Commentary on Daniel 1 part 4/6

Did you not know all these things? Whom do you prefer to whom? Those that neither hear nor see? 'And you, his son, Belshazzar, did not humble your heart before God.'

'Did you not know all these things? And you exalted yourself against the Lord, the God of heaven, and brought the vessels of His house before you;'

'and you and your nobles and your consorts and your concubines drank wine from them;'

'and you praised the gods of gold and silver and bronze and iron and wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor know; but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, Him you did not glorify.'

'Therefore from before Him was sent the joint of a hand, and He set in order this writing.'

'And this is the writing that was set in order:'

'and this is the interpretation of the vision:'

'God has numbered your kingdom, and has finished it;'

'it was set in the balance, and was found wanting;'

'your kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.'

'For this reason,' he says, 'God has numbered your kingdom, and it was divided.'

And this too was for punishment, that it be divided and not remain whole.

The very thing which came to pass also in the case of Solomon.

Not only that the son did not receive it, but also that it was divided.

Observe God making His defense to him.

'He in whose hand is your breath,' it says.

For could He not have destroyed you at once? Yet He was long-suffering.

Whom would the punishment not have terrified, and this when it was near at hand? Do you see the power exercised in both directions? Whence, tell me, are you worthy of pardon? And you, his son—I cannot even say his grandchild—did you not know all these things? Just as in a court of law the sentence is written down, this man interprets what is being said.

Whence did it come to him to honour Daniel? As it seems to me, so that he might not be condemned by those present, expecting perhaps to find through this a means of deliverance.

'And the king set him over the whole of his kingdom.'

'And the officers and the satraps sought to find a pretext against Daniel from the affairs of the kingdom.'

'And they found no pretext or fault against him, because he was faithful.'

That is, he trusted in God, and God governed all his affairs.

And when God is the governor, what harm could come? What then does it say? Those officers said, 'We shall not find a pretext against Daniel, unless it be in the laws of his God.'

'It is impossible,' it says, 'to find anything.'

Why so? Is he not a man? Has he been faultless in all things? The future is uncertain, and how do you pronounce concerning things to come? And it says, 'We have taken proof from his deeds.'

'Unless it be in the laws of his God,' it says, 'we shall not find a pretext.'

And indeed there he is far more unassailable.

God permits the trial for the sake of proving him.

For could He not have hindered their wickedness? But that through this you might learn and marvel at this man too, He does not begrudge the crown to His servants.

'Then the officers and the satraps stood before the king, and said to him:'

'King Darius, live forever.'

'All the generals and satraps of your kingdom, the consuls and governors, have taken counsel together to establish a royal statute and to enforce a decree, that whoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, except of you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions.'

'Now therefore, O king, establish the decree and put it in writing, that it may not be altered, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, so that it may not be revoked before him.'

'Then King Darius commanded that the decree be written.'

See what they do, how they were eager to establish an irrational decree.

And they ask this with urgency.

For to say, 'Whoever shall ask of a man'—did that have any reason? But they seemed to disguise the reasoning of the request by the shortness of the time.

What sort of proposal is this? Why did you say this? 'It seemed good,' it says.

'We all came together and ratified this, that for thirty days men should ask of you alone.'

O favour full of much unreason, disgracing the very one who seemed to be honoured!

For if this were a good thing, it ought to have been perpetual.

But if it were bad, then not even for the thirty days.

Again, if it were good, why do you put forward the multitude? For even apart from that one must give assent.

But if it were bad, then one ought not to yield even though the whole world commanded it.

The king did not foresee the deceit.

And this is plain from what followed.

For he decreed, and they secured it with writing—

—[secured] it, so that even if he wished afterwards, there should be no opportunity to revoke it.

What then does Daniel say when he hears this? He was not troubled, he added nothing, he took nothing away.

Behold the virtuous man living ever evenly, running past all things as though they were flowers, beholding both the good and the grievous as though in shadows.

For if in the beginning he remained thus undismayed, much more now, after the experience of his struggles, having bound about himself so many crowns.

Why did he not come forward? Why did he not complain, having such great freedom of speech before the king? He did not wish to do this by words, but by deeds.

In other ways we find him everywhere, when need called, leaping forth and coming to hand.

'And when Daniel knew that the decree had been enrolled, he went into his house;'

'and the windows were opened in his upper chamber toward Jerusalem;'

'and three times a day he was bending upon his knees, and praying, and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing before.'

Why did he remind us of the windows, that they were opened toward Jerusalem? They had a vehement longing for the sight.

Just as one who has a beloved that is absent loves even the roads that lead thither;

but others desired her for bodily reasons, whereas this man did not, but for the glory of God.

That this is so is plain from this:

for he did not choose to go up, once the object of his zeal had reached its consummation for him.

For this reason we too, as the fathers have handed down to us, pray looking toward the east, seeking—we too—an ancient city and homeland;

for indeed it is truly worthy to be sought.

How is it that, though God is everywhere, and the prophet says:

'To Him who rides upon the west, the Lord is His name'—

we are turned toward the east? There, as it were, was the ancient healing-place.

In captivity we too dwelt, but before the coming of Christ.

And why was he bending upon his knees only three times a day? What of it? Is this not marvellous? A man encompassed by so many cares, and not having so much as a little space to draw breath.

And see that apostolic word fulfilled too:

'In every place,' it says, 'lifting up holy hands.'

And that which Christ commanded, this they fulfilled.

'And having shut your door,' it says, 'pray to your Father.'

'Then they answered and said before the king:'

'Daniel, who is of the sons of the captivity of Judea, has not submitted to your decree, nor to the decree which you enacted;'

'and three times a day he asks his petitions of his God.'

'Then the king, when he heard the word, was much grieved over him, and strove for Daniel to deliver him;'

'and until the setting of the sun he strove to deliver him, and he was contending on his behalf.'

'Then those men watched close upon the king, and say to the king:'

'Know, O king, that it is the law of the Medes and Persians, that no decree or statute which the king establishes may be revoked.'

'Then the king gave the word, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions.'

Perhaps some of you say, 'Was He unable to deliver him?' Indeed God could have made the king more powerful, but He leads the athlete to the contest.

He knew the end; He was not ignorant of the outcome.

Nor would the king have striven, had he known that this end would come to pass.

He is accepted for his eagerness, pardonable in his anguish.

So beloved was Daniel;

but envy does not even allow men to look upon good things — or rather, it does let them look upon them, yet not with the same eyes.

It must not be, they say, that affairs be so loosely handled, nor that the laws which are among us be left unenforced.

They cast him into the pit.

And the king said to Daniel:

The God whom you serve continually, He Himself shall deliver you.

And they brought a single stone and laid it upon the mouth of the pit;

and the king sealed it with his own signet-ring, and with the ring of his nobles, so that nothing in the case of Daniel might be altered.

And the king departed to his own house, and lay down without supper, and no food was brought to him, and sleep fled from him.

Call to mind for me the tomb of Christ, where the Jews set their seals.

For had this not been so, they would have said that the thing had come to pass by some sorcery.

But everywhere the things done by our enemies turn out to be on our behalf.

For in order that He might take away from them every pretext, this comes about;

and the king affixes seals, so that it might not be possible for those men to do anything, or to take him out, and then to lay the blame upon the lions;

and they for their part affix seals, so that it might not be permitted to the king to rescue him, but that the verdict might thus be rendered incorruptible.

And the king, it says, neither dined nor slept.

And what then? First he encouraged him, saying:

The God whom you serve continually —

Again he sets forth a just cause, one able to raise up his soul.

Then he comes forward, offering up a hymn of praise.

Then the king was greatly gladdened over him;

and he gave orders that Daniel be brought up out of the pit.

And Daniel was brought up out of the pit, and no manner of harm was found upon him, because he had believed in his God.

And the king spoke, and they brought the men who had slandered Daniel;

and they themselves, together with their sons and their wives, were cast into the pit of the lions;

and they had not reached the floor of the pit before the lions overpowered them and ground all their bones to pieces.

For what reason do the children and the wives perish? What sin had these committed? Perhaps they too had shared in the same designs.

Have you seen the punishment of the wicked? Have you seen the rewards of the righteous? Be instructed from every side, be edified from every side.

Have you seen that even if God abandons a man, He does this for his benefit?

Do not inquire further, then, why lions and leopards and the rest of the wild beasts? For like certain executioners standing at Daniel's

sides, doing this as though in some divine and dreadful tribunal,

thus they did not dare to tear open the sides of the righteous man.

For they had not heard the command of the Judge.

But when they cast the others in, at God's command they destroyed them. And their bones, it says, they ground to pieces.

Who bridled their mouths? Who commanded them to abstain from the food set before them? What philosopher was ever so self-controlled that, with hunger commanding and the means of relieving that hunger at hand, he would not consent to end the ordeal? Once again a decree, once again a divine proclamation, once again the testimony given through deeds.

In the first year of Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, Daniel saw a dream;

and the visions of his head upon his bed; and he wrote down the dream.

I, Daniel, was beholding in my vision of the night;

and behold, the four winds of heaven were striving upon the great sea.

And four great beasts came up out of the sea, differing one from another.

The first was like a lioness, and her wings like an eagle's.

I was beholding until her wings were plucked out, and she was lifted up from the earth, and set upon feet like a man, and a man's heart was given to her.

And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear, and it stood up on one side;

and three ribs were in its mouth, between its teeth.

Arise, devour much flesh.

After this I was beholding, and behold, another beast, like a leopard;

and it had four wings of a bird upon its back, and the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it.

After this I was beholding in the vision of the night, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and astonishing, and exceedingly strong;

and its teeth were of iron and great;

and it trampled the remnant with its feet;

and it was exceedingly different from all the beasts that were before it.

I was giving heed to its horns;

and behold, another little horn came up in the midst of them, and three of the horns that were before it were uprooted from before its face.

And behold, there were eyes, like the eyes of a man, in this horn, and a mouth speaking great things.

For what reason did he not say that he saw women here? Rather, whenever it was necessary to set forth judgment and a curse, he brought women forward;

A kingdom is a thing, and so he gives it a bodily form.

But since their qualities exist most fully in the wild beasts, for this reason he had need of them.

He wished to show the delicate splendour amid ferocity, and so he brought forward the lioness.

He wished to show sluggishness, and so he brought forward the bear.

He wished to show what was swift and light — and since by wars they all overthrew the empires;

And observe how fittingly he beheld first the sea — the whole inhabited world.

For it is laden with such great turmoil, and is so tossed about, as though it were filled with fish and not with men.

This also Christ makes plain — that the present life is a sea — when He says:

The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind.

And behold, it says, the four winds of heaven were striving upon the great sea.

It makes plain that the beasts come from there, [and] the swiftness of God's providence.

For we too, in speaking of swiftness, bring the winds forward as an image.

They fell into the sea;

and the beasts, it says, came up out of the sea.

For our rulers also are from our own nature.

Thus he often calls the king a lion, wishing to display at once what is kingly and what is beastlike in him.

Or perhaps it is because one was more to the east, another from the north, and another from the south.

As one might say, He overturned the sea; they stirred it up from heaven, being different from one another.

For such was not the nature of these things.

By these symbols he indicates what is kingly.

But some say that, because it overcame the Assyrian, it had two of them for this reason.

And I kept looking until its wings were plucked out, that is, its dominion, and it was lifted up from the earth and stood upon the feet of a man.

And a man's heart was given to it.

It possessed the strength of swiftness on both sides: above, from its wings, and below, from its feet.

But both kinds of swiftness were taken away, since the one set (the wings) was plucked out

(plucked out), and no longer even appeared, while the other passed over to the weaker parts, namely to men.

And a man's heart was given to it.

For this is the proud, haughty quality found in that beast.

The king, he says, became lowly, tame, and manageable.

And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear, and it stood on one side, and there were three ribs in its mouth, between its teeth.

Arise, devour much flesh.

In the case of the Persians the slowness of the people came to pass.

Under the Medes and Persians, the three ribs signify either regions, or the kingdoms which it swept together.

Arise, devour much flesh.

For these captured even Babylon, and wrought many calamities.

And behold, another beast, like a leopard.

And it had four wings of a bird upon it, and the beast had four heads.

Alexander, the king of the Macedonians, having flown over the whole inhabited world.

For nothing came to be more fierce or more swift than this one; rather he was something vehement and keen, just like this beast.

Four, he says, wings of a bird upon it.

That is, it acquired all its strength.

For having divided the Persians into thirteen kingdoms, he subdued them all.

Do you see its swiftness? Both from the nature of the beast and from its wings.

It ran through the whole inhabited world.

And, he says, the beast had four heads.

And dominion and authority were given to it.

Then he speaks of the appearing of this one, so varied and manifold, and he cannot find an image to describe it.

So strange and outlandish was the beast.

For it conquered all those others.

For the others, their strength came from swiftness;

but this one's came from its teeth.

And what was left over it trampled down with its feet.

He means the many wars.

Who are the ten kings? What is the little horn? I say that the Antichrist will appear in the midst of certain kings.

And eyes like the eyes of a man were in this horn, and a mouth speaking great things.

For what mouth could be greater than that one which says, He exalts himself above all that is called God or an object of worship, so as to seat himself in the temple of God? And if there are eyes of a man, do not marvel;

for indeed it utters such things.

But why little, and why does it not appear great from the beginning? Yet later it will grow, and will overpower certain kings.

What then? No longer does a kingdom succeed this one, but God himself destroys it.

I kept looking until thrones were set, and the Ancient of Days sat down;

and his garment was white as snow;

and the hair of his head was like pure wool;

his throne was a flame of fire;

its wheels were burning fire.

A river of fire flowed forth, issuing before him.

A thousand thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.

The court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.

Let us strain our understanding, beloved.

For the discourse is not about trifling matters.

Thrones, he says, were set, and the Ancient of Days sat down.

Who is this? Just as when you heard 'a bear,' you did not think of a bear, and when you heard 'a lioness,' you did not suspect that, but kingdoms;

and 'a sea,' not a sea, but the inhabited world, one thing signified through another;

what does 'Ancient of Days' mean? He appeared like one grown old.

For according to the needs of the matters for which he appears, he shapes himself, showing that judgments ought to be entrusted to such persons.

For just as, when you hear 'throne,' you do not understand a mere seat;

but how could one drag down this to something common, since elsewhere too he appears armed, and in another place stained with blood? This, then, is what he means to show, that it is the time of judgment.

His garment was white as snow.

For what reason? Because it is not only the time of judgment, but also

because all must stand before him;

because His judgment, he says, will go forth as light.

Are these not the thrones about which he says, You shall sit upon twelve thrones? And the hair of his head was like pure wool.

The fire consumed nothing, since indeed he was gentle.

Do you see the aspect and the civic, popular-leader-like bearing? The throne inspired fear by being full of fire;

fire not simply, but flaming.

For lest you should think it was likened for the sake of the image, he added its operation, saying not simply 'fire,' but 'flaming fire.'

A river of fire flowed forth before Him.

Thousand thousands ministered to Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him.

That is to say, He came for this purpose, that He might sit as a tribunal of judgment.

What are you saying? Does God have need of books—He who knows all things before they come to be, who alone fashioned their hearts? Rather, He speaks according to the custom of the rulers of this world, just as records of proceedings are drawn up among us.

For just as here a record is read out not merely so that the magistrate alone may learn, but so that the judgment may be shown to be just,

so also then, even though He judges justly and knows all, nevertheless He opens the books.

For what reason? What are you saying, and what do you wish to say? For what reason does he not also mention the honors? He said:

Thrones were set, since God also appointed these;

but since we have not hearkened, then comes the vengeance and the punishment.

And did He not first send forth this cry to us? From that time, it says, He began to proclaim the kingdom of heaven.

Do not suppose anything corporeal, beloved, nor imagine that the boundless God is enclosed within a throne.

For if the ends of the earth are in His hand,

if all the nations are reckoned as spittle before Him, and all things as dust before Him, as He Himself says,

what place will be able to encompass the whole of Him at once? But what then? This is not so; He is not confined within a throne.

But if He had a garment, how did the fire not consume it? And how did He...

He who existed before all the ages—how also is He 'ancient'? For You, it says, are the same.

How then is He ancient? For Your years, it says, shall not fail.

And how could a garment be about the boundless and bodiless One? For neither, it says, is there any limit to His greatness.

If I ascend into heaven, You are there;

if I descend into Hades, You are present.

How then was He circumscribed by a human garment, and yet did not consume even this? But indeed the prophet was able to behold many other things as well.

And how were the hairs not consumed in the fire? For it was for this reason that he added:

His throne was a flame of fire.

So that the one being judged might become self-condemned.

I was watching then because of the sound of the great words which that horn was speaking.

I kept watching until the beast was slain and perished, because of its arrogant speech.

And yet Alexander did worship God.

And its body was given over to the burning of fire.

And the dominion of the remaining beasts was removed;

and length of life was granted to them until times and a time.

Even though they came to an end, nevertheless this came to pass.

And the beast was burned up, and its body was consumed with fire.

It signifies its utter destruction.

I was watching in a vision of the night;

and behold, one like a Son of Man was coming with the clouds of heaven.

Who is ignorant of these things? Who will be able to see clearly through them? For surely it is not Peter who says these things, O Jew? Surely it is not Paul? And behold, it says, one like a Son of Man was coming, and He reached even to the Ancient of Days.

He was brought before Him, into His presence.

So that when you see the kingdom being given to Him, you may not suppose that the giving is according to human fashion.

For it is from the clouds of heaven, it says;

and Scripture is accustomed to take the clouds as standing for heaven.

And to Him were given the dominion, and the honor, and the kingdom;

and all peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve Him.

His authority is an everlasting authority, which shall not pass away;

and His kingdom shall not be destroyed.

What is clearer than this? Tell me.

And all peoples, it says, tribes, and tongues shall serve Him.

See how he has encompassed the whole nation of the inhabited world.

For lest you should suppose this to be a thing of time, it says:

and His kingdom shall not be destroyed.

But if you disbelieve, be persuaded from the facts.

Have you seen His equality of honor with the Father? For since He appeared later than the Father, for this reason it says that He came with the clouds.

But that He also existed before, is plain from the clouds;

for He comes upon the clouds.

And to Him was brought the honor.

And peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve Him.

For He had the dominion on high, but then He received the very dominion which He already possessed.

For just as in the case of the Father you understand the hairs and the rest,

so also when you hear the word 'was given,' and all such things, do not suspect anything human, nor anything lowly, concerning the Son.

For just as, seeing one who has grown aged, you do not suspect Him to be an old man, so also with the rest.

For do not seek plainness in the prophecies, where there are shadows and riddles;

just as in the case of lightning you do not seek continuous light, but it suffices that it merely appear.

My spirit shuddered, I Daniel, in my condition;

and the visions of my head troubled me.

Fittingly, because of the sight of the things beheld.

This man beholds the Father and the Son, both first and alone, as in a vision.

What could the Jews have to say against this? For since His coming was henceforth to be nearer, fittingly the visions also appear wondrous.

And I approached one of those who stood by, and sought to learn from him with exactness concerning all these things.

And he told me the truth, and made known to me the interpretation of the words.

He asks what these appearances might be;

and he learns concerning the Antichrist, and he learns of a kingdom that has no end.

These great beasts, he says, are four kingdoms that shall arise.

And the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and shall possess it forever, even for ever and ever.

And I inquired diligently concerning the fourth beast, because it was different from every other beast, and exceedingly terrible;

its teeth were of iron, and its claws of bronze;

devouring and crushing, and trampling the residue with its feet.

And concerning its ten horns that were on its head, and the other that came up, which cast down three of the former ones;

and that horn which had eyes, and a mouth speaking great things, and whose appearance was greater than the rest.

I beheld, and that horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them, until the Ancient of Days came, and gave judgment to the saints of the Most High;

and the time came, and the saints possessed the kingdom.

The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom upon the earth, which shall surpass all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall trample it down and cut it in pieces.

And its ten horns are ten kings that shall arise;

and after them another shall arise, who shall surpass all that were before him in wickedness, and shall subdue three kings.

And he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change times and law;

and it shall be given into his hand until a time.

And the judgment sat;

and they shall remove his dominion, to consume and destroy it unto the end.

And the kingdom, and the authority, and the greatness of the kings that are under the whole heaven was given to the saints of the Most High;

and his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom;

and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

'Hitherto is the end of the matter.'

'my thoughts troubled me greatly, and my countenance was changed; but I kept the matter in my heart.'

And why did you not speak it out, O man? Because it was nothing to the Jews;

but on the contrary, in his words he veiled these things through obscurity, while in the prophet he kept them concealed in his heart.

For indeed toward the end he says:

'Behold, the words are sealed up;'

and he wishes them to be obscure.

This our Lord too does, speaking through parables.

Observe everywhere how he exalts the kingdom, that you may suspect nothing merely human.

For even though men possessed the whole earth, yet it was not forever,

nor unto an endless age.

And let no one tell me that he speaks of a brief time.

For the phrase 'It shall not pass away,' what does it mean? 'Neither shall it be given to another nation'? And observe what befell in the case of Darius and the Macedonians.

For what cause were these things? On account of the Jews.

For this reason also Alexander, as they say, did reverence to the temple when he saw this book;

and the Greeks marveled at the power of his prediction.

Concerning these things no one spoke, but this man alone.

'In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, even to me Daniel, after that which had appeared to me at the first.'

'And it came to pass, when I saw it, that I was in Susa the palace, which is in the province of Elam.'

'And I saw in a vision, and I was at the Ubal.'

'And I lifted up my eyes, and looked;'

'and behold, one ram standing before the Ubal;'

'and it had horns, and the horns were high;'

'and the one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last.'

'And I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward, and toward the southwest;'

'and no beast could stand before it, and there was none that could deliver out of its hand;'

'and it did according to its will, and became great.'

'and behold, a he-goat of the goats came from the southwest over the face of the whole earth;'