For ships of Kittim will come against him. Therefore he will be grieved, and will return, and have indignation against the holy covenant, and will take action. He will even return, and have regard to those who forsake the holy covenant.
“Forces will stand on his part, and they will profane the sanctuary, even the fortress, and will take away the continual burnt offering. Then they will set up the abomination that makes desolate. He will corrupt those who do wickedly against the covenant by flatteries; but the people who know their God will be strong, and take action.
“Those who are wise among the people will instruct many; yet they will fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder, many days. Now when they fall, they will be helped with a little help; but many will join themselves to them with flatteries. Some of those who are wise will fall, to refine them, and to purify, and to make them white, even to the time of the end; because it is yet for the time appointed.
“The king will do according to his will. He will exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and will speak marvelous things against the God of gods. He will prosper until the indignation is accomplished; for that which is determined will be done. He won’t regard the gods of his fathers, or the desire of women, or regard any god; for he will magnify himself above all. But in his place he will honor the god of fortresses. He will honor a god whom his fathers didn’t know with gold, silver, and with precious stones and pleasant things. He will deal with the strongest fortresses by the help of a foreign god. He will increase with glory whoever acknowledges him. He will cause them to rule over many, and will divide the land for a price.
“At the time of the end the king of the south will contend with him; and the king of the north will come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, with horsemen, and with many ships. He will enter into the countries, and will overflow and pass through. He will enter also into the glorious land, and many countries will be overthrown; but these will be delivered out of his hand: Edom, Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. He will also stretch out his hand on the countries. The land of Egypt won’t escape. But he will have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt. The Libyans and the Ethiopians will be at his steps. But news out of the east and out of the north will trouble him; and he will go out with great fury to destroy and utterly to sweep away many. He will plant the tents of his palace between the sea and the glorious holy mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45 ships shall come from Chittim We have explained this…
ships shall come from Chittim We have explained this word elsewhere. By comparing all the passages of Scripture in which the word occurs, we shall find all the Gentiles denoted by it, from Macedon through the whole of Greece, as far as Illyricum and Italy. The ancients used another term for the Macedonians; they call them Maketoe, and some think the letter M a useless addition. But whether this be so or not, the circumstances shew the Macedonians, and Greeks, and other transmarine nations, to have been called Chittim. If any one still disputes about this word, let us desist from all contention; still, we cannot help observing what the perpetual tenor of Scripture enables us to discover, — that the Macedonians, Greeks, and Italians are included under this term. This passage is free from all doubt, because Antiochus was restrained not by the Greeks but by the Romans. Ambassadors were sent by them, not for this purpose alone, but to investigate the whole state of Greece and Asia Minor. The affairs of Greece were then very unsettled, and the Romans were turning their attention towards Achaia, for they thought the Achaean league would become too powerful. Among these ambassadors was P. Popilius, a stern man, as we may venture to conjecture, but austere and barbarous. When he met with Antiochus, who was then besieging Alexandria, and held the boy-king in captivity, he addressed him after his own manner. King Antiochus received him graciously, and mildly, and even blandly, and wished even to salute him, for, as we have already stated, his disposition was naturally servile. Popilius rejected all these advances, and ordered him to keep his familiarities for private intercourse; for Antiochus had been intimate with him when a hostage at Rome, during his father’s lifetime. He rejected all these acts of courtesy, and explained to him the commands of the Senate, and ordered him instantly to depart from Egypt. The king said he would consult with his friends. But he was unable to lay aside his accustomed sternness; he drew a circle with the wand which he held in his hand, and ordered the king to summon his counselors, and to deliberate on the spot, otherwise he must declare war at once. When the king perceived this barbarian acting so decisively, he dared no longer to hesitate or dissemble, but threw himself at once into the power of the Senate, and suddenly retired from the country. This history is now described by the angel. All these events were as yet unperformed, but God set before the eyes of the pious what was then entirely concealed and contrary to the expectation of mankind. The angel therefore states the reason wily that expedition of Antiochus should be quite unlike the last one. There shall come against him, says he, ships of Chittim, meaning Italy, and he shall grieve and return; that is, he shall obey, although he shall feel indignant at such imperious treatment, and be compelled to retreat with every mark of disgrace. It was unworthy of a king to demean himself so humbly at the mere word of his adversary.
This accounts for his indignation: But he shall return and be indignant against the covenant of holiness; meaning, he shall turn his rage against the temple and city of God. This second return involved the Jews in a far longer period of slaughter than the former one. Antiochus was then unwilling to return home, unless laden with spoil, after pretending to establish peace; but now he was compelled to retreat with great disgrace, and this only exasperated and enraged him. Hence he acted most outrageously towards both the people and the temple of God. Thus the angel says, He shall be indignant against the holy covenant, and shall do so and return He repeats the same language twice as if he had said, Antiochus should return to Syria without effecting his object, through obeying the Roman Senate, or rather his old friend whom he had known at Rome. We have already stated the reason, which we shall afterwards more fully explain, why the angel predicted the fury of the king as turned against the holy covenant It is this, — the confidence of the pious would naturally be injured by observing the divine permission granted to the tyrant for spoiling the temple.
Read full note →
He next adds, And he shall act with intelligence towards the forsakers of the holy covenant The angel here points out the manner in which secret agreements should take place between Antiochus and those apostates who should desert God’s holy covenant. It is quite clear that he was summoned to Jerusalem, first, by Jason, and then by Menelaus. (2 Maccabees 4:19-23.) I shall touch but briefly events recorded in history. Profane authors inform us accurately of these occurrences, and besides this, a whole book of Maccabees gives us similar information, and places clearly before us what the angel here predicts. Every one who wishes to read these prophecies with profit, must make himself familiar with these books, and must try to remember the whole history. Onias the elder was a holy man; his son has been previously mentioned. (2 Maccabees 3:1.) For, with the view of escaping from snares, he set out for Egypt and built a temple, as Josephus informs us, and pretended to fulfill that passage in Isaiah which says, There shall be an altar to God in Egypt. But Onias the elder, who discharged faithfully and sacredly the office of high priest, was put to flight, and eventually put to death. Then Jason, whom he had sent to appease Antiochus, assumed the high priesthood, and betrayed the temple and the whole nation, as well as the worship of God. (2 Maccabees 4:35-37; also 7.) He afterwards met with the reward which he deserved, for he was slain, and then Menelaus succeeded him, and conciliated the favor of Antiochus. (2 Maccabees 5:9; 4:27.) The authority of the priesthood prevailed so far as to enable him to draw with him a great portion of the people. Here, then, the angel predicts how Antiochus, on approaching the city, should have deserters and apostates as His companions. The words are, He shall apply his mind to the forsakers of the holy covenant, and the sense is by no means obscure. Antiochus should not make open war against the Jews, but one faction should go forth to meet him and ingratiate themselves with him. I run through these events briefly, because when I afterwards arrive at a general summary, it will be far more convenient to elicit the general improvement. The angel says next:
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 44, 45 With the Jews which shall forsake the covenant of…
With the Jews which shall forsake the covenant of the Lord: for first he was called against the Jews by Jason the high Priest, and this second time by Menelaus.
That is, the Roman power shall come against him: for P. Popilius the Ambassador appointed him to depart in the Romans’ name, to which thing he obeyed, although with grief, and to revenge his rage he came against the people of God the second time.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv30–45 Dan 11:30 For the ships of Chittim shall come…
Dan 11:30 For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.
Ver. 30. For the ships of Chittim shall come against him,] i.e., Publius Popilius, the Roman envoy, shall come in Italian or Grecian ships, and shall, in the name of the senate and people of Rome, command Antiochus to depart with his army out of Egypt, and that forthwith. {a} So true found Antiochus that of the poet,
Read full note →
“ Omne, sub regno graviore, regnum est. ”
Therefore he shall be grieved, and return.] And reck his wrath upon the poor Church of God, turning his rage against the Jews.
And have intelligence with them that forsake the covenant.] None are so dangerous and desperate enemies to the truth as apostates and renegades, such as were here, Jason, Menelaus, &c., {2Ma 4:7-10; 2Ma 4:23-28} who privily packed with Antiochus against the city and people.
{a} Joseph., lib. xii. cap. 6; Liv., dec. 5, lib. v.; Appian. in Syr.; Justin.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv30–45 The ships of Chittim shall come against him, i.e.…
The ships of Chittim shall come against him, i.e. the Romans out of Italy, and parts of the Archipelago, under them, shall come with force, and they shall vex and afflict him; for the Romans had harbours for their ships and galleys in Cilicia, Macedonia, and other parts of those coasts; whereby, after they had subdued Greece, they pursued Antiochus in Asia, and sent into Egypt to prevent his going into Alexandria. — Liv. 1. 45. This grieved and fretted him; for when he lingered and framed excuses, Popilius the Roman ambassador made a circle about him with his rod, commanding he should not stir thence till he gave him a positive present answer, by which, sore against his will, he was fain to pack away out of Egypt, and withdraw his garrisons and navy thence. This made his heart boil with rancour, which he spit out all against the Jews; therefore it is said,
he shall be grieved and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant; especially being solicited to it by Jason first, and Menelaus after, who were apostates, and betrayers of their brethren, and the true worship of God, 2Ma 4:26,27, &c. Because Onias was in power, this they envied, therefore went to Antiochus.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv30–45 For the ships of Chittim shall come against him,....…
For the ships of Chittim shall come against him,.... Ptolemy king of Egypt, and his brother, being come to an agreement, sent an embassy to the senate of Rome, to implore their help and assistance against Antiochus, who was preparing to besiege them in Alexandria; upon which they sent their ambassadors Caius Popilius Laenas, Caius Decimus, and Caius Hostilius, in ships from Macedonia (z), or Greece, to Antiochus, to require him to desist from making war upon Ptolemy, and that he quit the land of Egypt; see Num 24:24. Macedonia is called the land of Cittim, in the Apocrypha:
"And it happened, after that Alexander son of Philip, the Macedonian, who came out of the land of Chettiim, had smitten Darius king of the Persians and Medes, that he reigned in his stead, the first over Greece,'' (1 Maccabees 1:1)
Read full note →
"Beside this, how they had discomfited in battle Philip, and Perseus, king of the Citims, with others that lifted up themselves against them, and had overcome them:'' (1 Maccabees 8:5)
Jarchi, Aben Ezra, Saadiah, and Jacchiades, interpret it of the Romans; and, according to Gorionides (a), Cittim are the Romans; and Jerom here interprets them of them; and Bochart has proved at large (b) that they are meant. The word seems to be used both of Grecians and Romans, and here of Romans in Grecian ships:
therefore he shall be grieved, and return; being obliged to it, sore against his will: as soon as he saw Popilius, with whom he had contracted a friendship while he was an hostage at Rome, he offered his hand to kiss; but Popilius refused it, and observed that private friendship should give way to public interest; and then produced the decree of the senate, and delivered it to him, and required his answer; but Antiochus delaying, telling him he would consult his friends, Popilius, with a rod in his hand, drew a circle round him, and bid him consult his friends directly; adding that he should not stir from that circle till he had given a positive answer; which roughness struck him, and, hesitating a little, he replied he would obey the senate, as Justin (c), Livy (d), Velleius Paterculus (e), and other historians, relate; and upon which he at once departed with his army, though fretted and vexed to the last degree:
and have indignation against the holy covenant; the Jews, God's covenant people; on whom he gratified his revenge, sending Apollonius, with an army of twenty two thousand men, to whom he gave orders to slay the men, and sell the women and children; and who committed many outrages in the city and temple: now it was the daily sacrifice was made to cease, and the abomination of desolation set up, as in the following verse, and all that done predicted in Dan 8:10, this was two years after his former expedition into Egypt, and the havoc he made upon his return from thence, and in the eighth year of his reign, and one hundred and forty fifth of the Seleucidae; in the Apocrypha:
"And spake peaceable words unto them, but all was deceit: for when they had given him credence, he fell suddenly upon the city, and smote it very sore, and destroyed much people of Israel.'' (1 Maccabees 1:30)
"He sent also that detestable ringleader Apollonius with an army of two and twenty thousand, commanding him to slay all those that were in their best age, and to sell the women and the younger sort:'' (2 Maccabees 5:24)
so shall he do; such wicked deeds as before declared, in his wrath and fury against the Jews, being provoked at his disappointment in Egypt:
he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant: apostate Jews, who had renounced their religion, forsook the law of God, and the ordinances of his worship, and turned Heathens; of whom it is said, agreeably to the language of this prophecy, and seemingly with a view to it,
that they made themselves uncircumcised, and departed from the holy covenant, in the Apocrypha:
"And made themselves uncircumcised, and forsook the holy covenant, and joined themselves to the heathen, and were sold to do mischief.'' (1 Maccabees 1:15)
with these Antiochus kept an intelligence, and held a correspondence, in order not only to know the affairs of the Jews from time to time, but to draw them off from their religion, and propagate Heathenism among them; such as Jason, Menelaus, and others; in the Apocrypha:
"12 So this device pleased them well. 13 Then certain of the people were so forward herein, that they went to the king, who gave them licence to do after the ordinances of the heathen: 14 Whereupon they built a place of exercise at Jerusalem according to the customs of the heathen: 15 And made themselves uncircumcised, and forsook the holy covenant, and joined themselves to the heathen, and were sold to do mischief. 43 Yea, many also of the Israelites consented to his religion, and sacrificed unto idols, and profaned the sabbath. 44 For the king had sent letters by messengers unto Jerusalem and the cities of Juda that they should follow the strange laws of the land, 45 And forbid burnt offerings, and sacrifice, and drink offerings, in the temple; and that they should profane the sabbaths and festival days:'' (1 Maccabees 1)
(z) Vid. Liv. Hist. l. 45. c. 10. (a) Heb. Hist. l. 1. c. 1. p. 7. (b) Phaleg. l. 3. c. 5. (c) E Trogo, l. 34. c. 2, 3. (d) Hist. l. 45. c. 12. (e) Roman. Histor. l. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv30, 31, 36, 38, 39, 41, 43, 45 The ships of Chittim - The Roman out of…
The ships of Chittim - The Roman out of Italy, and the Archipelago. This made his heart boil with rancor, which he spit out against the Jews; especially being solicited to it by Jason first, and Menelaus after, who were apostates, and betrayers of their brethren.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45 Verse 30. For the ships of Chittim shall come…
Verse 30. For the ships of Chittim shall come against him] Chittim is well known to mean the Roman empire. Antiochus, being now in full march to besiege Alexandria, and within seven miles of that city, heard that ships were arrived there from Rome, with legates from the senate. He went to salute them. They delivered to him the letters of the senate, in which he was commanded, on pain of the displeasure of the Roman people, to put an end to the war against his nephews. Antiochus said he would go and consult his friends; on which Popilius, one of the legates, took his staff, and instantly drew a circle round Antiochus on the sand where he stood, and commanded him not to pass that circle till he had given a definitive answer. Antiochus, intimidated, said, he would do whatever the senate enjoined; and in a few days after began his march, and returned to Syria. This is confirmed by Polybius, Livy, Velleius, Paterculus, Valerius Maximus, and Justin.
Therefore he shall be grieved] "Grieving and groaning," says Polybius; both mortified, humbled, and disappointed.
Read full note →
Have indignation against the holy covenant] For he vented his rage against the Jews; and he sent his general, Apollonius, with twenty-two thousand men against Jerusalem, plundered and set fire to the city, pulled down the houses round about it, slew much of the people, and built a castle on an eminence that commanded the temple, and slew multitudes of the poor people who had come up to worship, polluted every place, so that the temple service was totally abandoned, and all the people fled from the city. And when he returned to Antioch he published a decree that all should conform to the Grecian worship; and the Jewish worship was totally abrogated, and the temple itself consecrated to Jupiter Olympius. How great must the wickedness of the people have been when God could tolerate this!
In the transacting of these matters he had intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant; with wicked Menelaus the high priest; and the apostate Jews united with him, who gave from time to time such information to Antiochus as excited him against Jerusalem the temple, and the people. See 1Macc 1:41, 62; 2Macc 6:1-9; confirmed by Josephus, War, book i. chap. 1, s. 1. The concluding reflection of Bp. Newton here is excellent:-
"It may be proper to stand a little here, and reflect how particular and circumstantial this prophecy is, concerning Egypt and Syria, from the death of Alexander to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. There is not so concise, comprehensive, and regular an account of their kings and affairs to be found in any authors of those times. The prophecy is really more perfect than any history, and is so wonderfully exact, not only to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, but likewise equally so beyond that time, that we may conclude in the words of the inspired writer, 'No one could thus declare the times and seasons, but he who hath them in his own power.'"
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44 Dan 11:31. And arms shall stand on his part…
Dan 11:31. And arms shall stand on his part — His arms shall so prevail as to make an entire conquest of the Jews, to profane the temple, and cause the daily service performed there to cease: see note Dan 8:11; and compare 1Ma 1:39; and 2Ma 5:2-5. The temple is here called the sanctuary of strength, either because it was fortified after the manner of a castle, or else because it was a token of the divine protection, as being the place God had chosen to be worshipped in. We are informed by Josephus, by the author of the Maccabees, and others, that Antiochus’s soldiers entered the temple and plundered it, and that afterward he ordered that the Jews should not be suffered to offer up the daily sacrifices, which, according to the law, they were accustomed to offer; that he compelled them also to omit their worship of the true God, and to pay divine honours to them whom he regarded as gods, and to make shrines in every city and village, and to build altars, and daily to sacrifice swine upon them: see Joseph. Antiq. lib. 12. cap. 5, sec. 4. And they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate — In the Scriptures, idols are commonly called abominations. This was a prediction of the great profanation Antiochus should cause to the temple, in placing an idol upon the altar of burnt- offerings: see 1Ma 6:54; 1Ma 6:59. It is probable, that the idol was Jupiter, because we find that they dedicated the temple anew to Jupiter Olympus: see 2Ma 6:2. It is here called the abomination that maketh desolate, because it banished the true worship of God, and his worshippers, from the place.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv30–45 For the ships of Chittim shall come against him…
For the ships of Chittim shall come against him - The word rendered Chittim - כתים kı̂ttı̂ym - according to Gesenius, properly means “Cyprians,” so called from a celebrated Phoenician colony in the island of Cyprus. In a wider acceptation the name came to comprehend the islands and coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, especially the northern parts, and therefore stands for the islands and coasts of Greece and the AEgean Sea. See Gesenius, Lexicon, and compare Josephus, “Ant.” b. i. ch. vi. 1. The Egyptian government had called in the aid of the Romans, and Antiochus, therefore, was threatened with a war with the Romans if he did not abandon his enterprise against Egypt. The reference in the passage before us is to the embassage which the Romans sent to Antiochus in Egypt, requiring him to desist from his enterprise against Egypt. “When he had arrived at Leusine, about four miles from Alexandria, he met Caius Popilins Laenas, Caius Decimius, and Caius Hostilius, ambassadors, whom the Roman Senate had sent to him at the earnest request of Ptolemy Physcon. They were instructed to assure Antiochus that he must leave the kingdom of Egypt and the island of Cyprus in peace, or expect a war with the Romans. When Antiochus said that he would lay the affair before his council, Popilius, the head of the legation, with his staff drew a circle about the king in the sand on which they stood, and exclaimed, ‘Before you leave that circle, you must give me an answer which I can report to the Senate.’ Antiochius was confounded, but on a little reflection, he said he would do whatever the Senate required.” - Jahn, “Heb. Commonwealth,” pp. 265, 266; Polyb. “Legat.” Sections 90, 92; Livy, xliv. 14, 29, 41-46; xlv. 10, 12. These ambassadors came by the way of Greece, and in Grecian vessels, and their coming might properly be described as “ships from Chittim.” They went from Rome to Brundusium, and then passed over to the Grecian shore, and from thence by the way of Chialcis, Delos, and Rhodes, to Alexandria. - Prideaux, iii. 237.
Therefore he shall be grieved - The word used here - כאה kâ'âh - means, properly, to become faint-hearted; to be frightened; to be dejected, sad, humbled, Job 30:8; Eze 13:22; Psa 109:16. The meaning here is, that he became dispirited, dejected, cast down, and abandoned his purpose. He saw that it would be vain to attempt to contend with the Romans, and he was constrained reluctantly to relinquish his enterprise.
Read full note →
And return - Set out to return to his own land.
And have indignation against the holy covenant - See the notes at Dan 11:28. That is, he would be filled with wrath against Jerusalem and the Jews. Polybius says that he left Egypt in great anger, because he was compelled by the Romans to abandon his designs. In this condition he was, of course, in a state of mind to become irritated against any other people, and, if an occassion should be given, would seek to vent Iris wrath in sonic other direction. This habitual state of feeling toward Jerusalem and the Jews would make him ready to seize upon the slightest pretext to wreak his vengeance on the holy land. What was the immediate occasion of his taking this opportunity to attack Jerusalem is not certainly known, but in his marching back through Palestine, he detached from his army twenty-two thousand men, under the command of Apollonius, and sent them to Jerusalem to destroy it. - Prideaux, iii. 239; Jahn, “Heb. Commononwealth,” p. 266. Apollonius arrived before Jerusalem 167 b.c., just two years after the city had been taken by Antiochus himself.
So shall he do - That is, in the manner described in this and the following verses.
He shall even return - On his way to his own land.
And have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant - Have an understanding with them; that is, with a portion of the nation - with those who were disposed to cast off the religion of their fathers. There was a coonsiderable part of the nation that was inclined to do this, and to introduce the customs of the Greeks (compare Jahn,” Heb. Commonwealth, pp. 258-260); and it was natural that Antiochus should seek to have an understanding with them, and to make use of them in accomplishing his designs. It was very probably at the solicitation of this infidel and disaffected party of the Hebrew people that Antiochus had interfered in their affairs at all. Compare 1 Macc. 1:11-15.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45 Galleys. Hebrew: "ships of Chittim." (Haydock) --- The ambassadors…
Galleys. Hebrew: "ships of Chittim." (Haydock) --- The ambassadors probably came in vessels belonging to Macedonia, (Calmet) which they found at Delos. (Livy xliv.) --- Romans. Popilius and the other Roman ambassadors, who came in galleys, and obliged him to depart from Egypt. (Challoner) --- He was only four or seven miles from Alexandria, and went to meet the ambassadors, who gave him the senate’s letter, ordering him to desist from the war. He said he would consult his friends: but Popilius formed a circle round him with his wand, requiring an answer before he went out of it. Hereupon the king withdrew his forces. (Polybius xcii.; V. Max. vi. 4.) --- Succeed. Apollonius massacred many Jews on the sabbath. (1 Machabees i. 30.) --- Against. Hebrew: "respecting." Protestant: "have intelligence with them," &c. (Haydock) --- These wretches prompted him to make such edicts, for he was attached to no religion. (2 Machabees iv. 9.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45 ships of Chittim--the Roman ambassadors arriving in Macedonian Grecian…
ships of Chittim--the Roman ambassadors arriving in Macedonian Grecian vessels (see on Jer 2:10). Chittim, properly Cyprian, so called from a Phœnician colony in Cyprus; then the islands and coasts of the Mediterranean in general.
grieved--humbled and dispirited through fear of Rome.
Read full note →
indignation against the holy covenant--Indignant that meantime God's worship had been restored at Jerusalem, he gives vent to his wrath at the check given him by Rome, on the Jews.
intelligence with them that forsake the . . . covenant--namely, with the apostates in the nation (1 Maccabees 1:11-15). Menelaus and other Jews instigated the king against their religion and country, learning from Greek philosophy that all religions are good enough to keep the masses in check. These had cast off circumcision and the religion of Jehovah for Greek customs. Antiochus, on his way home, sent Apollonius (167 B.C.) with twenty-two thousand to destroy Jerusalem, two years after its capture by himself. Apollonius slew multitudes, dismantled and pillaged the city. They then, from a fortress which they built commanding the temple, fell on and slew the worshippers; so that the temple service was discontinued. Also, Antiochus decreed that all, on pain of death, should conform to the Greek religion, and the temple was consecrated to Jupiter Olympius. Identifying himself with that god, with fanatical haughtiness he wished to make his own worship universal (1 Maccabees 1:41; 2 Maccabees 6:7). This was the gravest peril which ever heretofore threatened revealed religion, the holy people, and the theocracy on earth, for none of the previous world rulers had interfered with the religious worship of the covenant-people, when subject to them (Dan 4:31-34; Dan 6:27-28; Ezr 1:2, Ezr 1:4; Ezr 7:12; Neh 2:18). Hence arose the need of such a forewarning of the covenant-people as to him--so accurate, that PORPHYRY, the adversary of revelation, saw it was hopeless to deny its correspondence with history, but argued from its accuracy that it must have been written subsequent to the event. But as Messianic events are foretold in Daniel, the Jews, the adversaries of Jesus, would never have forged the prophecies which confirm His claims. The ninth chapter was to comfort the faithful Jews, in the midst of the "abominations" against "the covenant," with the prospect of Messiah who would "confirm the covenant." He would show by bringing salvation, and yet abolishing sacrifices, that the temple service which they so grieved after, was not absolutely necessary; thus the correspondence of phraseology would suggest comfort (compare Dan 9:27 with Dan 11:30-31).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv30–45 30. Ships of Chittim — The people of Kittim…
30. Ships of Chittim — The people of Kittim from the earliest times were regarded as descendants of Javan (Gen_10:4), and “therefore belonging to the Greek or Graeco-Latin races of the West” (MacPherson, in Hastings’s Dictionary of the Bible, 1900). In its early and original sense Kittim meant the Isle of Cyprus, but later it broadened in scope until it included Rhodes and even the coast lands of Macedonia. The Scripture phrase “coast of Chittim” does not mean Macedonia nor Rome, “but simply the western power which for the time being is to the front” (MacPherson). There can be no doubt that the ships referred to here were those of the Romans connected with the expedition under the leadership of Caius Popilius Laenas, who was sent against Antiochus 168 B.C. and speedily pushed him back from Egypt in great humiliation (Polybius, 29:11; Livy, 44:19; 45:11).
He shall be grieved — Or, dejected (Terry); or, cowed (Bevan). When the Roman legate drew a threatening circle with his cane around him, and charged him before he stepped out of it to make his decision whether he would continue his march into Egypt or return home, he was full of anger and chagrin which he vented, on his return, upon Jerusalem and the “holy covenant.” (See Dan_11:28.)
Read full note →
So shall he do — Rather, and shall do (his will).
And have intelligence with [rather, and have regard unto] them that forsake the holy covenant — That is, he begins now more than ever before to favor the apostate Jews who have turned heathen and to pour out his vials of wrath against the “pious ones.” (See notes Dan_7:25.) Apollonius with twenty-two thousand men captured the city on a Sabbath day, when the inhabitants would not fight, burned the city, and threw down its walls, massacred almost all the male population, and sold the women into slavery. The intention was to thoroughly exterminate the Jewish people and their religion (1 Maccabees 1; 2 Maccabees 4, 5; Polybius, 38:18). Such Jews as would apostatize were preserved from the massacre, and afterward large bribes were offered to all influential Jews who would give up their religion and become heathen (1 Maccabees 2). The continued efforts of this king to destroy this religion points to his settled conviction that it offered to the Jewish nation a standard of righteousness and a bond of unity which would ever prove dangerous to his rule unless he could stamp it out.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv30–45 30. For Kitian ships shall come against him] The…
30. For Kitian ships shall come against him] The allusion is to C. Popillius Laenas and the other Roman legates, who, as described above (p. 181), obliged Antiochus, when within sight of Alexandria, to withdraw his forces unconditionally from Egypt. Kittim, properly the Kitians, or people of Kitti (in Phœn. Inscriptions כתי), a well-known town in Cyprus, the Greek Kition; hence in the O.T. the name of the inhabitants of Cyprus, Gen_10:4; Isa_23:1; Isa_23:12; somewhat more widely, in Jer_2:10; Eze_27:6, ‘isles (or coast-lands) of the Kitians,’ of the islands and coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. By the later Jews it was used still more generally for any western maritime people (cf. Jos. Ant. i. i. 1); thus in 1Ma_1:1; 1Ma_8:5 it denotes the Macedonians, and here ‘Kitian ships’ means Roman ships (so LXX. καὶ ἥξουσι Ῥωμαῖοι). The expression is suggested by the terms of Balaam’s prophecy in Num_24:24 (where, however, it is not certain what exactly is denoted by it).
and he shall be cowed, and return] ‘cowed’ (a rare word: Psa_109:16, A.V., R.V., badly, ‘broken in heart’), viz. by the summary manner in which Popillius treated him[382]. Cf. the terms used by Polyb. (xxix. 11), ‘Antiochus accordingly withdrew his forces to Syria, βαρυνόμενος καὶ στένων, εἵκων δὲ τοῖς καιροῖς κατὰ τὸ παρόν’; and Livy ‘Obstupefactus tam violento imperio’ (the demand of Popillius).
Read full note →
[382] The word (נכאה) might possibly, however, have here its Syriac sense of rebuked: cf. LXX. ἐμβριμήσονται αὐτῷ, a word which in Mat_9:30 is represented in the Pesh. by כאא.
have indignation &c.] a stronger expression than was used in Dan_11:28; he will this time be incensed against it.
and he shall do] viz. his pleasure, as Dan_11:28.
and he shall return (viz. home to Antioch), ana have regard unto (Dan_11:37 Heb.) them that &c.] After his return home he will fix his attention upon the apostate Jews, and use them as his agents, for the purpose of carrying out his designs. Shortly before the time of Antiochus there had arisen a party among the Jews, whose object was to Hellenize their nation, and obliterate its distinctive characteristics (1Ma_1:11-15,—in Dan_11:15 ‘and they made themselves uncircumcised, and forsook the holy covenant, and joined themselves to the Gentiles, and sold themselves to do evil’). Jason, the renegade high-priest (see on Dan_9:26), was one of the leaders of the movement; and he and others obtained Antiochus’ sanction and authority to construct in Jerusalem a ‘gymnasium,’ or exercise-ground, after the Greek model, and introduce other Greek customs. The result was that Greek fashions became popular; even the priests, we read, neglected the services of the Temple for the purpose of amusing themselves in the palaestra. See 1Ma_1:11-15, 2Ma_4:4-17.
30–39. Antiochus’ retreat from Egypt, (Dan_11:30 a), and the measures adopted by him shortly afterwards against the Jews (Dan_11:30 b–39).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 (30) Ships of Chittim.—On Chittim, see Gen_10:4; comp. Num_24:24.…
(30) Ships of Chittim.—On Chittim, see Gen_10:4; comp. Num_24:24. The LXX. explain this of the Romans, referring to the story in Livy, xlv. 11.
He shall be grieved.—Literally, he shall lose heart. Compare the words of Livy, which describe the feelings of Antiochus at the peremptory demands of Popilius: “Obstupefactus tam violento imperio.” Theodotion apparently imagined that the Cyprians came as allies to the aid of Antiochus.
Read full note →
Return.—That is, to Palestine, where he will indulge his anger.
Have intelligence—i.e., pay attention to them. These persons are such as those who are mentioned in 1Ma_1:11-16, who were anxious to Hellenise all their institutions, not only forsaking the outward sign of the covenant, but actually taking Greek names.
On the manner in which Antiochus treated the apostates, see 2Ma_4:14, &c., and comp. Dan_11:39.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv30–45 For the ships of Chittim shall come against him:…
For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant. As the LXX do not obscure the reference to Egypt, so they here call the ships of Chittim JRomaioi. The rendering is, "And the Romans shall come, and shall drive him out, and shall make him wroth, and he shall return and be enraged against the covenant of the holy, and shall do and return and plot against those on account of whom they left the covenant of the holy." Theodotion renders in a slightly different way, "Those who come from Chittim shall assail, and he shall be humiliated, and he shall return and be enraged against the covenants of the holy. And he shall do and return, and have understanding against those who have been left to the holy covenant." The Peshitta renders more in harmony with the Massoretic text, "Those who come against them from the lines of Chittim, even they shall break him, and he shall turn and be enraged against the holy covenant, and shall have understanding with them that forsake the holy covenant." The rendering of the Vulgate is singular, "And there shall come against him trieres (ships of war, trihreiv) and Romans, and he shall be, beaten, and shall return, and shall be enraged against the testament (testamentum, covenant) of the holy place and shall do, he shall even return and shall devise against those who have left the testament (testamebtum) of the holy place." The ships of Chittim are the Roman ships, bearing the envoys of the Senate with C. Popilius Laenas at their head. He delivered to Anti,bus the tablets on which were inscribed the wishes of the Senate. Antiochus was then on the eve of commencing the siege of Alexandria, and completing the conquest of Egypt. Having read that the Senate of Rome desired him to refrain from attacking the allies of the Republic, Antiochus said he would answer after con-suiting with his friends. Lsenas drew a circle round him with his staff on the sand, and demanded that he should give his answer before he left the circle. Antiochus had to submit. Shall have indignation against the holy covenant. It is not certain whether Antiochus was present personally at the plunder of Jerusalem or superintended the massacre of the Jews; but it is practically certain that at this time began the systematic attempt to put down Judaism. And have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant. It is not improbable that Antiochus was encouraged to make the attempt he did, by the fact that so many persons high in position were Hellenizers. RAPC 1Ma 1:11-15, in which there is reference to those that forsook the holy covenant) The desire of Antiochus was probably to make his empire more homogeneous. The Jews, he would see by the fact that they had a national unity apart from his empire, might at times be thorns in his side might become allies of Rome if he were compelled to engage in war with the Republic. It was their religion that was the bond which united the nation; let that be broken, then there would be a chance of the Jews blending harmoniously with the other races that made up the Syrian Empire. Those that forsook the holy covenant made him think it an easy task.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv32, 36 But the people that do know their God shall…
Dan_11:32
But the people that do know their God shall be strong.
Read full note →
Strength in God
The follies and vices which disfigure human life, do not always proceed from a principle of depravity. The indiscretions and vices into which men fall, proceed often from weakness of mind rather than from a badness of heart. There is a certain feebleness in the springs of actions, a facility of disposition, a silliness of soul which marks the characters, and runs through the life of many men, as pernicious to them in the conduct of life, as the principle of actual depravity could be. This weakness of mind is not only pernicious but criminal. There are mental defects that are inconsistent with a state of virtue. In the Scriptures a sound mind, as well as a good heart, is mentioned as an ingredient in the character of a saint. Religion and virtue go under the name of wisdom; vice and wickedness under the name of folly. In opposition to the feeble-minded, it it said in the text, that they who know their God, or are truly religious, are strong. Religion, when rightly understood, and virtue, when properly practised, give nerves and vigour to the mind, and infuse into the soul a secret strength. This strength
1. Makes us superior to the opinion and fashion of the world. In certain companies, men are ashamed of their religion. They lend a pleased ear to arguments that shake the foundations of their faith. The truly religions man performs his duty through evil report and through good report. The applause of such fools as make a mock of sin he despises. His standard of moral conduct is his own conscience well informed by the word of God.
2. Makes us superior to the difficulties and dangers we meet with in the world. The feeble-minded man is intimidated on the slightest occasion. Happy to catch at any subterfuge, he finds or makes a thousand obstacles to the discharge of his duty. What infinite mischief has this pusillanimity done in the world! Very different is the character of him who is strong in the Lord. When he is assured he is in the right path, he sees no obstacles in the way. Nothing is difficult to a determined mind. Through Christ strengthening him, the man of God can do all things. Through the divine aid, resolution is omnipotent. See St. Pauls words to the elders of Ephesus. This was not the vain boast of men who are brave when the day of battle is distant, and who, in the midst of tranquility, talk of despising danger. It was the speech of one who acted what he spoke. (J. Logan, F.R.S.E.)
Aspect of the Times
The universal consciousness of humanity acquiesces in the admission of the divine existence. God is as much a necessity of the intellect in these advanced days of enlightenment as in the worlds early childhood. The great thought forms, as Mr. Morell calls them, have as much necessity for God as for space and time. Sometimes men assume the air of dictatorship, and venture to say if there be a God, he should have revealed himself thus and thus, assuming that they know the best methods of divine manifestation, and can calculate how much light the human mind can bear. We cannot find out the Almighty to perfection. It takes lifetime after lifetime to find out the history of the rocks; it takes weary years to know enough of astronomy to trace the very footprints of Creatorship; and yet men expect to know him who is from everlasting to everlasting, in the space of a few brief years. He, then, who aspires to know God, must begin with humility. The main faculties for apprehending God are not intellectual, but moral. When it pleases God to reveal himself to men, it is mainly to the conscience and the heart. Such a revelation, Paul tells us, has been made in the universal conscience; in the great moral laws of Hebrew revelation, but mainly in the Son who came forth from the Father to give life to the world. See the revelations between this knowledge and the well-being of man.
1. This was the strength of the early Church. In the days of the Churchs strong faith and martyr-like devotion, what was it that made the Christians the men they were? I boldly answer:--The knowledge of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
2. This was the strength of the Reformation age. It was giving back to the world the truth concerning God. The people that do not know God, their god shall be weak, puerile, enslaved. True knowledge of God makes men strong, makes nations strong.
3. This is our strength in the present era of time. We cannot reach large enough generalisations of facts to know exactly what is our state compared with past eras. We may exalt political economy into a science; and when relations between man and man are out of order we may shrug our shoulders, and talk of the philosophy of things, and the inevitableness of injustice in the present day. We may point to great empires, and say success is with the mightiest armies; but who that troubles to think but must know that if nations are to be great and honourable, it must be, as Mr. Pressense says, by a return to the uninviting virtues of simpler times; yes to a purer and more practical faith in the living God who is the Saviour of all men. (W. M. Statham.)
The Sources of Courage
What is called courage is sometimes a blind folly that cannot see danger, or a lack of sense to see it as it is. Or it is a mere love of encounter, of distinction, or of destroying. You have the picture of it in Job (Job_39:19-25), where the war-horse is described. That is courage, but a thing to be checked as much as to be cheered, as much a mischief as a virtue, and it is perhaps hard to say to which it most inclines. The sublimest courage, the loftiest heroism is an inspiration. How can you measure the courage? By the measure of the love. The highest courage is sacred to love. A definition of courage may be this the life held for another s good. And this is Christianity. Its source, its strength, its life, its all, is love. Everything that can create and sustain the truest love is found in the religion of Jesus Christ, and there only. Why then have we so many so-called Christians who do not exhibit much love or courage either, but are just as selfish and fearful as other people? Because we have come to make religion an appeal to selfishness, instead of appealing to the generous appreciation of that which is love-worthy. They that do know their God shall do exploits. This is the source of courage as it is the source of love; and more--this is life eternal, to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent. Think of the different motives that prompt men to endurance and valour, and see how they meet in Jesus Christ.
1. I can think that soldiers find some courage in the greatness of their nation, they have a pride in the vastness of the dominion. But what king can vie with our King? Well may the children of Zion be joyful in their King. Does the antiquity of the kingdom add to the stateliness and renown? The ancient kings are all in the dust, but our King--Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God. Think, too, of the blessedness of His way; and of the victories He hath won. Lift up your head, walk with firm step. Better not be His at all than be His without a courage worthy of His greatness and renown.
2. Do men find courage in Him whom they serve? Is the Spirit of the Leader able to kindle enthusiastic devotion, and daring unto death? Then how shall we speak of Our glorious Lord and Saviour? I wonder with shame and grief at myself that I can know Him at all, and yet be halfhearted in His service; that we can call Him Lord without finding an enthusiasm that fills and fires the whole heart. For such a King and Captain shall we have a timid, faltering service? It cannot be. (Mark Guy Pearse.)
The Influence of Religion on Military Courage
These words are part of a prophecy which relates, as some think, to a very important period of the history of the Jews, when the Maccabees, at the head of handfuls of men, destroyed great armies of aliens, and were the happy instruments, in the hands of Divine Providence, of saving their church and nation from destruction, and of raising it to a degree of consideration and renown, equal to what they had enjoyed under the administration of some of those good kings that sprung from David. Concerning this glorious period the prophet Zechariah speaks, when the Lord says by his mouth, I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion! against thy sons, O Greece! and made thee as the sword of a mighty man. The Lord of hosts shall defend them, and they shall devour and subdue with sling-stones, and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar; and the Lord their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people; for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon His land. Others refer this prophecy to the Christian church, and to the courage displayed by the followers of Christ in holding fast his name, and spreading the favour of it all around, in defiance of those Roman tyrants who endeavoured to extirpate Christianity out of the world.
I. WHO THEY ARE THAT KNOW THEIR GOD. In the language of scripture, no wicked man knows the Lord.. The sons of Eli, it is said, were sons of Belial; they knew not the Lord. But the Lord is known by all the upright; for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all they that do his commandments. Those who know the Lord know something concerning the perfections of his nature. It is but a little portion that they hear of him, and the thunder of his power who can understand?--But they know at least, that he is the Most High over all the earth,glorious in holiness, invariable in justice, irresistible in power. They know him to be excellent and amiable in all his perfections, and would abhor themselves if they felt a latent wish that he were anything else than he is. They who know their God know that, although there is but one God, yet there are three persons to whom the glory of deity equally belongs. This knowledge of God is attended with suitable dispositions of heart. All who know God to salvation, trust in him as their God. They rejoice in his kindness, and count it their glory and joy to call him their God. They that know their God keep his commandment. Disobedience to his voice they count the worst of all evils.
II. HOW THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD FITS MEN FOR DOING EXPLOITS, IS NOW TO BE CONSIDERED. The word exploits is a supplement of our translation. But the words plainly signify, that those who know their God shall be strong, and do such things as could not be expected from persons not under the influence of a religious principle. The exploits done by those that know their God must be undoubtedly consistent with justice. Heroical actions have been performed for the gratification of ambition, or other corrupt dispositions of the human heart. But those who know their God would not, for the world, do an unjust action, or to risk the loss of their souls, by disobeying God. The noble army of martyrs laid down their lives, not only for their heavenly Father, but for their brethren, when they sealed the truth with their blood. But how does the knowledge of our God prepare us for doing what we may be called to do, in the defence of our country, and of ourselves?
1. They that know their God, know his will, and are disposed to do it. And this is one article of the revealed will of God, that we should be ready, when we are called by providence, to defend our king and country, our liberties, and our religion. Honour the king. Be subject to every ordinance of man, for the Lords sake. The difference between those who know their God and other men, is, that most other men will do some things that God requires, but they are not ready for every good work. Where their life, their interest, their credit, may suffer by obeying the will of God, they must be excused; but the lovers of God delight to show their obedience, where self-denial must be practised.
2. They that know their God are strengthened to do exploits, by their confidence in God as their God. They that know his name will put their trust in him; and through him they will do valiantly. Our confidence in God is founded on the mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the way: no man cometh to the Father but by him. Now, when we believe in Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and life everlasting, what have we to fear? God. We may die, but we cannot be hurt. It is a consciousness of guilt that disqualifies us for dangerous duties.
3. The people that do know God, have learned patiently to do his will. None can hope to do exploits that is unqualified to bear those things that are unpleasant to the flesh. Hardness must be endured by every good soldier of Jesus Christ. If we faint in the day of adversity, our strength is but small.
4. The people that do know their God, are prepared for extraordinary services, by the ordinary course of their service to God. When men are daily adding sin to sin by obstinate impenitence, they prepare thorns and briars to tear their consciences, when an evil day comes. How can such men be unappalled, when they find themselves placed in a situation that exposes them to a premature death? All that know their God, have learned to keep up an intercourse with him by prayer; and in the time of distress and danger, they pray more earnestly. Great are the victories which prayer hath obtained.
5. That the people who do know their God are strong to do exploits, because God is their helper. The Lord is good unto all, but he loves all that walk in his ways. He is their arm every morning, their salvation in the day of trouble. How were all the heroes of Israel, in ancient times, enabled to do those mighty works for which they are held in everlasting remembrance? The Lord was with them. They were strong in his strength.
He protected them by the shield of his salvation. What shall we say at the conclusion of the whole matter?
1. Seek the knowledge of God. Let those who yet know not God seek the knowledge of his excellency, of his grace, of his will. Use the means of knowledge with which God hath furnished you in great plenty. Pray for the spirit of wisdom and revelation.
2. If any of you say that you know God, consider by what course of actions you ought to verify their pretentions; for if you say that you know God, and keep not his commandments, you are liars. Great exploits were done by the heroes of Gods people. You must cut off right hands and right feet, when they make you to offend. You must crucify the flesh, with the afflictions and lusts.
3. To animate us to such exploits as we may be called to perform, let us call to remembrance the exploits performed by believers in ancient times. Paul put us in mind of the many mighty works done through faith, that we may be ready, when we are called by divine providence, to follow their example. Are you called to practise virtue and holiness, admit the opposition to be expected from a crooked and perverse generation? Are you called to risk your lives in battle? Remember Abraham, who, with a little army, fought bravely and successfully against four victorious kings, to rescue his beloved nephew.
4. Those who are barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of God ought to consider their ways. Yon cannot go as missionaries to spread the light of the gospel amongst the heathen; but you may be fellow-helpers to them by your contributions and prayers. You are not called to the field of battle; but you may assist the defenders of your country by your cheerful payment of those taxes that are necessary for their support, and by your prayers to God that he may cover their heads in the day of battle. All that know the Lord love him. All that love him will desire to approve their love by those works that are pleasing in his sight. Exploits in the service of Satan indicate not only ignorance of God, but enmity against him. You must not imagine that the best means will give you the saving and sanctifying knowledge of God, without divine illumination. There are some, says Paul, that have not the knowledge of God; I speak this to your shame. There are some of the military order, as well as men of other descriptions that have not the knowledge of God. None know God who dare to profane his name by needless oaths and execrations. (G. Lawson.)
And do exploits.
Great exploits
An exploit I would define to be a heroic act, a brave feat, a great achievement. There are three opportunities open to us that are grand, thrilling, far-reaching, stupendous and overwhelming. In these you may do exploits. The three greatest things on earth to do are to save a man, or save a woman, or save a child. During the course of his life, almost every man gets into an exigency, is caught between two fires, is ground between two millstones, sits on the edge of some precipice, or in some other way comes near demolition. There are exigencies in the life of a woman. The embarrassed and humiliated woman seems to cheer up in Christian confidence. And there is another exploit you may do. You may not only save a man, and a woman, you may save a child. (T. De Witt Talmage, D.D.)
Untold possibilities of a man of faith
During one of Mr. Moodys early visits to England, as he was about to return, a friend said to him: The world has yet to see what God could do with a man who would let Him use him. This made such a deep impression upon Mr. Moody that he was led to put himself in the hands of the Lord for service as never before, and the blessing which attended the great evangelists teaching, in some measure, let the world see how much God could use a man who is willing to be used. A life given to Jesus Christ as Saviour, and that life consecrated to him for service, with a realisation of the mighty power of prayer, will certainly accomplish great things for God. The Christian Hero:
I. SOME ACCOUNT OF THAT KNOWLEDGE WHICH CHRISTIANS POSSESS OF THEIR GOD.
1. By his word and spirit they know him as a God of infinite perfection. The idols of the heathen are far inferior to their makers. The Christian knows, that the God whose he is, and whom he worships and serves, is possessed of every perfection, and that in its highest degree.
2. As a reconciled God in Christ. Christ gave himself for his people. God devised the plan of our reconciliation and peace with him.
3. They know him as their own God in Christ. He hath made himself over to them, and they have accepted him, and they live in the sure possession, and in the sweet enjoyment of him.
4. They know him as their God, with whom they live in the closest correspondence. He commands, and they obey.
II. SOME OF THOSE EXPLOITS WHICH CHRISTIANS SHALL PERFORM IN CONSEQUENCE OF THEM KNOWING GOD.
1. They shall be strong, and perform the most difficult pieces of duty.
2. They shall subdue strong corruptions.
3. They shall be strong in resisting strong temptations.
4. In patiently bearing heavy burdens.
5. In suspending the divine judgments, and holding back the arm of omnipotence itself.
III. THE INFLUENCE WHICH THE KNOWLEDGE THAT THEY HAVE OF THEIR GOD HATH UPON THEIR BEING STRONG, AND DOING EXPLOITS.
1. By their knowledge, that the command of God is their warrant for doing these exploits.
2. That they have Jehovah Jesus for their commander.
3. They have the whole armour of God, as their military accoutrements, in the day of battle.
4. They know that they have the fulness of God, and of Christ, for their supplies.
5. They know that they are assured of complete victory over their enemies.
6. They know they shall receive a glorious reward. Admonish such
(1) To make no peace with their spiritual enemies.
(2) Abhor their ways.
(3) Defy their force. (John Jardine)
The Heroism and Achievements of those who know and confide in God
These words are found in a prophecy respecting Antiochus Epiphanes, the bitter enemy and persecutor of the Jews. I am not going to harrow up your feelings by a recital of his cruelties. Persecution has always served to enable us to discern the righteous from the wicked, and him who serveth God from him who serveth him not. And so we find it here. The faithless Jews, by the promise of place and wealth and power, would be led to sacrifice their consciences; And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall be corrupt by flatteries. Not so those who are upright in heart. Their principles shall be unyielding and triumphant, but the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits. Consider three things with regard to the persons here spoken of.
I. THEIR KNOWLEDGE. Knowledge is the prerogative--the distinction--of humanity. The principal object of this knowledge must be God himself, whether we consider the perfections of his nature, or the various relations in which he stands to us. God in nature is God above us; God in providence is God beyond us; God in law is God against us; but God in Christ is God for us, and God with us, and God in us. We must know him in the person of his dear Son. This knowledge is not merely speculative, it is experimental. There is a great difference between knowing a thing only in theory, and knowing it in experienced by the confidence of the heart, the bias of the will, and the glowing of the affections. Lasting is very distinguishable from reading, and hearing, and talking about a thing. The true knowledge is ever accompanied with three things, confidence, affection and obedience. This knowledge is also appropriating. Where this appropriation is not actually realised, it is always desired.
II. THEIR STRENGTH. Shall be strong. Their strength is not natural. The fall has left us as much without strength as without righteousness. It is much easier to convince men of their guilt than of their weakness. Even Christians themselves acquire the knowledge of this weakness slowly and gradually. At first, they are found to rely much upon their convictions, purposes, and resolutions, and, perhaps, vows too; but their iniquities, like the wind, after all, carry them away. By their failings and falls, they are taught that they only are safe, Who are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation. Christians, by experience, learn more and more where alone their strength lies, and they are led to trust in the Lord only. Two things with regard to this strength you must remember. The supplies of it are communicated seasonably. And it is obtained by the use of means. Some have a stupid notion that we should not engage in the exercises of religion, unless we feel in a suitable and lively frame for them. If we are in a bad frame, we need to come to God by prayer, and in the use of the means he has appointed, that we may get into a good and lively frame.
III. THEIR EXPLOITS. Exploits are rare, difficult, curious, marvellous, illustrious acts anal achievements. There are many important things belonging to real religion, which are not deemed worthy of the name by the men of the world. A man who walks by faith, not by sight, will be led to the conclusion that there is nothing really great but what relates to the soul, or eternity, or God. We are not to confine these exploits to particular ranks and conditions of men. View Christians under six characteristics,
(1) as scholars.
(2) As merchants.
(3) As helpers.
(4) As travellers.
(5) As sufferers.
(6) As Soldiers.
Christians are no ordinary characters. They are a peculiar people, they are men wondered at. They profess, and they do, more than others, and you should glory in their characters. (Willam Jay.)
And they that understand among the people shall instruct many.
Knowledge Commended
The uninspired book of the Maccabees is perhaps the best interpreter of this passage in Daniel. The prophet, we think, refers to the great persecution under Antiochus, when the followers of Judas Maccabaeus, knowing their God and keeping close to Him amidst general defection, refused to bow before the idols of Syria; these were strong by Gods grace, and did great exploits; wonders of valour we road of in the history of Judas and his brethren, and wonders of heroic Buffering never surpassed are recounted of the mother and sons and those other martyrs who, under tortures of the most amazing character, held fast their faith even to the end. In that age there were some who were stoned, who were sawn asunder, who felt the violence of fire, and yet were not separated from their God by all that the foe could do. Those by whom the exploits were performed were not ignorant, but a people who did know their God; and those who helped to keep up the light of Israel in the midst of the thick darkness were not uninstructed themselves, but they were a people who did understand. Our subject this morning is knowledge, especially knowledge of the things of God. The question is very often put to us in a very general and vague manner, Is knowledge a good thing or not? We are expected to give an answer promptly and without reserve; and if we do we shall very likely be caught in a trap. Knowledge: is it a good thing in itself or not? That depends upon several things. You might as well ask me whether air is a good thing. Why, of course, speaking loosely, it is; but then there is much bad air in old wells and cellars, and so on, which will destroy life, and therefore you cannot expect me to say at once, if I know you are on the catch, either Yes, or No. Air is a good thing, as a general rule; the lungs require it, man must have it; it is a good thing. So is knowledge. Knowledge heaves the intellectual lungs: it is a good thing; but then there is noxious knowledge, which it were infinitely better for us never to receive, just as there is pestilential air. Is water a good thing? Again I answer, Yes, in the abstract. So many watery particles are absolutely necessary to the building up and sustenance of the human frame, that every thirsty man knows that water is good. Yet there is bad water; there have been poisoned wells; water stagnates and becomes putrid and injurious to life; water is good take it abstractedly. But yet there is a knowledge which, like stagnant or poisoned water, may destroy the soul. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil stood in Paradise, mark that--but it ruined Paradise, mark that, too! A man may know much, and he may still stand in his integrity; but the chances are, that while men are what they are, there will be a serpent in the tree of knowledge, seeking the ruin of souls. If you want to judge concerning the good or evil of knowledge, you must ask yourself, What is its source? To have ones lips touched with a live coal is a choice blessing if the seraph bring that coal from off the altar; but there are tongues which are set on fire of hell--and who desires to feel such accursed flame? You must know whence cometh the coal before you may consent that it shall touch your lips. Knowledge may be tested by considering its character. Some knowledge is like the light of the moon--clear, cold, barren, if not deleterious to health; but heavenly knowledge is fructifying, healthful, and genial, chasing away disease like the warm rays of the sun. You may make knowledge good or evil, by the way in which you use it. If it be a torch, you may carry it with you to kindle the flame of Tophets fire; or, on the other hand, by that heaven-lit torch you may, through grace, find your way to the gates of Paradise. Judge of knowledge, therefore, ever with discretion, and while you seek it as in the abstract an eminently good thing, yet be not in haste to plunge yourself into every abyss to find its bottom, nor into every burning crater to fathom its depth. I know enough of poison without drinking it, and enough of sin without running into it.
I. First, then, there is is A SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE REFERRED TO, the people who do know their God. To know God is the highest and best form of knowledge. But what can we know of God? Nothing but what He has been pleased to reveal to us. He hath revealed something of Himself in the Book of Nature, and much more in the Book of Revelation; and He hath been pleased to cast a vivid light upon the Book of Revelation by manifesting Himself unto His people as He doth not unto the world. Those who know the Lord should believe in the unity of His essence and subsistence, Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord. We should know the Lord in the plurality of His persons. God said, Let us make man in our own image. Let not man be content until he knows something of the us from whom his being was derived. Endeavour to know the Father. Seek to know much of the Son of God who is the brightness of His Fathers glory and the express image of His person, and yet in unspeakable condescension of grace became man for our sakes. Forget not the Holy Spirit: endeavour to get as clear a view as you can of His nature and character, His attributes, and His works. Let us study to be well instructed in the divine attributes, and ask for grace to know them all. Be not like those who dream of a God who is all love, and nothing else. Do not be content with a maimed and distorted view of Gods attributes; feel Him to be omnipresent: let it be your delight to know that you have not to call upon Him as one who is afar off, but ever near at hand. Recognise Him as omnipotent; know that there is nothing which He cannot do, and therefore doubt Him not. Whatever else you do not know do know the character of your God. They that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee. Then labour to know God in His actions; study well the past. Do not be ignorant of the great work of creation; if you have the skill, look at that creation in the light of modern science so far as that light is really derived from facts and not from conjectures. Pry into Gods great works in providence; begin your pilgrimage of study at the gates of Eden and travel onward to the present time; float safely in your meditations with Noah in the ark; study the wonderful justice of God in thus sweeping away the race of men. If you have mastered all this, seek to know something of the teaching of the Spirit of God concerning the plan of salvation. Do not be content to be saved in the dark; try to find out how it is that you are saved. I have thus brought out what I think is the idea of the text about the people knowing their God; but we must not overlook that little word their--They that know their God. It is not they that know God, but their God. To know anything of Him aright, you must get a firm hold of God; He must be your God. There is no praying, said one old man who used to be much in prayer, till you come to a close grip.
II. THE HAPPY INFLUENCE OF THIS KIND OF KNOWLEDGE: next requires our notice. The text shows that it strengthens, gives courage, energy, vigour, resolution daring, success. They who know their God are strong, and do exploits. Knowledge strengthens the spiritual man, because, in the first place, it is that on which faith has to feed. Where there is faith, knowledge is a great gain. This will be clear to all of you who read attentively your Bible, because the words to know and to believe are frequently used in Scripture almost synonymously. If you turn to the tenth chapter of St. Johns gospel, you will find there at the thirty-eighth verse, that the Saviour said, But if I do, though ye believe not Me, believe the works; that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in Me, and I in Him. And then in the first epistle of St. John, in the second chapter, at the third verse, we have an expression which is tantamount to the one I have already referred to. And hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. We are sure of our faith and of our knowledge by walking in obedience to Him. The source from which Christian faith comes proves the importance of knowledge. How does faith come to the Christian? Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. There is the whole history of faith--the Word of God gives the teaching which blesses us with knowledge, and then comes faith. You see, then, that if knowledge be under God the Holy Ghost truly the food of faith, then, in order to be strong, since faith is the very sinew of human strength, we must get much knowledge of the things of God. The people who do know their God shall be strong in faith, and shall do great exploits. Think again, of the influence of faith upon all the other graces. Love is the sweetest of all; but how can I love till knowledge gives me a view of Christ? Knowledge opens the door, and then through that door I see my Saviour. Look at hope again. How can I hope for a thing if I do not know of its existence? Hope may be the telescope, but then till I get knowledge there is something in front of the glass, I can see nothing whatever; but knowledge takes away the impediment, and then when 1 look through the optic glass I can see the glory to be revealed; but I cannot hope for that of which I know nothing whatever. I must know there is a heaven, or I cannot hope for it. Then, take patience. How shall I have patience unless I have heard, as James says, of the patience of Job; unless I know something of the sympathy of Christ, and understand the good which is to come out of the correction which my heavenly Father gives me? Knowledge gives me reasons for patience. Again, from the connection of the text, it appears that many were led astray in the days of Antiochus. Such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries; but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and so on. It seems, then, that to know God is a means of steadfastness. Who are the people that are greatly troubled by new systems of philosophy and infidelity which are constantly springing up? Why, the people who do not know their God. Knowledge will clearly be seen by you to be a great means for enabling you to do great exploits, if you think of its bearing upon usefulness. A Christian without knowledge, for instance, is an admirable man in the holiness of his life; but to what other end, to what other purpose can you put him? He must not enter the pulpit--if he be already there, he had better retire. Do not be content to be always children--you will never be men unless you are children first; do not be content to be stunted in your understanding, but ask to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, for the sake of your own usefulness.
III. We come, in the third place, TO NOTICE HOW THIS KNOWLEDGE MAY BE OBTAINED. Time has fled, and therefore we will not enlarge, but just give the outline. Search the Scriptures. Do not merely read them--search them; look out the parallel passages; collate them; try to get the meaning of the Spirit upon any one truth by looking to all the texts which refer to it. Read the Bible consecutively; do not merely read a verse here and there--that is not fair. Pray after you have read it as much as you like, but do not make a penance of what ought to be a pleasure. Next, use good helps to your Bible. Next, be sure to attend a teaching ministry. Do not be always after sweets. Then I should say, if you want to understand much, be much in prayer.
IV. And now I want to say ONE WORD BY WAY OF CAUTION. Remember that knowledge of itself with all its excellencies and virtues when God blesses it--has a danger in it to you. Knowledge, says the apostle, puffeth up. So it does. You may get proud of what you know, and then God forgive you, and deliver you from it! And, moreover, you may get so positive about what you know, that you may have made up your mind never to know any more. Do not get into that state. Your knowledge may even make you supercilious to the people of God. You may look down with contempt on some who do not know so much as you, and yet they nay have twice your holiness and be doing more service to God.
V. THE DUTY OF SPREADING THIS KNOWLEDGE WHEN WE HAVE IT. They that understand among the people shall instruct many. It is a prophecy which is fulfilled, but it is also a suggestion of a duty which we have to carry out. Are we instructing many, those of us who know the Lord? If God has lighted your candle, try to shine and let other candles be lit by you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v36 (Dan_11:36-45, B.C. 147-164)
FIFTH SECTION
(Dan_11:36-45, B.C. 147-164)
Read full note →
Events from the beginning of the Maccabean rising to the death of Antiochus Epiphanes.
Dan_11:36 -Antiochus will grow more arbitrary, more insolent, more blasphemous, from day to day, calling himself "God" (Theos) on his coins, and requiring all his subjects to be of his religion, and so even more kindling against himself the wrath of the God of gods by his monstrous utterances, until the final doom has fallen.
Dan_11:37 -He will, in fact, make himself his own god, paying no regard (by comparison) to his national or local god, the Olympian Zeus, nor to the Syrian deity, Tammuz-Adonis, "the desire of women."
"Tammuz came next behind, whose yearly wound in Lebanon allured the Syrian damsels to lament his fate in amorous ditties all a summer day. While smooth Adonis from his native rock ran purple to the sea-supposed with blood of Tammuz yearly wounded. The love tale infected Zions daughters with like heat."
Dan_11:38 -The only God to whom he shall pay marked respect shall be the Roman Jupiter, the god of the Capitol. To this god, to Jupiter Capitolinus, not to his own Zeus Olympios, the god of his Greek fathers, he shall erect a temple in his capital city of Antioch, and adorn it with gold and silver and precious stones.
Dan_11:39 -"And he shall deal with the strongest fortresses by the help of a strange god"-namely, the Capitoline Jupiter (Zeus Polieus)-and shall crowd the strongholds of Judaea with heathen colonists who worship the Tyrian Hercules (Melkart) and other idols; and to these heathen he shall give wealth and power.
Dan_11:40 -But his evil career shall be cut short. Egypt, under the now-allied brothers Philometor and Physkon, shall unite to thrust at him. Antiochus will advance against them like a whirlwind, with many chariots and horsemen, and with the aid of a fleet.
Dan_11:41-45 -In the course of his march he shall pass through Palestine, "the glorious land," with disastrous injury; but Edom, Moab, and the bloom of the kingdom of Ammon shall escape his hand. Egypt, however, shall not escape. By the aid of the Libyans and Ethiopians who are in his train he shall plunder Egypt of its treasures.
How far these events correspond to historic realities, is uncertain. Jerome says that Antiochus invaded Egypt a third time in B.C. 165, the eleventh year of his reign; but there are no historic traces of such an invasion, and most certainly Antiochus towards the close of his reign, instead of being enriched with vast Egyptian spoils, was struggling with chronic lack of means. Some therefore suppose that the writer composed and published his enigmatic sketch of these events before the close of the reign of Antiochus, and that he is here passing from contemporary fact into a region of ideal anticipations which were never actually fulfilled.
Dan_11:43 (B.C. 165).-In the midst of this devastating invasion of Egypt, Antiochus shall be troubled with disquieting rumours of troubles in Palestine and other realms of his kingdom. He will set out with utter fury to subjugate and to destroy, determining above all to suppress the heroic Maccabean revolt which had inflicted such humiliating disasters upon his generals, Seron, Apollonius, and Lysias.
Dan_11:45 (B.C. 164).-He shall indeed advance so far as to pitch his palatial tent "between the sea and the mountain of the High Glory": but he will come to a disastrous and an unassisted end.
These latter events either do not correspond with the actual history, or cannot be verified. So far as we know Antiochus did not invade Egypt at all after B.C. 168. Still less did he advance from Egypt, or pitch his tent anywhere near Mount Zion. Nor did he die in Palestine, but in Persia (B.C. 165). The writer, indeed, strong in faith, anticipated, and rightly, that Antiochus would come to an ignominious and a sudden end-God shooting at him with a swift arrow, so that he should be wounded. But all accurate details seem suddenly to stop short with the doings in the fourth section, which may refer to the strange conduct of Antiochus in his great festival in honour of Jupiter at Daphne. Had the writer published his book before this date, he could not surely have failed to speak with triumphant gratitude and exultation of the heroic stand made by Judas Maccabaeus and the splendid victories which restored hope and glory to the Holy Land. I therefore regard these verses as a description rather of ideal expectation than of historic facts.
We find notices of Antiochus in the Books of Maccabees, in Josephus, in St. Jeromes Commentary on Daniel, and in Appians "Syriaca." We should know more of him and be better able to explain some of the allusions in this chapter if the writings of the secular historians had not come down to us in so fragmentary a condition. The relevant portions of Callinicus Sutoricus, Diodorus Siculus, Polybius, Posidonius, Claudius, Theon, Andronicus, Alypius, and others are all lost-except a few fragments which we have at second or third hand. Porphyry introduced quotations from these authors into the twelfth book of his "Arguments against the Christians"; but we only know his book from Jeromes ex-parte quotations. Other Christian treatises, written in answer to Porphyry by Apollinaris, Eusebius, and Methodius, are only preserved in a few sentences by Nicetas and John of Damascus. The loss of Porphyry and Apollinarius is especially to be regretted. Jerome says that it was the extraordinarily minute correspondence of this chapter of Daniel with the history of Antiochus Epiphanes that led Porphyry to the conviction that it only contained vaticinia ex eventu.
Antiochus died at Tabae in Paratacaene on the frontiers of Persia and Babylonia about B.C. 163. The Jewish account of his remorseful deathbed may be read in #/RAPC 1Ma 6:1-16: "He laid him down upon his bed, and fell sick for grief; and there he continued many days, for his grief was ever more and more; and he made account that he should die." He left a son, Antiochus Eupator, aged nine, under the charge of his flatterer and foster-brother Philip. Recalling the wrongs he had inflicted on Judaea and Jerusalem, he said: "I perceive, therefore, that for this cause these troubles are come upon me; and, behold, I perish through great grief in a strange land."
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv36, 40 SECT. XLI.—THE WILFUL KING. (Chap. Dan_11:36-39.)
HOMILETICS
SECT. XLI.—THE WILFUL KING. (Chap. Dan_11:36-39.)
Read full note →
The present part of the prophecy regards a king, power, or sovereignty, emphatically spoken of as “the king.” Some will have Antiochus Epiphanes still intended by this king. The great majority of evangelical interpreters, however, believe that the angel has already passed from that monarch and the empire which he represented, to that which was to succeed it, namely, that of the Romans, who are certainly introduced in a preceding verse as the “ships of Chittim,” and who seem to be the subject of that part of the prophecy immediately preceding the present. [322] The question is whether the Fourth or Roman Empire in general is here described; or, as in the vision of the Four Beasts we saw that empire represented by, concentrated in, and identified with, a little horn or special power springing out of it,—whether we are not also here to consider the same concentration and representative of that empire, or indeed the same little horn which is described in chap. 7. The similarity of the description in both places would seem to leave little room to doubt that the latter is the more correct view; and that in this Wilful King before us we see that power which, springing out of the decayed and dismembered ancient Roman empire, represented it for many centuries, having, like that empire, Rome as its metropolis and seat of government, its head being at the same time a spiritual ruler, the sovereign pontiff,—in other words, the papacy. Bishop Newton, after showing that the prophecy could not with truth be applied to Antiochus Epiphanes, remarks that the prophet now proceeds to describe the principal author of the persecutions that should still follow the Church. The term “king” or kingdom, he observes, signifies any government, state, or potentate; and the meaning of Dan_11:36 he conceives to be, that, after the empire was become Christian, there should spring up in the Church an Antichristian power that should act in the most absolute and arbitrary manner, exalt itself above all laws, divine and human, dispense with the most solemn and sacred obligations, and in many respects enjoin what God had forbidden, and forbid what God had commanded. The power, he further remarks, began in the Roman emperors, who summoned councils, and directed and influenced their determinations almost as they pleased. After the division of the empire, this power still increased, and was exerted principally by the Greek emperors in the East, and by the bishops of Rome in the West. He observes also that this power was to continue till “the end of the indignation,” or till God should have “accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people;” and that it was an ancient tradition among the Jewish doctors that the destruction of Rome and the restoration of the Jews would fall out about the same period. Mr. Birks observes that some have referred the whole passage (Dan_11:36-39) to Antiochus, others to an infidel king yet to arise, others to democratic infidelity in the Roman empire, and others to the popedom or the Christian Greek emperors; and that most divines, whether Fathers, Protestants, or Roman Catholics, believe that the same power or person is designed as in the Little Horn and the Man of Sin. Mr. Birks himself, like Mede and Bishop Newton, applies the prophecy to “the idolatrous apostasy of the Church in the latter days,” the Wilful King being identical with the Little Horn of chap. 7. We notice—
[322] “The king” (Dan_11:36). Dr. Pusey observes that the characteristics of this infidel king are self-exaltation above every god; contempt for all religion; blasphemy against the true God; apostasy from the God of his fathers; disregard of the desire of women; honouring a god whom his fathers knew not; adding, that of all these only one in the least agrees with Antiochus, while the prophecy unmistakably corresponds with that which in the Revelation is still future (Rev_13:11-12). But many believe that it also at least as unmistakably corresponds with the papacy, which is also foretold in the Revelation. “By the name ‘king,’ ” says Dr. Cox, “Mede, and others after him, understand the Roman state of power, under whatever kind or government; but it is more especially referred to Rome-papal, of which power the description is deemed peculiarly graphic. His despotism, blasphemy, and self-exaltation are clearly marked: and he was to prosper till the indignation be accomplished, or the ‘time, times,’ &c., the 1260 years, when the ‘wonders,’ as afterwards named, shall have an end.” Mr. Birks argues against the idea of Antiochus, or a single infidel and blasphemous king yet to arise, being meant by this king, on the ground that the marks of time in the prophecy fix the close of the vision far beyond the days of Antiochus, and the promised period of the Jewish restoration; that there is no proof that the Wilful King denotes one individual person; that since the fall of Jerusalem the Jews have been exiles from Palestine, and the West, even more than the East, has been the scene of their sufferings; that the Wilful King is not an open atheist and rejector of all religion; that his place in the prophetic history is between the return of Antiochus from Egypt, b.c. 167, and the events predicted in chap. Dan_12:1-3, an interval of two thousand years, while the application of the preceding verses to the Romans as far as Constantine the Great would bring the prophecy to the time of the Vandal persecutions in Africa; and finally that the Wilful King is to prosper until the anger of God against Israel is accomplished. Calvin, who acknowledges the passage to be very obscure, applies it entirely to the Roman empire, not, however, considering it to be begun in the reign of the Cæsars; believing that the angel passed from Antiochus to the Romans, as God wished to support the godly under the troubles that awaited them till the time of the Romans, from whom, beginning with Pompey and Crassus, they continued to be harassed by many and continual wars. Mede, who with Calovius, Geier, and others, applies the prophecy to Antichrist, connects Dan_11:36 with the preceding—“to the time appointed, the king shall do his will,” &c. Dr. Clarke things the prophecy may apply to Antiochus; but observes that it is well known that an Antichristian power did spring up in the Christian Church, showing itself in the Greek emperors in the East, and in the bishops of Rome in the West. Roman Catholic interpreters, as De Lyra, Hugo, and others, after Jerome and the fathers, understand by “the king” the Antichrist who is to appear at the end of the world, and to reign three years and a half. Œcolampadius and Melanchthon regarded him as both the pope and the Turk. Others of the Reformers, as Osiander and Pfaff, understand the pope to be meant from here to the end of the prophecy. Willet thinks all was historically fulfilled in Antiochus, to whom the prophecy specially pointed, though it has a typical application to the Papal Antichrist. Brightman, like Calvin, applies the prophecy to the Romans, and especially to the Roman emperors, the object of the prophecy being to show what would be the state of the Jews to all ages, till gathered into one fold with the Gentiles. Keil observes, that after the example of Porphyry, Ephrem Syrus, and Grotius, almost all modern interpreters, that is, in Germany, find here only a description of the conduct of Antiochus Epiphanes up to the time of his destruction; while of believing interpreters, some, as C. B. Michaelis, Hävernick, and others, regard the whole as having a typical reference to Antichrist; while others, as Jerome, Theodoret, Luther, Œcolampadius, Osiander, Calovius, Geier, and at length Kliefoth, interpret the section as a direct prophecy of Antichrist, the “king” being the little horn growing up among the ten kingdoms of the Fourth Empire, and described in chap. Dan_9:26 as “the prince that shall come,” and introduced here as a new subject He remarks that the Rabbinical interpreters have also adopted the idea of a change of subject in Dan_11:36; while his own opinion is that the reference of the section to Antiochus is essentially correct, and that the supposition of a change of subject is not established. He admits, however, that what is said regarding “the king” in Dan_11:36-39, goes far beyond what Antiochus did, does not harmonise with what is known of Antiochus, and is expressly referred in the New Testament to Antichrist; but thinks that these circumstances rather show that “in the prophetic contemplation there is comprehended in the image of one king what has been historically fulfilled in its beginning by Antiochus Epiphanes, but shall only meet its complete fulfilment by the Antichrist in the time of the end.” By “the king,” Mr. Bosanquet also understands the king of fierce countenance mentioned in chap. Dan_8:23, to which the prophecy goes back, after coming to Alexander’s kingdom in Dan_11:4, in order to relate what shall be in the latter days, the great object of the vision; this king being, in his view, the personification of Mohammedanism, who literally destroyed the mighty and the holy people, putting an end to the Jewish kingdom of the Homerites in Arabia Felix, b.c. 627, after it had existed for some seven hundred years, the last remnant of the Jews as a nation.
I. The power itself. “The king” (Dan_11:36). The term might either indicate a single individual ruler, as in the case of Alexander (Dan_11:3), or a series of rulers—as in the expression “four kings which shall arise” (chap. Dan_7:17). From the lengthened period of his predicted continuance, the term would seem here to have the latter meaning, and, like the Little Horn in chap. 7, to indicate an arrogant and blasphemous power that should rise in or out of the Roman empire. This, with most expositors of prophecy, we can only regard as, in the first instance at least, the papacy. The expression “the king” seems emphatic; and it is scarcely likely that it should be used to designate Antiochus whom the angel had introduced as a “vile person” to whom they should “not give the honour of the kingdom” (Dan_11:21). The emphatic term might naturally be chosen to indicate a new power that should occupy a conspicuous place in the future history of God’s people. The type, which doubtless Antiochus was, appears now, as Archdeacon Harrison observes, to be lost sight of in the prophecy, and the antitype to be almost exclusively in view. According to the view of Christian antiquity, the prophecy is now occupied for some time at least with the description of that tyrannical and persecuting power already indicated in the Little Horn of the Fourth Beast, the description of which so closely corresponds with that of this Wilful King. The papacy or popedom may well be spoken of as “the king,” inasmuch as the popes not only claimed to be sovereigns, but sovereigns above all others however exalted, combining with a temporal sovereignty a spiritual jurisdiction which embraced all Christendom. It is justly viewed as the power to which the Apostle referred in 2Th_2:3-4, as that which should arise in the Church as the result of an apostasy, or mystery of iniquity, which had even in his time begun to work, and which was only then withheld from fully developing itself by an existing hindrance which he does not name, and which, on the removal of that hindrance, would reveal itself, and continue until destroyed by the Lord’s second appearing.
II. Its character. “The king shall do according to his will” (Dan_11:36). The leading characteristic of this power was to be absolute and arbitrary conduct. Of all absolute and arbitrary rulers he should be the chief. Antiochus acted as a type and shadow of this “king “when he commanded all the peoples under his sway to receive his laws and follow his religion. It is well known that the popes claimed, and for a time obtained, an absolute sway over the greatest earthly rulers in virtue of their assuming the place and authority of the Vicar of Christ, with power over both worlds, and possessing both the spiritual and the temporal sword, with a judgment that was infallible, and an authority that could set aside oaths and the most sacred obligations. The language of the Decretals and Bulls of the popes, to which the nations of Europe submitted for centuries, is, as Mr. Birks observes, that emperors ought to obey and not to rule over the pontiffs; that they owe an oath of fealty and subjection to the pope as their superior and head; that what the bishops of Rome decree ought to be observed by all; that it is permitted neither to speak nor to think differently from the pope; that he imparts authority to laws, but is not bound by them; and that he is made the head of the whole world. One example may suffice. Hume relates of Pope Paul IV., to whom Ferdinand, the brother of Charles V., applied for his coronation, that “he thundered always in the ears of all ambassadors, that he stood in no need of the assistance of any prince; that he was above all the potentates of the earth; that he would not accustom monarchs to pretend to a familiarity or equality with him; that it belonged to him to alter and regulate kingdoms; that he was successor of those who had deposed kings and emperors; and that rather than submit to anything below his dignity, he would set fire to the four corners of the world. He went so far as, at table, in the presence of many persons, and even openly, in a public consistory, to say that he would not admit any kings for his companions; they were all his subjects, and he would hold them under his feet; so saying, he stamped on the ground with his old and infirm limbs: for he was now past fourscore years of age.” Such was “the king,” the king with emphasis; the king that by his absolute will and arbitrary power was to rule and afflict the Church and the world for many centuries.
III. Its doings. Described in various particulars in Dan_11:36-39.
1. “He shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god” (Dan_11:36). Here we have especially that which connects this prophecy with 2 Thessalonians 2, and identifies this “king” with the man of sin there predicted. [323] For “every god” the Apostle has all that is called god; the expression, doubtless, referring to civil rulers, who are frequently so called in Scripture, and who are known frequently to have claimed divine honours. How far the Roman pontiffs have claimed this superiority is obvious from what has been already said. The popes have declared that their princedom is far more excellent than any human princedom; that the sacred power and authority of the pontiffs govern the rulers of this world; and that Christian emperors are bound to submit their mandates to theirs.
[323] “Magnify himself above every god” (Dan_11:36). The allusion here, observes Mr. Birks, to 2 Thessalonians 2., is so plain that it has been recognised by every class of interpreters, from Theodoret down to our own day. Polybius, quoted by Bishop Newton, says that Antiochus in his public sacrifices and worship of the gods was more sumptuous and magnificent than all who reigned before him, and that in his solemn shows and processions he had the images of all who were called or reputed gods, demons, or heroes carried before him. On the other hand, Calvin observes that the Romans in their pride and lawlessness surpassed other profane nations, and did not even preserve a superstitious fear of God, making a laughingstock of all divinities, and ridiculing the very name and appearance of piety, which they only used for the purpose of retaining their subjects in obedience.
2. “He shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods” (Dan_11:36). History relates that Antiochus commanded his statue to be erected in the temple at Jerusalem, and that be spoke very proudly; but it records nothing of his speaking “marvellous things against the God of gods.” The Roman pontiffs may be said to have done this when they claimed in their Decretals an equality with God, asserting that the pontiff cannot be bound or judged by the secular power, “because it is manifest that God cannot be judged by man.” They claim also in the mass the power of creating God out of a wafer, according to the well-known saying, Whom they create they adore. The blasphemous title is also known, and never repudiated, “Our Lord God the Pope.” Of the Man of Sin, the Apostle says, “As God he sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” While enthroned on the high altar in St. Peter’s at Rome on the day of his consecration, he has the words of the ninety-fifth psalm blasphemously applied to him, Venite adoremus, “O come, let us worship.” [324]
[324] “Shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods “(Dan_11:36). In reference to the blasphemous claims put forth in the bulls and decretals of the popes, as well as the conversion of the consecrated wafer into the divine being, Mr. Birks asks, “If these are not marvellous speeches against the God of gods, how can our imagination invent others which may deserve the name?”
3. “He shall not regard the God of his fathers” (Dan_11:37). Antiochus, on the contrary, commanded all his subjects to adopt the religion of the Greeks, and the worship of his own gods, and was liberal and ostentatious in his religious rites. On the other hand, the ground on which so many seceded from the Church of Rome before the Reformation was, that the popes had changed the nature of Christianity, and that the pope himself was Antichrist. The Man of Sin was to be the outcome of a deep apostasy or falling away from the Christian faith; many departing from the faith and giving heed to seducing spirits (2Th_2:3; 1Ti_4:1). It is well known that, in the papacy, the appeal in regard to religious truth is not to the Word of God in the Scriptures, but to tradition and the Church; that much of the worship and religion enjoined by the popes is an importation from and imitation of paganism, of which the primitive Church knew nothing, of which the very first act on entering a popish place of worship, the use of holy water, is an example; and of which the pope’s own title, the Pontiff or Pontifex, the title of the high priest of ancient Roman idolatry, is itself an obvious instance; [325] and, finally, that the image of the Virgin Mary is a most prominent object in almost all papal churches, and that she is constantly addressed in hymns and prayers—things entirely unknown in the Scriptures and among the early Christians.
[325] Pontifex Maximus was the title of the high priest of the pagan idolatry of ancient Rome. It was borne by the emperors till Gratian, being a Christian, declined the honour, when it was given to and adopted by the Bishop of Rome. For further Pagan importations, see Hyslop’s “Two Babylons.”
4. “Nor shall he regard the desire of women” (Dan_11:37). [326] The clause is acknowledged to be obscure, and the meaning doubtful. Nothing is known of Antiochus to justify its application to that person. One mark of the apostasy, however, which was to develop the “Man of Sin,” was “forbidding to marry” (1Ti_4:3); while one of the articles of the creed of Pope Pius V. is, “It is unlawful for ministers to marry.” The honour also that is given in the papal system to so-called vows of chastity, or vows of perpetual celibacy and virginity, is well known. Eusebius, quoted by Bishop Newton, says of Constantine, that he held in the highest veneration those men who devoted themselves to the monastic life, and almost adored the company of perpetual virgins. His example was followed by his successors; and in the fourth century clerical celibacy, like a torrent, overran the Eastern Church, and soon after the Western too. A writer in the “Quarterly Review,” quoted by Mr. Birks, says: “Hildebrand (Pope Gregory VII.), a wise man in his generation, knew that the power of the pope through the clergy and over the clergy depended on their celibacy. We speak of the system, and we appeal to history. Perhaps the monkish institutes may have the excuse or palliation that they were composed in hard times and for hard men. But what sentences of unfeeling, unmitigated, remorseless cruelty do they contain! What delight do they seem to have in torturing the most sensitive fibres of the heart, in searing the most blameless emotions of human nature!”
[326] “The desire of women” (vet. 37). Keil observes that the old interpreters understood these words of conjugal love; the moderns in Germany, on the contrary, after the example of D. Michaelis and Gesenius, understand them of the goddess Anaitis or Mylitta, the Assyrian Venus, and refer them especially to the spoiling of the temple of this goddess in Elymais by Antiochus; while Ewald thinks of the Syrian deity Tammuz or Adonis. Keil’s own opinion is that the love of women is an example selected from the sphere of human love and attachment, for which even the most selfish and most savage of men feel some sensibility. Calvin thinks it refers to the duties of charity; Calovius and Geier, to conjugal love and honest matrimony; the former remarking that נשים (nasim) properly denotes not harlots but wives. Grotius, applying the words to Antiochus, thinks they mean that he will be touched with no pity for the sex. So Maldonatus. Polanus understands the clause to mean that he will not be moved from his purpose of disturbing religion by the prayers of his wives; and Piscator, that he will not suffer his wives to worship any god but Jupiter Olympius. Brightman understands it of natural affection, the thing most desired by women being to have their children in most honourable positions, while the Roman emperors cared nothing about having children to succeed them. Willet, applying the passage to Antiochus, understands it to mean that he will contemn matrimony; which he thinks may also be applied typically to the pope. Bullinger and Osiander apply it to the pope historically. Some understand the expression of Messiah, whom it was the desire of the women in Israel to bring forth. Dr. Pusey remarks: “Since it was suggested that the ‘desire of women’ might be their Syrian goddess Mylitta, the Germans have commonly adopted the explanation. Yet there is nothing in the revolting and also unnatural worship of Mylitta which should entitle that degrading worship to be called the desire of women. Nor can I bring myself to think that Daniel, in a picture of the sin of Antiochus, would mention the abstinence from such worship as a portion of that sin.”
5. “Nor (will he regard) any god: for he shall magnify himself above all” (Dan_11:37). This could perhaps hardly be said of one who set up the statue of Jupiter in the temple, commanded all his subjects to acknowledge the gods of the Greeks, and was himself prodigal and magnificent in his worship of them. Calvin, applying the prophecy to the Romans, says they manifested a great contempt for God, while they maintained the appearance of piety. If the term “god” is here also to be regarded as denoting civil rulers, which is probable, we have already seen how strictly applicable the description is to the papacy. If the term is to be viewed in a religious sense, the prophecy may still be regarded as having its fulfilment in a system which sets aside the written word of God for human tradition, and which has had the obvious effect of preparing the way for infidelity in the countries where, as in France and Italy, it has ruled with greatest power and appeared in its greatest glory. The worldliness and ambition of the Roman pontiffs, it is well known, has been too generally such as to indicate a secret infidelity under all the outward profession of piety, openly expressed by Leo X., who is reported to have spoken of the Gospel as a profitable fable. [327]
[327] “Nor regard any God.” Keil and Kliefoth understand the clause to mean that he set himself free from all piety or reverence toward God, or toward that which is divine. Calvin, applying it to the Romans, says, they treated the worship of their deities simply as matters of business, being destitute of any perception of true divinity, and only pretenders to religion, while they manifested a gross contempt of God under the appearance of piety, and thought themselves superior to their gods. Grotius understands it to mean that he (Antiochus) will not regard the god of any nation, but will rob all he can; Piscator, that he will despise all religion. Brightman understands the term “god,” as in the preceding verse, as magistrates, but here, of domestic ones, though anciently established. A. Clarke says, “The mandates and decrees of the papal Church have been often in defiance of God and His Word, the Papacy magnifying itself above all power and authority in heaven and earth.” Boothroyd understands any superior, either magistrates or kings, who are called gods (Psa_86:6), the papal power arrogating to itself the right of raising or abasing, crowning or deposing, kings at its pleasure.
6. “But in his estate he shall honour the god of forces (Marg., “Mauzzim,” or “gods-protectors”); [328] and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain” (Dan_11:38-39). The only god whom the Wilful King was really and practically to acknowledge and honour is one here called “the god of forces,” or, as in the Hebrew and the Margin, “the god Mauzzim,” or “the gods-protectors;” apparently the same as the god whom his fathers knew not, a strange god. It is well known that one of the most prominent characteristics of the papacy is the place which it gives to the adoration and invocation of the Virgin Mary and the saints of the calendar, as well as the honour given to and the trust reposed in the relics of the martyrs, as so many strongholds and protectors,—things entirely unknown in the earliest ages of the Church. History informs us that in the fourth and fifth centuries it became common both in the East and West to regard not only angels and departed saints, but the relics of martyrs, as the defences and protection of the church that contained them. Basil speaks of a church being “fortified by the great towers of the martyrs,” and of the martyrs fortifying our country “like some thick towers against the incursions of enemies.” Chrysostom says of the body of Paul, “This corpse surrounds the city (Rome) as with a wall, which is safer than every tower and thousands of ramparts.” Hilary, in the West, speaks of the munitions of angels; while both East and West invoke the Virgin Mary as “the impregnable wall” and the “fortress of salvation.” One of the articles in the creed of Pope Pius V. is, that “the saints reigning together with Christ are to be invoked.” The Litany of Our Lady of Loretto begins with, “We fly to your patronage, O holy Mother of God.” She is addressed as the Refuge of sinners and the Help of Christians. Not only, however, was such worship, invocation, and trust unknown among the early Christians, the professed fathers of the Roman pontiffs, but the Church was expressly guarded by the Apostle against will-worship and the worshipping of angels; while among the signs of the apostasy of the last days are mentioned the giving heed to seducing spirits and to doctrines of devils or demons, a term not unfrequently employed to designate departed spirits. That the shrines of tutelary saints, as well as the images of the Virgin, are honoured and adorned with the most costly offerings is known to all who have visited Roman Catholic churches on the Continent. The ministers of the papacy have naturally been increased with glory, the pope imparting to them the power which he professes himself to possess, of creating the God whom the people are to worship, as well as of receiving their confessions and forgiving their sins; one of the articles of the creed of Pius V. being that sin is to be confessed to a priest at least once a year under pain of damnation. The choicest lands, too, as Bishop Newton observes, have been appropriated for the property of the Church and the use of those who minister at the altars of these gods-protectors.
[328] “The god of forces.” אֱלוֹהַּ מָעֻזִּים (Eloah Ma’uzzim), “god of fortresses.” Sir Isaac Newton understands the term to mean “strong guardians,” and applies the term to the souls of the dead, saints and angels, and especially the Virgin Mary; all being invoked and adored both in the Greek and Latin Churches as patrons, intercessors, and guardians of mankind, their shrines and images being adorned with the most costly offerings. Mede seems to have been the first to apply the term to the papacy, as denoting demons or god-protectors, which the Romans worship with Christ, namely, saints and angels; remarking that Basil, Gregory, Chrysostom, and others call the relics of martyrs towers and bulwarks, while Gregory of Nyssa, Theodoret, and others call martyrs patrons and protectors. He remarks: “It is a thing not to be passed by without admiration that the Fathers and others, even at the beginning of saint-worship, by I know not what fatal instinct, used to call saints and their relics walls, bulwarks, and fortresses, i.e., Mahuzzim, in the primary and original signification.” Keil renders the expression, “the god of fortresses,” and observes that, as is now generally acknowledged, מָעֻזִּים (ma’uzzim) is not, with Theodotion, the Vulgate, Luther, and others to be regarded as the proper name of a god. He applies the prophecy to the future Antichrist, who, he thinks, is here said to regard no other god—but only war; the taking of fortresses he will make his god, and he will worship this god above all, as the means of his gaining the universal power he aims at. Professor Lee translates the phrase the “god of forces,” and supposes it to apply to the Roman emperors, Nero being the first of the series. C. B. Michaelis, Gesenius, and others, applying the prophecy to Antiochus, suppose Mars, the god of war, to be intended; while Hävernick, Ewald, and others, after Grotius, think of Jupiter Olympius; which, however, as Keil observes, were not gods unknown to his fathers. Calvin translates the word “strengths, or fortitudes,” observing that the god which the Romans are said to worship, namely, the Roman Jupiter, the prophet calls a “god of bulwarks” or of power; meaning that they claimed a divine power as their own, and acknowledged no deity but themselves. Geier and Vatablus read, “god of fortifications or strengths,” like Asina or Mars, a Syrian deity to whom this king would ascribe all his dignity and power. Mr. Birks thinks that the general feature of the expression is that of one chief and many subordinate objects of worship; the god, along with whom the Mauzzim are worshipped, being the Son of God, or the true God, but made the object of a heathenish worship, with many subordinate idols, degraded into an Eloah or chief patron-divinity, who shares his worship with many Mauzzim; and that the “most strong holds” here mentioned are buildings dedicated to these Mauzzim or tutelary deities. The Wilful King, he thinks, will pay honour to a multitude of guardian powers, and cause them to receive homage and costly worship from his people.
IV. Its continuance. “He shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished; for that that is determined shall be done” (Dan_11:36). The indignation is that of God against His people for their unfaithfulness to, and abuse of, the privileges bestowed upon them, and, in the case of Israel more especially, their rejection and crucifixion of their King and Saviour; the consummation determined (chap. Dan_9:27); the wrath that was to come upon them to the uttermost (1Th_2:16); an indignation that is still experienced in the “great captivity” which the Jews have been suffering for eighteen centuries, with which the indignation in the time of Antiochus was not to be compared. It is spoken of in chap. Dan_12:7 as the “scattering of the power of the holy people,” which was to be accomplished, or completed and finished, at the time of the end. This indignation or righteous judgment was to be accomplished through human instrumentality; and that instrumentality was mainly to be this very power or “king,” who was therefore, like Pharaoh, to be upheld and suffered, or rather made to prosper, till that object should be accomplished. [329] That period is spoken of as “a time, times, and half a time;” the same period during which the Gentile Church was also to suffer at the hands of the same tyrannical and persecuting power (chap. Dan_12:7, Dan_7:25). The purposes of God must be accomplished—“that that is determined must be done;” and the time for their accomplishment is fixed. Till then the instruments for that accomplishment will be provided, preserved, and strengthened, without any consciousness on their part of being so used, while simply acting out the inclinations of their own depraved wills, and seeking the furtherance of their own selfish ends, for which, when the divine purposes shall have been accomplished, they will be called to account. To every persecuting power the voice of Omnipotence is, “Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.”
[329] How the Jews have suffered at the hands of the papacy is well known. Gibbon, quoted by Mr. Birks, writes in reference to Spain: “The intolerant spirit, since it would find neither idolatry nor heresies, was reduced to the persecution of the Jews.” And in regard to the Italians: “They respected the armed heresy of the Goths; but their rage was safely pointed against the rich and defenceless Jews.” “Of these (the first Crusaders) and of other bands of enthusiasts, the first and most easy warfare was against the Jews, the murderers of the Son of God; nor had they felt a more bloody stroke since the persecution of Hadrian.”
The Wilful King was not only to continue but to “prosper “during his appointed period. This purpose of God has been the secret of the mysterious continuance and more mysterious prosperity of the papacy during the past twelve centuries. “Four times,” says Macaulay (Essay on Ranke’s History of the Popes), “since the authority of the Church of Rome was established in Western Christendom, has the human intellect risen up against her yoke. Twice that Church remained completely victorious. Twice she came forth from the conflict, bearing the marks of cruel wounds, but with the principle of life strong within her. When we reflect on the tremendous assaults which she has survived, we find it difficult to conceive in what way she is to perish.” It was thus that while the mighty work of reformation was proceeding in the north of Europe, and in all the countries on this side of the Alps and the Pyrenees it seemed on the point of triumphing, a counter-reformation took place, carried on with equal energy and success. Hence the mysterious rise and progress of the Order of Jesus, a concentration of the spirit of the papacy, the main instrument in the great papal reaction. Till the appointed time of his decay and overthrow should come, the Wilful King was to be invincible. That time, however, was to come. In May 1514, the orator of the Lateran Council proclaimed that there was an end of resistance to papal rule, and that the whole body of Christendom was now subjected to its head, Pope Leo X. In October 1517, exactly three years and a half after, Luther fixed up his famous Theses at the door of the University of Wittemberg, which were to shake the papacy to its foundations. Three centuries and a half longer were to transpire before “the king,” divested of all his territory, was to cease to be a temporal ruler. But the time came. That that was determined was done. But the end is not yet.
We may pause to reflect—
1. How unsearchable are God’s judgments, and His ways past finding out! How mysterious that such a power should be permitted to arise in the Church, and to continue and prosper for so long a period!
2. No evil or calamity but is under God’s control. Evils in Church and state can only exist and continue by His permission and appointment, and will be overruled for His own glory.
3. Solemn responsibility connected with the possession of the Gospel. The misuse or non-acceptance of that Gospel, proceeding from want of love to the truth, the sin that gave rise to this fearful judgment upon the Church of the New Testament, as a similar sin had done with that of the Old (2Th_2:9-12).
4. The power and malignity of Satan in contriving, preparing, and employing agencies for evil where they might be least expected. It is our comfort, however, to know that this power is counteracted by the still greater power of God, in controlling these agencies and overruling them for His own glory and the good of His people.
5. The extent to which human depravity may, under Satan’s influence, be carried, even in connection with the highest profession of religion and piety. Hence the constant need of the Psalmist’s prayer: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv31, 32, 35, 36, 45 This is historic -- the act of Antiochus Epiphanes.…
abomination
This is historic -- the act of Antiochus Epiphanes. Mat 24:15 refers to Dan 12:11, (See Scofield "Dan 9:27").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv31, 33, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44 His forces will rise up
His forces will rise up
"His army will appear" or "His army will come." The word "His" refers to the king of the North. (See: Idiom)
Read full note →
the fortress sanctuary
"the sanctuary that the people use as a fortress"
They will take away the regular burnt offering
Taking away the offering represents preventing people from offering it. AT: "They will stop the priests from presenting the regular burnt offering" (See: Metaphor)
the abomination that causes desolation
This refers to an idol that will make the temple desolate, that is, that will cause God to leave his temple. AT: "the disgusting idol that will cause God to abandon the temple" or "the disgusting thing that will make the temple unclean" (See: Idiom)
acted wickedly against the covenant
"wickedly disobeyed the covenant"
corrupt them
"persuade them to do evil"
who know their God
Here "know" means "be faithful." AT: "who are faithful to their God" (See: Metonymy)
will be strong and will take action
"will be firm and resist them"
translationWords
profane
sanctuary
burnt offering
abomination
covenant
know
God
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv31, 32, 34, 36, 37, 40, 41, 45 11:31 the sacrilegious object that causes desecration: See study…
11:31 the sacrilegious object that causes desecration: See study note on 9:27.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.