Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_300.lzh/6_336.TXT

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be the two horns of the ram broken by him; nor is it
to be understood of the kings of two different families,
as the one of. Cyrus, and the other of Darius Hystaspes,
in whose successors the Persian monarchy continued
till destroyed by Alexander, as Theodoret.
Ver. 21. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia,
&c.] Including all the kings of it, from Alexander to
the end of the Grecian monarchy; or rather the king-
dom of Greece, which began in bim, and continued
until it was destroyed by the Romans: this was sig-
nified by the rough or .hairy goat, especially when
Alexander was at the head of it, for his strength and
prowess, Iris swiftness in his marches over rocks and
mountains, his majesty and grandeur, and also his lust
and uncleanness; see the note on ver. 5: and the great
ho,',t that is between his eyes is the first king; this is
Alexander, who, though he was not the first king of
Macedon, his father Philip, and others, were kings
before him; yet was the first king of the Grecian mon-
archy, which took place on the Persian monarchy being
destroyed by h im.
Ver..oo.. Now that being broken, &c.] That is, the
great horn Alexander, the first king of the Grecian-
monarchy; whose death, either by drunkenness, or
by poison, is here expressed by being broken. The
sense is, he being dead, or upon his death, whereas
four stood up for it; four horns rose up in the room and
stead of the great one broken; see ver. 8. these sig-
nified that four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation;
which were the kingdoms of Egypt, Asia, Macedonia,
and Syria, into which the Grecian monarchy was
divided after the death of Alexander; and the first
kings of them were all of the Grecian or Macedonjan
nation,' and not Egyptians, Armenians, Syrians, 4'c.:
but not in his power; they did not rise and stand up in
the power and strength, in the grandeur and magnifi-
cence, of Alexander; they were not equal, but greatly
inferior to him, though they were notable horns, or
famous kingdoms, as in ver. 8. Saadiah interprets it,
not of his seed or offspring; these were not his sons
that were the heads of these kingdoms; but his captains
or generals.
Vet. 23. And in the latter time of their kin. gdom, &c.]
Toward the close of the kingdom of the four kings
that divided Alexander's kingdom; for though they
were four distinct kings, and had four separate king-
doms, yet these all belonged to one kingdom.or mon-
archy, the Grecian empire; and when that was de-
creasing, and co.ning into the hands of the Romans,
there rose up, stood, and flourished awhile, King An-
tiochus, afterwards described,who began to reign in the
hundred and thirty-seventh year of the Seleucidae,
1 Maccab. i. 11. and above a hundred and sixty-six
years before Christ, and the same year that he set up
the abomination of desolation in the temple at Jeru-
salem, as Mr. Mede {p} has observed, ./Emilins the
Roman consul conquered Perseus king of Macedon,
whereby all Greece came into the hands of the Romans;
so that this king may be truly said to arise and stand
in the latter part of the Grecian empire, when that was
declining, and the Roman empire was taking place:
when the transgressors are come to the full ; many among
the Jews, who apostatized from their religion, turned
Heathens, even some of the priests, when their number
was completed, and they had filled up the measure of
their iniquities; see 1 Maccab. i. 19, &c.: a kingOf
fierce countenance, and .understanding dark sentences,
shall stand up; meaning Antiochus; as is generally
agreed, both by Jewish and Christian interpreters, and
to whom these characters agree: he was hard offace {q},
as it may be rendered; an impudent brasen-faced man,
who had no shame nor fear in him; regarded neitherGod
nor man; committed the most atrocious crimes in the
most public manner; and particularly was daring and
impudent in his blasphemy against God and the true re-
ligion; and it may also signify that he was cruel, bar-
barous, and inhuman, especially to the Jews, as his per-
sec u tion of them abundantly proves: and his understand-
ing dark sentences, or riddles {r}, which he could both pro-
pose and answer, shews him to be sagacious and cunning,
well versed in wicked craft and policy; he had the art of
inveigling and deceiving men; it was by deceit and
cunning he got the kingdom' from Iris nephew; and,
by the wicked art of persuasion he was master of, he
seduced many of the Jews to relinquish their religion,
and embrace Heathenism; and so well skilled he was
in wicked politics, that he could cover his own de-
signs, and penetrate into the secrets of others; ac-
cording to Jacchiades, he was skilful in the art of
magic and astrology. This is the little horn that was
to rise out of one of the four horns or kingdoms; as
Antiochus did from that of Seleucus, and stood and
reigned above 19 years.
Ver. 94. And his power shah be mighty, but not by
his own power, &c.] He should possess a large king-
dom, and that should be increased by conquests: but
not in his power {}, the power of Alexander; he should
not arrive to that greatness he did, as in ver. 22. so
Jacchiades: or, in his own power {t}; for it was not so
much by his own courage and valour, by any heroic
actions of Antiochus, he became so great, as by craft
and deceit: through sedition he procured the death of
his father and eider brother; and by fraud got the
kingdom from his nephew; and through the perfidy
of Menelaus and Jason, the high-priests of the Jews,
and other apostates, he obtained what dominion he
had over the Jews; and it was by the assistance of
Eumenes king of Pergamus, and his brother Attalus,
that he kept the kingdom he had usurped, who stood
by him, in order to check the growing power of the
Rothans; and more especially it was by a power given
him from above, or by the permission and providence
of God, who suffered him to be so great, and to pre-
vail particularly over the Jews; because of their sins,
as Aben Ezra and Saadiah observe, to chastise them
for them: so his antitype, antichrist, became great
and powerful, through craft and policy, and by the
help of the ten kings that gave their kingdoms to him:

{p} Works, B. 3. c. 11. p. 654.
{q} \^Mynp ze\^ "durus facie", Calvin, Piscator; "validus facie", Michaelis.
{r} \^twdyx\^ "aenigmata", Pagninus, Montanus, Munster, Calvin, Piscator,
Polanus.
{s} \^wxwkb\^ "robore ipsius", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
{t} In fortitudine sua, Pagninus, Montanus; per virtutem suam,
Munster.