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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
D A N I E L.
CHAP. VII.
The six former chapters of this book were historical; we now enter with
fear and trembling upon the six latter, which are prophetical, wherein
are many things dark and hard to be understood, which we dare not
positively determine the sense of, and yet many things plain and
profitable, which I trust God will enable us to make a good use of. In
this chapter we have,
I. Daniel’s vision of the four beasts,
II. His vision of God’s throne of government and judgment,
III. The interpretation of these visions, given him by an angel that
stood by,
Whether those visions look as far forward as the end of time, or
whether they were to have a speedy accomplishment, is hard to say, nor
are the most judicious interpreters agreed concerning it.
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1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a
dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the
dream, and told the sum of the matters.
2 Daniel spake and said, 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 from the sea, diverse one from
another.
4 The first was 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 stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s
heart was given to it.
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.
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.
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 with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all
the beasts that were 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, behold, in this horn were
eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.
The date of this chapter places it before
which was in the last year of Belshazzar, and
which was in the first of Darius; for Daniel had those visions in the
first year of Belshazzar, when the captivity of the Jews in Babylon was
drawing near a period. Belshazzar’s name here is, in the original,
spelt differently from what it used to be; before it was
Bel-she-azar–Bel is he that treasures up riches. But this is
Bel-eshe-zar–Bel is on fire by the enemy. Bel was the god of
the Chaldeans; he had prospered, but is now to be consumed.
We have, in these verses, Daniel’s vision of the four monarchies that
were oppressive to the Jews. Observe,
I. The circumstances of this vision. Daniel had interpreted
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, and now he is himself honoured with similar
divine discoveries
(v. 1):
He had visions of his head upon his bed, when he was asleep; so
God sometimes revealed himself and his mind to the children of men,
when deep sleep fell upon them
for when we are most retired from the world, and taken off from the
things of sense, we are most fit for communion with God. But when he
was awake he wrote the dream for his own use, lest he should
forget it as a dream which passes away; and he told the sum of the
matters to his brethren the Jews for their use, and gave it to them
in writing, that it might be communicated to those at a distance and
preserved for their children after them, who shall see these things
accomplished. The Jews, misunderstanding some of the prophecies of
Jeremiah and Ezekiel, flattered themselves with hopes that, after their
return to their own land, they should enjoy a complete and
uninterrupted tranquility; but that they might not so deceive
themselves, and their calamities be made doubly grievous by the
disappointment, God by this prophet lets them know that they shall have
tribulation: those promises of their prosperity were to be accomplished
in the spiritual blessings of the kingdom of grace; as Christ has told
his disciples they must expect persecution, and the promises they
depend upon will be accomplished in the eternal blessings of the
kingdom of glory. Daniel both wrote these things and spoke them, to
intimate that the church should be taught both by the scriptures and by
ministers’ preaching, both by the written word and by word of mouth;
and ministers in their preaching are to tell the sum of the
matters that are written.
II. The vision itself, which foretels the revolutions of government in
those nations which the church of the Jews, for the following ages, was
to be under the influence of.
1. He observed the four winds to strive upon the great sea,
v. 2.
They strove which should blow strongest, and, at length, blow alone.
This represents the contests among princes for empire, and the shakings
of the nations by these contests, to which those mighty monarchies,
which he was now to have a prospect of, owed their rise. One wind from
any point of the compass, if it blow hard, will cause a great commotion
in the sea; but what a tumult must needs be raised when the four winds
strive for mastery! This is it which the kings of the nations are
contending for in their wars, which are as noisy and violent as the
battle of the winds; but how is the poor sea tossed and torn, how
terrible are its concussions, and how violent its convulsions, while
the winds are at strife which shall have the sole power of troubling
it! Note, This world is like a stormy tempestuous sea; thanks to the
proud ambitious winds that vex it.
2. He saw four great beasts come up from the sea, from the
troubled waters, in which aspiring minds love to fish. The
monarchs and monarchies are represented by beasts, because too
often it is by brutish rage and tyranny that they are raised and
supported. These beasts were diverse one from another
(v. 3),
of different shapes, to denote the different genius and complexion of
the nations in whose hands they were lodged.
(1.) The first beast was like a lion,
v. 4.
This was the Chaldean monarchy, that was fierce and strong, and made
the kings absolute. This lion had eagle’s wings, with which to
fly upon the prey, denoting the wonderful speed that Nebuchadnezzar
made in his conquest of kingdoms. But Daniel soon sees the wings
plucked, a full stop put to the career of their victorious arms.
Divers countries that had been tributaries to them revolt from them,
and make head against them; so that this monstrous animal, this winged
lion, is made to stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart is
given to it. It has lost the heart of a lion, which it had been
famous for (one of our English kings was called Cœur de
Lion–Lion-heart), has lost its courage and become feeble and
faint, dreading every thing and daring nothing; they are put in fear,
and made to know themselves to be but men. Sometimes the valour of a
nation strangely sinks, and it becomes cowardly and effeminate, so that
what was the head of the nations in an age or two becomes the tail.
(2.) The second beast was like a bear,
v. 5.
This was the Persian monarchy, less strong and generous than the
former, but no less ravenous. This bear raised up itself on one
side against the lion, and soon mastered it. It raised up one
dominion; so some read it. Persia and Media, which in
Nebuchadnezzar’s image were the two arms in one breast, now set
up a joint government. This bear had three ribs in the mouth of it
between the teeth, the remains of those nations it had devoured,
which were the marks of its voraciousness, and yet an indication that
though it had devoured much it could not devour all; some ribs still
stuck in the teeth of it, which it could not conquer. Whereupon it was
said to it, “Arise, devour much flesh; let alone the bones, the
ribs, that cannot be conquered, and set upon that which will be an
easier prey.” The princes will stir up both the kings and the people to
push on their conquests, and let nothing stand before them. Note,
Conquests, unjustly made, are but like those of the beasts of prey, and
in this much worse, that the beasts prey not upon those of their
own kind, as wicked and unreasonable men do.
(3.) The third beast was like a leopard,
v. 6.
This was the Grecian monarchy, founded by Alexander the Great,
active, crafty, and cruel, like a leopard. He had four wings
of a fowl; the lion seems to have had but two wings; but the
leopard had four, for though Nebuchadnezzar made great despatch in his
conquests Alexander made much greater. In six years’ time he gained the
whole empire of Persia, a great part besides of Asia, made himself
master of Syria, Egypt, India, and other nations. This beast had
four heads; upon Alexander’s death his conquests were divided
among his four chief captains; Seleucus Nicanor had Asia the Great;
Perdiccas, and after him Antigonus, had Asia the Less; Cassander had
Macedonia; and Ptolemeus had Egypt. Dominion was given to
this beast; it was given of God, from whom alone promotion
comes.
(4.) The fourth beast was more fierce, and formidable, and mischievous,
than any of them, unlike any of the other, nor is there any among the
beasts of prey to which it might be compared,
v. 7.
The learned are not agreed concerning this anonymous beast; some make
it to be the Roman empire, which, when it was in its glory,
comprehended ten kingdoms, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Britain,
Sarmatia, Pannonia, Asia, Greece, and Egypt; and then the little horn
which rose by the fall of three of the other horns
(v. 8)
they make to be the Turkish empire, which rose in the room of Asia,
Greece, and Egypt. Others make this fourth beast to be the kingdom of
Syria, the family of the Seleucidæ, which was very cruel and
oppressive to the people of the Jews, as we find in Josephus and the
history of the Maccabees. And herein that empire was diverse from those
which went before, that none of the preceding powers compelled the Jews
to renounce their religion, but the kings of Syria did, and used them
barbarously. Their armies and commanders were the great iron
teeth with which they devoured and broke in pieces the
people of God, and they trampled upon the residue of them. The
ten horns are then supposed to be ten kings that reigned
successively in Syria; and then the little horn is Antiochus
Epiphanes, the last of the ten, who by one means or other undermined
three of the kings, and got the government. He was a man of great
ingenuity, and therefore is said to have eyes like the eyes of a
man; and he was very bold and daring, had a mouth speaking great
things. We shall meet with him again in these prophecies.
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9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of
days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of
his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery
flame, and his wheels as burning fire.
10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him:
thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand 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.
12 As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their
dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season
and time.
13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son
of man came with 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.
Whether we understand the fourth beast to signify the Syrian empire, or
the Roman, or the former as the figure of the latter, it is plain that
these verses are intended for the comfort and support of the people of
God in reference to the persecutions they were likely to sustain both
from the one and from the other, and from all their proud enemies in
every age; for it is written for their learning on whom the ends of the
world have come, that they also, through patience and comfort of this
scripture, might have hope. Three things are here discovered that are
very encouraging:–
I. That there is a judgment to come, and God is the Judge. Now men have
their day, and every pretender thinks he should have his day, and
struggles for it. But he that sits in heaven laughs at them, for
he sees that his day is coming,
Ps. xxxvii. 13.
I beheld
(v. 9)
till the thrones were cast down, not only the thrones of these
beasts, but all rule, authority, power, that are set up in
opposition to the kingdom of God among men
such are the thrones of the kingdoms of the world, in comparison with
God’s kingdom; those that see them set up need but wait awhile, and
they will see them cast down. I beheld till thrones were set up
(so it may as well be read), Christ’s throne and the throne of his
Father. One of the rabbin confesses that these thrones are set
up, one for God, another for the Son of David. It is
the judgment that is here set,
v. 10.
Now,
1. This is intended to proclaim God’s wise and righteous government of
the world by his providence; and an unspeakable satisfaction it gives
to all good men, in the midst of the convulsions and revolutions of
states and kingdoms, that the Lord has prepared his throne in the
heavens and his kingdom rules over all
(Ps. ciii. 19),
that verily there is a God that judges in the earth,
Ps. lviii. 11.
2. Perhaps it points at the destruction brought by the providence of
God upon the empire of Syria, or that of Rome, for their tyrannizing
over the people of God. But,
3. It seems principally designed to describe the last judgment, for
though it follow not immediately upon the dominion of the fourth beast,
nay, though it be yet to come, perhaps many ages to come, yet it was
intended that in every age the people of God should encourage
themselves, under their troubles, with the belief and prospect of it.
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of it,
Does the mouth of the enemy speak great things,
v. 8.
Here are far greater things which the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Many of the New-Testament predictions of the judgment to come have a
plain allusion to this vision, especially St John’s vision of it,
(1.) The Judge is the Ancient of days himself, God the
Father, the glory of whose presence is here described. He is
called the Ancient of days, because he is God from
everlasting to everlasting. Among men we reckon that with the
ancient is wisdom, and days shall speak; shall not all flesh
then be silent before him who is the Ancient of days? The glory
of the Judge is here set forth by his garment, which was white as
snow, denoting his splendour and purity in all the administrations
of his justice; and the hair of his head clean and white, as
the pure wool, that, as the white and hoary head, he may appear
venerable.
(2.) The throne is very formidable. It is like the fiery flame,
dreadful to the wicked that shall be summoned before it. And the throne
being movable upon wheels, or at least the chariot in which he rode the
circuit, the wheels thereof are as burning fire, to
devour the adversaries; for our God is a consuming fire, and
with him are everlasting burnings,
Isa. xxxiii. 14.
This is enlarged upon,
As to all his faithful friends there proceeds out of the throne of
God and the Lamb a pure river of water of life
(Rev. xxii. 1),
so to all his implacable enemies there issues and comes forth
from his throne a fiery stream, a stream of brimstone
(Isa. xxx. 33),
a fire that shall devour before him. He is a swift
witness, and his word a word upon the wheels.
(3.) The attendants are numerous and very splendid. The Shechinah is
always attended with angels; it is so here
(v. 10):
Thousand thousands minister to him, and ten thousand times
ten thousand stand before him. It is his glory that he has such
attendants, but much more his glory that he neither needs them nor can
be benefited by them. See how numerous the heavenly hosts are (there
are thousands of angels), and how obsequious they are–they
stand before God, ready to go on his errands and to take the
first intimation of his will and pleasure. They will particularly be
employed as ministers of his justice in the last judgment day, when the
Son of man shall come, and all the holy angels with him. Enoch
prophesied that the Lord should come with his holy myriads.
(4.) The process is fair and unexceptionable: The judgment is
set, publicly and openly, that all may have recourse to it; and
the books are opened. As in courts of judgment among men the
proceedings are in writing and upon record, which is laid open when the
cause comes to a hearing, the examination of witnesses is produced, and
affidavits are read, to clear the matter of fact, and the statute and
common-law books are consulted to find out what is the law, so, in the
judgment of the great day, the equity of the sentence will be as
incontestably evident as if there were books opened to justify it.
II. That the proud and cruel enemies of the church of God will
certainly be reckoned with and brought down in due time,
This is here represented to us,
1. In the destroying of the fourth beast. God’s quarrel with this beast
is because of the voice of the great words which the horn spoke,
bidding defiance to Heaven, and triumphing over all that is sacred;
this provokes God more than any thing, for the enemy to behave
himself proudly,
Deut. xxxii. 27.
Therefore Pharaoh must be humbled, because he has said, Who
is the Lord? and has said, I will pursue, I will overtake.
Enoch foretold that therefore the Lord would come to judge
the world, that he might convince all that are ungodly of their
hard speeches,
Jude 15.
Note, Great words are but idle words, for which men must give account
in the great day. And see what becomes of this beast that talks so big:
He is slain, and his body destroyed and given to the burning
flame. The Syrian empire, after Antiochus, was destroyed. He
himself died of a miserable disease, his family was rooted out, the
kingdom wasted by the Parthians and Armenians, and at length made a
province of the Roman empire by Pompey. And the Roman empire itself
(if we take that for the fourth beast), after it began to persecute
Christianity, declined and wasted away, and the body of it was
destroyed. So shall all thy enemies perish, O Lord! and be
slain before thee.
2. In the diminishing and weakening of the other three beasts
(v. 12):
They had their dominion taken away, and so were disabled from
doing the mischiefs they had done to the church and people of God; but
a prolonging in life was given them, for a time and a season, a
set time, the bounds of which they could not pass. The power of the
foregoing kingdoms was quite broken, but the people of them still
remained in a mean, weak, and low condition. We may allude to this in
describing the remainders of sin in the hearts of good people; they
have corruptions in them, the lives of which are prolonged, so that
they are not perfectly free from sin, but the dominion of them is taken
away, so that sin does not reign in their mortal bodies. And
thus God deals with his church’s enemies; sometimes he breaks the teeth
of them
(Ps. iii. 7),
when he does not break the neck of them, crushes the persecution, but
reprieves the persecutors, that they may have space to repent. And it
is fit that God, in doing his own work, should take his own time and
way.
III. That the kingdom of the Messiah shall be set up, and kept up, in
the world, in spite of all the opposition of the powers of darkness.
Let the heathen rage and fret as long as they please, God will set
his King upon his holy hill of Zion. Daniel sees this in vision,
and comforts himself and his friends with the prospect of it. This is
the same with Nebuchadnezzar’s foresight of the stone cut out of the
mountain without hands, which broke in pieces the image; but in
this vision there is much more of pure gospel than in that.
1. The Messiah is here called the Son of man–one like unto the Son
of man; for he was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, was
found in fashion as a man. I saw one like unto the Son of man,
one exactly agreeing with the idea formed in the divine counsels of him
that in the fulness of time was to be the Mediator between God and man.
He is like unto the son of man, but is indeed the Son of God.
Our Savior seems plainly to refer to this vision when he says
that the Father has therefore given him authority to execute
judgment because he is the Son of man, and because he is the
person whom Daniel saw in vision, to whom a kingdom and dominion were
to be given.
2. He is said to come with the clouds of heaven. Some refer this
to his incarnation; he descended in the clouds of heaven, came
into the world unseen, as the glory of the Lord took possession of the
temple in a cloud. The empires of the world were beasts that rose
out of the sea; but Christ’s kingdom is from above: he is the
Lord from heaven. I think it is rather to be referred to his
ascension; when he returned to the Father the eye of his disciples
followed him, till a cloud received him out of their sight,
Acts i. 9.
He made that cloud his chariot, wherein he rode triumphantly to the
upper world. He comes swiftly, irresistibly, and comes in state, for he
comes with the clouds of heaven.
3. He is here represented as having a mighty interest in Heaven. When
the cloud received him out of the sight of his disciples, it is worth
while to enquire (as the sons of the prophets concerning Elijah in a
like case) whither it carried him, where it lodged him; and here we are
told, abundantly to our satisfaction, that he came to the Ancient of
days; for he ascended to his Father and our Father, to
his God and our God
(John xx. 17);
from him he came forth, and to him he returns, to be glorified with
him, and to sit down at his right hand. It was with a great deal of
pleasure that he said, Now I go to him that sent me. But was he
welcome? Yes, not doubt, he was, for they brought him near before
him; he was introduced into his Father’s presence, with the
attendance and adorations of all the angels of God,
Heb. i. 6.
God caused him to draw near and approach to him, as an advocate
and undertaker for us
(Jer. xxx. 21),
that we through him might be made nigh. By this solemn near
approach which he made to the Ancient of days it appears that the
Father accepted the sacrifice he offered, and the satisfaction he made,
and was entirely well pleased with all he had done. He was brought
near, as our high priest, who for us enters within the veil, and as
our forerunner,
4. He is here represented as having a mighty influence upon this earth,
When he went to be glorified with his Father he had a power given
him over all flesh,
John xvii. 2, 5.
With the prospect of this Daniel and his friends are here comforted,
that not only the dominion of the church’s enemies shall be taken away
(v. 12),
but the church’s head and best friend shall have the dominion given
him; to him every knee shall bow and every tongue
confess.
Phil. ii. 9, 10.
To him are given glory and a kingdom, and they are given by him
who has an unquestionable right to give them, which, some think with an
eye to these words, our Savior teaches us to acknowledge in the close
of the Lord’s prayer, For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the
glory. It is here foretold that the kingdom of the exalted Redeemer
shall be,
(1.) A universal kingdom, the only universal monarchy, whatever others
have pretended to, or aimed at: All people, nations, and
languages, shall fear him, and be under his jurisdiction,
either as his willing subjects or as his conquered captives, to be
either ruled or overruled by him. One way or other, the kingdoms of the
world shall all become his kingdoms.
(2.) An everlasting kingdom. His dominion shall not pass
away to any successor, much less to any invader, and his kingdom is
that which shall not be destroyed. Even the gates of
hell, or the infernal powers and policies, shall not prevail against
it. The church shall continue militant to the end of time, and
triumphant to the endless ages of eternity.
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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.
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 kingdom, and
possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.
19 Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was
diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth
were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, 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 was 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.
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom
upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, 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 speak great words 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.
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.
28 Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my
cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me:
but I kept the matter in my heart.
Here we have,
I. The deep impressions which these visions made upon the prophet. God
in them put honour upon him, and gave him satisfaction, yet not without
a great allay of pain and perplexity
(v. 15):
I Daniel was grieved in my spirit, in the midst of my body. The
word here used for the body properly signifies a sheath
or scabbard, for the body is no more to the soul; that is the
weapon; it is that which we are principally to take care of. The
visions of my head troubled me, an again
(v. 28),
my cogitations much troubled me. The manner in which these
things were discovered to him quite overwhelmed him, and put his
thoughts so much to the stretch that his spirits failed him, and the
trance he was in tired him and made him faint. The things themselves
that were discovered amazed and astonished him, and put him into a
confusion, till by degrees he recollected and conquered himself, and
set the comforts of the vision over against the terrors of it.
II. His earnest desire to understand the meaning of them
(v. 16):
I came near to one of those that stood by, to one of the angels
that appeared attending the Son of man in his glory, and
asked him the truth (the true intent and meaning) of all
this. Note, It is a very desirable thing to take the right and full
sense of what we see and hear from God; and those that would know must
ask by faithful and fervent prayer and by accomplishing a diligent
search.
III. The key that was given him, to let him into the understanding of
this vision. The angel told him, and told him so plainly that he
made him know the interpretation of the thing, and so made him
somewhat more easy.
1. The great beasts are great kings and their kingdoms,
great monarchs and their monarchies, which shall arise out of the
earth, as those beasts did out of the sea,
v. 17.
They are but terræfilii–from beneath; they savour of the
earth, and their foundation is in the dust; they are of the
earth earthy, and they are written in the dust, and to the dust they
shall return.
2. Daniel pretty well understands the first three beasts, but
concerning the fourth he desires to be better informed, because it
differed so much from the rest, and was exceedingly dreadful,
and not only so, but very mischievous, or it devoured and broke in
pieces,
v. 19.
Perhaps it was this that put Daniel into such a fright, and this part
of the visions of his head troubled him more than any of the rest. But
especially he desired to know what the little horn was, that
had eyes, and a mouth that spoke very great things, and
whose countenance was more fearless and formidable than that of any
of his fellows,
v. 20.
And this he was most inquisitive about because it was this horn that
made war with the saints, and prevailed against them,
v. 21.
While no more is intimated than that the children of men make war with
one another, and prevail against one another, the prophet does not show
himself so much concerned (let the potsherds strive with the
potsherds of the earth, and be dashed in pieces one against
another); but when they make war with the saints, when the
precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, are broken as
earthen pitchers, it is time to ask, “What is the meaning of
this? Will the Lord cast off his people? Will he suffer their enemies
to trample upon them and triumph over them? What is this same horn
that shall prevail so far against the saints?” To this his interpreter
answers
(v. 23-25)
that this fourth beast is a fourth kingdom, that shall
devour the whole earth, or (as it may be read) the whole
land. That the ten horns are ten kings, and the little
horn is another king that shall subdue three kings, and shall be
very abusive to God and his people, shall act,
(1.) Very impiously towards God. He shall speak great words against
the Most High, setting him, and his authority and justice, at
defiance.
(2.) Very imperiously towards the people of God. He shall wear out
the saints of the Most High; he will not cut them off at once, but
wear them out by long oppressions and a constant course of hardships
put upon them, ruining their estates and weakening their families. The
design of Satan has been to wear out the saints of the Most
High, that they may be no more in remembrance; but the attempt is
vain, for while the world stands God will have a church in it. He shall
think to change times and laws, to abolish all the ordinances
and institutions of religion, and to bring every body to say and do
just as he would have them. He shall trample upon laws and customs,
human and divine. Diruit, ædificut, mutat quadrata
rotundis–He pulls down, he builds, he changes square into round,
as if he meant to alter even the ordinances of heaven themselves. And
in these daring attempts he shall for a time prosper and have success;
they shall be given into his hand until time, times, and half a
time (that is, for three years and a half), that famous prophetical
measure of time which we meet with in the Revelation, which is
sometimes called forty-two months, sometimes 1260 days, which come all
to one. But at the end of that time the judgment shall sit and take
away his dominion
(v. 26),
which he expounds
(v. 11)
of the beast being slain and his body destroyed. And (as Mr.
Mede reads
as to the rest of the beast, the ten horns, especially the
little ruffling horn (as he calls it), they had their dominion
taken away. Now the question is, Who is this enemy, whose rise, reign,
and ruin, are foretold? Interpreters are not agreed. Some will have
the fourth kingdom to be that of the Seleucidæ, and the little
horn to be Antiochus, and show the accomplishment of all this in the
history of the Maccabees; so Junius, Piscator, Polanus, Broughton, and
many others: but others will have the fourth kingdom to be that of the
Romans, and the little horn to be Julius Cæsar, and the
succeeding emperors (says Calvin), the antichrist, the papal kingdom
(says Mr. Joseph Mede), that wicked one, which, as this
little horn, is to be consumed by the brightness of Christ’s
second coming. The pope assumes a power to change times and
laws, potestas autokratorike—an absolute and
despotic power, as he calls it. Others make the little horn
to be the Turkish empire; so Luther, Vatablus, and others. Now I
cannot prove either side to be wrong; and therefore, since prophecies
sometimes have many fulfillings, and we ought to give scripture its
full latitude (in this as in many other controversies), I am willing to
allow that they are both in the right, and that this prophecy has
primary reference to the Syrian empire, and was intended for the
encouragement of the Jews who suffered under Antiochus, that they might
see even these melancholy times foretold, but might foresee a glorious
issue of them at last, and the final overthrow of their proud
oppressors; and, which is best of all, might foresee, not long after,
the setting up of the kingdom of the Messiah in the world, with the
hopes of which it was usual with the former prophets to comfort the
people of God in their distresses. But yet it has a further reference,
and foretels the like persecuting power and rage in Rome heathen, and
no less in Rome papal, against the Christian religion, that was in
Antiochus against the pious Jews and their religion. And St. John, in
his visions and prophecies, which point primarily at Rome, has plain
reference, in many particulars, to these visions of Daniel.
3. He has a joyful prospect given him of the prevalency of God’s
kingdom among men, and its victory over all opposition at last. And it
is very observable that in the midst of the predictions of the force
and fury of the enemies this is brought in abruptly
before it comes, in the course of the vision, to be interpreted,
And this also refers,
(1.) To the prosperous days of the Jewish church, after it had
weathered the storm under Antiochus, and the power which the Maccabees
obtained over their enemies.
(2.) To the setting up of the kingdom of the Messiah in the world by
the preaching of his gospel. For judgment Christ comes into this
world, to rule by his Spirit, and to make all his saints kings
and priests to their God.
(3.) To the second coming of Jesus Christ, when the saints shall judge
the world, shall sit down with him on his throne and triumph in the
complete downfall of the devil’s kingdom. Let us see what is here
foretold.
[1.] The Ancient of days shall come,
v. 22.
God shall judge the world by his Son, to whom he has committed all
judgment, and, as an earnest of that, he comes for the
deliverance of his oppressed people, comes for the setting up of his
kingdom in the world.
[2.] The judgment shall sit,
v. 26.
God will make it appear that he judges in the earth, and will,
both in wisdom and in equity, plead his people’s righteous cause. At
the great day he will judge the world in righteousness by that man
whom he has ordained.
[3.] The dominion of the enemy shall be taken away,
v. 26.
All Christ’s enemies shall be made his footstool, and shall be
consumed and destroyed to the end: these were the apostle uses
concerning the man of sin,
He shall be consumed with the spirit of Christ’s mouth
and destroyed with the brightness of his coming.
[4.] Judgment is given to the saints of the Most High. The
apostles are entrusted with the preaching of a gospel by which the
world shall be judged. All the saints by their faith and
obedience condemn an unbelieving disobedient world; in Christ their
head they shall judge the world, shall judge the twelve tribes of
Israel,
Matt. xix. 28.
See what reason we have to honour those that fear the Lord; how mean
and despicable soever the saints now appear in the eye of the world,
and how much contempt soever is poured upon them; they are the
saints of the Most High; they are near and dear to God, and he
owns them for his, and judgment is given to them.
[5.] That which is most insisted upon is that the saints of the Most
High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever,
v. 18.
And again
(v. 22),
The time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. And again
(v. 27),
The kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the
whole heavens, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most
High. Far be it from us to infer hence that dominion is founded on
grace, or that this will warrant any, under pretence of saintship, to
usurp kingship. No; Christ’s kingdom is not of this world; but
this intimates the spiritual dominion of the saints over their own
lusts and corruptions, their victories over Satan and his temptations,
and the triumphs of the martyrs over death and its terrors. It likewise
promises that the gospel kingdom shall be set up, a kingdom of grace,
the privileges and comforts of which now, under the heavens,
shall be the earnest and first-fruits of the kingdom of glory in the
heavens. When the empire became Christian, and princes used their
power for the defence and advancement of Christianity, then the
saints possessed the kingdom. The saints rule by the Spirit’s
ruling in them (and this is the victory overcoming the world, even
their faith) and by making the kingdoms of this world to become
Christ’s kingdom. But the full accomplishment of this will be in the
everlasting happiness of the saints, the kingdom that cannot be moved,
which we, according to his promise, look for (that is the greatness
of the kingdom), the crown of glory that fades not away–that is
the everlasting kingdom. See what an emphasis is laid upon this
(v. 18):
The saints shall possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and
ever; and the reason is because he whose saints they are is the
Most High and his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
v. 27.
He is so, and therefore theirs shall be so. Because I live, you
shall live also,
John xiv. 19.
His kingdom is theirs; they reckon themselves exalted in his
exaltation, and desire no greater honour and satisfaction to themselves
than that all dominions should serve and obey him, as
they shall do,
They shall either be brought into subjection to his golden sceptre or
brought to destruction by his iron rod.
Daniel, in the close, when he ends that matter, tells us what
impressions this vision made upon him; it overwhelmed his spirits to
such a degree that his countenance was changed, and it
made him look pale; but he kept the matter in his heart. Note,
The heart must be the treasury and store-house of divine things; there
we must hide God’s word, as the Virgin Mary kept the sayings of Christ,
Daniel kept the matter in his heart, with a design, not to keep
it from the church, but to keep it for the church, that what he had
received from the Lord he might fully and faithfully deliver to the
people. Note, It concerns God’s prophets and ministers to treasure up
the things of God in their minds, and there to digest them well. If we
would have God’s word ready in our mouths when we have occasion for it,
we must keep it in our hearts at all times.
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