This statement of Smith is very strongly contested by Bible scholars of today who believe this power to be the papacy. They claim that the original Hebrew cannot read any other way than as “the king.” This would mean “the king” refers to the king mentioned in the preceding verses. I have no knowledge of Hebrew so cannot say one way or the other on the translation. But I would like to point out a couple of things. “The king” would certainly refer to a king who has been mentioned in the previous verses. If the papacy was referred to as a king in the preceding verses, then the willful king would have to be the papacy. But, the preceding verses do not talk about the papacy as a king. The last power referred to as a king is the pagan Roman Empire in verse 29.