Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Daniel 7:9
I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment [was] white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne [was like] the fiery flame, [and] his wheels [as] burning fire.
9. till thrones were placed (R.V.)] for the angelic assessors of the Judge, who are not further mentioned, but who are naturally to be distinguished from the hosts which ‘stand,’ ministering before Him, in Dan 7:10. A.V. means, ‘till the thrones of the Gentile powers were overthrown ’; but the rendering of R.V. is much preferable. Exactly the same expression occurs in the Targ. of Jer 1:15, ‘and they shall cast down (i.e. set down, place) each his throne in front of the gates of Jerusalem.’
the Ancient of days ] The expression does not mean what the English words seem to imply, one who had existed from the days of eternity; it means simply an aged man; and the R.V., one that was ancient of days, is meant to indicate this. Exactly the same expression occurs in the Syriac version of Wis 2:10 for an ‘old man,’ and in Sir 25:4 (in the plural) for ‘elders.’ ‘What Daniel sees is not the eternal God Himself, but an aged man, in whose dignified and impressive form God reveals Himself: cf. Eze 1:26 ’ (Keil).
his raiment was white as snow ] symbolizing purity (Isa 1:18; Psa 51:7). The white hair would have the same symbolism, though this would be natural independently in an aged man. The imagery of Rev 1:14 is derived from the present passage.
like pure wool ] The imagery of the visions in the Book of Enoch is based largely upon that of the present passage of Daniel. With the words quoted, cf. Enoch xlvi. 1 (cited below, p. 106), and lxxi. 10.
his throne was fiery flames, and the wheels thereof burning fire ] in accordance with the usual representation of God as surrounded by, or manifested in, fire, the most immaterial of elements, and at the same time the agency best suited to represent symbolically His power to destroy all that is sinful or unholy: cf. in different connexions Gen 15:17; Exo 3:2; Num 16:35; Deu 4:24; Psa 18:12-13; Psa 50:3; Psa 97:3; Isa 30:27; Eze 1:4; Eze 1:13; Eze 10:2; Eze 10:6-7 (fire between the cherubim supporting the Divine throne), Eze 1:27, Eze 8:2 (fire representing the Divine form). With the description itself, comp. also Enoch xiv. 18 22 (in the Greek text, p. 347 of Charles’ edition): ‘And I beheld, and saw a lofty throne And underneath the throne there came forth rivers of flaming fire; and I could not look thereon. And the Great Glory sat thereon, and His raiment was brighter than the sun, and whiter than any snow Fire burnt round about, and a great fire stood beside Him, and no one approacheth Him round about: thousand thousands stand before Him, and every word of His is deed.’
the wheels thereof ] The throne is pictured implicitly as a chariot, as in Eze 1:15-28. The representation of the throne and wheels as being fire is, however, more than is found even in the visions of Ezekiel.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
9 14. The judgement on the Gentile powers. The scene is majestically conceived. Thrones are set for the heavenly powers, the assessors of the Judge: the Almighty Himself appears in the likeness of an aged man, seated on a throne of flame: angels in countless myriads stand in attendance around Him: and the books recording the deeds of the Gentile rulers are opened. The four beasts are given over to destruction: while a figure in human form is brought before the Almighty in the clouds of heaven, and receives from Him an everlasting dominion.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I beheld – I continued looking on these strange sights, and contemplating these transformations. This implies that some time elapsed before all these things had occurred. He looked on until he saw a solemn judgment passed on this fourth beast particularly, as if God had come forth in his majesty and glory to pronounce that judgment, and to bring the power and arrogance of the beast to an end.
Till the thrones were cast down – The Chaldee word ( karesavan) means, properly, thrones – seats on which monarchs sit. So far as the word is concerned, it would apply either to a throne occupied by an earthly monarch, or to the throne of God. The use of the plural here would seem to imply, at least, that the reference is not to the throne of God, but to some other throne. Maurer and Lengerke suppose that the allusion is to the thrones on which the celestial beings sat in the solemn judgment that was to be pronounced – the throne of God, and the thrones or seats of the attending inhabitants of heaven, coming with him to the solemn judgment. Lengerke refers for illustration to 1Ki 22:19; Isa 6:1; Job 1:6, and Rev 5:11-12. But the word itself might be properly applied to the thrones of earthly monarchs as well as to the throne of God. The phrase were cast down ( remyv), in our translation, would seem to suppose that there was some throwing down, or overturning of thrones, at this period, and that the solemn judgment would follow this, or be consequent on this.
The Chaldee word ( remah) means, as explained by Gesenius, to cast, to throw Dan 3:21, Dan 3:24; Dan 6:16-17; to set, to place, e. g., thrones; to impose tribute Ezr 7:24. The passage is rendered by the Latin Vulgate, throni positi sunt – thrones were placed; by the Greek, etethesan – were placed. So Luther, stuhle gesetzt; and so Lengerke, stuhle aufgestellt – the thrones were placed, or set up. The proper meaning, therefore, of the phrase would seem to be – not, as in our translation, that the thrones would be cast down – as if there was to be an overturning of thrones on the earth to mark this particular period of history – but that there was, in the vision, a setting up, or a placing of thrones for the purpose of administering judgment, etc., on the beast. The use of the plural is, doubtless, in accordance with the language elsewhere employed, to denote the fact that the great Judge would be surrounded with others who would be, as it were, associated in administering justice – either angels or redeemed spirits.
Nothing is more common in the Scripture than to represent others as thus associated with God in pronouncing judgment on men. Compare Mat 19:28; Luk 22:30; 1Co 6:2-3; 1Ti 5:21; Rev 2:26; Rev 4:4. The era, or period, therefore, marked here, would be when a solemn Divine judgment was to be passed on the beast, or when some events were to take place, as if such a judgment were pronounced. The events pertaining to the fourth beast were to be the last in the series preparatory to the reign of the saints, or the setting up of the kingdom of the Messiah, and therefore it is introduced in this manner, as if a solemn judgment scene were to occur.
And the Ancient of days did sit – Was seated for the purposes of judgment. The phrase Ancient of days – attyq yomyn – is one that denotes an elderly or old person; meaning, he who is most ancient as to days, and is equivalent to the French LEternel, or English, The Eternal. It occurs only in Dan 7:9, Dan 7:13, Dan 7:22, and is a representation of one venerable in years, sitting down for the purposes of judgment. The appellation does not of itself denote eternity, but it is employed, probably, with reference to the fact that God is eternal. God is often represented under some such appellation, as he that is from everlasting to everlasting Psa 90:2, the first and the last Isa 44:6, etc. There can be no doubt that the reference here is to God as a Judge, or as about to pronounce judgment, though there is no necessity for supposing that it will be in a visible and literal form, anymore than there is for supposing that all that is here represented by symbols will literally take place.
If it should be insisted on that the proper interpretation demands that there will be a literal and visible judgment, such as is here described, it may be replied that the same rigid interpretation would demand that there will be a literal slaying of the beast, and a giving of his body to the flame Dan 7:11, and more generally still, that all that is here referred to by symbols will literally occur. The fact, however, is, that all these events are referred to by symbols – symbols which have an expressive meaning, but which, by their very nature and design, are not to be literally understood. All that is fairly implied here is, that events would occur in regard to this fourth beast as if God should sit in solemn judgment on it, and should condemn it in the manner here referred to. We are, doubtless, in the fulfillment of this – to look for some event that will be of so decisive and marked a character, that it may be regarded as a Divine judgment in the case, or that will show the strongly marked Divine disapprobation – as really as if the judgment-seat were formally set, and God should appear in majesty to give sentence. Sitting was the usual posture among the ancients, as it is among the moderns, in pronouncing judgment. Among the ancients the judge sat on a throne or bench while the parties stood before him (compare Zec 4:13), and with the Greeks and Romans so essential was the sitting posture for a judge, that a sentence pronounced in any other posture was not valid. – Lengerke. It was a maxim, Animus sedendo magis sapit; or, as Servius on the AEn. i. 56, remarks, Est enim curantis et solliciti sedere.
Whose garment was white as snow – Whose robe. The reference here is to the long flowing robe that was worn by ancient princes, noblemen, or priests. See the notes at Isa 6:1. Compare the notes at Rev 1:13. White was an emblem of purity and honor, and was not an improper symbol of the purity of the judge, and of the justness of the sentence which he would pronounce. So the elder Pitt, in his celebrated speech against employing Indians in the war with the American people, besought the bishops to interpose the unsullied purity of their lawn. Lengerke supposes, as Prof. Stuart does on Rev 1:13, that the whiteness here referred to was not the mere color of the material of which the robe was made, but, was a celestial splendor or brightness, as if it were lightning or fire – such as is appropriate to the Divine Majesty. Lengerke refers here to Exo 19:18-24; Dan 2:22; Mat 17:2; 1Ti 6:16; 2 Esdras 7:55; Ascension of Isa 8:21-25; Rev 1:13-14; Rev 4:2-4. But the more correct interpretation is to suppose that this refers to a pure white robe, such as judges might wear, and which would not be an improper symbol of their office.
And the hair of his head like the pure wool – That is, for whiteness – a characteristic of venerable age. Compare the notes at Rev 1:14. The image here set before us is that of one venerable by years and wisdom.
His throne was like the fiery flame – The seat on which he sat seemed to be fire. That is, it was brilliant and splendid, as if it were a mass of flame.
And his wheels as burning fire – The wheels of his throne – for, as in Ezek. 1; 10, the throne on which Jehovah sat appeared to be on wheels. In Ezekiel Eze 1:16; Eze 10:9, the wheels of the throne appeared to be of the color of beryl; that is, they were like precious stones. Here, perhaps, they had only the appearance of a flame – as such wheels would seem to flash flames. So, Milton, in describing the chariot of the Son of God:
Forth rushd with whirlwind sound
The chariot of Paternal Deity,
Flashing thick flames, wheel within wheel undrawn,
Itself instinct with spirit, but convoyed
By four cherubic shapes; four faces each
Had wondrous; as with stars their bodies all,
And wings were set with eyes; with eyes the wheels
Of beryl, and careering fires between.
– Par. Lost, b. vi.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Dan 7:9-10
The ancient of days did sit.
The Ancient of Days Coming to Judgment
Daniel claimed two offices for the Messiah.
1. He should be a King.
2. A Judge.
These claims rested on the unity of nature–the ancient of days being brought near and taking hold of, the Son of man; thus making both One and this One offering a propitiation–being out off, but not from Himself. The first claim has been met; Christ is the King! He shall be the Judge Kingship becomes the guarantee of Judgeship. We proceed to proclaim a coming judgment.
I. IT IS THE UNIVERSAL EXPRESSION OF OUR RACE.
1. By personal conscience.
2. By relative necessity.
3. By ideal anticipation.
II. IT IS THE UNIFORM TESTIMONY OF SCRIPTURE. The Bible teaches throughout that the judgment will take place. In this testimony we find three grand facts.
1. All the dead are reserved to judgment.
2. All the living are going to judgment
3. All conditions of life will be known at the judgment.
(1) Surroundings.
(2) Character.
(3) Destiny.
III. IT IS THE INVOLVED CULMINATION OF REDEMPTION.
1. It will exhibit the personal glory of our Redeemers character.
2. It will vindicate the supreme importance of our Redeemers mission.
3. It will display the impartiality of our Redeemers administration.
4. It will declare the immunities of our Redeemers followers. (Joseph Odell.)
The Worlds Assize
In metaphors borrowed from the solemnities of earthly tribunals, and particularly from those of the great Jewish Sanhedrim, the prophet describes the process of judgment. As, in that assembly, the father of the consistory sat with the assessors ranged on each side in the form of a semi-circle, with the people standing before him, so here the prophet speaks of God as seated on His throne of judgment, attended by thousand thousands who minister unto Him, whilst ten thousand times ten thousand stand in His presence. We are disposed to regard the language of the text as descriptive of the Great Assize.
I. THE GLORIOUS APPEARANCE OF OUR SAVIOUR.
1. That Christ will re-visit this earth is a fact stated in many passages of Scripture. What shall be the nature of the grandeur and glory of His final appearing, or how it will be displayed, none can tell.
II. ITS ATTENDANT CIRCUMSTANCES. More particularly as to ourselves and mankind at large. Mark how diverse the characters of those around the throne! What an affecting contrast is presented to our minds! (Edward Pizey, B. A.)
Manifestation or God by Fire
Grotius remarks that the ancient thrones and curule chairs had wheels. Those in the text being like burning fire. Dr. Cox observes: Prognosticate; at once the majesty of the Judge, piercing, penetrating, awful, and the rapid progress of those providential visitations which would bespeak the indignation of a sin-avenging Deity. The fire-scattering wheels, says Keil, show the omnipotence of the Divine throne of judgment–the going of the judgment of God the whole earth. He further observes: Fire, and the shining of fire, are the constant phenomena of the manifestation of God in the world. The fire which engirds His throne with flame pours itself forth as a stream from God into the world, consuming all that is sinful and hostile to Him, and rendering His people and kingdom glorious.
Thousand thousands ministered unto Him.
Benefits of Meditation on the Holy Angels
The thought that the Christian life consists in the performance of everyday duties on the principles of the Gospel, and with the temper and disposition of the blessed inhabitants of Heaven, may help to restrain us from two serious errors into which, from our extreme frailty, we must confess ourselves but too liable to fall. One error is the disposition to imagine that religion is a matter of so transcendantly high and spiritual a nature as to be quite above and unmixed with earthly things. The other error is the disposition to lower the standard and measure of Christian morality. It is of the highest importance that we pray and endeavour to have our elections deadened to this present world, and our minds drawn up to high and Heavenly things. Habitual reflection on the habits of glorified spirits in the beatific presence of their and our God would greatly tend to wean our affections from mean, unworthy objects, to fill us with humility and awe, and, at the same time, to give us a notion of our true dignity as Gods adopted children in Christ Jesus. The mere thought that there are in existence innumerable glorious immortal spirits–that their God is our God–that let our condition in this world be ever so poor and degraded, yet these blessed angels disdain not to acknowledge themselves our fellow-servants; that they care for us, and minister for us as Christians, and heirs of salvation, may well arouse us from the low-born cares and follies of this present world, lead us to consider what we are, and what we are coming to. To be in the presence and favour of the Almighty God, this and this only can constitute the happiness of all reasonable creatures, of angels in Heaven, or of men on earth. To live in the presence of God is the happiness of glorified spirits in Heaven. To live as in His presence is the great rule of holiness to men on earth. It is of great consequence for serious minds to raise their thoughts to high and Heavenly realities; especially to the thought of the innumerable society of good angels, who sing their Alleluias before the throne. (Serrmons by Authors Tracts for the Times.)
The Heavenly Service
The curtain of Heaven was lifted up, and Daniel, wrapt in the spirit and vision of prophecy, was favoured with a view of the celestial regions. The scene is laid in the wide etherial of the third heaven. The Ancient of Days appeared upon a burning throne, which, being provided with wheels, was the chariot in which He made the immense circuit of His dominion. A numerous and splendid host of angels and redeemed spirits minister unto Him, and stand before Him. To minister and to stand in Scripture language, mean service. These countless millions, therefore, stand before God to wait His commands, and then they minister unto Him, that is, they flee to do His sovereign pleasure. The truth to be gathered from this part of Daniels vision is, that Heaven is a state of exalted service.
I. THE PECULIAR NATURE OF THE HEAVENLY SERVICE.
1. It will be suited to a state of final reward. There will be nothing that will imply a state of probation or trial. When we reach Heaven, all service which had the nature of a means to attaining the end of moral perfection will pass away.
2. It will include all essential duties that are due from the creature to the Creator. Many of the duties of revealed religion will cease in Heaven, because they are designed to effect a temporary purpose only. Through eternity, angels and redeemed will be dependent upon God, and receive all good from Him. Love, and the manifestation of love, will be one portion of this exalted service. A holy fear of, and respect to, the majesty of God is due from the creature to the Creator, and the manifestation of this will be one part of the service of Heaven. A voluntary dependence on God; an absolute and unlimited subjection to His supreme authority; a continued aim at His glory–enter into the duty of the creature towards the Creator.
3. The Heavenly service will be the united service of angels and men. The assembly of Heaven is one, the worship or service is one, the temple is one, the song is one.
4. The Heavenly service will consist in immediate attendance upon God. Here ours is the service of trading for our great Master while He is in a far country. But in Heaven we shall serve in His presence; we shall be His personal attendants.
5. It will be a service of subordinate dominion. The Scriptures assure us that the saints are to be rulers and governors in the world to come. What an honour and satisfaction it will be to serve the King of kings and Lord of lords, as kings and rulers under Him, and this honour shall all the saints have.
6. The Heavenly service will be a sabbath service. The earthly sabbath is a type of Heaven, and it shadows forth the state and employments of the saints there. It is a rest from worldly toil and labour, but not a cessation of all activity and service.
7. The service of Heaven is temple service. The ancient temple was a type of Heaven.
8. The service of Heaven will be a service of praise. To think of God, to admire Him, to behold His glory and rejoice in it, to love and praise Him, will be the sweet employment of Heaven. The Heavenly service is the engagement of spirits freed from sin; pervaded with light, fired with love, enraptured with delight, and bound by sweet and immortal bonds to God and to each other for ever.
II. THE MANNER IN WHICH THIS SERVICE WILL BE RENDERED,
1. Without the least reluctance. The service of God will be voluntarily rendered, deeply loved, and highly enjoyed.
2. Without weakness.
3. Without weariness.
4. Without distraction.
5. Without intermission.
6. Without defect.
7. Without end.
If this service will be our happiness and honour in Heaven, let us take care that we deem it our happiness and honour on earth. None who refuse to serve God on earth shall serve Him in Heaven. (N. Gregory.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 9. The thrones were cast down] might be translated erected, so the Vulgate, positi sunt, and so all the versions; but that ours is a proper translation, is sufficiently evident from Da 3:6; Da 3:16; Da 3:20; Da 6:17, c. where the original word can be used in no other sense than that of throwing or casting down. There is a reference here to preparations made for a general assize, or to the convocation of the sanhedrin, where the father of the consistory sat with his assessors on each side in the form of a semicircle, and the people stood before them.
The Ancient of days] God Almighty; and this is the only place in the sacred writings where God the Father is represented in a human form.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
By
thrones cast down must be meant the kingdoms of this world, destroyed by Christ the King and Judge of all, called the Ancient of days, because of his eternal Deity;
without beginning and end of days. Whose garment was white as snow; thus kings viceroys were clothed, as Joseph in fine silk, Gen 41:42, and Mordecai, Est 8:15.
The hair of his head like the pure wool; see Rev 1:14; noting his innocence, and righteousness in judgment, Isa 42:4.
His throne was like the fiery flame: this notes his majesty in judgment: see Psa 1:3,4; Mal 4:1; Rev 19:11,12.
His wheels as burning fire; arguing the greatest and most formidable state of the last Judge and judgment; alluding to the kings who had movable thrones, which had wheels: it notes also Gods swiftness in judgment, Mal 3:5.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. I beheld tillI continuedlooking till.
thrones . . . castdownrather, “thrones were placed” [Vulgateand LUTHER], namely, forthe saints and elect angels to whom “judgment is given” (Da7:22), as assessors with the Judge. Compare Da7:10, “thousand thousands ministered unto Him” (Mat 19:28;Luk 22:30; 1Co 6:2;1Co 6:3; 1Ti 5:21;Rev 2:26; Rev 4:4).In English Version the thrones cast down are those ofthe previously mentioned kings who give place to Messiah.
Ancient of days“Theeverlasting Father” (Isa 9:6).HE is the Judge here, asTHE SONdoes not judge in His own cause, and it is His cause which is the oneat issue with Antichrist.
sitthe attitude of ajudge about to pass sentence.
whiteThe judicialpurity of the Judge, and of all things round Him, is hereby expressed(Re 1:14).
wheelsas Orientalthrones move on wheels. Like the rapid flame, God’s judgments aremost swift in falling where He wills them (Eze 1:15;Eze 1:16). The judgment here isnot the last judgment, for then there will be no beast, andheaven and earth shall have passed away; but it is that on Antichrist(the last development of the fourth kingdom), typical of the lastjudgment: Christ coming to substitute the millennial kingdom of gloryfor that of the cross (Rev 17:12-14;Rev 19:15-21; Rev 11:15).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I beheld till the thrones were cast down,…. On which the governors of the above monarchies sat; and those of the ten kings, signified by the ten horns; and also that of the little horn. The prophet kept looking on the objects before him, till he in his dream, and the visions of the night, saw all those empires and kingdoms demolished, and all rule, power, and authority, put down, and way made for the glorious kingdom of the Messiah, and his saints with him; to this sense Aben Ezra, Saadiah, and Jacchiades, interpret the word used; but the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, render it, “until the thrones were set up” q; for the judges to sit upon to try, judge, and condemn the four beasts or monarchies; in order to make way for the kingdom of the Son of man to take place in the spirituality and glory of it: here are more thrones than one; see
Re 20:4, one for the Ancient of days, and another for him who was like to the Son of man, brought near before him; and so the Jews r say, here were two thrones pitched and prepared, one for the Ancient of days, and another for David, that is, the Messiah, or Son of David; and so Jarchi paraphrases the words,
“the thrones were pitched and prepared to sit upon in judgment:”
and this sense is confirmed by the use of the word in Ezr 7:24 and in the Targum on 2Ki 18:14 and to this agrees best the following clause:
and the Ancient of days did sit; on one of the thrones pitched, as chief Judge: this is to be understood of God the Father, as distinct from the Messiah, the Son of God, said to be like the Son of man brought unto him, Da 7:13 and is so called, not only because he is from everlasting, and without beginning of days; but chiefly because he is permanent, and endures for ever; his years fail not, and of his days there will be no end; and he will be when these empires, signified by the four beasts, will be no more; and very fit to be Judge of them, because of his consummate wisdom and prudence, signified also by this phrase; and the divine Father of Christ is still more proper, because it is in Christ’s cause the judgment will proceed; and this in order to introduce him openly into his dominions in the world:
whose garment was white as snow; denoting the purity of his nature, the brightness of his majesty, and his uncorruptness in judgment:
and the hair of his head like the pure wool; signifying his venerableness, gravity, wisdom, and ripeness of judgment; being wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working:
his throne was like the fiery flame; expressive of him, as awful and formidable, as a consuming fire; and of his piercing judgment, and the severity of it:
and his wheels as burning fire; the wheels of his throne; alluding to such seats and thrones as were made to turn about, and to be moved from place to place; denoting the power and providence of God everywhere; the clear view he has of all things, in all places; and his swiftness in the execution of his judgments.
q “subsellia posita sunt”, Tigurine version; “solia posita sunt”, Piscator, Cocceius; “throni elati sunt”, Pagninus, Montanus. r T. Bab. Chagiga, fol. 14. 1. & Gloss in ib.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The judgment on the horn speaking great things and on the other beasts, and the delivering of the kingdom to the Son of Man.
After Daniel had for a while contemplated the rising up of the little horn that appeared among the ten horns, the scene changed. There is a solemn sitting in judgment by God, and sentence is pronounced. Seats or chairs were placed. , activ. with an indefinite subject: they were thrown, i.e., they were placed in order quickly, or with a noise. Seats, not merely a throne for God the Judge, but a number of seats for the assembly sitting in judgment with God. That assembly consists neither of the elders of Israel ( Rabb.), nor of glorified men (Hengstb. on Rev 4:4), but of angels (Psa 89:8), who are to be distinguished from the thousands and tens of thousands mentioned in Dan 7:10; for these do not sit upon thrones, but stand before God as servants to fulfil His commands and execute His judgments. , one advanced in days, very old, is not the Eternal; for although God is meant, yet Daniel does not see the everlasting God, but an old man, or a man of grey hairs, in whose majestic from God makes Himself visible (cf. Eze 1:26). When Daniel represents the true God as an aged man, he does so not in contrast with the recent gods of the heathen which Antiochus Epiphanes wished to introduce, or specially with reference to new gods, as Hitzig and Kran. suppose, by reference to Deu 32:17 and Jer 23:23; for God is not called the old God, but appears only as an old man, because age inspires veneration and conveys the impression of majesty. This impression is heightened by the robe with which He is covered, and by the appearance of the hair of His head, and also by the flames of fire which are seen to go forth from His throne. His robe is white as snow, and the hair of His head is white like pure wool; cf. Rev 1:14. Both are symbols of spotless purity and holiness. Flames of fire proceed from His throne as if it consisted of it, and the wheels of His throne scatter forth fire. One must not take the fire exclusively as a sign of punishment. Fire and the shining of fire are the constant phenomena of the manifestation of God in the world, as the earthly elements most fitting for the representation of the burning zeal with which the holy God not only punishes and destroys sinners, but also purifies and renders glorious His own people; see under Exo 3:3. The fire-scattering wheels of the throne show the omnipresence of the divine throne of judgment, the going of the judgment of God over the whole earth (Kliefoth). The fire which engirds with flame the throne of God pours itself forth as a stream from God into the world, consuming all that is sinful and hostile to God in the world, and rendering the people and kingdom of God glorious. ( from before Him) refers to God, and not to His throne. A thousand times a thousand and ten thousand times ten thousand are hyperbolical expressions for an innumerable company of angels, who as His servants stand around God; cf. Deu 33:2; Psa 68:18. The Keri presents the Chaldaic form for the Hebraizing form of the text ( thousands), and for the Hebraizing form ( myriads), often found in the Targg., to harmonize the plur. form with the singular going before.
Forthwith the judgment begins. we translate, with most interpreters, the judgment sets itself. , judgment, abstr. pro concreto , as judicium in Cicero, Verr. 2. 18. This idea alone is admissible in Dan 7:26, and here also it is more simple than that defended by Dathe and Kran.: “ He” (i.e., the Ancient of days) “sets Himself for judgment,” – which would form a pure tautology, since His placing Himself for judgment has been already (Dan 7:9) mentioned, and nothing would be said regarding the object for which the throne was set. – ” The books were opened.” The actions of men are recorded in the books, according to which they are judged, some being ordained to eternal life and others condemned to eternal death; cf. Rev 20:12, and the notes under Dan 12:1. The horn speaking great things is first visited with the sentence of death.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Vision of the Four Beasts. | B. C. 555. |
9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. 10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. 11 I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. 12 As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. 13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
Whether we understand the fourth beast to signify the Syrian empire, or the Roman, or the former as the figure of the latter, it is plain that these verses are intended for the comfort and support of the people of God in reference to the persecutions they were likely to sustain both from the one and from the other, and from all their proud enemies in every age; for it is written for their learning on whom the ends of the world have come, that they also, through patience and comfort of this scripture, might have hope. Three things are here discovered that are very encouraging:–
I. That there is a judgment to come, and God is the Judge. Now men have their day, and every pretender thinks he should have his day, and struggles for it. But he that sits in heaven laughs at them, for he sees that his day is coming, Ps. xxxvii. 13. I beheld (v. 9) till the thrones were cast down, not only the thrones of these beasts, but all rule, authority, power, that are set up in opposition to the kingdom of God among men (1 Cor. xv. 24): such are the thrones of the kingdoms of the world, in comparison with God’s kingdom; those that see them set up need but wait awhile, and they will see them cast down. I beheld till thrones were set up (so it may as well be read), Christ’s throne and the throne of his Father. One of the rabbin confesses that these thrones are set up, one for God, another for the Son of David. It is the judgment that is here set, v. 10. Now, 1. This is intended to proclaim God’s wise and righteous government of the world by his providence; and an unspeakable satisfaction it gives to all good men, in the midst of the convulsions and revolutions of states and kingdoms, that the Lord has prepared his throne in the heavens and his kingdom rules over all (Ps. ciii. 19), that verily there is a God that judges in the earth, Ps. lviii. 11. 2. Perhaps it points at the destruction brought by the providence of God upon the empire of Syria, or that of Rome, for their tyrannizing over the people of God. But, 3. It seems principally designed to describe the last judgment, for though it follow not immediately upon the dominion of the fourth beast, nay, though it be yet to come, perhaps many ages to come, yet it was intended that in every age the people of God should encourage themselves, under their troubles, with the belief and prospect of it. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of it, Jude 14. Does the mouth of the enemy speak great things, v. 8. Here are far greater things which the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Many of the New-Testament predictions of the judgment to come have a plain allusion to this vision, especially St John’s vision of it, Rev 20:11; Rev 20:12. (1.) The Judge is the Ancient of days himself, God the Father, the glory of whose presence is here described. He is called the Ancient of days, because he is God from everlasting to everlasting. Among men we reckon that with the ancient is wisdom, and days shall speak; shall not all flesh then be silent before him who is the Ancient of days? The glory of the Judge is here set forth by his garment, which was white as snow, denoting his splendour and purity in all the administrations of his justice; and the hair of his head clean and white, as the pure wool, that, as the white and hoary head, he may appear venerable. (2.) The throne is very formidable. It is like the fiery flame, dreadful to the wicked that shall be summoned before it. And the throne being movable upon wheels, or at least the chariot in which he rode the circuit, the wheels thereof are as burning fire, to devour the adversaries; for our God is a consuming fire, and with him are everlasting burnings, Isa. xxxiii. 14. This is enlarged upon, v. 10. As to all his faithful friends there proceeds out of the throne of God and the Lamb a pure river of water of life (Rev. xxii. 1), so to all his implacable enemies there issues and comes forth from his throne a fiery stream, a stream of brimstone (Isa. xxx. 33), a fire that shall devour before him. He is a swift witness, and his word a word upon the wheels. (3.) The attendants are numerous and very splendid. The Shechinah is always attended with angels; it is so here (v. 10): Thousand thousands minister to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before him. It is his glory that he has such attendants, but much more his glory that he neither needs them nor can be benefited by them. See how numerous the heavenly hosts are (there are thousands of angels), and how obsequious they are–they stand before God, ready to go on his errands and to take the first intimation of his will and pleasure. They will particularly be employed as ministers of his justice in the last judgment day, when the Son of man shall come, and all the holy angels with him. Enoch prophesied that the Lord should come with his holy myriads. (4.) The process is fair and unexceptionable: The judgment is set, publicly and openly, that all may have recourse to it; and the books are opened. As in courts of judgment among men the proceedings are in writing and upon record, which is laid open when the cause comes to a hearing, the examination of witnesses is produced, and affidavits are read, to clear the matter of fact, and the statute and common-law books are consulted to find out what is the law, so, in the judgment of the great day, the equity of the sentence will be as incontestably evident as if there were books opened to justify it.
II. That the proud and cruel enemies of the church of God will certainly be reckoned with and brought down in due time, Dan 7:11; Dan 7:12. This is here represented to us, 1. In the destroying of the fourth beast. God’s quarrel with this beast is because of the voice of the great words which the horn spoke, bidding defiance to Heaven, and triumphing over all that is sacred; this provokes God more than any thing, for the enemy to behave himself proudly, Deut. xxxii. 27. Therefore Pharaoh must be humbled, because he has said, Who is the Lord? and has said, I will pursue, I will overtake. Enoch foretold that therefore the Lord would come to judge the world, that he might convince all that are ungodly of their hard speeches, Jude 15. Note, Great words are but idle words, for which men must give account in the great day. And see what becomes of this beast that talks so big: He is slain, and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame. The Syrian empire, after Antiochus, was destroyed. He himself died of a miserable disease, his family was rooted out, the kingdom wasted by the Parthians and Armenians, and at length made a province of the Roman empire by Pompey. And the Roman empire itself (if we take that for the fourth beast), after it began to persecute Christianity, declined and wasted away, and the body of it was destroyed. So shall all thy enemies perish, O Lord! and be slain before thee. 2. In the diminishing and weakening of the other three beasts (v. 12): They had their dominion taken away, and so were disabled from doing the mischiefs they had done to the church and people of God; but a prolonging in life was given them, for a time and a season, a set time, the bounds of which they could not pass. The power of the foregoing kingdoms was quite broken, but the people of them still remained in a mean, weak, and low condition. We may allude to this in describing the remainders of sin in the hearts of good people; they have corruptions in them, the lives of which are prolonged, so that they are not perfectly free from sin, but the dominion of them is taken away, so that sin does not reign in their mortal bodies. And thus God deals with his church’s enemies; sometimes he breaks the teeth of them (Ps. iii. 7), when he does not break the neck of them, crushes the persecution, but reprieves the persecutors, that they may have space to repent. And it is fit that God, in doing his own work, should take his own time and way.
III. That the kingdom of the Messiah shall be set up, and kept up, in the world, in spite of all the opposition of the powers of darkness. Let the heathen rage and fret as long as they please, God will set his King upon his holy hill of Zion. Daniel sees this in vision, and comforts himself and his friends with the prospect of it. This is the same with Nebuchadnezzar’s foresight of the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, which broke in pieces the image; but in this vision there is much more of pure gospel than in that. 1. The Messiah is here called the Son of man–one like unto the Son of man; for he was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, was found in fashion as a man. I saw one like unto the Son of man, one exactly agreeing with the idea formed in the divine counsels of him that in the fulness of time was to be the Mediator between God and man. He is like unto the son of man, but is indeed the Son of God. Our Savior seems plainly to refer to this vision when he says (John v. 27) that the Father has therefore given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of man, and because he is the person whom Daniel saw in vision, to whom a kingdom and dominion were to be given. 2. He is said to come with the clouds of heaven. Some refer this to his incarnation; he descended in the clouds of heaven, came into the world unseen, as the glory of the Lord took possession of the temple in a cloud. The empires of the world were beasts that rose out of the sea; but Christ’s kingdom is from above: he is the Lord from heaven. I think it is rather to be referred to his ascension; when he returned to the Father the eye of his disciples followed him, till a cloud received him out of their sight, Acts i. 9. He made that cloud his chariot, wherein he rode triumphantly to the upper world. He comes swiftly, irresistibly, and comes in state, for he comes with the clouds of heaven. 3. He is here represented as having a mighty interest in Heaven. When the cloud received him out of the sight of his disciples, it is worth while to enquire (as the sons of the prophets concerning Elijah in a like case) whither it carried him, where it lodged him; and here we are told, abundantly to our satisfaction, that he came to the Ancient of days; for he ascended to his Father and our Father, to his God and our God (John xx. 17); from him he came forth, and to him he returns, to be glorified with him, and to sit down at his right hand. It was with a great deal of pleasure that he said, Now I go to him that sent me. But was he welcome? Yes, not doubt, he was, for they brought him near before him; he was introduced into his Father’s presence, with the attendance and adorations of all the angels of God, Heb. i. 6. God caused him to draw near and approach to him, as an advocate and undertaker for us (Jer. xxx. 21), that we through him might be made nigh. By this solemn near approach which he made to the Ancient of days it appears that the Father accepted the sacrifice he offered, and the satisfaction he made, and was entirely well pleased with all he had done. He was brought near, as our high priest, who for us enters within the veil, and as our forerunner, 4. He is here represented as having a mighty influence upon this earth, v. 14. When he went to be glorified with his Father he had a power given him over all flesh,Joh 17:2; Joh 17:5. With the prospect of this Daniel and his friends are here comforted, that not only the dominion of the church’s enemies shall be taken away (v. 12), but the church’s head and best friend shall have the dominion given him; to him every knee shall bow and every tongue confess.Phi 2:9; Phi 2:10. To him are given glory and a kingdom, and they are given by him who has an unquestionable right to give them, which, some think with an eye to these words, our Savior teaches us to acknowledge in the close of the Lord’s prayer, For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory. It is here foretold that the kingdom of the exalted Redeemer shall be, (1.) A universal kingdom, the only universal monarchy, whatever others have pretended to, or aimed at: All people, nations, and languages, shall fear him, and be under his jurisdiction, either as his willing subjects or as his conquered captives, to be either ruled or overruled by him. One way or other, the kingdoms of the world shall all become his kingdoms. (2.) An everlasting kingdom. His dominion shall not pass away to any successor, much less to any invader, and his kingdom is that which shall not be destroyed. Even the gates of hell, or the infernal powers and policies, shall not prevail against it. The church shall continue militant to the end of time, and triumphant to the endless ages of eternity.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
DANIEL’S VISION OF THE SON OF MAN COMING IN GLORY
Verses 9-12:
Verse 9 explains Daniel kept on looking (scrutenizing) the ten horn kings and their governments, wondering what they represented “till the thrones,” the ten “horn-thrones” were cast down, placed down or subjected by the “little horn,” the antichrist, who enthroned himself as a one world Gentile ruler that continued about 42 months.
“And the ancient of days did sit;” He, Jesus Christ came in the air, called His church and the “dead in Christ” to meet Him there, began to reward the saints, at His judgment seat, became married or joined to His bride. During this time (42 months) He pours out (concurrently) His woes and judgments upon the earth, upon the antichrist, the beast (one world Gentile empire) and her helpers, and backslidden Israel, and destroys the great harlot or whore and her daughters. Our Lord’s throne work is first spiritual, as He assigns reward positions to His own before coming back with them to the earth, to restore Israel and second to reign literally from the throne of David in Jerusalem, with His bride, over Israel, forever; See Dan 9:26-27; 2Th 2:1-11; 1Co 15:24-28; Luk 1:32-33; 2Th 1:10; Rev 19:5-9; Revelation , 12, 13, , 17 chs. See also Mat 19:28; Luk 22:30-32; 1Ti 5:21; Isa 9:6; Rev 17:1-12; Rev 19:15-21; Rev 11:15.
Verse 10 relates that from the Ancient of days (Jesus Christ) came forth a fiery stream, symbolic of words of Divine judgment, and the second coming of our Lord; and it is added that thousand thousands (and innumerable host) ministered to him, in execution of that judgment, apparently ministered by judgment angels, 2Th 1:1-10. It is much as when the law was first given, 2Ki 22:19; Deu 33:2; Psa 68:17; Heb 12:22; Rev 20:4; Rev 20:12. The latter passage refers to the final phase of God’s judgment wrath, called the Great White Throne judgment.
Verse 11 further relates how Daniel beheld and listened to the great words which the “little horn” spoke, v. 8. Daniel kept gazing at the beast with the “little horn,” till the beast (one world Gentile government ruler was slain; His body was destroyed and “given to the burning flame,” to exist no more, Rev 19:20.
Verse 12 concludes that the rest of the beasts or “little kings” had their dominion or jurisdiction taken away. Yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time, into the millennial age; After the antichrist and his one world Gentile dominion was broken up, by the coming of our Lord, Mat 24:22. Gentile nations, without a king, will continue through the millennium. Because Satan is bound, though his demons are not, they will be in frustrated disarray, without ability to organize against our Lord, till Satan is loosed for a little season, to gather them to his and their final doom, Rev 20:7-10.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Daniel now relates how he saw another figure, namely, God sitting on his throne to exercise judgment. We shall see it afterwards concerning Christ, but Daniel now teaches only the appearance of God in his character of a judge. This was the reason why many persons extend this prophecy to the second Advent of Christ — an interpretation by no means correct, as I shall show more copiously in the proper place. But first it is worth while to consider here, why he says — the Ancient of days, meaning the eternal Deity himself, ascended the throne judgment. This scene seems unnecessary, because it is the peculiar office of God to govern the world; and as we know this cannot be done without upright judgment, it follows that God has been a perpetual judge from the creation of the world. Now, even a moderate acquaintance with the Scriptures shows how well this passage suits us by appealing to our senses; for unless God’s power is made conspicuous, we think it either abolished or interrupted. Hence those forms of expression which occur elsewhere; as, “How long art thou silent, O Lord; and how long wilt thou cease from us?” (Psa 13:1; Psa 9:7, and elsewhere,) and — God ascends his throne — for we should not acknowledge him as a judge, unless he really and experimentally proved himself such. This then is the reason why Daniel says God himself was seated in judgment.
But before we proceed further, we must observe the sense in which he says — thrones were either erected or east down — for the word רום, rum can be taken in either sense. Those who translate it, “Thrones were removed,” interpret it. of the Four monarchies already mentioned. But; for my part, I rather incline to a different opinion. If any one prefers explaining’ it of these Monarchies, I do not contend with him, for that; sense is probable; and as far as the pith of the matter is concerned, there is not much difference. But I think the thrones or seats are here proceed to exhibit; the divine judgment, because the Prophet will immediately’ represent myriads of angels standing before God. We know’ how often angels are adorned with this title as if they were, assessors of Deity; and the form of speech which Daniel uses when he says, “The judgment was set,” will also agree with this. He speaks here of assessors with the judge, as if God did not sit alone, but had councilors joined with him. In my opinion the most suitable explanation is, — thrones were created for the Almighty to sit on with his councilors; not implying his need of any council, but. of his own goodwill and mere favor he dignifies angels with this honor, as we shall see immediately. Daniel therefore describes, after our human fashion, the preparations for judgment; just as if any king should go publicly forth for the purpose of transacting any business of moment, and should ascend his tribunal. Councilors and nobles would sit around him on both sides, not partaking of his power, but rather increasing the splendor of his appearance. For if the king alone should occupy the whole place, the dignity would not be so magnificent as when his nobles, who depend upon him, are present on all sides, because they far surpass the ordinary multitude. Daniel, therefore, relates the vision presented to him in this form; first, ‘because he was a man dwelling in the flesh; and next, he did not see it for himself personally, but for the common benefit of the whole Church. Thus God wished to exhibit a representation which might infuse into the Prophet’s mind and into those of all the pious, a feeling of admiration, and yet might have something in common with human proceedings. Thrones, therefore, he says, were erected; afterwards, the Ancient of days was seated. I have already expounded how God then began to seat himself, as he had previously appeared to be passive, and not to exercise justice in the world. For when things are disturbed and mingled with much darkness, who can say, “God reigns?” God seems to be shut up in heaven, when things are discomposed and turbulent upon earth. On the other hand, he is said to ascend his tribunal when he assumes to himself the office of a judge, and openly demonstrates that he is neither asleep nor absent, although he lies hid from human perception.
This form of speech was very appropriate for denoting the coming of Christ. For God then chiefly displayed his supreme power, as Paul quotes a passage from the Psalms, (Psa 68:8, in Eph 4:8,) “Thou hast ascended on high.” When the subject treated is the first coming of Christ, it ought not to be restricted to the thirty-three years of his sojourn in the world, but it embraces his ascension, and that preaching of the gospel which ushered in his kingdom;-this will be said again more clearly and copiously. Daniel appropriately relates how God was seated when the first advent of Christ is depicted, since the majesty of God shone in the person of Christ; for which reason he is called
“
The invisible image of God and the character of his glory,” (Heb 1:3😉
that is, of the substance or person of the Father. God therefore, who had seemed for so many ages not to notice the world nor to care for his elect people, ascended his tribunal at the advent of Christ. To this subject the Psalms, from the 95 to the 100, all relate — “God reigns, let the earth rejoice;” “God reigns, let the islands be afraid.” In truth, God had not dwelt in complete privacy before Christ’s advent; but. the empire which he had erected was hidden and unseen, until he showed forth his glory in the person of his only begotten Son. The Ancient of days, therefore, was seated
He now says, His raiment was white like snow the hair of his head was like pure wool. God here shows himself to his Prophet in the form of man. We know how impossible it is for us to behold God as he really exists, till we ourselves become like Him, as John says in his canonical epistle. (1Jo 3:2.) As our capacity cannot endure the fullness of that surpassing glory which essentially belongs to God, whenever he appears to us, he must necessarily put on a form adapted to our comprehension. God, therefore, was never seen by the fathers in his own natural perfection; but as far as their capacities allowed, he afforded them a taste of his presence for the sure acknowledgment of his Deity; and yet they comprehended him as far as it was useful for them and they were able to bear it. This is the reason why God appeared with a white garment, which is characteristic of heaven; and with snowy hair, like white and clean wool. To the same purpose is the following: His throne was like sparks of fire, that is, like glowing fire; his wheels were like burning fire. God in reality neither occupies any throne, nor is carried on wheels; but, as I already said, we ought not to imagine God in his essence to be like any appearance, to his own Prophet and other holy fathers, but he put on various appearances, according to man’s comprehension, to whom he wished to give some signs of his presence. I need not dwell longer on these forms of speech, though subtle allegories are pleasing to many. I am satisfied with holding what is solid and sure. It now follows: —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
HOMILETICS
SECT. XXV.THE JUDGMENT OF THE BEAST AND THE LITTLE HORN (Chap. Dan. 7:9-12; Dan. 7:26)
Hitherto we have not met with much difficulty in the way of interpretation. Little room has been left either for doubt or hesitation. The case is somewhat different now. We approach the region of unfulfilled prophecy, naturally more difficult of interpretation, and leaving more room for mistake and difference of opinion. The field is interesting and inviting, but demands caution in its investigation. The word of prophecy is given for our guidance and comfort, as a light shining in a dark place. But we need the Spirit to interpret His own Word. Open Thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law. In Thy light we shall see light. The Spirit searcheth all things, even the deep things of God, and revealeth them unto us. He knoweth what is in darkness, and the light dwelleth with Him. It is His to reveal the deep and secret things, and to show us, as He has done in His Word, things to come. We have before us a passage of overwhelming grandeur and sublimity; the description of a scene of awful solemnity. The passage exhibits the judgment-seat of God, with myriads of attendant angels, and the infliction of pronounced doom on a large portion of the human race. The judgment is not indeed, like that in Revelation 20, the general judgment, terminating the reign of Christ and His saints on earth, and resembling in some of its features the present one. It is rather the judgment on the fourth beast, or Roman Empire, with its ten horns or kingdoms, and more especially the Little Horn, whose pride, persecution, and blasphemy are the special occasion of it.
I. The occasion of the judgment. This is distinctly said to be the voice of the great words which the horn spake (Dan. 7:11). So in the interpretation by the angel it is said, He shall speak great words against the Most High, &c. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his kingdom (Dan. 7:25-26). He was to wear out the saints of the Most High, who were to be given into his hand for a time, times, and the dividing of a time. That allotted period was to terminate, and then the long-delayed judgment was to commence. That monstrous reign of blasphemy against God and cruelty to His saints was to be allowed no longer. These things thou hast done, and I kept silence: thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself. But I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down, for the press is full, the fats overflow; for the wickedness is great (Psa. 50:21; Joe. 3:13). The occasion of the judgment is the sayings and doings of the Little Horn, [187] whose kingdom is therefore to be taken away; and the beast, to whom it belonged, of whose wickedness it was the concentration, and who had given to it its power, aided and abetted its doings, and so had identified itself with it, is, with its ten horns, to be slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame.
[187] Because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake. The connection between the depriving the Papacy of its temporal dominions in 1870 and its great words or blasphemous pretensions was remarkable. In the same year, said the Times of the period, the Papacy has assumed the highest spiritual exaltation to which it could aspire, and lost the temporal sovereignty which it had held for a thousand years. The exaltation referred to was the decree of a General Council in Rome that the Popes were infallible in matters of doctrine. The circumstances attending the act were also remarkable. Arrangements had been made in the chamber where the Council sat, that, by means of mirrors suitably disposed, a glory expressive of divinity should appear to encircle the Popes head when the decree was passed. Strange to say, however, as if to rebuke the blasphemy and proclaim that the hour of doom had struck, the sun did not shine out that day: a violent storm burst over Rome; the sky was darkened by tempest, and the voices of the Council were lost in the roll of thunder. Within a day or two after, the Franco-German war was declared, which led to the immediate withdrawal of the French troops from Rome, and the consequent fall of the Popes temporal power, which for several years they had served alone to support. Jerome, and Roman Catholic writers after him, understanding the Little Horn to be the Antichrist that should appear immediately before the end of the world, view the judgment in the text as taking place at that time in his destruction. So Bullinger, colampadius, and Osiander, who regard the fourth beast as either the Roman or Turkish Empire; while Willet, understanding the fourth beast of the Greek kingdom of the Seleucid, applies the passage to the first coming of Christ, but typically also to the final judgment, the judgment beginning with the first and ending with the second coming of Christ Calvin also refers it to the latter period.
II. The circumstances of the judgment. The thrones were cast (rather, set or planted) down, &c. [188] (Dan. 7:9). We have
[188] The thrones were east down, (remioo), were set up. Wintle: were pitched. So the Septuagint, Vulgate, and all the ancient versions, as well as Morus, Castalio, Piscator, and Calvin. The rendering also of Gesenius. The word used by the Targums in Jer. 1:15 for they set. Keil has they were thrown, i.e., they were placed in order quickly or with a noise. This idea of haste or noise, however, does not seem necessarily included. Dr. Rule prefers the rendering of the English version, were cut down, but understands not the thrones of assessors, but of the ten kings formerly mentioned, which is unlikely. Keil, with most interpreters, understands them as seats for the assembly sitting in judgment with God; that assembly, in his view, consisting neither of the elders of Israel, as the Rabbins think, nor of glorified men, as Hengstenberg (on Rev. 4:4) supposes; but of angels, according to Psa. 89:8, who are to be distinguished from the thousands and tens of thousands mentioned in Dan. 7:10; for these do not sit upon thrones, but stand before God as servants to fulfil His commands and execute His judgments. Hengstenbergs view, however, will probably appear to most the more correct one. Lightfoot quotes from De Lyra: He saith thrones, because not only Christ shall judge, but the apostles and perfect men shall assist. He adds, So the saints shall at the day of judgment sit with Christ, and approve or applaud His judgment.
1. The judge. The Ancient (or permanent) of days did sit. The expression indicative of the Godhead, the I am, the everlasting and unchanging Jehovah, who was, and is, and is to come. In Dan. 7:13, the Father, or first person in the Godhead, appears to be meant; here probably the Son, or second person, who in virtue of His becoming the Son of Man has all judgment committed to Him [189]. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son, and hath given Him power to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. God shall judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained. God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. He (Jesus Christ) shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom. Judgment, however, is the attribute and prerogative of Godhead. God is Judge Himself (Psa. 50:3-6). No other is capable of being so. Jesus occupies the judgment-seat as Supreme Judge because He is God, the Ancient of days. This character claimed by Jesus Himself. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty (Rev. 1:8). Hence His appearance at the same time identical with that here given: His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were as a flame of fire. Stupendous contrast with His appearance before Pilates bar. Now the judge and the prisoner change places.
[189] The Ancient of Days, (attiq yomin). Professor Bush, after Cocceius and Michaelis, translates, permanent or enduring of days. Keil has, one advanced in days, very old, and says this is not the Eternal, for although God is meant, yet Daniel does not see the everlasting God, but an old man or a man of grey hairs, in whose majestic form God makes Himself visible (cf. Eze. 1:26). Mr. Irving understood God the Father, coming in His unstained holiness to judge the arch-enemy of His Son and destroyer of His people, and to prepare the way for the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven. So Dr. Rule. colampadius understood it of Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. So Dr. Cumming. Wintle understands the term (attiq) activelyhe that maketh the days old, and applies it to Deity.
2. The throne. This was a fiery flame, and its wheels, on which it appeared to rest, or rather to move, [190] as burning fire; emblematic of searching investigation, fiery indignation, swift judgment. An object of supreme terribleness like the representation in Eze. 1:26-28. The throne corresponding with the character of the judge. Our God is a consuming fire. His eyes were as a flame of fire. Who among us can dwell with the devouring fire? Expressive also of the object of the judgment, the infliction of punishment or burning wrath. It is the great day of His wrath, the wrath of the Lamb. The nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged (Rev. 6:16-17; Rev. 11:18). The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, &c. (2Th. 1:7-8). A fire goeth before Him and burneth up His enemies round about. It is the time of judgment and fiery indignation, that shall devour the adversaries (Psa. 97:3; Heb. 10:27).
[190] His wheels as burning fire. Grotius remarks that the ancient thrones and curule chairs had wheels. Those in the text, being like burning fire, Dr. Cox observes, prognosticate at once the majesty of the Judge, piercing, penetrating, awful, and the rapid progress of those providential visitations which would bespeak the indignation of a sin-avenging Deity. The fire-scattering wheels, says Keil, show the omnipresence of the divine throne of judgment,the going of the judgment of God over the whole earth. He further observes: Fire and the shining of fire are the constant phenomena of the manifestation of God in the world. The fire which engirds his throne with flame pours itself forth as a stream from God into the world, consuming all that is sinful and hostile to Him, and rendering His people and kingdom glorious.
3. The attendants. Thrones. Not one throne, but many thrones. The scene in accordance with earthly tribunals, where the judge has his assessors [191]. Apostles, saints, and martyrs elsewhere represented as sitting on thrones, with judgment given to them (Rev. 20:4). The saints shall judge the world as assessors with Christ (1Co. 6:2). When the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Mat. 19:28). Innumerable angels also about the throne as the ministers of His justice. Thousand thousands ministered to Him. Angels employed as the executioners of His justice. He will say to His angels, Gather the tares into bundles to burn them. He will come with His mighty angels, taking vengeance. The Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him (Mat. 25:31). His angels to be employed in gathering out of His kingdom all things that offend (all the stumbling-blocks), and them which do iniquity (Mat. 13:41). His ministers in inflicting judgments on the Little Horn and the apostate nations of Christendom (Rev. 16:1). Hence their appearance here about the throne.
[191] Thrones. From this representation of the judgment Rationalists have raised an objection to the genuineness of the book, as if it were borrowed from the circumstances and customs of the Persian court, while the prophecy purports to be given in the age of the last Chaldean king. To this objection Hengstenberg replies, that every feature of the picture can be pointed out in earlier writings of Scripture, as in Job 1, 2; 1Ki. 22:19-22. So in Isaiah 6 the principal angels are represented as standing round the throne of God. Dr. Cox thinks that the sitting of the judgment, as thus prepared, has a clear reference to the solemnities and general construction of the Jewish Sanhedrim or Great Council. This, however, probably an institution of later times.
4. The accompaniments. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him (Dan. 7:10). A further indication of the character and object of the judgmentfiery indignation. It shall be very tempestuous round about Him (Psa. 50:3). This probably indicative of and connected with the judgment to be inflicted on the Beast,his body given to the burning flame; the earth, or as much of it as shall be involved in the judgment, to be burned up; the elements to melt with fervent heat; the earth reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men (2Pe. 3:7; 2Pe. 3:10).
III. The judgment itself. The books were opened (Dan. 7:10). The significance and object of this indicated in the description given in the Apocalypse of the general judgment, The dead were judged out of the things that were written in the books (Rev. 20:12). Reference to earthly courts and their judicial proceedings, the names of the acccused, with the crimes laid to their charge, being registered for examination [192]. Indicates the strict and impartial character of the judgment. A constant observation exercised in regard to the doings of the enemies of God and His people, and a full and accurate account preserved of them. All the sayings and doings of the Little Horn recorded in the book; all the great and blasphemous words spoken against the Most High; all the cruelties exercised by him and the nations that submitted to his authority or were inspired by his spirit; every blasphemous bull and persecuting edict that ever issued from the Vatican; every secret murder committed in the cells of the Inquisition; every deed of darkness and of blood perpetrated under the cloak and in the name of Christs religion, all registered in those awful but truth-telling books. Words as well as deeds preserved there for judgment. By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. So Enoch testified before the Flood. Behold the Lord cometh to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him (Jud. 1:14-15). Contrast with these records of ungodly words and deeds another book,the book of life. A book of remembrance was written before Him of them that feared the Lord and that thought upon His name; of those who chose, with Moses, rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, and rather to go to the stake or lay down their heads on the block than prove unfaithful to God and His truth.
[192] The books were opened. Hengstenberg derives the figure from the papers of the judge, in which the names of the criminals and their deeds are registered. Keil considers the books those in which the actions of men are recorded. Jerome, Willet, and others understand them of every ones conscience; opened by God to each, says colampadius, to see and confess His justice. Bede strangely regarded them as the Scriptures; and Calvin in like manner understands by them the manifestation of the knowledge of God to the world at the coming of Christ by the preaching of the Gospel.
IV. The consequences of the judgment. The beast was slain, and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame. They shall take away his (the Little Horns) dominion, to consume and destroy it unto the end (Dan. 7:11; Dan. 7:26). In the vision itself it is the beast or fourth empire on which the judgment is represented as taking effect; in the interpretation of the vision it is the Little Horn [193]. That horn thus identified with the beast, of which it was properly only a part. The judgment falls on the beast for the words of the Little Horn, so entirely were they one. The horn was only the concentration of the beast. The kingdoms of the beast, or Roman Empire, are represented in the Book of Revelation as giving their power to the beast (Rev. 17:16-17), and we know, as a matter of fact, that that power was long exercised in obedience to the will of the Little Horn and in carrying out his persecuting edicts. When the Papacy delivered the heretic over to the civil power, that power was obedient, and put him to death. Thus also armies were raised for their extirpation. Justinian, in his celebrated edict, distinctly permitted the Roman pontiff to use the powers of the empire against whomsoever he deemed heretical. The spirit of the Little Horn is the spirit of the kingdoms of the beast, in so far as their subjects are not renewed by the Spirit of God. It is the spirit of pride, vainglory, worldliness, and enmity against God, and so of enmity against His saints. The judgment on the beast expressed either literally or figuratively, or both [194]. A literal destruction by fire not unlikely. Rome, the metropolis of the fourth beast, and seat of the Papacy or Little Horn, repeatedly represented in the Book of Revelation as awaiting this judgment (Rev. 17:16-17; Rev. 18:8). That a wide-spread conflagration will form at least one part of the judgment to be inflicted on the Papal kingdoms and those animated by the same spirit of unbelief and rebellion against God, seems indicated in such places as 2Th. 1:8 and 2Th. 2:8-12. According to Peter, the day of the Lord, in which this judgment shall be executed, is accompanied with a fire by which the earth and the works therein shall be burned up (2Pe. 3:10). This may possibly commence with Rome and Italy, and extend to the other nations. It is well known that already beneath the sulphurous soil of Italy are subterranean fires ready to break out at the bidding of their Creator, who keeps them in store for His own purpose, like the fountains of the great deep, stored and then broken up for the destruction of the old world, when its wickedness made it ripe for judgment [195]. Possibly the destruction may be indicated in Dan. 7:12 as extending to those countries that constituted the three preceding empires, Babylon, Persia, and Greece, whose dominion was taken away, though their lives were prolonged for a season and a time [196]. Of the Little Horn it is simply said that its dominion is taken away, to consume and destroy it unto the end. The Papacy was to cease to be a temporal power apparently by slow degrees. So also the Apostle seems to speak of the destruction of the Man of sin (2Th. 2:8). This destruction doubtless includes alike the temporal and spiritual power of the Papacy, whatever form it may assume. The total loss of the temporal power in 1870 may, perhaps, be viewed as the completion of what began in 1793 in the French Convention, and was further advanced in 1798, when, in the Campo Vaccino, the ancient Roman Forum, the Pontifical Government was pronounced, in the midst of a large concourse of people, to be at an end; while on the following day fourteen cardinals, in the Popes absence, met in the Vatican, and signed the absolute renunciation of the temporal power [197]. This taking away of the temporal dominion of the Little Horn seemed to be completed on the 20th of September 1870, when Rome was declared the capital of Italy, and made the seat of government by Victor Emmanuel as its chosen king [198]. As a spiritual power, however, the Papacy has still many millions in Europe and elsewhere subject to its sway. This, though it may continue for some time longer to exercise its baleful influence in the souls of men, must also ultimately perish.
[193] Jerome and expositors in general, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, think the destruction of Antichrist and his members here meant. Calvin understood the passage of the Roman Empire when it began to decay after Trajan; but says that the slaying of the fourth beast and the giving of the kingdom and authority to the people of the saints does not seem to have been accomplished yet, and that all Christian interpreters agree in treating the prophecy as relating to the final day of Christs Advent. Bullinger applies the destruction of the fourth beast to the ruin of the Papal kingdoms; while Osiander and colampadius understand the decay of the Turkish and Roman empires together. Junius thinks only of Antiochus Epiphanes, and Willet of the whole kingdom of the Seleucid. Irving thinks that not only the Little Horn or the Papacy is intended in the destruction, but all its supporters, Yea, the whole beast of seven heads and ten horns, which had listened to the great words which it spake. Dr. Rule observes that the prophets beholding until the beast was slain, &c., appears to intimate that the slaughter and the destruction will be gradual, perhaps very slow.
[194] Given to the burning flame. The supposition that the burning is only the figure of destruction, as, for example, in Isa. 9:4, is decidedly opposed by the parallel passages, Isa. 66:14, which Daniel had in view, and Rev. 19:20; Rev. 20:10, where this prophecy is again taken up, and the judgment is expressed by a being cast into a lake of fire with everlasting torments.Keil.
[195] The burning flame. Thus much being allowed from Scripture, let us now return to nature again, to seek out that part of the Christian world that from its own constitution is most subject to burning, by the sulphureousness of its soil and its fiery mountains and caverns. This we easily find to be the Roman territory or the country of Italy, which, by all accounts, ancient and modern, is a storehouse of fire; as if it was condemned to that fate by God and nature, and to be an incendiary, as it were, to the rest of the world. And seeing mystical Babylon, the seat of Antichrist, is the same Rome and its territory, as it is understood by most interpreters of former and later ages, you see both our lines meet in this point, and that there is fairness on both hands to conclude that at the glorious appearance of our Saviour the conflagration will begin at the city of Rome and the Roman territory. Nature hath saved us the pains of kindling fire in those parts of the earth; for since the memory of man there have always been subterraneous files.Burnets Sacred Theory of the Earth. Dr. MCosh remarks in an article in the British and Foreign Evangelical Review for January 1881, that an old fisherman, more than 1800 years ago, anticipated the doctrine of modern science that the earth shall be burned up. The following communication from Vienna, dated April 12, 1881, appeared in the newspapers: A rather severe shock of earthquake took place at the naval port of Pola and the surrounding district this morning at a quarter to ten oclock. The earthquakes at Agram and the more terrible calamities at Cassamicciola (Ischia) and Chio, together with the increasing reports of shocks in Switzerland, Italy, and Central and South-Western Europe generally, are facts which are attracting much attention from Continental geologists.
[196] The rest of the beasts. Bishop Newton observes regarding these: They are all still alive, though the dominion of the first three is taken away. The nations of Chaldea and Assyria are still the first beast; those of Media and Persia are still the second beast; those of Macedonia, Greece, Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt are still the third beast; and those of Europe on this side of Greece are still the fourth. Mr. Miles (Lectures on Daniel) remarks: They must all perish together; the three await the execution of marked vengeance upon the fourth. When the power of Rome shall be extinguished by the glorious manifestation of the Redeemer, every secular kingdom shall disappear. Dr. Cox thinks the meaning to be that although these three monarchs were dispossessed of empire, yet their influence and impious principles still continued to operate, notwithstanding their temporal demolition. Keil observes that the death or disappearance of the first three beasts is not expressly remarked, but is here first indicated. These had their dominion taken away one after another, each at its appointed time, and their end is connected with that of the last, as denoting that in that hour, not merely the fourth kingdom, but also the first three, the whole world-power, is brought to an end by the last judgment; the unfolding of the world-power in its diverse phases is exhausted, and the kingdom of God is raised to everlasting supremacy. Dr. Rule, however, says: The sentenceAnd concerning the rest of the beasts, &c.seems most naturally to relate to them after the destruction of the fourth empire; for it continues the description. It does not appear to be simply an account of what God had done aforetime to those former empires, viz., that when He took away their world-rule, He left them in being as nations; but of something which shall be after the destruction of the fourth. This, however, will be made clear when the time comes.
[197] The history is thus related by M. De la Bdollire (Le Domaine de Saint Pierre): The possessions that remained to the Pope (in 1792) had for their limits in the north, Venice and the Gulf of Venice; in the east, the kingdom of Naples; in the south, the Tuscan Sea; in the west, the duchies of Tuscany, Modena, Mirandola, and Mentone. They were divided into twelve Legations or provinces: the Compagna of Rome, the Sabine country, the patrimony of St. Peter properly so called, the duchy of Castro, the province of Orvieto, the province of Perouse, the duchy of Spoleto, the duchy of Urbino, the march of Ancona, Romagna, Bologna, and Ferrara. The duchy of Benvenuto and the principality of Ponte Corvo were fiefs of the Church. Of the populations of these countries, some inclined to the principles of the Revolution in 1789, others were animated with a fanatical hatred against France and its doctrines. When, in the month of March 1796, General Buonaparte took the command of the army of Italy, his prompt conquests in the north were easy, for the majority of the population was favourable to the French. The reigning Pope, Pius VI., frightened at the progress of the French army, solicited an armistice. This was granted him on hard conditions, which, however, he ratified on the 23d of June 1796. He gave up to France the Legations of Bologna and Ferrara, the citadel of Ancona, which he was to deliver up, and all the coasts of the Adriatic Gulf from the mouths of the Po to that citadel, &c. The Pope having broken the armistice, the French troops immediately invaded the domain of St. Peter, and took Faenza, Forli, and Ravenna; after which the Pope, in consternation, wrote to Buonaparte begging a treaty, which was concluded at Tollentino on the 19th of February, the Pope yielding in perpetuity to the French Republic all his rights over the Legations of Bologna, Ferrara, and Romagna, on condition that it should be without any damage to the Catholic religion, and handing over to the treasurer of the French army ten millions of livres in specie, and five millions in diamonds and other valuables. In consequence of an emeute in Rome on the 28th December 1797, in which the French General Duphot was killed, Alexander Berthier, general-in-chief of the French army in Italy, received orders to take possession of Rome, which was done without striking a blow. On the 6th of February 1798, the chiefs of the revolutionary movement pronounced, in the name of a large concourse of people assembled in the Campo Vaccino (the ancient Forum), the fall of the Pontifical Government, and proclaimed the Republic. The Pope during these events kept himself concealed; but the cardinals, having met in the Vatican, had signed their absolute renunciation of the temporal power; and on the 7th of February fourteen among them attended at a solemn Te Deum, sung in the Church of St. Peter, with all the pomp of Catholicism, to celebrate the revolution which took away the throne from the head of the Catholic Church.
[198] The French Catholic paper LUnivers, commenting on the debate on Rome in the French Assembly (July 1871), says: All our hopes have been disappointed; in the only nation on which the Papacy could count the last support fails it. Humanly speaking, all is over. The Roman correspondent of the Daily News says about the same time: The Pope is twitting the more Ultramontane of the venerable members of the Sacred College, those who have been urging him to pursue reactionary courses, after the following fashion:You see what it has all come tojust as I told you, just as I never ceased to predict. You insisted on my abjuring my early liberal policy, and now you see the result. It is by you that such calamities have been brought on the Church and on the world. On June 26 the Pope held a consistory, in which he said, We are, my very dear brothers, in the hands of Divine Providence; we have nothing to expect from human aid, for man has abandoned us. Why should we dissemble? It is better I should tell you, that kings and governments, forgetting their promises, leave us to our fate. We can hope for no help from any quarter. We have done all that was in our power, but our efforts have failed. All is over. Only a miracle can save us. The republican Government of France, the country that formerly was the great support of the Papacy, in the latter end of 1880 passed and executed a decree which not only banished the Jesuits from the country, but closed the convents of most of the religious orders in France, in all twenty-nine, with about three thousand six hundred members, in addition to the two thousand four hundred and sixty Jesuits who were expelled.
V. The time of the judgment. As already observed, this is not the general judgment at the termination of Christs reign on earth, or, as the phrase is commonly understood, the end of the world. It appears rather to be an invisible judgment carried on within the veil and revealed by its effects and the execution of its sentence [199]. As occasioned by the great words of the Little Horn, and followed by the taking away of his dominion, it might seem to have already sat. As, however, the sentence is not yet by any means fully executed, it may be sitting now. The deeds of the Little Horn may not yet be finished, though the temporal power of the Papacy has apparently ceased. A new and more terrible form may possibly yet be assumed before its final and complete destruction shall take place by the brightness of the Lords appearing (2Th. 2:2; 2Th. 2:8) [200]. The words of warning addressed by the Saviour have their application at the present time: Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and the cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares: for as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye, therefore, and pray always, that ye may be counted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man. Behold I come as a thief; blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame (Luk. 21:34-36; Rev. 16:15).
[199] These passages (Rev. 4:2; Rev. 4:4; Rev. 5:11; Rev. 11:15-17), and others like them, says Archdeacon Harrison, show how, in the visions of prophecy, the throne of judgment of the everlasting King is in some sense ever at hand, ready to be revealed, and its unseen processes of judgment ever going on; though at certain timesand more awfully, we may believe, as the mystery of iniquity in its varied forms unfolds itself and the end of the world draws nearthe spirit of prophecy, or the hand of Providence, draws back the veil, and exhibits the awful scene which Daniel saw in vision.
[200] Materials seldom long wanting for such a development. It was believed by many that the first Napoleon was to perform the rle of the final or infidel Antichrist. The same thing was anticipated by some regarding his nephew, the late Emperor, who professed to possess the spirit of his uncle, and to have a peculiar destiny to fulfil. The anticipations have not been fulfilled in either case. Such a development, however, can soon be made to appear if the word of prophecy and the purpose of God require it. The following lately appeared in the Weekly Review: Whether you talk to Parisians or to Frenchmen in the provinces about the political prospects, nine times out of ten there will be the shrug of the shoulders and the remark that history repeats itself; and the last decades of the nineteenth century, like the last decades of the eighteenth, will be a period of anarchy and revolution. The Republic itself shows signs of weakness, and moderate men of all parties are anxious. It is said that the execution of the decrees against the religious orders has done some harm to the Republic. After the way in which M. Victor Hugo has lauded Voltaire, it would, perhaps, have been discreet to have tolerated even the Jesuits for a time, rather than to have given the Anti-Republicans the pretext for asserting that the Republic is antagonistic to religion. But the changes of ministry is the most menacing feature. It is incontestable that M. Gambetta has made and unmade Ministries. He has power without official responsibility, and that is always perilous. Unfortunately moderate men are becoming distrustful, and M. Gambetta may be compelled to rely upon the extreme section, the Reds, if he is to be the chief of a Republic. If M. Gambetta wins by the sole or main support of the Reds, his tenure of the highest position is not likely to be long or beneficial to France.
As suggested by the passage, we may notice
1. It is our comfort to know that there is a God that judgeth in the earth. Men not worn out by tyranny, oppression, and persecution, without an eye being kept upon their wrongs and the perpetrators of them. Flesh and sense ready at times to say, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over by my God. A sore trial for faith when the oppressor and persecutor prosper, and the cause of truth and righteousness seems well-nigh crushed. But God only appears to take no notice. Christ is in the ship, and though apparently asleep in the storm, He will awake at the right time, at the cry of His people, rebuke the oppressors wrath, and change the storm into a calm. Patience is to have her perfect work, that when we have done and suffered the will of God, we may inherit the promises. He that shall come will come, and will not tarry. The hour of deliverance shall arrive. The judgment will sitis now indeed sitting. He who is higher than the highest takes not His eye from the haughty oppressor and persecutor of His people, and will, when the proper time arrives, awake to the judgment which He has commanded.
2. The infinite majesty of God and the awful consequences of His displeasure. The Lord is a God of judgment. His eyes, which are as a flame of fire, behold, and His eyelids try, the children of men. A fiery stream issues and goes forth from before Him. Who can stand when once He is angry? Our God is a consuming fire. How terrible to meet Him as an adversary! Yet sin makes Him our adversary. Prepare, then, to meet thy God. Agree with thine adversary quickly, whilst thou art in the way with Him. There is one, and only one, way of doing so. The Jews, to be reconciled to their offended king, made Blastus, his chamberlain, their friend. God has given His own Son as a sacrifice and Mediator, that we may make Him our friend, accept of Him, and put our trust in Him, and so be reconciled to God. This is Gods own way for meeting Him. Blessed are all they that put their trust in that provided Mediator. Such can see the fiery stream that issues from before Him, ready to devour the adversaries, without alarm. They can go forward to meet it singing, with the Apostle, Who shall lay anything to the charge of Gods elect? It is God that justifieth. Or, with Count Zinzendorf in the well-known hymn
Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness
My beauty are, my glorious dress.
Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head.
Bold shall I stand in that great day;
For who aught to my charge shall lay?
Fully absolved through these I am,
From sin and guilt, from fear and shame.
3. The wisdom of preparing for a judgment to come. Whatever may be the case in regard to the judgment we have been considering, and whatever share we may or may not have in it, it is certain that we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, to receive according to the things done in the body, whether good or bad. It is appointed unto men once to die, and after that the judgment. Each must then give account of himself to God. For all these things God will bring thee into judgment. Are our works those of the flesh or of the Spirit? Are they wrought in God or out of Him? Am I renewed or still unrenewed? Am I pardoned and accepted now in the Surety, the Lord our Righteousness? A place in the New Jerusalem or the Gehenna of fire depends on the question. Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to enter in through the gates into the city; or, as the Revised Version reads, Blessed are they that wash their robes. This is the beginning of doing His commandments. Come now, let us reason together: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as wool; though they be red as crimson, they shall be white as snow. Reader, the fountain for sin and uncleanness is still open; if not already washed, wash now, and prepare for the judgment. The blood of Jesus Christ, Gods Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Trust in that blood and be clean.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
b. MAGNIFICENT BEAUTY
TEXT: Dan. 7:9-18
9
I beheld till thrones were placed, and one that was ancient of days did sit: his raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, and the wheels thereof burning fire.
10
A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousands of thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
11
I beheld at that time because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake; I beheld even till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed, and it was given to be burned with fire.
12
And as for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.
13
I saw in the night-visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
14
And there was given to him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
15
As for me, Daniel, my spirit was grieved in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me.
16
I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth concerning all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things.
17
These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, that shall arise out of the earth.
18
But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.
QUERIES
a.
Who is the one that was ancient of days?
b.
How could the fourth beast be slain and the other beasts have their lives prolonged?
c.
When shall the saints of the Most High receive the kingdom?
PARAPHRASE
I watched as thrones were set in place and the Eternal, Omniscient One, sat down to judge. His clothing was snow-white, and the hair of his head pure as wool. He sat upon a fiery throne which had flaming wheels, and a river of fire flowed from before him. Myriads upon myriads of angels ministered to Him; so many myriads stood before Him, they could not be numbered. Then the court began its session and The Books were opened. Then I carefully observed what the great horn was doing: it was arrogantly speaking blasphemous and boastful things against the Eternal One, and as I was observing, the brutal fourth beast was killed and its body submitted to the burning of fire. As for the other three beasts, they also had their dominion taken away one after another, each at its appointed time; for to each God gave its duration of life, depending on the circumstances involved and the time appointed in the providence of God. And as I was seeing these visions in the night, lo, there arrived on the scene a Manor so He seemed to bebrought there on clouds from heaven; He approached the Eternal One and was presented to Him. He was given dominion and honor and sovereignty in order that all peoples, nations, and tongues should serve and obey Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that never passes away, and His kingdom is an eternal kingdom that is never destroyed. As for me, Daniel, I was confused and disturbed by all I had seen because I did not know the meaning of it. So I approached one of the angels standing by the throne and asked him for an authoritative interpretation of all these things, and he explained their meaning to me. As to these great beasts which, to be explicit, are four in number, the meaning is that four kings with their earthly, temporal kingdoms shall arise and succeed one another in dominion for a while. But they shall each one fall and disappear, while it will be the sanctified ones of God who shall receive and possess that kingdom which is everlastingeven forever and ever.
COMMENT
Dan. 7:9-10 . . . THRONES WERE PLACED . . . ANCIENT OF DAYS DID SIT . . . BOOKS WERE OPENED . . . Who Sits Upon the other thrones (pl.) Daniel does not tell us, and any statement on our part would be conjectural. The plurality of thrones is to emphasize majesty and power, but Young thinks the angels that serve God in judgment are the other throne (cf. Psa. 89:8; Isa. 6:2; Rev. 1:4; Rev. 4:4; Rev. 8:2; Mat. 13:36-50).
Ancient of Days signifies one who has liver ever since anyone can remember. The emphasis is upon the omniscience and eternality of God. The Eternal One is well aware of all the deeds and acts of men and kingdoms and is, therefore, well able to pronounce judgment in all justice. He is clothed in holiness and purity, symbolized by his white garments, and His nature is wisdom symbolized by His white hair.
His throne is fire, and fire issues forth from it representing the judicial power and also splendor and majesty (cf. Psa. 50:3; Psa. 97:3; Rev. 4:4-5; Exo. 3:2; Deu. 4:24; 1Ti. 6:16; Heb. 12:29). Fire may also symbolize a purifying, purging, sanctifying agent issuing forth from the throne of God. Wheels symbolize the omnipresent nature of Gods judicial action. His throne is not bound to one place but rules universally (cf. Ezek. chap. 1).
Thousands of thousands and ten thousand times ten thousands are simply expressions relating to the same multitude of myriads and myriads of heavenly creatures gathered to minister to the Ancient of Days and do His bidding in the judgment.
The Books are symbolical of the fact that God records and remembers the actions of men (cf. Isa. 65:6; Jer. 17:1; Mal. 3:16; Luk. 10:20 and Rev. 20:12), and here the reference is particularly to the deeds of the four beasts and the little horn. The rest of the O.T. (other than Daniel) knows only one Book (cf. Exo. 32:32-33; Psa. 69:28; Psa. 139:16) but in the N.T. it is books (pl.). God has not only a record of the deeds of men but a record of all who are His. To be blotted out of His book is to be lost and condemned to an eternal separation from Him unto punishment. Unless one is a member of the eternal kingdom of the Ancient of Days this is his destiny. To be associated with any other than the Eternal One is to be associated with one of the beasts whose doom is sealed.
Dan. 7:11-12 . . . THE HORN SPAKE . . . THE BEAST WAS SLAIN . . . YET THEIR LIVES WERE PROLONGED . . . Daniel is abruptly and dramatically shown that the little horn which grew into greatness has not passed out of the vision. This horn is still doing what it was before (Dan. 7:8)speaking ungodly and blasphemous words against the Most High. This blasphemy provokes the Ancient of Days to action against the fourth beast and the horn to destroy them.
The beast, as a whole, was slain and its body given to the burning of fire, indicating, in the present tense, continuing action of burning. The Aramaic original, as is given in the marginal reference of the A.S.V., must be rendered in the present, continuing, tense; that is perpetual punishment, not annihilation, although the beast is banished and conquered.
The rest of the beasts (the first three) had previously had their dominion taken away, one after the other, each at its appointed time. This is the meaning of the phrase, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. The meaning is, even though the first three beasts were allowed a prolonged life for a predetermined time by God, still, in His own good time, God took away their dominion also. It may also mean that the essence of the first three beasts (worldliness) was prolonged in the culminating worldliness of the fourth beast still, when the fourth was slain, they, too, had their dominion taken away.
Dan. 7:13-14 . . . THERE CAME . . . ONE LIKE UNTO A SON OF MAN . . . AND THERE WAS GIVEN TO HIM DOMINION . . . If the fourth beast and the little horn constitute all that opposes God from the Roman empire up to the man of lawlessness, then the fact that it is depicted as being destroyed and given over to burning indicates this text is referring to the Second Advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. The second chapter of Daniel states that during the time of the fourth kingdom, the kingdom of God would be established and this would be the fatal blow to worldly dominion. This seventh chapter merely indicates the consummation of the kingdom of God and the final destruction of the fourth kingdom, which began when the kingdom of God was first established and Christ despoiled the principalities and powers (cf. Col. 2:15). The revelation here given to Daniel omits all the history between the beginning of the fourth beast and the little horn and its final overthrow which is the Christian dispensation (that is from the founding of the kingdom of God on the day of Pentecost and the Second Coming of Christindicated as three and one-half times in Dan. 7:25during which time the horn made war with the saints and prevailed over them . . . Dan. 7:21). (See the chart at the end of this chapter).
It would have been irrelevant to Daniels readers to have been told in detail what was to transpire during an unknowable time between the fourth world empire and the final coming of the Lord (the Christian age). What would be relevant and edifying to his readers would be to know that worldly dominion would ultimately be overthrown by the blessed kingdom of God which was to be completely victorious.
Furthermore this kingdom was to be presided over by the Divine-Human Messiah (one like unto a son of man). Their Saviour-king would be like them, son of man, yet he would come on the clouds and be Divine at the same time. This very prophecy is undoubtedly the reason Jesus used the phrase son of man in reference to Himself so oftenHe was attempting to convince the Jews that He was the One who had come to establish the kingdom of God which would be ultimately victorious over the beast and the horn. But His human nature was a stumbling block to so many who had their own interpretation of His Messianic nature.
His dominion will be universal. Only those people from every nation and tongue who have surrendered to His will shall abide. They shall willingly serve Him in an everlasting condition because they were willing to serve Him in their temporary, fleshly condition. Any who have given allegiance to the beast will be punished with everlasting punishment along with the beast, (cf. Rev. 14:9-12).
Dan. 7:15-18 . . . BEASTS . . . ARE FOUR KINGS . . . BUT THE SAINTS . . . SHALL RECEIVE THE KINGDOM . . . FOR EVER . . . EVER . . . AND EVER . . . Daniel is startled with the vividness and dramatic nature of this apocalyptic vision and his mind is exceedingly agitated to know what it is all about. He approached one of the angels and asked for an authoritative interpretation of the vision. So in a nutshell he is given the interpretation. It will be enlightening here to quote from Leupold: Why does the sequence of historical kingdoms in this vision extend no farther than the Roman (the fourth beast) whereas we know that many developments came after the Roman Empire and have continued to come before the judgment? . . . One suggestion . . . is the fact that prophets general, barring the conclusion of chapter 9 in Daniel, never see the interval of time lying between the first and the second coming of Christ. In the matter of history, therefore, Daniel does not see beyond Christs days in the flesh and perhaps the persecution that came upon the early church.
In the second place, it may be correctly argued that the pattern of empire development adopted by the Romans has been followed by practically all the succeeding world powers. Roman law is said still to be the pattern of jurisprudence. Roman classic literature dominates the literature produced since that time. In fact, the powers that can be said to have anything like world dominion are segments of the old Roman Empire, and so the fourth beast is still in a sense alive though Rome was overthrown.
In connection with Leupolds first suggestion see our comment in Minor Prophets, by this writer, published by College Press, on Joe. 2:27-28, pages 184188; see also page 32 in the same work on Shortened Perspective.
The one point of emphasis not to be lost sight of in this vision is: THE SAINTS SHALL HAVE AN EVERLASTING KINGDOM, while those who give allegiance to the beast make every attempt to achieve dominion and glory and eternality; but they shall be destroyed, for in so doing they must set themselves in opposition to the program of God.
QUIZ
1.
Who sat upon the thrones other than the Ancient of Days?
2.
What do the flames and wheels symbolize concerning the throne?
3.
Was the fourth beast completely annihilated by the fire, Dan. 7:11?
4.
What is the significance of the term, one like . . . a son of man?
5.
What is the main point of this vision?
6.
Why is nothing said of what transpires between the fourth kingdom and the judgment?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(9) I beheld.Literally, I kept on looking, and suddenly seats were placed, on which the assessors of the Great Judge were to sit. These have been interpreted from Psa. 89:7 to be the angels, but a truer explanation is to be found in Mat. 19:28. It should be noticed that those who sat on the thrones are distinguished from the countless multitude mentioned in Dan. 7:10.
Ancient of days.Literally, a very aged man. (Comp. Eze. 1:26-28.) The attribute of age expresses the majesty of the judge. (Comp. Psa. 55:19; Deu. 33:27.) It may be remarked that notwithstanding the title Ancient is applied to the Deity, Anou, yet His titles, generator and father of the gods, are so completely at variance with Old Testament doctrines that it is inconceivable that Daniel should have incorporated in his vision any portions of Babylonian mythology. Similar remarks apply to Silik-moulou-khi, between whom and the Son of man (Dan. 7:13) a parallel has been pointed out. The conception of the former is completely different from what is revealed about the latter.
White as snow.Indicating, like the pure wool, the purity and justice of the Judge.
Fiery flame.Fire appears in Scripture sometimes as a metaphor for affliction or punishment (e.g., 1Co. 3:13, &c.), sometimes as a symbol of the chastening and punitive righteousness of God (Eze. 1:13-14; Eze. 1:27-28). Elsewhere it sets forth the fiery indignation which devours the enemies of God (Heb. 10:27; Rev. 19:11-12). The figure of speech is here used in each of these senses. The wheels represent the omnipresence of Almighty God.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. Thrones were cast down Literally, thrones were placed. This “Ancient of the Day” (Meinhold) is a new name for Jehovah, expressing the well-recognized idea of his eternity (Psa 90:2; Psa 93:2), while the color of his hair and garments symbolizes the purity and holiness of the Judge who lives in light and who is enthroned upon cycles of flame. (Compare, especially notes, Ezekiel 1, 10; Psa 18:9-14.)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
A Flashback. The Scene in Heaven While the Empires Strut on Earth ( Dan 7:9-10 ).
‘I was beholding until thrones were placed,
And one who was the ancient of days did sit.
His clothing was white as snow,
His throne was fiery flames
And its wheels burning fire.
A fiery stream issued
And came forth from before him.
A thousand thousands ministered to him,
And ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
The judgment was set
And the records were opened.’
This is put in poetic metre to emphasise its heavenly nature, and to stress that it is not just following on what has gone before. Notice that there is here no ‘after this’. This is a totally new aspect on things from a heavenly viewpoint. He was continuing to watch but has now switched to a new aspect of his vision, going back to look at things from this viewpoint of heaven. It was this court that in fact adjudicated on what Nebuchadnezzar was doing to God’s people, that observed the behaviour of Belshazzar, and that watched over Daniel in the den of lions. They were ‘the watchers’.
(Dan 7:12 is quite crucial on this. It demonstrates that the court was sitting and passing judgment from the very first empire).
Until now the impression in the dream has been that God appeared to have been almost silent as the wild beasts trod the world scene. But now we are privileged to see behind the scenes. The truth is that the world was not just being left to itself, it was being observed by the watchers, and the reports were being examined by the court as they came in, and judgment passed on them. God was constantly aware of what was happening to His own.
Note the careful order to bring this out, the growth of the three beasts (4-6), the growth of the fourth beast (7-8), the court scene in heaven (9-10), the fourth beast dealt with by the court (11), the three beasts dealt with by the court previously (12).
‘I was beholding.’ This is not just ‘I beheld’. It is a more complicated construction, ‘I was beholding’ (also in Dan 7:6; Dan 7:11; Dan 7:13). ‘We might paraphrase, ‘I went on dreaming until I saw’. His dream was continuing, and another vision came before him. But this was not just a chronological continuation of what had gone before. There is no ‘after this’ and the poetic metre brings out that here is a new aspect on things. For in his visions, as he was surveying the scenes coming before him, he saw a whole new change of scene. He was now going to see what God was doing all this while, while the empires raged on. The vision of the wild beasts and the vision of the heavenly court were in parallel. Note Dan 7:11-12, where first the fourth beast is dealt with, and then, moving backwards in time, the three other beasts are dealt with. These were decisions of this court at different times. The visions go forwards and backwards.
We can compare this heavenly vision with John’s vision in Revelation 4-5, which draws on this scene. There too the court is continual, observing and worshipping continually through the ages. As with the seven seals God’s judgment is a continual operation. The last judgment is only its final summation. It is a travesty to assume that God only judges at the end of time. He judges and punishes continually (as Daniel has already demonstrated).
‘Thrones were placed.’ Unknown to the world, while the world was strutting its piece, the heavenly court was being set up (note that there is no ‘after this’ here – contrast Dan 7:6-7). While earth was in turmoil heaven also was to be busy. Here Daniel saw the deliberate placing of the thrones, in order to deal with the thrones spoken of below, the beast-like kings. But on these thrones is one King. We may see this specific assembly as having been set up almost from the beginning of the time covered by the vision, or even before (it might be a flashback to when man had first to be judged). It explains the words of the watcher to Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 4:14-17). These were the watchers whose decree determined events on earth. This serene scene is in direct contrast with the tumult of the nations. While the world suffered under the activities of the wild beasts, here all was unity, centred on the figure on the throne.
It is, however, possibly significant that more than one throne was placed and yet there is only mention of One Who takes His seat. The only mention of any other person worthy of enthronement in this whole passage is the son of man who comes on the clouds of heaven to whom rulership and dominion is to be given (Dan 7:14). Perhaps then the other throne(s) is (are) there awaiting His arrival with His people. (The ‘son of man’ represents both the Prince and His people). All was waiting for that day.
Alternately we may see the thrones as the heavenly equivalent of all the thrones in the world so that the One Who takes His throne sits as One upon all thrones, represented by His throne. Or it may be seen as a plural of majesty stressing the majesty of His throne (compare Psa 122:5), but having a contrast with the many thrones on earth in mind.
Others see it as representing thrones for heavenly attendants, whose sitting is not mentioned lest it take men’s eyes off the One on the throne. But there is no such idea anywhere else in the Old Testament. We may compare Psa 89:5; Psa 89:7, but there is no suggestion of sitting; or 1Ki 22:19, but there we are actually told that they stand around Him; or Isa 6:2, but there the seraphim also stood and shielded themselves with their wings. So no such angelic thrones are ever mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament, and the thought of others sitting in the presence of the King was not likely to be an acceptable thought then. Occupation of such a throne would require a unique and exceptional figure.
We cannot read Rev 4:4 back into Daniel. That was after the Lamb had been slain so that the representatives of the people of God could then sit on thrones before the King (see Rev 3:21).
Finally we might translate, ‘thrones were cast down’ indicating the commencement of the dethroning of all earthly rulers, for the same verb is used of the casting into the fiery furnace and the casting into the den of lions. This may then be seen as God’s response to those situations, ‘I was watching until thrones were cast down’ as God’s servants had previously been. But this translation is generally not considered probable.
Then enters One Who takes His seat in the great court. He is the ‘ancient of days’. Age was looked on as venerable, an indication of wisdom, and of worthiness to judge, and thus the representation is of the all-wise and reliable judge and arbiter, in such contrast with the earthly beast-kings below who pass away one by one. But here was the everlasting One Who was even the ‘ancient of days’ in heaven. He could look back to the growth of the first empire in Gen 10:9-10; Gen 11:1-9. He goes back to the beginning of time, before empires ever existed.
He was clothed in white, with hair like pure wool. White is always the symbol of purity and righteousness (Dan 11:35; Dan 12:10; Psa 51:7; Isa 1:18; Lam 4:7) which is here outwardly revealed and grows from Him. All here is pure and righteous, and eternal.
‘His throne was fiery flames and its wheels burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him.’ We see here the chariot throne of God as depicted by Ezekiel (see Ezekiel 1; Eze 3:13; Ezekiel 10). All is fire, the fire of glory and of judgment (see Eze 1:4; Eze 1:13; Eze 1:27 and compare Exo 19:18; Exo 24:17; Deu 4:24; Deu 9:3; Deu 18:17; Psa 18:8; Psa 50:3), for God is a consuming fire. For the fiery stream see Dan 7:11 and compare Deu 32:22; Deu 33:2 ; 2Ki 1:10; 2Ki 1:14; Isa 30:33; Jer 15:14; Jer 17:4; Rev 4:5). With fire He will finally destroy all evil.
‘A thousand thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.’ Gathered around the throne was a countless multitude of heavenly beings, attentive to serve Him and do His will (compare Deu 33:2; Psa 68:17; Psa 89:5; Psa 89:7; Psa 103:21; 1Ki 22:19). He is the Most High, above all things, unique on His throne, before Whom all things bow and worship. The emphasis is on His power and glory.
‘The judgment was set and the records were opened.’ God will not act arbitrarily. The truth must be examined and known. It is all recorded and will be recorded through time (Dan 10:21; Isa 65:6; Jer 2:22; Jer 17:1; Psa 56:8-9; Psa 139:16). The ‘records’ here are the records as they are brought to the court through the ages by those appointed to watch activities on earth, like a great king would expect to receive continual intelligence reports from his sub-rulers (compare the Amarna letters). This is not the final judgment, but part of God’s continual judgment, continuing on during the activities of the four beasts, dealing with one after another (Dan 7:12), although it leads up to the final judgment. It is also explaining the background to what happens in chapters 3 to 6 when the court sends dreams to warn men, passes sentence on them, punishes them, and delivers the righteous.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Dan 7:9-10. I beheld till the thrones were cast down Till thrones were set or placed. The metaphors and figures here used are borrowed from the solemnities of earthly judicatures, and particularly the great Sanhedrin of the Jews; where the father of the consistory sat, with his assessors placed on each side of him, in the form of a semicircle, and the people standing before him: and probably from this description was also taken that of the day of judgment in the New Testament. See Bishop Newton. Instead of the judgment was set, we may read, the council sat.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 1134
THE DESTRUCTION OF POPERY
Dan 7:9-10. I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued, and came forth from, before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
WHILE God exercises his sovereignty, he displays also his wisdom, in revealing his mind to man. As we may trace on many occasions a peculiar propriety in the time and manner of making known his will, so we may observe a kind of suitableness in the revelations themselves to those to whom they were made. The succession of four great empires had been made known to Nebuchadnezzar under the figure of a colossal image composed of various metals [Note: Dan 2:31-45.]; and the same is revealed to Daniel by a vision of four dreadful beasts: the propriety of these different representations is evident; for the mind of that haughty monarch was engrossed with the love of earthly grandeur; whereas the humbler mind of Daniel would view great conquerors rather in the light of ferocious beasts, eager to gratify their own appetites, though it be by the desolation of the human race. In Daniels vision also many things were added relative to the church of God, which, though of infinite importance in his eyes, would have been of small moment to the king of Babylon
If we notice the terms themselves, nothing can be conceived more majestic than this description of Gods coming to judgment. First, the thrones are set down [Note: So the words cast down should rather be rendered.], and the Ancient of days, the eternal incomprehensible Jehovah, with Christ as his assessor, takes his seat. The august appearance of the Judge, clothed in a garment white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool, denotes his unsearchable wisdom that penetrates the deepest secrets, and his unsullied integrity as discoverable in all his decisions. His throne is compared to a triumphal chariot, whose seat and wheels are of fire, and from which issues a stream of fire, to destroy those whom his justice shall condemn. Myriads of angels minister to him as the willing executioners of his decrees, and innumerable multitudes stand before him to receive their sentence from his mouth. The judgment being thus set, the books are opened; as well the book of his remembrance, wherein the actions of all were written, as the book of his law, whereby they are to be judged.
This is a prophecy; in considering which we shall shew,
I.
To what it refers
[The destruction of Antichrist is the first event to which this description refers. The prophet directs our attention, not to the general judgment, but to a particular judgment which shall be instituted for the punishment of a blasphemous, persecuting, and presumptuous power. Who that power is we cannot reasonably doubt. The little horn spoken of in the context will appear evidently to be the Papal Hierarchy, if we consider how exactly the characters of that antichristian power are described by the prophet. It arose after that the Roman empire had been divided into ten smaller kingdoms: it reduced under its dominion three of those kingdoms [Note: The Exarchate of Ravenna, the kingdom of the Lombards, and the state of Rome.]: and from the time that it had gained this ascendency, has never ceased to persecute the saints, and to assume to itself the unalienable prerogatives of the most high God [Note: Who is ignorant of their claims to infallibility, and of power to dispense both pardons and indulgences? Who knows not how they have set up their authority above that of God himself, changed the institutions of his sacramental supper, prohibited to their clergy the very first ordinance of God and nature, and dispensed with every obligation human and divine?]. St. Pauls account also of the man of sin corresponds exactly with this, and confirms this application of the prophecy in the strongest manner [Note: 2Th 2:3-4; 2Th 2:8-9.].
The enlargement of Christs kingdom is another event, to which the judgment before us has respect. The connexion between this and the destruction of popery is very strongly marked by the prophet. Repeatedly in this chapter does he unite two events [Note: Dan 7:11-14; Dan 7:26-27.]; teaching us thereby to expect assuredly, that, as they are united in Gods purpose, so shall they be also in their accomplishment.
As to the time when these things shall come to pass, we know that it shall be one thousand two hundred and sixty years from the time of Antichrist; but we must wait for the event, before we can positively say from what precise period the numeration of those years must commence. Partial checks has popery already received, as at the Reformation. So was there then a correspondent increase of zeal to spread the knowledge of Christ. But when the time shall arrive, and that idolatrous power shall be destroyed, then shall the kingdoms of the world speedily become the kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ.]
That we may make a just improvement of this prophecy, let us consider,
II.
What should be the state of our minds in reference to it,
1.
We should look forward to its accomplishment with holy confidence
[There is a state of mind peculiarly proper for the investigation of unfulfilled prophecy. To treat any part of divine revelation with indifference, as though it were an unprofitable task to search into it, would argue a very criminal disregard of Him from whom that revelation proceeds. On the other hand, to be stirring up ourselves to a state of feverish excitement, as though we could already discern every minute particular which shall take place when the period that has been predicted shall have arrived, is to dive into futurity with an unhallowed boldness, and to pervert the true end of prophecy. Prophecy is not intended to make us prophets, but to shew us, after that the predictions shall have been fulfilled, that the events so predicted were both foreseen and fore-ordained by the Most High God. The true medium is that which the prophets themselves. observed: They searched diligently what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow [Note: 1Pe 1:11.]. The Prophet Daniel, when he understood from books that the time for the delivery of his people from the Babylonish captivity was drawing near, set himself by prayer and supplication and fasting, to attain a more perfect knowledge of Gods purpose respecting it. And the saints who lived near the time of our Lords advent in the flesh, engaged in constant prayer, looking for him as the consolation of Israel, and waiting for his promised redemption. Now, if we would attend upon God in such a spirit as this, we should never sustain any injury to our souls from such holy exercises. But, when we so engage in searching into future events as almost to overlook what is past; and so please ourselves with our own fancied discoveries, as to place almost on the back ground all the wonders of redeeming love; we betray a very depraved appetite, and foster both in ourselves and others a spirit the very reverse of humility and love. In relation to future events, we stand in the same predicament with the saints who lived before the coining of our Lord. If we presume to pry into them with unhallowed curiosity, and to dogmatize respecting them as if they were already open to our view, we shall both suffer loss ourselves and inflict an injury on others: but, if we explore them with the modesty that becomes us, we shall find the contemplation of them profitable to our own minds, and the developement of them, so far as they are revealed to us, truly beneficial to the Church of God. Take, for instance, what is spoken in Scripture respecting the destruction of Popery, and the establishment of Christs kingdom throughout the world, we should be content with asserting only what the Scriptures have asserted, and with stating as conjecture whatever has not Divine authority for its support. If we go beyond this, we render the record itself questionable, by adding to it our own conceits, and loading it with circumstances not clearly revealed. It is sufficient for us to know, that both the one event and the other shall assuredly take place, and that when the Lamb has vanquished that idolatrous and bloody power, he will reign over the whole world [Note: Rev 17:14.], there being throughout the whole earth but one Lord, and his name One [Note: Zec 14:9.].]
2.
We should look forward to great events to which Gods present dispensations are only a prelude
[The time is surely coming, when the whole world shall be judged, all the wicked being cast down, and all the righteous exalted, in strict accordance with the prophecy before us. For so has St. John informed us: I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away: and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God: and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire [Note: Rev 20:11-15.]. On that occasion will all the pomp described in our text be fully realized: for the Son of Man will come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him; and he shall sit upon the throne of his glory; and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.And of these, some shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal [Note: Mat 25:31-32; Mat 25:46.]. To the same effect St. Paul also says, The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe [Note: 2Th 1:7-10.]. About this event no diversity of sentiment can arise. It is fast approaching to us all: for though the day of the general judgment is distant, the time for our being individually summoned into the Divine presence is near to every one of us. Disease or accident may at any moment carry us to the judgment-seat of Christ, and fix our eternal destinies either in heaven or hell, according as we are prepared or unprepared to meet our God. Let us then ask ourselves, What is recorded concerning us in the book of Gods remembrance, and what evidence we possess that our names are written in the book of life? When that hour shall arrive, it will be of small moment to us, what judgments have been executed on the Church of Rome, or what blessings have been vouchsafed to Gods elect. We are all of us chiefly interested about our own eternal state: and therefore, though I would by no means discourage an inquiry into the general designs of Providence, I would most earnestly entreat every one to look to his own ways, and to judge himself now, that he may not hereafter be judged of the Lord.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
But whatever uncertainty we might be under respecting the precise meaning of the vision before related, there can be none in respect of what is said here. To whom can we make application concerning the Ancient of Days, but to Jehovah, who from one eternity to another, while all the empires of the earth moulder to dust, remains the same in the unchangeable nature of his existence and perfections; God over all blessed forever. And to whom shall we look for an explanation of what is said, concerning One like the Son of man, but the Lord Jesus Christ, who in his mediatorial character, could only be found worthy to take the book out of the hand of him that sat on the throne, and unloose the seals thereof. I pray the Reader to compare this scripture with Rev 4 ; Rev 5 throughout.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Dan 7:9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment [was] white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne [was like] the fiery flame, [and] his wheels [as] burning fire.
Ver. 9. I beheld till the thrones were cast down. ] All these tyrannous dominions overturned. Some read it, “till the thrones were set up”; for till the last judgment Antichrist is to continue. Dan 7:21-22 ; Dan 7:25-26
And the Ancient of days did sit,
a Laert. in Vit. Thalet.
b Saturnus est appellatus quod saturetur annis. – Cic, de Nat. Deor., lib. ii.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Dan 7:9-12
9I kept looking
Until thrones were set up,
And the Ancient of Days took His seat;
His vesture was like white snow
And the hair of His head like pure wool.
His throne was ablaze with flames,
Its wheels were a burning fire.
10A river of fire was flowing
And coming out from before Him;
Thousands upon thousands were attending Him,
And myriads upon myriads were standing before Him;
The court sat,
And the books were opened.
11Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire. 12As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time.
Dan 7:9 Dan 7:9-10; Dan 7:13-14 are set in poetic form (i.e., poetic lines) in NASB, NKJV, NRSV, NJB. This means that the verses must be interpreted in light of Semitic poetic parallelism.
Synonymous parallelism in verses :
Dan 7:9 b and c
Dan 7:9 d and e
Dan 7:9 f and g
Dan 7:10 a and b
Dan 7:10 c and d
Dan 7:14 e and f and g
Beginning in Dan 7:9 the evil, suffering and chaos of the fallen earth is contrasted with the peace, calm, and purposeful actions of God in heaven. This section of chapter 7 is parallel to the crushing divine stone of chapter 2 that initiates the eternal kingdom! God’s judicial acts result in redemption, reconciliation, and lasting fellowship between the Triune God, faithful angels, and faithful humans! The purpose of original creation is restored through God’s merciful character and redemptive intervention.
Dan 7:13-14 are one of the greatest Messianic texts in the OT (see Special Topic: Messiah ). One like a Son of Man is coming, riding on the clouds of heaven and the Ancient of Days gives Him the eternal kingdom (cf. Dan 2:44; Dan 4:3; Dan 4:34; Dan 6:26; Dan 7:14; Dan 7:27), but this involves a period of suffering and persecution of God’s people. There is no victory without suffering (cf. Gen 3:15; Psalms 22; Isaiah 53; Zechariah 12-14; Rom 8:17-25; Php 3:10; 2Ti 2:11-13; 1Pe 4:13). Evil brings pain and suffering, but God transforms it into the path of growth and maturity (cf. Heb 5:8).
thrones were set up The King James Version has cast down, but the NKJV corrects this mistranslation by the thrones were put in place (i.e., arranged, BDB 1113, Peil PERFECT). There have been three major theories concerning who sits on these thrones: (1) angels (cf. Psa 89:7-8); (2) saints (cf. LXX Dan 7:22; Mat 19:28; Luk 22:30; 1Co 6:2; Rev 20:4); (3) some type of judges, identity unknown. Whomever these thrones represent, it is obvious that this is a court scene in heaven (cf. Revelation 4-5; Rev 20:11-15; Mat 25:31-46).
Option number one is best because of the OT recurrent mentioning of the concept of a heavenly angelic council (cf. 1Ki 22:19; Job 1:6; Job 2:1; Psa 82:1). The PLURAL term Elohim, translated God (cf. Gen 1:1) may relate to God and the angelic council. This concept was developed in rabbinical Judaism as the seven angels of the presence.
the Ancient of Days took His seat There is no definite ARTICLE with this unique Aramaic title ancient of days here, so it may emphasize the quality of timelessness (one that was ancient of days). The ARTICLE is present in Dan 7:13; Dan 7:22. This title is related to the characterization of God as living in Dana. Dan 4:34; Dan 6:26; Dan 12:7. The covenant name, YHWH, is from the CAUSATIVE form of the Hebrew VERB to be (cf. Exo 3:14), the Ever Living One!
His vesture was like white snow This refers to the garments of heavenly beings.
1. God (Dan 7:9)
2. Jesus (cf. Mat 17:2; Mar 9:3; Luk 9:29)
3. angels
a. OT (cf. Dan 10:5-6)
b. NT (cf. Mat 28:3; Luk 24:4; Joh 20:12; Act 1:10; Rev 15:6)
4. saints (cf. Rev 3:4-5; Rev 3:18; Rev 7:13; Rev 19:8)
the hair of His head like pure wool This refers to the wisdom of the aged (of Jesus in Rev 1:14). The white and pure of these two lines of poetry speak of both wisdom and holiness (cf. the Judgment scene of Isa 1:18-20), which gives God the right and authority to judge (i.e., white throne judgment of Rev 20:11; Jesus on a white horse as Judge in Rev 19:11; Rev 19:14).
The following poetic lines speak of fire, which is another metaphor of holiness, cleansing, and judgment.
Its wheels were a burning fire This is probably the portable throne-chariot of God, which Ezekiel saw in Babylon in Ezekiel 1, 10. If this is truly a reference to the Ezekiel texts then Daniel must have known of Ezekiel’s writings because this description of YHWH’s chariot occurs only here and in Ezekiel 1, 10. Daniel was in the palace in the city of Babylon; Ezekiel was in a concentration camp by the canal Chebar, while Jeremiah was in the city of Jerusalem (but forced to go to Egypt by renegade Jews). They must have known of each other’s ministries, words or writings.
Dan 7:10 A river of fire was flowing The terms flowing and coming out of are parallel, possibly hendiadys. This is typical of Daniel’s literary style. The metaphor of fire coming from God is a biblical idiom of God coming to His creation for judgment (cf. Psa 18:7-8; Psa 50:3-6; Psa 97:3; Isa 30:27-28) as the phrases in Dan 7:10 e , the court sat (cf. Dan 7:22; Dan 7:26) and 10f, the books were opened (cf. Dan 12:1) imply.
SPECIAL TOPIC: FIRE
Thousands upon thousands were attending Him If Dan 7:10, c and d, are parallel (i.e. 10,000 x 10,000), some have assumed that these were angels who serve God (cf. Dan 7:10 c) because of Dan 7:16 and Deu 33:2 (cf. Heb 12:22; Rev 5:11). Others have assumed that they are humans awaiting judgment (cf. Dan 7:10 d) or perhaps saints because of Dan 7:18; Dan 7:22; Dan 7:27. This phrase is alluded to in Jud 1:14.
the books were opened There is no definite ARTICLE. Here and in Rev 20:11-15 there are two heavenly metaphorical books mentioned: (1) the Book of Life which records the names of God’s people (i.e., saints/believers, cf. Exo 32:32-33; Psalms 3; Psa 69:28; Isa 4:3; Dan 12:1; Luk 10:20; Php 4:3; Heb 12:23; Rev 3:5; Rev 13:8; Rev 17:8; Rev 20:15; Rev 21:27) and (2) the Book of Remembrances (or deeds) which records the deeds of humanity, both positive and negative (cf. Psa 56:8; Psa 139:16; Isa 65:6; Mal 3:16; Rev 20:12-13).
These are metaphorical for the memory of a holy God. They form the documented basis for judgment and rewards.
SPECIAL TOPIC: DEGREES OF REWARDS AND PUNISHMENT
were opened The United Bible Societies’ A Handbook on the Book of Daniel, p. 188, mentions the interesting translation option of translating the court sat and the books were opened (both PASSIVE) as if they refer to the judges who sat on the thrones of Dan 7:9 b, the judges sat down (to begin their work and opened the books).
Dan 7:11 the sound of boastful words This refers to the little horn of the fourth kingdom (cf. Dan 7:7-8). Arrogance was Nebuchadnezzar’s problem in Dan 4:28-31; Dan 5:20 and also Belshazzar’s in Dan 5:22-23. This arrogant attitude characterizes unbelieving Gentile powers (i.e., the little horn of the third kingdom of Dan 8:11 and here the little horn of the fourth kingdom, cf. Dan 7:8).
Paul discusses this very issue of human pride.
SPECIAL TOPIC: BOASTING
the beast was slain Again God is in complete control of history (cf. Dan 2:21)! This boastful ruler is judged and destroyed, but apparently the kingdoms represented by the other beasts (cf. Dan 7:3-6) continue in existence but without their previous power and glory (cf. Dan 7:12, their dominion was taken away).
This is a good place to admit that an interpreter is never sure when the details are to be taken as historical details or just part of the apocalyptic picture (much like the details of Jesus’ parables). The issue is not one of truth, but one of literary presentation. Authorial intent, not literalness, is the interpretive key to figurative eastern language and literature!
Dan 7:12 As for the rest of the beasts. . .extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time The phrases in Aramaic for a season and and a time are other examples of hendiadys. They mean the same thing. The nations continued to exist, but without their previous power and world influence. Their influence is limited and will be removed (cf. Dan 2:21; Dan 7:18; Dan 7:22; Dan 7:27). This would therefore, refer to Iraq (Babylon), Iran (Persia), Greece, and Italy (Rome). Notice the theme of God’s sovereignty over the nations continues (for an appointed period of time). The Bible is teleological, not cyclical. History is moving toward a consummation!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
till = till that.
the thrones = the seats for judgment.
cast down = set or placed. The seats of Orientals are cushions laid, not “set”, but “cast down”. The reference is to this, in Rev 4:2. Compare Psa 9:7; Psa 29:10. Isa 28:6.
the Ancient of days = the Everlasting One. Compare Psa 90:2. Rev 4:2.
did sit = took His seat.
white as snow, &c. Compare Rev 1:4.
his wheels = the wheels thereof: i.e. of the throne. Compare Eze 1:15-20, Eze 1:26-28; Eze 10:9-13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Dan 7:9
Dan 7:9 I beheldH1934 H2370 tillH5705 H1768 the thronesH3764 were cast down,H7412 and the AncientH6268 of daysH3118 did sit,H3488 whose garmentH3831 was whiteH2358 as snow,H8517 and the hairH8177 of his headH7217 like the pureH5343 wool:H6015 his throneH3764 was like the fieryH1768 H5135 flame,H7631 and his wheelsH1535 as burningH1815 fire.H5135
Dan 7:9
I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.
This is a throne scene of God and from His throne issues judgment on all the thrones of all the beasts and the KJV text says they are cast down. In the original language the word here is “remah” which means “to throw”, to “set, or to “assess”. Modern translations render this phrase as “set up” instead of “cast down”. Either way, Daniel was watching a succession of the leaders of the world empires.
The “Ancient of days” is a symbolic reference to God, the great “I am”. His white garment and white hair signifying absolute purity. The fire is an apocalyptic reference to judgment. This scene demonstrates that all the thrones of earthly leaders will be brought before the judgment seat of God in Heaven. All the cruel and unlawful acts of powerful men will be brought before the God of Heaven for judgment. Punishments suitable to their crimes would be administered. In this case, the toppling of world empires and their leaders is in view. God is pictured here as ancient, enduring through all of the earthy kingdoms, pure and holy, setting on His throne throughout and the scene is of fire and retribution on the unjust.
It should be noted that God who issued judgment then is still on His throne today. The judgment for unrighteous acts and cruelty today will be no different. Nations will be toppled, rulers will be punished. The book of Revelation gives us a vivid illustration of how God accomplishes this on earth. World leaders today need to take heed to these warnings lest they find themselves facing the fiery judgment of the “Ancient of days”.
His “wheels as burning fire” is an image taken from oriental thrones which moved on wheels. Like the rapid flame, God’s judgments are most swift in falling where He directs them (Eze 1:15-16). The turning of the wheels mark the complicated, inexorable and all-wise revolutions of His will.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
till: Dan 2:34, Dan 2:35, Dan 2:44, Dan 2:45, 1Co 15:24, 1Co 15:25, Rev 19:18-21, Rev 20:1-4
the Ancient: Dan 7:13, Dan 7:22, Psa 90:2, Psa 102:24, Psa 102:25, Isa 9:6, Mic 5:2, Hab 1:12
whose: Psa 45:8, Psa 104:2, Mat 17:2, Mar 9:3, Phi 3:9, 1Ti 6:16, 1Jo 1:5, Rev 1:14
his throne: Act 2:30, Act 2:33, 2Th 1:7, 2Th 1:8, 2Pe 3:7-10
and his wheels: Psa 104:3, Psa 104:4, Eze 1:13-21, Eze 10:2-7
Reciprocal: Deu 33:2 – ten thousands 1Ki 22:19 – I saw the Lord 2Ch 18:9 – sat either 2Ch 18:18 – I saw Est 1:4 – the riches Psa 103:21 – ministers Psa 104:1 – clothed Son 5:11 – his locks Isa 6:1 – sitting Isa 24:23 – before his ancients gloriously Isa 30:27 – burning Jer 49:38 – General Eze 1:15 – one Eze 1:26 – the likeness of a Eze 8:2 – I beheld Zec 14:5 – the Lord Mar 13:26 – General Joh 1:51 – and the Joh 20:12 – in Act 1:10 – two Heb 12:29 – General Rev 1:13 – like Rev 4:2 – and one Rev 11:18 – and the time Rev 20:4 – thrones
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Dan 7:9. Not only was religion a state affair in the world empires, but that religion was forced upon the subjects without regard for their personal convictions. As long as that condition existed, such institutions as world empires could exist also. But God pur possed to introduce an institution into the midst of “these kings” (chapter 2: 44) that was to change things and teach the principle of individual responsibility that would result in the downfall of these world powers. That is the prediction in the words till the thrones ive.re cast down In this verse. The Ancient of days is the same being as is called Ihe God of heaven in chapter 2: 44,
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Dan 7:9-10. I beheld till the thrones were cast down Till all these earthly kingdoms were brought to an end, and all enemies and opposite powers were destroyed. But the word , here used, maybe rendered, were pitched, or placed, namely, for the reception of God, and his assessors in judgment, the saints and angels. Thus the LXX., , till the thrones were placed, or set, or fixed; and so the Vulgate. And the verb in the text is used in the same sense in the Chaldee paraphrase on Jer 1:15; where our translation reads, They shall set every one his throne, &c. The following words justify this translation; And the Ancient of days did sit That is, the eternal Judge of the world, who has been from everlasting, who is at present, and who shall always be: and whom the prophet thus describes, to adapt himself to human apprehensions, and to make the following part of his description more intelligible; but no similitude is pointed out, nor ought we from hence to attempt to represent the invisible God by any figure. The metaphors here used, says Bishop Newton, are borrowed from the solemnities of earthly judicatories, and particularly of the great sanhedrim of the Jews, where the father of the consistory sat, with his assessors seated on each side of him, in the form of a semicircle, with the people standing before him: and from this description again was borrowed the description of the day of judgment in the New Testament. Whose garment was white as snow Signifying the unspotted righteousness of his proceedings. He is elsewhere described as covering himself with light as with a garment, Psa 104:2 : see also 1Jn 1:5. Kings and princes used anciently to wear white garments, as an emblem of perfect justice. And the hair of his head like the pure wool To denote the eternity and maturity of his counsels, and that his decisions are all perfectly right and true, without the least mixture of any partial affections. His throne was like the fiery flame Denoting his awful majesty, and the severity of his judgments on the ungodly; and his wheels of burning fire Emblematical of the revolutions and dispensations of his providence, Eze 1:15, being dreadfully severe and destructive to the wicked. The reader will observe, Gods throne is here described in the nature of a triumphal chariot, supported by angels as so many fiery wheels. Grotius remarks, that the ancient thrones and sell curules had wheels. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him Signifying his justice and wrath in giving forth and executing sentence against the ungodly. Thousand thousands ministered unto him His retinue was an innumerable company of angels; and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him To receive their sentence from his lips. The judgment was set That is, the court, namely, God the supreme judge, and the saints as his assessors, made their public appearance. And the books were opened That is, those evidences which contained the laws and will of God, whether natural or revealed; those in which the actions of men, with all their circumstances of aggravation or extenuation were recorded; those from which the clearest and completest conviction might be adduced, in order to render the judgment such as that all should be obliged to acknowledge it to be the result of the most perfect truth and consummate justice: see Rev 20:12. Wintle.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
7:9 I beheld till the {s} thrones were cast down, and the {t} Ancient of days did sit, whose garment [was] white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne [was like] the fiery flame, [and] his wheels [as] burning fire.
(s) Meaning, the places where God and his angels would come to judge these monarchies, which judgment would begin at the first coming of Christ.
(t) That is, God who was before all times, and is here described in a way such that man’s nature is able to comprehend some portion of his glory.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
2. The Ancient of Days and the destruction of the fourth beast 7:9-12
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
In some English versions, this verse and some that follow (Dan 7:10; Dan 7:13-14) are in poetic form. This indicates a difference in the original language (Aramaic), which sets these verses off as distinct and more elevated in literary style, in the opinion of the translators. From what Daniel recorded, it seems clear that now he saw something happening in the courts of heaven. He saw thrones set up. The AV translation "thrones were cast down" is inaccurate. The Apostle John later saw thrones in heaven too (Rev 1:4; Rev 4:4; Rev 20:4; et al.). The "Ancient of Days" seems to refer to God the Father (cf. Dan 7:13; Dan 7:22; Isa 43:13; Isa 57:15), whereas in Dan 7:13, God the Son is in view. Gaebelein took "the Ancient of Days" as a reference to Jesus Christ here (cf. Joh 5:22; Rev 1:12-14), but this seems less likely (cf. Dan 7:13). [Note: Gaebelein, p. 77.] Daniel then saw God take His seat on His heavenly throne.
The title "Ancient of Days" stresses God’s eternality. His pure white clothing pictures His purity and holiness, and His pure woolly hair suggests His mature judgment. Daniel saw His throne blazing with fire (lit. a burning flame), symbolic of knowledge, purity, and judgment in Scripture (cf. Exo 3:2; Deu 4:24; 1Ti 6:16; Heb 12:29; Rev 1:14-15). The wheels probably imply that the throne and God can go in any direction, that He can do anything He pleases (cf. Eze 1:13-21). [Note: For similar descriptions of the Canaanite pantheon in Canaanite myth, see John Day, Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan, p. 106.]