Pascal's Pensées
overwhelm all, and the end of that war shall accomplish the desolation."
"Now one week," (which is the seventieth, which remains), "shall confirm
the covenant with many, and in the midst of the week," (that is to say,
the last three and a half years), "he shall cause the sacrifice and the
oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall
make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall
be poured upon the desolate."
Daniel xi. "The angel said to Daniel: There shall stand up yet," (after
Cyrus, under whom this still is), "three kings in Persia," (Cambyses,
Smerdis, Darius); "and the fourth who shall then come," (Xerxes) "shall
be far richer than they all, and far stronger, and shall stir up all his
people against the Greeks.
"But a mighty king shall stand up," (Alexander), "that shall rule with
great dominion, and do according to his will. And when he shall stand
up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided in four parts
toward the four winds of heaven," (as he had said above, vii, 6; viii,
8), "but not his posterity; and his successors shall not equal his
power, for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others besides
these," (his four chief successors).
"And the king of the south," (Ptolemy, son of Lagos, Egypt), "shall be
strong; but one of his princes shall be strong above him, and his
dominion shall be a great dominion," (Seleucus, King of Syria. Appian
says that he was the most powerful of Alexander's successors).
"And in the end of years they shall join themselves together, and the
king's daughter of the south," (Berenice, daughter of Ptolemy
Philadelphus, son of the other Ptolemy), "shall come to the king of the
north," (to Antiochus Deus, King of Syria and of Asia, son of Seleucus
Lagidas), "to make peace between these princes.
"But neither she nor her seed shall have a long authority; for she and
they that brought her, and her children, and her friends, shall be
delivered to death." (Berenice and her son were killed by Seleucus
Callinicus.)
"But out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up," (Ptolemy
Euergetes was the issue of the same father as Berenice), "which shall
come with a mighty army into the land of the king of the north, where he
shall put all under subjection, and he shall also carry captive into
Egypt their gods, their princes, their gold, their silver, and all their
precious spoils," (if he had not been called into Egypt by domestic
reasons, says Justin, he would have entirely stripped Seleucus); "and he
shall continue several years when the king of the north can do nought
against him.
"And so he shall return into his kingdom. But his sons shall be stirred
up, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces," (Seleucus Ceraunus,
Antiochus the Great). "And their army shall come and overthrow all;
wherefore the king of the south shall be moved with choler, and shall
also form a great army, and fight him," (Ptolemy Philopator against
Antiochus the Great at Raphia), "and conquer; and his troops shall
become insolent, and his heart shall be lifted up," (this Ptolemy
desecrated the temple; Josephus): "he shall cast down many ten
thousands, but he shall not be strengthened by it. For the king of the
north," (Antiochus the Great), "shall return with a greater multitude
than before, and in those times also a great number of enemies shall
stand up against the king of the south," (during the reign of the young
Ptolemy Epiphanes); "also the apostates and robbers of thy people shall
exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall fall." (Those
who abandon their religion to please Euergetes, when he will send his
troops to Scopas; for Antiochus will again take Scopas, and conquer
them.) "And the king of the north shall destroy the fenced cities, and
the arms of the south shall not withstand, and all shall yield to his
will; he shall stand in the land of Israel, and it shall yield to him.
And thus he shall think to make himself master of all the empire of
Egypt," (despising the youth of Epiphanes, says Justin). "And for that
he shall make alliance with him, and give his daughter" (Cleopatra, in
order that she may betray her husband. On which Appian says that
doubting his ability to make himself master of Egypt by force, because
of the protection of the Romans, he wished to attempt it by cunning).
"He shall wish to corrupt her, but she shall not stand on his side,
neither be for him. Then he shall turn his face to other designs, and
shall think to make himself master of some isles," (that is to say,
seaports), "and shall take many," (as Appian says).
"But a prince shall oppose his conquests," (Scipio Africanus, who
stopped the progress of Antiochus the Great, because he offended the
Romans in the person of their allies), "and shall cause the reproach
offered by him to cease. He shall then return into his kingdom and there
perish, and be no more." (He was slain by his soldiers.)
"And he who shall stand up in his estate," (Seleucus Philopator or
Soter, the son of Antiochus the Great), "shall be a tyrant, a raiser of
taxes in the glory of the kingdom," (which means the people), "but
within a few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger nor in battle.
And in his place shall stand up a vile person, unworthy of the honour of
the kingdom, but he shall come in cleverly by flatteries. All armies
shall bend before him; he shall conquer them, and even the prince with
whom he has made a covenant. For having renewed the league with him, he
shall work deceitfully, and enter with a small people into his province,
peaceably and without fear. He shall take the fattest places, and shall
do that which his fathers have not done, and ravage on all sides. He
shall forecast great devices during his time."
722
_Prophecies._--The seventy weeks of Daniel are ambiguous as regards
the term of commencement, because of the terms of the prophecy; and as
regards the term of conclusion, because of the differences among
chronologists. But all this difference extends only to two hundred
years.
723
_Predictions._--That in the fourth monarchy, before the destruction of
the second temple, before the dominion of the Jews was taken away, in
the seventieth week of Daniel, during the continuance of the second
temple, the heathen should be instructed, and brought to the knowledge
of the God worshipped by the Jews; that those who loved Him should be
delivered from their enemies, and filled with His fear and love.
And it happened that in the fourth monarchy, before the destruction of
the second temple, etc., the heathen in great number worshipped God, and
led an angelic life. Maidens dedicated their virginity and their life to
God. Men renounced their pleasures. What Plato could only make
acceptable to a few men, specially chosen and instructed, a secret
influence imparted, by the power of a few words, to a hundred million
ignorant men.
The rich left their wealth. Children left the dainty homes of their
parents to go into the rough desert. (See Philo the Jew.) All this was
foretold a great while ago. For two thousand years no heathen had
worshipped the God of the Jews; and at the time foretold, a great number
of the heathen worshipped this only God. The temples were destroyed. The
very kings made submission to the cross. All this was due to the Spirit
of God, which was spread abroad upon the earth.
No heathen, since Moses until Jesus Christ, believed according to the
very Rabbis. A great number of the heathen, after Jesus Christ, believed
in the books of Moses, kept them in substance and spirit, and only
rejected what was useless.
724
_Prophecies._--The conversion of the Egyptians (Isaiah xix, 19); an
altar in Egypt to the true God.
725
_Prophecies._--_In Egypt._--_Pugio Fidei_, p. 659. _Talmud._
"It is a tradition among us, that, when the Messiah shall come, the
house of God, destined for the dispensation of His Word, shall be full
of filth and impurity; and that the wisdom of the scribes shall be
corrupt and rotten. Those who shall be afraid to sin, shall be rejected
by the people, and treated as senseless fools."
Is. xlix: "Listen, O isles, unto me, and hearken, ye people, from afar:
The Lord hath called me by my name from the womb of my mother; in the
shadow of His hand hath He hid me, and hath made my words like a sharp
sword, and said unto me, Thou art my servant in whom I will be
glorified. Then I said, Lord, have I laboured in vain? have I spent my
strength for nought? yet surely my judgment is with Thee, O Lord, and my
work with Thee. And now, saith the Lord, that formed me from the womb to
be His servant, to bring Jacob and Israel again to Him, Thou shalt be
glorious in my sight, and I will be thy strength. It is a light thing
that thou shouldst convert the tribes of Jacob; I have raised thee up
for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the
ends of the earth. Thus saith the Lord to him whom man despiseth, to him
whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Princes and kings
shall worship thee, because the Lord is faithful that hath chosen thee.
"Again saith the Lord unto me, I have heard thee in the days of
salvation and of mercy, and I will preserve thee for a covenant of the
people, to cause to inherit the desolate nations, that thou mayest say
to the prisoners: Go forth; to them that are in darkness show
yourselves, and possess these abundant and fertile lands. They shall not
hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor sun smite them; for he
that hath mercy upon them shall lead them, even by the springs of waters
shall he guide them, and make the mountains a way before them. Behold,
the peoples shall come from all parts, from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south. Let the heavens give glory to God;
let the earth be joyful; for it hath pleased the Lord to comfort His
people, and He will have mercy upon the poor who hope in Him.
"Yet Sion dared to say: The Lord hath forsaken me, and hath forgotten
me. Can a woman forget her child, that she should not have compassion on
the son of her womb? but if she forget, yet will not I forget thee, O
Sion. I will bear thee always between my hands, and thy walls are
continually before me. They that shall build thee are come, and thy
destroyers shall go forth of thee. Lift up thine eyes round about, and
behold; all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I
live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as
with an ornament. Thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy
destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants,
and the children thou shalt have after thy barrenness shall say again in
thy ears: The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may
dwell. Then shalt thou say in thy heart: Who hath begotten me these,
seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing
to and fro? and who brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these,
where had they been? And the Lord shall say to thee: Behold, I will lift
up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people; and
they shall bring thy sons in their arms and in their bosoms. And kings
shall be their nursing fathers, and queens their nursing mothers; they
shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the
dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord; for they shall
not be ashamed that wait for me. Shall the prey be taken from the
mighty? But even if the captives be taken away from the strong, nothing
shall hinder me from saving thy children, and from destroying thy
enemies; and all flesh shall know that I am the Lord, thy Saviour and
thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.