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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Daniel 11:31 - 11:31
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Here is stated what he accomplished by the help of the apostate Jews. זְרִֹעִים, arms, figuratively for help (Dan 11:5), are warlike forces, as Dan 11:15, Dan 11:22. That the plur. has here the masculine form, while in those verses it has the fem. form, furnishes no reason for a difference of meaning, since זְרוֹעַ in its proper sense of arm occurs promiscue with both endings in the plur.; cf. for זְרִֹעִים Gen 49:24; Isa 51:5; 2Ki 9:24. מִן in מִמֶּנּוּ is not partitive, a part of him, i.e., the host as a part of the king (Hitzig), but out from him, or by his command. יַעֲמֹדוּ, to stand up, not to stand still, as Hitzig, on the ground of the supposition that Antiochus on his return from Egypt placed a standing army-corps in Jerusalem, would interpret it, contrary to the usage of the word, since עָמַד does not signify to stand still in the sense of to remain behind, though it means to endure, to keep the ground (Dan 11:6, Dan 11:15). It is disputed whether these זְרִֹעִים denote military forces, troops of the hostile king (Hävernick, v. Leng., Maur., Hitz., Klief.), or his accomplices of the apostate party of the Jews, and thus essentially identical with בְּרִית עֹזְבֵי, Dan 11:30 (Calvin, Hengstb. Christol. iii. 1, p. 110, Kran., and others). In favour of the latter view, Kranichfeld argues that the בְּרִית עֹזְבֵי (those that forsake the covenant), according to Dan 11:30, come under consideration as a support to the king, and the מִמֶּנּוּ of this verse before us evidently refers to the king's own army, and therefore would be superfluous. But these two reasons prove nothing. The מִמֶּנּוּ is not superfluous, even though it were used of the king's own army. Since in Dan 11:30, Dan 11:32 the king of the north is the subject of the clause, it was necessary in זְרִֹעִים to define in what relation they stood to the king. But the other remark, that the בְּרִית עֹזְבֵי come into view as a support to the king, does not prove that these are the same who desecrate the sanctuary and set up the abomination of desolation. On the contrary, if מִמֶּנּוּ denotes the causal exit, the זְרִֹעִים cannot be the apostate Jews, but only warlike forces which the king leads forth. If we refer זְרִֹעִים to the apostate Jews, then we must, with Hengstenberg and Gesenius, take מִמֶּנּוּ in the sense of eo jubente. Moreover, the זְרִֹעִים manifestly stand in contrast to the בְּרִית מַרְשִׁיעֵי of Dan 11:32. By his troops (military forces) the king lays waste the sanctuary, and he makes by means of smooth words those who sin against the covenant heathen. Kranichfeld himself recognises this contrast, and therefore will understand as the subject to וְחִלְּלוּ not merely “those that forsake the covenant” (Dan 11:30), but these along with and including the warlike power of the hostile king. An expedient which the difficulty suggested. הַמִקְדָּשׁ is the temple, and הַמָעוֹז (the strength) is in apposition. This apposition, however, does not say that the temple was fortified (v. Leng., Hitzig, Ewald), but it points out the temple as the spiritual fortress of Israel. The temple is the “Feste Burg” (firm tower) of the holy covenant (Dan 11:28), as the dwelling-place of Jehovah, which is a firm fortress to His people; cf. Psa 31:4-5, (3, 4); Isa 25:4; Psa 18:3 (2). חִלְּלוּ is essentially identical with מִקְדָּשׁוֹ מְכוֹן הֻשְׁלַךְ, Dan 8:11. The two following clauses state what the desecration consists in: in the taking away, the removal of the stated worship of Jehovah, and in the placing, setting up of the abomination of desolation, i.e., of the idol-altar on Jehovah's altar of burnt-offering; see under Dan 8:11. מְשֹׁמֵם is not the genitive, but an adjective to הַשִּׁקּוּץ (without the article after the definite noun, as e.g., Dan 8:13): the desolating abomination, i.e., the abomination which effects the desolation. With reference to the fulfilment, cf. 1 Macc. 1:37, 45, 54.