We pause again to look at the symbols by which God had foreshown these events. In the great image, there was, succeeding the breast and arms of silver, the belly and sides of brass; corresponding to which the Prophet told king Nebuchadnezzar that after a second kingdom had arisen inferior to him, there should arise another third kingdom of brass, which should bear rule over all the earth. The kingdom of Alexander was more extensive than any that had preceded it.
In the second series of Dan. 7, after the Prophet had seen the bear pass away, he beheld an extraordinary leopard rise in its stead. This leopard had four wings of a fowl, and four heads. Verse 6. On this verse, Scott has the following note: "This was the emblem of the Grecian or Macedonian empire, which for the time was the most renowned in the world. It was erected by Alexander the great on the ruins of the Persian monarchy, and it continued in four divisions under his successors. The leopard being exceedingly fierce and swift, represented the kingdom, and especially Alexander its founder; but the swiftness of the quadruped was not an adequate emblem of the rapidity with which he made his conquests, as he subdued nations more speedily than others could march their armies through them. The leopard had therefore four wings of a fowl upon his back. When Alexander died, his kingdom was after many contests among his captains, divided into four parts, Egypt, Syria, Macedonia and Thrace, with some regions of Asia Minor. These were the four heads of this third beast, and under them dominion was given to it, until it was gradually reduced by the next beast."
Again, in the third series of symbols, [chap. 8,] as Daniel was considering the ram, he saw a he-goat come from the west on the face of the whole earth, with that swiftness that he touched not the ground; and he had a notable horn between his eyes. He ran into the ram in the fury of his power, smote him, cast him down and stamped upon him. He waxed great, his horn was broken, and in its stead came up four notable ones towards the four winds of heaven. This goat is explained in verse 21, to be Grecia, and the great horn, the first king, or Alexander. And whereas, that being broken, four stood up in its place, as shown the Prophet, in fulfillment hereof, that division took place in the kingdom on the death of Alexander, which has been already noticed.
With the following extracts from Prideaux, we take our leave of this he-goat of the west:—
"Alexander was not stayed by the death of Darius from still pursuing after the traitor Bessus; but finding at length that he was gotten too far before him to be overtaken, he returned again into Parthia; and there having regulated his affairs in the army, as well as in the province, he marched into Hyrcania, and received that country under his subjection. After that he subdued the Mardans, Arians, Drangians, Aracausians, and several other nations, over which he flew with victory swifter than others can travel, often with his horse pursuing his enemies upon the spur whole days and nights, and sometimes making long marches for several days one after the other, as once he did in the pursuit of Darius, of near forty miles a day, for eleven days together. So that, by the speed of his marches, he came upon his enemy before they were aware of him, and conquered them before they could be in a posture to resist him; which exactly agreeth with the description given of him in the prophecies of Daniel some ages before; he being in them set forth under the similitude of a panther, or leopard, with four wings; for he was impetuous and fierce in his warlike expeditions, as a panther after his prey, and came on upon his enemies with that speed as if he flew with a double pair of wings. And to this purpose he is, in another place of those prophecies, compared to a he-goat, coming from the west with that swiftness upon the king of Media and Persia, that he seemed as if his feet did not touch the ground. And his actions, as well in this comparison as the former, fully verify the prophecy."
Again he says, "Never had any man a greater run of success than he had for twelve years and a half together; (for so long he reigned from the death of his father;) in that time he subjected to him all the nations and countries that lay from the Adriatic sea to the Ganges, the greater part of the then known habitable world. And although most of his actions were carried on with a furious and extravagant rashness, yet none of them failed of success. His first attempt upon the Persians in passing the Granicus with only thirty-five thousand men against an army above five times as many guarding the banks of the river on the other side, was what no man else that was well in his wits would have run upon, and yet he succeeded in it; and this success creating a panic fear of him through all the Persian empire, made way for all the other victories which he afterwards obtained; for no army after that, though twenty times the number of his (as was that of Arbela), would take courage enough to stand before him. He was a man of some virtues, but these were obscured by much greater vices. Vain glory was his predominant folly, and that which chiefly steered him through all his actions."
In reference to his death, M. Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux, thus speaks: "At thirty-three years of age, in the midst of the grandest designs that ever man formed, and flushed with the surest hopes of success, he died, before he had leisure to settle his affairs on a solid foundation; leaving behind him a weak brother, and children very young, all incapable of supporting the weight of such a power. But the circumstance which proved most fatal to his family and empire, was his having taught the generals who survived him to breathe nothing but ambition and war. He foresaw the prodigious lengths they would go after his death. To curb their ambitious views, and for fear of mistaking in his conjectures, he did not dare to name his successor, or the guardian of his children. He only foretold that his friends would solemnize his obsequies with bloody battles; and he expired in the flower of his age, full of the sad images of the confusion which would follow his death."
Thus fell this haughty monarch who rose up like a colossus and bestrode the world. And here we leave him till we shall behold him in the resurrection of the unjust.
The history of Alexander's successors, till the reduction of the empire by another power, would involve an extended commentary on a great portion of the eleventh of Daniel, for which we have not space. We therefore pass on to the fourth and last of this world's great empires.
And here we would leave with the reader a few suggestions. Daniel as we have seen lived two hundred years and over, previous to the events last mentioned. How did he know that a kingdom would succeed the Babylonian composed of two divisions, and that the more powerful of these divisions would come up last? How did he know that this kingdom would in turn be overthrown by another from the west? How did he know that the conquests of this third kingdom would be accomplished with such speed? It is usual for kings to provide carefully for a successor; that the crown may be safely preserved to their own posterity; how did Daniel know that this king would die without a successor? And how did he know that the empire would thereon be divided into just four parts? Answer: he had his knowledge from that God who rules in the kingdoms of men, and appointeth over them whomsoever he will. Dan. 5:21. From the same source and upon the same authority he has set forth some facts, and uttered some prophecies, which have their application in our own day, and concern our own selves, as we shall by and by see. Omniscience alone could have foreseen and inspired the Prophet thus accurately to write of the events of the future; Omniscience alone did it; and let us remember continually, while tracing out the fulfillments of his word, that with no less certainty, and no less accuracy, will those things in which we personally and the whole world have now an interest, be brought to their fulfillment. Every accomplished prophecy is like a record graven in eternal rock, that the Lord Omnipotent reigneth. And no word or purpose of his shall ever fail.
