A consideration of the use and meaning of the term, 'the son of man,' in the N. T. does not belong properly to a Commentary on Daniel; nevertheless the subject is sufficiently germane to the present passage of Daniel for a few words on it not to be out of place here. The expression d vids тoû åveρúrov is used frequently, both in the Synoptic Gospels and in St John, as a designation of Christ, but exclusively for John xii. 34 is hardly an exception-in the mouth of Christ Himself: elsewhere in the N.T.1 it occurs only in the words of Stephen, Acts vii. 56. There is no evidence that it was a current Jewish title of the Messiah2. It is commonly supposed to have been directly derived from Daniel vii. 13. But, as Prof. (now Bishop) Westcott pointed out long ago3, this is not quite correct. In reality the passage (Dan. vii. 13) in which the title is supposed to be found has only a secondary relation to it. The vision of Daniel brings before him not the Son of man,' but one like a son of man.' The phrase is general, and is introduced by a particle of comparison. The thought on which the seer dwells is simply that of the human appearance of the being presented to him' (cf. above, ad loc.). 'The son of man' differs evidently from 'one like a son of man.' The former, it cannot reasonably be doubted, was chosen purposely by Jesus to express His own view of His office. It may be doubted, however, whether in its origin it was connected by Him with Dan. vii. 13. It seems clearly to represent Him as the true child of man, the ideal son of the human race, the representative of humanity. It is used most frequently in passages which refer to the earthly work of the Lord in the time of His humility, especially where the thought is prominent of His lowliness, or physical weakness, or true humanity. These however are not the associations that would be naturally suggested by Dan. vii. 13. But the title is used also on other occasions where the reference is to His future coming in glory (as Matt. xiii. 41, xvi. 27 f., xix. 28, xxiv. 27, 30, 37, 39, 44, xxv. 31, xxvi. 64). It is, however, only in passages belonging quite to the close of our Lord's ministry, viz. Matt. xxiv. 30, 'coming on the clouds of heaven' (|| Mk. xiii. 26; Luke xxi. 27), and xxvi. 64 (Mk. xiv. 62), that it is brought distinctly into connexion with Dan. vii. 13. The passages in which the title is used of our Lord as Judge are strikingly similar to some of those quoted above from the Book of Enoch. But the more primary use and sense of the expression seem to lie in the first group of passages; and it is in these, it would seem, that its original meaning must be sought. The employment of the title in the second group of passages may have been suggested by its use in the Book of Enoch, or (in Matt. xxiv. 30, xxvi. 64 and || ||) by Dan. vii. 13. And the reference in Matt. xxiv. 30 may be not unreasonably held to imply that, as the ideal representative of Israel, our Lord claimed to fulfil the promise of dominion made to Israel (if the view adopted in this note is correct) in Dan. vii. 14. But our Lord was not only 'like a son of man,' He was 'the Son of man'; ⚫ so that, even in so far as He bases His use of the term upon Dan. vii. 1 In Rev. i. 13, xiv. 14, there is no article in the Greek (see R. V.). 2 Dalman, p. 197 ff., 204. 3 Speaker's Comm. on St John, p. 33 f. 4 Westcott, .c. p. 34 (§ 9), quotes and classifies the passages. 8 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. And I saw in a vision; 2 13, He certainly reads into it a larger and fuller meaning than it there possesses. And it is a question whether the sense which He appears to attach to the title is not more naturally deducible from Ps. viii. 4—a Psalm of which the theme is the contrast between the actual lowliness and the ideal dignity of man-than from Dan. vii. 13. CHAP. VIII. ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES AND THE DESECRATION OF THE SANCTUARY. A vision of Daniel in the third year of Belshazzar. A ram with two horns appeared, pushing towards the west, north, and south, until a he-goat, with a 'notable horn' between its eyes, emerged from the west, and, drawing nigh, attacked the ram, and broke its two horns (vv. 1-7). After this, the he-goat increased in strength; but ere long its horn was broken; and in place of it there rose up four other horns, looking towards the four quarters of the earth (v. 8). Out of one of these there came forth a little horn, which, waxing great towards the land of Judah, exalted itself against the host of heaven and against its Prince (God), desecrating His sanctuary, and interrupting the daily sacrifice for 2300 half-days (vv. 9-14). The meaning of this vision was explained to Daniel by the angel Gabriel. The ram with two horns was the Medo-Persian empire; the he-goat was the empire of the Greeks, the 'notable horn' being its first king, Alexander the Great and the four horns which followed were the four kingdoms into which, after his death, his empire was ultimately resolved (vv. 15-22). The little horn, which arose out of one of these, represented a king who, though not named, is shewn, by the description of his doings (vv. 23-25), to be Antiochus Epiphanes. Although the vision is dated in the third year of Belshazzar, its main subject is thus the empire of the Greeks, especially the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, whose character and policy are clearly depicted in it. The vision differs from the one in ch. vii. in that it dwells more exclusively upon the human side of the history, and describes with greater particularity Antiochus' dealings with the Jews. 1. In the third year &c.] See the note on vii. 1. at the first] properly, at the beginning (Gen. xiii. 3, xli. 21, xliii. 18, 20). The reference is to ch. vii. where the first of Daniel's visions is recorded. 2. And I saw in the vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was in Shushan, the citadel, which is in Elam, the province; and I saw in the vision, and I was by the stream Ulai] The verse is awkwardly worded, and in part tautologous; its object is to describe where Daniel seemed to find himself in the vision. Elam' is the Heb. form of the Sumerian (or 'Accadian') Êlam-ma, ‘highland,' which in Ass. assumed the fem. term. and became Êlamtu: it de and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam; and I noted originally (Delitzsch, Paradies, p. 320 f.) the mountainous region beginning N. and E. of Susa, and corresponding roughly to the modern Khusistan.' Persia proper was S. E. of it. It is mentioned frequently both in the O.T. (Gen. x. 22; Is. xi. 11; Jer. xlix. 34, &c.), and also in the Assyrian Inscriptions: Anshan, or Anzan, the home of Cyrus, was the district in the S.-W. of Elam, bordering on what is now the lower course of the Tigris, but what in ancient times was the upper part of the Persian Gulf (called by the Assyrians the Når Marratum, or Bitter (salt) River1). Shushan (Susa) was the capital of Elam. Asshurbanipal (B.C. 668-626) invaded Elam more than once, and has left a full and vivid account of the occasion on which he stormed and sacked Shushan (KB., ii. 203 ff.). Darius Hystaspis appears to have been the first Persian king who erected palaces at Shushan, or held his court there2; and from his time onwards, as the principal residence of the Persian kings (cf. Neh. i. 1; Est. i. 2, and passim), it held for nearly two centuries a commanding position in the ancient world. From Susa, during this period, the peoples of W. Asia and E. Europe awaited their destiny; in the Apadâna tributary princes, ambassadors, and satraps, including the noblest of the Greeks, as Antalkidas (387 and 372), Pelopidas and Ismenias (367), did homage at the feet of the Great King. In the palaces of the citadel were enacted bloody harem-tragedies, in which eunuchs and women were the actors (Esther, Amytis, Amestris, Parysatis, Statira). Here Xerxes fell under the daggers of Artabanus and Aspamithras, and here Bagoas poisoned two kings' (Billerbeck, Susa, p. 154). Susa was thus a suitable spot at which the seer should find himself in a vision that pourtrayed with some prominence both the rise and the fall of the Persian power (vv. 3—7). See further, on Susa, p. 125 f. For other instances of visionary transference to a distant locality, see Ez. viii. 3-xi. 24, xl. 2 ff. Shushan, the citadel] the standing title of Shushan in the O. T. (Neh. i. 1; Est. i. 2, 5, ii. 3, 5, 8, iii. 15, viii. 14, ix. 6, 11, 12). The word rendered 'citadel' (birah) is peculiar to the later Hebrew, being found otherwise only in 1 Chr. xxix. 1, 19; Ezra vi. 2; Neh. ii. 8 (see Ryle's note), vii. 2. It is probably the Ass. birtu, 'castle' (Delitzsch, Ass. Handwörterbuch, p. 185), and denotes a castellated building or enclosure, a castle, citadel, or acropolis. Elam, the province] Cf. Ezr. vi. 2, Media, the province.' It is, however, extremely doubtful whether Elam, especially after the rise and successes of Cyrus, was a 'province' (iii. 2, 3) of the Babylonian empire: the word seems rather a reminiscence of the time when the district in which Susa lay was a principal 'province' of the Persian empire. 1 Maspero, Struggle of the Nations (with Map), p. 30 f. 3 saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai. Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the 4 higher came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became the stream Ulai] The word rendered stream occurs only here and vv. 3, 6; but it appears to differ only phonetically from the one found in Jer. xvii. 8, and (in a slightly different form) in Is. xxx. 25, xliv. 4. The Ulai is the Ass. U-la-a-a-the waters of which Asshurbanipal, on his first invasion of Elam, states that he 'coloured with blood like wool' (KB. ii. 183)—the Eulaeus of the classical writers, which Pliny (H. N. vi. 27) says flowed close by Susa. The difficulties which were formerly felt in identifying the Eulaeus have been cleared up by the surveys of Loftus and Dieulafoy. There are at present three rivers flowing near Susa, from the mountains on the north, into the Persian Gulf. On the S.-W. of Susa, some four or five miles from the site of the ancient acropolis, flows the Kerkha (the ancient Choaspes): on the east is the Abdizful (the Coprates), which runs into the Karun (the Pasitigris); and the Eulaeus was a large artificial canal some 900 feet broad, of which traces remain, though it is now dry, which left the Choaspes at Pai Pul, about 20 miles N.-W. of Susa, passed close by the town of Susa on the N. or N.-E., and afterwards joined the Coprates. 3. And I lifted up my eyes] in the vision: cf. x. 5; Gen. xxxi. 10; Zech. i. 18, ii. 1, v. 1, 9, vi. 1. a ram standing before the stream, and it had two horns; and the two horns were high, &c.] The ram is an emblem of power and dominion: cf. Ez. xxxix. 18. The symbolism of the figure is explained in v. 20: the ram, as a whole, represents the combined power of the Medes and Persians; but the strength of the animal lying in its horns, these are taken as representing more particularly the two powers separately, that of Persia, as being the stronger, and arising after that of Media, being represented by the higher horn, which came up last. On the distinction between the two empires, see the notes or ii. 39 and v. 31. 4 pushing] i.e. butting: cf. Ex. xxi. 28 (gore'); and applied figuratively to peoples, Deut. xxxiii. 17; Ps. xliv. 5 ('push down,' properly 'butt'). stand before him] so v. 7. For the expression cf. 2 Ki. x. 4. did according to his will] did exactly what he pleased; cf. xi. 3, 16, 36, Neh. ix. 24, Est. i. 8, ix. 5 (the Heb. in all being the same). and became great] and did greatly, or (R.V.) magnified himself. The verb (in the conjug. here used) means to shew greatness, to do greatly, usually in a bad sense; e.g. Ps. lv. 12; Jer. xlviii. 26, 42; great. And as I was considering, behold, a he goat came 5 from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between Lam. i. 9. So vv. 8, 11, 25. The verse describes the irresistible advances of the Persian arms, especially in the direction of Palestine, Asia Minor, and Egypt, with particular allusion to the conquests of Cyrus and Cambyses. 5-7. A he-goat, with a conspicuous horn between its eyes, appearing from the west, attacked the ram, and beat it down to the ground. The empire of the Greeks; the horn (cf. v. 21) being Alexander the Great. 5. considering] paying attention, reflecting (D): not, as in vii. 8 (where the word is a different one), contemplating. a he goat] For the he-goat (though the Heb. word is different), the leader of the flock, as a symbol of a prince or ruler, cf. Is. xiv. 9, xxxiv. 6; Ezek. xxxix. 18; Zech. x. 3. on] over; its course carried it over the whole earth (the hyperbole, as in iv. 1,-though it is true that Alexander penetrated further to the east than any Assyrian or Babylonian king of whom we know). Cf. I Macc. i. 3, where it is said of him that he 'went through to the ends of the earth' (διῆλθεν ἕως ἄκρων τῆς γῆς). and touched not the ground] as though flying,—such was the incredible rapidity of its course. The Heb. is properly, and there was none touching the earth,'-a more graphic and forcible expression than simply, and it touched not the earth.' One is reminded-involuntarily of Homer's description of the horses of Erichthonius (7. XX. 226—9), and of Vergil's of the huntress Camilla (Aen. VII. 807-811, 'Illa vel intactae segetis,' &c.). a notable horn] a conspicuous horn; lit. a horn of sight. Explained in v. 21 to signify Alexander. Alexander the Great crossed the Hellespont in the spring of B.C. 334. Having routed the Persian forces, which had assembled to oppose his advance, at the Granicus, he marched through Asia Minor, receiving the submission of many cities and peoples; and in Nov. B.C. 333, defeated Darius Codomannus, with great loss, at Issus, on the E. border of Cilicia. Having reduced Tyre (July 332), he marched through Palestine and conquered Egypt, founding in memory of the event the afterwards celebrated city of Alexandria. In 331 he crossed the Euphrates, and gave the final blow to the power of Persia at Arbela, a little E. of Nineveh. Having made a triumphal entry into Babylon, he took possession of Persepolis and Susa, the two official capitals of the Persian kings. Darius meanwhile had fled into Bactria, where he was slain by conspirators; and Alexander, pursuing after him (330), secured only his corpse. Alexander then started for the further East. First, he invaded Hyrcania (on the S. of the Caspian Sea), then he passed on to Bactria and Sogdiana, after which, retracing his steps, he crossed (327) the Indus, and found himself in the country now called the Punjaub. Defeating Porus, a powerful Indian king, he 8 DANIEL |