XIV. DANIEL'S VISION OF THE SAME. WHAT was revealed unto Nebuchadnezzar in the second year of his reign concerning the four great empires of the world, was again revealed unto Daniel, (chap. vii.) with some enlargements and additions, in the first year of Belshazzar, that is about eight and forty years afterwards. But there is this difference, that what was exhibited to Nebuchadnezzar in the form of a great image, was represented to Daniel in the shape of great wild beasts. The reason of which is ingeniously assigned by Grotius, and after him by Mr. Lowth, that this image appeared with a glorious lustre in the imagination of Nebuchadnezzar, whose mind was wholly taken up with admiration of worldly pomp and splendour; whereas the same monarchies were represented to Daniel under the shape of fierce and wild beasts, as being the great supporters of idolatry and tyranny in the world.' 1 Daniel dreamed, and the angel interpreted. "These great. beasts, which are four, (says the angel, ver. 17,) are four kings," or kingdoms, as it is translated in the Vulgar Latin, and the Greek and Arabic versions, and as the angel himself explains it, (ver. 23,) "The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth." They arise out of a stormy and tempestuous sea, that is out of the wars and commotions of the world: and they are called great in comparison of other lesser states and kingdoms, as they are denominated beasts for their tyrannical and cruel oppressions and depredations. These beasts are indeed monstrous productions; a lion with eagle's wings, a bear with three ribs in the mouth of it, a leopard with four wings and four heads, and a beast with ten horns: but such emblems and hieroglyphics were usual among the eastern nations; a winged lion and such like fictitious animals may still be seen in the 2 ruins of Persepolis; horns are attributed to beasts, which naturally have none; and these figures were, as I may say, the arms and symbols of such and such nations, and are no stranger than several which are still used in modern heraldry. We will consider them in order, and take notice only of such interpretations as carry in them something probable and plausible, to the end that we may establish what is more certain. To recite all the various opinions of commentators would be but heaping up a monument of the absurdities of former ages. We may collect something from one, and something from another, and yet in all respects perfectly agree with none. I. The first kingdom is represented by a beast, (ver. 4,) that 1 Lowth's Comment. on chapter ii. 31. Grotius ibid. 2 See Sir John Chardin and other trevellers. 1 was "like a lion, and had eagle's wings: and I beheld till the 3 The "eagle's wings" denote its swiftness and rapidity: and the conquests of Babylon were very rapid, that empire being advanced to the height within a few years by a single person, by the conduct and arms of Nebuchadnezzar. It is farther said, "The wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth," that is, it was taken away from the earth, as it is commonly understood, and as it is translated in almost all the ancient versions or it may be rendered thus, the wings thereof were plucked wherewith it was lifted up from the earth, as 5 Grotius explains it, and as we read it in the margin of our Bibles, the conjunction copulative sometimes supplying the place of a relative. Its wings were beginning to be plucked at the time of the delivery of this prophecy; for at this time the Medes and Persians were encroaching upon it; Belshazzar, the king now reigning, was the last of his race; and in the seventeenth year of his reign, Babylon was taken, and the kingdom was transferred to the Medes and Persians. 6 “And it was made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it." It is not easy to say what is the precise meaning of this passage; unless it be an allusion to the case of Nebuchadnezzar, when in his madness, (iv. 6,) "a beast's heart 3 Regnum Babylonium propter sævitiam et crudelitatem,-non leo, sed læana appellatur. Aiunt enim hi qui de bestiarum scripsere naturis lecenas esse ferociores, &c.' Hieron. Comment. in locum. 4 Et sublata est (inquit) de terra;" subverso videlicet impio [imperio] Chaldæorum.' Hieron. ibid. Kai noen ånd Tñs yis. Sept. "Videbam evulsas esse alas ejus, et ab humo sublatam." Syriac. *Et egressa est de terra." Arab. 5 "Et sublata est de terra." Verte: per quas efferebatur supra terram. Sæpe enim Chaldæis, ut et Hebræis, copula vim habet relativa.' Grot. in locum. 6 Joseph. Antiq. 1. 10, c.. 11, § 4, p. 462. Usher, Prideaux, and other chronologers. a was given unto him," and after he was restored to his senses, man's heart was given to him” again. What appears most probable is, that after the Babylonian empire was subverted, the people became more humane and gentle their minds were humbled with their fortune; and they who vaunted as if they had been gods, now felt themselves to be but men. They were brought to such a sense as the Psalmist wisheth such persons to have, (Psal. ix. 20,) "Put them in fear, O Lord; that the nations may know themselves to be but men." II. The second kingdom is represented, (ver. 5,) by "another beast like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh." This is the kingdom of the Medes and Persians and for their cruelty and greediness after blood they are compared to a bear, which is a most voracious and cruel animal. The very learned' Bochart recounts several particulars, wherein the Persians resembled bears: but the chief likeness consisted in what I have mentioned: and this likeness was principally intended by the prophet, as I think we may infer from the words of the text itself:"" Arise, devour much flesh." A bear, saith Aristotle, is an all-devouring animal: and so, saith Grotius, the Medo-Persians were great robbers and spoilers, according to Jeremiah, (li. 48, 56.) 8 "And it raised up itself on one side," or as it is in the margin, it raised up one dominion; for the Persians were subject to the Medes at the conquest of Babylon, but soon after raised up themselves above them. "And it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it :" these 'Jerome understands of the three kingdoms of the Babylonians, Medes, and Persians, which were reduced into one kingdom; and so likewise Vatablus and Grotius: but 'Sir Isaac Newton and Bishop Chandler with greater propriety explain them to signify the kingdoms of Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt, which were conquered by it, but were not properly parts and members of its body. They might be called ribs, as the conquest of them much strengthened the Persian empire; and they might be said to be between the teeth of the bear, as they were much grinded and oppressed by the Persians. "And they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh :" this was said, as it was before observed, to denote the cruelty of the Bocharti Hierozoic. pars prior, 1. 3, c. 9, col. 816, &c. * Ursus ζωον παμφαγον [animal omnia vorans] ait Aristoteles vIII. 5. Sic Medopersæ raptores magni, prædones, Jeremiæ LI. 48, 56.' Grot. in locum. 9 Ergo tres ordines in ore regni Persarum, et in dentibus ejus, tria regna debemus accipere, Babylonforum, Meaorum, atque Persarum; quæ in unum redacta sunt regnum.' Hieron. Comment. in loc. Vatablus et Grot. in locum. 1 Sir Isaac Newton's Observations on Daniel, c. 4, p. 29. Bishop Chandler's Vin dication, b. 1, c. 2, § 2, p. 198. 2 Medes and Persians. They are also represented very cruel by the prophet Isaiah, (xiii. 18 :) "Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces, and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children." Cambysis, Ochus, and others of their princes were indeed more like bears than men. Instances of their cruelty abound in almost all the historians, who have written of their affairs from Herodotus down to Ammianus Marcellinus, who describes them proud, cruel, exercising the power of life and death over slaves and obscure plebeians. They pull off the skins, says he, from men alive, by pieces or all together and they have abominable laws, by which for one man's offence all the neighbourhood is destroyed. Well therefore might a learned French commentator say, that the Persians have exercised the most severe and the most cruel dominion that we know of. The punishments used among them beget horror in those who read of them. 3 III. The third kingdom is represented, (ver. 6,) by "another beast like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it." This is the kingdom of the Macedonians or Grecians, who under the command of Alexander the Great overcame the Persians, and reigned next after them: and it is fitly compared to a leopard upon several accounts. The leopard is remarkable for swiftness; "their horses, (saith the prophet Habakkuk, i. 8,) are swifter than the leopards:" and Alexander and the Macedonians were amazingly swift and rapid in their conquests. The leopard is a spotted animal: and so was a proper emblem, according to Bochart, of the different manners of the nations which Alexander commanded; or, according to 5 Grotius, of the various manners of Alexander himself, who was sometimes merciful, and sometimes cruel; sometimes temperate, and sometimes drunken; sometimes abstemious, and sometimes incontinent. The leopard, as Bochart observes, is of small stature, but of great courage, so as not to be afraid to engage with the lion and the largest beasts; and so Alexander, 6 5 Pardus varium animal. Sic Alexander moribus variis; modo clemens, modo crudelis; modo victus temperati, modo ebriosus ;. modo abstinens, modo indulgens amoribus.' Grot. in locum. • Ut pardus statura parvus est, sed animo et robore maxime præstans, ita ut cum leone et procerissimis quibusque feris congredi non vereatur: sic Alexander pene re gulus, et cum exiguo apparatu, regem regum aggredi ausus est, id est, Darium, cujus regnum a mari Ægao usque ad Indos extendebatur.' Bochart. Hieroz. pars prior, 1. 3, c. 7, col. 789. a little king in comparison, of small stature too, and with a small army, dared to attack the king of kings, that is Darius, whose kingdom was extended from the Egean sea to the Indies. Others have pursued the comparison further, but with more subtilty than solidity; for I conceive the principal point of likeness was designed between the swiftness and impetuosity of the one and the other. For the same reason the beast "had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl." The Babylonian empire was represented with two wings, but this is described with four. For, as Jerome saith," nothing was swifter than the victories of Alexander, who ran through all the countries from Illyricum and the Adriatic sea to the Indian ocean and the river Ganges, not so much fighting as conquering, and in six years (he should have said in twelve) subjugated part of Europe, and all Asia to himself. "The beast had also four heads:" to denote the four kingdoms into which this same third kingdom should be divided, as it was divided into four kingdoms after the death of Alexander, his four captains, Cassander reigning over Macedon and Greece, Lysimachus over Thrace and Bithynia, Ptolemy over Egypt, and Seleucus over Syria. "And domi-. nion was given to it;" which showeth, as Jerome saith, that it was not owing to the fortitude of Alexander, but proceeded from the will of the Lord. And indeed unless he had been directed, preserved, and assisted by the mighty power of God, how could Alexander with thirty thousand men have overcome Darius with six hundred thousand, and in so short a time have brought all the countries from Greece as far as to India into subjection? 8 9 IV. The fourth kingdom is represented (ver. 7) by a "fourth beast, dreadful and terrible; and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth; it devoured, and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it, and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it." Daniel was curious to know particularly what this might mean, (ver. 19:) "Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass, which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet." And he was answered thus by the angel, (ver 23 :) "The fourth beast, shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all "Nihil enim Alexandri victoria velocius fuit, qui, ab Illyrico et Adriatico mari usque ad Indicum oceanum et Gangen fluvium, non tam præliis, quam victoriis percurrit, et in sex annis partem Europæ et omnem sibi Asiam subjugavit.' Hieron. Comment. in loc. See Prideaux Connect. part 1, b. 8. anno 301. Ptolemy Soter 4. 9 Quodque additur, "Et potestas data est ei," ostendit, non Alexandri fortitudinis, sed Domini voluntatis fuisse. Hieron. Com ment. in loc |