Commentary on the Visions of the Prophet Daniel

ordained as a master of the evangelical republic. But perhaps we too have become participants in Apollinaris's nonsense, having attempted to refute not only his false, but also his unpleasant myth-making; against whom the blessed Paul might rightly say: "I wish those who unsettle you would even cut themselves off!" ^A Having thus brought this discourse to a close, we shall exhort those who read this book to do this: if they find anything among what we have interpreted worthy of study, let them praise the Lord of all, who for the common benefit of mankind has granted the revelation of hidden things. But if the gain is less than they had hoped, and the fruit not equal to the labors, let them grant indulgence to the weakness of nature, yet acknowledge the readiness of our spirit, and compensate for our labors with prayers, asking for us from the Savior of all the forgiveness of sins; with whom to the Father be glory, with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the unending ages of ages. Amen. ^B

BY THE BLESSED THEODORET, BISHOP OF CYRRHUS: COMMENTARY ON THE VISIONS OF THE PROPHET DANIEL

COMMENTARY ON THE VISIONS OF THE PROPHET DANIEL, BY THE BLESSED THEODORET, BISHOP OF CYRRHUS

PREFACE

^A obtain understanding. But since, although we have all received one nature, we have not all received an equal measure of knowledge (“For to each one,” he says, “is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good; to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith in the same Spirit,” and all the rest is distributed in accordance with this division), I think I do nothing unreasonable if I impart in writing the doctrine of these divine records to those who are ignorant of them, having been nurtured in them from childhood and having gleaned a certain modest knowledge from many pious writers. For the divine law itself commands us to teach to our descendants what we have learned from our ancestors. ^B “For you shall teach them,” it says, “to your sons and to your sons’ sons.” For this reason, the great teacher David also says: “Attend, O my people, to my law; incline your ear to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter dark sayings from the beginning.” Then, showing whence he learned these things, he says: “As many things as we have heard and known, and our fathers have related to us, they were not hidden from their children unto another generation.” And teaching the cause of this knowledge, he says: “He established a law in Israel, as many things as He commanded our fathers, to make them known to their children, that another generation might know them, even the sons who shall be born; and they shall arise and declare them to their children.” And showing the benefit that comes from this instruction, he adds: ^C “That they might set their hope on God and not forget the works of God, and might search out His commandments.” This instruction, therefore, received from our ancestors, we owe as a just debt to those who have come after us and to those who shall be, and it is fitting that we should pay this debt with a grateful heart. And not only does the divine law urge us, but many of our distinguished acquaintances also, having fervently entreated us, have constrained us to boldly undertake this struggle. Come, then, let us make the prophecy of the most blessed Daniel as clear as possible to those who are ignorant of it. And perhaps this labor of ours will not be useless even to those who have been granted the faculty of understanding; for they will either find more than they had thought, or, finding their own views in ours, they will confirm with a common consensus what they themselves have hunted out; for the agreement of the majority is accustomed in a way to strengthen what has been understood. ^D We shall attempt, therefore, to interpret this prophet at present, not as if despising the others—heaven forbid! for we know that all are instruments of the divine Spirit—but first

Preface to Daniel

because those who are accustomed ^A to us have requested the interpretation of this one, and we thought it proper to grant the favor we were asked for to those who asked. Moreover, the folly and shamelessness of the Jews compel us to leave the others aside for the present and to lay bare and make clear this man’s predictions; for they have reached such a pitch of effrontery as to separate him from the choir of the prophets and to deprive him of the very title of prophet. This is indeed a shameless device of theirs, but not one unconnected with their purpose. For since he predicted the arrival of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ much more clearly than all the others, having not only mentioned in advance what He would do, but also having signified the time beforehand and inscribed the number of years that were to elapse until His arrival, and having clearly cataloged all the grievous things that were to befall them after the commitment of their crime of perfidy, it is natural that, as ^B enemies of God and of the truth, they should shamelessly dare to say that he is not a prophet who uttered these and countless other oracles, deeming their own assertion sufficient for the confirmation of their falsehood. Yet it is no wonder if those who have raved with such frenzy against the Only-Begotten should slander the Lord’s well-disposed ministers; for the latter matches the former. Therefore the Lord Himself also says: "If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you." And again: "If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more his household?" But that we may refute their shamelessness in superabundance, let us ask them thus: What do you say is the defining characteristic of a prophet? Why, they would perhaps reply, it is to foreknow and to proclaim future events. Let us see, therefore, whether the blessed Daniel has not foreknown and proclaimed these very things. And let us, for the time being, leave aside his discourse concerning the Lord Christ ^C and bring his other prophecies into the middle. We find, then, that he foretold many things concerning the kingdom of the Babylonians, many concerning that of the Persians and Macedonians, and many also concerning that of the Romans; and what it is that the king of the Babylonians will suffer, and how the Persians will take over his kingdom, then that the Macedonian, having destroyed them, will die as quickly as possible, and four will inherit the kingdom in place of one; and that from one of these will spring a man who will inflict countless evils upon the Jews, and that, having enjoyed divine aid, they will be delivered from his ferocity. Then, moving on from there, he foretells the power of the Romans, and that, having conquered all kingdoms, they will ^D exact tribute from all. For what need is there to speak of what follows regarding the Egyptians and the

^A Syrians, and the terrible things they would do to one another, and the subsequent treaties of peace, and the marriages and alliances, and then again the implacable wars after the reconciliation had been made? How, then, is it not impious and unholy to exclude from the chorus of the prophets one who foreknew and foretold all these things, and left their record committed to writing? For if these things are alien to prophecy, what are the characteristics of prophecy? But if they say that he is excluded from the prophetic chorus because he does not prefix his own words with "Thus saith the Lord," let them tell us what such thing did Abraham the patriarch say, who was called a prophet by God, the Creator of all? For concerning Abraham it was said: ^B "Now therefore restore the man's wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for thee, and thou shalt live, and all thy house." And the blessed David says indeed concerning him, and his son, and his grandson, that "He rebuked kings for their sake, saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm." And the greatest prophet, Samuel, the temple-servant from childhood, does not have the form of prophecy like the other prophets, but he too was gifted with the office of foreknowledge, understanding, and prediction, whether through dreams or through certain divine revelations by day. Contend openly, therefore, against them as well, and cast them clearly out of the assembly of the prophets. But if you shrink from such insolence toward them, beware also of bringing calumny against this man. For he is a prophet, and a prophet who attained the knowledge of future things with the greatest zeal and desire, taught the things to come by sweat and labors, by fasting and affliction; and one who not only foreknew and foretold what would befall the Jews alone, ^C but also the dispensation of the common affairs of the whole world. Consider, therefore, whether it is not exceedingly unjust to list Abdias among the number of the prophets—who only foretold the evils that would seize the Idumeans—and Jonas, and Nahum, who prophesied about one city, Nineveh; but to deprive the blessed Daniel of the prophetic title and call him alien to the grace of the divine Spirit, when he foretold not about one city, nor about a small nation, but about the greatest kingdoms—Chaldaic, Persian, Macedonian, Roman—and about the things that happened in detail under them. And yet, even if you are most unjust judges, you ought to have been overcome by some shame on account of that impious Nabuchodonosor, ^D

that beastly man, that barbarian, that man uninitiated into divine mysteries, who exclaims regarding Daniel and says: "That the holy Spirit of God is in him." For it was truly the gift of the divine Spirit both to recount the dream which another had beheld but could not remember, and to offer an accurate and true interpretation of it. But you cannot be persuaded, even by this, to cease from your madness against the prophet; instead, through the prophet you war against the prophet’s Master. But the prophet will not be harmed in any way by your machinations; for divine writ shows him to be a prophet, and the event confirms the foreknowledge of his prediction. But we, seeing the actual things now, understand those ancient oracles, and being guided by the things themselves, we easily grasp the outcome of events; you, however, declare your own madness even through these things. And now we have refuted your shamelessness in summary; ^B but the detailed explanation will refute your folly more clearly. Come, then, having made a sufficient defense for ourselves and accusation of the Jews, let us first set forth the argument of the prophecy, and then let us apply ourselves to the word-for-word explanation. After Josiah (for this man became a pious king), his son Joachaz reigned over Judea for three full months and a few days. Now this man had a double name; for in the books of Kings and Chronicles he is called Joachaz, but the blessed prophet Jeremiah calls him Selim. ^C This man, the King of Egypt, Pharaoh Necho, captured in battle and led off as a captive into Egypt; and he appointed in his stead his brother Eliakim as king, and named him Joakim. This man reigned for eleven years and a few months. In the third year of his reign, Nabuchodonosor, the king of the Babylonians, having marched forth with an army, captured not a few of those who were distinguished by the nobility of their lineage; he also seized some of the sacred vessels dedicated only to divine worship; and having imposed a tribute upon Joakim, he returned to Babylon. Afterwards, when he (Joakim) was unwilling to pay the commanded tribute, he marched again against Jerusalem, and having taken the city and killed him, he established as king in his place his son, called Joakim by the Jews ^D but, with his name changed, again called Eliakim. And this man the blessed prophet Jeremiah names Jechonias. "As I live, says the Lord, if Jechonias, the son of Joakim the king of Judah, shall be a signet on my hand..."

and from thence I will pluck thee, and deliver thee into the hands of them that seek thy soul, of whom thou art afraid before their face, even into the hands of the Chaldeans." ^A And when he had administered the kingdom for three months and a few days, then again Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the Babylonians, having sent an army and a general, led him away captive to Babylon. And he entrusted the kingdom to Zedekiah, his uncle on his father's side. And when he had reigned for eleven years and thereafter failed to pay the tribute imposed upon him, the king of the Babylonians advanced upon Jerusalem with a great force; then, having laid siege and using famine as an ally against them, and having brought engines to the walls, he breached the wall, slew the majority, and reduced the rest to slavery and led them away as prisoners of war, having delivered both the city and the temple to the fire.

But the God of all, who permitted the Jews to suffer these things because of their many transgressions, did not, even while punishing them, completely strip them of his own care; but for those in Judea he gave as it were certain guardians, namely Uriah the son of Semaiah, and Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, a man resplendent in priesthood and prophecy. And to those carried away as prisoners of war in the first captivity to Babylon, he sent along with the blessed Daniel, Ezekiel ^B, and Ananias, and Azarias, and Misael, so that having accurate teachers of the legal way of life, they might not receive much damage from the intermingling with the barbarians, but might have archetypes to remind them of the virtue and philosophy of their ancestors. So much providence does the God of all exercise toward sinners, that he allowed those who served him with goodwill, and who were eager to worship him at all times, to be led away captive for their own benefit, and to endure harsh slavery, and to fall into many dangers, and to pass their life through waves and storms. For thus also through Hosea the prophet he says, "I slew your prophets with the word of my mouth." Thus, managing the salvation of the world, he allowed the holy apostles to suffer those recorded passions. Exercising this providence toward the Jews, he also arranged for the blessed Daniel to reach Babylon along with them, who, being yet a youth ^C as he was,

^A shone brilliant, and having been reared in the palace with those God-loving youths, and from childhood having possessed the divine grace blossoming within him, and having become full of all kinds of wisdom and understanding, he acquired great influence with the ruler; and having preached the word of piety, he became the cause of profit ^B even to him—and not to him alone, but also to all his subjects; for what he learned through his teaching, he transmitted to his subjects, having established a law explicitly exhorting all those under his rule to worship the God proclaimed by this man. Now, both that this illustrious prophet was carried off to Babylon, and for what reason, and of how many good things he became the cause, ^C not only for his own kin but also for the barbarians, we have briefly stated; but we shall treat the power of his prophecy more accurately through our detailed interpretation. Calling upon divine grace, therefore, as a fellow-worker for clarity, let us begin.

VOLUME I. BOOK ONE.

CHAPTER I.

VERS. 1. « In the third year of the reign of Joakim, king of Judah, came Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, to Jerusalem, and besieged it. » ^D Appropriately and before all other things, he has mentioned both the king who was then reigning and informed us of the time, so that the time of the first captivity might be clearly known by us. For in the third year of the reign of Joakim, who was also called Eliakim, and who reigned after Joachas (but he was the father of Joachas, he who was also called Joakim and Jechonias), the first capture of Jerusalem occurred.

And from this, that he remembers the kings who were then and the times, the prophetic character is indicated. For we find that other prophets also did this. « For the vision, » he says, « which Isaias the son of Amos saw in the days of Ozias, and Joatham, and Achaz, and Ezechias, who reigned over Judea. » And: « The word of the Lord came to Jeremias in the days of Josias, the son of Amos, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. » And Ezechiel, and all the other prophets, for the most part, used this prologue of prophecy. And

it is sufficient ^A for this to convict the iniquity of the Jews, and to teach us the prophet who is truly a prophet.

2. « And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God. » This also demonstrates his spiritual grace. For it is not given to all to understand the divine dispensations; but this man, having been thought worthy of the divine Spirit, both clearly perceived and teaches others that, by the permission of God, the author of all things, on account of the iniquity of the people and the king, and ^B their great impiety, the city was taken, and some of the sacred vessels came under the power of the enemies. And he has very necessarily added: « The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, » so that no one might suppose that Nebuchadnezzar, by his own power, used the city dedicated to God to prevail; but that all might learn, and that accurately, that because God had delivered it up, and had removed the grace that had formerly guarded the city, for this reason it became subject to the enemies. This the author of all things, God Himself, also makes clear through the prophet Isaiah, saying: « Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? Or shall the saw magnify itself against him by whom it is drawn? » By these things ^C He teaches us that He Himself brings punishments upon men, and uses instruments suitable for this purpose. « And he brought them, » he says, « into the land of Shinar, into the house of his god, and brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god. » And perhaps someone might say: Why, when men have sinned, were the holy vessels dedicated to God delivered to impious men? But those who are ignorant of the goal of divine dispensations say these things. « For the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; but the spiritual man judgeth all things, » according to the divine Apostle. And he is persuaded that nothing is managed in vain by divine providence; and being illuminated by the divine Spirit, he learns the causes: just as, indeed, ^D he who chooses to understand spiritually can clearly comprehend what is now being inquired into. For from this, great profit has accrued not only to the Jews, but also to the barbarians themselves. For first, the Jews were taught the self-sufficiency of the divine nature; for God, the author of all things, does not receive what is offered by men as though He were in need, but to teach them gratitude, and to provide them an occasion for worshipping Him and for rendering thanks. For how else could we, for the benefits we have received, be able to reward God, the benefactor who has merited well of us, according to our ability, if we did not...

accept these small and lowly things from those who offer them? Wishing, therefore, to persuade the Jews that he did not accept the sacrifices offered by them to fulfill his own need, but by condescending to their weakness, he rightly turned away from them and handed them over into captivity, and gave over to captivity with them those vessels which they thought they were using to serve him. For why ^A should he, who had handed over rational men to punishment, spare inanimate vessels? By the very things themselves, he teaches them that the Babylonians—those barbarians, those impious ones—differ in no way from them; for they act with impiety just as those do, or rather, even more so than they. For the former, having received neither the law nor enjoying the guidance of prophets, were held fast in ignorance; but the latter, enlightened by myriads of old and new prophets, and having become eyewitnesses of myriads of miracles, despised the God of all, and continued to serve inanimate idols. ^B He handed over the vessels, therefore, to the barbarians, all but saying by the very facts themselves: "There is no difference between you and the barbarians; for you, too, pollute them with your transgressions in the same way, and it is right that both you and the Babylonians possess them; for impiety rules both you and them." This was sufficient to convince and educate the Jews, and to manage no small benefit for them. As for the Babylonians, while they held the vessels in honor, as they supposed, and did not apply them to human uses, having dedicated them to the gods they themselves worshipped, they experienced no evils at all. ^C But when King Baltasar dared to use them at a banquet, he was immediately punished and paid the penalty that was due, and by his own punishment, he taught everyone how great was the power of the God to whom these vessels belonged, and that He had not been unwillingly deprived of His own possessions, but had willingly handed them over because of the great transgressions of the people. ^D He also did this long ago with the ark. For after Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of the priest Eli, both impious and detestable, took it with them and went out to bring help to their kinsmen, God reproved their impiety, granting them no providence and caring for them to be slaughtered as they deserved, but handed over the ark to the aliens, again educating and reminding Israel that He had no need of the ark, but had constructed it for their sake, and that its use was superfluous for those who, without fear, violated the divine law and chose to live impiously. And so that the aliens, puffed up with pride, might not boast as if they had overcome God (thinking the ark itself to be the God of the Jews, making a conjecture from the construction of their own idols), and so that they might not

^A suffer harm, as if they had captured the God of the Jews and dedicated him as a kind of trophy to their own gods. For He causes Dagon, the idol worshipped by them, to fall and be shattered before the ark, to display the posture of adoration, and to confess his defeat through the very facts, and to show the slavery of the demon dwelling within him; and this not once, but twice and often. He also inflicts various plagues upon them, until they returned the ark and dedicated offerings that signified their punishment. Thus, both at that time and in the time of Nebuchadnezzar, a double benefit was obtained; for that which was permitted by God for a short time profited not only the Jews but also the barbarians.

VERS. 3, 4.

^A VERS. 5, 6.

Commentary on the Verses

^B VERS. 7. “And the chief eunuch gave them names: to Daniel, Baltasar; and to Ananias, Sidrach; and to Misael, Misach; and to Azarias, Abdenago.” And this right of dominion is established among some as a custom, for those who buy servants change their names, so that by the alteration of the name they may recognize their servitude. And this likewise was done here by the chief eunuch; for having removed the Hebrew names, he imposed Chaldean ones upon them, since the king had also instructed the youths to learn the language of the Chaldeans.

VERS. 8. “And Daniel established in his heart that he would not be polluted by the king’s table, and by the wine of his drink; and he asked the chief eunuch that he might not be polluted.” For godly men do not seek God, who is over all, in a place, but wherever they may arrive, they offer the same worship to Him, and even when they are afflicted by adverse circumstances, they worship their own Creator in the same way. And here it is possible to find a great and exceptional miracle. For the boys, reared among the Jews and taught that God must be worshipped in a certain place, then inhabiting a foreign land and compelled to serve at a very youthful age, and forced to live under other laws, strive diligently to retain their ancestral piety. And because they saw that the Babylonians were polluting the victuals by the invocation of idols, and defiling the wine with libations, they ^C disregarded the health that meets the eye, and having trampled upon the pleasure of the royal banquet filled with every kind of food, they beseech the chief eunuch to permit them to abstain from the royal foods.

^A

VERS. 9. *And God gave Daniel favor and compassion before the chief eunuch.* For divine providence follows upon intentions, and as soon as they chose divine things, they enjoyed divine aid. We find that this also happened in the case of Joseph: *For the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man, and he poured out mercy upon him, and gave him favor before the keeper of the prison* (Gen. xxxix, 21). We are taught, therefore, from this as well, that God has never in any way neglected or abandoned any of those who have believed in Him. Wherefore another prophet also cries out: *Inquire of the generations that were before you, who has trusted in the Lord and was put to shame?* (Eccli. 11, 11).

VERS. 10. *And the chief eunuch said to Daniel: I fear my lord the king, who appointed your food and your drink, lest he see your faces sadder than the children who are your own age, and you condemn my head before the king.* The fear of the chief eunuch was not irrational; for he was a man who had in no way tasted of spiritual grace, but considering human things in a human manner, and thinking that bodies are nourished and flourish solely by the food of sumptuous meals, he feared that while others were being sumptuously fed, and these men were living ascetically, some discrepancy ^B might appear in their faces, and he might be subjected to the ultimate punishment by the king, who had commanded the contrary. But when blessed Daniel saw him fearing, he transferred his entreaty to Amelasar, whom the chief eunuch had set as the overseer of him and of Ananias, and Azarias, and Misael, and said:

VERS. 12, 13. *Tempt, I beseech you, your servants for ten days, and let them give us of the seeds, and let us eat, and let us drink water. And let our countenances appear before you, and the countenances of the children who eat from the king's table; and as you shall see, do with your servants.* There is nothing stronger than faith in God; and this can be learned from many other places, but not least from these words of the divine Daniel. For that he believed and trusted that he would be relieved by divine help—even if he did not eat with those who were eating and living delicately and enjoying royal luxury—and that he would appear more handsome and far more beautiful, and indeed even greater, what remains of piety for anyone? He also rightly mingled prayer with persuasion: *For tempt, he says, your servants for ten days, and let them give us of the seeds, and let us come...* ^C

and do you be the judge of our countenances; and if you find any harm occurring to our bodies from such food, you shall command what seems right to you, and we shall not resist.* Such care for the divine laws and such faith in the Lawgiver did this divine man possess from his childhood. And while he said these things, the other accepted the request. ^B

Vers. 14, 15. *And he listened to them, he says, in this word, and tested them for ten days. And after the end of the ten days their countenances appeared good, and they themselves were stronger in their flesh than the boys who were eating from the royal table.* For this divine prophet attained what he desired, and proved his promises to be true to the one to whom their care had been entrusted; for, having enjoyed divine grace, they appeared far better than those who were enjoying the royal table.

VERS. 16. *And it happened that Amelasar was taking away their dinner, and the wine of their drink, and was giving them seeds.* And he reaped a double gain: first, he learned that it is possible even for someone who uses fasting to acquire bodily strength and comeliness; and then, by taking for himself the food that was provided them, he more readily provided them with the seeds they craved. Furthermore, because (Daniel) spoke only of himself, he necessarily calls his companions in piety into the midst, and says: ^C

VERS. 17. *And to these four boys God gave understanding and wisdom in all written learning and wisdom.* For not the instruction of the Chaldeans, he says, made them understanding and filled them with all wisdom, but, having been deemed worthy of divine grace and understanding and wisdom and all knowledge, they were shown to be better than everyone. *And Daniel,* he says, *understood in every vision and dream.* For from his childhood he saw divine revelations, not only in sleep, but also while awake; and he was able to interpret what was revealed to others; for the word "understood" indicates this. We are taught from this, too, that the God of all knows no difference of age, but seeks only piety and the love of God; and if He finds this in a young person, He prefers him to many who are ^D older. We find that He did the same thing regarding Joseph, and also regarding Samuel the prophet; for to him, while he was a child quite young, He both appeared and commanded him to predict the punishments against the elder, so as to convict the one worn out by age, and to demonstrate the grace flourishing in the lad.

^A VERS. 18-20. "And after the end of the days, which the king said to bring them in, the chief eunuch brought them in before Nabuchodonosor. And the king spoke with them, and there were not found from among them all any like Daniel, Ananias, Azarias, and Misael; and they stood before the king. And in every word of wisdom and understanding for which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times greater than all the enchanters and magi who were in his kingdom." But Melzar knew the difference in the foods, and he had learned by all means the power of divine grace; the king, however, perhaps knew nothing of these things. For how could he have learned, when the food was provided by him in like manner, but was being consumed by Melzar? Nevertheless, he also received no small profit, having found them improved compared to all those who had been selected from other nations, excelling in beauty and magnitude of body, and in wisdom and understanding of soul, and in the rhythm of their words and in all rational science. He did not make the comparisons simply, but by putting forward certain questions, he took experience as the teacher of truth, and he found them not merely superior, but ten degrees better; and by then he learned that the Jews are wiser than all other nations. Having stated these things, he added:

^B VERS. 21. "And Daniel was even to the first year of Cyrus the king." He did not add this without cause, but because he wished to indicate the time of the whole prophecy. For this reason he taught us both the beginning of the prophecy and added its end, so that by counting the years of the kings who intervened, we might learn the entire time of the prophecy. Moreover, he teaches us that he also beheld Cyrus, who dismissed the captives, and that he was consoled in the present life by the freedom of his own kin, which he himself saw; for in that very first year of his reign, Cyrus ordered whoever of the Jews wished to return to Judea, and he raised up the divine temple, having been taught the prediction of the prophet Isaiah by the blessed Daniel himself. For he was openly exclaiming with these words: "Saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and ^C to the cities of Judea, Ye shall be inhabited; saying to Cyrus to be wise and to do all my wills. — Thus saith the Lord to my anointed Cyrus, whose right hand I have taken hold of, so that nations should obey him, and cities will not be locked. For I will go before thy face, and I will level the mountains; I will shatter the bronze gates, and I will break in pieces the iron bars; I will open to thee ^D the dark, hidden, and concealed treasures." Having understood these things, Cyrus granted the Jews who wished it the return to their fatherland.

VARIAE LECTIONES

and the book of Chronicles also teaches us the time. "For in the first year," it says, "of Cyrus the king of the Persians, after the word of the Lord was fulfilled by the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of the Persians, and Cyrus proclaimed in all his kingdom in the words of Scripture, saying: Thus saith Cyrus king of the Persians: The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he himself commanded me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judea. Who is there among you of all his people? The Lord his God shall be with him, and let him go up." ^A For this reason, the blessed Daniel also, teaching the time of the prophecy, has inscribed in the books of the Jews: "Daniel was even unto the first year of Cyrus the king." ^B But let us, having rested the hearer here, hymn the good Master, who smiteth and healeth, scourgeth and cureth, using both punishment and philanthropy; to Him be the glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

VOLUME II

BOOK TWO

CHAPTER II

^C VERS. 1. "In the second year of the reign of Nabuchodonosor, he dreamed a dream, and his spirit was astonished, and his sleep departed from him." ^D Hence we learn that immediately, as soon as he had begun to reign, he marched with an army into Judea in the third year of the reign of Joacim: and when he had imposed a tribute upon him, he departed, having taken captives into the region of the Assyrians. The prophet Jeremiah also bears witness to these times, thus speaking: "The word that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning all the people of Judea, in the fourth year of Joacim the son of Josias, king of Judea; the same is the first year of Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon." We find, therefore, that after the third year of the reign of Joacim had passed, King Nabuchodonosor [advanced] against

the Jews. At the beginning of the fourth year, the prophet Jeremiah, offering an exhortation to the people, said that this was the first year of King Nabuchodonosor. And the blessed Daniel, having related that the first captivity of the Jews occurred in the third year of the reign of Joacim, king of Judah, adds now: "In the second year of the reign of Nabuchodonosor, he dreamed a dream." He has not added these things without cause, but so that we might truly understand the time. For this reason, the divine prophets, when mentioning kings, also record the number of the years.

"In the second year, therefore, of the reign of Nabuchodonosor, he dreamed a dream, and his spirit was troubled, and the dream departed from him." (Vers. 2.) "And the king said to summon the enchanters, and the magi, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, that they might reveal to the king his dream." The providence of God, then, is manifest to those who are of sound mind; for since He wished to make the dream known to His own prophet, so that he might receive good and saving exhortations from it, He terrified him with the dream and removed the memory of the dream from him. But just as the providence of the God of all is manifest, so too is the madness of the king known to all the pious. For how is it not the height of madness to seek the memory of a dream from others? Nevertheless, it says, they were called, and they came, and stood before the king. ^B

Vers. 3, 4. "And the king said to them: I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled so that I might know the dream." And the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Syriac, and said: "King, live for ever; tell the dream to your servants, and we will relate its interpretation." And what they asked for was indeed reasonable for the situation, but their promise was arrogant: for it was not within human understanding to interpret divine revelations without aid from above. And the Chaldeans spoke in Syriac, as those who, having been gathered from different nations and each having their own language, used the language of the Syrians in common, desiring to show that they were responding appropriately. But not even thus did they persuade the arrogant king not to demand of men things that are beyond nature. ^C

Vers. 5, 6. "For the king answered immediately and said to the Chaldeans: The word has departed from me; if, therefore, you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be destroyed, and your houses shall be plundered. If au-

your dream and its interpretation, you shall receive gifts and rewards and great honor from me; only tell me the dream and its interpretation." ^A These words indicate not only his rashness and ferocity, but also his extreme foolishness. For it is the height of folly to imagine that either by the threat of evils or by the promise of good things, greater knowledge would be generated for the Chaldeans. 7 Immediately, therefore, they said to him, "Tell your dream to your servants, and we shall tell its interpretation." For we acknowledge our servitude, they say, but we also know the powers of human wit. And we shall be able to interpret the dream if we learn it; but we can by no means remember it ourselves, as it was shown to you and then consigned to oblivion. But the vain man nonetheless insisted on seeking the recollection of the dream. For the king answered, he says, and said: 8 "In truth I know that you are buying time, because you see that the word has departed from me. 9 If, therefore, you will not tell me the dream, there is one sentence for you, and I know that you have conspired to speak a lying and corrupt word before me until the time passes. Tell me my dream, and I shall know that you will also tell me its interpretation." These words are indeed a bold and insane demand, but the accusation is very true. For you wish, he says, to learn the dream so that, having commonly concocted some false interpretation, you might deceive me in your customary manner, drawing to your aid the length of time, and waiting for the moment of the outcome. Having heard this, the Chaldeans (for it seems they had more freedom of speech with him than the others) speak with him decisively from then on, and utterly refuse to be able to recollect the dream. 10 "For there is no man on earth," they said, "who can declare that word to the king, because no great king or prince interrogates a magician and Chaldean with such a word. 11 Because the matter which the king interrogates is grave, and there is no one who will declare it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with any flesh." Wherefore it is not permitted to happen as you think. Require from us human things, they say, not those which are above nature. For it is most of all fitting for kings to govern their kingdom justly, and to require from their subjects what can be done; but what you now require, you do not require justly; for it is not [the lot] of men who are clothed in flesh to have such knowledge, but

of that incorporeal nature which knows all things perfectly. ^A These things, then, were said by the Chaldæans, and the manifestation of Daniel himself was being prepared. For when they had said that it was not for men, but for gods, to know these things, the divine Daniel reminds the king of the dream and interprets it most accurately and clearly; he teaches the king that such knowledge belongs not to men who walk upon the earth, nor indeed to gods that do not exist, but to God who created all things. But we shall interpret each of these in its proper place.

Verses 12, 13. « Then, he says, the king in great fury and anger said to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. And the decree went forth, and the wise men were being killed, and they sought Daniel and his friends to kill them. » ^B Tyrannical, and not royal, is the undertaking, manifestly unjust and devoid of justice; for arrogance and pride, having obtained power, devise destruction for the subject Jews. However, the most holy Daniel, having beheld this unjust slaughter, inquires of Arioch, to whom this most cruel execution had been committed, saying: « O prince of the king, for what cause has this shameless decree gone forth from the face of the king? » ^C For he was ignorant, as it seems, insofar as he had not been called into the assembly of the wise men of Babylon; for the three years had not yet passed during which the king of the Babylonians had ordered them, after being nourished on royal food, to be introduced to him at an appointed time thereafter. But if he related beforehand that they had entered and had been preferred to others, as having been seen to be more excellent, let no one wonder. For when he wished to complete that narration, he clearly taught all the things that happened at that time: then he returns again to relate the things that were done after an interval of time. For the ignorance of the unjust slaughter testifies that he had not yet obtained the liberty of speaking before the king when he gathered together the wise men of Babylon. For, ignorant of this cause, he was questioning Arioch. ^D And when he learned [it], he spoke boldly with the king, and sought from him a brief space of time to be granted for investigating the dream and searching out its interpretation. Then he teaches us the manner in which he found them, not out of a desire for glory, but by inciting us to a similar zeal.

Verses 17, 18. « For Daniel, he says, went into his house, and signaled the matter to Ananias, and Azarias, and Misael, his friends. And they sought mercies from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, that Daniel and his friends might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. » Between truth and false-

falsehood there is indeed a great difference. For the workers of falsehood are bereft of divine alliance, and relying solely on human reasonings devoid of piety, they both say and do everything to deceive men; but the foster-children of truth do not undertake to speak or act without help from above. They fasten their own petitions to the providence that oversees all things, and they stand unmoved, not tossed about or swayed hither and thither, but remaining safe from the tempest of human calculations. ^B Witness to this is the divine Daniel, who, having asked for a little time to be granted to him to discover the dream, did not waste the time in vain reasoning, but spent it in entreaty and prayer, not trusting in himself alone, but also taking his companions in the same way of life into the fellowship of his supplication; and he was not disappointed in his hope.

VERS. 19-22. « Then, he says, the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night, and Daniel blessed the God of heaven. And he said: Blessed be the name of the Lord God from everlasting and to everlasting, for wisdom and understanding are his. And he changes times and years, he appoints kings and deposes them, giving wisdom to the wise and understanding to those with knowledge. He reveals deep and hidden things, knowing what is in the darkness, and the light is with him. » ^C In all these things he manifests the integrity of a grateful soul, and he weaves his hymn not simply, but makes the discovery of the dream the subject of that weaving. For it is fitting, he says, to continually celebrate the eternal and everlasting God, the fount of wisdom and understanding, who rightly and well moderates all things, and who through the changes of events convicts the instability of human tranquility, and openly declares His own power to all: for while He creates kings, He easily abdicates them again from their kingdom, and while He grants authority, He takes it away when He wills. He Himself supplies wisdom and prudence; yet He does not grant this recklessly, but to those who are held by the desire to know Him, He reveals as He wills those things which nowhere appear, but are hidden as it were in a certain depth, since they have not yet come to pass; and since He is light perceivable by the mind, dwelling in inaccessible light, ^D He perfectly knows everything that is done in the darkness.

VERS. 23. « Therefore I confess to you, O God of my fathers, and I praise you, because you have given me wisdom and might, and now you have made known to me what we asked of you, because you have made known to me the vision of the king. »

^A Such are the souls of the pious, knowing God even in their needs as the provider, and running to His harbors, and after the provision of good things, not enduring to consign the memory of these gifts to oblivion, but rather repaying the benevolent God with hymns. It is worthy to note the modesty of this divine man; for even when offering his prayer, he took as partners those like-minded in supplication, and when weaving the hymn for what he had received, he again made mention of them. For he did not say, "You have revealed to me what I asked of You," but, "what we asked of You." Having thus concluded the divine hymn:

Ver. 24. « And immediately, » he says, « Daniel came to Arioch, whom the king had established to destroy the wise men of Babylon, and said to him: Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; lead me instead into the presence of the king, and I will announce the interpretation of the vision to the king. » This mercy also becomes the prophet; for he did not wish to save only himself and his friends from the unjust slaughter, but he also works for the safety of the Chaldeans, hoping that by this miracle he would both deliver them from their impiety and lead them to the God of all things. ^B After these things were heard,

Ver. 25. « Arioch, with haste, brought Daniel into the presence of the king, and said to him: I have found a man from the sons of the captivity of Judea, who will announce the interpretation to the king. » From this it again becomes clear to us that the king had not yet made any test of the virtue of Daniel. For if he had been known, Arioch would not have spoken indefinitely: « I have found a man from the sons of the captivity of Judea, who will announce the interpretation to the king. »

Ver. 26. « But the king, having become exceedingly joyful, said to Daniel, whose name was Baltasar: Are you able to announce to me the dream which I saw, and its interpretation? » It is necessary to observe also this, that he does not always address him as Baltasar, but only when he is conversing with the king, who had imposed this name upon him. ^C But when asked whether he could also announce the dream and the interpretation to the king, he answered saying:

Ver. 27. « The mystery which the king asks is not for the wise men, magicians, enchanters, or soothsayers to announce to the king. (Ver. 28.) But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. » He began the instruction amazingly; for having cast out that choir of foolish ones, and having exposed their weakness, he declared God to be the teacher of the revelation of mysteries; and he added, « in heaven, » having cast out those gods who are beneath and are worshipped. ^D And with the unique name of gods... [index: entries preserved]

^A he casts out the multitude of those who are not gods; and by that dwelling in heaven, he demonstrates that those who appear below are not gods, but a deceit having the craft of men as its source. « This God made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what must come to pass in the last days. » Having begun thus, he again draws the hearing of the king toward benevolence with a salutation: « O King, » he says, « live forever. » For since he is about to speak of the dream, and to bring forward the interpretation, and to foretell to him the destruction of the kingdom, he prefaces it: « It is my prayer, » he says, « that you live perpetually; do not, therefore, ascribe to me that which is signified by the dream. » Then he says: « Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, this is it, O king. » That is to say: What you saw by night, these are the things. ^B

Vers. 29. « Your thoughts upon your bed arose, concerning what must come to pass after these things. » You were thinking, he says, as you lay upon your couch, whether you would live forever, or whether you would die according to the law of human nature; yet you desired to know those things which had not yet come to pass. And He who reveals secrets made known to you what must come to pass. And everywhere he proclaims the one God, casting out the error of polytheism; then he also demonstrates the modesty of his own mind.

Vers. 30. « For to me, » he says, « not in the wisdom which is in me beyond all those who live, has this mystery been revealed, but in order that I might indicate the interpretation to the king, and that you might know the thoughts of your heart. » I have attained, he says, to the revelation of this, not because I am wiser than all men, but so that you might learn what you desired to learn; and God used me, as His servant, ^C as a minister of this knowledge. He begins, therefore, the explanation, and he relates first the dream itself.

Vers. 31-35. « You, O King, were watching, and behold one image, much, that image great, and its appearance elevated, standing before your face, and its vision terrible. The image, whose head was of pure gold; its hands, and chest, and its arms were of silver; and its belly and its thighs were of bronze. Its legs were of iron, its feet part of iron, and part of earthenware. » By the things previously mentioned, he signified four materials: gold, silver, bronze, iron; for he did not speak of the earthenware by itself, but mixed with the iron. And through these he declares the greatest and most universal kingdoms, which, having succeeded one another, obtained the greatest part of the world. For ^D that other kingdoms have existed, and even at the present time exist, is clear; yet it is permissible to see that authority not in all or in most, but in only one or two nations. Therefore, the first of all...

the hegemonies to have come into existence, he says, is that of the Assyrians, which is the same as that of the Babylonians; for these are the same as those, but they had their royal seat at one time in Nineveh, which is called Ninive among the Hebrews, and at another time in Babylon. ^A That the kingdom of these and those is one, the prophet himself also testifies, for in interpreting the dream, he says: "You are the golden head, O king." And the blessed prophet Jeremiah also says: "Babylon is a golden cup in the Lord's hand, inebriating all the earth; the nations drank of its wine, therefore they were shaken, and suddenly Babylon fell and was broken." If there were another kingdom of the Assyrians before this one, what material could one call it? The most holy Moses also ^B testifies that these things are so; for when, in the creation of the world, he had spoken about Nimrod, saying that he was a giant hunter before the Lord, he added: "And the beginning of his kingdom was Babylon, Orech, and Chalane." ^C Also, writers from outside call the Babylonians Assyrians, and to this day the Persians name it Assyria. Therefore, the first material, which is gold, signifies the kingdom of the Assyrians and Babylonians; and he calls it the head, as having come into being first. The second, which is silver, is that of the Persians and Medes. For Cyrus, setting out from both sides, being sprung from the Medes on his mother's side and from the Persians on his father's side, overthrew the kingdom of the Assyrians, or rather the Babylonians, and transferred the kingdom to the Persians. He called it the chest and arms, in order to show his kinship with two nations; for by the right hand he signifies his paternal lineage, and by the left his maternal, the connection of which is entrusted to the chest, containing the storehouse of reason, for by reason marriage contracts are also ^D completed. He designated the brazen kingdom as the Macedonian, which appeared after the Persian and in like manner ruled over all. He assigned to it the belly and the thighs, signifying by the belly the monarchy of Alexander alone, and by the thighs the division of the kingdom that occurred after his death. He called the Roman kingdom iron; this succeeded the Macedonian. He assigned to it the shins, as being near the end of the whole body and able to carry the whole body; and the bases of the feet, which are also of iron, but mingled with earthenware. By this he does not hint at another kingdom, but the same one, which will be weaker than itself, and mixed with the weakness of the earthenware. He also applied the difference of materials, not to show a difference of honor, but of strength; for gold is denser than silver, silver is more solid than bronze, but iron is much firmer even than bronze itself. The difference, therefore, consists not in honor, but in strength and power. But it is necessary to ask for what reason in the image

^A of these materials he observed the agreement; for nothing is revealed by the Creator of all things without cause or in vain. The image has appearances, but not the things themselves. Such, too, is the present life, having nothing perpetual or stable; wherefore the blessed Paul also exclaimed: "The fashion of this world passes away." And in another place, instructing us, he says: "Do not be conformed to this world." And the blessed David, chiding the vanity of human prosperity, says: "Surely, altogether vanity is every man living." Yet indeed, man walks in an image, he gathers treasures, and he does not know for whom he shall gather them. Since, therefore, the present life also has very swift changes (for all things that are seen are mortal, fleeting, and fragile), and the image does not contain the power of the realities, but shows only the appearances of kings, and princes, and those subject to them, and since even this appearance itself ^B can be dissolved most easily, rightly did God, the Creator of all things, wishing to teach that arrogant king the vanity of human pride, and to teach that human affairs possess the easiest mutability, set an image before him in a dream, and distinguish its parts with manifold material, teaching the frequent and successive successions of kings, and persuading all men that He alone possesses power continuously, unoriginated and unending, and altogether eternally holds the kingdom. After this, the blessed Daniel proceeds with the rest of this dream.

VERS. 34, 35. "You were watching until a stone was cut out from a mountain without hands, and it struck the image upon the feet of iron and clay, and crushed them completely. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were all crushed together, and became as dust from a summer threshing floor, and a multitude of wind carried them away, and no place ^C was found for them; and the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled all the earth." Such is the end of the dream; but it is fitting for us to begin the interpretation from the end. Let us ask, therefore, first, who is this who is called a stone, and who, though appearing small at first, later proved to be very great and covered the inhabited world. Let us hear, then, God Himself through Isaiah the prophet, saying: "Behold, I place in Zion a precious stone, a cornerstone, honorable, elect, into its foundations, and everyone who believes in Him shall not be confounded." Let us hear also the blessed David

^A foretelling and crying out: "The stone which the builders rejected, this became the head of the corner." And our Lord Christ Himself offered this testimony to the Jews in the holy Gospels, saying: "Have you not read: 'The stone which the builders rejected, this became the head of the corner; this was from the Lord, and it is wonderful in our eyes'?" And the blessed Peter, preaching among the Jews and bringing forward the prophecy of the Lord, says: "This is the stone which was rejected by you the builders, which became the head of the corner." And the blessed Paul also says: "Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief cornerstone." And elsewhere he says: "No man can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." And again: "They drank, he says, from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ." We are taught, therefore, by both the Old and New Testaments that our Lord Jesus Christ has been called the stone. For He was cut from the mountain without hands, having been born of a Virgin without nuptial intercourse; and divine Scripture is accustomed often to call a preternatural birth the cutting of a stone. For Isaiah, reminding the Jews of the procreation of children granted to Abraham contrary to nature, said: "Look unto the solid rock from which you were hewn." Therefore, the mountain is the Davidic tribe, but the stone is Christ, who, as to His humanity, was not cut ^B according to the law of nature. But this One, appearing small long ago on account of the nature He had put on, was suddenly shown to be a huge mountain, having filled the whole world. "For the whole earth was filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as much water as covered the seas." This One will strike the image upon the feet of clay and iron, that is to say, He will also put an end to the last kingdom, and will make it vanish and disappear. For no other kingdom will succeed this one, but He will strip it bare and reveal it to all, and will blot out the very memory of all those kingdoms like dust, which, being raised from the threshing floor, is scattered by the wind. Having related the whole dream to the king, he added: ^C

vv. 36, 37. "This is the dream, and we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. You, O king, are a king of kings." He did not say this in flattery, but [having used] the customary address; ^D for he [Daniel] had been informed [alt-version omitted]

that God holds dominion over all those who were then ruling over the nations and were called kings. "You, O king," he says, "are a king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given a strong, mighty, and honorable kingdom in every place." He says that you have not overcome everything by human strength, but that God, who holds the heavenly kingdom, has granted this authority to you, so that you might govern and reign over all men in every place wherever the sons of men dwell. He has given both the beasts of the field and the birds of the air into your hand, and has appointed you master of all. By "beasts" he refers to the barbarians who live in a more beast-like manner, and by "birds" to those endowed with wisdom and who are superior to other men, and who are "winged" in their intellect. Of all these, he says, He has declared you king. "You, therefore, are the head of gold," that is, your kingdom. For he speaks not of the person, but of the kingdom itself; indeed, after his death, Evil-Merodach obtained the Babylonian kingdom, and Belshazzar succeeded him. But if what he said about the person—"You are the head of gold"—meant the person, how are we to understand the statement: "After you, another kingdom, inferior to you, shall arise"? For he does not indicate the kingdom of his sons, but the Persian one. Therefore, the head of gold is not Nabuchodonosor himself, but the entire kingdom of the Assyrians, or the Babylonians. ^B

VERS. 39. "And after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to you." The Persian [kingdom] indeed; and he calls it "inferior" not as being weaker, but as being second. "And a third kingdom, which is bronze, which shall rule over all the earth." He means the Macedonian [kingdom]. Alexander, the son of Philip, ruled over all the earth, having brought all men into subjection during the twelve years of his reign.

VERS. 40. "And the fourth kingdom shall be strong, as iron; just as iron crushes and tames everything, so it shall crush and tame." He speaks of the Roman kingdom, which was most robust and overcame all nations, as one might say, and exacted tribute and revenue from everyone. For he added that it "shall crush" in order to signify this, and "it shall tame" regarding obedience, order, and legitimate government of the commonwealth. ^C

VERS. 41. "And whereas you saw the feet and the toes, partly of iron and partly of clay, the kingdom shall be divided, and it shall be of the root of iron, just as you saw the iron mixed with earthen clay." He did not say "another" according to race, but according to the quality of its strength. For if he meant according to [the] race... ^D

he would have called it a fifth, just as he had earlier mentioned a third and a fourth. But because he knew that the ends of the iron kingdom would be weaker, he set another because of the weakness, and did so very reasonably. For he had shown it above to be most strong; for such were its beginnings. Nevertheless, he does not say that its final parts will be completely weak. "For from the root of the iron," he says, "it will be in it, in the manner in which you saw the iron mixed with earthen clay." (Vers. 42.) "And the toes of the feet, a part of iron, and a part of clay." This does not even require our interpretation; for the Prophet himself interpreting, says: "A part of the kingdom will be strong, and from it, it will be broken." To these he adds: (Vers. 43.) "And because you saw the iron mixed with earthen clay, they will be mingled in the seed of men." And this especially indicates that this kingdom is not other than the iron kingdom, but the same one in a weaker state, and that a part of it will be robust and a part weak; yet the law of kinship will join the weak part with the strong. For the phrase, "They will be mingled in the ^B seed of men," signifies this. There will be, he says, a certain commingling and intermarriage between these and those, but yet discord will destroy the rights of kinship. For they will not be, he says, clinging to one another, just as iron is not mixed with clay. We, therefore, have understood the interpretation of the divine Daniel in this way, but it is proper to bring into the middle the opinions of some of those who interpreted before us; for thus the truth will be shown more clearly. Some, therefore, of the writers said that the fourth kingdom, that is, the iron, was Alexander the Macedonian; and the feet and the toes of the feet composed of iron and clay were the Macedonians who reigned after him, the Ptolemies, and Seleucids, and Antiochians, and Demetrii, some of whom held the empire weakly, and others very manfully, and who made alliances and embraced each other's ^C kinship. But they ought to have observed, first of all, that he said the gold head was Nebuchadnezzar himself, that is, the kingdom of the Babylonians, or rather the Assyrians; and the kingdom of the Persians and Medes succeeded it at once; for Cyrus was sprung from both nations, and ruling over these and those, having overthrown the kingdom of the Babylonians, he became master of the Persians; and Alexander the Macedonian overthrew the kingdom of the Persians, being the second, and the blessed Daniel said that he became lord of the whole earth. This kingdom he named third; and no other took its place, but that of the Romans. It behooved them, therefore, first of all, from the number and the ^D matters...

^A indicated, to understand and learn that the third is the kingdom of the Macedonians, which is the bronze; and the fourth is that of the Romans, which is the iron. But if those things seemed to them altogether more obscure, they should, at any rate, have discerned the whole prophecy from the end; for immediately after showing the weak and earthen end of the iron kingdom, he added:

VERS. 44. “And in the days of those kings.” That is, of those who had the commixture of the earthen and the iron, and who embraced a mutual affinity, yet had no harmony even because of the kinship.

“The God of heaven will raise up a kingdom, which will not be destroyed for the ages, and his kingdom will not be left to another people. It will crush and winnow all kingdoms, and it itself will stand for the ages. (VERS. 45.) In the manner thou hast seen, that a stone was cut from a mountain without hands, and it crushed the clay, and the iron, the bronze, the silver, the gold.” These things, however, clearly show the end of present ^B affairs, but the endlessness of the kingdom of the heavens. For when the iron kingdom has been weakly disposed, and has taken on the commixture of the clay, the stone cut without hands will appear, and will crush the clay, the iron, and the bronze, the silver, the gold, and will make them altogether as nothing, and will provide an eternal and unending kingdom to those who are worthy of it. “For it will not be destroyed in the ages,” he says, “and it will not be left to another people; and it will crush and will tame all kingdoms, and it itself will stand for the ages.” But if anyone is contentious and does not wish for these things to be so, let him show what among human things is eternal, and what kingdom of men will not receive an end. For it is foolish and highly insane both to expect the end ^C of the present age, and to say that some kingdom in the present life will be endless. If, however, it seems good also to them that the kingdom to be given by God to the worthy is signified by these words, then he did not call the Macedonian kingdom iron; for not while that was prevailing did the present life receive an end, but the Roman, having overturned the Macedonian, holds the helm of the inhabited world. But if they assert that the first coming of the Lord is signified by these words, let them show the Roman dominion to have perished immediately after the manifestation of our Savior. For one can find completely the opposite: that it flourished, and did not perish with the rising of the Savior; for while Augustus was reigning, the Lord was brought into the light. The latter ^D was indeed the second to reign, but he subjected all men, so to speak, to his rule, and registered the whole world, as the Gospels testify,

and decreed that tribute should be paid. Under him, the Roman Empire, having been established, has endured even until now. If, therefore, the first birth of the Lord did not dissolve the Roman dominion, it remains for us to understand his second manifestation. For the stone, which was previously cut out without hands, and became a great mountain, and covered the inhabited world, this one at the second coming will strike the image on its feet of clay—that is, it will appear at the very end of the iron kingdom, which by then will have become weak—and it will destroy all dominions and consign them to oblivion, and will grant his own everlasting kingdom to those who are worthy. Having interpreted these things thus, Daniel necessarily added: «The great God has made known to the king what must come to pass after these things. And the dream is true, and the interpretation thereof is faithful.» ^B It is worth admiring the providence of the God of all regarding all men. For he does not deprive even those who live in impiety of his own providence, but deems even them worthy of every care; just as, indeed, he did not abandon nor neglect that barbarian, savage, and impious man, but first, through the revelations, showed him the ephemeral nature of the present life and the instability of the kingdom itself, and that nothing of human prosperity is permanent, which like flowers or lilies withers and is extinguished. And these things sufficed to lower his arrogant and pride-swollen brow, and to persuade him to think as a human and to await the end of both his life and kingdom. First, therefore, he shows his care for him through these things; then, by the forgetting of the dream, he exposes the falsehood of the magi and Chaldeans, and shows the truth of his own servants; and through the wisdom of those by whom he is worshipped, he declares his divine power and draws the ignorant toward worshipping him; or rather, he compels those who demand worship from everyone to worship his holy servants. And history teaches us this. ^C

46. «For then,» he says, «the king Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, and bowed down to Daniel, and commanded that manaa and incense be offered to him.» Consider, moreover, how great a thing it is: that arrogant man, afflicted with the disease of madness, who had even thought himself to be God—to whom, through another prophet, God said: «But you are man, and not God»—who had subjected all men to his rule, was brought to this, that he bowed down to the captive Jew, who was relegated to the rank of a slave, and persuaded himself that through him he was worshipping his own God. For this is the reason ^D

^A that he commanded that a sweet-smelling offering be made to him, that is to say, that frankincense and incense be offered. By these things, the history hints that he commissioned those who were considered to be priests to do this. For the man who had offered worship would certainly have also brought the sweet-smelling offering, had he been accustomed to discharge the priestly office. But since this was by no means fitting for others, he did not himself attempt to do things that were less than seemly, but commanded those who were accustomed to do so to perform the rite. And so that he might not appear to be worshipping a man in vain, he says to Daniel: "Of a truth your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of kings, and the revealer of mysteries, since you were able to reveal this mystery." Such is the benefit that the Governor of all things brought to him, both through the dream and through the forgetting of the dream. For first he recognized his own worthlessness, then he learned the weakness of the gods he worshipped, and in addition to these things, he was taught the power of the One who is truly God. For this reason he exclaims: "Of a truth your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of kings, and the revealer of mysteries." He calls Him "God of gods," however, not in accordance with the meaning of divine Scripture; for divine Scripture designates those who have been deemed worthy of the priesthood as gods: "For you shall not revile the gods," it says, "nor curse the ruler of your people." ^B Yet this man called the idols gods; for he had not yet been able to understand their utter weakness. He did, however, learn the difference, and for this reason he addresses the Creator of all things as God of gods and Lord of kings. Having confessed these things in this way:

^C VERS. 48. "Then the king promoted Daniel, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over all the province of Babylon, and chief of the governors, and over all the wise men of Babylon." This too is characteristic of divine care. The piety of a ruler brings the greatest benefit to his subjects; the Lord also did this in the time of Joseph. Concerning whom the blessed David, speaking in brief summary of the things that befell him and celebrating the divine providence, says: "He sent a man before them; Joseph was sold into slavery." Then, after having recounted the hardships that befell him, and made mention of the prison and the fetters, he added: "The king sent and released him, even the ruler of the people, and let him go, and made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance; to instruct his princes like himself, and to teach his elders wisdom." The Governor of all things has acted in this way here also. For when [he had made] ^D the ruler of the governors and of the

wise men of Babylon, he put him forward as an archetype of piety and every other virtue. Yet the prophet did not endure to enjoy this honor alone, but took his companions in prayer to be also his associates in this honor.

VERS. 49. "For he requested, he says, of the king, and he appointed over all the works of the region of Babylon Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago; and Daniel was in the court of the king." These things also accord with the teaching of the Apostle: "For now, he says, abides faith, hope, charity; these three, but the greatest of all is charity." For indeed, this divine prophet loved God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his strength, and with all his power; and having loved him fervently, he believed sincerely, and having believed sincerely, he hoped ^B to obtain help from him. And having obtained what he hoped for, he showed love toward his neighbor, and made his own tribesmen participants in the things he had received. "For whatever was written before, was written for our instruction, that through patience and through the consolation of the Scriptures we might have hope, in Christ Jesus," with whom to the Father be glory, with the holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

BOOK THREE

^C CAPUT III. VERS. 1. "In the eighteenth year, Nabuchodonosor the king made a golden image, and set it up in the plain of Deira, in the region of Babylon." Our good and philanthropic Lord, as Creator and Maker, wills that "all men be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth." And, "He does not desire the death of the sinner, but that he should repent and live." For which reason he manages all things for our salvation. But those who suffer from foolishness, and serve the incurable disease of arrogance, find no profit from the divine remedies.

^A, but are like certain sick people who turn away from the treatment offered them by the medical art, and through lack of self-restraint and great intemperance, they increase the illness that weighs upon them day by day. Such was that proud king, who, when the God of all things had used immense clemency toward him, and after countless transgressions and impieties had offered him a remedy, and had pointed out both the fragility and vanity of his present prosperity and the excellence and splendor of virtue—which makes even those taken in war and forced to bear the yoke of slavery appear radiant—he immediately admired the prophet’s wisdom and confessed that his God was the God of all things. But a short time having passed, he returned to his own nature, just as a dog to its own vomit, as the divine Scripture says, and he constructs a golden image, having a height of sixty cubits and a width of six. And having set this in a level field so that it might equally tower over all and be seen equally by all, he commands it to be worshiped by all of his subjects. ^B This manner of arrogance, however, was not simple, but openly defiant of God and hateful to God. For because God had shown him in a dream a very great image made of four materials, through which He had revealed to him the successions of the four kingdoms, he, setting his own pride in opposition to God, himself also constructs an image, giving to it as much magnitude as human art was able to provide. And he prepares it no longer of gold, silver, bronze, and iron, but makes it of one material, gold; the wretch thinking that he would prove God’s predictions false. And because the blessed Daniel, interpreting the dream, said that he himself was the golden head—that is, the kingdom of the Babylonians or Assyrians—while the other parts of the image, which followed the head, were of other, multiple materials, he himself fashions the whole image out of gold. ^C

VERS. 2. *And he gathered,* he says, *all the satraps, the prefects, and the commanders, and the toparchs, the governors, and the tyrants, and those who were in positions of authority, and all the rulers of the regions, to come to the dedication of the image which King Nabuchodonosor had set up.*

And each of these things declares his extreme arrogance. For he did not summon merely some of his subjects to the solemnity of the image, but the toparchs and the prefects to whom the command of the prefectures had been entrusted, and whatever other species of authority was held among them. And immediately, while the [initial] call was simple, ^D

it was thought to be a certain kind of gathering; but later, through that gathering, ^A a tyrannical power was revealed. For when all had assembled, the herald, he says, cried out in strength (that is, using a very loud voice): "To you it is said, O nations, peoples, languages; at what hour you hear the sound of the trumpet, and of the pipe, and of the harp, and of the sambuca, and of the psaltery, and of the symphony, and of every kind of musical instrument, falling down you worship the golden image which Nabuchodonosor the king has set up. And whoever does not fall down and worship, in that same hour he shall be cast into the burning furnace of fire."

Thus the wretch usurped, as he thought, divine honor; and it did not satisfy him to be worshipped by the peoples subject to him, but ^B he also decreed by law that this same worship should be offered to the image. He strikes everyone with fear through the material, the artistry, and the magnitude of the image, while he placates and charms them with the varied sound of the musical instruments. But those who were neither struck with awe by the magnitude of the image, nor charmed by the song and pleasure of the musical instruments, he intimidates with the threat of the furnace. In all other respects he did not miss his mark, for he saw that everyone was doing what was commanded, being accustomed to serve through both fear and pleasure; but only those thrice-blessed youths, protecting their ancestral nobility undefiled even in slavery—Ananias, and Azarias, and Misael—refused the worship. They did not, however, escape the notice of the impious Chaldeans, who desired to have everyone as participants in their own impiety. Immediately, therefore, they approach the king and remind him of the established law, which explicitly instructed all subjects to worship the image, and threatened the furnace to those refusing to do so; they accuse those holy men with these words, saying, ^C

"There are Jewish men whom you have set over the works of the province of Babylon, Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago; these men, O king, have not obeyed your decree." By these words they both reveal their own envy and inflame the king's anger, hinting and all but saying: "Look whom you have preferred over us, to whom you have entrusted the rule of the Babylonians, who have not been willing even to consider in their minds the excellence of the honor bestowed upon them, nor to show themselves grateful to the one by whom they were favored with this honor; nay, they have used the magnitude of the honor as an occasion for dishonor, openly contradicting your laws, and refusing to carry out your decrees." Nor can the tyrannical and ungrateful spirit of these men be discerned from this alone, but it is possible to perceive it also from other matters, because they perform none of the things that befit subjects: for those whom you consider to be gods, they do not consider to be such, nor ^D do they offer them worship suitable to the gods who are adored by you.

they themselves worship. And as for the image, to which all subjects had been gathered for the purpose of adoration, they openly refused to worship ^A it. [13, 14] Having heard these things, that king, bereft of his senses and having forgotten what he had said to Daniel: "In truth, your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings," brings the men into the center and inquires whether they really do not wish to be partakers with him in the worship of those gods, and whether they refuse to worship the image. Then he gives orders and counsels them to do so, frightening them with the threat of fire. [15] "For if you do not worship," he says, "at that very hour you shall be cast into the burning fiery furnace." Then he dares to utter that impious and beastly blasphemy: "And who is the God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" So quickly did he blaspheme Him whom he had confessed; and He whom he had called the God of gods, he supposed to be weaker than a man; and Him whom he had called the Lord of kings, he, a wretched man, boastfully claimed in youthful folly to conquer. ^B Yet he shared such audacious attempts with his ancestors. For that Sennacherib, who had brought the greatest forces against Jerusalem, speaking through messengers, uttered such things to Hezekiah: "Let not your God, in whom you trust, deceive you, saying that He will deliver Jerusalem out of my hands. Have the gods of the nations delivered, each of them, their own land from my hand? Where is the god of Hamath, and where is the god of Arphad, and where is the god of the city of Sepharvaim? Have they been able to deliver Samaria from my hand? Shall the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?" But immediately and straightway he received the reward of his blasphemy, and those many thousands were slain by one angel. And he himself, when he had betaken himself to flight ^C and returned to his own country, was slain by those whom he had begotten. For because he did not restrain his tongue against the Creator, he is killed by the men he had brought forth. But not even this example curbed the tongue of Nebuchadnezzar, nor did that dream, which showed the successions of kings, teach him to be wise, but he persisted in raging with fury against his Maker. Against him God arrays, as if in battle, not an angel (as He had done in the case of that Sennacherib), but three captive youths, compelled to dwell in a foreign land, who were pressed by the yoke of slavery, leading a youthful life, being in the very spring ^D of their years. [16] For as soon as they heard that rage and insane curse, stirred with anger and indignation, they answered the king thus: "We have no need to answer you concerning this matter." Your questioning, they say, which is addressed to us by you, is superfluous; for what we thought before, we think even now, and we shall not be changed in the least by your threats.

^A

VERSE 17. "For our God is in heaven, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the furnace of burning fire, and He will deliver us from your hands, O king."

Who would not justly be struck with wonder, admiring the fortitude, wisdom, piety, justice toward the laws, and temperance in all things of these blessed youths? For the fact that they were not terrified by that great tyrant, who had arrayed himself against them with almost all men, nor by that immense pyre—proposed for terror not merely in threatening words, but seen in reality—bears witness to a fortitude in them firmer than adamant. And that they preferred the divine laws to the present life, what more is left for any excellence of justice to achieve? Further, their temperance is proclaimed by the fact that they neither used bold words against the king nor, conversely, disgraced their race through cowardice; while their prudence and wisdom were shown by the piety they set against his impious and blasphemous words. For he said, "Who is the God who will deliver you from my hands?" But they cried out, "Our God is in heaven, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the furnace of burning fire, and He will deliver us from your hands, O king." For do not think that our God is like your gods. For you rightly despise those, which have their being from matter and craft; but our God, the Creator of heaven and earth and of all things, possesses a power which all visible things demonstrate. For the power that is above these is not easily seen by those not initiated into divine mysteries; we, worshipping Him, await help from Him. For He is able to deliver us both from your hands and ^B from the furnace of fire which you have prepared. And what was said after this leaves no surplus of fortitude and love of God to be desired. For after they had said, "Our God is in heaven, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the furnace of burning fire, and He will deliver us from your hands, O king," they immediately added:

VERSE 18. "But if not, let it be known to thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, and we will not worship the golden image which thou hast set up."

For we do not serve our Master for a reward, but, spurred by love and desire, we prefer the worship of our God above all things together. On account of which, we do not even ask for deliverance from these evils in an undefined way, but we cherish the Lord's governance and providence; and, ignorant of what is to come that will be profitable, we yield to the Pilot to steer as He wishes. For that He is able to deliver us from the threatened evils, we know clearly. But whether He wills to do this, we do not know; yet we yield to Him who is wise, as He is the Governor, and we accept His decision, believing that it is for our benefit. Whether, therefore, He delivers us or not, we shun your image and your gods. ^{C D}

^A With such souls you have to contend: strive in whatever way you wish, you will neither allure them by honors, nor terrify them by threats; for to us God is the most beloved and the most fearsome of all. Can anything be more sublime than these words? To them it is fitting to apply that apostolic saying: "For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought." [Rom. viii, 26].

But the savage and most insane tyrant, becoming filled with fury, so that he even displayed the disturbance of his soul in his countenance, ordered the furnace to be heated more intensely; and he commanded the holy men to be fettered, and—so that there might be no delay in the punishment—he ordered that, while their garments and shoes were removed, they were to be cast into the pyre along with them, that is, along with their *sarabarae*, and tiaras, and leggings. Now, *sarabarae* are types of Persian garments; tiaras are head coverings; and by leggings he refers to what are called *anaxyrides*, or those leathern things on the outside, or the leathern shoes.

Thus fettered, the holy men were cast into the fire. And he indeed commanded them to be thus burned for the sake of speed and brevity; but divine grace was ordaining a different mystery thereby. For the iron chains cast upon them, which the nature of fire would by custom dissolve, it did dissolve, yet it preserved their garments, which were quite easy to burn, intact and unharmed; and it consumed the accusers of the holy men and the ministers of the impious command who were standing outside, ^B but could not approach the saints themselves; rather, turning its back to those who were inside, it advanced against its own worshipers, as if exacting penalties from them on behalf of the servants of the Lord. And the heralds of piety, while worshiping God inside, enjoyed such security that they walked upon the burning coals as if upon certain roses.

VERS. 23. "They were walking," he says, "in the midst of the flame, praising God, and blessing the Lord." And these things also give an indication of their extreme philosophy; for they did not ask, he says, to be delivered from their troubles, but rather lauded with praises Him who had thus governed their affairs and deemed them worthy of this beautiful confession. It is permitted, moreover, to see things ancient reflected in recent ones. For indeed the blessed apostles Peter and John, having been scourged by the cohort of the Pharisees, went out rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Jesus [Acts v, 41]. And the most blessed Paul and Silas, after those stripes inflicted upon them in Philippi ^C by the magistrates, while living in prison and bound in stocks, at midnight, he says, "praying, they praised God" [Acts xvi, 25]. Thus, also, did these blessed youths dance in the furnace ^D

^A and continue to weave the divine hymn. And first, Azarias, becoming the common mouth for them all, and being surrounded by the waves of the flame, "Opening," he says, "his mouth in the midst of the fire, he said: (VERS. 26.) Blessed art thou, O Lord God of our fathers, and thy name is praiseworthy and glorified for ever." Who could praise the wisdom of this proem according to its dignity? For he was not placed in happiness or tranquility, nor in a prosperous course of life, but in such a furnace as this he was celebrating God, the creator of all things, and calling Him the God of his fathers; showing both the modesty of his mind and proclaiming the virtue of his fathers. For we praise thee, he says, O Master, we who have those fathers whose God thou didst wish to be called. For thou didst say to thy servant Moses: "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" [Exod. iii, 6]. This thy name is praiseworthy and glorified, not in any defined or prescribed time, but for all ages.

VERS. 27. "Because thou art just in all that thou hast done to us." But we praise thee, he says, by recognizing thy just judgment; for thy sentence pronounced against us was right and just, and thou didst command that we be reduced to slavery and taken captive far from our fatherland.

"And all thy works, he says, are true, and thy ways are right. (VERS. 28.) And thou hast done all thy judgments in truth, according to all that thou hast brought upon us and upon the holy city of our fathers, Jerusalem, because in truth and judgment thou hast brought all these things upon us for our sins." All that has been said has the same meaning; yet he has stated it in various ways, celebrating the just judgment of God and leaving no place for the vice of an ungrateful mind. Therefore, when he had made mention of Jerusalem, and had called it "holy," and had named it the city of those chosen fathers of theirs, he immediately added the cause of the punishments: "All these things, he says, thou hast brought upon us for our sins. (VERS. 29.) For we have sinned and have acted iniquitously in departing from thee." For not in vain, he says, didst thou abandon and deliver up the city to the enemies, and allow us to be taken captive, but "because we have sinned and have acted iniquitously in departing from thee." But the phrase "from thee" carries much emphasis, as if to say, from thee, the Creator and Maker, the good Master, the nourisher and guardian, who delivered us from the servitude of the Egyptians, who didst cut the sea, who didst lead us through the abyss, who from the dry rock ^B—

you commanded, and provided us with all other goods written down. We have sinned, therefore, by departing from you: “And we have done wrong in all things.” For we have not transgressed this or that, but all your commandments.

VERS. 30. “And we have not listened to the commands of your law, nor kept them, nor done as you commanded us, so that it might go well with us.” Here again he shows the excellence of piety and wisdom. The observance of laws and commandments, he says, provided nothing for you, the lawgiver, but it procured for us an abundance of good things. For this reason, therefore, you had also established those laws, granting us the means of salvation. Since, therefore, he says, we have transgressed,

^B VERS. 31. “Everything that you brought upon us, and everything that you have done for us, you have done in true judgment.” For punishment is worthy of sin. Then, showing this, he adds:

VERS. 32. “And you delivered us into the hands of lawless, most hateful rebels, and to an unjust king, and the most wicked over all the earth you delivered us.” Since we did not serve you, our King, but despised your goodness, you rightly compelled us to serve a most cruel, most hostile, and totally ignorant king of justice—a king whose subjects concur in the king’s wickedness. ^C But nevertheless, being in such great evils, we have lost all freedom of speech, and because of shame we are prevented from praying to you; for this is what it signifies when he says:

VERS. 33. “And now we cannot open our mouth; we have become a confusion and a reproach to your servants, and to those who worship you.” The multitude of transgressions, he says, stops our mouth; but although we have become liable to reproaches, and ridiculous, and such as are mocked by our enemies, we who are called your servants entreat you—because of that name of your lordship that is placed upon us—to show your power to our adversaries, and not to abandon us ^D completely from your providence.

VERS. 34. “For do not deliver us, he says, forever because of your name, and do not make your covenant depart, and do not scatter your mercy away from us.” We dare, he says, to say these things, having many pledges of your goodness: first, the very name of your Lordship; then, the immeasurable mercy by which you govern the universe; and in addition to these, the covenants which you entered into with our fathers; for you promised them that you would make their generation illustrious and glorious. Then he also mentions the names of the fathers, so that by the memory of the just, he may provoke the good Lord to mercy.

^A

Verses 35, 36. “For the sake of Abraham, he says, your beloved, and for the sake of Isaac your servant, and Israel your holy one, to whom you spoke saying: ‘I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand beside the lip of the sea.’” These things, he says, you promised to them, O Lord, whom you loved and made celebrated, so that their race might be compared to the sand in number, and might be like to the stars, brilliant, high, and illustrious. Then he compares the outcome with the promises.

Verse 37. “For, Lord, he says, we have been diminished beyond all nations, and we are humble in all the earth today.” And lest he should argue that the promises were false, he immediately adds the cause, saying: “For our sins.” For you, he says, O Lord, have not lied concerning the promises, but we have transgressed the covenants; and although we were many according to the promise, and surpassed number, because of our sins we have been diminished. For he hinted at this by saying: “We have been diminished.” For he did not say: “We are small and few beyond all nations,” but, “We have been diminished,” which is to say: We were indeed beyond number according to your promise, but having transgressed your commandments, we have become few instead of many. Then he shows to God the calamity that was holding them—not as one teaching the unknowing, but by the remembrance of their sorrows, provoking Him to philanthropy. ^B

Verse 38. “And there is not, he says, in this time, a prince, and a prophet, and a leader.” For we have been deprived, he says, of kingdom, of prophecy, of priesthood, of your divine and great gifts, by which we were continually governed. “Neither a whole burnt offering, nor a sacrifice, nor an oblation, nor incense.” And showing the reason why it is impossible to sacrifice, he consequently added: “Nor a place to offer before you, and to find mercy.” For your law confined the ministry of sacrifices to one place, and it is a clear violation of the law to sacrifice to you in another place. The Jews are unwilling to hear these things, but closing their eyes, and stopping their ears, they dare to do everything against the law. But these holy youths, knowing the purpose of the law, were saying that there was no place to offer before Him, and to find mercy; and since, he says, it is impossible to obtain this, being far from that holy city, we have found a certain method of worship, O Lord. ^C

Verses 39, 40. “For with a contrite soul and a spirit of humility, we offer to you our supplication, and we entreat you to receive it. As with whole burnt offerings of rams and bulls, and as with ten thousands ^D

^A of fat lambs, so let our sacrifice be before you this day, and let it be completed after you, for there is no confusion for those who trust in you.” For, he says, since your law does not permit us to offer the customary sacrifices everywhere, instead of rams and bulls and lambs exceeding in number, we offer to you a contrite and humble heart, and we entreat you to consider these more pleasing than any sacrifice, since you are accustomed to deliver those who trust in you from all shame. This holy man did not say these things simply on his own, but was instructed by the prophet David, who says in the fiftieth psalm: “For if you had desired sacrifice, I would have given it; you shall not take pleasure in burnt offerings. A sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit; a contrite and humble heart God will not despise.” And again, in the person of God: “Shall I eat the meat of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Sacrifice to God a sacrifice of praise, and pay to the Most High your vows, and call upon me in the day of your affliction, and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” And a little further on: “A sacrifice of praise shall glorify me, and there is the way by which I will show him my salvation.” ^B Being instructed in these things, this divine man besought that a contrite heart be accepted in place of every sacrifice. Then he adds:

VERS. 41. “And now we follow you with our whole heart, and we fear you, and we seek your face; do not put us to shame.” For the multitude of calamities made us other than we were, and it caused us, who had violated your commandments, to both fear you and seek you with our whole heart. By the “face of God” here he meant your benevolence, the restoration of our liberty, and the recovery of your providence, by obtaining which we could see the holy temple and the sacrifices performed therein, through which they imagined they saw God, who is incorporeal and invisible to the eyes. ^C Since, therefore, you have wrought in us such a change through this punishment,

VERS. 42, 43. “Do not put us to shame, but deal with us according to your gentleness, and according to the multitude of your mercy. And deliver us according to your wonders, and give glory to your name.” For these things, he says, deem us worthy of your mercy and philanthropy; for you are by nature inclined to pity, and you are accustomed to use long-suffering toward all men, and you possess power as a companion to your will; and the miracles that are continuously performed by you bear witness to this. For the things that have been done for us shall be the cause for your name being praised, not only by us who are saved, but also by those who have beheld our salvation.

“Give glory, then, to your name, O Lord.” (VERS. 44, 45.) “And let all be put to shame who show ^D

^A evil to your servants, and may they be confounded ^B by all power, and let their strength be crushed. Let them know that you alone are the Lord God, and glorious over all the earth.” For by this loving-kindness of yours shown toward us, the boldness of our adversaries shall be broken, and their rage shall be extinguished, and their proud opinion shall be crushed; and they shall know that you alone are Lord and God, worthy to be glorified by the whole earth. And those who now worship many gods, having learned of the weakness of their own gods, shall worship your power.

The holy men, then, continued dancing within the furnace; but the king’s ministers and the accusers of the saints did not cease to provide fuel for the flame, and vine-twigs, and tow, and naphtha; for this is a substance produced in that region, capable of igniting a flame. And so much fuel was being supplied to the fire, that it spread to forty-nine cubits, and burned many of the Chaldeans who were standing near. And while those outside were kindling the flame, a divine angel was scattering the flame, and making bare the middle of the furnace of the coals, and causing a certain breeze, cold and moderately moist, and bringing great pleasure to the saints, to blow and appear ^C amidst the fire, and to be cast upon the bodies of the saints.

VERS. 50. “For he made,” he says, “the middle of the furnace like a whistling spirit of dew, and the fire did not touch them at all, nor did it grieve them or cause them any annoyance.” But let no one, looking upon these things, diminish the struggles of the saints, but let him recall those sacred words: “There is a God in heaven whom we serve, who is able to deliver us from the burning furnace, and from your hands, O king, he will deliver us. And if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, and we do not worship the golden image which you have set up.” So those holy youths despised that flame, not seeing this as the result, but expecting death; but the Arbiter of the contest awarded the prize as He willed, and both disgraced those wicked men and rendered these men illustrious. Having therefore enjoyed this salvation, the blessed and thrice-blessed youths, and often doing this, no longer allowed themselves to praise God alone, but,

VERS. 51. “As if with one mouth,” he says, “they were praising and glorifying ^D and blessing God in the furnace,” their best harmony and admirable hymnody, in symphony with the image and the musicians, showing by how much that failing to worship the image...

^A is more profitable than to worship it. And they begin the hymn thus:

VER. 52. “Blessed art thou, O Lord, God of our fathers, and to be praised and highly exalted for ever; and blessed is thy glorious, holy name, and to be praised and highly exalted for ever.” These words belong to a most ardent and most insatiable love; for, wounded by this, they seek names capable of declaring the dignity of Him whom they celebrate, and not finding them, they weave together these superlatives, calling Him “highly exalted” and “to be praised”; and not Him alone, but also the name of His glory. And rightly do they everywhere call Him “Lord and God of our fathers,” confessing themselves unworthy of this title.

VER. 53. “Blessed art thou in the temple of thy holy glory, and to be praised and highly glorified for ever.” They retain an indelible memory of the holy temple, and as perfect observers of the Law, they pray according to the precept of the Law. And what they say means this: Looking toward that temple where thy glory was wont to appear, we offer thee this hymn; for even if it has been burned a thousand times, it still partakes of thy holiness. And lest anyone suspect them of localizing the incorporeal God, who cannot be circumscribed, by space, they suitably add:

VER. 54. “Blessed art thou on the throne of thy kingdom, and ^C highly exalted for ever.” Then, showing what throne they mean, they immediately add:

VER. 55. “Blessed art thou that beholdest the abysses, sitting upon the Cherubim, and to be praised and highly exalted for ever.” And because that temple also contained images of the Cherubim themselves in the Holy of Holies, lest any harm befall the hearers from this, and they imagine that God is circumscribed, they meet the listener with a remedy, saying with these words:

VER. 56. “Blessed art thou in the firmament of heaven, and to be praised and highly exalted for ever.” For thou art everywhere, they say, and fillest all things, and containest the whole creation. Having thus celebrated Him, they call upon all created nature to the communion of hymnody, not only the rational, but also that which is devoid of reason and soul.

VER. 57. “For bless, they say, all the works of the Lord, the Lord; praise and highly exalt him for ever.” And they are not content to have invited all things collectively, but they also call each one individually, and not only those things which are seen by the eyes, but also that nature which does not fall under the sense of the eyes at all.

^A VERS. 58. “Bless the Lord, ye angels of the Lord,” they say, “praise and highly exalt him unto the ages.” And that I may not, by interpreting each one, extend my discourse to infinite length, they invite into this chorus both the heaven and those waters which are above the heavens, and the powers that encompass the divine throne. They call also upon the sun, and the moon, and the other luminaries; and not only those things which are in heaven, but also those things which come to pass in the air, rain and dew, and spirits; then the opposite qualities, cold and heat; then their nature and their efficacy together, fire and heat—for fire is a name of substance, but heat is no longer a substance, but the efficacy of fire. They call also for dew, and rime, and ice, and cold, and frosts, and snows, and lightnings, and clouds, which are joined together by a certain kinship of nature. Then also nights and days, and those things which produce them, light and darkness—for these are both names and realities. ^B For “God,” he says, “called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.” For even if darkness is a shadow and not a substance, yet it is a reality which comes to pass, and which is the producer of the night. And because they made mention of dew and rime, they deservedly show also the sources of these: “Bless the Lord,” they said, “ye lightnings and clouds,” the ones as those bringing them forth, the others as those showing the birth pangs beforehand. “For the lightnings,” says the Prophet, “he made for rain.” Thus, having made mention of those things in the heaven and the air, and having commanded each one to praise, they transfer the exhortation to the common mother, the earth, to sing the hymn, and they say: VERS. 74. “Let the earth bless the Lord: let it praise and highly exalt him unto the ages.” Then by division: VERS. 75. “Bless the Lord, ye mountains and hills.” Then the offspring of this: VERS. 76. “Bless the Lord, all things that grow on the earth.” Then the irrigation of which they have need: “Bless the Lord, ye fountains.” And because the sea and the rivers belong to the lower part, they fitly made mention of these also; and they make mention of those things which are nourished in the waters. ^C VERS. 79. “For bless,” they say, “ye whales, and all things that move in the waters, the Lord.” After these they call the birds, and the beasts, and the cattle, and last of all the nature of men, having kept the order of the creation of the world. For indeed the blessed Moses wrote that first, by the divine word, the trees sprang forth; then the generations of swimming creatures were produced, and besides these, and along with these, the nature of the birds that fly in the air; after these, beasts and cattle; and last of all, man. ^D And having called the nature of men to the singing of the hymn, again, with a distribution made of all things,

^A they instruct them to hymn the Creator. And first of all, they exhort the sons of Israel to do this, and these they divide in many ways, and they place the priests first, as those who have been entrusted with the divine ministry. Then, so that they might not be thought to limit the office of hymning to the priests alone, they add: ^B VER. 85. “Bless the Lord, O you servants of the Lord, praise and highly exalt him for all ages:” as if to say, that it is possible for anyone, even if he is not adorned with the priesthood, to serve the Lord with a benevolent mind. They also announce the resurrection. VER. 86. “For bless,” they say, “O you spirits and souls of the righteous, the Lord:” that is, the spiritual souls of the righteous, which have become superior to human passions, and which have received the grace of the Spirit. Then they also exhort those who possess certain kinds of virtue. VER. 87. “Bless,” they say, “O you holy and humble of heart, the Lord.” For it is possible, they say, for those who are free from injustice and who have a humble mind, both to please God and to offer him a fitting hymn. Nor did they recount all these things using a prolix speech, but first by igniting the love for the Lord, and by reminding themselves of the unspeakable benefits, and of the creation which was made from the beginning for the sake of mankind. For by these words they seem to hint at these things: ^C Therefore we laud and highly exalt you, because you show us benefits through the angels, because you created the heaven for our sake; with the sun you illuminate the day, and with the moon you temper the darkness of the night, and you teach us the measures of time. We hymn you, because you were the author so that, like a meadow, the heaven might produce stars for us, and you feast our eyes with flowers that never fade, the course of which also provides us the means to know the measure of the night. And who could ever hymn you worthily, seeing the changes of the seasons, the vicissitudes of the solstices, the heat applied opportunely in time of summer? Then the cooling breezes of the winds, the cold in winter, and the rain brought forth; and each thing proceeding with rhythm and order; lightnings indicating the rain, clouds giving birth to rain; mountains and plains adorned with crops and groves; springs of water gushing forth and irrigating the plants; rivers flowing unceasingly and admitting no rest in their course; ^D the sea placed in the midst, as the cause of friendship and harmony, and a common place receiving the commerce of these and those? And that I may not speak of each thing individually, the blessed ones first kept all these in memory, showing their own gratitude, and wishing to perform the hymn with greater fervor through the memory of these benefits; then also, the Chaldeans

^A outside who were listening, they endeavored to teach that the elements worshipped by them are the creations of the God of all. Therefore, they clearly make mention of fire and waters, and sun and moon, and heaven and earth, wishing to persuade the ignorant to cease worshipping the things that are seen, and to acknowledge their Master, and to offer Him the worship due to Him. It was expected that, having beheld the great miracle, and seeing the defeat of the fire, and their own shame and that of their king, and the salvation and boldness of those captive youths, they would receive through the hymn the teaching of piety. Thus having sung, they finally add: ^B

Vers. 88. "Bless, Anania, Azaria, Misael, the Lord, praise and highly exalt him unto the ages." Thus they considered themselves the last of the creation, and the most lowly of all men. Such also was the blessed Paul, saying: "To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, was this grace given." And elsewhere: "Christ," he says, "came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first." And he names himself the first of sinners, but calls himself the last of the saints;—so also these blessed youths exhort themselves as the last to praise the Lord, and to highly exalt Him unto the ages. Then they narrate the miracle: "For He rescued us from Hades, and saved us from the hand of death." For by human judgments we had been condemned.

"And He rescued us from the midst of the burning flame; and from the midst of the fire He rescued us." (Vers. 89.) "Confess therefore to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy is unto the age." For what is better, and what is more bountiful than He who showed such mercy in our affairs? And having displayed such virtue, they say they have obtained salvation by mercy. Then, because they had mentioned only the sons of Israel above, they also call those ^C who lived piously among the nations, and those who had been eager to serve God.

Vers. 90. "Bless, all who worship the Lord, the God of gods, praise and confess, for His mercy is unto all the ages, and unto the age of the ages." And striving to show His infinite goodness, and being overcome, they often repeat the name of the ages. Such was this hymn of the saints, ^D which, when it struck the beastly and savage king, he was astonished and rose from his royal throne, and hastened to run toward them, and saw four instead of three dancing in the furnace.

^A And he says to his nobles: "Did we not cast three men into the midst of the fire bound?" ^B And behold, I behold four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and there is no corruption in them, and the appearance of the fourth is like the Son of God. Oh, the ineffable long-suffering! Rightly did the holy children cry out: "For His mercy is unto all ages, and unto the age of ages." Behold, for He leads even this man, who had been raised up with such pride and had employed such cruelty, and who had attempted to usurp divine worship and to punish the worshippers of God cruelly and atrociously, toward piety; and He shows him His own virtue, by which He works miracles, and makes the angel sent to the aid of the saints visible to him. ^C And He astounds him, first by the number, exhibiting four instead of three; then by the release of the bonds—for he saw them unbound instead of bound; then by the safety—for he says, "There is no corruption in them." Whence, being struck with wonder and having calmed his pride, he approaches.

VERS. 93. And he says: "Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, you servants of the Most High God, come out and draw near." And Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago came out from the midst of the fire. The empty-headed man, who had said, "Who is the God who will deliver you from my hands?", has learned that there is a God having ineffable power, one who commands the fire to show a quality contrary to the saints. For the God whom he did not think to be God, he recognized to be God, and the Most High God. ^D But upon the saints coming out, all the satraps, and toparchs, and prefects wonder, contemplating the bodies of the saints preserved incorrupt and unharmed, and the very hairs having experienced no sensation from that flame; and not the hairs only, but the very garment and the shoes remained intact, so that they were even free from the odor of the fire. Then, having seen these things, Nebuchadnezzar praises God and says:

VERS. 95. "Blessed be the Lord God of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, who sent His angel and delivered His servants, because they trusted in Him, and changed the king's word, and surrendered their bodies, that they might not serve, nor worship any other god, but their own God." Always perceiving the power of God through experience, that wretched man hands the miracles over to oblivion. He did this also toward the most holy Daniel. For, rising up, he worshipped him, and ordered incense and fragrant sacrifices to be offered to him. And now, likewise, having beheld the salvation of these holy ones, he praises God and admires the men, because they changed the word of the king, and preferred, he says, a pious death to an iniquitous life.

^A Vers. 96. "And now," says he, "behold, I issue a decree that every people, tribe, or tongue that shall speak blasphemy against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be for destruction, and their houses shall be plundered, because there is no other god who shall be able to deliver in this way." And in truth, he learned this by experience; for having destroyed the shrines of many who were called gods, and plundered their treasuries, and torn up their altars, and slaughtered their priests, he had experienced no divine beneficence; but having vented his fury against those who were dedicated to God, he perceived both the infinite power of God and His ineffable patience; for He preserved His own servants pure and unharmed, and for the time being did not exact from him the penalties for his madness, but having punished him moderately shortly after he had persisted in impiety, He then deemed him worthy of humanity when he engaged in repentance.

^B Vers. 97. "But then, however," he says, "the king set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in order in the region of Babylon, and advanced them, and deemed them worthy to preside over all the Jews who were in his kingdom." So great a providence does the Master exercise for those who are zealous to serve Him. And rightly did these holy children shout, that "there is no shame for those who have trusted in Thee." We, too, therefore, let us obtain this hope, preferring the Creator and Governor to all creation together; and let these blessed children become for us an example of profit, an archetype of piety, guides toward God, and to those things ^C which are bestowed by God upon the worthy; may we all obtain these, by the grace and humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father be glory, with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

BOOK FOUR

Vers. 98. "Nebuchadnezzar the king to all the peoples, tribes, and tongues dwelling in all the earth, peace be multiplied to you." I think it worthwhile, first, to set forth the subject matter of this epistle and the...

^A interpretation of it. Nebuchadnezzar, having gained mastery over all Asia, and having also brought Egypt under his own subjection, and having subdued the Ethiopians who lived near Egypt, showed himself extremely cruel and savage toward the peoples who were subject to him, and he progressed to such a degree of arrogance that he thought himself to be greater and more powerful not only than those who were called gods, but also than the one who is truly God.

That he was possessed of this most insatiable pride ^B is taught not only by the admirable Daniel, but also by the most holy prophet Isaiah, or rather, God himself, the author of all things, speaking through the prophet as follows: "Woe to the Assyrians; the rod of my fury and my anger is in their hands. I will send my anger against a lawless nation, and against my people I will charge it to take up spoils and plunder, and to trample the cities and reduce them into dust." (Isa. x, 5-7).

What he says signifies this: The Assyrians are worthy of lamentations, being the workers of countless evils; yet, nevertheless, I will use them as ministers for the punishment of sinners, and I will bring them upon those who transgress, as it were a rod of chastisement, not only against other men, but even against the people who are called mine. And because of his great impiety and wicked deeds, I will bring them in, and I will take care that their cities are overturned by them, and I will cause them to gain possession of the spoils that were in those cities. I, therefore, using the Assyrian as a sort of executioner, will exact penalties from the transgressors through him. "But he," it says, "did not think so, and his heart did not reason thus; but his mind will depart, and indeed in such a way as to destroy not a few nations." And if they say to him, "You alone are ruler," he will say, "Have I not taken the region which is above Babylon, and Calane, where the tower was built, and have I not taken Arabia, and Damascus, and Samaria? In the way that I have taken these, I will take all the regions." ^C By these words, he has declared his arrogance. Then he predicts the evils that were to invade Jerusalem, and he also points out the causes of the punishments: "For wail," he says, "you carved works in Jerusalem and in Samaria: for just as I have done to Samaria and her hand-made idols, so will I do also to Jerusalem and her idols." (Isa. x, 11).

We have learned, however, that Jerusalem was not overcome by Sennacherib, the king of the Assyrians; but that Nebuchadnezzar, ^D having transferred the royal seat to Babylon and having declared that city to be the royal one after the destruction of Nineveh, went with an army into Judea, and having overturned Jerusalem, he put most of the inhabitants to death, and led the rest away as captives reduced to slavery; so that it is also clear from this that divine Scripture considers the kingdom of the Babylonians and the Assyrians as one; which is also easy to understand from the things that follow.

^A “For it shall be,” he says, “when the Lord has finished doing everything on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will bring [judgment] upon the great mind, the ruler of the Assyrians, and upon the height of the glory of his eyes” (Isa. x, 12). For God did not take vengeance upon Jerusalem through Sennacherib, who had gained the kingdom of the Assyrians, but through Nebuchadnezzar. The former not only did not capture the city, but, having lost his whole army, fled alone, and at home met his slaughter at the hands of his sons. But Nebuchadnezzar both demolished the city, and burned the divine temple, and led the people away as captives. Divine Scripture therefore teaches us that after the Lord has finished doing everything on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, which he threatened, saying: “Wail, you carved images in Jerusalem; for just as I did to Samaria and its idols, so will I do to Jerusalem and its handmade images,” ^B he will bring, he says, the Lord, upon the great mind, the ruler of the Assyrians. And he does not say "of the Babylonians," but "of the Assyrians," for the kingdom of the one and the other is one. He calls it a “great mind” because of the height and arrogance of his designs; wherefore he also rightly adds: “And upon the height of the glory of his eyes.” And he did not say simply, “of his glory,” but “of the glory of his eyes,” which means: because he is a man, yet he fantasizes that he is most high and greatest. For he said: “By my strength I will do it, and by the wisdom of my understanding I will remove the boundaries of nations, and I will plunder their strength, and I will shake inhabited cities, and I will take the whole inhabited world with my hand like a nest, and as eggs that have been left I will take them up, and there is none who shall escape me or contradict me” (Isa. x, 13–14). ^C Having thus laid bare the pride of the Assyrian’s thoughts, he refutes the vanity of his designs, and teaches that none of the things done by him could have happened had God not permitted it, desiring to exact the penalty of impiety from those who suffered these things by him. On which account he rightly adds: “Will the axe boast itself without him who chops with it? Or will the saw be exalted without him who draws it? Similarly if someone raises a rod or wood” (Isa. x, 15). Just as, he says, it is impossible for an axe, or a saw, or a rod to be moved by itself; for each of these works only when someone, applying his hand, wishes to move them; so also you, by my providence permitting you, have done what you have done, on account of the lawlessness of those who have suffered these things. Do not therefore think that you have accomplished these things by your own wisdom and power. ^D But if you do not wish to learn these things temperately, and to cast down your arrogant eyebrow, you will learn by experience that these things are so. “For the Lord of Sabaoth will send into your honor dishonor, and into your glory a burning fire.” And...

dens accendetur. And in another place again, God says these things to the prophet: "And you shall raise up this lamentation over the king of Babylon, and say in that day: How has the exactor ceased? the solicitor ceased? God has broken the yoke of the sinners, the yoke of the rulers, striking the nation with fury, with an incurable wound." ^B Next, he shows the joy of the world: "All the earth, he says, is with joy, and the woods of Lebanon shall rejoice over you, and the cedar of Lebanon; since you have fallen asleep, there has not come up one to cut us down." He speaks these things metaphorically; and he calls those either Israel, being illustrious and glorious, or those bright in dignities, to whom the kingdom has been entrusted. And shortly after, rebuking his pride, and admonishing him to restrain his arrogance: "How, he says, has Lucifer fallen from heaven, who was rising in the morning? He is crushed to the ground, who was sending to all nations? But you said in your thought: I will ascend into heaven, and above the stars I will set my throne: I will sit on a lofty mountain, upon the mountains that are high toward the north, I will ascend above the clouds, and I shall be like the Most High." ^C Then he shows the frailty of human happiness: "But you, he says, who have dared to think these things, shall descend into hell, and into the foundations of the earth. Those who see you shall wonder at you, and shall say: This is the man who was stirring up the earth, who was shaking kings, who made the whole earth a desert, and destroyed its cities, who did not pity those who were in captivity; all the kings of the nations have slept in honor, each man in his own house, but you shall be cast out on the mountains, as a dead man, abominable, with many dead, pierced by the sword, going down into hell." And so that I do not annoy those who are now listening, or those who in the future will read these things, by bringing forward all the predictions about him, I have referred those who wish to know his pride and cruelty to those texts, and I will return to my proposed subject. ^D God, the author of all things, wishing to lead this man to piety, applied many salutary remedies to him many times: first, in the second year of his reign, he showed him that image in a dream, then by the oblivion of the dream he caused him to need a prophet; then through the interpretation he accurately taught the successions of kings, showing the shortness and frailty of human happiness. And at once he perceived the profit, and rendered immense worship to Daniel, to whom, as if to a god, he commanded that incense and libations be offered. But again, not long after, he set up that image which he compelled all his subjects to adore, and those who preferred piety, in a pyre inextinguishably

But again, the good Master, employing long-suffering, did not exact from him penalties for his arrogance and brutality, but demonstrated to him the divine power, having liberated his own well-disposed servants from that flame. Having received slight benefit from this again, he praises the God of all and threatens the ultimate punishment to those who utter any blasphemy against Him. But immediately, and at that very moment, and within that same year, having again ^B yielded this most great miracle to oblivion, he campaigns against Jerusalem and destroys the walls of the city, and sets fire to the holy temple of God, and dares to enter its interior, and having plundered all the dedicated gifts, he carried them away to Babylon along with the captives. That he campaigned at this time, the blessed Jeremiah also teaches us, saying thus: "The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah the king of Judah, this is the eighteenth year of ^C Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and the power of the king of Babylon encamped against Jerusalem." And while writing the account of the image, the blessed Daniel also sets down this time: "In the eighteenth year, Nebuchadnezzar the king made a golden image." So that it is clear that at the beginning of the year he demanded the adoration of the image; then, having sent forward the army, he also followed it himself, and overcame Jerusalem in the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah, and in the nineteenth year of his own ^D reign. Since, therefore, the wretch received no benefit from anywhere, the God of all, having become indignant, terrifies him first by means of a dream, and then makes clear through Daniel what was signified by the dream. And not even thus does He immediately inflict the punishment, but He offers him through Daniel advice and exhortation, and for a whole year He shows long-suffering, awaiting his repentance. But when he was unwilling to pluck any remedy from such long-suffering, He inflicts the evils He had threatened, and He punishes him, not simply, but he strikes that arrogant mind which had dreamed things above nature with mental derangement and madness. Then, having become beast-like, he was driven out

^A to dwell in the deserts for a long time. Afterward, God causes him to gain perception of the evils that held him; for it was not possible for him to reap any benefit while being utterly senseless and irrational. Thus, having looked up, he recognizes the swift turns of this life, and he mourns and laments his own folly, and confesses the kingdom of God to be unchangeable, remaining through all ages. Having been taught these things by experience, he returned again through the ineffable philanthropy of God to his own kingdom. And having thought it a wrong to all men if he should conceal the providence of God, he explains by letter to all those under his dominion throughout the world both his former prosperity and the mishap that befell him; then the repentance by which he appeased the Lord. Such, then, is the subject of the letter. I have rendered it at some length, wishing both to show his arrogance by the testimonies of Scripture, and to make plain the care of God, the author of all things, for all men. Come then, let us begin the interpretation in detail. ^B "Nabuchodonosor the king to all peoples, tribes, and tongues, living in all the earth, peace be multiplied unto you." It is fitting to adapt to these words that prophetic saying: "It is good for me that thou hast humbled me, that I might learn thy statutes." Taught wisdom by experience, he also proved to be a teacher of piety, and he offers his own sufferings as medicine to all men, not only to his subjects, but also to those who were outside his kingdom. Well and fittingly did he use the greeting: "Peace be multiplied unto you," that is, may you be exempt from the evils which I experienced, and may you continue to enjoy perpetual peace. Then he adds: "The signs and wonders which the most high God has wrought with me, it pleased me to declare unto you." Being an eyewitness, he says, of divine miracles, I deemed it just that you should all be made partakers and companions with me in the beholding of them. For they are not ordinary things, but great and strong, and: "How great and strong! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his power is from generation to generation." For things human, whatever they may be, have an end, and a swift end; but the kingdom of God alone is perpetual and unshakable. Having thus instructed them in the cause of these events, he begins the account of them.

CHAPTER IV.

^A

In the highest prosperity, I was living and flowing with countless good things, enjoying which—

VERS. 2. “A dream, he says, I saw, and it terrified me, and I was amazed at all these things, and I was troubled upon my bed, and the visions of my head disturbed me.” In such great prosperity, I saw a sorrowful dream and I was terribly frightened by the sight of the dream; yet I was even more disturbed because I could not understand what was signified by it. For this reason, ^B I summoned those who are able to interpret these things.

VERS. 4, 5. “And there entered the enchanters, the magicians, the Gazareni, the Chaldeans, and I told the dream in their presence, and they did not make known its interpretation to me, until another came in before me, Daniel, whose name is Baltasar, according to the name of my god, who has the holy Spirit of God in himself.” He did not state these things simply, but comparatively, so that by the very comparison he might declare the prophet’s wisdom to all. For this reason, he lists the nations of the wise men of Babylon, to show that while they knew nothing at all, this man was illuminated by the divine Spirit. He does not call him only by the name he himself had bestowed; he also adds the Hebrew name. “For Daniel,” he says, “whose name is Baltasar according to the name of my god.” For in this way, he says, I admired him from the beginning, that I gave him the name of the god who I formerly worshipped. And showing the reason, he says: “Who has the holy Spirit of God in himself.” And this, too, we have learned from the teaching of the prophet. For elsewhere, how could one who was so addicted to adulterous idols have known the appellation of the most holy Spirit? “And the dream,” he says, “I told before him.” And I began by saying as follows: ^C

VERS. 6, 7. “Baltasar, the prince of the enchanters, whom I have known to have the holy Spirit in you, and no mystery is impossible for you, hear the vision of the dream which I saw, and tell me its interpretation. And the visions of my head upon my bed.” The majority of men often permit themselves to forget those who have done them good when they enjoy prosperity, but needs call back into memory those who have acted well toward them. And while someone is healthy in body, he does not take thought of the physician’s art; but when he has fallen into illness, he remembers that even before, when suffering from this same disease, he obtained health through the help of some physician. So also Nebuchadnezzar, when he was delivering those holy ones to the furnace, did not remember the kindness of Daniel; but since he again saw a dream, ^D

^A and felt a disturbance in his soul, he recalled the wisdom of Daniel, both that of his previous dream and its interpretation. Thus, he even asserts that he has the Spirit of God, and that he is capable of interpreting every mystery; he encourages him to explain this dream as well, which was unknown and obscure to him. Then he recounts the dream, saying:

“I saw a tree in the middle of the earth. (VERS. 8.) And its height reached to heaven, and its breadth to the ends of the earth.” Blessed Daniel said that by the tree he himself was signified; but he says the height reached to heaven, not signifying the nature of the tree, but his thoughts and the mental images he formed for himself. For this reason Isaiah also said: “God will bring ^B [judgment] upon the great mind, the king of the Assyrians, and upon the height of the glory of his eyes.” He called him a “great mind” because he had imagined great things for himself and dreamt of things which he narrated shortly after: “For you said: I will set my throne above the stars, and I will be like the Most High.” For this reason he sees the height of the tree reached up to heaven; and because he had also, so to speak, gained control of the entire habitable world, he sees the tree’s magnitude, that is, the sheer bulk of its breadth, extended even to the very ends of the earth.

VERS. 9. “Its leaves, he says, are beautiful, and its fruit is much.” He calls “leaves” that visible magnificence which was seen in his clothing, his throne, his palace, his shield-bearers, his spearmen, and his bodyguards; and “fruit,” the tribute brought to him from every side. For this reason he said the fruit was much, but not good; for it was not justly imposed. “And there was food for all in it.” For indeed farmers, enjoying peace through his guardianship, gathered the fruits of the earth; and soldiers, receiving rations from him, spent their lives in arms. ^C “Under it, he says, wild beasts lived, and in its branches the birds of the air lived, and all flesh was nourished from it.” For both the barbarians living a beast-like life, and those who were more rational, milder, and men of sharp and noble mind, continued to live their lives under his rule and power.

VERS. 10. “I was seeing, therefore, he says, in a vision of the night upon my bed, and behold a Watcher and a holy one descended from heaven.” He calls him a “Watcher”; for so it is interpreted in the Greek tongue. And he calls the angel a “Watcher,” so that he might signify his lack of a body; for whoever is clothed with a body is subject to sleep, but he who is unconquered by sleep is free from the body. I saw, therefore, he says, an angel, who had a bodiless nature, who came down from heaven. ^D

^A “Cut down the tree, and lop off its branches, and shake off its leaves, and scatter its fruit.” And he sees the angel who has descended from heaven, that he might learn that the Lord of all himself has made the decree against him. He is taught also who it is that gave him the kingdom, and who it is that is laying aside the kingdom; for he sees the tree being cut down, and the branches being separated—that is, the governors, and the generals, and the satraps, and those entrusted by him with some other hegemony. And the leaves being shaken off symbolize the glory with which he had clothed himself, flowing away and withering like leaves; and the fruit being scattered—for the king having fallen into that calamity, those who demanded the tribute henceforth fearlessly diverted the profit to themselves. “Let the beasts be driven from under it,” he says, “and the birds from its branches.” For those who had been forced to serve against their will, finding in the change of the king an opportunity, ceased from obeying.

ιβ. “Nevertheless, leave the growth of its roots in the earth, and in a band of iron and bronze, he says, and in the grass outside, and it shall be wet with the dew of heaven.” ^B For having fallen into a state of insanity, and madness, and phrenetic disease, and suffering from a Corybantic, frantic malady, he was necessarily bound in chains; yet even these were not enough to keep him within, but he would run away and spend his time in the wilderness, living in the open air and suffering, feeding on grass like the beasts. For this is what he signifies by saying:

“And his portion shall be with the beasts in the grass of the earth, and his heart shall be changed from those of men.” (ιγ.) “And a beast’s heart shall be given to him, and seven times shall pass over him.” ^C And this too declares the long-suffering of God; for he limits the punishment to a short time, waiting for the repentance that will be wrought by the chastisement. Then he shows that what has been said will undoubtedly come to pass.

ιδ. “By the decree, he says, is the word, and the command of the holy ones is the request.” The Truthful One, he says, is the word; for the angel who has spoken is holy, watchful, and bodiless. These things, he says, have been spoken, and will come to pass, and not in vain, but that the living may know that the Most High rules over the kingdom of men, and to whomsoever ^D he deems fit, gives it, and raises even the lowly over it. These things, he says, the angel said, that for this reason these things will happen to the tree, so that through this all may learn that there is One who appoints kings, and entrusts the kingdom to whomever he wishes. For by showing the...

his own authority, he sometimes declares even the most humble man, one considered to be of no value, to be king, and causes those who enjoy the greatest honors to be obedient to him. Having thus completed the narration of the dream, he says to Daniel: ^A

VERS. 15. “This dream I, Nebuchadnezzar the king, saw; and you, Belteshazzar, tell the interpretation openly,” that is, truly and accurately, “because all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to show me the interpretation of it, but you are able.” And showing the reason: “Because, he says, the Holy Spirit of God is in you.” For the former rely on human reasoning, whereas you learn hidden and secret things from God. ^B

VERS. 16. “Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was astonished for about one hour, and his thoughts were troubling him.” For human weakness had to be shown, and then the inspiring grace revealed. “The king therefore answered and said: Belteshazzar, let not this dream and the interpretation of it trouble you.” For he saw him troubled, and conveniently consoles and soothes him, desiring to know what he is ignorant of, and thus speaks with him: Do not be overly hurried, but bit by bit, having found those things signified by the dream, make them clear to me. ^C Belteshazzar therefore answered and said: “My lord the king, may this dream be to those who hate you, and the interpretation of it to your enemies.” Most wisely and prudently he deprecates for himself what is distressing, beginning with this preface, yet he declares the truth.

VERS. 17, 18. “The tree, he says, which was magnified and strengthened, whose height reached into heaven, and its breadth into all the earth, and its leaves flourishing, and its fruit much, and food for all in it, under it dwelt the beasts of the field, and in its branches the birds of the heaven had their dwelling: you are, O king.” It is worth the effort to admire Daniel’s wisdom. For he did not simply say, “The great tree,” but, “The one magnified and strengthened,” that is: You were not great from the beginning, but gradatim you became so, and you did not acquire power from your birth, but bit by bit you prepared it for yourself. Therefore he again adds: ^D

VERS. 19. “Because you have been magnified, and have grown strong, and your greatness has been magnified and reached unto heaven, and your dominion unto the ends of the earth.” And these things he applied very fittingly and appropriately to heaven and earth; for he said the dominion had reached

^A the ends of the earth, that is to say, the power; but to heaven, he did not attribute the rule, but the magnificence, that is, the phantasy of his own thought.

Vers. 20, 21. “And because he saw,” he says, “the king, a watcher and a holy one coming down from heaven, and said: ‘Cut down the tree, and destroy it; nevertheless leave the stump of its roots in the earth, and in a band of iron and brass, and it shall lodge in the grass that is without, and in the dew of heaven, and its portion shall be with the wild beasts, until seven times pass over it.’ And this is the interpretation of it, O king.” And showing the account to be trustworthy, he necessarily added: “And it is a decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king.” From this it is possible to learn accurately the usefulness of the apostolic doctrine. “For let every soul,” he says, “be subject to the higher powers.” For indeed, even the blessed Daniel calls the impious king himself lord, and being obedient to the law of authority, he used appropriate forms of address, while pointing out the truth of the dream, which was of a grievous nature ^B.

Vers. 22. “For they shall drive you,” he says, “from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the wild beasts, and they shall feed you with grass as an ox, and your body shall be wetted with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall change over you.” Now, some have said that seven times are seven years, others three and a half. For Holy Scripture does not divide the year into four seasons, but into the two most general, winter and summer; therefore, seven such parts complete three years and a half ^C. For so long a time, he says, you will spend in calamity: “until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men, and to whomsoever He pleases, He gives it.” For since you dream that you are a god, or rather even superior to God, God will take from you even human reason, and cause you to be like the wild beasts, so that by experience you may learn what man is, what God is, what human prosperity is, and what the divine kingdom is, and that it is impossible to attain the latter if God is unwilling.

Vers. 23. “And because he said,” he says, “Leave the root of the roots of the tree, your kingdom shall remain for you, ^D from the time that you shall know the heavenly kingdom.” For being deprived of the kingdom, and having endured all those things, you shall acknowledge the Giver of the kingdom; and having acknowledged Him, you shall receive back the former authority: so that, by both the taking away and the giving back, you may learn accurately who is the Governor of all, who wisely directs and manages all things. Having thus spoken of the future, he brings in an exhortation and most excellent counsel, and offers a remedy well-suited to the wound.

^A Ver. 27. « Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to thee, and redeem thy sins with alms, and thine iniquities with mercies upon the poor. » By these words, he declares the insatiable cruelty which he had exercised against those subject to him. Dost thou wish, he says, to enjoy human kindness? Display this yourself toward those who have been allotted the same nature as you. For thus you will persuade the Judge to extinguish the threats and not allow them to be brought to completion. « Peradventure, he says, there may be longsuffering for thy faults. » The prophet, therefore, suggested this counsel; but he, having remained obdurate and unyielding, received the wages of his lawlessness, and what he had heard as grievous, these things he beheld with his own eyes.

^B Then he also indicates the time of divine longsuffering. For when twelve months had passed, the previously spoken threat was proven true by the event of the actual affairs; and although he had been given so much time to repent, he misused the set period for penitence. To whom the blessed Paul might rightly say: « Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation and righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil. » For these things also happened to Nebuchadnezzar, who did not make fitting use of God’s longsuffering. And the witness of this is he himself, who narrates in this way:

^C Vers. 29, 30. « And after twelve months, he was walking in the temple of his kingdom at Babylon, and he was walking upon the walls of the city with all his glory, and upon his towers. And the king answered and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, for the honour of my majesty? » Behold the pride of his mind, look at the excess of his arrogance. For I, he says, made this royal city, having established a kingdom within it, for the honour of my glory; and I did these things possessing the greatest ^D power and having taken possession of all things. Truly, he spoke these things while boasting and raging; but the Lord God immediately brought about the punishment.

^A Ver. 28. "For while the word," he says, "was still in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven." Because he had dreamed of ascending into heaven, he receives the sentence from there; and because the kingdoms below did not suffice for him, but he also insanely coveted those above, he becomes destitute even of those below; and having desired to snatch heaven, he is also driven out from the earth. "A voice, therefore, came from heaven: 'To you, to you it is spoken, O King Nebuchadnezzar.'" The doubling of the pronoun is not added without reason, but for a clearer rebuke of him to whom these things are said. He still calls him king, showing both the glory he still possessed and the ignominy that would soon follow. "Your kingdom," he says, "has passed from you." ^B (Ver. 29.) "And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the wild beasts, and they shall feed you with grass like an ox, and seven times shall change over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men, and gives it to whom He pleases." Then, showing the swiftness of the punishment, he says, the reality immediately followed the word.

Ver. 30. "In that same hour," he says, "the word was fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar, and he was driven from men." And he was driven out, first on account of the affliction itself; for he had been delivered over to madness and rage, and would have committed ten thousand evils had he enjoyed freedom from restraints. Next, he was driven out because of the hatred which all had towards him; when he was healthy, they tried to remain hidden, but when he fell into the calamity, they attacked him, having detested him for his cruelty. "And he ate grass like an ox," he says. It is peculiar to those who are insane, not only to say and do things that are irrational and disorderly, but also to eat everything that comes to hand; one could see this even now ^C in those who are troubled by demons, for they do and suffer such things. And not only did he eat grass like an ox, but: "And his body was bathed with the dew of heaven." For, suffering in the open air, and battling the frost and the heat with his naked body, he necessarily received a different color. "Until his hairs grew like those of lions, and his nails like those of birds." For not being shorn according to custom, nor having the waste parts of his nails removed, he necessarily had such hair and nails in so much time. By all these things, he indicated that he was neglected and uncared for. For having become destitute of the divine providence, he did not even enjoy the care of his own kin, and this though there were a wife, and children, and relatives; but ^D like a wild beast he continued to roam the uninhabited regions, committing the food of brute animals to his stomach; for, "Being a man...

in highest honor, he did not understand, but was compared to the senseless beasts, and became like them" [Ps. XLVIII, 13]; and since he exercised a savage mind and spirit against his subjects, he was deservedly and most justly condemned to a bestial and wild life. But the benevolent Master, having relaxed the punishment, as He is good, and having taught him by experience that He is the Lord of all things, brought him back again and entrusted to him his former kingdom. ^A

VERS. 31. “And at the end of the days,” he says, “I, Nabuchodonosor, lifted up my eyes to heaven.” He did not add the “I” without cause, but for the sake of teaching all men, as if he were to say: “I, that same person who once used such arrogance, who said, ‘Who is the God that shall deliver you out of my hands?’ [IV Reg. XVIII, 35], who dreamed that I would ascend into heaven and set my throne above the stars—I have been taught by experience what is fitting; I have learned to have wisdom through punishment; I have acknowledged my own servitude. Therefore I also lifted my eyes to heaven; and as soon as I did this, ‘My mind returned to me.’” That is, I was freed from my insanity, and immediately I regained my reason and recovered my mind. “And I blessed the Most High, and I praised Him who lives forever, for His power is an eternal power, and His kingdom is from generation to generation.” For, having learned by experience what man is and what God is, he calls Him indeed the Most High and the Living One, and calls Him the eternal King, while acknowledging his own weakness. Therefore: ^B

VERS. 32. “And all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing” [Dan. IV, 32]. For up to the present time I had considered myself to be the greatest and the highest, but now I have clearly known that the whole nature of men, if it be compared to God, is nothing. And having sought for a name for their weakness, and having found none worthy, he set down that “nothing,” which holds a sufficient expression of the slippery and fleeting nature of men. And he called God the Most High, and Master, and Living, and eternal King; but he called all men “nothing.” Thus also the blessed Isaiah, comparing the divine nature to idols, brought forward the human race into the midst: “For if all the nations,” he says, “are accounted as a drop from a bucket, and as the turning of a balance, and shall be accounted as spittle; and Libanus is not sufficient for burning, and all the quadrupeds are not enough for a whole burnt offering, and all the nations are as nothing, and are accounted as nothing before Him; to whom will you liken the Lord? And to what likeness will you liken Him?” [Isa. XL, 15–18]. Such great benefit did Nabuchodonosor receive from his calamities, that he now thinks and speaks concerning God in a prophetic manner; and as if in harmony ^{C D}

^A with the creature, he begins his entire hymn of praise. “All,” he says, “the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he does according to his will in the power of heaven, and in the habitation of the earth.” This is also the teaching of another Prophet; for the blessed David says, “All that the Lord willed, he has done in heaven and on earth.” This also does he proclaim: “For what he wills,” he says, “in the power of heaven and in the habitation of the earth, he governs and rules, not only over the earth, but even over the heavens themselves.” Further, demonstrating ^B the unconquerable nature of his power, he says, “And there is none who shall resist his hand, and say to him, ‘What have you done?’” For it is necessary to be content with the things that are done by him, whether they be pleasant or painful; for it is rash to strive against him and to find fault with the things that are wisely governed by him. These things, he says, when I had known and confessed, and had given glory to the Most High, I returned to myself and recovered my former kingdom with piety.

Ver. 33. “For at that time my mind returned to me, and I came to the honor of my kingdom, and my form returned to me.” For being squalid with neglect, as was to be expected, and filthy, after having been shorn and having removed the excess of his nails, and having washed away the filth, and partaken of divine grace, it was recognized ^C that he was that man who formerly administered the greatest kingdom. “And my tyrants,” he says, “and my nobles sought me.” For they too, having cast aside hatred, conceived a favorable disposition and affection toward me, and were reconciled to me. “And I was established in my kingdom, and greater greatness was added to me.” And this word, too, is full of piety; for he did not say, “I acquired greater greatness,” but, “It was added to me,” pointing out the Giver, and declaring the Author of good things.

Ver. 34. “Now, therefore,” he says, “I, Nabuchodonosor, praise, and extol, and glorify the King of heaven; because all his works are true, and his ways are judgments, and he is able to humble all who walk in pride.” For having had experience ^D of painful things, and then having been delivered from them, I praise and hymn him who has brought these things and those upon me profitably, and most wisely; and I know him to be the King of heaven and Lord of all, using truth and justly governing all things, and able to humble those who use pride. Having learned, therefore, how pride and arrogance harms those who use them, and that he who delights in these reaps not good fruits, let us acquire humility, the mother of all good things. For this the Lord quo

sets forth as a blessed possession, as that which has as its income the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed," he says, "are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." [n] And he proposes himself as a pattern to those who wish to be helped, saying: "Learn from me, for I am meek, and humble in heart." [o] And showing how great the fruit of these is, he immediately added: "And you will find rest for your souls." [p] But if the Creator and Lord of all calls himself humble and demonstrates it by his deeds, what other counsel does man need—man, who is dust, clay, clod, ashes, vanity, flower, hay? For by all these names he is designated in the divine Scripture. Let us therefore be ashamed of the moderation of the Lord, who, being rich, became poor for our sakes, that by his poverty we might become rich [q], and that we might acknowledge the mortality of our nature. Contemplating the brevity of present prosperity, let us think nothing arrogant regarding our present circumstances; rather, let us laugh at their fleeting brevity and instability, and let us seek to attain those goods which are so constituted by nature as to be perpetual and stable. May it be granted to us all to enjoy these, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom glory be to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.

BOOK FIFTH

CAPUT V

Nabuchodonosor, Evilad Marodach, Baltasar.

VERS. 1. "Baltasar the king made a great feast for his nobles." He is indeed a son of Nabuchodonosor, but he did not immediately succeed him; for Evilad Marodach, who was his elder brother, reigned, and the history of the Kings [r] teaches us this, as does the blessed Jeremiah the prophet, who says thus: "And it happened in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Joacim king of Judah, in the twelfth month, and on the twenty-fourth day of the month, Evilad Marodach, king of Babylon, in the year in which he reigned, took the head of Joacim king of Judah, and brought him out of the house where he was being kept, and spoke kindly to him, and gave him a seat above the thrones

^A of the kings who were with him in Babylon, and changed his prison garments, and he ate bread before him continually all the days that he lived. This Joacim is the one who was also called Jechonias; for as to the father of this man, Joacim, who was also named Eliacim, under whom the blessed Daniel was led into captivity, Nabuchodonosor slew him in Jerusalem and cast him outside the wall, as the divine Scripture teaches. After Nabuchodonosor, therefore, Evilad-Marodach reigns; and after him, Baltasar. Now, the most holy Daniel omitted the memory of the former, since he is not writing simple history, but prophecy; for which reason he did not record all those things that were done by Nabuchodonosor, but only those things whose memory was necessary for the sake of profit. Since, therefore, God showed an ^B extremely great miracle in the case of Baltasar, one sufficient to beget fear with reverence not only in those who lived at that time, but also in those who were to come later, and to lead them toward piety, he did not think it right to conceal such a great benefaction in silence, but judged it a holy act to record it and to leave it as a memorial of instruction for all. For this reason he says: Baltasar the king made a great feast to his thousand nobles, and before the thousand was the wine. That is to say, for the thousand rulers, prepared for such a great number.

2. And as he was drinking, he says, Baltasar said in the tasting of the wine, to bring the golden and silver vessels^C which Nabuchodonosor his father had taken from the temple that was in Jerusalem; and the king, and his nobles, and his concubines, and his wives drank from them. Through these things, the prophet teaches us not only the excess of his impiety, but also the harm that results from the immoderation of wine. For as he was drinking, he says, the king said in the tasting of the wine to bring the golden and silver vessels. For drunkenness overwhelmed his reason, and incontinence gave birth to madness against God; and the vessels dedicated to the service of God, which Nabuchodonosor his father indeed took—the Lord having delivered them up—but held in honor as he supposed, and forbade their use by humans, this man dared to use as common and profane things; for he did not only speak, but he also added the deed to his words.

3. For they were brought, he says, the golden and silver vessels, which Nabuchodonosor took from the temple of God^D that was in Jerusalem. And he rightly showed the excess of his perversity by recording it beside the temple.

^A For these vessels, he says, were not consecrated to some of those who are seen to be gods and hold the name only, but to Him who presides over all, to God, who chose Jerusalem and filled the temple that is in it with His own glory. But the impious king brought forth into the midst these objects that were untouchable and consecrated to the God of all—not as though He stood in need of them, but as One who accepts the good intention of those who offer them—and drank from them. And not only he, but his magnates, and his concubines, and his mistresses drank wine. That is to say, he made the instruments of divine service into instruments of drunkenness, and he ordered that those who were satisfying their own wantonness should enjoy wine through these vessels. Then, demonstrating his extreme impiety, the prophet adds:

VERS. 4. And they praised the gold, and silver, and bronze, and iron, and wooden, and stone gods.

For the utterly profane man, reveling and using divine vessels for the sake of his pleasures, forgot the Lord of all, but praised with hymns those that were not gods, fashioned from inanimate matter, and which had not received from art the power to act, but had only received a form devoid of efficacy. But the Governor of all did not allow, in His long-suffering, that both the men who lived then and those who came after should be harmed, but immediately He displayed His own power.

VERS. 5. In that same hour, he says, fingers of a man's hand came forth and wrote opposite the lampstand upon the plaster of the wall of the king's house, and the king was looking at the fingers of the hand that was writing.

For since he praised idols that were devoid of all efficacy, and despised the God of all, the Creator of all teaches him that His own divine nature is such that it cannot be seen and is without a body. For He shows only fingers writing to him, teaching him that not even these could have been seen by him, had He not Himself provided the occasion for the need. But the guests also received great benefit from this, being taught the power of God: besides the fact that they understood Him to be without a body and impossible to be seen by the eyes, they also learned of the weakness of the gods they had praised, and of such a nature ^D that could do nothing at all, since they consisted only of inanimate matter. And the prophet testified that this miracle struck huge fear into everyone, saying thus:

VERS. 6. Then the king's form was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, and the joints of his loins were loosened, and his knees struck one against another.

But if the sight of writing fingers so terrified him, who

would not have endured it—he who was hateful to God—had he looked upon whirlwinds or lightnings, or angels looking fiercely and daunting him with the novelty of their appearance? For even the great Daniel could not endure the sight of such things without fear. Truly, "Why is earth and ashes proud?" ^A Being then filled with such terror,

Ver. 7. "He cried aloud to bring in the magicians, the Chaldeans, the Gazarenes." For fear prompted the cry, and the confusion of his soul urged him to learn the resolution of the matter. Then he offers a reward to him who reads the writing and brings the interpretation: a royal robe, and a golden chain, and that he should hold the third rank after the king. But the impiety of the magicians and Chaldeans was convicted; for they had no power to find the reading of the divine letters, even when so great a reward was set before them, and was greatly inciting them.

Ver. 9. "And King Baltasar was troubled, and his countenance was changed upon him, and his lords were ^B troubled." From this it is manifest that the Lord, being concerned for the salvation of others, did not immediately take away the king's life, but first showed him the fingers of the one writing. And by this, having struck him and instilled terror, he caused the wise men of the Chaldeans to be summoned, and convicted them of falsehood and weakness; and he placed [the king] in need of the wisdom of Daniel, so that by this man's tongue, he might both convict him, and do good to others; and when these things had thus come to pass, then bring the punishment upon the ungodly king. The king and the guests therefore being troubled,

Ver. 10. "The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came into the house of the feast." That is, while they were debating what ^C was to be done, and others were suggesting various things, which fear compelled them to do, the queen entered. It seems to me that she was his mother; for the wives along with the concubines were participants in the feast. For he and his lords were drinking from the vessels of gold and silver, and his wives, that is to say, his spouses, and his concubines, who were not legally, but for the sake of wantonness, living with him. ^D She, however, entered after the disturbance; and it was likely that she, as being aged, had not indulged in such drunkenness or, at that time, in the dances and mimicry of the others. "And she answered," the text says, "the queen, and said: O king, live forever." This, as it seems, was a customary salutation whereby those subject to kings addressed them

troduced ^A to kings by those who were subject to them. And even until now this custom has prevailed; for some of the foolish are accustomed to call even present kings eternal, and some also write this into their trade contracts, to be condemned for stupidity rather than impiety. The queen therefore says: "Let not your thoughts trouble you, and let not your expression be changed." ^B Then she provides the reason why he should cast away fear:

VERS. 11. "There is still a man," she says, "in your kingdom, in whom there is the Holy Spirit of God, and in the days of your father, watchfulness and intelligence were found in him." From this it is also permissible to infer that she is to be considered his mother rather than [merely his wife]; therefore she teaches him things that happened long ago as if he were ignorant of them, and indicates to him the blessed Daniel, whom she confesses to be full of the divine Spirit, and she uses the same words that long ago Nabuchodonosor used. For he also said ^C the same things about Daniel, but she adds: "And in the days of your father, watchfulness and intelligence were found in him." She called "watchfulness" the sobriety of the mind, and "intelligence" the knowledge of hidden things and the contemplation of those things which escape the many. "And the king," she says, "your father Nabuchodonosor, appointed him chief of the enchanters, magicians, Chaldeans, and Gazareni." Then she also adds the reason:

VERS. 12. "Because an excellent spirit is in him." That is, he has an excellent grace of the Spirit. Then she enumerates the kinds of spiritual virtue. "And prudence," she says, "and intelligence, interpreting dreams, and announcing things that are too arduous, and looseing knots, Daniel." For this man, having become ^D a vessel of the divine Spirit, counsels everything wisely and speaks everything prudently; he declares the riddles of dreams, and he frees from obscurity those things which are hidden by some darkness, and like certain bands and seals, and as if they were things kept in a storeroom, he frees them from their bonds, loosens and opens them, and introduces anyone who wishes to them. For this is what "[He is] announcing hidden things and loosing knots, Daniel" signifies. "And for this reason," she says, "O King, did he impose upon him the name Baltasar." For because he saw him illuminated by divine power, he decided he ought to be called by the name of his own god. "Now therefore let Daniel be called, and he will announce the interpretation to you." She does not say: "Let Baltasar be called," for having learned the power of the prophet by experience, they prefer the Hebrew appellation to the Chaldean; for which reason they name him Daniel from then on.

VERS. 13. "For then," she says, "Daniel entered before

the king," and the king said to Daniel: "Art thou Daniel, of the sons of the captivity of Judea?" ^A It seems that he, on account of his great impiety, had avoided contact with Daniel after the death of his father; wherefore, immediately struck with terror, he summoned the magicians and the Chaldeans, but had entirely cast from his mind the memory of the prophet. But when his mother reminded him of the miracles that had happened in his father's time, and Daniel was summoned and entered in, he immediately recognized him; for he would not have mentioned his lineage, had he been ignorant of it, nor would he have brought the captivity of Judea into the midst. Nevertheless, he inquires, and says: "Art thou Daniel, of the sons of the captivity of Judea?" And while he had not yet confessed:

VERS. 14. "I have heard," he says, "concerning thee, that the holy Spirit is in thee, and wakefulness, and understanding, and more excellent wisdom has been found in thee." That which the Prophet said concerning Israel may also be fittingly said concerning him: "When He slew them, then they sought Him." ^B For behold, the fear of divine power compelled even this man to call Him God who is truly God, in place of those who are not gods, and to praise the grace of the holy Spirit, and to accuse the wise men of Babylon, who were unable to know the divine writing, but to entreat the prophet of God to make plain the things that were unknown. He promises him also that he will give him the purple, and the golden chain, and the third place in the kingdom. But the blessed Daniel, mocking the impious king's royal promises, said to him: "Thy gifts be to thyself, and give the reward of thy house to another; but I will read the writing to the king, and ^C make known to thee the comparison, O king." It is truly an apostolic voice, that of the prophets. For the Lord, sending those forth as heralds to all men, exhorted them, saying: "Freely ye received, freely give." And this blessed prophet said to the king: "Thy gifts be to thyself, and give the reward of thy house to another; but I will read the writing to the king, and make known to thee the comparison, O king." For I have not learned to sell divine things, nor to receive human wages for divine mysteries; freely, therefore, receive the knowledge of the things that are unknown.

VERS. 18, 19. "The most high God," he says, "gave the kingdom, and the greatness, and the honor, and the glory to Nabuchodonosor thy father. And because of the ^D greatness which He gave him, all peoples, and tribes, and tongues were trembling before him, and fearing, from his face." Do not think, he says, that thy father, using his own strength, subjected the whole world, and countless generations of nations using different languages.

^A into one kingdom. For the Lord of the universe, the Creator of all things, who wisely governs all things, gave the kingdom to him; and because it was so defined and decreed by God, the fear of thy father gripped the peoples subject to him. "And whom he wished, he himself exalted, and whom he wished, he himself humbled." He received such great authority from God, he says, that he was able both to render humble those who were placed on a high level, and to make those who were very obscure and base, prominent and celebrated.

VER. 20. "And when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was strengthened to be proud, he was cast down from the throne of his kingdom." For just as, he says, "he himself exalted whom he wished, and whom he wished he humbled,"—not by a decree that was strictly just in doing this—in the same way, the King and Lord of all gave the kingdom to thy father as he willed; but when he had seen that he was immoderately lifted up in spirit, and puffed up by pride, managing the kingdom arrogantly and insolently, and that he was suffering from the disease of pride, he both stripped him of his royal throne and took away the honor which was held for him by all. ^B [21] And not only did he strip him of the kingdom, but he also expelled him from the common assemblies of men, and, having surrendered him to madness and frenzy, forced him to live with wild asses and beasts. For he accepted the way of life of those whose wildness he had imitated. Now, he reminds him that he also ate grass like oxen, and wandered about naked, and living miserably under the open sky, he lost the original color of his body and took on another, such as frost and heat had brought about. And all this, he says, he endured, "until he knew that the Most High has dominion over the kingdom of men, and to whomsoever he will, he gives it." But he learned by experience what was needful to be done, and was taught by the very facts themselves that there is nothing stable in human affairs, but that the God of all, possessing eternal power, governs human affairs just as he wills, and bestows the gift of the kingdom on whomsoever he wishes.

VER. 22. "But thou, he says, his son Baltasar, hast not humbled thy heart in the sight of God; hast thou not known all these things?" For thou hast not returned to a sound mind because of the misfortunes of thy father, nor did thou wish to learn from what he suffered, the power of God. ^C

VER. 23. "But against the Lord of heaven thou hast lifted thyself up." He rightly teaches those present not to worship the things that are seen, but their Creator and Lord, and at the same time he rebukes the pride of the king, and teaches that the vast heaven has for its creator the invisible God. Thou, however, he says, ^D

^A didst show thy heart [not ] to the heaven, but to the God of heaven, the Lord of all creation. For thou wouldst not have commanded the vessels of his house to be brought, unless thou hadst been sick with such pride. ^B "And thou and thy nobles, and thy wives, and thy concubines drank wine in them;" that is, thou didst abuse the vessels dedicated to God for drunkenness and intoxication. Then, bewailing the excess of his impiety, he says: "And thou hast praised," he says, "gods of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of iron, and of wood, and of stone." And dwelling upon the mockery, "which do not see, and do not hear, and do not know." And yet thou couldst see their weakness, both from the material and from the art which was applied to fashioning it, and besides this, from the insensibility of their parts; for they are deprived of knowledge, and sight, and hearing, and they did not possess even one operation of the senses, but are merely naked images. But not even this could persuade thee to see what is proper, but thou continuest praising gods which are unable to help. "But the God in whose hand is thy breath, and all thy ways, him thou hast not glorified." And he has done well and most wisely in placing the idols and the God of all things in parallel for the sake of the profit of the hearers, and having shown those to be neither seeing nor hearing, he did not add concerning the God of all simply that he sees, and hears, and knows, but has added what is greater than all: "Thy life and thy ways are in his hand." For it is greater than life to provide life ^C to others also, and to take it away again when he wills. He showed, therefore, that the idols are devoid of life and of every sense, but that the God who is the Master of all is the provider of all life, and both gives it and takes it, governing as he wills. But nevertheless, he says, this such a one, one of such magnitude, who has power over life and death, who appoints kings and overthrows them—this one, I say, thou not only dost not praise, but rather thou continuest to insult, while revelling in the vessels dedicated to him.

Verse 24. "For this reason, from his presence an articulation of a hand was sent, and it set down this writing." And he did not say, "He himself wrote," but, "An articulation of a hand was sent from his presence"; that is, he ordered it to be written, and did not show thee the one who wrote the whole thing, but wishing to convict thy pride, he struck thee with the fingers alone, and filled thee with such fear. Learn, he says, both the writing itself, and the interpretation of the writing.

Verse 25, 26. "The writing, therefore, is this: Mane, Thecel, Phares; and the interpretation of the word is this."

^A *Mane*: "God has numbered your kingdom and finished it"; that is to say, He saw you to be unworthy of the kingdom, and judged it right to strip you naked of it.

Verse 27. "Thecel: you have been weighed in the balance, and found wanting." Through these things, the prophet instructed not only him, but us also, that there is nothing that is not weighed before God, but even mercy and long-suffering are applied to men by a certain measure and weight. Therefore, he says, since you have overstepped the bounds of kindness, accept the divine sentence.

Verse 28. "Phares: your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians." It is necessary to enquire why God, the author of all things, after chastening Nebuchadnezzar, restored him again to the kingdom, but deprived this man immediately of both kingdom and life. Considering this, therefore, we find, first, that Nebuchadnezzar had not beheld another paying the penalties for impiety, and therefore the just judgment of God deemed him worthy of pardon; but this man, having beheld the ^B greatest punishment of his father, derived no benefit from it. Rightly, therefore, the just Judge prescribed punishment for a definite time for the former, but deemed the latter worthy of no pardon. Furthermore, God, foreseeing all things that are to come, and knowing them as clearly as those that have already happened, foreknowing the repentance of the former, ordered his affairs accordingly; but foreknowing the persistent impiety of the latter even to the end, He puts an end to the increase of his impiety by death. ^C Immediately upon hearing those things which Daniel had interpreted, Belshazzar ordered him to receive the promised reward, the purple garment and the golden collar; then, having decorated him in that fashion, by the voice of a herald he saw to it that his subjects were taught that he had declared him the third ruler of the kingdom. But none of these things changed the divine sentence.

Verse 30. "For in that same night," he says, "Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, was slain." He called him a Chaldean here to show, at last, the end of the Chaldean kingdom. Truly, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God," ^D according to the divine Apostle, and it is fearful to "despise the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering," and not to worship and serve Him to the best of one's ability. For who, having become hard, as the prophet says, has stood before the Lord? For this reason also the blessed David exhorts: "Today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation." And interpreting this, the blessed Paul exhorts: "Take heed, fratres, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief;

^A in departing from the living God; but exhort yourselves day by day, while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." For sin is often accustomed, by alluring us with pleasures, just as it did that foolish king through drunkenness, to harden our heart and render it a contradictory thing, so that it easily receives the disease of impiety as well. Let us therefore flee, I beseech you, from the devil’s deceits, and let us prefer stable virtue to sin that is conjoined with brief pleasure, so that we may be rendered strangers to the society of Belshazzar, and may enjoy the society of Daniel, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom to the Father be glory, with the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

BOOK SIX

Nebuchadnezzar, Evil-Merodach his son, Belshazzar his brother; Darius the Mede, ^B according to Josephus, is the son of Astyages and uncle of Cyrus; but Cyrus is a Persian; the Greeks call him Cyaxares.

Verse 31. “And Darius the Mede took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.” The kingdom of the Chaldeans reached its end according to the divine prediction; and the sovereignty of the world was transferred to the Medes. So too did Daniel foretell, and interpret the "Phares": "For thy kingdom," he says, "is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." But when Darius the Mede had reigned for a short time, Cyrus took the authority and transferred it to the Persians. Now Josephus the historian asserts that Darius was the son of Astyages and the maternal uncle of Cyrus, but that the Greek writers have given him a different name, for they have called him Cyaxares. And he narrates that when, at the same time, Darius and Cyrus, his sister’s son, had led an army to Babylon, they took the city by siege and slew Belshazzar on that ^C very night on which he had seen those syllables written upon the wall. But the things which were written by the blessed Daniel do not teach that the matter happened in this way

^A but at the end of the narrative concerning Darius, he teaches us that Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian, and he shows that the kingdom of Darius is one thing, and that of Cyrus another. For if there had been one expedition against Babylon with an army, there would, consequently, have been one kingdom; but now he says that this one is different, and that one is something else. And at the end of the prophecy Daniel says thus: “And King Astyages was gathered to his fathers, and Cyrus the Persian received his kingdom.” Therefore Darius and Cyrus did not obtain the kingdom at the same time, nor did they kill Baltasar; but Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, reigned first, and later Cyrus reigned. Nor do the things said by Josephus agree with ^B the Greek histories. For it is not easy to find in them that Cyaxares, the son of Astyages, is the same person as Darius, whom he says marched against Babylon together with Cyrus; so that the account of Josephus is utterly incredible. But I, following the divine Scripture, find him to be the grandson of Nabuchodonosor through his daughter. For when God had commanded Jeremiah to put bonds upon himself, and to send them to the neighboring kings of the Idumaeans, and Moabites, and Ammonites, ^C of the Tyrians and Sidonians, He ordered him to say these things to them: “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Thus shall ye say unto your masters: I have made the earth in my great strength, and in my high arm, and I will give it to whom it pleased in mine eyes; I have given all the land to Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon, to serve him, and all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the time of their land shall come.” Since, therefore, Baltasar is called son by Daniel, his grandson must be sought out. But if anyone contradicts this, saying that Darius is called a Mede, let him learn that this does not at all harm our argument. For Cyrus, being the grandson of Astyages through his daughter—who was a Mede and reigned over the Medes—is yet called a Persian; for men are accustomed to give national names from their paternal ancestry. It is therefore likely that Darius was also of a Mede father and a Chaldean mother, but was called by his paternal name. But if these things are not so, let those who wish to do so point out any other grandson of Nabuchodonosor who inherited the ancestral kingdom, and we will not struggle against this at all. For ^D everyone who thinks correctly will confess that the prediction of the great Jeremiah is most true. But if it is more pleasing to anyone to believe that Darius is not the grandson of Nabuchodonosor through a daughter, but through a son, because the prophet said: “They shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son,” let him learn the idiom of the divine Scripture, which, since it is accustomed to record genealogy through the males, when it wishes to speak of a grandson,

it calls him son of a son. ^A But that he is not a son of this son, the blessed Daniel bears witness, saying, “Darius the Mede received the kingdom.” And that Nabuchodonosor would transfer the kingdom as far as his grandsons, the divine Jeremiah foretold. From both prophecies, therefore, it is possible to find the truth: from Jeremiah’s, that a grandson of Nabuchodonosor himself would hold the kingdom; from the blessed Daniel’s, that after Baltasar, the son of Nabuchodonosor, had died by divine sentence, Darius the Mede received the kingdom. Examining these things from here, and knowing the truthfulness of the prophets, we find him to be a Mede by his father’s side, but a Chaldean by his mother’s, and a grandson of Nabuchodonosor. We, having sought the truth of both prophecies, have found these things: let each one hold whatever opinion he likes about this, for no harm will come from an ambiguity concerning his lineage. Come, let us now proceed to the interpretation of each part. ^B

CHAPTER VI

Having reigned, he says, Darius [Vers. 1, 2] “set over his kingdom one hundred and twenty satraps, that they might be in his whole kingdom. And over them three ministers, and Daniel was one of them, to whom the satraps might render an account, so that the king might not be troubled.” Truly, nothing is able to dim piety, but it sends out its own rays everywhere, even if it is found in a slave or in a captive, ^C and nothing can cast a shadow over its splendor, but it gives forth its own lightning. This can be seen from many other places, but especially from the events that happened to the blessed Daniel, who, having become a slave and a prisoner of war, and living in a foreign land, and moving among barbarians, shone forth; for under Nabuchodonosor he was honored by the most terrible king. He also flourished under Baltasar, and he was likewise prominent under Darius; and the successions of kings caused no change in his status, but while they were extinguished by death, he possessed the same brilliance under all of them. Yet kings are not accustomed, or those to whom some other authority is committed, to trust in the least those who were intimates ^D of the former kings; but this man obtained the same freedom of speech before all, gained an equal reward of honor, and the same authority was entrusted to him; just as, finally, when Darius reigned, he became one of the three ministers. I suppose those now called prefects are addressed as ministers, and those who are leaders of nations as satraps; but the blessed Daniel was one of the ministers.

^A Verse 3. “He surpassed,” he says, “both the ministers and the satraps,” that is, the governors of the nations, being placed against them, that is, over and against them, compared and examined. Then he states the reason for his victory: “For a spirit, he says, was more abundant in him,” signifying that he had received from God a much greater and more copious grace. We learn from this passage that even to those to whom secular office is entrusted, even if they should be devoid of piety, a certain gift of wisdom is granted by God for the administration of the people subject to them. And the blessed Daniel hinted at this, saying: “For a spirit was more abundant in him,” that is, he had received a grace proportional to his piety. And having perceived this, he says, “The king set him over his entire kingdom.” For realizing that the man was beloved of God and enjoyed strength from above, he entrusted the administration of the whole kingdom to him; but the magnitude of the honor stirred up envy. ^B “The ministers and the satraps,” he says, “were seeking to find an occasion against Daniel from the kingdom,” or as some copies have, “from the sides of the kingdom.” That is, they were plotting everything, desiring to find that he had transgressed in some way against the laws of the kingdom; as if to say, wishing to charge him with the crime of high treason, as we now say. But they strayed from their intended plan. “For they could not find any occasion, nor any fault, nor any sin in him, because he was faithful.” And this testimony was given to the blessed Daniel, not only by those who loved him, but also by those who were plotting against him. For while observing piety toward God, he had also secured for himself great benevolence from kings. But when they had pursued countless paths and did not find him to have transgressed anything against the laws of the kingdom: ^C Verse 5. “They said,” he says, the ministers: “We shall not find an occasion against Daniel, unless in the laws of his God.” For knowing the precision of his piety, they set there the traps of their wickedness. Verse 6-9. “And the ministers and the satraps approach the king, and say to him: ‘Darius the king, live forever. All the leaders in your kingdom, and the toparchs, and consuls, and satraps, have taken counsel ^D to establish a royal ordinance and to confirm a decree, that whoever shall request a petition from any god or man for thirty days, except from you, shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, therefore, king, confirm the decree and issue the writing, so that the decree of the Medes and Persians may not be altered, so that nothing may be changed contrary to it.’”

^A Then King Darius commanded the writing and the decree to be issued. Nothing is more hateful than envy; it forced these men to act impiously and caused an unholy decree to be set forth, forbidding those who wished to offer prayers to God. And not only did they hinder themselves from doing this, but all others as well who lived under the kingdom. And so that the wickedness might not be obvious, they added that no one should ask or receive anything from any man within thirty days, but that it should be proclaimed that it must be requested from the king alone during all these days. And those whose mental vision had been surrendered to envy did not perceive that the king cannot provide everything to those who ask: neither health, nor life, nor to be fathers of children, nor the abundance of rain, nor all other things which we receive by asking God alone. But, having lost their sanity, they attributed to the king those things which belong only to God, and they persuaded the foolish king to agree to and confirm what had been impiously requested. ^B But blessed Daniel, caring not even a little for these impious laws: “Straightway,” it says, “having entered into his house, with the windows open, in his upper chambers, opposite Jerusalem, three times a day he was bending his knees and praying and confessing before God, as he was doing before.” Observe how many things the narrative hints at simultaneously, revealing blessed Daniel’s piety and courage. For first, it says, when Daniel learned that the decree had been enacted, he “entered into his house,” which means that, having learned of the imposed law and utterly despising it, he continued to act in direct opposition. Then he added another detail that clearly indicates the greatness of his spirit: “For the windows,” it says, “were open.” For he did not pray secretly, it says, but openly and with everyone seeing, not out of a desire for vainglory, but in contempt of the impious law. Another detail is also added that shows this courage of his no less clearly, namely: “In his upper chambers.” For not on even ground, but as if in some watchtower, he offered prayers to God, visible to all, both because he stood in a high place and because he had the windows wide open. “And he prayed,” it says, “opposite Jerusalem,” which not only excited his accusers but was also observing an ancient law. ^C For Solomon, when he had built that temple and was celebrating the public assembly of its dedication, prayed imploring the divine grace, so that the temple might be filled with it. And besides many other things, he added this too: “And it shall be,” it says, “if thou shouldst deliver thy people before their enemies, and those who take them captive lead them captive into a far land, or [a near one], and they turn their hearts in the land to which they have been carried away, and supplicate

^A you in the land of their captivity, saying: We have sinned, we have done unjustly, we have acted wickedly, and they return to you with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, to which you have carried them away, and they pray to you along the course of their land, which you gave to their fathers, and the city which you chose, and the house which I built for your name, and you shall hear from heaven, from your prepared dwelling-place, and you shall be merciful to their sins, which they have sinned against you, and toward all their injustices, by which they have transgressed against you, and you shall grant them mercies before those who have held them captive. Having been instructed by these things, the blessed Daniel used to pray facing Jerusalem; and he kept on doing this not once a day, but three times. And his posture, too, shows the contrition of his ^B mind. For he persisted in kneeling upon his knees, offering his confession to God. While these things were being done, those who had become vessels of envy accused Daniel of lawlessness, and they recite the established law, and they denounce Daniel, and expose the transgression.

14. “Then the king, when he heard the word, was greatly grieved for him, and strove for the sake of Daniel to deliver him.” But those malicious men, steeped in wickedness, discerned the intention of the king. For this is what the passage signifies when it says, “The men anticipated the king with pleas,” that is, they realized he was aiding Daniel. Then they say to the king: “Know, O king, that the decree is for the Medes and Persians, that every ^C decree and statute which the king establishes, it must not be changed.” They say, “It is not in your power to overturn what you have authorized by law. For the laws of the Medes and Persians command that the laws laid down by the king must be fulfilled by the first [of the authorities].” Compelled by the plausibility of their words and the number of the accusers, the king delivers the blessed Daniel to the lions, yet he prays for his safety, saying: “The God whom you serve continually, He Himself shall deliver you.” A pious word, and inconsistent with the earlier ones. If you testify that God’s power is so great, how did you legislate that no one should pray to Him for thirty days? ^D But it seems that Darius was a righteous man, and equitable in his ways, and rather devoted to piety, yet he was also fearful and very easily deceived. For he did not govern the kingdom so as to lead his subjects, but was rather led by them; he appears, however, to have greatly admired Daniel: “For the God,” he says, whom you serve continually, for whom also...

you have despised my laws, and to whom you offer constant worship, will reward your piety and deliver you from the evils that beset you.” ^A Furthermore, relying on divine power and suspecting the ambushes of the accusers, he blocked the mouth of the pit with a stone, and placed seals upon it with the impression of his ring, so that no malice might be perpetrated by them against Daniel; for he trusted that God would not allow his holy body to be harmed by the lions. Having done these things,

VERS. 18. “Then the king went to his house, and passed the night fasting, and no food was brought to him, and sleep departed from him.” Each of these facts bears witness both to his humanity and to his fear. For that he declined to eat food and take sleep, but remained awake, grieving over the unjust punishment of Daniel, this is a sign of his humanity; but that, being so affected, he did not resist the accusers, though he possessed royal authority and power, and did not save the one who was suffering an injury, this is to be attributed to fear. Having thus spent the night,

VERS. 19. “Darius the king rose early in the morning in the light.” That is to say, while it was still dark, around the dawn, such that he had need of lamps—for this is what the mention of light signifies. ^B And he came in haste to the pit of the lions; (VERS. 20.) And as he approached the pit, that is, when he had not yet reached it, he called to Daniel with a loud voice, and the king answered and said to Daniel. For because he had not yet arrived at the pit, he was compelled by the burning affection of his soul to cry out and call for Daniel, and to inquire of him whether, obtaining divine aid, he had appeared superior to the ferocity of the lions. “Daniel,” he says, “servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the mouth of the lions?” Each of the things spoken shows the king to be religious, who through his piety received joy from Daniel. For first, he calls him not his own servant, but God’s; then, he names Daniel’s God the “living” God; then, commending his piety, “Whom you serve,” he says, “continually,” that is, you whom not even the compulsion of the law could turn away from this worship. And the words, “Has he been able to deliver you from the mouth of the lions?” signify: Has he willed to render you superior to the lions? For he would not have called God powerless, whom he had addressed as living. Hearing these things, Daniel answered, saying:

VERS. 21. “O king, live forever.” The customary greeting.

He puts this greeting before his own words, as if to say: ^A “May it be permitted to you to live for a very long time.” For even at the present, as we have already said, some people are accustomed to call kings “eternal” in property contracts.

VERS. 22. “My God, he says, has sent His angel, and has stopped the mouths of the lions, and they have not harmed me, because before Him uprightness and justice were found in me; and before you, O king, no fault has been found in me.” For God being just, he says, and governing all things justly, having seen that I have preferred His worship to the impious laws, and that I have never committed any fault against your kingdom, has rendered me superior to the harm of the lions, and has presented me with images of lions rather than with the lions themselves.

VERS. 23. “Then the king, he says, was greatly gladdened on his account, and he commanded Daniel to be brought up out of the pit.” For being filled with joy and overflowing with gladness, inasmuch as he had now recognized the power of God and had learned of the salvation of him whom he loved, he immediately ordered him to be brought up from the pit. ^B [24] Then, having looked and seen him whole and healthy, and having suffered no detriment from the attack of the lions, he ordered that Daniel’s accusers be thrown to the lions, along with their children and their wives. “And they had not yet reached, he says, the floor of the pit, when the lions had already possessed them and crushed all their bones.” This also is a work of divine justice and wisdom. For lest they might say that the lions had abstained from Daniel out of fullness and satiety, and thus diminish the miracle that had occurred through envy, they were thrown in as testimony to the cruelty of the lions; for the lions snatched them as they were being lowered, and even before they had reached the earth, catching them from the very air, they made them their food. Therefore, because they paid fitting penalties, they commend the justice of God; but because they were so very easily consumed by the beasts, they indicate the wisdom of God, and teach all men that it was not the satiety of the lions, but Daniel's zeal toward God that rendered him superior to those who could be harmed by lions. ^C Having contemplated these things,

VERS. 25. “King Darius wrote to all peoples, tribes, languages, living in all the earth.” Thinking it impious to hide such a great miracle, and not to let all men become partners and participants in piety, he therefore writes to this effect: “Peace be multiplied to you.” This signifies: “May it be permitted to you to enjoy perpetual peace.” This is similar to our own greeting, for when we send letters to anyone, we are accustomed to state at the beginning: “In the Lord, greeting.” ^D

Then he narrates that which can bring great utility and profit.

^A Ver. 26. “From me a decree is set forth in every dominion of my kingdom, that all be trembling and fearing before the face of the God of Daniel.” I wish, he says, that all men who live under my power should worship the God of Daniel, not rashly or by chance, but that they should render to Him the worship of adoration with fear and trembling. And providing the reason, he says: “For He is the living God, and enduring into the ages.” For He is such, that He is eternal, subject to no change, and always remains the same, and abides into the ages. To these he adds: “And His kingdom shall not be destroyed, and His dominion is unto the end.” (Ver. 27.) ^B “He defends, and delivers.” He abides, he says, forever, possessing a kingdom that cannot be destroyed, and a dominion that admits of no end, delivering and redeeming those who have believed in Him. “And He does signs in heaven and on earth.” And it is possible to behold His miracles, both those that happen in heaven and those on earth, by which He shows His own power. This He has shown to us also in the present case: “For He delivered,” he says, “Daniel from the mouth of the lions,” and made him superior to the beasts which were whetted by hunger and rage. The letter, therefore, has taught these things to the world. [28] But the end of the narrative contains this, that the affairs of Daniel succeeded prosperously in the reign of Darius and Cyrus the Persian; that is, that he continued to shine in each kingdom, and was conspicuous in all things. ^C But it becomes us, having learned the power of piety, ^D to choose it and prefer it to all things, and not to fall away from it when terrified by any dangers; nay, even if all men should simultaneously campaign against us for its sake, we ought to accept their assault eagerly, relying on the strength of this power. For thus also the chorus of the blessed apostles, though besieged by almost the entire world, remained unconquerable and made their enemies obedient to themselves. In the same way, the blessed Daniel, though plotted against by so many satraps and commanders, proved himself better than those fighting against him; and when the adversaries thought they had gained the victory, then they perished utterly. Therefore, having such examples, let us preserve a sincere love for God, that we may always enjoy His help: which may we all attain, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father be glory, together with the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

BOOK SEVENTH – CHAPTER VII

^A VERS. 1. “In the first year of Baltasar king of the Chaldeans, Daniel saw a dream, and the vision of his head in his bed, and he wrote the dream.” Up to these words, blessed Daniel recorded his prophecy in a more historical manner. For, having started from the very beginning, he first taught what had befallen them as captives of war, and added how much care they enjoyed from God, the Author of all things. Then he narrated how great were the penalties for cruelty and arrogance that Nabuchodonosor paid, and then what punishment Baltasar suffered for treating the holy vessels with mockery. When the latter was slain by a divine plague and the empire had been transferred to the Medes, he wrote down what happened to himself and to Darius, teaching how the latter felt toward him, and what ambushes he had endured from the generals and satraps, and how by divine assistance he had been vindicated. Having related these things, as it were, historically, he next begins to set forth those predictions which he was taught through revelations. And first, he places the revelation of the four beasts, which ^B is quite similar to Nabuchodonosor’s dream; for that king saw a fourfold material in one image, while here, from one sea, four beasts are seen ascending. But lest we be compelled to say the same things twice, let us proceed to interpret each individual point, for from that it will be shown more clearly. “In the first year of Baltasar, king of the Chaldeans, Daniel saw a dream, and the visions of his head in his bed.” That is, while sleeping he saw this revelation; since he is also about to record those things which he saw by day, he rightly teaches us what he saw in a dream and what he saw while awake. “And the dream,” he says, “he wrote.” For he did not endure to hide what had been shown to him by God, but wrote them down for the benefit of all. “The beginning of his words. And answering he said.” That is, he began his narration thus:

VERS. 2, 3. “I, Daniel, was watching in my vision ^C by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were buffeting the great sea. And four great beasts were ascending from the sea, differing from one another.” Nabuchodonosor, therefore, sees an image by which he is taught the vanity of present things and that the form...

these are shapes rather than realities, as the divine Apostle asserts. For there is nothing in them that remains or is stable, but all things flow away and perish and wither. But the blessed Daniel looks upon the sea, being taught by it the billows of the present life. For since he was forced to see a foreign land, having been taken captive in war, he is fittingly taught of the surges and storms of this life. And the king, as one ^A feeling grandiose because of gold, and silver, and bronze, and iron, receives through these the enigmas of the kingdoms, and learns of the successions of kings, and is taught not to be arrogant regarding a kingdom that is subject to swift and sudden change. But the prophet, inasmuch as he scorned those material things, sees ^B "four beasts," learning that these terrible kingdoms, which frighten all men, will themselves also have an end, and that one kingdom alone remains, the endless one, which the God of the holy ones has prepared for the holy ones. Therefore he calls the life the “sea,” inasmuch as it has countless storms, and the “winds” that beat upon it, the changes of things. For just as when the south wind blows, the waves run toward the northern part, and when the north wind stirs the sea, the surge is pushed back again toward the southern part; so, when the Assyrians held the rudders of the inhabited world, they drew all the subject peoples to themselves; but when the kingdom shifted to the Persians, the course of the subjects immediately shifted toward them as well. And when the Macedonians again obtained the scepter, everyone, abandoning those whom they had previously obeyed, brought the customary tribute to these. And when the Romans obtained power over all, all things run toward the West, taking no account of the Macedonians; for they themselves are also numbered among the subject peoples. With good reason, then, did he compare the changes of things to winds, which now here, and now there, push the waves of the sea. For this reason he also made mention of the four winds, since there have been four successions of kingdoms. He also teaches us what difference the beasts had toward one another. ^C

4. “For the first,” he says, “was like a lioness, and had wings like an eagle; I was watching until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and it stood on the feet of a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.” He signified the kingdom of the Assyrians, or rather the Chaldeans (for this was the first to rule the greatest part of the inhabited world) by the ^D lioness; for this animal is royal. And he says that its “wings were like an eagle’s,” because this animal also rules over all birds. Just as, therefore, Nabuchodonosor also

said that he had seen its golden head, which the most holy Daniel interpreted, saying: “Thou art the golden head, O king;” ^A so also in this place he has placed the strongest of the beasts in the first kingdom, not testifying that greater power belonged to it, but showing it as first and more honorable. Nevertheless, he saw that “its wings had been plucked off,” that is, it was stripped of all the people subject to it, and deprived of its former power. “And it was taken up,” he says, “from the earth,” that is, it ceased to reign. “And it stood,” he says, “upon the feet of a man,” meaning it became equal to its subjects. “And a man’s heart was given to it.” He learned, he says, through experience to think human thoughts, and not to exceed the measures of nature by the imagination of his mind. For because, when they held the steering-oars of the kingdom, they were suffering from the disease of pride and immense arrogance, for this reason also the blessed Isaias says: “God shall bring upon the mind of the great prince of the Assyrians…” ^B rightfully, then, having learned by experience the change in affairs and the slippery and fleeting prosperity, they think human thoughts, and recognizing themselves, they obtained a human heart. Thus, then, he narrated the things concerning the first beast.

He adds, however:

Verse 5. “And behold, another beast like to a bear, and it stood on one side, and three ribs were in the mouth of it between the teeth of it, and thus they said to it: Arise, devour much flesh.”

He hints here at the Persian kingdom; he says it is like a bear because of the cruelty and inhumanity of its punishments. For the Persians were the most cruel of all barbarians in punishing, even flaying the skin from men, and by the cutting off of individual limbs they devised long tortures, and inflicted a bitter death upon those who were being punished. For this reason, he says, they kept saying to it: “Arise, devour much flesh,” ^C not as if granting it permission to do this, but predicting the future and witnessing to its cruelty and savageness. “And three ribs,” he says, “were in its mouth.” For it ruled over three parts of the inhabited world: the eastern, the northern, and the southern. For Cyrus, who first reigned over the Persians, brought the entire East as far as the Hellespont under his own power; but Cambyses, his son, having subdued Egypt, also made the Ethiopians subject to him; and Darius, son of Hystaspes, mastered the Nomadic Scythians, to whom it had fallen by lot to inhabit the northern part of the inhabited world. And Xerxes, the son of Darius, attempted to join Europe also to his empire; but having been defeated by the Athenians in a naval battle, he returned in disgrace, and learned the injury born from his insatiability. For this reason he says: “three ribs were in its mouth.” Some exemplars, however, have “sides”: it makes no ^D

^A Whether one reading is adopted or the other, he teaches how it gathers fruit from three parts of the world, and receives tribute from everywhere. He also rightly added, “in its mouth,” so as to show the contribution provided by all. And because this kingdom was not entirely destroyed, but remained holding some portion of its former sovereignty, he did not say it suffered the same things that the one before it had suffered—having been deprived of its wings, and having stood upon the feet of a man, and having received the heart of a man—but he said it stood on one side. “It stood,” he says, “on one side,” ^B which is to say, having been in control of three parts of the world, it was stripped of the greatest part, and kept the empire of only one part. For having formerly ruled over all of Asia and Libya, it became deprived of Egypt and Ethiopia; nor does it any longer control the Palestinians, and Phoenicians, and Syrians; and the sovereignty over Asia has also been taken away from it, and the Euxine Sea has fallen away from its scepter; but it governs only Persia, and Media, and Assyria, and a few neighboring nations. For this reason he says, “It stood on one side.” Having narrated these things regarding the second beast,

VERSE 6.

VERSE 7.

and its teeth were iron and great, and its nails were bronze, devouring and crushing, and trampling the rest with its feet. And it differed exceedingly from all the beasts that were before it.” He calls ^A the Roman Empire the fourth beast, but he does not give it a name, because the state of the Romans, composed of many nations, has gained control of the world, being at first ruled by kings, then sometimes by the people, sometimes by the aristocracy, and finally returning to its former mode of rule. He describes the beast itself as fearful and terrible because this kingdom has become more powerful than all the other kingdoms, and in the image he also placed iron as the fourth material, and he subjoined: “Just as, therefore, iron crumbles and subdues all things, so it will crumble and subdue all things.” And here likewise he says, “The teeth of the beast were of iron,” so that it is clear that here too he is hinting at the same kingdom. “It was devouring,” he says, “and crushing.” For in truth, greater tributes were imposed by the Romans upon the subject peoples. “And the rest,” he says, “it was trampling with its feet.” By the feet of the kingdom he hints at the army and its soldiers, by whom no small ^B disasters are brought upon those inhabiting the cities and the regions. “And it differed exceedingly from all the beasts that were before it.” For the Roman kingdom appeared more powerful and more illustrious than the kingdoms before it. “And it had ten horns,” he says. He indicates here that towards the end of the kingdom, ten kings will arise at the same time, of whom some will be powerful, while others will be very weak. For he also taught this in the dream concerning the image; for even there “the toes of the feet were ten, and these part,” he says, “had iron, part were also clay”; which the blessed Daniel, interpreting, said: “One part of the kingdom will be strong, while one part will be weak.” So that it is openly manifest that both dreams signify the same things.

“And it had ten horns,” he says. (VERS. 8.) “I was considering,” he says, “its horns, and behold, another small horn [which was] ^C visible was ascending in the midst of them, and three before it were uprooted from its presence; and behold, eyes like the eyes of a man [were] in this horn, and a mouth speaking great things, and it was waging war against the holy ones.” Here he hints at the Antichrist, appearing among the ten horns. And he says that he also even uprooted three horns from those before him; he hints that he will overthrow three kings from among the ten reigning at the same time. And he calls it a “small horn,” as if springing from the small tribe of the Jews; “visible” [or conspicuous], however, as one who will hereafter be illustrious. Yet by the eyes he designed his prudence and craftiness, ^D wherewith he will deceive many,

^A But he also says, "a mouth speaking great things," that is, arrogant and boastful things. The blessed Paul clearly teaches us this, saying: "Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God" (II Thess. II, 3, 4). The blessed Daniel, also hinting at this, said: "And a mouth speaking great things, and it waged war with the saints." For he is working at everything, he says, desiring to have all men as associates and participants in his wickedness and punishment. But doing these things, he says, it will not last for long, but will be destroyed most quickly.

^B VERSE 9, 10. "For I was watching," he says, "until thrones were set, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; and his garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was a flame of fire, its wheels were burning fire. A stream of fire was drawn forth going out from before him; a thousand thousands were ministering to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the judgment sat, and the books were opened." ^C All those things, he says, that horn was daring, speaking great and arrogant and boastful things, and fighting against the saints, until the judgment sat. But it is fitting to know that God, being incorporeal, and simple, and without form, receiving no limitation, but having an illimitable nature, often fashions visions as He wills for our benefit. And it is possible to see Him appearing in one way to Abraham, in another to Moses, and in another to Isaiah; and he showed a different appearance to Ezekiel likewise. When, therefore, you see the variety of the revelations, do not suppose the Divine to be multiform; but hear Him saying through the prophet Hosea: “I have multiplied visions, and I was made like [or likened] in the hands of the prophets” (Osee XII, 11). He said “I was made like,” not “I was seen”; for as He wills, He fashions the visions. ^D Just as, indeed, the blessed Ezekiel, having gazed upon the one who appeared, composed of electrum and fire, after relating the revelation, added: "This is the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord" (Ezech. I, 28). And he said that neither the Lord Himself was seen, nor the glory of the Lord itself, but the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And here, therefore, the blessed Daniel is taught the eternal Godhead through the Ancient of Days: for so also have some of the interpreters understood it.

^A He contemplates also the pure hair and the splendor of the garments, both immaculate and holy on every side, being instructed not only in the divine nature, but also in those things which can be understood concerning it, namely, justice, providence, care, and judgment. For since he saw the "horn speaking arrogant words," and contriving infinite snares against the worshippers of God, he is instructed through the purity that shines forth on every side, that God does not overlook these things as they are daringly done, but permits them on account of an ineffable dispensation. ^B And that no one should again suppose that God, being good, indeed wishes to bring aid to the saints, but is unable to do so, he also sees the "throne constructed of flame, and the wheels likewise possessing an igneous nature, and a river of fire drawing the throne, and ten thousand times ten thousand ministering, and thousands of thousands standing by." And by these things, the power of God is declared; by those, his incorrupt and blameless nature; and by the antiquity, his eternity, wisdom, and gentleness. To these he adds: "The judgment sat, and the books were opened," that is, he decreed that the remaining time of the judgment was at hand, and unfolded the memory of things done by each one. For he calls their memories "books." And if anyone thinks that the promise of the Lord is also indicated by these things, which he made to the apostles: "There shall be set," he says, "twelve thrones, and sitting, you shall judge the twelve tribes of Israel," this is by no means contrary to reason, since the promise of truth is devoid of falsehood. ^C

VERS. 11. "I was watching," he says, "then because of the voice of the great words which that horn was speaking, I was watching until that beast was killed, and it perished, and its body was given to the burning of fire." For on account of the madness of that horn, when the judgment had taken place, he says, the fourth kingdom was also destroyed, and the body of the beast was given to the burning of fire. Now it behooves us to note that he did not say simply, "The beast was delivered," but "the body of the beast was delivered to the fire to be burned." For since by the beast he signifies the whole kingdom, and in the kingdom some are fosterlings of piety and others are ministers of wickedness, and we are accustomed to call the former spiritual and the latter carnal, being persuaded by divine Scripture, he rightly said that not the beast was delivered to the fire to be burned, but the body of the beast, that is, those who are more dull, and carnal, and thinking nothing of spiritual things. ^D

VERS. 12. "And the dominion of the rest of the beasts was taken away, and the happiness of life was given to them until..."

^A a time and a time." For the dominion of the other beasts, he says, had already ceased, even though they had consumed the circuit of many years in their rule; for a fixed time of reigning was determined for each. And with these things happening in such a way, he says, and while the other kingdoms had already ceased beforehand, and those who were in the fourth kingdom, being worthy of punishment, had been delivered to the fire:

VERS. 13, 14. "I was watching, he says, in the vision of the night, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like the Son of man was coming, and he reached as far as the Ancient of days, and was brought before him. And to him was given dominion, and glory, and a kingdom; and all peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve him; and his authority is an eternal authority, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom shall not be corrupted." One might truly say that these words are, in time, directed toward the Jews, which the prophet long ago said to them: "You had a harlot’s face, you were shameless towards everyone." For what is clearer than these words? For the prophet proclaimed these things in a manner that is in truth ^B more evangelical and apostolic than prophetic and enigmatic, as if he were a herald. For what the Lord says in the Gospels: "You will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with his angels;" and the blessed Paul: "That the Lord will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead will rise incorruptible, and we the living who remain will be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord;" this the blessed Daniel clearly taught us, prophesying the second coming of the Savior, ^C clearly calling him "Son of man" because of the nature he assumed; and saying he would come on the clouds, according to his own promise, in order to show his authority; and saying he receives the honor, and the power, and the kingdom from the Ancient of days, as a man. For even in the second Psalm, the blessed David speaks this from the person of the Lord himself: "The Lord said to me: You are my Son, today I have begotten you; ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession." This the blessed Daniel also says: "For all ^D peoples," he says, "tribes, and tongues shall serve him." And showing the endlessness of the kingdom, he says: "His authority is an eternal authority, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom shall not be corrupted." Having written the revelation thus, he added:

VERS. 15. "My spirit shuddered; I, Daniel, in the

^A midst of my body, and the visions of my head disturbed me." For the vision, he says, was dreadful, and the ignorance of the things being hinted at confounded my mind and filled it with confusion.

VERS. 16. "Therefore I approached one of the bystanders, and I was seeking the truth from him concerning all these things." By those standing by, he means the thousand thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand, by which he did not designate a definite number, but declared a multitude of those serving and those present that was greater than could be counted. For the more honorable ones were not only standing, but were also commanded to serve; while the others indicated their servitude by standing in fear. And just as in human courts, where some of the subjects stand by displaying a more dreadful judgment, while others go out and come in, bringing answers to the judge: so in that most dreadful tribunal, Daniel saw the myriads standing by, and the thousand thousands ^B entrusted with the duty of serving. Having approached, therefore, he says, and asked what was the interpretation of the revelation, he learned the truth from one of the bystanders.

VERS. 17, 18. "For he said to me: These four great beasts are four kingdoms that will rise on the earth, which will be taken away. And the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom, and they will hold it forever, and unto the age of ages." One must observe carefully that here, too, he spoke of four kingdoms, just as he had spoken of four in the image as well, so that we might not think the earthenware kingdom to be different from the iron kingdom. For there he said that "the end of the iron kingdom would be weaker," and here likewise he says that the three horns ^C were "rooted out from the ten," as being evidently in a weaker state. These kingdoms, therefore, he says, will be destroyed, and the true and everlasting kingdom will be given to the saints of the Most High. Desiring that, therefore, he says, hold the kingdoms of the present age—which will have their end not long hence—as nothing. Then he says:

VERS. 19. "I was seeking, he says, accurately about the fourth beast, because it was superior to every beast, and excessively terrible: its teeth were iron, and its claws were of brass; it was eating and crushing, and trampling the rest with its feet." It is to be noted that he mentions teeth of iron and claws of brass. For the Roman kingdom receives tribute from all, ^D and for this reason he called the teeth iron. And since many from the Macedonian kingdom were enrolled for military service, and just as the claws are to the beast, so soldiers are to the king, he rightly called the claws brass, since he had also called the third kingdom bronze. For I was inquiring, he says,

regarding the horns of his, the ten horns that were on his head, and the fourth that came up and uprooted three of the former; and [of the horn that] had eyes, and a mouth speaking great things, and whose appearance was greater than the rest. It is not to be wondered at that if he spoke of the horn as small, here he describes its appearance as greater than the rest; but it is necessary to apply one’s mind carefully to what is being said. For when he first saw the horn, he called it small, as though it were seen as coming from a small nation, that of the Jews, and having a kingdom that was as yet obscure; but after it had uprooted the three horns that were before it, he rightly calls its appearance greater than the rest. ^B Being still inquisitive, he adds:

Ver. 21. “Why was that horn making war with the saints, and prevailed against them?” That is, he oppressed and humbled them.

Ver. 22. “Until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Highest, and the time arrived, and the saints possessed the kingdom.” I inquired, he says, that I might learn what that horn signifies, which utters words of pride and arrogance, and which suppresses the assembly of the saints, until the Ancient of Days passes righteous judgment, and gives the kingdom back to the saints, and destroys that one’s power.

Ver. 23. “And he said unto me,” he says, as follows: “The fourth beast will be the fourth kingdom on the earth, which will surpass all kingdoms, and will devour the whole earth, and trample it, and cut it in pieces.” These things I learned by way of enigmas; but we have learned by experience. For we see the outcome of the prophecy, the collection of taxes, the poverty of the many, and the other things occurring ^C every day.

Ver. 24. “And his ten horns, he says, are ten kings that shall arise.” It is to be noted that he did not say that they would succeed one another, but that they would arise at the same time; and the things that follow bear witness that this is how it is. “And after them, he says, another king shall arise, who will surpass all those before him in wickedness, and will humble three kings.” But if they are not ruling at the same time, but one succeeding the other before him, how will this one humble three at the same time? Therefore, it is clear that it is foretold that they will arise at the same time near the end; and at the end, the Antichrist shall arise, laying hold of the kingdom, and fighting against them ^D and destroying three of them; and he shall think to change times and law.” For with such madness and frenzy, he says, will he be filled, that he will launch arrogant and blasphemous words against the Most High God, and bring every kind of torture upon those who serve Him with goodwill and participate in holiness; and he will imagine that he will utterly destroy the prevailing piety and alter its excellent way of life. For this he implied by saying: “He will think to change times and law”; that is, the way of life prevailing at that time. Then he continues: “And it shall be given into his hand.” That is, the providence of God will permit it; and by showing the time of the untimely end of those evils—for “the poor shall not be forgotten to the end, and the patience of the needy shall not perish forever”—having said, “It shall be given into his hand,” he added: “Until a time, and times, and half a time.” But this he taught us more clearly at the end of the prophecy.

“From the time,” he says, “of the change of the continual sacrifice, and the giving of the abomination of desolation, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.” By a time, then, and times, and half a time, he means three years and a half, during which that horn which speaks great things shall prevail.

^C VERS. 26. “But the judgment,” he says, “shall sit, and they shall remove his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.” Now the blessed Paul also clearly taught us this. For when he had said those things which we have mentioned a little before, he added these also: “Only he who now restrains must be taken out of the way; and then shall that lawless one be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: the one whose coming is according to the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish.” Now what he says is this: It is necessary that what now restrains should be taken out of the way. For the error which restrains will be extinguished, and an end will be put to the deception of idols, and then the lawless one shall be revealed. ^D This the Lord also affirmed in the holy Gospels: “For the Gospel shall be preached throughout all the ends of the earth for a testimony unto them, and then shall the end come.” Having learned this from there, the blessed Paul teaches the Thessalonians, and through them all lovers of piety, not to think now

^A that the enemy of truth is to appear now; for it is necessary first that the error of idols, which detains men, be extinguished, and the preaching of the Gospel be strengthened, and then, in this manner, that the lawless one be revealed. He then points out his destruction as well: “Whom the Lord,” he says, “Jesus will consume with the breath of his mouth, and will destroy by the manifestation of his coming.”

Next, he shows also in what manner he appears: “Whose,” he says, “coming is according to the operation of Satan.” For the devil will imitate the incarnation of our God and Savior; and just as the Lord, appearing through human nature, became the author of our salvation, so also the devil, having taken an instrument fit for his own wickedness, will manifest his own operation through it, deceiving the listless among men with lying signs and wonders and a semblance of miracles. And teaching why the God of all things permits these things to happen, he added: “Because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved, and for this reason God will send them an operation of error, so that they should believe the lie, that all might be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in iniquity.”

The Lord also said this same thing to the Jews: “I have come in my Father’s name, and you have not received me; another will come in his own name, and him you will receive.” The angel, teaching these things to Daniel, said that ^B “He will speak words against the Most High, and will wear out the saints of the Most High, and will intend to change times and law; and it will be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time; and the judgment sat, and they will take away his dominion, to extinguish and to destroy it unto the end.” ^C See how the blessed Paul clearly taught the things which were interpreted enigmatically by the angel.

The Lord also, presignifying the future invasions of the impious against the saints, was saying: “There will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall be; and if those days were not shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.” Then, having advised his holy disciples, and through them all men, not to be deceived by those saying that Christ is here or there—for he will no longer appear secretly and hiddenly, but openly with glory—he added: “Then they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven, with much power and glory; and he will send his angels with a great trumpet, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from the extremities of the heavens to their extremities.” ^D The angel, predicting these things to Daniel as well, added to the things he had already said:

^A Ver. 27. “And the kingdom, and the power, and the greatness of the kings who are under all heaven were given to the saints of the Most High; and His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all principalities shall serve and obey Him. Hitherto is the end of the word.” That is to say, this is the end of all affairs of this life: that all the kingdoms of the earth should fail, and the everlasting kingdom should be given to the saints of the Most High; and that those who reign should obey and serve Him with goodwill; for His kingdom is perennial, and receives no end. [28] “Having heard these things,” he says, “I, Daniel, was filled with great terror, so that not even my thoughts could rest within me, but were confounded, and were constantly troubled, and my countenance was much changed by reason of this.” Nevertheless, I did not divulge the mysteries shown to me to everyone, but kept them in my heart. The blessed Daniel, therefore, has taught us these things.

As for me, omitting for the present any accusation of the Jews, I am greatly astonished that certain teachers of piety should have called the fourth beast the Macedonian kingdom. For they ought first to have considered that the third beast had four heads, which clearly indicated the fourfold division of the kingdom that occurred after the death of Alexander. Then it should have been observed that the fourth beast at the same time had ten horns, and that the little horn plucked up by the roots three of the former horns, and that four, not ten, kings succeeded to the kingdom of Alexander. And that I may pass over other matters and arrive at the end, it should also have been considered that the prophet said that after the destruction of the fourth beast, the kingdom would be given to the saints of the Most High. For which cause also the judgment sat; ^B but the saints of the Most High did not receive the kingdom after Antiochus Epiphanes. And if the blessed Maccabees did attain to some power, yet they did not reign for long. For Judas was leader for three years, Jonathan for nineteen, Simon for eight; and the others, that I may not go through them one by one and make my discourse too long, after they had reigned for a little while, were either extinguished by death, or, afflicted by certain calamities, were deprived of their rule while still alive. Furthermore, not all of these were saints; for some among them proved to be wicked; and even if we suppose them all to have been saints, after all of them were destroyed, Herod was declared king of all Judea. How then will that be true which was said by the angel, that after the destruction of that horn, the kingdom, and the power, and the greatness of the kings who are under all heaven, were given to the saints of the Most High, and His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom? ^C For none of these things fits the Maccabees. Nor was the kingdom entrusted to them, but as they were leaders of an army, they were victorious, and met with a speedy end. It remains, therefore, that we should understand the fourth beast to be the Roman kingdom. For towards its end, ten [kings] at the same time... ^D

and the author and teacher of all wickedness shall appear last, doing and suffering those things which we have been taught. After his destruction, the coming of God and our Savior shall appear, and the judgment of all men shall take place, and the books shall be opened, that is, the records of those things which have been done by each person in life. ^B And the body of the beast shall be delivered to the fire, that is, those who, having stripped away the power of the soul, have granted license to the body, and have been addicted to the carnal mind throughout their life. The just Judge shall deliver the kingdom to the saints, crying: "Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world," which may we all attain, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father be glory, with the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.

BOOK EIGHT

CHAPTER VIII

^C VERS. 1. "In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me, even to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the beginning." While the kingdom of the Chaldeans, or rather of the Assyrians, was still in power, he says, I saw another revelation after that previous one; and the time declares that this was more recent. For he saw the former in the first year of Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, but this one in the third year of the same. He does not designate the time in vain, but teaches that he had received from God, the author of all things, the foreknowledge of these events long before they came to pass, so that he might be aware of them.

VERS. 2. "And I saw, he says, in the vision, and it came to pass when I saw, that I was at Susa in the citadel, which is in the region of Elam." Susa was formerly the metropolis of the Persians. Therefore, since he is learning of the destruction of the Persian kingdom, it is fitting that he should seem to see the revelation in that city. "And I saw, he says, in the vision," that is, I did not see these things while awake, nor in the daytime, but God, the Lord of all, showed these things to me in a dream. ^D "And I was, he says, by the Ubal." That is, near the gate,

as some of the interpreters have posited. ^A

VERS. 3. "And I lifted up my eyes, and behold, a ram standing by the Ubal, and it had high horns, and one was higher than the other, and the higher one rose up at the end." He sees the Persian kingdom as resembling a ram, inasmuch as it flourished in wealth and possessed an abundance of riches. He contemplates two horns on the ram, because Cyrus was the first of them to rule, and he passed on the kingdom only as far as his sons; for when his son Cambyses died, the Magi held the kingdom for a few months, and shortly thereafter Darius, son of Hystaspes, took it, who passed on the kingdom to his grandsons and great-grandsons, down to the last Darius, whom Alexander the Macedonian killed and took the kingdom. Therefore, the two classes of kings are signified by the two horns; and he sees both as high, but the second as higher than the first. For, as we have already said, the kingdom was greater when Darius and Xerxes held the scepter. For Cyrus subdued for himself the Euxine Sea and Asia; Darius further joined the nomadic Scythians to his subjects; and Xerxes attempted to place the yoke of his kingdom upon Europe as well. For this reason he contemplates two horns on the ram, one prior and one posterior, and the posterior higher than the prior. ^B

VERS. 4. "And I saw, he says, the ram butting towards the sea, and the north, and the south." For it had all things situated to the north and to the south subject to it, and likewise those to the west as far as the sea; and it forced most of the islands into servitude. Therefore, as soon as Xerxes brought war upon Greece, the Cypriots, Rhodians, Samians, Lesbians, Chians, and all the Cyclades fought in mutual alliance while he made his campaign against Greece. For this reason, "He saw the ram butting towards the sea, and the north, and the south. And all the animals, he says, will not stand before him, and there was no one delivering out of his hand, and he did according to his will, and he was magnified." By animals ^C he again calls the other individual kingdoms—those of the Syrians, Cilicians, Arabians, and Egyptians—and he names them animals because they were terrible to those subject to them. No kingdom, therefore, he says, could resist that kingdom which was pushing its horn towards the south, and the north, and the sea, nor was any man able to show anyone free from that empire, but whatever seemed good to it, that it brought to completion. ^D

VERS. 5. "And I, he says, was understanding." These things, he says, contemplating, I was reckoning with myself, which...

desiring to find what might be signified by these things: and while I was inquiring, ^A "Behold, a male goat of the goats was coming from the west [Libya] upon the face of the whole earth." And in certain of the copies this is also added: "And it was not touching the ground; and that goat had one conspicuous horn between its eyes." By this the riddle of the dream indicated the Macedonian kingdom; and it called it a goat on account of its speed and agility, for a goat is swifter than a ram. It said it came from the west [Libya], because having first subdued Egypt, thus it came into the land of the Persians. For he conquered Darius in Cilicia, and then, having traversed Syria, and Phoenicia, and Palestine, and having taken some cities by agreement and others by force, he rushed into Egypt; then, having also taken possession of that kingdom, he seizes Persia and destroys the greatest of their kingdoms. And by "conspicuous horn," that is, notable and distinguished, it calls Alexander himself; and it says that the horn grew between the eyes of the goat, on account of the sharpness of mind, and the prudence, and the sagacity ^B of the mind of Alexander.

VERS. 6, 7. "And, he says, the goat came as far as the ram having the horns, which I saw standing upon [the bank of] the Ulai, and ran towards him in the impetus of his strength. And I saw him having reached the ram, and he was enraged against him, and he struck the ram, and broke both his horns, and there was no strength in the ram to stand before him; and he cast him upon the ground, and trampled him, and there was no one delivering the ram out of his hand." For at first, having engaged with his generals in the parts of Asia, he stripped them of all that authority. Then, when Darius met him according to Cilicia with a great army, another encounter takes place, and Darius is turned to flight, and Alexander, having consumed many of the army, took Darius's daughters captive. Then again, after the return from Egypt, having drawn up battle near Babylon, he both killed Darius himself and destroyed the Persian kingdom. And he says that "both his horns" were broken, since Medes and Persians were called by the same name, Cyrus, who reigned first, being a Mede on his mother’s side and a Persian on his father’s side; and since their first king had ^C both these names, it was necessary that those who were ruled should *also* call the same people both Medes and Persians. For both kingdoms came together into one authority. And even the outside writers call the same people both Persians and Medes. Thus, he says, the horns of the ram having been broken,

VERS. 8. "The male goat of the goats was magnified exceedingly." For the Persian, or rather Median, kingdom having been destroyed, Alexander obtained ^D dominion over all.

^A Yet he also, after living but a short time, received the end of his life. This too the blessed Daniel saw. Therefore he says: "And when he was strong, the great horn was broken." After that great victory, he says, Alexander met the common end of men. "And there came up," he says, "four horns underneath it toward the four winds of heaven." The four horns signify the four kings who in the same manner succeeded Alexander. For Ptolemy son of Lagus received the sovereignty of Egypt; Seleucus Nicanor held Babylon and the other parts extending as far as Syria; Antigonus held sway over Asia, and Antipater over Macedonia—or, as it seems to some writers, Philip, who is also called Aridaeus, and who was Alexander’s brother. It is necessary to note that the prophet had seen the third beast having four heads, and the goat, after the breaking of the one horn, producing four horns; so that it is manifest that the same things are signified both by the goat and by the third beast.

VERS. 9. "And out of one," he says, "of the horns there came forth one strong horn." He means Antiochus Epiphanes, the son of that Antiochus who was called the Great. "And it was magnified," he says, "exceedingly toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the south-west, and toward the power." Being made powerful, he says, he prevailed over the king of Egypt, and brought the nations lying toward the east under his own power; and he also, he says, waged war against the Jews and conquered the holy metropolis—for he called it "power" because of the divine grace that was flourishing in the temple at that time. ^B And making this clearer, he added:

VERS. 10. "And it was magnified even unto the power of heaven, and it fell to the ground from the power, and from the stars, and trampled them." The first and second books of the Maccabees teach us these things more clearly, and Josephus the historiographer accurately recorded these matters, and we also shall briefly recount things that pertain to them. When those Jews who were of the high-priestly line stirred up sedition against the high priest of that time, those who were coveting this office set out to Antiochus ^C and persuaded him to transform the Jewish polity into a Greek one and to build a gymnasium in the city. When these things were done, the pious were in mourning, seeing the manifest violation of the laws, while the rest of the multitude trod underfoot the divine law without any fear and insulted the commandment of circumcision. But when a more violent sedition had been kindled, Antiochus arrived ^D and slew many of those...

^A who were pious, and dared even to enter the innermost sanctuary of the holy temple. Having entered, he plundered all that was in the temple, despoiling it of its treasures, and all the votive offerings, both the bowls and the vials, and the censers, and the golden table, and the golden censer, and the lamps fashioned from gold, and, in a word, all the instruments of divine service. In addition to these things, he built an altar to Jupiter within the temple of God, and filled the whole city with idols, and compelled everyone to sacrifice. He himself even sacrificed a pig upon the divine altar, and named the temple [that of] Jupiter Olympius. The blessed Daniel instructs us about all these things beforehand; for he sees him, through that horn, who is Antiochus, that ^B "it was magnified even to the host of heaven,"—that is, he acted with madness against God Himself, who is over all, and to whom the people and the temple were consecrated. "And it fell to the ground from the host and from the stars, and trampled upon them." For very many of the people, having transgressed the law of God, fell from the order of the heavenly ones, and were trampled by the tyranny of that man, having brought destruction upon themselves. He called them stars because of the brilliance and brightness of piety. He alludes also to the promise given to Abraham: "For I will make," he says, "your seed as the stars of heaven." For he was not content, he says, to have trampled many of those who were called stars, but also—

Verse 11. "And it was magnified even to the prince of the host."

For he was inflamed with rage and madness against God Himself and the king of this host, that is, of the holy people; and he persisted in doing these things, he says, "until the prince of the host should deliver the captives," that is, until we should obtain divine aid, and obtain salvation through that archangel to whom this task ^C has been entrusted, that he should be our president and guardian. Then what Antiochus was about to dare is foretold more clearly: "And through him," he says, "the sacrifice was troubled by sin." For he did not permit sacrifices to be offered according to the law, but compelled them to be performed according to Greek rite. Then he adds: "Because it was also done, and it succeeded for him." For then there was no impediment that might restrain his rage.

Verse 12. "And the holy place, he says, shall be made desolate. And it was given, he says, over the sacrifice, sin, and righteousness was cast to the ground, and he acted, and he succeeded."

For, using fury and tyranny, he dared to pollute the altar by performing an unlawful sacrifice; and he made the temple of God devoid of divine adornment, and trampled upon the laws of righteousness, ^D and...

ny, he dared to pollute the altar by performing an unlawful sacrifice; and he made the temple of God devoid of divine adornment, and trampled upon the laws of righteousness, and while he was doing this, he says, "he prospered." ^A Afterwards,

VERS. 15. "I heard a certain holy one speaking, and a certain holy one said to him who was speaking: How long shall the vision last, and the sacrifice be taken away, and the sin of desolation be given, and the sanctuary and the host be trampled under foot?" The word *Pheimuni* in the Greek translation signifies "a certain one," and the language of the Syrians, which is related to the Hebrew, bears witness to this. Therefore, the blessed Daniel says: "I heard a certain holy one asking another holy one." ^B It is clear that he saw angels conversing with one another and desiring to learn how long the time of this rash impiety and iniquity, and of the desolation of the temple, and of the unholy and detestable sacrifice, and of that tyranny by which the people would be oppressed, would be.

VERS. 14. "And he said to him, he says: Unto evening and morning, two thousand and three hundred days, and the sanctuary shall be cleansed." He called the evening the beginning of the calamities, and the morning the end of the calamities, because things that bring pain are likened to night and darkness. From the present beginning of the calamities, he says, until the end of the evils, so much time passes. And these days, when calculated according to the reckoning of the Hebrews, make the number of six years and six months: for so long did the calamity of the Jews prevail.

VERS. 15. "And it came to pass, he says, when I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought for the understanding." Having seen these things, he says, I desired to understand and accurately perceive what was signified by these riddles. "And behold, there stood before me as it were the appearance of a man." I seemed to myself, he says, to see a man. ^C

VERS. 16. "And I heard a man's voice in the midst of Ubal, and he called and said: Gabriel, make him understand the vision." I also heard someone else using a human voice, and commanding him who stood beside me, whom he also named Gabriel, to interpret for me the riddles of the revelation. From those things which were said, it can also be conjectured that the one who gave the command was the Lord.

VERS. 17. "And he came, he says, and stood by my station." Immediately, he says, being commanded, he came and stood near me. "And when he came, I was astounded, and fell upon my face." ^D These things are sufficient to overcome the pride of Eunomius, who arrogantly boasts that he knows the very essence of God. For if such a great prophet could not bear the contemplation of angels, though it was accommodated to the powers of the one contemplating, what is more impious or detestable than those who boast that they know the divine substance? But let us return to the matter at hand. "And he said..."

to me: Understand, son of man: for the vision is even to the end of the time." He says, do not think that these things are to receive their end in the present, for it is after a great number of years that these things will come to pass. For when the appointed time is fulfilled, then each of these things will receive its end. ^A Verses 18, 19. "And as he was speaking with me, I fell on my face to the ground: and he touched me, and set me on my feet. And he said: Behold, I show thee what shall come to pass in the end of the anger, to the children of thy people: for it yet remains for the end of the time." Seeing me, he says, collapsed from fear, he first raised me up, then he comforted me, indicating that he had come for this purpose, in order to foretell to me, who was desiring it, what things were to come, and what sort of things were again to seize my people on account of the wrath of God. Then, wishing to remove the fear that lay upon me, he signaled that these things would come to pass after a long time. He interpreted for me each of the things I had seen, saying: ^B Verse 20. "This ram, which you saw, having horns, is the king of the Medes and Persians." For because Darius the Mede immediately took over the Chaldean, or rather the Assyrian, kingdom, and at that time Cyrus the Persian transferred the empire to the Persians—and he was both Mede and Persian on account of the intermingling of the peoples—he has necessarily placed the Medes before the Persians, and says that "the ram is the king of the Medes and Persians." For the last one, too, Darius, who was called the son of Arsames, whom Alexander of Macedon brought down, administered both ^C kingdoms. Verse 21. "And the he-goat," he says, "the king of the goats of the Greeks: and the great horn which was between his eyes, he is the first king." He speaks of Alexander. Verse 22. "And that it was broken, and four horns stood up under it, four kings shall rise up from his nation, and not in his power." For after his death, he says, his kingdom will be divided into four kingdoms. But even if there are four who reign, they will not be able to accomplish those distinguished deeds which he accomplished; rather, they will prove to be much inferior to his strength. Verse 23. "And in the end," he says, "of their kingdom, when their sins are filled up." When, he says, they reach the peak of impiety, and transgress beyond the measures of my long-suffering. "A king impudent in face shall arise, and understanding ^D propositions. (Verse 24.) And his power shall be strong, and not by his own power." By these things he hints at the cunning malice of Antiochus, and alongside the malice, the power which he had acquired for himself. Then, teaching...

that he will do these things, clearly for the reason that God allows it, he necessarily adds: “And not by his own power.” ^A For God says also to the Assyrian through the prophet Isaiah: “Shall the axe boast itself without the one who hews with it? Or shall the saw be exalted without the one who draws it?” Thus also here, he says that Antiochus will dare these things, not as one who is powerful, but because God allows it.

“And he will destroy,” he says, “wondrous things, and he will direct, and he will act, and he will destroy both the strong and the holy people. (Verse 25) And he will direct the yoke of his bond.” That is, nothing will be an impediment to him, so that he will not do everything he wishes. Concerning such people, the blessed David counsels, saying: “Do not emulate the one who prospers in his way, in the man who performs iniquity.” For it often happens that those addicted to impiety and iniquity, and who dare exceedingly unjust things, succeed in their affairs. “The yoke, therefore,” he says, “of his bond will he direct,” that is, whatever he commands to the subject peoples, he will compel them to fulfill. Then, predicting his crafty and treacherous deceit: “Deceit,” he says, “is in his hand, and he will be magnified in his heart, and with deceit he will destroy many.” ^B For from the beginning he ordered a gymnasium to be built in Jerusalem; then he ordered them to partake of swine’s flesh; later he even compelled them to sacrifice. He also used flattering words, attempting to lead the pious into fraud, and promised royal gifts, desiring to see everyone transgressing the law. For this reason he says: “Deceit is in his hand, and in his heart he will be magnified.” For he considered himself the greatest of all men, “and with deceit he will destroy many,” whomever he is able to deceive. “And at the destruction of many,” he says, “he will stand.” This means he will persist in his interrogation, using exquisite tortures, until he sees many have lost their own salvation. And not content with this madness against men: “And even against the Prince,” he says, “of princes he will stand.” ^C That is, against the King of kings himself, and the Lord of lords, he will exercise his frenzy, attempting to defile the temple dedicated to Him. And showing the permission granted him against the Jews: “And as if,” he says, “he will crush them in his hand.” Thus, he says, he will accomplish all these things with great ease, just as if one wished to crush eggs in his hand. And here he notes the sloth of the Jews themselves, who, having neglected divine matters, were deserted by God himself and became destitute of providence from above. To these things he adds: ^D (Verse 26) “And the vision of the evening and morning which has been spoken is true.” That is, the time defined for the calamities is without any doubt true. But because a long time intervenes:

^A “And you, seal the vision, for it shall be for many days.” This is to say, leave it obscure to the many for now; for I have revealed these things to you, as you desired, before the events themselves take place.

Ver. 27. “And I, Daniel, fell asleep and became ill for days; and I rose and did the works of the king, and I was amazed by the vision, and there was no one to understand it.” ^B For having learned of the evils that would again seize my people, I was so distressed that I even fell into an illness. Yet, even in that state, I continued to manage the business entrusted to me by the king, with no one knowing the cause of my illness. He knew how to say, with blessed Paul: “Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn?” And that: “Weep with those who weep, and rejoice with those who rejoice.” And: “If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it.” Being thus disposed, and possessing this affection for his fellow servants, ^C having learned of the calamities that would overtake those fellow servants many generations later, he continued to mourn and lament. And this he did while knowing precisely that he himself would experience none of these things, but would depart this present life before long. It is fitting that we, too, have this love for our kin and fellow servants, and think the same thing toward one another, and imitate the sympathy that the members have for one another. Since we have been called members of one another, and have been counted worthy to be called the body of Christ. To Him be the glory for the ages of ages. Amen.

BOOK NINE

CAP. IX.

Ver. 1, 2. “In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who reigned over the kingdom of the Chaldeans; in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood in the books the number of the years, of which the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, for the fulfillment of the desolation of Jerusalem, seventy years.” ^D From this, too, it is clear that one thing is the kingdom of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, and another is the...

and what has just been read agrees with what was said previously. For he did not call Darius simply a Mede, but “from the seed of the Medes,” so that it is plain that he was not a Mede on both sides, that is, by paternal and maternal lineage; nevertheless, he reigned over the kingdom of the Chaldeans, after Belshazzar was killed by a divine stroke during the night following his impiety. It seems to me that this Darius reigned for a very short time. For blessed Daniel, when he saw that the term of the captivity was now at last complete, and had calculated the number of the seventy years which God, the Lord of all, had foretold through the prophet Jeremiah, began to offer supplication to the Master on behalf of the people. ^B The time, however, was fulfilled during the reign of Cyrus, king of the Persians, as blessed Ezra says. For immediately at the beginning of his book, after the introductions, having made brief mention of the conquest of Jerusalem, of the enslavement to which the fatherland was reduced, and of the transporting of the captives to Babylon, he added: “And they were his servants, and [the servants of] his sons, until the Persians ruled, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, until the land should receive its Sabbaths; for all the time of its desolation it shall keep Sabbath, to complete seventy years, in the first year of Cyrus, king of the Persians, for the completion of the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah.” And most holy Jeremiah also says this: ^C “Behold, I will send and take the nation from the north, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon my servant, and I will bring him upon this land, and upon the inhabitants of it, and upon all the nations that are round about them, and I will utterly destroy them and make them a desolation, and a hissing, and an everlasting reproach; and I will take from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the scent of ointment and the light of a lamp; and all its land shall be for a desolation, and they shall serve among the nations for seventy years. And when the seventy years have been completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, says the Lord, for their iniquities, and upon the land of the Chaldeans, and I will put them into everlasting desolation.” Blessed Jeremiah, therefore, hinted that the time of the captivity was to be completed at the overthrow of the Chaldean kingdom; and Ezra, by making mention of Cyrus, has declared this more clearly. ^D We find also that the most divine Zechariah calculated this time differently. For after the death of Cyrus and of his son Cambyses, when Darius the son of Hystaspes had obtained the Persian empire, the prophet, commemorating the time, says: “In the four and twentieth (day) of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of the reign of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah.”

the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet.” And he adds after a little: “And the angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord Almighty, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, which thou hast despised? This is the seventieth year.” ^A And some of those who suffer from the disease of unbelief think that the holy prophets disagree; but those who have been nurtured in the divine scriptures, being illuminated by divine grace, find the concord of the holy prophets. Come, therefore, having besought to obtain that radiance, let us make it plain to those who are ignorant of it. For all men, without exception, have set the time of the captivity in agreement—both the divine Jeremiah, and the wondrous Zechariah, and the blessed Ezra—for all have fixed the number at seventy. But they did not all start numbering this time from the same periods; some said this number ends under Cyrus, others under Darius. For those around the blessed Jeremiah and Ezra, counting from the beginning of the first ^B captivity, deservedly limit the seventy years to Cyrus, the king of the Persians. But the most divine Zechariah, counting from the final siege, in which they suffered total destruction, asserts that the number of the seventy years is completed under Darius, the king of the Persians; for indeed under him the divine temple was truly rebuilt. Since the people were carried captive three times—first under Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah; second under Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim; and third under Zedekiah, the brother of Jehoiakim and uncle of Jeconiah—they necessarily obtained their return to their homeland three times as well. For first Cyrus the Persian released them, then Darius the son of ^C Hystaspes, then Artaxerxes the son of Xerxes, at which time he sent first Ezra, and after him Nehemiah, to see to the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. So for those who were first carried captive, the seventy-year period is fulfilled under Cyrus the Persian; but this same period takes its end regarding the desolation of the temple in the second year of Darius the son of Hystaspes, so that both prophecies—that of Jeremiah and that of Zechariah, and likewise the writing of Ezra—are non-false and true. This time, he says, the blessed Daniel understanding, and having calculated, and having found that it was approaching...

VERS. 3. “I set my face,” he says,

^A He promises good things, yet if we render ourselves unworthy of the gift, we become an obstacle to the divine generosity. This is what God says also through the prophet Ezekiel: "At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant; and it shall be, if that nation turns and does evil, I will not bring upon it all the good things whereof I spoke." Taught by these things, the blessed Daniel, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes, as if provided with wings, offered up his prayer to God.

VERS. 4. "And I prayed," he says, "to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, O Lord God, the great and awesome one, who keepest the covenant and mercy to them that love thee, and to them that keep thy commandments." ^B He calls Him great and awesome, as being able to perform great and awesome things; for divine men are accustomed to bestow divine epithets derived from His works. And by saying that He "keepest the covenant and mercy to them that love him," he reminds them of the promises made of old to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Praying with all precision, he teaches that He does not keep them simply, but to those who love Him and keep His commandments. "For if anyone," he says, "violate Thy commandments, he renders himself unworthy of Thy promises." And this same thing has happened to us.

VERS. 5. "For we have sinned," he says, "we have committed iniquity, we have done impiously, and have turned aside from Thy commandments, and from Thy judgments." ^C Having very appropriately attributed to God those honorable and wondrous names, he has placed upon themselves the contrary and completely opposite ones. And not content with saying "we have sinned," he added moreover, "we have committed iniquity, we have done impiously," having been ungrateful for Thy benefits. We have done impiously, indeed, by preferring before Thee other gods, who were devoid of soul and sense, and possessed no power. Then, showing the care with which God continually deemed them worthy, and the great stubbornness of the people, he added:

VERS. 6. "And we have not hearkened to Thy servants the prophets, who spoke in Thy name to our kings, and to our princes, and to our fathers, and to all the people of the land." ^D For Thy grace did not cease to watch over us, and to converse through the prophets, sometimes with kings and princes, sometimes with priests and teachers (for these he called fathers), and often even with all the people; but although these things were done in this way, we nevertheless persisted in contradicting. Therefore he rightly adds:

VERS. 7. "To Thee, O Lord, belongs justice, and to us confusion"

of face, as this day, to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, to those near and to those far off, in every land where Thou hast scattered them for their iniquity, by which they have sinned against Thee, O Lord." For those things which have been done, he says, O Master, proclaim Thy justice: ^A but we, because of our many transgressions, have been covered in shame. For truly, from our own impiety, no harm has befallen Thee; but we have suffered the fruits of our own sowing, and miserably, because ^B by accusing our kinsmen, he also joins himself to those who violate the law.

VERS. 8. "To us, he says, belongs confusion of face, and to our kings, and to our princes, and to our fathers, who have sinned against Thee." That is, what is most cruel of all should be bent toward mercy, much more that which is most gentle and philanthropic. For he shows by his words that it was not only the common, obscure people who were filled with shame, but he even includes the kings themselves, and the princes, and the priests; for he called these our fathers. And showing the justice of the punishment, he adds: "Who have sinned against Thee." Indeed, we ourselves have received the fruits worthy of the transgression.

VERS. 9. "But to the Lord our God belong mercies and propitiations." It becomes Thee, he says, to be moved by mercy and compassion toward us. And dwelling on the accusation of the transgression (for he heard that God, through another ^C prophet, says: "Speak, you, your iniquities first, that you may be justified"), taking upon himself the transgression of the people, and making this very accusation, he invites divine mercy.

VERS. 10. "Because we have departed, he says, and have not listened to the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before our faces by the hand of His servants the prophets." Illuminated, he says, by the prophets, and guided toward what was right, we nevertheless persisted in contradicting throughout all time.

VERS. 11. "And all Israel have violated Thy law, and have declined so as not to hear Thy voice." For if some had violated it, while others had been strict observers of the law, we would not have endured this ^D calamity: but since the common iniquity has been dared by all, he rightly says: "And there has come upon us the curse and the oath, which is written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, because we have sinned against Him." He calls "oath" that which was sworn by God in Deuteronomy: "For I lift up my hand, He says, to heaven, and I swear by My right hand, " and established His words which He spoke against us, and against our judges, and as many as judged us, to bring upon us great evils. And showing the excess of the evils, "Such, he says, as have not been done under all the heaven according to what has been done in Jerusalem." For I do not find, he says, an example of our evils. Then, teaching the truthfulness of the divine prediction: VER. 13. "As, he says, it is written in the law of Moses." And showing the justice of the punishment: "All these evils, he says, have come upon us, and we have not entreated the face of the Lord our God, to turn from our iniquities, and to understand in all Thy truth, O Lord." For not even when such and so great calamities were brought upon us did we wish to make use of repentance, and to cease from our former transgression, and to serve Thee by the keeping of the laws. Wherefore he says: VER. 14. "The Lord our God has watched over our evil, and has brought it upon us." For as if casting off long-suffering like some sleep, He brought upon us the punishment worthy of our conduct.

"For the Lord our God is righteous," He says, "in all that He has done, because we did not listen to His voice." He is guiltless, he says, and in no way worthy of blame for what He has done, but we are they who drew upon ourselves the punishment. Thus, having made the accusation of lawlessness, he now pleads for His loving-kindness.

Vers. 15, 16. "And now, O Lord our God, who didst bring Thy people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast made Thee a name, as it is this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly. In all Thy mercy, let Thy wrath be turned away, I pray Thee, from Thy city Jerusalem, from Thy holy mountain." Reminding Him of former benefits, and drawing down mercy by the memory, he says: "It is easy for Thee, Master, to bring about [the next page begins: deliverance..."

And since we have sinned, and have shown ourselves unworthy of Thy loving-kindness, we beseech Thee for Thy city, that it might be deemed worthy of Thy sparing, and for that mountain which Thou didst render holy through Thy manifestation. And persisting in the supplication for the city, he says: "Because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Thy people have become a reproach among all those who are round about us." For because of our own lawless deeds, and the sins of our fathers, we have become a joy to those living on our borders, and the much-talked-of and celebrated city has undergone desolation.

Vers. 17. "And now hear, O Lord our God, the prayer of Thy servant, and his supplications, and make Thy face to shine upon Thy sanctuary that is desolate." Accept, he says, the petition of Thy servant, Master, and look upon the desolation of the place sanctified by Thee, and fill it again with Thy grace. And since the people were unworthy to obtain these things, he very appropriately added: "For Thy sake, O Lord." Do what is fitting for Thine own self, Master, and do not reckon our lawless deeds, but the everlasting springs of Thy loving-kindness.

^A And persisting in his petition regarding the city, he says: "For in our sins, and in the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Thy people have become a reproach to all that are round about us." For because of our lawlessness and the sins of our fathers, we have become a laughingstock to our neighbors, and the much-talked-of and glorious city has undergone desolation.

Ver. 17. "And now, O Lord our God, hearken to the prayer of Thy servant, and to his supplications, and cause Thy face to shine upon Thy sanctuary that is desolate." Accept, he says, the prayer of Thy servant, O Master, and behold the desolation of the place which was sanctified by Thee, and fill it again with Thy grace. And because the people were unworthy to obtain these things, he very appropriately added: "For Thy sake, O Lord." Do those things which are fitting for Thee, O Master, and do not reckon against us our lawlessness, but ^B the ever-flowing fountains of Thy loving-kindness. And persisting in the prayer:

Ver. 18. "Incline, he says, O my God, Thine ear, and hear; open Thine eyes, and see our desolation, and that of Thy city." And still further endearing the city to Him, he said: "Upon which Thy name is called." Now, "Incline Thine ear, and open Thine eyes," is the same as if one were to say: Do not turn Thine face from my prayer, but with favor and kindness hear my supplication. For he himself also knows that the Divine is without a body, but, being a human being, he knew not how to converse with God in any other way. But because every human being sees with eyes and hears with ears, he attributed these same things ^C to the incorporeal God, thus naming His operations. To these he adds: "For we do not cast our mercy before Thee in our righteousness, but in Thy manifold mercies, O Lord." For we do not, he says, trusting in our righteous deeds, implore Thy loving-kindness, but trusting in Thy mercy, we dare to offer this supplication.

Ver. 19. "Hearken, therefore, O Lord; be propitious, O Lord; attend, O Lord; do not delay, for Thy sake, ^D O my God."

^A It is worth the trouble to admire the order of what has been said. For he beseeches God, first, to hear his prayer and not to turn away his supplication; then, having heard, to become propitious; and having become propitious, to attend kindly, and, having shown His own benevolence, to bring to pass that which is sought in prayer. He adds to these, "Do not delay," that is, do not defer to another time that for which we pray, but deem us worthy, here and now, of Thy manifestation. The end of this prayer is also worthy of Daniel’s humility: "For Thy sake," he says, "O my God." For I, he says, am not worthy to receive this grace; but, "because Thy name is called upon Thy city and upon Thy people." Having asked in this way, and with such great zeal having offered the supplication on behalf of his kinsmen, and having entreated that God should not delay, he immediately receives the divine response.

Ver. 20, 21. "And while I was still speaking," he says, "and praying, and confessing my iniquities, and the sins of the people of Israel, and casting my mercy before the Lord my God: and while I was still speaking in prayer, behold, Gabriel, the man whom I had seen in my vision at the beginning, flying." While I was offering this supplication, he says, and accusing our common iniquity, not having yet put an end to my prayers, I see Gabriel flying and running toward me. I knew who he was, because I had already seen him previously in a dream and had learned his name at that time, when I heard the Lord, who had summoned him to Himself, command thus: "Gabriel, make him understand the vision." He called him "the man" having imposed the name from his appearance; for indeed in that dream he says, "Behold, there stood before me as it were the vision of a man." For which reason he also says here, "Behold, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in my vision at the beginning, flying." And he said he was flying, having caught sight of him swiftly cutting through the air and running toward him. "And he touched me about the time of the evening sacrifice." That is, about the time of the evening worship, or as much time as the evening worship occupies.

Ver. 22, 23. "And he spoke with me, and said: Daniel, I have now come forth to give you understanding. At the beginning of your prayer the word went forth, and I have come to declare it to you, for you are a man of desires; and note the word, and understand the vision." Immediately, he says, as soon as you began to pray, the common Lord, having received the supplication and having seen your praiseworthy desire, sent me to teach you the things that shall be. But do thou diligently attend to these things which are said, for the things which shall be said are too profound to be understood by man. For this is what he says: "Understand the vision," that is,

it is spoken through enigmas, and you need accurate intelligence to understand these things yourself. Now, divine things are sometimes spoken and written in enigmas, so that the things revealed to the saints might not be manifest to all; for if they were known equally by all, they would easily be held in contempt. He calls him a "man of desires," either as one who has surrendered himself to fasting and affliction and is manfully struggling against the lusts of the body, or as one desiring to know and craving to learn the things that are to happen to the people, or because he is lovely and most beloved, emitting such splendors of virtue. Having thus aroused the prophet to the understanding of the things that were to be spoken, the divine archangel offers the instruction. ^B

Ver. 24. "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to seal up sin, and to blot out iniquities, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy." Before all other things, it is necessary to note that while the prophet was speaking in his prayer to God concerning the people and Jerusalem, saying: "Thy people, and thy city, and thy sanctuary," God, ^C answering, says to Daniel: "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city," as if He does not deign to call his own people that which was long ago called His, nor the city likewise that was once called His. He did this also in the case of the great Moses. For when, having fashioned the calf, they offered it divine honor, God said to the prophet: "Make haste, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people, whom thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have dealt corruptly." Therefore, God says to him through the archangel that, having accepted your supplication, I will permit Jerusalem to be built, and I will command your people to attain a return to their country. But after the building of Jerusalem, they will continue ^D living according to the law for four hundred and ninety years; for these seventy weeks make up so much time, if each day is taken for a year. For since He limited their captivity to the space of seventy years, by multiplying this time by seven, He limits their life according to the law. "Seventy weeks are determined," that is, they have been approved and decreed; for so some of the interpreters have rendered it; "upon thy people, and upon the holy city."

until transgression reaches its full maturity and sin is completed," ^A that is to say, until their impious daring is increased and sin attains its end. He calls the sin which is perfected, and the transgression that has become "mature"—or rather, that which has grown and arrived at the final extreme—the cross which they dared to prepare against the Lord. For before this time, although they had dared to commit ten thousand wicked deeds, they had paid the penalties and suffered punishments for the things in which they had offended, but then, having again obtained forgiveness, they were deemed worthy of mercy. But after their frenzy against the Master and the daring crime of the cross, they attained no restoration ^B—as the facts themselves cry out; but though more than four hundred and forty years have passed, they have remained scattered and wanderers in the world. For this reason the holy archangel says to the blessed Daniel: "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, until transgression reaches its full maturity and sin is completed."

And because the Master Christ was about to grant the remission and forgiveness of sins to those who believe in Him, as the blessed John also cried out when he said, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world," he rightly added, "And to seal sins, and to wipe out iniquities, and to make atonement for injustices." For He wiped out the iniquities of those who believed in Him, having blotted out the handwriting against us, ^C as the blessed Paul asserts. He "sealed" the sins by putting an end to the manner of life under the Law, and bestowing the grace of the Spirit, by which those who live spiritually are helped and overcome their passions. To these he added: "And to bring in everlasting righteousness." Now, everlasting righteousness is, in the proper sense, the Master Christ Himself. For about Him the blessed Paul says, "Who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." And in writing to the Romans about the Gospel, he said that "the righteousness of God is revealed in it." Since, therefore, He exercised liberality and bestowed upon those who believed in Him the righteousness which is the procure ^D of eternal life—which He also exhorted those who pray to ask for, saying, "Seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness"—the holy Gabriel appropriately said, "And to bring in everlasting righteousness."

He further added: "And to seal the vision and the prophet," that is, to put an end to all the prophecies—"for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes"—and to bring it about that from the nation of the Jews, for the remaining time, the prophetic gift should cease. For unless the Master Christ had appeared and accomplished and suffered those things which the prophets foretold, there would not have been shown

the truth of the prophets. Therefore, He fulfills and, as it were, seals and confirms the things spoken beforehand by the prophets, doing and suffering all that was prophesied by them. ^A To these, He added again: “And to anoint the Most Holy.” But who is this “Most Holy” of the holy ones? Let the Jews say; and if they are ignorant, let them learn from us that it is the Master Christ Himself, as He proclaims through Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord anointed me.” ^B And He is testified to by David, saying: “Thou hast loved justice and hated iniquity; therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” The blessed Peter, the leader of the apostles, also is a witness, when he says: “Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” The blessed prophet Daniel is therefore taught that a time of four hundred and ninety years ^C was ordained to be granted to Jerusalem, that it might enjoy divine gifts according to custom, until that impious and most dreadful deed should be dared, I mean the cross against the Savior—who, being called the “Most Holy,” as being indeed the fountain of holiness, is anointed according to His humanity with the Holy Spirit; and He seals and confirms the ancient prophecies, fulfilling all that was foretold by them, and grants forgiveness of sins to those who have believed in Him. ^D Then the divine archangel teaches from where one ought to begin the number of the seventy weeks.

v. 25. “And thou shalt know,” he says, “and understand, from the going forth of the word” to answer and to build Jerusalem, “unto Christ the leader, seven weeks and sixty-two weeks.” Some, then, suppose the beginning of the building which took place under Cyrus to be the beginning of the number of weeks; but some begin the number from the sixth year of the reign of Darius Hystaspes; for then the building of the temple received its proper completion, since the neighboring peoples, on account of their hostility toward the Jews, had been an impediment to the building in the intervening time, and Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, having been deceived by them, had forbidden the building. But none of these things has the truth. For, first, a greater number of years will be found if one wishes to count from there; then, it is not possible to find in any other the wiping away of sins having taken place, and the remission of offenses, and the granting of everlasting righteousness, and the fulfillment of the prophetic oracles, and the anointing of the Most Holy, except that these things be understood only of the Master Christ. But if these things are so, and they agree who thus...

order the number of the weeks to be reckoned, they should reckon the four hundred and ninety years from below ^A upwards. For if, beginning from the manifestation at the Jordan, when our Savior and Lord began to preach, to teach, and to perform miracles, we were to count backwards, we would not only not find this number reaching to Cyrus, nor even to Darius, but reaching completion in the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, son of Xerxes, at which time Nehemiah, being cupbearer to this king, having caught the zeal and pleaded with God, and having obtained aid from above, besought the king to permit him to undertake the building of the walls of Jerusalem ^B. Having obtained the king's favor, he returned to his homeland, and with all alacrity attended to those things that were lacking for the divine temple; he raised up the walls of the city, fortified them with towers on every side, set up the gates, and having exhorted the priests, he made the city, which had been empty of inhabitants, full of those dwelling therein. This also the divine archangel, hinting, said: « And thou shalt know and understand, from the going forth of the command to answer and to build Jerusalem unto Christ the leader, shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. And it shall return, and the square and the wall shall be built, and the times shall be renewed. » For, he says, beginning to count from the building of the city, after it had received its own walls and had received a multitude of inhabitants, so that it was forced to expand into a square because of the crowd of those dwelling in it, you will find unto Christ the leader seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. He again ^C named Him Christ the leader, whom he had called the Holy of Holies, just as the blessed Peter said when preaching to the Jews: « But the author of life ye killed, whom God raised from the dead, having loosed the pangs of death. » And our leader is such according to His humanity, as the firstborn of all creation, that is to say, of the new: « For if any man, » he says, « be in Christ, there is a new creation. » And as the firstborn from the dead, so that, as Paul says, « he might have the preeminence in all things. » For this reason, the holy Gabriel also called Him Christ the leader. Therefore, until Him from the building of Jerusalem, there are « seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. » And that some may not suppose that we are babbling these things in vain, come let us also set down the number of the years themselves. From the twentieth year ^D of the reign of Artaxerxes, son of Xerxes, when Nehemiah set out for Jerusalem and began to raise the walls of the city, until Darius of Arsamus, upon whose slaughter Alexander of Macedon overturned the kingdom of the Persians, there are one hundred and fourteen years; and from the sixth year of Alexander, in which Darius was slain, until

Gaius Julius Caesar, the first emperor of the Romans, the total years of the Macedonian kingdom are two hundred and eighty-two; and from the principate of Julius Caesar until the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, when John the Baptist came to the Jordan preaching a baptism of repentance, and crying out, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” there are seventy-three years. These, gathered together, make a total of four hundred and sixty-nine years; and these make four hundred and eighty-three Hebrew years; and such is the number made by the seven and sixty-two weeks. For it must be known that the Hebrews, counting the year according to the course of the moon, leave over eleven days, which we also call intercalary: for the course of the moon is completed in twenty-nine days and six hours. Thus counting, they make the year consist of three hundred and fifty-four days. Since, therefore, the holy archangel, conversing with the blessed Daniel, a Hebrew man, and teaching him the number of the years, spoke entirely in the customary number, it is necessary to add those years which are gathered from the intercalary ones; for with these added, the total will be found to be four hundred and eighty-three years; and these make just as many as the seven and sixty-two weeks. ^C He did not divide them simply, but to signify the changes of certain matters. For from the building of Jerusalem, which took place in the time of Nehemiah and Ezra, until Hyrcanus, the last high priest of the Asmonaeans, whom Herod slew, the number of the sixty-two weeks is completed; and from his slaughter until the time of the appearance of our Savior, and His arrival at the Jordan, the remaining seven weeks find their end. In this interval of time, I mean after the killing of Hyrcanus, until the appearance of our Savior, the high priests were subsequently made against the law. For when the law commanded the high priests to serve for their whole life, and after death to receive successors, Herod, and the Romans after him, having made the high priesthoods venal, caused frequent successions to them; and they even appointed as high priests some who were not descended from the priestly line. And teaching this, Josephus, the Hebrew writer, says thus: “Herod, having received the kingdom from the Romans, no longer appointed as high priests those from the Asmonaean line (these are they who were called Maccabees), but certain obscure men who were only Hebrews.”

ngdom from the Romans, no longer appointed as high priests those from the Asmonaean line (these are they who were called Maccabees), but certain obscure men who were only Hebrews.” ^A And in another place he says regarding Herod and his son Archelaus, and the Romans who had taken over the rule over the Jews: “And elsewhere he says: Valerius Gratus, the Roman governor, having deposed Ananus from the priesthood, appointed Ishmael, the son of Phabi, as high priest. And, having removed him not long after, he declared Eleazar, the son of the high priest Ananus, to be high priest. And when a year had passed, having deposed him as well, he entrusted the high priesthood to Simon, the son of Camithus. And not much more time passed before he too was in possession of that honor, and Joseph, who is also called Caiaphas, became his successor.” ^B The blessed Luke, teaching these things, also says: “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, under the high priests Annas and Caiaphas.” But we have never learned that two high priests created according to the law existed at one and the same time. The holy Gabriel, predicting these things:

VERS. 26. “And after the sixty-two weeks,” he says, “the anointing shall be destroyed, and judgment is not in it.” ^C It is therefore clear that he placed the sixty-two weeks first, and after them the seven, in which he said the anointing would be destroyed, that is, the grace flourishing in the high priests. And since even those who were appointed against the law were called high priests, he rightly added: “And judgment is not in it.” For even if they were anointed, he says, yet they were not anointed according to the law, but dared to do this contrary to the law. And he has already made it clear above that he placed the seven weeks in the last position, when he said: “For until Christ the leader there are seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks.” For he set in his mind the seven weeks multiplied unto Christ the leader, ^D that we might understand that if we wish to count backwards again from Christ, we shall find first the seven weeks, and then the sixty-two. Explaining this more clearly: “It shall return,” he says, “and the plaza and the wall shall be built, and the times shall be renewed,” that is, the time before the building. “And after the sixty-two weeks,” he says, “the anointing shall be destroyed.” And he did not say after the seven, but after the sixty-two, after which are the seven, “in which the anointing shall be destroyed, and judgment is not in it.” With Herod the foreigner reigning—for he was an Ascalonite on his father's side, and an Idumaean on his mother's—and those who were called high priests not being anointed according to the law, but being chosen by foreign rulers, Herod, Archelaus, and the Roman governors.

^A Then he mentions the destruction by which the city was to be overwhelmed, and the overthrow of this very kingdom of foreigners, and the removal of the illegitimate high priesthood; and he says: "He shall destroy the city and the sanctuary together with the coming leader." For, he says, the city will be laid waste, and the holy temple will undergo total destruction. And the city will suffer these things with the coming leader, that is, with the coming leaders who are not legitimate. For he called the alien kingdom and the unlawful high priesthood the "coming leader." Then, teaching that they would endure evils far worse than their predecessors, he added: "And they shall be cut off as with a flood," ^B that is, they will endure a total destruction, such as the men of old endured when the flood covered the whole earth. Teaching also that they would never be restored nor attain any recovery, he adds, "And until the end, he says, of the war determined by desolations." For he says they will endure a total destruction, having been delivered to the war as if to a certain flood, and they will be utterly subjected to these evils, and will never attain any recovery. Having thus predicted the total destruction of the Jews, he returns again to the number of the seventy weeks, and adds the one which was wanting to the sixty-nine, and says:

Verse 27. "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week, and in the midst of the week the sacrifice and the drink-offering shall be taken away, and upon the temple the abomination of desolation, and even until the consummation of the time, a consummation shall be given upon the desolation."

^C What things, then, are to happen after the sixty-two weeks in the seven weeks, I have already stated; but it is fitting that we should also learn what will happen in the other week. For in this week the New Testament shall be given to those who believe, and shall imbue them with every virtue. "And in the midst of this week, the sacrifice and the drink-offering shall be taken away." The sacrifice according to the Law, he says, shall cease, since the true sacrifice of the spotless Lamb, who takes away the sin of the world, is offered. For when this one was finally offered, that one would reach its end. For which reason, immediately upon the sacrifice being finished, and our Saviour having given up the spirit, the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom, making ^D things which were formerly invisible visible to all, and making those things which could not be touched or approached accessible. For since the veil separated the Holy of Holies, which contained the mercy-seat and the Cherubim and the Ark, from the holy place, the rending of the entire veil showed by the events themselves how the grace that resided within had departed, and that those things which were formerly accessible only to the high priest had become common. And this—

about when the sacrifice was offered for the whole world. If anyone wishes to learn the time also, it will be known from the Gospel of John. For when the Lord had preached for about three years and a half, and had confirmed His holy disciples with doctrine and miracles, then He suffered; and after the cross, and death, and resurrection, and the ascension into heaven, and the coming of the most holy Spirit, the holy ^A apostles spent the remaining time of the week preaching in Jerusalem and performing miracles, and having led many thousands of men to the evangelical doctrine, they were the authors who bestowed the gift of the New Testament, that they might also obtain the grace of the most holy baptism. Then, when the Jews had dared those impious deeds against the holy Stephen, the others were indeed scattered throughout the cities of Judea, but the divine 1251 apostles, having stayed a short time in Jerusalem, traveled to Samaria and Caesarea, Lydda and Joppa, hastening to bring the saving decrees to all men. For this reason, the divine archangel says to the blessed Daniel: “He shall confirm the Testament with many for one week,” having gathered together in one the time before the cross of the Lord and the teaching of the holy apostles in Jerusalem after the Savior’s resurrection. Then he divides the week in two, and says: “And in the half of the week the sacrifice and the drink offering ^B shall be taken away;” for when the true sacrifice has been offered, the shadow of the law will have an end. To these things he adds: “Upon the temple the abomination of desolation.” For on account of this, he says, the sacrifice—not only will that sacrifice cease, but also the abomination of desolation shall be placed upon the temple: that is, that once-venerable and awe-inspiring temple shall be utterly deserted. Moreover, the sign of the desolation shall be certain images, forbidden by the laws, brought into it. This Pilate did by night, bringing imperial images into the sacred temple of God contrary to the divine law. This likewise the Lord in the sacred ^C Gospels foretold to His holy disciples: “When you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, know that its desolation is at hand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let him who is on the housetop not descend to take anything out of his house.” This, however, He said to signify how very quickly the destruction would approach them, by which they were to perish utterly. And a little before this He says: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under ^D her wings, and ye would not!

pennas, and you were not willing! Therefore I say to you that your house will be left to you desolate." ^A Predicting these things, holy Gabriel, after having prophesied that an end would be put to the worship which was observed according to the Law, added: "And upon the temple the abomination of desolation." And lest the Jews might think that the holy temple would once again recover its former beauty and glory, he appositely added: "And until the consummation of time, a consummation will be given upon the desolation." For until the consummation of the age, he says, the consummation of the desolation shall remain, receiving no change. This also the blessed David said: "In the wrath of consummation and they shall not be, and they shall know that God rules over Jacob and to the ends of the earth." They will know, however, when they see the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. ^B For then "all the tribes shall mourn, then they shall look on him whom they pierced."

If, however, these things are not so, since the number of four hundred and ninety years has passed, and in addition to these, more than four hundred and forty years, let them show under whose reign the archangel’s oracle was fulfilled. Was it at the time of the Maccabees? But four hundred and ninety years do not pass from Darius to them, nor indeed from Cyrus, who first held the kingdom of the Persians; for from Cyrus to Antiochus Epiphanes, under whom the Maccabees, led by just indignation, undertook to manage the commonwealth, about four hundred and seventy-two years intervene. ^C Furthermore, who of these has been called the Holy of Holies? Is it Judas, or Jonathan, or Simon, or anyone after them? And yet not even Abraham the patriarch, nor Moses the lawgiver, nor Elias the greatest of the prophets, was ever called the Holy of Holies.

Therefore, the time and the names have clearly foreshadowed to us the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom having believed, and awaiting his second coming, let us supplicate that we may obtain his clemency on the day of judgment; of which may we all be made partakers by the grace and loving-kindness of the same Lord our God Jesus Christ, with whom be glory to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, unto ages of ages. Amen.

nsequamur: cujus utinam nos omnes compotes fiamus gratia et benignitate ejusdem Domini nostri Jesu Christi, cum quo Patri sit gloria, cum sancto Spiritu, in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

BOOK TEN

CHAPTER X

^A VERS. 1. "In the third year of Cyrus king of the Persians, a word was revealed to Daniel, whose name was called Baltasar." Some think that there is a mistake in the time here, and that he who wrote the book from the beginning put "third" instead of "first." They conjecture this from the fact that the blessed Daniel said immediately after the beginning of the prophecy: "And Daniel was even unto the first year of Cyrus the king." For they say, if the prophet lasted only until the first year of the reign of Cyrus, how does he see a revelation in the third? But I believe that the expression used formerly does not signify a fixed and defined time, nor does it limit the life of the blessed Daniel to the first year of the reign of Cyrus. For he did not say, "Until the first year of Cyrus the king," but "until the first year." Moreover, he wishes, as it appears to me, to instruct those who read the prophetic writing that he endured even until Cyrus, the king of the Persians, who, having set the captive Jews at liberty, commanded those who wished to return to their fatherland to restore the divine temple. ^B This the holy angel, speaking to Daniel a little later, also clearly teaches us; for he says: "And it came to pass in the first year of Cyrus, I stood in strength and fortitude," that is, as soon as Cyrus had gained the kingdom, I strove to accomplish all things that I might deliver the captive people from servitude. And at the end of the book: "Cyrus the Persian," he says, "received the kingdom, and Daniel was the king's companion and glorious above all his friends"; so that the number of the third year is shown on every side. "In the third year, therefore, of the reign of Cyrus, a word was revealed to Daniel, whose name was called Baltasar. And the word was true, and great power and understanding was given to him in the vision." He rightly called it both a word and a vision: for he both beheld the holy angels and heard them discoursing, and learned accurately ^C what was to come to pass. And he asserts that the word is true, so that all might receive what was to be said without ambiguity.

VERS. 2, 3. "In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three weeks of days. I ate no desirable bread..."

and flesh and wine did not enter into my mouth, and I was not anointed with ointment, until the three weeks of days were fulfilled." ^A It is worth the effort to inquire into the cause of this mourning, which the prophecy implies obscurely. For, in the first place, there was no cause for sadness; since the king was gentle and humane, and honored divine things, and held the friendship of Daniel in high esteem, and the people as a whole enjoyed great peace because of the king’s gentleness. Or rather, if one wishes to pay heed to the prophecy of the blessed Jeremiah, to the history in Chronicles, and to the writing of Ezra, one will find that Cyrus, in the first year of his reign, commanded all the Jews who so wished to return to their homeland and rebuild the holy temple of God, so that the prophet had causes for joy on every side ^B. But if anyone were to examine each of these things accurately, he would find these very things to be the causes of Daniel’s distress. For when the king had granted liberty and the return to their homeland to all who wished, the majority, having built houses in Babylon and being held by them as if by a bond, despised the return and preferred the foreign land to their own. Only the lovers of piety and the guardians of their ancestral laws, disregarding the possessions they held in Babylon, preferred the desolation of their homeland even to the kingdom itself. ^C This, therefore, caused the blessed Daniel great mourning; for seeing the truth of the divine promise, and the gentleness and humanity of the king, but the stubborn and unyielding nature of the people, he was deeply vexed in his soul and continued mourning and lamenting. And one might reasonably ask why, when he was mourning and lamenting on account of the others—who had surrendered themselves to sloth and had spurned the return—he himself did not return to his homeland. But one will find the solution if one considers the cause of the captivity itself. Just as God did not allow him to be taken prisoner because of his own transgressions, but [rather] out of concern for the benefit of the people, sending him to them as a kind of guardian and teacher; ^D so too at the time of the return, when the majority had chosen to remain in their dwelling in Babylon and were content with that habitation, the divine prophet is again compelled to live with them, lest they, being deprived of spiritual care, should slip entirely into impiety. For this reason, even though the king who held power at that time held him in honor, showed him every attention, and preferred him to all others, the blessed Daniel finds no consolation; rather, the stubbornness of the people and the forgetfulness of the holy city deeply afflict and torture him. For this reason he also remained without food for three weeks; for "I ate," he says, "no desirable bread, and flesh and wine did not enter into my mouth, and I was not anointed with ointment until the three weeks of days were fulfilled."

^A for “three weeks of days.” Neither, he says, did I show any care for my body during all these days; I applied no ointment externally, and took no food internally. He added the word “desirable” to “bread” quite rightly and very aptly, not in relation to flesh, but in relation to bread. For bread is a necessary food for all, while the wealthier enjoy flesh, but even the poor, as well as the wealthier, are nourished by bread. Therefore, he called it “desirable bread,” as being common food and the most beloved of all nourishment.

VERS. 4. “And on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, in the third year, I was by the great river, which is the Tigris.” It is necessary to note both the month and the days of the fast to refute the transgression of the Jews. For since the Divine Law commanded ^B the Passover to be celebrated on the fourteenth day of the first month towards evening, the blessed Daniel remained without food until the twenty-fourth. But if the Jews should say that he did not eat the “desirable bread” because he would have eaten unleavened bread, they first of all show their own folly through this: for both leavened and unleavened bread are called bread. Then, that which follows openly stops their impudent mouth: “For flesh,” he says, “and wine did not enter into my mouth.” And if he did not partake of meat, bagaimana did he celebrate the Passover? For the Passover is nothing other ^C than a male lamb, a yearling, without blemish, sacrificed towards evening and roasted with fire. Therefore, if he did not partake of meat, how could he celebrate the Passover? He did not, then, celebrate the Passover in obedience to the Law, which explicitly commands that the three feasts be held in the place which the Lord God shall choose. The Jews, therefore, clearly transgress the Law by daring to celebrate these in a foreign land. But let us return to the matter at hand. “On the twenty-fourth,” he says, “of the first month, in the third year, I was by the great river, which is the Tigris.” From this again we are taught that there was no error in time: for here, too, he said he saw the vision in the third year, and not in the first.

VERS. 5, 6. “And I lifted up my eyes, and I saw, and behold one man clothed in ^D baddim, and his loins were girded with gold of Ophaz. And his body was as Tharsis.” By *baddim*, the Greek language signifies fine linen goods. He says, therefore, that he saw the garment of the one who was being seen to be of fine linen, but the belt to be of gold of Ophaz—that is, of most brilliant and purest gold; and “his body was as Tharsis”—that is, it was like the most approved gold brought from Tharsis; for from there, unrefined, raw gold used to be brought to Solomon.

And his face was ^A as the appearance of lightning. Splendor, he says, light-like, radiated from his face. “And his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his legs as the appearance of glistening brass, and the voice of his words, as the voice of a multitude.” He possessed, he said, eyes emitting fire, and arms like to the most beautiful brass, appearing to him to be like a great multitude talking.

7. “And I, Daniel, saw the vision alone, and the men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great ecstasy fell upon them, and they fled in fear.” But someone ^B perhaps might say: Why did they flee, though they did not see the vision? It is probable that this very thing caused them greater fear—for since they saw no one, and heard a most mighty voice, they naturally fled, struck with terror. He calls "ecstasy" here not just fear, but blindness. Similar things happened to the blessed Paul on the road approaching Damascus; for there too he saw the light which shone round about him—but those with him saw nothing, but only heard the voice. And here, therefore, they likewise flee when they were with the divine prophet, hearing only the voice, but he alone remains.

8. “And I was left alone,” he says, “and I saw this great vision, and no strength was left in me, and my glory was turned into corruption, and I did not retain strength.” For so much did ^C that vision strike me, that the harmony of the joints was dissolved, and the color which was on the surface of the body was changed, and I was deprived of all strength.

9. “And I heard,” he says, “the voice of his words, and when I heard I was stunned upon my face, and my face upon the ground.” For immediately, he says, upon hearing that mighty voice, I fell prostrate; and since I was unable to look upon the terrible vision, I placed my face upon the ground.

10. “And behold a hand touching me, and it raised me upon my knees, and set me upon the traces of my hands.” Thus, he says, feeling someone touching and raising me—and I, using my knees and hands (for fear had dissolved me), was trying to stand up.

11. “And he said to me: Daniel, man ^D of desires, understand these words, which I speak to thee, and stand upon thy standing, for now

I have been sent to thee.” Pay attention, he says, accurately to what is being said by me; and having put away fear, listen with understanding to the things about to be spoken. For I was sent to teach you this, because you appeared superior to the desires of the body, and became a lover of divine things, and because you were affectionately disposed toward the people, you desired to learn the things that were to befall them. ^A He does not call him Baltasar, but Daniel; for the former was a Chaldean name, the latter a Hebrew one; and the one was given by the pious, the other was added by the impious. Daniel in the Greek tongue signifies "judgment of God," so that he might correspond to his own name, and might proclaim through the events themselves that God, using a right and just judgment, deemed him worthy of the prophetic grace, and made known to him things that would happen many generations later. “And when he spoke the word to me, I stood up trembling.” For the word was sufficient to make me stand up, but I had not yet entirely put away the fear.

VERS. 12. “And he said to me: Do not fear, Daniel, because from the first day that thou didst give thy heart to understand and to afflict thyself before the Lord thy God, thy words were heard, and I have come because of thy words.” From this we are taught how great is the benefit for us of voluntary affliction. For the blessed Daniel, having afflicted himself with voluntary fasting, and having sought the Lord, immediately rendered Him propitious, and obtained that which he had desired. This is also declared by the one who appeared to him in the vision: “From the first day, he says, that thou didst give thy heart to understand and to afflict thyself before the Lord thy God, thy words were heard.” Of which thing thou hast the greatest proof in my arrival. “For I have come,” he says, “because of thy words,” that is, on account of thy words, and the prayer which thou hast offered to me.

VERS. 13. “And the prince, he says, of the kingdom of the Persians stood against me, for one and twenty days.” In that very first day of thy prayer, he says, thy supplication having been accepted, I was sent to thee; but during all these days, the prince of the kingdom of the Persians hindered my arrival to thee. “And behold Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, and I left him there with the prince of the kingdom of the Persians.” ^D The blessed Moses teaches us this more clearly, when he says: “When the Most High divided the nations, when he scattered the sons of Adam, he set the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the angels of God.” And the Lord in the holy Gospels says to the apostles: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for their angels daily see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” And many other such things exist in the divine Scripture. We are taught, therefore, from these things, [cont.]

^A that each of the angels is entrusted with our care, in order to guard and protect us, and to deliver us from the deceits of the evil demon. To the archangels, however, has been assigned the duty of being prefects of the nations, as the blessed Moses taught, with whose words the blessed Daniel also agrees, when he himself speaks of a prince of the kingdom of the Persians; and again, a little later, he calls him the prince of the Greeks, and he calls Michael the prince of Israel.

Since, then, these things have been made clear from this side and that, we must inquire why the prince of the Persian kingdom appeared to resist him who had undertaken the defense of the people. For that the nature of the angels is superior to passions and ^B full of holiness, is surely clear to everyone. And that they obey divine commands without hesitation, this too can be understood from every side. How, therefore, did the prince of the Persian kingdom appear to be opposing the guardianship of the Israelites? But if someone should wish to consider these things precisely, he will find the meaning of what has been said. For the prince of the Persians and the prince of the Greeks—that is, those to whom their custody and care were entrusted—naturally, inasmuch as they were affectionately disposed toward those whose guardianship they held, and seeing the lawlessness of Israel, were indignant, seeing them enjoying greater ^C providence. For they did not know the mystery which was hidden in God, who created all things. For after the incarnation of our Savior, as the blessed Paul said, “might be known to the principalities and powers through the church the manifold wisdom of God.” Ignorant, therefore, of this mystery, and seeing the great providence of God toward Israel, those to whom the care of other nations had been entrusted were indignant, because they saw them, especially after the law and the prophets and such great instruction and care, worse disposed than those whom they themselves ruled, and oppressed by more evils.

This also the angel who appeared to the blessed Daniel was saying: “And the prince of the ^D kingdom of the Persians stood against me for one and twenty days.” That is, during all these days I was endeavoring to persuade him that they are justly considered worthy of this providence, with the help of Michael, who was one of the first princes. “And him,” he says, “I left there with the prince of the kingdom of the Persians.”

VERS. 14. “And I came to teach you whatever will befall your people in the last days, for the vision is for days.” And when I, he says, had come to you, in order to teach you beforehand the things that are to happen to your people not long from now, Michael remained disputing with the prince of the kingdom of the Persians. And he did not speak simply, [saying] with the prince of the Persians, but with the prince of the kingdom of the Persians, who [is] instead of, and of the king of the Per...

Persians himself, [is] entrusted [to rule].

VERS. 15. [«] And when he spoke with me according to these words, I set my face upon the ground, and I was pricked. [»] For having heard that the first of the angels also take it ill that care is being given to the people, being filled again with dejection, I stood bowed down, and was unable to look up.

VERS. 16, 17. [«] And behold, as it were the likeness of a Son of man touched my lips, and I spoke, and said to the one standing before me: O Lord, in thy vision my inwards were turned in me, and behold, I have no strength. And how shall the servant of my Lord be able, O Lord, to speak with this [my Lord]? And I became weak, and from this time strength shall not stand in me, and breath was not left in me. [»] Having seen me, he says, again filled with anguish, having touched my lips as if with a human hand, he imparted to me the power of speech, and I said to him, that even the mere sight of thee has rendered me destitute of all strength, and filled ^B my soul with confusion and disturbance, and has stripped my mind of its former order. For I have received such weakness from fear that I am not even able to draw air in the accustomed manner; how, then, shall I be able either to understand the things being said by thee, or to provide the fitting answer? But let no one imagine that the one who was seen is the Lord [Himself], because Daniel addresses him as Lord. For this [very one] in the end of the vision: [«] Having lifted, [he says], his hands to heaven, he swore by the Living Lord, [»] confessing his servitude with a balanced mind. Therefore, he calls him Lord, not as God, but paying the honor that is due to him. For we also, when conversing with more distinguished men, are accustomed ^C to use this title, just as the blessed Abraham also, having seen the angels as men, and conversing with them as men: [«] I beseech, Lord, [he said], if I have found grace before thee, do not pass by thy servant. [»] And the blessed Rebecca to the servant of the blessed Abraham: [«] Drink, [she says], lord, and I will draw water for thy camels. [»] Therefore, also in this place the [term] Lord does not signify God, the Creator of all things: which we shall know more clearly from the end, but meanwhile let us follow the sequence.

VERS. 18, 19. [«] And he added, [he says], and touched me as a vision of a man, and strengthened me, and said to me: Do not fear, O man of desires, peace be to thee, act manfully, and be strong. [»] That is to say: Do not be anxious; for I have not come for thy harm, ^D but in order to make known to thee,

that which thou hast desired to learn; therefore, casting away fear, show thyself a man, and be strong. And the event followed the word. ^A

Vers. 20, 21. *And when he spoke with me, I was strengthened, and I said: Let my Lord speak, for thou hast strengthened me.* And he said: *Dost thou know why I have come to thee? And now I will return, in order to fight with the prince of the Persians; and I was going forth, and the prince of the Greeks was coming. But I will declare to thee that which is set down in the Scripture of truth, and there is no one who would aid me in all these things, except Michael your prince.* Why, he asks, should I mention one or two, either the prince of the Persians or of the Greeks? Since no one of the heavenly powers wishes your people to attain any good ^B by reason of their many iniquities, except Michael alone, to whom your guardianship has been entrusted. He used the term "to fight" in place of "to discourse and to persuade," wishing to show both the latter's just indignation against the people and his own benevolence toward the same people. It is likely that the one who was discoursing is the holy Gabriel, for he had already interpreted other revelations to him.

CHAPTER XI

Vers. 1. *And it came to pass, he says, in the first year of Cyrus, I stood to support and to strengthen.* Immediately, he says, when Cyrus possessed the kingdom, and the term of the captivity was fulfilled, I stood by until I had ensured that the people were released and vindicated into freedom.

Vers. 2. *And now I will declare to thee the truth.* I tell thee truly what things are to come. ^C *Behold, there shall yet three kings stand up in Persia.* After Cyrus, Cambyses reigned; the Magi succeeded him and reigned for ten months; after them, Darius Hystaspis. *And the fourth, he says, shall be enriched with great riches above all.* He speaks of Xerxes, who is the son of Darius. *And after he becomes powerful through his riches, he shall stir up all the kingdoms of the Greeks.* Even the foreign and profane historians, writers, sophists, and orators mention him, who recount his proud expedition with an army and his ridiculous departure. Then, having summarized the Persian affairs up to him, and having omitted those who reigned after him—as they had become weaker—he transferred his discourse to the Macedonian, and says:

Vers. 3, 4. *And a mighty king shall stand up, and shall rule with great dominion, and shall do according to his will. ^D And when his kingdom shall stand, it shall be broken, and shall be divided into the four winds of heaven.* For as we have already said before, Alexander, having obtained the empire of all the world, so to speak, and then having met the common end of men, his kingdom was divided in four.

^A And here again the divine archangel says thus: "And it shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven, and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he exercised." The meaning of what he says is this: Alexander, having reigned over all things for twelve years, in the last six years overturned both the kingdom of the Persians and that of the Egyptians, and brought all the nations in between under his power. He says, therefore, that those who would reign after him would appear not at all like Alexander, neither in strength nor in the power which he had acquired in those last years. For this is what he says: "Not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he exercised. For his kingdom shall be plucked up, and given to others besides these." For he says that it ^B will not only be divided into these four, but that it will also be given to others besides them. For under these, Arsaces the Persian, having won the victory in war, seized the kingdom and recovered a part of the Persian Empire; from which time to this present day the kings of the Persians are called Arsacids, whereas the former ones were not called Arsacids but Achaemenids. And when the Macedonian kingdom was divided, the Romans also obtained greater power, inasmuch as they exacted tribute from these very kings. Thus, having foretold the division, he omits mention of two kings; for neither the king of Asia nor the king of Macedonia lasted for a long time; and besides, no grievous calamity happened to the Jews through them. Only, therefore, of those two ^C does he make mention, through whom the Jews experienced dire calamities. And these are the king of Egypt, and he who was entrusted with the rule over the nations dwelling in the East; they possessed royal seats in both Antioch and Babylon. But it becomes us first to declare the subject matter of the things to be said, and then to interpret them item by item. That he-goat which the blessed Daniel saw, after the one horn was broken off, brought forth four horns—these are the kings themselves; "out of one of them came forth another horn," which both warred greatly against Egypt and cast the nation of the Jews into infinite calamities; and by this horn, Antiochus Epiphanes is signified. And the fourth beast which the blessed Daniel saw, having ten horns, ^D and between whose horns a little horn came up, having eyes and a mouth speaking great things, and waging war with the saints. Again, through these things we learn that at the end of the Roman kingdom ten kings will arise at the same time, inflicting many evils upon each other and warring against each other's kingdoms, just as the Macedonians used to do; and when these things have come to pass, there will appear the man of sin, the son of perdition, that is, the Antichrist. Because, therefore, the ends of the Roman kingdom are similar to the division of the Macedonian kingdom—what things would be done by these and by those—the blessed Daniel teaches us at once. For other things from those which

are to be spoken of fit the Macedonians, and others fit the ten horns that are to come, and [that which] sprouted up between them. And that these things are so, we shall learn from the prophecy itself. It behooves us, therefore, to attend with all precision, and to distinguish fittingly what pertains to these and what pertains to those. We have ^A an example of this in the evangelical teaching. For when the Lord had said to the apostles concerning the temple that was in Jerusalem, "Amen, amen, I say to you, there shall not be left here a stone upon a stone which shall not be overthrown," then, as they asked, "When will these things be, and what is the sign of thy coming?", [and] brought a twofold question, the Lord gives a mixed response, saying at the same time both what was to happen to Jerusalem and what was to happen at the time of the consummation. But those who are initiated into the divine mysteries divide with clarity what is appropriate to these [events] and to those times. This, therefore, we also shall perform here with the proper demonstration. Having then taught the blessed Daniel, the one speaking with him, that the kingdom would be divided into four parts, and having omitted two—I mean the one of Macedonia and the one of Asia, or the Hellespont, as they reigned for a short time and did not at all harm the Jews—he adds:

^B VERSE 5: "And the king of the South shall be strengthened, and one of his princes shall be strengthened over him, and he shall rule a great rule beyond his own power." By this he means Ptolemy Philopator, who was not satisfied with the kingdom of Egypt, but also took over Phoenicia, Samaria, and Judea. And he calls Scopas one of his princes who was being strengthened, of whom the Hebrew historian Josephus also makes mention; for he, having conducted himself as an excellent general, subjected many of those things that were outside the kingdom of Ptolemy to Ptolemy. Hinting at this, he says: "And he shall rule a great rule beyond his own power," that is, he shall obtain sovereignty over many nations that were outside the power allotted to him.

VERSE 6: "And after his years they shall join themselves together, and the daughter of the king of the South shall enter in to the king of the North, to make covenants with him." After the death of Ptolemy Philopator, his son, called Epiphanes, reigned. This, therefore, is what he says: "And after his years they shall join themselves together." And teaching how they shall join themselves together: "The daughter," he says, "of the king of the South shall enter in to the king ^C of the North, to make covenants with him." By the king of the North, he de ^D

declares ^A Antiochus, not Epiphanes, but him who was called the Great, the father of Antiochus Epiphanes; for he was contemporary with those aforementioned Ptolemies. "And the strength of his arm shall not prevail, neither shall his seed stand, and she shall be delivered up, and they that brought her, and the maiden, and he that strengthened her in the times." But the marriage, he says, shall take place, but the union shall not endure for long, but she shall be returned to him who sent her, through those who brought her, along with those things which were offered with her. For this is what he means by: "And he that strengthened her in the times,"—that is, the wealth which makes a marriage powerful and desirable.

VERS. 7. "And there shall arise," he says, "from the flower from her root in his preparation." This means that she shall indeed be returned to her parent, but she shall give birth to a king who will oppose the kingdom of ^B him who gave her. "And he shall come," he says, "to the power." He calls Jerusalem "the power," as it enjoys divine grace and demonstrates divine power through the miracles that occurred at various times. And the third book of Maccabees has also taught us this. For Ptolemy, having unexpectedly defeated Antiochus the Great, arrived at Jerusalem and offered sumptuous sacrifices to God; but having attempted to enter the holy of holies and the temple, and not having wished to comply with the priests who were supplicating and restraining him, he is struck by invisible lashes ^C which were not perceived. Having threatened the Jews, he arrives at Alexandria and attempts to do those things which history teaches. And this too the prophecy predicts. "He shall come," it says, "to the power, and shall enter into the strongholds of the king of the North, and shall effect things in them, and shall be strengthened." By "strongholds" he calls the cities that provide him with tribute; for the taxes that are brought in, by which the military force is nourished, in a way prop up and support the kingdom.

VERS. 8. "And their gods with their molten images, and every desirable vessel of theirs, of silver and of gold, he shall bring into Egypt, and he himself shall stand above the king of the North." For in the first and second engagement the Ptolemies were victorious, as the histories teach ^D. Josephus also writes as follows: "For it happened that the Jews, while Antiochus the Great was reigning over Asia, were oppressed in many ways, their region being troubled, as were those who dwelt in Coele-Syria. For as he waged war against Ptolemy Philopator, and against his son Ptolemy surnamed Epiphanes, it came to pass that they ...

suffered the same things, whether he were victorious or defeated. And a little further on: "Having, however, conquered Ptolemy," he says, "Antiochus took possession of Judea." But when Philopator had died, his son sent a great force under the general Scopas against those who were in Coele-Syria; and he took many of their cities, and our nation too; for being warred upon by him, it submitted. But not long after, Antiochus conquered Scopas, having joined battle with him at the springs of the Jordan, and destroyed a great part of his army. Afterwards, when Antiochus had subdued the cities in Coele-Syria which Scopas had seized, as well as Samaria, the Jews voluntarily submitted to him, and having received him and all his army, soldiers, and elephants into the city, they provided them with abundant food, and eagerly brought aid to him when he was besieging the guards left by Scopas in the citadel of Jerusalem. And so that I may not, by recounting the rest, extend the volume beyond the measure desired by those who wish for such things, I refer them to those records.

Verses 9, 10h "And he shall enter," he says, "into the kingdom of the king of the South, and shall return to his own land. And his sons shall gather a multitude of many forces." He calls those to whom the duty of military service had been committed his "sons," just as "sons of men" are men, and "sons of the prophets" are prophets, which is an idiom of the Hebrew language. "And he shall enter, coming and overflowing." That is, rushing in with impetus, and destroying all things like a flood. "And he shall pass through, and shall sit, and shall join battle even to his strength." That is, with all his might he shall invade Egypt, and with speed he shall pitch his camp, having transferred the war into that region. To these he adds:

Verses 11, 12h "And the king of the South shall be enraged, and shall go forth, and shall fight with the king of the North, and shall set up a great multitude, and the multitude shall be delivered into his hand. And he shall take the great multitude, and his heart shall be lifted up, and he shall cast down many thousands, and he shall not prevail." For when the king of the South has drawn up a great multitude in battle array, "Antiochus will conquer," he says, "and will subject that multitude to himself, and as a victor, puffed up with pride, he will destroy many thousands of men. Yet he shall not take possession of Egypt, nor shall he obtain the kingdom of Ptolemy." On account of which, indignant again, he says:

Verse 13h "The king of the North shall return, and shall bring a greater multitude than before, and at the end of the times, he shall come in by entering with great power and with great substance." For again, he says, with a greater...

and having gathered his former army, he will rush against Egypt; and he will do this near the end of his kingdom, for this is what is signified by: "In the end of time, and he shall come with a great entrance and great power." Here there is a Hebrew reduplication, for he wished to say that he will use a great entrance. This is an idiom also among the Hebrews and the Syrians, for they are accustomed to say such things: "Entering he has entered," and "Eating he eats," and all other things similarly. Therefore, the interpreters, using accuracy, followed the Hebrew idioms. ^A

Vers. 14. "And in those times, he says, many shall rise up against the king of the South." For so was Ptolemy defeated by Antiochus, that being weak, he would hereafter be despised even by his neighbors. "And the youths of the pestilent ones of your people shall lift themselves up, to establish the vision, and they shall lift themselves up and shall be weakened." Here again he called the pestilent ones "sons of pestilences": for being wicked and depraved in evil habits, and preferring an impious life over piety, they will attempt through these kings to overturn the lawful worship, but they shall not be able; for those truly impious ones felt and observed the nation of the Jews less. ^B

Vers. 15. "And he shall approach, he says, the king of the North, and shall build a mound, and shall capture fortified cities." This means he shall besiege them with mounds applied and machines brought up. "And the arms of the king of the South shall not stand." This means he shall be bereft of all strength. "And his chosen ones shall rise up, and there shall be no strength to stand." And even with his brave warriors gathered, he will accomplish nothing. ^C

Vers. 16. "And he that cometh against him shall do according to his will, and there is none who shall stand before his face." For it will be easy, he says, for everyone thereafter to despise him, because they are unable to resist and overcome their adversaries. "And he shall stand in the land of Sabir." Certain copies have "in the land of Sabaim": and some of those who translated the Hebrew word into Greek called the land of will "the land of Sabir": but it signifies the land of promise, which was of [the Lord's] will, and Mount Sion, which He loved, and in which it was well-pleasing to God to dwell. But Sabaim is expounded as "of powers" (or armies). Whether therefore the land of will or the land of power is called Judea (for he also called the power itself so above, and here he names it Sabaim or Sabir): he shall enter, he says, the king of Babylon, into this land also. ^D

^A And it shall be consumed in his hand. That is, it shall prosper for him; for thus also Josephus has taught us through his history, that the Jews, having received Antiochus of their own accord, were held by him in great honor.

Vers. 17. « And he shall set his face, he says, to come with the strength of his whole kingdom. » For he will attempt to usurp the entire kingdom of the king of the South. « And he shall do all things upright with him, » he says. For he shall restore to him all things that he has seized. « And he shall give him a daughter of women to corrupt her, and she shall not remain, and it shall not be for him. » What he spoke obscurely above, he here declares more openly. For he will give him, he says, his own daughter as a wife, but not long after she shall be returned to him who gave her, the marriage being dissolved. And having, he says, thus disposed of Egypt, ^B

Vers. 18. « He shall turn his face to the isles, and shall take many, and he shall cause the princes of his reproach to cease; but his reproach shall return to him. » For having brought many of the isles under his own sway, and having caused their ethnarchs to cease from ruling, he made them objects of derision. But of this reproach, he says, he himself shall also partake. For the Romans, having defeated him at Thermopylae and having checked his great audacity, imposed upon him a tribute of a thousand talents, and compelled him to pay this every year, and having taken his son Antiochus, surnamed Epiphanes, as a hostage, they kept him in Rome. And this the first book of Maccabees teaches us; for when the writer had spoken concerning those who received the kingdom of Alexander, he added: « And there went out from them a sinful root, Antiochus Epiphanes, son of Antiochus the king, who had been a hostage in Rome. » ^C This, signifying to Daniel, he who converses with him said: « But his reproach shall return to him. » To these he adds:

Vers. 19. « And he shall turn his face to strengthen his land. » These things, he says, having accomplished in the isles, he shall return to his own kingdom. « And he shall be weakened, and shall fall, and shall not be found. (20) And there shall rise up from his root a plant of the kingdom, and moving over his preparation. » He speaks of Antiochus Epiphanes, who, having fled from Rome, succeeded his brother Seleucus. For to Antiochus the Great, Seleucus, called Philopator, his son, had succeeded; upon whose death, Antiochus Epiphanes receives the kingdom, of whom he says: « There shall rise up from his root a plant of the kingdom, and moving over his preparation. » That is, imitating his father’s power, and being suitable for obtaining for himself the kingdom prepared by him. ^D Declaring this, he added: « And making the glory of the kingdom, » that is, in his deeds, he

employing excessive activity. ^A « And in those days they shall be broken, and not in the face, nor in wars. » For he will be able, he says, by reputation alone, without a struggle and without bloodshed, to strike terror into all and subject them to himself.

VERS. 21. « And he shall stand in his preparation. » Yet such, he says, will his power be that he will obtain, even without a battle, the kingdom transferred to him from his father. « And he was despised, and there was not given upon him the glory of the kingdom. » But he was not, he says, illustrious, although he was a king, but he appeared to be a common person, being held as a hostage in Rome. « And he shall return in abundance, and shall obtain the kingdom in lapses. » Nevertheless, he says, although he was greatly despised, he will come with great abundance and a very great force, and will obtain the kingdom with treachery assisting him, practicing deception ^B rather. This the blessed Daniel also beheld in the second vision, and heard holy Gabriel saying: « Deceit is in his hand, and in his heart he shall be magnified; and he shall destroy many, and shall stand on the ruin of many. » And here likewise: « For he shall obtain the kingdom, » he says, « in lapses. »

VERS. 22. « And the arms of the one flooding shall be overflowed from his face, and they shall be broken. » Here again he hints at the kingdom of the Egyptians, because even those who were very powerful, and who destroyed those resisting them like a flood, and made them disappear and vanish, even these shall be overflowed by him, and shall be broken; and not these alone, but also: « And the leader of the covenant. »

VERS. 23. « And from the commixtions against him he shall commit deceit. » Here he signifies the sedition incited against the high priest Onias by Jesus, who was also called Jason, and Onias, the son of Menelaus; ^C for of these, the former, Jason, having run to Antiochus, cast his own brother out of the high priesthood; but Menelaus, having been sent with gifts and gold to bring them to Antiochus, having again transferred the high priesthood to himself, expelled Jason. Hence heavy and grievous calamities invaded the Jewish nation. The blessed Daniel, being foretaught these things, hears: « The arms of the flooding one shall be overflowed from him. » And he speaks of Ptolemy Philometor, for this man succeeded Ptolemy Epiphanes. To these he added, « And the leader of the covenant. » For he means the pious high priest, the brother of Jason, and forewarns that he will also depose him from the high priesthood. Then he teaches the manner, saying: « And from the commixtions against him he shall commit deceit, » for he will use ^D ministers, he says, those who claim to have the same...

race, and using deceit as a co-worker, he will work ten thousand evils against this nation. ^A « And he will prevail even with a small nation. » Having deceived those dwelling in Jerusalem, as if he intended to enter in peace, he first dared to step into the inner sanctums of the divine temple, and then, having removed the adornment placed upon them, and the vessels dedicated to the divine liturgy, he went out in this manner. Not content with this, he marched again against the city, and slaughtered tens of thousands of men, and not being satisfied with these [things], having sent his own generals, he committed ten thousand slaughters again. Signaling these things, he says:

« And he will prevail over it with a small nation. » (Ver. 24.) And he will come in abundance, and into fat regions. For he will not come, he says, through lack, but because of the pride of his mind; for he has abundance and the enjoyment of ten thousand fat nations, providing much tribute. « And he will do that which his fathers and the fathers of his fathers did not do, prey and substance, and spoil he will distribute to them. » Whereas all his fathers and all his ancestors honored the nation of the Jews, this man will do all things contrary, killing, and plundering, and enslaving, and bestowing their goods upon those who fight alongside him. ^B « And against Egypt he shall devise devices, even until a time. » That is, he will not rule for long.

Ver. 25. « And his power and his heart shall be stirred up against the king of the South, with a great army. » The first book of the Maccabees teaches us this foray of his against Egypt. For he entered, he says, Antiochus into Egypt with a heavy multitude, and with chariots and elephants, and horsemen, and with a great fleet, and he set up a war against Ptolemy, king of Egypt, and Ptolemy was shamed before his face, and fled, and many wounded fell, and they captured the fortified cities in the land of Egypt, and they took the spoils of Egypt. ^C And being foretaught these things, the blessed Daniel heard: « And the king of the South shall join battle against him, with a very great and strong army, and he shall not stand, for they shall devise plans against him. » Instead of this: they shall use many and every kind of ambush against him.

Ver. 26. « And they shall eat, he says, his necessities. » That is, they will consume all his revenue, and they will plunder the tribute paid to him and transfer it to themselves. ^D « And they shall shatter him, and his forces shall be brought to an end, and many shall fall, wounded. » For not only him, but his army also he will destroy like a flood, and will cause much slaughter.

^A

VERS. 27. « Both kings, he says, their hearts shall be bent on evil, and they shall speak lies at one table, and it shall not prosper. » For the Romans, as the historian Josephus teaches us, having learned of his expedition with his army, sent envoys to command him to withdraw from Egypt. Wherefore, having made a treaty, it is said, he made peace and shared a table with Ptolemy. He who was speaking with Daniel, teaching the deceitfulness of this friendship, says: « Both kings, their hearts shall be bent on evil, and they shall speak lies at one table, and it shall not prosper. » That is to say, that peace will not be lasting. « For the end shall still be at the appointed time. » This means that, when this appointed time has passed, they will again engage in conflict and battle. ^B

VERS. 28. « And he shall return, he says, into his own land with great wealth. » Nevertheless, at that time, he says, with much wealth and an abundance of many goods, he will return to his own kingdom. « And his heart shall be against the holy covenant. » He will be occupied by this one remaining ambition: to overturn the law given by God to the Jews. And having devised these plans, he will also bring them to fruition. « And he shall do, he says, and return to his own land. » The Book of Maccabees and the history of Josephus teach this too. ^C

VERS. 29. « And at his appointed time he shall return, and come into the South, but it shall not be as the first, or the last. » This means he will not be victorious and superior in the same way, but will return defeated. The phrase « at his appointed time » signifies the time suitable for war.

VERS. 30. « And there shall come against him those who sail from Chittim, and he shall be humbled. » For having taken to himself many Cypriots and other islanders (for Citium is to this day a town of Cyprus), he will indeed rush against Egypt, but, having been defeated and humbled, he will return. « And he shall return, he says, and be enraged against the holy covenant. » For he will vent all the anger which he burns with because of the defeat he has received, against the holy covenant. And showing the deed, he says, « And he shall do. » For in his second coming, he will cause much slaughter, and will reduce those who have escaped to slavery. « And he shall return, and have understanding for those who forsake the holy covenant. » He will, he says, take every care of those who have transgressed the law, and who, having rejected the Jewish rite, have embraced the customs and worship of the Greeks. ^D

VERS. 31. « And arms shall rise from him, and they shall profane the sanctuary of the empire, and they shall remove the daily sacrifice... »

and they shall set up the abomination of desolation. » ^A He calls "arms," as we have said before, the generals serving him, who, like arms, execute the king’s commands. He says, therefore, he will send some who will profane the sanctuary of the empire—that is, the temple dedicated to the omnipotent God—and will set up within it an idolatrous altar, for this is what he calls the "abomination of desolation." ^B The second book of Maccabees also teaches us this, when it says: « About this time, Antiochus set out for his second expedition into Egypt. » Then, after inserting some remarks about the contention of the high priests, who were not legitimate, the writer adds: « And when these things had happened to the king, he suspected, because of what had occurred, that Judea would revolt. Wherefore, returning from Egypt with an embittered soul, he took the city by force of arms and commanded the soldiers to cut down without mercy whoever they encountered. » Then, having related how the slaughter extended to every age and how eighty thousand corpses were numbered, a little later he says: « Antiochus, having an enemy’s mind toward the Jews, sent the hateful prince Apollonius with an army of twenty-two thousand, ordering him to kill all those who were of full age. » And a little later again he says: « But in a short time the king sent an old Athenian, to force the Jews to depart from their ancestral laws, so that they would not be governed by the laws of God, and to pollute the temple which was in Jerusalem, and to call it that of Jupiter Olympius. » ^C This, the one who was conversing with blessed Daniel was foretelling when he said: « And arms shall rise from him, and they shall profane the sanctuary of the empire, and they shall remove the daily sacrifice; » that is, the worship which was offered to God every day. « And they shall give into it the abomination of desolation; » that is, the altar which that impious king erected to Jupiter, upon which he even offered a pig.

VERS. 32. « And those who deal wickedly, » he says, « against the covenant, they shall bring into lapses. » For they will lead those who live in transgression to act impiously in the open, using deceitful words. « And the people who know their God shall be strong and do exploits. » ^D Here he alludes to those around the blessed Mattathias, who was the first to resist the decrees of Antiochus, and having taken to the desert with his sons, he fought with a small band and defeated the king’s generals.

VERS. 33. « And such as are wise among the people, » he says, « shall understand in many things. » For those who make fitting use of the knowledge granted to them by God will strongly [overcome] his...

^A reject the laws of that man, and will prefer death for the sake of the divine law over a life of impiety. Signifying this, he added: « And they shall be weakened by the sword, and by flame, and by captivity, and by the plundering of their days. » For the impious man, employing diverse and all-manner of tortures, attempted to strike fear into the pious, bringing upon them an untimely death and, as it were, plundering the days that remained to them. Then he foretells the things that were to be endured and performed by the blessed Mattathias and his sons:

VERS. 34. « And when they are weakened, they shall be helped with a small help. » For they shall enjoy divine grace, and then they shall overcome their enemies; yet they shall not enjoy peace in their own days, nor shall they be delivered from wars. Therefore, he called the truces established in the midst of the wars a « small help. » « And many, » he says, « shall be joined to them in lapses. » For seeing this courage of theirs, many also of those who had lapsed and repudiated piety, being moved by repentance, will run toward them.

VERS. 35. « And of the wise, » he says, « many shall be weakened. » And even of those who seemed to be pious, many will be turned to the contrary side. « In order that they may be refined, » he says, « among them, and chosen, and whitened even to the time of the end; because it is still for a time. » Neither, he says, will these things harm future men. For they will be taught from this not to trust in past successful achievements, but always to be fearful and trembling, according to the admonition of the blessed Paul: « For he who thinks he stands, » he says, « let him see that he does not fall. » ^C For the changes of the times, as it were, refine and prove, and separate the adulterated from that which is approved: but they also whiten it like wool, and put it to the test, to see whether it has a natural or an artificial color, and whether the color is one inherently implanted through the whole body, or exists only on the surface. These things, he says, happen to individual men in the present life: but in the future time there will be a general examination of men. Having said these things about Antiochus Epiphanes, he then passes from the image to the archetype; the archetype of Antiochus is the Antichrist, and the image of the Antichrist is Antiochus. For just as that man compelled the Jews to act impiously and to govern their commonwealth contrary to their law: so the man of sin, the son of perdition, who is lifted up and exalted above all that is called God or that is worshipped, as the blessed Paul says ^D, so that he himself, having entered into the temple of God, sits down, showing himself that he is God, in all signs and lying wonders: so this one, I say, [will perform] all things for the deception of the pious.

sometimes attempting to deceive and to delude by deceptive miracles, at other times using power and bringing every kind of punishment upon the disciples of piety. But if anyone seeking the sequence of the prophecy does not believe that these things are so, let him call to mind the evangelical teaching; for there the Lord simultaneously predicts both what pertains to the general consummation and what pertains to the consummation of Jerusalem. For having said, "Pray that your flight may not be in winter, nor on the Sabbath" (this befits the Jews alone), he immediately added: "For there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will be. And if those days had not been shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened." And showing that none of these things pertains to the Jews, he added: "Then if anyone says to you, 'Lo, here is the Christ, or there,' do not believe it." And having spoken a few things beforehand about the false Christs, he adds: "For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be." And all the rest, likewise, so that I need not mention them one by one. Being guided from there, therefore, we shall understand the prophecy, passing from Antiochus to the Antichrist, as from an image to the archetype, and it clearly teaches us beforehand those things that pertain to him.

36. "For the king shall do according to his will," he says, "and he shall be exalted and magnified above every god, and he shall speak ^C arrogant things, and he shall succeed." That is to say, his affairs shall prosper, but not unto the end. "Until the wrath is finished." Until, he says, he severely inflames the divine wrath and pulls it down upon himself. He calls the punishment "wrath," for the Divine is free from passions. "For it is done in consummation and zeal." For this one, he says, foreknowing his own end, will use much diligence in calling everyone to impiety, desiring to take many as companions and partners in the punishment. The following things, however, more clearly refute the ignorance of those who think that these things were said about Antiochus. For he says:

37. "And he shall not understand above all the gods of his fathers." But we find Antiochus having filled Jerusalem and all Judea ^D with altars in which idols were worshipped, and having sacrificed to Zeus in the temple of God, and having called the temple in Jerusalem the temple of Olympian Zeus, and the one in Gerizim the temple of Zeus Xenios (Hospitality). How then, he who is so superstitious, he who is so much an idolater, "shall not understand above the gods of his fathers?" For Antiochus does all things to the contrary.

since he worshipped the ancestral gods, but denied the God who is worshipped by the Jews. ^A By no means, therefore, do these things fit Antiochus; but they fit the very archetype of Antiochus, of whom Antiochus was the image and type, he who strove to surpass in impiety all the kings who came before him. Concerning the Antichrist, therefore, he says that "he shall not understand above all the gods of his fathers. And he shall not understand concerning the desire of women, and concerning every god." And this is clearly the direct opposite of the practices of Antiochus. For the latter was not content only with those joined unto him by the law of marriage, from whom he begat Antiochus Eupator and Alexander, but he also consorted with licentious harlots; and of one of these the second book of Maccabees makes mention, where the writer says thus: "It happened that the people of Tarsus and Mallus made an insurrection, because they were given as a gift to Antiochis, the king's concubine." ^B He, therefore, who served lust to such a degree that he gave away such and so great cities to a harlot-woman, how shall he "not understand concerning the desire of women?" Therefore, those who attempt to refer these things to Antiochus are also clearly proven to be in error. But let us return to where we digressed. "And concerning the desire of women," he says, "and concerning every god he shall not understand; for he shall be magnified above all." That is, he shall think himself to be greater than all.

VERS. 38. "And he shall glorify the god Maozim in his place: and a god whom his fathers knew not, he shall glorify with gold, and silver, and precious stones, and with desired things." ^C For whereas all his fathers, knowing their own nature, dared not name themselves the God who is over all, this one calls himself a strong and mighty god (for this is what Maozim signifies). For the expression "in his place" implies "in his own stead."

VERS. 39. "And he shall make the fortifications of refuges with a strange god, whom he has acknowledged, and he shall multiply glory, and shall subject many to them, and shall divide the land with gifts." For he will raise up temples to himself, he says, and he will adorn them with silver, and gold, and precious stones, and will subject many to them, that is to say, those who are deceived by signs, or softened by punishments. But also, "he shall divide the land with gifts;" for to the subjects who have chosen to be impious, he will grant a very large region. ^D

VERS. 40. "And in the time of the end he shall contend with him, the king of the South, and the king of the North shall gather himself against him with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships, and he shall enter into the land in the

floods, and shall overthrow. ^A We have often said that the ten horns of the fourth beast which appeared in his time signify those ten kings who shall reign about the end of the Roman empire. From these, therefore, the king of the South will again contend against him who is called the king of the North. "For from the North," he says, "evils shall be kindled upon all that inhabit the earth" (Jer. 1, 14). And Antiochus, who was a type of this one, was called the king of the North. When therefore the king of the South has joined battle with him, with a multitude of his own and with fortifications, both of land and sea, he shall march against him, and shall carry off the victory. Concerning these same enemies, the Lord in the holy Gospels has already said: "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in various places: all these are the beginnings of sorrows" (Matt. xxiv, 7, 8). ^B Having therefore the Lord’s prediction, which is in agreement with this prophecy, we shall understand the things set before us. "And he shall pass over," he says.

41. "And he shall enter into the land of Sabir." Again, through Sabir he has indicated Jerusalem. "And many shall be infirm." Clearly those who are deceived, or who are softened by the magnitude of the punishments. "And these shall be saved from his hand, Edom, and Moab, and the beginning of the children of Ammon." Neither do these things fit Antiochus; for when he had subdued them, he appointed rulers over them, of whom one was Timotheus, the leader of the Ammanites. ^C Under this impious leader it is likely that these escaped, inasmuch as they did not even piously practice piety seriously; for the impious man makes war against all who are essentially upright. But if these names must also be understood figuratively, Edom is interpreted as "the red"; for this reason Esau was also named Edom, as one who desired the red pottage of lentils, and blood also has a red appearance. Those, therefore, who are accounted worthy of the Lord's blood, and who live lives worthy of the dignity of this gift, possess the grace of the Lord's blood blooming in themselves. And Moab is called "from the father born"; for thus the elder daughter of Lot, having conceived from her father, and then having brought forth, named the one who was born. Those who are therefore called sons of God, "who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1, 13), are ^D deservedly named Moab. Amman also signifies the "son of the race"; for this the divine Scripture teaches. For the blessed Paul says, preaching to the Athenians: "For being then the race of God, we ought not to imagine, by gold or silver, or by stone, the sculpture of art, and the thought of man..."

And God himself called the holy ones his own race: "For I have made my chosen race to drink, for I acquired it for myself, to declare my virtues." It is therefore clearly not irrational that those who have obtained divine kinship through divine grace should be named Amman. Therefore, if you wish to understand these names figuratively, you should do so in this way. But if historically, as we said a little earlier, he will despise them, as the greater part of them are given over to impiety, and those few who are pious among them are not warmly affected toward divine things. ^B

VERS. 42, 43. "And he shall extend," he says, "his hand over the land of Egypt, and the land of Egypt shall not be for salvation. And he shall rule over the hidden places of gold and silver, and over all the desirable things of Egypt, and of the Libyans, and of the Ethiopians, and in their fortifications." These things also least of all befit Antiochus, for he neither mastered Libya, nor Ethiopia, nor Egypt itself. For, ordered by the Romans, he returned from there; so that from this, those three horns are signified which that little horn overturned. For he will destroy three very great nations—Egypt, Ethiopia, and Libya—which, as is likely, were subject to three kings, and will bring them under his own power. ^C

VERS. 44. "And reports and swift news shall trouble him from the east and from the north, and he shall come in great fury, to strike with anathema and to destroy many." This does not befit Antiochus either, for it was not reports that troubled him so as to make him withdraw from Egypt, but the decree of the Romans, sent from the West, not from the East. But he says of this one, that having captured Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia, and brought them under his own power, he will return, terrified by some rumor, and will come in great fury "to strike with anathema and to destroy many." He says the same thing through both expressions: for to destroy is to strip one of piety, and to strike with anathema is to declare one an alien to it. ^D

VERS. 45. "And he shall fix," he says, "his tent in Apadan," he says, "between the seas, upon the holy mount Sabir." Neither do we find this to have been done by Antiochus; otherwise let them say, what is this place, where Antiochus fixed his tent, situated between two seas? But they will not be able to show it. Therefore, none of these things has yet arrived at its fulfillment, but all these things shall come to pass through the common enemy of mankind. And he calls the land dedicated to God "Sabir," and "Apadan" a certain place so named, situated not far

from Jerusalem; for there he shall receive his destruction. "For it shall come," he says, "even to part of it, and there is no one who will deliver him." For he who has dared such and so great things, and has used such pride, shall suddenly receive his punishment, with no one being able to deliver him from it. This also the blessed ^A Paul clearly declares: "Whom the Lord," he says, "shall consume with the word of his mouth." And: "With the Spirit through his lips he shall slay the impious one."

CHAPTER XII

1. "And at that time," he says, "shall Michael the great prince arise, who stands watch over the sons of your people." For the archangel, he says, who has been entrusted with your guardianship, will rise up to the aid of those who are at that time ^B being warred against. And this will also become clear to the ignorant through another interpretation; for through Malachi the prophet, God says to the Jews: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the Tishbite before the coming of the great and illustrious day of the Lord, who shall turn the heart of the father to the son, and the heart of a man to his neighbor, lest I come and strike the earth utterly." He teaches us that, when the Antichrist is daring those things, the great Elijah will appear, preaching to the ^C Jews the coming of the Lord, and will convert many; for this is what he says: "He shall turn the heart of the father to the son," that is, to those from the Gentiles who have believed—the Jews; for he called these "fathers" as being older in knowledge. For this reason he did not say, "He shall turn the heart of the son to the father," but, "the heart of the father to the son," for he will unite the Jew who has believed with the Church. And since, in regard to knowledge, the Jew is indeed the elder, yet the nature of both these and those is one, he rightly added: "And the heart of a man to his neighbor," ^D teaching that one is the nature of both, but the knowledge of God was given to the Jews first. But because they did not believe, they became last; yet those who have believed through the preaching of the great Elijah, and have been united to the nations who laid hold of the salvation sent to them, shall be perfected into one Church. This also is hinted at here, that when these things are being done by the Antichrist, the holy archangel Michael will manage everything so that Elijah may arrive and announce the coming of the Master, in order that the Jews who are then present may obtain salvation. Then, recounting the extremity of the evils which that impious one will perpetrate, he says: "And there shall be a time of tribulation, such as has not been since the nation came to be upon the earth, and until that time." This also the Lord said in the holy Gospels: "For there shall be," he says, "tribulation such as has not been from the beginning of the age, nor shall ever be; and unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the sake of my elect those days shall be shortened." The prophetic oracles therefore agree with the evangelical...

decrees. To these he adds: "And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book." Instead of, if they are worthy of salvation, those who will obey the preaching of Elijah, whom God from above and from the beginning knows; for he called the knowledge of God a "book."

^B VERSE 2. "And many, he says, of those that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some unto life everlasting, and others unto reproach and everlasting shame." Let those who attempt to adapt these words to Antiochus say who it was that rose again during his reign, from whom some obtained life everlasting, and others reaped reproach and everlasting shame. But if they say that the Maccabees are signified by these, who came out from the caves, they will be considered worthy of even greater laughter; for the same persons would be found to be both lovers of piety and workers of impiety. For the prophecy says: "Many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some unto life everlasting, and others unto reproach and everlasting shame." Therefore, if they take these words to refer to the Maccabees, they will claim that the Maccabees themselves were both wicked and good, or that some of them were good and some bad. But not even this can be found, for their entire company was pious. Nor does life everlasting fit their case according to the present life; for they all perished and departed this life. Setting aside, therefore, those old wives' fables, let us learn from this place about the common resurrection of the dead and the judgment that will follow the resurrection. For some of them shall inherit life everlasting as if by inheritance, while others shall be rendered worthy of mockery and reproach for ever. "Many," however, he said instead of "all." And indeed the blessed Paul has put "many" for "all," when he said: "For if by the offence of one many died, much more the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many."

^C VERSE 3. "And they that are learned," he says, "shall shine as the brightness of the firmament." And the Lord in the holy Gospels says: "Then shall the just shine as the sun." "And from the many just, as the stars for all eternity, and beyond." For the most approved and select ^D will be likened to the brightness of the firmament and to the light of the sun itself; but those inferior to them (for this he signified by the word "many") will imitate the radiance of the stars, emitting this splendor for eternity. Thus too the blessed Paul distinguished the orders of the pious. "For one," he says, "is the glory of the sun, another the glory of the moon, and another the glory of."

stars; for star differs from star in glory." Having said this, he who was conversing with Daniel added: ^A Ver. 4. "And you, Daniel, close the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end, until many are taught, and knowledge is increased." Impose, he says, upon the book the seals of obscurity, and do not make these things clear to all, until knowledge is multiplied, and the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as much water as covers the seas, according to the prophecy. These seals the grace of the divine Spirit, after the advent of our Savior, having removed, has made ^B the obscure things clear to those who believe.

Ver. 5, 6. "And I saw, he says, I, Daniel, and behold, two others were standing, one on this side of the river, and one on that." And I said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the water of the river: "How long is the end of the things you have spoken of these wonders, and the purification of these?" For I, he says, was standing silent, and did not dare to ask; but two others standing on either side of the banks of the river, inquired of him who was clothed in linen robes, and who was moving upon the surface of the water: "How long a time will these terrible things, and things full of horror, last? And when will the deliverance from these come to pass?"

^C Ver. 7. "And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the water of the river, and he lifted up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by him who lives forever, that it shall be for a time, and times, and half a time." From this we have learned accurately that he who was then speaking was not the Lord Himself. For the Lord, since He had no one greater by whom to swear, as the divine Apostle says, swore by Himself, saying: "As I live, says the Lord." ^D And also the blessed Moses shows Him saying: "I will lift up my hand to heaven, and I will swear by my right hand, and I will say: I live forever." But this one, being one of those who are subject to the Lord and well-disposed toward the Lord, stretched forth both hands to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever. Daniel says that he had hands, because he had seen it so. We know, however, that the nature of angels is without a body; but they shape their appearances according to the need of those who see them; and often they appear more gentle, using greater condescension, and often more terrible, making those who see them more diligent, to whom they show themselves. "He swore, therefore, by Him who lives forever, that it shall be for a time, and times, and half a time."

^A This signifies three years and a half. The holy Gabriel said the same thing regarding the horn that wages war with the saints, which will sprout after the ten horns at the end of the Roman empire. For having said, "He shall humble three kings, and shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High," he added, "And it shall be given into his hand until a time, and times, and half a time." These, then, are three years and a half. For he called the year "a time," and we shall learn this more clearly from the words that follow: "For," he says, "it shall be for a time, and times, and half a time. When the dispersion of the sanctified people is completed, they shall know the holy one, and all these things shall be finished." For he says that the dispersion of the sanctified people will last three years and a half, and then all these things shall be finished. Then they shall know the holy one. He hints here at the great Elias; for near the end of that dominion, the great Elias having appeared, will announce the second coming of our Savior. ^B To these the blessed Daniel adds:

VER. 8. "And I heard, and I understood not, and I said: Lord, what [shall be] the last of these things?" Not understanding, he says, what had been said concerning the time, I was compelled to ask, desiring to learn more clearly; for I longed to learn what things were to follow thereafter. He, however,

VER. 9, 10. "Said to me: Go, Daniel, because the words are closed and sealed until the time of the end. Until many are chosen, and become white, and are tried; and the wicked shall do wickedly, and all the wicked shall not understand, but the wise shall understand." ^C Not without cause, he says, have I spoken these things more obscurely, and I have placed obscurity upon the words as if they were seals. For it is not right that divine things should be set forth indiscriminately to all; but the wise, through the knowledge supplied to them from above, will understand; whereas the wicked and impious will be able to understand nothing of what is contained therein; but when the events come to pass, they will clearly learn the prophecies concerning them. Then also will the workers of iniquity be separated from the just; for the refining fire will test everything. This also the blessed Paul ^D delivered: "For everyone's work," he says, "shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire, and the fire shall test each man's work, of what sort it is." Again, that it is not right to set forth divine things indiscriminately to all, the Lord says in the holy Gospels: "Do not give what is holy to the dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine." And the holy angel teaches the blessed Daniel, being a holy servant and well-disposed toward his Master, the time of the tyranny of the Antichrist, and says:

^A Ver. 11. "From the time of the taking away of the continual sacrifice, and the giving of the abomination of desolation, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days." For since he had said, "for a time, and times, and half a time," and saw that the blessed Daniel had not understood, by resolving the time into days, he made clear to him what he was ignorant of, though to others he left the discourse thus obscure. By the abomination of desolation he calls the Antichrist himself; and by the change of the continual sacrifice, the order of the ecclesiastical liturgy, which is being scattered and brought to an end by the madness and frenzy of that one. To these the holy angel adds:

Ver. 12. "Blessed is he who waits, and arrives at the days one thousand three hundred and thirty-five." He hints and signifies that, upon the Antichrist's receiving the divinely-inflicted wound, the great Elias will remain for the remaining forty-five days preaching; and then the Lord will appear, coming upon the clouds of heaven, and will crown those who have kept the possession of perseverance inviolate. The Lord also asserts this in the holy Gospels: "But he who perseveres to the end, ^B he shall be saved." And from this it is possible to learn accurately that none of these things fits Antiochus. For in his case he spoke of two thousand three hundred days, but in the case of the Antichrist, that the calamity will prevail for one thousand two hundred and ninety; so that even the difference of time bears witness to the difference of the persons and the events.

Ver. 13. "But go you," he says, "and rest." It is time, he says, for you to receive the end of life. "For there are yet days for the fulfillment of the completion." For he says that not a little time yet remains for the constitution of the present life. And here too he clearly taught us the completion, and that the aforementioned things will happen at that time. "And you shall rest, and shall rise in your time (but more correctly, in your lot, as will be clear from what follows), ^C at the completion of the days." For now, he says, it is fitting for you to receive the common end; but you shall rise, and not simply rise, but in your lot, that is, with the company of those of like character. And showing when, he added: "At the completion of the days." Thus the divine archangel clearly taught us the resurrection through the blessed and thrice-blessed Daniel. Thus, having completed the revelation, the prophet added:

Ver. 14. "And King Astyages was gathered to his fathers, and Cyrus the Persian ^D received his kingdom, and Daniel was a companion of the king, and glorious above all his friends." Now Astyages was the maternal grandfather of Cyrus; once he had died, and Cyaxares his son could not manage the kingdom, Cyrus, having overturned the kingdom of the Assyrians and Chaldeans...

the Mede empire to the Persians. "And he was," he says, "a guest of the king, and a table-companion, and set above all his intimates." For being gifted with this freedom of speech, he both revealed to him the things that had been predicted concerning him by God through the prophet Isaiah, and was the initiator of the sending away of the people. We, therefore, have learned these things from the divine prophecy of Daniel. But it is just for Jews to lament and mourn, who dare to place this divine prophet outside the prophetic canon, even though they have learned by experience the truth of the prophecy. But it is evident that the Jews of our own time have added this blasphemy as well to their other impious crimes, attempting to overshadow the manifest testimony of our Savior's advent by their denial of the prophecy. But there will be nothing further for those who deny this prophecy; for both the other prophets bear witness, and the very events cry out, answering to the predictions concerning Him. That indeed the ancient Jews called the blessed Daniel a very great prophet, a reliable witness is Josephus the Hebrew, who did not indeed accept the Christian proclamation, yet did not endure to hide the truth. He, in the tenth book of the *Jewish Antiquities*, when he had said many other things about the blessed Daniel, adds these words also: "Everything, he says, was granted to him miraculously, as to one of the greatest prophets, and throughout his life he obtained honor and glory among both kings and the people; and having died, he has a perpetual monument. For the books, whatever he left behind written, are read among us even now, through which we have been led to believe that Daniel spoke with God. For he did not only prophesy future things, as did the other prophets, but he also defined the time at which these would happen." And a little further on: "For from the outcome of the predictions he obtains in the eyes of the multitude the belief in his truth and the reputation of divinity." And subsequently he commemorates many other things of this kind concerning him. And likewise in the twelfth book of the *Antiquities* he again says thus: "And it happened that the desolation of the temple took place according to that which Daniel had predicted four hundred and eight years before; for he showed that the Macedonians would overthrow it." And these things indeed Josephus bears witness to the prophet. But the Jews, suffering from every impudence, do not even respect their own teachers. But we, I exhort you, inasmuch as we have received from a prophet of God the foreknowledge of future things, let us prepare ourselves for that terrible day, so that we may not rise to everlasting shame, but to eternal life: which may we all attain, by the grace and

may we be counted worthy of that day of trembling, so that we may not rise to eternal shame, but to eternal life; which may we all be granted to attain, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father is glory, together with the holy Spirit, now and forever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. ^B

COMMENTARY OF THE BLESSED THEODORET, BISHOP OF CYRUS, ON THE TWELVE PROPHETS

PROŒMIUM

Perhaps some will think that we are doing something superfluous and unnecessary by venturing to interpret the prophets, seeing that certain others have already exhausted this labor. But those who value divine doctrine highly, and who have been perfectly and thoroughly instructed in the holy Scriptures, will not only not be angry with us, nor, like those querulous accusers, will they condemn our undertaking, but they will even applaud it, as is fitting, and even if they find nothing noble in our books, they will adorn them with praises. For a prompt and enthusiastic mind is quite enough among fair judges to garner praise. For thus our Saviour and Lord, in the holy Gospels, extolled that widow who gave two mites, bestowing praise by reason of the condition of her mind, ^C not by the quantity of the gift. And in the Law, when he had commanded the wealthy to bring gold and silver and precious stones for the construction of the tabernacle, he did not deprive the poor of this blessing, but ordered some to bring skins, others hair; and those who were unable to offer even these contributed their labor and their strength instead, spinning the hair and weaving it. Furthermore, we know that not only was the great Moses ^D