Thoughts on the Book of Daniel.
By Uriah Smith
Verse 15. So the king of the north shall come, and cast up a mount, and take the most fenced cities; and the arms of the south shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any strength to withstand. The tuition of the young king of Egypt was intrusted by the Roman Senate to M. Emilius Lepidus, who appointed Aristomenes, an old and experienced minister of that court, his guardian. His first act was to provide against the threatened invasion of the two confederated kings; Philip and Antiochus. To this end, he dispatched Scopas, a famous general of Ætolia, then in the service of the Egyptians, into his native country to raise reinforcements for the army. Having equipped an army, he marched into Palestine and Cœle-Syria (Antiochus being engaged in a war with Attalus in lesser Asia), and reduced all Judea into subjection to the authority of Egypt. Thus affairs were brought into a posture for the fulfillment of the verse before us. For Antiochus, desisting from his war with Attalus at the dictation of the Romans, took speedy steps for the recovery of Palestine and Cœle-Syria from the hands of the Egyptians. Scopas was sent to oppose him. Near the sources of the Jordan, the two armies met. Scopas was defeated, pursued to Sidon, and there closely besieged. Three of the ablest generals of Egypt, with their best forces, were sent to raise the siege, but without success. At length Scopas, meeting, in the gaunt and intangible specter of famine, a foe with whom he was unable to cope, was forced to surrender on the dishonorable terms of life only; whereupon he and his ten thousand men were suffered to depart, stripped and naked. Here was the taking of the most fenced cities by the king of the north; for Sidon was, both in its situation and its defenses, one of the strongest cities of those times. Here was the failure of the arms of the south to withstand, and the failure also of the people which the king of the south had chosen, namely, Scopas and his Ætolian forces. Verse 16. But he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him; and he shall stand in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be consumed. Although Egypt could not stand before Antiochus, the king of the north, Antiochus could not stand before the Romans who now came against him. No kingdoms were longer able to resist this rising power. Syria was conquered and added to the Roman Empire, when Pompey, B. C. 65, deprived Antiochus Asiaticus of his possessions, and reduced Syria to a Roman province. The same power was also to stand in the holy land and consume it. Rome became connected with the people of God, the Jews, by alliance, B. C. 161, from which date it holds a prominent place in the prophetic calendar. It did not, however, acquire jurisdiction over Judea by actual contest till B. C. 63; and then in the following manner:— On Pompey's return from his expedition against Mithridates king of Pontus, two competitors, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, were struggling for the crown of Judea. Their case came before Pompey, who soon perceived the injustice of the claims of Aristobulus, but wished to defer decision in the matter till after his long coveted expedition into Arabia, promising then to return and settle their affairs, as should seem just and proper. Aristobulus, fathoming Pompey's real sentiments, hastened back to Judea, armed his subjects, and prepared for a vigorous defense, determined, at all hazards, to keep that crown which he foresaw would be adjudicated to another. Pompey closely followed the fugitive. As he approached Jerusalem, Aristobulus, beginning to repent of his course, came out to meet him, and endeavored to accommodate matters by promising entire submission, and large sums of money. Pompey, accepting this offer, sent Gabinius at the head of a detachment of soldiers, to receive the money. But when that lieutenant-general arrived at Jerusalem, he found the gates shut against him, and was told from the top of the walls that the city would not stand to the agreement. Pompey, not to be deceived in this way with impunity, put Aristobulus, whom he had retained with him, in irons, and immediately marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. The partisans of Aristobulus were for defending the place; those of Hyrcanus, for opening the gates. The latter being in the majority, and prevailing, Pompey was given free entrance into the city. Whereupon the adherents of Aristobulus retired to the mountain of the temple, as fully determined to defend that place as Pompey was to reduce it. At the end of three months, a breach was made in the wall sufficient for an assault, and the place was carried at the point of the sword. In the terrible slaughter that ensued, twelve thousand persons were slain. It was an affecting sight, observes the historian, to see the priests engaged at the time in divine service, pursue with calm hand, and steady purpose, their accustomed work, apparently unconscious of the wild tumult, though all around their friends were being given to the slaughter, and though often their own blood mingled with that of their sacrifices. Having put an end to the war, Pompey demolished the walls of Jerusalem, transferred several cities from the jurisdiction of Judea to that of Syria, and imposed tribute on the Jews. Thus for the first time was Jerusalem placed by conquest in the hands of that power which was to hold the "glorious land" in its iron grasp till utterly consumed. Verse 17. He shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him; thus shall he do; and he shall give him the daughter of women, corrupting her; but she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him. Bishop Newton furnished another reading for the verse, which seems to express more clearly the sense, as follows: "He shall also set his face to enter by force the whole kingdom." Verse 16 brought us down to the conquest of Syria and Judea by the Romans. Rome had previously conquered Macedon and Thrace. Egypt was now all that remained of the "whole kingdom" of Alexander, not brought into subjection to the Roman power, which now set its face to enter by force into that country. Ptolemy Auletes died B. C. 51. He left the crown and kingdom of Egypt to his eldest son and daughter, Ptolemy and Cleopatra. It was provided in his will that they should marry together and reign jointly; and because they were young, they were placed under the guardianship of the Romans. The people accepted the charge, and appointed Pompey as guardian of the young heirs of the throne of Egypt. A quarrel having not long after broken out between Pompey and Cæsar; the famous battle of Pharsalia was fought between the two generals. Pompey, being defeated, fled into Egypt. Cæsar immediately followed him thither; but before his arrival, Pompey was basely murdered by Ptolemy, whose guardian he had been appointed. Cæsar thereupon assumed the appointment with which he had been vested by the government of Rome, as guardian of Ptolemy and Cleopatra. He found Egypt in commotion from intestine disturbances, Ptolemy and Cleopatra having conceived hostility to each other, and she being deprived of her share in the government. Nothwithstanding this, he did not hesitate to land at Alexandria with his small force, 800 horse, and 3,200 foot, take cognizance of the quarrel, and undertake its settlement. The troubles daily increasing, Cæsar found his small force to be insufficient to maintain his position, and being unable to leave Egypt on account of the north wind which blew at that season, he sent into Asia, ordering all the troops he had in that quarter to come to his assistance as soon as possible. In the most haughty manner he decreed that Ptolemy and Cleopatra should disband their armies, appear before him for a settlement of their differences, and abide by his decision. Egypt being an independent kingdom, this haughty decree was considered an affront to its royal dignity, at which the Egyptians, highly incensed, flew to arms. Cæsar replied that he acted by virtue of the will of their father Auletes, who had put his children under the guardianship of the senate and people of Rome, the whole authority of which was now vested in his person as consul; and that, as guardian, he had the right to arbitrate between them. The matter was finally brought before him, and advocates appointed to plead the cause of the respective parties. Cleopatra, aware of the foible of the great Roman conqueror, judged that the beauty of her presence would be more effectual in securing judgment in her favor than any advocate she could employ. To reach his presence undetected, she had recourse to the following stratagem: Laying herself at length in a bundle of clothes, Apollodorus, her Sicilian servant, wrapped it up in a cloth, tied it with a thong, and raising it upon his Herculean shoulders, sought the apartments of Cæsar. Claiming to have a present for the Roman general, he was admitted through the gate of the citadel, and deposited the beautiful Cleopatra at his feet. Cæsar was far from being displeased with the stratagem, and, being of a character described in 2 Peter 2:14, the first sight of so beautiful a person, says Rollin, had all the effect upon him she had desired. Cæsar at length decreed that the brother and sister should occupy the throne jointly, according to the intent of the will. Pothinus, the chief minister of State, having been principally instrumental in expelling Cleopatra from the throne, feared the result of her restoration. He therefore began to excite jealousy and hostility against Cæsar, by insinuating among the populace that he designed eventually to give Cleopatra the sole power. Open sedition soon followed. Achillas, at the head of 20,000 men, advanced to drive Cæsar from Alexandria. Skillfully disposing his small body of men in the streets and alleys of the city, Cæsar found no difficulty in repelling the attack. The Egyptians undertook to destroy his fleet. He retorted by burning theirs. Some of the burning vessels being driven near the quay, several of the buildings of the city took fire, and the famous Alexandrian library, containing nearly 400,000 volumes, was destroyed. The war growing more threatening, Cæsar sent into all the neighboring countries for help. A large fleet came from Asia Minor to his assistance. Mithridates set out for Egypt with an army raised in Syria and Cilicia. Antipater, the Idumean, joined him with 3000 Jews. The Jews, who held the passes into Egypt, permitted the army to pass on without interruption. Without this, the whole plan must have failed. The arrival of this army decided the contest. A decisive battle was fought near the Nile, resulting in a complete victory for Cæsar. Ptolemy attempting to escape, was drowned in the river. Alexandria and all Egypt then submitted to the victor. Rome had now entered into, and absorbed, the whole of the original kingdom of Alexander. By the "upright ones" of the text, are doubtless meant the Jews, who gave him the assistance already mentioned. Without this, he must have failed; with it, he completely subdued Egypt to his power B. C. 47. "The daughter of women; corrupting her." The passion which Cæsar had conceived for Cleopatra, by whom he had one son, is assigned by the historian as the sole reason of his undertaking so dangerous a campaign as the Egyptian war. This kept him much longer in Egypt than his affairs required, he spending whole nights in feasting and carousing with the dissolute queen. But, said the prophet, she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him. Cleopatra afterward joined herself to Antony, the enemy of Augustus Cæsar, and exerted her whole power against Rome.