And I said, What [is] it? And he said, This [is] an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This [is] their resemblance through all the earth.
Ver. 6. And I said, What is it?] i.e. What meaneth it? for the vision is very hard and mysterious lest (saith one) the plain denunciation of the second overthrow of temple and state might discourage them too much to go forward in the present restoration of both. Hugh Broughton, on Daniel 2:4, observeth that while the visions are general, and cause the Jews no danger, so far Daniel writeth in the Syriac tongue, general over the East. But when the oppressors be named, and the Jews plainly described the people whom God defendeth, then the eighth chapter and all after he writes in Hebrew (a tongue less known and studied), and hath commandment to keep close the plain exposition Daniel 12:4. There is a great deal of wisdom required of those that are intrusted with the dispensation of divine truths. Our Saviour spake as the people could hear, and not as he could have spoken. See Hebrews 5:11,12 .
This is an ephah that goeth forth] The ephah was the greatest and most common measure among the Jews; and is therefore generally put for any measure whatsoever, Deuteronomy 25:14. By false measures (one kind of theft) they had sinned (whence the Chaldee here, Isti sunt populi qui aceipiebant, et dabant mensura falsa, These are the people that bought and sold by false measures), by the same, therefore, their punishment is set forth and signified: a piece of their punishment it was that they were bounded and limited; that wickedness was confined and kept within her ephah. The Vulgate translates it amphora, a pitcher; which, when it is once filled with the bitter waters of wickedness, will soon sink to the bottom. Sinners, as they are stinted, so, when they have filled up their measure, they are sure to be punished; when they are ripe in the field God will come with his sickle; when their grapes of Sodom are full ready he will cast them into the winepress of his wrath, Rev 14:19 Gen 15:16 Matthew 23:32 .
This is their resemblance through all the earth] Heb. their eye, their aspect, their colour. This, that is, this ephah, is their resemblance; sc. that when they have filled up their sins they shall have their fill of punishment. Or this, meaning some apparition representing God's providence showed by the angel to the prophet, is their eye, that is, the eye of the three persons in Trinity, God's universal providence, which presideth over his judgments, Zechariah 3:9; Zechariah 4:10; Zechariah 9:1. Or thus: This ephah or measure of their punishment, proportionate to their sin, in killing Christ especially, Matthew 23:32, shall be their eye through all the earth, i.e. shall be conspicuous and apparent to all sorts; so that all men shall hate them, and hoot at them for a company of kill-Christs, shall look upon them as a people of God's curse. Thus the Chaldee here, Behold, they are made manifest before all the inhabitants of the earth; for all men shall be witnesses of their horrible both sins and plagues.