Commentaire sur Daniel 11:46

As for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede when the kingdom of Babylon fell, and the rule of Media and Persia commenced, and the princes of Media and Persia entreated the Omnipresent to make the yoke of their frightful rule heavy upon you, I, Gabriel, stood as a supporter and as a stronghold for Michael, your prince.

Behold three more kings Our Sages of blessed memory in Seder Olam (ch. 28) said: “This refers to Cyrus, Ahasuerus, and Darius who rebuilt the Temple. Now what is the meaning of fourth’? The fourth, counting from Media.” In the book of Joseph Ben Gorion, however, it is written that Cyrus had a son who succeeded him before the reign of Ahasuerus, named Cambyses.

and when he becomes strong i.e., Darius.

with his wealth, he will arouse his entire kingdom to wage war against the kingdom of the heathens.

And a mighty king will arise in Greece, viz. Alexander of Macedon.

and do according to his will with Darius the king of Persia, and he will slay him and receive his kingdom, and the Persians will be enslaved by the heathens [the Greeks.

And when he arises, his kingdom will be broken When he becomes very strong and reaches the height of his strength, his kingdom will be broken, meaning that he will die.

and it will be divided to the four directions of the heavens It is written in the book of Ben Gorion (ch. 14) that he divided his kingdom between the four heads of his family; they are the four heads of the leopard that Daniel saw (above 7:6): “And behold another one, like a leopard, and it had four wings of a bird on its back, and the beast had four heads.” He gave this one dominion in the east, this one in the west, this one in the north and this one in the south, and so in the first vision (8:8): “an appearance of four sprouted in its stead,” concerning the horns of the he-goat.

but not to his posterity The dominion will not come to his sons but to his family members. [The word] אַחֲרִיתוֹ coincides only with the expression of sons, and so Scripture states (Amos 4:2): “and you shall be borne on shields and your posterity (אַחֲרִיתְכֶן) in fishing boats,” which Jonathan renders: and your sons (sic) and daughters in fishermen’s boats.

and not like the dominion that he ruled but the kingdom of these will not be as strong as that of Alexander.

for his kingdom will be uprooted to divide to these four heads and to others besides these.

And the king of the south will overwhelm The head who will reign in the south will be stronger than the head opposite him who reigns in the north, and [stronger] than his officers.

to make a compromise a compromise of peace between him and her father.

will not retain, etc. The king of the north will capture her, those who brought her, and her father who begot her and supported her in her time of trouble.

will not retain The arm of those who brought her [will not retain] strength to stand, [and her father will not prevail] before him, neither he nor his arm, meaning his mighty men.

will be surrendered into the hands of the king of the north, she and those who brought her, and he who begot her, i.e., her father.

A scion of her roots will arise a son sitting on his position, on the throne of the kingdom.

and he will come to the army to the king of the north.

into the stronghold of the king of the north i.e., in the cities of his strength, in his fortresses.

and he will succeed in them Heb. וְעָשָׂה בָהֶם, lit. and he will succeed against them.

and take hold and he will conquer them.

their princes [as translated,] their princes.

And he will come into the kingdom of the king of the south Through the kingdom of the king of the south, who was her father’s father, he will return to his land, which is Egypt, as is stated above: “will bring in captivity to Egypt.”

And his sons [i.e., the sons] of the king of the north will agitate.

and he will come Heb. וּבָא בוֹא, like וְהוֹלֵךְ הָלוֹךְ. The son of the king of the north will come and pass to the land of the south.

and he will return and agitate against the king of the south.

until his stronghold his fortified city.

will wage war will fight against the people.

and the multitude will be given into his hand [i.e., the multitude] of the king of the north [will be given] into his hand.

And the multitude will be raised up that of the king of the north, to become very haughty, for they planned in their hearts to be victorious in the war.

and he will fell myriads many of the army of the king of the south.

but he will not prevail Nevertheless, the victory of the war will not be his.

and the sons of the renegades of your people will exalt themselves to bring about the vision I saw in the name of Rav Saadia Gaon that they were the renegades of Israel and their company.

and the people of his chosen ones will be in the war.

will have no strength to stand before the king of the north, and although there is a superfluous “vav” here, it is customary for Scripture to speak in this manner as in, for example: “As for its nobles, there are none (וְאֵין) who proclaim the kingdom,” Isaiah (34:12).

will do The king of the north, who comes to the king of the south, [will do] as he wishes.

in the land of beauty in the land of Israel.

and he will destroy it He will destroy the land with his army.

And he will set his face i.e., the king of the north, to come into the strength of the entire kingdom of the king of the south.

and the upright will be with him and Israel will be with the king of the south. Also with them will the king of the north battle in those days.

and he will succeed Heb. וְעָשָׂה, lit. and he will do.

Now the daughter of the women he will give him to destroy her This is the nation of Israel, [referred to in Song of Songs 1:8 as] “the fairest of women.” The king of the north will command the general of his army to destroy her. I say that he is Antiochus, the king of Greece, who issued decrees against Israel, and he commanded his general, Phillip, to kill whoever identified himself as a Jew, as is written in the book of Josiphon (ch. 18).

but it will not stand this counsel of his.

and she will not be for him the daughter of the women, for Mattathias the son of Johanan will rise and break off his [Antiochus’s] yoke from Israel.

and the Prince will terminate his blasphemy to Him His reproach and his blasphemy, with which he blasphemed the Holy One, blessed be He, and Israel, as is written in the book of Josiphon (ch. 20), and He punished him, for He smote him with evil boils while he was in transit, for he went to besiege Jerusalem, and his flesh became putrid, his limbs fell off and he ordered his slaves to bring him back to Antioch, but he did not manage to get there before he died of evil illnesses.

to the strongholds of his land to return to his fortified city.

And one who removes the oppressor will stand on his base and Mattathias the son of Johanan, who removed the oppressor from Israel, and who is the glory of the kingdom of Israel, will strengthen himself on his base on Mt. Modin, for he will be a prince and a mighty man, he and all his descendants after him, viz. the Hasmoneans.

in a few days it will be broken In a few days, their kingdom will be broken.

but not with anger of another nation.

and not with war but from themselves and with themselves, that Hyrcanus and Aristobulus will be jealous over the throne.

And a contemptible person will stand on his base Then the kingdom of Rome will strengthen itself on its stand, as it says (Obad. 1:2): “you are very despised,” and the Romans will rise and take the kingdom from the Greeks.

And the arms of inundation And the mighty of the kingdom, who previously were inundating and powerful, will be inundated before the Romans and be broken.

and also the king with whom they made a covenant Also the king of Israel, who will form a treaty with them, will ultimately be inundated from before him, for [the Romans] will violate the treaty and betray them, as our Sages of blessed memory said: “Twenty-six years they kept their trust with Israel, but later they subjugated them.”

And from the alliance with him he will work deceitfully And from the alliance that Rome will make with Israel, he will work deceitfully, for he will not reveal his evil plan.

and he will go up from his place.

and overpower in all places around the land of Judea: in Edom, in Ammon, and in Moab.

with few people He will not require a massive army, for the king of Judea will aid him, and so it is written in the book of Josiphon (ch. 23).

plunder and spoils and belongings he will distribute to them He will distribute to those who accept their yoke upon themselves until they conquer all with flattery and smooth speech.

will distribute Heb. יִבְזוֹר, like יִפְזוֹר. and so (Ps. 68:31): “he scatters (בִּזַר) peoples.”

and about the fortresses of the nations he will devise in his plans—to station [in them] the heads of his troops until the time that all will be conquered under them.

and he will not stand the king of the south.

because they will devise plans against him They will plot against him to fell him through the bribery that they will bribe his officers to betray him, as he concludes: “and those who eat his food will break him.”

his food Heb. פַּת־בָּגוֹ, his food; one who takes a portion from his table.

As for the two kings the officer of the Romans and the king with whom they made to covenant, which is mentioned above. That is Hyrcanus, who will form an alliance to aid him so that he, too, will aid him against Aristobulus his brother, ruling in Jerusalem.

their hearts are to do evil to the people of your nation, to harm Judea.

and on one table They will murmur lies about the kingdom of Aristobulus.

but it will not succeed for Israel will not be surrendered to destruction in those days.

for there is still an end to the appointed time of the destruction, at the end of sixty two weeks [of years], stated in this Book (9:25), and that appointed time is in the days of Agrippa, the son of Agrippa of the seed of Herod.

And he will return The Roman king [will return] to his land from [fighting] with the king of the south with many possessions.

and his heart is on the covenant with the holy ones to abrogate his treaty with Israel.

and he will succeed Heb. וְעָשָׂה, lit. and he will do, i.e., and he will succeed and return to his land.

After a time Heb. לַמּוֹעֵד, after a time.

but this coming will not be as successful as the first one mentioned above (verse 7): “A scion of her roots will arise etc.,” in which the king of the north succe eded over the king of the south, or like the last, meaning this second time, about which we said: “and he will return to his land” with many possessions.

will come upon him to battle with him.

companies Heb. צִיִים.

Kittites Romans, troops from the kingdom of Rome who will rebel against him.

and he will be crushed He will be slightly broken.

and he will return and be wroth with the holy covenant And he will return to his land and abrogate the treaty he had made with Israel.

and he will return and contemplate those who abandoned the holy covenant He will put his mind to it and contemplate that Israel has abandoned the holy covenant (and law), and unwarranted hatred and controversy will increase in the Second Temple [era], as is written in the book of Josiphon (ch. 45), and they will shed innocent blood, and he will rely on this and know that he will succeed, and he will abrogate his treaty with them and provoke them.

Those who leave the sacred covenant - they are the men of Jerusalem who conspired against a king and killed his men and desecrated the sanctuary–the stronghold that was Israel’s. Like “the pride of your strength” (Ez 24:21). This wording is similar to: “the ark, the covenant” (Josh 3:14), interpreted: “the ark is the ark of the covenant.” Thus the book called “The wine, the Poison.” By analogy, a book: “Destruction of a Second House.”
One is surprised by Sadducee sages who interpreted this as referring to the future. They said that the sanctuary is Mecca, around which the Ishmaelites circle. and they put aside the daily sacrifice the five prayers (the Salat). and they set up the abomination, idolatry. And they are the mistaken. As is it may be that miqdash/sanctuary refers to Jerusalem alone. Thus it is that in the Ishmaelite language its name is “house”(al-ka’aba). And how is it that Mecca is sacred? Didn’t those blind ones open their eyes and see that in Mecca there is an abomination to this day? Is it not Mercury, around which all Ishmaelites, from east and west, circle to throw stones? And these interpreters have desecrated the sanctuary.
And the Gaon, z”l, said that the king will do his will (v.36) refers to the Kedari, head of the kingdom of Ishmael. And this is not possible, for it is written and regarding the desire of women… he will not understand, (v.37) and this one was a lover of women. Interpret women as nations? This would be close to drash/homiletics, and not the simple meaning. And further, what does one do with the scripture: a god their fathers did not know? (v.38) And further, if it was a pagan god, the answer is not Mercury, because his fathers knew him and the men of Mecca did not turn to obedience to him till he swore to them that he would not put aside the service to Mercury. And there is no need to expand.
And a son of the potter (Abraham ibn al-Fahar/potter) composed a book on the end time and I also smashed his words, with a potter’s tool. Its time has not yet arrived! Though he hopes for a fixed time, it is past and in his words about matters of ending he tells us nothing.
Also the words of R Shlomo benGavriel, z”l. In Machberet Hagedolah(Bible lexicon, 12 cent?) he wanted to connect the end to the two upper stars.
Also the words of R Avraham Hanasi (mathematician and astronomer) in Sefer Qetsim. And the words of the potter and the words of R Yitschak benLev, and all who calculate words or letters in numerology–“all is vanity and chasing after wind.” (Ec 1:14) Because Daniel did not know the end. Let alone those who came after him. The angel only hinted, as I explain. Only he did not explain when it would be.
And now I return to explain.

And arms from him will stand He will send his officers and his mighty men to Jerusalem.

and they will profane the stronghold of the Temple.

And those who deal wickedly against the covenant The renegades of Israel, who will join him and deal wickedly against their covenant with their fellows, he will flatter with smooth speech.

but the people that knows its God but the devout of Israel, who will adhere to the fear of their God will grasp it and not abandon it.

and perform their Torah.

And the wise of the people the wise among them, such as the household of Rabbi [Judah Hanasi] and the sages of the generations.

will allow the public to understand They will preach the Torah to the common people and encourage them to adhere to it.

will stumble in their exile by the sword and by flames, etc.

they will be helped with a little help Through bribes and the money that they will pay tribute to their enemies, they will be helped.

will stumble to clarify some of them They will stumble in the calculations of the end, for they will put their mind to refine them and to resolve them to know them, but they will err concerning them.

And the king will do as he wishes the kingdom of Rome.

and he will succeed until the fury is spent until the wrath of the Holy One, blessed be He, returns from Israel.

when it will be finished and executed when His decree will be finished. כִּי is like כַּאֲשֶׁר, when.

And he will not contemplate the God of his fathers he will not put his mind to the Holy One, blessed be He, Who is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, his [i.e., Israel’s] forefathers.

the most desirable of women the nation of Israel, [called] fairest of women.

But the god of the strongholds the god of the cherubim who will make a treaty with him.

on its base he will honor for he will flatter the nations to be subservient to him.

And he will construct buildings.

for the fortresses of the strongholds with a foreign god i.e., in honor of a foreign god.

whomever he will recognize, he will honor increasingly He will increase the honor [and greatness] of those princes whom he will see fit to recognize their faces and to flatter.

and he will apportion to them.

for a price for little money.

And at the time of the end when our redemption draws near.

and the king of the north will storm over him over the king of the south.