John Calvin Commentary Daniel 11:31-32

"And forces shall stand on his part, and they shall profane the sanctuary, even the fortress, and shall take away the continual [burnt-offering], and they shall set up the abomination that maketh desolate. And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he pervert by flatteries; but the people that know their God shall be strong, and do [exploits]." — Daniel 11:31-32 (ASV)

Here the angel describes the internal evils of the Church, and more fully explains what he touched on in the last verse. He says, The arms shall stand up for Antiochus. Some explain this of the garrison which that tyrant imposed on Jerusalem. But this seems too far-fetched. I do not hesitate to suppose that the angel here refers to the apostates and forsakers of the Law.

Arms, then, shall stand up from him, meaning, he will not contend in his own strength but will rely upon the people’s assistance. Many would offer themselves in obedience to him, and thus Antiochus would find a party devoted to himself at Jerusalem, which would willingly prostitute itself to his will.

He afterward adds, They shall profane the sanctuary of strength. The angel here joins together Antiochus and these impious apostates . To favor him, the temple is said to be polluted, and this was fulfilled when the statue of Jupiter Olympius was erected there. The tyranny and violence of Antiochus continued long afterward, as we will see in its proper place.

He brought the statue of the Olympian Jove into the temple for the purpose of overthrowing the worship of God, and then he introduced other corruptions, which vitiated the purity of God’s service. He might in one moment have overthrown the whole Law, but he first tried to mingle many superstitions with God’s Law, and thus to estrange the Jews by degrees from true and sincere piety.

The angel speaks of the sanctuary of power, to show the faithful that Antiochus is not the conqueror of God, who was never deprived of His power but continued the guardian and keeper of His temple even to the end. He uses this epithet for the temple to assure the pious that God had not given way to the violence of the tyrant. His authority stood untouched and untainted, although His temple was exposed to such foul pollution.

Lastly, he wished the faithful to retain by this teaching a sense of God’s unconquered power in choosing that temple for His dwelling-place, although for a time Antiochus was so insulting, and was permitted to profane it with his impious crew. This instruction urged the pious to look upon God’s power with the eye of faith, although it was then hidden from their view, and was trampled under foot by the impious in the pride of their audacity.

Sorrowful indeed was the spectacle of this statue erected within the temple, for God, according to our previous statement, promised to be the defender of that sacred mountain. When the impious were raging thus insultingly, who would not have thought God to be altogether conquered and unable to defend His residence any longer?

The angel, then, here encourages the faithful to cultivate far different thoughts from those suggested by the prospect before them. The temple, then, seemed weak and deprived of every protection, and yet with respect to God it was still a sanctuary of strength. He next adds, And they shall abolish the continual sacrifice, which really occurred; but I will pass over it briefly now, as I will have another opportunity of explaining it suitably and fully.

And they shall place, or set up, that abomination which shall cause astonishment. For who would not have been astonished when he saw the temple deserted by the Almighty? For if God cared for the temple services, why did He not resist rage like this? Why did He suffer Himself to be subjected to such disgraceful indignity? The angel meets such temptations as these by saying, even if the very best men are astonished at such disgrace, yet nothing happens by chance; for God had already foreseen and decreed all things. They would not have been predicted, unless God had wished to prove the people’s faith, and to exact the penalty for their ingratitude. But I cannot complete the subject today.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as we are instructed by Your Spirit and armed by Your sacred teaching, we may carry on the war bravely with open enemies and with all who boldly oppose true religion. May we also constantly despise all domestic foes and apostates, and resist them manfully. May we never be disturbed, even if various tumults should arise in Your Church. May we fix our eyes upon You, and always expect a happier issue than appears possible at the time, until at length You shall fulfill Your promises. And may all events which now seem contrary to us, issue in our salvation, when Your Son our Redeemer shall appear. — Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

We stated in the last Lecture, the seriousness of the test by which God proved the faithfulness of His people, in allowing Antiochus such unbounded liberty to pollute the Temple, and to abolish, for a time, all the sacrifices and services. He next set up in the midst of the Temple that abomination which cast down the spirits of the pious; for that prodigy could not be witnessed without the most profound astonishment.

No one could suppose it possible, that God would expose His own sanctuary to such dishonor, as it was the only one which He had chosen in the whole world. It now follows, And he shall deceive the transgressors of the covenant with blandishment, but a people knowing their God will retain it firmly and practice it. Here Daniel more clearly expresses what he had previously said about the corruption and overthrow of God’s worship, as Antiochus would enticingly win over to himself a perfidious portion of those who were nominally, at least, God’s people.

He thus repeats what we observed before. These hypocrites were like the arms of Antiochus; for had he captured the city by the force of arms, still he would not have dared to offer these insults to God’s Temple, unless he had received assistance from those apostates who rejected all fear of the Almighty, and whom ambition and avarice alone had impelled to unite with that impious tyrant, who was the avowed and professed enemy of their religion.

The angel, then, here confirms what he had previously said, showing how the wicked and impious despisers of the covenant would be tools in the hand of this robber. For the first word of verse 32 is derived from רשע reshegn, “to do wickedly,” and refers to that special act of sinfulness, their despising God’s covenant.

This refers to those internal enemies who had previously boasted themselves to be sons of Abraham, and who were masked by circumcision, the sign of that covenant. He does not here point out any of the mere dregs of the people, but the impious priests, Menelaus, Jason, and others like them, as the passage has already been explained.

He says then, these should be deceived by the blandishments of Antiochus. He doubtless offered to the priests and to others what he thought they would value most; one he set over the Temple, another he deceived with vain and fallacious promises for a time, by distributing a variety of gifts among them. In this way he corrupted them all by his flatteries.

To these the Prophet opposes the sincere worshippers of God, and the Hebrew copula ought to be understood here as implying this contrast. He had already spoken of many as deceived by vain promises, and had called them transgressors of the covenant: he now adds, But the people who know God shall strengthen themselves and shall do it. The angel means that the perfidy of those of whom he had spoken would not prevail with the pious to lead them into the same alliance of wickedness and hurl them headlong into the same snares. Although such was the perfidy of these revolters, yet all who know God, says he, shall strengthen themselves.

This passage is especially worthy of notice, as experience teaches how very few stand their ground when many fall away. The example of one often draws with it a hundred into the same error; but the constancy of a hundred is scarcely sufficient to retain one in his position. In this case we behold the depth of our natural depravity.

For we are not only moved, but shaken by the very slightest breezes, and even when God sets before us a firm resting-place, still we do not cease our vacillation. When an Apostle sets before us the examples of the saints, he says, a cloud of witnesses is ever gazing upon us, with the view of retaining us in the fear of God, and in the pure confession of our faith (Hebrews 12:1).

But that cloud vanishes too soon from our view. Meanwhile, if any trifler whom we know to be a man of no weight, and whom we have ourselves condemned—if such a one declines even a little from the right way, we think such an example sufficient to excuse us.

Therefore, I had good reason for stating how this passage lays open to us our perverse and malignant disposition. We can scarcely be attracted towards God by a multiplicity of means, but we are easily dragged towards the devil to our own destruction. Hence we ought to meditate diligently upon this passage, and continually to reflect upon the Prophet’s language.

Although apostates may be deceived by flatteries and reject God’s worship, betray the Church and throw off all semblance of piety, yet all the pious shall stand fast in the faith. Let no one therefore quote the example of the thoughtless to excuse his fault, if he imitates the perfidious, the double-minded, and the hypocritical. The angel here depicts for us a picture of the Church, by showing how many would prove to be backsliders; but this levity, inconsistency, and perfidy ought never to be an obstacle to the faithful to impede their progress in faith and piety.

We should also notice the epithet which designates the pious. They are called a people knowing their God. The term 'people' may be supposed to mean the common people, but this is forced. It may also be simply opposed to the profane Gentiles; but I think there is here an implied contrast between the true and genuine sons of Abraham, and the false Israelites, who boasted themselves to be members of the Church when they had nothing but the empty title.

For in the prophets as in the writings of Moses, the name “people” is often used in a favorable sense for that elect nation which God had adopted as peculiarly His own. All the Israelites who were descendants of Abraham after the flesh, used to boast with much vanity in their being the elect people, and thus the word was ever on their lips.

Therefore the Prophet reproves the foolish boasting of those who were accustomed to shelter themselves under the name of God, and without having anything real in themselves. Hence the people, meaning God’s people, shall strengthen themselves; but, by way of correcting any erroneous view, he adds, who shall know God, as in the 73rd Psalm (Psalms 73:1). How good is the God of Israel to those who are upright in heart!

Here the Prophet restricts the name of Israel to the elect sons of Abraham who cultivate piety seriously and heartily, as it had become a prevalent habit carelessly to misuse this name of God. So here, the people who shall know their God means His true people—those whom He acknowledges as His elect.

The angel here makes a distinction between the pious sons of Abraham and the pious worshippers of God. It is worthy of careful observation, that the angel assigns their knowledge of God as the cause and foundation of their constancy. How then, we may ask, does it come to pass, that some few are left, when the apostates thus prostitute themselves?

Because their knowledge of God shall prevail, and enable them to overcome these attacks, and bravely to repel them, and to become superior to any temptations. We see, then, the source from which our own fortitude is derived—the knowledge of God. This acknowledgment is no vain and cold imagination, but springs from that faith which spreads its living root in our hearts.

Hence it follows, we do not really acknowledge God, unless we boldly contend when we are put to the test, and remain firm and stable, although Satan endeavors, by various machinations, to weaken our faithfulness. And unless we persist in that firmness which is here described, it is quite clear, that God has never been truly and really acknowledged by us.

The relation too is not without its weight in the phrase, the people who shall know their God. Here is a silent reproof, since God revealed Himself to the Israelites as far as was sufficient to retain their allegiance. No one, therefore, could offer any excuse without being guilty of impiety, sacrilege, and perfidy, after being so fully instructed by the Law and the prophets. This instruction must now be applied to our own times.

We observe in these days how many fall away from the Church. Persecution sifts all those who profess to belong to Christ, and thus many are winnowed like chaff, and but a small portion remain steadfast. Their backsliding ought not to overthrow our faithfulness when they so carelessly forsake all piety, either through being enticed by the allurements of Satan, or deceived by the conduct of the ungodly.

Let us bear in mind the assertion of the angel, and thus the true knowledge of God will reign supreme in our hearts, and we shall still proceed in the course we have pursued. And to show how consistently the faithful progress in the teaching of the Law and the Gospel, he says, they shall strengthen themselves and shall do it. Here the word “to do” is taken in the sense of to “execute”—“exploiter,” as we say in France; meaning, they shall summon their courage to discharge their duty; for the word “to do,” or “to execute,” is referred to the vocation of the pious; they should not be sluggish or slothful in the discharge of their duty, says the Prophet, but should gather courage for these contests. And from where? From the acknowledgment of God. We observe, too, that faith is no idle feeling or cold imagination, lying suffocated in our minds, but an energizing principle. For we may say that from faith springs strength, and from strength execution, and thus we avoid all slothfulness in our calling.