Ephrem the Syrian

In his own words on Daniel

• Daniel 2:33

  The iron is Alexander, the conqueror of all nations. Indeed, as iron submits all bodies, so he broke the forces of all princes and kings, and subjected their authorities. And the toes … these are the ten Hellenistic kings which originated from Alexander's empire: some of them were strong and powerful like iron; others were weak and humble. And even though they tried to settle peace and friendship among them with mutual marriages, they were never able to reach an agreement nor to stay firm in their decisions.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 2:40

• Daniel 4:19

  Daniel did not speak these words ("may the dream be for those who hate you") … because he feared the majesty of the king or in order to flatter him and his fortune but either to show respect for the king and the worship of the vessels in the temple or for that general edict through which he [the king] repressed those who wanted to scorn the divine name in their actions or words.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 4:19

• Daniel 4:30

  Then the king became even more insolent, even as God was patient and had shown magnanimity by endeavoring to lead him to repentance. And as he walked on the terrace of the royal house and looked around over his fortune, he said, "Where became of all those sad omens by which the saint had meant to frighten me? I certainly rule Babylon, which I made magnificent."

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 4:30

• Daniel 4:34

  "My reason returned to me," that is, I was made again master of my own mind, and certainly returned to my senses. "I blessed the Most High, who does what he wills," that is, who with his divinity and will rules and administrates not only the affairs of human beings, whom he fashioned from clay, but also those of the spiritual powers, whom he placed in heaven.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 4:34

• Daniel 4:37

  Through that punishment, which he inflicted on me, [God] showed that he gives back to each one his properties with justice and impartiality and humiliates those who walk in arrogance; and as he mortified me, who was too full of myself and behaved arrogantly, so he will break the audacity of people similar to me with similar consideration.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 4:37

• Daniel 5:2-3

  "Under the influence of wine, he commanded that they bring the vessels" from the sanctuary and did not hesitate in showing them to his lords and concubines and other guests, as he intended to use them for a profane symposium. His father had taken those vessels from the temple of Jerusalem, when Nebuchadnezzar had conquered the city and had destroyed it; nonetheless he had set them in a decent place and had preserved them with holy devotion. [Belshazzar] went beyond any limit.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 5:1

• Daniel 5:23

  "You have exalted yourself against God." … Certainly, he says, you were brought to such madness that you placed yourself above God and overcame your father in arrogance and luxury. Indeed, [Nebuchadnezzar] thought that nobody among humankind was equal to him, but you believed that the Lord of heaven was inferior to you.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 5:16

• Daniel 5:29

  The vain king did not do that in order to give honor to Daniel for those sad omens, which he had announced to him by interpreting the writing, but he tried to catch his benevolence, as if he had understood that Daniel was extremely pleasing to God, and therefore he hoped that he would have dispelled his ruin, which the hand sent from above had signed, and Daniel himself had announced, through his intercession. But Belshazzar's efforts were pointless: on that very night Belshazzar was killed and Babylon was destroyed, and was affected by every misfortune from the Medes and the Persians, as the prophets had already foretold a long time before, and the kingdom of the Chaldeans passed to the Medes, after Darius, king of the Persians and the Medes, had assumed power.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 5:29

• Daniel 6:8

  Darius, as he loved quietness and inactivity and found work and business unpleasing, left the care of the empire to his prefects, and for this reason the Scripture adds, he set over the kingdom satraps, that is, 120 governors. And over them he placed three presidents, including Daniel. Then they asked him to set an interdict according to the law of the Medes and Persians. Indeed, among the Persians and the Medes, a law stated that when the king had set a certain rule, it was not permitted to rescind it. So the satraps asked the king for this kind of firm and immutable decree; and they were certain that the king would have not rescinded such a decree in order to save Daniel. It is likely that Daniel was not present in the hall of justice on that day, when the king argued from morning till evening with his satraps in order to save Daniel. If he had been present, he would have immediately confessed that he had prayed [to God], and after the confession of the crime the trial would have not been extended until evening.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 6:1-15

• Daniel 6:17

  Certainly it had been decided by Darius to save Daniel from the present danger with any possible means; therefore he sealed the entrance of the den with his own signet and invited the satraps to do the same. This had to be done for two reasons: first, in order that [the satraps] might not steal there without being seen and, after rolling off the lid, might kill him; second, in order that they might not spread among the people the rumor that some fraud had been used inside the den.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 6:17

• Daniel 6:19

  The same faith, which on the previous evening had led Darius to seal the entrance of the den, brought him again to that place, as if he would have seen Daniel still alive.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 6:19

• Daniel 6:24

  Since a simple punishment was not sufficient for those culprits, in order to balance the offense they had brought against a righteous man, after being condemned to the same punishment, they were thrown to the beasts together with their wives and children.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 6:24

• Daniel 7:4

  This beast obviously represents the kingdom of the Babylonians. The present vision of Daniel perfectly fits in with the already mentioned dream of Nebuchadnezzar, who saw a statue, and it forms a single and same prophecy with it. Indeed, as the Babylonian kingdom, in that dream, was compared with gold, which is the noblest among metals, here it is described as a lion, which is the strongest of all beasts, and an eagle, which is of the highest perniciousness among birds.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 7:4

• Daniel 7:5

  These are the symbols of the kingdom of Darius, king of the Medes. As in the statue of Nebuchadnezzar the Mede empire had been foreshadowed under the aspect of silver, which is a viler metal than gold, so in this dream it is indicated by the image of the bear, which is less agile than the lion. In addition he says that "the beast was raised up on one side," because Darius received a kingdom that was confined within the limits of his power and was never extended to that greatness, which the previous kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar had reached by including all the surrounding regions.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 7:5

• Daniel 7:6

  These words concern the kingdom of the Persians. Indeed, what in the statue of Nebuchadnezzar had been indicated under the aspect of bronze, a very hard metal, here is seen under the image of the leopard, an extremely agile and harmful beast. [The beast] is also provided with four wings and four heads. This is because it brought its dominion to the four winds of heaven. "And dominion was given to it": this is a reference to the multitude of peoples to be submitted. This passage must be compared with the prophecy of Isaiah: "He will strip kings of their robes, etc" In that same prophet we can read these words said about Cyrus to Cyrus by God.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 7:6

• Daniel 7:7

  This is Alexander, king of the Greeks, and the prophet says that he is similar to iron, which is the hardest among metals. He adds that the beast is armed with iron teeth, and with this symbol he indicates Alexander's powerful armies, which nearly subdued all kings. Then he adds that it was seen while devouring or trampling all that came its way, while destroying everything. With these words he predicted that Alexander would have attacked the vastness of almost all provinces, would have robbed their inhabitants and would have abandoned their fields and estates to his soldiers for pillage and destruction, so that it seemed that he had squeezed the entire world and all its precious things under a press and had offered all this to his soldiers in order that they might trample it.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 7:7

• Daniel 7:8

  This is Antiochus, the persecutor of the Jews, who sprang up in the midst of the ten kings and grew up. And this last horn, he says, "after three of the earlier horns were plucked by the roots, spoke arrogantly." Since there is here a hint of the fall of the previous three horns, it must be referred to the grandchildren and successors of the three past kings. Indeed the arrogant words, which this small horn spoke, are the insults and blasphemies thrown against God.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 7:8

• Daniel 7:12

  This refers to the kingdoms of the Medes, Persians and Chaldeans. "But their lives were prolonged for a season and a time," that is, the kings of the nations mentioned above would have not been completely powerless.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 7:12

• Daniel 7:17

  The secret meaning of that vision had been disclosed to him by the angel, and the expression "four beasts" indicated the four empires: the Babylonian, which flourished at that time, the Mede, the Persian and the Greek. But the power, he says, would have been transferred, at a certain time, from these kingdoms to the holy ones of the Most High because of the mystery hidden in many righteous people of his people and in the holy ones of the Most High, and he predicts that they would have reigned forever.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 7:16

• Daniel 7:19

  "Then I desired to know the truth concerning the fourth beast and the other horn," which was seen while attacking and harshly afflicting the holy ones with his arms. This is Antiochus, who, as the angel reveals, would have made war and submitted the holy ones and the priests and the righteous ones.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 7:19

• Daniel 7:25

  He will prevent the priests from performing their duties and holy service. "And [he] shall attempt to change the sacred seasons and the law," which means he shall attempt to delete the holy laws of God and to abolish the traditional festivals and Neomenias.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 7:25

• Daniel 7:26

  "Then the court shall sit in judgment" in order to revenge the tribulations of the holy ones and of the righteous ones, who preserved the law of the Most High, and in order to punish and destroy Antiochus, the little horn, by whom the Zealots of the house of Jacob had been afflicted and vexed. And that accursed man died of an immediate death, whereas those, who were righteous, received an everlasting power and empire.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 7:26

• Daniel 7:28

  Daniel adds, "Here the account ends," that is, the interpretation of the vision. "As for me, my thoughts greatly terrified me, and my face turned pale," because of the sad news of the afflictions, which the little horn will impose on my people and priests. "But I kept the matter in my mind," so that I might not sadden my listeners with such a bad omen.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 7:28

• Daniel 8:3

  He signifies Darius the Persian by saying "it had two horns," as Darius ruled the Medes and the Persians. "Both horns were long, but one was longer than the other": this is referred to the Persians, whose power was superior to that of the Medes and rose to a higher level. "And the longer one came up second": this is said because the Persians, after the Medes, would have obtained the rule over the world.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 8:3

• Daniel 8:8

  After the defeat of Darius, Alexander extended the empire of the Greeks in every direction and made it firm with strong garrisons. In the meantime "the great horn was broken," that is, Alexander died, "and in its place there came up four horns." Indeed, since Alexander had died without children, he left his divided monarchy to his friends Seleucus, Demetrius, Philip and Ptolemy.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 8:8

• Daniel 8:9

  This is Antiochus, who was born from the family of Seleucus Nicanor. "It grew great toward the south and toward the east." Antiochus extended his empire especially in these two parts of the world.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 8:9

• Daniel 8:10

  He signifies here the priestly order, which he compares with the host of heaven. "It threw down to the earth some of the host and some of the stars and trampled on them." Here he prophesies about the sons of Semona and the allies killed by Antiochus.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 8:10

• Daniel 8:14

  The intention of the angel who asked the question was to learn for how long the holy things would be given into the hands of immoral people. To him the angel who interprets the vision says, "For two thousand three hundred days," to which "the times, time and half time" mentioned above correspond.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 8:14

• Daniel 8:16

  The guardian angel of Daniel, who never parted from him, asked the angel Gabriel, who was now by him, now by all the other saints in everything concerning visions, to explain to Daniel his dream.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 8:15

• Daniel 8:17

  "And I became frightened," being struck by the excessive brightness of this angel.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 8:17

• Daniel 8:20

  "As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, this is the king of the Medes and the Persians." [Gabriel] alludes to Darius. "The two horns" signify the two kingdoms, the Persian and the Mede. "The male goat is the king of Greece": Alexander. "And the great horn between his eyes" signifies his highest power and his exceedingly extended empire all over the world. "After the horn was broken, four kingdoms arose from it": the monarchy of Alexander, after his death, will be diminished and divided into parts assigned to his friends Seleucus, Philip, Demetrius and Ptolemy.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 8:20

• Daniel 8:23

  When the Jews begin to abandon the law and faith of God and to estrange themselves, the grandchildren of Seleucus Nicator will invade the last part of their kingdom. "A king of bold countenance shall arise": this is Antiochus, who is able to understand riddles, is cunning and is ready to weave intrigues and to prepare his domination by means of his intelligence.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 8:23

• Daniel 8:25

  [Gabriel] says this because [Antiochus] got into the city through fraudulence, polluted the precious vessels of the temple and committed pillages and demolished the walls. "Without warning he shall destroy many": he killed forty thousand Jews and captured just as many. "And he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes": either because Antiochus would have attacked God with curses and blasphemies or because he would have violated the temple of God and would have destroyed the holy vessels.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 8:25

• Daniel 9:7

  "Yours is the victory, O Lord, in this case," because you foresaw our many sins and threatened those about to sin with many curses, keeping your watch lest we might sin. Righteousness is on your side, O Lord, because no evil will besiege us that was not announced to us beforehand. So now confusion has overwhelmed us everywhere, and we are dispersed in every place.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 9:7

• Daniel 9:15

  "And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt, let your anger and wrath, we pray, turn away from Jerusalem," that is, "You made, O Lord, your name renowned everywhere when you divided the sea and submerged the Egyptians into the water, and now, since your people are banished because of their sins and wander through every land in exile, draw near to us and have mercy on your holy mountain and your city Jerusalem, which have become a disgrace among all our neighbors."

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 9:16

• Daniel 9:23

  "So consider the word, which I will speak," that is, investigate and weigh carefully the meaning and the strength of the proposed vision; and in those things that I am about to tell you about it, contemplate a sort of expressed image of the future events.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 9:23

• Daniel 9:24

  This means that there will be quietness for your people, so that the transgressions may be finished and the sins expiated through the seventy years of the bondage in Babylon may end, as well as all the crimes of the children of Israel. Again "to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin": here he also hints at the transgressions and sins of the Gentiles, which will happen in the end of the seventy weeks. "And to atone for iniquity": and this began from the baptism of John; "to bring everlasting righteousness": and soon Christ will appear, the Author of justice, who had been announced by the prophets before the centuries, and he will justify then sinners. "To seal both vision and prophet": certainly Christ fulfilled all the oracles of the prophets with his advent, passion and death, and he showed that they were true through facts. "And to anoint a most holy one": from the conclusion of this prophecy you will learn this: he endowed the holy ones with holiness.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 9:24

• Daniel 9:27

  Certainly this end of the Jews will be by no means similar to their transmigration to Egypt or Babylon; in fact they were dismissed from there after four hundred years, and from here after seventy. This ruin fixed by the decree of God the judge will remain immutable to the end. He shall make a strong covenant with many: Christ will make the Testament holy and firm through one week and half a week, until he removes the victim and the sacrifice. He is the one who set the victim and the sacrifice but who also abolishes them. In their place shall be an abomination that desolates: the Romans, after submitting Judea to their power, placed the eagle, symbol of their emperor, in the temple. And this is what we read: "So when you see the desolating sacrilege standing in the holy place, as was spoken by the prophet Daniel." Until the decreed end is poured out on desolation, that is, until the full execution of the divine decrees, the city will be given to oblivion and will lie destroyed and abandoned.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 9:27

• Daniel 10:2

  He says that the mourning had been protracted "for three weeks," because he had fasted for all that space of time. He calls fasting "mourning" in the same sense used by our Lord, when he defended himself and his disciples from the detractions of the Pharisees. When the disciples were reproached by the Pharisees because they were not fasting, the Lord answered, "The wedding guests cannot mourn," that is, fast, "as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they"?

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 10:1-2

• Daniel 10:11

  "Daniel, pay attention," … that is, learn and weigh carefully the mysteries of those things whose results you asked with constant prayer and with three weeks of mourning and fast.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 10:9-11

• Daniel 10:12

  "From the first day," that is, from that day when you began to fast, being inflamed by the desire to learn those things that you asked, so that you persevered in praying and supplicating before your God. "Your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words": your prayers led me, as well, to prepare a plan for the salvation of your people according to your vows.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 10:12

• Daniel 10:21

  The angel reported these events, so that Daniel might know that there were not many among the Jews who asked God for their return, nor did the angels approve Daniel's vow, nor was everything you requested, Daniel, accepted by the angels, in order that the freedom of human will not be restricted.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 10:21

• Daniel 11:4

  Understand this as referring to Alexander, who was certain that his last day was not close and therefore did not have children, who could be the heirs of his reign, and left it to his friends after dividing it into four parts.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 11:3

• Daniel 11:41

  Antiochus will assail Judea, will occupy Jerusalem, will rush into the secret places of the sanctuary, will destroy the sacred objects of God, will break the vessels and will take away the golden altar, the candlestick and the table.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 11:41

• Daniel 12:5-6

  That is, when that angel, who talked to me, left, and appeared to have entered the riverbed, to look for a place to ford. Suddenly two others appeared, standing on the opposite banks. Therefore the angel, while he proceeded in the riverbed and trod the stream in safety, played the role of he who knows the depth of the mysteries of God. So "the one standing on this bank of the stream and the one on the other" represent the symbol of the faculty to ask questions omitted by the prophet, which has been granted to them both. For this reason, as if they had received the faculty to do so, they question the other angel.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 12:5

• Daniel 12:11

  He signifies the times of Antiochus, when the impious king will take away the regular burnt offering, and will set up the abomination that desolates and will try to overturn the people of God and to corrupt his religion. Therefore 1, days will fill that entire space of time, when the Jews are afflicted by the harshest calamities, and the temple is violated and inside the secret recesses blasphemous and impious people dare raise an altar to their gods.

  COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 12:11