A vile person. — The meaning of the language will be plainer after a reference to Psalms 119:141; Jeremiah 22:28. The moral character of the man is especially described. The words that follow explain more fully that he was not worthy of receiving royal majesty. This person is generally identified with Antiochus Epiphanes. The description certainly agrees with him very closely. In fact, just as his predecessors resembled in various points the kings spoken of in Daniel 11:1-20, so Antiochus resembles the person here described. The language of St. Jerome about early interpreters of the Book of Daniel is striking: “Cumque multa quœ postea lecturi et exposituri sumus super Antiochi persona conveniant, typum eum volunt Antichristi habere, et quœ in illo ex parte prœceperint, in Antichristo ex toto esse complenda.”
Peaceably. — Unexpectedly, as LXX. (Comp. Daniel 8:25.) The king is here represented as taking possession of the kingdom by craft, and in the following clause he is said to gain his end by “flatteries,” or by intrigues and cunning hypocritical conduct. It does not appear that this was done by Antiochus Epiphanes.