但以理書註釋 第 1 章 第 10/11 段

For after the incarnation of our Saviour, as the blessed Paul said, there was made known to the principalities and powers, through the Church, the manifold wisdom of God.

Being ignorant, then, of this mystery, and seeing the great providence of God toward Israel, those who were entrusted with the care of the other nations were distressed, seeing especially that after the Law, and the prophets, and so much teaching and guardianship, they were disposed worse than those shepherded by themselves, and were entangled in more evils.

And the ruler of the kingdom of the Persians stood over against me one and twenty days — meaning: All these days I continued persuading him that these people were justly deemed worthy of this providential care;

and Michael, one of the chief rulers, came to help me — was pleading with me as well.

And I left him there, it says, with the ruler of the kingdom of the Persians. (14)

But when I came to you, it says, to instruct you beforehand concerning the things that would befall your people after no long time, Michael remained conversing with the ruler of the kingdom of the Persians.

And he did not say simply the ruler of the Persians, but the ruler of the kingdom of the Persians — meaning: one entrusted to rule even over the king of the Persians himself.

And when he had spoken with me according to these words, I set my face toward the ground and was pierced to the heart. For having heard that even the first of the angels are distressed at the guardianship being shown to the people, being again filled with despondency I stood bowed down, and unable to look up.

And behold, one in the likeness of a son of man touched my lips, and I spoke, and said to him who stood before me:

Lord, at the vision of you my inward parts were turned within me, and behold, I have no strength.

And how shall your servant, Lord, be able to speak with this my lord? And I became weak, and from now no strength shall stand in me, and no breath is left in me. Seeing me again, it says, full of anguish, as if with some human hand he touched my lips and implanted in me the power of speech, and I said to him that even the mere sight of you has rendered me destitute of all strength, has filled my soul with confusion and turmoil, and has stripped my reason of its former composure.

For I received such weakness from fear that I could not even breathe the air as usual.

For this same one, at the end of the vision:

Lifting up, it says, his hands to heaven, he swore by the living Lord — gratefully confessing his servitude.

He calls him Lord, then, not as God, but rendering the honour that is fitting.

For we too, when conversing with the more honourable of men, are accustomed to use this form of address, just as the blessed Abraham, seeing the angels as men and conversing with them as with men, said:

Drink, my lord, it says, and I will draw water for your camels also. Therefore here too the word Lord does not signify the God of all;

and this we shall recognize more clearly from the end; but for now let us keep to the sequence.

And he added, it says, and touched me as a vision of a man, and strengthened me, and said to me:

Fear not, man greatly beloved, peace be to you; be strong, yea, be strong. Meaning:

for I did not come for your harm, but that I might make known to you the things you desired to learn;

cast off your fear, then, be a man, and be strong.

And the deed followed upon the word.

And when he had spoken, it says, with me, I was strengthened, and said:

Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.

Do you know why I have come to you? And now I will return to fight with the ruler of the Persians;

and I went forth, and the ruler of the Greeks was coming.

But I will declare to you what is set down in the writing of truth, and there is no one who holds firmly with me concerning these things, except Michael your ruler. For why, it says, do I speak of one or two, the ruler of the Persians, or of the Greeks? For none of the heavenly powers wishes your people to attain any good — because of their great lawlessness, of course — except Michael alone, who was entrusted with your guardianship.

And by fight he set down instead the meaning of discussing and persuading, wishing to show both the just indignation of that one against the people, and his own goodwill toward the people.

And it is likely that the one speaking was the holy Gabriel;

for this one had also already interpreted for him the other revelations.

And it came to pass, it says, in the first year of Cyrus, I stood for might and strength. As soon, it says, as Cyrus reigned, and the term of the captivity was fulfilled, I arose until I had brought about release and freedom for the people.

And now I will declare to you truth. That is, I tell you with truth the things that shall be.

Behold, three more kings shall arise in Persia. After Cyrus reigned Cambyses;

the Magi succeeding him reigned ten months;

And after he has prevailed by his wealth, he shall stir up all the kingdoms of the Greeks. Of this one even the historians and writers outside our own account, and the sophists and orators, make mention, and they recount both his arrogant expedition and his ludicrous retreat.

Then, having taught the Persian affairs summarily up to this point, and leaving aside those who reigned after him as having become weaker, he transferred his discourse to the Macedonian, and says:

And a mighty king shall arise, and shall rule with great dominion, and shall do according to his own will.

And when his kingdom shall stand, it shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven. For when Alexander, as we have already said before, had encircled the kingdom of, so to speak, the whole inhabited world, and then had received the common end of men, the kingdom was divided fourfold, as we have also already said many times; and here again the divine archangel spoke thus:

And it shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven, and not to his posterity, nor according to the dominion which he ruled. And what he means is this:

Alexander, having reigned twelve years in all, in the last six years overthrew both the kingdom of the Persians and that of the Egyptians, and brought under himself all the nations lying in between.

He says, then, that those who shall reign after him will be seen to be in no way like Alexander, neither in strength, nor in the power which he acquired in his last years.

To his posterity, nor according to the dominion which he ruled.

For his kingdom shall be plucked up, and shall be given to others besides these. For not only, he says, shall it be divided into these four, but it shall also be given to others apart from these.

For in their time Arsaces the Persian also, having prevailed by war, seized the kingdom, and recovered some part of the Persian dominion;

from whom, up to the present, the kings of the Persians are called Arsacids, the earlier ones being named not Arsacids but Achaemenids.

And the Romans too, when the Macedonian kingdom had been divided, gained greater strength; indeed, they even exacted tribute from these very kings.

Having thus foretold the division, he passes over the mention of two of the kings;

for neither the one of Asia, nor the one of Macedonia, endured for a long time;

and moreover, no grievous thing befell the Jews through them.

Only the two, then, does he mention, through whom the Jews experienced grievous calamities.

And these are: the king of Egypt, and the one entrusted with the rule of the nations lying toward the east;

and they had their royal seats in Antioch and in Babylon.

But it is fitting that we first state the subject of the things to be said, and then thus lay hold of the detailed interpretation.

Out of one of them grew another horn, which both warred fiercely against Egypt, and encompassed the nation of the Jews with countless calamities;

and by this horn is signified Antiochus Epiphanes.

we learn that at the end of the Roman kingdom ten kings shall arise in his time, working many evils against one another, and contending against one another's kingdoms, in the manner in which the Macedonians continued to do;

and that, when these things are so coming to pass, there shall appear the man of sin, the son of perdition — that is, the Antichrist.

For some of the things to be said fit the Macedonians, but some fit the ten horns that are to be, and the one that sprang up in their midst.

And that these things are indeed so, we shall learn from the prophecy itself.

It is fitting, therefore, that we give heed with all exactness, and rightly distinguish the things that belong to these persons and the things that belong to those.

We have an example of this in the teaching of the Gospel.

For when the Lord had said to the apostles concerning the temple in Jerusalem:

Verily, verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down; and when they then asked:

When shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming? And when they had put forward this twofold question, the Lord makes his answer in an intermingled manner, saying at one and the same time both the things that would befall Jerusalem and the things that would come to pass at the time of the consummation.

But those who are initiated in divine things clearly distinguish the things that suit these times and the things that suit those.

This, then, is what we too shall do here, with the demonstration that befits it.

And the king of the South shall grow strong; and one of his princes shall prevail against him, and shall rule a great dominion beyond his own authority. Now he means Ptolemy Philopator, who was not content with the kingdom of Egypt, but also took to himself Phoenicia, and Samaria, and Judaea.

And by "one of his princes prevailing" he means Scopas, whom Josephus the Hebrew historian also mentions, who, being a most excellent general, subjected to Ptolemy many places lying outside Ptolemy's kingdom.

Hinting at this, he says:

And he shall rule a great dominion beyond his own authority; that is, he shall gain mastery over many nations which lie outside the authority allotted to him.

And after his years they shall join together, and the daughter of the king of the South shall come to the king of the North to make agreements with him. After the death of Ptolemy Philopator, his son Ptolemy reigned, who was surnamed Epiphanes.

This, then, is what he says: that After his years they shall join together; and teaching how they shall join together, he says:

The daughter, he says, of the king of the South shall come to the king of the North to make agreements with him. Now by the king of the North he means Antiochus—not Epiphanes, but the one called the Great, the father of Antiochus Epiphanes;

for this man was contemporary with those Ptolemies.

And the strength of the arm shall not prevail, and his seed shall not stand; and she shall be given up, and those who brought her, and the maiden, and he who strengthened her in those times. But the marriage, he says, shall indeed take place, yet the union shall not endure for long; rather she shall be given back to him who sent her, through those who conveyed her, together with what had been offered along with her.

And he who strengthened her in those times: the wealth that made the marriage strong and desirable.

And there shall arise, he says, from the flower, from her root, in his place. That is to say: she shall indeed be given back to her father, yet she shall bear a king who will oppose the kingdom of the one who had given her.

and through the marvels wrought from time to time displaying the divine power.

And this the third book of Maccabees has also taught us.

For Ptolemy, having conquered Antiochus the Great beyond all hope, came indeed to Jerusalem and offered to God costly sacrifices;

but when he attempted to set foot within the inner sanctuary of the temple, and, though the priests with supplication sought to bar him, refused to yield, he was scourged with invisible scourges;

and having threatened the Jews, he seized Alexandria and set about doing those things which history recounts.

This too the prophecy foretells.

He shall come, it says, against the power, and shall enter into the supports of the king of the North, and shall act among them, and shall prevail. Now by "supports" it calls the cities that furnish him with tribute;

for the revenues that are brought in, by which the military force is maintained, in a manner support and prop up the kingdom.

Yea, their gods together with their molten images, every desirable vessel of theirs, of silver and of gold, he shall carry captive into Egypt; and he himself shall stand above the king of the North. For in the first and second encounters the Ptolemies were victorious, as the histories teach.

And Josephus also speaks thus:

For it happened that the Jews, while Antiochus the Great reigned over Asia, suffered many hardships—both they themselves and those who inhabited Coele-Syria—their land being ravaged.

For while he was waging war against Ptolemy Philopator, and against his son Ptolemy—surnamed Epiphanes—it befell them to suffer hardship, and whether he conquered or stumbled, they underwent the same. And a little after:

Antiochus, however, having defeated Ptolemy, he says, brought Judaea over to himself.

But when Philopator had died, his son sent out a great force, with Scopas as general, against those in Coele-Syria;

who took many of their cities, and our nation as well;

for being warred upon, it went over to him.

But not long after, Antiochus defeated Scopas, engaging him near the sources of the Jordan, and destroyed a great part of his army;

and afterwards, when Antiochus had subdued the cities in Coele-Syria which Scopas had held, and Samaria, the Jews of their own accord went over to him, and receiving him into the city, furnished all his army and his elephants with abundant supplies, and eagerly joined him as allies when he was besieging the garrison left by Scopas in the citadel of Jerusalem. And that I may not, by relating the rest as well, prolong my treatise beyond measure, I refer him who so wishes to those accounts.

And he shall enter, it says, into the kingdom of the king of the South, and shall return to his own land.

And his sons shall gather a multitude of great forces. Now by "his sons" it calls those entrusted with the army, just as it calls men "sons of men," and the prophets "sons of the prophets";

for this is a peculiarity of the Hebrew tongue.

And he shall enter, coming and overflowing. That is to say: borne along with rushing force, and destroying everything after the manner of a flood.

And he shall pass over, and shall encamp, and shall grapple even to his stronghold. That is: employing all his might he shall press against Egypt, and shall in haste pitch camp, and shall transfer the war into that country.

And the king of the South shall be enraged, and shall come out and make war with the king of the North; and he shall raise up a great multitude, and the multitude shall be given into his hand.

And he shall take a great multitude, and his heart shall be lifted up, and he shall cast down tens of thousands, yet he shall not prevail. For when the king of the South drew up his line against him with a great host, Antiochus, it says, shall gain the upper hand, and shall take the multitude captive, and, as one who has conquered, shall behave with arrogance, and shall lay low many myriads.

Nevertheless he shall not prevail over Egypt, nor gain mastery of the kingdom of Ptolemy;

on account of which, being again vexed, it says:

at the former time, and at the end of the times, and there shall come incursions with a great force and with much substance. For again, it says, having gathered an army greater than the former, he shall press against Egypt; and he shall do this about the end of his own reign;

At the end of the times, and there shall come incursions with a great force. Here there is a Hebraic doubling;

for it meant to say that he shall employ a great incursion.

And it is a peculiarity both of the Hebrews and of the Syrians;

for both these and those are wont to say:

"Entering he has entered," and "Going out he has gone out," and "Eating he eats," and all other such expressions in like manner.

The translators, therefore, employing greater exactness, followed the Hebrew idioms as well.

And in those times, it says, many shall rise up against the king of the South. For thus, when Antiochus had overpowered Ptolemy, his neighbours also shall despise him as being now weak.

And the sons of the pestilent ones of thy people shall exalt themselves, to establish a vision; and they shall be exalted, yet they shall fail. Again here it has called the pestilent ones "sons of the pestilent";

for those, it says, who live in wickedness and depravity of manners, and who choose ungodly living over piety, shall attempt through these kings to abolish the worship according to the Law, yet they shall not prevail;

for these, being less impious, continued to cherish the Jewish nation.

And the king of the North shall come, it says, and pour out a mound, and shall take fortified cities. That is: he shall employ siege, and earthworks, and engines of war.

And the arms of the king of the South shall not stand; that is, he shall be left destitute of all power.

And his chosen ones shall arise, and there shall be no strength to stand. And though he gathers his best warriors, he shall gain nothing.

And he that comes against him shall do according to his own will, and there is none standing before his face. For it is easy henceforth, it says, for each one to despise him, since he is unable to contend and to overcome his adversaries.

And he shall stand in the land of Sabeir. Some of the copies have "in the land of Sabaeim";

and some of those who have rendered the Hebrew tongue into Greek have called the land of Sabeir "the land of desire";

and it signifies the land of the promise, which is a land of desire;

and the mountain of Zion, which God loved and was well pleased to dwell in.

And Sabaeim is interpreted as "of power."

Whether then Judaea has been called "land of good pleasure" or "land of power" (for above too he called it "power," and here "Sabaeim," that is, Sabeir), the king of the North, it says, shall enter also into this land.

And it shall be accomplished in his hand. That is: it shall prosper;

for thus Josephus too taught us through his history, that the Jews of their own accord received Antiochus and were exceedingly honoured by him.

And he shall set his face, it says, to enter with the strength of all his kingdom. For he shall undertake to appropriate to himself the whole kingdom of the king of the South.

'And he shall do all things uprightly with him,' he says; for he shall render back to him all that he had plundered.

'And he shall give him a daughter of women to corrupt her; but she shall not remain, neither shall she be for him.' What he had stated obscurely above, this he here declares plainly:

for he shall give him, he says, his own daughter to wife; yet before long she shall be given back to the one who gave her, and the marriage shall be dissolved.

Having thus, he says, disposed of Egypt (18).

'He shall turn his face toward the islands, and shall take many, and shall cause the princes to cease from his reproach;'

'nevertheless his reproach shall return upon himself.' For having brought many of the islands under his own power, and having removed their rulers from governing, he made them objects of derision.

But of this reproach, he says, he himself also shall have his share.

They took Antiochus, surnamed Epiphanes, as a hostage and kept him under guard at Rome.

And this the first book of Maccabees teaches us;

for the historian, having spoken concerning those who received the kingdom of Alexander, went on to add:

'And there came forth from them a sinful root, Antiochus Epiphanes, son of Antiochus the king, who had been a hostage at Rome.'

'Nevertheless his reproach shall return upon himself.' To these words he adds:

'And he shall turn his face to strengthen himself in his own land.' Having accomplished these things, he says, among the islands, he shall return to his own kingdom.

'And he shall be weak, and shall fall, and shall not be found.'

(20.) 'And there shall arise from his root a plant of the kingdom, causing to pass over upon his established place.' He means Antiochus Epiphanes, who, having fled from Rome, succeeded his brother Seleucus.

For Antiochus the Great was succeeded by Seleucus called Philopator, who was his son;

and when Seleucus died, Antiochus Epiphanes took over the kingdom.

'There shall arise from his root a plant of the kingdom, causing to pass over upon his established place;' that is, imitating the sovereignty of his father, and being able to seize the kingdom that had been made ready by him.

'And practising the glory of the kingdom;' meaning, employing to excess his energetic vigour.

'And in those days they shall be crushed, and not by encounters nor by wars.' For he shall be able, he says, even by mere report, without battle and without bloodshed, to strike all with terror and subject them to himself.

'And he shall stand upon his established place.' He shall wield, he says, such great power that even without conflict he shall gain possession of the kingdom transmitted to him from his father.

'He was despised, and the glory of the kingdom was not given to him.' And indeed, he says, he was not held in honour, though he was of royal descent, but seemed a person of no account while kept under guard at Rome.

'And he shall return in prosperity, and shall strengthen the kingdom by slippery means.' Yet nevertheless, he says, though he had been utterly despised, he shall come with great abundance and very great power, and shall seize the kingdom, using treachery as his ally and deceit rather than force.

'And he shall destroy many, and shall stand for the destruction of many.'

For he shall strengthen, he says, the kingdom by slippery means. (22)

'And the arms of the one that floodeth over shall be flooded away before his face, and shall be crushed.' Here again he hinted at the kingdom of the Egyptians, that those too who were capable of great things, and who like a flood destroyed those who withstood them, rendering them vanished and gone, that these too should be flooded over by him and crushed; and not these only, but 'also the leader of the covenant.' (23)

'And from the leagues made with him he shall work deceit.' Here he foretells the insurrection that arose against Onias the high priest by Jesus, also called Jason, and by Onias called Menelaus;

for of these, Jason first, running to Antiochus, cast out his own brother from the high priesthood;

and Menelaus, having been sent to convey gifts and gold to Antiochus, transferred the high priesthood back to himself and drove out Jason.

For this man succeeded Ptolemy Epiphanes.

'And also the leader of the covenant.' For he speaks of the godly high priest, the brother of Jason, and foretells that him too he shall remove from the high priesthood.

Then he teaches the manner:

using ten thousand dreadful means, he shall work against the nation.

'And he shall go up and prevail over him with a small nation.' For having deceived the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as though he were about to enter in peace, he first dared to set foot within the inner sanctuary of the divine temple, and then, having stripped off all the adornment that lay upon it, together with the vessels consecrated to the divine service, thus he departed.

And once more, marching again against the city, he slaughtered eighty thousand persons; and not content even with these, he sent his own generals and wrought yet ten thousand more murders.

'And he shall prevail over him with a small nation.'

(24.) 'And he shall come in prosperity and in the fat regions.' For neither out of want, he says, shall he come with few, but out of the arrogance of his temper;

for he has both prosperity and the enjoyment of countless fat nations that furnish him much tribute.

'And he shall do what his fathers did not, nor the fathers of his fathers;'

'he shall scatter among them plunder and substance and spoils.' For whereas all his fathers and all his forefathers had honoured the nation of the Jews, this man shall do everything to the contrary, slaying and pillaging and enslaving, and bestowing their goods upon his fellow soldiers.

'And against Egypt,' he says, 'he shall devise his devices, even until a time;' meaning, he shall not prevail for long.

'And his strength and his heart shall be stirred up against the king of the South with a great force.' This his expedition against Egypt the first book of the Maccabees also relates.

'For Antiochus entered,' it says, 'into Egypt with a heavy multitude, and with chariots and elephants and horsemen and with a great fleet, and made war against Ptolemy king of Egypt; and Ptolemy was put to shame before his face and fled, and many fell wounded, and they captured the fortified cities in the land of Egypt, and took the spoils of Egypt.'

'And the king of the South shall join battle against him with a great and exceedingly mighty force, but he shall not stand, for they shall devise devices against him;' meaning, they shall employ many and manifold ambushes against him.

'And they shall eat up his provisions,' he says; that is, they shall consume his whole revenue, and by pillaging the tribute paid to him they shall divert it to themselves.

'And they shall crush him, and he shall dissolve his forces, and many wounded shall fall.'

'many wounded.' For not him alone, but also his army, like a flood, he shall destroy, and shall work much slaughter.

'And both kings,' he says, 'their hearts shall be bent on evil, and at one table they shall speak lies, and it shall not prosper.' For the Romans, as Josephus the historian teaches us, having learned of this expedition of his, gave strict command that he withdraw from Egypt;

whence, having made peace, he says, he also shared a table with Ptolemy.

'For there shall yet be an end at the appointed time;' that is, again, when this appointed time has run its course, they shall come to grips and array themselves in battle.

'And he shall return,' he says, 'to his own land with much substance.' Yet nonetheless then, he says, with much wealth and great abundance, he shall return to his own kingdom.

'And his heart shall be against the holy covenant.' Henceforth he shall have but one zealous purpose, namely to abolish the law given by God to the Jews.

And having thus taken counsel, he shall also bring his counsels to fulfilment.

'And he shall act,' he says, 'and shall return to his own land.' And this too the book of the Maccabees and the history of Josephus teach.

'And at his appointed time he shall return, and shall come into the South, but it shall not be as the former and the latter;' meaning, he shall not conquer and prevail in like manner, but being defeated he shall return.

By 'war' he signifies a fixed time.