CHAPTER IV.
THE VISION BY THE RIVER OF ULAI
"THE times of the Gentiles;" thus it was that Christ Himself described the
era of Gentile supremacy. Men have come to regard the earth as their own domain,
and to resent the thought of Divine interference in their affairs. But though
monarchs seem to owe their thrones to dynastic claims, the sword or the
ballot-box, – and in their individual capacity their title may rest solely upon
these, – the power they wield is divinely delegated, for
"the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He
will." (Daniel 4:25)
In the exercise of this high prerogative He took back the scepter He had
entrusted to the house of David, and transferred it to Gentile hands; and the
history of that scepter during the entire period, from the epoch to the close of
the times of the Gentiles, is the subject of the prophet's earlier visions.
The vision of the eighth chapter of Daniel has a narrower range. It deals only
with the two kingdoms which were represented by the middle portion, or arms and
body, of the image of the second chapter. The Medo-Persian Empire, and the
relative superiority of the younger nation, are represented by a ram with two
horns, one of which was higher than the other, though the last to grow. And the
rise of the Grecian Empire under Alexander, followed by its division among his
four successors, is typified by a goat with a single horn between its eyes,
which horn was broken and gave place to four horns that came up instead of it.
Out of one of these horns came forth a little horn, representing a king who
should become infamous as a blasphemer of God and a persecutor of His people.
That the career of Antiochus Epiphanes was in a special way within the scope and
meaning of this prophecy is unquestioned. That its ultimate fulfillment belongs
to a future time, though not so generally admitted, is nevertheless sufficiently
clear. The proof of it is twofold. First, it cannot but be recognized that its
most striking details remain wholly unfulfilled. [1]
And secondly, the events described are expressly stated to be "in the
last end of the indignation," (Daniel 8:19) which is "the great tribulation" of
the last days, (Matthew 24:21) "the time of trouble" which is immediately to
precede the complete deliverance of Judah. [2]
It is unnecessary, however, further to embarrass the special subject of
these pages by any such discussion. So far as the present inquiry is immediately
concerned, this vision of the ram and the he-goat is important mainly as
explanatory of the visions which precede it. [3]
One point of contrast with the prophecy of the fourth Gentile kingdom
demands a very emphatic notice. The vision of Alexander's reign, followed by the
fourfold division of his empire, suggests a rapid sequence of events, and the
history of the three-and-thirty years that intervened between the battles of
Issus and of Ipsus [4]
comprises the full realization of the
prophecy. But the rise of the ten horns upon the fourth beast in the vision of
the seventh chapter, appears to lie within as brief a period as was the rise of
the four horns upon the goat in the eighth chapter; whereas it is plain upon the
pages of history that this tenfold division of the Roman empire has never yet
taken place. A definite date may be assigned to the advent of the first three
kingdoms of prophecy; and if the date of the battle of Actium be taken as the
epoch of the hybrid monster which filled the closing scenes of the prophet's
vision – and no later date will be assigned to it – it follows that in
interpreting the prophecy, we may eliminate the history of the world from the
time of Augustus to the present hour, without losing the sequence of the vision.
[5]
Or in other words, the prophet's glance into the future entirely
overlooked these nineteen centuries of our era. As when mountain peaks stand out
together on the horizon, seeming almost to touch, albeit a wide expanse of river
and field and hill may lie between, so there loomed upon the prophet's vision
these events of times now long gone by, and times still future.
And with the New Testament in our hands, it would betray strange and willful
ignorance if we doubted the deliberate design which has left this long interval
of our Christian era a blank in Daniel's prophecies. The more explicit
revelation of the ninth chapter, measures out the years before the first advent
of Messiah. But if these nineteen centuries had been added to the chronology of
the period to intervene before the promised kingdom could be ushered in, how
could the Lord have taken up the testimony to the near fulfillment of these very
prophecies, and have proclaimed that the kingdom was at hand?
[6]
He who knows all hearts, knew well the issue; but the thought is impious
that the proclamation was not genuine and true in the strictest sense; and it
would have been deceptive and untrue had prophecy foretold a long interval of
Israel's rejection before the promise could be realized.
Therefore it is that the two advents of Christ are brought seemingly together in
Old Testament Scriptures. The surface currents of human responsibility and human
guilt are unaffected by the changeless and deep-lying tide of the fore-knowledge
and sovereignty of God. Their responsibility was real, and their guilt was
without excuse, who rejected their long-promised King and Savior. They were not
the victims of an inexorable fate which dragged them to their doom, but free
agents who used their freedom to crucify the Lord of Glory. "His blood be on us
and on our children," was their terrible, impious cry before the judgment-seat
of Pilate, and for eighteen centuries their judgment has been meted out to them,
to reach its appalling climax on the advent of the "time of trouble such as
never was since there was a nation." [7]
These visions were full of mystery to Daniel, and filled the old
prophet's mind with troubled thoughts. (Daniel 7:28; 8:27) A long vista of
events seemed thus to intervene before the realization of the promised blessings
to his nation, and yet these very revelations made those blessings still more
sure. Ere long he witnessed the crash of the Babylonian power, and saw a
stranger enthroned within the broad-walled city. But the change brought no hope
to Judah. Daniel was restored, indeed, to the place of power and dignity which
he had held so long under Nebuchadnezzar, (Daniel 2:48; 6:2) but he was none the
less an exile; his people were in captivity, their city lay in ruins, and their
land was a wilderness. And the mystery was only deepened when he turned to
Jeremiah's prophecy, which fixed at seventy years the destined era of "the
desolations of Jerusalem" (Daniel 9:2) So "by prayer and supplications, with
fastings, and sackcloth and ashes," he cast himself on God; as a prince among
his people, confessing their national apostasy, and pleading for their
restoration and forgiveness. And who can read that prayer unmoved?
While Daniel was thus "speaking in prayer' Gabriel once more appeared to him, (Daniel 9:21, See chap. 8:16.) that same angel messenger who heralded in after times the Savior's birth in Bethlehem, – and in answer to his supplication, delivered to the prophet the great prediction of the seventy weeks.