Analysis of Daniel

Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 25: Daniel, Part II, tr. by John King, [1847-50], at sacred-texts.com

AN ANALYSIS OF THE CONTENTS
OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL.

There Are Two Main Divisions, —

1. The Historical Portion. —

2. The Prophetical Portion.

Each Occupies Six Chapters.

1. The Historical Portion.

CHAPTER 1 TO 4

Sect. 1. The captivity of King Jehoiakim about B.C. 607 — the treatment of Daniel and his three companions — their superiority as they stood before the king. (Chap. 1)

2. King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream — forgotten — submitted to the magicians — their failure and destruction — Daniel’s proposal and success — the secret revealed to him and communicated to the king — the image described and explained — the four kingdoms — the elevation of Daniel and his companions to high honor, about B.C. 603. (Chap. 2)

3. The golden image on the Plains of Dura — the accusation against Daniel’s three companions — their reply to the king — their condemnation to the burning fiery furnace — their preservation — the king’s astonishment — his proclamation and promotion of the three confessors over the province of Babylon, about B.C. 580. (Chap. 3)

4. Nebuchadnezzar’s confession of the power of the Most High — his dream respecting the Tree, the Watcher, and the Holy One — Daniel’s interpretation — its accomplishment — the king driven from among men — his madness, and his restoration to reason and re-establishment in his kingdom, about B.C. 570-563. (Chap. 4)

5. The impious feast of Belshazzar — the handwriting — the magicians’ ignorance — Daniel’s interpretation — its fulfillment — Belshazzar slain — Darius the conqueror, about B.C. 538. (Chap. 5)

6. One hundred and twenty princes set over the kingdom — three presidents — the unalterable decree — Daniel’s habit of prayer continued — his accusation and condemnation to the lions’ den — his miraculous deliverance — the king’s rejoicing and decree — the Prophet’s prosperity till the reign of Cyrus, about B.C. 537. (Chap. 6)

2. Prophetical Portion.

CHAPTER 7 TO 12

Sect. 1. Daniel’s own dream — the four beasts — the Ancient of Days and the Son of Man — the explanation of this dream — the fourth beast being the Roman Empire, and the ten horns the Roman Senate — the kingdom given to the Son of Man — fulfilled, according to Calvin, at the first advent of Christ and the early propagation of the Gospel, — about B.C. 555. (Chap. 7)

2. Daniel’s vision at Shushan — the ram and the he-goat — the little horn — the cleansing of the sanctuary — the appearance of Gabriel — the explanation of the vision — the king of fierce countenance said to be the power of heathen Rome — the Prince of princes — the truth of the vision of the evening and morning — Daniel’s fainting and astonishment, — about B.C. 553. (Chap. 8)

3. The Prophet, after studying the writings of Jeremiah, anticipates the close of the captivity — he prays and confesses his sins at full length in the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus — while he is praying the angel Gabriel is sent to instruct him — he is informed of the celebrated period of the seventy weeks — of the coming of Messiah the prince and of the overspreading of desolation’s, which events are historically explained in the course of these Lectures, — about B.C. 538. (Chap. 9)

4. A vision by the river Hiddekel in the third year of King Cyrus — during the Prophet’s terror an angel addresses him, touches him, and inspires him with confidence, and then returns to contend with the prince of Persia, together with another angel called Michael your prince. This vision being introductory to the following prophecy “noted in the Scripture of truth,” — about B.C. 534. (Chap. 10)

5. The prophecy of the Scriptures of truth detailed at full length by the angel — the three kings of Persia — the fourth Xerxes — the mighty king Alexander and the division of his empire into four parts — two monarchies specially dwelt upon rathe kings of the north being the Seleucidae, and those of the south the Ptolemidae or Lagidae — their various wars, intermarriages, treaties, and successes — fully elucidated by historical testimony throughout these Lectures — the willful king (ver. 16) interpreted of Antiochus the Great — the vile person (ver. 21) being Antiochus Epiphanes — the willful king (ver. 36) being the heathen Roman Empire — the remainder of the prophecy being ingeniously accommodated to the well—known character of the Roman conquests in the East, — about B.C. 534. (Chap 11)

6. Michael the prince stands up for the people — the certainty of a future resurrection proclaimed — two angels appear on the banks of the river — the Prophet inquires concerning the timing of these events — the time, times, and a half — the closing and sealing of the words till the time of the end — the abomination of desolation set up — the 1290 days — the 1335 days — the angel’s command to stand in thy lot at the end of the days — these periods said to be completed at the first advent of Christ and the early history of the Gospel dispensation, including the destruction of Jerusalem and the persecutions of the Church under the heathen Emperors of Rome, — about B.C. 534. (Chap. 12)