Dan 8:4, 11:28, 36 | JFB | STEP | 4. ram pushing westward-- Persia conquered westward Babylon, Mesopotamia, Syria, Asia Minor. northward-- Colchis, Armenia, Iberia, and the dwellers on the Caspian Sea. southward-- Judea, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya; also India, under Darius. He does not say eastward, for the Persians themselves came from the east ( ). did according to his will-- ( , ; compare ).

‏ Daniel 8:4

4. ram pushing westward--Persia conquered westward Babylon, Mesopotamia, Syria, Asia Minor.

northward--Colchis, Armenia, Iberia, and the dwellers on the Caspian Sea.

southward--Judea, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya; also India, under Darius. He does not say eastward, for the Persians themselves came from the east (Is 46:11).

did according to his will--(Da 11:3, 16; compare Da 5:19).

‏ Daniel 11:28

28. (1 Maccabees 1:19, 20, &c.).

against the holy covenant--On his way back to Syria, he attacked Jerusalem, the metropolis of Jehovah's covenant-people, slew eighty thousand, took forty thousand prisoners, and sold forty thousand as slaves (2 Maccabees 5:5-14).

he shall do exploits--He shall effect his purpose. Guided by Menelaus, the high priest, he entered the sanctuary with blasphemies, took away the gold and silver vessels, sacrificed swine on the altar, and sprinkled broth of the flesh through the temple (2 Maccabees 5:15-21).

‏ Daniel 11:36

36. The wilful king here, though primarily Antiochus, is antitypically and mainly Antichrist, the seventh head of the seven-headed and ten-horned beast of Re 13:1-18, and the "beast" of Armageddon (Re 16:13, 16; 19:19). Some identify him with the revived French emperorship, the eighth head of the beast (Re 17:11), who is to usurp the kingly, as the Pope has the priestly, dignity of Christ--the false Messiah of the Jews, who will "plant his tabernacle between the seas in the holy mountain," "exalting himself above every god" (2Th 2:4; Re 13:5, 6). This last clause only in part holds good of Antiochus; for though he assumed divine honors, identifying himself with Jupiter Olympius, yet it was for that god he claimed them; still it applies to him as the type.

speak marvellous things against ... God of gods--so Da 7:25, as to the "little horn," which seemingly identifies the two (compare Da 8:25). Antiochus forbade the worship of Jehovah by a decree "marvellous" for its wickedness: thus he was a type of Antichrist. Compare Da 7:8, "a mouth speaking great things."

indignation ... accomplished--God's visitation of wrath on the Jews for their sins (Da 8:19).

that ... determined--(Da 9:26, 27; 10:21).