Thoughts on the Book of Daniel.
By Uriah Smith
CHAPTER II, VERSE 39.—CONTINUED.
“And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee.” The use of the word kingdom, here, shows that kingdoms, and not particular kings, are represented by the different parts of this image; and hence, when it was said to Nebuchadnezzar, Thou art this head of gold, the kingdom, not the king, was meant. The succeeding kingdom, Medo-Persia, then, answers to the breast and arms of silver. It was to be inferior to the preceding kingdom. In what respect? Not in power; for it was its conqueror. Not in extent; for Cyrus subdued all the East from the Ægean Sea to the River Indus, and thus erected the most extensive empire that the world had, up to that time, seen. But it was inferior in wealth, luxury, and magnificence. Whether it was designed as the fulfillment of the prophecy or not, it is at least an interesting coincidence that the kingdom, answering to that portion of the image where the two arms are located, was composed of the union of two nationalities, the Medes and Persians. And this is rendered the more significant from the fact that this feature is distinctly marked in the other symbols representing the same empire, namely, the bear of chapter 7, and the ram of chapter 8. This fact is not observable in reference to the fourth kingdom, and the two legs, as we shall see, cannot be taken to represent two divisions of an empire. Viewed from a scriptural standpoint, the principal event under the Babylonish Empire was the captivity of the children of Israel; so the principal event under the Medo-Persian kingdom, was their restoration to their own land. Two years after the taking of Babylon, Darius, the uncle of Cyrus, to whom Cyrus, as an act of courtesy, had assigned the first place in the kingdom, died. In the same year also died Cambyses, king of Persia, Cyrus' father. By these events, Cyrus was left sole monarch of the empire, B. C. 536. This year, which closed the seventy years' captivity, witnessed the famous decree of Cyrus for the return of the Jews, and the rebuilding of their temple. This was the first installment of the great decree for the restoration and building again of Jerusalem, which was consummated in the seventh of Artaxerxes, B. C. 457, and marked the commencement of the longest and most important prophetic period to be found in the Word of God. After a reign of seven years, Cyrus left the kingdom to his son, Cambyses. Eight monarchs, whose reigns varied from seven months to forty-six years each, followed in order till the year B. C. 335, which found Darius, the last of the Persian kings, upon the throne. This man was of noble stature, of goodly person, of the greatest personal valor, and of a mild and generous disposition. Had he lived at any other age, a long and splendid career would undoubtedly have been his. But it was his ill fortune to have to contend with one who was an agent in the fulfillment of prophecy, and no qualifications, natural or acquired, could render him successful in the unequal contest. Scarcely was he warm upon the throne, says history, ere he found his formidable enemy, Alexander, preparing to dismount him from it. The cause and particulars of this contest, we need not stop to follow. Suffice it to say that affairs were brought to a decisive issue at the battle of Arbela, B. C. 331, in which the Grecians, though only one to twenty in number, as compared with the Persians, being entirely victorious, Alexander thenceforth became absolute lord of that empire to the utmost extent ever possessed by any of the Persian kings. “And another third kingdom of brass, shall bear rule over all the earth,” said the prophet. So few and brief are the inspired words, which involve in their fulfillment a change of the world's rulers. Grecia now comes upon the stage as the third of earth's universal empires. After the fatal battle which decided the fate of the empire, Darius still endeavored to rally the shattered remnants of his army, and make a stand for his kingdom and his rights. But he could not gather, out of all those of his recently so numerous and well-appointed army, a force with which he deemed it prudent to hazard another engagement with the victorious Grecians. Alexander pursued him on the wings of the wind. Time after time did Darius scarcely elude the grasp of his swiftly following foe. At length two traitors, Bessus and Nabarzanes, seized the unfortunate prince, shut him up in a close cart, and fled with him as their prisoner toward Bactria. It was their purpose if Alexander pursued them, to purchase their own safety by delivering up their king. Thereupon Alexander, learning of Darius' dangerous position in the hands of the traitors, immediately put himself with the lightest part of his army upon a forced pursuit. After several days' hard march, he came up with the traitors. They urged Darius to mount on horse-back for a more speedy flight. Upon his refusing to do this, they gave him several mortal wounds, and left him dying in his cart, while they mounted their steeds and rode away. When Alexander came up, life was extinct. As he gazed upon the corpse, he might have learned a profitable lesson of the instability of human fortune. Here was a man who, but a few months before possessed of many noble and generous qualities, was seated upon the throne of universal empire. Disaster, overthrow, and desertion, had come suddenly upon him. His kingdom had been conquered, his treasure seized, and his family reduced to captivity. And now, brutally slain by the hand of traitors, he lay a bloody corpse in a rude cart. The sight of the melancholy spectacle drew tears even from the eyes of Alexander, familiar though he was with all the horrible vicissitudes and bloody scenes of war. Throwing his cloak over the body, he commanded it to be conveyed to the captive ladies of Susa, himself furnishing the necessary means for a royal funeral. For this generous act let us give him credit; for he stands sadly in need of all that is his due. When Darius fell, Alexander saw the field cleared of his last formidable foe. Thenceforward5he could spend his time in his own manner, now in the enjoyment of rest and pleasure, and again in the prosecution of some minor conquest. He entered upon a pompous campaign into India, because, according to Grecian fable, Bacchus and Hercules, two sons of Jupiter, whose son he also claimed to be, had done the same. He conquered all that there was any necessity for conquering, and then is said to have wept that he had not another world to conquer. For what? That he might do good to his fellow-men, bless and elevate the race, and ameliorate their woes? No; but to gratify his own insatiable thirst for power, and to pander to his ungovernable lusts. With contemptible arrogance, he claimed for himself divine honors. He gave up conquered cities, freely and unprovoked, to the absolute mercy of his bloodthirsty and licentious soldiery. He himself often murdered his own friends and favorites in his drunken frenzies. He sought out the vilest persons for the gratification of his lust. At the instigation of a dissolute and drunken woman, he, with a company of his courtiers, all in a state of beastly intoxication, sallied out, torch in hand, and fired the city and palace of Persepolis, one of the finest palaces in the world. He encouraged such excessive drinking among his followers that on one occasion twenty of them together died as the result of their carousal. At length, he, having sat through one long drinking spree, was immediately invited to another, when, after drinking to each of the twenty guests present, he twice drank full, says history, incredible as it may seem, the Herculean cup containing six of our quarts. He thereupon fell down, seized with a violent fever, of which in a few days after, he died, in the very prime of life, aged 33. Such was Alexander, who is ridiculously called “the great.” If vice, and cruelty, and vain glory, and love of power, and thirst for blood, constitute greatness, he was great; if otherwise, he was a monster, the more monstrous because his powers of mind, some of which he possessed to a remarkable degree, were prostituted to unholy ends. But he was an agent in the hands of God in the fulfillment of his word; and when that work was accomplished, he was cast away as the vile and loathsome thing that he was. The progress of the Grecian Empire, we need not stop to trace here, since its distinguishing features will claim notice under other prophecies. U. S.