Commentary on Daniel 1 part 7/11

and it no longer rules over the Palestinians, and the Phoenicians, and the Syrians;

it has been deprived also of the dominion over Asia, and the Euxine Sea too has passed beyond its sceptre;

it rules over Persia alone, and Media, and Assyria, and a few neighbouring nations.

'After this,' he says, 'I looked, and behold another beast like a leopard, and it had four wings of a bird upon it, and the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it.' By these things he hints at the Macedonian kingdom;

and most fittingly did he liken Alexander to a leopard, on account of his swiftness and keenness and versatility.

He said the beast had four wings of a bird, since like a winged creature Alexander ran through the four quarters of the world and subjected all men to himself;

and by the four heads he hinted at the division of the dominion that took place after Alexander.

For four kings were established in place of one;

and Ptolemy the son of Lagus was entrusted with the helm of affairs in Egypt;

Seleucus was entrusted to direct the dominion over the East;

Antigonus took possession of Asia;

and of Macedonia, as some say, Antipater;

but as others say, Philip who was also called Arrhidaeus, the brother of Alexander himself.

The four heads, then, hint at the four dominions after Alexander, while the four wings hint at Alexander's own sovereignty which prevailed over the four quarters of the world;

and he said that dominion had been given to the beast, since even over those whom his predecessors had not held sway, he was shown to hold sway; yet nevertheless even this kingdom, which had prevailed over all, received its end.

'For after this,' he says, 'I was looking in the vision of the night, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and exceedingly astonishing, and its teeth were of iron and great, and its claws were of bronze; it devoured and broke in pieces, and trampled the residue with its feet; and it was exceedingly different from all the beasts that were before it.' The fourth beast he calls the Roman kingdom;

but he does not assign a name to it, since the city of the Romans, being welded together out of many nations, gained the mastery of the world;

first ruled by kings, then at one time under a democracy, at another under an aristocracy;

and afterwards it returned again to its former monarchy.

He calls the beast dreadful and exceedingly astonishing, since this kingdom became more powerful than all the other kingdoms; and in the case of the image too he placed iron as the fourth material, and he added:

'Just as iron, then, breaks in pieces and subdues all things, so it shall break in pieces and subdue all things.'

'The teeth of the beast were of iron'; so that it is plain that here too he hints at the same kingdom.

'It devoured,' he says, 'and broke in pieces.' And in very truth greater tributes were imposed by the Romans upon their subjects.

'And the residue,' he says, 'it trampled with its feet.' By the feet of the kingdom he hints at the army, by which no small injuries are brought upon both those who dwell in the cities and those in the countrysides.

at the same time kings shall arise, of whom some shall be powerful, and others exceedingly weak.

For this too he taught in the dream of the image;

'And it had ten horns,' he says.

(8.) 'I considered,' he says, 'its horns, and behold another little horn, one to be observed, was coming up in the midst of them, and three of those before it were plucked up by the roots from before it;

and behold, there were eyes like the eyes of a man in this horn, and a mouth speaking great things; and it made war against the saints.' Here he hints at the Antichrist, appearing in the midst of the ten horns.

He says that it also plucked up by the roots three of the horns before it;

and he hints that it shall overthrow three kings out of the ten who reign at the same time.

He calls it a little horn, as sprung from a little tribe of the Jews;

and 'to be observed,' as becoming conspicuous thereafter.

'But also a mouth,' he says, 'speaking great things'; that is, arrogant and overweening words.

And the blessed Paul teaches us this clearly, saying:

'And a mouth speaking great things, and it made war with the saints.' 'For he contrives everything,' he says, 'desiring to take all men as partners of his wickedness and of his punishment.'

'But doing these things,' he says, 'he shall not endure for long, but shall be destroyed most speedily.'

'For I was looking,' he says, 'until thrones were set, and the Ancient of Days sat, and his raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool;

his throne was a flame of fire, its wheels burning fire.'

'A river of fire flowed forth, issuing from before him; thousand thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the judgment was set, and the books were opened.' 'All those things,' he says, 'the horn dared to do, the horn speaking the great and arrogant and overweening things, and making war on the saints, until the judgment was set.'

It is fitting to know that God, being incorporeal, and simple, and without shape, admitting of no circumscription, but having a nature that cannot be circumscribed, nevertheless often gives shape to the visions, as he wills, for what is expedient.

And one may see him appearing in one way to Abraham, and in another to Moses, and otherwise to Isaiah; and to Ezekiel likewise he displayed a different appearance.

When, therefore, you see the diversity of the revelations, do not suppose the Deity to be multiform, but hear him saying through Hosea the prophet:

'I multiplied visions, and in the hands of the prophets I was likened.' He said 'I was likened,' not 'I was seen';

for as he wills, he gives shape to the appearances.

Just so, indeed, the blessed Ezekiel too, when he beheld the one who appeared as composed of amber and fire, after narrating the revelation, added:

'This was the likeness of the glory of the Lord.' And he said neither that he had beheld the Lord himself, nor the very glory of the Lord, but the likeness of the glory of the Lord.

for thus indeed some of the interpreters, so understanding it, in place of 'the Ancient of Days,' have put 'He who makes the days old.'

He sees also the purity of the hair, and the brightness of the garments, being taught the blamelessness and holiness on every side, not only of the divine nature, but also of the things conceived concerning it—that is, of righteousness, of providence, of tender care, of judgment.

who, employing words, weaves countless plots against the servants of God, is taught through the purity that flashes forth on every side that these things are not dared while God overlooks them, but that he permits them on account of an unspeakable dispensation.

And lest anyone should again suppose that God, inasmuch as he is good, wills indeed to defend the saints, but is not able, he sees also the throne fashioned out of flame, and the wheels likewise having the nature of fire, and a river of fire drawing along the throne, and a thousand thousands ministering, and ten thousand times ten thousand standing by. And through these things the might of God is taught, but through those the incorruptibility and blamelessness;

and through the ancientness, that which is eternal and wise and gentle.

'The judgment was set, and the books were opened'; equivalent to: For the rest, he judged it to be the time of judgment, and unfolded the remembrance of the things done by each one.

For he calls the remembrances 'books.'

But if anyone also thinks that these things hint at the Lord's promise, which he gave to the apostles:

saying, 'There shall be set twelve thrones, and sitting down you shall judge the twelve tribes of Israel,' there is nothing improbable in it;

for the promise of the Truth is without falsehood.

For since through the beast he hints at the whole kingdom, and in the kingdom some are nurslings of piety, others workers of wickedness, and we are accustomed—persuaded by divine Scripture—to call the former spiritual and the latter fleshly, fittingly he did not say that the beast was given over to the burning of fire, but the body of the beast; that is, the grosser and fleshly ones, who have minded nothing spiritual.

'And of the rest of the beasts too the rule was removed, and a blessedness of life was given to them until a season and a season.' 'For of the other beasts,' he says, 'the rule had already ceased, even though they had consumed a period of many years in ruling;

for to each was appointed a manifest season for reigning.'

'And these things,' he says, 'coming to pass thus, and the other kingdoms having already ceased before, and those of the fourth kingdom, being worthy of punishment, having been delivered over to the fire—'

'I was looking,' he says, 'in the vision of the night, and behold with the clouds of heaven, as a Son of Man, one was coming, and he came even to the Ancient of Days, and was brought before him.'

'And to him was given the honour, and the rule, and the kingdom;

and all the peoples, tribes, tongues, shall serve him;

and his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom shall not be destroyed.' Truly, at the right moment one might say to the Jews what the prophet said to them of old:

'You had the look of a harlot, you were shameless toward all.' For what could be plainer than these words? For truly it was rather in an evangelical and apostolic manner, than in a prophetic and enigmatic one, that the Prophet proclaimed these things.

For that which the Lord says in the Gospels:

'You shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with his angels'; and the blessed Paul—

and 'coming on the clouds,' according to his own promise, in order to show his authority;

receiving honor, and dominion, and the kingdom from the Ancient of Days, as man.

'You are My Son; this day have I begotten You.'

'For all peoples,' he says, 'nations, and tongues shall serve Him.' And showing the endlessness of the kingdom: 'His dominion,' he says, 'is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom shall not be destroyed.' Having thus written down the revelation, he added:

'So I approached one of those who stood by, and sought exact knowledge from him concerning all these things.' By 'those standing by' he means the thousand thousands and the ten thousand times ten thousand, whereby he did not name any fixed number, but signified a multitude surpassing all number, both of those who minister and of those who stand in attendance.

For the more honorable ones did not merely stand, but were also commanded to minister;

while the rest, by standing in fear, made known their servitude.

And just as in human tribunals, some of the subordinates stand to make the court appear more awe-inspiring, while others go out and come in, bringing the responses to the judge;

having therefore approached, he says, and inquired what was the interpretation of the revelation, he learned the truth from one of those who stood by.

'These four great beasts are four kingdoms which shall arise upon the earth, and which shall be taken away.'

'And the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and shall possess it forever, even for ever and ever.' We must attend carefully, for here too he named four kingdoms, as also in the image four;

and we must not suppose the clay to be another kingdom distinct from the iron.

For there too he said that the end of the iron kingdom would be weaker, and here likewise he said that three horns were plucked up out of the ten, as being evidently in a weaker condition.

'These kingdoms, therefore,' he says, 'shall be dissolved, and the true and endless kingdom shall be given to the saints of the Most High.'

'Longing, therefore,' he says, 'for that kingdom,'

'esteem as nothing the kingdoms of the present age, which ere long shall receive their end.'

'I sought exact knowledge concerning the fourth beast, because it was different from every beast, and exceedingly terrible;'

'its teeth were of iron, and its claws of bronze;'

'it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet.' We must note that he calls the teeth iron, but the claws bronze.

For the kingdom of the Romans receives tribute from all, and therefore he said the teeth were of iron.

And since from the Macedonian kingdom also many enter into the heavy-armed military service—and what claws are to a beast, that soldiers are to a king—he fittingly said the claws were of bronze, since he had also called the third kingdom bronze.

'For I inquired,' he says. Verse 20.

'And concerning its ten horns that were on its head, and concerning the fourth,'

'which came up and shook off three of the former ones, even that horn which had eyes and a mouth speaking great things, and whose look was greater than the rest.' We must not marvel if above he said the horn was small, but here says its look was greater than the rest;

it behooves us to attend carefully to the things spoken.

For when he saw the horn springing up, he called it small, as being seen to arise from the small nation of the Jews, and as yet possessing an obscure and inconspicuous rule;

but after it uprooted three horns of those before it, he fittingly calls its look greater than the rest.

He therefore adds, still inquiring, verse 21:

Why then did that horn make war with the saints, and prevailed against them? That is, it humbled them.

'until the Ancient of Days came, and gave judgment to the saints of the Most High, and the time arrived, and the saints possessed the kingdom.' 'I besought,' he says, 'to learn whom that horn hints at, which employed arrogance and uttered boastful words and humbled the company of the saints, until the Ancient of Days should pronounce His righteous sentence, and should render the kingdom to the saints, and should overthrow that horn's power.'

'And he said to me thus,' he says:

'The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom upon the earth, which shall surpass all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall trample it down, and cut it to pieces.' These things the men of old learned through riddles;

but we have learned them by experience;

for we behold the fulfillment of the prophecy—the exaction of the taxes, the poverty that grips the greater number, and the other things happening day by day we behold.

'And its ten horns,' he says, 'are ten kings that shall arise.' We must note that he did not say they would arise one by one, succeeding one another, but that they would arise at the same time;

and that this is so, what follows bears witness.

'For after them,' he says, 'shall arise another king, who shall surpass all those before him in wickedness, and shall humble three kings.' Now if they did not reign at the same time, but each one succeeding the one before him, how shall this one humble three of those before him at the same time? It is therefore evident that he foretells that the ten shall arise together toward the end;

and that last, the Antichrist arising and seizing the kingdom, shall make war upon them, and shall overthrow three of them;

yet not content with his victory over men;

'And he shall speak words,' he says, 'against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High'—and, as some of the copies read, 'shall humble' them;

'and he shall think to change the seasons and the law.' 'For with such rage and madness will he be seized,' he says, 'that he will hurl arrogant and blasphemous words against the Most High God, and will bring every kind of torment upon those who devotedly serve Him and share in holiness;'

and he shall imagine that he will utterly abolish the prevailing piety, and change its excellent polity.

For this he hinted at when he said:

'He shall think to change the seasons and the law'—that is, the polity prevailing at that time.

'And it shall be given into his hand.' That is, the providence of God shall permit it;

and showing the time of the untimely duration of those evils;

'For the poor shall not be forgotten forever, and the patient endurance of the needy shall not perish unto the end,' having said:

'Until a time, and times, and half a time.' This he taught us more clearly at the end of the prophecy.

'For from the time of the removal of the continual sacrifice,' he says, 'and the setting up of the abomination of desolation, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.' So then, by 'a time, and times, and half a time' he means three and a half years, during which that horn speaking great things shall hold sway.

'But the tribunal,' he says, 'sat, and they shall remove his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.' This too the blessed Paul plainly taught us.

For having said those things which we mentioned before, he added these also:

'Only He who now restrains will do so until He be taken out of the way, and then shall that lawless one be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall consume with the breath of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming; whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceit of unrighteousness in those who perish.' Now what he means is this:

For the prevailing error shall be quenched, and the deception of the idols shall cease, and then shall that lawless one be revealed.

This also the Lord declared in the sacred Gospels.

of those, all the lovers of piety, that: 'Do not now suppose that the enemy of the truth will appear;'

for first the prevailing error of the idols must be quenched, and the preaching of the Gospels be established, and then in this way must the lawless one be revealed.

Then he indicates also his destruction;

'Whom the Lord Jesus,' he says, 'shall consume with the breath of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming.' Then he shows also in what manner he appears;

'Whose coming,' he says, 'is according to the working of Satan.' For the devil will imitate the incarnation of our God and Savior;

and just as the Lord, having appeared through human nature, wrought our salvation;

so also the devil, taking a fitting instrument of his own wickedness, through him will display his proper working, deceiving the careless among men with false signs and wonders and a phantasm of miracles.

And teaching why then the God of all permits these things to happen, he added:

'Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved; and for this cause God shall send them a working of error, that they should believe the lie, that all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.' This same thing the Lord also said to the Jews:

'I am come in My Father's name, and you receive Me not;'

'and it shall be given into his hand until a time, and times, and half a time;'

'and the tribunal sat, and they shall remove his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.' See how the things riddlingly interpreted by the angel the blessed Paul plainly taught.

And the Lord too, foretelling the risings up against the saints, said:

'There shall be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever shall be;'

'and except those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved;'

'but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.' Then, having counseled His holy disciples, and through them all men, not to be deceived by those who say the Christ is here or there—for no longer secretly and stealthily, but openly and with glory shall He appear—he added:

'And the kingdom, and the dominion, and the greatness of the kings that are under the whole heaven was given to the saints of the Most High.'

'And His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.'

Thus far the conclusion of the account. That is to say, this is the end of all the affairs of this present life:

that all the kingdoms of the earth should cease, but that to the saints of the Most High the everlasting kingdom should be given;

and that, while they reign, all should obey and serve Him with good will;

for His kingdom is everlasting, and admits of no end.

'But nevertheless I did not make known the mysteries that had been shown to me, but kept them and preserved them continually in my heart.'

But I, leaving aside for the present my accusation against the Jews, am utterly astonished at certain teachers of true religion who have called the fourth beast the Macedonian kingdom,

and identified it with the division of the kingdom into four parts which took place after the death of Alexander;

for they ought then to have observed that the fourth beast had at the same time ten horns, and that the little horn uprooted three of those before it;

yet four kings, not ten, succeeded to the kingdom of Alexander.

And, to leave the rest aside and come to the conclusion, they ought also to have perceived this, that it was after the destruction of the fourth beast that he said the kingdom would be given to the saints of the Most High;

but the saints of the Most High did not receive the kingdom after Antiochus Epiphanes.

And even if the blessed Maccabees did acquire some measure of power, yet it was not for very long.

For Judas commanded for three years;

and Jonathan for nineteen;

and the others too—lest, by recounting each one, I make my discourse too long—holding power for some short time, were either extinguished by death, or, while yet living, were deprived of their rule by various circumstances.

Besides, not all of these were saints;

for some wicked men also arose among them;

but even if we were to grant that all of them were saints, Herod, having overthrown them, was proclaimed king of all Judea.

How then can that be true which was spoken by the angel, that after the destruction of that horn the kingdom, and the power, and the greatness of the kings that are under the whole heaven was given to the saints of the Most High, and that His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom? For none of these things fits the Maccabees.

For they were not entrusted with a kingdom, but as generals they conquered, and quickly met their end.

It remains, therefore, to understand the fourth beast as the Roman empire.

For at its end, the ten kings shall arise at the same time, and the last worker and teacher of all wickedness shall appear, doing and suffering those things which we have been taught.

And after his destruction, the coming of our God and Saviour shall appear, and the judgment of all men shall take place, and the books shall be opened—the records of what each has done in life.

And the body of the beast shall be given to the fire—that is to say, those who took away the sovereignty of the soul, but assigned authority to the body, and lived their whole life according to a carnal mind.

And the righteous Judge shall render the kingdom to the saints, crying aloud:

'In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me.'

And the time itself indicates that this vision is later;

for the former one he saw in the first year of Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, but this one in the third.

And he signifies the time not without purpose, but teaching that long before the events came to pass he received from the God of all the foreknowledge of them.

'And I saw,' he says, 'in the vision, and it came to pass, while I was looking, that I was in Susa the capital, which is in the province of Elam.' Susa was of old the metropolis of the Persians.

Since, then, he is learning of the overthrow of the Persian kingdom, it is fitting that he should seem to behold the revelation in that city.

'And I saw,' he says, 'in a vision'—that is to say: I did not behold these things while awake, nor by day, but the God of all showed them to me in a dream.

'And I was,' he says, 'upon the Ubal.' I seemed, he says, to be standing by the gate;

for thus some of the interpreters have rendered it.

'And behold, one ram standing before the Ubal, and it had lofty horns, and the one higher than the other, and the higher one came up last.' He beholds the Persian kingdom likened to a ram, inasmuch as it abounded in wealth and possessed a great abundance of substance.

For when Cambyses his son had died, the Magi held the kingdom for a few months only;

The two kinds of kings, then, are signified by the two horns;

and he beholds both as lofty, but the second higher than the first.

For Cyrus subdued both the Euxine Sea and Asia;

while Xerxes attempted to lay the yoke of his kingdom upon Europe also.

For this reason he beholds two horns on the ram, the one first, the other second, and the second higher than the first.

'And I saw,' he says, 'the ram butting toward the sea, and the north, and the south.' For he held in subjection all the northern and the southern regions alike, and likewise the western parts as far as the sea itself;

and he forced most of the islands also to serve him.

Thus straightway both the Cypriots and the Rhodians, the Samians and the Lesbians, and the Chians, and all the Cyclades, allied themselves with Xerxes as he made his expedition against Greece.

For this reason he saw the ram butting toward the sea, and the north, and the south.

'And all the beasts,' he says, 'shall not stand before him, and there was none that could deliver out of his hand, and he did according to his own will, and was magnified.' And again by 'beasts' he calls the other, lesser kingdoms—that of the Syrians, of the Cilicians, of the Arabs, of the Egyptians;

and he names them 'beasts' because they were terrible to those they ruled.

'No kingdom, therefore,' he says, 'was able to withstand that kingdom which butted toward the south, and the north, and the sea, nor was any man able to set anyone free from that dominion, but it brought all its purpose to fulfilment.'

'And I,' he says, 'was considering.' Beholding these things, he says, I pondered within myself, longing to discover the things signified by them.

'Behold, a he-goat of the goats was coming from the south-west over the face of the whole earth.' In some of the copies this too is added:

'And it did not touch the ground, and that he-goat had one conspicuous horn between its eyes.' Here the enigma of the dream signified the Macedonian kingdom;

and he named it a he-goat because of its swiftness and nimbleness;

for the he-goat is quicker than the ram.

And he said that it came from the south-west;

since, having first subdued Egypt, he thus came into the land of the Persians.

Then, having taken over that kingdom also, he seizes Persia, and overthrows their mightiest kingdom.

And by 'one conspicuous horn'—that is, notable and much-observed—he calls Alexander himself;

and he says that the horn grew between the eyes of the he-goat, on account of the shrewdness, and intelligence, and sharpness of Alexander's mind.

'And the he-goat came,' he says, 'up to the ram that had the horns, which I had seen standing before the Ubal, and he ran at it in the fury of his strength.'

'And I saw him reaching up to the ram, and he was enraged against it, and struck the ram, and shattered both its horns, and there was no strength in the ram to stand before him;

delivering the ram out of his hand.' For engaging first with that king's generals in the regions about Asia, he took away from them all that dominion.