Part 35

"Now one week, which is the seventieth, which remains, shall confirm the covenant with many, and in the midst of the week, that is to say the last three years and a half, he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."

Daniel xi. The angel said to Daniel:

"There shall stand up yet,"--after Cyrus, under whom all this still is,--"three kings in Persia,"--Cambyses, Smyrdis, Darius;--"and the fourth,"--Xerxes, who shall then come,--"shall be far richer than they all, and far stronger, and shall stir up all his people against the Greeks, and a mighty king shall stand up,"--Alexander,--"that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided in four parts toward the four winds of heaven,"--see also vii. 6 vii. 8--"but not to his posterity, and his successors shall not equal his power, for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside these,"--his four principal successors.

"And the king--Ptolemy son of Lagos,--of the south,"--Egypt,--"shall be strong,--but one of his princes shall be strong above him,"--Seleucus king of Syria,--"and his dominion shall be a great dominion,"--Appian says that he was the most powerful of Alexander's successors.

"And in the end of years they shall join themselves together, and the king's daughter of the South,"--Berenice, daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus, son of the other Ptolemy--"shall come to the king of the North to make peace between these princes"--to Antiochus Deus, king of Syria and of Asia, son of Seleucus Lagidas.

"But neither she nor her seed shall have a long authority, for she and they that sent her and they that brought her, and her children and her friends, shall be delivered to death,"--Berenice and her son were killed by Seleucus Callinicus.

"But out of a branch of her roots"--Ptolemy Euergetes was the son of the same father as Berenice--"shall one stand up in his estate, who shall come with an army into the land of the king of the north, and shall put all under subjection, and carry captives into Egypt their gods, their princes, their gold, their silver, and all their precious spoils, and shall continue many years when the king of the North can do nought against him."--If he had not been called into Egypt by domestic reasons, says Justin, he would have entirely ruined Seleucus.

"And thus he shall return into his kingdom, but his sons shall be stirred up and shall prepare an exceeding great multitude"--Seleucus Ceraunus, Antiochus the Great.

"And their army shall come and overthrow all, whereat the king of the South being moved with choler, shall come forth and fight with him and conquer,"--Ptolemy Philopator against Antiochus the Great at Raphia--"and his troops shall become insolent, and his heart shall be lifted up,"--this Ptolemy desecrated the temple--Josephus--"and he shall cast down many ten thousands, but he shall not be strengthened by it.

"For the king of the North"--Antiochus the Great--"shall return with a greater multitude than before,"--in the reign of the young Ptolemy Epiphanes--"and then a great number of enemies shall stand up against the king of the south, also the apostates and robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall perish"--those who abandon their religion to please Euergetes, when he will send his troops to Scopas. For Antiochus will again take Scopas and conquer them.

"And the king of the North shall destroy the fenced cities and the armies of the south shall not withstand, and all shall yield to his will. He shall stand in the land of Israel and it shall yield to him.

"And thus he will think to render himself master of all the empire of Egypt,"--despising the youth of Epiphanes, says Justin.

"And for that he will make alliance with him and give his daughter,"--Cleopatra, in order that she may betray her husband. On which Appian says that doubtful of being able to make himself master of Egypt by force, because of the protection of the Romans, he wished to attempt it by craft. "He would fain corrupt her, but she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him. After this shall he turn his face unto the isles,"--that is to say, the sea-ports,--"and shall take many,"--as Appian relates.

"But a prince shall oppose his conquests and cause the reproach offered by him to cease,"--Scipio Africanus, who stopped the progress of Antiochus the Great because he offended the Romans in the person of their allies.--"He will return into his kingdom and perish and be no more."--He was killed by his soldiers.

"And he who stands in his place shall be a tyrant, a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom," that is the people, Seleucus Philopator or Soter, the son of Antiochus the Great--"but within a few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger nor in battle;

"And in his place shall stand up a vile person, unworthy of the honour of the kingdom, but he shall come in by skilful flatteries.

"All armies shall bend before him, he will conquer them, and even the prince with whom he has made a league. For having renewed the league with him, he will deceive him, and come in with a few tribes into his province, calm and without fear. He will take the best places, and shall do that which his fathers have not done, and ravage on all sides. He will forecast devices, during his time."

The zeal of the Jews for their law and their temple. Josephus and Philo the Jew ad Caium.

What other people has so great a zeal, but for them it was a necessity.

Jesus Christ foretold as to the time and the state of the world. The leader taken from the thigh, and the fourth monarchy.

How fortunate we are to have such light amid such darkness.

How grand it is to see by the eye of faith, Darius and Cyrus, Alexander, the Romans, Pompey and Herod working, though unconsciously, for the glory of the Gospel!

How grand to see by the eye of faith the histories of Herod, of Cæsar....

The reprobation of the Jews and conversion of the Gentiles.--Isaiah lxv. "I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that did not call upon my name.

"I have spread out my hands all the day unto an unbelieving people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts; a people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth to idols, etc.

"These shall be scattered like smoke in the day of my wrath, etc.

"Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers will I gather, and will requite you according to your works.

"Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it.