Eve-might alfo have been diftinct documents, furnished by Adam himself, or the righteous Enoch, (whofe prophecy refpecting the general judgment has been preserv ed xiii. 6. B. C. 433;-and obtained leave, "after certain days," near the close of that prince's reign, to return again and to reform fome abufes that had crept in during his abfence. -And from the conclufion of his administration, (who was the laft Tirshatha or Perfian governor,) we may date the full and perfect restoration of the Jewish polity, and the commencement of Daniel's 70 weeks, (forming the first branch of the grand prophetic period of 2300 days, viii. 14.) about B. C. 420, and fourth of Darius Nothus; after whom, Daniel was informed in the laft and aftonishingly minute vifion vouchfafed to him in the third year of Cyrus, x. 1.-(" to make him understand what should -befal his people in the latter days"-after their full reftoration)" There fhall yet ftand up three kings "— of the Perfian dynafty-his fucceffors-Artaxerxes Mnemon, Ochus, and Arogus;-and" a fourth far richer than them"- Darius Codomannus, the last king of Perfia, who was conquered by that " mighty king of Græcia "-Alexander the Great-the first of the Macedo-Græcian dynafty. Dan. viii. 21. and xi. 2-3. This prophetic character of the four last kings of Perfia, who fucceeded Darius Nothus, (which has been mistakenly L ed by Jude, and which therefore probably was written.)-But is it not rather presumptuous to affert that he must have been a compiler, even in these? Might not the TUTELAR GOD OF ISRAEL, whofe "faithful fervant" he was; and who favoured him with two fucceffive conferences, of 40 days each, on the fummit of Sinai; and who converfed with him, mouth to mouth, even plainly and not enigmatically:" -for mistakenly attributed, by the whole ftream of commentators and chronologers, to the four first after Cyrus,) -seems to fix the beginning of the period of the 70 weeks to the reign of Darius Nothus, beyond a doubt; --when "THE ORACLE," that "iffued" from the Divine Majefty, (as DABAR fhould be rendered, ix. 23, as alfo ix. 2, and Jer. xxix. 10. and Ifa. xliv. 24-26.) took full effect :-Not the proclamation, edict, or decree, of the "firft of Cyrus," B. C. 536; or "the fecond of Darius Hyftafpes," B. C. 520; or "the feventh of Artaxerxes Longimanus," B. C. 458; or "the twentieth of Artaxerxes Longimanus," B. C. 445; all of which have had their partifans among the moft celebrated divines and chronologers-Lloyd, Uber, Scaliger, Prideaux, Marshall, Newton, Michaelis, Dathe, &c. &c. &c. and all equally at variance with the "SCRIPTURE OF TRUTH," and with each other: Not -for THE LORD fpake unto Mofes face to face, as a man fpeaketh to his friend," Numb. xii. 8, Exod. xxxiii. 11.-might not the DIVINE ORACLE, who thus favoured him with the most familiar communications, have revealed unto him the myfteries of the Creation, of the Fall, and of the Redemption of Mankind, by a future "PROPHET," like unto, but " greater than, Mofes ?" Deut. xviii. 15. Surely, after fuch teftimony, to affert Not one of these epochs furnishing an adequate end of the 70 weeks, or 490 years:-The grand rock, upon which the partisans of each seem to have split, is the ambiguous rendering of the Hebrew Dabar, Dan. ix. 23.-"Commandment,”—which they unfortunately miftook for the human instead of the divine-although the proclamation of Cyrus, and decree of Darius, &c. are plainly distinguished by different terms. The DIVINE ORACLE is dated from its taking effect, by HIM, with whom "one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day," 2 Pet. iii. 8. Pf. xc. 4. and who declared, of the refurrection of the juft, at his fecond paffover-" The hour is coming, and is now [at hand], when the [righteous] dead shall bear the voice of the Son of God,”—about 1770 years ago !!! that " Mofes lays no claim to the character of an inspired hiftorian"—even refpecting prior periods-is rashness and prepoffeffion in the extreme. 3. That he does exprefsly lay claim to the character of an inspired hiftorian, refpecting the future deftinies of his nation, the whole tenor of the history of his own times, in the four laft books of the Pentateuch, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, written during the 39 years of wandering in the Deserts of Arabia, and Deuteronomy, that admirable compendium of the whole law, written in the fortieth, bears ample and abundant teftimony.-In that awful enumeration, Deut. xxviii. in particular, of the bleffings attached to their obedience, and curfes to their difobedience, he exprefsly predicts the Babylonish Captivity, as happening during their regal state, and that it was to be a captivity by land, verse 36; for the Hebrew verb, rendered "fhall bring thee," fhould be rendered ambulare faciet "fhall caufe thee to walk,” -or fhall drive thee as cattle ;-while, from from verfe 49 to the end, the Roman Captivity is portrayed with the most astonishing precifion and minutenefs of detail, rivalling Jofephus himself, the mournful fpectator of the Roman war. That it was to be a captivity beyond fea, we learn from verfe 68. And Jofephus has explained a prediction therein, seemingly inconfiftent, “And no man shall buy you, -the market being fo glutted with the multitude of Jewish flaves fold by Titus, that at length there were no bidders !!! Geddes, explaining the fact, fuppreffes the author. And, to crown all, this inspired hiftorian has predicted that long period of defolation to follow the Roman Captivity, verse 59. "Then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, And the plagues of thy feed; Great plagues and of long continuance, i. e. of very long continuance,-as afterwards more particularly specified in the grand prophetic period of 2300 days, revealed to the prophet Daniel, viii. 13—26. |