“And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate” (Daniel 11:31).

With few exceptions commentators have in the main agreed on this eleventh chapter of Daniel up to verse 31. Some expositors believe that the prophecy continues in this verse to apply to Antiochus Epiphanes; indeed all the events described by the angel in this eleventh chapter, even the standing up of Michael, and the time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation (12:1), are applied by some to events connected with Antiochus’ career in his dealing with the Jews. Porphyry, the heathen historian whom we have before mentioned, was one of these although he did not believe that it was a prophecy, but rather history written after the events occurred. The standing up of Michael is made to apply, even by Mr. Barnes, to angelic interposition in behalf of the Jewish nation in the days of the Maccabees. It is impossible for us to accept such an interpretation. In connection with the standing up of Michael and the time of trouble we are informed by the angel that the final deliverance of Daniel’s people is to be accomplished, and that “many that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting [age lasting] contempt.” Events such as these can occur only at the Second Advent of the great Redeemer.

It will be admitted that our Common Version translation of verse 31, at first sight seems to convey the thought that the king of the north, Antiochus Epiphanes, is still the subject of the prophecy. However, as Bishop Newton says:

“This interpretation might very well be admitted, if the other parts were equally applicable to Antiochus; but the difficulty, or rather impossibility of applying them to Antiochus, or any of the Syrian kings, his successors, obliges us to look out for another interpretation.”

Even if we accept the Common Version translation of verse 31 as being correct, we meet with a serious difficulty in applying it to Antiochus for the reason that the words of the angel require that we must apply the expression, “arms shall stand on his part,” to the same power that pollutes the sanctuary, takes away the daily sacrifice, and places the abomination that maketh desolate. It is true, as we have seen foregoing, that Apollonius and others commissioned by Antiochus did pollute the Jewish sanctuary, etc. However, the whole trend of the wonderful prophecy is against this application of verse 31.

This verse is translated by Sir Isaac Newton, and endorsed by Bishop Newton, Mr. Elliott, and others: “And after him [that is, after Antiochus] arms shall stand up,” etc. As this is a very important matter it will require that we establish the correctness of this translation.

Mr. Elliott says concerning the words “on his part”: “Our English translation seems to me not happy in its rendering of this preposition; for it gives no idea of the various possible meanings of the phrase.” He says that while the Hebrew word means at times “from” or “out of,” as in verse 7, “out of a branch from her roots,” and in Daniel 8:9, “out of one of them,” etc., it also indicates chronologically, “after”; as in Deuteronomy 15:1: “At the end of seven years,” etc.; also in verse 23 of this chapter, “After they have made agreement”; and 2 Samuel 23:4, “After rain.” “And such, I conceive to be the meaning here: understanding ‘him’ [translated “his” in our Common Version as referring to], the king of the north previously spoken of, as the noun after the preposition.” Both Sir Isaac and Bishop Newton and others translate the passage the same. Mr. Elliott briefly sums up his criticism of the Common Version translation of this verse by saying that it is “a phrase hardly to be interpreted … agreeably with the precedents of other analogous Hebrew phrases in the prophecy, except of some new prince or power, arising after in respect of time, or from him, in respect of origin, that was before the subject of description.”

Considering the fact that it is at the period in history when the Romans begin to come into prominence in connection with the affairs of the fourfold division of the third or leopard beast empire of Daniel 7; as also, that the Romans more than any other power are described in this and some of the verses following; and also that our Savior in His prophetic sermon given on Mount Olivet distinctly states that the “abomination of desolation” was at the time He gave the prediction a future event, Sir Isaac Newton’s interpretation, with some modifications, appeals to us as both reasonable and convincing. His interpretation and application of this verse reads as follows:

“In the same year that Antiochus by the command of the Romans, retired out of Egypt, and set up the worship of the Greeks in Judea, the Romans conquered the kingdom of Macedon, the fundamental kingdom of the empire of the Greeks, and reduced it into a Roman province; and thereby began to put an end to the reign of Daniel’s third beast. This is thus expressed by Daniel, And after him arms, that is the Romans shall stand up. …

“Arms are everywhere in this prophecy of Daniel put for the military power of a kingdom; and they stand up when they conquer and grow powerful. Hitherto Daniel described the actions of the kings of the north and south; but upon the conquest of Macedon by the Romans, he left off describing the actions of the Greeks [Alexander’s successors], and began to describe those of the Romans in Greece. They conquered Macedon, Illyricum, and Epirus in the year of Nabonassar 580; 35 years after, by the last will and testament of Attalus, the last king of Pergamus, they inherited that rich and flourishing kingdom, that is, all Asia westward of Mount Taurus; 69 years after, they conquered the kingdom of Syria, and reduced it into a province; and 34 years after, they did the like to Egypt. By all these steps the Roman arms stood up over the Greeks [the leopard beast]; and after 95 years more, by making war upon the Jews, they polluted the sanctuary of strength, and took away the daily sacrifice [the word sacrifice is not in the original], and then placed the abomination of desolation. For this abomination was placed after the days of Christ (Matthew 24:15), in the sixteenth year of the Emperor Adrian, A.C. 132, they placed this abomination by building a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus, where the temple of God in Jerusalem had stood. Thereupon the Jews, under the conduct of Barchochab, rose up in arms against the Romans, and in the war had fifty cities demolished, nine hundred and eighty-five of their best towns destroyed, and five hundred and eighty thousand men slain by the sword; and in the end of the war, AD 136, were banished [all Jews of] Judea upon pain of death, and thence forward the land remained desolate of its old inhabitants.”

As giving support to this application it is worthy of note that according to Hieronymus:¹

“The Jews themselves understood this passage … of [as referring to] the Romans, of whom it was said above [in preceding verse], that ‘the ships of Chittim shall come, and he shall be grieved.’ After some time, says the Prophet, out of the Romans themselves, who came to assist Ptolemy [king of Egypt], and menaced Antiochus, there shall arise the Emperor Vespasian, there shall arise his arms and seed, his son Titus with an army; and they shall pollute the sanctuary, and take away the daily sacrifice, and deliver the temple to eternal desolation.”

It is also interesting to note that Mr. Mede, among the later expositors, assigns the very same reason for applying the angelic prediction to the Romans: “We must know,” he says, “that after the death of Antiochus Epiphanes, the third kingdom comes no more in the holy reckoning, none of the [Syrio] Greek kings after him being at all prophesied of.” Furthermore, the fact that our Savior speaks of the abomination of desolation as a future event from His day, is sufficiently convincing in itself that the prophecy in this verse applies to the Romans, and in succeeding verses to the Mohammedans, who, after the Romans lost control, trod down Jerusalem, for so many long centuries. Understanding as we do that there is both a typical and an antitypical abomination, it is significant that the Romans, Pagan and Papal, are responsible for both, or in other words that they fulfilled in both ways this angelic prediction.

The words of the angel that follow these of verse 31 can be applied in a very small measure only, to Antiochus. Indeed, as describing the events of the history of this Gospel Age, it will be found that they apply not only to the judgment on the Jewish nation, but also to the events connected with the Christian Church, both true and false. We shall hope to show in this prophecy how the closing scenes are here forecast, and how present day events stand related to the destruction of the two powers, the Ottoman Turks and the Papacy; also how in that same connection the deliverance of the Jews, as well as of the true Church will take place.

The angel proceeds to say, “And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.”

It was the thought of both Sir Isaac and Bishop Newton, and others, that these words refer altogether to those whose character and history are found in the Christian Church, and that they depict both its faithful and unfaithful ones. The interpretation of these expositors finds no reference to the Jews in the entire prophecy, except in the chronological utterances, “till the indignation be accomplished” (11:36), and “when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people” (12:7). These expositors apply the above expressions to the end of the indignation against the Jews, that is, their scattering by judgment, and to the signs which indicate the epoch of the end or consummation of the Age.

There are some things in the prophecy that might seem to apply to Antiochus, and it is doubtless for this reason that many expositors attempt to apply the whole prediction to his career. As Mr. Newton says,

“If it may be said of Antiochus that he corrupted many by flatteries, by rewards and promises, to forsake the holy [Jewish] covenant, and to conform to the religion of the Greeks; ‘but the people who knew their God,’ the Maccabees and their associates, ‘were strong, and did exploits’; yet it cannot so properly be said of the Maccabees, or any of the devout Jews of their time, that they did ‘instruct many,’ and make many proselytes to their religion; neither did the persecution, which Antiochus raised against the Jews, continue ‘many days,’ or years according to the prophetic style [a day for a year], for it lasted only a few years.

“All these things are much more truly applicable to the Christian Jews; for now the daily sacrifice was taken away, the temple was given to desolation, and the Christian Church had succeeded in the place of the Jewish, the new covenant in the room of the old.   The Roman magistrates and officers, it is very well known, made use of the most alluring promises, as well as of the most terrible threatenings, to prevail upon the primitive Christians to renounce their religion, and offer incense to the statues of the emperors and images of the gods. Many were induced to comply with the temptation, and apostatized from the faith, as we learn particularly from the famous epistle of Pliny to Trajan; but the true Christians, ‘the people who knew their God were strong,’ remained firm to their religion, and gave the most illustrious proofs of the most heroic patience and fortitude. It may too with the strictest

truth and propriety, be said of the primitive Christians, that being dispersed everywhere, and preaching the Gospel in all parts of the Roman Empire, they ‘instructed many,’ and gained a great number of proselytes to their religion; ‘yet they fell by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil many days’; for they were exposed to the malice and fury of ten general persecutions, and suffered all manner of injuries, afflictions, and tortures, with little intermission for the space of three hundred years.”

“Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help,” are the succeeding words of the revealing angel. During this long period, true believers, constituting the “many called” ones, had labored long, and under the most trying and severe persecutions, to obey their Master’s instructions to proclaim the Gospel. They had indeed, fallen “by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days [years].” The tenth and last general persecution by the Pagan government under Diocletian had been suppressed by Constantine, and the Church’s persecution by the civil power ceased for a time. The Church at this time came into favor, and indeed was protected by the civil power. This change is spoken of as a “little help,” because, though it added much to the temporal advancement, it eventually became the very means that effected a loss of spiritual virtues and graces. It increased the revenues, but proved the fatal means of doctrinal corruption, which indeed had already begun. Christianity became popular, and in the language of the prophetic angel, “many cleaved to them with flatteries”; that is, very many professed Christianity — pretended to become Christians, because it brought the favor of the emperor. The Historian Eusebius, who lived in Constantine’s day, mentions that one of the most conspicuous vices of those days was “the dissimulation and hypocrisy of men fraudulently entering into the Church, and borrowing the name of Christians without the reality.” A heathen historian, of later years, said of Julian, the Apostate, before he openly repudiated Christianity, that in order to “allure Christians to favor him [to attain the throne], publicly professed the faith, from which he had long ago privately revolted; and even went to church, and joined with them [the Christians] in the most solemn offices of religion. His dissimulation carried him so far as to become an ecclesiastic in lower orders or a reader in the church.”

The angel says further that even “some of understanding shall fall.” Whether or not this means that some true Christian leaders should fall, in the sense of apostatizing, or fall in the sense of losing their lives or positions by removal, the words of the angel in connection with this prediction show that the Divine object was to try the true Christians, to purge them, not only at that time, but “even to the time of the end, because it is yet for an appointed time.” It was called a “little help,” because the peace of those times, that is, the cessation from persecution, lasted but a short time; for no sooner was the professed Church released from persecution, than they began to quarrel amongst themselves, and to persecute one another; and this continued down to the “time of the end,” and as expressed by another, “if the persecuted have not been always in the right, yet the persecutors have been always in the wrong.”

When Jerusalem Was Compassed with Armies

Mr. Elliott, who wrote some years later than the two Newtons, while agreeing in general with them, said:

“I cannot but think that there is here [verses 32,33] meant a double division of the people spoken of: viz. first, a division of the whole Jewish people into Jews rejecting Christianity, and Jews embracing it and becoming Christians (this in the two former verses); then, a further division of the latter, together with the Gentiles incorporated in their body, into the false and true members of the professing Christian Church. For besides that we might expect … some notice of the desolated Jewish people at this sad crisis of their history, as well as of their desolate city, just as in our Lord’s prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem [which reads], ‘When ye see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.   And great wrath shall be on this people; and they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled’ (Luke 21:20-24).”

Mr. Elliott, accepting Mr. Wintle’s translation of verse 32, as reading, “They that do wickedly against the covenant will dissemble in flatteries,” proceeds to sum up briefly his understanding of the four verses, 32-35, thus:

“ ‘In connection with this time and fact of Jerusalem’s desolation, the Jewish people generally, though wicked transgressors of the holy covenant (a covenant just before confirmed and illustrated among them by their Messiah) [foreshown by Daniel previously in the words, “He (Messiah) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week; and in the midst of the week, He shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease,” etc., Daniel 9:27], shall yet unite with this their transgression of it the show and profession of religious zeal, hypocritically dissembling’ — a character of the Jews of that era prominently set forth in the burning words of Christ himself (Matthew 23:13-33, 15:7,8), and set forth also as awfully by their own historian Josephus, in his description of them during the siege of Jerusalem.  ‘On the other hand, they that know their God … the disciples who, taught from above, shall know what others cannot know, viz. that mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh, shall not only understand themselves, but strong in faith and spirit, shall instruct and disciple many. Thus the Jewish people, as a nation, shall fall and be scattered, a monument of God’s righteous indignation, by the sword, and by flame, by captivity and by spoil, many days; whilst meanwhile the understanding ones, or disciples of the Messiah, shall not only otherwise advance in their work, but be holpen even on this world’s theatre with a little help. Then, however, and on this gleam of visible prosperity, hypocrisy shall insinuate itself even into their body. Many shall cleave to them that are mere dissemblers in religion, just like the Jews before them, and so corrupt the professing people. And thus persecution shall arise against the sincere ones, even out of their own body; and this continue even to the time of the end. But the result shall be only, under the Divine overruling, for their good — to try them, and purify them, and make them white.’ ”

We now reach a place in the prediction of the angel which describes more particularly, more definitely, it seems, the character of another phase or aspect of this Roman power. It is that of Papal Rome. The period from Constantine to the fall of Western Rome marked the gradual falling that ended in the complete apostasy of the Church. The angel says, “And the king [who shall cause these persecutions] shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done” (verse 36).

Jerome, who lived about 330 AD, informs us that the Jews as well as the Christians of his time understood that these and the words which follow apply to Antichrist. Some few apply them to Napoleon. A comparison of the description of this person with the words of St. Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:3,4, gives evidence, however, that the inspired Apostle himself understood this passage to apply to Antichrist. He uses the same expressions as are used by the angel to Daniel in describing what he calls the “man of sin.” St. Paul says of this “man of sin” that he “opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped: so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” The words of the angel to Daniel, he “shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods,” etc., are so similar in every respect to those of St. Paul, that it seems evident the latter, in his Thessalonian epistle, is referring to this very prediction of Daniel.

The angel is speaking of the persecutions, etc., which in the Divine providence were permitted after the Roman power had become professedly Christian, for the trial, testing, and development of the true Church; and, as we have already noted, he next proceeds to describe the author of these persecutions. It is well known that in prophecy a king or kingdom signifies a government, or state, or succession of potentates. The meaning seems clearly to be that after the empire had become Christian, there should arise in the Church an anti-Christian power or government that should exalt itself and should act in the most absolute and arbitrary manner, that is, as expressed by the angel, “do according to his will; magnify himself above every god,” etc.; in other words, “exalt itself above all laws, Divine and human, dispense with the most solemn and sacred obligations, and in many respects enjoin what God had forbidden, and forbid what God had commanded.”

It is a well known fact of history that this abrogation of Divine power began in the Roman emperors with Constantine, who assumed the right to convene church councils, and to direct and control them as he pleased. In the exposition of the “little horn” of Daniel 7, the Western Papal aspect of this power is described. After the division of the empire into Eastern and Western, this power increased rapidly, being exerted principally by the Greek or Eastern emperors from Constantinople, and by the bishops of Rome in the West. In the prophecy under consideration this anti-Christian power is described as exerted by the Roman Empire in its conquered provinces in the East, and was to continue in the Church and prosper, according to the angel, “till the indignation be accomplished; for that that is determined shall be done.” These words of the angel must have reference to some particular or definite time. They seem to be synonymous with the words of Daniel 9:27, “that determined shall be poured upon the desolator,” and in Daniel 12:7, “And when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.” We see this power still existing in the Papacy in the West, as also in the divided anti-Christian religious hierarchies in the Eastern countries.

The Antichrist Depicted

“Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all” (Daniel 11:37).

Continuing the historical evidence that the king of verse 36, who does “according to his will,” refers to the Roman government, which gradually merges from a Pagan to that of a false Christian form, and finally to that of complete apostasy in the Papacy, we note that the expression in verse 37, “Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor regard any god; for he shall magnify himself above all,” describes perfectly the Roman power — first, in its discarding the Pagan gods, so long worshiped by Rome; and then, after professing to embrace and worship the Christian’s God, in Constantine’s day, in its disregarding the teachings of the true God and of Christ.

The expression, “nor regard any god, for he shall magnify himself above all,” is practically the same as that used by St. Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:4 and by St. John in Revelation 13:5,6. The words in Daniel, and those of the two latter, do not mean that an infidel Antichrist is referred to, as our Futurist friends believe; but rather that while claiming to represent the true God and Christ, this power would arrogate to itself rights and prerogatives belonging alone to God and Christ, and change, misrepresent, add to, and distort their teachings.

Rome’s disregard of the teachings of God in one very important matter is described in the words of the revealing angel that follow, that he shall not regard “the desire of women.” The word translated “women” signifies wives; and the word “desire,” the conjugal affection. Mr. Mede says that the word “women” might have been properly translated “wives”; there being no other word used in the Scriptures to translate wives, except in one or two instances. The meaning, therefore, would be that of neglecting and discouraging marriage, as both the Greek and Latin Christians did, to the great reproach and discredit of the true Christian religion. “Forbidding to marry,” was one of the erroneous features of the anti-Christian Apostasy, as noted by St. Paul.

Mr. Newton says of Constantine, that he repealed the Julian and Papian laws of Rome which encouraged marriage and showed special favor to those who had children, and that he allowed equal or greater privileges and immunities to those who were unmarried and had no children. The Historian Eusebius says that Constantine “held in the highest veneration those men who had devoted themselves to the Divine philosophy, that is to a monastic life; and almost adored the most holy company of perpetual virgins, being convinced that God, to whom they had consecrated themselves, did dwell in their minds.” This emperor’s …

“… example was followed by his successors; and the married clergy were discountenanced and depressed; the monks were honored and advanced; and in the fourth century like a torrent overran the Eastern Church, and soon after, the Western too. This was ‘evidently not regarding the desire of wives,’ or conjugal affection. At first only second marriages were prohibited, but in time the clergy were absolutely restrained from marrying at all. So much did the power here described magnify himself above all, even God Himself, by contradicting the primary law of God and nature; and making that dishonorable, which the Scriptures (Hebrews 13:4) hath pronounced ‘honorable in all.’ ”

That the above is the Scriptural use of the word “desire” in this particular, may be seen from the following passages. In Canticles 7:10, “I am my beloved’s, and His desire is toward me.” In Ezekiel 24:16, the Lord, informing the Prophet that He would take away his wife, says, “Behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes.” In verse 18, he says, “And at even [evening] my wife died.” We see that to this very day the Lord’s Word is disregarded in Rome’s forbidding the clergy to marry. Such acts can never be applied to Antiochus Epiphanes; neither to Napoleon, as this feature could not be said of either of these men.

The angel next says of this power, “But in his estate [place] shall he honor the God of forces; and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things” (verse 38). The word translated “forces” is Mahuzzim; and eminent Hebrew scholars say that it should be understood or taken personally. The margin of our King James Bible renders the word Mauzzim, gods, protectors, or munitions. Young gives as the meaning of the word, “stronghold, strength.” Mr. Elliott says “Mahoz in the singular means a fortress. It is used literally in verse 7, of this chapter, and in Psalm 31:3, and elsewhere, is thus applied figuratively to God: ‘Thou art my strength’ or ‘fortress.’ ” It is rendered in the Septuagint: “And he shall glorify Maodzim1 in his place”; and in the Latin Vulgate, “And he shall worship Maodzim in his place.” Hebrew scholars tell us that the word is derived from “a radical verb, signifying he was strong; and the proper meaning of it is munitions, bulwarks, fortresses; but the Hebrews often using abstracts for concretes, it signifies equally, protectors, defenders, and guardians.” Mr. Newton thus translates the passage:

“ ‘And with God, or instead of God Mahuzzim in his estate shall he honor; even with God, or instead of God, those whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold and silver, and with precious stones, and desirable things.’ However it be translated, the meaning evidently is, that he should establish the worship of Mahuzzim, of protectors, defenders, and guardians. He should worship them as God, or with God; and who is there so little acquainted with ecclesiastical history, as not to know that the worship of saints and angels was established both in the Greek and Latin Church? They were not only invocated and adored as patrons, intercessors, and guardians of mankind; but festival days were instituted to them; miracles were ascribed to them; churches were erected to them; their very relics [of dead saints] were worshiped; and their shrines and images were adorned with the most costly offerings, and ‘honored with gold and silver, and with precious stones and desirable things.’ ”

And that which makes the fulfilment of the prophecy still more complete is that these saints were celebrated and adored under the title or meaning of the word Mahuzzim, that is, of bulwarks and fortresses, of protectors and guardians of mankind. Mr. Mede and Sir Isaac Newton have proved this point by a great variety of authorities cited from the fathers, and other ancient writers. We quote from Mr. Mede on this point:

“Basil, a monk, who was made bishop of Caesarea in the year 369, and died in the year 378, concludes his oration upon the martyr Mamas with praying, ‘that God would preserve the Church of Caesarea unshaken, being guarded with the great towers of the martyrs.’ In his oration upon the forty martyrs, whose relics were dispersed in all places thereabouts, ‘These are they,’ saith he, ‘who having taken possession of our country, as certain conjoined towers, secure it from the incursions of enemies’; and he further invocates them, ‘O ye common keepers of mankind, good companions of our cares, coadjutors of our prayers, most powerful ambassadors to God,’ etc. Chrysostom in his thirty-second homily upon the epistle to the corps, Romans, speaking of the relics of Peter and Paul, ‘This corps,’ saith he, meaning of Paul, ‘fortifies that city of Rome more strongly than any tower, or than ten thousand rampires, as also doth the corps of Peter.’ Are not these strong Mahuzzim?

“In his homily likewise upon the Egyptian martyrs he speaketh after this manner: ‘The bodies of these saints fortify our city more strongly than any impregnable wall of adamant; and as certain high rocks, prominent on every side, not only repel the assaults of these enemies who fall under the senses and are seen by the eyes, but also subvert and dissipate the snares of invisible demons, and all the stratagems of the devil.’

“Hilary also will tell us that neither the guards of saints, nor [angelorum munitiones] the bulwarks of angels are wanting to those who are willing to stand. Here angels are Mahuzzim, as saints were before. The Greeks [Greek Church] at this day, in their Preces Horarioe, thus invocate the blessed virgin, ‘O thou virgin mother of God, thou impregnable wall, thou fortress of salvation … we call upon thee, that thou wouldst frustrate the purposes of our enemies, and be a fence to this city’; thus they go on, calling her, ‘The Hope, Safeguard, and Sanctuary of Christians.’

“Gregory Nyssen, in his third oration upon the forty martyrs, calleth them … guarders and protectors. …

“Theodoret calleth the holy martyrs ‘Guardians of cities, Lieutenants of places, Captains of men, Princes, Champions, and Guardians, by whom disasters are turned from us, and those which come from devils debarred and driven away.’ ”

We thus see that this superstition which began to prevail in the fourth century was foreseen and described by the angelic prophet long centuries before. The writers quoted in the foregoing show, as the angel declared, that “not only Mahuzzim were worshiped; but they were worshiped likewise as Mahuzzim,” that is, as bulwarks, protectors, defenders, etc.

Mr. Elliott’s remarks on these words of the angel are most worthy of consideration. Concerning the words, “a god whom his fathers knew not,” he says that it seems to have been from this prophetic clause that …

“  the general patristic explanation respecting Antichrist, that he would put aside, and be an enemy to idols, the gods of his Roman ancestors; idola seponens, as Ireneus says. Which indeed the Papal Antichrist was, though a patron of image and saint-worship: asserting somewhat paradoxically the total difference of the two things; and declaring that he who called images, idols, was anathema [accursed]. The real difference was this: the one was his creation; under his management; and moreover a most fruitful source of gain to him in Western Christendom: the other was not.

“It seems to me to have been well and consistently explained by reference to those saints, and their relics and images, which the [Romish] Apostasy from its first development regarded and worshiped as the Mahuzzim, or fortresses, of the places where they were deposited; saints which the Papal Chief of Antichristendom, on the grant of the Pantheon at Rome, solemnly adopted as tutelary deities, including the Virgin Mary as their head and Eloah; (he consecrated it to the honor of all the saints in place of all Pagan gods of his Roman ancestors’ worship; and to the Virgin Mary, as their head, in place of Cybele, the mother of the gods), which in the second Council of Nice he prevailed to have recognized as fit objects of worship, with apostate Christendom’s most solemn sanction. It was under Adrian, then bishop of Rome, that the Council was summoned and held: and very mainly through his influence and authority that the iconoclastic1 decrees of the previous Council of Constantinople, which had stigmatized the saints and their images (the very word here used in the Greek Version to express the Hebrew Mahuzzim), were reversed; the worship of saints and their images restored; and punishments awarded to those who maintained that God was the only object of religious adoration.”

It was after this, in Western Rome, that the Roman bishop canonized the saints as Mahuzzim …

“… as his own peculiar prerogative, and by his own sole authority. As to the historic fact, it was at first the office of Provincial Councils, with a bishop presiding, to settle which of the more recently departed might be regarded as saints and mediators, the demand for new saints having become large in corrupted Christendom; and the pope was only referee on appeal in the matter — then at length the pope claimed it as his peculiar prerogative to create saints.

“Mosheim’s words, ‘The judgment of the Roman Pontiffs was respected in the choice of those who were to be honored with saintship,’ till ‘the Church of Rome engrossed to itself the creation of these tutelary divinities, which at length was distinguished by the title of canonization’ — are like a comment on the prophetic words [of the angel], ‘Mahuzzim whom he shall acknowledge and increase with honor’; and (if my reading be correct) ‘He shall make into fortresses the Mahuzzim.’ ”

As further bearing on this matter we note that in a work designed for the worship of Roman Catholics in England, called the Litany of Loretto, and edited by the Revelation P. Gandolphy, we have these words, which are designed as a prayer to the virgin Mary:

“We fly to thy patronage, O holy mother of God! Deliver us from all dangers, O ever glorious and blessed virgin, Tower of David, Tower of ivory, Ark of the Covenant, Refuge of sinners, Help of Christians, Queen of Angels, Queen of Prophets, Queen of Martyrs, Queen of all saints! We fly to thy patronage, O holy mother of God! Despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us from all dangers!”

Concerning the revealing angel’s words to Daniel, “He shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain,” it is well known that by the authority (so called) of the Roman pontiff each country, town, monastery, and church, has its own patron saint. A quotation from Mr. Mede is to the point here:

“He shall distribute the earth among his Mahuzzim: so that besides several patrimonies which in every country he shall allot them, he shall share whole kingdoms and provinces among them: Saint George shall have England; Saint Andrew Scotland, Saint Denis France, Saint James Spain, Saint Mark Venice, etc., and bear rule as presidents and patrons of their several countries.”

The view is maintained by Mr. Newton that the worship accorded was to the teachers and propagators of the worship of Mahuzzim — the bishops, priests, monks, and other religious orders — rather than to the saints and angels, etc., represented or described by the word Mahuzzim. The expression has certainly had its fulfilment in both ways; for we know that these religious officials “have been honored and reverenced, and almost adored in former ages; that their authority and jurisdiction have extended over the purses and consciences of men; that they have been enriched with noble buildings and large endowments, and have had the choicest lands. These are points of such public notoriety that they require no proof, as they will admit of no denial.”

Judgment On Papacy By Mohammedan Powers

“And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him; and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries; and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps” (Daniel 11:40-43).

If we are correct in applying verses 31-39 to the Roman Empire — first, in its Pagan aspect as a subjugator and destroyer of the Jewish polity, as well as a persecutor of true Christians, and second, as a professed Christian empire, corrupting true Christianity, and persecuting true Christians also — then the verses above quoted must describe the punishment of this great Roman (professedly) Christian power; more especially, however, in the Eastern or Greek territory of its dominion. Furthermore, it must be in the Christian dispensation that we are to look for the events portrayed in these verses, which describe this judgment punishment; and still further, the fulfilment of verses 40- 45 will be seen to reach to the end of its persecuting if not its corrupting influence — indeed to the end of the Gospel Age, and the standing up of Michael, “the great Prince that standeth for the children of thy people” (Daniel 12:1).

The powers that are used as agencies to accomplish the punishment of these idolatrous Christian communities, are designated in the words of the angelic revealer, the king of the south and the king of the north, the latter power and his actions being the one more fully described. The kings of the north and of the south, referred to in the preceding verses, as we have seen, were Syria and Egypt, both of which were swallowed up in the Roman Empire before the Christian era began. The two powers in the verses under consideration, therefore, must be explained or identified as those occupying the territories of these two kingdoms at the time the angel’s words contained in these verses meet their fulfilment. The last time the king of the north was mentioned by the angel was in connection with the exploits of Antiochus Epiphanes. His career was ended by the Romans, when his attempt to subjugate Egypt to his authority was blocked completely. This was about 168 BC.

In our exposition thus far of the eleventh chapter of Daniel we have reached the period in history when the seat of government of the Roman power had been removed from Rome to the East — to Constantinople; and when the rulers had embraced the Christian religion and corrupted it to such an extent that it could scarcely be recognized as the Christianity that Christ had taught and established. It should be kept in mind that the judgment punishment described in these verses is to be looked for chiefly in what is generally called the Eastern or Greek Christendom. In Daniel 7, it will be recalled, Papacy is described as the “little horn,” or the anti-Christian Apostasy, whose seat of authority was in the city of Rome in the West. The judgment on the western Apostasy is described in that chapter, in the words, “they shall take away his dominion to consume and destroy it unto the end.” In 1870 the temporal dominion of the Papal power ceased altogether.

As the predictions contained in these verses have to do with events occurring in connection with the influence of the Roman Empire in the East, and as the territories of the original kings “of the north” and “of the south” are also located in the East, therefore, it is in this quarter of the world especially that we should look for the fulfilment of the angel’s prediction. In other words it must be in the Eastern or Greek territories that we are to look for the powers designated the kings “of the north” and “of the south”; and it must also be in the same quarter that the aggressive invasions and depredations of these two powers against the Roman power, meet their fulfilment.

Thus far in our application of this prediction of Daniel 11 everything seems clear to us that the foregoing exposition is correct. It is concerning the time in history that we are to look for the events described by these ravages of the kings of the north and of the south that a difficulty is presented. In connection with the words, “at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him,” a difficulty arises. Concerning this Mr. Elliott says:

“The primary difficulty of the passage, considered critically, and with a view to its historical explanation, arises out of those words at its very commencement, ‘at the time of the end.’ Taken in [what seems] their strictest and most proper sense, they must indicate the epoch of the end of the present age or dispensation: a sense which attaches to them in the two other places in which they occur in this same prophecy. And then the predictions they introduce must be considered as for the most part [to take place in the] future. If, however, the phrase may be construed less strictly, viz., in the sense of the latter days, or later part of the times of the Christian dispensation, then … the solution of Mede and Newton becomes admissible, explaining the king of the south, and what is said of him, of the Saracen and his attacks on Roman Christendom; and what is said of the king of the north of the Turk’s attacks on Roman Christendom also, at a later era. And certainly it tends strongly to confirm this as the true solution, that both the little that is here said of the king of the south’s proceedings, and the fuller and more particular prediction of those of the king of the north, well agree with the history of the Saracenic and Turkish invasions of Christendom. The Saracen, after occupying Egypt, and so standing on the ground of the Ptolemies [which was the power designated the king of the south], did push from thence against Western as well as Eastern Christendom; and both conquered Spain and Sicily, and even attacked the pope and Rome itself, in expeditions up the Tiber. Again, the Turk came afterwards against apostate [Eastern] Christendom like a whirl- wind, with chariots and horsemen, and with many ships; and overflowing like a flood, entered both into it and into the once glorious land of Judea: moreover, though Edom, Ammon, and Moab, or the Arabs of the neighboring desert, escaped from his hand [as the prophecy states], yet did he further extend his dominion over Egypt, the Upper as well as the Lower; and over Libya also, or northern Africa; so that from all the three Libyan principalities of Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco, ‘they were at his steps,’ i.e. sent forth auxiliary forces at his command. Of the terribleness of which invader to the popes of Rome the Papal councils for some four or five centuries furnish abundant evidence; as also the solemn deprecatory processions at Rome, and efforts of successive popes at rousing the secular powers of Western Christendom against him.”

May it not be, we ask, that the expression, “the time of the end,” in this portion of the prediction, refers for its beginning to the time of the end of Rome’s influence in the East and West as a universal empire? The prophetic description of the angel in verses 40-43, has certainly met a complete fulfilment in every detail in the exploits and conquests of the two divisions of the great Mohammedan power, particularly in apostate Eastern Christendom. There can be no question regarding this, as we shall endeavor to show; and if this expression, “at the time of the end,” were not here, there would not be any question that this is the true application of the angel’s prediction. It is a fact of history that the Roman government embraced and corrupted Christianity; and the Christianity that prevailed during the decline and fall of the Roman Empire was an idolatrous counterfeit of the true. It is also a fact of history that both the Saracen and Othman-Turkish powers each constituted in the Divine providence a rod of punishment to these apostate Christian communities of the East. From this standpoint the prediction covers long centuries of human history concerning affairs in the East, reaching down to the period referred to in Daniel 12 as “the time of the end” of the Gospel Age; indeed, even to the standing up of Michael, who is referred to as the “great Prince that standeth for the children of thy [Daniel’s] people.”

The expression rendered in the King James translation, “the time of the end,” is found three times, including the one under consideration in this prediction. It is generally understood, although not by all, to have reference to a period at the close of the Gospel Age, or the close of Gentile Times, which would mean the same. The length of this period, however, is nowhere stated in the prophecy; nor does there seem to be any hint regarding it; nevertheless it is calculated variously by different expositors. There are some who understand that the word “time” in this expression has reference to a period of 360 years. These expositors apply the prediction to the last 360 years of the Gospel Age, or of Gentile Times.

It is not a little significant that the Douay translation, and also one of the very latest translations of the Scriptures, presents an entirely different meaning. This passage (verse 40) is thus rendered by the Douay: “At the time prefixed, the king of the south shall fight against him.” The translation of Ferrar Fenton, entitled, The Complete Bible in Modern English, renders this verse: “At the end of the period,” etc.

In Daniel 11:35, where the expression is also found, the Douay reads: “And some of the learned shall fall that they may be tried, and may be chosen and made white even to the appointed time.” The same verse is translated by Ferrar Fenton: “And some of the teachers will fall to refine them, and purify and beautify them for the appointed time.”

The expression is also found in Daniel 12:9; and in the Douay reads: “Go Daniel, because the words are shut up and sealed until the appointed time.” Fenton’s translation of the same is: “Go away, Daniel, because that is hidden and sealed until the fixed time.” This verse will be considered in due order. Our purpose at this time will be to show how fully the prediction concerning the two powers has met its fulfilment in the Saracens and Othman Turks.

It was only a short time after the fall of the Roman Empire in the West (476 AD), that the Saracenic power began pushing against the Eastern Roman territory. Its ravages extended over a period of a hundred and fifty years. Concerning this most significant event and period in history, the following from the International Encyclopedia is to the point:

“But a new and terrible enemy suddenly arose in the south. The Arabs, filled with the ardor of a new and fierce faith [the Mohammedan], had just set out on their career of sanguinary proselytism. The war began during the life of the prophet [Mohammed] himself was continued by his successors, Abubeker and Omar. Heraclius [the emperor of Rome reigning in the East] no longer commanded the Byzantine forces himself, but wasted his days in his palace at Constantinople, partly in sensual pleasures, and partly in wretched theological disputations. His mighty energies were quite relaxed; and before the close of his life, Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia, and Egypt were in the hands of the [Mohammedan] Caliphs.”

Gibbon in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire says on this point:

“From the time of Heraclius, the Byzantine theatre is contracted and darkened; the line of empire which had been defined by the law of Justinian, and the arms of Belisarius, recedes on all sides from our view; the Roman name … is reduced to a narrow career in Europe to the lonely suburbs of Constantinople, and the fate of the Greek Empire has been compared to that of the Rhine, which loses itself in the sands, before the waters can mingle with the ocean.”

All this Mr. Gibbon attributed to the Mohammedan invasions. Bishop Newton has thus commented on the words of the angel:

“ ‘And at the time of the end,’ that is (as Mr. Mede rightly expounds it) in the latter days of the Roman Empire, ‘shall the king of the south push at him’; that is, the Saracens, who were of the Arabians, and came from the south; and under the conduct of their false prophet, Mohammed and his successor, made war upon the [Roman] emperor Heraclius, and with amazing rapidity, deprived him of Egypt, Syria, and many of his finest provinces. They were only [as described in the prophecy] to ‘push at,’ and sorely wound the Greek Empire, but they were not to subvert and destroy it.”

This, as we have seen, was fulfilled in that “the Saracen, after occupying Egypt, and so standing on the ground of the Ptolemies, did push from thence against Western as well as Eastern Christendom.” Bishop Newton says, “The Saracens dismembered and weakened the Greek Empire, but the Turks destroyed it; and for this reason we may presume so much more is said of the Turks [the king of the north] than of the Saracens [the king of the south].”

Mr. Gibbon says, “One hundred years after his [Mohammed’s] flight from Mecca, the arms and reigns of his successors extended from India to the Atlantic Ocean over the various and distant provinces which may be comprised under the names, I. Persia; II. Syria; III. Egypt; IV. Africa; V. Spain.” All these powers were once under the Roman dominion and were professedly Christian.

Ottoman Turks in the Prophecy

We come now to the angel’s more complete description of the career of the king of the north. It will be fair to notice that some identify the king of the north with England. It seems absolutely essential, however, to identify these powers at the time the words of the angelic prediction meet their fulfilment with those occupying the territories of the original kings of the north and the south. This principle, it seems to us, must be followed; and when followed, England is excluded at the very outset of our search to discover these powers in history. We cannot but agree with the words of another expositor, who has pointed out that “the Turks, who were originally Scythians, and came from the north  after the Saracens, seized upon Syria and assaulted with great violence

the Greek Empire, and in time rendered themselves absolute masters of the whole.” Turkey, therefore, occupying as it did the northern division of Alexander’s empire, seems clearly to be the king of the north referred to by the angelic prophet. And this (while other parts of the prediction, particularly as regarding the time of its fulfilment, are interpreted differently) is the most common interpretation of expositors.

The words concerning the king of the north, “He shall come against him [the Eastern Roman or Greek power] like a whirlwind,” describe perfectly the whirlwind destructiveness of the Othman Turk’s invasion of the Eastern Empire. The historian tells us that “the power of the Ottoman Turks commenced in Asia Minor, and was laid by Othman, or Ottoman (born 1258), who, originally ruler of a small mountain district forming the frontier of ancient Bithynia and Phrygia, gradually extended his dominion till it became one of the most flourishing states of Asia Minor. The advance of the Ottoman dynasty after this was rapid. Not only did nearly all Asia Minor fall under Turkish sway, but in the fourteenth century the Turks crossed the Hellespont, made Adrianople their capital, and reaching out from there gradually stripped the Byzantine emperors of Thrace, Macedon, Servia, and Southern Greece. At length Mohammed II ascended the Ottoman throne (1451), and from the moment of his accession, directed his efforts to the capture of Constantinople. [It should be kept in mind that these lands were all parts of the Roman dominion, and were professing an idolatrous perversion of Christianity.]

“At the head of an army of 300,000 men, supported by a powerful fleet, he laid siege to the celebrated metropolis. Constantine Palaelogus met the storm valiantly, and for fifty- three days made a stout defense of the city. At last, on the 29th of May, 1453, the Turks stormed the walls, having previously battered them with cannon (then used for perhaps the first time); Constantine fell, sword in hand, boldly disputing every inch of ground; multitudes of his subjects were massacred; the Crescent waved over the Church of St. Sophia, and the Byzantine Empire fell forever” (Swinton, Outlines of the World’s History).

The chariots and horsemen are particularly mentioned. This was because the Mohammedan armies consisted chiefly of cavalry forces. Their naval power consisting of “many ships” is also specifically mentioned. Without such a naval armament it would have been impossible for this Turkish power to have gotten possession of so many countries and islands; and it would have been impossible for them to so frequently defeat the Venetians, who at the time were the greatest naval power in the world. Both naval and land forces were employed in the siege and capture of Constantinople, Euboea, Rhodes, Cyprus, and Crete.

The words of the angel, “He shall enter into the countries and shall overflow and pass over” are an exact description of the Othman Turks’ invasion of Asia, and following this, passing over even into Europe and establishing their seat of empire at Constantinople, as was the case under their seventh emperor, Mohammed II.

The angel’s prediction says that he would enter into the glorious land, in other words, the holy land of Palestine, which, as is well known, the Ottoman Turks did; and up to quite recently they have held control of this land.

It was further predicted by the angelic prophet that “many countries shall be overthrown,” and that certain countries and peoples shall escape out of his hands. Those mentioned are “Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.” The people here mentioned inhabited Arabia, and it is well known that the Turks were never able with all their forces to conquer them entirely. The Sultan Selim, their ninth emperor, was the conqueror of the countries bordering on Arabia, but they were never able to completely subdue the Arabians themselves. By large gifts, we are told, some of their chiefs were bribed into submission, and for long years the Othman emperors paid an annual pension of forty thousand crowns of gold for the safe passage of their caravans and pilgrims going to Mecca, the sacred city of the Mohammedans. It is stated by the angel that while the tribes of Arabia should escape out his hand, Egypt should not be so favored, as we read, “He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries; and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt.” Who does not know that until quite recently this has been the case?

The prediction next implies that some of the African nations should be conquered by him and become his followers and allies. The prophecy reads, “And the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.” We learn from history, that “after Egypt was conquered by the Turks, the terror of Selim’s many victories now spreading wide, the kings of Africa, bordering upon Cyrenaica, sent their ambassadors with proffers to become his tributaries. Other more remote nations also, towards Ethiopia were easily induced to join in amity with the Turks.” While the Turkish Empire has in the last century and a half, as well as quite recently, lost immense territories, it is well known that at one time its dominion extended from the Atlantic Ocean to the borders of India.

The angel’s prediction up to this point leaves the Roman power stripped of all its possessions in its Eastern or Greek provinces, and the Othman Turks in full control of the same. Furthermore, it finds nearly all of the apostate Christian communities of this territory as having forsaken Christianity and professing the faith of Islam; and this state of affairs was the result of the terrible depredations of the king of the north, the Othman Turkish power.

Carried Down The Stream Of Time

“But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him” (Daniel 11:44,45).

It is significant that whether one takes the position that the wilful king of verse 36, and the king of the north of verse 40, refer respectively to Napoleon1 and England, or that they refer respectively to the Roman power in its various phases or aspects and the Othman-Turkish power, the sequel is the same — there is but one more act in the great drama before the deliverance of Daniel’s people and land from Gentile oppression and dominion. This final act seems to be referred to in the verses quoted above, and relates to the Divine settlement of what is generally termed in diplomatic circles, the Near East question. The subject of dispute concerning this matter in the past has been with regard to what disposition shall be made of Turkish dominion in Europe.

It seems proper to note at this point that those who hold the Napoleonic theory differ among themselves in their application of these verses. There are those who hold that the words in verse 41: “He shall enter also into the glorious land,” and those that follow to the end of the chapter, meet their fulfilment in Napoleon’s career. This interpretation makes the one of whom it is said, “he shall come to his end, and none shall help him,” to be Napoleon. This of course necessitates believing that the entire prophecy met its fulfilment over a century ago. As the event referred to in the words, “He shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain,” is plainly stated to occur in immediate connection with the standing up of Michael and the great time of trouble, and also the deliverance of Daniel’s people and the resurrection, it seems difficult to believe that this interpretation can be correct. This seemingly insurmountable difficulty is avoided by some by explaining that the resurrection stated to occur in connection with the downfall of this power in the holy land is a figurative one, describing a deliverance, “from Pagan and Papal errors— [explained by them to be] the dust of the ages — [accomplished] by the evangelical work with the open Bibles in the time of the end.” Such an interpretation seems quite improbable to us.

It is not at all according to the facts of history that Napoleon, either before his incarceration at Elba, or after his escape and his renewal of the conflict against the allied powers, planted the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain, or that it was in Palestine that he came to his end with none to help him, as the prophecy seems plainly to require. Concerning Napoleon’s end, history records that …

“… on March 30 [1814], the allied forces captured, after a severe engagement, the fortifications of Paris; next day the emperor Alexander and the king of Prussia entered the city, amid the shouts of the populace; on April 4 Napoleon abdicated at Fontainebleau. He was allowed to retain the title of emperor, with the sovereignty of the island of Elba, and an income of 6,000,000 francs, to be paid by the French government. A British ship conveyed him to Elba, where he arrived on May 4.

“After a lapse of ten months, most of which time was spent in intrigues, Napoleon made his escape from the island, landed near Frejus on March 1, 1815, and appealed again to France. The army went over to him in a body, and several of his marshals, but the majority remained faithful to Louis XVIII. On March 20 he reached Paris, reassumed the supreme power, promised a liberal constitution, and prepared once more to try the fortune of battle with the allies. At the head of 125,000 men, he marched (June 15) towards Charleroi, on the Flemish frontier, where the English and Prussian forces were assembling. The Duke of Wellington, who, the year before, had completed the deliverance of Spain [from French dominion], was appointed by the congress of Vienna, commander-in-chief of the armies of the Netherlands. The campaign lasted only a few days. On the 16th Napoleon defeated the Prussians, under Marshal Blucher, at Ligny, which compelled Wellington to fall back on Waterloo, where, on the 18th, was fought the most memorable and decisive battle of modern times. It resulted in the utter and irretrievable ruin of Napoleon” (International Encyclopedia).

On July 15 Napoleon voluntarily surrendered himself and was banished to the island of St. Helena for life, where he died May 5, 1821. We thus see from reliable history that neither Napoleon nor, as others interpret it, the French government planted “the tabernacles of his palace” in Palestine, nor “came to his end” there. All that is said of Napoleon’s exploits in Palestine occurred in 1799, and is thus stated by the authority above quoted:

“On August 2 [1798], Nelson had utterly destroyed the French fleet in Aboukir Bay, and so cut off Napoleon [who was at the time in Egypt] from communication with Europe. A month later the Sultan [of Turkey who had control of Egypt] declared war against him. This was followed by disturbances in Cairo, which were only suppressed by horrible massacres. It was obviously necessary that Napoleon should go somewhere else. He resolved to meet the Turkish forces assembling in Syria; and in February, 1799, crossed the desert at the head of 10,000 men, stormed Jaffa [the seaport of Jerusalem] on March 7th after a heroic resistance on the part of the Turks, marched northwards by the coast, and reached Acre on the 17th. Here his career of victory [at this time] was stopped. All his efforts to capture Acre were foiled through the desperate and obstinate valor of old Djezzar Pasha (q.v.), assisted by Sir Sydney Smith with a small body of English sailors and marines. On May 21 he commenced his retreat to Egypt, leaving the whole country on fire behind him, and rentered Cairo on June 14.”

This is the incident which many Advent expositors explain as meeting its fulfilment in the words of the angel, “he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain.” It was a simple incident of slight importance in Napoleon’s early career, and occurred sixteen years before his downfall.

One thing seems quite clear with regard to the fulfilment of verses 44 and 45 — that whatever power “plants the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain,” also meets its final doom in Palestine, for it is said in the same immediate connection, “Yet he shall come to his end and none shall help him.” The identification of the expression, “the glorious holy mountain,” with the Holy Land, seems clearly established by a reference to other Scriptures, where similar expressions are employed to describe this land. In Psalm 106:24, Palestine is called “the pleasant land.” In Jeremiah 3:19, it is called, “a pleasant land, a goodly heritage.” In Ezekiel 20:6, it is spoken of as “the glory of all lands”; in Daniel 8:9, “the pleasant land”; 11:16, “the glorious land”; and again, in verse 41, “the glorious land.” The Syriac renders the expression in these last two verses, “the land of Israel.” Consequently “the glorious holy mountain” must be Zion or Olivet, or some mountain in Palestine which lies between the Dead Sea on the east and the Mediterranean on the west.

Mr. Newton, in a comment on the prediction contained in these two verses, says: “In our application of it to the Othman Empire, as these events are future, we cannot pretend to point them out with any certainty and exactness.”

Mr. Mede seemed to think that the “tidings out of the east and north” may have reference to the return of the Jews from those quarters. Concerning the expression, “He shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas,” Mr. Newton continues: “There the Turk shall encamp with all his power, ‘yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him,’ shall help him effectually, or deliver him.” Whatever power is referred to, it would seem from these words that it shall establish at least a temporary seat of government there. If it applies to Turkey, the prediction demands the expulsion of the Turk from Europe and his final downfall in the holy land.

“The same times and the same events seem to be presignified in this prophecy as that of Ezekiel concerning ‘Gog of the land of Magog.’ He likewise is a northern power. He is represented as of Scythian extraction (Ezekiel 38:2). ‘He cometh from his place out of the north parts’ (verse 15). His army too is described as consisting chiefly of ‘horses and horsemen’ (verse 4). He likewise hath ‘Ethiopia and Lybia with him’ (verse 5). ‘He shall come up against the people of Israel in the latter days’ (verse 16), after this return from captivity (verse 8). He too shall encamp ‘upon the mountains of Israel’ (Ezekiel 39:2). He shall also ‘fall [meet his doom] upon the mountains of Israel, and all the people that is with him’ (verse 4). There the Divine judgments shall overtake him (38:22,23), and God shall be ‘magnified and sanctified in the eyes of many nations.’ ”

The Last Days in Prophecy

“At that time shall Michael stand up, and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time” (Daniel 12:1).

The great World War only increased the inflammable material associated with the settlement of the Eastern question. Only a few sparks would be necessary to kindle the flame of universal war. National interests and jealousies, Greek and Roman Catholic interests and concerns, together with Mohammedan fanaticism, are all working to pile up the inflammable rubbish that will be consumed in the great fiery troubles of the day of wrath.

It seems manifestly impossible to forecast with any degree of success the particulars of the fulfilment of these two verses without a careful examination and association of the very many prophecies which describe more fully the last closing scenes of the Gospel Age in the land of Palestine. To follow the Divine rule would require that we compare these prophetic verses with the many other prophecies, that the interpretation may be in perfect harmony with, and may fit into the Divine interpretation that describes the ending of all the great apostate systems and governments of Christendom. These Scriptures seem clearly to show that all of the apostate systems will in some way be involved in the final conflict that closes this Gospel Age; and the land of Palestine, where the earthly phase of the Kingdom of God is to be first set up, will witness these closing events. These predictions are found in Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel, and Zechariah. With one voice they all agree concerning the final result of the troubles in Palestine. The language of one of these Prophets, Ezekiel, voices the utterances of all the others. The words are those of Jehovah Himself and read:

“Thus will I magnify Myself, and sanctify Myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord. So will I make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel; and I will not let them pollute My holy name any more; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. And I will set My glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see My judgment that I have executed, and My hand that I have laid upon them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward. And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they trespassed against Me, therefore hid I My face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies; so fell they all by the sword. According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid My face from them. Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for My holy name; after that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against Me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid. When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations” (Ezekiel 38:23, 39:7, 21-29).

Other Scriptures show that not only will all the nations be represented in this final conflict, but also the great religious systems of Mohammedanism, and the Papacy, indeed all Christendom; and that the Jewish land will witness the closing scenes of the great and final conflict; further, that the Jewish people, who will be in peaceful possession of their land at the time, will be brought to repentance, and restored to God’s favor.

Events of the present time are shaping themselves so that it becomes less difficult to understand what political and religious questions may cause the great final conflict, as also to identify the leading powers engaged in it. Since the World War the League of Nations has become an actual fact. It would seem that it may become an important factor and play one of the chief parts in this conflict over Palestine.

Prophetic students, who have been observing the remarkable increase of Papal influence in the past few years, its boldness in setting forth its preposterous claims, and its subtle efforts to get control in political and state affairs, are not surprised at these developments; for all this was foretold in the sure word of prophecy. In the last great struggle between truth and error, Papacy will evidently be one of the most influential and important actors. It has already been stated by reliable authority that the Papacy is preparing the way by a reorganization of its diplomatic service to make application at the psychological moment for membership in the League of Nations. Should such an application be made, it seems quite clear that it would be granted; for the reason that the Roman Catholic countries of the world — members of the League — have enough votes at their command to assure the two-thirds majority necessary to admit the Papacy into the League.

Even if the Papacy had not expressed disapproval of the present control of Palestine and the promise made to the Jews by England that Palestine should be their home land, it would be well known from past history that the pope could never be satisfied for any other power than that of the Papacy to control that land. For this reason alone we may safely conclude that when this Jewish problem is up for a final solution, Papacy will exert all the power and influence at its command to obtain control of the “holy sacred places.”¹

Since the great war, while Turkey has been obliged to relinquish her hold on Palestine and Syria, the revolution that has taken place there has brought Turkey into greater prominence than ever as a power amongst the nations.

As we have already noted, some expositors have thought that Napoleon’s career was described in the words of the verse, “he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.” However, it seems plain that the last death struggles of the Mohammedan power are described in these verses; that the real going forth of the Turk with great fury has not yet occurred; that the planting of the tabernacles of his palace, etc., is yet a future event. It would seem that it is here that Mohammedanism takes its last stand; and that it is here that “he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.”

Furthermore, it seems that it is while the various governments are represented in Palestine by their armies under Papacy’s influence that Papacy through the uprisings at Rome will also come to its end. While the attention of the whole world will be centered on what is taking place in the Holy Land and the East, conditions will be ripe for revolution in the home governments. Anarchism will see its opportunity to strike. Socialism, misnamed Progressivism, will take advantage of the times. Roman Catholicism will say, This is our time; this is what we have long waited for; let us arise, and place the pope in [what they deem] his rightful station. Mohammedanism will shout, as the green flag is unfurled, Down with the vile Christians; we will assert our rights. But it, as well as all the other enemies of peace and righteousness, will come to its end, and none shall help. Then out of the ruins shall arise the Jewish Theocracy.

As to just how all these important events will be brought to their great climax, it is impossible at the present time for any one to tell; and we would not be wise above what is written. That the great crisis will come, and come soon, seems certain.

(1) Eusebius Hieronymus Sophronius is another name for Jerome.

(1) The same word, only a different spelling.

(1) Iconoclast is the “name used to designate those in the Church from the eighth century downwards who have been opposed to the use of sacred images, that is, of statues, pictures, and other sensible representations of sacred objects or at least to the paying of religious honor or reverence to such representations. The Iconoclast movement had its commencement in the Eastern Church” (International Encyclopedia).

(1) The expositor who first applied the prediction concerning the king that should do according to his will, etc., to Napoleon and France, was George Stanley Faber, a minister of the church of England. His chief work on prophecy was issued in 1828. He died in 1854. His interpretation was adopted principally by Uriah Smith and some other Adventists.

(1) See The Revelation of Jesus Christ, Chapter 43, “Christendom Gathered to Armageddon.”