"Then I say Daniel is a prophet," retorted his opponent. And so these two went on contradicting each other, like two little children; until a little dapper French Jew, who was sitting at my right hand, said smilingly to me, “You see, Mr. Brown, you needn't do anything: they'll fight your battles for you:" and then in a confidential tone he added, "I'll tell you how it is. You see in former times, we Jews didn't understand you Gentiles; and you Gentiles didn't understand us Jews: but now we know each other better; and so we can all live together as friends." The passage in Ezekiel xx. 32, afterwards occurred to my mind; but I then truly saw there before me the very same three divisions of Jews that existed in the days of our Lord; in the German Jew, the Pharisee; in the English Jew, the Sadducee; and in the French Jew, the Herodian ! And such is the state of Israel now. I have already referred to our Lord's warning words to the Jews in His day, "I am come in My Father's Name, and ye receive Me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive; " and pointed out that our Lord here referred to the Antichrist of the last days, in whom the Jewish nation will finally put their trust. For when Antichrist has succeded in fully consolidating his power, he will then seek the goal of his ambition, to reign also in Jerusalem, as the Head of the Jewish nation: for it is in Jerusalem especially that he will seek to glorify himself! It is possible that one way of ingratiating himself with that people, will be, in his assisting them to rebuild their temple; or, if it be then built, as it possibly may be, of adorning it, or contributing to its maintenance: for that the Jews, as a nation, will be restored to their own land in unbelief, and will re-establish the Temple services; and that Antichrist will be connected with them, the Scriptures most unhesitatingly declare. That the Jews, as a nation, will return to their own land in unbelief, is proved even from one Chapter only in Ezekiel, where the Lord says, "I will take you out 1 John v. 43. from among the Gentiles, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations," &c. That the temple will be rebuilt is also proved from the last Chapter of Isaiah, which speaks of its being in existence, just before Israel, as a nation, is "born" again "in one day," by "looking upon" Him "Whom they have pierced, and mourning; "3 and from the prediction in the New Testament, that Antichrist himself shall "sit in" it, "shewing himself that he is God." That the temple services will be restored, is also proved from the fact, that when Antichrist breaks his covenant with the Jews, he "takes away the daily sacrifice: "5 which must therefore, of course have been then re-established. Now, the reason the Jews alleged why they would not nationally receive Jesus as their Messiah was, that He would not shew them a sign from Heaven," which Antichrist will probably do; and I think so for the following reasons. When the devil was permitted to tempt our Lord, we are told that one of his temptations consisted in his "taking Him up into the holy city, and setting Him on a pinnacle of the temple," and then addressing Him thus: "If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down for it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee; and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest Thou dash Thy foot against a stone "-that is, shew the Jews this sign from Heaven; for You see the Scriptures themselves say the angels will see to it that You are held up in so doing; and then the Jews will acknowledge You as their Messiah at once, without any further effort on Your part 1 Ezek. xxxvi. 24, 25, 26, 31. 3 Zech. xii. 10; xiii. 1. 1 Cor. i. 22. 2 Isaiah lxvi. 5-10. 42 Thes. ii. 4. 5 Dan. ix. 27; xii. 11. Mark viii. 11; Luke xi. 16, 29; John ii. 18; 7 Mat. iv. 5, 6. to induce them to do so. Now it is possible, that the devil may induce Antichrist to do this; and that the Jewish nation might then receive him as their Messiah in con sequence. Again, it is said, in the Book of the Revelation, that Antichrist's minister, the false prophet, who will in all probability be a Jew-for he is said to "come up out of the land," yns, i.e., of Israel-will "do great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from Heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of," i.e., as the minister, of the "beast," i.e., Antichrist. Now one reason why the Jewish sacrifices cannot now be restored, in the opinion of the Rabbins, is, that there is no "fire from heaven" to kindle them as there was in the first instance of old. If this fire, then, be called down" from heaven," as it were, to kindle the sacrifices, this might seem to the unbelieving Jews, such "a sign from heaven," as might induce them to put their trust in Antichrist, as their Messiah; just as such a sign had this effect, outwardly at least, in inducing the Israelites to acknowledge Jehovah to be the true God in the days of Elijah. But be this as it may, that they will do this, is certain: for the Divine Word tells us that he will enter into a "seven years'" covenant with them; and reign over them in Jerusalem as their Lord and King. That Dan. ix. 26, 27, refers to Antichrist, and not to Christ, is proved from the fact, that the person there mentioned is called "the prince of the people," i.e., the Romans, "who should come❞— for he will then be at the head of the entire Roman world -and this people are there said to have "destroyed the city and the sanctuary," which we know they did: while the 1 Rev. xiii. 13, 14. Lev. ix. 24; 1 Kings xviii. 38; 1 Chron. xxi. 26, &c. 31 Kings xviii. 37-39. 66 4 Dan. ix. 27; Isaiah xxviii.; Rev. xi., &c. The city spoken of in this last chapter is not Rome, but Jerusalem. See and compare v. 8 with Isaiah i. 9, 10; Jer. xxiii. 14; Deut. xxxii. 32; Amos ix. 7; Jer. ii. 18; xiii. 23. prince is said to be the same person, who not only "causes. the sacrifice and oblation to cease;" or, as another place puts it, "takes away the daily sacrifice," but also brings in "the abomination that maketh desolate." Hence this Covenant is called in Scripture, a "covenant with death," and "an agreement with Sheol," the abyss, of which Satan is "the angel: "3 because it is made with one, who is indwelt of Satan; and is therefore virtually made with Satan himself! And here seems to be the proper place for investigating the times mentioned in Daniel, as well as in the Book of the Revelation. I have already shewn in my first Book of "Outlines," what is now generally admitted by Protestant Expositors of Scripture, that the Hebdomads mentioned in the 9th Chapter of Daniel, are hebdomads of years; and therefore that the Covenant entered into by Antichrist with the Jews for one hebdomad, must be a Covenant for seven years; and that if he break it at the end of half a hebdomad, he must break it at the end of three years and a half. Now this in reality rules all the other periods: but strange to. say, this is not admitted by Expositors in general; but another principle is applied to these times, and that one taken from a circumstance referred to in another part of Scripture, which had nothing whatever to do with the matter in hand. It is inferred, because Ezekiel was ordered on a certain occasion, to lay so many days on his left side, and so many days on his right side to represent so many years in the history of Israel's chastisements; that therefore, days must of necessity represent years in matters relating to Gentile chastisements; supposing the cases in point to refer to such which, however, they do. not a most unwarrantable inference, which is rebutted by the prophecies themselves, which we will now, therefore, examine. 4 In Dan. vii. 25, we read, "And he," i.e. Antichrist (as all admit) "shall speak great words against the Most High,. 1 See and compare Dan. viii. 11; xi. 31; xii. 11. 3 Rev. ix. 11. Isa. xxviii. 18. 4 Ezek. iv. 4-6. and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of times." And again in Chapter xii. 6, 7, we read, " And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by Him that liveth for ever and ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.”1 Now the question is, Is this a period, as these Expositors suppose, of 1260 years, or, Is it a period of 3 and a half years -the half of the Hebdomad, referred to by the prophet in Chap. ix. 27? It seems strange that such a question is needed to be asked, when the prophet himself has settled it for us, not only in Chapter ix. 27: but also in Chapter iv. 16; where he tells us, that when Nebuchadnezzar lost his reason, and was driven from the haunts of men, seven times," or, seven years, "passed over him," before he regained it. Now it would be contrary to all usus scribendi to suppose that the prophet, much less the Holy Ghost who spoke by him, would use the term in two such opposite senses in the same Book, without the slightest intimation of any intention of his having done so. 66 The word used for "time" in Dan. vii. 25, is a different word from that which is employed in Dan. xii. 7—the first word being gid-dahn a Chaldee word, and the second being Moh-gehd a Hebrew word: but they both have the same meaning. Moh-gehd is a term which is used for the times appointed for the feasts of Jehovah; and when used as a period of time it denotes the time that passes from one annual feast to another, i.e. one year. "A time, times,” i.e., two times," and a dividing of times" must, therefore, signify three years and a half; and so Gesenius, speaking upon 1 Compare with this Rev. x. 5-7. |