[488] In the opinion of Lagarde and others this chapter--which is not noticed by Josephus, and which Meinhold thinks cannot have been written by the author of chap. ii., since it says nothing of the sufferings or deliverance of Israel--did not belong to the original form of the Book. Lagarde thinks that it was written A.D. 69, after the persecution of the Christians by Nero. [489] St. Ephræm Syrus says, "The sea is the world." Isa. xvii. 12, xxvii. 1, xxxii. 2. But compare Dan. vii. 17; Ezek. xxix. 3; Rev. xiii. 1, xvii. 1-8, xxi. 1. [490] In the vision of the colossus in ii. 41-43 stress is laid on the division of the fourth empire into stronger and weaker elements (iron and clay). That point is here passed over. [491] A.V., "the thrones were cast down." [492] In ii. 35, 44, the four empires are represented as finally destroyed. [493] A.V. marg., "high ones"--_i.e._, things or places. [494] Not kingdoms, as in viii. 8. [495] Comp. Rev. xii. 14; Luke iv. 25; James v. 17. [496] Isa. xxvii. 1, li. 9; Ezek. xxix. 3, xxxii. 2. [497] Comp. Job xxxviii. 16, 17; Isa. viii. 7, xvii. 12. [498] Comp. Dan. ii. 38. Jeremiah had likened Nebuchadrezzar both to the lion (iv. 7, xlix. 19, etc.) and to the eagle (xlviii. 40, xlix. 22). Ezekiel had compared the king (xvii. 3), and Habakkuk his armies (i. 8), as also Jeremiah (iv. 13; Lam. iv. 19), to the eagle (Pusey, p. 690). See too Layard, _Nin. and Bab._, ii. 460. For other beast-symbols see Isa. xxvii. 1, li. 9; Ezek. xxix. 3; Psalm lxxiv. 13. [499] Comp. Jer. iv. 7, 13, xlix. 16; Ezek. xvii. 3, 12; Hab. i. 8; Lam. iv. 19. [500] The use of _enôsh_--not _eesh_--indicates chastening and weakness. [501] Ewald. [502] Isa. xiii. 17; Jer. li. 11, 28. Aristotle, _H. N._, viii. 5, calls the bear πάμφαγος, "all-devouring." A bear appears as a dream-symbol in an Assyrian book of auguries (Lenormant, _Magie_, 492). [503] Dan. v. 28, 31, vi. 8, 12, 15, 28, viii. 20, ix. 1, xi. 1. [504] The composite beast of Rev. xiii. 2 combines leopard, bear, and lion. [505] Comp. viii. 4-8. [506] Battle of the Granicus, B.C. 334; Battle of Issus, 333; Siege of Tyre, 332; Battle of Arbela, 331; Death of Darius, 330. Alexander died B.C. 323. [507] This was the interpretation given by the great father Ephræm Syrus in the first century. Hitzig, Kuenen, and others count from Alexander the Great, and omit Ptolemy Philometor. [508] Dan. xi. 21. [509] Appian, _Syr._, 45; Liv., xli. 24. The story of his attempt to rob the Temple at Jerusalem, rendered so famous by the great picture of Raphael in the Vatican _stanze_, is not mentioned by Josephus, but only in 2 Macc. iii. 24-40. In 4 Macc. it is told, without the miracle, of Apollonius. There can be little doubt that something of the kind happened, but it was perhaps due to an imposture of the Jewish high priest.