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"But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed
from his kingly throne . . . . . and thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine
heart, though thou knewest all this" (Dan. 5: 20-22).
This attitude towards the proud is characteristic of the Day of the Lord:--
"The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed
down, and the Lord alone exalted in that day" (Isa. 2: 11) (See also Isa. 2: 12, 17; 5: 15;
10: 33; 13: 11; 40: 4).
Shephelah, the feminine form, is rendered "valley", "vale", "plain", and to those
who knew the association of the words "base", "humble" and "valley", such
utterances as Zech. 4: 6, 7 would have fuller and richer meaning. "Who art thou, great
mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain." By pride fell the angels. By
pride fell Babylon. The pride of Israel testified to their fall. God resisteth the proud, and
it is part of His purpose to hide pride from men. Nebuchadnezzar appears to have learnt
the lesson but the Gentile powers will pursue their proud course until the blasphemy and
arrogance of the beast brings it down before the wrath of God.
#8.
The four kings of the end (7:).
pp. 70 - 74
The vision of Daniel recorded in chapter 7: is written in Chaldee (Aramaic or
Syriac) and so belongs to the Gentile portion of the prophecy. In the interpretation of the
great image in Dan. 2: reference is made to "the days of these kings" (2: 44). What we
are now to consider is a fuller explanation of the times and character of these kings. The
setting up of the kingdom of the Lord, in Dan. 2:, is symbolized by the stone becoming
a great mountain and filling the earth. In Dan. 7: the prophet describes the investiture
of the Son of man with sovereignty. In Dan. 2: the stone crushes the image to powder;
in Dan. 7: the same court that invests the Son of man with dominion, consigns the
beast to the burning flame. These parallels are very evident, but confusion is sometimes
introduced by expositors by assuming that Dan. 7: and 2: are co-extensive. It has been
taught that we have the same Gentile dominion, but from two points of view, that from
man's point of view it appears as a resplendent image, but in God's view as a succession
of wild beasts. This, however, is true only with reference to the final phase, as we hope
to show presently.
Another fruitful source of confusion is the assumption that there are four, and only
four, kingdoms set out in Dan. 2:, and that Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome,
represented by the four metals, are again presented as the four beasts of Daniel's dream.
The objection to this interpretation is that it is contrary to the actual facts of the vision.