Commentary on Daniel Chapters 1-12 John Calvin
DANIEL
are plainly and accurately stated, and the objections of the Fourth Donnellan Lecture are shewn to be futile. This work is chiefly devoted to the refutation of the Futurist theories, which are directly opposite to that of Calvin. See particularly pages 135-149.
Fry in his Second Advent, chapter. 5, sect. 21, has collected the views of various English Commentators, but they all vary exceedingly from those of Calvin.
Dissertation 16. THE POLLUTION OF THE SANCTUARY Daniel 11:36, etc. The various occasions on which the sanctuary was polluted by heathen foes are as follows: —
1. By Antiochus Epiphanes, when he set up the image of Jupiter Olympius on the divine altar. The daily sacrifice was then taken away, and Acra fortified so as to overlook the Temple.
2. The Romans polluted it under Pompey the Great, as recorded by Josephus, Antiq., 14, Section 4, 2, 6. It was transitory and quickly repaired, although this was the first step towards the complete loss of liberty.
3. The next profanation occurred under Crassus, who carried off the gold and the treasures which Pompey had left. Eleazer the priest, who had the custody of the vail of the Temple, gave him a beam of solid gold as a ransom for the whole, and yet he afterwards carried away all the wealth of the sacred edifice. (Antiq., 14, 7, 1.)
4. When Herod obtained the kingdom, a.c. 38, the Romans under Sosius took the city by storm; the Jews took refuge within the Temple, but were unmercifully massacred by their cruel foes. (Antiq., 14, 16, 3.) So again a slaughter took place in the Temple by Archelaus on the first passover after Herod's death, while the cruelties of Sabinus form a similar instance. (Wars, 2:3, 2.) 5. When Titus pitched his camp on the Mount of Olives, and the Romans brought their ensigns within the Temple, and offered sacrifices to them. (Wars, 6:6, 1.)
6. During the reign of Hadrian, after the revolt of Barchochebas, a temple was built and consecrated to Jupiter Capitolinus on the very site of the sanctuary.
Dissertation 17. THE CONQUEST OF THE GLORIOUS LAND Daniel 11:41 The sober views of our Reformer form a striking contrast to the speculations of some modern writers. Birks, for instance, considers the spread of the Turkish power as accomplishing this verse. He quotes Rycault's History of the Ottoman Kings, and considers the conquest of Thessalonica and the subjugation of Greece by Amurath II., A.D. 1432, as the intended fulfillment. In 1514, Selim the third Turkish Emperor overthrew the Sultan of Egypt,