A. C. 569.

* Or, upon.

563.

29 At the end of twelve months he walked * in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon.

30 The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?

31 While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee.

32 And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.

:

33 The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like

birds' claws.

34 And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and pch. vii. 14. honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is Pan everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:

Mic. iv. 7.

Luke i. 35.

Job ix. 12.

18. xlv. 9.

35 And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, "What doest thou?

36 At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and my lords sought

66

having been raised by the most brilliant and unexampled successes to the very height of human power and ambition, this king was suddenly removed from all his possessions, was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws." The madness of this great monarch is generally supposed to have consisted in his fancying himself a beast, and living like one, and that during this bereavement of reason, he was too untameable and unmanageable to be controlled by man. His intellect returned after seven years, and he again resumed the government of his kingdom, (ver. 36.) The evidence of the prediction, the fall, and the restoration of Nebuchadnezzar, is perhaps the most undeniable of any thing that rests upon mere human testimony. The king himself, upon his recovery, published a proclamation in every part of his vast empire, giving an account of all that had befallen him, and praising and honouring the King of Heaven. The evidence of the whole fact stands upon this public record of the Babylonian empire, preserved, word for word, in this chapter, which must therefore be considered, not as Daniel's, but as Nebuchadnezzar's writing.-Bishop Horsley.

unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excel- A.C. 563. lent majesty was added unto me.

37 Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways are judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.

SECTION XIII.

Accession of Evil-merodach, and Release of Jehoiachin from
Prison 45

JEREMIAH LII. VER. 31, TO THE END,

31 ¶ And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison,

561.

32 And spake kindly unto him, and set his throne above * Heb. good the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon,

33 And changed his prison garments: and he did continually eat bread before him all the days of his life.

things with him.

34 And for his diet, there was a continual diet given him of the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day + Heb. the of his death, all the days of his life.

2 KINGS XXV. VER. 27, TO THE END.

27 And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison;

matter of the day in his day.

28 And he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the Heb. good kings that were with him in Babylon;

29 And changed his prison garments: and he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his life.

30 And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life.

45 Evil-merodach, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, succeeded his father, in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin. No transaction of his reign is recorded in Scripture, but the release of Jehoiachin, "whom he treated kindly and hospitably, setting him above all the other captive kings, which were in Babylon." Jerome notices a Jewish tradition, that Evil-merodach, during his father's distraction, behaved so ill in provoking a war with the Medes, that on his recovery, Nebuchadnezzar threw him into prison, where he contracted an intimacy with Jehoiachin.

things with him.

A. C. 541.

*Chald. saw.*

SECTION XIV.

Daniel's first Vision of the four living Creatures 46.

DANIEL VII.

1 Daniel's vision of four beasts. 9 Of God's kingdom. 15 The interpretation

thereof.

1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head his bed: then upon +Or, words. he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the † matters. 2 Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.

with.

3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.

4 The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beOr, where held till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it.

up one domi

up

5 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and Or, it raised § it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.

nion.

6 After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads: and dominion was given to it.

7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.

8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.

9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the

46 The vision of the four beasts in this chapter represents the same four great monarchies of the world prefigured in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, (ch. ii.) by a large statue composed of various metals. Nebuchadnezzar saw his kingdom flourishing. Daniel now beholds it on the eve of destruction, with its wings plucked, and "lifted up from the earth," (ver. 4.) The ten horns of this beast, signified by the ten toes of the image, (ii. 41, 42.) denote ten kingdoms, or principalities; which have been variously interpreted by different writers, the result of whose researches on this subject are given by Horne, in his Critical Introduction, according to the following table.

In Lowth's Commentary on the Prophets, pp. 381, 382. **Dissertations on the Prophecies, vol, i. p. 267.

A.C. 541. Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.

r Rev. v. 11.

12.

Rev. xx. 4,

r

10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

11 I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake : I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.

12 As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their *Chald. a pro- dominion taken away: yet * their lives were prolonged for a season and time.

longing in life was given them.

13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

15¶Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me.

16 And I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things.

17 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings,

which shall arise out of the earth.

18 But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and

ever.

19 Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast,

Besides these ten horns, or kingdoms, there was to spring up another "little horn," which is generally supposed to denote the papal power; a power which fully answers the character of the "little horn;" setting up himself above all laws, divine and human, arrogating to himself godlike attributes, and titles of holiness, of infallibility, wearing "out the saints of the most High," by massacres and inquisitions, and destroying all those who refuse to comply with his ordinances, innovations, and decrees. The papal power, being an ecclesiastical and spiritual, as well as a civil and temporal authority, is called "diverse from the first," and it is said, that “he shall subdue three kings,” (ver. 28. and 8.) Out of the ten horns or kingdoms, those of the Heruli, the Ostrogoths, and the Lombards were successively "plucked up," and annexed to the papacy by the "little horn," through which means the pope became a temporal prince. All the kingdoms above described will be succeeded by the "everlasting dominion" of the Messiah, (ver. 9—15. and 27.)—Bishop Newton; Horne's Crit

Introd.