John Gill Commentary Daniel 8

In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar Which some say ^F20 was the last year of his reign; but, according to Ptolemy's canon, he reigned seventeen years; and so says Josephus ^F21 ; however, this, as well as the preceding vision, were seen before what happened recorded in the "fifth" and "sixth" chapters. The following vision was seen by Daniel, according to Bishop Usher ^F23 and Dean Prideaux ^F24 in the year of the world 3451 A.M., and 553 B.C. Mr. Bedford ^F25 places it in 552 B.C.; and Mr. Whiston ^F26 , very wrongly, in 537 B.C., two years after the death of Belshazzar.

The prophet having, in the preceding chapters, related what concerned the Chaldeans, he wrote in the Chaldee language; but now, henceforward, writing of things which concerned the Jews more especially, and the church and people of God in later times, he writes in the Hebrew tongue.

A vision appeared unto me, even to me Daniel ; and not another; which is said for the certainty of it; whether it was seen by him waking, or in a dream, as the former vision, is not certain; it seems rather as if he was awake at first, though he afterwards fell prostrate to the ground, and into a deep sleep; yet the Syriac version takes it to be a dream, and so renders the first clause of the next verse: "after that which appeared to me at the first"; at the beginning of Belshazzar's reign, in the first year of it, recorded in the preceding chapter; which was concerning the four monarchies in general, and particularly concerning the fourth or Roman monarchy, of which a large account is given; and the Chaldean monarchy being near at an end, here the two monarchies between, namely, the Persian and Grecian, are in this vision described.

FOOTNOTES:

• F20: Seder Olam Rabba, c. 28. p. 81.
• F21: Antiqu. l. 10. c. 11. sect. 4.
• F23: Annales Vet. Test. A. M. 3451.
• F24: Connexion, &c part 1. p. 117.
• F25: Scripture Chronlogy, p. 710.
• F26: Chronological Tables, cent. 10.

And I saw in a vision the following things: and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam; not in reality, but so it seemed to him in the vision; as Ezekiel, when in Babylon, seemed in the visions of God to be at Jerusalem, (Ezekiel 8:3) .

This city Shushan, or Susa, as it is called by other writers, and signifies a "lily", was so called from the plenty of lilies that grew about it, or because of the pleasantness of it; it was the metropolis of the country Susiana, which had its name from it, and was afterwards the royal seat of the kings of Persia. This was first made so by Cyrus; for Strabo ^F1 says, that he and the Persians having overcome the Medes, observing that their own country was situated in the extreme parts, and Susa more inward, and nearer to other nations, being, as he says, between Persia and Babylon, set his royal palace in it; approving both the nearness of the country, and the dignity of the city.

Here the kings of Persia laid up their treasures, even prodigious large ones; hence Aristagoras told Cleomenes, that if he could take that city, he would vie, and might contend, with Jupiter for riches ^F2; for hither Cyrus carried whatever money he had in Persia, even forty thousand talents, some say fifty ^F3. Alexander ^F4, when he took this city, found a vast quantity of riches in it. It is called here a palace; and so it is spoken of by Herodotus ^F5, Diodorus Siculus ^F6, Pausanias ^F7, Pliny ^F8, and others, as a royal city, where were the residence and palace of the kings of Persia; but the royal palace was not in it at this time; the kings of Babylon had their palace and kept their court at Babylon, where Daniel was; but in vision it seemed to him that he was in Shushan, and which was represented to him as a palace, as it would be, and as the metropolis of the kingdom of Persia, which he had a view of in its future flourishing condition, and as destroyed by Alexander; for, as before observed, it was Cyrus that first made it a royal city; whereas this vision was in the third year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon.

Some versions render it 'a tower' or 'castle'; and so several writers, as Strabo ^F9, Plutarch ^F11, and Pliny ^F12, speak of the tower or castle in it. Diodorus Siculus ^F13 says, when Antigonus took the tower of Susa, he found in it a golden vine, and a great quantity of other works, to the value of fifteen thousand talents; and out of crowns, and other gifts and spoils, he made up five thousand more. And Polybius ^F14 relates, that though Molon took the city, yet could not take the fortress, and was obliged to raise the siege, so strong it was. It must be a mistake of Pliny ^F15 that this city was built by Darius Hystaspes; he could only mean it was rebuilt, or rather enlarged, by him, since it was in being long before his time, and even a royal city in the times of Cyrus.

Strabo ^F16 says it was built by Tithon the father of Merenon, was in compass fifteen miles, of an oblong figure, and the tower was called after his father's name Mernnonia; and Shushan itself is called, by Herodotus ^F17, Susa Memnonia. At this day, with the common people, it goes by the name of Tuster ^F18.

The east gate of the mountain of the house, which led to the temple at Jerusalem, was called Shushan. Some say ^F19 there was a building over this gate, on which the palace of Shushan was portrayed, from which it had its name. The reason of this portrait is differently given; the Jewish commentators on the Misnah ^F20 commonly say that this was ordered by the kings of Persia, that the people of Israel might stand in awe of them, and not rebel against them. Their famous lexicographer ^F21 says, that this was done, that the Israelites, when they saw it, might remember their captivity in it. But a chronologer ^F23 of theirs gives this as the reason, that the children of the captivity made this figure, that they might remember the miracle of Purim, which was made in Shushan; and this, he says, is a good interpretation of it.

This city was in the province of Elam; that is, Persia, as it is also called, (Isaiah 21:6) for Josephus ^F24 says the Persians had their origin from the Elamites, or Elameans; and Pliny ^F25 observes, that Elymais joined to Persia; and the country of Susiane, so called from Susa its chief city, was, according to Strabo ^F26 and Ptolemy ^F, a part of Persia: and here Daniel in vision thought himself to be; and a very suitable place for him to have this vision in, which so much concerned the affairs of Persia.

And I saw in a vision, and I was by the river Ulai; that is, in vision; it seemed to the prophet that he was upon the banks of the river Ulai; the same with the Eulaeus of Strabo ^F, Pliny ^F, Ptolemy ^F, and others, which ran by, and surrounded, the city of Shushan, or Susa; the water of which was held in great request, and the kings of Persia would drink of no other, and carried it with them wherever they went. Herodotus ^F and Curtius ^F mention the river Choaspes, as running by Susa, and say the same things about its water; from which it might be concluded that it was one and the same river, called by different names; though Strabo takes notice of them together, as if they were distinct; yet he, from Polycletus ^F, makes them, with Tigris, disembogue into the same lake, and from thence into the sea. The river which runs by Shushan, now called Souster, according to Monsieur Thevenot ^F, is Caron, and comes from the hills around it, and is thought to be the Choaspes of the ancients; near which, as he was told, is a hill that now goes by the name of Choasp; so that, upon the whole, they seem to be one and the same river {k1}. Josephus ^F says, that Daniel had this vision in the plain of Susa, the metropolis of Persia, as he went out with his friends (that is, out of the city): and the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "by the gate Ulai"; a gate of the city of Shushan so called: and so Saadiah Gaon interprets it as a gate; but the former sense is best.

FOOTNOTES:

• F1: Geograph. l. 15. p. 500.
• F2: Herodoti Terpsichore, sive l. 5. c. 48.
• F3: Strabo. ib. p. 502.
• F4: Curtius, l. 5. c. 2. Plutarch. in Vita Alexandri, Diador. Sicul. Bibliothec. l. 17. p. 540.
• F5: Terpsichore, sive l. 5. sect. 48.
• F6: Bibliothec. l. 17. p. 539.
• F7: Laconice, sive l. 3. p. 175.
• F8: Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 27.
• F9: Geograph. l. 15. p. 500.
• F11: In Vita Alexandri.
• F12: Ut supra. (Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 27.)
• F13: Bibliothec. l. 17. p. 540.
• F14: Hist. l. 5. p. 249.
• F15: Ut supra. (Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 27.)
• F16: Geograph. l. 15. p. 500.
• F17: Polymnia, sive l. 7. c. 151.
• F18: Hiller. Onomastic. Sacr. p. 658, 935.
• F19: Jarchi & Bartenora in Misn. Celim, c. 17. sect. 9.
• F20: Maimon & Bartenora in Misn. Kelim, c. 17. sect. 9. & Middot, c. 1. sect. 3.
• F21: R. Nathan, Sepher Aruch in voce Nvv , fol. 160. 3.
• F23: R. Abraham Zacuth, Sepher Juchasin, fol. 65. 2.
• F24: Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4.
• F25: Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 27.
• F26: Geograph. l. 15. p. 500.
• {b1}: Geograph. p. 501, 505.
• {c1}: Ut supra, (Nat. Hist.) l. 6. c. 23, 27.
• {a1}: Geograph. l. 6. c. 3.
• {f1}: Clio, sive l. 1. c. 188. Terpsichore, sive l. 5. c. 49, 52.
• {g1}: Ut supra. (Curtius, l. 5. c. 2.)
• {i1}: Travels, part 2. B. 3. c. 9. p. 153.
• {k1}: See the Universal History, vol. 5. p. 124.
• {l1}: Antiqu. l. 10. c. 11. sect. 7.

Then I lifted up my eyes
To see what was to be seen in this place, where he in the vision was brought; he lifted up the eyes of his understanding, being enlightened by the vision of prophecy, and the eyes of his body, to which objects of corporeal things formed in the fancy were represented: and saw, and, behold ;
he saw something wonderful in a visionary way, and which struck his mind, and raised his attention: there stood before the river ;
the river Ulai, near Shushan, the palace, the seat of the kings of Persia, to the east:

a ram, which had two horns ;
a symbol of the kingdom of the Medes and Persians, signified by the two horns, (Daniel 8:20) , an emblem of power and dominion, and sometimes used to signify kings and kingdoms; see (Daniel 7:24) and these as united in one monarchy, under one monarch, Cyrus, and continued in his successors to the times of Alexander; and therefore called "a ram", or "one ram" ^F13 , as in the original; and which in sound has some likeness to Elam or Persia: and this kingdom or monarchy may be signified by it, partly because of its strength and power, and partly because of its riches, as some think, as well as because it is a fighting creature; and it may be chiefly because this monarchy was mild, and kind, and gentle to the Jewish nation: and it is very remarkable, that, according to Ammianus Marcellinus ^F14 , the ram was the royal ensign of the Persians; whose kings used to wear for a diadem something made of gold, in the shape of a ram's head, set with little stones:

and the two horns were high ;
grew straight up on high, and so were different from the usual horns of a ram, which are crooked; denoting the great power, authority, wealth, and riches, these two kingdoms rose up to: but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last ;

I think the words might be rendered better: "and the first was higher than the second, but it ascended, or grew up, higher at last" ^F15. The kingdom of the Medes was the first kingdom, and it was at first superior to the kingdom of Persia; but afterwards the kingdom of Persia became greater than that, under Cyrus and his successors: and Sir John Chardin says {p} ^F16, that rams' heads, with horns one higher than another, are still to be seen in the ruins of Persepolis.

FOOTNOTES:

• F13: (dxa lya) "aries unus", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus
• F14: Hist. l. 19.
• F15: (hnwrxab hle hhbghw tynvh Nm hxbg txahw) .
• F16: Travels, vol. 3.

I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward ,
&c.] That is, with his horns, as rams do; these kingdoms using all their power and strength, wealth and riches, in fighting with and subduing nations, and pushing on their conquests in all parts here mentioned; to the west, Babylon, Syria, Asia, and part of Greece; to the north, Iberia, Albania, Armenia, Scythia, Colchis, and the inhabitants of the Caspian sea; and to the south, Arabia, Ethiopia, Egypt, and India; all which places were conquered by Cyrus and his successors. No mention is made of the east, because this ram stood in the east, facing the west; and at the right and left were the north and south; and so Cyrus is said to come from the east, (Isaiah 46:11) .

So that no beast might stand before him :
no, not the first beast, the Babylonian monarchy, which fell into the hands of Cyrus; nor any other king or kingdom he and his successors fought against:

neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand ;
or power; Croesus, the rich king of Lydia, and other allies of the king of Babylon, assisted him against Cyrus, and endeavoured to prevent his falling into his hands, but all in vain:

but he did according to his will, and became great ;
none being able to oppose him, he carried his arms where he pleased, and imposed what tribute he thought fit, and obliged them to do whatever was his will; and so became great in power and dignity, in riches and wealth: this monarchy was very large and extensive, and very rich and wealthy, in the times of Cyrus and his successors; and especially in the times of Darius, the last monarch of it, conquered by Alexander, who is described as follows:

And as I was considering
The ram, and the strange things done by him; wondering that a creature of so little strength, comparatively with other beasts, should be able to do such exploits: and thinking with himself what should be the meaning of all this, and what would be the issue of it, behold, an he goat came from the west ;
which is interpreted of the king or kingdom of Grecia, which lay to the west of Persia; and a kingdom may be said to do what one of its kings did; particularly Alexander, king of Macedon, in Greece, who, with the Grecian army under him, marched from thence to fight the king of Persia; and which might be signified by a "he goat", because of its strength, its comeliness in walking, and its being the guide and leader of the flock: and also it is remarkable, that the arms of Macedon, or the ensigns carried before their armies, were a goat, ever since the days of Caranus; who following a flock of goats, was directed to Edessa, a city of Macedon, and took it; and from this circumstance of the goats called it Aegeas, and the people Aegeades, which signifies "goats"; and put the goat in his arms ^F17 .

On the face of the whole earth ;
all that lay between Greece and Persia, all Asia; yea, all the whole world, at least as Alexander thought, who wept because there was not another world to conquer: hence Juvenal says {r}, "unus Pelloeo juveni non sufficit orbis"; one world was not enough for this young man. And touched not the ground ;
as he went; he seemed rather to fly in the air than to walk upon the earth; with such swiftness did Alexander run over the world, and make his conquests: in six or eight years time he conquered the kingdom of the Medes and Persians, Babylon, Egypt, and all the neighbouring nations; and afar off, Greece, Thrace, Illyricum, and even the greatest part of the then known world: hence the third or Grecian monarchy under him is said to be like a leopard, with four wings of a fowl on its back ^F19 , (See Gill on Daniel 7:6) he conquered countries as soon almost as another could have travelled over them; in his marches he was swift and indefatigable. Aelianus ^F20 reports, that he marched, clad in armour, thrice four hundred, that is, twelve hundred furlongs, upon a stretch; and, before his army could take any rest, fought his enemies, and conquered them. Some render the words, "whom no man touched in the earth" ^F21 ; that is, none could oppose, resist, and stop him; he bore down and carried all before him; there was no coming at him, so as to touch him, or hurt him; he was so swift in his motions, and so powerful in his army.

And the goat had a notable horn between his eyes ;
or, "a horn of vision": which in (Daniel 8:21) is interpreted of the first king of Greece, that is, when it became a monarchy; who was Alexander the great; and very properly called a "horn", being possessed of great power and authority; and a notable one, very remarkable and famous, as he has been in all ages since: "a horn of vision" ^F23 as it may be rendered; a very visible and conspicuous one, to be seen afar off, and which attracted the eyes of all unto it: its situation was "between the eyes of the goat", denoting his sagacity, wisdom, prudence, craft, and cunning; being attended and surrounded with his father Philip's wise counsellors as Parmenio, Philotas, Clitus, and others. It is remarkable that by the Arabs Alexander is called Dulcarnaim, or Dhilcarnain; that is, one having two horns ^F24 : the reason of which was, he affected to be the son of Jupiter Hammon, and therefore at feasts and public entertainments would put on the purple and horns of Hammon: hence, as Clemens of Alexandria observes ^F25 , he is by the statuaries represented as horned, or wearing horns; but then, as Arnobius ^F26 and others take notice, Hammon is made by the painters and statuaries to have ram's horns; whereas it seems more likely that Alexander's were goat's horns, since the goat was in the arms of Macedon; and so Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, who mimicked Alexander in his armour, is said to have goat's horns on his helmet, upon the top of his crest ^F1 ; and to such ensigns is the allusion here.

FOOTNOTES:

• F17: Justin ex Trogo, l. 7. c. 1.
• F19: Alexander was remarkable for the agility of his body, as appeared by his mounting his horse Bucephalus (Plutarch in Vita Alexandri), to the admiration of his father, and all that beheld him; as well as famous for the quick marches of his army, and his very swift and expeditious execution of his signs. "Plurimum pedum celeritate pollebat"; he greatly excelled in swiftness of foot, says the historian: and again, "armatusque de navi, tripudianti similis prosiluit"; he leaped armed out of the ship like one that danced (Suppl. in Curt. l. 1. p. 16. l. 2. p. 26) And he himself, speaking of the countries he had conquered, says, "quas tanta velocitate domuimus": and elsewhere, "cujus velocitatem nemo valuisset effugere". And of Bessus it is said, that "Alexandri celeritate perterritus". And Cobares, the magician calls him "velocissimus rex" (Curt. Hist. l. 6. c. 3. & l. 7. c. 4. 7.). And another historian says (Justin ex Trogo, l. 11. c. 2. & l. 12. c. 9.) that having observed the enemy's city forsook by them, "sine ullo satellite desiliit in planitiem urbis": and again, "tanta celeritate instructo paraloque exercitu Graeciam oppressi; ut quem venire non senserant, videre se vix crederant".
• F20: Var. Hist. l. 10. c. 4.
• F21: (Urab egwn Nyaw) quem neme attingebat in terra, Junius & Tremellius.
• F23: (twzh Nrq) "cornu visionis", Montanus; "visibile sive visendum", Vatablus; "conspicuum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
• F24: See Gregory, de Aeris & Epochis, c. 11. p. 158, 159.
• F25: Protreptic. ad Gentes, p. 36.
• F26: Adv. Gentes, l. 6. p. 233.
• F1: Plutarch. in Vita Pyrrhi.