tion. I do not see that it is possible to ex-'stood in his lot,' or occupied the post of plain the language on any other supposi- distinction and honour which is referred tion than this. The word rendered shalt to in this language. But if this had been rest'-up-would be well applied to the the meaning, it would have implied that rest in the grave. So it is used in Job iii. he would, at that time, rise from the dead. 13: "Then had I been at rest," Job iii. (b) If it be referred, as Gesenius explains 17: "There the weary be at rest." And it, to the times of the Messiah, the same stand in thy lot. In thy place. The lan- thing would follow-for that time was guage is derived from the lot or portion still more remote; and, if it be supposed which falls to one-as when a lot is cast, those times, it must also be admitted that that Daniel understood it as relating to or any thing is determined by lot. Comp. he believed that there would be a resurJudges i. 3, Isa. lvii. 6, Ps. cxxv. 3, xvi. 5. Gesenius (Lex.) renders this, rection, and that he would then appear "and arise to thy lot in the end of days; in his proper place. (c) There is only i. e. in the Messiah's kingdom. Comp. one other supposition, and that directly Rev. xx. 6." The meaning is, that he involves the idea, that the allusion is to the general resurrection, as referred to in need have no apprehension for himself as to the future. That was not now, indeed, ver. 3, and that Daniel would have part disclosed to him, and the subject was left in that. This is admitted by Lengerke, in designed obscurity. He would 'rest,' by Maurer, and even by Bertholdt, to perhaps a long time, in the grave. But be the meaning-though he applies it in the far distant future he would occupy to the reign of the Messiah. No other his appropriate place; he would rise from interpretation, therefore, can be affixed his rest; he would appear again on the to this than that it implies the doctrine stage of action; he would have the lot of the resurrection of the dead, and that and rank which properly belonged to him. the mind of Daniel was directed onward What idea this would convey to the mind to that. With this great and glorious of Daniel, it is impossible now to deter- doctrine, the book appropriately closes. mine-for he gives no statement on that The hope of such a resurrection was fitted point; but it is clear that it is such lan- to soothe the mind of Daniel in view of guage as would be appropriately used by all the troubles which he then experione who believed in the doctrine of the enced, and of all the darkness which rested resurrection of the dead, and who meant on the future-for what we most want in to direct the mind onward to those far the troubles and in the darkness of the distant and glorious scenes when the dead present life, is the assurance that, after would all arise, and when each one of the having rested' in the grave-in the calm righteous would stand up in his appro- sleep of the righteous-we shall 'awake' priate place, or lot. At the end of the in the morning of the resurrection, and days. After the close of the periods re- shall stand in our lot'-or in our approferred to-when the consummation of all priate place as the acknowledged children things should take place. It is impossi- shall be no more, and when the consumof God, at the end of days'-when time ble not to regard this as applicable to a resurrection from the dead; and there is mation of all things shall have arrived. In reference to the application of this every reason to suppose that Daniel would so understand it, for (a) if it be inter-prophecy, the following general remarks preted as referring to the close of the per- may be made: secutions of Antiochus Epiphanes, it must literally as applicable to Antiochus EpiI. One class of interpreters explain it be so understood. This prophecy was uttered about 534 years B. C. The death phanes. of Antiochus occurred 164 B. C. The interval between the prophecy and that event was, therefore, 370 years. It is impossible to believe that it was meant by the angel that Daniel would continue to live during all that time so that he should then stand in his lot,' not having died, or that he did continue to live during all that period, and that at the end of it he Of this class is Prof. Stuart, who supposes that its reference to Antiochus can be shown in the following occupies, shows that the terminus a quo, "The place which this passage or period from which the days designated are to be reckoned, is the same as that to which reference is made in the previous verse. This, as we have already seen, is the period when Antiochus, by his military agent, Apollonius, took possession. 490 DANIEL. of Jerusalem, and put a stop to the tem-ness in his bowels (probably the cholera) [B. C. 534. ple-worship there. The author of the he died at Tabæ, in the mountainous first book of Maccabees, who is allowed country, near the confines of Babylonia by all to deserve credit as a historian, and Persia. Report stated, even in anafter describing the capture of Jerusalem cient times, that Antiochus was greatly by the agent of Antiochus (in the year distressed on his death-bed by the sacri145 of the Seleucida-168 B. C.), and lege which he had committed. setting before the reader the wide-spread devastation which ensued, adds, respect- bloody enemy which ever rose up against "Thus perished the most bitter and ing the invaders: They shed innocent the Jewish nation and their worship. blood around the sanctuary and defiled By following the series of events it is the holy place; and the inhabitants of easy to see, that his death took place Jerusalem fled thereof was made desolate; her feasts B. C. Assuming that the commencement away: the sanctuary sometime in February of the year 164 were turned into mourning, her sabbaths or terminus a quo of the 1335 days into reproach, and her honour into dis- same as that of the 1290 days, it is plain grace;' 1 Mac. i. 37-39. To the period that they terminate at the period when when this state of things commenced we the death of Antiochus is said to have must look, then, in order to find the date taken place. 'It was long before the from which the 1355 days are to be reck- commencement of the spring,' says Froeoned. Supposing now that Apollonius lich, that Antiochus passed the Eucaptured Jerusalem in the latter part of phrates, and made his attack on Elymais: May, B. C. 168, the 1355 days would ex- so that no more probable time can be pire about the middle of February in the fixed upon for his death than at the exyear B. C. 164. Did any event take piration of the 1335 days; i. e. some time place at this period, which would natur- in February of 164 B. C. No wonder ally call forth the congratulations of the that the angel pronounced those of the prophet, as addressed in the text before pious and believing Jews to be blessed, us to the Jewish people? ance." Hints on Prophecy, pp. 95-97. who lived to see such a day of deliver the vious difficulties in regard to this view, There are, however, serious and oband to the supposition that this is all that is intended here-objections and difficulties of so much force that most Christian interpreters have supposed that something further was intended. these difficulties and objections are the following: Among "History enables us to answer this question. Late in the year 165 B. C., or at least very early in the year 164 B. C., Antiochus Epiphanes, learning that there were great insurrections and disturbances in Armenia and Persia, hastened thither with a portion of his armies, while the other portion was commissioned against Palestine. He was victorious for a time; but being led by cupidity to seek for the treasures that were laid up in the temple of the Persian Diana at Elymais, he un(a) The air of mystery which is thrown dertook to rifle them. The inhabitants he were reluctant to make the communiover the whole matter by the angel, as if of the place, however, rose en masse and cation; as if something more was meant drove him out of the city; after which than the words expressed; as if he he fled to Ecbatana. There he heard of shrank from disclosing all that he knew, the total discomfiture by Judas Macca- or that might be said. If it referred to beus of his troops in Palestine, which Antiochus alone, it is difficult to see why were led on by Nicanor and Timotheus. so much mystery was made of it, and In the rage occasioned by this disappoint- why he was so unwilling to allude further ment, he uttered the most horrid blas- to the subject-as if it were something phemies against the God of the Jews, and that did not pertain to the matter in threatened to make Jerusalem the bury-hand. ing-place of the nation. Immediately he directed his course toward Judea; and designing to pass through Babylon, he made all possible haste in his journey. In the meantime he had a fall from his chariot which injured him; and soon after, being seized with a mortal sick racter of what is here said. It stands enigmatical language, and in such a manner that it would convey no distinct conception to his mind. This would seem to imply that it referred to something else than the main point that had been under consideration. (c) The difference of time specified now by the angel. This relates to two points: should be permitted to live then. Now it is true that with much probability this may be shown, as Prof. Stuart has done in the passage quoted above, to accord well with the time when Antiochus died, and that that was an important event, and would be so regarded by those pious Jews who would be permitted to live to that time; but it is true also that the main thing for rejoicing was the conquest of Judas Maccabeus and the cleansing of the sanctuary, and that the death of Antiochus does not seem to meet the fullness of what is said here. If that were all, it is not easily conceivable much a mystery of it, or why he should have been so reluctant to impart what he knew. The whole matter, therefore, appears to have a higher importance than the mere death of Antiochus and the delivery of the Jews from his persecutions. 1. To what would occur after the 'closing of the daily sacrifice, and the setting up of the abomination of desolation.' The angel now says that what he here refers to would extend to a period of twelve hundred and ninety days. But in the accounts before given, the time why the angel should have made so specified had uniformly been a time, and times, and half a time;' that is, three years and a half, or twelve hundred and sixty days-differing from this by thirty days. Why should this thirty days have been added bere if it referred to the time when the sanctuary would be cleansed, and the temple-worship restored? Prof. Stuart (Hints on Prophecy, pp. 93, 94), supposes that it was in order that the exact period might be mentioned. But this is liable to objections. For (a) the period of three and a half years was sufficiently exact; (b) there was no danger of mistake on the subject, and no such error had been made as to require correction; (c) this was not of sufficient importance to justify the manifest anxiety of the angel in the case, or to furnish any answer to the inquiries of Daniel, since so small an itein of information would not relieve the mind of Daniel. The allusion, then, would seem to be something else than what had been referred to by the 'three and a half years.' 2. But there is a greater difficulty in regard to the other period-the 1335 days. For (a) that stands wholly detached from what had been said. (b) The beginning of that period--the terminus a quo-is not specified. It is true that Prof. Stuart (Hints on Prophecy, p. 95,) supposes that this must be the same as that mentioned in the previous verse, but this is not apparent in the communication. It is an isolated statement, and would seem to refer to some momentous and important period in the future which would be characterized as a glorious or 'blessed' period in the world's history, or of such a nature that he ought to regard himself as peculiarly happy who II. Another class, and it may be said that Christian interpreters generally, have supposed that there was here a reference to some higher and more important events in the far distant future. But it is scarcely needful to say, that the opinions entertained have been almost as numer ous as the writers on the prophecies, and that the judgment of the world has not settled down on any one particular method of the application. It would not be profitable to state the opinions which have been advanced; still less to attempt to refute them-most of them being fanciful conjectures. These may be seen detailed in great variety in Poole's Synopsis. It is not commonly pretended, that these opinions are based on any exact interpretation of the words, or on any certain mode of determining their correctness, and those who hold them admit that it must be reserved to future years-to their fulfillment-to understand the exact meaning of the prophecy. Thus Prideaux, who supposes that this passage refers to Antiochus, frankly says: "Many things may be said for the probable solving of this difficulty [the fact that the angel here refers to an additional thirty days above the three years and an half, which he says can neither be applied to Antiochus nor to Antichrist], but I shall offer none of them. Those that shall live to see the extirpation of Antiochus, which will be at the end of those years, will best be able to unfold these matters, riod of twelve hundred and ninety days could with particular propriety be applied, and there is no reason in the bistory why reference should have been made to that. it being of the nature of these prophecies this were all, the statements were such not thoroughly to be understood till they indeed as might be made by a weak man are thoroughly fulfilled." Vol. iii. 283, attaching importance to trifles, but not 284. So Bp. Newton, who supposes that such as would be made by an inspired the setting up of the abomination of des- angel professing to communicate great olation here refers to the Mohammedans and momentous truths. invading and devastating Christendom, (2) Either by design, or because the and that the religion of Mohammed will language which he would employ to deprevail in the east for the space of 1260 signate higher events happened to be such years, and then a great revolution as would note those periods also, the anperhaps the restoration of the Jews, gel employed terms which, in the main, perhaps the destruction of Antichrist" would be applicable to what would occur indicated by the 1290 years will occur; under the persecutions of Antiochus, while and that this will be succeeded by an- at the same time, his eye was on more other still more glorious event-perhaps important and momentous events in the "the conversion of the Gentiles, and the far distant future. Thus the three years beginning of the millenium, or reign of and a half, would apply with suffithe saints on the earth"-indicated by cient accuracy to the time between the the 1335 years-says, notwithstanding, taking away the daily sacrifice, and the "What is the precise time of their begin- destruction of the temple by Judas Macning, and consequently of their ending, cabeus, and then, also, it so happens as well as what are the great and signal that the thirteen hundred and thirty-five events which will take place at the end days would designate with sufficient acof each period, we can only conjecture; curacy the death of Antiochus, but there time alone can with certainty discover." is nothing in the history to which the peProphecies, p. 321. These expressions indicate the common feeling of those who understand these statements as referring to future events; and the reasonings of those who have attempted to make a more specific application, have been such as to (3) The angel had his eye on three demonstrate the wisdom of this modesty, great and important epochs lying appaand to make us wish that it had been im-rently far in the future, and constituting itated by all. At all events, such specu- important periods in the history of the lations on this subject have been so wild church and the world. These were, and unfounded; so at variance with all respectively, composed of 1260, 1290, just rules of interpretation, so much the and 1335 prophetic days, that is years, fruit of mere fancy, and so incapable of Whether they had the same beginning or solid support by reasoning, as to admon- point of reckoning-termini a quo-and ish us that no more conjectures should be whether they would, as far as they would added to the number. respectively extend, cover the same space of time, he does not intimate with any certainty, and, of course, if this is the correct view it would be impossible now to determine, and the development is to be left to the times specified. One of them, the 1260 years, or the three years and an half, we can fix, we think, by applying it to the Papacy. See Notes on ch. vii. 24-28. But in determining even this, it was necessary to wait until the time and course of events should disclose its meaning; and in reference to the other two periods, doubtless still future, it may be necessary now to wait until events still to occur, shall disclose what was intended by the angel. The first has been made clear by history; there can be no doubt that the others in the same manner will III. The sum of all that it seems to me can be said on the matter is this: (1) That it is probable, for the reasons above stated, that the angel referred to other events than the persecutions and the death of Antiochus, for if that was all, the additional information which he gave by the specification of the period of 1260 days, and 1290 days, and 1335 days, was quite too meagre to be worthy of a formal and solemn revelation from God. In other words, if this was all, there was no correspondence between the importance of the events, and the solemn manner in which the terms of the communication were made. There was no such importance in these three periods as to make these separate disclosures necessary. If be made equally clear. That this is the true interpretation, and that this is the view which the angel desired to convey to the mind of Daniel, seems to be clear from such expressions as these occurring in the prophecy:-"Seal the book, to the time of the end," ver. 4; "many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased," ver. 4; "the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end," ver. 9: "many shall be made wise," ver. 10; "the wise shall understand," ver. 10; "go thou thy way till the end be," ver. 13. This language seems to imply that these things could not then be understood, but that when the events to which they refer should take place they would be plain to all. the joys of the blessed, and occupying the position which would be appropriate to him. With this cheering prospect the communications of the angel to him are closed. Nothing could be better fitted to comfort his heart in a land of exile; nothing better fitted to elevate his thoughts. (b) In the same manner it is proper that we should look onward. All the revelations of God terminate in this manner; all are designed and adapted to direct the mind to far distant and most glorious scenes in the future. We have all that Daniel had; and we have what Daniel had not-the clear revelation of the Gospel. In that Gospel are stated in a still more clear manner, those glorious truths (4) Two of those events or periods-respecting the future which are fitted to the 1390 days, and the 1335 days-seem cheer us in time of trouble, to elevate our to lie still in the future, and the full un- minds amidst the low scenes of earth, derstanding of the prediction is to be re- and to comfort and sustain us on the bed served for developments yet to be made of death. With much more distinctness in the history of the world. Whether it than Daniel saw them, we are permitted be by the conversion of the Jews and the to contemplate the truths respecting the entiles, respectively, as Bp. Newton sup-resurrection of the dead, the scenes of poses, it would be vain to conjecture, and the final judgment, and the future haptime must determine. That such periods -marked and important periods-are to occur in the future, or in some era now commenced but not yet completed, I am constrained to believe; and that it will be possible, in time to come, to determine what they are, seems to me to be as undoubted. But where there is nothing certain to be the basis of calculation, it is idle to add other conjectures to those already made, and it is wiser to leave the matter, as much of the predictions respecting the future must of necessity be left to time and to events to make them clear. Let me add, in the conclusion of the exposition of this remarkable book: (a) That the mind of Daniel is left at the close of all the divine communications to him, looking into the far-distant future, ver. 13. His attention is directed onward. Fragments of great truths had been thrown out, with little apparent connection, by the angel; hints of momentous import had been suggested respecting great doctrines to be made clearer in future ages. A time was to occur, perhaps in the far-distant future, when the dead were to be raised; when all that slept in the dust of the earth should awake; when the righteous should shine as the brightness of the firmament; and when he himself should 'stand in his lot'-sharing piness of the righteous. We have now knowledge of the resurrection of the Redeemer, and, through him, the assurance that all his people will be raised up to honour and glory-and though, in reference to the resurrection of the dead, and the future glory of the righteous, there is much that is still obscure, yet there is all that is necessary to inspire us with hope, and to stimulate us to endeavour to obtain the crown of life. (c) It is not improper, therefore, to close the exposition of this book with the expression of a wish that what was promised to Daniel may occur to us who read his words-that 'we may stand in our lot at the end of days;' that when all the scenes of earth shall have passed away in regard to us, and the end of the world itself shall have come, it may be our happy portion to occupy a place among the redeemed, and to stand accepted before God. To ourselves, if we are truly righteous through our Redeemer, we may apply the promise made to Daniel; and for his readers an author can express no higher wish than that this lot may be theirs. If the exposition of this book shall be so blessed as to confirm any in the belief of the great truths of revelation, and lead their minds to a more confirmed hope in regard to these future glorious scenes; if |