Chapter VI: The Epilogue

The twelfth chapter of the Book of Daniel serves as a general epilogue to the Book, and is as little free from difficulties in the interpretation of the details as are the other apocalyptic chapters.

The keynote, however, to their right understanding must be given in the words "_At that time_," with which the first verse opens. The words can only mean "the time" spoken of at the end of the last chapter, the days of that final effort of Antiochus against the holy people which ended in his miserable death.

"At that time," then--_i.e._, about the year B.C. 163--the guardian archangel of Israel, "Michael, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people," shall stand up for their deliverance.

But this deliverance should resemble many similar crises in its general characteristics. It should not be immediate. On the contrary, it should be preceded by days of unparalleled disorder and catastrophe--"a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time." We may, for instance, compare with this the similar prophecy of Jeremiah (xxx. 4-11): "And these are the words which the Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus saith the Lord; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.... Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I will burst thy bonds.... Therefore fear thou not, O Jacob, My servant, saith the Lord; neither be dismayed, O Israel.... For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee. For I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have scattered thee, but I will not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee with judgment, and will in nowise leave thee unpunished."[716]

The general conception is so common as even to have found expression in proverbs,--such as, "The night is darkest just before the dawn"; and, "When the tale of bricks is doubled, Moses comes." Some shadow of similar individual and historic experiences is found also among the Greeks and Romans. It lies in the expression θεὸς ἀπὸ μηχανῆς, and also in the lines of Horace,--

"Nec Deus intersit nisi _dignus vindice nodus_
Intersit."

We find the same expectation in the apocryphal Book of Enoch,[717] and we find it reflected in the Revelation of St. John,[718] where he describes the devil as let loose and the powers of evil as gathering themselves together for the great final battle of Armageddon before the eternal triumph of the Lamb and of His saints. In Rabbinic literature there was a fixed anticipation that the coming of the Messiah must inevitably be preceded by "pangs" or "birth-throes," of which they spoke as the משיח בלי.[719] These views may partly have been founded on individual and national experience, but they were doubtless deepened by the vision of Zechariah (xii.).

"Behold, a day of the Lord cometh, when thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the people shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives.... And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be light, but cold and ice:[720] but it shall be one day that is known unto the Lord, not day and not night: but it shall come to pass that at evening time there shall be light."[721]

The anticipation of the saintly writer in the days of the early Maccabean uprising, while all the visible issues were still uncertain, and hopes as yet unaccomplished could only be read by the eyes of faith, were doubtless of a similar character. When he wrote Antiochus was already concentrating his powers to advance with the utmost wrath and fury against the Holy City. Humanly speaking, it was certain that the holy people could oppose no adequate resistance to his overwhelming forces, in which he would doubtless be able to enlist contingents from many allied nations. What could ensue but immeasurable calamity to the great majority? Michael indeed, their prince, should do his utmost for them; but it would not be in his power to avert the misery which should fall on the nation generally.

Nevertheless, they should not be given up to utter or to final destruction. As in the days of the Assyrians the name Shear-jashub, which Isaiah gave to one of his young sons, was a sign that "a remnant should be left," so now the seer is assured that "thy people shall be delivered"--at any rate "every one that shall be found written in the book."

"Written in the book"--for all true Israelites had ever believed that a book of record, a book of remembrance, lies ever open before the throne of God, in which are inscribed the names of God's faithful ones; as well as that awful book in which are written the evil deeds of men.[722] Thus in Exodus (xxxii. 33) we read, "Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book," which tells us of the records against the guilty. In Psalm lxix. 28 we read, "Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous." That book of the righteous is specially mentioned by Malachi: "Then they that feared the Lord spake one with another: and the Lord hearkened and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and called upon His Name."[723] And St. John refers to these books at the close of the Apocalypse: "And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.... And if any one was not found written in the book of life, he was cast in the lake of fire."[724]

In the next verse the seer is told that "many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting abhorrence."[725]

It is easy to glide with insincere confidence over the difficulties of this verse, but they are many.

We should naturally connect it with what goes before as a reference to "that time"; and if so, it would seem as though--perhaps with reminiscences of the concluding prophecy of Isaiah[726]--the writer contemplated the end of all things and the final resurrection.[727] If so, we have here another instance to be added to the many in which this prophetic vision of the future passed from an immediate horizon to another infinitely distant. And if that be the correct interpretation, this is the earliest trace in Scripture of the doctrine of individual immortality. Of that doctrine there was no full knowledge--there were only dim prognostications or splendid hopes[728]--until in the fulness of the times Christ brought life and immortality to light. For instance, the passage here seems to be doubly limited. It does not refer to mankind in general, but only to members of the chosen people; and it is not said that all men shall rise again and receive according to their works, but only that "many" shall rise to receive the reward of true life,[729] while others shall live indeed, but only in everlasting shame.

To them that be wise--to "the teacher,"[730] and to those that turn the many to "righteousness"--there is a further promise of glory. They "shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for ever and ever." There is here, perhaps, a reminiscence of Prov. iv. 18, 19, which tells us that the way of the wicked is as darkness, whereas the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. Our Lord uses a similar metaphor in his explanation of the Parable of the Tares: "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father."[731] We find it once again in the last verse of the Epistle of St. James: "Let him know, that he who hath converted a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins."

But there is a further indication that the writer expected this final consummation to take place immediately after the troubles of the Antiochian assault; for he describes the angel Gabriel as bidding Daniel "to seal the Book even to the time of the end." Now as it is clear that the Book was, on any hypothesis, meant for the special consolation of the persecuted Jews under the cruel sway of the Seleucid King, and that then first could the Book be understood, the writer evidently looked for the fulfilment of his last prophecies at the termination of these troubles. This meaning is a little obscured by the rendering, "many _shall run to and fro_, and knowledge shall be increased." Ewald, Maurer, and Hitzig take the verse, which literally implies movement hither and thither, in the sense, "many shall _peruse_ the Book."[732] Mr. Bevan, however, from a consideration of the Septuagint Version of the words, "and knowledge shall be increased"--for which they read, "and the land be filled with injustice"--thinks that the original rendering would be represented by, "many shall rush hither and thither, and many shall be the calamities." In other words, "the revelation must remain concealed, because there is to ensue a long period of commotion and distress."[733] If we have been convinced by the concurrence of many irresistible arguments that the Book of Daniel is the product of the epoch which it most minutely describes, we can only see in this verse a part of the literary form which the Book necessarily assumed as the vehicle for its lofty and encouraging messages.

The angel here ceases to speak, and Daniel, looking round him, becomes aware of the presence of two other celestial beings, one of whom stood on either bank of the river.[734] "And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was above the waters of the river, How long to the end of these wonders?"[735] There is a certain grandeur in the vagueness of description, but the speaker seems to be one of the two angels standing on either "lip" of the Tigris. "The man clothed in linen," who is hovering in the air above the waters of the river, is the same being who in viii. 16 wears "the appearance of a man," and calls "from between the banks of Ulai" to Gabriel that he is to make Daniel understand the vision. He is also, doubtless, the "one man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz, his body like the beryl, his face as flashing lightning, his eyes as burning torches, and his voice like the deep murmur of a multitude," who strikes such terror into Daniel and his comrades in the vision of chap. x. 5, 6;--and though all is left uncertain, "the great prince Michael" may perhaps be intended.

The question how long these marvels were to last, and at what period the promised deliverance should be accomplished, was one which would naturally have the intensest interest to those Jews who--in the agonies of the Antiochian persecution and at the beginning of the "little help" caused by the Maccabean uprising--read for the first time the fearful yet consolatory and inspiring pages of this new apocalypse. The answer is uttered with the most solemn emphasis. The Vision of the priest-like and gold-girded angel, as he hovers above the river-flood, "held up both his hands to heaven," and swears by Him that liveth for ever and ever that the continuance of the affliction shall be "for a time, times, and a half." So Abraham, to emphasise his refusal of any gain from the King of Sodom, says that he has "_lifted up his hand_ unto the Lord, the Most High God, that he would not take from a thread to a shoe-latchet." And in Exod. vi. 8, when Jehovah says "I did swear," the expression means literally, "_I lifted up My hand_."[736] It is the natural attitude of calling God to witness; and in Rev. x. 5, 6, with a reminiscence of this passage, the angel is described as standing on the sea, and lifting his right hand to heaven to swear a mighty oath that there should be no longer delay.

The "time, two times, and half a time" of course means three years and a half, as in vii. 25. There can be little doubt that their commencement is the _terminus a quo_ which is expressly mentioned in ver. 11: "the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away." We have already had occasion to see that three years, with a margin which seems to have been variously computed, does roughly correspond to the continuance of that total desecration of the Temple, and extinction of the most characteristic rites of Judaism, which preceded the death of Antiochus and the triumph of the national cause.

Unhappily the reading, rendering, and interpretation of the next clause of the angel's oath are obscure and uncertain. It is rendered in the R.V., "and when they have made an end of breaking in pieces the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished." As to the exact translation many scholars differ. Von Lengerke translates it, "and when the scattering of a part of the holy people should come to an end, all this should be ended." The Septuagint Version is wholly unintelligible. Mr. Bevan suggests an alteration of the text which would imply that, "when the power of the shatterer of the holy people [_i.e._, Antiochus] should come to an end, all these things should be ended." This no doubt would not only give a very clear sense, but also one which would be identical with the prophecy of vii. 25, that "they [the times and the law] shall be given unto his hand until a time and times and half a time."[737] But if we stop short at the desperate and uncertain expedient of correcting the original Hebrew, we can only regard the words as implying (in the rendering of our A.V. and R.V.) that the persecution and suppression of Israel should proceed to their extremest limit, before the woe was ended; and of this we have already been assured.[738]

The writer, in the person of Daniel, is perplexed by the angel's oath, and yearns for further enlightenment and certitude. He makes an appeal to the vision with the question, "O my lord, what shall be the issue [or, latter end] of these things?" In answer he is simply bidden to go his way--_i.e._, to be at peace, and leave all these events to God,[739] since the words are shut up and sealed till the time of the end. In other words, the Daniel of the Persian Court could not possibly have attached any sort of definite meaning to minutely detailed predictions affecting the existence of empires which would not so much as emerge on the horizon till centuries after his death. These later visions could only be apprehended by the contemporaries of the events which they shadowed forth.

"Many," continued the angel, "shall purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; the teachers shall understand."[740]

The verse describes the deep divisions which should be cleft among the Jews by the intrigues and persecutions of Antiochus. Many would cling to their ancient and sacred institutions, and purified by pain, purged from all dross of worldliness and hypocrisy in the fires of affliction, like gold in the furnace, would form the new parties of the _Chasidîm_ and the _Anavîm_, "the pious" and "the poor." They would be such men as the good high priest Onias, Mattathias of Modin and his glorious sons, the scribe Eleazar, and the seven dauntless martyrs, sons of the holy woman who unflinchingly watched their agonies and encouraged them to die rather than to apostatise. But the wicked would continue to be void of all understanding, and would go on still in their wickedness, like Jason and Menelaus, the renegade usurpers of the high-priesthood. These and the whole Hellenising party among the Jews, for the sake of gain, plunged into heathen practices, made abominable offerings to gods which were no gods, and in order to take part in the naked contests of the Greek gymnasium which they had set up in Jerusalem, deliberately attempted to obliterate the seal of circumcision which was the covenant pledge of their national consecration to the Jehovah of their fathers.

"And from the time that the continual burnt offering shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days."

If we suppose the year to consist of twelve months of thirty days, then (with the insertion of one intercalary month of thirty days) twelve hundred and ninety days is exactly three and a half years. We are, however, faced by the difficulty that the time from the desecration of the Temple till its reconsecration by Judas Maccabæus seems to have been exactly three years;[741] and if that view be founded on correct chronology, we can give no exact interpretation of the very specific date here furnished.

Our difficulties are increased by the next clause: "Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days."

All that we can conjecture from this is that, at the close of twelve hundred and ninety days, by the writer's reckoning from the cessation of the daily burnt offering, and the erection of the heathen abomination which drove all faithful Jews from the Temple, up to the date of some marked deliverance, would be three and a half years, but that this deliverance would be less complete and beatific than another and later deliverance which would not occur till forty-five days later.[742]

Reams of conjecture and dubious history and imaginative chronology have been expended upon the effort to give any interpretation of these precise data which can pretend to the dignity of firm or scientific exegesis. Some, for instance, like Keil, regard the numbers as _symbolical_, which is equivalent to the admission that they have little or no bearing on literal history; others suppose that they are _conjectural_, having been penned before the actual termination of the Seleucid troubles. Others regard them as only intended to represent _round numbers_. Others again attempt to give them historic accuracy by various manipulations of the dates and events in and after the reign of Antiochus. Others relegate the entire vision to periods separated from the Maccabean age by hundreds of years, or even into the remotest future. And none of these commentators, by their researches and combinations, have succeeded in establishing the smallest approach to conviction in the minds of those who take the other views. There can be little doubt that to the writer and his readers the passage pointed either to very confident expectations or very well-understood realities; but for us the exact clue to the meaning is lost. All that can be said is that we should probably understand the dates better if our knowledge of the history of B.C. 165-164 was more complete. We are forced to content ourselves with their general significance. It is easy to record and to multiply elaborate guesses, and to deceive ourselves with the merest pretence and semblance of certainty. For reverent and severely honest inquiries it seems safer and wiser to study and profit by the great lessons and examples clearly set before us in the Book of Daniel, but, as regards many of its unsolved difficulties, to obey the wise exhortation of the Rabbis,--

"Learn to say, 'I do not know.'"

FOOTNOTES:

[716] See too Joel ii. 2.

[717] Enoch xc. 16.

[718] Rev. xvi. 14, xix. 19.

[719] Comp. Matt. xxiv. 6, 7, 21, 22.

[720] Such is the reading of the LXX., Vulgate, Peshitta, Symmachus, etc.

[721] Zech. xiv. 1-7.

[722] Comp. vii. 10: "And the books were opened."

[723] Mal. iii. 16.

[724] Rev. xx. 12-15. Compare too Phil. iv. 3: "With Clement also, and the rest of my fellow-workers, whose names are in the book of life."

[725] "Many sleepers in the land of dust" seems to mean the dead. Comp. Jer. li. 39; Psalm xxii. 29; 1 Thess. iv. 14; Acts vii. 60. For "shame" see Jer. xxiii. 40. The word for "abhorrence" only occurs in Isa. lxvi. 24. The allusion seems to be to the ἀνάστασις κρίσεως (John v. 29), the δεύτερος θάνατος of Rev. xx. 14. Comp. Enoch xxii.

[726] Isa. lxvi. 24.

[727] It is certain that the doctrine of the Resurrection acquired more clearness in the minds of the Jews at and after the period of the Exile; nor is there anything derogatory to the workings of the Spirit of God which lighteth every man, in the view which supposes that they may have learnt something on this subject from the Babylonians and Assyrians. See the testimonies of St. Peter and St. Paul as to some degree of Ethnic inspiration in Acts x. 34, 35, xvii. 25-31.

[728] See Ezek. xxxvii. 1-4.

[729] Theodoret says that "many" means "all," as in Rom. v. 15; but there it is "_the_ many," and the parallel is altogether defective. Hofmann gets over the difficulty by rendering it, "And in multitudes shall they arise." Many commentators explain it not of the final but of some partial resurrection. Few will now be content with such autocratic remarks as that of Calvin: "Multos hic ponit pro omnibus ut certum est."

[730] Lit. "those that justify the multitude." Comp. Isa. liii. 11, and see Dan. xi. 33-35.

[731] Matt. xiii. 43; 1 Cor. xv. 41; Rev. ii. 28.

[732] Comp. Zech. iv. 10. This sense cannot be rigidly established.

[733] He refers to 1 Macc. i. 9, which says of the successors of Alexander, καὶ ἐπλήθυναν κακὰ ἐν τῃ γῃ.

[734] Jerome guesses that they are the angels of Persia and Greece. The word הַיְאר lit. "the canal," is often used of the Nile.

[735] The LXX. reads καὶ εἷπα, "and I said," making Daniel the speaker (so too the Vulgate); but the form of the passage is so closely analogous to viii. 13, as to leave no doubt that here too "one saint is speaking to another saint."

[736] Comp. Gen. xiv. 22; Deut. xxxii. 40, "For I lift up My hand unto heaven, and say, I live for ever"; Ezek. xx. 5, 6, etc.

[737] Those who can rest content with such exegesis may explain this to imply that "the reign of _antichrist_ will be divided into three periods--the first long, the second longer, the third shortest of all," just as the seventy weeks of chap. ix. are composed of 7 × 62 × 1.

[738] By way of comment see 1 Macc. v.; 2 Macc. viii.

[739] לֵךְ is encouraging, as in ver. 13.

[740] Comp. Rev. xxii. 11.

[741] The small heathen altar to Zeus was built by Antiochus upon the great altar of burnt offering on Kisleu 15, B.C. 168. The revolt of Mattathias and his seven sons began B.C. 167. Judas the Maccabee defeated the Syrian generals Apollonius, Seron, and Gorgias B.C. 166, and Lysias at Beth-sur in B.C. 165. He cleansed and rededicated the Temple on Kisleu 25, B.C. 165.

[742] The "time, times, and a half." The 1,290 days, 1,335 days and the 1,150 days, and the 2,300 days of viii. 14 all agree in indicating three years with a shorter or longer fraction. It will be observed that in each case there is a certain reticence or vagueness as to the _terminus ad quem_. It is interesting to note that in Rev. xi. 2, 3, the period of 42 months = 1,260 days = 3-1/2 years of months of 30 days with no intercalary month.

APPROXIMATE CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES

B.C.
Jehoiakim 608-597
Zedekiah 597-588
Jerusalem taken 588
Death of Nebuchadrezzar 561
Evil-merodach 561
Neriglissar 559
Laborosoarchod 555
Nabunaid 555
Capture of Babylon 538
Decree of Cyrus 536
Cambyses 529
Darius, son of Hystaspes 521
Dedication of the Second Temple 516
Battle of Salamis 480
Ezra 458
Nehemiah 444
Nehemiah's reforms 428
Malachi 420
Alexander the Great invades Persia 334
Battle of Granicus 334
Battle of Issus 333
Battle of Arbela 331
Death of Darius Codomannus 330
Death of Alexander 323
Ptolemy Soter captures Jerusalem 320
Simon the Just high priest 310
Beginning of Septuagint translation 284
Antiochus the Great conquers Palestine (?) 202

B.C.
Accession of Antiochus Epiphanes 176 Dan. vii. 8, 20.

Joshua (Jason), brother of Onias III.,
gets the priesthood by bribery, and
promotes Hellenism among the Jews 174 Dan. xi. 23-24, ix. 26.

First expedition of Antiochus against
Egypt.--Murder of Onias III 171

His second expedition (?) 170

His plunder of the Temple and massacre
at Jerusalem 170 Dan. viii. 9, 10; xi. 28.

Third expedition of Antiochus 169 Dan. xi. 29, 30.

Apollonius, the general of Antiochus,
advances against Jerusalem with an
army of 22,000.--Massacre.--The
abomination of desolation in the Dan. vii. 21, 24, 25;
Temple.--Antiochus carries off some viii. 11-13, 24, 25;
of the holy vessels (1 Macc. i. 25); xi. 30-35, etc.
forbids circumcision; burns the
books of the Law; puts down the
daily sacrifice 169-8

Desecration of the Temple.--Jews
compelled to pay public honour
to false gods.--Faithfulness of
scribes and _Chasidîm_.--Revolt of
Maccabees 167 Dan. xi. 34, 35; xii. 3.

Jewish war of independence.--Death
of the priest Mattathias.--Judas
Maccabæus defeats Lysias 166

Battles of Beth-zur and Dan. vii. II, 26; viii.
Emmaus.--Purification of Temple 14; xi. 45, etc.
(Kisleu 25) 165

Death of Antiochus Epiphanes 163

Judas Maccabæus dies in battle at
Eleasa 161

GENEALOGICAL TABLE OF THE LAGIDÆ,
PTOLEMIES, AND SELEUCIDÆ

Seleucus Nicator,
B.C. 312-280. Ptolemy Soter (Dan. xi. 5).
| |
Antiochus I. (Soter), Ptolemy Philadelphus.
B.C. 280. |
| |
+------+----------------+ +-----------+------+
| | | |
Laodice==Antiochus II. (Theos)==Berenice. Ptolemy Euergetes,
| B.C. 260-246. | B.C. 285-247
| | (Dan. xi. 7,8).
| An infant, murdered |
+-----+-----------+ by Laodice. |
| | Ptolemy Philopator,
Seleucus II. Antiochus. B.C. 222-205
(Kallinikos), (Dan. xi. 10-12).
d. B.C. 226. |
| |
+--+------------------+ |
| | |
Seleucus III. Antiochus III. ("the Great"), |
(Keraunos). B.C. 224 (Dan. xi. 10-12, 14). |
| |
+-------------------+------------------+ |
| | | |
Seleucus Antiochus IV. Cleopatra==Ptolemy Epiphanes,
Philopator. (Epiphanes), B.C. 175. | B.C. 205-181
| | | (Dan. xi. 14).
| | +------+--------------+
Demetrius. Antiochus V., | |
B.C. 164. Ptolemy Philometor, Ptolemy
B.C. 181-146 Euergetes II.
(Dan. xi. 25-30).

For a fuller list and further identifications see Driver, pp. 461, 462, and _supra_. For the genealogical table see Mr. Deane (Bishop Ellicott's _Commentary_, v. 402).

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By the =Rev. Prof. W. MILLIGAN, D.D.=, of the University
of Aberdeen.

"Lucid, scholarly."--_Academy._

"The style is admirably lucid, expressive, and withal stately. The task of the reader could not possibly be easier, and in the case of such an abstruse theme the result is no small feat of intellectual and literary ingenuity."--_Aberdeen Free Press._

THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE.

==Third Series.==

_Subscription Price_, =24s.= _Separate Volumes_, =7s. 6d.= _each_.

=Judges and Ruth=
By the =Rev. R. A. WATSON, D.D.=

"This volume deals chiefly with a book considered by some one of the most difficult of expositions from a Christian point of view. While feeling this to be the case, the writer is able to deduce valuable instruction from the history by the only legitimate mode, that of remembering that the character and laws of God are essentially unchangeable, though the amount of their revelation must vary with the capacity of those who receive it.... The moralisings on the Book of Ruth are also most excellent, and just what are adapted to present circumstances."--_Spectator._

=The Prophecies of Jeremiah=
=With a Sketch of his Life and Times.=
By the =Rev. C. J. BALL, M.A.=, Chaplain of Lincoln's Inn.

"Mr. Ball brings competent knowledge to his task.... A useful running commentary."--_Saturday Review._

"It consists of an interesting and sympathetic delineation of the prophet's life and character, of a new translation, and of expository remarks, which are partly critical and partly homiletic. The critical portion will be prized most, as it exhibits deep learning, breadth of view, and clear insight into the prophet's meaning."--_Manchester Examiner._

=The Book of Exodus=
By the =Very Rev. G. A. CHADWICK, D.D.=, Dean of Armagh.

"Marked by sound exegesis, common sense, and a devotional spirit."--_Record._

"Every part of the book is replete with instruction and interest, and a unity of thought and purpose pervades it all."--_Glasgow Herald._

=The Gospel of St. Matthew=
By the =Rev. J. MONRO GIBSON, D.D.=, Author of "The
Ages before Moses," etc.

"A careful exposition in which one important part is not slightly dealt with while disproportionate space is given to another, but by studied economy of labour and space due care and labour are given to every part. The exposition is sober, reverent, and systematic; it is also enlightened and well informed."--_London Quarterly Review._

=The Gospel of St. Luke=
By the =Rev. HENRY BURTON, M.A.=

"Full of vivid illustration and fresh, bright exposition."--_Record._

"In the unfolding of truth Mr. Burton writes as a poet. There is glow and colour and melody in his descriptions. Often there are passages of great beauty."--_Methodist Recorder._

=The Book of Isaiah=
=Chapters XL. to LXVI.=
By the =Rev. Prof. G. ADAM SMITH, M.A., D.D.=

"A work of no ordinary merit; indeed, it is but rare that such exegetical power and mature scholarship are united with an ease of style and a fertility of modern illustration that leave but little to desire."--_Speaker._

THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE.

==Fourth Series.==

_Subscription Price_, =24s.= _Separate Volumes_, =7s. 6d.= _each_.

=The Gospel of St. John. Vol. I.=
By the =Rev. Prof. MARCUS DODS, D.D.=

"Dr. Dods' exposition, besides being characterised by all the literary grace by which his previous works are distinguished, is also thoroughly evangelical in tone, without, however, being at all narrow; while the arguments which this portion of Scripture so powerfully suggests in proof of the divinity of Christ are handled in such a way as will carry them home to all who accept the narrative as authentic."--_Scotsman._

=The Acts of the Apostles. Vol. I.=
By the =Rev. Prof. G. T. STOKES, D.D.=

"One of the most valuable contributions to the history of the Primitive Church that have appeared within recent years."--_Dundee Advertiser._

=The Book of Leviticus=
By the =Rev. S. H. KELLOGG, D.D.=

"The relation of law and gospel is grandly exhibited, and a difficult portion of Holy Writ explained in detail and with power."--_Christian._

"He has certainly succeeded in investing with fresh interest this old book of laws."--_Scotsman._

=The Book of Proverbs=
By the =Rev. R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D.=

"Ably and freshly written."--_Church Times._

"A book which may be read by all with pleasure and profit, and which, by ministers of all orders, may be taken as a model of one kind of expository teaching."--_Christian World._

"The expositor has done his work in a most masterly fashion."--_Glasgow Herald._

=The Epistles of St. James and St. Jude=
By the =Rev. A. PLUMMER, D.D.=, Master of University
College, Durham.

"It is even a better piece of work than his former volume on the Pastoral Epistles. It contains everything that the student can desire by way of introduction to the two Epistles, while for those who read with an eye to the manufacture of sermons, or for their own edification, the doctrinal and moral lessons are developed in a style redolent of books, yet singularly easy and unaffected. Points of interest abound."--_Saturday Review._

"A very able and interesting exposition.... An excellent example of Scriptural exegesis."--_Academy._

=The Book of Ecclesiastes=
=With a New Translation.=
By the =Rev. SAMUEL COX, D.D.=

"The most luminous, original, and practical exposition of Ecclesiastes which is within the reach of ordinary English readers."--_Speaker._

"Dr. Cox's work is likely to count as one of the most interesting of the many interesting studies of which Ecclesiastes has been the basis."--_Guardian._

THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE.

==Fifth Series.==

_Subscription Price_, =24s.= _Separate Volumes_, =7s. 6d.= _each_.

=The Epistles to the Thessalonians=
By the =Rev. JAMES DENNEY, D.D.=

"As an expositor we are able to say that Mr. Denney seems to have entered very fully into the spirit of the Apostle Paul, and to have succeeded in expressing very clearly, and impressing very forcibly, the general meaning of the Apostle's words.... It is a very ably written work, and one which is well calculated to make the Apostle's teaching in these two epistles more intelligible and more telling."--_Scotsman._

=The Book of Job=
By the =Rev. R. S. WATSON, D.D.=, Author of "Gospels
of Yesterday," etc.

"Dr. Watson does not fall behind his predecessors in doing justice to this magnificent effort of Hebrew genius or inspiration. The opening scene on earth and the opening scene in heaven are brought before us with graphic power, and the problem raised by the situation of Job by the unmerited suffering of the good man stated and discussed with much force and philosophical insight. Dr. Watson has written with conspicuous ability and a thorough mastery of his subject."--_Scotsman._

=The Gospel of St. John. Vol. II.=
By =Prof. MARCUS DODS, D.D.=

"Dr. Dods appears to us always to write with clearness and vigour.... He has the gift of lucid expression, and by means of apt illustrations he avoids the cardinal sin of dryness, so that the interest even of the general reader will not flag as he smoothly glides through these chapters."--_Guardian._

=The Epistle to the Ephesians=
By the =Rev. Prof. G. G. FINDLAY, B.A.=

"Every page shows that he has made a minute and careful examination of the text, while in every chapter there are inferences drawn and suggestions thrown out which will find their way into many sermons. They who know this Epistle best will be the first to acknowledge the value of Prof. Findlay's exposition."--_Expositor._

=The Acts of the Apostles. Vol. II.=
By the =Rev. Prof. G. T. STOKES, D.D.=

"The second volume is as readable as the first, full of learning without a spice of pedantry.... The volume is highly to be commended for knowledge, sobriety, and manly piety."--_Saturday Review._

=The Psalms. Vol. I.=
By the =Rev. ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D.D.=

"Dr. Maclaren has evidently mastered his subject with the aid of the best authorities, and has put the results of his studies before his readers in a most attractive form; and if we add that his commentary really helps to the better understanding of the Psalms, that, far from degrading, it vivifies and illuminates these sublime stories, and that it is written in a charming style, very seldom falling below the dignity of the subject, we believe we only give it the praise which is its due."--_Scotsman._

THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE.

==Sixth Series.==

_Subscription Price_, =24s.= _Separate Volumes_, =7s. 6d.= _each_.

=The Epistle to the Philippians=
By the =Rev. Principal RAINY, D.D.=

"A piece of good and thorough work, the work of a sound and well-read expositor, and especially of an orthodox Scotch divine."--_London Quarterly Review._

=The First Book of Kings=
By the =Venerable F. W. FARRAR, D.D., F.R.S.=, Archdeacon
of Westminster.

"Dr. Farrar brings his versatile literary powers to bear upon these majestic and imposing scenes, with all his gifts of poetic description, his wealth of quotations, and his aptitude for picturesque comparisons."--_Guardian._

=Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther=
By the =Rev. Prof. W. F. ADENEY, M.A.=

"Mr. Adeney has evidently grasped the whole story with clearness and force: his portraits are lifelike; he has all the instinct of the expositor in high development. It is no small triumph to have done so well with one of the least pictorial and fascinating of Old Testament histories."--_Independent._

=The Book of Joshua=
By the =Rev. Prof. W. G. BLAIKIE, D.D., LL.D.=

"We have no hesitation in saying that for every-day working purposes expositors of the Book of Joshua will find this volume more helpful than many more critical and modernised works.... His expositions are usually fresh and interesting, and there is an eye for the practical in all he writes."--_Glasgow Herald._

=The Psalms. Vol. II.=
By the =Rev. ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D.D.=

"The volume is as attractive as the first, and shows throughout the same high qualities of penetration and spiritual sympathy. Its pages give abundant evidence of care, critical study, and acquaintance with the best that our most competent scholars have contributed to the exposition of the Psalms."--_Critical Review._

=The Epistles of Peter=
By the =Rev. Prof. LUMBY, D.D., Cambridge.=

"A sound and finely practical commentary."--_Saturday Review._

"We have been impressed by the carefulness, fulness, and almost minuteness of the expositions which Dr. Lumby gives in this volume."--_Literary World._

⁂ =_For List of Volumes in the 7th and the concluding (8th) Series see back of title._=

LONDON: HODDER AND STOUGHTON, 27, PATERNOSTER ROW.

Transcriber's Notes:

Obvious punctuation and spelling errors have been fixed throughout.

Inconsistent hyphenation is as in the original.