Daniel 12 commentary

DANIEL 12 COMMENTARYEDITED BY GLENN PEASE

The End Times1 “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered.

1. Barnes, “And at that time - At the period referred to in the preceding chapter. The fair construction of the passage demands this interpretation, and if that refers to Antiochus Epiphanes, then what is here said must also; and we are to look for the direct and immediate fulfillment of this prediction in something that occurred under him, however, it may be supposed to have an ultimate reference to other and more remote events. The phrase “at that time,” however, does not limit what is here said to any one part of his life, or to his death, but to the general period referred to in the time of his reign. That reign was but eleven years, and the fulfillment must be found somewhere during that period.

Shall Michael - On the meaning of this word, and the being here referred to, see the notes at Dan_10:13.Stand up - That is, he shall interpose; he shall come forth to render aid. This does not mean necessarily that he would visibly appear, but that he would in fact interpose. In the time of great distress and trouble, there would be supernatural or angelic aid rendered to the people of God. No man can prove that this would not be so, nor is there any inherent improbability in the supposition that good angels may be employed to render assistance in the time of trouble. Compare the notes at Dan_10:13.The great prince which standeth for the children of thy people - See the notes as above at Dan_10:13. The meaning is, that he had the affairs of the Hebrew people, or the people of God, especially under his protection, or he was appointed to watch over them. This doctrine is in accordance with the notions that prevailed at that

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time; and no one can demonstrate that it is not true. There is no authority for applying this to the Messiah, as many have done, for the term Michael is not elsewhere given to him, and all that the language fairly conveys is met by the other supposition. The simple meaning is, that he who was the guardian angel of that nation, or who was appointed to watch over its interests, would at that time of great trouble interpose and render aid.And there shall be a time of trouble - Under Antiochus Epiphanes. See the notes at Dan. 11:21-45. Compare the books of the Maccabees, passim.Such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time - This might be construed with reference to the Jewish nation, as meaning that the trouble would be greater than any that had occurred during its history. But it may also be taken, as our translators understand it, in a more general sense, as referring to any or all nations. In either sense it can hardly be considered as the language of hyperbole. The troubles that came upon the land under the persecutions of Antiochus probably surpassed any that the Hebrew nation ever experienced, nor could it be shown that, for the same period of time, they were surpassed among any other people. The Saviour has employed this language as adapted to express the intensity of the trials which would be brought upon the Jews by the Romans Mat_24:21, but he does not say that as used in Daniel it had reference originally to that event. It was language appropriate to express the thought which he wished to convey, and he, therefore, so employed it.And at that time - When these troubles are at their height.Thy people shall be delivered - To wit, by the valor and virtues of the Maccabees. See the accounts in the books of the Maccabees. Compare Prideaux, Con. iii. 257, following.Every one that shall be found written in the book - Whose names are enrolled; that is, enrolled as among the living. The idea is, that a register was made of the names of those who were to be spared, to wit, by God, or by the angel, and that all whose names were so recorded would be preserved. Those not so enrolled would be cut off under the persecutions of Antiochus. The language here does not refer to the book of eternal life or salvation, nor is it implied that they who would thus be preserved would necessarily be saved, but to their preservation from death and persecution, as if their names were recorded in a book, or were enrolled. We frequently meet with similar ideas in the Scriptures. The idea is, of course, poetical, but it expresses with sufficient clearness the thought that there was a Divine purpose in regard to them, and that there was a definite number whom God designed to keep alive, and that these would be delivered from those troubles, while many others would be cut off. Compare the notes at Dan_10:21.

2. Clarke, “And at that time Michael shall stand up - Michael the archangel, as has already been observed, was ever reputed the guardian of the Jewish people.

Every one that shall be found written in the book - All that truly fear, love, and obey the Lord, On the phrase, “written in the book, the book of life,” etc., see the passages in the margin, and the notes on those passages.

3. Gill, “And at that time shall Michael stand up,.... The Archangel, who has all the 2

angels of heaven under him, and at his command, the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ; who is as God, as the name signifies, truly and really God, and equal in nature, power, and glory, to his divine Father: "he shall stand up"; which is not to be understood of his incarnation, or manifestation in the flesh, for this refers to times long after that; yet neither of his personal appearance in the clouds of heaven, and standing upon the earth in the latter day; but of his spiritual presence among his people, and protection of them, and continuance with them: this respects the spiritual reigns of Christ, the Lamb's standing upon Mount Zion, and the 144,000 with him, Rev_14:1, and this will be at that time, when the eastern antichrist, the Turk, will be destroyed; for the words are closely connected with the last verse of the preceding chapter; and when also the western antichrist, the pope of Rome, will come to his end; for, as they rose, so they will fall, much about the same time; and then Christ will rise and stand up, as the glorious Head of the church, and as a triumphant Conqueror over all his enemies, and take to himself his great power, and reign, and that kingdom which of right belongs to him. The great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people; the King of kings, and Lord of lords, the Prince of the kings of the earth; great in his person, and in his office; great in dignity, power, and authority; who always did, and ever will, stand on the side of the true Israel of God: he espoused their cause very early; he wrought out salvation for them in time; he intercedes for them now in heaven, and will appear to be their patron and defender against all their enemies in the latter day: here it seems to have special regard to the people of the Jews, Daniel's people; whom Christ shall appear unto, and for, in an eminent manner, to convert and save them, help and assist them, protect and defend them. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time; that is, ever since the world was, from the beginning of it, from the creation of the world; not only from the time that the Jews became a people, which was at their coming out of Egypt, as some understand it, but from the beginning of time; and so our Lord interprets it, who seems to have this passage in view in Mat_24:21, there have been many great and sore troubles in the world, great confusions in it, and convulsions of it, strange and amazing changes in it; very afflictive and distressing times have been to each of the kingdoms, nations, and cities, which have been entirely overthrown; but never was any like to this; which respects not the distresses of the Jews in the times of Antiochus, or at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans; nor does it seem to respect them at all, at least they will have no further share and concern in it, than as they will be in connection with other people, among whom they will be at this time; and it will be to them rather a time of deliverance and salvation than of distress; but it is that time of trial, and hour of temptation, that shall come upon all the world, Rev_3:10 as it may concern the church and people of God, it is the last struggle of the beast, of antichrist, at the time of his downfall and ruin, when he will make his last effort; this will be the last persecution of the saints, which will be short and sharp; the slaying of the witnesses, which will affect the whole interest of Christ everywhere; and as this concerns others, it designs the pouring out of the vials of God's wrath upon all the antichristian states, and all those judgments and calamities which will come upon the nations of the world, signified by the harvest and vintage; see Rev_14:14, &c.: and this time of trouble, for the nature, quality, and extent of it, will exceed any and all that ever were in the world.

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And at that time thy people shall be delivered; the Jews, the people of Daniel; these shall be delivered not only from the then present outward troubles, not only from their present captivity and afflictions, but from their spiritual evils; from the bondage of sin, and the captivity of Satan; their disbelief of the Messiah; their confidence in their own righteousness, and attachment to the traditions of their fathers; they shall be turned from their transgressions, and return to the Lord their God, and David their King, and shall be truly converted, and spiritually and eternally saved, Rom_11:25. Every one that shall be found written in the book; in the book of life, as Jacchiades; in the book of God's eternal purposes and decrees, concerning the salvation of his people by Christ; for it is according to these that God saves and calls men, whether Jews or Gentiles, 2Ti_1:9.

4. Henry, “It is usual with the prophets, when they foretel the grievances of the church, to furnish it at the same time with proper antidotes, a remedy for every malady. And no relief is so sovereign, of such general application, so easily accommodated to every case, and of such powerful efficacy, as those that are fetched from Christ and the future state; thence the comforts here are fetched.

I. Jesus Christ shall appear his church's patron and protector: At that time, when the persecution is at the hottest, Michael shall stand up, Dan_12:1. The angel had told Daniel what a firm friend Michael was to the church, Dan_10:21. He all along showed this friendship in the upper world; the angels knew it; but now Michael shall stand up in his providence, and work deliverance for the Jews, when he sees that their power is gone, Deu_32:36. Christ is that great prince, for he is the prince of the kings of the earth, Rev_1:5. And, if he stand up for his church, who can be against it? But this is not all: At that time (that is, soon after) Michael shall stand up for the working out of our eternal salvation; the Son of God shall be incarnate, shall be manifested to destroy the works of the devil. Christ stood for the children of our people when he was made sin and a curse for them, stood in their stead as a sacrifice, bore the cure for them, to bear it from them. He stands for them in the intercession he ever lives to make within the veil, stands up for them, and stands their friend. And after the destruction of antichrist, of whom Antiochus was a type, Christ shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, shall appear for the complete redemption of all his.II. When Christ appears he will recompense tribulation to those that trouble his people. There shall be a time of trouble, threatening to all, but ruining to all the implacable enemies of God's kingdom among men, such trouble as never was since there was a nation. This is applicable. 1. To the destruction of Jerusalem, which Christ calls (perhaps with an eye to this prediction) such a great tribulation as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, Mat_24:21. This the angel had spoken much of (Dan_9:26, Dan_9:27); and it happened about the same time that Christ set up the gospel-kingdom in the world, that Michael our prince stands up. Or, 2. To the judgment of the great day, that day that shall burn as an oven, and consume the proud and all that do wickedly; that will be such a day of trouble as never was to all those whom Michael our prince stands against.III. He will work salvation for his people: “At that time thy people shall be delivered,delivered from the mischief and ruin designed them by Antiochus, even all those that were marked for preservation, that were written among the living,” Isa_4:3. When Christ comes into the world he will save his spiritual Israel from sin and hell, and will, at

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his second coming, complete their salvation, even the salvation of as many as were given him, as many as have their names in the book of life, Rev_20:15. They were written there before the world, and will be found written there at the end of the world, when the books shall be opened.IVV. VI

5. Jamison, “Dan_12:1-13. Conclusion of the vision (tenth through twelfth chapters) and Epilogue to the book.

Compare Dan_12:4, Dan_12:13; as Dan_12:6, Dan_12:7 refer to Dan_7:25, that is, to the time of Antichrist, so the subsequent Dan_12:8-12 treat of the time of Antiochus (compare Dan_12:11 with Dan_11:31), thus putting together in one summary view the two great periods of distress. The political resurrection of the Jews under the Maccabees is the starting-point of transition to the literal resurrection about to follow the destruction of Antichrist by Christ’s coming in glory. The language passes here from the nearer to the more remote event, to which alone it is fully applicable.at that time — typically, towards the close of Antiochus’ reign; antitypically, the time when Antichrist is to be destroyed at Christ’s coming.Michael — the guardian angel of Israel (“thy people”), (Dan_10:13). The transactions on earth affecting God’s people have their correspondences in heaven, in the conflict between good and bad angels; so at the last great contest on earth which shall decide the ascendency of Christianity (Rev_12:7-10). An archangel, not the Lord Jesus; for he is distinguished from “the Lord” in Jud_1:9.there shall be — rather, “it shall be.”time of trouble, such as never was — partially applicable to the time of Antiochus, who was the first subverter of the Jews’ religion, and persecutor of its professors, which no other world power had done. Fully applicable to the last times of Antichrist, and his persecutions of Israel restored to Palestine. Satan will be allowed to exercise an unhindered, unparalleled energy (Isa_26:20, Isa_26:21; Jer_30:7; Mat_24:21; compare Dan_8:24, Dan_8:25; Dan_11:36).thy people shall be delivered — (Rom_11:26). The same deliverance of Israel as in Zec_13:8, Zec_13:9, “the third part ... brought through the fire ... refined as silver.” The remnant in Israel spared, as not having joined in the Antichristian blasphemy (Rev_14:9, Rev_14:10); not to be confounded with those who have confessed Christ before His coming, “the remnant according to the election of grace” (Rom_11:5), part of the Church of the first-born who will share His millennial reign in glorified bodies; the spared remnant (Isa_10:21) will only know the Lord Jesus when they see Him, and when the spirit of grace and supplication is poured out on them [Tregelles].written in the book — namely, of God’s secret purpose, as destined for deliverance (Psa_56:8; Psa_69:28; Luk_10:20; Rev_20:15; Rev_21:27). Metaphor from a muster-roll of citizens (Neh_7:5).

6. K&D, “ההיא ובעת points back to קץ בעת (Dan_11:4). At the time of the end, in which the hostile persecutor rises up to subdue the whole world, and sets up his camp in the

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Holy Land to destroy many in great anger and to strike them with the ban (החרים, Dan_11:44), i.e., totally to outroot them (Dan_11:40-45), the great angel-prince Michael shall come forth and fight for the people of God against their oppressor. Regarding Michael, see under Dan_10:13, p. 771. “Who stands over the sons of thy people,” i.e., stands near, protecting them (cf. for על עמד in the sense of coming to protect, Est_8:11; Est_9:16), describes Michael, who carries on his work as Israel's שר (Dan_10:21). That Michael, fighting for Daniel's people, goes forth against the hostile king (Dan_11:45), is, it is true, not said expressis verbis, but it lies in the context, especially in the עמך ימלט (they people shall be delivered) of the second half of the verse, as well as in the expressions regarding Michael, Dan_10:13 and Dan_10:21.

But the people of God need such powerful help for their deliverance, because that time shall be one of oppression without any parallel. The description of this oppression seems to be based on Jer_30:7 (C. B. Michaelis, Hengstenberg); but that which is there said is here heightened by the relative clause (cf. Joe_2:2), which enlarges the thought, Exo_9:18, Exo_9:24. This צרה עת (time of distress) is the climax of the oppression which the hostile king shall bring upon Israel, and occurs at the same time as the expiry of the last (the seventieth) week, Dan_9:26. “The salvation of Israel (ימלט), which is here thought of as brought about under the direction of Michael, coincides essentially with the description, Dan_7:18, Dan_7:25., 14, Dan_9:24.” Thus Kranichfeld rightly remarks. He also rightly identifies the continued victorious deliverance of Israel from the oppression (Dan_12:1) with the setting up of the Messianic kingdom, described in Dan_7:2, Dan_7:9, and finds in this verse (Dan_12:1) the Messianic kingdom dissolving the world-kingdoms.

With this the opposers of the genuineness of the book of Daniel also agree, and deduce therefrom the conclusion, that the pseudo-Daniel expected, along with the overthrow of Antiochus Epiphanes, the appearance of the Messianic kingdom of glory. This conclusion would be indisputable if the premises from which it is drawn, that ההיא בעת(at that time) is the time of Antiochus, were well founded. All attempts of believing interpreters, who, with Porphyry, Grotius, Bleek, v. Lengerke, Hitzig, and others, find the death of Antiochus prophesied in Dan_11:45, to dismiss this conclusion, appear on close inspection to be untenable. According to Hävernick, with ההיא ובעת (and at that time) a new period following that going before is introduced, and that ההיא בעת means at some future time. The appearance of Michael for his people denotes the appearance of the Messiah; and the sufferings and oppressions connected with his appearance denote the sufferings which the people of Israel shall endure at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, but which shall be most fully realized only at the second coming of the Lord, Mat_24:21-22. But this explanation is shattered against the ההיא which never ,בעתhas the meaning “at some time,” i.e., in the further future, and is refuted by the following remark of Hitzig: - ”Not once,” says he, with good ground, “can the words ההוא ביום be proved by such passages as 2Ki_3:6; Isa_28:5; Gen_39:11, to have the meaning of at that day; in ההיא בעת we may not by any means seek such a meaning, and the copula here puts a complete barrier in the way of such arbitrariness. Moreover, if the epoch of Antiochus Epiphanes was indeed a time of oppression, who could a reader then not refer

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this ההיא to the time of that king described in the foregoing chapter?” Finally, משכילים(intelligentes), Dan_12:3, refers back to the עם משכילי who helped may to knowledge, and who lost their lives in the persecution (Dan_11:33-34), and now are raised to eternal life.

(Note: These arguments extend also to the overthrow of Ebrard's view, that the expression “to this time” refers to the time after Antiochus Epiphanes shall have died.)Hävernick, however, was right, in opposing those who refer Dan_12:1 to the period of persecution under Antiochus, in arguing that the statement of the unheard-of greatness of the affliction is far too strong for such a period, and at the same time that the promise of the deliverance of those that shall be found written in the book does not accord with that Syrian oppression, although he is in error when he interprets the appearance of Michael of the first appearance of Christ. This interpretation receives no support either from Dan_9:26 or from Mat_24:21-22, because both passages treat of the coming of Christ in glory. But if the reference of this verse to the appearance of Christ in the flesh is inconsistent with the words, still more so is its reference to the period of Antiochus. Those interpreters who advance this view are under the necessity of violently separating Dan_12:1 from Dan_12:2, Dan_12:3, which undoubtedly treat of the resurrection from the dead.According to Auberlen, who has rightly conceived that the משכילים, Dan_12:3, allude to

the משכילים, Dan_11:33 and Dan_11:34, the הרבים מצדיקי to the לרבים ,Dan_11:33 ,יבינוDan_12:2, Dan_12:3 do not intimate any progress in the development of the history, but by mentioning the resurrection only, are referred to the eternal retribution which awaits the Israelites according to their conduct during the time of great persecution under Antiochus, because, as C. B. Michaelis has said, ejus (i.e., of the resurrection) consideratio magnam vim habet ad confirmandum animum sub tribulationibus. As to the period between the time of trial and the resurrection, nothing whatever is said; for in Dan_12:2, Dan_12:3 every designation of time is wanting, while in Dan_12:1 the expression “at this time” twice occurs. Thus Hengstenberg (Christol. iii. 1, p. 6) has remarked, “Whether there be a longer or a shorter time between the tribulation of the Maccabean era and the resurrection, the consolation from the fact of the resurrection remains equally powerful. Therefore it is so connected with the deliverance from the persecution as if the one immediately followed the other.” But with this it is conceded that the resurrection from the dead is so associated with the deliverance of Israel from the tyranny of Antiochus as if it came immediately after it, as the opponents of the genuineness of the book affirm. But this interpretation is obviously a mere make-shift.CALVIN, "The angel no longer relates future occurrences specially, but proclaims God to be in general the guardian of his Church, so as to preserve it wonderfully amidst many difficulties and dreadful commotion’s, as well as in the profound darkness of disaster and death. This is the meaning of this sentence. This verse consists of two parts: the first relates to that most wretched period which should be full of various and almost numberless calamities; and the second assures us of God’s never-failing protection and preservation of his Church by his own innate power. In this second part the promise is restricted to the elect, and thus a third clause may be

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distinguished, but it is only an addition to the second just mentioned. At the close of the verse, the angel presents us with a definition of the Church, as many professed to be God’s people who were not really so. He says, Michael, the prince of the people, should stand up Then he states the reason, The calamities of that period should be such as were never witnessed from the beginning of the world As he addresses Daniel, he says, sons of thy people; for he was one of the sons of Abraham, and the nation from which Daniel sprang was in that sense “his.” From this it follows that the calamities of which he will by and bye treat, belong to the true Church, and not to the profane nations. The singular aid of Michael would not have been needed, unless the Church had been oppressed with the most disastrous distresses. We perceive, then, the angel’s meaning to be according to my explanation. The Church should be subject to most numerous and grievous calamities until the advent of Christ, but yet it should feel God’s propitious disposition, ensuring its own safety under his aid and protection. By Michael many agree in understanding Christ as the head of the Church. But if it seems better to understand Michael as the archangel, this sense will prove suitable, for under Christ as the head, angels are the guardians of the Church. Whichever be the true meaning, God was the preserver of his Church by the hand of his only-begotten Son, and because the angels are under the government of Christ, he might entrust this duty to Michael. That foul hypocrite, Servetus, has dared to appropriate this passage to himself; for he has inscribed it as a frontispiece on his horrible comments, because he was called Michael! We observe what diabolic fury has seized him, as he dared to claim as his own what is here said of the singular aid afforded by Christ; to his Church. He was a man of the most impure feelings, as we have already sufficiently made known. But this was a proof of his impudence and sacrilegious madness — to adorn himself with this epithet of Christ without, blushing, and. to elevate himself into Christ’s place, by boasting himself to be Michael, the guardian of the Church, and the mighty prince of the people! This fact is well known, for I have the book at hand should any one distrust my word. COFFMAN, "This final chapter of Daniel is interpreted in various ways by different schools of scholars. Practically all of the critics limit the application to the last days of Antiochus, supposing that Daniel was totally mistaken about the resurrection which he mentioned, there being no resurrection whatever that marked the closing of the Antiochus persecution. We must reject this in its entirety, because we cannot believe that Christ would have quoted part of this chapter, applying it to the destruction of Jerusalem with antitypical overtones in the final judgment itself unless there had been much more here than a blunder on the part of the prophet Daniel. Such interpretations we leave without comment to those who prefer to

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disbelieve the holy prophecies of the "end times."

The various premillennial views of this chapter we also reject on the basis that "the millennium" of Revelation 20 is nothing more nor less than the entire dispensation of the Gospel, embracing all of the time between the First Advent and the Second Advent of Christ. (See extensive studies on this in the Book of Revelation. Also, we have given a summary of it under Daniel 7:25, above.)

The really destructive heresy regarding this chapter is the error of seeing nothing in it except the conclusion of the persecutions under Antiochus Epiphanes. Keil pointed out that the critical application of the first few verses of Daniel 12 to the times of Antiochus could be true and correct, "Only if the premises from which it is drawn were allowed."[1] These premises were confidently contradicted by Keil; and, as we found in our studies of the last paragraph of Daniel 11, there is no reference whatever in those verses to Antiochus. That impressive gap between undeniable references to Antiochus earlier in chapter eleven, prior to Daniel 11:36, and the introduction of the resurrection of the dead in the first three verses of this chapter, make it absolutely imperative to understand that in this chapter the focus of the prophecy moves to the climax of the Messianic kingdom itself in the Final Judgment and Second Advent of Jesus Christ.

In this connection, Albert Barnes declared that: "The full meaning of the language (Daniel 12:1-3) is not met by the events of the times of the Maccabees. The passage looks forward and onward to a higher and more important event than any that occurred in the times of Antiochus."[2]

What then is the meaning of these first few verses in Daniel 12? Young summarized them as follows: "When these events take place, those who are found written in the book will be delivered. The reference is to the elect, those destined to receive eternal life."[3] We hold that analysis to be absolutely correct. We are also certain that the resurrection of the dead mentioned here is the general resurrection of all the dead at the time of the final judgment, as we shall more fully explain in the notes on the text itself.

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Daniel 12:1

"And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who standeth for the children of the people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as there never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book."

Fortunately, this verse is crystal clear in its meaning, thanks to the direct comment of Jesus Christ himself regarding what is here prophesied.

"At that time ..." is a reference to Messianic times; and the fact of the final judgment and the Resurrection coming into view almost simultaneously should not be confusing. It is a thing common enough in the prophecies that "the last Days" is a reference to the whole times of the Messianic kingdom including the final judgment itself; and, since all of these events (first, and last, and in between) were in the same line of vision, they are often mentioned in the same passage. "The Lord himself coordinated the destruction of Jerusalem with the end of the world."[4] "It was no uncommon thing in the prophets to allow the eye to glance from one object to another lying in the same range of vision."[5] Even in astronomy today, two stars may appear in one photograph appearing to be almost touching each other, whereas in fact, they could be separated by thousands of millions of miles!

In understanding this prophecy it is imperative to understand that Daniel 10-12 are all one prophecy, not two or three. The chapter divisions here have been deplored by scholars ever since Cardinal Hugo butchered the job of dividing them in the 13th century; but to understand the passage before us, we must go back and read Daniel 10:14 -

"Now I am come to make thee understand

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WHAT SHALL BEFALL THY PEOPLE IN THE LATTER DAYS, for the vision is yet for many days

(Daniel 10:14)."SIZE>

In these verses, we have therefore come to that part of the prophecy that particularly deals with the TRUE ISRAEL OF GOD in the beginning of Messianic times. It is most important to separate this prophecy and its application from the APOSTATE ISRAEL; FROM THE DEGENERATE VINE; FROM THE HARDENED; SECULAR ISRAEL. After that Israel rejected and crucified the Son of God Himself, they lost forever their status as God's chosen people. That distinction now belongs only to the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ and to no other. Without seeing this vital fact, no one can understand this prophecy. This reference, therefore is not of what is going to happen to the Jews (racially) but to the Church of Jesus Christ.

Very well, what does this first verse say?

"At that time ... there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time, and at that time thy people shall be delivered ..." Now, when was that? Christ said it would occur at the destruction of Jerusalem, which we can definitely pinpoint as an event occurring in A.D. 70. In his prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, Christ said: "Then shall be great tribulation, such as there hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever shall be" (Matthew 24:21). Thus the very terminology of Daniel's prophecy was used by the Lord and applied to the end of Jerusalem (with overtones of the final judgment also). But the people who cannot understand this verse have a stumbling block in the next clause, "And at that time, thy people shall be delivered." They say this cannot apply to the destruction of Jerusalem because that is when 1,100,000 Jews were put to the sword; and how could God have said, "Thy people shall be delivered?" They just don't understand WHO God's people were in that holocaust! They were the Church, the TRUE ISRAEL OF GOD; and it is history that they were indeed delivered, fleeing to Pella, as every student of history knows. The Jews at that time were not, nor have they ever since been, God's chosen people.

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The study of this passage, together with the fact of Christ's having definitely applied it to the destruction of Jerusalem raises the possibility that Christ himself relied in part upon this promise of God regarding the safety of his church during the siege of Jerusalem when he warned the Christians to flee. One of the most important, and one of the most universally unknown, facts about the ISRAEL of GOD is that the true ISRAEL today is a far different group of people from what it was in the days of Daniel.

"Everyone that shall be found written in the book ..." Here is the definition of God's people who shall be saved from the horrible holocaust of the destruction of Jerusalem. Who are these? They are the Christians. This is a reference to the "Lamb's Book of Life," where the names of the redeemed are enrolled. "This is the book of life (Psalms 69:28; Revelation 3:5)."[6] The very idea that the racial Jews who had engineered the crucifixion of Christ and hounded the holy apostles all over Europe in their vicious efforts to prevent the spread of the Gospel all had their names written in the book of life because they were racially descended from Abraham is ridiculous.

It is absolutely certain, as Keil put it, that, "These verses do not treat of the times of Antiochus and the Maccabees."[7] The notion that the persecutions under Antiochus were of the dimensions of those which Christ associated with the end of the city of Jerusalem (which are the ones found in this verse) is contradicted by no less authority than Christ himself.COKE, "Daniel 12:1. And there shall be a time of trouble— When the Jews are to be restored, there shall be such calamities as the nations never before experienced since men were formed into civil societies. Tribulations are often mentioned in Scripture, as preceding extraordinary events, see Ezekiel 30:2-3 and especially as ushering in the kingdom of God, whether that kingdom relate to the first or second advent of the Messiah. See Isaiah 8:22. Jeremiah 30:7. Matthew 24:21 at which last place an expression is used of like import with this of Daniel. This unusual and extraordinary time of trouble is supposed to correspond with that represented by St. John, as to follow upon the pouring out of the seventh vial. Revelation 16:18. Yet the people of God shall escape.

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BENSON, “. And at that time, &c. — It is usual with the prophets, when they foretel the troubles of the church, to furnish it, at the same time, with proper supports and consolations; and none are so sovereign, of such general application, so easily accommodated to every case, and of such powerful efficacy, as those that are fetched from Christ, and a future state revealed in his gospel. At that time — When the troubles are the greatest; shall Michael stand up — The word Michael signifies, Who is like God? which name, with the title here given him, The great prince which standeth for the children of thy people, manifestly points out the Messiah, and cannot properly be understood of a created angel. The angel had told Daniel 10:21, what a friend Michael was to the church of God, and he now informs him that he should interpose in a singular way, and work out deliverance for her. If this have any reference at all to the respite from trouble, and the deliverance wrought out for the Jews, after the death of Antiochus; yet that cannot be the primary intention of the prediction. It evidently relates to the incarnation of the Son of God, which was to take place soon after the days of Antiochus; in order to the eternal salvation of God’s people. As if the angel had said, As after the signal judgment of God upon Antiochus, that persecutor of his people, they shall have some deliverance from their calamities; so there will be a yet far greater salvation wrought out for them, when Michael your prince shall appear for you. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, &c. — This is not only applicable to, but evidently primarily intended of the calamities suffered by the Jews, before and during the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans; calamities brought upon them for their rejection and crucifixion of their own Messiah. Of this time of trouble Christ speaks in similar language, Matthew 24:21, when he says, Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to that time, no, nor ever shall be. Of which, see the notes on Deuteronomy 28:50-63. Of this the angel had spoken much, Daniel 9:26-27; and it happened soon after the time in which Christ set up his gospel kingdom in the world. It may refer, however, also to the dreadful judgments which shall be executed on all antichristian powers, to make way for the universal spread of the gospel, and the final conversion and restoration of the Jews. Concerning which awful judgments, see Revelation 16:18-21; Revelation 19:17-21. The prediction may include likewise the judgments of the great and last day, the day that shall burn as an oven, when all the proud, and all that do wickedly, shall be as stubble, and shall be consumed; that will be such a day of trouble as never was, to all those against whom Michael our prince shall stand. And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one found written in the book — By those found written in the book, or, as it is expressed, Isaiah 4:3, written among the living in Jerusalem, may be understood, 1st, The pious Jews who should be

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preserved from the mischief and ruin designed them by Antiochus; but more especially, 2d, Such as should believe in Christ when he appeared, embrace his gospel, and become his true disciples, who should escape both the temporal calamities coming on their countrymen, and obtain spiritual and eternal salvation through him. It includes, 3d, Those who should be converted in the latter days, and restored to their own land; and lastly, All that should be found written in the book of life at the day of final judgment, that is, all truly justified, regenerated, and pious persons. Of the book of life, see notes on Exodus 32:32; Psalms 69:28; Isaiah 4:3.

ELLICOTT, " (1) At that time—i.e., in the times spoken of in Daniel 11:45, previous to the overthrow of the king. During the tribulation which precedes his overthrow, Michael (see Daniel 10:13) comes to stand up in aid of the people.

A time of trouble.—This is the tribulation spoken of in Matt. in Matthew 24:21-22, which follows, as it does in the Book of Daniel, the wars, rumours of wars, and uprisings of sundry nations. (See Matthew 24:6-7.) It should be observed that the mere presence of Michael does not avert the times of trouble. He helps God’s people during the time of their trouble. On the mode in which the intensity of the tribulation is described, comp. Jeremiah 30:7.

Written in the book.—Comp. Daniel 7:10; Philippians 4:3; and see Note on Exodus 32:32.

PETT, "Introduction

Chapter 12. The Final End.

Having depicted the end days of the world in symbolism Daniel now looks at it from the point of view of the people of God. What is catastrophe for the world is the beginning of eternal glory for His people. The first three verses of this chapter sum up the end of time from their point of view. The final part then summarises the

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intent of the book.

Verse 1

The Destiny of The Righteous and The Unrighteous (Daniel 12:1-4).

‘And at that time will Michael stand up, the great prince who stands over the children of your people, and there will be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time. And at that time your people will be delivered, every one who will be found written in the book.’

‘At that time --.’ This refers back to Daniel 11:40-45. While the horn, the little one, is rampaging around the known world, Michael, the great prince of angels allocated to watch over God’s people, will be ‘standing over them’, ever on the alert to watch over them and protect them. Michael is one of only two angels mentioned by name in Scripture. He is described by Jude 1:9 as an archangel, and in Revelation he leads God’s army of angels (Revelation 12:7). His part is to deal with the activities of the evil angels who seek to control the world, and to intervene to prevent their final misuse of the people of God. There is never any thought of praying to such angels.

‘And there will be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time.’ Compare Jeremiah 30:6-7. This is the end of the world as we know it. No future is conceived of for the earth as it is, apart from that faced by the resurrected ones, and the ‘delivered’, which is in the everlasting kingdom (Ezekiel 37:25-28). This time of trouble is in direct contrast with Mark 13:19 and parallels, which speak of the great tribulation of the Jews at the time of the destruction of the temple by Titus in 70 AD and its aftermath (Matthew 24:21), and which see both a past and a future, the latter revealed by the words ‘nor ever shall be’ (missing from Daniel).

This time of trouble is different from that one, in that this one is final and is not said to be localised, although it too has in mind invasion and warfare, and the activities

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of Satan. But this one occurs at the end time against the people of God. On the other hand there is no suggestion that it is necessarily worldwide. It is simply indicating that at that time there will be intense trouble which the people of God will also face. It is concerned with how it affects God’s people.

‘And at that time your people will be delivered, every one who will be found written in the book.’ This phrase is very important. ‘Deliverance’ is now described. For those who have died it is by resurrection to the everlasting kingdom. For the living it means full deliverance, and again entry into the everlasting kingdom. In the end it refers to all who are God’s. The intensity of suffering will be followed by the intensity of blessing.

For Daniel this is the final climax to which the book has been leading. The idea here is of final deliverance, the result of the final smiting by the heavenly stone which fills the whole earth (Daniel 2:34-35), the result of the son of man receiving His kingdom and entering into His glory (Daniel 7:14), and the result of the saints of the Most High receiving the everlasting kingdom (Daniel 7:27). He does not enter into detail of how unbelievers will be dealt with, apart from those described in Daniel 12:2. He sees only the final glory of God’s people, and their final deliverance.

The Old Testament knew of no heavenly realm for men and women. The concept had not yet developed. That is why it had continually to depict the everlasting future in terms of this earth. It knew no other. But regularly the wording went beyond anything possible on this earth, having in view ‘new heavens and a new earth’ (Isaiah 65:17). This is the only thing that makes sense of the whole picture. It should be noted that there is no suggestion here of a ‘millennial’ kingdom’. For Daniel the ultimate has been reached.

Note also that only those ‘written in the book’ will find deliverance. It clearly therefore does not simply mean the Jews, for they are not all ‘written in the book’, it means all of God’s true Israel. They are the only ones who enjoy final deliverance.

‘Your people.’ Daniel would here think of the remnant of the people of Israel who 16

would prove faithful to God, although he was not aware of how God would expand that Israel. For the New Testament makes clear that that remnant of Israel was increased by all who came to Christ and in Him became members of the true Israel (Galatians 6:16; James 1:1), fellow-citizens with ‘the saints’ (Ephesians 2:19). They too were built into the living temple which was God’s dwelling place (Ephesians 2:19-22) and were accepted as true sons of Abraham (Galatians 3:7; Galatians 3:29). They were grafted in to the olive tree (Romans 10:17), and the bad branches removed. The Bible sees the true church as the true Israel. Israel’s future is the true church’s future, and vice versa.

‘Written in the book.’ This book is the record of the righteous (Psalms 69:28; Malachi 3:16 see also Psalms 139:16). Jesus said to His disciples that they should rejoice because their names were written in Heaven (Luke 10:20). It is to be differentiated from the book of the living, which was simply a record of those alive who were reckoned among the people of God (Exodus 32:32; Psalms 69:28 compare Isaiah 4:3; Ezekiel 13:9; Revelation 3:5), from which names could be blotted out if they proved unworthy. It can be more compared with the Lamb’s book of life, the record of those chosen and redeemed by God through Christ, from which no name could be blotted out (Revelation 13:8; Revelation 20:15; Revelation 21:27). (But we must remember that these are all symbolic descriptions and not particularise too much).

TRAPP, "Daniel 12:1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation [even] to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

Ver. 1. And at that time,] i.e., In the last days, and toward the end of the world; for in this chapter seemeth to he set forth the state of the Church in the last times, that it shall be most afflicted; yet she shall be fully delivered by Christ’s second coming to judgment. Cyprian was in like sort wont to comfort his friends thus: Venit Antichristus, sed superveniet Christus; Antichrist cometh; but then Christ will come after him, and overcome him.

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Shall Michael stand up,] i.e., The Lord Christ (that Prince of angels, and protector of his people), not a created angel, much less Michael Servetus, that blasphemous heretic, burned at Geneva, who was not afraid to say, as Calvin reporteth it, se esse Michaelem illum, Ecclesae custodem, that he was that Michael, the Church’s guardian. David George, also another black-mouthed heretic, said that he was the one David foretold by the prophets, [Jeremiah 30:9 Ezekiel 34:23 Hosea 3:5] and that he was confident that the whole world would in time submit to him.

Which standeth for the children of thy people.] For all the Israel of God, to whom Christ is a fast friend, and will be while "the government is upon his shoulder." [Isaiah 9:6]

And there shall be a time of trouble.] To the Jews by the Romans (after Christ’s ascension, Matthew 24:21), to the Christians by the Romists.

And at that time thy people shall be delivered.] The elect, both Jews and Gentiles, shall be secured and saved.

Every one that shall be found written in the book.] Called the "writing or catalogue of the house of Israel," [Ezekiel 13:9] and the "Lamb’s book of life," [Revelation 21:27] which is nothing else but conscriptio electorum in mente divina, saith Lyra, the writing of the elect in the divine mind or knowledge; such are said to be written among the living in Jerusalem. [Isaiah 4:3]

POOLE, "Daniel 12:13 But go thou thy way till the end [be]: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.

Ver. 13. But go thou thy way.] Here Daniel to his great comfort hath a fair and favourable dismission out of this life before those great clashings and confusions should come which had been foreshown to him. So Augustine and Pareus died a little before Hippo and Heidelberg were taken.

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Till the end be.] Whenever it shall be, sooner or later, thou shalt be sure to awake out of the dust of death unto everlasting life. {as Daniel 12:2} Yea, thou shalt "shine as the stars for ever and ever." [Daniel 12:3] All that thou hast to do now is, to prepare for such an end, and to wait till thy change shall come, comforting thyself against death with the hope of a blessed resurrection.

For thou shalt rest.] Thy soul shall rest in Abraham’s bosom, thy body in the grave as in a bed of down, until the resurrection of the just. Mors aerumnarum requies rest from death of afliction, was Chaucer’s motto.

And stand in the lot,] i.e., In thine own order, [1 Corinthians 15:23] and in that degree of heavenly glory which shall be given thee as thy lot - in allusion to the promised land, divided among the Israelites by lot - and as the reward of a faithful prophet, instrumental to the good of many, who shall bless God for thee throughout all eternity.

“ Ipse quidem studui bene de pietate mereri:

Sed quicquid potui, gratia, Christe, tun est.

Quid sum? Nil: Quis sum? Nullus: Sed gratia Christi

Quod sum, quod vivo, quodque laboro, facit. ”

EBC, “Verses 1-13

THE EPILOGUE

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(Daniel 12:1-13)

THE twelfth chapter of the Book of Daniel serves as a general epilogue to the Book, and is as little free from difficulties in the interpretation of the details as are the other apocalyptic chapters.

The keynote, however, to their right understanding must be given in the words "At that time," with which the first verse opens. The words can only mean "the time" spoken of at the end of the last chapter, the days of that final effort of Antiochus against the holy people which ended in his miserable death.

"At that time," then- i.e., about the year B.C. 163-the guardian archangel of Israel, "Michael, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people," shall stand up for their deliverance.

But this deliverance should resemble many similar crises in its general characteristics. It should not be immediate. On the contrary, it should be preceded by days of unparalleled disorder and catastrophe-"a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time." We may, for instance, compare with this the similar prophecy of Jeremiah: [Jeremiah 30:4-11]

"And these are the words which the Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus saith the Lord; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I will burst thy bonds Therefore fear thou not, O Jacob, My servant, saith the Lord; neither be dismayed, O Israel For I am with thee. saith the Lord, to save thee. For I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have scattered thee, but I will not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee with judgment, and will in nowise leave thee unpunished."

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The general conception is so common as even to have found expression in proverbs, -such as, "The night is darkest just before the dawn"; and, "When the tale of bricks is doubled, Moses comes." Some shadow of similar individual and historic experiences is found also among the Greek and Romans. In the lines of Horace, -

"Nec Deus intersit nisi dignus vindice nodus Intersit."

We find the same expectation in the apocryphal Book of Enoch, (90:16) and we find it reflected in the Revelation of St. John, [Revelation 16:14; Revelation 19:19] where he describes the devil as let loose and the powers of evil as gathering themselves together for the great final battle of Armageddon before the eternal triumph of the Lamb and of His saints. In Rabbinic literature there was a fixed anticipation that the coming of the Messiah must inevitably be preceded by "pangs" or "birth-throes," of which they spoke. {Comp. Matthew 24:6-7; Matthew 24:21-22}

These views may partly have been founded on individual and national experience, but they were doubtless deepened by the vision of Zechariah (chapter 14).

"Behold, a day, of the Lord cometh, when thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the people shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be light, but cold and ice but it shall be one day that is known unto the Lord, not day and not night: but it shall come to pass that at evening time there shall be light.". [Zechariah 14:1-7]

The anticipation of the saintly writer in the days of the early Maccabean uprising, while all the visible issues were still uncertain, and hopes as yet unaccomplished

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could only be read by the eyes of faith, were doubtless of a similar character. When he wrote Antiochus was already concentrating his powers to advance with the utmost wrath and fury against the Holy City. Humanly speaking, it was certain that the holy people could oppose no adequate resistance to his overwhelming forces, in which he would doubtless be able to enlist contingents from many allied nations. What could ensue but immeasurable calamity to the great majority? Michael indeed, their prince, should do his utmost for them; but it would not be in his power to avert the misery which should fall on the nation generally.

Nevertheless, they should not be given up to utter or to final destruction. As in the days of the Assyrians the name Shear-jashub, which Isaiah gave to one of his young sons, was a sign that "a remnant should be left," so now the seer is assured that, "thy people shall be delivered"-at any rate "every one that shall be found written in the book."

"Written in the book"-for all true Israelites had ever believed that a book of record, a book of remembrance, lies ever open before the throne of God, in which are inscribed the names of God’s faithful ones; as well as that awful book in which are written the evil deeds of men. Thus in Exodus [Exodus 32:33] we read, "Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book," which tells us of the records against the guilty. In Psalms 69:28 we read, "Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous." That book of the righteous is specially mentioned by Malachi: "Then they that feared the Lord spake one with another: and the Lord hearkened and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and called upon His Name.". [Malachi 3:16] And St. John refers to these books at the close of the Apocalypse: "And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works And if any one was not found written in the book of life, he was cast in the lake of fire."

In the next verse the seer is told that "many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting abhorrence."

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It is easy to glide with insincere confidence over the difficulties of this verse, but they are many.

We should naturally connect it with what goes before as a reference to "that time"; and if so, it would seem as though-perhaps with reminiscences of the concluding prophecy of Isaiah-the writer contemplated the end of all things and the final resurrection. If so, we have here another instance to be added to the many in which this prophetic vision of the future passed from an immediate horizon to another infinitely distant. And if that be the correct interpretation, this is the earliest trace in Scripture of the doctrine of individual immortality. Of that doctrine there was no full knowledge-there were only dim prognostications or splendid hopes-until in the fulness of the times Christ brought life and immortality to light. For instance, the passage here seems to be doubly limited. It does not refer to mankind in general, but only to members of the chosen people; and it is not said that all men shall rise again and receive according to their works, but only that "many" shall rise to receive the reward of true life, while others shall live indeed, but only in everlasting shame. To them that be wise-to "the teacher," and to those that turn the many to "righteousness"-there is a further promise of glory. They "shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for ever and ever." There is here, perhaps, a reminiscence of Proverbs 4:18-19, which tells us that the way of the wicked is as darkness, whereas the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. Our Lord uses a similar metaphor in his explanation of the Parable of the Tares: "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." We find it once again in the last verse of the Epistle of St. James: "Let him know, that he who hath converted a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." But there is a further indication that the writer expected this final consummation to take place immediately after the troubles of the Antiochian assault; for he describes the angel Gabriel as bidding Daniel "to seal the Book even to the time of the end." Now as it is clear that the Book was, on any hypothesis, meant for the special consolation of the persecuted Jews under the cruel sway of the Seleucid King, and that then first could the Book be understood, the writer evidently looked for the fulfilment of his last prophecies at the termination of these troubles. This meaning is a little obscured by the rendering, " many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." Ewald, Maurer, and Hitzig take the verse, which literally implies movement hither and thither, in the sense, "many shall peruse the Book." Mr. Bevan, however, from a consideration of the Septuagint Version of the words, "and

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knowledge shall be increased" - for which they read, "and the land be filled with injustice"-thinks that the original rendering would be represented by, "many shall rush hither and thither, and many shall be the calamities." In other words, "the revelation must remain concealed, because there is to ensue a long period of commotion and distress." If we have been convinced by the concurrence of many irresistible arguments that the Book of Daniel is the product of the epoch which it most minutely describes, we can only see in this verse a part of the literary form which the Book necessarily assumed as the vehicle for its lofty and encouraging messages.

The angel here ceases to speak, and Daniel, looking round him, becomes aware of the presence of two other celestial beings, one of whom stood on either bank of the river. "And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was above the waters of the river, How long to the end of these wonders?" There is a certain grandeur in the vagueness of description, but the speaker seems to be one of the two angels standing on either "lip" of the Tigris. "The man clothed in linen," who is hovering in the air above the waters of the river, is the same being who in Daniel 8:16 wears "the appearance of a man," and calls "from between the banks of Ulai" to Gabriel that he is to make Daniel understand the vision. He is also, doubtless, the "one man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz, his body like the beryl, his face as flashing lightning, his eyes as burning torches, and his voice like the deep murmur of a multitude," who strikes such terror into Daniel and his comrades in the vision of Daniel 10:5-6; -and though all is left uncertain, "the great prince Michael" may perhaps be intended.

The question how long these marvels were to last, and at what period the promised deliverance should be accomplished, was one which would naturally have the intensest interest to those Jews who-in the agonies of the Antiochian persecution and at the beginning of the "little help" caused by the Maccabean uprising-read for the first time the fearful yet consolatory and inspiring pages of this new apocalypse. The answer is uttered with the most solemn emphasis. The Vision of the priest-like and gold-girded angel, as he hovers above the river-flood, "held up both his hands to heaven," and swears by Him that liveth for ever and ever that the continuance of the affliction shall be "for a time, times, and a half." So Abraham, to emphasise his refusal of any gain from the King of Sodom, says that he has "lifted up his hand unto the Lord, the Most High God, that he would not take from a thread to a shoe-latchet." And in Exodus 6:8, when Jehovah says "I did swear," the expression

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means literally, "I lifted up My hand." It is the natural attitude of calling God to witness; and in Revelation 10:5-6, with a reminiscence of this passage, the angel is described as standing on the sea, and lifting his right hand to heaven to swear a mighty oath that there should be no longer delay.

The "time, two times, and half a time" of course means three years and a half, as in Daniel 7:25. There can be little doubt that their commencement is the terminus a quo which is expressly mentioned in Daniel 12:11 : "the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away." We have already had occasion to see that three years, with a margin which seems to have been variously computed, does roughly correspond to the continuance of that total desecration of the Temple, and extinction of the most characteristic rites of Judaism, which preceded the death of Antiochus and the triumph of the national cause.

Unhappily the reading, rendering, and interpretation of the next clause of the angel’s oath are obscure and uncertain. It is rendered in the R.V, "and when they have made an end of breaking in pieces the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished." As to the exact translation many scholars differ. Von Lengerke translates it, "and when the scattering of a part of the holy people should come to an end, all this should be ended." The Septuagint Version is wholly unintelligible. Mr. Bevan suggests an alteration of the text which would imply that, "when the power of the shatterer of the holy people [i.e., Antiochus] should come to an end, all these things should be ended." This no doubt would not only give a very clear sense, but also one which would be identical with the prophecy of Daniel 7:25, that "they [the times and the law] shall be given unto his hand until a time and times and half a time." But if we stop short at the desperate and uncertain expedient of correcting the original Hebrew, we can only regard the words as implying (in the rendering of our A.V and R.V) that the persecution and suppression of Israel should proceed to their extremest limit, before the woe was ended; and of this we have already been assured.

The writer, in the person of Daniel, is perplexed by the angel’s oath, and yearns for further enlightenment and certitude. He makes an appeal to the vision with the question, "O my lord, what shall be the issue [or, latter end] of these things?" In answer he is simply bidden to go his way- i.e., to be at peace, and leave all these events to God, since the words are shut up and sealed till the time of the end. In

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other words, the Daniel of the Persian Court could not possibly have attached any sort of definite meaning to minutely detailed predictions affecting the existence of empires which would not so much as emerge on the horizon till centuries after his death. These later visions could only be apprehended by the contemporaries of the events which they shadowed forth.

"Many," continued the angel, "shall purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; the teachers shall understand."

The verse describes the deep divisions which should be cleft among the Jews by the intrigues and persecutions of Antiochus. Many would cling to their ancient and sacred institutions, and purified by pain, purged from all dross of worldliness and hypocrisy in the fires of affliction, like gold in the furnace, would form the new parties of the Chasidim and the Anavim, "the pious" and "the poor." They would be such men as the good high priest Onias, Mattathias of Modin and his glorious sons, the scribe Eleazar, and the seven dauntless martyrs, sons of the holy woman who unflinchingly watched their agonies and encouraged them to die rather than to apostatise. But the wicked would continue to be void of all understanding, and would go on still in their wickedness, like Jason and Menelaus, the renegade usurpers of the high-priesthood. These and the whole Hellenising party among the Jews, for the sake of gain, plunged into heathen practices, made abominable offerings to gods which were no gods, and in order to take part in the naked contests of the Greek gymnasium which they had set up in Jerusalem, deliberately attempted to obliterate the seal of circumcision which was the covenant pledge of their national consecration to the Jehovah of their fathers.

"And from the time that the continual burnt offering shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days."

If we suppose the year to consist of twelve months of thirty days, then (with the insertion of one intercalary month of thirty days) twelve hundred and ninety days is exactly three and a half years. We are, however, faced by the difficulty that the time

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from the desecration of the Temple till its reconsecration by Judas Maccabaeus seems to have been exactly three years; and if that view be founded on correct chronology we can give no exact interpretation of the very specific date here furnished.

Our difficulties are increased by the next clause: "Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days."

All that we can conjecture from this is that, at the close of twelve hundred and ninety days, by the writer’s reckoning from the cessation of the daily burnt offering, and the erection of the heathen abomination which drove all faithful Jews from the Temple, up to the date of some marked deliverance, would be three and a half years, but that this deliverance would be less complete and beatific than another and later deliverance which would not occur till forty-five days later.

Reams of conjecture and dubious history and imaginative chronology have been expended upon the effort to give any interpretation of these precise data which can pretend to the dignity of firm or scientific exegesis. Some, for instance, like Keil, regard the numbers as symbolical, which is equivalent to the admission that they have little or no bearing on literal history; others suppose that they are conjectural, having been penned before the actual termination of the Seleucid troubles. Others regard them as only intended to represent round numbers. Others again attempt to give them historic accuracy by various manipulations of the dates and events in and after the reign of Antiochus. Others relegate the entire vision to periods separated from the Maccabean age by hundreds of years, or even into the remotest future. And none of these commentators, by their researches and combinations, have succeeded in establishing the smallest approach to conviction in the minds of those who take the other views. There can be little doubt that to the writer and his readers the passage pointed either to very confident expectations or very well-understood realities; but for us the exact clue to the meaning is lost. All that can be said is that we should probably understand the dates better if our knowledge of the history of B.C. 165-164 was more complete. We are forced to content ourselves with their general significance. It is easy to record and to multiply elaborate guesses, and to deceive ourselves with the merest pretence and semblance of certainty. For reverent and severely honest inquiries it seems safer and wiser to study and profit by the great lessons and examples clearly set before us in the Book of Daniel, but, as

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regards many of its unsolved difficulties, to obey the wise exhortation of the Rabbis, -"Learn to say, ‘I do not know."’

WHEDON, “ The Reservations of God

Daniel 12:8-13

Who can be so perplexing as God? "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing." We think we have got an answer when we have only got a reply. There is a great sound of thunder in the air, but what it all means not even Daniel can tell. Yet the thunder is very useful; the thunder is the minister of God. There are mountains that have never been climbed; if they had been climbed they had been vulgarised, The pinnacles of the church were not made to be stood upon. Daniel asked a question and received all these words in reply, and no man knows what they mean. There they are, and they are useful every one of them. Who would be without the mystery? Who would have an earth without a sky? It would not be worth having. Yet the earth is under foot and comparatively manageable; we can dig it, plough it, put stones into it with a view of putting up a house, which the earth will always try to cast out, for the earth does not like masonry: the earth does not like to be violated. But the sky no man has touched. The sky is the best part of us. We get all our vegetables out of the sky, though we think we do not. All the flowers are out of the sun, though we think we planted them. So easily may we be misled by half-truths and by mere aspects of facts! Yet we cannot do without astronomy. We may have it as a science, it is not every mouth that can pronounce long words, but we must have it as a sovereign and gracious effect.

Daniel was bewildered. He said, "And I heard, but I understood not." That is exactly our position today. Not one inch has the world advanced since that time in the matter of understanding, though it has published many books. Who ever knew a second edition of a book that was not amended? Why did not the man publish the second edition first by waiting until he had amended his own manuscript? It is thus, however, that God trains us and educates us. We are all trained up through our mistakes. Blessed is the man who knows the number of his mistakes, and who uses

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them for educational purposes. To-day is a second edition of yesterday, with emendation, if we be wise. We can publish today, just as we published yesterday, without amending a line, but therein we shall do nothing but establish our own folly. It is not necessary to understand in order to profit. Many persons will insist that unless they understand a matter they cannot be edified by it. I question, then, whether they are ever edified at all. We want both sides: the simple and the complex, the earth that can be ploughed and the heaven that can only be reverently looked at through a telescope. Herein we do great injustice to persons who have not much letter-learning. There is a learning of the soul; there is a spiritual sensitiveness that amounts to genius. There are children who understand more of the sanctuary than grey-haired fathers do. Children often see things first. They do not see them mechanically and artificially, and they do not publish a plan or map of them; but you relate your originalities to the child, and if they are real the child saw them quite one week before you ever dreamed of them,—saw them in another way, its own dear, sweet, beautiful, and useful way. Persons think that if they understand religion they have got it. But no man can understand religion. Religion was never meant to be understood; it was meant to be felt, a secret, subtle, infinite fire, a climate, not an overcoat. When your life laughs with new joy, springs up to do heroic service, goes out to seek opportunities of doing good, then know that God is at work in your souls, and never mind what you understand. You know perfectly well you never had an understanding about anything that you have not modified or obliterated. What you want is Pentecostal fire, divine emotion; not silly, shallow sentiment, but deep, grand emotion that will express itself in discipline and in service.

What a noble counsellor this prophet will make! He tells us with great frankness and brotherly-kindness that what he is talking about he does not understand. That is the teacher we have been seeking all our lives. We want the learned professor who will sometimes denude himself of his spectacles and come before us and say, "Children, you know as much as I do about this, and that is nothing at all." I could trust that man. The religion of the Bible is not some masonry that can only be understood by scribes who are eighty years of age, and who have passed through regulation courses. The religion of the Bible is an inspiration, something that is insubstantial, but that somehow gets hold of the life, and leads it out into the fresh air and the sunshine, and sends it back into the market-place and the field to buy and sell honestly and to toil faithfully for harvest. A pulpit that understands is a pulpit to be dreaded. Religion in some of its forms has been well-nigh wrecked by creed-makers and catechism-mongers, who have actually parcelled out the whole

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universe into paragraphs and called one of them "one," another "two," and another "three," and on to fifty. How much better these men had been employed in a day"s good ploughing, in six months with hard labour! Parcel out your little earth if you like, and sell it in lots and leases and freeholds and copyholds, "with the said messuages"; but let the sky alone.

Many persons have arisen in the evolution of the ages who could have told Daniel what he did not understand. The man himself who wrote the book said he knew nothing about it, but persons who were born eighteen hundred years afterwards could now raise up Daniel and tell him what a fool he was not to have seen it at the time. All these days have been calculated; nearly every great man has been discovered by name in these emblematic numbers. All the Napoleons and Caesars and Leos of creation have been imaged by these mystical numerals. One might have believed in the interpretation if they had referred to one man only, and if every age had succeeded every other age in confirming the discovery; but when numerals can be so twisted as to. bring in even you and me, as well as Hannibal, Julius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, the Pope, and the last Prime Minister, it seems to me that numbers which are so infinitely accommodating ruin themselves by their generality. Let us take our stand by Daniel and hear without understanding.

What was the direction given to Daniel? It was a divine direction—"Go thy way, Daniel"; in other words, Be at rest. The man was not ordered off like a trespassing dog; he was quieted like a troubled heart: Sit down, be at rest, be quiet, wait, expect. That is God"s answer to us all in our eagerness and our impatience. Daniel wanted to know "the end." That is precisely what we may not know. We have nothing to do with the end; what we have to do with is the beginning and the middle, and every intermediate point in the series of points. The end hath God reserved unto himself. All that he has told us about it is that it shall be well. Will he bring all the crooked lines quite straight? He says he will. But will he get such hold of the devil as to make him part of the furniture of the universe in some way or other? Yes. And hell? He will work it up into jewellery. And night? He will drive it away like a bird of evil omen, and no other world will receive the unwelcome visitor; it shall be a wanderer for ever. When? It is not for us to know. How? Wait; be patient; be calm; be useful. The Lord has never yet discovered the end to his servants. What end can there be in God that is not another beginning? Yet what we would call the end because of our own finiteness shall burn like a midday sun, and no cloud shall violate that sanctuary of light. God is always keeping us back, reining us in, telling us that

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quietness is our strength and silence is our confidence. We think we could go ten miles an hour faster, but God knows we should drive ourselves into destruction: therefore he says to us, Stand; be quiet; rest. How wise it is! When we have taken the advice and really rest, into what a noble temper we come! Then no man may hear our words of self-chastisement: we blister ourselves with reproach; we say we will never do so again, but always be patient and waiting and watchful; then in one little hour we catch ourselves just as eager and impatient as ever, wanting to knock upon doors upon which there is printed in letters bright as stars, "Private." Why can we not let these doors alone?

Yet God will give some little light after all. There shall be cross-beams that shall vex the eyes and yet shall throw a lurid elucidation upon the mad processes of earth"s tumult:—"Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand." God will get something out of this battle; he will get the "many." How shall we know that we are God"s? When we are "purified, and made white, and tried." But why shall the wise understand—not understand in the intellectual sense, but understand in that large moral sense which can say with frank definiteness and grateful love, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him"? I cannot explain it, but I feel it; I do not know God in my head, but I know God in my heart; I understand the purpose, not the end. "The wicked shall do wickedly"; that is to say, the wicked shall become worse and worse. The path of the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day; and the path of the wicked is as the growing night, deepening in darkness until the darkness can be felt. It is one of two things with us: we are either growing up or growing down. We cannot remain at the same point. We say we are no worse than we were ten years ago; but if we are not better we are worse. We cannot grow better by mere abstinence, negation, by endeavouring not to do anything. The man could not increase his one talent by hiding it in the earth; nor can we stand still in character. The wicked man becomes worse and worse, until hell is too good for him. There is nothing outside a Prayer of Manasseh , even though it be called perdition, that can be half so bad as the man himself. Oh the heart! bottomless pit! Oh the heart! an opening heaven Which is it in our case?

Has the devil no season of triumph? Has he no jubilee? He has delusions and illusions which he tries to make into a kind of jubilee:—"And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set

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up." There is therefore a temporary triumph. It shall come to pass that somehow, by door or window, the enemy shall get into the sanctuary and put out the altar fire; and there shall be nothing on the altar but white ashes. Somehow an evil power shall get hold of legislatures and nations and families, "and the abomination that maketh desolate"—a grim, horrible, ghastly figure—"shall be set up" as if for worship. How is it that God sometimes stands quite aside that the devil may have one hour"s triumph? "I heard, but I understood not" The devil has his day; there are times when everything is loosened, when the very foundations are out of course, and when there is no building anything with any hope of duration. What then? Blessed is he that waiteth. The "days," whatever may be their mystic significance, are a number. Is the number a thousand two hundred and ninety? So be it; a child could write that set of figures. The figures may be four or five, yet they amount merely to a breath, a flash of the eye, a wave of the hand, and the five-and-thirtieth day drops into nothingness and is forgotten. Be not afraid of anything that measures itself by days. The Christians were to be handed over, according to the apocalyptic statement, for ten days. Be not afraid of anything that was made in days. In six days the Lord finished the heavens and the earth, and they are set up for burning; they are nothing; they are a framework; we shall hear them go off in a crackling fire, countless red lurid sparks; what we call the heavens and the earth have gone back to their primordial mist. The heavens shall pass away with a great noise. They were made in days. What then is our security, and what is our rest? Eternity, that which hath no beginning and no end, only continuance. Blessed is he who is resting in the pavilion of eternity.

What is to become of the inquiring Daniels? They are to go their way "till the end." Daniel , thou shalt have something; thou hast listened to all this strange weird music, and canst make nothing of it; it was not intended that thou shouldst make much meaning out of all this tumult of words and figures, and yet thou art a better man for having heard it all; thou hast a roomier nature, a keener fancy, a hotter imagination, and a larger life. We are the better for having stood upon the unpolluted mountain, for having breathed the higher air; we are the better for every great sight we have lovingly looked upon. Every man is the richer if he has looked upon colour with an enlightened eye. There is no man so bad as he was since he saw the primrose and kissed it. There was so much in it—banished winter, melted ice, released forces, resurrection, liberty, possible heaven. When he kissed that little harbinger of the summer he parted with some of the pollution that was upon his lips. "Thou shalt... stand in thy lot"—a term taken from the division of the lots in old Israel. Every tribe had its lot; every prophet shall have his lot; every good soul

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shall have its little garden. There is land enough in God"s paradise. Here we have had but enough to lay our dead bones in, but at the end each of us shall have a little strip of garden and right of entrance into the whole paradise of God. I lay more stress upon that right of entrance than merely upon my own little slip; I like to have the little cut of greensward and the few coloured daisies growing around its hedge, but to have right of entrance into God"s paradise, God"s palace-park, all the land—that is the portion of them that trust.

What then have we to do? We have to do three things. First, we have to attend to the practical. Many men have been trying to make out the meaning of the twelve hundred and ninety days who have never kept one of the commandments. There are empirics and adventurers now who are publishing placards calling upon the unwary public to come and hear the meaning of the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days who never loved an enemy and never helped a friend. If we are to understand the Apocalypse we must first keep the commandments. If we would enter heaven we must keep the commandments first. Do the little which you do know. "What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" O thou foolish soul, trying to make out the meaning of the twelve hundred and ninety days, and forgetting to pay the wages of the hireling, forgetting to cool the brow of fever! Then, secondly, we are not to deny the mysterious. The Bible will always be the most mysterious of books. Why shall it be always the most mysterious of writings? Because it contains God. No man can find out the Almighty unto perfection. He cannot be searched or comprehended or weighed in a balance or set forth in words and figures. So long as the Bible tabernacles God it will be an awful sanctuary. Then, in the third place, we have to learn patience. Personally, I am waiting for God"s comment upon God"s words. There are many persons who have handled the Bible indiscreetly. They have been keen in finding discrepancies and contradictions; they have busied themselves about signatures; they have asked whether Moses signed this, and David signed that, and Daniel signed the other; and they have got up a post hoc case in favour of the Bible. On the whole they have come to think that possibly bits of it may be inspired. I have not reached any such conclusion. All I know of it in the matter of conduct, and elevation of soul, and prospect of salvation, is inspired enough for me; and as for the parts I do not understand, I am waiting, and perhaps when God comes to read it to me I shall find that not God, but the critics have been wrong.

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2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.

1. Barnes, “And many of them - The natural and obvious meaning of the word “many” (רבים rabıym) here is, that a large portion of the persons referred to would thus awake, but not all. So we should understand it if applied to other things, as in such expressions as these - “many of the people,” “many of the houses in a city,” “many of the trees in a forest,” “many of the rivers in a country,” etc. In the Scriptures, however, it is undeniable that the word is sometimes used to denote the whole considered as constituted of many, as in Rom_5:15-16, Rom_5:19. In these passages no one can well doubt that the word many is used to denote all, considered as composed of the “many” that make up the human race, or the “many” offences that man has committed. So if it were to be used respecting those who were to come forth from the caves and fastnesses where they had been driven by persecution, or those who sleep in their graves, and who will come forth in a general resurrection, it might be used of them considered as the many, and it might be said “the many” or “the multitude” comes forth.

Not a few interpreters, therefore, have understood this in the sense of all, considered as referring to a multitude, or as suggesting the idea of a multitude, or keeping up the idea that there would be great numbers. If this is the proper interpretation, the word “many” was used instead of the word “all” to suggest to the mind the idea that there would be a multitude, or that there would be a great number. Some, as Lengerke, apply it to all the Israelites who “were not written in the book” Dan_12:1, that is, to a resurrection of all the Israelites who had died; some, as Porphyry, a coining forth of the multitudes out of the caves and fastnesses who had been driven there by persecution; and some, as Rosenmuller and Havernick, understand it as meaning all, as in Rom_5:15, Rom_5:19. The sum of all that can be said in regard to the meaning of the word, it seems to me, is, that it is so far ambiguous that it might be applied(a) to “many” considered as a large portion of a number of persons or things;(b) or, in an absolute sense, to the whole of any number of persons or things considered as a multitude or great number.As used here in the visions of the future, it would seem to denote that the eye of the angel was fixed on a great multitude rising from the dust of the earth, without any particular or distinct reference to the question whether all arose. There would be a vast or general resurrection from the dust; so much so that the mind would be interested mainly in the contemplation of the great hosts who would thus come forth. Thus understood, the language might, of itself, apply either to a general arousing of the Hebrew people in the time of the Maccabees, or to a general resurrection of the dead in the last day.

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That sleep - This expression is one that denotes either natural sleep, or anything that resembles sleep. In the latter sense it is often used to denote death, and especially the death of the pious - who calmly slumber in their graves in the hope of awaking in the morning of the resurrection. See the notes at 1Th_4:14. It cannot be denied that it might be applied to those who, for any cause, were inactive, or whose energies were not aroused - as we often employ the word sleep or slumber - and that it might be tints used of those who seemed to slumber in the midst of the persecutions which raged, and the wrongs that were committed by Antiochus; but it would be most natural to understand it of those who were dead, and this idea would be particularly suggested in the connection in which it stands here.In the dust of the earth - Hebrew, “In the ground, or earth of dust” - ארמת־עפר

'ademath ‛âphâr. The language denotes the ground or earth considered as composed of dust, and would naturally refer to those who are dead and buried - considered as sleeping there with the hope of awaking in the resurrection.

Shall awake - This is language appropriate to those who are asleep, and to the dead considered as being asleep. It might, indeed, be applied to an arousing from a state of lethargy and inaction, but its most obvious, and its full meaning, would be to apply it to the resurrection of the dead, considered as an awaking to life of those who were slumbering in their graves.Some - One portion of them. The relative number is not designated, but it is implied that there would be two classes. They would not all rise to the same destiny, or the same lot.To everlasting life - So that they would live forever. This stands in contrast with their” sleeping in the dust of the earth,” or their being dead, and it implies that that state would not occur in regard to them again. Once they slept in the dust of the earth; now they would live for ever, or would die no more. Whether in this world or in another is not here said, and there is nothing in the passage which would enable one to determine this. The single idea is that of living forever, or never dying again. This is language which must have been derived from the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, and of the future state, and which must imply the belief of that doctrine in whatever sense it may be used here. It is such as in subsequent times was employed by the sacred writers to denote the future state, and the rewards of the righteous. The most common term employed in the New Testament, perhaps, to describe true religion, is life, and the usual phrase to denote the condition of the righteous after the resurrection is eternal or everlasting life. Compare Mat_25:46. This language, then, would most naturally be referred to that state, and covers all the subsequent revelations respecting the condition of the blessed.And some to shame - Another portion in such a way that they shall have only shame or dishonor. The Hebrew word means reproach, scorn, contumely; and it may be applied to the reproach which one casts on another, Job_16:10; Psa_39:8 (9); Psa_79:12; or to the reproach which rests on anyone, Jos_5:9; Isa_54:4. Here the word means the reproach or dishonor which would rest on them for their sins, their misconduct, their evil deeds. The word itself would apply to any persons who were subjected to disgrace for their former misconduct. If it be understood here as having a reference to those who would be aroused from their apathy, and summoned from their retreats in the times of the Maccabees, the meaning is, that they would be called forth to public shame on account of their apostasy, and their conformity to pagan customs; if it

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be interpreted as applying to the resurrection of the dead, it means that the wicked would rise to reproach and shame before the universe for their folly and vileness. As a matter of fact, one of the bitterest ingredients in the doom of the wicked will be the shame and confusion with which they will be overwhelmed in the great day on account of the sins and follies of their course in this world.And everlasting contempt - The word “everlasting” in this place is the same which in the former part of the verse is applied to the other portion that would awake, and like that properly denotes eternal; as in Mat_25:46, the word translated “everlasting” (punishment) is the same which is rendered “eternal” (life), and means what is to endure forever. So the Greek here, where the same word occurs, as in Mat_25:46 - “some to

everlasting life,” εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον eis zōēn aiōnion, “and some to everlasting contempt,” εἰς αἰσχύνην αἰώνιον eis aischunēn aiōnion - is one which would denote a strict and propereternity. The word “contempt” (דראון derâ'ôn) means, properly, a repulse; and then aversion, abhorrence. The meaning here is aversion or abhorrence - the feeling with which we turn away from what is loathsome, disgusting, or hateful. Then it denotes the state of mind with which we contemplate the vile and the abandoned; and in this respect expresses the emotion with which the wicked will be viewed on the final trial. The word everlasting completes the image, meaning that this feeling of loathing and abhorrence would continue forever. In a subordinate sense this language might be used to denote the feelings with which cowards, ingrates, and apostates are regarded on earth; but it cannot be doubted that it will receive its most perfect fulfillment in the future world - in that aversion with which the lost will be viewed by all holy beings in the world to come.

2. Clarke, “Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth - This prophecy has been referred to the future restoration of the Jews. It will be also true of the state of mankind at the general judgment.

3. Gill, “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,.... Which is not to be understood in a figurative and metaphorical, sense, as by R. Jeshuah the Jew, Porphyry the Heathen, and by some Christian writers; neither of the deliverance of the Jews from the troubles of Antiochus, or their present captivity; nor of the spiritual resurrection of them, or others, from their state of infidelity to a profession of the Gospel, which in some is real, in others only hypocritical; but, in a literal sense, of the resurrection of the dead at the last day, which, with respect to the righteous, will take place upon the personal appearance of Christ at first, 1Th_4:16, for, as death is oftentimes compared to "sleep", in which the senses are bound up, and the body is in a state of inactivity; see Joh_11:11, so the resurrection from the dead is expressed by awaking out of sleep, when the body shall rise fresh and vigorous, in full health and strength, as a man out of a comfortable sleep; see Psa_17:15. The word "many" is used, either because, as all will not sleep, so all will not be awaked; there will be some that will be alive and awake at Christ's coming, 1Co_15:51, or, as it signifies, a multitude, Psa_97:1 and so here the innumerable multitude of the dead, who are afterwards distributively considered; and indeed the word is sometimes used for "all"; see Rom_

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5:15, some to everlasting life; to the enjoyment of everlasting life and happiness with Christ in the world to come; a phrase often used in the New Testament, though never before in the Old; expressive of that felicity and bliss which the saints enjoy in heaven after this life is over, first in the separate state of the soul, and then, at the resurrection, in soul and body, and of the everlasting continuance of it; they that shall enjoy this are those that are written in the Lamb's book of life, or are ordained unto eternal life; who are redeemed by the blood of Christ, regenerated by his Spirit and grace, justified by his righteousness, adopted into the family of God, are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; these are the dead in Christ, which rise first: and some to shame and everlasting contempt; wicked men, who lived in a course of sin in this world, without any remorse or shame; but, when they shall rise from the dead, they will rise with all their sins upon them, and with a full conviction of them in their consciences; and will be ashamed of them, and to appear before God the Judge of all; and will be had in contempt by the Lord, by elect angels, and all good men; and this reproach shall never be wiped off; see Isa_66:24. Our Lord seems manifestly to have respect to this passage, when he speaks of men coming out of their graves at the last day, "some unto the resurrection of life, and others unto the resurrection of damnation", Joh_5:28 and upon these words it may well be thought the Apostle Paul grounded his faith of the resurrection of the dead, both just and unjust, Act_24:15, and though the resurrection of both is spoken of here and elsewhere together, yet it will be at distinct periods of time; the resurrection of the just at the beginning of the thousand years, and that of the wicked at the end of them, Rev_20:5, between which will be the intermediate state of the saints dwelling with Christ on earth; where they will be favoured with his presence, and the rewards of his grace, to which the following verse has respect.

4. Henry, “. There shall be a distinguishing resurrection of those that sleep in the dust, Dan_12:2. 1. When God works deliverance for his people from persecution it is a kind of resurrection; so the Jews' release out of Babylon was represented in vision (Eze. 37) and so the deliverance of the Jews from Antiochus, and other restorations of the church to outward prosperity; they were as life from the dead. Many of those who had long slept in the dust of obscurity and calamity shall then awake, some to that life, and honour, and comfort which will be lasting, everlasting; but to others, who, when they return to their prosperity, will return to their iniquity, it will be a resurrection to shame and contempt, for the prosperity of fools will but expose them and destroy them. 2. When, upon the appearing of Michael our prince, his gospel is preached, many of those who sleep in the dust, both Jews and Gentiles, shall be awakened by it to take upon them a profession of religion, and shall rise out of their heathenism or Judaism; but, since there will be always a mixture of hypocrites with true saints, it is but some of those who are raised to life to whom the gospel is a savour of life unto life, but others will be raised by it to shame and contempt, to whom the gospel of Christ will be a savour of death unto death, and Christ himself set for their fall. The net of the gospel encloses both good and bad. But, 3. It must be meant of the general resurrection at the last day: The multitude of those that sleep in the dust shall awake, that is, all, which shall be a great many. Or, Of those that sleep in the dust many shall arise to life and many to shame. The Jews themselves understand this of the resurrection of the dead at the end of time; and

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Christ seems to have an eye to it when he speaks of the resurrection of life and the resurrection of damnation (Joh_5:29); and upon this the Jews are said by St. Paul to expect a resurrection of the dead both of the just and of the unjust, Act_24:15. And nothing could come in more seasonably here, for, under Antiochus's persecution, some basely betrayed their religion, others bravely adhered to it. Now it would be a trouble to them that, when the storm was over, they could neither reward the one nor punish the other; this therefore would be a satisfaction to them, that they would both be recompensed according to their works in the resurrection. And the apostle, speaking of the pious Jews that suffered martyrdom under Antiochus, tells us that though they were tortured yet they accepted not deliverance, because they hoped to obtain this better resurrection, Heb_11:35.

5. Jamison, “many ... that sleep — “many from among the sleepers ... these shall be unto everlasting life; but those (the rest of the sleepers who do not awake at this time) shall be unto shame” [Tregelles]. Not the general resurrection, but that of those who share in the first resurrection; the rest of the dead being not to rise till the end of the thousand years (Rev_20:3, Rev_20:5, Rev_20:6; compare 1Co_15:23; 1Th_4:16). Israel’s national resurrection, and the first resurrection of the elect Church, are similarly connected with the Lord’s coming forth out of His place to punish the earth in Isa_26:19, Isa_26:21; Isa_27:6. Compare Isa_25:6-9. The Jewish commentators support Tregelles. Auberlen thinks the sole purpose for which the resurrection is introduced in this verse is an incitement to faithful perseverance in the persecutions of Antiochus; and that there is no chronological connection between the time of trouble in Dan_12:1 and the resurrection in Dan_12:2; whence the phrase, “at that time,” twice occurs in Dan_12:1, but no fixing of time in Dan_12:2, Dan_12:3; 2 Maccabees 7:9, 14, 23, shows the fruit of this prophecy in animating the Maccabean mother and her sons to brave death, while confessing the resurrection in words like those here. Compare Heb_11:35. Newton’s view that “many” means all, is not so probable; for Rom_5:15, Rom_5:19, which he quotes, is not in point, since the Greek is “the many,” that is, all, but there is no article in the Hebrew here. Here only in the Old Testament is “everlasting life” mentioned.

6. K&D,2-3 “These verses do not at all present the form of a parenetic reference to the retribution commencing with the resurrection. Dan_12:2 is by the copula וconnected with Dan_12:1, and thereby designates the continuance of the thought of the second half of Dan_12:1, i.e., the further representation of the deliverance of God's people, namely, of all those who are written in the book of life. Since many of the משכילים who know their God (Dan_11:33) lose their life in the persecution, so in the promise of deliverance a disclosure of the lot awaiting those who sealed with their blood their fidelity to God was not to be avoided, if the prophecy shall wholly gain its end, i.e., if the promise of the deliverance of all the pious shall afford to the people of God in the times of oppression strength and joy in their enduring fidelity to God. The appeal to the fact that Dan_12:2, Dan_12:3 contain no designation of time proves nothing at all, for this simple reason, that the verses connected by “and” are by this copula placed under Dan_12:1, which contains a designation of time, and only further show how this deliverance shall ensue,

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namely thus, that a part of the people shall outlive the tribulation, but those who lose their lives in the persecution shall rise again from the dead.To this is to be added that the contents of Dan_12:1 do not agree with the period of persecution under Antiochus. That which is said regarding the greatness of the persecution is much too strong for it. The words, “There shall be a time of trouble such

as never was מהיות , since there was a nation or nations,” designate it as such as never was before on the earth. Theodoret interprets thus: οἵα οὐ γέγονεν, αφ οὐ γεγένηται εθνοςἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἕως τοῦ καιροῦ ἐκείνου. With reference to these words our Lord says: οἵα οὐ γέγονεν ἀπ ἀρχῆς κόσμου ἕως τοῦ νῦν, οὐδ οὐ μὴ γένηται, Mat_24:21. Though the oppression which Antiochus brought upon Israel may have been most severe, yet it could not be said of it without exaggeration, that it was such a tribulation as never had been from the beginning of the world. Antiochus, it is true, sought to outroot Judaism root and branch, but Pharaoh also wished to do the same by his command to destroy all the Hebrew male children at their birth; and as Antiochus wished to make the worship of the Grecian Zeus, so also Jezebel the worship of the Phoenician Hercules, in the place of the worship of Jehovah, the national religion in Israel.

Still less does the second hemistich of Dan_12:1 refer to the deliverance of the people from the power of Antiochus. Under the words, “every one that shall be found written in the book,” Hitzig remarks that they point back to Isa_4:3, and that the book is thus the book of life, and corrects the vain interpretation of v. Lengerke, that “to be written in the book” means in an earthly sense to live, to be appointed to life, by the more accurate explanation, “The book of life is thus the record of those who shall live, it is the list of the citizens of the Messianic kingdom (Phi_4:3), and in Isaiah contains the names of those who reach it living, in Daniel also of those who must first be raised from the dead for it.” Cf. regarding the book of life, under Exo_32:32.Accordingly, ההיא בעת extends into the Messianic time. This is so far acknowledged by

Hofmann (Weiss. u. Erf. i. p. 313, and Shcriftbew. 2:2, p. 697), in that he finds in Dan_12:1, from “and there shall be a time,” and in Dan_12:2, Dan_12:3, the prophecy of the final close of the history of nations, the time of the great tribulation at the termination of the present course of the world, the complete salvation of Israel in it, and the resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. Since, however, Hofmann likewise refers the last verses of the preceding chapter to the time of Antiochus and his destruction, and can only refer the ההיא ובעת at the beginning of Dan_12:1-13, from its close connection with the last words of Daniel 11, to the time which has hitherto been spoken of, so he supposes that in the first clause of the first verse of this chapter (Dan_12:1-13) there cannot be a passing over to another time, but that this transition is first made by והיתה. This transition he seeks indeed, in the 2nd ed. of his Schriftbew. l.c., to cover by the remark: that we may not explain the words of the angel, וגו עת as if they ,והיתהmeant: that time shall be a time of trouble such as has not been till now; but much rather that they are to be translated: “and there shall arise a time of trouble such as never was to that time.” But this separation of the words in question from those going before by the translation of והיתה “and there shall arise,” is rendered impossible by the words following, ההיא העת for these so distinctly point back to the words with which the ;עדverse commences, that we may not empty them of their definite contents by the

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ambiguous “till that time.” If the angel says, There shall arise a time of oppression such as has never been since there were nations till that time when Michael shall appear for his people, or, as Hofmann translates it, shall “hold fast his place,” then to every unprejudiced reader it is clear that this tribulation such as has never been before shall arise not for the first time centuries after the appearance of Michael or of his “holding fast his place,” but in the time of the war of the angel-prince for the people of God. In this same time the angel further places the salvation of the people of Daniel and the resurrection of the dead.(Note: Hofmann's explanation of the words would only be valid if the definition of

time ההיא העת אחרי stood after והיתה in the text, which Hofm. in his most recent attempts at its exposition has interpolated inadvertently, while in his earlier exposition (Weiss. u. Erf. i. p. 314) he has openly said: “These last things connect themselves with the prospect of the end of that oppressor of Israel, not otherwise than as when Isaiah spoke of the approaching assault of the Assyrians on Jerusalem as of the last affliction of the city, or as in Jeremiah the end of those seventy years is also the end of all the sufferings of his people. There remains therefore a want of clearness in this prospect,” etc. This want of clearness he has, in his most recent exposition in the Schriftbew., not set aside, but increased, by the supposition of an immediate transition from the time of Antiochus to the time of the end.)

The failure of all attempts to gain a space of time between Dan_11:45 and Dan_12:1, Dan_12:2 incontrovertibly shows that the assertions of those who dispute the genuineness of the book, that the pseudo-Daniel expected along with the death of Antiochus the commencement of the Messianic kingdom and of the resurrection of the dead, would have a foundation if the last verses of Daniel 11 treated of the last undertakings of this Syrian king against the theocracy. This if, it has, however, been seen from Daniel 11, is not established. In Dan_11:40-45 the statements do not refer to Antiochus, but to the time of the end, of the last enemy of the holy God, and of his destruction. With that is connected, without any intervening space, in Dan_12:1 the description of the last oppression of the people of God and their salvation to everlasting life. The prophecy of that unheard-of great tribulation Christ has in Mat_24:21 referred, wholly in the sense of the prophetic announcement, to the yet future θλῖψις μεγάλη which shall precede the coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven to judge the world and to bring to a consummation the kingdom of God. That this tribulation shall come only upon Israel, the people of God, is not said; the גוי מהיות refers much more to a tribulation that shall come upon the whole of humanity. In it shall the angel-prince Michael help the people of Daniel, i.e., the people of God. That he shall destroy the hostile king, the Antichrist, is not said. His influence extends only to the assistance which he shall render to the people of God for their salvation, so that all who are written in the book of life shall be saved. Christ, in His eschatological discourse, Matt 24, does not make mention of this assistance, but only says that for the elect's sake the days of the oppression shall be shortened, otherwise that no one would be saved (ἐσώθη, Mat_24:22). Wherein the help of Michael consists, is seen partly from that which is said in Dan_10:13 and Dan_10:21 regarding him, that he helped the Angel of the Lord in the war against the hostile spirit of the Persian and the Javanic world-kingdom, partly from the war of Michael against the dragon described in Rev_12:7. From these indications it is clear that we may not limit the help on the part of Michael to the help which he renders to the saints of God in the last war and struggle, but that he stands by them in all wars

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against the world-power and its princes, and helps them to victory.But the salvation which the people of God shall experience in the time of the unparalleled great oppression is essentially different from the help which was imparted to the people of Israel in the time of the Maccabees. This is called “a little help,” Dan_11:34. So also is the oppression of Israel in the time of the Maccabees different from the oppression in the end of the time, as to its object and consequences. The former oppression shall, according to Dan_11:33-35, serve to purify the people and to make them white to the time of the end; the oppression at the time of the end, on the contrary,

according to Dan_12:1-3, shall effect the salvation (המלט) of the people, i.e., prepare the people for the everlasting life, and bring about the separation of the righteous from the wicked for eternity. These clearly stated distinctions confirm the result already reached, that Dan_12:1-3 do not treat of the time of Antiochus and the Maccabees.

The promised salvation of the people (ימלט) is more particularly defined by the addition to עמך: “every one who shall be found written in the book,” sc. of life (see above, p. 813); thus every one whom God has ordained to life, all the genuine members of the people of God. נמלט, shall be saved, sc. out of the tribulation, so that they do not perish therein. But since, according to Dan_11:33., in the oppression, which passes over the people of God for their purification, many shall lose their lives, and this also shall be the case in the last and severest oppression, the angel gives to the prophet, in Dan_12:2, disclosures also regarding the dead, namely, that they shall awaken out of the sleep of death. By the connection of this verse with the preceding by ,ו without any further designation of time, the resurrection of the dead is placed as synchronous with the deliverance of the people. “For that the two clauses, 'thy people shall be delivered' (Dan_12:1), and 'many shall awake,' not only reciprocally complete each other, but also denote contemporaneous facts, we only deny by first denying that the former declares the final salvation of Israel” (Hofm. Schriftbew. ii. 2, p. 598). ישן, sleeping, is here used, as in Job_3:13; Jer_51:39, of death; cf. καθεύδειν, Mat_9:24; 1Th_5:10, and κοιμᾶσθαι, 1Th_ occurring only here, formed after Gen_3:19, means not the dust of the ,אדמת־עפר .4:14earth, but dusty earth, terra pulveris, denoting the grave, as עפר, Psa_22:30.

It appears surprising that רבים, many, shall awake, since according to the sequel, where the rising of some to life and of some to shame is spoken of, much rather the word all might have been expected. This difficulty is not removed by the remark that manystands for all, because רבים does not mean all. Concerning the opinion that many stands for all, Hofmann remarks, that the expression “sleeping in the dust of earth” is not connected with the word many of them“ :(יקיצו) ”but with the verb “shall awake ,(רבים)there shall be many, of whom those who sleep in the earth shall arise” (Hofm.). So also C. B. Michaelis interprets the words by reference to the Masoretic accentuation, which has separated רבים from מישני (sleeping), only that he takes מן in the sense of stating the terminus mutationis a quo. But by this very artificial interpretation nothing at all is gained; for the thought still remains the same, that of those who sleep in the dust many(not all) awake. The partitive interpretation of מן is the only simple and natural one, and

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therefore with most interpreters we prefer it. The רבים can only be rightly interpreted from the context. The angel has it not in view to give a general statement regarding the resurrection of the dead, but only disclosures on this point, that the final salvation of the people shall not be limited to those still living at the end of the great tribulation, but shall include also those who have lost their lives during the period of the tribulation.

In Dan_11:33, Dan_11:35, the angel had already said, that of “those that understand” many shall fall by the sword and by flame, etc. When the tribulation at the time of the end increases to an unparalleled extent (Dan_12:1), a yet greater number shall perish, so that when salvation comes, only a remnant of the people shall be then in life. To this surviving remnant of the people salvation is promised; but the promise is limited yet further by the addition: “every one that is found written in the book;” not all that are then living, but only those whose names are recorded in the book of life shall be partakers of the deliverance, i.e., of the Messianic salvation. But many (רבים) of those that sleep, who died in the time of tribulation, shall awake out of sleep, some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting shame. As with the living, so also with the dead, not all attain to salvation. Also among those that arise there shall be a distinction, in which the reward of the faithful and of the unfaithful shall be made known. The word “many” is accordingly used only with reference to the small number of those who shall then be living, and not with reference either to the universality of the resurrection of the dead or to a portion only of the dead, but merely to add to the multitude of the dead, who shall then have part with the living, the small number of those who shall experience in the flesh the conclusion of the matter.

If we consider this course of thought, then we shall find it necessary neither to obtrude upon רבים the meaning of all, - a meaning which it has not and cannot have, for the universality of the resurrection is removed by the particle מן, which makes it impossible that ,οἱ πολλοί = πάντες; for this conclusion can only be drawn from the misapprehension of the course of thought here presented, that this verse contains a general statement of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, an idea which is foreign to the connection.

From the correct interpretation of the course of thought arises the correct answer to the controverted question, whether here we are taught concerning the resurrection of the people of Israel, or concerning the resurrection of mankind generally. Neither the one nor the other of these things is taught here. The prophetic words treat of the people of Daniel, by which we are to understand the people of Israel. But the Israel of the time of the end consists not merely of Jews or of Jewish Christians, but embraces all peoples who belong to God's kingdom of the New Covenant founded by Christ. In this respect the resurrection of all is here implicite intimated, and Christ has explicitly set forth the thoughts lying implicite in this verse; for in Joh_5:28. He teaches the awakening from sleep of all the dead, and speaks, with unmistakeable reference to this passage before us, of an ἀνάστασις ζωῆς and an ἀνάστασις κρίσεως. For in the O.T. our verse is the only passage in which, along with the resurrection to everlasting life, there is mention also made of the resurrection to everlasting shame, or the resurrection of the righteous and of the wicked. The conception of חיי, עולםζωὴ αἰώνιος, meets us here for the first time in the O.T. חיים denotes, it is true, frequently the true life with God, the blessed life in

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communion with God, which exists after this life; but the addition עולם does not generally occur, and is here introduced to denote, as corresponding to the eternal duration of the Messianic kingdom (Dan_2:44; Dan_7:14, Dan_7:27, cf. Dan_9:24), the life of the righteous in this kingdom as imperishable. עולם לדראון לחרפות forms the contrast to עולם shame ,חרפות for first ;לחיי (a plur. of intensive fulness), is placed over against the חיי, then this shame is designated in reference to Isa_66:24 as דראון, contempt, an object of aversion.Dan_12:3

Then shall they who in the times of tribulation have led many to the knowledge of salvation receive the glorious reward of their faithfulness. With this thought the angel closes the announcement of the future. המשכילים refers back to Dan_11:33-35, and is here, as there, not limited to the teachers, but denotes the intelligent who, by instructing their contemporaries by means of word and deed, have awakened them to stedfastness and fidelity to their confession in the times of tribulation and have strengthened their faith, and some of whom have in war sealed their testimony with their blood. These shall shine in eternal life with heavenly splendour. The splendour of the vault of heaven (cf. Exo_24:10) is a figure of the glory which Christ designates as a light like the sun (“The righteous shall shine forth as the sun,” Mat_13:43, referring to the passage before us). Cf. for this figure also Rev_2:28 and 1Co_15:40. By the expression הרבים מצדיקיKranichfeld would understand such as take away the sins of the people in the offering up of sacrifice, i.e., the priests who attend to the offering of the sacrifices, because the expression is borrowed from Isa_53:11, “where it is predicated of the Messianic priest κατ ἐξοχὴν, in the fullest sense of the word, what is said here of the common priests.” But this interpretation is not satisfactory. In Isa_53:11 the Servant of Jehovah justifies many, not by the sacrifice, but by His righteousness, by this, that He, as צדיק who has done no sin, takes upon Himself the sins of the people and gives His soul an offering for sin. הצדיקis neither in the law of sacrifices nor anywhere in the O.T. named as the effect of the sacrifice, but always only עון שאת and in ,כפר and (to take up, take away iniquity) (נשא)the expiatory sacrifices with the constant addition לו ,cf. Lev_4:26, Lev_4:31 ;ונסלח (>)Lev_4:35; Lev_5:10,Lev_5:16; Psa_32:1.

Nor is the practice of offering sacrifice anywhere described as a הצדיק. This word signifies to assist in obtaining, or to lead to, righteousness, and is here to be read in this general interpretation, and not to be identified with the Pauline δικαιοῦσθαι. The מצדיקיםare those who by their צדקה, i.e., by their fidelity to the law, led others to צדקה, showed them by their example and teaching the way to righteousness.

The salvation of the people, which the end shall bring in, consists accordingly in the consummation of the people of God by the resurrection of the dead and the judgment dividing the pious from the godless, according to which the pious shall be raised to eternal life, and the godless shall be given up to everlasting shame and contempt. But the leaders of the people who, amid the wars and conflicts of this life, have turned many to righteousness, shall shine in the imperishable glory of heaven.43

CALVIN, "As to the translation of the first words, it is literally, many who sleep in the earth of dust, or who are in earth and dust; for the genitive is used as an epithet, though it may be read as if in opposition with the former word sleep, meaning those who are reduced to earth and dust.

The angel seems here to mark a transition from the commencement of the preaching of the gospel, to the final day of the resurrection, without sufficient occasion for it. For why does he pass over the intermediate time during which many events might be the subject of prophecy? He unites these two subjects very fitly and properly, connecting the salvation of the Church with the final resurrection and with the second coming of Christ. Wheresoever we may look around us, we never meet with any source of salvation on earth. The angel announces the salvation of all the elect. They are most miserably oppressed on all sides, and wherever they turn their eyes, they perceive nothing but confusion. Hence the hope of the promised salvation could not be conceived by man before the elect raise their minds to the second coming of Christ. It is just as if the angel had said, God will be the constant preserver of his Church, even unto the end; but the manner in which he will preserve it must not be taken in a carnal sense, as the Church will be like a dead body until it shall rise again. We here perceive the angel teaching the same truth as Paul delivers in other words, namely, we are dead, and our life is hidden with Christ; it shall then be made manifest when he shall appear in the heavens. (Colossians 3:3.) We must hold this first of all, God is sufficiently powerful to defend us, and we need not hesitate in feeling ourselves safe under his hand and protection. Meanwhile it is necessary to add this second point; as long as we fix our eyes only on this present state of things, and dwell upon what the world offers us, we shall always be like the dead. And why so? Our life ought to be hid with Christ in God. Our salvation is secure, but we still hope for it, as Paul says in another passage. (Romans 8:23.) What is hoped for is not seen, says he. This shews us how completely seasonable is the transition from this doctrine respecting God’s elect to the last advent of Christ. This then is enough with respect to the context. The word many seems here clearly put for all, and this is not to be considered as at all absurd, for the angel does not use the word in contrast with all or few, but only with one. Some of the Jews strain this expression to mean the restoration of the Church in this world under themselves, which is perfectly frivolous. In this case the following language would not be correct, — -Some shall rise to life, and others to disgrace and contempt Hence if this concerned none but the Church of God, certainly none would rise to disgrace and condemnation. This shews the angel to be treating of the last resurrection, which is common to all, and

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allows of no exceptions. I have lately explained why he calls our attention to the advent of Christ. Since all flyings in the world will be constantly confused, our minds must necessarily be raised upwards, and gain the victory over what we observe with our eyes, and comprehend with our outward senses.

Those who sleep in the earth and the dust; meaning, wherever the earth and dust exist, nevertheless they shall rise, implying the hope of a resurrection not founded on natural causes, but depending upon the inestimable power of God, which surpasses all our senses. Hence, although the elect as well as the wicked shall be reduced to earth and dust, this shall by no means form an obstacle to God’s raising them up again. He uses earth and dust In my judgment אדמת, admeth, “of the earth,” is the genus, and עפר, gnepher, “dust,” is the species, meaning, although they are only putrid carcasses, yet they shall be reduced to dust, which is minute particles of earth. God, then, is endued with sufficient power to call forth the dead to newness of life. This passage is worthy of especial notice, because the prophets do not contain any clearer testimony than this to the last resurrection, particularly as the angel distinctly asserts the future rising again of both the righteous and the wicked. Eternity is here opposed to those temporal miseries to which we are now subjected. Here we may notice the admonition of Paul, that those momentary afflictions by which God tries us, cannot be compared with that eternal glory which never shall cease. (Romans 8:18.) This, therefore, is the reason why the angel so clearly expresses, that eternal life awaits the elect, and eternal disgrace and condemnation will be the lot of the ungodly. He afterwards subjoins, —

COFFMAN, ""Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt"

The big problem with this verse is the word "many," construed by some as an indication that "some" or a "major number" of the dead shall rise, with the conclusion that the general resurrection of all the dead is not in view in this passage. We disagree with that. It is undeniable that in Scripture the word "many" is often used as a reference to all. Note this passage:

"For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so

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through the obedience of the one shall the many be made righteous" (Romans 5:19).

A comparison with verse 18 in that same passage indicates positively that "many" in both of the references here actually means "all." Therefore, it is a gross error to fasten a limited denotation upon the use of "many" in Daniel's reference to the general resurrection. Thus the principal idea to be derived from the use of many in this verse 2 is the great multitudes that shall rise from the dead. "No one can doubt that the word 'many' is used to denote all."[8] Thomson and many other dependable scholars have mentioned this same thing. "We cannot, therefore, deduce that 'many' here excludes 'all'; the idea suggested is rather multitudinousness."[9]

The Resurrection of the Dead

There are a number of important revelations connected with this verse. The resurrection of both wicked and righteous persons shall occur simultaneously. Here is the only reference in the Old Testament to "everlasting life."[10] Note also that "everlasting contempt" for the wicked appears in the same verse.

Although a number of other Old Testament passages speak somewhat ambiguously of the resurrection, these being: Ezekiel 37:11; Isaiah 55:10ff; 26:19; Ecclesiastes 3:18-22,

Isaiah 53:10ff; Psalms 17:39,49,73; Hosea 6:2; Job 19:26, etc, nevertheless this is the most forthright promise of the resurrection to be found in the Old Testament.

The denials of most critical scholars that the general resurrection is here promised should be set aside. The passage cannot possibly refer to anything else. To deny this is to assert that Daniel made a false prophecy, because there has never been even until this day such a resurrection as is promised here. Some of course would get around this by declaring this to be the "first resurrection"; however, Jesus Christ left no doubt at all that "the first resurrection" is a resurrection from the deadness in sins by hearing and obeying the gospel (John 5:25-29). Still others have tried to

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make it out that the saints who came out of their graves upon the occasion of the resurrection of Christ constituted the resurrection mentioned here; but that cannot be true, because only "the saints" were raised on that occasion (Matthew 27:53).

Therefore, in this second verse we have a prophecy of the general resurrection of all the dead, and also the assignment of his true destiny to every man. Thus Daniel, as did our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 25, made the Final Judgment and the general resurrection of the dead to be concurrent events coming at the end of the age.

That our Lord Jesus fully approved of this chapter is demonstrated by his use of it in the prophecies which he himself uttered. If men would heed their Saviour's words instead of following the wild speculations of Biblical enemies they would find little difficulty in believing every word of this prophecy.COKE, "Daniel 12:2. Many—that sleep—shall awake— Though this verse, without all question, primarily refers to some great and future restoration of the Jewish people; yet in a secondary sense, it may well be understood of the resurrection from the dead. Many is here used for all, in the same manner as St. Paul uses it in Romans 15:19. See Calmet.

ELLICOTT, " (2) Many . . . that sleep in the dust.—Literally, Many sleepers in the land of dust. The word “sleep” is applied to death (Jeremiah 51:39; comp. 1 Thessalonians 4:14); while “dust” is used for the grave (Psalms 22:29). Some difficulty is presented by the use of the word “many” where “all” would have been expected. Theodoret explains it from Romans 5:15, where he observes “many” stands for “all.” It is, however, more in accordance with the language to suppose that by the word “many” some contrast is implied, which is apparently between the many who sleep in the dust and the comparatively small number of those who “are alive and remain.” (See John 5:28, &c.) It should be noted that this passage not only teaches the doctrine of a general resurrection, which had already been incidentally revealed by Daniel’s contemporary, Ezekiel (Ezekiel 37:1-4), but also the facts of eternal life, and a resurrection of the unjust as well as of the just.

Shame and everlasting contempt.—The latter word occurs only in this passage and Isaiah 66:24, where see the Note. For the use of the word “shame,” comp. Jeremiah

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23:40.

PETT, "Verse 2

‘And many of those who sleep in the ground of dust will awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.’

This occurs ‘at that time’. While this clearly teaches bodily resurrection, its main emphasis is on the ‘many’. Daniel may have specifically had in mind those who have been going through the time of trouble and will be delivered from a martyr’s death by resurrection. They have been laid in the dusty ground, but they will arise. However, it would also include those who had died in other ways (compare Daniel 12:13). It was a hope offered to the righteous. Death was not the end. Compare also Isaiah 26:19.

But an alternative is to see Daniel as meaning rather that ‘many’ (always an indefinite number in Daniel) will arise. That is that the resurrected will be a huge number. Those who awake will be many and not few. They include the multitude that no man can number out of all nations (Revelation 7:9).

But others would rise only to face shame and everlasting contempt, their bodies cast onto the burning rubbish dump outside the walls of Jerusalem, their bodies ever being eaten by maggots and burned in shame (Isaiah 66:24). The contrast was between the faithful and the unfaithful, those who knew their God (Daniel 11:32), and those who did not. As always they were not all Israel, who were Israel (compare Isaiah 49:5-6). Being a member of the true Israel meant a genuine submission to God through the covenant.

‘Shame and everlasting contempt.’ The root idea is not of physical suffering. Rather the idea is that, having been raised and judged, they will be shamed and punished as described in Isaiah 66:24, their bodies lying in the valley of Hinnom, everlastingly a symbol of the consequences of sin, with no way by which their shame can be

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removed. Jesus gave His seal of approval to the advancement of this idea into an other-worldly Gehenna where the wicked would be finally punished (Mark 9:47-48).

We should note that both Isaiah and Daniel thought in terms of resurrection back to earth in the coming everlasting age. The idea of life in a heavenly realm was not then mooted. But Jesus added to it when He made clear that the resurrection of the righteous and the unrighteous would take men into another ‘world’ to which this pointed, where they would be eternally in, or excluded from, God’s presence.

‘Who sleep.’ Death is likened to sleep from which a man will again awake as one raised from the dead to face his judgment.

‘The ground made of dust.’ The phrase is not exactly the same as in Genesis 2:7, although similar roots are used. It was also to the dust that man was consigned when he fell (Genesis 3:19). Here is the reversal of that process, the reversal of the curse. Man lives again as ‘a new creation’. The fall has been reversed. Man (adam) will again rise from the ground (adamah).

TRAPP, "Verse 2

Daniel 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame [and] everlasting contempt.

Ver. 2. And many of them that sleep in the dust.] "Many" for all; {as Romans 5:18-19} these are said to sleep, which denoteth the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body. (The soul liveth in the sleep of death, as it doth in the sleep of the body in this life). And this the poor Jews, when to lose land and life for the truth, are here seasonably and plainly told of (amidst other things that are but darkly delivered) to bear up their sinking spirits. Awake they shall as out of of a sweet sleep, those that are good, and then be full of God’s image. [Psalms 17:15] The wicked also shall "come forth," but by another principle, and for another purpose;

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they shall come out of their graves like filthy toads against this terrible storm, &c.

Some to everlasting life.] Which is here first mentioned in the Old Testament. See Matthew 25:45, John 5:29.

And some to shame and everlasting contempt.] Christ shall shame them in that ample amphitheatre, and doom them to eternal destruction. Gravissima poenarum pudor est, saith Chrysostom. Oh, when Christ shall upbraid reprobates, and say, Ego vos pavi, lavi, vestivi, &c., which way will they look? or who shall say for them? They shall look then upon him whom they have pierced and lament, but all too late, οψονται, κοψονται; they shall be sore ashamed of their sinful practices, which shall all be written in their foreheads; and this shall be as a bodkin at their hearts, that ever they turned their backs upon Christ’s bleeding embracements, while they refused to be reformed, hated to be healed.

BENSON, “Daniel 12:2. And many that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake — This may be understood, 1st, Of those saints who rose from the dead immediately upon the resurrection of Christ, spoken of Matthew 27:52-53, where we read that the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of their graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. 2d, It may be interpreted figuratively of the mystical resurrection of Jews and Gentiles from spiritual death to spiritual life, by the preaching of the gospel, or of their conversion to true Christianity. Calmet thinks that this, without all question, is the primary sense of the verse, and that it is only in a secondary sense that it can be understood of the resurrection of men’s bodies. Most commentators, however, are of a different opinion, and consider the words as being primarily intended of the general resurrection which will take place at the last day. And they think, that the next clause, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt, requires this application of the words, and does not admit of any other interpretation. The Lord Jesus certainly seems to have referred to this passage, John 5:28, where he speaks of the resurrection of life, and the resurrection of damnation; and upon the ground of it chiefly, the Jews are said by St. Paul, Acts 24:15, to expect a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust. And nothing could be brought in more seasonably than this doctrine is here; for under Antiochus’s persecution some basely betrayed their religion, others bravely adhered to it. Now it would be a trouble to the upright and faithful among the Jews, that

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they could neither reward the one nor punish the other; this therefore would be a satisfaction to them, that they would both be recompensed at the general resurrection. And the apostle, speaking of the pious Jews that suffered martyrdom under Antiochus, tells us, that though they were tortured, yet they accepted not deliverance, (namely, deliverance offered them on terms they could not conscientiously comply with,) because they hoped to obtain a better resurrection. In accordance with this sense of the words, which seems evidently to be that primarily intended, it must be observed, that the word many in the first clause of the verse must include all mankind, as it does in Romans 5:19, where St. Paul says, By one man’s disobedience MANY were made sinners.

POOLE, "Verse 2

So enamoured are some of their notions, though found false and ill-grounded, that they will pertinaciously hold them, and seek still to prove one absurdity from another, as Grotius doth here, still expounding all of Antiochus, and so makes this resurrection metaphorical, and not the real ultimate one; whereas the most learned Jews themselves are against him, as the late Manasseh Ben Israel in his book de Resurrectione.

WHEDON, “ 2. Contempt — Rather, abhorrence.

Many — The idea is that of multitudinousness. It neither asserts nor excludes the thought that all shall rise (Thomson). It was left for him who could say, “I am the Resurrection and the Life,” to make the clear, full, and final revelation of the general and universal resurrection.

This is one of the most astonishing verses in Daniel. As Behrmann says, we have here the “very last word” on Old Testament eschatology. What may be hinted in Isaiah 26:14; Isaiah 26:19; Isaiah 25:8, is here clear as sunlight. Not only will the Israelites who live in the Messianic era be blessed, but the martyrs and pious ones who defended the faith in former ages will be brought to life again, and with this resurrection the condition of each individual is fixed for evermore. That all the

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nations surrounding the Hebrews believed in a future existence, from the earliest times, no one will now deny.*

[* On the coffin of Amam — supposed to have been a contemporary of Abraham — which is now in the British Museum, is inscribed these affecting words, “He lives, he lives, lives this Amam. He dies not. He passes not away. This Amam passes not away. He lives, this Amam lives, he dies not, dies not.” This could be paralleled in hundreds of texts, both Egyptian and Babylonian. The power of the magical words and elaborate death ceremonial in both cults lay largely in their supposed influence in opening the eyes and mouth of the departed and giving back to him life and protecting him from the monsters of the future world. The difference between the Hebrew and the heathen ideas of the future lay chiefly in the conception of Jehovah as merciful and gracious, and able to protect his chosen ones in this world or any world. As Goethe wrote: —

Abraham for his sire Jehovah

Chose, the Lord of star and sun;

Moses, deserts passing over,

Grew to greatness by the One.]

* * * * * * * * * *

But that future abode was dark and comfortless or filled with earthly ideas which were not the holiest. (See notes Ezekiel 26:20; Ezekiel 32:18.) Tiele confesses that the Mosaic prophetism alone was an exception to the “gloomy misanthropy combined with voluptuous sensuality which was a characteristic of all other Semitic religions.” But this doctrine of a resurrection, though hinted before (see note as above and Ezekiel xxxvii), is here for the first time seen in a developed state. While the idea of

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the punishment of the wicked is found previously (Isaiah 66:24, etc.), here for the first time we find a double and distinct resurrection for both good and bad. These views of Daniel are widened out in Enoch and 2 Macc. (See particularly our Introduction, II, 9.) The New Testament conception of the resurrection is much larger and more advanced than that of Daniel; but blessed was the generation which first heard from human lips the utterance of this splendid hope!

3 Those who are wise[a] will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.

1. Barnes, “And they that be wise - This is the language which, in the Scriptures, is employed to denote the pious, or those who serve God and keep his commandments. See the book of Proverbs, passim. True religion is wisdom, and sin is folly, and they who live for God and for heaven are the truly wise. The meaning is, that they have chosen the path which true wisdom suggests as that in which man should walk, while all the ways of sin are ways of folly. The language used here is expressive of a general truth, applicable in itself to all the righteous at all times, and nothing can be inferred from the term employed as to what was designed by the angel.

Shall shine as the brightness of the firmament - As the sky above us. The image is that of the sky at night, thick set with bright and beautiful stars. No comparison could be more striking. The meaning would seem to be, that each one of the righteous will be like a bright and beautiful star, and that, in their numbers, and order, and harmony, they would resemble the heavenly constellations at night. Nothing can be more sublime than to look on the heavens in a clear night, and to think of the number and the order of the stars above us as an emblem of the righteous in the heavenly world. The word rendered firmament means, properly, expanse, or what is spread out, and it is applied to the sky as it appears to be spread out above us.And they that turn many to righteousness - Referring to those who would be instrumental in converting men to the worship of the true God, and to the ways of religion. This is very general language, and might be applied to any persons who have been the means of bringing sinners to the knowledge of the truth. It would apply in an eminent degree to ministers of the gospel who were successful in their work, and to missionaries among the pagan. From the mere language, however, nothing certain can

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be argued as to the original reference as used by the angel, and it seems to have been his intention to employ language so general that it might be applied to all, of all ages and countries, who would be instrumental in turning men to God.As the stars - As the stars that are distinguished by their size and luster in the firmament. In the former part of the verse, when speaking of those who were “wise,” the design seems to be to compare them to the sky as it appears, set over with innumerable stars, and in their numbers and groupings constituting great beauty; in this member of the sentence the design seems to be to compare these who are eminent in converting men, to the particular beautiful and bright stars that strike us as we look on the heavens - those more distinguished in size and splendor, and that seem to lead on the others. The meaning is, that amidst the hosts of the saved they will be conspicuous, or they will be honored in proportion to their toils, their sacrifices, and their success.Forever and ever - To all eternity. This refers to those who shall turn many to righteousness; and the meaning is, that they shall continue thus to be distinguished and honored to all eternity.

2. Clarke, “And they that be wise - Those who are thoroughly instructed in Christ’s word and doctrine, shall shine - shall be eminently distinguished in the Christian Church by the holiness of their lives, and the purity of their creed.

And they that turn many to righteousness - They who, by preaching Christ crucified among their brethren, shall be the means of converting them to the Christian faith; shall be as the stars - bright luminaries in the Gospel kingdom of Jesus Christ. This also may be applied to the case of holy and useful men, particularly the faithful ministers of the Gospel, in the day of judgment. See Jam_5:20 (note), 1Co_15:41-42 (note).

3. Gill, “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament,.... That are wise, not in things natural and civil, but in things spiritual; who are wise unto salvation; that are wise to know themselves, their state and condition by nature; their impurity and impotence; the insufficiency of their own righteousness; the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and the dangerous circumstances they are in; that are wise to know Christ, and him crucified; to believe in him, and trust in him for everlasting life and salvation: these at the resurrection shall shine, both in body and soul; their bodies shall be fashioned like to the glorious body of Christ; their souls shall be filled with perfect light and knowledge, and be completely holy, without any sin upon them; and this light and glory that will be upon both soul and body will be like the brightness of the heavens when the sun is risen; yea, it will be like the brightness and glory of the sun itself, as our Lord affirms; having, as it seems, respect to this passage, Mat_13:43. Some render it, "they that instruct" (i); or make others wise, and so restrain it to ministers of the word; but the more general sense is best; and, besides, they are more particularly described in the next clause: and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever; or, "that justify many" (k); that teach the doctrine of a sinner's free justification by the righteousness of Christ; that lead and direct souls sensible of sin, and of the weakness of

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their own righteousness, to the righteousness of Christ, as being that only which justifies before God; otherwise it is God alone that justifies men, by imputing the righteousness of his Son unto them: but these show men the way of justification, or that which God takes to justify sinners; and this being the principal doctrine of the GospeL, they are denominated from it; and no man deserves the name of a Gospel minister that does not preach it, though this is not all that they preach; they preach all other doctrines of the Gospel in connection with it, and also instruct men thus justified to live soberly, righteously, and godly: now, as these are stars in the church of Christ below, who receive their light from Christ the sun of righteousness, and communicate it to his people; so they will continue stars in the Millennium state, and appear exceeding glorious, having the glory of God and Christ upon them, and not only then, but to all eternity. These words are applied to the days of the Messiah by the Jews (l).

4. Henry, “There shall be a glorious reward conferred on those who, in the day of trouble and distress, being themselves wise, did instruct many. Such were taken particular notice of in the prophecy of the persecution (Dan_11:33), that they should do eminent service, and yet should fall by the sword and by flame; now, if there were not another life after this, they would be of all men most miserable, and therefore we are here assured that they shall be recompensed in the resurrection of the just (Dan_12:3): Those that are wise (that are teachers, so some read it, for teachers have need of wisdom, and those that have wisdom themselves should communicate it to others) shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, shall shine in glory, heavenly glory, the glory of the upper world; and those that by the wisdom they have, and the instructions they give, are instrumental to turn any, especially to turn many to righteousness, shall shine as the stars for ever and ever. Note, 1. There is a glory reserved for all the saints in the future state, for all that are wise, wise for their souls and eternity. A man's wisdom now makes his face to shine (Ecc_8:1), but much more will it do so in that state where its power shall be perfected and its services rewarded. 2. The more good any do in this world, especially to the souls of men, the greater will be their glory and reward in the other world. Those that turn men to righteousness, that turn sinners from the errors of their ways and help to save their souls from death (Jam_5:20), will share in the glory of those they have helped to heaven, which will be a great addition to their own glory. 3. Ministers of Christ, who have obtained mercy of him to be faithful and successful, and so are made burning and shining lights in this world, shall shine very brightly in the other world, shall shine as the stars. Christ is the sun, the fountain, of the lights both of grace and glory; ministers, as stars, shine in both, with a light derived from him, and a diminutive light in comparison of him; yet to those that are earthen vessels it will be a glory infinitely transcending their deserts. They shall shine as the stars of different magnitudes, some in less, others in greater lustre; but, whereas the day is coming when the stars shall fall from heaven as leaves in autumn, these stars shall shine for ever and ever, shall never set, never be eclipsed.

5. Jamison, “wise — (Pro_11:30). Answering to “they that understand” (Dan_11:33, Dan_11:35), the same Hebrew, Maskilim; Israelites who, though in Jerusalem when wickedness is coming to a head, are found intelligent witnesses against it. As then they appeared worn out with persecutions (typically, of Antiochus; antitypically, of

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Antichrist); so now in the resurrection they “shine as the brightness of the firmament.” The design of past afflictions here appears “to make them white” (Mat_13:43; Rev_7:9, Rev_7:14).turn ... to righteousness — literally, “justify,” that is, convert many to justification through Christ (Jam_5:20).stars — (1Co_15:41, 1Co_15:42).

CALVIN "The word “prudent” means endued with intellect. Some take it transitively, and in this passage their opinion is probably correct, because the office of justifying will soon be assigned to these prudent ones. But the former sense suits chapter 11 better, and in verse 10 it will be put absolutely. Hence it means those who are endued with understanding. The angel here confirms what I have lately expressed concerning the final resurrection, and shews how we shall enjoy its fruits, because eternal glory is laid up for us in heaven. We ought not to complain of being treated unworthily, whenever we seem to suffer harshness at God’s hands, because we ought to be satisfied with the glory of heaven, and with the perpetual existence of that life which has been promised to us. He says then, the teachers, or those who excel in understanding, shall shine forth as the light of heaven If the word “teachers” is thought preferable, there will be a figure of speech, a part being put for the whole, and, therefore, I follow the usual explanation. He applies the phrase, “endued with understanding,” to those who do not depart from the true and pure knowledge of God, as will be afterwards explained more fully. For the angel contrasts the profane who proudly and contemptuously rage against God, and the faithful whose whole wisdom is to submit themselves to God, and to worship him with the purest affection of their minds. We shall say more on this subject to-morrow. But he now says, those who retained sincere piety should be like the light of the firmament; meaning, they shall be heirs of the kingdom of heaven, where they shall enjoy that glory which surpasses all the splendor of the world. No doubt, the angel here uses figures to explain what is incomprehensible, implying, nothing can possibly be found in the world which answers to the glory of the elect people.

And those who shall justify many shall be like stars, says he. He repeats the same thing in other words, and now speaks of stars, having formerly used the phrase, the brightness of the firmament, in the same sense; and instead of “those who are endued with understanding,” he says, those who shall have justified Without doubt, the angel here especially denotes the teachers of the truth, but in my opinion he embraces also all the pious worshippers of God. No one of God’s children ought to confine their attention privately to themselves, but as far as possible, every one ought to interest himself in the welfare of his brethren. God has deposited the

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teaching of his salvation with us, not for the purpose of our privately keeping it to ourselves, but of our pointing out the way of salvation to all mankind. This, therefore, is the common duty of the children of God, — to promote the salvation of their brethren. By this word “justifying,” the angel means, not that it is in the power of one man to justify another, but the property of God is here transferred to his ministers. Meanwhile, we are as clearly justified by any teaching which brings faith within our reach, as we are justified by the faith which springs from the teaching. Why is our justification ever ascribed to faith? Because our faith directs us to Christ in whom is the complete perfection of justification, and thus our justification may be ascribed equally to the faith taught and the doctrine which teaches it. And those who bring before us this teaching are the ministers of our justification. The assertion of the angel, in other words, is this, — The sons of God, who being devoted entirely to God and ruled by the spirit of prudence, point out the way of life to others, shall not only be saved themselves, but shall possess surpassing glory far beyond anything which exists in this world. This is the complete explanation. Hence, we gather the nature of true prudence to consist in submitting ourselves to God in simple teachableness, and in manifesting the additional quality of carefully promoting the salvation of our brethren. The effect of this our labor ought to increase our courage and alacrity. For how great is the honor conferred upon us by our Heavenly Father, when he wishes us to be the ministers of his righteousness? As James says, We preserve those about to perish if we bring them back into the right way. (James 5:19.) James calls us preservers, just as the angel calls us justifiers; neither the angel nor the apostle wish to detract from the glory of God, but by these forms of speech the Spirit represents us as ministers of justification and salvation, when we unite in the same bonds with ourselves all those who have need of our assistance and exertions. It follows next: —

COFFMAN, ""And they that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever."

Here again we have a Messianic promise focused upon the post-resurrection glory of the saints who have been glorified. This is a Scriptural promise to be fulfilled in the Final Judgment, that day mentioned by Paul when all of the saints in Christ shall receive the crown of life that never fades away (2 Timothy 4:8).

Although the apostle Paul did not quote Daniel, he nevertheless applied this 57

conception of the saints being glorious like the stars in this passage:

"For one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead" (1 Corinthians 15:41,42).

It should be observed from these words who are the truly wise. "True religion is wisdom, and sin is folly, and those who live for God and for heaven are truly wise."[11] The utter foolishness of sin and rebellion against God is stressed by the words of the Saviour. Regarding that rich farmer who mistook his stomach for his soul and said, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up," the Lord said, "Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee" (Luke 12:20). Of those virgins in the parable who took no oil for their lamps, Jesus said, "Five were foolish" (Matthew 25:2). Concerning the man who heard the sayings of Jesus and did them not, our Lord said, "He shall be likened unto a foolish man who built his house upon the sand" (Matthew 7:27). What an incredible folly characterizes every person who does not strive to live in a manner well pleasing to God!

"They that turn many to righteousness ..." "This is a reference to those who are instrumental in converting men to the worship of the true God and to the ways of holy religion."[12] This is frequently applied to preachers of God's Word; but there are many others who qualify. This writer still recalls the example of Sgt. Herbert F. Elrod, of the United States Air Force at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, who was baptized in 1932, and who, within the period of a single year, was the chief instrument in the baptism of twenty-three other persons!COKE, "Daniel 12:3. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament— And those that have wisely instructed shall shine like the splendour of the firmament: or, as the heavens adorned with the sun and the other glorious lights. In the Hebrew the first word is the same participle as at chap. Daniel 11:33 and the whole verse seems intended as an encouragement to those teachers especially, who were to fall, and to suffer such distresses as in the fore-mentioned passage are described. Cappellus observes of the two clauses of this verse, that one member is εξηγητικον, or explanatory of the other: the splendour of the firmament and the splendour of the stars is the same; and those that have taught, and those who have justified many, must mean those, who by teaching and by good example have successfully, through the grace of God, shewed the way to righteousness and

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life eternal. The Judge of all the earth will certainly do right: he has given the fullest assurance that there is a reward for the righteous; and it is certain, that this reward will be augmented in proportion as men have been more extensively useful, or have advanced the real and best interest of their fellow-creatures. In the last verse the reward and the punishment are expressed generally as to their degree, and merely said to be perpetual in their duration: in this they are exalted to the highest pitch of distinction in their degree, and their duration is pointed out in the strongest form of expressing eternity. Vulg. in perpetuas aeternitates. Gr. εις τους αιωνας και ετι . The design of which is, to convince the eminently holy and useful, that they are in a more especial manner the favourites of heaven, and may with greater confidence expect their reward. The glories of the future world are adumbrated in Scripture by the loftiest and most splendid images in this; but after all, so inadequate is language, and so inferior the conceptions of the human mind to this great subject, that the finest description of the joys of eternity is that negative one of St. Paul, which he has in some measure borrowed from Isaiah, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." See Bishop Lowth on Isaiah 64:4.

BENSON, “Daniel 12:3. They that be wise — Namely, that are wise unto salvation through faith in Christ, that are truly godly and righteous, shall shine as the brightness of the firmament — Shall be clothed with glory and immortality; shall have bodies conformed to Christ’s glorious body; shall shine forth, says Jesus, as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, Matthew 13:43; and especially those shall be thus glorious who are wise to win souls; who, being well instructed themselves in divine things, shall lay themselves out to instruct, reclaim, and save others; such shall shine as the stars — That is, with a splendour like that of the luminaries of heaven, for ever and ever — To all eternity. This seems chiefly to refer to the teachers of divine truth, and especially to those who confirm their doctrine by their sufferings and example: such shall undoubtedly receive a distinguished reward, though not procured by their own merit. The Judge of all the earth will certainly do right; and when he cometh, his reward is with him, to give to every man according as his work shall be, Revelation 22:12. And as he hath given the fullest assurance that there is a reward for the righteous; so he hath assured us also that it will be augmented, in proportion as men have laboured to be more extensively useful, and to advance the real and best interests of their fellow-creatures, namely, their spiritual and eternal interests.

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ELLICOTT, " (3) They that be wise.—Comp. Matthew 13:43, Notes. “The wise” are the same as “those that understand” who were spoken of in Daniel 11:33, meaning those who by their own righteousness—that is, by their faithfulness to their covenant with God—had set a bright example to the others, as in Daniel 11:35. Such is the consolation held out for the support of those who shall witness the tribulation of the last days. (See Notes on Matthew 24 and the parallel passages.)

PETT, "Verse 3

‘And those who are wise will shine as the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.’

This is not indicating where they will go, but what they will be revealed to be. ‘Those who are wise’, that is those who have understanding and have demonstrated it by their lives and faithfulness to God’s covenant. ‘As the brightness of the firmament.’ Daniel may have in mind a glorious day when the whole of the sky is shining with the glory of the sun. Their lives will be glorious. Having been raised by God, and having been refined in the fire of trial, their future is glorious. Others would refer it to the glory of the moon and stars in the night sky.

‘Those who turn many to righteousness.’ This does not refer to the famous names (although if they are faithful they will be included), but to all who participate in the forward-going of God’s purposes. For each who is faithful plays his full part in the work of turning many to righteousness. And he who is in any way unfaithful hinders that work.

‘Turn many to righteousness’, that is, to faithfulness to the covenant, to lives that thereby reflect the glory of God.

‘As the stars for ever and ever.’ This is no kingdom age. This is the everlasting future. All would be familiar with the glorious heavenly lights illuminating a dark night. They had shone as stars in the darkness of the world, now they would shine as

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stars for ever.

TRAPP, "Verse 3

Daniel 12:3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

Ver. 3. And they that be wise.] And in addition do what they can do to wisen others to salvation, as all wise ones will; for goodness is diffusive of itself, and would have others to share with it. Charity is no churl.

Shall shine as the brightness of the firmament.] A good amends for their present sufferings. [Daniel 11:33 Romans 8:18] Solomon allowed little or no considerable reward to his workmen, [Song of Solomon 8:12] but Christ doth. For they shall shine as the firmament; yea, as the stars; yea, as the sun in his strength; [Matthew 13:43] yea, as Christ himself shineth, they shall appear with him in glory. [Colossians 3:4] Their souls shall shine through their bodies as the candle doth through the lantern; their bodies shall also be so lightsome and transparent, saith Aquinas, that all the veins, humours, nerves, and bowels shall be seen as in a glass; for so the light pierceth the firmament and stars. Let us therefore keep these bodies of ours clean and free of filth, that they may be fit vessels and receptacles of such a transcendent glory.

And they that turn many to righteousness.] Heb., That justify many; scil., Ministerially, as instmments in Christ’s hand; for "we preach Christ," yea, we give what we preach; "we give the knowledge of salvation for the remission of sins"; [Luke 1:17] we deliver men from hell; [Job 33:24] we save the souls of them that hear us. [1 Timothy 4:16]

As the stars for ever and ever.] What a glorious place is heaven then! Festinemus ad clarissimam patriam: corrigamus mores et moras, &c. What though Christ’s ministers be here slighted and slurred? they shall one day shine as stars, yea, the

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meanest of them, velut inter stellas luna minores. What then the Doctores seraphici?

POOLE, "Here the faithful are called wise, i. e. to salvation, and so these two members include teachers, and disciples that are truly taught the way of salvation, i.e. such as are taught of God to learn Christ as the truth is in Jesus, John 6:45 Ephesians 4:21. They that teach true justification by the righteousness of Christ, imputed to faith, which is the sum of the gospel, and express it by righteous walking, they shall have high degrees of glory. By being diligent and faithful instruments in the Lord’s hand, by the word of God, and a holy example of the conversion of souls from an evil state, from an evil heart, and from an evil life unto God, they shall shine, not in fame for a long time, as Grotius lamely renders it, but for ever and ever in heavenly glory, as the words import.

WHEDON, “ 3. They that be wise — See Daniel 11:33, and compare Hosea 14:9. In Hosea’s day this was a “new and beautiful doctrine” that the wise could know the ways of the Lord and walk in them. (See particularly Alexander Duff, Old Testament Theology.) We now have the equally new and beautiful doctrine that those who are thus wise shall live forever as heavenly lights. The figure of speech which would compare a wise teacher to a light was not unknown even in ancient Babylon; for on a tablet dating back to Abraham’s day, and written in the sacred Sumerian language, are found these words, “Whosoever has distinguished himself at the place of tablet writing (i.e., in the school or university) shall (may) shine as the light” (Hilprecht). But all this Babylonian wisdom pales when contrasted with Daniel’s teaching.

They that turn many to righteousness — Contrast with Daniel 11:32. This is surely the Gospel in the Old Testament. (See Matthew 13:43.) These words have shone like the stars of heaven ever since this inspired seer of God flung them out before the eyes of a dark world. This is the glorious “end” of Daniel’s vision. These saints who were “stars” while they lived (Daniel 8:10), though cast down to the grave, shall be lifted up to shine eternally. It must not be forgotten that all the theology of the Hebrews sprang out of their conception of Jehovah. Jehovah shines as the sun, and therefore his saints may shine as the stars. (See previous footnote.)

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4 But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.”

1. Barnes, “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words - To wit, by sealing them up, or by closing the book, and writing no more in it. The meaning is, that all has been communicated which it was intended to communicate. The angel had no more to say, and the volume might be sealed up.

And seal the book - This would seem to have been not an unusual custom in closing a prophecy, either by affixing a seal to it that should be designed to confirm it as the prophet’s work - as we seal a deed, a will, or a contract; or to secure the volume, as we seal a letter. Compare the notes at Dan_8:26; Isa_8:16.Even to the time of the end - That is, the period when all these things shall be accomplished. Then(a) the truth of the prediction now carefully sealed up will be seen and acknowledged;(b) and then, also, it may be expected that there will be clearer knowledge on all these subjects, for the facts will throw increased light on the meaning and the bearing of the predictions.Many shall run to and fro - Shall pass up and down in the world, or shall go from place to place. The reference is clearly to those who should thus go to impart knowledge; to give information; to call the attention of men to great and important matters. The language is applicable to any methods of imparting important knowledge, and it refers to a time when this would be the characteristic of the age. There is nothing else to which it can be so well applied as to the labors of Christian missionaries, and ministers of the gospel, and others who, in the cause of Christian truth, go about to rouse the attention of men to the great subjects of religion; and the natural application of the language is to refer it to the times when the gospel would be preached to the world at large.And knowledge shall be increased - To wit, by this method. The angel seems to mean that in this way there would be an advance in knowledge on all the subjects of religion, and particularly on the points to which he had referred. This would be one of the characteristics of these times, and this would be the means by which it would be accomplished. Our own age has furnished a good illustration of the meaning of this language, and it will be still more fully and strikingly illustrated as the time approaches when the knowledge of the Lord shall fill the whole world.Having thus gone through with an exposition of these, the closing words of the vision Dan_12:1-4, it seems proper that we should endeavor to ascertain the meaning of the angel in what is here said, and the bearing of this more particularly on what he had said before. With this view, therefore, several remarks may be made here.(1) it seems clear that there was in some respects, and for some purpose, a primary

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reference to Antiochus, and to the fact that in his times there would be a great rousing up of the friends of God and of religion, as if from their graves.(a) The connection demands it. If the close of the last chapter refers to Antiochus, then it cannot be denied that this does also, for it is introduced in immediate connection with that, and as referring to that time: “And at that time.”(b) The facts referred to would require the same interpretation. Thus it is said that it would be a time of trouble, such as there had never been since the nation existed - a state of things which clearly refers to the calamities which would be brought upon them by the persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes.(c) This interpretation seems to be in accordance with the purpose of the angel to give the assurance that these troubles would come to an end, and that in the time of the greatest calamity, when everything seemed tending to ruin, God would interpose, and would secure the people, and would cause his own worship to be restored. Porphyry then, it appears to me, was so far right as to apply this to the times of Antiochus, and to the events that occurred under the Maccabees. “Then,” says he, “those who, as it were, sleep in the dust of the earth, and are pressed down with the weight of evils, and, as it were, hid in sepulchres of misery, shall rise from the dust of the earth to unexpected victory, and shall raise their heads from the ground the observers of the law rising to everlasting life, and the violators of it to eternal shame.” He also refers to the history, in which it is said that, in the times of the persecutions, many of the Jews fled to the desert, and hid themselves in caves and caverns, and that after the victories of the Maccabees

they came forth, and that this was metaphorically (μεταφορικῶς metaphorikōs) called a resurrection of the dead. - Jerome, in loc. According to this interpretation, the meaning would be, that there would be a general uprising of the people; a general arousing of them from their lethargy, or summoning them from their retreats and hiding-places, as if the dead, good and bad, should arise from their dust.

(2) This language, however, is derived from the doctrine of the literal resurrection of the dead. It implies the belief of that doctrine. It is such language as would be used only where that doctrine was known and believed. It would convey no proper idea unless it were known and believed. The passage, then, may be adduced as full proof that the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust, was understood and believed in the time of Daniel. No one can reasonably doubt this. Such language is met used in countries where the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is not believed, and where used, as it is in Christian lands, is full proof, even when employed for illustration, that the doctrine of the resurrection is a common article of belief. Compare the notes at Isa_26:19. This language is not found in the Greek and Latin classic writers; nor in pagan writings in modern times; nor is it found in the earlier Hebrew Scriptures; nor is it used by infidels even for illustration; and the proof, therefore, is clear that as employed in the time of Daniel the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead was known and believed. If so, it marks an important fact in the progress of theological opinion and knowledge in his times. How it came to be known is not intimated here, nor explained elsewhere, but of the fact no one can have any reasonable doubt. Even now, so clear and accurate is the language, that if we wish to express the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, we cannot do it better than by employing the language of the angel in addressing Daniel. (See Editor’s Preface to volume on Job.)(3) The full meaning of the language is not met by the events that occurred in the times of the Maccabees. As figurative, or, as Porphyry says, metaphorical, it might be used to describe those events. But what then occurred would not come up to the proper

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and complete meaning of the prediction. That is, if nothing more was intended, we should feel that the event fell far short of the full import of the language; of the ideas which it was fitted to convey; and of the hopes which it was adapted to inspire. If that was all, then this lofty language would not have been used. There was nothing in the facts that adequately corresponded with it. In the obvious and literal sense, there was nothing which could be called a resurrection to “everlasting life;” nothing that could be called an awaking to “everlasting shame and contempt.” There was nothing which would justify literally the language “they shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars forever and ever.” The language naturally has a higher signification than this, and even when employed for illustration, that higher signification should be recognized and would be suggested to the mind.(4) The passage looks onward to a higher and more important event than any that occurred in the times of the Maccabees - to the general resurrection of the dead, of the just and the unjust, and to the final glory of the righteous. The order of thought in the mind of the angel would seem to have been this: he designed primarily to furnish to Daniel an assurance that deliverance would come ill the time of the severe troubles which were to overwhelm the nation, and that the nation would ultimately be safe. In doing this his mind almost unconsciously glanced forward to a final deliverance from death and the grave, and he expressed the thought which he designed to convey in the well-known and familiar language used to describe the resurrection. Commencing the description in this manner, by the laws of prophetic suggestion (compare the Introduction to Isaiah, Section 7.), the mind finally rested on the ultimate event, and what began with the deliverance in the times of the Maccabees, ended in the full contemplation of the resurrection of the dead, and the scenes beyond the last judgment.(5) If it be asked what would be the pertinency or the propriety of this language, if this be the correct interpretation, or what would be its bearing on the design of the angel, it may be replied:(a) that the assurance was in this way conveyed that these troubles under Antiochus would cease - an assurance as definite and distinct as though all that was said had been confined to that;(b) that a much more important, and more cheering general truth was thus brought to view, that ultimately the people of God would emerge from all trouble, and would stand before God in glory - a truth of great value then, and at all times;(c) that this truth was of so universal a nature that it might be applied in all times of trouble - that when the church was assailed; when the people of God were persecuted; when they were driven away from their temples of worship, and when the rites of religion were suspended; when the zeal of many should grow cold, and the pious should be disheartened, they might look on to brighter times. There was to be an end of all these troubles. There was to be a winding up of these affairs. All the dead were to be raised from their graves, the good and the bad, and thus the righteous would triumph, and would shine like the brightness of the firmament, and the wicked would be overwhelmed with shame and contempt.(6) from all this it follows that this passage may be used to prove the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, and the doctrine of eternal retribution. Not, indeed, the primary thing in the use of the language as applied by the angel, it is, nevertheless, based on the truth and the belief of these doctrines, and the mind of the angel ultimately rested on these great truths as adapted to awe the wicked, and to give consolation to the people of God in times of trouble. Thus Daniel was directed to some of the most glorious truths

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that would be established and inculcated by the coming of the Messiah, and long before he appeared had a glimpse of the great doctrine which he came to teach respecting the ultimate destiny of man.

2. Clarke, “Shut up the words, and seal the book - When a prophet received a prediction concerning what was at a considerable distance of time, he shut his book, did not communicate his revelation for some time after. This Daniel was commanded to do, Dan_8:26. See also Isa_29:10, Isa_29:11; Rev_22:10. Among the ancients, those were said to seal, who in the course of their reading stamped the places of which they were yet doubtful, in order to keep them in memory, that they might refer to then; again, as not yet fully understood. This custom Salmasius, in his book De modo Usurarum, p. 446, proves from Hesychius.

Many shall run to and fro - Many shall endeavour to search out the sense; and knowledge shall be increased by these means; though the meaning shall not be fully known till the events take place: Then the seal shall be broken, and the sense become plain. This seems to be the meaning of this verse, though another has been put on it, viz., “Many shall run to and fro preaching the Gospel of Christ, and therefore religious knowledge and true wisdom shall be increased.” This is true in itself; but it is not the meaning of the prophet’s words.

3. Gill, “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words,.... Of the book, in which he had wrote the visions and prophecies delivered to him: this he is bid to "shut up", to keep it from the common and profane people, who would only burlesque it; and to keep it to himself, as a peculiar treasure committed to his care; and though it was not kept from the saints and people of God, from their reading it, yet he was not to interpret and explain it to them; it was to remain a secret until the time of its accomplishment was come, or, however, near at hand; so that this denotes the obscurity of the prophecy, and the great difficulty of understanding it; it being like a book that is shut and sealed, as follows, see Rev_5:1, and seal the book, even to the time of the end; till the time comes appointed for the fulfilment of it, which shows that it reached to times at a great distance; that till these times were come, or near, it would be as a sealed book, and yet the accomplishment of it would be sure and certain, as what is sealed is: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased; that is, towards the end of the time appointed, many persons will be stirred up to inquire into these things delivered in this book, and will spare no pains or cost to get knowledge of them; will read and study the Scriptures, and meditate on them; compare one passage with another; spiritual things with spiritual, in order to obtain the mind of Christ; will peruse carefully the writings of such who have gone before them, who have attempted anything of this kind; and will go far and near to converse with persons that have any understanding of such things: and by such means, with the blessing of God upon them, the knowledge of this book of prophecy will be increased; and things will appear plainer

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the nearer the accomplishment of them is; and especially when accomplished, when prophecy and facts can be compared together: and not only this kind of knowledge, but knowledge of all spiritual things, of all evangelic truths and doctrines, will be abundantly enlarged at this time; and the earth will be filled and covered with it, as the sea with its waters; see Isa_11:9.

4. Henry, “. That this prophecy of those times, though sealed up now, would be of great use to those that should live then, Dan_12:4. Daniel must now shut up the words and seal the book because the time would be long ere these things would be accomplished: and it was some comfort that the Jewish nation, though, in the infancy of their return from Babylon, while they were few and weak, they met with obstructions in their work, were not persecuted for their religion till a long time after, when they had grown to some strength and maturity. He must seal the book because it would not be understood, and therefore would not be regarded, till the things contained in it were accomplished; but he must keep it safely, as a treasure of great value, laid up for the ages to come, to whom it would be of great service; for many shall then run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. Then this hidden treasure shall be opened, and many shall search into it, and dig for the knowledge of it, as for silver. They shall run to and fro, to enquire out copies of it, shall collate them, and see that they be true and authentic. They shall read it over and over, shall meditate upon it, and run it over in their minds; discurrent - they shall discourse of it, and talk it over among themselves, and compare notes about it, if by any means they may sift out the meaning of it; and thus knowledge shall be increased. By consulting this prophecy on this occasion they shall be led to search other scriptures, which shall contribute much to their advancement in useful knowledge; for then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord, Hos_6:3. Those that would have their knowledge increased must take pains, must not sit still in slothfulness and bare wishes but run to and fro, must make use of all the means of knowledge and improve all opportunities of getting their mistakes rectified, their doubts resolved, and their acquaintance with the things of God improved, to know more and to know better what they do know. And let us here see reason to hope that, 1. Those things of God which are now dark and obscure will hereafter be made clear, and easy to be understood. Truth is the daughter of time. Scripture prophecies will be expounded by the accomplishment of them; therefore they are given, and for that explication they are reserved. Therefore they are told us before, that, when they do come to pass, we may believe. 2. Those things of God which are despised and neglected, and thrown by as useless, shall be brought into reputation, shall be found to be of great service, and be brought into request; for divine revelation, however slighted for a time, shall be magnified and made honourable, and, above all, in the judgment of the great day, when the books shall be opened, and that book among the rest.

5. Jamison, “shut up ... seal the book — John, on the contrary, is told (Rev_22:10) not to seal his visions. Daniel’s prophecy refers to a distant time, and is therefore obscure for the immediate future, whereas John’s was to be speedily fulfilled (Rev_1:1, Rev_1:3; Rev_22:6). Israel, to whom Daniel prophesied after the captivity, with premature zeal sought after signs of the predicted period: Daniel’s prophecy was designed to restrain this. The Gentile Church, on the contrary, for whom John wrote, needs to be impressed with the shortness of the period, as it is, owing to its Gentile

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origin, apt to conform to the world, and to forget the coming of the Lord (compare Mat_25:13, Mat_25:19; Mar_13:32-37; 2Pe_3:8, 2Pe_3:12; Rev_22:20).run to and fro — not referring to the modern rapidity of locomotion, as some think, nor to Christian missionaries going about to preach the Gospel to the world at large [Barnes], which the context scarcely admits; but, whereas now but few care for this prophecy of God, “at the time of the end,” that is, near its fulfillment, “many shall run to and fro,” that is, scrutinize it, running through every page. Compare Hab_2:2 [Calvin]: it is thereby that “the knowledge (namely, of God’s purposes as revealed in prophecy) shall be increased.” This is probably being now fulfilled.

K&D, “The Close of the Revelation of God and of the BookAs the revelation in Daniel 8 closes with the direction, “Wherefore shut thou up the vision” (Dan_8:26), so this before us closes with the command (Dan_12:4), “But thou Daniel shut up these words;” and as in the former case ן החז denotes the vision interpreted to him by the angel, so here הדברים can only be the announcements of the angel, Daniel 11:2-12:3, along with the preceding appearance, Daniel 10:2-11:1, thus only the revelation designated as דבר, Dan_10:1. Accordingly, also, סתן is obviously to be interpreted in the meaning illustrated and defended under Dan_8:25, to shut up in the sense of guarding; and thus also חתם, to seal. Thus all the objections against this command are set aside which Hitzig has derived from the sealing, which he understands of the sealing up of the book, so that he may thereby cast doubt on the genuineness of the book.

It is disputed whether הספר is only the last revelation, Daniel 10-12 (Hävernick, v. Leng., Maurer, Kran.), or the whole book (Bertholdt, Hitzig, Auberlen, Kliefoth). That ספר might designate a short connected portion, a single prophecy, is placed beyond a doubt by Nah_1:1; Jer_51:63. The parallelism of the members of the passage also appears to favour the opinion that הספר stands in the same meaning as הדברים. But this appearance amounts to a valid argument only under the supposition that the last revelation stands unconnected with the revelations going before. But since this is not the case, much rather the revelation of these chapters is not only in point of time the last which Daniel received, but also forms the essential conclusion of all earlier revelations, then the expression used of the sealing of this last revelation refers plainly to the sealing of the whole book. This supposition is unopposed. That the writing down of the prophecy is not commanded to Daniel, cannot be objected against. As this is here and in Dan_8:26 presupposed as a matter of course, for the receiving of a revelation without committing it to writing is not practicable, so we may without hesitation suppose that Daniel wrote down all the earlier visions and revelations as soon as he received them, so that with the writing down of the last of them the whole book was completed. For these reasons we understand by הספר the whole book. For, as Kliefoth rightly remarks, the angel will close, Dan_12:4, the last revelation, and along with it the whole prophetical work of Daniel, and dismiss him from his prophetical office, as he afterwards, Dan_12:13, does, after he has given him, Dan_12:5-12, disclosures regarding the periods of these wonderful things that were announced. He must seal the book, i.e., guard it securely from disfigurement, “till the time of the end,” because its contents stretch out to the time of the end. Cf. Dan_8:26, where the reason for the sealing is stated in the words, “for yet it shall be for many days.” Instead of such a statement as that, the time of

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the end is here briefly named as the terminus, down to which the revelation reaches, in harmony with the contents of Daniel 11:40-12:3, which comprehend the events of the time of the end.The two clauses of Dan_12:4 are differently explained. The interpretation of J. D. Michaelis, “Many shall indeed go astray, but on the other side also the knowledge shall be great,” is verbally just as untenable as that of Hävernick, “Many shall wander about,

i.e., in the consciousness of their misery, strive after salvation, knowledge.” For שוטsignifies neither to go astray (errare) nor to wander about, but only to go to and fro, to pass through a land, in order to seek out or search, to go about spying (Zec_4:10, of the eyes of God; Eze_27:8, Eze_27:26, to row). From these renderings there arises for this passage before us the meaning, to search through, to examine, a book; not merely to “read industriously” (Hitzig, Ewald), but thoroughly to search into it (Gesenius). The words do not supply the reason for the command to seal, but they state the object of the sealing, and are not (with many interpreters) to be referred merely to the time of the end, that then for the first time many shall search therein and find great knowledge. This limiting of their import is connected with the inaccurate interpretation of the sealing as a figure either of the incomprehensibility of the prophecy or of the secrecy of the writing, and is set aside with the correct interpretation of this figure. If Daniel, therefore, must only place the prophecy securely that it may continue to the time of the end, the sealing thus does not exclude the use of it in transcriptions, then there exists no reason for thinking that the searching into it will take place only for the first time in the end. The words וגו רבים ישטטו are not connected with the preceding by any particle or definition of time, whereby they should be limited to קץ To this is to be added, that this .עתrevelation, according to the express explanation of the angel (Dan_10:14), refers to all that shall be experienced by the people of Daniel from the time of Cyrus to the time of the end. If, then, it must remain sealed or not understood till the time of the end, it must have lain unused and useless for centuries, while it was given for the very purpose of reflecting light on the ways of God for the pious in all times, and of imparting consolation amid their tribulations to those who continued stedfast in their fidelity. In order to serve these purposes it must be accessible at all times, so that they might be able to search into it, to judge events by it and to strengthen their faith. Kliefoth therefore is right in his thus interpreting the whole passage: “Daniel must place in security the prophecies he has received until the time of the end, so that through all times many men may be able to read them and gain understanding (better: obtain knowledge) from them.” הדעת is the knowledge of the ways of the Lord with His people, which confirms them in their fidelity towards God.

CALVIN, "We have already explained “the time of the end” is a period previously fixed on by God, and settled by his own counsel. The following word refers to tracing out and running to and fro, but not necessarily in a bad sense, while it also signifies to investigate. Interpreters explain the angel’s meaning, as if many should be unworthy to receive this prophecy from Daniel; and hence it was to be closed up and only enigmatically delivered to a few, because scarcely one in a hundred would attend to what he had delivered. I think the Holy Spirit has a different intention

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here. The angel’s advice is this, There is no reason why this prophecy should cause despondency or dismay, because few should receive it. Although it should be universally despised and ridiculed, nevertheless shut it up like a precious treasure. Isaiah has a passage nearly similar, (Isaiah 8:16,) Close up nay law, seal the testimony among my disciples. Isaiah’s spirit would be broken when he perceived himself an object of universal derision, and God’s sacred oracles trodden under foot; thus he might lose all courage and decline the office of a teacher. But God affords him comfort: Close up, says he, nay law among my disciples, and do not notice this profane crew; although they all despise thy teaching, do not suppose thy voice deserves their ridicule; close it up, close it up among my disciples, says he; how few soever may embrace thy teaching, yet let it remain sacred and laid up in the hearts of the pious. The Prophet afterwards says, Behold nay children with me. Here he boasts in his contentment with very few, and thus triumphs over the impious and insolent multitude. Thus at the present time in the Papacy and throughout the whole world, impiety prevails so extensively that there is scarcely a single corner in which the majority agree in true obedience to God. As God foresaw how very few would embrace this prophecy with becoming reverence, the angel desired to animate the Prophet, lest he should grow weary, and esteem this prophecy as of little value, in consequence of its failing to command the applause of the whole world.

Close up the book, then but what does the phrase imply? Not to hide it from all men, but to satisfy the Prophet when he saw but few reverently embracing the teaching so plainly laid before him by the angel. This is not properly a command; the angel simply tells Daniel to hide or seal up this book and these words, offering him at the same time much consolation. If all men despise thy doctrine, and reject what thou dost set before them, — if the majority pass it by contemptuously, shut it up and seal it, not treating it as valueless, but preserving it as a treasure. I deposit it with time, do thou lay it up among my disciples. Thou, Daniel; here the Prophet’s name is mentioned. If thou thinkest thyself to be alone, yet companions shall be afterwards added to thee who shall treat this prophecy with true piety. Shut up, then, and seal it, even, till the time of the end; for God will prove by the event that he has not spoken in vain, and experience will shew me to have been sent by him, as every occurrence has been previously predicted. It now follows, —

Many shall investigate, and knowledge shall increase. Some writers take this second clause in a contrary sense, as if many erratic spirits should run about with vague

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speculations, and wander from the truth. But this is too forced. I do not hesitate to suppose the angel to promise the arrival of a period when God should collect many disciples to himself, although at the beginning they should be very few and insignificant. Many, then, shall investigate; meaning, though they are most careless and slothful, while boasting themselves God’s people, yet God should gather to himself a great multitude from other quarters. Small indeed and insignificant is the apparent number of the faithful who care for the truth of God, and who shew any eagerness to learn it, but let not this scantiness move thee. The sons of God shall soon become increased. Many shall investigate, and knowledge shall increase This prophecy shall not always be buried in obscurity; the Lord will at length cause many to embrace it to their own salvation. This event really came to pass. Before Christ’s coming, this doctrine was not esteemed according to its value. The extreme ignorance and grossness of the people is notorious, while their religion was nearly overthrown till God afterwards increased his Church. And at the present time any one who will carefully consider this prediction will experience its utility. This can scarcely be fully expressed in words; for, unless this prophecy had been preserved and laid up like an inestimable treasure, much of our faith would have passed away. This divine assistance affords us strength, and enables us to overcome all the attacks of the world and of the devil.

COFFMAN, ""But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased."

"Shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end ..." Keil stated that the true meaning of shut up and seal is that of "guarding and protecting the message" that it might be available to future generations."[13] Moreover, it is perfectly obvious that the instructions thus to guard and protect the message "refers to the whole Book of Daniel."[14]

"Men shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased ..." Some interpreters have tried to apply this to persons letting their eyes run to and fro searching for the truth; but we cannot find anything like that in the passage. If men will just look at the travel to and from upon the planet earth by men of all nations throughout this whole century, they could not fail to be impressed with the truth that this going "to and fro" on the earth has been multiplied fantastically above everything that was even dreamed of a hundred years ago. Is not this prophesied here as being a

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development "at the time of the end"?

Likewise, has not knowledge been "increased"? In the field of medicine, more knowledge has been learned in the past century than in all previous centuries put together. Furthermore, this same phenomenon may be noted in any one of a hundred different fields of knowledge. Take transportation, chemistry, biology, agriculture, space travel, etc., etc., Is it not a fact that "knowledge has been increased"? Does this mean, therefore, that we are indeed approaching the time of the end? Our own conviction is that the answer is undoubtedly affirmative.

ELLICOTT, " (4) Shut up the words.—The revelation, which commenced in Daniel 10:20, now draws towards a close, and the prophet receives a further revelation respecting the time of the end. The revelation continues to be called by the same name, “the words,” as in Daniel 10:1; and now the prophet is told that the book in which this revelation is written must be placed in a safe and sure place, for the need of it will be felt in “the time of the end,” that is, in the time when the fulfilment makes the meaning of the prophecy clear and unambiguous.

Many shall run to and fro.—The verb “to run” is used in Jeremiah 5:1 of searching after knowledge. In this sense it is used of “the eyes of the Lord” (Zechariah 4:10; comp. Amos 8:12). In the same sense it is used in this verse. Many will anxiously search in this book for knowledge of the manner of God’s dealings with His people, and will derive comfort and understanding therefrom.

PETT, "Verse 4

‘But you, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end. Many will run to and fro, and knowledge will be increased.’

The idea is not that the book is made so that it cannot be read, only that its final fulfilment awaits the time of the end. The book can now be shut up and sealed because it is completed. Then an official sealed copy can be preserved for official

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consultation while other copies are made available to all. Then the end will reveal its truth. The sealing was for authentication and identification.

‘Many will run to and fro, and knowledge will be increased.’ For the meaning of the verb compare Job 1:7 b, ‘going too and fro on the earth’. Amos 8:12 depicts men as running to and fro to seek the word of YHWH but as being unable to find it. So the picture here is that because men ignore this book they will run to and fro around the world, seeking the word of YHWH, gaining a kind of knowledge, but never able to find the truth, because they do not turn to this book or to the Scriptures.

BENSON, “Daniel 12:4. But thou, shut up the words, and seal the book — By this was intimated, 1st, That the writing of truth (see Daniel 10:21) was finished, and therefore the book that contained it is ordered to be closed; 2d, That the time of its full and final accomplishment was distant; for the prophecies which were shortly to be fulfilled are forbidden to be sealed, Revelation 22:10; Revelation 3 d, That it would in a great measure remain obscure, and as a sealed book, till the events predicted were about to take place; 4th, That care was to be taken to preserve this prophecy safe and secure, as a treasure of great value, laid up for future ages, to which it should be of great service. Till the time of the end — Or, the appointed time; till the things here foretold, begin to come to pass; that then thy prophecies may be compared with the events, and it may be seen how exactly they are fulfilled; and men may be struck with astonishment at the wisdom and knowledge of that God who could, so long beforehand, reveal such a variety of things to thee so fully and clearly. Many shall run to and fro — Many shall diligently search into these prophecies, and make use of all the means in their power to arrive at a true knowledge of them; shall improve all opportunities of getting their mistakes rectified, their doubts resolved, and their acquaintance with divine things in general, and with these and the other prophecies of God’s word in particular, improved and perfected. And knowledge shall be increased — By these means great light shall be thrown on every part of divine revelation, and especially on the parts that are prophetic: the more the predictions are accomplished, the better will they be understood; and future ages will receive more instruction and edification from them than we do. The words have an especial reference to gospel days; and the expression of running to and fro, doubtless points to the journeys, voyages, and labours of gospel ministers, whether apostles, evangelists, pastors, or teachers, who should traverse sea and land, and travel from place to place, from country to country, to spread the knowledge of divine truth, and testify the gospel of the grace

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of God.

TRAPP, "Daniel 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, [even] to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

Ver. 4. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words.] Since the full understanding of them is reserved to later times, and event will prove the best interpreter, as it doth in all prophecies, which are as riddles till accomplished; (a) and men must meanwhile be content with a learned ignorance. But what meant Jachiddes the Jew to give us this gloss upon the text, God sealed up the time of the coming of the Messiah, revealing it only to Daniel; and that his coming might be accelerated by their deserts, like as for their sins, which are many, it is retarded? He concludeth well, howsoever: God will one day give us a clear vision - viz., when he shall bring back our captivity, then shall we understand things as they are.

Even to the time of the end.] The time appointed. [Daniel 12:9]

Many shall run to and fro.] For increase of divine knowledge they shall spare for no pains, care, or cost, as the Queen of Sheba, the Ethiopian eunuch, &c. See Proverbs 18:1, Acts 17:11-12. Increase of knowledge is promised only upon our industry, and it is especially promised to these later times, [Joel 2:28] wherein we find to be (as in our climate) much light, little heat; our heads are so big (like children that have the rickets) that the whole body fareth the worse for it. Bullinger thus interpreteth the text, that toward the end of the world men shall run to and fro, being certain of nothing, but distracted in opinion, variis se adiungent sectis, (b) they shall join themselves to divers sects. They shall run to and fro, saith another expositor, velut canes famelici, as hungry dogs, and there shall be much knowledge in the world; that is, there shall be innumerable opinions and sects abroad, wherewith many being infected shall be at no certainty in the matters of salvation. For the confirmation, therefore, and comfort of the last ages of the world, wherein these things shall befall, "shut up the words," and "seal the book."

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POOLE, " Shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: by these words the angel doth not forbid all knowledge of the things here foretold, for

whatsoever is written is written for our learning; but the meaning is,

1. That Daniel must take notice of the special favour of God to him to make so great discoveries of the Divine secrets.

2. That they were intrusted with him to see the force and fruit of his humiliation and fervent prayer.

3. That he should support, and lay up these things for the support of the godly in their future deep afflictions.

4. That God would never utterly forsake his people, though their sins justly provoked his heavy hand upon them.

5. That these things be kept from the profane, who would make an evil’ use of them.

6. The book was commanded to be sealed, because it would be long ere the words would be all fulfilled, whereas those that were shortly to be fulfilled were forbidden to be sealed: see 2 Chronicles 21:12 Isaiah 8:16 Revelation 22:10. Many shall run to and fro; they shall diligently inquire and search these prophecies concerning the fates of the church, and shall see and admire both the prescience and providence of God concerning things to come; they shall know signs of the times, and wait upon God in the way of his judgments: see Psalms 77:5-7 Isaiah 26:8 1 Peter 1:10-12. The miserable Jews pervert this scripture, and forbid the people by dire threatenings to calculate times, namely, lest they find thereby that Jesus Christ is the true Messiah. Thus are they wilfully and judicially blinded, Acts 28:26 Romans 11:8. And knowledge shall be increased; he means chiefly in gospel times, which came by the

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preaching of Christ and searching the Scriptures about it.

WHEDON, “ 4. “This command more naturally refers to the entire Book of Daniel’s revelations, whether communicated by dream, by vision, or by the word of the angel. It is like Daniel 8:26, and Isaiah 8:16, a solemn charge to preserve the written revelation in security. Daniel wrote his dreams (Daniel 7:1), but he did not, even after the explanation of the angel, fully comprehend them (Daniel 7:28; Daniel 8:27). None could clearly understand their import at that time. They were accordingly to be kept in most perfect security until the time of the end, when God’s own providence would make all plain” — Terry. All past exegesis proves the truth of Daniel’s statement here. This is one prediction which every scholar must acknowledge has been proved literally true. More books have been written concerning this prophecy of Daniel than on any other book of Scripture, yet only those who are very ignorant can think that they have even yet solved all its enigmas. The book is still at least partially sealed. We remember that Nachmonides in his colossal biblical treatise, Gate of Reward, closed the discussion of one difficult section with the remark: “Only One can know the exact truth about a great mystery.” Many shall run to and fro, etc. — This may either refer to the excitement and hurry of troublous times, in which case the last clause should be translated, “and many shall be the calamities;” or it may refer to the running everywhere in search after knowledge, in which case we may translate, with Prince, “many shall search it [the book] diligently, and knowledge shall be increased.” This passage has inspired many Hebrews to poetic flights: —

Virgin of Israel, arise! rejoice!

In Daniel’s vision, lo! the end is sealed:

When Michael on the height

Shall stand aloft in strength

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And shout aloud in might,

And a Redeemer come to Zion at length!

Amen, amen! Behold

The Lord’s decree foretold.

E’en as thou hast our souls afflicted sore,

So wilt thou make us glad for evermore!

— Ibn Gebirol.

5 Then I, Daniel, looked, and there before me stood two others, one on this bank of the river and one on the opposite bank.

1. Barnes, “Then I Daniel looked - My attention was attracted in a new direction. Hitherto, it would seem, it had been fixed on the angel, and on what he was saying. The angel now informed him that he had closed his communication, and Daniel was now attracted by a new heavenly vision.

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And, behold, there stood other two - Two other angels. The connection requires us to understand this of angels, though they are not expressly called so.The one on this side of the bank of the river - Margin, as in Hebrew, “lip.” The word is used to denote the bank of the river from its resemblance to a lip. The river referred to here is the Hiddekel or Tigris, the notes at Dan_10:4. These angels stood on each side of the river, though it does not appear that there was any special significancy in that fact. It perhaps contributed merely to the majesty and solemnity of the vision. The names of these angels are not mentioned, and their appearing is merely an indication of the interest which they take in the affairs of men, and in the Divine purposes and doings. They came heine as if they had been deeply interested listeners to what the angel had been saying, and for the purpose of making inquiry as to the final result of all these wonderful events. The angel which had been addressing Daniel stood over the river, Dan_12:6.

2. Clarke, “Behold there stood other two - Probably two angels. We know no more of them, unless they be the same as those called saints, Dan_8:13 (note), which see. The river was most likely the Tigris.

3. Gill, “Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two,.... Other two angels, besides the man clothed with linen, Dan_12:6 or rather besides the angel who had given Daniel the long account of things that were to come to pass, in the preceding chapter, and the beginning of this; whom Daniel, being attentive to that account, had not observed before; but now, that being finished, he looks about him, and takes notice of those other two who were standing, being ministering spirits to Christ, and ready to execute his orders: the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river; Hiddekel or Tigris, as appears from Dan_10:4. The reason of this position was chiefly on account of Christ, the man clothed with linen, who stood upon or above the water of the river, in the midst of it; and to show that they were waiting upon him, and ready to go every way he should send them to do his will; and also on account of Daniel, that he might hear what was said, whether to Christ, or to one another; since, being at such a distance, their voice must be loud; and indeed the design of all that follows to the end of the chapter is to inform him, and by him the church and people of God in all future ages, of the time and end of all these things before delivered in the prophecy.

4. Henry 5-6, “Daniel had been made to foresee the amazing revolutions of states and kingdoms, as far as the Israel of God was concerned in them; in them he foresaw troublous times to the church, suffering trying times, the prospect of which much affected him and filled him with concern. Now there were two questions proper to be asked upon this head: - When shall the end be? And, What shall the end be? These two questions are asked and answered here, in the close of the book; and though the

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comforts prescribed in the foregoing verses, one would think, were satisfactory enough, yet, for more abundant satisfaction, this is added.I. The question, When shall the end be? is asked by an angel, Dan_12:5, Dan_12:6. Concerning this we may observe,1. Who it was that asked the question. Daniel had had a vision of Christ in his glory, the man clothed in linen, Dan_10:5. But his discourse had been with the angel Gabriel, and now he looks, and behold other two (Dan_12:5), two angels that he had not seen before, one upon the bank of the river on one side and the other on the other side, that, the river being between them, they might not whisper to one another, but what they said might be heard. Christ stood on the waters of the river, (Dan_12:6), between the banks of Ulai; it was therefore proper that the angels his attendants should stand on either bank, that they might be ready to go, one one way and the other the other way, as he should order them. These angels appeared, (1.) To adorn the vision, and make it the more illustrious; and to add to the glory of the Son of man, Heb_1:6. Daniel had not seen them before, though it is probable that they were there; but now, when they began to speak, he looked up, and saw them. Note, The further we look into the things of God, and the more we converse with them, the more we shall see of those things, and still new discoveries will be made to us; those that know much, if they improve it, shall know more. (2.) To confirm the discovery, that out of the mouth of two or three witnesses the word might be established. Three angels appeared to Abraham. (3.) To inform themselves, to hear and ask questions; for the mysteries of God's kingdom are things which the angels desire to look into (1Pe_1:12) and they are known to the church, Eph_3:10. Now one of these two angels said, When shall the end be? Perhaps they both asked, first one and then the other, but Daniel heard only one.2. To whom this question was put, to the man clothed in linen, of whom we read before (Dan_10:5), to Christ our great high priest, who was upon the waters of the river, and whose spokesman, or interpreter, the angel Gabriel had all this while been. This river was Hiddekel (Dan_10:4), the same with Tigris, the place whereabout many of the events prophesied of would happen; there therefore is the scene laid. Hiddekel was mentioned as one of the rivers that watered the garden of Eden (Gen_2:14); fitly therefore does Christ stand upon that river, for by him the trees in the paradise of God are watered. Waters signify people, and so his standing upon the waters denotes his dominion over all; he sits upon the flood (Psa_29:10); he treads upon the waters of the sea, Job_9:8. And Christ, to show that this was he, in the days of his flesh walked upon the waters, Mat_14:25. He was above the waters of the river (so some read it); he appeared in the air over the river.3. What the question was: How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? Daniel would not ask the question, because he would not pry into what was hidden, nor seem inquisitive concerning the times and the seasons, which the Father has put in his own power, Act_1:7. But, that he might have the satisfaction of the answer, the angel put the question in his hearing. Our Lord Jesus sometimes answered the questions which his disciples were afraid or ashamed to ask, Joh_16:19. The angel asked as one concerned, How long shall it be? What is the time prefixed in the divine counsels for the end of these wonders, these suffering trying times, that are to pass over the people of God? Note, (1.) The troubles of the church are the wonder of angels. They are astonished that God will suffer his church to be thus afflicted, and are anxious to know what good he will do his church by its afflictions. (2.) Good angels know no more of things to come than God is pleased to discover to them, much less do evil angels. (3.) The holy angels in heaven are concerned for the church on earth, and lay to heart its afflictions; how much

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more then should we, who are more immediately related to it, and have so much of our peace in its peace?

5. Jamison, “A vision of two other angels, one on one side of the Hiddekel or Tigris, the other on the other side, implying that on all sides angels attend to execute God’s commands. The angel addressing Daniel had been over the river “from above” (Dan_12:6, Margin).

6. K&D, “Daniel 12:5With Dan_12:4 the revelation might have concluded, as that in Daniel ends with the direction to shut up the vision. But then a disclosure regarding the times of the events prophesied of, which Daniel might have expected according to the analogy of the visions in Daniel 8 and 9, would have been wanting. This disclosure is given to him in Dan_12:5-12, and that in a very solemn, impressive way. The appearance which hitherto he has seen is changed. He sees two other angels standing on the banks of the river, the one

on this side and the other on that side. והנה וראיתי ... (then I looked, and lo) does not, it is true, indicate a new vision so much as a new scene in the vision, which still continued. The words אהרים ,two others, sc. heavenly beings or angels (without the article) ,שניםshow that they now for the first time became visible, and were different from the one who was hitherto seen by him and had spoken with him. Therefore the supposition that the one of these two angels was Gabriel, who had communicated to him the revelation, fails, even if, which is according to our exposition, not the case, the speaker in Daniel 11 and Dan_12:1-13 were this angel.

7. CALVIN, "Daniel here relates his vision of other angels standing on each bank of the river. He alludes to the Tigris which he had previously mentioned, as the vision was offered to him there. He says, One asked the other, How long will it be to the end? He who was asked, swore, with hands upraised to heaven, by the living God, that no single prediction was in vain, since the truth would be evident in its own period, and men must wait for the time, times, and half a time This is a summary of the passage. When he says he beheld, he commends to our notice the certainty of the vision. Unless he had been attentive, and had applied his mind seriously to these mysteries, his narrative would have failed to produce confidence. But as his mind was completely calm, and he was desirous of receiving the instruction conveyed by God through his angel, not the slightest doubt can be thrown upon what he so faithfully delivers to us. He speaks of angels as if they were men, for the reason previously assigned. He does not imply their being really men, but uses that expression in consequence of their outward appearance, for as they had a human

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face, they were called men. I do not assert their bodies to be merely imaginary, nor will I say Daniel saw only special forms and human shapes, for God might have clothed his angels in real bodies for the time, and yet they would not on that account become men. For Christ took upon Him our flesh and was truly man, while He was God manifest in flesh. (1 Timothy 3:16.) But this is not true of angels, who received only a temporary body while performing the duties of their office There is no doubt of this assertion, — the name of “men” cannot properly belong to angels, but it suits yew well the human form or likeness which they sometimes wore.

It does not surprise us to find one angel questioning another. When Paul is extolling the mystery of the calling of the Gentiles, which had been hidden from the preceding ages, he adds, — it was an object of wonder to angels, as they had never hoped for it, and so it had not been revealed to them. (Ephesians 3:10.) So wonderfully does God work in his Church, that he causes admiration among the angels in heaven, by leaving many things unknown to them, as Christ testifies concerning the last day. (Matthew 24:36.) This is the reason why the angel uses the interrogation, How long is it to the end of these wonders? God doubtless here urged the angel to inquire into an event veiled in obscurity, for the purpose of waking up our attention. Absurd indeed would it be for us to pass by these things with inattention, when angels themselves display such anxiety by their questions, while they perceive traces of the secret power of God. Unless we are remarkably stupid, this doubt of the angel ought to stir us up to greater diligence and attention. This also is the force of the word פלאות phlaoth, “wonderful things;” for the angel calls everything which he did not understand, wonderful. If the comparison be allowable, how great would be our ingratitude not to give our whole attention to the consideration of these mysteries which angels are compelled to confess to be beyond their grasp! The angel, as if he were astonished, calls those things “wonderful” which were hidden not only from the minds of men, but also from himself and his companions. But the other answers; whence some difference, although not a perpetual one, exists between the angels. The philosophy of Dionysius ought not to be admitted here, who speculates too cunningly, or rather too profanely, when treating the order of angels. But I only state the existence of some difference, because God assigns various duties to certain angels, and he dispenses to each a certain measure of grace and revelation, according to his pleasure. We know there is but one teacher of men and angels, — the Son of God, who is his eternal wisdom and truth. This passage may be referred to Christ, but as I cannot make any positive assertion, I am content with the simple statement already made. He states this angel’s clothing to have been linen garments, implying splendor. Linen garments were then of great value; hence an ornament

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and decoration is here applied to angels, as God separates them from the common herd of men. Thus Daniel would the more easily comprehend these persons not to be earth-born mortals, but angels clad by God for a short period in the human form.

COFFMAN, "Verse 5

"Then I, Daniel, looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on the brink of the river on this side, and the other on the brink of the river on that side. And one said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand, and sware by him that liveth forever and ever that it shall be for a time, and times, and a half; and when they have made an end of breaking in pieces the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished."

"How long shall it be to the end of these wonders ..." (Daniel 12:6)." This means, "How long shall it be to the end of the world, the general resurrection of the just and the wicked, and the glorification of the saints of God? The answer came back that all of these wonders would come at the end of time, and times, and a half. Fortunately, we know exactly what this means. It is the totality of all the time between the First Advent of Jesus Christ and the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. (See under Daniel 7:25 for an elaboration of this.)

The most dreadful and terrible thing in this little paragraph is the raw prediction that, "THEY SHALL MAKE AN END OF BREAKING IN PIECES THE POWER OF THE HOLY PEOPLE." That cannot possibly have any reference to Antiochus Epiphanes, for his persecutions in no manner made an end of breaking in pieces the power of the holy people (The Jews). The meaning here comes far beyond the events of the Maccabean period. "The breaking in pieces of the power of the holy people" is a reference to the near-extermination of Christianity which shall occur near the end of the whole dispensation when the time, and times, and a half are about concluded. Revelation 16 develops this very same idea, revealing a future time when the total spiritual environment on the whole earth shall be seriously if not indeed fatally polluted. It was of this period that Christ inquired, "When the Son of Man

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cometh shall he find faith on the earth" (Luke 18:8).

Note the terminology here, "breaking in pieces the power of the holy people." What can this be if not indeed the utter fragmentation of Christendom by literally hundreds and hundreds of denominations, sects, cults, fads, etc?

Note in this connection that "the holy people" is by no stretch of the imagination a reference to racial Israel. No! The reference is to God's TRUE ISRAEL, the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is positively the ONLY ISRAEL God has ever had since the birth of the Son of God.

BENSON, “Verse 5-6

Daniel 12:5-6. Then I, Daniel, looked — Here begins an account of a new vision that appeared to Daniel, confirming and explaining the former; for Gabriel, it seems, had finished his narrative, and what now follows is added by way of illustration. Some will have these other two angels to be the guardians of Persia and Greece; and from thence contend, that these two empires are the only ones concerned in the preceding scripture, or writing, of truth. But this is mere conjecture, unsupported by the relation here given. The one on this side of the bank of the river, &c. — Namely, the river Hiddekel, or Tigris, of which mention is made Daniel 10:4. And one said — Hebrew, And he said, that is, one of the angels. But the Syriac, Arabic, some of the Greek copies, and the Vulgate, read, And I said, meaning Daniel, to the man clothed in linen — Mentioned Daniel 10:5, (where see the note,) which was upon, or rather, above, the waters of the river — Namely, the Son of God, our High-Priest, who rules the nations, of which standing upon, or above, the waters, was an emblem: see Psalms 29:10. As a figure of this, Christ, in the days of his flesh, walked upon the waters, Matthew 14:25. How long shall it be to the end of these wonders — What is the time fixed in the divine counsels for the full accomplishment of these wonderful predictions? When shall these extraordinary events take place?

ELLICOTT, " (5) Other two.—Two heavenly beings are now seen by the prophet. As the absence of the article shows he had not seen them before, St. Jerome supposes

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them to be the angels of Persia and Greece, but of course it is impossible to identify them.

The river—i.e., the Hiddekel, as in Daniel 10:4, though a different word for “river” is used, which is generally employed to designate the Nile. For the reason of the choice of this word, see the next Note.

PETT, "Verse 5-6

The Final Analysis.

‘Then I Daniel looked, and behold there stood other two, the one on the brink of the river on this side, and the other on the brink of the river at that side. And one said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long will it be to the end of these wonders?” ’

We must assume that the two men were angels (compare Daniel 8:13). They were there only to observe and question, and to witness the oath. Possibly they are to be seen as attendants on the man in the linen clothes, emphasising his importance. He himself was ‘above the waters’ (repeated in Daniel 12:7). This repetition emphasised that this great river, which was one of the two sources of the fruitfulness and life of the area, was under his authority. Their question was a simple one. How long would it be before all these awesome events were fulfilled?

The word used for river is one regularly used for the Nile, but not exclusively (see Isaiah 33:21). It signifies a great river that produces fruitfulness. But Daniel must have chosen it deliberately. He may well have had Isaiah 33:21 in mind, ‘but there YHWH will be with us in majesty, a place of broad rivers and streams --’, for he had here met with God through one who was truly majestic.

‘These awesome events (wonders).’ There is no clear indication of what specifically 84

these words cover. It may be the whole of what has been revealed in Daniel 11:2 to Daniel 12:3. There is no reason for restricting them to any section.

TRAPP, "Verse 5

Daniel 12:5 Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river.

Ver. 5. Then I Daniel looked.] As being as yet unsatisfied.

And, behold, there stood other two.] Angels, on each bank of the river Tigris, by whose interrogation Daniel is further resolved about the vision.

WHEDON, “5, 6. In addition to Gabriel and Michael, whom Daniel has already seen, two “other angels” now appear to confirm the oath about to be made (Daniel 12:7; compare Deuteronomy 19:15). It is perhaps one of these who asks the angel Gabriel (see Daniel 10:5; Daniel 9:21), as he stands “above” the waters of the river (Tigris), the same question which has again and again pressed itself to the front in these visions, “How long shall it be to the end?” The answer is the same as before (Daniel 12:7; compare Daniel 7:25).

6 One of them said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?”

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1. Barnes, “And one said - One of these angels. It would seem that, though before unseen by Daniel, they had been present, and had listened with deep interest to the communication respecting the future which the angel had made to him. Feeling a deep concern in the issue of these wonderful events - thus evincing the interest which we are taught to believe the heavenly beings take in human affairs (see the notes at 1Pe_1:12) -one of them now addressed him who had been endowed with so much ability to disclose the future, as to the termination of these events. Such an inquiry was natural, and accords with what we should suppose an angel would make on an occasion like this.

To the man clothed in linen - The angel. See the notes at Dan_10:5.Which was upon the waters of the river - Margin, from above. So the Hebrew. The meaning is, the man seemed to stand over the river. Compare Dan_8:16. Lengerke supposes that by this was intimated the fact that the Divine control was over the waters as well as over the land - in other words, over the whole earth.How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? - Nothing had been said on this point that could determine it. The angel had detailed a succession of remarkable events which must, from the nature of the case, extend far into future years; he had repeatedly spoken of an end, and had declared that that series of events would terminate, and had thus given the assurance to Daniel that these troubles would be succeeded by brighter and happier times, but he had said nothing by which it could be determined when this would be. It was natural to start this inquiry, and as well for the sake of Daniel as himself, the angel here puts the question when this would be.

2. Clarke, “The man clothed in linen - Gabriel in a human form. Thus he is represented, Dan_10:5.

3. Gill, “And one said to the man clothed with linen,.... One of the angels on one side of the bank of the river spoke to Christ, who appeared in a human form, as a presage of his future incarnation; and as clothed in linen, expressive of his priestly office, and of his purity and holiness, which qualified him for it; See Gill on Dan_10:6. Which of the angels it was that spake is not said, or on which side of the river he stood; very probably each of them spake in their turn, and joined: in the same request to Christ: which was upon the waters of the river: or above (m) them; denoting his power and dominion over men, kingdoms, and nations, sometimes signified by waters, and even over those the most tumultuous and raging: how long shall it be to the end of these wonders, these wonderful things before predicted, concerning the state and condition of the people of God, their troubles and

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afflictions, the fall and ruin of antichrist, and the glorious things that shall follow upon that: angels, as they are inquisitive creatures, and pry into the mysteries of grace, so into those of Providence; especially such as concern the church of God, for whom they have a great regard; of the secrets of which they have no knowledge until revealed unto them; though this question seems to be put not so much for their own sakes as for the sake of Daniel, who was present, but had not that courage and presence of mind as they had; nor could use that freedom with Christ as they did, at least at first, till encouraged by their example.

5. Jamison, “one — namely, of the two (Dan_12:5).man ... in linen — who had spoken up to this point. God impelled the angel to ask in order to waken us out of our torpor, seeing that the very “angels desire to look into” the things affecting man’s redemption (1Pe_1:12), as setting forth the glory of their Lord and ours (Eph_3:10).How long ... to the end of these wonders — This question of the angel refers to the final dealings of God in general, Antichrist’s overthrow, and the resurrection. Daniel’s question (Dan_12:8) refers to the more immediate future of his nation [Auberlen].6. K&D, “Daniel 12:6-7Besides these two now first seen by Daniel, he who was “clothed in linen” is named as standing above the waters of the river; but when we take into view the whole scene, he is by no means to be regarded as now for the first time coming into view. The use of the

article (לאיש), and the clothing that characterized him, point him out as the person spoken of in Dan_10:5. Hence our view developed in p. 768 is confirmed, viz., that previously the man clothed in linen was visible to Daniel alone, and announced to him the future. He also in the sequel alone speaks with Daniel. One of the other two makes inquiry regarding the end of the wonderful things, so as to give occasion to him (as in Dan_8:13 and Dan_8:14) to furnish an answer. With this the question presses itself upon us, For what purpose do the two angels appear, since only one of them speaks - the other neither does anything nor speaks? Leaving out of view the opinion of Jerome, Grotius, Stäudlin, and Ewald, that the two angels were the guardian spirits of Persia and Greece, and other conceits, such e.g., as that they represent the law and the prophets (after a gloss in the Cod. Chis.), which Geier has rejected as figmenta hominum textus auctoritate destituta, we confine ourselves to a consideration of the views of Hitzig and Kliefoth.

Hitzig thinks that the two angels appear as witnesses of the oath, and that for that reason there are two; cf. Deu_19:15 with Deu_31:28. But these passage do not prove that for the ratification of an oath witnesses are necessary. The testimony of two or three witnesses was necessary only for the attestation of an accusation laid before a judge. Add to this also that in Dan_8:13. two angels appear along with him whose voice came from the Ulai (Dan_8:16), without any oath being there given. It is true that there the two angels speak, but only the utterance of one of them is communicated. Hence the conjecture is natural, that here also both of the angels spake, the one calling to the other the question that was addressed to the Angel of the Lord hovering over the water, as Theodot. and Ephrem Syrus appear to have thought, and as Klief. regards as probable. 87

In any case the appearance of the angels on the two banks of the river stands in actual connection with the hovering of the man clothed in linen above the waters of this river, in which the circumstance merits consideration that the river, according to Dan_10:4the Tigris, is here called יאר, as besides the Nile only is called in the O.T. The hovering above the stream can represent only the power or dominion over it. But Kliefoth is inclined to regard the river as an emblem of time flowing on to eternity; but there is no support in Scripture for such a representation. Besides, by this the appellation יאר is not taken into consideration, by which, without doubt, the river over which the Angel of the Lord hovers is designated as a Nile; i.e., it is indicated that as the Angel of the Lord once smote the waters of the Nile to ransom his people out of Egypt, so in the future shall he calm and suppress the waves of the river which in Daniel's time represented the might of the world-kingdom.

(Note: C. B. Michaelis has similarly interpreted the standing (or hovering) over the waters of the river as symbolum potestatis atque dominii supremi, quo non solum terram continentem et aridam, sed etiam aquas pedibus quasi suis subjectas habet, et ea quae aquarum instar tumultuantur, videlicet gentes, adversus ecclesiam Dei insurgentes atque frementes, compescere et coercere potest. Only he has not in this regard to the name יאר.)

The river Hiddekel (Tigris) was thus a figure of the Persian world-power, through whose territory it flowed (cf. for this prophetic type, Isa_8:6-7; Psa_124:3-4), and the designation of the river as יאר, Nile, contains an allusion to the deliverance of Israel from the power of Egypt, which in its essence shall be repeated in the future. Two other angels stand as servants by the side of the Angel of the Lord, the ruler over the Hiddekel, prepared to execute his will. Thus interpreted, all the features of the vision gain an interpretation corresponding with the contents of the prophecy.

But the significance of the whole scene, which presents itself to the prophet after he received the announcement, at the same time shows that the Dan_12:5-12 form no mere supplementary communication, which is given to Daniel before he is wholly dismissed for his prophetical office, regarding the question that lay upon his heart as to the duration of the severe tribulation that was announced, but that this disclosure constitutes an integral part of the foregoing revelation, and is placed at the end of the angel's message only because a change of scene was necessary for the giving prominence to the import of this disclosure.Thus, to give the prophet the firm certainty that the oppression of his people spoken of, on the part of the ungodly world-rulers, when it has gained its end, viz., The purification of the people, shall bring about, along with the destruction of the enemy of the last time, the salvation of those who are truly the people of God in their advancement to eternal life in glory, the Angel of the Lord standing above the waters of the river presents himself to view as the guide and ruler of the affairs of the nations, and announces with a solemn oath the duration and the end of the time of tribulation. This announcement is introduced by the question of the angel standing by the river: “Till when the end, i.e., how long continues the end, of these wonderful things?” not: “When

shall the end of these things be?” (Kran.) ת הפלא are, according to the context, the extraordinary things which the prophecy had declared, particularly the unheard-of oppressions described in Dan_11:30.; cf. with ת פלא the synonym ת Dan_11:36 ,נפלאand Dan_8:24. But the question is not: “How long shall all these ת פלא themselves

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continue?” but: “How long shall ת הפלא ,the end of these wonderful things ,קץcontinue?” The end of these things is the time of the end prophesied of from Dan_11:40to Dan_12:3, with all that shall happen in it. To this the man clothed with linen answers with a solemn oath for the confirmation of his statement. The lifting up of his hands to heaven indicates the solemnity of the oath. Commonly he who swears lifts up only one hand; cf. Deu_32:40; Eze_20:5, and the remark under Exo_6:8; but here with greater solemnity both hands are lifted up, and he swears לם הע by Him that liveth for ,בחיever. This predicate of God, which we have already heard from the mouth of Nebuchadnezzar, Dan_4:31, here points back to Deu_32:40, where God swears, “I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever,” and is quoted from this verse before us in Rev_10:6, and there further expanded. This solemn form of swearing shows that the question and answer must refer not to the duration of the period of the persecution under Antiochus, but to that under the last enemy, the Antichrist. The definition of time given in the answer leads us also to this conclusion: a time, two times, and half a time; which accurately agrees with the period of time named in Dan_7:25 as that of the duration of the actions of the enemy of God who would arise out of the fourth world-kingdom. The כי serves, as ὅτι frequently, only for the introducing of the statement or the answer. ל before עד מ does not signify till but to ,(Dan_7:25 ,עד =) or upon, at. In both of the clauses of the answer, “space of time and point of time, duration and final end, are connected, and this relation is indicated by an interchange of the prepos. ל and וגו In .(Hitzig) ”כ עד למ (for a time, etc.) is given the space of time on or over which the ת פלא קץ (the end of these wonders) stretches itself, and in the following clause, וגות וככל (and when he shall have accomplished, etc.), the point of time in which the wonderful things reach their end. Thus the two expressions of the oath are related to one another.

In the second clause יד נפץ are differently expounded. Ancient and very wide-spread is the exposition of נפץ by to scatter. Theodotion has translated the words thus: ἐν τῷ συντελεσθῆναι διασκορπισμόν; and Jerome (Vulg.): cum completa fuerit dispersio manus populi sancti. Hävernick, v. Lengerke, Gesenius, de Wette, Hitzig: when at the end of the dispersion of a portion of the holy people, which Häv., v. Leng., and others understand of the dispersion of Israel into the different countries of the world, which dispersion shall be brought to an end, according to the prophetic view, at the time of the Messianic final victory; Joe_3:5. (Dan_2:32.); Amo_9:11. Hitzig, however, refers this to the circumstance that Simon and Judas Maccabaeus brought back their people to Judea who were living scattered among the heathen in Galilee and Gilead (1 Macc. 5:23, 45, 53, 54). But against such an interpretation of the word נפץ, Hofmann (Weiss. u. Erf. i. p. 314) has with justice replied, that the reference to the reunion of Israel, which is nowhere else presented in Daniel, would enter very unexpectedly into this connection, besides that נפץ does not agree with its object יד, though we should translate this by “might,” or altogether improperly by “part.” יד has not the meaning “part,” which is attributed to it only on the ground of an incorrect interpretation of certain passages. נפץsignifies to beat to pieces, to shatter; cf. Psa_2:9; Psa_137:9, and in the Pu. Isa_27:9. This is the primary meaning of the word, from which is attempted to be derived the meaning, to burst asunder, to scatter. This primary meaning of the word, however, Hengstenberg, Maurer, Auberlen, Kranichfeld, Kliefoth, and Ewald have rightly

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maintained in this place. Only we may not, with them, translate ת כל by: to have an end, for then the answer would be tautological, since the breaking to pieces of the might of the people is identical with their scattering, but it has the meaning to make perfect, to accomplish, so that nothing more remains to be done. יד, hand, is the emblem of active power; the shattering of the hand is thus the complete destruction of power to work, the placing in a helpless and powerless condition, such as Moses has described in the words יד אזלת כי (for the hand is gone), Deu_32:36, and announced that when this state of things shall arise, then “the Lord shall judge His people, and repent Himself for His servants.” With this harmonizes the conclusion of the oath: then all these things shall be finished, or shall complete themselves. כל־אלה (all these things) are the ת _Dan ,פלא12:6. To these “wonderful things” belong not merely the crushing of the holy people in the tribulation such as never was before, but also their deliverance by the coming of the angel-prince Michael, the resurrection of the dead, and the eternal separation of the righteous from the wicked (Dan_12:1-3). This last designation of the period of time goes thus, beyond a doubt, to the end of all things, or to the consummation of the kingdom of God by the resurrection of the dead and the final judgment. With this also agrees with expression קדש which is not to be limited to the converted Jews. The circumstance ,עםthat in Daniel's time the Israel according to the flesh constituted the “holy people,” does not necessitate our understanding this people when the people of God are spoken of in the time of the end, since then the faithful from among all nations shall be the holy people of God.

But by the majority of modern interpreters the designation of time, three and a half times, is referred to the duration of the oppression of the Jews under Antiochus Epiphanes; whence Bleek, v. Lengerke, Maurer, Hitzig, Ewald, and others conclude that the Maccabean pseudo-Daniel placed together as synchronous the death of Antiochus and the beginning of the Messianic salvation. Hävernick finds in the answer two different designations of time, but has said nothing as to the relation they bear to each other; Hofmann (Weiss. u. Erf. i. p. 314) finds an obscurity in this, that the end of all things is simply placed in connection with the end of the oppressor Antiochus (see under Dan_12:1). But, thus Kliefoth rightly asks, on the contrary, “How is it only possible that the catastrophe of Antiochus, belonging to the middle of the times, and the time of the end lying in the distant future, are so comprehended in one clause in an answer to a question regarding a point of time? How as it possible that to the question, How long continues the end of the wonders? it could be answered: For three and a half years shall Antiochus carry on his work; and when it comes to an end in the breaking of the people, then all shall come to an end? Thus the last only would be an answer to the question, and the first an addition not appertaining to it. Or how were it possible that for the expression, 'all shall be ended,' two characteristics were given, one of which belonged to the time of Antiochus and the other to the time of the end?” And, we must further ask, are we necessitated by the statement to make such an unnatural supposition? Certainly not. The two clauses do not give two different definitions of time, i.e., refer to different periods of time, but only two definitions of one period of time, the first of which describes its course according to a symbolical measure of time, the second its termination according to an actual characteristic. None of these definitions of time has any reference to the oppression of the holy people by Antiochus, but the one as well as the other refers to the tribulation of the time of the end. The measure of time: time, times, and half a time, does not indeed correspond to the duration of the dominion of the little horn proceeding from the Javanic world-kingdom (spoken of in Daniel 8) = 90

2300 evening-mornings (Dan_8:14), but literally (for עד מ corresponds with the Chald. ,agrees with that in Dan_7:25, for the dominion of the hostile king, the Antichrist (עדןrising out of the ten kingdoms of the fourth or last world-kingdom. יד נפץ ת ככל also refers to this enemy; for of him it is said, Dan_7:21, Dan_7:25, that he shall prevail against and destroy the saints of the Most High (יבלא, Dan_7:25).

The reference of both the statements in the oath to the history of the end, or the time of Antichrist, has therefore been recognised by Auberlen and Zündel, although the latter understands also, with Hofmann, Dan_11:36-45 of the oppression of Israel by Antiochus. To the question, how long the end of the terrible things prophesied of in Daniel 11:40-12:1 shall continue, the Angel of the Lord hovering over the waters answered with a solemn oath: Three and a half times, which, according to the prophecy of Dan_7:25 and Dan_9:26-27, are given for the fullest unfolding of the power of the last enemy of God till his destruction; and when in this time of unparalleled oppression the natural strength of the holy people shall be completely broken to piece, then shall these terrible things have reached their end. Regarding the definition of time, cf. The exposition under Dan_7:25.

7. TRAPP, "Verse 6

Daniel 12:6 And [one] said to the man clothed in linen, which [was] upon the waters of the river, How long [shall it be to] the end of these wonders?

Ver. 6. And one said,] i.e., An angel inquisitive about the affairs of the Church, for Daniel’s further information.

To the man clothed in linen.] Of whom see Daniel 10:5.

Which was upon the waters.] See Daniel 8:16.

How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?] i.e., The forementioned mysteries, viz., concerning the saints’ sufferings, the end of the world, the coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, life and death everlasting.POOLE, " To the man clothed in linen; to Michael, Daniel 10:5; Christ, who seemed

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to stand between the banks, i.e. in the air above the waters, or upon them, Matthew 14:25; upon many people, say some, Revelation 10:2.

How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? the angels themselves inquire into these things, for they do not know all, yea, they are ignorant of many things, Matthew 24:36 Ephesians 3:10.

7 The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, lifted his right hand and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by him who lives forever, saying, “It will be for a time, times and half a time.[b] When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed.”

1. Barnes, “And I heard the man ... - That is, he replied to the question at once, and in a most solemn manner, as if he were communicating a great and momentous truth respecting the future.

When he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven - Toward heaven; as if appealing to heaven for the sincerity and truth of what he was about to utter. The act of swearing or taking an oath was often accompanied with the lifting up of the hand to heaven, usually the right hand (compare Gen_14:22; Exo_6:8; Deu_32:40; Eze_20:5; Rev_10:5); but here the angel stretched both hands toward heaven, as if he were about to make the affirmation in the most solemn manner conceivable.And sware by him that liveth for ever - By the eternal God. That is, he appealed

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to him: he made the solemn asseveration in his presence; he called him to witness to the truth of what he said. The occasion; the manner; the posture of the angel; the appeal to the Eternal One - all give great sublimity to this transaction, and all imply that the answer was to be one of great consequence in regard to future times.That it shall be for a time, times, and an half - Margin, or, a part. The word חצי

chătsıy means, properly, half, the half part, that which is divided (חצץ châtsats) - to divide), s. c., in the middle. The word “times” means two times, for it is dual in its form, and the expression means three times, or periods, and a half. See the meaning of the language fully considered and explained in the notes at Dan_7:24-28. (See Editor’s Essay on Year-day Principle, prefixed to the vol. on Revelation.)

And when he shall have accomplished - When he shall have finished his purpose in the matter; when he shall have done all that he could do.To scatter the power - All that constituted the power - their armies, means of

defense, etc. The word rendered “power” (יד yâd) means, properly, hand, but it is sometimes used to denote a part of a thing - as a portion that we take up by the hand - a handful; that is, a part of a thing taken up at once in dividing - Gesenius, Lexicon See Jer_6:3; 2Ki_11:7; Gen_47:24. In accordance with this, Gesenius, Lengerke, and De Wette suppose that the reference here is to the scattering of a portion or part of the Hebrew people in other lands, and to the hope that they would be restored again to their own country; and that the meaning of the angel is, that when these dispersions were ended, all this would have been accomplished. The word has also the sense of power, might, strength (Gesenius, Lexicon), the hand being regarded as the seat of strength, Isa_28:2; Job_27:11; Psa_76:5 (6).

Thus employed, it may denote whatever constituted their strength; and then the idea in the passage before us is, that all this would be scattered. When that should have been done; when that dispersion should have been ended; when these scattered forces and people should have been again restored, then all this that was predicted would be accomplished, and these troubles cease. This would be in the period designated by the “time, and times, and an half.” If it refers to Antiochus, it means that the scattered forces and people of the Hebrews would be rallied under the Maccabees, and that on their return victory would crown their efforts, and the land would be again at peace. If it has a higher and an ultimate signification, it would seem to imply that when the scattered Hebrew people should be gathered into the Christian church - when their dispersions and their wanderings should come to an end by their returning to the Messiah, and, under him, to the true God, then the series of predictions will have received their complete fulfillment - for then religion will triumph in the world, and the kingdom of God be set up over all the nations, agreeably to Rom_11:15-25. In reference, then, to the meaning of the passage as used by the angel here, the following remarks may be made:(1) It had an applicability to the times of Antiochus, and to the duration of the calamities that would come upon the Hebrew people under his reign. If there had been nothing further intended than this, the mere language employed would have found a literal fulfillment in these events, and there can be no reasonable doubt that the primary reference of the angel was to them. See this point fully considered and illustrated in the notes at Dan_7:24-28.(2) Yet there are circumstances which lead us to suppose that, at the same time, and by the laws of prophetic suggestion (see Introduction to Isaiah, Section 7.), more important events were also referred to, and were designed to be connected with this

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statement. Those circumstances are(a) the manner in which the angel introduces the subject - by a solemn appeal, with out-stretched arms, to heaven. This would look as if he regarded the answer as of momentous importance, and as if he were contemplating vast movements in the future.(b) The fact that the language here had a settled meaning - referring, as used, elsewhere, to future events deeply affecting the welfare of the world. The language is so couched, indeed, that it would express the fact in regard to the duration of the troubles under Antiochus; but it was also of such a nature that in its higher signification it would describe the duration of more momentous transactions, and would designate a period when the true religion would begin its universal reign; when the evils of a vast Anti-christian power would come to an end, and when the kingdom of the saints would be set up in the world. See the notes at Dan_7:24-28.(3) The full meaning of the language would then seem to be, that the angel designed to include all in the future to which those words, as intended by the Divine Spirit, would be applicable. The period designated by the phrase, “a time, and times, and an half,” was most momentous. In that time the troubles introduced by Antiochus would end, and a state of peace and prosperity would succeed; and in that time, also, far greater troubles and woes - those connected with a most fearful apostasy from the true religion, and the setting up of a kingdom of oppression and wrong over the people of God, of which the oppressions and wrongs under Antiochus would be but an emblem, would also come to an end, and there would be a state of peace - a reign of righteousness - a prevalence of religion - and a far-diffused happiness in the world, at which the joy at the dedication of the temple, and the triumphs over Antiochus, would be but a symbol. The ultimate reference, therefore, I suppose, is to the downfall of that great Anti-christian power, the Papacy, and the spread and triumphs of the true religion subsequent to that, and consequent on that in the world. These were events that justified the solemn asseveration of the angel, and that made it proper for him, in referring to them, to stretch out both his hands in this sublime manner to heaven.

2. Clarke, “Which was upon the waters - By this description, he was standing on the water. This is very similar to the description of the angel, Rev_10:5, Rev_10:6, and in the seventh verse there seems to be a reference to this prophecy “a time, times, and a half.” See the note on Dan_7:25 (note).

3. Gill, “And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river,.... Christ, as he appeared in a human form, and as the High Priest our profession, and as the Mediator that has power over all flesh; so he pronounced articulate sounds with a human voice, and so loud, clear, and distinct, that Daniel could hear every word he said, and for whose sake it was said: when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven; the lifting up of the right hand is a gesture used in swearing, and the lifting up of both hands is either for the greater solemnity of the action, or with respect to the two angels that stood one on one side of him, and the other on the other, that both might be eyewitnesses of this

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solemn affair; though lifting up both hands is often a prayer gesture, and there may be a mixture of both in this action, of both praying and swearing; Christ, as the High Priest, intercedes for his church and people, that their faith fail not till the end of their troubles comes: and sware by him that liveth for ever; by the living God, the immortal One, who only hath immortality. Maimonides (n) interprets it, "by the Life of the world"; that is, by God, who is the Life of the world, that gives life and being to all creatures; all live, and move, and have their being in him, and so is greater than all, and by whom an oath is only to be taken. Christ, as man, swears by his divine Father, who, as such, was greater than he; though, if we understand it of God, Father, Son, and Spirit, the one, only, true, and living God, there is no impropriety in Christ's swearing by himself the living God, which is a character he sometimes bears; see Heb_3:12, what he here swears to is, that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; that it would be so long to the end of these wonderful things; or that the troubles of the church would last so long, and, at the end of that date here fixed, a glorious scene would open, and amazing things appear, to the great joy and comfort of the saints. "Time" signifies a prophetic year, or 360 years; and "times" two prophetic years, or 720 years; and half a time half a prophetic year, or 180 years, in all 1260 years; which is the exact date and duration of the reign of antichrist, of the church's being in the wilderness, and of the witnesses prophesying in sackcloth, and of the treading under foot the holy city, expressed both by 1260 days, and by forty two months, which are the same; see Rev_11:2, and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people: that is, either, "when he (God) shall have finished the scattering the power of the holy people", the Jews; when the dispersion of them, who were formerly a holy people to the Lord, and shall be so again, will be over; and they shall be gathered out of all nations where they have been dispersed, and, being converted, shall return to their own land: or, "when he" (antichrist) "shall have done scattering", the church and people of God in general; when his wars with the saints, and victories over them, will be ended; and particularly when the slaying of the witnesses will be over, at which time there will be a great scattering of the saints; they will be as sheep without a shepherd, their pastors being smitten, slain, or removed into corners; all which things will be fulfilled about the end of the date before mentioned: and then all these things shall be finished; or, as the same glorious Person explains it, "time will be no longer, and the mystery of God will be finished", Rev_10:6, the time of antichrist's reign, and of the troubles of the church, and the witnesses' prophesying in sackcloth, will be protracted no longer than the time, and times, and half a time, or the 1260 days, or forty months, that is, 1260 years; then all the afflictions of the church will be at an end, and glorious times will succeed, as before spoken of; the spiritual reign of Christ, the first resurrection, and the Millennium, in their order.

4. Henry, “4. What answer was returned to it by him who is indeed the numberer of secrets, and knows things to come.

(1.) Here is a more general account given of the continuance of these troubles to the 95

angel that made the enquiry (Dan_12:7), that they shall continue for a time, times, and a half, that is, a year, two years, and half a year, as was before intimated (Dan_7:25), but the one half of a prophetical week. Some understand it indefinitely, a certain time for an uncertain; it shall be for a time (a considerable time), for times (a longer time yet, double what it was thought at first that it would be), and yet indeed it shall be but half a time, or a part of a time; when it is over it shall seem not half so much as was feared. But it is rather to be taken for a certain time; we meet with it in the Revelation, under the title sometimes of three days and a half, put for three years and a half, sometimes forty-two months, sometimes 1260 days. Now this determination of the time is here [1.] Confirmed by an oath. The man clothed in linen lifted up both his hands to heaven, and swore by him that lives for ever and ever that it should be so. Thus the mighty angelwhom St. John saw is brought in, with a plain reference to this vision, standing with his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the earth, and with his hand lifted up to heaven, swearing that there shall be no longer delay, Rev_10:5, Rev_10:6. This Mighty One that Daniel saw stood with both feet on the water, and swore with both hands lifted up. Note, An oath is of use for confirmation; God only is to be sworn by, for he is the proper Judge to whom we are to appeal; and lifting up the hand is a very proper and significant sign to be used in a solemn oath. [2.] It is illustrated with a reason. God will suffer him to prevail till he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people. God will suffer him to do his worst, and run his utmost length, and then all these things shall be finished. Note, God's time to succour and relieve his people is when their affairs are brought to the last extremity; in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen that Isaac is saved just when he lies ready to be sacrificed. Now the event answered the prediction; Josephus says expressly, in his book of the Wars of the Jews, that Antiochus, surnamed Epiphanes, surprised Jerusalem by force, and held it three years and six months, and was then cast out of the country by the Asmoneans or Maccabees. Christ's public ministry continued three years and a half, during which time he endured the contradiction of sinners against himself, and lived in poverty and disgrace; and then when his power seemed to be quite scattered at his death, and his enemies triumphed over him, he obtained the most glorious victory and said, It is finished.

5. Jamison, “held up ... right ... and ... left hand — Usually the right hand was held up in affirmation as an appeal to heaven to attest the truth (Deu_32:40; Rev_10:5, Rev_10:6). Here both hands are lifted up for the fuller confirmation.

time, times, and a half — (See on Dan_7:25). Newton, referring this prophecy to the Eastern apostasy, Mohammedanism, remarks that the same period of three and a half years, or 1260 prophetic days, is assigned to it as the Western apostasy of the little horn (Dan_7:25); and so, says Prideaux, Mohammed began to forge his imposture, retiring to his cave, a.d. 606, the very year that Phocas made the grant to the bishop of Rome, whence he assumed the title, The Universal Pastor; Antichrist thus setting both his feet on Christendom together, the one in the East, and the other in the West. Three and a half is the time of the world power, in which the earthly kingdoms rule over the heavenly [Auberlen]. “Three and a half” represents the idea of spiritual trial; (besides this certain symbolical meaning, there is doubtless an accurate chronological meaning, which is as yet to us uncertain): it is half of “seven,” the complete number, so a semi-perfect state, one of probation. The holy city is trodden by the Gentiles forty-two months (Rev_11:2), so the exercise of the power of the beast (Rev_13:5). The two witnesses preach in sackcloth 1260 days, and remained unburied three days and a half: so the 96

woman in the wilderness: also the same for a “time, times, and a half” (Rev_11:3, Rev_11:9, Rev_11:11; Rev_12:6, Rev_12:14). Forty-two connects the Church with Israel, whose haltings in the wilderness were forty-two (Num_33:1-50). The famine and drought on Israel in Elijah’s days were for “three years and six months” (Luk_4:25; Jam_5:17); there same period as Antiochus’ persecution: so the ministry of the Man of Sorrows, which ceased in the midst of a week (Dan_9:27) [Wordsworth, Apocalypse].scatter ... holy people — “accomplished” here answers to “the consummation” (Dan_9:27), namely, the “pouring out” of the last dregs of the curse on the “desolated holy people.” Israel’s lowest humiliation (the utter “scattering of her power”) is the precursor of her exaltation, as it leads her to seek her God and Messiah (Mat_23:39).

7. CALVIN, "He says, This angel raised up his hands to heaven Those who consider this action as a symbol of power are mistaken, for without doubt the Prophet intended to manifest the usual method of swearing. They usually raised the right hand, according to the testimony of numerous passages of Scripture. I have raised my hand towards God. (Genesis 14:22.) Here the angel raises both his hands, wishing by this action to express the importance of the subject. Thus to raise both hands, as if doubling the oath, is stronger than raising the right hand after the ordinary manner. We must consider then the use of both hands as intended to confirm the oath, as the subject was one of great importance. It follows, for a time, times, and half a time I have stated my objection to the opinion of those who think one year, and two, and a half, to be here intended. I confess the passage ought to be understood of that pollution of the Temple which the Prophet has already treated. History clearly assures us that the Temple was not cleansed till the close of the third year, and seven or eight months afterwards. That explanation may suit its own passage, but with reference to the doctrine here delivered, its meaning is very simple, time means a long period, times, a longer period, and a half means the end or closing period. The sum of the whole is this’ many years must elapse before God fulfills what his Prophet had declared. Time therefore signifies a long period; times, double this period; as if he had said, While the sons of God are kept in suspense so long without obtaining an answer to their petitions, the time will be prolonged, nay, even doubled. We see then that a time does not mean precisely one year, nor do times signify two years, but an indefinite period. With respect to the half of a time, this is added for the comfort of the pious, to prevent their sinking under the delay, because God does not accomplish their desire. Thus they rest patiently until this “time” as well as “the times” pass away. Besides, the issue is set before them by the words half a time, to prevent them from despairing through excessive weariness. I admit the allusion to years, but the words are not to be understood literally but metaphorically, signifying, as I have already stated, an indefinite period.

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He afterwards adds, And in the complement or consumption of the dispersion or contrition of the hand of God’s people, all these things shall be fulfilled: first, the time must pass away, next, the times must be added, then the half time must follow; all these things must arrive at their accomplishment, and when they are thoroughly completed, says he, then will come the contrition of the hand of the holy people The angel again proclaims how the Church of God should be oppressed by many calamities; and thus the whole of this verse contains an exhortation to endurance, to prevent the faithful from becoming utterly hopeless, and completely losing their spirits, in consequence of their suffering severe and multiplied cares, not for a few months merely, but for a lengthened duration. He uses this phrase, the wearing down of the hand of the holy people — if you please to read it so — metaphorically, meaning, the holy people should be deprived of strength, just as if their hands were completely worn down. Whatever agility men possess is usually shewn in the hands, and they were given to men by God for the special purpose of being extended to all parts of the body, and for executing the ordinary operations of mankind. This metaphor is now very suitable, as the people were so mutilated, as to be deprived of all strength and rigor. This is a slight sketch of the meaning of the clause.

If we read “dispersion” according to the common signification, it will suit very well, since the hand of the holy people should be dispersed; meaning, the Church should be a stranger in the world, and be dispersed throughout it. This was continually fulfilled from that day to the present. How sad is the dispersion of the Church in these days! God indeed defends it by His power, but this is beyond human expectation For how does the body of the Church now appear to us? how has it appeared throughout all ages? surely it has ever been torn in pieces and dispersed. Hence the angel’s prediction is not in vain, if we adopt the interpretation — the hand of the holy people should be dispersed — but yet the end should be prosperous, as he had previously announced, when treating of its resurrection and final salvation. It now follows:

COKE, "Daniel 12:7. A time, times, and an half— This signifies three prophetic years and an half, making one thousand two hundred and sixty prophetic days, or one thousand two hundred and sixty years. The same time, therefore, is prefixed for the desolation and oppression of the Eastern church, as for the tyranny of the little horn in the Western church, chap. Daniel 7:25. And it is wonderfully remarkable,

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that the doctrine of Mahomet was first forged at Mecca, and the supremacy of the pope was established by virtue of a grant from the tyrant Phocas, in the very same year of Christ, 606. There is a farther notation of time in the last clause: When the Jews shall be recalled from the dispersion, then all these things shall receive their full and final completion. See Newton. Mr. Wintle reads the last clause of this verse, And after the accomplishment of the dispersions of the holy people, all these things shall be fulfilled.

ELLICOTT, " (6) And one said.—The speaker is evidently one of the persons just mentioned, but the LXX. and St. Jerome suppose Daniel to address the man clothed in white linen, who is obviously the same person who has already spoken (Daniel 10:5, &c.). The position which he occupies is striking. He appears “upon” or (see margin) from above, i.e., hovering over the waters of the Tigris. If, as is frequently the case in the symbolical language of Scripture (see Isaiah 8:6-7, Psalms 93:4), waters or streams are the emblems of nationalities, the Hiddekel will represent the Persian Empire, in the third year of which Daniel had this vision, and the position of the person implies his power to protect his people from all the assaults of the Persians. But at the same time, the remarkable word used for “river” recalls the Nile, and seems to be employed for the purpose of assuring the readers of the book that “He who smote the waters of the Nile” will restrain all earthly powers which war against His people.

How long . . . end.—The end is that which has been frequently spoken of (Daniel 11:40 to Daniel 12:3). The question asks, “How long will the end of these wonders continue? The end always appears to be at hand, yet it never comes. How long will this continue?”

ELLICOTT, " (7) Held up his right hand . . .—In general, a person when swearing lifted up the right hand only (see Genesis 14:22; Deuteronomy 32:40). Both hands are represented here as being raised up, so as to give greater importance to the words. (See Note on Revelation 10:5, and comp. Daniel 4:34.)

A time, times . . .—See Note on Daniel 7:25; and observe that any reference to the period of the persecution under Antiochus is impossible, on account of the

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difference between the measures of time. (See Daniel 7:14.)

To scatter.—The ancient versions (not the LXX., however) appear to have understood this to mean the dispersion of Israel (see Deuteronomy 7:6), and seem to have connected the “end,” of which Daniel speaks, with the cessation of the dispersion of Israel, or, in other words, to have regarded it as a prediction of the re-gathering of Israel, which would immediately precede the coming of Elias. (See the remarks of Theodoret on the passage.) But by the “holy people” are meant, more probably, those who shall suffer in the last days (comp. Daniel 7:25, “the saints”), and the word “scatter” means to break in pieces, as Psalms 2:9, &c. So that the words imply that the end will not come till “the shattering of the power of the saints” has been accomplished, or till persecution appears to have stamped out all that remains of godliness. This makes the prophecy accord with Daniel 7:25 and the parallel passages in the New Testament.

BENSON, “Daniel 12:7. And he held up his right hand and his left unto heaven — It was the general custom, in swearing, to lift up one hand to heaven: see Genesis 14:22; Deuteronomy 32:40; but here Christ is represented as holding up both his hands, as a greater confirmation of the truth and importance of what he was about to say; and sware by him that liveth for ever — By the self-existent and everlasting God. Thus the mighty angel, whom St. John saw, Revelation 10:5-6, is brought in, with a plain reference to this vision here, standing with his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the earth, and, with his hand lifted up to heaven, swearing that there should be no longer any delay of the execution of the divine counsels. That it should be for a time, times, and a half, or, the dividing of time, as it is expressed in Chaldee, Daniel 7:25, where see the note, which contains, understood literally, three years and a half, during which time the public sacrifices and worship were discontinued through the persecution of Antiochus, the type of antichrist. But this line of time is expressly applied to the antichristian persecution, Revelation 12:14, and is further explained in that chapter, Daniel 12:6, by one thousand two hundred and sixty days, which is three years and a half, reckoning three hundred and sixty days to a year: see note on Daniel 9:24. And if we suppose each day to signify a year, which is the prophetical sense of the word day, this period of time denotes one thousand two hundred and sixty years: see note on Daniel 8:14. And when he shall have accomplished to disperse the power of the holy people — When the dispersions of the Jews shall be ended, then the most remarkable events contained in this prophecy shall be fulfilled. The restoration of the Jewish nation is foretold by the prophets, as

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one of those signal events to be brought to pass in the latter days, or times, of the world. Mr. Mede makes this parallel with those words of Christ, Luke 21:24; Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled; that is, till the times of the fourth monarchy and the reign of antichrist be expired. Many commentators understand this last clause, which speaks of accomplishing to scatter the power of the holy people, not of the termination of the time of their dispersions, but of the beginning of it; and suppose that it will be one thousand two hundred and sixty years, from the beginning to the end of that time. But then, by the power of the holy people, they do not understand the Jews, but the Christians. They do not, therefore, calculate this period from the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and the subsequent dispersion of the Jews; but from the time when the anti- christian usurpers began to scatter the power of true Christians, by false doctrines, persecutions, massacres, and religious wars; and they extend it to the period when these powers shall be subverted.

PETT, "Verse 7

‘And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by him who lives for ever and ever, that it will be for a time, times and a half. And when they have made an end of breaking in pieces the hand of the holy people, all these things will be finished.’

For the man clothed in linen compare Daniel 11:5-6; Daniel 11:13. He was a mighty angel, but not almighty (Daniel 11:13). Yet his authority was such that he could swear in the name of the Everlasting One how long it would be. It would be for ‘a time, times and a half’. The phrase is similar to the one in Daniel 7:25 but not the same (the one was in Aramaic, this is in Hebrew). Its significance is that it is not a complete period. It is not ‘seven times’ but a broken period of ‘a number of times plus a half’. Here was no equivalent of the divinely perfect seven times, denoting a divinely perfect period, but a foreshortened period indicating that it ended before God’s final purposes were complete. The one acting in this period has no control over it. And yet its length was fixed by God who determined the length of ‘a time’.

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This foreshortened period will end ‘when they have made an end of breaking in pieces the power of the holy people’. God will not be specific. But He will assure His people that the time is limited. The breaking in pieces of the power of the holy people will cease in the end. And then will be accomplished all the promises of Daniel 9:24, and then will follow the resurrection.

It is possible that this has reference to the final part of the seventieth seven in Daniel 9:27. When the Temple has been destroyed (the sacrifices have ceased) there will be a period of desolation and persecution for God’s people which will continue until the consummation (it has now lasted for nearly two thousand years). His people will be as pilgrims in the world, ever subjected to desolation and persecution. If we consider that he is speaking of the world of his day, which to us is the Middle Eastern world, it is that world which above all has persecuted and desolated the people of God.

The raising of both hands indicated that all was in the hands of God (compare Exodus 17:11-12), although some have seen it as indicating the intensity of the oath. Normally for an oath one hand would be held up to heaven.

Compare here the one who calls for the end of time in Revelation 10:5-6. There it was indicating the finishing of the mystery of God, in other words that which only God had known, but had by then been revealed, the mystery of the seven seals. Here it is signifying another mystery, now revealed, that of the finish of what has happened to God’s holy people.

‘When they have made an end of breaking in pieces the hand of the holy people, all these things will be finished.’ The ominous message here is that the holy people are to be subjected to attempts to break them in pieces, to utterly destroy them. It spoke of persecution and suffering which would attempt to break their ‘hand’, to break their resistance to sin, to tempt to faithlessness, to destroy their faith in God. But it will eventually come to an end in God’s timing. Yet it brings out how important God’s people are to Him. For this is mentioned because all is in consideration of their welfare. ‘The holy people’ are, of course, the true people of God, those who truly believe. In Daniel’s time they represented those among the Jews who were

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truly responsive from their hearts to God. They would continue on as the people of the Messiah (the Apostles and those who truly believed in the Messiah), ‘the elect race, the holy nation’ of 1 Peter 2:9, in other words the true believing church of Jesus the Messiah.

TRAPP, "Daniel 12:7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, which [was] upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that [it shall be] for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these [things] shall be finished.

Ver. 7. And I heard the man.] The man Christ Jesus.

When he held up his right hand and his left hand.] Assuring and assevering the matter with both hands earnestly.

That it shall be for a time, and times and a half,] i.e., For a time most certain with God, and by him determined, but to us uncertain and unknown. Broughton thinketh that this term of "three years and a half" showeth the term of Christ’s persecution in the days of his flesh, which was just so many years, But there is more in it than so. See Revelation 6:11, a parallel text, and such, like glasses set one against another, do cast a mutual light.

When he shall have accomplished to scatter the power.] When the Church shall be at the greatest under, when the number of the elect shall be consummated, and they sorely afflicted by the devil and his agents, then shall Christ appear to their relief, as it were, out of an engine. See 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12, 1 Timothy 4:1-3, Revelation 6:12-17

POOLE, " He held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven: here he calls God to witness the truth of this thing: many reasons are given by sundry expositors

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of it why he held up both hands to heaven.

1. For the more sure and solemn confirmation of it.

2. To denote the unchangeableness of God’s decrees, both for good to the church, and for evil to her enemies.

By him that liveth for ever; by God the Father, and by the Deity, which was himself, that liveth for ever, to show the eternal God only knew that decreed it, and would bring it to pass; that he only is master of the times, Acts 1:7.

It shall be for a time, times, and an half; it shall be for a long time, and yet a definite time. Some will have all this to be and end in Antiochus’s time, but we have proved before that this is a great mistake, and the text and this chapter disprove that conceit.

When he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished; which reacheth to the calling of the Jews upon the destruction of antichrist, for till he be down the church will suffer and will not be up, which will fall out upon the pouring out the sixth vial and after, Revelation 16:12, &c., and the seventh vial, then all is finished, Revelation 16:17: see also 2Th 2 3. The judgment of Christ will not come till the man of sin come and fall.

WHEDON, “ 7. Gabriel held up both hands to heaven in order to strengthen his oath by this double appeal to Jehovah. (Compare Genesis 14:22; Exodus 6:8.) Even yet in Syria the strongest oath is by the blood taken from the arm, because the arm represents strength. To uplift the arm suggests swearing by one’s blood and proffering it in its strength as an inviolable covenant with God (Trumbull, Blood Covenant, p. 236). The angel swears by the ever-living Jehovah (compare Daniel 4:34) that it should be for a time, times, and a half. (See notes Daniel 7:25; Daniel 9:27.) Interpreters differ as to whether this merely means to reaffirm the truth of the statement previously made (Daniel 7:25) or whether, in the providence of God,

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another cycle — corresponding to the former as the seventy weeks of Daniel corresponded to the seventy years of Jeremiah — should be hinted at here. Even though we explain this strictly according to the historical method, as pointing to the three and a half years which elapsed from the defilement of the sanctuary to the death of Antiochus, we can yet accept it as the prototype of another cycle of suffering which should lengthen into centuries until full deliverance through the Messiah should come (Matthew 24:30; Matthew 24:34; Revelation 12:14).

And when he shall have accomplished, etc. — R.V., “and when they have made an end of breaking in pieces the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.” This refers primarily to Antiochus Epiphanes and the adversaries of God’s people who stood with him against the Maccabean patriots; but this does not exclude its continuous application to the suffering saints in every great crisis of the Christian Church. God rules, and therefore right must ultimately triumph. Notwithstanding this “breaking” of the saints — nay often because of the rack and the sword and the fire — the power of Jehovah shall be exalted, and beyond even the blessed “end” which Daniel saw shall come another “end,” more triumphant still, when the heavenly Son of man shall enter fully into his kingdom.

8 I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, “My lord, what will the outcome of all this be?”

1. Barnes, “And I heard, but I understood not - He understood not the full significance of the language employed - “a time, and times, and an half.” This would make it probable that there was something more intended than merely three years and a half as the period of the continuation of these troubles. Daniel saw, apparently from the manner of the angel, as well as from the terms which he used, that there was something mystical and unusual in those terms, and he says, therefore, that he could not understand their full import.

Then said I, O my Lord - A term of civil address. The language is such as would be used by an inferior when respectfully addressing one of superior rank. It is not a term 105

that is peculiarly appropriate to God, or that implies a Divine nature, but is here given to the angel as an appellation of respect, or as denoting one of superior rank.What shall be the end of these things? - Indicating great anxiety to know what was to be the termination of these wonders. The “end” had been often referred to in the communication of the angel, and now he had used an enigmatical expression as referring to it, and Daniel asks, with great emphasis, when the end was to be.

2. Clarke, “I heard, but I understand not - Could not comprehend what the time, times, and half time should refer to. These make three years and a half of prophetic times answering to one thousand two hundred and sixty years.

3. Gill, “And I heard, but understood not,.... Daniel heard what Christ said, in answer to the angel, but he did not understand the meaning of it, which he ingenuously confesses; he did not understand what was meant by "time", and "times", and "half a time"; what kind of time this was, and when and how it would end, and which he was very desirous of knowing: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? he applied not to the angel that put the above question, but to the man clothed with linen; to Christ, whom he perceived to be a divine Person, a Person of dominion, power, and authority, superior to angels, and his Lord and God; and who only could resolve the question he puts, which is somewhat different from that of the angel's, Dan_12:6, that respects the length of time, to the accomplishment of these things; this the quality at the end of them, what kind of end they should have; or what the signs, symptoms, and evidences of the end of them, by which the true end of them might be known. Mr. Mede renders it, "what are these latter times?" perhaps it might be rendered better, "what is the last of these things?" (o) what is the last thing that will be done, that so it may be known when all is over?

4. Henry, “II. The question, What shall the end be? is asked by Daniel, and an answer given to it. Observe,

1. Why Daniel asked this question; it was because, though he heard what was said to the angel, yet he did not understand it, Dan_12:8. Daniel was a very intelligent man, and had been conversant in visions and prophecies, and yet here he was puzzled; he did not understand the meaning of the time, times, and the part of a time, at least not so clearly and with so much certainty as he wished. Note, The best men are often much at a loss in their enquiries concerning divine things, and meet with that which they do not understand. But the better they are the more sensible they are of their own weaknesses and ignorance, and the more ready to acknowledge them.2. What the question was: O my Lord! What shall be the end of these things? He directs his enquiry not to the angel that talked with him, but immediately to Christ, for to whom else should we go with our enquiries? “What shall be the final issue of these

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events? What do they tend to? What will then end in?” Note, When we take a view of the affairs of this world, and of the church of God in it, we cannot but think, What will be the end of these things? We see things move as if they would end in the utter ruin of God's kingdom among men. When we observe the prevalence of vice and impiety, the decay of religion, the sufferings of the righteous, and the triumphs of the ungodly over them, we may well ask, O my Lord! what will be the end of these things? But this may satisfy us in general, that all will end well at last. Great is the truth, and will prevail at long-run. All opposing rule, principality, and power, will be put down, and holiness and love will triumph, and be in honour, to eternity. The end, this end, will come.

5. Jamison, “understood not — Daniel “understood” the main features of the vision as to Antiochus (Dan_10:1, Dan_10:14), but not as to the times. 1Pe_1:10-12 refers mainly to Daniel: for it is he who foretells “the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow”; it is he who prophesies “not unto himself, but unto us”; it is he who “searched what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ in him did signify.”

6. K&D, “Daniel 12:8

Daniel heard his answer, but he understood it not. To שמעתי, as to אבין the object ,לאis wanting, because it can easily be supplied from the connection, namely, the meaning of the answer of the man clothed in linen. Grotius has incorrectly supplied quid futurum esset from the following question, in which he has also incorrectly rendered אלה אחריתby post illiu triennii et temporis semestris spatium. Hävernick has also defined the object too narrowly, for he has referred the non-understanding merely to the mysterious number (a time, two times, etc.). It was, besides, not merely the double designation of time in Dan_12:7 which first at the hour of his receiving it, but while it was yet unintelligible to the hearer, compelled Daniel, as Hitzig thinks, to put the further question. The whole answer in Dan_12:7 is obscure. It gives no measure for the “times,” and thus no intelligible disclosure for the prophet regarding the duration of the end, and in the definition, that at the time of the deepest humiliaton of the people the end shall come, leaves wholly undefined when this shall actually take place.

(Note: As to this latter circumstance L'Empereur remarks: Licet Daniel ex antecedentibus certo tempus finiendarum gravissimarum calamitatum cognoverit, tamen illum latuit, quo temporis articulo calamitas inceptura esset: quod ignorantiam quandam in tota prophetia peperit, cum a priori termino posterioris exacta scientia dependeret. Initium quidem variis circumstantiis definitum fuerat: sed quando circumstantiae futurae essent, antequam evenirent, ignorabatur.)Hence his desire for a more particular disclosure.

The question, “what the end of these?” is very differently interpreted. Following the example of Grotius, Kliefoth takes אחרית in the sense of that which follows something which is either clearly seen from the connection or is expressly stated, and explains אלהאחרית of that which follows or comes after this. But אלה is not, with most interpreters, to be taken as identical with כל־אלה of Dan_12:7; for since “this latter phrase includes

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all the things prophesied of down to the consummation, then would this question refer to what must come after the absolute consummation of all things, which would be meaningless.” Besides, the answer, Dan_12:11, Dan_12:12, which relates to the things of Antiochus, would not harmonize with such a question. Much more are we, with Auberlen (p. 75f.), to understand אלה of the present things and circumstances, things then in progress at the time of Daniel and the going forth of the prophecy. In support of this interpretation Auberlen adds, “The angel with heavenly eye sees into the far distant end of all; the prophet, with human sympathies, regards the more immediate future of his people.” But however correct the remark, that אלה is not identical with כל־אלה, thisnot identical with all this, there is no warrant for the conclusion drawn from it, that אלהdesignates the present things and circumstances existing under Antiochus at the time of Daniel. אלה must, by virtue of the connection in Dan_12:7, Dan_12:8, be understood of the same things and circumstances, and a distinction between the two is established only by כל. If we consider this distinction, then the question, What is the last of these things? contains not the meaningless thought, that yet something must follow after the absolute consummation, but the altogether reasonable thought, Which shall be the last of the ת פלא prophesied of? Thus Daniel could ask in the hope of receiving an answer from which he might learn the end of all these ת פלא more distinctly than from the answer given by the angel in Dan_12:7. But as this reference of אלה to the present things and circumstances is excluded by the connection, so also is the signification attributed to אחרית, of that which follows something, verbally inadmissible; see under Dan_8:19.

Most other interpreters have taken אחרית as synonymous with קץ, which Hävernick seeks to establish by a reference to Dan_8:19, Dan_8:23, and Deu_11:12. But none of these passage establishes this identity. קץ is always thus distinguished from אחרית, that it denotes a matter after its conclusion, while אחרית denotes the last or the uttermost of the matter. A distinction which, it is true, may in many cases become irrelevant. For if this distinction is not noticed here, we would be under the necessity, in order to maintain that the two questions in Dan_12:6, Dan_12:8 are not altogether identical, of giving to מה the meaning qualis (Maurer), of what nature (Hofmann, v. Lengerke, and others); a meaning which it has not, and which does not accord with the literal idea of אחרית. “Not how? but what? is the question; מה is not the predicate, but the subject, the thing inquired about.” Thus Hitzig, who is altogether correct in thus stating the question: “What, i.e., which even its the uttermost, the last of the ת which stands ,פלאbefore the end?”

7. CALVIN, "Now Daniel begins to ask questions in accordance with the angel’s example. He had first heard one angel inquiring of the other; he next summons up courage, and becomes desirous of information, and asks what should be the end or issue? He says, he heard without understanding By the word “hearing,” he bears witness to the absence of ignorance, slothfulness, or contempt. Many depart without any perception of a subject, although it may be very well explained, because they

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were not attentive to it. But here the Prophet asserts that he heard; implying, it would be no fault of his diligence if he did not understand, because he was desirous of learning, and had exerted all his powers, as we formerly intimated, and yet he confesses he did not understand Daniel does not mean to profess utter stupidity, but restricts his ignorance to the subject of this interrogation. Of what then was Daniel ignorant? Of the final issue. He could not attain unto the meaning of these predictions, which were so extremely obscure, and this was needful to their full and thorough comprehension. It is quite clear that God never utters his word without expecting fruit; as it is said in Isaiah, I have not spoken unintelligibly, nor have I said to the seed of Jacob, seek ye me in vain. (Isaiah 45:19.) God was unwilling to leave his Prophet in this perplexity of hearing without understanding, but we are aware of distinct degrees of proficiency in the school of God. Again, sufficient revelation was notoriously conferred upon the prophets for the discharge of their office, and yet none of them ever perfectly understood the predictions they delivered. We know, too, what Peter says, They ministered more for our times than for their own. (1 Peter 1:12.) They were by no means useless to their own age, but when our age is compared with theirs, certainly the instruction and discipline of the prophets is more useful to us, and produces richer and riper fruit in our age than in theirs. We are not surprised, then, at Daniel confessing he did not understand, so long as we restrict the words to this single instance. It now follows: —

COFFMAN, "Verse 8

"And I heard, but I understood not; then said I, O my lord, what shall be the issue of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed till the time of the end."

One of the favorite dictums of Bible enemies is that we should look for what was "probably in the mind of the prophet" to understand and interpret his words; but the Holy Scriptures in this passage offer the complete denial of such a bastard ruling, which, alas, influences much of the so-called "interpreting" of the ancient prophecies. Here Daniel freely admitted that he did not understand the words which the holy one spoke unto him and which he wrote down and sealed. He asked for information about what the words meant, but the holy one refused to enlighten him further, saying, "Go thy way, the words are shut up and sealed till the time of the

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end."

There was no way, really, that Daniel could have understood these words. Why? (1) The holy people whose power was to be broken in pieces in the mind of Daniel was doubtless a reference to the OLD ISRAEL; but we have known since Jesus Christ that HE, and HE ALONE is the true Israel of God (John 15:1,5). (2) The expression, "time, and times, and a half a time" could have had no practical meaning whatever for Daniel. (3) The prophecies of knowledge being increased and men going "to and fro" could never have been fully understood by any person living prior to the 20th century!

In this connection, one should read 1 Peter 1:10-12, where this phenomenon of the prophets not understanding their own prophecies is specifically stated.

COKE, "Daniel 12:8. And I heard, but I understood not— The prophets did not always receive the interpretation of what was revealed to them. See 1 Peter 1:12. Study and particular application were required, and often an immediate revelation. The evidence which appears to us so clearly in the greater part of the prophecies that respect the Lord Jesus Christ, and the establishment of the church, was exceedingly obscure to the generality before the event. It was the same with respect to those which concerned the persecutions of Antiochus. This prophesy is of distant reference and interpretation; it is necessary, therefore, that it should be involved in obscurity. What is delivered may satisfy the minds of the pious and faithful; but it is not meant that the curious should be gratified, that human pride should be indulged, or that the counsels of God should be made subservient to the ambition of princes, or any sinister designs of man.

ELLICOTT, " (8) I understood not.—He did not understand the answer given in Daniel 12:7. The question did not seem to have had any reply. It had been asked how long the end should continue, and the answer had been only the obscure words, “time, times, and an half.”

What shall be the end?—Daniel refers to the “wonderful things” mentioned in 110

Daniel 12:6, and using a different word for “end,” asks which of these wonders is to be the last—i.e., which of them is to come immediately before the end of all things.

PETT, "Verse 8

‘And I heard but I did not understand. Then I said, “O my lord, what will be the end of these things?” ’

Daniel was still puzzled by it all, and no doubt concerned by the accounts of desolation and persecution. Thus he wanted to know the final results of it. What would happen to the people of God?

12. 9-11 ‘And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed till the time of the end. Many will purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined. But the wicked will do wickedly, and none of the wicked will understand. But those who are wise will understand. And from the time when those things which are continual shall be taken away, and the Abomination that Appals set up, there will be a thousand, two hundred and ninety days.”

The angel is enigmatic. He will not give Daniel the information that he seeks. The words have been shut up and sealed until the time of the end by Daniel himself (Daniel 12:4). But two pieces of information he will give. Firstly that the purpose of all this is the refining and purifying of the righteous. They will ‘purify themselves and make themselves white (Psalms 51:7; Isaiah 1:18) and be refined’ (Daniel 11:35) by how they respond to the suffering in faith and obedience (compare Isaiah 1:25; Isaiah 48:10; Zechariah 13:9; Malachi 3:3; Romans 5:3-5; Hebrews 12:3-12; Revelation 7:14).

But the wicked, those who are not faithful to God’s covenant, will go on doing wickedly. They will not understand. On the other hand the wise (Daniel 11:33; Daniel 11:35 compare Daniel 1:4; Daniel 1:17; Jeremiah 9:24; Psalms 119:99) will

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understand, even though they have to go through such suffering.

‘And from the time when those things which are continual shall be taken away, and the Abomination that Appals be set up, there will be a thousand, two hundred and ninety days.’ He here puts a limit on the period of direst persecution, dating it from the cessation of the ‘continual things’; the sabbaths, the sacrifices and offerings, the morning and evening sacrifices, the regular rituals (a cessation for which we do not know the exact date). But no ending event is mentioned.

In Daniel there is only one reference to the Abomination that Appals, and that is in Daniel 11:31, so we are immediately taken back to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. How we see this will depend on our interpretation of Daniel 8:14. If we see that as referring to two thousand three hundred days then the end event here may be the date of the purification of the temple. Thus the one thousand two hundred and ninety days would lie between the two events of the cessation of true worship by demand of Antiochus, prior to the setting up of the heathen altar, and the purifying of the temple after the defeat of Antiochus’ army.

But if we see Daniel 8:14 as referring to one thousand one hundred and fifty days (see on that verse) then that refers to the period between the commencement of the cessation of the continual worship and the repurifying of the temple, so we will have to look for another event that ends the one thousand two hundred and ninety days.

One possible explanation is that one thousand two hundred and ninety days is one hundred and forty days more than one thousand one hundred and fifty days, representing twice seven times ten, a period of divine perfection intensified. This may then refer to the length of time taken to fortify Mount Sion and rebuild its walls and fortify it with towers after the purification of the temple lest the Gentiles come and tread them down (1 Maccabees 4:60). For that would be almost as important as the purification of the temple. It would hopefully prevent its future desecration. Compare how previously the Temple was restored in the time of Zerubbabel, while the building of the walls awaited the time of Nehemiah.

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Certainly the number is a difficulty to all other interpretations. All attempts to trace it have failed. Nor is it possible to see it as signifying three and a half years, for it represents three and a half years plus a month, and surely if he had wanted us to understand it as three and a half years he would have made it one thousand two hundred and sixty days. (Daniel nowhere speaks of one thousand two hundred and sixty days). John in Revelation clearly did not see one thousand two hundred and ninety days as signifying three and a half years, for when he wanted to indicate that length of time he did use one thousand two hundred and sixty days (confirming our doubt above).

It is true that an intercalary month could bring it to mean three and a half years, but why then did Daniel disguise it in that way so that even John did not recognise it? And it would certainly conflict with other criteria. Most have accepted this and have tried to find an added reason for the extra month, although not very satisfactorily.

If then we see Daniel 8:14 as signifying two thousand three hundred days , we may see this one thousand two hundred and ninety days as simply meaning ‘a little over three and a half years’, during which the persecutions were at their worst, a time commencing from the cessation of true worship and ending with the righting of the situation.

We may also see it in fact as indicating that he did not want it to be connected with references that might be confused with it such as ‘a time, times and half a time’ (although there is really no reason why that should mean three and a half years either, except for those who want it to).

We must bear in mind in all the discussion that the real purpose in stating the amount of time may be mainly to indicate the shortness and brevity of it, and to indicate that God wanted His people to know that he had set a limit on the time of suffering, and this must not be lost sight of in dealing with the problem. For even if we are not able to trace the exact period due to lack of information, what we do know is that it was a length of time reasonably relating to their suffering under Antiochus, commencing from the cessation of true worship and finishing around the

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time when things were set right.

However, if Daniel 8:14 refers to one thousand one hundred and fifty days then this is one hundred and forty days longer, which may be seen as necessitating a slightly different solution (for which see above).

(But if the two thousand three hundred was intended to indicate days commencing from the date of the appointment of the false Menelaus, or the date from which he commenced his sacrilegious ministry, or the date when he arranged the murder of Onias, or the date when he purloined the temple vessels which Onias had reproved him for, then there is no conflict).

Jesus takes this picture of ‘the Abomination that Appals’ (Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14) and applies it to approach of the Roman army on Jerusalem in 70 AD. In the end, therefore, it is a reminder that all acts of sacrilege against God’s people are seen as summed up in the Abomination that Appals. To attack God’s people is an abomination to God. But all such attempts will finally fail, for a time limit has been put upon them by God.

TRAPP, "Verse 8

Daniel 12:8 And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what [shall be] the end of these [things]?

Ver. 8. And I heard, but I understood not.] This he ingenuously confesseth, for the best know but in part. [1 Corinthians 13:12] And if any man thinketh that he knoweth ought, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. [1 Corinthians 8:2] Let this be noted by such as profess to know, beyond the periphery of human knowledge, all that is knowable. Any created understanding is but, as Aeschylus saith of fire stolen by Prometheus, παντεχνου πυρος σελας, a spark of the all-wise God’s fire. The prophets themselves understood not some things that were shown unto them without a further light from the Father of lights, whose alone it is to

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enlighten both organ and object, as Plato (a) also could say.

What shall be the end of these things?] An end he much desired, and the angel for him. [Daniel 12:6] But men must have patience, and wait God’s end. "Ye have need of patience or tarryance," saith the apostle, [Hebrews 10:36] "that after ye have done the will of God (and suffered it too, grievous though it be for the present) ye may receive the promise." Good men find it often more easy to bear evil than to wait till the promised good be enjoyed.

POOLE, " i.e. What is the meaning of all this, of the

times, time, and half, when they begin and end; and when the enemies of the churches, and the sufferings of the church, shall have their end.

BENSON, “Verse 8-9

Daniel 12:8-9. And I heard, but I understood not — I did not understand what time was allotted for bringing to pass this event, namely, the restoration of the Jewish nation, or the complete overthrow of all antichristian powers. The prophets, it must be observed, did not always receive the interpretation of what was revealed to them, as appears from 1 Peter 1:11-12. “Study and particular application were required, and often an immediate revelation. The evidence which appears to us so clearly, in the greater part of the prophecies which respect Jesus Christ, and the establishment of the church, was under an impenetrable obscurity before the event. It was the same with respect to those which concerned the persecutions of Antiochus. All this was most inexplicable to the Jews, before they saw the completion; and it is pretty nearly the same at present with us respecting some future events foretold by the prophets, particularly in the book of Revelation, which are yet to be accomplished, and which consequently are dark, and difficult to be understood.” — Calmet. And he said, Go thy way, for the words are closed up, &c. — Be content with what has been made known to thee; (see Daniel 12:13;) for the full explication is deferred, till the time of its accomplishment draws near.

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PARKER, “ The Reservations of God

Daniel 12:8-13

Who can be so perplexing as God? "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing." We think we have got an answer when we have only got a reply. There is a great sound of thunder in the air, but what it all means not even Daniel can tell. Yet the thunder is very useful; the thunder is the minister of God. There are mountains that have never been climbed; if they had been climbed they had been vulgarised, The pinnacles of the church were not made to be stood upon. Daniel asked a question and received all these words in reply, and no man knows what they mean. There they are, and they are useful every one of them. Who would be without the mystery? Who would have an earth without a sky? It would not be worth having. Yet the earth is under foot and comparatively manageable; we can dig it, plough it, put stones into it with a view of putting up a house, which the earth will always try to cast out, for the earth does not like masonry: the earth does not like to be violated. But the sky no man has touched. The sky is the best part of us. We get all our vegetables out of the sky, though we think we do not. All the flowers are out of the sun, though we think we planted them. So easily may we be misled by half-truths and by mere aspects of facts! Yet we cannot do without astronomy. We may have it as a science, it is not every mouth that can pronounce long words, but we must have it as a sovereign and gracious effect.

Daniel was bewildered. He said, "And I heard, but I understood not." That is exactly our position today. Not one inch has the world advanced since that time in the matter of understanding, though it has published many books. Who ever knew a second edition of a book that was not amended? Why did not the man publish the second edition first by waiting until he had amended his own manuscript? It is thus, however, that God trains us and educates us. We are all trained up through our mistakes. Blessed is the man who knows the number of his mistakes, and who uses them for educational purposes. To-day is a second edition of yesterday, with emendation, if we be wise. We can publish today, just as we published yesterday, without amending a line, but therein we shall do nothing but establish our own folly. It is not necessary to understand in order to profit. Many persons will insist that

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unless they understand a matter they cannot be edified by it. I question, then, whether they are ever edified at all. We want both sides: the simple and the complex, the earth that can be ploughed and the heaven that can only be reverently looked at through a telescope. Herein we do great injustice to persons who have not much letter-learning. There is a learning of the soul; there is a spiritual sensitiveness that amounts to genius. There are children who understand more of the sanctuary than grey-haired fathers do. Children often see things first. They do not see them mechanically and artificially, and they do not publish a plan or map of them; but you relate your originalities to the child, and if they are real the child saw them quite one week before you ever dreamed of them,—saw them in another way, its own dear, sweet, beautiful, and useful way. Persons think that if they understand religion they have got it. But no man can understand religion. Religion was never meant to be understood; it was meant to be felt, a secret, subtle, infinite fire, a climate, not an overcoat. When your life laughs with new joy, springs up to do heroic service, goes out to seek opportunities of doing good, then know that God is at work in your souls, and never mind what you understand. You know perfectly well you never had an understanding about anything that you have not modified or obliterated. What you want is Pentecostal fire, divine emotion; not silly, shallow sentiment, but deep, grand emotion that will express itself in discipline and in service.

What a noble counsellor this prophet will make! He tells us with great frankness and brotherly-kindness that what he is talking about he does not understand. That is the teacher we have been seeking all our lives. We want the learned professor who will sometimes denude himself of his spectacles and come before us and say, "Children, you know as much as I do about this, and that is nothing at all." I could trust that man. The religion of the Bible is not some masonry that can only be understood by scribes who are eighty years of age, and who have passed through regulation courses. The religion of the Bible is an inspiration, something that is insubstantial, but that somehow gets hold of the life, and leads it out into the fresh air and the sunshine, and sends it back into the market-place and the field to buy and sell honestly and to toil faithfully for harvest. A pulpit that understands is a pulpit to be dreaded. Religion in some of its forms has been well-nigh wrecked by creed-makers and catechism-mongers, who have actually parcelled out the whole universe into paragraphs and called one of them "one," another "two," and another "three," and on to fifty. How much better these men had been employed in a day"s good ploughing, in six months with hard labour! Parcel out your little earth if you like, and sell it in lots and leases and freeholds and copyholds, "with the said

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messuages"; but let the sky alone.

Many persons have arisen in the evolution of the ages who could have told Daniel what he did not understand. The man himself who wrote the book said he knew nothing about it, but persons who were born eighteen hundred years afterwards could now raise up Daniel and tell him what a fool he was not to have seen it at the time. All these days have been calculated; nearly every great man has been discovered by name in these emblematic numbers. All the Napoleons and Caesars and Leos of creation have been imaged by these mystical numerals. One might have believed in the interpretation if they had referred to one man only, and if every age had succeeded every other age in confirming the discovery; but when numerals can be so twisted as to. bring in even you and me, as well as Hannibal, Julius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, the Pope, and the last Prime Minister, it seems to me that numbers which are so infinitely accommodating ruin themselves by their generality. Let us take our stand by Daniel and hear without understanding.

What was the direction given to Daniel? It was a divine direction—"Go thy way, Daniel"; in other words, Be at rest. The man was not ordered off like a trespassing dog; he was quieted like a troubled heart: Sit down, be at rest, be quiet, wait, expect. That is God"s answer to us all in our eagerness and our impatience. Daniel wanted to know "the end." That is precisely what we may not know. We have nothing to do with the end; what we have to do with is the beginning and the middle, and every intermediate point in the series of points. The end hath God reserved unto himself. All that he has told us about it is that it shall be well. Will he bring all the crooked lines quite straight? He says he will. But will he get such hold of the devil as to make him part of the furniture of the universe in some way or other? Yes. And hell? He will work it up into jewellery. And night? He will drive it away like a bird of evil omen, and no other world will receive the unwelcome visitor; it shall be a wanderer for ever. When? It is not for us to know. How? Wait; be patient; be calm; be useful. The Lord has never yet discovered the end to his servants. What end can there be in God that is not another beginning? Yet what we would call the end because of our own finiteness shall burn like a midday sun, and no cloud shall violate that sanctuary of light. God is always keeping us back, reining us in, telling us that quietness is our strength and silence is our confidence. We think we could go ten miles an hour faster, but God knows we should drive ourselves into destruction: therefore he says to us, Stand; be quiet; rest. How wise it is! When we have taken the advice and really rest, into what a noble temper we come! Then no man may

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hear our words of self-chastisement: we blister ourselves with reproach; we say we will never do so again, but always be patient and waiting and watchful; then in one little hour we catch ourselves just as eager and impatient as ever, wanting to knock upon doors upon which there is printed in letters bright as stars, "Private." Why can we not let these doors alone?

Yet God will give some little light after all. There shall be cross-beams that shall vex the eyes and yet shall throw a lurid elucidation upon the mad processes of earth"s tumult:—"Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand." God will get something out of this battle; he will get the "many." How shall we know that we are God"s? When we are "purified, and made white, and tried." But why shall the wise understand—not understand in the intellectual sense, but understand in that large moral sense which can say with frank definiteness and grateful love, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him"? I cannot explain it, but I feel it; I do not know God in my head, but I know God in my heart; I understand the purpose, not the end. "The wicked shall do wickedly"; that is to say, the wicked shall become worse and worse. The path of the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day; and the path of the wicked is as the growing night, deepening in darkness until the darkness can be felt. It is one of two things with us: we are either growing up or growing down. We cannot remain at the same point. We say we are no worse than we were ten years ago; but if we are not better we are worse. We cannot grow better by mere abstinence, negation, by endeavouring not to do anything. The man could not increase his one talent by hiding it in the earth; nor can we stand still in character. The wicked man becomes worse and worse, until hell is too good for him. There is nothing outside a Prayer of Manasseh , even though it be called perdition, that can be half so bad as the man himself. Oh the heart! bottomless pit! Oh the heart! an opening heaven Which is it in our case?

Has the devil no season of triumph? Has he no jubilee? He has delusions and illusions which he tries to make into a kind of jubilee:—"And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up." There is therefore a temporary triumph. It shall come to pass that somehow, by door or window, the enemy shall get into the sanctuary and put out the altar fire; and there shall be nothing on the altar but white ashes. Somehow an evil power shall get hold of legislatures and nations and families, "and the abomination that maketh

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desolate"—a grim, horrible, ghastly figure—"shall be set up" as if for worship. How is it that God sometimes stands quite aside that the devil may have one hour"s triumph? "I heard, but I understood not" The devil has his day; there are times when everything is loosened, when the very foundations are out of course, and when there is no building anything with any hope of duration. What then? Blessed is he that waiteth. The "days," whatever may be their mystic significance, are a number. Is the number a thousand two hundred and ninety? So be it; a child could write that set of figures. The figures may be four or five, yet they amount merely to a breath, a flash of the eye, a wave of the hand, and the five-and-thirtieth day drops into nothingness and is forgotten. Be not afraid of anything that measures itself by days. The Christians were to be handed over, according to the apocalyptic statement, for ten days. Be not afraid of anything that was made in days. In six days the Lord finished the heavens and the earth, and they are set up for burning; they are nothing; they are a framework; we shall hear them go off in a crackling fire, countless red lurid sparks; what we call the heavens and the earth have gone back to their primordial mist. The heavens shall pass away with a great noise. They were made in days. What then is our security, and what is our rest? Eternity, that which hath no beginning and no end, only continuance. Blessed is he who is resting in the pavilion of eternity.

What is to become of the inquiring Daniels? They are to go their way "till the end." Daniel , thou shalt have something; thou hast listened to all this strange weird music, and canst make nothing of it; it was not intended that thou shouldst make much meaning out of all this tumult of words and figures, and yet thou art a better man for having heard it all; thou hast a roomier nature, a keener fancy, a hotter imagination, and a larger life. We are the better for having stood upon the unpolluted mountain, for having breathed the higher air; we are the better for every great sight we have lovingly looked upon. Every man is the richer if he has looked upon colour with an enlightened eye. There is no man so bad as he was since he saw the primrose and kissed it. There was so much in it—banished winter, melted ice, released forces, resurrection, liberty, possible heaven. When he kissed that little harbinger of the summer he parted with some of the pollution that was upon his lips. "Thou shalt... stand in thy lot"—a term taken from the division of the lots in old Israel. Every tribe had its lot; every prophet shall have his lot; every good soul shall have its little garden. There is land enough in God"s paradise. Here we have had but enough to lay our dead bones in, but at the end each of us shall have a little strip of garden and right of entrance into the whole paradise of God. I lay more stress upon that right of entrance than merely upon my own little slip; I like to have

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the little cut of greensward and the few coloured daisies growing around its hedge, but to have right of entrance into God"s paradise, God"s palace-park, all the land—that is the portion of them that trust.

What then have we to do? We have to do three things. First, we have to attend to the practical. Many men have been trying to make out the meaning of the twelve hundred and ninety days who have never kept one of the commandments. There are empirics and adventurers now who are publishing placards calling upon the unwary public to come and hear the meaning of the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days who never loved an enemy and never helped a friend. If we are to understand the Apocalypse we must first keep the commandments. If we would enter heaven we must keep the commandments first. Do the little which you do know. "What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" O thou foolish soul, trying to make out the meaning of the twelve hundred and ninety days, and forgetting to pay the wages of the hireling, forgetting to cool the brow of fever! Then, secondly, we are not to deny the mysterious. The Bible will always be the most mysterious of books. Why shall it be always the most mysterious of writings? Because it contains God. No man can find out the Almighty unto perfection. He cannot be searched or comprehended or weighed in a balance or set forth in words and figures. So long as the Bible tabernacles God it will be an awful sanctuary. Then, in the third place, we have to learn patience. Personally, I am waiting for God"s comment upon God"s words. There are many persons who have handled the Bible indiscreetly. They have been keen in finding discrepancies and contradictions; they have busied themselves about signatures; they have asked whether Moses signed this, and David signed that, and Daniel signed the other; and they have got up a post hoc case in favour of the Bible. On the whole they have come to think that possibly bits of it may be inspired. I have not reached any such conclusion. All I know of it in the matter of conduct, and elevation of soul, and prospect of salvation, is inspired enough for me; and as for the parts I do not understand, I am waiting, and perhaps when God comes to read it to me I shall find that not God, but the critics have been wrong.

WHEDON, “8. This is not literally a question as to the length of time before the end (Daniel 12:6), but as to the issue of this struggle so far as the wicked oppressors and the righteous sufferers are concerned. But the reply of the angel takes account also of the fact that Daniel had not understood the answer to his former question.

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9 He replied, “Go your way, Daniel, because the words are rolled up and sealed until the time of the end.

1. Barnes, “And he said, Go thy way, Daniel - That is, make no further inquiries. All has been disclosed that is to be. At the close of his communication Dan_12:4, he had told Daniel to shut up, and seal the book, for his revelations were ended. He here repeats substantially the same thing, and he assures him that no more could be imparted on the subject.

For the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end - He had finished his communication, and had directed Daniel to close up the record which he made of it, and to affix a seal to the volume, Dan_12:4. He regarded the whole, therefore, as closed and sealed, until the “end” should come. The events themselves would unfold the meaning of the prediction more fully, and would confirm its truth by their exact correspondence with it. Yet, though the revelation was closed, and all that the angel had designed to say had been said, he does, in the subsequent verses, throw out some suggestions as to the time, or as to some important events which were to mark the termination of the wonders referred to. They are bare hints, however, the meaning of which was to be reserved until the time when the predictions would be accomplished, and they are not of such a nature that they can be supposed to have furnished any additional light to Daniel, or to have done anything to relieve the perplexity of his mind in the case.

2. Clarke, “The words are closed up - The prophecy shall not be understood, but in its accomplishment; and then the depth of the wisdom and providence of God will be clearly seen in these matters. See on Daniel 4 (note). We must wait “till the time of the end;” and this, it appears from the following calculations, will not arrive before the Twentieth Century. We here see the reason why these prophecies are at present so imperfectly understood. God has sealed them.

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3. Gill, “And he said, go thy way, Daniel,.... About thy business; attend to civil affairs, the affairs in which he was concerned in the king's court, and ask no more questions concerning this matter; but be content with the prophecies that have been delivered to thee, and with what knowledge thou hast of them: or he is bid to go and write in a book the several visions he had seen, and the predictions related to him; that he might read them, and meditate on them at his leisure, and transmit them to future posterity, for their use: or go the way of all flesh, prepare for death and eternity; for in the present state he was not to expect a full revelation of these things; but should rest satisfied with what he knew, and assure himself with the full performance of them, and that he should have his share of the blessed times in the Millennium, and of the ultimate glory, as in Dan_12:13. For the words are closed up, and sealed till the time of the end; that is, till the time comes, or draws near, that they shall be accomplished; till then they would not be clearly understood, but remain in a great measure dark and obscure, though sure and certain: it is suggested they would not always remain so; time is the best interpreter of prophecy, and, the nearer the time of the accomplishment of it is, the clearer it appears, things leading the way to it being gradually fulfilled; but clearest of all when it is accomplished; then it is no more shut and sealed, but open and manifest; See Gill on Dan_12:4.

5. Jamison, “Daniel’s desire of knowing more is thus deferred “till the time of the end.” John’s Revelation in part reveals what here is veiled (see on Dan_12:4; see on Dan_8:26).

6. K&D, “Daniel 12:9

The answer, ל , go thy way, Daniel, is quieting, and at the same time it contains a refusal to answer; yet it is not wholly a refusal, as is clear from Dan_12:11, Dan_12:12. The disclosure regarding the end which is given to him in these verses shows distinctly that the end of the things is not so revealed as that men shall be able to know it beforehand with certainty.

(Note: On this Calvin has well remarked: Quamvis Daniel non stulta curiositate inductus quaesierit ex angelo de fine mirabilium, tamen non obtinet, quod petebat, quia scilicet voluit Deus ad modum aliquem intelligi quae praedixerat, sed tamen aliquid manere occultum usque dum veniret maturum plenae revelationis tempus. Haec igitur ratio est, cur angelus non exaudiat Danielem. Pium quidem erat ejus votum (neque enim optat quicquam scire plus quam jus esset), verum Deus scit quod opus sit, ideo non concessit quod optabat.)ל signifies neither go hence, i.e., depart, die (Bertholdt, Hävernick), nor go away,

instead of standing waiting for an answer (Hitzig), for the angel does give him an answer; but as the formula dimittentis ut excitantis ad animi tranquillitatem (C. B. Michaelis), it has the meaning: vade Daniel, h. e. mitte hanc praesentem tuam curam. “Be at peace, leave this matter alone” (Geier and others, and similarly v. Lengerke, Kranichfeld, Kliefoth). The clause assigning the reason for the command כי (for the

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words are shut up, etc.), is chiefly interpreted as referring the closing and sealing up to the incomprehensibility of the prophecy. Thus e.g., Ewald explains it: “For hidden and sealed up are the words, all the things contained in these prophecies, till the time of the end; then shall they be easily unsealed and deciphered.” But since, according to Dan_12:4, Daniel himself must shut up and seal the book, the participles in the clause, assigning the reason for the command ל, cannot have the meaning of the perfect, but only state what is or shall be done: shut up - they shall be (remain) till the time of the end; thus they only denote the shutting up and sealing which must be accomplished by Daniel. But Daniel could not make the prophecy unintelligible, since (Dan_12:8) he himself did not understand it; nor could he seal it up till the time of the end, since he did not live to see the end. The shutting up and sealing which was commanded to the prophet can therefore only consist in this, that the book should be preserved in security against any defacement of its contents, so that it might be capable of being read at all times down to the time of the end, and might be used by God's people for the strengthening of their faith; cf. Dan_8:26. “Thus Daniel is calmed in regard to his not understanding it by the fact that this whole prophecy (הדברים as in Dan_12:4) shall be guarded and placed in safety, and shall continue through all times down to the end” (Kliefoth). For the use of it in all times is supposed in Dan_12:10.

7. CALVIN, "Although Daniel was not induced by any foolish curiosity to inquire of the angel the issue of these wonderful events, yet he did not obtain his request. God wished some of his predictions to be partially understood, and the rest to remain concealed until the full period of the complete revelation should arrive. This is the reason why the angel did not reply to Daniel. The wish in truth was pious, and, as we have previously stated, it did not contain anything unlawful; but God, knowing what was good for him, did not grant his request. He is dismissed by the angel, because the words were shut up and sealed The angel uses this expression in a sense different from the former one. For he ordered Daniel to close and seal the words like precious treasures, as they would be set at naught by many disbelievers, and by almost the whole people. Here then, he says, the words were closed up and sealed, as there was no fitting occasion for revealing them. As if he had said, nothing has been predicted either vainly or rashly, but the full blaze of light has not yet been thrown upon the prediction: hence we must wait until the truth itself is proved by the event, and thus the divine utterance of the angel is made manifest. This is the summary. He then says, until the time of the end Some one might possibly object; then for what purpose was this prediction delivered? For Daniel himself, who was instructed by the angel, could not thoroughly comprehend his own message, and the rest of the faithful, although versed in these prophetic studies, felt themselves in a labyrinth here. The answer is at hand, until the time of the end; and we must also remember that neither Daniel nor the rest of the faithful were deprived of all the advantage of this prophecy, for God explained to them whatever was sufficient for the necessities

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of their own times. I must pass over some points slightly, with the view of finishing today. It follows —

ELLICOTT, " (9) Go thy way.—That is, be at peace. Observe that the matter is not explained to Daniel any further. He is assured that the end will most certainly come. Compare another gentle rebuke that was addressed to one who wished to see further than was fitting into the future (John 21:21-22).

Closed up and sealed.—To be explained as in Daniel 12:4. The book is to be carefully preserved till the end of time.

TRAPP, "Verse 9

Daniel 12:9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words [are] closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

Ver. 9. And he said, Go thy way, Daniel.] Quiesce, tibi satis esto - q.d., Though dearly beloved, yet of some things thou must be content to be ignorant. It should suffice thee to be of God’s court, though not altogether of his council. See Daniel 12:13. There is a laudable and learned ignorance, as of unnecessaries, of impossibles, or of unprofitables; such as are the term of our lives, the end of the world, the reprobation of others, &c.

For the words are closed up,] viz., Till future ages, which are more concerned in them, and till which these things shall be concealed.

WHEDON, “9. See note Daniel 12:4. Even prophets like Daniel cannot know all that they wish to know. Mysteries must remain. It is enough for man that all the struggles and seeming failures of the saints are known to God and that he has planned for them all a glorious future. The sun now obscured by the clouds shall

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shine some day with great glory, but only for the “wise” and in the “last time.”

10 Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.

1. Barnes, “Many shall be purified - In future times. That is, as the connection would seem to require, there will be a system introduced by which many will become purified, and made holy. Daniel might hope and expect that under the arrangements which God would make, many of the human race would be cleansed from sin. To what he would apply this we cannot determine, but it is a great truth of immense importance in regard to the human family, that, before the “end,” or the consummation, “many” will be made holy.

And made white - White is the emblem of innocence or purity, and hence, the term is so often applied to the righteous. “They have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb,” “they shall walk before me in white,” etc. Hence, the angels are represented as appearing in white raiment. The meaning here is, that many on the earth would be made holy before the end would come. The mind of Daniel was thus directed onward to one of the most glorious truths pertaining to future times - that multitudes of the human race would be redeemed, and would be prepared for a holy heaven.And tried - Tried as in a furnace; that is, they will be subjected to persecutions, and to various other forms of suffering, that will test the strength of their faith, and the nature of their religion. This language, also, is of a general character, and would in itself apply to the times of Antiochus, but it is also fitted to describe what would occur in other ages. Perhaps the meaning is, that it would be a prominent thing in the future, in introducing the triumphs of religion; and in preparing the people of God for heaven, that they would be subjected to various forms of trial. There have been facts enough of this kind in the history of the church to justify this description, and to show that it would be a marked feature in spreading religion on the earth, that its friends would be persecuted. “But the wicked shall do wickedly.” They will continue to do wickedly. Notwithstanding all the judgments that will come upon men; notwithstanding all that will be done to

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purify the people of God, and, notwithstanding the fact that “many” will be of a different character - will be “purified and made white, and tried,” yet it will be a truth still, that there will be wicked men upon the earth, and that they will act out their nature.This remark seems to have been thrown in by the angel to prevent the impression which Daniel might possibly get from what was said, not only that the true religion would generally prevail, but that wickedness would wholly cease in the earth. Such a time, perhaps, we are not authorized to look for; while we may hope and believe that there will be a period when the worship of God will pervade the world, and will supersede all other forms of worship, yet we have no reason to expect that every individual of the human family at any one time will be converted, and that none of the remains of the apostasy will be seen on the earth. There will be wicked men still, and they will act out their nature, despite all that is done to save them, and despite the fact that religion will have the ascendency in the hearts and lives of the great mass of mankind. For an illustration of this, see the notes at Rev_9:20-21; notes at Rev_20:7.And none of the wicked shall understand - This, also, is a general declaration. It means, that none of the wicked would understand the import of these prophecies, or the true nature of religion. Their depravity of heart would prevent it; their purpose to lead a wicked life would so cloud their understandings, and pervert their moral judgments, that they would have no correct appreciation of the government of God, and the nature of the Divine plans and dispensations. Compare the notes at 1Co_2:14. The fact here asserted has been always true, and always will be, that sin prevents a clear perception of Divine truth, and that wicked men have no appropriate views of the plans and purposes of God. To comprehend religion aright a man needs a pure heart; and no one under the influence of depraved feelings, and corrupt propensities and appetites, can expect to have a just appreciation of what is good. Doubtless it will be found to be true in the days of millennial glory, when the true religion shall spread over the world, and when the earth shall be filled with light, that there will be wicked men who will have no correct understanding of the nature of religion, and whose minds will be blind to all the evidences of the truth of revelation which shall be diffused around them. No man, unless he is converted, has any proper conception of the beauty of religion.But the wise shall understand - They who serve God and love him, and who, therefore, come under the denomination of the truly wise. See the notes at Dan_12:3. The meaning is, that religion - the love of God and a pure heart - will qualify them to perceive the import of Divine truth; to appreciate what is revealed, and to obtain a just view of passing events - or to “understand the signs of the times.” Humble and sincere piety - a heart and mind made pure and clear by the influence of Divine truth - is the best preparation for understanding the works and ways of God. Compare the notes at 1Co_2:9-12, 1Co_2:14-15.

2. Clarke, “Many shall be purified - During the interim, the great work of God’s providence and grace shall be carried on in the salvation of men; who, in the midst of trials, temptations, and difficulties, shall be purified and made white - be fully saved from their sins.

None of the wicked shall understand - Because they are wicked, and will continue in their sins, the eyes of their understanding shall be closed, and their hearts hardened; so that they shall not see the light of the glorious Gospel.127

But the wise - Those who open their hearts to God, that he may pour in his light, shall understand the things that make for their peace.

3. Gill, “Many shall be purged, and made white, and tried,.... Though Christ does not give, in plain, clear, and explicit terms, an answer to the above question, when, and how, and what would be the end of the church's troubles and afflictions; yet he here points out the use of them, which for the present should be chiefly attended to; and, when duly considered, would be a means of causing the saints to endure them with more patience and cheerfulness: many should be hereby made more pure and holy, and more free from their spots, their chaff, and their dross; their corruptions, and the power of them, weakened; their graces tried, and become more bright and shining; and they themselves a greater ornament to the religion they profess: hereby they should be "purified", or cleansed from the chaff of their sins; or be separated, as the chaff is by the fan, from hypocrites and ungodly men, who would not be able to endure persecution for the sake of the Gospel: and "be made white"; as cloth is by the fuller; freed both from their own spots in their garments, being led to the blood of Christ to wash their garments, and make them white therein; which afflictions may be the means of guiding them to, under the direction of the blessed Spirit; and from such persons who were spots in their feasts of love: and "be tried", as gold and silver in the furnace, and so be rid of their own dross, and of the wicked of the earth, who are like unto it; see the note on Dan_11:35. But the wicked shall do wickedly; go on in a course of sin, and be never the better for the afflictive dispensations of Providence; these either mean formal professors, that turn apostates from the faith, and become openly wicked livers; or the profane world in common; and particularly furious persecutors of the saints: such as each of these there will be till the end of things come; see Rev_22:11, and none of the wicked shall understand; neither the doctrines of the Gospel spiritually and experimentally; nor the providences of God, and what he is doing in the world; and particularly not the prophecy of this book, and especially what has been just delivered: but the wise shall understand; more or less of each of these things, such as are wise unto salvation; that search the Scriptures, seek to God by prayer, and are much in meditation, and make use of every help for the understanding of divine things, and even of these prophecies; and especially towards the close of time, as the accomplishment of them draws near.

4. Henry, “(3.) He must count upon no other than that, as long as the world stands, there will still be in it such a mixture as now we see there is of good and bad, Dan_12:10. We long to see all wheat and no tares in God's field, all corn and no chaff in God's floor; but it will not be till the time of ingathering, till the winnowing day, comes; both must grow together until the harvest. As it has been, so it is, and will be, The wicked shall do wickedly, but the wise shall understand. In this, as in other things, St. John's Revelation closes as Daniel did. Rev_22:11, He that is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is

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holy, let him be holy still. [1.] There is no remedy but that wicked people will do wickedly; and such people there are and will be in the world to the end of time. So said the proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceeds from the wicked (1Sa_24:13); and the observation of the moderns says the same. Bad men will do bad things; and a corrupt tree will never bring forth good fruit. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or bring forth good things from an evil treasure in the heart? No; wicked practices are the natural products of wicked principles and dispositions. Marvel not at the matter then, Ecc_5:8. We are told, before, that the wicked will do wickedly; we can expect no better from them: but, which is worse, none of the wicked shall understand. This is either, First, A part of their sin. They will not understand; they shut their eyes against the light, and none so blind as those that will not see. Therefore they are wicked because they will not understand. If they did but rightly know the truths of God, they would readily obey the laws of God, Psa_82:5. Wilful sin is the effect of wilful ignorance; they will not understand because they are wicked; they hate the light, and come not to the light, because their deeds are evil, Joh_3:19. Or, Secondly, It is a part of their punishment; they will do wickedly, and therefore God has given them up to blindness of mind, and has said concerning them, They shall not understand, nor be converted and healed,Mat_13:14, Mat_13:15. God will not give them eyes to see, because they will do wickedly, Deu_29:4. [2.] Yet, bad as the world is, God will secure to himself a remnant of good people in it; still there shall be some, there shall be many, to whom the providences and ordinances of God shall be a savour of life unto life, while to others they are a savour of death unto death. First, the providences of God shall do them good: Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried, by their troubles (compare Dan_11:35), by the same troubles which will but stir up the corruptions of the wicked and make them do more wickedly. Note, The afflictions of good people are designed for their trial; but by these trials they are purified and made white, their corruptions are purged out, their graces are brightened, and made both more vigorous and more conspicuous, and are found to praise, and honour, and glory, 1Pe_1:7. To those who are themselves sanctified and good every event is sanctified, and works for good, and helps to make them better. Secondly, The word of God shall do them good. When the wicked understand not, but stumble at the word, the wise shall understand. Those who are wise in practice shall understand doctrine; those who are influenced and governed by the divine law and love shall be illuminated with a divine light. For if any man will do his will he shall know the truth, Joh_7:17. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser.

5. Jamison, “There is no need of a fuller explanation as to the time; for when the predictions so far given shall have come to pass, the godly shall be “purified” by the foretold trials and shall understand that the end is at hand; but the wicked shall not understand, and so shall rush on to their own ruin (Dan_11:33-35) [Maurer]. The “end” is primarily, of Antiochus’ persuasion; antitypically, the end of Antichrist’s. It is the very clearness in the main which renders necessary the obscurity. The fulfillment of God’s decree is not a mere arithmetical problem which the profane may understand by arithmetical calculations, but a holy enigma to stimulate to a faithful observance of God’s ways, and to a diligent study of the history of God’s people [Auberlen]. To this Christ refers (Mat_24:15), “Whose readeth, let him understand.”

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6. K&D, “Daniel 12:10The first clause of this verse is interpreted from Dan_11:35. The being purified is effected through tribulation and affliction, which the people shall endure to the end. The prophecy shall serve for the gaining of this object. It is true, indeed, that this perfection shall not be attained by all; they that are ungodly shall remain ungodly still, and therefore they do not come to the understanding of the words which all the wise shall

gain. יבינו and יבינו לא stand in such distinct relation to the אבין לא (I understood not), Dan_12:8, that they must be taken in the same sense in both places, i.e., not to have insight in general, but by supplying הדברים as the object from Dan_12:8, to have understanding of the prophecy. This is denied of the wicked or the godless. Only the wise shall gain it. Thus the angel says to Daniel for the purpose of calming him regarding his non-understanding: - Calm thyself, Daniel, if thou dost not understand these words. The prophecy shall be preserved for all times to the end of the days. These times shall bring many tribulations, to purify thy people; and though by these afflictions all shall not be converted, but the wicked shall remain wicked still and shall not understand the prophecy, yet the wise shall be purified and made white by the afflictions, and the longer they are tried the better shall they learn to understand the prophecy. Thus, though thou thyself understandest it not, yet it shall be a source of great blessing to the people of God, and in all times, even unto the end, they shall have more and more an understanding of it.

Thus has Kliefoth rightly presented the meaning of both verses, and in confirmation of this interpretation has referred to 1Pe_1:10,1Pe_1:12, where, with reference to the passage before us (cf. Hengstenberg, Beitrag. i. p. 273f.), it is said that the prophets received the prophecies of the end not for themselves alone, but much rather for “us,” for those who come after.

7.CALVIN, "Again, the angel mentions the persecutions which were at hand for the purpose of arming the faithful for the approaching conflicts. We know from other sources how tender and weak our minds naturally are, for as soon as any cause for fear arises, before it comes to blows, we fall down lifeless through terror. As, therefore, our natural imbecility is so great, we necessarily require many stimulants to patience, and to urge us to contend with earnestness, and never to yield to any temptations. This is the reason why the angel announces the necessity for such multiplied purification’s, to cleanse them, as wheat from chaff; to whiten them, as cloth by the fuller; and to melt them, as metal to be separated from dross. First of all, as I have previously explained, he admonishes Daniel and all the pious of the future state of the Church, to lead them to prepare and gird themselves for battle, and to gather up their unconquered fortitude, since the condition of life set before them is that of forcing their way through the midst of troubles. This is one point. Again, the angel shews the practical utility of this kind of life, which might otherwise seem too bitter. We naturally refuse the cross because we feel it contrary

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to our disposition, while God shews the pious that nothing can be more profitable to them than a variety of afflictions. This is a second point. But afflictions by themselves might possibly consume us, and hence we are cast into a furnace. Now, then, could we expect these sufferings to promote our salvation, except God changed their nature in some wonderful way, as their natural tendency is to effect our destruction? But while we are melted down, and whitened, and cleansed, we perceive how God consults for our welfare by pressing us with his cross and causing us to submit to adversity. Now, thirdly, the angel shews the insufficiency of one single act of cleansing, and our need of many more. This is the object of this numerous heaping together of words, they shall be cleansed, and whitened, and melted down, or poured forth. He might have embraced the whole idea in a single word; but, as through our whole lives God never ceases to test us in various ways, the angel heaps together these three words to shew the faithful their need of continual cleansing as long as they are clothed in flesh; just as garments which are in daily use have need of continual washing. However snowy a mantle may be, it becomes soiled immediately when used for even a single day; requiring constant ablution to restore it to its original purity. Thus we are brought in contact with the defilement’s of sin; and as long as we are pilgrims in this world, we necessarily become subject to constant pollution. And as the faithful also are infected with the contagion of numerous iniquities, they require daily purification’s hi different ways. We ought, then, diligently to notice these three distinct processes.

The angel afterwards adds, The impious will act impiously, and will never understand anything; but the prudent will be ever endued with intelligence Here he wishes to fortify the pious against a stumbling block in their way, when they see the profane despisers of God exulting in every direction, and defying God to his face. When the faithful see the world so full of the impious, they seem to be indulging so freely in lust as if there were no God in heaven’ time they are naturally subject to grievous sorrow and distress. To prevent this trial from agitating their minds, the angel announces how the impious should conduct themselves impiously; implying, — there is no reason why thou, O Daniel, or the rest of the righteous, should depend upon the example of others; Satan will cunningly set before you whatever obstacles may draw you into the contempt of God, and the abyss of impiety, unless you are remarkably cautious; but let not the conduct of the impious cause either you or the rest of the pious to stumble. Howsoever they conduct themselves, do you stand invincible. He afterwards assigns a reason for their behavior — they understand nothing, they are perfectly blinded. But what is the source of this blindness? Their being given over to a reprobate sense. If any one

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should see a blind man fall, and should cast himself down after this blind man, would he be excusable? Surely his blindness was the cause of his perishing so miserably, but why does the other person destroy himself willingly? Whenever we see the impious rushing furiously on to their destruction, while God is admonishing them that their blindness proceeds from Satan, and that they are given over to a reprobate mind, are we not doubly mad if we willingly follow them? The cause then of this impious behavior on the part of the wicked, is added with good reason; namely, they understand nothing. Meanwhile, the faithful are recalled to the true remedy, and the angel subjoins, But the prudent shall understand, meaning they shall not permit themselves to be implicated in the errors of those whom they see entirely devoted to their own destruction. Lastly, the angel points out to us the true remedy which will prevent Satan from drawing us off towards impiety, and the impious from infecting us with their evil examples, if we earnestly apply ourselves to the pursuit of heavenly doctrine. If, therefore, we heartily desire to be taught by God and to become his true disciples, the instruction which we derive from him will snatch us from destruction. This is the true sense of the passage. It afterwards follows, —

COFFMAN, ""Many shall purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined; but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand; but they that are wise shall understand."

Daniel desired to know, "What shall be the issue of these things...(Daniel 12:8)." Well here it is. Many shall indeed obey the gospel of Christ and be saved, or "refined" as stated here; but there shall continue to be wicked men who shall act wickedly and shall not be able either to understand or comprehend spiritual things in any manner whatever. This little sentence is a picture of the entire dispensation of the Gospel of Christ. The great cleavage of mankind into the two Biblical groups is seen here: the saved and the lost, the good and the bad, the wheat and the chaff, the wise and the foolish, the wheat and the tares, the keepers and the rejects (the parable of the fish-net), those on the fight hand and those on the left, etc. etc.

ELLICOTT, "(10) Many shall be purified.—See Notes on Revelation 22:11, and comp. Daniel 11:35. The words imply that all shall be fulfilled, the time of persecution shall certainly arise, the righteous will be purified, while the wicked will become apostates. The wise (see Daniel 11:33), and they only, will understand the

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true meaning and profit of tribulation as it is set forth in this prophecy.

TRAPP, "Verse 10

Daniel 12:10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.

Ver. 10. Many shall be purified, and made white, &c., ] q.d., It is enough for thee to know, and that I should now tell thee, quales sint futuri homines postremi saeculi, what kind of folk there shall be towards the end of the world. Some shall be good people, and they shall meet with hard measure, but all shall be for the best unto them in the end. See Daniel 11:35. Others shall be as bad, and so desperately set upon sinning that they shall mind nothing else - no, not when these prophecies are fulfilled - but be "destroyed for lack of knowledge." [Hosea 4:6] Infatuati seducentur, et seducti iudabuntur; being infatuated they shall be seduced, and being seduced they shall be judged, as Augustine’s note is on 2 Thessalonians 2:10.

POOLE, "Verse 10

Of this purging and purifying you heard before, Daniel 11:35; the meaning is, the great afflictions of the church are to prepare them, by taking away their filth, for the Bridegroom, as gold and silver are tried and refined.

None of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand: they shall be blinded, they know not what they do, viz. they shall not be bettered by the word, or rod, or any warnings of God, but be hardened to their ruin; but the godly shall be taught of God to understand the ways of God’s providence, foretold by the prophets, for this is it they are always minded of and commended for; particularly in this kind of wisdom:

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1. Because it is obscure.

2. Because they are concerned greatly to know their safety, and God’s honour lies in it.

BENSON, “Daniel 12:10. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried — See chap. Daniel 11:35, where the same words are found, but in different order. They are words of general and ordinary use, expressive of the purification intended to be produced in the minds of men by afflictions. If we would ascertain their import, the first word is borrowed from wheat, which is cleansed from the chaff; the second from cloth, which is whitened by the fuller; and the third from metal, tried and separated from its dross by goldsmiths. I would refer the whole, says Wintle, to the righteous, who, it is here foretold, should be cleansed by various tribulations and trials; but the like discipline would have no effect on the wicked: see Revelation 22:11. Their wickedness would blind their minds, so that they would not understand, nor attend to these predictions, which the wise, that is, the considerate and divinely enlightened, should understand; should be fully instructed in themselves, and so should be able to teach them to others: see Wintle.

WHEDON, “ 10. See note Daniel 11:35. R.V. reads, “Many shall purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined.” The human will must always act conjointly with the divine in the struggle for purity. (Compare Revelation 7:14.) Some Scripture texts emphasize the manward side of salvation and others the God-ward side. (Compare Acts 3:19; James 5:20.) In this particular case it is the suffering for God’s cause which is to be the purifying agent. (Compare Hebrews 2:10.)

None of the wicked shall understand — No sufferings can purify those who “do wickedly,” and such men cannot understand the meaning of these divine chastisements.

But the wise — These shall understand now that the truth has been revealed to Daniel by God’s angel. Perhaps the phrases of this revelation were made so

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peculiarly enigmatical in order that the wicked and the careless should not understand.

11 “From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.

1. Barnes, “And from the time - Though the angel had said Dan_12:4, Dan_12:9that his communication was closed, and that he imparted all that he was commissioned to communicate to Daniel, yet, as it would seem, in reply to the earnest request of Daniel, he volunteers an additional statement, in regard to certain important periods that were to occur in the future. The language, however, is very obscure; and it would appear, from Dan_12:13, that the angel scarcely expected that Daniel would understand it. The statement relates to certain periods that would succeed the time when the daily sacrifice would be taken away. Two such periods are mentioned as marking important epochs in the future.

That the daily sacrifice shall be taken away - This is the point of reckoning - the terminus a quo. The “taking away of the daily sacrifice” refers, undoubtedly, to some act, or some state of things, by which it would be made to cease; by which the daily offerings at Jerusalem would be either temporarily suspended or totally abolished. See the notes at Dan_8:11; Dan_9:27; Dan_11:31. The language here is applicable to either of two events: to the act of Antiochus, causing the daily sacrifice to cease in Jerusalem Dan_8:11; Dan_11:31, or to the final closing of those sacrifices by the death of the Messiah as the great offering to whom they referred, and the destruction of the temple and the altar by the Romans, Dan_9:27. The view taken in the interpretation of this passage will depend on the question to which of these there is allusion here by the angel, or whether there is an allusion to both. The language evidently is applicable to both, and might be employed with reference to either.And the abomination that maketh desolate set up - See these words explained in the notes at Dan_8:13; Dan_9:27; Dan_11:31. The same remark may be made here which was made respecting the previous expression - that the language is applicable to two quite distinct events, and events which were separated by a long interval of time: to the act of Antiochus in setting up an image of Jupiter in the temple, and to a similar act on the part of the Romans when the temple was finally destroyed. The view which is

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taken of the time referred to here will depend on the question which of these is to be regarded as the stand-point or the terminus a quo, or whether the language is designedly so used that an important epoch was to occur in both cases within a specified period after these events. On these points there has been great diversity of opinion.There shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days - If this is to be taken literally, it would be three years and two hundred and ten days, reckoning the year at 360 days, and is thirty days more than the three years and a half referred to in Dan_12:7. Prof. Stuart, who supposes that the time is to be taken literally, and that the passage refers exclusively to Antiochus Epiphanes, explains the application of the language in the following manner: “Antiochus took away the daily sacrifice as is here declared. This was in the latter part of May, 168 b.c. Profane history does not indeed give us the day, but it designates the year and the season. As we have already seen (compare the extract copied from Prof. Stuart on Dan_7:24-28), about three and a half years elapsed, after the temple worship was entirely broken up, before Judas Maccabeus expurgated the temple and restored its rites. The terminus ad quem is not mentioned in the verse now before us; but still it is plainly implied. The end of the 1290 days must, of course, be marked by some signal event, just as the commencement of them is so marked. And as the suppression of the temple rites constitutes the definitive mark of the commencement, so it would seem plain that the restoration of the same rites must mark the conclusion of the period which is designated.The ‘time of the end,’ i. e., the period at the close of which the persecutions of Antiochus would cease, is distinctly adverted to in Dan_7:25; Dan_11:30-35; Dan_12:7. The nature of the case, in the verse before us, shows that the same period is tacitly referred to in the words of the speaker. No doubt remains that his march (the march of Antiochus) from Antioch to Egypt, for hostile purposes, was in the spring of the year 168 b.c. He was delayed for some time on this march by ambassadors from Egypt, who met him in Coelo-Syria. Very naturally, therefore, we may conclude that he arrived opposite Jerusalem in the latter part of May, and that there and then he commissioned Apollonius to rifle and profane the temple. The exact time from the period when this was done, down to the time of the expurgation, seems to have been, and is designated as being, 1290 days.” - Hints on Prophecy, pp. 94, 95. It is evident, however, that there is here no clear making out of the exact time by any historical records, though it is in itself not improbable. Still the great difficulty is, that in the supposition that the “time, and times, and an half” refers to Antiochus, as denoting the period of his persecutions, thus limiting it to three years and a half - a period which can be made out without material difficulty (compare the notes at Dan_7:24-28) - that another time or period should be mentioned here of thirty days more, concerning which there is no corresponding event in the historical facts, or at least none that can now be demonstrated to have occurred. See the remarks at the close of the next verses.

2. Clarke, “From the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away - See the notes on Dan_11:25-27 (note).

The abomination that maketh desolate set up - I believe, with Bp. Newton, that this is a proverbial phrase; and may be applied to any thing substituted in the place of, or set up in opposition to, the ordinances of God, his worship, his truth, etc. Adrian’s temple, built in the place of God’s temple at Jerusalem, the church of St. Sophia turned 136

into a Mohammedan mosque, etc., etc., may be termed abominations that make desolate. Perhaps Mohammedanism may be the abomination; which sprang up a.d. 612. If we reckon one thousand two hundred and ninety years, Dan_11:11, from that time, it will bring us down to a.d. 1902, when we might presume from this calculation, that the religion of the False Prophet will cease to prevail in the world; which from the present year, 1825, is distant only seventy-seven years.

3. Gill, “And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away,.... This is in part an answer to the above questions, as they relate to the end of things: some dates are given, by which it might in general be known when and how these things would end: and these dates begin with the removal of the daily sacrifice; that is, the doctrine of atonement and satisfaction for sin by the sacrifice of Christ, the antitype of the daily sacrifice under the law; this was taken away by antichrist, when he got to his height; when he established the doctrine of works, and opposed the merits of men to the merits of Christ, and his own pardons, indulgences, penances, &c. to the satisfaction of Christ: and the abomination that maketh desolate; image worship; the abomination of the Mass, and other acts of idolatry and superstition: there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days; from the beginning of the reign of antichrist to the end of it are one thousand two hundred and sixty days or years, or forty two months, which is the same, according to Rev_13:5, here thirty days or years are added, which begin where the other end, and is the time allotted for the conversion of the Jews, and other things, making way for the kingdom of Christ; and which the reign of antichrist was an hinderance of, but should now immediately take place.

4. Henry, “3. What answer is returned to this question. Besides what refers to the time (Dan_12:11, Dan_12:12), of which before, here are some general instructions given to Daniel, with which he is dismissed from further attendance.

(1.) He must content himself with the discoveries that had been made to him, and not enquire any further: “Go thy way, Daniel; let it suffice thee that thou has been admitted thus far to the foresight of things to come, but stop here. Go thy way about the king's business again, Dan_8:27. Go thy way, and record what thou hast seen and heard, for the benefit of posterity, and covet not to see and hear more at present.” Note, Communion with God is not our continual feast in this world; we sometimes are taken to be witnesses of Christ's glory, and we say, It is good to be here; but we must go down from the mount, and have there no continuing city. Those that know much know but in part, and still see there is a great deal that they are kept in the dark about, and are likely to be so till the veil is rent; hitherto their knowledge shall go, but no further. “Go thy way, Daniel, satisfied with what thou hast.”

5. Jamison, “from ... sacrifice ... taken way ... abomination — (Dan_11:31). As to this epoch, which probably is prophetically germinant and manifold; the profanation

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of the temple by Antiochus (in the month Ijar of the year 145 b.c., till the restoration of the worship by Judas Maccabeus on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month [Chisleu] of 148 b.c., according to the Seleucid era, 1290 days; forty-five days more elapsed before Antiochus’ death in the month Shebat of 148 b.c., so ending the Jews’ calamities [Maurer]); by pagan Rome, after Christ’s death; by Mohammed; by Antichrist, the culmination of apostate Rome. The “abomination” must reach its climax (see Auberlen’s translation, “summit,” Dan_9:27), and the measure of iniquity be full, before Messiah comes.thousand two hundred and ninety days — a month beyond the “time, times, and a half” (Dan_12:7). In Dan_12:12, forty-five days more are added, in all 1335 days. Tregelles thinks Jesus at His coming will deliver the Jews. An interval elapses, during which their consciences are awakened to repentance and faith in Him. A second interval elapses in which Israel’s outcasts are gathered, and then the united blessing takes place. These stages are marked by the 1260, 1290, and 1335 days. Cumming thinks the 1260 years begin when Justinian in A.D. 533 subjected the Eastern churches to John II, bishop of Rome; ending in 1792, when the Code Napoleon was established and the Pope was dishonored. 1290 reach to 1822, about the time of the waning of the Turkish power, the successor to Greece in the empire of the East. Forty-five years more end in 1867, the end of “the times of the Gentiles.” See Lev_26:24, “seven times,” that is, 7 X 360, or 2520 years: 652 b.c. is the date of Judah’s captivity, beginning under Manasseh; 2520 from this date end in 1868, thus nearly harmonizing with the previous date, 1867. See on Dan_8:14. The seventh millenary of the world [Clinton] begins in 1862. Seven years to 1869 (the date of the second advent) constitute the reign of the personal Antichrist; in the last three and a half, the period of final tribulation, Enoch (or else Moses) and Elijah, the two witnesses, prophesy in sackcloth. This theory is very dubious (compare Mat_24:36; Act_1:7; 1Th_5:2; 2Pe_3:10); still the event alone can tell whether the chronological coincidences of such theories are fortuitous, or solid data on which to fix the future times. Hales makes the periods 1260, 1290, 1335, begin with the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and end with the precursory dawn of the Reformation, the preaching of Wycliffe and Huss.

6. K&D, “Daniel 12:11-12

The angel gives to the prophet yet one revelation more regarding the duration of the time of tribulation and its end, which should help him to understand the earlier answer. The words, “from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination of the desolation,” so distinctly point back to Dan_11:31, that they must here be referred, as there, to the wickedness of Antiochus in his desecrating the sanctuary of the Lord. The circumstance that the שקוץ (abomination) is here described as שמם and in Dan_11:31 as משמם, indicates no material distinction. In Dan_11:31, where the subject spoken of is the proceedings of the enemy of God causing desolation, the abomination is viewed as משמם, bringing desolation; here, with reference to the end of those proceedings, as שמם, brought to desolation; cf. under Dan_9:27. All interpreters therefore have found in these two verses statements regarding the duration of the persecutions carried on by Antiochus Epiphanes, and have sought to compare them with the period of 2300 evening-mornings mentioned in Dan_8:14, in order thus

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to reckon the duration of the time during which this enemy of God shall prosecute his wicked designs.But as the opinion is regarding the reckoning of the 2300 evening-mornings in Dan_8:14 are very diverse from each other, so also are they here. First the interpretation of ולתת (and set up) is disputed. Wieseler is decidedly wrong in thinking that it designates

the terminsu ad quem to הוסר מעת (from the time shall be removed), as is generally acknowledged. Hitzig thinks that with ולתת the foregoing infin. הוסר is continued, as Ecc_9:1; Jer_17:10; Jer_19:12, and therewith a second terminus a quo supposed. This, however, is only admissible if this second terminus stands in union with the first, and a second terminus ad quem also stands over against it as the parallel to the later terminus ad quem. Both here denote: the daily sacrifice shall be taken away forty-five days before the setting up of the βδέλυγμα ἐρημώσεως, and by so much the date in Dan_12:12 comes below that of Dan_12:11. According to this, both verses are to be understood thus: from the time of the taking away of the daily sacrifice as 1290 days, and from the time of the setting up of the abomination of desolation are 1335 days. But this interpretation is utterly destitute of support. In the first place, Hitzig has laid its foundation, that the setting up of the idol-abomination is separated from the cessation of the worship of Jehovah by forty-five days, only by a process of reasoning in a circle. In the second place, the המחכה אשרי (blessed is he that waiteth), Dan_12:12, decidedly opposes the combining of the 1335 days with the setting up of the idol-abomination; and further, the grammatical interpretation of ולתת is not justified. The passages quoted in its favour are all of a different character; there a clause with definite time always goes before, on which the infinitive clause depends. Kranichfeld seeks therefore to take הוסר also not as an infinitive, but as a relative asyndetical connection of the praeter. proph. to עת, by which, however, no better result is gained. For with the relative interpretation of הוסר: the time, since it is taken away ... ולתת cannot so connect itself that this infinitive yet depends on עת. The clause beginning with ולתת cannot be otherwise interpreted than as a final clause dependent on וגו הוסר thus here and in Dan_2:16, as in the passages ;מעתquoted by Hitzig, in the sense: to set (to set up) the abomination, so that the placing of the abomination of desolation is viewed as the object of the taking away of the תמיד(daily sacrifice). From this grammatically correct interpretation of the two clauses it does not, however, follow that the setting up of the idol-abomination first followed later than the removal of the daily sacrifice, so that ולתת signified “to set up afterwards,” as Kliefoth seeks to interpret it for the purpose of facilitating the reckoning of the 1290 days. Both can be done at the same time, the one immediately after the other.

A terminus ad quem is not named in both of the definitions. This appears from the words “blessed is he that waiteth ... .” By this it is said that after the 1335 days the time of tribulation shall be past. Since all interpreters rightly understand that the 1290 and the 1335 days have the same terminus a quo, and thus that the 1290 days are comprehended in the 1335, the latter period extending beyond the former by only forty-five days; then the oppression cannot properly last longer than 1290 days, if he who reaches to the 1335 days is to be regarded as blessed.With regard to the reckoning of these two periods of time, we have already shown that neither the one nor the other accords with the 2300 evening-mornings, and that there is no ground for reckoning those 2300 evening-mornings for the sake of these verses

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before us as 1150 days. Moreover, we have there already shown how the diversity of the two statements is explained from this, that in Dan_8:14 a different terminus a quo is named from that in Dan_12:11.; and besides have remarked, that according to 1 Macc. 1:54, 59, cf. with 4:52, the cessation of the Mosaic order of worship by sacrifice lasted for a period of only three years and ten days. Now if these three years and ten days are reckoned according to the sun-year at 365 days, or according to the moon-year at 354 days with the addition of an intercalary month, they amount to 1105 or 1102 days. The majority of modern interpreters identify, it is true, the 1290 days with the 3 1/2 times (= years), and these two statements agree so far, since 3 1/2 years make either 1279 or 1285 days. But the identifying of the two is not justified. In Dan_12:11 the subject plainly is the taking away of the worship of Jehovah and the setting up of the worship of idols in its stead, for which the Maccabean times furnish an historical fulfilment; in Dan_12:7,however, the angel speaks of a tribulation which extends so far that the strength of the holy people is altogether broken, which cannot be said of the oppression of Israel by Antiochus, since a stop was put to the conduct of this enemy by the courageous revolt of the Maccabees, and the power of valiant men put an end to the abomination of the desolation of the sanctuary. The oppression mentioned in Dan_12:7 corresponds not only in fact, but also with respect to its duration, with the tribulation which the hostile king of the time of the end, who shall arise from the fourth world-kingdom, shall bring upon the holy people, since, as already remarked, the 3 1/2 times literally correspond with Dan_7:25. But Dan_12:11 and Dan_12:12 treat of a different, namely, an earlier, period of oppression than Dan_12:7, so the 1290 and the 1335 days are not reckoned after the 3 1/2 times (Dan_12:11 and Daniel 7:35); and for the Maccabean period of tribulation there remain only the 2300 evening-mornings (Dan_8:14) for comparison, if we count the evening-mornings, contrary to the usage of the words, as half-days, and so reduce them to 1150 days. But if herewith we take into consideration the historical evidence of the duration of the oppression under Antiochus, the 1290 days would agree with it only if we either fix the taking away of the legal worship from 185 to 188 days, i.e., six months and five or eight days, before the setting up of the idol-altar on Jehovah's altar of burnt-offering, or, if these two facta occurred simultaneously, extend the terminus ad quem by six months and five or eight days beyond the day of the re-consecration of the altar. For both suppositions historical evidence is wanting. The former is perhaps probable from 1 Macc. 4:45, cf. with v. 54; but, on the contrary, for the second, history furnishes no epoch-making event of such significance as that the cessation of the oppression could be defined by it.The majority of modern interpreters, in the reckoning of the 1290 and the 1335 days, proceed from Dan_8:14, and with them Kliefoth holds, firstly, that the 2300 evening-mornings are 1150 days, the termination of which constitutes the epoch of the re-consecration of the temple, on the 25th of the month Kisleu of the year 148 of the Seleucidan aera (i.e., 164 b.c.); and secondly, he supposes that the terminus a quo of the 2300 evening-mornings (Dan_8:14 and of the 1290 or 1335 days is the same, namely,

the taking of Jerusalem by Apollonius (1 Macc. 1:29ff.), and the setting aside of the תמידwhich followed immediately after it was taken, about 140 days earlier than the setting up of the idol-altar. As the terminus ad quem of the 2300 evening-mornings the re-consecration of the temple is taken, with which the power of Antiochus over Israel was broken, and the beginning of the restoration made. No terminus ad quem is named in this passage before us, but perhaps it lies in the greater number of the days, as well as in this, that this passage speaks regarding the entire setting aside of the power of Antiochus-an evidence and a clear argument for this, that in Dan_12:11, Dan_12:12 a

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further terminus ad quem, reaching beyond the purification of the temple, is to be supposed. This terminus is the death of Antiochus. “It is true,” Kliefoth further argues, “we cannot establish it to a day and an hour, that between the putting away of the daily sacrifice and the death of Antiochus 1290 days intervened, since of both facta we do not know the date of the day. But this we know from the book of the Maccabees, that the consecration of the temple took place on the 25th day of the month Kisleu in the 148th year of the Seleucidan aera, and that Antiochus died in the 149th year; and if we now add the 140 days, the excess of 2300 above 1290 after the consecration of the temple, we certainly come into the year 149. The circumstance also, that in the whole connection of this chapter the tendency is constantly toward the end of Antiochus, the Antichrist, induces us to place the death of that persecutor as the terminus ad quem of the 1290 days. Consequently we shall not err if, with Bleek, Kirmss, Hitzig, Delitzsch, Hofmann, Auberlen, Zündel, we suppose, that as the purifying of the temple is the end of the 2300 evening-mornings, so the death of Antiochus is the end of the 1290 days. The end of the 1335 days, Dan_12:12, must then be an event which lies forty-five days beyond the death of Antiochus, and which certainly attests the termination of the persecution under Antiochus and the commencement of better days, and which at least bears clear evidence of the introduction of a better time, and of a settled and secure state of things. We are not able to adduce proof of such a definite event which took place exactly fort-five days after the death of Antiochus, simply because we do not know the date of the death of Antiochus. The circumstances, however, of the times after the death of Antiochus furnish the possibility of such an event. The successor of Antiochus Epiphanes, Antiochus Eupator, certainly wrote to the Jews, after they had vanquished his host under Lysias, asking from them a peace; but the alienation between them continued nevertheless, and did not absolutely end till the victory over Nicanor, 2 Macc. 11-15. Hence there was opportunity enough for an event of the kind spoken of, though we may not be able, from the scantiness and the chronological uncertainty of the records of these times, to prove it positively.” Hereupon Kliefoth enters upon the conjectures advanced by Hitzig regarding the unknown joyful event, and finds that nothing important can be brought forward in opposition to this especially, that the termination of the 1335 days may be the point of time when the tidings of the death of Antiochus, who died in Babylonia, reached the Jews in Palestine, and occasioned their rejoicing, since it might easily require forty-five days to carry the tidings of that even to Jerusalem; and finally he throws out the question, whether on the whole the more extended period of 1335 days must have its termination in a single definite event, whether by the extension of the 1290 days by fort-five days the meaning may not be, that whoever lives beyond this period of 1290 days, i.e., the death of Antiochus, in patience and in fidelity to the truth, is to be esteemed blessed. “The forty-five days were then only added to express the living beyond that time, and the form of this expression was chosen for the purpose of continuing that contained in Dan_12:11.”We cannot, however, concur in this view, because not only is its principal position without foundation, but also its contents are irreconcilable with historical facts. To change the 2300 evening-mornings into 1150 days cannot be exegetically justified, because according to the Hebrew mode of computation evening and morning do not constitute a half but a whole day. But if the 2300 evening-mornings are to be reckoned as so many days, then neither their terminus a quo nor their terminus ad quem stands in a definite relation to the 1290 days, from which a conclusion may be drawn regarding the terminus ad quem of the latter. Then the death of Antiochus Epiphanes does not furnish a turning-point for the commencement of a better time. According to 1 Macc.

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6:18-54, the war against the Jews was carried on by his successor Eupator more violently than before. And on the news that Philippus, returning from Persia, sought to deprive him of the government, Lysias advised the king to make peace with the Jews, and to promise to them that they would be permitted to live according to their own laws. On this the Jews opened the citadel of Zion; but the king, after he had entered into it, violated his oath, and ordered its walls to be demolished. It was not till two years after the death of Antiochus Epiphanes that Judas gained a decisive victory over Nicanor, which was celebrated by the Jews by a joyful festival, which they resolved to keep every year in memory of that victory (1 Macc. 7:26-50). In these circumstances it is wholly impossible to suppose an event forty-five days after the death of Antiochus which could clearly be regarded as the beginning of a better time, and of a settled and secure state of things, or to regard the reception in Palestine of the news of the death of Antiochus as an event so joyful, that they were to be esteemed as blessed who should live to hear the tidings.After all, we must oppose the opinion that the 1290 and the 1335 days are to be regarded as historical and to be reckoned chronologically, ad we are decidedly of opinion that these numbers are to be interpreted symbolically, notwithstanding that days as a measure of time are named. This much seems to be certain, that the 1290 days denote in general the period of Israel's sorest affliction on the part of Antiochus Epiphanes by the taking away of the Mosaic ordinance of worship and the setting up of the worship of idols, but without giving a statement of the duration of this oppression which can be chronologically reckoned. By the naming of “days” instead of “times” the idea of an immeasurable duration of the tribulation is set aside, and the time of it is limited to a period of moderate duration which is exactly measured out by God. But this is more strictly represented by the second definition, by which it is increased by 45 days: 1335 days, with the expiry of which the oppression shall so wholly cease, that every one shall be blessed who lives till these days come. For 45 days have the same relation to 1290 that 1 1/2 have to 43, and thus designate a proportionally very brief time. But as to this relation, the two numbers themselves show nothing. If we reduce them to the measure of time usual for the definition of longer periods, the 1290 days amount to 54 months, or 3 years and 7 months, and the 1335 days to 44 1/2 months, or 3 years and 8 1/2 months, since generally, and still more in symbolical definitions of time, the year is wont to be reckoned at 12 months, and the months at 30 days. Each of the two periods of time thus amounts to a little more than 3 1/2 years; the first exceeds by 1 month and the second by 2 1/2 months, only a little more than the half of 7 years - a period occurring several times in the O.T. as the period of divine judgments. By the reduction of the days to years and parts of a year the two expressions are placed in a distinct relation to the 3 1/2 times, which already appears natural by the connection of the two questions in Dan_12:6, Dan_12:8. On the one hand, by the circumstance that the 1290 days amount to somewhat more than 3 1/2 years, the idea that “times” stands for years is set aside; but on the other hand, by the use of “days” as a measure of time, the obscurity of the idea: time, times, and half a time, is lessened, and Daniel's inquiry as to the end of the terrible things is answered in a way which might help him to the understanding of the first answer, which was to him wholly unintelligible.Such an answer contains the two definitions of the time under the supposition that the hostile undertakings of Antiochus against Judaism, in their progress and their issue, form a type of the persecution of the last enemy Antichrist against the church of the Lord, or that the taking away of the daily sacrifice and the setting up of the idol-abomination by Antiochus Epiphanes shows in a figure how the Antichrist at the time of

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the end shall take away the worship of the true God, renounce the God of his fathers, and make war his god, and thereby bring affliction upon the church of God, of which the oppression which Antiochus brought upon the theocracy furnished a historical pattern. But this typical relation of the two periods of oppression is clearly set forth in Daniel 11:21-12:3, since in the conduct and proceedings of the hostile king two stadia are distinguished, which so correspond to each other in all essential points that the first, Dan_11:21-35, is related to the second, Daniel 11:35-12:3, as the beginning and the first attempt is related to the complete accomplishment. This also appears in the wars of this king against the king of the south (Dan_11:25-29, cf. with Dan_11:40-43), and in the consequences which this war had for his relation to the people of God. On his return from the first victorious war against the south, he lifted up his heart against the holy covenant (Dan_11:28), and being irritated by the failure of the renewed war against the south and against the holy covenant, he desolated the sanctuary (vv. 30, 31); finally, in the war at the time of the end, when Egypt and the lands fell wholly under his power, and when, alarmed by tidings from the east and the north, he thought to destroy many, he erected his palace - tent in the Holy Land, so that he might here aim a destructive blow against all his enemies - in this last assault he came to his end (Dan_11:40-45).Yet more distinctly the typical relation shows itself in the description of the undertakings of the enemy of God against the holy covenant, and their consequences for the members of the covenant nation. In this respect the first stadium of his enmity against the God of Israel culminates in the taking away of His worship, and in the setting up of the abomination of desolation, i.e., the worship of idols, in the sanctuary of the Lord. Against this abomination the wise of the people of God raise themselves up, and they bring by their rising up “a little help,” and accomplish a purification of the people (Dan_11:31-35). In the second stadium, i.e., at the time of the end, the hostile king raises himself against the God of gods, and above every god (Dan_11:37), and brings upon the people of God an oppression such as has never been from the beginning of the world till now; but this oppression ends, by virtue of the help of the archangel Michael, with the deliverance of the people of God and the consummation by the resurrection of the dead, of some to everlasting life, and of some to everlasting shame (Dan_12:1-3).If thus the angel of the Lord, after he said to Daniel that he might rest as to the non-understanding of his communication regarding the end of the wonderful things (Dan_12:7), because the prophecy shall at the time of the end give to the wise knowledge for the purifying of many through the tribulation, so answers the question of Daniel as to

the אלה אחרית that he defines in symbolically significant numbers the duration of the sufferings from the removal of the worship of Jehovah to the commencement of better times, with which all oppression shall cease, then he gave therewith a measure of time, according to which all those who have understanding, who have lived through this time of oppression, or who have learned regarding it from history, may be able to measure the duration of the last tribulation and its end so far beforehand, as, according to the fatherly and wise counsel of God, it is permitted to us to know the times of the end and of our consummation. For, from the comparison of this passage with that in Dan_8:14regarding the duration of the crushing under feet of the holy people by the enemy rising from the Javanic world-kingdom, it is clear that as the 2300 evening-mornings do not contain a complete heptad of years, so the 1290 days contain only a little more than half a heptad. In this lies the comfort, that the severest time of oppression shall not endure much longer than half the time of the whole period of oppression. And if we compare with this the testimony of history regarding the persecution of the Old Covenant people under Antiochus, in consequence of which God permitted the suppression of His

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worship, and the substitution of idol-worship in its stead, for not fully 3 1/2 years, but only for 3 years and 10 days, then we are able to gather the assurance that He shall also shorten, for the sake of His elect, the 3 1/2 times of the last tribulation. We should rest here, that His grace is sufficient for us (2Co_12:9). For as God revealed to the prophets, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto us, the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow, that they might search and inquire what and what manner of time the Spirit of Christ who was in them did signify; so in the times of the accomplishment, we who are living are not exempted from searching and inquiring, but are led by the prophetic word to consider the signs of the times in the light of this word, and from that which is already fulfilled, as well as from the nature and manner of the fulfilment, to confirm our faith, for the endurance amid the tribulations which prophecy has made known to us, that God, according to His eternal gracious counsel, has measured them according to their beginning, middle, and end, that thereby we shall be purified and guarded for the eternal life.

7. CALVIN, "In consequence of the obscurity of this passage it has been twisted in a variety of ways. At the end of the ninth chapter I have shewn the impossibility of its referring to the profanation of the Temple which occurred under the tyranny of Antiochus; on this occasion the angel bears witness to such a complete destruction of the Temple, as to leave no room for the hope of its repair and restoration. Then the circumstances of the time convinces us of this. For he then said, Christ shall confirm the covenant with many for one week, and shall cause the sacrifices and oblation to cease. Afterwards, the abomination that stupifieth shall be added, and desolation or stupor, and then death will distill, says he, upon the astonished or stupefied one. The angel, therefore, there treats of the perpetual devastation of the Temple. So in this passage, without doubt;, he treats of the period after the destruction of the Temple; there could be no hope of restoration, as the law with all its ceremonies would then arrive at its termination. With This view Christ quotes this passage in Matthew 24:0, while he admonishes his hearers diligently to attend to it. Let him who reads, understand, says he. We have stated this prophecy to be obscure, and hence it requires no ordinary degree of the closest attention. First of all, we must hold this point; the time now treated by the angel begins at the last destruction of the Temple. That devastation happened as soon as the gospel began to be promulgated. God then deserted his Temple, because it was only founded for a time, and was but a shadow, until the Jews so completely violated the whole covenant that no sanctity remained in either the Temple, the nation, or the land itself. Some restrict this to those standards which Tiberius erected on the very highest pinnacle of the Temple, and others to the statue of Caligula, but I have already stated my view of these opinions as too forced. I have no hesitation in referring this language of the angel to that profanation of the Temple which happened after the manifestation of Christ, when sacrifices ceased, and the shadows of the law were abolished. From the time,

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therefore, at which the sacrifice really ceased to be offered; this refers to the period at which Christ by his advent should abolish the shadows of the law, thus making all offering of sacrifices to God totally valueless. From that time, therefore. Next, from the time at which the stupefying abomination shall have been set up God’s wrath followed the profanation of the Temple. The Jews never anticipated the final cessation of their ceremonies, and always boasted in their peculiar external worship, and unless God had openly demonstrated it before their eyes, they would never have renounced their sacrifices and rites as mere shadowy representations. Hence Jerusalem and their Temple were exposed to the vengeance of the Gentiles. This, therefore, was the setting up of this stupefying abomination; it was a clear testimony to the wrath of God, exhorting the Jews in their confusion to boast no longer in their Temple and its holiness.

Therefore, from that period there shall be 1290 days These days make up three years and a half. I have no hesitation in supposing the angel to speak metaphorically. As he previously put one year, or two years, and half a year, for long duration of time, and a happy issue, so he now puts 1290 days. And for what reason? To shew us what must happen when anxieties and troubles oppress us. If a man should fall sick, he will not say, Here I have already been one month, but I have a year before me — he will not say, Here I have been three days, but now I languish wretchedly for thirty or sixty. The angel, then, purposely puts days for years, implying — although that time may seem immeasurably prolonged, and may frighten us by its duration, and completely prostrate the spirits of the pious, yet it must be endured. The number of days then is 1290, yet there is no reason why the sons of God should despair in consequence of this number, because they ought always to return to this principle — if those afflictions await us for a time and times, the half time will follow afterwards.

Then he adds, Happy is he who shall have waited and endured until the 1335 days. In numerical calculations I am no conjurer, and those who expound this passage with too great subtlety, only trifle in their own speculations, and detract from the authority of the prophecy. Some think the days should be understood as years, and thus make the number of years 2600. The time which elapsed from this prophecy to the advent of Christ was about 600 years. From this advent 2000 years remain, and they think this is the assigned period until the end of the world, as the law also flourished about 2000 years from the date of its promulgation to its fulfillment at Christ’s advent. Hence they fix upon this sense. But they are quite wrong in

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separating the 1290 days from the 1335, for they clearly refer to the same period, with a slight exception. It is as if the angel had said, although half the time should be prorogued, yet the faithful ought constantly to persist in the hope of deliverance. For he adds, about two months, or a month and a half, or thereabouts. By half a time, we said, the issue was pointed out, as Christ informs us in Matthew 24:22. Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been safe. Reference is clearly made here to that abbreviation of the time for the Church’s sake. But the angel now adds forty-five days, which make a month and a half, implying — God will put off the deliverance of his Church beyond six months, and yet we must be strong and of good courage, and persevere in your watchfulness. God at length will not disappoint you — he will succor you in all your woes, and gather you to his blessed rest. Hence, the next clause of the prophecy is this, —

COFFMAN, ""And from the time that the continual burnt-offering shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days."

The big problem with this verse is that of the one thousand two hundred and ninety days. It so nearly corresponds with the one thousand two hundred and sixty days that one is at a total loss to account for the discrepancy. We agree with Thomson that, "No satisfactory solution to this mystery is possible."[15] Probably the best view of it is to understand it as a symbol of the same period, namely, the whole Christian dispensation, as that of the "time, and times, and a half a time," the one thousand two hundred and three score days. One possible meaning, which is as reasonable as any we have encountered is that, since the one thousand two hundred and threescore days stands for the whole period between the First and the Second Advents of Jesus Christ, these tabulations in verse 11 (one thousand two hundred and ninety days) and the one in verse 12 (one thousand three hundred and five and thirty days) also represent the whole dispensation, the slightly different numbers indicating God's adjustment of the exact time of Christ's coming in order more exactly to conform to his infinite will. It will be recalled that there was mentioned "a shortening" of certain days (Matthew 24:22).

Some have vainly tried to get Antiochus into this passage; but many have pointed out that there is positively no period whatever in the life of that evil ruler that could possibly have been fulfilled by these predictions even if viewed as literal days, or

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upon any other reasonable conjecture.

Assuming, then, that the one thousand two hundred ninety days is but a slightly variable reference to "the time, and times, and a half a time," which we understand to be the entire Christian dispensation, the "terminus ad quem", or starting point for the calculation of this period is described in this verse as, "the time when the continual burnt-offering shall be taken away and the abomination that maketh desolate shall be set up." That time, of course, was pinpointed by the Christ himself as occurring at the destruction of Jerusalem when the Christians were warned to flee from the city. At first thought, one might hesitate to place this event in A.D. 70 as concurrent with the beginning of the Christian era in A.D. 30; but in the prophetic sense, that was precisely the date when Jesus Christ consigned the Herodian temple to complete destruction and removal, even to the extent that not a single stone would be left on top of another. In this light, we see no difficulty at all in finding the entire Christian dispensation indicated by this time reference.

"The continual burnt-offering was taken away forever in the destruction of Jerusalem. The short period of time when Antiochus caused the daily sacrifices to cease was a trifling and unimportant event compared with the actual and permanent removal of the continual burnt-offering in Christ's condemnation and commitment of the Temple to complete destruction.COKE, "Verse 11-12

Daniel 12:11-12. From the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, &c.— The days here mentioned are still prophetic days or years. The setting up the abomination of desolation appears to be a general phrase, and comprehensive of many events. It is applied, 1 Maccabees 1:54 to the profanation of the temple by Antiochus; and by our Lord, Matthew 24:15 to the destruction of the city and temple by the Romans. It may for the same reason be applied to the Roman emperor Adrian's building a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus, in the same place where the temple of God had stood. It may with equal justice be applied to the Mahometans invading and desolating Christendom, and converting churches into mosques; and this latter event seems to have been particularly intended in this passage. If this interpretation be true, the religion of Mahomet will prevail in the East for the space of one thousand two hundred and sixty years, and then a great and glorious

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revolution will follow, which, I verily believe, refers to the destruction of Antichrist, and the restoration of the Jews. But another still greater and more glorious will succeed; and what can this be, but the full conversion of the Gentiles to the church of Christ, and the beginning of the Millennium, or reign of the saints upon earth? Here then are three different periods assigned, one thousand two hundred and sixty years, one thousand two hundred and ninety years, and one thousand three hundred and thirty-five years; but what is the precise time of their beginning, and consequently of their ending, as well as what are the great and signal events which will take place at the end of each period, we can only conjecture; time alone with certainty will discover. But, however, the uncertainty of these events, which remain yet to be fulfilled, cannot shake the credit and certainty of those which have already been accomplished. Upon the whole, what an amazing prophesy is this! Comprehending so many various events, and extending through so many succeeding ages, from the first establishment of the Persian empire, above five hundred and thirty years before Christ, even to the general resurrection! And the farther it extends, and the more it comprehends, the more amazing and the more divine it must appear. What stronger and more convincing proofs can be given or required of a divine Providence, and a divine revelation,—that there is a God who directs and orders the transactions of the world; and that Daniel was a prophet divinely inspired by him, a man greatly beloved, as he is often addressed by an angel! Our blessed Saviour has bestowed upon him the appellation of Daniel the prophet, Matthew 24:15 and that is authority sufficient for any Christian. But in the course of these notes, such instances and attestations of his being a prophet have been produced, as an infidel cannot deny, or, if he deny, cannot disprove. In short, we see how well Daniel deserves the character which his cotemporary Ezekiel has given of him, ch. 14 and 28 for his piety and wisdom; and these, in the true sense, always go together; for as the angel says above, Daniel 12:10. None of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand. Happy are they who both know the will of God, and do it! See Bishop Newton's Diss.

ELLICOTT, " (11) From the time.—It appears as if at this verse the prophecy recurs to the more immediate future, and that these words point to the same subject as Daniel 11:31. The language used respecting the “abomination” is almost verbally the same as that in Daniel 8:3; Daniel 8:11; Daniel 9:27, and prevents us from arriving at any other conclusion. The great and apparently insoluble difficulty is the relation which the 1,290 or the 1,335 days occupy with regard to the 2,300 days, or the time, times, and the dividing of a time. Assuming that these four periods all commence at the same epoch (see Note on Daniel 8:14), the death of Antiochus closes

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the 1,290 days, and the 1,335 days point to some event which occurred forty-five days, or a month and a half, later. The principal objection to this view is that the exact date of the death of Antiochus is uncertain, and therefore all calculations based upon the precise day of his death must be untrustworthy. It is obvious that neither of the two periods mentioned in this and the following verse can be made to agree with three years and a half without setting the rules of arithmetic at defiance. Also the obscurity which rests over the greater portion of the history of Israel should guard us against assuming that we can explain all the contents of the last three chapters by means of what occurred in those times, and also against assuming our historical facts from Daniel, and then making use of them to illustrate his prophecies.

TRAPP, "Verse 11

Daniel 12:11 And from the time [that] the daily [sacrifice] shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, [there shall be] a thousand two hundred and ninety days.

Ver. 11. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away,] sc., By Antiochus, as hath been before said; and with the knowledge whereof I would have thee to rest satisfied.

There shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.] Which are the three years and a half mentioned before, saith Diodate, with thirteen days over, for some unknown reason. The wonderful numberer hath all in numerato. The Russians use to say in a difficult question, God, and our great duke, know all this. The Jews in like case say, Messiah, when he comes, will tell us all things we desire to be informed of.

BENSON, “Verse 11-12

Daniel 12:11-12. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away — It 149

is here declared, that the whole time that these calamities would last, should run somewhat beyond a time, times, and half a time, namely, thirty days beyond it; for a time, times, and a half signify only twelve hundred and sixty days, whereas here twelve hundred and ninety is mentioned as the term of duration; for which space of time, but not longer, the daily sacrifice should be taken away, or prohibited, and an idol be placed in the temple. Blessed is he that waiteth, or survives, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days — This period is forty-five days longer than the term last mentioned, or the twelve hundred and ninety days; and, if taken literally, and interpreted of the time of Antiochus’s persecution, is supposed to be spoken of the time of his death, when the Jewish nation was not only delivered from their calamities, but also from all fear of their being renewed.

Those who extend these predictions to the times of Popery and Mohammedanism, suppose that the expressions made use of to describe Antiochus’s persecutions are here applied to the desolations made by antichrist, of which those made by Antiochus were a figure: see note on Daniel 8:14; Daniel 11:36. And indeed they are expressions evidently applicable to different events, and have been accomplished at different times. “The setting up of the abomination of desolation,” says Bishop Newton, “appears to be a general phrase, and comprehensive of various events. It is applied by the writer of the first book of Maccabees, chap. 1 Maccabees 1:54, to the profanation of the temple by Antiochus, and his setting up the image of Jupiter Olympus upon the altar of God. It is applied by our Saviour, Matthew 24:15, to the destruction of the city and temple by the Romans, under the conduct of Titus. It may, for the same reason, be applied to the Emperor Adrian’s building a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus, in the same place where the temple of God had stood; and to the misery of the Jews, and the desolation of Judea that followed. It may, with equal justice, be applied to the Mohammedans’ invading and desolating Christendom, and converting the churches into mosques: and this latter event seems to have been particularly intended in this passage. If this interpretation be true, the religion of Mohammed will prevail in the East for the space of twelve hundred and sixty years, and then a great and glorious revolution will follow; perhaps the restoration of the Jews, perhaps the destruction of antichrist: but another still greater and more glorious will succeed; and what can this be so probably as the full conversion of the Gentiles to the church of Christ, and the beginning of the millennium, or the reign of the saints upon earth? For, Daniel 12:12, Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. Here, then, are three different periods assigned, twelve hundred and sixty, twelve hundred and ninety, and thirteen hundred and thirty-five years; but what is the precise time of their beginning, and

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consequently of their ending, as well as what are the great and signal events which will take place at the end of each period, we can only conjecture, time alone can with certainty discover. It is, indeed, no wonder, that we cannot fully understand and explain these things: for, as the angel said to Daniel himself, though many should run to and fro, should inquire and examine into these things, and thereby knowledge should be increased; yet the full understanding of them is reserved for the time of the end, to which time the words are closed up and sealed. But, however, the great uncertainty of these events, which remain yet to be fulfilled, cannot shake the credit and certainty of those which have already been accomplished.

“Upon the whole, what an amazing prophecy is this! comprehending so many various events, and extending through so many successive ages, from the first establishment of the Persian empire, above five hundred and thirty years before Christ, to the general resurrection! And the farther it extends, and the more it comprehends, the more amazing and the more divine it must appear. What stronger and more convincing proofs can be given or required of a divine providence, and a divine revelation; that there is a God who directs and orders the transactions of the world; and that Daniel was a prophet divinely inspired by him, a man greatly beloved, as he is often addressed by an angel! Our blessed Saviour hath bestowed upon him the appellation of Daniel the prophet, Matthew 24:15, and that is authority sufficient for any Christian; but, in the course of these notes, such instances and attestations of his being a prophet have been produced as an infidel cannot deny, or if he denies cannot disprove. In short, we see how well Daniel deserves the character which his contemporary, Ezekiel, hath given of him, Ezekiel 14:14-20; Ezekiel 28:3, for his piety and wisdom; and these usually go together: for, as the angel says above, Daniel 12:10, None of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand. Happy are they who both know the will of God and do it.”

WHEDON, “Verse 11-12

11, 12. See notes Daniel 8:11; Daniel 11:31. These numbers are still a mystery even to the “wise.” A “time, times, and half a time,” if literally calculated as three and a half years, would amount to twelve hundred and sixty days. Daniel’s twelve hundred and ninety days and thirteen hundred and thirty-five days could hardly both be identical with the “time, times, and half a time,” unless, as Dr. Terry holds, these differences may have been designed to suggest that the “time, times, and

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dividing of a time could not be reckoned with mathematical accuracy.” (Compare Matthew 24:34-36; Acts 1:7.) Behrmann has pointed out, however, that if the intercalary month, which was reckoned by the Babylonians and Hebrews at regular intervals, be counted with the three and one half years, the result is exactly twelve hundred and ninety days. Most modern scholars who follow the historical method seek an explanation of these varying numbers in the events following the defilement of the temple by Antiochus.

The abomination that maketh desolate mentioned here certainly refers primarily to the altar of Jupiter, erected upon Jehovah’s altar of burnt offering, or to the statue of Jupiter which was doubtless in front of this altar. This abomination was set up Chislev (December) 25, B.C. 168 (1 Maccabees 1:54; 2 Maccabees 6:2; Josephus, Antiquities, XII, Daniel 5:4), and it was not until Chislev 25, B.C. 165, that the daily sacrifices were restored (1 Maccabees 4:52; 2 Maccabees 10:5; Josephus, Antiquities, XII, Daniel 7:6). It is perfectly plain that a period of time had elapsed before the setting up of the idol altar during which the temple was desecrated by the presence of the heathen, and equally clear that a period of time elapsed after the restoring of the daily sacrifices before the death of Antiochus occurred. It is in connection with these events that most modern scholars attempt to explain these numbers, supposing, for example, that the twelve hundred and ninety days end with the rededication of the temple and the thirteen hundred and thirty-five days with the death of Antiochus. Our knowledge of the period is not, however, sufficiently definite to absolutely prove this. Some scholars think that these numbers were made indefinite purposely, to represent an unknown period of time lying just beyond the date at which the temple altar was rededicated; during which brief though indefinite period the prophet saw in vision the death of this wild beast, followed by the dawning of eternal blessedness under the rule of the Messianic Son of man. (Compare Daniel 7:13-14; Daniel 8:13-14; Daniel 12:11.) We believe that the numbers used should not be pressed into the same compass as if found in a modern table of dates. Numbers were the ordinary channels through which religious lessons were taught in ancient times (see Introduction to Ezekiel, “Symbolism,” VIII), and beyond all the possible historical applications of these at present inexplicable numbers there may lie a deeper symbolical meaning which future students of the Word may see unveiled. And once more let it be said that, far beyond the primary and local meaning of the prophet’s words and symbols, there may lie an eternal and more glorious meaning. As Delitzsch says: “The prophets behold the future by means of the light of divine illumination as we do the sidereal heavens. To us the stars appear as if they were on one level; we do not distinguish their distance from

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us and from one another” (History of Redemption, note p. 147).

12 Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.

1. Barnes, “Blessed is he that waiteth - This indicates a patient expectation of an event that was to occur, and the happy state of him who would reach it. The angel refers to another period different from the “time, and times, and an half,” and different also from the twelve hundred and ninety days. He speaks of this as the consummation - as the desirable time; and pronounces him blessed who shall be permitted to see it. The idea here is, that of one looking out for this as a happy period, and that he would be regarded as a happy man who should live in that age.

And cometh to - literally, “touches.” That is, whose life would reach to that time; or who would not be cut off before that period.The thousand three hundred and five and thirty days - The article is not used in the original, and its insertion here seems to make the period more distinct and definite than it is necessarily in the Hebrew. There is much apparent abruptness in all these expressions; and what the angel says in these closing and additional communications has much the appearance of a fragmentary character - of hints, or detached and unexplained thoughts thrown out on which he was not disposed to enlarge, and which, for some reason, he was not inclined to explain. In respect to this period of 1335 days, it seems to stand by itself. Nothing is said of the time when it would occur; no intimation is given of its commencement, as in the former cases - the terminus a quo; and nothing is said of its characteristics further than that he would be blessed who should be permitted to see it - implying that it would be, on some accounts, a happy period.

2. Clarke, “Blessed is he that waiteth - He who implicitly depends on God, expecting, as his truth cannot fail, that these predictions shall be accomplished in due time.

And cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days - This is seventy-five days more than what is included in the three years and a half, or the time, times, and a half in the seventh verse; and as we have met with so many instances of 153

prophets days and years, this undoubtedly is another instance; and as a day stands for a year, this must mean a period of one thousand three hundred and thirty-five years, which period is to bring all these wonders to an end, Dan_12:6. But we are left totally in the dark relative to the time from which these one thousand three hundred and thirty-five years are to be reckoned. If, however, we reckon them from the above epoch, a.d. 612, when Mohammedanism arose, they lead us to a.d. 1947, when the fullness of the Gentiles shall be brought in; and thus a final closure of vision and prophecy be made, as then all the great events relative to the salvation of men shall have taken place. Wars and contentions will probably then cease over the whole world; Jews and Gentiles become one fold, under one Shepherd and Bishop of souls; and the triune God be properly worshipped and glorified, from generation to generation, over the face of the whole earth. But all these conjectures may be founded in darkness. We have not chronological data; and “the times and seasons God has reserved in his own power.”

3. Gill, “Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the one thousand three hundred five and thirty days. Which is an addition of forty five days or years more, beginning at the end of one thousand two hundred and ninety, and make up this sum; during which time the vials will be poured out upon all the antichristian states, and the Turkish empire be destroyed, and all the enemies of Christ and his church removed, and clear way made for the setting up of his kingdom in the world in a more visible and glorious manner; and therefore happy is the man that will be found waiting for these times, and live to enjoy them. There are various ways taken in the computation and application of these one thousand three hundred and thirty five days by Jews and Christians. Lipman (p) the Jew makes them to be the same with "time", and "times", and "half a time", Dan_12:7, "time" he supposes, designs the space of four hundred and eighty years, from the Israelites going out of Egypt to the building of the first temple; times the space of four hundred and ten years which is as long as that temple stood; and "half a time" half of these two spaces, that is, four hundred and forty five years; all which make up one thousand three hundred and thirty five; but strange it is that time should signify a larger space than "times". Much more ingenious is the computation of Jacchiades on the text, who makes the account to describe the space of time from the days of Daniel to the end of the world. He supposes there were three thousand three hundred and ninety one years, from the beginning of the world to Daniel; he then takes and joins the one thousand two hundred and ninety days in the preceding verse, which he understands of years with the one thousand three hundred and thirty five days or years in this, which make together two thousand six hundred and twenty five; and, added to the above, the whole is six thousand and sixteen years; which agrees with the opinion of Elias, in the Talmud (q), that the world shall stand six thousand years. Many Christian interpreters (r) apply it to the times of Antiochus; and reckon them thus, understanding them of days; and not years; from the time of his taking away the daily sacrifice, to the restoration of it by Judas Maccabaeus, were three years and a half and some days, in all one thousand two hundred and ninety, as in the preceding verse; during which time the temple was profaned by idolatrous worship, the altar demolished, and the daily sacrifice ceased, and was a time of great distress with the Jews; and which, though greatly alleviated by the success of Judas, yet their calamities were not over until the death of Antiochus, which happened forty five days after; and these, added to the above number, make one thousand three hundred and thirty five days; at the close of

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which it was happy times with them, being delivered from so cruel and powerful an enemy; and therefore blessed were they that waited and came to this time. This passage Mr. Brightman applies to the Turkish empire; and thinks that time, and times, and half a time; Dan_12:7, measure the space of the power of that empire; "time" signifying one hundred years; "times" two hundred years; "half a time", fifty years; in all three hundred and fifty years; which added to one thousand three hundred, when that empire began, the date ends in one thousand six hundred and fifty, when he supposes, it would begin to decline; to which, if you add forty five days or years, as here, it will bring it down to one thousand six hundred and ninety five, when he thought it would be utterly extinct; but time has shown this to be a mistake. Mr. Mede (s) thinks these numbers are to be reckoned from the profanation of the temple by Antiochus; and that the first number, one thousand two hundred and ninety, ended in the year of Christ one thousand one hundred and twenty three, when antichrist was come to his height, and was discerned by many to be the person that was prophesied of as such; and the latter number, one thousand three hundred and thirty five ended in the year of Christ one thousand one hundred and sixty eight, when the Waldenses, Albigenses, and others separated from the church of Rome as antichristian, upon which violent persecutions were raised upon them: but then not happy, but miserable times, followed on these; unless this blessedness spoken of is to be applied to the martyrs that died for the sake of Christ, as in Rev_14:13. Another learned man (t) was of opinion that these numbers are to be counted from the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus Vespasian, A.D. 71, from whence the first number fell on the year 1361, at which time the school at Prague was founded by Charles king of Bohemia, and the errors and tyranny of antichrist began to be openly opposed by the same; and the second number ended in the year 1406, when the light of the Gospel broke out more clearly; so that the angel here pronounces those blessed who overlived these first seeds of the Gospel being brought to light; but something of great importance and cause of more joy, is here intended. Wherefore, upon the whole, it seems best to interpret these numbers as at first, of the date of the reign of antichrist, and as showing the full and certain end of it; when there will be blessed times, halcyon days indeed!

7.COFFMAN, ""Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. But go thou thy way till the end be; for thou shalt rest, and shall stand in thy lot, at the end of the days."

It is strange that the "thousand three hundred and five and thirty days" should have been identified by the definite article "the," as if this time period had already been mentioned earlier. This is the grounds upon which many hold this to be merely a variable of the "the time, and times, and half a time," featured in these final verses, and in the Book of Revelation. However, as Barnes pointed out, "The article is not used in the original."[16]

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"There is much apparent abruptness here. What the angel said in these closing communications has much the character of being fragmented...hints, or detached and unexplained thoughts thrown out, upon which the angel did not elect to enlarge, or explain."[17]

It is simply a mystery to us as to why these variable time-periods are used here; and our conviction remains that in some general sense, at least, they appear to have reference to the whole Christian dispensation, exactly as does "the time, and times, and a half a time."

THE BLESSED PROMISE TO DANIEL

"Thou shalt rest, and shall stand in thy lot, at the end of the days ..."

Young's beautiful comment on this is, "Daniel himself is assured of his salvation, and that he shall stand in his lot at the end of the days. May this same destination be that of all who read these words!"[18]

Our studies in Daniel remind us of those done in the Book of Jonah. Both books have come under the most vicious fire of the critics; but it turns out that both afford very rich rewards for the student. Both Daniel and Jonah were approved and endorsed, quoted and made applicable to the ministry and kingdom of Christ by the Lord himself. There is no intelligent reason for rejecting a single line of either book. Each one of them carries its own imprimatur of the Holy Spirit.

PETT, "Verse 12

‘Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty five days.’

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This suggests that it is this final period which is the most important of the two. The one thousand two hundred and ninety being a stage on the way to this final figure. But what can the one thousand three hundred and thirty five days refer to? It indicates a further one and a half months onto the one thousand two hundred and ninety days. If the end of the one thousand two hundred and ninety days refers to the recommencement of sacrifices then this could be the period of building the fortifications of the walls.

Those who saw that work completed would certainly count themselves as blessed. True worship would not only have been restored, but would also have been firmly secured.

But if the one thousand two hundred and ninety brings us to that point we can only see the extra one and a half months as due to a period which cannot be explained. Perhaps then the one thousand two hundred and ninety days can be seen as a stage in the process, possibly referring to the date of completion of some important section of it, clearly recognisable then, and thus as itself building up to the final day of blessing.

But the important lesson that comes from this is the need for the people of God to endure with perseverance under all persecution, because they can be sure that a time limit has been put upon it by God. He has even numbered it in days. The advancing lengths of time indicate the need to persevere that little bit longer even in the darkest hour, because even though God might allow it to go on longer than we expect, we can be sure that finally it will all come to an end.

TRAPP, "Verse 12

Daniel 12:12 Blessed [is] he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.

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Ver. 12. But blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.] Here are forty-five days more than in the former number; and probably they were, from the restoration of God’s service until the death of Antiochus - a blessed time to God’s poor persecuted people, as was here the death of Queen Mary - or else until some other signal mercy, as the victory that Judas Maccabaeus and his brethren had about that time over the Edomites, Ammonites, and Moabites, who thought to root Israel quite out.

POOLE, " These days are either,

1. Natural days, and properly so called, and so the times of Antiochus are hereby noted. Or,

2. Prophetical days, a day for a year, Ezekiel 4:6; and thus one thousand two hundred and ninety days is forty-two months, which if we multiply at thirty days the month make the sum one thousand two hundred and ninety. Here many learned expositors fall in together to that opinion of calculating these years by days, beginning the one thousand two hundred and ninety days from the profaning of the temple to the letter of king Antiochus to the Jews, /APC 2 Maccabees 11:27, and so make them to end exactly then: and concerning the abomination of desolation, whereof see what is said Daniel 7:25 8:14 9:25, being the epoch from Apollonius’s coming, who was called the prince of abominations, or from the worship of God forbidden by Antiochus, and at last restored by Judas Maccabeus, and confirmed by Antiochus, from thence to the death of Antiochus are fortyfive days, which added to one thousand two hundred and ninety make one thousand three hundred and thirty-five; but this is a false account, and contrary to the scope of this place, and to history and chronology, which the learned Joseph Mede hath proved at large, Lib. Oper. III. p. 882. The Jews make these days, i.e. years, to end at the coming of Christ, but uncertainly when to begin their reckoning, but have been often and grossly deceived. Sound Christians refer it to the second coming of Christ. Mr. Mede makes the chief revelation of antichrist to be in 1123. The latter number of one thousand three hundred and thirty-five ends in anno Christi 1168; and so the type of antichrist, which is Antiochus Epiphanes, leads us by the hand to the revelation of antichrist, which fell out anno 1106 to anno 1120; between which time

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the papal power was highly mounted, the church greatly persecuted, after that great numbers of them had separated from the abominations of Rome, openly declaring it to be antichristian. Therefore the angel saith, the saints by their trials

shall be purified and made white, that is, by those cruel persecutions which befell them, from their ignorant and enraged enemies, who went on to do wickedly and did not understand. How this is further cleared, and why the angel makes use of the Roman supputation in this case, namely, by indictions, and how it answers and resolves the case, see in the forecited author.

13 “As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.”

1. Barnes, “But go thou thy way until the end be - See Dan_12:4, Dan_12:9. The meaning is, that nothing more would be communicated, and that he must wait for the disclosures of future times. When that should occur which is here called “the end,” he would understand this more fully and perfectly. The language implies, also, that he would be present at the development which is here called “the end;” and that then he would comprehend clearly what was meant by these revelations. This is such language as would be used on the supposition that the reference was to far-distant times, and to the scenes of the resurrection and the final judgment, when Daniel would be present. Compare the notes at Dan_12:2-3.

For thou shalt rest - Rest now; and perhaps the meaning is, shalt enjoy a long season of repose before the consummation shall occur. In Dan_12:2, he had spoken of those who “sleep in the dust of the earth;” and the allusion here would seem to be the same as applied to Daniel. The period referred to was far distant. Important events were to intervene. The affairs of the world were to move on for ages before the “end”’ should come. There would be scenes of revolution, commotion, and tumult - momentous changes before that consummation would be reached. But during that long interval Daniel would “rest.” He would quietly and calmly “sleep in the dust of the earth” - in the 159

grave. He would be agitated by none of these troubles - disturbed by none of these changes, for he would peacefully slumber in the hope of being awaked in the resurrection. This also is such language as would be employed by one who believed in the doctrine of the resurrection, and who meant to say that he with whom he was conversing would repose in the tomb while the affairs of the world would move on in the long period that would intervene between the time when he was then speaking and the “end” or consummation of all things - the final resurrection. I do not see that it is possible to explain the language on any other supposition than this. The word rendered “shalt rest” - tânûach תנוח - would be well applied to the rest in the grave. So it is used in Job_3:13, “Then had I been at rest;” Job_3:17, “There the weary be at rest.”

And stand in thy lot - In thy place. The language is derived from the lot or portion which falls to one - as when a lot is cast, or anything is determined by lot. Compare Jdg_1:3; Isa_57:6; Psa_125:3; Psa_16:5. Gesenius (Lexicon) renders this, “And arise to thy lot in the end of days; i. e., in the Messiah’s kingdom.” Compare Rev_20:6. The meaning is, that he need have no apprehension for himself as to the future. That was not now indeed disclosed to him; and the subject was left in designed obscurity. He would “rest,” perhaps a long time, in the grave. But in the far-distant future he would occupy ills appropriate place; he would rise from his rest; he would appear again on the stage of action; he would have the lot and rank which properly belonged to him. What idea this would convey to the mind of Daniel it is impossible now to determine, for he gives no statement on that point; but it is clear that it is such language as would be appropriately used by one who believed in the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, and who meant to direct the mind onward to those far-distant and glorious scenes when the dead would all arise, and when each one of the righteous would stand up in his appropriate place or lot.At the end of the days - After the close of the periods referred to, when the consummation of all things should take place. It is impossible not to regard this as applicable to a resurrection from the dead; and there is every reason to suppose that Daniel would so understand it, for(a) if it be interpreted as referring to the close of the persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes, it must be so understood. This prophecy was uttered about 534 years b.c. The death of Antiochus occurred 164 b.c. The interval between the prophecy and that event was, therefore, 370 years. It is impossible to believe that it was meant by the angel that Daniel would continue to live during all that time, so that he should then “stand in his lot,” not having died; or that he did continue to live during all that period, and that at the end of it he “stood in his lot,” or occupied the post of distinction and honor which is referred to in this language. But if this had been the meaning, it would have implied that he would, at that time, rise from the dead.(b) If it be referred, as Gesenius explains it, to the times of the Messiah, the same thing would follow - for that time was still more remote; and, if it be supposed that Daniel understood it as relating to those times, it must also be admitted that he believed that there would be a resurrection, and that he would then appear in his proper place.(c) There is only one other supposition, and that directly involves the idea that the allusion is to the general resurrection, as referred to in Dan_12:3, and that Daniel would have part in that. This is admitted by Lengerke, by Maurer, and even by Bertholdt, to be the meaning, though he applies it to the reign of the Messiah. No other interpretation, therefore, can be affixed to this than that it implies the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, and that the mind of Daniel was directed onward to that. With this great and

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glorious doctrine the book appropriately closes. The hope of such a resurrection was fitted to soothe the mind of Daniel in view of all the troubles which he then experienced, and of all the darkness which rested on the future, for what we most want in the troubles and in the darkness of the present life is the assurance that, after having “rested” in the grave - in the calm sleep of the righteous - we shall “awake” in the morning of the resurrection, and shall “stand in our lot” - or in our appropriate place, as the acknowledged children of God, “at the end of days” - when time shall be no more, and when the consummation of all things shall have arrived.In reference to the application of this prophecy, the following general remarks may be made:I. One class of interpreters explain it literally as applicable to Antiochus Epiphanes. Of this class is Prof. Stuart, who supposes that its reference to Antiochus can be shown in the following manner: “The place which this passage occupies shows that the terminus a quo, or period from which the days designated are to be reckoned, is the same as that to which reference is made in the previous verse. This, as we have already seen, is the period when Antiochus, by his military agent Apollonius, took possession of Jerusalem, and put a stop to the temple worship there. The author of the first book of Maccabees, who is allowed by all to deserve credit as an historian, after describing the capture of Jerusalem by the agent of Antiochus (in the year 145 of the Seleucidae - 168 b.c.), and setting before the reader the widespread devastation which ensued, adds, respecting the invaders: ‘They shed innocent blood around the sanctuary, and defiled the holy place; and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled away: the sanctuary thereof was made desolate; her feasts were turned into mourning, her sabbaths into reproach, and her honor into disgrace;’ 1 Macc. 1:37-39. To the period when this state of things commenced we must look, then, in order to find the date from which the 1335 days are to be reckoned. Supposing now that Apollonius captured Jerusalem in the latter part of May, 168 b.c., the 1335 days would expire about the middle of February, in the year 164 b.c. Did any event take place at this period which would naturally call forth the congratulations of the prophet, as addressed in the text before us to the Jewish people?“History enables us to answer this question. Late in the year 165 b.c., or at least very early in the year 164 b.c., Antiochus Epiphanes, learning that there were great insurrections and disturbances in Armenia and Persia, hastened thither with a portion of his armies, while the other portion was commissioned against Palestine. He was victorious for a time; but being led by cupidity to seek for the treasures that were laid up in the temple of the Persian Diana at Elymais, he undertook to rifle them. The inhabitants of the place, however, rose en masse and drove him out of the city; after which he fled to Ecbatana. There he heard of the total discomfiture by Judas Maccabeus of his troops in Palestine, which were led on by Micanor and Timotheus. In the rage occasioned by this disappointment, he uttered the most horrid blasphemies against the God of the Jews, and threatened to make Jerusalem the burying-place of the nation. Immediately he directed his course toward Judea; and designing to pass through Babylon, he made all possible haste in his journey. In the meantime he had a fall from his chariot which injured him; and soon after, being seized with a mortal sickness in his bowels (probably the cholera), he died at Tabae, in the mountainous country, near the confines of Babylonia and Persia. Report stated, even in ancient times, that Antiochus was greatly distressed on his death-bed by the sacrilege which he had committed.“Thus perished the most bitter and bloody enemy which ever rose up against the Jewish nation and their worship. By following the series of events, it is easy to see that his death took place some time in February of the year 164 b.c. Assuming that the

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commencement or terminus a quo of the 1335 days is the same as that of the 1290 days, it is plain that they terminate at the period when the death of Antiochus is said to have taken place. ‘It was long before the commencement of the spring,’ says Froelich, ‘that Antiochus passed the Euphrates, and made his attack on Elymais: so that no more probable time can be fixed upon for his death than at the expiration of the 1335 days; i. e., some time in February of 164 b.c. No wonder that the angel pronounced those of the pious and believing Jews to be blessed who lived to see such a day of deliverance.” -Hints on Prophecy, pp. 95-97.There are, however, serious and obvious difficulties in regard to this view, and to the supposition that this is all that is intended here - objections and difficulties of so much force that most Christian interpreters have supposed that something further was intended. Among these difficulties and objections are the following:(a) The air of mystery which is thrown over the whole matter by the angel, as if he were reluctant to make the communication; as if something more was meant than the words expressed; as if he shrank from disclosing all that he knew, or that might be said. If it referred to Antiochus alone, it is difficult to see why so much mystery was made of it, and why he was so unwilling to allude further to the subject - as if it were something that did not pertain to the matter in hand.(b) The detached and fragmentary character of what is here said. It stands aside from the main communication. It is uttered after all that the angel had intended to reveal had been said. It is brought out at the earnest request of Daniel, and then only in hints, and in enigmatical language, and in such a manner that it would convey no distinct conception to his mind. This would seem to imply that it referred to something else than the main point that had been under consideration.(c) The difference of time specified here by the angel. This relates to two points:1. To what would occur after the “closing of the daily sacrifice, and the setting up of the abomination of desolation.” The angel now says that what he here refers to would extend to a period of twelve hundred and ninety days. But in the accounts before given, the time specified had uniformly been “a time, and times, and half a time;” that is, three years and a half, or twelve hundred and sixty days - differing from this by thirty days. Why should this thirty days have been added here if it referred to the time when the sanctuary would be cleansed, and the temple worship restored? Professor Stuart (Hints on Prophecy, pp. 93, 94) supposes that it was in order that the exact period might be mentioned. But this is liable to objections. For(a) the period of three and a half years was sufficiently exact;(b) there was no danger of mistake on the subject, and no such error had been made as to require correction;(c) this was not of sufficient importance to justify the manifest anxiety of the angel in the case, or to furnish any answer to the inquiries of Daniel, since so small an item of information would not relieve the mind of Daniel.The allusion, then, would seem to be something else than what had been referred to by the “three and a half years.”2. But there is a greater difficulty in regard to the other period - the 1335 days, for(a) that stands wholly detached from what had been said.(b) The beginning of that period - the terminus a quo - is not specified. It is true that Prof. Stuart (Hints on Prophecy, p. 95) supposes that this must be the same as that

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mentioned in the previous verse, but this is not apparent in the communication.It is an isolated statement, and would seem to refer to some momentous and important period in the future which would be characterized as a glorious or “blessed” period in the world’s history, or of such a nature that he ought to regard himself as peculiarly happy who should be permitted to live then. Now it is true that with much probability this may be shown, as Prof. Stuart has done in the passage quoted above, to accord well with the time when Antiochus died, as that was an important event, and would be so regarded by those pious Jews who would be permitted to live to that time; but it is true also that the main thing for rejoicing was the conquest of Judas Maccabeus and the cleansing of the sanctuary, and that the death of Antiochus does not seem to meet the fulness of what is said here. If that were all, it is not easily conceivable why the angel should have made so much a mystery of it, or why he should have been so reluctant to impart what he knew. The whole matter, therefore, appears to have a higher importance than the mere death of Antiochus and the delivery of the Jews from his persecutions.II. Another class, and it may be said Christian interpreters generally, have supposed that there was here a reference to some higher and more important events in the far-distant future. But it is scarcely needful to say, that the opinions entertained have beer almost as numerous as the writers on the prophecies, and that the judgment of the world has not settled down on any one particular method of the application. It would not be profitable to state the opinions which have been advanced; still less to attempt to refute them - most of them being fanciful conjectures. These may be seen detailed in great variety in Poole’s Synopsis. It is not commonly pretended that these opinions are based on any exact interpretation of the words, or on any certain mode of determining their correctness, and those who hold them admit that it must be reserved to future years - to their fulfillment to understand the exact meaning of the prophecy.Thus Prideaux, who supposes that this passage refers to Antiochus, frankly says: “Many things may be said for the probable solving of this difficulty (the fact that the angel here refers to an additional thirty days above the three years and a half, which he says can neither be applied to Antiochus nor to Anti-christ), but I shall offer none of them. Those that shall live to see the extirpatton of Anti-christ, which will be at the end of those years, will best be able to unfold these matters, it being of the nature of these prophecies not thoroughly to be understood until they are thoroughly fulfilled.” - Vol. iii. 283, 284. So Bishop Newton, who supposes that the setting up of the abomination of desolation here refers to the Mahometans invading and devastating Christendom, and that the religion of Mahomet will prevail in the East for the space of 1260 years, and then a great revolution - “perhaps the restoration of the Jews, perhaps the destruction of Antichrist” - indicated by the 1290 years, will occur; and that this will be succeeded by another still more glorious event - perhaps “the conversion of the Gentiles, and the beginning of the millennium, or reign of the saints on the earth” - indicated by the 1335 years - says, notwithstanding, “What is the precise time of their beginning, and consequently of their ending, as well as what are the great and signal events which will take place at the end of each period, we can only conjecture; time alone can with certainty discover.” - Prophecies, p. 321.These expressions indicate the common feeling of those who understand these statements as referring to future events; and the reasonings of those who have attempted to make a more specific application have been such as to demonstrate the wisdom of this modesty, and to make us wish that it had been imitated by all. At all events, such speculations on this subject have been so wild and unfounded; so at variance with all just

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rules of interpretation; so much the fruit of mere fancy, and so incapable of solid support by reasoning, as to admonish us that no more conjectures should be added to the number.III. The sum of all that it seems to me can be said on the matter is this:(1) That it is probable, for the reasons above stated, that the angel referred to other events than the persecutions and the death of Antiochus, for if that was all, the additional information which he gave by the specification of the period of 1260 days, and 1290 days, and 1335 days, was quite too meagre to be worthy of a formal and solemn revelation from God. In other words, if this was all, there was no correspondence between the importance of the events and the solemn manner in which the terms of the communication were made. There was no such importance in these three periods as to make these separate disclosures necessary. If this were all, the statements were such indeed as might be made by a weak man attaching importance to trifles, but not such as would be made by an inspired angel professing to communicate great and momentous truths.(2) Either by design, or because the language which he would employ to designate higher events happened to be such as would note those periods also, the angel employed terms which, in the main, would be applicable to what would occur under the persecutions of Antiochus, while, at the same time, his eye was on more important and momentous events in the far-distant future. Thus the three years and a half would apply with sufficient accuracy to the time between the taking away of the daily sacrifice, and the expurgation of the temple by Judas Maccabeus, and then, also, it so happens that the thirteen hundred and thirty-five days would designate with sufficient accuracy the death of Antiochus, but there is nothing in the history to which the period of twelve hundred and ninety days could with particular propriety be applied, and there is no reason in the history why reference should have been made to that.(3) The angel had his eye on three great and important epochs lying apparently far in the future, and constituting important periods in the history of the church and the world. These were, respectively, composed of 1260, 1290, and 1335 prophetic days, that is, years. Whether they had the same beginning or point of reckoning - termini a quo -and whether they would, as far as they would respectively extend, cover the same space of time, he does not intimate with any certainty, and, of course, if this is the correct view it would be impossible now to determine, and the development is to be left to the times specified. One of them, the 1260 years, or the three years and a half, we can fix, we think, by applying it to the Papacy. See the notes at Dan_7:24-28. But in determining even this, it was necessary to wait until the time and course of events should disclose its meaning; and in reference to the other two periods, doubtless still future, it may be necessary now to wait until events, still to occur, shall disclose what was intended by the angel. The first has been made clear by history: there can be no doubt that the others in the same manner will be made equally clear. That this is the true interpretation, and that this is the view which the angel desired to convey to the mind of Daniel, seems to be clear from such expressions as these occurring in the prophecy: “Seal the book to the time of the end,” Dan_12:4; “many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased,” Dan_12:4; “the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end,” Dan_12:9; “many shall be made white,” Dan_12:1-13 : 10; “the wise shall understand,” Dan_12:10; “go thou thy way until the end be,” Dan_12:13. This language seems to imply that these things could not then be understood, but that when the events to which they refer should take place they would be plain to all.

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(4) Two of those events or periods - the 1290 days and the 1335 days - seem to lie still in the future, and the full understanding of the prediction is to be reserved for developments yet to be made in the history of the world. Whether it be by the conversion of the Jews and the Gentiles, respectively, as Bishop Newton supposes, it would be vain to conjecture, and time must determine. That such periods - marked and important periods - are to occur in the future, or in some era now commenced but not yet completed, I am constrained to believe; and that it will be possible, in time to come, to determine what they are, seems to me to be as undoubted. But where there is nothing certain to be the basis of calculation, it is idle to add other conjectures to those already made, and it is wiser to leave the matter, as much of the predictions respecting the future must of necessity be left to time and to events to make them clear.Let me add, in the conclusion of the exposition of this remarkable book: -(a) That the mind of Daniel is left at the close of all the Divine communications to him looking into the far-distant future, Dan_12:13. His attention is directed onward. Fragments of great truths had been thrown out, with little apparent connection, by the angel; hints of momentous import had been suggested respecting great doctrines to be made clearer in future ages. A time was to occur, perhaps in the far-distant future, when the dead were to be raised; when all that slept in the dust of the earth should awake; when the righteous should shin e as the brightness of the firmament, and when he himself should “stand in his lot” - sharing the joys of the blessed, and occupying the position which would be appropriate to him. With this cheering prospect the communications of the angel to him are closed. Nothing could be better fitted to comfort his heart in a land of exile: nothing better fitted to elevate his thoughts.(b) In the same manner it is proper that we should look onward. All the revelations of God terminate in this manner; all are designed and adapted to direct the mind to far-distant and most glorious scenes in the future. We have all that Daniel had; and we have what Daniel had not - the clear revelation of the gospel. In that gospel are stated in a still more clear manner those glorious truths respecting the future which are fitted to cheer us in time of trouble, to elevate our minds amidst the low scenes of earth, and to comfort and sustain us on the bed of death. With much more distinctness than Daniel saw them, we are permitted to contemplate the truths respecting the resurrection of the dead, the scenes of the final judgment, and the future happiness of the righteous. We have now knowledge of the resurrection of the Redeemer, and, through him, the assurance that all his people will be raised up to honor and glory; and though, in reference to the resurrection of the dead, and the future glory of the righteous, there is much that is still obscure, yet there is all that is necessary to inspire us with hope, and to stimulate us to endcavour to obtain the crown of life.(c) It is not improper, therefore, to close the exposition of this book with the expression of a wish that what was promised to Daniel may occur to us who read his words - that “we may stand in our lot at the end of days;” that when all the scenes of earth shall have passed away in regard to us, and the end of the world itself shall have come, it may be our happy portion to occupy a place among the redeemed and to stand accepted before God. To ourselves, if we are truly righteous through our Redeemer, we may apply the promise made to Daniel; and for his readers the author can express no higher wish than that this lot may be theirs. If the exposition of this book shall be so blessed as to confirm any in the belief of the great truths of revelation, and lead their minds to a more confirmed hope in regard to these future glorious scenes; if by dwelling on the firm piety, the consummate wisdom, and the steady confidence in God evinced by this remarkable man, their souls shall be more established in the pursuit of the same

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piety, wisdom, and confidence in God; and if it shall lead the minds of any to contemplate with a more steady and enlightened faith the scenes which are yet to occur on our earth, when the saints shall reign, or in heaven, when all the children of God shall be gathered there from all lands, the great object of these studies will have been accomplished, and the labor which has been bestowed upon it will not have been in vain.To these high and holy purposes I now consecrate these reflections on the book of Daniel, with an earnest prayer that He, from whom all blessings come, may be pleased so to accept this exposition of one of the portions of his revealed truth, as to make it the means of promoting the interests of truth and piety in the world; with a grateful sense of his goodness in allowing me to complete it, and with thankfulness that I have been permitted for so many hours, in the preparation of this work, to contemplate the lofty integrity, the profound wisdom, the stern and unyielding virtue, and the humble piety of this distinguished saint and eminent statesman of ancient time. He is under a good influence, and he is likely to have his own piety quickened, and his own purposes of unflinching integrity and faithfulness, and of humble devotion to God strengthened, who studies the writings and the character of the prophet Daniel.

2. Clarke, “But go thou thy way till the end be - Here is proper advice for every man.

1. Thou hast a way - a walk in life, which God has assigned thee; walk in that way, it is thy way.2. There will be an end to thee of all earthly things. Death is at the door, and eternity is at hand; go on to the end - be faithful unto death.3. There is a rest provided for the people of God. Thou shalt rest; thy body, in the grave; thy soul, in the Divine favor here, and finally in paradise.4. As in the promised land there was a lot for each of God’s people, so in heaven there is a lot for thee. Do not lose it, do not sell it, do not let thy enemy rob thee of it. Be determined to stand in thy own lot at the end of the days. See that thou keep the faith; die in the Lord Jesus, that thou mayest rise and reign with him to all eternity. Amen.

Masoretic NotesNumber of verses in this book, 357Middle verse, Dan_5:30Masoretic sections, 7Finished correcting for the press, March 1st, 1831. - A. C.

3. Gill, “But go thou thy way till the end be,.... Prepare for death and expect to be under the power of it, to lie in the grave, till the end of the world, until the resurrection morn:

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for thou shalt rest; from all toil and labour, from all sin and sorrow; his body in the grave, his soul in the bosom of Christ: and stand in thy lot at the end of the days; signifying that he should rise again from the dead, have his part in the first resurrection, his share of the glory of the Millennium state, and his portion in the heavenly inheritance of the saints; the antitype of Canaan, which was divided by lot to the children of Israel: and, in the faith and hope of this, it became him to be contented and satisfied; believing the accomplishment of all that had been shown him, and looking for the blessedness which was promised him. Agreeable to which is the paraphrase of Jacchiades; "but thou, O Daniel, go to the end of thy life in this world; and, after thou art dead, rest in the rest of paradise; and at the end of days thou shall stand and live in the resurrection of the dead, and shall enjoy thy good lot in the world to come''.

4. Henry, “(4.) He must comfort himself with the pleasing prospect of his own happiness in death, in judgment, and to eternity, Dan_12:13. Daniel was now very old, and had been long engaged both in an intimate acquaintance with heaven and in a great deal of public business on this earth. And now he must think of bidding farewell to this present state: Go thou thy way till the end be. [1.] It is good for us all to think much of going away from this world; we are still going, and must be gone shortly, gone the way of all the earth. That must be our way; but this is our comfort, We shall not go till God calls for us to another world, and till he has done with us in this world, till he says, “Go thou thy way; thou hast finished thy testimony, done thy work, and accomplished as a hireling thy day, therefore now, Go thy way, and leave it to others to take thy room.” [2.] When a good man goes his way from this world he enters into rest: “Thou shalt rest from all thy present toils and agitations, and shalt not see the evils that are coming on the next generation.” Never can a child of God say more pertinently than in his dying moments, Return unto thy rest, O my soul! [3.] Time and days will have an end; not only our time and days will end very shortly, but all times and days will have an end at length; yet a little while, and time shall be no more, but all its revolutions will be numbered and finished. [4.] Our rest in the grave will be but till the end of the days; and then the peaceful rest will be happily disturbed by a joyful resurrection. Job foresaw this when he said of the dead, Till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep, implying that then they shall, Job_14:12. [5.] We must every one of us stand in our lot at the end of the days. In the judgment of the great day we must have our allotment according to what we were, and what we did, in the body, either, Come, you blessed or, Go, you cursed; and we must stand for ever in that lot. It was a comfort to Daniel, it is a comfort to all the saints, that, whatever their lot is in the days of time, they shall have a happy lot in the end of the days, shall have their lot among the chosen. And it ought to be the great care and concern of every one of us to secure a happy lot at last in the end of the days, and they we may well be content with our present lot, welcome the will of God. [6.] A believing hope and prospect of a blessed lot in the heavenly Canaan, at the end of the days, will be an effectual support to us when we are going our way out of

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this world, and will furnish us with living comforts in dying moments.5. Jamison, “6. K&D, “Daniel 12:13

After these disclosures regarding the time of the end, the angel of the Lord dismisses the highly-favoured prophet from his life's work with the comforting assurance that he shall stand in his own lot in the end of the days. לקץ ל evidently does not mean “go to the end, i.e., go thy way” (Hitzig), nor “go hence in relation to the end,” as Kranichfeld translates it, because לקץ with the article points back to קץ Dan_12:9. For though ,עתthis reference were placed beyond a doubt, yet לקץ could only declare the end of the going: go to the end, and the meaning could then with Ewald only be: “but go thou into the grave till the end.” But it is more simple, with Theodoret and most interpreters, to understand לקץ of the end of Daniel's life: go to the end of thy life (cf. for the constr. of הל with 1 ,לSa_23:18). With this ותנוח simply connects itself: and thou shalt rest,

namely, in the grave, and rise again. ד תעמ to rise up, sc. from the rest of the ,תקום =grave, thus to rise again. רל רל .in thy lot ,לג lot, of the inheritance divided to the ,גIsraelites by lot, referred to the inheritance of the saints in light (Col_1:12), which shall be possessed by the righteous after the resurrection from the dead, in the heavenly Jerusalem. הימים to ,לקץ = at, the end of the days, i.e., not = הימים in the ,אחריתMessianic time, but in the last days, when, after the judgment of the world, the kingdom of glory shall appear. Well shall it be for us if in the end of our days we too are able to depart hence with such consolation of hope!

7. CALVIN, "Here the angel repeats what he had said before, the, full time of perfect light had not yet arrived, because God wished to hold the minds of his people in suspense until the manifestation of Christ. The angel, therefore, dismisses the Prophet, and in commanding him to depart, says — Be content with thy lot, for God wishes to put off the complete manifestation of this prophecy to another time, which he himself knows to be the fitting one. He afterwards adds, And then shalt rest and shalt stand Others translate it, rest and stand; but the angel does not seem to me to command or order what he wishes to be done, but to announce future events, as if he had said, — Thou shalt rest, meaning, thou shalt die, and then thou shalt stand; meaning, thy death shall not be complete destruction. For God shall cause thee to stand in thy lot with the rest of the elect; and that, too, at the end of the days, in thy lot; that is, after God has sufficiently proved the patience of his people, and by long and numerous, nay, infinite contests, has humbled his Church, and purged it, until the end shall arrive. At that final period thou shalt stand in thine own lot, although a time of repose must necessarily intervene.

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COKE, "Daniel 12:13. Till the end be— To thy station. Rest and continue in thy lot, till the end of thy days. It is hereby signified, that Daniel should live in peace and tranquillity till the end of his days; and that the evils which had just been shewn him were yet at a great distance: and it also, probably, signifies, that Daniel should be a partaker of all the privileges of the first resurrection, and have then a glorious lot with the saints of God. See Revelation 20:5-6.

REFLECTIONS.—1st, When the troubles of God's faithful people are at their height, the power and grace of their Redeemer shall be the more magnified in their deliverance; and especially at the resurrection of the dead and the great day of judgment.

1. In that great day of the appearing of our God and Saviour, an awful distinction will be made between the persons who shall awake from the dust of death; some of them arising to everlasting life, while others, who died impenitent, shall awake to shame and everlasting contempt; which would be a glorious encouragement for the sufferers under the persecution of Antiochus, (see Hebrews 11:35.) as it is to all the suffering saints of God to the end of time.

2. The reward of the faithful will then be great. The wise, who perseveringly know and believe in Jesus to the saving of their souls; deep read in their own sinful state by nature, the sufficiency of the Redeemer's blood and infinite merit, and the divine operations of the Holy Spirit; these shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, perfectly holy, and happy, and glorious as their Lord; and they that turn many to righteousness, the ministers of the gospel, and others who laboured for this blessed purpose, to bring men to the knowledge of a Redeemer's sacrifice, intercession, and infinite merit, as the only ground of their acceptance with God, and to convert their souls to the love and practice of holiness, they shall shine as the stars for ever and ever, with undiminished lustre through the ages of eternity. A powerful engagement this, to those who are put in trust with the gospel, to labour with fidelity and zeal in the blessed cause, when every soul converted by their ministry shall add a jewel to their crown.

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3. Daniel is commanded to seal the book even to the time of the end; either he was to keep the vision secret, or it would not be understood or regarded till the times of trial came, which were at a distance; or it intimates the darkness and obscurity of the book, till the accomplishment of the events should discover the meaning of the prophetic word. Many shall run to and fro, at the end of time, when the things here spoken of begin to be fulfilled, earnestly searching into this sealed book: and knowledge shall be increased; light will then be cast on the prophesies; so that the diligent inquirer shall be able to understand them more fully than they had ever been understood before. Note; (1.) They who would draw knowledge from the deep well of prophetic truth must diligently examine and compare spiritual things with spiritual, and in prayer fervently ask divine illumination. (2.) However dark and obscure any of the prophesies may now be, the time will come when they will be clear as if written with a sunbeam.

2nd, The mysterious things before spoken naturally excited in the prophet's mind the desire to know when the end of these things should be, and what would be the sign of their conclusion.

1. How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? This question is put by one of the angels who stood by the river, in the prophet's hearing, to the glorious personage who stood upon, or above, the waters of the river. Daniel, probably, feared to be too inquisitive; and though he wished to know, yet dared not ask. The answer is ushered in with great solemnity: the celestial personage, lifting up his hand to heaven, by a solemn oath for the confirmation of the faith of his servant (see Revelation 10:5-6.), declares, that the troubles will continue for a time, times, and an half: and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. This is to be applied to the reign and fall of Antichrist, the same numbers being used, Revelation 11:2-3; Revelation 12:6-14 when the dispersion of the Jews shall end, and they shall be gathered out of all lands: which blessed event may the Lord hasten in his time!

2. What shall be the end of these things? Encouraged by the answer which had been given, but not understanding the meaning of what he heard, Daniel himself is emboldened to ask, what events would more distinctly mark the conclusion of these troubles? or, as the words may be rendered, what is the last of these things? Note; (1.) Through the darkness of their minds, the greatest saints are often at a loss in

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their inquiries, and humbly own their ignorance. (2.) We have one to apply to under all our doubts and difficulties, who is able to solve them. (3.) When we see the prevalence of iniquity, and the triumphs of the ungodly, we are ready in amaze to cry, What will be the end of these things? as if the cause of Christ was utterly overwhelmed; but it shall prevail at last over all opposition.

The answer given to the prophet's inquiry is very gracious: he shall know as much as he needs, and is bid to be content about the rest. Go thy way, Daniel; be satisfied with what thou hast heard, and prepare for eternity; for the words are closed up, and sealed till the time of the end; will continue till then more or less dark and obscure, when time would interpret the vision. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried, by their afflictions, and come like silver from the furnace; but the wicked shall do wickedly; persisting in their impenitence, and given up to judicial blindness of heart. None of the wicked shall understand, neither the word nor the providences of God; but the wise shall understand both, and improve thereby. And, as to the immediate solution of the question, he gives him some dates by which it might be known: from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days; which some refer to what Antiochus did, but is also to be referred to Antichrist; who, in opposition to the one sacrifice of Christ, has set up the merits of man, established the worship of saints and images, and other abominations. The length of this state of trouble is declared to be a thousand two hundred and ninety days, see Revelation 13:5. The days here added to the number there given are, as some think, the space allotted for the conversion of the Jews. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days, at the end of which all the enemies of Christ and his people will, it is supposed, be utterly destroyed, and times of the greatest happiness and joy succeed. The period of these events indeed still remains a secret; but of this the people of God may be sure, that the end of all the sufferings of his church hastens apace; that we are called with patience to wait for the blessed day; and that our happiness will then be complete and everlasting.

The concluding answer is a word of comfort, particularly addressed to Daniel himself. Go thou thy way till the end be; prepare for death, and wait for the resurrection morn; for thou shalt rest, dying in the Lord, and delivered for ever from all the burthens of mortality; and stand in thy lot at the end of the days; raised to a glorious inheritance at the last, and put in possession of that eternal kingdom

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which God hath prepared for those who are faithful unto death. Note; (1.) While God continues us upon earth, our business is to be found in the work that he has given us to do, waiting for our dismission, and ever ready to receive it with joy. (2.) A child of God, like Noah's dove, must not expect his rest in this tempestuous world; but when his head rests upon a pillow of dust, then shall his soul find rest in the Saviour's bosom. (3.) Whatever our lot or portion may be in this world, we have an inheritance before us incorruptible, undefiled, which fadeth not away; the believing prospect of which will effectually support the faithful under all the trials of life, and carry them triumphant through all the terrors of death to everlasting glory. Even so, Amen; come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!

ELLICOTT, " (13) In thy lot.—The reference is to the partition of Palestine by lot in the times of Joshua. Even so shall one greater than Joshua divide the heavenly Canaan among His saints who follow Daniel in faith, firmness, and consistency. (See Colossians 1:12.)

GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE, "A Promised InheritanceBut go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and shalt stand in thy lot, at the end of the days.—Dan_12:13.

1. Daniel was one of the favoured ones under the Old Testament dispensation. Like Enoch, who walked with God and was not found, for God took him; like Elijah, who went up in the chariot of fire to heaven; like Moses, whom God buried, and no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day; like Job, who found the latter end of the Lord to be mercy—so Daniel was one of those few who had their special reward assigned them at the end of life.

Of other saints we read chiefly of the great things God did for them in their lives. Our eyes are fixed on their lives, and on what they did, on what they went through, on what they were saved from. Abraham and Samuel and David and the other prophets we think of as in the midst of trial, or in the thick of life; we do not turn our thoughts much towards their end or to what accompanied it. But of Daniel there is nothing that we read about in his life so striking as that which belonged to its

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close. He had, no doubt, a most remarkable life. He, as much as any, had gone through strange changes; he had been a proof of the strength of faith and of the power of God to protect and reward it. To him had been shown, in awful mixture of clearness and mystery, the things that were to be on the earth after him. He was most remarkable as a witness to the truth—remarkable as a prophet, remarkable as a living saint of God. But all these things he shares, more or less, with others. The thing which he has alone, the thing which will always come upon the readers of his awful book with the most solemn force, is the promise made to him individually with which it ends—the clear promise of rest beyond the grave. Daniel was one to whom it was given without any uncertainty to know what was to become of him when this world was over. He is marked out among his fellow-servants in the company of the prophets by the privilege of his death. The light of the other world shines on him while he is yet in this. He knows, before he goes, while death is yet at a distance, that he is to “stand in his lot at the end of the days.” He is one to whom death seems scarcely death, so surely does he still live beyond it.

The following letter to Lydia Maria Child was written upon Mr. Whittiers return from the Yearly Meeting of Friends, held in Portland, in June 1879:—

“Returning from our Yearly Meeting, I was glad to welcome once more thy handwriting. I did not see thee at our dear Garrisons funeral. Was thee there? It was a most impressive occasion. Phillips outdid himself, and Theodore Weld, under the stress of powerful emotion, renewed that marvellous eloquence which, in the early days of anti-slavery, shamed the church and silenced the mob. I never heard anything more beautiful and more moving. Garrisons faith in the continuity of life was very positive. He trusted more to the phenomena of spiritualism than I can, however. My faith is not helped by them, and yet I wish I could see truth in them. I do believe, apart from all outward signs, in the future life, and that the happiness of that life, as of this, will consist in labour and self-sacrifice. In this sense, as thee say, there is no death. ”1 [Note: Life and Letters of John Greenleaf Whittier, ii. 649.]

2. Daniel was a man greatly beloved, and many secrets were revealed to him. He had seen many visions of coming events in the history of the Church and of the world; but the time came when he was to receive no further communications, and he was told to shut up the words and seal the Book, even to the time of the end. He had received much general information regarding the coming ages. He was told that

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there would be days of trouble, such as never were since there was a nation; he was told of a time when sleepers in the dust should awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt; he was told that at that time they who are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. But when he did not understand what was said as to the time of these great events, and asked for further information, saying, “O my lord, what shall be the issue of these things?” the answer he received was this, “Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are shut up and sealed till the time of the end.” He was to get no more light at that time regarding the great events of the future. He had to be satisfied with the thought that, if the wicked should still do wickedly, many should be purified and made white; and that those should be blessed who should wait and come to the predicted period of glory. And as for the prophet himself, if he should end his days long ere the ages have run their course, and the blessed era has arrived, he is assured that all will be well with him, and that, amid the bright glory of the future, he will not be overlooked or forgotten by the Master whom he loved so well and served so devotedly. He was relieved of his work, and dismissed from service, in these cheering words, “But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and shalt stand in thy lot, at the end of the days.”

Daniel reminds us of John. The one was the “man greatly beloved,” the other “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” The one had frequent revelations and visions, especially of the times and seasons, so had the other. The one fainted and was without strength at the sight of Messiahs glory; the other fell at Christs feet as one dead. Both were comforted by the hand of Jesus laid upon them. Both were exiles in a Gentile land. Both were very aged men. We are reminded of the last words of our Lord to John, “Follow me.” To Daniel it is, Go thy way till the end.1 [Note: Horatius Bonar.]

The text brings to the prophet a comforting message of—

I. Release.

II. Rest.

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III. Recompense.

I

Release

“Go thou thy way.”

These words are frequently supposed to refer to Daniels dismissal from life. “Depart,” they are supposed to mean, “thy work is over, thy time is done; take thy journey across the dim borderland that separates between seen and unseen, temporal and eternal; go thy way, and may the valley be bright, the passage be easy, the entrance be full.” One might draw various good lessons from this reading. But it labours under a fatal objection. It implies that the end is immediate, just overshadowing, just impending; whereas the end is future. “Go thou thy way,” says the speaker, “till the end be.” The way, then, that Daniel must go is the way of life, not the way of death, life with its business, life with its duties, life with its work. Death and the things that follow death—these come afterwards.

1. The words, then, while they imply release from the prophetic office, are a direct encouragement to persevere with the common duties of life. Daniels had been a wonderful career. From being cup-bearer to the Babylonian king, he had mounted to be liberator of Gods people and recipient of Gods revelations. But in both aspects now his work was complete. There were no more people to be liberated. There were no more revelations to be received. There were just two things which Daniel in all probability desired. One was to return with the people to Jerusalem, to see their good, and rejoice with them in their great joy. It could not well have been otherwise. Daniel at the return to Canaan, like Moses at the entrance, must have longed and prayed to go over and see the good land beyond Jordan. “No,” is the answer of God, “I have another place for thee, I have another task for thee. As cup-bearer in Babylon thou didst begin, and notwithstanding all that has happened in the interval, as cup-bearer, or at any rate as State official, thou shalt end. Back then to the kings service! Back to the kings business! Arrange in his household. Advise in his court.

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Return to thy post then, and where life occupies thee, there let death find thee, waiting, working, ready. Go thy way till the end be.”

Like St. Paul, Daniel had been in the third heaven in the presence of God. He had been carried forward into the marvellous events of the latter day. He needed a calming word. And here it is, “Go thy way till the end be.” Do thy ordinary work; walk in the simple way of common life. In the midst of this ages convulsions, and storms, and heat; in the prospect of what is coming on the earth in the last days, we need calming words too. Let us listen to the calm, holy voice that ever speaks to us from heaven, “Be still and know that I am God;” “Let not your hearts be troubled;” “Keep your selves in the love of God;” “What is that to thee? Follow me.”

“This do in remembrance of me” has turned many meals into the Lords meals. How indeed shall we find Christ, how live by Him, if we search only the heights of heaven and know Him not as He meets us every day? It is beautiful to note how, after the resurrection, He revealed Himself in unsuspected, because too common, ways. Mary turns from the sepulchre, where she sought the Lord, to meet Him whom she thought to be only the gardener; the disciples knew Him, not as He told them of deep mysteries, but as He broke the bread for the wayfarers evening meal. Our everyday activities, our common meals must be brought into conscious relation with Christ, we must see the absolute necessity of being in touch with the Divine source of life, if we are to understand either ourselves or Him.1 [Note: Joan Mary Fry, The Way of Peace.]

2. But there was another thing which Daniel wished, and it was this. Not only had he parted with his kinsmen, and seen them return without him; he had received an announcement in figure of their future history. It was not all clear, this announcement, very far from it. It was mysterious, it was vague. One thing alone was clear, one thing alone was certain. The future was to be a time of trial, a time of distress. Daniel wished to know the meaning. He wished to know the termination. He was curious, anxious, perplexed. “No,” is the answer of Jehovah again, “follow your own path. And follow it not only independent of your peoples company, but independent of your peoples future. Leave problems alone. Put difficulties to the side. It is not for you to know the times and the seasons. The secret things belong to the Lord, the revealed things to you—for you to accept, and for you to practise. And the main revealed thing is this—your duty to your kings interests, your engagement

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in the kings service, till the call comes to stop. Will you have this question answered? Will you have that riddle solved? Desist from them all. Be satisfied with the fact that your own weal is cared for. Be satisfied with the fact that your own safety is ensured. Go thou thy way till the end be. All will be well when that comes. Thou shalt rest, and shalt stand in thy lot, at the end of the days. ”

In the life and experience of most of us there is much that is perplexing and strange, and not a little that appears to be unjust; and we are often impatient to learn the secrets of Divine providence and the wherefore of Gods working as He does; hearts become angry or fretful, sometimes faith fails, and the soul is in a state of insurrection. But it must be remembered that the present is for us a waiting time. God, when the hour of His appointment has fully come, will make clear His hidden purposes, will resolve the doubts that trouble us, and fully answer all the hard questions of life; so that we eventually shall see that, however strange the manner of His working may have seemed to be, He has really wrought in love, and has done all things well. But the time for these explanations is not yet; and man must win lifes battle by faith, not by sight. Meanwhile a blessing is promised to him who can wait patiently, trusting God where he cannot trace the way of His working or fathom the mystery of His plan.

It is not for the workmen who are engaged in the construction of a magnificent pile which is to be the wonder and admiration of the ages to have a clear knowledge of the architectural ideal. All they need know is how to use the tools that have been placed in their hands; all they need be anxious about is the particular piece of wall given them to build. They labour necessarily in the dark. All they need be assured of is that they are working under the guidance and inspiration of the great Master-Builder. Be true, be honest, be diligent, be faithful, fill the particular position into which Providence hath introduced you as well as it can be filled by the grace of God, and the great Architect under whose superintendence the vast structure is being upreared will take care of the congruities and harmonies. Do not agitate yourself with questions which are beyond your capacity to understand. Do not permit the inexplicable and the perplexing in human phenomena to disquiet you. Do not obtrude into the domain of the Infinite. “Go thou thy way.”1 [Note: B. D. Thomas.]

In sorrow and in nakedness of soul

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I look into the street,

If haply there mine eye may meet

As up and down it ranges,

The servants of my father bearing changes

Of raiment sweet—

Seven changes sweet with violet and moly,

Seven changes pure and holy.

But nowhere mid the thick entangled throng

Mark I their proud sad paces,

Nowhere the light upon their faces

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Serene with that great beauty

Wherein the singly meditated duty

Its empire traces:—

Only the fretful merchants stand and cry—

“Come buy! come buy! come buy!”

And the big bales are drunk with all the purple

That wells in vats of Tyre,

And unrolled damasks stream with golden fire,

And broideries of Ind,

And, piled on Polar furs, are braveries winned

From far Gadire.

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And I am waiting, abject, cold, and numb,

Yet sure that they will come.

O naked soul, be patient in this stead!

Thrice blest are they that wait.

O Father of my soul, the gate

Will open soon, and they

Who minister to Thee and Thine alway

Will enter straight,

And speak to me that I shall understand

The speech of Thy great land.

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And I will rise, and wash, and they will dress me

As Thou wouldst have me dressed;

And I shall stand confest

Thy son; and men shall falter—

“Behold the ephod of the unseen altar!

O God-possessed!

Thy raiment is not from the looms of earth,

But has a Heavenly birth.”1 [Note: T. E. Brown, Old John and Other Poems, 152.]

3. The time of every mans service comes to an end. Some work for a longer and others for a shorter time in the vineyard, but with each one the night comes when no man can work. One just begins his labours when he is cut down in the midst of his days, and hurried away to give in his account. Another has to bear the burden and heat of the day, and is spared to be an old disciple, that his matured piety may shine as a heavenly light in a dark world. But with all, the dismission time comes at last. “Our fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?” Surely the thought should solemnize us all, and especially when we consider that the time is not only short, but very uncertain. Surely what we are to do for the salvation of our own souls, we should do now, giving all diligence to make our calling and election sure. And what we are to do for the good of our fellow-men, and for the glory of our Lord, we should do earnestly, as we have opportunity from day to day. To-day only

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is ours. To-morrow we may never see. The call is emphatic: “Go work to-day in my vineyard”—not to-morrow, or at any future time, but to-day, now, at this present hour, while opportunity offers and life lasts.

How earnestly he now set himself to make the most of life in a religious sense appears from a sort of aphorism on conduct which he wrote down originally for his own use, and afterwards communicated as a parting gift to his friend Farrar [afterwards Dean of Canterbury], who was about to become a master at Marlborough School. As a record of the spirit in which Maxwell entered at three-and-twenty on his independent career, this fragment is of extraordinary value.

“He that would enjoy life and act with freedom must have the work of the day continually before his eyes. Not yesterdays work, lest he fall into despair, nor to-morrows, lest he become a visionary,—not that which ends with the day, which is a worldly work, nor yet that only which remains to eternity, for by it he cannot shape his actions.

“Happy is the man who can recognize in the work of To-day a connected portion of the work of life, and an embodiment of the work of Eternity. The foundations of his confidence are unchangeable, for he has been made a partaker of Infinity. He strenuously works out his daily enterprises, because the present is given him for a possession.

“Thus ought Man to be an impersonation of the Divine process of nature, and to show forth the union of the infinite with the finite, not slighting his temporal existence, remembering that in it only is individual action possible, nor yet shutting out from his view that which is eternal, knowing that Time is a mystery which man cannot endure to contemplate until eternal Truth enlighten it.”1 [Note: L. Campbell and W. Garnett, The Life of James Clerk Maxwell, 200.]

4. God says not only to individuals—to each of His own servants, when he has done his work—“Go thou thy way.” He says it to communities of men and witnesses for the truth. He says it to churches. He says it to generations. He says it to worlds—to

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one world after another: “Go thou thy way.” What power of will and thought is His which can develop itself in fulness only through all the worlds and along all the ages! How great is His patience, which waits and is never weary, until the evil is vanquished and the good is triumphant at last! And how vast is His providence, by which the whole is wrought out! All thoughts and plans and systems of man, all passions, all pursuits, all births and deaths of individuals and of nations, all histories of races,—everything is in the providence and plan of God. Some things are inserted and sustained directly by Himself, some things by the exercise of the free choice of His creatures; but everything is ruled and used for the accomplishment of His ultimate and perfect will.

The patience and long-suffering of God should be another subject of continual thanksgiving. Is it not wonderful how He has borne with us, and we so miserably perverse the while? What a miracle of patience God has been! Can we not enter into the spirit of that Spanish lady of whom Father Rho speaks, who said, “That if she had to build a church in honour of the attributes of God, she would dedicate it to the Divine Patience”? Even the heathen Emperor Antoninus thanked God for the occasions of sin to which he had never been exposed. This, then, is another personal blessing for which we must always be giving thanks. St. Chrysostom, also, would have us remember with special gratitude the hidden and unknown blessings which God has heaped upon us. “God,” he says, “is an over-running fountain of clemency, flowing upon us, and round about us, even when we know it not.” In this matter Father Peter Faber was remarkable. He used to say there were hardly any blessings we ought more scrupulously to thank God for than those we never asked, and those which come to us without our knowing it. It is not unlikely, in the case of many of us, that these hidden blessings may turn out at the Last Day to have been the very hinges on which our lives turned, and that through them our Predestination has been worked out, and our Eternal Rest secured.1 [Note: The Spirit of Father Faber (1914), 148.]

II

Rest

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“For thou shalt rest.”

1. In the circumstances in which he was placed Daniel needed this word of comfort. He was made aware that the Church would pass through many trials and have a chequered history, before the glory of the latter day should be ushered in. He was led to believe that a long period would intervene between his own day and the end to which he was told to look forward. He could not be otherwise than full of anxiety regarding the future, and the promise of the text was given him for his consolation. He was to receive no further information as to the coming events, but he was assured that he need have no anxiety concerning his own safety, for he should rest and stand in his lot at the end of the days.

Desire for rest is not at any time the mere desire for the cessation of fatigue; all true rest means the consciousness of a growing renewal of the powers exhausted by fatigue, and the shrinking with which old age regards the heavy burdens of life is not in the least a quailing of the mind, but solely a yearning of the body for what it needs more and more every day, and yet gains less and less—true renovation. The desire for rest is the desire for more life, though in disguise,—the belief that more life is, under some great change of conditions, actually before us.2 [Note: R. H. Hutton, Criticisms on Contemporary Thought and Thinkers, ii. 142.]

2. The gospel holds out a present rest, real and wonderful, to men believing. There is rest, indeed, in receiving the reconciliation, the redemption through Christs blood, even the forgiveness of all trespasses. There is a rest also, that arises in the new order and harmony of the soul brought home to God. The believer in Christ has reached a foundation that cannot be shaken; he has found a spring in which is resource enough for all service, and consolation enough against all sorrow. God is with him; Christ is with him; the Spirit of all grace is with him. Therefore there must be in his state an element of rest. This faith lies at the root of all that a believer is and does.

And so it comes to pass that, as the servants of God go through this world, whatever toil befalls them is in a very emphatic manner mingled with actual ministries of rest, imparted to them by their Lord. These fall in, in time of need, fitly and effectually;

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the heart is calmed and cheered, the feeling of strength and resource revives, the man draws breath and looks around, his courage rises to set forth again. Indeed, it is part of Gods common bounty towards men; and men must take no common pains in sin, to deprive themselves of a large experience of it. No man runs the race of life all in one heat. There are innumerable breaks in life from which, in some sense, new beginnings offer themselves. Morning succeeds morning, and season follows season. And ever between come soothing influences that persuade the relentless past to relax its grasp a little, so that rest renews the man. Thus it is in human life generally. But in Christian life it takes place in a quite peculiar manner; for in Christian lives grace and providence join together to care for this interest of rest with a wise and loving completeness. A Christian may be exercised with hard and perplexing trial. But yet he must have, and he has, such a measure of rest mingled and infused as a Father sees to be most meet for him.

It is a good saying of Edgar Quinet, born of much trying experience, “The unknown very often saves us. It is probable that what one fears will not happen, and that we find blessings we never thought of.” But that is only a fragment of that vaster faith which saintly souls have reached, souls that have penetrated life to its centre and found God there. Has any finer prescription for inner rest been given than this? It is from the Imitatio, “When a man cometh to that estate that he seeketh not his comfort from any creature. then first doth God begin to be altogether sweet to him. Then shall he be contented with whatsoever doth befall him in this world. Then shall he neither rejoice in great matters, nor be sorrowful in small, but entirely and confidently committeth himself to God, who is unto him all in all.”

Assuredly there is the secret and the centre of rest. At home with God, we are at home in His world, in His universe. No part in it, no realities of it, will be to us strange or terrifying. Under all circumstances we shall discern His laws, which are His holy will. And they are all our friends. This central rest, which He invites us to, is the ground and condition of all fine achievement.1 [Note: J. Brierley, Faiths Certainties (1914), 250.]

3. Then there is the final rest—the rest after toil, when the days work is done. “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours.” Even the earthly part rests in the grave, where the “weary” are “at rest.” But the better part, “sleeping in Jesus,” is carried

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to Paradise, to the stillness of the blessed dead, to the waiting yet happy and restful company of sainted souls.

Take the earthly analogy. What is so welcome to a tired worker from the fields, when night falls, as rest? Or to a traveller who has come over the mountains, and been on the way since the sun rose, until now that he has set? Would you propose to such weary men some new enterprises, asking them to join you at once in some new endeavour? They would say “No, we are tired now—let the night be gone, we will speak with you in the morning.” Such, and so welcome, is the rest of the grave, and the sleep of death to Gods children when they are weary.

Rest, weary soul!

The penalty is borne, the ransom paid,

For all thy sins, full satisfaction made,—

Strive not to do thyself, what Christ has done,

Claim the free gift, and make the joy thine own!

No more by pangs of guilt and fear distrest,

Rest, sweetly rest!

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Rest, weary heart!

From all thy silent griefs, and secret pain,

Thy profitless regrets, and longings vain,—

Wisdom and love have ordered all the past,

All shall be blessedness and light, at last!

Cast off the cares that have so long opprest,

Rest, sweetly rest!

Rest, weary head!

Lie down to slumber, in the peaceful tomb,

Light from above has broken through its gloom,—

Here in the place, where once thy Saviour lay,

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Where He shall wake thee, on a future day,

Like a tired child upon its mothers breast,

Rest, sweetly rest!

Rest, spirit free!

In the green pastures of the heavenly shore,

Where sin and sorrow can approach no more,—

With all the flock by the Good Shepherd fed,

Beside the streams of life eternal led,

For ever with thy God and Saviour blest,

Rest, sweetly rest!

III

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Recompense

“Thou shalt stand in thy lot at the end of the days.”

1. The form into which the closing word of the Divine message falls at once brings up before our mental vision a picture of the Hebrew newly put into possession of his inheritance in the Promised Land, and rising to survey the allotment which is now his own. Freed from the toil of wandering in the dreary way of the desert, he has attained what in the old days he had dreamed of as his “rest.” But it is a sphere, not of idleness, but of work, that he has found. His allotment will henceforth require care, and only as he brings to bear upon it his best efforts and utmost skill will the owner realize all its possibilities of enrichment and of blessing. The whole conditions are, however, completely changed, and between the present happy service upon his own inheritance and his former weary toiling in the way of the desert comparison is not even possible.

After the weariness of life man may well need rest, and such rest will be bestowed. But that is not Gods last word to man, not in that does the fulness of the great inheritance of the followers of Christ lie. The Divine promise looks beyond the rest to glorious activity; and, with spirit and body wholly restored and altogether whole and strong, there is opened up before the eye of faith a vista of the noblest and most exultant service that can be conceived, and reaching away into the eternal future further than even faith can see. To His weary children everywhere the Great Father says, “Thou shalt rest”; but He goes on to add the last word, which is of service, not of rest, and as such rounds off and completes what is in deed and in truth a message of hope to every child of man.

Ward and Faber delighted in the imaginative picturing of the supernatural world with the simple directness of the ages of faith, and in startling contrast to the vague atmosphere of modern thought on matters of dogma. The Oratorian fathers who remember that time recall Wards presence during the recreation hour after dinner, at Old Hall, when he and Faber, eager talkers alike, both “of mighty presence,” with immense vocabularies, with equal positiveness of logic and superlativeness of rhetoric, sat opposite each other capping epigrams and anecdotes, while the other

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fathers were gathered round in a ring. One point of debate—parallel to the mediæval questions as to the habitual occupations of the angels—was the nature of our future employments in the next world. Of what kind is the daily life in heaven? “Take Stewart for example,” asks Ward, referring to the well-known and kind-hearted theological bookseller, “what can he find to do there?” Various suggestions are made. “Bind the Book of Life,” Ward proposes. “But that wont last for ever!” Faber replies. “He and St. Jerome will talk without ceasing.”—“Ah, but he will never be happy without work.” Other plans are suggested till Faber hits on the best. “I have it—he should catalogue the angels.”1 [Note: William George Ward and the Catholic Revival, 64.]

2. It is an individual lot—thy lot. God is the true inheritance. Each man has his own portion of the common possession; or, to put it into plainer words, in that perfect land each individual has precisely as much of God as he is capable of possessing. “Thou shalt stand in thy lot.” And what determines the lot is how we wend our way till that other end, the end of life. “The end of the days” is a period far beyond the end of the life of Daniel. And as the course that terminated in repose has been, so the possession of “the portion of the inheritance of the saints in light” shall be, for which that course has made men meet. Destiny is character worked out. A man will be where he is fit to be, and have what he is fit for. Time is the lackey of eternity. His life here settles how much of God a man shall be able to hold when he stands in his lot at the “end of the days.” And his allotted portion, as it stretches around him, will be but the issue and the outcome of his life here on earth.

The faithful servant may have been disappointed with the results of his efforts in this life, but at the end of the days he shall find the work in which he bore a part perfected. In the wisdom of God the great result shall emerge fully achieved, bearing no trace of imperfection.

And he shall find his own labour in it. His works follow him. Every effort made in faith and humility has its recognized and honourable place. It was not thrown away; it was not a failure after all. So, when God subjects His servants to that discipline which the most eminent of them, and those that have served most faithfully, have experienced, He is not sending them away as useless servants. Not so. Only the manifestation of the grace with which He gladdens them is delayed till all can rejoice together. They are lost to our view for a while. When they reappear, they come

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“bringing their sheaves with them.” Yes, they come, not with sheaves only, as labourers whose work abides, but with wreaths also, as conquerors who have overcome, partakers in a victory that has become complete and eternal. “Go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and shalt stand in thy lot, at the end of the days.”

Geologists used to be divided into two schools, one of whom explained everything by invoking great convulsions, the other by appealing to the uniform action of laws. There are no convulsions in life. To-morrow is the child of to-day, and yesterday was the father of this day. What we are springs from what we have been, and settles what we shall be. The road leads some-whither, and we follow it step by step. As the old nursery rhyme has it—

One foot up and one foot down,

Thats the way to London Town.1 [Note: Alexander Maclaren, The Beatitudes, 256.]

3. Of this lot no one can dispossess us. The term “stand” suggests the completeness and permanence of the new life. It is no longer, “Go thy way” as a changing, dying creature; no longer “Thou shalt rest,” after labour, in some repeated friendly sleep, as of a new death, while other battles are fought, while earth and heaven go surging through another trial, and hell opens once more. “Thou shalt stand.” Here at last is fixity of tenure. Here is possession of the incorruptible and undefiled inheritance. Here is the life begun, which has only to develop, and blossom, and shine in the light of God for ever.

“Thou shalt stand,” no one dislodging thee, no one evicting thee, no one threatening thee, through the endless ages of eternity. Of how many settlements here upon earth can the same thing be said? We take our place in these settlements, and we speak of them as our lot, saying, “Soul, take thine ease and be satisfied.” But the settlement becomes unsettled. The lot is broken up. Here have we no continuing city. Our homes, our estates, they abide not. They abide not because of change. They abide not because of death. And the wind whistles, and the rain drips, and the icicles hang

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in many a pleasant bower where once the roses bloomed, and once the sweet birds sang. And wilt thou set thy heart upon that which fades? “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.” For “the world passeth away and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” May such be our attitude, may such be our position, as those whom no charge can impugn, no convulsion shake, no temptation overthrow, no vicissitude assail, but who stand in the end of the days—ay, and beyond the end—secure and irrevocable in their eternal lot.

One day when Andrew Hichens sat beside him while he rested in his niche, they talked of Paradise Lost and its first small market value; and Signor quoted a contemporary of Miltons who wrote, “The old blind school-master hath writ a book, which, if it hath not the merit of length, it hath none other,” and added that now, perhaps, it was the second book of the world. “It shows,” he went on, “that the most unreal, the spiritual portion of man, is the most real and lasting.” Whatever doubts he may have had about the ultimate place his work should be given, of the dignity of his calling and of his aims he was absolutely certain. Professor Gilbert Murrays words, “There seems to be in human effort a part that is progressive and transient, and another that is stationary and eternal,” are words he would have answered to with his whole being.

The true question to ask is this, “Has it helped any human soul?”—Signors own word—and he continued: “It is said of literature, but is equally applicable to art. I think the great sculptor of the Parthenon must have done so. Gothic cathedrals certainly have. Yet these which conferred actual and immortal life were, to the masses of the nation intent upon eating, drinking, fighting, and getting rich, but vague and visionary complements to the more material and important considerations of everyday life. Paradox as it may seem to be, it is safe to assert that the most visionary manifestations of human activity have ever proved to be the most solidly based, and are the most permanent.”1 [Note: George Frederic Watts, ii. 275.]

PETT, "Verse 13

‘But go your way until the end be. For you will rest and will stand in your lot at the

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end of the days.’

In a closing benediction the angel tells him that his task is finished. He may now go his way satisfied that he has fulfilled God’s will. ‘The end’ is probably the end of his life, for it is the point at which he will rest. Then he will sleep, taking his rest until at the end of the days he is resurrected to enjoy his destiny, and shine as the stars for ever and ever.

Or ‘the end’ may signify the time of resurrection (Daniel 12:2-3), when he will stand in his appointed position ‘at the end of the days’, that is at the consummation, at the time of the resurrection of the righteous.

TRAPP, "Daniel 12:13 But go thou thy way till the end [be]: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.

Ver. 13. But go thou thy way.] Here Daniel to his great comfort hath a fair and favourable dismission out of this life before those great clashings and confusions should come which had been foreshown to him. So Augustine and Pareus died a little before Hippo and Heidelberg were taken.

Till the end be.] Whenever it shall be, sooner or later, thou shalt be sure to awake out of the dust of death unto everlasting life. {as Daniel 12:2} Yea, thou shalt "shine as the stars for ever and ever." [Daniel 12:3] All that thou hast to do now is, to prepare for such an end, and to wait till thy change shall come, comforting thyself against death with the hope of a blessed resurrection.

For thou shalt rest.] Thy soul shall rest in Abraham’s bosom, thy body in the grave as in a bed of down, until the resurrection of the just. Mors aerumnarum requies rest from death of afliction, was Chaucer’s motto.

And stand in the lot,] i.e., In thine own order, [1 Corinthians 15:23] and in that 193

degree of heavenly glory which shall be given thee as thy lot - in allusion to the promised land, divided among the Israelites by lot - and as the reward of a faithful prophet, instrumental to the good of many, who shall bless God for thee throughout all eternity.

“ Ipse quidem studui bene de pietate mereri:

Sed quicquid potui, gratia, Christe, tun est.

Quid sum? Nil: Quis sum? Nullus: Sed gratia Christi

Quod sum, quod vivo, quodque laboro, facit. ”

POOLE, "I have revealed to thee of these things what I had in commission, that thou and thy people should be prepared for the sufferings which will come upon them, and yet not without hope of a glorious deliverance. In which hope thou shalt die, and rest from fear or feeling of trouble, till the resurrection of the just to the joys of another world: which some make to be here after all enemies are destroyed, at least to begin here, and to be consummated in heaven eternally, comparing this with Revelation 19:20,21.

BENSON. “Daniel 12:13. But go thou thy way till the end be — The prophet had been making inquiries respecting the end of these wonders; and the angel, having given him all the information that was needful either for himself or future times, now dismisses him, with an encouraging declaration concerning the happiness which awaited him in the heavenly world. Thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of thy days — Daniel was now ninety years of age, at least, and so could not expect to live much longer: and the angel here tells him, that after his life was ended, he should rest in peace with the righteous, namely, with respect to his soul; (compare Isaiah 57:2; Revelation 14:13;) and that at the resurrection, foretold Daniel 12:2, of this chapter, he should obtain a share of that inheritance which is reserved for the faithful servants of God, and which shall be actually conferred

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upon them at the conclusion of the times here specified, Daniel 12:12. Observe, reader, our time and days, yea, and all time and days, will soon have an end, and we must every one of us stand in our lot at the end of the days. In the judgment of the great day we must have our allotment according to what we were, and what we did, in the body, and we must stand for ever in that lot. It was a comfort to Daniel, and it is a comfort to all the saints, that whatever their lot is in the days of time, they shall have a happy lot in the end of the days. And it ought to be the great care and concern of every one of us, to secure a happy lot at that period; and then we may well be content with our present lot, whatever it may be, welcoming the will of God, in all things and at all times.

WHEDON, “ 13. Notwithstanding all the mysteries which he cannot even yet grasp the prophet can now be at peace, knowing that, however dark the present may be, the future shall be bright, and he shall stand with the other saints at the end. (Compare Daniel 8:17; Daniel 8:19; Daniel 11:29; Daniel 11:35; Daniel 11:40; Daniel 12:1; Daniel 12:4; Daniel 12:6; Daniel 12:9.) He might not understand all the mysteries hidden in “the time of the end,” but he could trust Him who did understand them all. And, however long this aged prophet should rest in the grave before that final triumphant end should come, nevertheless he should not fail to stand in the lot which Jehovah should give him there among the stars of heaven (Daniel 12:1-3; Daniel 12:10; compare Jeremiah 13:25). Thus the angel “sang the prophet to sleep” and went his way.

In this exposition many things have been left unexplained. The writer feels like saying, with Calvin, “I am no thaumaturge to undertake their solution.” It is better to leave a question open than to settle it contrary to the real meaning which the Spirit of Prophecy put into it. The exact meaning of many passages in Daniel no man knows. Those who claim most boldly to know are generally those who know least. Though much is left unsettled, “natheles let every diligent reder knowe hymselfe miche to have profited, if he but the cheif principalls understand, although it be but menely; and use the same with hys own godly exercise” (Geo. Jaye, 1545).

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