B.C.536-5.
1. In the third year
third since the conquest of Babylon, but first in the personal reign over Babylon
of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar; and the thingwastrue, but the time appointed was long: and he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision.
2. In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks.
3. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.
4. And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, whichisHiddekel;
Tigris is the modern name for the river Hiddekel. The period of Daniel’s mourning began on Saturday, March 31st,B.C.536, and continued 3 weeks until Saturday, April 21st. Meantime the Passover occurred on Thursday, April 12th.
5. Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loinsweregirded with fine gold of Uphaz:
Ophir
6. His body alsowaslike the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour topolished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.
“One like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.” Rev.I.13, 14, 15.
7. And I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves.
“And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of Him that spake to me.” ActsXXII.9 alsoIX.7.
8. Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength.
9. Yet heard I the voice of his words: and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground.
Daniel was completely overcome by the glory of this Divine manifestation.
10. And, behold, an hand touched me, which set me upon my knees anduponthe palms of my hands.
The angel Gabriel now appears on the scene, and again assures Daniel that he is greatly beloved andcontinues the kindly offices spoken of in DanielVIII.16.—IX.21, 22.
11. And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling.
John was the beloved apostle, JohnXIII.23 and Daniel the beloved prophet, Dan.IX.23.
12. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.
13. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and remained there with the kings of Persia.
“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation.”IIChron.XXXVI.22.
14. Now I am come to make thee understand what shallbefallthy people in the latter days: for yet the visionisformanydays.
15. And when he had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb.
16. And, behold,onelike the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spake, and said unto him that stood before me,O my lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength.
17. For how can the servant of this my lord talk with this my lord? for as for me, straightway there remained no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me.
18. Then there came again and touched meonelike the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me,
19. And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peacebeunto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me.
20. Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come.
Dan.VIII.21.
21. But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth:
the Book of future events
andthere isnone that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.
“Michael the archangel.” See Jude 9th verse.—“The captain of the Lord’s host.” See JoshuaV.15.—“Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels.” Rev.XII.7.
The next chapter gives a bird’s-eye view of the period covered by the 2300 days. For a full explanation seeNote D.
1.Also I
Gabriel
in the first year of Darius the Mede,evenI, stood to confirm and to strengthen him.
This does not indicate a change of date, it simply declares that the same solicitude was now bestowed on Cyrus, as had been manifested toward his royal representative Darius the Mede, when first placed on the throne of Babylon by Cyrus.
2. And now
“in the third year” since Cyrus captured the city. DanielX.1.
will I show thee the truth. Behold there shall stand up yet
after the setting up of the sanctuary and the host,B.C.445, three kings in Persia, viz.: Darius Nothus, Artaxerxes Mnemon, and Ochus,
and the fourth
Darius Codomannus
shall be far richer thantheyall: and by his strength and through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia.
3. And a mighty king
Alexander the Great
shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will.
from Greece to India.
4. And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven;
among his four generals;
and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those.
5. And the king of the south
Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt
shall be strong, andoneof his princes; and he shall be strong above him
AntiochusII
and have dominion; his dominionshallbe a great dominion.
6. And in the end of the years
in the course of time
they shall join themselves together; for the king’s daughter
Bernice
of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement:
Antiochus banished his own wife Laodice and her children in favor of Bernice
but she shall not retain the power of the arm; neither shall he stand, nor his arm: but she shall be given up
Antiochus after the death of Ptolemy expelled Bernice and recalled the rejected Laodice.
and they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that strengthened her inthesetimes.
7. But out of a branch of her roots
PtolemyII, called Evergetes
shallonestand up in his estate, which shall come with an army, and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north and shall deal against them and shall prevail:
Laodice placed her son SeleucusIIon the throne. PtolemyIIImade an expedition against Syria, slew Laodice and conquered the realm from Cilicia to the Tigris.
8. And shall also carry captives into Egypt their gods, with their princes,andwith their precious vessels of silver and of gold
the booty was immense, 2500 idols, 4000 talents of gold, etc.
and he shall continuemoreyears than the king of the north.
9. So the king of the south shall come intohiskingdom, and shall return into his own land.
10. But his sons
SeleucusIIIand AntiochusIII, the Great
shall be stirred up and shall assemble a multitude of great forces: andoneshall certainly come, and overflow, and pass through; then shall he return, and be stirred up,evento his fortress.
11. And the king of the south
PtolemyIV, was luxurious and indolent
shall be moved with choler, and shall come forth and fight with him,evenwith the king of the north: and he shall set forth a great multitude: but the multitude shall be given into his hand.
Ptolemy defeated Antiochus near Gaza but did not follow up the victory.
12.Andwhen he hath taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up; and he shall cast downmanyten thousands: but he shall not be strengthenedby it.
13. For the king of the north
Antiochus the Great
shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches.
14. And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south; also the robbers of thy people
secret enemies of the Jews
shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall fail.
15. So the king of the north shall come, and cast up a mount, and take the most fenced cities; and the arms of the south shall not withstand, neitherhis chosen people, neithershall there be anystrength to withstand.
16. But he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will,
the wars of Antiochus the Great
and none shall stand before him: and he shall stand in the glorious land
Palestine
which by his hand shall be consumed.
17. He shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him; thus shall he do: and he shall give him the daughter of women, corrupting her:
Using marriage for political gain: Antiochus gave his daughter Cleopatra in marriage to Ptolemy Epiphanes, hoping for benefit, but it turned out otherwise
but she shall not standon his side, neither be for him.
18. After this he shall turn his face unto the Isles, and shall take many: but a prince
a Roman General
for his own behalf shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease; without his own reproach
Antiochus said:—“Asia did not concern the Romans and he was not subject to their orders”
he shall causeitto turn upon him.
He was defeated by the Romans, at Magnesia.
19. Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land;
pillage the temples
but he shall stumble and fall, and not be found.
Antiochus the Great was slain.
20. Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxesinthe glory of the kingdom:
his son Seleucus Philopater, who sent out Heliodorus and taxed thetemples as well as the people
but within a few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle.
Seleucus shortly after, died in a mysterious manner.
21. And in his estate shall stand up a vile person,
Antiochus Epiphanes
to whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
22. And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant.
OniasIII, the high priest was put to death by his order.
23. And after the leaguemadewith him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.
24. He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his father’s fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strongholds even for a time.
25. And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south
Ptolemy Philometer
shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand: for they shall forecast devices against him.
26. Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain.
27. And both these kings’ heartsshallbe to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table
a pretended friendship
but it shall not prosper: for yet the endshall beat the time appointed.
28. Then shall he return into his land with great riches; and his heartshall beagainst the holy covenant;
the worship of Jehovah
and he shall doexploits, and return to his own land.
29. At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter.
30. For the ships of Chittim
the fleet of the Romans under Laenas
shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them
the Samaritans
that forsake the holy covenant.
31. And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength,
the Temple
and shall take away the dailysacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.
Antiochus Epiphanes established idol-altars in every town and village of Palestine, and ordered a daily sacrifice of swine on the altars.
32. And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong and doexploits.
Mattathias and his 5 sons, the “Maccabees.”
33. And they that understand among the peopleshall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil,manydays.
34. Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries.
see life of Judas Maccabeus.
35. Andsomeof them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to makethemwhite,evento the time of the end: becauseit isyet for a time appointed.
36. And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that, that is determined shall be done.
37. Neither shall he regard the god of his fathers, nor the desire of women,
in other words, the idol Astarte, “the queen of heaven”
nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
38. But in his estate shall he honor the God of forces:
a god of castles or fortresses
and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39. Thus shall he do in the most strongholds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledgeandincrease with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.
40. And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the northshall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41. He shall enter also into the glorious land,
Palestine
and manycountriesshall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand,evenEdom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon
Antiochus passed them by. When, however, they tried to take advantage ofJudasMaccabeus, he defeated them.
42. He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopiansshallbe at his steps.
44. But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him:
rumors of rebellion and lack of funds made him resolve to go at once to Persia, restore order and collect taxes.
therefore he shall go forth with great fury
Threatened on his return to exterminate the Jews
to destroy, and utterly to make away many.
45. And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain;
he left a garrison in the Citadel adjoining the Temple
yet he shall come to his end
B.C.163
and none shall help him.
1. And at that time shall Michael
the archangel, see Jude verse 9
stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nationevento that same time,
“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” Matt.XXIV.21. Josephus says 1,100,000 perished in the Siege.
and at that time thy people shall be delivered,
“But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Matt.XXIV.13
every one that shall be found written in the book.
At the time of the siege all of the Christians escaped to the little town of Pella.
2. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
As to the righteous:—“the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose. And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.” Matt.XXVII.52. As to the wicked:—Scripture is silent.
3. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many torighteousness as the stars for ever and ever.
Witness for instance the life of the Apostle Paul and the lives of a vast host of Christian saints.
4. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book,evento the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
These words find special emphasis in the present century, noted for its railways, steam engines, automobiles, bicycles, telephones, wireless telegraphy, public libraries, books, photographs, microscopes, antitoxins,x-rays, etc.
5. Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river.
In verses 4 and 5 of chapterX, Daniel beheld only one heavenly visitor, he now looks and discovers other two.
6. Andonesaid to the man clothed in linen, whichwasupon the waters of the river, How longshall it be tothe end of these wonders?
7. And I heard the man clothed in linen, whichwasupon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever thatit shall befor a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all thesethingsshall be finished.
Since the power of the holy people was scattered inA.D.70, all these things were finished at that time and right there Daniel’s prophetic work ended. The formula,“time, times, and an half” has already been considered under the head of Dan.VII.25. SeeNoteB.
8. And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, whatshall bethe end of thesethings?
9. And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the wordsareclosed up and sealed till the time of the end.
10. Many shall be purified, and made white,
“And the same day there were addedunto themabout three thousand souls.”—ActsII.41.—“Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed, and the number of the men was about five thousand.”—ActsIV.4
and tried;
“At that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem.”—ActsVIII.1
but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
11. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away and the abomination that maketh desolate set up
the sacrifice of swine and pollution of the holy placeB.C.168 to 141
there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
InB.C.168, these sacrifices were ordered to be madeDAILY, in every village and town throughout Palestine. The desecration of the temple area lasted until May 4thB.C.141. Every moment of this time was part of one great abomination. Counting each prophetic day as made up of 49 ordinary days, the 1290 days bring us to May 24thA.D.33—THE DAY OF PENTECOST—“THAT GREAT ANDNOTABLE DAY OF THE LORD”—when the Holy Spirit was revealed to the Jews, and about 3000 souls were converted.
12. Blessed is he that waiteth
the Gentiles
and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
the Gentiles did wait for six years, while the disciples were busy, “PREACHING THE WORD TO NONE, BUT UNTO THE JEWS ONLY.” ActsXI.19.—If now we make the calculation for 1335 days, we shall find, that the prophecy brings us direct to June 7thA.D.39—on which day, the Holy Spirit was revealed to theGENTILES.
13. But go thou thy way till the endbe: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.
Thus the heavenly visitor announced the fact of a resurrection day, but gave no intimation whatever as to when that day would come. In this respect also the teachings of Daniel are in perfect accord with those of the New Testament. “Of that day and hour knoweth no man; no, not the angels of Heaven.” Matt.XXIV.36.
NOTES.
NOTES.
The era of the Seleucidæ among the Greeks and Eastern nations, sometimes called the “era of contracts,” dated from the capture of Babylon by Seleucus Nicator, Oct. 1stB.C.312. The complete subjugation of the city followed 6 months later, and therefore the Babylonians counted from the spring ofB.C.311. With this exception the former date has been generally regarded as the true epoch. The years run as below:
We pause at the beginning of the 171st year because it was a year of great moment in the life of the Jewish nation. The deepest interest is focussed on “the 23rd day of the 2nd month” when Simon, brother of Judas Maccabeus, “destroyed a great enemy out of Israel,” andCLEANSEDthe Temple ofits abominations. He also ordained, that the day should be observed ever after, as a National holiday.—IMacc.XIII.51.
We note that the 171st year, like all others of the Seleucidæ, began with the month of October, which was the first month of the Macedonian calendar. It was called Hyperberetaeus, the second month Dius, the third, Apellaeus and so on. But the question that concerns us most is, whether the writer of First Maccabees actually reckoned by Macedonian months? A careful examination of the entire book shows that he mentioned 4 Hebrew months by name—“Casleu, Adar, Elul and Sabat”—also that he clearly located another, viz:—Tisri, but not in a single instance did he mention the name of a Macedonian month, or refer to the Macedonian calendar in any manner whatsoever. That he did not regard October as being theFIRSTmonth is plainly declared inIMacc.X.21, where he says:—
“So in theSEVENTHmonth of the 160th year, at the feast of tabernacles, Jonathan put on the holy robe,” etc.
Sept./Oct. therefore was theSEVENTHmonth, according to the usage of the writer of the First book of Maccabees, which gives the following succession:—
The rest of the way is easy. We have only to follow the Jewish calendar of Rabbi HillelIIand we learn that the “23rd day of theSECONDmonth” corresponded with the
4th day of MayB.C.141,
the great day of National Independence. Having thus far followed exclusively the years of the Seleucidæ as common among Greeks and Orientals, let us now turn to the system of the Babylonians. Their era began, as already explained, with the spring ofB.C.311. Accordingly, their 171st year began with the spring ofB.C.141, and theSECONDmonth of course coincided with Apr./May, or the Jewish month Iyar. It matters not, therefore, whether you follow the system of the Greeks or that of the Babylonians, you will arrive at the same goal, viz:—May 4thB.C.141.
One can hardly overestimate the importance of this discovery, because a knowledge of the National Independence day gives a fixed starting point for that mysterious group ofDAYS—2300, 1290 and 1335—as revealed by the angel Gabriel to “Daniel the Prophet.”
“And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.” In the first verse of the 9th chapter we are told that Darius was the son of Ahasuerus, the same Assuerus spoken of in the 15th verse of the 14th chapter of Tobit, the Astyages of Median history. Astyages was king of the Medes and reigned for 35 years fromB.C.593-558. His son Cyaxares [JosephusX.11, 4.] succeeded him on the throne and his daughter Mandané married Cambyses of Persia. Their offspring was Cyrus the Great, who thus represented the Royal houses of both Media and Persia. Cyaxares therefore was the uncle of Cyrus. As a boy Cyrus was brought up by his grandfather and accompanied his uncle on shooting expeditions. A very strong attachment was formed with the latter so that in after years when Cyrus deposed his grandfather, inB.C.558, he made his uncle the king of Media. Still later when Cyrus took Babylon and pacified the inhabitants he made his uncle Cyaxares kingpro tem, who occupied the throne fromB.C.538-536. Cyrus of course continued to be, as the annalistic tablet relates, “the powerful king, the king of Babylon, ‘the king of Sumar and Akkad’—the king of the four zones.” But the laws of Persia as outlinedby Herodotus [VII.1. 2. andIII.66] made it necessary for him to appoint a successor before starting out to war, who would govern during his absence. So we find, “after Gobryas the governor of the country of Ararat and the soldiers of Cyrus, without fighting entered Babylon,” the country became submissive and attention could be directed elsewhere; that “when in the course of their march they arrived in the Median territory Cyrus turned off to visit Cyaxares; and after they had embraced each other, Cyrus first told Cyaxares that there were domestics and palaces set apart for him in Babylon, that when he came thither he might have what was his own to come to.” [XenophonVIII.] It is hard to imagine how Cyrus could have paved the way more perfectly for the reign of his uncle Cyaxares in Babylon, whom we believe was Darius the Mede of Scripture. His reign was of short duration, but it came at a critical period in the history of the Jews. Only two years remained to complete theBabyloniancaptivity and Divine influences were at work for the return of the chosen people. [DanielX.13.] More than a century previous to that time the Scriptures had named Cyrus as the “shepherd,” [IsaiahXLV.1, 3.] and when Cyrus placed his uncle temporarily on the throne of Babylon, a heavenly messenger was sent to Darius who “stood to confirm and strengthen him.” [DanielXI.1.] This gave the Jews a friend at court who paved the way for that celebrated emancipation proclamation which Cyrus issued on hisreturn to Babylon. Naturally such a document belonged among the state papers and should have been found “in the house of the rolls where the treasures were laid up in Babylon,” but diligent search proved of no avail. [EzraVI.1.] However, as the document was dated in the time of Darius the Mede, official attention was next directed to “the palace that is in the province of the Medes,” where a careful search proved successful. [EzraVI.2.] There they found the original “roll” stowed away among the royal documents and forwarded it to King Darius Hystaspes. The king promptly ratified the decree of Cyrus and added, “Let it be done with speed.” The history of Darius the Mede is therefore one of peculiar interest in the life of the Jewish people.
The vision of the four great beasts is now complete and we have reached the sum of the matters in verse 25. Already in chapter II. the same subject was summarized by the following language: “In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed ... and it shall stand forever.” The present summary differs from the first in that it localizes the endless kingdom, and tells the year when it would be set up. Whenever we send a telegram and wish to conceal our meaning from the public we employ single words to express conditions and quantities. Twice, Daniel was told by his heavenly visitor:—“shut thou up the vision,” it is therefore proper to infer that the wordTIMEwas used to express a certain number of years andTIMESto express a greater number of years. But what heavenly measure of time do we find in the Bible, associated with the punishment of nations, that can be taken as the unit period for measuring seasons of God’s displeasure? Turn to Zech.I.12th and we read:—“Then the angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah against which thou hast had indignation these threescoreand ten years.” For other examples, seeNote D.If then the wordTIMEwas inserted in the heavenly message as a symbol for 70 years, and the numeral 7 conveyed to the Jewish mind the idea of a perfect quantity, then a week ofTIME, or 7 times 70 might very naturally be symbolized by the wordTIMES. We find in Gen.II.4. that the 7DAYSof creation are spoken of in the singular as, “theDAYthe Lord God made the earth and the heavens.” Besides every 7th year was a Sabbatic year. So that whatever the wordTIMEmeans in the singular, we may reasonably take the wordTIMESto mean a 7 fold quantity in the plural. We find another measure in Matt.XVIII.22. where the Divine idea of forgiveness is expressed in numerals. The apostle Peter thought that he did well in fixing the unit of forgiveness at 7 fold, but he was told to multiply his scant number by 70 before he could attain to the Divine standard. If now we substitute these values for their symbols in the formula: “Time, Times and Half-time” we shall obtain, 70 plus 490, plus 35, equals to 595 years. Verse four supplies the initial date for this series of years. From it we learn that the “sum of the matters” started with the Medo-Persian kingdom of Cyrus, who united in his own person the blood of both royal houses and became king inB.C.558. From this date to the Christian era was 557 years and from the era toA.D.39 was 38 years more, making a total of 557 plus 38, or 595 years. From which we learn that the “sum ofthe matters” or the full time arrived for the setting up of the kingdom inA.D.39. The prophecy therefore gives us the year, and we shall find that the 12th verse of the 12th chapter supplies the day when “all these things” were finished. The apostle Peter in describing the events of that day said:—“Forasmuch then as God gave them (the Gentiles) the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I, that I could withstand God? When they heard these things they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also on the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.” ActsXI.17, 18.
The admission of the Gentiles was deemed a matter of so great importance that the formula has been repeated in the 7th verse of the 12th chapter, also material has been given in the 12th verse of the same chapter by which the very day itself can be computed. The passages stand to each other in the relation of demonstration to proof.