Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_300.lzh/6_318.TXT

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author and giver .of .l.i, fe to others, and ever remains .so,
without any variation or shadow of turning; he is
everlasting and .unchangeable. permanent .and imsnu-
table ,in ,his nature.; steady and steadfast in his purposes
and promises. in his ,cOnduct in tthe g0vernmeiut.0f the
world. and !in .,the course of his providence: ,,arid his
kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his do-
minion shall be even unto the end; unto the end of
time; other kingdoms w.iil he destroyed, but his will
not; all other rule, domini. on.!and authority. will be at
.an end. but his wall continue for ever; his kingdom is
an everlasting one: this doctrine Darius had learned
from Daniel. as Nebuchadnezzar before had done;
see ch. ii. 44. and iv. 3.
   Ver. 27. He delivcreth and rescueth. &c.] AS he did
the three cotnpanions of Daniel from the ..fiery furnace,
and.now Daniel himself f r, om the lions' .den: and he
worketh signs and wonders in hearer. and in 'earth;
which are out of the common.course of nature, and
· not according to the laws of it; such .as hindering the
.xtatural force of fire from burning, as ,in the case of the
three children; and stopping the mouths of lions from
devouring Dani.el. as follo.ws: who hath delivered
Daniel from the power of the lions; .or..from the hand {}
of them; from their destroying paws, and devouring
jaws; .which was no. thing less ,than a miracle, and a
proof of the, divine omnipotence. and of .his power of
doing woneters.                                  .
 Vet. 28. So this Daniel prosp, er. ed in the rezsn of
Darius, &c.] T. his Daniel, of w-horn so much has l
been, said all the preceding chapters. and who had
been so lately and so wonderfully delivered from the
lions' den, the same flourished throughout ,the reign
of Darius the Mede; continued a favourite with the
king; retained his honour and d. ignity; and kept his
posts and places of trust and profit. Dariu. s the Mede
reigned two years; though Jarchi say..s .he .reigned but
one, and was .slain in war; .for which he 're.fers tO
Joseph ben Gorion. who has not a word of it. Anct in
the reign of Cyrus the Persian; who. as Jacchiade.s
says, was the son-in-law of DariuS, and inheri.ted the
kingdom after him; which is .,true. f9r he married the
daughte.r of .Cyaxares o,r Darius. who was his uncle.
and .succeeded him as sole monarch of .the empire:
he reigned with him the ,tw.o years he had the govern-
ment of the Baby..tonish mona. rchy; and. when he died.
it solely deVo lved on him, who reigned .seven years
after, as Xenop,hon {s} relates; .but .the Canon of Ptolemy
ascribes nine years to his reign, which includea the
two years he was partner with Darius. Daniel w.as in
the same favour with this .prince as .the tbrmer. who
i.n .the first year of his reign proclaimed liberty tO
the Jews .to return to their count. ry, .and build their
temple; whether Daniel li. ved t. hroughout his reign i.s
not certain; he was alive in the third year of it. aS
appears from ch. x. 1. some take Darius and Cyrus to
be one and the same person, and rend.er this last
.clause as explanative of the former, .even, or, that is,
in the reign of Cyrus the Persian {t}.

C H A P. VII.

This chapter contains !Danie!'s vision of the four
beasts, The time, place, manner, writing, and de-
claration of the vision, vet. 1. the rise of the .beasts,
and the description of them, .vet. 2....8. the judgment.
of God .upon them, especially the last, and the deli-
very of uni.versal monarchy .to .his Son., ,ver, 9--1.4. the
interpretation of the .vision a4 the request .of Daniel,
being greatly affected .with it, ver. 15---.18. apart:icular
inquiry of his about the fo.urth beast, concerning
which a full account is given, ver. 19---27. all which
catlsed in him many though,ts of heart, and reflections
of mind, ver. 28.
Ver. t. in the first year of Belshazzar king o.f Babylon,
&c.] Daniel having finished the historical part of his
book, and committed to writing what was necessary
concermug himself and his three Companions, and
concerning Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and Dar. ius
the Mede,-proceeds .to the prophetic par. t, and goes
back to the .first year of Belshazzar's reign, seventeen
years before his death, and the fall of the Babylonish
monarchy last mentioned; for so long Belshazzar
reigned, according to Josephus {u}; .and with which
agrees the canon of Ptolemy, who ascribes so many
y.ears to the reign of Nabonadius, the same ,with
shazzar: he began to reign, according to Bishop
Usher {w}, Dean Prideaux {x}, and Mr, Whiston {y}, in the
year of the Julian period 4159, and before ChriSt 555;
and in the first year .of his reign Daniel had the dream
of the four monarchies, as follows: Daniel had a
dream: as Nebuchadnezzar before had, concerning the
same things, the four monarchies of the world, and
the kingdom of Christ, only re. presented in a different
manner: or, saw a .dream {z}; in his dream he had a
vision, and objects were presented to his fancy as if
he really saw tttem, as ibllows: and visions of his head
came upon his bed; as he lay upon his bed, a.nd deep
sleep was fallen on him, things in a visi.onary..way
were exhibited to him .very wonderful and surprising,
and ,which made strong impressions upon him: .then he
wrote the .dream: awaking out of his sleep, and per-
fectly · remembering the dream he had dreamt, and
recollecting the several things he had seen in it; .that
they might not be lost, but transmitted to posterity
for their use and benefit, he immediately committed
them :to writing: and told the sum of t],c matters; the
whole of what he had dreamt and seen; or however
the sum and substance of it, the more pr:,ncipal parts
of it, the most interesting things in it, and of the

{r} \^dy Nm\^ de manu, Montanus, Cocceius.
{s} Cyropaedia, I. 8. c 45.
{t} Vid Nicolai Abram. Pharus Vet. Test. I. 12. c. 24. p.338.
{u} Antiqu. Jud. I 10. c. 11. sect. 4.
{w} Annales Vet. Test. A. M. 3449·
{x} Connexion, &c. part I. p. 114.
{y} Chronological Tables, cent. 10.
{z} \^hzx Mlx\^ somnium vidit. V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius &
Trmellius, Piscator, &c.