26 Yes, they who eat of his dainties shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow; and many shall fall down slain.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The angel predicted, yesterday, that Ptolemy should not stand forth in battle, through the treachery of his own adherents. He now expresses the kind of treachery, for his chief courtiers or counselors should be the authors of this perfidy. He opposes the common soldiers to their leaders, for in the second clause, he shews how the soldiers should discharge their duty without sparing either their life or their blood. We now understand the Holy Spirit's intention in this verse, for he says the authors of this perfidy should not be ordinary men, but the chief among the counselors. They are said to eat at the king's table, as in the first chapter we saw how a portion was given to Daniel, and to his companions, from the royal food at the king's table. Thus he shews how dishonorable this perfidy was, as they eat at his table, and were his intimate companions. They shall destroy him, says he, and his army shall be overwhelmed He shews that many were prepared for this duty, who would boldly and freely expose their lives to danger for their king's safety and their country's defense, but many should fall wounded He signifies that there should be a great slaughter in his army, and the issue of the battle would not be according to his wish, because his generals would not preserve their fidelity to their sovereign. By this example the angel describes to us the ordinary situation of kings. They choose their counselors not by their honesty, but by the mere appearance of congeniality in their affections and tastes. If a king is avaricious, or cunning, or cruel, or sensual, he desires to have friends and attendants who will not check either his avarice or his craftiness, his cruelty or his lust. Hence they deserve the conduct which they receive, and experience treachery from those whom they ought not to treat with so much honor, if they considered themselves in duty bound to God and to their people. It now follows,-
Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him - They of his own family; they who are nourished at his table; they who are his cabinet counselors, and professed and confidential friends. The meaning is, that they would prove treacherous and unfaithful. This is by no means improbable. Antiochus was powerful, and had seized upon Pelusium, and upon Memphis, and upon the fairest portions of Egypt. He was also in possession of the person of the lawful king, and had a fair prospect of subduing the whole country. In these circumstances, nothing would be more natural than that the very inmates of the palace - the persons around the reigning king - should begin to doubt whether he could hold out, and should be disposed to make terms with the invader.
And his army shall overflow - The connection here requires us to understand this of the army of the king of Egypt. The meaning seems to be, that his forces would be great, and would spread themselves out like overflowing waters, but that not withstanding this many of them would be slain.
And many shall fall down slain - In battle. Not withstanding the army would be numerous, and would, as it were, spread over the land, still it would not be sufficient to keep out the invaders, but many of them would fall in the field. The account in 1 Macc. 1:18 is, that "Ptolemy was afraid of him (Antiochus) and fled; and many were wounded to death."
Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat - This is the proof of what has been last noted, that the intrigues of Antiochus, corrupting the ministers and officers of Ptolemy, were the cause of all the disasters that felt on the Egyptian king. They that fed of the portion of his meat - who were in his confidence and pay, and possessed the secrets of the state, betrayed him; and these were the means of destroying him and his army, so that he was defeated, as was before observed.
Yea, they that feed of the portion of (c) his meat shall destroy him, and his army (d) shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain.
(c) Signifying his princes and the chief men about him.
(d) Declaring that his soldiers will break out and venture their life to stay and to be slain for the safeguard of their prince.
Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him,.... Those of his own household, his familiar friends, his courtiers and counsellors, and the generals of his army; his destruction, or the loss of the battle, was owing either to the bad counsels they gave him, or to their desertion of him, being corrupted by Antiochus:
and his army shall overflow: that is, the army of Antiochus, like a mighty inundation of water, which carries all before it, should overflow, or bear down and destroy, the army of Ptolemy, and overrun all Egypt, as it did, as before related; no more resistance being to be made to it than to a rapid flood of water:
and many shall fall down slain: of the army of the king of Egypt. The account given of this affair in the Apocrypha:
"18 And made war against Ptolemee king of Egypt: but Ptolemee was afraid of him, and fled; and many were wounded to death. 19 Thus they got the strong cities in the land of Egypt and he took the spoils thereof.'' (1 Maccabees 1)
Josephus says (x), that Antiochus,
"being with a great army at Pelusium, and circumventing Ptolemy Philometor by fraud, seized on Egypt; and being in the parts near to Memphis, and taking it, he hastened to Alexandria to besiege it, and got Ptolemy, reigning there, into his hands.''
(x) Antiqu. l. 12. c. 5, sect. 2.
they that feed of . . . his meat--those from whom he might naturally have looked for help, his intimates and dependents (Psalm 41:9; John 13:18); his ministers and guardians.
his army shall overflow--Philometer's army shall be dissipated as water. The phrase is used of overflowing numbers, usually in a victorious sense, but here in the sense of defeat, the very numbers which ordinarily ensure victory, hastening the defeat through mismanagement.
many shall fall down slain--(1 Maccabees 1:18, "many fell wounded to death"). Antiochus, when he might have slain all in the battle near Pelusium, rode around and ordered the enemy to be taken alive, the fruit of which policy was, he soon gained Pelusium and all Egypt [DIODORUS SICULUS, 26.77].
Here it is more definitely stated why he cannot stand. פתבּגו אכּלי, who eat his food (פּתבּג, see under Daniel 1:5), i.e., his table-companions (cf. Psalm 41:10[9]), persons about him. ישׁבּרוּהוּ, shall break him, i.e., cast him to the ground. His army shall therefore overflow, but shall execute nothing, only many shall fall down slain. The first member of the verse points to treachery, whereby the battle was lost and the war was fruitless. Hitzig incorrectly interprets ישׁטוף rushes away, i.e., is disorganized and takes to flight. But שׁטף cannot have this meaning.
Yea - His most familiar friends and confidants; for he shall be overthrown with a great slaughter, as when the Nile overflows the country.
*More commentary available at chapter level.