{"id":1089,"date":"2021-03-03T08:49:12","date_gmt":"2021-03-03T16:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/readingthechurchfathers.wordpress.com\/?p=1089"},"modified":"2023-01-09T01:23:41","modified_gmt":"2023-01-09T09:23:41","slug":"hippolytus-on-daniel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/hippolytus-on-daniel\/","title":{"rendered":"Hippolytus: On Daniel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Visions of Golden Image and the Four Beasts [1]<\/a><\/h4>\n

In speaking of a \u201clioness from the sea,\u201d he meant the rising of the kingdom of Babylon, and that this was the \u201cgolden head of the image.\u201d And in speaking of its \u201ceagle wings,\u201d he meant that king Nebuchadnezzar was exalted and that his glory was lifted up against God. Then he says \u201cits wings were plucked off,\u201d i.e., that his glory was destroyed; for he was driven out of his kingdom. And the words, \u201cA man\u2019s heart was given it, and it was made stand upon the feet of a man,\u201d mean that he came to himself again, and recognised that he was but a man, and gave the glory to God. Then after the lioness he sees a second beast, \u201clike a bear,\u201d which signified the Persians. For after the Babylonians the Persians obtained the power. And in saying that \u201cit had three ribs in its mouth,\u201d he pointed to the three nations, Persians, Medes, and Babylonians, which were expressed in the image by the silver after the gold. Then comes the third beast, \u201ca leopard,\u201d which means the Greeks; for after the Persians, Alexander of Macedon had the power, when Darius was overthrown, which was also indicated by the brass in the image. And in saying that the beast \u201chad four wings of a fowl, and four heads,\u201d he showed most clearly how the kingdom of Alexander was parted into four divisions. For in speaking of four heads, he meant the four kings that arose out of it. For Alexander, when dying, divided his kingdom into four parts. Then he says, \u201cThe fourth beast (was) dreadful and terrible: it had iron teeth, and claws of brass.\u201d Who, then, are meant by this but the Romans, whose kingdom, the kingdom that still stands, is expressed by the iron? \u201cfor,\u201d says he, \u201cits legs are of iron.\u201d<\/p>\n

After this, then, what remains, beloved, but the toes of the feet of the image, in which \u201cpart shall be of iron and part of clay mixed together?\u201d By the toes of the feet he meant, mystically, the ten kings that rise out of that kingdom. As Daniel says, \u201cI considered the beast; and, lo, (there were) ten horns behind, among which shall come up another little horn springing from them;\u201d by which none other is meant than the antichrist that is to rise; and he shall set up the kingdom of Judah. And in saying that \u201cthree horns\u201d were \u201cplucked up by the roots\u201d by this one, he indicates the three kings of Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia, whom this one will slay in the array of war. And when he has conquered all, he will prove himself a terrible and savage tyrant, and will cause tribulation and persecution to the saints, exalting himself against them.
\n…
\nFor Antiochus arose, surnamed Epiphanes, who was of the line of Alexander. And after he had reigned in Syria, and brought under him all Egypt, he went up to Jerusalem, and entered the sanctuary, and seized all the treasures in the house of the Lord, and the golden candlestick, and the table, and the altar, and made a great slaughter in the land; even as it is written: \u201cAnd the sanctuary shall be trodden under foot, unto evening and unto morning, a thousand and three hundred days.\u201d For it happened that the sanctuary remained desolate during that period, three years and a half, that the thousand and three hundred days might be fulfilled; until Judas Maccab\u00e6us arose after the death of his father Matthias, and withstood him, and destroyed the encampment of Antiochus, and delivered the city, and recovered the sanctuary, and restored it in strict accordance with the law.
\n…
\nDaniel has spoken, therefore, of two abominations; the one of destruction, and the other of desolation. What is that of destruction, but that which Antiochus established there at the time? And what is that of desolation, but that which shall be universal when Antichrist comes?
\n…
\n[In summary], The \u201cgolden head of the image\u201d is identical with the \u201clioness,\u201d by which the Babylonians were represented. \u201cThe golden shoulders and the arms of silver\u201d are the same with the \u201cbear,\u201d by which the Persians and Medes are meant. \u201cThe belly and thighs of brass\u201d are the \u201cleopard,\u201d by which the Greeks who ruled from Alexander onwards are intended. The \u201clegs of iron\u201d are the \u201cdreadful and terrible beast,\u201d by which the Romans who hold the empire now are meant. The \u201ctoes of clay and iron\u201d are the \u201cten horns\u201d which are to be. The \u201cone other little horn springing up in their midst\u201d is the \u201cantichrist.\u201d The stone that \u201csmites the image and breaks it in pieces,\u201d and that filled the whole earth, is Christ, who comes from heaven and brings judgment on the world.<\/p>\n

Agreement with Eusebius’ Interpretation of Daniel [2]<\/a><\/h4>\n

Eusebius of C\u00e6sarea, who bears the surname Pamphili, in the 15th book of his Gospel Demonstration, expounds the whole vision in these terms: I think that this (i.e., the vision of Nebuchadnezzar) differs in nothing from the vision of the prophet. For as the prophet saw a great sea, so the king saw a great image. And again, as the prophet saw four beasts, which he interpreted as four kingdoms, so the king was given to understand four kingdoms under the gold, and silver, and brass, and iron. And again, as the prophet saw the division of the ten horns of the last beast, and three horns broken by one; so the king, in like manner, saw in the extremities of the image one part iron and another clay. And besides this, as the prophet, after the vision of the four kingdoms, saw the Son of man receive dominion, and power, and a kingdom; so also the king thought he saw a stone smite the whole image, and become a great mountain and fill the sea. And rightly so. For it was quite consistent in the king, whose view of the spectacle of life was so false, and who admired the beauty of the mere sensible colours, so to speak, in the picture set up to view, to liken the life of all men to a great image; but (it became) the prophet to compare the great and mighty tumult of life to a mighty sea. And it was fitting that the king, who prized the substances deemed precious among men, gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, should liken to these substances the kingdoms that held the sovereignty at different times in the life of men; but that the prophet should describe these same kingdoms under the likeness of beasts, in accordance with the manner of their rule.<\/p>\n

References:<\/h4>\n