heing planted, shall it prosper? shall it 
 not utterly wither, when the east wind toucheth it ? it shall 
 wither in the furrows where it grew. " 
 
 The Lord now begins to make the moral application of this par- 
 able. Shall such treachery prosper? Can such ingratitude and 
 baseness result well in the end? Will not the first great eagle 
 (Nebuchadnezzar) take revenge upon this vine (Zedekiah) ; tear it 
 
 up by its roots and leave it to wither and die ? The passage 
 
 intimates that this will be done easily. Judah was now greatly 
 reduced in military strength by the loss of her citizens already 
 taken captive; by her immoralities; and not least, by God's wrath 
 against her. The king of Babylon could easily punish her "with- 
 out great power or many people to pluck her up by her roots." 
 
 11. Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, say- 
 
 12. Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what 
 
94 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XVII. 
 
 these things mean? Tell them, Behold, the king of Baby- 
 Ion is come to Jerusalem, and hath taken the king thereof, 
 and the princes thereof, and led them with him to Babylon ; 
 
 13. And hath taken of the king's seed, and made a cov- 
 enant with him, and hath taken an oath of him: he hath 
 also taken the mighty of the land: 
 
 14. That the kingdom might be base, that it might not 
 lift itself up, hut that by keeping of his covenant it might 
 stand. 
 
 15. But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassa- 
 dors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much 
 people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth such 
 things f or shall he break the covenant, and be delivered? 
 
 16. As I live, saith the Lord God, surely in the place 
 where the king divelleth that made him king, whose oath he 
 despised, and whose covenant he brake, even with him in 
 the midst of Babylon he shall die. 
 
 This explanation is itself plain and most amply unfolds the 
 meaning of this riddle or parable. The great facts of Zedekiah's 
 treachery were just about transpiring now in the sixth year of his 
 reign. It was essential that the exiles in Chaldea should know 
 these facts, and should see the justice of God's wrath a<i;ainst Zede- 
 kiah and his people for this rebellion against the king of Babylon. 
 Hence this representation held a vitally important place in Ezekiel's 
 
 prophecies to his captive brethren. V. 16 disclosed to them the 
 
 pertinent prophecy that King Zedekiah should be brought to the 
 place where his real sovereign lived, under the power of the king 
 against whom he had perjured himself and whose covenant he had 
 broken, and should die there in Babylon. This announcement 
 must have sufficed to crush out any fond hopes they might have 
 had as to the reign of Zedekiah. 
 
 17. Neither shall Pharaoh, with his mighty army and 
 great company, make for him in the war, by casting up 
 mounts, and building forts, to cut ofi' many persons: 
 
 18. Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the cove- 
 nant, when lo, he had given his hand, and hath done all 
 these things, he shall not escape. 
 
 19. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; As I live, surely 
 mine oath that he hath despised, and my covenant that he 
 hath broken, even it will I recompense upon his own head. 
 
 20. And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be 
 taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and 
 will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath 
 trespassed against me. 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XVII. 95 
 
 21. And all his fugitives with all his bands shall fall by 
 the sword, and they that remain shall be scattered toward 
 all winds : and ye shall know that I the Lord have spoken it. 
 
 The help of Egypt, though promised him, should avail nothing. 
 Deservedly this passage lays stress upon the base treachery and 
 rebellion of Zedekiah as the ground of the Lord's last judgments on 
 
 himself, his family and his throne. So true and right it is that 
 
 God holds even kings to the morality of good faith in their solemn 
 compacts. Why should he not? Why should kings be privileged to 
 perjure themselves with impunity? Could the influence of such 
 an example on whole masses of people be endured under the gov- 
 ernment of God ? Need it be said that this principle applies to 
 
 all rulers under every form of human government? Or that the 
 curse of God against national bad faith is not a whit lessened but 
 is greatly aggravated by the weakness of the party to whom the 
 nation's faith is pledged? What must God think and what ought 
 the wide world to say of the violation of American treaties with 
 the feeble Indian tribes ? And what if the good faith of the na- 
 tion should be broken with the Anglo-African race after they have 
 saved the nation by their fidelity and bravery in arms under the 
 national guarantee of freedom and protection ? 
 
 22. Thus saith the Lord God, I will also take of the high- 
 est branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop 
 off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will 
 plant it upon a high mountain and eminent : 
 
 23. In the mountain of the height of Israel wall I plant 
 it : and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be 
 a goodly cedar : and under it shall dwell all fowl of every 
 wing ; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell, 
 
 24. And all the trees of the field shall know that I the 
 Lord have brought down the high tree, have exalted the 
 low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the 
 dry tree to flourish: I the Lord have spoken and have 
 done it. 
 
 The tone of this chapter thus far might naturally be depressing 
 to the exiles, adapted to extinguish their hopes for all the future of 
 God's kingdom and cause on earth. Hence the special fitness of 
 this beautiful closing prophecy. It not only counteracted their 
 discouragement, but it laid the foundation for sweet and glorious 
 
 hope. ^Is the eagle able to pluck the highest branch of the proud 
 
 cedar, and set it where he will ? So God — a loftier monarch than 
 he of Babylon — will pluck a tender scion from his high cedar and 
 will set it in his high and holy mountain — the ever honored tem- 
 ple mountain in Jerusalem, for this must be "the mountain in the 
 height of Israel." Compare such passages as Isa. 2: 2-4, Micah 
 
96 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 4: 1-3, and in Ezekiel himself, chap. 20: 40: "For in mine holy 
 mountain, in the mountain of the heijiht of Israel, there shall all 
 the house of Israel serve me ; there will I accept them and there 
 
 will I require your oiferings," etc. See also chap. 34: 14. To 
 
 the glory of this goodly cedar, there shall be no eclipse. No 
 decay shall ever reach it, neither shall violence pluck it up; 
 there shall be no limit to the blessings it shall diffuse. " Under 
 it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the 
 branch thereof shall they dwell." It shall forever illustrate the 
 sovereign power of God who takes down the loftiest monarchs of 
 earth at his pleasure, and lifts up the lowest; who "withers the 
 green tree and makes the dry tree flourish," and who, according to 
 this promise of his love, will cast down all opposing thrones and 
 will establish the one universal throne of his own glorious Son that 
 " the kingdoms of this world may become the kingdom of our Lord 
 
 and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever." There 
 
 can be no good reason to doubt the application of these verses to 
 the then future Messiah. AH the kings of David's line were in 
 the succession of promise between him and his greater Son. Hence 
 the sad fall of the two last prior to the captivity afforded a pertinent 
 occasion for thus alluding to the greater glories — never to be des- 
 paired of — that were sure to the future Zion in her blessed King. 
 The hopes of God's people need not go down in the eclipse that 
 came over the royal house of David through the crimes, the cap- 
 tivity, and the death, of these two kings. Their doom forcibly 
 suggested the contrasted destiny of " the Righteous Branch" that 
 should reign and prosper" and fill the earth with his blessings. 
 The Lord could not forego such an opportunity for promises so 
 timely, so refreshing, so inspiring to his true people in all ages. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 Tiiis chapter refutes the implication of injustice in God, involved 
 in the use of the proverb, " The fixthers have eaten sour grapes and 
 the children's teeth are set on edge." The whole subject de- 
 mands careful attention and candid, intelligent discriminations. 
 For it should be remembered that in the standard moral law em- 
 braced in the ten commandments the Lord appends to the penal- 
 ties of the second commandment, forbidding idolatry, these words : 
 " Visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the 
 third and fourth generation of those that hate me;" and further, 
 that the prophets had declared that God would and did send the 
 Jews into captivity for the sins of Manasseh; — e. g.^ 2 Kini^s 
 24: 3, 4, and 23: 26, 27, and 21 : 11-16. But these judgments fell, 
 not on Manasseh himself, but on his sons of the third and fourth 
 e;eneration — Josiah being in the second; his sons Jehoiakim and 
 Zedekiah in the third, and Jehoiachin in the fourth. It need not 
 
 I 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XVIII. 97 
 
 surprise us therefore that this proverb should come to the lips of 
 men who sought to justify themselves in their sins, and who Avere 
 gratified to have even the least apology for arraigning the justice 
 
 of God and for persisting in their sins, refusing to repent. The 
 
 chapter will show us how the Lord meets this implication and how 
 he enforces upon the people their personal duty. 
 
 1. The word of the Lord came unto. me again, saying, 
 
 2. What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning 
 the land of Israel,' saying, The fathers have eaten sour 
 grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? 
 
 3. As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occa- 
 sion any more to use this proverb in Israel. 
 
 The original rendered — " What mean ye ? " demands rather the 
 reason than the meaning. The sense is, Whi/ should ye thus im- 
 plicate the justice of God? and not merely this; What precisely do 
 you mean by this proverb ? The Hebrew would read literally ; 
 "What is it to you who are using this proverb?" etc.; equal to, 
 Whi/ do ye use this proverb ? Nearly the same phrase has occurred 
 chap. 12 : 22 ; " What to you is that proverb concerning the land 
 of Israel?" i. e., What business have you to use it? For what 
 reason ?— = — In v. 3 the word " occasion," supplied by our translat- 
 ors with no corresponding word in the original, should not by any 
 means be construed so as to imply that the Jews previously had 
 good reason for using this proverb, but should have it no longer. 
 The original simply affirms, " There shall not be to you any more 
 the using of this proverb;" which naturally means, Ye shall no 
 more use it. The Lord would set the case in a light so clear that 
 they must see the injustice of the implication which it involved. 
 It does not by any means appear that the Lord proposes to change 
 his policy, i. e., either his principles or his practice in his govern- 
 ment, so that henceforth there should be no more occasion for 
 using this proverb, while previously there may have been occasion. 
 
 The phrase, " Set on edge," is in common use for that peculiar 
 
 sensation and effect produced sometimes by using acid fruit. It is 
 singular that while this phrase seems most naturally to mean sharp- 
 ened^ the original Hebrew means to malce dull. The sensation best 
 explains itself Its meaning as a proverb is simply. The fathers 
 sin and the children suffer its penalty. 
 
 4. Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, 
 so also the soul of the son is mine: tlie soul that sinneth, 
 it shall die. 
 
 This is the first point of the Lord's reply. The affirmation, " ara 
 mine" implies not only ownership but parental care and responsi- 
 bility, and especially the governmental responsibility of dealing 
 with them according to justice and never in violation of justice. 
 The Infinite Father who has given existence to all human souls 
 5 
 
98 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 affirms of himself that he holds the solemn trust of administering 
 his moral government over them all — over fathers and sons alike — 
 on such principles as can never involve any injustice. The sinning 
 soul and he only shall die. He dies for his own sins and not for 
 another's. The same Lord is equally just to all. Bound to be just 
 toward the son as truly as toward the father — loving the son as he 
 loves the father — how can he visit upon the son the proper penalty 
 
 of the sin of which the father only is guilty? He never can. 
 
 The Hebrew phrase rendered " are mine," occurs elsewhere, chap. 
 29: 3, where Pharaoh says of the Nile, "My river is miyie own; I 
 have made it for myself" Also Exod. 13: 2, where the Lord says 
 of every first-born in Israel, " Ji! is mine;'' and Ps. 50: 10, where 
 the same is affirmed of " every beast of the forest and of the cattle 
 on a thousand hills." The ownership which God claims in human 
 souls involves higher responsibilities than his 0"svnership of the 
 beasts of the field because they have nobler powers and sustain 
 
 higher relations. The words "die" and "death" are used in 
 
 the Scriptures in at least three diverse senses: (1.) For the well- 
 known dissolution of soul and body — natural death. (2.) For a 
 state of heart in which sin has absolute dominion and the soul is 
 committed to sinning past all hope of recovery by its own exer- 
 tions — a state often called spiritual death. (3.) For the penalty of 
 the divine law for sin — an amount of suffering and evil thought of 
 as indefinitely great, and called death because this word stands for 
 the greatest earthly evil — the ultimate infliction possible for man 
 
 to inflict on his fellow-man. The two former are not to be 
 
 thought of in this connection. Only the third meets the conditions 
 of the case. See the term used in the same sense by Jeremiah 
 (chap. 31 : 30) in the same connection as here, rebuking the people 
 for using this same proverb. Also by Ezekiel (chap. 3: 18-20), 
 and by Hosea (chap. 13: 1); "When Ephraim offended in the 
 matter of Baal, he died; and now they sin more and more," etc. — 
 implying that the terrible penalty of death was in their case still 
 suspended. It should be noted that those principles — " all souls 
 are mine;" and "the sinning soul shall die" — are immutable and 
 eternal. They had not been adopted si^ice the Jews had begun to 
 use this proverb and in consequence of this use. They had not 
 come into existence as a modification of the Lord's recent course 
 toward the Jewish nation. The possible implication which our re- 
 ceived translation ("shall not have occasion any more") might be 
 thought to favor, finds no support in this first grand point made in 
 the reply of the Lord. 
 
 5. But if a man fee just, and do that which is lawful and 
 right, 
 
 6. And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath 
 lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither 
 hath defiled his neighbor's wife, neither hath come near to 
 a menstruous woman. 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XVIII. • 99 
 
 7. And hatli not oppressed any, hut hath restored to the 
 debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given 
 his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with 
 a garment ; 
 
 8. He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath 
 taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from in- 
 iquity, hath executed true judgment between man and man, 
 
 9. Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judg- 
 ments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith 
 the Lord God. 
 
 This is a description of a good man, drawn for those times, in 
 view of the morals and immoralities of that age, and also of the 
 
 precepts and prohibitions of the Mosaic law. " Eaten upon the 
 
 mountains," means, eaten at idol feasts, of flesh offered to idols 
 
 and in their honor. ''High places" were chosen as sites for 
 
 idol temples and worship. "Restored to the debtor his pledge." 
 
 The Hebrew law, protecting the poor debtor, prescribed very 
 specific rules in regard to receiving and restoring pledges -given for 
 the payment of debts. See Ex. 22: 25-27 and Deut. 24: 6, 10-13. 
 The main points were that raiment taken in pledge must be re- 
 stored before sunset so that the debtor might use it for his bed- 
 covering; that neither the upper nor nether mill-stone might be 
 taken at all — this being a necessity for every family, however poor ; 
 and that the creditor must not go into the debtor's house to get his 
 pledge, but must "stand abroad" and wait for the poor man to 
 t)ring it out. With such jealous care did the gracious Lord protect 
 the rights and interests of the poor against the not infrequent inhu- 
 manities of the rich. The law against loaning upon usury and 
 
 taking increase, rested on the same principle — the protection of 
 the poor and unfortunate — who in those ages were the borrowers 
 contemplated in these laws. Using other people's money to make 
 more money was quite unknown in legitimate Hebrew life. In 
 circumstances where such business is legitimate and useful, it can 
 not be inferred from the Hebrew law that it would be wrong to 
 take interest for the use of money. Of this just man, thus de- 
 scribed in detail, the Lord declares, "Ae shall surely live ;" i e., he 
 shall not die in the sense of death as used in this chapter. He 
 shall have the favor and blessing of God, and not his Irown and 
 curse. The point of the affirmation is that God deals with indi- 
 vidual men on principles that never violate simple justice. 
 
 Here let us carefully note that while the Lord conducts his defense 
 and states the policy of his moral government by means of hypo- 
 thetical cases — ^^ If a man" — any man — do so and so, such and such 
 shall be the result; yet his supposed cases would naturally suggest 
 the names of various kings well known in their recent history. 
 Thus, e. g.^ under this hypothetical case (vs. 5-9) they might nat- 
 urally write the names of Hezekiah and Josiah. They were good 
 men. They shall live and not die. The hypothetical form would 
 
100 - EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 apply the principle to every good man: the character living in their 
 thought and prominent in the recent history of their kings, would 
 give it vitality and force. 
 
 10. If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, 
 and that doeth the like to any one of these things, 
 
 11. And that doeth not any of those duties, but even hath 
 eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbor's wife, 
 
 12. Hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath spoiled by 
 violence, hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted up 
 his eyes to the idols, hath committed abomination, 
 
 13. Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken in- 
 crease : shall he then live ? he shall not live : he hath done 
 all these abominations ; he shall surely die ; his blood shall 
 be upon him. 
 
 The case here supposed is that of an apostate and recreant son 
 of this just and good father. He is wicked — all the more so for 
 the light of a godly and just example which he perpetually sins 
 
 against. In v. 10, last clause, the Hebrew makes prominent the 
 
 word "brother," which our translators construed rather harshly, 
 thus ; — " Who doeth deeds that are brother to robbery and blood- 
 shedding." Usage scarcely sustains this construction, and v. 18 — a 
 renewed mention of the same case — forbids it. Better thus ; Who 
 doeth such deeds as robbery and murder to his hrother ; i. e., prob- 
 ably to his brother-man — to those whom he is bound to account as 
 his brethren — a thought which puts his sin in a most aggravated 
 
 light. Shall this man live ? Nay, verily ; by no means. He 
 
 shall not live because his father was so good a man. For this very 
 reason is his guilt the greater, and therefore for this reason all the 
 more shall he die. His blood shall be on his own head. This is 
 justice, and thus God evinces himself just.—. — Of this case also 
 there were royal examples painfully recent and fresh in every 
 mind. The good Josiah had three wicked sons and one wicked 
 grandson who filled the throne after him till their crimes sank that 
 throne and kingdom in ruin. Did they live in the favor of God for 
 their good father's sake? Utterly far from it. For his goodness, 
 all the greater was their sin and all the more terrible their doom ! 
 
 Manasseh for a long time ran the same career, and but for his 
 
 late repentance, would have been another illustration of this case. 
 
 14. Now lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father's 
 sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not 
 such like, 
 
 15. That hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath 
 lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hath 
 not defiled his neighbor's wife, 
 
 16. Neither hath oppressed any, hath not withholden the 
 pledge, neither hath spoiled by violence, bat hath given his 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XVIII. 101 
 
 bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a 
 garment, 
 
 17. That hath taken off his hand from the poor, that hath 
 not received usury nor inrecase, hath executed my judg- 
 ments, hath walked in my statutes ; he shall not die for the 
 iniquity of his father, he .shall surely live. 
 
 Here this wicked son becomes a father, and has a son who sees, 
 abhors, and forsakes his father's sins. This case came directly to 
 the main point of the proverb. The father has eaten sour grapes : 
 shall the son's teeth be blunted thereb}^? Shall the upright son die . 
 for the sins of his wicked father? Nay, verily. His virtue is 
 really the greater because of the unpropitious circumstances under 
 
 which and despite of which it has been developed. "That hath 
 
 taken off his hand from the poor," means, hath taken off a hard 
 
 hand — one that is overbearing, oppressive. Here let us specially 
 
 note that the Lord confronts the implication of the proverb by ex- 
 plicitly affirming that he always, sooner or later, deals with indi- 
 vidual men according to their own personal guilt or innocence. 
 From this just principle he never deviates. This is what justice 
 
 demands — is what the just God invariably does. The royal 
 
 family furnished examples to fill this case. Hezekiah succeeded 
 the wicked Ahaz ; Josiah, the wicked Amon; but neither followed 
 his father's crimes. Each turned away from the wicked course of 
 his father and did what was lawful and right; and each lived 
 thereby. 
 
 18. As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, 
 spoiled his brother by violence, and did that which is not 
 good among his people, lo, even he shall die in his iniquity. 
 
 To make the application of this case to the proverb the more 
 palpable, the prophet recurs again to the ungodly father, described 
 fully vs. 10-13. He, being a wicked man, must die in his iniquity. 
 His own sins demand this terrible doom! His doom is in no sense 
 mitigated by his having a godly son. Ahaz and Amon were none 
 the more favored of God for having such sons as Hezekiah and 
 Josiah. 
 
 19. Yet say ye. Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity 
 of the father? When the son hath done that ^^lich is law- 
 ful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done 
 them, he shall surely live. 
 
 20. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall 
 not bear the iniquity of the father,, neither shall the father 
 bear the iniquity of the son : the righteousness of the right- 
 eous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked 
 shall be upon him. 
 
 The prophet here supposes the people to reaffirm their position, 
 
102 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 though somewhat modestly, and in the form only of a question. 
 ]3ut after all you have said, is it not true that sons bear the iniquity 
 
 of their fathers f The Lord answers ; When the son, even of a 
 
 wicked father, does right, he shall live. The soul that sinneth 
 (and he oiiIt/) shall die. Tlie son shall not bear the iniquity of the 
 father, nor the father, the iniquity of the son. The righteousness 
 of the righteous shall determine his destiny: the wickedness of the 
 Avicked shall decide his doom. 
 
 21. But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he 
 hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that 
 which is law^ful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not 
 die. 
 
 22. All his transgressions that he hath committed, they 
 shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that 
 he hath done he shall live. 
 
 The people doubtless made use of this proverb and of its un- 
 just implication of wrong on God's part, to relieve their Conscience 
 from the pressure of obligation to repent. Hence the tone of these 
 and the following verses bears directly to the point of counteract- 
 ing this influence and of persuading them to repent. Though you 
 have sinned, yet if you will turn from all your sin and do only 
 right, you shall live and not die. All your transgressions shall be 
 forgiven and not be mentioned any more against you. Because of 
 the new moral course unto which ye turn, ye shall live. It was vital 
 to the best moral results that the people should see that repent- 
 ance brings salvation, even to the chief of sinners. Here came 
 
 in the strong case of Manasseh, who, after many years of awfully 
 wicked life, repented, humbled himself greatly, was brought back 
 from his captivity in Babylon, and found mercy of God. See the 
 record 2 Chron. 33: 11-13, 18, 19. 'It was this repentance that 
 averted the divine judgments from himself and gave a ncAV lease 
 of life to the nation. Because of this repentance, the national 
 ruin was delayed for yet another great effort toward their salvation. 
 
 23. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should 
 die? saith the Lord God : and not that he should return 
 from his w ays, and live ? 
 
 Is it any pleasure to me that the wicked man should die? Is it 
 not rather my supreme pleasure that he should turn from his 
 wicked ways and so should live ? The people may have thought 
 otherwise. It may have seemed to them that God took delight in 
 visiting the penalties of an awful death on the wicked. If they 
 had thought so, they did not know the heart of (Jod ; they had en- 
 tirely misapprchend(Kl his nature ; they had never seen and appre- 
 ciated his deep eternal love ! For, the most glorious, most blessed 
 truth ever revealed of God to this sinning world is here — that God 
 has compassion toward even very guilty sinners; is pained and not 
 pleased when he must punish ; is delighted, even to infinite joy, 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XVIII. 103 
 
 when the sinner turns from his wicked ways and lives. Out of 
 this loving compassion came the scheme of atonement through the 
 incarnation and death of his OAvn beloved Son, making pardon safe 
 4o his kingdom — possible without peril to the vital interests of his 
 government. For all this, let the heavens rejoice and let the earth 
 be glad ! 
 
 24. But when the righteous turnetli away from his right- 
 eousness, and conimitteth iniquity, and doeth according to 
 all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he 
 live? All his righteousness that lie hath done shall not be 
 mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in 
 his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die. 
 
 Still another phase of the general question requires notice. Sup- 
 pose a man has lived righteously a long time and has accumulated 
 what might be accounted a stock of righteousness. If then he 
 turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, shall he live? 
 By no means. All his stock of accumulated righteousness goes for 
 nothing — "shall not be mentioned;" in his sins he must die. So 
 men must abandon all hope of God's favor on the ground of having 
 once done right — if they turn from that righteousness and commit 
 iniquity. 
 
 25. Yet ye say. The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear 
 now, O house of Israel ; Is not my way equal ? are not your 
 ways unequal? 
 
 26. When a righteous man turnetli away from his right- 
 eousness, and committeth iniquity, and dietli in them ; for 
 his iniquity that he hath done shall he die. 
 
 27. Again, when the wicked man turnetli away from his 
 wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which 
 is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. 
 
 28. Because he considereth, and turnetli away from all 
 his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely 
 live, he shall not die. 
 
 Here the implication, tacitly involved in the proverb, is brought 
 out palpably — a charge of injustice in God. They say the course 
 of God's moral administration is not equitable. It violates justice. 
 
 This is the charge of the people against God. To this the Lord 
 
 replies, squarely asserting the perfect justice of his own ways, and 
 the injustice of theirs. It is your ways that are unequal : mine are 
 
 always equal. The points of argument made here are these two : 
 
 (1.) That a righteous man, turning from his righteousness and do- 
 ing wrong, shall die for his iniquity: (2.) That a wicked man, 
 considering his ways and turning from his wickedness, shall surely 
 live and not die. These great features of God's moral administra- 
 tion over a sinning world are so obviously equitable; they so 
 
104 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 plainly cover the whole ground of justice and of mercy, and so 
 commend themselves to every man's conscience and moral sense 
 as intrinsically rii!;ht and good, that they are naturally the end of 
 all argument. More is superfluous. , 
 
 29. Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord 
 is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? 
 are not your ways unequal ? 
 
 30. Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every 
 one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Kepent, 
 and turn yourselves from all your transgressions ; so iniquity 
 shall not be your ruin. 
 
 31. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby 
 ye have transgressed ; and make you a new heart and a new 
 spirit : for why will ye die, O house of Israel ? 
 
 32. For I have no pleasure in the death of him that 
 dieth, saith the Lord God : wherefore turn yourselves, and 
 live ye. 
 
 Yet the people arc supposed to reiterate their charge of injustice 
 against God. The Lord reaffirms his perfect justice in the same 
 terms as before, v. 25 ; declares that he will judge them every one 
 according to his ways ; and exhorts them therefore to repent and 
 turn from all their transgressions : else iniquity must be their 
 
 ruin. So doing, it shall not be. "Casting away all trangres- 
 
 sion," is here essentially equivalent to "making to themselves a 
 new heart and a new spirit." The putting away of sin supposes 
 sin to be abhorred, supposes that the heart turns to God to obey 
 and to love him supremely. This and nothing less than this, God 
 implies in this exhortation ; this and nothing less God demands of 
 every sinner, and demands it with infinite reason. This reason- 
 able duty God presses here as the only alternative to the doom of 
 death. IJo this — for why will ye die, O house of Israel ? Do this 
 — else you must die., past all mercy, past all possibility of salvation. 
 And lohy should you choose death ? Why doom yourselves to so 
 dire an end when life is before you, and when God so earnestly 
 longs to see you turning from your sins to accept and insure it 
 
 for evermore ! And this is truly the attitude and this the 
 
 language of the All-glorious Father to every sinner ! No one need 
 say; "Huch mercy can never apply to me; such words are too good 
 to be said of me ! " " Whosoever will, let him take the water of 
 life freely ! " 
 
 Before we pass on from this great discussion, vindicating the 
 justice of God, let us turn our attention yet more distinctly to the 
 circumstances which probably gave rise to the proverb and note 
 also the method in which the Lord rebuts its implication of injus- 
 tice. In those ages, idolatry was the great national sin of the 
 
 Jews — the special cause of the judgments of God on their city and 
 land. In the second command of the decalogue, the recital of 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XVIII. 105 
 
 penalty has these words; "Visiting the iniquity of the Withers upon 
 the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate 
 me." Ex. 20: 5. As shown above, this special statement was pre- 
 cisely fulj&lled in the fact that the sins of Manasseh are repeatedly 
 represented to be those which the Lord "could not pardon" and 
 must punish ; while yet the punishment in the form of dethrone- 
 ment, captivity, and a violent death, fell upon his children of the 
 
 third and fourth generation. Now it was probably in view of 
 
 these facts that the people brought into current use this proverb — 
 cited also by Jeremiah (chap. 31 : 29, 30) and rebutted there in 
 the same way as here. Hoio does the Lord reply and rebut this 
 
 allegation ? Not by any attempt, even the least, to explain the 
 
 philosophy of the penalty attached to the second commandment; 
 not by showing why he governs nations with much long-suffering 
 and waits through many generations of individual men, far down in 
 the nation's life, still pressing his agencies for reform and laboring 
 to save the whole people from the ruin toward which they are tend- 
 ing. Not thus does he condescend to debate this matter, although 
 he might have done so; — but he makes his response directly and 
 squarely practical^ to the heart and conscience of the people. He 
 says to them virtually. There is no need just now that ye concern 
 yourselves with the policy of God in his government of nations as 
 such. Suffice it for you that ye personally stand or fall before God 
 on your individual life. With every individual man, whether king 
 or subject, I deal in perfect equity, never punishing any one sin- 
 ner for the guilt of another sinner; never the son for the sins of 
 his father. Do right and you live : but persist in sinning, turn 
 from righteousness to sin, and you surely die. I have no pleasure 
 in your death; I long to see you repenting and living righteously 
 with a new heart and a new spirit. So shall my heart be cheered 
 
 and gladdened in your eternal peace and life. This was the 
 
 vital thing that needed to be said. This was all that the case re- 
 ally demanded. This rebutted the allegation of injustice on God's 
 part, and brought the greatest possible pressure upon the heart and 
 conscience toward repentance and salvation. It was doubtless 
 wise in God to omit all philosophical discussion upon the further 
 question of his policy toward nations as such^ and to hold their 
 attention simply and closely to the one far greater theme — their 
 
 own personal responsibilities, perils, and possibilities of life. 
 
 But as already hinted, the Lord might have replied by expounding 
 the philosophy of that remarkable penalty attached to the second 
 commandment. He might have said — Nations are not precisely the 
 same as individuals. A nation's life runs through a period which 
 includes the lifetime of many individual generations. Why may I 
 not exercise long-suffering toward a nation as well as toward an in- 
 dividual ? And hence, what can forbid my bearing with a nation 
 through several generations of fathers and sons, plying every moral 
 agency to turn them from their sins to righteousness? Especially, 
 he might have said; What principle of justice is violated, provided 
 that always and every-whcre, sooner or later, I deal with every in- 
 
106 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XIX. 
 
 dividual sinner in that nation, king or subject, according to his per- 
 sonal deserts? The retribution of nations as such is not closed 
 
 up and exhausted each successive day nor each year, nor in each 
 generation. It waits far into the nation's life for its fullness of 
 time, much as God waits upon some one individual sinner past 
 many sins, through many months or years it may be of his sinning, 
 yet never loses sight of his case; 'never fails to administer perfect 
 
 justice in the end. Thus are the ways of the Lord true and 
 
 righteous altogether. Thus the laws of his moral administration 
 over nations are in some respects peculiar and unique, resting on 
 their own good reasons, and having evermore due regard to what is 
 
 peculiar in the life of nations as such in this world. Still further, 
 
 let us recur again to the fact that the sins of Manasseh were made 
 prominent as involving the nation in guilt which the Lord could not 
 pardon ; also, that in the event the national ruin fell on his children 
 of the third and fourth generation; and that this fact may have 
 had some influence to bring into vogue the proverb which leads the 
 discussion in this chapter. Here then note that this discussion 
 brings out the very principle on which the Lord spared Manasseh. 
 He repented ; broke of his si7is by righteousyicss ; and found mercy. 
 The case was one of exceedingly great and rich moral power as an 
 encouragement to the vilest of sinners to return to the Lord their 
 God. Was it not, at least mainly, for the sake of affording scope 
 for the influence of this example that the Lord delayed the infliction 
 of his judgments upon the nation, and yet prolonged their space for 
 
 repentance! In this point the Lord has the same policy with 
 
 nations as with individuals, suddenly arresting his judgments at the 
 very moment when they are ready to smite the guilty, if any new 
 circumstances inspire fresh hope or develop some yet untried influ- 
 ence which may possibly lead to repentance. Manasseh' s long-con- 
 tinued wickedness had depraved and almost sunk the nation; his 
 late repentance cast a gleam of hope athwart the darkness; and God 
 therefore not only spared him, but postponed his annihilating judg- 
 ments for the sake of one other earnest eflPort to reclaim and save a 
 guilty people. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 This chapter sets before the exiles the fall of the royal house of 
 Judah and ultimately of the nation. AVitli liigh poetic beauty this 
 is done by conceiving of the whole people as " thy mother;" of this 
 mother as first a lioness who puts her young lions one after another 
 on the throne: and next, as a vine whose strong shoots become 
 scepters for her kings, but which is finally itself plucked up in 
 fury, dried by the cast wind, and burned in the fire. 80 perish 
 the kings of Judah, the people also, and the whole frame of organ- 
 ized society and government — a cluster of painful facts taken up 
 here for a lamentation among the exiles of Chaldea. Some of 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XIX. 107 
 
 these events had already transpired : the rest of them were near at 
 band. There was no hope of saving these exiles morally and spir- 
 itually without bringing to bear upon them the entire moral power 
 of those judgments with Avhich God was scourging and wasting 
 their mother people and country. Hence these topics appear in 
 Ezekiel "line upon line," reiterated with wonderful variety of rep- 
 resentation, and we might say, in forms which exhaust the entire 
 wealth of sj^mbols and figures known to Hebrew or Chaldean lit- 
 • erature. 
 
 1. Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the j)i*inces 
 of Israel, 
 
 2. And say, What is thy mother ? A lioness : she lay 
 down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young 
 lions. 
 
 "Take up," in the sense of prepare and present to the exiles; 
 announce and record it, for their moral instruction. Since the 
 theme is one of bitter sorrow, let it be an ekg^/, to be used in pub- 
 lic lamentation over the fall of their mother country. " For the 
 
 princes of Israel," refers to the kings on the throne of David. 
 
 Ezekiel currently uses the word "prince" for those kings. The 
 
 term "Israel" looks not to the kingdom of the ten tribes, now ex- 
 tinct, but rather, back to David, to indicate the fall of the last 
 
 kings in his line. Naturally, "mother" represents the people, as 
 
 "daughter" often does the chief cities, especially Jerusalem. 
 
 The lion, king of beasts, fitly represents a king in the nation. The 
 figure was at home in Chaldea, as is shown by their abundant use 
 of it, evinced at this day in the ruins of their cities and temples. 
 
 3. And she brought up one of her whelps : it became a 
 young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured 
 men. 
 
 4. The nations also heard of him ; he was taken in their 
 pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of 
 Egypt. 
 
 This first young lion-king was Jehoahaz, recognized by three 
 marks: — (1.) He was the first among the sons of Josiah to succeed 
 him on his throne, and is the first in order here: (2.) He was put 
 on the throne by the people, as the history specially affirms, 2 Kings 
 23: 30, and 2 Chron. 36: 1 : (3.) He and he only, having been 
 deposed by Pharoah Necho, was carried (as here stated) to Egypt 
 
 and died there. The figure is carried out to the life. This 
 
 young lion caught the ways of lion-kings ; he " learned to catch the 
 prey and devoured men." Even the original word for " chain "keeps 
 up the figure, denoting the hook or ring fixed in the nose of wild 
 animals to control them. 
 
 5. Now, when she saw that she had Avaited, and her hope 
 
108 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XIX. 
 
 was lost, she took another of her whelps, and made him a 
 young lion. 
 
 6. And he went up and down among the lions, he be- 
 came a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and 'de- 
 voured men. 
 
 7. And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste 
 their cities ; and the land was desolate, and the fullness 
 thereof, by the noise of his roaring. 
 
 8. Then the nations set against him on every side from 
 the provinces, and spread their net over him : he was taken 
 in their pit. 
 
 9. And they put him in ward in chains, and brought him 
 to the king of Babylon : they brought him into holds, that 
 his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of 
 Israel. 
 
 This second young lion is not Jehoiakim, tlie immediate successor 
 of Jehoahaz, but is Jehoiachin, his son. For the former (the 
 father) was put on the throne, not by the people, but l)y the king 
 of Babylon; and he seems not to have been carried to Babylon, 
 but to have died in disgrace at Jerusalem. See Jer. 22: 18, 19 
 and 36 : 30. On the other hand, Jehoiachin was in favor with the 
 people, and for aught that appears was put on the throne by them ; 
 was taken captive to Babylon and remained there in captivity at 
 least thirty-seven years ; and finally his fall was specially afflictive 
 to the exiles. They had many fond hopes of his restoration. See 
 Lam. 4 : 20. The people hoped that Jehoahaz might be restored 
 
 to them, till this hope perished (v. 5). In v. 7 the word rendered 
 
 "desolate palaces," stands in our Hebrew text, widows. If this 
 reading be accepted, the word "knew" must mean violated, giving 
 us a dark view of his moral purity. 
 
 10. Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by 
 the waters : she was fruitful and full of branches by reason 
 of many waters. 
 
 11. And she had strong rods for the scepters of them that 
 bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick 
 branches, and she appeared in her height with the multi- 
 tude of her branches. 
 
 12. But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down 
 to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit : her 
 strong rods were broken and withered ; the fire consumed 
 them. 
 
 13. And now she is planted in the Avilderness, in a dry 
 and thirsty ground. 
 
 14. And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, 
 which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XX. 109 
 
 rod to he a scepter to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall 
 be for a lamentation. 
 
 By a sudden change of figure the Jewish people become a vine-^ 
 a figure of somewhat frequent occurrence in the Scriptures and 
 recently used by Ezekiel himself See chap. 15 : 6 and 17:6. See 
 
 also Isa. 5: 1-7 and 27: 2-7; Ps. 80: 8-16 and Jer. 2: 21. 
 
 Her strong shoots are scepters for kings, and virtually in the fig- 
 ure, represent kings themselves. She rose to prominence among 
 the nations, but she was suddenly plucked up by the fury of the 
 Almighty. The east wind — terribly withering in that climate — 
 dried up her roots : her strong rods (scepters) were broken, and 
 
 the fires of divine judgments consumed both kings and people. 
 
 A few of her people had been taken into captivity — a fact repre- 
 sented here by her being transplanted to a wilderness and set in 
 a dry and thirsty ground. Her last king, Zedekiah, by his treach- 
 ery to the king of Babylon, had brought down the final stroke of 
 vengeance — corresponding to a fire going out from one of the rods 
 (scepters) of her foliage, which devoured her fruit, so that she had 
 no successor for her throne. The royal house is utterly broken 
 down. The throne of Judah is in ruins. To the Hebrew exiles, 
 
 this was and should still be "for a lamentation." In v. 10 the 
 
 word translated "in thy blood," involves great critical difficulties. 
 Probably the reading is not correct. What it should be, it is per- 
 haps impossible to determine with certainty. Fortunately no sen- 
 timent of special importance is involved in the question. Gesenius 
 says, most probably thus; — "like a vine of thy vineyard." Others 
 variously. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 This chapter, with a new date, has its special occasion — the 
 coming of certain elders of Israel to inquire of the Lord through 
 the prophet. It has also its special strain of reply — essentially a 
 resume or historical review of the great trials which the Lord 
 experienced with the Hebrew people on the point of their pro- 
 pensity to idolatry, showing that, over and over again, he had for- 
 l3idden them to worship idols, had solemly sworn that he would 
 exterminate them with his judgments for this sin, but had spared 
 
 them for his great mercy's sake. As a historical sketch, the 
 
 chapter corresponds somewhat closely with Neh. 9 ; Ps. 78 ; and 
 the speech of Stephen in Ac. 7. Here preeminently the historical 
 facts cited bear on the great points now present and prominent — 
 viz., that the people were strangely infatuated toAvard idolatry; 
 that they had been on the verge of national ruin repeatedly for 
 this sin; and that they had been spared only through the great 
 mercy of God and to save the honor of his throne before the hea- 
 then ; and not at all for their own sake or merit. 
 
110 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XX. 
 
 1. And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth 
 month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders 
 of Israel came to inquire of the Lord, and sat before me. 
 
 This new date is about eleven months later than the last named 
 
 — (8: 1). It is obvious both from the strain of the chapter and 
 
 from the relation of these exiles to their fatherland that they came 
 to inquire of the Lord, not specially for themselves, but for their 
 nation and their beloved but now doomed city. The Lord's reply 
 is not this: "I can not hear you in the thing you ask for your- 
 selves;" but, "I can not spare that guilty nation!" They came 
 
 and sat before the prophet to confer with him in the matter, and 
 probably to enlist his sympathies with iheir own if they could. 
 
 2. Then came the word of the Lord unto me, saying, 
 
 3. Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say 
 unto them. Thus saith the Lord God ; Are ye come to in- 
 quire of me ? As 1 live, saith the Lord God, I will not be 
 inquired of by you. 
 
 The Lord understood their thought before their words had dis- 
 closed it and promptly replied with a most solemn refusal. The 
 doom of the guilty people and city was fixed and no prayer could 
 reverse it. txod "would not pardon." See 2 Kings 24: 4, Ezek. 
 
 14, and Jer. 15, and 7: 16, and 11: 14, and 14:^11. On the 
 
 clause, "I will not be inquired of by you," Jerome has this fine 
 comment : " To the holy and to those who ask for right things, the 
 promise is given ; ' While they are yet speaking, I will say — Here 
 I am.' But to sinners, such as these elders of Israel were, and as 
 those whose sins the prophet proceeds to describe, no answer is 
 given, but only a fierce rebuke for their sins, to which He adds 
 his oath; 'As I live,' to strengthen his solemn refusal." 
 
 4. AVilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge 
 themf cause them to know the abominations of their fa- 
 thers : 
 
 This question, "Wilt thou judge them?" can not be taken as 
 implying that he ought not to do" it, thus ; Wilt thou do a thing 
 so wrong as to judge them? On the contrary, it manifestly implies 
 an aflirmative and enjoins the duty of judging them. The Hebrew 
 interrogative particle used here sometimes implies a negative particle 
 with it; e. g.^ Jer. 31 : 20 — "Is {i. e., is 7iot) Ephraim my dear son?" 
 Is he (not) a pleasant child?" Also Job 20: 4: "Knowest thou 
 
 (not) this of old that the triumphing of the wicked is short?" 
 
 "Judge," is here used in the forensic sense — bring them to trial; 
 prefer charges against them; recite the catalogue of their crimes; 
 and, as the parallel clause has it, show them the abominable sins 
 
 of their fathers. This v. 4 indicates the course of thought 
 
 throughout vs. 5-32. Instead of allowing himself to be inquired 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XX. Ill 
 
 of in prayer to avert his threatened judgments against the Jews, 
 the Lord directs the prophet to set before these elders the lon<r 
 record of their national sins and provocations. 
 
 5. And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God ; In the 
 day when I chose Israel, and lifted up my hand unto the 
 seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto 
 them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up my hand unto 
 them, saying, I a7n the Lord your God ; 
 
 6. In the day that I lifted up my hand unto them, to 
 bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I 
 had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, Avhich is 
 the glory of all lands: 
 
 7. Then said I unto them. Cast ye away every man the 
 abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the 
 idols of Egypt : I a7n the Lord your God. 
 
 " Chose Israel." See Deut. 7: 6-8 and 14: 2. " For thou art an 
 holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord hath chosen thee to 
 be a special people unto himself above all people that are upon the 
 face of the earth," etc. "Lifted up mine hands," i. e., in the sol- 
 emn oath, as in Deut. 32: 40, "For I lift up my hand to heaven 
 
 and say, 'I live forever:' " or Dan. 12: 7 and Rev. 10: 5. "Had 
 
 espied," i. e., explored and selected. In these verses and in their 
 
 context, it is implied that while yet the people were in Egypt, the 
 Lord solemnly admonished them against idolatry, but they would 
 not hear. The Scripture narrative omits this, except in so far as 
 it may be implied in the proposal to go out from Egypt into the 
 desert to offer sacrifice unto the Lord their God. Yet there can 
 be no doubt of the fact that even there in Egypt the Lord admon- 
 ished his people against being seduced into the worship of their 
 idols. 
 
 8. But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken 
 unto me: they did not every man cast away the abomina- 
 tions of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of 
 Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, 
 to accomplish mine anger against them in the midst of the 
 land of Egypt. 
 
 9. But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not 
 be polluted before the heathen, among whom they ivere, in 
 whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing 
 them forth out of the land of Egypt. 
 
 They would not hearken to the Lord: hence while they were 
 in Egypt, the Lord solemnly threatened to pour out his fury and 
 to exhaust ("accomplish") his anger upon them. But he spared 
 and saved his people then for his name's sake, that the heathen 
 might not reproach him as unable to save his own people. 
 
112 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XX. 
 
 10. Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land. 
 of Egypt, and brought them into the wiklerness. 
 
 11. And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my 
 judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. 
 
 "Do and live," looks to that stubborn and stringent alternative put 
 by the Lord through Moses, Dcut. 30: 15-20, "See, I have set before 
 thee this day life and good — death and evil." "I call heaven and 
 earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life 
 
 and death, blessing and cursing," etc. The ancient Chaldee para- 
 
 phrast expands the last clause of v. 11; "He shall live in them tvith 
 eternal life." This represents the current theology held by the Jews 
 on this point before and near the Christian era, and hence has an 
 important bearing on the interpretation of our Savior's language on 
 this subject. It shows in what sense his language must have been 
 understood, and hence in what sense he must have used it. ' 
 
 12. Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign 
 between me and them, that they might know that I am the 
 Lord that sanctify them. 
 
 This verse is specially important because of its supposed and real 
 
 bearings on the nature and perpetuity of the Sabbath. Why is 
 
 the term here in the plural form, " Sabbaths 1 " Does it include other 
 
 festal days than those enjoined in the fourth commandment? 
 
 Under some circumstances it might; for God did enjoin upon the 
 Jews other seasons of rest from labor, e. g., during the three great 
 feasts; on the great day of atonement, etc. But the reference in 
 this passage to Exo. 31 : 13-17 is so manifest that we must allow 
 that passage to interpret this. There we read, " Verily my sab- 
 baths" (plural) " shall ye keep;" yet the plural refers to many suc- 
 cessive sabbaths — each seventh day — fifty-two in each year; and 
 not to various days of required rest, other than this seventh day. 
 Hence our passage in Ezekiel probably speaks only of the day en- 
 joined in the fourth command. In what sense did the Lord give 
 
 the Jews the seventh-day sabbath " as a sign f The passage in 
 
 Exodus reads; "Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign 
 between me and you throughout your generations, that ye may 
 know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you." "Wherefore 
 the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sab- 
 bath throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant. It is 
 a sign between me and the children of Israel forever ; for in six 
 days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he 
 rested and was refreshed." In this passage the word '■'■sign' man- 
 ifestly means a standing memorial and witness of his relations to 
 his people. It witnessed that he would have them imitate himself 
 in his sevenlh-day rest after the six days' work of creation, and 
 that he was devoting himself to their sanctification as his peo- 
 ple ; — " that ye may knoAV that I am the Lord that doth sanctify 
 you." God gave them the Sabbath to indicate these relations: they 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XX. 113 
 
 should observe it as a means of recognizing these relations on 
 their part and of responding to them in observing the duties they 
 involved. 
 
 We may now come to the question of more special interest in our 
 age. Does this passage thus expounded, or indeed on any just ex- 
 position, teach that the Sabbath is exclusively a Jewish institution ? 
 Was it Mosaic or even Hebraic in such a sense that its obligations 
 ceased with the expiration of that system and have no binding force 
 
 in the Christian age? 1 reply; the fact that God enjoined it 
 
 upon the Hebrew people is no reason why he should not enjoin it 
 also upon all mankind. On the contrary, if his revealed purposes 
 and objects in enjoining it upon them are of a general nature, ap- 
 plicable in the main to all mankind, then his enjoining it upon 
 them proves it to be binding universally on the race. Now it 
 admits of ample proof that the reasons given of God for enjoining 
 the observance of the Sabbath — given specially in the fourth com- 
 mand itself, and in the passage Exodus 31 : 13-17, which is specially 
 under Ezekiel's eye in our text — are of universal application. The 
 Great Father of the race wrought six days in the creation and 
 rested the seventh. He puts his own example, not before Israel 
 only, but before the race, and invites — nay more, commands them 
 to follow it. He signifies to them that he ivould he remembered as 
 their Creator and Father, and would have them set apart time for 
 an object so vital. Then Ex. 31: 13-17 (cited above) develops yet 
 more fully the thought that in the Sabbath God aims to sanctify his 
 people and to make it a visible sign of a special relationship be- 
 tween himself and them. Yet here let it be carefully noted, it is 
 his relation to them not as Hebrews, but as his children, his peo- 
 ple. All these points are general, not special; good for the race, 
 not restricted and of value to the Hebrews only. Indeed they 
 show the Sabbath to be a glorious boon which no tribe or nation or 
 
 age can afford to forego. Thus far the discussion of this great 
 
 question respecting the universal obligation of the Sabbath as a 
 divine institution comes fairly within the province of the expositor 
 of Ezekiel because it is legitimately involved in the sense of his 
 words. Other points bearing on the question, e. g.^ its institution 
 in Eden; the traces of it in the seven-day periods during the deluge; 
 its existence among the Hebrews prior to its announcement from 
 Sinai (see Exod. 16 : 22-30), and the proofs of its reindorscment 
 in the beginning of the Christian age, must be omitted as not gcr- 
 main to the scope of this commentary. 
 
 13. But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the 
 wilderness : they walked not in my statutes, and they de- 
 spised my judgments, which ij a man do, he shall even live 
 in them ; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted : then I 
 said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilder- 
 ness, to consume them. 
 
 14. But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not 
 
1X4 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XX. 
 
 be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought 
 them out. 
 
 15. Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wil- 
 derness, that I w^ould not bring them into the land which 
 I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is 
 the glory of all lands ; 
 
 16. Because they despised my judgments, and walked not 
 in my statutes, but joolluted my sabbaths: for their heart 
 went after their idols. 
 
 17. Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying 
 them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilder- 
 ness. 
 
 This brief reference to the wilderness-life of the children of Is- 
 rael is most abundantly confirmed in the Pentateuch, especially in 
 the history of the golden calf, Ex. 32 and 33, and in the unbelief 
 and murmuring consequent on the report of the spies, Num. 13 
 and 14. Sec also Ps. 78 and 95. That stage of Hebrew life was 
 a mournful illustration of human depravity, and especially of the 
 corrupting influence exerted upon the fathers during their long 
 residence in Egypt and long familiarity with idol-worship there. 
 
 18. But I said unto their children in the wilderness, 
 Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither ob- 
 serve their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols: 
 
 19. I am the Lord your God; w^alk in my statutes, and 
 keep my judgments, and do them ; 
 
 20. And hallow my sabbaths ; and they shall be a sign 
 between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord 
 your God. 
 
 21. Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: 
 they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments 
 to do them, wdiich if a man do, he shall even live in them : 
 they polluted my sabbaths : then I said, I would pour out 
 my fury upon them, to accomplish mine anger against them 
 in the wilderness. 
 
 22. Nevertheless I withdrew my hand, and wrought for 
 my name's sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight 
 of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth. 
 
 It was indeed most true that the Lord reiterated his admoni- 
 tions, warnings and thrcatenings, continually during the forty years' 
 life of the nation in the wilderness. It was one constant scene of 
 moral labor to train and reform the people. It availed in great 
 measure to save the children and youth — those who were under 
 twenty years of age when they came out of Egypt; but seems to 
 have mostly failed to reclaim those more advanced in years and 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XX. 115 
 
 more confirmed in their habits of thought and of life. The 
 
 strain of this chapter is that the Lord's patience was repeatedly 
 tried to the utmost, so that he was often on the point of extermi- 
 nating the guilty people by his swift judgments; but restrained 
 himself through his great mercy, and to save his holy name from 
 reproach before the heathen in whose sight he had brought them 
 
 forth from Egypt and adopted them as his own peculiar people. 
 
 This view of their national history was eminently pertinent and 
 forcible for Ezekiel's time and for the circumstances of both the 
 exiles and their brethren then just on the brink of exterminating 
 ruin in their native land. 
 
 23. I lifted up my hand unto them also in the wilder- 
 ness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and 
 disperse them through the countries ; 
 
 24. Because they had not executed my judgments, but 
 had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, 
 and their eyes were after their fathers' idols. 
 
 25. Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not 
 good, and judgments whereby they should not live; 
 
 26. And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they 
 caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, 
 that I might make them desolate, to the end that they 
 might know that I am the Lord. 
 
 The points specially requiring attention here stand in vs. 25, 26. 
 What statutes and judgments are here referred to ? In what sense 
 did God "give them?" And for what purpose? The laws of lan- 
 guage compel us to take the words, "Statutes and judgments" in 
 a sense similar and analogous to that in ■v\^ich they are used else- 
 where throughout this chapter; e. g.^ in vs. 11, 13, 16, 18, 19, 21, 
 24, — yet not as referring to precisely and identically the same stat- 
 utes and judgments, for it was because they did not execute those 
 judgments but despised them (v. 24), that God says (v. 25), "There- 
 fore I gave them also statutes not good," etc. Hence the latter were 
 
 somewliat yet not altogether different from the former. These 
 
 conditions are met in "the Statutes of Omri," (See Mic. 6 : 16, where 
 the same word is used as here by Ezekiel), and in the decree of 
 Jeroboam (1 Kin^-s 12: 28-33). These were royal statutes and 
 
 judgments establishing idol-worship by public authority. In 
 
 what sense did God give the people these statutes? Only in 
 
 the sense of suffering their wicked kings to enjoin them. Not 
 unfrequently God is said in the Scriptures to do what he only 
 permits to be done. He was said to harden Pharaoh's heart, when, 
 in fact, according to the record, he only suffered him to harden his 
 owTi heart, and when the most direct agency which he exerted 
 toward that result was in removing the plagues under which that 
 proud king quailed and relented. So far as the Scriptures explain 
 hoio his heart was hardened, they attribute it in small part to the 
 
116 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XX. 
 
 influence of his own magicians, but in large part, to the divine 
 mercy in lifting the plagues from him and from his land. See the 
 former in Ex. 7: 10-13, 22, and the latter, in Ex. 8: 15, 32, ai^d 
 
 9 : 34, 35, and 10 : 19, 20. According to the doctrine of the 
 
 Scriptures, God's agencies in some form reach all events. Some 
 events he brings to pass without the intermediate agency of his 
 creatures ; some, with such intermediate agency. In the latter 
 class, his own work is often only jjermissive — suffering these in- 
 termediate agents to do what they choose to do. In this case the 
 
 Lord is said sometimes to do them. It remains to inquire — For 
 
 ivhat purpose in this case did the Lord give the people "statutes 
 
 not good and judgments whereby they should not live?" The 
 
 passage itself supplies the answer. Because they did not execute 
 his judgments but despised his statutes, polluted his Sabbaths and 
 set their eyes on their fathers' idols, therefore God suffered them 
 to be ensnared into deeper idolatry by the royal influence of Jero- 
 boam, Ahab, Omri, and Manasseh. It was a divine judgment upon 
 them for their persistent love of idols. The Lord gave them their 
 way to let them see and to let all the world in coming ages see 
 what idolatry is; what it leads to; how fearfully it curses a peo- 
 ple of itself, and how terribly God will punish it. On the same 
 principle God gave up the heathen nations to idolatry and to deep 
 moral corruption. So Paul affirms Rom. 1: 21, 24, 26, 28, in the 
 language; "Because that when they knew God, they glorified him 
 not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imag- 
 inations, and their foolish heart was darkened:" ^^ Wherefore^ i. e., 
 for this reason, God gave them up to uncleanness," etc. "For this 
 cause God gave them up to vile affections." "And even as they did 
 not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to 
 a reprobate mind." Paul also develops the same law of God's 
 moral administration in* 2 Thess. 2: 11; "And for this cause God 
 shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie." So 
 far as we can know, this may be a necessary measure of policy in a 
 moral government, to give some persistent sinners a larger range for 
 possible sin and less restraint, that they may exemplify for the warn- 
 ing of others the fearful power of sin on the soul and its terrible and 
 certain curse in the lino both of natural conseqences and of divine 
 judgments therefor. Hence no reasonable objection can lie against 
 the All-wise and All-good Ruler of the moral universe for this pol- 
 icy. The scope of this passage, v. 25, appears also in v. 39. 
 
 V. 2G bears the same interpretation and sustains it. I suffered 
 them to become more and more polluted in their gifts at the shrine 
 of their idols even to the extent of burning to death all their first- 
 born sons and daughters, consecrating them to ]\loloch and Saturn 
 and not to God. 1 did this in order that I might bring utter des- 
 olation on their land, under which desolation both they themselves 
 and all men should learn that I am the Lord. An evil so horrible 
 as this virus of idolatry must be suftercd to ripen and develop it- 
 self into its legitimate fruits before its punishment could have the 
 highest and best moral effects. 
 
 I 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XX. 117 
 
 27. Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, 
 ^nd say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God ; Yet in this 
 your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have com- 
 mitted a trespass against me. 
 
 28. For when I had brought them into the land, for the 
 which I lifted up my hand to give it to them, then they 
 saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered 
 there their sacrifices, and there they presented the j)rovoca- 
 tion of their offering: there also they made their sweet 
 savor, and poured out there their drink-offerings. 
 
 29. Then I said unto them, What is the high place 
 whereunto ye go ? And the nam^ thereof is called Bamah 
 unto this day. 
 
 "Yet in this" same idol-worship, your fathers have blasphemed 
 me — provoked and insulted me exceedingly; for when I brought 
 them into the goodly land of Canaan, they sought out every beau- 
 tiful location, every high hill and thick grove, and located their idol- 
 worship there. Then I said to them. Why go ye to those high 
 places rather than to the temple, the "one place" which God had 
 ordained? What special attraction draws you thither? But they 
 answer only by persisting in their custom, and by giving those high 
 
 places a distinguished name unto this day. The significance of 
 
 this V. 29, seems to be that God protested against those locaHties for 
 worship ; but the people insisted and still kept up the usage under 
 that name well known among themselves and deeply offensive and 
 odious to their God. In harmony with this the Psalmist says (78 : 
 58), "For they provoked him to anger with their high places." 
 
 30. Wherefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith 
 the Lord God; Are ye polluted after the manner of your 
 fathers? and commit ye whoredom after their abomina- 
 tions ? 
 
 31. For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons 
 to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your 
 idols, even unto this day: and shall I be inquired of by 
 you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord God, I 
 will not be inquired of by you. 
 
 Are not ye of this generation as deeply polluted as your fathers 
 ever were? And now, shall I be inquired of by you? By no 
 means. 
 
 32. And that which cometh into your mind shall not be 
 at all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the fam- 
 ilies of the countries, to serve wood and stone. 
 
 33. As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty 
 
118 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XX. 
 
 hand, and with a stretchcd-out arm, and with fury poured 
 out, will I rule over you : 
 
 34. And I will bring you out from the people, and will 
 gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, 
 with a mighty hand, and with a stretched-out arm, and wuth 
 fury poured out. 
 
 35. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peo- 
 ple, and there will I plead with you face to face. 
 
 36. Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness 
 of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the 
 Lord God. 
 
 37. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I 
 will bring you into the bond of the covenant. 
 
 38. And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and 
 them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth 
 out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not 
 enter into the land of Israel : and ye shall know that I am 
 the Lord. 
 
 Here the tone changes to exhortation and promise. The Lord 
 will yet put forth his mighty hand to redeem a remnant and re- 
 store them to piety and to consequent prosperity. The temptation 
 to be like the heathen must be withstood and its very thought re- 
 pelled. Verses 35, 36 are a beautiful analogy between this process 
 of discipline and that by which the Lord sifted, proved, and tried 
 his people in the wilderness of Sinai. So also in Hos. 2: 14-23. 
 The cases are not only analogous in the principle involved but in 
 the means used and even partially in the minute point of a wilder- 
 ness life, for these exiles were led forth through a long wilderness 
 
 route from Canaan to Chaldea. "I will cause you to pass under 
 
 the rod," looks to the usage of shepherds in numbering their flocks, 
 perhaps nightly as they entered the fold, or after a purchase, to 
 verify the number. So God will bring his dear people carefully 
 into his fold, taking pains to see that all are there, and consecrating 
 them to himself. The sifting processes of his providence will expel 
 the rebels of unsubdued heart. They will never return to his land. 
 
 39. As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord 
 God ; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter 
 also, if ye will not hearken unto me : but pollute ye my 
 holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols. 
 
 40. For in my holy mountain, in the mountain of the 
 height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the 
 house of Israel, all of thcra in the land, serve me: there 
 will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, 
 and the first fruits of your oblations, with all your holy 
 things. 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XX. 119 
 
 41. I will accept you witli your sweet savor, when I 
 bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the 
 countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be 
 sanctified in you before the heathen. 
 
 42. And ye shall know that I awi the Lord, when I shall 
 bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the 
 which I lifted up my hand to give it to your fathers. 
 
 43. And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your 
 doings wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall loathe 
 yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have 
 committed. 
 
 44. And ye shall know that I ain the Lord, when I have 
 wrought w^ith you for my name's sake, not according to 
 your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O 
 ye house of Israel, saith the Lord God. 
 
 The scope of v. 39, I take to be — Play the hypocrite with me no 
 longer. If ye will persist in serving idols, go on ; but cease to mix 
 up the worship of idols with the worship of the living God ! No 
 more pollute me, my name and my temple, with your gifts and idols. 
 For lo, in my holy mountain there shall be none but pure hearts 
 and true lives. Hypocrites can have no place there. There I will 
 accept the honest and faithful Avorshipers ; they shall penitently 
 loathe and forsake their abominations, and shall know in their 
 own blessed experience that I am the Lord their Savior and Ke- 
 
 deemer. This strain of promise is eminently precious after so 
 
 long and so terrible a recital of God's holy displeasure against his 
 apostate people, his grievous heart-trials with them, and his fearful 
 
 judgments upon them. ^At this point, our Hebrew Bibles close 
 
 this chapter. It is manifestly the close of this special theme and 
 strain. The remaining verses (45-49) belong properly to the next 
 chapter. 
 
 45. Moreover the w^ord of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 46. Son of man, set thy face tow^ard the south, and drop 
 thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest 
 of the south field ; 
 
 47. And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of 
 the Lord ; Thus saith the Lord God ; Behold, I will kindle 
 a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, 
 and every dry tree : the flaming flame shall not be quenched, 
 and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned 
 therein. 
 
 48. And all flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled 
 it : it shall not be quenched. 
 
 Remarkably the prophets set the face toward the country or the 
 people to whom their prophecies were addressed. See chap. 6 : 2, 
 
120 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XX. 
 
 and 13: 17, etc. "The south," and "the forest of the south field," 
 
 as here used, are manifestly Jerusalem and Judah, thought of as 
 "the south" for the same reason that Babylon — Ezekiel's residence 
 then — was "the north." Hee Jer. 1: 14-15. Ezek. 21: 2, 3 con- 
 firms this reference to Judah. "Drop thy word" — let thy speech 
 
 distil — fall in drops (such is the figure). It occurs elsewhere : Job 
 
 29 : 22 and Amos 7 : 16. Judah and Jerusalem are thought of 
 
 as a forest which is combiistible — fit material for the fires of Jeho- 
 vah's judgments. A terrible figure of a ruin before which nothing 
 can stand ! 
 
 49. Then said I, Ah, Lord God ! they say of me, Doth 
 he not speak parables? 
 
 A feeling of sad discouragement comes over the prophet as he 
 thinks of delivering this message (vs. 46-48), for he remembers 
 how the people received his threatenings from the Lord before, 
 when they were clothed in strongly figurative language. Hence he 
 cries out, " Alas ! alas ! O Lord God ; they are saying of me (this is 
 the precise tense of his language); they have been saying and doubt- 
 less they will say again of me — "Does he not use strong figures? 
 Must we not make large allowance for his vivid imagination? Have 
 his words much meaning after all ? So I understand their question, 
 "Doth he not speak parables?" For to suppose they simply ask; 
 What rhetorical terms, according to the best authorities, should be 
 applied to such forms of expression? is to misapprehend entirely 
 
 both their feelings and his. Rosenmueller, however, gives it this 
 
 turn; Does he not talk very blindly, confusedly, with dark figures 
 that w^e can not understand? But if this had been their meaning 
 the prophet would have understood it, and then, instead of groaning 
 deeply oveV their perverseness, he would have said — Brethren, this 
 matter can readily be made clear, and it shall he ! The case ex- 
 emplifies both the spirit and the manner in which perverse sinners 
 who are annoyed by what the Bible says of an eternal hell seek to 
 fritter away its meaning and evade its force. Is it not altogether 
 figurative, say they ? How then can we know much about its real 
 meaning? Does not the whole description bear the aspect of great 
 
 exaggeration ? To questions like these, it may be replied briefly 
 
 but most truthfully; Figures of speech arc used in every human 
 language, in all ages of time. They come nearer to the idea of a 
 universal language^ clearly intelligible to all, than any other form or 
 mode of speech. To the popular mind, nothing can better or more 
 accurately describe suffering tlmn the language used in the Bible of 
 hell. Who docs not know the effect of fire on human flesh ? Who 
 does not understand fire as an agency of ruin among the works of 
 men? How utterly infotuated then must the man be who decries 
 all Avholesomc fear of hell and of the wrath of God because the ap- 
 peal to such fear comes to us from our divine Father, clothed in 
 figurative language ? Alas for the madness of men when they will 
 sin on. to their own damnation, and loill choose such delusions to 
 Bmooth their pathway thither ! 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAR XXI. 121 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 In this description of judgments from God upon Jerusalem vs. 
 1-25, and upon Ammon vs. 28-32, the sword is made signally prom- 
 inent — drawn out from the Lord's scabbard, sharpened, polished, 
 gleaming, flashing, and coming down fearfully for its work of 
 
 slaughter ! It is the chapter of the sword. If we may suppose 
 
 a tacit connection with the closing words of the chapter previous, 
 we shall see a special pertinence in this figure. The people are 
 saying; These figures and symbols, parables and things of that 
 
 sort ; — who can tell how much they mean ? To which the Lord 
 
 replies ; " Ye must certainly know what the sword means : ye have 
 seen and heard of the sword ; let the sword therefore be the figure — 
 yet scarcely a figure so much as a terrible reality — in the prophet's 
 foretelling of your doom!" 
 
 1. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 2. Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop 
 thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the 
 land of Israel, 
 
 3. And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the Lord ; 
 Behold I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword 
 out of his sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous 
 and the wicked. 
 
 4. Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous 
 and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of 
 his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north. 
 
 5. That all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn 
 forth my sword out of his sheath : it shall not return any 
 more. 
 
 Set thy face toward the city to which the predicted judgments 
 
 pertain, as in v. 46, and elsewhere. The destruction must be 
 
 general, embracing both the righteous and the wicked. Since no 
 discrimination is made on the ground of moral character, there 
 can be no discrimination whatever (vs. 4, 5), but the sword shall cut 
 down all the living from south to north in the land. The Lord's 
 sword is drawn, and will not return to its scabbard till this work 
 is done. 
 
 6. Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of 
 thy loins ; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes. 
 
 7. And it shall be, when they say say unto thee. Where- 
 fore sighest thou ? that thou shall answer, for the tidings ; 
 because it cometh ; and every heart shall melt, and all hands 
 shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees 
 
 6 
 
122 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXI. 
 
 shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and shall be 
 brought to pass, saith the Lord God. 
 
 To make the deeper impression on the heart of the people, the 
 prophet is commanded to sigh and groan bitterly in their presence 
 with his hands upon his loins as one under intense and crushing 
 grief. When the attention of the people should be arrested and 
 they should inquire the cause, he must answer; "Because of what 
 I hear, for it cometh"- — not the tidings merely come, but the thing 
 
 itself, the calamity/ is near at hand. The Hebrew is, "All knees 
 
 shall flow with water," i, e., become water, having no more firm- 
 ness than water. 
 
 8. Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 9. Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord ; 
 Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished : 
 
 10. It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter: it is fur- 
 bished that it may glitter: should we then make mirth? it 
 contemneth the rod of my son, as every tree. 
 
 In this extended description of the sword (vs. 9-23), we shall 
 find several clauses in which modern criticism has furnished the 
 means of improving somewhat the received translation. Thus, in 
 the last clause of v. 10, this translation brings out no intelligible 
 sense in harmony with the context. But, guided by the Septuagint, 
 a very slight change is made in two Hebrew letters, one in each 
 of two words, whereby we read cl for oy, and nasee for nasces, 
 and then we translate the entire verse thus ; " It is sharpened to 
 make a great slaughter; it is polished that it may have the flash 
 as of lightning against the jyrince of the tribes of my son (my people) 
 who scorn all loooden rods;" i. e., who are thoroughly hardened 
 against the lighter scourging with saplings, and must needs be 
 
 scourged, slain, with my glittering sword. The prince represents 
 
 the people, so that the sword upon him falls upon the whole 
 people. 
 
 11. And he hath given it to be furbished, that it may be 
 handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, to 
 give it into the hand of the slayer. 
 
 Is made sharp and bright that it may pass into the hand of God's 
 destroying angel, " the slayer." 
 
 12. Cry and howl, son of man : for it shall be upon my 
 people, it shall he upon all the princes of Israel : terrors by 
 reason of the sword shall be upon my people : smite there- 
 fore upon thy thigh. 
 
 In the middle clause, better — " Upon all the princes of Israel 
 who are consigned over to the sword along with my people;" — i. e. 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXI. 123 
 
 all the princes as well as all the people are delivered over to the 
 sword. Therefore smite upon thy thigh in bitter grief. 
 
 13. Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn 
 even the rod ? it shall be no more, saith the Lord God. 
 
 The literal rendering here is impressive, "For it" (the sword) 
 "has been proved," {i. g., on other people), "and what if even this 
 scornful tribe" (Israel) "shall be no more" (shall be utterly anni- 
 hilated), " saith the Lord God." 
 
 14. Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thy 
 hands together, and let the sword be doubled the third time, 
 the sword of the slain : it is the sword of the great meri that 
 are slain, which entereth into their privy chambers. 
 
 "Let the sword be doubled," in the sense of doubling its blow; 
 
 "let it smite the third time," etc. " The sword of the great men 
 
 that are slain," is the sword that has slain the great men. I would 
 not read, " Which entereth into their privy chambers ;" but, " which 
 besieges, begirts them round about as the walls of a chamber in- 
 close its occupants; — i. e., the sword is on every side of them, so 
 that none can possibly escape. 
 
 15. I have set the point of the sword against all their 
 gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be mul- 
 tiplied: ah! it is made bright, it is wrapped uj) for the 
 slaughter. 
 
 The word rendered, " point" of the sword, occurs in Hebrew only 
 here. Hence naturally the precise meaning is doubtful. Yet the 
 general sense is clear. Gesenius says, "The turning of the sword," 
 meaning that the sword's point is turned toward all her gates; 
 " or more probably by a change in one letter, the slaughter of the 
 
 sword." "Wrapped up for slaughter," should doubtless be, made 
 
 smooth^ polished for use in slaughter. This translation assumes a 
 different root from that supposed in the received version. 
 
 16. Go thee one way or other, either on the right hand, 
 or on the left, whithersoever thy face is set. 
 
 This verse is an address to the sword. Critics suggest that 
 
 the form of this address is that of military command : " Close up 
 ranks, right: to your post, left," The first verb means stand as one. 
 By a bold personification, the sword becomes an armed host, now 
 being marshaled for battle and ordered to be in readiness for a 
 charge. 
 
 17. I will also smite my hands together, and I will cause 
 my fury to rest: I the Lord have said it. 
 
 This seems to be the language of God, spoken of himself. 
 
 "Cause my fury to rest," as above chap. 5: 13, and 16: 42, and 
 
124 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXI. 
 
 below chap. 24: 13. The sense seems to be, to aUde, remain long, 
 and not be evanescent. 
 
 18. The word of the Lord came unto me again, saying, 
 
 19. Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways, that 
 the sword of the king of Babylon may come : both twain 
 shall come forth out of one land : and choose thou a place, 
 choose it at the head of the way to the city. 
 
 20. Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rab- 
 batli of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the 
 defensed. 
 
 The object here seems to be to indicate the process by which the 
 king of Babylon would decide by a sort of lot which course to take 
 first, whether toward Ammon or toward Jerusalem. The statements 
 imply that the prophet was to go through the usual ceremonies sym- 
 bolically, to make a stronger impression of the facts upon the peo- 
 ple. Taking his position at the head of the way leading to the 
 city, he marked out one way leading to Jerusalem; another, to the 
 country of Ammon. Both led out from the one land of Babylon. 
 In the last part of the verse the sense is better given by read- 
 ing or instead of '■'■ayul;" "To Rabbatli of the Ammonites, or to 
 Judah in Jerusalem." 
 
 21. For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the 
 way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination; he 
 made Ms arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked 
 in the liver. 
 
 22. At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, 
 to appoint captains, to open the mouth in the slaughter, 
 to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering rams 
 against the gates, to cast a mount, and to build a fort. 
 
 This refers to ancient customs of learning the will of the gods 
 (as supposed) by various forms of divination. Three forms are 
 
 here. (1.) Not, "making the arrows bright," but shaking the 
 
 arrows (previously labeled) in a bag, and then drawinij; out one, 
 
 the label of which would give the desired answer. Nos. 2 and 
 
 3 are noticed frequently in the old classic authors; consulting im- 
 ages of the gods, and examining the liver of an animal slain for 
 
 the purpose. If the indications led toward the right hand, then 
 
 the king of Babylon would (not "appoint captains" but) "put up 
 battering rams" — the same word which the last clause renders in 
 this way. He would also give command for slaughter, or, perhaps, 
 open the mouth in outcry. (So Gesenius.) 
 
 23. And it shall be unto them as a false divination in 
 their sight, to them that have sworn oaths: but he will 
 call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken. 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXL 125 
 
 24. Therefore thus saith the Lord God ; Because ye have 
 made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your trans- 
 gressions are discovered, so that in all your doings your 
 sins do appear; because, I say, that ye are come to remem- 
 brance, ye shall be taken with the hand. 
 
 I understand these verses to mean that this divination, taken by 
 the king of Babylon and directing him to besiege Jerusalem, would 
 be held by the Jews as false and of no account because they had 
 been in sworn allegiance to that king and assumed that they could 
 have peace with him on easy terms again. But that king remem- 
 bers their iniquity in violating those oaths, and this exasperates 
 him to sterner vengeance. It should be borne in mind that this 
 very king placed Zedekiah on his throne (2 Chron. 36: 10, 13, and 
 Jer. 52 : 3, and Ezek. 17 : 15, 18) under a solemn oath of fideHty 
 to himself as his liege lord. 
 
 25. And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose 
 day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, 
 
 26. Thus saith the Lord God ; Kemove the diadem, and 
 take off the crown': this shall not he the same: exalt him 
 that is low, and abase him that is high. 
 
 27. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: and it shall 
 be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I wdll 
 give it him. 
 
 From a view of the intense depravity and horrible idolatry of the 
 king and his people, now culminating in perjury against the king of 
 Babylon, the course of thought passes suddenly to direct address to 
 the guilty king now to be slain and of course deposed and stripped 
 of his crown. The passage might be translated, almost literally, 
 thus: "And thou, most wicked prince of Israel; pierced through 
 with the sword, whose day has come in the time of fatal sin : Thus 
 saith the Lord God; The sacred headband is removed; the regal 
 crown is taken off; this shall be no longer this (what it has been) ; 
 the lowly is exalted ; the lofty is brought down : I will utterly over- 
 turn, and even then it shall not be permanent until he comes to 
 
 whom it belongs ; then I will give it to him." In Zedekiah' s utter 
 
 fall, the crown of Judah is vilely cast away: the ancient throne of 
 David seems to be fearfully subverted :— but the Lord's hand is in 
 these revolutions : he will push them on for his own purposes until 
 the greater Prince of David's line shall come to Avhom the eternal 
 promise of David's throne stands sure. Then God will give him 
 
 that crown and kingdom. The word rendered "profane " should 
 
 be rendered, " pierced through," both because this is the usual 
 sense of the word, and because the scope of the chapter, so full of 
 the swo7-d, contemplates him as smitten fatally thereby, and thus 
 dethroned and his kingdom destroyed. Dr. Hengstenberg insists 
 that pierced through^ slain, is the only admissible, well-established, 
 
126 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXI. 
 
 sense of this Hebrew Avord. Ue supposes it used here with some lat- 
 itude of meaning, indicating not certainly that he died from a sword- 
 thrust, but that he fell by violence; his nation and himself over- 
 powered by the arms of the king of Babylon. "When iniquity 
 
 shall have an end," is literally, "in the time of the sin of the 
 end" — meaning, in the time of the last, the fatal, the damning sin 
 for which there can be no pardon, and the vengeance for which can 
 
 be delayed no longer. The word rendered "diadem," is used in 
 
 this precise form only for the sacred fillet of the High Priest, e. g.^ 
 Ex. 28 : 4, 37, 39 and 29 : G and 39: 28, 31 and Lev. 8 : 9 and 16 : 4. 
 It was specially appropriate that this prophecy should indicate the 
 suspension of the functions of the high priest as well as those of the 
 king. Remarkably both were restored by special promise ac- 
 cording to the prophecies of Zechariah (chap. 4: 14 and 6: 13) after 
 the return from captivity. Both were united under one head and 
 given to the great Messiah when he ultimately came. Both went 
 down together in this fearful judgment upon the nation for its sin. 
 Both returned together when, through the repentance of the people 
 
 and the divine mercy, they returned again to become the Lord's. 
 
 "This shall not be the same" — (literall}^, "this shall not be this") 
 obviously means that all is changed; nothing of the old remains. 
 As said in the next clause, "the low is made high;" "the high is 
 made low." These verbs are in the infiijitive, not the imperative, 
 to indicate simply the action in general without defining it specific- 
 ally. The repetition, " I will make it a thing overturned, over- 
 turned, overturned," is a common Hebrew mode of strong emphasis, 
 
 meaning — I will overturn utterly. He to whom " the judgment," 
 
 or the right is, can be none other than the great Messiah. The 
 idea of his ^'■coming' may tacitly refer to Gen. 49: 10, " Until Shiloh 
 shall comey The term ^^ come' is in Hebrew use to designate the 
 Messiah as "Ae that should come;" e. g. "Art thou he that should 
 come, or look we for another? Matt. 11 : 3. Onkelos, the best of 
 the Chaldee paraphrasts, gives us his paraphrase of Gen. 49 : 10, 
 with his eye on our passage; "Until Messiah come whose is the 
 
 kingdom." Thus the prediction of fearful ruin on Jerusalem and 
 
 her king and high priest, suggests the consummation of the king- 
 dom of God on earth under that great Personage, both King and 
 Priest, who fills the throne of David forever — a glorious priest on 
 his throne for the joyful salvation of his redeemed people. From 
 the ashes of ruin a I'henix arises, surpassing all the strangeness of 
 things fabled, glorious like the loving purposes of its Infinite Au- 
 thor. This passage is rich in its suggestive resources; — e. g., 
 
 that none need fear the results of the revolutions of earthly thrones, 
 determined in the providence of God : that the helm of universal 
 dominion is in hands equal to every emergency, guided by a far- 
 seeing Avisdom and evermore evolving events toward the sublime 
 and blessed consummation of God's great purposes of human re- 
 demption. These lessons bear toward a peaceful, joyful trust in 
 
 our divine Father and Lord, and bid us Avait on him in faith and 
 prayer, and with such labor as we may, till he bring fortli his right- 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXI. 127 
 
 *• 
 eousness as the light, and his faithfulness in promise as the noon- 
 day! 
 
 28. And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith 
 the Lord God concerning the Ammonites, and concerning 
 their reproach; even say thou. The sword, the sword is 
 drawn : for the slaughter it is furbished, to consume because 
 of the glittering ; 
 
 29. While they see vanity unto thee, w^hile they divine 
 a lie unto thee, to bring thee upon the necks of them that 
 are slain, of the wicked, whose day is come, when their in- 
 iquity shall have an end. 
 
 30. Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? I will 
 judge thee in the place where thou wast created, in the land 
 of thy nativity. 
 
 31. And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee; I 
 will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver 
 thee into the hand of brutish men, and skillful to destroy. 
 
 32. Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire ; thy blood shall be 
 in the midst of the land ; thou shalt be no more remembered : 
 for I the Lord have spoken it. 
 
 It was indicated (vs. 19-22) that the king of Babylon sought divi- 
 nation to determine which city to attack first in order, Jerusalem, or 
 Ammon. Both were in his plan and in God's plan. The one being 
 finished, the other follows as here. Perhaps it stands in this con- 
 nection with the fall of Jerusalem to show that the Lord tenderly re- 
 members his true people; that he resents the reproaches cast on 
 them by the heathen under their great calamities ; and that it is only 
 as apostates that God scourges his own city and nation ; while his 
 sympathies are none the less against the wicked heathen nations 
 
 round about them and with his own chosen people. Another 
 
 prophecy against Ammon, similar in its general tone, appears chap. 
 
 25 : 1-7. In form, this passage is legitimately a continuation of 
 
 the sword-chapter, the figure of the devouring sword being promi- 
 nent throughout. In v. 28, "their reproach" is that which they 
 
 cast on the suffering Jews. See the same idea more fully drawn 
 
 out, chap. 25 : 3-7. Verse 29 implies that in Ammon also, as vrell 
 
 as in Jerusalem, false prophets and diviners were gainsaying the 
 word of the Lord and misleading the people to their destruction — 
 the results of which would be to bring down the prophet, armed 
 with the Lord's glittering, devouring sword, upon the necks of their 
 slain in the day of their fatal damning sin. The phraseology here 
 
 looks back to the case of Jerusalem, vs. 14, 23, 25, In v. 30, the 
 
 form of the Hebrew verb "return" is imperative. I prefer to trans- 
 late it thus and apply it to the sword of the Ammonites, admonish- 
 ing them to abstain from all resistance of the Chaldean arms. 
 Thus: "Put it (the sword) back into its scabbard. In the place 
 
128 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXII. 
 
 * 
 where thou wast created, in thy birth-place will I judge thee;" and 
 hence it can be of no avail to withstand the Almighty. The first 
 clause gives no intimation of being a question, nor of being in the 
 
 first person. The scope of the passage denounces fearful and 
 
 even exterminating judgments on Aiimon. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 The word of the Lord in this chapter sets forth the varied and 
 enormous wickedness of Jerusalem and of Judah. It shows that 
 they were guilty of other sins besides idolatry — indeed, of every 
 other sin named in the decalogue or known in this depraved 
 
 world. Here let us bear in mind that this rehearsal and expose 
 
 of the sins of the Jews still resident in Jerusalem and Judah and 
 now on the eve of their destruction are made before the exiles in 
 Chaldea for the sake specially of the resulting moral influence to- 
 ward the reformation of those exiles. God would have them under- 
 stand why those terrible judgments were sent on their brethren and 
 fathers and on the city and land of their early homes and early love. 
 He would have them feel the full moral impression of those judg- 
 ments as his own terribly earnest admonition against sin and per- 
 suasive to obedience. His heart was set on reclaiming those exiles 
 to a new life. Hence the mission of Ezekiel, and hence these perti- 
 nent appliances of truth, bearing mightily upon their sympathies, 
 their conscience and their hearts. 
 
 1. Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 2. Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge the bloody 
 city? yea, thou slialt shew her all her abominations. 
 
 "Judge," must be taken here in the same sense as in chap. 20: 
 
 4. See notes there.^ "The bloody city," so called because stained 
 
 with crimes of personal violence, innocent blood, rudely and wick- 
 edly shed. 
 
 3. Then say thou, Thus saith the Lord God; The city 
 sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, 
 and maketh idols against herself to defile herself. 
 
 4. Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast 
 shed; and hast defiled thyself in thine idols which thou 
 hast made ; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, 
 and art come even unto thy years ; therefore liave I made 
 thee a reproach unto the heathen, and a mocking to all 
 countries. 
 
 5. Thoae ihat he near, and tlioi<e that he far from thee, 
 shall mock thee, which art infamous and much vexed. 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXII. 129 
 
 The city sheddeth blood to hasten her time of destruction — this 
 
 • being the result of such bloody violence. In the same sense is v. 
 
 4; "Thou hast caused thy days" {i. e., of vengeance from God) "to 
 
 draw near." The last words of v. 5 would read literally; "defiled 
 
 in name and great in tumult; " i. e., in social disorders, commotions. 
 Society was practically broken up by the explosive force of out- 
 breaking wickedness. 
 
 6. Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in thee 
 to their power to shed blood. 
 
 This seems to mean that even the princes who ought to have set 
 a virtuous example were really using their great influence toward 
 brutal violence and murder, doing all they could to excite the peo- 
 ple to outrages and bloody crimes. 
 
 7. In thee have they set light by father and mother: in 
 the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the 
 stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the 
 widow. , 
 
 8. Thou hast despised my holy things, and hast j)rofaned 
 my sabbaths. 
 
 9. In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and 
 in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee 
 they commit lewdness. 
 
 10. In thee have they discovered their fathers' naked- 
 ness : in thee have they humbled her that was set apart 
 for pollution. 
 
 11. And one hath committed abomination with his neigh- 
 bor's wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter- 
 in-law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his 
 father's daughter. 
 
 12. In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou 
 hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily 
 gained of thy neighbors by extortion, and hast forgotten 
 me, saith the Lord God. 
 
 This is a sad, appalling catalogue of the foulest immoralities. 
 
 "To carry tales to shed blood" is to get up false accusations and 
 
 retail slanders against the life of their fellow-citizens. Lewdness, 
 
 here, is to be taken in its literal, not its figurative sense. 
 
 13. Behold, therefore I have smitten my hand at thy 
 dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood 
 which hath been in the midst of thee. 
 
 14. Can thy heart endure, or can thy hands be strong, 
 in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the Lord have 
 spoken it, and will do it 
 
130 EZEKIEL,— CHAP. XXII. 
 
 15. And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and dis- 
 perse thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness 
 out of thee. 
 
 " Smitten my hand at thy dishonest gain," is a significant gesture, 
 indicating his purpose to scatter those gains to the winds of heaven 
 and to make solemn requisition for that blood. It was God's own 
 intimation that he would call her to account for those horrible sins. 
 When the hour of her judgment should come, "Could her heart 
 endure or her hands be strong" against the Infinite Godf Alas, 
 she would find that God never lacks agencies and resources for 
 terrific punishment! How vain for frail, weak creatures to stand 
 up against the Almighty! How surely will sinners learn this to 
 their unutterable consternation when the wrath of God shall fall 
 on them to the uttermost! 
 
 16. And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in 
 the sight of the heathen, and thou shalt know that I am 
 the Lord. 
 
 " Thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the sight of the 
 heathen," fails to give any pertinent sense in harmony with the 
 context. The verb should be taken not from the root yiahal, but 
 from the root halal, in the sense, to violate, to profane. Thou shalt 
 be dishonored, abused, treated as profane before the heathen. This 
 word occurs in the same sense in chap. 7 : 24. 
 
 17. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 18. Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become 
 dross : all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and* lead, in 
 the midst of the furnace ; they are even the dross of silver. 
 
 19. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye are 
 all become dross, behold, therefore I wdll gather you into 
 the midst of Jerusalem. 
 
 20. As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, 
 and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon 
 it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in 
 my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you. 
 
 21. Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the 
 fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst 
 thereof 
 
 22. As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so 
 shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know 
 that I the Lord have poured out my fury upon you. 
 
 By a new and expressive figure, the people are all said to be 
 mere dross; not gold and silver, l)ut only iho; refuse matter which 
 is mixed with those precious metals and requires to be expelled by 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXII. 131 
 
 intense heat in the furnace. So the Lord would gather this -wicked 
 people, put them into his great furnace, blow upon them in the 
 fierceness of his wrath, and expel all the impure, worthless matter. 
 
 In the last clause of v. 20 the verb rendered, "leave you 
 
 there," is better translated, "ca^i you in' — i. e., to the furnace to 
 melt you there. Literally, to cause you to rest there; put you in 
 to stay permanently. This figure is intensely expressive. 
 
 23. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 24. Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is 
 not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. 
 
 By yet another figure, the land of Judah is like a field not 
 cleansed of its briars, thorns and weeds, which are fatal to the 
 production of useful plants, — nor had it been rained upon. Of 
 course it can be only barren. 
 
 25. There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst 
 thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey ; they have 
 devoured souls ; they have taken the treasure and precious 
 things ; they have made her many widows in the midst 
 thereof. 
 
 26. Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned 
 my holy things; they have put no difference between the 
 holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference be- 
 tween the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes 
 from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. 
 
 27. Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves 
 ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to 
 get dishonest gain. 
 
 Her prophets, priests and princes — ^the three islasses of leading 
 influence — are successively arraigned as each horribly guilty of 
 corruption in their respective offices and of most flagrant immoral- 
 ities. They mislead and ruin souls, wielding their great influence, 
 not to save men from sin and death, but to destroy. 
 
 28. And her prophets have daubed them with untem- 
 pered mortar, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, 
 saying. Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not 
 spoken. 
 
 29. The people of the land have used oppression, and 
 exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy : 
 yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. 
 
 The worst class of all in their influence call for renewed remark. 
 False prophets were the most terrible curse; no other influence 
 could be so bad as theirs. They threw it solid against the true 
 prophets to break down the confidence of the people in the real 
 
132 EiZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 word of the Lord and to win their confidence to their own lies. 
 
 See this tiirure — ''untempered mortar" — exphiincd chap. 13: 10-16. 
 "Kobbery and oppression of the poor," invariably appear fore- 
 most amon<^ the sins of a people so deeply corrupt in general morals. 
 It is one of the terrible manifestations of human depravity and un- 
 curbed selfishness. 
 
 30. And I sought for a man among them, that should 
 make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the 
 land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. 
 
 31. Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon 
 them ; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath : 
 their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith 
 the Lord God. 
 
 See the figure of the "hedge and the gap" in chap 13: 5. The 
 hedge here seems to be a wall built up to withstand the judgments 
 of God, No man is found in the land to rush into the breach, re- 
 build the broken wall, or stand against the foe at the point of 
 deadly peril. The moral power of the people to recover themselves 
 from their horrible corruptions is prostrate; there is no recupera- 
 tive force left. Not a man appeared to stem the torrent of this 
 corruption. If the Lord could have found one such strong man to 
 work with himself for the salvation of the people, he would at least 
 have deferred this final outpouring of his wrath in exterminating 
 judgments. But he found none, and hence their ruin was inevita- 
 ble, and no reason existed for its being longer delayed. 
 
 CHAPTER XXin. 
 
 In this chapter, the figure by which the Lord represents the 
 idolatry of his people as adultery assumes a bolder form than usual, 
 and is carried out Avith very great minuteness both in respect to the 
 sin and its punishment. The whole representation is intensely 
 keen and caustic, setting forth in a most revolting light the great 
 crimes of the Jewish people in the line of idolatry, and adapted to 
 fill them with a sense of shame and self-loathing. In a few passages 
 our translation fails to give the full strength of the original, but the 
 nature of the sul)ject ought perhaps to excuse the omission of any 
 
 more amplifying details. The ultimate sense of the whole is 
 
 plain. Samaria and Jerusalem are called "Aholah" and " Aholi- 
 bah." As harlots, they ])ogan their harlot life with Egypt; continued 
 it with Assyria, the Chaldeans and the ]H^iple of the desert; pushed 
 their idolatry even to the extent of burning alive their children, 
 God's own sons and daughters, and of desecrating his very sanc- 
 tuary with their idols : and then, being put on trial under Hebrew 
 law before righteous men, they sutler the doom of adulteresses, on 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXIII. 133 
 
 whose hands is the hlood of murder also : — they are stoned with 
 
 stones and their houses burned with fire. Thus the land is 
 
 cleansed of the abominations of its spiritual whoredom; it bears 
 the sins of its idols, and Desolation sits upon the ruins of those 
 cities — a living memorial of God's righteous jealousy against his 
 apostate people ! 
 
 1. The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, 
 
 2. Son of man, there were two women, the daughters 
 of one mother : 
 
 3. And they committed whoredoms in Egypt ; they com- 
 mitted whoredoms in their youth : there w^ere their breasts 
 pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity. 
 
 4. And the names of them ivere Aholah the elder, and 
 Aholibah her sister : and they were mine, and they bare 
 sons and daughters. Thus ivere their names ; Samaria is 
 Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah. 
 
 5. And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine ; 
 and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians, her neigh- 
 bors, 
 
 6. WliicJi were clothed Avitli blue, captains and rulers, and 
 all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon 
 horses. 
 
 7. Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with 
 all them that ivere the chosen men of Assyria, and with all 
 on whom she doted ; with all their idols she defiled herself. 
 
 Her young Assyrian neighbors are presented in these forms of 
 beauty and splendor to indicate the strong attractions of taste, art, 
 and sensual pleasure, thrown around idol-worship in that age. It 
 has always been the policy of Satan to invest idolatry with every 
 attraction possible — beautiful sites, charming groves, gorgeous tem- 
 ples, luxurious feasts, and enchanting music — to say nothing of the 
 charms of dress and of female beauty, or of the baser passions of 
 
 lasciviousness and lust. Syria is probably included under the 
 
 comprehensive term, "Assyria." There is abundant historical evi- 
 dence that, in Syria, during the period of the revolt, idolatry was 
 invested with strong artistic and sensual attractions. Sec 2 Kings 
 IG: 10, and 2 Chron. 28: 2-4, 23-25. 
 
 8. Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt : 
 for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the 
 breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom upon 
 her. 
 
 9. Wherefore, I have delivered her into the hand of her 
 lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she 
 doted. 
 
134 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 10. These discovered her nakedness: they took her sons 
 and her daugliters and slew her with the sword : and she 
 became famous among women; for they had executed judg- 
 ment upon her. 
 
 Samaria, the elder sister, is put foremost as having led off in this 
 great sin. The reference is to Jeroboam and his successors. 
 
 11. And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more 
 corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whore- 
 doms more than her sister in her whoredoms. 
 
 12. She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbors, cap- 
 tains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding 
 upon horses, all of them desirable young men. 
 
 Jerusalem was worse than Samaria as having sinned against 
 greater light, more sacred vows and obligations, and especially, in 
 the presence of the very temple of the holy God ! 
 
 13. Then I saw that she was defiled, that they tooh both 
 one way : 
 
 14. And that she increased her wdioredoms : for when she 
 saw men portrayed uj)on the wall, the images of the Chal- 
 deans portrayed with vermilion, 
 
 15. Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in 
 dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, 
 after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land 
 of their nativity : 
 
 46. And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she 
 doted upon them, and sent messengers unto them into 
 Chaldea. 
 
 17. And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of 
 love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was 
 polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them. 
 
 18. So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her 
 nakedness: then my mind was alienated from her, like as 
 my mind was alienated from her sister. 
 
 19. Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to 
 remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had 
 played the harlot in the land of Egypt. 
 
 20. For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh w as 
 the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses. 
 
 21. Thus thou calledst to memory the lewdness of thy 
 youth, in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps 
 of thy youth. 
 
 The reader will notice the reference to the attractions which art 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXIII. 135 
 
 had thrown around the idol-worship of Chaldea. On this subject 
 the historical portions of Daniel give additional light. The portrayal 
 of idol images on the walls of her temples corresponds entirely with 
 the testimony recently brought to light from the ruins of Nineveh 
 
 and Babylon. This representation was specially pertinent from 
 
 the lips of Ezekiel to the Jewish exiles then in Chaldea, being well 
 adapted to make them abhor these seductive temptations which ad- 
 dressed themselves not unfrequently (we must suppose) to their 
 eyes. 
 
 22. Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord God; 
 Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom 
 thy mind is alienated, and I will bring them against thee 
 on every side; 
 
 23. The Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and 
 Slioa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians wdth them : all of 
 them desirable young men, captains and rulers, great lords 
 and renowned, all of them riding upon horses. 
 
 24. And they shall come against thee with chariots, wag- 
 ons, and wheels, and with an assembly of people, tvhieh 
 shall set against thee buckler and shield and helmet round 
 about : and I will set judgment before them, and they shall 
 judge thee according to their judgments. 
 
 In V. 23, "Pekod" "Shoa," and "Koa" were taken by our trans- 
 lators as proper nouns — names of either cities or countries. Mod- 
 ern critics take them to be common nouns, descriptive of office or 
 class; — "pekod," the overseer; "shoa," the rich; "koa," literally, 
 the male camel, but here the princes. This corresponds with what 
 immediately follows — " all of them desirable young men, captains 
 and rulers, ' etc. In the last clause of v. 24, the sense of " set- 
 ting judgment before them" is, I will commit the judgment upon 
 your case into their hands. 
 
 25. And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they 
 shall deal furiously with thee : they shall take aAvay thy 
 nose and thine ears ; and thy remnant shall fall by the 
 sword : they shall take thy sons and thy daughters ; and 
 thy residue shall be devoured by the fire. 
 
 26. They shall also strip thee out of thy clothes, and take 
 away thy fair jewels. 
 
 27. Thus I will make thy lewdness to cease from thee, 
 and thy whoredom brought from the land of Egypt : so that 
 thou shalt not lift uj) thine eyes unto them, nor remember 
 Egypt any more. 
 
 28. For thus saith the Lord God ; Behold, I will deliver* 
 thee into the hand of them wdiom thou hatest, into the hand 
 of them from whom thy mind is alienated : 
 
136 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 29. And they shall deal with thee hatefully, and shall 
 take aAvay all thy labor, and shall leave thee naked and 
 bare : and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be dis- 
 covered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms. 
 
 30. I will do these things unto thee, because thou hast 
 gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art 
 polluted with their idols. 
 
 Jealousy is the very feeling which is wont to manifest itself most 
 fearfully in the punishment of adultery. So here. Cutting off the 
 
 nose and ears was the punishment of adultery in Egypt. ^In v. 
 
 29, "hatefully" means with intense hatred — with a sense of the 
 loathsomeness of the crimes and with personal hatred of the 
 otFender. 
 
 31. Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister ; therefore 
 will I give her cu]) into thy hand. 
 
 32. Thus saith the Lord God ; Thou shalt drink of thy 
 sister's cup deep and large : thou shalt be laughed to scorn 
 and had in derision ; it containeth much. 
 
 33. Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, 
 with the cup of astonishment and desolation, wdth the cup 
 of thy sister Samaria. 
 
 34. Thou shalt even drink it and suck it out, and thou 
 shalt break the sherds thereof, and pluck off thine own 
 breasts : for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. 
 
 Jerusalem drinks from the same cup as Samaria — drinks it to the 
 dregs and even sucks every drop that adheres to the broken sherds 
 of that cup. In her drunkenness and misery she tears her own 
 breasts — one of the extreme indications of wretchedness. 
 
 35. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because thou 
 hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore 
 bear thou also thy lewdness and thy wdioredoms. 
 
 36. The Lord said moreover unto me ; Son of man, wilt 
 thou judge Aholah and Aholibah ? yea, declare unto them 
 their abominations ; 
 
 37. That they have committed adultery, and blood is in 
 their hands, and with their idols have they committed adul- 
 tery, and have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto 
 me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them. 
 
 38. Moreover this they liave done unto me : they have 
 defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned 
 my sabbaths. 
 
 39. For when they had slain their children to their idols, 
 then they came the same day into my sanctuary to pro- 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXIII. 137 
 
 fane it ; and lo, thus have they done in the midst of my 
 house. 
 
 The fif!;ure is here in part dropped and hteral statements appear, 
 perhaps because no possible turn of the figure could adequately 
 represent the enormity of burning their own children in the fire, 
 or of desecrating the very temple of the living God with their 
 idols. The view given of the dreadful guilt of the Jews is height- 
 ened by the repeated statement that after burning their own chil- 
 dren to idol gods, they went on the same clay into God's holy temple 
 with their bloody hands and there profaned his sanctuary, as if they 
 had no sense of God's abhorrence of their unnatural and bloody 
 crimes ! 
 
 40. And furthermore, that ye have sent for men to come 
 from far, unto whom a messenger loas sent ; and lo, they 
 came : for whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thy 
 eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments, 
 
 41. And satest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared 
 before it, whereupon thou hast set mine incense and mine 
 oil. 
 
 42. And a voice of a multitude being at ease was with 
 her : and with the men of the common sort were brought 
 Sabeans from the wilderness, which put bracelets upon their 
 hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads. 
 
 43. Then said I unto her that luas old in adulteries, Will 
 they now commit whoredoms with her, and she with them f 
 
 44. Yet they went in unto her, as they go in unto a 
 woman that playeth the harlot : so went they in unto Aho- 
 lah and unto Aholibah, the lewd women. 
 
 In V. 42, the word "Sabeans" is probably a common and not a 
 proper noun — meaning drunkards^ and not the Sabean people. The 
 prophet represents them as the basest of men, the very lowest of the 
 human race, to show that nothing was too low or mean for this de- 
 based and guilty people to do in the line of idolatry. 
 
 45. And the righteous men, they shall judge them after 
 the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women 
 that shed blood ; because they are adulteresses, and blood is 
 in their hands. 
 
 46. For thus saith the Lord God ; I will bring uj) a com- 
 pany upon them, and will give them to be removed and 
 spoiled. 
 
 47. And the company shall stone them with stones, and 
 dispatch them with their swords ; they shall slay their sons 
 and daughters, and burn up their houses with fire. 
 
 48. Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, 
 
138 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 that all women may be taught not to do after your lewd- 
 ness. 
 
 49. And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, 
 and ye shall bear the sins of your idols : and ye shall know 
 that I am the Lord God. 
 
 The judgment, administered by righteous men in its awful se- 
 verity upon adulteresses, polluted with life-long crime and standing 
 f3eforc the court with their bloody hands — closes this appalling 
 scene. Abating the intensely revolting nature of this description 
 and the repugnance of its details to our sense of delicacy, the whole 
 description is pungent and thrilling, and must have been full of 
 moral power upon the heart and conscience of the men to whom it 
 was originally spoken. One may well suppose it would make their 
 ears tingle and their cheeks crimson with a sense of shame for their 
 people and their beloved city. We naturally incline to pass by 
 such a chapter unread; yet let us not forget that to the Jewish 
 exiles of Ezekiel's day its features that are revolting to us would 
 be scarcely if at all objectionable, and then that its caustic and ter- 
 ribly truthful severity must have made its testimony against the 
 guilt of Jerusalem burn itself into the very heart and soul of the 
 
 people. Let us hope that this chapter was greatly blessed of God 
 
 to open their dull eyes to the enormity of their national sin and to a 
 sense of the justice of that dreadful doom which was ready even 
 then to fall with crushing, annihilating force on the doomed city. 
 The siege was within a few months of its commencement. These 
 were the last words of the prophet prior to his announcement that 
 the siege had begun. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 This chapter bears a new date, viz., the very day in which Neb- 
 uchadnezzar commenced the siege of Jerusalem, and two years and 
 five months later than the last preceding date (20: 1.) It is in two 
 parts — the first part (vs. 3-14) presenting the confirmed wickedness 
 of Jerusalem and God's eflPorts to cleanse it out, under the figure of 
 a' pot foul with rust, yet not cleansed by use, and incapable of being 
 cleansed till it is set empty upon a hot fire and the very brass itself 
 
 thoroughly heated and burned. In the second part (vs. 15-27) 
 
 the prophet's wife suddenly dies; he is forbidden to manifest his 
 grief in the usual modes, showing the people thus that the calami- 
 tics of their nation will be too great to admit of the common public 
 manifestations of mourning. 
 
 1. Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the 
 tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came unto 
 me, saying. 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXIV. 139 
 
 2. Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of 
 
 I this same day: the king of Babylon set himself against 
 Jerusalem this same day. 
 
 The precise day on which the siege of Jerusalem commenced is 
 on record 2 Kings 25 : 1, and Jer. 52: 4; precisely as here. Omit- 
 ting only the day of the month, the same date appears in Jer. 39: 1. 
 Of course this was one of the ever-memorable days of Jewish his- 
 tory, long observed as a day of fasting. See Zech. 8 : 19. It was 
 
 an impressive fact to the exiles. They must have seen in it new 
 proof of the failure of their long-cherished hopes. 
 
 3. And utter a parable unto the rebellious house, and say 
 unto them, Thus saith the Lord God ; Set on a pot, set it on, 
 and also pour water into it : 
 
 4. Gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece, 
 the thigh, and the shoulder ; fill it with the choice bones. 
 
 5. Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones 
 under it, and make it boil well, and let them seethe the 
 bones of it therein. 
 
 Inasmuch as this is distinctly declared to be a parable, we can not 
 suppose it to have been a real symbolic transaction performed before 
 the eyes of the people, nor yet a vision shown to the prophet by the 
 divine Spirit. It is rather a supposed transaction, designed to repre- 
 sent certain analogous points in the case of the city of Jerusalem, 
 its people and its pollutions. The pot of brass represents the city ; 
 its contents of flesh and bones are the inhabitants; and the rust 
 ("scum") and foulness of the pot stand for the abominations of the 
 city, the deep pollutions of society which had hardened and become 
 incrusted upon the inner surface of the pot, and could be removed by 
 no ordinary process. The first step in the operation is described in 
 these verses. Fill it with water, flesh, and bones ; set it over a hot 
 fire, and boil it thoroughly. See what discipline will do toward re- 
 form. 
 
 6. Wherefore thus saith the Lord God ; Wo to the bloody 
 city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is 
 not gone out of it ! bring it out piece by piece ; let no lot 
 fall upon it. 
 
 7. For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon 
 the top of a rock ; she poured it not upon the ground, to 
 cover it with dust ; 
 
 8. That it might cause fury to come up to take ven- 
 geance; I have set her blood upon the top of a rock, that 
 it should not be covered. 
 
 9. Therefore thus saith the Lord God ; Wo to the bloody 
 city ! I will even make the pile for fire great. 
 
140 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 10. Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and 
 spice it well, and let the bones be burned. 
 
 New points in the process are blended here with explanations of 
 its moral significance. The pot is shown to mean the city. Its filth 
 and rust represent the blood of the city which has not been poured 
 out upon the earth to be absorbed, but thrown upon the sunny sur- 
 face of a rock, where it would only dry down and remain — a stand- 
 ing witness of crime — a defilement removable only with the utmost 
 
 labor. The Lord would push this boiling process with the utmost 
 
 energy to see what can be done toward cleansing the pot from its 
 filth and rust. Vs. 6 and 11 intimate that after the failure of this 
 effort, the pot is entirely emptied of its flesh and bones — i. e., the 
 city is emptied of its people, and then the city itself (the pot) is sub- 
 jected to intense heat, to burn off its pollutions. 
 
 11. Then set it empty upon the coals thereof, that the 
 brass of it may be hot, and may burn, and that the filthiness 
 of it may be molten in it, that the scum of it may be con- 
 sumed. 
 
 12. She hath wearied /lerse/f with lies, and her great scum 
 went not forth out of her : her scum shall be in the fire. 
 
 13. In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged 
 thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged 
 from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to 
 rest upon thee. 
 
 14. I the Lord have spoken it : it shall come to pass, and 
 I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither 
 will I repent; according to thy ways, and according to thy 
 doings, shall they judge thee, saitli the Lord God. 
 
 Now tlie last effort is made to cleanse the pot by means of the 
 fierce ordeal of fire upon it when empty. The aim is to reduce its 
 
 filth to a molten state, and thus consume its rust ("scum.") 
 
 V. 12 should rather be read, "It," the pot, "has wearied itself, not 
 with "lies," but with its great "/aior" — i. e., to cleanse itself of its 
 rust and filth; — "but its great filth will not go forth from it, not 
 
 even Ijy the fire. This verse aims to say that this long protracted 
 
 and varied effort of CJod in his providence to reform the people and 
 cleanse the city had been in vain. So v. 13 teaches. "In thy 
 filthiness is purposed wickedness (so the Hebrew implies) — the deep. 
 
 persistent, malign purpose to push madly on ii\ rebellion, liecause 
 1 have sought to purge thee, yet with no success, I shall make no 
 further effort till 1 pour out my wrath on thee to abide upon thee. 
 
 through a long captivity. CJod has spoken and will do it! This 
 
 is the outcome of the "parable." The Lord despairs of cleansing 
 the city from its fixed incrustations of corruption — the residuum of 
 crime hardened on at the bottom of society, and conseqnontly leav- 
 ening the whole mass with its pollution ; and withal adhering so 
 
I 
 
 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXIV. 141 
 
 tenaciously that no ordinary heat and no other possible appliances 
 will remove it and cleanse the vessel. So the city must he emptied 
 of all its inhabitants and then be thoroughly burned to the ground. 
 
 15. Also the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 16. Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the de- 
 sire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou 
 mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down. 
 
 17. Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind 
 the tire of thy head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon 
 thy feet, and cover not thy lip)s, and eat not the bread of 
 men. 
 
 18. So I spake unto the people in the morning : and at 
 even my wife died ; and I did in the morning as I was com- 
 manded. 
 
 This beautiful descriptive epithet, "the desire of thine eyes," is 
 shpwn (v. 18) to mean his vrife — an object ever grateful to the 
 eye and dear to the heart. The Lord says, I am about to take her 
 away at one stroke, and you must refrain from all the usual mani- 
 festations of grief. The shock of a sore calamity is sometimes too 
 great for tears, too overwhelming to allow one thought upon the 
 forms and manifestations of sorrow. When men die by tens of 
 thousands on the field of battle, who finds time or thought for sighs 
 
 or for the draperj;- of woe ! So, in the destruction of the temple 
 
 and the fall of the great city of their iathers' sepulchers, in the 
 slaughter by thousands of their own fathers, brothers, sisters — they 
 might well spare the habiliments of grief and omit all its usual sym- 
 bols. Such seems to have been the lesson intended in this start- 
 ling, appalling scene. V. 17 defines and forbids the usual indica- 
 tions of public mournino;. "Forbear to cry; smother thy sighs; 
 literally, "506; he silent;' push back the tears. "Bind the tiara 
 upon thine head," for in grief, this was removed and the hair suf- 
 fered to stream out dishevelled. "Put thy shoes on thy feet;" for 
 the mourner removed his shoes and walked barefoot. " Cover not 
 thy mustache," which the mourner was wont to do; and "eat not 
 the bread furnished by other men;" according to the custom of 
 friends to furnish bread for the mourners. See Jer. 16: 5-8 and 
 notes there. " So I spake to the people in the morning," rehears- 
 ing to them this fearful word from the Lord ; " at even my wife died," 
 and I did in the morning [of the next day] as I was commanded." 
 Since it was to be done before the people for a sigii to them, the 
 morning of the ensuing day would be the earliest time possible and 
 the proper time for obeying this divine command. 
 
 19. And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us 
 what these things are to us, that thou doest so? 
 
 20. Then I answered them. The word of the Lord came 
 unto me, saying, 
 
142 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 21. Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord 
 God ; Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the excellency 
 of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which 
 your soul pitieth ; and your sons and your daughters whom 
 ye have left shall fall by the sword. 
 
 22. And ye shall do as I have done: ye shall not cover 
 your lips, nor eat the bread of men. 
 
 23. And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your 
 shoes upon your feet : ye shall not mourn nor w^eep ; but ye 
 shall pine away for your iniquities, and mourn one toward 
 another. 
 
 The attention of the people is arrested, and they inquire what all 
 this signifies to themselves. The answer is definite. Eemarkably it 
 makes special account of the destruction of the temple and of the 
 slaughter of their own sons and daughters left behind in their father- 
 land. They had fondly cherished the temple in their hearts, ac- 
 counting it both the glory and the strength of their nation, so re- 
 garding it especially because they deemed it a guaranty of the 
 presence and favor of Almighty God. This was to them what 
 Ezekiel's wife was to him; *'The desire of their eyes;" the object 
 of their heart's tenderest, deepest sympathy; "what thy soul pities." 
 No doubt it was literally true that the fall of the city involved the 
 slaughter of many of their own sons and daughters. Under this ter- 
 rible stroke, which fell on them suddenly like the blow which smote 
 down the prophet's wife, they were forbidden to mourn in public, 
 but would pine away in their iniquity, i. e. , under this terrible in- 
 fliction fi5r their sin, and might silently groan ("mourn") "one to 
 another." 
 
 24. Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign : according to all that 
 he hath done shall ye do : and when this cometh, ye shall 
 know that I am the Lord God. 
 
 "A sign unto you;" a visible, significant symbol of what is to 
 befall you and of what you must do and also of what you may 7iot 
 
 do, under an infliction of calamity analogous to his. This word 
 
 rendered " sign"* implies something specially striking, astounding, 
 often rendered, "a wonder." 
 
 25. Also, thou son of man, shall it not be in the day when 
 I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the 
 desire of their eyes, and that wdiercupon they set their 
 minds, their sons and their daughters, 
 
 26. That he that escapeth in that day shall come unto 
 thee, to cause thee to hear it with thine ears? 
 
 * Not niXi which is the more common word in such connections, but 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXIV. 143 
 
 27. In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him which 
 is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb: 
 and thou shalt be a sign unto them ; and they shall know 
 that I am the Lord. 
 
 When the city shall fall and the glorious temple go down under the 
 general ruin, and this great calamity shall overwhelm the exiles with 
 grief, then shall there not come to thee a messenger escaping from 
 the city to announce these heavy tidings in thine ears ? Then thy 
 mouth shall be opened to him ; thou shalt speak thenceforth freely 
 and be no more dumb ; and the significance of this sign shall be- 
 come obvious to all the people, so that they also shall at last know 
 
 that I am the Lord. In view of this case of the death of the 
 
 prophet's wife, let us not omit to note that the Lord spared no 
 pains and shrunk fr^m no sacrifices to make deep and solemn im- 
 pressions on the minds of the exiles. A death so sudden as this; 
 predicted in the morning ; occurring by one swift blow in the even- 
 ing; falling on the beloved wife of the venerable man who had 
 stood before them as the messenger of God ; the suppression of his 
 tears and sighs ; the withholding of every usual token of grief; and 
 then the interpretation of these scenes as referring to the fall of 
 their ovni beloved temple and the slaughter of their own sons and 
 daughters in that land of their tenderest love — constitute a com- 
 bination of circumstances at once startling and solemnly impressive. 
 Truly mi^ht the Lord say, " What could I have done more to my 
 vineyard, (my people) "that I have not done" to bring home to 
 their heart the full sense of my wrath against them for their sins ? 
 
 What shall we think of this divinely commissioned prophet? 
 
 How did he feel ? What did he say in the whisperings of his un- 
 uttered thought ? Did he shudder and recoil, inwardly saying. This 
 costs me too much ! Must I be a sign to the people at such awful 
 expense, at the cost of such harrowing grief? And then, as if to 
 lose my dear wife at one blow were not enough, that God should 
 
 not let me shed one tear! nor breathe out one audible sigh! 
 
 With joy let us note that this record gives not the slightest hint of 
 one thought of this sort. So far as appears, he bowed himself in 
 the dust and said — "It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him 
 good." We may presume that he had human sensibilities; but wo 
 may also presume that grace given him of God brought him such 
 moral strength that his spirit was sweetly submissive and unmur- 
 muring, and his soul placid under this sorest of trials ever known 
 to the human heart. What can not the grace of God do for his 
 trusting, obedient people ! 
 
 At this point, the first part of Ezekiel's prophecies ends and the 
 second begins. He closes a long series of messages, varied in their 
 forms and modes of revealing truth, but scarcely varying at all in 
 their grand theme and purpose, viz., to set before the exiles the 
 enormity of their national sin, the great wickedness and the deep 
 corruption of Judah and Jerusalem; the certainty that the Lord 
 would abandon his temple, city and people there to destruction, and 
 
144 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXV. 
 
 the terribleness of that doom. The ' manifest purpose of God in 
 
 these revelations to the exiles was to convince them of his justice 
 in those judgments; to give them a full sense of those sins, and to 
 lead them to personal and sincere repentance and radical reforma- 
 tion, until they should themselves be ashamed and confounded, 
 and never open their mouth any more for shame for their own 
 
 sins and those of their people and land. So a remnant are to 
 
 be reclaimed and made the nucleus in future years for replanting 
 the land of promise, and for restoring both their political and relig- 
 ious institutions. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Exterminating judgments are announced against Ammon, vs. 1- 
 7; against Moab, vs. 8-11; against Edom, vs. 12-14; and against 
 Philistia, vs. 15-17 — uniformly for the same national sin, viz., proud 
 exultation over the fall of Judah and Jerusalem, and reproach cast 
 
 on the name of Israel's God by reason of their fall. Obadiah, 
 
 nearly at the same time, wrote in the same strain against Edom. 
 
 Ezek. 35 expands this prophecy against Edom. Jeremiah prophe 
 
 sied against the same four neighboring powers, yet with a somewhat 
 broader view of their national sins and especially of their pride ; 
 viz., against Ammon, chap. 49: 1-6; Moab, chap. 48; Edom, chap. 
 49 : 7-22 ; and Philistia, chap. 47. So also Isaiah and some of the 
 
 Minor Prophets. The scope of these prophecies is designedly 
 
 consolatory to the true people of God, assuring them that he still 
 remembered Zion with tender affection, regarded her true interests 
 as his own; and therefore would avenge her upon her proud and 
 scornful foes. In this point of light, these prophecies hold an im- 
 portant place among the messages sent of God by Ezekiel to the 
 exiled Jews in Chaldea, Their city in ruins, their nationality 
 prostrate, and themselves in exile and under circumstances of the 
 deepest national discouragement, they needed precisely such assur- 
 ances of the Lord's tender mercy and of his identity of interest 
 and sympathy with their people as still bearing his name and yet 
 to bear it before all the nations of the earth. All the more did 
 they need such words from Ezekiel, because thus far his messages 
 had spoken of little else than national sin, judgments, and ruin. 
 From this point their subject and tone change. Henceforward, 
 with scarce an exception, his messages are encouraging and con- 
 solatory to all whose hearts were still true to their God. 
 
 1. The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, 
 
 2. Son of man, set thy face against the Ammonites, and 
 prophesy against them ; 
 
 3. And say unto the Ammonites, Hear the word of the 
 Lord God ; Thus saith the Lord God ; Because thou saidst, 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXV. 145 
 
 Aha, against my sanctuary, when it was profaned ; and 
 against the land of Israel, when it was desolate ; and against 
 the house of Judah, when they went into captivity ; 
 
 4. Behold, therefore, I will deliver thee to the men of the 
 east for a posssesion, and they shall set their palaces in thee, 
 and make their dwellings in thee : they shall eat thy fruit, 
 and they shall drink thy milk. 
 
 5. And I will make Kabbah a stable for camels, and the 
 Ammonites a couching-place for flocks: and ye shall know 
 that I a7n the Lord. 
 
 The sin for which Ammon is doomed is here made very definite — 
 exulting triumph over God's polluted temple, desolate land, and 
 captive people. Why should not the Lord frown fearfully on such 
 manifestations of proud hostility against himself and his people, 
 and make such enemies an example of his righteous justice before 
 all the nations of men in all time ? There the record stands, 
 equally in prophecy and in their history, witnessing thai the Lord 
 Almighty will let no people, however powerful or however proud, 
 
 contemn his name with impunity. "The men of the East" — 
 
 God's executioners of vengeance upon Ammon — were the Chaldeans, 
 raised up in his providence for judgment, not on Judah and Jeru- 
 salem alone, but on those contiguous nations which had long been 
 deeply sunk in the same forms of debasing idolatry, and had now 
 filled up the cup of their national sin by malign hostility against 
 Israel and scornful exultation over her fall. They would seize the 
 whole country of Ammon and make her proud capital a stable for 
 camels — significant of an utter overthrow of her nationality. 
 
 6. For thus saith the Lord God ; Because thou hast 
 clapped thy hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced 
 in heart with all thy despite against the land of Israel ; 
 
 7. Behold, therefore I will stretch out my hand upon 
 thee,' and will deliver thee for a spoil to the heathen ; and 
 I will cut thee off from the people, and I will cause thee 
 to perish out of the countries : I will destroy thee ; and 
 thou shalt know that I a7n the Lord. 
 
 Her exultation manifests itself in these violent gestures. " With 
 all thy despite," means with all thy pride, in the form of the utmost 
 proud and haughty scorn. For these sins the Lord would cut them 
 off from being a nation and blot out their very name ; — a prophecy 
 which had its first fulfillment in the sweep of ruin brou2;ht over 
 their land by the Chaldean power shortly after the fall of Jerusa- 
 lem. It was consummated in subsequent ages. 
 
 8. Thus saith the Lord God ; Because that Moab and 
 Seir do say, Behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the 
 heathen ; ,j 
 
146 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXV. 
 
 9. Therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from 
 the cities, from his cities tvhich are on his frontiers, the 
 glory of the country, Beth-jeshimoth, Baalmeon, and Kiria- 
 thaim. 
 
 10. Unto the men of the east with the Ammonites, and 
 Avill give them in possession, that the Ammonites may not 
 be remembered among the nations. 
 
 11. And I will execute judgments upon Moab ; and they 
 shall know that I am the Lord. 
 
 The spirit of Moab and Seir is essentially the same with that of 
 Ammon. They exult over Judah as being like all the nations in 
 having a patron God no mightier than their own gods, and hence 
 as being, at least equally with themselves, subject to defeat, cap- 
 tivity, and national ruin. This was dishonor and even contempt 
 toward the Infinite God. Therefore the Lord will open the side of 
 Moab to the assaults of foreign enemies in the very point where 
 she had imagined her chief strength lay, viz., in those great citiea 
 
 on her frontiers which had been her reliance and her glory. 
 
 The men of the east who subdued Ammon subdued her. "With 
 
 the Ammonites," does not mean that the men of the east had them 
 as allies in this invasion, but that they subdued Moab z'n addition to 
 the Ammonites. 
 
 12. Thus saith the Lord God; Because that Edom hath 
 dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and 
 hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them ; 
 
 13. Therefore thus saith the Lord God ; I will also 
 stretch out my hand upon Edom, and will cut off man 
 and beast from it ; and I will make it desolate from Teman ; 
 and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword. 
 
 14. And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the 
 hand of my people Israel : and they shall do in Edom ac- 
 cording to mine anger and according to my fury ; and they 
 shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord God. 
 
 Special stress is laid on the spirit of retaliation and revenge man- 
 ifest against Israel in Edom. Of all the nations adjacent to Israel, 
 none seem to have cherished a deeper animosity or a meaner re- 
 venge than the descendants of Esau. It was a national spirit, and 
 was specially offensive to God because of their early relationship. 
 Moreover as a (h-eat Father of nations, bound to promote fraternal 
 relations between them, he could not but frown on this unnatural, 
 supremely selfish and hateful spirit. Let it stand and be under- 
 stood as God's rebuke against this spirit, whether in nations, fami- 
 lies, or individuals. " Cutting off man and beast from it," leaves 
 
 it an utter desolation, as it is this day and has been for many 
 
 ages. The last clause should probably read, "And even to De 
 
 dan they shall fall by the sword;' i. c, from Teman on the south to 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXVI. 147 
 
 Dedan on the north, the whole country shall be laid in ruins. 
 
 V. 14 states that this vengeance on Edom is to be executed in part 
 at least "by the hand of God's people Israel." So history shows. 
 The final destruction of their nationality was effected by the Jews 
 under John Hyrcanus, B. C. 128. Josephus (Ant. 13: 9: 1) gives 
 a brief account of this subjugation, adding that Hyrcanus com- 
 pelled them to accept circumcision, and thus destroyed their nation- 
 ality and merged them into the Jewish community. 
 
 15. Thus saith the Lord God; Because the Philistines 
 have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a 
 despiteful heart, to destroy it for the old hatred ; 
 
 16. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will 
 stretch out my hand upon the Philistines, and I will cut 
 off the Cherethims, and destroy the remnant of the sea- 
 coast. 
 
 17. And I will execute great vengeance upon them with 
 furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, 
 when I shall lay my vengeance upon them. 
 
 The fatal sin of the Philistines also was their spirit of revenge, 
 
 animosity, and proud disdain toward Israel. "Cherethim" is 
 
 nearly synonymous with ''Philistines" — the two words being at 
 least sometimes used for the same people. See 1 Sam. 30: 14, 16, 
 and Zeph. 2: 5. They occupied the country of the sea-coast, i. e., 
 
 along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. In the fulfillment 
 
 of this prophecy, the Lord's vengeance was visited upon them first 
 by the hands of the Chaldeans. Prom this devastation they never 
 rose again to power. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 From Ezekiel's stand-point of view at Babylon, the great nations 
 of the West and South-west were Tyre and Egypt ; — Tyre, the mis- 
 tress of the seas, the great emporium of commerce for the civilized 
 world of that age ; and Egypt, then as through all ancient time, 
 the powerful sovereignty of North-eastern Africa, sitting upon her 
 fertile Nile, and enjoying a civilization even at that time hoary with 
 the lapse of centuries. Ammon, Moab, Edom, and the Philistines 
 were subordinate powers, closely contiguous to Palestine indeed, 
 but far less formidable to the great central power at Babylon. 
 Hence a very few words only sufficed to note their fortunes and 
 their fall; while the prophecies against Tyre and Egypt are ex- 
 panded with very considerable detail — three chapters being devoted 
 
 to Tyre and four to Egypt. Territorially, Tyre had little more 
 
 than a foothold upon the soil of Western Asia. The city was the 
 empire; but that city, built partly on the main land yet mostly on 
 
148 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXVI. 
 
 a small island which it completely covered, was exceedingly strong 
 by its maritime position; strong by its absolute control over the 
 waters which embosomed it; sti-ong in its vast wealth and conse- 
 quent ability to hire soldiers and maintain a large army without 
 drawing upon its own population. It must have been strong also 
 through its commercial and intimate relations, e. g.^ with Carthage, 
 a colony of its own citizens, and with Tartessus in Spain, another 
 of its great trading outposts. Convincing proof of the great strength 
 of Tyre lies in the fact that she withstood the assaults of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar during a siege of thirteen years. 
 
 1. And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first 
 day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, 
 saying. 
 
 Comparing this date with that of the fall of Jerusalem, as in Jer. 
 42 : 6, and 39 : 2, it will be seen that this was within the same year. 
 Here, the month is not given ; yet partly for this reason it is sup- 
 posed to have been the first, since if it had been any other, the 
 month would have been named. Jerusalem was " broken up" and 
 burned in the fourth month and ninth day in the same year. At 
 the date here given, the city had not yet fallen, but its speedy fall 
 was morally certain. 
 
 2. Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against 
 Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the 
 people : she is turned unto me : I shall be replenished, noiu 
 she is laid waste: 
 
 Tyre regarded Jerusalem as her rival in commerce, in magnifi- 
 cence, and in population. She was the "gate of the people" in 
 the sense of a place of concourse for masses of people. Hence 
 when she was broken down, Tyre exulted in her proud selfishness, 
 confident that the fall of her rival would conduce to her own ad- 
 vantage, saying, Her wealth, trade, and population will come round 
 to augment mine; "1 shall be replenished" by her being laid 
 waste. 
 
 3. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am 
 against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come 
 up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up. 
 
 4. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break 
 down her towers : I will also scrape her dust from her, and 
 make her like the top of a rock. 
 
 5. It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst 
 of the sea : for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God : and it 
 shall become a spoil to the nations. 
 
 6. And her daughters which are in the fields shall be 
 slain by the sword ; and they shall know that I am the 
 Lord. 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXVI. 149 
 
 The great King of nations must hold them, even the proudest 
 of them^ to a just standard of national morality. Hence he could 
 not let proud Tyre go on fostering such intense and mean selfish- 
 ness with impunity. "For this sin, saith the Lord, I am against 
 thee, Tyrus." God would bring up many nations against her, 
 even as the great sea heaves up its mighty waves a<;ainst the 
 bulwarks that feeble men rear. This maritime figure is entirely 
 in place in a prophecy against Tyre. The island city was built 
 on the top of a huge rock. When the city became utterly deso- 
 late, and all its vast walls, forts and structures were demolished, 
 the surface of this rock was laid bare and became precisely a 
 place for fishermen to spread and dry their nets. This prophecy 
 has long since been literally fulfilled. Her great wealth, accumu- 
 lated during ages of lucrative commerce, became a spoil to the 
 nations. 
 
 7. For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will bring 
 upon Tyrus Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, a king of 
 kings from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and 
 with horsemen, and companies, and much people. 
 
 8. He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the 
 field: and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a 
 mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee. 
 
 9. And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and 
 with his axes he shall break down thy towers. 
 
 10. By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust 
 shall cover thee : thy walls shall shake at the noise of the 
 horsemen, and of the w^heels, and of the chariots, when he 
 shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein 
 is made a breach. 
 
 11. With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all 
 thy streets : he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy 
 strong garrisons shall go down to the ground. 
 
 12. And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make 
 a prey of thy merchandise : and they shall break down thy 
 walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses : and they shall lay 
 thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the 
 water. 
 
 This passage predicts the celebrated siege of Tyre by Nebuchad- 
 nezzar which occurred not long after. Josephus refers to it in two 
 distinct passages (Ant. 10: 11 : 1, and against Apion 1 : 21); in the 
 former, citing Philostratus as saying that " this king ])csieged Tyro 
 thirteen years while Ethbaal reigned at Tyre;" and in the latter, 
 quoting in general from the records of the^Pheuicians to the same 
 
 effect. Precisely how this siege of Tyre terminated, whether 
 
 with its absolute subjugation, or by capitulation, or by the with- 
 drawal of the besiegers, is still in dispute among antiquarians 
 
150 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXVI. 
 
 The testimony of Jerome, in his commentary on Ezek. 29 : 8, is 
 quite explicit to the point that Nebuchadnezzar did capture the 
 city, but found nothing of any account within it because the 
 Tyrians had previously removed every thing valuable in their 
 ships. There can be no reasonable doubt that a thirteen years' 
 siege laid and left the city mainly in ruins. It was a stern and 
 terrible siege, as Ezekiel's o^vn statements (29: 18) abundantly 
 attest. "Nebuchadnezzar caused his army to serve a great service 
 against Tyrus ; every head was made bald and every shoulder was 
 
 peeled." In v. 9, the effect of a battering ram is described in 
 
 place of giving its distinctive name. " He shall bring against thy 
 walls the stroke of what is over against." Was this mode adopted 
 because Ezekiel and his readers were not familiar with an appro- 
 priate name for this engine? In the last clause of v. 11, instead 
 
 of reading, "strong garrison," read — "The statues of the gods," 
 in which lay their supposed strength. Down went those statues, 
 significant of the utter prostration of their political and military 
 
 power. That "her stones, timber and dust went into the midst 
 
 of the waters" resulted from her location upon an island, built out 
 to the very water's edge. 
 
 13. And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease ; and 
 the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard. 
 
 14. And I will make thee like the top of a rock : thou 
 shalt be a place to spread nets upon : thou shalt be built no 
 more : for I the Lord have spoken it, saith the Lord God. 
 
 Her "songs" and "harps" indicate that music was in a some- 
 what advanced stage of cultivation. " Thou shalt be built no 
 
 more," i. e., with like magnificence and strength. The city rose 
 again — to be besieged more than two centuries later by Alexan- 
 der — after which it never regained its independence, nor its former 
 magnificence. 
 
 15. Thus saith the Lord God to Tyrus ; Shall not the 
 isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, 
 when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee ? 
 
 16. Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from 
 their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put olf their 
 broidered . garments : they shall clothe themselves with 
 trembling : they shall sit upon the ground, and shall trem- 
 ble at ever]) moment, and be astonished at thee. 
 
 17. And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and 
 say to thee, How art thou destroyed, that ivast inhabited of 
 seafaring men, the renowned city, which was strong in the 
 sea, she and her inhabitants, which cause their terror to be 
 on all that haunt it ! 
 
 18. Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall ; 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXVI. 151 
 
 yea^ the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy 
 departure. 
 
 The term " isles " as usual stands for all maritime countries 
 reached by sea, and here has special reference to Cnrthage, Tar- 
 tessus, and all those regions of Northern Africa and ISouthern Eu- 
 rope which had sustained close commercial relations with Tyre. 
 At the sound of her fall those isles would shake; their princes 
 would come down from their thrones, lay oif their robes, and put ou 
 trembling, and sit on the ground as men brought down, despite of 
 all their honor, to their mother dust ! Their mourning comes to us 
 in the life-like form of the very words of their bitter wail over her 
 fall : " How art thou destroyed whose inhabitants were from the 
 seas — a city renoAvned, which was strong, she and her people, in 
 
 the sea; impressing her terror on all its dwellers!" The isles 
 
 of the sea may have been troubled at her departure through fear 
 that the same enemy might come down upon themselves next! 
 
 19. For thus saith the Lord God; When I shall make 
 thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; 
 when I shall bring uj) the deep upon thee, and great waters 
 shall cover thee ; 
 
 20. AVhen I shall bring thee down with them that de- 
 scend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall 
 set thee in the low j)arts of the earth, in places desolate of 
 old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not in- 
 habited ; and I shall set glory in the land of the living ; 
 
 21. I wilt make thee a terror, and thou shall be no 7?iore: 
 though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found 
 again, saith the Lord God. 
 
 I prefer to read v. 20 as the apodosis, i. e., the corresponding 
 second part of the sentence, thus ; " When I shall make thee des- 
 olate," etc., (v. 19); '■'Then (v. 20) I will bring thee down with 
 those that descend into the pit to the ancient people, and will make 
 thee dwell in the under-world — in the everlasting desolations — to 
 the end that thou shalt be inhabited no more, {i. e., upon this 
 earth); "but I will set glory in the land of the living" — the land 
 of my own people Israel over whose fall thou hast exulted. The 
 idea is that Tyre goes down to the under-world, to live no more 
 among the nations of this fair earth, while the Lord will raise up 
 
 Judah and make her again the glory of all lands. The word 
 
 "glory" here is the same as in chap. 20: 6, 15, and elsewhere, 
 
 Dan. 8: 9, and 11: 16, 41. This conception of the grave or pit 
 
 as an under-world where the ancient dead have their long abode, 
 is applied here beautifully to cities and kingdoms which go down 
 
 to ruin to rise no more. Over against this doom of Tyre, thus 
 
 perished and gone, never to rise in her glory again, the Lord 
 promises to make the land of his own people Israel once more the 
 
152 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 glory of the earth. So perish the nations and the people that set 
 
 themselves proudly and defiantly against the mighty God, while to 
 his people, there ariseth new joy out of their gi'ief; new light from 
 their darkness ; and from every eclipse, a new radiance of glory ! 
 Who shall say it is not well to take one's lot with the oft- 
 despised people of God ! Why should men fear the trials and the 
 darkness that may be for a moment when their eternal future is so 
 sure and so ineffably glorious ! 
 
 CHAPTER XXVn. 
 
 This remarkable chapter is a sort of inventory of the wealth, 
 greatness, and glory of ancient Tyre, showing the sources whence 
 she drew her materials and men for the commerce and the carry- 
 ing trade of the world. No ancient historian has ever approxi- 
 mated toward a statement so full and complete as this of the busi- 
 ness relations which existed in that age among the nations of the 
 world. Here is Tyre, the commercial center of the world, reach- 
 ing forth her arms in every direction to make every land contribute 
 its best products in men, in wisdom, martial prowess, nautical skill, 
 and in every sort of material to stock her markets, or to minister to 
 her facilities for transportation. It is a wonderful description ; yet 
 it stands here, not to give us the barren facts of so much commerce 
 and so much splendor in the arts, but to show liow much human 
 greatness and glory went down in one fearful fall when the Al- 
 mighty arose in his wrath to smite her bulwarks and sink all her 
 glory in the depths of ruin. By how much the more sublime the 
 height of her glory, by so much the more astounding was the crash 
 
 of her fall ! The revelator John had his eye on this chapter in 
 
 his magnificent description of the fall of Babylon the Great (Rev. 
 
 1. The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, 
 
 2. Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for 
 Tyrus ; 
 
 3. And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the 
 entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for 
 many isles. Thus saitli the Lord God ; O Tyrus, thou hast 
 said, I am of perfect beauty. 
 
 Tyre was proud of lier wealth and splendor. This was her na- 
 tional sin, and wrought her ruin. She gloried in her perfect 
 beauty, and so became reckless of the claims of God and regardless 
 of the obligations of common humanity and morality. The mean 
 seltishness in which she gloated over the fall of Jerusalem is made 
 prominent in the previous chapter (26 : 2). The prophet Amos 
 (1 : *J) gives yet another telling fact; viz., that she sold all her cap- 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXVII. 153 
 
 tives taken in war into slavery in Edom — as if any thing were right 
 
 in trade and for gain! V. 13 refers to her skive-trade. "At the 
 
 entry of the sea." Tyre was the commercial port for the whole 
 eastern shore of the Mediterranean. This vast body of water was 
 practically in those times what its name indicates, the midland sea 
 of the nations, begirt on every side with the civilization, the in- 
 dustry, and the wealth of the known world. The word rendered 
 
 "merchant" implies that she had the carrying trade of the world, 
 transporting the commodities of the great East to the West, and of 
 the great West to the East. 
 
 4. Thy borders are in tlie midst of the seas, thy builders, 
 have perfected thy beauty. 
 
 5. They have made all thy s/t?j9-boards of fir-trees of Se- 
 nir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts 
 for thee. 
 
 6. Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; the 
 company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, 
 brougJit out of the isles of Chittim. 
 
 7. Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that 
 which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail ; blue and purple 
 from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee. 
 
 In V. 5, " Senir" is used for a part or the whole of Mt. Hermon in 
 the country of Ammon. These "ship-boards" were ship-decks^ 
 
 made double, as the dual number of the noun indicates. In v. 6 
 
 Gesenius translates, not — "the company of the Ashurites" — but, 
 "thy benches "(for the rowers to sit upon) "were of ivory inlaid 
 in the Sherbin cedar:" literally, "were of ivory, the daughter of 
 the Sherbin cedar." The statement illustrates the magnificence 
 and finish of her appointments for her carrying trade. This cedar, 
 noted for being straight and tall, came from the Island of Cyprus. 
 
 "Fine hnen of Egypt was spread for her flag^ her banners — 
 
 not her "sail" — for the sails would require strength rather than 
 
 beauty. "Elishah" is probably Elis, a district of Peloponnesus, 
 
 in Greece. 
 
 8. The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mari- 
 ners: thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy 
 pilots. 
 
 9. The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were 
 in thee thy calkers : all the ships of the sea with their mar- 
 iners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise. 
 
 10. They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in thine 
 army, thy men of war : they hanged the shield and helmet 
 in thee ; they set forth thy comeliness. 
 
 11. The men of Arvad with thine army ivere upon thy 
 walls round about, and the Gammadims were in thy towers : 
 
154 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about ; they 
 made thy beauty perfect. 
 
 In V. 8 the word for " mariners " means rowers^ indicating the 
 great fact of that age, viz., that human muscle was the chief reli- 
 ance for propelling power. The application of steam power was 
 
 then unknown and skill in the use of sails was in its infancy. 
 
 The word for "pilots" bears the wider sense of seamen. 
 
 "Calkers;" literally, men to make the joints strong, water-tight. 
 
 The last clause of v. 9 means, not precisely to "occupy thy 
 
 merchandise, but rather, to exchange thy commodities; to do the 
 
 business of traffic, barter, commerce. She hired her soldiers 
 
 from Persia, in the far east ; and from Lud and Phut, countries of 
 
 northern Africa, lying west of Egypt, descendants of Ham. 
 
 Shields and helmets were hung up when not in immediate use. 
 These men were perhaps her standing army on garrison duty for 
 
 home defense. They heightened her splendor (" comeliness)." 
 
 In V. 11, "Gammadim" is a common (not a proper) noun, meaning 
 (by etymology) the brave warriors who cut down the enemy as the 
 woodman fells trees. 
 
 12. Tarshish ivas thy merchant by reason of the multi- 
 tude of all kind of riches ; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, 
 they traded in thy fairs. 
 
 13. Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants: 
 they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy 
 market. 
 
 14. They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs 
 with horses and horsemen and mules. 
 
 15. The men of Dedan n'ere thy merchants; many isles 
 were the merchandise of thy hand : they brought thee for a 
 present, horns of ivory and ebony. 
 
 16. Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude 
 of the w^ares of thy making : they occupied in thy fairs with 
 emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and 
 coral, and agate. 
 
 "Tarshish," Tartessus in Spain, supplied largely the minerals 
 
 most used in the arts. So ancient history testifies. The last 
 
 clause means; They replenished thy markets with these commodi- 
 ties. "Javan," strictly ancient Ionia; " Tubal and Meshech," also 
 countries of Asia Minor, sold slaves in her market. "Togarmah" 
 was a region yet farther north, supposed to be Armenia, peopled 
 with descendants of Gomer throus^h Torgom. They abounded in 
 
 horses. Dedan on the Persian Gulf, far in the south, is supposed 
 
 to have been an ancient Phcnician colony. The maritime places 
 adjacent are referred to here as the " many isles " which supplied 
 merchandise to the hand of Tyre. Ivory, and ebony (literally 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXVII. 155 
 
 stone-wood for its hardness), were their products. Syria was pre- 
 eminently the manufacturing country. 
 
 17. Jiidah, and the land of Israel, they were thy mer- 
 chants; tliey traded in thy market wheat of Minnith and 
 Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm. 
 
 18. Damascus ivas thy merchant in the multitude of the 
 wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches ; in the 
 wine of Helbon, and white wool. 
 
 19. Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy 
 fairs : bright iron, cassia, and calamus, w^ere in thy market. 
 
 20. Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for 
 chariots. 
 
 Judah and Israel supplied the staple articles of food. " Min- 
 nith" was a place in the land of Ammon Avhence choice wheat 
 came. "Pannag" is probably a common noun, meaning sweet 
 
 cahe. The same view as to the nature of the trade between Tyre 
 
 and Israel appears in the negotiations between Hiram and Solomon 
 (1 Kings 5: 9-11). Hiram said, "Thou shalt accomplish my de- 
 sire in giving food for my household." " vSolomon gave Hiram 
 twenty thousand measures of wheat for food for his household and 
 
 twenty measures of pure oil year by year." Damascus was even 
 
 then celebrated for her manufactures. Her skill in fine cloths and 
 especially in silks has given the term " Damasks" an enduring place 
 
 in human language. In v. 19 Gesenius reads, not " Dan also," 
 
 but Yedan — making the first letter a component part of the proper 
 name. This was a city of Arabia, said to have produced anciently 
 these very commodities. "Javan," in this verse, he supposes to 
 have been also an Arabian city, as well as Dedan. The word ren- 
 dered, "going to and fro," is thought to refer to sjnnning ; so that 
 the clause means, "they set out spun-work in thy fairs." 
 
 21. Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied 
 with thee in lambs, and rams, and goats : in these were they 
 thy merchants. 
 
 22. The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy 
 merchants: they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all 
 spices, and with all precious stones, and gold. 
 
 23. Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of 
 Sheba, Assliur, and Chilmad, ivere thy merchants. 
 
 24. These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in 
 blue clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich ap- 
 parel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy 
 merchandise. 
 
 That herds and flocks were the commodities of Arabia and Ke- 
 dar is in harmony with all antiquity. Isaiah sang of " the flocks 
 of Kedar " (chap. 60: 7), and in the same connection, of " the gold 
 
156 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 and incense of Sheba" (chap. GO: 6). This Raamah lay in 
 
 south-east Arabia, associated naturally Avith Sheba. So in Gen. 10 : 
 7, and 1 Chron. 1 : 9. V. 23 groups several points in ancient As- 
 syria ; Ilaran, known in the early history of Abraham ; Canneh, 
 probably the " Calno" of Isaiah's time, (chap. 10: 9) and the Ctesi- 
 
 phon of the Greeks; Eden and Chilmad are not well known. 
 
 The general showing is to the effect that the whole civilized world 
 brought their commodities to one grand emporium in ancient Tyre. 
 
 25. The ships of Tarshish did sing of tliee in thy market ; 
 and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the 
 midst of the seas. 
 
 The original seems to mean; not, "did sing of thee," etc., but 
 were carriers of thy merchandise. So Gesenius and Maurer. This 
 completes the category. 
 
 26. Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters : the 
 east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas. 
 
 27. Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mar- 
 iners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy 
 merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, and 
 in all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall 
 into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin. 
 
 Here the discourse turns from her glory and greatness to her 
 fall. It was as if her rowers had brought her into great waters, 
 to be sunk there with all her wealth by the mighty east winds of 
 that inland sea. Then by how much the greater her freight of 
 wealth, merchandise, mariners, mercenary soldiers, men of all 
 business and population of every sort; by so much the more ter- 
 rible the fearful fall that would engulf her in the mighty deep to 
 rise no more ! 
 
 28. The suburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry of 
 thy pilots. 
 
 29. And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all 
 the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships, 
 they shall stand upon the land ; • 
 
 30. And shall cause their voice to be licard against thee, 
 and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust upon their 
 heads ; they shall wallow themselves in the ashes : 
 
 31. And they shall nuike themselves utterly bald for 
 thee, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for 
 for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter Availing. 
 
 32. And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation 
 for thee, and lament over thee, saying, What citij is like 
 Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea ? 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXVIII. 157 
 
 This is the mourning and the wailing over her fall. The prophet 
 groups together all the usual oriental symbols and modes of ex- 
 pressing the most intense grief. The last clause of v. 32 is spe- 
 cially expressive, where instead of, "like the destroyed," etc., I 
 would read, " as one hushed to dead silence in the midst of the sea," 
 in contrast with the hum and noise of her busy commerce and the 
 myriad sounds of a great city of trade. 
 
 33. AVlien thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou 
 filledst many people ; tliou didst enrich the kings of the 
 earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchan- 
 dise. 
 
 34. In the time when thou shalt be broken by the seas in 
 the depths of the waters, thy merchandise and all thy com- 
 pany in the midst of thee shall fall. 
 
 35. All the inhabitants of the isles shall be astonished at 
 thee, and their kings shall be sore afraid, they shall be 
 troubled in their countenance. 
 
 36. The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee ; 
 thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any more. 
 
 Once so great, enriching kings from thy stores of wealth; now 
 broken, impoverished; the isles astonished at thy fall; the kings 
 of the earth appalled before such retribution and the merchants 
 of the earth, once joyous in thy traffic, now hissing contemptuously 
 over thy ruin : — what a scene is this ! How fraught with impres- 
 sive lessons on the frailty of human wealth and grandeur, and the 
 
 folly of human pride ! Let those who give their hearts to the 
 
 attractions of wealth and splendor, or to the charms of business 
 and gain, pause over this lesson and ask, What wisdom is here for 
 us? Let the nations that are treading in the steps of ancient 
 Tyre think of her sins and of her consequent doom ! No securi- 
 ties are too substantial to be utterly broken down. No guaranty 
 for the permanence of wealth and glory will stand when God arises 
 to call men to their moral account ! 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 In this chapter judgments on Tyre continue throu«Th vs. 1-19 ; 
 then on Zidon through vs. 20-26. The judgments against Tyre are 
 specially directed to "the prince of T5a-us," (v. 2,) and to "the 
 king " (v. 12), for his great pride. The king is probably a repre- 
 sentative man ; first, the embodiment of the nation's pride ; then, 
 the symbol of her doom. 
 
 1. The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, 
 
158 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXVIIL 
 
 2. Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith 
 the Lord God ; Because thy heart is lifted up, and thou 
 hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst 
 of the seas ; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou 
 set thy heart as the heart of God : 
 
 3. Behold, thou ar^ wiser than Daniel ; there is no secret 
 that they can hide from thee : 
 
 4. With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou 
 hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into 
 thy treasures : 
 
 5. By thy great wisdom and by thy traffic hast thou in- 
 creased thy riches, and thy heart is lifted up because of 
 thy riches. 
 
 The latter part of v. 2 I would translate thus : " Because thou 
 hast said, I am God ; I sit in the seat of God in the midst of the 
 seas; — but thou art man and not God, and yet thou dost set thy 
 heart as the heart of God." " Man " here is frail man, of dust. The 
 special point of the affirmation is that, being only frail and mortal — 
 nothing but man in his weak estate — he should yet most unreas- 
 onably, proudly and wickedly, assume to be God and think of 
 
 himself and bear himself as the Almighty Lord of all. The 
 
 words, "Thou art wiser than Daniel," give not the view of God 
 
 but the view of this prince of Tyre. So he thinks of himself 
 
 Tyre had manifested worldly wisdom in her business and trade, 
 and becoming rich thereby had also become excessively proud — no 
 uncommon result of that business capacity which insures wealth. 
 
 The Lord intends to make her case an admonition to every 
 
 man of like wisdom and of similar success, against a similar pride 
 and a like fearful doom. 
 
 6. Therefore thus saith the Lord God ; Because thou hast 
 set thy heart as the heart of God ; 
 
 7. Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, 
 the terrible of the nations : and they shall draw their swords 
 against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy 
 brightness. 
 
 8. They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt 
 die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the 
 seas. 
 
 9. Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am 
 God ? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of 
 him that slayeth thee. 
 
 10. Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by 
 the hand of strangers : for I have spoken it, saith the Lord 
 God. 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXVIII. 159 
 
 . These "strangers," "the terrible of the nations," arc primarily 
 the Chaldeans, whose fearful onslaught and siege of thirteen years' 
 duration brought death to multitudes of her sons and daufhters 
 and ruin over her fair city. " Against the beauty of thy wis- 
 dom," is beauty in the arts, such as manifests peculiar skill, " wis- 
 dom." In V. 8 the sense is. Thou Tyrus, although in the midst 
 
 of the seas, and therefore supposing thyself safe, shalt yet die the 
 death of those who are pierced through with the sword. "In the 
 midst of the seas," gives, not the manner of being slain, but the 
 
 reason why she deemed herself secure. Then and there, in the 
 
 very presence of those stalwart arms and drawn swords, wilt thou 
 proudly say, I am God ? Thy doom shall show that thou art only 
 frail man and not God. "Thou shalt die the death of the uncir- 
 cumcised" — the profane and impious whom God dooms to perish. 
 
 11. Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 12. Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of 
 Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God ; Thou 
 sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. 
 
 13. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every 
 precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the 
 diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, 
 the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold : the workmanship 
 of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the 
 day that thou wast created. 
 
 These verses are not so much God's admission of what is true 
 
 of Tyre as his representation of what she thinks of herself. 
 
 "Thou sealest up the sum," seems to mean; Thou hast filled thine 
 own idea of perfection, as when any required sum is fully made 
 
 up, it is sealed to indicate that nothing more need be added. 
 
 "Eden, the garden of God," man's primeval paradise, fills the con- 
 ception of beauty. Such in her own esteem was the state of Tyre 
 when she sat proudly, enriched with the wealth of the nations and 
 
 shining in their concentrated splendor. This accumulation of 
 
 terms for gems and precious stones shows at least that a great 
 variety of them were well known and much valued as objects of 
 enduring beauty. In the last clause of v. 13, the words ren- 
 dered "tabrets" and "pipes" seem not to refer to musical instru- 
 ments, but to the bezel or cavity into which gems were set. The 
 general idea is. Thou wast ordained to this wealth and splendor 
 from the day when thou wast founded as a city and nation. Tyre . 
 had always been a great mart of commerce and a home for its 
 wealth and glory. 
 
 14. Thou art the anointed clierub that covereth; and I 
 have set thee so : thou wast upon the holy mountain of God ; 
 thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of 
 fire. 
 
160 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 15. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou 
 wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. 
 
 "Anointed" is probably not the idea, but rather — "the cherub 
 of expanded wing" — with allusion to the cherubim in the most holy 
 place, whose wings were extended over the mercy-seat. The origi- 
 nal verb represents the two correlated ideas, (1.) of moving the 
 hands outward from the person and from each other as in expand- 
 ing; and (2.) of anointing by a similar use of the hands. Here we 
 have the primary idea. The allusion to the cherubim in the tem- 
 ple is still further carried out in the phrase, " the holy mountain of 
 God," that on which the temple stood, as in Isa. 11: 9; "in all my 
 holy mountain;" and also Isa. 56 : 7; " them will I bring to my holy 
 
 mountain," etc. "The stones of fire" are those precious stones, 
 
 gems, that sparkle and flash as if they were stones of fire. Up and 
 down amid these the king of Tyre had walked. In all his ways 
 this monarch had enjoyed the perfection of earthly glory and splen- 
 dor from the very foundation of the city and kingdom until iniquity 
 was found in him and the hand of the Almighty came down upon 
 him in righteous judgment. 
 
 16. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled 
 the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned : there- 
 fore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God : 
 and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst 
 of the stones of fire. 
 
 17. Thy heart was lifted up because of thy beauty ; thou 
 hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness : I 
 will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, 
 that they may behold thee. 
 
 18. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of 
 thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic ; therefore will 
 I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour 
 thee ; and I will bring thee to ashes lipon the earth in the 
 sight of all of them that behold thee. ' 
 
 19. All they that know thee among the people shall be 
 astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt 
 thou he any more. 
 
 In the midst of this great traffic and by consequence of it, Tyre 
 had become "full of violence" — the usual phrase to denote viola- 
 tions of person, assaults, bloodshed, insecurity of life. "And so," 
 or "and then thou didst sin^' in the emphatic sense; become aban- 
 doned and outbreaking in thine immoralities. The language 
 
 which describes her doom is transferred from the account of her 
 previous splendor. Once a cherub, sitting in glory in the holy 
 mount of God amid gems sparkling with luster ; now the Lord will 
 cast her as a profane thing down from his own holy mount and 
 destroy her. Beauty and wisdom had been her snare, and now 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXVIII. 161 
 
 become her curse. "The iniquity of thy traffic (v. 18) I take to 
 
 be the corrupting influence of thy trade — the moral perversity be- 
 gotten by the arts of trade. The original impHes this. "Therefore 
 I will bring forth a fire from the midst of thee that shall devour 
 thee," intimates that sin works out its own doom — generates the 
 causes that bring retribution upon the sinner. The judgments on 
 Tyre should fill the nations with amazement ; should become a ter- 
 ror to the wicked who would fear a like doom for their own sins. 
 
 "And never shalt thou be any more." The full measure of 
 
 this doom did not come with the siege by Nebuchadnezzar, for Tyre 
 recovered in some degree from this first blow. Another blow fell 
 on her from the hand of Alexander, two hundred and fifty years 
 later. Saracen and Turk have finished the work of her destruction. 
 She has come at last to be only a naked rock on which fishermen 
 dry their nets, as the prophet said. 
 
 20. Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 21. Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy 
 against it, 
 
 22. And say. Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am 
 against thee, O Zidon ; and I will be glorified in the midst 
 of thee : and they shall know that I cmi the Lord, when I 
 shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sancti- 
 fied in her. 
 
 23. For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into 
 her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst 
 of her by the sword upon her on every side ; and they shall 
 know that I am the Lord. 
 
 24. And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the 
 house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round 
 about them, that despised them ; and they shall know that 
 I am the Lord God. 
 
 Zidon, the subject of this prophecy, lying but twenty miles north 
 of Tyre ; herself like Tyre situated on the Mediterranean, yet never 
 like Tyre distinguished for trade but rather for skill in manufac- 
 tures — was the more ancient, appearing in Bible history. Gen. 10: 
 15, 19, and Josh. 11: 8, and 19: 28 — in these two latter cases as 
 "Great Zidon." The references to it in Judg. 1: 31,\and 18: 28, 
 
 indicate its military strength. This prophecy against Zidon is 
 
 brief; does not specify her sins particularly, but declares that God 
 
 will he glorified and sanctified in his judgments upon her.* 
 
 These contiguous powers which had been as pricking briers and 
 painful thorns to Israel and which had contemptuously despised 
 her, should be utterly destroyed and be no more. They should be 
 made to know that Jehovah is the living God. 
 
 '■' In V. 23 the verb rendered, " shall he judged in the midst of her by the 
 sword," should rather read; shcdl fall— the root of the verb being not 
 S^3> as our translators assumed, but ^21- 
 
162 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 25. Thus saith the Lord God; "When I shall have gath- 
 ered the house of Israel from the people among whom they 
 are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight 
 of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I 
 have given to my servant Jacob. 
 
 26. And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build 
 houses, and plant vineyards ; yea, they shall dwell with con- 
 fidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that 
 desj)ise them round about them; and they shall know^ that 
 I am the Lord their God. 
 
 From these particular cases, the Lord advances to the general 
 truth — "No weapon formed against Zion shall prosper." When 
 the Lord shall gather his people home from their dispersions and 
 shall be sanctified in them before all the heathen, they shall dwell in 
 safety from all their foes. The Lord will surely execute exterminat- 
 ing judgments on all their determined enemies. So true is it that God 
 stands with and for his people, and will surely prove himself their 
 Redeemer and Savior. The world shall yet know his power to save 
 his trusting children, befriend his own cause, and fill all the earth 
 with his glory. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 With this chapter commences a series of prophecies against 
 Egypt, filling four chapters. The first begins with the date of "the 
 tenth year, tenth month," etc., one month and eighteen days earlier 
 than the date of the preceding prophecy against Tyre. Both fall 
 within the period of the siege of Jerusalem. Y&. 17-21 consti- 
 tute a second part of this chapter, of later date by a fraction over 
 sixteen years. Manifestly this was given to the prophet after the 
 thirteen years' siege of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar had terminated. 
 Since the years of Zedekiah's reign correspond very nearly with 
 the years of Jehoiachin's captivity (the Epoch of Ezekiel) and 
 shice the siege of Jerusalem closed in the eleventh year and fourth 
 month of Zedekiah (Jer. 52: 5, 6) the interval between the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem and the date of this prophecy is fifteen and two- 
 thirds years. If we may assume that this prophecy (v. 17-21) 
 bears date soon after this "long and hard service" closed, then the 
 famous siege of Tyre must have commenced some two years after 
 
 the cloye of the siege of Jerusalem. The grounds assigned for 
 
 these judgments upon Pharaoh and Egypt are — (1.) That he had 
 been very proud, had practically disowned (^od, and put himself 
 in his place: — (2.) That he and his people had been a frail, treach- 
 erous staff of help to the Jews — enticinii; them away from their 
 sworn allegiance to the Chaldeans, to their own ruin; and (3.) To 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXIX. 163 
 
 reward Nebuchadnezzar for his unpaid service for the Lord against 
 Tyre. 
 
 1. In the tenth year, in the tenth months in the twelfth 
 day of the month, the word of the Lord came unto me, 
 saying, 
 
 2. Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of 
 Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt: 
 
 3. Speak, and say. Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I 
 am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon 
 that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said. My 
 river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. 
 
 The "great dragon" is the crocodile — almost a speciahty to the 
 Nile. But the crocodile of course represents here Egypt's proud 
 king who lies basking in the midst of his rivers, as this animal is 
 
 wont to do. It scarcely needs be said that the Nile makes 
 
 Egypt — is the source of all its fertility ; the channel for all its com- 
 merce; the fountain of all its wealth and subsistence. Without 
 the Nile Egypt were only a desert. Its waters by their annual in- 
 undation and by their abundant use in artificial irrigation, beat 
 back the encroaching sands of the desert and insure astonishing 
 fertility. Hence the temptation to Egypt's king to glory in the 
 Nile, and, in the folly of his pride, to claim it as his own, even by 
 
 creation ! Strange folly, and no less strange impiety ! By a 
 
 striking coincidence Herodotus wrote of this same Pharaoh Hophra 
 (Smith 2; 818) "It is said that Apries," [another form of "Hoph- 
 ra,"] "believed that there was not a god who could cast him down 
 from his eminence, so firmly did he think he bad established him- 
 self in his kingdom." 
 
 4. But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the 
 fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales ; and I will bring 
 thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of 
 thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales. 
 
 5. And I will leave thee throiun into the Avilderness, thea 
 and all the fish of thy rivers : thou shalt fall upon the open 
 fields ; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered : I 
 have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to 
 the fowls of the heaven. 
 
 Crocodiles were customarily caught with strong fish-hooks, which 
 being skilfully baited,-the animal swallowed. The Lord takes this 
 figure from actual life to indicate how he will seize this proud king 
 and drag him and his princes and the chief of his people who are 
 to stick to his scales, out of his river ; cast them abroad upon 
 the dry desert where no fish could live; and there leave them for 
 food to beasts and fowls. This must signify that they are subdued 
 by their enemies, taken captive and brought to a dishonored 
 
164 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 death. To be left unburicd to be devoured by vultures and hyenas 
 fills the oriental and ancient idea of w^hatever is awful and hor- 
 rible in death. The classic authors of Greece and Home are full 
 of this sentiment. 
 
 6. And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I 
 am the Lord, because they have been a staff of reed to the 
 house of Israel. 
 
 7. When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst 
 break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned 
 upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at 
 a stand. 
 
 "A staff of reed" — a symbol of what is slender and frail — for a 
 nation to lean upon. When Judah leaned on this staff, it brake ; 
 and as they had leaned with their full weight upon it, failincr, it 
 rent all their shoulder and made all their loins to shake. This 
 seems to be the thought in the last verb, rendered, to "be at a 
 stand."* 
 
 8. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will 
 bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of 
 thee. 
 
 9. And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; 
 and they shall know that I am the Lord: because he hath 
 said. The river is mine, and I have made it. 
 
 Of the visible grounds for these fearful judgments, pride was 
 manifestly the chief; here adduced as the only ground ; " Because 
 
 he hath said. The river is mine, and I have made it." How 
 
 odious to the Great God must such pride be, and how justly does 
 it evoke judgments such in form and in severity as shall make men, 
 even the proudest of them, Jcnoio that he is God alone ! 
 
 10. Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy 
 rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste 
 ajid desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border 
 of Ethiopia. 
 
 11. No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of 
 beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited 
 forty years. 
 
 12. And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the 
 midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among 
 the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years : 
 
 *Tho case has its critical clifficultios; but the usual sense, to cau.9e to 
 stand firmly, is the rever.se of what the context requires. Hence there is 
 probably ii play upon the Avoid wltli rofenMico to another verb of tho 
 Kaiue radical letters h\\^ tho two first traiis])osed. This other verb haa 
 tho sense, to shake. The change is from -\'QV ^o stand— to ^ya to shake. 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXIX. 165 
 
 and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and 
 will disperse them through the countries. 
 
 Sjene is not (as the reader might suppose) at one extremity of 
 Egypt and "the border of Ethiopia" at the other and opposite; but 
 both are on its southern limit. Syene is on the Nile, on the south- 
 ern boundary of Egypt. The original reads, "From the tower of 
 Syene, and unto the border of Ethiopia." The enemy came from 
 the north. Of course the northern portion of the country would be 
 laid waste. It was only needful therefore to say that it should be 
 desolated even to its southern border ; and to make this border very 
 definite, two points in it are specified. The description shows that 
 
 this desolation was to be fearful and general. There can be no 
 
 reasonable doubt that it was efiected by the Chaldean forces under 
 Nebuchadnezzar. See vs. 17-20, and chap. 30: 24, 25, and also 
 
 Jer. 44: 30, and 46: 25, 26. Only the most scanty notices of 
 
 these events have reached us in the channels of profane history. 
 Berosus, the great Chaldean historian, has a fragment which has 
 come down through Josephus (Against Apion 1 : 19) to the effect 
 that "Nebuchadnezzar conquered Egypt, Syria, Phenicia, and 
 Arabia, and exceeded in his exploits all that had reigned before 
 
 him in Babylon and Chaldea." The duration of this desolate 
 
 condition (" forty years") would reach forward into the wane of the 
 Chaldean empire, some years later than the death of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, whose reign began with the fourth year of Jehoiakim and 
 continued forty-three years. But this subjugation of Egypt if it 
 followed the fall of Tyre, must have been past the middle point of 
 his reign. 
 
 13. Yet thus saith the Lord God; At the end of forty 
 years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither 
 they were scattered: 
 
 14. And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and 
 will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into 
 the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a 
 base kingdom. 
 
 15. It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall 
 it exalt itself any more above the nations : for I will di- 
 minish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations. 
 
 16. And it shall be no more the confidence of the house 
 of Israel, which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, 
 when they shall look after them : but they shall know that 
 I am the Lord God. 
 
 At the end of forty years, her captivity would cease, and her 
 population return; but her former glory she should never regain. 
 
 A just doom for her impiety and pride ! " The land of their 
 
 habitation" is rather (from the original), "the land of their nativ- 
 ity;" the same word used Chap. 16: 3. V. 16 might be para- 
 
166 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 phrased, Egypt shall be no more the confidence of the house 
 of Israel which confidence brings to mind their iniquity in their 
 treachery and perjury toward the king of Ba))ylon when they 
 
 turned from him to the Egyptians* for help, etc. What is said 
 
 here of the "baseness of this kingdom" as contrasted with its for- 
 mer greatness and glory, and also in chap. 30: 13; "there shall 
 be no more a prince of the land of Egypt;" has its fulfillment in 
 history in the fact that " from the second Persian conquest, more 
 than two thousand years ago, until our own days, not one native 
 ruler has occupied the throne." See Smith's Bible Dictionary 1 : 
 512. When the prophet wrote, Egypt had been a first-class power 
 from the days of Abraham. Since the fulfillment of this prophecy 
 it has been preeminently "a base kingdom" — for long ages past, 
 scarcely knoAvn in the world's history as a kingdom at all. What 
 a testimony is this, not to the truth of prophecy alone, but to the 
 fearfulness of God's judgments against kings and nations for their 
 proud impiety in disowning their great Creator and Eang ! 
 
 17. And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, 
 in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word 
 of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 18. Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused 
 his army to serve a great service against Tyrus : every head 
 was made bald, and every shoulder loas peeled : yet had he 
 no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he 
 had served against it: 
 
 19. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will 
 give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Baby- 
 lon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, 
 and take her prey ; and it shall be the wages for his army. 
 
 20. I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor 
 wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for 
 me, saith the Lord God. 
 
 The points made here have been mostly discussed in the notes 
 on the prophecies against Tyre, and in the remarks introductory 
 
 to this chapter. It is still an unsettled question whether the 
 
 siege of Tyre closed with its absolute subjugation; or by a capit- 
 ulation which spared to the people their treasures ; or by their 
 removing all their valuables in their ships. The latter is not im- 
 probable, and has in its support the testimony (such as it is) of 
 
 Jerome in his commentary on Ezekiel. The "hard service" in 
 
 which "every head was made bald and every shoulder peeled," is 
 accounted for by the manner in which the work was done; viz., by 
 building an immense causeway or road from the main land to the 
 island on which the city stood in order to bring his battering 
 rams and assaulting works close to the city walls. In the state of 
 the arts at that time, the transportation of stone and earth for 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXX. 167 
 
 building this causeway was done on the heads and shoulders of 
 men — reason enough why "every head should be made bald" and 
 
 the skin of "every shoulder be peeled" and worn. Kemarkably 
 
 the Lord speaks of this service as being done for himself — quite in 
 keeping with those passages in which he calls Nebuchadnezzar 
 "my servant:" see Jer. 25: 9, and 27: 6, and 43: 10. The Lord 
 wished the Jews to understand that he had important ends to an- 
 swer by this great king of Babylon, as was indeed the case. He 
 was God's instrument for a fearful retribution, not on Judea and 
 Jerusalem alone, but on all the nations of Western Asia and upon 
 Egypt. 
 
 21. In that day will I cause the horn of the house of 
 Israel to bud forth, and I will give thee the opening of 
 the mouth in the midst of them ; and they shall know that 
 I am the Lord. 
 
 "Horn" and "bud" blend two distinct and not altogether homo- 
 geneous figures. The "horn" is eminently a symbol of power; 
 while the "budding" and development of vegetables implies growth 
 and beauty. The hopes of Israel would revive, the germ of its 
 nationality would shoot forth afresh at the period here referred to, 
 which would be in the latter years of the captivity in Babylon. As 
 Egypt should go down, Israel should rise. The results of divine 
 discipline would begin to develop themselves in the revived piety 
 of the people, and (we must suppose) in the disappearance of the 
 spirit and practice of idolatry. The passage seems to refer prima- 
 rily to a period within the lifetime of the prophet, since it is implied 
 that he would be encouraged and emboldened to speak without 
 restraint and with great freedom and, we may hope, unction and 
 success. The captive Jews would see fresh and convincing evi- 
 dence that their God is truly the Lord Jehovah of Hosts. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 In this chapter the one theme is judgment on Egypt, yet there 
 are two messages of diverse date; the first comprising vs. 1-19; 
 the second, vs. 20-26. The date of the latter is given definitely 
 (in V. 20) ; probably that the reader might locate it shortly after the 
 defeat of Pharaoh Hophra when he approached to aid his Jewish 
 friends by an efibrt to raise the siege of their city, then in progress 
 by the army of Nebuchadnezzar. Critics are not agreed as to the 
 date of the first portion, some connecting it in time with the message 
 chap. 29: 1-16, viz., in the tenth year and tenth month, etc. ; others 
 connecting it with the message chap..29: 17-21, viz., in the twenty- 
 seventh year. I prefer the latter, both because it follows directly 
 with no notice of a different date, and yet more because it repre- 
 
168 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXX. 
 
 sents the final consummation of these fearful judgments as then 
 very near at hand (v. 3). The historical facts are, that the crush- 
 ino; blow from the Chaldean arms fell on Egypt after the siege of 
 Tyre had closed, and hence shortly after the prophecy (chap. 29 : 
 17-21) was delivered. Consequently this portion (chap. 30: 1-19) 
 must be assigned to the same date as the five verses next preceding. 
 
 1. The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, 
 
 2. Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord 
 God ; Howl ye. Wo worth the day ! 
 
 3. For the day is near, even the day of the Lord is near, 
 a cloudy day ; it shall be the time of the heathen. 
 
 The passage in v. 2, "Howl ye," etc., means, Cry aloud in wail- 
 ing tones, "Wo to the day!" or "Alas, the day!" The former is 
 the literal translation. "A cloudy day." Darkness is a well- 
 known symbol of calamity. "The time of the heathen," in the 
 
 sense of being their day of triumph. The nations hostile to Egypt 
 have their time of vengeance upon her. 
 
 4. The sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall 
 be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they 
 shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be 
 broken down. 
 
 5. Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the mingled 
 people, and Chub, and the men of the land that is in league, 
 shall fall with them by the sword. 
 
 Not Egypt alone but her allies, those powers on the South and 
 West that had been usually associated with her in her great con- 
 flicts with the Asiatic powers, now suffer in her fall. Ethiopia on 
 her southern border; Libya and Lydia on her western, are well 
 
 known as her ancient allies. Doubt rests on the word "Chub," 
 
 which occurs in the Scriptures here only. .Opinions are divided 
 between Cohen, a part of Ethiopia; Coba or Chobat, a city of Mau- 
 ritania; and making a slight change in the first letter so as to read 
 it, Nubia. A dearth of the necessary geographical knowledge for- 
 bids absolute certainty. The general sense is clear; some city or 
 people of Africa, in alliance with Egypt. 
 
 6. Thus saith the Lord ; they also that uphold Egypt shall 
 fall ; and the pride of her power shall come down : from the 
 tower of Syene shall they fall in it by the sword, saith the 
 Lord God. 
 
 7. And they shall be desolate in the midst of the countries 
 that are desolate, and her cities shall be in the midst hi the 
 cities that are wasted. 
 
 8. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXX. 169 
 
 set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be de- 
 stroyed. 
 
 Stress is laid on the utter ruin of her helpers, those powerful 
 alhes, so long accustomed to make common cause with her against 
 their great and common enemies from the regions of the Euphrates. 
 
 9. In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships 
 to make the careless Ethiopians afraid, and great pain shall 
 come upon them as in the day of Egypt : for lo, it cometh. 
 
 The ships referred to were the light-boats that ran far up the 
 Nile to bear the fearful tidings to the Ethiopians, living in fancied 
 security. These tidings would thrill them with terror even as they 
 had the Egyptians when the crash of invasion fell on them. 
 
 10. Thus saith the Lord God; I will also make the mul- 
 titude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar 
 king of Babylon. 
 
 11. He and his people with him, the terrible of the na- 
 tions, shall be brought to destroy the land : and they shall 
 draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the 
 slain. 
 
 12. And I will make the rivers dry, and sell the land into 
 the hand of the wicked: and I will make the land waste, 
 and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers : I the Lord 
 have spoken it 
 
 The dense population of Egypt would perish by the hand of the 
 king of Babylon. "I will make the rivers dry," is taken by some 
 figuratively in the sense of destroying her resources, which her 
 great river and its numerous canals, cut for irrigation, might well 
 represent. But there is no special objection to taking the words in 
 their literal though modified sense — her rivers becoming so low as 
 to forbid irrigation, and consequently, to insure famine. The Nile 
 is subject to such failures, as e. g. in the days of Joseph. 
 
 13. Thus saith the Lord God; I will also destroy the 
 idols, and I will cause ilieiv images to cease out of Noph ; 
 and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt : 
 and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt. 
 
 14. And I will make Pathros desolate, and will set fire 
 in Zoan, and will execute judgments in No. 
 
 15. And I will pour my fury upon Sin, the strength of 
 Egypt ; and I will cut off* the multitude of No. 
 
 16. And I will set fire in Egypt: Sin shall have great 
 pain, and No shall be rent asunder, and Noph shall ham 
 distresses daily. 
 
 8 
 
170 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXX. 
 
 17. The young men of Avon, and of Pi-beseth shall fall 
 by the sword : and these cities shall go into captivity. 
 
 From general statements, the prophet comes to particulars, speci- 
 fying the several cities that are to feel the weight of this crushing 
 calamity. This is designed and well adapted to strengthen the 
 
 impression of the fearful facts. The principal cities of Egypt 
 
 are here enumerated. They are known by other names also — ■ 
 Greek or Egyptian. These are mostly Hebrew. Hence the follow- 
 ing statements may be useful. "Noph" is also called Memphis; 
 
 the great city of Lower Egypt, near the Pyramids. "No," or No- 
 Ammon, is Thebes or Diospolis; the great city of Upper Egypt, cel- 
 ebrated for its hundred gates, and even now great in the ruins of 
 its magnificent temples of Luxor, Karnac, etc. "Pathros" is the 
 Egyptian name for Upper Egypt, as Mizraim was sometimes for 
 the lower province. "Zoan" is known in Greek as Tanis, one of 
 the cities of Lower Egypt. " Sin," known by the Greeks as Pelu- 
 sium, was in the north-eastern extremity of Egypt, the point where 
 their Asiatic enemies would naturally strike first. Hence it was 
 fortified so as to become "the strength of Egypt." Its Hebrew name 
 means a marsh, and such it was, and perhaps the stronger therefor. 
 "Aven," doubtless the city "On" of Gen. 41: 45, 50, from vrhich 
 word it differs only in its vowel points, received this form from the 
 Hebrews in contempt for its idols, nothings, or vanities — which is 
 the significance of the word thus pronounced. The Greeks called 
 it Heliopolis, city of the sun, which the Hebrews sometimes trans- 
 lated into Bethshemeth, house of the sun. "Pi-beseth," by the 
 Greeks, Bubastis, was on the lower Avaters of the Nile. Tehaphne- 
 hes, the Daphne of the Greeks, was near Pelusium, and seems to 
 have been in these times the residence of the king and his court. 
 See Jer. 43 : 8-13. Jeremiah has a prophecy (chap. 46) some- 
 what analogous to this of Ezekiel. For the fulfillment of this 
 
 prophecy, " there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt," 
 
 see notes on chap. 29: 14, 15. In v. 16, the doom of Noph 
 
 means, "distress by day," as opposed to the night. Her enemies 
 shall come upon her fearlessly in open day as if perfect masters of 
 their position. Even the proudest cities and the strongest shall be 
 readily subdued with no aid from darkness or surprise. 
 
 18. At Tehaphnehes also the day shall be darkened, 
 when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt: and the 
 pomp of her strength shall cease in her: as for her, a cloud 
 shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into captivity. 
 
 19. Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt: and they 
 shall know that I am the Lord. 
 
 The eclipse of Egypt's glory is well represented as falling on the 
 royal city. The darkening ot^ the day and a covering of cloud are 
 analogous figures for extreme calamity. The "pomp of Egypt's 
 strength" would naturally be concentrated about the throne. 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXX. 171 
 
 The "yokes of Egypt," if the Hebrew word for yoke is to be re- 
 tained, must mean her power to enslave her captives, or to hold in 
 subjection foreign tribes or peoples. But the context strongly favors 
 a slight change in the vowels which would make the word mean 
 rods^ or scepters. In this way the sense of the clause would be, the 
 breaking down of regal power in the land. Remarkably the an- 
 cient versions give this sense. 
 
 20. And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the 
 first month, in the seventh day of the month, that the word 
 of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 21. Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king 
 of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, 
 to put a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the 
 sword. 
 
 22. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am 
 against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, 
 the strong, and that which was broken; and I will cause 
 the sword to fall out of his hand. 
 
 23. And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, 
 and will disperse them through the countries. 
 
 24. And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Bab- 
 ylon, and put my sword in his hand: but I will break 
 Pharaoh's arms, and he shall groan before him with the 
 groanings of a deadly wounded man. 
 
 25. But I w^ill strengthen the arms of the king of Baby- 
 lon, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; and they 
 shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall put my sword 
 into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch 
 it out upon the land of Egypt. 
 
 26. And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, 
 and disperse them among the countries; and they shall 
 know that I am the Lord. 
 
 As said above in the introduction to this chapter, this prophecy 
 was probably suggested by the defeat of Pharaoh Hophra when he 
 attempted to force Nebuchadnezzar to raise the siege of Jerusalem. 
 See Jer. 44: 30: "I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into 
 the hands of his enemies and into the hands of them that seek his 
 life, as I gave Zedekiah into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar," etc. 
 Suggested by this defeat, it probably followed it closely in time. 
 This was only some three months before the fall of the city of Jeru- 
 salem — the latter event being in the eleventh year and fourth month 
 and ninth day (Jer. 52: 5, 6), and this, in the eleventh year, first 
 
 month and seventh day. The breaking of Pharaoh's sword-arm 
 
 first, hopelessly past cure ; then the breaking of both his arms, and 
 the strengthening of the arms of Nebuchadnezzar and putting the 
 
172 EZEKIEL— CHAP. XXXL 
 
 eword into it for the execution of God"^ judgments — are the leading 
 
 figures of this passage. Some critics interpret the two arms of 
 
 Egypt's king to be two portions of his territory; others, two royal 
 families : but the general sense, his military power, his means of 
 resisting his great Chaldean enemy — is more natural and probable. 
 
 The sword is the appropriate emblem of military strength. 
 
 Here, as often elsewhere, we have the king of Babylon " the serv- 
 ant of the Lord." The curse of Egypt includes a great slaughter 
 of her people and their dispersion into foreign lands. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 This chapter is one distinct and entire message, presenting under 
 the figure of a cedar of Lebanon the case of Assyria, as a lesson 
 of warning to Egypt. If Assyria, so splendid and magnificent in 
 her greatness, yet went down with a crash that astounded the na- 
 tions, what, Pharaoh, shall be thy doom ? Be not so vain as to 
 imagine that thy greatness and glory, so obviously less than those 
 of Assyria, can insure thee against a like terrible fall ! This mes- 
 sage dates only one month and a fraction before the fall of Jeru- 
 salem. The fall of Assyria, referred to here as a fact of past his- 
 tory, occurred B. C. 625; i. e., thirty-seven years before the date of 
 this message. Hence it was still fresh in the minds of Ezekiel's 
 
 readers. The figure which is finely sustained throughout the 
 
 chapter is one of exquisite beauty. The Assyrian power was a 
 noble cedar of Lebanon, lofty and fair, of far outspreading mag- 
 nificent foliage; his roots reaching out to living waters; all the 
 fowls of heaven nestled in his boughs ; all the beasts of the field 
 made their homes under his shade; — but he became proud, and 
 God laid him low, and brought him down to the under-world, even 
 as mortals die and go down to the shades beneath.— — Art thou, O 
 Egypt, great like this Assyrian cedar ? If in thy vanity thou hast 
 compared thyself to proud Assyria, think whether for thy pride 
 
 thou shalt not suffer an equally terrible fall! The reader will 
 
 recall the similar figure (chap. 17) wliere the king of Judah ap 
 pears as a young cedar ; also in Dan. 4, where a vast, magnificent 
 tree represents the greatness and glory of Nebuchadnezzar. The 
 latter case suffices to show that this figure is Chaldean, and hence 
 entirely appropriate for Ezekiel to use in addressing his brethren 
 residing there, 
 
 1. And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third 
 month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the 
 Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 2. Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and 
 to his multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness? 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXI. 173 
 
 3. Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair 
 branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high 
 stature; and his top was among the thick boughs. 
 
 " Whom art thou Uke in thy greatness ?" " Behold ;" look at this 
 case of the Assyrian power, well known to Egypt; for ages her 
 great rival and military antagonist. Is thy greatness more than 
 
 hers ? He then proceeds to set forth the splendors of the great 
 
 Assyrian empire. In v. 3, "with a shadowing shroud," means 
 
 with foliage casting a deep shade. In the clause, " his top among 
 the thick boughs," the word for top means the woolly iiift, crown- 
 ing the summit of its foliage. Hengstenberg claims that the word 
 rendered ^^ thick boughs" means ^^ the clouds;" his tuft lay among 
 the clouds. The same clause occurs elsewhere only in vs. 10, 14, 
 and chap. 19: 11, To say only that his top was among the thick 
 boughs implies equality in height with other trees, and not superi- 
 ority, and consequently does not meet the demands of the context. 
 Hence, "among the clouds," is better. 
 
 4. The waters made him great, the deep set him up on 
 high with her rivers running round about his plants, and 
 sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field. 
 
 5. Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees 
 of the field, and his boughs w^ere multiplied, and his 
 branches became long because of the multitude of waters, 
 when he shot forth. 
 
 6. All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, 
 and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring 
 forth their young, and under his shadow dVelt all great 
 nations. 
 
 7. Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his 
 branches: for his root was by great waters. 
 
 A supply of water in that climate insured exuberant fertility. 
 
 In a few instances the prophet drops his figure and gives his 
 
 thought in literal terms; e. g., "under his shadow dwelt all great 
 nations," i. e., enjoying his military protection and paying him 
 tribute. This was the relation sustained in those ages by the 
 smaller powers to the great central one. Assyria, Clialdea, and 
 Persia, were successively such central powers. 
 
 8. The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: 
 the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut 
 trees were not like his branches; not any tree in the gar- 
 den of God was like unto him in his beauty. 
 
 9. I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: 
 so that all the trees of Eden, that ivere in the garden of 
 God, envied him. 
 
174 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 The prophet thinks of Eden, the o;arden of God, as a model of 
 superlative fertility and beauty. This and similar allusions {e. g., 
 chap. 28: 13) show that the Jews of that age had some knowledge 
 of the primeval state of man, doubtless as much as has come down 
 to us in the account given by Moses in Genesis. It is safe to as- 
 sume that they had this. " These cedars in the garden of God 
 
 could not hide him," in the sense of overshadowing and surpassing 
 him in their beauty and their shade. " Chestnut," Gesenius ren- 
 ders — the " plane-tree." 
 
 10. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because thou 
 hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top 
 among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his 
 height ; 
 
 11. I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the 
 mighty one of the heathen ; he shall surely deal with him : 
 I have driven him out for his wickedness. 
 
 12. And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut 
 him off, and have left him : upon the mountains and in all 
 the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are 
 broken by all the rivers of the land ; and all the people of 
 the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left 
 him. 
 
 13. Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven re- 
 main, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his 
 branches : 
 
 14. To the end that none of all the trees by the waters 
 exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top 
 among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their 
 height, all that drink Avater : for they are all delivered unto 
 death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the 
 children of men, with them that go down to the pit. 
 
 Here again the prophet blends literal with figurative language ; 
 e. g.^ "his heart is lifted up in his height," v. 10; also in v. 11, and 
 part of v. 12. The change of person from "thou" to "he" is not 
 uncommon in Hebrew and does not necessarily involve any change 
 
 in the personage whose pride is here described. This terrible 
 
 example of ruin had for its moral purpose to admonish all other 
 great trees of like magnificence tliat they be not proud and vain, 
 for they are all doomed to die. The greatest and proudest nations 
 must go down, like frail mortal men, to the under-world, the pit. 
 The phrase, "the nether parts of the earth," is more strictly, the 
 " under- world," according to the opinions of the ancients that this 
 was the locality of the dead. 
 
 15. Thus saith the Lord God ; In the day when he -went 
 down to the grave I caused a mourning, I covered the deep 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXI. 175 
 
 for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great 
 waters were stayed: and I caused Lebanon to mourn for 
 hifla, and all the trees of the field fainted for him. 
 
 This is graphic and beautiful. In the day when this proud 
 cedar fell, I the Lord shrouded the deep in mourning for him (the 
 deep with its great waters had set him up on high, v. 4), and I re- 
 strained its waters, and made Lebanon mourn over the loss of her 
 
 preeminent glory. The trees of the field were languid, faint of 
 
 heart, in view of his fall, thinking of their own possible, perhaps 
 probable, doom! 
 
 16. I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, 
 when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into 
 the pit : and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of 
 Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the 
 nether parts of the earth. 
 
 17. They also went down into hell with him unto them 
 that be slain with the sword ; and they that were his arm, that 
 dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen. 
 
 The trees of Eden are " comforted," probably in the sense of a 
 satisfaction to their envious feelings (v. 9); a sort of revenge upon 
 him for his great pride, like the feeling which Isaiah (14: 9-16) 
 imputes to the kings of the nations in the under-world when they 
 see great Lucifer coming down to their land of weakness and 
 
 shade; "Art thou become weak as we?" In v, 17, "they that 
 
 were his arm," his military strength — allied or tributary nations, 
 who had dwelt under his shadow — now go down with him to the pit 
 of destruction. 
 
 18. To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness 
 among the trees of Eden ? yet shalt thou be brought down 
 with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts (f£ the earth: 
 thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them 
 that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his 
 multitude, saith the Lord God. 
 
 In this question — "To' whom art thoji thus like," etc., I under- 
 stand the prophet to turn from the Assyrian cedar to bis Egyptian 
 rival. Art thou as great as this proud Assyrian, or greater? Know 
 thou that if thy pride is great like his, thy doom must needs be fear- 
 fully appalling no less than his. The mighty God before whom 
 great Assyria could not stand is equally able to bring do"svn thy 
 greatness, paralyze thy power, and cast thoe into tliat under-world 
 
 where the silence of death reigns supreme ! >^o puny are the 
 
 mightiest nations when they measure arms with the (ireat God! 
 So vain it is for any of them, even the most magnificent in splen- 
 dor, to lift themselves up against their Infinite Maker and Lord 1 
 
176 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXII. 
 
 OHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 This chapter in hro distinct messages, viz., vs. 1-16 and vs. 17- 
 32, with each its distinct date, completes the prophecy concerning 
 the fall of Egypt before the arms of Nebuchadnezzar. The date 
 of the first portion is seven months and a fraction after the fall of 
 Jerusalem; the second portion is still fifteen days later; for the 
 month not being mentioned, we must assume it to be the same as 
 in V. 1. The danger to Egyj^t from the Chaldean arms was man- 
 ifestly greater and more obvious after the fall of Jerusalem than 
 at any time before. Whether the Chaldeans invaded Egypt near 
 this time and before their long siege of Tyre, remains in some 
 doubt. Profane history at this period affords only the most scanty 
 records. That they swept over Egypt with terrible devastation 
 after their work on Tyre was finished, admits of no doubt. It is 
 not improl)able that they made a raid upon their old enemy before 
 they invested Tyre. 
 
 1. And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth 
 month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the 
 Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 2. Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king 
 of Egyj^t, and say unto him. Thou art like a young lion 
 of the nations, and thou art as a w^hale in the seas; and 
 thou earnest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the 
 waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers. 
 
 "Take up a lamentation" — ^prepare a mourning elegy which 
 may be sung as a dirge over his fall. It was appropriate in such 
 a dirge to celebrate the valor and recount the great deeds of the 
 dead. In the present case the prophet is not excessively eulogistic. 
 God loves truth. Kings often compare themselves and are com- 
 pared to a lioti — first in power and terror among the beasts of the 
 wilderness. Solomon says, " The king's wrath is as the roaring 
 of a lion (Prov. 19 : 12). Isaiah has the same figure (chap. 5 : 29, 
 
 30). A second figure makes him " a whale in the sea, ' as our 
 
 translators have it; but they have rendered the same Hebrew Avord 
 (chap. 29: 3) "the great tj^-agon." In both cases, we must think 
 
 of the crocodile — the speciality of the Nile. "Thou earnest forth," 
 
 has the strong sense, thou didst rush forth as an armed host to the 
 battle, breaking out from thy rivers. Pharaoh and his multitude 
 are thought of asfoxdiyig the Nile and its disparted mouths and nu- 
 merous canals with their feet — perhaps in the sense of abusing the 
 blessings God had given them in that noble river. 
 
 3. Thus saith the Lord God ; I will therefore spread out 
 my net over thee with a company of many people; and 
 they shall bring thee up in my net. 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXII. 177 
 
 4. Then will I leave tliee upon tlie land, I will cast thee 
 forth upon the open field, and will cause all the fowls of 
 the heaven to remain upon thee, and I will fill the beasts 
 of the whole earth with thee. 
 
 5. And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and fill 
 the valleys with thy height: 
 
 6. I will also water with thy blood the land wherein 
 thou swimmest, even to the mountains ; and the rivers 
 shall be full of thee. 
 
 Consequently, with the aid of many people (the Chaldeans), the 
 Lord will take up this monster crocodile, Pharaoh, in his net, and 
 leave him cast out upon the land in the open field, meat for fowls 
 
 and beasts. ''Fill the valley with thy height^' is rather, with the 
 
 heaps of thy dead, for the doom of Pharaoh involves the destruction 
 of his people. Gesenius and Maurer suggest a slight change in 
 the vowels by which the word would mean, worms that would feed 
 
 on the carcasses of the slain Egyptians. " The land wherein 
 
 thou swimmest" is literally the land of thine inundations — the 
 region inundated by the Nile, which having been the great object 
 of their pride (see chap. 29 : 3) should be made prominent in God's 
 judgments. Hence the Lord said, "I will make this whole land 
 even to the mountain-tops drink thy blood," and the river of which 
 thou hast been so proud shall be filled with it. 
 
 7. And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, 
 and make the stars thereof dark ; I will cover the sun with 
 a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. 
 
 8. All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over 
 thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saitli the Lord God. 
 
 The figure changes. Calamity is here represented by darkness, 
 perhaps with a tacit reference to the plague of darkness (Ex. 10 : 
 21-23). "When I shall put them out;" meaning, extinguish them 
 from being a light among the nations. Cloud and eclipse combine 
 to shut off the lights of heaven and to doom the land to thick dark- 
 ness. This figure appears frequently in the poetic portions of the 
 Bible, sometimes in the strong form of '" turning the sun into dark- 
 ness and the moon into blood." See Isa. 13: 10, and Joel 2: 10, 
 30, 31, and 3: 15. The general sense is the same throughout all 
 these variations of the figure, viz., exceeding great calamity, fearful 
 ruin. Light is a natural emblem. of joy and prosperity; darkness, 
 of whatever is fearful and appalling. 
 
 9. I will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall 
 bring thy destruction among the nations, into the countries 
 which thou hast not known. 
 
 10. Yea, I will make many people amazed at thee, and 
 their kings shall be horribly afraid for thee, wdien I shall 
 
178 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXII. 
 
 brandish my sword before them ; and they shall tremble at 
 every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of thy 
 fall. 
 
 This is the effect of Pharaoh's fall upon other nations, even those 
 whom he had little known, lying out beyond the range of his influ- 
 ence. This reference implies that the fall of Egypt would impress 
 
 the fear of the Chaldean arms upon remote nations. " When I 
 
 shall bring thy destruction among the nations," i. e.^ shall cause the 
 report of it to go forth to them. They shall fear exceedingly for 
 their own lives. 
 
 11. For thus saitli the Lord God; The sword of the king 
 of Babylon shall come upon thee. 
 
 12. By the swords of the mighty will I cause thy multi- 
 tude to fall, the terrible of the nations, all of them : and 
 they shall spoil the pomp of Egypt, and all the multitude 
 thereof shall be destroyed. 
 
 The prophecy is here entirely definite. The conquering, wasting 
 power is the Chaldean. They shall spoil the glory of Egypt, waste 
 her treasures, pillage her cities, break down her national strength, 
 and lay her land for the time quite desolate. 
 
 13. I will destroy also all the beasts thereof from beside 
 the great waters ; neither shall the foot of man trouble them 
 any more, nor the hoofs of beasts trouble them. 
 
 14. Then will I make their waters deej), and cause their 
 rivers to run like oil, saith the Lord God. 
 
 15. When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate, and 
 the country shall be destitute of that whereof it was full, 
 when I shall smite all them that dwell therein, then shall 
 they know that I am the Lord. 
 
 The cattle for which Egypt was celebrated, and of which she 
 thought so much that the cow was the highest object of her wor- 
 ship, came under this sweeping curse. We shall see the force of 
 the language if we consider how their want of water would bring 
 them to the rivers and canals to drink, and how they would poach 
 the banks and foul the waters with their feet. But God would so 
 completely destroy them that no foot of beast or of man should foul 
 those waters any more. "Then will I" (v. 14) make their wat- 
 ers, not "deep, but quiet^ causing them to subside and lie undis- 
 turbed, so that they would run freely and clear as oil. 
 
 16. This is the lamentation wherewith they shall lament 
 her ; the daughters of the nations shall lament her : they 
 shall lament for her, even for Egypt, and for all her multi- 
 tude, saith the Lord God. 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXII. 179 
 
 " The daughters of th» nations." Women in oriental life were 
 the professional mourners. See Jer. 9 : 17-21, 
 
 17. It came to pass also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth 
 day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, 
 saying, 
 
 18. Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast 
 them down, even her, and the daughters of the famous na- 
 tions, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go 
 down into the pit. 
 
 19. Whom dost thou pass in beauty? go down, and be 
 thou laid with the uncircumcised. 
 
 20. They shall fall in the midst of them that are slain by 
 the sword : she is delivered to the sword : draw her and all 
 her multitudes. 
 
 This entire second message commencing here constitutes another 
 
 elegy over the fall of Egypt. In v. 18, " cast them do^vn," means 
 
 — predict their fall ; the prophets being said to do what they simply 
 predict as to be done. So Jer. 1 : 10, and elsewhere. These al- 
 lusions to the under-world as in chap. 26 : 20, are based on the 
 popular view that the dead go at death to subterranean regions. 
 Nations are thought of here as going to the same under- world when 
 they fall. David thought of his enemies as going there (Ps. 63 : 9), 
 and the writer of Ps. 88 : 4-6, seems to have used this conception 
 to represent an extreme prostration, yet short of actual death. But 
 the leading passage, specially in the mind of our prophet, is doubt- 
 less Isa. 14. "Whom dost thou pass [surpass] in beauty ?" No 
 
 matter how much thou mayest have surpassed the wealthiest and 
 proudest nations of thy time : thine end is to go down to that under- 
 world of darkness and gloom, to be laid with the uncircumcised 
 
 heathen nations for Avhom God has no special favor. The clause, 
 
 "She is delivered to the sword," may better be read; "the sword 
 is delivered," i. e., to thine, enemies — put into their hand for thy 
 destruction. "Drag her out" — bring her forth from her strong- 
 holds, and slay her utterly. 
 
 21. The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out 
 of the midst of hell with them that help him : they are gone 
 down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword. 
 
 The sense is, The strongest of his mighty ones shall accost him 
 and his helpers, from the midst of hell. They have already gone 
 down and are lying there, the uncircumcised, slain with the sword. 
 
 The reference here to Isa. 14 is obvious. " Hell from beneath 
 
 is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the 
 dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised 
 up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All tlie}^ shall 
 speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? Art 
 thou become like unto us? Thy pomp is brought down to the 
 
180 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXII. 
 
 grave, and the noise of thy viols: the woftn is spread under thee, 
 and the worms cover thee. How art thou fallen from heaven, O 
 Lucifer, son of the morning ! how art thou cut down to the ground, 
 which didst weaken the nations ! " 
 
 22. Asshur is there and all her company : his graves are 
 about him : all of them slain, fallen by the sword : 
 
 23. Whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, and her 
 company is round about her grave : all of them slain, fallen 
 by the sword, which caused terror in the land of the living. 
 
 The general statement, " the strong among the mighty," here be- 
 comes specific, and first names Assyria, the ancient rival and enemy 
 of Egypt. She has been destroyed already and lies there with her 
 
 hosts. "In the sides of the pit;" the deep recesses, the lowest 
 
 depths. In Jer. 6: 22, "The sides of the earth" are the most re- 
 mote regions. So also Jer. 25 : 32. The same word is used for the 
 inner part of a house or a ship, 1 Kings 6 : 16, Amos 6 : 10, and 
 
 Jon. 1 : 15. In her day Assyria was mighty on the earth and 
 
 smote the hearts of the nations with terror. Now " none so poor 
 to do her reverence." Let Egypt take warning! 
 
 24. There is Elam and all her multitude round about her 
 grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are gone 
 down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, which 
 caused their terror in the land of the living; yet have they 
 borne their shame wdtli them that go down to the pit. 
 
 25. They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain witb 
 all her multitude : her graves are round about him : all of 
 them uncircumcised, slain by the sword : though their terror 
 was caused in the land of the living, yet have they borne 
 their shame with them that go down to the pit : he is put 
 in the midst of them that be slain. 
 
 Elam has suffered overthrow: her nationality has been smitten. 
 Let her be added to the list of the great nations in the under-world, 
 ready to meet Egypt when she comes down to the same abode. 
 Elam has had her day of power, a terror to the living nations ; hut 
 she also hears the shame of those who go down to a dishonored 
 national grave. 
 
 26. There is Mesheck, Tubal, and all her multitude : her 
 graves are round about him : all of them uncircumcised, 
 slain by the sword, though they caused their terror in the 
 land of the living. 
 
 27. And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fiillcn 
 of the uncircumcised, that are gone down to hell with their 
 weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXII. 181 
 
 their heads ; but their iniquities shall be upou their bones, 
 though they ivere the terror of the mighty in the land of the 
 living. 
 
 28. Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncir- 
 cumcised, and shalt lie down with them that are slain by the 
 sword. 
 
 For "Mesheck and Tubal/^ see chap. 27: 13. V. 27 should 
 
 obviously commence with an interrogation ; Shall not all these lie 
 with the mighty ? There is no apparent reason why the negative 
 sense should be taken here in opposition to the general strain of 
 
 the entire context. It was one of the honors paid to conquerors 
 
 to bury their Aveapons of war in the same grave with themselves. 
 So Alexander the Great was buried with his sword. This usage 
 suggests to the prophet that their iniquities also lie upon their 
 bones — those iniquities for which God has doomed them to such an 
 extermination from the land of the living. 
 
 29. There is Edom, her kings, and all her princes, which 
 with their might are laid by them that iverx slain by the 
 sword : they shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with them 
 that go down to the pit. 
 
 30. There be the princes of the north, all of them, and 
 all the Zidonians, which are gone down with the slain : with 
 their terror they are ashamed of their might ; and they lie 
 uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword, and bear 
 their shame with them that go down to the pit. 
 
 Edom, with the nations of the north, including the Zidonians, fill 
 out the catalogue. Essentially the same points arc made in regard 
 to each and all. They have been subdued and broken; their na- 
 tionality eclipsed if not extinguished under the righteous judgments 
 of the Almighty, and they lie in the under-world ready to greet 
 Egypt's proud king, representing her fallen nationality, when he 
 
 shall come to join them. In the middle clause of v. 30, "with 
 
 their terror they are ashamed of their might," I understand to mean 
 that despite of their terrihlcness once among the nations of men, they 
 are now ashamed of their might — thoroughly weak and powerless. 
 
 31. Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over 
 all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by 
 the sword, saith the Lord God. 
 
 32. For I have caused my terror in the land of the liv- 
 ing : and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised 
 with them that are slain with the sword, even Pharaoh and 
 all his multitude, saith the Lord God. 
 
 Pharaoh shall have the comfort of whatever sympathy the fellow- 
 ship in shame and defeat of such nations as these may afiford. 
 
182 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXIII. 
 
 V. 32 may be translated, "For I have made him a terror [to other 
 nations] in the land of the living; but novi' [prospectively] he is 
 laid out .[in his narrow bed] in the midst of the uncircumcised," 
 etc. The prophet marks the contrast between the terror he once 
 impressed on the nations, and his utter powerlessness now in his 
 
 final house in the under-world. This poetic drapery thrown round 
 
 the idea of an extinct nationality — a nation itself dying out from 
 among the powers of the earth under the righteous judgments of 
 God^s grand and impressive. Its lessons belong to all time. The 
 nations of our own age who become great in military power, mag- 
 nificent in their wealth and splendor, and then forget God, disown 
 his authority, and plant their foot upon his higher law and oppress 
 his sufi'ering poor, have ample cause for fear and trembling. Are 
 they mighty against the Great God ? Can they evade the search of 
 his eye and cope with the might of his arm? Or can they bring 
 his views of right and justice down to their own? Or will they 
 scoff at the very idea of his rule over the nations of men? Let 
 them ponder the lessons he has given them in his holy word, con- 
 firmations of which are written also on all the face of the world's 
 history since nations began to be, to this hour. Can there be a 
 greater madness than to dare Jehovah's wrath? 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 This chapter has a manifest unity of purpose throughout, its aim 
 considered as a series of revelations from God to the prophet being 
 first to impress his own mind with a just sense of his responsibility 
 for the souls of the people, and then to give him certain messages 
 which demanded precisely this conscious sense of responsibility, 
 
 and this true fidelity in their deliverance to the people. The 
 
 messages to be borne to the people were, (1.) An earnest rebuke and 
 refutation of the charge against God of crushing the people down 
 under his judgments in a way to crush out all hope from their souls 
 (vs. 10-20.): (2.) A message respecting the survivors in the land 
 of Judah, designed to slay their fiilse hopes and open their eyes 
 both to their own sins and to the certain ruin of their own land : 
 and (3.) A rebuke of the heartless but nicely-critical hearing of 
 
 the people in exile. In a moral and spiritual point of view, the 
 
 chapter is one of the highest interest and value, bearing with im- 
 mense power on the spiritual life of the people among whom Eze- 
 kiel labored, and applying with equal force to the spiritual state of 
 multitudes in every gospel land. 
 
 1. Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 2. Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and 
 say unto them. When I bring the sword upon a land, if the 
 people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him 
 for their watchman : 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXIII. 183 
 
 3. If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he 
 blow the trumpet, and warn the people ; 
 
 4. Then, whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, 
 and taketh not warning ; if the sword come and take him 
 away, his blood shall be upon his own head. 
 
 5. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not 
 warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh 
 warning shall deliver his soul. 
 
 6. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow 
 not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the 
 sword come, and take any person from among them, he is 
 taken away in his iniquity ; but his blood will I require at 
 the watchman's hand. 
 
 In view of the predatory and nomadic habits of that age and 
 country, the business of the watchman is drawn here to the life. 
 He does not stand on some lofty tower or battlement of the walled 
 city; but he is a scout, far out on the borders of the land, on the 
 mountain tops, where his practiced eye will command a sweep of 
 the great traveled routes which an invading foe must take. Then, 
 trumpet in hand, he is ready to give the shrill and long notes of 
 danger when he sees the sword of some invading foe approaching. 
 The received translation of v. 2, "A man of their coasts; " im- 
 plies that the watchman would be chosen from those who resided 
 on the borders of the land. A slightly different sense of the He- 
 brew word rendered "coasts" is admissible and preferable, viz., a 
 man of their lohole number — one of their men. This word is so used 
 in Gen. 47: 2; "He took five out of the whole number of his breth- 
 ren." Also Num. 22: 41. "Balak brought Balaam up into the 
 high places of Baal that there he might see the utmost part of the 
 people " — the whole mass. Literally it means, to the very end of 
 
 them; which implies seeing them all. The same illustration of 
 
 the moral duty and responsibility of the Lord's prophets and indeed 
 of all his ministering servants appears chap. 3 : 17-21. The case 
 supposed and its application are entirely clear. When it is made 
 a man's special duty to give warning of danger, when the life of a 
 nation depends on his faithfulness, he has but one course to think 
 of; he must be on the alert to mark approaching danger, and must 
 be faithful to make it known to his people. Else the blood of souls 
 will be required of him. If he does this duty faithfully, and the 
 people, duly warned, give no heed to his warnings, their blood will 
 be on their own head. He has done his duty and they die in their 
 folly and under their own righteous curse. — —So every minister of 
 the gospel, and indeed every Christian man or woman, each in their 
 own sphere, bear responsibilities for others' souls. If they see others 
 in sin, exposed to perdition, they are solemnly bound to give them 
 warning of this most fearful of all possible dangers. In love to 
 their souls, under the bonds of our broad comprehensive relation- 
 
184 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXIII. 
 
 ship as fellow-travelers onward to a world of eternal retribution, 
 there can be no exemption from this responsibility. Special cir- 
 cumstances may intensify it, but no possible circumstances can 
 exempt any human being, intelligent of obligation, from the duty 
 of warning faithfully whomsoever he may see in this danger. It 
 is a responsibility too solemn to be trifled with ; too momentous in 
 its results to be treated with indifference ; too positive and pressing 
 to be safely evaded. Alas ! that so few are found faithful ! 
 
 7. So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman 
 unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the 
 word at my mouth, and warn them from me. 
 
 8. When I say unto the wicked, O Avicked man, thou 
 shalt surely die ; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked 
 from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; 
 but his blood will I require at thy hand. 
 
 9. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to 
 turn from it ; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die 
 in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. 
 
 The Lord himself makes the application of this case of the watch- 
 man. It needs no further explanation. The analogy is full of 
 pertinence and force. 
 
 10. Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house 
 of Israel ; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and 
 our sins he upon us, and we pine away in them, how should 
 we then live? 
 
 " Therefore," implies that the prophet's responsibilities come into 
 play at once as a watchman in rebuking this slanderous imputation 
 upon the justice and goodness of God. Since you arc such a 
 watchman over my people Israel, note the spirit of this saying of 
 theirs, sift its meaning and its implications to the bottom, and then 
 solemnly warn the people not to delude themselves and not to im- 
 pugn the goodness and justice of God by this implied charge. 
 
 "If our transgressions and our sins be upon us' — made fast and 
 pressing us down hopelessly — "and we pine away in them" — 
 doomed to waste away to utter ruin under their crushing weight — 
 "how should we then live?" Where is the hope for us? What 
 can we do but lie down and die ? Doomed to become waste and 
 desolate for the sins of the nation, what hope can we have of life ? 
 
 Twice the Lord had used the same word of the doom of the 
 
 people that is here rendered, ^^pine mooi/," viz., chap. 4: 17 — ren- 
 dered, "consume away for their iniquities;" and chap. 24: 23, in 
 precisely the same words; " Ye shall pine away in your iniquities." 
 Hence the occasion (not the justification, but only the occasion) for 
 this plea of a hopeless doom, which assumed that God was heart- 
 lessly severe and which ignored his repeated promise of mercy to 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXIII. 185 
 
 the penitent. Hence the Lord replies as one abused and wronged 
 bj an unjust implication. 
 
 11. Say unto them, As I live saitli the Lord God, I have 
 no pleasure in the death of the wicked ; but that the wicked 
 turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your 
 evil ways ; for w^hy Avill ye die, O house of Israel ? 
 
 This implied charge touched the character and the heart of God 
 in a tender point. Nothing could be so cruelly unjust! Had not 
 their OAvn God and Father loved them and borne with them in all 
 long-suffering and with exceedingly great compassion? Had he 
 ever said or done any thing which could with any fairness be con- 
 strued to imply that he had pleasure in the death of the wicked ? 
 Never! On the contrary he had always shown that his heart was 
 with the penitent, and his highest joy in those who turned, sorrow- 
 ing for their sins, to implore his merey. Had he not ]3esought 
 them to turn from their wicked ways and live? Had not* his heart 
 and hand labored for this result? Had he ever turned coldly away 
 from those who humbly sought his mercy ? Never. So he declares 
 here, under the solemnities of his oath, ajffirming his innocence of 
 the cruel charge which the people had by implication brought 
 against him, and again placing the issue between themselves and 
 him on its true merits — himself entreating them to turn and live, 
 and manifesting his most tender solicitude to secure their obedience 
 and life, so that he shall not be compelled to enforce his fearful 
 
 judgments in retribution unto their swift destruction. "Why 
 
 will ye die?" puts the issue where it truly lies — in the free choice 
 of responsible moral agents. Every exhortation and entreaty from 
 the Lord had fully implied their power as rational and moral ])e- 
 ings to see their sins and God's righteous claims, and to yield their 
 heart to the force of his appeals. This question rests the case on 
 their OAvn free purpose and choice. If ye die under my earnest 
 entreaties that ye turn and live, it will be because ye loill die ! It 
 will not be because I have doomed you to a hopeless death despite 
 of any efforts you may make toward life. It will not be because 
 I have any pleasure in your death and feel no interest in your re- 
 pentance unto life. It will be only and wholly because, with life 
 and death both before you for your own free choice, you will choose 
 death ! 
 
 12. Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of 
 thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not 
 deliver him in the day of his transgression : as for the 
 wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the 
 day that he turneth from his w^ickedness ; neither shall the 
 righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day 
 that he sinneth. 
 
 13. AVlien I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely 
 live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, 
 
186 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXIII. 
 
 all his righteousness shall not be remembered ; but for his 
 iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it. 
 
 14. Again, when I say unto the wicked. Thou shalt 
 surely die ; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is 
 lawful and right; 
 
 15. If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he 
 had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without commit- 
 ting iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. 
 
 16. None of his sins that he hath committed shall be 
 mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful 
 and right ; he shall surely live. 
 
 17. Yet the children of thy people say. The way of the 
 Lord is not equal : but as for them, their way is not equal. 
 
 18. When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, 
 and committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby. 
 
 19. But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do 
 that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby. 
 
 20. Yet ye say. The way of the Lord is not equal. O 
 ye house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his 
 ways. 
 
 See chap. 18, where the same points are made with even greater 
 fullness and more ample repetition. The bearing of these state- 
 ments to the point now in hand is obvious. The Lord insists that 
 he holds the door most fully open for the repentance of every 
 sinner. If he will turn from his wickedness to cordial obedience, 
 he shall surely live. If he turns from a just and upright life to 
 sin, he shall certainly die. If the people charge their God Avith 
 injustice in his ways, he denies the charge, and avers that their 
 ways are utterly unjust and unequal toward himself His judg- 
 ments of them will evermore be precisely according to their ways. 
 
 21. And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our cap- 
 tivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, 
 that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, 
 saying. The city is smitten. 
 
 22. Now the hand of the Lord was upon me in the even- 
 ing, before he that was escaped came; and had opened my 
 mouth, until he came to me in the morning ; and my 
 mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb. 
 
 The most obvious mode of reckoning makes this period about 
 one and a half years after the fall of the city. Consequently 
 some have supposed there must be an error in the text, since they 
 assume that tlie news of that event must have reached the prophet 
 and his brethren in Chaldea long ere this. Yet this may possibly 
 have been his first intelligence of the fall of the city, delayed so 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXIIL 187 
 
 long by causes unknown to us. It should be noted that the word 
 revealed from the Lord (vs. 24-29) came to meet a feeling among 
 tlie scattered remnant in Judea which developed itself some time 
 subsequent to the fall of the city. Hence the date as here given 
 
 i§ doubtless correct. V. 22 implies that during the evening and 
 
 night previous to the arrival of this messenger, the Lord had re- 
 markably opened his mouth to speak — perhaps by impressing his 
 own solemn responsibilities as a prophet-watchman, in the line of 
 the thought in vs. 1-9; and perhaps also in anticipation of the 
 effect of these tidings upon the people. The fall of the city could 
 scarcely fail to make solemn impressions on the exiles. It would 
 create a crisis, demanding the most urgent pressure of truth upon 
 their heart and conscience. Many of their cherished worldly hopes 
 were thereby utterly blasted; could they be brought now to aban- 
 don all such hopes and seek their good in the Lord alone ? Such 
 
 crises occur in the life of communities, and of individuals also, in 
 which if the servants of God are in true communion with him they 
 will find their souls deeply moved with zeal and love, and their 
 mouths opened to press the truth of God upon men for their salva- 
 tion. The philosophy of revivals of religion turns on this great 
 law of the divine administration in providence and grace. 
 
 ^&' 
 
 23. Then the word of the Lord came unto me, sayinj^ 
 
 24. Son of man, they that inhabit those wastes of the 
 land of Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he in- 
 herited the land : but we are many ; the land is given us 
 for inheritance. 
 
 Those who were then " inhabiting the wastes of the land of Israel " 
 were the small remnant of poor men that survived the fall of the 
 city. Jeremiah has given their history in chaps. 40-44. They are 
 seen here deluding themselves with the hope that the land was 
 given them for their permanent inheritance. Their argument ran 
 thus : Abraham was but one man ; yet God gave him this whole 
 land by promise, and all he could use, in fact. We are many; 
 certainly he will give it to us to re-people and to restore to its former 
 
 greatness. Ah, how could they overlook the contrast between 
 
 Abraham's faith in God and their unbelief; Abraham's conscien- 
 tious, consistent, most exemplary piety, and their persistent, deep- 
 rooted, and unutterably loathsome iniquity ! They seem not to have 
 had the slightest sense of the moral grounds on which God gave 
 Abraham the land of Canaan. 
 
 25. Wherefore say unto them. Thus saith the Lord God ; 
 Ye eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes toward your 
 idols, and shed blood : and shall ye possess the land ? 
 
 26. Ye stand upon your sword, ye work abomination, 
 and ye defile every one his neighbor's wife: and shall ye 
 possess the land? 
 
188 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXIII. 
 
 27. Say thou thus unto them, Thus saith the Lord God ; 
 As I live, surely they that are in the wastes shall fall by the 
 sword, and him that is in the open field will I give to the 
 beasts to be devoured, and they that be in the forts and in 
 the caves shall die of the pestilence. 
 
 28. For I will lay the land most desolate, and the pomp 
 of her strength shall cease ; and the mountains of Israel 
 shall be desolate, that none shall pass through. 
 
 29. Then shall they know that I am the Lord, when I 
 have laid the land most desolate because of all their abom- 
 inations which they have committed. 
 
 The Lord's reply is in two parts: (1.) To show them their sin 
 and appeal to their moral sense whether they could or ought to 
 possess the land (vs. 25, 26;) and (2.) To declare most solemnly 
 that he would give them to the sword and the land to utter desola- 
 tion, until they should know that he is the Lord, the righteous 
 
 Ruler and Judge of his apostate people (vs. 27-29). In v. 25, 
 
 "to eat with the blood" is to eat animal flesh with its own blood — 
 forbidden most explicitly (Gen. 9 : 4), and especially in the law by 
 Moses (Lev. 7: 26, and 17: 10, 14, and 19: 26). To "lift up the 
 eyes toward idols" is to regard them with reverence and worship. 
 " Shedding blood " is of course taking human life by violence. " Ye 
 stand upon your sword" means. Ye rely upon it, in place of rely- 
 ing upon God. Shall men guilty of such crimes inherit the land 
 
 of the Lord? Sooner would he make it as Sodom. In v. 27, 
 
 the word rendered "forts" is strongholds — sometimes artificial, i. e., 
 castles, fortresses; and sometimes places of great natural strength. 
 Coupled here with " caves," the latter is doubtless the sense. In 
 its wild mountain districts, Judea abounded with such caves and 
 fastnesses. The books of Samuel refer to them {e. g., 1 Sam. 13 : 6 ;) 
 
 so does Josephus. God will find out these wicked men in those 
 
 apparently secure retreats, and will smite them with pestilence. 
 
 So vain it must ever be to expect good from the Lord's hand while 
 living in sin, or to hope to escape his threatened judgments other- 
 wise than by turning heartily from one's iniquities. We look with 
 surprise mingled with pity and shame upon the infatuation and de- 
 lusion of that last remnant of wicked Jews in Judea. How happy 
 if their case did not exemplify a like delusion, and folly equally sad 
 and equally amazing, among myriads of sinners in gospel lands ! 
 
 30. Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still 
 are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the 
 houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, 
 saying. Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that 
 Cometh forth from the Lord. 
 
 31. And they come unto thee ^s the people cometh, and 
 they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXIII. 189 
 
 but they will not do them : for with their mouth they shew 
 much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. 
 
 32. And lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of 
 one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an in- 
 strument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not. 
 
 33. And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then 
 shall they know that a prophet hath been among them. 
 
 Here is an inside view of the moral life of the people among 
 whom Ezekiel lived and prophesied in Chaldea, showing how they 
 talked about him between themselves and behind his back; how 
 they sat and heard his messages ; how they enjoyed his rich, lively, 
 highly cultivated and finely poetic style, and said very compli- 
 mentary things about it and about him, but never thought of doin^ 
 the things which the Lord through him enjoined as their duty, and 
 only let their heart press on recklessly after their unrighteous gain. 
 The whole description is beautifully graphic and finely drawn, but in 
 its moral showing is exceedingly painful, revealing among that people 
 an intense depravity, and suggesting the fearful truth that other 
 myriads in gospel lands are using the preaching of the gospel in 
 the same way, for the same ends of amusement, the same gratifi- 
 cation of literary taste, and the same pride in displaying their crit- 
 ical skill in making comments on sermons. Ezekiel was a 
 
 prophet of rare literary merit. With astonishing variety in his 
 modes of illustration ; with great wealth of dramatic representation 
 and of poetic imagery, and with a style always rich and fervid, he 
 must have been eminently popular' in our modern sense of the term. 
 No wonder the people admired his genius and his culture, and 
 came to hear him as men go to hear a lovely song of one who hath 
 a pleasant voice and can play well on a fine instrument. But they 
 failed to notice that God sent Ezekiel with these engaging qualities 
 and encouraged him in their use, not to amuse their "itching 
 ears," and not even to gratify the universal sensibility to this sort 
 of pleasure, but for objects far higher than these; viz., to arrest 
 their attention and to make on their souls a deeper impression of the 
 great and solemn truths on which their temporal life and eternal 
 well-being depended. These were the ends that God and his 
 prophet had in view. Alas, that they should fail through the guilty 
 perversion of the hearers ! Alas, that these hearers should have 
 sought their own present low gratification, and should not have had 
 the moral sense and the sober thought to say. This tells us of our 
 own sin and peril — of our own God and duty — of our ovra. present 
 
 responsibility and future doom ! One tear of sympathy for Ezekiel. 
 
 How he must have felt under this strange and sad revelation of the 
 hearts of his hearers! Ah, (he must have said). Is this the only 
 outcome of all my expostulations and tears ; of all my domestic be- 
 reavements, my personal discomforts, my torturing solicitudes, my 
 daily prayers, the agony of my sympathy with a people bent on 
 ruin! Does it all end in this, that they hear me for their own 
 amusement and make my discourses the topics of their keen or 
 
190 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXIV. 
 
 their applauding criticism; but not a man of them thinks of saving 
 his own soul; not a man cares to turn from his sins that he may 
 
 live? Did not the good man's heart sink within him? Did he 
 
 not say, Ah me, how can I endure such flattery or such dispraise 
 (all the same), when the only real fruit for the great eventful 
 future is to be the deeper guilt* and the more awful doom of these 
 
 heartless hearers ! It is remarkable that this expose of the spirit 
 
 of Ezekiel's hearers should stand in such juxtaposition with the 
 Lord's admonition to him to do his duty faithfully as their spiritual 
 watchman. Let us hope that the quickened sense of this responsi- 
 bility more than counterbalanced the chilling influence naturally 
 resulting from such disclosures as were made in these last verses. 
 He might still have the joy of feeling that he had sought to please 
 
 God and to be faithful to their souls. The manner in which the 
 
 Lord meets this manifestation in the people should be noticed. 
 When my judgments shall break forth upon them (as they surely 
 must soon), " then shall they know that a prophet has been among 
 them!" a prophet, forewarning them from God of their impending 
 doom, and not a mere poet, stage-actor, or singer; to afford them 
 amusement and help them murder time, stifle conviction of truth, 
 and smooth their way to perdition! 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 In this chapter the Lord's people appear as his "^ocA-." The 
 figure of the shepherd and his sheep is maintained throughout. 
 The corrupt priests, false prophets, and wicked princes of Israel 
 and Judah stand here as the shepherds who have long had the care 
 of the Lord's flock. They are denounced; their wicked and ruinous 
 policy is portrayed ; and they receive their doom. The Lord him- 
 self assumes the care of his flock ; will raise up his servant David 
 to be their Shepherd and their Prince ; and so the highest prosperity 
 
 shall ensue. As to date, it must be assumed that this prophecy 
 
 follows the period named chap. 33: 21; i. e., follows the arrival of 
 the tidings that the city of Jerusalem is smitten. . Probably it was 
 brought out immediately afl:er. Remarkably in both Jeremiah and 
 Ezekiel, the strain of prophecy is that of warning and denunciation 
 before the fall of the city, but of consolation and promise after that 
 fall. The reason of this is obvious. Before, the people were vainly 
 self-confident: after, they were desponding. Before, they needed 
 stern rebuke; after, the inspirations of promise and of hope. So 
 God is wont to deal with his people. 
 
 1. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 2. Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, 
 prophesy, and say unto them. Thus saith the Lord God unto 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXIV. 191 
 
 the shepherds; Woe he to the shepherds of Israel that do 
 feed themselves ! should not the shepherds feed the flocks ? 
 
 3. Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill 
 them that are fed : but ye feed not the flock. 
 
 4. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye 
 healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that 
 which ivas broken, neither have ye brought again that which 
 was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was 
 lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. 
 
 5. And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd : 
 and they became meat to all the beasts of the field when 
 they were scattered. 
 
 6. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and 
 upon every high hill : yea, my flock was scattered upon all 
 the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after 
 them. 
 
 Shepherd life was familiar in all the East. Whole tribes and na- 
 tions subsisted mainly upon their flocks and herds. No wonder 
 therefore that it appears as a figure to illustrate the spiritual care 
 of the Lord's people. Jer. 23 : 1-4 gives the outlines of this en- 
 tire chapter of Ezekiel. The reader will readily recall the frequent 
 allusions to the shepherd and his flock in the discourses of our Lord, 
 especially in John 10. Nothing else in human life could furnish 
 illustrations of this thing at once so simple, so beautiful, and so per- 
 tinent. Those men of leading influence in the Jewish State — the 
 
 priests, the false prophets, and the princes — (for all these are in- 
 cluded here) had fed themselves only and never the flock. Selfish 
 men, they had sought only their own aggrandizement and not at all 
 the spiritual good of the people, or the honor of the God of Israel. 
 The case of the flock affords many apposite illustrations of this self- 
 ishness. A bad shepherd neglects the feeble, the sick, the maimed, 
 and the wandering; and appropriates the fat and well-conditioned 
 for his personal use. So had these vile men utterly neglected the 
 spiritual culture of the people and sought only their own personal 
 self-indulgence. 
 
 7. Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord ; 
 
 8. As I live, saith the Lord God, surely because my flock 
 became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast 
 of the field, because there ivas no shepherd, neither did my 
 shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed them- 
 selves, and fed not my flock ; 
 
 9. Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord ; 
 
 10. Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against the 
 shepherds ; and I will require my flock at their hand, and 
 cause them to cease from feeding the flock ; neither shall 
 
192 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXIV, 
 
 the shepherds feed themselves any more ; for I will deliver my 
 flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. 
 
 11. For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will 
 both search my sheep, and seek them out. 
 
 12. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that 
 he is among his sheep that are scattered ; so will I seek out 
 my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they 
 have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. 
 
 The two great points made here are (1.) That God is against 
 those vile shepherds and will hold them to a strict accountability; 
 and (2.) That he will depose them from their place and assume the 
 service himself. He will do this work faithfully. He will seek out 
 the wandering and the lost. Be his name praised for this promise ! 
 
 '"Scattered in the cloudy and dark day," looks to the scenes 
 
 of sore calamity through which the nation passed. As sheep would 
 very naturally scatter and become missing in a day of deep eclipse, 
 so the people of the Lord needed to be specially sought out after 
 those scenes of great national calamity, 
 
 13. And I wall bring them out from the j^eople, and 
 gather them from the countries, and wdll bring to their own 
 land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the 
 rivers, and in all the inhaited places of the country. 
 
 14. I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high 
 mountains of Israel shall their fold be : there shall they lie 
 in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the 
 mountains of Israel. 
 
 15. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie 
 down, saith the Lord God. 
 
 16. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that 
 which was driven away, and will bind uj) that ivhieh was 
 broken, and will strengthen that which was sick : but I will 
 destroy the fat and the strong ; I will feed them with judg- 
 ment. 
 
 Of course the language and figures used in conveying divine promise 
 to the Jews must be Jeivish, familiarly known. Scattered now in 
 exile, the first promise is restoration to their land. This is natural. 
 And it was true in its literal sense. The Lord did promise to re- 
 store them to their mother-land, — and fuljillcd it. But he promises 
 here more than he fulfilled then and there in the restoration under 
 Zerubabbel. This will appear more fully when we compare other 
 prophecies of Ezekiel parallel Avith this; e. g., chap. 3G: 24-38, and 
 37 : 15-28. See notes on these passages for a more full discussion of 
 
 the points involved. In the close of v. 16 a new fact appears — the 
 
 curse of God upon " the fat and the strong." Fatness of flesh is a 
 Hebrew symbol for hardness of heart. " Jeshurun" [the upright] 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXIV. 193 
 
 " waxed fat and kicked : thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, 
 thou art covered Avith fatness : then he forsook God who made him 
 and lightly esteemed the Rock of his Salvation." (Deut. 32 : 15)! 
 The "heart waxed gross" [fat] always indicated moral obtuseness. 
 See Ac. 28 : 27. Hence these terms refer here to the morally hard- 
 ened among the people, perhaps including the priests and false 
 prophets, though they appear previously as bad shepherds. The 
 sense is, all the hopelessly wicked. 
 
 17. And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord 
 God ; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, betAveen 
 the rams and the he-goats. 
 
 This is a discrimination between the morally good and the mor- 
 ally bad. The radical distinction between sheepand goats in their 
 temper and in their habits suggests the discrimination as to moral 
 
 character which the Lord will bring to light in his judgment. 
 
 Is not this passage the foundation of that remarkable language of 
 our Lord in reference to the final judgment (Mat. 25: 31-33)? 
 " Before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate 
 them one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the 
 
 18. Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up 
 the good pasture, but ye must tread down Avith your feet 
 the residue of your pastures ? and to have drunk of the 
 deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet ? 
 
 19. And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have 
 trodden with your feet ; and they drink that which ye have 
 fouled with your feet. 
 
 Here appears yet another illustration of the spirit and ways of 
 the vile shepherds who are now the he-goats, leaders of the flock, 
 or the fat ones, leading the lean. They not only eat up the good 
 pasture themselves, but trample down all they do not eat, reserving 
 nothing good for the feeble ; and they drink of the deep, placid and 
 pure waters, and then foul the rest with their feet — so that they 
 leave for the Lord's flock no grass but what they have trodden 
 down, and no water save what they have made foul. Was this a 
 small thing ? Was it not more than merely mean f Was it not 
 supremely wicked ? 
 
 20. Therefore thus saith the Lord God unto them ; Be- 
 hold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and be- 
 tween the lean cattle. 
 
 21. Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, 
 and pushed all the diseased wdth your horns, till ye have 
 scattered them abroad; 
 
 22. Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no 
 more be a prey ; and I will judge between cattle and cattle. 
 
 9 
 
194 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXIV. 
 
 The vile shepherds appear as the fat cattle, thrusting the feeble 
 and diseased with side and shoulder and pushing* them with the 
 horn. God will bring them to account and will save his flock from 
 such abuse. 
 
 23. And I will set up one Shepherd over them, and he 
 shall feed them, even my servant David ; he shall feed them, 
 and he shall be their shepherd. 
 
 24. And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant 
 David a prince among them ; I the Lord have spoken it 
 
 This " one shepherd, the Lord's " servant David," is the promised 
 Messiah. He can be no other. No other exposition of this promise 
 is possible, in harmony with the scope of the context, and the de- 
 mands of parallel passages. King David was the great model shep- 
 herd-king, walking in the main after the very heart of God, and, 
 therefore, of all the kings of the chosen people, the best representa- 
 tive and model of the great Messiah. This fact stands out with 
 freat prominence in numerous prophecies. See 2 Sam. 7 : 12-29, 
 's. 2 and 110, Isa. 9: 2-7 and 11: 1-10 and 42: 1-4, Jer. 23 : 5, 
 6, and 33: 14-22, Ezek. 37: 21-28, Hos. 3: 5, and Mic. 5: 2, 3. 
 This hst does not exhaust the prophecies that refer to the Messiah. 
 It aims only to group together some of those in which he appears 
 
 as specially related to David.' He is one shepherd over all the 
 
 people^ with reference to the sad disruption of the nation by Jero- 
 boam. They are all to be united under him, as in chap. 37 : 15-28, 
 
 and Isa. 11: 13. He is called a '■'■prince among them" rather 
 
 than a king, pcrhnps in keeping with the usage of Ezekiel who ap- 
 plies this word ''p^-ince" to the Jewish kings; or perhaps with ref- 
 erence to 1 Kings 11: 34; "I will not take the whole kingdom out 
 of his" [Eohoboam's] "hand, but I will make him. prince all the 
 
 days of his life," etc. The Lord has solemnly spoken this and 
 
 will perform it — an indication of the momentous value of this 
 promise. 
 
 25. And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and 
 will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land : and they 
 shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. 
 
 26. And I will make them and the places round about 
 my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come 
 down in his season ; there shall be showers of blessing. 
 
 27. And the tree of -the field shall yield her fruit, and 
 the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in 
 their land, and shall know that I am the Lord, when I have 
 bi'oken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of 
 the hand of those that served themselves of them. 
 
 28. And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, 
 neither shall the beasts of the land devour them ; but they 
 shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. 
 
 f 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXIV. 195 
 
 The figure of the flock is still kept up with great beauty and force. 
 God will make with them a covenant of peace, binding the wild 
 beasts [outside enemies] to keep the peace with them and do them 
 no harm. So the flock will be safe anywhere, in the wilderness or 
 the forests. "None shall hurt or destroy in all God's holy mount- 
 ain." 1 will make both them and the environs of my hill [Zion] 
 
 a blessing, causing them not only to enjoy good themselves, but to 
 impart good to others. By the "environs" (the "places round 
 about my hill") are meant the heathen nations, converted to the 
 living God. See the same figure Jer. 31 : 38-40, to which Ezekiel 
 
 may perhaps allude. The last part of v. 26 should read, "I will 
 
 bring down the great rain in its time ; floods of blessing shall it 
 be." The' Hebrew word used here always means a great rain. The 
 figure of rain as a symbol and pledge of all divine blessings appears 
 in full in Lev. 26 : 3-6, 19, 20. See also Deut. 11 : 14, 15. In Pal- 
 estine, rain was eminently appropriate to denote the gi-eat central 
 blessing on which all other blessings depended inasmuch as in that 
 climate rain stood in precisely this relation to all vegetable growth, 
 animal subsistence, and external beauty. If they had ample and 
 timely rains they had every thing else. If they failed of this, they 
 
 failed of all. In vs. 27, 28, the figure is dropped and the literal 
 
 conception appears. The political bands of the people are broken ; 
 the exiles return safely to their country and their homes, no more a 
 prey to the heathen, but dwelling safely in their own loved land. 
 
 29. And I will raise up for them a Plant of renown, and 
 they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, 
 neither bear the shame of the heathen any more. 
 
 Our translators seem to have taken the word rendered " Plant " 
 in the same sense in which we have the word "Branch" (Zech. 3: 
 8, and 6 : 12) — a special name for the Messiah. It is doubtful 
 whether the original can bear this sense. The context does not 
 favor it. The word means Oi plantation. It occurs Ezek. 17: 7, and 
 Isa. 61 : 3 and 60: 21, but in none of these cases, in the sense^of a 
 plant. The word rendered "raise up" readily bears the sense of 
 establish : made firm and strong. The reference is probably to the 
 Garden of Eden. It promises that the Zion of the Lord shall be a 
 
 second Eden in beauty, fertility, and glory. The idea of renoAvn, 
 
 a good name, stands opposed to "the shame of the heathen" which 
 they shall bear no more. They shall be no more reproached as a 
 broken dov^Ti nationality, nor shall the name of the Lord be any 
 more blasphemed on their account. The fertility of this plantation 
 will sustain a great people and a strong nation; its splendor and 
 beauty will lift them high above the reproach of the heathen. 
 
 30. Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God am 
 with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my 
 people, saitli the Lord God. 
 
 31. And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, 
 and I am your God, saith the Lord God. 
 
196 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXV. 
 
 This done, they will know that their own God is a glorious Pres- 
 ence among them, and that they themselves are the recognized peo- 
 ple of the Lord Jehovah. They will experience the blessedness of 
 being truly his flock, walking themselves in trustful obedience and 
 love, and evermore owned and protected of God, their Great Shep- 
 herd and King. Blessed state ! Let it be our joy that such a 
 future for the Zion of our God stands fixed in his changeless coun- 
 sels, never to be forgotten, but to be amply fulfilled in his own time ! 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 This chapter records a prophecy of judgments on Mt, Seir and 
 the people of Edom. Of all the contiguous nations none seem to 
 have cherished more intense and inveterate hatred against Israel 
 than Edom. Hence the prophecy against her, put in brief terms 
 before (chap. 25 : 12-14) is resumed and amplified here, manifestly 
 in part for the interesting purpose of bringing into connection with 
 it the greater mercies which God had in store for his own Israel. 
 The next chapter (36) develops the nature and the force of this 
 connection, showing how the jealousy of the Lord was enkindled 
 against the ancient enemies of his people, and how his soul was 
 aroused . to great achievements in their behalf out of regard for 
 the glory of his name which Zion's enemies had blasphemed. 
 
 1. Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 2. Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and 
 prophesy against it, 
 
 3. And say unto it. Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, 
 O mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out 
 my hand against thee, and I will make thee most deso- 
 late. 
 
 4. I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, 
 and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. 
 
 The fearful word, "I am against thee," forewarns her of the 
 direst possible doom, for what doom can be more terrible than to 
 have God for one's enemy and his infinite resources committed to 
 scourge and destroy ! 
 
 5. Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast 
 shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the 
 sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their 
 iniquity had an end : 
 
 6. Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will pre- 
 pare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee : since 
 thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee. 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXV. 197 
 
 The personal ill-feeling of Esau toward his brother Jacob seems 
 to have become the inheritance of his posterity age after age with 
 
 scarce any perceptible abatement. The second clause of v. 5, 
 
 in w^hich the received translation supplies the word ''^fooof" would 
 be more close to the original, if rendered thus; "And because thou 
 didst deliver the children of Israel over to the force of the sword 
 in the time of their calamity." It refers to the day wdien the Chal- 
 deans broke up their city, and the people fled for their lives. Oba- 
 diah (vs. 10-15) implies that in this day of chief calamity upon 
 the Jews, Edom was bitter and revengeful as even the proud Chal- 
 deans; looked exultingly upon the fall of his brother as of an old 
 enemy; "spake of them proudly in the day of their distress;" 
 "entered into their gates in that day of their calamity" for pillage 
 and exultant joy; "stood in the crossways to cut off those that 
 were escaping," and "delivered them up" to their Chaldean foes. 
 To this great, damning sin the last clause refers as " the end- 
 sin'' — that crowning iniquity which God could bear no longer, but 
 must punish with exemplary severity — the last sin in the series, 
 and lying next beyond all those which God could bear in the sense 
 of long-suffering delay to punish. This one he could not ^'•beary 
 The received translation does not give the true sense quite accu- 
 rately. It is not that iniquity then had an end, but that they had 
 reached the time of their end-sin — next beyond the last wdiich God 
 
 could allow them to commit, and yet delay its punishment. In 
 
 V. 6 "I will prepare thee unto blood," is better read; "I will ap- 
 point or destine thee for blood." Edom had not been averse to 
 blood in the day of his brother's calamity : now let him have his 
 fill of it. Let it pursue him, even as his greedy sword thirsted for 
 the blood of his Jewish brother, and chased him down to drink it ! 
 
 7. Thus will I make mount Seir most desolate, and cut 
 off from it him that passeth out and him that returneth. 
 
 8. And I will fill his mountains with his slain men: in 
 thy hills, and in thy valleys, and in all thy rivers, shall 
 they fall that are slain with the s^vord. 
 
 9. I Avill make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities 
 shall not return : and ye shall know that I am the Lord. 
 
 "Him that passeth out and him that returneth," is the usual 
 Hebrew phrase for the travel incident to traffic in those ages. 
 This prophecy is the more noticeable because Edom, and its great 
 capital, Petra, had been for ages the great thoroughfare of com- 
 mercial travel between Central and Southern Asia on the East, and 
 Egypt and North Africa on the South-west. Her capital had 
 amassed great wealth and had risen to splendor by means of trade 
 and travel; yet under the curse denounced in this prophecy, no 
 spot on this wide earth ever trod by human foot is less frequented 
 to-day than this same Petra! Desolation has made her deepest 
 imprints of ruin there. The sparse Aral) population that assume 
 to control the country is of the most savage, ferocious character, 
 
198 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXV. 
 
 so that only a very few travelers are willing to confront at once 
 the utter desolation of the land and the savage barbarity of the 
 people for the sake of exploring those truly grand and magnificent 
 ruins. 
 
 10. Because thou hast said, These two nations and these 
 two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it ; whereas 
 the Lord was there : 
 
 11. Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will even 
 do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy 
 which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them ; and 
 I will make myself known among them, when I have 
 judged thee. 
 
 12. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, and that I 
 have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken 
 against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid des- 
 olate, and they are given us to consume. 
 
 13. Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against me, 
 and have multiplied your words against me : I have heard 
 them. 
 
 "Two nations and countries;" Judah and Israel. "When these 
 were successively smitten in war, and the people taken into cap- 
 tivity, Edom gloated in the selfish confidence of having those coun- 
 tries as her own. Ah, she did not take into her view that God loas 
 there I Therefore God will visit upon Edom according to her hatred 
 
 and anger against his people. "I will make myself known 
 
 amoni; them " (my ancient people) " when I shall have judged thee " 
 (Edom). 
 
 14. Thus saith the Lord God; When the whole earth 
 rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate. 
 
 15. As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house 
 of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: 
 thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Idumea, 
 even all of it : and they shall know that I am the Lord. 
 
 It would be a double calamity on Edom to be made desolate 
 precisely when the whole earth should be joyful in its prosperity. 
 The primary reference here is probably to the period when the 
 Chaldean supremacy in Western Asia should be broken, and many 
 of those nations whom they had subjugated should regain their 
 
 former prosperity. Then Edom should be an exception. A still 
 
 further installment of the same doom came on Edom near the Chris- 
 tian Era — a time of general prosperity to the nations of that region, 
 
 but of almost utter national extinction to Edom. Because she 
 
 had rejoiced with proud and selfish exultation over the captivity of 
 the house of Israel, God would lay her desolate. Such national 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXVI. 199 
 
 Bins demand of the Great Ruler of nations condign and exemplary 
 punishment. The nations of men must be made to know that Je- 
 hovah is Ruler and Lord of all, evermore administering his rule 
 over nations with a just and righteous retribution. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 The central idea of this chapter is that God's people having 
 brought reproach on his name before the heathen, he will retrieve 
 it from this disgrace. For the sake of his own glory he will restore 
 his people to their land, renew the fertility of its soil, rebuild its 
 long-time wasted cities, and (more and better than all) will renew 
 the hearts of his people, taking away the stone and giving flesh 
 instead; "putting his own Spirit within them, and causing them 
 
 henceforth to walk in his statutes and do them." Yet lying 
 
 back of this idea of interposing to retrieve his name from reproach 
 before the heathen is doubtless the more fundamental one — the 
 divine purpose and promise of salvation to his p)eople ; — that in his own 
 eternal counsels he had purposed to have a people saved unto holi- 
 ness, and therefore could not and would not be frustrated in his pur- 
 pose by their waywardness and sin, but would press the agencies of 
 discipline and the yet mightier agencies of his Spirit to rechiim, re- 
 new, and save. Thus he would show his people that he is really the 
 very God, ever faithful to his promise, ever abiding in his love for 
 
 his people. The honor of the divine name before the heathen is 
 
 fully seen only when we take into view the current sentiment of 
 all heathen nations respecting their national divinities, viz., that 
 those divinities were essentially the patrons and protectors of the 
 people who accepted and worshiped them in that capacity. Now, 
 it was well known among them that Israel claimed to be the people 
 of Jehovah, the Lord God of Hosts. He was known as the God of 
 Israel. Hence when their nationality was broken down, their king 
 slain or taken captive, their great city and the Lord's temple de- 
 stroyed, and the people who survived were all in exile, the heathen 
 would say that either their God was unfaithful to liis promises and 
 therefore untruthful and unreliable ; or was short of power to save 
 and therefore unfit to be trusted as the patron God of any nation. 
 It is in this point of view that God's jealousy for his holy name 
 becomes so prominent as a reason or occasion for his interposition 
 
 to restore and save his people. Remarkably in the first portion 
 
 of this chapter, (vs. 1-15) the Lord addresses " the mountains of 
 Israel;" while in the second portion, (vs. 16-38) he addresses the 
 prophet, yet announcing great truths especially for the people then 
 m exile, but richly applicable to God's people in all ages. 
 
 1. Also, thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains 
 
200 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXVI. 
 
 of Israel, and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word 
 of the Lord : 
 
 2. Thus saith the Lord God ; Because tlie enemy hath 
 said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours 
 in possession : 
 
 3. Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord God ; 
 Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you 
 up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the 
 residue of the heathen, and ye are taken up in the lips of 
 talkers, and are an infamy of the people : 
 
 4. Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the 
 Lord God ; Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, and 
 to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate 
 wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a 
 prey and derision to the residue of the heathen that are 
 round about ; 
 
 5. Therefore thus saith the Lord God ; Surely in the fire 
 of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the 
 heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed my 
 land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with 
 despiteful minds to cast it out for a prey. 
 
 The reader will notice the bold personification by which this 
 prophecy addresses "the mountains of Israel." The very land it- 
 self is thought of as intelligent and conscious, sensible of the re- 
 proach under which it has lain, and sympathizing with the grief 
 and shame under which its exiled population are now suflering. 
 
 In the previous chapter (vs. 10, 12, 15) we saw that the Edom- 
 
 ites had fixed their covetous eyes on Palestine, hoping to secure it 
 to themselves for a permanent possession. This thought leads the 
 course of remark here. Edom " is the enemy who has said against 
 you," ye mountains, " Aha ! even those ancient high places are ours 
 
 in possession." In v. 3 the relation of cause or occasion is made 
 
 emphatic in the original by repetition; "Because, 3'ca because they 
 
 have made you desolate,' etc. V. 5 shows that while other 
 
 heathen nations were implicated, Idumea (Edom) is prominent. 
 
 "Appointed my land into their |x»ssession," is in l[el)rew, given 
 
 or assigned my land to themselves for a }X)ssession' — "with the joy 
 of their whole heart and with soul-pantings;" a. e., with a most 
 eager desire, longing to clutch it as their prey. " Despiteful mind," 
 
 does not exactly express the original. "To cast it out," should 
 
 rather be, to spoil it as their prey; to pillaiie it at their pleasure. 
 
 6. Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and 
 say unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and 
 to the valleys. Thus saith the Lord God ; Behold, I have 
 spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have 
 borne the shame of the heathen : 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXVI. 201 
 
 7. Therefore thus saith the Lord God ; I have lifted up 
 my hand: surely the heathen that are about you, they 
 shall bear their shame. 
 
 8. But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth 
 your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel ; 
 for they are at hand to come. 
 
 9. For behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, 
 and ye shall be tilled and sown : 
 
 10. And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of 
 Israel, even all of it : and the cities shall be inhabited, and 
 the w^astes shall be builded : 
 
 11. And I will multiply upon you man and beast : and 
 they shall increase and bring fruit : and I will settle you 
 after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at 
 your beginnings : and ye shall know that I am the Lord. 
 
 Ye mountains and hills that have borne shame from the heathen, 
 shall bear it no lon2;er. The heathen shall bear their own shame ; 
 i. e., shall themselves be ashamed and confounded before the mighty 
 God of Israel. Ye mountains shall again become productive, bear- 
 ing fruit for my people Israel, for they are coming back soon; 
 
 ("they are at hand to come.") In v. 11 "settle you after your 
 
 old estates" does not mean that the family estates should return to 
 the heirs of their former owners, but only in general; "I will cause 
 you, ye mountains, to be inhabited as of old and I will do you good 
 
 more than in your beginning" — first settlement. "And ye shall 
 
 know that I am the Lord," still keeps up the conception of con- 
 scious intelligence in these mountains of Israel. They would them- 
 selves have the evidence that the Lord is truly God. 
 
 12. Yea, I will cause men to walk upon you, eveii my 
 people Israel; and they shall possess thee, and thou shalt 
 be their inheritance, and thou shalt no more henceforth 
 bereave them of men. 
 
 13. Thus saith the Lord God; Because they say unto 
 you. Thou land devourest up men, and hast bereaved thy 
 nations ; 
 
 14. Therefore, thou shalt devour men no more, neither 
 bereave thy nations any more, saith the Lord God. 
 
 15. Neither will I cause men to hear in thee the shame 
 of the heathen any more, neither shalt thou bear the re- 
 proach of the people any more, neither shalt thou cause 
 thy nations to fall any more, saith the Lord God. 
 
 In the current sentiment of the Jewish people, no calamity to a 
 family was so great as being bereaved of children. They would 
 have the same view of a state, bereaved of its population. " In 
 
202 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXVI. 
 
 the multitude of people is the king's honor; but in the want of 
 people is the destruction of the prince" (Prov. 14: 28). It seems 
 to be tacitly assumed here that the mountains and the hills, the 
 country itself, might inflict this calamity, i. e., might itself bereave 
 the state of its sons and daughters — might eat up its own popula- 
 tion. But God promises that the mountains of Israel shall no more 
 
 bereave the state of its loved people. In these four verses, two 
 
 verbs are used for this leading idea, viz., the common word for be- 
 ing bereaved of children and another with the same radicals, yet 
 with the first two transposed, meaning in the form here used, to 
 cause to fall. This is so rendered in the last clause of v. 15. This 
 play upon these two words is one of the nicer beauties of style. 
 The general thought is that the land will be depopulated no more. 
 
 But the real fulfillment of this promise appears only in its 
 
 spiritual significance as relating to the true Zion of the living God. 
 For Palestine has long been forsaken of the seed of Abraham and 
 has long since ceased to be the local home of the organized people, 
 worship, and institutions of God. But God's true Zion lives; has 
 not been depopulated, but has been exceedingly multiplied even 
 already, and doubtless is yet to be far more. Compare Isa. 54: 
 1-8. 
 
 16. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, say- 
 
 17. Son of man, Avlien the house of Israel dwelt in their 
 own land, they defiled it by their own way. and by their 
 doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a 
 removed woman. 
 
 18. Wherefore, I poured my fury upon tliem for the 
 blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols 
 wherewith they had polluted it: 
 
 19. And I scattered them among the heathen, and they 
 were dispersed through the countries: according to their 
 way and according to their doings I judged them. 
 
 Here the Lord addresses the prophet, and through him his own 
 
 people. By the worship of idols and by all the abominations of 
 
 murder and lust and of dishonor cast on God which are involved 
 in such idolatry, the people had utterly defiled their own land. 
 Therefore the Lord poure(l out his fury upon them, scattered them 
 among the heathen, and judged them thoroughly according to their 
 ways. 
 
 20. And when they entered unto the heathen, whither 
 they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to 
 them. These are the people of the Lord, and are gone forth 
 out of his land. 
 
 21. But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXVI. 203 
 
 of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they 
 went. 
 
 The remarks introductory to this chapter will show the signifi- 
 cance of these ideas of profaning God's name before the heathen. 
 It was currently said among them, "These are the people of Je- 
 hovah, God of Israel, and they are set adrift, borne away captive 
 from his land. What can this signify? Either that God is weak 
 or is untrue. So in either case their conclusion was reproachful 
 to the God of Israel. Therefore the Lord had pity for his holy 
 name's sake. It would be only disastrous to his reputation before 
 the world to leave such inferences to be dravna and to stand with- 
 out refutation. Cases illustrating the same holy and jealous re- 
 gard for his own great name may be seen in the early history of 
 the nation, Exod. 32 — tlie sin of the golden calf— and in Num. 14, — 
 the sin of unbelief; and in Deut. 9 — a sort of resume of these cases. 
 
 22. Therefore, say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith 
 the Lord God; I do not this for your sakes, O house of 
 Israel, but for my holy name's sake, which ye have pro- 
 faned among the heathen, whither ye went. 
 
 23. And I will sanctify my great name, which was pro- 
 faned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the 
 midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the 
 Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in 
 you before their eyes. 
 
 It was \atal to the best moral impression upon the people that 
 they should see that this interposition of God to deliver them from 
 their captivity and restore them to their land was not done for their 
 sake — had none of its causes or grounds in their goodness or merits; 
 but was done entirely for his OAvn holy name's sake, to redeem his 
 character and throne from dishonor before the nations. These 
 statements uniformly rest the case here, although (as suggested 
 above) we may well go deeper, even to the eternal love of God for 
 lost men and to his glorious purpose of redeeming a people unto 
 himself. It was for tlie sake of these highest ends that he deemed 
 it so important to retrieve his name before the heathen, for his great 
 thoughts of salvation embraced the gathermg yet of myriads from 
 among the heathen to fear, love, and adore their own Maker and 
 
 Father. "When I shall be sanctified in yni before rheir eyes," 
 
 develops the morally vital idea that God's glory before tiie heathen 
 turns on the holiness of his people. When he shall have made 
 them radically holy in heart, then the nations will sec in them an 
 illustration of w^at holiness is in God. God will stand forth before 
 the heathen as the Holy One, his holiness being illustrated and re- 
 flected in the holiness of his people. 
 
 24. For I will take you from among the heathen, and 
 
204 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXVI. 
 
 gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into 
 your own land. 
 
 Then and there, under those circumstances, the honor of God 
 demanded that his people should be brought back to their own 
 land of covenant promise. Hence a literal restoration was then a 
 necessity. Consequently the Lord met this necessity by causing 
 them to return literally and rebuild the temple and restore the in- 
 stitutions of Moses. But this by no means implies that the same 
 
 sort of restoration must be reenacted, either now or at any time yet 
 future. The necessity of a literal return ceased when the people 
 had once been literally restored. Besides, if a literal restoration 
 were to take place at any point during the Christian age in order 
 to fulfill the legitimate sense of this and subsequent prophecies of 
 Ezekiel, then certainly Judaism must be restored as xoell. The 
 Christian system must give way and disappear, and the Mosaic 
 
 system take its place. But this whole subject will be resumed 
 
 and fully discussed when we come to the closing chapters (40-48). 
 
 25. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye 
 shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your 
 idols, will I cleanse you. 
 
 The conception of cleansing by sprinkling clean water comes 
 from the Mosaic ceremonial system. See especially Num. 19: 
 17-19, and also Ps. 51 : 9. The former passage — the case of a man 
 rendered unclean by contact with a dead body — is forcibly trans- 
 lated by Hengstenberg, thus: — "And they take for the unclean 
 from the ashes of the burnt sin-offering and put thereon living water 
 in a vessel, and they take h^'ssop, and a clean man dips it in the 
 water, sprinkles the tent and all the vessels and the souls which are 
 there, and the clean sprinkles it upon the unclean and sanctifies 
 
 him." In every age and among all nations, water is both the 
 
 prime agent for cleansing, and the fii'st and main symbol to denote 
 it. Hence it is used here with equal beauty, fitness, and force of 
 tlie moral cleansing which the Lord was to effect in the hearts of 
 his people. As looking to the case (then present) of the Jewish 
 exiles in Chaldea, to be restored to Canaan, it makes prominent 
 the filthiness and abominations of idolatry. From these the Lord 
 ■would effectually cleanse them. This became a great historic fact. 
 The nation as such were cured of idolatry, at least during several 
 
 generations. But this promise is good against all the filthiness 
 
 and all the aboiuinations of human hearts. The gracious promise 
 of the Lord covers all. And there is a wealth of blessedness in 
 this })road, magnificent promise ! By what power performed and 
 how applied, the Lord proceeds to show. ^ 
 
 26. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit 
 will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart 
 out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. 
 
 27. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXVI. 205 
 
 to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, 
 and do them. 
 
 Compare chap. 11 : 17-20, where in briefer statements, the same 
 
 general ideas appear. The "heart" and the "spirit" represent 
 
 what is most radical in human character — what is farthest removed 
 from hypocrisy or from the merely external life. Comprehensively 
 they embody man's deepest purposes and intentions — the governing 
 will that animates his whole activities, and morally constitutes the 
 man. To make these wholly new is to breathe into the soul of man 
 a new moral life. It changes the great drift and aim of his en- 
 deavors; gives him a new object to live for; inspires his soul with 
 new motives, and brings him under new influences. It is made 
 prominent here that this change is wrought by the Spirit of God; 
 " I will put my Spirit within you, and (so) will cause you to walk 
 in my statutes," etc. God himself becomes a controlling power in 
 
 the hearts of men unto a holy life. This is the great doctrine of 
 
 the New Testament, taught forcibly by our Lord himself in his state- 
 ments respecting the new birth (Jn. 3 : 3-8), and every-where pre- 
 sented as preeminently the work of the Spirit of God. The heart 
 
 of stone, contrasted with the heart of flesh, is forcible imagery, yet 
 wonderfully true to human consciousness. Its significance applies 
 appositely to the sensibilities — cold and dead, apart from the living, 
 quickening power of God in the soul — but tender, flowing and free 
 when the Spirit touches the soul and even makes his abode there. 
 And yet we must not restrict the Spirit's work to the sensibilities. 
 The intellect also — the mind's apprehension of divine truth — is by 
 no means unaffected in this great change from stone to flesh. The 
 dullness of apprehension, the resistance to truth, which appears 
 where God is not in the heart, may fitly be called "^^ony/" while 
 the sharpened thought, the quick apprehension, and the genial wel- 
 come of truth, attach the qualities of living flesh even to the intel- 
 lect, Yet these terms were never intended to be acutely meta- 
 physical. They address the popular mind. Considered as so 
 
 addressed, they are exceedingly forcible and happy. 1 can not 
 
 forbear to add that they reveal a most blessed, glorious truth, viz., 
 that God himself becomes an effective power in the souls of men unto 
 real holiness. While all merely external agencies forever fail, this 
 divine agency is forever efiicacious. It does for man the very thing 
 he needs. His own unaided endeavors, his firmest resolutions, 
 prove unavailing. Under his bitter experience of their failure, this 
 promise comes to his soul as the dawn of day upon the thickest 
 darkness. When God says, " I will put my Spirit within you and 
 will cause you to walk in my statutes," his heart responds. That 
 meets my soul's great want. It is enough. If God will grant me 
 that efi'ective spiritual aid under which I shall wholly obey and 
 please him, I can ask nothing better ; I aspire to nothing higher and 
 
 nobler. As already suggested, this is the go.spcl. These are the 
 
 provisions of gospel grace for the regeneration and sanctification of 
 unholy men. They lire large promises. Nothing larger, broader. 
 
206 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXVI. 
 
 or richer, appears in the whole New Testament. In their compre- 
 hensive reach and scope they must be taken to embrace the gospel 
 scheme and the gospel age. Hence we can not think of their fulfill- 
 ment as being exhausted in the time of Zerubbabel, or at any period 
 anterior to the coming of Christ. In fact, since our Lord represents 
 the Spirit as coming with preeminent fullness only after his own 
 ascension, we must assign the more ample fulfillment of this great 
 promise to the Christian age. No doubt its richest and most glori- 
 ous fulfillment is reserved for the latter days of even this Christian 
 age — the era when " all shall know the Lord from the least to the 
 greatest." See Jer. 31: 34, and Isa. 11: 9. 
 
 28. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your 
 fathers ; and ye shall be my j^eople, and I will be your 
 God. 
 
 That they should "dwell in the land promised to their fathers," 
 applied specially to the exiles in captivity. The primary bearing 
 of these promises was for them. What was in the letter as distinct 
 from the spirit — what related to the very land of Palestine in dis- 
 tinction from what belongs to God's spiritual Zion, we naturally and 
 fitly assign to the exiles to whom these words were first spoken. 
 
 29. I "wfll also save you from all your uncleannesses : and 
 I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no fam- 
 ine upon you. 
 
 30. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the in- 
 crease of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach 
 of famine among the heathen. 
 
 The land would become fertile again, and abundant prosperity 
 would wipe away the scandal and reproach resting on the name 
 and the land of the Lord their God. 
 
 31. Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and 
 your doings that ivere not good, and shall loathe yourselves 
 in your own sight for your iniquities, and for your abomi- 
 nations. 
 
 32. Not for your sakes do I this, saitli the Lord God, be 
 it known unto you : be ashamed and confounded for your 
 own ways, O house of Israel. 
 
 The restored people would indeed have most ample reason to be 
 ashamed and confounded as they should think of their moral abom- 
 inations, and of the exceeding great compassion and loving kind- 
 ness of the Lord their God. They must see and deeply feel that 
 they owed every thing to the self-moved interposition of their own 
 God to save ; nothing to themselves as having wrought out, or in 
 any way deserved, their own salvation. 
 
 33. Thus saitli the Lord God ; In the day that I shall 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXVI. 207 
 
 have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause 
 you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded. 
 
 34. And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay 
 desolate in the sight of all that passed by. 
 
 35. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is 
 become like the garden of Eden ; and the waste and deso- 
 late and ruined cities are become fenced, mid are inhabited. 
 
 36. Then the heathen that are left round about you shall 
 know that I the Lord build the ruined places, and plant 
 that that was desolate : I the Lord have spoken itj and I' 
 will do it. 
 
 In these verses, the temporal side (so to speak) of these promises 
 stands forth prominently. They needed to have a temporal side for 
 the special encouragement of the exiles in Chaldea, and perhaps I 
 might add, for the verification of the promises themselves. But the 
 spiritual side furnishes the richer installments and stands guaran- 
 teed to us by the fulfillment, already past, of the* temporal part in 
 the restoration from Babylon, and in the external prosperity which 
 succeeded that great event. 
 
 37. Thus saith the Lord God ; I will yet for this be in- 
 quired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them ; I will 
 increase them with men like a flock. 
 
 38. As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her 
 solemn feasts ; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks 
 of men : and they shall know that I am the Lord. 
 
 In the clause, "I will yet for this be inquired of," etc., the pre- 
 cise force of the word rendered "ye^" becomes an important question. 
 Does it mean that although I have made this full promise, yet I will 
 be inquired of in prayer before I shall do it for them? Or does it 
 mean that having previously declared that I would not be inquired 
 of by this people, I now announce that I will yet again be inquired 
 of — opening again the long-closed door for prevailing intercession, 
 
 and inviting the people again to seek their God in prayer? The 
 
 proper sense of the original word, as well as the historical facts, 
 
 seem to decide in favor of the latter view. The normal sense 
 
 of the Hebrew word is yet agaiii, said properly of that which co7nes 
 
 round a second time. Historically, the Tact that God had closed' 
 
 the door against prayer was of immense significance. See chap. 
 14: 3, and 20: 3, 31, and Jer. 14: 11, and 7: IG, and 11 : 14. It 
 was altogether pertinent for the Lord to apprise the people that the 
 day of mercy had opened upon them once more and that prayer 
 
 would be accepted yet again. No doubt it is fully implied in this 
 
 passage that the people were to pray for the great blessing just now 
 promised, and none the less because it was promised so implicitly. 
 This point is one of great moral significance. Definite promise 
 should encourage prayer and never supersede it — never be held to 
 
208 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXVII. 
 
 relieve God's people from the duty, or exclude them from the privi- 
 lci!;e. But while this is implied here as often elsewhere, the precise 
 thino; affirmed in the text is that the previous prohibition of prayer 
 for Jerusalem is now removed, and God is again accessible "to be 
 
 inquired of by the house of Israel." In the words that follow 
 
 stress is laid upon the great increase of population as being the 
 central thing. It was central among the temporal blessings here 
 
 promised. The word "flock" comes from the previous figure 
 
 which accounts the people as the Lord's sheep and himself as their 
 shepherd. The population would crowd the cities densely, as the 
 throng filled Jerusalem in the great national feasts. 
 
 The question will arise ; Are not the temporal blessings promised 
 in this. passage, especially in vs. 29, 35, 38, too great to have received 
 their fulfillment in the time of Zerubbabel, or indeed at any period 
 before Christ ? I answer, doubtless they are too great to have been 
 received both in kind and in their full measure. But we may as- 
 sume that in this and in other similar prophecies, the distinction 
 between the temporal and the spiritual is not sharply drawn; that 
 the corn, the wine' and the oil as here put, are (like Canaan itself) 
 to some extent representative blessings, named rather as indications 
 of the divine favor than as defining precisely ih.Q form which that 
 favor would assume. They may be taken as pledges of good, put 
 in this form in order that the people may appreciate them as a 
 great good ; and yet it may not have been the thought of God to tie 
 himself down to corn and wine, or even to a dense "flock of men" 
 as filling out and exhausting the good here promised. The general 
 import is ; You may rest assured it is in the heart of your God to 
 do great and glorious things for his cause and people. If he names 
 Canaan and corn and hosts of men, let it be that he thereby conde- 
 scends to an earthly condition of things then present — to a style of 
 wants then pressing and uppermost — ])ut really means not these 
 things alone, but things far purer, higher and better. See also 
 Amos 9: 13-15. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVn. 
 
 'l"'he strain of rich and glorious promise still continues, looking 
 primarily to the immediate case of the exiles to whom the message 
 first came, but stretching its view fiir onward into the great sub- 
 lime future of the Zion of the liord our God. As to its figures 
 
 and symbols, the chapter is in two parts. The first (vs. 1-14) is a 
 vision of dry bones brought back to life, vigor, and beauty — to rep- 
 resent the restored nationality of the captive, dispirited Jews and 
 their renewed spiritual life: while the second part (vs. 15-20) gives 
 us ])y a figure the enduring union of the two kingdoms, Israel and 
 Juduh. Then vs. 21-2S expand into a rich promise of the future 
 
 peace and purity of Messiah's kingdom. The first section is 
 
 prophetic vision and not symbolic transaction in real life. But the 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXVII. 209 
 
 second section is manifestly a real transaction, of a symbolic char- 
 acter. 
 
 1. The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me 
 out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the 
 midst of the valley w^hicii was full of bones, 
 
 "The hand of the Lord upon me;" "bearing me out abroad in 
 the Spirit of the Lord; " "setting me down," etc., all indicate most 
 
 conclusively that this is purely a prophetic vision. " The valley," 
 
 with the definite article, must refer to the well-known valley in 
 which other prophetic visions had been located; e. g.^ chap. 3 ; 22, 
 23, where the Hebrew word is the same though rendered in our 
 
 received version, "the plain." This valley was seen to be full 
 
 of bones. 
 
 2. And caused me to pass by them round about: and, 
 behold, tliere ivere very many in the open valley; and, lo, 
 they were very dry. 
 
 "In the open valley," is in the Hebrew on the face of the valley^ 
 the sense being, on the surface of the ground, and not covered with 
 earth as bones should be. 
 
 3. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones 
 live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. 
 
 The prophet's answer seems to say, How can I tell? How can 
 I understand the import of this scene until thou shalt reveal it? 
 
 Lord, thou only knowest. 
 
 4. Again he said unto me. Prophesy upon these bones, 
 and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the Avord of the 
 Lord. 
 
 5. Thus saitli the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, 
 
 1 will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. 
 
 6. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up 
 flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath 
 in you, and ye shall live : and ye shall know that I am the 
 Lord. 
 
 The pertinence of prophesying to dry bones becomes fully appar- 
 ent when we get the true idea of their significance in this vision. 
 These dead and dry bones, according to the Lord's own intepreta- 
 tion (v. 11), "are the whole house of Israel," as they lay in their 
 TjaiDtivity. They were saying, "Our bones are dried and our hope 
 is lost; as for us, we are utterly cut off," i. e., from being a nation; 
 we are nationally annihilated. So the hearts of the exiles had 
 sunk into despair of ever returning to their native land and becom- 
 ing again a nation enjoying the favor of God there. Now, de- 
 spondency does not preclude reasoning, although real death does. 
 Despondency does not shut off preaching — does not make it absurd 
 
210 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXVII. 
 
 to proclaim the word of the Lord. These exiled Jews were dead 
 only in figure ; they were dry bones only in the sense of being ut- 
 I terly discouraged, and of having lost heart and hope in their nation's 
 j future. Preaching and prophesying to them the word of the Lord 
 / was the legitimate remedy. It might perhaps have the aspect of an 
 ' absurdity while they are thought of only as dead and dry bones. 
 The absurdity comes of forcing the figure, not of understanding 
 the fact it represents. A special interpretation has been some- 
 times put upon this entire vision whereby these bones are spirit- 
 ually dead sinners, and their resurrection is regeneration by the 
 Spirit of the Lord. In this view of it, the prophet (gospel minis- 
 ter) prophesies (preaches) to sinners void of spiritual life, only 
 because he is commanded to do so, and not because there is any 
 natural adaptation of the means to the end proposed — their resus- 
 citation to life. When this view of the sinner's death is pushed 
 
 to the extreme of denying to him intelligence to understand God's 
 truth and conscience to feel its force, the absurdity becomes glar- 
 
 t ing. Yet the thing to be said here of these views is that what- 
 
 \ ever may or may not be true in regard to them, they are entirely 
 foreign from the doctrine of this vision. Any effort to make this 
 passage teach the laws of regeneration is altogether, gratuitous. 
 The Lord should be alloAved to put his own interpretation upon the 
 visions which he gives. When he has done this, we have but one 
 duty; viz., to abide by it, and resist all abuse and perversion of 
 God's word. 
 
 7. So I prophesied as I was commanded : and as I proj)h- 
 esied there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones 
 came, together, bone to his bone. 
 
 8. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came 
 up upon them, and the skin covered them above : but there 
 was no breath in them. 
 
 9. Then said he unto me. Prophesy unto the wind, proph- 
 esy, son of man, and say to the wdnd, Thus saith the Lord 
 God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe 
 upon these slain, that they may live. 
 
 10. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath 
 came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their 
 feet, an exceeding great army. 
 
 In V. 9, the Hebrew reader would notice that the original words 
 rendered -'iwind " and "breath" are the same. This fact lookrTo- 
 ward the ancient notion that the living animal soul inheres in the 
 breath — comes into the body and goes forth from the bodv, with 
 and in the breath. Virgil's account of the death of Dido (iEneid 
 Bk. IV) assumes this doctrine. 
 
 11. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXVI. 211 
 
 the wliole house of Israel : behold they say, Our bones are 
 dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. 
 
 12. Therefore proj^hesy and say unto them. Thus saith the 
 Lord God ; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, 
 and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring 
 you into the land of Israel. 
 
 13. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have 
 opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out 
 of your graves, 
 
 14. And shall put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live, 
 and T shall place you in your own land : then shall ye 
 know that I the Lord have Spoken it, and performed it, 
 saith the Lord. 
 
 We have real occasion for gratitude to our divine Teacher that 
 
 he explains his visions whenever their significance might otherwise 
 be unintelligible or even uncertain. The first concern of those who 
 find dark or doubtful passages in the Word of God should be, to 
 mark God's own interpretation of them and regard that as abso- 
 lutely decisive ; discarding all speculations of their own at variance 
 
 with God's explanations. "O my people," breathes the tone of 
 
 kind, parental recognition. Compare chap. 13: 17, where, as if 
 God would disown them, he calls them, not ?wy people, but " thi/ 
 people." The change from thy to my betokens the tenderness of 
 returning love. It indicates that deep spiritual blessings are in- 
 volved in this promised revivification and restoration of their own 
 land. The reader will notice with interest that this vision as- 
 sumes the doctrine of a resurrection of the dead from their graves. 
 It is based precisely on this great idea. The figure is drawn from 
 the fact of a resurrection, and of ^urse assumes not merely that 
 the resurrection of the body is a truth, yet to become reality, but 
 that this doctrine was currently known by the Jews of Ezekiel's 
 time. Figures, legitimately used, always draw their analogies from 
 things known. Else they would only make darkness yet more dark. 
 There is no law of language more rational, universal, and fixed 
 than this ; that figures of speech are legitimate and useful only 
 when drawn from things palpable and visible, or from facts under- 
 stood and believed. The thing we would explain or set in yet 
 stronger light, we compare with something better known than itself; 
 
 else our figures and analogies avail nothing. In the case before 
 
 us, it should be borne in mind that the resurrection is not a doc- 
 trine of nature. Nature never has taught it, and it never can. It 
 comes to men only through revelation. The Jews had this reve- 
 lation ; else Ezekiel in these allusions to it would have been as one 
 who speaks in an unknown tongue. Suppose that, instead of this 
 allusion to the resurrection,, he had represented the reanimated, 
 encouraged people as mounting upward and flying to the moon. 
 The people would have thought him insane, just because they had 
 no faith in such flying. On the other hand, if he had compared 
 
212 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXX VII. 
 
 the attractive force of their faith and love tov^ard God, to the law 
 of f]^ravitation, holding the planets in their orhits round the sun, and 
 had clearly shown that he regarded this influence of gravitation as 
 the same which brings to the ground the apple detached from its 
 bough, this illustration Avould be accepted by all as proof that he 
 and his readers were familiar with the law of gravitation. Hence 
 this reference to the resurrection irresistibly implies the general 
 
 belief in that doctrine among the Jews at that time. A similar 
 
 use of this figure appears in Isaiah (chap. 26 : 14, 19), applied first 
 to the godless nations; "They are dead; they shall not live; de- 
 ceased ; they shall not rise : because thou hast visited and destroyed 
 them and made all their memory to perish." Next he applies it to 
 the penitent and trustful nation; " Thy dead shall live; being my 
 own dead body, they shall arise : awake and sing, ye dwellers in 
 dust, for thy dew is the dew of herbs " (fertilizing and life-inspir- 
 ing), " and on the earth, on the dead. Thou wilt cause it to fall." 
 
 Hence the doctrine of the resurrection was certainly current among 
 
 the .Tews in the time of Isaiah. The great point revealed to the 
 
 exiled Jews in this prophecy was that God would burst the bars of 
 their captivity, and despite of their present despondency, bring 
 them forth, restore them to their land, call back to life their appa- 
 rently extinct nationality, and bring their hearts back to a living 
 trust and to an earnest love toward the Lord their (lod. Then they 
 would know that he is the Lord^ the real Jehovah, immutable, faith- 
 ful, never failing to fulfill his words of promise. 
 
 15. The word of the Lord came again unto me, say- 
 ing. 
 
 16. Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and 
 write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel 
 his companions : then take another stick, and write upon 
 it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house 
 of Israel his companions : 
 
 17. And join them one to another into one stick; and 
 they shall become one in thy hand. 
 
 18. And when the children of thy people shall speak 
 unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shcAV us what thou mean- 
 est by these? 
 
 19. Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, 
 I will take the stick of Josei^Ji, which is in the hand of 
 Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put 
 them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make 
 them one stick, and they shall be one in my hand. 
 
 20. And the sticks whereon thou Avritest shall be in thy 
 hand before their eyes. 
 
 21. And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Be- 
 hold, I will take the children of Israel from among the 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXVII. 213 
 
 heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on 
 every side, and bring them into their own land : 
 
 22. And I will make them one nation in the land upon 
 the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to 
 them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither 
 shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all: 
 
 As said above, this scene is a real transaction. These "sticks" 
 
 were rather rods than tablets, yet such rods that a name might be 
 written upon them. This use of rods may have a tacit reference 
 to the scenes described Num. 17, where, twelve rods being taken, 
 the names of the tribes were written severally upon them, and 
 Aaron's rod alone budded, to show the Lord's choice of him for 
 
 the priesthood. The import of this transaction is fully explained 
 
 in vs. 21, 22, viz., the perfect and enduring union of the two king- 
 doms, Ephraim and Judah, in one. The revolt under Jeroboam was 
 one of the saddest facts of Hebrew history. It occasioned terrible 
 and destructive wars; it mainly severed the ten tribes from the 
 sanctuary and from the entire Mosaic institutions, and precipitated 
 first that northern kingdom, and ultimately the southern as well, 
 into the depths of a most guilty and debasing idolatry. It then led 
 on by natural result and rapid step to the national ruin of both 
 kingdoms, and to the captivity of the masses who survived the r 
 shock under which the nations fell. Hence most naturally that 1 
 rending asunder became a symbol of the sorest calamity; and in i 
 like manner the reunion of the two kingdoms into one became the \ 
 symbol of the best, the largest, most enduring prosperity. So the ^ 
 figure is to be taken here — not so much a prediction of the gather- 
 ing up of the scattered ten tribes, their literal restoration and 
 actual reunion with Judah, as a general symbol of the greatest 
 and best prosperity. History gives but meager evidence of any 
 restoration of the ten tribes ever, after they were taken off by the 
 Assyrians into their remote colonies. There is nothing in the his- 
 tory of the restoration under Zerubbabel to prove that the ten tribes 
 in any appreciable numbers were there. On the contrary the show- 
 ing is all the other way. The genealogies in the record (e. g.) 
 prove that the returning exiles Avere of the tribe and kingdom of 
 Judah. Hence we are shut up to the general in distinction from 
 
 the closely specific sense of this prophecy. In v. 16 the phrase, 
 
 "his companions," means his associates; in the first case, "for 
 Judah and for the sons of Israel who have been associated with 
 him," i. e., who, through their love for the God and the institutions 
 of their fathers, chose to cast in their lot with Judah: and in the 
 second case, for all out of the various ten tribes who had afiiliated 
 
 with Ephraim in her distinct nationality. The "one kin^ to 
 
 them all" — the best part of the promise — looks onward to tlieir 
 great King and Messiah, as the context clearly, show's. 
 
 23. Neither shall they defile themselves any more with 
 their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any 
 
214 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXVII. 
 
 of their transgressions : but I will save them out of all 
 their dwelling-places, wherein they have sinned, and will 
 cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be 
 their God. 
 
 24. And David my servant shall he king over them; 
 and they all shall have one shepherd : they shall also walk 
 in my judgments, and observe my statutes,' and do them. 
 
 25. And they shall dwell in tlie land that I have given 
 unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt, 
 and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, 
 and their children's children forever : and my servant David 
 sliall he their prince forever. 
 
 26. Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with 
 them ; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them : and 
 I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my 
 sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. 
 
 27. My tabernacle also shall be with them : yea, I will 
 be their God, and they shall be my people. 
 
 28. And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do 
 sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst 
 of them for evermore. 
 
 That this passage is Messianic, looking far down, not only to but 
 into the Gospel age, can admit of no question. " David my serv- 
 ant," is here, as in chap. 34: 23, 24, and Jer. 30: 9, and Hos. 3: 5, 
 the greater Son of David to whom "the Lord God will give the 
 throne of his father David." So the inspired angel explained and 
 applied these prophecies in Luke 1 : 32, 33. The designation, "my 
 servant," identifies him fully and beautifully. Compare Isa. 42: 1, 
 
 and 49: 3, G, and 52: 13, and 53: 11. The most precious fact 
 
 of his reign is the moral purity of his people under his redeeming, 
 sanctifying power. They shall defile themselves no more with their 
 idols, nor with any of their transgressions! Blessed fruition! 
 How glorious this state of moral purity shall be can be best appre- 
 ciated by those who have most deeply deplored their own proclivi- 
 ties to sin and their agonizing relapses under the power of tempta- 
 tion, and who have most fervently and with most irrepressible 
 longings sought for a pure and perfect heart toward the Lord 
 
 their God. Let us not fail to notice the forceful repetition of 
 
 the idea that God diuells among his j-ieople in these latter days. 
 "I will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore;" 
 "my tabernacle also shall be with them;" "the heathen shall 
 know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel when my sanctuary 
 
 shall be in the midf*t of them for evermore." Ezekiel had seen 
 
 the visible glory of God go up from the midst of the city as if to 
 depart from the temple (chap. 11 : 23). AVith the fall of that tem- 
 ple, this symbol of his presence had of course disappeared from 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXVII. 215 
 
 among them. Bat here the Lord pledges himself to return and 
 indeed to dwell with his people in forms and manifestations far 
 more rich, eftective and perfect than ever before. The ancient 
 Shekinah was rather a symbol than itself a power. It prophesied 
 of the glorious presence of God by his Spirit in the future days of 
 Zion. But here those days are drawn up near the eye for a more<^ 
 distinct and impressive view. Christian hearts become the temple 
 of the living God. Here are the germs of those precious thoughts 
 which our Lord unfolded so richly when he opened his mouth to 
 speak of the Comforter (Jn. chaps. 12-16), and which Paul grasped 
 with so clear a view of their spiritual power in his letter to the 
 brethren at Corinth (2 Cor. 6: 16-18, and 7: 1). "For ye are the 
 temple of the living God ; as God hath said ; 1 will dwell in them 
 and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my 
 
 people," etc. The reader should not fail to notice that this very 
 
 blessing — God dwelling with and in his people, making his presence 
 manifest as a power unto their holiness and blessedness — is the 
 great comprehensive promise of both the Old Testament dispensa- 
 tion and the New. It had the Shekinah in the most holy place 
 as its symbol under the Old Dispensation : it was embodied in the 
 promise and gift of the Holy Ghost in the Gospel age. To Moses 
 the Lord said (Ex. 29: 45, 46) "I will dwell among the children of 
 Israel and will be their God; and they shall know that I am the 
 Lord their God who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt 
 that I may dwell among them: I am the Lord their God." And 
 again (Lev. 26 : 3, 11, 12); "If ye walk in my statutes and keep my 
 
 commandments and do them I will set my tabernacle 
 
 among you, and my soul shall not abhor you, and I will walk among 
 you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people." These are 
 specimen passages from the records of the ancient economy. As 
 to the Gospel age it may suffice to refer to the promises of our 
 Lord ; " He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will 
 love him and ivill manifest myself unto hi7n." "If a man love me, 
 he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we loill 
 come unto him and make our abode with Imn." "It is expedient for 
 you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not 
 come ; but if I depart, I will send him unto you," " He shaU teach 
 you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance whatso- 
 ever I have said unto you." "He shall testify of me." "He will 
 guide you into all truth. He shall take of mine and shall show it 
 unto you," etc. John 14: 21, 23, 26, and 15 : 26, and 16 : 7-15.— 
 From Paul come these expressive words, "Know ye not that 
 ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth 
 in you?" " Kaow ye not that your body is the temple of the 
 Holy Ghost which is in you which ye have of God, and ye are not 
 your own?" "And what agreement hath the temple of God with 
 idols? For ye are the temple of the living God," etc. 1 Cor. 3: 
 16, and 6 : 19, and 2 Cor. 6 : 16. " In whom" (Christ) ye are builded 
 together for an habitation of God through the Spirit" (Eph. 2: 22). 
 Paul speaks of this doctrine as specially well known — one of the 
 
216 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXVII. 
 
 obvious and fundaitoptal truths of the Goepel system. In its very 
 nature it must be. — ^The exiles needed precisely the encouragement 
 and the inspiration which such promises bore to their hearts. The 
 time then present was the great crisis in their moral renovation. 
 V^The fierce judgments of the Almighty had smitten down the city and 
 /*' temple of their fathers. Would they, the children, now turn from 
 their idol-worship ; open their eyes to the spiritual mercies which the 
 Lord was so gloriously revealing ; abandon all their carnal trust in 
 the external things of Judaism, and seek the new heart and the new 
 spirit which the Lord so kindly promised ? If so, this revelation 
 
 ^^^^ of a glorious future for the true Israel and Zion would be most per- 
 tinent and most welcome. " Save them out of all their dwelling- 
 places wherein they have sinned," is a remarkable expression, 
 tacitly implying that the very localities of their sin had become a 
 power, under the laws of association, toward continued sinning, 
 from which they needed to be saved. Was it for this reason that 
 the Lord sent otf the better and hopeful portion of the people into 
 exile till he could burn the land over with the fires of war and 
 desolation, and efiace the last vestige of its old pollutions, and 
 break up forever those impure associations which ages of idol-wor- 
 ship had impressed on its hills and groves and its valley of Hin- 
 
 nom ? And is there any thing analogous to this in the Christian 
 
 life of God's people whereby he crucifies the power of old sins, and 
 smites down the influence of their mental associations so as to undo 
 
 effectually the mischief which years of sin have wrought? Other 
 
 questions, somewhat less vital intrinsically, yet important and vari- 
 ously held, demand notice; e. g., Wheyi are these prophecies to be 
 fulfilled ? Do they not assume the yet future restoration of the Jews 
 to Canaan and make that land the locality, the place, of their ful- 
 fillment? Briefly, my views of these chapters of Ezekiel (34, 36, 
 
 37) are these: They are general, not specific; comprehensive rather 
 
 <;^ than minute. Their gentral thought is promise — the assurance of 
 
 ^ God's love and faithfulness to his Zion, especially in his pledge 
 of his presence as a power unto her sanctification. "I will be 
 with you to sanctify and to save you from all your sins," is the 
 
 ■^ elementary and precious truth which they bear. Now let it be 
 carefully noted: — jThis great central truth applied under the old dis- 
 pensation while it lasted, in harmony loith the genius of that dispen- 
 sation. It applies under the new, in harmony with its genius and 
 spirit. Under the old, it promised restoration to the literal Ca- 
 naan and the reestablishment of the Mosaic ritual system. It 
 came to the exiles with these cheering promises and hopes, in 
 terms which they could not misunderstand. To them these prom- 
 ises in this sense were the very thing they needed, for the Zion 
 and kingdom of God had not yet cast oft' the forms of the Mosaic 
 system. But for the gospel age, under the New Testament dis- 
 pensation, these same promises had a new and different specific 
 sense. Their general sense was and is still the same; but their 
 external, specific sense has changed. To explain this change and 
 to bring the practical views and the actual Christian life of the 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXVII. 217 
 
 church into harmony with it were the great struggle and labor of 
 the Apostolic age. To induce converted Jews to let go the ritual 
 and joyfully accept the spiritual; to forego what was exclusive and 
 national in Judaism, and still retain all that its symbols signified 
 and its promises pledged, cost the Apostles whole years of intensest 
 labor. That labor should suffice to give us the clew to the inter- 
 pretation of these prophecies as applied to the Gospel age. That 
 part of their significance which yet remained to be fulfilled after 
 the death of Christ — no small part surely — must be seen in the 
 light of New Testament ideas. It would be the greatest and 
 grossest of mistakes to ignore the immense work wrought by Christ 
 and his Apostles toward the just interpretation of the Mosaic ritual 
 system and of the whole Hebrew economy, with all its gospel 
 promise and gospel prophecy, in their application to the Christian 
 age. We have this gospel idea in a nutshell in the passages al- 
 ready quoted from Paul. Comparing Paul (2 Cor. 6: 16) with 
 Ezekiel in the passage before us, we shall see it, Ezekiel reads, 
 "I will set my sanctuary in the midst of them forever more;" "My 
 tabernacle shall be with them ; yea, I will be their God and they 
 shall be my people," etc. Now, in the old dispensation, this sanc- 
 tuary was God's temple of wood and stone ; his residence in it was 
 
 through the \asible glory over the ark of the covenant. What 
 
 form does his presence assume in the new dispensation ? Let Paul 
 answer. " Ye are the temple of the living God ; as God hath said 
 {e. (/., Ezek. 37: 26, 28 and elsewhere) "I will dwell in them and 
 walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." 
 Every Christian becomes " a temple of the living God;" " an habita- 
 tion of God through the Spirit." Consequently in the Christian 
 age we look no longer for the restriction of worship to the one 
 place, the holy temple at Jerusalem. Our Lord decided this very 
 question in his discourse with the woman of Samaria (Jn. 4: 20- 
 24). Hence we look for no reoccupancy of Canaan by the covenant 
 people, for the covenant people are now the Christian men and 
 women of every nation under the whole heaven, and the Canaan 
 where they oflfer accepted worship is any place whatever in the 
 wide world where they please to worship God in spirit and in 
 
 truth. To bring back the Jews to Palestine in times yet future 
 
 under this promise carries with it the return to Judaism and the 
 rebuilding of the material temple, and goes back from the accepted 
 worship every-where of all pious hearts through faith in the Re- 
 deemer's blood — goes back from the glorious gospel idea that the 
 Holy Ghost makes every Christian heart his temple; — f^-oes back 
 to reestablish that ancient system which in the age of Paul had 
 
 already "waxed old and was vanishing away." (lleb, 8: 13). 
 
 The position to which I adhere is that the church is now and 
 henceforward in the Christian age and not in the Jewish ; that she 
 has passed by the Jewish, and that God does not intend she shall re- 
 turn to it again ; that the Jewish in its peculiar form and symbolic 
 significance has done its work and will never do it over again ; and 
 that it behooves us to be satisfied with the Christian system, make 
 10 
 
218 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXVIII. 
 
 the most of it, develop its inherent energies to their utmost extent, 
 and thus, through the resources of the Spirit's power, cause, it to 
 "become mi.iihty through God to convert the nations to Christ and 
 reoienerate the world. 
 
 CHAPTERS XXXVIII AND XXXIX. 
 
 These two chapters are essentially one in their subject-matter 
 and aim, and are closely connected with chaps. 34, 36, and 37 pre- 
 ceding, and with chaps. 40-48 following. They are manifestly part 
 of the series of prophecies recorded in the three preceding chap- 
 ters — refer to the same great future of Zion, and are in the same 
 sense general rather than specific in their ultimate meaning. The 
 one great truth which they teach is expressed forcibly by Isaiah 
 (54: 17, 15). "No w^eapon that is formed against thee shall pros- 
 per." "Behold, they shall gather together {i. e., against thee) but 
 not bi/ me; whosoever shairgathor together against thee shall fall 
 
 for thy sake." The manner of presenting this great truth — the 
 
 costume of the prophecy — sets forth that in the remote future, after 
 Israel had been a long time at rest and in peace in their own land, 
 and had become wealthy, a vast horde of northern barbarians 
 should fall upon their land for purposes of plunder ; but God calls 
 for a sword against them. Indignant at this outrage, and jealous 
 for his holy name, he interposes with terrific judgments upon 
 them, cuts them off with immense slaughter, and forever exalts his 
 name before all the heathen as the Deliverer and Savior of his 
 
 people. It is assumed with a fair degree of probability that 
 
 Ezekiel names these supposed enemies of Israel with his eye on a 
 vast marauding expedition of Scythians, in which they swept over 
 Western Asia about the time of the fall of Nineveh {i. d, B. C. 
 625), and were not thoroughly driven back short of about twenty- 
 eight years. Gesenius (in his Thesaurus) says ; " There is scarcely 
 a doubt that for the most part those nations are meant here whom 
 the Greeks comprehended under the name Scythians, whoso vast 
 expedition against Egypt in the very age of Ezekiel seems to have 
 given that prophet the occasion for this reference — the handle for 
 such a prophecy." The writer of the article on Magog in Smith's 
 Bible Dictionary represents them as at this time a formidable power 
 throughout Western Asia ; as having been crowded from their orig- 
 inal homes, north of the Caucasian mountains, by the inroads of 
 the Massagetac ; as then forcing their way into Asia Minor in war 
 
 writers as expert with the bow, famous as mounted bowmen, and 
 
 notorious for their rapacious and cruel habits. The memory of 
 
 these events being yet fresh in the minds, of his readers, Ezekiel 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXVIII. 219 
 
 (i. e.j God through him) selected these Scythians as the symbol of 
 earthly violence arrayed against the people of God, but meeting a 
 signal and utter overthrow. 
 
 1. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 
 
 2. Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of 
 Magog, the chief prince of Meshecli and Tubal, and proph- 
 esy against him, 
 
 3. And say. Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am 
 against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshecli and 
 Tubal : 
 
 4. And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy 
 jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, 
 horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of 
 minor, even a great company with bucklers and shields, 
 all of them handling swords : 
 
 5. Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them ; all of them 
 with shield and helmet: 
 
 6. Gomer, and all his bands ; the house of Togarmah of 
 the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people 
 with thee. 
 
 "Magog" is here the name of the king; "Gog" the name of his 
 
 country. The word rendered "chief," in the clause, "chief 
 
 prince," etc., is not an adjective as our translators supposed, but a 
 proper noun. The word is JRosch, and is supposed to be the ear- 
 liest historical allusion to the people afterward known as the 
 
 Russians. "Meshech and Tubal," the countries of the Moschi 
 
 and the Tibareni, lay on the south of the Caspian, the home of the 
 people known by the ancient Greeks as the Scythians. Josephus, 
 (Antiquities 1: 6: 1) says that "Magog, second son of Japheth, 
 (Gen. 10 : 2) founded those who were called by the Greeks Scyth- 
 ians." "Gomer," named first of the sons of Japheth (Gen. 10: 
 
 2), probably the father and founder of the Cimmerians, helped to 
 swell the great Scythian horde. " Tagarmah" was a kindred tribe, 
 
 thought by some to be the Armenians. ^Persia, Ethiopia, and 
 
 Libya are named here with them to fill out the representation of 
 an immense and countless horde. These names do not occur 
 
 again. In v. 4 the original phrase rendered, " clothed with all 
 
 sorts of armor," seems not to refer to military armor^ but to gor- 
 geous apparel. Their armor, offensive and defensive, is spoken of 
 subsequently. 
 
 7. Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and 
 all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou 
 a guard unto them. 
 
 8. After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter 
 years thou shalt come into the land that ia brought back 
 
220 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXVIII. 
 
 from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against 
 the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: 
 but it is bl'ought forth out of the nations, and they shall 
 dwell safely all of them. 
 
 9. Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt 
 be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, 
 and many people with thee. 
 
 "Be thou prepared;" "prepare for thyself;" are not to be taken 
 as commanding in serious earnest, but as daring and challenging 
 in irony. Since so you will, do it if you dare ! So through Isaiah, 
 (chap. 8: 9, 10) the Lord accosts the proud Assyrians and others; 
 "Associate yourselves, O ye nations, and ye shall be broken to pieces ; 
 gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken to pieces. Take counsel 
 
 together, and it shall come to naught," etc. "Be thou a guard 
 
 unto them," means rather, Take the lead of them; head the grand 
 
 enterprise, Gog! In v. 8, "Thou shalt be visited," means — 
 
 not, thou shalt be punished^ but thou shalt muster thy forces and 
 become their leader, making all ready for the great expedition 
 against Israel. The prediction of his punishment comes in later, in 
 
 v. 18. This verse describes the land of Israel as having passed 
 
 through the scenes of the Chaldean captivity and desolation; as 
 having been long waste, but as repeopled, reclaimed from its waste 
 condition, and now for a long time prosperous. I paraphrase the 
 latter part of the verse thus: "The mountains of Israel which have 
 long lain waste — the same which have been resettled by returning 
 exiles brought forth from the nations, and who have now long dwelt 
 in safety and prosperity." Against this people, Gog and his hosts 
 came down like a storm to sweep and a cloud to cover the land. 
 
 10. Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass, 
 that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and 
 thou shalt think an evil thought: 
 
 11. And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of un- 
 walled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that 
 dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and hav- 
 ing neither bars nor gates, 
 
 12. To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thy hand 
 upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon 
 the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have 
 gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land. 
 
 God knew and here describes how the thought of plundering a 
 people, unprotected and off their guard, excited his rapacity and 
 
 put him upon this expedition. The last clause of f. 12 means 
 
 not precisely " in the midst of the land," but on the height of the 
 land. The Jews thought of their country, Palestine, as not only 
 the glory of all lands, but also as the crown, the height of the 
 world. This is the sense of the rare word here used by the prophet. 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXVIII. 221 
 
 V 
 
 It occurs elsewhere, Judg. 9 : 37 ; there rendered, " the middle of 
 the land," but better, " down from the height of the land." 
 
 13. Slieba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, 
 with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art 
 thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy com- 
 l^any to take a prey ? to carry aAvay silver and gold, to 
 take aw^ay cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? 
 
 Sheba and Dedan, prominent districts of Arabia, and Tarshish 
 of Spain, famed for its trade with the Phenician cities, appear 
 suddenly and for the moment only in this drama. Their question 
 might under some circumstances be taken as a rebuke ; but in this 
 case probably it is one of sympathy, as much as to say. You are 
 in, it seems, for a grand scene of plunder : let us have a share ! For 
 these people also are to be thought of as enemies of God's children, 
 and as introduced here to amplify the description and set forth that 
 all the nations of the earth, outside of Palestine, are in arms 
 against her for one combined and fearful onslaught. 
 
 14. Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, 
 Thus saith the Lord God; In that day when my people of 
 Israel dwelleth safely," shalt thou not know it f 
 
 15. And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north 
 parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding 
 upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army: 
 
 16. And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, 
 as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, 
 and I w^ill bring thee against my land, that the heathen 
 may know me, when I shall be sanctified iii thee, O Gog, 
 before their eyes. 
 
 17. Thus saith the Lord God; Art thou he of whom I 
 have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of 
 Israel, which prophesied in those days many years, that I 
 would bring thee against them? 
 
 The points made here are not intricate. Shall not these com- 
 bined nations know their time for assault on my defenseless peo- 
 ple ? They will. They are to come from the northern parts, anal- 
 ogous to the avalanche from northern Europe that overran tlie old 
 and eficte Roman empire ; or in later times, the sweep of the Tartar 
 
 hordes under Tamerlane. It should be "in the latter days" — 
 
 here quite indefinite and very probably referring in part, perhaps in 
 large part, to events yet future. V. 17 intimates that this on- 
 slaught upon the kingdom and people of God is the same which his 
 prophets had predicted in years then past. Since no prophet up to 
 that time had named precisely these enemies, we are compelled (as 
 above indicated) to give these names a general and not specific 
 sense, accounting them to represent not those nations in particular, 
 
222 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXVIII. 
 
 • 
 
 but any and every form of hostility to the kingdom of God. Only 
 in this sense could it he said to have been the burden of previous 
 
 prophecv. In the clause, "In those days many years," tlie word 
 
 ^'■many' is superfluous, the sense being, "in those days and years." 
 
 18. And it shall come to pass at the same time when 
 Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord 
 God, that my fury shall come up in my face. 
 
 19. For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have 
 I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking 
 in the land of Israel ; 
 
 20. So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the 
 heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things 
 that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon 
 the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the 
 mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall 
 fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. 
 
 21. And I will call for a sword against him throughout 
 all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man's sword 
 shall be against his brother. 
 
 22. And I will plead against him with pestilence and 
 with blood; and I will rain upon him and upon his bands, 
 and upon the many people that are with him, an overflow- 
 ing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. 
 
 23. Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; 
 and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and 
 they shall know that I am the Lord. 
 
 "My fury shall come up in my face," refers to the usual mani- 
 festations of intense excitement — a flushed countenance, the blood 
 rushing to the head and imprinting the marks of strong feeling 
 upon the face. The indignation of the Almighty is intensely 
 aroused against these heathen hosts who are combined to pillage 
 and destroy his people. A great shaking follows, a terrible earth- 
 quake, felt by all who dwell in the vast deep, by every fowl of the 
 heavens and every beast of the field, before which the mountains 
 are thrown down, and every wall built of man, however deep-laid 
 its foundations, shall fall to the ground. Tlie mighty God calls for 
 a sword against this huge host throughout all his mountains ; every 
 man's sword is against his brother. These enemies of God's peo- 
 j>le become fheir own destroyers. Ah truly, evermore the liOrd 
 knows how to make the wrath of man praise himself and to gird 
 about him the extremest wrath of men as his own sword for their 
 destruction. The last clause of this significant passage (Ps. 76 ; 10) 
 announces the very principle or law developed in this predicted 
 slaughter. The Almiglity God girds on the extremest wrath of 
 these wicked men and makes it his own sword for their universal 
 destruction. The description here is graphic and fearful. "I 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXIX. 223 
 
 ■will plead against him with pestilence and with blood" — the plague 
 combining with the sword to cut short the lives of myriads and 
 
 strew the land with mountain heaps of the slain. "I will rain 
 
 upon him and upon his bands and upon the many people that are 
 with him, an overflowing rain and great hailstones, fire and brim- 
 stone" — in which description all the great and destructive agencies 
 of the physical world combine to fill out the picture and make up 
 a scene of appalling slaughter. So the Psalmist; ".Upon the 
 wicked, God will rain snares, fire and brimstone and an horrible 
 tempest; this shall be the portion of their cup (Ps. 11: 6). The 
 fire on Sodom (Gen. 19 : 24, 25) and Isaiah's smitten Idumea (chap. 
 34) are in the same strain of appalling grandeur and of fearful de- 
 struction! The exalted purpose of God in these judgments is 
 
 shown, viz., to magnify his power; to make his name great; to 
 vindicate his holiness and his righteous justice, and to make aU 
 the nations know that he is the Lord, the glorious Ruler of all 
 kingdoms, and the no less glorious Deliverer of his people. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 This chapter continues and closes the subject of the preceding 
 one, expanding its descriptions and reiterating its momentous 
 truths. 
 
 1. Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, 
 and say, Thus saith the Lord God ; Behold, I am against 
 thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal : 
 
 2. And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth 
 part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the 
 north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of 
 Israel : 
 
 3. And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and 
 will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. 
 
 4. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, 
 and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee : I will 
 give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the 
 beasts of the fiield, to be devoured. 
 
 5. Thou shalt fall upon the open field : for I have spoken 
 it, saith the Lord God. 
 
 6. And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them 
 that dwell carelessly in the isles : and they shall know that 
 I am the Lord. 
 
 7. So will I make my holy name known in the midst of 
 my people Israel ; and I will not let them pollute my holy 
 
224 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXIX. 
 
 name any more : and the heathen shall know that I am 
 the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. 
 
 In the first clause of v. 2 the ablest modern critics read, not '' 1 
 will leave but a sixth part of thee ; " but, " I will bring thee out, and 
 lead or urge thee on," etc. — in harmony with the latter part of the 
 verse and describing yet further God's permissive agency in suffer- 
 ing this vast combination of his enemies. The prophet proceeds 
 soon to speak of their destruction; but docs not touch that subject 
 
 in this second verse. In general these verses repeat the points 
 
 made in the previous chapter, and in the subsequent parts of 
 this. 
 
 8. Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord 
 God ; this is the day whereof I have spoken. 
 
 This verse corresponds with chap. 38 : 17, to the point that this 
 invasion represents the hostility of God's enemies against his cause 
 and people, and had even then been already spoken of by the 
 prophets. 
 
 9. And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go 
 forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the 
 shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the 
 hand-staves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with 
 fire seven years : 
 
 10. So that they shall take no w^ood out of the field, 
 neither cut down any out of the forests ; for they shall 
 burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that 
 spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the 
 Lord God. 
 
 To measure the vastncss of this grand armament and give the 
 reader some conception of its magnitude, their weapons of war are 
 
 said to have supplied fuel for all Israel seven years. Now is the 
 
 time for Israel to rob and plunder those who have long robbed and 
 
 plundered her. These '■^ivcapons" made thus prominent remind 
 
 us of Isaiah's words; "No weapon that is formed against thee shall 
 prosper." 
 
 11. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will 
 give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley 
 of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop 
 the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog 
 and all his multitude : and they shall call it The valley of 
 Hamon-gog. 
 
 12. And seven months shall the house of Israel be bury- 
 ing of them, that they may cleanse the land. 
 
 13. Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them : and 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXIX. 225 
 
 it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall' be glori- 
 fied, saith the Lord God. 
 
 14. And they shall sever ont men of continual employ- 
 ment passing through the land to bury with the passengers 
 those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: 
 after the end of seven months shall they search. 
 
 15. And the passengers that pass through the land, w^hen 
 any seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till 
 the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon-gog. 
 
 16. And also the name of the city shall he Hamonah. 
 Thus shall they cleanse the land. 
 
 Still further to aid the mind to conceive the vastness of this 
 slaughter, the prophet describes the burial of their dead. It occu- 
 pied seven months — seven, the round number occurring here again 
 in its long, indefinite sense. At first ail the people of the land 
 seem to have been engaged in this work. Ultimately they set apart 
 "men of continual employment" to prosecute the work as their 
 regular and constant business. Even they had the aid of all trav- 
 elers who were passing through the land. If any of these saw an 
 unburied body or bone, they set a pillar to mark the spot, till the 
 
 force detailed for this purpose had buried all. In v. 11 the word 
 
 "?zo5C5," in italics, should be omitted and the passage be read; "It" 
 (the place of graves for Gog) "shall stop the way of passengers " — 
 shall block their passage. Located in a great thoroughfare along 
 the eastern shore of the sea, it would obstruct travel by its masses 
 
 of slaughtered dead. In v. 14, "bury with the passengers," is 
 
 with the aid of the passengers, as the next verse explains, and does 
 not imply that the passengers are buried with the slain enemies of 
 
 God. The valley of Hamon-gog is the valley of the multitude or 
 
 hosts of Gog. In V. 14, " shall they search," means they shall glean 
 
 thoroughly; shall make a very special and final exploration. The 
 kingdom of God must be purified with the utmost care. The Mo- 
 saic law accounted defilement by a dead body more -polluting than 
 any other. And of all dead bodies, these of their heathen foes 
 would be most polluting. 
 
 17. And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God ; 
 Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the 
 field. Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on 
 every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a 
 great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may 
 eat flesh, and drink blood. 
 
 18. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the 
 blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of 
 goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan. 
 
 19. And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood 
 
226 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXIX. 
 
 till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed 
 for you. 
 
 20. Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and 
 chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith 
 the Lord God. 
 
 Here is another of the usual features in a description of great 
 slaughter — a summons to every beast and fowl ; to the hyenas and 
 vultures that delight in human flesh; to gather to this great feast 
 prepared of God for them. Of course, this aims to fill out and 
 heighten the description of an immense slaughter. 
 
 21. And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all 
 the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, 
 and my hand that I have laid upon them. 
 
 22. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord 
 their God from that day and forward. 
 
 Sublimely will the Lord Jehovah "set his glory before all the 
 heathen" by means of this appalling destruction of their armed 
 hosts. They shall know that this is the work of his hand, and 
 shall see that indeed he is mighty to save his people and to avenge 
 
 them on their proudest foes. The house of Israel too shall see 
 
 and know God s hand. This grand display of it will suffice from 
 this time forward and for evermore ! They will never again have 
 occasion to doubt whether God loves Zion and will defend her 
 against whatever may assail. 
 
 23. And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel 
 went into captivity for their iniquity : because they tres- 
 passed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and 
 gave them into the hand of their enemies : so fell they all 
 by the sword. 
 
 24. According to their uncleanness, and according to their 
 transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from 
 them. 
 
 Most pertinently the Lord declares that now the heathen shall 
 understand why he seemed to abandon his people and leave them 
 to go into captivity. It was not (as tliey would fain suppose) be- 
 cause his arm was too short to save them; neither was it that he 
 had utterly forsaken them and given them over to hopeless ruin: 
 but it was because of their apostasy and transgression, and hence 
 as a discipline to reclaim, and not as a judgment that should ex- 
 terminate. 
 
 25. Therefore thus saith the Lord God ; Now will I bring- 
 again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the 
 whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy 
 name; 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XXXIX. 227 
 
 26. After that they have borue their shame, and all their 
 trespasses whei^eby they have trespassed against me, when 
 they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid. 
 
 27. When I have brought them again from the people, 
 and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am 
 sanctified in them in the sight of many nations ; 
 
 28. Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, 
 which caused them to be led into caj)tivity among the 
 heathen : but I have gathered them unto their own land, 
 and have left none of them any more there. 
 
 29. Neither will I hide my face any more from them : for 
 I have poured out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith 
 the Lord God. 
 
 The nearer fulfillment of vs. 25, 26 — the first installment of bless- 
 ings — came in the restoration from Babylon under Zerubbabel. Its 
 subsequent installments belong chiefly or wholly to the gospel age, 
 and take the form peculiar to this age — gospel blessings. That 
 great restoration was a pledge and symbol of all future deliverances 
 tiiat God would achieve for his people. In its light they might see 
 that their own God is almighty to save, and will certainly fulfill 
 
 every good word he has spoken. The perpetuity of his fovor and 
 
 love is insured by the mission and work of his Spirit ; for the pros- 
 perity of God's people is forever sure, provided only that their 
 hearts are kept pure before the Lord. Given, a sanctified people, 
 and there will also be a prosperous and happy people. Zion has 
 nothing to fear, provided only that she walks humbly and softly ]je- 
 fore God. " For I have poured out my Spirit upon the house of 
 Israel," is therefore the unfailing guaranty and pledge of abiding 
 
 and glorious prosperity to Zion. Of course this promise looks 
 
 down into the gospel age, of which age the mission of the Com- 
 forter is the grand, distinctive characteristic. Jesus spake by an- 
 ticipation of this mission and of its fruits when " in the last day, 
 that great day of the feast" (Jn. 7: 37-39) "he stood and cried, 
 'If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink.' He that be- 
 lieveth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow 
 rivers of living water; — for he spake this of the Spirit which they 
 that believe on him should receive when the Holy Ghost should be 
 given" — which time then was not yet because that Jesus was not 
 yet glorified. 
 
 As to the general scope of these two chapters, treating of a great 
 invasion of Israel by the hosts of Gog, there can be no reasonable 
 doubt. They depict the intense antagonism of the powers of sin 
 and hell in this world against the church and kingdom of God. In 
 costume Jewish, to make it readily intelligible to the people for 
 whom Ezekiel wrote, it is yet in thought and bearing, mainly 
 Christian, belonging to the latter days of the reign of Satan. It 
 does not show that the land of Israel (Palestine proper) shall bo 
 the battle-ground ; it does not teach that this malign onset shall be 
 
228 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XL. 
 
 with bows and spears and horsemen; it does not even show that 
 Zion's enemies shall come out of "the north parts:" — all these are 
 features of costume, drapery, representation. The real truth lies 
 under all these features and should he carefully kept distinct from 
 them all. This truth is that sin and Satan will assail (lod in the 
 form of an assault upon his truth and his people. The conflict 
 will be terrible. What precise form it shall assume, this passage 
 did not aim to show. The forms of Hatan's onsets change from 
 age to age. Their name is legion. It is quite in vain to speculate 
 beforehand as to the form they will assume in any given age, pres- 
 ent or future. It rather behooves us to study all his wiles and 
 never be ignorant of his devices ; but especially, to rally round the 
 banner of our King and accept his leadership in the mighty con- 
 flict. So fighting and so trusting, victory is sure to Zion, for the 
 mouth of the Lord hath spoken it! 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 The remaining nine chapters constitute one vision, given to the 
 prophet in the twenty-fifth year of the captivity, i. e., ahout four- 
 teen years after the fall of Jerusalem. It is entirely unique in its 
 cliaractcr, yet closely connected in its leading thought and pilrpose 
 
 with chapters 36-39, immediately preceding. 1 propose to state 
 
 first in general and briefly, my view of its meaning and purpose ; 
 then pass over the. whole with explanations of special passages; 
 and then finally, give my reasons for my system of interpretation. 
 
 I. I regard this vision as an ideal representation of the glorious 
 future of Messiah's kingdom. The 7node of representing it corres- 
 ponds with the external character of Christ's church and kingdom 
 under the Mosaic economy. This correspondence is natural and 
 should be expected. Ezekiel and his people, the exiles in Chaldea, 
 were familiar Avith no other form of divine worship and Avith no 
 other organization — no other external life, for the people of God. 
 Hence there Avas the same reason for using this class of symbols 
 to represent the future kingdom of Christ as for using the Hebrew 
 language in speaking to them, rather than the Greek,' the Latin, or 
 the English — viz,, the fitness of using figures and symbols as Avell 
 as words Avhich the prophet and his people Avould readily under- 
 stand. Let it be borne in mind that Ezekiel Avas by birtli, train- 
 ing and profession, a priest. Of course he Avas perfectly at home 
 in all that pertained to the temple, the priesthood, and the pre- 
 scribed forms of Mosaic AA'orship. In the Avorld of symlxils, there- 
 fore, this Avas his vernacular tongue. Approximately and in gen- 
 eral, the same may be said of the Jcavs of his time, his captive 
 brethren. In the next place let it be remembered that the peo- 
 ple had now been in exile twenty-five years, and their beloved city 
 in ruins fourteen ; — long enough to awaken anxious fears lest their 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAr. XL. 229 
 
 people should never return, the temple never be rebuilt, and lest 
 the Zion of their God should never rise again from its ruins. 
 These fears are amply indicated in chap. 37: 11. To meet pre- 
 cisely this great fear and to inspire a precious confidence in a future 
 for Zion far more glorious than its past had ever been, this vision 
 came. It describes with great minuteness (chaps. 40-43) the new 
 temple yet to be; then the return of the glorious Shekinah to fix 
 his abode once more in this temple, henceforward to be there per- 
 petually (chap. 43); next the altar and its laws of worship; then, 
 regulations for the prince and for the priests (chap. 44) ; then the 
 assignment of territory for the temple, the priests, the Levites, and 
 the adjacent city (chap. 45). Next, various ordinances for the 
 people, and for the prince (chap. 46); then a vision of holy waters 
 issuing from the sanctuary, and of the blessings they bear where 
 they go; then the boundaries of their land (chap. 47); and finally 
 the apportionment of territory to the several trilxjs, together with 
 a great reservation for sacred purposes — for the temple, the priests, 
 the Levites, and the prince — all- culminating in the one comprehen- 
 sive fact, embodied in the name of the city, ^^ Jehovah jShammah;" 
 ''''the Lord is therey 
 
 As to the meaning of this very full and minute vision, I reject the 
 literal sense most decidedly. It may be understood to assume a res- 
 toration from their then present captivity, but certainly it does not 
 relate specially to this nearer restoration under Zerubbabel and 
 does not minutely describe it. Nor does it teach that at some period 
 in the Christian age the Jews shall be restored to their former land, 
 and then their temple be rebuilt, their ceremonial worship be re- 
 stored, and this modified form of the Mosaic system be developed 
 into actual life. As already indicated, I shall reserve my argu- 
 ment against this view till the whole passage is before us. Then it 
 will be more in place and better understood. At this stage it may 
 suffice to say that I regard this vision as a magnificent panorama, 
 thoroughly symbolical, and setting forth in Jewish costume and 
 drapery the future pro^erity, the order, beauty, and moral power of 
 the church in those days when God shall dwell forever with his 
 people by his Holy Spirit, a power unto holiness in their hearts 
 and lives, making the institutions and agencies of the gospel ex- 
 ceedingly efiective for evangelizing the world and bringing the na- 
 tions to know the Lord. 
 
 1. In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the 
 beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the 
 fourteenth year after that the city was smitten, in the self- 
 same day the hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought 
 me thither. 
 
 2. In the visions of God brought he me into the land of 
 Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was 
 as the frame of a city on the south. 
 
 3. And he brought me thither, and behold, there was a 
 
230 EZEKIEL.— CUAP. XL. 
 
 man, whose appearance ivas like the appearance of brass, 
 with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed ; and 
 he stood in the gate, 
 
 4. And the man said unto me. Son of man, behold with 
 thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thy heart upon 
 all that I shall shew thee ; for to the intent that I might 
 shew them unto thee art thou brought hither : declare all that 
 thou seest to the house of Israel. 
 
 In these verses we have the date of this vision, as already ex- 
 plained in my introduction to these chapters. Then the account 
 proceeds to show that this was truly a vision^ the prophet being 
 transported to the land of Israel and there shown the frame of a 
 city and a man bearing the instruments for its measurement. The 
 prophet is directed to note with very special care all he shall see, 
 that he may declare it to his people. 
 
 5. And behold a wall on the outside of the house round 
 about, and in the man's hand a measuring reed of six cubits 
 long by the cubit and a hand-breadth : so he measured the 
 breadth of the building, one reed : and the height, one reed. 
 
 6. Then came he unto the gate which looketh toward the 
 east, and went up the stairs thereof, and measured the thresh- 
 old of the gate, which was one reed broad; and the other 
 threshold of the gate, which was one reed broad. 
 
 7. And every little chamber ivas one reed long, and one 
 reed broad ; and between the little chambers were Ave cubits ; 
 and the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate 
 within ivas one reed. 
 
 8. He measured also the porch of the gate within, one reed. 
 
 9. Then measured he the porch of the gate, eight cubits ; 
 and the posts thereof, two cubits ; and the porch of the gate 
 ivas inward. 
 
 10. And the little chambers of the gate eastward ivcrc 
 three on this side, and three on that side; they three ivere 
 of one measure : and the posts had one measure on this side 
 and on that side. 
 
 11. And he measured the breadth of the entry of the gate, 
 ten cubits ; and the entry of the gate, thirteen cubits. 
 
 12. The space also before the little chambers ivas one cu- 
 bit on this side, and the space was one cubit on that side : and 
 the little chambers were six cubits on this side, and six cubits 
 on that side. 
 
 13. He measured then the gate from the roof of one little 
 chamber to the roof of another: the breadth ivas five, and 
 twenty cubits, door against door. 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XL. 231 
 
 14. He made also posts of threescore cubits, even unto 
 the post of the court round about the gate. 
 
 15. And from the face of the gate of the entrance unto 
 the face of the porch of the inner gate ivere fifty cubits. 
 
 16. And there were narrow windows to the little chambers, 
 and to their posts within the gate round about, and likewise 
 to the arches : and windows were round about inward : and 
 upon each post were palm-trees. 
 
 17. Then brought he me into the outward court, and lo, 
 there ivere chambers, and a pavement made for the court 
 round about : thirty chambers were upon the pavement. 
 
 18. And the pavement by the side of the gates, over 
 against the length of the gates ims the lower pavement. 
 
 19. Then he measured the breadth from the forefront of 
 the lower gate unto the forefront of the inner court without, 
 a hundred cubits eastward and northward. 
 
 20. And the gate of the outward court that looked toward 
 the north, he measured the length thereof, and the breadth 
 thereof 
 
 21. And the little chambers thereof were three on this side 
 and three on that side ; and the posts thereof and the arches 
 thereof were after the measure of the first gate : the length 
 thereof was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty 
 cubits. 
 
 22. And their windows, and their arches, and their palm- 
 trees, were after the measure of the gate that looketh toward 
 the east : and they went up unto it by seven steps ; and the 
 arches thereof were before them. 
 
 23. And the gate of the inner court ivas over against the 
 gate toward the north, and toward the east; and he meas- 
 ured from gate to gate a hundred cubits. 
 
 24. After that he brought me toward the south, and be- 
 hold a gate toward the south: and he measured the posts 
 thereof and the arches thereof according to these measures. 
 
 25. And there ivere windows in it and in the arches thereof 
 round about, like those windows : the length ims fifty cubits, 
 and the breadth five and twenty cubits. 
 
 26. And there were seven steps to go up to it, and the 
 arches thereof toere before them : and it had palm-trees, one 
 on this side, and another on that side, upon the posts thereof. 
 
 27. And there was a gate in the inner court toward the 
 south : and he measured from gate to gate toward the south 
 a hundred cubits. 
 
 28. And he brought me to the inner court by the south- 
 
232 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XL. 
 
 gate: and he measured the south-gate accordmg to these 
 measures : 
 
 29. And the little chambers thereof, and the posts thereof, 
 and the arches thereof, according to these measures: and 
 there were windows in it and in the arches round about : it 
 was fifty cubits long and five and twenty cubits Inroad. 
 
 30. And the arches round about ivere five and twenty cu- 
 bits long, and five cubits broad. 
 
 31. And the arches thereof ivere toward the outer court; 
 and palm-trees wey^e uj)on the posts thereof, and the going 
 up to it had eight steps. 
 
 32. And he brought me into the inner court toward the 
 the east: and he measured the gate according to these 
 measures. 
 
 33. And the little chambers thereof, and the posts thereof, 
 and the arches thereof, were according to these measures: 
 and there ivere windows therein and in the arches thereof 
 round about: it ivas fifty cubits long, and five and twenty 
 cubits broad. 
 
 34. And the arches thereof were toward the outward court ; 
 and palm-trees were upon the posts thereof, on this side, and 
 on that side : and the going up to it had eight steps. 
 
 35. And he brought me to the north gate, and measured 
 it according to these measures ; 
 
 36. The little "chambers thereof, the posts thereof, and the 
 arclies thereof, and the windows to it round about : the length 
 ivas fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits. 
 
 37. And the posts thereof were toward the outer court; 
 and palm-trees were upon the posts thereof, on this side, and 
 on that side : and the going up to it had eight steps. 
 
 38. And the chambers and the entries thereof iver^e by 
 the posts of the gates, where they washed the burnt-ofiering. 
 
 39. And in the porch of the gate ivere two tables on this 
 side, and two tables on that side, to slay thereon the burnt- 
 otfcring, and the sin-oftering, land the trespass-oftering. 
 
 40. And at the side without, as one goeth up to the entry 
 of the north gate, were two tables; and on the other side, 
 Avliich was at the porch of the gate, were two tables. 
 
 41. Four tables ivere on this side, and four tables on tliat 
 vsidc, by the side of the gate; eiglit tables, whereupon they 
 slew their sacrifices. 
 
 42. And the four tables ivere of hewn stone for the burnt- 
 offering, of a cubit and a half long, and a cubit and a half 
 broaJ, and one cubit high : whereupon also they laid the 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLI. 233 
 
 instruments wherewith they slew the burnt-offering and the 
 sacrifice. 
 
 43. And within loere hooks, a hand broad, fastened round 
 about : and upon the tables icas the flesh of the offering. 
 
 44. And without the inner gate were the chambers of the 
 singers in the inner court, which was at the side of the north 
 gate ; and their prospect ivas toAvard the south : one at the 
 side of the east gate having the prospect tOAvard the north. 
 
 45. And he said unto me, This chamber, whose prospect 
 is toward the south, is for the priests, the keepers of the 
 charge of the house. 
 
 46. And the chamber whose prospect is toward the north 
 is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar: 
 these are the sons of Zadok among the sons of Levi, which 
 come near to the Lord to minister unto him. 
 
 47. So he measured the court, a hundred cubits long, and 
 a hundred cubits broad, four-square; and the altar that ivas 
 before the house. 
 
 48. And he brought me to the porch of the house, and 
 measured each post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and 
 five cubits on that side : and the breadth of the gate ivas 
 three cubits on this side, and three cubits on that side. 
 
 49. The length of the porch ic'as twenty cubits, and the 
 breadth eleven cubits ; and he brought me by the steps whereby 
 they went up to it: and there were pillars by the posts, one 
 on this side, and another on that side. 
 
 There seems to be no occasion for extended comments on this 
 description of the temple. Let it suffice to suggest to the reader the 
 remarkable regiilarity and uniformity of dimensions that prevailed 
 throughout, indicating, we must suppose, the beautiful order that 
 shall prevail under the final triumph of the gospel in our world. 
 Then every thing will be in its place : whatever is shapeless, rude, 
 uncouth, will be discarded ; all Avill be morally right, and the whole 
 external world will be in beautiful harmony with the perfect moral 
 order and purity that will then rule in human hearts and in all 
 society. 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 This continued description embraces the most holy place ; the 
 chambers also, and the altar, pointed out to the prophet particularly 
 as the table of the Lord, with frequent allusions to the ornamenta- 
 tion of these apartments and walls by means of engraving upon them 
 
234 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLI. 
 
 figures of palm-trees and cherubim. ^The same wonderful regu- 
 larity obtains hero as in the previous chapter, and with the same 
 significance. 
 
 1. Afterward he brought me to the temple, and measured 
 the posts, six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits 
 broad on the other side, n^hich ivas the breadth of the tab- 
 ernacle. 
 
 2. And the breadth of the door ivas ten cubits ; and the 
 sides of the door luere five cubits on the one side, and five 
 cubits on the other side : and he measured the length 
 thereof, fi^rty cubits : and the breadth, tw^enty cubits. 
 
 3. Then went he inward, and measured the j^ost of the 
 door, two cubits ; and the door, six cubits ; and the breadth 
 of the door, seven cubits. 
 
 4. So he measured the length thereof, twenty cubits ; and 
 the breadth, twenty cubits, before the temple: and he said 
 unto me. This is the most holy place. 
 
 5. After, he measured the wall of the house six cubits ; 
 and the breadth of every side-chamber, four cubits, round 
 about the house on every side. 
 
 6. And the side-chambers ivere three, one over another, 
 and thirty in order; and they entered into the wall, which 
 ^vas of the house for the side-chambers round about, that 
 they might have hold, but they had not hold in the wall 
 of the house. 
 
 7. And there ivas an enlarging and winding about still 
 upAvard to the side-chambers : for the winding about of the 
 house went still upward round about the house; therefore 
 the breadth of the house ivas still upward, and so increased 
 from the lowest chamber to the highest by the midst. 
 
 8. I saw also the height of the house round about: the 
 foundations of the side-chambers ivere a full reed of six 
 great cubits. 
 
 9. The thickness of the wall, which was for the side- 
 Chamber without, ivas five cubits: and that which was left 
 tvas the place of the side-chambers that were within. 
 
 10. And between the chambers was the wideness of twenty 
 cubits round about the house on every side. 
 
 11. And the doors of the side-chambers ■ were toward the 
 place that tvas left, one door toward the north, and another 
 door toward the south : and the breadth of the place that 
 was left was five cubits round about. 
 
 12. Now the building that was before the separate place 
 at the end toward the west, was seventy cubits bf oad ; and 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLI. 235 
 
 the wall of the building ivas five cubits thick round about, 
 and the length thereof ninety cubits. 
 
 13. So he measured the house, a hundred cubits long; 
 and the separate place, and the building, with the walls 
 thereof, a hundred cubits long; 
 
 14. Also the breadth of the face of the house, and of 
 the separate place toward the east, a hundred cubits. 
 
 15. And he measured the length of the building over 
 against the separate place which was behind it, and the 
 galleries thereof on the one side and on the other side, a 
 hundred cubits, with the inner temple, and the porches of 
 the court; 
 
 16. The door posts, and the narrow windows, and the 
 galleries round about on their three stories, over against 
 the door, ceiled with wood round about, and from the 
 ground up to the windows, and the windows were covered ; 
 
 17. To that above the door, even unto the inner house 
 and without, and by all the wall round about within and 
 without, by measure. 
 
 18. And it was made w^ith cherubims and palm-trees, so 
 that a palm-tree was between a cherub and a cherub ; and 
 every cherub had two faces ; 
 
 19. So that the face of a man ^vas toward the palm-tree 
 on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the 
 palm-tree on the other side : it ivas made through all the 
 house round about. 
 
 20. From the ground unto above the door i^ere cheru- 
 bims and palm-trees made, and on the wall of the temple. 
 
 21. The posts of the temple were squared, and the face 
 of the sanctuary ; the appearance of the one as the appear- 
 ance of the other. 
 
 22. The altar of wood ivas three cubits high, and the 
 length thereof two cubits ; and the corners thereof, and the 
 length thereof, and the walls thereof, ivere of wood: and 
 he said unto me, This is the table that is before the Lord. 
 
 23. And the temple and the sanctuary had two doors. 
 
 24. And the doors had two leaves ajiiece, two turning 
 leaves ; two leaves for the one door, and two leaves for the 
 other door. 
 
 25. And there ivere made on them, on the doors of the 
 temple, cherubims and palm-trees, like as ivere made upon 
 the walls ; and there were thick planks upon the face of the 
 porch without. 
 
 26. And there ivere narrow windows and palm-trees on 
 
236 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLII. 
 
 the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the 
 porch, and \ipon the side chambers of the house, and thick 
 planks. 
 
 In many respects this temple resembles that l)uilt by Solomon, 
 These respects niiiiht be indicated; but could not be specially inter- 
 esting or profitable to the reader. 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 This chapter closes the description of the temple proper. 
 
 1. Then he brought me forth into the outer court, the 
 way toward the north : and he brought me into the cham- 
 ber that ivas over against the separate place, and which ivas 
 before the building toward the north. 
 
 2. Before the length of a hundred cubits was the north 
 door, and the breadth tvas fifty cubits. 
 
 3. Over against the twenty cubits which %vcre for the 
 inner court, and over against the i^avement which was for 
 .the outer court, was gallery against gallery in three stories. 
 
 4. And before the chambers luas a walk of ten cubits 
 breadth inward, a way of one cubit ; and their doors toward 
 the north. 
 
 5. Now the upper chambers were shorter; for the galleries 
 were higher than these, than the lower, and than the mid- 
 dlemost of the building. 
 
 6. For they were in three stories, but had not pillars as 
 the pillars of the courts : therefore the huilding was strait- 
 ened more than the lowest and the middlemost from the 
 ground. 
 
 7. And the wall that was without over against the cham- 
 bers, toward the outer court on the forepart of the cham- 
 bers, the length thereof %ms fifty cubits. 
 
 8. For the length of the chambers that were in the outer 
 court was fifty cubits: and lo, before the temple ivcre a 
 hundred cubits. 
 
 9. And from under these chambers tms the entry on the 
 east side, as one goeth into them from the outer court. 
 
 10. The chambers ivere in the thickness of the wall of 
 the court toward the cast, over against the separate place, 
 and over against the building. 
 
 11. And the way before them \ms like the appearance 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLII. 237 
 
 of the chambers which were toward the north, as long as 
 they, and as broad as they: and all their goings out loere 
 both according to their fashions, and according to their 
 doors. 
 
 12. And according to the doors of the chambers that were 
 toward the south was a door in the head of the way, even 
 the way directly before the wall toward the east, as one 
 entereth into them. 
 
 13. Then said he unto me. The north chambers and the 
 south chambers which are before the separate place, they 
 be holy chambers, where the priests that approach unto the 
 Lord shall eat the most holy things, and the meat-offering, 
 and the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering ; for the place 
 is holy. 
 
 14. When the priests enter therein, then shall they not go 
 out of the holy place into the outer court, but there they shall 
 lay their garments w^herein they minister; for they are 
 holy ; and shall put on other garments, and shall approach 
 to those tilings which are for the people. 
 
 15. Now when he had made an end of measuring the 
 inner house, he brought me forth toward the gate whose 
 prospect is toward the east, and measured it round about. 
 
 16. He measured the east side with the measuring reed, 
 five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about. 
 
 17. He measured the north side, five hundred reeds, with 
 the measuring reed round about. 
 
 18. He measured the south side, five hundred reeds, with 
 the measuring reed. 
 
 19. He turned about to the west side, and measured five 
 hundred reeds, with the measuring reed. 
 
 20. He measured it by the four sides : it had a wall 
 round about, five hundred reeds long, and five hundred 
 broad, to make a separation between the sanctuary and the 
 profane place. 
 
 The point of chief and special interest in this part of the descrip- 
 tion is the manifest care taken and the arrangements made to iso- 
 late holy things from profane, as if to guard henceforward forever 
 against debasing the worship of God and against all contamination 
 of God's people by contact with sin and its temptations. Thus 
 (vs. 13, 14) the priests have special chambers where none but them- 
 selves may eat the most holy things. Their sacred ministrations 
 are to be performed in holy garments, to be laid off when they 
 
 come before the people, ^Vs. 15-20 describe an area outside the 
 
 holy place inclosed by a wall designed to " make a separation be- 
 
238 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLIII. 
 
 tween the sanctuary and the profane place." It may fitly be 
 
 noticed that while the temple proper corresponded precisely in 
 dimensions with that built by Solomon, this wall-inclosed area was 
 vastly larger, viz., a square q^ Jive hundred reeds or nearly one 
 English mile on each side; — "considerably larger than the whole 
 
 area of the city of Jerusalem, its temple included!" This fact 
 
 goes far to show that this temple and its surroundings were simply 
 ideal; seen in vision only, and never designed to be developed into 
 actual reality. Taken ideally, its significance is obvious and perti- 
 nent, and is forcibly expressed. So carefully and jealously will 
 
 God guard his church in the future days against being contami- 
 nated with sin. Once redeemed and sanctified unto Christ and 
 holiness, they will be " kept by the power of God through faith 
 unto salvation," Blessed truth! Obylously in the nature of the 
 case, this must be one of the grand features of the Millennial age — 
 the church preserved from relapsing into worldliness and kept near to 
 God. What is indispensable in the nature of the case to a glorious 
 millennial state, it is pleasant to find specially indicated here in 
 this figurative vision. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII 
 
 The visible glory of God returns to dwell in this new temple 
 (vs. 1-4) ; the Lord states to the people the conditions on which he 
 will dwell with them (vs. 5-11); the altar is measured and its 
 ordinances of worship described (vs. 12-27). 
 
 1. Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate 
 that looketli toward the east: 
 
 2. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from 
 the way of the east : and his voice %vas like a noise of many 
 waters : and the earth shined with his glory. 
 
 3. And it ivas according to the appearance of the vision 
 which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when 
 I came to destroy the city: and the visions ')ucre like the 
 vision that I saw by the river Chebar ; and I fell upon my 
 face. 
 
 4. And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the 
 way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. 
 
 The prophet is careful to say that this is the same Shekinah, 
 the same visible glory of the Lord, which he had seen before, both 
 in the temple and also withdrawing from it. Compare chap. 1: 1, and 
 
 3: 23, and 10: 4, and especially 11: 22, 23. In v, 3, "when I 
 
 ne to destroy the city, means, when I c 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLIII. 239 
 
 struction, as (e. g.^) in chaps. 8-11. The prophetsare often said 
 to do what they only predict as to he done. Thus in chap. 32: 18 
 the Loi-d directs the prophet not only to "wail for the multitude of 
 Egypt," but to " cast them down unto the nether parts of the earth," 
 although his hand had never reached them, and he only predicted 
 their fall. Jacob, predicting the future life of Simeon and Levi 
 (Gen. 49 : 7), said, "I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in 
 Israel; " yet he did this only in the sense o^ predicting it. See also 
 Isa. 6 : 10, and Jer. 1 : 10. 
 
 5. So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner 
 court ; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house. 
 
 6. And I heard liim speaking unto me out of the house ; 
 and the man stood by me. 
 
 7. And he said unto me. Son of man, the place of my 
 throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell 
 in the midst of the children of Israel forever, and my holy 
 name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, 
 nor their kings, by their whoredoms, nor by the carcasses of 
 their kings in their high places. 
 
 8. In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, 
 and their post by my. posts, and the wall between me and 
 them, they have even defiled my holy name by their abom- 
 inations that they have committed : wherefore I have con- 
 sumed them in mine anger. 
 
 9. Now, let them put away their whoredoni, and the car- 
 casses of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the 
 midst of them forever. 
 
 10. Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of 
 Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities : and 
 let them measure the pattern. 
 
 11. And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, 
 shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, 
 and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and 
 all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all 
 the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in 
 their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and 
 all the ordinances thereof, and do them. 
 
 The allusion to the "place of his throne" (vs. 7, 8) and to 
 their kings as having defiled God's sanctuary by setting up 
 
 idol gods there looks to Manasseh. See 2 Kings 21 :_ 4-7. These 
 
 verses are specially valuable as revealing the conditions on which 
 alone the Lord would return and continue to dwell_ among his peo- 
 ple. They must — absolutely must put away their sins and bo 
 ashamed of their iniquities. If they consented heartily to these 
 
240 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLIII. 
 
 conditions, the pi'ophet was to show them the form of the house, 
 and all that the Lord had revealed of this new temple, and of its 
 ordinances of worship as a pledge of his own restoring mercy and 
 
 his return to dwell among them. This was specially pertinent to 
 
 the exiles among whom the prophet lived, and shows that the Lord 
 designed this vision to bear vigorously upon the hearts of that peo- 
 ple then and there. 
 
 12. This is the law of the house ; Upon the top of the 
 mountain, the whole limit thereof round about shall be most 
 holy. Behold, this is the law of the house. 
 
 This temple stood on a mountain. So did that of Solomon, 
 though this appears to have been the loftier one. The whole area 
 of this mountain top was most holy as being the place where the 
 Lord Jehovah truly dwelt. The subsequent verses of this chap- 
 ter describe the great altar, and give the ordinances to regulate the 
 sacrilices upon it. 
 
 13. And these m^e the measures of the altar after the 
 cubits : The cubit is a cubit and a hand-breadth ; even the 
 bottom shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the 
 border thereof by the edge thereof round about shall be a 
 span : and this shall be the higher place of the altar. 
 
 14. And from the bottom upon the ground even to the 
 lower settle shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit ; 
 and from the lesser settle even to the greater settle shall be 
 four cubits, and the breadth one cubit. 
 
 15. So the altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar 
 and upward shall be four horns. 
 
 16. And the altar shall be twelve cubits long, twelve 
 'broad, square in the four squares thereof. 
 
 17. And the settle shall be fourteen cubits long and four- 
 teen broad in the four squares thereof; and the border 
 about it shall be half a cubit; and the bottom thereof shall 
 be a cubit about ; and the stairs shall look tOAvard the east. 
 
 18. And he said unto me, Son of man, thus saith the 
 Lord God ; These are the ordinances of the altar in the 
 day when they shall make it, to offer burnt-offerings there- 
 on, and to sprinkle blood thereon. 
 
 19. And thou shalt give to the priests the Levites that 
 be of the seed of Zadok, which approach unto me, to min- 
 ister unto me, saith the Lord God, a young bullock for a 
 sin-offering. 
 
 20. And thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and put it on 
 the four liorns of it, and on the* four corners of the settle, 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLIV. 241 
 
 and upon the border round about : thus shalt thou cleanse 
 and purge it. 
 
 21. Thou shalt take the bullock also of the sin-offering, 
 and he shall burn it in the appointed place of the house, 
 without the sanctuary. 
 
 22. And on the second day thou shalt offer a kid of the 
 goats without blemish for a sin-offering; and they shall 
 cleanse the altar, as they did cleanse it with the bullock. 
 
 23. AVhen thou hast made an end of cleansing it, thou 
 shalt offer a young bullock without blemish, and a ram of 
 the flock without blemish. 
 
 24. And thou shalt offer them before the Lord, and the 
 priests shalt cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them 
 up /o?' a burnt-offering unto the Lord. 
 
 25. Seven days shalt thou prepare every day a goat for 
 a sin-offering : they shall also prepare a young bullock, 
 and a ram out of the flock, without blemish. 
 
 26. Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it; 
 and they shall consecrate themselves. 
 
 27. And when these days are expired, it shall be, that 
 upon the eighth day, and so forward, the priests shall make 
 your burnt-offerings upon the altar, and your peace-offer- 
 ings : and I will accept you, saith the Lord God. . 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 After a single direction for the prince, briefly stated (vs. 1-3), 
 this chapter proceeds to define the ceremonial laws and regulations 
 for the priests. 
 
 1. Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the 
 outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it 
 was shut. 
 
 2. Then said the Lord unto me : This gate shall be shut, 
 it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it ; be- 
 cause the Lord the God of Israel hath entered in by it, 
 therefore it shall be shut. 
 
 3. If is for the prince ; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat 
 bread before the Lord; he shall enter by the way of the 
 porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same. 
 
 Through this eastern gate, now seen shut, the visible glory of 
 Jehovah had passed when he entered this temple. (See chap. 43 : 
 11 
 
242 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLIV. 
 
 1-4). Consequently no man might enter by this gate save the 
 prince. In chap. 46: 2, 12, is a renewed allusion to this special 
 rule, opening this gate to the prince for his entrance to worship, 
 but to none other. The case indicates that an extraordinary sanc- 
 tity attached to the prince. Does not this look toward the exalted 
 character of the future Prince of the Lord's people — the Great Ln- 
 manuel ? 
 
 4. Then brought he me the way of the nortli-gate before 
 the house : and I looked, and behold, the glory of the Lord 
 filled the house of the Lord : and I fell upon my face. 
 
 5. And the Lord said unto me, Son of man, mark well, 
 and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all 
 that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the 
 house of the Lord, and all the laws thereof; and mark well 
 the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the 
 sanctuary ; 
 
 Again, approaching from the north, the prophet in vision is im- 
 pressed with a sense of the glory of Jehovah as filling his temple, 
 and he falls upon his fiice in profound adoration. This case antic- 
 ipates the great* truth brought out so distinctively at the close of 
 this entire vision, which indeed is the central thought throughout, 
 viz., that God dwells among his ]->eople hy his spiritual presence and 
 glory. The name of the whole city shall be, " The Lord is there.'' 
 
 This being chief in importance gave name to the city. Now 
 
 the Lord solemnly charges the prophet to mark well ("set his heart 
 upon") all he was about to say in respect to the modes of worship 
 in this temple and in respect to entering and leaving it. 
 
 6. And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house 
 of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; O ye house of Israel, 
 let it sufiice you of all your abominations ; 
 
 7. In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, 
 uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in 
 my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, wdien ye ofier 
 my bread, the fixt and the blood, and they have broken my 
 covenant because of all your abominations. 
 
 8. And ye have not kept the charge of my holy things : 
 but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for 
 yourselves. 
 
 Let your past abominations suffice ; let them be deemed enough ; 
 let there be no more I Ye have brought into my temple to officiate 
 there, men of impure heart — a thing that God can not endure! Ye 
 have pleased yourselves and not me ; ye have made your own laws 
 and have not kept mine in your choice of priests and in your 
 rules for their service. Iliis, which I ta^e to bo the sense of v. 8, 
 may look historically to Jeroboam, who (1 Kings 12: 31-33) "made 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLIV. 243 
 
 Eriests of the lowest of the people who were not of the sons of 
 levi." The case admonishes the people of God to guard most 
 
 vigilantly against the introduction of ungodly men into the sacred 
 office of the gospel ministry. The future prosperity and purity of 
 Zion turn upon this to an extent not easily overestimated. 
 
 9. Thus saith the Lord God; No stranger, uncircumcised 
 in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my 
 sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of 
 Israel. 
 
 10. And the Levites that are gone away far from me, 
 when Israel went astray, w^hich went astray away from me 
 after their idols ; they shall even bear their iniquity. 
 
 11. Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having 
 charge at the gates of the house, and ministering to the 
 house : they shall slay the burnt-offering and the sacrifice 
 for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister 
 unto them. 
 
 12. Because they ministered unto them before their idols, 
 and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity ; there- 
 fore have I lifted up my hand against them, saith the Lord 
 God, and they shall bear their iniquity. 
 
 13. And they shall not come near unto me, to do the 
 office of a priest unto me, nor to come near to any of my 
 holy things, in the most holy place: but they shall bear 
 their shame, and their abominations wdiicli they have com- 
 mitted. 
 
 14. But I will make them keepers of the charge of the 
 house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be 
 done therein. 
 
 15. But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that 
 kept the charge of my sanctuary w^lien the children of Israel 
 went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister 
 unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the 
 fat and the blood, saith the Lord God : 
 
 16. They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall 
 come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall 
 keep my charge. 
 
 Strangers residing in Israel, but of uncircumcised heart, must by 
 no means be permitted to enter the Lord's sanctuary. The Levites 
 who had apostatized into idolatry must bear the punishment of this 
 great iniquity. They were forbidden to come near before the Lord, 
 but were assigned to the more remote and less hallowed and hon- 
 ored services of the sanctuary. They were to minister in the pres- 
 ence of their more favored brethren, the priests, as their servants ; 
 
244 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLIV. 
 
 but might not come specially near to the Lord. To the sons of 
 Zadok who had not thus apostatized was assigned the distinguished 
 honor of coming near to minister before the very presence of the 
 divine majesty. This discrimination had a most significant and 
 earnest moral bearing. "Holiness becometh God's house forever." 
 The favored ones there are the men of lowly heart who live near to 
 God, walking softly before him. 
 
 17. And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at 
 the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed -with linen 
 garments; and no wool shall come upon them, while they 
 minister in the gates of the inner court, and within. 
 
 18. They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and 
 shall have linen breeches upon their loins ; they shall not 
 gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat. 
 
 19. And when they go forth into the outer court, even 
 into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their 
 garments wherein they ministered, and lay them in the holy 
 chambers, and they shall put on other garments ; and they 
 shall not sanctify the people with their garments. 
 
 Outward purity symbolizes inward; the purity of the person, that 
 of the heart. Hence linen rather than woolen garments were pre- 
 scribed. Sweat as indicating impurity must be avoided. Special 
 garments were assigned to be worn exclusively before the Lord, to 
 be exchanged for others when they came before the people. The 
 last clause of v. 19 means, they shall not sanctify the people minis- 
 tering in their ordinary garments, but only while wearing their 
 sacred vestments. 
 
 20. Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their 
 locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads. 
 
 In respect to the hair of their head, they must take a medium 
 course, not shaving it close, nor wearing it long and dishevelled 
 without cutting. A decent propriety befits God's" house. 
 
 21. Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter 
 into the inner court. 
 
 The priest must not drink wine when about to enter into the 
 inner court of the temple. The excitement of wine, even though 
 falling much short of intoxication, ministers often to manifold im- 
 proprieties which are by no means becoming in the near presence 
 of .lehovah. The case should solemnly admonish gospel minis- 
 ters to abjure even the least alcoholic stimulus, both when they are 
 preparing to preach and when they are preaching in the name of 
 the Lord. No doul)t it is wise fur them never to drink wine as a 
 beverage, and never at all unless in rare cases of sickness. 
 
 22. Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor 
 her that is put away: but they shall take maidens of the 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLIV. 245 
 
 seed of the house of Israel, or a Avidow that had a priest 
 before. 
 
 Under the law of Moses (Lev. 21 : 13, 14) similar restrictions — 
 the same excepting that in the last clause — were applied to the hi_ij;li- 
 priest. Here they apply to all priests. The difference indicates tlic 
 increased care and caution to be used under the great Messiah's 
 reign to keep his servants morally pure. 
 
 23. And they shall teach my people the difference between 
 the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between 
 the unclean and the clean. 
 
 Under the ancient economy, the ceremonial distinction between 
 the holy and the profane, the clean and the unclean, had the high 
 moral purpose of training the mind to recognize the distinction be- 
 tween holiness and sin. This same distinction it must be the great 
 duty of God's servants in the millennial age to teach and to enforce. 
 
 24. And in controversy they shall stand in judgment; 
 and they shall judge it according to my judgments : and 
 they shall keep my law^s and my statutes in all mine assem- 
 blies ; and they shall hallow my sabbaths. 
 
 Under the law given through Moses, the distinction recognized 
 in modern times between civil and religious statutes was scarcely 
 known. The priests and Levitos were then judges of civil cases. 
 See Deut, 17: 8-13, and 2 Chron. 19: 8-11. Hence naturally the 
 
 same system obtains here. "In controversy," means not a verbal 
 
 dispute but a legal prosecution — a case in court. I translate; "In 
 cases of trial at law, they (the priests) shall stand for judgment" 
 {i. e., shall perform the functions of judge), "and they shall 
 judge them (the people) according to my statutes," etc. 
 
 25. And they shall come at no dead person to defile 
 themselves : but for father, or for mother, or for son, or 
 for daughter, for brother, or for sister that hath had no 
 husband, they may defile themselves. 
 
 26. And after he is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him 
 seven days. 
 
 27. And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, 
 unto the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall 
 offer his sin-offering, saith the Lord God. 
 
 No form of ceremonial unclcanncss was accounted more flagrant 
 than that which comes from contact with a dead body or near ap- 
 proach to one. Hence promiscuous mourning for the dead and at- 
 tendance upon these funeral solemnities were strictly forbidden to 
 the priests, the law defining by name the near relatives for whom 
 they might mourn. The same reason is here, to indicate the moral 
 purity which will characterize the future kingdom of the Messiah. 
 
246 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLV. 
 
 28. And it shall be unto them for an inheritance : I am 
 their inheritance: and ye shall give them no possession in 
 Israel : I am their possession. 
 
 29. They shall eat the meat-offering, and the sin-oifering, 
 and the trespass-offering; and every dedicated thing in 
 Israel shall be theirs. 
 
 30. And the first of all the first-fruits of all things, and 
 every oblation of all, of every sort of your oblations, shall 
 be the priest's : ye shall also give unto the priest the first 
 of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in 
 thy house. 
 
 31. The priests shall not eat of any thing that is dead 
 of itself, or torn, whether it be fowl or beast. 
 
 In V. 28, " it shall be to' them for an inheritance," means that 
 their service in the temple of God and in his institutions shall be 
 their portion, their estate, their living and their wealth. They 
 were to have subsistence from the altar and from the tithes which 
 the law prescribed. Beyond this they had no inheritance. From 
 landed estates the Lord purposely debarred them. This was also 
 the doctrine of the ancient Mosaic system. 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 The TiOrd sets apart a large and well-defined portion of the land 
 for specially sacred uses (vs. 1-8) ; admonishes the princes against 
 unjust exactions from the people and provides a system of weights 
 and measures (vs. 9-1:2); and specifies certain religious ceremonial 
 observances (vs. 13-25). 
 
 1. Moreover, when ye shall divide by lot the land for 
 inheritance, ye shall offer an oblation unto the Lord, a 
 holy portion of the land : the length shall he the length 
 of five and twenty thousand reeds, and the breadth shall he 
 ten thousand. This shall he holy in all the borders thereof 
 round about. 
 
 2. Of this there shall be for the sanctuary five hundred 
 in length, with five hundred in breadth, square round about; 
 and fifty cubits round about for the suburbs thereof 
 
 3. And of this measure shalt thou measure the length 
 of five and twenty thousand, and the breadth of ten thou- 
 sand : and in it shall be th» sanctuary and the most holy 
 place. 
 
 4. The holy ])ortlon of the laud shall be for the priests, 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLV. 247 
 
 the ministers of the sanctuary, which shall come near to 
 minister unto the Lord: and it shall be a place for their 
 houses, and a holy place for the sanctuary. 
 
 5. And the five and twenty thousand of length, and the 
 ten thousand of breadth, shall also the Levites, the minis- 
 ters of the house, have for themselves, for a possession for 
 twenty chambers. 
 
 6. And ye shall appoint the possession of the city five 
 thousand broad, and five and twenty thousand long, over 
 against the oblation of the holy ijortion : it shall be for the 
 whole house of Israel. 
 
 7. And a portion shall be for the prince on the one side 
 and on the other s±de of the oblation of the holy portion, 
 and of the possession of the city, before the oblation of the 
 holy portion, and before the possession of the city, from 
 the west side westward, and from the east side eastward: 
 and the length shall he over against one of the portions, 
 from the west border unto the east border. 
 
 8. In the land shall be his possession in Israel : and my 
 princes shall no more oppress my people ; and the rest of 
 the land shall they give to the house of Israel according 
 to their tribes. 
 
 In full harmony with the genius though varying from the forms 
 of the Mosaic system, we have here the extraordinary feature of a 
 very large portion of the whole land, a little less than half of it, 
 set apart for public uses, more or less sacred, the object apparently 
 being to wall in the sacred institutions of religion so effectually as 
 to shut off from the church the corrupting influences of the world. 
 
 As to the dimensions of this vast reserved square of tAVcnty- 
 
 five thousand reeds in length and breadth, I shall assume, in the 
 absence of any Hebrew term for it, that this ^^reed" (v. 1) corre- 
 sponds with that defined in chap. 40: 5 ; viz., six cubits and a hand 
 breadth; i. e.^ proximately ten and a half feet in length. This may 
 be assumed with the greater confidence because both the measur- 
 ing reed and the man who bore it are made very prominent in the 
 opening of this vision (chap. 40: 3, 5). There can scarcely be a 
 douljt that the same standard of measure obtains throughout this 
 entire vision. By this standard, the "oblation" will be a square 
 of forty-nine and seventy-one hundredths miles on each side, vary- 
 ing only a small fraction from the average breadth of Palestine 
 proper from, the Mediterranean sea to the Jordan valley. Antici- 
 pating here from chapter 48 the geographical location of the tribes, 
 the entire allotment of the territory may be readily seen from the 
 following diagram copied from Rosenmueller and supposed to bo 
 
 proximately correct. The reader will be struck with the perfect 
 
 regularity which rules throughout. The entire territory is sup- 
 
248 
 
 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLV. 
 
 D I A a K A M 
 
 OF riiK 
 
 HOLY LAND AND THE SACKED PLAGES, 
 
 ACCORDING TO EZEKIEL. 
 
 (FEOM KOSENMUELLEK.) 
 
 3<roE/m3:. 
 
 Dan. 
 
 Aslier. 
 
 Naphtali. 
 
 Manasseh. 
 
 Epbraim. 
 
 Reuben. 
 
 Juclali. 
 
 Beniamin. 
 
 Simeon. 
 
 Issachar. 
 
 Zebulon. 
 
 Gad. 
 
 1 
 
 
 Levites. 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 Priests. 
 
 
 rricsts. 
 
 P 
 
 o 
 
 t 
 
 o 
 
 Temple. 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 1 
 
 fu 
 
 Laborei-s of 
 
 
 the city. 
 
 
 
 City. 
 
 
 
 
 
 SOTJTIi. 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLV. 2-19 
 
 posed to be of uniform width; twenty-five thousand reeds (about 
 fifty miles) ; each tribe has its o\Yn narrow belt, stretching across 
 the entire Avidth. Beginning at the north end, seven tribes have 
 their portion north of the "holy oblation" or reserve; then the 
 Levites have a very ample territor}'- twenty miles Avide on the 
 northern part of this reserve ; and the city Avith its laboring popu- 
 lation, half as much — ten miles wide — on its southern border; 
 inclosing between thepi the territory of the priests, twenty miles 
 wide, in the middle of which stood the temple. Spacious territory 
 
 is assigned to the prince at each end of this sacred reserve. 
 
 Under the Mosaic economy and in the distribution of the land of 
 Canaan by Joshua, no proA'ision whatever was specially made for 
 the king or "prince." It Avould then have been premature. Here 
 it is timely and is made prominent. The "prince" is a prominent 
 character in this new regime. The prophecies of Zechariah also 
 foreshadow this prominence. With him, however, royalty and 
 priesthood reside in the same glorious personage. He shall not 
 only build the temple of the Lord, but "shall bear glory" (pre- 
 eminent glory), and shall sit and rule upon his throne, and shall 
 be a priest on his throne, and be croAvned as both king and 
 priest (Zech. 6 : 12, 13). This millennial state being the result of 
 the glorious reign of the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, its strong 
 points could not be presented without giving great prominence to 
 " the j:9nn(7g." 
 
 9. Thus saith the Lord God ; Let it suflfice you, O princes 
 of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment 
 and justice, take away your exactions from my people, saith 
 the Lord Grod, 
 
 10. Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a 
 just bath. 
 
 11. The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that 
 the bath may contain the tenth part of a homer, and the 
 ephah the tenth part of a homer : the measure thereof shall 
 be after the homer. 
 
 12. And the shekel shall he tA\'enty gerahs: tAventy shekels, 
 five and tAventy shekels, fifteen shekels, shall be your maneh. 
 
 " "With an eye to the human relations of this prince and as if 
 mindful of such oppressive exactions as that of Ahab from Naboth, 
 and of Jehoiakim from his people (Jer. 22: 13-19) and to forestall 
 the temptations to this sin, the Lord specially provides lor the prince 
 an ample territory and solemnly admonishes him against exacting 
 from the people their land. See also chap. 48: 18. A complete sys- 
 tem of standard weights and measures is exceedingly A-aluable as a 
 check on human selfishness and a means of securing exact justice 
 in trade and exchange. It is not specially important that we should 
 be able to compare those weights and measures Avith our own, or 
 knoAV their absolute quantities. It is both the less important and 
 
250 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLV. 
 
 the more difficult to settle these points because we can not assume 
 that this system was the same as the ancient Jewish one. Probably it 
 is purely ideal, never to be actual ; hence I pass it. Let it suffice us 
 to learn from this passa,i^e that in the bette^ times of the tjospel age, 
 religion will not be in anywise divorced from morality, but Christians, 
 however high in power, will hold themselves closely and conscien- 
 tiously to fair and just dealings in business with all men. No man 
 will be accounted religious who is not j\ist. No amount of piouc 
 feeling or religious profession will atone for the lack of intrinsic 
 honesty. 
 
 13. This is the oblation that ye shall offer; the sixth \)^Yi 
 of an ephah of a homer of wheat, and ye shall give the 
 sixth jxirt of an ej^hah of a homer of barley ; 
 
 14. Concerning the ordinance of oil, the bath of oil, yc 
 shall offer the tenth part of a bath ont of the cor, ivhich is 
 a homer of ten baths : for ten baths are a homer : 
 
 15. And one lamb out of the flock, out of two hundred, 
 out of the fat pastures of Israel ; for a meat-offering, and for 
 a burnt-offering, and for peace-offerings, to make reconcilia- 
 tion for them, saith the Lord God. 
 
 16. All the peoj^le of the land shall give this oblation for 
 the prince in Israel. 
 
 17. And it shall be the prince's part to give burnt-offerings, 
 and meat-offerings, and drink-offerings, in the feasts, and in 
 the new-moons, and in the sabbaths, in all solemnities of the 
 house of Israel: he shall prepare the sin-offering, and the 
 meat-offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace-offer- 
 ings, to make reconciliation for the house of Israel. 
 
 18. Thus saith the Lord God; In the first month, in the 
 first dcuj of the month, thou slialt take a young bullock 
 without blemish, and cleanse the sanctuary: 
 
 19. And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin- 
 offering, and put it upon the posts of the house, and upon 
 the four corners of the settle of the altar, and upon the posts 
 of the gate of the inner court. 
 
 20. And so thou shalt do the seventh day of the month 
 for every one that erreth, and for him that is simple: so shall 
 ye reconcile the house. 
 
 21. In the first month in the fourteenth day of the month, 
 ye shall have the passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened 
 bread shall be eaten. 
 
 22. And upon that day shall the prince prepare for him- 
 self and for all the people of the land a bullock for a sin- 
 offering. 
 
 I 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLVI. 251 
 
 23. And seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt- 
 offering to the Lord, seven bullocks and seven rams without 
 blemish daily the seven days; and a kid of the goats daily 
 joT a sin-offering. 
 
 24. And he shall prepare a meat-offering of an ephah for 
 a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and an hin of oil for 
 an ephah. 
 
 25. In the seventh months in the fifteenth day of the 
 month, shall he do the like in the feast of the seven days, 
 according to the sin-offering, according to the burnt-offering, 
 and according to the meat-offering, and according to the oil. 
 
 The "meat-offerings" (so called) were of flour, not of flesh. 
 "Meat" is one of those words which time has changed so that the 
 "meat-offering" of ancient times had no meat in our modern sense 
 
 in it. In vs. 17, 20, the word rendered, " to make reconciliation;" 
 
 "to reconcile the house;" is the precise word most used for making 
 atonement for sin — covering it from the view, the reprobation and the 
 
 curse, of a just God. The prince is to be specially active in the 
 
 religious sacrifices of these times; a leader of the people in their 
 
 public worship. Isaiah had already said in the same strain; 
 
 "Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing 
 mothers;" also; "I will make thy officers peace and thine exactors 
 
 righteousness " (chap. 49 : 23 and 60 : 17.) Among these specially 
 
 sacred seasons the reader will recognise the "new moon" (vs. 18, 
 19), the Passover (vs. 21-24) and the feast of tabernacles (vs. 25). 
 
 CHAPTEE XLVI. 
 
 Here arc special ordinances prescribing who may pass through 
 the glorious eastern gate, through which the Shckinah had passed ; 
 also when and how (vs. 1-3, 12); how the people may enter the 
 temple (vs. 9, 10); various ordinances in respect to "meat-offerings" 
 to accompany the bloody sacrifices; how the prince may entail his 
 real estate (vs. 16-18); and the provision of apartments for cooking 
 (vs. 19-24). 
 
 1. Thus saith the Lord God ; The gate of the inner court 
 that lookcth toward the east, shall be shut the six working 
 days ; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day 
 of the new-moon it shall be opened. 
 
 2. And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of 
 that gate without, and shall stand by the post of the gate, 
 and the priests shall prepare his burnt-offering and his 
 peace-offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the 
 
252 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLVI. 
 
 gate : then he shall go forth ; but the gate shall not be shut 
 until the evening. 
 
 3. Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the 
 door of this gate before the Lord in the sabbaths and in the 
 new-moons. 
 
 Very special sacrcdness attached to this eastern gate since through 
 this gate the visible glory of the Lord entered into the most holy 
 place. See chap. 44: 1-4. Through this gate the prince and ho 
 only might enter (vs. 2, 12). It was to be opened only on the Sab- 
 bath ; on the days of new moon ; and when the prince had occasion 
 
 to present a voluntary (not specially prescribed) offering (v. 12). 
 
 The significance of these points looks toward the special sacredness 
 of the prince as one near to God, and was also intended to impress 
 the people with the great central truth of this entire vision, viz., 
 that in this new, holy and beautiful state of the church, the Lord 
 God would dwell among his people with preeminent manifestations 
 of his presence. The place of his feet would be sublimely glorious. 
 
 4. And the burnt-offering that the prince shall offer unto 
 the Lord in the sabbath day shall be six lambs without 
 blemish, and a ram without blemish. 
 
 5. And the meat-offering shall he an ephah for a ram, and 
 the meat-offering for the lambs as he shall be able to give, 
 and a hin of oil to an ephah. 
 
 6. And in the day of the new-moon it shall be a young 
 bullock without blemish, and six lambs, and a ram : they 
 shall be without blemish. 
 
 7. And he shall jDrepare a meat-offering, an ephah for a 
 •bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs accord- 
 ing as his hand shall attain unto, and a hin of oil to an 
 ephah. 
 
 These special directions for the offerings made by the prince do 
 not appear in the old Levitical law, and hence have a special sig- 
 nificance here in respect to the sacredness of his person and relations. 
 As already suggested, the prince is a new character, appearing first 
 in this special economy. 
 
 8. And wdicn the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the 
 way of the porch of that gate, and he shall go forth by the 
 way thereof. 
 
 9. But when the people of the land shall come before the 
 Lord in the solemn feasts, he that entereth in by the way 
 of the north gate to worship shall go out by the way of the 
 south gate; and he that entereth by the way of the south 
 gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate: he shall 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XL VI. 253 
 
 not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but 
 shall go forth over against it. 
 
 10. And the prince in the midst of them, when they go 
 in, shall go in; and when they go forth, shall go forth. 
 
 The prince having but one gate for himself might enter by it; 
 then turn about and retire through the same eastern gate. But the 
 people were not permitted to turn about to go out by the same gate 
 through which they entered. If they came in by the north gate, 
 
 they must go out by the south one, and vice versa. The reason 
 
 of this rule is not stated. We may suppose it to have been analo- 
 gous to the law of movement which obtained respecting "the living 
 creature," as given chap. 1, viz. : that turning about is associated 
 with moral obliquity — with turning away from God. No other 
 
 reason suggests itself to my mind. Remarkably the prince was 
 
 to enter the temple when the people did, and withdraw from it when 
 they did — an ever attending presence with the people, reminding us 
 of the promise, " Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the 
 world." Since in certain aspects of his character and relations 
 this "prince" was a foreshadowing type of the Messiah, we may 
 accept this law of his attendance with the people as implying that 
 the/ should approach God's holy presence only with and in and 
 through their great mediator, Christ Jesus. 
 
 11. And in the feasts, and in the solemnities, the meat- 
 offering shall be an ephah to a bullock, and an ephah to a 
 ram, and to the lambs as he is able to give, and a bin of 
 oil to an ephah. 
 
 12. Now, when the prince shall prepare a voluntary burnt- 
 offering or peace-offerings voluntarily unto the Lord, one shall 
 then open him the gate that looketh toward the east, and he 
 shall prepare his burnt-offering and his peace-offerings as he 
 did on the sabbath day : then he shall go forth ; and after 
 his going forth one shall shut the gate. 
 
 This remarkable law for the prince when he made a free-will 
 offering and passed through the eastern gate, has been noticed 
 already. 
 
 13. Thou shalt daily prepare a burnt-offering unto the 
 Lord of a lamb of the first year without blemish : thou shalt 
 prepare it every morning. 
 
 14. And thou shall prepare a meat-offering for it every 
 morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of a 
 bin of oil, to temper with the fine flour ; a meat-offering con- 
 tinually by a perpetual ordinance unto the Lord. 
 
 15. Thus shall they prepare the lamb, and the meat- 
 offering, and the oil, every morning, for a continual burnt- 
 offerino;. 
 
254 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. LXVI. 
 
 These rules for the daily offerings differ slightly from those given 
 through Moses (Num. 28 : 3-8). By the ancient law there were 
 two lambs offered daily, one in the morning and the other in the 
 evening. Here is but one, offered each morning. May it l)e sup- 
 posed that this looks especially to the one Lamb that was slain for 
 us — the " one offering whereby he hath perfected forever them that 
 are sanctified" (Heb. 10: 14)? The meat-offering to accompany it 
 was, in Moses, the tenth part of an ephah of flour with the fourth 
 part of a hin of oil; while here in Ezekiel the quantities are the 
 sixth part of an ephah and the third part of a hin. The diversity 
 shows that this new system is not an exact copy of the old; while 
 yet in its general features it is quite analogous. 
 
 16. Thus saitli the Lord God ; If the i)rince give a gift 
 unto any of his sons, the inheritance thereof shall be his 
 sons' ; it shall be their possession by inheritance. 
 
 17. But if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his 
 servants, then it shall be his to the year of liberty ; after, it 
 shall return to the prince: but his inheritance shall be his 
 sons' for them. 
 
 18. Moreover, the prince shall not take of the people's 
 inheritance by oppression, to thrust them out of their posses- 
 sion; but he shall give his sons inheritance out of his own 
 possession : that my people be not scattered every man from 
 his possession. 
 
 For the thought in v. 18, compare chap. 45: 8, 9. The prince 
 must not abuse his power to thrust his people from their estates. 
 Nor might he alienate his lands from his own family. His sons 
 may inherit it permanently, but his servants only till the next Jubi- 
 lee, here called "the year of liberty," as that in which landed 
 estates reverted back to their lineal owners. See Lev. 25: 10. 
 
 19. After, he brought me through the entry, which was 
 at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers of the priests, 
 which looked toward the north: and behold, there was a 
 place on the two sides westward. 
 
 20. Then said he unto me. This is the place where the 
 priests shall- boil the trespass-offering and the sin- offering, 
 where they shall bake the meat-offering; that they bear them 
 not out into the outer court, to sanctify the people. 
 
 21. Then he brought me forth into the outer court, and 
 caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; and 
 behold, in every corner of the court there ivas a court. 
 
 22. In the four corners of the court theix ivere courts 
 joined of forty cubits kmg and thirty broad: these four cor- 
 ners were of one measure. 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLVIL 255 
 
 23. And there ivas a row of building round about in them, 
 round abo.it them four, and it was made with boiling places 
 under the rows round about. 
 
 24. Then said he unto me, These are the places of them 
 that boil, where the ministers of the house shall boil the 
 sacrifice of the people. 
 
 To impress more deeply the idea of sanctity In this temple, and 
 all its surroundings, special provision is made for the culinary ope- 
 rations. The cooking is all to be done in special apartments pro- 
 vided for that purpose. So carefully docs the Lord guard in this 
 
 new representative dispensation against whatever might lessen the 
 sacredness of divine service and worship. 
 
 CHAPTEE XLYII. 
 
 In this chapter vs. 1-12 record a precious vision of waters com- 
 ing forth from under the temple : vs. 13-20 give the boundaries of 
 the land; and vs. 21-23 provide for strangers who would fain affil- 
 iate with the people of God. In commenting upon the first por- 
 tion, I propose first to explain the words and phrases that seem to 
 need explanation, and then speak of its general significance. 
 
 1. Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the 
 house ; and behold, Avaters issued out from under the thresh- 
 old of the house eastward : for the forefront of the house 
 stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under 
 from the right side of the house, at the south side of the 
 altar. 
 
 "Brought me again," etc., i. e., from the outer court where we left 
 him in the previous chapter. "The house" is of course the tem- 
 ple. The waters issue forth from under the temple as if the tem- 
 ple itself had become a living fountain. 
 
 2. Then brought he me out of the w^ay of the gate north- 
 ward, and led me about the way without unto the outer gate 
 by the way that looketh eastward ; and behold, there ran out 
 waters on the right side. 
 
 His angel-guide now leads him to the outer gate — i. <?., of the wall 
 which inclosed the court of the temple. Here the same waters 
 appear issuing forth on the right side of the eastern gate. The He- 
 brew word in the last clause, rendered "ran out,^' means — they 
 distilled^ came in drops, oozed forth. The amount of water at this 
 point — the distance of the first half-mile — seems therefore to have 
 appeared small. 
 
256 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLVII. 
 
 3. And when the man that had the line in his hand went 
 forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he 
 brought me through Ihe waters ; the waters ivere to the 
 ankles. 
 
 4. Again' he measured a thousand, and brought me 
 through the w^aters; and the waters ivere to the knees. 
 Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; 
 the waters ivere to the loins. 
 
 5. Afterward he measured a thousand ; and it ivas a river 
 that I could not pass over : for the waters were risen, waters 
 to swim in, a river that could not be passed over. 
 
 The remarkable fact shown here is the rapid increase in the vol- 
 ume of these waters. At the distance of one thousand cubits by 
 measure, the prophet is led through the waters and finds them only 
 to the soles of his feet^ which is the sense of the word rendered 
 "ankles;" at the distance of the second thousand cubits, they have 
 risen to his knees ; at the third thousand, to his loins ; and at the 
 fourth, they have become a great river — waters to swim in — which 
 he can not ford. 
 
 6. And he said unto me. Son of man, hast thou seen tliis f 
 Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink 
 of the river. 
 
 7. Now, when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the 
 river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. 
 
 The angel-guide says, Hast thou carefully noted the wonderful 
 increase oiE" these waters ? Do not lose sight of this fact while we 
 pass on to other scenes. Then he returns to observe that all along 
 the bank of the river on either side were very many trees, flourish- 
 ing in verdure and beauty, being fertilized by these living waters. 
 
 The llevelator John has the same symbols of surpassing beauty 
 
 and verdure in his paradise (Kev. 22: 1, 2). 
 
 8. Then said he unto me. These waters issue out toward 
 the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into 
 the sea : which being brought forth into the sea, the waters 
 shall be healed. 
 
 9. And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, 
 which moveth whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: 
 and there shall be a very groat nudtitudc of fish, because 
 these waters shall come thither : for tliey shall be healed ; 
 and every thing shall live whither the river cometh. 
 
 10. And it shall come to pass that the fishers shall stand 
 upon it from En-gedi even unto En-eglaim ; they shall be a 
 place to spread forth nets: tlieir fish shall be according to 
 their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many. 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLVII. 257 
 
 The next special feature is that these waters flow off eastward 
 "toward the east country and go down into the desert" — ^more prop- 
 erly the great valley of the Jordan and its continuation in the Dead 
 Sea. Falling into the Dead Sea, where ordinarily no fish or other 
 animal can live, those waters are healed — made salubrious and 
 healthful, so that the sea becomes full of fish, even like the Mediter- 
 ranean, "the great sea" of v. 10. The passage 2 Kings 2: 20-22, 
 uses the same words to describe the change whereby water from 
 
 ])eing poisonous, or at least, insalubrious, becomes salubrious. 
 
 Fishermen line the whole shore from En-gedi to En-eglaim — its 
 northern to its southern extremity. Every thing betokens life, pros- 
 perity and abundance. The Dead Sea is full of animal life. 
 
 11. But the miry places thereof and the marshes thereof 
 shall not be healed ; they shall be given to salt. 
 
 But there are still marshy, miry places, given up to salt — doomed 
 to sterility. 
 
 12. And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side 
 and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf 
 shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed : 
 it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, be- 
 cause their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and 
 the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for 
 medicine. 
 
 Returning to note again the trees on either bank, he sees them 
 in great variety — "all trees for food" — L e., fruit-trees of every 
 sort; their leaves never fade, but are sustained in perpetual ver- 
 dure; and their fruit ne\cv fails. This is the sense of the word 
 rendered "consumed," which does not mean that this fruit is not 
 used, but that the trees never fail to bear; never fail to yield an 
 abundant supply. In fact they ripen their fruit promptly every 
 month because the waters that feed their fertility issue from under 
 the sanctuary. The fruit affords not only delicious food, but re- 
 storing medicine. What symbols are these of ever-varied and untold 
 
 blessings ! Now as to the general significance of these symbols 
 
 as seen in this vision, there can be no ground for reasonable doubt. 
 Water is the well-established symbol for the cleansing, life-renew- 
 ing work of the Spirit of God on human hearts. Even David has 
 it; "Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow; renew a right 
 spirit within me; take not thy Holy Spirit from me" (Ps. 51 : 7, 
 11). Isaiah also; "Fear not, O Jacob my servant, for 1 will pour 
 water on him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground : I will 
 pour my Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine ofl>;pring" 
 (chap. 44: 2, 3). Joel also; "I will jyoiir out my Spirit (as if it were 
 water) upon all flesh," and "all the rivers of Judah shall flow with 
 water and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord, 
 and shall water the valley of Shittim," or of the acacias (a plant 
 at home in the sterile desert)," for I will cleanse their blood that I 
 
258 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLVII. 
 
 have not cleansed ; for the Lord dwellcth in Zion." The reader 
 
 will notice the striking analogy between this passage of Joel and 
 Ezokiel as in our text. In both, waters are the symbol of God's 
 gift of his Spirit; in both, the fountain is in the temple where God 
 of old dwelt among his people ; in both, these waters are freighted 
 with ])lessings wherever they go. As we have already seen, Eze- 
 kiel himself has the same figure in chap. 36 : 25-27, a case the 
 more in point because in the same writer. And finally, Zecha- 
 riah (14: 8) has a passage closely analagous; "And it shall be in 
 that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, half of 
 them toward the former" (front) "sea, and half of them toward 
 the hinder sea" (the Mediterranean); "in summer and in winter 
 
 shall it be." The peculiar feature here of a division in these 
 
 waters, making two rivers ; one running eastward to the Dead Sea ; 
 the other westward to the Mediterranean; serves to show that these 
 rivers are only symbols, and were never thought of as actual rivers 
 in real life. As symbols, it matters not whether they run in both 
 directions or only in one. Some of the ancient Jewish interpret- 
 ers {e. g., the Chaldoe paraphrast) supposed that Ezekiel's language 
 implies two rivers ; but obviously it does not. The whole description 
 
 shows that his river falls into the Dead Sea only. It scarcely 
 
 needs to be said that this symbol of water to represent the agencies 
 of the Spirit appears throughout the New Testament, especially in 
 such passages as Jn. 3: 5, "Born of water and of the Spirit;" and 
 Jn. 7: 37-39, and Ac. 2: 17, 33; also in the Christian rite -of 
 baptism. \^" I hold therefore most fully that this vision looks to 
 the glorious effusions of the Spirit in the latter days. That these 
 waters proceed from under the temple develops a great central 
 truth in the Christian economy, viz., that the divine Spirit attends 
 and blesses human agencies when these agencies work in the line 
 of his appointed gospel institutions and instrumentalities. Human 
 hands build God's temples; God himself fills them with his pres- 
 ence and makes them living fountains of water to fertilize the great 
 deserts long wasted by sin; to restore life and life-giving qualities 
 to the dead seas of human depravity, and so to cleanse and clothe 
 
 with beauty the moral face of all the earth. The figures here 
 
 are exceedingly beautiful and expressive. There, almost within 
 sight of Jerusalem, lay the dark, black, lurid Sea of Death. There 
 it had lain for ages, covering the smoking, seething ruins of the 
 doomed cities of the plain — a sad and solemn memorial of God's 
 wrath against sin and of the remediless doom of fatally hardened 
 sinners — "set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eter- 
 nal fire" (.hide 7). Will the gospel ever avail to regenerate this 
 
 sin-cursed earth? If so, no symbol of tliis fact could be more in 
 point than this — waters froni under tho temple where God dwells 
 present among his poopl(% flowing forth, a growing, mighty river, 
 and reehiiming to life that Sea of Deatli — clothing with beauty, 
 
 health and glory that long desolate and dismal vale. Here let 
 
 us note more particularly the significance of the rapid increase of 
 these waters. The manner of the statement does not properly 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLVII. 259 
 
 indicate that the stream as it came from the temple enlarged in 
 volume with the lapse of time — the temple itself sonding^ forth a 
 rapidly increasing supply. It is rather that the river grew as it 
 ran — became broader and deeper as it progressed outward from 
 the fountain. This is certainly a very remarkable feature, and (it 
 would seem) should have some special and noteworthy significance. 
 For, rivers in Palestine are wont often to lessen as they run^ rather 
 than increase in volume, being made up mainly or wholly from one 
 fountain in the dry season, and then losing their waters in the 
 sands, or the fissures of the rocks. Hence this feature is the more 
 striking. Furthermore, under the ancient Jewish regime, re- 
 ligious influences, emanating from a common center at the temple, 
 naturally lessened as the distance from that center increased. Their 
 normal law would be ; strongest at the center, and strength elsewhere 
 inversely as the distance from that center. In remote lands their 
 power would become inappreciable. The stream from the temple 
 would be absorbed in the desert sands and be lost. Now bearing 
 in mind this law of the old economy, what could the Lord mean 
 here less or other than that this new economy should precisely re- 
 verse the law of the old ? Under the gospel system the moral power 
 of the cross would grow as it traveled outward; difi"usion and ex- 
 pansion, involving an intensified activity, become the law of its 
 growth; that the divine purpose is to develop in the Christian sys- 
 tem a moral power that will really pervade the wide earth, not only 
 with no waste as it diffuses itself abroad, but actually with ever- 
 increasing force — in this respect precisely reversing the law of the 
 ancient Jewish economy! Has not our Lord a kindred truth in 
 his eye in his parable of the mustard-seed ? This is indeed " the 
 least of all seeds, yet it becomes a great tree, so that the fowls of 
 the air lodge in the branches thereof" So is to be the gospel king- 
 dom in its law of unparalleled growth and glorious expansion ! See 
 
 Matt. 13: 31, 32. A blessed truth is this; and yet no truth could 
 
 well be put in clearer symbol or in stronger form. Let our hearts 
 hail it with befitting joy and gratitude ! Blessed be the God of all 
 grace and love for such great thoughts of mercy for our lost world ! 
 
 One other feature remains to be noticed. There were some 
 
 marshy, miry districts that no waters could restore. They are 
 doomed to miasms, sterility, and death. So there wiU be some 
 human souls, possibly some localities, never blessed by the gospel. 
 Having ears to hear, they hear not; having the gospel brought to 
 their door and pressed on their heart, they repel it and doom them- 
 selves to eternal reprobation ! A few isolated spots of this sort 
 
 enforce the moral lessons of human responsibility, and serve to 
 reaffirm the freedom of man in all his voluntary activities, even 
 
 under the most powerful agencies of God's Spirit. Let sinners 
 
 beware how they trifle with the offered grace of the gospel. Let 
 them see to it that in whatever day the Lord comes near to bless 
 them, they spurn not his call to life lest he turn himself away and 
 leave them to their own infatuation! 
 
260 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLVII. 
 
 13. Thus saith the Lord God; Tliis shall he the border, 
 whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve 
 tribes of Israel : Joseph shall have two portions. 
 
 14. And ye shall inherit it one as well as another: con- 
 cerning the Avhich I lifted up my hand to give it unto 
 your fathers: and this land shall fall unto you for in- 
 heritance. 
 
 Before proceeding to define the boundaries of the land geograph- 
 ically, the revealing angel premises these points; viz., that they 
 were to inherit as the original twelve tribes; that since Levi had 
 his portion in the sacred reserve, adjacent to the great section 
 which inclosed the temple, Joseph should count two (Ephraim and 
 ^Manasseh) to fill out the twelve ; that the portions for each several 
 tribe should be equal, this being the precise sense of the first clause 
 in V. 14; "Ye shall inherit it" (the land) " each one as his brother T 
 and finally that this is the land which the Lord bound himself by 
 oath to the tribes to give them for their inheritance. Remark- 
 ably the uniform law of Messianic prophecy is to promise the future 
 Canaan not to Judah alone, but to the twelve tribes — to Ephraim 
 and the lost ten tribes as truly as to Judah and Benjamin, the two 
 tri])es which so long constituted the southern kingdom. It would 
 seem that the Spirit of inspiration overlooked the foct of the revolt 
 under Jeroboam; started at a point much farther back, even with 
 the promise made to the patriarchs and specially renewed to David, 
 and built upon that basis the whole structure of their glorious fu- 
 ture. We may notice this remarkable feature of Messianic proph- 
 ecy in both Jeremiah (chap. 3: 12, 18, and 23: 2, 6-8, and 31: I, 
 9, 23, 33) and in Ezekiel (chap 36: 1, 8, 12, 32, 37, and 37: 11, 
 
 12, 28, and 39: 25). The question whether the ten tribes did in 
 
 fact return in any considerable numbers under Zerubbabel has 
 been much mooted, and with various conclusions. I have had oc- 
 casion heretofore to say that the evidence for the affirmative from 
 the records in Ezra and Nehemiah is exceedingly weak. Indeed 
 the inquirer who has no foregone conclusion to sustain would not 
 suspect that those records refer to the ten tribes at all. The histo- 
 rian who notes the captivity of the two and a half tribes on the 
 east of Jordan (1 Chron. 5: 26) explicitly denies their restoration 
 at any period prior to his own times. — —The question whether the 
 ten tribes (Ephraim) or the two tribes (Judah and Benjamin) will 
 in any future day return to Palestine to rebuild their old nation- 
 ality, Avill be in place for consideration soon, i. <\, at the close of 
 my special explanation of the words and phrases throughout chap- 
 ters 40-48. 
 
 15. And this shall be the border of the land toward the 
 north side, from the great sea,- the way of Hethlou, as men 
 go to Zcdad : 
 
 16. Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the 
 
 I 
 
' EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLVII. 261 
 
 border of Damascus and the border of Hamatli ; Hazar-hat- 
 ticon,. which is by the coast of Hauran. 
 
 17. And the border from the sea shall be Hazar-enan, 
 the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the 
 border of Hamath. And this is the north side. 
 
 18. And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, 
 and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land 
 of Israel bif Jordan, from the border unto the east sea. 
 And this is the east side. 
 
 19. And the south side southward, from Tamar even to 
 the waters of strife in Kadesh, the river to the great sea. 
 And this is the south side southward. 
 
 20. The west side also shall be the great sea from the 
 border, till a man come over against Hamath. This is the 
 west side. 
 
 21. So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the 
 tribes of Israel. 
 
 These boundaries differ in no important respect from the ancient 
 boundaries of the land as given by the Lord through Moses, Num. 
 34: 1-12. This passage is not a copy of that. The description 
 commences in each at different points; that in Numbers with the 
 southern border, and this in Ezekiel with the northern. As we 
 shall see in the next chapter, the location of the several tribes 
 differs widely from that made by Joshua, and assumes a very dif- 
 ferently shaped territory to be divided. 
 
 22. And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it by 
 lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that 
 sojourn among you, which shall beget children among you: 
 and they shall be unto you as born in the country among 
 the children of Israel : they shall have inheritance with you 
 among the tribes of Israel. 
 
 23. And it shall come to pass, that in what tribe the 
 stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, 
 saith the Lord God. 
 
 Inasmuch as enlargement by the accession of Gentiles proselyted 
 to the Jewish faith was a cherished feature of the ancient economy 
 and afforded a choice symbol of the great and glorious ingathering 
 of the Gentiles in the Christian age, it was every way fitting that 
 sp3cial provision should be made here for the location and natural- 
 ization of strangers who might choose to cast in their lot with 
 Israel. Here it stands. 
 
262 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLVIII. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVm. 
 
 This vision closes legitimately with a definite geographical loca- 
 tion of the several tribes (vs. i-7, 23-28); a more expanded de- 
 scription of the sacred reserve (vs. 8-22) resumed from chap. 45 : 
 1-7; and a description of the gates of the great city (vs. 29-35). 
 
 1. Now these are the names of the tribes. From the 
 north end to the coast of the way of Hethlon, as one goeth 
 to Hamath, Hazar-enan, the border of Damascus northward, 
 to the coast of Hamath ; for these are his sides east and 
 west ; a portion for Dan. 
 
 2. And by the border of Dan, from the east side unto the 
 •west side, a portion for Asher. 
 
 3. And by the border of Asher, from the east side even 
 •unto the west side, a portion for Naphtali. 
 
 4. And by the border of Naphtali, from the east side unto 
 the west side, a p)ortionfor Manasseh. 
 
 5. And by the border of Manasseh, from the east side 
 unto the west side, a portion for Ephraim. 
 
 6. And by the border of Ephraim, from the east side even 
 unto the west side, a p)ortion for Keuben. 
 
 7. And by the border of Keuben, from the east side unto 
 the west side, a portion for Judah. 
 
 The best view of this assignment of the tribes will be obtained 
 from the diagram, page 248, It will be seen there at a glance 
 that the territory of each tribe extended entirely across the country 
 from west to east, and of equal width. The actual sinuosities and 
 irregularities of the western bojder and of the eastern also, are 
 overlooked, as well as the narrowing of the real Palestine from its 
 greatest width at its southern extremity to its least at the northern. 
 The location of the tribes differs in other respects widely from that 
 made by Joshua. The latter was every way irregular ; the former 
 is a model of perfect mathematical regularity. Doubtless the con- 
 sideration of order ruled in this arrangement Every thing about 
 it indicates that it was and is only ideal — a thing of vision only, 
 and never to be a thing of fact; shaped for its suggestive and sym- 
 l)olic bearings rather than with any reference to the territory to bo 
 divided or the adaptation of its parts to the several tribes. 
 
 8. And by the border of Judah, from the east side unto 
 the west side, shall be the oflering which ye shall offer of 
 five and twenty thousand rccd^i in breadth, and in length as 
 one of the other parts, from the cast side unto the west side : 
 and the sanctuary shall be in the midst of it. 
 
 9. The oblation that ye shall offer unto the Lord shall be 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLVIII. 263 
 
 of five and twenty thousand in length, and of ten thousand 
 in breadth. 
 
 10. And for them, even for the priests,- shall be this holy- 
 oblation; toward the north five and twenty thousand in 
 length, and toward the west ten thousand in breadth, and 
 toward the east ten thousand in breadth, aijd toward the 
 south five and twenty thousand in length: and the sanctu- 
 ary of the Lord shall be in the midst thereof. 
 
 11. It shall be for the priests that are sanctified of the 
 sons of Zadok; w^hich have kept my charge, which went not 
 astray Avhen the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites 
 went astray. 
 
 12. And this oblation of the land that is offered shall be 
 unto them a thing most holy by the border of the Levites. 
 
 13. And over against the l3order of the priests the Levites 
 shall have five and twenty thousand in length, and ten thou- 
 sand in breadth: all the length shall be five and twenty 
 thousand, and the breadth ten thousand. 
 
 14. And they shall not sell of it, neither exchange, nor 
 alienate the first fruits of the land: for it is holy unto the 
 Lord. 
 
 15. And the five thousand, that are left in 'the breadth 
 over against the five and twenty thousand, shall be a pro- 
 fane p/ace for the city, for dwelling, and for suburbs, and 
 the city shall be in the midst thereof. 
 
 16. And these shall be the measures thereof; the north 
 side four thousand and five hundred, and the south side 
 four thousand and five hundred, and on the east side four 
 thousand and five hundred, and the west side four thousand 
 and five hundred. 
 
 17. And the suburbs of the city shall be toward the north 
 two hundred and fifty, and toward the south two hundred 
 and fifty, and toward the east two hundred and fifty, and 
 toward the west two hundred and fifty. 
 
 18. And the residue in length over against the oblation 
 of the holy portion shall be ten thousand eastward, and ten 
 thousand westward ; and it shall be over against the oblation 
 of the holy x>ortion; and the increase thereof shall be for 
 food unto them that serve the city. 
 
 19. And they that serve the city shall serve it out of all 
 the tribes of Israel. 
 
 20. All the oblation shall be five and twenty thousand by 
 five and twenty thousand: ye shall ofier the holy oblation 
 four-square, with the possession of the city. 
 
264 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLVIII. 
 
 21. And the residue shall he for the prince, on the one 
 side and on the other of the holy oblation, and of the pos- 
 session of the city, over against the five and t^yenty thousand 
 of the oblation toward the east border, and westward over 
 against the five and twenty thousand toward the west border, 
 over against the portions for the prince: and it shall be the 
 holy oblation; and the sanctuary of the house shall he in 
 the midst thereof. 
 
 22. Moreover, from the possession of the Levites, and from 
 the possession of the city, heing in the midst of that which 
 is the prince's, between the border of Judah and the border 
 of Benjamin, shall be for the prince. 
 
 This is the sacred reserve, "the holy oblation," first brought to 
 view chap. 45 : 1-7 ; but here taken up again, repeated, and some- 
 what expanded. The diagram (p. 248) will give the best view 
 of these apportionments. As said in the notes on chap. 45 : 1-7, 
 the purpose of this reserve is obviously to carry out the great 
 idea of the ancient economy in its extreme form — seclusion of the 
 holy from the profane and earthly — the broadest possible distinction 
 between things sacred and things common every-where kept up in 
 order to cultivate a critical habit of moral discrimination between 
 holiness and sin, and to impress a sense of the obligation of moral 
 purity. This moral discipline is above all price in value. But we 
 should quite mistake the genius of the gospel dispensation if we 
 were to assume that God proposes to develop its future and higher 
 stages by returning to the modes and forms of Judaism. Xo ; his 
 thought is rather to carry the culture obtained by the aid of that 
 ancient regime, out into the world-wide fields of human society, and 
 train men to "live holily, justly, and unblamably m this present 
 world i'^ not to shut themselves out of it for the sake of the holiness 
 
 of the cloister. ^We may fitly notice that the Lord makes ample 
 
 provision for the support of his Levito servants as well as for the 
 priests and for those who serve in the city, taken from all the tribes 
 of Israel. The ministers who labor and serve under this new regime 
 are thoughtfully provided for as if specially worthy of their hire. 
 The implication is that only loith such provision can they be expected 
 to hold on, true to their work, kept above the torturing power of 
 poverty to seduce them from their sacred functions. 
 
 23. As for the rest of the tribes, from the east side unto 
 the west side, Benjamin shall have a portion. 
 
 24. And by the border of Benjamin, from the east side 
 unto the west side, Simeon shall have a portion. 
 
 25. And by the border of Simeon, from the east ^ide unto 
 the west side, Issachar a j^ortlon. 
 
 26. And by the border of Issachar, from the cast side 
 unto the west side, Zebulun a ptortlon. 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLVIII. 265 
 
 27. And by the border of Zebulun, from the east side 
 unto the west side, Gad a portion. 
 
 28. And by the border of Gad, at the south side south- 
 ward, the border shall be even from Tamar unto the waters 
 of strife in Kadesh, and to the river toward the great sea. 
 
 29. This is the land which ye shall divide by lot unto the 
 tribes of Israel for inheritance, and these are their portions, 
 saith the Lord God. 
 
 30. And these are the goings out of the city on the north 
 side, four thousand and five hundred measures. 
 
 31. And the gates of the city shall he after the names of 
 the tribes of Israel: three gates northward; one gate of 
 Reuben, one gate of Judah, one gate of Levi. 
 
 32. And at the east side four thousand and five hundred : 
 and three gates; and one gate of Joseph, one gate of Ben- 
 jamin, oue gate of Dan. 
 
 33. And at the south side four thousand and five hundred 
 measures : and three gates ; one gate of Simeon, one gate of 
 Issachar, one gate of Zebulun. 
 
 34. At the west side four thousand and five hundred, \dtli 
 their three gates; one gate of Gad, one gate of Asher, one 
 gate of Naphtali. 
 
 35. It was round about eighteen thousand measures: and 
 the name of the city from that day shall he, The Lord is 
 there. 
 
 This great city, a model of method and order — each tribe repre- 
 sented in its twelve gates — is imitated by the Revelator John in 
 his city of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21: 10-21). John however 
 was farther advanced in the light of the new dispensation, for in 
 his city is "no temple," while here the temple is the central fact. 
 But the glory of the whole scene is brought out here in the signifi- 
 cant name- of the city which was to stand from that day onward; 
 "Jehovah ShammahJ" The Lord is there I ! It is the place of Je- 
 hovah's dwelling in the midst of his people. Every thing is shaped 
 according to Mosaic ideas, for the perpetual dwelling of Jehovah 
 among his people. The entire arrangements, including the sacred 
 reserve, its special localities for the Levites, for the priests, for the 
 more menial servants of the sanctuary; for the prince also and for 
 all the ti-ibes : all, every several thing, provides for the great central 
 fact, and adjusts itself around that living truth — Jehovah dwelling 
 forever, and forever manifesting himself among his chosen ; he their 
 God, and they, his people. Prophetically, it'^looks down into the 
 Christian age to its great central truth — the Lord by his divine 
 Spirit making his abode through all ages in the hearts of his chil- 
 dren. " Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world." 
 "I will send you the Comforter;" he will guide you into all truth;" 
 . 12 
 
266 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLVIII. 
 
 "he shall glorify mc; for he shall take of mine and shall show it 
 unto you." 
 
 It now remains to present with somewhat more ^method and 
 fullness than heretofore my reasons for the general system of inter- 
 pretation which 1 have applied to these closing chapters of Ezckiel 
 
 (40-48). Let it then be premised that they refer mainly and 
 
 properly to the Messianic times — to the Christian age of the world. 
 It might be claimed with reason that these chapters would natur- 
 ally inspire in the hearts of the pious Jews then around the prophet, 
 the hope of returning to their own land and of rebuilding their 
 city and temple. Granted, This may have been an incidental 
 and minor purpose of these visions. But they assume rather than 
 assert this. Or perhaps there would be no objection to saying that 
 this nearer restoration under Zerubbabel was a first installment — a 
 sort of earnest and pledge of the far greater blessings yet in the 
 remote future. But no sound interpreter would venture to say that 
 the significance of these chapters is exhausted in the events of that 
 first restoration, or at any time before Christ. Let this be consid- 
 ered as settled. They look onward into the gospel age for their 
 main fulfillment. This point is so clear as to call for no argument. 
 
 Hence the question now at issue becomes simple and definite. 
 
 The choice lies between two systems of interpretation; the literal, 
 and the figurative — otherwise called the symbolic. The literal in- 
 terpretation would teach that the Jews at some time yet future are to 
 be restored to their own native land ; that this land is to be divided 
 among them as here directed; the "holy oblation" or sacred re- 
 serve, set off as here described; the temple and city rebuilt; the 
 Mosaic ritual with feasts, bloody sacrifices and attendant meat- 
 offerings, all restored in manner and form as here detailed. The 
 holy waters from under the sanctuary are real waters, and flowing 
 into the actual Dead Sea, will purify it and thus supply fish in 
 abundance for the restored people; — while along its banks will 
 
 cluster beautiful trees for shade and fruit and for medicine. 
 
 The literal interpretation is exceedingly easy because the state- 
 ments are entirely plain and definite, so that if this system is the 
 right one, the significance of the entire vision is as pjain as the 
 English alphabet. Let it be said also that on every just prin- 
 ciple of construction, if the literal system is adopted, it should be 
 carried honestly through. There is as much reason for making 
 every part of this vision literal as for making any part of it so. 
 There can be no valid reason for mixing up the literal and the 
 figurative methods, making one line or verse in the same passage 
 literal and the next figurative. Such changes can be nothing else 
 than purely capricious. They can never bo justified on any sound 
 law of interpretation. If the return of the Jews to Talostine to 
 restore their nationality there be literal, then the ritual worship 
 described here is literal also; for it is part of the same vision — 
 part of the same state of things, and should therefore be inter- 
 preted by the same laws of language. 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLVIII. 267 
 
 I plead for the figurative interpretation and against the literal, 
 and draw my arguments, 
 
 1. From ike Neio Testament; 
 
 2. From the Old, and especially from these prophecies themselves 
 in their relation to the writer and his first readers. 
 
 3. From the nature of the case — especially as creating an in- 
 tensely strong probability against the literal and in favor of the 
 figurative interpretation. 
 
 1. The literal system of interpretation must be rejected because 
 it is absolutely precluded and forbidden by the New Testament. 
 The entire spirit and genius of the gospel dispensation as unfolded by 
 Christ and his inspired apostles is utterly, squarely, fatally against 
 it. For, the literal system must hold that according to this vision, 
 Judaism will yet be fully restored — restored with more than all 
 its ancient surroundings, and in more than its ancient fullness. 
 l>ut according to the New Testament, Judaism is dead. It had 
 done its great work when Jesus died as the Lamb of God and 
 thenceforth it ceased to exist under divine authority. In the age 
 of the epistle to the Hebrews, it had already "decayed, waxed old, 
 and was ready to vanish away." Paul declared repeatedly and in 
 many various forms that Christ had "broken down the middle 
 wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles " by setting aside 
 whatever was peculiar to the Jew; that he "had abolished in his 
 flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in 
 ordinances," etc. (Eph. 2: 14, 15) ; that he had "blotted out the 
 handwriting of ordinances that was against us" (Gentiles), "which 
 was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his 
 cross" (Col 2: 14), This was the end of the Mosaic system. And 
 yet more if possible to this point, the burden of Paul's epistle to 
 the Galatians is, that relapsing from Christianity to Judaism is 
 not only a folly (chap. 3: 1, 3) "but a sin, and essentially an apos- 
 tasy from Christ. He declares, " There is neither Jew nor Greek" 
 (Judaism being defunct), "for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." 
 " But now, after that ye have known God, how turn ye again to 
 the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be 
 in bondage?" "Ye observe [Jewish] da3^s and months and times 
 and years. I am afraid of you lest I have bestowed upon you labor 
 in vain" (Gal. 4: 9-11). "I, Paul, say unto you that if ye be 
 circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing; for I testify again to 
 every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole 
 law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are 
 justified by the law: ye are fallen from grace" (Gal. 5: 2-4). 
 That is; circumcision and the whole ritual system has no farther 
 mission, has no longer any binding force. Before Christ came, it 
 led toward and imto Christ; after'his coming, it leads away from 
 Christ; forces itself in as a substitute for Christ, and therefore 
 must be rejected and denounced as ruinous to souls. With ad- 
 mirable and wise forbearance the Lord allowed the converted Jews 
 time on this great change from Judaism to a pure Christianity; but 
 yet gave unmistakable indications of his will to rule Judaism 
 
268 EZEKIEL.— CHAP. XLVIII. 
 
 proper out of existence as a thing that had done it3 work and could 
 never be used in his kini;;doni any more. And now is it cred- 
 ible that this wall of partition is going up again ? that '' ordinances," 
 bloody sacrifices, all and more than all that the Mosaic system 
 ever had, shall be restored ? If it were to be restored according to 
 the literal construction of Ezekiel 40-48 chapters, what would it 
 mean? Would it point to another Christ, another atoning Lamb, 
 another great High Priest to make intercession for us ? If our 
 present New Testament be accepted as authority, a return to Ju- 
 daism is forever foreclosed. The testimony of Jesus and his apos- 
 tles on this point could not be made stronger than it is. Our 
 
 Lord spake on this vital question in decisive terms. Standing in 
 view of Mt. Gerizim, with the long mooted question before him 
 whether that mount or Jerusalem were the one prescribed locality 
 for all acceptable worship, he plainly signified that this question 
 had ceased to be a practical one ; that the whole system of restrict- 
 ing special forms of worship to one place was now passing by. To 
 the Avoman of Samaria he solemnly averred (Jn. 4: 21-24); "Wo- 
 man, believe me ; the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this 
 mountain nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. The hour 
 cometh and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the 
 Father in spirit and in truth," implying that nothing else should 
 be requisite for acceptance with God. So long as sacrifices, altars, 
 and a visible glory in the most holy place were of divine appoint- 
 ment, some one place for this worship would be a necessity. If 
 these prophecies of Ezekiel are literal, that necessity must return 
 again, and the words of our Lord to the woman of Samaria must 
 cease to have force. The hour must arrive — with the literal fulfill- 
 ment of Ezekiel — when men must worship God as of old in the 
 one prescribed place, and not merely in spirit and in truth, but in all 
 
 the forms of ancient Judaism as well. Did Christ anticipate 
 
 this supposed change back to Judaism? Had he himself inspired 
 Ezekiel to predict it? The question is its own answer ! There can 
 be no return to the old regime of one only place of acceptable wor- 
 ship; and that, in the forms of a dead Judaism! Under the gospel 
 economy, every pious heart is God's temple, and the wide world is 
 open to the ofi'ering of each heart's truthful homage to God. This gos- 
 pel economy can never in any future age give place to Judaism. 
 
 Yet again. The inspired apostles were in all vital points inspired 
 interpreters of Old Testament prophecy. In all that affects the 
 great elementary features of the old system and of the new, this 
 position must be valid, else their inspiration becomes practically 
 
 of no account. Inquiring now for their inspired interpretation 
 
 of those prophecies which speak of the Christian age, we may fitly 
 begin with asking what place and what significance they assign to 
 the temple of God in these gospel days. rro)-)hecy speaks of a 
 temple of God in the JNlessiah's age ; what do the apostles under- 
 stand it to mean ? They answer that in this age Christians are 
 
 themselves the temple of the living God, and that "God dwells in 
 them and walks in them," "Know ye not," (said Paul, 1 Cor. 3- 
 
EZEKIEL.— CHAPS. XL-XLVIII. 269 
 
 10,) "that yc are the temple of God and that the Sph-it of God 
 dwelleth in you?" "What! know ye not that your body is the 
 temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you?" (1 Cor. G: 19.) And 
 then as if to clinch this argument, Paul cites the Old Testament 
 prophecy in which God said, "I will dwell in them and walk in 
 them," and finds its fulfillment in the new gospel fact; "Ye are the 
 
 temple of the living God." See 2 Cor. 6 : 16. Further, ask the 
 
 apostle James how he understands the prophecy of Amos (chap. 9 : 
 11, 12) about rebuilding the fallen tabernacle of David. He replies 
 that it refers to the conversion of the Gentiles, and to their being 
 gathered into the Christian Church. He gives not a hint of the lit- 
 eral rebuilding of the old temple. See Acts 15: 13-18. And this 
 was the doctrine of the whole Church in council assembled then 
 
 and there. Or ask the Apostle Paul whether he connects the 
 
 future conversion of the Jews with their restoration to their own 
 land. Ask him if he assumes that these two events will be coinci- 
 dent, and their restoration a necessary means to their conversion. 
 He answers that he knows nothing about such restoration. Their 
 conversion to Christ he believes in, rejoices in exultingly; but he 
 has not the first hint of their returning to their own land — much 
 less of their rebuilding the temple of wood and stone. Examine 
 
 his words, Rom. 11 : 11-36. Finally the old system and the now 
 
 have too many vital points of dissimilarity, not to say antagonism, 
 to admit of being amalgamated, or in any way compounded together. 
 The genius of the old was restrictive, exclusive, and put itself on 
 the defensive. The genius of the new is expansive, aggressive, 
 framed to grasp the whole world. The former walls itself in to shut 
 oiF idolatry and all contamination from the world without : the lat- 
 ter faces and assails the idolatry and sin of the world every-where 
 under the one grand behest ; " Go ye into all the world, and preach 
 the Gospel to every creature." How can these two systems amal- 
 gamate? And how can it be supposed that the world is to be 
 converted by going back to the centralized forms of Judaism ? 
 
 2. The evidence from the Old Testament, i. e., from these prophe- 
 cies themselves, considered in view of the circumstances of their 
 authors and first readers, has been frequently referred to in these 
 notes, and hence may be presented with the more brevity here, 
 In a word, then, these prophets were Jews, of Jewish educa- 
 tion, with only Jewish conceptions of the kingdom of God, and with 
 only Jewish terms, phrases, figures and symbols for expressing 
 these conceptions. The same is true of their first readers, to whom 
 of necessity they must adapt their writings. If any should suggest 
 here that the Lord himself is the speaker and revealer, still the case 
 remains the same; for the Lord speaks to Jews, whether prophets 
 or people, and only in Jewish language and figures. Hence the 
 future kingdom of Christ must be revealed to the prophets and to the 
 Jewish people in words and symbols drawn from the existing econ- 
 omy. This necessity is absolute, if the Lord aimed to reveal any 
 thing — if he aimed to speak so as to be understood. T'his prin- 
 ciple is introduced here, not precisely to prove that these prophecies 
 
270 EZEKIEL.— CHAPS. XL-XLVIII. 
 
 reveal c;ospel blessings, but to account for their phraseology and 
 their symljols. The proof that they teach the gloriously converting 
 power of the Gospel and of the Spirit of God in the latter days 
 comes from the facts, (1.) That they refer to gospel times. (2.) 
 That they must therefore be construed of gospel blessings, and not 
 of Mosaic forms and ritualities: and (3.) That the nature and mag- 
 nitude of these symbols demand a most magnificent fulfillment 
 and. can be satisfied with nothing less."^ 
 
 3. It remains to show in a few closing.words that in the nature of 
 the case the literal system is for every reason intensely improbable. 
 Thus ; That the ten tribes, thoroughly lost to all reliable history since 
 their captivity tAvo thousand five hundred and eighty-seven years 
 ago, should appear again ; produce their unbroken and distinct gene- 
 alogies ; prove their identity, and file into their places in the allot- 
 ment of tribes as given in Ezek. 48, is violently improbable, f 
 
 That the natural boundaries of Palestine should be miraculously 
 changed so as to make it a perfect rectangle ; that the great river 
 from the sanctuary should flow, with a growth so unprecedented, into 
 the Dead Sea, and make its waters salubrious, fill them with fish, 
 etc., all in the literal sense, is very improbable. That the better 
 times of the gospel age ; its one period of most perfect beauty, purity 
 and glory, should be brought about by receding from the genius of 
 
 * This subject is discussed somewhat fully in my notes on Zech. 12. 
 
 t Tlie restoration of the lost ten tribes should be considered in the light 
 of Bible history. Thus: 2 Kings 17 shows that the ten tribes had for- 
 saken the God of Israel, and were therefore utterly i-ejected with no 
 qualifying promise of restoration (vs. 17-20) : that their captivity, so far 
 as known to the sacred historian, was final (vs. 2o, 8f, 41) ; that the 
 change of population then made was entire, the A.ssyrian king taking 
 away all the Hebrew people, and filling their homes and country with 
 colonists from Assyria, sendin"; back only one priest to teach them the 
 worship of the former God of tlie land. The Samaritan community had 
 
 scarcely the least tinge of Isi-aelite blood. -Next, note that 1 Chron. 5: 
 
 25, 20 certifies respecting the two and a half tribes tlmt they were cnrriod 
 away captive ''unto this dai/;" i. e., up to the date of the last fiuish- 
 ing toucli of this genealogical history, which, as the reader will see by 
 comparing 1 Chron. 9 with Neh. 11, comes down to a period many (13(j) 
 years later than the first return of the Jews with Zerubbabel. Nehemi- 
 ah's latest date is B. C. 400, and his genealogies correspond with those of 
 1 Chron. 9, so that the testimony which pieclu<les the restoration of the 
 two and a half tribes "down to this (hxy " reaches long after the return 
 
 of the Jews to Palestine in B. C. r):'>(M 1 1. And finally the book of Ezra 
 
 shows (chap. 1 : 5} that the returning captives were " the fathei-s of Judah 
 and Benjamin ; '' in chap. 2, that special regard was had to the point of 
 genealogy, since tho.se are named who could not make out their record 
 (vs. r)9-G.)) ; that Ezra gives his own record can^uUy (7: 1-5), and also that 
 of his company (8: 1-14), and of the Lcvites (S: l()-2(i); but gives not tho 
 
 least hint of the ten triljcs. Further, his )K)ok shows that tlie taking of 
 
 strange [heathen] wives was 1 he bi-setting sin of the people (chaps. 9 and 
 10), which the testimony of Nehemiah confirms (chap. 18: 2;i-30). If this 
 sin needed such stringent measures to withstand it among the Jews 
 proper, even wiiile residing in their own land, how much more must tho 
 ten tribes have lost their distinct nationality by its power over them in 
 
 that remote land of Assyria? Thus stands the historical evidence of 
 
 Scripture in reference to the restoration of the ten tri))e.s— utterly and 
 strongly against it. In the light ot Scripture, tlie supposition is unhis- 
 
 torical, every way improbable, and in nowise credible. Hence tho 
 
 restoration of these lost tribes, in any yet future age, becomes intensely 
 improbable— virtually impossible. 
 
F 
 
 EZEKIEL— CIIArS. XL-XLVIII. 271 
 
 New Testament Christianity to the genius of Judaism, is preemi- 
 nently improbable. That the Lord should subject his Gentile 
 churches to the same terrible contest with Judaism which cost so 
 much martyr-blood in the first and second centuries, is improbable. 
 That he should subject the Jews themselves to those temptations to 
 bigotry, exclusiveness, and uncharitableness, which in the first 
 Christian age often proved too stubborn for even the grace of the 
 gospel, is improbable. That he should expose them to the power 
 of the old national spirit of reliance upon ritual forms and ceremo- 
 nies, or to the national pride in which they accounted themselves 
 the only favored people of God, is utterly improbable. And finally, 
 that the Lord shouW give his Church in the future age a system in 
 which the spirit of love, purity and peace is lost in the letter of 
 forms and ceremonies; in which (as e. g. in Ezek. 47: 1-12) you 
 have, instead of the unexampled glory and power of the Divine 
 Spirit, only a beautiful river and plenty of good fish, and fruit-trees 
 in abundance for sensual delights ; in short, that God should lead 
 the church and the world backward from a spiritual gospel to a sen- 
 sual paradise — is utterly improbable and even incredible. For 
 
 one, 1 rejoice that it is. I rejoice that the instincts of our Christian 
 nature revolt against this view of these prophecies. - I rejoice that 
 there is no trustworthy evidence to sustain the literal interpreta- 
 tion, and that the figurative view is amply supported by evidence, 
 unfolding glorious truth in harmony with the whole tenor of Old 
 Testament prophecy and of New Testament interpretation of it, and 
 revealing a sublimely grand and auspicious future for the kingdom 
 of our divine Redeemer. Amex. 
 
DANIEL. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The best of commentators have interpreted the prophe- 
 cies of Daniel variously. It is only natural that joeople 
 "who read commentaries should think as variously, save that 
 some nlay lose confidence in any of the j^roposed systems of 
 interpretation — not to say, confidence that any reliable sys- 
 tem can be found. Consequently a new commentary on 
 "Daniel, by whomsoever put forth, or however able, must 
 fail to meet the j)revious view^s of all its possible readers. 
 
 In the outset, therefore, let me say that in this book 
 
 I dissent from some worthy critics, not through any lack of 
 deference or respect for them, but through the force of my 
 own convictions. I have labored upon these prophecies — 
 not to harmonize the conflicting opinions of others; not to 
 select the most worthy and follow them; not to meet some 
 foregone and favorite scheme of fulfillment; — but simply 
 and only to apply what I deem just 2:)rinciples of interpre- 
 tation, and thus arrive at the truth. I have sought to ap- 
 ply to these prophetic words and symbols those great j^rin- 
 ciples of interpretation which legitimately determine the 
 sense of all language. These principles, as they should 
 apj)ly to Daniel, I have briefly presented near the close of 
 my General Introduction. I submit that this method of 
 reaching the truth and this only is entitled to confidence. 
 
 -My earliest views of these prophecies were taken from 
 
 Dr. Scott and Bishop Newton — accepted without dissent, 
 and indeed, without rigorous questioning. But being called 
 (some twenty-eight years since) to the responsibility of con- 
 ducting theological students through these jorophecies, I was 
 put upon a rigorous investigation of their meaning. It was 
 in the study of the eleventh chapter that I first saw that 
 their system palpably violated the laws of philology. It 
 was impossible to break the bonds of connection which held 
 the entire passage (chap. 11 : 21-45) to one individual, and 
 this one a king — the well-know^n " king of the north," An- 
 tiochus Epiphanes. In chap. 8, the force of God's own 
 interpretation compelled me to discard the Roman theory, 
 
 (273) 
 
274 DANIEL.— niEFACE. 
 
 and apply ^vliat is said of the "little horn" to Antiochus. 
 In the same way, the interpretation given by God himself, 
 coupled with the metes and bounds within which the fulfill- 
 ment is located, constrained me to recast my former system 
 of Dan. 7. Then the proofs of general parallelism through- 
 out his four great prophecies attracted my attention, and 
 being found' invincible, could not be ignored. Thus through 
 repeated investigations, renewed from time to time during 
 tsventy-five years, laboring to get the full and exact sense 
 of all that Daniel had seen and said — laboring also to make 
 myself master of his stand-point of view, and to enter as 
 fully as possible into his relations both of sympathy and of 
 personal and public ministry for his people, the Jews ; I 
 have gradually matured the system herein presented. Each . 
 successive examination has contributed to clear up difficult 
 points ; to bring out new aspects of these visions ; to sug- 
 gest new views of their fitness and force ; and to settle more 
 firmly my conviction that in the main the interpretation 
 here presented will stand the test of candid scrutiny, how- 
 ever searching, and approve itself as based upon sound 
 
 principles of interpreting prophecy. Somewhat early in 
 
 the course of these studies, a fresh impulse was given them 
 by the appearance (1841-43) of the views of Mr. William 
 Miller on the Second Advent. It is only on rare occasions 
 that such a stimulus comes to quicken prophetic investiga- 
 tion. The student of prophecy can aftbrd to express his 
 obligation (on the score solely of stimulus and suggestion) 
 to the very crude and wild sentiments but very quickening 
 impulses of that extraordinary movement. Mr. Miller and 
 his associates made a vigorous but not legitimate use of 
 various errors which had been admitted into the interpreta- 
 tion of this book. See a brief Dissertation U2)on his sys- 
 tem at the close of this volume. 
 
 These words, personal to myself, reluctantly admitted 
 here, will show how I have reached my present views and 
 why I hold and express them so strongly. I have made 
 these allusions to the rise and growth of the scheme of in- 
 terpreting Daniel herein presented, with no wish to influ- 
 ence any reader's mind, save by the force of argument, yet 
 as a sort of apology for inviting all readers, of every shade 
 of opinion, to give these pages a candid and careful exam- 
 ination. 
 
 • 
 
 Oberlix, 0., Aug., 18G7. 
 
DANIEL. 
 
 GENERAL .INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I. The questions of personal history appropriate to an introduc- 
 tion are, for the most part, readily answered from the book itself. 
 
 Daniel comes first to view, a Jewish youth of the royal family,^ 
 taken captive to Babylon in the first deportation of captives, in the 
 third year of Jehoiakim, B. C. 606 or 607 ; and is soon after selected 
 with others for his wisdom, eSiciency and agreeable person, to be 
 trained in the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans, for service 
 under the king. This custom of taking young men of the finest 
 parts from a captive or subject race to fill responsible positions 
 about the king, has prevailed in many despotic governments, and is 
 essentially the usage of the Turkish empire to this day. It finds its 
 motives, (l.)In the fact that such monarchs need men about them 
 of the very first abilities; (2.) In the difiiculty they would experience 
 in getting young men of such ability from among their osvn people 
 who might not, by virtue of their social position or connections, be- 
 come dangerous to the throne. We are then to think of Daniel as 
 educated thoroughly in the language, literature, and general culture 
 of the Chaldeans (this term being used here for the learned, sacerdo- 
 tal and scientific class, and not for the mass of the people), but yet 
 as adhering with noble firmness to the religious faith of his fathers. 
 In this position, he developed extraordinary capacities in the line of 
 wisdom, fidelity and efiiciency, and consequently rose to the rank 
 of prime minister under the Chaldean sovereigns, Nebuchadnezzar 
 and Belshazzar, and remarkably, attained and held an equally ex- 
 alted position in the succeeding dynasty, the Medo-Persian, under 
 Darius the Median and Cyrus. . 
 
 Daniel must have lived and retained his vigor to a great age. 
 The period during which he appears before us in this book, from 
 the beginning of the captivity to the very end of it, was seventy 
 years, and we may reasonably suppose him from sixteen to twenty 
 years of age at the beginning of this period, and of course almost 
 ninety at its close. Yet his heart appears full of earnest life and 
 power in his memorable prayer for his people, given us in chap. 9, 
 juBt on the eve of the restoration. Tradition holds that he was the 
 special instrument under God of obtaining from Cyrus the decree 
 
 * Josephus says that Daniel was of the seed of Zcdekiah. Aut. Jud. X : 
 10. The text says only " of the king's seed and of the princes." Chap 
 1:3. 
 
 (275) 
 
27 G DANIEL.— GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 for the restoration of his people to their own land — no small 
 achievement for the physical stamina of a patriarch of ninety ! 
 Temperate habits through the whole of life, and a soul evermore 
 steadfastly stayed on God, are eminently congenial to length of 
 days and to freshness and vigor of days as well. 
 
 II. The reader will recall some points of close analogy between 
 Daniel and Joseph. Both were captives ; each rose in a foreign king- 
 dom to the same rank of prime minister, by the same qualities of 
 personal character — sterling integrity, unselfish devotion to their 
 work, great business capacity, and unfaltering faith in God. Each 
 became, under God, it patron and protector to his suffering people. 
 To each was given of God extraordinary prophetic powers whicli 
 served to raise him to general notice and confidence, and mani- 
 festly in the case of Daniel, served to exalt the God of the Hebrew- 
 race highly in the convictions of the monarchs under whom he 
 served. " Each was able to distance and confound all the pretend- 
 ers to supernatural knowledge, of whom there were many both in 
 Egypt and in Babylon. 
 
 "111. Here it may be well to notice carefully the critical objections 
 made in modern times against the entire book by those icho dcyiy its 
 genuineness and imjmgn its historic veracity. First in time by Por- 
 phyry, a prominent infidel of the third century, but most ably by a 
 considerable body of recent German critics, it has been gravely and 
 confidently denied that the book Avas written by that Daniel whose 
 name it bears, whose history it gives, and who is referred to by Ezek- 
 iel (chap. 44; 14, 20, and 28: 3) and also by our Lord himself (Mat. 
 24: 15, IG). They also impugn the general veracity of its historical 
 accounts, and attempt to sustain their main position by a variety of 
 critical objections. They claim that the book was not wi'itten until 
 after the death of Antiochus Epiphanes (B. C. 163); that it was writ- 
 ten shortly after that event; and of course that it is a forgery and 
 contains no prophecy whatever, being wi-itten after the minute events 
 wdiich its pretended visions of an assumed early date gave forth as 
 
 prophecy. Their central point is the denial of its genuineness and 
 
 date; i. e., they deny that it was written by that Daniel who lived 
 during the captivity, or by any one else at that time. As collat- 
 eral, yet altogether minor points, they say that the book contains some 
 Greek and some Persian words, which evince a date later than the 
 captivity; that part of it is written in Chaldee and part in Hebrew; 
 tiiat the tone of the composition is peculiar, unlike that of the 
 other prophets; that its miracles are grotesque; that its doctrines 
 respecting angels, the Messiah, and an ascetic life, indicate a later 
 age; and iinally that Daniel speaks too well of himself and was too 
 
 young to stand so high as he appears in Ezekiel. These minor 
 
 points shall receive due attention in their place; the main one should 
 cume first in order. To meet their central and main dogma some 
 what fundamentally, I maintain — 1. That the Daniel of the age of the 
 ca[)tivity was a very prominent man in Jewish history. Even King 
 David was scarcely more so. He was a city set on a hill, known to all 
 intelli'j;ent Jews of that age and onward into later times. Far above 
 
DANIEL.— GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 277 
 
 all other Jews of his time, he was the distinguished man — prime 
 minister in the courts successively of Nebuchadnezzar and Darius, 
 and promoted to the very highest rank by Bclshazzar just on the 
 eve of kis final fall. Obviously not the doings only of such a man 
 but his writings must be matters of public notoriety. By how much 
 the more pronjinent the man, and by how much the more highly 
 esteemed among his countrymen, by so much the greater would be 
 the difficulty of putting forth forgeries 'in his name successfully 
 during his lifetime, or at any period while his name would be 
 worth using in a forged production; and hence by so much the 
 greater would be the certainty that written documents purporting 
 to be from him would be genuine. 
 
 2. This book of Daniel, in both its historic and prophetic parts, 
 is closely interwoven with his actual life. It is not easy to con- 
 ceive how any book could be more so. Both the outer and the inner 
 life of the man stand out in his writings with remarkable distinct- 
 ness. There is not a word in the whole book that does not fit nat- 
 urally and closely to the life, to the heart, and to the whole charac- 
 ter of this prominent man — Daniel of the captivity. Hence the 
 assumption that this book is a forgery, gotten up three hundred and 
 seventy years after the latest record of his life, is violently improb- 
 able — not to say, utterly incredible. 
 
 3. The languages iii which the book is written determine its age, 
 proving that it must have been written during, or very near, the 
 captivity, and completely disproving the fiction of Porphyry. The 
 facts are that the portion, chaps. 2 : 4 — 7 : 28, is in Ohaldee ; all 
 the rest in Hebrew. Now the period of the captivity is the only 
 one during the whole range of Jewish history in Avhich one of the 
 Jewish sacred books could have been wi-itten thus, a part in each 
 tongue. For, all scripture was Avi-itten for the common people and 
 primarily for the people then living. This was the only period in 
 the entire national history of the Jews in which they understood 
 
 both these lang-uages. Again, this was the only period in which 
 
 the Chaldee portion could have been reasonably written, for the 
 benefit of the Chaldean people. Let any man intelligent in history, 
 think of the Chaldee portion of Daniel as ^vritten for the Chaldean 
 people in the age of Antiochus Epiphanes ! The idea is simply 
 absurd. Babylon had then almost ceased to be. Its relations to 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar were all forgotten by its population. In the 
 
 book of Ezra, chap. 5 throughout, portions of chaps. 4, 6, and 7, are 
 in Chaldee, and a verse or too in Jeremiah; but these prophets 
 were substantially in the same age with Daniel. 
 
 4. Some of the salient points in the history found in this book are 
 referred to in subsequent Jewish history, prior to the death of Antio- 
 chus Epiphanes, in a way which renders it nearly certain that the 
 book itself was then extant In 1 Mac. 2: 51-60, the venerable Mat- 
 tathias of Moden, himself then near death, exhorts his squs to " call 
 to remembrance what acts their fathers did in their time ; " alludes 
 successively to Abraham, Joseph, Phincas, Joshua, Caleb, David 
 and Elijah; and then adds: "Ananias, Azarias and Misacl, by be- 
 
278 DANIEL.— GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 licving, wcro saved out of the flame. Daniel, for liis innoccncy 
 was saved from the mouth of lions." These words were spoken ]jy 
 ^lattathias before the date fixed by these German critics for the 
 writing of the book of Daniel. I maintain that there is the strong- 
 est presumption for the existence of this book long before the death 
 of Epiphanes, even as there is of the other histories drawn from 
 in this same speech. Furthermore, the second book of Macca- 
 bees (chap. 7 : 9, 14, 36) speaks of the resurrection in a way not 
 easily accounted for otherwise than as an allusion to Dan. 12 : 2, 3. 
 'Jlie presumption is certainly very strong that the dying martyrs 
 Avhose words are there quoted must have had this twelfth chapter 
 in their hands. Compare what Daniel says with what they say. 
 Daniel thus : " Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall 
 awake ; some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting 
 contempt: and they that be wise shall s-hine as the brightness of the 
 firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars 
 forever and ever." The martyrs referred to say; "Thou like a fury 
 takest us out of the present life, but the King of the world shall 
 raise up us who have died for his laws, unto everlasting life." "It 
 is good being put to death by men, to look for the hopes that are 
 of (xod, to be raised up again by him ; but for thee there shall bo 
 no resurrection unto life." "For now our brethren, after enduring 
 brief pain, have fallen under God's covenant of everlasting life; but 
 thou, under God's judgment, shall receive the just punishment for 
 thy pride." And yet further, there can scarcely bo a doubt that 
 these visions of Daniel, especially the last (chaps. 10-12) inspired 
 the faith, zeal, and hope of the li£roic Maccabees through their 
 terrific struggle. Their words and deeds evince the power of such 
 inspirations; the truths taught in Daniel were adapted (must we not 
 say designed) of God for such results. 
 
 5. Josephus is a valuable Jewish witness. A man of eminent 
 learning, in very high repute among his countrymen, the author of 
 a full and very elaljorate history of the Jewish nation fron\ Abra- 
 ham down to the destruction of their city by the Romans (A. D. 70) ; 
 born A. D. 37 and publishing his works in the latter part of the first 
 century; his testimony to the current opinions of his nation can not 
 be impeached, lie speaks (Ant. Xll: 7: 0) of the prophecies of 
 Daniel as being "uttered four hundred and eight years before;" i. e. 
 before the events in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. lie also 
 says (Ant. X: 11: 7), "All these things, he (Daniel) left in writing, 
 God exhibiting them to him, so that those avIio read, observant of 
 the events, must needs look on Daniel with wonder on account of 
 
 the honor done to him by God." The fiction of these modern 
 
 (ierman critics is squarely confronted by this testimony of Josephus. 
 They say Daniel did not write the book which bears his name; 
 Josephus says he did. They deny the fact of any real prophecy in 
 this book; Josephus specially allirms it, and dix-lares it to be of the 
 most extraordinary and unquestionable character. 
 
 0. Yet again, we have the testimony of .losephns that this very 
 book of Daniel was shown by the High l*riest Jaddua to Alexander 
 
DANIEL.— GENERAL INTllODUCTION. 279 
 
 the Great in the jear B. C. 332. The circumstances stronn;ly con- 
 firm this statement, to this extent at least; for Alexander certainly 
 spared the Jews and their city ; took them into fiivor, and exempted 
 them from the tribute which it was his custom to impose on subject 
 nations. This was sixty-six years before the earliest date allowed 
 by these critics for the existence of this book of Daniel. 
 
 7. There can be scarcely a doubt that the book of Daniel was 
 translated into the Septuagint one hundred years before the German 
 skeptics admit it to have existed. Some points in respect to the 
 authors of this celebrated version and to its production remain con- 
 siderably obscure; but there is no ground for doubt that it was 
 made within the reigns of the first two Ptolemies in the Greek 
 Egyptian dynasty, and at the request and with the aid of these two 
 kings. Their reigns fill the period B. C. 323-246. The Pentateuch 
 was brought out first, and about B. C. 285. It might be difficult to 
 show when the whole work was completed, or when the translation 
 of Daniel was made. But the whole was manifestly c«"ried through 
 in the same general movement, for the same common purposes and 
 objects, and hence, in all probability, without unnecessary delay. 
 The book of Daniel was in that version. It must, therefore, with the 
 highest probability, have been translated before A. D. 163. It is 
 not conceivable that one hundred and twenty years could have been 
 occupied in completing this work. 
 
 8. The book of Daniel was brought into the accepted canon of 
 the Old Testament scriptures not later than the close of the reign 
 of Artaxerxes Longimanus (B. C. 474-424); i. e., not far from three 
 hundred years before the death of Epiphanes. Here Josephus is a 
 competent witness. He says: "We have not a countless number 
 01 books, discordant and arrayed against each other, but only twenty- 
 two books; which are justly accredited as divine." Of these, five 
 are the books of Moses : " four contain hymns to God and rules of 
 life for men." [This leaves thirteen which were historical and pro- 
 phetical. In our modern arrangement as compared with that given 
 by Josephus, several are subdivided. The thirteen included all the 
 did Testament, not embraced in the two other portions.] Of this 
 body of thirteen, Josephus says ; " From the death of INloses to the 
 reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia after Xerxes, the prophets who 
 fi^llowed Moses have described the things which were done during 
 the age of each one respectively. From the time of Artaxerxes 
 until our present period, all occurrences have been written down, 
 but they are not regarded as entitled to the like credit icith those which 
 preceded them because there was no certain sticcession of prophets .'' 
 Hence the canon of books accepted as inspired comes down througli 
 the reign of Artaxerxes but no further. The twenty-two books of 
 our accepted Old Testament — Daniel included — were all written, 
 according; to. Josephus, before that reign closed; i. e., say at least 
 before BT C. 400. 
 
 9. It is remarkable that the time assigned by these German critics 
 for the writing of this book of Daniel was one in which the leading 
 Jews knew they had no prophet among them — knew they had not 
 
280 DANIEL.— GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 had one for many years past — and could not expect one for many 
 years to come. That is, the existing state of opinion was thoroughly 
 adverse both to the writing and to the reception of such a forgery 
 as they claim this book to be. IJut it requires a peculiarly facile 
 state of public feeling toward the main purpose and scope of a for- 
 gery to admit of its success. Against strong public convictions, it 
 
 never could succeed. What was the state of the public mind 
 
 here ? The author of the first book of Maccabees (writing about 
 
 B. C. 135), describing the calamities that came upon Judea in con- 
 sequence of the death of Judas Maccabeus {B. C. 161), says, "that 
 there was great affliction in Israel, such as had not been since the 
 last prophet appeared among them." He manifestly implies that 
 this had been a long time. It was then about two hundred and 
 seventy years since the latest reliable date for the prophet Mala- 
 
 chi. Again, according to 1 Mac. 4: 16, the Jews laid away the 
 
 polluted stones of the altar set up by Antiochus Epiphanes in their 
 holy temple, " until the coming of some prophet to decide respecting 
 
 them." And further according to I.Mac. 14: 41, "Simon was 
 
 constituted leader and high priest forever ['eis ton aiona'] until 
 some faithful prophet should arise " — a passage which manifestly 
 looks to the Messiah, and indicates that they expected no prophet 
 till he should come. These indications of current public senti- 
 ment existing among the Jews both at the period shortly after the 
 death of Antiochus (just when these critics would bring out this 
 prophecy of Daniel) and also at the time when the first book of 
 Maccabees was written (full thirty years later), go far to show that 
 their theory paid not the least regard to the existing state of the 
 public mind at the time fixed for its appearance. They did not 
 look to see whether it could have been written then, or whether, 
 if written, it could have been imposed upon and wi'ought into the 
 confidence of the people. Were ever great critics so uncritical ! 
 
 The arguments thus far adduced against the great central position 
 of the critics in question have designedly been of that historical and 
 critical sort which those who impugn Daniel usually delight to 
 honor. It seemed well first of all to meet them on their OAvn 
 
 ground. -It remains to adduce yet one argument which those 
 
 who recognize the divine mission of Jesus Christ as the great 
 Teacher sent from God, will surely honor. Our divine Lord him- 
 self refers (Mat. 24; 15, 16) to Daniel and to this bot>k of his, in 
 these words; " AVhen ye shall see the abomination of desolation, 
 spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso 
 readeth let him understand) ; Then let them which be in Judea 
 
 flee into the mountains." Here note distinctly, — (1.) That our 
 
 Lord recognizes Daniel as "a prophet." (2.) (^)uotes some of his 
 written prophecies; i e., from Dan. 9: 27. (3). Hence he witnesses 
 that Daniel wrote his own pro])hecies — specially this book that 
 bears his name; (4.) And finally that this book of his should be 
 read and accepted as a part of the inspired Jewish sacred scrip- 
 tures. In view of such testimony, those who honor Jesus Christ 
 
 will regard the question of the genuineness and veracity of thia 
 
DANIEL.— GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 281 
 
 book of Daniel as settled. r«ut it will bo asked, AVhat do these 
 
 skeptical critics say in support of their positions? 1. To sup- 
 port their main, central position, they begin with denying the fact 
 of any inspired prophecy either here or elsewhere, and resolving all 
 predictions of future events into human sagacity or unfounded an- 
 ticipations. But inasmuch as this book of Daniel records as proph- 
 ecy a long series of very minute historic events far in the future 
 (e. g., in chaps. 11 and 8), as well as the general succession of great 
 dynasties — too much to be attributed to human sagacity — they in- 
 sist that the book must have been written after these events took 
 place. This they maintain is the common law of historical criticism. 
 If an ancient book of history should come to light, all critics would 
 settle the question of its date on the assumption that it was written 
 later than the events it records. 
 
 I reply, This is very true of what is merely human history ; not 
 at all true of divinely-inspired prophecy. The fact of a really di- 
 vine inspiration constitutes a bold exception. The plausibility 
 of this modern plea against Daniel lies in its tacitly ignoring this 
 distinction. 
 
 (2.) All the other points made in the attack upon Daniel are 
 trivial; e. g., as above stated, that the book contains some Greek 
 words and some Persian ; that part of it is written in Chaldee and 
 part in Hebrew; that the tone (5f the composition is peculiar — un- 
 like that of the other prophets ; that its miracles are grotesque, and 
 its ideas respecting angels, the Messiah, and an ascetic life, indicate 
 unmistakably a late age; and finally that Daniel speaks too well 
 of himself, and was too young to stand so high as he appears in 
 Ezekiel. 
 
 The candid and intelligent reader will readily see that these 
 points are trivial. For there are not more Greek or Persian words 
 here than ought to be expected in an author living and writing in 
 the great commercial and political center of the known world. For 
 this known world at that time practically embraced both Greece 
 
 and Persia. There were the best of reasons for writing some 
 
 portions in Chaldee; viz., the special benefit of the Chaldean peo- 
 ple. If the book had been written wholly in Hebrew, a much 
 stronger objection could be raised against it, as scarcely credible 
 in view of the author's relations to the Chaldean people, govern- 
 ment, and language. On the other hand there were some good 
 
 reasons for writing some of it in Hebrew. Further, the cast of 
 
 the book is unobjectionable. True, it is part history and part 
 prophecy; but it is all the more useful for this; was all needed 
 
 at the time, and needed from this author. True, he uses s^pn- 
 
 hols; but so did Ezekiel and Zechariah — prophets nearest his age 
 and of most similar surroundings : and (what is not less worthy 
 of note) his symbols arc remarkably Chaldean^ as recent discoveries 
 
 most abundantly attest. Yet further, its miracles, so far from 
 
 being "grotesque," arc morally grand and solemnly impressive. 
 Note how the salvation of those three men in the furnace and of 
 Daniel in the den of lions affected in each case the king on his 
 
282 DANIEL.— GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 throne. As to its doctrines respecting angels and the Messiah, 
 
 why should there not be some advance in ideas on these points, as 
 compared ^\ith those of previous prophets ? And who can say that 
 the advance manifest in Daniel is too great for the period of the 
 captivity and for the extraordinary piety and prominence of the 
 
 man? The charge of being prematurely ascetic looks toward 
 
 Daniel's refusing the dainties of the king's table — for which, how- 
 ever, ample reasons may be supposed, entirely apart from ascet- 
 icism. Or, perhaps, toward a special case in which he " ate no 
 pleasant bread, flesh or wine, for three weeks" (chap. 10: 2, 3) — 
 a form and degree of abstinence due to his extraordinary state of 
 mind at a time when God came inefiiibly near to reveal to him 
 "what should befall his people in the latter days." As to Dan- 
 iel's speaking of his own wisdom and being too young to have 
 attained such a reputation as Ezekiel's references to him imply, 
 let it be noted that in the main passage in question (chap. 1:17, 
 19, 20) Daniel speaks not of himself alone but of all the four Jew- 
 ish youth, saying only what was doubtless true ; and that he speci- 
 fies of himself in particular only that he had " understanding in all 
 visions and dreams." This is one of the most prominent facts of 
 the history, and for this reason deserved mention. In the detailed 
 record, Daniel bears himself Avith extraordinary modesty and Chris- 
 tian humility. Daniel may have been young when Uod by Eze- 
 
 kiel spake in high terms of his wisdom. If the history in the book 
 is true, Daniel rose to distinction, not slowly, but by one bound, in 
 the second year of the king and of his own captivity. He was 
 therefore very great while very young. Why should not God speak 
 of men according to truth? Such great capacity so early in life 
 is not altogether without precedent. Though rare, it is possible, 
 and therefore not incredible. William Pitt became prime minister 
 of England at the age of twenty-four. Charles XII and Napoleon 
 evinced their transcendent military genius at a yet earlier age. 
 
 That Daniel was so young yet so exalted in position and in rep- 
 utation at the court, served to make his name the more notable 
 
 among both Jews and Chaldeans. It will be found that the 
 
 more thoroughly all these critical o])jcctions against the book of 
 Daniel are examined, the more they serve to bring out and brighten 
 the evidence of its being written at the time, and by the veritable 
 Daniel of that age. 
 
 Having indicated thus very briefly the special points of these 
 critical objections, and alluded in few words to their uncritical na- 
 ture and to their entire lack of force, I proceed to strengthen the 
 whole argument for the genuineness of this book and for its historic 
 credibility by adducing collateral evidence that the historical no- 
 tices found here are strictly correct; that they evince a most ac- 
 curate acquaintance with Chaldean life, and are verified most 
 abundantly by all that is known of those times through profane 
 sources ancient or recent; and therefore can not have been loritten 
 
 (as is claimed) /ok?- hundred years after the ago of the cajytivity. 
 
 This argument from collateral history, coming up from entirely in- 
 
DANIEL.— GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 283 
 
 dependent sources, embraces a considerable number of distinct 
 points. 
 
 (a.) The captivity and deportation of tlie Jews to Babylon under- 
 lies the entire history of this book. Now, this great fact in the 
 history of that people is not only confirmed by the prophecies of 
 Isaiah, Jeremiah, and many of the minor prophets ; by the his- 
 tories of the books of Kings and Chronicles ; of Ezra and of Xehe- 
 miah; but also by ample heathen testimonies. Indeed it was a 
 permanent feature in the policy of the Assyrian, Chaldean, and 
 rersian governments for the subjugation of conquered countries, 
 especially the restive and refractory, to remove them from their 
 own to other and remote lands, and thus uproot the love of home 
 and country, and sever the social bonds that might else make them 
 dangerous to the great central power. In addition to the ample 
 evidence to this general feature of their policy, there is the special 
 testimony of Berosus, the great Chaldean historian, who wrote in 
 the age of Alexander the Great. In a passage which describes the 
 expedition of Nebuchadnezzar, then crown prince and general of 
 the army, against the Egyptians, Syrians and Phenicians in revolt, 
 in which he fought and won the great battle of Carchemish, he 
 says; "Not long after, Nebuchadnezzar, having heard of the death 
 of his father (the king) when he had settled the affairs of Egypt and 
 the adjacent regions, and had arranged with certain of his friends 
 to bring to Babylon the captives of the Jews . . . came himself with 
 great haste and v/ith a small company through the wilderness to 
 Babylon. There, assuming the administration of affairs ... he suc- 
 ceeded to all his father's dominions; and when the captives arrived, 
 he appointed colonies for them in the most suitable parts of Baby- 
 lonia.' 
 
 (6.) The personal history, character and achievements of Nebu- 
 chadnezzar stand out prominently in this book of Daniel. He is 
 here a monarch of great energy, of indomitable will, ruling a vast 
 empire, and especially building, or more strictly, ?-c-building and 
 greatly enlarging, Babylon. His insanity for seven years ; his re- 
 moval from the management of public affairs during this period, 
 and his restoration again first to reason and then to power, consti- 
 tute very peculiar features of his history as it appears in this book. 
 That he was an idolater and that he worshiped some one god in 
 particular is also manifest. See for the latter point chap.l : 2; "to 
 the house of his god;" "into the treasure-house of his god;" and 
 chap. 4: 8, "according to the name of my god." Moreover, we 
 
 read much of images of gold. ^The length of his 1re?»ien is not 
 
 definitely given in Daniel, but the general cast of the history im- 
 plies that it was long. The books of Kings, Chronicles, and Jere- 
 miah give the desired data. Jehoiakim reigned about eleven years ; 
 in his fourth year, the first large deportation of captives took place. 
 Daniel was among them. Nebuchadnezzar was then just ascend- 
 ing his throne. Johoiachin, the son, succeeded; reigned three 
 months, was then carried captive to Babylon, kept there in prison 
 at least thirty-six full years, and in his thirty-seventh was taken 
 
284 DANIEL.— GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 out of prison by Evil-Merodach, the immediate successor of Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, and in the first year of his reign. Hence, Nebuchad- 
 nezzar's reign is measured thus; about seven years contemporary 
 Avith Jchoiakim, one-fourth of a year with Jehoiachin reigning; 
 thirty-six with Jehoiachin a prisoner, equal to forty-three. 
 
 Let us now turn to confirmations from profane history. And 
 first on this last mentioned point ; profane history makes his reign 
 precisely forty three years. This is the language of Berosus : " Now 
 Nebuchadnezzar, just as he began to build the aforesaid wall, fell 
 sick and died, after having reigned forty-three years." The cele- 
 brated canon of Ptolemy (an ofiicial register of the kings of Assyria 
 and Babylon) assigns him forty-three years; viz., from B. C. G04: to 
 B. C. 561. A clay tablet, discovered recently, almost proves the same 
 thing. These tablets are mostly orders on the imperial treasury, 
 dated in the current year of the reigning monarch. The one referred 
 to dates in his forty-second year. Of course his reign can not have 
 
 been less than this; may have been more. That all profane 
 
 history makes him a great king, great in war, but greater in peace, 
 is well known. That he was the great rebuilder of Babylon is 
 affirmed by Berosus thus; "Nebuchadnezzar repaired the city 
 which had existed from the first, and added another to it; and in 
 order that besiegers might not again be able, by turning aside the 
 course of the river, to get possession of the city, he built three 
 courses of walls around the inner city and as many around the 
 outer. ' But the most remarkably confirming fact is of recent de- 
 velopment, viz., that nine-tenths of the inscribed bricks from the site 
 of ancient Babylon are stamped with the name of Nebuchadnez- 
 zar ! Concerning the extraordinary fact of his temporary insanity 
 
 and removal from his throne, we might naturally be inquisitive to 
 see what the public records of the realm would say and what ver- 
 sion of it would pass into current and future history. Bearing in 
 mind that the strong moral impression which extorted such an ac- 
 knowledgment of the one true God as we find in chap. 4 : 34-o7, 
 was obviously not abiding; at least was not, in the Christian sense, 
 converting ; and considering also that he lived to modify the public 
 records at his own pleasure, we can not expect a very frank con- 
 fession of the whole case. Now as to the facts : Berosus makes 
 
 no decisive allusion to this event. But on what is known as "the 
 Standard Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar," the following passage 
 occurs. The first clause is defective, some words being illegible; 
 but the statements as a whole are remarkably negative^ and silent 
 
 as to the causes. "Four years . . . the seat of my kingdom in the 
 
 city . . . which . . . did not rejoice my heart. In all my dominions, 
 1 did not build a high place of power; the precious treasures of 
 my kingdom I did not lay up. In Babylon, buildings for myself 
 and for the honor of my kingdom, I did not lay out. In the wor- 
 ship of Merodach, my lord, the joy of my heart, in Babylon, the 
 city of his sovereignty and the seat of my empire, I did not sing 
 his praises and I did not furnish his altars [with victims], nor did 1 
 clear out the canals." iSo much could not well be ignored on the 
 
DANIEL.— GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 285 
 
 public records. What was more than this, human pride prevailed 
 
 against unwelcome truth to suppress. Mr. Kawlinson remarks 
 
 that " the whole range of cuneiform literature presents no similar 
 instance of a king putting on record his own inaction." It is in 
 human nature that kings should chronicle and send down to future 
 ages what they have done^ not what they have left undone. 
 
 Yet further; according to the Scriptures Nebuchadnezzar only 
 of all the heathen monarchs there referred to, had revelations of 
 the future in visions. Correspondingly, this remarkable record 
 comes do^sTi to us from the ancient historian Abydenus, as quoted 
 by Eusebius; somewhat inaccurate as to the facts and apparently 
 ascribing to Nebuchadnezzar in part what pertains to Belshazzar. 
 
 "Afterward, as is said by the Chaldeans, he went up into his 
 
 palace, when he was seized by some divine influence, and uttered 
 these words; — 'O Babylonians, I, Nebuchadnezzar, announce to you 
 this future calamity. There shall come a Persian mule, using our 
 divinities as allies : he shall bring us into bondage : leagued with 
 him shall be the Mede, the boast of Assyria.' Having uttered these 
 
 predictions, he immediately disappeared." His devotion to his 
 
 own god Merodach, (akin to the planet Jupiter) may be noticed in 
 the extract above given from his standard inscription. It appears 
 every-where in the monumental records of Nebuchadnezzar. Kaw- 
 linson states that " the inscriptions (of this king) always terminate 
 with a prayer to Merodach, invoking the favor of the god for the 
 protection of the king's throne and empire, and for its continuance 
 through all ages to the end of time." Remarkably, Nebuchadnez- 
 zar, though living in an age of polytheism, seems to have concen- 
 trated his reverence, worship, and trust, mainly upon this one god.- 
 His language on his inscriptions runs thus; "Merodach, the great 
 lord, has appointed me to the empire of the world, and has confided 
 to my care the far-spread people of the earth;" "Merodach, the 
 gi-eat lord, the senior of the gods, the most ancient, has given all 
 nations and people to my care:" "Merodach, the great lord, has 
 
 established me in strength." This, it will be seen harmonizes 
 
 with the repeated references in Daniel, to "his own god." It 
 
 should be noted that the full name of this god is Bel-Merodach; 
 that it was originally Bel; and hence probably Merodach was first 
 appended, and then came to be used often alone.- Of Daniel, Neb- 
 uchadnezzar remarks (chap. 4: 18), "whose name was Belteshaz- 
 zar, according to the name of my god" — said with reference to the 
 
 leading syllable, " BeV Again, Daniel represents " gods of gold " 
 
 as common in Babylon. See chap. 3 : I, and 5 : 4. The historic 
 facts are that Nebuchadnezzar made some extensive conquests im- 
 mediately before he ascended the throne and others shortly after- 
 ward ; that plunder of all most valuable things, or enormous tribute, 
 was the law of conquest in that age ; and that gold was especially 
 devoted to the service of the gods and wrought into their images. 
 Kawlinson considers it proven that " the statue of Jupiter Belus, 
 described by Herodotus, is the same as the great idol of Merodach, 
 which was made of silver by an earlier king, but was overlaid with 
 
28G DANIEL.— GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 plates of gold by Nebuchadnezzar." These points of corre- 
 spondence between sacred history and profane, out of the life of 
 Nebuchadnezzar, must suffice. 
 
 (c.) The history of IJelshazzar affords another point of striking 
 
 confirmation. Until recently, critics have been greatly perplexed 
 
 with the question — Who was the Belshazzar of Daniel ? The canon 
 of Ptolemy fails to give his name among the kings in the line be- 
 tween Nebuchadnezzar' and the subversion of the empire by Cyrus. 
 Of the three who fill this chasm in the canon of Ptolemy — usually 
 known by the names of Evil-Merodach, Nergal-sharezer, and Na- 
 bonned, alias Labynetus, each one in his turn has been supposed 
 to be the Belshazzar of Daniel. But no satisfactory explanation- 
 could be given of the diversity in name. Besides, Berosus had said 
 that the last king of Babylon, instead of being slain in the capture 
 of the city, had previously retired to Borsippa, was besieged there, 
 surrendered, was treated with clemency, and had estates assigned 
 him by Cyrus in Carmania, where he lived till his natural death. 
 
 These apparent discrepancies between the sacred records and 
 
 the profane were (as usual) put to their utmost account by skepti- 
 cal critics. A slight circumstance has relieved all these difficulties. 
 In the year 1854, Sir Henry Rawlinson deciphered the inscriptions 
 found on some ancient cylinders among the ruins of Um Queer, 
 (the ancient "Ur of the Chaldees") wdiere he found it stated that 
 Nabonned admitted his son Belsharezcr (Belshazzar) to share the 
 government with him, with the title of king. This son, the prince 
 royal, was obviously left in charge of the city while his father took 
 the field. The son was slain. 
 
 {d. ) The subversion of the dynasty and kingdom by a Medo-Per- 
 sian army is another boldly outstanding point in the history of this 
 book. It is not less prominent in proflme history. Greek historians 
 have long since wrought the leading facts of this subversion into the 
 warp of universal history. 
 
 (e.) I close this series of coincidences with the duration of the 
 
 captivity and the date of the restoration. Daniel 9: 1, 2, shows 
 
 that he. estimated the seventy j'^ears of Jeremiah's prophecy (chap. 
 25: 11, 12) to be near their close in the first year of Darius the 
 Mede. Of course he would count from the first great deportation 
 of captives among whom he himself came, which mostly fell within 
 the year before Nebuchadnezzar ascended the throne. Then at 
 least three ancient historians (Berosus, Polyhistor and Ptolemy) 
 make the reign of Nebuchadnezzar forty-three years. His four 
 Chaldean successors reigned respectively 2; 3]; f; and 17 years. 
 Then counting one for Darius, we have about sixty-eight — which 
 brings us near to the determined number in Jeremiah's prophecy.'^ 
 
 The thoughtful reader will appreciate the importance of these 
 
 points of historic criticism, and hence will not account this invcs- 
 
 * For inost of these points of more recent investigation, I am indebted 
 to tlio " 3rJ istorical Evidences " of Geori^e llawlinson ; to liis Herodotus ; 
 and to various articies in Smitli's Bible Dictionary, all which evince 
 learning, research and sound judgment on the arclieology of Assyria 
 and Cbaldea. 
 
DANIEL.— GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 287 
 
 tigation excessively minute or protracted. For, evidently, if this 
 book is not reliably accurate as history, there is a somewhat strong 
 presumption in favor of its being written at a later date. If it be 
 a forgery of later date, written by some unknown hand and after 
 the fulfillment of its apparent prophecies, its religious value to us 
 becomes nothing, and painful doubts are thrown upon the reliabil- 
 ity of other canonical scriptures. But if this book is historically 
 
 true, then it was no doubt written by the Daniel of the captivity. 
 If written by him, it contains most wonderful prophecy and becomes 
 its own witness to its divine inspiration. Thus the general truth 
 of its history confirms its genuineness and authenticity, rescues it 
 from the ruthless hands of mistaken critics, and gives it jjack to the 
 church and to mankind, its proofs brightened and its reliability 
 
 confirmed by the ordeal of this fiery furnace of hypercriticism. 
 
 When this book of Daniel becomes fully and justly known, it will 
 appear that in respect to both its history and its prophecy it intei*- 
 lac^es itself so perfectly, not only with the scriptures of the Old 
 Testament and the New, but with all contemporary and subsequent 
 history at least down to the Christian era, that no violence can 
 wrench it away. Its position is such among the pillars of the great 
 temple of truth that none* can pluck it down without laying the 
 temple itself in ruins. If there be any reliable history of the ages, 
 then is this book reliable. Its prophecies have mostly become his- 
 tory : itself came forth from the Spirit of God. 1 must advance 
 
 now to other points appropriate to an introduction. 
 
 IV. Let us note with care the peculiar position of Daniel as a 
 prophet of the Lord with reference both to the covenant people and 
 to the heathen kings and courts with whom he lived. 
 
 (1.) The providence of God raised him to a station of great re- 
 sponsibility and influence. The jealousy manifested toward him in 
 the Medo-Persian court testifies to his high standing and influence. 
 — — (2.) He used his influence most wisely and devotedly for God 
 and righteousness. Of this the record gives us several noble ex- 
 amples. (3.) As he testified for God fearlessly, even at the risk 
 
 of the greatest personal peril, so God testified for him in forms of 
 surpassing grandeur and in a way that illustrates God's loving care 
 of his people, and that must have made strong impressions upon the 
 
 heathen minds about him. (4.) He was therefore in a situation 
 
 to act as the Patron and Guardian of his people". A measure of 
 the esteem accorded to him would naturally pass over to his coun- 
 trymen, arid serve to ameliorate their condition as captives. It can 
 scarcely be questioned that he obtained for them some favors from 
 Nebuchadnezzar. Tradition affirms that shortly after the accession 
 of Cyrus to the throne, Daniel obtained from him the decree for the 
 restoration of his people, and that for this purpose he brought to 
 his notice the prophecies of Isaiah (chap. 44 : 23-28, and 45 : 1-4) 
 in which Cyrus is mentioned by name. The decree itself which 
 comes down to us in Ezra 1 : 1-4, and 2 Chron. 36 : 22, 23, is such 
 as at least to favor the credibility of this tradition.— — (5.) It is 
 pleasant to note that his influence was great, not only in the courts 
 
288 DANIEL.— GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus, but in the court of Heaven. His 
 prayers to God for mercy to his people and for their restoration to 
 their own land, as they stand recorded in chap. 9, are among the 
 
 most signal examples on record of prevailing intercession. 
 
 (6.) His religious influence with his people, the Jews, must have 
 been very great, especially in the line of withstanding firmly all 
 temptations to idolatry and heathen supei-stitions, and also of wait- 
 ing on God in assured hope for the day of national deliverance. 
 Nor was his influence small toward the requisite antecedent repent- 
 ance, confession, humiliation and prayer. (7.) These points 
 
 bring us to one conclusion of prime importance in the interpreta- 
 tion of Daniel's prophecies, viz., that they may safely he presumed to 
 bear very directly upon the religious coyidiiion of his coimtryyjicn in the 
 age then present and in the nearer future. In behalf of these genera- 
 tions Daniel felt most intensely ; for these he lived, prayed, planned 
 and labored ; upon these generations therefore his prophecies must 
 be presumed especially to bear. This is the common law of pro- 
 phetic life and labor. The prophets devoted their lives, delivering 
 their messages orally, or in writing as the Lord might lead them, but 
 always with reference more or less to the moral and religious wel- 
 fare of the generation then living. Theliigher their responsibilities 
 for their own people, the more direct and exclusive, other things 
 being equal, would be the reference of their messages io the case 
 of those people. Daniel bore preeminent responsibilities for the 
 Jewish nation : they lay heavily both on his hands and on his heart ; 
 and hence with the greater force is it inferred that his prophecies 
 
 will respect the present and the nearer future of the Jews. And 
 
 here it should be distinctly noted as greatly confirming this opinion, 
 that Daniel accounts the Jews to be his oion people; that God re- 
 peatedly recognizes them as such; and in the last prophecy (chap- 
 ters 10-12) he explicitly declares, "I am come to make thee 
 understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days" (chap. 
 10: 14). That they are Daniel's own people, may be seen also in 
 his prayer for them (chap. 9: 20): "I was confessing the sin of 
 •my people Israel;" and in the answer of the Lord; "Seventy weeks 
 are determined upon thy people :" and in chap. 12: 1; "for the 
 children of thy people ;'' "at that time thy people shall be delivered," 
 
 etc. Thus manifest is it, both from the tenor of the book and 
 
 from the known position of Daniel, that he was the father and 
 patron of the captive Jews during their captivity, ministering to 
 their f\iith in God, and sustaining their hope and spirit, despite of 
 tlieir subjection to a foreign yoke. It was no small part of his 
 mission to assure them that the Lord could easily break this yoke; 
 that the scepters and thrones of all earthly kings were in his hand ; 
 and that he had f idly purposed to control the course of empire^ casting 
 down one, and setting up another in its stead, and making all these 
 revolutions subserve the present good of his people, and hasten the 
 coming reign of their own Messiah. This great idea is central in 
 the prophecies of Daniel and gives the clew to their interpretation. 
 No greater violence was ever done to the genius of prophecy than 
 
DANIEL.— GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 289 
 
 has been inflicted upon Daniel by the assumption that he occupied 
 himself with the minute details of European or Asiatic history dur- 
 ing; the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries of the Christian era ! 
 
 V . It is well here to note the points of difference between Daniel 
 and other Jewish prophets in regard to his general course of thought 
 
 and manner of presenting it. (1.) In his prophetic portionshe 
 
 makes but few allusions to Jerusalem ; none to the great national 
 sin of the Jews, idolatry. He never employs that peculiar Jewish 
 costume under which Isaiah, Zechariah, and others represent all 
 the Gentile nations as coming up to Jerusalem to build in her tem- 
 ple, etc. This is as we should naturally expect in one who flour- 
 ished during the captivity, who lived remote from Judea, and came 
 but very little in contact with the elements out of which those Jew- 
 ish conceptions were formed. His education and training were 
 never thoroughly Jewish. (2.) On the other hand, he deals al- 
 most exclusively with the rise and fixll of the great kingdoms of the 
 earth within a given period. The grand succession of supreme 
 dominion from hand to hand, and the bearing of these changes 
 upon the planting, growth, and triumph of Messiah's kingdom, are 
 
 his great themes. It is easy to see that this grows out of his 
 
 surroundin;gs. These were precisely the things with which his 
 whole public life was most familiar. No other Jewish prophet is 
 like him in this respect. The course of divine providence schooled 
 him in courts and cabinets, and kept before his mind the rise and 
 fall of dynasties. Both his education and his long and active life 
 
 were full of this theme. This correspondence between the cast 
 
 of his life and the cast of his prophetic themes, symbols, and phrase- 
 ology, constitutes a strong point of internal evidence of genuineness. 
 The man who should do what modern German skeptics claim for 
 the pseudo-Daniel in the Maccabean age must have been specially 
 inspired, to have thought of this and then to have carried it out so 
 
 perfectly! (3.) In this line of thought, let it be noted that the 
 
 New Testament phrases, "kingdom of God," and "kingdom of 
 heaven," are specially taken from Daniel. In his first prophetic 
 vision, the series of world-wide kingdoms closes thus: "In the days 
 of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which 
 shall never be destroyed" (chap. 2: 44). Being set up by the God 
 of heaven, it is called interchangeably, "The kingdom of God," and 
 " The kingdom of heaven." The second vision (chap. 7: 13, 14, 
 27) gives the inauguration of its king, and also the extent and du- 
 ration of his reign. This, for Daniel, is a perfectly natural con- 
 ception of the cause and interest, of the work and sway of the j\Ies- 
 siah upon this earth. He, more exclusively than any other Jewish 
 prophet, would think of the Messiah as a king, and more still, as 
 supplanting and succeeding those universal world-monarchs with 
 
 whom he was so intimately conversant. David, being himself a 
 
 king, sees in the Messiah his successor in royalty and dominion, 
 and even grasps the idea of his supreme dominion : " I have set my 
 king upon my holy hill of Zion." " I will give thee the heathen for 
 thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of tlie earth for thy pos- 
 
 13 
 
290 DANIEL.— GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 session." Ps. 2 : 6, 8. But the Messiah's succession in the series 
 
 of universal empires stands out much more distinctly in Daniel than 
 
 in David. The same idea of Christ as king may be found in yet 
 
 other prophets, but less prominently and by no means so exclu- 
 sively. Ilemarkably the prophetic spirit foils in with the cast of 
 each prophet's mind, and uses those illustrations Avith which each 
 was most familiar. To Ezekicl, a priest, though like Daniel a cap- 
 tive in Chaldea, the future of the Messiah's work on earth is pre- 
 sented in a costume that is intensely Mosaic and Levitical. The 
 land of Judea is repeopled ; the temple rebuilt and refurnished ; all 
 and more than all its old rituals are reestablished. The whole pre- 
 sentation is -^vondcrfuUy full, minute, and graphic, culminating in 
 this one thought; "The name of the city from that day shall be, 
 " The Lord is there ! " We should look in vain to find such a pas- 
 sage as Ezek. (chaps. 40-48) in any prophet not himself a priest. 
 So, to the mind of Amos, called out from the herdmen of Tekoa 
 and at home among plowmen, reapers, and vineyards, the glories 
 of the Messianic age stand out in yet other symbols. " The plow- 
 man shall overtake the reaper, and the trij^der of grapes him that 
 soweth seed; the mountains shall drop new wine," etc. (chap. 9: 
 13). But Daniel sees the Messiah succeeding and gloriously eclips- 
 ing those great, overshadowing monarchies in the midst of which 
 his life-experiences were cast. This fact is one of no trivial im- 
 portance in the interpretation of his prophecies. (4.) In the 
 
 point of symbolic vision, Daniel resembles the other prophets of his 
 age — i. e., during and after the captivity, especially Ezekiel and 
 Zechariah ; but he is very unlike all the rest. This is traceable to 
 his Chaldean education. During the last half century, the ruins of 
 Nineveh have disclosed the same general modes of thought and 
 forms of imaginative pictorial representation. Indeed they are 
 shown to belong specially to that age and people. It is safe to 
 assume that in points of this sort Nineveh well represents the 
 Babylon of Daniel's time. Indeed, Babylon was only a new edi- 
 tion of Nineveh. (5.) Daniel is remarkable for the repetition of 
 
 his leading themes — his four great prophecies being manifestly, 
 in the main, parallel in their general scope and purpose. This 
 point will be examined more fully in its proper place. 
 
 VI. The deep interest that has been felt in Daniel's prophecies, 
 especially at particular periods ; the great abuse to which they have 
 been subjected; the strange, wild, visionary interpretations often 
 put upon them — render it proper for me here to state briefly the 
 principles of interpretation that will guide me in my exposition of 
 his prophecies, and especially of his four great parallel visions, viz., 
 chap. 2: 31-45; chap. 7; chap. 8, and chapters 10-12. 
 
 (1.) God's own interpretation of the symbols must be accepted 
 as of supreme authority. So far as it applies directly, every candid 
 mind must and will admit this principle. Its indirect application 
 has also important uses. 
 
 (2.) The fact of parallelism in these four visions above named 
 having been substantiated, an interpretation given on divine author- 
 
DANIEL.— GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 291 
 
 ity in any one of them must be admitted to have great influence 
 over the interpretation of analogous points in either of the others. 
 
 (3.) The same general principles and methods of interpretation 
 should be carried through the same vision. There should be a 
 close analogy betAveen the portions that are explained by the Lord 
 himself, and other portions not so explained. It may be safely as- 
 sumed that the same general cast of thought and representation will 
 obtain through the latter as through the former portions of the same 
 vision. If the former part be explained and not the latter, the Lord 
 would certainly expect us to learn from the part explained how to 
 explain the rest. 
 
 (4.) Important use may be made of the liynits — the termini — 
 within which the events predicted must fall; — i. e., the point of 
 time where they begin and the point where they must close. 
 Wherever these points can be ascertained on substantial author- 
 ity, they must have an influence upon the interpretation, always 
 great and indeed decisive. 
 
 (5.) Regard should be had to Daniel's known circumstances and 
 relations to his people. From these relations it may safely be in- 
 ferred that his prophecies had at the time, a present moral bearing 
 upon their religious life ; their hopes and fears, their faith and 
 piety. Apart from any direct statement to this effect, it should be 
 presumed that his prophecies would have special relation to the 
 future history of that people. How much more must this be as- 
 sumed now, since we have this explicit afiirmation in respect to 
 the last of the four great parallel visions — one which certainly 
 comes down as far into the period then future as any one of the 
 four; — "I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy 
 people in the latter days" (chap. 10: 14). Moreover, Daniel's 
 personal relations to the great monarchies of Chaldea and Medo- 
 Persia would naturally insure some predictions of the rise and 
 growth of Messiah's kingdom as the only real world-monarchy. 
 We might expect him to show his people that their own king 
 Messiah would surely supplant and then immeasurably surpass 
 in glory all human kingdoms. What could minister more effect- 
 ively than this to their faith and courage ? On the other hand, 
 
 it must be very unreasonable to look here for minute prophecies 
 respecting the political events of our own times which it could 
 scarcely be of the least imaginable consequence for the Jews of 
 that age to understand. Is it probable that the Lord would press 
 on Daniel's attention the history of the Papal power in the nine- 
 teenth century of the Christian era when Daniel might so perti- 
 nently reply : " Lord, I have a whole nation on my heart already. 
 My soul is burdened with their case and with their destinies. 
 Why should I turn my mind from these things and try to under- 
 stand those remote events which are so foreign from my responsi- 
 bilities, from my heart, and from the case of my people?" 
 
 (6.) Fulfillment, after it has taken place, may be legitimately 
 used to verify the interpretation given, provided always that it be 
 done judiciously, with good common sense. But it has been tho 
 
292 DANIEL.— GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 besetting sin of interpreters of Daniel to make this the chief and 
 almost the only criterion for determining his meaning. Conse- 
 quently, there has been no limit to the fancies and vagaries that 
 have been put forth as commentary and interpretation of this book. 
 Disregarding the great principles of interpretation above suggested, 
 and throwing a loose rein upon their imagination, and moreover 
 straining the facts of history often rudely, commentators would 
 seem to have exhausted the possibilities of human fancy, not to 
 say of absurdity, in their speculations upon the prophecies of 
 Daniel. 
 
 (7.) It is of the utmost consequence that interpreters of this 
 book should relieve their minds of all prejudice, in the sense of 
 preconceived opinions, and especially of that most fruitful source 
 of mischief — the passion for finding here the great events of ones 
 own time. During the last hundred years there have been numer- 
 ous efforts to find European history anticipated in Daniel — to trace 
 out in his prophecies the latest moves on the chess-board of Euro- 
 pean politics — the career of Napoleon the Great, or of Napoleon 
 the less; of the Turk or Pasha; or of the Emperor of all the Kussias. 
 No author was ever stretched or cut to a Procrustean bed with 
 more recklessness than this same sensible and excellent DanieL 
 The sad record of his experiences at the hands of expositors of 
 prophecy should admonish us to approach his writings with a docile 
 spirit, to ask him what he meant to say, and not to bring to him a 
 set of ideas, and then torture him and his words till they can be 
 made to indorse them. And finally, in view of the solemn respon- 
 sibility of interpreting these immortal words of Daniel in harmony 
 wuth the mind of the inditing Spirit, let us reverently bow at his 
 feet, and implore his, guiding hand to lead our thought and to 
 shape our judgment evermore in all our inquiries after the great 
 and blessed truths borne to us in this book of Daniel the prophet. 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. I. 293 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 This chapter introduces Daniel ; gives his early personal history 
 and that of his three youn"; friends. They refuse the delicacies 
 of the king's table, and at their own request are proved on purely 
 vegetable food — successfully (vs. 8-16). They appear before the 
 Chaldean king and are approved (vs. 17-21). 
 
 1. In the third year of the reis^n of Jehoiakim king of 
 Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusa- 
 lem, and besieged it. 
 
 This first attack upon Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, said here 
 to have been in the third year of Jehoiakim, appears to be as- 
 signed by Jeremiah (chap. 25: 1, and 46: 2) to his fourth year. 
 For he makes the fourth year of Jehoiakim coincide (at least in 
 
 part) Avith the first year of Nebuchadnezzar. In the introduction 
 
 (p. 283) it vp^as shown on the authority of Berosus that Nebuchad- 
 nezzar smote Pharaoh Necho and his army of Egyptians and allies 
 at Carchemish, and wrested from their hand Jerusalem and the 
 sovereignty of Judah immediately before he ascended the throne. 
 Probably the latter part of this series of events occurred in the 
 fourth year of Jehoiakim and the former part in his third. The 
 Jewish captives might have left Jerusalem before the close of Je- 
 hoiakim' s third year, and have arrived in Babylon in the early part 
 of his fourth. Often such small discrepancies may be explained by 
 reference to the Jewish usage of counting a fraction of a year in 
 the number of years. Moreover Daniel may have followed Chal- 
 dean usage as to the time of beginning his year, while Jeremiah 
 
 followed the Jewish. ^A discrepancy of this sort would scarcely 
 
 call for explanation were it not that captious critics have sought 
 by means of it to impeach the historical accuracy of Daniel. 
 
 2. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into 
 his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God, 
 which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of 
 his god ; and he brought the vessels into the treasure-house 
 of his god. 
 
 Daniel is careful to say (with historical accuracy) that at this 
 time the king of Babylon took away only a part of the vessels of 
 the temple. Many more were taken during the short reign of 
 Jeconiah (see 2 Kings 24: 13) and yet some were left behind then, 
 to be taken at the final destruction of the city in the reign of Zed- 
 ekiah. Of the latter, special mention is made by Jeremiah (chap. 
 
 27 : 19-22). This matter of the sacred vessels of the temple was 
 
 to the Jews of the utmost moment. This heathen king carried 
 
 these sacred vessels into the house of his god as trophies of victory 
 gained by the favor of his idol over the Cod of Israel. It was 
 common for heathen kings to honor their own gods in this way. 
 
291 DANIEL.— CHAP. 1. 
 
 3. And tlic king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his 
 cunuclis, that he should bring certain of the children of Is- 
 rael, and of the king's seed, and of the princes ; 
 
 4. Children in ^vhom ^uas no blemish, but well favored, 
 and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and 
 understanding science, and such as had ability in them to 
 stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the 
 learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. 
 
 In respect to this custom of training executive officers for the 
 king's service, see the Introduction to Daniel. They were taught 
 the literature as well as the language of the Chaldeans. The origi- 
 nal word rendered "learning" means "book." 
 
 5. And the king appointed them a daily provision of the 
 king's meat, and of the wine which he drank: so nourish- 
 ing them three years, that at the end thereof they might 
 stand before the king. 
 
 The king assigned them a daily allowance from his own table. 
 The word rendered " king's-meat," implies, his delicacies, his choice 
 and rich diet. 
 
 6. Now, among these were of the children of Judah, Dan- 
 iel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; 
 
 7. Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: 
 for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar ; and to 
 Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and 
 to Azariah, of Abed-nego. 
 
 Of these four Jewish names it may be noted that they are all 
 compounded with the names of the true God; El being wrought 
 into Daniel, (meaning judge for God) and into INIishael (who is what 
 (Jod is?), while the last syllable of Jehovah appears in Ilananiah 
 (whom Jehovah has graciously given) and Azariah (one helped of 
 God). The new names expunge all recognition of the true God, 
 and honor the Chaldean gods instead; Daniel having Bel wi'ought 
 into his, Belteshazzar, which means a j^rince of Bel. This change 
 of name must have been to them a sore trial. 
 
 8. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not 
 defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with 
 the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the 
 prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. 
 
 Plainly one of Daniel's objects was to avoid ceremonial defile- 
 ment, as determined by the Mosaic law. At the same time it ap- 
 pears from what follows that on physiological grounds he was sure 
 of better health on a simple, plain diet. The case evinces both bis 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. I. 295 
 
 conscientiousness in reference to the law of his God, and his noble 
 self-control in the matter of appetite. He held his appetite in lirm 
 subjection to the dictates of enlightened judgment and experience 
 as to what was best for his health and physical vigor. These are 
 among the first and most vital elements in the formation of a char- 
 acter of the highest promise for efficiency and usefulness. 
 
 9. Now God had brought Daniel into favor and tender 
 love with the prince of the eunuchs. 
 
 10. And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I 
 fear my lord the king, w^ho hath appointed your meat and 
 your drink: for why should he see your faces worse liking 
 than the children which are of your sort? then shall ye 
 make 7ne endanger my head to the king. 
 
 "Why should he see your faces worse liking?" etc., means prac- 
 tically, ^^ wo7-se looking." The original means "more depressed," as 
 by sadness or low spirits. "Than the children of your sort" means, 
 those of your circle; of your age and circumstances. This prince 
 assumed that high living is quite essential to fair flesh and fine 
 health — a capital though not uncommon mistake. 
 
 11. Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the 
 eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and 
 Azariah, 
 
 12. Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days ; and 
 let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. 
 
 13. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, 
 and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion 
 of the king's meat : and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. 
 
 Melzar, having the article in the original (the Melzar) is not a 
 
 proper name, but means " the chief butler." Daniel had a safe 
 
 proposal ready. Let them try us on our vegetable diet and pure 
 
 water, ten days. "Pulse" means vegetables in general, plants 
 
 grown Trom seed-sowing. 
 
 14. So he consented to them in this matter, and proved 
 them ten days. 
 
 15. And at the end of ten days their countenances ap- 
 peared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which 
 did eat the portion of the king's meat. 
 
 16. Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and 
 the wine that they should drink ; and gave them pulse. 
 
 The experiment being triumphantly successful, Daniel and his 
 friends are relieved of both the ceremonial defilement and the 
 physical mischiefs incidental to the king's diet. 
 
 17. As for these four children, God gave them knowdedge 
 
296 DANIEL.— CHAP. II. 
 
 and skill in all learning and wisdom : and Daniel had un- 
 derstanding in all visions and dreams. 
 
 While wisdom and learning were common to all the four, Daniel 
 had special "understanding; in all visions and dreams." The divine 
 purpose in this gift to Daniel was to qualify him for transcendent 
 influence in that heathen court and country, and to make him a 
 prophet of high order among his own people. 
 
 18. Now at the end of the days that the king had said 
 he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs 
 brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. 
 
 19. And the king communed with them: and among them 
 all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and 
 Azariah : therefore stood they before the king. 
 
 20. And in all matters of wisdom a7id understanding, that 
 the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better 
 than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his 
 realm. 
 
 "The end of days" is the expiration of the three years fixed by 
 
 the king and referred to v. 5. The king "communed with them" 
 
 for the purpose of sounding their depth and testing their adaptation 
 to his wants. He became abundantly satisfied. Hence they took 
 their position; they "stood before the king," awaiting orders and 
 ready for his service. This is tlie usual phrase for servants in at- 
 tendance upon their superiors. 8o angels are said to " stand before 
 
 God." "Ten times better," is a definite phrase in the sense of 
 
 an indefinite. 
 
 21. And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king 
 Cyrus. 
 
 It is not said that Daniel continued no longer, but only that he 
 continued to tliat time. Probably this closed his official life. This 
 book gives no notice of the time or the circumstances of lii» deatli. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar is greatly troubled by a dream which he can 
 not recall: his Chaldean ]\lagi can not help him to it; but Daniel 
 reveals to the king his dream and its interpretation. Thereupon 
 the king acknowledges the great superiority of the God of Daniel, 
 and promotes him and his three friends to high positions of trust 
 
 in the state. This dream or vision is the first in a series of four 
 
 to which very special attention must be given in the proper place. 
 
 1. And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnez- 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. II. 297 
 
 zar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit 
 was troubled, and his sleep brake from him. 
 
 Dreams are usually the mere fancies of the mind durinn; sleep, 
 and of no account as indicating future events. But the (iod who 
 made us is able to reach our minds no less while we sleep than 
 while we are awake ; and hence can determine our dreams as truly 
 and perfectly as the succession and character of our waking 
 thoughts. Hence he was wont in ancient times to manifest him- 
 self to men in their dreams — as here in the case of this Chaldean 
 
 king. This dream troubled him and made sleep impossible. It 
 
 left his mind painfully anxious as if it foreboded some great 
 calamity; while- yet he could not recall the particular points of the 
 dream. Much less could he reach its prophetic significance. 
 
 2. Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and 
 the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to 
 shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before 
 the king. 
 
 In this emergency, the king called in the aid of those classes of 
 men who professed skill in the occult sciences and in auguries of 
 future events. Most if not all of the unevangelized nations of all. his- 
 tory have had such men, often known as a special class, under some 
 
 distinctive name. Here are four different terms of designation. 
 
 The word rendered "magicians" means sacred scribes — priests of 
 religion. The original Hebrew word from which it is derived 
 means a graving tool — the very instrument used in that age for 
 writing on stone, and probably too on bricks while in their plastic 
 state. Babylonian documents are found in immense numbers writ- 
 ten on both these sorts of material. The next term rendered 
 
 "astrologers," is several times translated "magoi," (magi) in the 
 Septuagint. The magoi are the "wise men" who came from the 
 east (Mat. 2: 1) to inquire for the new-born Messiah whose star 
 
 they had seen, and therefore came to worship him. The second 
 
 and the third terms imply in the original Hebrew, the use of occult 
 arts, secret practices, by which their authors pretended to have 
 communication with invisible powers or agencies, and to learn from 
 
 them what no unaided human mind could attain. The term 
 
 Chaldean as used in this connection can not denote the whole peo- 
 ple of the country, Chaldea, but a learned class, who retained the 
 language and the wisdom of the ancient Kaldi people. The latter 
 were of the Cushite family, allied to the Ethiopians. While the 
 great body of the people inhabiting Chaldea used a Semitic lan- 
 guage, closely related to the Hebrew, and known variously as 
 Byriac, Aramaic, Chaldee ; this learned class retained for their 
 religious and probably scientific purposes another language which 
 testifies to their connection with the ancient Cushite or Ethiopian 
 family. Tliey are sometimes spoken of also as a Scythio race. The 
 authority for these views of their ethnic relations is found in the 
 
298 DANIEL.— CHAP. 11. 
 
 language used in ancient inscriptions. ^Thesc brief explanations 
 
 may suffice to show in general that these classes combined with 
 much real learning and science, more or less claim to communion 
 with superhuman beings or agencies by which they sought to in- 
 terpret dreams and to foretell future events. They came at the 
 
 king's call and stood before him. 
 
 3. And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a 
 dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream. 
 
 The king is specially anxious to know, not the dream only, but 
 its interpretation — its true significance. 
 
 4. Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriac, O 
 king, live forever : tell thy servants the dream, and we will 
 shew the inter j)retation. 
 
 The Chaldeans spoke to the king "in Syriac" — the usual lan- 
 guage of the country. From this point to the end of chap. 7, the 
 author of this book wrote in this dialect, here called " Syriac ;" but 
 in the original, "Aramaic;" and more generally known as the 
 Chaldee language. It differs altogether in the forms of its letters 
 and somewhat in its grammatical forms and words, from the Syriac 
 
 of the earlier ages of the Christian era. Daniefs reasons for 
 
 this use of the Chaldee tongue are obvious. The subject-matter 
 of these chapters was of the utmost interest and moment to the 
 Chaldean people. It related to their own monarchs and to great 
 events of their own national history. It bore repeated testimonies 
 to the supreme power, wisdom and glory, of the Great God — testi- 
 monies that came from their own monarchs. Wisely therefore did 
 Daniel afford them the requisite facilities for reading these testi- 
 monies in their own tongue. This dialect would be readily under- 
 stood by the captive Jews. 
 
 5. The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The 
 thing is gone from me: if ye ^\i\\ not make known unto 
 me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be 
 cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill : 
 
 G. But if ye shew the dream, and the interpretation 
 thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great 
 honor : therefore shew me the dream, and the interpretation 
 thereof. 
 
 The Chaldean wise men steadily demand that the king shall tell 
 his dream. The king has lost it, and hence demands no less per- 
 sistently that they shall give him botli his dream and its interpreta- 
 tion. Feeling intensely anxious to know it, ho resorts to the utmost 
 terr(/r of his supreme power of life and death over his subjects, and 
 threatens them the most terrible and disgraceful death if they fail, 
 backing up this penalty by the promise of immense rewards if they 
 are successful, it is plain that God is shaping this matter to test 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. 11. 299 
 
 the intrinsic futility of their pretensions to superhuman knowledge, 
 and to bring out in the most public manner his own infinite superi- 
 ority over them all. 
 
 7. They answered again and said, Let the king tell his 
 servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation 
 of it. ^ 
 
 8. The king answered and said, I know of certainty that 
 ye would gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone 
 from me. 
 
 9. But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, 
 there is but one decree for you : for ye have prepared lying 
 and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be 
 changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know 
 that ye can shew me the interpretation thereof 
 
 To their renewed request for the dream, the king, yet more ex- 
 cited, replies, charging them w^ith seeking to stave off this profes- 
 sional duty of theirs (as he deems it) by delay. The king seems 
 to assume that in their view, lapse of time will divert his attention, 
 or lessen his interest in the matter, so that he would at least relax 
 the severity of his decree, if not, indeed, forget, or reverse it. 
 Hence he meets this point with characteristic rigor and sternness. 
 The whole bearing of the king in this case shows what an earnest, 
 self-reliant man becomes under the reacting influence of absolute 
 power over the destiny and life of his fellow-beings. 
 
 10. The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said. 
 There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king's 
 matter : therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler that asked 
 such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean. 
 
 11. And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and 
 there is none other that can shew it before the king, except 
 the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh. 
 
 Forced upon impossibilities as the sole condition of life, the Chal- 
 deans are emboldened to speak out plainly even before this absolute 
 and terribly stern monarch. They assure him that the thing he 
 demands is beyond all human skill, and that no reasonable king 
 ever before made such demands as this upon men of their profes- 
 sion. The word rendered ''rare" in the phrase, "it is a rare 
 
 thing," means usually, "hard," "difficult;" and here, manifestly, 
 "impossible" — a thing entirely above the range of mortal knowl- 
 edge; such a thing as none can reveal but the gods who dwell not 
 in human flesh. This admission was of the utmost importance in 
 its bearing upon Daniel and Daniel's God. It shows moreover that 
 they had a distinct conception of a higher Intelligence — some Great 
 Mind or Minds, possessed of knowledge and forecast far beyond 
 that of men. 
 
300 DANIEL.— CHAP. II. 
 
 12. For this cause the king was angry and very iurious, 
 and commanded to destroy all the wise 7nen of Babylon. 
 
 13. And the decree went forth that the wise men should 
 be slain ; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be 
 slain. 
 
 Here is absolutism, under inflamed passion. The king will bear 
 no implication that he is unreasonable, and will mot consent to be 
 balHed in his cherished purpose to get back the lost dream and find 
 
 its meaning. Daniel and his three associates, ("fellows") seem 
 
 not to have been present among the magicians, astrologers, etc., who 
 were summoned before the king, and hence knew nothing of this 
 transaction. But now that death is the doom of all the wise men, 
 they are less disposed to count out Daniel and his three friends. 
 All this, whether well or ill intended on their part, was of the Lord, 
 who is wont to make the wrath of man work out his own praise. 
 
 14. Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to 
 Arioch the captain of the king's guard, which was gone 
 forth to slay the wise men of Babylon : 
 
 15. He answered and said to Arioch the king's captain. 
 Why is the decree so hasty from the king? Then Arioch 
 made the thing known to Daniel. 
 
 Arioch, captain of the king's guard, was really, as the margin in- 
 timates, " chief of the executioners" — the two sorts of service, viz., 
 commanding the body-guard of the king and serving as public ex- 
 ecutioner to take the life of persons condemned by the king to 
 
 death — ^being naturally performed by tlie same officer. Daniel 
 
 spoke prudently to this oificer: and yet the original word he used, 
 rendered " hasty " (" why is the decree of the king sojiasty ? ") means 
 "stern," "severe," — standing related to justice and common human- 
 ity, and not merely to thne. 
 
 16. Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that 
 he would give him time, and that he would shew the king 
 the interpretation. 
 
 It is noticeable that the king does not object to giving Daniel 
 reasonable time, though he had been so violent against his magi- 
 cians when he thought they meant to evade his demands by gaining 
 time. He saw in Daniel the marks of an honest man. Moreover, 
 we need not be slow to recognize a divine hand, giving Daniel favor 
 before the king. 
 
 17. Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing 
 known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his com- 
 panions : 
 
 18. That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. II. 301 
 
 concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should 
 not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 
 
 It was eminently fitting that this case should be borne to God in 
 special prayer, and that Daniel should invite the sympathy and 
 help of his three friends in supplication befo'5:e God. The results 
 purposed of God are to be signally honorable to all these men. 
 First, then, let them humbly and earnestly seek God in prayer. 
 This is the order of both providence and grace. Asking comes be- 
 fore receiving. Moreover, the results are to be momentous upon 
 the political condition of the captive Jews and upon their faith in 
 the God of their fathers. How appropriate then, for every reason, 
 that this divine mercy needed by l)aniel should be earnestly sought 
 in prayer by all his pious friends ! 
 
 19. Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night 
 vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. 
 
 20. Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of 
 God forever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: 
 
 21. And he chaugeth the times and the seasons; he re- 
 moveth kings, and setteth up kings; he giveth wisdom unto 
 the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding : 
 
 22. He revealeth the deep and secret things : he knoweth 
 what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. 
 
 23. I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my 
 fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast 
 made known unto me now wdiat we desired of thee : for 
 thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter. 
 
 The revelation was made to Daniel forthwith, in the manner of a 
 vision by night. He is at once conscious that God has given him 
 the secret prayed for and so much desired, and hence he breaks 
 out in grateful praise for this blessing. The expressions, "wis- 
 dom and might are his;" "he changeth the times and the seasons;" 
 "he removeth kings and setteth up kings;" are evidently suggested 
 by the subject-matter of the king's dream which is now both re- 
 vealed and expounded to Daniel. The central idea of that dream 
 is (as we shall see), the changing course of empire and the divine 
 agency in casting down one great world-ruling dynasty and setting 
 up another in its stead. In most sublime strains, Daniel celebrates 
 also the omniscience and foreknowledge of Jehovah : " He revealeth 
 the deep and secret things," such as no mortal eye can reach; "He 
 knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him." 
 Dwelling himself in light unapproachaljle and full of glory, nothing 
 present, past, or future, can be dark to his all-searching eye. 
 
 24. Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the 
 king had ordained to destroy the wise men of Babylon : he 
 went and said thus unto him : Destroy not the wdse men of 
 
302 DANIEL.~CHAP. II. 
 
 Babylon: bring me in before the king, and I will shew unto 
 the king the interpretation. 
 
 25. Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in 
 haste, and said thus unto him, I have found a man of the 
 captives of Judah,*that will make known unto the king the 
 interpretation. 
 
 No time is to be lost. Daniel reports himself as ready now to 
 meet the king and is accordingly brought into his presence. 
 
 26. The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name 
 was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me 
 the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof? 
 
 27. Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and 
 said, The secret which the king hath demanded can not the 
 wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the sooth-sayers, 
 shew unto the king ; 
 
 28. But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, 
 and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall 
 be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy 
 head upon thy bed, are these ; 
 
 29. As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind 
 upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he 
 that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall 
 come to 23ass. 
 
 30. But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for 
 any wisdom that I. have more than any living, but for their 
 sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, 
 and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart. 
 
 The king's question, "Art thou able?" etc., brings out Daniel's 
 genuine humility and his hearty recognition of all bis special power 
 in this line as from the Great God of heaven. He therefore re- 
 marks first (v. 27) that none of the wise men of Babylon, and by 
 implication, no wise men on the face of the earth, can reveal this 
 secret ; and then that the God of heaven, and he alone and only, 
 has made this revelation. Remarkal)ly, he begins (v. 28) as if he 
 would go on at once to recite the dream; but checks himself and 
 returns to say again, as to the king, that, through the hand of God, 
 his thoughts upon his bed were of what should take place there- 
 after; and as to himself, that this secret was not revealed to him 
 because of any special wisdom of his above other men, but for the 
 sake of making the interpretation known to the king. In this 
 latter clause, the marginal reading gives the sense more accurately 
 than the text. Jt should not read, "for their sakes who should 
 make this thing know^n," as if there were certain other parties to 
 be used in revealing this matter to the king, and it was revealed 
 to Daniel for their sakes. This is not the sense, but rather simply, 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. II. 303 
 
 that God revealed it to Daniel in order that it might be made 
 
 known to the king. Daniel's humble disclaimer of personal 
 
 merit may remind us of the same thing in Joseph ; " Do not inter- 
 pretations belong to God?" Gen. 40: 8; also, "Joseph answered 
 Pharaoh, saying, "It is not in me; God shall give Pharaoh an an- 
 swer of peace" (Gen. 41: 16). Also, of the divine law, "Them 
 
 that honor me, I will honor" (1 Sam. 2: 30). The reference 
 
 made here and elsewhere to the time when the events signified by 
 this dream -should take place are altogether indefinite. Thus, 
 "what shall be in the latter days" (v. 28); "what shall come to 
 pass" (v. 29), and "what shall come to pass hereafter" (v. 45), 
 give us no certain clue to the precise period. So far as these 
 phrases are concerned, the events might come sooner or later; 
 might spread over the centuries before the Christian era, or lie in 
 the future beyond it. We look in vain to these phrases to find 
 definite marks of future time. 
 
 31. Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. 
 This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood 
 before thee ; and the form thereof teas terrible. 
 
 32. This image's head ivas of fine gold, his breast and 
 his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, 
 
 33. His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of 
 clay. 
 
 34. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without 
 hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of 
 iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. 
 
 35. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, 
 and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like 
 the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind 
 carried them a^vay, that no place was found for them : 
 and the stone that smote the image became a great mount- 
 ain, and filled the whole earth. 
 
 • 36. This is the dream ; and we will tell the interpretation 
 thereof before the king. 
 
 37. Thou, O king, art a king of kings : for the God of 
 heaven hath given thee a kingdom, powxr, and strength, 
 and glory. 
 
 38. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the 
 beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he 
 given into thy hand, and hath made thee ruler over them 
 all. Thou art this head of gold. 
 
 39. And after thee shall rise another kingdom inferior 
 to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall 
 bear rule over all the earth. 
 
 40. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron : for- 
 
304 DANIEL.— CHAP. II. 
 
 asmuch as iron breakcth in pieces and subdueth all tilings : 
 and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces 
 and bruise. 
 
 41. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of 
 potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be di- 
 vided ; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, 
 forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with the miry- 
 clay. 
 
 42. And as the toes of the feet ivere part of iron, and 
 part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and 
 partly broken. 
 
 43. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, 
 they shall mingle themselves Avith the seed of men : but 
 they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not 
 mixed with clay. 
 
 44. And in the days of these kings shall the God of 
 heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: 
 and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, hut it 
 shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and 
 it shall stand forever. 
 
 45. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut 
 out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake 
 in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the 
 gold ; the great God hath made known to the king what 
 shall come to pass hereafter : and the dream is certain, and 
 the interpretation thereof sure. 
 
 This passage is in t\YO parts; — the dream (vs. 31-35); and its 
 interpretation (vs. 37-45). The dream is symbolic; — one con- 
 nected, compact series of symbols; — the interpretation renders 
 
 these symbols into literal language. The symbols scarcely 
 
 need any comment. The language itself is plain. Here is one 
 hup;e image of the human form, the head of gold being the first 
 part; the breast and arms of silver, the second; the belly and 
 thighs of brass, the third ; the legs, feet and toes, part iron and 
 part clay, the fourth. Then a stone cut from the mountain with- 
 out hands, smites the image upon its feet, but breaks in pieces the 
 vphole image and scatters it to the winds of heaven ; and then itself 
 becomes a great mountain and fills the whole earth. A stone is a 
 proper symbol of an agency that comes to l)reak a huge metal image. 
 That it is "cut from the mountain without hands" indicates that 
 the Messiah was born and brouglit fortli before the world as King 
 of nations by divine rather than human agencies ; while his smiting 
 the great image to its destruction denotes the power of God in his 
 providential government, overturning guilty nations. The inter- 
 pretation shows that the central idea of the dream is the course of 
 empire; the rapid succession of great world-monarchies. The 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. II. 305 
 
 reader should nofc fail to note that while these symbols, standing 
 unexplained, would he obscure and might greatly perplex all com- 
 mentators, yet the interpretation malies their meaning definite and 
 certain. For in the first place an inspired interpretation is perfect 
 authority. When God himself interprets, and we get his meaning, 
 it is the end of all uncertainty, and should be the end of all doubt. 
 And as to the proljlem of getting his meaning, it is safe to infer 
 that if God professes to interpret, he intends to make himself un- 
 derstood. Hence he will use plain language and use it according 
 .to the laws of human speech, so that due candor, care and dili- 
 gence, with the divine blessing, will surely lead men into all the 
 
 important truth that God has sought to teach. Guided especially 
 
 by this inspired interpretation, let us now search out the truth 
 
 taught by this vision. As above suggested, the central idea is 
 
 the course of empire — the succession of great, universal monarchies. 
 Of these the first four are of the earth, earthly — mere human king- 
 doms. The fifth is in some respects peculiar, being '''set up by the 
 God of heaven." The points affirmed here of this fifth kingdom 
 are that it first destroys and then supersedes all the other king- 
 doms ; that it shall not pass over into the hands of other races and 
 people, as those that preceded it had done ; that it shall not be tran- 
 sient, like them, but enduring; and finally it shall be in a higher 
 
 sense than they, universal in extent, filling all the earth. As to 
 
 the first four, the interpretation makes it absolutely certain that 
 the head of gold representing the first kingdom is the Chaldean 
 empire, specially embodied in its one gTeat monarch — the author 
 mainly of its splendor and greatness — Nebuchadnezzar. "Thou art 
 
 this head of gold." It is scarcely less certain that the second — 
 
 the silver breast and arms — is the kingdom actually next in the 
 order of time. "Arising after thee and inferior to thee," it must 
 be the Medo-Persian, of which Cyrus was the great central repre- 
 sentative. On this point interpreters agree. Equally clear is it 
 that the third — the belly and thighs of brass ; that " shall bear rule 
 over all the earth;" is the Grecian empire whose one sole repre- 
 sentative was Alexander. His place in the series is so well defined 
 by the description and by the historic facts, as to leave no room 
 
 for rational doubt. The identity of the fourth kingdom is the 
 
 great question of this prophecy. The two conflicting opinions be- 
 tween which commentators have been divided for ages are; (1) 
 That it is the Roman power; (2) That it is the broken, divided em- 
 pire that in fact next succeeded Alexander, knoAvn in history as 
 the "Empire of Alexander's successors." The portions with which 
 the Jews came specially in contact were the Syrian kingdom, 
 founded by Seleucus Nicator, and the Egyptian, founded by Ptol- 
 emy Lagus. In point of time, these powers fill the two or three 
 centuries that immediately followed the death of Alexander, B. C 
 
 323. It is impossible to do justice to the prophecies of Daniel 
 
 without a very careful and thorough investigation of this radical 
 question. Let it be our aim to advance cautiously, witli candor 
 and patience, endeavoring to embrace all the elements that bear 
 
306 DANIEL.— CHAP. II. 
 
 upon this question and giving to each its due weight in the final 
 decision. 
 
 In regard to this fifth kingdom, specially described in v, 44, ob- 
 serve that in the opinion of all intelligent commentators, our divine 
 Lord and his forerunner John the liaptist take their current and 
 oft-used phrases, "Kingdom of God," and "Kingdom of heaven," 
 from this passage. Daniel says, " The God of heaven shall set up 
 a kingdom." Hence it might be called either, "The kingdom of 
 God," or, "The kingdom of heaven." In fact both these designa- 
 tions are used frequently. John began his preaching, saying, 
 "llepent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand". (Mat. 3: 2). 
 Jesus began with the same text (see Mat. 4 : 17). According to 
 Mark (chap. 1 : 15) Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel 
 of the kingdom of God and saying, " The time is fulfilled and th'e 
 kingdom of God is at hand." Luke has it, " The kingdom of God" 
 (chap. 4: 43, and 8:1). "I must preach the kingdom of God to 
 other cities also." " Showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of 
 
 God." 1 quote only a part of these numerous cases, yet enough 
 
 to show (1.) that Daniel's fifth kingdom is precisely the gospel 
 kingdom of the New Testament, our divine Lord himself being the 
 highest authority for this identity; and (2.) that its time was then 
 "fulfilled;" it was "at hand" and was set up during that genera- 
 tion. (The proof of this last point will be adduced more fully in 
 my notes on Dan. 7.) This identification of the fifth kingdom is a 
 point of the greatest importance. Especially should it be noted 
 that both Jesus Christ and his inspired apostles, by taking up these 
 words of Daniel and applying them to the reign of Christ, become 
 themselves so far forth the interpreters of Daniel's prophecy, certify- 
 ing to us that in their view the Spirit who spake by Daniel meant 
 by this fifth kingdom that of the gospel age whose king was Jesus 
 the Messiah. Let it be borne in mind that of these five king- 
 doms, four are in point of origin earthly; the fifth heavenly: four 
 are of this world; the fifth is "not of this world:" four are of the 
 sort well known to profane history ; the fifth is of the sort little 
 knoAvn, except in sacred history — a kingdom whose defined purpose 
 is "righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." Though 
 eminently spiritual, it yet none the less controls the external life — 
 unto universal righteousness. 
 
 I call special attention to yet another point. In a definite series 
 of prophetic events — a series which has a well-defined commence- 
 ment and a well-defined close — it is of the utmost consequence to 
 note well where it begins and where it closes. What are techni- 
 cally called the termini — the "terminus a qvio," the starting-point 
 from which the series begins : and the " terminus ad quem," the 
 closing point down to which it comes but no farther — are beyond 
 measure important to be carefully ascertained. They are the great 
 landmarks of prophetic interpretation. For these symbols do not 
 mean every thing. They must not be wrested to mean any and every 
 sort of thing that the fancy of any interpreter or any reader may sug- 
 gest. Their meaning is shut up within these ascertained termini; 
 
DANIEL.-^CHAP. II. 307 
 
 between the point where the series begins and the point where it 
 closes. In the present case, the series begins with Nebuchad- 
 nezzar. " Thou art this head of gold." The fourth kingdom ends 
 not later than the point where the fifth begins ; for plainly the fifth 
 succeeds the fourth as the second docs the first, and the third the 
 second, and the fourth the third. So the symbols imply. The 
 stone while yet a stone, and before it has grown into a mountain, 
 smites the whole image — legs, feet, and toes, as truly as head, 
 breast, belly und thighs — and breaks all in pieces. In fact, the 
 smiting blow is specially said to have been upon the feet. Hence 
 the natural sense of the symbol is that the fourth kingdom (as really 
 as the first three) is demolished before the fifth is inaugurated as 
 
 a visible kingdom among men. But here special attention should 
 
 be given to the corresponding interpretation (v. 44). "In the days 
 of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom." On this 
 passage two important questions arise ; (a. ) What kings are meant ? 
 (b.) In what sense does the God of heaven set up his kingdom in 
 
 their days ? (a.) As to the first point, some interpreters assume that 
 
 the kings referred to are the toes of the image. But this view can 
 not be sustained. The language, " these kings," implies that they 
 have been distinctly brought to view already. But there has been 
 no hint that the toes are kings. Other kings have been before the 
 mind; Nebuchadnezzar especially and first — leading the analogy 
 of the vision. The nest kingdom had its equally prominent repre- 
 sentative king — Cyrus. The third was embodied in its one great 
 monarch — practically its first and its last — Alexander. Analogy 
 would suggest that the fourth had also its great kings, one or 
 more. To these, then, we must suppose reference is made in the 
 phrase, "In the days of these kings," and not to the toes of the 
 image specially, and much less exclusively, (b.) To the question. 
 In what sense was Messiah's kingdom set up in the days of those 
 kings? I answer: Only in the sense of preparatory work, done 
 by the agencies of divine providence. The demohtion of those 
 kingdoms prepared the way for the formal, visible inauguration of 
 Messiah's kingdom. This visible inauguration and setting up fol- 
 lowed that demolition, and was not strictly simultaneous. The 
 language which is very general, certainly admits this construction ; 
 the sense of the symbols seems to require it; and yet further, the 
 genius of the entire vision sustains it — this genius or scope being, 
 in the words of Ezekiel (chap. 21: 27), "I will overturn, overturn, 
 overturn it; and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it 
 
 is : and I will give it him." But a more thorough and extended 
 
 investigation of this point, and indeed of many other points, will be 
 due when we reach the seventh chapter. That vision of successive 
 beasts is beyond all question parallel to this vision of the great 
 image. It goes over the same line of thought ; gives the same series 
 of four great empires, followed by the fifth — that of Alessiah and 
 of his people ; and scarcely differs from this in any respect, save that 
 it presents a new set of symbols and gives much more detail on two 
 important points; viz., (1.) The work and the doom of the fourth 
 
308 DANIEL.— CHAP. II. 
 
 beast and of his little horn: and (2.) The precise order of succes- 
 sion between the fourth and the fifth kingdoms ; the destruction of the 
 fourth beast and all his horns, preceding and followed by the inaug- 
 uration both in heaven and in earth of this fifth king and kingdom. 
 1 propose therefore to defer the full and exhaustive discussion of 
 
 the significance of the fourth kingdom till we come to chap. 7. 
 
 Enough has been adduced however already to show that the fourth 
 kingdom must l^e that of Alexander's successors and not the lioman 
 
 empire. For, consider the field where we are to* look for this 
 
 fourth kingdom. Chronologically^ its whole history must lie be- 
 tween the death of Alexander, B. C. 323, and the birth of Christ. 
 Home is not there : the fragments of Alexander's empire under his 
 successors are there. Territorially^ it should be sought in West- 
 ern Asia, not in Europe ; in general, on the same territory where 
 
 the first, second, and third kingdoms stood. Politically^ it should 
 
 be the immediate successor of Alexander's empire, recasting much 
 of the same materials; in general, changing the dynasty, but not 
 the nations and tribes composing the elements of its population and 
 power. This law obtains in respect to the first three kingdoms; 
 Mdiy should it not in respect to the fourth as well ? Analogy re- 
 quires it. In this point, therefore, analogy shuts off Kome and 
 
 points to the kingdoms of Alexander's successors. Yet again, as 
 
 to general character; this fourth kingdom, according to the symbol 
 and its interpretation, is mixed, composite, brittle, inadhesive, not 
 unified and consolidated into one firm power. These are strong 
 
 points of its character. In all these points the description fits 
 
 the fragmentary empire that immcdiatel}' follows Alexander ; while 
 for this period (B. C. 332-0) it does not iit Rome at all. No human 
 kingdom was ever more unlike this description than Rome was in 
 the early ages of history; or say during two centuries after the 
 
 death of Alexander. Finally, the first three kingdoms were of 
 
 special interest to the Jews, because their own nation bore the 
 closest political relations to each of them; either in captive subjec- 
 tion or under friendly protection, or exposed more or less to hostile 
 
 collision. The powers that next succeeded Alexander, filling 
 
 these relations to the Jews, were first and most, the Greek-Syrian; 
 and next the Greek-Egyptian. It was not till very near the close 
 of this period that the Romans came into any political relations 
 
 whatever toward the Jews. Or, to put this thought in another 
 
 form : These four kingdoms have a place in Jewish prophecy be- 
 cause of their relations to the Jewish state and to the kingdom of 
 God. as embosomed in its undeveloped germ among that people. It 
 was really for the sake of revealing to Daniel and to Daniel's peo- 
 ple what should "befall them in the latter days" (chap. 10: 14), 
 all along down to the coming of their ^lessiah, that these prophe- 
 cies were revealed. They touch the political history of the king- 
 doms of this world only because those particular kingdoms sustained 
 very special relations to the great kingdom that is not of this Avorld, 
 which lay in embryo in the Jewish state, yet nursed and guarded 
 there under the perfect eye of God, till the time was fulfilled and 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. II. 309 
 
 the kingdom of God truly came — i. e., came forth visibly before all 
 the world. That is to say, it is not the genius of Daniel" s prophecy 
 to teach universal history, nor to teach profane history at all, 
 apart from its relations to Christ's kingdom before his coming and 
 doAvn to that coming. His great central idea is — The invisible arm 
 of King Messiah, defending his unborn kingdom (lying in embryo 
 in the Jewish state) against four great worldly powers in succes- 
 sion, overturning one, and another, and yet another, and thus giv- 
 ing visible birth and development to Messiah's kingdom, to super- 
 cede them all, and surpass them all in its world-wide sway. 
 
 liome has no place in this programme. Universal history, in its 
 scientific point of view, or as related to what we are wont to ac- 
 count the march of the great civilizations of mankind, was never 
 the governing purpose of Daniel's prophecy. If it be yet main- 
 tained that the fourth kingdom must be the Roman because of its 
 iron strength, I answer, (1.) Here was strength and weakness 
 blended — a fact which harmonizes with the brittle character of the 
 kingdoms of Alexander's successors, but does not by any means 
 harmonize with the Roman power of this age; — and (2.) Daniel 
 could not fail to see and measure the strength of these kingdoms 
 from his stand-point of paternal care for his own people. Those 
 powers would be seen strong and terrible,- which were in fact for- 
 midable or destructive to the Jews. Of this more will be said in 
 the notes upon chap. 7. These points of reply by no means in- 
 clude all the objections to the Roman theory. They only touch the 
 special plea for it, on the score of its assumed iron strength. 
 
 46. Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, 
 and worshiped Daniel, and commanded that they should 
 offer an oblation and sweet odors unto him. 
 
 47. The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it 
 is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and 
 a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret. 
 
 Profoundly impressed with the greatness of Daniel and of 
 Daniel's God, and quite too oblivious of Daniel's personal dis- 
 claimer ("not for any wisdom that I have more than any living,") 
 the king fell prostrate before him and gave command that an obla- 
 tion and sweet odors should be offered to him. This must be as- 
 cribed to his heathen ideas. Still it did not preclude from his 
 mind a strong conviction of the supremacy of the God of Daniel. 
 His profession of faith on this point is (for the time) very strong. 
 We have to deplore that it was so transient, or, at least, so ineffi- 
 cacious in the line of its proper antagonism to his notions of idol 
 gods and of image worship. 
 
 48. Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave 
 him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole 
 province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all 
 the wdse men of Babylon. 
 
310 DANIEL.— CHAP. III. 
 
 49. Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shad- 
 rach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, over the affairs of the prov- 
 ince of Bab}don : but Daniel sat in the gate of the king. 
 
 Promotion followed, and Daniel is advanced to the position of 
 prime minister for the province of Babylon and head-man over the 
 whole fraternity of magicians, soothsayers, priests of religion and 
 of science. At his request his three friends also are promoted to 
 important trusts. Daniel's place in the gate of the king put him 
 next the royal person as his first counsellor — a position of the very 
 
 highest trust and influence. Such were the first and immediate 
 
 results of the divine favor to Daniel in revealing the secret of the 
 king's dream. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The king makes a huge golden image, sets it up, and convenes 
 the officers of every grade in his kingdom to attend its dedication 
 and join in its worship. .Daniel's three friends refuse, and are ca.st 
 into a furnace of fire : God preserves them from all harm, and the 
 king by decree dooms to death all who shall speak against their 
 God. 
 
 1. Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, 
 whose height ivas threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof 
 six cubits : he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province 
 of Babylon. 
 
 Assuming the cubit to be about eighteen inches in length, this 
 
 image of gold was ninety feet high and nine broad. In view of 
 
 the facts adduced in the general introduction respecting this king's 
 devotion to his own God, Bel-Merodach, there can be no rational 
 doubt that he intended this image to represent the great power, 
 
 majesty, and excellence of this god. Was the idea of it suggested 
 
 by his wonderful dream of a great image? That image Avas 
 "great," "its brightness was excellent," and "the form thereof was 
 terrible." It is not specially surprising, therefore, that in a mind 
 thoroughly imbued with the notions of idol and image worship, the 
 huge image seen in his dream should suggest the construction of 
 this great image of gold to represent his view of the greatness and 
 excellent glory of his god. The consummate art of Satan's master- 
 mind was in it also, the managing spirit in the whole realm of idol- 
 atry. He held and led the mind of this heathen king. Alas, 
 
 that a mind of such decision and energy should so utterly lack the 
 just idea of the spiritual being of the Great God, and of his tran- 
 sccndant moral perfections I 
 
 2. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. III. 31 J 
 
 the princes, the governors, arid the captains, the judges, the 
 treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of 
 the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which 
 Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. 
 
 3. Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the 
 judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all 
 the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto 
 the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king 
 had set up: and they stood before the image that Nebu- 
 chadnezzar had set up. 
 
 The king could not convene all the people of his vast dominions. 
 The next thing to it was to convene all the officers of every name 
 and grade. These would be the strong and influential men of his 
 realm. Hence this convocation would send its influence for idol- 
 atry down through the whole political frame^work of his kingdom 
 
 and reach its entire population. The great number of grades of 
 
 officers indicates a high degree of system and order in the consti- 
 tution of this government. Of the eight several officers grouped in 
 this summons, the first is the highest grade, a sort of viceroy. The 
 second is the class of deputies. The third is commonly rendered 
 "governor," and is used repeatedly by Ezra, Nehemiah, and others ; 
 indeed, it is identically the Pasha. The fourth class are the chief 
 judges; the fifth the royal treasurers; the sixth were persons skilled 
 in the law and might be either counsellors or judges ; the seventh 
 term seems to bo essentially the same as the sixth, lawyers ; and 
 the last comprehends all other officers in the province. All these 
 were summoned to come to the dedication of the great image. 
 
 4. Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O 
 people, nations, and languages, 
 
 5. Tliat at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, 
 flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of 
 music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that 
 Nebudchadnezzar the king hath set up. 
 
 6. And whoso falleth not down and worshipeth, shall 
 the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery 
 furnace. 
 
 7. Therefore, at that time,*when all the people heard the 
 sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all 
 kinds of music, all the people, the nations, and the lan- 
 guages, fell down mid worshiped the golden image that 
 Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. 
 
 The signal for simultaneous worship by prostration of the body 
 before the great image was to be given by this grand orchestra, 
 which seems to have combined all sorts of musical instruments 
 
312 DANIEL.— CHAP. III. 
 
 known in that age — another case in proof that the controlling 
 spirit in all systems of idolatry seizes on every attraction of art, 
 and not least, upon external beauty and upon music as important 
 auxiliaries of power. The precise character of these various in- 
 struments can be reached in this age only proximately. The first 
 was a horn. The third is the word "cithera" in Hebrew letters. 
 The "sackbut" is thought to have been a trombone — an instru- 
 ment which secures a wide range of tone by being constructed with 
 a slide by which its length and volume may be changed at pleas- 
 ure. The word "psaltery" is the same in Ilebrew and in (jreek. 
 The last specified kind is in the Chaldee, "symphony;" perhaps 
 resembling our keyed instruments which perform two or more parts 
 
 in harmony. Burning to death in a furnace of fire was one mode 
 
 of capital punishment. Its horrid cruelty testifies that the age had 
 scarcely begun to emerge from barbarism. 
 
 8. Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, 
 and accused the Jews. 
 
 9. They spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O 
 king, live forever. 
 
 10. Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man 
 that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, 
 psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall 
 down and worship the golden image : 
 
 11. And whoso falleth not down and worshipeth, that 
 he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. 
 
 12. There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the 
 affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and 
 Abed-nego : these men, O kmg, have not regarded thee : 
 they serve not -thy gods, nor worship the golden image which 
 thou hast set up. 
 
 This accusation might be due to their jealousy of the high honor 
 enjoyed by those Jews, or to their zeal for idol-worship and for 
 universal obedience to the king — in the present case mostly to the 
 former. They put the case as one involving both contempt of the 
 king and of his gods. The original words rendered "accused" 
 are singularly expressive; "They ate up the pieces of the Jews" — 
 ate them up piecemeal^ — indicating savage and even cannibal fe- 
 rocity. In more than one oriental language this is a current con- 
 ception of slander and the way of expressing it. 
 
 13. Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury com- 
 manded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. 
 Then they brought these men before the king. 
 
 14. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them. Is it true, 
 O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, do not ye serve my 
 gods, nor worship the golden image wdiicli I have set up? 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. III. 313 
 
 15. Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the 
 sound of the corliet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dul- 
 cimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the 
 image which I have made, well: but if ye worship not, ye 
 shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning 
 fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you 
 out of my hands ? 
 
 The king orders these offenders before him ; states the case ; and 
 gives them one more trial to test their obedience. His last words, 
 "Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hand?" shows 
 that as yet he has practically no just sense of the power of the Su- 
 preme Being, or indeed of any god higher than mortal man. 
 
 16. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and 
 said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to 
 answer thee in this matter. 
 
 17. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver 
 us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out 
 of thy hand, O king. 
 
 18. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we 
 will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which 
 thou hast set up. 
 
 The original word rendered "careful," in the phrase, "We are 
 not careful to answer thee," is specially forcible. It means, "We 
 have no need to answer thee," we are in no straits; are not pressed 
 by any stringent necessity as men who tremble in fear for their 
 lives ; for if thou shouldest do thy worst — cast us into the fiery fur- 
 nace — our Grod is able to deliver us ; and if he should not, we are 
 ready for the result, let come what may. Be it known to thee, 
 therefore, we will not serve thy gods nor worship thy golden image ! 
 This was moral heroism and devoted piety, both of the higliesfc 
 order. 
 
 19. Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form 
 of his visage was changed against Shadrach, ]\Ieshach, and 
 Abed-nego : therefore he spake, and commanded that they 
 should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was 
 wont to be heated. 
 
 20. And he commanded the most mighty men that icero 
 in the army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, 
 and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 
 
 21. Then these men were bound in their coats, their 
 hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were 
 cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 
 
 22. Therefore because the king's commandment was ur- 
 
 14 
 
314 DANIEL.— CHAP. III. 
 
 gent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire 
 slew those men that took up Shadrach, Me'shach, and Abed- 
 nego. 
 
 23. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed- 
 nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery 
 furnace. 
 
 The king of Babylon had never met such heroic men before. 
 His will had perhaps never been so squarely resisted. Hence his 
 wrath is wrought up intensely. His order to heat the furnace 
 sevenfold above its usual point only evinced his own heated and 
 almost maddening passion, for no man in his cool reason would 
 think the killing any more sure with sevenfold heat than with the 
 usual amount. Such wrath of man, however, is very sure to work 
 out God's praise, as it did here. The miracle of protection was the 
 more signal ; the rebuke to the king was the more pungent and the 
 more widely known ; and the reaction from the death of the execu- 
 tioners served still to heighten the good moral impression. The 
 
 writer states carefully that the men were bound with all their 
 usual clothing on. The special reason for noting this with care 
 was to show "that the fire was restrained from harming not their 
 
 persons only, but their clothes also. The precise sense of the 
 
 words rendered, "Their coats, their hosen, and their hats," is of 
 relatively small consequence to us; yet it may be worth the 
 space required to say briefly, that in the original the first word 
 means (probably) their mantles, the usual outer garment ; the sec- 
 ond, either the tunic, the usual undergarment coming down to the 
 knees, or as some suppose, wide and loose trowscrs. The latter 
 was the view of our English translators in the word " hosen," which 
 at that time was used to denote trowsers and not stockings. The 
 last word seems to mean a garment girded on about the person, and 
 not a "hat." 
 
 24. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and 
 rose up in haste, ami spake, and said unto his counsellors. 
 Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire ? 
 They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. 
 
 25. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, 
 walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt: 
 and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. 
 
 Then, Avhcn the king heard the result, he became greatly excited 
 with new and strange emotions, far unlike those of his previous 
 passion. The thought flashes upon him that he has come into con- 
 flict here with a new and unknown Power ! He has cast three men 
 into liis furnace of fire sevenfold heated, and lo, the fire does not 
 touch them! And more fearful, if possible, than even this — there 
 is a fourth personage there, and the glory of his form strikes him 
 as that of a Son of Ood! It is altogether' unearthly! The word 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. III. 315 
 
 "Son" in the phrase "Son of God' is without the article. The 
 expression therefore does not imply any knowledge of the Son of 
 God in the New Testament, sense, but only indicates that he thought 
 this personage divine. 
 
 26. Then Nebucliadnezzar came near to the mouth of the 
 burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Me- 
 shach, and Abed-nego, ye servants of the most high God, 
 come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and 
 Abed-nego, came forth of the midst of the fire. 
 
 27. And the princes, governors, and captains, and the 
 king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, 
 upon wdiose bodies the fire had no power, nor was a hair 
 of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor 
 the smell of fire had passed on them. 
 
 The king knows now that the great God is with those men and 
 that they are his servants. So he accosts them ; " Ye servants of 
 tlie most High God, come forth and come hither." He does not 
 question their power though bound, to come forth at their own 
 
 option. The miracle was vsTOught in the most puljlic manner. 
 
 The king's high officers were called together. They could see the 
 sevenfold heated furnace. They knew those three men were cast 
 in there, bound; they saw them come out unharmed — not a hair 
 singed — not even the smell of fire on their clothing. Verily, this 
 was the finger of God and they all were witnesses. 
 
 28. Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed he the 
 God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who hath sent 
 his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, 
 and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, 
 that they might not serve nor w^orship any god, excej^t their 
 own God. 
 
 It is worthy of notice that the king began now to appreciate the 
 consistency and moral heroism of these men who so firmly refused 
 to worship any other God than their own. The very qualities which 
 so stirred his wrath before, command his profoundest admiration 
 now. He really finds that the God of these Hebrew youth is able 
 to protect them in the midst of the hottest furnace, and hence he 
 concludes that the exclusive worship of such a God will pay. The 
 things he specially notes as done by them are — that they " trusted 
 in their God" (he had never seen such trust before !); that they 
 ^^ changecV in the sense of disregarding and finally reversing the 
 king's mandate; and that they "yielded tlieir bodies" to be burned 
 if the Lord should not be pleased to protect them. These were 
 new developments for Babylon! When in all the foregone ages 
 had such things been seen in that proud city ? 
 
316 DANIEL.— CHAP. III. 
 
 29. Therefore I make a decree, that every people, nation, 
 and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God 
 of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, shall be cut in pieces, 
 and their houses shall be made a dunghill : because there is 
 no other god that can deliver after this sort. 
 
 One important result of these events is a special decree, for"l)id- 
 ding the people of his entire realm to say aught amiss against the 
 God of these Hebrews. Apparently, the reason assigned went forth 
 with the decree — viz., "Because there is no other God that can de- 
 liver after this sort" — a distinct recognition of the God of Israel as 
 higher and mightier than all the gods of the heathen. This decree 
 went over all his realm, a grand manifesto, setting forth the convic- 
 tion of this autocrat on his throne in favor of the great Jehovah. 
 Naturally it would carry with it an account more or less full of the 
 circumstances which had called it forth. Officers of government 
 from his whole realm were its witnesses. Hence these events must 
 have sown broadcast some ideas of the true God among the thousands 
 and probably millions of his subjects. Verily the hand of God was 
 
 gloriously manifested in this ! Its moral effect must have been 
 
 all the greater because this was the final outcome of a public con- 
 flict between the king's heathen god and Jehovah of Hosts. Nor 
 let us fail to note that here as usual, an unseen hand made the 
 wrath of man work out the praise of God. By how much the more 
 the proud king manifested his wrath against those Hebrew youth, 
 by so much the more signally did God bring forth his own glory in 
 protecting them and confounding all those idol-worshipers! In 
 what emergency never so difficult have the resources of the Al- 
 mighty failed to overmaster the wit and the might of mortals and 
 make his own glory shine the more by reason of their most fierce 
 and mad endeavors 1 
 
 30. Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and 
 Abed-nego, in the province of Babylon. 
 
 The word rendered "promoted," means to put forward rapidly to 
 
 higher positions of trust. Why Daniel was not a party with his 
 
 three brethren, both in their noble resistance to this wicked man- 
 date, and in their furnace experience, does not appear. We may 
 be very sure he never obeyed that mandate! Very probably his 
 position shielded him from prosecution. His sympathies would be 
 wholly with his brethren. 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. IV. 317 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Nebuchednezzar has a second drcfam, predicting his own insanity ; 
 his magicians and Chaldeans can not give him its interpretation. 
 Daniel gives it ; it takes place at the end of twelve months. The king 
 is deposed from his throne and continues insane seven years. His 
 reason then returns ; he resumes his scepter, and ascribes honor and 
 glory to the Most High God. 
 
 1. Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and 
 languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied 
 unto you. 
 
 2. I thought it good to shew the signs and -wonders that 
 the high God hath w^rought toward me. 
 
 3. How great are his signs ! and how mighty are his won- 
 ders ! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his domin- 
 ion is from generation to generation. 
 
 This entire chapter is in its nature a royal manifesto or proclama- 
 tion, announcing to all the world the extraordinary ways of the 
 great God in his providences toward the king. By "signs and 
 wonders" he means the supernatural dreams; the predicted in- 
 sanity ; the moral ends which the Lord sought to gain by it ; and 
 the actual results. These terms are usually employed in the scrip- 
 tures to denote the supernatural works of God — those which are 
 unlike the common course of natural events, and such as men are 
 
 wont to conceive of therefore as above nature — supernatural. It 
 
 is noticeable that the introduction to this manifesto recognizes "the 
 High God" as the Supreme and Eternal Ruler, at the head of a 
 kingdom which endures forever, and swaying a dominion which 
 does not, lik^ those of mortal men, pass away with the lapse of 
 human generations, but holds on, unaffected by time, from genera- 
 tion to generation. This manifesto is addressed, not to the people 
 
 of his own vast realui alone, but to " all people, nations and lan- 
 guages that dwell in all the earth." This universality, coupled with 
 the moral fitness and force of the document, render it truly magnifi- 
 cent and sublime. Think of it as translated into every spoken 
 language throughout all the tribes of earth's entire population and 
 sent to them from the once proud king^ of great Babylon and of the 
 
 vast Chaldean empire! A humble testimony that, great as this 
 
 monarch of Babylon had been, the most High God is immeasurably 
 greater; that glorious and powerful as his empire had been in the 
 eyes of men, the kingdom of the great God is mightier far and ex- 
 alted in far higher glory! 
 
 4. I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in my house, and flour- 
 ishing in my palace : 
 
318 DANIEL.— CHAP. IV. 
 
 5. I saw a dream ^vhicli made me afraid, and the thoughts 
 upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me. 
 
 It was while he was at rest in his magnificent palace and at the 
 height of his prosperity that suddenly this dream hefel him, and 
 rudely broke up his peace and rest. When did it ever happen that 
 a stream of mere earthly pleasure ran long without disturbance 
 or waning? The joys of those that forget God have no living 
 fountain. 
 
 6. Therefore made I a decree to bring in all the wise 
 men of Babylon before me, that they might make known 
 unto me the interpretation of the dream. 
 
 7. Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chal- 
 deans, and the soothsayers: and I told the dream before 
 them ; but they did not make known unto me the interj)re- 
 tation thereof. 
 
 As usual, and as before (chap. 2 : 2), the king calls in the wise 
 men of Bal)ylon — the professional interpreters of dreams — to make 
 known to him the significance of this dream. In the present case 
 (unlike the former) he had retained the dream, and could readily 
 relate it; but even so, the magicians could not give its interpreta- 
 tion. The failure was for this reason the more humiliating. Be- 
 fore they could say. Give us the dream and we will interpret. 
 Mow they can not say this. Their extraordinary pretensions react 
 upon them to their deep disgrace. 
 
 8. But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name 
 was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in 
 whom is the spirit of the holy gods : and before him I told 
 the dream, saying, 
 
 9. O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I 
 know that the spirit of the holy gods is in tl^ce, and no 
 secret troubleth thee, tell me the visions of my dream that 
 I have seen, and the interj)retation thereof. 
 
 Here the king's manifesto introduces Daniel, properly referring 
 to his new Chaldean name, Belteshazzar, ])y which he seems to 
 have been known in the king's court, and proba])ly to foreign 
 powers as well. It specially recognizes him as having in himself 
 " the spirit of the holy gods," and as obtaining his surpassing 
 skill from this truly divine source. No distinctive feature, not even 
 that of almighty power, more fitly discriminates between Jehovah 
 and all the I'alse gods of the heathen, than this quality of infinite 
 holiness. For those gods are utterly impure and vile ; arc rQ,cognized 
 by their worshipers as sharing in common with men the basest pas- 
 sions of depraved human nature; as quarrelsome, envious, and jeal- 
 ous; as sensual and utterly selfish — infinitely unlike the holy God 
 above, in every moral quality of character. The king well un- 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. IV. 319 
 
 derstands that no secret troubles Daniel, for his God is omniscient, 
 and omniscience is never perplexed with any thin";, ho^Yever deep 
 and dark to mortal vision. He therefore came with confidence to 
 Daniel for the interpretation of his dream, 
 
 10. Thus were the visions of my head in my bed; I 
 saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the 
 height thereof was great. 
 
 11. The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof 
 reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all 
 the earth : 
 
 12. The leaves thereof icere fair, and the fruit thereof 
 mucli, and in it loas meat for all: the beasts of the field 
 had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in 
 the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it. 
 
 13.1 saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and be- 
 hold, a watcher and a holy one came down from heaven ; 
 
 14. He cried aloud, and said thus. Hew down the tree, 
 and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter 
 his fruit: let tlie beasts get away from under it, and the 
 foAvls from his branches. 
 
 15. Nevertheless, leave the stump of his roots in the 
 earth, even witli a band of iron and brass, in the tender 
 grass of the field ; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, 
 and let his portion he with the beasts in the grass of the 
 earth. 
 
 16. Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's 
 heart be given unto him ; and let seven times pass over 
 
 'him. 
 
 17. This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the 
 demand by the word of the holy ones : to the intent that 
 the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the king- 
 dom of men, and giveth it to w^homsoever he will, and set- 
 teth up over it the basest of men. 
 
 The dream is really in two parts: one part presented to the eye; 
 the other to the ear: the first part a great tree which the king saw; 
 the second, an oral declaration made hy an angel from heaven, 
 which he heard. The first part (vs. 10-12) describes the tree — 
 exceeding great, tall, strong, visible to the ends of the earth ; of im- 
 mense foliage and most abundant fruit. The beasts repose under 
 its shade; the fowls of heaven dwell amid its branches, and all 
 
 flesh is fed from its stores of fruit. The second part (vs. 13-17) 
 
 recites the audible proclamation. The king sees a glorious person- 
 age, hero described as "a watcher, even. a holy one, coming down 
 from heaven." He is a watcher, one of God's unsleeping angels 
 
320 DANIEL.— CHAP. IV. 
 
 whom he puts in charge over portions of the vast providential 
 agencies of his universe. The term angel, contcmphites this order 
 of beings as sent forth on some mission, "angel" meaning a mes- 
 senger. But the term "watcher" expresses their work equally 
 well. "Are they not all ministering spirits?" (lleb. 1 : 14). Some 
 are sent specially to minister to the heirs of" salvation: others, as 
 the book of Daniel teaches (see chap. 10: and 11: 1, and 12: 1), 
 are put in charge over the kingdoms of men — the great agents of 
 the Most High in the execution of his providential purposes and 
 
 government. In this case, "tlie watcher, an holy one," came 
 
 down to finish out the dream by announcing the destiny of the tree. 
 This he proclaims with a loud voice; "Hew down the tree, cut off 
 its branches," etc., but leave the stump of its roots in the earth, 
 
 firmly fixed there as if bound with a band of iron and brass. 
 
 From this point, the description slides insensibly from the figure to 
 the reality — from the stump of the tree to the king himself, shorn 
 of his glory. " Let it be wet with the dew of heaven," looks toward 
 the insane king, outcast from human society and from the homes of 
 men, taking his portion with the beasts of the earth. His heart 
 changed from man's and a beast's heart given to him, indicate the 
 utter loss for the time of his understanding and reason. He has 
 dropped down from the grade of thinking, reasoning man to that of 
 the unthinking, unreasoning beast. And this is to continue " until 
 seven times have passed over him." The word "times" refers to 
 the best known division of time, the year. It is (perhaps) a defi- 
 nite number for an indefinite — the real duration being possibly 
 somewhat less than seven full years. The manifest allusion to the 
 same event in the fragmentary record quoted in the General Intro- 
 duction, speaks of it as four years. This part of the inscription, 
 however, is so imperfect that no considerable reliance can be re- 
 posed upon it as defining the exact duration. In v. 17, "This 
 
 matter is by the decree of the watchers," etc., the preposition "^.y " 
 indicates rather the agents than the author ; the agents by whom 
 the decree is announced and executed, rather than the author of it 
 from whom it came and whose purpose it is commissioned to exe- 
 cute. (See v. 24.) God himself has ordained this infliction upon 
 the great king. He has done it for a special purpose here assigned, 
 viz., that the" living may know that the Most High ruleth in the 
 kingdoms of men, giving regal power to whom he will, and often 
 setting upon earthly thrones the basest of men. This last fact 
 should take down the pride of kings, since to be a king is to be one 
 of a class which has certainly included many of the meanest, wick- 
 edest men that have ever cursed and disgraced our world. The 
 
 great purpose of this insanity brought upon Nebuchadnezzar was 
 to humble his pride ; to teach him impressively that the Most High 
 ruleth over all earthly kings; and to make him and all others feel 
 that reason is his gift, and should be used in grateful recognition 
 of the Supreme Author of this and all other blessings. 
 
 18. Thia dream I king Nebuchadnezzar have seen. Now 
 
DANIEL.— CHAr. IV. 321 
 
 tliou, O Belteshazzar, declare the interpretation thereof, for- 
 asmuch as all the wise men of my kingdom are not able'to 
 make known unto me the interpretation : but thou art able ; 
 for the spirit of the holy gods is in thee. 
 
 The king submits this dream to Daniel for him to interpret. He 
 is confident Daniel can do it, because "the spirit of the holy gods 
 is in him." This recognition of the great doctrine that God's 
 spiritual presence and power are with his people, that he can and 
 sometimes does reveal to them his own exclusively divine fore- 
 knowledge of events, is a remarkable testimony from the greatest 
 king and the master-mind of the age. 
 
 19. Then Daniel, (whose name ims Belteshazzar,) was 
 astonished for one hour, and his thoughts troubled him. The 
 king spake and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream, or the 
 interpretation thereof, trouble thee. Belteshazzar answered 
 and said. My lord, the dream he to them that hate thee, and 
 the interpretation thereof to thine enemies. 
 
 Daniel sees at once the significance of this dream, and feels both 
 personally afilicted and sorely tried. It is plain that he both re- 
 spected and loved his king, and hence felt this infliction upon him 
 as if it were a personal calamity on himself He might also have 
 thought of the perils incident to the kingdom and hence to the 
 people, consequent upon the insanity of the king. We do not need 
 to place among the causes of his distress any personal fear for his 
 own safety as affected by his giving such an interpretation. We 
 should do him injustice if we were to assume that he could be 
 capable of such fear. The other causes of grief and anxiety arc 
 all-sufficient to account for his manifest sorrow and perturbation. 
 
 The king quickly observes that he is troulded and be.iis him to 
 
 relieve his mind of all solicitude. Daniel nobly replies ; Would to 
 God the calamity it port^3nds were for those only that hate thee, 
 its terrible significance only for thine enemies ! 
 
 20. The tree that thou saw^est, which grew, and was 
 strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight 
 thereof to all the earth ; 
 
 21. Whose leaves ivere fair, and the fruit thereof much, 
 and in it ims meat for all ; under which the beasts of the 
 field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the 
 heaven had their habitation; 
 
 22. It is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong : 
 for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and 
 thy dominion to the end of the earth. 
 
 23. And whereas the king saw a watcher and a holy one 
 coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, 
 and destroy it; yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in 
 
322 DANIEL.— CHAP. IV. 
 
 the earth, even with a baud of iron and brass, in the tender 
 grass of the fiekl ; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, 
 and let his portion he with the beasts of the fiekl, till seven 
 times pass over him ; 
 
 24. This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the de- 
 cree of the Most High, which is come upon my lord the 
 king : 
 
 25. That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwell- 
 ing shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall 
 make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with 
 the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, 
 till thou know that the Most High ruletli in the kingdom 
 of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. 
 
 26. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of 
 the tree roots ; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after 
 that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule. 
 
 Here is the interpretation. The great tree is no other than the 
 groat king. This description corresponds in most respects with 
 that given above (vs. 10-17) save only that here it is applied to the 
 king, and remarkably, the clause which referred most plainly to 
 his insanity, "Let his heart be changed from man's and let a 
 beast's heart be given him," is here omitted. In verses 25, 26, the 
 agents referred to, '■'•they shall drive thee from men;" '■'■they shall 
 make thee eat grass;" '''they shall wet thee with the dew of 
 heaven;" are apparently those angelic beings whom God employs 
 in his providential administration, controlling the activities of men 
 and bringing about the course of events in harmony with the divine 
 
 will. That tlic stump and roots are left living and strong in tho. 
 
 earth denoted that his kingdom should still remain sure to him 
 and should return to his hand after he should have fully seen and 
 heartily admitted that the God of heaven (for brevity's sake here 
 
 "the heavens") does rule. This preservation of the kingdom to 
 
 him by preventing any successor from ol)truding himself upon the 
 throne, may, not improbably, have been due to this known predic- 
 tion and to Daniel's personal influence. Daniel was in a position 
 to have almost unlimited control in this thing. 
 
 27. Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto 
 thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine 
 iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor ; if it may be a 
 lengthening of thy tranquillity. 
 
 As the time of this calamity was not fixed, it might be postjDoned 
 by the king's repentance; indeed it might have been altogether 
 prevented if he had become truly penitent. Why not as really as 
 the destruction of Nineveh foretold by Jonah, the precise date of 
 which moreover was set to ninety days, llence the way is open 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. IV. 323 
 
 for Daniel to exhort his sovereign in all fidelity and love to " break 
 off his sins by righteousness, and his iniquities by showing mercy 
 to the poor," since thus he might, nay would, prolong this present 
 
 peace and prosperity. This noble example of manly and Christian 
 
 fidelity to his sovereign is worthy of all admiration, and of course 
 imitatio7i. Prompted by such manifest love and in manner so re- 
 spectful to the king, and yet with so much personal dignity, it must 
 have fallen upon the king's mind with great force. The sin spe- 
 cially indicated here, unrighteous oppression of the poor, looks very 
 probably toward the terrible exactions of labor imposed upon his 
 defenseless subjects (some of them captives of war) in those im- 
 mense public works w^iich were in the eyes of men, the glory of 
 his reign. The eye of man, dazzled with so much architectural 
 splendor, commonly fails to look down through to the crushed l3odies 
 and broken hearts, and to the hopeless, never-lifted pressure of woo 
 which such a mass of coerced labor always signifies. Human eyes 
 rarely see it; still more rarely make any account of it; but the Great 
 Father sees it and can never fail to take it into most solemn account. 
 
 28. All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. 
 
 29. At the end of twelve months he walked in the j^al- 
 ace of the kingdom of Babylon. 
 
 30. The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, 
 that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the 
 might of my pow^er, and for the honor of my majesty ? 
 
 31. While the w^ord ivas in the king's mouth, there fell a 
 voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee 
 it is spoken ; The kingdom is departed from thee. 
 
 32. And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwell- 
 ing shall he with the beasts of the field : they shall make 
 thee to Qat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over 
 thee, until thou knowest that the Most High ruleth in the 
 kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. 
 
 33. The same hour Avas the thing fulfilled upon Nebu- 
 chadnezzar : and he w^as driven from men, -and did eat grass 
 as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till 
 his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like 
 birds' claws. 
 
 It may be supposed that Daniel's faithful exhortation had some 
 good moral influonco on the king for a season. The impending 
 calamity was deferred twelve months. But his goodness was as 
 the morning cloud. When his pride resumed its sway over his 
 heart, just while he was walking on the flat roof of his lofty pal- 
 ace, overlooking the splendor of that most splendid city, and say- 
 ing, " Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of 
 the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my 
 majesty" — at that moment there came another voice; it fell from 
 
824 DANIEL.— CUAP. IV. 
 
 heaven: it made its pointed address to Chaldca's proud king by 
 name, and said, " The kingdom is departed from thee ! ^' The 
 
 dream is to be fulfilled ! It Avas ! That the execution of this 
 
 long impending decree should wait to smite the king at last in pre- 
 cisely this juncture was of set divine purpose, to indicate the more 
 unmistakaljly the sin for which this was the destined scourge. Ho 
 God is often wont to make the connection between the sin and the 
 infliction of chastisement or judgment for it, so palpable that there 
 shall need be no mistake in tracing it out. 
 
 34. And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted 
 up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned 
 unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and 
 honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an 
 everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation 
 to generation : 
 
 85. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as 
 nothing : and he doeth according to his will in the army 
 of heaven, and among the inhal3itants of the earth : and 
 none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? 
 
 36. At the same time my reason returned unto me ; and 
 for the glory of my kingdom, mine honor and brightness 
 returned unto me : and my counsellors and my lords sought 
 unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and ex- 
 cellent majesty was added unto me. 
 
 37. Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the 
 King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways 
 judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase. 
 
 His understanding seems now to return to him as a new-born 
 gift, fresh from the («od of heaven. With the utmost propriety he 
 makes his first use of it in this devout recognition of the glory and 
 majesty, the justice and righteousness too, of the Most High God, 
 It is a sublime testimony. In thought most appropriate ; in choice 
 of terms unexceptionable; in its whole expression majestic and elo- 
 quent, it is one of the grandest passages in English literature. If 
 we may suppose it to have gone forth from the throne of the re- 
 stored monarch to the millions of his people and to foreign lands 
 also, it must have produced a profound sensation. Its influence 
 may have been mostly evanescent; yet it was for the time a grand 
 testimony to the glory and majesty of the one Supreme God, and 
 a witness against the folly of paying even the least regard to the 
 
 gods of the heathen. How long or how deeply it alFocted the 
 
 heart of Nebuchadnezzar, we have no positive data for determining. 
 The sacred record leaves him here. It would be grateful to every 
 feeling of the heart to know that this king became under such in- 
 fluences a humble child and faithful servant of that Great God to 
 whose gloricB he bears witness in strains so sublime. But we lack 
 
DANIEL.— CHAr. V. 325 
 
 the evidence to justify such a belief. Something more decisive to 
 this effect mi^ht be expected in the sacred record if such had been 
 the fact. The fi-agmentary record that has come down to our 
 times on "the Standard Inscription" .of this king (quoted in the 
 General Introduction, p. 284) shuts us up to the conclusion that the 
 temptations of royalty were too strong for^his moral nature to over- 
 come. Great men, as well as men not great, may come very near 
 the gate of heaven's kingdom, and yet never enter therein. When 
 King Herod heard John Baptist, " he did many things and heard 
 him gladly;" but alas ! Herod never turned heartily from all his sins 
 to God. His record stands, like this of Nebuchadnezzar, a solemn 
 admonition against coming short of doing one's whole duty when 
 God reveals it plainly, and conscience presses its demand, and the 
 
 Divine Spirit comes near for one last effort to save the soul. 
 
 The Lord had great purposes to answer by this Chaldean king, and 
 he accomplished those purposes, even though that king would not 
 bow his whole heart to truth and to God. He made all that king's 
 frailties as well as his nobler qualities of character subserve his own 
 glory and praise; drew from him reiterated testimonials to the 
 majesty, justice and glory of Jehovah, and gave them to the kings 
 and princes of all the earth to whom this revelation should ever 
 come, for their admonition and instruction. Here we leave this 
 greatest and perhaps best of all the sovereigns of the Chaldean 
 empire. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 This chapter presents Belshazzar in his revelries and blasphemy; 
 the awful hand that wrote his doom upon the palace-wall ; the utter 
 failure of his astrologers to read and interpret the writing; how 
 Daniel read and interpreted, and how it was fulfilled in that event- 
 ful night. 
 
 1. Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand 
 of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. 
 
 2. Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to 
 bring the gold and silver vessels which his father Nebu- 
 chadnezzar had taken out of the temple which ^vas in Jeru- 
 salem ; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his 
 concubines, might drink therein. 
 
 3. Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken 
 out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jeru- 
 salem ; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his 
 concubines, drank in them. 
 
 4. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and 
 of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. 
 
326 DANIEL.— CHAP. V. 
 
 On the question, Who was Belsliazzar? sec the general introduc- 
 tion to Daniel (page 2SG). Nebuchadnezzar is supposed to have 
 
 been the grandfather of lielshazzar on his mother's side. This lati- 
 tude in the use of the word "father" was not uncommon with the 
 
 Hebrews. As tlic city was already besieged, and the real king 
 
 Nabonned had gone into the field against the armies of the Medes and 
 Persians under Cyrus, the sense of security which this feast im- 
 plied must be accounted for by their confidence in the assumed 
 strength of the city. Plainly it was supposed to be absolutely im- 
 pregnable. It may be added that God had given up the king 
 
 and his princes to a blind infatuation, of such sort as usually pre- 
 cedes destruction. Drinking wine from the vessels taken out of 
 
 Jehovah's temple in Jerusalem was intended as an insult to his 
 majesty. In the current notions of the age, each nation's gods were 
 its patrons and defenders, so that victory over a nation was a tri- 
 umph over its gods. Chaldea, in the person of Belshazzar and his 
 lords, is now exulting over Jehovah as unable to protect his people 
 against the superior power of their idols. As they drank, " they 
 praised the gods of gold and of silver," as being mightier than the 
 God of the Hebrew people. Hence the time had fully come for the 
 Lord to vindicate his own glory and crush out this proud and blas- 
 phemous dynasty. 
 
 5. In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, 
 and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of 
 the wall of the king's palace : and the king saw the part of 
 the hand that wrote. 
 
 6. Then the king's countenance was changed, and his 
 thoughts troubled hijn, so that the joints of his loins were 
 loosed, and his knees smote one against another. 
 
 The precise location of this writing on the wall " over against the 
 candlestick," would make it very conspicuous amid the revelries of 
 
 those ban((ueting halls. It is an appalling scene when a sinning 
 
 mortal knows that the Great (lod has come to meet him in the very 
 midst of his sins ! IJclshazzar might well stand aghast to find him- 
 self thus confronted face to ftice with the dread Jehovah whom he 
 is purposely insulting! He has a sense of a present Power, more 
 than human, in that strange haiuL^ writing unknown words on his 
 palace-wall, and a guilty conscience helps him to forecast some 
 fearful doom ! The brightness of his countenance is gone (so the 
 original imports); his mind is fearfully agitated; his knees smite 
 
 against each other. How changed the scene from the glee of his 
 
 blasphemous revelry to this paleness of cheek, convulsion of frame, 
 remorse of conscience, and dread foreboding of doom ! Many a 
 sinner has had a like experience, and other thousands must have it! 
 
 7. The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the 
 Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake and 
 said to the wise men of Babylon, Wlrosoevcr shall read this 
 
DANIEL.— CHAr. V. 327 
 
 writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be 
 clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his 
 neck, and be the third ruler in the kingdom. 
 
 8. Then came in all the king's wise men : but they could 
 not read the writing, nor make known to the king the inter- 
 pretation thereof. 
 
 9. Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his 
 countenance was changed in him, and his lords were aston- 
 ished. 
 
 His first resort is to his professional expounders of all mysterious 
 thinc^s. He summons them to his aid, and presses them, by the 
 most winning promises, to expound this mysterious handwriting. 
 They fail him utterly, and he is only the more alarmed. • 
 
 10. Noio the queen, by reason of the words of the king 
 and his lords, came into the banquet-house : and the queen 
 spake and said, O king, live forever : let not thy thoughts 
 trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed: 
 
 11. There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the 
 spirit of the holy gods ; and in the days of thy father, 
 light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of 
 the gods, was found in him; whom the king ISTebuchadnez- 
 zar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of 
 the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers; 
 
 12. Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, 
 and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing 
 of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in 
 the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar : now 
 let Daniel be called, and he will shew the interpretation. 
 
 The "queen" in this passage is the queen-mother, as may be in- 
 ferred from the fact that the king's wives and concubines are with 
 him in his carousals while this woman was not ; and al^o from her 
 intimate acquaintance with Daniel and with the incidents of Ne- 
 buchadnezzar's life. She was probably the daughter of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar and the mother of Belshazzar. 
 
 13. Then was Daniel brought in before the king. And 
 the king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Dan- 
 iel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, 
 whom the king my father brought out of Jewry? 
 
 14. I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods 
 is in thee, and that light and .understanding and excellent 
 wisdom is found in thee. 
 
 15. And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been 
 brought in before me, that they should read this writing, 
 
328 DANIEL.— CHAP. V. 
 
 and make known unto me the interpretation thereof; but 
 they could not shew the interpretation of the thing : 
 
 16. And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make in- 
 terpretations, and dissolve doubts : now if thou canst read 
 the writing, and make known to me the interpretation 
 thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a 
 chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler 
 in the kingdom. 
 
 The sacred record throws no light on the history of Daniel dur- 
 \n<^ the period since the death of Nebuchadnezzar, The fact that 
 Belshazzar knows him only by report and tradition implies that he 
 had retired from public office some years before ; very probably at 
 the death of Nebuchadnezzar. Evil-Merodach, his son and suc- 
 cessor, changed the policy of his father in some respects certainly ; 
 e. g.^ in taking Jehoiachin from prison to his favor and table. (See 
 2 Kings 25: 27-30, and Jer. 52: 31-34.) Berosus says of him, 
 " This man, having used his authority in a lawless and dissolute 
 manner, was slain by conspirators." He reigned but two years. 
 ISuch revolutions in government would naturally have the effect 
 of displacing Daniel. 
 
 17. Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let 
 thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; 
 yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known 
 to him the interpretation. 
 
 So far from having any sympathy with Belshazzar, Daniel could 
 feel only abhorrence and detestation of his revelry and blasphe- 
 mous insult of Jehovah. Hence he will not look at the king's 
 promised rewards, ))ut repels them with disdain. He seems to have 
 had much sincere respect for Nebuchadnezzar, but not the least 
 for his degenerate grandson. Yet for his satisfaction, and, withal, 
 his rebuke, he will read the writing and give the interpretation. 
 
 18. O tjiou king, the most high God gave Nebuchanez- 
 zar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and 
 honor : 
 
 19. And for the majesty that he gave him, all peoj^le, 
 nations, and languages, trcnibled and feared before him: 
 whom he would he slew ; and whom he would he kept 
 alive ; and whom he would he set up ; and whom he would 
 he put down. 
 
 20. But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind 
 hardened in pride, he w^as deposed from his kingly throne, 
 and they took his glory from him : 
 
 21. And he was driven from the sons of men ; and his 
 heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling ims with 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. V. 329 
 
 the wild asses:, they fed him with grass like oxen, and his 
 body was wet with the dew of heaven ; till he knew that 
 the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that 
 he appointeth over it whomsoever he will. 
 
 The language which describes the sin of Nebuchadnezzar is 
 specially pertinent and forcible. " When his heart was lifted up 
 and his mind hardened in pride," etc. The terrible influence of 
 power in the hands of depraved men, reacting on the heart, has 
 rarely been portrayed more justly. The perpetual incense of flat- 
 tery, coupled with the daily experience of being dependent on no 
 one and of having every one dependent on himself, tempts an ab- 
 solute monarch to feel Ifimsclf almost a god. Under such influ- 
 ences, the moral sensibilities become fearfully hardened against 
 all sense of obligation whether to God or to man. When any man 
 has reached this moral state, what can remain for him but a fall? 
 It is fully time for Almighty God to hurl such a hardened sinner 
 
 down! Such "pride goeth before destruction." In the clause 
 
 which states that his insanity continued ^^iill he hiew that the 
 Most High rules in the kingdoms of men, and appoints to this 
 power whomsoever he will," the word "knew" should be taken in 
 the sense of freely recognizing and of adjusting himself morally 
 to this knowledge, rather than in the closely intellectual sense of 
 having then first obtained this knowledge. For, his sin did not 
 lie in not knowing but in not duly regarding, and in not rightly 
 using the knowledge he actually had. "To him that knoweth to 
 do good and doetli it not, to him it is sin." 
 
 22. And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled 
 thy heart, though thou kneAvest all this ; 
 
 23. But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; 
 and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, 
 and thou, and thy lords, thy ivives, and thy concubines, 
 have drunk wine in them ; and thou hast praised the gods 
 of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which 
 see not, nor hear, nor know : and the God in wdiose hand 
 thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not 
 glorified. 
 
 Having set before this recreant son the dealings of the Great 
 God with his father which the king had known and ought to have 
 regarded, Daniel now turns pointedly to him and sets his sins in 
 order before his eyes in the plainest style of honest and fearless 
 rebuke. He charges home upon his conscience his pride, although 
 he had well knoAvn how God afflicted his father for this very sin; 
 also, his defiant bearing toward the God of heaven in the matter 
 of desecrating the sacred vessels of his temple and honoring tho 
 gods of gold, "which see not, nor hear, nor know," adding, with 
 unsurpassed fitness and force — "And the God in whose hand thy 
 
330 DANIEL.— CHAP. V. 
 
 breath is and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified." 
 
 The clause, " whose are all thy ways," follows in the same line of 
 thought with the preceding, "in whose hand thy breath is," and 
 affirms that all his goings, all that made up his life and destiny, 
 were dependent on God — a truth which this king had most wickedly 
 ignored. Not to glorify, is here to be taken with a strong em- 
 phasis on the negative, giving the clause the opposite sense ; whom 
 thou hast contemned and despised. Precisely this the king was 
 then doing. This usage of the negative is by no means uncommon. 
 
 24. Then was the part of the hand sent from him ; and 
 this writing was written. 
 
 25. And this is the writing, that Avas written; MENE, 
 MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. 
 
 26. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God 
 hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it. 
 
 27. TEKEL ; Thou art w^eighed in the balances, and art 
 found wanting. 
 
 28. PERES ; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the 
 Medes and Persians. 
 
 " Then," is not here a particle of time, but of consequence. Con- 
 sequently^ because of this insult offered by the king to the great God, 
 was that part of a hand sent forth from him {i. c, from God) which 
 wrote upon the wall (v. 5). The wi'iting was done some consider- 
 able time before Daniel uttered these AYords, interpreting the Avriting 
 
 and announcing to the king his righteous doom. The literal 
 
 rendering of the words written on the wall is, ^'"Numbered ; 7mm- 
 bcrcd; weighed; and divided.'' Remarkably the last word is plural 
 as it stands in v. 25, but appears in its singular form in v. 28. It 
 is not clear that any special sense attaches to the plural. If so, it 
 should have been in the plural when repeated for the purpose of 
 
 being interpreted. The English reader would not readily see 
 
 that Upharsin is nearly identical with Peres. It is so, however. 
 The letter U translates the Chaldee prefix for and^ which, dropped 
 off, leaves Pharsiri. Then "m" is the plural termination, and the 
 rest of the difference is due to the change of vowels consequent 
 upon this plural termination. Pharsin is simply the plural form of 
 
 Peres. "Mcne" is repeated, apparently for the sake of intensity. 
 
 The days of thy kingdom arc certainly and precisely numbered, and 
 
 having now all past, the end has come. Tekcl, the first letter 
 
 being the character for jf/i, which is used in Chaldee for the He- 
 brcAV sh, is identical with shekel, which as a noun is a well known 
 standard weight; and as a verb, means to weigh. In the moral 
 sense, weighing puts one to the test, tries him by the divine standv 
 ard. So Job said (chap. 31: G), "Let me be weighed in an even 
 baliuice that God may know mine integrity." God had thrown Bel- 
 sliazzar upon his great scales of justice a)id righteousness and found 
 him utterly wanting, lie was not fit j;o reign longer. The 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. V. 331 
 
 "kingdom divided and given to the Medes and Persians" predicted 
 one of the great historic facts of the age — the fall of Babylon, and 
 the subversion of the Chaldean dynasty. It fell before Cyrus, at 
 the head of the combined armies of the Medes and Persians. Ile- 
 rodotus and Xenophon, the great Greek historians of their time, 
 have left detailed accounts of this transaction. Cyrus invested the 
 city, turned the current of the Euphrates, and marched his army 
 
 into the city by way of the river-channel. Jeremiah had foretold 
 
 this event with extraordinary minuteness (chaps. 50 and 51), giving, 
 among many other things, the names of their conquerors; "Prepare 
 against her the nations, the kings of the Medes" (chap. 51 : 28); the 
 drying up of her waters (51 : 36) ; and the drunken condition of her 
 princes at the time (chap. 51 : 39, 57). "In their heat, I will make 
 their feasts and I will make T;hem drunken, that they may rejoice, 
 and sleep' a perpetual sleep and not wake, saith the Lord.^' 
 
 29. Then commanded Belshazzar and tliey clothed Daniel 
 with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and 
 made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the 
 third ruler in the kingdom. 
 
 Belshazzar lived only long enough to fulfill this promise and give 
 Daniel these honors. But Daniel cared little for honors under such 
 a monarch at any time, and least of all, now, in these last hours of 
 the kingdom. These circumstances however may have been his 
 stepping-stone to an equally high position under the next dynasty, 
 and this seems to have been a part of the divine purpose. Re- 
 markably, under God's all-wise plans, single events have multiform, 
 results — bearings that ramify outward indefinitely. 
 
 The reader is referred to the introduction for an attempt to har- 
 monize the statements of Berosus respecting the last king of Babylon 
 with what is said here of Belshazzar. I can not say it is entirely 
 satisfactory, the main difficulty being that Belshazzar appears in 
 the Bible record as sole king, and not merely as crown prince with 
 the title of king. Yet this appearance is not such as to exclude 
 the possibility of the facts stated by that ancient and standard 
 historian. 
 
 30. In that niglit was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans 
 slain. 
 
 31. And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about 
 threescore and two years old. 
 
 The effort to identify this Darius the Mede with certainty in the 
 various records of profime history has been thus fiir unsuccessful. 
 George Rawlinson remarks: "There still remains one historical diffi- 
 culty in the book of Daniel which modern research has not yet 
 solved, but of which Time, the Great Discoverer, will, perhaps, one 
 day bring the solution. At present we can only indulge conjectures 
 concerning Darius tho Mede," etc. Tho opinions of critics have 
 
332 DANIEL.~CHAP. VI. 
 
 been divided between (1.) Astyages, the grandfather of Cyrus; (2.) 
 Cyaxares, a supposed son of this Astyages; and (;>.) Some deputy 
 bearing this name, unknown to profane history, whom Cyrus put in 
 charge over Babylonia. That he ^'^ took the kingdom" in the sense 
 of being a deputy and not a king in his own right, is involved in 
 the usage of the verb. In chap. 2: 6, it is used for receiving great 
 gifts; and in chap. 7: 18, of the saints of the Most High receiving 
 the kingdom." A renewed mention of Darius (chap. 9:1) speaks 
 
 of him as "made king over the realm of the Chaldeans." The 
 
 difficulties in identifying this Darius lie mainly if not entirely with 
 the profane historians themselves. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 This chapter treats of the administration of Darius. Daniel is 
 promoted to the highest position next to the king; the other presi- 
 dents and all the princes, through en\y, plot his destruction by pro- 
 curing a law making it a capital crime to offer any petition to any 
 god or man, save unto the king, for thirty days : Daniel continues 
 to pray as aforetime; is therefore cast into the lion's den, but 
 comes forth unharmed ; v^hereupon the king by public decree calls 
 on all men to fear the God of Daniel. 
 
 1. It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom a hundred 
 and twenty princes, which should be over the whole king- 
 dom; 
 
 2. And over these three presidents ; of whom Daniel was 
 first: that the princes might give accounts unto them, and 
 the king should have no damage. 
 
 The kingdom as here spoken of is Babylonia proper, and not the 
 whole of that vast realm, embracing several distinct nationalities, 
 which was brought under the sway of Nebudchadnczzar. Darius 
 himself was a sort of deputy or viceroy under Cyrus, and Babylonia 
 was virtually a province in the great j\ledo-Persian empire. These 
 verses show how the executive department of the government was 
 organized. 
 
 3. Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents 
 and princes, because an excellent spirit tvas in him ; and the 
 king thought to set him o'ver the whole realm. 
 
 Daniel was prc'cminent, not only in wisdom and executive abil- 
 ity, but in his disinterested devotion to the public weal. While the 
 other high officers, were selfish and corrupt men (as is usual), the 
 king could not but see that Daniel was thoroughly a good man, 
 devoted to the welfare of his country, and unsellislily true to the 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VI. 333 
 
 interests of his king. Hence the king put him above all his other 
 officers, and had even thought to intrust the v^hole executive man- 
 agement of the kingdom in. his hands, i e., by making him sole 
 president instead of being simply the head man of the three. 
 
 4. Then the presidents and princes sought to find occa- 
 sion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they 
 could find none occasion nor fault ; forasmuch as he ivas faith- 
 ful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. 
 
 Such a model of excellence, so far surpassing and so uncomfort- 
 ably eclipsing themselves, was keenly cutting to those corrupt offi- 
 cers, and aroused their bitterest hostility. So they sought to find 
 some fault in. his official life, but they sought there in vain. He 
 was both wise and faithful, and hence left them no ground of accu- 
 sation there. 
 
 5. Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion 
 against this Daniel, except we find it concerning the law of 
 his God. 
 
 Abandoning all hope of finding any occasion even for slander 
 against Daniel in the line of his official conduct, they set them- 
 selves to make an occasion in the line of his religion. This is 
 avowedly their only hope. They know he is not an idolator, but 
 is a conscientious worshiper of the true God. They know him to 
 be a praying man. 
 
 6. Then these presidents and princes a'ssembled together 
 to the king, and said thus unto him. King Darius, live for- 
 ever. 
 
 7. All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors and 
 the 23rinces, the counsellors and the captains, have consulted 
 together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm 
 decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or 
 man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast 
 into the den of lions. 
 
 8. Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, 
 that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes 
 and Persians, which alteretli not. 
 
 9. AVherefore king Darius signed the writing and the 
 decree. 
 
 With Satanic cunning, they shaped this proposed law to take 
 with the king by a bait for his low vanity, and to entrap Daniel 
 through his known decision and firmness in the worship of his God. 
 It was the best compliment they could pay to Daniel that they assumed 
 so confidently that ho would pray to God none the less for this mon- 
 strous law. It was the keenest reproach to their king that they 
 
334 DANIEL.— CHAP. VI. 
 
 should anticipate his ready assent to such a law under the impulses 
 of his excessive vanity. Darius was a weak and vain king, utterly 
 unfit to wear a crown, else he would have asked, What can be the 
 motive of these men in proposing such a law? What! must no 
 child ask bread of his father for thirty days save under pain of 
 being cast to the lions? Must no friend ask favor of friend save 
 under such a penalty ? What can this proposal mean ? Who oan 
 
 bo the better for such a law? Plainly, the appended exception, 
 
 " Save of thee, O king," was so grateful to his vanity that it blinded 
 his dull eye to the monstrous nature and possible bearings of this 
 
 law. This point in the fundamental law of the Medo-Persian 
 
 realm, that no royal decree, once duly signed and sealed, should 
 ever be changed, was probably adopted for the purpose of forestall- 
 ing the caprice of monarchs and guarding against sudden and rash 
 changes. It was probably hoped that it would operate to lessen 
 the evils incident to arbitrary and absolute power. It was, how- 
 ever, a radically vicious principle. For why should not every man 
 be wiser to-day than he was yesterday ? Why should not the win- 
 dows be always kept open to admit new light on all subjects; and if 
 so, then, also, to adjust our activities to the demands of this new 
 light ? The present case shows that the original law, not less than 
 any proposed amendment, may be capricious and Avicked, and there- 
 fore may need to be changed. But the Medo-Persian constitution 
 seemed to pique itself upon this peculiarity. 
 
 10. Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, 
 he went into his house; and his windows being open in his 
 chamber toward * Jerusalem^ he kneeled upon his knees 
 three tunes a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his 
 God, as he did aforetime. 
 
 Daniel saw in an instant that this law was planned for his 
 destruction, yet without one moment's debate with his love of 
 life, or fear of lions, he said, I shall pray to God none the less but 
 all the more for that, and nonc^ the less openly. With the God 
 whom I serve I leave the whole question of my living or dying. I 
 know it is my duty and my right to pray. I can not know that it 
 is my duty to live. If the Lord sees fit to protect my life, he can 
 readily do so. I bear my case to him, and leave it in his hand. 
 With his heart thus full of firmness, prayer, and trust, he hastened 
 home to his house and to his accustomed chamber of prayer, and 
 there — his window open — not closed as if he would conceal his de- 
 votions — ^but open and toward Jerusalem as the place of God's visi- 
 ble glory and the locality of his earthly mercy-seat, he kneeled three 
 
 times a day with prayer and thanksgiving as aforetime. Blessed 
 
 man ! IIow quietly, how calmly, and how peacefully did thy heart 
 repose on the enduring love and faithfulness and the never-failing 
 power of thy fathers' God ! We love thee for thy firmness, and yet 
 more for thy precious faith in Ilim who is both thy God and ours. 
 And we thank the God of our fathers that he sustained thee so 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VI. 335 
 
 graciously and made thy faith and firmness in duty an example so 
 inspiring to all who come after thee even down to the end of time ! 
 
 11. Then these men assembled, and found Daniel pray- 
 ing and making supplication before his God. 
 
 These men assembled, all intensely eager to see if their scheme 
 was working well, and moreover apparently aware of his accus- 
 tomed hours of devotion. They find him praying; and now they 
 feel sure of his ruin. 
 
 12. Then they came near, and spake before the king con- 
 cerning the king's decree; Hast thou not signed a decree, 
 that every man that shall ask a petition of any god or man 
 within thirty days, save of thee, O king, shall be cast into 
 the den of lions ? The king answered and said, The thing 
 is true, according to the 'law of the Medes and Persians, 
 which altereth not. 
 
 13. Then answered they and said before the king, That 
 Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, 
 regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast 
 signed, but maketh his petition three times a day. 
 
 They hasten to the king, and artfully begin with referring to the 
 decree, the standing law of the realm, for these thirty days. . When 
 the king had recognized it, they bring out the fact that Daniel has 
 broken it, putting this in the most offensive light possible even for 
 slander; "regardeth not thee, nor the decree which thou hast 
 signed." That same Daniel whom thou hast promoted so exces- 
 sively and so unwisely, has no proper regard for thee, O king ! Ho 
 prays to others as much as he pleases, despite of thine own law, 
 
 14. Then the king, when he heard tliese words, was sore 
 displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to de- 
 liver him : and he labored till the going down of the sun 
 to deliver him. 
 
 The king is chagrined and ashamed of himself that ho allowed 
 himself to be caught in this snare. Now for the first time he sees 
 the envious and mean spirit of his officers in obtaining from 
 him that decree, and bites his lips in shame that he could have 
 been so beguiled and entrapped. He labored to save Daniel^ till 
 the going down of the sun. No doubt he heartily esteemed Daniel 
 and proiiably loved him, and felt therefore the bitterest grief and 
 shame that he should be made unwittingly the author of his de- 
 struction. 
 
 15. Then these men assembled unto the king, and said 
 unto the king. Know, O king, that' the law of the Medes 
 and Persians is, That no decree nor statute which the king 
 establisheth may be changed. 
 
336 DANIEL.— CHAP. VI. 
 
 All his efforts are unavailing. Those men come en masse and 
 press him with the great doctrine of their national constitution, 
 that by the laws of the Medes and Persians, no decree or statute, 
 once established by the king, can be changed. 
 
 16. Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, 
 and cast him into the den of lions. Noiu the king spake 
 and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continu- 
 ally, he will deliver thee. 
 
 The king at length yields and gives command that Daniel be cast 
 into the den of lions. He had however known enough of the one 
 Jehovah to feel assured that he would deliver his own servant from 
 the lions, and said this to Daniel. 
 
 17. And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth 
 of the den ; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and 
 with the signet of his lords ; that the purpose might not be 
 changed concerning Daniel. 
 
 By this arrangement the miracle of divine protection was put be- 
 yond any suspicion of collusion and fraud. 
 
 18. Then the king went to his palace, and passed the 
 night fasting: neither w^ere instruments of music brought 
 before him : and his sleep went from him. 
 
 The king's heart is heavy with both grief and shame ; he eats not, 
 sleeps not. The word rendered " instruments of music," is sup- 
 posed by the ablest critics to mean concubines. Hence the clause 
 states that they were not admitted to his society. 
 
 19. Then the king arose very early in the morning, and 
 went in haste unto the den of lions. 
 
 20. And when he came to the den, he cried with a la- 
 mentable voice unto Daniel : and the king spake and said 
 to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, 
 whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from 
 the lions? 
 
 With the dawn, in the first light, the king came to the den, with 
 trepidation as well as haste (so the word implies) and cries out with 
 a sad voice, indicating his grief and anxiety. Though he had ex- 
 pressed to Daniel his confidence that (Jlod would deliver him, yet 
 he still asks the question as one who would feel better assured by 
 the evidence of his senses. 
 
 21. Then said Daniel unto the king*, O king, live for- 
 ever. 
 
 22. My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VI. 337 
 
 mouths, that they have not hurt me ; forasmuch as before 
 him imiocency was found in me; and also before thee, O 
 king, have I done no hurt. 
 
 Daniel casts no severe reproach upon the king. Indeed, the 
 original rather expresses a genial and kindly feeling; Daniel 
 "talked with the king." With beautiful modesty, he ascribes his 
 deliverance to God's own hand alone through his angel, and very 
 properly asserts his innocence of any wrong in this matter, either 
 toward God or toward his king. He could not admit that he had 
 done any harm toward the king by oj&ering his prayer to the God 
 of heaven. A law so intrinsically wicked he could not obey — ought 
 not to obey — and was consciously guilty of no wrong against the 
 
 law-making power in disobeying. We may suppose Daniel to 
 
 have had a sweet sense of the presence of God by his angel while 
 spending the night in the den with those hungry lions. There they 
 were, their savage nature and clamoring appetites held in firm sub- 
 jection, and God's own hand in it visibly present to his eye and 
 consciously to his innermost soul. That was a night of mingled 
 
 prayer and praise. Is it not safe for all men to trust God in the 
 
 path of known duty, though it lead into a lion's den ? Nay, is it 
 not more than safe — even gloriously blessed, to live so near to God 
 and to see his angels present in such forms of power and glory for 
 the protection of his trusting people? Who would not welcome 
 such an experience as that of Daniel, and rejoice to make it his 
 own? 
 
 23. Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and com- 
 manded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. 
 So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of 
 hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God. 
 
 The king is relieved and joyous to find that his valued friend is 
 safe and that no serious consequences have come from his wicked 
 law. The demands of the law having now been met, he orders 
 Daniel brought forth from the den. Not a scratch is on him, and 
 those heathen men know that this comes of his believing in his 
 God. They are witnesses to the saving power of Jehovah, God of 
 Israel. 
 
 24. And the king commanded, and they brought those 
 men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the 
 den of lions, them, their children, and their wives ; and the 
 lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in 
 pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den. 
 
 The great crime of Daniel's accusers now meets its righteous pun- 
 ishment. They had plotted his death; and though tliey had sought 
 to effect it by the forms of law, yet their malice and hence their 
 guilt were none the less for this reason. It was right and just that 
 
 15 
 
338 DANIEL.— CHAP. VI. 
 
 they should be made a public example, and the king was fully pre- 
 pared to do it. 
 
 25. Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and 
 languages, that dwell in all the earth ; Peace be multiplied 
 unto you. 
 
 26. I make a decree, That in every dominion of my king- 
 dom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel : for 
 he is the living God, and steadfast forever, and his king- 
 dom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion 
 shall be even unto tlie end. 
 
 27. He delivereth and rescueth, and lie worketh signs 
 and wonders in lieaven and in earth, who hath delivered 
 Daniel from the power of the lions. 
 
 These proceedings culminate in a royal decree after the manner 
 of Nebuchadnezzar (chap. 3: 29), calling on all men of every tribe 
 and language in all the earth, to tremble and fear before the God 
 of Daniel, The logic of this decree is simple. God delivered 
 Daniel from the lions by his supernatural power. He whose power 
 is so manifestly above nature must be the God of nature — the Maker 
 and Lord of all. He alone is the object of all rightful worship and 
 of true reverence, homage, love and trust. 
 
 28. So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and 
 in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. 
 
 Daniel's prosperity, his high position and commanding influence 
 in pulilic affairs, continued throughout the reign of Darius and into 
 the reign of Cyrus: — how far into the latter is not said. His last 
 
 recorded vision was in the third year of Cyrus. The reader will 
 
 scarcely need the suggestion that the character of Daniel, thus far 
 brought out fully under various and most trying circumstances, 
 shines only the more brilliantly by how much the fiercer the ordeal 
 through which it passes. He evinces the docility and modesty of 
 a child, coupled with superlative wisdom, great executive ability, 
 unswerving fidelity, and a firmness of principle that is above all 
 praise. His case presents the highest order of human qualities 
 of character, ennobled and exalted by the best type of true piety. 
 l>ohold in Daniel what the rich gifts of God's grace can make rf 
 tlie noblest of men! Let all who look toward office or any public 
 trust take note of Daniel, and account him one of the best models 
 of character for those who would hold well the trusts to which 
 they aspire. 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 339 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 This chapter gives the second of the four great prophecies of 
 Daniel — a vision obviously in very close analogy with that of chap. 
 2: 31-45, and in general parallel vrith that of chap: 8, and also that 
 
 of chaps. 10-12. The prophet sees in succession four great beasts, 
 
 the last of which has ten horns and ultimately an eleventh (vs. 2-8); 
 he then sees the fourth beast judged and slain (vs. 9-11); next "one 
 like a Son of man," receiving his eternal kingdom (vs. 13, 14); 
 finally, he asks and obtains an interpretation of tliis vision, especially 
 of the fourth beast and his horns (vs. 15-28). 
 
 In commenting upon this chapter, I propose to give, first, such 
 special expositions as the several clauses may seem to require, and 
 then discuss the great question at issue here — the real significance 
 of the fourth beast and his horns. This latter is the point on 
 which commentators differ; in all else, they mostly agree. 
 
 1. In the first year of Belsliazzar king of Babylonia Dan- 
 iel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed : 
 then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters. 
 
 Any attempt to fix the date of this vision involves the identification 
 of 13elshazzar Avith some one of the monarchs of Babylon. (On 
 
 this subject, see the general introduction to Daniel, p. 286.) 1 
 
 do not find him in Evil-Merodach who reigned after the death of 
 his father Nebuchadnezzar, two years, B. C. 561-559; nor in Nerig- 
 lissar, his successor, reigning four years, B. C. 559-555; nor in 
 his son, Laborosoarchod who reigned but nine months, and whose 
 name therefore does not appear on the canon of Ptolemy; nor in 
 Nabonidus (shortened into Nabonned), known by the Greeks as 
 Labynetus, who reigned seventeen years, B. C. 555-538, which 
 brings us down to the subversion of the Chaldean empire by Cy- 
 rus. ^ But I do find him coincident with the last years of Nabo- 
 nidus, his .father, who took him into partnership with the title of 
 king, as is shown by an inscription recently discovered. How long 
 he stood in this relation, bearing the title of king, is not known. 
 The sacred record speaks (chap. 8: 1) of his third year. His 
 
 death occurred B. C. 538. In his first year Daniel had this 
 
 vision, and immediately committed to writing its main points, as 
 revealing matters of high moment. 
 
 2. Daniel spake and saicj, I saw in my vision by night, 
 and; behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the 
 great sea. 
 
 3. And four great beasts came up fi-om the sea, diverse 
 one from another. 
 
 The elements of nature are in great commotion, s3*mbolizing 
 convulsions in the political elements. These four great beasts 
 
340 DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 
 
 come forth from the agitated sea, manifestly 2?i succession, to de- 
 note succession in the order of time in the great empires of which 
 they are the symbols. 
 
 4. The first ivas like a lion, and had eagle's wings : I 
 beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was 
 lifted up from the earth, and made to stand upon the feet 
 as a man, and a man's heart was given to it. 
 
 This lion with eagle's wings is thoroughly a Chaldean concep- 
 tion. Layard's late work, entitled, " Discoveries in Nineveh," 
 abounds with cases of this mongrel type, putting an eagle's wings 
 upon a lion, or, as the case may be, upon a bull. " Winged lions," 
 "winged bulls," and even human figures, with wings extending 
 from the shoulders, have been disinterred in considerable numbers 
 from the ruins of Nineveh within the present century, affording 
 remarkable proof that these conceptions in this vision of Daniel, 
 and also in Ezckicl chap. 1, and plscwher.c, are fully in keeping 
 with the popular ideas and the artistic usages of the people living 
 
 in the valley of the Euphrates during the age of these prophets. 
 
 Moreover, the lion and the eagle were then as now, symbols 
 of royalty, figuring conspicuously in the memorial arms of sove- 
 reigns. Layard speaks of- the name and title of the Khorsabad 
 kings, accompanied by the figure of a lion. The reader will re- 
 call "the British lion," and "the American eagle." So this first 
 beast is a lion with eagle's wings. -^ — As Daniel continued to study 
 this beast, lo, a change comes over him. Ilis wings are plucked ; 
 he is lifted up to stand erect as a man, and a man's heart is given 
 him. This change is not from brutal to human intelligence, but 
 from the brute force and resistless ferocity of the lion and the 
 eagle, to the comparative physical weakness of the man. The 
 Chaldean empire is fast waning to its fall. Its glory has de- 
 parted; its pristine, vigor has gone. In saying Chaldea, I have 
 
 of course assumed this to be the meaning of the lion Avith eagle's 
 wings. On this point all commentators agree. There is no room 
 for doubt or difference of opinion. The series of great empires 
 begins at the point of time then present, even as it did in the 
 
 great image, chap. 2: 31-45.— Let it be distinctly noted also 
 
 that Daniel asks no explanation whatever of the first three of 
 these symbols; the lion, the bear, and the leopard. They corre- 
 spond so perfectly with the first three divisions of the great image — 
 the head ; the breast afid arms ; and the belly and thighs ; that he 
 
 has no occasion to raise any question for further explanation. 
 
 Moreover it is not distinctly aflirmed here that these beasts come 
 forward iji succession, each supplanting its predecessor. The idea 
 of succession and the manner of it, are not made so clear in this 
 chapter as in chap. 8, where the he-goat overpowers the ram, and 
 then succeeds to his empire. Yet it is very manifest that these 
 b(Mists do follow eacli other in regular succession. The first has 
 had great power, but is now seen shorn of it and ready to bo van- 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 341 
 
 quishcd. The second in its time is a devourer of nations ; to tho 
 third, "dominion is given." No other view can reasonably be 
 taken of these beasts considered as great national powers, except 
 that they SAvay the empire of the world successively — each being 
 for his time supreme on the field of their location. 
 
 5. And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, 
 and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in 
 the mouth of it between the teeth of it : and they said thus 
 unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. 
 
 Of this second beast like a bear, our translation states that " it 
 raised up itself on one side." The original gives no sanction to this 
 reciprocal sense, raising one's-self up, but rather means that it was 
 made to stcoid, or simply arose and stood. Its " standing 07i one 
 side" should mean, either, on one side of the lion-power of v. 4, 
 viz., on the Xorth, or more closely N. N. E. ; or that it put forth its 
 aggressions en one direction, i. e., toward Chaldea, and the tribes of 
 Western Asia. Either sense is admissible in view both of the orig- 
 inal language and of the historic facts. Its "three ribs in the 
 
 mouth" indicate that it has been devouring flesh and still has these 
 three ribs not yet cranched and swallowed. I doubt if any special 
 significance attaches to the number of these ribs. The beast is com- 
 missioned to devour yet more. Of course this denotes the subjuga- 
 tion of yet other nationalities, and absorbing them into its own — an 
 accurate history so far of the Medo-Persian power. 
 
 6. After this, I beheld, and lo, another, like a leopard, 
 which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl : the 
 beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. 
 
 This be'ast, all commentators agree, is the Grecian empire of 
 Alexander — ^winged to denote the velocity of its armies and the 
 rapidity of its conquests. "Dominion given to it," almost drops the 
 figure of a beast, to give us in literal phrase the history of this 
 power. Correspondingly the passage (chap. 2: 39), has it, "An- 
 other third kingdom of brass which shall bear rule over all the 
 
 earth." Its having four heads is altogether in harmony with the 
 
 peculiar style of com|^osite and compound forms which abounds in 
 the ruins of ancient Nineveh and Babylon. I doubt if any special 
 significance pertains to it; but, if any, it may be this — that the 
 Grecian empire of Alexander was distinguished (as was Greece her- 
 self) more by the power of thought than the power of brute force. 
 Among the great kingdoms of that ancient world, this was the em- 
 pire of brains. 
 
 7. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a 
 fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly ; 
 and it had great iron teeth : it devoured and brake in pieces, 
 and stamped the residue Avith the feet of it : and it luas di- 
 
342 DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 
 
 verse from all the beasts that ivere before it; and it had ten 
 horns. 
 
 8. I considered the horns, and behold, there came up 
 among them another little horn, before whom there were 
 three of the first horns plucked up by the roots : and be- 
 hold in this horn were ejes like the eyes of man, and a 
 mouth speaking great things. 
 
 Postponinf;; my full discussion of the identity of this fourth beast 
 until other points in the chapter shall have been considered, I wish 
 the reader to notice noAV (1.) That this beast is specially de- 
 scribed as strong!;, dreadful and terrible. (2). That according to 
 
 the interpretation (vs. 23, 24), this beast stands for the fourth 
 kingdom; and his ten horns are ten kings in this kingdom, and 
 the little horn is also a king in the same line. (3.) Ap- 
 parently, the terribleness of this fourth kingdom lies specially 
 (though not solely) in this little horn-king. In proof of this, I ad- 
 duce two facts: (a) that the detailed account of the devastations 
 wrought by this entire power ascribes them to the little horn (see 
 vs. 2i, 22): and {h) that the judgment Avhich comes down from 
 God upon this fourth beast is represented as invoked specially by 
 the spirit and the deeds of this little horn, (see vs. 11 and 2G). It 
 was " because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake," 
 that " the beast was slain." And v. 26, also implies that the court 
 for judgment sat upon the case of the little horn, and took away 
 his dominion, to consume and destroy it utterly. That is, he was 
 king of the fourth kingdom at the time of this consuming judg- 
 ment. (4.) The terrible devastations effected by this little horn 
 
 manifestly fall upon the recognized people of God, his visible church; 
 and at a period when that church was Jewish, as is indicated by 
 this circumstance — that his aggressions upon their religion arc de- 
 scribed as a puqiose to "change times and laws" — a phrase by 
 which a Jewish Avriter would mean and Jewish readers would un- 
 derstand, the times and laws of the jNFosaic ritual service. [This 
 point Avill be amply confirmed when we reach the parallel account 
 of the little horn's aiiiiressions upon God's people as civen in chap. 
 
 8: 10-14, 23-25, and 11: 31-35.] (5.) . Hence 'it is entirely 
 
 legitimate to infer that this fourth beast is dreadful and terrible 
 to Daniel chiefly as seen from his Jeivish stand-pointy in the light 
 of his intense love for his own people, his sympathy with their 
 fortunes, and his responsibilities for their protection and welfare. 
 ] infer this from considerations draAvn in part from the known 
 relations sustained by Daniel to iha Jewish people ; in part from 
 numerous testimonies throughout this entire book to the great 
 strength of these feelings of love, s_ym|)athv, and solicitude in his 
 heart for them; and in part from palpal)le indications in this 
 very vision as above shown. The jioiut is one of great importance 
 in determining the ultimate significance of this fourth beast and his 
 horns, since it shows that this beast is not seen as great and terrible 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 343 
 
 fdaiivdy to the, whole luorld^ and certainly not relatively to the great 
 European world, onward to the end of time, and quite apart from 
 any bearing upon the Jews while "they were the visible church and 
 kingdom of God ; but is seen as terrible to the Jews mainly, and to 
 them before the kingdom of God was taken from them and given to 
 
 the Gentiles. This kingdom, said repeatedly to be "diverse from 
 
 all the beasts that were before it" (v. 7); "diverse from all others" 
 (v. 19); "a kingdom diverse from all kingdoms" (v. 23) — may have 
 been diverse in this particular respect, viz., of hostile bearing against 
 the Jewish people and their religion. This would make that power 
 
 specially formidable to the Jews. In the absence of any specific 
 
 showing of the point wherein this diversity lies, this is obviously 
 
 the most probable supposition. The characteristics of the little 
 
 horn; "eyes as of a man and a mouth speaking great things," will 
 be unfolded more fully in the sequel. Suffice it to say here that 
 these symbols indicate keen intelligence, sharpened by a malign 
 spirit and purpose, and by blasphemous hostility against the true 
 
 God and his people. The plucking up of three of the first horns 
 
 is alluded to and in part explained in v. 20. This will be a matter 
 for future consideration. 
 
 9. I beheld till the thrones were cast do^vn, and the An- 
 cient of days did sit, Whose garment was Avhite as snow, and 
 the hair of his head like the pure wool : his throne ims 
 like the fiery flame, and his Avheels as burning fire. 
 
 10. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before 
 him : thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thou- 
 sand times ten thousand stood before him : the judgment 
 was set, and the books were opened. 
 
 11. I beheld then because of the voice of the great words 
 which the horn spake : I beheld even till the beast was slain, 
 and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. 
 
 The vital question on this passage is ; Does it refer to the final 
 and general judgment; or to providential judgments in time^ for the 
 
 destruction of the fourth beast and his horns ? 1 adopt the latter 
 
 view and defend it on the following grounds. (1.) The general 
 
 final judgment is not in place here; would have no connection with 
 the subject in hand; is not indicated by any thing said in the con- 
 text, or by the nature of the subject. On the contrary, an al- 
 lusion to God's providential judgments upon guilty nations is in 
 'place here^ precisely so, being the very thing that such blasphemous 
 hostility to his kingdom and people calls for and should lead us to 
 
 expect. (2.) In the government of God over men, individuals 
 
 will bo judged at the end of this world, and punislied or rewarded 
 in the next ; but nations can be punished only in time — only in this 
 world, for the sufficient reason that they exist as nations only here. 
 They are not known as nations after tliis life. The awards made 
 at the final judgment are upon individuals only ; the retributions 
 
344 DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 
 
 of eternity arc on individuals alone. Ilcncc if this jud,o:ment falls 
 on the fourth beast and his horns, it must ]>c in this world; it can 
 
 not be at and after the end of it. (3.) The declared result and 
 
 outcome of this judgment is that this fourth beast " is destroyed, 
 and his body given to the burning flame" (v. 11). Conclusive to 
 the same point is v. 2G. "The judgment shall sit" (i. c, on the 
 little horn-king, then representing the fourth beast), " and they 
 shall take away his dominion to consume and destroy it" utterly. 
 
 What could be more decisive ? A nationality swept away ; 
 
 indeed the last one in a long series of Asiatic world-kingdoms; 
 kings cut down in their pride and rage against God, — these are 
 the declared results of this judgment. But if this were the judg- 
 ment scene of the last day, its result and outcome ought to be like 
 that of Mat. 25 : 31-46 — the assigning of the righteous and of the 
 wicked each to their eternal destinies — "these into everlasting pun- 
 ishment;" "those into life eternal." (4.) But further, the dis- 
 tinctive characteristics of the final judgment are not here. These 
 
 are, (a) That it takes place at the end of the world. (b) Is pre- 
 ceded by the general resurrection. (c) Embraces all the human 
 
 race from the beginning to the end of time ; and even the fallen 
 
 angels. ((/) That men are judged in it as individuals and not 
 
 as" nations. They are not known as nations there. There "Every 
 
 one of us shall give account of himself unto God." (e) In the 
 
 final judgment, Jesus Christ is to be the Judge. In this, the Judge 
 
 is "the Ancient of days," the Eternal Father. (See v. 13.) (/) 
 
 Its results are not transient, as these appear to be, but eternal, 
 even the eternal award of destiny to the righteous and to the 
 
 wicked. (g) The final ^ndgniant folloivs Christ's second advent; 
 
 this precedes his first advent. The latter statement, it will soon 
 
 be seen, must be true. The next verses (viz., 13, 14) describe 
 Christ's ascension and inauguration as King — events that follow 
 close after his resurrection — which itself belongs to his first, not 
 
 his second advent. All these points are characteristic features 
 
 of the final judgment. They are all wanting here. Their absence 
 forbids our interpreting this passage of the final judgment. Uence 
 we are shut up to the other alternative — a special providential 
 
 judgment, of such sort as God sends on guilty nations in time. 
 
 (5.) It can scarcely be necessary to adduce any other argument to 
 prove that this passage refers to God's providential judgments on 
 the fourth beast and his horns; yet it will interest the thoughtful 
 Biljle reader, and is entirely legitimate to the sphere of an expos- 
 itor, to add that the descri})tive points in this passage are fully in 
 analogy with those theophanies which occur somewhat frequently 
 in the Old Testament scriptures, in which (jod is seen enthroned, 
 or coming down in fire, often with attending angels, and perhaps 
 with the forms of a judicial tribunal, to visit retribution on guilty 
 
 nations. 'JMiat is to say, the antilogies of this passage are zvith 
 
 those which describe the judgments of God upon guilty nations in 
 time. Its main points and features are identical with this class of 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 345 
 
 passages, and therefore it belongs with them and denotes the same 
 class of judgments. 
 
 Taking the main points of this passage in the order in which 
 they stand, we have — (a) The Almighty God enthroned. Here, 
 " I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days 
 did sit." " Cast down," is not (as the Engli)?h reader might sup- 
 pose) overthrown, demolished, but means ^Vm(y sct.^ preparatory to 
 
 being used as a royal judgment-seat. Correspondingly in other 
 
 Hebrew theophanies ; Isaiah (6: 1) "saw the Lord sitting on a 
 throne, high and lifted up." Micaiah (1 Kings 22: 19) "saw the 
 Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by 
 him on his right hand and on his left." The Psalmist (11: 4, G) 
 writes, "The Lord's throne is in heaven; his eyes behold, his eye- 
 lids try the children of men:" . . . "Upon the wicked he will 
 
 rain fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest," etc. "His 
 
 garments white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure 
 wool," has its analogy in the Apocalypse (1 : 14). "His head and 
 his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow." Age is vener- 
 able; its incidents are clustered upon this personage to bespeak 
 for him reverence and homage. He is " the Ancient of Days." 
 
 Ijut this feature does not point to the final judgment. {h) This 
 
 throne is on wheels, and has the aspect of fire and flame. S o in 
 Ezek. 1. The visible glory of Jehovah appears upon a throne, which 
 itself reposes upon a "firmament" or elevated platform, supported 
 by four living creatures who are singularly connected with living 
 wheels. Here also is the aspect of fire. "As for the likeness of 
 the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, 
 and like the appearance of lamps ; it went up and down among the 
 living creatures, and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went 
 
 forth lightning" (Ezek. 1: 13). It should be borne in mind that 
 
 Ezekiel and Daniel were both residents in Chaldea, and were there- 
 fore familiar with those very peculiar modes of representing the 
 divine attributes which appear in the ruins of Nineveh as exhumed 
 within the last thirty years. Also, that they were contemporary; 
 that Ezekiel wrote his first chapter B. C. 595 (see chap. 1 : 2), and 
 Daniel this chapter about B. C. 540; i. c, fifty-five years later; so 
 that Daniel might have had thp writings of his elder brother 
 before him many years. Hence perhaps their close resemblance. 
 
 (c) Fire issues forth from God to devour his enemies. Here 
 
 in Daniel, "A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him." 
 So Ps. 50: 5, "Our God shall come . . . . a fire shall devour Tje- 
 fore him; it shall be very tempestuous round about him." And Ps. 
 97 : 3, "A fire goeth before him and burnetii up his enemies round 
 about." In David's glowing description of the Lord's coming to 
 his aid against his foes (Ps. 18: 8) we read; "There went up a 
 smoke out of his nostrils; fire out of his mouth devoured." So 
 also Moses (Deut. 5: 24), "For the Lord thy God is a consuming 
 fire, even a jealous God." So in Heb. 12: 29, "For our God is 
 a consuming fire." The fire sent on Sodom seems to have been a 
 standing type or model of God's judgments on corrupt nations and 
 
346 DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 
 
 to have supplied the figures of speech to express this idea. In Isa. 
 34: 9, 10, the alkision to that model is specially palpable. Of Idu- 
 mea, the prophet said, " The streams thereof shall be turned into 
 pitch and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof 
 shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor 
 day; the smoke thereof shall go up forever." Hence fire be- 
 came the usual symbol to denote the judgments which the Lord 
 in his providence brings upon guilty nations in time, of which fact 
 it may suffice to quote but one more passage (Isa. GG: 15, IG); "For 
 behold the Lord will come with fire and with his chariots like a 
 whirlwind, to render his anger with fury and his rebuke Avith 
 flames of fire; for by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead 
 with all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many." The 
 reader may add Mai. 4:1, 3. {d) Thousands of attendant min- 
 istering angels. Here it stands ; " Thousand thousands ministered 
 unto him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood l)efore him." The 
 fjict that they ^ninistered to him shows them to be, not culprits at 
 his bar, but servants awaiting his command. To " stand before 
 him" is also the customary attitude of his attendant angels. Not 
 in the final judgment alone, but wherever the Lord appears in his 
 glory and majesty and lets men see the realities of the spiritual 
 world, angels are seen about him as his executive agents. Micaiah 
 saw all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and 
 on his left (1 Kings 22: 19). When on Sinai there "went forth 
 from the Lord's right hand a fiery law for them" (Deut. 33: 2), 
 "he came with ten thousand of saints," holy ones; said by the 
 Psalmist (G8 : 17) to have been "thousands of Angels." Zech. 14: 
 5, has the same feature ; " There comes the Lord my God ! All 
 the holy ones are with Thee." {e) The forms of a judicial tri- 
 bunal. The close analogy between the judicial proceedings of 
 human courts and of the divine, accounts most amply for these 
 allusions. Thus Daniel; "The judgment was set and the books 
 were opened;" and v. 2G, "The judgment shall sit." So else- 
 where in those cases where the Lord comes down for the judgment 
 of wicked nations. Ps. 50 is a case where the Lord " calls to the 
 heavens from above and to the earth, that he may judge his peo- 
 ple" . . . . "for God is judge himself" Joel 3 is wholly in this 
 strain. "Let the heathen be wakened and come up to the valley 
 of Jehoshaphat; for there Avill I sit to judge all the heathen round 
 
 about." 1 am not aware that any other Hebrew theophany save 
 
 this of Daniel introduces the symbol of " the books " as witnessing 
 records against the ungodly, but there is surely no reason for as- 
 suming that this symbol can be used of no other judgment than 
 that at the end of the world. All the rest of these sj-mbols are 
 used, elesewhere than in Daniel, to denote the visitations of divine 
 judgment on guilty nations in time. (/) It may seem to be su- 
 perfluous to argue this point further; yet in a word let me add that 
 this destruction of the fourth beast and his horns must correspond 
 with the stone smiting the great image upon his feet of iron and 
 clay (chap. 2: 34, 35). As this smiting was not the final judg- 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 347 
 
 ment, but a jud2;ment in time; so is the judgment in the verses 
 before us. As that of chap. 2 occurs before the New Testament 
 kingdom of heaven is set up; precisely so should this, and pre- 
 cisely so it does, as will be seen when we pass on from this judg- 
 ment (vs. 9-11), to the next act of the drama (vs. 13, 14). This 
 latter point is of itself an independent and most conclusive argu- 
 ment for the position I have taken in regard to the character of 
 this judgment scene. Succession in the several points of this vis- 
 ion indicates succession in time as to the events predicted. Hence 
 there can be no doubt that the Son of Man coming to the Ancient 
 of Days and receiving his kingdom follows the destruction of the 
 fourth beast and of the little horn. But this inauguration of the 
 Son of Man in earth and especially in heaven, occurred at his as- 
 cension, as will be shown when the passage comes under consider- 
 ation. It should be noted that the interpretation of this part of 
 
 the vision gives the same order of events ; first, the judgment of God 
 sits to destroy the little horn, and then the kingdom is given to the 
 saints of God (vs. 26, 27). 
 
 12. As concerning the rest of the beasts they had their 
 dominion taken aAvay: yet their lives were prolonged for a 
 season and time. 
 
 The "rest of the beasts" are the first threS. The thing said of 
 them here is that, although they lost their supreme dominion, the 
 scepter over the kingdoms of the East passing into other hands, yet 
 they had still for a season a sort of existence without sovereignty. 
 At least so much as this seems to be implied, viz., that the judg- 
 ments of God did not fall on them so terribly and with so sudden 
 devastation as on the fourth beast. It is plain that the first three 
 are contrasted with the fourth. V. 11 shows that the fourth beast 
 came to his fearful doom because of the blasphemies of the little 
 horn-king. It is fair to presume, therefore, that at the time this 
 judgment fell, this kingdom was represented by the little horn, and 
 hence that the terribleness of this judgment pertains especially to 
 him. This is the obvious sense of the entire passage, vs. 9-12, and 
 is fully confirmed by the inspired interpretation (v. 24-27), where 
 it is tiie little horn-king who is judged and slain, and then next in 
 order the kingdom is given to Messiah and his people. 
 
 13. I saw in tlie niglit visions, and, behold, one like tlic 
 Son of man came w4tli the clouds of heaven, and came to 
 the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before 
 him. 
 
 14. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and 
 a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should 
 serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which 
 shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not 
 be destroyed. 
 
348 DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 
 
 This passage has decisive bearings on the interpretation of this 
 vision. It should therefore be expounded with the utmost care. 
 
 Its vital question is, Does this event tahe place at the close of 
 
 Christ! s first advent^ or shortly after his second? Does this passage 
 describe his coming to set up his New Testament " Kingdom of 
 heaven;" or, on the contrary, some inauguration of Christ as King 
 after the universal resurrection and the general judgment? One or 
 
 the other it must be. 1 hold the former view most decidedly, for 
 
 the reasons that follow. (1.) This kingdom and this setting up 
 
 of it must be the same as that of chap. 2 : 44. There was a king- 
 dom which should "never be destroyed;" "should stand forever;" 
 should not pass over to other hands; should demolish and then 
 supersede all that had been named before it. Here is a kingdom 
 universal, everlasting, and never to pass over to other hands. This 
 is the fifth kingdom of this vision : that is the fifth in that. The 
 
 identity is complete. (2.) That kingdom and this too are, beyond 
 
 all question, the very "kingdom of God" (otherwise called "king- 
 dom of heaven"), of which so much is said in the New Testament. 
 The reader is referred to the argument on this point in the notes on 
 
 chap. 2 : 44. (3.) The NewTestament determines the precise point 
 
 of Christ' s inauguration over this kingdom to be at his ascension. For 
 when John Baptist and our Lord began to preach, they both said in the 
 same identical words, " The kingdom of heaven is at hand." During 
 Christ's public ministry, even down to his death, he continually speaks 
 of it as very near, on one occasion saying; "The time is fulfilled" 
 (]Mark 1 : 15). Immediately before his death, and also after it and 
 before his ascension, he speaks of this regal power as already given 
 him, although the public inauguration in heaven was yet really future, 
 saying in his prayer (Jn. 17: 2), "As thou hast given him power 
 over all flesh;" and to his disciples shortly before his ascension 
 (Mat. 28: 18), "All power is given unto me in heaven and in 
 earth." It need not surprise us that he should thus anticipate a 
 
 great event which was so near. After his ascension, the apostles 
 
 with one voice testify that Christ has now become really King and 
 Lord of all. They preached this with astonishing effect on the day 
 of Pentecost (Ac. 2 : 33-3G) : " This Jesus hath God raised up." 
 "Being by the right hand of God exalted," etc. "God hath made 
 that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ." 
 And subsequently (Ac. 5: 31); "Him hath God exalted with his 
 right hand to be a Prince and a Savior to give repentance to Is- 
 rael," etc. So in Peter's first Gentile sermon (Ac. 10: 3G); "He is 
 Lord of all." Further, the Epistles definitely locate this inaugura- 
 tion immediately after his resurrection and ascension; e. (/., Eph. 
 1 : 20-22, " When he raised him from the dead and set him at his 
 own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality 
 and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named,- 
 not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and hath 
 put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things 
 to the church," etc. And 1 Pet. 3: 22; "Who is gone into heaven 
 and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 349 
 
 bcin^ made subject unto him." Compare also Jn. 3 : 35, and Mat. 
 11: 27, and Rom. 14: 9, and Phil. 2: 9, 10, and Heb. 2: 9, and 
 1 : 3, and 12 : 2, and Rev. 3 : 21, and 17: 14. Even this list is not 
 exhaustive, but it is amply sufficient. Remarkably, the scrip- 
 tural record of our Lord's history is closely continuous from his 
 death on Calvary to his completed inauguration on the throne at 
 the right hand of the Father, New Testament history follows him 
 step by step through his successive manifestations to his disciples 
 during forty days, until at length he led them out to Bethany; the 
 last words were spoken; he lifted up his hands and blessed them; 
 and while they were beholding, he was taken up and a cloud re- 
 ceived him out of their sight. Here the New Testament history loses 
 sight of him for the moment, for their strained eyes can follow him 
 no farther; but the cloud and the glorious Personage whom it em- 
 bosomed were caught by the eye of Daniel in this night-vision; 
 "He saw and behold one like a Son of man came with the clouds 
 of heaven and came to the Ancient of Days ; and they brought him 
 near before him, and there was given him dominion and glory and 
 a kingdom" — universal, never to be transferred to other hands, and 
 never to be destroyed. The connection is complete; Jesus was in- 
 augurated as king and seated on his throne immediately upon his 
 ascension to heaven. Then and thenceforward the empire of this 
 world is his. He rules it in the interests of his church and people. 
 He rules it to convert the nations to himself He is head over all 
 things for the sake of his church — till this church shall embrace 
 the wide earth, and "the kingdoms of this world shall become the 
 kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever 
 and ever." 
 
 Does the. question arise. Why should Christ have been inaugu- 
 rated then? Was he not "Lord of all" before? Were not- the 
 Avorlds made by him and ruled by him also as well ? And was not 
 
 all this known in heaven ? The answer is involved in the very 
 
 language of Daniel; "I saw one like a Son of Man coming in the 
 clouds of heaven," etc. Jesus, as incarnate., had not been in heaven 
 before. The man Jesus had not been visibly recognized there up 
 to that hour. The divine Lord of all appears there now in new re- 
 lations, and it was fitting that in these new relations he should be 
 publicly recognized and duly. inducted into his exalted station and 
 dignity. Hence the pertinence of Paul's logic; '■^ loherefore," (i. e., 
 because Christ Jesus had so benevolently and sublimely "humbled 
 himself" — therefore) "God hath highly exalted him and given him 
 
 a name above every name" (Phil. 2: 9). (4). But yet further: 
 
 no such inauguration occurs at his second coming. It would be 
 superfluous to repeat its forms then; nay, more, worse than super- 
 fluous, since it would practically ignore this inauguration and im- 
 peach its validity — not to say deny its reality. But we are not left 
 to such reasonings however strong; the silence of the Bible as to 
 any such inauguration at that time is sufficient to explode the as- 
 sumption. There is not a word in the sacred Scriptures to show 
 any inauguration of Christ or setting up of his kingdom at his 
 
350 DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 
 
 second advent. Beyond all question, therefore, tins inauguration in 
 our passage must be (as above explained) that which immediately 
 
 followed his ascension and first advent. Consequently these 
 
 verses give us a definite limit over which the fourth l^east and his 
 horns (kings) can not pass ; — prior to which they must have their.life 
 and meet their destruction. This limit is what interpreters call tech- 
 nically the "terminus ad quem" — the point where the events of the 
 
 vision must close, and below which in time they can not extend. ■- 
 
 It is every thing gained for the just and sure interpretation of 
 prophecy when we are able to fix with unerring certainty this 
 ■'terminus ad quem." It is fixed here by the complete identity 
 between tliis inauguration of the vSon of Man seen l)y Daniel, and 
 the same event located by the New Testament at his ascension, 
 connected with his first actvent. For it can not be reasonable to 
 evade this argument by dislocating the order of events in this vision. 
 This" order is closely consecutive. The inauguration (vs. 13, 14), 
 follows the destruction of the fourth beast (vs. 9-11) by the same 
 law by which the fourth beast himself follows the third; the third 
 the second; and the second the first. Nothing but capricious vio- 
 lence can sever this consecutive order. Moreover, the Angel- 
 interpreter (vs. 25-27) gives precisely the same order of succession 
 as the vision. The fourth beast develops itself into the little horn, 
 or rather the little horn was at the time of this judgment the 
 reigning king in this fourth kingdom. Ys. 24 and 25 give his sins ; 
 V. 26, iiis punishment; v. 27, the subsequent and consequent set- 
 ting up of Messiah's kingdom. The order of succession here is 
 un(|uestionable and gives its whole strength to confirm the same 
 
 closely consecutive order in the vision (vs. 9-11 and 13, 14). It is 
 
 pleasant to notice the law of mental association by which the mind 
 of the Spirit passes from the judgment and destruction of the fourth 
 beast and little horn to the setting up of Christ's kingdom and to 
 its glorious though somewhat remote triumphs. This law is quite 
 common in the prophetical writings. Under it Isaiah makes use 
 of the signal destruction of the invading hosts of Assyria, passing 
 over from that startling event to the far more grand and glorious 
 victories of King Messiah in the latter days. See Isa. 10: 28-34, 
 with chaps. 11 and 12. lie passes in the same way (chaps. 34 and 
 35) from the fall of Idumea to the victories of Messiah. So also 
 does Joel; and so indeed do all the prophets. The course of thought 
 is this : The Lord who works the lesser and nearer deliverance can 
 also work the greater and more remote. The poAver that can 
 achieve the one can achieve the other. The love and care for his 
 people that secure the one secure also the other. The will and 
 purpose to do the. one are therefore the pledge of a like will and 
 purpose to do the other. This is the real law of mental connec- 
 tion — the course of logical thought that links the latter event to the 
 former; yet the minds of most men leap from the former class of 
 events to the latter by spontaneous inference. Following this law 
 of mind, the Divine Spirit adapts his teachings to the natural course 
 of human thou<^ht. 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 351 
 
 "His love in time past 
 Forbids me to think 
 He '11 leave me at last 
 In trouble to sink." 
 
 So Zion cleaves to the record of God's marvelous works of power 
 and grace in her behalf in days of old, and builds thereon her faith 
 for more and greater works in exigencies yet to come. So the Lord 
 himself teaches his people. 
 
 15. I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my 
 body, and the visions of my head troubled me. 
 
 16. I came near unto one of them that stood by, and 
 asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made 
 me know the interpretation of the things. 
 
 Daniel has a painful sense of something sorely afflictive to the 
 people of God in this vision, and therefore seeks its interpretation 
 from an attendant angel. "Asked him the truth," etc., does not 
 imply that ho doubted God's veracity, but only that he was in doubt 
 what this truth might be. It was the substance and meaning, and 
 not the reliability, that he sought to learn. The angel kindly, ex- 
 plains. 
 
 17. These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, 
 which shall arise out of the earth. 
 
 18. But the saints of the Most High shall take the king- 
 dom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and 
 ever. 
 
 This first explanation is exceedingly brief — so brief that it dpes 
 not meet Daniel's felt Avants, and he therefore proceeds at once to 
 make his inquiries more specific. The word used here in ex- 
 plaining the meaning of the beasts is king, not kingdom. Yet the 
 more full and specific interpretation (vs. 23, 24) makes them defi- 
 nitely kingdoms and the horns kings. Beyond all question, the 
 whole course of Daniel's visions in chaps. 7 and 8 requires this con- 
 struction — the beasts, kingdoms, and the horns, kings. The more 
 full and precise statements must prevail over the one that is more 
 
 brief and general. The nature of the symbol also requires this. 
 
 The king finds his type in the horn, for the horn is the executive power 
 of the beast, but has no power apart from the beast. So of the king. 
 The beasts in these visions are nationalities, embracing many kings 
 in succession. — ■ — Two reasons may be assigned for this peculiar 
 
 use of "king" in this passage instead of kingdom. (1.) The very 
 
 l)revity of the statement. (2.) The fact that (in the case of the 
 
 first three especially) each kingdom was mainly 'embodied in one 
 several king; Chaldea in Nebuchadnezzar; the Medo-Persian em- 
 pire, in Cyrus; the Grecian, in Alexander. So far forth as these 
 successive dynasties afi"ected the ancient people of God, these kings 
 severally were every thing. To all practical purposes, they were 
 
352 DANIEL.— CIIxVP. VII. 
 
 the khigdoms. And with nearly as much propriety may the same 
 be said of the fourth. So far as it affected the Jews, it was chiefly 
 embodied in Antiochus Epiphanes. 
 
 19. Then I w^ould know the truth of the fourth beast, 
 which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, 
 whose teeth were oj iron, and his nails of brass ; iv'hich de- 
 voured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his 
 feet ; 
 
 20. And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of 
 the other which came up, and before whom three fell ; even 
 of that. horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very 
 great things, whose look ivas more stout than his fellows. 
 
 21. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, 
 and prevailed against them ; 
 
 22. Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was 
 given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came 
 that the saints possessed the kingdom. 
 
 Daniel here recites that part of the vision which he specially 
 wishes the angel to explain. It is that which relates to the fourth 
 
 beast, his ten horns, and more than all, that little horn. The 
 
 word rendered " stout," means impudent, arrogant. Daniel seems 
 
 already to understand somewhat more than is distinctly stated in 
 the vision as he gives it, (vs. 7, 8,) this for instance; that "the same 
 horn made war with the saints and prevailed against them." The 
 manner of introducing this: "I beheld," etc., seems to imply an- 
 other scene in the vision, in addition to those narrated vs. 2-14. 
 
 It Avill be noted also that he supposes this war to continue, with 
 success on the side of this horn, "until the Ancient of Days shall 
 come" (as stated vs. 9-10), and interpose his judgment on this little 
 horn-power to deliver his saints and give them the kingdom. This 
 shows Daniel's idea of the consecutive order of these events. It 
 seems to imply also that he expected this giving of the kingdom to 
 the saints would ensue very soon after the destruction of the little 
 horn. Yet it may be that this vision did not aim to give minutely the 
 intervals between great and somewhat remote events. Tliey may be 
 seen in vision in close connection because of their mutual relation as 
 
 cause and result, and not because of their close relation in time. 
 
 Or we might say, the interval between the destruction of the little 
 horn and the giving of the kingdom to Christ's people is passed in 
 silence and practically ignored as a time-interval because there was 
 nothing in it to be noticed ; none of that class of events which the 
 vision takes note' of. The series of great world-monarchies, sway- 
 ing the populations of Western Asia had utterly perished. The 
 Chaldean, the Medo-Persian, the Alexandrian-Greek, and everyone 
 of the four kingdoms that became his successors, are now dead. 
 They have gone down forever ; and on that territory, of that class of 
 powers, there is nothing to Buccccd them. Most fitly and beauti" 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VII, o5o 
 
 fully therefore does the spirit of prophecy represent the kingdom 
 of the Messiah as coming next upon the stage and supplanting all 
 these world-monarchies, to stand forever. It comes next, for nothing 
 of the sort intervened before its development in the personal advent 
 of Christ and his triumphal inauguration as king at his ascension. 
 
 23. Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth 
 kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all king- 
 doms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it 
 down, and break it in pieces. 
 
 24. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings 
 that shall arise : and another shall rise after them ; and he 
 shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three 
 kings. 
 
 25. And he shall speake ^/rea^w^ords against the Most High, 
 and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think 
 to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his 
 hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. 
 
 This explanation is of prime importance in the interpretation of 
 this vision. The main points made in it are; that the beasts are 
 kingdoms : that the fourth is the fourth consecutive kingdom, diverse 
 from all the preceding probably in the respect of being more hostile 
 to the Jews while they are the recognized people of God; that it 
 should devour the whole earth, making widespread devastations; 
 that its ten horns are ten kings; that the little horn is yet another 
 king arising after them, diverse from the preceding ten; and here, 
 also, probably diverse in the point of more bitter hostility to God's 
 people : that he shall speak hano;hty and blasphemous words against 
 God; shall wage sore and wasting wars against the Jews and pur- 
 pose to subvert their religion — (for a Jewish prophet should use 
 this language in such a connection only of the Mosaic system, and 
 Jewish readers could understand by it nothing else;) and finally, 
 that they should be given into his hand so that he would effectually 
 arrest the established worship of the sanctuary during three and a 
 half years. This construction as to the duration of this period, " a 
 time, times and the dividing of time," follows Daniel's use of the 
 same word in his account of Nebuchadnezzar's insanity (chap. 4 : 
 IG, 23, 25, 32), where, beyond a doubt, a "time" means a year. 
 But this point will be resumed at a later stage of the discussion. 
 
 26. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away 
 his dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the end. 
 
 27. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness 
 of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to 
 the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom 
 is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve 
 and obey him.- 
 
354 DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 
 
 This "judgment" interprets the scene described vs. 9-11, and, as 
 already suggested, shows that it fell specially on the little horn 
 who ^Va8 largely the embodiment and impersonation of the fourth 
 kingdom. The fall of this fourth kingdom is soon followed by the 
 setting up of the Messiah's kingdom wliieli is represented as " given 
 to the people of the saints of the ^lost High " because they arc its 
 instrumental agents, and because its triumphs are identical with 
 their real success and prosperity. 
 
 28. Hitherto is the end of the mutter. As for me Dan- 
 iel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance 
 changed in me : but I kept the matter in my heart. 
 
 Here this vision and its interpretation close. Daniel is person- 
 ally very much affected. His great heart, ever intensely anxious 
 for "his people," feels keenly under the prophetic view of their 
 future trials, persecutions, and sufferings. lie thinks intently and 
 with troubled thought; but having no pious bosom friend near, he 
 "kept the matter in his heart." 
 
 Having now considered the sense of the several clauses in this 
 chapter, both in themselves and in their relations to each other, wc 
 are prepared to take up the great question of interpretation upon 
 which critics so widely differ, viz.. What is the fourth kingdom^ and 
 
 who is this little horjif Is this kingdom Rome Pagan, and this 
 
 horn Rome Papal? Or, is the fourth kingdom that of Alexan- 
 der's successors; and the little horn, Antiochus Epiphanes? ■ 
 
 These are the only theories that speciall}'' claim attention. Hence 
 
 the question is narrowed down to a choice between these. 1 
 
 adopt the last-named theory, understanding by the fourth beast 
 those portions of the cleft empire of Alexander which lay geograph- 
 ically nearest the Jews, with whom politically they stood in close 
 and potential relations, and wdiich chronologically follow imme- 
 diately after the death of Alexander and continue very nearly down 
 to the coming of Christ. These were primarily and chiefly the 
 Syrian kingdom founded by Seleucus Nicator, B. C. 312, and much 
 less prominently the Egyptian, founded by Ptolemy Lagus, B. C 
 
 323. This theory assumes that in many respects the fourth 
 
 beast and all his horns are a unit. They arc so in being alike 
 
 portions of the great Grecian emj^ire of Alexander, also in the 
 
 respect of being Grecian in name, in language, in customs and in 
 
 \ national spirit; and more than all, in the point of sustaining the 
 
 ! closest foreign relations with the Jews. This theory, with this 
 
 \ view of its import, I adopt, 
 
 I. Because this political power comes in the natural order of 
 succession. It hclds this place of natural order, (1.) Chronolog- 
 ically; (2.) Geographically; (3.) Politically; (4.) In respect to its 
 relations to the Jewish people. 
 
 (1.) Chronologically, Alexander's successors come next in time. 
 He died B. C. 323. The Greco-Egyptian kingdom was founded in 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 355 
 
 the same year. The Greco-Syrian — the result of long and bloody 
 wars, became settled only after eleven years of conflict. Then it 
 became the most potent foreign power in its relations to the Jews. 
 On the contrary, the Roman empire came into no important re- 
 lations to the Jews until the Christian era ; never disturbed their 
 repose effectually until A. D. 70 — nearly four hundred years after 
 Alexander's death, and bore no part among the foreign powers 
 controlling the fortunes of the Jews until they aided Herod to the 
 Jewish throne, B. C. 37; {. e., nearly three hundred years after the 
 death of Alexander. Such a chronological hiatus should not be 
 assumed without the most cogent reasons. It is "violently improb- 
 able." (2.) Geographically, the Syrian kingdom appears on the 
 same territory which had been the theater and home of the Chal- 
 dean, Medo-Persian, and essentially of the Grecian empires. But 
 Rome belonged to an entirely diffei'ent and then nearly unknown 
 part of the world. Rome never was Asiatic, never was Oriental; 
 never therefore was a legitimate successor of the first three of these 
 
 great empires. (3.) Politically, these kingdoms, Syria and Eg^^pt, 
 
 should be the fourth beast, especially Syria, because made up of 
 the same nationalities — the same tribes, nations, and peoples — that 
 composed successively the Chaldean, the Medo-Persian, and the 
 Grecian empires. As these successively were composed in large 
 measure of the same populations, only recast and clustering round 
 a ncAv political center, covering essentially the same territory; so 
 this fourth kingdom should be sought on the same territory, among 
 
 the same populations. Rome had the seat of her power and the 
 
 masses of her population in another and remote part of the world. 
 
 (4.) But especially should this complex power be the fourth 
 
 beast and kingdom of Daniel, l)ecause it stood in close proximity to 
 the Jews, in fact embosoming it on the south and on the north, and 
 constituting the foreign nations with which JewS stood in the closest 
 relations of war or peace. The genius and scope of this vision de- 
 mand that this fourth beast should represent such nations, and 
 utterly forbid us to think of a power far away in the recesses of 
 Europe, and which in the period in question, i. e., during the three 
 centuries ouAvard from B. C. 323, had absolutely nothing to do with 
 the fortunes of the Jewish people. 
 
 II. This theory follows the analogy of tRe first three kingdoms. 
 
 1 have already presented this as one of the laws by which 
 
 these visions should be interpreted; — the parts less fully explained 
 should follow the analogy of the parts more fully explained. The 
 fourth beast should follow the analogy of the first three. Since 
 there remains no doubt as to the meaning of the first three, let us 
 carefully gather up all ^xe can learn there and apply it to the inter- 
 pretation of the fourth. Why not? Now, the first three king- 
 doms stand in the closest political relations to the Jews. In fact, 
 they are here for this reason and no other. The great moral les- 
 sons which these four parallel visions address to Daniel's people 
 begin with and grow out of these historic facts; — The great k'mg- 
 donis xoh'ich successivelij overshadow your nationality^ -Under which you 
 
356 DANIEL— CHAP. VIL 
 
 sigh in cajjiivity^ or live in dependent subjection, or against ivhich you 
 war for your very existence, or for the faith and worship of your 
 fathers, — sliall soon be subverted and swept away, and Messiah's 
 
 Icingdom take their place and fill all the earth. Con8C({ucntly the 
 
 lirst three kingdoms tare precisely those under which the Jews lived. 
 Analogy requires that the fourth should bear the same relations. 
 Again, of the first three, each follows closely upon his prede- 
 cessor, the ]\redo-rersian subverting and succeeding the Chaldean, 
 B. C. 538 ; the Grecian in like manner subverting and succeeding 
 the Medo-Pcrsian, B. C. 335-323. The powers that closely suc- 
 ceeded the death of Alexander, and were the persecutors, or, as the 
 case may be, the protectors, of the Jews, were the Egyptian, founded 
 in the same year, and the Syrian, which became established eleven 
 years later. These, then, must answer by analogy to the fourth 
 beast. — =— As those first three covered substantially the same terri- 
 tory, so by analogy should the fourth. On this theory it does. 
 
 But every point of this analogy forbids us to think of Rome Pagan 
 as the fourth beast, and much more, of Kome Papal as the little 
 horn. 
 
 III. The fourth beast, or rather the little horn, one of its kings, 
 assails the Jewish religion and aims to subvert it. This must be 
 the sense of the passage, " He shall wear out the saints of the 
 Most High and think to change times and laws." The only " times 
 and law" (the Chaldee is singular) known to Daniel and to his 
 first readers, were those of the Jewish ritual service. This lan- 
 
 fuage must therefore refer to Judaism. " The saints of the IMost 
 [igh," so sorely pressed and exhausted by this king, must have 
 been Jews — in the age before Christ. All just principles of inter- 
 pretation compel us to apply this language to an attack on Jews 
 and Judaism while the latter was in force ; and forbid us to apply 
 it to Papal Rome. The books of Maccabees constantly use the 
 phrase, "change the law," or "the laws," for the very change 
 which Antiochus sought to bring about. 
 
 IV. The more terrible beast is manifestly such mainly because 
 of his hostility against the people of Daniel and their divinely 
 authorized system of worship. This point has been already ad- 
 duced. In respect to malignity against the Jewish religion, he is 
 diverse from all the other l)easts. Especially is this true of the 
 little horn-king. Indeed, this horn is seen first in the fourth beast, 
 and subsequently developed out of it, and seen in his own individ- 
 uality. For his sins, the fourth beast is " destroyed and given to 
 the burning flame." On him specially the terrible judgments of 
 
 (Jod fell. All this, and specially its obvious relations to Judaism, 
 
 utterly fail of application to Papal Rome. Applied to Antiochus 
 Epiphanes, it is precisely his Jiistory — as will erelong be more 
 fully shown. 
 
 V. The application of the " terminus ad quern" is decisive. The 
 limit below which none of these beasts or their horns can be found, 
 is the ascension of Christ and his inauguration as king. All the 
 special, definite points embraced in this vision, not only all that 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 357 
 
 relate to the first three beasts, but also all that relate to the fourth 
 and to his horns, must precede this giving of the kingdom to Christ 
 and to his people. No part of this vision comes after that " giving,'' 
 except the general facts of the eternal duration and universal sway 
 of this kingdom. Of the details given in the vision, no other occurs 
 
 subsequent to the ascension of Christ. ^It is, therefore, simply 
 
 impossible that the Koman theory can be true. It is undet the 
 sternest demands of the laws of interpretation thai the fourth beast 
 represents the dominion of Alexander's successors, and the little 
 horn, Antiochus Epiphanes. 
 
 VI. There are yet other arguments of no small weight. The two 
 remaining visions — that of chap. 8 and that of chaps. 10-12 — are yet 
 to be considered. In its place I intend to examine carefully the 
 indications that they are parallel to this, and therefore confirm the 
 interpretation given of this. Each of those visions gives a much 
 more full account than this of the vital point — the little horn-power. 
 We shall find on examination that every feature given of the little 
 horn here -is found there, only in general more fully expanded and 
 with additional but never with conflicting points. Nothing beyond 
 this can be reasonably asked to prove identity. But' this argument 
 need not be anticipated further in this place. 
 
 VII. It is altogether in favor of this Antiochean theory that it 
 requires no violation of the laws of prophetic language in respect 
 to notations of time. The "time, times, and dividing of time," I 
 simply make three and a half years, following Daniel's own use of 
 these words in chap. 4: 16, 23, 25, 32, How fitly this applies to 
 Antiochus Epiphanes, desecrating the sanctuary and holding it des- 
 olate three and a half years, will be shown in its place. In its 
 place also I shall call special attention to the baseless theory that 
 in prophecy all notations of time must be multiplied by three hun- 
 dred and sixty to get actual time. See Appendix A, 
 
 VIII. This theory adequately meets the demands of history. Its 
 complete fulfillment, proven without violence to the laws of inter- 
 pretation on the one hand, or to the facets of history on the other, 
 
 closes the argument in its support. Legitimately the argument 
 
 from historic fulfillment should always come last in order. The 
 full' sense of the prophecy should be obtained from other sources 
 than conjectural hypothetic fulfillment. This done, a facile, natu- 
 ral fulfillment comes in to close the argument and place it beyond 
 controversy or doubt. The capital vice in many interpretations of 
 these prophecies has lain in the violation of this rule. Some fore- 
 gone theory of fulfillment has superseded all other laws of inter- 
 pretation, and has been allowed to shape and fix the sense of words 
 and phrases, often in palpable violation of the laws of Hebrew 
 speech — not to say, of all speech. Hence an untold amount of 
 caprice, speculation, and palpable violation of very obvious laws 
 
 of language, But to our point. 1, Fulfillment verifies the 
 
 interpretation given above of the first three beasts. The Chaldean 
 kingdom under Nebuchadnezzar was, among the nations of the 
 East, a lion with eagle's wings. Under Bclshazzar, his wings were 
 
858 DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 
 
 plucked, his courage gone ; he had no longer the power to stand 
 
 before. a fierce northern bear. This is history. The Medo-Per- 
 
 sian power followed immediately, pushing its conquests westward 
 and southward, "devouring much llesh," supplanting and succeed- 
 ing the Chaldean empire, and especially, coming into the same 
 close political relations to the Jews, and sustaining them during 
 
 the period B. C. 53^-337. This too is history. The Grecian 
 
 empire of Alexander comes next, swiftly subverting the Medo-Per- 
 sian, and becoming during its short continuance the protector of 
 the Jews. So far history simply translates the obvious sense of 
 
 these prophetic symbols. 2. With equal facility, on the same 
 
 principles, in the same line of thought and course of analogy, his- 
 tory verifies the interpretation above given of the fourth beast. He 
 represents the powers that immediately followed Alexander and lay 
 contiguous to the Jews, standing toward them in close political re- 
 lations. Out of the cleft empire of Alexander the Great arose 
 
 two kingdoms, Egypt on the south, and Syria on the north of Pales- 
 tine, between whom the Jews alternated in their allegiance, greatly 
 dependent for their political welfare upon their relations of peace 
 or war with- these adjacent powers. Of these two, the Syrian, 
 founded by Seleucus Nicator B. C. 312, was the stronger and by 
 far the more terrible to the Jews. It is this kingdom that mainly 
 constitutes the fourth beast and fills out the prophetic description. 
 The kingdom of Egypt is qmte subordinate; yet because of its 
 close political relations to the Jews, but yet more, because it cer- 
 tainly appears in the more full predictions in chap. 11, it can not 
 be altogether excluded. Both were fragments of the great empire 
 of Alexander; both were among his successors; both were Grecian 
 in language, customs and general character. Each in turn were 
 in close relations of alliance and of protection or oppression as to 
 
 the Jews. The Syrians had long wars with them. These points 
 
 substantially constitute the conditions of the prophecy to which the 
 
 facts of history should and do correspond. The Syrian kingdom 
 
 was great, and terrible, relatively to the Jews ; and not only so, it 
 was great absolutely, and its founder was a great conqueror and a 
 terrible scourge upon the nations of the East. From the testimony 
 of Justin, Arrian, and Appian, it appears that he was called '' Nieafor " 
 (the conqueror) on account of his gaining so many great victories; 
 that he obtained the most extensive dominion and became the 
 greatest king after Alexander; and that he ruled over all Western 
 Asia from the Hellespont to India — those very countries which for 
 nearly three hundred years had been the seat of empire for the 
 
 three great prophetic dynasties before him. Further, Daniel 
 
 himself recognizes his greatness, using the very same language of 
 his dominion as of Alexander's. The latter " shall rule with great 
 dominion" (chap. 11: 3). Of the former, Seleucus Nicator, he says 
 
 (cliap. 11: 5), "His dominion shall be a great dominion." The 
 
 era of the Seleucidjx; dates from the beginning of his reign H. C. 
 
 312, or as some nations held it, B. C 311. These two kingdoms 
 
 and especially the Syrian, fill the right place for the fourth beast' 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 359 
 
 territorially, politically, chronologically, and in the line of special 
 relations to the Jews. They come in immediately after Alexander 
 and pass away before the Son of man receives his everlastiuo; king- 
 dom. So much for the fourth beast. But what of the ten 
 
 horns ? It is remarkable that very many interpreters seem to 
 
 have had no guide in searching for the horns of this fourth beast 
 save mere conjecture. The process has been tentative — to go forth 
 into the broad field of history, and find somewhere ten kings or 
 ten kingdoms that seem to cluster easily together, and conscript 
 them. into service to do duty on this beast of Daniel. Probably a 
 score of different expositions could be found among those who adopt 
 the Roman theory, who (by the way) universally make the horns king- 
 doms, not kings, and European kingdoms at that (utterly at variance 
 with God's own interpretation), some of them counting off their ten 
 kingdoms in the fifth century ; some finding other ten in the sixth ; 
 and some yet another ten at some point along the middle ages, 
 
 etc. Scarcely any two commentators fix upon the same set. 
 
 Another score could probably be found of those who adopt the 
 Grecian theory, who usually look for kings, not kingdoms — in so 
 far, following, and not disregarding the divine interpreter. Some 
 assume that they were contemporary, and look for them among the 
 rival claimants for the throne and dominion of Akxander the Great; 
 others think them consecutive, and look for them in the Syrian line 
 only, down to Antiochus Epiphanes ; others select out of the two 
 kingdoms, Egypt and Syria, the number of ten who bore the most 
 intimate relations to the Jews. It would be tedious to recite these 
 
 lists and could »ot be very profitable. In view of them all, I 
 
 have it to say, that if there were no better clew, I should adopt the 
 one last named as being most in harmony with the scope of the 
 vision; viz., select ten consecutive kings, falling betv/een the death 
 of Alexander and the rise of Antiochus Epiphanes who came most 
 into contact with the Jews, and who most fully represented the re- 
 lationship of the Jewish nation to foreign powers. But, there is 
 
 nO occasion to throw ourselves upon conjecture at all. There is no 
 occasion even to do the next best thing — take the clew just referred to 
 and trace out those kings of Egypt or Syria whose agency was most 
 vital for good or evil to the fortunes of the Jews. For the selec- 
 tion is substantially made ready to our hand in Daniel's last vision. 
 There, dropping all figure and symbol, he gives us the very kings 
 themselves. So clear is this description that the great body of com- 
 mentators have followed the same track of interpretation and name 
 these kings as they occur (chap. 11: 5-27) in precisely the same 
 way. The wonder is that \\^th so much agreement in respect to 
 these kings, no commentator within my knowledge seems to have 
 counted them or to have noticed that the kings of any prominence 
 
 in this narrative prophecy are ten. But such is the fact. In 
 
 this prophecy (chap. 11,) which bears from beginning to end the 
 appearance of being explanatory of the visions in chap. 7 and 8, 
 these ten kings lie in their order, filling precisely the interval be- 
 tween the death of Alexander and the rise of the little horn, An- 
 
360 DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 
 
 tiochus Epiphanes. How then can we doubt that these are the ten 
 kings (horns) of this fourth beast? They come to us named and 
 defined on the highest possible authority — that of the revealing 
 Spirit himself Let us accept them and so end the long contro- 
 versy, and invite to harmony and peace the immenscl}^ diversified 
 
 opinions of those who have sought to find these ten horns. 
 
 When 1 come to treat of chap. 11, it will be more in place to give 
 the history of these kings with some detail. Suffice it here to say 
 that five of them are k^ngs of the south, in the Greco-Egyptian 
 dynasty, viz., Ptolemy Lagus in v. 5; Ptolemy Philadelphus in v. 6; 
 Ptolemy Euergetcs in vs. 7-9: Ptolemy Philopater in vs. 11, 12, 
 
 and Ptolemy Philometer in vs. 25-27. Five of them are kings 
 
 of the north, in the Greek-Syrian dynasty; viz., Seleucus Nicator 
 in V. 5 ; Antiochus Theos in v. 6 ; Seleucus Callinicus in vs. 7, 8 ; 
 Antiochus the Great, vs. 10-19; and Seleucus Philopator in v. 20. 
 This brings us in the line of chap. 11, to Antiochus Epiphanes, the 
 little horn-king, making a perfect correspondence in respect to all 
 the vital points of the case between this vision of chap. 7 and that 
 of chap. 11. But this parallelism will be more fully brought out 
 when chap. 11 shall come under consideration in its order. Suffice 
 it to say here that these parallel prophecies of Daniel mutually sus- 
 tain each other, a fact which will become more abundantly mani- 
 fest hereafter. Moreover, as we proceed in developing this theory 
 
 of interpretation, every point is amply confirmed by the historic 
 facts. These ten kings sustained specially important relations to 
 the Jews. It was because of these relations that they find a place 
 in the eleventh chapter. As to the number of these kings com- 
 prised in both the Egyptian and Syrian kingdoms, from their foun- 
 dation down to Antiochus Epiphanes, the question will arise, Does 
 the prophecy (Dan. 11 : 5-27) touch them all, and were there actu- 
 ally but ten ? To this I answer : From the full list of those two 
 
 dynasties during the period specified, I omit one Egyptian king, 
 Ptolemy Epiphanes, put upon the throne at the age of five years, 
 and never any thing but a tool for others to use ; and two Syrian 
 kings; one, the second in the series, Antiochus Soter, he being in- 
 tentionally passed over in the prophecy which leaps a chasm of at 
 least thirty-two years by saying (chap. 11: C) "In the end of 
 years," etc. Here and thus the sketch passes unnoticed the entire 
 reign of Anti. Soter. I therefore omit him. The other Syrian king 
 omitted reigned but two years (Seleucus Ceraunus), and did noth- 
 ing to entitle him to notice in this prophecy. AVith these excep- 
 tions, the list of ten, as above named, includes not only all that are 
 spoken of in this prophetic sketch, but all that appear in the full 
 tables of those kings. Such omissions as these justify themselves. 
 The prophetic sketch touches only those whose exploits were worthy 
 of notice. These are ten in number. Yet it may wcll.be said that 
 ten is often a round number ; so that if there had been in fiict 
 cither nine or eleven, it should create no difficulty if the number 
 had been spoken of as ten. ^Thc little horn is Antiochus Epiph- 
 anes. Wo shall see much more of him in chap. 8 and chap. J 1, 
 
DANIEL.— CIIxVP. VII. 361 
 
 and his history will be given more fully there. It may properly be 
 said here, in anticipation of its proof, that with one exception every 
 several feature of his character, exploits, and destiny, given here in 
 chap. 7, is brought out and consequently confirmed in the descrip- 
 tion given of him in chap. 8, and again yet more in chap. 11. The 
 points made here are expanded there, and some new points added, 
 but nothing is diverse ; not a line, not a shade of coloring appears 
 there that does not fit perfectly to the outline first drawn here in 
 chap. 7. So that the fact of parallelism will appear with such a 
 sort, variety, and amount of evidence as constitute complete demon- 
 stration. Let it also be said here (to be shown more fully here- 
 after) that history confirms all these points of his character, ex- 
 ploits, and destiny. He was a most bitter persecutor and deadly 
 foe of the Jewish nation ; he did assail their religion with the fell 
 purpose of uprooting it from the earth ; he did speak both blasphe- 
 mously and pi-oudly against Almighty God. He know he was fight- 
 ing against the God of Israel, and when at last he fell, the stings 
 of remorse in his awakened conscience bore their testimony that 
 God had conquered and that his own malign purposes were utterly 
 blasted. The special unfolding of these facts of his history should 
 naturally be reserved till we come to the more full prophetic detail 
 in chaps. 8 and 11. A few points however may be as well pre- 
 sented here. (1.) Tliree of the first horns removed before the little 
 
 horn. In his first account of the vision Daniel said (v. 8), " I 
 
 considered the horns and behold there came up among them a little 
 horn before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up 
 by the roots." Daniel inquired particularly respecting this feature, 
 "of the other that come up and before whom three fell" (v. 20). 
 The interpretation states (v. 24), '• and he shall subdue three kings." 
 He does not say in the most precise language, three of those ten 
 kings ; yet this is the more obvious meaning, and is required by 
 the language of the vision, " Three of the first horns Avere plucked 
 up." The original word rendered " subdue," means to humble, to 
 bring down. This is the point which I excepted from the gen- 
 eral statement that all the points made of the little horn in chap. 
 7, appear also in chaps. 8 and 11. This point is not in chap. 8. It 
 
 does appear, however, in a very peculiar way in chap. '11. This 
 
 vision (chap. 7) obviously means that three of the first horns were 
 in some special manner put out of the way of this little horn. Only 
 the last statement, "he shall subdue," etc., necessarily involves any 
 
 active agency of the little horn in their removal. Who are these 
 
 three kings ? Do they appear in history and in such a way as to 
 
 verify this minute statement? On this question commentators 
 
 have diflered widely — a natural result of their differing so widely 
 
 over the ten horns. As above explained, 1 find these ten horns 
 
 precisely in chap. 11 : 5-27. The little horn also is there, his his- 
 tory filling twenty-five verses, viz., vs. 21-45. But of the three 
 kings that he "subdued;" that "were plucked up," or that "fell 
 before him," the history of only one is given here so fully and 
 specifically as to show tliat this "vile kins;," alias the little horn, 
 16 
 
362 DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 
 
 had an active agency in subduinc!; him. This one is Ptolemy Phi- 
 lometor of Eg^^pt (vs. 25-27) of whom this passapje, after giving the 
 history of their conflicts and wars, says, ''he shall not stand" 
 {i. c, he shall fall) before Antiochiis. This very Ijrief historic 
 prophecy does speak, however, of the death of two others as being 
 somewhat peculiar and remarkable. Of Antiochiis the (ireat, it 
 records, "he shall stumble and fall and shall not be found." This 
 king was the. father of Autiochus Epiphanes. Of the next, his 
 brother Seleucus Philopator, " a raiser of taxes," and his imme- 
 diate predecessor on the throne, the record says; "But within a 
 few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger nor in battle." 
 l>ut in neither of these cases is it said that Antiochus Epiphanes 
 was in any way the cause of his death. Still the fact that the man- 
 ner of their death is hinted at in this somewhat enigmatic way, 
 taken in connection with the prophecy that before this little horn 
 three of the first horns should be plucked up by the roots," and 
 
 "should fall," is surely very noticeable. Does profane history 
 
 give any hint that Antiochus Epiphanes was concerned in the death 
 of either Antiochus the Great, his father, or of Seleucus Philo- 
 pator, his brother? It is stated in Poole's Synopsis that Anti- 
 ochus the Great came to his death in a drunken frolic, under 
 these circumstances : In a state of intoxication, he had abused 
 certain persons and thereby incurred their ill-will. His son, this 
 Antiochus Epiphanes, took advantage of their exasperated feel- 
 ings and instigated them to mob and murder his own father! 
 One ancient author, Aurelius Victor, states that he died in this 
 way. On the other hand Strabo and Justin concur in stating 
 that he fell in an attempt to pillage a rich temjjle of Belus in 
 
 Elymais. The weight of historic evidence is for this view. 
 
 Of his brother, Seleucus Philopator, Grotius states that he was slain 
 by Antiochus Epiphanes or by his order. It is said this vile king 
 caused him to be poisoned, hiyj and Appian, however, attribute his 
 murder by poison to Ileliodorus, who seems to have aspired to the 
 
 throne for himself. The weight of historical evidence seems to 
 
 exonerate Antiochus Epiphanes from direct participation in the 
 death of either his father or his elder brother. Yet this evidence 
 is somewhat conflicting, and perhaps can not be legarded as decisive. 
 Antiochus was artful enough to keep his active hand out of sight. 
 He was wicked enough for the most unnatural crimes, provided 
 only that they promised to favor his ambitious schemes. The fact 
 that he is called (chap. 11 : 21) "a vile person," in such close prox- 
 imity Avith the extraordinary deaths of the two kings next before 
 
 him on the Syrian throne, may be significant. Finally, the form 
 
 of the statement — three distinct horns ^^ plucked up before him" — 
 makes room for some diversity in the manner of the thing and par- 
 ticularly in the personal agency of the little horn in it. Indeed the 
 diverse statements in the prophecy (chnp. 7.) fiivor some diversity 
 in the historic facts as to an active agency of the little horn. 
 "Plucked up;" "fall;" arc intransitive or passive: "to subdue," in 
 the sense, to humble, is active. All those varieties find their ado- 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 3G3 
 
 quate fulfillment in the diversity of these three cases brought before 
 us in chap. 11. The two kings next preceding in the Syrian line 
 were certainly "plucked up," did certainly "fall," before him. The 
 one king in the Egyptian line he did certainly humble and "sub- 
 due." These three, therefore, I must account as the three horns 
 
 referred to in chap. 7: 8, 20, 24. (2.) "He thought to change 
 
 times and laws." The legitimate sense of these words, as written 
 by a Jew and for Jewish readers, can be nothing else than chang- 
 ing the religious institutions given by God through ^Moses. Every 
 writer should be presumed to use language in the sense in which 
 his readers must understand it. Prophecy is no exception to this 
 rule. ' The prophets wrote in order to be understood. If, to refute 
 this, it be said that Daniel as a prophet might look far down into 
 the Christian age and see another system of religious " times and 
 laws," the legitimate answer is that his readers were not prophets 
 even though he was; and he certainly wrote for their reading and 
 
 to their understanding. Let us now notice the historic fulfillment 
 
 of this clause. On this point the books of the Maccabees are the 
 best of testimony. The first book witnesseth thus ; " Moreover king 
 Antiochus wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one peo- 
 ple, and every one should leave his laws; so all the heathen agreed 
 according to the commandment of jbhe king. Yea, many also of 
 the Israelites consented to his religion, and sacrificed unto idols, 
 and profaned the sabbath. For the king had sent letters by mes- 
 sengers unto Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, that they should 
 follow the strange laws of the land, and forbid burnt-offerings and 
 sacrifices and drink-offerings in the temple, and that they should 
 profane the sabbaths and festival days; and pollute the sanctuary 
 and holy people ; set up altars and groves, and chapels of idols, and 
 sacrifice swine's flesh and unclean boasts; that they should also 
 leave their children uncircumcised, and make their souls abominable 
 with all manner of uncleanness and profanation ; io the end they 
 might forget the law and change all the ordinances. And whosoever 
 would not do according to the commandment of the king, he said, 
 he should die. (chap. 1 : 41-50.) " Now the fifteenth day of the month 
 Casleu, in the hundred and forty-fifth year, they set up the abomi- 
 nation of desolation upon the altar, and builded idol-altars through- 
 out the cities of Judah on every side" (v. 34). The author of 
 
 the second book of Maccabees makes his statements thus : " Not 
 long after this the king sent an old man of Athens to compel the 
 Jews to depart from the laws of their fathers, and not to live after 
 the laws of God, and also to pollute the temple in Jerusalem and 
 
 to call it the temple of Jupiter Olympius The coming in of this 
 
 mischief was sore and grievous to the people; for the temple was 
 filled with riot and reveling by the Gentiles, who dallied with harlots 
 and had to do with women within the circuit of the holy places, 
 and besides that, brought in things that were not lawful. The altar 
 also was filled with profane things which the law forbiddcth. 
 Neither was it lawful for a man to keep sabbath days or ancient 
 feasts, or to profess himself at all to be a Jew. And in the day of 
 
3G4 DANIEL.— CHAP. Vll. 
 
 the king's birth, every month they were brought by bitter constraint 
 to eat of the sacrifices ; and when the feast of Bacchus was kept, 
 the Jews Avcre compelled to go in procession to l^acchus, carrying 
 
 ivy" (2 ISlac. 6 : 1-7). These extracts from Jewish historians, 
 
 writing not long after the events, testify amply both to the fact and 
 to the intent. They also show that the language of Daniel, " change 
 times and laws," is perfectly Jewish^ and indeed could not be un- 
 derstood by them to mean any thing else than subverting the Mosaic 
 
 ritual service. (3.) "They shall be given into his hand until a 
 
 time, times, and dividing of time." Do the facts of history verify 
 
 this on the interpretation above given? They do most fully. 
 
 First, of the precise -sense of this clause. The proper antecedent 
 of "they," representing who or what shall be given into his hand, 
 is "times and laws." Hence the meaning must be that he will 
 have power to subvert the Mosaic rites of worship, or at least sus- 
 pend their observance, during the period specified. Or, if it be still 
 insisted that "they" refers to the saints, yet the sense must be 
 that they are given into his hand to this special extent and result, 
 viz., that he may suspend their "times and laws" — the same ulti- 
 mate significance as before. Consequently the period hereby limited 
 in time w^ith its contained events, is just that during which the little 
 horn-king was allowed of God*to suspend the ritual services of the 
 Jewish worship. The passage docs not say how long the little horn 
 shall live, nor how long he should make war upon the saints, nor 
 docs it put any thing else into this limitation of time except this 
 one thing — how long he shall be able to prevent the normal action 
 
 of those Jewish "times and laws." The facts of history on this 
 
 point are derived originally from Josephus and from the two books 
 of Maccabees. Of the latter, the first book has the reputation of 
 being very exact and reliable history. The second moralizes more 
 and confines itself less closely to history; j'et is regarded as in the 
 main reliable.' Josephus may be presumed to give us the traditions 
 of his countrymen as current in his day (A. D. 75-100). His Jew- 
 ish war was published about A. D. 75 ; his Antiquities, A. D. 93. 
 
 On the historic period now before us, Josephus states (Proem to his 
 Jewish War, sec. 7) that " Antiochus called Epiphanes seized Jeru- 
 salem and held it three years and six months." In the same work 
 (I: 1: 1.) of the same Epiphanes; "He caused the customary daily 
 sacrifice to cease three years and six months." But in his Antiqui- 
 ties (XH: 7: 6) he computes only three years, saying, "The temple, 
 desolated by.Antiochus, continued in this state three years." These 
 statements constitute precisely his testimony. 
 
 The testimony of the first book of Maccabees is entirely explicit 
 as to the point when the sanctuary was cleansed. It was on the 
 twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, i. e., Casleu, which was the 
 one hundred and forty-eighth A^ear of the era of the Seleucida;. 
 (See 1 Mac. 4: 52.) As this era usually counts from B. C. 312, 
 
 the one hundred and forty-eighth year would be B. C 1G4. 
 
 The point of commencing in these several statements is various. 
 This first book states (chap. 1 : 54) that, on the fifteenth day of 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 3Co 
 
 the month Caslcu, in the one hundred and forty-fifth year (B. C. 
 167), they set up the abomination of desohition upon the altar and 
 buildcd idol altars throughout the cities of Judah on every side." 
 This gives an interval, down to the cleansing of the sanctuary, of 
 three years and ten days. In the same connection (v. 59), he sin^s ; 
 '' On the twenty-fifth day of the month they sacrificed upon tlic 
 
 idol-altar which was upon the altar of God." The author of the 
 
 second hook of jMaccabees is unfortunately sparing of dates. On 
 the point now in hand, he only says (chap. 10: 5); " Kow upon 
 the same day that the strangers proftmed the temple, on the very 
 sivme day it was cleansed again, even the twenty-fifth day' of the 
 
 same month which is Casleu." These statements, though unlike, 
 
 are yet not seriously conflicting. Observe that while in all cases 
 the period they limit terminates at the same point, viz., the cleans- 
 ing of the sanctuary, yet it does not profess to begin at the 
 same. Thus the first book of Maccabees gives us first the day 
 when they set up the abomination upon the sacred altar, viz., 
 the fifteenth day of Casleu; and next the day when they ofiercd 
 their first idol sacrifices upon it which was ten days after, on the 
 
 twenty-fifth of Casleu. -Josephus gives us in one passage the 
 
 period during which Antiochus held Jerusalem by military force 
 at three and a half years. Next, he makes the time during 
 which he caused the daily sacrifice to cease three and a half 
 years. In still another passage he says that the temple lay deso- 
 lated three years. The somewhat full history in the first chapter 
 of first Maccabees shows that the whole work of subduing the 
 Jewish force, getting possession of the temple, desecrating the holy 
 altar, setting up another for idol-offerings, and getting in readiness 
 to commence idol-worship, occupied no little time — not improbably 
 six months. The entire period, therefore, will be estimated vari- 
 ously according as the writer may commence at an earlier or a 
 
 later point, to take in more or less of the preliminary steps. 
 
 The reader will notice that the form of statement before us (in 
 chap. 7: 25, and with this also chap. 12: 7) should naturally be 
 the longer rather than the shorter period — the entire duration of 
 this horn's ascendant power over the city and the holy people, to 
 prevent their customary temple-worship, rather than the shorter 
 
 term in which idol sacrifices were offered in the temple. This 
 
 seems to me to be a fair and rational solution of this slight appar- 
 ent discrepancy. The marvel is not that the history should seem 
 to fail in the point of accurate dates ; but that in periods so short 
 and at a time so remote, it should be possible to obtain so much 
 
 accuracy. (4.) Another prominent point in respect to this little 
 
 horn-king is his destruction. As already suggested, vs. 11, 12, 
 
 plainly intimate that, being for the time the representative and em- 
 bodunent of the fourth beast, he falls by some striking form of judg- 
 ment. V. 26 certainly refers primarily to this king, and implies 
 also a special judgment ii-om God upon him — beyond question the 
 
 same which is described vs. 9-11. Correspondingly, chap. 8 : 25, 
 
 says; though "he shall stand up against the Prince of princes" (in 
 
3G6 DANIEL^CHAP. VII.- 
 
 his pride and rage) "yet he shall be broken without hand." (For 
 this last expression, "broken without hand," compare Job 34: 20, 
 "The mi;:;;hty shall 1)0 taken away without hand.") By no human 
 arm, but by one invisible and divine, he shall be utterly broken. 
 
 So chap. 1 1 : 45 ; " Thoui;;h he shall plant his palace-like 
 
 tents between the great Sea" (the Mediterranean) ''and the glori- 
 ous holy mountain, yet he shall come to his end, and none shall 
 help him;" i. e., though he gained possession of ]\It. Zion and held 
 it as his fortress for several years, exceedingly afflicting the people 
 of God and long time desecrating his sanctuary, yet he shall come 
 
 down wonderfully, and "there shall be none to help him." 
 
 Such are the statements of Daniel's prophecy respecting the death 
 
 of this king. What are the facts of history ? The original 
 
 witnesses are mainly the first and second books of Maccabees. 
 The first book gives a clear, calm, orderly and trustworthy state- 
 ment, thus; "About that time King Antiochus, traveling through 
 the high countries, heard say that Elymais in the country of Persia 
 was a city greatly renoAvned for riches, silver and gold ; and that 
 there was in it a very rich temple, wherein were coverings of gold 
 and breast-plates and shields, which Alexander, son of Philip the 
 Macedonian king, who reigned first among the Grecians, had left 
 there. Wherefore he came and sought to take the city and to 
 spoil it; but he was not able, because they of the city, having had 
 warning thereof, rose up against him in battle ; so he fled, and de- 
 parted thence in great heaviness and returned to Babylon. More- 
 over there came one who brought him tidings into Persia, that the 
 armies, which went against the land of Judea, were put to flight; 
 and that Lysias who went forth first with a great force was driven 
 away of the Jews, and that they were made strong by the armor 
 and power and store of spoils Avhich they had gotten of the armies 
 whom they had destroyed; also that they had pulled down the 
 abomination which he had set up upon the altar in Jerusalem, and 
 that they had compassed about the sanctuary with high Avails as 
 before. Noav when the king heard these Avords, he was astonished 
 and sore moved; Avhereupon he laid himself doAvn upon his bed 
 and fell sick for grief because it had not befallen him as he looked 
 for. And there he continued many days; for his grief was CA'cr 
 more and more, and he made account that he should die. Where- 
 fore he called for all his friends and said unto them, ' The sleep 
 is gone from mine eyes and my heart faileth for very care. And 
 I thought Avith myself into Avhat tribulation am 1 come, and how 
 great a flood of misery is it AA^herein 1 noAV am ! for I AA'as bounti- 
 ful and beloved in my poAver. ButnoAv I remember the evils that 
 I did at Jerusalem, and that I took all the vessels of gold and 
 silver that "Avere therein, and sent to destroy the inhabitants of 
 Jiidca AvithoUt a cause. I perceive therefore that for this cause 
 these troubles are come upon me, and behold, I perish through 
 great grief in a strange land.' .... So King Antiochus died there 
 
 in t\iG hundred and forty-ninth year." (1 j\lac. 6: 1-13, 16.) ■ 
 
 In the second book this narrative fills the ninth chapter, expanding 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 3G7 
 
 and commenting somewhat freely, and making the invisible hand 
 of God very prominent among the causes of his awful death. The. 
 outline of historic circumstances is much the same as in the first 
 book. Antiochus goes to a remote city of Persia to pillage a very 
 rich temple ; is driven off by the people ; on his way back, he hears 
 that his armies in Judea are defeated and the Jews enriched by 
 their spoil. Enraged to fury " he commands his charioteer to drive 
 without ceasing and to despatch the journey, the judgments of God 
 now following him. For he had spoken proudly in this sort that 
 he would come to Jerusalem and make it the common burying- 
 place of the Jews. But the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, 
 smote him with an invisible and incurable plague, for as soon as 
 he had spoken these words, a pain of the bowels that was remedi- 
 less came upon him, and sore torments of the inner parts; and 
 that most justly ; for he had tormented other men's bowels with 
 many and strange torments. Howbeit he nothing at all ceased 
 from his bragging, but still was filled with pride, breathing out 
 fire in his rage against the Jews, and commanding to haste the 
 journey; but it came to pass that he fell do^vn from his chariot, 
 carried violently, so that having a sore fall, all the members of 
 his body were much pained. And thus he that a little afore thought 
 he might command the waves of the sea (so proud was he beyond 
 the condition of man) and weigh the high mountains in a balance, 
 was now cast on the ground, and carried in a horse-litter, showing 
 forth unto all the manifest power of God. So that the worms rose 
 up out of the body of this wicked man, and while he lived in sor- 
 row and pain, his flesh fell away, and the filthiness of his smell 
 was noisome to all his army." In short, convicted of his great 
 guilt, stung with remorse, appalled with fear of the Almighty 
 hand, he makes vows and promises to God, even to beautify the 
 temple he had despoiled, defray the cost of its sacrifices, and be- 
 come himself a Jew and go through all the world declaring the 
 power of God; "but for all this his pains would not cease, for the 
 just judgment of God was come upon him." . . . "Thus this mur- 
 derer and blasphemer, having sufiered most grievously, as he had 
 treated other men, so died he a miserable death in a strange coun- 
 try in the mountains." It is perhaps impossible to say whether 
 
 this account may not be somewhat exaggerated ; yet there can be 
 no reasonable doubt that in its main features it is correct. Assum- 
 ing this, the death of this impious blasphemer classes itself with 
 that of the Herod who murdered the elder James, and witnesses to 
 the fearfulncss of those special judgments from the Almighty Avhich 
 are designed to stand as his testimony and warning to those who 
 
 set at naught his power and defy his vengeance. Thus this point 
 
 of the prophetic description of the little horn as Antiochus Epiph- 
 ancs is amply verified by the historic facts. 
 
 At the cost of a little repetition, I proceed now to give a brief 
 summary of the grounds on which I am compelled to reject the 
 
 Roman theory in this seventh chapter. In general my plan of 
 
 commentary mostly excludes the presentation of oj)inion8 from 
 
3G8 DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 
 
 which I dissent. But the very extensive prevalence of this Roman 
 .theory induces mc to deviate in this case from my ijeneral ph\n. 
 
 Briefly then, I must reject the theory which makes the fourth 
 
 beast Home Pagan; the ten horns, some ten European kingdoms; 
 
 and the little horn Borne l*apal, 1. Because it is out of analogy 
 
 with the preceding beasts, this fourth considered as Borne, not being 
 in any proper sense, the successor to the other three; not located 
 in the same part of the world ; not composed mainly of the same 
 populations; not following in the same closely consecutive order of 
 time, but involving a huge chasm — for Pagan Bome, of four hund- 
 red years, and for Papal Bome as a great persecuting power near 
 six hundred more : and finally not standing in the same political 
 relations to the Jews, while yet they are the recognized people of 
 
 God. 2. It disregards the relation of these visions to Daniel's 
 
 own people and to his special circumstances as their patron, pro- 
 tector and father. 3. It overlooks the manifest indications that 
 
 the great conflict, the "war with the saints of the Most High," is 
 l)ctween this little horn and the Jews while they are yet the people 
 
 of God and while the Mosaic system is yet standing. 4. Both 
 
 the vision and its explanation assume that the fourth beast and its 
 little horn are in some vital respects a unit, or, at least stand in 
 the closest connection with each other; but the Boman theory 
 makes them utterly unlike — alike in nothing indeed but the name 
 Boman. The one is a Pagan, political empire ; the other is a nom- 
 inal church, and moreover far removed from each other in time. 
 
 5. Inasmuch as v. 11 shows that the fourth beast is destroyed 
 
 because of the sins of the little horn, this theory carries with it 
 the absurdity of destroying Pagan Bome for the sins of Papal 
 Bome — sins committed by an entirely different sot of sinners, and 
 several hundred years after the punishment had been inflicted and 
 the sufferers destroyed ! That is, because Papal Bome ivill drink 
 the blood of saints and martyrs in the fourteenth and fifteenth 
 centuries, therefore let Pagan Bome be destroyed in the fourth and 
 
 fifth ! Of course neither of these parties are known in this vision 
 
 save as persecuting powers. This fact must guide us as to dates 
 
 and durations.- G. The ]?oman theory is absolutely set aside and 
 
 rendered impossible by the "terminus ad quem" of the fourth 
 beast and all his horns; i. c, by the fact that this kingdom and 
 
 all its kings are destroyed before the INIessiah's first advent. 7. 
 
 It is also set aside by the scope and significance of the undeniably 
 parallel visions of chap. 8 and of chap. 11. This will be shown 
 more fully in its place. 8. It must be rejected because it con- 
 flicts with the inspired explanation of the symbol of the horn. This 
 inspired explanation (v. 24) makes the ten horns ten kings^ and 
 the little horn also a king. Any system of interpretation muat be 
 false which disregards and overrides God's own interpretation, 
 especially in a point so fundamental as this. The proper signifi- 
 cance of a horn as a symbol might be elaborated in the light of its 
 natural relations. It might be urged that a horn is nothing apart 
 from the beast that wears it; that it is the beast's own instrument 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 360 
 
 of powe^, just as the king is the executive force of his kingdom; 
 that in every point of view the natural significance of the horn on 
 a beast is a king in his kingdom. But, waving this form of argu- 
 ment, I now put the case simply on the positive interpretation of 
 
 God himself, and insist that this ought to be respected. 9. In 
 
 reference to the little horn, the Roman theory must be rejected be- 
 cause it departs yet more widely from the inspired interpretation 
 inasmuch as it makes the little horn not even a kingdoyti in the 
 sense of this vision, but a great religious organization — a nominal 
 
 church. In view of the manifest drift and scope of this vision, 
 
 this interpretation of the little horn must be pronounced pure 
 
 caprice, having no support whatever in the vision itself 10. It 
 
 involves the inconsistency of making ten of these horns political 
 kingdoms, and the eleventh a great nominal church. 11, Fi- 
 nally, it must be rejected because it requires for its support the 
 utterly baseless theory of prophetic times which multiplies them by 
 three hundred and sixty to get actual time. See this theory exam- 
 ined in the Appendix, Dissertation A. It is hoped these reasons for 
 rejecting the Koman theory will be deemed satisfactory and sufficient. 
 It is still due to the advocates of the Roman theory to take re- 
 spectful notice of the grounds on Avhich mainly their theory is sup- 
 ported and the opposite one assailed. These are : 
 
 1. That on the theory I have presented, there is a want of unity 
 in the fourth beast and hence a want of natural analogy with the 
 three preceding beasts. On the contrary, I have urged and la- 
 bored to show that in reference to the main drift and purpose of 
 these visions, there is a high degree of unity in the fourth beast 
 and all his horns; that the vision and interpretation both conspire 
 to demand far more unity between the fourth beast and the little 
 horn than the Roman theory can possibly admit, and just such as 
 the Grecian theory affords ; and that in view of the real purport of 
 these visions, there is (as above presented) a close and abundant 
 
 analogy betvreen the first three beasts and the fourth. Moreover 
 
 those Avho make great account of the precise fitting of symbol to 
 historic fact may well take note that in the vision of the great im- 
 age, as the two arms happen to fit the double kingdom of the ]\Iedos 
 and Persians, so the two legs equally fit the two-fold Grecian king- 
 dom — Egyptian and Syrian^ and that the ten toes are found as ten 
 kings, five in one of these two kingdoms and five in the other. 
 
 2. It is urged that Rome is really the fourth universal kingdom, 
 
 and therefore must be the fourth beast. But here every thing 
 
 turns on the question whether Daniel is giving to the world univer- 
 sal history in genei'al, and this from a stand-point that has no 
 special reference to the Jews ; or whether he gives profane history 
 only because it connects itself with the fortunes of his own people, 
 the Jews, and only so far as it so connects itself 1 take the lat- 
 ter view most decidedly. I find it sustained by all the circum- 
 stances of Daniel's public life; by numerous indications throughout 
 his entire book as well as throughout these four parallel visions ; 
 and by the analogy of all the other prophets — not to say of all the 
 
870 DANIEL.— CHAP. VII. 
 
 rest of the 13il)lc. The former view I regard as utterly unten- 
 able, and as the fundamental mistake underlying the failures so 
 often made in the interpretation of Daniel. If Daniel wrote uni- 
 versal history down to the millennium, why does ho not give us 
 
 America also as well as Europe? in my view Daniel, like every 
 
 other pro[)liet, had a present moral object in reference to his first 
 readers — the pco})lc among whom and for whom he Avrote. Of 
 course he wrote to be understood; he wrote what they could un- 
 derstand ; and therefore he did not write about European kingdoms, 
 and the American republic in particular. Certainly he said nothing 
 Avhich his readers would naturally apply to these countries and 
 powers, lie must needs have used far other language to give his 
 readers any just views of the ten European kingdoms of the lloman 
 theory, or of the American republic. The doctrine that prophecy 
 was not intended to be understood until very near or after its ful- 
 fillment is radically fallacious. Further, Daniel prophesied 
 
 nothing about the kingdoms of Europe or the governments of 
 America, because his people, prior to their rejection as the people 
 of God, sustained no relation to these powers, and had no interest 
 in these matters. Worldly kingdoms therefore are seen to be great 
 and formidable in Daniel's eye chiefly by virtue of their relations 
 to his people, and not because of their relations to each other or 
 to universal history. 
 
 3. It is felt that the description given of the little horn fits Papal 
 
 Kome too well to be set aside, and so well that it must be true. 
 
 I answer; (1.) Fitness, however much, does not settle the ques- 
 tion. Prophecy must not be interpreted to mean every thing or 
 any thing it may chance to fit and only because it fits. Suppose 
 God himself has explained it to mean something else ; or has given 
 limits of time within which the fulfillment must fall, and which 
 absolutely preclude its reference to those things which it fits so 
 well ! As already said, one of the worst mistakes made in the in- 
 terpretation of prophecy is the exclusive use of the criterion of 
 
 supposed fulfillment. (2.) Papal Rome is bad enough doubtless; 
 
 1 shall not seek to lessen the testimony of history to her crimes or 
 to her depravity. But this delineation in Daniel was not made for 
 her. This persecuting power lived and perished before the first 
 advent of Christ; vented its rage upon the Jews and upon their 
 ritual service, not on Christians in the middle ages ; and was lim- 
 ited in the duration of its special power over the saints and their 
 worship to three and a half years. These and kindred points put 
 the finger of this prophecy upon Antiochus Epiphanes, and forbid 
 its reference, in its primary and proper sense, to Papal Home. If 
 any choose to say that whatever Cod teaches of the doom of one 
 great Antichrist applies to every other Antichrist, very well. It 
 applies by parity of reason, not as written and primarily meant for 
 any other but the one Avho sat for the picture. Such a portraiture 
 
 has its solemn lessons for every self-hardened sinner. (3.) The 
 
 warmth of our interest in finding some prophecy that denounces 
 and dooms Papal Home should never be allowed to prejudice our 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. Vll. 371 
 
 interpretation of God's word. Truth loses every thing and gains 
 nothing by prejudiced interpretations. 
 
 4. It is urged that the setting up of tlie Messiah's kingdom and 
 giving it to the saints, must refer to the millennial times yet future. 
 
 Hence fitly it follows the fall of the great lloman Antichrist. ■ 
 
 I reply; (1.) No special distinction can be made in this.prophecy 
 
 between setting up Christ's kingdom and giving it to his saints. 
 
 They are thought of as simultaneous and essentially the same. 
 
 (2.) The time of this setting up is fixed, as shown above, to the 
 
 ascension of Christ. (3.) Millennial times arc here in the course 
 
 of Christ's indefinitely long reign — in the remote, but not in the 
 nearer future. No specific date for Christ's Millennial triumphs 
 can be found here. Of course no special light is thrown by this 
 prophecy on the doings or the doom of Papal Kome. 
 
 5. It is claimed that the first vision (chap. 2 : 4-i) dates the set- 
 ting up of Christ's kingdom in the latter times of the great European 
 kingdoms denoted by the ten horns. " In the daj'-s of these kings 
 shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom," etc. To this I an- 
 swer; (1.) The ten horns can not be any ten European kingdoms, 
 
 for God has said they are ten kings^ and implies that he destroyed 
 
 them all before Christ's first coming. (2.) The passage "In the 
 
 days of these kin_,s shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom," 
 etc., (chap. 2: 44,) is general, and can not fix any dates in opposi- 
 tion to the much more full and specific statements of chap. 7. 
 
 (3.) The scope of the vision (chap. 2: 31-45) requires that the 
 stone (Jesus Christ) should smite and destroy all those heathen 
 powers, including those meant by the feet and toes, before he him- 
 self or his kingdom becomes the great mountain and fills all the 
 earth. It is therefore only in the general sense of the preparatory 
 work wrought by the agencies of divine providence that the Mes- 
 siah's kingdom is set up while yet those kings are living. But see 
 the notes on chap. 2 : 44. 
 
 G. Finally, it is felt that these prophecies lose most of their prac- 
 tical interest and value if they do not predict the fall of the great 
 Roman Antichrist and do not give the precise date of the millen- 
 nium. 1 reply ; If this were true, it is a calamity that can not 
 
 be helped. For, we must not, for the sake of greater interest, put 
 an interpretation on prophecy which is not true, and is not sus- 
 tained by sound, legitimate principles of interpretation. It is our 
 business to find, not make, the sense of prophecy. And it is no 
 part of our responsibility to interpret so as to get the greatest 
 
 amount of interest or sensation out of it. As to profit, God knows 
 
 best what will be profitable. Perhaps he thinks it best not to give 
 us precisely the date of the millennium, nor the date of Christ's 
 second coming, nor the date of the fall of Papal Kome. It may be 
 best in his view to leave the Church to do her work under the in- 
 spiration and impulse of only general and not specific promises as 
 to the world's conversion, assuring her of liis purpose to do it, but 
 not giving her the time when. Would it be strange if this should 
 be found at last to be the course of divine wisdom and of the facts 
 
372 DANIEL.— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 of prophecy? May it not be really wise to make due account of 
 human free agency, and to shape prophecy so as to bear both 
 kindly and vigorously upon the free minds of men ? Has the world 
 had no illustrations of the mischiefs of making dates for Christ's 
 second advent which God never made, and "when he never meant 
 to reveal any date for it at all ? 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 This chapter comprises one entire vision with its explanation — 
 the third in the series of Daniel's four essentially parallel prophe- 
 cies. It is naturally divided into three parts, of which the iirst is 
 purely symbolic — the ram with two horns; the he-goat with his 
 great horn; the four that came up subsequently, and the little one 
 (vs. 1-9.) The second part shades off froia the symbol of the horn 
 to the conception of a king, and gives his doings (vs. 9-14). The 
 third comprises the manner of giving the explanation, and the ex- 
 planation itself (vs. 15-27). As in chap. 7, so here, I propose 
 
 first, to comment upon the words and clauses, to educe their exact 
 sense; and then to inquire more fully into the prophetic signifi- 
 cance of the little horn — this being the only thing in this vision 
 upon which commentators have disagreed. 
 
 1. In the tliird year of the reign of king Belsliazzar a 
 vision appeared unto ine, even wito me Daniel, after tliat 
 wliicli appeared unto me at the first. 
 
 It is probably safe to assume that the third year of Belshazzar's 
 reign was also his last, or at least very near his last. If so, the 
 date of this vision is B. C. 539 or 538. The previous vision re- 
 ferred to is that of chap. 7, two years before. 
 
 2. And I saw in a vision ; (and it came to pass, when I 
 saw, that I ivcus at Shushan in the palace, which is in the 
 province of Elam ;) and I saw in a vision, and I was by the 
 river of Ulai. 
 
 The clause in parenthesis, beginning "And it came to pass," and 
 ending, " province of Elam," seems to have been designed to show 
 that he was actually at Shushan in the palace ef the Persian king 
 when he had this vision. Elam was one of the chief provinces of 
 Persia, embracing Susa, the capital. The Greeks gave this prov- 
 ince the name, Elymais. Elam is sometimes used as another name 
 for Persia. The name appears first among the children of Shem 
 
 ((Jen. 10: 22). It was strictly in vision and only so that Daniel 
 
 was by the river Ulai; as one in a dream conceives himself to be 
 where he is not. It is only by this distinction between his actual 
 presence and his ideal presence that I account for these two state- 
 ments; as if Daniel would say, I was really when I had this vision 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VIII. 373 
 
 at Shushan in the palace ; but when I came to see things in vision, 
 I seemed to be by the river Ulai. It is noticeable tliat his per- 
 sonal stand-point is Persia — the ppint where his historic vision be- 
 gins. Chaldea is so near extinction that it may well be dropped. 
 
 This vision is none the less truly parallel with that of chap. 2 
 
 and that of chap. 7, because, being shown him so near the extinc- 
 tion of the Chaldean dynasty, it drops off that as no longer of any 
 account, 
 
 3. Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold, there 
 stood before the river a ram which had two horns : and the 
 tivo horns iverx high ; but one was higher than the other, 
 and the higher came up last. 
 
 4. I saAV the ram pushing westward, and northward, and 
 southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, 
 neither tvas there any that could deliver out of his hand ; 
 but he did according to his will, and became great. 
 
 This ram, according to the interpretation (v. 20) is the Medo- 
 Persian kingdom. His two horns are two kings, one of J^ledia, 
 viz., Darius or Astyages; and one of Persia, viz., Cyrus. These 
 kings, one from Media and the other from Persia, imply the union 
 of these two kingdoms, since the united realm draws its kings from 
 either. The higher of these two horns is Cyrus. He came up last 
 in point of time. These two kings, in a sort, represent the kingdoms 
 
 from which they severally came. This ram pushes his conquests 
 
 west, north, and south, omitting only the east. This is perfectly in 
 accordance with history. This INIedo-Persian power made no at- 
 tempts to push eastward; but did make great conquests in the 
 directions here specified. There was no power able to stand before 
 him ; none could pluck his prey from his grasp. Of course he be- 
 came great. 
 
 5. And as I was considering, behold, a he-goat came from 
 the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not 
 the ground : and the goat had a notable horn between his 
 eyes. 
 
 - No compend of history could draAV the outline of Alexander's 
 conquest of Asia better than this prophetic vision has done it. A 
 "rough" personage to deal with as a foe; coming from the west; 
 sweeping the breadth of the whole land; seeming for the rapidity 
 of his movements not to touch the earth, (like the leopard with 
 four wings, chap. 7: 6,) and with one notable horn between his 
 eyes — a horn specially noticeable and the prominent feature in this 
 now power; — such is the description, and such was Alexander and 
 his Grecian kingdom. Yet still the decisive evidence of identity is 
 the explicit affirmation of the revealing angel (v. 21), "The rough 
 goat is the king of Grecia, and the great horn is the first king." 
 This is absolute authority. Note here that Daniel and his read- 
 ers had nothing to do with Philip of Macedon, a vigorous king next 
 
374 DANIEL.— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 before Alexander; for what were European kinii;s or kingdoms to 
 them ? It was only as an oriental empire, coming into special re- 
 lations to the Jews that Jewisb prophecy knew Greece; only as 
 such a monarch that it knew Alexander. Hence he is the first 
 Grecian king. 
 
 6. And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I 
 had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the 
 fury of his poAver. 
 
 7. And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was 
 moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and 
 brake his two horns : and there was no power in the ram 
 to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, 
 and stamped upon him: and there was none that could 
 deliver the ram out of his hand. 
 
 Thus with fewest words, but words full of force, Daniel gives in 
 prophetic anticipation the history of the fall of Persia before the 
 arms of Alexander. Profane history verifies every point most per- 
 fectly. Greece had long been nursing her revenge for the invasion 
 of her soil by Xerxes. Alexander had the energy and the ambition 
 to 'lead her vigorous armies to this retaliation. . He came against 
 the ram "in the fury of his power." The last vision (11: 2, 3) 
 touches Xerxes and then glances from him to Alexander, as if the 
 spirit of inspiration grasped perfectly the springs of human action 
 which threw Greece upon Asia and made her one of the great 
 
 conquering powers of the East. It is well known history that 
 
 the Medo-Persian armies, now become eifeminate through luxury, 
 had no power to stand before Alexander and his Grecian forces. 
 He used up the armed hosts of Persia with amazing rapidity. 
 Twelve years sufficed him to master not Persia alone, but Tyre, 
 Egypt, and all the East, even deeper into India itself than the 
 ancient powers of Western Asia or of Europe ever went b'efore or 
 after, 
 
 8. Therefore, the he-goat waxed very great : and when he 
 was strong, the great horn was broken : and for it, came 
 up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven. 
 
 The he-goat became very great in the sweep of his absolute SAvay 
 over the eastern world; but he had scarcely reached the summit 
 of his power when the great horn was broken. Alexander died 
 suddenly at Babylon. Strong drink (as some say provoking fever 
 to its aid) smote him down. He whom none of the mighty warriors 
 of the East could overcome fell suddenly and basely before the in- 
 toxicating cup. In such near proximity came the glory of his 
 greatness and the shame of his fall \ " When he was strong, the 
 
 great horn was broken." That this great empire was cleft into 
 
 four parts is a well known fact of history. Thrace and Macedon 
 were the nucleus of the European and Western section; Asia Minor, 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VIII. 375 
 
 stretching to the Euxine and the Caspian, lay on the extreme north ; 
 Syria, north as to Palestine, pushed its empire to India, and became 
 really the eastern and great Asiatic portion ; while Egypt became 
 the center for the southern section. " Toward the four winds o£ 
 
 heaven" describes their location. Of these four the Jews stood 
 
 in close relations only to Egypt on the south and Syria on the 
 north. Hence the other sections are at once dropped from these 
 
 visions. The special exigencies of the symbol require these four 
 
 kingdoms to appear first as horns, inasmuch as they spring up on 
 account of the breaking of the great horn. Indeed, they are at 
 first only kings, but ultimately they secured for themselves king- 
 doms. Hence they stand in the vision as horns, but in the inter- 
 pretation as kingdoms. Consequently this case does not disprove 
 the position heretofore taken that the natural sense of the symbol' 
 of the horn is a king, and that this must certainly be its sense 
 ivhen inspiration affirms it to be. 
 
 9. And out of one of tliem came forth a little horn, 
 Avhich waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward 
 the east, and toward the pleasant land. 
 
 "Out of one of these" means, in the line of one of these king- 
 doms, viz., Syria. That he rose up as a king in one of these four 
 kingdoms is explicitly afiirmed in the inspired interjwetation (vs. 
 
 22, 23). He is a " little horn," compared with Alexander who 
 
 is a "great horn." Hence he should be, like Alexander, a king, 
 and not (as some suppose) a church, or a system of false religion. 
 Moreover, it is also implied that he is called "little" because he 
 was so at the first, and grew to more greatness by dint of personal 
 
 energy and effort. Our verse gives the geographical points toward 
 
 which he pushed his conquests, viz., "toward the south," Egypt; 
 " toward the east," 13abylonia and Persia ; and " toward the pleasant 
 land," where the original word is one which in Daniel's writings 
 always means Palestine. See chap. 11: 16, 41. Also Ezek. 20: 
 6, 15. Primarily it means the beauty or the glory, and hence would 
 naturally be used by the Hebrews of their own country, which they 
 accounted the glory of all lands. Such is the historical programme 
 
 of Antiochus Epiphanes. The reader will notice how the symbol 
 
 of a horn shades off at once into the reality of a king ; for this de- 
 scription paints, not the growth of a horn as such, but the enlarge- 
 ment of a kingdom by the efibrts of its king, pushing his con- 
 quests. 
 
 10. And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven ; and 
 it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, 
 and stamped upon them. 
 
 11. Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the 
 host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the 
 place of his sanctuary was cast down. 
 
376 DANIEL.— CHAr. VIII. 
 
 The word which mainly gives the clew to the sense of this pas- 
 sage is " host." It is often used for the soldiers of an army; some- 
 times for the stars, and all those apparently lesser bodies that seem 
 crowded closely together. I take it to be used here for the people 
 of God, considered as composing his militant church and kingdom 
 on earth, as in Josh. 5: 14; "Nay, but as captain of the Lord's 
 host am 1 now come." The qualifying words, "of heaven," in the 
 phrase "host of heaven," may come from Daniel's conception of 
 this kingdom as set up by "the God of heaven" (2: 44), and hence 
 properly called "the kingdom of heaven." This is precisely the 
 
 militant church on earth, warring for her Redeemer-King. ''It 
 
 cast doAvn some of the host, even of the stars, to the ground;" 
 where we must not think of the stars in the firmament of the sky, 
 but of the distinguished leaders in the sacramental host. "8tar" 
 is used by the Orientals in this sense, as in the "parable" of Ba- 
 laam; "There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a scepter shall 
 rise out of Israel" — referring to David, a king wielding a human 
 scepter. (Num. 24:' 17.) Tlie sense of v. 10 is that this little 
 horn-king made war upon the people of God and destroyed some 
 of their distinguished leaders. V. 11 states that he dared to wage 
 war against the God of the Jews, the Immanuel who appeared to 
 Joshua as "the Prince of the host," (translated there "Captain," 
 but it is the same word as here, Prince;) and consequently he 
 sacrilegiously broke up the established, divinely ordained, temple 
 sacrifices, and "cast down" the place of his manifested presence 
 
 and abode. The original Hebrew, rendered, "i?y him the daily 
 
 sacrifice was taken away," is peculiar. It means either that one 
 sent forth from and by him took aAvay the daily sacrifice ; or more 
 abstractly, that by reason of him — at his instance, one took away, 
 etc. It is remarkable that precisely the same expression is used 
 in stating the same fact (chap. 11 : 31); "From him or at his com- 
 mand, a military force ('arms') shall be organized and sent 
 forth." So I paraphrase the first clause of this verse — such being 
 obviously the sense of this clause, which is obscurely rendered, 
 "arms shall stand on his part." The prophet means to say that 
 this military force was sent from and by him, but was not led by 
 him in person. This is precisely the sense of his language, and 
 this too is the historic fact. Antiochus Epiphanes sent his chief 
 collector of tribute (1 Mac. 1 : 29) and he seized Jerusalem and 
 took away the daily sacrifice. The Hebrew for "the daily sacri- 
 fice " is but one word. This word means, " the perpetual ' — that 
 wliich occurs continually. It was in established use among the 
 Jews for their most constant and most frequently recurring sticri- 
 fice, that which was offered each morning and each evening. There 
 can be no question of the correctness of tliis rendering, " the daily 
 sacrifice," nor can there be a doul)t that it should be understood in 
 the Jewish sense. It is simply inqiossible that a Jewish writer 
 should use the phrase in any other sense, or that his Jewish read- 
 ers could think of any thing else than this. Naturally it carries 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VIII. 377 
 
 \\-ith it all the other customary temple sacrifices. Not this alone 
 was taken away, but all. The implication is, If this, then aU. 
 
 12. And a host was given liim against the daily sacrifice 
 by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to 
 the ground; and it practiced and prospered. 
 
 The prophecy goes on still to say that "some of the host" {i. e., 
 of God's people), "are given into his hand, in addition to the daily 
 sacrifice, by reason of sin;" for so, I translate the preposition which 
 stands before the word for daily sacrifice. Other cases of similar 
 usage occur, Ex. 35: 22; "And they came, the men in addition to 
 the women," etc.. Our English version has it, "both men and 
 women." Also Amos 3: 15; "I will smite the winter house in ad- 
 dition to the summer house;" not strictly one upon the other in the 
 same pile of ruins. So Hos. 10 : 14. This sense is confirmed by 
 the last clause of v. 13, which shows that the thing done was the 
 givinii; of both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot. 
 
 This was a judgment on the Jews for their sins, "by reason 
 
 of transgression." Both the authors of the books of Maccabees 
 assign the same cause, which seems to indicate a somewhat general, 
 perhaps national, sense of the relation between their sufferings un- 
 der God's judgments, and the sins for which he sent them. See 1 
 
 Maccabees iT 11-15, G4, and 2 Mac. 5: 17, and 6: 12. This 
 
 horn-power cast down the truth — its interests and cause — and for 
 a time seemed to have every thing his own way. 
 
 13. Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint 
 said unto that certain saint wdiich spake, How long shall 
 he the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the trans- 
 gression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the 
 host to be trodden under foot ? 
 
 14. And he said unto me. Unto two thousand and three 
 hundred days ; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. 
 
 Daniel hears one of the holy ones (attendant angels) speaking as 
 if about to explain some point of the vision, when lo, another of 
 the angels led his mind to the question of ti7ne, asking how long 
 that part of the vision should be which refers to the daily sacrifice 
 and the sin that .works ruin, (referring to the sin brought forward 
 in V. 12, as the cause of this judgment,) and which involves giving 
 ])oth the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot. Such 1 
 take to be the meaning of this question. The three Hebrew words 
 that next follow "vision," rendered, "the daily;" "the transgres- 
 sion;" "of desolation;" must have been added to limit it to a cer- 
 tain part of the whole. For the inquirer docs not ask or care to 
 know how long the dominion of the ram and of the he-goat should 
 continue. There being no special intimation that they will greatly 
 aftlict his people, he can pass over that point readily ; but he does 
 wish to know how long the daily sacrifice will be suspended and 
 
378 DANIEL.— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 how lonf]; this sin of the covenant people will continue to call down 
 judj^ments from the Lord upon them. These are matters that lie 
 heavily on his heart. Moreover the last clause involves precisely 
 tliis limitation, viz., to that part of the vision which refers to giving 
 
 the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot. In the 
 
 clause rendered, '"the transgression of desolation," I understand the 
 word for transgression to refer to the same word in the first clause 
 of V. 12; "by reason of transgression^^' both because this word is 
 the same, and because it has here the article equivalent to, " that 
 transgression." It is called desolating (the sense of the participle) 
 because it is the occasion of these judgments from God upon his 
 apostate people. Daniel would know how long these judgments for 
 this sin will continue. It is vital to get precisely the sense of the 
 
 question as the first step toward the true answer. In v. 14 the 
 
 Hebrew rendered "days" is "evening morning." Yet the mean- 
 ing is no doubt merely day in the sense of twenty-four hours, the 
 time of one revolution of the earth on its axis. This peculiar ex- 
 pression may be chosen to denote full days, made up of the night 
 and the day. Did the Spirit of Inspiration intend by this expres- 
 sion to throw up a barrier against the absurdity of supposing that 
 one of these days means three hundred and sixty common days, 
 hinting to us that his day is one evening and one morning ? If so, 
 it is only the more sad to think of so much labor lost in guarding 
 prophecy against absurd and vicious interpretations. The He- 
 brew for "cleansed" means usually "justified," but here, "set 
 right," put into its proper condition for its appropriate use. Since 
 the evil to be remedied was its pollution and desecration by idol- 
 worship, "cleansed" well expresses the sense. 
 
 It remains to inquire into the historic fulfillment of these twenty- 
 three hundred days. As already suggested, the inquiry should 
 
 begin with a clear and just apprehension of the question. Let it be 
 carefully borne in mind that the important points made in the pas- 
 sage, vs. 10-12, are precisely two, viz., (I.) That this little horn- 
 king wickedly carriec} desolation into the "pleasant land," casting 
 to the ground and stamping down some of the distinguished leaders 
 
 of the Jews — "the host and the stars." (2.) That he took away 
 
 the daily sacrifice, and by implication all the other sacrifices as 
 well. The question, " How long ? " refers to these two points — none 
 other. As to these two, he would know their duration. The an- 
 swer may be expected to give this, at least proximately. It docs. 
 
 The chief historical authorities still extant are the two books 
 
 of Maccabees. Unfortunately these books, and especially the sec- 
 ond, rarely give exact dates. But the following points are well 
 
 established.^ The sanctuary was cleansed Dec. 25, 164 B. C. See 
 
 I Mac. 4 : 52, with I Mac. 1 : 54, 59. At this point the twenty- 
 three hundred days (== 6 years, 3 m. and 20 days) mu.st close. 
 From this point we go back three and a half 3^ears, spanning the 
 period during which the daily sacrifice was suspended, to June 25, 
 I()7 B. C. So long the altar-iires ceased to burn; the daily sacrifice 
 was not made. But six and a quarter years carry us back yet 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VIII. 379 
 
 further. So also, the " treading down" of some of the host and of 
 the stars lies yet farther back. Just two years before this, viz., in 
 June, 169 13. C. Antiochus Epiphanes returned from his second mil- 
 itary expedition into Egypt, greatly enraged against the Jews be- 
 cause he had heard that they had been making great demonstra- 
 tions of joy over a report of his death. He fell upon the city with 
 the sword, making a terrific slaughter of "the host" of the Lord's 
 people. The first book of Maccabees says of this event ; " After 
 Antiochus had smitten Egypt, he returned in the one hundred and 
 forty-third year" (of the iSelcucidae, 13. C. 169) "and went up 
 against Israel and Jerusalem with a great multitude," etc. ; pillaged 
 the temple and city; then "went into' his own land, having made a 
 great massacre and spoken very proudly" (1 Mac. 1 : 20-24). "And 
 after two years fully expired., the_ king sent his chief collector of 
 tribute," etc. This was the expedition which bears date June, 167 
 B. C, and which desecrated the temple and suspended the sacri- 
 fices (1 Mac. 1 : 29). The second book of Maccabees is more in 
 
 detail on this point, but without very exact dates, connecting it, 
 however, with the second expedition of Antiochus into Egypt, and 
 showing further that immediately upon the receipt of the false 
 rumor of the king's death, Jason, one of his minions in Judea, 
 " took at least a thousand men and suddenly made an assault upon 
 the city, and slew his own citizens without mercy." Here some of 
 " the host" fell, at a period considerably earlier than June, 169 13. C. 
 His account of the massacre made by the king is full, showing it to 
 have been terrific. From what the king heard in Egypt, " he 
 thought Judea had revolted, whereupon removing out of Egypt in a 
 furious mind, he took the city by force of arms and commanded his 
 men of Avar not to spare such as they met, and to slay such as went 
 up upon the houses. Thus there was killing of young and old, 
 making away of men, women, and children ; slaying of virgins and 
 infants. And there were destroyed within three whole days four 
 score thousand, whereof forty thousand were slain in the conflict, 
 and no fewer sold than slain" (2 Mac. 5: 11-1-1). But the full 
 period of twenty-three hundred days runs back yet a fraction of a 
 year further. The onslaught of Jason was probably in May, 169 
 B. C The period named in our passage (six years, thVee months 
 and twenty days) should begin about Hept. 5, 170 B. C. The au- 
 thor of the second book of Maccabees, in his fourth chapter, imme- 
 diately preceding that quoted above, records the murder of the 
 good Onias, long time high priest, a "Star" of the first magnitude, 
 whose influence had long withstood the wickedness of the times; 
 the murder also of the three Jewish deputies who went to meet the 
 king at Tyre, and obtain his interposition against Men^laus. This 
 jSlenelaus was a vile apostate ; a minion of Antiochus, subserving 
 his interests by drawing the people into Grecian customs and idol- 
 atry. Indirectly, what he did in the way of persecuting the Jews 
 was done by Antiochus himself Hence these murders of four dis- 
 tinguished Jewish leaders should be set to the account of this little 
 horn. They all seem to have occurred in the year 170 B. C. More- 
 
380 DANIEL.— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 over it was in the year B. C. 170 that Antiochus made his first ex- 
 pedition into E.uypt, in which he naturally passed through Judea. 
 It is not strange that a period intended to cover the whole time of 
 casting down "some of the host and of the stars," unto the " cleans- 
 ing of the sanctuary" should embrace the murder of Onias and of 
 the three deputies to Tyre, and also the period of his first military 
 expedition through their country. This is the amount of histor- 
 ical verification which I am able to ol)tain from any authentic 
 source at my command. ]t may fitly be added here that the ma- 
 terials for a full history of Antiochus Epiphanes, in the line of pro- 
 fane historians, are scanty. Jahn remarks that " the writings which 
 treat of this period by Callinicus Sutoricus, Diodorus Siculus, Ilier- 
 onymus the historian, Polybius Posidonius, Claudius Theon and 
 Andronicus Alypius, are all lost except a few fragments preserved 
 by other authors, and we have these only from the second or third 
 liand." Porphyry, a learned infidel of the third century, wrote 
 against the Christians in fifteen books, of which the twelfth was de- 
 voted to Daniel, to prove from the great accuracy of his pro})liecy 
 when applied to Antiochus Epiphanes and his times, that it must 
 have been written as history after the events. He drcAV largely from 
 the classic authors above named ; but unfortunately his work is lost, 
 except as quotations from it have come down to us in Jerome's com- 
 mentary on Daniel in reply to Porphyry. Three other Christian 
 writers replied to his work, but all these are lost except a few frag- 
 ments copied into other authors. Of these three, that by Apollina- 
 rius is much lamented, having the reputation of being very accurate. 
 
 This paucity of historic material is an ample apology for any 
 
 apparent deficiency in making out the precise historic verification 
 of this time-period which refers to events so remote, and which 
 gives lis periods so very minute as the number of days. And even 
 tliis number (2300) may be round and general, and not precise and 
 particular. Yet the approximation which is obtained, despite of 
 such dilliculties, will satisfy fair-minded readers. 
 
 15. And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had 
 seen the vision, and sought for the meaning, then behold, 
 there stood before me as the appearance of a man. 
 
 16. And I heard a man's voice between the banks o/Ulai, 
 which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to under- 
 stand the vision. 
 
 17. So he came near where I stood : and when he came, 
 I was afraid, and fell upon my face : but he said unto me. 
 Understand, O son of man : for at the time of the end i>hall 
 he the vision. 
 
 18. Now as he was speaking Avith me, I was in a deep 
 sleep on my face toward the ground : but lie touched me, 
 and set me upright. 
 
 19. And he said. Behold, I will make thee know what 
 
DANIEL.— CHAr. VIII. 381 
 
 shall be in the last end of the indignation : for at the time 
 appointed the end shall he. 
 
 This passage describes the way in which Daniel obtained from 
 the Angel Gal)riel an explanation of this vision. As bearing upon 
 the date of its fulfilhnent and the occasion of these calamites sent 
 on the Jews, the words (vs. 17 and 19) "at the time of the end 
 shall be the vision ; " " what shall be in the last end of tlie indig- 
 nation;" " for at the time appointed the end shall be;" should be 
 carefully considered. The same or similar expressions occur chap. 
 11: 27, 35, 36, 40, and 12: 4, 9. Other passages illustrative of 
 these, are Dan. 10 : 14, and 8 : 26. Whoever shall carefully exam- 
 ine these passages will see that they refer to the time when these 
 great persecutions and calamities upon the Jews will occur; that 
 they speak of it as a time of God's indignation against them for 
 their sins; and as determined in his divine counsels. Further- 
 more, they approximate toward the definite time for these events 
 by calling it, "the time of the end," or as chap. 10: 14, has it, 
 "In the latter days." The passage chap. 8: 17, rendered "at the 
 time of the end shall be the vision," I take to mean that this vis- 
 ion looks toward the time of the end for its fulfillment : it relates 
 to events which shall take place near "the time of the end." The 
 end here is manifestly, not the final end of all earthly things, but 
 the end of the age before Clirist. The Jews were accustomed to 
 speak of the times of the Messiah as "the last times;" the "last" 
 or the "latter days." Very naturally, therefore, the period before 
 his coming was definitely marked off by that coming, and it would 
 be the end of the previous age of the world. Now, we have already 
 seen in chap. 7 that these calamities must precede Christ's inaugu- 
 ration in his great kingdom ; but since they lie very near it, they 
 are near "the time of the end," Hence these expressions refer to 
 the cruel and bloody persecutions of the Jews by Antiochus Epiph- 
 anes and the long wars which, commenced by him, continued about 
 twenty-four years, inflicting great calamities upon the Jewish nation. 
 The period was specially one of God's indignation against the apos- 
 tate Jews for their fall into heathenism under the influences then 
 pervading the East. The revealing angel declares (v. 19); "I will 
 make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation," 
 for this "end shall be at the time appointed." This implies that 
 the Lord had indignation toward the people for their general re- 
 lapse into idolatry, and had fully purposed to scourge them sorely 
 
 by the little horn-power for this great sin. As going to show 
 
 that there was at this time an amount of national degeneracy truly 
 alarming, and such as demanded from their divine Shepherd the 
 sternest methods of national discipline and judgment, let us pause 
 here a moment to look at the facts of their case in this respect. 
 
 Taking our stand-point at the commencement of the reign of 
 
 Antiochus Epiphanes (B. C. 175), it is now two hundred and 
 twenty-five years since the age of Malachi and Nehcmiah, when 
 we may remember that the last reformation recorded in Oli^ Testa- 
 
382 DANIEL.— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 ment history found its main work to be to withstand the tendencies 
 to a dani^orously intimate association, social and commercial, with 
 the idolaters around them. These tendencies did not cease with 
 that reformation. It is more than three hundred and sixty years 
 since the age of Daniel, Cyrus and Zerubbabel, when this proph- 
 ecy was given, and when the great moral lessons of a seventy 
 years' captivity had for once impressed on the national mind a 
 solemn warning against idolatry. In the lapse of ten generations, 
 it is not strange that those lessons should have lost much of their 
 vividness and power. Yet further, note that it is now one hun- 
 dred and fifty years since the conquests of Alexander the Great, 
 sweeping over all Western Asia and Northern Africa, brought 
 with them all the great elements of Grecian life and civilization — 
 their literature, their manners, their public amusements, their 
 dress, and not least, their attractive idolatry. These 'new elements 
 fell upon the less vigorous and more susceptible Oriental mind 
 with the greater power because borne by the hand of the conquer- 
 ing people, and backed by the influence and authority of the ruling 
 
 class. To all these circumstances add yet further that ever since 
 
 the captivity, i. g,, during now five hundred and thirty years, the 
 Jews have been, not mainly concentrated as of old, in Palestine, 
 but more or less Avidely dispersed abroad among the various tribes 
 and peoples throughout Asia even to India, and in Egypt. It is 
 supposed that in the great restoration, full as many remained be- 
 hind as returned to Judea. And subsequently, even down to our 
 present stand-point, B. C. 175, colonization had drained many of 
 their families from their mother-land. The Jews were regarded as 
 desirable colonists. In point of industry, vigor, and especially of 
 fidelity to their friends, they stood far above any other Oriental 
 population. Hence it was no uncommon thing that kings, desiring 
 to build up strong cities and a substantial state, bid high for Jew- 
 ish colonists. By this means they became yet more widely dis- 
 persed, and more mingled with idolaters. And finally, let us 
 
 make due account of this fact that since the death of Alexander, 
 the frequent wars between Egypt on the south and Syria on the 
 north, caused Judea to be repeatedly traversed to and fro by for- 
 eign armies, which of course brought the people into various con- 
 tact with their heathen neighbors, and quite broke up that seclusion 
 which the genius of the Jewish theocracy fostered and needed for 
 its best working. Here then is a broad array of social and polit- 
 ical influences, all tending to weaken their piety and relax the tone 
 of their national feeling. Under these influences they were in im- 
 minent peril of being utterly swept away into Grecian heathenism. 
 
 Let us notice some of the indications of this fact in the books 
 
 of the Maccabees. Starting at precisely our stand-point, where 
 
 Antiochus Epiphancs began his reign, the author of the first book 
 says (1: 11-15); "In those days went there out of Israel wicked 
 men, who persuaded many, sa^^ing, Let us go and make a covenant 
 with the heathen that are round about us ; for since we departed 
 from tlgem we have had much sorrow. So this device pleased them 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VIII. . 38,'^ 
 
 well. Then certain of the people were so forward herein that they 
 went to the king, w^ho gave them license to do after the ordinances 
 of the heathen. Whereupon they built a place of exercise for the 
 Grecian athletic games at Jerusalem according to the customs of 
 the heathen, and made themselves uncircumcised, and forsook tlic 
 holy covenant and joined themselves to the heathen, and were sold 
 to do mischief" "Many of the Israelites consented to the king's 
 religion, sacrificed to idols and profaned the Sabbath." (V. 43.) 
 When the king sent overseers to enforce his own religious system, 
 " many of the Jewish people were gathered unto them, to-wit, every 
 one that forsook the law ; and so they committed evils in the land, 
 
 and drove the Israelites into secret places" (vs. 52, 53). The 
 
 author of the second book gives some telling details (as usual) to 
 the same point; how Jason, the apostate, "brought up new cus- 
 toms against the law, for he built gladly a place of exercise under 
 the tower itself, and brought the chief young men under his sub- 
 jection, and made them wear a hat. Now such was. the height of 
 Greek fashions and increase of heathenish manners through the 
 exceeding profaneness of Jason, that ungodly wretch and not high 
 priest, that the priests had no courage to serve any more at the altar, 
 but despising the temple and neglecting the sacrifices, hastened to 
 be partakers of the unlawful allowance in the place of exercise 
 after the game of Discus called them forth" (2 Mac. 4: 11-14). 
 
 He gives his views of these great afflictions permitted of God 
 
 to come upon his people, thus ; " Now I beseech those that read 
 this book that they be not discourftgcd for these calamities, but 
 that they judge those punishments not to be for. destruction, but 
 for a chastening of our nation. For it is a token of his great 
 goodness when wicked doers are not suffered any long time, but 
 forthwith punished. For not as with other nations whom the Lord 
 patiently forbeareth to punish till they be come to the fullness of 
 
 their sins; so dealeth he with us" (2 Mac. 6: 12-14). Smith's 
 
 Bible Dictionary (art. "Antiochus") presents similar views forci- 
 bly. " The reign of Antiochus was the last great crisis in the 
 history of the Jews before the coming of our Lord." " The con- 
 quest of Alexander had introduced the forces of Greek thought 
 and life into the Jewish nation, which was already prepared for 
 their operation. For more than a century and a half, these forces 
 had acted powerfully both upon the faith and upon the habits of 
 the people; and the time was come when an outward struggle 
 alone could decide whether Judaism was to be merged in a ration- 
 alized Paganism, or to rise not only victorious from the conflict, 
 but more vigorous and more pure. There were many symptoms 
 that betokened the approaching struggle. The position which 
 Judea occupied on the borders of the conflicting empires of Syria 
 and Egypt, exposed equally to the open miseries of war and the 
 treacherous favors of rival sovereigns, rendered its national condi- 
 tion precarious from the first, though these very circumstances were 
 favorable to the growth of freedom. The terrible crimes by which 
 "the wars of the north and the south" were stained must have 
 
384 DANIEL.— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 alienated the mind of every faithful Jew from his Grecian lords, 
 even if persecution had not been superadded from Egypt first, and 
 then from Syria. Politically nothing was left for the people in the 
 reign of Antiochus but independence, or the abandonment of every 
 prophetic hope. Nor was their social position less perilons. The 
 influence of Greek literature, of foreign travel, of extended com- 
 merce, had made itself felt in daily life. At Jerusalem the mass 
 of the inhabitants seem to have desired to imitate the exercises 
 of the Greeks ; and a Jewish embassy attended the games of Her- 
 cules at Tyre (2 Mac. 4: 9-20), Even their religious feelings were 
 yielding ; and before the rising of the Maccabees no opposition was 
 offered to the execution of the king's decrees. Upon the first at- 
 tempt of Jason, the priests had no courage to serve at the altar, 
 and this not so much from willful apostasy as from a disregard to 
 the vital principles involved in the conflict. Thus it was necessary 
 that the final issues of a false Hellenism should be openly seen 
 that it might be discarded forever by those who cherished the 
 ancient faith of Israel." These views suffice to show the signifi- 
 cance of the allusion in our passage to " the last end of the indig- 
 nation," "at the time appointed," and why (as v. 23 indicates) this 
 scourge of God, Antiochus Epiphanes, was suffered to come down 
 on them precisely when "the transgressors were come to the full." 
 
 20. The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the 
 kings of Media and Persia. 
 
 21. And the rough goat is- the king of Grecia : and the 
 great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. 
 
 22. Now that. being broken, whereas four stood up for it, 
 four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in 
 his poAver. 
 
 This interpretation, given through Gabriel, the revealing angel, 
 definitely affirms and therefore proves that the ram with two horns 
 is the Medo-Persian empire, its composite character being indicated 
 by the two horns, each of which represents one of the original king- 
 doms. So also it shows that the goat is the Grecian power as de- 
 veloped in Alexander. It is not strange that the angel should say 
 first that the goat is (not the Icingdom^ but) the ^'' king of Grecia;^' 
 and next that " the great horn is the first king." For as seen in 
 the vision, it was not the kingdom Init the king. The one great 
 power was Alexander. As seen by Daniel there was yet virtually 
 no kingdom — certainly no Asiatic, oriental kingdom. It was only 
 a vigorous, conquering king, moving on to make a great kingdom. 
 
 When Alexander was suddenly broken down by death, four 
 
 new kingdoms arose out of the loose fragments of his great empire 
 — not in his power indeed, but entirely independent of any will of 
 his or of any influence growing out of any organization or arrange- 
 ment made by him wliilc he lived. No monarch so great ever left 
 so little behind him to determine the question of succession. AVhen 
 near deatli, and asked by his friends to wliom he would leave his 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VIII. 385 
 
 vast empire, lie said only, " To the worthiest." In fact he left it 
 
 to be fought for with rivers of blood one quarter of a century. 
 
 The four powers have been already indicated in the notes on v. 8. 
 There they were four horns, yet really four kingdoms, located geo- 
 graphically toward the four cardinal points. Here they are defi- 
 nitely four kingdoms. 
 
 23. And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the 
 transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce couute- 
 tenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. 
 
 This verse explains v. 9. "Out of one of them" {i. e., one of 
 those four kingdoms) "came forth a little horn." Here tlie angel 
 interpreter has it; "In the latter time of their kingdom, a king 
 shall stand up." The horn there is a king here. It is of course 
 assumed here that he is a king in one of those four kingdoms. 
 The angel therefore proceeds to locate him yet more definitely in 
 point of time. "In the latter time of their kingdom," and "when 
 the transgressors" (the Jews) "have filled up the measure of their 
 sins," so that discipline and judgment from the Lord's hand must 
 needs come to save them. This king is Antiochus Epiphanes. He 
 fills the description in every particular : no other personage does 
 
 or can. As to his point of time in the Syrian line of kings, one 
 
 hundred and thirty-seven years had passed when he came to the 
 throne; about one hundred remained after his death. Moreover, 
 the kingdom had waned very much as compared with its extent 
 and vigor under its founder Seleucus Nicator; and hence in this 
 point of light might naturally be thought of as in its latter stages. 
 As the interpreter said, "in the latter time of their kingdom," it is 
 proper to note that two out of these four kingdoms had already 
 run their course and become extinct when Antiochus ascended his 
 throne. As a whole those kingdoms were manifestly " in their lat- 
 ter time." His "fierce countenance" here refers, probably, not 
 
 to his physique so much as to his character; i. e., to him as seen 
 in vision with his character written on his very face, rather than 
 as seen by merely human eyes in the flesh. It means therefore 
 that he was ferocious, passionate, cruel. Precisely the same ex- 
 pression is used, Deut. 28 : 50, of the people who should invade 
 and spoil the Jews for their sins — "A nation of fierce countenance 
 who shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the 
 
 young." That he "should understand dark sentences," intricate 
 
 matters, testifies to his resources for cunning, craft and policy, as 
 is indicated also v. 25 : " Through his policy he shall cause craft to 
 prosper in his hand." 
 
 24. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own 
 power : and he shall destroy -wonderfully, and shall prosper, 
 and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy 
 people. 
 
 " He shall be strong," but shall not obtain this power by legiti- 
 
 17 
 
386 DANIEL.— CHAP. VIIL 
 
 mate means, sliall not be the rightful heir to the throne. Such is 
 the history of Antiochus. He was the youngest son of Antiochus 
 the Great. His elder brother, Selcucus Philopator, reigned eleven 
 years. Just before his death, he sent his only son, Demetrius, to 
 Koine as a hostage, thus exchanging and releasing his own brother, 
 Antiochus Epipliancs, who had been there in that capacity twelve 
 years. The king fell by poison at the hand of Heliodorus, who 
 sought to seize the kingdom. Antiochus heard of his brother's 
 death while at Athens on his way home, and immediately made 
 interest with powerful foreign parties to gain the kingdom for him- 
 self, and succeeded — ungratefully displacing the real heir to the 
 
 throne. Some have supposed that the phrase, "not by his own 
 
 power," looked to the agency of divine providence, since the Lord 
 had occasion to use him as his scourge upon his sinning people. I 
 
 incline to the former view. He shall make fearful havoc among 
 
 the nominal people of God, the Jews. iSo the reader of the books 
 of the Maccabees will see. The Jewish wars commenced by him 
 continued long after his death, in all about twenty-four years, re- 
 sulting at length in the independence of the Jewish nation B. C. 
 143, but at the cost of many thousands of Jewish lives. 
 
 25. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to 
 prosper in his hand ; and he shall magnify himself in his 
 heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand 
 up against the Prince of princes ; but he shall be broken 
 without hand. 
 
 The sense of the first clause is, that by means of cunning, keen- 
 eyed sagacity, he will make deception work successfully toward his 
 ends. The points made in the entire verse are — successful cun- 
 ning and deceit, unbounded pride and self-esteem ; destroying many 
 suddenly, in the midst of apparent tranquillity; daring to array 
 himself against the Almighty; and his utter fall before some 
 
 superhuman hand. This king's sharp-minded sagacity has been 
 
 noticed before; "understanding dark sentences." This feature of 
 his character, and his abundant and successful use of it stand out 
 with great prominence in chap. 11 : 21-32. "He comes in peace- 
 ably and obtains the kingdom by flatteries;" "works deceitfully;" 
 "enters peaceably" (not by force of arms) "upon the fiittest places 
 of the provinces;" "forecasts devices and corrupts the wicked Jews 
 by flatteries," etc.— ^ — History shows that he obtained the kingdom 
 by precisely such means, and also that he plied these arts in their 
 full strength upon the Jews, drawing many of them into apostasy 
 from their religion and from their country's cause, into cooperation 
 with himself "He shall have intelligence with them that for- 
 sake the holy covenant." His supreme pride and self-esteem 
 
 appear also in chap. 11. "The king shall do according to his 
 will;" "he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every 
 god;" "regarding neither the god of his fathers, nor the desire of 
 women, nor any god, he shall magnify himself above all." History 
 
PANIEL.— CHAP. VIII. 387 
 
 gives him the same character. That he dared to fight against 
 
 the God of the Jews, even while he had sufficient means of know- 
 ing that He was the true and Almighty God, has been noted on v. 
 11, and stands out prominently in his history as given in the hooks 
 of ]\]iiccabees. It was perhaps specially manifest (as usual) in 
 that hour which most tries men's souls — the hour of impending 
 death. The author of second Maccabees, chap. 9, says; "Here, 
 therefore, being plagued, he began to leave off his great pride and 
 to come to the knowledge of himself by the scourge of God, his 
 pain increasing every moment. And when he could not abide his 
 own smell, he said; "It is meet to be subject unto God, and that a 
 man that is mortal should not proudly think of himself as if he 
 were God." Also in his distress and remorse, he vowed that if God 
 would spare him, he "would become a Jew himself and go through 
 all the world declaring the power of God." This shows that he 
 had arrayed himself against Jehovah God with his eyes open, stand- 
 ing up intelligently against the Prince of princes. No wonder 
 therefore that he Avas suddenly "broken without hand," or as in 11 : 
 45, that "he came to his end with none to help him;" or yet as in 
 7 : 26, that " the judgment did sit and they -took away his dominion 
 to consume and destroy it to the end." For the circumstances of 
 his sudden and horrible death, see notes on 7 : 26. Thus closes 
 this brief but somewhat specific and minute description of the little 
 horn-king. 
 
 26. And the vision of the evening and tlie morning which 
 was told is true : Avherefore shut thou up the vision ; for it 
 shall he for many days. 
 
 27. And I Daniel fainted, and wa,s sick certain days ; 
 afterward I rose up, and did the king's business ; and I was 
 astonished at the vision, but none understood it. 
 
 This vision is spoken of as " the vision of the evening and the 
 morning," with reference to the use of this phrase in the Hebrew 
 of V. 14 — "twenty-three hundred evening morning." There can be 
 no doubt that "the vision of the evening and the morning" in this 
 V. 26, is the vision of this eighth chapter, especially that part of it 
 in which this phrase occurs," and which shows how long the little 
 horn shall tread down "the sanctuary "and the sacramental "host." 
 
 The direction "to shut up this vision" indicates that its time 
 
 of ]nore special interest and value to its readers was yet somewhat 
 remote. When this day of trial should come, those heroic men 
 and women who fell martyrs to the faith of their fathers, or who 
 fought with lion-hearted courage and prowess against fearful odds, 
 would read these visions and dwell on these predictions of the fall 
 of their great foe with surpassing interest. The passage implies 
 that relaiivebi less interest would be felt in the vision at that time 
 
 and for some time to come. The Hebrew word rendered " I 
 
 fainted," is the pa!5sive form of the verb to he — a usage of a very 
 peculiar sort, somewhat idiomatic, as "I was done for;" "was gono 
 
388 DANIEL.— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 up;" "it was all over -with me." The scene affected him so pow- 
 erfully as to disqualify him temporarily for any service. That he 
 afterward " rose up and did the king's business," seems to imply 
 that he was there as an embassador for the king of Babylon. This 
 accounts for his being at Shushan when he had the vision. — ^Thc 
 last clause may mean, "There was none to make me understaml 
 it" — this form of the verb (hiphil) being very often causative. The 
 statement would seem to imply that his mind was still " inquiring 
 and searching diligently what or what manner of time the reveal- 
 ing Spirit did signify." He greatly desired to know these mat- 
 ters yet more particularly than the Lord had yet revealed them. 
 "In the third year of Cyrus" this great desire was gratified. The 
 vision recorded, chap. 10-12, was amply specific to these very points. 
 In concluding this chapter, I must sunT up in few words my 
 reasons for finding the little horn and the king of fierce counte- 
 nance in Antiochus Epiphanes. The reader will have noticed 
 
 that neither Alexander, the "great horn," nor Antiochus, the 
 "little horn," is called by name. Only Media, Persia, and Grecia 
 are given by name. And yet these horns are described so precisely 
 that, with the history of those times before us, we can identify each 
 one as surely as if he had been actually called l)y name. Thus the 
 "great horn," the first king of the Asiatic Grecian empire, can not 
 possibly be any other than Alexander. The historical evidence is 
 
 perfect. He, and nobody else but he, was the first king. There 
 
 is the same sort of evidence; and an amount of it no less decisive, 
 to prove that the little horn is Antiochus Epiphanes. The descrip- 
 tion embraces many more points. Every one of these points, per- 
 taining to his historical place in the four kingdoms, his date, the 
 direction of his military exploits and successes — in short, the things 
 he did, the spirit and character of the man, and his final destiny — 
 every one of these minute points fit him perfectly, fit him in their 
 
 obvious, legitimate, and well-established significance. Even this 
 
 is not all. Of itself alone, this might not be absolutely decisive, 
 for it might still be said. Many of these points fit some other per- 
 sonage too ; possibly some of them may fit another as well as they 
 fit Antiochus Epiphanes. It is supposable (not at all probable) 
 that a score of definite particulars of this sort might fit each of two 
 or more kings. Hence we need yet another fact to make the 
 evidence absolutely decisive. We need to find points that fit An- 
 tiochus, and Jit no other mem; — points that never have been fulfilled 
 in any other and never can be. Then the proof will be complete. 
 Now, we have precisely this evidence. Here are some special 
 points that never have been met in any other man, and i\ever can 
 be. Go through all Jewish history from INIoses to Christ, i. e., from 
 the establishment of their religious ritual to its final abolishment, 
 and ask wliat persecuting heathen king caused the daily sacrifices 
 to be temporarily suspended. There is but one possible answer; 
 Antiochus Epiphanes. -^ Traverse the same history from beginning 
 to end, and ask for the celebrated event of " cleansing the sanctu- 
 ary " after a brief desecration — an event which never happened but 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VIII. 389 
 
 once — the memory of which was celebrated quite down to the 
 times of our Lord's personal ministry among the Jews as "the 
 feast of dedication " Avhen "it was Avinter" {i. e., Dec. 25; see John 
 10: 23). Then ask, Who had been pollutin<!; the sanctuary? There 
 is but one possible answer; Antiochus Epiphanes. These great 
 fticts of Jewish history put their finger on this heathen king with 
 unmistakable precision. It is simply impossible that any other 
 king can fill these points of this description. It is, therefore, im- 
 possible that this little horn can be any one else than Antiochus 
 Epiphanes. Coupling, then, these two great lines of argument — 
 (1.) That a great number of very minute and specific points, half 
 a score or more, pertaining to this little horn-king, meet in him 
 when legitimately interpreted — meet naturally, easily, and precisely : 
 and (2.) That at least these two or more, last mentioned, can not 
 'possibly apply to any other personage^ we have ample demonstration. 
 Candid minds will be satisfied with it. 
 
 The general parallelism of Daniels four great visions has been 
 more than once alluded to. The present is a favorable point for 
 renewed attention to the evidence of this fact. 1 forbear to no- 
 tice yet the last vision, that of chap. 10-12, because it has not yet 
 come under our special consideration. I also omit the vision in chap. 
 2: 31-45, partly because, being undeniably parallel with chap. 7, 
 there is no need of giving special attention to it in our present in- 
 quiry ; and partly because it gives us no details respecting the great 
 personage who becomes more and more prominent as the visions 
 advance — the little horn-king. Hence we have now to consider 
 
 only the parallelism of the vision chap. 7 with this of chap. 8. 
 
 Note, then, that chap. 8 omits Chaldea, for its course is already run; 
 
 its end is near; there is nothing more to say of it. Chap. 2: 
 
 31-45, began Avitli the reigning dynasty, in its glory, as it then was; 
 chap. 7, with the same reigning dynasty, already waning to its fall ; 
 chap. 8, with the dynasty just about to appear, prol)ably within a 
 twelve-month. In chap. 7 the Seer is present bodily in the king- 
 dom which is the starting point in the series. In chap. 8 the same 
 is true; he is bodily in Persia (at the capital), witli which kingdom 
 
 his visions begin. In chap. 7 he gives us the Medo-Persian 
 
 kingdom, and next the Grecian kingdom of Alexander. In chap. 
 8 the same, only making yet more prominent the manner in which 
 the latter smote and overpowered the former, and then succeeded 
 
 to his dominion. In chap. 7 the power next in order is the 
 
 fourth beast and his horns ; yet remarkably nothing is said of the 
 doings of the ten horns, and nothing distinctively of the terrible 
 fourth beast except as he appears in the little horn. The fearful- 
 ncss of this fourth beast ; his sins that call for the judgments of 
 (xod ; and the visitation of those judgments — all seem to belong to 
 him as represented in the little horn. So much is obviously apparent 
 
 in chap. 7. Correspondingly, in chap. 8, the fourth beast scarcely 
 
 appears at all in his distinctive character. The four kingdoms that 
 spring up on the breaking down of Alexander's are apparently in- 
 troduced only to fill up the historic links, and give us more defi- 
 
390 DANIEL.— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 nitely the historical place and relations of the little horn. This 
 done, wo come at once to the great central personage — the little 
 horn; to his deeds, his spirit, and his doom. Hence, we have now 
 simply to comyiare the little horn of chap. 7 with the little horn of 
 chap. 8. If these are identical, the two visions are essentially par- 
 allel. Each bears the same distinctive name, " the little horn." 
 
 Whatever this name may mean, it is safe to assume that it means 
 the same in each vision. Such similarity of character and same- 
 ness of name go far to prove identity. Each is declared by the 
 
 angel-interpreter to be a "king" — another point toward identity. 
 — ^— Chap. 7 makes him sagacious, far-seeing, for this must be the 
 sense of eyes in a horn. Chap. 8 defines him to be a king "un-- 
 derstanding dark sentences," and "by his policymaking craft to 
 prosper in his hand." Chap, 7 gives this horn " a mouth speak- 
 ing great things" (v. 8); "very great things" (v. 20); and "great 
 words against the Most High " (v. 25). Correspondingly, chap. 8 
 represents him as elated with pride and self-esteem, and as con- 
 fronting himself with horrible impiety against the true God and his 
 people. "He magnifies himself in his heart;" "he casts down the 
 truth to the ground;" "he stands up against the Prince of princes." 
 Chap. 7 makes a definite and prominent point of his persecu- 
 tion of the saints; "wearing them out." Chap. 8 makes the same 
 point not less definitely and prominently. " He casts down some 
 of the host and of the stars to the ground and stamps upon them;" 
 the " ho-it is given up" to his power; he "destroys the mighty and 
 the holy people;" and in the midst of apparent "peace, destroys 
 
 many." In chap. 7 the holy people whom he "wears out" are 
 
 Jews, for it is their "times and laws" that he "thinks to change." 
 In chap. 8 the same is true ; it is their ovv'n sanctuary that he casts 
 
 down;" their "daily sacrifice that he takes away." In chap. 7 
 
 it is declared that the Jewish institutions of worship shall be given 
 into his hand for a season, so that he will do his own will as to 
 them; i. c, change them for heathen, institutions and worship. 
 Chap. 8 says the same. Not the "host" only, but the daily sacri- 
 fice is given up to his power (v. 12); "the sanctuary and the host 
 
 are given him to be trodden under his feet" (v. 13). In chap. 7 
 
 the duration of this dominant control over Jewish institutions and 
 worship is set at three and a half years. In chap. 8 the period 
 defined includes more than simply the time of his suspending the 
 daily sacrifice. It embraces also the giving of the host, the Lord's 
 people, to be trodden under foot^ and therefore is extended to six 
 and one-third years. But the two periods are in no sense conflict- 
 ing. They are indeed essentially parallel, and apply to the same 
 series of historic facts respecting Antiochus Epiphanes. I do not 
 claim that one of these visions is an exact copy of the other. Gen- 
 eral parallelism does not require this. The two visions are truly 
 independent; but the same great historic personage is the central 
 figure in each. We proceed. in chap. 7 it is manifestly im- 
 plied throughout that he impiously sets himself against Almighty 
 God. Nut less so in chap. 8, " lie magnifies himself against the 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. VIII. 391 
 
 Prince of the host;" ''he stands up against the Prince of princes." 
 
 Finally, in chap. 7, special judgments from the Almighty cut 
 
 him down and put an end to his power against the saints. In chap. 
 
 8 he "is broken without" (human) "hand." So much for the 
 
 points of close and unquestionable analogy. They embrace almost 
 every special point made in chap. 7 — every one indeed of ,any 
 prominence except this, that the little horn-king there " subdues 
 three of the" former "kings" (v. 24), and they "fall before him" 
 
 (v. 20). On the other hand, chap. 8 makes some new points, as 
 
 might be expected from its more full descriptions. It gives (v. 9) 
 the direction of his conquests, viz., toward Egypt, Persia, and Pal- 
 estine. It intimates that he is made God's instrument for disci- 
 pline and judgment on apostate Jews; "When the transgressors 
 are come to the full" (v. 23); "In the last end of the indigna- 
 tion" (v. 19). It gives very definitely the historical point of "the 
 cleansing of the sanctuary " — one of the great facts of Jewish his- 
 tory, celebrated during several centuries by an annual "feast of 
 dedication," " in the winter." See John 10: 22. But these addi- 
 tional points by no means impair the evidence of real parallelism, 
 or of the actual identity of this little horn with that This evi- 
 dence seems to me to be conclusive. How can it be doubted that 
 the little horn of chap. 7 is also the little horn of chap. 8 — the 
 .same personage, standing in the same political relations to heathen 
 powers ; in the same relations also to the Jews ; breathing the same 
 spirit ; doing the same things ; coming to the same end '} 
 
 A few words are due here respecting the theory of interpreting 
 
 this chapter, which makes the little horn Papal Rome. This 
 
 little horn of chap. 8 can not be Papal Kome, 1. Because he is 
 
 Antiochus Epiphanes, as has been shown. 2. Because this horn 
 
 is a king, and therefore is yiot a church; is not a great religious 
 
 organization; is not even a kingdom. Let it be remembered 
 
 that this is put epsecially on the ground of God's own interpre- 
 tation. The current strain of the vision proper (vs. 9-14) most 
 fully implies that this horn is a king; but the interpretation (vs. 
 23-^25) affirms it, and so describes him throughout. This authority 
 ought to be respected. Of course it will be by those who admit 
 that he who presents thought to others, whether by symbols or 
 in ordinary speech, is the best interpreter of his own thought; and 
 that this universal law is preeminently appUcable to the Omniscient 
 God. He surely ought to know what he himself means, and ought 
 
 to be trusted to give his own meaning fairly. Consequently this 
 
 argument settles the question. More is really gratuitous — useful 
 mainly to show how many things seem to have been overlooked, or, 
 at least, unaccountably disposed of, that should have compelled 
 every student of these prophecies to reject the theory that makes 
 
 the little horn Papal Pome. 3. This king rises in one of the 
 
 four kingdoms into which Alexander's empire was cleft. Papal 
 Rome did not. In fact, Papal Rome could not, for the reason 
 that every one of these four kingdoms had ceased some time before 
 the Christian era; i. a, some seven hundred years before any his- 
 
392 DANIEL.— CHAP. IX. 
 
 torian dates the rise of Pajml Rome. 4. He pushes his conquests 
 
 "toward the south," Egypt; "toward the cast," Persia; and "to- 
 ward tlie pleasant land," Palestine. But Papal Konie had on the 
 south the Mediterranean Sea; made no footing in Egypt or Africa; 
 had to give up the great East to the Greek Church; never made 
 any show in "the pleasant land" — all her crusades through two 
 fearful centuries of blood and toil becoming a magnificent failure. 
 Yet she did push her conquests in precisely every other direction — 
 
 thus reversing this description of the little horn. 5. This horn 
 
 persecuted the Jews while yet Judaism w^as in force and the Jews 
 were the only known people of God. This Papal Pome did not 
 do and could not, for the reason that they had ceased to be the 
 recognized "saints" of God, and Judaism had "waxed old and 
 
 vanished away" long before Papal Pome was born. 6. This 
 
 horn takes away the daily sacrifice — which Papal Rome never did, 
 for God had taken it -away forever, at least six hundred years be- 
 fore Papal Rome came into being. 7. After a definite period of 
 
 these persecutions and desecrations by the little horn, his power is 
 broken and " the sanctuary is cleansed" — in all which Papal Rome 
 was not, for the same very sufficient reason as above; she was not 
 
 yet in existence. 8. Finally, there is not one solitary point in this 
 
 description wdiich applies to Papal Rome so specifically as to define 
 her and distinguish her from any other persecuting power. Noth- 
 ing in this chapter applies to Papal Rome except those very general 
 features which must pertain to any persecutor of the church. The 
 Papal-Rome theory, therefore, violates all just principles of inter- 
 preting prophecy. Especially it goes in the very face of God's 
 own interpretation of this little horn as a king. Hence it can not 
 possihb/ be true. It has absolutely nothing in its support and 
 
 every tiling against it. From this position 1 infer that the little 
 
 horn of chap. 7 can not be Papal Rome, for that horn and this are 
 
 identical. As this can not be Papal Rome, neither can that. 
 
 This entire course of reasoning applies in every particular with equal 
 force against the theory that this little horn of chap. 8 is the jSIo- 
 hammedan power. There is not the first shade of an argument in 
 its support. It would not pay to go over the ground to refute it. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 This chapter has a subject of its own, complete in itself, and 
 not connected with the two that precede, or the three that follow. 
 Its place here in the order of the chapters of this book is doter- 
 miiuMl ))y its date. It is here because it was written after the 
 eighth (proba]}ly not more than one j'ear after), and four years 
 
 before chapters 10-12. Its occasion is given definitely. Daniel 
 
 liad learned l^y reading the prophetries of Jeremiah that the cap- 
 tivity was limited to seventy years (Jer. 25 : II, 12). This period 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. IX. 393 
 
 was now near its close. It was this circumstance that moved him 
 to seek the face of the Lord with such earnest prayer that ho 
 Avould most fully and freely forgive the sins of his people ; rightly 
 judging that as the captivity was sent upon the people in judgment 
 for their sins, it could cease only upon condition of the most humljle 
 confession and repentance on the part of the people and their free 
 forgiveness on the part of God. In this. point of light, the whole 
 chapter yields the richest moral instruction, and legitimately awak- 
 ens the deepest interest. It is indeed an admirable model of inter- 
 cessory prayer, and may be applied equally to prayer for gviilty 
 
 nations or for guilty individuals. The manner in which God 
 
 was pleased to answer this prayer will call for our special atten- 
 tion, lie does not answer it by reaffirming what he had said by 
 Jeremiah, fixing the duration of the captivity at seventy years ; 
 does not give any additional particulars respecting the manner of 
 this restoration under the decree of Cyrus. Indeed, Daniel does 
 not ask to be infol-med or assured on these or kindred points. He 
 seems to have had no doubt but that the Lord would fulfill his 
 word, nor any fear lest he should not do it in the very best time 
 and way. In the spirit of one whose heart is full of sympathy with 
 God and his glory, his great burden is, the people's sins. Hence 
 his prayer scarcely touches any other point than this one — that the 
 Lord in his great mercy would forgive the people and wholly put 
 
 away their transgressions for his name's sake. With this point 
 
 distinctly in mind, the reader will readily see the entire fitness of the 
 answer which comes- by the hand of Gabriel from the loving heart of 
 God. It stands in the last four verses, and constitutes one of the richest 
 promises ever made to our lost world. I shall endeavor to develop 
 its specific import fully in its place. Suffice it to say here that it 
 is essentially the promise of an atoning Messiah, whose violent 
 death should provide amply for the free and full pardon of sin, and 
 for the mission of the Spirit to seal these blessings to "many." It 
 fixes the date of his coming; the duration of his public labors on 
 earth; the time of his death; and of those striking efiusions of the 
 Spirit which were designed to open and illustrate the genius of the 
 
 gospel age. The chapter is therefore properly in two parts; — 
 
 (1.) Daniel's prayer that God would forgive the sins of his people 
 (vs. 1-19); — (2.) The sending of Gabriel with the answer and the 
 answer itself (vs. 20-27). 
 
 1. In tlie first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of 
 the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm 
 of the Chaldeans ; 
 
 2. In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by- 
 hooks the number of the years, whereof the word of the 
 Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accom- 
 plish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. 
 
 In reference to this Darius, see notes on Dan. 5 : 31. The 
 
 Ahasuerus named here is not the same who bears this name in the 
 
394 DANIEL.— CHAP. IX. 
 
 book of Esther. This was a common name with the kings of Me- 
 dia and Persia, as Pharaoh was with the kings of Egypt. It is sup- 
 posed to signify, " ^Ae lion-king." Daniel understood " i?/ books," 
 
 in tacit antithesis to other modes, e. g., dreams and visions, by 
 which he had come to understand many things otherwise unknown 
 to mortals. In this case he learned from the sacred books, the 
 written prophecies of Jeremiah which had been already incorpo- 
 rated into the canon of the Jewish scriptures. The plural, hooks, 
 does not imply that Jeremiah had written more than one prophetic 
 book, but docs imply that this one was already embraced with 
 others in one volume which was fitly spoken of therefore in the 
 plural, even as we use the appellation, "the scriptures." "Ac- 
 complish," is to fill out. The captivity was to continue until seventy 
 years were past, and the amount was in this sense '"''filled out" in the 
 desolations of Jerusalem. This specific prophecy is found Jer. 25 : 
 II, 12; "And this whole land shall be a desolation and an aston- 
 ishment ; and these nations shall serve the king o*f Babylon seventy 
 years. And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accom- 
 plished that I will punish the king of Babylon," etc. The pun- 
 ishment thus threatened on Babylon's king and nation had already 
 been meted out; so that if Daniel had needed such evidence to 
 assure him that God would fulfill his words of promise, it was here, 
 at hand. The work had already begun. But there is no hint that 
 
 Daniel's faith needed this support. This is a suitable place for 
 
 the suggestion, bearing upon the whole drift of this chapter, that 
 Daniel prayed none the less but rather the more because he was 
 so confident that the purpose of God was fixed to restore his people 
 from their captivity and to redeem the nation. He did not sympa- 
 thize with those who abuse the idea of God's agency in fixing future 
 events. He did not say, "Since this thing is certain to be, why 
 should I trouble myself to pray about it?" Not thus did he seek 
 to evade his moral responsibilities under the wise government of a 
 God who foreknows and determines all, and sometimes reveals the 
 future to his people. How much he reasoned upon this matter of 
 fate and freedom, or better, of man's duty under the reign of a 
 God who knows and determines all his own future acts, and virtu- 
 ally, all the actions of other beings throughout his universe — we 
 are not told. If he did reason upon it, he might fitly have said; 
 God's purposes reach the means and the antecedents as truly as 
 the ends and results, and by no means fix the latter, whether the 
 former occur or not. If he assigns some agency in these means 
 and antecedents to me or to any free agent, he gives us herein 
 duties to do, and we neglect them at our peril. I must sec to my 
 duty! God's promise to do is a summons to me to prepare the way 
 
 for that doing. Perhaps he did not give much thought to the 
 
 metaph3'sical aspects of this subject. He may have simply said, 
 Blessed be the God of my fathers that the time draws nigh for re- 
 deeming my people from this long and fearful captivity. He sent 
 this s(;ourge upon our nation for their sins: it came in all justice 
 and loving kindness. It can not pass away save upon our repent- 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. IX. 395 
 
 ance as a nation before God, our hearty confession of our sins, and 
 our earnest prayer for his mercy. My heart must lead the people 
 in this confession, penitence and prayer. Thus in the exercise of 
 a true sympathy with the God he loved and adored, he might have 
 approached this subject on its practical side only; and vrith this 
 common sense view, in the spirit of a sincere piety, he might have 
 set himself to penitence, confession and prayer, without one thought 
 of any complication in the subject growing out of the joint action of 
 human freedom and divine purpose. Is not his course in this thing, 
 
 an admirable — nay more, a perfect model ? The objection made 
 
 to prayer, as above referred to, "Why should I trouble myself to 
 pray when God has made the thing certain by special promise?" 
 should not be passed over without yet another remark; viz., that 
 tiie spirit which can make it is utterly foreign from the spirit of 
 true prayer. The heart in living sympathy with God loves to pray, 
 and goes forth in longings for the privilege and the opportunity; 
 but never into metaphysical subtleties for an excuse from praying. 
 Has God promised to do this great thing for his kingdom? Then 
 let me commune with him aliout it; let me thank him for the 
 promise; let me humbly ask if there be yet any thing for me to do 
 to hasten the result or to prepare the way for it: let me at least 
 have fellowship with him in trust and love and gratitude for this 
 
 great promise. When men labor to excuse themselves from 
 
 praying, their o\vn hearts are the witness that they have none of 
 the spirit of true prayer, 
 
 3. And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by 
 prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and 
 ashes : 
 
 4. And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my 
 confession, and said, O Lord the great and dreadful God, 
 keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, 
 and to them that keep his commandments ; 
 
 5. We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and 
 have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing 
 from thy precepts and from thy judgments : 
 
 6. Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the 
 prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our 
 princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. 
 
 This language is beautifully expressive of true prayer; "I set 
 my face unto the Lord God to seek," etc. &!o true prayer turns 
 one's thought and desire to the Lord; looks to him for blessings. 
 Prayer makes direct application to God, bearing its petition at once 
 
 to him and laying its case before his throne. In harmony with 
 
 his state of mind, and as fitly expressive of his genuine humility 
 of soul, he fasted, put on sackcloth, and cast ashes on his head 
 and garments. The people of the East made more account of these 
 external manifestations of humility and grief than Europeans an^ 
 
396 DANIEL.— CHAP. IX. 
 
 Americans ore wont to do. The vital thing is that the heart be 
 humble and contrite. These manifestations were not with Daniel 
 mere forms, but rather were the natural and truthful expression of 
 his feelings. lie says, "J prayed and made my confession." Per- 
 sonally, Daniel had not worshiped idols, had not cast off the fear 
 of (jiod, had not involved himself in those great sins for which these 
 judgments were sent on the Jewish city and nation, and yet he 
 does not stand upon his exemption from these gross sins, and say, 
 "1 thank (iod that I am not as other men are." But we can not 
 suppose Daniel incapable of discriminating between such a life {e. 
 g.) as that of Manasseh and his own. lie could not confess him- 
 self guilty of the same sins that Manasseh had committed, and in 
 the same degree, for the good reason that to do so would not be 
 according to truth. Yet how far Daniel was conscious of heart- 
 sins before God, lying in this direction, none of us can say, nor how 
 much this confession was due to his intensely strong sympathy with 
 liis people, of such sort as seems to create a positive identity of con- 
 duct and culpability as well as of suffering and punishment. How- 
 ever this may be, this case of Daniel suggests that there is little 
 danger that the holiest of men will confess too much in reference 
 
 to their own personal sins. While on the one hand Daniel 
 
 thought of God as great and greatly to be feared, he did not forget 
 on the other hand that he evermore '' Kept covenant and mercy to 
 them that love him and keep his commandments." This sustained 
 his hope. God had shown great mercy in condescending ever to 
 enter into covenant with his people. His past mercy is good for 
 present faith. The reader will observe that Daniel said, ^'- Keep- 
 ing the covenant." The Hebrew has it also, '■'the mercy," with 
 manifest reference to the special covenant and the special mercy 
 which God had made and shown to his Sebrew people. Upon this 
 great fact, Daniel's faith took strong hold in this hour of his need. 
 
 In v. 5 the repetition is peculiarly expressive. As one whose 
 
 soul is full of the thouglit, Daniel groups together nearly or quite 
 all the different words known to the llcbrew language conveying 
 iha idea of sinning. This sin was greatly aggravated by the fact 
 that God had sent his prophets to rebuke the people and forewarn 
 them of impending judgments, but they had not hearkened to his 
 voice in these warnings. 
 
 7. O Lord, righteousness helongcth unto thee, but unto 
 us confusion of faces, tis at this day ; to the men of Judah, 
 and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, 
 that arc near, and that are far off, through all the countries 
 whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass 
 that they have trespassed against thee. 
 
 8. O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our 
 kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have 
 sinned against thee. 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. IX. 397 
 
 9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgive- 
 nesses, tlioiigli we have rebelled against him ; 
 
 10. Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our 
 God, to walk in his laws, Avhich he set before us by his 
 servants the prophets. 
 
 There is great force as well as fitness and beauty in the antithe- 
 sis between the righteousness and the mercies that belong to God, 
 and the shame and the sin that belong to his people. God had 
 been all right; they, all wrong. On God's side had been ever 
 abounding mercies and forgivenesses; on their side, only perpet- 
 ual rebellion and most ungrateful, abusive sinning. Alas, that 
 human life should almost perpetually bear precisely this record as 
 toward God! — that the millions live on and sin on just so; their 
 course toward God, perpetual sinning; his bearing toward them, 
 the most amazing patience, forbearance, long-suffering, forgiveness 
 and mercy, that seem to flow from a vast outgushing fountain, as 
 if they could not cease ! And if his hand has sometimes turned 
 to judgment, we must still say, "Righteousness belongeth unto 
 thee, O God, forever!" 
 
 11. Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by 
 departing, that they might not obey thy voice ; therefore 
 the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written 
 in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have 
 sinned against him. 
 
 12. And he hath confirmed his words, which he S2:)ake 
 against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bring- 
 ing upon us a great evil : for under the whole heaven hath 
 not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem. 
 
 13. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is 
 come upon us : yet made we not our prayer before the 
 Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and 
 understand thy truth. 
 
 14. Therefore hath tile Lord watched upon the evil, and 
 brought it upon us : for the Lord our God is righteous in 
 all his works which he doeth : for we obeyed not his 
 voice. 
 
 The central thought in these verses is that God has been right- 
 eously visiting upon the nation the very judgments he had threat- 
 ened against them in the huv of Moses for precisely these sins, of 
 which they had been so greatly guilty. The reader will find these 
 passages in their impressive fullness, in Lev. 26 : 14-46, and in 
 Deut. chapters 28-30. It is there declared most distinctly that for 
 such sins, God would send them into captivity in a foreign land, 
 and would lay their city and homes desohite. Xow Daniel recog- 
 nizes the entire fulfillment of those fearful thrcatcnin'irs. The Lord 
 
398 DANIEL.— CHAP. IX. 
 
 "had watched upon the evil and brought it upon them" as one who 
 has made positive thrcatenings, and for the honor of his truth as 
 well as for the support of his throne, can not forget them, but must 
 see to their timely execution. Daniel felt it to be a sore aggra- 
 vation of the people's sin that under this fearful scourge they had 
 not promptly turned to God with confession, penitence and prayer, 
 as they might and should have done, nor had they desisted from 
 their ways of sin, 
 
 15. And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy 
 people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, 
 and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have 
 sinned, we have done wickedly. 
 
 16. O Lord, according to all tliy righteousness, I be- 
 seech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away 
 from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain : because for 
 our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem 
 and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about 
 us. 
 
 17. Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy 
 servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine 
 upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake. 
 
 The tone in these verses is that of imploring entreaty ; importu- 
 nate prayer for pardon, resting mainly on the pleas that God de- 
 lights in great mercies; that he has shown the nation such mercies 
 in delivering them from Egypt ; and that the honor of his name is 
 implicated before the nations of the earth since they are his cov- 
 enant people, now for a long time in the bonds of captivity, nation- 
 ally eclipsed, and according to the ideas of idolatrous nations, a 
 standing reproach to the God they worship as being unable to 
 redeem and save them. 
 
 18. O my God, incline thine car, and hear; open thine 
 eyes, iind behold our desolations, -and the city which is 
 called by thy name: for we do not present our supplica- 
 tions before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great 
 mercies. 
 
 19. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken 
 and do ; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God : for thy 
 city and thy peoj)le are called by thy name. 
 
 ^ llcautifully he puts the contrast — we do not ask 'this for our 
 righteousness, but for thy great niercies. IIow true ! — true in their 
 case ; true in the case of every sinner who comes before God for 
 
 pardon and life ! The great points of his prayer, whether of 
 
 confession or of plea, being now fully brought out, Daniel pours 
 forth the full tides of liis soul's emotion and desire in most earnest 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. IX. 390 
 
 plcadlnfi; with God. He implores him to listen, to open his eyes 
 and look on the desolations of his people and of the city upon 
 both which he had called his own name. He begs that God will 
 not defer but will grant him an answer of peace and mercy now. 
 
 Such importunity may sometimes startle us as unbecoming, 
 
 obtrusive and almost irreverent — out of place and character for a 
 frail, sinful mortal before his Holy Sovereign! The thing to be 
 said of it is that on the one hand it should never be assumed for 
 form's sake; nor forced by working up one's own feelings for the 
 mere sake of reaching such a fervor and form of prayer; nor 
 should it ever be prompted by objects that are purely our own 
 and not identified with the honor and glory of God ; — ^]:)ut on the 
 other hand, when it is the spontaneous utterance of a heart in 
 deep sympathy with the honor and cause of God ; when it comes 
 of taking firm hold of his great love and of his unfailing promises ; 
 when one falls into it, being sweetly and mightily drawn by the 
 Spirit of God himself, then nothing can be more pleasing to him. 
 Ho lets us come very near to him to "order our cause before him 
 and to fill our mouth with arguments." "The Spirit itself maketh 
 intercession with our spirits." God never fails to answer such 
 prayer. 
 
 20. And while I was speaking, and praying, and con- 
 fessing my sin, and the sin of my people Israel, and pre- 
 senting my supplication before the Lord my God for the 
 holy mountain of my God ; 
 
 21. Yea, while I ivas speaking in prayer, even the man 
 Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, 
 being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of 
 the evening oblation. 
 
 22. And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, 
 O Daniel, I am now come forth to give tliee skill and un- 
 derstanding. 
 
 23. At the beginning of thy supplications the command- 
 ment came forth, and I am come to shev/ thee; for thou art 
 greatly beloved : therefore understand the matter,^ and con- 
 sider the vision. 
 
 "The sin of mi/ people Israel," indicates how exceedingly inti- 
 mate were the heart-relations sustained by Daniel toward tlie Jew- 
 ish people. He felt toward them as a father toward his children. 
 
 He bore them tenderly in his heart, as Paul did his Christian con- 
 verts; "Now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord" (1 Thess. 3: 8). 
 This intense devotion to his own people goes far to prove that his 
 four parallel visions have respect to the future fortunes — the strug- 
 gles, oppressions, persecutions and deliverances of this same people. 
 
 They put this point beyond rational doubt. In this passage we 
 
 have the preliminary steps for revealing to Daniel God's prophetic 
 answer to his prayer. He had only begun to pray when the divine 
 
400 DANIEL.— CHAP. IX. 
 
 mandate came forth commissioning the angel CJaLriel — the same 
 whom he had seen in the last preceding vision (chap. 8 : IG), to go 
 and meet him at the hour of evening w^orship. This was doubtless 
 the season of this prayer, ahove recorded — this being with pious 
 Jews one of the usual seasons of daily prayer. ISee Acts 3:1, and 
 10: 3, 30. On the phrase rendered, "Being caused to fly swiftly," 
 modern lexicographers raise grave doubts whether the sense be not 
 rather, "being wearied with a great weariness,"*' as one from a 
 long journey. The point is of no special importance. It might 
 seem at first sight to lessen our sense of the poAvers of an angel to 
 conceive of him as weary with the effort of transit from heaven to 
 earth; but really why should this be more improbable than that he 
 should yZy at all? In both cases we have figures of speech, used to 
 give us the conception of an angefs change of place. Of the real- 
 ity, what can we know beyond the mere fact of such change ? No 
 doubt the clause is introduced for the sake of showing that Gabriel 
 came from a far distant world to bring to Daniel an important an- 
 swer to his accepted prayer. It is very idle for us to speculate on 
 the manner and velocity of an angel's locomotion, or on its draft 
 upon his strength. "For thou art greatly beloved;" in the He- 
 brew, "a man of delights," i. e., as to God. It is a most affecting 
 thought that mortals may by grace come into a state of holiness in 
 heart and life, in which God can feel complacency toward them and 
 testify to his great love for them. Who would not aspire toward 
 such holiness and such favor Avith God, as infinitely before all 
 things else? "Therefore noAV, understand the matter and con- 
 sider the vision;" give attention to the revelations which I am about 
 to make. The vision referred to is, beyond a doubt, the same 
 which the angel has come to reveal, standing in vs. 24-27. 
 
 24. Seventy weeks are determined up>on thy people and 
 upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make 
 an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and 
 to bring .in everlasting right£K)usness, and to seal up the 
 vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. 
 
 25. Know therefore and understand, thai from the going 
 forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusa- 
 lem unto the Messiah the Prince, 8\iall he seven weeks, and 
 threescore and two weeks : the street shall be built again, 
 and the wall, even in troublous times. 
 
 20. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be 
 cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince 
 that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary: 
 
 ■:■ The question is one of etymology, viz., whether the two words 
 ny'3 rjj^3 come from, v\^^l^ to fly, or from nyt to be weary. The forms 
 
 favor, not to saj^ demaud, the latter. 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. IX. 401 
 
 find the end thereof shall he with a flood, find unto the end 
 of the war desolations are determined. 
 
 27. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for 
 one week : and in the midst of the week he shall cause the 
 sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspread- 
 ing of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until 
 the consummation, and that determined shall be poured 
 upon the desolate. 
 
 This passage requires and will reward a careful and thorough 
 study. I propose to give first a translation; then a paraphrase; 
 
 and finally such special comments as may seem necessary. 
 
 "Seventy sevens [of years] are determined in reference to thy peo- 
 ple and thy holy city, to shut up sin, to seal transgression, to cover 
 iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and 
 
 prophet, and to anoint the holy of holies. Know and understand : 
 
 From the going forth of a decree for restoring and rebuilding Jeru- 
 salem unto Messiah the Prince are seven sevens [of years] and 
 sixty-two sevens [of years] ; the streets shall be restored and built 
 
 again ; it is decided and shall be, though in distress of times. 
 
 And after sixty-two sevens [of yeaiis] Messiah shall be cut off and 
 there shall be nothing more to him. Then the people of a prince 
 that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; its end 
 shall be with that sweeping flood ; even unto the end of the war, 
 
 desolations are determined. One seven [years] shall make the 
 
 covenant efi'ective to many. The middle of the seven shall make 
 sacrifice and oSerings cease : then down upon the summit of the 
 abomination comes the desolator, even till a complete destruction, 
 determined, shall be poured upon the desolate." 
 
 Next, to give a partial explanation, blended with the translation, 
 I paraphrase thus: "Seventy sevens of years, equal to four hun- 
 dred and ninety years, are cut off from the course of future time, 
 for thy people and thy holy city, at the end of which provision shall 
 be made for the full pardon of sin and for putting it utterly out of 
 my sight, as a thing shut up, sealed and covered ; and to bring in 
 a system of everlasting righteousness whereby pardoned sinners 
 may both be accounted and may become righteous before me. 
 This, by amply fulfilling, will close up those visions of the prophets 
 which respect the Messiah to come. Then will I anoint my church, 
 the spiritual temple of the new dispensation, with the gracious 
 
 unction of the Holy Ghost. This in general. I will now repeat 
 
 and give more particulars. Know, then, and consider, that from the 
 issuing of the decree of Artaxcrxes for restoring and rebuilding 
 Jerusalem unto the public ministry of Messiah, the Prince, shall 
 be forty-nine years and four hundred and thirty-four years; i. e., 
 forty-nine up to the point of completing the rebuilding of the city, 
 and four hundred and thirty -four fi'om that point till the Messiah 
 shall appear before the public, to commence his gospel ministry. 
 •This city shall be restored and rebuilt; the thing is settled in the 
 
402 DANIEL.— CHAP. IX. 
 
 counsels of the Almiglitj, and shall be done, although in times of 
 
 much distress. After the four hundred and thirty-four years 
 
 shall have expired, the Messiah shall be cut off l)y a violent death ; 
 his relationship to his ancient covenant people will cease ; they will 
 reject him, and he will abandon them to their righteous doom. 
 Then the people of the Koman prince, coming from afar, shall de- 
 stroy the city and the sanctuary ; its end shall be with that sweep- 
 ing Hood of ruin ; even till the end of this war, there is a divine 
 decree for desolations. During one heptad of years the covenant 
 of God's mercy shall become effective to many: at the middle point 
 of this heptad, he will make sacrifice and offering cease by becom- 
 ing himself the one great atoning sacrifice, complete thenceforth 
 acgd forever, and superseding all the sacrifices of the Mosaic ritual. 
 Then dovrn upon the summit of the temple, now an abomination 
 before God for the apostasy of those that worship therein, comes 
 the desolator, the Koman legions — even until a complete, terrible, 
 and predetermined destruction shall have been poured forth upon 
 the desolate city." 
 
 Several points now demand a more particular explanation. 
 
 " Seventy iveeks." This English phrase suggests only the ordinary 
 week of seven days, making the Avhole duration four hundred and 
 ninety days. Inasmuch as ther fulfillment seems to require instead 
 four hundred and ninety years, it has been often assumed that this 
 passage at least must be admitted to be a case of a prophetic day 
 used for a year. A closer examination removes this case from the 
 list of those proofs, explaining the phrase in another and much 
 
 more reliable way. A Hebrew reader coming to this phrase,* 
 
 would say at once. This first word is not the usual form for weeks 
 of days. The word means a seven ; a heptad ; and is formed from 
 the numeral seven. The feminine plural is the form which is con- 
 stantly used to denote weeks of days. This is the masculine plu- 
 ral, indicating at least something different from a mere week of 
 seven days. There is no instance in the Hebrew Bible where this 
 masculine plural form is used alone for weeks of da^^s. In a few 
 cases, Avhere it means sevens of days, the word for days follows it 
 to make the sense clear, showing that of itself it would not be 
 taken in this sense of seven days. See these cases, Dan. 10 : 2, 3. In 
 Ezck. 45: 21, the feminine plural has the word dai/s after it, mean- 
 ing the feast of sevens of days, i. e., the Passover, which was held 
 seven days — a case which shows that the primary sense of even 
 the feminine plural is a heptad, and not properly a loeek. The use 
 of the feminine plural in the sense of our common week may be 
 seen in Ex. 34: 22; Num. 28: 26; Deut. IG: 9, 10, 16; 2 Chron. 
 
 8: 13; Jcr. 5: 24. Further; wheri any thoughtful reader should 
 
 meet the word sevens, ho would naturally ask, Sevens of what? Is 
 tliis sevens o^ dai/s, or sevens o^ years, or sevens oi centuries'? He 
 would expect to find the clew to his answer in the context. What 
 has the writer been saying? There must be something in what 
 he has said to give a definite clew to his meaning, for to say only 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. IX. 403 
 
 "sevens" is to leave his meanini:^ entirely indefinite. Pursuing 
 this train of inquiry, he would see in the present case a manifest 
 allusion to the seventy years of captivity which is so vividly before 
 DanieFs mind. It can not he overlooked that Daniel is praying 
 with the great thought of the seventy years' captivity before his 
 mind. When the Lord sends his answer by Gabriel, he too under- 
 stands that the seventy years of captivity are present to Daniefs 
 thought, and therefore he only needs to say, not that seventy 2/cars 
 are assigned before the next great event, but seventy sevens. Dan- 
 iel Avill supply '''' years !^ The talk and the thought are about years. 
 
 Years, therefore, is the word to be supplied after ^'-sevens'' On 
 
 the strength, then, of these two considerations, either of them suffi- 
 cient alone, and both together entirely decisive, I account this 
 period precisely seventy sevens of years., or four hundred and 
 
 ninety years. The same usage prevails throughout this passage 
 
 in the " seven weeks," the " sixty-two weeks," and the " one week" 
 The word heptad, transferred from the Greek language, pre- 
 cisely translates the original Hebrew. Or we might say a seven, 
 meaning a period of seven units, leaving the particular sense of the 
 
 unit to be learned from the context. Hence this is not by any 
 
 means a case of a day for a year. It is only a case of using a 
 Hebrew word meaning a seven, a heptad, a period of seven units, 
 selecting a form that does not suggest units of days but units of 
 
 years. The historic fulfillment of all these periods of time will 
 
 be considered in its place. "Are determined," etc., means in 
 
 the original precisely^ are cut of, i. e., from all future time. A 
 limit is set at the end of it, inside of which these events shall 
 
 occur. This cutting oif or determining has reference to "thy 
 
 people" and "thy holy city" — here again recognizing the very in- 
 timate relations which Daniel sustained to the Jews as their patron 
 and father. What shall be done at or near the end of this sev- 
 enty, heptads is next stated. The first two verbs in this series, 
 
 rendered in the received version, "to finish transgression," and "to 
 make an end of sins," present in the marginal Hebrew a slightly 
 different reading, which our English text follows, and the English 
 margin does not. I adopt the reading of the Hebrew text and 
 the English margin; to "shut up" or "restrain;" and to "seal." 
 Sins are thought of as shut up, sealed, covered — a climax of fig- 
 ures. Dr. Hengstenberg well remarks ; " Sin, which hitherto lay 
 naked <ind open before the eyes of a righteous God, is now by his 
 mercy shut up, sealed and covered, so that it can no more be re- 
 garded as existing — a frequent designation of the forgivenness of 
 sin, analogous to those where it is said ' to conceal the face from 
 sin and to cause it to pass away,' " etc. (Christology 2: 305).— ^ — 
 The last of these three verbs is the Levitical word for atonement — 
 a cover for sins to hide them from view. This gives us the cen- 
 tral thought of the passage — one which stands in the closest con- 
 nection with Daniel's prayer. No point stands out so prominently 
 and strongly in this prayer as the distress and solicitude he feels 
 in respect to the great sins of his people. The agonizing solicitude 
 
404 DANIEL.— CHAP. IX. 
 
 of his heart centers upon this one question; How can this sin be 
 removed? llow can the Lord pass over and forgive it so that the 
 people can again come under his mercy and favor? It was there- 
 fore to meet precisely this main point of his distress and anxiety 
 that the Lord replies; After seventy heptads of years 1 Avill bring 
 forth a perfect provision to atone for sin. Then it will be seen 
 liow 1 can honorably and safely forgive the penitent sinner and re- 
 store him to fovor. "To bring in everlasting righteousness," is 
 
 only another form of stating the same thing. The sinner forgiven 
 an(i his sins all covered stands right before God. Christ is made 
 of (jlod unto him righteousness as well as redemption. On the 
 ground of what Christ is, and has suffered for him, he is accounted 
 
 righteous before God. This way of accounting sinners righteous 
 
 is ^'' everlasting^^ as contrasted with the transient duration of the 
 jNIosaic system, and the temporary effects of those frequent sacri- 
 fices required under that system, which indeed were only typical 
 at best, and "could never with those sacrifices Avhich they offered, 
 year by year, make the comers thereunto perfect" (Heb. 10: 1). 
 This new system is to stand through all time, and its blessed effects 
 
 will be enduring. "To seal up vision and prophet," is the literal 
 
 rendering of the original, and obviously refers to the fulfillment, and 
 hence, in this sense, to the closing up of those prophecies which for 
 many ages had predicted the Messiah, but which, having now done 
 their work of ministry to the faith of God's waiting people, may be 
 considered as sealed up and laid aside — superseded by the Mesr 
 
 siah's actual coming. " To anoint the most holy." The Hebrew 
 
 has it, "the holy of holies." In determining the sense of this 
 
 phrase, we have to choose between three possible or at least sup- 
 posable meanings: — {a.) The most holy place in the temple. — {b.) 
 
 The Messiah himself — {c.) The Christian Church. The first is 
 
 set aside by the fact that this very passage (v. 26) predicts the de- 
 struction of the sanctuary. The second is set aside by the fact 
 
 that the Old Testament never uses this phrase for the Messiah ; in- 
 deed, never for persons, but always for things. Also by the further 
 fact that if applied to the Messiah, it should relate to his baptism 
 and not to his death, and the exact fulfillment could not be made 
 
 out. {c). The third meaning suggested above has in its favor 
 
 both Old Testament usage and New. The Old Testament presents 
 the work of the Messiah in building up his kingdom under the 
 figure, "lie shall build the temple of the Lord" (Zech. G: ];2, 13). 
 The same figure runs through Isa. GO, and many kindred prophe- 
 cies. They make the great facts of the Mosaic dispensation the 
 ground-work of their portrayals of analogous things in the gospel 
 age. Hence the temple of the Old Testament economy becomes 
 the gospel church of the New. This becomes the current usage of 
 the New Testament writers. "Ye arc the temple of the living 
 God; as (Jod hath said, "I will dwell in them and walk in them,'* 
 
 etc., (2 Cor. G: IG). Hence there is ample authority in the line of 
 
 usage for taking the phrase, " the holy of holies," to mean in our 
 passage, the gospel church. Anointing is a common symbol of 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. IX. 405 
 
 the efiusions of the Spirit. Messianic prophecy has it; " The Spirit 
 of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach 
 good tidings," etc. (Isa. 61: I). The ISIessiah himself indorsed 
 this usage and accepted its application to himself (Luke 4: 18-21). 
 The Apostles use this figure freely. See Ac. 4: 27, and 10: 38 — 
 IJn. 2 : 20, 27. Hence the phrase, " to anoint the most holy," looks 
 toward those signal manifestations of the Holy Spirit's power which 
 were the preeminent glory of the great Pentecost, and which shed 
 
 their luster over the first few years of the gospel age. Let it 
 
 now be noted that v. 24 is a comprehensive and general statement 
 of most of the great points embraced in this prophetic answer to 
 Daniel's prayer. It omits the desolation brought on the holy city 
 and temple by the Roman arms under Titus, and this only. The 
 other points are mainly comprehended in general form in this first 
 verse of the passage. Then in the remaining verses the same topics 
 are restated with more specific details, especially as to dates. Let 
 us see. "Know, therefore, and understand," urges special atten- 
 tion to this more minute statement. Practically, these verbs must 
 be taken as imperatives, though in form the Hebrew has them Ijoth 
 in the future. The use of the future for the imperative is not un- 
 common. — r-^Vhat commandment or decree is this for restoring and 
 
 rebuilding Jerusalem? The reader might very naturally think 
 
 first of the nearer one by Cyrus, which appears in Ezra 1 : 1-4 and 
 2 Chron. 36: 22, 23, rather than the more remote one by Artax- 
 erxes referred to, Neh. I. Yet the latter is undoubtedly the one 
 intended, inasmuch as the description, which is rather minute, de- 
 scribes this and does not describe the decree by Cyrus. The de- 
 scription given here in this prophecy is that of a decree for restoring 
 and rebuilding Jerusalem — "the city and its streets," in the sense 
 probably of the buildings upon them. Precisely such is the decree 
 from Artaxerxes obtained by Nehemiah. The words of the decree 
 are not recorded by Nehemiah, but its subject-matter can be de- 
 termined no less clearly from what is said of it than if the docu- 
 ment itself were preserved. Look at the circumstances. Nehe- 
 miah hears that the wall of Jerusalem is broken doAvn and the 
 gates thereof burnt with fire (Neh. 1 : 3). He gives himself to 
 fasting, weeping, and mourning. The king inquires the cause of 
 his grief. He replies : Why should not my countenance be sad 
 when the city, the place of my father's sepulchers, lieth waste, and 
 the gates thereof are "consumed with fire?" (Neh. 2: 3). The 
 king says, "What is thy request?" He answers promptly: An 
 order from the king that I be "sent to the city of my father's sep- 
 ulchers that 1 77101/ build it." To this the king consented; so that 
 there can be no doubt as to the substance of this decree. It said 
 nothing about building the temple ; it began and ended with re- 
 building the city. The temple-building was already complete. 
 
 On the other hand, the decree by Cyrus said not a word of rebuild- 
 ing the city, but did speak expressly and only of " building an 
 house for God in Jerusalem," i. e., the temple. Hence all doubt is 
 removed as to the particular decree referred to. It must be that 
 
406 DANIEL.— CHAP. IX. 
 
 sent forth by Artaxerxes, with Nehemiah, for rebuilding the city. 
 It might be added that the facts in the line of historic fulfill- 
 ment go entirely against the decree of Cyrus. For, taking this de- 
 cree of Cyrus for our starting point, our four hundred and ninety 
 years would expire before the Messiah came — this decree being 
 issued about B. C. 536. There is no occasion, however, to make 
 use of the argument from fulfillment for help in the interpre- 
 tation of this prophecy. And prophecy ought to have its mean.- 
 
 ing settled before we come to the question of fulfillment. 
 
 Dr. Hengstenberg gives this turn to the clause now before us: 
 " From tiie going forth of the commandment unto the restoring and 
 rebuilding of Jerusalem, and from that, unto the Messiah, shall be 
 seven sevens and sixty-two sevens" — i e., dividing the whole period 
 into two parts, the first period of seven sevens extends to the point 
 where the city is restored and rebuilt ; the second reaches from that 
 
 point to the Messiah, 1 fully concur in this division of the whole 
 
 period into these two portions, limited as above stated ; but I think 
 it better to read, "From the commandment /or restoring," etc., 
 rather than, "From the commandment ^a^t^l the restoring," etc. 
 The latter is by no means a facile rendering. It leaves too much 
 to be grammatically supplied. The word rendered in our re- 
 ceived version, "the wall," I take to be a participle in the sense 
 of a verb; "it is determined," fully settled and decided on. For 
 the comfort of Daniel and of his pious Jewish readers, it is here 
 declared that this rebuilding of the city is firmly fixed in the coun- 
 sels of God and will be done, although the obstacles be great — in 
 great " straitness of times." The book of Nehemiah is a comment 
 
 on this clause. "After the sixty-two sevens shall Messiah be 
 
 cut of," L €., by a violent death. This is the current Jewish word 
 
 to denote a death by violence. "But not for himself," shows 
 
 that our translators supposed the original to mean that he died for 
 the sins of others and not for his own. This is undoubtedly a 
 truth, but it may not be the truth taught here. The original, ren- 
 dered closely, would give us tliis; "And nothing to him." The verb 
 of existence must be implied between "nothing" and "him," thus; 
 Nothing shall be to him, or he shall have nothing. The ellipsis 
 can not well be supplied with the next preceding verb, " cut off," 
 in the sense, He shall not be cut off for him. "For him" can 
 not well mean for himself The Hebrews use other forms and not 
 this to express the reciprocal sense. Hence Ave must look for 
 another meaning here. 1 find it in the negation of all further re-, 
 lations between him and his ancient covenant people, the Jews, his 
 murderers. "There is nothing more to him" with them. They ig- 
 nore and repudiate him; He rejects them and gives them up to 
 their just doom. Zech. 11 : 8, treating of precisely the same sub- 
 ject, says; "My soul loathed them; and their soul abhorred me." 
 They said, "Away with him;" "crucify him;" "his blood be on 
 us and on our children." Ilis sad answer, fulfilled through tha 
 judgments of his righteous providence, was ; " Your house is left 
 unto you desolate." " O that thou liadst known, even tliou, at least 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. IX. 407 
 
 in this thy day, the things that belong unto thy peace; but now 
 they are hid from thine eyes." Thafc blood ye have so ruthlessly 
 invoked shall come on you in an avalanche of woes till your city is 
 
 in ruins, and your children are given to the slaughter. Further, 
 
 it is very much in favor of the interpretation above given to this 
 clause, that it makes a natural transition from the violent death of 
 Christ to the coming of that other Prince and his Roman legions 
 to destroy the city and sanctuary. The intermediate link between 
 these two great historic facts was the rejection by the Messiah of 
 his ancient covenant people. Without this link, the transition is 
 
 violent; with it, natural and easy. "The Prince that shall 
 
 come" is without doubt the Roman general Titus, and "the peo- 
 ple" are his armed legions. They came and did precisely this; 
 
 they "destroyed the city and the .sanctuary." "Its end was with 
 
 that flood," i. e., of ruin; This word, "flood," is a favorite one with 
 Daniel for the sweeping desolations of war. See 11: 22, 26, 40. 
 
 "And unto the end is war; a decree of ruins." This I take 
 
 to be the most exact and literal rendering of the last clause. The 
 sense is obvious. The Jewish and Roman war shall continue un- 
 til their city and nationality shall be completely broken down and 
 
 the site of their noble city shall become a pile of ruins. " He 
 
 shall confirm," etc. The grammatical construction here is obvi- 
 ously this. " One seven shall make the covenant effective to many" 
 — a case in which, for brevity's sake, the period of time is itself 
 said to do that which is done within it, as e. g., Mai. 4: 1; "The 
 day that cometh shall burn them up ; or Job 3 : 3, 7, 10, " The 
 night which said, A man-child is conceived." "Let that night be 
 
 solitary because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb." 
 
 The next clause has the same construction; The middle of the 
 
 seven shall cause sacrifice and oblation to cease." The sense 
 
 of this entire passage is that during the last seven years, the clos- 
 ing heptad, which embraces the three and a half years of our 
 Lord's public ministry, and the same length of time after his 
 death, there would be extraordinary efficiency in the sealing gifts 
 of the Spirit. God's gracious covenant with repenting sinners 
 would become strong and effective to many. Great numbers would 
 be savingly converted during our Lord's public ministry: so, also, 
 during an equal length of time after his resurrection, including 
 that blessed pentecostal season, prota-'acted through several years, 
 in which great multitudes were added to the Lord. At the middle 
 point of this seven-year period, the Lord himself would die on the 
 cross. In that death all further demand for sacrifice and oblation 
 would cease. Dying as himself the great atoning Sacrifice, he for- 
 ever superseded all other sacrifices. "And for the overspreading 
 
 of abominations he shall make it desolate." This translation seems 
 to be rather unusually wide of the literal one, though less wide of 
 the sense. The following is a closely literal rendering of the orig- 
 inal: "And upon the wing [or summit] of abominations is the 
 desolator." The difficulties involved in the quotation of this pas- 
 sage into Mat. 24: 14, and Mark 13: 13. seem to require a specially 
 
408 DANIEL.— CHAP. IX. 
 
 careful explanation. ^The word which I render "wing," is very 
 
 common in Hebrew for the wing of a bird ; the wing of an army ; 
 the wing or corner of a garment; the wings (extreme corners) of 
 the land ; and, as here, the wing, highest point, pinnacle, of the 
 temple. As it stands here, it must be the wing of that which is 
 
 called an "abomination." This word, "abominations," is used 
 
 almost exclusively (more than a score of times) for idols or things 
 connected with idol worship, the idols being always thought of as 
 existing, loved and worshiped by God's professed people^ and for this 
 reason indefinitely more abominable and detestable to God. Pas- 
 sages specially significant and illustrative of the sense here are, 
 Jer. 7: 30 — "For the children of Judah have done evil in my 
 sight, saith the Lord; they have set their abominations in the 
 house which is called by my name to pollute it." Jer. 32: 34, 
 repeats the same idea. Also Ezek. 5 : II:'" Wherefore as I live, 
 saith the Lord God, because thou hast defiled nly sanctuary with 
 all thy detestable things and with all thine abominations ; there- 
 fore will I also diminish thee, neither shall mine eyes spare, neither 
 will 1 have any pity." These passages clearly indicate the reason 
 why the temple is called an abomination and is doomed to destruc- 
 tion. The word which I translate " the desolator," being a causa- 
 tive participle, one who causes desolation, can bear no other sense 
 than "^Ae desolator^'' conceived of as actually doing the deed. 
 Hence the sentence can scarcely bear any other construction than 
 this; "Then down upon the pinnacle of the temple" (made abom- 
 inable by the corruption of priests and people) " comes the deso- 
 lator " — as Avith the swoop of an eagle pouncing on his prey. 
 
 This is the prophecy to which our Lord refers in Mat. 2-4: 15, and 
 Mark 13: 14: "When ye shall see the abomination of desolation, 
 spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place," 
 ("where it ought not;" Mark) then let them that be in Judca flee 
 
 into the mountains." This quotation is obviously made from the 
 
 Heptuagint version. The sense of the words there used, "abom- 
 ination of desolation," I take to be the abomination which, under 
 a righteous God, becomes the cause of desolation. This abomina- 
 tion is fundamentally the fearful religious corruption of the Jews, 
 because of which God sent on them the Komans as his scourge of 
 desolation. The Hebrew words used by Daniel seem to demand 
 this sense, and the Greek of both the ISeptuagint and of the Xew 
 Testament admits it. But precisely ichat indications of this moral 
 corruption, or of this approaching scourge, the disciples were to 
 look for, and were supposed to see, as aVarning to flee, it is by 
 no means easy to determine. On this point commentators difter 
 widely. It may perhaps suffice to put the case in the general 
 form; Any indication that God had given up the city to destruc- 
 tion by the Ixomans, whether it be in the horrible corruption of 
 the Jews or in the approach of the Koman legions, was to bo ac- 
 cepted as a warning to fly. In this general form no serious dif- 
 ficulties are encountered. When we attempt to desci-ibe the sign 
 precisely, we find thn data wanting. In coustruint!; the Avords 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. IX. -409 
 
 of Daniel, I have felt bound to follow the usual laws of language. 
 Quotations from the Septuagint of the Old Testament into the New 
 
 sometimes involve difficulties, as here. Luke makes no specific 
 
 reference to Daniel. He says, " When ye shall see Jerusalem en- 
 compassed with armies," etc. Of course he makes no allusion to 
 the sins of the Jews as causing this destruction. But this does 
 not prove that ^latthew and Mark make none. Our Lord may 
 have made the statements in both forms. Neither is at all incon- 
 sistent with the other. 
 
 It remains to look more closely into the designations of time in 
 
 this passage. ^xis we have seen, the seventy weeks are to be 
 
 counted from the decree of Artaxerxes, obtained by Xehemiah, as 
 appears Xeh. 1 and 2, in the twentieth year of that king. The 
 first point to be settled then is, the year in which Artaxerxes began 
 
 to reign. It has been common with chronologists to put this B. C. 
 
 464. But Dr. Hengstenberg (Christology 11, 394), by a most elab- 
 orate and conclusive examination, shows that it must have been B. C. 
 474, so tliat Xerxes his father reigned only eleven years instead of 
 twenty-one, and Artaxerxes the son fifty-one instead of forty-one. 
 
 Adopting his view, the case stands thus. The twentieth year of 
 
 Artaxerxes is B. C. 454. Sixty-nine sevens of years is four hundred 
 and eighty-three years. Deducting from this what precedes the birth 
 of Christ, we have 483 — 454=29, which is of course A. D. 29, the time 
 when our Lord began his public ministry. So this prophecy would 
 
 locate it. On the side of N. T. history, we have (e. g.^ Luke 3:1) 
 
 the commencement of John's ministry in the fifteenth year of Ti];e- 
 rius, I. e., in the year of Rome 782. The birth of Christ is usually 
 put in the year of Rome 753. But 782 — 753=29, which is A. D. 29. 
 This, then, would be about the time that John commenced his pulj- 
 lic ministry. There is good reason for supposing that Christ com- 
 menced his about six months later, when not far from thirty years 
 
 of age. Thus this great prophecy of Daniel's weeks fixes the 
 
 time of the Savior's appearing before the public within at farthest 
 
 one year of the best historic results. This prophecy also assumes 
 
 that Christ's public ministry continued three and one-half years, so 
 that his violent death fell in the middle of the last seven-year period. 
 That this was proximately the duration of his ministry is generally 
 admitted. The proof in brief may be made from the Gospel of 
 
 John thus. (1.) Jn. 2 : 13, gives us one passover, the first after his 
 
 ministry began, and manifestly not long after his first miracle, say 
 six months after he began to preach. (2.) John 5: 1, gives an- 
 other feast, which with almost a certainty Avas a passover. (3.) 
 
 John 6: 1, is certainly another and doubtless the next. (4.) 
 
 John 19: 16, is certainly another and the last; at which his death 
 
 occurred. This makes up three and one-half years. The only 
 
 point of uncertainty turns on John 5:1. This is not said in the 
 record to be a passover, yet that it. was is evident from the follow- 
 ing considerations. John 4 : 35, shows that eight months had already 
 elapsed since the previous passover. Of course the feast of Pente- 
 cost, fifty days after the passover, and the feast of Tabernacles, 
 18 
 
410 DANIEL.— CHAP. X. 
 
 six months after, had both gone by. No "feast of the Jews" re- 
 mained for that year save the feast of Purim, one month before the 
 next passover. But this can not have been the feast of Purim, for 
 the temple is here filled Avith Jews (5 : 14) ; but they kept the feast 
 of Purim mostly l)y assemblinir, not in their temple, but in their 
 several homes. Moreover, this foast included a Sabbath (v. 9), 
 which the feast of Purim never did, because a divine institution 
 must never give way to one merely human. 
 
 This very brief view of the argument must suffice. Thus with 
 
 remarkable accuracy this wonderful prophecy brings out its dates 
 in harmony with the best authenticated facts of history. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 This entire chapter is introductory to the fourth and last of the 
 parallel visions, the vision proper occupying the two remaining 
 chapters. This introduction is very full on the points of the pro- 
 phet's overwhelming agitation, grief, and physical prostration; the 
 renewed ministries of his revealing angel to comfort and strengthen 
 him ; certain remarkable yet little known conflicts between the 
 angel-guardians of the Jews and other angels standing in perhaps 
 analogous relations toward other kingdoms — coupled with several 
 intimations that the matters to be revealed relate to long and 
 grievous wars, some of which would befall Daniel's people in future 
 years. 
 
 1. In tlie third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was 
 revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar ; 
 and the thing ivas true, but the time appointed was long: 
 and he understood the thing, and had understanding of the 
 vision. 
 
 The third year of Cyrus is the latest known date in the life of 
 Daniel. Chap. 1: 21, states that "he continued to the first year 
 of the reign of Cyrus;' but does not say he died then; does not 
 deny that he lived longer. That passage may mean only that 
 he continued so long in active pul)lic service. He is now far ad- 
 vanced in ago, it being not far from seventy-four years since he 
 
 was brought, a captive youth, from Jerusalem to Babylon. "A 
 
 thing was revealed;" in the Hebrew a "word," i. e., a matter, not 
 presented largely (as in the previous visions) by symbols, but 
 without symbols, in mere words. "The thing was true;" the 
 
 ^^ word" again; the original being the same. ^In the phrase, 
 
 " the time appointed was long,"*our translators fail to give the pre- 
 cise sense of the original, which means, "and of great wars' or 
 warfare; i. c, the subject-matter of this prophecy pertains to 
 great wars — as the study of cliap. 11 will show. The original 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. X. 411 
 
 word, commonly rendered host is used for martial host, i. e., an 
 army, and for warfare; often of going out to loar^ as in Num. 31 : 27, 
 
 28, 3G, and Dcut. 24 : 5. " True is the word revealed, and great 
 
 the warfare" of Avhich it treats. "He understood the thing," 
 
 the sense of which seems rather to be that he gave diligent heed 
 to it, bending the entire powers of his mind to it; for chap 12: 8, 
 implies that there were at least some things in it that he did not 
 understand. 
 
 2. In those days I Daniel was mourning three full w^eeks. 
 
 3. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine 
 in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three 
 whole weeks were fulfilled. 
 
 So deeply affected was he with the anticipation of these things, 
 even before they were definitely revealed. But it should be remem- 
 bered that he has had the same general subject before his mind in 
 at least two previous visions, those of chaps. 7 and 8. In both those 
 visions, the wars to be waged by the little horn against the saints 
 of the Most High had been the leading theme, an*d had manifestly 
 impressed his mind powerfully. Now, even before the details of 
 this vision commence, his mind again comes under the strong im- 
 pression of those scenes, and the deep fountains of his grief are 
 
 broken up. The statements as to time here; "three full weeks" 
 
 (v. 2), and " three whole weeks " (v. 3), are the same in the orig- 
 inal, and are literally, "three sevens" (or heptads) "as to days" — 
 the word "days" being added to exclude what otherwise a Hebrew 
 reader would think of — a week of years. The word for " seven" is 
 precisely the same in form that occurred repeatedly in the pas- 
 sage 9 : 24-27. This abstaining from pleasant food and from 
 
 anointing his person, were the usual indications of great grief. 
 
 4. And in the four and' twentieth day of the first month, 
 as I was by the side of the great river, wdiich is Hiddekel ; 
 
 5. Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a 
 certain man clothed in linen, whose loins ivere girded with 
 fine gold of Uphaz : 
 
 6. His body also loas like the beryl, and his face as the 
 appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and 
 his arms and his feet like in color to polished brass, and 
 the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude. 
 
 The river Hiddekel is better known as the Tigris. The per- 
 sonage described here was his angel-interpretcr in human form, 
 and in his whole appearance, splendid, majestic, awe-inspiring. Of 
 the two usual Hebrew words for man, the one used here is that 
 which involves most dignity. The other suggests frailty and mor- 
 tality from the dust of the earth. " His body like the beryl," 
 
 whore modern lexicogi*aphcrs say rather the topaz. The Hebrew 
 
412 DANIEL.— CHAP. X. 
 
 is Tliarfihish, with reference to Spain whence it was brought. The 
 topaz is still found there. 
 
 7. And I Daniel alone saw the vision : for the men that 
 were with me saw not the vision ; hut a great quaking fell 
 upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. 
 
 8. Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, 
 and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness 
 was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no 
 strength. 
 
 9. Yet heard I the voice of his words : and when I heard 
 the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my 
 face, and my face toward the ground. 
 
 10. And behold, a hand touched me, which set me upon 
 my knees and itpo7i the palms of my hands. 
 
 11. And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly be- 
 loved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and 
 stand upright : for unto thee I am now sent. And when he 
 had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. 
 
 Daniel does not mean that he was alone when he saw the vision, 
 but that he only saw it. His attendants did not see it, but were 
 impressed with a sense of something supernatural, and hence were 
 affrighted and fled to hide themselves. The seeing in this case 
 seems to have been, not with the eye of sense, but with the eye of 
 the spirit. Similar phenomena occurred in the conversion of Saul. 
 He heard audible words; his attendants heard a noise but no 
 
 words. The Spirit manifests himself to whom he will. Daniel 
 
 was powerfully affected. "My comeliness" is rather my strength, 
 
 my physical vigor, which now became mere weakness. In v. 10 
 
 the original gives a stronger sense than our received version. "And 
 lo, a hand touched me, and set me shaking upon my knees and the 
 palms of my hands." "Caused me to be shaking" is the precise 
 sense of the Hebrew. 
 
 12. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel : for from 
 the first day that thou didst set thy heart to understand, 
 and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were 
 heard, and I am come for thy words. 
 
 13. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood 
 me one and twenty days: but lo, Michael, one of the chief 
 princes, came to help me ; and I remained there with the 
 kings of Persia. 
 
 From the first day of those three eventful weeks of fasting and 
 prayer (says the angel) thy words Avcre heard and I am come be- 
 cause of thy words. But I was hindered during the whole twenty- 
 one days. The Prince of the realm of Persia withstood me. I was 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. X. 413 
 
 detained till Michael, the archangel whose strength is with me and 
 with thy people (v. 21) came to help me. The last clause, "I re- 
 mained there with the kings of Persia," repeats the main idea of 
 the verse — his detention for twenty-one days because of the oppo- 
 sition experienced from that Prince of the realm of Persia. Tlie 
 
 subject here introduced is very extraordinary. Who is this Prince 
 of the kingdom of Persia? What are his functions? Whence his 
 power ? What is his moral character, and what are his relations to 
 (Jod? What had he to do to detain this angel who is specially 
 commissioned to comfort Daniel and to reveal to him future events ? 
 
 The same subject appears again in the last two verses of this 
 
 chapter, and will receive more attention there. 
 
 14. Now I am come to make thee understand what shall 
 bqiall thy people in the latter days ; for yet the vision is for 
 7na7iy days. 
 
 This statement is of prime importance as giving a clew to the in- 
 terpretation of this prophecy, and equally so, of those that arc par- 
 allel with it. It positively affirms that this prophecy (chap. 11 and 
 12) relates to the fortunes of the Jews, Daniel's own people, in 
 future times. How far down in the future can not be definitely 
 determined from this general expression, "in the latter days." 
 There are instances in which this phrase refers to the times of the 
 Messiah — the gospel age of the world; e. g., Isa. 2: 2, and Mich. 
 4: 1. But there are also other instances in which it refers to events 
 far less remote, e. g. Gen. 49 : 1, which looks to the various fortunes 
 of the tribes, mostly long prior to the gospel age. Also Xum. 24 : 
 14 — the outlook of Balaam, which primarily goes not beyond the 
 overthrow of Moab by David. So that the usage of this phrase 
 does not of necessity carry us into the latter times of the Messiah's 
 kingdom. In the present case it manifestly had its fulfillment prior 
 
 to the first advent of Christ. "For yet the vision is for days " — 
 
 not necessarily '■'■many days," for our translators supplied the word 
 "many" to meet their own views, and not because they found any 
 thing for it in the Hebrew text. .Some years must elapse before 
 these main events would transpire. It was in fact about three hun- 
 dred and sixty years to the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes — tho 
 "vile king" whose case occupies the greater part of this vision. 
 
 15. And when he had spoken such words unto me, I set 
 my face toward the ground, and I became dumb. 
 
 16. And behold, one like the similitude of the sons of 
 meri touched my lips : then I opened my mouth, and spake, 
 and said unto him that stood before me, O my lord, by the 
 vision my soii'ows are turned upon me, and I have retained 
 no strength. 
 
 17. For how can the servant of this my lord talk with 
 this my lord ? for as for me, straightway there remained no 
 strength in me, neither is there breath left in me. 
 
414 DANIEL.— CHAP. X. 
 
 Again Daniel becomes completely prostrate in point of physical 
 strength. Sorrows, wave after wave, come up and dash over him; 
 he loses his strength and almost his breath. How can he talk with 
 his angel-interpreter, or receive communications from him? This 
 great prostration may be due in part to his extreme age ; more, wo 
 must suppose, to the great depth of his sympathy and love for his 
 people. 
 
 18. Then there came again and touched me one like the 
 appearance of a man, and he strengthened me, 
 
 19. And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not : peace he 
 unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had 
 spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said. Let my lord 
 speak; for thou hast strengthened me. 
 
 The manner of introducing the angels (vs. 16, 18) may seem to 
 fiivor the opinion that these were severally distinct from each other 
 and from the one introduced in vs. 5, G. But the notice of the re- 
 vealing angel in vs. 20, 21, supports the view that he is one only, 
 and that these are his several manifestations. He now gives Daniel 
 strength, and the way is prepared to proceed with his revelations. 
 
 20. Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto 
 thee? and now will I return to light with the prince of 
 Persia : and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia 
 shall come. 
 
 . 21. But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scrip- 
 ture of truth: and there is none that holdeth wdth me in 
 these things, but Michael your prince. 
 
 Now he returns to renew the struggle with the prince of Persia. 
 TJie prince of Grecia will come in also — we must suppose in the 
 same relation of antagonism to God's revealing angel and to Michael 
 who '■''makes himself strong'' for the aid of this good angel-inter- 
 preter and of Daniel's people. What does all this import? Is 
 
 this prince of Persia a good angel, or an i3vil one ? in allegiance to 
 God, or to Satan ? If to God, why is he lighting with this good 
 angel sent of God to the prophet Daniel? Some of these ques- 
 tions are readily answered. The prince of Persia shows himself 
 an adversary to God and to God's people. In his efforts and hence 
 in his character, he is opposed to Michael who stands up for God 
 and for the interests of his kingdom. He must belong to that order 
 of beings commonly represented in Scripture l)y Satan, the great 
 adversary of God and of liis people. Satan often appears in Scrip- 
 ture, not as one alone in his rebellion among the higher orders of 
 created beings, but as having legions associated with him. They 
 are of various grades or orders. As good angels are put by their 
 Maker in charge over the nations of his people, nothing forbids 
 that these bad angels should in some sense be put in charge over 
 wicked nations by their chief who directs and inspires their antag- 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. XI. 415 
 
 onism to the living God. This view is fully in harmony with the 
 
 teachings of the New Testament. Traces of the opinion that the 
 
 heathen nations had each its own presiding angel are supposed to 
 appear in the Septuagint translation of Deut. 32 : 8. The Hebrew 
 of this passage should be translated, " When the Most Iligh in ap- 
 portioning the sons of men gave their inheritance to the nations, ho 
 fixed the bounds of the peoples with reference to the number of the 
 sons of Israel." But the Septuagint has the last clause, " according 
 to the number of the angels of God," i. e., so as to give one angel 
 
 to each several nation. This Septuagint translation was made 
 
 (as is supposed) about B. 0. 285, The allusions in the Scriptures 
 to ]Michacl suffice to show his relations to God and to his people 
 
 very clearly. See Dan. 12: 1; Judo 9, and Rev. 12: 7. "I 
 
 will show thee that which is noted (written) in the scripture of 
 truth," where by the scripture of truth we are not to understand 
 our Bible, as if the angel proposed only to make a quotation from 
 what we call the sacred Scriptures. lie thinks rather of the book 
 of God's eternal purposes, from which he is commissioned to make 
 an .extract, prophetically, for Daniel and his people, of what shall 
 
 befall them in future days. The introduction being now finished, 
 
 the next chapter proceeds to the prophecy. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 As already intimated, this is precisely "a word," see 10: 1, 
 there called a "thing," but in Hebrew a "word." It is a word in 
 the sense of being revealed in ivords, and not at all in symbols, as 
 the previous visions on this general theme had been. Consequently 
 
 this may well be accounted as an interpretation of those. Like 
 
 the other visions, this starts with the time then present, or rather 
 it sets back some four or five years, i' e., from the third year of 
 Cyrus (10: 1) to the first year of Darius, his immediate predecessor, 
 who reigned two years. The revealing angel simply remarks that 
 in the first year of Darius he "stood to confirm and strengthen 
 him." The prophecy proper begins with v. 2, at the point then 
 present; "there shall stand up yet," etc., i. e., after Cyrus, then on 
 the throne. ^Then the course of prophetic thought in the chap- 
 ter is a rapid sketch of the Persian kings to Xerxes; then by a 
 natural transition to Alexander and his great kingdom; then its 
 four-fold division ; then the two of these four kingdoms, with which 
 alone the Jews were concerned; Egypt on the south, and Syria on 
 the north, running through the history of ten kings, five of the 
 former kingdom, and five of the latter, till he reaches Antiochus 
 Epiphanes in v. 21. He then gives his history througli the chapter 
 
 to his death (v. 45). In this, as in the other parallel visions, I 
 
 propose fii'st to give special comments on the words and phrases aa 
 
416 DANIEL.— CHAP. XI. 
 
 may seem requisite, postponing till afterward any general discus- 
 sion in defense of my interpretation and against opposing views. 
 
 1. Also I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, 
 stood to confirm and to strengthen him. 
 
 This passage seems to show that even heathen kings, when do- 
 ing service for the true God, were confirmed and strengthened by 
 good angels. 
 
 2. And noAV will I shew thee the truth. Behold, there 
 shall stand up yet three kings in Persia ; and the fourth 
 shall be far richer than they- all : and by his strength 
 through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm 
 of Grecia. 
 
 "Yet" (after Cyrus) there were in order these three kings of 
 Persia; viz., Cambyses, reigning seven and a half years; Smerdis, 
 the Magian, seven months ; Darius Ilystaspis, thirty-six years. Of 
 
 these there is no occasion here to give any details. fhe fourth 
 
 must be described more particularly, lie is Xerxes the Great; 
 distinguished for his riches. The exploits of his life are summed 
 up in precisely one thing — his great military expedition against 
 Greece. "He shall stir up all" — and truly it was all Western 
 Asia, organizing itself for war to come down upon the small terri- 
 tory, and relatively very insignificant numbers, of Greece. Uni- 
 versal history gives no reoord of a military expedition so vast and 
 so imposing, nor of any one which achieved a more signal failure. 
 Armed men and retainers — his host is estimated at five millions. 
 Uncounted wealth was lavished upon their outfit. All the prov- 
 inces of the east contributed to the s-plendor of this array and to 
 the mass of living mortality that pressed toward the shores of the 
 Hellespont to pour itself over the narrow fields of Greece. Re- 
 markably the revealing angel has not a word to say of the achieve- 
 ments of this martial host. " He stood up against the realm of 
 Greece " — that is all he says. And, historically, that was all. The 
 expedition came utterly to naught. 
 
 3. And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule 
 with great dominion, and do according to his wdll. 
 
 4. And wdien he shall stand up, his kinc^lom shall be 
 broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of 
 heaven ; and not to his posterity, nor according to his do- 
 minion which he ruled : for his kingdom shall be plucked 
 up, even for others besides those. 
 
 Alexander comes next, reached not closely in the order of time, 
 but in the order of cause and effect. As already suggested in my 
 notes on 8 : 5-7, the Greeks never could forgive or forget the insult 
 and the wrong done them by this imposing though futile invasion 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. XI. 417 
 
 by Xerxes. Alexander became at length (after altont one hundred 
 and fifty years) God's instrument to avenge it. i'ropliecy, there- 
 fore, leaps over the intervening events as not to its })urpose, and 
 strikes next on this great conqueror of the decayed and cllete Per- 
 sian empire. "A mighty king stands up, ruling with great domin- 
 ion and doing according to his will." Who could, tell the history 
 of Alexander in fewer or more forcible words? When he had 
 gained this standing, and his great empire seemed established for 
 all time, it is suddenly broken by his death. It is then " divided 
 toward the four winds of heaven," as we have seen (chap. 8 : 8), 
 "but not to his posterity" (not a son of his ever gained any stand- 
 ing); "not according to the dominion which he ruled," but on en- 
 tirely other principles, and in a manner altogether foreign from 
 any plan or wish of his. His kingdom was plucked up and torn 
 into fragments for others to enjoy besides his own family. All 
 this is a condensed but accurate epitome of the history of those 
 times, of which the part relating to Xerxes has been given with 
 great minuteness by Herodotus and others; the part borne by Al- 
 exander, by Arrian, Plutarch and Diodorus. 
 
 5. And the king of the south shall be strong, and one of 
 his princes; and he shall be strong above him, and have 
 dominion; his dominion shall he a great dominion. 
 
 Here begins a rapid sketch of the rise of the two kingdoms, 
 Egypt and Syria, glancing at the wars, intrigues, treaties, and per- 
 fidies that fill the interval down to Antiochus Epiphanes in v. 21. 
 it is remarkable that all the commentators of any celebrity concur 
 precisely in their interpretation of these verses. They find the 
 same kings, give them the same names, give the same sense to the 
 prophecy, and find the same historic facts for its fulfillment. Henco 
 there is little occasion for me to go minutely into arguments for 
 the defense of the interpretation given so harmoniously- to this 
 
 portion of the chapter. This fifth verse introduces the two kings 
 
 who respectively founded the new kingdoms of Egypt on the south 
 and Syria on the north. The king of the south is Ptolemy Lagus, 
 said by Jerome to be a man of very great wisdom, bravery, wealth, 
 and power. He was one of Alexander's generals. He founded his 
 kingdom of Egypt 13. C. 323. The last clause of the verse un- 
 questionably means, "but this one {I. <?., another) shall be stronger 
 than he and shall have dominion, and his shall be a great domin- 
 ion." This more powerful monarch is Seleucus Nicator, who 
 founded the Syrian kingdom 13. C. 312. His kingdom was indeed 
 very powerful, embracing almost all that Alexander ever held in 
 Asia. The angel uses the same language to describe his greatness 
 as that of Alexander. Each has great dominion. See notes on 
 Dan. 7: p. 358. ♦ 
 
 6. And in the end of years they shall join themselves 
 together; for the king's daughter of the south shall come 
 
•418 DANIEL.— CHAP. XI. 
 
 to the king of the north to make an agreement: but she 
 shall not retain the power of the arm : neither shall he 
 stand, nor his arm: but she shall be given up, and they 
 that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that 
 strengthened her in these times. 
 
 "In the end of years" indicates a considerable interval be- 
 tween these transactions and the founding of the two kingdoms as 
 stated in the fifth verse. Ptolemy reigned thirty-nine years; Scleu- 
 cus thirty-two. We pass over these reigns; also the entire reign 
 of the next Syrian king, Antiochus Soter (twenty years) into the 
 latter part of the reign of his successor, Antiochus Theos, who 
 reigned fifteen years. This Theos, after long and fruitless wars 
 with his Egyptian rjval, Ptolemy Philadeiphus, at last patched up 
 a compromise ("they joined themselves to<2;ether"), which being 
 
 utterly iniquitous, could not stand. The historical facts are these: 
 
 lie divorced his own wife, Laodice, and married Berenice, daughter 
 of Philadeiphus. Two years after, Philadeiphus, now aged, died. 
 Theos soon divorced his Egyptian wife and restored his Syrian. 
 Put the latter had lost confidence in her husband, and, stung by 
 his abuse, took him ofi" by poison. She then secured the kingdom 
 for her own son, Seleucus Callinicus, who managed to murder his 
 mother's rival, Berenice, with her son and servants. Thus the 
 compromise availed only to the ruin of both the guilty parties to 
 this infiimous marriage. Neither of them " retained the power of 
 the arm," the military power, not even to the extent of self-pro- 
 tection. 
 
 7. But out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up 
 in his estate, which shall come with an army, and shall 
 enter into the fortress of the king of the north, and shall 
 deal against them, and shall prevail : 
 
 8. And shall also carry captives into Egypt their gods, 
 with their princes, and with their precious vessels of silver 
 and of gold : and he shall continue more years than the 
 king of the north. 
 
 9. So the king of the south shall come into Ids kingdom, 
 and shall return into his own land. 
 
 Here arc tlie exploits of the third Ptolemy, brother of Berenice ; 
 " one out of the branch of her roots," in the sense of being from 
 the same parentage, lie gained great victories over Seleucus Cal- 
 linicus, the fourth Syrian king; swept over the great eastern por- 
 tion of the Syrian kingdom ; took immense spoil, not less than forty 
 thousand talents of silver, and, among the rest, recovered and took 
 back into E,tf;ypt tWenty-tive hundred idols, most of which Cambyses 
 had carried from Egypt into Persia nearly three hundred years 
 before. Vox- this service especially the Egyptians honored him 
 with the -title, " Eucrgetes," the Henefactor. He reigned twenty- 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. XL 419 
 
 live years; his rival but twenty. He thus "continued more years 
 
 than the king of the north." In v. 9, it seems better to modify 
 
 the translation, placing the phrase, "king of the south," imme- 
 diately after "kingdom of," as in the original; thus; "Then he" 
 (the king of the north just before spoken of) "marched into the 
 kingdom of the king of the south, but was compelled to return" 
 defeated "into his own land." The sense is better so, since there 
 was no occasion to say that the king of the south, after his suc- 
 cessful expedition, recorded vs. 7, 8, returned home again. What 
 else should he do? Moreover, by the reading I suggest, the rela- 
 tion of the pronouns to their antecedents is more easy, in the com- 
 mencement of both V. 9 and v. 10. The king of the north named 
 in the end of v. 8 is he that comes into the kingdom of the king 
 of the south with a vain effort to retrieve his losses; and " his sons " 
 (v. 10) are the sons of this Syrian king, Scleucus Callinicus, who 
 
 was compelled to return with shame to his own land. My brief 
 
 comments on vs. 10-19 may best take the form, for the most part, 
 of a paraphrase. 
 
 10. But his sons shall be stirred iij^, and shall assemble 
 a multitude of great forces : and one shall certainly come, 
 and overflow, and pass through : then shall he return, and 
 be stirred up, even to his fortress. 
 
 These are the two sons of Seleucus Callinicus, viz., Scleucus 
 Ceraunus, who reigned two years, and Antiochus the Great, who 
 reigned thirty-seven. They arouse themselves to prodigious efforts 
 and raise a vast army. Ceraunus soon dies, and leaves Antiochus 
 to prosecute these plans. He shall certainly come and sweep like 
 a flood and pass through the countries of Western Asia toward 
 Egypt. He shall make a second expedition ("return again") — the 
 first being that of v. 9, and shall push the war even to the fortress 
 which was the key to that kingdom. 
 
 11. And the king of the south shall be moved with 
 choler, and shall come forth and fight with him, even with 
 the king of the north : and he shall set forth a great multi- 
 tude ; but the multitude shall be given into his hand. 
 
 Then the king of the south, Ptolemy Philopator, greatly exasper- 
 ated, rouses himself from his volu2:)tuous lethargy, and comes forth 
 to fight with Antiochus the Great, the king of the north ; and though 
 this king of the north had brought into tlie fiolrl an immense army, 
 yet in a great battle at Kaphia, near (Jaza (B. .C. 217), he was 
 utterly defeated, and the power passed into the hands of Philopa- 
 tor, king of Egypt. 
 
 12. And when he hath taken away the multitude, his 
 heart shall be lifted up; and he shall cast down many 
 ten thousands : but he shall not be strengthened hy it 
 
420 DANIEL.— CHAP. XL 
 
 By this great victory his heart is elated; he casts down many; 
 but is not permanently strengthened by it. 
 
 13. For tlie king of the north shall return, and shall set 
 forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall cer- 
 tainly come after certain years with a great army and with 
 much riches. 
 
 For the king of the north, Antiochus the Great, raises a greater 
 army than his former one, and comes again with great resources 
 for war. 
 
 14. And in those times there shall many stand up against 
 the king of the south : also the robbers of thy people shall 
 exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall 
 fall. 
 
 Philopator, the miserably effeminate and dissolute king, dies 
 (1>. C. 204), leaving as the heir to his throne, his son Ptolemy 
 Epiphancs, but five years old; whereupon Philip of Macedon, a 
 poAverful monarch, makes alliance with Antiochus against Egypt. 
 
 " Many shall stand np against the king of the south." Violent 
 
 men from among the people (the Jcavs) arouse themselves to cast 
 oif the Egy])tian yoke. In fact, they only established the vision, 
 for their object entirely failed; they only brought on themselves 
 disaster. 
 
 * 15. So the king of the north shall come, and cast up a 
 mount, and take the most fenced cities: and the arms of 
 the south shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, 
 neither shall there he any strength to withstand. 
 
 Antiochus of the north successfully besieged Zidon, Gaza, and 
 other strong cities. The arms of Egypt could not stand before 
 him. 
 
 16. But he that cometh against him shall do according to 
 his own will, and none shall stand before him : and he shall 
 stand in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be con- 
 sumed. 
 
 The assailing party, still Antiochus the Great, coming against 
 his feeble opponent of Egypt, shall do according to his own will 
 and none shall stand before him. lie o]>tains footing even in Pal- 
 estine, "the glory of all lands," which under his power is fearfully 
 wasted, lie was obliged to ^pend a long time in besieging »Ieru- 
 salem, to wrest it from the Egyptian power, subsisting his army 
 meanwhile on Palestine, and thus wasting its supplies. 
 
 17. He shall also set his face to enter with the strength 
 of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him; thus 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. XI. 421 
 
 shall lie do : and lie shall give him the daughter of ■svomen, 
 corrupting her : but she shall not stand on his side, neither 
 be for him. 
 
 He sets himself with resolute purpose and with all his strength 
 to invade Egypt; the Jews, even the better class, the "upright 
 ones," with him; but the Komans intervene to frustrate his plans. 
 He makes a treaty with Ptolemy and gives him his own daughter, 
 Cleopatra, in marriage, with the provinces of Phenicia as her dower 
 and hoping that she would subserve his interests. His eflbrts to 
 "corrupt her" to play into his hands and prove false to her hus- 
 band were unsuccessful. She abandoned her father's cause, was 
 true to her husband, and hence "did not stand on his (her father's) 
 side, nor be for him." 
 
 18. After this shall he turn his face unto the isles, and 
 shall take many : but a prince for his own behalf shall cause 
 the reproach offered by him to cease; without his own re- 
 proach he shall cause it to turn upon him. 
 
 Then to meet the Romans to better advantage, Antiochus the 
 Great carried the war into Greece; took several of the Grecian 
 islands; but the Roman Prince gained a great victory over him at 
 Thermopylee (B. C. 191), and another final one at Magnesia in 
 Lydia (B. C. 190), which completely broke down the power of An- 
 tiochus the Great. The glory of his former achievements was 
 turned into reproach. The Roman armies had no reverses; with 
 no reproaches on themselves, they turned all reproach upon the 
 vanquished Syrian king. 
 
 19. Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his 
 ow^n land : but he shall stumble and fall, and not be found. 
 
 Compelled to relinquish all his possessions West of Mt. Taurus, 
 and to pay the entire expenses of the war, Antiochus found him- 
 self amerced in fifteen thousand talents, of which a large portion 
 was by installments of one thousand per annum — completely ex- 
 hausting his finances, subjecting his kingdom to immense taxes 
 and putting him upon that raid into Elymais for pillage which cost 
 him his life. In an attempt to plunder a rich temple he was re- 
 sisted by the exasperated people and slain. Some of the ancient 
 historians, however, assert that he was slain by his own men in a 
 drunken carousal. If so, the "vile" king — the little horn of chap- 
 ters 7 and 8, may have had some agency in " plucking him up by 
 the roots" and causing him to "fall." See notes on the three 
 
 kings, removed 'before the little horn-king, page 36G. This rapid 
 
 sketch of Antiochus the Great (vs. 10-19), is drawn so accurately 
 that commentators have almost universally agreed in the main as 
 to its exposition and application to all the points of his eventful 
 history. The revealing angel was in fact lurltlag history more than 
 three hundred years before its time. 
 
422 DANIEL.— CHAP. XI. 
 
 » 
 
 20. Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes in 
 the glory of the kingdom : but within few days he shall be 
 destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle. 
 
 "In his estate," means, in his place as king; upon his throne, 
 or in his stead. -"A raiser of taxes in the glory of his kini^dom," 
 would be more closely and better rendered; "One who will send 
 tax-gatherers over all the glory, i. e., wealth, of his kingdom;" one 
 whose great work as a king will be to raise taxes to pay the enor- 
 mous sum of a thousand talents per year, pledged to the Romans. 
 This was Seleucus Philopator, eldest son of Antiochus the Great, 
 and heix to his throne. His reign of eleven years ended with his 
 sudden death by poison at the hand of Heliodorus ; his chief tax- 
 gatherer, "neither in anger nor in battle," but under the promptings 
 of ambition to mount the throne. We have now reached Anti- 
 ochus Epiphanes in the regular line of kings as sketched in this his- 
 toric prophecy. Let us pause here a moment to note the very extra- 
 ordinary character of this sketch of history given as prophecy 
 throughout this -chapter thus far (vs. 2-20). While it must be ad- 
 mitted that without the help of the actual history to guide us, some 
 few passages would be rather obscure, yet this obscurity is due to 
 its brevity; and even this quite disappears the moment you sup- 
 pose a tolerably fair acquaintance with the outlines of the history 
 in question. But such a case of history written out so definitely ; 
 history and nothing else ; history with no hint at the moral purpose 
 in view — is without a parallel elsewhere in the Scriptures. It is 
 not strange that- it should appear very extraordinary ; — perhaps I 
 might safely say, it is not strange that it should suggest the inquiry 
 whether its date is really antecedent to the events narrated; in 
 other words, whether it is real prophecy. But this investigation 
 brings back no reason for a doubt. It only certifies us the more 
 that Daniel had this vision when the book claims, viz., in the third 
 
 year of Cyrus, and that it is all real prophecy. Hence we fall 
 
 back upon the question. What can be the object of such a proph- 
 ecy, put in this straight-forward, purely historic form ? My an- 
 swer is ready. This entire vision is parallel (as will bo shown in 
 its place) to chap. 7, and this portion of it corresponds to the fourth 
 beast of that vision, " dreadful, terrible, and strong exceedingly, 
 with great iron teeth, devouring, breaking ip pieces, and stamping 
 the residue with his feet." What is the outcome of this historic 
 prophecy, beginning with Xerxes and ending with Seleucus Philo- 
 put«u* who made tax-gatherers pass over and consume the glory of 
 his kingdom? What are the achievements of Xerxes, Alexander, 
 Seleucus Xicator, Antiochus the Great, and all the rest, but the 
 robbery and murder of millions of human beings ; wars, unceasing 
 wars, continued through scores of years and even centuries, with 
 untold slaughter and no offset of resulting good; — and not wars 
 alone, but treacheries, bad faith, treaties made only to be broken; 
 compromises all iniquitous; divorces; deceptions; taxations; the 
 waste and destruction of human sustenance; poverty, unpaid toil, 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. XL 423 
 
 wretchedness, and starvation, and all with not the least resulting 
 good? This is human depravity working out its legitimate fruits 
 of crime and woe. It is a huge nondescript but horrible wild beast, 
 "dreadful, terrible, and strong," let loose among masses of living 
 men, women and children, to make his utmost havoc in their flesh 
 and blood. If we could gather the statistics of the human lives cut 
 ofl' in those centuries of war, and could add to that sum all the in- 
 cidental waste of life and treasure, the sum would appal us ! 
 
 And will it still be asked, To what end is all this portrayed in this 
 historic prophecy ? The answer is that, in chap. 7, as that fourth 
 beast and kingdom stand next before the fifth, so they stand in tacit 
 yet strong and palpable antithesis with it. Things are seen better 
 in the light of contrast. Here is the rule and sway of human am- 
 bition over against the rule and sway of the gospel kingdom of 
 peace and love. It is war and ruin set off in contrast against uni- 
 versal peace and blessedness. ^And this historico-prophetic sketch 
 
 given by the revealing angel to Daniel and to us in chap. 11 : 2-20, 
 was intended to set before us with considerable detail the real sig- 
 fiificance of that fourth beast and his ten horns, so dreadful and 
 terrible to the weal of mankind. As already said, it expresses in 
 words what Dan. 7 : 7-27, sets forth in symbols. The nondescript 
 but dreadful wild beast there becomes the historic record of war, 
 crime, and death here. That is a symbolic scene given in prophetic 
 
 vision ; this is really its inspired explanation. Yet further as to 
 
 the purpose and the bearing of this delineation of the fourth beast. 
 Its horrid ravages on human well-being are not only designed to 
 stand in contrast with the next succeeding kingdom, one of univer- 
 sal peace and love, but also to indicate the reasons why God brought 
 down on that fourth beast a doom so dire and so completely ex- 
 terminating. When God sweeps a cluster and a series of great na- 
 tions into utter destruction, it is well that he should indicate clearly 
 why he does it. This is a case of the sort. From the age of Nim- 
 rod to the fsill of the Greek, Syrian, and Egyptian kingdoms, the 
 great empires of the world lay in Western Asia and North-eastern 
 Africa, for the most part making their centers of poAver in the val- 
 leys of the Euphrates, the Orontes, and the Nile. In the age of 
 Daniel, the Great Assyrian empire had recently passed away. His 
 merely human eye saw both the rise and the fall of Chaldea ; and 
 the rise of Medo-Persia. With the eye of an inspired seer, he 
 looked through to the end of this marvelous series of world-mon- 
 archies — the Mcdo-Persian ; the Greek empire of Alexander, and its 
 cleft fragments under his Greek successors. Those nationalities, 
 long time so magnificent, so proud, so mighty, so cruel, so trul;f tho 
 terror and the scourge of mankind, are now to bo utterly wiped out 
 from the face of the earth and their succession to cease forever. 
 AVIiy should not the justice of God in this4"earful scene of retribu- 
 tion be amply vindicated ? Why should not the visions of prophecy 
 Avhich foretold this doom set forth also the catalogue of appalling 
 crimes which preceded and demanded this fall of the great Asiatic 
 sovereignties, never to rise again?- Hence this ample unfolding 
 
424 DANIEL.— CHAP. XL 
 
 of the long, bLack record of their crimes. They culminated in those 
 scenes of artful treachery, mad persecution, and terrible slaughter 
 of (jod's own people -which have consigned to infamy and abhor- 
 rence the name of Antiochus Epiphanes. 
 
 21. And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to 
 whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom : but 
 he shall <;ome in peaceably, and obtain tlie kingdom by 
 flatteries. 
 
 Here we arrive at Antiochus Epiphanes, in his place in the line 
 of Syrian monarchs, and, as here described, meeting all the great 
 
 facts recorded of him in history. lie comes "into the estate" 
 
 of his elder brother, who had preceded him. He is "a vile per- 
 son," fit only to be despised, despicable, for so the original imports. 
 
 " To whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom." It 
 
 was not his by established right of succession, but belonged to the 
 eldest son of his deceased brother, just previously sent to Kome to 
 take his place and release him after thirteen years of hostage life 
 in the Eoman capital. Hence those whose business it was to see 
 that the succession was determined according to usage could not 
 give to him the honor of the kingdom. He ''came in peaceably 
 and obtained it by flatteries." He was at Athens, on his way home 
 from llome, when he heard of the death of his brother, and in- 
 stantly laid his plans* to obtain the kingdom for himself. ' He 
 forthwith secured the aid of Eumenes, king of Pergamos, and of 
 his brother Attains, and with this help expelled Heliodorus and 
 
 gained the crown. This king was preeminently "a vile person" 
 
 — vile, both in the sense of being wicked, and in the sense of be- 
 ing mean and despicable. So far from deserving his surname, 
 Epiphanes, the Illustrious, his merits seemed to justify the slight 
 change of his name, which reversed its meaning, " Epimanes, the 
 madman. He had a low passion for aping the foolish things he 
 had seen at Kome. He seemed to delight in playing the buffoon, 
 in getting half drunk, and then putting himself below the common 
 level of even tipsy, silly drunkards. It is hard to believe that a 
 king would rise from his dinner-table, heated with wine, strip him- 
 self utterly naked, and dance round the hall as one frantic, with 
 the lowest comedians. History can scarcely produce another like 
 case of a man wearing a crown who debased himself so low, and 
 made himself so vile as this same Antiochus Epipliancs. 
 
 22. And witli the arms of a Hood shall they be overflown 
 frorti before him, and shall be broken ; yea, also the prince 
 of the covenant. 
 
 The human arm i» a, favorite figure with Daniel for an army and 
 its military power. The sweep of such a host is also with him often 
 an inundation. It "overflows," bearing down and breaking away all 
 before it. So here. Though Antiochus began with flatteries and 
 a pacific bearing, yet as soon as the scepter was fairly in his grasp, 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. XI. 425 
 
 he was not slow to create an armed force and to wield it with cn- 
 
 er<;y. "The prince of the covenant" can he no other here than 
 
 the High Priest Onias — a most excellent and venerable man, who, 
 after withstanding the current of popular sentiment toward Grecian 
 life and idolatry, fell before the machinations of his apostate coun- 
 trymen. 
 
 23. And after the league made with him he shall Avork 
 deceitfully: for lie shall come up, and shall become strong 
 with a small people. 
 
 Continuing the same subject, this historic prophet touches the 
 league made between Antiochus and the apostate Jew whom he 
 constituted High-priest in place of the good Onias, and who took 
 the Grecian name of Jason. This Jason promised to pay Antiochus 
 large sums for his aid in obtaining the high-priesthood and for li- 
 cense to set up a Grecian gymnasium in Jerusalem and to institute 
 the Grecian idolatrous rites associated with it. For tliree years (1>. 
 C. 175-172) he labored assiduously to seduce the Jews into the 
 (xrecian life and religion. At length he sent his younger brother, 
 Menelaus, to carry to Antiochus the money he had promised for 
 his high-priesthood, when both Menelaus and Antiochus " worked 
 deceitfully;" the former, bidding higher for the priesthood than his 
 brother had done, the latter repudiated his previous contract with 
 Jason and gave the priesthood to him. Thus Antiochus gained a 
 foothold in Judea and l)ecame strong, though commencing ''with a 
 
 small people." This kingdom of Syria had been greatly reduced 
 
 in territory and also exhausted in its finances during the two pre- 
 vious reigns. Hence the frequent allusions to the small beginnings 
 of this little horn-king. 
 
 24. He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest j)lace3 
 of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers 
 have not done, nor his fathers' fathers ; he shall scatter 
 among them the prey, and spoil, and riches : yea, and he 
 shall forecast his devices against the strongholds, even for 
 a time. 
 
 This verse is thought to refer to an expedition into Armenia, a 
 kingdom adjacent on the north, whose king, Artaxias, Antiochus 
 took captive. There he found rich booty and scattered it profusely 
 to whom he would, for few kings have surpassed him in the prodi- 
 gality with which he scattered his largesses of money upon cities 
 or individuals, as the Cjiprice might take him, apparently with no 
 other motive than the silly ambition of being more liberal than any 
 king ever was before him. This was a brief expedition, only " for 
 a time." 
 
 25. And he shall stir up his power and his courage 
 against the king of the south with a great army ; and the 
 king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very 
 
426 DANIEL.— CHAP. XI. 
 
 great and mighty army; but he shall not stand: for they 
 shall forecast devices against him. 
 
 26. Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall 
 destroy him, and his army shall overflow : and many shall 
 fall down slain. 
 
 27. And both these kings' hearts shall he to do mischief, 
 and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not 
 prosper: for yet the end shall he at the time appointed. 
 
 Here begins the prophetic record of the military expeditions of 
 Antiochus into Egypt, of which history gives account of at least 
 four in as many successive years, B. C. 170-1G7. The first was 
 short, involving but one great battle, the victory with Antiochus, 
 after which he wintered at Tyre, and marched on Egypt again 
 early in the ensuing spring. In this campaign he practically sub- 
 jugated the whole country; became the nominal protector of the 
 young king, Ptolemy Philometor; had precisely those intrigues 
 with him which v. 27 describes — both kings' hearts, being set on 
 mischief, and both speaking lies to one another at one table ; yet 
 in neither case availing to frustrate the great results which God in 
 his providence had in view, " for yet the end would surely be at 
 the time appointed." The Egyptian king was young and was im- 
 becile even for his youth. He was formally inaugurated at the age 
 of fourteen; had been kept in ignorance and inefficiency by the 
 artful management of his tutors, who loved and sought to retain 
 the regal power which his minority and incompetence gave them, 
 "They that fed of the portion of his meat destroyed him." So 
 
 closely does the prophetic description fit the historic facts. In 
 
 v. 26 it is the army of Antiochus that "overflows" victoriously, 
 and many of his Egyptian foes fall down, slain. 
 
 28. Then shall he return into his land with great riches ; 
 and his heart shall he against the holy covenant; and he 
 shall do exploits, and return to his own land. 
 
 It was in June, B. C. 169, that An,tiochus, having been entirely 
 successful in Egypt, returned toward his own land with great 
 riches. His return was hastened by a report that all Judea had 
 risen in revolt from his authority. A rumor had reached Jerusa- 
 lem that Antiochus was dead. Some public manifestations of joy 
 ensued, which being reported to Antiochus with no little exaggera- 
 tion, greatly exasperated him against the Jews. He hastened back 
 with his victorious army and at once assailed and took Jerusalem. 
 Of this terrific onslaught, the author of 2 Mac. says (5: 11-16); 
 "Removing out of Egypt in a furious mind, he took .the city by 
 force of arms, and commanded his men of war not to spare such 
 as they met and to slay such as went up upon the houses. Thus 
 there was killing of young and old, making away of men, women 
 and children, slaying of virgins and infants. And there were 
 destroyed within three whole days four-score thousand, whereof 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. XL 427 
 
 forty thousand were slain in the conflict; and no fewer sold than 
 slain. Yet was he not content with this, but presumed to go into 
 the most holy temple of all the world, Menclaus, that traitor to the 
 laws and to his own country, being his guide ; and taking the holy 
 vessels with polluted hands, and with profane hands pulling down 
 the things that were dedicated by other kings to the augmentation 
 and glory and honor of the place, he gave "them away,*' In this 
 scene of pillage and sacrilege, Antiochus found and took away 
 from the temple eighteen hundred talents of gold, and then offered 
 swine's flesh on the altar and sprinkled the whole temple with the 
 broth of this flesh. These things exasperated the Jews against 
 him exceedingly. They could regard him only as a monster of 
 cruelty and wickedness. After these exploits, he returned to his 
 own land. 
 
 29. At the time appointed he shall return, and come to- 
 ward the south ; but it shall not be as the former, or as the 
 latter. 
 
 30. For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: 
 therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indigna- 
 tion against the holy covenant : so shall he do ; he shall 
 even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake 
 the holy covenant. 
 
 The third expedition of Antiochus into Egypt (B. C. 1G8) is not 
 distinctly referred to, having in it nothing "that specially affected, 
 the fortunes of the Jews. He went there to depose Physcon, the 
 younger brother of Philometor, his protege — the Egyptians having 
 raised him to power because Philometor was practically under the 
 absolute control of Antiochus. He defeated the army of Physcon 
 in battle. Physcon and his party sought help from the Komans. 
 The next year (B. C. 167) Antiochus made his fourth expedi- 
 tion into Egypt, of which these verses give the substance. The 
 last clause of v. 29 means that this last expedition was not, like all 
 his former, successful. "Not as the former, so is the latter." The 
 reason of his failure was the intervention of the powerful Romans. 
 
 Chittim, in its more restricted sense, is a town on the island 
 
 of Cyprus, or the island itself; but in its^ larger sense, was used 
 for the northern and eastern islands and coasts of the Mediterra- 
 nean, including Greece and Rome. There is no doubt that Rome 
 is meant here. So Josephus and numerous other authorities affirm. 
 
 An embassy of three men from the Roman Senate met him 
 
 just as he was about to lay siege to Alexandria; told,him they had 
 taken young Physcon under their protection, and that he must de- 
 sist or have war with Rome. Antiochus indicating a wish to pro- 
 crastinate, Topilius drew a circle in the sand about his feet and 
 said, "Give me an answer before you cross that circle." He 
 yielded, and pledged himself to do all the Senate should require. 
 He dared not X)ffend the Roman power. . But he chafed like a tiger 
 
428 DANIEL.— CIIAP. XL 
 
 under his chain, and came back to vent his rage on a fallen people, 
 the JeAvs. He Avas ^^ grieved" in this very selfish sense, and let 
 loose "his indignation against the holy covenant" and its people. 
 At this time, as for several years previous, he "had intelligence" 
 with Jewish apostates; kept up a mutual understanding and co- 
 operation with them; and made great use of their aid to further his 
 designs. 
 
 31. And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall 
 pollute the sanctuary of si^rength, and shall take away the 
 daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that 
 maketli desolate. 
 
 He now sent out an army of 22,000, under Appollonius (June, 
 B. C. 1G7), who seized Jerusalem, took possession of the castle and 
 made it a stronghold; forcibly prevented the Jcavs from Avorship- 
 ing in their temple; desecrated the altar by erecting an idol-altar 
 directly upon it, and there offering sacrifices to idols ; and of course 
 entirely superseding and suspending the daily sacrifices of the 
 Jews. This was "the taking away of the daily sacrifice." The 
 original Avord, meaning the constant, the continuous, or, rather, the 
 regular, every-day routine, embraced really more than the morning 
 and the evening sacrifices. It included all the services of the 
 Mosaic ritual. (See note's on Dan. 8 : 11.) The last clause, ren- 
 dered, " the abomination that maketh desolate," may be translated 
 cither "the abomination that maketh desolate," or "the abom- 
 ination of the desolator" — the sense in either case being essen- 
 'tially the same, viz., that, instead of the sanctuary which was 
 a toAver of strength and symbolized the strength God gives to his 
 obedient people, this abominable idol-altar was the symbol of ruin 
 and desolation. It was set up by a force bent on desolating the 
 city and people of God; it Avas permitted of God in judgment 
 on his apostate people; it therefore carried with it only deso- 
 lation. 
 
 32. And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall 
 he corrupt by flatteries : but the j^eople that do knoAV their 
 God shall be strong, and do exploits. 
 
 The books of Maccabees make the fact very prominent that in 
 these times many Jews Avere utterly apostate from the service and 
 worship of God. Of these, the first clause speaks. It might be 
 rendered, " the Avicked apostates of the covenant." These persons, 
 this vik) king "corru]>ts by his flatteries " — by his intrigues, bribes, 
 
 oncouragemen^s. On tlie other hand, " the people Avho knoAV 
 
 their God," in the sense of loving and approving both him and his 
 service, "shall be strong." These Avere at first the venerable Mat- 
 tathias of Modin and his sons — a most noble family, of extraordi- 
 nary faith and Christian heroism. Later, the company embraced 
 many others Avho joined them. No one can read their history as 
 recorded in the first book of Maccabees Avithout concurring in this 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. XL 429 
 
 brief but just testimony to their transcendent heroism, valor, and 
 energy. "They were strong and they performed exploits." The 
 zeal and courage of the aged Mattathias are inspiring. " And when 
 he saw the blasphemies that were committed in Judea and Jerusa- 
 lem, he said, AV^oe is me ! Wherefore was I born to see this misery 
 of my people and of the holy city and to dwell there when it was 
 delivered into the hand of the enemy and the sanctuary into the 
 hand of strangers ? ller temple is become as a man without glory. 
 Her glorious vessels are carried away into captivity, her infants 
 are slain in the streets, her young men with the sword of the en- 
 emy. Behold, our sanctuary, even our beauty and our glory, is laid 
 waste and the Gentiles have profaned it. To what end, therefore, 
 shall we live any longer? Then Mattathias and his sons rent their 
 
 clothes and put on sackcloth and mourned very sore." When 
 
 the king's officers came to Modin, and plied Mattathias with flattery 
 and with bribes, pressing him to be the first to fulfill the king's 
 command as all the heathen had done, he cried with a loud voice, 
 "Though all the nations that are under the king's dominion obey 
 him, and fall away every one from the religion of their fathers, and 
 give consent to his commandments, yet will I and my sons and 
 my brethren walk in the covenant of our fathers. God forbid that 
 we should forsake the law and the ordinances ! AVe will not 
 hearken to the king's words to go from our religion, either on the 
 right hand, or on the left." "Now when he had left speaking 
 these words, there came up a Jew in the sight of all, to sacrifice on 
 the altar at Modin, according to the king's commandment. Which 
 thing when Mattathias saw, he was inflamed with zeal, and his reins 
 trembled, neither could he forbear to show his anger according to 
 judgment; wherefore he ran and slew him upon the altar. Also 
 the king's commissioner, who compelled men to sacrifice, he killed 
 at that time, and the altar he pulled down. Then he cried through- 
 out the city. Whosoever is zealous of the law, and maintaineth the 
 
 covenant, let him follow me." 1 Mac. 2: 6-27. This small but 
 
 heroic band retired to the mountain fastnesses of Southern Pales- 
 tine; were pursued by their persecutors, were attacked upon the 
 Sabbath, and full one thousand of them were cut down unresisting. 
 They would not take up arms to resist on the Sabbath, but fell say- 
 .ing, "Let us die in all our innocency; heaven and earth shall tes- 
 tify for us that ye put us to death wrongfully." V. 37. The surviv- 
 ors, upon second thought, determined to defend their lives whenever 
 attacked. Others, fleeing from persecution, came in and were a 
 stay unto them. " So they joined their forces and smote sinful 
 men in their anger and wicked men in their wrath ; but the rest 
 fled to the heathen for succor. Then Mattathias and his friends 
 went round about and pulled down the altars; and what children 
 soever they found within the coast of Israel uncircumcised, they 
 circumcised valiantly. They pursued also after the proud men, 
 and the work prospered in their hand. So they recovered the law 
 out of the hand of the Gentiles and out of the hand of kings, 
 neither suffered they the sinner to triumph" (1 Mac. 2: 43—18). 
 
480 DANIEL.— CHAP. XI. 
 
 Now when the time ^rew near that Mattathias should die, he said 
 unto his sons, Now hath pride and rebuke gotten strength, and the 
 time of destruction and the wrath of indignation [have come.] Now 
 therefore, my sons, be ye zealous for the law, and give your lives 
 for the covenant of your fathers. Call to remembrance what acts 
 our fathers did in their time; so shall ye receive great honor and 
 an everlasting name. Was not Abraham found faithful in tempta- 
 tion, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness ? Joseph, in 
 the time of his distress, kept the commandment, and was made 
 lord of Egypt. Phineas, our father, in being zealous and fervent, 
 obtained the covenant of an everlasting priesthood. Joshua, for 
 fulfilling the word, was made a judge in Israel. Caleb, for bearing 
 witness before the congregation, received the heritage of the land. 
 David, for being merciful, possessed the throne of an everlasting 
 kingdom. Elias, for being zealous and fervent for the law was 
 taken up into heaven. Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, by believing, 
 were saved out of the flame, Daniel, for his innocency, was deliv- 
 ered from the mouth of the lions. And thus consider ye throughout 
 all ages that none who put their trust in Him shall he overcome. 
 Fear not, then, the words of a sinful man, for his glory shall be 
 dung and worms. To-day he shall be lifted up, and to-morrow he 
 shall not be found, because he has returned into his dust, and his 
 thought is turned to nothing. Wherefore, my sons, be valiant and 
 show yourselves men in behalf of the law ; for by it ye shall obtain 
 
 glory" (1 Mac. 2: 49-64). So Mattathias closes his testimony. 
 
 His son Judas becomes military chieftain. His record is grand and 
 thrilling. " Then his son Judas, called Maccabeus, rose up in his 
 stead. And all his brethren helped him, and so did all they that 
 held with his father ; and they fought with cheerfulness the battle of 
 Israel. So he gat his people great honor, and put on a breast-plate 
 as a giant, and girt his warlike harness about him, and he made 
 battles, protecting the host with his sword. In his acts he was 
 like a lion, and like a lion's whelp roaring for his prey. For he 
 pursued the wicked and sought them out and burnt up those that 
 vexed his people. Wherefore the wicked shrunk for fear of him 
 and all the workers of iniquity were troubled, because salvation 
 prospered in his hand. He also grieved many kings, and made 
 Jacob glad with his acts, and his memorial is blessed forever. 
 Moreover he went through the cities of Juda, destroying the un- 
 godly out of them and turning away wrath from Israel, so that he 
 was renowned unto the utmost part of the earth, and he received 
 
 unto him such as were ready to perish" (1 Mac. 3: 1-9). 
 
 When the first great host of Syrians came down upon Judas, his 
 puny band said to him, " How shall we be able, so few, to fight 
 against so great a multitude and so strong, seeing we are ready to 
 faint with fasting all this day? To whom Judas answered; "it is 
 no hard matter for many to be shut up in the hands of a few, and 
 with the God of heaven it is all one to deliver with a great multi- 
 tude or a small company, for the victory of battle standeth not in 
 tlie multitude of a host, but strength cometh from heaven. They 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. XI. 431 
 
 come against us in much pride and iniquity to destroy us, and our 
 wiv^es and children, and to spoil us ; but we fight for our lives and 
 our laws. Wherefore the Lord himself will overthrow them before 
 our face; and as for you, be not afraid of them." "Now as soon 
 as he left off speaking, he leaped suddenly upon them, and so Se- 
 ron and his host were overthrown before him " (1 Mac. 3 : 17-23). 
 
 In those times the whole army sought the mighty God in 
 
 prayer. "How shall we be able to stand against them, unless 
 Thou, God, be our help?" "Arm yourselves then, said Judas, 
 and be ready to fight with these nations who come against us to 
 destroy us and our sanctuary ; for it is better for us to die in bat- 
 tle than to behold the calamities of our people and our sanctuary. 
 Nevertheless as the will of God is in heaven, so let him do" (1 
 
 Mac. 3 : 53, 58-60). Truly these are the words and the deeds 
 
 of Christian heroes ! 
 
 33. And they that understand among the people shall 
 instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by 
 flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days. 
 
 This first clause might be rendered either " the wise ones among 
 the people," or "the teachers of the people," with no great difier- 
 ence in the ultimate meaning. They devote themselves to teaching 
 the people the law and the claims of God. Yet, one after another, 
 they fall in war for many days. The venerable father Mattathias 
 first; after him, Jonathan, Eleazar, Judas, Simon — a noble band, 
 yet within the course of this twenty-four years' war with the Syri- 
 ans they fell. 
 
 34i Now when they shall fall, they shall be liolpen with 
 a little help : but many shall cleave to them with flatteries. 
 
 Nevertheless God aided them with a little help. The results of 
 the war gradually worked toward their political independence, 
 which at length (B. C. 143) they achieved. This help was small 
 compared with that which the Lord gave his people in the days of 
 Joshua and of David. That " many clave to them with flatter- 
 ies" is a matter of history. Their cause suffered more than once 
 from treacherous friends. 
 
 35. And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try 
 them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the 
 time of the end : because it is yet for a time appointed. • 
 
 Some of their wisest and best men fell — Jonathan, Judas and 
 others; God's purpose in this affliction being to chastise his people 
 the more thoroughly ; to make them cease from man and put their 
 trust in the Lord alone. This is in harmony with his usual course 
 
 of moral discipline in this world of trial. Such would be the 
 
 state of things "to the time of the end," until the period assigned 
 of God for tills scene of trial should close. All was " noted in his 
 Bcripture of truth" (chap. 10: 21); it should transpire accord- 
 
432 DANIEL.— CHAP. XL 
 
 ingly. The Lord had certain ends to answer in respect to the 
 moral discipline of his people. These scenes of conflict and tnal 
 would continue until those ends were answered. 
 
 36. And the king sliall do according to his will ; and he 
 shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, 
 and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, 
 and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished : for 
 that that is determined shall be done. 
 
 37. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor 
 the desire of women, nor regard any god : for he shall mag- 
 nify himself above all. 
 
 38. But in his estate shall he honor the God of forces : 
 and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor wdth 
 gold, and silver, and wdth precious stones, and pleasant 
 things. 
 
 39. Thus shall he do in the most strongholds with a 
 strange god, wdiom he shall acknowledge and increase with 
 glory : and he shall cause them to rule over many, and 
 shall divide the land. for gain. 
 
 By all the established laws of lan,2;uage, this passage must treat 
 of the same king whose wars and whose persecutions of the saints 
 have been the subject of remark from v. 22 onward to this point. 
 He is the king — the same before spoken of, the Hebrew article be- 
 ing explicit testimony to this point. Further, the connection of 
 thought as well as of grammatical construction is close and deci- 
 sive; for this king is able to "do according to his will" only be- 
 cause the Lord has indignation against his apostate people, and 
 therefore sees fit to make use of this "vile king" as the rod of his 
 scourging and discipline. Hence he shall prosper till the indigna- 
 tion shall be accomplished, and the thing determined of God for 
 chastisement and reformation shall be done. This sort of logical 
 reference to the preceding context and to the reasons assigned in 
 the parallel vision (chap. 8 : 19) for the great power of this same 
 vile king constitutes the strongest possible connection between " the 
 king" of v. 36 and the king of the north, whose case fills the pas- 
 sage chap. 11: 21-35. His character, and his deeds as illustrat- 
 ive of character, are the subject in these verses. He is proud and 
 self-conceited ; thinks himself above every god ; speaks marvelous 
 things against the God of gods — things that excite the wonder of 
 mankind for their horrid blasphemy and pride. This is the proph- 
 ecy ; to which accords the history of Antiochus in the books of 
 the Maccabees. "Having spoken very proudly" (1 Mac. 1: 24). 
 Hee also 2 IMac. 9 throughout. In this chapter, the author, com 
 menting on his fall from his chariot, says; "Thus he who a little 
 afore thought he might command the waves of the sea (so proud 
 was ho above the condition of man) and weigh the high mountains 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. XL 433 
 
 in a balance, vs^as now cast on the ground and carried in a horse- 
 litter, showing unto all the manifest poAver of God." Also this; 
 *'The man who thought a little afore that he could reach to the 
 stars of heaven," etc. Throughout, the historical testimony to his 
 pride and self-conceit is remarkably in harmony A^ith this prophetic 
 
 portrayal. V. 37 shows that he had no reverence for the gods 
 
 of his fathers, but took license to change not his own religious 
 system alone, but the systems of every people throughout his great 
 empire. With this agrees chap. 7 : 25 : " Shall think to change 
 
 times and laws." His own will was supreme. By " the desire 
 
 of women," in this connection, must be meant some god or goddess 
 who was a favorite of the Syrian women ; perhaps Astarte or An- 
 
 aitis. V. 38 speaks of the god he did worship and put in the 
 
 place of the gods of his fathers. He is the "god ofjbrces," or 
 military fortresses — this being the sense of the original word here 
 used. Commentators differ as to the god specially intended, some 
 supposing him to be Jupiter; others, Hercules, who is known to 
 be of Syrian origin; and others. Mars, the Roman god of war. 
 
 In V. 39 the received translation does not make it plain Avho 
 
 is meant by ^^ them" whom "he" (the king) "will cause to rule 
 over many." The sense of the latter part of the verse would be 
 better expressed by this translation; "Whosoever will recognize 
 [his war-god, before spoken of,] he will greatly honor and give him 
 rule over many, and apportion to him the lands for reward." The 
 last words may mean either as a reward for his homage to the 
 war-god or for pay, i. e., for a money consideration to himself. 
 The former view is more in harmony with the previous context; 
 the latter, with the known avarice of this king. Probably the gen- 
 eral doctrine of the verse is that whoever will fall in with the 
 
 king's views as to his god he will pay him well for it. The first 
 
 clause of the verse is not altogether lucid. I take it to mean; 
 This is his policy in the matter of strong fortresses, with the aid 
 of his war-god; i. e., he carries on war and defends his strong- 
 holds by milking great account of his god of war; and he takes 
 care to draw his people into the same homage by amply rewarding 
 them. 
 
 40. And at the- time of the end shall the king of the 
 south push at him : and the king of the north shall come 
 against him like a w4iiiiwind, with chariots, and Avith horse- 
 men, and with many ships ; and he shall enter into the 
 countries, and shall overflow and pass over. 
 
 41. He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many 
 countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out 
 of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the 
 children of Amnion. 
 
 42. He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the coun- 
 tries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 
 
 43. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold 
 
 19 
 
434 DANIEL.— CHAP. XI. 
 
 and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt : 
 and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall he at his steps. 
 
 44. But tidings out of the east and out of the north 
 shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great 
 fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. 
 
 45. And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace be- 
 tween the seas in the glorious holy mountain : yet he shall 
 come to his end, and none shall help him. 
 
 The legitimate sense of the several words and phrases in this 
 passage is not difficult, but the general meaning of the whole, as 
 related to the subject of the chapter, does involve one very grave 
 
 and difficult question. We look first to the sense of the several 
 
 words and phrases. "The time of the end," must doubtless be 
 
 construed as in the cases where it has already occurred, e. g.^ v. 
 27, "For yet the end shall be at the time appointed;" and v. 35, 
 "even to the time of the end; because it is yet for a time ap- 
 pointed;" and essentially v. 36, "till the indignation be accom- 
 plished." Also in the parallel prophecy, chap. 8: 19, "I will make 
 thee know what shall be ia the last end of the indignation, for at 
 the time appointed the end shall be." It is not, therefore, the end 
 of the world in our modern sense, but is toward the end of the 
 first age, that is, before the Messiah, in the Jewish sense ; but yet 
 more particularly, the time of the end of God's visitations of judg- 
 ment on his apostate Jewish people by the hand especially of Anti- 
 ochus Epiphanes. So I have been compelled to explain it in the 
 passages M'here it has occurred already ; so I must explain it here. 
 
 "The king of the south" and "the king of the north" can be 
 
 no other than JPtolemy Philometor of Egypt, and Antiochus Epiph- 
 anes of Syria. They have been before us under these descriji- 
 
 tive names repeatedly, vs. 21-39 : they are here again. The king 
 
 of the south '^pushes" af his antagonist — the figure being taken 
 from the fighting of horned animals, e. (/., rams and bulls. The 
 fighting of the king of the north is compared to a storm, a whirlwind 
 coming down in its fury, and with its fierce blasts sweeping away 
 
 all before it. "The glorious land," here, as in chap. 8: 9, and 
 
 11: 16, 45, can mean nothing else than Palestine, the Hebrew 
 word being the same in each passage. See notes on chap. 8: 9. 
 
 " The chief of the children of Ammon," some take to mean 
 
 their princes, chief men; while others think it implies a degTce of 
 superiority in the Ammonites as a whole com|:)ared with the people 
 of-Edom and Moab; "and the superior children of Ammon.' The 
 
 diffiirence is not here of much importance. " He shall stretch 
 
 forth his hand upon the countries,' implies an eflbrt to get them 
 into his possession. "To put forth the hand," is used (Exod. 22: 
 
 8, 11) for one who steals or robs his neighhor's goods. "The 
 
 Ethiopians and Lybians at his steps," or at his feet, implies that 
 they go before him as his soldiers or servants, to march at his 
 orders and do his bidding. The analogous Hebrew phrase, " at 
 
DANIEL.-^CHAP. XI. 435 
 
 his feet," occurs in this sense Exod, 11 : 8; Judg. 4: 10; and 2 Sam. 
 
 15 : 16, 17. " Tidings out of the east and out of the north shall 
 
 trouble him." While attempting to crush the heroic bands of 
 Judas Maccabeus, he heard of rebellion among the provinces 
 then tributary to him, viz., Persia and Armenia, on the north and 
 east, and was compelled to divide his army, leaving part under 
 Lysias to prosecute the war against Judas, and taking the other 
 part himself to subdue those insurgents. This new rebellion exas- 
 perated him greatly. It was occasioned by the same tyrannous 
 interference with their religion which had caused the Jewish war. 
 The Magians of the East were outraged by the mandates of Anti- 
 ochus, requiring every people in all his realm to renounce their 
 
 ancestral religion and adopt his Grecian idolatry. V. 45 may 
 
 be paraphrased thus : " And though he shall set up his palace-like 
 tents between the Mediterranean Sea" (used in the plural for the 
 sense of the superlative — the great sea) " and the glorious holy 
 mountain, yet he shall come to his end ingloriously, and there 
 shall be none to help him." The sense is. Though he impiously 
 pushed his assaults and conquests up to the very temple of Jeho- 
 vah, he shall fall like a mortal ]jian, and there be none to save. 
 
 Such I take to be the sense of the several words and phrases 
 
 in this passage, vs. 40-45. 
 
 It remains to inquire into its general sense as related to the pre- 
 vious context (vs. 21-39) and to the history of Antiochus Epiph- 
 
 anes. 1 defer for the present any notice of those interpretations 
 
 which find here some other Antichrist than Antiochus Epiphanes ; 
 
 Papal, Mussulman, or Turk. Of those who refer this passage to 
 
 Antiochus, one class see in it a fifth and last expedition into Egypt, 
 and in general a continuous narrative of new events down to his 
 death. Another class suppose it to be a recapitulation and sum- 
 ming up of his exploits. — ^ — In the former class Porphyry leads off, 
 first in time. I quote from Posenmueller on v. 40, thus ; " Tlie things 
 stated in this verse. Porphyry, as quoted in Jerome, rightly refers 
 to Antiochus Epiphanes — 'his military expedition in the eleventh 
 year of his reign against Ptolemy Philometer, his sister's son. The 
 latter, hearing that Antiochus was coming, assembled many thou- 
 sand soldiers. But Antiochus, like a fierce storm, swept over many 
 countries with chariots, horsemen, and a great fleet, and laid all 
 waste as he passed.' [The single quotation marks indicate Por- 
 phyry's statements.] Rosenmueller subjoins — 'Of this new ex- 
 pedition of Antiochus into Egypt we find nothing in the still extant 
 works of the Greek and Roman historians. But we are wliolly 
 destitute of any entire and continuous history of Antiochus, written 
 
 by a trustworthy author of his own age." I'hat the history of 
 
 those times was written, and that somewhat fully, may be inferred 
 
 from the following passage in Jerome's Commentary on Daniel. 
 
 " To understand the last portion of Daniel, the copious and various 
 histories of the Greeks are needed, e. g.^ Sutorius Callinicus, Diodo- 
 rus, Hieronymus, Polybius, Posidonius, Claudius Theon and An- 
 dronicus, surnamcd Alypius, whom Porphyry affirms that he has 
 
■136 DANIEL.— CUAP. XI. 
 
 followed ; Josephus also, and those whom he quotes, and especially 
 our Livy and Trogus Pompcius and Justin, who wrote the entire 
 history of the last vision, and from Alexander to Augustus Cesar, 
 describes the wars of Syria and Egypt, i. e., of Seleucus and Anti- 
 ochus on the one part, and of the Ptolemies on the other. If at any 
 time we are compelled to appeal to secular history, it is not of our 
 choice, but as I may say, of our stern necessity, in order to pro\*e 
 that the things predicted many ages since by the holy prophets 
 have their fulfillment contained in the history as well of Greek 
 
 authors as Latin, and indeed of other nations also." But almost 
 
 the entire mass of those histories here referred to have perished, 
 past recovery, and we are left to make up the history of those times 
 
 as best we can with the scanty materials still preserved. The 
 
 testimony of Porphyry to a fifth expedition of Antiochus into Egypt 
 in his eleventh and last year would certainly be entitled to great 
 consideration, provided it did not conflict rather seriously with 
 other facts that seem well authenticated. One of these is that he 
 was headed and turned back from his fourth expedition (vs. 29, 30) 
 by the llomans. They positively forbade his interference with 
 Egyptian affairs, and themselveg assumed the protectorate of the 
 young king. Hence it is scarcely supposable that Antiochus at- 
 tempted another invasion of Egypt. Besides, the books of Macca- 
 bees are silent as to any such expedition in his eleventh and last 
 year. If it had occurred, it could scarcely have escaped some no- 
 tice from them. True, they devote themselves chiefly to Jewish in- 
 terests; but such an expedition must touch Jewish interests seri- 
 ously. And still further, they fill up his time quite thoroughly, 
 scarcely leaving him even a few weeks for such an expedition as 
 this. Hence after a somewhat careful examination, I give the pref- 
 erence to^ the latter of the two theories above named, and account 
 the last six verses of the chapter a recapitulation of the history of 
 Antiochus with some new incidents. The most serious difficulty 
 to be overcome in this view is the manner of introducing the pas- 
 sage, "at the time of the end," etc. But some latitude of meaning 
 may be given to this phrase. The reader is prone to think of it as 
 meaning, just at the end of the life of Antiochus. "Whether it docs 
 mean this in the present case is the vital question. For if it may 
 be so general as to take in the eleven years' reign of Antiochus, it 
 bears not at all against the construction of these last six verses as 
 
 a recapitulation of his public life. Now on this precise question, 
 
 the testimony of usage is perhaps not altogether uniform and de- 
 cisive. In chap. 12: 4, "Seal the book even to the time of the 
 end," the phrase obviously looks to the whole period of the life of 
 Antiochus; and indeed probably to the entire duration of this 
 Syrian war; about twenty-four years. In chap. 11 : 35, it looks 
 toward the closing period of this great war, obviously beyond the 
 death of Antiochus. "The time of the end," seems to be nearly or 
 qujte synonymous with " the last end of tho indignation " and the 
 "time appointed" as these phrases occur chap. 8;"l9, and in so far 
 may be understood to refer to the reign of Antiochus as a whole. 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. XI. 437 
 
 At best some difSculty still hangs over this verse, whichever of 
 
 the two constructions may be chosen. Yet we are clearly shut up 
 to one of those two; for every other theory, especially every one 
 which applies the passage to any other personage than Antiochus 
 
 Epiphanes, is involved in tenfold greater difficulty. As already 
 
 shown, his reign of eleven years was at the last end of God's in- 
 dignation toward the Jews. It was his "time appointed" for fear- 
 ful judgments upon them for their ' sins. In this broad view his 
 reign as a whole was "at the time of the end." Hence no violence 
 is done to the established sense of this expression when we para- 
 phrase the general scope and sense of the passage thus : Hav- 
 ing now spoken of the wars of Antiochus with Eg}'pt ; of his sacri- 
 legious assaults upon Jerusalem and its temple ; of his persecutions 
 of the pious Jews ; of the gods he did not worship and the gods he 
 did, it remains to sum up briefly his exploits and then record his 
 
 death. His first great exploit was his terrific onslaught upon 
 
 Egypt, given first in detail (vs. 25-30) and then in general, as here 
 (v. 40). Next, his invasion of "the glorious land," given in the 
 particulars, vs. 22, 23, 28, 30-35; and in the general^ vs. 41, 45. 
 Next in this recapitulation, the countries that did escape ; Edom, 
 Moab, Ammon, (which in fact sympathized with him and aided 
 him in his wars against the Jews and hence did not incur his 
 displeasure;) and the countries that did not escape; — Egypt, and 
 with her, the Lybians and Ethiopians ; and also Palestine. Next, 
 he was a great robber of the wealth of cities and nations. This is 
 referred to in detail (vs. 24, 28); in general statement (in v, 43). 
 Then appears a new fact in the propli(?cy. In the height of these 
 desolating conquests, he was somewhat seriously diverted by up- 
 risings against his authority in his Northern and Eastern prov- 
 inces — a fact fitly introduced here because so closely connected 
 with his death. [For the circumstances of this horrid death, see 
 
 notes on chap. 7.] Then naturally the chapter and the record of 
 
 this vile king close with his death, which is fitly put in a sort of 
 antithesis with his horrid impiety against the house and people of 
 the living God. Though he had the power and the hardihood to 
 pitch his magnificent tents upon God's holy 'mountain, yet he came 
 down wonderfully ; he came to his end and there was none to help. 
 Such I take to be the general drift and scope of these last six verses. 
 In addition to the points already made, the following considera- 
 tions strongly favor this theory of recapitulation. (1.) The state- 
 ments in this passage are for the most part general in their char- 
 acter, and not specific and minute as in the previous portion of this 
 prophetic history. Thus, "he shall enter into the countries" (v. 40); 
 "shall overthrow 7nani/ countries" {w 41); "he shall put forth his 
 hand" to pillage and plunder " the countries" (v. 42); "shall go 
 forth with great fury to destroy many" (v. 44). V. 45, in the 
 form of its statements, groups in antithesis with his death those 
 great deeds of impiety and blasphemy that huvc made his name 
 
 notorious with infamy. (2.) The history of Antiochus, so far as 
 
 known to us through any extant writings, had been already given 
 
438 DANIEL.— CHAP. XL 
 
 in detail (vs. 21-39) ; while nearly all the statements in this closing 
 passa_if;e either allude to or st^itc the same great facts in a more 
 
 comprehensive and general form. (3.) Tlie order and method 
 
 of the prophetic narrative throughout vs. 21-39 is precisely such 
 as to bring the Avriter to a recapitulation here at the close. Thus 
 there is in the outset a hint at his general character; "a vile per- 
 son" and an artful ilattcrer (v. 21); then the way he gained the 
 crown; then his principal exploits in their chronological order 
 through vs. 22-35, viz., his interference with the Jewish priesthood 
 (vs. 22, 23); his expedition into Armenia (v. 24); several expedi- 
 tions into Egypt (vs. 25-30) ; his malign persecutions of the Jews ; 
 his wars against them ; his desecration of their temple and the 
 breaking up of its worship ; with their heroic endurance and earn- 
 est labors for the truth (vs. 28, 30-35) ; then, general views of his 
 character as self-conceited, proud, impious, contemning all the 
 established religions of his realm whether true or false, and assum- 
 ing to set up a new religion ; the gods he would not let men wor- 
 ship and the gods he would compel them to worship. This is a 
 rounded and complete view of his deeds and character, and fully 
 prepares the way for recapitulating the main points and general 
 
 features — to be closed with his death. (4.) The next chapter 
 
 bears very much the same character of recapitulation, coupled with 
 practical application both to the faithful Jews and to the unfiith- 
 ful. Very few additional facts are introduced. The scenes of the 
 history of Antiochus are the groundwork of the whole chapter. 
 
 All these facts, conspiring to one and the same point, coupled 
 
 with the arguments adduced above, render it at least strongly prob- 
 able that this closing passage of the chapter is chiefly a recapitula- 
 tion of the main events in the reign, and the salient points in the 
 character, of Antiochus Epiphanes. 
 
 The meaning and scope of this chapter having now been pre- 
 sented, two topics remain; first, its relations to the other visions 
 of Daniel; second, the diverse and opposing views of some inter- 
 preters. 
 
 1. Its parallelism with the other three visions. This ^^vile 
 
 king^' in chap. 11 is the '''' little Aorn" of chap. 7, and hence this 
 entire vision in chap. 11 is in general parallel with that of chap. 1. 
 In proof, 1 adduce the following points. (1.) The little horn- 
 power was the central point of interest there in chap. 7. It is so 
 
 Iiere in chap. 11. (2.) lie was a Avn^ there; and is also here. 
 
 (2.) He came forth there in the kingdom that next succeeded 
 
 Alexander; precisely so here. (4.) In addition to the little horn, 
 
 chap. 7 has ten other horns which are kings; all on the beast that 
 follows Alexander, and obviously all preceding the little horn, or 
 
 cotemporary with him. They are here in chap. 11 precisely in 
 
 their place and of the right number — so clearly defined that no 
 commentator hesitates to call their names respectively, and no one 
 dissents from the universal testimony which names and locates 
 them — ten horns which are ten kings between Alexander and the • 
 little horn. (5.) From before this little horn-king of chap. 7 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. XL 439 
 
 three of those ten were plucked up, or in some way removed or over- 
 thrown. 1'hey are here in chap. 11 two of them falling in a very 
 
 remarkable manner directly before he came to the throne, and the 
 
 third subdued and subjugated by his arms. (G.) In chap. 7 this 
 
 little horn-power Avas specially terrible because it fell grievously 
 
 upon the Jcavs while they were God's professed people. I're- 
 
 cisely so here, the passage chap. 10: 14, affirming, "1 am come to 
 make thee understand what shall befall thy j^eople ;'' and chap. 11: 
 22, 23, 28, 30-35, 45, all concurring to shoAv how terribly he har- 
 rassed the pious Jews ; desecrated their temple, broke up their 
 .worship, and murdered their sons and daughters. (7.) The per- 
 secutions which the little horn of chap. 7 brought on the Jew.s 
 afflicted Daniel most deeply. The same is manifest throughout 
 chaps. 10 and 12, in the near prospect of what is revealed in chap. 
 
 11. (8.) The great points of personal character made prominent 
 
 in the little horn of chap. 7 are keen sagacity, and daring, blas- 
 phemous hostility against God and his people. Identically the 
 
 same qualities of character and spirit appear in the vile king of 
 
 chap. 11. (9.) In chap. 7 his specified deeds arCj "wearing out the 
 
 saints of the Most High;" a purpose and effort to subvert their 
 religion and break up their worship, in the latter of which he was 
 successful for a limited specified time — three and one-half years. 
 
 The vile king of chap. 11 does the same things precisely; "his 
 
 heart is against the holy covenant;" "he has indignation against 
 the holy covenant;" "he pollutes the sanctuary;" "takes away the 
 daily sacrifice;" causes the righteous to "fall by the sword, by flame, 
 by captivity and by spoil many days;" and as to the length of time 
 during which they are given into his hand, chap. 12: 7, 11, corre- 
 sponds fully with chap. 7: 25. (10.) In chapter 7, this king dies 
 
 by the special judgments of God. Expressly so in chap. 11. 
 
 liere let it be noted that these are not merely incidental but are 
 7nain points. They are not culled, a few out of many, but embrace 
 every thing of any importance that appears in chap. 7, except that 
 there his judgment precedes the first advent, resurrection and ascen- 
 sion of Christ — a point which the history of the vile king of chap. 
 11 fully verifies, although the prophecy had nothing more to add on 
 that point. Chap. 11 makes several new points, that do not appear 
 in chap. 7, but not a line, not a feature, inconsistent with what is 
 
 said in chapter 7. Hence the evidence of identity between the 
 
 little horn-king of chap. 7 and the vile king of chaps. 11 and 12, 
 amounts to demonstration. Any additional proof wOuld ha quite 
 
 superfluous. If needful it might also be shown that both visions 
 
 have the same Persian poAver and the same Grecian Alexander. 
 The visions therefore as a whole are in the main parallel. 
 
 I now advance to a second main point in this question of parallelism. 
 
 This '■'■vile king '\ of chapter 11 is the same personage as the little 
 
 horyi-king of chapter 8 ; and hence there is a close analogy between this 
 
 entire vision of chapter 11 and that of chap. 8. The following points, 
 
 made very briefly, might be more expanded, but will suffice. 
 
 (1.) The little horn is the main theme in chap. 8, as the vilo king 
 
410 DANIEL.— CHAP. XI. 
 
 is in chap. 11. (2.) He is a king incliap. 8, and so also in' chap. 
 
 11. (o.) He is reached in each chapter by the same .historic 
 
 thread, beginning in each case at the prophet's stand-point in time 
 and space; passing from the Persian line to Alexander; then in the 
 line of his successors to Antiochus Epiphanes. The track pursued 
 
 in each chapter is identically the same. (4.) Yet more definitely; 
 
 in chap. 8, the little horn comes up in one of the four kingdoms of 
 
 Alexander's cleft empire. Precisely so in chap. 11. (5.) In 
 
 chap. 8 he pushes his conquests to•^vard the south, the east, and the 
 pleasant land. The very same thing is brought out with much more 
 
 detail in chap. 11. (6.) The things he does against the Jews arid 
 
 their i\Iosaic ritual service and temple are given with considerable 
 detail in chap. 8 : 10-14, 24, 25. Suffice it to say tliat wc have the 
 
 same details in chap. 11. Compare "casting down some of the 
 
 host and of tlie stars" (chap. 8: 10) with chap. 11: 22, 33, 35; des- 
 ecrating the sanctuary (chap. 8: 11-13) with chap. 11: 31; daring 
 to confront the Almighty (chap. 8: 11, 25) with chap. 11: 28, 30, 
 
 3G. (7.) lie is successful against God's people and suspends their 
 
 established worship for a time. This is said in chap. 8: 12-14, and 
 is fully implied in chap. 11: 31-35. The designations of time are 
 not identical because chap. 8: 13, 14, covers more events than chap. 
 12: 7, or 12: 11. But even in this there is not the least discrep- 
 ancy. The diversity as to the amount of time embraced, really 
 streugthcns rather than weakens the argument for parallelism, since 
 it shows that the two visions are really independent statements of 
 the same grand series of events. Such statements will be undesign- 
 
 edl}'- coincident, as these are. (8.) The animus of this king and 
 
 of his persecutions is in each vision the same. In both he is utterly 
 vain, self-conceited, proud, arrogant and blasphemous toward Al- 
 mighty God. (9.) The main points of his character, as put in 
 
 chap. 8, make him cunning, wily, crafty and fearfully malignant 
 against God's people. So also in chap. 11 we have the same man 
 
 in every shade of his character. (10.) The references to God's 
 
 indignation toward his people for their apostasy and to "the time 
 of the end," are the same in both visions. See chap. 8: 17, 19, 26. 
 
 and also chap. 11: 27, 35, 36, 40, and chap. 12: 4. (H-) In each 
 
 chapter the manner of his death is essentially the same, even to the 
 minute point of an antithesis between his bold assault against the 
 Almighty, and his helpless fall. In chap. 8: 25, Though he shall 
 be impious enough to "stand np against the Prince of princes," yet 
 "he shall be broken without hand." In chap. 11: 45, Though he 
 shall have the hardihood and daring to " pitch his magnificent tents 
 in the glorious holy mountain, yet he shall come to his end and 
 none shall help him." These points might be amplified and per- 
 haps some others added. I have not attempted to make the com- 
 parison exhaustive. But it is surely sufficient. For here, as in the 
 former case, the points of comparison are not relatively small but 
 are main points. They are not a few out of many, but embrace all 
 that are ot" "any importance ; all that are needed to give a fair view 
 of the history and character of this personage. There can there- 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. XI. 441 
 
 fore i)e no manner of doubt of the absolute identity of the little 
 horn of chap. 8 with the vile king of chap. 11; and consequently 
 
 no doubt as to the general parallelism of that chapter with this. 
 
 I see no occasion here to speak further in respect to the first vision, 
 recorded chap. 2 : 31-45. It is very brief; very general in its state- 
 ments ; and by universal admission so manifestly parallel with chap. 
 7 as to require no additional remark here. Hence my argument for 
 the general parallelism of these four visions is now complete. 
 
 It is now in place to say that this point of parallelism, so abun- 
 dantly manifest, is of the utmost importance in the interpretation 
 of all these four parallel visions. For chajAers 11 and 12 now be- 
 come God's own interpretation in plain words of the S7/mbols that are 
 used in each of the other visions, and especially in chaps. 7 and 8. 
 This is God's own angel coming down to interpret for us no less 
 than for Daniel the full significance of those symbols, and especi- 
 ally, of that terrible little horn of chap. 7 and of chap. 8. This 
 prophecy in chap. 11 stands in the same relation to what is said 
 and to what is shown by symbols of the little horn in chap. 7: 8- 
 11, 21, 22, and also in chap. 8: 9-14, as the limited interpretations, 
 given in those two chapters bear to the portions which they profess- 
 edly explain. That is, we have here just so much additional expla- 
 nation of those symbols in plain English words. This is a fact of 
 the gravest importance and one which has often been strangely 
 
 overlooked. In view of this fact, I was for several 3^ears in the 
 
 habit, in my efibrts to instruct classes in the prophecies of Daniel, 
 of beginning with the last vision instead of the first, and indeed, 
 of reversing the order throughout. The fact that each successive 
 vision goes more and more into detail; and also shades olf more 
 and more from symbols into litei-al language, amply justifies this 
 arrangement. There is wisdom in beginning with what is most 
 .plain and eas}^, and so advancing to what is more difficult. 
 
 11. It remains to notice other and diverse interpretations of 
 chap: 11. As already said, all commentators agree with remark- 
 able unanimity throughout the first thirty verses. They all begin 
 with Cyrus and the Persian line to Xerxes; they all pass over 
 thence to Alexander and his successors of the Egyptian and Syrian 
 kingdoms, and keep company through the ten kings to Antiochus 
 Epiphanes, and without exception (among those of any note), they 
 find Antiochus in vs. 21-30. But here they begin to diverge, and 
 from this point they scatter indefinitely. Home break off at v. 31, 
 and find pagan Kome in vs. 31-35; then Papal Pome vs. 3G-40, 
 and some unknown yet still future xintichrist in vs. 40-45. Othei-s 
 apply the chapter to Antiochus up to v. 36, and then find tlie Mo- 
 hammedan system onward ; and perhaps the Turks in the last six 
 verses. Yet others make v. 40 the point of divergence from Anti- 
 ochus Epiphanes. Against all these, I maintain tliat Antiochus 
 
 is the great theme of this vision from v. 21 to the end of the chap- 
 ter; and that, to diverge from him at any one of the points named 
 or at any other point,* is to violate the laws of language and can not 
 be justified; can not give the true interpretation. 
 
442 DANIEL.— CHAP. xr. 
 
 1. Antiochus can not he left at v. 31. (1.) Because there is not 
 
 the least occasion for it. The verses that follow apply to him as 
 naturally and are fulfilled in him as completely as the verses that 
 precede. Hence there is not the least occasion to diverge from 
 him,<and hence it can not be done except tlirough mere caprice 
 
 and through violence done to the laws of language. (2.) Because 
 
 the grammatical construction forbids it. Vs. 28-30 all speak of 
 Antiochus throughout. The pronouns, "he," "his," "him," all rep- 
 ,'resent this king. It is he who "returns into his land;" whose 
 "heart is against the holy covenant;" against whom "the ships of 
 Chittim shall come," and who "has intelligence" (a secret under 
 
 standing) with those Jews that " forsake their holy covenant." 
 
 Now V. 31 refers to precisely this same man. The first clause 
 ought to be rendered, " And an armed force goes forth from him" — 
 the "him" referred to being Antiochus and no one else. Gram- 
 matically, it can be no other man. (3.) Antiochus can not be 
 
 dropped at the beginning of v. 31, and another person be intro- 
 duced here, because of the close connection of historic thought. 
 We see him in v. 28 enraged against God's covenant and people; 
 in V. 30 yet more enraged and mad against them, his naturally bad 
 temper being now exasperated by his being baffled in Egypt by the 
 Eomans ; — so he is nursing his wrath, preparing for an outbreak of 
 vengeance upon the feeble Jews. In v. 31 the storm-cloud bursts — 
 
 just as we might expect. But no ! these dissenting critics break 
 
 the thread of this continuous history at this very point. They tell 
 us that this vengeance is executed, not by Antiochus, but by Pagan 
 Ivome, from two hundred to five hundred years after Antiochus is 
 dead ! Such interpretation is simply monstrous ! To say that it 
 violates all ji>6t laws of language,, is only a moderate statement of 
 the facts. One might as well break the continuous thread of any 
 
 narrative, or history, or biography that can be written. At the , 
 
 commencement of v. 31, Antiochus has just begun to afflict the 
 Jews. The writer has reached this point in his prophetic narra- 
 tive. Why should he not be allowed to finish what he would say ? 
 And more yet ; why shall he not be allowed to go deeper than the 
 mere fact of his outrages, persecutions, and profanations, to those 
 elements of character that lay at the foundation, as he does in vs. 
 30-39? And why not let him recapitulate this vile king's exploits, 
 and bring down the narrative in regular order to his striking, awful 
 death ? When an author makes his connections of thought so 
 close, he does all he can do to guard his writings against being ruth- 
 lessly rent into fragments, and those fragments assigned to parties 
 
 and subjects he never dreamed of! (4.) Of this chapter, the 
 
 p(n-tion Ijefore v. 31 and the portion after are closely related, inas- 
 much as on both sides of this line persecution rages against pre- 
 cisely the Jeivs. It is so in vs. 22, 28, 30; it is so also in vs. 31-35, 
 45. Hence a very strong probability that the persecution is 
 throughout identically the same. At all events, the persecution 
 vs. 31-35 can not possibly he that by pagan Home upon the primi- 
 tive church, for they were not God's ancient covenant people with 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. XI. 443 
 
 their sanctuary and ritual worship. Af>;ain to the same point; 
 
 the geographical location of the events in these two sections of the 
 chapter is the same. This king, returning from Egypt to ^^yria, 
 naturally passes through Palestine, and vs. 28, 30 imply that he is 
 there. On the other side of this line the events are also in Pales- 
 tine, where the sanctuary stands (v. 31) and where the daily sacri- 
 fice belongs. Vs. 41 and 45 each contains the usual distinctive 
 term in Daniel for Palestine, "the glorious land;" fixing the same 
 location for the events of the last portion of the chapter. But the 
 persecutions by pagan Eome or Papal Kome were not exclusively 
 or even chiefly done in Palestine. Therefore no portion of this 
 
 chapter can apply to those -persecutions. (5.) The portion before 
 
 this line and the portion after are connected in time. This is 
 shown by the use on both sides of this line of the phrases, " the 
 end," "the time appointed," as in v. 27, before it; and in vs. 35, 
 36, 40, after it. This test also is decisive. For it utterly precludes 
 the application of any part of the chapter to Kome, whether pagan 
 or Papal, or to Mohammed, or to any otlier personage or power 
 than Antiochus. It can not for a moment be supposed that these 
 alhisions to "the time of God's indignation" against the apostate 
 Jews; to "the time appointed" for these judgments; or to "the 
 time of the end" — mean nothing; or that, despite of their meaning, 
 we may go on to locate the events of this chapter, with no refer- 
 ence to them, anywhere along during the next two thousand years 
 after Antiochus lived and died! To do so would utterly ignore 
 
 God's own landmarks of time! (6.) The wresting of vs. 31-35 
 
 away from Antiochus is utterly forbidden, by the fact that the par- 
 allel prophecies of chaps. 7 and 8 ascribe to Antiochus precisely 
 the things here recorded. The proof of this has been given already. 
 Just what is said here of his deeds — c. g., that he polluted the sanc- 
 tuary; took away the daily sacrifice; made war upon the saints 
 and wore them out by persecution ; in short, had them very much 
 in his power for a limited time — constitute the substance of his 
 deeds as given in those parallel chapters, 7 and 8. Therefore these 
 verses, 31-35, must refer to Antiochus. 
 
 2. The thread can not be broken at v. 36, and only what precedes 
 be applied to Antiochus, and all that follows to Papal Rome or to 
 the Mohammedan power. Why not? (1.) Because this person- 
 age is not only a king but "z!/ic king" — the same before spoken of 
 and spoken of as a king in every verse since we saw him take his 
 throne in v. 21. His being a Icing forbids the application of these 
 verses to Papal Rome or to Mohammedanism. His being " the king " 
 forbids their application to any other king than Antiochus Epipha- 
 nes.— — (2.) Because this is the place to give a general view of his 
 character. Ilis deeds have been rehearsed ; now let tha revealing 
 angel go deeper than deeds, even to the elements of his character 
 out of which such deeds came. Why forbid him? Why torture 
 his words by wresting them from so fitting a theme and insisting 
 
 that they look toward Papal Rome? (3.) The character as here 
 
 drawn precisely accords with the deeds as narrated above. Hence 
 
444 ^ DANIEL.— CHAP. XL 
 
 this view of his cliaractcr can not be severed from those deeds with- 
 out violence to the course of thoui^ht and the laws of hinguage. 
 
 (4.) The statement in v. 30, that this king shall "prosper until the 
 indignation shall )>e accomplished and the things determined shall 
 be done," shows that the same personage is spoken of and the same 
 series of events also as in v. 35, which limits those persecutions to 
 "the time appointed," and as in v. 27; and also as in the case of 
 the little horn-power of chap. 8. See chap. 8: 17, 19. This por- 
 tion, vs. 36-45, must certainly belong to the same history and the 
 same personage as the portion that precedes — Antiochus Epiphanes 
 being tlie grand persecutor throughout. Why he prospers at all, 
 and how long he prospers, are important data. They are the same 
 in the portion before this line and in the portion after it; therefore 
 this line is only a fiction. There can be no legitimate cutting asun- 
 der of the narrative here. (5.) As already shown, this prophecy 
 
 throughout the portion vs. 21-45 applies aptly to Antiochus Epipha- 
 nes. History confirms this application of the prophecy. The same 
 can not be shoAvn of any other person. 
 
 3. The thread of this prophetico-historic sketch can not be 
 cut at V. 40, and the portion, vs. 40-45, be applied to some other 
 
 person or power. AVliy not? (1.) Because the king of the north 
 
 must be the same here as before, this phrase being absolutely ap- 
 propriated throughout this chapter to the kings of Syria. So of the 
 king of the south, who has precisely this designation twice in v. 25. 
 
 (2.) "The time of the end" must be the same period repeatedly 
 
 referred to both in this chapter and in chap. 8. This phrase limits 
 
 the events to the same period of time. (3.) This passage is in 
 
 fact a resume — a recapitulation of the deeds of Antiochus; and 
 tliercfore can not be severed from the previous portions of this 
 projAecy repecting him without the utmost caprice and violence. 
 (4.) It is reasonable to expect some notice of the death of An- 
 tiochus; — the more so because the death of each of the two kings 
 next before him is noticed; and yet the more so because the pre- 
 vious and parallel visions (chap. 7: 9-11, 26, and cliap. 8: 25) show 
 that his death was extraordinary — ^by some superhuman agency, in- 
 volving special judgments from God. If we sever oil' this last por- 
 tion, we refer this striking account of his death (v. 45) to somebody 
 
 else — violently. (5.) We must have the same Antiochus in chap. 
 
 12, as will be seen when we reach it; therefore we can not legiti- 
 mately part company with him here at v. 40, and give the rest of 
 
 tliis chapter to some other person or power. Tliese points may 
 
 serve as a scries of hints at the dilliculties and the violations of 
 sound criticism which are involved in any and every attempt to 
 sever this portion (vs. 21-45) and to give any part of it to another 
 personage. 
 
 There is yet another modification of the same thing which 
 reiiuires a brief notice. Some are understood to hold that this 
 
 In-ophecy does indeed begin with Antiochus at v. 21, and go on with 
 lim a little way more or less ; and then shade off into some other 
 great Antichrist, losing sight at length of Antiochus altogether. 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. XI. 445 
 
 I can see no reason for such an interpretation. No such departure 
 from the obvious historic sense of such language should be allowed 
 save under the sternest demands of necessity ; e. e.^ because the his- 
 toric sense is obviously inadmissil)le throughout. But on what 
 
 ground is this construction given to the passage vs. 21-45, or to any 
 portion of it? Is it claimed that here are things that can not bo 
 applied to Antiochus Epiphanes ? If so, the claim is made without 
 
 reason. It is an entire mistake. Is it claimed that there are 
 
 clear intimations of this shading off into some unknown Antichrist ? 
 How can that be known if indeed this supposed Antichrist be yet 
 unknoivn and wholly in the future? And what are those indica- 
 tions? Where do we leave the veritable Antiochus, of flesh and 
 blood, and where does the unknown Antichrist begin to appear? 
 What signs herald his approach ? AVliat word or phrase indicates 
 
 the transition from the one to the other ? Such questions as these 
 
 should be answered somewhat definitely before we sacrifice the 
 laws of grammatical construction and the connecting bonds of his- 
 toric and logical thought, and ignore the strong proofs of precise 
 
 historic fulfillment in this great persecutor of the saints. If the 
 
 reference of this passage to some other Antichrist means only that 
 moral lessons may be drawn from the prophetic and the actual his- 
 tory of Antiochus Epiphanes and applied to some other great Anti- 
 christ, very well. This is a very harmless thing. Indeed it is better 
 than merely harmless : it may be made very useful. No doubt the 
 same God who put a hook in the nose of this great Antichrist will 
 do the same by every other. The same God who used him for the 
 discipline and purifying of his ancient church will use every other 
 as he may choose for the same ends, making the wi'atli of man work 
 out his own praise. And the same God who protected his chosen 
 people, then, through that fearful storm of persecution, and made 
 'those fires the salvation of his trustful children, will be no less wise 
 and no less good when the next great persecution shall be sent on 
 the same mission. He who loveth Zion will never, let the fires of 
 persecution burn too hotly or miss their intended result of purifica- 
 tion to his people and triumph to his kingdom. Before I pass 
 
 from the subject of diverse and opposing views upon this chapter, 
 I must say briefly that I recollect only tkree reasons assigned for 
 applying any portion of our passage (vs. 21-45) to any other than 
 Antiochus; viz.: (1.) That some of it docs not apply historically to 
 
 Antiochus; which I hold to be a mistake. (2.) That the course 
 
 of thought in the chapter must bring us down to the millennium, 
 or to the end of the world, because the resurrection comes in early 
 
 in the next chapter. The mistake of this assumption it will be 
 
 in place to show under chap. 12. (3.) And finally, that prophecy 
 
 in this same eleventh chapter makes a long stride from Xerxes to 
 Alexander, and therefore we are justified in making other historic 
 
 strides, wherever it may seem good to us to make them. To 
 
 which f answer ; That leap from Xerxes to Alexander has its own good 
 and sufficient reasons. Every other should have reasons equally 
 good. That was not indeed a chronological connection ; but it was 
 
446 DANIEL.— CHAP. XII. 
 
 precisely logical — the relation of cause and effect, and therefore 
 by no means justifies chronological chasms except on like valid 
 grounds. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 This chapter speaks of a time of extraordinary trouble, from 
 which, however, the people "written in the book of life" shall be 
 delivered (v. 1) ; alludes to the resurrection and to the eternal retri- 
 bution of the righteous and .the wicked (vs. 2, 3) ; directs Daniel 
 to seal up the vision against the time of the end (vs. 4, 9) ; gives 
 designations of time (vs. 5-12), and finally assures Daniel that he 
 shall have his lot with the righteous (v. 13). 
 
 Widely various opinions have been held as to the scope of this 
 chapter. Its true interpretation must turn very much upon the ques- 
 tion whether it is so connected with the previous chapter and with 
 the entire body of Daniel's four great parallel visions as to determine 
 its reference to the same series of events, and of course to the same 
 
 age of the world. A class of modern English expositors assume 
 
 that the close of chap. II brought us down to the latter part of 
 this nineteenth century; that in this twelfth chapter, we enter upon 
 the very last age of time ; reach the resurrection in its chronological 
 order, v. 2, and the glorified state of the righteous (most of them 
 would say iipon this earth) at " the time of the end " of these earthly 
 
 scenes. Whether this is, or is not, the true interpretation, will 
 
 turn (as above suggested) very much upon the sort of connection 
 which obtains between this chapter and the eleventh, and also the 
 other parallel visions. Let us then begin with examining this 
 point. 
 
 1. And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great 
 prince which standeth for the children of thy people ; and 
 there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since 
 there was a nation even to that same time : and at that 
 time thy people shall be clelivered, every one that shall be 
 found written in the book. 
 
 2. And many of them that sleeji in the dust of the earth 
 shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame 
 and everlasting contempt. 
 
 3. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of 
 the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness 
 as the stars forever and ever. 
 
 4. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the 
 book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and 
 fro, and knowledge shall be increased. 
 
 5. Then I Daniel looked, and behold, there stood other 
 
DANIEL. -CHAP. XII. 447 
 
 two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the 
 other on that side of the bank of the river. 
 
 6. And one said to the man clothed in linen, wliich was 
 upon the waters of the river. How long shall it he to the 
 end of these wonders ? 
 
 7. And I heard the man clothed in linen, which loas 
 upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right 
 hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that 
 liveth forever, that it shall he for a time, times, and a half ; 
 and when he shall haVe accomplished to scatter the power 
 of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. 
 
 8. And I heard, but I understood not : then said I, O my 
 lord, what shall he the end of these things f 
 
 9. And he said. Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are 
 closed up and sealed till the time of the end. 
 
 10. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried ; 
 but the wicked shall do wickedly : and none of the wicked 
 shall understand; but the wise shall understand. 
 
 11. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be 
 taken away, and the abomination that maketli desolate set 
 up, there shall he a thousand two hundred and ninety days. 
 
 12. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thou- 
 sand three hundred and five and thirty days. 
 
 13. But go thou thy way till the end he: for thou shalt 
 rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days. 
 
 The very first verse begins with saying that these events occur 
 "a^ that time," i e., at the same time of which the previous chapter 
 speaks, especially the time when those scenes of violent persecution 
 of the Jews took place, noticed specially vs. 31-35. This alone 
 should go far to decide our main question. A time of great trouble 
 had been already indicated ; it is resumed and reaffirmed here for 
 
 the sake of further remark upon it. "Shall Michael stand up," 
 
 etc. But this Michael has been already introduced to us, and in 
 precisely the same relations, "standing up for thy people" — the 
 Jewish nation, considered as the Lord's chosen ones, and also as 
 being somewhat under Daniel's care also. See chap. 10: 13, 21. 
 " Stand up," is a favorite phrase with Daniel in the sense of arous- 
 ing on-e's self to earnest help, often with military power, force of 
 arms. Hence the view of, some that this Michael is the Messiah, 
 
 must be wrong. At that time " thy people shall be delivered :" — 
 
 but ^'' till/ people" has become the established phrase for the Jews 
 considered as under the patronage of Daniel, and hence accounted 
 his people, yet none the less the chosen people of God. See chap. 
 
 10: 14 and 9: 24. In v. 3, "they that be wise" ["the mas- 
 
 chilim"] are plainly the same whom we saw in chap. 11: 33, 35, 
 there rendered, "they that understand;" "them of understanding;" 
 
448 DANIEL.— CHAP. XII. . 
 
 but in tliG Hebrew precisely the same word, "the maschiliin." 
 
 111 V. 4 the direction to "shut up the words and to seal the book," 
 reminds us that the same direction was given for the third vision 
 (chap. 8: 26), and that "the time of the end" has been repeatedly 
 before us (in chap. 8: 17, 19, and 11: 27, 35, 40), and practically 
 in chap. 11: 26 also, plainly showing that these events and those, 
 boini!; brought within the same limitations of time, are substantially 
 idcnFical.-^ — In v. 6 "these wonders" can be none other than 
 those which have been presented in the preceding parallel visions. 
 There are no other to which the phrase can refer. Chap. 8 : 24, 
 says "he shall destroy wonderfully" — the same Hebrew word as 
 
 liQi'Q, In V. 7 "the holy people," must be the same as before in 
 
 chap. 11: 32-35; the same as "the host and the stars" of chap. 
 8: 10-13, and "the mighty and the holy people" whom he "shall 
 destroy" (chap. 8: 24), and "the saints of the Most High " (chap. 7: 
 25). And the duration, three and a half years, is precisely the 
 
 same as in chap. 7: 25. In vs. 8, 9, Daniel says he does not yet 
 
 understand all he would of these things, just as he had said before, 
 chap. 8: 27. — ■. — The revealing angel speaks here also of "the time 
 of the end" — a phrase with which we are already entirely familiar, 
 and which connects these disclosures most perfectly with those of 
 the previous part of this vision and with those of the t)ther visions 
 
 parallel to this. The allusions in v. 10 to "the wise" carry us 
 
 to chap. 11 : 35, while the case of the wicked corresponds with the 
 
 view given of the apostates in chap. 11: 30, 32. In v. 11 "the 
 
 taking away of the daily sacrifice and the setting up of the abomi- 
 nation that maketh desolate," can not- possibly be separated from 
 the same thing put in the same words, chap. 11: 31, chap. 8: 11, 
 and also in suj)stance in chap. 7 : 25. There is therefore the most 
 alnindant evidence of the closest connection between this chapter, 
 on the one hand, and the eleventh, and also the parallel visions of 
 chaps. 7 and 8, on the other. The events referred to are the very 
 same ; the time of their occurrence is the same. The bonds of 
 pliilological connection are of the very strongest kind. It would 
 seem to be simply impossible for one accustomed to study, observe 
 and obey the laws of philology, and to interpret language in view 
 of 2vhai it is, to have even the least doubt on this point. 
 
 The way is now open for the special exposition of the chapter. 
 
 ^I'o the first verse we have only to give the obvious sense, 
 
 already made plain by its manifest allusion to things previously in- 
 troduced. "At that time," must be near the time of the death of 
 
 Antiochus, with which the previous chapter closed. "Michael," 
 
 we know already as the great archangel-protector of the Jewish 
 peo])le. " The children of thy people," have been sufficiently iden- 
 tified as the Jews — thought of in their peculiar relations to Daniel. 
 This "time of trouble" is the same terrible persecution which An- 
 tiochus waged against the pious Jews — as we saw in the vision of 
 the seventh chapter; also in that of the eighth, and in that of the 
 eleventh. Dut " at that time thy people shall be delivered, every 
 one found written in the book," i. e., of life — the book which records 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. XII. 449 
 
 those destined to life. This "book" appears in Ps. 69: 28, "Let 
 them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written 
 with the righteous." The earliest Scriptural reference to this " book " 
 is from Moses (Ex. 32: 32), "If not, blot me, I pray thee, out of 
 thy book which thou hast written." The thought seems to be of a 
 book of God's own purposes, in which he records the names of 
 those who live — this life being supposed to be a good from the 
 
 hand of God. This second verse I understand to allude to the 
 
 literal resurrection. But the manner and purpose of this alhision 
 
 should be closely studied. Negatively, the revealing angel does 
 
 not allude to it, because his prophetic narrative has reached the 
 literal resurrection in its chronological order; i. e., has brought 
 down the world's history to that point. This is simply impossible 
 in view of the manifest connection of this entire cliapter with the 
 previous parallel visions, and especially with chap. J.1. Nor does he 
 allude to it for the sake of teaching the doctrine of the general resur- 
 rection as a new truth. For he does not here affirm or even imply 
 a general universal resurrection. He does not say " all that are in 
 their graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth." It remained 
 for the great Author of the resurrection to make the first full an- 
 nouncement of the universal resurrection. All that is said here is 
 that '^mariT/," not all, but "many out of those that sleep in the dust 
 shall wake to a new life." Yet again, the an.gel does not affirm 
 that then, at thai time, many shall arise. He might have said this; 
 
 probably would if he had meant so. But he did not say this. 
 
 Positively; in my view the resurrection is suggested here because 
 of its relations to eternal retribution. So the last clause of this 
 verse and also v. 3 would indicate. This eternal retribution is sug- 
 gested by his thought of the noble Maccabean heroes, on the one 
 hand, and of the vile apostates from their Jewish faith and of the 
 eruel Syrian persecutors, on the other. To see holiness and sin in 
 such intensive forms ; to see some men so nobly good and others so 
 meanly and malignantly wicked, naturally leads the mind to eter- 
 nal retribution, llemember (the revealing angel would say), re- 
 member for your consolation and for the relief of your burdened 
 heart, that God is surely just, and that his justice will not sleep 
 forever. There will be a glorious reward for the righteous; and 
 prominent among these will be the righteous dead who " fell by the 
 sword, by flame, by captivity, and by spoil for mapy days" (chap. 
 11 : 33). There vnll also be a fearful doom of shame and everlast- 
 ing contempt for those guilty apostates and their cruel Syrian as- 
 sociates who inflict these sufferings on the faithful servants of God. 
 That this is the very thought of the revealing angel is made yet 
 more sure by v. 3, where he refers explicitly to those nolde JcAvish 
 martyrs; "they that be wise;" (in Ilcb. "the maschilim") the 
 very name given them in chap. 11 : 33, 35. Those who suffered so 
 heroically and labored so earnestly to turn their Jewish brethren 
 from idolatry to righteousness "shall shine as the brightness of the 
 'firmament and as the stars forever and ever." They stood and fell 
 us "stars" — distinguished servants of God. See chap. 8: 10. 
 
450 DANIEL.— CHAP. XII. 
 
 Now their joyous reward shall be to shine as the stars in the 
 
 glorious lirmament of heaven forever and ever. This explanation 
 
 of a passage, usually accounted very difficult, seems to me to be 
 entirely satisfactory. The thought of final eternal retribution is 
 certainly altogether in place here in view of the circumstances. 
 It was legitimately reached through the resurrection. This great fact 
 of our being was neither new nor strange to the people of God in that 
 age. The allusion, in Isaiah 2G and Ezekicl 37 to the resurrection, 
 and especially the use made of it as a figure of speech, show that 
 the idea was by no means unknown — was even familiar. Hence 
 his casual allusion to it, with no effort to state the doctrine of a 
 universal resurrection in its full rounded form. Some may per- 
 haps ask, by way of objection to this construction. Why did not 
 the angel give a more just, clear, and full view of the general res- 
 urrection? The answer is simply, It was not his purpose to 
 
 teach this doctrine in its dogmatic form. He could not turn aside 
 from the subject before him to give theological lectures (may not I 
 say?) on the doctrine of the resurrection. . He wanted the thouglit 
 of it only for its relation to the subject he had iti hand, and he 
 therefore used it for this purpose and for this only. This is pre- 
 cisely as every waiter or speaker does whose mind is full of his 
 
 subject. Moreover, these views as presented and left by the 
 
 angel-interpreter must have been full of the richest consolation and 
 quickening as read by those Maccabean heroes while they were nobly 
 doing, daring, suffering, dying for the faith of their fathers' God. 
 They are good to be read even now by all who live, labor, and endure 
 
 unto the same high example of suffering afiliction and of patience. 
 
 In v. 4 the "shutting up and sealing of the book" until near the 
 time when the events should occur seems to imply that men will 
 have less interest in it during the intervening period, and a far 
 deeper interest when that time shall have come, so that it will be 
 
 read then; would be read but little before. Some have said 
 
 (with less probability). Men will misinterpret prophecy until the 
 near approaching or actually transpiring events shall shed their 
 
 light upon it; therefore shut it up "till the time of the end." 
 
 "Many shall run to and fro;" coursing through the book, travers- 
 ing it from point to point, comparing one vision with another (as 
 my aim has been in this commentary) to get a clear and just view 
 of it as a whole ; so, the knowledge of it shall be greatly increased. 
 The word for "knowledge" has the article in Hebrew, and seems 
 
 to refer to the knowledge of the contents of this prophecy. In 
 
 vs. 5-7 it will be noted that the manner of bringing out the point 
 to be revealed is by causing Daniel to hear a conversation between 
 two angels, standing remote from each other, one on either bank of 
 the river. The question, "How long to the end of these wonderful 
 things?" asks for the duration of the chief transactions; here man- 
 ifestly, as in chap. 7 : 25, the length of time during which the wor- 
 ship of God's people at the temple would be broken up by the 
 violence of this impious persecutor. In the answer, the phrase, 
 ^' time, times, and a half," must be construed (as in chap. 7 : 25) to 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. XII. 451 
 
 be three and a half years. Then, Avhcn the power of the holy peo- 
 ple shall have been scattered and broken ; themselves humbled and 
 thrown upon God for help; shall these things be finished. See 
 notes on chap. 7 : 25. Daniel does not yet understand so defi- 
 nitely as he would, and therefore asks again what shall be the 
 end of these things. The form of his question and his choice of 
 words ( What rather than When) ; and his word rendered " end," 
 the afiei' part, the result or conclusion, seem to indicate a some- 
 what wider range than simply the idea of duration. That is, he 
 asks not merely hoio long, but what shall be the issues ; including, 
 however, the length of time. Consequently the answer teaches 
 both points; first indicating that the words arc closed and sealed 
 up till the time of the end, and therefore will not be much known 
 till near that time ; next, that active agencies of moral discipline will 
 surely do their work, some being made better and some made worse 
 by these events of God's providence: also that "the wise," the stu- 
 dious, humble and docile, shall readily understand, but none of the 
 wicked, for their sin darkens their intellect while it sears their con- 
 science and hardens their heart. Next as to the time. It has 
 
 been twice put at three and one-half years, in obviously very gen- 
 eral terms — "a time, times, and the dividing of times," or "a half." 
 Hence in answer to a question for the more precise time, we may 
 expect greater precision. I therefore take this answer, twelve 
 hundred and ninety days, to be a more accurate stiitement of the 
 time. The terminus fro7n which this period dates is plain, viz : 
 " from the taking away of the daily sacrifice and the setting up of 
 the abomination that maketh desolate" — from either of these, and 
 if they difiered in time, from the earliest. The terminus down to 
 which the period comes and at which it closes should doubtless be 
 the point where the sanctuary was cleansed and the Mosaic sacri- 
 fices were resumed. The books of Maccabees give this latter date 
 Avith precision. Both 1 Mac. 4: 52-54, and 2 Mac. 1: 9, 18, and 
 10: 5, aflSrm that the cleansing of the sanctuary took place on the 
 twenty-fifth day of the month Casleu (corresponding to December) 
 in the one hundred and forty-eighth year of the Seleucida3, which 
 corresponds to B. C. 1G4. The other terminus from ivhich to count 
 is less distinctly marked. There is no doubt as to the time Avlicn 
 the idol-altar was set up on the sacred one, nor as to the time 
 when the heathen began to offer idol sacrifices upon it. The former 
 was Dec. 10, 167 B. C. ; the latter Dec. 25, following. But the 
 daily sacrifice must have been taken away a considerable time — 
 not less than six months — earlier. For it was very early in June, 
 167 B. C. that Antiochus returned from Egypt, and sent Apollonius 
 with a strong force into Judea. lie seized Jerusalem and put a stop 
 to the temple worship. Josephus distinctly states in two passages 
 that the daily sacrifices were suspended three and a half years. 
 See notes on Dan. 7. Now three and a half years include accu- 
 rately 1279 days, lacking only eleven of the number here given. 
 Possibly this number 1290 may l)e somewhat a round number; or 
 more probably the three and a half years is the less exact date and 
 
452 DANIEL.— CHAP. XII. 
 
 this of 1290 days the more exact. The number may have been 
 precisely 1200 days; i. e.^ eleven days over three and a half years. 
 It should be remembered that Daniel has novv^here used the desi^i^- 
 nation, 12G0 days, and though it is common loosely to estimate the 
 year at 360 days, yet this is a round and not an exact number. 
 'J'iie years were then as long as they are now, and we very well 
 understand that we now find in the long run about 365|- days in 
 each year. Hence the above calculation. — — This reaches as high 
 a degree of accuracy as can be expected, under the general methods 
 
 of time-computation which prevailed in that age. In v. 12 still 
 
 another period is given, viz.: 1335 days; 45 days longer than the 
 preceding. There can be but little doubt that this dates from the 
 same point of time, and therefore runs over one month and a half 
 beyond the cleansing of the sanctuary, which would bring us 
 nearly to the middle of February, B. C. 163, Nor can there be any 
 doubt that it looks to the death of Antiochus as the joyful event 
 
 which then occurred. Both the first and tlie second books of 
 
 Maccabees give some details of his death ; but neither has given the 
 day. It is not strange that they omifc it. 1 Mac. 6 : 1-16, gives 
 the year, the one hundred and forty-ninth year of the Seleucidas; 
 equal to B. C. 163. It also gives us the means of estimating yet 
 more definitely the exact time, for it states that Antiochus, being 
 in the remote countries of Persia, heard of the victories of Judas 
 over his armies in Palestine, and of the cleansing of the sanctuary, 
 which occurred, as we may remember, Dec. 25, 164 B. C, and that 
 the Jews had compassed the sanctuary about with high walls as 
 before. These tidings aflected him greatly, and indeed induced 
 him to set off at once for home, and brought on the fall from his 
 chariot and the violent sickness of which he died. Now if we 
 allow a reasonable time for this news to reach him, and for the 
 journey, the fall and the sickness, which preceded his death, we 
 shall find that forty-five days is a fair estimate. The testimony of 
 the second book of Maccabees (chap. 9) corresponds with that of 
 
 the first book in these particulars, as far as it goes. Well might 
 
 the revealing angel say, "Blessed is he that waiteth" in patient 
 hope so long, for there would be great joy over the death of that 
 
 arch enemy of the people of God. V. 13, closing the vision, 
 
 directs Daniel to go on his accustomed path of life, and assures 
 him that he shall rest from his labors and share at last in the 
 blessed lot of the risen saints, as had been said vs. 2, 3 of the 
 martyrs of the Maccabean age. This Avill be the precise sense if 
 we take "stand in thy lot" to mean arise from the dead to thy re- 
 ward. Most of the commentators and lexicons give this sense to 
 the words in this passage. I account it the most probable sense. 
 But yet I find no other case in which this verb "stand" means to 
 rise from the dead. It may therefore mean only, Thou shalt be 
 in thy place (the intermediate place of departed saints) at the end 
 of these days of trouble upon thy people. In so far as a tacit al- 
 lusion to vs. 2, 3 is probable, the sense of resurrection becomes so. 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. XII. 453 
 
 Neither construction seems bad. Either corresponds with the 
 facts, and is pertinent to the closing scene of this vision. 
 
 It has been ah-eady intimated that this twelfth chapter is built 
 upon the eleventh, assuming the facts therein stated, and aiming 
 to make a practical application of those fa(;ts for the moral benelit 
 of the people specially interested. We shall best appreciate tjie 
 pertinence and force of this practical application, if we transfer 
 ourselves back to those times, and suppose ourselves to be among 
 and of the parties affected, or at least to be observers of its influ- 
 ence upon them. Let us then suppose ourselves to be there, " at 
 the time of the end." The book is unsealed ; the words long shut 
 up are now opened. Our Jewish brethren Avho have been looking 
 with alarm on the apostacy of such numbers of their people into 
 Grecian manners and idolatry, are now well assured that this is 
 the hand of Almighty God and this the time of his indignation, 
 and they tremble for the results. Alas! the sanctuary is dese- 
 crated ; that wicked persecutor is successful in his most wicked 
 schemes; thousands of their brethren have ftillen in battle already; 
 women have seen their children tortured and have themselves suf- 
 fered tortures worse than death; immense armies have swept 
 through their land and have made their own Zion-hill their strong- 
 hold. Now conceive how they read this twelfth chapter. "At that 
 time shall Michael stand up, the great prince that standeth for thy 
 
 people." Precious words ! God's help shall come ! " There 
 
 shall be a time of trouble such as never was before since there 
 Avas a nation " — a truth they well understand, for they have felt it 
 in the anguish of their souls. Judah and Jerusalem have never 
 l)efore passed through such an ordeal of fire and flame, of blood 
 and torture and desolation. But pause; What is this that comes 
 next? "At that time thy people shall be delivered," "every one that 
 shall be found written in the book." Blessed words are these! 
 Then this desolation shall cease erelong, and this fearful Persecutor 
 will not utterly blot out the name and memorial of God's people 
 from under heaven. The kingdom and people of the great God Avill 
 survive and will yet see better days ! And then these next words, 
 how much in point are they! Our martyrs dead are "not lost but 
 only gone before." Not one of them will lose his reward. How 
 will our good Mattathias and Eleazar shine as stars in the firma- 
 ment forever and ever ! And those apostates, too, are to have their 
 eternal reward — of shame and contempt ! They sought the glory 
 that comes from men. God gave them the disgrace that goes forth 
 with his unutterable reprobation ! And so they read on through 
 this subsequent record of dates, pondering deeply how long it shall 
 be to the end of tliese wonders. They arc glad the time can be 
 counted hij days. They rejoice to find that the time of thickest 
 darkness is only three and a half years. So long, they say, our suf- 
 fering people can hold out. Let us bless God that he gave us, cen- 
 turies ago, a prophet by whom he might tell us how long. " Jilessed 
 is he that waiteth and cometh to the one thousand three hundred 
 and thirty-five days ! " Ah, indeed ! and will our great persecutor 
 
454 DANIEL.— CHAP. XII. 
 
 fall — that great king who vowed in his wrath to make Jerusalem 
 one vast burying-place for our nation — is he so soon to be cut down 
 in his horrid wickedness, and leave the land we love to breathe 
 
 again in freedom? So we may suppose this chapter to be read 
 
 and read again. So ii^n will course through and through its pre- 
 cious words, and here they will get more and more knowledge of 
 God and of their own eventful future. Verily, God has been mind- 
 ful of them in making his servant Daniel, long time before, his mes- 
 senger and scribe to convey and record such words of comfort and 
 strength against their time of so great need ! The prophecies of 
 Daniel in respect to this "wearing out of the saints of the Most 
 High," could not be complete without this closing chapter. The 
 people would need these timely, precious words, assuring them that 
 Michael, their great Prince, would stand up in their behalf; that 
 deliverance could not be long delayed ; that eternal glories would 
 wreathe the brows of their martyred dead, and equally immortal 
 shame would sink to infamy their guilty persecutors ; and that the 
 time of their sorest afflictions would be short. So they will come 
 to feel a tenfold assurance that the living God is the strength and 
 the hope of his people, and from their sorest chastenings will bring 
 them forth as gold seven times purified by the fires that eat its dross 
 
 away. And who can tell how much this very chapter may have 
 
 done to create such faith, courage, and heroism as that of the lion- 
 hearted Judas Maccabeus ! Who knows how much it sustained the 
 martyr-spirit of that mother who saw her seven sons murdered before 
 her eyes, and knew that her own torture was to follow if she would 
 not abjure her faith and her God ! Such doing, daring, and suffer- 
 ing need the ministry of words of cheer and hope like these. Did 
 not God prepare this ministry for those hours of need ? 
 
 Some special objections to the system of interpretation here 
 
 adopted should be briefly noticed. 1. That this system involves 
 
 too much repetition. What can be the use, it is said, of so much 
 
 repetition? (1.) I might answer; Why did the Lord double the 
 
 symbols to Pharaoh in his dreams of the seven years of plenty and 
 seven of famine, giving him both kine and corn ? The facts taught 
 in each were identically the same, with no shade of difference. Or 
 why did he reiterate so many fiicts respecting the Messiah and his 
 coming kingdom? Why does he ever "give line upon line and 
 
 precept upon precept?" (2.) Again I answer; Our great inquiry 
 
 should be after the fact rather than after the reasoyis of the fact. 
 The fact of repetition is the thing for us to decide. If it be a fact, 
 let us know it, and then, as humble learners, use it. The reason 
 of the fact is quite another matter, as to which we have very little 
 responsibility indeed. It would be very unwise for us to reject the 
 proofs of the fact because we can not determine satisfactorily to 
 ourselves the reasons of it. (3.) The fact that there is a consid- 
 erable degree of repetition, no sensible commentator, or even ordi- 
 nary reader, can doubt. In each of the four visions which I have 
 claimed to be in their great points parallel, who can doubt that wo 
 have the Medo-Persian kingdom, and in the last vision, some of its 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. XII. 455 
 
 particular kings ? Who has ever doubted that in each vision of 
 the four, we have the Grecian empire of Alexander, and as the 
 visions become much more specific toward the close, Alexander 
 himself? Who has ever doubted that in the first and second 
 visions we have the Chaldean power? There is some repetition, 
 then, manifestly, by the inevitable admission of all intelligent 
 readers. How much soever any one objects to the principle of 
 repetition in several successive prophecies, he can not deny that it 
 is here, at least to the extent just indicated. Through the first 
 three out of the four great kingdoms, there must be parallelism. 
 Hence it is no violation of the established analogy of these visions 
 to find essential parallelism in the remaining fourth kingdom. 
 Those who claim this have the manifest analogy of the first three 
 
 of the four in their favor. (4.) Furthermore, it should very much 
 
 abate the force of the objection on the score of repetition to note 
 that these visions were not originally given all in one night, nor 
 all written at one sitting, and published to the world at one and 
 the same time. The reader may perhaps unconsciously assume 
 this. He can now read them all at once, and grasp them all as 
 if they were all shown the prophet and his people at once. But 
 this is a simple mistake of ignorance, or, more mildly, inadvertence. 
 It comes of not observing the dates. These will show that full 
 seventy years lay between the first and the last — the first being in 
 the second year of Nebuchadnezzar ; and the last in the third year 
 of Cyrus. Here was ample time to note whether the great points 
 were adequately understood. The successive visions, involving a 
 great amount of repetition, coupled with more and more detail and 
 the addition each time of some new matter, show that the Lord 
 
 wished to have the whole subject understood more perfectly. 
 
 (5.) The reason which the Lord usually assigns for giving line upon 
 line is the dullness of men's hearts to apprehend the things taught 
 them. See Isa. 28. This may be in part his reason for repeating 
 the main points in those parallel visions. This supposition becomes 
 the more probable from the fact that as we advance in their order 
 they become more minute and definite on the great points that 
 would have most interest to Daniel and his people, viz. : the terrible 
 conflict which the Jewish faith and worship are to have with their 
 great assailant, Antiochus Epiphanes. In fact this law of progres- 
 sive clearness and definiteness is carried so far that in the last of 
 these visions, all symbol is dropped ; the whole vision becomes vir- 
 tually an explanation ; the usual forms of prophecy give way to the 
 literal statements of history, and we have a plain narrative (though 
 prophetic) of what the vile Idng would do, of his character and his 
 doom. We must conclude that the Lord meant to make these 
 points entirely plain to all that ancient Jewish people. 
 
 II. The second objection which I note lies really in the feelings 
 of the reader, rather than in his convictions. He says, "How can 
 I afibrd to give up my long-cherished views of these prophecies ? 
 How can I lose all I have been wont to find here in respect to the 
 doom of the Pope and indeed of all the great Antichrists of our 
 
456 DANIEL.— CHAP. XII. 
 
 world, and in respect to the time of Christ's final triumph in the 
 
 great millennium?" 1 am quite well aware that some will feel 
 
 as men do when robbed of a cherished treasure, or outraged by 
 some theft which knows no rights of property. They can not feel 
 very kindly disposed toward tlie rough hand that would tear away 
 a cherished good. Those who have found here an epitome of the 
 conflicts of the church down to the millennium, and who have been 
 able (as tliey suppose) by some ingenuity to decipher the enigmas 
 of this book and bring out dates that locate the millennium and 
 almost or quite determine in what year or even day the Lord will 
 come, will find it hard to reconcile themselves to the idea that 
 
 those things are not here — not the first one of them! What can 
 
 I say to help this class of readers ? 
 
 1. Let the truth stand before all things else. Let us go where 
 legitimate evidence bears us, and leave the issues with God. It 
 can not be too deeply realized' that it does not devolve on us to 
 viahe prophecy for Daniel to say, but only to hiterjjret properly and 
 truly what he has said. What he never meant is no prophecy at 
 all. Nothing beyond the true meaning of his words — nothing 
 other than that — has a particle of additional value because it is 
 supposed or assumed to be in this book. The pages of Daniel are 
 not white paper, put before the speculating interpreter for him to 
 write therein what he will and call it the prophecy of Daniel. Nor 
 are these pages obscure dark words, upon which ingenious men can 
 put any foregone construction they will and call it Daniel's mean- 
 ing. In short, nothing but the very sense of his words which he 
 himself intended is his prophecy; and this must be ascertained 
 according to the usual laws by which all language is to be inter- 
 preted. 2. False theories of Daniel's prophecies are liable to do 
 
 indefinite mischief — of which the Millerism of our own age is both 
 an instance and an illustration. Such facts as lie in the history of 
 this sad delusion should be a caution to all interpreters of prophecy 
 to beware lest they unwittingly become the occasion of like evils 
 in future times. The genius of this system of Mr. IMiller and its 
 main points of argument, so far as they rest on Daniel, will be the 
 
 subject of a special dissertation found in the Appendix [^B.'] 3. 
 
 To those who cling to that interpretation of Daniel which fiuds pre- 
 cise dates for^great events supposed to be now near at hand, I have to 
 say, It may be that God saw fit not to give the church such definite 
 dates of the fall of Antichristian powers, of the millennium, and 
 of the second coming of Christ, as modern prophetic theories have 
 assumed. He may have seen that to reveal these groat facts with- 
 out revealing their dates would insure the best pressure of motive 
 for zeal and for faith, and would harmonize most kindly and effi- 
 ciently with human free agency. 1 state this here in a hypo- 
 thetical way ; He 7na)/ have seen that this course would be wisest 
 and best. A stronger form of statement might be safely made ; but 
 this will suffice for my present purpose. It is not well for men to 
 assume that God must have foretold the year of those great events 
 of our world; tlie fall of the last Antichrist; the ushering in of 
 
DANIEL.— CHAP. XII. 457 
 
 millennial peace ; and the last coming of the Son of God. 1 do 
 
 not assume that God nevei' gives precise prophetic dates of any 
 future events, for here are such in Daniel, much more close and 
 near, when taken, as they say, " days," than when taken, as many 
 do, for years. But contemplating the entire field of Scripture 
 prophecy, precise dates are the exception and not the rule. Out of 
 scores of prophecies respecting the Messiah's first advent and his 
 earthly kingdom, it would be hard to find any single one that gives 
 
 us definite dates except that at the close of Dan. 9. 4. The four 
 
 great parallel visions of Daniel (as I understand and explain them) 
 show how God in ancient times made use of prophecy to sustain 
 and encourage snch servants of his as Daniel and such a people as 
 the Maccabean heroes. No doubt Daniel himself needed and felt 
 such cjuickening as these visions were adapted to impart. The 
 same was true of his people, especiall}'- in those times of fearful 
 trial. In this view they testify to the unceasing care of Jehovah 
 for his cause and people. 5. While this view of Daniel's prophe- 
 cies fails to gratify the curiosity of those who would pry into the 
 unrevealed times of God's purposed blessings, it does show us how 
 all human forces hostile to the church fall before his providential 
 judgments. These visions show how, from the fiery flame of the An- 
 cient of Days, these judgments came down on the fourth beast and 
 his little horn, before the first coming of the Messiah; — then how 
 this same glorious power was solemnly invested in the new King 
 Messiah, and he was inaugurated to do essentially what the Ancient 
 of Days had done before him to the great Grecian kingdom and its 
 blasphemous persecuting king ; aye, and to do also a spiritual work 
 
 on the hearts of men far greater and more glorious ! It also 
 
 assures us that in this new form the Messiah's kingdom will stand 
 forever ; will not be transferred to other hands ; that under it the 
 influence of Christianity will be unbounded over the vast popula- 
 tions of the earth, and God and his truth will triumph long and 
 gloriously. And here, amid the blaze of glory which invests this 
 final consummation, the vision resteth ! 
 
 Yet ere we close, let us again revert to Daniel, at once the great 
 historian and the great prophet of his time ; who more than any 
 other man wrote contemporary history along with his prophecies 
 and future history m his prophecies; who wonderfully blended 
 his own present life with that future in which the Lord suffered him 
 to live so intensely ; who did so much for his people while he lived, 
 so much for the age in which he lived, and who yet, through his 
 wonderful prophecies, projected himself down into that most ter- 
 rible age of Jewish persecution, more terrible by far than any 
 other through which the Jewish church as such was ever called to 
 pass; — raised up of God for these special ends — to help the nation 
 first through the Babylonish captivity, and next, through the yet 
 more fierce and fiery ordeal of torture and blood to which they 
 were subjected in the age of the Maccabees; — a wonderful man! 
 endowed with wisdom almost superhuman, of marvelous capacities 
 for public business, for bearing great responsibilities, and for win- 
 
 20 
 
458 DANIEL.— CHAP. XII. 
 
 ning the confidence of men who never loved his religion and never 
 worshiped his God, but who yet felt the presence of his piety and 
 the power of his intrinsic greatness and worth ; — such a man was 
 justly held in the highest esteem by his countrymen; nay, more; 
 such a man impresses us with a new sense of the wealth of resour- 
 ces at God's command for making great men for his own use on 
 great occasions. The beauty of his character shines in his pure 
 simplicity ; in his modesty and humility ; in the fact that he filled 
 a sphere of thought and purpose high above the seductions of hu- 
 man ambition; that he dwelt in communion Avith God and drew 
 his mighty impulses to goodness and even to greatness from the 
 very sanctuary of Jehovah's presence; — that hence his heart was 
 full to overflowing with the tenderest sympathies for his people, so 
 that he truly lived in their life, and felt borne down and crushed 
 in utter prostration by the views God gave him prophetically of 
 their future afflictions and perils. What did not the grace of God 
 do for this great and good man! Verily, God raised him up and 
 made him what he was for use among his own people ! This same 
 God is never short of fit instruments for great emergencies. Let 
 him be joyfully trusted to raise up other men no less great and 
 good, what time new and great emergencies shall occur to call 
 them forth ! 
 
DISSERTATION I. 
 
 ON THE THEORY THAT " DAY," IN PROPHECY, MEAN'S " YEAR." 
 
 Does the word "day" in prophecy mean a year? And on the 
 
 same principle, must other periods of time, e. g.^ months and years, 
 be multiplied by three hundred and sixty to get the real time in- 
 tended ? This is our question. Technically and in short, this 
 
 is often called the "day-for-a-y ear-theory;" but it is supposed to 
 apply not only to the usage of the word for day, but equally to the 
 'word for month and at least to the word "time," which Daniel 
 uses for a year. So that the broad principle is that prophetic no- 
 tations of time must be multiplied by three hundred and sixty to 
 
 get the real historic duration. 1 am compelled to discard this 
 
 theory as utterly baseless, false, and of course miscMevous and de- 
 lusive; for the following reasons: 1. All reasonable presump- 
 tion is utterly against it. For prophecy comes from God to men in 
 the common language of men. If it did not, it would reveal noth- 
 ing, without a special revelation to explain it — a new revelation to 
 teach the meaning of the new prophetic language. Symbols in 
 prophecy are no exception. For in the statements made respecting 
 these symbols, words are used in their well-known sense. The 
 word "lion" means a lion, and the word "bear" means a bear. 
 When a lion is seen in vision as a symbol, we fall back upon the 
 knoAvn qualities of the lion and his known relations to other ani- 
 mals to find the significance of the symbol. But this is in no way 
 peculiar to prophecy. We should do just the same in poetry, or in 
 common conversation. So that symbols in prophecy are no excep- 
 tion to the common law that prophecy comes to us in merely hu- 
 man language, using its words in their established and well-known 
 sense. Hence the presumption is entirely against this theory of 
 day for year. If God speaks to men, the presumption is wholly in 
 favor of his using the common language of men in its usual sense. 
 The Hebrews had suitable words for both day and year, and tliey 
 used them as correctly as we do ours. If God had occasion to 
 speak to them of time in the future, why should he not use their 
 language as they did? 2. No reason lying in the nature or ob- 
 jects of prophecy aflPords the least presumption in favor of this 
 
 theory. The only reason which I have ever heard of, or seen, 
 
 assigned for this usage of day fur year, is that God meant to make 
 
 (459) 
 
4G0 DISSERTATION I. 
 
 his statements as to time unintcllipble until their fulfillment. That 
 
 is, he meant to lock up this part of the truth and hide the key. 
 
 I reply, 1. There is no evidence that God has intended or tried 
 to hide Avhat he seemed to reveal. There is no evidence of his re- 
 sorting to enigma lest prophecy should be understood too soon. It 
 docs not appear that he has been specially careful to hide the point 
 of duration loliilc professing to reveal it. When he chooses not to 
 reveal the time of events, he manifestly forbears to give it; this is 
 all-sufficient for that purpose. What would be gained by putting 
 his revelations in the form of a puzzle or riddle ? Kot to say here 
 that this would seem to be beneath the dignity of the great uod, I 
 still press this question ; Why should the Lord thus tantalize his 
 people and mock their desire to understand what he has said in 
 prophecy as to the time of predicted events? Where the Lord 
 sees fit to say nothing about the time,* we bow to his wisdom. 
 Where he has spoken of the time, why may we not try to under- 
 stand what he says ; and further, why should we not assume that 
 he has revealed these notations of time to he studied and understood 
 and not to puzzle and confound the honest inquirer ? Yet further : 
 the notion that God meant to put things in such a shape that the 
 real time should come to light only after the event, and only by 
 means of the event, is utterly without support; for there is no 
 prophecy in that ; it foretells nothing about the time ; of itself it 
 means nothing; and no good reason can be given why God should 
 in this way profess to communicate prophecy and yet communi- 
 cate nothing ! 
 
 2. If this precise plan of day for year had been adopted, a 
 few well-authenticated facts would have brougltt the key to light, 
 and would have effectually frustrated the object of concealment. 
 For, after the key is found, it is a very simple matter to use 
 it. Nothing can be more simple or more certain in its results than 
 a process of multiplication in pure mathematics. Multiplying a 
 given period of time by three hundred and sixty is soon done and 
 
 done surely. The appearance of artifice in this scheme seems 
 
 to me beneath the dignity of the great and holy God. It is alto- 
 gether out of harmony with the rest of the Bible. All else is lucid, 
 honest, and manifestly said in order to be understood by the docile, 
 
 humble, diligent reader. Nor let it be thought that the case of 
 
 our Lord's speaking to the Jews in parables, and explaining them 
 only to his disciples, refutes my position. For that was judicial — 
 a judgment sent on self-hardened and self-blinded sinners because 
 of their chosen blindness. But this prophetic theory, if true, would 
 be a judgment on good men who love the truth, and vdi(T honestly 
 wish to learn all that God has been pleased to iM3veal. 
 
 3. This tlieory is entirely without foundation. It has no legiti- 
 mate evidence for its support. It is a castle built in the air. 
 
 There is not a single case of prophetic time, in which the fulfill- 
 ment has verified this principle of multiplying the prophetic time 
 by three hundred and sixty to get the actual time. It is thought 
 there arc some events yet future — almost ready to come — which 
 
DISSERTATION I. 461 
 
 will be in point and will prove it to every body's satisfaction; but 
 
 they have not come yet ! On the contrary there are numerous 
 
 cases of prophetic time already fulfilled which prove that designa- 
 tions of time in prophecy mean what they say, and arc to be taken 
 in their usual sense. These statements should be carefully con- 
 sidered and well supported. Let us have patience to examine in suf- 
 ficient detail the alleged evidence that a prophetic day means year. 
 
 (1.) Appeal is made to Num. 14: 33, 34; "Your children shall 
 wander in the wilderness forty years. After the number of the 
 days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for 
 
 a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years." Is this a 
 
 case of the word day used for year ? or of the word day used for 
 only one three hundred and sixtieth part of the time really meant ? 
 By no means. Nothing of the sort. Throughout this passage, the 
 word day means a common day, — nothing more. The word year 
 needs no multiplying by three hundred and sixty to find the time 
 
 intended. The only prophecy in this passage — here in the form 
 
 of a denunciation, or threatened punishment — is, "Ye shall wander 
 forty years." But does this mean, Ye shall wander in the wilder- 
 ness three hundred and sixty times forty years; i. e., fourteen 
 thousand and four hundred years? Who can believe that? If 
 God had said, " Ye shall wander forty days,'' and the event had 
 proved that he truly meant forty years, using the word day to mean 
 year, the case would have been in point. But he did not say that, 
 
 and no good reason can be assigned why he should have said it. 
 
 Will the reader still ask. Does not the Lord say, "Each day for a 
 
 year ? " and is not that precisely what we claim ? 1 answer ; Those 
 
 are the words he uses , but their meaning is nothing like what you 
 claim. He means only that the years of their wandering shall 
 correspond to the days of their searching the land through their 
 committee, the twelve spies. The one purpose of the Lord in this 
 form of threatening was to make their punishment a perpetual re- 
 minder of their sin — a thing which he often does for the best of 
 moral reasons. All through their weary wanderings, they could 
 say; "Forty days our brethren searched out the land, and brought 
 back that unbelieving report; we heard it, and, indorsing all its 
 unbelief, we practically said, Save us from going there ! The Lord 
 gave us our prayer in judgment, and we have forty years before us 
 in this dreary wilderness !" This is all. 
 
 (2.) Another proof text very analagoug to the preceding is Ezek. 
 4 : 4-6. Ezekiel is commanded to lie on his right side forty days 
 and on his left three hundred and ninety days, before all Israel, to 
 indicate that he bears (in symbol) the iniquity of Judah forty 
 years, and of Israel three hundred and ninety. The language is ; 
 " For 1 have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity according to 
 the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days : — So shalt 
 thou bear the' iniquity of the house of Israel. Then lie again on 
 thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of Judah forty 
 
 days : — 1 have appointed thee each day for a year." But observe 
 
 throughout this passage that in every instance the word day is used 
 
462 DISSERTATION I. 
 
 for a common day — never in the sense of year ; and the word year 
 means only one year; never three hundred and sixty years. True, 
 the symholic act of lying on one side forty days denoted that in this 
 symbolic, representative manner he bears their forty years of sin- 
 ning; but this extension of time from one day of symbol to one 
 year of sin lies not in any peculiar use of the word "day," for there 
 is no peculiar use of it here ; but it is in the symbol, and is there 
 
 only by special divine arrangement and statement. If the Lord 
 
 had said ''forty days^^ when he meant forty ycars^ it would be 
 somewhat to the point. But he did not use his words so. There 
 is no proof that he ever did. Certainly this case does not afford 
 the least particle of such proof. 
 
 (3.) Another somewhat analagous passage is 2 Pet. 3:8: "One 
 day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as 
 one day." Unfortunately if this means any thing to the purpose, it 
 means far too much. For if it applies to the case in hand, the 
 word day means, not one year only, but one thousand years ! And 
 then, further, one thousand years mean one day, and our long mil- 
 lennium is cut down wofully ! And then it would be impossible to 
 tell which way to work out this problem — whether we must multiply 
 by one thousand or divide by it! AYlio could tell us whether in 
 any given prophecy a day means one thousand years, or a thousand 
 
 years means one day? Happily that little word "a^^" relieves 
 
 us of all our perplexities, showing that the passage has nothing to 
 do with this theory that God says day when he means year. 
 
 (4.) jNIucli the most important passage ever thought of as proof 
 of the theory in question is Dan. 9 : 24-27 — the celebrated prophecy 
 of the "seventy weeks." But this has been already examined in 
 my commentary on the passage in its place, to which the reader 
 can refer. He will there find these main points made, viz. : that 
 the original word means in its singular number, a seven — a heptad ; 
 and this may be a seven of days or a seven of years : that the fem- 
 inine plural is currently used for heptads of days ; the masculine 
 plural (which we have here) never by itself for the common week 
 of days, but when a week of days is meant, the word days is ap- 
 pended, as in Dan. 10 : 2, 3 ; and finally that after a word and a 
 special form of a word which simply suggests the idea of a seven — 
 a seven of something, we must ask — a seven of what? and must 
 look for our answer in the context — in the thought already before 
 the mind. In the present case, there can be no doubt that this 
 thought is, the seventy years of captivity. Then seventy sevens of 
 years must be the sense of this phrase, and it involves no usage 
 of the word day to mean year — no usage of any current notations 
 of time in a way to need multiplying by three hundred and sixty 
 to get the actual time. 
 
 (5.) All individual proof texts failing, some will still fall back 
 upon the general idea that prophecy has a special fondness for 
 highly figurative language; — so that they seem to themselves to 
 make a pretty strong argument for tlieir theory when they call it 
 an instance of strong Jigurative lartgnage — such as abounds in 
 
DISSERTATION I. 463 
 
 prophecy. But this is a simple fiillacj. Those who say this 
 
 fail altogether to notice what figures in rhetoric are. Perhaps they 
 confound figures in rhetoric with figures in mathematics — two 
 things most unlike in sense, however like in the word. If men 
 would only notice that there is no rhetoric and no scope for the im- 
 agination in a mathematical process; e. g.^ in multiplying by three 
 hundred and sixty, they might be disabused of this fallacy. Fig- 
 ures in language turn on some resemblances which only the im- 
 agination can recognize and appreciate. But figures in mathematics 
 raake no appeal to the imagination. This " day-for-a-year theory" 
 needs no function of the imagination to solve and apply it. It re- 
 quires only a short process in multiplication — in simple mathemat- 
 ics. Has this the least analogy with the use of the word "light" 
 for what is joyous and "darkness" for what is sad? Not the least 
 imaginable. The failure to note such distinctions may serve to 
 mislead and delude; it can sen-e no other purpose. 
 
 (6.) Of the proofs from usage for the theory in question, all the 
 rest, known to me, are in the class yet to be fulfilled and verified; 
 or rather, like Mr. Miller's Second Advent in 1843 — yet to be ex- 
 ploded. Those which assign the final fall of Romanism to A. D. 
 1SG6 are soon to follow Mr. Miller's. It will be soon enough to 
 believe this theory on the strength of fulfilled jwophccy when the 
 cases of suitable sort and in sufficient number do actually occur. 
 
 It is simply amazing that this theory has obtained so much 
 
 credence on absolutely not the least foundation. Against all rea- 
 sonable presumption — in the face of the strongest prima fiicie evi- 
 dence against it, there should be a very imposing array of substan- 
 tial argument for it before it gains any credence. How strange, 
 then, that it has gained so much without the first particle of reli- 
 able proof? 
 
 4. It still remains to assume the offensive against this theory 
 and show that fulfilled prophecy is all against it. So far as Bible 
 history gives us the fulfillment of Bible prophecy in which notations 
 of time are involved, the "usus loquendi" proves that words in 
 prophecy denoting time are used in their common, normal sense, 
 and never in the enigmatical, peculiar way affirmed by this theory. 
 Thus the Lord through Noah predicted the flood after one hun- 
 dred and twenty years (Gen. 6 : 3), Did it turn out to be 43,200 
 
 years, or only 120? Again in reference to this flood, the Lord 
 
 said to Noah (Gen, 7: 4), "Yet seven days and I will cause it to 
 rain forty days and forty nights." That would have been awful at 
 forty years, and Noah and his company all that time shut up in the 
 
 ark! To Abraham (Gen. 15 : 13) the Lord said, "Thy seed shall 
 
 be a stranger in a land not theirs " (Egypt), " and they shall afilict 
 them four hundred years." Does this need to be multiplied by 
 three hundred and sixty ? Was the actual time four hundred 
 
 years, or one hundred and forty-four thousand? In Num. 14: 
 
 34, the prophecy stands, "Your children shall wander in the wil- 
 derness forty years." Did it prove to be forty, or three hundred 
 and sixty times forty — i. e., fourteen thousand and four hundred? 
 
464 DISSERTATION I. 
 
 In Isa. 7 : 8 is this prophecy : " Within sixty-five years shall 
 
 Ephraim be broken that it be not a people." Was this really sixty- 
 live, or was it prophetic time" (so called); i. e., twenty-three thou- 
 sand and four hundred years? Even sixty-five carries the end 
 several years beyond the end of the kingdom as destroyed by Shal- 
 manezer, B. C. 722, for the rci.irn of Aliaz, son of llemaliah, lay 
 y>. 0. 759-740. The prophet included a final crowning act by Esar- 
 haddon, filling the country with colonists from other countries, and 
 embraced this within the sixty-five years. Isaiah (16: 14) pre- 
 dicted of Moab, " Within three years as the years of a hireling, 
 shall the glory of Moab be contemned." Should this be accounted 
 as really three years, or as one thousand and eighty years ? I>ut 
 if this is three, why is not three and a half in Dan. 7: 25, and 12 : 
 
 7, just three and a half? In Jer. 25: 4 it is predicted, "These 
 
 nations (Judah included) shall serve the king of Babylon seventy 
 years." And Jer. 29: 10 reads, "After seventy years be accom- 
 plished at Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good words 
 toward you, in causing you to return to this place." Now it was 
 because these time-designations meant just what they said that 
 Daniel could "understand by books the number of the years" of 
 this captivity and adjust himself to it. It is plain that he had not 
 a particle of confidence in this theory of a day for a year, and of 
 one year named when three hundred and sixty years are really 
 meant. If he had believed this theory, he would have set the res- 
 toration twenty-five thousand and two hundred years after the cap- 
 tivity; i. e., 25,200— 60G=A. D. 24,594— and he must have de- 
 spaired of living in this world to see it! And now shall it bo 
 
 assumed that after having had such welcome j)roof that God means 
 just what he says Avhen he gives dates and numbers in prophecy, 
 he will himself darken his own dates by enigmas that none can 
 understand ? Or if it be replied. This was not Daniel but the re- 
 vealing angel, then I ask. Would not Daniel have protested against 
 it, saying, I have myself been exceedingly comforted, aided, and 
 blessed by being able to understand by books when the divine 
 numbers in prophecy would end ; but how of this ? Ko mortal can 
 ever understand it ! 0, if Daniel might only speak out of heaven 
 to those who so darken his ])lain words and so magnify his simple 
 numbers, would he not rebuke them ? It can scarcely be neces- 
 sary to refer to Ezek, 29: 11, 13, which predicts a temporary cap- 
 tivity of Egypt; forty years; not fourteen thousand and four hun- 
 dred years; nor to Jonah's prophecy against Nineveh; "Yet 
 forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown." It would have 
 changed the case very essentially if he had meant forty years. But 
 why in such a case should not the Lord say what he means, even as 
 he expects and requires men to do ? Is there any conceivable rea- 
 son why he should say day when he means year ? Is this accord- 
 ing to t7-uth? And what can be the use of it? One case yet, 
 
 more important than any other, is that of Daniel's own usage 
 (Dan. 4: IG, 23, 25, 32). In each of these four verses it is pre- 
 dicted that king Nebuchadnezzar's insanity would continue "until 
 
DISSERTATION I. 4G5 
 
 seven times should have passed over him." So long he would be 
 with the beasts of the field, would eat grass as oxen, and be wet 
 with the dew of heaven. How long a period is this? The ad- 
 vocates of the theory in question maintain strenuously that 
 Daniel's "time, times, and the dividing of time," or "an half," 
 (chap. 7: 25, and 12: 7,) equals three and a half years, and that 
 these being prophetic years are really twelve hundred and sixty 
 years. On no one point are they more united and strenuous than 
 on this. Now the same writer, in the same book, will use the same 
 word in the same sense. Unless there be some very great differ- 
 ence in the circumstances, this rule must hold good. No rule of 
 interpretation can be more vital or more reliable than this. But in 
 the present case no difference of circumstance can be shown. Both 
 are prophecy. Both use the sameVord; therefore it must be used 
 in both cases in the same sense. If three years and a half in 
 prophecy is really of actual time t^^^elve hundred and sixty years, 
 then " seven times," equal to seven years of prophetic time, becomes, 
 when converted into actual time, twenty-five hundred and twenty 
 
 years ! — a long time, truly, for one man to eat grass ! Some people 
 
 will think there must be something very special and even mysterious 
 in this word, " a time," when used for a year, and hence they read- 
 ily admit this theory of (so called) "prophetic time," when applied to 
 Daniel's word, a " thne." But the seven "times " [years] of the king's 
 insanity is just as truly prophetic time as the three and a half " times " 
 [years] of ascendency of Antiochus over the Mosaic institutions and 
 
 sacrifices — "times and laws." The cases above adduced are not 
 
 culled out — a few of this sort from amid many of the opposite. 
 There are none of the opposite sort. There is not one case in all 
 the Bible in which fulfilled prophecy shows that prophetic time is 
 estimated on the rule of a day for a year. The usage of the Bible 
 goes solid against this theory. When, from its nature, this theory 
 ought to have the very strongest support from Bible usage before it 
 can be reasonably accepted, it has not the first particle of proof in 
 
 its behalf, either from Bible usage or from any other source. As 
 
 we might rationally expect, all scriptural usage shows that when 
 God has given prophetic time, he meant to have it understood^ and 
 therefore used the language of men as men use it. One of his 
 special objects in giving prophetic time has been to afford to his 
 people the benefit of knowing the duration, or the era, as the case 
 may be, beforehand. Therefore, he could no more employ a myth 
 or a riddle to puzzle his people over his dates, than he could give 
 precepts and inculcate duty in so blind a way that none could un- 
 derstand him without a new revelation to reveal his meaning. Is 
 it not a marvel that interpreters of prophecy could so far ignore 
 the veracity and the sober honesty of the Holy One as to impute to 
 him such a use of language as this theory involves ? 
 
 5. There is yet one more objection to this theory, lying in the 
 fact that its advocates apply it only to the periods of Zion's calam- 
 ity and persecution: never, or almost never, to the period of her 
 prosperity. They apply it to the prophecies of the sway of Anti- 
 30 
 
466 DISSERTATION I. 
 
 christ; never to the prophecies of the true Messiah's reign. 
 Scarcely a man within iny knowledge has applied this enormous 
 
 multiplier to the thousand years of Messiah's promised reign ! 
 
 Now, it is bad enough to attemj^t to make capricious discriminations 
 at all as to the usage of words, and say in one set of prophecies day 
 means only day and year only year ; while in another set, day means 
 year, and one year means three hundred and sixty. This, 1 say, 
 is bad enough at the best. But it is ineffably bad to apply this 
 awful multiplier to the eras of antichristian rule and not to the dura- 
 tion of the Messiah's reign ! Look at the reason why this discrim- 
 ination is so revolting.- (1.) It assumes that God ai»is and plans 
 
 to hide from his people the actual duration of their calamities until 
 the time arrives ; or, rather — worse yet — he purports to reveal it ; 
 gives us the usual words for well-known periods of time ; but uses 
 them so that his people will see only one three hundred and six- 
 tieth part of the truth! He caHs the time a day when really it is 
 a year ; he calls it three years and a half when really it is twelve 
 
 hundred and sixty years ! Believe this of our God — who can ? 
 
 If he had seen fit not to disclose the duration of the church's 
 
 great calamit}^, very well. All his trustful children would bow 
 submissively to his wisdom, and would still trust his love. But 
 that he sliould profess to reveal it, and then state it at only one 
 three hundred and sixtieth part of the actual time — that is simply 
 horrible ! And then to cap the climax, that he should state the 
 duration of her prosperity in a way to make it seem all that it is, — 
 this sets off the other usage in a still more strange and revolting 
 light. (2.) A second reason why this discrimination is so ob- 
 jectionable is, that it makes the reign of Antichrist relatively long 
 and the reign of the real Christ relatively short. Antichrist tri- 
 umphs twelve hundred and sixty years ; Jesus Christ only one 
 thousand ! The eras of persecution, straitness and calamity, sur- 
 pass the era of peace, truth, righteousness and salvation ! I take 
 it this is incredible. I have a full conviction that the greatness of 
 God's mercy toward our world forbids it. The sure word of proph- 
 ecy is absolutely and mightily against it — as witness what the 
 Jjord said by Isaiah (54: 7, 8); "For a small moment have 1 for- 
 saken thee " (Zion) " but with great mercies will 1 gather thee. In 
 a little wrath 1 hid my face from thee /or a moment; but loith ever- 
 lasting kindness will I have mercy upon thee, saith the Lord thy 
 Kedeemer." Does a moment compare with everlasting duration, 
 
 as twelve hundred and sixty years to one thousand? These 
 
 points may, I trust, suffice to show why this theory never ought to 
 be true and never can be. 
 
DISSEKTATION II. 467 
 
 DISSERTATION II. 
 
 ON THE DATA WHICH MR. MILLER CLAIMED TO FIND IN DANIEL FOR 
 THE DESTRUCTION OP THIS WORLD IN 1843. 
 
 About the year 1840, Mr, Win. Miller produced considerable 
 sensation among some portions of the American churches by his 
 views of the second advent of Christ. He taught that this great 
 event would occur precisely in 1843, at which time the world 
 would be burned up and cleansed by fire for the abode of the 
 risen righteous. He claimed, with the utmost assurance, that he 
 had found these dates in the prophecies of Daniel, viz., in chaps. 
 8 and 9. He professed, and indcisd seemed, to hold these opinions 
 with most entire confidence, virtually declaring that if any reliance 
 could be placed upon the word of the Lord, these calculations of 
 his must be true, and his conclusions as to the time of the end of 
 the world must be valid. A considerable number of apparently good 
 Christian peoj^le embraced his views with a degree of confidence 
 like his own. It served to strengthen the confidence of some of them 
 that they devoted themselves much to prayer, and indeed assumed 
 that the Lord, in answer to their prayers, taught them- by the im- 
 mediate inspiration of his Spirit how to interpret prophecy infalli- 
 bly. With their views of this divine teaching, they supposed they 
 could dispense with the natural means of ascertaining the sense 
 of a written prophecy, being lifted at once above the labor of 
 thought and study upon the laws of language and the principles 
 of interpretation. The confidence of presumption is often fearfully 
 
 strong. Mr. Miller and his followers, having fixed upon the 
 
 very day of Christ's coming, (in October, 1843,) it is easy to sec 
 that influences of great power were at work to rouse their minds 
 to the most intense pitch of excitement up to that decisive day, and 
 then subject them to a scarcely less terrible reaction when on that 
 day the sun rose and set as usual and other days folloAved it as of 
 old, and the established policy of God's plan of the world refused to 
 verify their prophetic calculations. Some went crazy under the strain 
 of this prodigious twofold excitement. Some set themselves to recast 
 the scheme and fix other dates, a little further ofi: A much greater 
 number sunk into a dark and often morose skepticism, their confi- 
 dence in prayer lost, and their faith in God's word shaken to its 
 very foundation. Several of their leading men soon fell victims to 
 a degree and sort of mental excitement too severe for even the 
 stoutest physical frame to bear. Mr. Miller, Kev. Charles Fitch, 
 and others, survived the failure of their hopes and pi-edictions but 
 a short time. In general the results followed the common law of 
 nature, that action and reaction are equal. By how much the greater 
 influence the system had gained in any community, by so much 
 the more fearful and calamitous was the reactionary influence when 
 
468 DISSERTATION II. 
 
 the shock of disappointment came. Truth lost ground fearfully; 
 Error left on the minds of men its usual results of moral mischief 
 and desolation. Hence it may he for a warnini;- to future spec- 
 ulators in prophecy to put on record in this place the links of 
 Miller's chain of argument — the series of false and gi-oundlcss 
 assumptions by which he arrived with such confidence at a con- 
 clusion which was just as false in view of its principles before 1843 
 came as it was proved by the fiicts of history to be then. He 
 
 made these points: 1. The little horn of Dan. 8 is the Roman 
 
 Papal power. 2. The "daily sacrifice" wdiich the little horn 
 
 "took away" (chap. 8: 11-13) was the pagan worship of idols in 
 
 old Home. 3. The Papal power abolished this pagan idolatry in 
 
 A. D. -508 or A. D. 538. 4. The "sanctuary" which was 
 
 "cleansed" (chap. 8: 14) is this entire world, and its cleansing is 
 
 to be by fire in 1843. Now, to find the exact time of this great 
 
 conflagration and cleansing, he called in the aid of chap. 9 : 
 23-25. 
 
 Here he took the following positions: 1. The exhortation at the 
 close of chap. 9: 23; "Therefore, understand the matter and con- 
 sider the vision," refers to the vision in chap. 8; and hence what 
 
 follow^s is an explanation of the eighth chapter. 2. The tw^o 
 
 points in the vision of chap. 8 which Daniel did not understand ; 
 which he was very anxious to understand, and which the angel 
 now reveals to him were, (1.) The key to prophetic time, viz.: that 
 he must multiply it Iby three hundred and sixty, i. e., account each 
 
 day for a year. (2.) The starting point from which to count the 
 
 twenty-three hundred days, alias years. These two points, he 
 
 claimed, are clearly explained in these two verses (chap. 9 : 24, 25). 
 They showed Daniel that he must count a day to be a year, and 
 that he must begin to count his twenty-three hundred years from 
 the going forth of that certain decree for restoring and building 
 
 Jerusalem. This Mr. Miller fixed at B. 0. 467. Now his data 
 
 are all in readiness, for 2300 — 407=1843; that is, taking out from 
 2300 years, those. 407 years wdiich fell before Christ, you have re- 
 maining those that must come after Christ, viz., 1843; wdiich brings 
 you to "the cleansing of the sanctuary;" i. e., the purifying of this 
 entire world by fire for the abode of the risen saints at least one 
 
 "thousand years. 3. Then further, to make assurance doubly 
 
 sure, new confirmations are found in chaps. 7 and 12. For both 
 chap. 7 : 25, and chap. 12 : 7, fix the duration of the Papal poAver 
 at 1200 years. Historically this poAver began in A. D. 538 
 and ended in 1798. Then, since chap. 12: 12, pronounces him 
 blessed wdio waitcth and cometh to the 1335th day, there were 
 fortj'-five years more to be added — "the time of the end" — and 
 this brings u^ down to 1843 for the perfect blessedness of the 
 
 righteous. 4. Yet again; since chap. 12: 11, makes the duration 
 
 of the Papal power 1290 days, alias years, you have only to begin 
 to count from A. D. 508 and you bring up, as before, at 1798; and 
 if you add to this " the time of the end,' (45 years) wonderful to 
 tell, you have again the end of the world in 1843 ! Thus, with as- 
 
DISSERTATION II. 469 
 
 tonishing facility, all tho mystic numbers of Daniel are found to 
 converge upon 1843, and combine their testimony to prove that the 
 world shall be burned up and cleansed by fire in this identical 
 
 year! The reader will notice that in general these successive 
 
 points are precisely links in a chain, all necessary to the conclusion, 
 .so that 
 
 " Whatever link you strike. 
 Tenth, or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike. ' 
 
 Thus, if you strike the day-for-a-year link, the whole system 
 vanishes into thin air. If you touch the little-horn-Papal-powcr 
 link, all goes down. If you show that the Jewiih sanctuary is not 
 this entire world, Miller's system has nothing left, and so of the 
 rest. 
 
 Let us now pass these successive points — the links of Miller's 
 chain — under a brief review, and see if there is even one sound 
 link in the entire chain. 1. The first is that the little horn of Dan- 
 iel^ and particularly of chap. 8, is Papal Rome. This can not be 
 
 true. As shown in the notes on that chapter, it is absolutely im- 
 possible. If we will believe God's own explanation,' we can not 
 believe this. 2. His second position is that " the daily sacrifice " 
 which the little horn "took away" was the pagan worship of idols 
 
 in Ancient Eome. Nothing can be more absurd than this; 
 
 nothing could be a grosser violation of the laws of language. Tho 
 "daily sacrifice" was a well-known Jewish phrase for their own 
 stated worship at their temple. It knows no other meaning in the 
 Hebrew Bible. Hence Mr. Miller might as well have said that it 
 refers to the carnivals in Milton's Pandemonium, as to say it means 
 the pagan idol-worship of the Koman empire. Such outrages upon 
 all just principles of interpretation can never be denounced too se- 
 verely. As we value the book of God ; as we prize its treasures of 
 blessed truth; we must frown down and reprobate the reckless, 
 ignorant, presumptuous trifling that throws ofl' such interpretations 
 
 under the solemn sanction of God's revealed truth ! 3. Mr. 
 
 Miller's third position is that the Papal power abolished this pagan 
 
 idolatry in A. D. 508 or 538. It will scarcely pay to follow out 
 
 historical statements so made at random as these are. Plainly, if 
 this was done at one of these dates, it was not done at the other. 
 In fact neither date is historically good for any thing. For, long 
 before any properly Papal power came into existence, primitive 
 Christianity had abolished paganism by permeating society with 
 its holy doctrines and spirit ; by the legislation of Constantine about 
 A. D. 325 ; and finally by the acts of Thcodosius, A. D. 3^0-395. 
 The usual date for the rise of the Papal poAver is about A. D. G06. 
 Be this as it may, however, it was never any thing distinctively 
 Papal that abolished paganism. If he had said that the Papal 
 power baptized paganism, and then smuggled it into the Christian 
 church and gave it thus a now lease of life for at least twelve 
 hundred years longer, he would have announced one of the start- 
 ling facts of veritable history. Note here that if the Papal power 
 is in Daniel at all, it is merely and only as an antichristian, per- 
 
470 DISSERTATlOiN II. 
 
 sccuting power. Hence to maintain that, as such a poioer, it "took 
 away" and abolished the idol-worship of Pagan Kome, is simply 
 al)surd in idea and false in f\ict. .So that this link of Mr. Miller's 
 chain is not half so strong as a gossamer thread. 4. Mr. Miller's 
 fourth position is that "the sanctuary" which was "cleansed" 
 
 (chap. 8: 14) is this entire world. If Mr. Miller had read his. 
 
 Kible with common intelligence, he would have seen that " the 
 sanctuary," as spoken of by the Jews, always meant their own 
 temple. What plain, unprejudiced liible reader ever failed to sec 
 
 this? Further, the sanctuary cleansed (v. 14) should be the same 
 
 which the little horn-power had just previously desecrated by 
 "taking aAvay the daily sacrifice" and "casting down the place of 
 his sanctuary." According to Mr. Miller's holding, therefore, the 
 sanctuary to be cleansed should be the pagan shrines of old Home, 
 and not the whole world. 
 
 Uut let tlic reader note especially, that with Mr. Miller this world 
 is called God's sanctuary precisely ivhcn, and apparently because, it 
 has become so hopelessly rotten in its moral corruption as to be fit 
 only for conflagration ! That is, it is God's sanctuary, not as made 
 in innocence, wisdom, and beauty — "all very good;" not as having 
 some nobly good men in it, walking softly by faith and holding 
 communion with Jehovah ; not in either of these points of light, but 
 as utterly corrupt and ripe for the fires of remediless judgment! 
 Such a world, so considered, the Lord calls his sanctuary. The 
 same in principle as if he were to call hell itself his sanctuary ! 
 Was such nonsense ever jDut into a system of prophetic inter- 
 pretation before ? And yet, with crimson check, I must admit that 
 there Avere men and women in enlightened America who believed 
 in Mr. Miller's interpretations of Daniel and in his argument. and 
 
 his dates for the burning of the world in 1843! Shall we follow 
 
 him now into chap. 9, and take note first of the logic by which lie 
 
 connects this chapter Avith chap. 8 ? -He says "that Daniel did 
 
 not understand the vision of chap. 8, but continued in great per- 
 plexity until the Jjord sent this new vision, recorded at'the close 
 of chap. 9, to explain it and to relieve his mind. Specially he 
 affirms that the last clause of v. 23, "Therefore understand the 
 matter and consider the vision," refers explicitly to tlie vision of 
 chap. 8. These statements of his are entirely without founda- 
 tion, and against all tlie evidence in the case. 1 admit that Daniel 
 did not fully understand all the points in the vision of chap. 8. 
 Hence chaps. 10-12 came at length in iurther explanation — real 
 explanation — as its parallelism and its additional light on the same 
 points abundantly show. Dut there is not the least hijit in chap. 
 
 9 which implies an allusion to the topics of chap. 8. Again, the 
 
 Hebrew of chap. 9: 23, is absolutely decisive against Mr.JMiller's 
 position. "At the beginning of thy supplications, a word came 
 forth and I have come to set it before thee; therefore understand 
 the word— -ihm same word which came forth at the beginning of thy 
 supplications, and not some other word, revealed years before, viz., 
 in the third year of Dclshazzar. This same word, now sent you, 
 
DISSERTATION II. 471 
 
 understand; and consider < Ad? vision, i. e., this vision. Yet fur- 
 ther, the vv^ord for "vision" here is "march," but in chap. 8: 1, it 
 is another Avord, "hhazon," which essentially forbids the assump- 
 tion that this vision of chap. 9 refers to that of chap. 8. These 
 two words for " vision " are not precisely synonymous ; that in chap. 
 8:1, being applied more properly to a vision in the sense of some- 
 thing seen ; this in chap. 9 : 23, to one in which something is merely 
 heard. Yet further, a little attention to the scope of chap. 9 will 
 show that the burden on Daniel's heart was not the dark points of 
 the vision of chap. 8, but Avas the great sins of his people which he 
 feared might stand in the way of their deliverance from their cap- 
 tivity in Babylon — the time for which, according to the word of the 
 Lord by Jeremiah, was now close at hand. It was precisely to lift 
 this burden from his heart that the Lord showed him here how at 
 the end of sixty-nine sevens of years, he would provide through 
 the death of the Messiah for the taking away of all sin and the ful- 
 filling of all his good words of prophecy and promise. So that Mr. 
 Miller has utterly failed to see the drift of this entire ninth chapter, 
 and Jias most erroneously assumed and affirmed a connection with 
 chap. 8 which never existed. 
 
 2. Yet further Daniel could not learn (as Mr. Miller claims) 
 from the, seventy weeks that the days in prophecy mean years; for, 
 as shown already, the passage teaches no such thing. Nor could 
 he learn that the twenty-three hundred days, at the end of which 
 the sanctuary should be cleansed, begin with the decree for re- 
 storing and rebuilding Jerusalem. There is no shadoAv of con- 
 nection between the one thing and the other. What had the 
 decree of-Artaxerxes to do with the beginning of that "vision con- 
 cerning the daily sacrifice aijd the transgression of desolation, and 
 the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under 
 foot?" Absolutely nothing. It is only a fancy, a mere dream of 
 Mr. Miller's. He might as well have fixed his starting-point at the 
 
 creation, or at the flood. It is remarkable that he utterly ignores 
 
 the question in chap. 8: 13, to which the twenty-three hundred 
 days of V. 14 is the answer. By what right does any man so dis- 
 tort and pervert the words of this holy book ? 
 
 3. Yet another remarkable ooniirmation is found by Mr. Miller 
 in the twelve hundred and sixty years of the Papal power which 
 (as he asserts) begins with A. D. 538 and ends with A. D. 1798. 
 
 Historically, Mr. Miller has first to show that the Papal power 
 
 began in A. D. 538. Was there any great event in that year which 
 brought into being the identical persecuting, antichristian Papal 
 power which figures so boldly in the world's history? Nothing 
 special; no more in that year than in many other years. But pass- 
 ing that, did Mr. Miller prove that the Papal power perished and 
 came to an utter end in A. D. 1798? Who does not know that 
 the Papal power as truly lives to-day as it lived in 1797, or at 
 any point of the eighteenth century? It is simply a great his- 
 torical falsehood to assert that the Papal power perished and 
 ceased from the earth in A. D. 1798 ! A man might just as well 
 
472 DISSERTATION II. 
 
 say it ceased three hundred years ago. Let this examination of 
 
 Mr. Miller's chain of assumed proofs that the world must burn up 
 in 1843 suffice. Let that system stand as a fearful illustration of 
 the mischiefs of reckless tampering with prophetic interpretation — 
 a solemn warning to men avIio lack every quality of a safe inter- 
 preter, Avho have neither the learning, nor the judgment, nor the 
 plain common sense that are indispensable — that they refrain from 
 mangling and torturing the prophetic words of the Lord ! It was 
 not without good reason that through the last great revclator, the 
 Lord closed the last Bible prophecy with the terrible dcnounce- 
 _ ment: "1 testify to -every man that heareth the words of the proph- 
 ecy of this book; If any man shall add unto these things, God shall 
 add unto him the plagues that are written in this book ; and if any 
 man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, 
 God shall take aAvay his part out of the book of life." Rev. 22 : 
 
 18, 19. Mr. Miller's system found some of the pillars of its 
 
 strength in the mistakes of previous interpreters, especially in these 
 two, viz., that days in prophecy mean years, and that the little horn 
 in Daniel's visions is the Koman papal power. The former of these 
 is entirely fundamental in all those schemes which attempt to fix 
 the time for the second advent of Christ, or the precise time for the 
 millennium to begin. The latter is beyond all questioji a mis- 
 take, a fallacy in tlie interpretation of Daniel, and one that can not 
 fail to be fraught with mischief Let the use made of these errors 
 
 by Mr. Miller be an admonition to the churches ! Of the day and 
 
 the year of Christ's second coming, no man will know till it comes. 
 At what time the great Roman Antichrist shall fall, no prophecy of 
 Daniel teaches, for the good reason that he says nothing on this 
 subject.. It is safer to conclude that it will fall when Evangelical 
 Protestant Christendom shall do h(?r duty, and through God's help 
 shall make the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, 
 mighty to cast down all the formalities, idolatries, and corruptions 
 of that great system of religious delusion. For even if God shall 
 some day send the fires of his judgment upon her to her destruc- 
 tion, he will first exhaust the force of his truth for her salvation — 
 till it shall prove itself in vain! This, as we have seen in the case 
 of American slavery, is the law of God's mercy toward great sys- 
 tems of iniquity. Try them with moral appliances first; these fail- 
 ing, his red thunderbolts fall when and where they must! ^lay 
 God hasten and bless tlie pressure of the gospel's power upon the 
 heart of the Papal Church! And may his people be content to be 
 workers together with God for her salvation rather than prophets 
 of her fall! 
 
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