A.C. 534. Fulfilled cir. 168. *Or, astonish eth. 30 For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant. 31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. 32 And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall Or, cause to he† corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. dissemble. 33 And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days. 34 Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help but many shall cleave to them with flatteries. 35 And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try Or, by them. ‡ them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end because it is yet for a time appointed. Or, But in his stead. Heb. as for God, in his honour, yea, the almighty seat he shall he shall honour a god, whom, &c. *Or, muni 36 And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done. 37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall mag nify himself above all. 38 § But in his estate shall he honour the God of *+ forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. 39 Thus shall he do in the § most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with b. Mauz glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and zim, or, God's shall divide the land for gain. tions. protectors. desired, Is. Heb. things 40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south xliv. 9. push at him: and the king of the north shall come against tresses of mu. him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. nitions. || Heb. a price. * Or, goodly land, ver. 16. 41 He shall enter also into the *+ glorious land, and +Heb. land of many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. delight, or, ornament. + Heb. send forth. 42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold A.C. 534. and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps. 44 But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. 45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palaces between the seas in the *+ glorious holy mountain; yet her, goodly. shall come to his end, and none shall help him. DANIEL XII. 1 Michael shall deliver Israel from their troubles. 5 Daniel is informed of the times. 1 And at that time shall Michael 12 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. 12 Much discussion has at various times been entered into respecting the meaning of the word Michael, which occurs in this last vision of Daniel. Many learned men are of opinion that Michael is but a name for Christ, or the angel of the covenant, the angel Jehovah. Lightfoot is of this opinion. In his fifth of November Sermon, preached at Ely, of which Church he was a Prebendary, in 1661; he is discussing the passage in Daniel x. 21. "there is none that holdeth with me but Michael your Prince. Who is the Prince of the Church but Christ," &c. &c. &c.-Vide Lightfoot's works, vol. ii. p. 114. The learned Joseph Mede is of the opposite opinion. Sed quis, inquies, est iste Michael? Non opinor Christus ipse, sed, &c. &c. &c. Mede's Works, p. 495. line 1. Bishop Horsley, in his Sermon on the watchers, supposes that Michael is merely a name given to Christ; and after much ingenious discussion, he thus proceeds; "From all this it is evident that Michael is a name for our Lord himself, in his particular character of the champion of his faithful people, against the violence of the apostate faction, and the wiles of the devil. In this point I have a host of the learned on my side; and it will be further evident from what is yet to come."-Horsley's Sermons, vol. ii. p. 376. Bishop Warburton has given his vote on the opposite side: in a very singular remark contained in the thirty-fourth of his letters, p. 92. Mr. Faber too agrees with Lightfoot and Horsley in their opinion that Michael was Christ. See the arguments on this point, admirably discussed in the fifth Exercitation of the learned Witsius. With the most commendable impartiality he has examined both sides of this question, and I think the reader will be inclined to adopt his conclusion, that Michael the Archangel is the Saviour of the Christian Church.-Vide Witsius Miscel. Sacra. Exerc. 5.-De Michaele. + Heb. mountain of delight of holiness. A. C. 534. y 2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame 46. John v. 29. and everlasting contempt. y Matt. xxv. *Or, teachers. z Matt. xiii. 43. + Heb. lip. a ch. x. 5. + Or, from above. 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. 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. 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. 6 And one said to a the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? 7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon b Rev. x. 5. 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. Or, part. 8 And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? 9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. 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. 11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be Heb. to set taken away, and || the abomination that * maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. up the abomi- eth. + Or, and thou, &c. 520. 12 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. 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. SECTION IV. Building of the Temple resumed. EZRA IV. LATTER PART OF VER. 24. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia 13. 13 A new dynasty of kings may in one sense be said to have commenced with Darius Hystaspes, who in the second year of his reign published the decree for the resuming the building of the temple, which had been discontinued since the EZRA V. VER. 1. с 1 Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and d Zecha- A.C. 520. riah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in c Hag. i. I. Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them. HAGGAI I. VER. 1-12. 1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD * by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, + governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying, 2 Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD's house should be built. third year of Cyrus. From the publication of this decree may be reckoned the thorough restoration of the Jewish state. The dynasty of Cyrus, Cambyses, and Smerdis, being at an end, the edict which prohibited the building of the temple was considered obsolete, yet the Jews neglected to resume the work. On account of this negligence God smote the land with barrenness, so that both the vintage and harvest failed them. But in the second year of Darius, the prophet Haggai being commanded to inform the Jews of the cause of this judgment upon them, in obedience to his exhortations, they proceed with the work. This took place in the second year of Darius, the sixth month, in the first day of the month, vide Haggai, i. 1, compared with Ezra v. 1. The arrangement of the several passages of the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah, contained in this section, is made on the authority of the various dates assigned by the prophets themselves. Compare Haggai i. 1, with Ezra v. 1.—Haggai i. 12, with Ezra v. 2.—-Haggai ii. 1, Zech. i. 1.—Haggai ii. 10, and Zechariah i. 7. d Zech. i. J. * Heb. by the hand of Hagor, captain. fgai. With respect to Haggai, there is nothing transmitted to us on which we can depend, but that he was the first prophet commissioned to make known the divine will to the Jews after their return from captivity. The general opinion, founded on the assertion of the Pseudo-Epiphanius, is, that he was born at Babylon, and was one of the Jews who returned with Zerubbabel, in consequence of the edict of Cyrus. The same author affirms that he was buried at Jerusalem among the priests, whence some have conjectured that he was of the family of Aaron. The times of his predictions, however, are so distinctly marked by himself, that we have as much certainty on this point as we have with respect to any of the prophets. The Jews, who were released from captivity in the first year of the reign of Cyrus (Ezra i. 1, et seq.), having returned to Jerusalem and commenced the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra ii. 1—4,) were interrupted in their undertakings by the neighbouring satraps, who contrived to prejudice the Persian monarch against them (Ezra iv. 1, with 24,) until the second year of Darius. Discouraged by these impediments, the people ceased, for fourteen years, to prosecute the erection of the second temple, as if the time were not yet come, and applied themselves to the building of their own houses; for which they are reproved by Haggai, chap. i. 1—12. A.C. 520. * Heb. Set your heart on your ways. eDeut. xxviii. 38. Mic. vi. 14, 15. 3 Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, 4 Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste? 5 Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. e 6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little: ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that + Heb. pierced earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag through. holes. 7 with Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. 8 Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD. 9 Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and Or, blow it when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. away. f Deut. xxviii. 23. 10 Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. 11 And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands. EZRA V. VER. 2. 2 Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem and with them were the prophets of God helping them. : HAGGAI I. VER. 12, TO THE END. 12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the LORD. 13 Then spake Haggai the LORD's messenger in the LORD's message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the LORD. 14 And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the LORD of hosts, their God. |