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The Two Kings Change IdentitiesPay Attention to Daniel’s Prophecy!
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7, 8. (a) Who stood up in Augustus’ position as the king of the north? (b) Why was “the dignity of the kingdom” unwillingly bestowed upon the successor of Augustus Caesar?
7 Continuing with the prophecy, the angel said: “There must stand up in his [Augustus’] position one who is to be despised, and they will certainly not set upon him the dignity of the kingdom; and he will actually come in during a freedom from care and take hold of the kingdom by means of smoothness.
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The Two Kings Change IdentitiesPay Attention to Daniel’s Prophecy!
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8 The “one who is to be despised” was Tiberius Caesar, the son of Livia, Augustus’ third wife. (See “One Honored, the Other Despised,” on page 248.) Augustus hated this stepson because of his bad traits and did not want him to become the next Caesar. “The dignity of the kingdom” was unwillingly bestowed upon him only after all other likely successors were dead. Augustus adopted Tiberius in 4 C.E. and made him heir to the throne. After the death of Augustus, 54-year-old Tiberius—the despised one—‘stood up,’ assuming power as the Roman emperor and the king of the north.
9. How did Tiberius “take hold of the kingdom by means of smoothness”?
9 “Tiberius,” says The New Encyclopædia Britannica, “played politics with the Senate and did not allow it to name him emperor for almost a month [after Augustus died].” He told the Senate that no one but Augustus was capable of carrying the burden of ruling the Roman Empire and asked the senators to restore the republic by entrusting such authority to a group of men rather than to one man. “Not daring to take him at his word,” wrote historian Will Durant, “the Senate exchanged bows with him until at last he accepted power.” Durant added: “The play was well acted on both sides. Tiberius wanted the principate, or he would have found some way to evade it; the Senate feared and hated him, but shrank from re-establishing a republic based, like the old, upon theoretically sovereign assemblies.” Thus Tiberius ‘took hold of the kingdom by means of smoothness.’
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