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THIS work, written in 1838, is an exposition of the last half of the eleventh, and the twelfth chapters of the Book of Daniel. In all the time I've studied prophecy I've found these chapters to be some of the most difficult to interpret and to fit into an overall prophetic scheme.
Interpretations of the first half of Daniel 11 - the wars between the Kings of the North and South - are fairly consistent regardless of the prophetic hermeneutic, whether it be Preterist, Futurist, or Historicist. However, beginning at Daniel 11:36 - the rise of the 'Willful King' - interpretation begin to vary wildly. The average Christian may not realize that the prophetic material beginning at Daniel 11:36 down through the end of the book in chapter 12 presents an apologetic problem. Modern critical commentaries and expositions of this material use it as 'proof' that the Book of Daniel is, in reality, nothing more than a pious forgery written in the 2nd century B.C., rather than the 6th as the book purports. They reason that the detailed prophetic material down through Daniel 11:35 is not prophecy at all, but rather 'history written after the fact" - that is, it is merely pretending to be prophecy while the writer of the book, whoever it might have been (certainly not a real Daniel), knew this material since it was already history. Beginning at Daniel 11:36 these critical scholars claim that the writer of the book began to guess what future events might be, and in fact was mistaken. For the most part Christians are not in agreement with the opinions of critical scholars nor should they be. It was our Lord Jesus himself who regularly quoted from the Book of Daniel, and in particular from the passages which are now here in question. It is unthinkable that Jesus would have been quoting from material which he knew to be nothing more than an uninspired prophetic forgery. Christians need better answers than those opinions provided by modern "christian" critical scholarship. Unfortunately, when it comes to the closing chapters of the Book of Daniel, most Christians have no good answers. The futurist school of interpretation inserts a stark break beginning at verse 36 - "And the king shall do according to his will..." - and asserts that the remaining material through the close of the book all refers to events yet future. This arbitrary and jarring break is inserted into their interpretation with no justification whatsoever. It is obvious that entire chapter down to verse 35 is continuous prophetic history with no breaks. The historicist school fares no better since in their view the 'willful king' of verse 36 must be the 'antichrist' and 'beast' of the Book of Revelation - which, in their view, is the Roman Papacy. This view then also inserts an unjustified break in the chapter. These views of critical scholars as well as the varying and unsatisfactory interpretations of this material troubled me greatly, and should trouble anyone who's ever really taken the time to study these passages in depth. In my study of literally dozens of commentaries on the Book of Daniel, the exposition presented in this work by James Farquharson is the ONLY ONE in which I've found satisfactory answers. I'm shocked that the material set forth in his exposition is not more widely known. James Farquharson has solved the tensions created by the issues I've stated above. He shows conclusively that the Book of Daniel is no forgery, but a remarkable prophecy, foretold in advance, which found its fulfillment in a most remarkable way. It should silence every critic which asserts that Daniel 'guessed' at the future and got it wrong. He also shows that these chapters require no arbitrary breaks (as nearly every other exposition inserts) but foretell a continuous series of events down to and including the destruction of the Jewish nation in the first century A.D. It offers a key to understanding much prophetic material written elsewhere in the scriptures. Christians should rejoice and have their faith strengthened in their God - the only one who can tell the end from the beginning. While this work is remarkable, convincing, and conclusive I also have no doubt that the solution which Farquharson offers to this enigmatic prophecy will be rejected by most Christians. Why? Because it is also fatal to many cherished views of prophecy popularly held in our time - particularly those of the futurists which see in these chapters sensational and imaginative events still to come. The events foretold in Daniel 11 and 12 are now history, but their fulfillment, prophesied in advance, came to pass down to the last detail. I offer this little known work here for those who still have questions, and ears to hear the answers. |
