bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Ne- A.C. 539. buchadnezzar had + taken out of the temple which was in

* Or, grandfather: as Jer. xxvii. 7. 2 Sam. ix. 7.

Nebuchadnezzar is said to be his father, (see Dan. v. 18); and in 2 Chron. 2 Chr. xv. 16. xxxvi. 20, it is said, that the captive Jews should continue the servants of Nebu- ver. 11. 13. + Chald. chadnezzar and "his sons, until the reign of the kingdom of Persia." Again, brought forth. Jeremiah (xxvii. 7.) prophesies that all the nations of the east shall serve this king, and "his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land come." Secondly, Belshazzar reigned only three years. We find that Daniel saw the vision related in chapter viii. ver. 1, 2. at the palace of Shushan, in the province of Elam. Now Shushan, in the reign of Belshazzar, was not city of Babylon, but of Persia; neither was Elam a province of Babylon: Elam was another name for Persia, of which Shushan was the capital, and this country had been engaged in perpetual wars with Babylon for the space of twenty years before its overthrow. We have no reason, therefore, for supposing that Daniel was ever absent from the city of Babylon, a place where he was held in much honour, till he was removed either by Cyrus or Darius. Lightfoot therefore interprets the first and second verses of this chapter to signify, "In the third year of Belshazzar, after the fall of that monarch, Daniel was taken by the king of Persia to his own capital, where he saw this vision." The expression in ver. 2, "I rose up, and did the king's business," refers to the business which was entrusted to his care by Cyrus or Darius king of Persia, and not by Belshazzar the king of Babylon. Thirdly, that Belshazzar was the last of the Babylonish kings. Immediately after the death of Belshazzar his kingdom was divided, and given to the Medes and Persians, (Dan. v. 28. 30, 31.) Scripture assures us, that Nebuchadnezzar should have "sons, and son's sons," to succeed him on the throne of Babylon; and it confines itself to three generations, father, son, and grandson, to whom the Jews should continue captives for the space of seventy years: now if we suppose that Belshazzar was not of the seed of Nebuchadnezzar, and that his kingdom was possessed by the Medes and Persians before the expiration of the appointed seventy years, these prophecies must have failed of their accomplishment. God likewise threatens to punish the king of Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans, by bringing "many nations and great kings" against them, (Jer. xxv. 12. 14. and 1. 18); but this prophecy again could not have been fulfilled, if at the end of the seventy years the family of Nebuchadnezzar was extinct, and no longer filled the throne of Babylon. The evils denounced against the kings of Babylon, were caused not only by their iniquities, but for cruelties inflicted on the Jews by the family of Nebuchadnezzar. Isaiah foretells (chap. xxi.) the capture of the city at a feast, the "night of pleasure turned into fear;" and in Isaiah xliv. God promises to dry up the rivers, and to break in pieces the gates of brass, before his anointed servant Cyrus; who was to build Jerusalem, and lay the foundations of the temple; Isaiah xlv. 1, 2. It cannot be thought probable, then, that the Almighty would inflict on any other family, the evils which Nebuchadnezzar's conduct had brought upon his own; and consequently whoever was the reigning monarch when Cyrus gained admittance into the city, must have been a son, or a descendant of Nebuchadnezzar.

I have therefore, according to Lightfoot, supposed that Evil Merodach, who succeeded his father Nebuchadnezzar, reigned twenty-three years; and that at his death Belshazzar his son came to the throne, who was slain in the third year

A.C. 539. Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.

3 Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them.

4 They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.

5¶In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of

of his reign. Herodotus represents the last king of Babylon as being the son of the great queen Nitocris; in which case she must have been the wife of Evilmerodach; for by this king only could she have been the mother of a son that was son's son to Nebuchadnezzar.

Profane writers give a variety of names to the last king that reigned in Babylon: he is called by Berosus, Nabonnedus; by Megasthenes, Nabonnedochus; by Herodotus, Labynetus; and by Josephus, Naboandelus, whom, he says, is the same as Belshazzar: but these authors are on many occasions so contradictory and inconsistent, that when they at all interfere with Scripture, their evidence must lose its authority. They agree in the important fact, that Babylon was taken during a festival; and both Herodotus and Xenophon relate the draining of the river by Cyrus; by which stratagem he gained admission for his troops.

The causes of the contradictory accounts related in the ancient writers, may in some degree be ascertained from the hints they give us of the state of the kingdom of Babylon after the death of Nebuchadnezzar, or perhaps during his distraction. Evil-merodach, or foolish Merodach, his successor, was, as his name implies, a weak prince; and, taking advantage of this circumstance, several of the princes mentioned by these different authorities may have opposed him, and successively exercised the regal power, while he only nominally retained it. And to these usurpers, in all probability, may be attributed the various accounts handed down to us of the Babylonish succession during this period. The injured nobleman, in the Cyropædia, repeatedly praises the father of that king of Babylon whom Cyrus was proceeding against; whom the latter calls the Assyrian. And from the description given by Isaiah (xiv. 29.) of the three kings of Babylon, when he describes Nebuchadnezzar as a serpent, Evil-merodach as a cockatrice, and Belshazzar as a fiery flying serpent, that is, worse than his cruel predecessors, it is not improbable, that Belshazzar was the king who was guilty of the acts complained of by the friends of Cyrus, and likewise of those cruelties recorded by Xenophon.

Sir Walter Raleigh, in his History of the World, proposes an opinion, that the manuscript of Berosus must have been altered by the carelessness of a scribe; and that it originally assigned twenty-three years to the reign of Evil-merodach. In the short account of the reign of Evil-merodach given in Scripture, we are only informed that he released Jehoiakin from prison, and "that he eat bread continually before him all the days of his life;" 2 Kings xxv. 29, 30. From this expression we can alone infer that Jehoiakin lived many years after he was restored to liberty, and that during his life time Evil-merodach was still king.

the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of A.C. 539. the hand that wrote.

* Chald.

+ Chald.

6 Then the king's * countenance + was changed, and his brightnesses. thoughts troubled him, so that the § joints of his loins were changed it. loosed, and his knees smote one against another.

+ Or, girdles.

Chald.

might.

7 The king cried || aloud to bring in the astrologers, the bindings, or, Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and I Chald. with said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be

clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his * Or, purple. neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.

8 Then came in all the king's wise men: but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof.

9 Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his + countenance was changed in him, and his lords were + Chald. astonied.

10 ¶ Now the queen by reason of the words of the king and his lords came into the banquet house: and the queen spake and said, O king, live for ever: let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed:

brightnesses.

father, ver. 2.

11 There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit q ch. ii. 48. of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and Or, grandunderstanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy § father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the Or, grandmagicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers;

father, ver. 2. r ch. iv. 9.

Or, of an inor, of a dis

terpreter, &c.

12 Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of hard sentences, and dissolving of + doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar: now +Chald. knots. let Daniel be called, and he will shew the interpretation.

13 Then was Daniel brought in before the king. And the king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Jewry?

14 I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods' is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee.

15 And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof: but they could not shew the interpretation of the thing:

solver.

+ Or, grandfather.

pret.

16 And I have heard of thee, that thou canst § make in- Chald. interterpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain

VOL, II.

3 D

A.C. 539. of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom.

ch. ii.

17 Then Daniel answered and said before the king, O fee, as Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation.

18 O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and ho

nour:

19 And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down.

20 But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind har+ Or, to deal dened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, Chald. made and they took his glory from him:

proudly.

to come down.

8 ch. iv. 32,

&c.

his heart

equal, &c.

21 And he was driven from the sons of men; and his Or, he made heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.

22 And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this;

23 But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified:

24 Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.

25 ¶ And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.

26 This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.

27 TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.

28 PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

29 Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

30 In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chal- A. C. 539. deans slain.

31 And Darius the Median took the kingdom,

+ about threescore and two years old.

SECTION XVII.

Daniel's Vision of the Ram and He Goat.

DANIEL VIII 50.

being e

Chald. he as

1 Daniel's vision of the ram and he goat. 13 The two thousand three hundred days of sacrifice. 15 Gabriel comforteth Daniel, and interpreteth the vision.

1 In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first.

so From the fourth verse of the second chapter, to this chapter, Daniel has made use of the Chaldee language, because his prophecies and writings related to the Chaldeans. His remaining prophecies are written in Hebrew, because they treat of events subsequent to the times of that nation, and principally regard the Church and people of God. The second empire in the former vision (the Medo-Persian) is the first in this: and what was there compared to a bear, is here prefigured by a ram. This ram having two horns, according to the explication of the angel Gabriel, ver. 20. was the empire of the Medes and Persians. The propriety of the emblem appears from hence, that the kings of Persia wore a ram's head of gold, and precious stones, instead of a diadem, and a ram was the armorial ensign of that empire. The he goat is the Macedonian empire. The first king of the Macedonians, 200 years before Daniel, called his capital city Egea, or Ægæ, a goat being their ensign. "The rough goat," ver. 21. represents the Greeks or Macedonians under Alexander: ver. 6 and 7. describe the Grecians overthrowing the Persian empire. The final and principal engagement in which Alexander overcame the Persians, was at the river Granicus, in Phrygia, "standing before the river," ver. 6. The four "notable" borns that sprang up in the room of the first great horn, are the same as the four heads of the leopard in the former vision, and denote the four kingdoms of Greece, Thrace, Syria, and Egypt, which were thus divided "toward the four winds of heaven" by Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleucus, and Ptolemy, about fifteen years after the death of Alexander, and the murder of his descendants. The "little horn," which is described as rising among the four horns of the Grecian empire, ver. 9. is supposed by the generality of commentators to signify the Roman temporal power. It was this power that magnified itself against "the prince of the host," "stood up against the Prince of princes," ver. 25. crucified the Messiah, the Lord of life, took away the "daily sacrifice," destroyed the temple of the Jews, (ver. 11.) and made a desolation of the holy city. But, as "the stone," in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, was "" cut out of the mountain without hands," that is, not by human, but supernatural means, so likewise shall this kingdom "be broken without hands." Compare chap. ii. 34. and chap. vii. 11. and 26. All which passages seem to imply that the dominion of the Romans shall be finally destroyed with some extraordinary manifestation of the Divine power.-Bishop Newton.

+ Or, now.