:

up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. And from the time that 11 the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and 12 cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty

shut up and sealed (v. 4) till the time of the end: if Daniel does not understand them, it does not signify; they are not intended for him, but for readers in a distant future, viz. in the age of Antiochus Epiphanes, when they will first be divulged.

10. The time of the end' characterized it will be an age of trial and probation, in which many will come out purified and ennobled, while others will only have their wickedness confirmed.

Many shall cleanse themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined] by their sufferings, and their constancy under temptation, their characters will be ennobled and refined (cf. xi. 35). The two reflexives are not to be pressed unduly; but they imply that the martyrs, by their deliberate acceptance of suffering, are, to a certain degree, the agents in the purification of their characters.

but the wicked shall do wickedly] The trial will have no effect upon them, beyond giving them further opportunities of doing wickedly, and so confirming them in their wickedness.

none of the wicked shall understand-i.e. act with understanding— but they that be wise shall understand] shall act with understanding. The wicked act blindly, not perceiving the consequences of their wickedness; the 'wise,' the religious teachers of the nation (the same word as in v. 3, xi. 33, 35), shew insight into the ways and providence of God. For understand,' cf. Ps. xlix. 20, lxxxii. 5, Hos. iv. 14. 11, 12. The duration of the persecution defined.

that the continual (burnt-offering) shall be taken away] as xi. 31; cf. viii. II.

and the abomination that appalleth set up] also as xi. 31 (cf. viii. 13, ix. 27): see the notes on these passages.

a thousand two hundred and ninety days] the terminus a quo is 15 Chisleu [Dec.], B.C. 168 (1 Macc. i. 54); and 1290 days, reckoned from this date, would end in June-according to Cornill, Siebzig Wochen, p. 29, on June 6-B.C. 164. The death of Antiochus took place in the course of B.C. 164: the exact date of it is not known; but it is not improbable that it is pictured by the writer as synchronizing with the end of the 1290 days.

12. Happy is he that waiteth, and attaineth to a thousand three hundred and five and thirty days] Happy is he who waits (cf. Is. xxx. 18, happy are all they that wait for him,' lxiv. 4), not giving up his trust in Jehovah, for 45 days (=1 month) beyond the 1290 days mentioned in v. 11. Why this further limit is assigned, it is

13 days. But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.

impossible to say with any certainty. All that can be said is that the turning-point (whatever it may have been), marked by the close of the 1290 days, was not pictured by the author as introducing at once the period of complete blessedness-this he did not conceive as beginning for 45 days afterwards. What he imagined as the cause of the postponement must remain matter of speculation: if the 1290 days are rightly interpreted as ending with the death of Antiochus, he may have thought, for instance, that its full effects would not appear at once, and that true rest would not begin for the Jews till after a short interval more.

13. After indicating (vv. 11, 12) the duration of the persecution, the angel turns to Daniel; and the book closes with a word of consolation addressed to him personally. He is to await the 'end' in the grave, from which, in the resurrection spoken of in v. 2, he will arise to take his appointed place, beside the other saints.

But thou, go thou to the end] i.e. depart to await the end. (As in v. 9, there is nothing in the Heb. corresponding to 'thy way.')

and thou shalt rest (in the grave, Is. lvii. 2), and stand up to thy lot] to thy appointed portion or place: 'lot' being used in a figurative sense, as in Jud. i. 3, Ps. cxxv. 3, and in the N.T. Acts xxvi. 18, Col. i. 12 (in both which passages 'inheritance' is properly ‘lot' [кλĥpos]').

at the end of the days] the extreme end of the present period,―i.e., reckoned from Daniel's standpoint, the period ending with the fall of Antiochus,-when the resurrection of v. 2 will take place, and the age of never-ending blessedness (v. 3) will begin.

APPENDIX.

The Inscription recording the Vote of Thanks to Eumenes and Attalus passed by the Council and people of Antioch1.

As this inscription, which was discovered inscribed on a marble stele, on the site of the ancient Pergamum in Aug. 1885, is of some interest, and has never, so far as the present writer is aware, been published in England, it may be worth quoting here. Its purport, it will be seen, is to describe how Eumenes, king of Pergamum, came forward, with great readiness and liberality, to assist Antiochus with money and forces to gain his throne, how his brother Attalus co-operated with him, and how two other brothers, Philetaerus and Athenaeus, also shewed goodwill at the same time. The Council of Antioch agreed therefore to propose to the people to honour with golden crowns not only Eumenes and his brothers, for the benefits they had conferred upon the state, but also their deceased father Attalus, and the queen-mother Apollonis, for having educated their children in such virtuous ways. The bestowal of these honours was to be announced both in Daphne, the pleasuresuburb of Antioch, and in Pergamum, at the public games; and stone tablets, with the decree engraved upon them, were to be set up in Antioch itself, in Daphne, and in Pergamum. The inscription confirms, and fills out, the brief statement of Appian (Syr. 45) that Eumenes and Attalus τὸν ̓Αντίοχον ἐς αὐτὴν [τὴν Συρίαν] κατάγουσιν, ἑταιριζόμενοι τὸν ἄνδρα. The opening lines are imperfect.

6 .......... ὡς εἰς σύσστασιν ἧι θελ

καὶ ἀδελφοῦ πέμπτου τὰ ε... .μετ]αλλάξαντος Σελεύκου [καὶ

τῆς συμφορ]ᾶς παρακαλούσης θεωροῦντες το πόρον τζόγ καιρὸμ παραδίδοντα πρὸς τὸ καταθέσθαι χάριγ καὶ εὐεργεσίαν, πάντα πάρεργα τ]ἆλλα ποιησάμενοι καὶ ἑαυτοὺς ἐπέχρησαν καὶ μέχρι τῶν ὁρίων τῆς ἰδίας βασιλείας συμπροελθόντες καὶ χρήμασι χορηγήσαντες καὶ

1 From Fränkel, Die Inschriften von Pergamon (1890), I. No. 160.

2 The conspiracy of Heliodorus.

In all probability, Antiochus Epiphanes, who is known to have had both four brothers and four sisters.

4 Risked their lives.

15 δυνάμεις παρασκευάσαντες καὶ τῶι διαδήματι μετὰ τῆς ἄλλης κατασκευῆς κοσμήσαντες

ὡς καθῆκεν καὶ βο[υθ]υτήσαντες καὶ πίστεις ποιησάμενοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους μετὰ πάσης εὐνοίας

καὶ φιλοστοργίας ἀξιολόγως συγκατέστησαν ἐπὶ τὴ[μ 20 πατρώιαν ἀρχὴν τὸμ βασιλέα ̓Αντίοχον. "Οπως ἂν οὖν ὁ δῆμος ἐγ χάριτος ἀποδόσει φαίνηται πρωτεύων καὶ τοὺς ἑαυτὸν καὶ τοὺς φίλους εὐεργετοῦντας ἀπαρακλήτως φανερὸς εἰ τιμῶν καὶ τὰ καλὰ τῶν ἔργων εἰς ἀΐδιομ μνήμην ἀνάγων καὶ νῦν καθάπε[ρ 25 καὶ πρότερον· ἀγαθεῖ τύχηι δεδόχθαι τεῖ βουλεῖ τοὺς λαχόντας προέδρους εἰς τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν ἐκκλησίαν χρηματίσαι περὶ τούτων, γνώμην δὲ ξυμβάλλεσθαι τῆς βουλῆς εἰς τὸν δῆμον ὅτι δοκεῖ τεῖ βουλεῖ

ἐπαινέσαι τὸμ βασιλέα Εὐμένη βασιλέως 'Αττά[λου 30 καὶ βασιλίσσης ̓Απολλωνίδος καὶ στεφανῶσαι χρυσ[ῶι στεφάνωι ἀριστέωι κατὰ τὸν νόμον ἀρετῆς ἕνεκεν καὶ εὐνοίας καὶ καλοκαγαθίας ἣν ἀπεδείξατο

πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις σπεύσας ὑπὲρ τοῦ βασιλέως ̓Αντιόχου καὶ συγκαταστήσας αὐτὸν εἰς τὴν τῶμ προγόνων [ἀ][χήν. 35 Κατὰ ταὐτὰ δὲ στεφανῶσαι καὶ ̓́Ατταλον, ὅτι μετὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ Εὐμένους πάντα συνέπραξεν ἀόκνως

καὶ φιλοκινδύνως. Επαινέσαι δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς αὐτῶν Φιλέταιρον καὶ ̓Αθηναῖον καὶ στεφανῶσαι χρυσῶι στεφάνωι ἑκάτερον αὐτῶν εὐνοίας ἕνεκεν καὶ

40 φιλοτιμίας, ἣμ παρέσχοντο κατὰ τὴγ κάθοδον τοῦ βασιλέως ̓Αντιόχου. Επαινέσαι δὲ καὶ τοὺς γονεῖς αὐτῶν, τόν τε βασιλέα "Ατταλον καὶ τὴμ βασίλισσαν ̓Απολλωνίδαι, καὶ στεφανῶσαι χρυσῶι στεφάνωι ἀριστείωι ἀρετῆς ἕνεκεν καὶ καλοκαγαθίας,

45 ΐμ περιεποίησαν τοῖς ὑοῖς προστάντες τῆς παιδείας αὐτῶν καλῶς καὶ σωφρόνως. ̓Αναγορεῦσαι δὲ τοὺς στεφάνους τούτους ἔν τε τοῖς ἀγῶσιν οἷς.......

ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ ἐν οἷς ὁ βασιλεὺς Εὐμένης μετά τε τῶν ἀδελφῶν καὶ τοῦ δήμου τοῦ Περγαμηνῶν, κατὰ ταὐτὰ δὲ 50 καὶ ἐν οἷς ὁ βασιλεὺς ̓Αντίοχος ἐπὶ Δάφνει [θ]ήσει, καθάπερ αὐτοῖς ἔθος ἦν. Ἵνα δὲ καὶ τὸ ὑπόμνημα διαμένει συμ[φ]α[νὲς εἰς τὸν αἰώνιογ χρόνον, ἀναγράψαι τόδε τὸ ψήφισμα εἰς στήλας λιθίνας καὶ στῆσαι τὴμ μὲν ἐν ἀγορᾶι παρὰ τὰς εἰκόνας τὰς τοῦ βασιλέως ̓Αντιόχου, τὴν δὲ ἐν τῶν ἱερῶι τῆς Νικηφόρου 55 Αθηνᾶς, τὴν δὲ ἐν τῶι ἐπὶ Δάφνει, τοῦ ̓Απόλλωνος ἱερῶι. Τῆς δὲ διαποστολῆς αὐτοῦ πρός τε τόμ βασιλέα καὶ τὴ[μ μητέρα καὶ τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς ἐπιμεληθῆναι τοὺς στρατηγ[ούς, ὅπως ἐπιμελῶς γένηται καὶ τὴν ταχίστην.

I Attalus I. (now dead), and Apollonis, the mother of Eumenes, who was still living.

2 At Pergamum,—no doubt the same stele on which the inscription was found. 3 Eumenes.

INDEX.