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26 down. Moreover the vision of the evening and the morning which hath been related is certainly true; but seal thou up the vision, since it is for many days. Also I Daniel was deeply affected and languid for days, yet I arose and did the king's business; and though I was struck with astonishment at the vision, no one perceived it.

nothingness of hand shall he be broken," it probably is, that Mr. Godwin adds, "with melancholy."

26.

-The vision of the evening and morning-is-true.—Truth itself, by a metonymy. See on ver. 14, and Chap. x. 1. The truth is certain, but must remain sealed up, or unknown, till the accomplishment. See Isa. xxiv. 22, Jer. xxxii. 14, Ezek. xxxviii. 8. The full accomplishment would probably look forward to a very distant period; and even in the earlier illustration of it which I have given above, it was a term of near 400 years from the first intimation of the vision in the third of Belshazzar, to the cleansing of the Sanctuary by Judas in the time of Antiochus.

I must not forget to observe, that in remembrance of this great mercy which God had shewed to his people, in delivering them from the tyranny and idolatry of Antiochus, a solemn feast was instituted, called Eykaivia, or the Feast of Dedication, which was annually observed, in consequence of cleansing the Sanctuary and consecration of the Altar by Judas Maccabeus, for the space of eight days from the 25th day of the month Cisleu. 1 Mac. iv. 59. And to this St. John alludes, Chap. x. 22. "It was at Jerusalem, the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.

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27. deeply affected and languid for days.-Gr. Ekolμηonν KAL Epaλakio Oŋy. concidi et ægrotavi. Michaelis suppl. Possibly the last word, '', thus situated without an adjunct, may be in the dual number, and mean two days;" Gr. and one MS. have not the word days, but it is found in Theodoret and MS. Pachom. and two MSS. read " many days." We read in the New Test. d' "after ημερων, days." Mark ii. i. "And none perceived that I had been thus Theodoret, and so Syr.

affected and sick."

In the explication of this vision, I have referred to the usurpations of Antiochus for the primary sense of the ravages committed by the little horn; yet, at the same time, have often hinted that there are

CHAPTER IX.

1 IN the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, a

many strong features in the vision, which favour the opinion of those who refer it to later times, under the Roman hierarchy, or the rule and dominion of Antichrist. I am of opinion, that in the spirit of prophecy both applications were meant to be comprehended; and I see no reason for not extending the prophetic visions or revelations to such events, to which by the rules of fair and just interpretation they shall be found applicable. The only sure way of knowing the meaning of a prophecy is by comparing it with the accomplishment; and if successions of events shall in more than one instance be found to agree and square exactly with a single series of predicted circumstances, I should be inclined to make the improvement as extensive as may be, consistently with truth and justice; and to acknowledge the wisdom and prescience of the divine Contriver, who is acquainted with all his works from the foundation of the world, and who could adapt human language in one form to such an admirable variety of purposes, thus 66 making his own strength perfect in weakness." For an account of the different senses of prophecies see Bp. Lowth on Isa. xl. and De Sacr. Poes. Heb. Præl. xi. and other writers.

THIS Chapter contains a most affecting and ardent Prayer of Daniel, on a near view of the expiration of the Seventy Years allotted for Judah's Captivity; the success of his Prayer is pointed out at the Conclusion of it, and the Deliverance of his Brethren is communicated to the Prophet in a very extraordinary Revelation by the Angel Gabriel; but the misconduct and ingratitude of the Jews would occasion the utter Destruction of their restored City, after a period, and by reason of an event, which the Prophecy plainly indicates.

1. In the first year of Darius. —See on Chap. vi. 1. The repetition at the next verse seems emphatical. The same date is men

2

descendant of the Medes, who was appointed to reign over the kingdom of the Chaldeans; In the first year of his reign I Daniel considered by the books the enumeration of the years, whereof the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah the prophet, to complete seventy 3 years for the desolations of Jerusalem. Then I looked up to the Lord God to inquire in prayer and supplica

tioned at Ch. xi. 1. This Darius is said to be the son of Ahasuerus, or Astyages; and of the seed of the Medes, and therefore not Cyrus: Some think Ahasuerus was a common name for the kings of Media, as Nebuchadnezzar seems to have belonged to several kings of BabyIon, and Pharaoh to many in Egypt. But see the Prelim. Diss.

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2. considered by the books.—Those rolls or records in which the prophecies of Jeremiah were written: And possibly other histories or antecedent prophecies that spoke of the captivity. See 1 Pet. 11, 12. "The enumeration of the years;" MS. A. has "days." At the latter part of this verse the expression "to complete seventy years" is used, or rather adopted from Jer. Chap. xxv. 12, and again Chap. xxix. 10. Vignoles, Vol. ii. p. 591, thinks these books were the two parts of Jeremiah, one of which ends Chap. xxv: For LXX place what remains in a different order. And one prophecy of the seventy years is in Chap. xxv. or the first part, and the other in Chap. xxix. Josephus ascribes to Ezekiel two books, and to Daniel several." Secker. Daniel is calculating the term, doubtless with a view to the end of the captivity, which was now very far advanced. For the seventy years, commencing with the fourth of Jehoiakim, had reached to their fiftyfirst year, as we have seen at the close of Chap. iv. in the beginning of the reign of Nabonadius; to which, if we add his 17 years, we shall be carried on to the 68th year of the captivity in this first of Darius ; and I suppose the whole period of seventy computation years was concluded in less than a year and half from the time of this prayer, that is, in the first year of Cyrus, or his third year according to Ptolemy, being the first that he reigned sole monarch after the death of Cyaxares.

3. the Lord God.-One MS. has '78, and ten read for 7. Many MSS. also do the same at the beginning of the prayer in the next verse. And the like is observable in other parts of this chapter. The Prophet may seem perhaps, by the expression at

And I

4 tions, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. prayed unto Jehovah my God, and confessed and said, "O Lord, the God great and tremendous, keeping the covenant and mercy toward those that love him, 5 and toward those that keep his commandments; We have sinned, and have acted perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, so as to apostatise from

the beginning of the verse, to be setting his face toward the holy city and temple, the peculiar residence of the Deity; but I rather think is meant, setting it toward heaven, or looking up, in the ordinary posture of devout prayer.

to inquire, &c.—The Heb. idiom is somewhat peculiar, but the Greek imitates it, του εκζητησαι προσευχην—Houbigant thinks we should read on, as at ver. 21, and so Syr.

4.

is

"O Lord, the God great and tremendous.-The emphatic used before and each of the epithets that follow, "the God, the great, the tremendous." This prayer, which is occasioned by the greatest and most sincere concern for the captive Jews, is the result also of the deepest humiliation, and expressive of the strongest energies and most earnest affections. Jeremiah, at Chap. xxix. 12, had informed the people that if they prayed and sought the Lord in their foreign land, they should be heard; and Daniel performs this duty for himself and his countrymen with the greatest zeal and devotion, especially acknowledging the justice of God and their own unworthiness. See a like prayer, Nehem. i. 5, and at Chap. ix.

5. We have sinned, &c.—The several expressions used in this verse strongly denote the prophet's deep lamentation for the accumulated iniquities of the Jews: There seems to be a kind of gradation in them, beginning first with sins in general, and rising to rebellion and apostasy. See 1 Kings viii. 47, where occur the three first verbs of this verse; the third 177, we have done wickedly," is rendered by Th. nvoμnoaμev, but by MS. Pachom. still stronger, ησέβησαμεν.

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-so as to apostatise from thy-ordinances.-Mr. Dimock thinks with Houbigant that LXX and the other Versions read either 10 or 10; and it is true, they render in the first person plur. after the form of all the preceding verbs; but perhaps the present reading or the infinitive absolute may furnish the true sense without any

6 thy commandments and from thine ordinances; And have not hearkened to thy servants the prophets, who spoke in thy name to our kings, our princes, and to our fathers, and to all the people of the land. With thee, O Lord, is righteousness, but with us confusion of face, as at this day, with the men of Judah, and with the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and with all Israel that are near and that are distant, throughout all the countries whither thou hast driven them, by reason of their transgression which they have transgressed 8 against thee. O Lord, with us is confusion of face, with our kings, with our princes, and with our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. With the Lord our God are mercies and forgivenesses, although we

9

alteration. See Bp. Lowth's note on Isai. xxi. 5. The like is observable at ver. 11 of this Chapter. For the sense here given of the last word of this verse, see the same excellent Prelate's note, Isai.

.צדקה and משפט xlii. 1, on the words

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7. -as at this day.-Eight MSS. have ', as at this very day." Gr." as this day," or our present punishment and demerit, shews. So at ver. 15.

-that are near and that are distant.-Those Jews and Israelites that withdrew to the neighbouring countries, as well as those that were carried into Assyria.

by reason of their transgression.-Gr. has, ev aðeσia avтwyn noernoav. Their idolatry and rebellion against God was their crying sin, in or through which they were driven out.

8. -because we have sinned. For s one MS. reads ', which is of much the same import generally, but often signifies 66 although," as I have rendered it at the next verse. See Gen. viii. 21, Ps. xxv. 11, and Nold. p. 371. It is observable also that Th. begins this verse with, Εν σοι Κύριε εστιν ημων η δικαιοσυνη και, but MS. Pachom. refers the two first words to the last verse, where they are wanting, and omits the others after Kupie, thus bringing it to the present Heb. text. The nouns in the next verse for "mercies and forgivenesses” are very strong in the Gr. οικτιρμοι and ιλατισμοι. Compassions and propitiations. See on Chap. i. 9.