Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Daniel 12:2

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.

2. The resurrection. The doctrine of a future life is not fully developed in the O.T.; it is nascent; and the stages in its growth are clearly distinguishable. The idea of a resurrection appears first, though in a national, not in an individual sense, in Hos 6:2: it appears next, also in a national sense (see Davidson’s note, p. 267), in Ezekiel’s famous vision of the Valley of dry bones (xxxvii. 1 14): the resurrection of individuals appears first in the post-exilic prophecy of Isaiah 24-27, viz. Isa 26:19 (see Skinner’s note), though, as in Ezek. (Eze 37:11), it is still expressly limited to Israel (it is denied, Eze 37:14, of Israel’s foes): in the present passage, a resurrection of the wicked, as well as of the righteous, is taught for the first time, and the doctrine of a different future reserved for each is also for the first time enunciated. See further the Introd. p. xcii.

many ] The resurrection is still limited implicitly to Israel. It is not said who are to compose the ‘many’: perhaps the author thinks in particular of the martyrs, and apostates, respectively, who, on the one side or the other, had been prominent during the reign of Antiochus.

sleep ] in death: cf. Jer 51:39; Jer 51:57; 1Th 4:14 ; 1Th 5:10.

in the dusty ground ] lit. the ground of dust. The expression is peculiar, and occurs only here. ‘Dust’ is often said of the grave, as to ‘lie down upon the dust’ (Job 20:11; Job 21:26), and ‘they that go down to the dust’ (Psa 22:29).

shall awake ] cf., in the same sense, Isa 26:19; also (where it is denied) Job 14:12, and (of the Babylonians) Jer 51:39; Jer 51:57.

some to everlasting life ] The expression occurs only here in the O.T., but it is frequent in post-Biblical Jewish writings: e.g. in Enoch (xxxvii. 4, xl. 9, lviii. 3, lxii. 14); Psalms of Sol. 3:16 (cf. 13:9); 4Ma 15:3 (cf. 2Ma 7:9 ; 2Ma 7:36 ); and in the Targums (in which passages of the O.T. relating really to the present life are often interpreted as referring to a future life) [394] . A more common synonym is ‘the life of the age to come’ ( ), Aboth ii. 7, &c. (Dalman, Die Worte Jesu, p. 129).

[394] See examples in the writer’s Sermons on the O.T. (1892), pp. 83, 88 91; Dalman, Die Worte Jesu, p. 128.

some to reproaches (Psa 69:9-10 [Heb.]) and everlasting abhorrence ] the last word (only once besides) from Isa 66:24 ‘And they [the carcases of the transgressors, slain outside Jerusalem] shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.’ Cf. in the N.T., Mat 25:46; Joh 5:29.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

And many of them – The natural and obvious meaning of the word many ( rabym) here is, that a large portion of the persons referred to would thus awake, but not all. So we should understand it if applied to other things, as in such expressions as these – many of the people, many of the houses in a city, many of the trees in a forest, many of the rivers in a country, etc. In the Scriptures, however, it is undeniable that the word is sometimes used to denote the whole considered as constituted of many, as in Rom 5:15-16, Rom 5:19. In these passages no one can well doubt that the word many is used to denote all, considered as composed of the many that make up the human race, or the many offences that man has committed. So if it were to be used respecting those who were to come forth from the caves and fastnesses where they had been driven by persecution, or those who sleep in their graves, and who will come forth in a general resurrection, it might be used of them considered as the many, and it might be said the many or the multitude comes forth.

Not a few interpreters, therefore, have understood this in the sense of all, considered as referring to a multitude, or as suggesting the idea of a multitude, or keeping up the idea that there would be great numbers. If this is the proper interpretation, the word many was used instead of the word all to suggest to the mind the idea that there would be a multitude, or that there would be a great number. Some, as Lengerke, apply it to all the Israelites who were not written in the book Dan 12:1, that is, to a resurrection of all the Israelites who had died; some, as Porphyry, a coining forth of the multitudes out of the caves and fastnesses who had been driven there by persecution; and some, as Rosenmuller and Havernick, understand it as meaning all, as in Rom 5:15, Rom 5:19. The sum of all that can be said in regard to the meaning of the word, it seems to me, is, that it is so far ambiguous that it might be applied

(a) to many considered as a large portion of a number of persons or things;

(b) or, in an absolute sense, to the whole of any number of persons or things considered as a multitude or great number.

As used here in the visions of the future, it would seem to denote that the eye of the angel was fixed on a great multitude rising from the dust of the earth, without any particular or distinct reference to the question whether all arose. There would be a vast or general resurrection from the dust; so much so that the mind would be interested mainly in the contemplation of the great hosts who would thus come forth. Thus understood, the language might, of itself, apply either to a general arousing of the Hebrew people in the time of the Maccabees, or to a general resurrection of the dead in the last day.

That sleep – This expression is one that denotes either natural sleep, or anything that resembles sleep. In the latter sense it is often used to denote death, and especially the death of the pious – who calmly slumber in their graves in the hope of awaking in the morning of the resurrection. See the notes at 1Th 4:14. It cannot be denied that it might be applied to those who, for any cause, were inactive, or whose energies were not aroused – as we often employ the word sleep or slumber – and that it might be tints used of those who seemed to slumber in the midst of the persecutions which raged, and the wrongs that were committed by Antiochus; but it would be most natural to understand it of those who were dead, and this idea would be particularly suggested in the connection in which it stands here.

In the dust of the earth – Hebrew, In the ground, or earth of dust – ‘ad^emath aphar. The language denotes the ground or earth considered as composed of dust, and would naturally refer to those who are dead and buried – considered as sleeping there with the hope of awaking in the resurrection.

Shall awake – This is language appropriate to those who are asleep, and to the dead considered as being asleep. It might, indeed, be applied to an arousing from a state of lethargy and inaction, but its most obvious, and its full meaning, would be to apply it to the resurrection of the dead, considered as an awaking to life of those who were slumbering in their graves.

Some – One portion of them. The relative number is not designated, but it is implied that there would be two classes. They would not all rise to the same destiny, or the same lot.

To everlasting life – So that they would live forever. This stands in contrast with their sleeping in the dust of the earth, or their being dead, and it implies that that state would not occur in regard to them again. Once they slept in the dust of the earth; now they would live for ever, or would die no more. Whether in this world or in another is not here said, and there is nothing in the passage which would enable one to determine this. The single idea is that of living forever, or never dying again. This is language which must have been derived from the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, and of the future state, and which must imply the belief of that doctrine in whatever sense it may be used here. It is such as in subsequent times was employed by the sacred writers to denote the future state, and the rewards of the righteous. The most common term employed in the New Testament, perhaps, to describe true religion, is life, and the usual phrase to denote the condition of the righteous after the resurrection is eternal or everlasting life. Compare Mat 25:46. This language, then, would most naturally be referred to that state, and covers all the subsequent revelations respecting the condition of the blessed.

And some to shame – Another portion in such a way that they shall have only shame or dishonor. The Hebrew word means reproach, scorn, contumely; and it may be applied to the reproach which one casts on another, Job 16:10; Psa 39:8 (9); Psa 79:12; or to the reproach which rests on anyone, Jos 5:9; Isa 54:4. Here the word means the reproach or dishonor which would rest on them for their sins, their misconduct, their evil deeds. The word itself would apply to any persons who were subjected to disgrace for their former misconduct. If it be understood here as having a reference to those who would be aroused from their apathy, and summoned from their retreats in the times of the Maccabees, the meaning is, that they would be called forth to public shame on account of their apostasy, and their conformity to pagan customs; if it be interpreted as applying to the resurrection of the dead, it means that the wicked would rise to reproach and shame before the universe for their folly and vileness. As a matter of fact, one of the bitterest ingredients in the doom of the wicked will be the shame and confusion with which they will be overwhelmed in the great day on account of the sins and follies of their course in this world.

And everlasting contempt – The word everlasting in this place is the same which in the former part of the verse is applied to the other portion that would awake, and like that properly denotes eternal; as in Mat 25:46, the word translated everlasting (punishment) is the same which is rendered eternal (life), and means what is to endure forever. So the Greek here, where the same word occurs, as in Mat 25:46 – some to everlasting life, eis zoen aionion, and some to everlasting contempt, eis aischunen aionion – is one which would denote a strict and proper eternity. The word contempt ( d^era’on) means, properly, a repulse; and then aversion, abhorrence. The meaning here is aversion or abhorrence – the feeling with which we turn away from what is loathsome, disgusting, or hateful. Then it denotes the state of mind with which we contemplate the vile and the abandoned; and in this respect expresses the emotion with which the wicked will be viewed on the final trial. The word everlasting completes the image, meaning that this feeling of loathing and abhorrence would continue forever. In a subordinate sense this language might be used to denote the feelings with which cowards, ingrates, and apostates are regarded on earth; but it cannot be doubted that it will receive its most perfect fulfillment in the future world – in that aversion with which the lost will be viewed by all holy beings in the world to come.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Dan 12:2

Some to everlasting life, and some to shame.

Unto Life or Death–Which?

Death is not annihilation; the grave is not the end of man. Two facts are indisputable among those who receive the Scriptures.

1. The fact of a general resurrection anterior to the Judgment Day.

2. The righteous will be raised to life eternal; the wicked to damnation. The point in the lesson we would enforce–and it is a tremendous point in the matter of personal interest–is embraced in one word which? One or the other of these experiences lie before each and every child of Adam. Do what we will, and neglect what we will, we shall have a part in this resurrection; we shall hear the voice of the Son of God then, whether we hear it now or not; and we shall live, and come forth either to be caught up into Heaven, or be banished to hell! In that hour of infinite power and display there will be no place of retreat, no possible concealment of evasion. In the dazzling light of the resurrection day it will be made clear as the noonday sun that there are but two characters, two ways, two destinies in Gods universe, and that an eternal gulf divides them, and on whichsoever side of that abyss we find ourselves then and there, there we shall remain as long as the throne of the Almighty endures. Which? O my soul! Which? (J. M. Sherwood, D.D.)

The Resurrection and its Consequences

I. THE GENERAL RESURRECTION. Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. The word many, in view of other Scriptures, must he understood as meaning all, or the many, the whole collective body of mankind. Our corrupted bodies may, to all human appearance, be lost among their kindred dust; but God hath declared that those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. The churchyard that surrounds us is filled with earth that once had breath and life. It seems, when you walk among the graves, as if eternal night had closed over them; as if they would never he seen or heard of again. But wait awhile. Their night will have an end. Death itself must at last be swallowed up in victory. If we should inquire no further, this grand promise of fire resurrection might seem to he a doctrine of unmixed comfort and satisfaction. But Consider:

II. THE CERTAIN AND IMMEDIATE CONSEQUENCES OF THE GENERAL RESURRECTION. The final issue is, everlasting life to some; shame and everlasting contempt to others.

1. Some shall awake to everlasting life. What is that life? Does it merely mean that their bodies will revive, and never die again? That cannot be the exclusive meaning of the word Life. It is the life of which St. Paul speaks, Your life is hid with Christ in God. Everlasting life is not first begun when the Christian wakes from the grave; it begins here upon earth. The Holy Ghost, who is the Lord and Giver of life, implants it in the heart of every believer at his conversion. Heaven is but a completion of that state into which a Christian is first brought while here below. All mankind are by nature dead–dead in trespasses and sins. When the heart is softened and humbled, the spirit becomes broken and contrite, and the will subdued and compliant, you are passing from death unto life. You become, by faith, united to Jesus Christ, as the branch is united to the vine, and in consequence of this blessed union you partake of the nature of the tree on which you are engrafted. Being a branch in Him, bring forth good fruit.

2. Some shall awake to shame and everlasting contempt. These words describe the end of the wicked and ungodly. But this description does not give, by any means, a full account of their future misery. The wicked man rises from the grave, and the first objects which be meets are shame and everlasting contempt. These are the consequences of the resurrection to him. Even in this life, sinners are extremely anxious to escape the shame which naturally attends upon transgression. In this, by the help of Satan, they partly succeed. But, how will they appear when, at the resurrection, they awake up from their long sleep? Then the secrets of all hearts will be revealed, and that by One who has seen your life from the beginning to the end. The shame of the wicked will be still further increased by a clear discovery of the mercies which they might have obtained by a penitent faith in Christ. Men pretend that true piety could have no effect but to make them miserable. But when that eternal day shall dawn, the truth will burst upon them at once, and they will learn that godliness is great again; having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. And he will awake to everlasting contempt. Nothing but an assurance of Gods favour and love can fully reconcile a man to the contempt and sneers of the world. Is the contempt of an avenging Judge the whole of what sinners must look for in that day? No; the saints of God will also unite with Him in condemning His enemies. (J. Jowett, MA.)

Eternal Life

Describe the familiar picture of St. Augustine and his mother Monica. It depicts two beings aspiring in heart and soul after eternal life, and thinking for a moment that they have hold upon it. These two human beings–outward bound, as they say; bent on a voyage, preparing to cross the sea, to reach an earthly home, and, meanwhile, preparing for another voyage, across that other sea, whose further shore no living human being has ever seen–how does this illustrate our own position on the road to eternal life? We all are preparing to cross the sea. All who have realised the voyage that is to be, begin to ask themselves what there is on the other side. Treat these two points of Scripture.

1. There is eternal life. There is no distinction between the two words, eternal and everlasting; the original word that each of them translates is exactly the same. The text in Daniel is the first in the Bible in which the words everlasting life occur. There are only three other passages in the Old Testament where the same meaning, if not quite the same words, is to be found. That is all, so far as I can find, that the Old Testament contains about everlasting life. In the New Testament, everlasting life is everywhere. It is the whole purport of the Gospel to make it possible for human beings to reach life eternal. That was the good news for them.

2. What is eternal life? To know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Christ is the life eternal, the spring and source of it to others, the essence and substance of it in Himself. How is it obtained? He that believeth on the Son hath life eternal. The gift is spoken of in the present tense. As soon as the water that Christ gives reaches a human heart, in it the spring of living water bursts forth and flows. Eternal lifo begins here. It consists in the union of the soul through Christ with God. A life in union with God–the selfish will submitted to His will–loving the things that He loves–hating the things that He hates–this wrought by faith in Christ, and the spirit that He has sent–this is what I imagine to be eternal life according to the Scripture idea. (Canon Rawstorne, M.A.)

Moral Distinctions Emphasised at the Resurrection

Men will be sorted yonder. Gravitation will come into play undisturbed; and the pebbles will be ranged according to their weights on the great shore where the sea has cast them up, as they are upon Chesil beach down there in the English Channel, and many another coast besides; all the big ones together and sized off to the smaller ones, regularly and steadily laid out. (A. Maclaren, D.D.)

Resurrection–the Embodiment of Mind

There be two principles at work in the resurrection of the dead. The glorified body is not the physical outcome of the material body here; but is the issue and manifestation, in visible form, of the perfect and Christ-like spirit. Some shall rise to glory and immortality, some to shame and everlasting contempt. If we are to stand at the last, with the body of our humiliation changed into a body of glory, we must begin by being changed in the spirit of our mind. As the mind is, so will the body be one day.

Future Permanence of Character

You and I write out our lives as if on one of those manifold writers which you use. A thin, filmy sheet here, a bit of black paper below it; but the writing goes through upon the next page. And when the blackness that divides the two worlds is swept away there the history of each life, written by ourselves, remains legible in eternity. (A. Maclaren.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 2. Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth] This prophecy has been referred to the future restoration of the Jews. It will be also true of the state of mankind at the general judgment.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

So enamoured are some of their notions, though found false and ill-grounded, that they will pertinaciously hold them, and seek still to prove one absurdity from another, as Grotius doth here, still expounding all of Antiochus, and so makes this resurrection metaphorical, and not the real ultimate one; whereas the most learned Jews themselves are against him, as the late Manasseh Ben Israel in his book de Resurrectione.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

2. many . . . that sleep“manyfrom among the sleepers . . . these shall be untoeverlasting life; but those (the rest of the sleepers who donot awake at this time) shall be unto shame” [TREGELLES].Not the general resurrection, but that of those who share inthe first resurrection; the rest of the dead being not to rise tillthe end of the thousand years (Rev 20:3;Rev 20:5; Rev 20:6;compare 1Co 15:23; 1Th 4:16).Israel’s national resurrection, and the first resurrection of theelect Church, are similarly connected with the Lord’s coming forthout of His place to punish the earth in Isa 26:19;Isa 26:21; Isa 27:6.Compare Isa 25:6-9. TheJewish commentators support TREGELLES.AUBERLEN thinks the solepurpose for which the resurrection is introduced in this verse is anincitement to faithful perseverance in the persecutions of Antiochus;and that there is no chronological connection between the timeof trouble in Da 12:1 and theresurrection in Da 12:2; whencethe phrase, “at that time,” twice occurs in Da12:1, but no fixing of time in Dan 12:2;Dan 12:3; 2 Maccabees 7:9, 14,23, shows the fruit of this prophecy in animating the Maccabeanmother and her sons to brave death, while confessing the resurrectionin words like those here. Compare Heb11:35. NEWTON’S viewthat “many” means all, is not so probable; forRom 5:15; Rom 5:19,which he quotes, is not in point, since the Greek is “themany,” that is, all, but there is no article in the Hebrewhere. Here only in the Old Testament is “everlastinglife” mentioned.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,…. Which is not to be understood in a figurative and metaphorical, sense, as by R. Jeshuah the Jew, Porphyry the Heathen, and by some Christian writers; neither of the deliverance of the Jews from the troubles of Antiochus, or their present captivity; nor of the spiritual resurrection of them, or others, from their state of infidelity to a profession of the Gospel, which in some is real, in others only hypocritical; but, in a literal sense, of the resurrection of the dead at the last day, which, with respect to the righteous, will take place upon the personal appearance of Christ at first, 1Th 4:16, for, as death is oftentimes compared to “sleep”, in which the senses are bound up, and the body is in a state of inactivity; see

Joh 11:11, so the resurrection from the dead is expressed by awaking out of sleep, when the body shall rise fresh and vigorous, in full health and strength, as a man out of a comfortable sleep; see Ps 17:15. The word “many” is used, either because, as all will not sleep, so all will not be awaked; there will be some that will be alive and awake at Christ’s coming, 1Co 15:51, or, as it signifies, a multitude, Ps 97:1 and so here the innumerable multitude of the dead, who are afterwards distributively considered; and indeed the word is sometimes used for “all”; see Ro 5:15:

some to everlasting life; to the enjoyment of everlasting life and happiness with Christ in the world to come; a phrase often used in the New Testament, though never before in the Old; expressive of that felicity and bliss which the saints enjoy in heaven after this life is over, first in the separate state of the soul, and then, at the resurrection, in soul and body, and of the everlasting continuance of it; they that shall enjoy this are those that are written in the Lamb’s book of life, or are ordained unto eternal life; who are redeemed by the blood of Christ, regenerated by his Spirit and grace, justified by his righteousness, adopted into the family of God, are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; these are the dead in Christ, which rise first:

and some to shame and everlasting contempt; wicked men, who lived in a course of sin in this world, without any remorse or shame; but, when they shall rise from the dead, they will rise with all their sins upon them, and with a full conviction of them in their consciences; and will be ashamed of them, and to appear before God the Judge of all; and will be had in contempt by the Lord, by elect angels, and all good men; and this reproach shall never be wiped off; see Isa 66:24. Our Lord seems manifestly to have respect to this passage, when he speaks of men coming out of their graves at the last day, “some unto the resurrection of life, and others unto the resurrection of damnation”, Joh 5:28 and upon these words it may well be thought the Apostle Paul grounded his faith of the resurrection of the dead, both just and unjust, Ac 24:15, and though the resurrection of both is spoken of here and elsewhere together, yet it will be at distinct periods of time; the resurrection of the just at the beginning of the thousand years, and that of the wicked at the end of them, Re 20:5, between which will be the intermediate state of the saints dwelling with Christ on earth; where they will be favoured with his presence, and the rewards of his grace, to which the following verse has respect.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

These verses do not at all present the form of a parenetic reference to the retribution commencing with the resurrection. Dan 12:2 is by the copula connected with Dan 12:1, and thereby designates the continuance of the thought of the second half of Dan 12:1, i.e., the further representation of the deliverance of God’s people, namely, of all those who are written in the book of life. Since many of the who know their God (Dan 11:33) lose their life in the persecution, so in the promise of deliverance a disclosure of the lot awaiting those who sealed with their blood their fidelity to God was not to be avoided, if the prophecy shall wholly gain its end, i.e., if the promise of the deliverance of all the pious shall afford to the people of God in the times of oppression strength and joy in their enduring fidelity to God. The appeal to the fact that Dan 12:2, Dan 12:3 contain no designation of time proves nothing at all, for this simple reason, that the verses connected by “and” are by this copula placed under Dan 12:1, which contains a designation of time, and only further show how this deliverance shall ensue, namely thus, that a part of the people shall outlive the tribulation, but those who lose their lives in the persecution shall rise again from the dead.

To this is to be added that the contents of Dan 12:1 do not agree with the period of persecution under Antiochus. That which is said regarding the greatness of the persecution is much too strong for it. The words, “There shall be a time of trouble such as never was , since there was a nation or nations,” designate it as such as never was before on the earth. Theodoret interprets thus: , . With reference to these words our Lord says: , , Mat 24:21. Though the oppression which Antiochus brought upon Israel may have been most severe, yet it could not be said of it without exaggeration, that it was such a tribulation as never had been from the beginning of the world. Antiochus, it is true, sought to outroot Judaism root and branch, but Pharaoh also wished to do the same by his command to destroy all the Hebrew male children at their birth; and as Antiochus wished to make the worship of the Grecian Zeus, so also Jezebel the worship of the Phoenician Hercules, in the place of the worship of Jehovah, the national religion in Israel.

Still less does the second hemistich of Dan 12:1 refer to the deliverance of the people from the power of Antiochus. Under the words, “every one that shall be found written in the book,” Hitzig remarks that they point back to Isa 4:3, and that the book is thus the book of life, and corrects the vain interpretation of v. Lengerke, that “to be written in the book” means in an earthly sense to live, to be appointed to life, by the more accurate explanation, “The book of life is thus the record of those who shall live, it is the list of the citizens of the Messianic kingdom (Phi 4:3), and in Isaiah contains the names of those who reach it living, in Daniel also of those who must first be raised from the dead for it.” Cf. regarding the book of life, under Exo 32:32.

Accordingly, extends into the Messianic time. This is so far acknowledged by Hofmann ( Weiss. u. Erf. i. p. 313, and Shcriftbew. 2:2, p. 697), in that he finds in Dan 12:1, from “and there shall be a time,” and in Dan 12:2, Dan 12:3, the prophecy of the final close of the history of nations, the time of the great tribulation at the termination of the present course of the world, the complete salvation of Israel in it, and the resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. Since, however, Hofmann likewise refers the last verses of the preceding chapter to the time of Antiochus and his destruction, and can only refer the at the beginning of Dan 12:1-13, from its close connection with the last words of Daniel 11, to the time which has hitherto been spoken of, so he supposes that in the first clause of the first verse of this chapter (Dan 12:1-13) there cannot be a passing over to another time, but that this transition is first made by . This transition he seeks indeed, in the 2nd ed. of his Schriftbew. l.c., to cover by the remark: that we may not explain the words of the angel, , as if they meant: that time shall be a time of trouble such as has not been till now; but much rather that they are to be translated: “and there shall arise a time of trouble such as never was to that time.” But this separation of the words in question from those going before by the translation of “and there shall arise,” is rendered impossible by the words following, ; for these so distinctly point back to the words with which the verse commences, that we may not empty them of their definite contents by the ambiguous “till that time.” If the angel says, There shall arise a time of oppression such as has never been since there were nations till that time when Michael shall appear for his people, or, as Hofmann translates it, shall “hold fast his place,” then to every unprejudiced reader it is clear that this tribulation such as has never been before shall arise not for the first time centuries after the appearance of Michael or of his “holding fast his place,” but in the time of the war of the angel-prince for the people of God. In this same time the angel further places the salvation of the people of Daniel and the resurrection of the dead.

(Note: Hofmann’s explanation of the words would only be valid if the definition of time stood after in the text, which Hofm. in his most recent attempts at its exposition has interpolated inadvertently, while in his earlier exposition ( Weiss. u. Erf. i. p. 314) he has openly said: “These last things connect themselves with the prospect of the end of that oppressor of Israel, not otherwise than as when Isaiah spoke of the approaching assault of the Assyrians on Jerusalem as of the last affliction of the city, or as in Jeremiah the end of those seventy years is also the end of all the sufferings of his people. There remains therefore a want of clearness in this prospect,” etc. This want of clearness he has, in his most recent exposition in the Schriftbew., not set aside, but increased, by the supposition of an immediate transition from the time of Antiochus to the time of the end.)

The failure of all attempts to gain a space of time between Dan 11:45 and Dan 12:1, Dan 12:2 incontrovertibly shows that the assertions of those who dispute the genuineness of the book, that the pseudo-Daniel expected along with the death of Antiochus the commencement of the Messianic kingdom and of the resurrection of the dead, would have a foundation if the last verses of Daniel 11 treated of the last undertakings of this Syrian king against the theocracy. This if, it has, however, been seen from Daniel 11, is not established. In Dan 11:40-45 the statements do not refer to Antiochus, but to the time of the end, of the last enemy of the holy God, and of his destruction. With that is connected, without any intervening space, in Dan 12:1 the description of the last oppression of the people of God and their salvation to everlasting life. The prophecy of that unheard-of great tribulation Christ has in Mat 24:21 referred, wholly in the sense of the prophetic announcement, to the yet future which shall precede the coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven to judge the world and to bring to a consummation the kingdom of God. That this tribulation shall come only upon Israel, the people of God, is not said; the refers much more to a tribulation that shall come upon the whole of humanity. In it shall the angel-prince Michael help the people of Daniel, i.e., the people of God. That he shall destroy the hostile king, the Antichrist, is not said. His influence extends only to the assistance which he shall render to the people of God for their salvation, so that all who are written in the book of life shall be saved. Christ, in His eschatological discourse, Matt 24, does not make mention of this assistance, but only says that for the elect’s sake the days of the oppression shall be shortened, otherwise that no one would be saved ( , Mat 24:22). Wherein the help of Michael consists, is seen partly from that which is said in Dan 10:13 and Dan 10:21 regarding him, that he helped the Angel of the Lord in the war against the hostile spirit of the Persian and the Javanic world-kingdom, partly from the war of Michael against the dragon described in Rev 12:7. From these indications it is clear that we may not limit the help on the part of Michael to the help which he renders to the saints of God in the last war and struggle, but that he stands by them in all wars against the world-power and its princes, and helps them to victory.

But the salvation which the people of God shall experience in the time of the unparalleled great oppression is essentially different from the help which was imparted to the people of Israel in the time of the Maccabees. This is called “a little help,” Dan 11:34. So also is the oppression of Israel in the time of the Maccabees different from the oppression in the end of the time, as to its object and consequences. The former oppression shall, according to Dan 11:33-35, serve to purify the people and to make them white to the time of the end; the oppression at the time of the end, on the contrary, according to Dan 12:1-3, shall effect the salvation ( ) of the people, i.e., prepare the people for the everlasting life, and bring about the separation of the righteous from the wicked for eternity. These clearly stated distinctions confirm the result already reached, that Dan 12:1-3 do not treat of the time of Antiochus and the Maccabees.

The promised salvation of the people ( ) is more particularly defined by the addition to : “every one who shall be found written in the book,” sc. of life (see above, p. 813); thus every one whom God has ordained to life, all the genuine members of the people of God. , shall be saved, sc. out of the tribulation, so that they do not perish therein. But since, according to Dan 11:33., in the oppression, which passes over the people of God for their purification, many shall lose their lives, and this also shall be the case in the last and severest oppression, the angel gives to the prophet, in Dan 12:2, disclosures also regarding the dead, namely, that they shall awaken out of the sleep of death. By the connection of this verse with the preceding by , without any further designation of time, the resurrection of the dead is placed as synchronous with the deliverance of the people. “For that the two clauses, ‘thy people shall be delivered’ (Dan 12:1), and ‘many shall awake,’ not only reciprocally complete each other, but also denote contemporaneous facts, we only deny by first denying that the former declares the final salvation of Israel” (Hofm. Schriftbew. ii. 2, p. 598). , sleeping, is here used, as in Job 3:13; Jer 51:39, of death; cf. , Mat 9:24; 1Th 5:10, and , 1Th 4:14. , occurring only here, formed after Gen 3:19, means not the dust of the earth, but dusty earth, terra pulveris , denoting the grave, as , Psa 22:30.

It appears surprising that , many, shall awake, since according to the sequel, where the rising of some to life and of some to shame is spoken of, much rather the word all might have been expected. This difficulty is not removed by the remark that many stands for all, because does not mean all. Concerning the opinion that many stands for all, Hofmann remarks, that the expression “sleeping in the dust of earth” is not connected with the word many ( ), but with the verb “shall awake” ( ): “of them there shall be many, of whom those who sleep in the earth shall arise” (Hofm.). So also C. B. Michaelis interprets the words by reference to the Masoretic accentuation, which has separated from ( sleeping), only that he takes in the sense of stating the terminus mutationis a quo . But by this very artificial interpretation nothing at all is gained; for the thought still remains the same, that of those who sleep in the dust many (not all) awake. The partitive interpretation of is the only simple and natural one, and therefore with most interpreters we prefer it. The can only be rightly interpreted from the context. The angel has it not in view to give a general statement regarding the resurrection of the dead, but only disclosures on this point, that the final salvation of the people shall not be limited to those still living at the end of the great tribulation, but shall include also those who have lost their lives during the period of the tribulation.

In Dan 11:33, Dan 11:35, the angel had already said, that of “those that understand” many shall fall by the sword and by flame, etc. When the tribulation at the time of the end increases to an unparalleled extent (Dan 12:1), a yet greater number shall perish, so that when salvation comes, only a remnant of the people shall be then in life. To this surviving remnant of the people salvation is promised; but the promise is limited yet further by the addition: “every one that is found written in the book;” not all that are then living, but only those whose names are recorded in the book of life shall be partakers of the deliverance, i.e., of the Messianic salvation. But many ( ) of those that sleep, who died in the time of tribulation, shall awake out of sleep, some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting shame. As with the living, so also with the dead, not all attain to salvation. Also among those that arise there shall be a distinction, in which the reward of the faithful and of the unfaithful shall be made known. The word “many” is accordingly used only with reference to the small number of those who shall then be living, and not with reference either to the universality of the resurrection of the dead or to a portion only of the dead, but merely to add to the multitude of the dead, who shall then have part with the living, the small number of those who shall experience in the flesh the conclusion of the matter.

If we consider this course of thought, then we shall find it necessary neither to obtrude upon the meaning of all, – a meaning which it has not and cannot have, for the universality of the resurrection is removed by the particle , which makes it impossible that , = ; for this conclusion can only be drawn from the misapprehension of the course of thought here presented, that this verse contains a general statement of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, an idea which is foreign to the connection.

From the correct interpretation of the course of thought arises the correct answer to the controverted question, whether here we are taught concerning the resurrection of the people of Israel, or concerning the resurrection of mankind generally. Neither the one nor the other of these things is taught here. The prophetic words treat of the people of Daniel, by which we are to understand the people of Israel. But the Israel of the time of the end consists not merely of Jews or of Jewish Christians, but embraces all peoples who belong to God’s kingdom of the New Covenant founded by Christ. In this respect the resurrection of all is here implicite intimated, and Christ has explicitly set forth the thoughts lying implicite in this verse; for in Joh 5:28. He teaches the awakening from sleep of all the dead, and speaks, with unmistakeable reference to this passage before us, of an and an . For in the O.T. our verse is the only passage in which, along with the resurrection to everlasting life, there is mention also made of the resurrection to everlasting shame, or the resurrection of the righteous and of the wicked. The conception of , , meets us here for the first time in the O.T. denotes, it is true, frequently the true life with God, the blessed life in communion with God, which exists after this life; but the addition does not generally occur, and is here introduced to denote, as corresponding to the eternal duration of the Messianic kingdom (Dan 2:44; Dan 7:14, Dan 7:27, cf. Dan 9:24), the life of the righteous in this kingdom as imperishable. forms the contrast to ; for first , shame (a plur. of intensive fulness), is placed over against the , then this shame is designated in reference to Isa 66:24 as , contempt, an object of aversion.

Dan 12:3

Then shall they who in the times of tribulation have led many to the knowledge of salvation receive the glorious reward of their faithfulness. With this thought the angel closes the announcement of the future. refers back to Dan 11:33-35, and is here, as there, not limited to the teachers, but denotes the intelligent who, by instructing their contemporaries by means of word and deed, have awakened them to stedfastness and fidelity to their confession in the times of tribulation and have strengthened their faith, and some of whom have in war sealed their testimony with their blood. These shall shine in eternal life with heavenly splendour. The splendour of the vault of heaven (cf. Exo 24:10) is a figure of the glory which Christ designates as a light like the sun (“The righteous shall shine forth as the sun,” Mat 13:43, referring to the passage before us). Cf. for this figure also Rev 2:28 and 1Co 15:40. By the expression Kranichfeld would understand such as take away the sins of the people in the offering up of sacrifice, i.e., the priests who attend to the offering of the sacrifices, because the expression is borrowed from Isa 53:11, “where it is predicated of the Messianic priest , in the fullest sense of the word, what is said here of the common priests.” But this interpretation is not satisfactory. In Isa 53:11 the Servant of Jehovah justifies many, not by the sacrifice, but by His righteousness, by this, that He, as who has done no sin, takes upon Himself the sins of the people and gives His soul an offering for sin. is neither in the law of sacrifices nor anywhere in the O.T. named as the effect of the sacrifice, but always only ( ) ( to take up, take away iniquity) and , and in the expiatory sacrifices with the constant addition (<) ; cf. Lev 4:26, Lev 4:31, Lev 4:35; Lev 5:10, Lev 5:16; Psa 32:1.

Nor is the practice of offering sacrifice anywhere described as a . This word signifies to assist in obtaining, or to lead to, righteousness, and is here to be read in this general interpretation, and not to be identified with the Pauline . The are those who by their , i.e., by their fidelity to the law, led others to , showed them by their example and teaching the way to righteousness.

The salvation of the people, which the end shall bring in, consists accordingly in the consummation of the people of God by the resurrection of the dead and the judgment dividing the pious from the godless, according to which the pious shall be raised to eternal life, and the godless shall be given up to everlasting shame and contempt. But the leaders of the people who, amid the wars and conflicts of this life, have turned many to righteousness, shall shine in the imperishable glory of heaven.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

THE RESURRECTIONS

Verses 2, 3:

Verses 2, 3 foretell of the coming resurrections, of the just and the unjust, which are to be separated by about one thousand and three and one half years. There is first a general statement, without any delineation of time when each should occur; though such is taught elsewhere. Both the righteous are to be raised from the dust of death, from their graves to everlasting life, and the wicked, unbelievers to everlasting shame and contempt, 1Th 4:13-18; Rev 20:11-15. See also Dan 12:13; Job 19:25; Hos 13:14; 1Co 15:23; 1Co 15:52.

Verse 3 adds that those who shall be (exist as) wise ones, as teachers, shall shine (in the rewarding hour) as the radiance of the firmament, like the high meridian, noon-day sun. And those who turn many to righteousness, lead many to repentance and trust in Christ, should sparkle like the stars “for ever and ever,” or without ceasing, Psa 126:5-6; 1Co 3:14; Rev 22:12; See also Pro 11:30; Mat 10:42.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

As to the translation of the first words, it is literally, many who sleep in the earth of dust, or who are in earth and dust; for the genitive is used as an epithet, though it may be read as if in opposition with the former word sleep, meaning those who are reduced to earth and dust.

The angel seems here to mark a transition from the commencement of the preaching of the gospel, to the final day of the resurrection, without sufficient occasion for it. For why does he pass over the intermediate time during which many events might be the subject of prophecy? He unites these two subjects very fitly and properly, connecting the salvation of the Church with the final resurrection and with the second coming of Christ. Wheresoever we may look around us, we never meet with any source of salvation on earth. The angel announces the salvation of all the elect. They are most miserably oppressed on all sides, and wherever they turn their eyes, they perceive nothing but confusion. Hence the hope of the promised salvation could not be conceived by man before the elect raise their minds to the second coming of Christ. It is just as if the angel had said, God will be the constant preserver of his Church, even unto the end; but the manner in which he will preserve it must not be taken in a carnal sense, as the Church will be like a dead body until it shall rise again. We here perceive the angel teaching the same truth as Paul delivers in other words, namely, we are dead, and our life is hidden with Christ; it shall then be made manifest when he shall appear in the heavens. (Col 3:3.) We must hold this first of all, God is sufficiently powerful to defend us, and we need not hesitate in feeling ourselves safe under his hand and protection. Meanwhile it is necessary to add this second point; as long as we fix our eyes only on this present state of things, and dwell upon what the world offers us, we shall always be like the dead. And why so? Our life ought to be hid with Christ in God. Our salvation is secure, but we still hope for it, as Paul says in another passage. (Rom 8:23.) What is hoped for is not seen, says he. This shews us how completely seasonable is the transition from this doctrine respecting God’s elect to the last advent of Christ. This then is enough with respect to the context. The word many seems here clearly put for all, and this is not to be considered as at all absurd, for the angel does not use the word in contrast with all or few, but only with one. Some of the Jews strain this expression to mean the restoration of the Church in this world under themselves, which is perfectly frivolous. In this case the following language would not be correct, — – Some shall rise to life, and others to disgrace and contempt Hence if this concerned none but the Church of God, certainly none would rise to disgrace and condemnation. This shews the angel to be treating of the last resurrection, which is common to all, and allows of no exceptions. I have lately explained why he calls our attention to the advent of Christ. Since all flyings in the world will be constantly confused, our minds must necessarily be raised upwards, and gain the victory over what we observe with our eyes, and comprehend with our outward senses.

Those who sleep in the earth and the dust; meaning, wherever the earth and dust exist, nevertheless they shall rise, implying the hope of a resurrection not founded on natural causes, but depending upon the inestimable power of God, which surpasses all our senses. Hence, although the elect as well as the wicked shall be reduced to earth and dust, this shall by no means form an obstacle to God’s raising them up again. He uses earth and dust In my judgment אדמת, admeth, “of the earth,” is the genus, and עפר, gnepher, “dust,” is the species, meaning, although they are only putrid carcasses, yet they shall be reduced to dust, which is minute particles of earth. God, then, is endued with sufficient power to call forth the dead to newness of life. This passage is worthy of especial notice, because the prophets do not contain any clearer testimony than this to the last resurrection, particularly as the angel distinctly asserts the future rising again of both the righteous and the wicked. Eternity is here opposed to those temporal miseries to which we are now subjected. Here we may notice the admonition of Paul, that those momentary afflictions by which God tries us, cannot be compared with that eternal glory which never shall cease. (Rom 8:18.) This, therefore, is the reason why the angel so clearly expresses, that eternal life awaits the elect, and eternal disgrace and condemnation will be the lot of the ungodly. He afterwards subjoins, —

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

HOMILETICS

SECT. XLVI.THE RESURRECTION. (Chap. Dan. 12:2.)

We come to a most precious and important part of the angels communication. It is that in which he declares more distinctly than had ever been done before the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead, and that in connection with retribution, which had not previously been done. The object for which the statement concerning this great truth is now so distinctly made, is obviously to comfort Daniel and his faithful though suffering people, and especially to sustain and encourage those who should be called to lay down their life in the maintenance of Gods truth and worship. That the statement produced this effect in the case of those who suffered under Antiochus in the Maccaban age, we have historical evidence in the first book of the Maccabees; and more especially in the narrative there given of the Jewish mother and her seven sons, who chose rather to endure a horrible death than renounce their religion, under the assured hope of the better resurrection. [348] The statement is made here in connection with the promise of deliverance to an elect remnant during the last great attack upon Israel from the hostile world-power, in which so many should miserably perish; and it is there made apparently with the view of assuring them that at that period of deliverance those who had fallen in maintenance of the truth, or had died in the faith and service of Jehovah, should also receive their reward. The comfort intended appears similar to that designed by the Apostle when he assures believers, who are mourning the departure of those who had fallen asleep in Jesus, that when the Lord should come again to take His people to glory, He would not glorify those who should then be found alive till He had first raised from the dead those that slept in Him (1Th. 4:15-17).

[348] It is good, said one of these seven sons, when his body was lacerated by the scourge being put to death by man, to look for hope from God to be raised up again by Him.

In connection with the passage before us, we have to notice

I. The fact of the resurrection. Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. There should be little doubt that a true physical and literal resurrection of the body is here intended, and not a moral, spiritual, and figurative one, such as that described in Ezekiel 36. [349] If a resurrection of the body is not here declared, it will be difficult to find where it is, or to imagine words in which it can be so. Although the doctrine may be found in earlier inspired writings, yet it is doubtless on this passage that the Jewish martyrs more especially based their hope, and from this that the Jews in general drew their assurance that there should be a resurrection of the dead, and that both of the just and the unjust (Act. 24:15). [350] It is justly believed also that to this passage the Saviours words had reference when, announcing Himself to be the Lord and Giver of life, He declared, The hour is coming in the which all that are in their graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth: they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation (Joh. 5:28-29). Of this resurrection Jesus Himself rose as a specimen and firstfruits, in whom, as the second Adam and Head of redeemed humanity, those who died literally and physically in the first Adam, should in the same sense be made alive. Accordingly after His resurrection, Matthew relates, that many of the bodies of the saints which slept arose, and went into the holy city and appeared unto many (Mat. 27:52-53). To such a resurrection Paul referred in his appeal to Agrippa and his audience at Csarea when he asked, Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? (Act. 26:8). It is the resurrection of the body that sleeps in the grave, or in the dust of the earth, [351] the same, yet changed. In respect to the bodies of believers at least, it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory (1Co. 15:42-44). The expression of the angel, them that sleep in the dust, though a similar one had been already used by Isaiah (Isa. 26:19), and even by the Psalmist (Psa. 17:15), and still more in the book of Job (Job. 14:12), that which more especially gave occasion to the practice of speaking of death as a sleep (Act. 7:60; 1Co. 15:6; 1Co. 15:51; 1Th. 4:13-14). More than from the mere resemblance between the state of death and sleep, which even the heathen recognised, the expression derives its significance from the fact that out of that sleep there is an awaking, which mere natural reason seems never to have been able to anticipate, and still less to obtain the certainty of; although the transformation of insects might well suggest the possibility, if not the probability, of a similar change for man.

[349] Grotius referred the resurrection in the text, in the first instance, figuratively, to the deliverance of the Jews in the time of Antiochus, as Porphyry had done before him; and in the second instance, to the literal resurrection of the body, as rather hinted at than explicitly declared. He has had, however, but few followers in the Christian Church. Brightman understood the resurrection here as pointing to the victories of the Jewish nation, and their being called to the faith in Christ, as Joh. 5:25; Eph. 5:15; Rom. 11:15; Eze. 37:1, &c. Some, he thinks, partaking of the deliverance predicted, shall yet persist in their wickedness, and shall rise indeed, but to eternal destruction.

[350] It was a saying of Rabbi Eleazar of Capernaum: They who are born are to die, and the dead to live, and the living to be judged; that we might know, and understand, to be informed, that He is God the Former, the Creator, the Intelligent One, the Judge. Let not thine imagination persuade thee that the grave shall be a house of refuge for thee; for against thy will thou wast formed, and against thy will thou wast born, and against thy will thou dost live, and against thy will wilt thou die, and against thy will must thou hereafter give in thine account.Pirke Abhoth, Dan. 4:23.

[351] In the dust of the earth. of dust, the dusty ground; the expression formed after Gen. 3:19, and denoting the grave, as in Psa. 22:30, the dust of death.

II. The time of it. This apparently indicated by the place which the statement occupies, and its connection with the preceding one, expressed by the copula and. [352] The angel appears to intimate that when the Jewish remnant experience the promised deliverance, this other deliverance shall also take place in reference to those that shall have slept the sleep of death. These two events, Israels conversion and restoration, and the resurrection of the dead, are elsewhere brought together in the Scriptures, as taking place soon after each other. The resurrection is coincident with the Lords second appearing: Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christs at His coming. But Israels conversion and restoration is connected with the same glorious advent. Peter exhorts the Jews to repent and be converted, not only that their sins may be blotted out, but that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and He shall send Jesus Christ, who before was preached unto them, and whom the heavens must receive till the restitution of all things (Act. 3:19-21, R.V.) The Jews were not to see Jesus again until they should say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord (Mat. 23:39). The promise that they should look on Him whom they had pierced and mourn because of Him, is viewed by the Apostle John as pointing to the Lords visible appearing: Behold He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him (Rev. 1:7). The Apostle Paul appears to connect the conversion of Israel with the Redeemers coming: There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob; or, as it stands in Isaiah, The Redeemer shall come to Zion, and to them that turn from transgression in Jacob (Isa. 59:20; Rom. 11:26). The destruction of Antichrist, too, when he has planted the tabernacles of his palace between the seas on the glorious holy mountain, in the great gathering at Armageddon connected with Israels conversion, is also apparently represented in the Apocalypse as speedily, if not immediately, followed by the first resurrection (Rev. 19:19-20; Rev. 20:4-5). Paul also appears unmistakably to connect the destruction of the Man of Sin or Son of perdition, doubtless the same Wicked or Lawless One of whom Daniel prophesied, with the personal and glorious appearing of the Lord Jesus: whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit (breath) of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness (manifestation) of His coming (2Th. 2:1-2; 2Th. 2:8, R.V.) Daniel 7 seems also plainly to connect the destruction of the fourth beast and the little horn with the coming of the Son of Man with the clouds of heaven. The destruction of Antichrist, the conversion and restoration of Israel, the resurrection of the just, thus appear closely connected with each other, and all with the Lords glorious appearing.

[352] And many, &c. Keil remarks that the copula (and) connects this verse with the preceding one, and indicates the continuance of the thought in the latter half of that verse, i.e., the further representation of the deliverance of Gods people, namely, of all those who are written in the book of life. Auberlen and some others separate the resurrection from the predicted time of tribulation, simply because they refer that time to the persecution under Antiochus. He believes, however, that the resurrection will follow immediately after the period of Antichrist, and be contemporary with the coming of the Messiah in glory. Calvin thinks that the angel passes over the intermediate state between the preaching of the Gospel and the final resurrection, because the salvation of the church is connected with that event, it being till then like a dead body. Bishop Newton connects the resurrection with the tribulation as taking place immediately after it. Dr. Chalmers, on Isa. 26:11-21, remarks that it will take a time even after they (the Jews) are set upon enlargement, ere the deliverance can be wrought, and their enemies have fallen. But it will come at length, and come gloriously. Then will there be the first resurrection.

III. The subjects of the resurrection. Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth. Although the Scriptures, and probably this very passage, assure us that all the dead shall rise again, both just and unjust; yet this does not appear to be expressly declared by the angel in the words before us. Not all that sleep, but many of them, shall awake. [353] Many are not here equivalent to all, as in Rom. 5:15; Rom. 5:19; both because of the absence of the article, and because the of, or from among, that follows gives what is called a partitive signification,indicating a part, and not the whole. The many who shall awake are the godly,the some, or literally these, who shall awake to everlasting life, and of whom it is the angels special object now to speak. That the rest of the sleepers, or the ungodly, shall also awake, appears to be also intimated; these being the second some, or literally those, who shall awake to shame and everlasting contempt. It being the angels object rather to speak of the future blessedness of the faithful, it is their resurrection which is here especially declared as taking place in connection with the predicted deliverance. The resurrection of the rest or the ungodly, not being here especially intended to be spoken of, though plainly intimated, was apparently indicated as taking place at a period posterior to that of the others. Such we find to be in accordance with the manner in which the resurrection is generally spoken of in the New Testament. The resurrection of the just is spoken of by the Saviour as a thing by itself. Thou shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the just (Luk. 14:14). In the resurrectionthat is, the state which it introducesthey neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God (Mat. 22:30). Still more expressly in Luke: The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage; but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage: neither can they die any more, for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection (Luk. 20:34-36). The resurrection here spoken of obviously includes only the godly,the resurrection of the just, which only some shall be accounted worthy to obtain, even the children of God, who are therefore also called the children of the resurrection. This is that which the Epistle to the Hebrews represents the ancient martyrs as being so eager to obtain, called a better, or rather the better, resurrection (Heb. 11:35). This also apparently that which in the Apocalypse is called the first resurrection,that, namely, of the martyrs and faithful followers of Jesus; the rest of the dead not living again till the thousand years reign of Christ and His saints is finished (Rev. 20:4-5). The Apostle also only speaks of them that are Christs being raised at His coming, this being according to the appointed order: Every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterwards they that are Christs at His coming (1Co. 15:23). So when Christ shall descend with a shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God, it is the dead in Christ that rise first,before the living saints are changed (1Th. 4:15-17). It is, however, only in the Apocalypse, which closes the canon of Scripture, that we seem to learn anything of the length of the interval elapsing between the resurrection of the just and that of the unjust. [354] It is thus that, according to the Psalmist, the upright have dominion over the ungodly in the morning (Psa. 49:14); theirs being not merely a resurrection of the dead, but a resurrection from, or from among, the dead (Luk. 20:35), where it is literally and emphatically the resurrection, that from the dead. This general mode of representing the resurrection is not really at variance with the Saviours words in Joh. 5:28, though apparently so. The resurrection of both classes is not said to be simultaneous; the hour in which that of both shall take place being simply the time when it shall happen, without defining it to be either at the same moment, or with a lengthened interval between. This was to be learned from other testimonies of Scripture. It may be added that, in like manner, Jewish doctors generally spoke of the resurrection as peculiarly belonging to the righteous; though they also taught that at some period or other the bodies also of the wicked should be restored to life.

(8)

[353] Many of them that sleep, &c. (verabbim miyoshene). Keil remarks that (rabbim) does not mean all, and that the partitive interpretation of (min), of or from among, is the only simple and natural one, and therefore with most interpreters he prefers it. Some, as C. B. Michaelis, following the Masoretic accentuation, separate from , And [there shall be many]; of them that sleep, some, or these, shall awake, &c. Brightman reads the word as equivalent to all, meaning the Jewish nation. Broughton understands it of the universality of them that sleep. Calvin, also, after Augustine, understands the word to mean all. Keil thinks that it is not the object of the angel to give a general statement regarding the resurrection of the dead, but only to give the information that the final salvation of the people shall not be limited to those who shall be living at the end of the great tribulation, but shall include also those who have lost their lives during that period. He thinks, however, that the Israel of the time of the end, who are here referred to, consist not merely of Jews or of Jewish Christians, but embraces all peoples who belong to Gods kingdom of the New Covenant; in which respect the resurrection of all is implied, as it is explicitly declared by Christ when speaking in Joh. 5:28, with unmistakable reference to this verse. He adds: As with the living (at that time), so also with the dead, not all attain to blessedness. Also among those that arise there shall be a distinction, in which the reward of the faithful and of the unfaithful shall be made known. He considers the word many used only with allusion to and in contrast with the small number of those who shall then be living, and not with reference either to the universality of the resurrection of the dead or to a portion only of the dead; the object being merely to add to the multitude of the dead, who shall then have part with the living, the small number of those who shall experience in the flesh the conclusion of the matter. Osiander, Bullinger, and Vatablus understand the word many to be chosen instead of all, as some believers will be alive at the Lords coming.

[354] On Rev. 20:4, Bishop Newton remarks: The martyrs and confessors of Jesus,not only those who were beheaded or who suffered death under the heathen emperors, but also those who refused to comply with the idolatrous worship of the beast and his image,are raised from the dead, and have the principal share in the felicities of Christs kingdom upon earth. This is the first resurrection,a particular resurrection preceding the general one at least a thou and years. Auberlen, on the same passage, says: Among the saints who are called to reign with Christ, the martyrs of ancient and modern times are mentioned first; because, most like to the Lord Jesus in their suffering and death, they are therefore nearer Him in His life and reign. Next to the martyrs are mentioned all who had not worshipped the beast, be it in more remote times or in the last days;all they who refused to take the power of this world as a reality, and to serve it instead of looking to the things invisible and future (2Co. 4:17). This he says is the first resurrection, as distinguished from the general one, which is mentioned in Dan. 12:12. A Jewish tradition of the school of Elias is quoted by Bishop Newton, which states that the righteous whom God shall raise up shall not again be turned to dust, but shall live a thousand years, in which the Holy and Blessed One shall renew His world. The early fathers in general held the same view. Justin Martyr, in the second century, says: A certain man among us, whose name was John, one of the apostles of Christ, in a revelation made to him, did prophesy that the faithful believers in Christ should live a thousand years in the New Jerusalem, and afterwards there should be a general resurrection and judgment. Tertullian, in the third century, speaks of it as the belief of himself and the general Church, that there shall be a resurrection for a thousand years in the New Jerusalem, and after that the destruction of the world, and the general judgment. Lactantius, in the following century, speaks to the same effect. Mosheim, treating of the third century, says: Long before this period, an opinion had prevailed that Christ was to come to reign a thousand years among men before the entire and final dissolution of this world. This opinion, which had hitherto met with no opposition, was differently interpreted by different persons; nor did all promise themselves the same kind of enjoyments in the future and glorious kingdom. But in this century its credit began to decline, principally through the influence and authority of Origen, who opposed it with the greatest warmth, because it was incompatible with some of his favourite sentiments. Nepos, an Egyptian bishop, endeavoured to restore this opinion to its former credit, in a book written against the Allegorists; for so he called, by way of contempt, the adversaries of the millennarian system. This work and the hypothesis it defended was extremely well received by great numbers in the canton of Arsino; and among others by Colacion, a priest of no mean influence and reputation. But Dionysius of Alexandria, a disciple of Origen, stopped the growing progress of the doctrine by his private discourses, and also by two learned and judicious dissertations concerning the divine promises. Mr. Miles (Lectures on Daniel) observes, after Mede, that we have strong evidence that so late as the Council of Nice (a.d. 325) the current of public opinion was in favour of the orthodox primitive belief. New heavens and a new earth, says that Council, we expect according to the sacred writings, when there shall shine forth the appearance and kingdom of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; and then, as saith Daniel, the saints of the Most High shall receive a kingdom, and the earth shall be pure and holy, an earth of the living and not of the dead. After the fourth century, as the same author observes, the leading fundamental doctrines of the Gospel were eclipsed by the rapid growth of error, tradition superseding the authority of Scripture. The doctrine, says Bishop Burnet in his Sacred Theory of the Earth, was always uneasy, and gave offence to the Church of Rome, because it does not suit to that scheme of Christianity which they have drawn. They suppose that Christ reigns already by His Vicar the Pope. Auberlen also remarks: Chiliasmthe doctrine of the thousand years reign of Christdisappeared in the Church in proportion as Roman papal Catholicism advanced. The papacy, with its fundamental tendency to seek power and external glory, is, in its innermost essence, a false anticipation of the millennial kingdom. Bengel says: When Christianity became a worldly power by Constantine, the hope of the future was weakened by the joy over the present success. The doctrine appears, however, to have revived with the Reformation. John Bradford the martyr, quoted by Mr. Miles, says: Methinks it is the duty of a godly mind simply to acknowledge, and thereof to brag in the Lord, that in our resurrection all things shall be so repaired to eternity, as for our sin they were made subject to corruption. And again: Now every creature travaileth and groaneth with us; but we being restored, they also shall be restored; there shall be new heavens and new earth, and all things new. Auberlen observes: The Reformation protested successfully against the harlot (the papal Church) by opposing to it the original Christian principle of faith, which is opposed, not only to the works of the law, but to living by sight, and to a false externalisation of the Church. The fundamental principle of apostolical Christianity, viz., of faith, is inseparable from apostolical Chiliasm. The Reformers did not carry out their principle far enough to attain biblical Chiliasm. Scholastic priestly tyranny, Csaropapism, besides the papacy, brought Antichiliasm. The conscience of the Reformation protested against this new corruption of the Church in the person of Spener. In the time of the commonwealth the ancient doctrine seems to have revived in England. Baillie in his Letters says: The most of the chief divines here (in the Westminster Assembly), not only Independents, but others, such as Twisse, Marshall, Palmer, and many others, are express Chiliasts. Peter Sterry, one of Cromwells Censors, says of the premillennial advent and the thousand years reign: Like a rich coin, which hath been long buried in the earth, and lately dug up again, it begins to grow bright with handling, and to pass current with great numbers of saints and learned men of great authority. Joseph Caryl, the author of the commentary on Job, his fellow-censor, speaks similarly in his Recommendation of Holmess book on the resurrection, in which pre-millennarian views are strongly advocated. Though I have not skill enough in the exposition of hard prophecies, says the spiritually minded Baxter, to make a particular determination about the thousand years reign of Christ on the earth before the final judgment, yet I may say that I cannot confute what such learned men as Mr. Mede, and Dr. Twisse, and others (after the old Fathers) have hereof asserted. John Bunyan expresses his views thus: The world therefore beginning thus, doth show how it will end, namely, by the reign of the Second Adam, as it began with the reign of the first. These long-lived men, therefore, show us the glory that the Church shall have in the latter day, even the seventh thousand years of the world, the Sabbath when Christ shall set up His kingdom upon earth, according to that which is written, They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Christ, says Dr. Gill, will be in His kingdom not only by His Spirit and the effusions of His grace, but He will personally appear in all His glory; hence His appearing and kingdom are put together as contemporaneous in 2Ti. 4:1. This glorious and visible kingdom will not take place till after the resurrection of the just and the renovation of the world. As soon as He personally appears, the dead in Christ shall rise first; this is the first resurrection, in which they who have a part shall reign with Christ a thousand years. This kingdom of Christ will be bounded by two resurrections. Delitzsch, quoted by Auberlen, marks the general prevalence of the doctrine among believers in Germany, and traces it to the influence of Bengel and his writings. To whom also, he asks, do we owe it that the orthodox Church of the present time does not brand the Chiliastic view of the Last Times as a heterodoxy, as is done in almost all old manuals of dogmatics; but, on the contrary, has allowed it to enter into her innermost life, so that there is scarcely a believing Christian now (that is, in Germany) who does not take this view?

IV. The results of the resurrection. Some (or these) to everlasting life; some (or those) to shame and everlasting contempt. The results in the two cases infinitely opposite to each other. In regard to the faithful, of whom the angel particularly speaks, the result is everlasting life. Life the term employed in the Scriptures to express happiness of experience and holiness of character, and likeness to God in both; that happiness being especially found in the enjoyment of His favour, friendship, and fellowship, and that holiness in the possession of His own nature and character. In His favour is life. Sin is alienation or estrangement from the life of God. The term everlasting life, so often used in the New Testament, doubtless taken from this very passage, is here met with for the first time. It is everlasting life, as enjoyed in that kingdom of Christ and of God, which is for ever and ever (chap, 7.) It is everlasting, in contrast to the same life enjoyed in Paradise, but which came to an end through Adams transgression. Believers who have this life are saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. It is found only in, or in vital union with, the Lord Jesus Himself, who is the Life. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life (1Jn. 5:12). It is obtained in believing on, or accepting of and trusting in, the Lord Jesus as a Saviour for lost sinners. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him (Joh. 3:36). The shame and contempt of the rest of the risen dead is that which properly belongs to sin, the abominable thing that God hates, and which makes all those abominable in whom it dwells. The first mark of true repentance is to see this to be the case, and to loathe ourselves for our iniquities. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? (Rom. 6:21). One part of the punishment of sin is, to be made a loathing to others as well as ourselves. They shall be an abhorring to all flesh (Isa. 66:24). That shame and abhorring also everlasting. He that is filthy, let him be filthy still, as true as, He that is holy, let him be holy still (Rev. 22:11). Continuance, and perhaps growth and intensification, but no change.

Let us, from the subject before us, learn

1. To have our minds deeply and permanently impressed with the truth and reality of the resurrection. It was for this that the statement was made to Daniel by the angel. It is one of the truths most plainly revealed and most frequently referred to in the Word of God. Christs resurrection is to be the object of our faith; our own resurrection the object of our hope. It was in the hope and expectation of the resurrection that the Apostle exercised himself to have always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards man. It was the source of his joy and triumph, that this corruption should put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality. In this blessed hope he cheerfully renounced the world and died daily, ready, after the manner of men, to fight with beasts at Ephesus. It was this hope that enabled the Jewish martyrs to dare all the rage of their furious persecutors; and will enable us, though not martyrs, to look not at the things that are seen and temporal, but at those that are unseen and eternal. It is our comfort when we part with beloved ones who fall asleep in Jesus, and commit their bodies to the dust of the earth, to know that that body, now sown as a precious seed-corn in weakness and dishonour, shall be raised in power and glory, the same voice of Jesus that comforted Martha and Mary speaking to us at the side of that open grave, Thy brother shall rise again. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. Wherefore comfort one another with these words (1Th. 4:14; 1Th. 4:18).

2. To regard everything in the light of the resurrection. It is our wisdom to view things now as they will appear on that day. Everything will then stand forth in its true character. Things often appear quite otherwise now. That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination with God, and will so appear at the resurrection. Paul and his fellow-apostles were regarded on earth as the filth of the world and the offscourings of all things. In the resurrection they will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Men tike Herod Agrippa, who had shed their blood and put them in prison to please the Jews, and who, while seated on his throne in gorgeous array, and delivering his oration to the people, was applauded as a god and not a man, will on that day be the objects of shame and everlasting contempt. Dives and Lazarus will then change places. Lazarus, with his ulcered body changed and transfigured into the fashion of Christs glorious body, will have his place among the princes of Gods people, inheriting the throne of glory, on which he will reign with Christ for ever and ever, in the enjoyment of an everlasting felicity. The rich man, appearing in a body allied to his unrenewed and sin-polluted soul, will be an abhorring to all flesh. The mighty, who only lived to the gratification of their own pride and passions, will be put down from their seats; while those of low degree, who in their poverty trusted in God and, possessing their blood-washed souls in thankful patience, waited for the coming of His Son from heaven, shall be exalted to the position of kings and priests unto God, in mansions of unfading joy and a kingdom of righteousness and peace, with the Lamb for their companion and God for their everlasting light and glory.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

(2) Many . . . that sleep in the dust.Literally, Many sleepers in the land of dust. The word sleep is applied to death (Jer. 51:39; comp. 1Th. 4:14); while dust is used for the grave (Psa. 22:29). Some difficulty is presented by the use of the word many where all would have been expected. Theodoret explains it from Rom. 5:15, where he observes many stands for all. It is, however, more in accordance with the language to suppose that by the word many some contrast is implied, which is apparently between the many who sleep in the dust and the comparatively small number of those who are alive and remain. (See Joh. 5:28, &c.) It should be noted that this passage not only teaches the doctrine of a general resurrection, which had already been incidentally revealed by Daniels contemporary, Ezekiel (Eze. 37:1-4), but also the facts of eternal life, and a resurrection of the unjust as well as of the just.

Shame and everlasting contempt.The latter word occurs only in this passage and Isa. 66:24, where see the Note. For the use of the word shame, comp. Jer. 23:40.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

2. Contempt Rather, abhorrence.

Many The idea is that of multitudinousness. It neither asserts nor excludes the thought that all shall rise (Thomson). It was left for him who could say, “I am the Resurrection and the Life,” to make the clear, full, and final revelation of the general and universal resurrection.

This is one of the most astonishing verses in Daniel. As Behrmann says, we have here the “very last word” on Old Testament eschatology. What may be hinted in Isa 26:14; Isa 26:19; Isa 25:8, is here clear as sunlight. Not only will the Israelites who live in the Messianic era be blessed, but the martyrs and pious ones who defended the faith in former ages will be brought to life again, and with this resurrection the condition of each individual is fixed for evermore. That all the nations surrounding the Hebrews believed in a future existence, from the earliest times, no one will now deny.*

[* On the coffin of Amam supposed to have been a contemporary of Abraham which is now in the British Museum, is inscribed these affecting words, “He lives, he lives, lives this Amam. He dies not. He passes not away. This Amam passes not away. He lives, this Amam lives, he dies not, dies not.” This could be paralleled in hundreds of texts, both Egyptian and Babylonian. The power of the magical words and elaborate death ceremonial in both cults lay largely in their supposed influence in opening the eyes and mouth of the departed and giving back to him life and protecting him from the monsters of the future world. The difference between the Hebrew and the heathen ideas of the future lay chiefly in the conception of Jehovah as merciful and gracious, and able to protect his chosen ones in this world or any world. As Goethe wrote:

Abraham for his sire Jehovah

Chose, the Lord of star and sun;

Moses, deserts passing over,

Grew to greatness by the One.]

* * * * * * * * * *

But that future abode was dark and comfortless or filled with earthly ideas which were not the holiest. (See notes Eze 26:20; Eze 32:18.) Tiele confesses that the Mosaic prophetism alone was an exception to the “gloomy misanthropy combined with voluptuous sensuality which was a characteristic of all other Semitic religions.” But this doctrine of a resurrection, though hinted before (see note as above and Ezekiel xxxvii), is here for the first time seen in a developed state. While the idea of the punishment of the wicked is found previously (Isa 66:24, etc.), here for the first time we find a double and distinct resurrection for both good and bad. These views of Daniel are widened out in Enoch and 2 Macc. (See particularly our Introduction, II, 9.) The New Testament conception of the resurrection is much larger and more advanced than that of Daniel; but blessed was the generation which first heard from human lips the utterance of this splendid hope!

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘And many of those who sleep in the ground of dust will awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.’

This occurs ‘at that time’. While this clearly teaches bodily resurrection, its main emphasis is on the ‘many’. Daniel may have specifically had in mind those who have been going through the time of trouble and will be delivered from a martyr’s death by resurrection. They have been laid in the dusty ground, but they will arise. However, it would also include those who had died in other ways (compare Dan 12:13). It was a hope offered to the righteous. Death was not the end. Compare also Isa 26:19.

But an alternative is to see Daniel as meaning rather that ‘many’ (always an indefinite number in Daniel) will arise. That is that the resurrected will be a huge number. Those who awake will be many and not few. They include the multitude that no man can number out of all nations (Rev 7:9).

But others would rise only to face shame and everlasting contempt, their bodies cast onto the burning rubbish dump outside the walls of Jerusalem, their bodies ever being eaten by maggots and burned in shame (Isa 66:24). The contrast was between the faithful and the unfaithful, those who knew their God (Dan 11:32), and those who did not. As always they were not all Israel, who were Israel (compare Isa 49:5-6). Being a member of the true Israel meant a genuine submission to God through the covenant.

‘Shame and everlasting contempt.’ The root idea is not of physical suffering. Rather the idea is that, having been raised and judged, they will be shamed and punished as described in Isa 66:24, their bodies lying in the valley of Hinnom, everlastingly a symbol of the consequences of sin, with no way by which their shame can be removed. Jesus gave His seal of approval to the advancement of this idea into an other-worldly Gehenna where the wicked would be finally punished (Mar 9:47-48).

We should note that both Isaiah and Daniel thought in terms of resurrection back to earth in the coming everlasting age. The idea of life in a heavenly realm was not then mooted. But Jesus added to it when He made clear that the resurrection of the righteous and the unrighteous would take men into another ‘world’ to which this pointed, where they would be eternally in, or excluded from, God’s presence.

‘Who sleep.’ Death is likened to sleep from which a man will again awake as one raised from the dead to face his judgment.

‘The ground made of dust.’ The phrase is not exactly the same as in Gen 2:7, although similar roots are used. It was also to the dust that man was consigned when he fell (Gen 3:19). Here is the reversal of that process, the reversal of the curse. Man lives again as ‘a new creation’. The fall has been reversed. Man (adam) will again rise from the ground (adamah).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Dan 12:2. Manythat sleepshall awake Though this verse, without all question, primarily refers to some great and future restoration of the Jewish people; yet in a secondary sense, it may well be understood of the resurrection from the dead. Many is here used for all, in the same manner as St. Paul uses it in Rom 15:19. See Calmet.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

DISCOURSE: 1141
DIFFERENT STATES OF MEN IN THE LAST JUDGMENT

Dan 12:2-3. 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. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever.

THE immediate connexion of the text would lead us to expect something which shall take place when the Lord Jesus Christ shall come to destroy all antichristian powers, and to establish his kingdom throughout the world. Of that period St. John speaks, as the first resurrection [Note: Rev 20:5-6.]. But at that time the saints alone shall rise (whether really or mystically, we stop not to inquire): but at the time of which my text speaks, the wicked shall rise to shame and everlasting contempt. The prophet, therefore, must be understood as passing over the intermediate space between the destruction of Antichrist and the final judgment; and as speaking of what shall take place at that awful day, when Christ shall come to judge the world. In this way our blessed Lord introduces his description of the same awful period. He predicts the approaching destruction of Jerusalem, and then almost blends with that the general judgment; so that it is not easy to determine with accuracy the precise point of his transition from the one event to the other. In truth, he seems in one place to quote the words of my text as referring to the last day; saying, The hour is coming, when all that are in the grave shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good to the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation [Note: Joh 5:28-29.]. Nor can we doubt but that the Jews in general understood Daniel as speaking of that period; and grounded chiefly upon his authority the belief, that there should be a resurrection both of the just and unjust [Note: Act 24:15.].

Assuming this, then, to be the import of my text, I shall proceed to consider,

1.

The different states of men in that great decisive day

It cannot be, that all should receive the same doom at the hands of a righteous Judge
Some will awake to everlasting life and honour
[To the souls of men there is no death. The very instant they are separated from the body, they are transmitted to a place of happiness or misery, and receive a portion at least of that recompence which awaits them at the final judgment. In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus this is strongly intimated. It appears also, from the promise made to the penitent thief, that on the very day of his crucifixion he should be with his Lord in Paradise. The body, in the mean time, will sleep in the dust. But at the sound of the trumpet in the last day, that also shall be raised; and, in a state of union with the soul, be made a partaker of the doom which the soul had before experienced. It once bore its part on all that was transacted by the soul: and all its powers shall at that day be so strengthened, that it shall be able to sustain its part also in all the blessedness or misery to which the soul has previously been consigned. The body will then be a spiritual body: and in it, no less than in his soul, shall every saint enjoy an eternity of bliss.]
Some, on the other hand, will arise to everlasting shame and contempt
[The wicked, whilst in this world, so resembled the righteous, that there could not be a separation made between them. But at the last day, the tares and the wheat will be as easily distinguished from each other as goats from the sheep; and no longer will they grow together. The ungodly will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. The wicked will then be disowned by all. The Saviour, who once laid down his life for them, and, during a long course of years, followed them with invitations and entreaties to accept of mercy, will then turn from them with disgust, and say, Depart from me: I never knew you, ye workers of iniquity. The angels too, those benevolent spirits who once would have been glad to minister unto them as their attendants, will engage in dragging them from their retreats, and will bind them up in bundles, to burn them. To all their former friends also, who once laboured for their welfare, will they be objects of abhorrence [Note: Isa 66:24.]: yea, to the devils themselves will they be objects of malignant triumph and reproachful exultation, as doubtless our first parents were after their fall; in that they were so foolish as to believe the lies of Satan, in preference to the truth of God.]

But let us mark especially what is spoken of,

II.

The peculiar felicity of the saints

They are here characterized as wise in their conduct, and as useful in their generation
[They were once perhaps derided and despised as fools. But they chose the better part, and therein approved themselves truly wise. The fear of the Lord is the very beginning of wisdom: and all are wise in proportion as they are regulated by it. But those who are wise for themselves will not be content to leave others in their folly, or to go to heaven alone. They say to God, Draw me, and we will run after thee: that is, Draw me, and I will bring all I can along with me. This will be the endeavour of every soul that truly turns to God; and God will bless these labours of love, in whomsoever they may be found. If all are not called to speak in public, all have a sphere in which they may exert themselves to advantage: and all who are upright before God will employ their talents, whether in visiting the sick, or in the education of children, or at all events in instructing their own households and their more immediate friends. Activity in the cause of God is inseparable from true piety.]

And inconceivable will be their bliss
[Perhaps the idea of our Lords transfiguration may assist us a little in forming some faint conception of the appearance of the righteous in that day. We know that their bodies shall then be changed like unto Christs glorious body; and in their souls also they shall be like him: and in all their powers, whether of soul or body, shall they be filled with all the fulness of their God. The souls also, to whom in their day and generation they were useful, shall then be as jewels in their crown, and sources of augmented bliss and honour to all eternity.]

Address
1.

Those who are regardless of that day

[Think, I pray you, what your feelings would now be, if all the evil that has ever passed in your hearts were made known to your fellow-creatures, I fear there would be very few of us that would not veil our faces with conscious shame, and be glad to hide ourselves in any distant retreat where we might escape the eyes of those who knew our guilt. What then will be your feelings in that day, when every abomination, with all its attendant aggravations, shall be exposed before the whole assembled universe? Now you may be able to glory in your shame; or may possibly be hardened into utter insensibility: but it will not be so then. Your sensibilities will be as quick and vivid, after millions of years, as at the first moment of your exposure; and your conscious desert of all the shame and contempt be as pungent as ever Oh that I could prevail on you now to humble yourselves [Note: Jer 3:25.], that then you may be exalted; and now to clothe yourselves in the robe of Christs righteousness, that then the shame of your nakedness may not appear [Note: Rev 3:18.]]

2.

Those who are living in a state of preparation for it

[Possibly at this time you are objects of reproach to an ungodly world. But this, methinks, should be a small matter in your eyes. O, think what a change will take place in that day, and how the very people who now pour contempt upon you will envy your state! Think how God is now glorified in you; and how he will be glorified in you in that day, when all your sins, if sought for, will not be found; and glory, and honour, and immortality will be awarded to you, as your portion in the immediate presence of your God. Be daily preparing for that day; and in the full expectation of all this blessedness yourselves, be labouring with all your might to bring as many as possible to a participation of it.]

END OF VOL. IX

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

Those who believe in the doctrine of the Millennium, take the first of these sweet verses for one, among the evidences of it. And others refer it wholly to the Lord’s judgment at the last day. In either sense, or in both, the thought is pleasing to the faithful in Christ Jesus, and tremendous to unbelievers. See Isa 26:19 . The blessed account of those who are wise to win souls, is very graciously expressed. Jesus takes account now of all that is done upon earth in love to Him, and his gospel. And though not on the score of merit, yet on the score of love, all will be recompensed. Heb 6:10 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Dan 12:2 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.

Ver. 2. And many of them that sleep in the dust. ] “Many” for all; as Rom 5:18-19 these are said to sleep, which denoteth the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body. (The soul liveth in the sleep of death, as it doth in the sleep of the body in this life). And this the poor Jews, when to lose land and life for the truth, are here seasonably and plainly told of (amidst other things that are but darkly delivered) to bear up their sinking spirits. Awake they shall as out of of a sweet sleep, those that are good, and then be full of God’s image. Psa 17:15 The wicked also shall “come forth,” but by another principle, and for another purpose; they shall come out of their graves like filthy toads against this terrible storm, &c.

Some to everlasting life. ] Which is here first mentioned in the Old Testament. See Mat 25:45 Joh 5:29 .

And some to shame and everlasting contempt. ] Christ shall shame them in that ample amphitheatre, and doom them to eternal destruction. Gravissima poenarum pudor est, saith Chrysostom. Oh, when Christ shall upbraid reprobates, and say, Ego vos pavi, lavi, vestivi, &c., which way will they look? or who shall say for them? They shall look then upon him whom they have pierced and lament, but all too late, , ; they shall be sore ashamed of their sinful practices, which shall all be written in their foreheads; and this shall be as a bodkin at their hearts, that ever they turned their backs upon Christ’s bleeding embracements, while they refused to be reformed, hated to be healed.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

of them = from among them.

sleep, &c. An inspired revelation as to death.

earth = ground.

shall awake. This is bodily resurrection.

some = these (the former).

everlasting life. Joh 5:28, Joh 5:29. Act 24:15.

some = those. The latter: i.e. the rest of the dead (Isa 26:19, Isa 26:21; Isa 27:6. Rev 20:5, Rev 20:6). Compare 1Co 15:23. 1Th 4:16.

contempt = thrusting away.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Dan 12:2

Dan 12:2 And manyH7227 of them that sleepH4480 H3463 in the dustH6083 of the earthH127 shall awake,H6974 someH428 to everlastingH5769 life,H2416 and someH428 to shameH2781 and everlastingH5769 contempt.H1860

Dan 12:2

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.

There is no shortage of speculation as to the meaning of this fragment of the prophecy. One cannot help but associate it with the resurrection of the just and of the unjust on that great and final day of the Lord which signifies the end of all things physical. And it would be wrong to emphatically declare that the final resurrection is not in any way in consideration here. Certainly we know from other scripture that the events detailed here will take place on the last day. The very words of Jesus affirm this to be the case as recorded in Joh 5:28-29, “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” It is impossible to read the text of this verse and not associate it with the events associated with the final judgment yet to come.

It is the nature of apocalyptic language to speak of literal events in figurative language and to lay out these events in less than a chronological manner. The book of Revelation is ample evidence of this as it jumps back and forth in time and speaks of future events that will happen in past tense form. There are a number of ways one can look at this passage, however, consistency demands that we look at it in the context of the destruction of Jerusalem and try and draw some parallels between the text and that event.

Apocalyptically speaking, the spiritually dead Jews were to come to life as believers in Jesus as the Messiah, while those who rejected Jesus are destined to suffer shame and everlasting contempt”. Dan 12:3 has language which helps us keep this vision in the proper focus.

The resurrection in view here can be directly compared with the resurrection spoken of in Rev 20:6 which is in reference to Christian baptism, “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” Those who believe in Jesus as the Messiah will submit to Christian baptism and be figuratively resurrected with Christ (Col 2:12; Col 3:1), to walk in “newness of life” (Rom 6:4). It is this Bible student’s conviction that verse 2 of Daniel chapter 12 is an apocalyptic allusion to Christian baptism and the resurrection of the new birth process associated with it.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

many: Job 19:25-27, Isa 26:19, Eze 37:1-4, Eze 37:12, Hos 13:14, Mat 22:29-32, Joh 11:23-26, 1Co 15:20-22, 1Co 15:51-54, 1Th 4:14, Rev 20:12

some to everlasting life: Mat 25:46, Joh 5:28, Joh 5:29, Act 24:15

everlasting contempt: Isa 66:24, Jer 20:11, Rom 9:21

Reciprocal: Gen 3:19 – and Exo 32:25 – shame 2Sa 7:12 – sleep 2Ki 4:31 – not awaked Job 7:21 – sleep Job 14:12 – awake Psa 22:15 – into the Psa 31:17 – wicked Psa 109:29 – be clothed Psa 113:7 – out of Psa 119:6 – shall I Psa 132:18 – His enemies Psa 139:18 – when I awake Pro 3:35 – but Pro 12:8 – he Pro 13:5 – and Ecc 3:20 – all are Ecc 12:7 – dust Isa 65:13 – my servants shall rejoice Jer 3:25 – lie down Jer 17:13 – all that Jer 23:40 – General Mal 2:9 – made Mat 19:16 – eternal Mat 27:52 – slept Mar 5:39 – not dead Mar 12:24 – because Luk 12:44 – that he will Luk 14:14 – the resurrection Luk 20:35 – to Joh 5:39 – ye think Joh 11:11 – sleepeth Joh 11:24 – I know Act 24:25 – judgment Rom 5:15 – many Rom 6:21 – whereof 1Th 4:13 – which are 2Th 1:9 – be Heb 6:2 – resurrection 1Jo 2:25 – General Rev 3:18 – the shame Rev 11:18 – and the time

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Dan 12:2. Beyond any question, this verse predicts the general resurrection since it includes the two classes of mankind, the good and the evil. In Joh 5:28-29 the Lord Jesus makes the same prediction in virtually the same language. As further evidence that this is a prediction of the general resurrection we have Paul In Act 24:15 mentioning the general resurrection, and says of it that they (the Jews) themselves also allow, or admit. Yet the Jews could not have known of this doctrine but from the prophecy of Daniel. Many of them does not signify that not all will arise. The word many is defined by Strong as abundant, and the phrase merely means that a vast number of people will have lived and died by the time of the resurrection day.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Dan 12:2. And many that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake This may be understood, 1st, Of those saints who rose from the dead immediately upon the resurrection of Christ, spoken of Mat 27:52-53, where we read that the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of their graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. 2d, It may be interpreted figuratively of the mystical resurrection of Jews and Gentiles from spiritual death to spiritual life, by the preaching of the gospel, or of their conversion to true Christianity. Calmet thinks that this, without all question, is the primary sense of the verse, and that it is only in a secondary sense that it can be understood of the resurrection of mens bodies. Most commentators, however, are of a different opinion, and consider the words as being primarily intended of the general resurrection which will take place at the last day. And they think, that the next clause, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt, requires this application of the words, and does not admit of any other interpretation. The Lord Jesus certainly seems to have referred to this passage, Joh 5:28, where he speaks of the resurrection of life, and the resurrection of damnation; and upon the ground of it chiefly, the Jews are said by St. Paul, Act 24:15, to expect a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust. And nothing could be brought in more seasonably than this doctrine is here; for under Antiochuss persecution some basely betrayed their religion, others bravely adhered to it. Now it would be a trouble to the upright and faithful among the Jews, that they could neither reward the one nor punish the other; this therefore would be a satisfaction to them, that they would both be recompensed at the general resurrection. And the apostle, speaking of the pious Jews that suffered martyrdom under Antiochus, tells us, that though they were tortured, yet they accepted not deliverance, (namely, deliverance offered them on terms they could not conscientiously comply with,) because they hoped to obtain a better resurrection. In accordance with this sense of the words, which seems evidently to be that primarily intended, it must be observed, that the word many in the first clause of the verse must include all mankind, as it does in Rom 5:19, where St. Paul says, By one mans disobedience MANY were made sinners.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

12:2 And many {b} of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame [and] everlasting contempt.

(b) Meaning all will rise at the general resurrection, which thing he here names because the faithful should always consider that: for in the earth there will be no sure comfort.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Why did the angel say "many" will awake and not "all?" Apparently he did so to stress the fact that those Jews who die because of Antichrist’s persecutions will experience resurrection at the end of this period (i.e., the Tribulation; cf. Rev 20:4-6). [Note: Young, p. 256.] He referred to the hope of those Jews in particular. Furthermore, this wording clarifies that not all will arise then. Some will experience resurrection at other times in history (e.g., 1Th 4:13-17; Rev 20:4-6). [Note: Bevan, p. 201.]

The angel meant a physical resurrection, rather than just a renewal of the soul (cf. Isa 26:19; Hos 13:14). This seems clear since he specified that they will arise from "the dust of the ground." Some writers have taken this description as figurative for the national revival of Israel in that day, evidently to avoid confusing this resurrection with the one that will occur at the Rapture. [Note: E.g., Gaebelein, p. 200, Kelly, pp. 225-26, and Ironside, pp. 231-32.] Young took "the dust of the ground" as figurative for the grave. [Note: Young, p. 256.] I agree with Young on this point.

"The OT’s standard way of envisaging dying and coming back to life is by speaking of lying down and sleeping, then of waking and getting up. The former is an extreme form of the latter, which thus provides the metaphor for it (2Ki 4:31; 2Ki 13:21; Isa 26:19; Jer 51:39; Jer 51:57; Job 14:12). Further, dying means lying down with one’s ancestors in the family tomb, with its nonmaterial equivalent, Sheol; so coming back to life would mean leaving such a ’land of earth’ (cf. also Psalms 49; Psalms 73). The image presupposes a restoring to life of the whole person with its spiritual and material aspects." [Note: Goldingay, p. 307.]

"The Bible never speaks of sleep in reference to the soul, for sleep is not an activity of the soul. Rather, the Bible always speaks of sleep as an activity of the body (see Mat 9:18-25; Mar 5:35-42)." [Note: Feinberg, p. 181.]

Some of these Jews will enter into everlasting life, namely, those of them that will be believers. Others will experience disgrace and everlasting contempt, because they do not believe on Christ (cf. Mat 25:46; Joh 5:28-29). Evidently, those martyred during the Tribulation and resurrected at this time, will reign with Christ during His millenial kingdom, which will begin with His return to earth at the end of the Tribulation (Rev 20:4).

While this verse teaches that there will be a resurrection of the wicked, it does not say that this will occur at the end of the Tribulation. It only says that others will awake to disgrace and everlasting contempt. Rev 20:12-14 make clear that the resurrection of the wicked will occur at the end of the Millennium, not at the end of the Tribulation. In the context of Dan 12:2, the emphasis is on the hope of the Jews who will die in the Tribulation. The destiny of the wicked is brought in simply to clarify that they too will be raised, not to specify when.

This is the first mention in the Old Testament of a twofold resurrection. For this reason, and because this verse identifies the time of the physical resurrection of saved Jews (who lived outside the church age, cf. 1Th 4:13-16), this is an extremely important verse.

"Those who argue simply on the basis of the concept of ’lifetime’ or ’age’ for only an age-long punishment in hell rather than one of endless duration must reckon with the many passages in the OT that apply ’olam [everlasting] to the endless life and sovereignty of God himself. In other words, if hell is not eternal, neither is God; for the same Hebrew and Greek words are used for both in the Bible (cf. Rev 4:10; Rev 20:10; Rev 21:8). The corresponding Greek word aion exactly parallels the Hebrew ’olam in connotation and semantic development." [Note: Archer, "Daniel," p. 152.]

This is the first occurrence of the expression "eternal life" in the Old Testament. [Note: Young, p. 256.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)