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diff --git a/44103.txt b/44103.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 024b0d2..0000000 --- a/44103.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,12272 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Daniel, by -F. W. Farrar - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Daniel - -Author: F. W. Farrar - -Release Date: November 4, 2013 [EBook #44103] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE: DANIEL *** - - - - -Produced by Douglas L. Alley, III, Colin Bell and the -Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net -(This file was produced from images generously made -available by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE. - - _Crown 8vo, cloth, price 7s. 6d. each vol._ - - - FIRST SERIES, 1887-8. - - Colossians. - By A. MACLAREN, D.D. - - St. Mark. - By Very Rev. the Dean of Armagh. - - Genesis. - By Prof. MARCUS DODS, D.D. - - 1 Samuel. - By Prof. W. G. BLAIKIE, D.D. - - 2 Samuel. - By the same Author. - - Hebrews. - By Principal T. C. EDWARDS, D.D. - - - SECOND SERIES, 1888-9. - - Galatians. - By Prof. G. G. FINDLAY, B.A. - - The Pastoral Epistles. - By Rev. A. PLUMMER, D.D. - - Isaiah I.-XXXIX. - By Prof. G. A. SMITH, D.D. Vol. I. - - The Book of Revelation. - By Prof. W. MILLIGAN, D.D. - - 1 Corinthians. - By Prof. MARCUS DODS, D.D. - - The Epistles of St. John. - By Rt. Rev. W. ALEXANDER, D.D. - - - THIRD SERIES, 1889-90. - - Judges and Ruth. - By R. A. WATSON, M.A., D.D. - - Jeremiah. - By Rev. C. J. BALL, M.A. - - Isaiah XL.-LXVI. - By Prof. G. A. SMITH, D.D. Vol. II. - - St. Matthew. - By Rev. J. MONRO GIBSON, D.D. - - Exodus. - By Very Rev. the Dean of Armagh. - - St. Luke. - By Rev. H. BURTON, M.A. - - - FOURTH SERIES, 1890-1. - - Ecclesiastes. - By Rev. SAMUEL COX, D.D. - - St. James and St. Jude. - By Rev. A. PLUMMER, D.D. - - Proverbs. - By Rev. R. F. HORTON, D.D. - - Leviticus. - By Rev. S. H. KELLOGG, D.D. - - The Gospel of St. John. - By Prof. M. DODS, D.D. Vol. I. - - The Acts of the Apostles. - By Prof. STOKES, D.D. Vol. I. - - - FIFTH SERIES, 1891-2. - - The Psalms. - By A. MACLAREN, D.D. Vol. I. - - 1 and 2 Thessalonians. - By JAMES DENNEY, D.D. - - The Book of Job. - By R. A. WATSON, M.A., D.D. - - Ephesians. - By Prof. G. G. FINDLAY, B.A. - - The Gospel of St. John, - By Prof. M. DODS, D.D. Vol. II. - - The Acts of the Apostles. - By Prof. STOKES, D.D. Vol. II. - - - SIXTH SERIES, 1892-3. - - 1 Kings. - By Ven. Archdeacon FARRAR. - - Philippians. - By Principal RAINY, D.D. - - Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. - By Prof. W. F. ADENEY, M.A. - - Joshua. - By Prof. W. G. BLAIKIE, D.D. - - The Psalms. - By A. MACLAREN, D.D. Vol. II. - - The Epistles of St. Peter. - By Prof. RAWSON LUMBY, D.D. - - - SEVENTH SERIES, 1893-4. - - 2 Kings. - By Ven. Archdeacon FARRAR. - - Romans. - By H. C. G. MOULE, M.A. - - The Books of Chronicles. - By Prof. W. H. BENNETT, M.A. - - 2 Corinthians. - By JAMES DENNEY, D.D. - - Numbers. - By R. A. WATSON, M.A., D.D. - - The Psalms. - By A. MACLAREN, D.D. Vol. III. - - - EIGHTH SERIES, 1895-6. - - Daniel. - By Ven. Archdeacon FARRAR. - - The Book of Jeremiah. - By Prof. W. H. BENNETT, M.A. - - Deuteronomy. - By Prof. ANDREW HARPER, B.D. - - The Song of Solomon and Lamentations. - By Prof. W. F. ADENEY, M.A. - - Ezekiel. - By Prof. JOHN SKINNER, M.A. - - The Minor Prophets. - By Prof. G. A. SMITH, D.D. Two Vols. - - - - - THE BOOK OF DANIEL - - - - - BY - F. W. FARRAR, D.D., F.R.S. - LATE FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; ARCHDEACON OF - WESTMINSTER - - - - - - =London= - HODDER AND STOUGHTON - 27, PATERNOSTER ROW - - MDCCCXCV - - - - - _Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury._ - - - - - CONTENTS - - - PART I - - _INTRODUCTION_ - - - CHAPTER I - - PAGE - THE HISTORIC EXISTENCE OF THE PROPHET DANIEL 3 - - CHAPTER II - - GENERAL SURVEY OF THE BOOK 13 - - 1. THE LANGUAGE 13 - - 2. UNITY 24 - - 3. GENERAL TONE 27 - - 4. STYLE 29 - - 5. STANDPOINT OF ITS AUTHOR 31 - - 6. MORAL ELEMENT 34 - - - CHAPTER III - - PECULIARITIES OF THE HISTORICAL SECTION 39 - - - CHAPTER IV - - GENERAL STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK 63 - - - CHAPTER V - - THE THEOLOGY OF THE BOOK 67 - - - CHAPTER VI - - PECULIARITIES OF THE APOCALYPTIC AND PROPHETIC - SECTION OF THE BOOK 71 - - - CHAPTER VII - - INTERNAL EVIDENCE 78 - - - CHAPTER VIII - - EVIDENCE IN FAVOUR OF THE GENUINENESS UNCERTAIN - AND INADEQUATE 88 - - - CHAPTER IX - - EXTERNAL EVIDENCE AND RECEPTION INTO THE - CANON 98 - - - CHAPTER X - - SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 113 - - - PART II - - _COMMENTARY ON THE HISTORIC SECTION_ - - - CHAPTER I - - THE PRELUDE 123 - - - CHAPTER II - - THE DREAM-IMAGE OF RUINED EMPIRES 141 - - - CHAPTER III - - THE IDOL OF GOLD, AND THE FAITHFUL THREE 167 - - - CHAPTER IV - - THE BABYLONIAN CEDAR, AND THE STRICKEN DESPOT 184 - - - CHAPTER V - - THE FIERY INSCRIPTION 203 - - - CHAPTER VI - - STOPPING THE MOUTHS OF LIONS 218 - - - PART III - - _THE PROPHETIC SECTION OF THE BOOK_ - - - CHAPTER I - - VISION OF THE FOUR WILD BEASTS 233 - - - CHAPTER II - - THE RAM AND THE HE-GOAT 252 - - - CHAPTER III - - THE SEVENTY WEEKS 268 - - - CHAPTER IV - - INTRODUCTION TO THE CONCLUDING VISION 292 - - - CHAPTER V - - AN ENIGMATIC PROPHECY PASSING INTO DETAILS OF - THE REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES 299 - - - CHAPTER VI - - THE EPILOGUE 319 - - - APPENDIX - - APPROXIMATE CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES 333 - - GENEALOGICAL TABLE OF THE LAGIDAE, PTOLEMIES, - AND SELEUCIDAE 334 - - - - - AUTHORITIES CONSULTED - - COMMENTARIES AND TREATISES - - -The chief Rabbinic Commentaries were those of Rashi ([+] 1105); Abn -Ezra ([+] 1167); Kimchi ([+] 1240); Abrabanel ([+] 1507).[1] - -The chief Patristic Commentary is that by St. Jerome. Fragments -are preserved of other Commentaries by Origen, Hippolytus, Ephraem -Syrus, Julius Africanus, Theodoret, Athanasius, Basil, Eusebius, -Polychronius, etc. (Mai, _Script. Vet. Nov. Coll._, i.). - -The Scholastic Commentary attributed to St. Thomas Aquinas is spurious. - -The chief Commentaries of the Reformation period are those by:-- - -Luther, _Auslegung d. Proph. Dan._, 1530-46 (_Opp. Germ._, vi., ed. -Walch.) - -Oecolampadius, _In Dan. libri duo_. Basle, 1530. - -Melancthon, _Comm. in Dan._ Wittenburg, 1543. - -Calvin, _Praelect. in Dan._ Geneva, 1563. - -Modern Commentaries are numerous; among them we may mention those by:-- - -Newton, _Observations upon the Prophecies_. London, 1733. - -Bertholdt, _Daniel_. Erlangen, 1806-8. - -Rosenmueller, _Scholia_. 1832. - -Haevernick. 1832 and 1838. - -Hengstenberg. 1831. - -There are Commentaries by Von Lengerke, 1835; Maurer, 1838; Hitzig, -1850; Ewald, 1867; Kliefoth, 1868; Keil, 1869; Kranichfeld, -1868; Kamphausen, 1868; Meinhold (_Kurzgefasster Kommentar_), -1889; Auberlen, 1857; Archdeacon Rose and Prof. J. M. Fuller -(_Speaker's Commentary_), 1876; Rev. H. J. Deane (Bishop Ellicott's -_Commentary_), 1884; Zoeckler (Lange's _Bibelwerk_), 1889; A. A. Bevan -(_Cambridge_), 1893; Meinhold, _Beitraege_, 1888. - -The latest Commentary which has appeared is that by Hauptpastor -Behrmann, in the _Handkommentar z. Alten Testament._ Goettingen, 1894. - -Discussions in the various Introductions (_Einleitungen_, etc.) by -Bleek, De Wette, Keil, Staehelin, Reuss, Cornely, Dr. S. Davidson, -Kleinert, Cornill, Koenig, etc. - - - LIVES OF DANIEL - -Pseudo-Epiphanius, _Opera_, ii. 243. - -H. J. Deane, _Daniel_ (Men of the Bible). 1892. - - - THERE ARE ARTICLES ON DANIEL IN - -Winer's _Realwoerterbuch_, Second Edition. - -Delitzsch, in Herzog's _Real-Encyclopaedie_. - -Graf, in Schenkel's _Bibel-Lexicon_, i. 564. - -Bishop Westcott, in Dr. W. Smith's _Bible Dictionary_, New Edition. -1893. - -Hamburger, _Real-Encyclopaedie_, ii., _s.v._ "Geheimlehre," p. 265; -_s.vv._ "Daniel," pp. 223-225; and _Heiliges Schriftthum_. - - - TREATISES - -Russel Martineau, _Theological Review_. 1865. - -Prof. Margoliouth, _The Expositor_. April 1890. - -Prof. J. M. Fuller, _The Expositor_, Third Series, vols. i., ii. - -T. K. Cheyne, _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, vi. 803. - -Prof. Sayce, _The Higher Criticism and the Monuments_. 1894. - -Prof. S. R. Driver, _Introduction to the Literature of the Old -Testament_, pp. 458-483. 1891. - -Prof. S. Leathes, in _Book by Book_, pp. 241-251. - -C. von Orelli, _Alttestamentliche Weissagung_, p. 454. Wien, 1882. - -Meinhold, _Die Geschichtlichen Hagiographen_ (Strack and Zoeckler, -_Kurzgefasster Kommentar_, 1889). - -Meinhold, _Erklaerung des Buches Daniels_. 1889. - - - TREATISES OR DISCUSSIONS BY - -Dr. Pusey, _Daniel the Prophet_. 1864. - -T. R. Birks, _The Later Visions of Daniel_. 1846. - -Ellicott, _Horae Apocalypticae_. 1844. - -Tregelles, _Remarks on the Prophetic Visions of Daniel_. 1852. - -Hilgenfeld, _Die Propheten Ezra u. Daniel_. 1863. - -Baxmann, _Stud. u. Krit._, iii. 489 ff. 1863. - -Desprez, _Daniel_. 1865. - -Hofmann, _Weissagung und Erfuellung_, i. 276-316. - -Kuenen, _Prophets and Prophecy in Israel_, E. Tr. 1877. - -Ewald, _Die Propheten des Alten Bundes_, iii. 298. 1868. - -Hilgenfeld, _Die juedische Apokalyptic_. 1857. - -Lenormant, _La Divination chez les Chaldeans_. 1875. - -Fabre d'Envieu, _Le livre du Prophete Daniel_. 1888. - -Hebbelyuck, _De auctoritate libr. Danielis_. 1887. - -Koehler, _Bibl. Geschichte_. 1893. - - - INSCRIPTIONS AND MONUMENTS - -Babylonian, Persian, and Median inscriptions bearing on the Book of -Daniel are given by:-- - -Schrader, _Keilinschriften und d. A. T._, E. Tr., 1885-88; and in -_Records of the Past_. See too _Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum_. - -Sayce, _The Higher Criticism_, pp. 497-537. - -These inscriptions have been referred to also by Cornill, Nestle, -Noeldeke, Lagarde, etc. - - - HISTORIES AND OTHER BOOKS - -Sketches and fragments of many ancient historians:-- - -Josephus, _Antiquitates Judaicae_, ll. x., xi., xii. - -The Books of Maccabees. - -Prideaux, _Connection of the Old and New Testaments_, ed. Oxford. 1828. - -Ewald, _Gesch. des Volkes Israel_. 1843-50. - -Graetz, _Gesch. der Juden_, Second Edition. 1863. - -Jost, _Gesch. d. Judenthums und seinen Sekten_, i. 90-116. Leipzig, -1857. - -Herzfeld, _Gesch. des Volkes Israel_, ii. 416. 1863. - -Van Oort, _Bible for Young People_, E. Tr. 1877. - -Kittel, _Gesch. d. Hebraeer_, ii. 1892. - -Schuerer, _Gesch. d. juedischen Volkes_. Leipzig, 1890. - -Jahn, _Hebrew Commonwealth_, E. Tr. 1828. - -Droysen, _Gesch. d. Hellenismus_, ii. 211. - -E. Meyer, _Gesch. d. Alterthums_, i. - - - SPECIAL TREATISES - -Delitzsch, _Messianische Weissagangen_. Leipzig, 1890. - -Riehm, _Die Messianische Weissagung_. Gotha, 1875. - -Knabenbauer, _Comment in Daniel. prophet., Lament., et Baruch_. 1891. - -Kuenen, _Religion of Israel_, E. Tr. 1874. - -Bludau, _De Alex. interpe. Danielis indole_. 1891. - -Noeldeke, _D. Alttest. Literatur_. 1868. - -Fraidl, _Exegese d. 70 Wochen Daniels_. 1883. - -Menken, _Die Monarchienbild_. 1887. - -Kamphausen, _Das Buch Daniel in die neuere Geschichtsforschung_. -Leipzig, 1893. - -Lennep, _De Zeventig Jaarweken van Daniel_. Utrecht, 1888. - -Dr. M. Joel, _Notizen zum Buche Daniel_. Breslau, 1873. - -Derenbourg, _Les Mots grecs dans le Livre biblique de Daniel_. -Melanges Graux, 1888. - -Cornill, _Die Siebzig Jahrwochen Daniels_. 1889. - -Wolf, _Die Siebzig Wochen Daniels_. 1859. - -Sanday, _Inspiration_ (Bampton Lectures). 1894. - -Sayce, _Hibbert Lectures_. 1887. - -Roszmann, _Die Makkabeische Erhebung_. - -J. F. Hoffmann, _Antiochus IV_. (_Epiphanes_). 1873. - -_Speaker's Commentary_ on Tobit, 1, 2 Maccabees, etc. 1888. - -FOOTNOTE: - -[1] The Commentary which passes as that of Saadia the Gaon is said to -be spurious. His genuine Commentary only exists in manuscript. - - - - - PART I - - _INTRODUCTION_ - - - [Greek: Ego men oun peri touton hos heuron kai anegnon, houtos - egrapsa; ei de tis allos doxazein boulesetai peri auton anegkleton - echeto ten eterognomosynen.]--JOSEPHUS, _Antt._, X. ii. 7. - - - - - CHAPTER I - - _THE HISTORIC EXISTENCE OF THE PROPHET DANIEL_ - - "Trothe is the hiest thinge a man may kepe."--CHAUCER. - - -We propose in the following pages to examine the Book of the Prophet -Daniel by the same general methods which have been adopted in other -volumes of the Expositor's Bible. It may well happen that the -conclusions adopted as regards its origin and its place in the Sacred -Volume will not command the assent of all our readers. On the other -hand, we may feel a reasonable confidence that, even if some are -unable to accept the views at which we have arrived, and which we have -here endeavoured to present with fairness, they will still read them -with interest, as opinions which have been calmly and conscientiously -formed, and to which the writer has been led by strong conviction. - -All Christians will acknowledge the sacred and imperious duty of -sacrificing every other consideration to the unbiassed acceptance of -that which we regard as truth. Further than this our readers will -find much to elucidate the Book of Daniel chapter by chapter, apart -from any questions which affect its authorship or age. - -But I should like to say on the threshold that, though I am compelled -to regard the Book of Daniel as a work which, in its present form, -first saw the light in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, and though I -believe that its six magnificent opening chapters were never meant -to be regarded in any other light than that of moral and religious -_Haggadoth_, yet no words of mine can exaggerate the value which -I attach to this part of our Canonical Scriptures. The Book, as -we shall see, has exercised a powerful influence over Christian -conduct and Christian thought. Its right to a place in the Canon is -undisputed and indisputable, and there is scarcely a single book -of the Old Testament which can be made more richly "profitable -for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in -righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, completely -furnished unto every good work." Such religious lessons are eminently -suitable for the aims of the Expositor's Bible. They are not in the -slightest degree impaired by those results of archaeological discovery -and "criticism" which are now almost universally accepted by the -scholars of the Continent, and by many of our chief English critics. -Finally unfavourable to the authenticity, they are yet in no way -derogatory to the preciousness of this Old Testament Apocalypse. - - * * * * * - -The first question which we must consider is, "What is known about -the Prophet Daniel?" - -I. If we accept as historical the particulars narrated of him in -this Book, it is clear that few Jews have ever risen to so splendid -an eminence. Under four powerful kings and conquerors, of three -different nationalities and dynasties, he held a position of high -authority among the haughtiest aristocracies of the ancient world. At -a very early age he was not only a satrap, but the Prince and Prime -Minister over _all_ the satraps in Babylonia and Persia; not only a -Magian, but the Head Magian, and Chief Governor over all the wise -men of Babylon. Not even Joseph, as the chief ruler over all the -house of Pharaoh, had anything like the extensive sway exercised by -the Daniel of this Book. He was placed by Nebuchadrezzar "over the -whole province of Babylon";[2] under Darius he was President of the -Board of Three to "whom all the satraps" sent their accounts;[3] and -he was continued in office and prosperity under Cyrus the Persian.[4] - -II. It is natural, then, that we should turn to the monuments and -inscriptions of the Babylonian, Persian, and Median Empires to see if -any mention can be found of so prominent a ruler. But hitherto neither -has his name been discovered, nor the faintest trace of his existence. - -III. If we next search other non-Biblical sources of information, we -find much respecting him in the Apocrypha--"The Song of the Three -Children," "The Story of Susanna," and "Bel and the Dragon." But -these additions to the Canonical Books are avowedly valueless for any -historic purpose. They are romances, in which the vehicle of fiction is -used, in a manner which at all times was popular in Jewish literature, -to teach lessons of faith and conduct by the example of eminent -sages or saints.[5] The few other fictitious fragments preserved -by Fabricius have not the smallest importance.[6] Josephus, beyond -mentioning that Daniel and his three companions were of the family -of King Zedekiah,[7] adds nothing appreciable to our information. He -narrates the story of the Book, and in doing so adopts a somewhat -apologetic tone, as though he specially declined to vouch for its -historic exactness. For he says: "Let no one blame me for writing down -everything of this nature, as I find it in our ancient books: for as to -that matter, I have plainly assured those that think me defective in -any such point, or complain of my management, and have told them, in -the beginning of this history, that I intended to do no more than to -translate the Hebrew books into the Greek language, and promised them -to explain these facts, without adding anything to them of my own, or -taking anything away from them."[8] - -IV. In the Talmud, again, we find nothing historical. Daniel is -always mentioned as a champion against idolatry, and his wisdom is -so highly esteemed, that, "if all the wise men of the heathen," we -are told, "were on one side, and Daniel on the other, Daniel would -still prevail."[9] He is spoken of as an example of God's protection -of the innocent, and his three daily prayers are taken as our rule -of life.[10] To him are applied the verses of Lam. iii. 55-57: "I -called upon Thy name, O Lord, out of the lowest pit.... Thou drewest -near in the day that I called: Thou saidst, Fear not. O Lord, Thou -hast pleaded the causes of my soul; Thou hast redeemed my life." -We are assured that he was of Davidic descent; obtained permission -for the return of the exiles; survived till the rebuilding of the -Temple; lived to a great age, and finally died in Palestine.[11] -Rav even went so far as to say, "If there be any like the Messiah -among the living, it is our Rabbi the Holy: if among the dead, -it is Daniel."[12] In the _Avoth_ of Rabbi Nathan it is stated -that Daniel exercised himself in benevolence by endowing brides, -following funerals, and giving alms. One of the Apocryphal legends -respecting him has been widely spread. It tells us that, when he -was a second time cast into the den of lions under Cyrus, and was -fasting from lack of food, the Prophet Habakkuk was taken by a hair -of his head and carried by the angel of the Lord to Babylon, to give -to Daniel the dinner which he had prepared for his reapers.[13] It -is with reference to this _Haggada_ that in the catacombs Daniel is -represented in the lions' den standing naked between two lions--an -emblem of the soul between sin and death--and that a youth with a pot -of food is by his side. - -There is a Persian apocalypse of Daniel translated by Merx (_Archiv_, -i. 387), and there are a few worthless Mohammedan legends about him -which are given in D'Herbelot's _Bibliotheque orientale_. They only -serve to show how widely extended was the reputation which became -the nucleus of strange and miraculous stories. As in the case of -Pythagoras and Empedocles, they indicate the deep reverence which the -ideal of his character inspired. They are as the fantastic clouds -which gather about the loftiest mountain peaks. In later days he -seems to have been comparatively forgotten.[14] - -These references would not, however, suffice to prove Daniel's -_historical_ existence. They might merely result from the literal -acceptance of the story narrated in the Book. From the name "Daniel," -which is by no means a common one, and means "Judge of God," nothing -can be learnt. It is only found in three other instances.[15] - -Turning to the Old Testament itself, we have reason for surprise both -in its allusions and its silences. One only of the sacred writers -refers to Daniel, and that is Ezekiel. In one passage (xxviii. 3) -the Prince of Tyrus is apostrophised in the words, "_Behold, thou -art wiser than Daniel_; there is no secret that they can hide from -thee." In the other (xiv. 14, 20) the word of the Lord declares to -the guilty city, that "though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and -Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their -righteousness"; "they shall deliver neither son nor daughter."[16] - -The last words may be regarded as a general allusion, and therefore -we may pass over the circumstance that Daniel--who was undoubtedly -a eunuch in the palace of Babylon, and who is often pointed to as a -fulfilment of the stern prophecy of Isaiah to Hezekiah[17]--could -never have had either son or daughter. - -But in other respects the allusion is surprising. - -i. It was very unusual among the Jews to elevate their contemporaries -to such a height of exaltation, and it is indeed startling that -Ezekiel should thus place his youthful contemporary on such a -pinnacle as to unite his name to those of Noah the antediluvian -patriarch and the mysterious man of Uz. - -ii. We might, with Theodoret, Jerome, and Kimchi, account for the -mention of Daniel's name at all in this connection by the peculiar -circumstances of his life;[18] but there is little probability in the -suggestions of bewildered commentators as to the reason why his name -should be placed _between_ those of Noah and Job. It is difficult, -with Haevernick, to recognise any _climax_ in the order;[19] nor can -it be regarded as quite satisfactory to say, with Delitzsch, that -the collocation is due to the fact that "as Noah was a righteous man -of the old world, and Job of the ideal world, Daniel represented -immediately the contemporaneous world."[20] If Job was a purely ideal -instance of exemplary goodness, why may not Daniel have been the same? - -To some critics the allusion has appeared so strange that they have -referred it to an imaginary Daniel who had lived at the Court of -Nineveh during the Assyrian exile;[21] or to some mythic hero who -belonged to ancient days--perhaps, like Melchizedek, a contemporary -of the ruin of the cities of the Plain.[22] Ewald tries to urge -something for the former conjecture; yet neither for it nor for the -latter is there any tittle of real evidence.[23] This, however, would -not be decisive against the hypothesis, since in 1 Kings iv. 31 we -have references to men of pre-eminent wisdom respecting whom no -breath of tradition has come down to us.[24] - -iii. But if we accept the Book of Daniel as literal history, the -allusion of Ezekiel becomes still more difficult to explain; for -Daniel must have been not only a contemporary of the prophet of the -Exile, but a very youthful one. We are told--a difficulty to which we -shall subsequently allude--that Daniel was taken captive in the third -year of Jehoiakim (Dan. i. 1), about the year B.C. 606. Ignatius -says that he was twelve years old when he foiled the elders; and the -narrative shows that he could not have been much older when taken -captive.[25] If Ezekiel's prophecy was uttered B.C. 584, Daniel at -that time could only have been twenty-two: if it was uttered as late -as B.C. 572,[26] Daniel would still have been only thirty-four, and -therefore little more than a youth in Jewish eyes. It is undoubtedly -surprising that among Orientals, who regard age as the chief passport -to wisdom, a living youth should be thus canonised between the -Patriarch of the Deluge and the Prince of Uz. - -iv. Admitting that this pinnacle of eminence may have been due to -the peculiar splendour of Daniel's career, it becomes the less easy -to account for the total silence respecting him in the other books -of the Old Testament--in the Prophets who were contemporaneous with -the Exile and its close, like Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi; and -in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah, which give us the details of the -Return. No post-exilic prophets seem to know anything of the Book of -Daniel.[27] Their expectations of Israel's future are very different -from his.[28] The silence of Ezra is specially astonishing. It has -often been conjectured that it was Daniel who showed to Cyrus the -prophecies of Isaiah.[29] Certainly it is stated that he held the -very highest position in the Court of the Persian King; yet neither -does Ezra mention his existence, nor does Nehemiah--himself a high -functionary in the Court of Artaxerxes--refer to his illustrious -predecessor. Daniel outlived the first return of the exiles under -Zerubbabel, and he did not avail himself of this opportunity to -revisit the land and desolate sanctuary of his fathers which he -loved so well.[30] We might have assumed that patriotism so burning -as his would not have preferred to stay at Babylon, or at Shushan, -when the priests and princes of his people were returning to the -Holy City. Others of great age faced the perils of the Restoration; -and if he stayed behind to be of greater use to his countrymen, we -cannot account for the fact that he is not distantly alluded to in -the record which tells how "the chief of the fathers, _with all -those whose spirit God had raised_, rose up to go to build the House -of the Lord which is in Jerusalem."[31] That the difficulty was felt -is shown by the Mohammedan legend that Daniel _did_ return with -Ezra,[32] and that he received the office of Governor of Syria, from -which country he went back to Susa, where his tomb is still yearly -visited by crowds of adoring pilgrims. - -v. If we turn to the New Testament, the name of Daniel only occurs in -the reference to "the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel -the prophet."[33] The Book of Revelation does not name him, but is -profoundly influenced by the Book of Daniel both in its form and in -the symbols which it adopts.[34] - -vi. In the Apocrypha Daniel is passed over in complete silence among -the lists of Hebrew heroes enumerated by Jesus the son of Sirach. We -are even told that "neither was there a man born like unto Joseph, a -leader of his brethren, a stay of the people" (Ecclus. xlix. 15). This -is the more singular because not only are the achievements of Daniel -under four heathen potentates greater than those of Joseph under one -Pharaoh, but also several of the stories of Daniel at once remind us of -the story of Joseph, and even appear to have been written with silent -reference to the youthful Hebrew and his fortunes as an Egyptian slave -who was elevated to be governor of the land of his exile. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[2] Dan. ii. 48. - -[3] Dan. v. 29, vi. 2. - -[4] Dan. vi. 28. There is a Daniel of the sons of Ithamar in Ezra -viii. 2, and among those who sealed the covenant in Neh. x. 6. - -[5] For a full account of the _Agada_ (also called _Agadtha_ and -_Haggada_), I must refer the reader to Hamburger's _Real-Encyklopaedie -fuer Bibel und Talmud_, ii. 19-27, 921-934. The first two forms of -the words are Aramaic; the third was a Hebrew form in use among the -Jews in Babylonia. The word is derived from [Hebrew: nagad], "to say" -or "explain." _Halacha_ was the rule of religious praxis, a sort of -Directorium Judaicum: _Haggada_ was the result of free religious -reflection. See further Strack, _Einl. in den Thalmud_, iv. 122. - -[6] Fabricius, _Cod. Pseudepigr. Vet. Test._, i. 1124. - -[7] Jos., _Antt._, X. xi. 7. But Pseudo-Epiphanius (_De Vit. Dan._, -x.) says: [Greek: Gegone ton exochon tes basilikes hyperesias]. So -too the _Midrash_ on Ruth, 7. - -[8] Jos., _Antt._, X. x. 6. - -[9] _Yoma_, f. 77. - -[10] _Berachoth_, f. 31. - -[11] _Sanhedrin_, f. 93. _Midrash Rabba_ on Ruth, 7, etc., quoted by -Hamburger, _Real-Encyclopaedie_, i. 225. - -[12] _Kiddushin_, f. 72, 6; Hershon, _Genesis acc. to the Talmud_, p. -471. - -[13] Bel and the Dragon, 33-39. It seems to be an old Midrashic -legend. It is quoted by Dorotheus and Pseudo-Epiphanius, and referred -to by some of the Fathers. Eusebius supposes another Habakkuk and -another Daniel; but "anachronisms, literary extravagances, or -legendary character are obvious on the face of such narratives. Such -faults as these, though valid against any pretensions to the rank -of authentic history, do not render the stories less effective as -pieces of Haggadic satire, or less interesting as preserving vestiges -of a cycle of popular legends relating to Daniel" (Rev. C. J. Ball, -_Speaker's Commentary_, on Apocrypha, ii. 350). - -[14] Hoettinger, _Hist. Orientalis_, p. 92. - -[15] Ezra viii. 2; Neh. x. 6. In 1 Chron. iii. 1 Daniel is an -alternative name for David's son Chileab--perhaps a clerical error. -If so, the names Daniel, Mishael, Azariah, and Hananiah are only -found in the two post-exilic books, whence Kamphausen supposes them -to have been borrowed by the writer. - -[16] No valid arguments can be adduced in favour of Winckler's -suggestion that Ezek. xxviii. 1-10, xiv. 14-20, are late -interpolations. In these passages the name is spelt [Hebrew: -danni'el]; not, as in our Book, [Hebrew: daniyel]. - -[17] Isa. xxxix. 7. - -[18] See Rosenmueller, _Scholia_, _ad loc._ - -[19] _Ezek._, p. 207. - -[20] Herzog, _R. E._, _s.v._ - -[21] Ewald, _Proph. d. Alt. Bund._, ii. 560; De Wette, _Einleit._, Sec. -253. - -[22] So Von Lengerke, _Dan._, xciii. ff.; Hitzig, _Dan._, viii. - -[23] He is followed by Bunsen, _Gott in der Gesch._, i. 514. - -[24] Reuss, _Heil. Schrift._, p. 570. - -[25] Ignat., _Ad Magnes_, 3 (Long Revision: see Lightfoot, ii., Sec. -ii., p. 749). So too in _Ps. Mar. ad Ignat._, 3. Lightfoot thinks -that this is a transference from Solomon (_l.c._, p. 727). - -[26] See Ezek. xxix. 17. - -[27] See Zech. ii. 6-10; Ezek. xxxvii. 9, etc. - -[28] See Hag. ii. 6-9, 20-23; Zech. ii. 5-17, iii. 8-10; Mal. iii. 1. - -[29] Ezra (i. 1) does not mention the striking prophecies of the -later Isaiah (xliv. 28, xlv. 1), but refers to Jeremiah only (xxv. -12, xxix. 10). - -[30] Dan. x. 1-18, vi. 10. - -[31] Ezra i. 5. - -[32] D'Herbelot, _l.c._ - -[33] Matt. xxiv. 15; Mark xiii. 14. There can be of course no -certainty that the "spoken of by Daniel the prophet" is not the -comment of the Evangelist. - -[34] See Elliott, _Horae Apocalypticae_, _passim_. - - - - - CHAPTER II - - _GENERAL SURVEY OF THE BOOK_ - - - 1. THE LANGUAGE - -Unable to learn anything further respecting the professed author of -the Book of Daniel, we now turn to the Book itself. In this section -I shall merely give a general sketch of its main external phenomena, -and shall chiefly pass in review those characteristics which, though -they have been used as arguments respecting the age in which it -originated, are not absolutely irreconcilable with the supposition of -_any_ date between the termination of the Exile (B.C. 536) and the -death of Antiochus Epiphanes (B.C. 164). - -I. First we notice the fact that there is an interchange of the first -and third person. In chapters i.-vi. Daniel is mainly spoken of in -the third person: in chapters vii.-xii. he speaks mainly in the first. - -Kranichfeld tries to account for this by the supposition that -in chapters i.-vi. we practically have extracts from Daniel's -diaries,[35] whereas in the remainder of the Book he describes his -own visions. The point cannot be much insisted upon, but the mention -of his own high praises (_e.g._, in such passages as vi. 4) is -perhaps hardly what we should have expected. - -II. Next we observe that the Book of Daniel, like the Book of Ezra[36] -is written partly in the sacred Hebrew, partly in the vernacular -Aramaic, which is often, but erroneously, called Chaldee.[37] - -The first section (i. 1-ii. 4_a_) is in Hebrew. The language changes -to Aramaic after the words, "Then spake the Chaldeans to the king _in -Syriac_" (ii. 4_a_);[38] and this is continued to vii. 28. The eighth -chapter begins with the words, "In the third year of the reign of -King Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel"; and -here the Hebrew is resumed, and is continued till the end of the Book. - -The question at once arises why the two languages were used in the -same Book. - -It is easy to understand that, during the course of the seventy years' -Exile, many of the Jews became practically bilingual, and would be able -to write with equal facility in one language or in the other. - -This circumstance, then, has no bearing on the date of the Book. Down -to the Maccabean age some books continued to be written in Hebrew. -These books must have found readers. Hence the knowledge of Hebrew -cannot have died away so completely as has been supposed. The notion -that after the return from the Exile Hebrew was at once superseded -by Aramaic is untenable. Hebrew long continued to be the language -normally spoken at Jerusalem (Neh. xiii. 24), and the Jews did not -bring back Aramaic with them to Palestine, but found it there.[39] - -But it is not clear why the linguistic _divisions_ in the Book were -adopted. Auberlen says that, after the introduction, the section -ii. 4_a_-vii. 28 was written in Chaldee, because it describes the -development of the power of the world from a world-historic point -of view; and that the remainder of the Book was written in Hebrew, -because it deals with the development of the world-powers in their -relation to Israel the people of God.[40] There is very little to -be said in favour of a structure so little obvious and so highly -artificial. A simpler solution of the difficulty would be that which -accounts for the use of Chaldee by saying that it was adopted in -those parts which involved the introduction of Aramaic documents. -This, however, would not account for its use in chap. vii., which -is a chapter of visions in which Hebrew might have been naturally -expected as the vehicle of prophecy. Strack and Meinhold think that -the Aramaic and Hebrew parts are of different origin. Koenig supposes -that the Aramaic sections were meant to indicate special reference to -the Syrians and Antiochus.[41] Some critics have thought it possible -that the Aramaic sections were once written in Hebrew. That the text -of Daniel has not been very carefully kept becomes clear from the -liberties to which it was subjected by the Septuagint translators. If -the Hebrew of Jer. x. 11 (a verse which only exists in Aramaic) has -been lost, it is not inconceivable that the same may have happened to -the Hebrew of a section of Daniel.[42] - -The Talmud throws no light on the question. It only says that-- - -i. "The men of the Great Synagogue wrote"[43]--by which is perhaps -meant that they "edited"--"the Book of Ezekiel, the Twelve Minor -Prophets, the Book of Daniel, and the Book of Ezra";[44] and that-- - -ii. "The Chaldee passages in the Book of Ezra and the Book of Daniel -_defile the hands_."[45] - -The first of these two passages is merely an assertion that the -preservation, the arrangement, and the admission into the Canon of -the books mentioned was due to the body of scribes and priests--a -very shadowy and unhistorical body--known as the Great Synagogue.[46] - -The second passage sounds startling, but is nothing more than an -authoritative declaration that the Chaldee sections of Daniel and -Ezra are still parts of Holy Scripture, though not written in the -sacred language. - -It is a standing rule of the Talmudists that _All Holy Scripture -defiles the hands_--even the long-disputed Books of Ecclesiastes and -Canticles.[47] Lest any should misdoubt the sacredness of the Chaldee -sections, they are expressly included in the rule. It seems to have -originated thus: The eatables of the heave offerings were kept in close -proximity to the scroll of the Law, for both were considered equally -sacred. If a mouse or rat happened to nibble either, the offerings and -the books became defiled, and therefore defiled the hands that touched -them.[48] To guard against this hypothetical defilement it was decided -that _all_ handling of the Scriptures should be followed by ceremonial -ablutions. To say that the Chaldee chapters "defile the hands" is the -Rabbinic way of declaring their Canonicity. - -Perhaps nothing certain can be inferred from the philological -examination either of the Hebrew or of the Chaldee portions of the -Book; but they seem to indicate a date not earlier than the age of -Alexander (B.C. 333). On this part of the subject there has been a -great deal of rash and incompetent assertion. It involves delicate -problems on which an independent and a valuable opinion can only be -offered by the merest handful of living scholars, and respecting -which even these scholars sometimes disagree. In deciding upon -such points ordinary students can only weigh the authority and the -arguments of specialists who have devoted a minute and lifelong study -to the grammar and history of the Semitic languages. - -I know no higher contemporary authorities on the date of Hebrew -writings than the late veteran scholar F. Delitzsch and Professor -Driver. - -1. Nothing was more beautiful and remarkable in Professor Delitzsch -than the open-minded candour which compelled him to the last to -advance with advancing thought; to admit all fresh elements of -evidence; to continue his education as a Biblical inquirer to the -latest days of his life; and without hesitation to correct, modify, -or even reverse his previous conclusions in accordance with the -results of deeper study and fresh discoveries. He wrote the article -on Daniel in Herzog's _Real-Encyclopaedie_, and in the first edition -of that work maintained its genuineness; but in the later editions -(iii. 470) his views approximate more and more to those of the Higher -Criticism. Of the Hebrew of Daniel he says that "it attaches itself -here and there to Ezekiel, and also to Habakkuk; in general character -it resembles the Hebrew of the Chronicler who wrote shortly before -the beginning of the Greek period (B.C. 332), and as compared either -with the ancient Hebrew, or with the Hebrew of the _Mishnah_ is full -of singularities and harshnesses of style."[49] - -So far, then, it is clear that, if the Hebrew mainly resembles that -of B.C. 332, it is hardly likely that it should have been written -_before_ B.C. 536. - -Professor Driver says, "The Hebrew of Daniel in all distinctive -features resembles, not the Hebrew of Ezekiel, or even of Haggai and -Zechariah, but that of the age subsequent to Nehemiah"--whose age -forms the great turning-point in Hebrew style. - -He proceeds to give a list of linguistic peculiarities in support of -this view, and other specimens of sentences constructed, not in the -style of classical Hebrew, but in "the later uncouth style" of the -Book of Chronicles. He points out in a note that it is no explanation -of these peculiarities to argue that, during his long exile, Daniel -may have partially forgotten the language of his youth; "for this -would not account for the resemblance of the new and decadent idioms -to those which appeared in Palestine independently two hundred and -fifty years afterwards."[50] Behrmann, in the latest commentary on -Daniel, mentions, in proof of the late character of the Hebrew: -(1) the introduction of Persian words which could not have been -used in Babylonian before the conquest of Cyrus (as in i. 3, 5, xi. -45, etc.); (2) many Aramaic or Aramaising words, expressions, and -grammatical forms (as in i. 5, 10, 12, 16, viii. 18, 22, x. 17, 21, -etc.); (3) neglect of strict accuracy in the use of the Hebrew tenses -(as in viii. 14, ix. 3 f., xi. 4 f., etc.); (4) the borrowing of -archaic expressions from ancient sources (as in viii. 26, ix. 2, xi. -10, 40, etc.); (5) the use of technical terms and periphrases common -in Jewish apocalypses (xi. 6, 13, 35, 40, etc.).[51] - -2. These views of the character of the Hebrew agree with those of -previous scholars. Bertholdt and Kirms declare that its character -differs _toto genere_ from what might have been expected had the Book -been genuine. Gesenius says that the language is even more corrupt -than that of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi. Professor Driver says -the _Persian_ words _presuppose_ a period after the Persian Empire -had been well established; the _Greek_ words _demand,_ the _Hebrew -supports_, and the _Aramaic permits_ a date after the conquest of -Palestine by Alexander the Great. De Wette and Ewald have pointed -out the lack of the old passionate spontaneity of early prophecy; the -absence of the numerous and profound paronomasiae, or plays on words, -which characterised the burning oratory of the prophets; and the -peculiarities of the style--which is sometimes obscure and careless, -sometimes pompous, iterative, and artificial.[52] - -3. It is noteworthy that in this Book the name of the great -Babylonian conqueror, with whom, in the narrative part, Daniel -is thrown into such close connexion, is invariably written in -the absolutely erroneous form which his name assumed in later -centuries--Nebuchad_n_ezzar. A contemporary, familiar with the -Babylonian language, could not have been ignorant of the fact that -the only correct form of the name is Nebuchad_r_ezzar--_i.e._, -_Nebu-kudurri-utsur_, "Nebo protect the throne."[53] - -4. But the erroneous form Neduchad_n_ezzar is not the only one which -entirely militates against the notion of a contemporary writer. -There seem to be other mistakes about Babylonian matters into which -a person in Daniel's position could not have fallen. Thus the -name Belteshazzar seems to be connected in the writer's mind with -Bel, the favourite deity of Nebuchadrezzar; but it can only mean -_Balatu-utsur_, "his life protect," which looks like a mutilation. -Abed-_nego_ is an astonishingly corrupt form for Abed-_nabu_, "the -servant of Nebo." Hammelzar, Shadrach, Meshach, Ashpenaz, are -declared by Assyriologists to be "out of keeping with Babylonian -science." In ii. 48 _signin_ means a civil ruler;--does not imply -Archimagus, as the context seems to require, but, according to -Lenormant, a high civil officer. - -5. The _Aramaic_ of Daniel closely resembles that of Ezra. Noeldeke -calls it a Palestinian or Western Aramaic dialect, later than that of -the Book of Ezra.[54] It is of earlier type than that of the Targums -of Jonathan and Onkelos; but that fact has very little bearing on -the date of the Book, because the differences are slight, and the -resemblances manifold, and the Targums did not appear till after the -Christian Era, nor assume their present shape perhaps before the -fourth century. Further, "recently discovered inscriptions have shown -that many of the forms in which the Aramaic of Daniel differs from -that of the Targums were actually in use in neighbouring countries -down to the first century A.D."[55] - -6. Two further philological considerations bear on the age of the Book. - -i. One of these is the existence of no less than fifteen _Persian_ -words (according to Noeldeke and others), especially in the Aramaic -part. These words, which would not be surprising after the complete -establishment of the Persian Empire, are surprising in passages which -describe Babylonian institutions before the conquest of Cyrus.[56] -Various attempts have been made to account for this phenomenon. -Professor Fuller attempts to show, but with little success, that -some of them may be Semitic.[57] Others argue that they are amply -accounted for by the Persian trade which, as may be seen from the -_Records of the Past_,[58] existed between Persia and Babylonia as -early as the days of Belshazzar. To this it is replied that some of -the words are not of a kind which one nation would at once borrow -from another,[59] and that "no Persian words have hitherto been found -in Assyrian or Babylonian inscriptions prior to the conquest of -Babylon by Cyrus, except the name of the god Mithra." - -ii. But the linguistic evidence unfavourable to the genuineness -of the Book of Daniel is far stronger than this, in the startling -fact that it contains at least three Greek words. After giving the -fullest consideration to all that has been urged in refutation of -the conclusion, this circumstance has always been to me a strong -confirmation of the view that the Book of Daniel in its present form -is not older than the days of Antiochus Epiphanes. - -Those three Greek words occur in the list of musical instruments -mentioned in iii. 5, 7, 10, 15. They are: [Hebrew: ktrm], _kitharos_, -[Greek: kitharis], "harp"; [Hebrew: fsntrn], _psanterin_, [Greek: -psalterion], "psaltery";[60] [Hebrew: svmfn], _sumponyah_, [Greek: -symphonia], A.V. "dulcimer," but perhaps "bagpipes."[61] - -Be it remembered that these musical instruments are described as having -(B.C. 550). Now, this is the date at which Pisistratus was tyrant at -Athens, in the days of Pythagoras and Polycrates, before Athens became -a fixed democracy. It is just conceivable that in those days the -Babylonians might have borrowed from Greece the word _kitharis_.[62] It -is, indeed, supremely _unlikely_, because the harp had been known in -the East from the earliest days; and it is at least as probable that -Greece, which at this time was only beginning to sit as a learner at -the feet of the immemorial East, borrowed the idea of the instrument -from Asia. Let it, however, be admitted that such words as _yayin_, -"wine" ([Greek: oinos]), _lappid_, "a torch" ([Greek: lampas]), and a -few others, _may_ indicate some early intercourse between Greece and -the East, and that some commercial relations of a rudimentary kind were -existent even in prehistoric days.[63] - -But what are we to say of the two other words? Both are derivatives. -_Psalterion_ does not occur in Greek before Aristotle (d. 322); nor -_sumphonia_ before Plato (d. 347). In relation to music, and probably -as the name of a musical instrument, _sumphonia_ is first used by -Polybius (xxvi. 10, Sec. 5, xxxi. 4, Sec. 8), and _in express connexion_ -with the festivities of the very king with whom the apocalyptic -section of Daniel is mainly occupied--Antiochus Epiphanes.[64] The -attempts of Professor Fuller and others to derive these words from -Semitic roots are a desperate resource, and cannot win the assent of -a single trained philologist. "These words," says Professor Driver, -"could not have been used in the Book of Daniel, unless it had been -written after the dissemination of Greek influence in Asia through -the conquest of Alexander the Great."[65] - - - 2. THE UNITY OF THE BOOK - -The _Unity_ of the Book of Daniel is now generally admitted. No one -thought of questioning it in days before the dawn of criticism, but -in 1772 Eichhorn and Corrodi doubted the genuineness of the Book. -J. D. Michaelis endeavoured to prove that it was "a collection of -fugitive pieces," consisting of six historic pictures, followed by four -prophetic visions.[66] Bertholdt, followed the erroneous tendency of -criticism which found a foremost exponent in Ewald, and imagined the -possibility of detecting the work of many different hands. He divided -the Book into fragments by nine different authors.[67] - -Zoeckler, in Lange's _Bibelwerk_, persuaded himself that the old -"orthodox" views of Hengstenberg and Auberlen were right; but he -could only do this by sacrificing the authenticity of parts of the -Book, and assuming more than one redaction. Thus he supposes that -xi. 5-39 are an interpolation by a writer in the days of Antiochus -Epiphanes. Similarly, Lenormant admits interpolations in the _first_ -half of the Book. But to concede this is practically to give up the -Book of Daniel as it now stands. - -The _unity_ of the Book of Daniel is still admitted or assumed by most -critics.[68] It has only been recently questioned in two directions. - -Meinhold thinks that the Aramaic and historic sections are older -than the rest of the Book, and were written about B.C. 300 to convert -the Gentiles to monotheism.[69] He argues that the apocalyptic -section was written later, and was subsequently incorporated with -the Book. A somewhat similar view is held by Zoeckler,[70] and some -have thought that Daniel could never have written of himself in -such highly favourable terms as, _e.g._, in Dan. vi. 4.[71] The -first chapter, which is essential as an introduction to the Book, -and the seventh, which is apocalyptic, and is yet in Aramaic, -create objections to the acceptance of this theory. Further, it is -impossible not to observe a certain unity of style and parallelism -of treatment between the two parts. Thus, if the prophetic section -is mainly devoted to Antiochus Epiphanes, the historic section seems -to have an allusive bearing on his impious madness. In ii. 10, 11, -and vi. 8, we have descriptions of daring Pagan edicts, which might -be intended to furnish a contrast with the attempts of Antiochus to -_suppress_ the worship of God. The feast of Belshazzar may well be -a "reference to the Syrian despot's revelries at Daphne." Again, in -ii. 43--where the mixture of iron and clay is explained by "they -shall mingle themselves with the seed of men"--it seems far from -improbable that there is a reference to the unhappy intermarriages -of Ptolemies and Seleucidae. Berenice, daughter of Ptolemy II. -(Philadelphus), married Antiochus II. (Theos), and this is alluded -to in the vision of xi. 6. Cleopatra, daughter of Antiochus III. -(the Great), married Ptolemy V. (Epiphanes), which is alluded to -in xi. 17.[72] The style seems to be stamped throughout with the -characteristics of an individual mind, and the most cursory glance -suffices to show that the historic and prophetic parts are united -by many points of connexion and resemblance. Meinhold is quite -unsuccessful in the attempt to prove a sharp contrast of views -between the sections. The interchange of persons--the _third_ person -being mainly used in the first seven chapters, and the first person -in the last five--may be partly due to the final editor; but in any -case it may easily be paralleled, and is found in other writers, as -in Isaiah (vii. 3, xx. 2) and the Book of Enoch (xii.). - -But it may be said in general that the authenticity of the Book is -now rarely defended by any competent critic, except at the cost of -abandoning certain sections of it as interpolated additions; and as -Mr. Bevan somewhat caustically remarks, "the defenders of Daniel -have, during the last few years, been employed chiefly in cutting -Daniel to pieces."[73] - - - 3. THE GENERAL TONE OF THE BOOK - -The general tone of the Book marks a new era in the education and -progress of the Jews. The lessons of the Exile uplifted them from -a too narrow and absorbing particularism to a wider interest in the -destinies of humanity. They were led to recognise that God "has made -of one every nation of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, -having determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of their -habitation; that they should seek God, if haply they might feel after -Him, and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us."[74] The -standpoint of the Book of Daniel is larger and more cosmopolitan in -this respect than that of earlier prophecy. Israel had begun to mingle -more closely with other nations, and to be a sharer in their destinies. -Politically the Hebrew race no longer formed a small though independent -kingdom, but was reduced to the position of an entirely insignificant -sub-province in a mighty empire. The Messiah is no longer the Son of -David, but the Son of Man; no longer only the King of Israel, but of -the world. Mankind--not only the seed of Jacob--fills the field of -prophetic vision. Amid widening horizons of thought the Jews turned -their eyes upon a great past, rich in events, and crowded with the -figures of heroes, saints, and sages. At the same time the world seemed -to be growing old, and its ever-deepening wickedness seemed to call -for some final judgment. We begin to trace in the Hebrew writings the -colossal conceptions, the monstrous imagery, the daring conjectures, -the more complex religious ideas, of an exotic fancy.[75] - - "The giant forms of Empires on their way - To ruin, dim and vast," - -begin to fling their weird and sombre shadows over the page of sacred -history and prophetic anticipation. - - - - 4. THE STYLE OF THE BOOK - -The style of the Book of Daniel is new, and has very marked -characteristics, indicating its late position in the Canon. It is -rhetorical rather than poetic. "Totum Danielis librum," says Lowth, -"e poetarum censu excludo."[76] How widely does the style differ -from the rapt passion and glowing picturesqueness of Isaiah, from -the elegiac tenderness of Jeremiah, from the lyrical sweetness of -many of the Psalms! How very little does it correspond to the three -great requirements of poetry, that it should be, as Milton so finely -said, "simple, sensuous, passionate"! A certain artificiality of -diction, a sounding oratorical stateliness, enhanced by dignified -periphrases and leisurely repetitions, must strike the most casual -reader; and this is sometimes carried so far as to make the movement -of the narrative heavy and pompous.[77] This peculiarity is not -found to the same extent in any other book of the Old Testament -Canon, but it recurs in the Jewish writings of a later age. From the -apocryphal books, for instance, the poetical element is with trifling -exceptions, such as the Song of the Three Children, entirely absent, -while the taste for rhetorical ornamentation, set speeches, and -dignified elaborateness is found in many of them. - -This evanescence of the poetic and impassioned element separates -Daniel from the Prophets, and marks the place of the Book among the -Hagiographa, where it was placed by the Jews themselves. In all the -great Hebrew seers we find something of the ecstatic transport, the -fire shut up within the bones and breaking forth from the volcanic -heart, the burning lips touched by the hands of seraphim with a living -coal from off the altar. The word for prophet (_nabi_, _Vates_) implies -an inspired singer rather than a soothsayer or seer (_roeh_, _chozeh_). -It is applied to Deborah and Miriam[78] because they poured forth from -exultant hearts the paean of victory. Hence arose the close connexion -between music and poetry.[79] Elisha required the presence of a -minstrel to soothe the agitation of a heart thrown into tumult by the -near presence of a revealing Power.[80] Just as the Greek word [Greek: -mantis], from [Greek: mainomai], implies a sort of madness, and recalls -the foaming lip and streaming hair of the spirit-dilated messenger, so -the Hebrew verb _naba_ meant, not only to proclaim God's oracles, but -to be inspired by His possession as with a Divine frenzy.[81] "Madman" -seemed a natural term to apply to the messenger of Elisha.[82] It is -easy therefore to see why the Book of Daniel was not placed among -the prophetic rolls. This _vera passio_, this ecstatic elevation of -thought and feeling, are wholly wanting in this earliest attempt at -a philosophy of history. We trace in it none of that "blasting with -excess of light," none of that shuddering sense of being uplifted -out of self, which marks the higher and earlier forms of prophetic -inspiration. Daniel is addressed through the less exalted medium of -visions, and in his visions there is less of "the faculty Divine." The -instinct--if instinct it were and not knowledge of the real origin of -the Book--which led the "Men of the Great Synagogue" to place this Book -among the _Ketubhim_, not among the Prophets, was wise and sure.[83] - - - 5. THE STANDPOINT OF THE AUTHOR - - "In Daniel oeffnet sich eine ganz neue Welt."--EICHHORN, - _Einleit._, iv. 472. - -The author of the Book of Daniel seems naturally to place himself on a -level lower than that of the prophets who had gone before him. He does -not count himself among the prophets; on the contrary, he puts them -far higher than himself, and refers to them as though they belonged -to the dim and distant past (ix. 2, 6). In his prayer of penitence he -confesses, "Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, -which spake in Thy Name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers"; -"Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His -laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets." Not once -does he use the mighty formula "Thus saith Jehovah"--not once does he -assume, in the prophecies, a tone of high personal authority. He shares -the view of the Maccabean age that prophecy is dead.[84] - -In Dan. ix. 2 we find yet another decisive indication of the late -age of this writing. He tells us that he "understood by books" (more -correctly, as in the A.V., "by _the_ books"[85]) "the number of the -years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet." -The writer here represents himself as a humble student of previous -prophets, and this necessarily marks a position of less freshness and -independence. "To the old prophets," says Bishop Westcott, "Daniel -stands in some sense as a commentator." No doubt the possession of -those living oracles was an immense blessing, a rich inheritance; but -it involved a danger. Truths established by writings and traditions, -safe-guarded by schools and institutions, are too apt to come to men -only as a power from without, and less as "a hidden and inly burning -flame."[86] - -By "_the_ books" can hardly be meant anything but some approach to -a definite Canon. If so, the Book of Daniel in its present form can -only have been written subsequently to the days of Ezra. "The account -which assigns a collection of books to Nehemiah (2 Macc. ii. 13)," -says Bishop Westcott, "is in itself a confirmation of the general -truth of the gradual formation of the Canon during the Persian -period. The various classes of books were completed in succession; -and this view harmonises with what must have been the natural -development of the Jewish faith after the Return. The persecution of -Antiochus (B.C. 168) was for the Old Testament what the persecution -of Diocletian was for the New--the final crisis which stamped the -sacred writings with their peculiar character. The king sought -out the Books of the Law (1 Macc. i. 56) and burnt them; and the -possession of a 'Book of the Covenant' was a capital crime. According -to the common tradition, the proscription of the Law led to the -public use of the writings of the prophets."[87] - - * * * * * - -The whole _method_ of Daniel differs even from that of the later -and inferior prophets of the Exile--Haggai, Malachi, and the second -Zechariah. The Book is rather an apocalypse than a prophecy: "the -eye and not the ear is the organ to which the chief appeal is made." -Though symbolism in the form of visions is not unknown to Ezekiel -and Zechariah, yet those prophets are far from being apocalyptic in -character. On the other hand, the grotesque and gigantic emblems of -Daniel--these animal combinations, these interventions of dazzling -angels who float in the air or over the water, these descriptions of -historical events under the veil of material types seen in dreams--are -a frequent phenomenon in such late apocryphal writings as the Second -Book of Esdras, the Book of Enoch, and the prae-Christian Sibylline -oracles, in which talking lions and eagles, etc., are frequent. -Indeed, this style of symbolism originated among the Jews from their -contact with the graven mysteries and colossal images of Babylonian -worship. The Babylonian Exile formed an epoch in the intellectual -development of Israel fully as important as the sojourn in Egypt. -It was a stage in their moral and religious education. It was the -psychological preparation requisite for the moulding of the last phase -of revelation--that apocalyptic form which succeeds to theophany -and prophecy, and embodies the final results of national religious -inspiration. That the apocalyptic method of dealing with history in a -religious and an imaginative manner naturally arises towards the close -of any great cycle of special revelation is illustrated by the flood -of apocalypses which overflowed the early literature of the Christian -Church. But the Jews clearly saw that, as a rule, an apocalypse is -inherently inferior to a prophecy, even when it is made the vehicle -of genuine prediction. In estimating the grades of inspiration the -Jews placed highest the inward illumination of the Spirit, the Reason, -and the Understanding; next to this they placed dreams and visions; -and lowest of all they placed the accidental auguries derived from -the _Bath Qol_. An apocalypse may be of priceless value, like the -Revelation of St. John; it may, like the Book of Daniel, abound in the -noblest and most thrilling lessons; but in intrinsic dignity and worth -it is always placed by the instinct and conscience of mankind on a -lower grade than such outpourings of Divine teachings as breathe and -burn through the pages of a David and an Isaiah. - - - 6. THE MORAL ELEMENT - -Lastly, among these salient phenomena of the Book of Daniel we are -compelled to notice the absence of the predominantly moral element -from its prophetic portion. The author does not write in the tone -of a preacher of repentance, or of one whose immediate object it -is to ameliorate the moral and spiritual condition of his people. -His aims were different.[88] The older prophets were the ministers -of dispensations between the Law and the Gospel. They were, in the -beautiful language of Herder,-- - - "Die Saitenspiel in Gottes maechtigen Haenden." - -Doctrine, worship, and consolation were their proper sphere. They -were "_oratores Legis_, _advocati patriae_." In them prediction is -wholly subordinate to moral warning and instruction. They denounce, -they inspire: they smite to the dust with terrible invective; they -uplift once more into glowing hope. The announcement of events yet -future is the smallest part of the prophet's office, and rather -its sign than its substance. The highest mission of an Amos or an -Isaiah is not to be a prognosticator, but to be a religious teacher. -He makes his appeals to the conscience, not to the imagination--to -the spirit, not to the sense. He deals with eternal principles, and -is almost wholly indifferent to chronological verifications. To -awaken the death-like slumber of sin, to fan the dying embers of -faithfulness, to smite down the selfish oppressions of wealth and -power, to startle the sensual apathy of greed, were the ordinary -and the noblest aims of the greater and the minor prophets. It was -their task far rather to _forth-tell_ than to _fore-tell_; and if -they announce, in general outline and uncertain perspective, things -which shall be hereafter, it is only in subordination to high ethical -purposes, or profound spiritual lessons. So it is also in the -Revelation of St. John. But in the "prophetic" part of Daniel it is -difficult for the keenest imagination to discern any deep moral, or -any special doctrinal significance, in all the details of the obscure -wars and petty diplomacy of the kings of the North and South. - -In point of fact the Book of Daniel, even as an apocalypse, suffers -severely by comparison with that latest canonical Apocalypse of the -Beloved Disciple which it largely influenced. It is strange that -Luther, who spoke so slightingly of the Revelation of St. John, -should have placed the Book of Daniel so high in his estimation. -It is indeed a noble book, full of glorious lessons. Yet surely it -has but little of the sublime and mysterious beauty, little of the -heart-shaking pathos, little of the tender sweetness of consolatory -power, which fill the closing book of the New Testament. Its imagery -is far less exalted, its hope of immortality far less distinct and -unquenchable. Yet the Book of Daniel, while it is one of the earliest, -still remains one of the greatest specimens of this form of sacred -literature. It inaugurated the new epoch of "apocalyptic" which in -later days was usually pseudepigraphic, and sheltered itself under the -names of Enoch, Noah, Moses, Ezra, and even the heathen Sibyls. These -apocalypses are of very unequal value. "Some," as Kuenen says, "stand -comparatively high; others are far below mediocrity." But the genus to -which they belong has its own peculiar defect. They are works of art: -they are not spontaneous; they smell of the lamp. A fruitless and an -unpractical peering into the future was encouraged by these writings, -and became predominant in some Jewish circles. But the Book of Daniel -is incomparably superior in every possible respect to Baruch, or the -Book of Enoch, or the Second Book of Esdras; and if we place it for -a moment by the side of such books as those contained in the _Codex -Pseudepigraphus_ of Fabricius, its high worth and Canonical authority -are vindicated with extraordinary force. How lofty and enduring are the -lessons to be learnt alike from its historic and predictive sections we -shall have abundant opportunities of seeing in the following pages. So -far from undervaluing its teaching, I have always been strongly drawn -to this Book of Scripture. It has never made the least difference in my -reverent acceptance of it that I have, for many years, been convinced -that it cannot be regarded as literal history or ancient prediction. -Reading it as one of the noblest specimens of the Jewish Haggada or -moral Ethopoeia, I find it full of instruction in righteousness, and -rich in examples of life. That Daniel was a real person, that he lived -in the days of the Exile, and that his life was distinguished by the -splendour of its faithfulness I hold to be entirely possible. When we -regard the stories here related of him as moral legends, possibly based -on a groundwork of real tradition, we read the Book with a full sense -of its value, and feel the power of the lessons which it was designed -to teach, without being perplexed by its apparent improbabilities, or -worried by its immense historic and other difficulties. - -The Book is in all respects unique, a writing _sui generis_; for -the many imitations to which it led are but imitations. But, as the -Jewish writer Dr. Joel truly says, the unveiling of the secret as to -the real lateness of its date and origin, so far from causing any -loss in its beauty and interest, enhance both in a remarkable degree. -It is thus seen to be the work of a brave and gifted anonymous author -about B.C. 167, who brought his piety and his patriotism to bear -on the troubled fortunes of his people at an epoch in which such -piety and patriotism were of priceless value. We have in its later -sections no voice of enigmatic prediction, foretelling the minutest -complications of a distant secular future, but mainly the review of -contemporary events by a wise and an earnest writer whose faith and -hope remained unquenchable in the deepest night of persecution and -apostasy.[89] Many passages of the Book are dark, and will remain -dark, owing partly perhaps to corruptions and uncertainties of the -text, and partly to imitation of a style which had become archaic, -as well as to the peculiarities of the apocalyptic form. But the -general idea of the Book has now been thoroughly elucidated, and the -interpretation of it in the following pages is accepted by the great -majority of earnest and faithful students of the Scriptures. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[35] Kranichfeld, _Das Buch Daniel_, p. 4. - -[36] See Ezra iv. 7, vi. 18, vii. 12-26. - -[37] "The term 'Chaldee' for the Aramaic of either the Bible or -the Targums is a misnomer, the use of which is only a source of -confusion" (Driver, p. 471). A single verse of Jeremiah (x. 11) is in -Aramaic: "Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods who made not heaven -and earth shall perish from the earth and from under heaven." Perhaps -Jeremiah gave the verse "to the Jews as an answer to the heathen -among whom they were" (Pusey, p. 11). - -[38] [Hebrew: 'aramit]; LXX., [Greek: Syristi]--_i.e._, in Aramaic. -The word may be a gloss, as it is in Ezra iv. 7 (Lenormant). See, -however, Kamphausen, p. 14. We cannot here enter into minor points, -such as that in ii.-vi. we have [Hebrew: 'alu] for "see," and in vii. -2, 3, [Hebrew: 'aru]; which Meinhold takes to prove that the historic -section is earlier than the prophetic. - -[39] Driver, p. 471; Noeldeke, _Enc. Brit._, xxi. 647; Wright, -_Grammar_, p. 16. Ad. Merx has a treatise on _Cur in lib. Dan. juxta -Hebr. Aramaica sit adhibita dialectus_, 1865; but his solution, -"Scriptorem omnia quae rudioribus vulgi ingeniis apta viderentur -Aramaice praeposuisse" is wholly untenable. - -[40] Auberlen, _Dan._, pp. 28, 29 (E. Tr.). - -[41] _Einleit._, Sec. 383. - -[42] Cheyne, _Enc. Brit._, _s.v._ "Daniel." - -[43] [Hebrew: chtvv]. See 2 Esdras xiv. 22-48: "In forty days they -_wrote_ two hundred and four books." - -[44] _Baba-Bathra_, f. 15, 6: comp. _Sanhedrin_, f. 83, 6. - -[45] _Yaddayim_, iv.; _Mish._, 5. - -[46] See Rau, _De Synag. Magna._, ii. 66 ff.; Kuenen, _Over de Mannen -der Groote Synagoge_, 1876; Ewald, _Hist. of Israel_, v. 168-170 (E. -Tr.); Westcott, _s.v._ "Canon" (Smith's _Dict._, i. 500). - -[47] _Yaddayim_, iii.; _Mish._, 5; Hershon, _Treasures of the -Talmud_, pp. 41-43. - -[48] Hershon (_l.c._) refers to _Shabbath_, f. 14, 1. - -[49] Herzog, _l.c._; so too Koenig, _Einleit._, Sec. 387: "Das Hebr. der -B. Dan. ist nicht blos nachexilisch sondern auch nachchronistisch." -He instances _ribbo_ (Dan. xi. 12) for _rebaba_, "myriads" (Ezek. -xvi. 7); and _tamid_, "the daily burnt offering" (Dan. viii. 11), -as post-Biblical Hebrew for _'olath hatamid_ (Neh. x. 34), etc. -Margoliouth (_Expositor_, April 1890) thinks that the Hebrew proves a -date before B.C. 168: on which view see Driver, p, 483. - -[50] _Lit. of Old Test._, pp. 473-476. - -[51] _Das Buch Dan._, iii. - -[52] See Glassius, _Philol. Sacr._, p. 931; Ewald, _Die Proph. d. A. -Bundes_, i. 48; De Wette, _Einleit._, Sec. 347. - -[53] Ezekiel always uses the correct form (xxvi. 7, xxix. 18, xxx. -10). Jeremiah uses the correct form except in passages which properly -belong to the Book of Kings. - -[54] Noeldeke, _Semit. Spr._, p. 30; Driver, p. 472; Koenig, p. 387. - -[55] Driver, p. 472, and the authorities there quoted; as against -McGill and Pusey (_Daniel_, pp. 45 ff., 602 ff.). Dr. Pusey's is -the fullest repertory of arguments in favour of the authenticity of -Daniel, many of which have become more and more obviously untenable -as criticism advances. But he and Keil add little or nothing to what -had been ingeniously elaborated by Hengstenberg and Haevernick. For a -sketch of the peculiarities in the Aramaic see Behrmann, _Daniel_, -v.-x. Renan (_Hist. Gen. des Langues Sem._, p. 219) exaggerates when -he says, "La langue des parties chaldennes est beaucoup plus basse -que celle des fragments chaldeens du Livre d'Esdras, et s'incline -_beaucoup_ vers la langue du Talmud." - -[56] Meinhold, _Beitraege_, pp. 30-32; Driver, p. 470. - -[57] _Speaker's Commentary_, vi. 246-250. - -[58] New Series, iii. 124. - -[59] _E.g._, [Hebrew: hdm], "limb"; [Hebrew: rz], "secret"; [Hebrew: -ftgm], "message." There are no Persian words in Ezekiel, Haggai, -Zechariah, or Malachi; they are found in Ezra and Esther, which were -written long after the establishment of the Persian Empire. - -[60] The change of _n_ for _l_ is not uncommon: comp. [Greek: -bention], [Greek: phintatos], etc. - -[61] The word [Hebrew: sovcha], _Sab'ka_, also bears a suspicious -resemblance to [Greek: sambyke], but Athenaeus says (_Deipnos._, iv. -173) that the instrument was invented by the Syrians. Some have seen in -_karoz_ (iii. 4, "herald") the Greek [Greek: keryx], and in _hamnik_, -"chain," the Greek [Greek: maniakes]: but these cannot be pressed. - -[62] It is true that there was _some_ small intercourse between even -the Assyrians and Ionians (Ja-am-na-a) as far back as the days of -Sargon (B.C. 722-705); but not enough to account for such words. - -[63] Sayce, _Contemp. Rev._, December 1878. - -[64] Some argue that in this passage [Greek: symphonia] means "a -concert" (comp. Luke xv. 25); but Polybius mentions it with "a horn" -([Greek: keration]). Behrmann (p. ix) connects it with [Greek: -siphon], and makes it mean "a pipe." - -[65] Pusey says all he can on the other side (pp. 23-28), and has -not changed the opinion of scholars (pp. 27-33). Fabre d'Envieu (i. -101) also desperately denies the existence of any Greek words. On the -other side see Derenbourg, _Les Mots grecs dans le Livre biblique de -Daniel_ (Melanges Graux, 1884). - -[66] _Orient. u. Exeg. Bibliothek_, 1772, p. 141. This view was -revived by Lagarde in the _Goettingen Gel. Anzeigen_, 1891. - -[67] _Daniel neu Uebersetz. u. Erklaert._, 1808; Koehler, _Lehrbuch_, -ii. 577. The first who suspected the unity of the Book because of the -two languages was Spinoza (_Tract-historicopol_, x. 130 ff.). Newton -(_Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse_, -i. 10) and Beausobre (_Remarques sur le Nouv. Test._, i. 70) shared -the doubt because of the use of the first person in the prophetic -(Dan. vii.-xii.) and the third in the historic section (Dan. i.-vi.). -Michaelis, Bertholdt, and Reuss considered that its origin was -fragmentary; and Lagarde (who dated the seventh chapter A.D. 69) -calls it "a bundle of flyleaves." Meinhold and Strack, like Eichhorn, -regard the historic section as older than the prophetic; and Cornill -thinks that the Book was put together in great haste. Similarly, -Graf (_Der Prophet Jeremia_) regards the Aramaic verse, Jer. x. 11, -as a marginal gloss. Lagarde argues, from the silence of Josephus -about many points, that he could not have had the present Book of -Daniel before him (_e.g._, Dan. vii. or ix.-xii.); but the argument -is unsafe. Josephus seems to have understood the Fourth Empire to be -the Roman, and did not venture to write of its destruction. For this -reason he does not explain "the stone" of Dan. ii. 45. - -[68] By De Wette, Schrader, Hitzig, Ewald, Gesenius, Bleek, -Delitzsch, Von Lengerke, Staehelin, Kamphausen, Wellhausen, etc. -Reuss, however, says (_Heil. Schrift._, p. 575), "Man koennte auf die -Vorstellung kommen das Buch habe mehr als einen Verfasser"; and Koenig -thinks that the original form of the book may have ended with chap. -vii. (_Einleit._, Sec. 384). - -[69] _Beitraege_, 1888. See too Kranichfeld, _Das Buch Daniel_, p. 4. -The view is refuted by Budde, _Theol. Lit. Zeitung_, 1888, No. 26. -The conjecture has often occurred to critics. Thus Sir Isaac Newton, -believing that Daniel wrote the last six chapters, thought that the -six first "are a collection of historical papers written by others" -(_Observations_, i. 10). - -[70] _Einleit._, p. 6. - -[71] Other critics who incline to one or other modification of this -view of the _two_ Daniels are Tholuck, _d. A.T. in N.T._, 1872; C. v. -Orelli, _Alttest. Weissag._, 1882; and Strack. - -[72] Hengstenberg also points to verbal resemblances between ii. 44 -and vii. 14; iv. 5 and vii. 1; ii. 31 and vii. 2; ii. 38 and vii. 17, -etc. (_Genuineness of Daniel_, E. Tr., pp. 186 ff.). - -[73] _A Short Commentary_, p. 8. - -[74] Acts xvii. 26, 27. - -[75] See Hitzig, p. xii; Auberlen, p. 41. - -[76] Reuss says too severely, "Die Schilderungen aller dieser -Vorgaenge machen keinen gewinnenden Eindruck.... Der Stil ist -unbeholfen, die Figuren grotesk, die Farben grell." He admits, -however, the suitableness of the Book for the Maccabean epoch, and -the deep impression it made (_Heil. Schrift. A. T._, p. 571). - -[77] See iii. 2, 3, 5, 7; viii. 1, 10, 19; xi. 15, 22, 31, etc. - -[78] Exod. xv. 20; Judg. iv. 4. - -[79] 1 Sam. x. 5; 1 Chron. xxv. 1, 2, 3. - -[80] 2 Kings iii. 15. - -[81] Jer. xxix. 26; 1 Sam. xviii. 10, xix. 21-24. - -[82] 2 Kings ix. 11. See Expositor's Bible, _Second Book of Kings_, -p. 113. - -[83] On this subject see Ewald, _Proph. d. A. Bundes_, i. 6; Novalis, -_Schriften_, ii. 472; Herder, _Geist der Ebr. Poesie_, ii. 61; -Knobel, _Prophetismus_, i. 103. Even the Latin poets were called -_prophetae_, "bards" (Varro, _De Ling. Lat._, vi. 3). Epimenides -is called "a prophet" in Tit. i. 12. See Plato, _Tim._, 72, A.; -_Phaedr._, 262, D.; Pind., _Fr._, 118; and comp. Eph. iii. 5, iv. 11. - -[84] Dan. ix. 6, 10. So conscious was the Maccabean age of the -absence of prophets, that, just as after the Captivity a question -is postponed "till there should arise a priest with the Urim and -Thummin," so Judas postponed the decision about the stones of the -desecrated altar "until there should come a prophet to show what -should be done with them" (1 Macc. iv. 45, 46, ix. 27, xiv. 41). -Comp. Song of the Three Children, 15; Psalm lxxiv. 9; _Sota_, f. 48, -2. See _infra_, Introd., chap. viii. - -[85] Dan. ix. 2, _hassepharim_, [Greek: ta biblia]. - -[86] Ewald, _Proph. d. A. B._, p. 10. Judas Maccabaeus is also -said to have "restored" ([Greek: episynegage]) the lost ([Greek: -diapeptokota]) sacred writings (2 Macc. ii. 14). - -[87] Smith's _Dict. of the Bible_, i. 501. The daily lesson from the -Prophets was called the _Haphtarah_ (Hamburger, _Real-Encycl._, ii. -334). - -[88] On this subject see Kuenen, _The Prophets_, iii. 95 ff.; -Davison, _On Prophecy_, pp. 34-67; Herder, _Hebr. Poesie_, ii. 64; De -Wette, _Christl. Sittenlehre_, ii. 1. - -[89] Joel, _Notizen_, p. 7. - - - - - CHAPTER III - - _PECULIARITIES OF THE HISTORIC SECTION_ - - -No one can have studied the Book of Daniel without seeing that, alike -in the character of its miracles and the minuteness of its supposed -predictions, it makes a more stupendous and a less substantiated -claim upon our credence than any other book of the Bible, and a -claim wholly different in character. It has over and over again been -asserted by the uncharitableness of a merely traditional orthodoxy -that inability to accept the historic verity and genuineness of the -Book arises from secret faithlessness, and antagonism to the admission -of the supernatural. No competent scholar will think it needful to -refute such calumnies. It suffices us to know before God that we are -actuated simply by the love of truth, by the abhorrence of anything -which in us would be a pusillanimous spirit of falsity. We have too -deep a belief in the God of the Amen, the God of eternal and essential -verity, to offer to Him "the unclean sacrifice of a lie." An error -is not sublimated into a truth even when that lie has acquired a -quasi-consecration, from its supposed desirability for purposes of -orthodox controversy, or from its innocent acceptance by generations -of Jewish and Christian Churchmen through long ages of uncritical -ignorance. Scholars, if they be Christians at all, can have no possible -_a-priori_ objection to belief in the supernatural. If they believe, -for instance, in the Incarnation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus -Christ, they believe in the most mysterious and unsurpassable of all -miracles, and beside that miracle all minor questions of God's power or -willingness to manifest His immediate intervention in the affairs of -men sink at once into absolute insignificance. - -But our belief in the Incarnation, and in the miracles of Christ, -rests on evidence which, after repeated examination, is to us -overwhelming. Apart from all questions of personal verification, or -the Inward Witness of the Spirit, we can show that this evidence -is supported, not only by the existing records, but by myriads of -external and independent testimonies. The very same Spirit which -makes men believe where the demonstration is decisive, compels them -to refuse belief to the literal verity of unique miracles and unique -predictions which come before them without any convincing evidence. -The narratives and visions of this Book present difficulties on -every page. They were in all probability never intended for anything -but what they are--_Haggadoth_, which, like the parables of Christ, -convey their own lessons without depending on the necessity for -accordance with historic fact. - -Had it been any part of the Divine will that we should accept these -stories as pure history, and these visions as predictions of events -which were not to take place till centuries afterwards, we should -have been provided with some aids to such belief. On the contrary, -in whatever light we examine the Book of Daniel, the evidence _in -its favour_ is weak, dubious, hypothetical, and _a priori_; while -the evidence _against_ it acquires increased intensity with every -fresh aspect in which it is examined. The Book which would make the -most extraordinary demands upon our credulity if it were meant for -history, is the very Book of which the genuineness and authenticity -are decisively discredited by every fresh discovery and by each new -examination. There is scarcely one learned European scholar by whom -they are maintained, except with such concessions to the Higher -Criticism as practically involve the abandonment of all that is -essential in the traditional theory. - -And we have come to a time when it will not avail to take refuge in -such transferences of the discussions in _alteram materiam_, and such -purely vulgar appeals _ad invidiam_, as are involved in saying, "Then -the Book must be a forgery," and "an imposture," and "a gross lie." To -assert that "to give up the Book of Daniel is to betray the cause of -Christianity,"[90] is a coarse and dangerous misuse of the weapons of -controversy. Such talk may still have been excusable even in the days -of Dr. Pusey (with whom it was habitual); it is no longer excusable -now. Now it can only prove the uncharitableness of the apologist, and -the impotence of a defeated cause. Yet even this abandonment of the -sphere of honourable argument is only one degree more painful than the -tortuous subterfuges and wild assertions to which such apologists as -Hengstenberg, Keil, and their followers were long compelled to have -recourse. Anything can be proved about anything if we call to our aid -indefinite suppositions of errors of transcription, interpolations, -transpositions, extraordinary silences, still more extraordinary -methods of presenting events, and (in general) the unconsciously -disingenuous resourcefulness of traditional harmonics. To maintain that -the Book of Daniel, as it now stands, was written by Daniel in the days -of the Exile is to cherish a belief which can only, at the utmost, -be extremely uncertain, and which must be maintained in defiance of -masses of opposing evidence. There can be little intrinsic value in a -determination to believe historical and literary assumptions which can -no longer be maintained except by preferring the flimsiest hypotheses -to the most certain facts. - -My own conviction has long been that in these _Haggadoth_, in which -Jewish literature delighted in the prae-Christian era, and which -continued to be written even till the Middle Ages, there was not the -least pretence or desire to deceive at all. I believe them to have -been put forth as moral legends--as avowed fiction nobly used for -the purposes of religious teaching and encouragement. In ages of -ignorance, in which no such thing as literary criticism existed, a -popular _Haggada_ might soon come to be regarded as historical, just -as the Homeric lays were among the Greeks, or just as Defoe's story -of the Plague of London was taken for literal history by many readers -even in the seventeenth century. - -Ingenious attempts have been made to show that the author of this -Book evinces an intimate familiarity with the circumstances of the -Babylonian religion, society, and history. In many cases this is the -reverse of the fact. The instances adduced in favour of any knowledge -except of the most general description are entirely delusive. It -is frivolous to maintain, with Lenormant, that an exceptional -acquaintance with Babylonian custom was required to describe -Nebuchadrezzar as consulting diviners for the interpretation of a -dream! To say nothing of the fact that a similar custom has prevailed -in all nations and all ages from the days of Samuel to those of -Lobengula, the writer had the prototype of Pharaoh before him, and -has evidently been influenced by the story of Joseph.[91] Again, so -far from showing surprising acquaintance with the organisation of -the caste of Babylonian diviners, the writer has made a mistake in -their very name, as well as in the statement that a faithful Jew, -like Daniel, was made the chief of their college![92] Nor, again, was -there anything so unusual in the presence of women at feasts--also -recognised in the _Haggada_ of Esther--as to render this a sign of -extraordinary information. Once more, is it not futile to adduce the -allusion to punishment by burning alive as a proof of insight into -Babylonian peculiarities? This punishment had already been mentioned -by Jeremiah in the case of Nebuchadrezzar. "Then shall be taken up -a curse by all the captivity of Judah which are in Babylon, saying, -The Lord make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab" (two false prophets), -"_whom the King of Babylon roasted in the fire_."[93] Moreover, it -occurs in the Jewish traditions which described a miraculous escape -of exactly the same character in the legend of Abraham. He, too, had -been supernaturally rescued from the burning fiery furnace of Nimrod, -to which he had been consigned because he refused to worship idols in -Ur of the Chaldees.[94] - -When the instances _mainly_ relied upon prove to be so evidentially -valueless, it would be waste of time to follow Professor Fuller -through the less important and more imaginary proofs of accuracy -which his industry has amassed. Meanwhile the feeblest reasoner will -see that while a writer may easily be accurate in general facts, and -even in details, respecting an age long previous to that in which -he wrote, the existence of violent errors as to matters with which a -contemporary must have been familiar at once refutes all pretence of -historic authenticity in a book professing to have been written by an -author in the days and country which he describes. - -Now such mistakes there seem to be, and not a few of them, in the pages -of the Book of Daniel. One or two of them can perhaps be explained -away by processes which would amply suffice to show that "yes" means -"no," or that "black" is a description of "white"; but each repetition -of such processes leaves us more and more incredulous. If errors be -treated as corruptions of the text, or as later interpolations, such -arbitrary methods of treating the Book are practically an admission -that, as it stands, it cannot be regarded as historical. - -I. We are, for instance, met by what seems to be a remarkable error -in the very first verse of the Book, which tells us that "_In the -third year of Jehoiakim, King of Judah_, came Nebuchad_n_ezzar"--as -in later days he was incorrectly called--"King of Babylon, unto -Jerusalem, and besieged it." - -It is easy to trace whence the error sprang. Its source lies in a -book which is the latest in the whole Canon, and in many details -difficult to reconcile with the Book of Kings--a book of which the -Hebrew resembles that of Daniel--the Book of Chronicles. In 2 Chron. -xxxvi. 6 we are told that Nebuchad_n_ezzar came up against Jehoiakim, -and "bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon"; and also--to -which the author of Daniel directly refers--that he carried off some -of the vessels of the House of God, to put them in the treasure-house -of his god. In this passage it is _not_ said that this occurred "_in -the third year_ of Jehoiakim," who reigned eleven years; but in 2 -Kings xxiv. 1 we are told that "in his days Nebuchad_n_ezzar came -up, and Jehoiakim _became his servant three years_." The passage in -Daniel looks like a confused reminiscence of the "three years" with -"the third year of Jehoiakim." The elder and better authority (the -Book of Kings) is silent about any deportation having taken place in -the reign of Jehoiakim, and so is the contemporary Prophet Jeremiah. -But in any case it seems impossible that it should have taken place -so early as the _third year_ of Jehoiakim, for at that time he was a -simple vassal of the King of Egypt. If this deportation took place in -the reign of Jehoiakim, it would certainly be singular that Jeremiah, -in enumerating three others, in the seventh, eighteenth, and -twenty-third year of Nebuchadrezzar,[95] should make no allusion to -it. But it is hard to see how it could have taken place before Egypt -had been defeated in the Battle of Carchemish, and that was not till -B.C. 597, the _fourth_ year of Jehoiakim.[96] Not only does Jeremiah -make no mention of so remarkable a deportation as this, which as the -earliest would have caused the deepest anguish, but, in the _fourth_ -year of Jehoiakim (Jer. xxxvi. 1), he writes a roll to threaten evils -which are still future, and in the _fifth_ year proclaims a fast in -the hope that the imminent peril may even yet be averted (Jer. xxxvi. -6-10). It is only after the violent obstinacy of the king that the -destructive advance of Nebuchadrezzar is finally prophesied (Jer. -xxxvi. 29) as something which has not yet occurred.[97] - -II. Nor are the names in this first chapter free from difficulty. -Daniel is called Belteshazzar, and the remark of the King of -Babylon--"whose name was Belteshazzar, _according to the name of my -god_"--certainly suggests that the first syllable is (as the Massorets -assume) connected with the god Bel. But the name has nothing to do -with Bel. No contemporary could have fallen into such an error;[98] -still less a king who spoke Babylonian. Shadrach _may_ be _Shudur-aku_, -"command of Aku," the moon-god; but Meshach is inexplicable; and -Abed-nego is a strange corruption for the obvious and common Abed-nebo, -"servant of Nebo." Such a corruption could hardly have arisen till Nebo -was practically forgotten. And what is the meaning of "the _Melzar_" -(Dan. i. 11)? The A.V. takes it to be a proper name; the R.V. renders -it "the steward." But the title is unique and obscure.[99] Nor can -anything be made of the name of Ashpenaz, the prince of the eunuchs, -whom, in one manuscript, the LXX. call Abiesdri.[100] - -III. Similar difficulties and uncertainties meet us at every step. -Thus, in the second chapter (ii. 1), the dream of Nebuchadrezzar -is fixed in the _second_ year of his reign. This does not seem to -be in accord with i. 3, 18, which says that Daniel and his three -companions were kept under the care of the prince of the eunuchs for -three years. Nothing, of course, is easier than to invent harmonistic -hypotheses, such as that of Rashi, that "the second year _of the -reign of Nebuchadrezzar_" has the wholly different meaning of "the -second year after _the destruction of the Temple_"; or as that of -Hengstenberg, followed by many modern apologists, that Nebuchadrezzar -had previously been associated in the kingdom with Nabopolassar, and -that this was the second year of his independent reign. Or, again, -we may, with Ewald, read "the twelfth year." But by these methods we -are not taking the Book as it stands, but are supposing it to be a -network of textual corruptions and conjectural combinations. - -IV. In ii. 2 the king summons four classes of hierophants to -disclose his dream and its interpretation. They are the magicians -(_Chartummim_), the enchanters (_Ashshaphim_), the sorcerers -(_Mechashsh'phim_), and the Chaldeans (_Kasdim_).[101] The -_Chartummim_ occur in Gen. xli. 8 (which seems to be in the writer's -mind); and the _Mechashsh'phim_ occur in Exod. vii. 11, xxii. 18; -but the mention of _Kasdim_, "Chaldeans," is, so far as we know, an -immense anachronism. In much later ages the name was used, as it was -among the Roman writers, for wandering astrologers and quacks.[102] -But this degenerate sense of the word was, so far as we can judge, -wholly unknown to the age of Daniel. It never once occurs in this -sense on any of the monuments. Unknown to the Assyrian-Babylonian -language, and only acquired long after the end of the Babylonian -Empire, such a usage of the word is, as Schrader says, "an indication -of the post-exilic composition of the Book."[103] In the days of -Daniel "Chaldeans" had no meaning resembling that of "magicians" or -"astrologers." In every other writer of the Old Testament, and in all -contemporary records, _Kasdim_ simply means the Chaldean nation, and -_never_ a learned caste.[104] This single circumstance has decisive -weight in proving the late age of the Book of Daniel. - -V. Again, we find in ii. 14, "Arioch, the chief of the executioners." -Schrader precariously derives the name from _Eri-aku_, "servant of -the moon-god"; but, however that may be, we already find the name as -that of a king Ellasar in Gen. xiv. 1, and we find it again for a -king of the Elymaeans in Judith i. 6. In ver. 16 Daniel "went in and -desired of the king" a little respite; but in ver. 25 Arioch tells -the king, as though it were a sudden discovery of his own, "I have -found a man of the captives of Judah, that will make known unto the -king the interpretation." This was a surprising form of introduction, -after we have been told that the king himself had, by personal -examination, found that Daniel and his young companions were "_ten -times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all -his realm_." It seems, however, as if each of these chapters was -intended to be recited as a separate _Haggada_. - -VI. In ii. 46, after the interpretation of the dream, "_the King -Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded -that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him_." This -is another of the immense surprises of the Book. It is exactly the kind -of incident in which the haughty theocratic sentiment of the Jews found -delight, and we find a similar spirit in the many Talmudic inventions -in which Roman emperors, or other potentates, are represented as paying -extravagant adulation to Rabbinic sages. There is (as we shall see) a -similar story narrated by Josephus of Alexander the Great prostrating -himself before the high priest Jaddua, but it has long been relegated -to the realm of fable as an outcome of Jewish self-esteem.[105] It is -probably meant as a concrete illustration of the glowing promises of -Isaiah, that "kings and queens shall bow down to thee with their faces -towards the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet";[106] and "the -sons of them that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles -of thy feet."[107] - -VII. We further ask in astonishment whether Daniel could have -accepted without indignant protest the offering of "an oblation -and sweet odours." To say that they were only offered to God in -the person of Daniel is the idle pretence of all idolatry. They -are expressly said to be offered "to Daniel." A Herod could accept -blasphemous adulations;[108] but a Paul and a Barnabas deprecate such -devotions with intense disapproval.[109] - -VIII. In ii. 48 Nebuchadrezzar appoints Daniel, as a reward for -his wisdom, to rule over the whole province of Babylon, and to -be _Rab-signin_, "chief ruler," and to be over all the wise men -(_Khakamim_) of Babylon. Lenormant treats this statement as an -interpolation, because he regards it as "_evidently_ impossible." -We know that in the Babylonian priesthood, and especially among -the sacred caste, there was a passionate religious intolerance. It -is inconceivable that they should have accepted as their religious -superior a monotheist who was the avowed and uncompromising enemy -to their whole system of idolatry. It is equally inconceivable -that Daniel should have accepted the position of a hierophant in a -polytheistic cult. In the next three chapters there is no allusion to -Daniel's tenure of these strange and exalted offices, either civil or -religious.[110] - -IX. The third chapter contains another story, told in a style of -wonderful stateliness and splendour, and full of glorious lessons; but -here again we encounter linguistic and other difficulties. Thus in iii. -2, though "all the rulers of the provinces" and officers of all ranks -are summoned to the dedication of Nebuchadrezzar's colossus, there is -not an allusion to Daniel throughout the chapter. Four of the names of -the officers in iii. 2, 3, appear, to our surprise, to be Persian;[111] -and, of the six musical instruments, three--the lute, psaltery, and -bagpipe[112]--have obvious Greek names, two of which (as already -stated) are of late origin, while another, the _sab'ka_, resembles -the Greek [Greek: sambyke], but may have come to the Greeks from the -Aramaeans.[113] The incidents of the chapter are such as find no analogy -throughout the Old or New Testament, but exactly resemble those of -Jewish moralising fiction, of which they furnish the most perfect -specimen. It is exactly the kind of concrete comment which a Jewish -writer of piety and genius, for the encouragement of his afflicted -people, might have based upon such a passage as Isa. xliii. 2, 3: "When -thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall -the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of -Israel, thy Saviour." Nebuchadrezzar's decree, "That every _people, -nation, and language_, which speak anything amiss against the God of -Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, _shall be cut in pieces, and their -houses shall be made a dunghill_," can only be paralleled out of the -later Jewish literature.[114] - -X. In chap. iv. we have another monotheistic decree of the King of -Babylon, announcing to "all people, nations, and languages" what -"the high God hath wrought towards me." It gives us a vision which -recalls Ezek. xxxi. 3-18, and may possibly have been suggested by -that fine chapter.[115] The language varies between the third and the -first person. In iv. 13 Nebuchadrezzar speaks of "a watcher and a -holy one." This is the first appearance in Jewish literature of the -word _'ir_, "watcher," which is so common in the Book of Enoch.[116] -In ver. 26 the expression "after thou shalt have known that _the -heavens_ do rule" is one which has no analogue in the Old Testament, -though exceedingly common in the superstitious periphrases of the -later Jewish literature. As to the story of the strange lycanthropy -with which Nebuchadrezzar was afflicted, though it receives nothing -but the faintest shadow of support from any historic record, it may -be based on some fact preserved by tradition. It is probably meant -to reflect on the mad ways of Antiochus. The general phrase of -Berossus, which tells us that Nebuchadrezzar "fell into a sickness -and died,"[117] has been pressed into an historical verification of -this narrative! But the phrase might have been equally well used -in the most ordinary case,[118] which shows what fancies have been -adduced to prove that we are here dealing with history. The fragment -of Abydenus in his _Assyriaca_, preserved by Eusebius,[119] shows -that there was _some_ story about Nebuchadrezzar having uttered -remarkable words upon his palace-roof. The announcement of a coming -irrevocable calamity to the kingdom from a Persian mule, "the son of -a Median woman," and the wish that "_the alien conqueror_" might be -driven "through the desert where wild beasts seek their food, and -birds fly hither and thither," has, however, very little to do with -the story of Nebuchadrezzar's madness. Abydenus says that, "when he -had thus prophesied, he suddenly vanished"; and he adds nothing about -any restoration to health or to his kingdom. All that can be said is -that there was current among the Babylonian Jews some popular legend -of which the writer of the Book of Daniel availed himself for the -purpose of his edifying _Midrash_. - -XI. When we reach the fifth chapter, we are faced by a new king, -Belshazzar, who is somewhat emphatically called the son of -Nebuchadrezzar.[120] - -History knows of no such king.[121] The prince of whom it _does_ know -was never king, and was a son, not of Nebuchadrezzar, but of the -usurper Nabunaid; and between Nebuchadrezzar and Nabunaid there were -three other kings.[122] - -There _was_ a Belshazzar--_Bel-sar-utsur_, "Bel protect the -prince"--and we possess a clay cylinder of his father Nabunaid, the -last king of Babylon, praying the moon-god that "my son, the offspring -of my heart, might honour his godhead, and not give himself to -sin."[123] But if we follow Herodotus, this Belshazzar never came to -the throne; and according to Berossus he was conquered in Borsippa. -Xenophon, indeed, speaks of "an impious king" as being slain in -Babylon; but this is only in an avowed romance which has not the -smallest historic validity.[124] Schrader conjectures that Nabunaid may -have gone to take the field against Cyrus (who conquered and pardoned -him, and allowed him to end his days as governor of Karamania), and -that Belshazzar may have been killed in Babylon. These are mere -hypotheses; as are those of Josephus,[125] who identifies Belshazzar -with Nabunaid (whom he calls Naboandelon); and of Babelon, who tries -to make him the same as Maruduk-shar-utsur (as though Bel was the -same as Maruduk), which is impossible, as this king reigned _before_ -Nabunaid. No contemporary writer could have fallen into the error -either of calling Belshazzar "king"; or of insisting on his being "the -son" of Nebuchadrezzar;[126] or of representing him as Nebuchadrezzar's -successor. Nebuchadrezzar was succeeded by-- - - Evil-merodach _circ._ B.C. 561 (Avil-marduk).[127] - Nergal-sharezer " 559 (Nergal-sar-utsur). - Lakhabbashi-marudu } " 555 (an infant). - (Laborosoarchod) } - Nabunaid " 554. - -Nabunaid reigned till about B.C. 538, when Babylon was taken by Cyrus. - -The conduct of Belshazzar in the great feast of this chapter is -probably meant as an allusive contrast to the revels and impieties of -Antiochus Epiphanes, especially in his infamous festival at the grove -of Daphne. - -XII. "That night," we are told, "Belshazzar, the Chaldean king, -was slain." It has always been supposed that this was an incident -of the capture of Babylon by assault, in accordance with the story -of Herodotus, repeated by so many subsequent writers. But on this -point the inscriptions of Cyrus have _revolutionised_ our knowledge. -"_There was no siege and capture of Babylon_; the capital of -the Babylonian Empire opened its gates to the general of Cyrus. -Gobryas and his soldiers entered the city without fighting, and -the daily services in the great temple of Bel-merodach suffered no -interruption. Three months later Cyrus himself arrived, and made his -peaceful entry into the new capital of his empire. We gather from the -contract-tablets that even the ordinary business of the place had not -been affected by the war. The siege and capture of Babylon by Cyrus -_is really a reflection into the past of the actual sieges undergone -by the city in the reigns of Darius, son of Hystaspes and Xerxes_. -It is clear, then, that the editor of the fifth chapter of the Book -of Daniel could have been as little a contemporary of the events he -professes to record as Herodotus. For both alike, the true history -of the Babylonian Empire has been overclouded and foreshortened by -the lapse of time. The three kings who reigned between Nebuchadrezzar -and Nabunaid have been forgotten, and the last king of the Babylonian -Empire has become the son of its founder."[128] - -Snatching at the merest straws, those who try to vindicate the accuracy -of the writer--although he makes Belshazzar a king, which he never was; -and the son of Nebuchadrezzar, which is not the case; or his grandson, -of which there is no tittle of evidence; and his successor, whereas -four kings intervened;--think that they improve the case by urging -that Daniel was made "the third ruler in the kingdom"--Nabunaid being -the first, and Belshazzar being the second! Unhappily for their very -precarious hypothesis, the translation "third ruler" appears to be -entirely untenable. It means "one of a board of three." - -XIII. In the sixth chapter we are again met by difficulty after -difficulty. - -Who, for instance, was Darius the Mede? We are told (v. 30, 31) that, -on the night of his impious banquet, "Belshazzar the king of the -Chaldeans" was slain, "and Darius the Median took the kingdom, being -about threescore and two years old." We are also told that Daniel -"prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the -Persian" (vi. 28). But this Darius is not even noticed elsewhere. -Cyrus was the conqueror of Babylon, and between B.C. 538-536 there is -no room or possibility for a Median ruler. - -The inference which we should naturally draw from these statements -in the Book of Daniel, and which all readers have drawn, was that -Babylon had been conquered by the Medes, and that only after the -death of a Median king did Cyrus the Persian succeed. - -But historic monuments and records entirely overthrow this -supposition. Cyrus was the king of Babylon from the day that his -troops entered it without a blow. He had conquered the Medes -and suppressed their royalty. "The numerous contract-tables of -the ordinary daily business transactions of Babylon, dated as -they are month by month, and almost day by day from the reign of -Nebuchadrezzar to that of Xerxes, prove that between Nabonidus and -Cyrus _there was no intermediate ruler_." The contemporary scribes -and merchants of Babylon knew nothing of any King Belshazzar, and -they knew even less of any King Darius the Mede. No contemporary -writer could possibly have fallen into such an error.[129] - -And against this obvious conclusion, of what possible avail is it for -Hengstenberg to quote a late Greek lexicographer (_Harpocration_, -A.D. 170?), who says that the coin "a daric" was named after a Darius -earlier than the father of Xerxes?--or for others to identify this -shadowy Darius the Mede with Astyages?[130]--or with Cyaxares II. -in the romance of Xenophon?[131]--or to say that Darius the Mede -is Gobryas (Ugbaru) of Gutium[132]--a Persian, and not a king at -all--who under no circumstances could have been called "the king" by -a contemporary (vi. 12, ix. 1), and whom, apparently for three months -only, Cyrus made governor of Babylon? How could a contemporary -governor have appointed "one hundred and twenty princes which should -be over the whole kingdom,"[133] when, even in the days of Darius -Hystaspis, there were only twenty or twenty-three satrapies in the -Persian Empire?[134] And how could a mere provincial viceroy be -approached by "_all the presidents of the kingdom_, the governors, -and the princes, the counsellors, and the captains," to pass a decree -that any one who for thirty days offered any prayer to God or man, -except to him, should be cast into the den of lions? The fact that -such a decree could only be made by _a king_ is emphasised in the -narrative itself (vi. 12: comp. iii. 29). The supposed analogies -offered by Professor Fuller and others in favour of a decree so -absurdly impossible--except in the admitted licence and for the high -moral purpose of a Jewish Haggada--are to the last degree futile. -In any ordinary criticism they would be set down as idle special -pleading. Yet this is only one of a multitude of wildly improbable -incidents, which, from misunderstanding of the writer's age and -purpose, have been taken for sober history, though they receive from -historical records and monuments no shadow of confirmation, and are -in not a few instances directly opposed to all that we now know to -be certain history. Even if it were conceivable that this hypothetic -"Darius the Mede" was Gobryas, or Astyages, or Cyaxares, it is plain -that the author of Daniel gives him a name and national designation -which lead to mere confusion, and speaks of him in a way which would -have been surely avoided by any contemporary. - -"Darius the Mede," says Professor Sayce, "is in fact a _reflection_ -into the past of _Darius the son of Hystaspes_,[135] just as the -siege and capture of Babylon by Cyrus are a reflection into the past -of its siege and capture by the same prince. The name of Darius and -the story of the slaughter of the Chaldean king go together. They -are alike derived from the unwritten history which, in the East of -to-day, is still made by the people, and which blends together in a -single picture the manifold events and personages of the past. It -is a history which has no perspective, though it is based on actual -facts; the accurate combinations of the chronologer have no meaning -for it, and the events of a century are crowded into a few years. -This is the kind of history which the Jewish _mind in the age of the -Talmud loved to adapt to moral and religious purposes_. This kind of -history then becomes as _it were a parable, and under the name of -Haggada serves to illustrate that teaching of the law_."[136] - -The favourable view given of the character of the imaginary Darius -the Mede, and his regard for Daniel, may have been a confusion with -the Jewish reminiscences of Darius, son of Hystaspes, who permitted -the rebuilding of the Temple under Zerubbabel.[137] - -If we look for the _source_ of the confusion, we see it perhaps in -the prophecy of Isaiah (xiii. 17, xiv. 6-22), that the _Medes_ should -be the destroyers of Babylon; or in that of Jeremiah--a prophet -of whom the author had made a special study (Dan. ix. 2)--to the -same effect (Jer. li. 11-28); together with the tradition that _a_ -Darius--namely, the son of Hystaspes--_had_ once conquered Babylon. - -XIV. But to make confusion worse confounded, if these chapters were -meant for history, the problematic "Darius the Mede" is in Dan. ix. 1 -called "the son of Ahasuerus." - -Now Ahasuerus (Achashverosh) is the same as Xerxes, and is the -_Persian_ name Khshyarsha; and Xerxes was the _son_, not the father, -of Darius Hystaspis, who was a _Persian_, not a Mede. Before Darius -Hystaspis could have been transformed into the son of his own son -Xerxes, the reigns, not only of Darius, but also of Xerxes, must have -long been past. - -XV. There is yet another historic sign that this Book did not -originate till the Persian Empire had long ceased to exist. In xi. -2 the writer only knows of _four_ kings of Persia.[138] These are -evidently Cyrus, Cambyses, Darius Hystaspis, and Xerxes--whom he -describes as the richest of them. This king is destroyed by the -kingdom of Grecia--an obvious confusion of popular tradition between -the defeat inflicted on the Persians by the Republican Greeks in the -days of Xerxes (B.C. 480), and the overthrow of the Persian kingdom -under Darius Codomannus by Alexander the Great (B.C. 333). - - * * * * * - -These, then, are some of the apparent historic impossibilities by which -we are confronted when we regard this Book as professed history. The -doubts suggested by such seeming errors are not in the least removed -by the acervation of endless conjectures. They are greatly increased -by the fact that, so far from standing alone, they are intensified by -other difficulties which arise under every fresh aspect under which the -Book is studied. Behrmann, the latest editor, sums up his studies with -the remark that "there is an almost universal agreement that the Book, -in its present form and as a whole, had its origin in the Maccabean -age; while there is a widening impression that in its purpose it is -not an exclusive product of that period." No amount of casuistical -ingenuity can long prevail to overthrow the spreading conviction that -the views of Hengstenberg, Haevernick, Keil, Pusey, and their followers, -have been refuted by the light of advancing knowledge--which is a light -kindled for us by God Himself. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[90] Thus Dr. Pusey says: "The Book of Daniel is especially fitted -to be a battle-field _between faith and unbelief_. It admits of no -half-measures. It is either Divine or an imposture. To write any -book under the name of another, and to give it out to be his, is, -in any case, a forgery dishonest in itself, and destructive of all -trustworthiness. But the case of the Book of Daniel, if it were not -his, would go far beyond even this. The writer, were _he_ not Daniel, -_must_ have _lied_ on a frightful scale. In a word, the whole Book -would be one lie in the Name of God." Few would venture to use such -language in _these_ days. It is always a perilous style to adopt, -but now it has become suicidal. It is founded on an immense and -inexcusable anachronism. It avails itself of an utterly false misuse -of the words "faith" and "unbelief," by which "faith" becomes a mere -synonym for "that which I esteem orthodox," or that which has been -the current opinion in ages of ignorance. Much truer faith may be -shown by accepting arguments founded on unbiassed evidence than by -rejecting them. And what can be more foolish than to base the great -truths of the Christian religion on special pleadings which have now -come to wear the aspect of ingenious sophistries, such as would not -be allowed to have the smallest validity in any ordinary question -of literary or historic evidence? Hengstenberg, like Pusey, says in -his violent ecclesiastical tone of autocratic infallibility that -the interpretation of the Book by most eminent modern critics "will -remain false so long as the word of Christ is true--that is, for -ever." This is to make "the word of Christ" the equivalent of a mere -theological blindness and prejudice! Assertions which are utterly -baseless can only be met by assertions based on science and the love -of truth. Thus when Rupprecht says that "the modern criticism of the -Book of Daniel is unchristian, immoral, and unscientific," we can -only reply with disdain, _Novimus istas_ [Greek: lekythous]. In the -present day they are mere bluster of impotent _odium theologicum_. - -[91] Gen. xli. - -[92] See Lenormant, _La Divination_, p. 219. - -[93] Jer. xxix. 22. The tenth verse of _this very chapter_ is -referred to in Dan. ix. 2. The custom continued in the East centuries -afterwards. "And if it was known to a Roman writer (Quintus Curtius, -v. 1) in the days of Vespasian, why" (Mr. Bevan pertinently asks) -"should it not have been known to a Palestinian writer who lived -centuries earlier?" (A. A. Bevan, _Short Commentary_, p. 22). - -[94] _Avodah-Zarah_, f. 3, 1; _Sanhedrin_, f. 93, 1; _Pesachim_, f. -118, 1; _Eiruvin_, f. 53, 1. - -[95] Jer. lii. 28-30. These were in the reign of Jehoiachin. - -[96] Jer. xlvi. 2: comp. Jer. xxv. The passage of Berossus, quoted in -Jos., _Antt._ X. xi. 1, is not trustworthy, and does not remove the -difficulty. - -[97] The attempts of Keil and Pusey to get over the difficulty, -if they were valid, would reduce Scripture to a hopeless riddle. -The reader will see all the latest efforts in this direction in -the _Speaker's Commentary_ and the work of Fabre d'Envieu. Even -such "orthodox" writers as Dorner, Delitzsch, and Gess, not to -mention hosts of other great critics, have long seen the desperate -impossibility of these arguments. - -[98] _Balatsu-utsur_, "protect his life." The root _balatu_, "life," -is common in Assyrian names. The mistake comes from the wrong -vocalisation adopted by the Massorets (Meinhold, _Beitraege_, p. 27). - -[99] Schrader dubiously connects it with _matstsara_, "guardian." - -[100] Lenormant, p. 182, regards it as a corruption of Ashbenazar, -"the goddess has pruned the seed" (??); but assumed corruptions of -the text are an uncertain expedient. - -[101] On these see Rob. Smith, _Cambr. Journ. of Philol._, No. 27, p. -125. - -[102] Juv., _Sat._, x. 96: "Cum grege Chaldaeo"; Val. Max., iii. 1; -Cic., _De Div._, i. 1, etc. - -[103] _Keilinschr._, p. 429; Meinhold, p. 28. - -[104] Isa. xxiii. 13; Jer. xxv. 12; Ezek. xii. 13; Hab. i. 6. - -[105] Jos., _Antt._, XI. viii. 5. - -[106] Isa. xlix. 23. - -[107] Isa. lx. 14. - -[108] Acts xii. 22, 23. - -[109] Acts xiv. 11, 12, xxviii. 6. - -[110] See Jer. xxxix. 3. And if he held this position, how could he -be absent in chap. iii.? - -[111] Namely, the words for "satraps," "governors," "counsellors," -and "judges," as well as the courtiers in iii. 24. Bleek thinks that -to enhance the stateliness of the occasion the writer introduced as -many official names as he knew. - -[112] _Supra_, p. 23. - -[113] Athen., _Deipnos._, iv. 175. - -[114] The Persian titles in iii. 24 alone suffice to indicate that -this could not be Nebuchadrezzar's actual decree. See further, -Meinhold, pp. 30, 31. We are evidently dealing with a writer who -introduces many Persian words, with no consciousness that they could -not have been used by Babylonian kings. - -[115] The writer of Daniel was evidently acquainted with the Book of -Ezekiel. See Delitzsch in Herzog, _s.v._ "Daniel," and Driver, p. 476. - -[116] See iv. 16, 25-30. - -[117] Preserved by Jos.: comp. _Ap._, I. 20. - -[118] The phrase is common enough: _e.g._, in Jos., _Antt._, X. xi. -1 (comp. _c. Ap._, I. 19); and a similar phrase, [Greek: empeson eis -arrhostian], _is used of Antiochus Epiphanes_ in 1 Macc. vi. 8. - -[119] _Praep. Ev._, ix. 41. Schrader (_K. A. T._, ii. 432) thinks that -Berossus and the Book of Daniel may both point to the same tradition; -but the Chaldee tradition quoted by the late writer Abydenus errs -likewise in only recognising _two_ Babylonish kings instead of -_four_, exclusive of Belshazzar. See, too, Schrader, _Jahrb. fuer -Prot. Theol._, 1881, p. 618. - -[120] Dan. v. 11. The emphasis seems to show that "son" is really -meant--not grandson. This is a little strange, for Jeremiah -(xxvii. 7) had said that the nations should serve Nebuchadrezzar, -"and his son, _and his son's son_"; and in no case was Belshazzar -Nebuchadrezzar's _son's son_, for his father Nabunaid was an usurping -son of a Rab-mag. - -[121] Schrader, p. 434 ff.; and in Riehm, _Handwoerterb._, ii. 163; -Pinches, in Smith's _Bibl. Dict._, i. 388, 2nd edn. The contraction -into Belshazzar from _Bel-sar-utsur_ seems to show a late date. - -[122] That the author of Daniel should have fallen into these errors -is the more remarkable because Evil-merodach is mentioned in 2 Kings -xxv. 27; and Jeremiah in his round number of seventy years includes -_three_ generations (Jer. xxvii. 7). Herodotus and Abydenus made the -same mistake. See Kamphausen, pp. 30, 31. - -[123] Herod., i. 191. See Rawlinson, _Herod._, i. 434. - -[124] Xen., _Cyrop._, VII. v. 3. - -[125] _Antt._, X. xi. 2. In _c. Ap._, I. 20, he calls him Nabonnedus. - -[126] This is now supposed to mean "grandson by marriage," by -inventing the hypothesis that Nabunaid married a daughter of -Nebuchadrezzar. But this does not accord with Dan. v. 2, 11, 22; and -so in Baruch i. 11, 12. - -[127] 2 Kings xxv. 27. - -[128] Sayce, _The Higher Criticism and the Monuments_, p. 527. - -[129] I need not enter here upon the confusion of the Manda with the -Medes, on which see Sayce, _Higher Criticism and Monuments_, p. 519 ff. - -[130] Winer, _Realwoerterb._, _s.v._ "Darius." - -[131] So Bertholdt, Von Lengerke, Auberlen. It is decidedly rejected -by Schrader (Riehm, _Handwoerterb._, i. 259). Even Cicero said, -"Cyrus ille a Xenophonte non ad historiae fidem scriptus est" (_Ad -Quint. Fratr._, Ep. i. 3). Niebuhr called the _Cyropaedia_ "einen -_elenden_ und laeppischen Roman" (_Alt. Gesch._, i. 116). He classes -it with _Telemaque_ or _Rasselas_. Xenophon was probably the ultimate -authority for the statement of Josephus (_Antt._, X. xi. 4), which -has no weight. Herodotus and Ktesias know nothing of the existence of -any Cyaxares II., nor does the Second Isaiah (xlv.), who evidently -contemplates Cyrus as the conqueror and the first king of Babylon. -Are we to set a professed romancer like Xenophon, and a late compiler -like Josephus, against these authorities? - -[132] T. W. Pinches, in Smith's _Bibl. Dict._, i. 716, 2nd edn. Into -this theory are pressed the general expressions that Darius "received -the kingdom" and was "made king," which have not the least bearing -on it. They may simply mean that he became king by conquest, and not -in the ordinary course--so Rosenmueller, Hitzig, Von Lengerke, etc.; -or perhaps the words show some sense of uncertainty as to the exact -course of events. The sequence of Persian kings in _Seder Olam_, -28-30, and in Rashi on Dan. v. 1, ix. 1, is equally unhistorical. - -[133] This is supported by the remark that this three-months viceroy -"appointed governors in Babylon"! - -[134] Herod., iii. 89; _Records of the Past_, viii. 88. - -[135] See, too, Meinhold (_Beitraege_, p. 46), who concludes his -survey with the words, "Sprachliche wie sachliche Gruende machen -es _nicht nur wahrscheinlich sondern gewiss_ dass an danielsche -Autorschaft von Dan. ii.-vi., ueberhanpt an die Entstehung zur Zeit -der juedischen Verbannung nicht zu denken ist." He adds that almost -all scholars believe the chapters to be no older than the age of the -Maccabees, and that even Kahnis (_Dogmatik_, i. 376) and Delitzsch -(Herzog, _s.v._ "Dan.") give up their genuineness. He himself -believes that these Aramaic chapters were _incorporated_ by a later -writer, who wrote the introduction. - -[136] Sayce. _l.c._, p. 529. - -[137] Kamphausen, p. 45. - -[138] Sayce, _l.c._ The author of the Book of Daniel seems only -to have known of _three_ kings of Persia after Cyrus (xi. 2). But -five are mentioned in the Old Testament--Cyrus, Darius, Artaxerxes, -Xerxes, and Darius III. (Codomannus, Neh. xii. 22). There were three -Dariuses and three Artaxerxes, but he only knows one of each name -(Kamphausen, p. 32). He might easily have overlooked the fact that -the Darius of Neh. xii. 22 was a wholly different person from the -Darius of Ezra vi. 1. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - _GENERAL STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK_ - - -In endeavouring to see the idea and construction of a book there is -always much room for the play of subjective considerations. Meinhold -has especially studied this subject, but we cannot be certain that -his views are more than imaginative. He thinks that chap. ii., -in which we are strongly reminded of the story of Joseph and of -Pharaoh's dreams, is intended to set forth God as Omniscient, and -chap. iii. as Omnipotent. To these conceptions is added in chap. iv. -the insistence upon God's All-holiness. The fifth and sixth chapters -form one conception. Since the death of Belshazzar is assigned to the -night of his banquet no edict could be ascribed to him resembling -those attributed to Nebuchadrezzar. The effect of Daniel's character -and of the Divine protection accorded to him on the mind of Darius -is expressed in the strong edict of the latter in vi. 26, 27. This -is meant to illustrate that the All-wise, Almighty, All-holy God is -the Only Living God. The consistent and homogeneous object of the -whole historic section is to set forth the God of the Hebrews as -exalting Himself in the midst of heathendom, and extorting submission -by mighty portents from heathen potentates. In this the Book offers -a general analogy to the section of the history of the Israelites in -Egypt narrated in Exod. i. 12. The culmination of recognition as to -the power of God is seen in the decree of Darius (vi. 26, 27), as -compared with that of Nebuchadrezzar in iv. 33. According to this -view, the meaning and essence of each separate chapter are given -in its closing section, and there is artistic advance to the great -climax, marked alike by the resemblances of these four paragraphs -(ii. 47, iii. 28, 29, iv. 37, vi. 26, 27), and by their differences. -To this main purpose all the other elements of these splendid -pictures--the faithfulness of Hebrew worshippers, the abasement -of blaspheming despots, the mission of Israel to the nations--are -subordinated. The chief aim is to set forth the helpless humiliation -of all false gods before the might of the God of Israel. It might be -expressed in the words, "Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have -laid waste all the nations, and cast their gods into the fire; for -they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone." - -A closer glance at these chapters will show some grounds for these -conclusions. - -Thus, in the second chapter, the magicians and sorcerers repudiate -all possibility of revealing the king's dream and its interpretation, -because they are but men, and the gods have not their dwelling with -mortal flesh (ii. 11); but Daniel can tell the dream because he -stands near to his God, who, though He is in heaven, yet is All-wise, -and revealeth secrets. - -In the third chapter the destruction of the strongest soldiers of -Nebuchadrezzar by fire, and the absolute deliverance of the three -Jews whom they have flung into the furnace, convince Nebuchadrezzar -that no god can deliver as the Almighty does, and that therefore it -is blasphemy deserving of death to utter a word against Him. - -In chap. iv. the supremacy of Daniel's wisdom as derived from God, -the fulfilment of the threatened judgment, and the deliverance of the -mighty King of Babylon from his degrading madness when he lifts up -his eyes to heaven, convince Nebuchadrezzar still more deeply that -God is not only a _Great_ God, but that no other being, man or god, -can even be compared to Him. He is the Only and the Eternal God, who -"_doeth according to His will in the army of heaven_," as well as -"among the inhabitants of the earth," and "none can stay His hand." -This is the highest point of conviction. Nebuchadrezzar confesses -that God is not only _Primus inter pares_, but the Irresistible -God, and his own God. And after this, in the fifth chapter, Daniel -can speak to Belshazzar of "the Lord of heaven" (v. 23); and as the -king's Creator; and of the nothingness of gods of silver, and gold, -and brass, and wood, and stone;--as though those truths had already -been decisively proved. And this belief finds open expression in the -decree of Darius (vi. 26, 27), which concludes the historic section. - -It is another indication of this main purpose of these histories that -the plural form of the Name of God--_Elohim_--does not once occur -in chaps. ii.-vi. It is used in i. 2, 9, 17; but not again till the -ninth chapter, where it occurs twelve times; once in the tenth (x. -12); and twice of God in the eleventh chapter (xi. 32, 37). In the -prophetic section (vii. 18, 22, 25, 27) we have "Most High" in the -plural (_'elionin_);[139] but with reference only to the One God (see -vii. 25). But in all cases where the heathen are addressed this plural -becomes the singular (_ehlleh_, [Hebrew: 'elleh]), as throughout the -first six chapters. This avoidance of so common a word as the plural -_Elohim_ for God, because the plural form might conceivably have been -misunderstood by the heathen, shows the elaborate construction of the -Book.[140] God is called _Eloah_ Shamain, "God of heaven," in the -second and third chapters; but in later chapters we have the common -post-exilic phrase in the plural.[141] - -In the fourth and fifth chapters we have God's Holiness first brought -before us, chiefly on its avenging side; and it is not till we have -witnessed the proof of His Unity, Wisdom, Omnipotence, and Justice, -which it is the mission of Israel to make manifest among the heathen, -that all is summed up in the edict of Darius to all people, nations, -and languages. - -The omission of any express recognition of God's tender compassion -is due to the structure of these chapters; for it would hardly be -possible for heathen potentates to recognise that attribute in the -immediate presence of His judgments. It is somewhat remarkable that -the name "Jehovah" is avoided.[142] As the Jews purposely pronounced -it with wrong vowels, and the LXX. render it by [Greek: kyrios], the -Samaritan by [Hebrew: shmh], and the Rabbis by "the Name," so we find -in the Book of Daniel a similar avoidance of the awful Tetragrammaton. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[139] Literally, as in margin, "_most high things_" or "_places_." - -[140] In iv. 5, 6; and _elohin_ means "gods" in the mouth of a -heathen ("spirit of the holy gods"). - -[141] _Elohin_ occurs repeatedly in chap. ix., and in x. 12, xi. 32, 37. - -[142] It only occurs in Dan. ix. - - - - - CHAPTER V - - _THE THEOLOGY OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL_ - - -As regards the religious views of the Book of Daniel some of them at -any rate are in full accordance with the belief in the late origin of -the Book to which we are led by so many indications.[143] - -I. Thus in Dan. xii. 2 (for we may here so far anticipate the -examination of the second section of the Book) we meet, for the first -time in Scripture, with a distinct recognition of the resurrection -of the individual dead.[144] This, as all know, is a doctrine of -which we only find the faintest indication in the earlier books of -the Canon. Although the doctrine is still but dimly formulated, it is -clearer in this respect than Isa. xxv. 8, xxvi. 19. - -II. Still more remarkable is the special prominence of angels. It is -not God who goes forth to war (Judg. v. 13, 23), or takes personal -part in the deliverance or punishment of nations (Isa. v. 26, vii. -18). Throned in isolated and unapproachable transcendence, He uses -the agency of intermediate beings (Dan. iv. 14).[145] - -In full accordance with late developments of Jewish opinion angels -are mentioned by special names, and appear as Princes and Protectors -of special lands.[146] In no other book in the Old Testament have -we any names given to angels, or any distinction between their -dignities, or any trace of their being in mutual rivalry as Princes -or Patrons of different nationalities. These remarkable features of -angelology only occur in the later epoch, and in the apocalyptic -literature to which this Book belongs. Thus they are found in the -LXX. translations of Deut. xxxii. 8 and Isa. xxx. 4, and in such -post-Maccabean books as those of Enoch and Esdras.[147] - -III. Again, we have the fixed custom of three daily formal prayers, -uttered towards the Kibleh of Jerusalem. This may, possibly, have -begun during the Exile. It became a normal rule for later ages.[148] -The Book, however, like that of Jonah, is, as a whole, remarkably -free from any extravagant estimate of Levitical minutiae. - -IV. Once more, for the first time in Jewish story, we find extreme -importance attached to the Levitical distinction of clean and unclean -meats, which also comes into prominence in the age of the Maccabees, -as it afterwards constituted a most prominent element in the ideal -of Talmudic religionism.[149] Daniel and the Three Children are -vegetarians, like the Pharisees after the destruction of the Second -Temple, mentioned in _Baba Bathra_, f. 60, 2. - -V. We have already noticed the avoidance of the sacred name "Jehovah" -even in passages addressed to Jews (Dan. ii. 18), though we find -"Jehovah" in 2 Chron. xxxvi. 7. Jehovah only occurs in reference to -Jer. xxv. 8-11, and in the prayer of the ninth chapter, where we also -find _Adonai_ and _Elohim_. - -Periphrases for God, like "the Ancient of Days," become normal in -Talmudic literature. - -VI. Again, the doctrine of the Messiah, like these other doctrines, -is, as Professor Driver says, "taught with greater distinctness and in -a more developed form than elsewhere in the Old Testament, and with -features approximating to, though not identical with, those met with -in the earlier parts of the Book of Enoch (B.C. 100). In one or two -instances these developments may have been partially moulded by foreign -influences.[150] They undoubtedly mark a later phase of revelation -than that which is set before us in other books of the Old Testament. -And the conclusion indicated by these _special_ features in the Book -is confirmed by the _general_ atmosphere which we breathe throughout -it. The atmosphere and tone are not those of any other writings -belonging to the Jews of the Exile; it is rather that of the Maccabean -_Chasidim_." How far the Messianic _Bar Enosh_ (vii. 13) is meant to be -_a person_ will be considered in the comment on that passage. - -We shall see in later pages that the supreme value and importance -of the Book of Daniel, rightly understood, consists in this--that -"it is the first attempt at a Philosophy, or rather at a Theology of -History."[151] Its main object was to teach the crushed and afflicted -to place unshaken confidence in God. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[143] The description of God as "the Ancient of Days" with garments -white as snow, and of His throne of flames on burning wheels, is -found again in the Book of Enoch, written about B.C. 141 (Enoch xiv.). - -[144] See Dan. xii. 2. Comp. Jos., _B. J._, II. viii. 14; Enoch xxii. -13, lx. 1-5, etc. - -[145] Comp. Smend, _Alttest. Relig. Gesch._, p. 530. For references -to angels in Old Testament see Job i. 6, xxxviii. 7; Jer. xxiii. 18; -Psalm lxxxix. 7; Josh. v. 13-15; Zech. i. 12, iii. 1. See further -Behrmann, _Dan._, p. xxiii. - -[146] Dan. iv. 14, ix. 21, x. 13, 20. - -[147] See Enoch lxxi. 17, lxviii. 10, and the six archangels Uriel, -Raphael, Reguel, Michael, Saragael, and Gabriel in Enoch xx.-xxxvi. -See _Rosh Hashanah_, f. 56, 1; _Bereshith Rabba_, c. 48; Hamburger, -i. 305-312. - -[148] _Berachoth_, f. 31; Dan. vi. 11. Comp. Psalm lv. 18; 1 Kings -viii. 38-48. - -[149] 1 Macc. i. 62; Dan. i. 8; 2 Macc. v. 27, vi. 18-vii. 42. - -[150] Introd., p. 477. Comp. 2 Esdras xiii. 41-45, and _passim_; -Enoch xl., xlv., xlvi., xlix., and _passim_; Hamburger, -_Real-Encycl._, ii. 267 ff. With "the time of the end" and the -numerical calculations comp. 2 Esdras vi. 6, 7. - -[151] Roszmann, _Die Makkabaeische Erhebung_, p. 45. See Wellhausen, -_Die Pharis. u. d. Sadd._, 77 ff. - - - - - CHAPTER VI - - _PECULIARITIES OF THE APOCALYPTIC AND - PROPHETIC SECTION OF THE BOOK_ - - -If we have found much to lead us to serious doubts as to the -authenticity and genuineness--_i.e._, as to the literal historicity -and the real author--of the Book of Daniel in its historic section, -we shall find still more in the prophetic section. If the phenomena -already passed in review are more than enough to indicate the -impossibility that the Book could have been written by the historic -Daniel, the phenomena now to be considered are such as have sufficed -to convince the immense majority of learned critics that, in its -present form, the Book did not appear before the days of Antiochus -Epiphanes.[152] The probable date is B.C. 164. As in the Book of Enoch -xc. 15, 16, it contains history written under the form of prophecy. - -Leaving minuter examination to later chapters of commentary, we will -now take a brief survey of this unique apocalypse. - -I. As regards the style and method the only distant approach to it -in the rest of the Old Testament is in a few visions of Ezekiel -and Zechariah, which differ greatly from the clear, and so to -speak classic, style of the older prophets. But in Daniel we -find visions far more enigmatical, and far less full of passion -and poetry. Indeed, as regards style and intellectual force, the -splendid historic scenes of chaps. i.-vi. far surpass the visions -of vii.-xii., some of which have been described as "composite -logographs," in which the ideas are forcibly juxtaposed without care -for any coherence in the symbols--as, for instance, when _a horn_ -speaks and has eyes.[153] - -Chap. vii. contains a vision of four different wild beasts rising -from the sea: a lion, with eagle-wings, which afterwards becomes -semi-human; a bear, leaning on one side, and having three ribs in its -mouth; a four-winged, four-headed panther; and a still more terrible -creature, with iron teeth, brazen claws, and ten horns, among which -rises a little horn, which destroyed three of the others--it has -man's eyes and a mouth speaking proud things. - -There follows an epiphany of the Ancient of Days, who destroys the -little horn, but prolongs for a time the existence of the other wild -beasts. Then comes One in human semblance, who is brought before the -Ancient of Days, and is clothed by Him with universal and eternal power. - -We shall see reasons for the view that the four beasts--in -accordance with the interpretation of the vision given to Daniel -himself--represent the Babylonian, the Median, the Persian, and -the Greek empires, issuing in the separate kingdoms of Alexander's -successors; and that the little horn is Antiochus Epiphanes, whose -overthrow is to be followed immediately by the Messianic Kingdom.[154] - -The vision of the eighth chapter mainly pursues the history of -the fourth of these kingdoms. Daniel sees a ram standing eastward -of the river-basin of the Ulai, having two horns, of which one is -higher than the other. It butts westward, northward, and southward, -and seemed irresistible, until a he-goat from the West, with one -horn between its eyes, confronted it, and stamped it to pieces. -After this its one horn broke into four towards the four winds of -heaven, and one of them shot forth a puny horn, which grew great -towards the South and East, and acted tyrannously against the Holy -People, and spoke blasphemously against God. Daniel hears the holy -ones declaring that its powers shall only last two thousand three -hundred evening-mornings. An angel bids Gabriel to explain the vision -to Daniel; and Gabriel tells the seer that the ram represents the -Medo-Persian and the he-goat the Greek Kingdom. Its great horn is -Alexander; the four horns are the kingdoms of his successors, the -Diadochi; the little horn is a king bold of vision and versed in -enigmas, whom all agree to be Antiochus Epiphanes. - -In the ninth chapter we are told that Daniel has been meditating on the -prophecy of Jeremiah that Jerusalem should be rebuilt after seventy -years, and as the seventy years seem to be drawing to a close he -humbles himself with prayer and fasting. But Gabriel comes flying to -him at the time of the evening sacrifice, and explains to him that -the seventy years is to mean seventy _weeks_ of years--_i.e._, four -hundred and ninety years, divided into three periods of 7 + 62 + 1. At -the end of seven (_i.e._, forty-nine) years an anointed prince will -order the restoration of Jerusalem. The city will continue, though -in humiliation, for sixty-two (_i.e._, four hundred and thirty-four) -years, when "an anointed" will be cut off, and a prince will destroy -it. During half a week (_i.e._, for three and a half years) he will -cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease; and he will make a covenant -with many for one week, at the end of which he will be cut off. - -Here, again, we shall have reason to see that the whole prophecy -culminates in, and is mainly concerned with, Antiochus Epiphanes. -In fact, it furnishes us with a sketch of his fortunes, which, in -connexion with the eleventh chapter, tells us more about him than we -learn from any extant history. - -In the tenth chapter Daniel, after a fast of twenty-one days, sees a -vision of Gabriel, who explains to him why his coming has been delayed, -soothes his fears, touches his lips, and prepares him for the vision -of chapter eleven. That chapter is mainly occupied with a singularly -minute and circumstantial history of the murders, intrigues, wars, and -intermarriages of the Lagidae and Seleucidae. So detailed is it that in -some cases the history has to be reconstructed out of it. This sketch -is followed by the doings and final overthrow of Antiochus Epiphanes. - -The twelfth chapter is the picture of a resurrection, and of words of -consolation and exhortation addressed to Daniel. - -Such in briefest outline are the contents of these chapters, and -their peculiarities are very marked. Until the reader has studied the -more detailed explanation of the chapters separately, and especially -of the eleventh, he will be unable to estimate the enormous force of -the arguments adduced to prove the impossibility of such "prophecies" -having emanated from Babylon and Susa about B.C. 536. Long before the -astonishing enlargement of our critical knowledge which has been the -work of the last generation--nearly fifty years ago--the mere perusal -of the Book as it stands produced on the manly and honest judgment -of Dr. Arnold a strong impression of uncertainty. He said that the -latter chapters of Daniel would, if genuine, be a clear exception to -the canons of interpretation which he laid down in his _Sermons on -Prophecy_, since "there can be no reasonable spiritual meaning made -out of the kings of the North and South." "But," he adds, "I have -long thought that the greater part of the Book of Daniel is most -certainly a very late work of the time of the Maccabees; and the -pretended prophecies about the kings of Grecia and Persia, and of the -North and South, are mere history, like the poetical prophecies in -Virgil and elsewhere. In fact, you can trace distinctly the date when -it was written, because the events up to that date are given with -historical minuteness, totally unlike the character of real prophecy; -and beyond that date all is imaginary."[155] - -The Book is the earliest specimen of its kind known to us. It -inaugurated a new and important branch of Jewish literature, which -influenced many subsequent writers. An apocalypse, so far as its -literary form is concerned, "claims throughout to be a supernatural -revelation given to mankind by the mouth of those men in whose names -the various writings appear." An apocalypse--such, for instance, as -the Books of Enoch, the Assumption of Moses, Baruch, 1, 2 Esdras, -and the Sibylline Oracles--is characterised by its enigmatic form, -which shrouds its meaning in parables and symbols. It indicates -persons without naming them, and shadows forth historic events under -animal forms, or as operations of Nature. Even the explanations which -follow, as in this Book, are still mysterious and indirect. - -II. In the next place an apocalypse is literary, not oral. Schuerer, who -classes Daniel among the oldest and most original of _pseudepigraphic -prophecies_, etc., rightly says that "the old prophets in their -teachings and exhortations addressed themselves directly to the people -first and foremost through their oral utterances; and then, but only as -subordinate to these, by written discourses as well. But now, when men -felt themselves at any time compelled by their religious enthusiasm to -influence their contemporaries, instead of directly addressing them in -person like the prophets of old, they did so by a writing purporting -to be the work of some one or other of the great names of the past, in -the hope that in this way the effect would be all the surer and all the -more powerful."[156] The Daniel of this Book represents himself, not -as a prophet, but as a humble student of the prophets. He no longer -claims, as Isaiah did, to speak in the Name of God Himself with a "Thus -saith Jehovah." - -III. Thirdly, it is impossible not to notice that Daniel differs -from all other prophecies by its all-but-total indifference to the -circumstances and surroundings in the midst of which the prediction -is supposed to have originated. The Daniel of Babylon and Susa is -represented as the writer; yet his whole interest is concentrated, -not in the events which immediately interest the Jews of Babylon in -the days of Cyrus, or of Jerusalem under Zerubbabel, but deals with -a number of predictions which revolve almost exclusively about the -reign of a very inferior king four centuries afterwards. And with -this king the predictions abruptly stop short, and are followed by -the very general promise of an immediate Messianic age. - -We may notice further the constant use of round and cyclic numbers, -such as three and its compounds (i. 5, iii. 1, vi. 7, 10, vii. 5, -8); four (ii., vii. 6, and viii. 8, xi. 12); seven and its compounds -(iii. 19, iv. 16, 23, ix. 24, etc.). The apocalyptic symbols of Bears, -Lions, Eagles, Horns, Wings, etc., abound in the contemporary and later -Books of Enoch, Baruch, 4 Esdras, the Assumption of Moses, and the -Sibyllines, as well as in the early Christian apocalypses, like that of -Peter. The authors of the Sibyllines (B.C. 140) were acquainted with -Daniel; the Book of Enoch breathes exactly the same spirit with this -Book, in the transcendentalism which avoids the name Jehovah (vii. 13; -Enoch xlvi. 1, xlvii. 3), in the number of angels (vii. 10; Enoch xl. -1, lx. 2), their names, the title of "watchers" given to them, and -their guardianship of men (Enoch xx. 5). The Judgment and the Books -(vii. 9, 10, xii. 1) occur again in Enoch xlvii. 3, lxxxi. 1, as in the -Book of Jubilees, and the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs.[157] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[152] Among these critics are Delitzsch, Riehm, Ewald, Bunsen, -Hilgenfeld, Cornill, Luecke, Strack, Schuerer, Kuenen, Meinhold, -Orelli, Joel, Reuss, Koenig, Kamphausen, Cheyne, Driver, Briggs, -Bevan, Behrmann, etc. - -[153] Renan, _History of Israel_, iv. 354. He adds, "L'essence du -genre c'est le pseudonyme, ou si l'on veut l'apocryphisme" (p. 356). - -[154] Lagarde, _Gott. Gel. Anzieg._, 1891, pp. 497-520, stands -almost, if not quite, alone in arguing that Dan. vii. was not written -till A.D. 69, and that the "little horn" is meant for Vespasian. The -relation of the fourth empire of Dan. vii. to the iron part of the -image in Dan. ii. refutes this view: both can only refer to the Greek -Empire. Josephus (_Antt._, X. xi. 7) does not refer to Dan. vii.; -but neither does he to ix.-xii., for reasons already mentioned. See -Cornill, _Einleit._, p. 262. - -[155] Stanley, _Life of Arnold_, p. 505. - -[156] Schuerer, _Hist. of the Jew. People_, iii. 24 (E. Tr.). - -[157] On the close resemblance between Daniel and other apocryphal -books see Behrmann, _Dan._, pp. 37-39; Dillmann, _Das Buch -Henoch_. For its relation to the Book of Baruch see Schrader, -_Keilinschriften_, 435 f. Philo does not allude to Daniel. - - - - - CHAPTER VII - - _INTERNAL EVIDENCE_ - - -I. Other prophets start from the ground of the _present_, and to -exigencies of the present their prophecies were primarily directed. -It is true that their lofty moral teaching, their rapt poetry, their -impassioned feeling, had its inestimable value for all ages. But -these elements scarcely exist in the Book of Daniel. Almost the whole -of its prophecies bear on one short particular period _nearly four -hundred years after_ the supposed epoch of their delivery. What, -then, is the phenomenon they present? Whereas other prophets, by -studying the problems of the present in the light flung upon them -by the past, are enabled, by combining the present with the past, -to gain, with the aid of God's Holy Spirit, a vivid glimpse of the -immediate future, for the instruction of the living generation, the -reputed author of Daniel passes over the _immediate_ future with a -few words, and spends the main part of his revelations on a triad of -years separated by centuries from contemporary history. Occupied as -this description is with the wars and negotiations of empires which -were yet unborn, it can have had little practical significance for -Daniel's fellow-exiles. Nor could these "predictions" have been to -prove the possibility of supernatural foreknowledge,[158] since, -even after their supposed fulfilment, the interpretation of them is -open to the greatest difficulties and the gravest doubts. If to a -Babylonian exile was vouchsafed a gift of prevision so minute and so -marvellous as enabled him to describe the intermarriages of Ptolemies -and Seleucidae four centuries later, surely the gift must have been -granted for some decisive end. But these predictions are precisely -the ones which seem to have the smallest significance. We must say, -with Semler, that no such benefit seems likely to result from this -predetermination of comparatively unimportant minutiae as God must -surely intend when He makes use of means of a very extraordinary -character. It might perhaps be said that the Book was written, -four hundred years before the crisis occurred, to console the Jews -under their brief period of persecution by the Seleucidae. It would -be indeed extraordinary that so curious, distant, and roundabout -a method should have been adopted for an end which, in accordance -with the entire economy of God's dealings with men in revelation, -could have been so much more easily and so much more effectually -accomplished in simpler ways. Further, unless we accept an isolated -allusion to Daniel in the imaginary speech of the dying Mattathias, -there is no trace whatever that the Book had the smallest influence -in inspiring the Jews in that terrible epoch. And the reference of -Mattathias, if it was ever made at all, may be to old tradition, and -does not allude to the prophecies about Antiochus and his fate. - -But, as Hengstenberg, the chief supporter of the authenticity of the -Book of Daniel, well observes,[159] "Prophecy can never entirely -separate itself from the ground of the present, _to influence which -is always its more immediate object_, and to which therefore it must -constantly construct a bridge.[160] On this also rests all certainty of -exposition as to the future. _And that the means should be provided for -such a certainty_ is a necessary consequence of the Divine nature of -prophecy. A truly Divine prophecy cannot possibly swim in the air; nor -can the Church be left to mere guesses in the exposition of Scripture -which has been given to her as a light amid the darkness." - -II. And as it does not start from the ground of the present, so too -the Book of Daniel reverses the method of prophecy with reference to -the future. - -For the genuine predictions of Scripture _advance_ by slow and gradual -degrees from the uncertain and the general to the definite and the -special. Prophecy marches with history, and takes a step forward at -each new period.[161] So far as we know there is not a single instance -in which any prophet alludes to, much less dwells upon, any kingdom -which had not then risen above the political horizon.[162] - -In Daniel the case is reversed: the only kingdom which was looming -into sight is dismissed with a few words, and the kingdom most dwelt -upon is the most distant and quite the most insignificant of all, of -the very existence of which neither Daniel nor his contemporaries had -even remotely heard.[163] - -III. Then again, although the prophets, with their divinely -illuminated souls, reached far beyond intellectual sagacity and -political foresight, yet their hints about the future never distantly -approach to detailed history like that of Daniel. They do indeed so -far lift the veil of the Unseen as to shadow forth the outline of the -near future, but they do this only on general terms and on general -principles.[164] Their object, as I have repeatedly observed, was -mainly moral, and it was also confessedly conditional, even when no -hint is given of the implied condition.[165] Nothing is more certain -than the wisdom and beneficence of that Divine provision which has -hidden the future from men's eyes, and even taught us to regard all -prying into its minute events as vulgar and sinful.[166] Stargazing -and monthly prognostication were rather the characteristics of false -religion and unhallowed divinations than of faithful and holy souls. -Nitzsch[167] most justly lays it down as an essential condition of -prophecy that it _should not disturb man's relation to history_. -Anything like detailed description of the future would intolerably -perplex and confuse our sense of human free-will. It would drive us to -the inevitable conclusion that men are but puppets moved irresponsibly -by the hand of inevitable fate. Not one such prophecy, unless this be -one, occurs anywhere in the Bible. We do not think that (apart from -Messianic prophecies) a single instance can be given in which any -prophet distinctly and minutely predicts a future series of events of -which the fulfilment was not _near_ at hand. In the few cases when -some event, already imminent, is predicted apparently with some detail, -it is not certain whether some touches--names, for instance--may not -have been added by editors living subsequently to the occurrence of -the event.[168] That there has been at all times a gift of prescience, -whereby the Spirit of God, "entering into holy souls, has made them -sons of God and prophets," is indisputable. It is in virtue of this -high foreknowledge[169] that the voice of the Hebrew Sibyl has - - "Rolled sounding onwards through a thousand years - Her deep prophetic bodiments." - -Even Demosthenes, by virtue of a statesman's thoughtful experience, can -describe it as his office and duty "to see events in their beginnings, -to discern their purport and tendencies from the first, and to forewarn -his countrymen accordingly." Yet the power of Demosthenes was as -nothing compared with that of an Isaiah or a Nahum; and we may safely -say that the writings alike of the Greek orator and the Hebrew prophets -would have been comparatively valueless had they merely contained -anticipations of future history, instead of dealing with truths whose -value is equal for all ages--truths and principles which give clearness -to the past, security to the present, and guidance to the future. Had -it been the function of prophecy to remove the veil of obscurity which -God in His wisdom has hung over the destinies of men and kingdoms, it -would never have attained, as it has done, to the love and reverence of -mankind. - -IV. Another unique and abnormal feature is found in the close and -accurate _chronological calculations_ in which the Book of Daniel -abounds. We shall see later on that the dates of the Maccabean -reconsecration of the Temple and the ruin of Antiochus Epiphanes are -indicated _almost to the day_. The numbers of prophecy are in all -other cases symbolical and general. They are intentional compounds -of seven--the sum of three and four, which are the numbers that -mystically shadow forth God and the world--a number which even -Cicero calls "_rerum omnium fere modus_"; and of ten, the number -of the world.[170] If we except the prophecy of the seventy years' -captivity--which was a round number, and is in no respect parallel -to the periods of Daniel--there is no other instance in the Bible of -a _chronological_ prophecy. We say no other instance, because one of -the commentators who, in writing upon Daniel, objects to the remark -of Nitzsch that the numbers of prophecy are mystical, yet observes -on the one thousand two hundred and sixty days of Rev. xii. that -the number one thousand two hundred and sixty, or three and a half -years, "has _no_ historical signification whatever, and is only to be -viewed in its relation to the number seven--viz., as symbolising the -apparent victory of the world over the Church."[171] - -V. Alike, then, in style, in matter, and in what has been called by -V. Orelli its "exoteric" manner,--alike in its definiteness and its -indefiniteness--in the point from which it starts and the period at -which it terminates--in its minute details and its chronological -indications--in the absence of the moral and the impassioned -element, and in the sense of fatalism which it must have introduced -into history had it been a genuine prophecy,--the Book of Daniel -differs from all the other books which compose that prophetic canon. -From that canon it was rightly and deliberately excluded by the Jews. -Its worth and dignity can only be rationally vindicated or rightly -understood by supposing it to have been the work of an unknown -moralist and patriot of the Maccabean age. - -And if anything further were wanting to complete the cogency of the -internal evidence which forces this conclusion upon us, it is amply -found in a study of those books, confessedly apocryphal, which, -although far inferior to the Book before us, are yet of value, and -which we believe to have emanated from the same era. - -They resemble this Book in their language, both Hebrew and Aramaic, -as well as in certain recurring expressions and forms to be found -in the Books of Maccabees and the Second Book of Esdras;--in their -style--rhetorical rather than poetical, stately rather than ecstatic, -diffuse rather than pointed, and wholly inferior to the prophets -in depth and power;--in the use of an apocalyptic method, and the -strange combination of dreams and symbols;--in the insertion, by way -of embellishment, of speeches and formal documents which can at the -best be only semi-historical;--finally, in the whole tone of thought, -especially in the quite peculiar doctrine of archangels, of angels -guarding kingdoms, and of opposing evil spirits. In short, the Book -of Daniel may be illustrated by the Apocryphal books in every single -particular. In the adoption of an illustrious name--which is the most -marked characteristic of this period--it resembles the _additions_ -to the Book of Daniel, the Books of Esdras, the Letters of Baruch -and Jeremiah, and the Wisdom of Solomon. In the imaginary and -quasi-legendary treatment of history it finds a parallel in Wisdom -xvi.-xix., and parts of the Second Book of Maccabees and the Second -Book of Esdras. As an allusive narrative bearing on contemporaneous -events under the guise of describing the past, it is closely parallel -to the Book of Judith,[172] while the character of Daniel bears the -same relation to that of Joseph, as the representation of Judith -does to that of Jael. As an ethical development of a few scattered -historical data, tending to the marvellous and supernatural, but -rising to the dignity of a very noble and important religious -fiction, it is analogous, though incomparably superior, to Bel and -the Dragon, and to the stories of Tobit and Susanna.[173] - -The conclusion is obvious; and it is equally obvious that, when we -suppose the name of Daniel to have been assumed, and the assumption -to have been supported by an antique colouring, we do not for a -moment charge the unknown author--who may very well have been Onias -IV.--with any dishonesty. Indeed, it appears to us that there -are many traces in the Book--[Greek: phonanta synetoisin]--which -exonerate the writer from any suspicion of _intentional_ deception. -They may have been meant to remove any tendency to error in -understanding the artistic guise which was adopted for the better and -more forcible inculcation of the lessons to be conveyed. That the -stories of Daniel offered peculiar opportunities for this treatment -is shown by the apocryphal additions to the Book; and that the -practice was well understood even before the closing of the Canon is -sufficiently shown by the Book of Ecclesiastes. The writer of that -strange and fascinating book, with its alternating moods of cynicism -and resignation, merely adopted the name of Solomon, and adopted -it with no dishonourable purpose; for he could not have dreamed -that utterances which in page after page betray to criticism their -late origin would really be identified with the words of the son of -David a thousand years before Christ. This may now be regarded as -an indisputable, and is indeed a no longer disputed, result of all -literary and philological inquiry. - -It is to Porphyry, a Neoplatonist of the third century (born at -Tyre, A.D. 233; died in Rome, A.D. 303), that we owe our ability to -write a continuous historical commentary on the symbols of Daniel. -That writer devoted the twelfth book of his [Greek: Logoi kata -Christianon] to a proof that Daniel was not written till _after_ the -epoch which it so minutely described.[174] In order to do this he -collected with great learning and industry a history of the obscure -Antiochian epoch from authors most of whom have perished. Of these -authors Jerome--the most valuable part of whose commentary is derived -from Porphyry--gives a formidable list, mentioning among others -Callinicus, Diodorus, Polybius, Posidonius, Claudius, Theo, and -Andronicus. It is a strange fact that the exposition of a canonical -book should have been mainly rendered possible by an avowed opponent -of Christianity. It was the object of Porphyry to prove that the -apocalyptic portion of the Book was not a prophecy at all.[175] It -used to be a constant taunt against those who adopt his critical -conclusions that their weapons are borrowed from the armoury of an -infidel. The objection hardly seems worth answering. "_Fas est et -ab hoste doceri._" If the enemies of our religion have sometimes -helped us the better to understand our sacred books, or to judge more -correctly respecting them, we should be grateful that their assaults -have been overruled to our instruction. The reproach is wholly -beside the question. We may apply to it the manly words of Grotius: -"_Neque me pudeat consentire Porphyrio, quando is in veram sententiam -incidit._" Moreover, St. Jerome himself could not have written his -commentary, as he himself admits, without availing himself of the aid -of the erudition of the heathen philosopher, whom no less a person -than St. Augustine called "_doctissimus philosophorum_," though -unhappily he was "_acerrimus christianorum inimicus_." - -FOOTNOTES: - -[158] Any apparently requisite modification of these words will be -considered hereafter. - -[159] _On Revelations_, vol. i., p. 408 (E. Tr.). - -[160] "Dient bei ihnen die Zukunft der Gegenwart, und ist selbst -fortgesetzte _Gegenwart_" (Behrmann, _Dan._, p. xi). - -[161] See M. de Pressense, _Hist. des Trois Prem. Siecles_, p. 283. - -[162] See some admirable remarks on this subject in Ewald, _Die -Proph. d. Alt. Bund._, i. 23, 24; Winer, _Realwoerterb._, _s.v._ -"Propheten" Staehelin, _Einleit._, Sec. 197. - -[163] Comp. Enoch i. 2. - -[164] Ewald, _Die Proph._, i. 27; Michel Nicolas, _Etudes sur la -Bible_, pp. 336 ff. - -[165] Comp. Mic. iii. 12; Jer. xxvi. 1-19; Ezek. i. 21. Comp. xxix. -18, 19. - -[166] Deut. xviii. 10. - -[167] _System der christlichen Lehre_, p. 66. - -[168] _E.g._, in the case of Josiah (1 Kings xiii. 2). - -[169] _De Corona_, 73: [Greek: idein ta pragmata archomena kai -proaisthesthai kai proeipein tois allois]. - -[170] The symbolism of numbers is carefully and learnedly worked out -in Baehr's _Symbolik_: cf. Auberlen, p. 133. The _several_ fulfilments -of the prophesied seventy years' captivity illustrate this. - -[171] Hengstenberg, _On Revelations_, p. 609. - -[172] All these particulars may be found, without any allusion to the -Book of Daniel, in the admirable article on the Apocrypha by Dean -Plumptre in Dr. Smith's _Dict. of the Bible_. - -[173] Ewald, _Gesch. Isr._, iv. 541. - -[174] "Et non tam Danielem _ventura dixisse_ quam illum _narrasse -praeterita_" (Jer.). - -[175] "Ad intelligendas autem extremas Danielis partes multiplex -Graecorum historia necessaria est" (Jer., _Proaem. Explan. in Dan. -Proph. ad f._). Among these Greek historians he mentions _eight_ whom -Porphyry had consulted, and adds, "Et si quando cogimur litterarum -saecularium recordari ... non nostrae est voluntatis, sed ut dicam, -_gravissimae necessitatis_." We know Porphyry's arguments mainly -through the commentary of Jerome, who, indeed, derived from Porphyry -the historic data without which the eleventh chapter, among others, -would have been wholly unintelligible. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - - _EVIDENCE IN FAVOUR OF THE GENUINENESS - UNCERTAIN AND INADEQUATE_ - - -We have seen that there are many circumstances which force upon us -the gravest doubts as to the authenticity of the Book of Daniel. We -now proceed to examine the evidence urged in its favour, and deemed -adequate to refute the conclusion that in its present form it did not -see the light before the time of Antiochus IV. - -Taking Hengstenberg as the most learned reasoner in favour of the -genuineness of Daniel, we will pass in review all the positive -arguments which he has adduced.[176] They occupy no less than one -hundred and ten pages (pp. 182-291) of the English translation of his -work on the genuineness of Daniel. Most of them are tortuous specimens -of special pleading inadequate in themselves, or refuted by increased -knowledge derived from the monuments and from further inquiry. To these -arguments neither Dr. Pusey nor any subsequent writer has made any -material addition. Some of them have been already answered, and many of -them are so unsatisfactory that they may be dismissed at once. - -I. Such, for instance, are _the testimony of the author himself_. In -one of those slovenly treatises which only serve to throw dust in the -eyes of the ignorant we find it stated that, "although the name of -Daniel is not prefixed to his Book, the passages in which he speaks in -the first person _sufficiently prove_ that he was the author"! Such -assertions deserve no answer. If the mere assumption of a name be a -_sufficient proof_ of the authorship of a book, we are rich indeed in -Jewish authors--and, not to speak of others, our list includes works by -Adam, Enoch, Eldad, Medad, and Elijah. "Pseudonymity," says Behrmann, -"was a very common characteristic of the literature of that day, and -the conception of literary property was alien to that epoch, and -especially to the circle of writings of this class." - -II. The character of the language, as we have seen already, proves -nothing. Hebrew and Aramaic long continued in common use side by side -at least among the learned,[177] and the divergence of the Aramaic -in Daniel from that of the Targums leads to no definite result, -considering the late and uncertain age of those writings. - -III. How any argument can be founded on the exact knowledge of -history displayed by local colouring we cannot understand. Were -the knowledge displayed ever so exact it would only prove that the -author was a learned man, which is obvious already. But so far from -any remarkable accuracy being shown by the author, it is, on the -contrary, all but impossible to reconcile many of his statements -with acknowledged facts. The elaborate and tortuous explanations, -the frequent "subauditur," the numerous assumptions required to -force the text into accordance with the certain historic data of the -Babylonian and Persian empires, tell far more against the Book than -for it. The methods of accounting for these inaccuracies are mostly -self-confuting, for they leave the subject in hopeless confusion, and -each orthodox commentator shows how untenable are the views of others. - -IV. Passing over other arguments of Keil, Hengstenberg, etc., which -have been either refuted already, or which are too weak to deserve -repetition, we proceed to examine one or two of a more serious -character. Great stress, for instance, is laid on the reception of the -Book into the Canon. We acknowledge the canonicity of the Book, its -high value when rightly apprehended, and its rightful acceptance as a -sacred book; but this in nowise proves its authenticity. The history -of the Old Testament Canon is involved in the deepest obscurity. The -belief that it was finally completed by Ezra and the Great Synagogue -rests on no foundation; indeed, it is irreconcilable with later -historic notices and other facts connected with the Books of Ezra, -Nehemiah, Esther, and the two Books of Chronicles. The Christian -Fathers in this, as in some other cases, implicitly believed what came -to them from the most questionable sources, and was mixed up with mere -Jewish fables. One of the oldest Talmudic books, the _Pirke Aboth_, is -entirely silent on the collection of the Old Testament, though in a -vague way it connects the Great Synagogue with the preservation of the -Law. The earliest mention of the legend about Ezra is in the Second -Book of Esdras (xiv. 29-48). This book does not possess the slightest -claim to authority, as it was not completed till a century after the -Christian era; and it mingles up with this very narrative a number -of particulars thoroughly fabulous and characteristic of a period -when the Jewish writers were always ready to subordinate history to -imaginative fables. The account of the magic cup, the forty days and -forty nights' dictation, the ninety books of which seventy were secret -and intended only for the learned, form part of the very passage from -which we are asked to believe that Ezra established our existing Canon, -though the genuine Book of Ezra is wholly silent about his having -performed any such inestimable service. It adds nothing to the credit -of this fable that it is echoed by Irenaeus, Clemens Alexandrinus, and -Tertullian.[178] Nor are there any external considerations which render -it probable. The Talmudic tradition in the _Baba Bathra_,[179] which -says (among other remarks in a passage of which "the notorious errors -prove the unreliability of its testimony") that the men of the Great -Synagogue _wrote_ the Books of Ezekiel, the Twelve Minor Prophets, -_Daniel_, and Ezra.[180] It is evident that, so far as this evidence -is worth anything, it rather goes _against_ the authenticity of Daniel -than for it. The _Pirke Aboth_ makes Simon the Just (about B.C. 290) -a member of this Great Synagogue, of which the very existence is -dubious.[181] - -Again, the author of the forged letter at the beginning of the Second -Book of Maccabees--"the work" says Hengstenberg, "of an arrant -impostor"[182]--attributes the collection of certain books first to -Nehemiah, and then, when they had been lost, to Judas Maccabaeus (2 -Macc. ii. 13, 14). The canonicity of the Old Testament books does not -rest on such evidence as this,[183] and it is hardly worth while to -pursue it further. That the Book of Daniel was regarded as authentic -by Josephus is clear; but this by no means decides its date or -authorship. It is one of the very few books of which Philo makes no -mention whatever. - -V. Nor can the supposed traces of the early existence of the Book be -considered adequate to prove its genuineness. With the most important -of these, the story of Josephus (_Antt._, XI. viii. 5) that the high -priest Jaddua showed to Alexander the Great the prophecies of Daniel -respecting himself, we shall deal later. The alleged traces of the Book -in Ecclesiasticus are very uncertain, or rather wholly questionable; -and the allusion to Daniel in 1 Macc. ii. 60 decides nothing, because -there is nothing to prove that the speech of the dying Mattathias is -authentic, and because we know nothing certain as to the date of the -Greek translator of that book or of the Book of Daniel. The absence of -all allusion to the _prophecies_ of Daniel is, on the other hand, a -far more cogent point against the authenticity. Whatever be the date -of the Books of Maccabees, it is inconceivable that they should offer -no vestige of proof that Judas and his brothers received any hope or -comfort from such explicit predictions as Dan. xi., had the Book been -in the hands of those pious and noble chiefs. - -The First Book of Maccabees cannot be certainly dated more than -a century before Christ, nor have we reason to believe that the -Septuagint version of the Book is much older.[184] - -VI. The badness of the Alexandrian version, and the apocryphal -additions to it, seem to be rather an argument for the late age and -less established authority of the Book than for its genuineness.[185] -Nor can we attach much weight to the assertion (though it is endorsed -by the high authority of Bishop Westcott) that "it is far more -difficult to explain its composition in the Maccabean period than to -meet the peculiarities which it exhibits with the exigencies of the -Return." So far is this from being the case that, as we have seen -already, it resembles in almost every particular the acknowledged -productions of the age in which we believe it to have been written. -Many of the statements made on this subject by those who defend the -authenticity cannot be maintained. Thus Hengstenberg[186] remarks that -(1) "at this time the Messianic hopes are dead," and (2) "that no great -literary work appeared between the Restoration from the Captivity and -the time of Christ." Now the facts are _precisely the reverse in each -instance_. For (i) the little book called the Psalms of Solomon,[187] -which belongs to this period, contains _the strongest and clearest -Messianic hopes_, and the Book of Enoch most closely resembles Daniel -in its Messianic predictions. Thus it speaks of the pre-existence of -the Messiah (xlviii. 6, lxii. 7), of His sitting on a throne of glory -(lv. 4, lxi. 8), and receiving the power of rule. - -(ii) Still less can we attach any force to Hengstenberg's argument -that, in the Maccabean age, the gift of prophecy was believed to -have departed for ever. Indeed, that is an argument in favour of the -pseudonymity of the Book. For in the age at which--for purposes of -literary form--it is represented as having appeared the spirit of -prophecy was far from being dead. Ezekiel was still living, or had -died but recently. Zechariah, Haggai, and long afterwards Malachi, -were still to continue the succession of the mighty prophets of their -race. Now, if prediction be an element in the prophet's work, no -prophet, nor all the prophets together, ever distantly approached -any such power of minutely foretelling the events of a distant -future--even the half-meaningless and all-but-trivial events of four -centuries later, in kingdoms which had not yet thrown their distant -shadows on the horizon--as that which Daniel must have possessed, if -he were indeed the author of this Book.[188] Yet, as we have seen, he -never thinks of claiming the functions of the prophets, or speaking -in the prophet's commanding voice, as the foreteller of the message -of God. On the contrary, he adopts the comparatively feebler and more -entangled methods of the literary composers in an age when men saw -not their tokens and there was no prophet more.[189] - -We must postpone a closer examination of the questions as to the -"four kingdoms" intended by the writer, and of his curious and -enigmatic chronological calculations; but we must reject at once the -monstrous assertion--excusable in the days of Sir Isaac Newton, but -which has now become unwise and even portentous--that "to reject -Daniel's prophecies would be to undermine the Christian religion, -_which is all but founded on his prophecies respecting Christ_"! -Happily the Christian religion is not built on such foundations of -sand. Had it been so, it would long since have been swept away by -the beating rain and the rushing floods. Here, again, the arguments -urged by those who believe in the authenticity of Daniel recoil with -tenfold force upon themselves. Sir Isaac Newton's observations on the -prophecies of Daniel only show how little transcendent genius in one -domain of inquiry can save a great thinker from absolute mistakes in -another. In writing upon prophecy the great astronomer was writing -on the assumption of baseless premisses which he had drawn from -stereotyped tradition; and he was also writing at an epoch when the -elements for the final solution of the problem had not as yet been -discovered or elaborated. It is as certain that, had he been living -now, he would have accepted the conclusion of all the ablest and -most candid inquirers, as it is certain that Bacon, had he now been -living, would have accepted the Copernican theory. It is _absurdly_ -false to say that "the Christian religion is all but founded on -Daniel's prophecies respecting Christ." If it were not absurdly -false, we might well ask, How it came that neither Christ nor His -Apostles ever once alluded to the existence of any such argument, or -ever pointed to the Book of Daniel and the prophecy of the seventy -weeks as containing the least germ of evidence in favour of Christ's -mission or the Gospel teaching? No such argument is remotely alluded -to till long afterwards by some of the Fathers. - -But so far from finding any _agreement_ in the opinions of the -Christian Fathers and commentators on a subject which, in Newton's -view, was so momentous, we only find ourselves weltering in a chaos of -uncertainties and contradictions. Thus Eusebius records the attempt of -some early Christian commentators to treat the _last_ of the seventy -weeks as representing, not, like all the rest, seven years, but seventy -years, in order to bring down the prophecy to the days of Trajan! -Neither Jewish nor Christian exegetes have ever been able to come to -the least agreement between themselves or with one another as to the -beginning or end--the _terminus a quo_ or the _terminus ad quem_--with -reference to which the seventy weeks are to be reckoned. The Christians -naturally made great efforts to make the seventy weeks end with the -Crucifixion. But Julius Africanus[190] ([+] A.D. 232), beginning with -the twentieth year of Artaxerxes (Neh. ii. 1-9, B.C. 444), gets only -four hundred and seventy-five to the Crucifixion, and to escape the -difficulty makes the years _lunar_ years.[191] - -Hippolytus[192] separates the last week from all the rest, and -relegates it to the days of Antichrist and the end of the world. -Eusebius himself refers "the anointed one" to the line of Jewish -high priests, separates the last week from the others, ends it with -the fourth year after the Crucifixion, and refers the ceasing of -the sacrifice (Deut. ix. 27) to the rejection of Jewish sacrifices -by God after the death of Christ. Apollinaris makes the seventy -weeks begin with the birth of Christ, and argues that Elijah and -Antichrist were to appear A.D. 490! None of these views found -general acceptance.[193] Not one of them was sanctioned by Church -authority. Every one, as Jerome says, argued in this direction or -that _pro captu ingenii sui_. The climax of arbitrariness is reached -by Keil--the last prominent defender of the so-called "orthodoxy" of -criticism--when he makes the weeks not such commonplace things as -"earthly chronological weeks," but Divine, symbolic, and therefore -unknown and unascertainable periods. And are we to be told that it -is on such fantastic, self-contradictory, and mutually refuting -calculations that "the Christian religion is all but founded"? Thank -God, the assertion is entirely wild. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[176] Haevernick is another able and sincere supporter; but Droysen -truly says (_Gesch. d. Hellenismus_, ii. 211), "Die Haevernickschen -Auffassung kann kein vernunftiger Mensch bestimmen." - -[177] See Grimm, _Comment., zum I. Buch der Makk., Einleit._, -xvii.; Moevers in _Bonner Zeitschr._, Heft 13, pp. 31 ff.; Staehelin, -_Einleit._, p. 356. - -[178] Iren., _Adv. Haeres._, iv. 25; Clem., _Strom._ i. 21, Sec. 146; -Tert., _De Cult. Faem._, i. 3; Jerome, _Adv. Helv._, 7; Ps. August., -_De Mirab._, ii. 32, etc. - -[179] _Baba Bathra_, f. 13_b_, 14_b_. - -[180] See Oehler, _s.v._ "Kanon" (Herzog, _Encycl._). - -[181] Rau, _De Synag. Magna._, ii. 66. - -[182] _On Daniel_, p. 195. - -[183] "Even after the Captivity," says Bishop Westcott, "the history of -the Canon, like all Jewish history up to the date of the Maccabees, is -wrapped in great obscurity. Faint traditions alone remain to interpret -results which are found realised when the darkness is first cleared -away" (_s.v._ "Canon," Smith's _Dict. of Bible_). - -[184] See Koenig, _Einleit._, Sec. 80, 2. - -[185] "In propheta Daniele Septuaginta interpretes multum ab Hebraica -veritate discordant" (Jerome, _ed._ Vallarsi, v. 646). In the LXX. are -first found the three apocryphal additions. For this reason the version -of Theodotion was substituted for the LXX., which latter was only -rediscovered in 1772 in a manuscript in the library of Cardinal Chigi. - -[186] _On the Authenticity of Daniel_, pp. 159, 290 (E. Tr.). - -[187] Psalms of Sol. xvii. 36, xviii. 8, etc. See Fabric., _Cod. -Pseudep._, i. 917-972; Ewald, _Gesch. d. Volkes Isr._, iv. 244. - -[188] Even Auberlen says (_Dan._, p. 3, E. Tr.), "If prophecy is -anywhere a history of the future, it is here." - -[189] See Vitringa, _De defectu Prophetiae post Malachiae tempora Obss. -Sacr._, ii. 336. - -[190] _Demonstr. Evang._, viii. - -[191] Of the Jews, the LXX. translators seem to make the seventy -weeks end with Antiochus Epiphanes; but in Jerome's day they made -the first year of "Darius the Mede" the _terminus a quo_, and -brought down the _terminus ad quem_ to Hadrian's destruction of the -Temple. Saadia the Gaon and Rashi reckon the seventy weeks from -Nebuchadrezzar to Titus, and make Cyrus the anointed one of ix. 25. -Abn Ezra, on the other hand, takes Nehemiah for "the anointed one." -What can be based on such varying and undemonstrable guesses? See -Behrmann, _Dan._, p. xliii. - -[192] Hippolytus, _Fragm. in Dan._ (Migne, _Patr. Graec._, x.). - -[193] See Bevan, pp. 141-145. - - - - - CHAPTER IX - - _EXTERNAL EVIDENCE AND RECEPTION INTO - THE CANON_ - - -The reception of the Book of Daniel anywhere into the Canon might be -regarded as an argument in favour of its authenticity, if the case -of the Books of Jonah and Ecclesiastes did not sufficiently prove -that canonicity, while it does constitute a proof of the value and -sacred significance of a book, has no weight as to its traditional -authorship. But in point of fact the position assigned by the Jews to -the Book of Daniel--not among the Prophets, where, had the Book been -genuine, it would have had a supreme right to stand, but only with -the Book of Esther, among the latest of the Hagiographa[194]--is a -strong argument for its late date. The division of the Old Testament -into Law, Prophets, and Hagiographa first occurs in the Prologue -to Ecclesiasticus (about B.C. 131)--"the Law, the Prophecies, and -the rest of the books."[195] In spite of its peculiarities, its -prophetic claims among those who accepted it as genuine were so -strong that the LXX. and the later translations unhesitatingly reckon -the author among the four greater prophets. If the Daniel of the -Captivity had written this Book, he would have had a far greater -claim to this position among the prophets than Haggai, Malachi, or -the later Zechariah. Yet the Jews deliberately placed the Book among -the _Kethubim_, to the writers of which they indeed ascribe the Holy -Spirit (_Ruach Hakkodesh_), but whom they did not credit with the -higher degree of prophetic inspiration. Josephus expresses the Jewish -conviction that, since the days of Artaxerxes onwards, the writings -which had appeared had not been deemed worthy of the same reverence -as those which had preceded them, because there had occurred no -unquestionable succession of prophets.[196] The Jews who thus decided -the true nature of the Book of Daniel must surely have been guided -by strong traditional, critical, historical, or other grounds for -denying (as they did) to the author the gift of prophecy. Theodoret -denounces this as "shameless impudence" [Greek: anaischyntian] on -their part;[197] but may it not rather have been fuller knowledge or -simple honesty? At any rate, on any other grounds it would have been -strange indeed of the Talmudists to decide that the most minutely -predictive of the prophets--if indeed this _were_ a prophecy--wrote -_without_ the gift of prophecy.[198] It can only have been the late -and suspected appearance of the Book, and its marked phenomena, which -led to its relegation to the lowest place in the Jewish Canon. -Already in 1 Macc. iv. 46 we find that the stones of the demolished -pagan altar are kept "until there should arise a prophet to show what -should be done with them"; and in 1 Macc. xiv. 41 we again meet the -phrase "until there should arise a faithful prophet." Before this -epoch there is no trace of the existence of the Book of Daniel, and -not only so, but the prophecies of the post-exilic prophets as to the -future contemplate a wholly different horizon and a wholly different -order of events. Had Daniel existed before the Maccabean epoch, it is -impossible that the rank of the Book should have been deliberately -ignored. The Jewish Rabbis of the age in which it appeared saw, quite -correctly, that it had points of affinity with other pseudepigraphic -apocalypses which arose in the same epoch. The Hebrew scholar Dr. -Joel has pointed out how, amid its immeasurable superiority to -such a poem as the enigmatic Cassandra of the Alexandrian poet -Lycophron,[199] it resembles that book in its _indirectness_ of -nomenclature. Lycophron is one of the pleiad of poets in the days of -Ptolemy Philadelphus; but his writings, like the Book before us, have -probably received interpolations from later hands. He never calls a -god or a hero by his name, but always describes him by a periphrasis, -just as here we have "the King of the North" and "the King of the -South," though the name "Egypt" slips in (Dan. xi. 8). Thus Hercules -is "a three-nights' lion" ([Greek: triesperos leon]), and Alexander -the Great is "a wolf." A son is always "an offshoot" ([Greek: -phityma]), or is designated by some other metaphor. When Lycophron -wants to allude to Rome, the Greek [Greek: Rhome] is used in its -sense of "strength." The name Ptolemaios becomes by anagram [Greek: -apo melitos], "from honey"; and the name Arsinoe becomes [Greek: ion -Heras], "the violet of Hera." We may find some resemblances to these -procedures when we are considering the eleventh chapter of Daniel. - -It is a serious abuse of argument to pretend, as is done by -Hengstenberg, by Dr. Pusey, and by many of their feebler followers, -that "there are few books whose Divine authority is so fully -established by the testimony of the New Testament, and in particular -by our Lord Himself, as the Book of Daniel."[200] It is to the -last degree dangerous, irreverent, and unwise to stake the Divine -authority of our Lord on the maintenance of those ecclesiastical -traditions of which so many have been scattered to the winds for -ever. Our Lord, on one occasion, in the discourse on the Mount -of Olives, warned His disciples that, "when they should see the -abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing -in the holy place, they should flee from Jerusalem into the mountain -district."[201] There is nothing to prove that He Himself uttered -either the words "_let him that readeth understand_," or even -"_spoken of by Daniel the prophet_." Both of those may belong to -the explanatory narrative of the Evangelist, and the latter does -not occur in St. Mark. Further, in St. Luke (xxi. 20) there is _no_ -specific allusion to Daniel at all; but instead of it we find, -"When ye see Jerusalem being encircled by armies, then know that -its desolation is near." We cannot be certain that the specific -reference to Daniel may not be due to the Evangelist. But without -so much as raising these questions, it is fully admitted that, -whether exactly in its present form or not, the Book of Daniel formed -part of the Canon in the days of Christ. If He directly refers to -it as a book known to His hearers, His reference lies as wholly -outside all questions of genuineness and authenticity as does St. -Jude's quotation from the Book of Enoch, or St. Paul's (possible) -allusions to the Assumption of Elijah,[202] or Christ's own passing -reference to the Book of Jonah. Those who attempt to drag in these -allusions as decisive critical dicta transfer them to a sphere wholly -different from that of the moral application for which they were -intended. They not only open vast and indistinct questions as to the -self-imposed limitations of our Lord's human knowledge as part of His -own voluntary "emptying Himself of His glory," but they also do a -deadly disservice to the most essential cause of Christianity.[203] -The only thing which is acceptable to the God of truth is truth; and -since He has given us our reason and our conscience as lights which -light every man who is born into the world, we must walk by these -lights in all questions which belong to these domains. History, -literature and criticism, and the interpretation of human language -do belong to the domain of pure reason; and we must not be bribed -by the misapplication of hypothetical exegesis to give them up for -the support of traditional views which advancing knowledge no longer -suffers us to maintain. It may be true or not that our Lord adopted -the title "Son of Man" (_Bar Enosh_) from the Book of Daniel; -but even if He did, which is at least disputable, that would only -show, what we all already admit, that in His time the Book was an -acknowledged part of the Canon. On the other hand, if our Lord and -His Apostles regarded the Book of Daniel as containing the most -explicit prophecies of Himself and of His kingdom, why did they never -appeal or even allude to it to prove that He was the promised Messiah? - -Again, Hengstenberg and his school try to prove that the Book of -Daniel existed before the Maccabean age, because Josephus says that -the high priest Jaddua showed to Alexander the Great, in the year -B.C. 332, the prophecy of himself as the Grecian he-goat in the Book -of Daniel; and that the leniency which Alexander showed towards the -Jews was due to the favourable impression thus produced.[204] - -The story, which is a beautiful and an interesting one, runs as -follows:-- - -On his way from Tyre, after capturing Gaza, Alexander decided to -advance to Jerusalem. The news threw Jaddua the high priest into an -agony of alarm. He feared that the king was displeased with the Jews, -and would inflict severe vengeance upon them. He ordered a general -supplication with sacrifices, and was encouraged by God in a dream to -decorate the city, throw open the gates, and go forth in procession -at the head of priests and people to meet the dreaded conqueror. The -procession, so unlike that of any other nation, went forth as soon as -they heard that Alexander was approaching the city. They met the king -on the summit of Scopas, the watch-tower--the height of Mizpah, from -which the first glimpse of the city is obtained. It is the famous -Blanca Guarda of the Crusaders, on the summit of which Richard I. -turned away, and did not deem himself worthy to glance at the city -which he was too weak to rescue from the infidel. The Phoenicians and -Chaldeans in Alexander's army promised themselves that they would -now be permitted to plunder the city and torment the high priest -to death. But it happened far otherwise. For when the king saw the -white-robed procession approaching, headed by Jaddua in his purple -and golden array, and wearing on his head the golden _petalon_, with -its inscription "Holiness to Jehovah," he advanced, saluted the -priest, and adored the Divine Name. The Jews encircled and saluted -him with unanimous greeting, while the King of Syria and his other -followers fancied that he must be distraught. "How is it," asked -Parmenio, "that you, whom all others adore, yourself adore the Jewish -high priest?" "I did not adore the high priest," said Alexander, "but -God, by whose priesthood He has been honoured. When I was at Dium in -Macedonia, meditating on the conquest of Asia, I saw this very man in -this same apparel, who invited me to march boldly and without delay, -and that he would conduct me to the conquest of the Persians." Then -he took Jaddua by the hand, and in the midst of the rejoicing priests -entered Jerusalem, where he sacrificed to God.[205] Jaddua showed him -the prediction about himself in the Book of Daniel, and in extreme -satisfaction he granted to the Jews, at the high priest's request, -all the petitions which they desired of him. - -But this story, so grateful to Jewish vanity, is a transparent fiction. -It does not find the least support from any other historic source, -and is evidently one of the Jewish _Haggadoth_ in which the intense -national self-exaltation of that strange nation delighted to depict -the homage which they, and their national religion, extorted from the -supernaturally caused dread of the greatest heathen potentates. In this -respect it resembles the earlier chapters of the Book of Daniel itself, -and the numberless stories of the haughty superiority of great Rabbis -to kings and emperors in which the Talmud delights. Roman Catholic -historians, like Jahn and Hess, and older writers, like Prideaux,[206] -accept the story, even when they reject the fable about Sanballat -and the Temple on Gerizim which follows it. Stress is naturally laid -upon it by apologists like Hengstenberg; but an historian like Grote -does not vouchsafe to notice it by a single word, and most modern -writers reject it. The Bishop of Bath and Wells thinks that these -stories are "probably derived from some apocryphal book of Alexandrian -growth, in which chronology and history gave way to romance and Jewish -vanity."[207] All the historians except Josephus say that Alexander -went straight from Gaza to Egypt, and make no mention of Jerusalem or -Samaria; and Alexander was by no means "adored" by all men at that -period of his career, for he never received [Greek: proskynesis] till -after his conquest of Persia. Nor can we account for the presence of -"Chaldeans" in his army at this time, for Chaldea was then under the -rule of Babylon. Besides which, Daniel was expressly bidden, as Bleek -observes, to "seal up his prophecy till the time of the end"; and the -"time of the end" was certainly not the era of Alexander,--not to -mention the circumstance that Alexander, if the prophecies were pointed -out to him at all, would hardly have been content with the single verse -or two about himself, and would have been anything but gratified by -what immediately follows.[208] - -I pass over as meaningless Hengstenberg's arguments in favour of the -genuineness of the Book from the predominance of symbolism; from the -moderation of tone towards Nebuchadrezzar; from the political gifts -shown by the writer; and from his prediction that the Messianic Kingdom -would at once appear after the death of Antiochus Epiphanes! When -we are told that these circumstances "can only be explained on the -assumption of a Babylonian origin"; that "they are directly opposed -to the spirit of the Maccabean time"; that the artifice with which -the writing is pervaded, supposing it to be a pseudepigraphic book, -"far surpasses the powers of the most gifted poet"; and that "such a -distinct expectation of the near advent of the Messianic Kingdom is -utterly without analogy in the whole of prophetic literature,"--such -arguments can only be regarded as appeals to ignorance. They are -either assertions which float in the air, or are disproved at once -alike by the canonical prophets and by the apocryphal literature of -the Maccabean age. Symbolism is the distinguishing characteristic of -apocalypses, and is found in those of the late post-exilic period. -The views of the Jews about Nebuchadrezzar varied. Some writers were -partially favourable to him, others were severe upon him. It does not -in the least follow that a writer during the Antiochian persecution, -who freely adapted traditional or imaginative elements, should -necessarily represent the old potentates as irredeemably wicked, even -if he meant to satirise Epiphanes in the story of their extravagances. -It was necessary for his purpose to bring out the better features of -their characters, in order to show the conviction wrought in them by -Divine interpositions. The notion that the Book of Daniel could only -have been written by a statesman or a consummate politician is mere -fancy. And, lastly, in making the Messianic reign begin immediately at -the close of the Seleucid persecution, the writer both expresses his -own faith and hope, and follows the exact analogy of Isaiah and all the -other Messianic prophets. - -But though it is common with the prophets to pass at once from the -warnings of destruction to the hopes of a Messianic Kingdom which is -to arise immediately beyond the horizon which limits their vision, -it is remarkable--and the consideration tells strongly against the -authenticity of Daniel--that not one of them had the least glimpse -of the four successive kingdoms or of the four hundred and ninety -years;--not even those prophets _who, if the Book of Daniel were -genuine, must have had it in their hands_. To imagine that Daniel -took means to have his Book left undiscovered for some four hundred -years, and then brought to light during the Maccabean struggle, is -a grotesque impossibility. If the Book existed, it must have been -known. Yet not only is there no real trace of its existence before -B.C. 167, but the post-exilic prophets pay no sort of regard to -its detailed predictions, and were evidently unaware that any such -predictions had ever been uttered. What room is there for Daniel's -four empires and four hundred and ninety years in such a prophecy -as Zech. ii. 6-13? The pseudepigraphic Daniel possibly took the -symbolism of four horns from Zech. i. 18, 19; but there is not -the slightest connexion between Zechariah's symbol and that of -the pseudo-Daniel. If the number four in Zechariah be not a mere -number of completeness with reference to the four quarters of the -world (comp. Zech. i. 18), the four horns symbolise either Assyria, -Babylonia, Egypt, and Persia, or more generally the nations which -had then scattered Israel (Zech. ii. 8, vi. 1-8; Ezek. xxxvii. 9); -so that the following promise does not even contemplate a victorious -succession of heathen powers. Again, what room is there for Daniel's -four successive pagan empires in any natural interpretation of -Haggai's "yet a little while and I will shake all nations" (Hag. ii. -7), and in the promise that this shaking shall take place in the -lifetime of Zerubbabel (Hag. ii. 20-23)? And can we suppose that -Malachi wrote that the messenger of the Lord should "suddenly" come -to His Temple with such prophecies as those of Daniel before him?[209] - -But if it be thought extraordinary that a pseudepigraphic prophecy -should have been admitted into the Canon at all, even when placed low -among the _Kethubim_, and if it be argued that the Jews would never -have conferred such an honour on such a composition, the answer is -that even when compared with such fine books as those of Wisdom and -Jesus the Son of Sirach, the Book has a right to such a place by its -intrinsic superiority. Taken as a whole it is far superior in moral -and spiritual instructiveness to any of the books of the Apocrypha. -It was profoundly adapted to meet the needs of the age in which it -originated. It was in its favour that it was written partly in Hebrew -as well as in Aramaic, and it came before the Jewish Church under the -sanction of a famous ancient name which was partly at least traditional -and historical. There is nothing astonishing in the fact that in an -age in which literature was rare and criticism unknown it soon came -to be accepted as genuine. Similar phenomena are quite common in -much later and more comparatively learned ages. One or two instances -will suffice. Few books have exercised a more powerful influence on -Christian literature than the spurious letters of Ignatius and the -pseudo-Clementines. They were accepted, and their genuineness was -defended for centuries; yet in these days no sane critic would imperil -his reputation by an attempt to defend their genuineness. The book -of the pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite was regarded as genuine and -authoritative down to the days of the Reformation, and the author -professes to have seen the supernatural darkness of the Crucifixion; -yet "Dionysius the Areopagite" did not write before A.D. 532! The power -of the Papal usurpation was mainly built on the Forged Decretals, -and for centuries no one ventured to question the genuineness and -authenticity of those gross forgeries, till Laurentius Valla exposed -the cheat and flung the tatters of the Decretals to the winds. In the -eighteenth century Ireland could deceive even the acutest critics -into the belief that his paltry Vortigern was a rediscovered play -of Shakespeare; and a Cornish clergyman wrote a ballad which even -Macaulay took for a genuine production of the reign of James II. Those -who read the Book of Daniel in the light of Seleucid and Ptolemaic -history saw that the writer was well acquainted with the events of -those days, and that his words were full of hope, consolation, and -instruction. After a certain lapse of time they were in no position to -estimate the many indications that by no possibility could the Book -have been written in the days of the Babylonian Exile; nor had it yet -become manifest that all the detailed knowledge stops short with the -close of the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes. The enigmatical character -of the Book, and the varying elements of its calculations, led later -commentators into the error that the fourth beast and the iron legs -of the image stood for the Roman Empire, so that they did not expect -the Messianic reign at the close of the Greek Empire, which, in the -prediction, it immediately succeeds.[210] - -How late was the date before the Jewish Canon was finally settled we -see from the Talmudic stories that but for Hananiah ben-Hizkiah, with -the help of his three hundred bottles of oil burnt in nightly studies, -even the Book of Ezekiel would have been suppressed, as being contrary -to the Law (_Shabbath_, f. 13, 2); and that but for the mystic line of -interpretation adopted by Rabbi Aqiba (A.D. 120) a similar fate might -have befallen the Song of Songs (_Yaddayim_, c. iii.; _Mish._, 5). - -There is, then, the strongest reason to adopt the conclusion that the -Book of Daniel was the production of one of the _Chasidim_ towards -the beginning of the Maccabean struggle, and that its immediate -object was to warn the Jews against the apostasies of commencing -Hellenism. It was meant to encourage the faithful, who were waging -a fierce battle against Greek influences and against the mighty -and persecuting heathen forces by which they were supported.[211] -Although the writer's knowledge of history up to the time of -Alexander the Great is vague and erroneous, and his knowledge of -the period which followed Antiochus entirely nebulous, on the other -hand his acquaintance with the period of Antiochus Epiphanes is so -extraordinarily precise as to furnish our chief information on some -points of that king's reign. Guided by these indications, it is -perhaps possible to fix the exact year and month in which the Book -saw the light--namely, about January B.C. 164.[212] - -From Dan. viii. 14 it seems that the author had lived till the -cleansing of the Temple after its pollution by the Seleucid King (1 -Macc. iv. 42-58). For though the Maccabean uprising is only called -"a little help" (xi. 34), this is in comparison with the splendid -future triumph and epiphany to which he looked forward. It is -sufficiently clear from 1 Macc. v. 15, 16, that the Jews, even after -the early victories of Judas, were in evil case, and that the nominal -adhesion of many Hellenising Jews to the national cause was merely -hypocritical (Dan. xi. 34). - -Now the Temple was dedicated on December 25th, B.C. 165; and the -Book appeared before the death of Antiochus, which the writer -expected to happen at the end of the seventy weeks, or, as he -calculated them, in June 164. The king did not actually die till the -close of 164 or the beginning of 163 (1 Macc. vi. 1-16).[213] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[194] Jacob Perez of Valentia accounted for this by the hatred of the -Jews for Christianity! (Diestel, _Gesch. d. A.T._, p. 211). - -[195] Comp. Luke xxiv. 44; Acts xxviii. 23; Philo, _De Vit. Cont._, -3. See Oehler in Herzog, _s.v._ "Kanon." - -[196] _Jos. c. Ap._, I. 8. - -[197] _Opp._ ed. Migne, ii. 1260: [Greek: Eis tosauten anaischyntian -elasan hos kai tou chorou ton propheton touton aposchoinizein.] He -may well add, on his view of the date, [Greek: ei gar tauta tes -propheteias allotria, tina propheteias ta idia]; - -[198] _Megilla_, 3, 1. Josephus, indeed, regards apocalyptic visions -as the highest form of prophecy (_Antt._, X. xi. 7); but the great -Rabbis Kimchi, Maimonides, Joseph Albo, etc., are strongly against -him. See Behrmann, p. xxxix. - -[199] It has been described as "ein Versteck fuer Belesenheit, und ein -grammatischer Monstrum." - -[200] Hengstenberg, p. 209. - -[201] Matt. xxiv. 15; Mark xiii. 14. - -[202] 1 Cor. ii. 9; Eph. v. 11. - -[203] Hengstenberg's reference to 1 Peter i. 10-12, 1 Thess. ii. 3, 1 -Cor. vi. 2, Heb. xi. 12, deserve no further notice. - -[204] Jos., _Antt._, XI. viii. 5. - -[205] There is nothing to surprise us in this circumstance, for -Ptolemy III. (_Jos. c. Ap._, II. 5) and Antiochus VII. (Sidetes, -_Antt._, XIII. viii. 2), Marcus Agrippa (_id._, XVI. ii. 1), and -Vitellius (_id._, XVIII. v. 3) are said to have done the same. Comp. -Suet., _Aug._, 93; Tert., _Apolog._, 6; and other passages adduced by -Schuerer, i., Sec. 24. - -[206] Jahn, _Hebr. Commonwealth_, Sec. 71; Hess, _Gesch._, ii. 37; -Prideaux, _Connection_, i. 540 ff. - -[207] _Dict. of Bible_, _s.v._ "Jaddua." See Schuerer, i. 187; Van -Dale, _Dissert. de LXX. Interpr._, 68 ff. - -[208] This part of the story is a mere doublet of that about Cyrus -and the prophecies of Isaiah (_Antt._, XI. i. 2). - -[209] Mal. iii. 1. LXX., [Greek: exaiphnes]; Vulg., _statim_; but it -is rather "unawares" (_unversehens_). - -[210] That the fourth empire could not be the Roman has _long_ been -seen by many critics, as far back as Grotius, L'Empereur, Chamier, J. -Voss, Bodinus, Becmann, etc. (Diestel, _Gesch. A. T._, p. 523). - -[211] See Hamburger, _Real-Encycl._, _s.v._ "Geheimlehre," ii. 265. -The "Geheimlehre" (Heb., _Sithri Thorah_) embraces a whole region of -Jewish literature, of which the Book of Daniel forms the earliest -beginning. See Dan. xii. 4-9. The phrases of Dan. vii. 22 are common -in the _Zohar_. - -[212] "Ploetzlich bei Antiochus IV. angekommen hoert alle seine -Wissenschaft auf, so dass wir, den Kalendar in den Hand, _fast den -Tag angeben koennen_ wo dies oder jenes niedergeschrieben worden ist" -(Reuss, _Gesch. d. Heil. Schrift._, Sec. 464). - -[213] For arguments in favour of this view see Cornill, _Theol. Stud. -aus Ostpreussen_, 1889, pp. 1-32, and _Einleit._, p. 261. He reckons -twelve generations, sixty-nine "weeks," from the destruction of -Jerusalem to the murder of the high priest Onias III. - - - - - CHAPTER X - - _SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION_ - - -The contents of the previous sections may be briefly summarised. - -I. The objections to the authenticity and genuineness of Daniel do not -arise, as is falsely asserted, from any _a-priori_ objection to admit -to the full the reality either of miracles or of genuine prediction. -Hundreds of critics who have long abandoned the attempt to maintain the -early date of Daniel believe both in miracles and prophecy. - -II. The grounds for regarding the Book as a pseudepigraph are many -and striking. The very Book which would most stand in need of -overwhelming evidence in its favour is the one which furnishes the -most decisive arguments against itself, and has the least external -testimony in its support. - -III. The historical errors in which it abounds tell overwhelmingly -against it. There was no deportation in the third year of Jehoiakim; -there was no King Belshazzar; the Belshazzar son of Nabunaid was not -a son of Nebuchadrezzar; the names Nebuchad_n_ezzar and Abed-nego are -erroneous in form; there was no "Darius the Mede" who preceded Cyrus -as king and conqueror of Babylon, though there was a later Darius, -the son of Hystaspes, who conquered Babylon; the demands and decrees -of Nebuchadrezzar are unlike anything which we find in history, and -show every characteristic of the Jewish Haggada; and the notion that a -faithful Jew could become President of the Chaldean Magi is impossible. -It is not true that there were only two Babylonian kings--there were -five: nor were there only four Persian kings--there were twelve. -Xerxes seems to be confounded alike with Darius Hystaspis and Darius -Codomannus as the last king of Persia. All correct accounts of the -reign, even of Antiochus Epiphanes, seem to end about B.C. 164, and the -indications in vii. 11-14, viii. 25, xi. 40-45, do not seem to accord -with the historic realities of the time indicated. - -IV. The philological peculiarities of the Book are no less unfavourable -to its genuineness. The Hebrew is pronounced by the majority of -experts to be of a later character than the time assumed for it. The -Aramaic is not the Babylonian East-Aramaic, but the later Palestinian -West-Aramaic. The word _Kasdim_ is used for "diviners," whereas at the -period of the Exile it was a national name. Persian words and titles -occur in the decrees attributed to Nebuchadrezzar. At least three Greek -words occur, of which one is certainly of late origin, and is known to -have been a favourite instrument with Antiochus Epiphanes. - -V. There are no traces of the existence of the Book before the second -century B.C.,[214] although there are abundant traces of the other -books--Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the Second Isaiah--which belong to the period -of the Exile. Even in Ecclesiasticus, while Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, -and the twelve Minor Prophets are mentioned (Ecclus. xlviii. 20-25, -xlix. 6-10), not a syllable is said about Daniel, and that although -the writer erroneously regards prophecy as mainly concerned with -_prediction_. Jesus, son of Sirach, even goes out of his way to say -that no man like Joseph had risen since Joseph's time, though the story -of Daniel repeatedly recalls that of Joseph, and though, if Dan. i.-vi. -had been authentic history, Daniel's work was far more marvellous and -decisive, and his faithfulness more striking and continuous, than that -of Joseph. The earliest trace of the Book is in an imaginary speech of -a book written about B.C. 100 (1 Macc. ii. 59, 60). - -VI. The Book was admitted by the Jews into the Canon; but so far -from being placed where, if genuine, it would have had a right to -stand--among the four Great Prophets---it does not even receive -a place among the twelve Minor Prophets, such as is accorded to -the much shorter and far inferior Book of Jonah. It is relegated -to the _Kethubim_, side by side with such a book as Esther. If it -originated during the Babylonian Exile, Josephus might well speak -of its "undeviating prophetic accuracy."[215] Yet this absolutely -unparalleled and even unapproached foreteller of the minute future is -not allowed by the Jews any place at all in their prophetic Canon! -In the LXX. it is treated with remarkable freedom, and a number of -other _Haggadoth_ are made a part of it. It resembles Old Testament -literature in very few respects, and all its peculiarities are such -as abound in the later apocalypses and Apochrypha.[216] Philo, though -he quotes so frequently both from the Prophets and the Hagiographa, -does not even allude to the Book of Daniel. - -VII. Its author seems to accept for himself the view of his age that -the spirit of genuine prophecy had departed for evermore.[217] He -speaks of himself as a student of the older prophecies, and alludes -to the Scriptures as an authoritative Canon--_Hassepharim_, "_the_ -books." His views and practices as regards three daily prayers -towards Jerusalem (vi. 11); the importance attached to Levitical -rules about food (i. 8-21); the expiatory and other value attached -to alms and fasting (iv. 24, ix. 3, x. 3); the angelology involving -even the names, distinctions, and rival offices of angels; the form -taken by the Messianic hope; the twofold resurrection of good and -evil,--are all in close accord with the standpoint of the second -century before Christ as shown distinctly in its literature.[218] - -VIII. When we have been led by decisive arguments to admit the real -date of the Book of Daniel, its place among the Hagiographa confirms -all our conclusions. The Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa -represent, as Professor Sanday has pointed out, three layers or -stages in the history of the collection of the Canon. If the Book -of Chronicles was not accepted among the Histories (which were -designated "The Former Prophets"), nor the Book of Daniel among the -Greater or Lesser Prophets, the reason was that, at the date when the -Prophets were formally collected into a division of the Canon, these -books were not yet in existence, or at any rate had not been accepted -on the same level with the other books.[219] - -IX. All these circumstances, and others which have been mentioned, -have come home to earnest, unprejudiced, and profoundly learned critics -with so irresistible a force, and the counter-arguments which are -adduced are so little valid, that the defenders of the genuineness are -now an ever-dwindling body, and many of them can only support their -basis at all by the hypothesis of interpolations or twofold authorship. -Thus C. v. Orelli[220] can only accept a modified genuineness, for -which he scarcely offers a single argument; but even he resorts to the -hypothesis of a late editor in the Maccabean age who put together the -traditions and general prophecies of the real Daniel. He admits that -without such a supposition--by which it does not seem that we gain -much--the Book of Daniel is wholly exceptional, and without a single -analogy in the Old Testament. And he clearly sees that all the rays of -the Book are focussed in the struggle against Antiochus as in their -central point,[221] and that the best commentary on the prophetic -section of the Book is the First Book of Maccabees.[222] - -X. It may then be said with confidence that the critical view has -finally won the day. The human mind will in the end accept that theory -which covers the greatest number of facts, and harmonises best with -the sum-total of knowledge. Now, in regard to the Book of Daniel, -these conditions appear to be far better satisfied by the supposition -that the Book was written in the second century than in the sixth. The -history, imperfect as to the pseudepigraphic date, but very precise -as it approaches B.C. 176-164, the late characteristics which mark -the language, the notable silence respecting the Book from the sixth -to the second century, and its subsequent prominence and the place -which it occupies in the _Kethubim_, are arguments which few candid -minds can resist. The critics of Germany, even the most moderate, such -as Delitzsch, Cornill, Riehm, Strack, C. v. Orelli, Meinhold, are -unanimous as to the late date of, at any rate, the prophetic section of -the Book; and even in the far more conservative criticism of England -there is no shadow of doubt on the subject left in the minds of such -scholars as Driver, Cheyne, Sanday, Bevan, and Robertson Smith. Yet, -so far from detracting from the value of the Book, we add to its real -value and to its accurate apprehension when we regard it, not as the -work of a prophet in the Exile, but of some faithful _Chasid_ in -the days of the Seleucid tyrant, anxious to inspire the courage and -console the sufferings of his countrymen. Thus considered, the Book -presents some analogy to St. Augustine's _City of God_. It sets forth, -in strong outlines, and with magnificent originality and faith, the -contrast between the kingdoms of this world and the kingdoms of our God -and of His Christ, to which the eternal victory has been foreordained -from the foundation of the world. In this respect we must compare it -with the Apocalypse. Antiochus Epiphanes was an anticipated Nero. -And just as the agonies of the Neronian persecutions wrung from the -impassioned spirit of St. John the Divine those visions of glory and -that denunciation of doom, in order that the hearts of Christians in -Rome and Asia might be encouraged to the endurance of martyrdom, and to -the certain hope that the irresistible might of their weakness would -ultimately shake the world, so the folly and fury of Antiochus led the -holy and gifted Jew who wrote the Book of Daniel to set forth a similar -faith, partly in _Haggadoth_, which may, to some extent, have been -drawn from tradition, and partly in prophecies, of which the central -conception was that which all history teaches us--namely, that "for -every false word and unrighteous deed, for cruelty and oppression, for -lust and vanity, the price has to be paid at last, not always by the -chief offenders, but paid by some one. Justice and truth alone endure -and live. Injustice and oppression may be long-lived, but doomsday -comes to them at last."[223] And when that doom has been carried to its -ultimate issues, then begins the Kingdom of the Son of Man, the reign -of God's Anointed, and the inheritance of the earth by the Saints of -God. - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[214] It is alluded to about B.C. 140 in the Sibylline Oracles (iii. -391-416), and in 1 Macc. ii. 59, 60. - -[215] Jos., _Antt._, X. xi. 7. - -[216] Ewald (_Hist. of Israel_, v. 208) thinks that the author had -read Baruch in Hebrew, because Dan. ix. 4-19 is an abbreviation of -Baruch i. 15-ii. 17. - -[217] Psalm lxxiv. 9; 1 Macc. iv. 46, ix. 27, xiv. 41. - -[218] See Cornill, _Einleit._, pp. 257-260. - -[219] Sanday, _Inspiration_, p. 101. The name of "Earlier Prophets" -was given to the two Books of Samuel, of Kings, and of Isaiah, -Jeremiah, and Ezekiel; and the twelve Minor Prophets (the latter -regarded as one book) were called "The Later Prophets." Cornill -places the collection of the Prophets into the Canon about B.C. 250. - -[220] _Alttestament. Weissagung_, pp. 513-530 (Vienna, 1882). - -[221] "Alle strahlen des Buches sich in dieser Epoche als in ihrem -Brennpunkte vereinigen" (C. v. Orelli, p. 514). - -[222] Compare the following passages: Unclean meats, 1 Macc. i. 62-64, -"Many in Israel were fully resolved not to eat any unclean thing," -etc.; 2 Macc. vi. 18-31, vii. 1-42. The decrees of Nebuchadrezzar (Dan. -iii. 4-6) and Darius (Dan. vi. 6-9) with the proceedings of Antiochus -(1 Macc. i. 47-51). Belshazzar's profane use of the Temple vessels -(Dan. v. 2) with 1 Macc. i. 23; 2 Macc. v. 16, etc. - -[223] Froude, _Short Studies_, i. 17. - - - - PART II - - _COMMENTARY ON THE HISTORIC SECTION_ - - - - - - - CHAPTER I - - _THE PRELUDE_ - - "His loyalty he kept, his faith, his love."--MILTON. - - -The first chapter of the Book of Daniel serves as a beautiful -introduction to the whole, and strikes the keynote of faithfulness to -the institutions of Judaism which of all others seemed most important -to the mind of a pious Hebrew in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes. -At a time when many were wavering, and many had lapsed into open -apostasy, the writer wished to set before his countrymen in the most -winning and vivid manner the nobleness and the reward of obeying God -rather than man. - -He had read in 2 Kings xxiv. 1, 2, that Jehoiakim had been a vassal -of Nebuchadrezzar for three years, which were not, however, the -first three years of his reign, and then had rebelled, and been -subdued by "bands of the Chaldeans" and their allies. In 2 Chron. -xxxvi. 6 he read that Nebuchadrezzar had "bound Jehoiakim in fetters -to carry him to Babylon."[224] Combining these two passages, he -seems to have inferred, in the absence of more accurate historical -indications, that the Chaldeans had besieged and captured Jerusalem -in the third year of Jehoiakim. That the date is erroneous there -can hardly be a question, for, as already stated,[225] neither -Jeremiah, the contemporary of Jehoiakim, nor the Book of Kings, nor -any other authority, knows anything of any siege of Jerusalem by the -Babylonian King in the third year of Jehoiakim. The Chronicler, a -very late writer, seems to have heard some tradition that Jehoiakim -had been taken captive, but he does not date this capture; and in -Jehoiakim's third year the king was a vassal, not of Babylon, but of -Egypt. Nabopolassar, not Nebuchadrezzar, was then King of Babylon. -It was not till the following year (B.C. 605), when Nebuchadrezzar, -acting as his father's general, had defeated Egypt at the Battle of -Carchemish, that any siege of Jerusalem would have been possible. -Nor did Nebuchadrezzar advance against the Holy City even after the -Battle of Carchemish, but dashed home across the desert to secure -the crown of Babylon on hearing the news of his father's death. The -only two considerable Babylonian deportations of which we know were -apparently in the eighth and nineteenth years of Nebuchadrezzar's -reign. In the former Jehoiachin was carried captive with ten thousand -citizens (2 Kings xxiv. 14-16; Jer. xxvii. 20); in the latter -Zedekiah was slain, and eight hundred and thirty-two persons carried -to Babylon (Jer. lii. 29; 2 Kings xxv. 11).[226] - -There seems then to be, on the very threshold, every indication of -an historic inaccuracy such as could not have been committed if the -historic Daniel had been the true author of this Book; and we are -able, with perfect clearness, to point to the passages by which -the Maccabean writer was misled into a mistaken inference.[227] To -him, however, as to all Jewish writers, a mere variation in a date -would have been regarded as a matter of the utmost insignificance. -It in no way concerned the high purpose which he had in view, or -weakened the force of his moral fiction. Nor does it in the smallest -degree diminish from the instructiveness of the lessons which he has -to teach to all men for all time. A fiction which is true to human -experience may be as rich in spiritual meaning as a literal history. -Do we degrade the majesty of the Book of Daniel if we regard it as a -_Haggada_ any more than we degrade the story of the Prodigal Son when -we describe it as a Parable? - -The writer proceeds to tell us that, after the siege, -Nebuchadrezzar--whom the historic Daniel could never have called -by the erroneous name Nebuchad_n_ezzar--took Jehoiakim (for this -seems to be implied), with some of the sacred vessels of the Temple -(comp. v. 2, 3), into the land of Shinar,[228] "to the house of his -god." This god, as we learn from Babylonian inscriptions, was Bel or -Bel-merodach, in whose temple, built by Nebuchadrezzar, was also "the -treasure-house of his kingdom."[229] - -Among the captives were certain "of the king's seed, and of the -princes" (_Parthemim_).[230] They were chosen from among such boys as -were pre-eminent for their beauty and intelligence, and the intention -was to train them as pages in the royal service, and also in such a -knowledge of the Chaldean language and literature as should enable -them to take their places in the learned caste of priestly diviners. -Their home was in the vast palace of the Babylonian King, of which -the ruins are now called Kasr. Here they may have seen the hapless -Jehoiachin still languishing in his long captivity. - -They are called "children," and the word, together with the context, -seems to imply that they were boys of the age of from twelve to -fourteen. The king personally handed them over to the care of -Ashpenaz,[231] the Rabsaris, or "master of the eunuchs," who held -the position of lord high chamberlain.[232] It is probably implied -that the boys were themselves made eunuchs, for the incident seems -to be based on the rebuke given by Isaiah to the vain ostentation -of Hezekiah in showing the treasures of his temple and palace to -Merodach-baladan: "Behold the days come, that all that is in thine -house ... shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith -the Lord. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou -shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the -palace of the King of Babylon."[233] - -They were to be trained in the learning (lit. "the book") and -language of Chaldea for three years; at the end of which period they -were to be admitted into the king's presence, that he might see how -they looked and what progress they had made. During those three years -he provided them with a daily maintenance of food and wine from his -table. Those who were thus maintained in Eastern courts were to be -counted by hundreds, and even by thousands, and their position was -often supremely wretched and degraded, as it still is in such Eastern -courts. The wine was probably imported. The food consisted of meat, -game, fish, joints, and wheaten bread. The word used for "provision" -is interesting. It is _path-bag_, and seems to be a transliteration, -or echo of a Persian word, _patibaga_ (Greek [Greek: potibazis]), a -name applied by the historian Deinon (B.C. 340) to barley bread and -"mixed wine in a golden egg from which the king drinks."[234] - -But among these captives were four young Jews named Daniel, Hananiah, -Mishael, and Azariah. - -Their very names were a witness not only to their nationality, but to -their religion. Daniel means "God is my judge"; Hananiah, "Jehovah is -gracious"; Mishael (perhaps), "who is equal to God?"[235] Azariah, -"God is a helper." - -It is hardly likely that the Chaldeans would have tolerated the -use of such names among their young pupils, since every repetition -of them would have sounded like a challenge to the supremacy of -Bel, Merodach, and Nebo. It was a common thing to change names in -heathen courts, as the name of Joseph had been changed by the -Egyptians to Zaphnathpaaneah (Gen. xli. 45), and the Assyrians -changed the name of Psammetichus II. into _Nebo-serib-ani_, "Nebo -save me." They therefore made the names of the boys echo the names -of the Babylonian deities. Instead of "God is my judge," Daniel -was called Belteshazzar, "protect Thou his life."[236] Perhaps the -prayer shows the tender regard in which he was held by Ashpenaz. -Hananiah was called Shadrach, perhaps Shudur-aku, "command of Aku," -the moon-deity; Mishael was called Meshach, a name which we cannot -interpret;[237] and Azariah, instead of "God is a help," was called -Abed-nego, a mistaken form for Abed-nebo, or "servant of Nebo."[238] -Even in this slight incident there may be an allusion to Maccabean -days. It appears that in that epoch the apostate Hellenising Jews -were fond of changing their names into Gentile names, which had a -somewhat similar sound. Thus Joshua was called "Jason," and Onias -"Menelaus."[239] This was done as part of the plan of Antiochus to -force upon Palestine the Greek language. So far the writer may have -thought the practice a harmless one, even though imposed by heathen -potentates. Such certainly was the view of the later Jews, even of -the strictest sect of the Pharisees. Not only did Saul freely adopt -the name of Paul, but Silas felt no scruple in being called by the -name Sylvanus, though that was the name of a heathen deity. - -It was far otherwise with acquiescence in the eating of heathen -meats, which, in the days of the Maccabees, was forced upon many -of the Jews, and which, since the institution or reinstitution of -Levitism after the return from the Exile, had come to be regarded as -a deadly sin. It was during the Exile that such feelings had acquired -fresh intensity. At first they do not seem to have prevailed. -Jehoiachin was a hero among the Jews. They remembered him with -intense love and pity, and it does not seem to have been regarded as -any stain upon his memory that, for years together, he had, almost in -the words of Dan. i. 5, received a daily allowance from the table of -the King of Babylon.[240] - -In the days of Antiochus Epiphanes the ordinary feeling on this subject -was very different, for the religion and nationality of the Jews were -at stake. Hence we read: "Howbeit many in Israel were fully resolved -and confirmed in themselves not to eat any unclean thing. Wherefore -they chose rather to die, that they might not be defiled with meats, -that they might not profane the holy covenant: so then they died."[241] - -And in the Second Book of Maccabees we are told that on the king's -birthday Jews "were constrained by bitter constraint to eat of the -sacrifices," and that Eleazar, one of the principal scribes, an aged -and noble-looking man, preferred rather to be tortured to death, -"leaving his death for an example of noble courage, and a memorial -of value, not only unto young men, but unto all his nation."[242] In -the following chapter is the celebrated story of the constancy and -cruel death of seven brethren and their mother, when they preferred -martyrdom to tasting swine's flesh. The brave Judas Maccabaeus, with -some nine companions, withdrew himself into the wilderness, and -"lived in the mountains after the manner of beasts with his company, -who fed on herbs continually, lest they should be partakers of the -pollution." The tone and object of these narratives are precisely the -same as the tone and object of the stories in the Book of Daniel; and -we can well imagine how the heroism of resistance would be encouraged -in every Jew who read those narratives or traditions of former days -of persecution and difficulty. "This Book," says Ewald, "fell like a -glowing spark from a clear heaven upon a surface which was already -intensely heated far and wide, and waiting to burst into flames."[243] - -It may be doubtful whether such views as to ceremonial defilement were -already developed at the beginning of the Babylonian Captivity.[244] -The Maccabean persecution left them ingrained in the habits of the -people, and Josephus tells us a contemporary story which reminds us -of that of Daniel and his companions. He says that certain priests, -who were friends of his own, had been imprisoned in Rome, and that -he endeavoured to procure their release, "especially because I was -informed that they were not unmindful of piety towards God, but -supported themselves with figs and nuts," because in such eating of -dry food ([Greek: xerophagia], as it was called) there was no chance -of heathen defilement.[245] It need hardly be added that when the -time came to break down the partition-wall which separated Jewish -particularism from the universal brotherhood of mankind redeemed in -Christ, the Apostles--especially St. Paul--had to show the meaningless -nature of many distinctions to which the Jews attached consummate -importance. The Talmud abounds in stories intended to glorify the -resoluteness with which the Jews maintained their stereotyped Levitism; -but Christ taught, to the astonishment of the Pharisees and even -of the disciples, that it is not what entereth into a man which -makes him unclean, but the unclean thoughts which come from within, -from the heart.[246] And this He said, [Greek: katharizon panta ta -bromata]--_i.e._, abolishing thereby the Levitic Law, and "making all -meats clean." Yet, even after this, it required nothing less than that -Divine vision on the tanner's roof at Joppa to convince Peter that he -was not to call "common" what God had cleansed,[247] and it required -all the keen insight and fearless energy of St. Paul to prevent the -Jews from keeping an intolerable yoke upon their own necks, and also -laying it upon the necks of the Gentiles.[248] - -The four princely boys--they may have been from twelve to fourteen -years old[249]--determined not to share in the royal dainties, and -begged the Sar-hassarisim to allow them to live on pulse and water, -rather than on the luxuries in which--for them--lurked a heathen -pollution. The eunuch not unnaturally demurred. The daily rations were -provided from the royal table. He was responsible to the king for the -beauty and health, as well as for the training, of his young scholars; -and if Nebuchadrezzar saw them looking more meagre or haggard[250] than -the rest of the captives and other pages, the chamberlain's head might -pay the forfeit.[251] But Daniel, like Joseph in Egypt, had inspired -affection among his captors; and since the prince of the eunuchs -regarded him "with favour and tender love," he was the more willing to -grant, or at least to connive at, the fulfilment of the boy's wish. So -Daniel gained over the Melzar (or steward?),[252] who was in immediate -charge of the boys, and begged him to try the experiment for ten days. -If at the end of that time their health or beauty had suffered, the -question might be reconsidered. - -So for ten days the four faithful children were fed on water, and on -the "seeds"--_i.e._, vegetables, dates, raisins, and other fruits, -which are here generally called "pulse."[253] At the end of the ten -days--a sort of mystic Persian week[254]--they were found to be -fairer and fresher than all the other captives of the palace.[255] -Thenceforth they were allowed without hindrance to keep the customs -of their country. - -Nor was this all. During the three probationary years they continued -to flourish intellectually as well as physically. They attained to -conspicuous excellence "in all kinds of books and wisdom," and Daniel -also had understanding in all kinds of dreams and visions, to which -the Chaldeans attached supreme importance.[256] The Jews exulted in -these pictures of four youths of their own race who, though they -were strangers in a strange land, excelled all their alien compeers -in their own chosen fields of learning. There were already two such -pictures in Jewish history,--that of the youthful Moses, learned in -all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and a great man and a prince among -the magicians of Pharaoh; and that of Joseph, who, though there were -so many Egyptian diviners, alone could interpret dreams, whether in -the dungeon or at the foot of the throne. A third picture, that of -Daniel at the court of Babylon, is now added to them, and in all -three cases the glory is given directly, not to them, but to the God -of heaven, the God of their fathers. - -At the close of the three years the prince of the eunuchs brought -all his young pages into the presence of the King Nebuchadrezzar. -He tested them by familiar conversation,[257] and found the four -Jewish lads superior to all the rest. They were therefore chosen -"to stand before the king"--in other words, to become his personal -attendants. As this gave free access to his presence, it involved a -position not only of high honour, but of great influence. And their -superiority stood the test of time. Whenever the king consulted them -on matters which required "wisdom of understanding," he found them -not only better, but "ten times better," than all the "magicians" and -"astrologers" that were in all his realm.[258] - -The last verse of the chapter, "And Daniel continued even unto the -first year of King Cyrus," is perhaps a later gloss, for it appears -from x. 1 that Daniel lived, at any rate, till the _third_ year of -Cyrus. Abn Ezra adds the words "continued in _Babylon_," and Ewald -"at the king's court." Some interpret "continued" to mean "remained -alive." The reason for mentioning "the first year of Cyrus" may be to -show that Daniel survived the return from the Exile,[259] and also -to mark the fact that he attained a great age. For if he were about -fourteen at the beginning of the narrative, he would be eighty-five -in the first year of Cyrus. Dr. Pusey remarks: "Simple words, but -what a volume of tried faithfulness is unrolled by them! Amid all the -intrigues indigenous at all times in dynasties of Oriental despotism, -amid all the envy towards a foreign captive in high office as a -king's councillor, amid all the trouble incidental to the insanity -of the king and the murder of two of his successors, in that whole -critical period for his people, Daniel _continued_."[260] - -The domestic anecdote of this chapter, like the other more splendid -narratives which succeed it, has a value far beyond the circumstances -in which it may have originated. It is a beautiful moral illustration -of the blessings which attend on faithfulness and on temperance, -and whether it be an _Haggada_ or an historic tradition, it equally -enshrines the same noble lesson as that which was taught to all time -by the early stories of the Books of Genesis and Exodus.[261] - -It teaches the crown and blessing of faithfulness. It was the -highest glory of Israel "to uplift among the nations the banner of -righteousness." It matters not that, in this particular instance, -the Jewish boys were contending for a mere ceremonial rule which in -itself was immaterial, or at any rate of no eternal significance. -Suffice it that this rule presented itself to them in the guise of -a _principle_ and of a sacred duty, exactly as it did to Eleazar -the Scribe, and Judas the Maccabee, and the Mother and her seven -strong sons in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes. They regarded it as -a duty to their laws, to their country, to their God; and therefore -upon them it was sacredly incumbent. And they were faithful to -it. Among the pampered minions and menials of the vast Babylonian -palace--undazzled by the glitter of earthly magnificence, untempted -by the allurements of pomp, pleasure, and sensuous indulgence-- - - "Amid innumerable false, unmoved, - Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified, - Their loyalty they kept, their faith, their love." - -And because God loves them for their constancy, because they remain -pure and true, all the Babylonian varletry around them learns the -lesson of simplicity, the beauty of holiness. Amid the outpourings -of the Divine favour they flourish, and are advanced to the highest -honours. This is one great lesson which dominates the historic -section of this Book: "Them that honour Me I will honour, and they -that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed." It is the lesson of -Joseph's superiority to the glamour of temptation in the house of -Potiphar; of the choice of Moses, preferring to suffer affliction -with the people of God rather than all the treasures of Egypt and -"to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter"; of Samuel's stainless -innocence beside the corrupting example of Eli's sons; of David's -strong, pure, ruddy boyhood as a shepherd-lad on Bethlehem's hills. -It is the anticipated story of that yet holier childhood of Him -who--subject to His parents in the sweet vale of Nazareth--blossomed -"like the flower of roses in the spring of the year, and as lilies by -the water-courses." The young human being who grows up in innocence -and self-control grows up also in grace and beauty, in wisdom and -"in favour with God and man." The Jews specially delighted in these -pictures of boyish continence and piety, and they lay at the basis of -all that was greatest in their national character. - -But there also lay incidentally in the story a warning against -corrupting luxury, the lesson of the need for, and the healthfulness of, - - "The rule of not too much by temperance taught." - -"The love of sumptuous food and delicious drinks is never good," says -Ewald, "and with the use of the most temperate diet body and soul can -flourish most admirably, as experience had at that time sufficiently -taught." - -To the value of this lesson the Nazarites among the Jews were a -perpetual witness. Jeremiah seems to single them out for the special -beauty which resulted from their youthful abstinence when he writes -of Jerusalem, "Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter -than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing -was of sapphires."[262] - -It is the lesson which Milton reads in the story of Samson,-- - - "O madness! to think use of strongest wines - And strongest drinks our chief support of health, - When God, with these forbidden, made choice to rear - His mighty champion, strong above compare, - Whose drink was only from the liquid brook!" - -It is the lesson which Shakespeare inculcates when he makes the old -man say in _As You Like It_,-- - - "When I was young I never did apply - Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood, - Nor did not with unblushful forehead woo - The means of weakness and debility; - Therefore mine age is as a lusty winter, - Frosty, yet kindly." - -The writer of this Book connects intellectual advance as well as -physical strength with this abstinence, and here he is supported even -by ancient and pagan experience. Something of this kind may perhaps -lurk in the [Greek: ariston men hydor] of Pindar; and certainly Horace -saw that gluttony and repletion are foes to insight when he wrote,-- - - "Nam corpus onustum - Hesternis vitiis animum quoque praegravat una, - Atque affigit humo divinae particulam aurae."[263] - -Pythagoras was not the only ancient philosopher who recommended and -practised a vegetable diet, and even Epicurus, whom so many regard as - - "The soft garden's rose-encircled child," - -placed over his garden door the inscription that those who came -would only be regaled on barley-cakes and fresh water, to satisfy, -but not to allure, the appetite. - -But the grand lesson of the picture is meant to be that the fair -Jewish boys were kept safe in the midst of every temptation to -self-indulgence, because they lived as in God's sight: and "he that -holds himself in reverence and due esteem for the dignity of God's -image upon him, accounts himself both a fit person to do the noblest -and godliest deeds, and much better worth than to deject and defile, -with such debasement and pollution as Sin is, himself so highly -ransomed and ennobled to a new friendship and filial relation with -God."[264] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[224] Comp. Jer. xxii. 18, 19, xxxvi. 30. - -[225] See _supra_, p. 45. - -[226] Jeremiah (lii. 28-30) mentions _three_ deportations, in the -seventh, eighteenth, and twenty-third year of Nebuchadrezzar; but -there are great difficulties about the historic verification, and the -paragraph (which is of doubtful genuineness) is omitted by the LXX. - -[227] The manner in which the maintainers of the genuineness get -over this difficulty is surely an instance of such special pleading -as can convince no unbiassed inquirer. They conjecture (1) that -Nebuchadrezzar had been associated with his father, and received the -title of king before he really became king; (2) that by "_came to_ -Jerusalem and besieged it" is meant "_set out towards_ Jerusalem, so -that (ultimately) he besieged it"; (3) and that a vague and undated -allusion in the Book of Chronicles, and a vague, unsupported, and -evidently erroneous assertion in Berossus--quoted by Josephus, -_Antt._, X. xi. 1; _c. Ap._, I. 19, who lived some two and a half -centuries after these events, and who does not mention any siege of -Jerusalem--can be so interpreted as to outweigh the fact that neither -contemporary histories nor contemporary records know anything of this -supposed deportation. Jeremiah (xxv. 1) says correctly that "the -_fourth_ year of Jehoiakim" was "the first year of Nebuchadrezzar"; -and had Jerusalem been already captured and plundered, it is -impossible that he should not have alluded to the fact in that -chapter. An older subterfuge for "explaining" the error is that of -Saadia the Gaon, Abn Ezra, Rashi, etc., who interpret "the third year -of Jehoiakim" to mean "_the third year after his rebellion_ from -Nebuchadrezzar," which is not only impossible in itself, but also -contradicts Dan. ii. 1. - -[228] Shinar is an archaism, supposed by Schrader to be a corruption -of Sumir, or Northern Chaldea (_Keilinschr._, p. 34); but see Hommel, -_Gesch. Bab. u. Assyr._, 220; F. Delitzsch, _Assyr. Gram._, 115. The -more common name in the exilic period was Babel (Jer. li. 9, etc.) or -Eretz Kasdim (Ezek. xii. 13). - -[229] On this god--Marduk or Maruduk (Jer. l. 2)--comp. 2 Chron. -xxxvi. 7. See Schrader, _K. A. T._, pp. 273, 276; and Riehm, -_Handwoerterb._, ii. 982. - -[230] This seems to be a Persian word, _fratama_, "first." It is only -found in Esther. Josephus says that the four boys were connected with -Zedekiah (_Antt._, X. x. 1). Comp. Jer. xli. 1. - -[231] Dan. i. 3; LXX., [Greek: Abiesdri]. The name is of quite -uncertain derivation. Lenormant connects it with Abai-Istar, -"astronomer of the goddess Istar" (_La Divination_, p. 182). Hitzig -sees in this strange rendering Abiesdri the meaning "eunuch." A -eunuch could have no son to help him, so that his father is his help -(_'ezer_). Ephraem Syrus, in his Commentary, preserves both names -(Schleusner, _Thesaurus_, _s.v._ [Greek: Abieser]). We find the -name Ash_k_enaz in Gen. x. 3. Theodot. has [Greek: Asphanez]. Among -other guesses Lenormant makes Ashpenaz = Assa-ibni-zir. Dr. Joel -(_Notizen zum Buche Daniel_, p. 17) says that since the Vulgate reads -Ab_r_iesri, "ob nicht der Wort von rechts zu links gelesen muesste?" - -[232] Called in i. 7-11 the Sar-hassarisim (comp. Jer. xxxix. 3; Gen. -xxxvii. 36, _marg._; 2 Kings xviii. 17; Esther ii. 3). This officer -now bears the title of _Gyzlar Agha_. - -[233] Isa. xxxix. 6, 7. - -[234] Athen., _Deipnos_, xi. 583. See Bevan, p. 60; Max Mueller in -Pusey, p. 565. How Professor Fuller can urge the presence of these -Persian words in proof of the genuineness of Daniel (_Speaker's -Commentary_, p. 250) I cannot understand. For Daniel does not seem -to have survived beyond the third year of the Persian dominion, and -it is extremely difficult to suppose that all these Persian words, -including titles of Nebuchadrezzar's officials, were already current -among the Babylonians. On the other hand, _Babylonian_ words seem to -be rare, though Daniel is represented as living nearly the whole of -a long life in Babylon. There is no validity in the argument that -these words could not have been known in the days of the Maccabees, -"for half of them are common in Syria, though the oldest extant -Syriac writers are _later by three centuries_ than the time of the -Maccabees" (Bevan, p. 41). - -[235] The name Daniel occurs among Ezra's contemporaries in Ezra -viii. 2; Neh. x. 7, and the other names in Neh. viii. 4, x. 3, 24; 1 -Esdras ix. 44. - -[236] _Balatsu-utsur._ The name in this form had nothing to do with -Bel, as the writer of Daniel seems to have supposed (Dan. iv. 5), nor -yet with Beltis, the wife of Bel. See _supra_, p. 47. Comp. the names -Nabusarutsur, Sinsarutsur, Assursarutsur. Also comp. _Inscr. Semit._, -ii. 38, etc. Pseudo-Epiphanius says that Nebuchadrezzar meant Daniel -to be co-heir with his son Belshazzar. - -[237] F. Delitzsch calls Meshach _vox hybrida_. Neither "Shadrach" -nor "Meshach" occurs on the monuments. "That the imposition of names -is a symbol of mastership over slaves is plain" (S. Chrys., _Opp._, -iii. 21; Pusey, p. 16). Comp. 2 Kings xxiii. 34 (Egyptians); xxiv. 17 -(Babylonians); Ezra v. 14, Esther ii. 7 (Persians). - -[238] Comp. Obadiah, Abdiel, Abdallah, etc. Schrader says, p. 429: "The -supposition that Nebo was altered to Nego, out of a contumelious desire -(which Jews often displayed) to alter, avoid, and insult the names of -idols, is out of place, since the other names are not altered." - -[239] Jos., _Antt._, XII. v. 1; Derenbourg, _Palestine_, p. 34; -Ewald, _Hist._, v. 294 (E. Tr.); Munk, _Palestine_, p. 495, etc. - -[240] See Ewald, _Gesch. Isr._, vi. 654. "They shall eat unclean -things in Assyria" (Hosea ix. 3). "The children of Israel shall eat -their defiled bread among the Gentiles" (Ezek. iv. 13, 14). - -[241] 1 Macc. i. 62, 63. - -[242] 2 Macc. vi. 18-31. Comp. the LXX. addition to Esther iv. 14, v. -4, where she is made to plead before God that she had not tasted of -the table of Haman or of the king's banquet. So Judith takes "clean" -bread with her into the camp of Holofernes (Judith x. 5), and Judas -and his followers live on herbs in the desert (2 Macc. v. 27). The -_Mishnah_ even forbids to take the bread, oil, or milk of the heathen. - -[243] _Prophets of the O. T._, p. 184 (E. Tr.). - -[244] Mr. Bevan says that the verb for "defile" ([Hebrew: gl]), as a -ritual term for the idea of ceremonial uncleanness, is post-exilic; -the Pentateuch and Ezekiel used [Hebrew: tm] (_Comment._, p. 61). The -idea intended is that the three boys avoided meat which might have -been killed with the blood and offered to idols, and therefore was -not _Kashar_ (Exod. xxxiv. 15). - -[245] Jos., _Vit._, iii. Comp. Isa. lii. 11. - -[246] Mark vii. 19 (according to the true reading and translation). - -[247] Acts x. 14. - -[248] 1 Cor. xi. 25. This rigorism was specially valued by the -Essenes and Therapeutae. See Derenbourg, _Palestine_, note, vi. - -[249] Plato, _Alcib._, i. 37; Xen., _Cyrop._, i. 2. Youths entered -the king's service at the age of seventeen. - -[250] Lit. "sadder." LXX., [Greek: skythropoi]. - -[251] LXX., [Greek: kindyneuso to idio trachelo]. - -[252] Perhaps the Assyrian _matstsara_, "guardian" (Delitzsch). There -are various other guesses (Behrmann, p. 5). - -[253] Heb., [Hebrew: zero'im]; LXX., [Greek: spermata]; Vulg., -_legumina_. Abn Ezra took the word to mean "rice." Comp. Deut. xii. -15, 16; 1 Sam. xvii. 17, 18. Comp. Josephus (_Vit._, iii.), who tells -us how the Jewish priests, prisoners in Rome, fed on [Greek: sykois -kai karyois]. - -[254] Ewald, _Antiquities_, p. 131 f. - -[255] Pusey (p. 17) quotes from Chardin's notes in Harmer (_Obs._, -lix.): "I have remarked that the countenance of the Kechicks (monks) -are, in fact, more rosy and smooth than those of others, and that -those who fast much are, notwithstanding, very beautiful, sparkling -with health, with a clear and lively countenance." - -[256] The _Chartummim_ are like the Egyptian [Greek: hierogrammateis]. -It is difficult to conceive that there was less chance of pollution in -being elaborately trained in heathen magic and dream-interpretation -than in eating Babylonian food. But this was, so to speak, _extra -fabulam_. It did not enter into the writer's scheme of moral -edification. If, however, the story is meant to imply that these -youths accepted the heathen training, though (as we know from tablets -and inscriptions) the incantations, etc., in which it abounded were -intimately connected with idolatry, and were entirely unharmed by -it, this may indicate that the writer did not disapprove of the -"Greek training" which Antiochus tried to introduce, so far as it -merely involved an acquaintance with Greek learning and literature. -This is the view of Graetz. If so, the writer belonged to the more -liberal Jewish school which did not object to a study of the _Chokmath -Javanith_, or "Wisdom of Javan" (Derenbourg, _Palestine_, p. 361). - -[257] LXX., [Greek: elalese met' auton]. Considering the normal -degradation of pages at Oriental courts, of which Rycaut (referred to -by Pusey, p. 18) "gives a horrible account," their escape from the -corruption around them was a blessed reward of their faithfulness. -They may now have been seventeen, the age for entering the king's -service (Xen., _Cyrop._, I. ii. 8). On the ordinary curse of the rule -of eunuchs at Eastern courts see an interesting note in Pusey, p. 21. - -[258] On the names see Gesenius, _Isaiah_, ii. 355. - -[259] Alluded to in ix. 25. - -[260] _Daniel_, pp. 20, 21. - -[261] Comp. Gen. xxxix. 21; 1 Kings viii. 50; Neh. i. 1; Psalm cvi. 46. - -[262] Lam. iv. 7. - -[263] Hor., _Sat._, II. ii. 77. - -[264] Milton, _Reason of Church Government_. - - - - - CHAPTER II - - _THE DREAM-IMAGE OF RUINED EMPIRES_ - - "With thee will I break in pieces rulers and captains."--JER. - li. 23. - - -The Book of Daniel is constructed with consummate skill to teach the -mighty lessons which it was designed to bring home to the minds of -its readers, not only in the age of its first appearance, but for -ever. It is a book which, so far from being regarded as unworthy -of its place in the Canon by those who cannot accept it as either -genuine or authentic, is valued by many such critics as a very noble -work of inspired genius, from which all the difficulties are removed -when it is considered in the light of its true date and origin. This -second chapter belongs to all time. All that might be looked upon as -involving harshnesses, difficulties, and glaring impossibilities, -if it were meant for literal history and prediction, vanishes when -we contemplate it in its real perspective as a lofty specimen of -imaginative fiction, used, like the parables of our Blessed Lord, as -the vehicle for the deepest truths. We shall see how the imagery of -the chapter produced a deep impress on the imagination of the holiest -thinkers--how magnificent a use is made of it fifteen centuries later -by the great poet of mediaeval Catholicism.[265] It contains the germs -of the only philosophy of history which has stood the test of time. -It symbolises that ultimate conviction of the Psalmist that "God is -the Governor among the nations." No other conviction can suffice to -give us consolation amid the perplexity which surrounds the passing -phases of the destinies of empires. - -The first chapter serves as a keynote of soft, simple, and delightful -music by way of overture. It calms us for the contemplation of the -awful and tumultuous scenes that are now in succession to be brought -before us. - -The model which the writer has had in view in this _Haggadah_ is the -forty-first chapter of the Book of Genesis. In both chapters we have -magnificent heathen potentates--Pharaoh of Egypt, and Nebuchadrezzar -of Babylon. In both chapters the kings dream dreams by which they -are profoundly troubled. In both, their spirits are saddened. In -both, they send for all the _Chakamim_ and all the _Chartummim_ of -their kingdoms to interpret the dreams. In both, these professional -magicians prove themselves entirely incompetent to furnish the -interpretation. In both, the failure of the heathen oneirologists is -emphasised by the immediate success of a Jewish captive. In both, the -captives are described as young, gifted, and beautiful. In both, the -interpretation of the king's dream is rewarded by the elevation to -princely civil honours. In both, the immediate elevation to ruling -position is followed by life-long faithfulness and prosperity. -When we add that there are even close verbal resemblances between -the chapters, it is difficult not to believe that the one has been -influenced by the other. - -The dream is placed "in the second year of the reign of -Nebuchadnezzar." The date is surprising; for the first chapter has -made Nebuchadrezzar a king of Babylon after the siege of Jerusalem -"in the third year of Jehoiakim"; and setting aside the historic -impossibilities involved in that date, this scene would then fall in -the _second_ year of the probation of Daniel and his companions, and -at a time when Daniel could only have been a boy of fifteen.[266] -The apologists get over the difficulty with the ease which suffices -superficial readers who are already convinced. Thus Rashi says -"_the second year of Nebuchadnezzar_," meaning "_the second year -after the destruction of the Temple_," _i.e._, his twentieth year! -Josephus, no less arbitrarily, makes it mean "the second year -after the devastation of Egypt."[267] By such devices anything may -stand for anything. Hengstenberg and his school, after having made -Nebuchadrezzar a king, conjointly with his father--a fact of which -history knows nothing, and indeed seems to exclude--say that the -second year of his reign does not mean the second year after he -became king, but the second year of his independent rule after the -death of Nabopolassar. This style of interpretation is very familiar -among harmonists, and it makes the interpretation of Scripture -perpetually dependent on pure fancy. It is perhaps sufficient to -say that Jewish writers, in works meant for spiritual teaching, -troubled themselves extremely little with minutiae of this kind. Like -the Greek dramatists, they were unconcerned with details, to which -they attached no importance, which they regarded as lying outside -the immediate purpose of their narrative. But if any explanation be -needful, the simplest way is, with Ewald, Herzfeld, and Lenormant, to -make a slight alteration in the text, and to read "in the _twelfth_" -instead of "in the _second_ year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar." - -There was nothing strange in the notion that God should have -vouchsafed a prophetic dream to a heathen potentate. Such instances -had already been recorded in the case of Pharaoh (Gen. xli.), as -well as of his chief courtiers (Gen. xl.); and in the case of -Abimelech (Gen. xx. 5-7). It was also a Jewish tradition that it -was in consequence of a dream that Pharaoh Necho had sent a warning -to Josiah not to advance against him to the Battle of Megiddo.[268] -Such dreams are recorded in the cuneiform inscriptions as having -occurred to Assyrian monarchs. Ishtar, the goddess of battles, had -appeared to Assur-bani-pal, and promised him safety in his war -against Teumman, King of Elam; and the dream of a seer had admonished -him to take severe steps against his rebel brother, the Viceroy of -Babylon. Gyges, King of Lydia, had been warned in a dream to make -alliance with Assur-bani-pal. In Egypt Amen-meri-hout had been warned -by a dream to unite Egypt against the Assyrians.[269] Similarly -in Persian history Afrasiab has an ominous dream, and summons all -the astrologers to interpret it; and some of them bid him pay no -attention to it.[270] Xerxes (Herod., iii. 19) and Astyages (Herod., -i. 108) have dreams indicative of future prosperity or adversity. The -fundamental conception of the chapter was therefore in accordance -with history[271]--though to say, with the _Speaker's Commentary_, -that these parallels "_endorse the authenticity_ of the Biblical -narratives," is either to use inaccurate terms, or to lay the -unhallowed fire of false argument on the sacred altar of truth. It -is impossible to think without a sigh of the vast amount which would -have to be extracted from so-called "orthodox" commentaries, if such -passages were rigidly reprobated as a dishonour to the cause of God. - -Nebuchadrezzar then--in the second or twelfth year of his -reign--dreamed a dream, by which (as in the case of Pharaoh) his -spirit was troubled and his sleep interrupted.[272] His state of -mind on waking is a psychological condition with which we are -all familiar. We awake in a tremor. We have seen something which -disquieted us, but we cannot recall what it was; we have had a -frightful dream, but we can only remember the terrifying impression -which it has left upon our minds. - -Pharaoh, in the story of Joseph, remembered his dreams, and -only asked the professors of necromancy to furnish him with its -interpretation. But Nebuchadrezzar is here represented as a rasher -and fiercer despot, not without a side-glance at the raging folly -and tyranny of Antiochus Epiphanes. He has at his command an army -of priestly prognosticators, whose main function it is to interpret -the various omens of the future. Of what use were they, if they -could not be relied upon in so serious an exigency? Were they to be -maintained in opulence and dignity all their lives, only to fail him -at a crisis? It was true that he had forgotten the dream, but it was -obviously one of supreme importance; it was obviously an intimation -from the gods: was it not clearly their duty to say what it meant? - -So Nebuchadrezzar summoned together the whole class of Babylonian -augurs in all their varieties--the _Chartummim_, "magicians," -or book-learned;[273] the _Ashshaphim_, "enchanters";[274] the -_Mekashaphim_, "sorcerers";[275] and the _Kasdim_, to which the -writer gives the long later sense of "dream-interpreters," which had -become prevalent in his own day.[276] In later verses he adds two -further sections of the students--the _Khakhamim_, "wise men," and -the _Gazerim_, or "soothsayers." Attempts have often been made, and -most recently by Lenormant, to distinguish accurately between these -classes of magi, but the attempts evaporate for the most part into -shadowy etymologies.[277] It seems to have been a literary habit -with the author to amass a number of names and titles together.[278] -It is a part of the stateliness and leisureliness of style which he -adopts, and he gives no indication of any sense of difference between -the classes which he enumerates, either here or when he describes -various ranks of Babylonian officials. - -When they were assembled before him, the king informed them that he -had dreamed an important dream, but that it produced such agitation -of spirit as had caused him to forget its import.[279] He plainly -expected them to supply the failure of his memory, for "a dream not -interpreted," say the Rabbis, "is like a letter not read."[280] - -Then spake the Chaldeans to the king, and their answer follows in -Aramaic (_Aramith_), a language which continues to be used till the -end of chap. vii. The Western Aramaic, however, here employed could -not have been the language in which they spoke, but their native -Babylonian, a Semitic dialect more akin to Eastern Aramaic. The word -_Aramith_ here, as in Ezra iv. 7, is probably a gloss or marginal -note, to point out the sudden change in the language of the Book. - -With the courtly phrase, "O king, live for ever," they promised to -tell the king the interpretation, if he would tell them the dream. - -"That I cannot do," said the king, "for it is gone from me. -Nevertheless, if you do not tell me both the dream and its -interpretation, you shall be hacked limb by limb, and your houses -shall be made a dunghill."[281] - -The language was that of brutal despotism such as had been customary -for centuries among the ferocious tyrants of Assyria. The punishment -of dismemberment, dichotomy, or death by mutilation was common -among them, and had constantly been depicted on their monuments. It -was doubtless known to the Babylonians also, being familiar to the -apathetic cruelty of the East. Similarly the turning of the houses of -criminals into draught-houses was a vengeance practised among other -nations.[282] On the other hand, if the "Chaldeans" arose to the -occasion, the king would give them rewards and great honours. It is -curious to observe that the Septuagint translators, with Antiochus -in their mind, render the verse in a form which would more directly -remind their readers of Seleucid methods. "If you fail," they make -the king say, "you shall be made an example, and your goods shall be -forfeited to the crown."[283] - -With "nervous servility" the magi answer to the king's extravagantly -unreasonable demand, that he must tell them the dream before they -can tell him the interpretation. Ewald is probably not far wrong in -thinking that a subtle element of irony and humour underlies this -scene. It was partly intended as a satirical reflection on the mad -vagaries of Epiphanes. - -For the king at once breaks out into fury, and tells them that they -only want to gain (lit. "buy") time;[284] but that this should not -avail them. The dream had evidently been of crucial significance and -extreme urgency; something important, and perhaps even dreadful, must -be in the air. The very _raison d'etre_ of these thaumaturgists and -stargazers was to read the omens of the future. If the stars told of -any human events, they could not fail to indicate something about the -vast trouble which overshadowed the monarch's dream, even though he -had forgotten its details. The king gave them to understand that he -looked on them as a herd of impostors; that their plea for delay was -due to mere tergiversation;[285] and that, in spite of the lying and -corrupt words which they had prepared in order to gain respite "till -the time be changed"[286]--that is, until they were saved by some -"lucky day" or change of fortune[287]--there was but one sentence -for them, which could only be averted by their vindicating their own -immense pretensions, and telling him his dream. - -The "Chaldeans" naturally answered that the king's request was -impossible. The adoption of the Aramaic at this point may be partly -due to the desire for local colouring.[288] No king or ruler in the -world had ever imposed such a test on any _Kartum_ or _Ashshaph_ in -the world.[289] No living man could possibly achieve anything so -difficult. There were some gods whose dwelling _is_ with flesh; they -tenant the souls of their servants. But it is not in the power of -these genii to reveal what the king demands; they are limited by the -weakness of the souls which they inhabit.[290] It can only be done by -those highest divinities whose dwelling is not with flesh, but who - - "haunt - The lucid interspace of world and world," - -and are too far above mankind to mingle with their thoughts.[291] - -Thereupon the unreasonable king was angry and very furious, and the -decree went forth that the magi were to be slain _en masse_. - -How it was that Daniel and his companions were not summoned to -help the king, although they had been already declared to be "ten -times wiser" than all the rest of the astrologers and magicians put -together, is a feature in the story with which the writer does not -trouble himself, because it in no way concerned his main purpose. -Now, however, since they were prominent members of the magian guild, -they are doomed to death among their fellows. Thereupon Daniel sought -an interview with Arioch, "the chief of the bodyguard,"[292] and -asked with gentle prudence why the decree was so harshly urgent. By -Arioch's intervention he gained an interview with Nebuchadrezzar, and -promised to tell him the dream and its interpretation, if only the -king would grant him a little time--perhaps but a single night.[293] - -The delay was conceded, and Daniel went to his three companions, and -urged then to join in prayer that God would make known the secret -to them and spare their lives. Christ tells us that "if two shall -agree on earth as touching anything that they ask, it shall be done -for them."[294] The secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the -night, and he blessed "the God of heaven."[295] Wisdom and might -are His. Not dependent on "lucky" or "unlucky" days, He changeth -the times and seasons;[296] He setteth down one king and putteth up -another. By His revelation of deep and sacred things--for the light -dwelleth with Him--He had, in answer to their common prayer, made -known the secret.[297] - -Accordingly Daniel bids Arioch not to execute the magians, but to go -and tell the king that he will reveal to him the interpretation of -his dream. - -Then, by an obvious verbal inconsistency in the story, Arioch -is represented as going with haste to the king, with Daniel, and -saying that _he_ had found a captive Jew who would answer the king's -demands. Arioch could never have claimed any such merit, seeing that -Daniel had already given his promise to Nebuchadrezzar in person, -and did not need to be described. The king formally puts to Daniel -the question whether he could fulfil his pledge; and Daniel answers -that, though none of the _Khakhamim_, _Ashshaphim_, _Chartummim_, or -_Gazerim_[298] could tell the king his dream, yet there is a God in -heaven--higher, it is implied, than either the genii or those whose -dwelling is not with mortals--who reveals secrets, and has made known -to the king what shall be in the latter days.[299] - -The king, before he fell asleep, had been deeply pondering the issues -of the future; and God, "the revealer of secrets,"[300] had revealed -those issues to him, not because of any supreme wisdom possessed by -Daniel, but simply that the interpretation might be made known.[301] - -The king had seen[302] a huge gleaming, terrible colossus of many -colours and of different metals, but otherwise not unlike the huge -colossi which guarded the portals of his own palace. Its head was -of fine gold; its torso of silver; its belly and thighs of brass; -its legs of iron; its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.[303] -But while he gazed upon it as it reared into the sunlight, as though -in mute defiance and insolent security, its grim metallic glare, a -mysterious and unforeseen fate fell upon it.[304] The fragment of a -rock broke itself loose, not with hands, smote the image upon its -feet of iron and clay, and broke them to pieces. It had now nothing -left to stand upon, and instantly the hollow multiform monster -collapsed into promiscuous ruins.[305] Its shattered fragments became -like the chaff of the summer threshing-floor, and the wind swept them -away;[306] but the rock, unhewn by any earthly hands, grew over the -fragments into a mountain that filled the earth. - -That was the haunting and portentous dream; and this was its -interpretation:-- - -The head of gold was Nebuchadrezzar himself, the king of what Isaiah -had called "the golden city"[307]--a King of kings, ruler over the -beasts of the field, and the fowls of heaven, and the children of -men.[308] - -After him should come a second and an inferior kingdom, symbolised -by the arms and heart of silver. - -Then a third kingdom of brass. - -Finally a fourth kingdom, strong and destructive as iron. But in this -fourth kingdom was an element of weakness, symbolised by the fact -that the feet are partly of iron and partly of weak clay. An attempt -should be made, by intermarriages, to give greater coherency to these -elements; but it should fail, because they could not intermix. In the -days of these kings, indicated by the ten toes of the image, swift -destruction should come upon the kingdoms from on high; for the King of -heaven should set up a kingdom indestructible and eternal, which should -utterly supersede all former kingdoms. "The intense nothingness and -transitoriness of man's might in its highest estate, and the might of -God's kingdom, are the chief subjects of this vision."[309] - -Volumes have been written about the four empires indicated by the -constituents of the colossus in this dream; but it is entirely -needless to enter into them at length. The vast majority of the -interpretations have been simply due to _a-priori_ prepossessions, -which are arbitrary and baseless. The object has been to make the -interpretations fit in with preconceived theories of prophecy, and -with the traditional errors about the date and object of the Book -of Daniel. If we first see the irresistible evidence that the Book -appeared in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, and then observe that -all its earthly "predictions" culminate in a minute description of -his epoch, the general explanation of the four empires, apart from -an occasional and a subordinate detail, becomes perfectly clear. In -the same way the progress of criticism has elucidated in its general -outlines the interpretation of the Book which has been so largely -influenced by the Book of Daniel--the Revelation of St. John. The -all-but-unanimous consensus of the vast majority of the sanest and -most competent exegetes now agrees in the view that the Apocalypse -was written in the age of Nero, and that its tone and visions were -predominantly influenced by his persecution of the early Christians, -as the Book of Daniel was by the ferocities of Antiochus against -the faithful Jews. Ages of persecution, in which plain-speaking was -impossible to the oppressed, were naturally prolific of apocalyptic -cryptographs. What has been called the "futurist" interpretation -of these books--which, for instance, regards the fourth empire of -Daniel as some kingdom of Antichrist as yet unmanifested--is now -universally abandoned. It belongs to impossible forms of exegesis, -which have long been discredited by the boundless variations of -absurd conjectures, and by the repeated refutation of the predictions -which many have ventured to base upon these erroneous methods. Even -so elaborate a work as Elliott's _Horae Apocalypticae_ would now be -regarded as a curious anachronism. - -That the first empire, represented by the head of gold, is the -Babylonian, concentrated in Nebuchadrezzar himself, is undisputed, -because it is expressly stated by the writer (ii. 37, 38). - -Nor can there be any serious doubt, if the Book be one coherent -whole, written by one author, that by the fourth empire is meant, -as in later chapters, that of Alexander and his successors--"_the -Diadochi_," as they are often called. - -For it must be regarded as certain that the four elements of the -colossus, which indicate the four empires as they are presented to the -imagination of the heathen despot, are closely analogous to the same -four empires which in the seventh chapter present themselves as wild -beasts out of the sea to the imagination of the Hebrew seer. Since the -fourth empire is there, beyond all question, that of Alexander and his -successors, the symmetry and purpose of the Book prove conclusively -that the fourth empire here is also the Graeco-Macedonian, strongly -and irresistibly founded by Alexander, but gradually sinking to utter -weakness by its own divisions, in the persons of the kings who split -his dominion into four parts. If this needed any confirmation, we find -it in the eighth chapter, which is mainly concerned with Alexander -the Great and Antiochus Epiphanes; and in the eleventh chapter, -which enters with startling minuteness into the wars, diplomacy, and -intermarriages of the Ptolemaic and Seleucid dynasties. In viii. 21 we -are expressly told that the strong he-goat is "the King of Grecia," -who puts an end to the kingdoms of Media and Persia. The arguments of -Hengstenberg, Pusey, etc., that the Greek Empire was a civilising and -an ameliorating power, apply at least as strongly to the Roman Empire. -But when Alexander thundered his way across the dreamy East, he was -looked upon as a sort of shattering levin-bolt. The interconnexion -of these visions is clearly marked even here, for the juxtaposition -of iron and miry clay is explained by the clause "they shall mingle -themselves with the seed of men:[310] but they shall not cleave one -to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay." This refers to the -same attempts to consolidate the rival powers of the Kings of Egypt -and Syria which are referred to in xi. 6, 7, and 17. It is a definite -allusion which becomes meaningless in the hands of those interpreters -who attempt to explain the iron empire to be that of the Romans. -"That the _Greek_ Empire is to be the last of the Gentile empires -appears from viii. 17, where the vision is said to refer to 'the time -of the end.' Moreover, in the last vision of all (x.-xii.), the rise -and progress of the Greek Empire are related with many details, _but -nothing whatever_ is said of any subsequent empire. Thus to introduce -the Roman Empire into the Book of Daniel is to set at naught the -plainest rules of exegesis."[311] - -The reason of the attempt is to make the termination of the -prophecy coincide with the coming of Christ, which is then--quite -unhistorically--regarded as followed by the destruction of the fourth -and last empire. But the interpretation can only be thus arrived at -by a falsification of facts. For the victory of Christianity over -Paganism, so decisive and so Divine, was in no sense a destruction of -the Roman Empire. In the first place that victory was not achieved -till three centuries after Christ's advent, and in the second place -it was rather a continuation and defence of the Roman Empire than its -destruction. The Roman Empire, in spite of Alaric and Genseric and -Attila, and because of its alliance with Christianity, may be said to -have practically continued down to modern times. So far from being -regarded as the shatterers of the Roman Empire, the Christian popes and -bishops were, and were often called, the _Defensores Civitatis_. That -many of the Fathers, following many of the Rabbis, regarded Rome as the -iron empire, and the fourth wild beast, was due to the fact that until -modern days the science of criticism was unknown, and exegesis was -based on the shifting sand.[312] If we are to accept their authority on -this question, we must accept it on many others, respecting views and -methods which have now been unanimously abandoned by the deeper insight -and advancing knowledge of mankind. The influence of Jewish exegesis -over the Fathers--erroneous as were its principles and fluctuating -as were its conclusions--was enormous. It was not unnatural for the -later Jews, living under the hatred and oppression of Rome, and still -yearning for the fulfilment of Messianic promises, to identify Rome -with the fourth empire. And this seems to have been the opinion of -Josephus, whatever that may be worth. But it is doubtful whether it -corresponds to another and earlier Jewish tradition. For among the -Fathers even Ephraem Syrus identifies the _Macedonian_ Empire with the -fourth empire, and he may have borrowed this from Jewish tradition. -But of how little value were early conjectures may be seen in the fact -that, for reasons analogous to those which had made earlier Rabbis -regard Rome as the fourth empire, two mediaeval exegetes so famous as -Saadia the Gaon and Abn Ezra had come to the conclusion that the fourth -empire was--the Mohammedan![313] - -Every detail of the vision as regards the fourth kingdom is minutely -in accord with the kingdom of Alexander. It can only be applied -to Rome by deplorable shifts and sophistries, the untenability of -which we are now more able to estimate than was possible in earlier -centuries. So far indeed as the _iron_ is concerned, that might by -itself stand equally well for Rome or for Macedon, if Dan. vii. 7, 8, -viii. 3, 4, and xi. 3 did not definitely describe the conquests of -Alexander. But all which follows is meaningless as applied to Rome, -nor is there anything in Roman history to explain any division of -the kingdom (ii. 41), or attempt to strengthen it by intermarriage -with other kingdoms (ver. 43). In the divided Graeco-Macedonian -Empires of the Diadochi, the dismemberment of one mighty kingdom -into the four much weaker ones of Cassander, Ptolemy, Lysimachus, -and Seleucus began immediately after the death of Alexander (B.C. -323). It was completed as the result of twenty-two years of war after -the Battle of Ipsus (B.C. 301). The marriage of Antiochus Theos to -Berenice, daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus (B.C. 249, Dan. xi. 6), -was as ineffectual as the later marriage of Ptolemy V. (Epiphanes) -to Cleopatra, the daughter of Antiochus the Great (B.C. 193), to -introduce strength or unity into the distracted kingdoms (xi. 17, 18). - -The two legs and feet are possibly meant to indicate the two most -important kingdoms--that of the Seleucidae in Asia, and that of -the Ptolemies in Egypt. If we are to press the symbolism still -more closely, the ten toes may shadow forth the ten kings who are -indicated by the ten horns in vii. 7. - -Since, then, we are told that the first empire represents -Nebuchadrezzar by the head of gold, and since we have incontestably -verified the fourth empire to be the Greek Empire of Alexander and -his successors, it only remains to identify the intermediate empires -of silver and brass. And it becomes obvious that they _can_ only be -the Median and the Persian. That the writer of Daniel regarded these -empires as distinct is clear from v. 31 and vi. - -It is obvious that the silver is meant for the Median Empire, -because, closely as it was allied with the Persian in the view of the -writer (vi. 9, 13, 16, viii. 7), he yet spoke of the two as separate. -The rule of "Darius the Mede," not of "Cyrus the Persian," is, in his -point of view, the "other smaller kingdom" which arose after that of -Nebuchadrezzar (v. 31). Indeed, this is also indicated in the vision -of the ram (viii. 3); for it has two horns, of which the higher and -stronger (the Persian Empire) rose up after the other (the Median -Empire); just as in this vision the Persian Empire represented by the -thighs of brass is clearly stronger than the Median Empire, which, -being wealthier, is represented as being of silver, but is smaller -than the other.[314] Further, the second empire is represented later -on by the second beast (vii. 5), and the three ribs in its mouth may -be meant for the three satrapies of vi. 2. - -It may then be regarded as a certain result of exegesis that the four -empires are--(1) the Babylonian; (2) the Median; (3) the Persian; (4) -the Graeco-Macedonian. - -But what is the stone cut without hands which smote the image upon -his feet? It brake them in pieces, and made the collapsing _debris_ -of the colossus like chaff scattered by the wind from the summer -threshing-floor. It grew till it became a great mountain which filled -the earth. - -The meaning of the image being first smitten upon its _feet_ is that -the overthrow falls on the iron empire. - -All alike are agreed that by the mysterious rock-fragment the writer -meant the Messianic Kingdom. The "mountain" out of which (as is -here first mentioned) the stone is cut is "the Mount Zion."[315] It -commences "_in the days of these kings_." Its origin is not earthly, -for it is "cut without hands." It represents "a kingdom" which "shall -be set up by the God of heaven," and shall destroy and supersede all -the kingdoms, and shall stand for ever. - -Whether a personal Messiah was definitely prominent in the mind of -the writer is a question which will come before us when we consider -the seventh chapter. Here there is only a Divine Kingdom; and that -this is the dominion of Israel seems to be marked by the expression, -"the kingdom shall not be left to another people." - -The prophecy probably indicates the glowing hopes which the writer -conceived of the future of his nation, even in the days of its direst -adversity, in accordance with the predictions of the mighty prophets -his predecessors, whose writings he had recently studied. Very few -of those predictions have as yet been literally fulfilled; not one -of them was fulfilled with such immediateness as the prophets -conceived, when they were "rapt into future times." To the prophetic -vision was revealed the glory that should be hereafter, but not the -times and seasons, which God hath kept in His own power, and which -Jesus told His disciples were not even known to the Son of Man -Himself in His human capacity. - -Antiochus died, and his attempts to force Hellenism upon the Jews -were so absolute a failure, that, in point of fact, his persecution -only served to stereotype the ceremonial institutions which--not -entirely _proprio motu_, but misled by men like the false high -priests Jason and Menelaus--he had attempted to obliterate. But the -magnificent expectations of a golden age to follow were indefinitely -delayed. Though Antiochus died and failed, the Jews became by no -means unanimous in their religious policy. Even under the Hasmonaean -princes fierce elements of discord were at work in the midst of -them. Foreign usurpers adroitly used these dissensions for their own -objects, and in B.C. 37 Judaism acquiesced in the national acceptance -of a depraved Edomite usurper in the person of Herod, and a section -of the Jews attempted to represent _him_ as the promised Messiah![316] - -Not only was the Messianic prediction unfulfilled in its literal -aspect "in the days of these kings,"[317] but even yet it has by no -means received its complete accomplishment. The "stone cut without -hands" indicated the kingdom, not--as most of the prophets seem to -have imagined when they uttered words which meant more than they -themselves conceived--of the literal Israel, but of that ideal Israel -which is composed, not of Jews, but of Gentiles. The divinest side of -Messianic prophecy is the expression of that unquenchable hope and of -that indomitable faith which are the most glorious outcome of all that -is most Divine in the spirit of man. That faith and hope have never -found even an ideal or approximate fulfilment save in Christ and in His -kingdom, which is now, and shall be without end. - -But apart from the Divine predictions of the eternal sunlight visible -on the horizon over vast foreshortened ages of time which to God -are but as one day, let us notice how profound is the symbolism of -the vision--how well it expresses the surface glare, the inward -hollowness, the inherent weakness, the varying successions, the -predestined transience of overgrown empires. The great poet of -Catholicism makes magnificent use of Daniel's image, and sees its -deep significance. He too describes the ideal of all earthly empire -as a colossus of gold, silver, brass, and iron, which yet mainly -rests on its right foot of baked and brittle clay. But he tells us -that every part of this image, except the gold, is crannied through -and through by a fissure, down which there flows a constant stream of -tears.[318] These effects of misery trickle downwards, working their -way through the cavern in Mount Ida in which the image stands, till, -descending from rock to rock, they form those four rivers of hell,-- - - "Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate; - Sad Acheron of sorrow, black and deep; - Cocytus, named of lamentation loud - Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegethon - Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage."[319] - -There is a terrible grandeur in the emblem. Splendid and venerable -looks the idol of human empire in all its pomp and pricelessness. But -underneath its cracked and fissured weakness drop and trickle and -stream the salt and bitter runnels of misery and anguish, till the -rivers of agony are swollen into overflow by their coagulated scum. - - * * * * * - -It was natural that Nebuchadrezzar should have felt deeply impressed -when the vanished outlines of his dream were thus recalled to him -and its awful interpretation revealed. The manner in which he -expresses his amazed reverence may be historically improbable, but -it is psychologically true. We are told that "he fell upon his face -and worshipped Daniel," and the word "worshipped" implies genuine -adoration. That so magnificent a potentate should have lain on his -face before a captive Jewish youth and adored him is amazing.[320] It -is still more so that Daniel, without protest, should have accepted, -not only his idolatrous homage, but also the offering of "an oblation -and sweet incense."[321] That a Nebuchadrezzar should have been thus -prostrate in the dust before their young countryman would no doubt be -a delightful picture to the Jews, and if, as we believe, the story -is an unconnected _Haggada_, it may well have been founded on such -passages as Isa. xlix. 23, "Kings shall bow down to thee with their -faces toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet";[322] -together with Isa. lii. 15, "Kings shall shut their mouths at him: -for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which -they had not heard shall they perceive." - -But it is much more amazing that Daniel, who, as a boy, had been so -scrupulous about the Levitic ordinance of unclean meats, in the scruple -against which the _gravamen_ lay in the possibility of their having -been offered to idols,[323] should, as a man, have allowed himself -to be treated exactly as the king treated his idols! To say that he -accepted this worship because the king was not adoring _him_, but the -God whose power had been manifested in him,[324] is an idle subterfuge, -for that excuse is offered by all idolaters in all ages. Very different -was the conduct of Paul and Barnabas when the rude population of Lystra -wished to worship them as incarnations of Hermes and Zeus. The moment -they heard of it they rent their clothes in horror, and leapt at once -among the people, crying out, "Sirs, why do ye such things? We also -are men of like passions with you, and are preaching unto you that ye -should turn from these vain ones unto the Living God."[325] - -That the King of Babylon should be represented as at once -acknowledging the God of Daniel as "a God of gods," though he was a -fanatical votary of Bel-merodach, belongs to the general plan of the -Book. Daniel received in reward many great gifts, and is made "ruler -of all the wise men of Babylon, and chief of the governors [_signin_] -over all the wise men of Babylon." About his acceptance of the civil -office there is no difficulty; but there is a quite insuperable -historic difficulty in his becoming a chief magian. All the wise men -of Babylon, whom the king had just threatened with dismemberment -as a pack of impostors, were, at any rate, a highly sacerdotal and -essentially idolatrous caste. That Daniel should have objected to -particular kinds of food from peril of defilement, and yet that he -should have consented to be chief hierarch of a heathen cult, would -indeed have been to strain at gnats and to swallow camels! - -And so great was the distinction which he earned by his -interpretation of the dream, that, at his further request, satrapies -were conferred on his three companions; but he himself, like -Mordecai, afterwards "sat in the gate of the king."[326] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[265] Dante, _Inferno_, xiv. 94-120. - -[266] The Assyrian and Babylonian kings, however, only dated their -reigns from the first new year after their accession. - -[267] _Antt._, X. x. 3. - -[268] 2 Chron. xxxv. 21. See _The Second Book of Kings_, p. 404 -(Expositor's Bible). - -[269] See Professor Fuller, _Speaker's Commentary_, vi. 265. - -[270] Malcolm, _Hist. of Persia_, i. 39. - -[271] The belief that dreams come from God is not peculiar to the -Jews, or to Egypt, or Assyria, or Greece (Hom., _Il._, i. 63; _Od._, -iv. 841), or Rome (Cic., _De Div._, _passim_), but to every nation of -mankind, even the most savage. - -[272] Dan. ii. 1: "His dreaming brake from him." Comp. vi. 18; Esther -vi. 1: Jerome says, "Umbra quaedam, et, ut ita dicam, aura somnii -atque vestigium remansit in corde regis, ut, referentibus aliis -posset reminisci eorum quae viderat." - -[273] Gen. xli. 8; Schrader, _K. A. T._, p. 26; _Records of the -Past_, i. 136. - -[274] The word is peculiar to Daniel, both here in the Hebrew and -in the Aramaic. Pusey calls it "a common Syriac term, representing -some form of divination with which Daniel had become familiar in -Babylonia" (p. 40). - -[275] Exod. vii. 11; Deut. xviii. 10; Isa. xlvii. 9, 12. Assyrian -_Kashshapu_. - -[276] As in the rule "_Chaldaeos ne consulito_." See _supra_, p. 48. - -[277] The equivalents in the LXX., Vulgate, A.V., and other versions -are mostly based on uncertain guess-work. See E. Meyer, _Gesch. d. -Alterth._, i. 185; Hommel, _Gesch. Bab. u. Assyr._, v. 386; Behrmann, -p. 2. - -[278] _E.g._, iii. 2, 3, officers of state; iii. 4, 5, etc., -instruments of music; iii. 21, clothes. - -[279] ii. 5: "The dream is gone from me," as in ver. 8 (Theodotion, -[Greek: apeste]). But the meaning may be the decree (or word) is -"sure": for, according to Noeldeke, _azda_ is a Persian word for -"_certain_." Comp. Esther vii. 7; Isa. xlv. 23. - -[280] _Berachoth_, f. 10, 2. This book supplies a charm to be spoken -by one who has forgotten his dream (f. 55, 2). - -[281] Dan. ii. 5, iii. 29. Theodot., [Greek: eis apoleian esesthe]. -Lit. "ye shall be made into limbs." The LXX. render it by [Greek: -diamelizomai], _membratim concidor_, _in frusta fio_. Comp. Matt. -xxiv. 51; Smith's _Assur-bani-pal_, p. 137. The word _haddam_, "a -limb," seems to be of Persian origin--in modern Persian _andam_. -Hence the verb _hadim_ in the Targum of 1 Kings xviii. 33. Comp. 2 -Macc. i. 16, [Greek: mele poiein]. - -[282] Comp. Ezra vi. 11; 2 Kings x. 27; _Records of the Past_, i. 27, -43. - -[283] In iii. 96, [Greek: kai he oikia autou demeuthesetai]. Comp. 2 -Macc. iii. 13: "But Heliodorus, because of the king's commandment, -said, That in anywise it must be brought into the king's treasury." - -[284] LXX. Theodot., [Greek: kairon exagorazete] (not in a _good_ -sense, as in Eph. v. 16; Col. iv. 5). - -[285] Theodot., [Greek: synethesthe]. Cf. John ix. 22. - -[286] Theodot., [Greek: eos hou ho kairos parelthe]. - -[287] Esther iii. 7. - -[288] The word _Aramith_ may be (as Lenormant thinks) a gloss, as in -Ezra iv. 7. - -[289] A curious parallel is adduced by Behrmann (_Daniel_, p. 7). -Rabia-ibn-nazr, King of Yemen, has a dream which he cannot recall, -and acts precisely as Nebuchadrezzar does (Wuestenfeld, p. 9). - -[290] See Lenormant, _La Magie_, pp. 181-183. - -[291] LXX., ii. 11: [Greek: ei me tis angelos]. - -[292] Lit. "chief of the slaughter-men" or "executioners." LXX., -[Greek: archimageiros]. The title is perhaps taken from the story, -which in this chapter is so prominently in the writer's mind, where -the same title is given to Potiphar (Gen. xxxvii. 36). Comp. 2 -Kings xxv. 8; Jer. xxxix. 9. The name Arioch has been derived from -_Eri-aku_, "servant of the moon-god" (_supra_, p. 49), but is found -in Gen. xiv. 1 as the name of "the King of Ellasar." It is also found -in Judith i. 6, "Arioch, King of the Elymaeans." An Erim-aku, King of -Larsa, is found in cuneiform. - -[293] If Daniel went (as the text says) _in person_, he must have -been already a very high official. (Comp. Esther v. 1; Herod., i. -99.) If so, it would have been strange that he should not have been -consulted among the magians. All these details are regarded as -insignificant, being extraneous to the general purport of the story -(Ewald, _Hist._, iii. 194). - -[294] Matt. xviii. 19. The LXX. interpolate a ritual gloss: [Greek: kai -parengeile nesteian kai deesin kai timorian zetesai para tou Kyriou]. - -[295] The title is found in Gen. xxiv. 7, but only became common -after the Exile (Ezra i. 2, vi. 9, 10; Neh. i. 5, ii. 4). - -[296] Comp. Dan. vii. 12; Jer. xxvii. 7; Acts i. 7,[Greek: chronoi e -kairoi]; 1 Thess. v. 1; Acts xvii. 26, [Greek: horisas protetagmenous -kairous]. - -[297] With the phraseology of this prayer comp. Psalm xxxvi. 9, xli., -cxxxix. 12; Neh. ix. 5; 1 Sam. ii. 8; Jer. xxxii. 19; Job xii. 22. - -[298] Here the new title _Gazerim_, "prognosticators," is added to -the others, and is equally vague. It may be derived from _Gazar_, "to -cut"--that is, "to determine." - -[299] Comp. Gen. xx. 3, xli. 25; Numb. xxii. 35. - -[300] Comp. Gen. xli. 45. - -[301] Dan. ii. 30: "For _their_ sakes that shall make known the -interpretation to the king" (A.V.). But the phrase seems merely to -be one of the vague forms for the impersonal which are common in the -_Mishnah_. The R.V. and Ewald rightly render it as in the text. - -[302] Here we have (ver. 31) _aloo!_ "behold!" as in iv. 7, 10, vii. -8; but in vii. 2, 5, 6, 7, 13, we have _aroo!_ - -[303] In the four metals there is perhaps the same underlying thought -as in the Hesiodic and ancient conceptions of the four ages of the -world (Ewald, _Hist._, i. 368). Comp. the vision of Zoroaster quoted -from Delitzsch by Pusey, p. 97: "Zoroaster saw a tree from whose roots -sprang four trees of gold, silver, steel, and brass; and Ormuzd said to -him, 'This is the world; and the four trees are the four "times" which -are coming.' After the fourth comes, according to Persian doctrine, -Sosiosh, the Saviour." Behrmann refers also to Bahman Yesht (Spiegel, -_Eran. Alterth._, ii. 152); the Laws of Manu (Schroeder, _Ind. Litt._, -448); and Roth (_Mythos von den Weltaltern_, 1860). - -[304] Much of the imagery seems to have been suggested by Jer. li. - -[305] Comp. Rev. xx. 11: [Greek: kai topos ouch heurethe autois]. - -[306] Psalm i. 4, ii. 9; Isa. xli. 15; Jer. li. 33, etc. - -[307] Isa. xiv. 4. - -[308] King of kings. Comp. Ezek. xxvi. 7; Ezra vii. 12; Isa. -xxxvi. 4. It is the Babylonian _Shar-sharrani_, or _Sharru-rabbu_ -(Behrmann). The Rabbis tried (impossibly) to construe this title, -which they thought only suitable to God, with the following clause. -But Nebuchadrezzar was so addressed (Ezek. xxvi. 7), as the Assyrian -kings had been before him (Isa. x. 8), and the Persian kings were -after him (Ezra vii. 12). The expression seems strange, but comp. -Jer. xxvii. 6, xxviii. 14. The LXX. and Theodotion mistakenly -interpolate [Greek: ichthyes tes thalasses]. - -[309] Pusey, p. 63. - -[310] Comp. Jer. xxxi. 27. - -[311] Bevan, p. 66. - -[312] The interpretation is first found, amid a chaos of false -exegesis, in the Epistle of Barnabas, iv. 4, Sec. 6. - -[313] See Bevan, p. 65. - -[314] On the distinction in the writer's mind between the Median and -Persian Empires see v. 28, 31, vi. 8, 12, 15, ix. 1, xi. 1, compared -with vi. 28, x. 1. In point of fact, the Persians and Medians were -long spoken of as distinct, though they were closely allied; and to -the Medes had been specially attributed the forthcoming overthrow -of Babylon: Jer. li. 28, "Prepare against her the nations with the -kings of the Medes." Comp. Jer. li. 11, and Isa. xiii. 17, xxi. 2, -"Besiege, O Media." - -[315] See Isa. ii. 2, xxviii. 16; Matt. xxi. 42-44. "Le _mot_ de -Messie n'est pas dans Daniel. Le mot de _Meshiach_, ix. 26, designe -l'autorite (probablement sacerdotale) de la Judee" (Renan, _Hist._, -iv. 358). - -[316] See Kuenen, _The Prophets_, iii. - -[317] No kings have been mentioned, but the ten toes symbolise ten -kings. Comp. vii. 24. - -[318] Dante, _Inferno_, xiv. 94-120. - -[319] Milton, _Paradise Lost_, ii. 575. - -[320] It may be paralleled by the legendary prostrations of Alexander -the Great before the high priest Jaddua (Jos., _Antt._, XI. viii. 5), -and of Edwin of Deira before Paulinus of York (Baeda, _Hist._, ii. -14-16). - -[321] Isa. xlvi. 6. The same verbs, "they fall down, yea they -worship," are there used of idols. - -[322] Comp. Isa. lx. 14: "The sons also of them that afflicted thee -shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall -bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet." - -[323] Comp. Rom. xiv. 23; Acts xv. 29; Heb. xiii. 9; 1 Cor. viii. 1; -Rev. ii. 14, 20. - -[324] So Jerome: "Non tam Danielem quam in Daniele adorat Deum, qui -mysteria revelavit." Comp. Jos., _Antt._, XI. viii. 5, where Alexander -answers the taunt of Parmenio about his [Greek: proskynesis] of the -high priest: [Greek: ou touton prosekynesa, ton de Theon]. - -[325] Acts xiv. 14, 15. - -[326] Esther iii. 2. Comp. 1 Chron. xxvi. 30. This corresponds to -what Xenophon calls [Greek: hai epi tas thyras phoiteseis], and to -our "right of _entree_." - - - - - CHAPTER III - - _THE IDOL OF GOLD, AND THE FAITHFUL THREE_ - - "Every goldsmith is put to shame by his molten image: for his - molten image is vanity, and there is no breath in them. They are - vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they - shall perish."--JER. li. 17, 18. - - "The angel of the Lord encampeth around them that fear Him, and - shall deliver them."--PSALM xxxiv. 7. - - "When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt; - neither shall the flame kindle upon thee."--ISA. xliii. 2. - - -Regarded as an instance of the use of historic fiction to inculcate -the noblest truths, the third chapter of Daniel is not only superb in -its imaginative grandeur, but still more in the manner in which it -sets forth the piety of ultimate faithfulness, and of that - - "Death-defying utterance of truth" - -which is the essence of the most heroic and inspiring forms of -martyrdom. So far from slighting it, because it does not come before -us with adequate evidence to prove that it was even intended to -be taken as literal history, I have always regarded it as one of -the most precious among the narrative chapters of Scripture. It is -of priceless value as illustrating the deliverance of undaunted -faithfulness--as setting forth the truth that they who love God and -trust in Him must love Him and trust in Him even till the end, in -spite not only of the most overwhelming peril, but even when they -are brought face to face with apparently hopeless defeat. Death -itself, by torture or sword or flame, threatened by the priests and -tyrants and multitudes of the earth set in open array against them, -is impotent to shake the purpose of God's saints. When the servant of -God can do nothing else against the banded forces of sin, the world, -and the devil, he at least can die, and can say like the Maccabees, -"Let us die in our simplicity!" He may be saved from death; but even -if not, he must prefer death to apostasy, and will save his own -soul. That the Jews were ever reduced to such a choice during the -Babylonian exile there is no evidence; indeed, all evidence points -the other way, and seems to show that they were allowed with perfect -tolerance to hold and practise their own religion.[327] But in the -days of Antiochus Epiphanes the question which to choose--martyrdom -or apostasy--became a very burning one. Antiochus set up at Jerusalem -"the abomination of desolation," and it is easy to understand what -courage and conviction a tempted Jew might derive from the study -of this splendid defiance. That the story is of a kind well fitted -to haunt the imagination is shown by the fact that Firdausi tells -a similar story from Persian tradition of "a martyr hero who came -unhurt out of a fiery furnace."[328] - -This immortal chapter breathes exactly the same spirit as the -forty-fourth Psalm. - - "Our heart is not turned back, - Neither our steps gone out of Thy way: - No, not when Thou hast smitten us into the place of - dragons, - And covered us with the shadow of death. - If we have forgotten the Name of our God, - And holden up our hands to any strange god, - Shall not God search it out? - For He knoweth the very secrets of the heart." - -"Nebuchadnezzar the king," we are told in one of the stately overtures -in which this writer rejoices, "made an image of gold, whose height was -threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits, and he set it up -in the plains of Dura, in the province of Babylon." - -No date is given, but the writer may well have supposed or have -traditionally heard that some such event took place about the -eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar's reign, when he had brought to -conclusion a series of great victories and conquests.[329] Nor are we -told whom the image represented. We may imagine that it was an idol of -Bel-merodach, the patron deity of Babylon, to whom we know that he did -erect an image;[330] or of Nebo, from whom the king derived his name. -When it is said to be "of gold," the writer, in the grandiose character -of his imaginative faculty, may have meant his words to be taken -literally, or he may merely have meant that it was gilded, or overlaid -with gold.[331] There were colossal images in Egypt and in Nineveh, -but we never read in history of any other gilded image ninety feet high -and nine feet broad.[332] The name of the plain or valley in which it -was erected--Dura--has been found in several Babylonian localities.[333] - -Then the king proclaimed a solemn dedicatory festival, to which he -invited every sort of functionary, of which the writer, with his -usual [Greek: pyrgosis] and rotundity of expression, accumulates the -eight names. They were:-- - -1. The Princes, "satraps," or wardens of the realm.[334] - -2. The Governors[335] (ii. 48). - -3. The Captains.[336] - -4. The Judges.[337] - -5. The Treasurers or Controllers.[338] - -6. The Counsellors.[339] - -7. The Sheriffs.[340] - -8. All the Rulers of the Provinces. - -Any attempts to attach specific values to these titles are failures. -They seem to be a catalogue of Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian -titles, and may perhaps (as Ewald conjectured) be meant to represent -the various grades of three classes of functionaries--civil, -military, and legal. - -Then all these officials, who with leisurely stateliness are named -again, came to the festival, and stood before the image. It is not -improbable that the writer may have been a witness of some such -splendid ceremony to which the Jewish magnates were invited in the -reign of Antiochus Epiphanes.[341] - -Then a herald (_kerooza_[342]) cried aloud[343] a proclamation "to -all peoples, nations, and languages." Such a throng might easily have -contained Greeks, Phoenicians, Jews, Arabs, and Assyrians, as well as -Babylonians. At the outburst of a blast of "boisterous janizary-music" -they are all to fall down and worship the golden image. - -Of the six different kinds of musical instruments, which, in his -usual style, the writer names and reiterates, and which it is -neither possible nor very important to distinguish, three--the harp, -psaltery, and bagpipe--are Greek; two, the horn and sackbut, have -names derived from roots found both in Aryan and Semitic languages; -and one, "the pipe," is Semitic. As to the list of officials, the -writer had added "and all the rulers of the provinces"; so here he -adds "and all kinds of music."[344] - -Any one who refused to obey the order was to be flung, the same -hour, into the burning furnace of fire. Professor Sayce, in his -_Hibbert Lectures_, connects the whole scene with an attempt, first -by Nebuchadrezzar, then by Nabunaid, to make Merodach--who, to -conciliate the prejudices of the worshippers of the older deity Bel, -was called Bel-merodach--the chief deity of Babylon. He sees in the -king's proclamation an underlying suspicion that some would be found -to oppose his attempted centralisation of worship.[345] - -The music burst forth, and the vast throng all prostrated themselves, -except Daniel's three companions, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. - -We naturally pause to ask where then was Daniel? If the narrative -be taken for literal history, it is easy to answer with the -apologist that he was ill; or was absent; or was a person of too -much importance to be required to prostrate himself; or that "the -Chaldeans" were afraid to accuse him. "_Certainly_," says Professor -Fuller, "had this chapter been the composition of a pseudo-Daniel, or -the record of a fictitious event, Daniel would have been introduced -and his immunity explained." Apologetic literature abounds in such -fanciful and valueless arguments. It would be just as true, and just -as false, to say that "certainly," if the narrative were historic, -his absence would have been explained; and all the more because he -was expressly elected to be "in the gate of the king." But if we -regard the chapter as a noble _Haggada_, there is not the least -difficulty in accounting for Daniel's absence. The separate stories -were meant to cohere to a certain extent; and though the writers of -this kind of ancient imaginative literature, even in Greece, rarely -trouble themselves with any questions which lie outside the immediate -purpose, yet the introduction of Daniel into this story would have -been to violate every vestige of verisimilitude. To represent -Nebuchadrezzar worshipping Daniel as a god, and offering oblations to -him on one page, and on the next to represent the king as throwing -him into a furnace for refusing to worship an idol, would have -involved an obvious incongruity. Daniel is represented in the other -chapters as playing his part and bearing his testimony to the God of -Israel; this chapter is separately devoted to the heroism and the -testimony of his three friends. - -Observing the defiance of the king's edict, certain Chaldeans, actuated -by jealousy, came near to the king and "accused" the Jews.[346] - -The word for "accused" is curious and interesting. It is literally -"_ate the pieces of the Jews_,"[347] evidently involving a metaphor -of fierce devouring malice.[348] Reminding the king of his decree, -they inform him that three of the Jews to whom he has given such high -promotion "thought well not to regard thee; thy god will they not -serve, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."[349] - -Nebuchadrezzar, like other despots who suffer from the vertigo of -autocracy, was liable to sudden outbursts of almost spasmodic fury. -We read of such storms of rage in the case of Antiochus Epiphanes, of -Nero, of Valentinian I., and even of Theodosius. The double insult to -himself and to his god on the part of men to whom he had shown such -conspicuous favour transported him out of himself. For Bel-merodach, -whom he had made the patron god of Babylon, was, as he says in one -of his own inscriptions, "the Lord, the joy of my heart in Babylon, -which is the seat of my sovereignty and empire." It seemed to him -too intolerable that this god, who had crowned him with glory and -victory, and that he himself, arrayed in the plenitude of his -imperial power, should be defied and set at naught by three miserable -and ungrateful captives. - -He puts it to them whether it was their set purpose[350] that they -would not serve his gods or worship his image. Then he offers them a -_locus poenitentiae_. The music should sound forth again. If they would -then worship--but if not, they should be flung into the furnace,--"and -who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" - -The question is a direct challenge and defiance of the God of Israel, -like Pharaoh's "And who is Jehovah, that I should obey His voice?" -or like Sennacherib's "Who are they among all the gods that have -delivered their land out of my hand?"[351] It is answered in each -instance by a decisive interposition. - -The answer of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego is truly magnificent -in its unflinching courage. It is: "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need -to answer thee a word concerning this.[352] If our God whom we serve -be able to deliver us, He will deliver us from the burning fiery -furnace, and out of thy hand, O king. But if not,[353] be it known -unto thee, O king,[354] that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship -the golden image which thou hast set up." - -By the phrase "if our God be able" no doubt as to God's _power_ is -expressed. The word "able" merely means "able in accordance with His -own plans."[355] The three children knew well that God can deliver, and -that He has repeatedly delivered His saints. Such deliverances abound -on the sacred page, and are mentioned in the Dream of Gerontius:-- - - "Rescue him, O Lord, in this his evil hour, - As of old so many by Thy mighty power:-- - Enoch and Elias from the common doom; - Noe from the waters in a saving home; - Abraham from th' abounding guilt of Heathenesse, - Job from all his multiform and fell distress; - Isaac, when his father's knife was raised to slay; - Lot from burning Sodom on its judgment-day; - Moses from the land of bondage and despair; - Daniel from the hungry lions in their lair; - David from Golia, and the wrath of Saul; - And the two Apostles from their prison-thrall." - -But the willing martyrs were also well aware that in many cases it -has _not_ been God's purpose to deliver His saints out of the peril -of death; and that it has been far better for them that they should -be carried heavenwards on the fiery chariot of martyrdom. They were -therefore perfectly prepared to find that it was the will of God -that they too should perish, as thousands of God's faithful ones had -perished before them, from the tyrannous and cruel hands of man; and -they were cheerfully willing to confront that awful extremity. Thus -regarded, the three words "_And if not_" are among the sublimest -words uttered in all Scripture. They represent the truth that -the man who trusts in God will continue to say even to the end, -"Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." They are the triumph -of faith over all adverse circumstances. It has been the glorious -achievement of man to have attained, by the inspiration of the -breath of the Almighty, so clear an insight into the truth that the -voice of duty must be obeyed to the very end, as to lead him to defy -every combination of opposing forces. The gay lyrist of heathendom -expressed it in his famous ode,-- - - "Justum et tenacem propositi virum - Non civium ardor prava jubentium - Non vultus instantis tyranni - Mente quatit solida." - -It is man's testimony to his indomitable belief that the things of -sense are not to be valued in comparison to that high happiness which -arises from obedience to the law of conscience, and that no extremities -of agony are commensurate with apostasy. This it is which, more than -anything else, has, in spite of appearances, shown that the spirit of -man is of heavenly birth, and has enabled him to unfold - - "The wings within him wrapped, and proudly rise - Redeemed from earth, a creature of the skies." - -For wherever there is left in man any true manhood, he has never -shrunk from accepting death rather than the disgrace of compliance -with what he despises and abhors. This it is which sends our soldiers -on the forlorn hope, and makes them march with a smile upon the -batteries which vomit their cross-fires upon them; "and so die by -thousands the unnamed demigods." By virtue of this it has been -that all the martyrs have, "with the irresistible might of their -weakness," shaken the solid world. - - * * * * * - -On hearing the defiance of the faithful Jews--absolutely firm in its -decisiveness, yet perfectly respectful in its tone--the tyrant was -so much beside himself, that, as he glared on Shadrach, Meshach, -and Abed-nego, his very countenance was disfigured. The furnace was -probably one used for the ordinary cremation of the dead.[356] He -ordered that it should be heated seven times hotter than it was -wont to be heated,[357] and certain men of mighty strength who were -in his army were bidden to bind the three youths and fling them into -the raging flames. So, bound in their hosen, their tunics, their -long mantles,[358] and their other garments, they were cast into the -seven-times-heated furnace. The king's commandment was so urgent, and -the "tongue of flame" was darting so fiercely from the horrible kiln, -that the executioners perished in planting the ladders to throw them -in, but they themselves fell into the midst of the furnace. - -The death of the executioners seems to have attracted no -special notice, but immediately afterwards Nebuchadrezzar -started in amazement and terror from his throne, and asked his -chamberlains,[359] "Did we not cast _three_ men _bound_ into the -midst of the fire?" - -"True, O king," they answered. - -"Behold," he said, "I see _four_ men _loose_, walking in the midst of -the fire, and they have no hurt, and the aspect of the fourth is like -a son of the gods!"[360] - -Then the king approached the door of the furnace of fire, and -called, "Ye servants of the Most High God,[361] come forth." Then -Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego came out of the midst of the fire; -and all the satraps, prefects, presidents, and court chamberlains -gathered round to stare on men who were so completely untouched by -the fierceness of the flames that not a hair of their heads had been -singed, nor their hosen shrivelled, nor was there even the smell -of burning upon them.[362] According to the version of Theodotion, -the king worshipped the Lord before them, and he then published a -decree in which, after blessing God for sending His angel to deliver -His servants who trusted in Him, he somewhat incoherently ordained -that "every _people, nation, or language_ which spoke any blasphemy -against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, should _be cut -in pieces_, and _his house made a dunghill_: since there is no other -god that can deliver after this sort." - -Then the king--as he had done before--promoted Shadrach, Meshach, -and Abed-nego in the province of Babylon.[363] - -Henceforth they disappear alike from history, tradition, and legend; -but the whole magnificent _Haggada_ is the most powerful possible -commentary on the words of Isa. xliii. 2: "When thou walkest through -the fire thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle -upon thee."[364] - -How powerfully the story struck the imagination of the Jews is shown -by the not very apposite Song of the Three Children, with the other -apocryphal additions. Here we are told that the furnace was heated -"with rosin, pitch, tow, and small wood; so that the flame streamed -forth above the furnace forty and nine cubits. And it passed through, -and burned those Chaldeans it found about the furnace. But the angel -of the Lord came down into the furnace together with Azarias and his -fellows, and smote the flame of the fire out of the oven; and made -the midst of the furnace as it had been a moist whistling wind,[365] -so that the fire touched them not at all, neither hurt nor troubled -them."[366] - -In the Talmud the majestic limitations of the Biblical story are -sometimes enriched with touches of imagination, but more often -coarsened by tasteless exhibitions of triviality and rancour. Thus in -the _Vayyikra Rabba_ Nebuchadrezzar tries to persuade the youths by -fantastic misquotations of Isa. x. 10, Ezek. xxiii. 14, Deut. iv. 28, -Jer. xxvii. 8; and they refute him and end with clumsy plays on his -name, telling him that he should bark (_nabach_) like a dog, swell like -a water-jar (_cod_), and chirp like a cricket (_tsirtsir_), which he -immediately did--_i.e._, he was smitten with lycanthropy.[367] - -In _Sanhedrin_, f. 93, 1, the story is told of the adulterous false -prophets Ahab and Zedekiah, and it is added that Nebuchadrezzar -offered them the ordeal of fire from which the Three Children had -escaped. They asked that Joshua the high priest might be with them, -thinking that his sanctity would be their protection. When the king -asked why Abraham, though alone, had been saved from the fire of -Nimrod, and the Three Children from the burning furnace, and yet the -high priest should have been singed (Zech. iii. 2), Joshua answered -that the presence of two wicked men gave the fire power over him, and -quoted the proverb, "Two dry sticks kindle one green one." - -In _Pesachin_, f. 118, 1, there is a fine imaginative passage on the -subject, attributed to Rabbi Samuel of Shiloh:-- - -"In the hour when Nebuchadrezzar the wicked threw Hananiah, Mishael and -Azariah into the midst of the furnace of fire, Gorgemi, the prince of -the hail, stood before the Holy One (blessed be He!) and said, 'Lord -of the world, let me go down and cool the furnace.' 'No,' answered -Gabriel; 'all men know that hail quenches fire;[368] but I, the prince -of fire, will go down and make the furnace cool within and hot without, -and thus work a miracle within a miracle.' The Holy One (blessed be -He!) said unto him, 'Go down.' In the self-same hour Gabriel opened his -mouth and said, 'And the truth of the Lord endureth for ever.'" - -Mr. Ball, who quotes these passages from Wuensche's _Bibliotheca -Rabbinica_ in his Introduction to the Song of the Three -Children,[369] very truly adds that many Scriptural commentators -wholly lack the _orientation_ derived from the study of Talmudic and -Midrashic literature which is an indispensable preliminary to a right -understanding of the treasures of Eastern thought. They do not grasp -the inveterate tendency of Jewish teachers to convey doctrine by -concrete stories and illustrations, and not in the form of abstract -thought. "_The doctrine is everything; the mode of presentation has -no independent value._" To make the story the first consideration, -and the doctrine it was intended to convey an after-thought, as we, -with our dry Western literalness are predisposed to do, is to reverse -the Jewish order of thinking, and to inflict unconscious injustice on -the authors of many edifying narratives of antiquity. - -The part played by Daniel in the apocryphal Story of Susanna is -probably suggested by the meaning of his name: "Judgment of God." -Both that story and Bel and the Dragon are in their way effective -fictions, though incomparably inferior to the canonical part of the -Book of Daniel. - -And the startling decree of Nebuchadrezzar finds its analogy in -the decree published by Antiochus the Great to all his subjects -in honour of the Temple at Jerusalem, in which he threatened the -infliction of heavy fines on any foreigner who trespassed within the -limits of the Holy Court.[370] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[327] The false prophets Ahab and Zedekiah were "roasted in the fire" -(Jer. xxix. 22), which may have suggested the idea of this punishment -to the writer; but it was for committing "lewdness"--"folly," Judg. -xx. 6--in Israel, and for adultery and lies, which were regarded as -treasonable. In some traditions they are identified with the two -elders of the Story of Susanna. Assur-bani-pal burnt Samas-sum-ucin, -his brother, who was Viceroy of Babylon (about B.C. 648), and -Te-Umman, who cursed his gods (Smith, _Assur-bani-pal_, p. 138). -Comp. Ewald, _Prophets_, iii. 240. See _supra_, p. 44. - -[328] Malcolm, _Persia_, i. 29, 30. - -[329] Both in Theodotion and the LXX. we have [Greek: etous -oktokaidekatou]. The siege of Jerusalem was not, however, finished -till the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar (2 Kings xxv. 8). Others -conjecture that the scene occurred in his thirty-first year, when he -was "at rest in his house, and flourishing in his palace" (Dan. iv. 4). - -[330] _Records of the Past_, v. 113. The inscriptions of -Nebuchadrezzar are full of glorification of Marduk (Merodach), _id._, -v. 115, 135, vii. 75. - -[331] Comp. Isa. xliv. 9-20. Mr. Hormuzd Rassan discovered a colossal -statue of Nebo at Nimroud in 1853. Shalmanezer III. says on his -obelisk, "I made an image of my royalty; upon it I inscribed the -praise of Asshur my master, and a true account of my exploits." -Herodotus (i. 183) mentions a statue of Zeus in Babylon, on which was -spent eight hundred talents of gold, and of another made of "solid -gold" twelve ells high. - -[332] By the apologists the "image" or "statue" is easily toned -down into a bust on a hollow pedestal (Archdeacon Rose, _Speaker's -Commentary_, p. 270). The colossus of Nero is said to have been a -hundred and ten feet high, but was of marble. Nestle (_Marginalia_, -35) quotes a passage from Ammianus Marcellinus, which mentions a -colossal statue of Apollo reared by Antiochus Epiphanes, to which -there may be a side-allusion here. - -[333] Schrader, p. 430: Dur-Yagina, Dur-Sargina, etc. LXX., [Greek: -en pedio tou peribolou choras Babylonias]. - -[334] LXX. and Vulg., _satrapae_. Comp. Ezra viii. 36; Esther iii. 12. -Supposed to be the Persian _Khshatra-pawan_ (Bevan, p. 79). - -[335] _Signi_, Babylonian word (Schrader, p. 411). - -[336] LXX., [Greek: toparchai]. Comp. _Pechah_, Ezra v. 14. An -Assyrian word (Schrader, p. 577). - -[337] LXX., [Greek: hegoumenoi]. Perhaps the Persian _endarzgar_, or -"counsellor." - -[338] LXX., [Greek: dioiketai]. Comp. Ezra vii. 21; but Graetz thinks -there is a mere scribe's mistake for the _gadbari_ of vv. 24 and 27. - -[339] This word is perhaps the old Persian _databard_. - -[340] The word is found here alone. Perhaps "advisers." On these -words see Bevan, p. 79; _Speaker's Commentary_, pp. 278, 279; Sayce, -_Assyr. Gr._, p. 110. - -[341] Ewald, _Prophets_, v. 209; _Hist._, v. 294. - -[342] The word has often been compared with the Greek [Greek: kerux], -but the root is freely found in Assyrian inscriptions (_Karaz_, "an -edict"). - -[343] Comp. Rev. xviii. 2, [Greek: ekraxen en ischui]. - -[344] See _supra_, p. 22. The _qar'na_ (horn, [Greek: keras]) and -_sab'ka_ ([Greek: sambyke]) are in root both Greek and Aramean. The -"pipe" (_mash'rokitha_) is Semitic. Brandig tries to prove that -even in Nebuchadrezzar's time these three Greek names (even the -_symphonia_) had been borrowed by the Babylonians from the Greeks; -but the combined weight of philological authority is against him. - -[345] See _Hibbert Lectures_, chap. lxxxix., etc. - -[346] Comp. vi. 13, 14. - -[347] _Akaloo Qar'tsihin._ - -[348] It is "found in the Targum rendering of Lev. xix. 16 for a -talebearer, and is frequent as a Syriac and Arabic idiom" (Fuller). - -[349] Jerome emphasises the element of jealousy, "Quos praetulisti -nobis et _captivos ac servos principes fecisti_, ii _elati in -superbiam_ tua praecepta contemnunt." - -[350] The phrase is unique and of uncertain meaning. - -[351] Exod. v. 2; Isa. xxxvi. 20; 2 Chron. xxxii. 13-17. - -[352] Dan. iii. 16. LXX., [Greek: ou chreian echomen]; Vulg., _non -oportet nos_. To soften the brusqueness of the address, in which the -Rabbis (_e.g._, Rashi) rejoice, the LXX. add another [Greek: Basileu]. - -[353] Jerome explains "But if not" by _Quodsi noluerit_; and -Theodoret by [Greek: eite oun rhyetai eite kai me]. - -[354] iii. 18. LXX., [Greek: kai tote phaneron soi estai]. Tert., -from the Vet. Itala, "tunc manifestum erit tibi" (_Scorp._, 8). - -[355] Comp. Gen. xix. 22: "_I cannot do anything_ until thou be come -thither." - -[356] Cremation prevailed among the Accadians, and was adopted by the -Babylonians (G. Bertin, _Bab. and Orient. Records_, i. 17-21). Fire -was regarded as the great purifier. In the Catacombs the scene of the -Three Children in the fire is common. They are painted walking in a -sort of open cistern full of flames, with doors beneath. The Greek -word is [Greek: kaminos] (Matt. xiii. 42), "a calcining furnace." - -[357] It seems very needless to introduce here, as Mr. Deane does in -Bishop Ellicott's commentary, the notion of the seven _Maskim_ or -demons of Babylonian mythology. In the Song of the Three Children the -flames stream out forty-nine (7 x 7) cubits. Comp. Isa. xxx. 26. - -[358] The meaning of these articles of dress is only conjectural: they -are--(1) _Sarbalin_, perhaps "trousers," LXX. [Greek: sarabaroi], -Vulg. _braccae_; (2) _Patish_, LXX. [Greek: tiarai], Vulg. _tiarae_; -(3) _Kar'bla_, LXX. [Greek: periknemides], Vulg. _calceamenta_. It -is useless to repeat all the guesses. _Sarbala_ is a "tunic" in the -Talmud, Arab. _sirbal_; and some connect _Patish_ with the Greek -[Greek: petasos]. Judging from Assyrian and Babylonian dress as -represented on the monuments, the youths were probably clad in turbans -(the Median [Greek: kaunake]), an inner tunic (the Median [Greek: -kandys]), an outer mantle, and some sort of leggings (_anaxurides_). -It is interesting to compare with the passage the chapter of Herodotus -(i. 190) about the Babylonian dress. He says they wore a linen tunic -reaching to the feet, a woollen over-tunic, a white shawl, and -slippers. It was said to be borrowed from the dress of Semiramis. - -[359] Chald., _haddab'rin_; LXX., [Greek: hoi philoi tou basileos]. - -[360] The A.V., "like the Son of God," is quite untenable. The -expression may mean a heavenly or an angelic being (Gen. vi. 2; Job -i. 6). So ordinary an expression does not need to be superfluously -illustrated by references to the Assyrian and Babylonian inscriptions, -but they may be found in Sayce, _Hibbert Lectures_, 128 and _passim_. - -[361] LXX., [Greek: ho Theos ton theon, ho hypsistos]. Comp. 2 Macc. -iii. 31; Mark v. 7; Luke viii. 28; Acts xvi. 17, from which it will -be seen that it was not a Jewish expression, though it often occurs -in the Book of Enoch (Dillmann, p. 98). - -[362] So in Persian history the Prince Siawash clears himself from -a false accusation in the reign of his father Kai Kaoos by passing -through the fire (Malcolm, _Hist. of Persia_, i. 38). - -[363] Comp. Psalm xvi. 12: "We went through fire and water, and Thou -broughtest us out into a safe place." - -[364] Comp. Gen. xxiv. 7; Exod. xxiii. 20; Deut. xxxvi. 1. The phrase -applied to Joshua the high priest (Zech. iii. 2), "Is not this a -brand plucked out of the burning?" originated the legend that, when -the false prophets Ahab and Zedekiah had been burnt by Nebuchadrezzar -(Jer. xxix. 22), Joshua had been saved, though singed. This and other -apocryphal stories illustrate the evolution of _Haggadoth_ out of -metaphoric allusions. - -[365] [Greek: pneuma notion diasyrizon], "a dewy wind, whistling -continually." - -[366] Song of the Three Children, 23-27. - -[367] _Vay. Rab._, xxv. 1 (Wuensche, _Bibliotheca Rabbinica_). - -[368] Ecclus. xviii. 16: "Shall not the dew assuage the heat?" - -[369] _Speaker's Commentary_, on the Apocrypha, ii. 305-307. - -[370] Jos., _Antt._, XII. iii. 3; Jahn, _Hebr. Commonwealth_, Sec. xc. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - _THE BABYLONIAN CEDAR, AND THE STRICKEN - DESPOT_ - - "Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a - fall."--PROV. xvi. 18. - - -Thrice already, in these magnificent stories, had Nebuchadrezzar been -taught to recognise the existence and to reverence the power of God. -In this chapter he is represented as having been brought to a still -more overwhelming conviction, and to an open acknowledgment of God's -supremacy, by the lightning-stroke of terrible calamity. - -The chapter is dramatically thrown into the form of a decree -which, after his recovery and shortly before his death, the king -is represented as having promulgated to "all people, nations, and -languages that dwell in all the earth."[371] But the literary form is -so absolutely subordinated to the general purpose--which is to show -that where God's "judgments are in the earth the inhabitants of the -earth will learn righteousness,"[372]--that the writer passes without -any difficulty from the first to the third person (iv. 20-30). He -does not hesitate to represent Nebuchadrezzar as addressing all the -subject nations in favour of the God of Israel, even placing in his -imperial decree a cento of Scriptural phraseology. - -Readers unbiassed by _a-priori_ assumptions, which are broken to -pieces at every step, will ask, "Is it even historically conceivable -that Nebuchadrezzar (to whom the later Jews commonly gave the title of -_Ha-Rashang_, 'the wicked') could ever have issued such a decree?"[373] -They will further ask, "Is there any shadow of evidence to show that -the king's degrading madness and recovery rest upon any real tradition?" - -As to the monuments and inscriptions, they are entirely silent upon -the subject; nor is there any trace of these events in any historic -record. Those who, with the school of Hengstenberg and Pusey, think -that the narrative receives support from the phrase of Berossus that -Nebuchadrezzar "fell sick and departed this life when he had reigned -forty-three years," must be easily satisfied, since he says very -nearly the same of Nabopolassar.[374] Such writers too much assume -that immemorial prejudices on the subject have so completely weakened -the independent intelligence of their readers, that they may safely -make assertions which, in matters of secular criticism, would be set -aside as almost childishly nugatory. - -It is different with the testimony of Abydenus, quoted by -Eusebius.[375] Abydenus, in his book on the _Assyrians_, quoted from -Megasthenes the story that, after great conquests, "Nebuchadrezzar" -(as the Chaldean story goes), "_when he had ascended the roof of his -palace, was inspired by some god or other_, and cried aloud, 'I, -Nebuchadrezzar, announce to you the future calamity which neither Bel -my ancestor, nor our queen Beltis, can persuade the Fates to avert. -There shall come a Persian, a mule, who shall have your own gods as -his allies, and he shall make you slaves. Moreover, he who shall help -to bring this about shall be the son of a Median woman, the boast of -the Assyrian. Would that before his countrymen perish some whirlpool -or flood might seize him and destroy him utterly;[376] or else would -that he might betake himself to some other place, and _might be -driven to the desert, where is no city nor track of men, where wild -beasts seek their food and birds fly hither and thither! Would that -among rocks and mountain clefts he might wander alone!_ And as for -me, may I, before he imagines this, meet with some happier end!' -_When he had thus prophesied, he suddenly vanished._" - -I have italicised the passages which, amid immense differences, bear -a remote analogy to the story of this chapter. To quote the passage -as any proof that the writer of Daniel is narrating literal history -is an extraordinary misuse of it. - -Megasthenes flourished B.C. 323, and wrote a book which contained -many fabulous stories, three centuries after the events to which -he alludes. Abydenus, author of _Assyriaca_, was a Greek historian -of still later, and uncertain, date. The writer of Daniel may have -met with their works, or, quite independently of them, he may have -learned from the Babylonian Jews that there was _some_ strange legend -or other about the death of Nebuchadrezzar. The Jews in Babylonia -were more numerous and more distinguished than those in Palestine, -and kept up constant communication with them. So far from any -historical accuracy about Babylon in a Palestinian Jew of the age -of the Maccabees being strange, or furnishing any proof that he was -a contemporary of Nebuchadrezzar, the only subject of astonishment -would be that he should have fallen into so many mistakes and -inaccuracies, were it not that the ancients in general, and the Jews -particularly, paid little attention to such matters. - -Aware, then, of some dim traditions that Nebuchadrezzar at the close -of his life ascended his palace roof and there received some sort of -inspiration, after which he mysteriously disappeared, the writer, -giving free play to his imagination for didactic purposes, after the -common fashion of his age and nation, worked up these slight elements -into the stately and striking _Midrash_ of this chapter. He too makes -the king mount his palace roof and receive an inspiration; but in his -pages the inspiration does not refer to "the mule" or half-breed, -Cyrus, nor to Nabunaid, the son of a Median woman, nor to any -imprecation pronounced upon them, but is an admonition to himself; -and the imprecation which he denounced upon the future subverters of -Babylon is dimly analogous to the fate which fell on his own head. -Instead of making him "vanish" immediately afterwards, the writer -makes him fall into a beast-madness for "seven times," after which -he suddenly recovers and publishes a decree that all mankind should -honour the true God. - -Ewald thinks that a verse has been lost at the beginning of the -chapter, indicating the nature of the document which follows; but it -seems more probable that the author began this, as he begins other -chapters, with the sort of imposing overture of the first verse. - -Like Assur-bani-pal and the ancient despots, Nebuchadrezzar addresses -himself to "all people in the earth," and after the salutation of -peace[377] says that he thought it right to tell them "the signs and -wonders that the High God hath wrought towards me. How great are His -signs, and how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting -kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation."[378] - -He goes on to relate that, while he was at ease and secure in his -palace,[379] he saw a dream which affrighted him, and left a train -of gloomy forebodings. As usual he summoned the whole train of -_Khakhamim_, _Ashshaphim_, _Mekashshaphim_, _Kasdim_, _Chartummim_, -and _Gazerim_, to interpret his dream, and as usual they failed -to do so. Then lastly, Daniel, surnamed Belteshazzar, after Bel, -Nebuchradrezzar's god,[380] and "chief of the magicians,"[381] in -whom was "the spirit of the holy gods," is summoned. To him the king -tells his dream. - -The writer probably derives the images of the dream from the -magnificent description of the King of Assyria as a spreading cedar -in Ezek. xxxi. 3-18:-- - -"Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and -with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was -among the thick boughs. The waters nourished him, the deep made him -to grow.... Therefore his stature was exalted above all the trees of -the field; and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became -long by reason of many waters. All the fowls of the air made their -nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of -the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all -great nations.... The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him -... nor was any tree in the garden of God like him in his beauty.... -Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because thou art exalted in -stature ... I will deliver him into the hand of the mighty one of the -nations.... And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him -off, and have left him. Upon the mountains and in all the valleys his -branches are broken ... and all the people of the earth are gone down -from his shadow, and have left him.... I made the nations to shake at -the sound of his fall." - -We may also compare this dream with that of Cambyses narrated by -Herodotus[382]: "He fancied that a vine grew from the womb of -his daughter and overshadowed the whole of Asia.... The magian -interpreter expounded the vision to foreshow that the offspring of -his daughter would reign over Asia in his stead." - -So too Nebuchadrezzar in his dream had seen a tree in the midst -of the earth, of stately height, which reached to heaven and -overshadowed the world, with fair leaves and abundant fruit, -giving large nourishment to all mankind, and shade to the beasts -of the field and fowls of the heaven. The LXX. adds with glowing -exaggeration, "The sun and moon dwelled in it, and gave light to -the whole earth. And, behold, a watcher [_'ir_][383] and a holy one -[_qaddish_][384] came down from heaven, and bade, Hew down, and lop, -and strip the tree, and scatter his fruit, and scare away the beasts -and birds from it, but leave the stump in the greening turf bound by -a band of brass and iron, and let it be wet with heaven's dews,"--and -then, passing from the image to the thing signified, "and let his -portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. Let his heart -be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be given unto him, and -let seven times pass over him." We are not told to whom the mandate -is given--that is left magnificently vague. The object of this -"sentence of the watchers, and utterance of the holy ones," is that -the living may know that the Most High is the Supreme King, and can, -if He will, give rule even to the lowliest. Nebuchadrezzar, who tells -us in his inscription that "he never forgave impiety," has to learn -that he is nothing, and that God is all,--that "He pulleth down the -mighty from their seat, and exalteth the humble and meek."[385] - -This dream Nebuchadrezzar bids Daniel to interpret, "because thou -hast the spirit of a Holy God in thee." - -Before we proceed let us pause for a moment to notice the agents of -the doom. It is one of the never-sleeping ones--an _'ir_ and a holy -one--who flashes down from heaven with the mandate; and he is only -the mouthpiece of the whole body of the watchers and holy ones. - -Generally, no doubt, the phrase means an angelic denizen of heaven. -The LXX. translates watcher by "angel." Theodotion, feeling that -there is something technical in the word, which only occurs in this -chapter, renders it by [Greek: eir]. This is the first appearance -of the term in Jewish literature, but it becomes extremely common -in later Jewish writings--as, for instance, in the Book of Enoch. -The term "a holy one"[386] connotes the dedicated separation of -the angels; for in the Old Testament holiness is used to express -consecration and setting apart, rather than moral stainlessness.[387] -The "seven watchers" are alluded to in the post-exilic Zechariah (iv. -10): "They see with joy the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel, even -those seven, the _eyes_ of the Lord; they run to and fro through the -whole earth." In this verse Kohut[388] and Kuenen read "watchers" -(_'irim_) for "eyes" (_'inim_), and we find these seven watchers in -the Book of Enoch (chap. xx.). We see as an historic fact that the -familiarity of the Jews with Persian angelology and demonology seems -to have developed their views on the subject. It is only after the -Exile that we find angels and demons playing a more prominent part -than before, divided into classes, and even marked out by special -names. The Apocrypha becomes more precise than the canonical books, -and the later pseudepigraphic books, which advance still further, are -left behind by the Talmud. Some have supposed a connexion between the -seven watchers and the Persian _amschashpands_.[389] The _shedim_, or -evil spirits, are also seven in number,-- - - "Seven are they, seven are they! - In the channel of the deep seven are they, - In the radiance of heaven seven are they!"[390] - -It is true that in Enoch (xc. 91) the prophet sees "the first six -white ones," and we find six also in Ezek. ix. 2. On the other hand, -we find seven in Tobit: "I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels -which present the prayers of the saints, and which go in and out -before the glory of the Holy One."[391] The names are variously -given; but perhaps the commonest are Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, -Raphael, and Raguel.[392] In the Babylonian mythology seven deities -stood at the head of all Divine beings, and the seven planetary -spirits watched the gates of Hades.[393] - -To Daniel, when he had heard the dream, it seemed so full of -portentous omen that "he was astonished for one hour."[394] Seeing -his agitation, the king bids him take courage and fearlessly -interpret the dream. But it is an augury of fearful visitation; so -he begins with a formula intended as it were to avert the threatened -consequences. "My Lord," he exclaimed, on recovering voice, "the -dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation to thine -enemies."[395] The king would regard it as a sort of appeal to the -averting deities (the Roman _Di Averrunci_), and as analogous to the -current formula of his hymns, "From the noxious spirit may the King -of heaven and the king of earth preserve thee!"[396] He then proceeds -to tell the king that the fair, stately, sheltering tree--"it is -thou, O king"; and the interpretation of the doom pronounced upon -it is that he should be driven from men, and should dwell with the -beasts of the field, and be reduced to eat grass like the oxen, and -be wet with the dew of heaven, "and seven times shall pass over thee, -till thou shalt know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, -and giveth it to whomsoever He will." But as the stump of the tree -was to be left in the fresh green grass, so the kingdom should be -restored to him when he had learnt that the Heavens do rule. - -The only feature of the dream which is left uninterpreted is the -binding of the stump with bands of iron and brass. Most commentators -follow Jerome in making it refer to the fetters with which maniacs -are bound,[397] but there is no evidence that Nebuchadrezzar was -so restrained, and the bands round the stump are for its protection -from injury. This seems preferable to the view which explains them -as "the stern and crushing sentence under which the king is to -lie."[398] Josephus and the Jewish exegetes take the "seven times" to -be "seven years"; but the phrase is vague, and the event is evidently -represented as taking place at the close of the king's reign. Instead -of using the awful name of Jehovah, the prophet uses the distant -periphrasis of "the Heavens." It was a phrase which became common in -later Jewish literature, and a Babylonian king would be familiar with -it; for in the inscriptions we find Maruduk addressed as the "great -Heavens," the father of the gods.[399] - -Having faithfully interpreted the fearful warning of the dream, -Daniel points out that the menaces of doom are sometimes conditional, -and may be averted or delayed. "Wherefore," he says, "O king, let -my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by -righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; if -so be there may be a healing of thy error."[400] - -This pious exhortation of Daniel has been severely criticised from -opposite directions. - -The Jewish Rabbis, in the very spirit of bigotry and false -religion, said that Daniel was subsequently thrown into the den -of lions to punish him for the crime of tendering good advice to -Nebuchadrezzar;[401] and, moreover, the advice could not be of any -real use; "for even if the nations of the world do righteousness and -mercy to prolong their dominion, it is only sin to them."[402] - -On the other hand, the Roman Catholics have made it their chief -support for the doctrine of good works, which is so severely -condemned in the twelfth of our Articles. - -Probably no such theological questions remotely entered into the -mind of the writer. Perhaps the words should be rendered "break -off thy sins by righteousness," rather than (as Theodotion renders -them) "redeem thy sins by almsgiving."[403] It is, however, certain -that among the Pharisees and the later Rabbis there was a grievous -limitation of the sense of the word _tzedakah_, "righteousness," -to mean merely almsgiving. In Matt. vi. 1 it is well known that -the reading "alms" ([Greek: eleemosynen]) has in the received text -displaced the reading "righteousness" ([Greek: dikaiosynen]); and -in the Talmud "righteousness"--like our shrunken misuse of the word -"charity"--means almsgiving. The value of "alms" has often been -extravagantly exalted. Thus we read: "Whoever shears his substance -for the poor escapes the condemnation of hell" (_Nedarim_, f. 22, 1). - -In _Baba Bathra_, f. 10, 1, and _Rosh Hashanah_, f. 16, 2, we have -"_alms_ delivereth from death," as a gloss on the meaning of Prov. -xi. 4.[404] - -We cannot tell that the writer shared these views. He probably meant -no more than that cruelty and injustice were the chief vices of -despots, and that the only way to avert a threatened calamity was by -repenting of them. The necessity for compassion in the abstract was -recognised even by the most brutal Assyrian kings. - - * * * * * - -We are next told the fulfilment of the dark dream. The interpretation -had been meant to warn the king; but the warning was soon forgotten -by one arrayed in such absolutism of imperial power. The intoxication -of pride had become habitual in his heart, and twelve months sufficed -to obliterate all solemn thoughts. The Septuagint adds that "he kept -the words in his heart"; but the absence of any mention of rewards or -honours paid to Daniel is perhaps a sign that he was rather offended -than impressed. - -A year later he was walking on the flat roof of the great palace of -the kingdom of Babylon. The sight of that golden city in the zenith -of its splendour may well have dazzled the soul of its founder. He -tells us in an inscription that he regarded that city as the apple -of his eye, and that the palace was its most glorious ornament.[405] -It was in the centre of the whole country; it covered a vast space, -and was visible far and wide. It was built of brick and bitumen, -enriched with cedar and iron, decorated with inscriptions and -paintings. The tower "contained the treasures of my imperishable -royalty; and silver, gold, metals, gems, nameless and priceless, and -immense treasures of rare value," had been lavished upon it. Begun -"in a happy month, and on an auspicious day," it had been finished -in fifteen days by armies of slaves. This palace and its celebrated -hanging gardens were one of the wonders of the world. - -Beyond this superb edifice, where now the hyaena prowls amid miles of -_debris_ and mounds of ruin, and where the bittern builds amid pools -of water, lay the unequalled city. Its walls were three hundred and -eighty feet high and eighty-five feet thick, and each side of the -quadrilateral they enclosed was fifteen miles in length. The mighty -Euphrates flowed through the midst of the city, which is said to -have covered a space of two hundred square miles; and on its farther -bank, terrace above terrace, up to its central altar, rose the huge -Temple of Bel, with all its dependent temples and palaces.[406] The -vast circuit of the walls enclosed no mere wilderness of houses, but -there were interspaces of gardens, and palm-groves, and orchards, and -cornland, sufficient to maintain the whole population. Here and there -rose the temples reared to Nebo, and Sin the moon-god, and Mylitta, -and Nana, and Samas, and other deities; and there were aqueducts or -conduits for water, and forts and palaces; and the walls were pierced -with a hundred brazen gates. When Milton wanted to find some parallel -to the city of Pandemonium in _Paradise Lost_, he could only say,-- - - "Not Babylon, - Nor great Alcairo such magnificence - Equall'd in all their glories, to enshrine - Belus or Serapis their gods, or seat - Their kings, when Egypt with Assyria strove - In wealth and luxury." - - -Babylon, to use the phrase of Aristotle, included, not a city, but a -nation.[407] - -Enchanted by the glorious spectacle of this house of his royalty and -abode of his majesty, the despot exclaimed almost in the words of -some of his own inscriptions, "Is not this great Babylon that I have -built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my treasures and -for the honour of my majesty?" - -The Bible always represents to us that pride and arrogant -self-confidence are an offence against God. The doom fell on -Nebuchadrezzar "while the haughty boast was still in the king's -mouth." The suddenness of the Nemesis of pride is closely paralleled -by the scene in the Acts of the Apostles in which Herod Agrippa I. -is represented as entering the theatre at Caesarea to receive the -deputies of Tyre and Sidon. He was clad, says Josephus, in a robe of -intertissued silver, and when the sun shone upon it he was surrounded -with a blaze of splendour. Struck by the scene, the people, when he had -ended his harangue to them, shouted, "It is the voice of a god, and not -of a man!" Herod, too, in the story of Josephus, had received, just -before, an ominous warning; but it came to him in vain. He accepted the -blasphemous adulation, and immediately, smitten by the angel of God, he -was eaten of worms, and in three days was dead.[408] - -And something like this we see again and again in what the late Bishop -Thirlwall called the "irony of history"--the very cases in which men -seem to have been elevated to the very summit of power only to heighten -the dreadful precipice over which they immediately fall. He mentions -the cases of Persia, which was on the verge of ruin, when with lordly -arrogance she dictated the Peace of Antalcidas; of Boniface VIII., in -the Jubilee of 1300, immediately preceding his deadly overthrow; of -Spain, under Philip II., struck down by the ruin of the Armada at the -zenith of her wealth and pride. He might have added the instances of -Ahab, Sennacherib, Nebuchadrezzar, and Herod Antipas; of Alexander the -Great, dying as the fool dieth, drunken and miserable, in the supreme -hour of his conquests; of Napoleon, hurled into the dust, first by the -retreat from Moscow, then by the overthrow at Waterloo. - -"While the word was yet in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from -heaven." It was what the Talmudists alluded to so frequently as the -_Bath Qol_, or "daughter of a voice," which came sometimes for the -consolation of suffering, sometimes for the admonition of overweening -arrogance. It announced to him the fulfilment of the dream and its -interpretation. As with one lightning-flash the glorious cedar was -blasted, its leaves scattered, its fruits destroyed, its shelter -reduced to burning and barrenness. Then somehow the man's heart was -taken from him. He was driven forth to dwell among the beasts of the -field, to eat grass like oxen. Taking himself for an animal in his -degrading humiliation he lived in the open field. The dews of heaven -fell upon him. His unkempt locks grew rough like eagles' feathers, -his uncut nails like claws. In this condition he remained till "seven -times"--some vague and sacred cycle of days--passed over him. - -His penalty was nothing absolutely abnormal. His illness is -well known to science and national tradition as that form -of hypochondriasis in which a man takes himself for a wolf -(lycanthropy), or a dog (kynanthropy), or some other animal.[409] -Probably the fifth-century monks, who were known as _Boskoi_, from -feeding on grass, may have been, in many cases, half maniacs who -in time took themselves for oxen. Cornill, so far as I know, is -the first to point out the curious circumstance that a notion as -to the points of analogy between Nebuchad_n_ezzar (thus spelt) and -Antiochus Epiphanes may have been strengthened by the Jewish method -of mystic commentary known in the Talmud as _Gematria_, and in Greek -as _Isopsephism_. That such methods, in other forms, were known and -practised in early times we find from the substitution of Sheshach -for Babel in Jer. xxv. 26, li. 41, and of Tabeal (by some cryptogram) -for Remaliah in Isa. vii. 6; and of _lebh kamai_ ("them that dwell -in the midst of them") for _Kasdim_ (Chaldeans) in Jer. li. 1. These -forms are only explicable by the interchange of letters known as -Athbash, Albam, etc. Now Nebuchadnezzar = 423:-- - - [H] = 50; [H] = 2; [H] = 6; [H] = 20; [H] = 4; [H] = 50; [H] = 1; - [H] = 90; [H] = 200 = 423. - -And Antiochus Epiphanes = 423:-- - - [H] = 1; [H] = 50; [H] = 9; [H] = 10; [H] = 6; [H] = 20; [H] = 6; - [H] = 60 = . . . . . . . 162} - [H] = 1; [H] = 70; [H] = 10; [H] = 70; [H] = 50; [H] = 60 = 261} = 423. - -The madness of Antiochus was recognised in the popular change of -his name from Epiphanes to Epimanes. But there were obvious points -of resemblance between these potentates. Both of them conquered -Jerusalem. Both of them robbed the Temple of its holy vessels. Both -of them were liable to madness. Both of them tried to dictate the -religion of their subjects. - -What happened to the kingdom of Babylon during the interim is a point -with which the writer does not trouble himself. It formed no part -of his story or of his moral. There is, however, no difficulty in -supposing that the chief mages and courtiers may have continued to -rule in the king's name--a course rendered all the more easy by the -extreme seclusion in which most Eastern monarchs pass their lives, -often unseen by their subjects from one year's end to the other. -Alike in ancient days as in modern--witness the cases of Charles VI. -of France, Christian VII. of Denmark, George III. of England, and -Otho of Bavaria--a king's madness is not allowed to interfere with -the normal administration of the kingdom. - -When the seven "times"--whether years or brief periods--were -concluded, Nebuchadrezzar "lifted up his eyes to heaven," and his -understanding returned to him. No further light is thrown on his -recovery, which (as is not infrequently the case in madness) was as -sudden as his aberration. Perhaps the calm of the infinite azure over -his head flowed into his troubled soul, and reminded him that (as the -inscriptions say) "the Heavens" are "the father of the gods."[410] At -any rate, with that upward glance came the restoration of his reason. - -He instantly blessed the Most High, "and praised and honoured Him -who liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, -and His kingdom is from generation to generation.[411] And all -the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and He doeth -according to His will[412] in the army of heaven, and among the -inhabitants of the earth;[413] and none can stay His hand, or say -unto Him, What doest Thou?"[414] - -Then his lords and counsellors reinstated him in his former majesty; -his honour and brightness returned to him; he was once more "that -head of gold" in his kingdom.[415] - -He concludes the story with the words: "Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise -and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth -and His ways judgment;[416] and those that walk in pride He is able -to abase."[417] - -He died B.C. 561, and was deified, leaving behind him an invincible -name. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[371] Comp. 1 Macc. i. 41, 42: "And the king [Antiochus Epiphanes] -wrote to his whole kingdom, that all should be one people, and every -one should leave his laws." - -[372] Isa. xxvi. 9. - -[373] Professor Fuller follows them in supposing that the decree is -really a letter written by Daniel, as is shown by the analogy of -similar documents, and the attestation (!) of the LXX. ([Greek: arche -tes epistoles]). He adds, "The undertone of genuineness which makes -itself so inobtrusively felt to the Assyrian scholar when reading -it, is _quite sufficient to decide the question of authenticity_"! -Such remarks are meant only for a certain circle of readers already -convinced. If they were true, it would be singular that scarcely -one living Assyriologist accepts the authenticity of Daniel; and -Mr. Bevan calls this "a narrative which contains _scarcely anything -specifically Babylonian_." - -[374] See _Jos. c. Ap._, I. 20, [Greek: empeson eis arrhostian, -metellaxato ton bion] (of Nebuchadrezzar); and I. 19 of Nabopolassar. - -[375] _Praep. Ev._, lx. 41. - -[376] I follow the better readings which Mr. Bevan adopts from Von -Gutschmid and Toup. - -[377] Comp. Ezra iv. 7, vii. 12. - -[378] If Nebuchadrezzar wrote this edict, he must have been very -familiar with the language of Scripture. See Deut. vi. 22; Isa. viii. -18; Psalm lxxviii. 12-16, cvi. 2; Mic. iv. 7, etc. - -[379] _Heykal_, "palace"; Bab., _ikallu_. Comp. Amos viii. 3. See the -palace described in Layard, _Nineveh and Babylon_. - -[380] A mistake of the writer. See _supra_, p. 129. - -[381] _Rab-chartummaya._ - -[382] Herod., i. 108. - -[383] [Hebrew: 'ir]. Comp. Mal. ii. 12 (perhaps "the watchman and -him that answereth"). LXX., [Greek: angelos]; Theodot., [Greek: -egregoros]. - -[384] Comp. Deut. xxxiii. 2; Zech. xiv. 5; Psalm lxxxix. 6; Job v. 1, -etc. - -[385] The LXX., in its free manipulation of the original, adds that -the king saw the dream fulfilled. In one day the tree was cut down, -and its destruction completed in one hour. - -[386] Comp. Zech. xiv. 5; Psalm lxxxix. 6. - -[387] See Job xv. 15. - -[388] Dr. A. Kohut, _Die juedische Angelologie_, p. 6, n. 17. - -[389] For a full examination of the subject see Oehler, _Theol. of -the O. T._, Sec. 59, pp. 195 ff.; Schultz, _Alttest. Theol._, p. 555; -Hamburger, _Real-Encycl._, i., _s.v._ "Engel"; Professor Fuller, -_Speaker's Commentary_, on the Apocrypha, Tobit, i., 171-183. - -[390] Sayce, _Records of the Past_, ix. 140. - -[391] The number seven is not, however, found in all texts. - -[392] The Jewish tradition admits that the names of the angels came -from Persia (_Rosh Hashanah_, f. 56, 1; _Bereshith Rabba_, c. 48; -Riehm, _R. W. B._, i. 381). - -[393] Descent of Ishtar, _Records of the Past_, i. 141. Botta found -seven rude figures buried under the thresholds of doors. - -[394] The Targum understands it "for a moment." - -[395] The wish was quite natural. It is needless to follow Rashi, -etc., in making this an address to God, as though it were a prayer -to Him that ruin might fall on His enemy Nebuchadrezzar. Comp. Ov., -_Fast._, iii. 494: "Eveniat nostris hostibus ille color." - -[396] _Records of the Past_, i. 133. - -[397] Mark v. 3. - -[398] Bevan, p. 92. - -[399] In the _Mishnah_ often _Shamayim_; N. T., [Greek: he basileia -ton ouranon]. - -[400] Or, as in A.V. and Hitzig, "if it may be a lengthening of thy -tranquillity"; but Ewald reads _arukah_, "healing" (Isa. lviii. 8), -for _ar'kah_. - -[401] _Baba Bathra_, f. 4, 1. - -[402] _Berachoth_, f. 10, 2; f. 57, 2. - -[403] Theodot., [Greek: tas hamartias sou en eleemosynais lytrosai]; -Vulg., _peccata tua eleemosynis redime_. Comp. Psalm cxii. 9. This -exaltation of almsgiving is a characteristic of later Judaism -(Ecclus. iv. 5-10; Tobit iv. 11). - -[404] Comp. Prov. x. 2, xvi. 6; _Sukka_, f. 49, 2. The theological -and ethical question involved is discussed by Calvin, _Instt._, iii. -4; Bellarmine, _De Poenitent_., ii. 6 (Behrmann). - -[405] It is now called Kasr, but the Arabs call it _Mujelibe_, "The -Ruined." - -[406] Birs-Nimrod (Grote, _Hist. of Greece_, III., chap. xix.; -Layard, _Nin. and Bab._, chap. ii.). - -[407] Arist., _Polit._, III. i. 12. He says that three days after its -capture some of its inhabitants were still unaware of the fact. - -[408] Acts xii. 20-23; Jos., _Antt._, XIV. viii. 2. - -[409] For further information on this subject I may refer to my paper -on "Rabbinic Exegesis," _Expositor_, v. 362-378. The fact that there -are slight variations in spelling Nebuchad_n_ezzar and Antiochus -Epiphanes is of no importance. - -[410] Psalm cxxiii. 1. See Eurypides, _Bacchae_, 699. - -[411] Exod. xvii. 16. - -[412] Psalm cxlv. 13. - -[413] Isa. xxiv. 21, xl. 15, 17. For the "host of heaven" ([Greek: -stratia ouranios], Luke ii. 13) see Isa. xl. 26; Job. xxxviii. 7; 1 -Kings xxii. 19; Enoch xviii. 14-16; Matt. xi. 25. - -[414] Isa. xliii. 13, xlv. 9; Psalm cxxxv. 6; Job ix. 12; Eccles. -viii. 4. The phrase for "to reprove" is literally "to strike on the -hand," and is common in later Jewish writers. - -[415] Dan. ii. 38. - -[416] Psalm xxxiii. 4. - -[417] Exod. xviii. 11. - - - - - CHAPTER V - - _THE FIERY INSCRIPTION_ - - "That night they slew him on his father's throne - He died unnoticed, and the hand unknown: - Crownless and sceptreless Belshazzar lay, - A robe of purple round a form of clay." - SIR E. ARNOLD. - - -In this chapter again we have another magnificent fresco-picture, -intended, as was the last--but under circumstances of aggravated -guilt and more terrible menace--to teach the lesson that "verily -there is a God that judgeth the earth." - -The truest way to enjoy the chapter, and to grasp the lessons which -it is meant to inculcate in their proper force and vividness, is to -consider it wholly apart from the difficulties as to its literal -truth. To read it aright, and duly to estimate its grandeur, we must -relegate to the conclusion of the story all worrying questions, -impossible of final solution, as to whom the writer intended by -Belshazzar, or whom by Darius the Mede.[418] All such discussions -are extraneous to edification, and in no way affect either the -consummate skill of the picture or the eternal truths of which it is -the symbolic expression. To those who, with the present writer, are -convinced, by evidence from every quarter--from philology, history, -the testimony of the inscriptions, and the manifold results obtained -by the Higher Criticism--that the Book of Daniel is the work of some -holy and highly gifted _Chasid_ in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, -it becomes clear that the story of Belshazzar, whatever dim fragments -of Babylonian tradition it may enshrine, is really suggested by the -profanity of Antiochus Epiphanes in carrying off, and doubtless -subjecting to profane usage, many of the sacred vessels of the Temple -of Jerusalem.[419] The retribution which awaited the wayward Seleucid -tyrant is prophetically intimated by the menace of doom which -received such immediate fulfilment in the case of the Babylonian -King. The humiliation of the guilty conqueror, "Nebuchadrezzar the -Wicked," who founded the Empire of Babylon, is followed by the -overthrow of his dynasty in the person of his "son," and the capture -of his vast capital. - -"It is natural," says Ewald, "that thus the picture drawn in this -narrative should become, under the hands of our author, a true -night-piece, with all the colours of the dissolute, extravagant riot of -luxurious passion and growing madness, of ruinous bewilderment, and of -the mysterious horror and terror of such a night of revelry and death." - -The description of the scene begins with one of those crashing -overtures of which the writer duly estimated the effect upon the -imagination. - -"Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, -and drank wine before the thousand."[420] The banquet may have been -intended as some propitiatory feast in honour of Bel-merodach. It -was celebrated in that palace which was a wonder of the world, with -its winged statues and splendid spacious halls. The walls were rich -with images of the Chaldeans, painted in vermilion and exceeding in -dyed attire--those images of goodly youths riding on goodly horses, -as in the Panathenaic procession on the frieze of the Acropolis--the -frescoed pictures, on which, in the prophet's vision, Aholah and -Aholibah, gloated in the chambers of secret imagery.[421] Belshazzar's -princes were there, and his wives, and his concubines, whose presence -the Babylonian custom admitted, though the Persian regarded it as -unseemly.[422] The Babylonian banquets, like those of the Greeks, -usually ended by a _Komos_ or revelry, in which intoxication was -regarded as no disgrace. Wine flowed freely. Doubtless, as in the -grandiose picture of Martin, there were brasiers of precious metal, -which breathed forth the fumes of incense;[423] and doubtless, too, -there were women and boys and girls with flutes and cymbals, to which -the dancers danced in all the orgiastic abandonment of Eastern passion. -All this was regarded as an element in the religious solemnity; and -while the revellers drank their wine, hymns were being chanted, in -which they praised "the gods of gold and of silver, of brass, of iron, -of wood, and of stone." That the king drank wine before the thousand is -the more remarkable because usually the kings of the East banquet in -solitary state in their own apartments.[424] - -Then the wild king, with just such a burst of folly and irreverence -as characterised the banquets of Antiochus Epiphanes, bethought him -of yet another element of splendour with which he might make his -banquet memorable, and prove the superiority of his own victorious -gods over those of other nations. The Temple of Jerusalem was famous -over all the world, and there were few monarchs who had not heard -of the marvels and the majesty of the God of Israel. Belshazzar, -as the "son" of Nebuchadrezzar, must--if there was any historic -reality in the events narrated in the previous chapter--have heard -of the "signs and wonders" displayed by the King of heaven, whose -unparalleled awfulness his "father" had publicly attested in edicts -addressed to all the world. He must have known of the Rab-mag Daniel, -whose wisdom, even as a boy, had been found superior to that of all -the _Chartummim_ and _Ashshaphim_; and how his three companions had -been elevated to supreme satrapies; and how they had been delivered -unsinged from the seven-times-heated furnace, whose flames had killed -his father's executioners. Under no conceivable circumstances could -such marvels have been forgotten; under no circumstances could they -have possibly failed to create an intense and a profound impression. -And Belshazzar could hardly fail to have heard of the dreams of the -golden image and of the shattered cedar, and of Nebuchadrezzar's -unspeakably degrading lycanthropy. His "father" had publicly -acknowledged--in a decree published "to all peoples, nations, and -languages that dwell in all the earth"--that humiliation had come -upon him as a punishment for his overweening pride. In that same -decree the mighty Nebuchadrezzar--only a year or two before, if -Belshazzar succeeded him--had proclaimed his allegiance to the King -of heaven; and in all previous decrees he had threatened "all people, -nations, and languages" that, if they spake anything amiss against -the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, they should be cut in -pieces, and their houses made a dunghill.[425] Yet now Belshazzar, -in the flush of pride and drunkenness,[426] gives his order to insult -this God with deadly impiety by publicly defiling the vessels of His -awful Temple,[427] at a feast in honour of his own idol deities! - -Similarly Antiochus Epiphanes, if he had not been half mad, might have -taken warning, before he insulted the Temple and the sacred vessels -of Jerusalem, from the fact that his father, Antiochus the Great, had -met his death in attempting to plunder the Temple at Elymais (B.C. -187). He might also have recalled the celebrated discomfiture--however -caused--of Heliodorus in the Temple of Jerusalem.[428] - -Such insulting and reckless blasphemy could not go unpunished. It -is fitting that the Divine retribution should overtake the king on -the same night, and that the same lips which thus profaned with this -wine the holiest things should sip the wine of the Divine poison-cup, -whose fierce heat must in the same night prove fatal to himself. -But even such sinners, drinking as it were over the pit of hell, -"according to a metaphor used elsewhere,[429] must still at the last -moment be warned by a suitable Divine sign, that it may be known -whether they will honour the truth."[430] Nebuchadrezzar had received -_his_ warning, and in the end it had not been wholly in vain. Even -for Belshazzar it might perhaps not prove to be too late. - -For at this very moment[431] when the revelry was at its zenith, -when the whirl of excited self-exaltation was most intense, when -Judah's gold was "treading heavy on the lips"--the profane lips--of -satraps and concubines, there appeared a portent, which seems at -first to have been visible to the king alone. - -Seated on his lofty and jewelled throne, which - - "Outshone the wealth of Ormuz or of Ind, - Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand - Showers on its kings barbaric pearl and gold," - -his eye caught _something_ visible on the white stucco of the wall -above the line of frescoes.[432] He saw it over the lights which -crowned the huge golden _Nebrashta_, or chandelier.[433] The fingers -of a man's hand were writing letters on the wall, and the king saw -the hollow of that gigantic supernatural palm.[434] - -The portent astounded and horrified him. The flush of youth and of -wine faded from his cheek;--"his brightnesses were changed"; his -thoughts troubled him; the bands of his loins were loosed;[435] his -knees smote one against another in his trembling attitude,[436] as he -stood arrested by the awful sight. - -With a terrible cry he ordered that the whole familiar tribe -of astrologers and soothsayers should be summoned. For though -the hand had vanished, its trace was left on the wall of the -banqueting-chamber in letters of fire. And the stricken king, -anxious to know above all things the purport of that strange writing, -proclaims that he who could interpret it should be clothed in -scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and should be one -of the triumvirs of the kingdom.[437] - -It was the usual resource; and it failed as it had done in every -previous instance. The Babylonian magi in the Book of Daniel prove -themselves to be more futile even than Pharaoh's magicians with their -enchantments. - -The dream-interpreters in all their divisions entered the -banquet-hall. The king was perturbed, the omen urgent, the reward -magnificent. But it was all in vain. As usual they failed, as in -every instance in which they are introduced in the Old Testament. -And their failure added to the visible confusion of the king, whose -livid countenance retained its pallor. The banquet, in all its royal -magnificence, seemed likely to end in tumult and confusion; for the -princes, and satraps, and wives, and concubines all shared in the -agitation and bewilderment of their sovereign. - -Meanwhile the tidings of the startling prodigy had reached the ears -of the Gebirah--the queen-mother--who, as always in the East, held a -higher rank than even the reigning sultana.[438] She had not been -present at--perhaps had not approved of--the luxurious revel, held -when the Persians were at the very gates. But now, in her young son's -extremity, she comes forward to help and advise him. Entering the -hall with her attendant maidens, she bids the king to be no longer -troubled, for there is a man of the highest rank--invariably, as -would appear, overlooked and forgotten till the critical moment, -in spite of his long series of triumphs and achievements--who was -quite able to read the fearful augury, as he had often done before, -when all others had been foiled by Him who "frustrateth the tokens -of the liars and maketh diviners mad."[439] Strange that he should -not have been thought of, though "the king thy father, the king, I -say, thy father, made him master of the whole college of mages and -astrologers. Let Belshazzar send for Belteshazzar, and he would untie -the knot and read the awful enigma."[440] - -Then, Daniel was summoned; and since the king "has heard of him, that -the spirit of the gods is in him, and that light and understanding -and excellent wisdom is found in him," and that he is one who can -interpret dreams, and unriddle hard sentences and untie knots, he -shall have the scarlet robe, and the golden chain, and the seat among -the triumvirs, if he will read and interpret the writing. - -"Let thy gifts be thine, and thy rewards to another,"[441] answered -the seer, with fearless forthrightness: "yet, O king, I will read and -interpret the writing." Then, after reminding him of the consummate -power and majesty of his father Nebuchadrezzar; and how his mind -had become indurated with pride; and how he had been stricken with -lycanthropy, "till he knew that the Most High God ruled in the -kingdom of men"; and that, in spite of all this, he, Belshazzar, in -his infatuation, had insulted the Most High God by profaning the holy -vessels of His Temple in a licentious revelry in honour of idols of -gold, silver, brass, iron, and stone, which neither see, nor know, -nor hear,--for this reason (said the seer) had the hollow hand been -sent and the writing stamped upon the wall. - -And now what was the writing? Daniel at the first glance had read -that fiery quadrilateral of letters, looking like the twelve gems of -the high priest's ephod with the mystic light gleaming upon them. - - +----+----+----+ - | M. | N. | A. | - +----+----+----+ - | M. | N. | A. | - +----+----+----+ - | T. | Q. | L. | - +----+----+----+ - | P. | R. | S. | - +----+----+----+ - -Four names of weight.[442] - - +-------------------+ - | A Mina. | - +-------------------+ - | A Mina. | - +-------------------+ - | A Shekel. | - +-------------------+ - | A Half-mina.[443] | - +-------------------+ - -What possible meaning could there be in that? Did it need an -archangel's colossal hand, flashing forth upon a palace-wall to write -the menace of doom, to have inscribed no more than the names of four -coins or weights? No wonder that the Chaldeans could not interpret -such writing! - -It may be asked why they could not even _read_ it, since the words -are evidently Aramaic, and Aramaic was the common language of trade. -The Rabbis say that the words, instead of being written from right -to left, were written [Greek: kionedon], "pillar-wise," as the -Greeks called it, from above downwards: thus-- - - +-----+-----+-----+-----+ - | [H] | [H] | [H] | [H] | - +-----+-----+-----+-----+ - | [H] | [H] | [H] | [H] | - +-----+-----+-----+-----+ - | [H] | [H] | [H] | [H] | - +-----+-----+-----+-----+ - -Read from left to right, they would look like gibberish; read -from above downwards, they became clear as far as the reading was -concerned, though their interpretation might still be surpassingly -enigmatic. - -But words may stand for all sorts of mysterious meanings; and in -the views of analogists--as those are called who not only believe -in the mysterious force and fascination of words, but even in the -physiological quality of sounds--they may hide awful indications -under harmless vocables. Herein lay the secret. - -A mina! a mina! Yes; but the names of the weights recall the word -_m'nah_, "hath numbered": and "God hath numbered thy kingdom and -finished it." - -A shekel! Yes; _t'qilta_: "Thou hast been weighed in a balance and -found wanting." - -_Peres_--a half-mina! Yes; but _p'risath_: "Thy kingdom has been -divided, and given to the Medes and Persians."[444] - -At this point the story is very swiftly brought to a conclusion, for -its essence has been already given. Daniel is clothed in scarlet, and -ornamented with the chain of gold, and proclaimed triumvir.[445] - -But the king's doom is sealed! "That night was Belshazzar, king of -the Chaldeans, slain." His name meant, "Bel! preserve thou the king!" -But Bel bowed down, and Nebo stooped, and gave no help to their -votary. - - "Evil things in robes of sorrow - Assailed the monarch's high estate; - Ah, woe is me! for never morrow - Shall dawn upon him desolate! - And all about his throne the glory - That blushed and bloomed - Is but an ill-remembered story - Of the old time entombed." - -"And Darius the Mede took the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old." - -As there is no such person known as "Darius the Mede," the age -assigned to him must be due either to some tradition about some -other Darius, or to chronological calculations to which we no longer -possess the key.[446] - -He is called the son of _Achashverosh_, Ahasuerus (ix. 1), or Xerxes. -The apologists have argued that-- - -1. Darius was Cyaxares II., father of Cyrus, on the authority of -Xenophon's romance,[447] and Josephus's echo of it.[448] But the -_Cyropaedia_ is no authority, being, as Cicero said, a non-historic -fiction written to describe an ideal kingdom.[449] History knows -nothing of a Cyaxares II. - -2. Darius was Astyages.[450] Not to mention other impossibilities -which attach to this view, Astyages would have been far older than -sixty-two at the capture of Babylon by Cyrus. Cyrus had suppressed -the Median dynasty altogether some years before he took Babylon. - -3. Darius was the satrap Gobryas, who, so far as we know, only acted -as governor for a few months. But he is represented on the contrary -as an extremely absolute king, setting one hundred and twenty princes -"over the whole kingdom," and issuing mandates to "all people, -nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth." Even if such an -identification were admissible, it would not in the least save the -historic accuracy of the writer. This "Darius the Mede" is ignored by -history, and Cyrus is represented by the ancient records as having -been the sole and undisputed king of Babylon from the time of his -conquest.[451] "Darius the Mede" probably owes his existence to a -literal understanding of the prophecies of Isaiah (xiii. 17) and -Jeremiah (li. 11, 28). - -We can now proceed to the examination of the next chapter unimpeded -by impossible and half-hearted hypotheses. We understand it, and -it was meant to be understood, as a moral and spiritual parable, -in which unverified historic names and traditions are utilised for -the purpose of inculcating lessons of courage and faithfulness. The -picture, however, falls far below those of the other chapters in -power, finish, and even an approach to natural verisimilitude. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[418] The question has already been fully discussed (_supra_, pp. -54-57). The apologists say that-- - -1. Belshazzar was _Evil-merodach_ (Niebuhr, Wolff, Bishop Westcott, -Zoeckler, Keil, etc.), as the son of Nebuchadrezzar (Dan. v. 2, 11, -18, 22), and his successor (Baruch i. 11, 12, where he is called -Balthasar, as in the LXX.). The identification is impossible (see -Dan. v. 28, 31); for Evil-merodach (B.C. 561) was murdered by his -brother-in-law Neriglissar (B.C. 559). Besides, the Jews were well -acquainted with _Evil-merodach_ (2 Kings xxv. 27; Jer. lii. 31.) - -2. Belshazzar was Nabunaid (St. Jerome, Ewald, Winer, Herzfeld, -Auberlen, etc.). But the usurper Nabunaid, son of a Rab-mag, was -wholly unlike Belshazzar; and so far from being slain, he was -pardoned, and sent by Cyrus to be Governor of Karmania, in which -position he died. - -3. Belshazzar was _the son of Nabunaid_. But though Nabunaid -_had_ a son of the name he was never king. We know nothing of any -relationship between him and Nebuchadrezzar, nor does Cyrus in -his records make the most distant allusion to him. The attempt to -identify Nebuchadrezzar with an unknown Marduk-sar-utsur, mentioned -in Babylonian tablets, breaks down; for Mr. Boscawen (_Soc. Bibl._, -in Sec. vi., p. 108) finds that he reigned _before_ Nabunaid. Further, -the son of Nabunaid perished, not in Babylon, but in Accad. - -[419] See 1 Macc. i. 21-24. He "entered proudly into the sanctuary, -and took away the golden altar, and the candlestick of light, and all -the vessels thereof, and the table of the shewbread, and the pouring -vessels, and the vials, and the censers of gold.... He took also -the silver and the gold, and the precious vessels: also he took the -hidden treasures which he found," etc. Comp. 2 Macc. v. 11-14; Diod. -Sic., XXXI. i. 48. The value of precious metals which he carried off -was estimated at one thousand eight hundred silver talents--about -L350,000 (2 Macc. v. 21). - -[420] The LXX. says "two thousand." Comp. Esther i. 3, 4. Jerome -adds, "Unusquisque secundum suam bibit aetatem." - -[421] Ezek. xxiii. 15. - -[422] Herod., i. 191, v. 18; Xen., _Cyrop._, V. ii. 28; Q. Curt., V. -i. 38. Theodotion, perhaps scandalised by the fact, omits the wives, -and the LXX. omits both wives and concubines. - -[423] Layard, _Nin. and Bab._, ii. 262-269. - -[424] Athen., _Deipnos_, iv. 145. See the bas-relief in the British -Museum of King Assur-bani-pal drinking wine with his queen, while the -head of his vanquished enemy, Te-Umman, King of Elam, dangles from a -palm-branch full in his view, so that he can feast his eyes upon it. -None others are present except the attendant eunuchs. - -[425] Dan. iii. 29. - -[426] The Babylonians were notorious for drunken revels. Q. Curt., V. -i., "Babylonii maxime in vinum et quae ebrietatem sequuntur, effusi -sunt." - -[427] Dan. i. 2. Comp. 1 Macc. i. 21 ff. - -[428] 2 Macc. iii. - -[429] Psalm lv. 15. - -[430] Ewald. - -[431] Comp. Dan. iii. 7. - -[432] See Layard, _Nin. and Bab._, ii. 269. - -[433] A word of uncertain origin. The Talmud uses it for the word -[Hebrew: lmfds] (the Greek [Greek: lampas]). - -[434] "Hollow." Heb., _pas_; Theodot., [Greek: astragalous]; Vulg., -_articulos_. The word may mean "palm" of the hand, or sole of the -foot (Bevan). - -[435] Psalm lxix. 23. "Bands"--lit. "fastenings"; Theodot., [Greek: -syndesmoi]; Vulg., _compages_. - -[436] Comp. Ezek. vii. 17, and the Homeric [Greek: lyto gounata], -_Od._, iv. 703; Ov., _Met._, ii. 180, "genua intremuere timore." - -[437] Doubtless suggested by Gen. xli. 42 (comp. Herod., iii. 20; -Xen., _Anab._, I. ii. 27; _Cyrop._, VIII. v. 18), as other parts of -Daniel's story recall that of Joseph. Comp. Esther vi. 8, 9. The word -for "scarlet" or red-purple is _argona_. The word for "chain" (_Q'ri. -ham'nika_) is in Theodotion rendered [Greek: maniakes], and occurs in -later Aramaic. The phrase rendered "third ruler" is very uncertain. -The inference drawn from it in the _Speaker's Commentary_--that -Nabunaid was king, and Belshazzar second ruler--is purely nugatory. -For the Hebrew word _talti_ cannot mean "third," which would be -[Hebrew telitai]. Ewald and most Hebraists take it to mean "rule, as -one of the board of three." For "triumvir" comp. vi. 2. - -[438] 1 Kings xv. 13. She is precariously identified by the -apologists with the Nitocris of Herodotus; and it is imagined that -she may have been a daughter of Nebuchadrezzar, married to Nabunaid -before the murder of Neriglissar. - -[439] Isa. xliv. 25. - -[440] The word _Qistrin_, "knots," may mean "hard questions"; but -Mr. Bevan (p. 104) thinks there may be an allusion to knots used as -magic spells. (Comp. Sen., _Oedip._, 101, "_Nodosa_ sortis verba et -_implexos_ dolos.") He quotes Al-Baidawi on the Koran, lxiii. 4, -who says that "a Jew casts a spell on Mohammed by tying knots in a -cord, and hiding it in a well." But Gabriel told the prophet to send -for the cord, and at each verse of the Koran recited over it a knot -untied itself. See _Records of the Past_, iii. 141; and Duke, _Rabb. -Blumenlehre_, 231. - -[441] So Elisha, 2 Kings v. 16. - -[442] The _Mene_ is repeated for emphasis. In the _Upharsin_ (ver. -25) the _u_ is merely the "and," and the word is slightly altered, -perhaps to make the paronomasia with "Persians" more obvious. -According to Buxtorf and Gesenius, _peras_, in the sense of "divide," -is very rare in the Targums. - -[443] _Journal Asiatique_, 1886. (Comp. Noeldeke, _Ztschr. -fuer Assyriologie_, i. 414-418; Kamphausen, p. 46.) It is M. -Clermont-Ganneau who has the credit of discovering what seems to -be the true interpretation of these mysterious words. _M'ne_ (Heb. -_Maneh_) is the Greek [Greek: mna], Lat. _mina_, which the Greeks -borrowed from the Assyrians. _Tekel_ (in the Targum of Onkelos -_tikla_) is the Hebrew _shekel_. In the _Mishnah_ a half-mina is -called _peras_, and an Assyrian weight in the British Museum bears -the inscription _perash_ in the Aramaic character. (See Bevan, p. -106; Schrader, _s.v._ "Mene" in Riehm, _R.W.B._) _Peres_ is used for -a half-mina in _Yoma_, f. 4, 4; often in the Talmud; and in _Corp. -Inscr. Sem._, ii. 10 (Behrmann). - -[444] The word occurs in _Perez_ Uzza. There still, however, remain -some obviously unexplored mysteries about these words. Paronomasia, -as I showed long ago in other works, plays a noble and profound part -in the language of emotion; and that the interpretation should here -be made to turn upon it is not surprising by any means. We find it -in the older prophets. Thus in Jer. i. 11, 12: "What seest thou? And -I said, I see a rod of _an almond tree_. Then said the Lord unto me, -Thou hast well seen: for I will _hasten_ My word to perform it." The -meaning here depends on the resemblance in Hebrew between _shaqeed_, -"an almond tree" ("a wakeful, or early tree"), and _shoqeed_, "I will -hasten," or "am wakeful over." - -And that the same use of plays on words was still common in the -Maccabean epoch we see in the Story of Susanna. There Daniel plays -on the resemblance between [Greek: schinos], "a mastick tree," and -[Greek: schisei], "shall cut thee in two"; and [Greek: prinos], "a -holm oak," and [Greek: prisai], "to cut asunder." We may also point -to the fine paronomasia in the Hebrew of Isa. v. 7, Mic. i. 10-15, -and other passages. "Such a conceit," says Mr. Ball, "may seem to us -far-fetched and inappropriate; but the Oriental mind delights in such -_lusus verborum_, and the peculiar force of all such passages in the -Hebrew prophets is lost in our version because they have not been -preserved in translation." - -As regards the Medes, they are placed _after_ the Persians in Isa. -xxi. 2, Esther i. 3, but generally _before_ them. - -[445] LXX., [Greek: edoken exousian auto tou tritou merous]; -Theodot., [Greek: archonta triton]. See _supra_, p. 210. - -[446] The LXX. evidently felt some difficulty or followed some other -text, for they render it, "And _Artaxerxes of the Medes_ took the -kingdom, and Darius full of _days and glorious in old age_." So, too, -Josephus (_Antt._, X. xi. 4), who says that "he was called by another -name among the Greeks." - -[447] _Cyrop._, I. v. 2. - -[448] _Antt._, X. xi. 4. This was the view of Vitringa, Bertholdt, -Gesenius, Winer, Keil, Hengstenberg, Haevernick, etc. - -[449] _Ad. Q. Fratr._, i. 8. - -[450] The view of Niebuhr and Westcott. - -[451] See Herod., i. 109. The Median Empire fell B.C. 559; Babylon -was taken about B.C. 539. It is regarded as "important" that a late -Greek lexicographer, long after the Christian era, makes the vague -and wholly unsupported assertion that the "Daric" was named after -some Darius other than the father of Xerxes! See _supra_, pp. 57-60. - - - - - CHAPTER VI - - _STOPPING THE MOUTHS OF LIONS_ - - "Thou shalt tread upon the lion ... the young lion shalt thou - trample under thy feet."--PSALM xci. 13. - - -On the view which regards these pictures as powerful parables, rich -in spiritual instructiveness, but not primarily concerned with -historic accuracy, nor even necessarily with ancient tradition, we -have seen how easily "the great strong fresco-strokes" which the -narrator loves to use "may have been suggested to him by his diligent -study of the Scriptures." - -The first chapter is a beautiful picture which serves to set forth -the glory of moderation and to furnish a vivid concrete illustration -of such passages as those of Jeremiah: "Her Nazarites were purer than -snow; they were whiter than milk; they were more ruddy in body than -rubies; their polishing was of sapphire."[452] - -The second chapter, closely reflecting in many of its details the -story of Joseph, illustrated how God "frustrateth the tokens of the -liars, and maketh diviners mad; turneth wise men backward, and maketh -their knowledge foolish; confirmeth the word of His servant, and -performeth the counsel of His messengers."[453] - -The third chapter gives vividness to the promise, "When thou walkest -through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame -kindle upon thee."[454] - -The fourth chapter repeats the apologue of Ezekiel, in which he -compares the King of Assyria to a cedar in Lebanon with fine -branches, and with a shadowy shroud, and fair by the multitude -of his branches, so that all the trees of Eden that were in the -garden of God envied him, but whose boughs were "broken by all the -watercourses until the peoples of the earth left his shadow."[455] -It was also meant to show that "pride goeth before destruction, and -a haughty spirit before a fall."[456] It illustrates the words of -Isaiah: "Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall lop the bough -with terror; and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the -haughty shall be humbled."[457] - -The fifth chapter gives a vivid answer to Isaiah's challenge: "Let -now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, -stand up and save thee from these things which shall come upon -thee."[458] It describes a fulfilment of his vision: "A grievous -vision is declared unto thee; the treacherous dealer dealeth -treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam: besiege, -O Media."[459] The more detailed prophecy of Jeremiah had said: -"Prepare against Babylon the nations with the kings of the Medes.... -The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight.... One post shall -run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the -King of Babylon that his city is taken at one end.... In their heat -I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they -shall rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the -Lord.... How is Sheshach taken![460] and how is the praise of the -whole earth surprised!... And I will make drunk her princes, and her -wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men; and they -shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose -name is the Lord of hosts."[461] - -The sixth chapter puts into concrete form such passages of the -Psalmist as: "My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them -that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears -and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword";[462] and--"Break the -jaw-bones of the lions, O Lord";[463] and--"They have cut off my life -in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me"[464]:--and more generally -such promises as those in Isaiah: "No weapon that is formed against -thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in -judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of -the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord."[465] - -This genesis of _Haggadoth_ is remarkably illustrated by the -apocryphal additions to Daniel. Thus the History of Susanna was very -probably suggested by Jeremiah's allusion (xxix. 22) to the two false -prophets Ahab and Zedekiah, whom Nebuchadrezzar burnt.[466] Similarly -the story of Bel and the Dragon is a fiction which expounds Jer. li. -44: "And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of -his mouth that which he hath swallowed up."[467] - -Hitherto the career of Daniel had been personally prosperous. We -have seen him in perpetual honour and exaltation, and he had not -even incurred--though he may now have been ninety years old--such -early trials and privations in a heathen land as had fallen to the -lot of Joseph, his youthful prototype. His three companions had been -potential martyrs; he had not even been a confessor. Terrible as -was the doom which he had twice been called upon to pronounce upon -Nebuchadrezzar and upon his kingdom, the stern messages of prophecy, -so far from involving him in ruin, had only helped to uplift him to -the supremest honours. Not even the sternness of his bearing, and -the terrible severity of his interpretations of the flaming message -to Belshazzar, had prevented him from being proclaimed triumvir, and -clothed in scarlet, and decorated with a chain of gold, on the last -night of the Babylonian Empire. And now a new king of a new dynasty -is represented as seated on the throne; and it might well have seemed -that Daniel was destined to close his days, not only in peace, but in -consummate outward felicity. - -Darius the Mede began his reign by appointing one hundred and twenty -princes over the whole kingdom;[468] and over these he placed three -presidents. Daniel is one of these "eyes" of the king.[469] "Because -an excellent spirit was in him," he acquired preponderant influence -among the presidents; and the king, considering that Daniel's -integrity would secure him from damage in the royal accounts, -designed to set him over the whole realm. - -But assuming that the writer is dealing, not with the real, but -with the ideal, something would be lacking to Daniel's eminent -saintliness, if he were not set forth as no less capable of martyrdom -on behalf of his convictions than his three companions had been. From -the fiery trial in which their faithfulness had been proved like -gold in the furnace he had been exempt. His life thus far had been -a course of unbroken prosperity. But the career of a pre-eminent -prophet and saint hardly seems to have won its final crown, unless -he also be called upon to mount his Calvary, and to share with all -prophets and all saints the persecutions which are the invariable -concomitants of the hundredfold reward.[470] Shadrach, Meshach, -and Abed-nego had been tested in early youth: the trial of Daniel -is reserved for his extreme old age. It is not, it could not be, a -_severer_ trial than that which his friends braved, nor could his -deliverance be represented as more supernatural or more complete, -unless it were that they endured only for a few moments the semblable -violence of the fire, while he was shut up for all the long hours -of night alone in the savage lions' den. There are, nevertheless, -two respects in which this chapter serves as a climax to those -which preceded it. On the one hand, the virtue of Daniel is of a -marked character in that it is _positive_, and not negative--in -that it consists, not in rejecting an overt sin of idolatry, but in -continuing the private duty of prayer; on the other, the decree of -Darius surpasses even those of Nebuchadrezzar in the intensity of its -acknowledgment of the supremacy of Israel's God. - -Daniel's age--for by this time he must have passed the allotted limit -of man's threescore years and ten--might have exempted him from envy, -even if, as the LXX. adds, "he was clad in purple." But jealous that -a captive Jew should be exalted above all the native satraps and -potentates by the king's favour, his colleagues the presidents (whom -the LXX. calls "two young men") and the princes "_rushed_" before the -king with a request which they thought would enable them to overthrow -Daniel by subtlety. Faithfulness is required in stewards;[471] and -they knew that his faithfulness and wisdom were such that they would -be unable to undermine him in any ordinary way. There was but one -point at which they considered him to be vulnerable, and that was in -any matter which affected his allegiance to an alien worship. But -it was difficult to invent an incident which would give them the -sought-for opportunity. All polytheisms are as tolerant as their -priests will let them be. The worship of the Jews in the Exile was of -a necessarily private nature. They had no Temple, and such religious -gatherings as they held were in no sense unlawful. The problem of the -writer was to manage his _Haggada_ in such a way as to make private -prayer an act of treason; and the difficulty is met--not, indeed, -without violent improbability, for which, however, Jewish haggadists -cared little, but with as much skill as the circumstances permitted. - -The phrase that they "made a tumult" or "rushed"[472] before the -king, which recurs in vi. 11 and 18, is singular, and looks as if -it were _intentionally_ grotesque by way of satire. The etiquette -of Oriental courts is always most elaborately stately, and requires -solemn obeisance. This is why AEschylus makes Agamemnon say, in answer -to the too-obsequious fulsomeness of his false wife,-- - - [Greek: "kai talla, me gynaikos en tropois eme - habryne, mede barbarou photos diken - chamaipetes boama proschanes emoi."] - - "Besides, prithee, use not too fond a care - To me, as to some virgin whom thou strivest - To deck with ornaments, whose softness looks - Softer, hung round the softness of her youth; - Ope not the mouth to me, nor cry amain - As at the footstool of a man of the East - Prone on the ground: so stoop not thou to me!" - -That these "presidents and satraps," instead of trying to win the -king by such flatteries and "gaping upon him an earth-grovelling -howl," should on each occasion have "rushed" into his presence, must -be regarded either as a touch of intentional sarcasm, or, at any -rate, as being more in accord with the rude familiarities of licence -permitted to the courtiers of the half-mad Antiochus, than with the -prostrations and solemn approaches which since the days of Deioces -would alone have been permitted by any conceivable "Darius the Mede." - -However, after this tumultuous intrusion into the king's presence, -"all the presidents, governors, chief chamberlains," present to him -the monstrous but unanimous request that he would, by an irrevocable -interdict, forbid that any man should, for thirty days, ask any -petition of any god or man, on peril of being cast into the den of -lions.[473] - -Professor Fuller, in the _Speaker's Commentary_, considers that "this -chapter gives a valuable as well as an interesting insight into Median -customs," because the king is represented as living a secluded life, -and keeps lions, and is practically deified! The importance of the -remark is far from obvious. The chapter presents no particular picture -of a secluded life. On the contrary, the king moves about freely, and -his courtiers seem to have free access to him whenever they choose. -As for the semi-deification of kings, it was universal throughout the -East, and even Antiochus II. had openly taken the surname of _Theos_, -the "god." Again, every Jew throughout the world must have been very -well aware, since the days of the Exile, that Assyrian and other -monarchs kept dens of lions, and occasionally flung their enemies to -them.[474] But so far as the decree of Darius is concerned, it may well -be said that throughout all history no single parallel to it can be -quoted. Kings have very often been deified in absolutism; but not even -a mad Antiochus, a mad Caligula, a mad Elagabalus, or a mad Commodus -ever dreamt of passing an interdict that no one was to prefer any -petition either to God or man for thirty days, except to himself! A -decree so preposterous, which might be violated by millions many times -a day without the king being cognisant of it, would be a proof of -positive imbecility in any king who should dream of making it. Strange, -too--though a matter of indifference to the writer, because it did -not affect his moral lesson--that Darius should not have noticed the -absence of his chief official, and the one man in whom he placed the -fullest and deepest confidence. - -The king, without giving another thought to the matter, at once signs -the irrevocable decree. - -It naturally does not make the least difference to the practices -or the purpose of Daniel. His duty towards God transcends his duty -to man. He has been accustomed, thrice a day, to kneel and pray to -God, with the window of his upper chamber open, looking towards the -_Kibleh_ of Jerusalem;[475] and the king's decree makes no change in -his manner of daily worship. - -Then the princes "rushed" thither again, and found Daniel praying and -asking petitions before his God. - -Instantly they go before the king, and denounce Daniel for his triple -daily defiance of the sacrosanct decree, showing that "he regardeth -not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed." - -Their denunciations produced an effect very different from what they -had intended. They had hoped to raise the king's wrath and jealousy -against Daniel, as one who lightly esteemed his divine autocracy. -But so far from having any such ignoble feeling, the king only sees -that he has been an utter fool, the dupe of the worthlessness of his -designing courtiers.[476] All his anger was against himself for his own -folly; his sole desire was to save the man whom for his integrity and -ability he valued more than the whole crew of base plotters who had -entrapped him against his will into a stupid act of injustice. All day, -till sunset, he laboured hard to deliver Daniel.[477] The whole band -of satraps and chamberlains feel that this will not do at all; so they -again "rush" to the king to remind him of the Median and Persian law -that no decree which the king has passed can be altered.[478] To alter -it would be a confession of fallibility, and therefore an abnegation -of godhead! Yet the strenuous action which he afterwards adopted -shows that he might, even then, have acted on the principle which the -mages laid down to Cambyses, son of Cyrus, that "the king can do no -wrong." There seems to be no reason why he should not have told these -"tumultuous" princes that if they interfered with Daniel they should -be flung into the lions' den. This would probably have altered their -opinion as to pressing the royal infallibility of irreversible decrees. - -But as this resource did not suggest itself to Darius, nothing could -be done except to cast Daniel into the den or "pit" of lions; but in -sentencing him the king offers the prayer, "May the God whom thou -servest continually deliver thee!"[479] Then a stone is laid over -the mouth of the pit, and, for the sake of double security, that even -the king may not have the power of tampering with it, it is sealed, -not only with his own seal, but also with that of his lords.[480] - -From the lion-pit the king went back to his palace, but only to spend -a miserable night. He could take no food.[481] No dancing-women were -summoned to his harem;[482] no sleep visited his eyelids. At the first -glimpse of morning he rose,[483] and went with haste to the den--taking -the satraps with him, adds the LXX.--and cried with a sorrowful voice, -"O Daniel, servant of the living God, hath thy God whom thou servest -continually been able to deliver thee from the lions?" - -And the voice of the prophet answered, "O king, live for ever! My -God sent His angel,[484] and shut the mouths of the lions, that they -should not destroy me: forasmuch as before Him innocency was found in -me; and also before thee, O king, have I committed no offence." - -Thereupon the happy king ordered that Daniel should be taken up out -of the lion-pit; and he was found to be unhurt, because he believed -in his God. - -We would have gladly spared the touch of savagery with which the story -ends. The deliverance of Daniel made no difference in the guilt of -his accusers. What they had charged him with was a fact, and was a -transgression of the ridiculous decree which they had caused the king -to pass. But his deliverance was regarded as a Divine judgment upon -them--as proof that vengeance should fall on them. Accordingly, not -they only, but, with the brutal solidarity of revenge and punishment -which, in savage and semi-civilised races, confounds the innocent with -the guilty, their wives and even their children were also cast into -the den of lions, and they did not reach the bottom of the pit before -"the lions got hold of them and crushed all their bones."[485] They are -devoured, or caught, by the hungry lions in mid-air. - -"Then King Darius wrote to all the nations, communities, and tongues -who dwell in the whole world, May your peace be multiplied! I make -a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear -before the God of Daniel: for He is the living God, and steadfast -for ever, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and -His dominion even unto the end. He delivereth and He rescueth, and -He worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who delivered -Daniel from the power of the lions." - -The language, as in Nebuchadrezzar's decrees, is purely -Scriptural.[486] What the Median mages and the Persian fire-worshippers -would think of such a decree, and whether it produced the slightest -effect before it vanished without leaving a trace behind, are questions -with which the author of the story is not concerned. - -He merely adds that Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and of -Cyrus the Persian. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[452] Lam. iv. 7. - -[453] Isa. xliv. 25, 26. - -[454] Isa. xliii. 2. - -[455] Ezek. xxxi. 2-15. - -[456] Prov. xvi. 18. - -[457] Isa. x. 33. - -[458] Isa. xlvii. 13. - -[459] Isa. xxi. 2. - -[460] The word is a cabalistic cryptogram--an instance of -_Gematria_--for Babel. - -[461] Jer. li. 28-57. - -[462] Psalm lvii. 4. - -[463] Psalm lviii. 6. - -[464] Lam. iii. 53. - -[465] Isa. liv. 17. - -[466] _Sanhedrin_, f. 93, 1. See another story in _Vayyikra Rabba_, -c. xix. - -[467] _Bereshith Rabba_, Sec. 68. - -[468] The LXX. says 127, and Josephus (_Antt._, X. xi. 4) says 360 -(comp. Esther i. 1, viii. 9, ix. 3). Under Darius, son of Hystaspes, -there were only twenty divisions of the empire (Herod., iii. 89). - -[469] Dan. vi. 2: "Of whom Daniel was"--not "_first_," as in A.V., -but "_one_," R.V. - -[470] Matt. xix. 29. - -[471] 1 Cor. iv. 2. - -[472] Dan. vi. 6, _char'ggishoo_; Vulg., _surripuerunt regi_; A.V. -marg., "came tumultuously." The word is found in the Targum in Ruth -i. 19 (Bevan). - -[473] The den (_goob_ or _gubba_) seems to mean a vault. The Hebrew -word for "pit" is _boor_. - -[474] See Layard, _Nin. and Bab._, i. 335, 447, 475; Smith, _Hist. of -Assur-bani-pal_, xxiv. - -[475] The chamber was perhaps supposed to be a [Greek: hyperoon] -on the roof. The "kneeling" in prayer (as in 1 Kings viii. 54; 2 -Chron. vi. 13; Ezra ix. 5) is in the East a less common attitude than -standing. See 1 Sam. i. 26; Mark xi. 25; Luke xviii. 11: but see Neh. -viii. 6; Gen. xxiv. 26. - -The Temple, and Jerusalem, was the _Kibleh_, or sacred direction of -devotion (1 Kings viii. 44; Ezek. viii. 16; Psalm v. 7, xxviii. 2, -lv. 17, etc.). - -[476] Comp. Mark vi. 26. - -[477] Theodot., [Greek: agonizomenos]. - -[478] Esther i. 19, viii. 8. - -[479] "Courage, till to-morrow" ([Greek: heos proi tharrhei]), adds -the LXX. - -[480] Comp. Lam. iii. 53. Seal-rings are very ancient (Herod., i. -195). It is useless to speculate on the construction of the lion-pit. -The only opening mentioned seems to have been _at the top_; but there -must necessarily have been side-openings also. - -[481] Theodot., [Greek: ekoimethe adeipnos]. Daniel, on the other -hand, in the apocryphal _Haggada_, gets his dinner miraculously from -the Prophet Habakkuk. - -[482] Heb., _dachavan_; R.V., "instruments of music"; R.V. marg., -"dancing-girls"; Gesenius, Zoeckler, etc., "concubines." - -[483] Theodot., [Greek: to proi en to photi]. - -[484] Comp. Dan. iii. 8; Psalm xxxiv. 7-10; Acts xii. 11. - -[485] Comp. Esther ix. 13, 14; Josh. vii. 24; 2 Sam. xxi. 1-6. The -LXX. modifies the savagery of the story by making the vengeance fall -only on the _two_ young men who were Daniel's fellow-presidents. But -comp. Herod., iii. 119; Am. Marcell., xxiii. 6; and "Ob noxam unius -omnis propinquitas perit," etc. - -[486] Psalm xxix. 1, x. 16, etc. Professor Fuller calls it "a -_Mazdean_ colouring in the language"! - - - - - PART III - - _THE PROPHETIC SECTION OF THE BOOK_ - - - - - - - CHAPTER I - - _VISION OF THE FOUR WILD BEASTS_ - - -We now enter upon the second division of the Book of Daniel--the -apocalyptic. It is unquestionably inferior to the first part in -grandeur and importance as a whole, but it contains not a few great -conceptions, and it was well adapted to inspire the hopes and arouse -the heroic courage of the persecuted Jews in the terrible days of -Antiochus Epiphanes. Daniel now speaks in the first person,[487] -whereas throughout the historic section of the Book the third person -has been used. - -In the form of apocalypse which he adopts he had already had partial -precursors in Ezekiel and Zechariah; but their symbolic visions were -far less detailed and developed--it may be added far more poetic and -classical--than his. And in later apocalypses, for which this served -as a model, little regard is paid to the grotesqueness or incongruity -of the symbols, if only the intended conception is conveyed. In no -previous writer of the grander days of Hebrew literature would such -symbols have been permitted as horns which have eyes and speak, or -lions from which the wings are plucked, and which thereafter stand on -their feet as a man, and have a man's heart given to them. - -The vision is dated, "In the first year of Belshazzar, King of -Babylon." It therefore comes chronologically between the fourth -and fifth chapters. On the pseudepigraphic view of the Book we may -suppose that this date is merely a touch of literary verisimilitude, -designed to assimilate the prophecies to the form of those uttered -by the ancient prophets; or perhaps it may be intended to indicate -that with three of the four empires--the Babylonian, the Median, and -the Persian--Daniel had a personal acquaintance. Beyond this we can -see no significance in the date; for the predictions which are here -recorded have none of that immediate relation to the year in which -they originated which we see in the writings of Isaiah and Jeremiah. -Perhaps the verse itself is a later guess or gloss, since there are -slight variations in Theodotion and the LXX. Daniel, we are told, -both saw and wrote and narrated the dream.[488] - -In the vision of the night he had seen the four winds of heaven -travailing, or bursting forth, on the great sea;[489] and from those -tumultuous waves came four immense wild beasts, each unlike the other. - -The first was a lion, with four eagles' wings. The wings were plucked -off, and it then raised itself from the earth, stood on its feet like -a man, and a man's heart was given to it. - -The second was like a bear, raising itself on one side, and having -three ribs between its teeth; and it is bidden to "arise and devour -much flesh." - -The third is a leopard, or panther, with four wings and four heads, -to which dominion is given. - -The fourth--a yet more terrible monster, which is left undescribed, -as though indescribable--has great devouring teeth of iron, and feet -that stamp and crush.[490] It has ten horns, and among them came up a -little horn, before which three of the others are plucked up by the -roots; and this horn has eyes, and a mouth speaking great things. - -Then the thrones were set for the Divine judges,[491] and the Ancient -of Days seats Himself--His raiment as white snow, His hair as bright -wool, His throne of flames, His wheels of burning fire. A stream of -dazzling fire goes out before Him. Thousand thousands stand before -Him; ten thousand times ten thousand minister to Him. The judgment is -set; the books are opened. The fourth monster is then slain and burned -because of the blaspheming horn; the other beasts are suffered to live -for a season and a time, but their dominion is taken away.[492] - - * * * * * - -But then, in the night vision, there came "one even as a son of man" -with the clouds of heaven, and is brought before the Ancient of Days, -and receives from Him power and glory and a kingdom--an everlasting -dominion, a kingdom that shall not be destroyed--over _all people_, -nations, and languages. - -Such is the vision, and its interpretation follows. The heart of -Daniel "is pierced in the midst of its sheath" by what he has seen, -and the visions of his head troubled him. Coming near to one of them -that stood by--the angelic ministrants of the Ancient of Days--he -begs for an interpretation of the vision. - -It is given him with extreme brevity. - -The four wild beasts represent four kings, the founders of four -successive kingdoms. But the ultimate and eternal dominion is not -to be with them. It is to be given, till the eternities of the -eternities, to "the holy ones of the Lofty One."[493] - -What follows is surely an indication of the date of the Book. Daniel -is quite satisfied with this meagre interpretation, in which no -single detail is given as regards the first three world-empires, -which one would have supposed would chiefly interest the real Daniel. -His whole curiosity is absorbed in _a detail_ of the vision of the -_fourth_ monster. It is all but inconceivable that a contemporary -prophet should have felt no further interest in the destinies which -affected the great golden Empire of Babylon under which he lived, nor -in those of Media and Persia, which were already beginning to loom -large on the horizon, and should have cared only for an incident in -the story of a fourth empire as yet unheard of, which was only to be -fulfilled four centuries later. The interests of every other Hebrew -prophet are always mainly absorbed, so far as earthly things are -concerned, in the immediate or not-far-distant future. That is true -also of the author of Daniel, if, as we have had reason to see, he -wrote under the rule of the persecuting and blaspheming horn. - -In his appeal for the interpretation of this symbol there are fresh -particulars about this horn which had eyes and spake very great -things. We are told that "his look was more stout than his fellows"; -and that "he made war against the saints and prevailed against them, -until the Ancient of Days came. Then judgment was given to the -saints, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom." - -The interpretation is that the fourth beast is an earth-devouring, -trampling, shattering kingdom, diverse from all kingdoms; its ten horns -are ten kings that shall arise from it.[494] Then another king shall -arise, diverse from the first, who shall subdue three kings, shall -speak blasphemies, shall wear out the saints, and will strive to change -times and laws. But after "a time, two times, and a half,"[495] the -judgment shall sit, and he will be annihilated, and his dominion shall -be given for ever to the people of the saints of the Most High. - -Such was the vision; such its interpretation; and there can be no -difficulty as to its general significance. - -I. That the four empires, and their founders, are not identical with -the four empires of the metal colossus in Nebuchadrezzar's dream, -is an inference which, apart from dogmatic bias, would scarcely -have occurred to any unsophisticated reader. To the imagination of -Nebuchadrezzar, the heathen potentate, they would naturally present -themselves in their strength and towering grandeur, splendid and -impassive and secure, till the mysterious destruction smites them. To -the Jewish seer they present themselves in their cruel ferocity and -headstrong ambition as destroying wild beasts. The symbolism would -naturally occur to all who were familiar with the winged bulls and -lions and other gigantic representations of monsters which decorated -the palace-walls of Nineveh and Babylon. Indeed, similar imagery had -already found a place on the prophetic page.[496] - -II. The turbulent sea, from which the immense beasts emerge after the -struggling of the four winds of heaven upon its surface, is the sea -of nations.[497] - -III. The first great beast is Nebuchadrezzar and the Babylonian -Empire.[498] There is nothing strange in the fact that there -should be a certain transfusion or overlapping of the symbols, the -object not being literary congruity, but the creation of a general -impression. He is represented as a lion, because lions were prevalent -in Babylonia, and were specially prominent in Babylonian decorations. -His eagle-wings symbolise rapacity and swiftness.[499] But, according -to the narrative already given, a change had come over the spirit of -Nebuchadrezzar in his latter days. That subduing and softening by the -influence of a Divine power is represented by the plucking off of the -lion's eagle-wings, and its fall to earth. But it was not left to lie -there in impotent degradation. It is lifted up from the earth, and -humanised, and made to stand on its feet as a man, and a man's heart -is given to it.[500] - -IV. The bear, which places itself upon one side, is the Median -Empire, smaller than the Chaldean, as the bear is smaller and less -formidable than the lion. The crouching on one side is obscure. It -is explained by some as implying that it was lower in exaltation -than the Babylonian Empire; by others that "it gravitated, as -regards its power, only towards the countries west of the Tigris and -Euphrates."[501] The meaning of the "three ribs in its mouth" is also -uncertain. Some regard the number three as a vague round number; -others refer it to the three countries over which the Median dominion -extended--Babylonia, Assyria, and Syria; others, less probably, to -the three chief cities. The command, "Arise, devour much flesh," -refers to the prophecies of Median conquest,[502] and perhaps to -uncertain historical reminiscences which confused "Darius the Mede" -with Darius the son of Hystaspes. Those who explain this monster as -an emblem, not of the Median but of the Medo-Persian Empire, neglect -the plain indications of the Book itself, for the author regards the -Median and Persian Empires as distinct.[503] - -V. The leopard or panther represents the Persian kingdom.[504] It has -four wings on its back, to indicate how freely and swiftly it soared -to the four quarters of the world. Its four heads indicate four -kings. There were indeed twelve or thirteen kings of Persia between -B.C. 536 and B.C. 333; but the author of the Book of Daniel, who of -course had no books of history before him, only thinks of the four -who were most prominent in popular tradition--namely (as it would -seem), Cyrus, Darius, Artaxerxes, and Xerxes.[505] These are the only -four names which the writer knew, because they are the only ones -which occur in Scripture. It is true that the Darius of Neh. xii. -22 is not the Great Darius, son of Hystaspes, but Darius Codomannus -(B.C. 424-404). But this fact may most easily have been overlooked in -uncritical and unhistoric times. And "power was given to it," for it -was far stronger than the preceding kingdom of the Medes. - -VI. The fourth monster won its chief aspect of terribleness from -the conquests of Alexander, which blazed over the East with such -irresistible force and suddenness.[506] The great Macedonian, after his -massacres at Tyre, struck into the Eastern world the intense feeling of -terror which we still can recognise in the narrative of Josephus. His -rule is therefore symbolised by a monster diverse from all the beasts -before it in its sudden leap out of obscurity, in the lightning-like -rapidity of its flash from West to East, and in its instantaneous -disintegration into four separate kingdoms. It is with one only of -those four kingdoms of the Diadochi, the one which so terribly affected -the fortunes of the Holy Land, that the writer is predominantly -concerned--namely, the empire of the Seleucid kings. It is in that -portion of the kingdom--namely, from the Euxine to the confines of -Arabia--that the ten horns arise which, we are told, symbolise ten -kings. It seems almost certain that these ten kings are intended for:-- - - B.C. - - 1. Seleucus I. (_Nicator_)[507] 312-280 - 2. Antiochus I. (_Soter_) 280-261 - 3. Antiochus II. (_Theos_) 261-246 - 4. Seleucus II. (_Kallinikos_) 246-226 - 5. Seleucus III. (_Keraunos_) 226-223 - 6. Antiochus III. (_Megas_) 223-187 - 7. Seleucus IV. (_Philopator_) 187-176 - -Then followed the three kings (actual or potential) who were plucked -up before the little horn: namely-- - - B.C. - - 8. Demetrius 175 - 9. Heliodorus 176 - 10. Ptolemy Philometor 181-146 - -Of these three who succumbed to the machinations of Antiochus -Epiphanes, or the little horn,[508] the first, Demetrius, was the -only son of Seleucus Philopator, and true heir to the crown. His -father sent him to Rome as a hostage, and released his brother -Antiochus. So far from showing gratitude for this generosity, -Antiochus, on the murder of Seleucus IV. (B.C. 175), usurped the -rights of his nephew (Dan. xi. 21). - -The second, Heliodorus, seeing that Demetrius the heir was out -of the way, poisoned Seleucus Philopator, and himself usurped the -kingdom.[509] - -Ptolemy Philometor was the son of Cleopatra, the sister of Seleucus -Philopator. A large party was in favour of uniting Egypt and Persia -under his rule. But Antiochus Epiphanes ignored the compact which had -made Coele-Syria and Phoenicia the dower of Cleopatra, and not only -kept Philometor from his rights, but would have deprived him of Egypt -also but for the strenuous interposition of the Romans and their -ambassador M. Popilius Laenas.[510] - -When the three horns had thus fallen before him, the little -horn--Antiochus Epiphanes--sprang into prominence. The mention of -his "eyes" seems to be a reference to his shrewdness, cunning, -and vigilance.[511] The "mouth that spoke very great things"[512] -alludes to the boastful arrogance which led him to assume the title -of Epiphanes, or "the illustrious"--which his scornful subjects -changed into Epimanes, "the mad"--and to his assumption even of -the title Theos, "the god," on some of his coins.[513] His look -"was bigger than his fellows," for he inspired the kings of Egypt -and other countries with terror. "He made war against the saints," -with the aid of "Jason and Menelaus, those ungodly wretches," and -"prevailed against them." He "wore out the saints of the Most High," -for he took Jerusalem by storm, plundered it, slew eighty thousand -men, women, and children, took forty thousand prisoners, and sold -as many into slavery (B.C. 170).[514] "As he entered the sanctuary -to plunder it, under the guidance of the apostate high priest -Menelaus, he uttered words of blasphemy, and he carried off all the -gold and silver he could find, including the golden table, altar of -incense, candlesticks, and vessels, and even rifled the subterraneous -vaults, so that he seized no less than eighteen hundred talents of -gold."[515] He then sacrificed swine upon the altar, and sprinkled -the whole Temple with the broth. - -Further than all this, "_he thought to change times and laws_"; and -they were "_given into his hand until a time, and two times, and -a half_." For he made a determined attempt to put down the Jewish -feasts, the Sabbath, circumcision, and all the most distinctive -Jewish ordinances.[516] In B.C. 167, two years after his cruel -devastation of the city, he sent Apollonius, his chief collector of -tribute, against Jerusalem, with an army of twenty-two thousand men. -On the first Sabbath after his arrival, Apollonius sent his soldiers -to massacre all the men whom they met in the streets, and to seize -the women and children as slaves. He occupied the castle on Mount -Zion, and prevented the Jews from attending the public ordinances -of their sanctuary. Hence in June B.C. 167 the daily sacrifice -ceased, and the Jews fled for their lives from the Holy City. -Antiochus then published an edict forbidding all his subjects in -Syria and elsewhere--even the Zoroastrians in Armenia and Persia--to -worship any gods, or acknowledge any religion but his.[517] The -Jewish sacred books were burnt, and not only the Samaritans but -many Jews apostatised, while others hid themselves in mountains and -deserts.[518] He sent an old philosopher named Athenaeus to instruct -the Jews in the Greek religion, and to enforce its observance. He -dedicated the Temple to Zeus Olympios, and built on the altar of -Jehovah a smaller altar for sacrifice to Zeus, to whom he must also -have erected a statue. This heathen altar was set up on Kisleu -(December) 15, and the heathen sacrifice began on Kisleu 25. All -observance of the Jewish Law was now treated as a capital crime. The -Jews were forced to sacrifice in heathen groves at heathen altars, -and to walk, crowned with ivy, in Bacchic processions. Two women who -had braved the despot's wrath by circumcising their children were -flung from the Temple battlements into the vale below.[519] - -The triumph of this blasphemous and despotic savagery was arrested, -first by the irresistible force of determined martyrdom which -preferred death to unfaithfulness, and next by the armed resistance -evoked by the heroism of Mattathias, the priest at Modin. When -Apelles visited the town, and ordered the Jews to sacrifice, -Mattathias struck down with his own hand a Jew who was preparing to -obey. Then, aided by his strong heroic sons, he attacked Apelles, -slew him and his soldiers, tore down the idolatrous altar, and with -his sons and adherents fled into the wilderness, where they were -joined by many of the Jews. - -The news of this revolt brought Antiochus to Palestine in B.C. 166, -and among his other atrocities he ordered the execution by torture of -the venerable scribe Eleazar, and of the pious mother with her seven -sons. In spite of all his efforts the party of the _Chasidim_ grew -in numbers and in strength. When Mattathias died, Judas the Maccabee -became their leader, and his brother Simon their counsellor.[520] -While Antiochus was celebrating his mad and licentious festival at -Daphne, Judas inflicted a severe defeat on Apollonius, and won other -battles, which made Antiochus vow in an access of fury that he would -exterminate the nation (Dan. xi. 44). But he found himself bankrupt, -and the Persians and Armenians were revolting from him in disgust. He -therefore sent Lysias as his general to Judaea, and Lysias assembled -an immense army of forty thousand foot and seven thousand horse, to -whom Judas could only oppose six thousand men.[521] Lysias pitched -his camp at Beth-shur, south of Jerusalem. There Judas attacked him -with irresistible valour and confidence, slew five thousand of his -soldiers, and drove the rest to flight. - -Lysias retired to Antioch, intending to renew the invasion next year. -Thereupon Judas and his army recaptured Jerusalem, and restored and -cleansed and reconsecrated the dilapidated and desecrated sanctuary. -He made a new shewbread-table, incense-altar, and candlestick of gold -in place of those which Antiochus had carried off, and new vessels of -gold, and a new veil before the Holiest Place. All this was completed -on Kisleu 25, B.C. 165, about the time of the winter solstice, "on -the same day of the year on which, three years before, it had been -profaned by Antiochus, and just three years and a half--'a time, two -times, and half a time'--after the city and Temple had been desolated -by Apollonius."[522] They began the day by renewing the sacrifices, -kindling the altar and the candlestick by pure fire struck by flints. -The whole law of the Temple service continued thenceforward without -interruption till the destruction of the Temple by the Romans. It was -a feast in commemoration of this dedication--called the Encaenia and -"the Lights"--which Christ honoured by His presence at Jerusalem.[523] - -The neighbouring nations, when they heard of this revolt of the -Jews, and its splendid success, proposed to join with Antiochus for -their extermination. But meanwhile the king, having been shamefully -repulsed in his sacrilegious attack on the Temple of Artemis at -Elymais, retired in deep chagrin to Ecbatana, in Media. It was there -that he heard of the Jewish successes and set out to chastise -the rebels. On his way he heard of the recovery of Jerusalem, the -destruction of his heathen altars, and the purification of the -Temple. The news flung him into one of those paroxysms of fury to -which he was liable, and, breathing out threatenings and slaughter, -he declared that he would turn Jerusalem into one vast cemetery for -the whole Jewish race. Suddenly smitten with a violent internal -malady, he would not stay his course, but still urged his charioteer -to the utmost speed.[524] In consequence of this the chariot was -overturned, and he was flung violently to the ground, receiving -severe injuries. He was placed in a litter, but, unable to bear the -agonies caused by its motion, he stopped at Tabae, in the mountains of -Paraetacene, on the borders of Persia and Babylonia, where he died, -B.C. 164, in very evil case, half mad with the furies of a remorseful -conscience.[525] The Jewish historians say that, before his death, -he repented, acknowledged the crimes he had committed against the -Jews, and vowed that he would repair them if he survived. The stories -of his death resemble those of the deaths of Herod, of Galerius, of -Philip II., and of other bitter persecutors of the saints of God. -Judas the Maccabee, who had overthrown his power in Palestine, died -at Eleasa in B.C. 161, after a series of brilliant victories. - -Such were the fortunes of the king whom the writer shadows forth -under the emblem of the little horn with human eyes and a mouth -which spake blasphemies, whose power was to be made transitory, and -to be annihilated and destroyed unto the end.[526] And when this wild -beast was slain, and its body given to the burning fire, the rest of -the beasts were indeed to be deprived of their splendid dominions, -but a respite of life is given them, and they are suffered to endure -for a time and a period.[527] - -But the eternal life, and the imperishable dominion, which were -denied to them, are given to another in the epiphany of the Ancient -of Days. The vision of the seer is one of a great scene of judgment. -Thrones are set for the heavenly assessors, and the Almighty appears -in snow-white raiment, and on His chariot-throne of burning flame -which flashes round Him like a vast photosphere.[528] The books of -everlasting record are opened before the glittering faces of the -myriads of saints who accompany Him, and the fiery doom is passed on -the monstrous world-powers who would fain usurp His authority.[529] - -But who is the "one even as a son of man," who "comes with the clouds -of heaven," and who "is brought before the Ancient of Days,"[530] to -whom is given the imperishable dominion? That he is not an angel -appears from the fact that he seems to be separate from all the ten -thousand times ten thousand who stand around the cherubic chariot. He -is not a man, but something more. In this respect he resembles the -angels described in Dan. viii. 15, x. 16-18. He has "the appearance -of a man," and is "like the similitude of the sons of men."[531] - -We should naturally answer, in accordance with the multitude of -ancient and modern commentators both Jewish and Christian, that -the Messiah is intended;[532] and, indeed, our Lord alludes to the -prophecy in Matt. xxvi. 64. That the vision is meant to indicate the -establishment of the Messianic theocracy cannot be doubted. But if -we follow the interpretation given by the angel himself in answer -to Daniel's entreaty, the personality of the Messiah seems to be at -least somewhat subordinate or indistinct. For the interpretation, -without mentioning any person, seems to point only to the saints of -Israel who are to inherit and maintain that Divine kingdom which has -been already thrice asserted and prophesied. It is the "holy ones" -(_Qaddishin_), "the holy ones of the Most High" (_Qaddishi Elionin_), -upon whom the never-ending sovereignty is conferred;[533] and who -these are cannot be misunderstood, for they are the very same as -those against whom the little horn has been engaged in war.[534] -The Messianic kingdom is here predominantly represented as the -spiritual supremacy of the chosen people. Neither here, nor in ii. -44, nor in xii. 3, does the writer separately indicate any Davidic -king, or priest upon his throne, as had been already done by so many -previous prophets.[535] This vision does not seem to have brought -into prominence the rule of any Divinely Incarnate Christ over the -kingdom of the Highest. In this respect the interpretation of the -"one even as a son of man" comes upon us as a surprise, and seems to -indicate that the true interpretation of that element of the vision -is that the kingdom of the saints is there personified; so that -as wild beasts were appropriate emblems of the world-powers, the -reasonableness and sanctity of the saintly theocracy are indicated by -a human form, which has its origin in the clouds of heaven, not in -the miry and troubled sea. This is the view of the Christian father -Ephraem Syrus, as well as of the Jewish exegete Abn Ezra; and it is -supported by the fact that in other apocryphal books of the later -epoch, as in the Assumption of Moses and the Book of Jubilees, the -Messianic hope is concentrated in the conception that the holy nation -is to have the dominance over the Gentiles. At any rate, it seems -that, if truth is to guide us rather than theological prepossession, -we must take the significance of the writer, not from the emblems of -the vision, but from the divinely imparted interpretation of it; and -there the figure of "one as a son of man" is persistently (vv. 18, -22, 27) explained to stand, not for the Christ Himself, but for "the -holy ones of the Most High,"[536] whose dominion Christ's coming -should inaugurate and secure. - -The chapter closes with the words: "Here is the end of the matter. As -for me, Daniel, my thoughts much troubled me, and my brightness was -changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart." - -FOOTNOTES: - -[487] Except in the heading of chap. x. - -[488] In the opinion of Lagarde and others this chapter--which is -not noticed by Josephus, and which Meinhold thinks cannot have been -written by the author of chap. ii., since it says nothing of the -sufferings or deliverance of Israel--did not belong to the original -form of the Book. Lagarde thinks that it was written A.D. 69, after -the persecution of the Christians by Nero. - -[489] St. Ephraem Syrus says, "The sea is the world." Isa. xvii. 12, -xxvii. 1, xxxii. 2. But compare Dan. vii. 17; Ezek. xxix. 3; Rev. -xiii. 1, xvii. 1-8, xxi. 1. - -[490] In the vision of the colossus in ii. 41-43 stress is laid on -the division of the fourth empire into stronger and weaker elements -(iron and clay). That point is here passed over. - -[491] A.V., "the thrones were cast down." - -[492] In ii. 35, 44, the four empires are represented as finally -destroyed. - -[493] A.V. marg., "high ones"--_i.e._, things or places. - -[494] Not kingdoms, as in viii. 8. - -[495] Comp. Rev. xii. 14; Luke iv. 25; James v. 17. - -[496] Isa. xxvii. 1, li. 9; Ezek. xxix. 3, xxxii. 2. - -[497] Comp. Job xxxviii. 16, 17; Isa. viii. 7, xvii. 12. - -[498] Comp. Dan. ii. 38. Jeremiah had likened Nebuchadrezzar both to -the lion (iv. 7, xlix. 19, etc.) and to the eagle (xlviii. 40, xlix. -22). Ezekiel had compared the king (xvii. 3), and Habakkuk his armies -(i. 8), as also Jeremiah (iv. 13; Lam. iv. 19), to the eagle (Pusey, p. -690). See too Layard, _Nin. and Bab._, ii. 460. For other beast-symbols -see Isa. xxvii. 1, li. 9; Ezek. xxix. 3; Psalm lxxiv. 13. - -[499] Comp. Jer. iv. 7, 13, xlix. 16; Ezek. xvii. 3, 12; Hab. i. 8; -Lam. iv. 19. - -[500] The use of _enosh_--not _eesh_--indicates chastening and weakness. - -[501] Ewald. - -[502] Isa. xiii. 17; Jer. li. 11, 28. Aristotle, _H. N._, viii. 5, -calls the bear [Greek: pamphagos], "all-devouring." A bear appears as a -dream-symbol in an Assyrian book of auguries (Lenormant, _Magie_, 492). - -[503] Dan. v. 28, 31, vi. 8, 12, 15, 28, viii. 20, ix. 1, xi. 1. - -[504] The composite beast of Rev. xiii. 2 combines leopard, bear, and -lion. - -[505] Comp. viii. 4-8. - -[506] Battle of the Granicus, B.C. 334; Battle of Issus, 333; Siege -of Tyre, 332; Battle of Arbela, 331; Death of Darius, 330. Alexander -died B.C. 323. - -[507] This was the interpretation given by the great father Ephraem -Syrus in the first century. Hitzig, Kuenen, and others count from -Alexander the Great, and omit Ptolemy Philometor. - -[508] Dan. xi. 21. - -[509] Appian, _Syr._, 45; Liv., xli. 24. The story of his attempt to -rob the Temple at Jerusalem, rendered so famous by the great picture -of Raphael in the Vatican _stanze_, is not mentioned by Josephus, -but only in 2 Macc. iii. 24-40. In 4 Macc. it is told, without the -miracle, of Apollonius. There can be little doubt that something of -the kind happened, but it was perhaps due to an imposture of the -Jewish high priest. - -[510] Porphyry interpreted the three kings who succumbed to the -little horn to be Ptolemy Philometor, Ptolemy Euergetes II., and -Artaxias, King of Armenia. The critics who begin the ten kings with -Alexander the Great count Seleucus IV. (Philopator) as one of the -three who were supplanted by Antiochus. Von Gutschmid counts as -one of the three a younger brother of Demetrius, said to have been -murdered by Antiochus (Mueller, _Fr. Hist. Graec._, iv. 558). - -[511] Comp. viii. 23. - -[512] Comp. [Greek: lalein megala] (Rev. xiii. 5); Hom., _Od._, xvi. -243. - -[513] Comp. xi. 36. - -[514] Jos., _B. J._, I. i. 2, VI. x. 1. In _Antt._, XII. v. 3, -Josephus says he took Jerusalem by stratagem. - -[515] Jahn, _Hebr. Commonwealth_, Sec. xciv.; Ewald, _Hist. of Isr._, v. -293-300. - -[516] 2 Macc. iv. 9-15: "The priests had no courage to serve any more -at the altar, but despising the Temple, and neglecting the sacrifices, -hastened to be partakers of the unlawful allowance in the place of -exercise, after the game of Discus ... not setting by the honours of -their fathers, but liking the glory of the Grecians best of all." - -[517] 1 Macc. i. 29-40; 2 Macc. v. 24-26; Jos., _Antt._, XII. v. 4. -Comp. Dan. xi. 30, 31. See Schuerer, i. 155 ff. - -[518] Jerome, _Comm. in Dan._, viii., ix.; Tac., _Hist._, v. 8; 1 -Macc. i. 41-53; 2 Macc. v. 27, vi. 2; Jos., _Antt._, XII. v. 4. - -[519] 1 Macc. ii. 41-64, iv. 54; 2 Macc. vi. 1-9, x. 5; Jos., -_Antt._, XII. v. 4; Dan. xi. 31. - -[520] Maccabee perhaps means "the Hammerer" (comp. the names Charles -_Martel_ and _Malleus haereticorum_). Simeon was called _Tadshi_, "he -increases" (? Gk., [Greek: Thassis]). - -[521] The numbers vary in the records. - -[522] Prideaux, _Connection_, ii. 212. Comp. Rev. xii. 14, xi. 2, 3. - -[523] John x. 22. - -[524] On the death of Antiochus see 1 Macc. vi. 8; 2 Macc. ix.; -Polybius, xxxi. 11; Jos., _Antt._, XII. ix. 1, 2. - -[525] Polybius, _De Virt. et Vit._, Exc. Vales, p. 144; Q. Curtius, -v. 13; Strabo, xi. 522; Appian, _Syriaca_, xlvi. 80; 1 Macc. vi.; 2 -Macc. ix.; Jos., _Antt._, XII. ix. 1; Prideaux, ii. 217; Jahn, _Hebr. -Commonwealth_ Sec. xcvi. - -[526] Dan. vii. 26. - -[527] Dan. vii. 12. This is only explicable at all--and then not -clearly--on the supposition that the fourth beast represents -Alexander and the Diadochi. See even Pusey, p. 78. - -[528] Ezek. i. 26; Psalm l. 3. Comp. the adaptation of this vision in -Enoch xlvi. 1-3. - -[529] Isa. l. 11, lx. 10-12, lxvi. 24, Joel iii. 1, 2. See Rev. i. -13. In the Gospels it is not "a son of man," but generally [Greek: ho -hyios tou anthropou]. Comp. Matt. xvi. 13, xxiv. 30; John xii. 34; -Acts vii. 56; Justin, _Dial. c. Tryph._, 31. - -[530] Comp. Mark xiv. 62; Rev. i. 7; Hom., _Il._, v. 867, [Greek: -homou nepheessin]. - -[531] Comp. Ezek. i. 26. - -[532] It is so understood by the Book of Enoch; the Talmud -(_Sanhedrin_, f. 98, 1); the early father Justin Martyr, _Dial. c. -Tryph._, 31, etc. Some of the Jewish commentators (_e.g._, Abn Ezra) -understood it of the people of God, and so Hofmann, Hitzig, Meinhold, -etc. See Behrmann, _Dan._, p. 48. - -[533] Dan. iv. 3, 34, vi. 26. See Schuerer, ii. 247; Wellhausen, _Die -Pharis. u. Sadd._, 24 ff. - -[534] Dan. vii. 16, 22, 23, 27. - -[535] Zech. ix. 9. - -[536] See Schuerer, ii. 138-187, "The Messianic Hope": he refers to -Ecclus. xxxii. 18, 19, xxxiii. 1-11, xl. 13, l. 24; Judith xvi. 12; -2 Macc. ii. 18; Baruch ii. 27-35; Tobit xiii, 11-18; Wisdom iii. -8, v. 1, etc. The Messianic King appears more distinctly in _Orac. -Sibyll._, iii.; in parts of the Book of Enoch (of which, however, -xlv.-lvii. are of unknown date); and the Psalms of Solomon. In Philo -we seem to have traces of the King as well as of the kingdom. See -Drummond, _The Jewish Messiah_, pp. 196 ff.; Stanton, _The Jewish and -Christian Messiah_, pp. 109-118. - - - - - CHAPTER II - - _THE RAM AND THE HE-GOAT_ - - -This vision is dated as having occurred in the third year of -Belshazzar; but it is not easy to see the significance of the date, -since it is almost exclusively occupied with the establishment of the -Greek Empire, its dissolution into the kingdoms of the Diadochi, and -the godless despotism of King Antiochus Epiphanes. - -The seer imagines himself to be in the palace of Shushan: "As I -beheld I was in the castle of Shushan."[537] It has been supposed by -some that Daniel was really there upon some business connected with -the kingdom of Babylon. But this view creates a needless difficulty. -Shushan, which the Greeks called Susa, and the Persians Shush (now -Shushter), "the city of the lily," was "the palace" or fortress -(_birah_[538]) of the Achaemenid kings of Persia, and it is most -unlikely that a chief officer of the kingdom of Babylon should have -been there in the third year of the imaginary King Belshazzar, just -when Cyrus was on the eve of capturing Babylon without a blow. If -Belshazzar is some dim reflection of the son of Nabunaid (though -he never reigned), Shushan was not then subject to the King of -Babylonia. But the ideal presence of the prophet there, in vision, is -analogous to the presence of the exile Ezekiel in Jerusalem (Ezek. -xl. 1); and these transferences of the prophets to the scenes of -their operation were sometimes even regarded as bodily, as in the -legend of Habakkuk taken to the lions' den to support Daniel. - -Shushan is described as being in the province of Elam or Elymais, -which may be here used as a general designation of the district in -which Susiana was included. The prophet imagines himself as standing -by the river-basin (_oobal_[539]) of the Ulai, which shows that we -must take the words "in the castle of Shushan" in an ideal sense; -for, as Ewald says, "it is only in a dream that images and places are -changed so rapidly." The Ulai is the river called by the Greeks the -Eulaeus, now the Karun.[540] - -Shushan is said by Pliny and Arrian to have been on the river Eulaeus, -and by Herodotus to have been on the banks of - - "Choaspes, amber stream, - The drink of none but kings." - -It seems now to have been proved that the Ulai was merely a branch of -the Choaspes or Kerkhah.[541] - -Lifting up his eyes, Daniel sees a ram standing eastward of the -river-basin. It has two lofty horns, the loftier of the two being the -later in origin. It butts westward, northward, and southward, and -does great things.[542] But in the midst of its successes a he-goat, -with a conspicuous horn between its eyes,[543] comes from the West -so swiftly over the face of all the earth that it scarcely seems -even to touch the ground,[544] and runs upon the ram in the fury of -his strength,[545] conquering and trampling upon him, and smashing -in pieces his two horns. But his impetuosity was short-lived, for -the great horn was speedily broken, and four others[546] rose in its -place towards the four winds of heaven. Out of these four horns shot -up a puny horn,[547] which grew exceedingly great towards the South, -and towards the East, and towards "the Glory"--_i.e._, towards the -Holy Land.[548] It became great even to the host of heaven, and cast -down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and trampled -on them.[549] He even behaved proudly against the prince of the -host, took away from him[550] "the daily" (sacrifice), polluted the -dismantled sanctuary with sacrilegious arms,[551] and cast the truth -to the ground and prospered. Then "one holy one called to another -and asked, For how long is the vision of the daily [sacrifice], and -the horrible sacrilege, that thus both the sanctuary and host are -surrendered to be trampled underfoot?"[552] And the answer is, "Until -two thousand three hundred _'erebh-boqer_, 'evening-morning'; then -will the sanctuary be justified." - -Daniel sought to understand the vision, and immediately there stood -before him one in the semblance of a man, and he hears the distant -voice of some one[553] standing between the Ulai--_i.e._, between its -two banks,[554] or perhaps between its two branches, the Eulaeus and -the Choaspes--who called aloud to "Gabriel." The archangel Gabriel -is here first mentioned in Scripture.[555] "Gabriel," cried the -voice, "explain to him what he has seen." So Gabriel came and stood -beside him; but he was terrified, and fell on his face. "Observe, -thou son of man,"[556] said the angel to him; "for unto the time of -the end is the vision." But since Daniel still lay prostrate on his -face, and sank into a swoon, the angel touched him, and raised him -up, and said that the great wrath was only for a fixed time, and he -would tell him what would happen at the end of it. - -The two-horned ram, he said, the _Baal-keranaim_, or "lord of two -horns," represents the King of Media and Persia; the shaggy goat is -the Empire of Greece; and the great horn is its first king--Alexander -the Great.[557] - -The four horns rising out of the broken great horn are four inferior -kingdoms. In one of these, sacrilege would culminate in the person of -a king of bold face,[558] and skilled in cunning, who would become -powerful, though not by his own strength.[559] He would prosper and -destroy mighty men and the people of the holy ones,[560] and deceit -would succeed by his double-dealing. He would contend against the -Prince of princes,[561] and yet without a hand would he be broken in -pieces. - -Such is the vision and its interpretation; and though there is here -and there a difficulty in the details and translation, and though -there is a necessary crudeness in the emblematic imagery, the general -significance of the whole is perfectly clear. - -The scene of the vision is ideally placed in Shushan, because the -Jews regarded it as the royal capital of the Persian dominion, and -the dream begins with the overthrow of the Medo-Persian Empire.[562] -The ram is a natural symbol of power and strength, as in Isa. lx. 7. -The two horns represent the two divisions of the empire, of which the -later--the Persian--is the loftier and the stronger. It is regarded as -being already the lord of the East, but it extends its conquests by -butting westward over the Tigris into Europe, and southwards to Egypt -and Africa, and northwards towards Scythia, with magnificent success. - -The he-goat is Greece.[563] Its one great horn represents "the great -Emathian conqueror."[564] So swift was the career of Alexander's -conquests, that the goat seems to speed along without so much as -touching the ground.[565] With irresistible fury, in the great -battles of the Granicus (B.C. 334), Issus (B.C. 333), and Arbela -(B.C. 331), he stamps to pieces the power of Persia and of its -king, Darius Codomannus.[566] In this short space of time Alexander -conquers Syria, Phoenicia, Cyprus, Tyre, Gaza, Egypt, Babylonia, -Persia, Media, Hyrcania, Aria, and Arachosia. In B.C. 330 Darius was -murdered by Bessus, and Alexander became lord of his kingdom. In B.C. -329 the Greek King conquered Bactria, crossed the Oxus and Jaxartes, -and defeated the Scythians. In B.C. 328 he conquered Sogdiana. In -B.C. 327 and 326 he crossed the Indus, Hydaspes, and Akesines, -subdued Northern and Western India, and--compelled by the discontent -of his troops to pause in his career of victory--sailed down the -Hydaspes and Indus to the Ocean. He then returned by land through -Gedrosia, Karmania, Persia, and Susiana to Babylon. - -There the great horn is suddenly broken without hand.[567] Alexander -in B.C. 323, after a reign of twelve years and eight months, died -as a fool dieth, of a fever brought on by fatigue, exposure, -drunkenness, and debauchery. He was only thirty-two years old. - -The dismemberment of his empire immediately followed. In B.C. 322 its -vast extent was divided among his principal generals. Twenty-two years -of war ensued; and in B.C. 301, after the defeat of Antigonus and his -son Demetrius at the Battle of Ipsus, four horns are visible in the -place of one. The battle was won by the confederacy of Cassander, -Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus, and they founded four kingdoms. -Cassander ruled in Greece and Macedonia; Lysimachus in Asia Minor; -Ptolemy in Egypt, Coele-Syria, and Palestine; Seleucus in Upper Asia. - -With one only of the four kingdoms, and with one only of its kings, -is the vision further concerned--with the kingdom of the Seleucidae, -and with the eighth king of the dynasty, Antiochus Epiphanes. In -this chapter, however, a brief sketch only of him is furnished. Many -details of the minutest kind are subsequently added. - -He is called "a puny horn," because, in his youth, no one could -have anticipated his future greatness. He was only a younger son -of Antiochus III. (the Great). When Antiochus III. was defeated in -the Battle of Magnesia under Mount Sipylus (B.C. 190), his loss was -terrible. Fifty thousand foot and four thousand horse were slain on -the battlefield, and fourteen hundred were taken prisoners. He was -forced to make peace with the Romans, and to give them hostages, one -of whom was Antiochus the Younger, brother of Seleucus, who was heir -to the throne. Antiochus for thirteen years languished miserably as a -hostage at Rome. His father, Antiochus the Great, was either slain in -B.C. 187 by the people of Elymais, after his sacrilegious plundering -of the Temple of Jupiter-Belus;[568] or murdered by some of his -own attendants whom he had beaten during a fit of drunkenness.[569] -Seleucus Philopator succeeded him, and after having reigned for -thirteen years, wished to see his brother Antiochus again. He -therefore sent his son Demetrius in exchange for him, perhaps -desiring that the boy, who was then twelve years old, should enjoy -the advantage of a Roman education, or thinking that Antiochus would -be of more use to him in his designs against Ptolemy Philometor, -the child-king of Egypt. When Demetrius was on his way to Rome, and -Antiochus had not yet reached Antioch, Heliodorus the treasurer -seized the opportunity to poison Seleucus and usurp the crown. - -The chances, therefore, of Antiochus seemed very forlorn. But he -was a man of ability, though with a taint of folly and madness -in his veins. By allying himself with Eumenes, King of Pergamum, -as we shall see hereafter, he suppressed Heliodorus, secured the -kingdom, and "becoming very great," though only by fraud, cruelty, -and stratagem, assumed the title of Epiphanes "the Illustrious." He -extended his power "towards the South" by intriguing and warring -against Egypt and his young nephew, Ptolemy Philometor;[570] -and "towards the Sunrising" by his successes in the direction -of Media and Persia;[571] and towards "the Glory" or "Ornament" -(_hatstsebi_)--_i.e._, the Holy Land.[572] Inflated with insolence, -he now set himself against the stars, the host of heaven--_i.e._, -against the chosen people of God and their leaders. He cast down and -trampled on them,[573] and defied the Prince of the host; for he - - "Not e'en against the Holy One of heaven - Refrained his tongue blasphemous." - -His chief enormity was the abolition of "the daily" -(_tamid_)--_i.e._, the sacrifice daily offered in the Temple; and the -desecration of the sanctuary itself by violence and sacrilege, which -will be more fully set forth in the next chapters. He also seized and -destroyed the sacred books of the Jews. As he forbade the reading of -the Law--of which the daily lesson was called the _Parashah_--there -began from this time the custom of selecting a lesson from the -Prophets, which was called the _Haphtarah_.[574] - -It was natural to make one of the holy ones, who are supposed to -witness this horrible iniquity,[575] inquire how long it was to be -permitted. The enigmatic answer is, "Until an evening-morning two -thousand three hundred." - -In the further explanation given to Daniel by Gabriel a few more -touches are added. - -Antiochus Epiphanes is described as a king "bold of visage, and -skilled in enigmas." His boldness is sufficiently illustrated by -his many campaigns and battles, and his braggart insolence has been -already alluded to in vii. 8. His skill in enigmas is illustrated -by his dark and tortuous diplomacy, which was exhibited in all his -proceedings,[576] and especially in the whole of his dealings with -Egypt, in which country he desired to usurp the throne from his -young nephew Ptolemy Philometor. The statement that "he will have -mighty strength, but not by his own strength," may either mean that -his transient prosperity was due only to the permission of God, or -that his successes were won rather by cunning than by prowess. After -an allusion to his cruel persecution of the holy people, Gabriel -adds that "without a hand shall he be broken in pieces"; in other -words, his retribution and destruction shall be due to no human -intervention, but will come from God Himself.[577] - -Daniel is bidden to hide the vision for many days--a sentence which -is due to the literary plan of the Book; and he is assured that the -vision concerning the "evening-morning" was true. He adds that the -vision exhausted and almost annihilated him; but, afterwards, he -arose and did the king's business. He was silent about the vision, -for neither he nor any one else understood it.[578] Of course, had -the real date of the chapter been in the reign of Belshazzar, it was -wholly impossible that either the seer or any one else should have -been able to attach any significance to it.[579] - -Emphasis is evidently attached to the "two thousand three hundred -evening-morning" during which the desolation of the sanctuary is to -continue. - -What does the phrase "evening-morning" (_'erebh-boqer_) mean? - -In ver. 26 it is called "the vision concerning the evening and the -morning." - -Does "evening-morning" mean a _whole_ day, like the Greek [Greek: -nychthemeron], or _half_ a day? The expression is doubly perplexing. -If the writer meant "days," why does he not say "_days_," as in xii. -11, 12?[580] And why, in any case, does he here use the solecism -_'erebh-boqer_ (_Abendmorgen_), and not, as in ver. 26, "evening -_and_ morning"? Does the expression mean two thousand three hundred -days? or eleven hundred and fifty days? - -It is a natural supposition that the time is meant to correspond with -the three years and a half ("a time, two times, and half a time") -of vii. 25. But here again all certainty of detail is precluded by -our ignorance as to the exact length of years by which the writer -reckoned; and how he treated the month _Ve-adar_, a month of thirty -days, which was intercalated once in every six years. - -Supposing that he allowed an intercalary fifteen days for three and -a half years, and took the Babylonian reckoning of twelve months -of thirty days, then three and a half years gives us twelve hundred -and seventy-five days, or, omitting any allowance for intercalation, -twelve hundred and sixty days. - -If, then, "two thousand three hundred evening-morning" means two -thousand three hundred _half_ days, we have _one hundred and ten days -too many_ for the three and a half years. - -And if the phrase means two thousand three hundred _full_ days, that -gives us (counting thirty intercalary days for _Ve-adar_) too little -for seven years by two hundred and fifty days. Some see in this a -mystic intimation that the period of chastisement shall for the elect's -sake be shortened.[581] Some commentators reckon seven years roughly, -from the elevation of Menelaus to the high-priesthood (Kisleu, B.C. -168: 2 Macc. v. 11) to the victory of Judas Maccabaeus over Nicanor at -Adasa, March, B.C. 161 (1 Macc. vii. 25-50; 2 Macc. xv. 20-35). - -In neither case do the calculations agree with the twelve hundred and -ninety or the thirteen hundred and thirty-five days of xii. 12, 13. - -Entire volumes of tedious and wholly inconclusive comment have been -written on these combinations, but by no reasonable supposition -can we arrive at close accuracy. Strict chronological accuracy was -difficult of attainment in those days, and was never a matter about -which the Jews, in particular, greatly troubled themselves. We do -not know either the _terminus a quo_ from which or the _terminus ad -quem_ to which the writer reckoned. All that can be said is that it -is perfectly impossible for us to identify or exactly equiparate the -three and a half years (vii. 25), the "two thousand three hundred -evening-morning" (viii. 14), the seventy-two weeks (ix. 26), and the -twelve hundred and ninety days (xii. 11). Yet all those dates have -this point of resemblance about them, that they very roughly indicate -a space of _about_ three and a half years (more or less) as the time -during which the daily sacrifice should cease, and the Temple be -polluted and desolate.[582] - -Turning now to the dates, we know that Judas the Maccabee -cleansed[583] ("justified" or "vindicated," viii. 14) the Temple on -Kisleu 25 (December 25th, B.C. 165). If we reckon back two thousand -three hundred _full_ days from this date, it brings us to B.C. 171, -in which Menelaus, who bribed Antiochus to appoint him high priest, -robbed the Temple of some of its treasures, and procured the murder -of the high priest Onias III. In this year Antiochus sacrificed a -great sow on the altar of burnt offerings, and sprinkled its broth -over the sacred building. These crimes provoked the revolt of the -Jews, in which they killed Lysimachus, governor of Syria, and brought -on themselves a heavy retribution.[584] - -If we reckon back two thousand three hundred _half_-days, eleven -hundred and fifty _whole_ days, we must go back three years and -seventy days, but we cannot tell what exact event the writer had -in mind as the starting-point of his calculations. The actual time -which elapsed from the final defilement of the Temple by Apollonius, -the general of Antiochus, in B.C. 168, till its repurification was -roughly three years. Perhaps, however--for all is uncertain--the -writer reckoned from the earliest steps taken, or contemplated, by -Antiochus for the suppression of Judaism. The purification of the -Temple did not end the time of persecution, which was to continue, -first, for one hundred and forty days longer, and then forty-five -days more (xii. 11, 12). It is clear from this that the writer -reckoned the beginning and the end of troubles from different epochs -which we have no longer sufficient data to discover. - -It must, however, be borne in mind that no minute certainty about the -exact dates is attainable. Many authorities, from Prideaux[585] down to -Schuerer,[586] place the desecration of the Temple towards the close of -B.C. 168. Kuenen sees reason to place it a year later. Our authorities -for this period of history are numerous, but they are fragmentary, -abbreviated, and often inexact. Fortunately, so far as we are able to -see, no very important lesson is lost by our inability to furnish an -undoubted or a rigidly scientific explanation of the minuter details. - - - APPROXIMATE DATES, AS INFERRED BY CORNILL - AND OTHERS[587] - - B.C. - - Jeremiah's prophecy in Jer. xxv. 12 605 - Jeremiah's prophecy in Jer. xxix. 10 594 - Destruction of the Temple 586 or 588 - Return of the Jewish exiles 537 - Decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus (Ezra vii. 1) 458 - Second decree (Neh. ii. 1) 445 - Accession of Antiochus Epiphanes (August, Clinton) 175 - Usurpation of the high-priesthood by Jason 175 - Jason displaced by Menelaus 172(?) - Murder of Onias III. (June) 171 - Apollonius defiles the Temple 168 - War of independence 166 - Purification of the Temple by Judas the Maccabee (December) 165 - Death of Antiochus 163 - -FOOTNOTES: - -[537] Ezra vi. 2; Neh. i. 1; Herod., v. 49; Polyb., v. 48. A supposed -tomb of Daniel has long been revered at Shushan. - -[538] Pers., _baru_; Skr., _bura_; Assyr., _birtu_; Gk., [Greek: -baris]. Comp. AEsch., _Pers._, 554; Herod., ii. 96. - -[539] Theodot., [Greek: oubal]; Ewald, _Stromgebiet_--a place where -several rivers meet. The Jews prayed on river-banks (Acts xvi. 13), -and Ezekiel had seen his vision on the Chebar (Ezek. i. 1, iii. 15, -etc.); but this Ulai is here mentioned because the palace stood on -its bank. Both the LXX. and Theodotion omit the word Ulai. - -[540] "Susianam ab Elymaide disterminat amnis Eulaeus" (Plin., _H. -N._, vi. 27). - -[541] See Loftus, _Chaldaea_, p. 346, who visited Shush in 1854; -Herzog, _R. E._, _s.v._ "Susa." A tile was found by Layard at -Kuyunjik representing a large city between two rivers. It probably -represents Susa. Loftus says that the city stood between the Choaspes -and the Kopratas (now the Dizful). - -[542] The Latin word for "to butt" is _arietare_, from _aries_, "a -ram." It butts in three directions (comp. Dan. vii. 5). Its conquests -in the East were apart from the writer's purpose. Croesus called the -Persians [Greek: hybristai], and AEschylus [Greek: hyperkompoi agan], -_Pers._, 795 (Stuart). For horns as the symbol of strength see Amos -vi. 13; Psalm lxxv. 5. - -[543] Unicorns are often represented on Assyrio-Babylonian sculptures. - -[544] 1 Macc. i. 1-3; Isa. xli. 2; Hosea xiii. 7, 8; Hab. i. 6. - -[545] Fury (_chemah_), "heat," "violence"--also of _deadly_ venom -(Deut. xxxii. 24). - -[546] A.V., "four _notable_ horns"; but the word _chazoth_ means -literally "a sight of four"--_i.e._, "four _other_ horns" (comp. ver. -8). Graetz reads _acheroth_; LXX., [Greek: hetera tessara] (comp. xi. 4). - -[547] Lit. "out of littleness." - -[548] _Hatstsebi_. Comp. xi. 45; Ezek. xx. 6; Jer. iii. 19; Zech. -vii. 14; Psalm cvi. 24. The Rabbis make the word mean "the gazelle" -for fanciful reasons (_Taanith_, 69, _a_). - -[549] The physical image implies the war against the spiritual host -of heaven, the holy people with their leaders. See 1 Macc. i. 24-30; -2 Macc. ix. 10. The _Tsebaoth_ mean primarily the stars and angels, -but next the Israelites (Exod. vii. 4). - -[550] So in the Hebrew margin (_Q'ri_), followed by Theodoret and -Ewald; but in the text (_Kethibh_) it is, "by him the daily was -abolished"; and with this reading the Peshito and Vulgate agree. -_Hattamid_, "the daily" sacrifice; LXX., [Greek: endelechismos]; -Numb. xxviii. 3; 1 Macc. i. 39, 45, iii. 45. - -[551] The Hebrew is here corrupt. The R.V. renders it, "And the host -was given over _to it_, together with the continual _burnt offering_ -through transgression; and it cast down truth to the ground, and it -did _its pleasure_ and prospered." - -[552] Dan. viii. 13. I follow Ewald in this difficult verse, and with -him Von Lengerke and Hitzig substantially agree; but the text is again -corrupt, as appears also in the LXX. It would be useless here to enter -into minute philological criticism. "How long?" (comp. Isa. vi. 11). - -[553] LXX., [Greek: phelmoni]; _nescio quis_ (Vulg., _viri_). - -[554] Comp. for the expression xii. 6. - -[555] We find no names in Gen. xxxii. 30; Judg. xiii. 18. For the -presence of angels at the vision comp. Zech. i. 9, 13, etc. Gabriel -means "man of God." In Tobit iii. 17 Raphael is mentioned; in 2 -Esdras v. 20, Uriel. This is the first mention of any angel's name. -Michael is the highest archangel (Weber, _System._, 162 ff.), and in -Jewish angelology Gabriel is identified with the Holy Spirit (_Ruach -Haqqodesh_). As such he appears in the Quran, ii. 91 (Behrmann). - -[556] Ben-Adam (Ezek. ii. 1). - -[557] Comp. Isa. xiv. 9: "All the great goats of the earth." A ram is -a natural symbol for a chieftain.--Hom., _Il._, xiii. 491-493; Cic., -_De Div._, i. 22; Plut., _Sulla_, c. 27; Jer. l. 8; Ezek. xxxiv. 17; -Zech. x. 3, etc. See Vaux, _Persia_, p. 72. - -[558] "Strength of face" (LXX., [Greek: anaides prosopo]; Deut. -xxviii. 50, etc.). "Understanding dark sentences" (Judg. xiv. 12; -Ezek. xvii. 2: comp. v. 12). - -[559] The meaning is uncertain. It may mean (1) that he is only -strong by God's permission; or (2) only by cunning, not by strength. - -[560] Comp. 2 Macc. iv. 9-15: "The priests had no courage to serve -any more at the altar, but despising the Temple, and neglecting the -sacrifices, hastened to be partakers of the unlawful allowance in the -place of exercise ... not setting by the honours of their fathers, -but liking the glory of the Grecians best of all." - -[561] Not merely the angelic prince of the host (Josh. v. 14), but -God--"Lord of lords." - -[562] Comp. Esther i. 2. Though the vision took place under Babylon, -the seer is strangely unconcerned with the present, or with the fate -of the Babylonian Empire. - -[563] It is said to be the national emblem of Macedonia. - -[564] He is called "the King of Javan"--_i.e._, of the Ionians. - -[565] Isa. v. 26-29. Comp. 1 Macc. i. 3. - -[566] The _fury_ of the he-goat represents the vengeance cherished by -the Greeks against Persia since the old days of Marathon, Thermopylae, -Salamis, Plataea, and Mycale. Persia had invaded Greece under -Mardonius (B.C. 492), under Datis and Artaphernes (B.C. 490), and -under Xerxes (B.C. 480). - -[567] 1 Macc. vi. 1-16; 2 Macc. ix. 9; Job vii. 6; Prov. xxvi. 20. - -[568] So Diodorus Siculus (Exc. Vales., p. 293); Justin, xxxii. 2; -Jer. _in Dan._, xi.; Strabo, xvi. 744. - -[569] Aurel. Vict., _De Virr. Illustr._, c. liv. - -[570] He conquered Egypt B.C. 170 (1 Macc. i. 17-20). - -[571] See 1 Macc. iii. 29-37. - -[572] Comp. Ezek. xx. 6, "which is the glory of all lands"; Psalm l. -2; Lam. ii. 15. - -[573] 1 Macc. i. 24-30. Dr. Pusey endeavours, without even the -smallest success, to show that many things said of Antiochus in -this book do not apply to him. The argument is based on the fact -that the characteristics of Antiochus--who was a man of versatile -impulses--are somewhat differently described by different authors; -but here we have the aspect he presented to a few who regarded him as -the deadliest of tyrants and persecutors. - -[574] See Hamburger, ii. 334 (_s.v._ "Haftara"). - -[575] Comp. [Greek: orge megale] (1 Macc. i. 64; Isa. x. 5, 25, xxvi. -20; Jer. l. 5; Rom. ii. 5, etc.). - -[576] Comp. xi. 21. - -[577] Comp. ii. 34, xi. 45. Antiochus died of a long and terrible -illness in Persia. Polybius (xxxi. 11) describes his sickness by -the word [Greek: daimonesas]. Arrian (_Syriaca_, 66) says [Greek: -phthinon eteleutese]. In 1 Macc. vi. 8-16 he dies confessing his sins -against the Jews, but there is another story in 2 Macc. ix. 4-28. - -[578] Ver. 27, "I was gone" (or, "came to an end") "whole days." With -this [Greek: ekstasis] comp. ii. 1, vii. 28; Exod. xxxiii. 20; Isa. -vi. 5; Luke ix. 32; Acts ix. 4, etc. Comp. xii. 8; Jer. xxxii. 14, -and (_contra_) Rev. xxii. 10. - -[579] In ver. 26 the R.V. renders "it belongeth to many days _to come_." - -[580] Comp. Gen. i. 5; 2 Cor. xi. 25. The word _tamid_ includes both -the morning and evening sacrifice (Exod. xxix. 41). Pusey says (p. -220), "The shift of halving the days is one of those monsters which -have disgraced scientific expositions 'of Hebrew.'" Yet this is the -view of such scholars as Ewald, Hitzig, Kuenen, Cornill, Behrmann. -The latter quotes a parallel: "vgl. im Hildebrandsliede _sumaro ente -wintro_ sehstie = 30 Jahr." - -[581] Matt. xxiv. 22. - -[582] "These five passages agree in making the final distress last -during three years and a fraction: the only difference lies in the -magnitude of the fraction" (Bevan, p. 127). - -[583] 1 Macc. iv. 41-56; 2 Macc. x. 1-5. - -[584] See on this period Diod. Sic., _Fr._, xxvi. 79; Liv., xlii. 29; -Polyb., _Legat._, 71; Justin, xxxiv. 2; Jer., _Comm. in Dan._, xi. 22; -Jahn, _Hebr. Commonwealth_, Sec. xciv.; Prideaux, _Connection_, ii. 146. - -[585] _Connection_, ii. 188. - -[586] _Gesch. d. V. Isr._, i. 155. - -[587] Some of these dates are _uncertain_, and are variously given by -different authorities. - - - - - CHAPTER III - - _THE SEVENTY WEEKS_ - - -This chapter is occupied with the prayer of Daniel, and with the -famous vision of the seventy weeks which has led to such interminable -controversies, but of which the interpretation no longer admits of -any certainty, because accurate data are not forthcoming. - -The vision is dated in the first year of Darius, the son of -Achashverosh, of the Median stock.[588] We have seen already that -such a person is unknown to history. The date, however, accords -well in this instance with the literary standpoint of the writer. -The vision is sent as a consolation of perplexities suggested by -the writer's study of the Scriptures; and nothing is more naturally -imagined than the fact that the overthrow of the Babylonian Empire -should have sent a Jewish exile to the study of the rolls of his holy -prophets, to see what light they threw on the exile of his people. - -He understood from "the books" the number of the years "whereof the -word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet for the accomplishing -of the desolation of Jerusalem, even seventy years."[589] Such is the -rendering of our Revisers, who here follow the A.V. ("I understood -by books"), except that they rightly use the definite article (LXX., -[Greek: en tais biblois]). Such too is the view of Hitzig. Mr. -Bevan seems to have pointed out the real meaning of the passage, -by referring not only to the Pentateuch generally, as helping to -interpret the words of Jeremiah, but especially to Lev: xxvi. 18, 21, -24, 28.[590] It was there that the writer of Daniel discovered the -method of interpreting the "seventy years" spoken of by Jeremiah. The -Book of Leviticus had four times spoken of a sevenfold punishment--a -punishment "seven times more" for the sins of Israel. Now this -thought flashed upon the writer like a luminous principle. Daniel, in -whose person he wrote, had arrived at the period at which the literal -seventy years of Jeremiah were--on some methods of computation--upon -the eve of completion: the writer himself is living in the dreary -times of Antiochus. Jeremiah had prophesied that the nations should -serve the King of Babylon seventy years (Jer. xxv. 11), after which -time God's vengeance should fall on Babylon; and again (Jer. xxix. -10, 11), that after seventy years the exiles should return to -Palestine, since the thoughts of Jehovah towards them were thoughts -of peace and not of evil, to give them a future and a hope. - -The writer of Daniel saw, nearly four centuries later, that after -all only a mere handful of the exiles, whom the Jews themselves -compared to the chaff in comparison with the wheat, had returned -from exile; that the years which followed had been cramped, dismal, -and distressful; that the splendid hopes of the Messianic kingdom, -which had glowed so brightly on the foreshortened horizon of Isaiah -and so many of the prophets, had never yet been fulfilled; and that -these anticipations never showed fewer signs of fulfilment than in -the midst of the persecuting furies of Antiochus, supported by the -widespread apostasies of the Hellenising Jews, and the vile ambition -of such renegade high priests as Jason and Menelaus. - -That the difficulty was felt is shown by the fact that the Epistle -of Jeremy (ver. 2) extends the epoch of captivity to two hundred and -ten years (7 x 30), whereas in Jer. xxix. 10 "seventy years" are -distinctly mentioned.[591] - -What was the explanation of this startling apparent discrepancy -between "the sure word of prophecy" and the gloomy realities of -history? - -The writer saw it in a _mystic_ or allegorical interpretation of -Jeremiah's seventy years. The prophet could not (he thought) have meant -seventy _literal_ years. The number seven indeed played its usual -mystic part in the epoch of punishment. Jerusalem had been taken B.C. -588; the first return of the exiles had been about B.C. 538. The Exile -therefore had, from one point of view, lasted forty-nine years--_i.e._, -7 x 7. But even if seventy years were reckoned from the fourth year of -Jehoiakim (B.C. 606?) to the decree of Cyrus (B.C. 536), and if these -seventy years could be made out, still the hopes of the Jews were on -the whole miserably frustrated.[592] - -Surely then--so thought the writer--the real meaning of Jeremiah must -have been misunderstood; or, at any rate, only partially understood. He -must have meant, not "years," but _weeks of years_--_Sabbatical_ years. -And that being so, the real Messianic fulfilments were not to come till -_four hundred and ninety years_ after the beginning of the Exile; and -this clue he found in Leviticus. It was indeed a clue which lay ready -to the hand of any one who was perplexed by Jeremiah's prophecy, for -the word [Hebrew: shavua'], [Greek: hebdomas], means, not only the -week, but also "seven," and _the seventh year_;[593] and the Chronicler -had already declared that the reason why the land was to lie waste for -seventy years was that "the land" was "to enjoy her Sabbaths"; in other -words, that, as seventy Sabbatical years had been wholly neglected (and -indeed unheard of) during the period of the monarchy--which he reckoned -at four hundred and ninety years--therefore it was to enjoy those -Sabbatical years continuously while there was no nation in Palestine to -cultivate the soil.[594] - -Another consideration may also have led the writer to his discovery. -From the coronation of Saul to the captivity of Zachariah, reckoning -the recorded length of each reign and giving seventeen years to Saul -(since the "forty years" of Acts xiii. 21 is obviously untenable), -gave four hundred and ninety years, or, as the Chronicler implies, -seventy unkept Sabbatic years. The writer had no means for an accurate -computation of the time which had elapsed since the destruction of the -Temple. But as there were four hundred and eighty years and twelve high -priests from Aaron to Ahimaaz, and four hundred and eighty years and -twelve high priests from Azariah I. to Jozadak, who was priest at the -beginning of the Captivity,--so there were twelve high priests from -Jozadak to Onias III.; and this seemed to imply a lapse of some four -hundred and ninety years in round numbers.[595] - -The writer introduces what he thus regarded as a consoling and -illuminating discovery in a striking manner. Daniel coming to -understand for the first time the real meaning of Jeremiah's -"seventy years," "set his face unto the Lord God, to seek prayer and -supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes."[596] - -His prayer is thus given:-- - -It falls into three strophes of equal length, and is "all alive -and aglow with a pure fire of genuine repentance, humbly assured -faith, and most intense petition."[597] At the same time it is the -composition of a literary writer, for in phrase after phrase it -recalls various passages of Scripture.[598] It closely resembles -the prayers of Ezra and Nehemiah, and is so nearly parallel with -the prayer of the apocryphal Baruch that Ewald regards it as an -intentional abbreviation of Baruch ii. 1-iii. 39. Ezra, however, -confesses the sins of his nation without asking for forgiveness; and -Nehemiah likewise praises God for His mercies, but does not plead for -pardon or deliverance; but Daniel entreats pardon for Israel and asks -that his own prayer may be heard. The sins of Israel in vv. 5, 6, -fall under the heads of wandering, lawlessness, rebellion, apostasy, -and heedlessness. It is one of the marked tendencies of the later -Jewish writings to degenerate into centos of phrases from the Law and -the Prophets. It is noticeable that the name Jehovah occurs in this -chapter of Daniel _alone_ (in vv. 2, 4, 10, 13, 14, 20); and that he -also addresses God as El, Elohim, and Adonai. - -In the first division of the prayer (vv. 4-10) Daniel admits the -faithfulness and mercy of God, and deplores the transgressions of his -people from the highest to the lowest in all lands. - -In the second part (vv. 11-14) he sees in these transgressions the -fulfilment of "the curse and the oath" written in the Law of Moses, -with special reference to Lev. xxvi. 14, 18, etc. In spite of all -their sins and miseries they had not "stroked the face" of the Lord -their God.[599] - -The third section (vv. 15-19) appeals to God by His past mercies -and deliverances to turn away His wrath and to pity the reproach of -His people. Daniel entreats Jehovah to hear his prayer, to make His -face shine on His desolated sanctuary, and to behold the horrible -condition of His people and of His holy city. Not for their sakes is -He asked to show His great compassion, but because His Name is called -upon His city and His people.[600] - -Such is the prayer; and while Daniel was still speaking, praying, -confessing his own and Israel's sins, and interceding before Jehovah -for the holy mountain--yea, even during the utterance of his -prayer--the Gabriel of his former vision came speeding to him in full -flight[601] at the time of the evening sacrifice.[602] The archangel -tells him that no sooner had his supplication begun than he sped on -his way, for Daniel is a dearly beloved one.[603] Therefore he bids -him take heed to the word and to the vision:-- - -1. Seventy weeks are decreed upon thy people, and upon thy holy -city[604]-- - -([Greek: a]) to finish (or "restrain") the transgression; - -([Greek: b]) to make an end of (or "seal up," Theodot. [Greek: -sphragisai]) sins;[605] - -([Greek: g]) to make reconciliation for (or "to purge away") iniquity; - -([Greek: d]) to bring in everlasting righteousness; - -([Greek: e]) to seal up vision and prophet (Heb., _nabi_; LXX., -[Greek: propheten]); and - -([Greek: z]) to anoint the Most Holy (or "a Most Holy Place"; LXX., -[Greek: euphranai hagion hagion]). - -2. From the decree to restore Jerusalem unto the Anointed One (or -"the Messiah"), the Prince, shall be seven weeks. For sixty-two -weeks Jerusalem shall be built again with street and moat, though in -troublous times.[606] - -3. After these sixty-two weeks-- - -([Greek: a]) an Anointed One shall be cut off, and shall have no -help (?) (or "there shall be none belonging to him");[607] - -([Greek: b]) the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy -the city and the sanctuary; - -([Greek: g]) his end and the end shall be with a flood, and war, and -desolation; - -([Greek: d]) for one week this alien prince shall make a covenant -with many; - -([Greek: e]) for half of that week he shall cause the sacrifice and -burnt offering to cease; - -([Greek: z]) and upon the wing of abominations [_shall come_] one -that maketh desolate; - -([Greek: e]) and unto the destined consummation [_wrath_] shall be -poured out upon a desolate one (?) (or "the horrible one"). - -Much is uncertain in the text, and much in the translation; but the -general outline of the declaration is clear in many of the chief -particulars, so far as they are capable of historic verification. -Instead of being a mystical prophecy which floated purely in the air, -and in which a week stands (as Keil supposes) for unknown, heavenly, -and symbolic periods--in which case no real information would have -been vouchsafed--we are expressly told that it was intended to give -the seer a definite, and even a minutely detailed, indication of the -course of events. - -Let us now take the revelation which is sent to the perplexed mourner -step by step. - -1. Seventy weeks are to elapse before any perfect deliverance is to -come. We are nowhere expressly told that _year-weeks_ are meant, but -this is implied throughout, as the only possible means of explaining -either the vision or the history. The conception, as we have seen, -would come to readers quite naturally, since _Shabbath_ meant in -Hebrew, not only the seventh day of the week, but the seventh year -in each week of years. Hence "seventy weeks" means four hundred and -ninety years.[608] Not until the four hundred and ninety _years_--the -seventy _weeks of years_--are ended will the time have come to -complete the prophecy which only had a sort of initial and imperfect -fulfilment in seventy _actual_ years. - -The _precise_ meaning attached in the writer's mind to the events -which are to mark the close of the four hundred and ninety -years--namely, ([Greek: a]) the ending of transgression; ([Greek: -b]) the sealing up of sins; ([Greek: g]) the atonement for iniquity; -([Greek: d]) the bringing in of everlasting righteousness; -and ([Greek: e]) the sealing up of the vision and prophet (or -prophecy[609])--cannot be further defined by us. It belongs to the -Messianic hope.[610] It is the prophecy of a time which may have -had some dim and partial analogies at the end of Jeremiah's seventy -years, but which the writer thought would be more richly and finally -fulfilled at the close of the Antiochian persecution. At the actual -time of his writing that era of restitution had not yet begun. - -But ([Greek: z]) another event, which would mark the close of the -seventy year-weeks, was to be "the anointing of a Most Holy." - -What does this mean? - -Theodotion and the ancient translators render it "_a_ Holy of -Holies." But throughout the whole Old Testament "Holy of Holies" _is -never once used of a person_, though it occurs forty-four times.[611] -Keil and his school point to 1 Chron. xxiii. 13 as an exception; but -"_Nil agit exemptum quod litem lite resolvit._" - -In that verse some propose the rendering, "to sanctify, as most -holy, Aaron and his sons for ever"; but both the A.V. and the R.V. -render it, "Aaron was separated that he should sanctify _the most -holy things_, he and his sons for ever." If there be a doubt as to -the rendering, it is perverse to adopt the one which makes the usage -differ from that of every other passage in Holy Writ. - -Now the phrase "most holy" is most frequently applied to the great -altar of sacrifice.[612] It is therefore natural to explain the -present passage as a reference to the reanointing of the altar of -sacrifice, primarily in the days of Zerubbabel, and secondarily by -Judas Maccabaeus after its profanation by Antiochus Epiphanes.[613] - -2. But in the more detailed explanation which follows, the seventy -year-weeks are divided into 7 + 62 + 1. - -([Greek: a]) At the end of the first seven week-years (after -forty-nine years) Jerusalem should be restored, and there should be -"an Anointed, a Prince."[614] - -Some ancient Jewish commentators, followed by many eminent and -learned moderns,[615] understand this Anointed One (_Mashiach_) and -Prince (_Nagid_) to be Cyrus; and that there can be no objection to -conferring on him the exalted title of "Messiah" is amply proved by -the fact that Isaiah himself bestows it upon him (Isa. xlv. 1). - -Others, however, both ancient (like Eusebius) and modern (like -Graetz), prefer to explain the term of the anointed Jewish high -priest, Joshua, the son of Jozadak. For the term "Anointed" is given -to the high priest in Lev. iv. 3, vi. 20; and Joshua's position among -the exiles might well entitle him, as much as Zerubbabel himself, to -the title of _Nagid_ or Prince.[616] - -([Greek: b]) After this restoration of Temple and priest, sixty-two -weeks (_i.e._, four hundred and thirty-four years) are to elapse, -during which Jerusalem is indeed to exist "with street and -trench"--but in the straitness of the times.[617] - -This, too, is clear and easy of comprehension. It exactly corresponds -with the depressed condition of Jewish life during the Persian and -early Grecian epochs, from the restoration of the Temple, B.C. 538, -to B.C. 171, when the false high priest Menelaus robbed the Temple of -its best treasures. This is indeed, so far as accurate chronology is -concerned, an unverifiable period, for it only gives us three hundred -and sixty-seven years instead of four hundred and thirty-four:--but -of that I will speak later on. The punctuation of the original is -disputed. Theodotion, the Vulgate, and our A.V. punctuate in ver. -25, "From the going forth of the commandment" ("decree" or "word") -"that Jerusalem should be restored and rebuilt, unto an Anointed, a -Prince, are seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks." Accepting this view, -Von Lengerke and Hitzig make the seven weeks run _parallel_ with the -first seven in the sixty-two. This indeed makes the chronology a -little more accurate, but introduces an unexplained and a fantastic -element. Consequently most modern scholars, including even such -writers as Keil, and our Revisers follow the Masoretic punctuation, -and put the stop after the seven weeks, separating them entirely from -the following sixty-two. - -3. After the sixty-two weeks is to follow a series of events, and all -these point quite distinctly to the epoch of Antiochus Epiphanes. - -([Greek: a]) Ver. 26.--An Anointed One[618] shall be cut off with all -that belongs to him. - -There can be no reasonable doubt that this is a reference to -the deposition of the high priest Onias III., and his murder by -Andronicus (B.C. 171).[619] This startling event is mentioned in -2 Macc. iv. 34, and by Josephus (_Antt._, XII. v. 1), and in Dan. -xi. 22. It is added, "_and no ... to him_."[620] Perhaps the word -"helper" (xi. 45) has fallen out of the text, as Graetz supposes; or -the words may mean, "there is no [priest] for it [the people]."[621] -The A.V. renders it, "but not for himself"; and in the margin, "and -shall have nothing"; or, "and they [the Jews] shall be no more his -people." The R.V. renders it, "and shall have nothing." I believe, -with Dr. Joel, that in the Hebrew words _veeyn lo_ there may be a -sort of cryptographic allusion to the name Onias.[622] - -([Greek: b]) The people of the coming prince shall devastate the city -and the sanctuary (translation uncertain). - -This is an obvious allusion to the destruction and massacre inflicted -on Jerusalem by Apollonius and the army of Antiochus Epiphanes (B.C. -167). Antiochus is called "the prince _that shall come_," because he -was at Rome when Onias III. was murdered (B.C. 171).[623] - -([Greek: g]) "And until the end shall be a war, a sentence of -desolation" (Hitzig, etc.); or, as Ewald renders it, "Until the end -of the war is the decision concerning the horrible thing." - -This alludes to the troubles of Jerusalem until the heaven-sent -Nemesis fell on the profane enemy of the saints in the miserable -death of Antiochus in Persia. - -([Greek: d]) But meanwhile he will have concluded a covenant with -many for one week.[624] - -In any case, whatever be the exact reading or rendering, this seems -to be an allusion to the fact that Antiochus was confirmed in his -perversity and led on to extremes in the enforcement of his attempt -to Hellenise the Jews and to abolish their national religion by the -existence of a large party of flagrant apostates. These were headed -by their godless and usurping high priests, Jason and Menelaus. -All this is strongly emphasised in the narrative of the Book of -Maccabees. This attempted apostasy lasted for one week--_i.e._, for -seven years; the years intended being probably the first seven of the -reign of Antiochus, from B.C. 175 to B.C. 168. During this period he -was aided by wicked men, who said, "Let us go and make a covenant -with the heathen round about us; for since we departed from them -we have had much sorrow." Antiochus "gave them licence to do after -the ordinances of the heathen," so that they built a gymnasium at -Jerusalem, obliterated the marks of circumcision, and were joined to -the heathen (1 Macc. i. 10-15). - -([Greek: e]) For the half of this week (_i.e._, for three and a half -years) the king abolished the sacrifice and the oblation or meat -offering.[625] - -This alludes to the suppression of the most distinctive ordinances of -Jewish worship, and the general defilement of the Temple after the -setting up of the heathen altar. The reckoning seems to be from the -edict promulgated some months before December, 168, to December, 165, -when Judas the Maccabee reconsecrated the Temple. - -([Greek: z]) The sentence which follows is surrounded with every kind -of uncertainty. - -The R.V. renders it, "And upon the wing [or, pinnacle] of -abominations shall come [or, be] one that maketh desolate." - -The A.V. has, "And for the overspreading of abominations" (or _marg._, -"with the abominable armies") "he shall make it desolate."[626] - -It is from the LXX. that we derive the famous expression, -"abomination of desolation," referred to by St. Matthew (xxiv. 15: -cf. Luke xxi. 20) in the last discourse of our Lord. - -Other translations are as follows:-- - -_Gesenius_: "Desolation comes upon the horrible wing of a rebel's host." - -_Ewald_: "And above will be the horrible wing of abominations." - -_Wieseler_: "And a desolation shall arise against the wing of -abominations." - -_Von Lengerke, Hengstenberg, Pusey_: "And over the edge [or, -pinnacle[627]] of abominations [cometh] the desolator";--which they -understand to mean that Antiochus will rule over the Temple defiled -by heathen rites. - -_Kranichfeld and Keil_: "And a destroyer comes on the wings of -idolatrous abominations." - -_Kuenen_, followed by others, boldly alters the text from _ve'al -k'naph_, "and upon the wing," into _ve'al kanno_, "and instead -thereof."[628] - -"And instead thereof" (_i.e._, in the place of the sacrifice and meat -offering) "there shall be abominations." - -It is needless to weary the reader with further attempts at -translation; but however uncertain may be the exact reading or -rendering, few modern commentators doubt that the allusion is to -the smaller heathen altar built by Antiochus above (_i.e._, on -the summit) of the "Most Holy"--_i.e._, the great altar of burnt -sacrifice--overshadowing it like "a wing" (_kanaph_), and causing -desolations or abominations (_shiqqootsim_). That this interpretation -is the correct one can hardly be doubted in the light of the clearer -references to "the abomination that maketh desolate" in xi. 31 -and xii. 11. In favour of this we have the almost contemporary -interpretation of the Book of Maccabees. The author of that history -directly applies the phrase "the abomination of desolation" to the -idol altar set up by Antiochus (1 Macc. i. 54, vi. 7). - -([Greek: e]) Lastly, the terrible drama shall end by an outpouring of -wrath, and a sentence of judgment on "the desolation" (R.V.) or "the -desolate" (A.V.). - -This can only refer to the ultimate judgment with which Antiochus is -menaced. - -It will be seen then that, despite all uncertainties in the text, -in the translation, and in the details, we have in these verses an -unmistakably clear foreshadowing of the same persecuting king, and -the same disastrous events, with which the mind of the writer is so -predominantly haunted, and which are still more clearly indicated in -the subsequent chapter. - -Is it necessary, after an inquiry inevitably tedious, and of little -or no apparently spiritual profit or significance, to enter further -into the intolerably and interminably perplexed and voluminous -discussions as to the beginning, the ending, and the exactitude of -the seventy weeks?[629] Even St. Jerome gives, by way of specimen, -_nine_ different interpretations in his time, and comes to no -decision of his own. After confessing that all the interpretations -were individual guesswork, he leaves every reader to his own -judgment, and adds: "_Dicam quid unusquisque senserit, lectoris -arbitrio derelinquens cujus expositionem sequi debeat_." - -I cannot think that the least advantage can be derived from doing so. - -For scarcely any two leading commentators agree as to details;--or -even as to any fixed principles by which they profess to determine -the date at which the period of seventy weeks is to begin or is -to end;--or whether they are to be reckoned continuously, or with -arbitrary misplacements or discontinuations;--or even whether -they are not purely symbolical, so as to have no reference to -any chronological indications;[630]--or whether they are to be -interpreted as referring to one special series of events, or to -be regarded as having many fulfilments by "springing and germinal -developments." The latter view is, however, distinctly tenable. It -applies to all prophecies, inasmuch as history repeats itself; and -our Lord referred to another "abomination of desolation" which in His -days was yet to come.[631] - -There is not even an initial agreement--or even the data as to an -agreement--whether the "years" to be counted are solar years of three -hundred and forty-three days, or lunar years, or "mystic" years, or -Sabbath years of forty-nine years, or "indefinite" years; or where -they are to begin and end, or in what fashion they are to be divided. -All is chaos in the existing commentaries. - -As for any received or authorised interpretation, there not only is -none, but never has been. The Jewish interpreters differ from one -another as widely as the Christian. Even in the days of the Fathers, -the early exegetes were so hopelessly at sea in their methods of -application that St. Jerome contents himself, just as I have done, -with giving no opinion of his own.[632] - -The attempt to refer the prophecy of the seventy weeks primarily or -directly to the coming and death of Christ, or the desolation of the -Temple by Titus, can only be supported by immense manipulations, -and by hypotheses so crudely impossible that they would have -made the prophecy practically meaningless both to Daniel and to -any subsequent reader. The hopelessness of this attempt of the -so-called "orthodox" interpreters is proved by their own fundamental -disagreements.[633] It is finally discredited by the fact that -neither our Lord, nor His Apostles, nor any of the earliest Christian -writers once appealed to the evidence of this prophecy, which, on -the principles of Hengstenberg and Dr. Pusey, would have been so -decisive! If such a proof lay ready to their hand--a proof definite -and chronological--why should they have deliberately passed it over, -while they referred to other prophecies so much more general, and so -much less precise in dates? - -Of course it is open to any reader to adopt the view of Keil and -others, that the prophecy is Messianic, but only _typically_ and -_generally_ so. - -On the other hand, it may be objected that the Antiochian hypothesis -breaks down, because--though it does not pretend to resort to any of -the wild, arbitrary, and I had almost said preposterous, hypotheses -invented by those who approach the interpretation of the Book with -_a-priori_ and _a-posteriori_[634] assumptions--it still does not -accurately correspond to ascertainable dates. - -But to those who are guided in their exegesis, not by unnatural -inventions, but by the great guiding principles of history and -literature, this consideration presents no difficulty. Any exact -accuracy of chronology would have been far more surprising in -a writes of the Maccabean era than round numbers and vague -computations. Precise computation is nowhere prevalent in the -sacred books. The object of those books always is the conveyance of -eternal, moral, and spiritual instruction. To such purely mundane -and secondary matters as close reckoning of dates the Jewish writers -show themselves manifestly indifferent. It is possible that, if we -were able to ascertain the data which lay before the writer, his -calculations might seem less divergent from exact numbers than they -now appear. More than this we cannot affirm. - -What was the date from which the writer calculated his seventy weeks? -Was it from the date of Jeremiah's first prophecy (xxv. 12), B.C. -605? or his second prophecy (xxix. 10), eleven years later, B.C. -594? or from the destruction of the first Temple, B.C. 586? or, as -some Jews thought, from the first year of "Darius the Mede"? or -from the decree of Artaxerxes in Neh. ii. 1-9? or from the birth of -Christ--the date assumed by Apollinaris? All these views have been -adopted by various Rabbis and Fathers; but it is obvious that not -one of them accords with the allusions of the narrative and prayer, -except that which makes the destruction of the Temple the _terminus -a quo_. In the confusion of historic reminiscences and the rarity of -written documents, the writer may not have consciously distinguished -this date (B.C. 588) from the date of Jeremiah's prophecy (B.C. 594). -That there were differences of computation as regards Jeremiah's -seventy years, even in the age of the Exile, is sufficiently shown by -the different views as to their termination taken by the Chronicler -(2 Chron. xxxvi. 22), who fixes it B.C. 536, and by Zechariah (Zech. -i. 12), who fixes it about B.C. 519. - -As to the _terminus ad quem_, it is open to any commentator to say that -the prediction may point to many subsequent and analogous fulfilments; -but no competent and serious reader who judges of these chapters by the -chapters themselves and by their own repeated indications, can have -one moment's hesitation in the conclusion that the writer is thinking -mainly of the defilement of the Temple in the days of Antiochus -Epiphanes, and its reconsecration (in round numbers) three and a half -years later by Judas Maccabaeus (December 25th, B.C. 164). - -It is true that from B.C. 588 to B.C. 164 only gives us four hundred -and twenty-four years, instead of four hundred and ninety years. How -is this to be accounted for? Ewald supposes the loss of some passage -in the text which would have explained the discrepancy; and that the -text is in a somewhat chaotic condition is proved by its inherent -philological difficulties, and by the appearance which it assumes -in the Septuagint. The first seven weeks indeed, or forty-nine -years, approximately correspond to the time between B.C. 588 (the -destruction of the Temple) and B.C. 536 (the decree of Cyrus); but -the following sixty-two weeks should give us four hundred and -thirty-four years from the time of Cyrus to the cutting off of the -Anointed One, by the murder of Onias III. in B.C. 171, whereas it -only gives us three hundred and sixty-five. How are we to account for -this miscalculation to the extent of at least sixty-five years? - -Not one single suggestion has ever accounted for it, or has ever -given exactitude to these computations on any tenable hypothesis.[635] - -But Schuerer has shown that _exactly similar mistakes of reckoning_ -are made even by so learned and industrious an historian as Josephus. - -1. Thus in his _Jewish War_ (VI. iv. 8) he says that there were six -hundred and thirty-nine years between the second year of Cyrus and -the destruction of the Temple by Titus (A.D. 70). Here is an error of -more than thirty years. - -2. In his _Antiquities_ (XX. x.) he says that there were four hundred -and thirty-four years between the Return from the Captivity (B.C. -536) and the reign of Antiochus Eupator (B.C. 164-162). Here is an -error of more than sixty years. - -3. In _Antt._, XIII. xi. 1, he reckons four hundred and eighty-one -years between the Return from the Captivity and the time of -Aristobulus (B.C. 105-104). Here is an error of some fifty years. - -Again, the Jewish Hellenist Demetrius[636] reckons five hundred -and seventy-three years from the Captivity of the Ten Tribes (B.C. -722) to the time of Ptolemy IV. (B.C. 222), which is seventy years -too many. In other words, he makes as nearly as possible the same -miscalculations as the writer of Daniel. This seems to show that -there was some traditional error in the current chronology; and it -cannot be overlooked that in ancient days the means for coming to -accurate chronological conclusion were exceedingly imperfect. "Until -the establishment of the Seleucid era (B.C. 312), the Jew had no -fixed era whatsoever";[637] and nothing is less astonishing than -that an apocalyptic writer of the date of Epiphanes, basing his -calculations on uncertain data to give an allegoric interpretation to -an ancient prophecy, should have lacked the records which would alone -have enabled him to calculate with exact precision.[638] - -And, for the rest, we must say with Grotius, "_Modicum nec praetor -curat, nec propheta_." - -FOOTNOTES: - -[588] Achashverosh, Esther viii. 10; perhaps connected with -_Kshajarsha_, "eye of the kingdom" (_Corp. Inscr. Sem._, ii. 125). - -[589] By "the books" is here probably meant the Thorah or Pentateuch, -in which the writer discovered the key to the mystic meaning of the -seventy years. It was not in the two sections of Jeremiah himself -(called, according to Kimchi, _Sepher Hamattanah_ and _Sepher -Hagalon_) that he found this key. Jeremiah is here _Yir'myah_, as -in Jer. xxvii.-xxix. See Jer. xxv. 11; Ezek. xxxvii. 21; Zech. i. -12. In the Epistle of Jeremy (ver. 2) the seventy years become seven -generations ([Greek: Chronos makros heos heppa geneon]). See too -Dillman's _Enoch_, p. 293. - -[590] _Dan._, p. 146. Comp. a similar usage in Aul. Gell., _Noct. -Att._, iii. 10, "Se jam _undecimam annorum hebdomadem_ ingressum -esse"; and Arist., _Polit._, vii. 16. - -[591] See Fritzsche _ad loc._; Ewald, _Hist. of Isr._, v. 140. - -[592] The writer of 2 Chron. xxxv. 17, 18, xxxvi. 21, 22, evidently -supposed that seventy years had elapsed between the destruction of -Jerusalem and the decree of Cyrus--which is only a period of fifty -years. The Jewish writers were wholly without means for forming an -accurate chronology. For instance, the Prophet Zechariah (i. 12), -writing in the second year of Darius, son of Hystaspes (B.C. 520), -thinks that the seventy years were only then concluding. In fact, the -seventy years may be dated from B.C. 606 (fourth year of Jehoiakim); -or B.C. 598 (Jehoiachin); or from the destruction of the Temple (B.C. -588); and may be supposed to end at the decree of Cyrus (B.C. 536); -or the days of Zerubbabel (Ezra v. 1); or the decree of Darius (B.C. -518, Ezra vi. 1-12). - -[593] Lev. xxv. 2, 4. - -[594] 2 Chron. xxxvi. 21. See Bevan, p. 14. - -[595] See Cornill, _Die Siebzig Jahrwochen Daniels_, pp. 14-18. - -[596] The LXX. and Theodotion, with a later ritual bias, make the -_fasting_ a means towards the prayer: [Greek: heurein proseuchen kai -eleos en nesteiais]. - -[597] Ewald, p. 278. The first part (vv. 4-14) is mainly occupied -with confessions and acknowledgment of God's justice; the last -part (vv. 15-19) with entreaty for pardon: _confessio_ (vv. 4-14); -_consolatio_ (vv. 15-19) (Melancthon). - -[598] Besides the parallels which follow, it has phrases from Exod. -xx. 6; Deut. vii. 21, x. 17; Jer. vii. 19; Psalm xliv. 16, cxxx. 4; 2 -Chron. xxxvi. 15, 16. Mr. Deane (Bishop Ellicott's _Commentary_, p. -407) thus exhibits the details of special resemblances:-- - - +----------+----------+----------+----------+ - | Dan. ix. | Ezra ix. | Neh. ix. | Baruch. | - +----------+----------+----------+----------+ - | Verse. | Verse. | Verse. | | - | 4 | 7 | 32 | -- | - | 5 | 7 | 33, 34 | i. 11 | - | 6 | 7 | 32, 33 | -- | - | 7 | 6, 7 | 32, 33 | i. 15-17 | - | 8 | 6, 7 | 33 | -- | - | 9 | -- | 17 | -- | - | 13 | -- | -- | ii. 7 | - | 14 | 15 | 33 | -- | - | 15 | -- | 10 | ii. 11 | - | 18 | -- | -- | ii. 19 | - | 19 | -- | -- | ii. 15 | - +----------+----------+----------+----------+ - -[599] ix. 13 (Heb.). Comp. Exod. xxxii. 13; 1 Sam. xiii. 12; 1 Kings -xiii. 6, etc. - -[600] Comp. Jer. xxxii. 17-23; Isa. lxiii. 11-16. - -[601] ix. 21. LXX., [Greek: tachei pheromenos]; Theodot., [Greek: -petomenos]; Vulg., _cito volans_; A.V. and R.V., "being made to -fly swiftly"; R.V. marg., "being sore wearied"; A.V. marg., "with -weariness"; Von Lengerke, "being caused to hasten with haste." The verb -elsewhere always connotes weariness. If that be the meaning here, it -must refer to Daniel. If it here means "flying," it is the only passage -in the Old Testament where angels fly; but see Isa. vi. 2; Psalm civ. -4, etc. The _wings of angels_ are first mentioned in the Book of Enoch, -lxi.; but see Rev. xiv. 6--cherubim and seraphim have wings. - -[602] In the time of the historic Daniel, as in the brief three and a -half years of Antiochus, the _tamid_ had ceased. - -[603] ix. 23. Heb., _eesh hamudoth_; Vulg., _vir desideriorum_, "a -man of desires"; Theodot., [Greek: aner epithymion]. Comp. x. 11, 19, -and Jer. xxxi. 20, where "a pleasant child" is "a son of caresses"; -and the "_amor et deliciae generis humani_" applied to Titus; and the -names David, Jedidiah, "beloved of Jehovah." The LXX. render the word -[Greek: eleeinos], "an object of pity." - -[604] Daniel used _Shabuim_ for weeks, not _Shabuoth_. - -[605] In ver. 24 the _Q'ri_ and _Kethibh_ vary, as do also the versions. - -[606] For _charoots_, "moat" (Ewald), the A.V. has "wall," and in -the marg. "breach" or "ditch." The word occurs for "ditches" in the -Talmud. The text of the verse is uncertain. - -[607] Perhaps because neither Jason nor Menelaus (being apostate) -were regarded as genuine successors of Onias III. - -[608] Numb. xiv. 34; Lev. xxvi. 34; Ezek. iv. 6. - -[609] Comp. Jer. xxxii. 11, 44. - -[610] See Isa. xlvi. 3, li. 5, liii. 11; Jer. xxiii. 6, etc. - -[611] For the _anointing_ of the altar see Exod. xxix. 36, xl. 10; -Lev. viii. 11; Numb. vii. 1. It would make no difference in the _usus -loquendi_ if neither Zerubbabel's nor Judas's altar was _actually_ -anointed. - -[612] It is only used thirteen times of the _Debhir_, or Holiest Place. - -[613] 1 Macc. iv. 54. - -[614] Theodot., [Greek: heos christou hegoumenou]. - -[615] Saadia the Gaon, Rashi, Von Lengerke, Hitzig, Schuerer, Cornill. - -[616] Hag. i. 1; Zech. iii. 1; Ezra iii. 2. Comp. Ecclus. xlv. 24; -Jos., _Antt._, XII. iv. 2, [Greek: prostates]; and see Bevan, p. 156. - -[617] We see from Zech. i. 12, ii. 4, that even in the second year of -Darius Hystaspis Jerusalem had neither walls nor gates; and even in -the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the wall was still broken down and -the gates burnt (Neh. i. 3). - -[618] LXX., [Greek: apostathesetai chrisma kai ouk estai]; Theodot., -[Greek: exolethreuthesetai chrisma kai ouk estin en auto]; Aquil., -[Greek: ex. eleimmenos kai ouch hyparxei auto]. - -[619] See xi. 22. Von Lengerke, however, and others refer it to -Seleucus Philopator, murdered by Heliodorus (B.C. 175). - -[620] Syr. Aquil., [Greek: ouch hyparxei auto]; Theodot., [Greek: kai -ouk estin en auto]; LXX., [Greek: kai ouk estai]; Vulg., "Et non erit -ejus populus qui eum negaturus est." The A.V. "and not for himself" is -untenable. It would have been [Hebrew: lo velo]. See Pusey, p. 182, _n._ - -[621] Steudel, Hofmann. So too Cornill, p. 10: "Ein frommer Jude das -Hoher Priesterthum mit Onias fuer erloschen ansah." - -[622] Comp. [Hebrew: lv vn] and [Hebrew: chnv] (Joel, _Notizen_, p. 21). - -[623] Jos., _Antt._, XII. v. 4; 1 Macc. i. 29-40. - -[624] Here again the meaning is uncertain; and Graetz, altering the -reading, thinks that it should be, "He shall abolish the covenant -[with God] for the many"; or, "shall cause the many to transgress the -covenant." - -[625] Dan. ix. 27. Heb., _Zebach oo-minchah_, "the bloody and -unbloody offering." - -[626] The special allusion, whatever it may precisely mean, is -found under three different designations: (i) In viii. 13 it is -called _happeshang shomeem_; Gk., [Greek: he hamartia eremoseos]; -Vulg., _peccatum desolationis_. (ii) In ix. 27 (comp. ix. 31) it -is _shiqqootsim m'shomeem_; Gk., [Greek: bdelugma tes eremoseos]; -Vulg., _abominatio desolationis_. (iii) In xii. 11 it is _shiqqoots -shomeem_; Gk., [Greek: to bdelygma eremoseos]; Vulg., _abominatio in -desolationem_. Some traditional fact must (as Dr. Joel says) have -underlain the rendering "_of desolation_" for "_of the desolator_." -In xi. 31 Theodotion has [Greek: ephanismenon], "of things done away -with," for [Greek: eremoseon]. The expression with which the New -Testament has made us so familiar is found also in 1 Macc. i. 51 -(comp. 1 Macc. vi. 7): "they built _the abomination of desolation_ -upon the altar." There "the abomination" seems clearly to mean a -smaller altar for heathen sacrifice to Zeus, built on the great -altar of burnt offering. Perhaps the writer of Daniel took the word -_shomeem_, "desolation," as a further definition of _shiqqoots_, -"abomination," from popular speech; and it may have involved a -reference to Lev. xxvi. 15-31: "If ye shall despise My statutes -... I will even appoint over you terror ... and I will make your -cities waste, _and appoint your sanctuaries unto desolation_." The -old Jewish exegetes referred the prophecy to Antiochus Epiphanes; -Josephus and later writers applied it to the Romans. Old Christian -expositors regarded it as Messianic; but even Jerome records _nine_ -different views of commentators, many of them involving the grossest -historic errors and absurdities. Of Post-Reformation expositors down -to the present century scarcely two agree in their interpretations. -At the present day modern critics of any weight almost unanimously -regard these chapters, in their primary significance, as _vaticinia -ex eventu_, as some older Jewish and Christian exegetes had already -done. Hitzig sarcastically says that the exegetes have here fallen -into all sorts of _shiqqootsim_ themselves. - -[627] Comp. [Greek: pterygion] (Matt. iv. 5). - -[628] Kuenen, _Hist. Crit. Onderzook._, ii. 472. - -[629] Any one who thinks the inquiry likely to lead to any better -results than those here indicated has only to wade through Zoeckler's -comment in Lange's _Bibelwerk_ ("Ezekiel and Daniel," i. 186-221). It -is hard to conceive any reading more intolerably wearisome; and at -the close it leaves the reader in a state of more hopeless confusion -than before. The discussion also occupies many pages of Pusey (pp. -162-231); but neither in his hypothesis nor any other are the dates -exact. He can only say, "It were not of any account if we could not -interpret these minor details. _De minimis non curat lex._" On the -view that the seventy weeks were to end with the advent of Christ -we ask: (1) Why do no two Christian interpreters agree about the -interpretation? (2) Why did not the Apostles and Evangelists refer to -so decisive an evidence? - -[630] On this, however, we may remark with Cornill, "Eine Apokalypse, -deren [Greek: apokalypseis] unenthuelbar sind, waere ein _nonsens_, -eine _contradictio in adjecto_" (_Die Siebzig Jahrwochen_, p. 3). -The indication was obviously _meant_ to be understood, and to the -contemporaries of the writer, familiar with the minuter facts of the -day, it probably was perfectly clear. - -[631] Luke ii. 25, 26, 38; Matt. xxiv. 15. Comp. 2 Thess. ii.; Jos., -_Antt._, X. xxii. 7. - -[632] "Scio de hac quaestione ab eruditissimis viris varie disputatum -_et unumquemque pro captu ingenii sui dixisse quod senserat_" (Jer. -_in Dan._, ix.). In other words, there was not only no received -interpretation in St. Jerome's day, but the comments of the Fathers -were even then a chaos of arbitrary guesses. - -[633] Pusey makes out a table of the divergent interpretation -of the commentators, whom, in his usual ecclesiastical fashion, -he charitably classes together as "unbelievers," from Corrodi -and Eichhorn down to Herzfeld. But quite as striking a table of -divergencies might be drawn up of "orthodox" commentators. - -[634] Thus Eusebius, without a shadow of any pretence at argument -makes the _last week_ mean _seventy years_! (_Dem. Evan._, viii.). - -[635] Jost (_Gesch. d. Judenthums_, i. 99) contents himself with -speaking of "die Liebe zu prophetischer Auffassung der Vergangenheit, -mit moeglichst genauen Zahlenagaben, befriedigt, _die uns leider nicht -mehr verstaendlich erscheinen_." - -[636] In Clem. Alex., _Strom._, i. 21. - -[637] Cornill, p. 14; Bevan, p. 54. - -[638] Schuerer, _Hist. of Jewish People_, iii. 53, 54 (E. Tr.). This is -also the view of Graf, Noeldeke, Cornill, and many others. In any case -we must not be misled into an impossible style of exegesis of which -Bleck says that "bei ihr alles moeglich ist und alles fuer erlaubt gilt." - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - _INTRODUCTION TO THE CONCLUDING VISION_ - - -The remaining section of the Book of Daniel forms but one vision, of -which this chapter is the Introduction or Prologue. - -Daniel is here spoken of in the third person. - -It is dated in the third year of Cyrus (B.C. 535).[639] We have already -been told that Daniel lived to see the first year of Cyrus (i. 21). -This verse, if accepted historically, would show that at any rate -Daniel did not return to Palestine with the exiles. Age, high rank, -and opportunities of usefulness in the Persian Court may have combined -to render his return undesirable for the interests of his people. -The date--the last given in the life of the real or ideal Daniel--is -perhaps here mentioned to account for the allusions which follow to the -kingdom of Persia. But with the great and moving fortunes of the Jews -after the accession of Cyrus, and even with the beginning of their new -national life in Jerusalem, the author is scarcely at all concerned. He -makes no mention of Zerubbabel the prince, nor of Joshua the priest, -nor of the decree of Cyrus, nor of the rebuilding of the Temple; his -whole concern is with the petty wars and diplomacy of the reign of -Antiochus Epiphanes, of which an account is given, so minute as either -to furnish us with historical materials unknown to any other historian, -or else is difficult to reconcile with the history of that king's reign -as it has been hitherto understood. - -In this chapter, as in the two preceding, there are great -difficulties and uncertainties about the exact significance of some -of the verses, and textual emendations have been suggested. The -readers of the Expositor's Bible would not, however, be interested -in minute and dreary philological disquisitions, which have not -the smallest moral significance, and lead to no certain result. -The difficulties affect points of no doctrinal importance, and -the greatest scholars have been unable to arrive at any agreement -respecting them. Such difficulties will, therefore, merely be -mentioned, and I shall content myself with furnishing what appears to -be the best authenticated opinion. - -The first and second verses are rendered partly by Ewald and -partly by other scholars, "_Truth is the revelation, and distress -is great;_[640] _therefore understand thou the revelation, since -there is understanding of it in the vision._" The admonition calls -attention to the importance of "the word," and the fact that reality -lies beneath its enigmatic and apocalyptic form. - -Daniel had been mourning for three full weeks,[641] during which -he ate no dainty bread,[642] nor flesh, nor wine, nor did he anoint -himself with oil.[643] But in the Passover month of Abib or Nisan, -the first month of the year, and on the twenty-fourth day of that -month,[644] he was seated on the bank of the great river, Hiddekel or -Tigris,[645] when, lifting up his eyes, he saw a certain man clothed -in fine linen like a Jewish priest, and his loins girded with gold -of Uphaz.[646] His body was like chrysolite,[647] his face flashed -like lightning, his eyes were like torches of fire, his arms and feet -gleamed like polished brass,[648] and the sound of his words was as -the sound of a deep murmur.[649] Daniel had companions with him;[650] -they did not see the vision, but some supernatural terror fell upon -them, and they fled to hide themselves.[651] - -At this great spectacle his strength departed, and his brightness -was changed to corruption;[652] and when the vision spoke he -fell to the earth face downwards. A hand touched him, and partly -raised him to the trembling support of his knees and the palms of -his hands,[653] and a voice said to him, "Daniel, thou greatly -beloved,[654] stand upright, and attend; for I am sent to thee." The -seer was still trembling; but the voice bade him fear not, for his -prayer had been heard, and for that reason this message had been sent -to him. Gabriel's coming had, however, been delayed for three weeks, -by his having to withstand for twenty days the prince of the kingdom -of Persia.[655] The necessity of continuing the struggle was only -removed by the arrival of Michael, one of the chief princes,[656] to -help him, so that Gabriel was no longer needed[657] to resist the -kings of Persia.[658] The vision was for many days,[659] and he had -come to enable Daniel to understand it. - -Once more Daniel was terrified, remained silent, and fixed his eyes -on the ground, until one like the sons of men touched his lips, and -then he spoke to apologise for his timidity and faintheartedness. - -A third time the vision touched, strengthened, blessed him, and bade -him be strong. "Knowest thou," the angel asked, "why I am come to -thee? I must return to fight against the Prince of Persia, and while -I am gone the Prince of Greece [Javan] will come. I will, however, -tell thee what is announced in the writing of truth, the book of the -decrees of heaven, though there is no one to help me against these -hostile princes of Persia and Javan, except Michael your prince." - -The difficulties of the chapter are, as we have said, of a kind that -the expositor cannot easily remove. I have given what appears to be -the general sense. The questions which the vision raises bear on -matters of angelology, as to which all is purposely left vague and -indeterminate, or which lie in a sphere wholly beyond our cognisance. - -It may first be asked whether the splendid angel of the opening -vision is also the being in the similitude of a man who thrice -touches, encourages, and strengthens Daniel. It is perhaps simplest -to suppose that this is the case,[660] and that the Great Prince -tones down his overpowering glory to more familiar human semblance in -order to dispel the terrors of the seer. - -The general conception of the archangels as princes of the nations, -and as contending with each other, belongs to the later developments -of Hebrew opinion on such subjects.[661] Some have supposed that -the "princes" of Persia and Javan to whom Gabriel and Michael are -opposed are, not good angels, but demonic powers,--"the world-rulers -of this darkness"--subordinate to the evil spirit whom St. Paul does -not hesitate to call "the god of this world," and "the prince of -the powers of the air." This is how they account for this "war in -heaven," so that "the dragon and his angels" fight against "Michael -and his angels." Be that as it may, this mode of presenting the -guardians of the destinies of nations is one respecting which we have -no further gleams of revelation to help us. - -Ewald regards the two last verses of the chapter as a sort of -soliloquy of the angel Gabriel with himself. He is pressed for -time. His coming has already been delayed by the opposition of the -guardian-power of the destinies of Persia. If Michael, the great -archangel of the Hebrews, had not come to his aid, and (so to speak) -for a time relieved guard, he would have been unable to come. But -even the respite leaves him anxious. He seems to feel it almost -necessary that he should at once return to contend against the -Prince of Persia, and against a new adversary, the Prince of Javan, -who is on his way to do mischief. Yet on the whole he will stay and -enlighten Daniel before he takes his flight, although there is no -one but Michael who aids him against these menacing princes. It is -difficult to know whether this is meant to be ideal or real--whether -it represents a struggle of angels against demons, or is merely meant -for a sort of parable which represents the to-and-fro conflicting -impulses which sway the destinies of earthly kingdoms. In any case -the representation is too unique and too remote from earth to enable -us to understand its spiritual meaning, beyond the bare indication -that God sitteth above the water-floods and God remaineth a king for -ever. It is another way of showing us that the heathen rage, and -the people imagine a vain thing; that the kings of the earth set -themselves and the rulers take counsel together; but that they can -only accomplish what God's hand and God's counsel have predetermined -to be done; and that when they attempt to overthrow the destinies -which God has foreordained, "He that sitteth in the heavens shall -laugh them to scorn, the Lord shall have them in derision." These, -apart from all complications or developments of angelology or -demonology, are the continuous lesson of the Word of God, and are -confirmed by all that we decipher of His providence in His ways of -dealing with nations and with men. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[639] The LXX. date it in "the _first_ year of Cyrus," perhaps an -intentional alteration (i. 21). We see from Ezra, Nehemiah, and the -latest of the Minor Prophets that there was scarcely even an attempt -to restore the ruined walls of Jerusalem before B.C. 444. - -[640] Lit. "great warfare." It will be seen that the A.V. and -R.V. and other renderings vary widely from this; but nothing very -important depends on the variations. Instead of taking the verbs as -imperatives addressed to the reader, Hitzig renders, "He heeded the -word, and gave heed to the vision." - -[641] Lit. "weeks of days" (Gen. xli. 1; Deut. xxi. 13: "years of -days"). - -[642] "Bread of desires" is the opposite of "bread of affliction" in -Deut. xvi. 3. Comp. Gen. xxvii. 25; Isa. xxii. 13, etc. - -[643] Comp. Amos vi. 6; Ruth iii. 3; 2 Sam. xii. 20, xiv. 2. - -[644] He fasted from Abib 3 to 24. The festival of the New Moon might -prevent him from fasting on Abib 1, 2. - -[645] Hiddekel ("the rushing") occurs only in Gen. ii. 14. It is the -Assyrian _idiglat_. - -[646] For the girdle see Ezek. xxiii. 15. Ewald (with the Vulg., -Chald., and Syriac) regards Uphaz as a clerical error for Ophir -(Psalm xlv. 9). LXX., [Greek: Mophaz] (Jer. x. 9, where alone it -occurs). The LXX. omit it here. Vulg., _Auro obrizo_. - -[647] Heb., _eben tarshish_ (Exod. xxviii. 2); Vulg., _crysolithus_; -R.V. and A.V., "beryl" (Ezek. i. 16). Comp. Skr., _tarisha_, "the -sea." - -[648] Theodot., [Greek: ta skele]; LXX., [Greek: hoi podes] (Rev. i. -15)--lit. "foot-hold"; Vulg., _quae deorsum sunt usque ad pedes_. - -[649] This description of the vision follows Ezek. i. 16-24, ix. 2, -and is followed in Rev. i. 13-15. The "deep murmur" is referred to -the sound of the sea by St. John; A.V., "the voice of a multitude"; -LXX., [Greek: thorybos]. Comp. Isa. xiii. 4; Ezek. xliii. 2. - -[650] Rashi guesses that they were Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. - -[651] Comp. Acts ix. 7, xxii. 11. - -[652] Comp. Hab. iii. 16; Dan. viii. 18. - -[653] Lit. "shook" or "caused me to tremble upon my knees and the -palms of my hand." - -[654] x. 11. LXX., [Greek: anthropos eleeinos ei]; Tert., _De -Jejun._, 7, "homo es miserabilis" (_sc._, "jejunando"). - -[655] The protecting genius of Persia (Isa. xxiv. 21; Psalm lxxxii.; -Ecclus. xvii. 17). - -[656] Michael, "who is like God" (Jude 9; Rev. xii. 7). - -[657] Heb., _notharti_. "I came off victorious," or "obtained the -precedence" (Luther, Gesenius, etc.); "I was delayed" (Hitzig); "I -was superfluous" (Ewald); "Was left over" (Zoeckler); "I remained" -(A.V.); "Was not needed" (R.V. marg.). The LXX. and Theodoret seem to -follow another text. - -[658] LXX., "with the army of the king of the Persians." - -[659] Again the text and rendering are uncertain. - -[660] So Hitzig and Ewald. The view that they are distinct persons -is taken by Zoeckler, Von Lengerke, etc. Other guesses are that the -"man clothed in linen" is the angel who called Gabriel (viii. 16); -or Michael; or "the angel of the Covenant" (Vitringa); or Christ; or -"he who letteth" ([Greek: ho katechon], 2 Thess. ii. 7), whom Zoeckler -takes to be "the good principle of the world-power." - -[661] Thus in the LXX. (Dent, xxxii. 8) we read of angels of the -nations. See too Isa. xlvi. 2; Jer. xlvi. 25. Comp. Baruch iv. 7; -Ecclus. xvii. 17; Frankel, _Vorstudien_, p. 66. - - - - - CHAPTER V - - _AN ENIGMATIC PROPHECY PASSING INTO DETAILS - OF THE REIGN OF ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES_ - - "Pone haec dici de Antiocho, quid nocet religioni - nostrae?"--HIERON. _ed._ VALLARS, v. 722. - - -If this chapter were indeed the utterance of a prophet in the -Babylonian Exile, nearly four hundred years before the events--events -of which many are of small comparative importance in the world's -history--which are here so enigmatically and yet so minutely -depicted, the revelation would be the most unique and perplexing in -the whole Scriptures. It would represent a sudden and total departure -from every method of God's providence and of God's manifestation of -His will to the minds of the prophets. It would stand absolutely -and abnormally alone as an abandonment of the limitations of all -else which has ever been foretold. And it would then be still more -surprising that such a reversal of the entire economy of prophecy -should not only be so widely separated in tone from the high moral -and spiritual lessons which it was the special glory of prophecy to -inculcate, but should come to us entirely devoid of those decisive -credentials which could alone suffice to command our conviction of -its genuineness and authenticity. "We find in this chapter," says -Mr. Bevan, "a complete survey of the history from the beginning -of the Persian period down to the time of the author. Here, even -more than in the earlier vision, we are able to perceive how the -account gradually becomes more definite as it approaches the latter -part of the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, and how it then passes -suddenly from the domain of historical facts to that of ideal -expectations."[662] In recent days, when the force of truth has -compelled so many earnest and honest thinkers to the acceptance of -historic and literary criticism, the few scholars who are still able -to maintain the traditional views about the Book of Daniel find -themselves driven, like Zoeckler and others, to admit that even if -the Book of Daniel as a whole can be regarded as the production of -the exiled seer five and a half centuries before Christ, yet in this -chapter at any rate there must be large interpolations.[663] - -There is here an unfortunate division of the chapters. The first -verse of chap. xi. clearly belongs to the last verses of chap. x. -It seems to furnish the reason why Gabriel could rely on the help -of Michael, and therefore may delay for a few moments his return -to the scene of conflict with the Prince of Persia and the coming -King of Javan. Michael will for that brief period undertake the sole -responsibility of maintaining the struggle, because Gabriel has put -him under a direct obligation by special assistance which he rendered -to him only a little while previously in the first year of the Median -Darius.[664] Now, therefore, Gabriel, though in haste, will announce -to Daniel the truth. - -The announcement occupies five sections. - -FIRST SECTION (xi. 2-9).--Events from the rise of Alexander the Great -(B.C. 336) to the death of Seleucus Nicator (B.C. 280). There are to be -three kings of Persia after Cyrus (who is then reigning), of whom the -third is to be the richest;[665] and "when he is waxed strong through -his riches, he shall stir up the all[666] against the realm of Javan." - -There were of course many more than four kings of Persia[667]: viz.-- - - B.C. - Cyrus 536 - Cambyses 529 - Pseudo-Smerdis 522 - Darius Hystaspis 521 - Xerxes I. 485 - Artaxerxes I. (Longimanus) 464 - Xerxes II. 425 - Sogdianus 425 - Darius Nothus 424 - Artaxerxes II. (Mnemon) 405 - Artaxerxes III. 359 - Darius Codomannus 336 - -But probably the writer had no historic sources to which to refer, -and only four Persian kings are prominent in Scripture--Cyrus, -Darius, Xerxes, and Artaxerxes. Darius Codomannus is indeed mentioned -in Neh. xii. 22, but might have easily been overlooked, and even -confounded with another Darius in uncritical and unhistorical -times. The rich fourth king who "stirs up the all against the realm -of Grecia" might be meant for Artaxerxes I., but more probably -refers to Xerxes (Achashverosh, or Ahasuerus), and his immense and -ostentatious invasion of Greece (B.C. 480). His enormous wealth is -dwelt upon by Herodotus.[668] - -Ver. 3 (B.C. 336-323).--Then shall rise a mighty king (Alexander the -Great), and shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his -will. "Fortunam solus omnium mortalium in potestate habuit," says his -historian, Quintus Curtius.[669] - -Ver. 4 (B.C. 323).--But when he is at the apparent zenith of his -strength his kingdom shall be broken, and shall not descend to any of -his posterity,[670] but (B.C. 323-301) shall be for others, and shall -ultimately (after the Battle of Ipsus, B.C. 301) be divided towards -the four winds of heaven, into the kingdoms of Cassander (Greece and -Macedonia), Ptolemy (Egypt, Coele-Syria, and Palestine), Lysimachus -(Asia Minor), and Seleucus (Upper Asia). - -Ver. 5.--Of these four kingdoms and their kings the vision is only -concerned with two--the kings of the South[671] (_i.e._, the Lagidae, -or Egyptian Ptolemies, who sprang from Ptolemy Lagos), and the kings -of the North (_i.e._, the Antiochian Seleucidae). They alone are -singled out because the Holy Land became a sphere of contentions -between these rival dynasties.[672] - -B.C. 306.--The King of the South (Ptolemy Soter, son of Lagos) shall -be strong, and shall ultimately assume the title of Ptolemy I., King -of Egypt. - -But one of his princes or generals (Seleucus Nicator) shall be -stronger,[673] and, asserting his independence, shall establish a -great dominion over Northern Syria and Babylonia. - -Ver. 6 (B.C. 250).--The vision then passes over the reign of -Antiochus II. (Soter), and proceeds to say that "at the end of -years" (_i.e._, some half-century later, B.C. 250) the kings of the -North and South should form a matrimonial alliance. The daughter of -the King of the South--the Egyptian Princess Berenice, daughter of -Ptolemy II. (Philadelphus), should come to the King of the North -(Antiochus Theos) to make an agreement. This agreement (marg., -"equitable conditions") was that Antiochus Theos should divorce -his wife and half-sister Laodice, and disinherit her children, and -bequeath the throne to any future child of Berenice, who would thus -unite the empires of the Ptolemies and the Seleucidae.[674] Berenice -took with her so vast a dowry that she was called "the dowry-bringer" -([Greek: phernophoros]).[675] Antiochus himself accompanied her as -far as Pelusium (B.C. 247). But the compact ended in nothing but -calamity. For, two years after, Ptolemy II. died, leaving an infant -child by Berenice. But Berenice did "_not retain the strength of -her arm_,"[676] since the military force which accompanied her -proved powerless for her protection; nor did Ptolemy II. abide, -nor any support which he could render. On the contrary, there was -overwhelming disaster. Berenice's escort, her father, her husband, -all perished, and she herself and her infant child were murdered by -her rival, Laodice (B.C. 246), in the sanctuary of Daphne, whither -she had fled for refuge. - -Ver. 7 (B.C. 285-247).--But the murder of Berenice shall be well -avenged. For "out of a shoot from her roots" stood up one in his -office, even her brother Ptolemy III. (Euergetes), who, unlike the -effeminate Ptolemy II., did not entrust his wars to his generals, but -came himself to his army. He shall completely conquer the King of the -North (Seleucus II., Kallinikos, son of Antiochus Theos and Laodice), -shall seize his fortress (Seleucia, the port of Antioch).[677] - -Ver. 8 (B.C. 247).--In this campaign Ptolemy Euergetes, who earned -the title of "Benefactor" by this vigorous invasion, shall not only -win immense booty--four thousand talents of gold and many jewels, -and forty thousand talents of silver--but shall also carry back with -him to Egypt the two thousand five hundred molten images,[678] and -idolatrous vessels, which, two hundred and eighty years before (B.C. -527), Cambyses had carried away from Egypt.[679] - -After this success he will, for some years, refrain from attacking -the Seleucid kings.[680] - -Ver. 9 (B.C. 240).--Seleucus Kallinikos makes an attempt to avenge -the shame and loss of the invasion of Syria by invading Egypt, but he -returns to his own land totally foiled and defeated, for his fleet -was destroyed by a storm.[681] - -SECOND SECTION (vv. 10-19).--Events from the death of Ptolemy -Euergetes (B.C. 247) to the death of Antiochus III. (the Great, B.C. -175). In the following verses, as Behrmann observes, there is a sort -of dance of shadows, only fully intelligible to the initiated. - -Ver. 10.--The sons of Seleucus Kallinikos were Seleucus III. (Keraunos, -B.C. 227-224) and Antiochus the Great (B.C. 224-187). Keraunos only -reigned two years, and in B.C. 224 his brother Antiochus III. succeeded -him. Both kings assembled immense forces to avenge the insult of the -Egyptian invasion, the defeat of their father, and the retention -of their port and fortress of Seleucia. It was only sixteen miles -from Antioch, and being still garrisoned by Egyptians, constituted a -standing danger and insult to their capital city. - -Ver. 11.--After twenty-seven years the port of Seleucia is wrested -from the Egyptians by Antiochus the Great, and he so completely -reverses the former successes of the King of the South as to conquer -Syria as far as Gaza. - -Ver. 12 (B.C. 217).--But at last the young Egyptian King, Ptolemy IV. -(Philopator), is roused from his dissipation and effeminacy, advances -to Raphia (southwest of Gaza) with a great army of twenty thousand -foot, five thousand horse, and seventy-three elephants, and there, -to his own immense self-exaltation, he inflicts a severe defeat -on Antiochus, and "_casts down tens of thousands_."[682] Yet the -victory is illusive, although it enables Ptolemy to annex Palestine -to Egypt. For Ptolemy "_shall not show himself strong_," but shall, -by his supineness, and by making a speedy peace, throw away all the -fruits of his victory, while he returns to his past dissipation (B.C. -217-204).[683] - -Ver. 13.--Twelve years later (B.C. 205) Ptolemy Philopator died, -leaving an infant son, Ptolemy Epiphanes. Antiochus, smarting from -his defeat at Raphia, again assembled an army which was still greater -than before (B.C. 203), and much war-material. In the intervening -years he had won great victories in the East as far as India. - -Ver. 14.--Antiochus shall be aided by the fact that many--including his -ally Philip, King of Macedon, and various rebel-subjects of Ptolemy -Epiphanes--stood up against the King of Egypt and wrested Phoenicia and -Southern Syria from him. The Syrians were further strengthened by the -assistance of the "children of the violent" among the Jews, "_who shall -lift themselves up to fulfil the vision of the oracle;_[684] _but -they shall fall_." We read in Josephus that many of the Jews helped -Antiochus;[685] but the allusion to "the vision" is entirely obscure. -Ewald supposes a reference to some prophecy no longer extant. Dr. Joel -thinks that the Hellenising Jews may have referred to Isa. xix. in -favour of the plans of Antiochus against Egypt. - -Vv. 15, 16.--But however much any of the Jews may have helped -Antiochus under the hope of ultimately regaining their independence, -their hopes were frustrated. The Syrian King came, besieged, and took -a well-fenced city--perhaps an allusion to the fact that he wrested -Sidon from the Egyptians. After his great victory over the Egyptian -general Scopas at Mount Panium (B.C. 198), the routed Egyptian -forces, to the number of ten thousand, flung themselves into that -city.[686] This campaign ruined the interests of Egypt in Palestine, -"the glorious land."[687] Palestine now passed to Antiochus, who took -possession "_with destruction in his hand_." - -Ver. 17 (B.C. 198-195).--After this there shall again be an attempt -at "equitable negotiations"; by which, however, Antiochus hoped to -get final possession of Egypt and destroy it. He arranged a marriage -between "_a daughter of women_"--his daughter Cleopatra--and Ptolemy -Epiphanes. But this attempt also entirely failed. - -Ver. 18 (B.C. 190).--Antiochus therefore "_sets his face in another -direction_," and tries to conquer the islands and coasts of Asia -Minor. But a captain--the Roman general, Lucius Cornelius Scipio -Asiaticus--puts an end to the insolent scorn with which he had spoken -of the Romans, and pays him back with equal scorn,[688] utterly -defeating him in the great Battle of Magnesia (B.C. 190), and forcing -him to ignominious terms. - -Ver. 19 (B.C. 175).--Antiochus next turns his attention ("_sets his -face_") to strengthen the fortresses of his own land in the east and -west; but making an attempt to recruit his dissipated wealth by the -plunder of the Temple of Belus in Elymais, "_stumbles and falls, and -is not found_." - -THIRD SECTION (vv. 20-27).--Events under Seleucus Philopator down to -the first attempts of Antiochus Epiphanes against Egypt (B.C. 170). - -Ver. 20.--Seleucus Philopator (B.C. 187-176) had a character the -reverse of his father's. He was no restless seeker for glory, but -desired wealth and quietness.[689] Among the Jews, however, he had a -very evil reputation, for he sent an _exactor_--a mere tax-collector, -Heliodorus--"_to pass through the glory of the kingdom_."[690] He -only reigned twelve years, and then was "broken"--_i.e._, murdered -by Heliodorus, neither in anger nor in battle, but by poison -administered by this "tax-collector." The versions all vary, but I -feel little doubt that Dr. Joel is right when he sees in the curious -phrase _nogesh heder malkooth_, "one that shall cause a raiser of -taxes to pass over the kingdom"--of which neither Theodotion nor -the Vulgate can make anything--a cryptographic allusion to the name -_Heliodorus_;[691] and possibly the predicted fate may (by a change -of subject) also refer to the fact that Heliodorus was checked, -not by force, but by the vision in the Temple (2 Macc. v. 18, iii. -24-29). We find from 2 Macc. iv. 1 that Simeon, the governor of the -Temple, charged Onias with a trick to terrify Heliodorus. This is a -very probable view of what occurred.[692] - -Ver. 21.--Seleucus Philopator died B.C. 175 without an heir. This -made room for a contemptible person, a reprobate, who had no real -claim to royal dignity,[693] being only a younger son of Antiochus -the Great. He came by surprise, "_in time of security_," and obtained -the kingdom by flatteries.[694] - -Ver. 22.--Yet "_the overflowing wings of Egypt_" (or "the arms of -a flood") "_were swept away before him and broken; yea, and even -a covenanted or allied prince_." Some explain this of his nephew -Ptolemy Philometor, others of Onias III., "the prince of the -covenant"--_i.e._, the princely high priest, whom Antiochus displaced -in favour of his brother, the apostate Joshua, who Graecised his name -into Jason, as his brother Onias did in calling himself Menelaus.[695] - -Ver. 23.--This mean king should prosper by deceit which he practised -on all connected with him;[696] and though at first he had but few -adherents, he should creep into power. - -Ver. 24.--"_In time of security shall he come, even upon the fattest -places of the province._" By this may be meant his invasions of -Galilee and Lower Egypt. Acting unlike any of his royal predecessors, -he shall lavishly scatter his gains and his booty among needy -followers,[697] and shall plot to seize Pelusium, Naucratis, -Alexandria, and other strongholds of Egypt for a time. - -Ver. 25.--After this (B.C. 171) he shall, with a "_great army_," -seriously undertake his first invasion of Egypt, and shall be met by -his nephew Ptolemy Philometor with another immense army. In spite of -this, the young Egyptian King shall fail through the treachery of his -own courtiers. He shall be outwitted and treacherously undermined by -his uncle Antiochus. Yes! even while his army is fighting, and many -are being slain, the very men who "_eat of his dainties_," even his -favourite and trusted courtiers Eulaeus and Lenaeus, will be devising -his ruin, and his army shall be swept away. - -Vv. 26, 27 (B.C. 174).--The Syrians and the Egyptian King, nephew -and uncle, shall in nominal amity sit at one banquet, eating from -one table;[698] but all the while they will be distrustfully -plotting against each other and "_speaking lies_" to each other. -Antiochus will pretend to ally himself with the young Philometor -against his brother Ptolemy Euergetes II.--generally known by -his derisive nickname as Ptolemy Physkon[699]--whom after eleven -months the Alexandrians had proclaimed king. But all these plots and -counter-plots should be of none effect, for the end was not yet. - -FOURTH SECTION (vv. 28-35).--Events between the first attack of -Antiochus on Jerusalem (B.C. 170) and his plunder of the Temple to -the first revolt of the Maccabees (B.C. 167). - -Ver. 28 (B.C. 168).--Returning from Egypt with great plunder, Antiochus -shall set himself against the Holy Covenant. He put down the usurping -high priest Jason, who, with much slaughter, had driven out his rival -usurper and brother, Menelaus. He massacred many Jews, and returned to -Antioch enriched with golden vessels seized from the Temple.[700] - -Ver. 29.--In B.C. 168 Antiochus again invaded Egypt, but with none of -the former splendid results. For Ptolemy Philometor and Physkon had -joined in sending an embassy to Rome to ask for help and protection. -In consequence of this, "_ships from Kittim_"[701]--namely, the Roman -fleet--came against him, bringing the Roman commissioner, Gaius -Popilius Laenas. When Popilius met Antiochus, the king put out his -hand to embrace him; but the Roman merely held out his tablets, and -bade Antiochus read the Roman demand that he and his army should at -once evacuate Egypt. "I will consult my friends on the subject," said -Antiochus. Popilius, with infinite haughtiness and audacity, simply -drew a circle in the sand with his vine-stick round the spot on which -the king stood, and said, "You must decide before you step out of -that circle." Antiochus stood amazed and humiliated; but seeing that -there was no help for it, promised in despair to do all that the -Romans demanded.[702] - -Ver. 30.--Returning from Egypt in an indignant frame of mind, he -turned his exasperation against the Jews and the Holy Covenant, -especially extending his approval to those who apostatised from it. - -Ver. 31.--Then (B.C. 168) shall come the climax of horror. Antiochus -shall send troops to the Holy Land, who shall desecrate the sanctuary -and fortress of the Temple, and abolish the daily sacrifice (Kisleu -15), and set up the abomination that maketh desolate.[703] - -Ver. 32.--To carry out these ends the better, and with the express -purpose of putting an end to the Jewish religion, he shall pervert -or "make profane" by flatteries the renegades who are ready to -apostatise from the faith of their fathers. But there shall be a -faithful remnant who will bravely resist him to the uttermost. "_The -people who know their God will be valiant, and do great deeds._" - -Ver. 33.--To keep alive the national faith "_wise teachers of the -people shall instruct many_," and will draw upon their own heads the -fury of persecution, so that many shall fall by sword, and by flame, -and by captivity, and by spoliation for many days. - -Ver. 34.--But in the midst of this fierce onslaught of cruelty they -shall be "_holpen with a little help_." There shall arise the sect -of the _Chasidim_, or "the Pious," bound together by _Tugendbund_ -to maintain the Laws which Israel received from Moses of old.[704] -These good and faithful champions of a righteous cause will indeed be -weakened by the false adherence of waverers and flatterers. - -Ver. 35.--To purge the party from such spies and Laodiceans, the -teachers, like the aged priest Mattathias at Modin, and the aged -scribe Eleazar, will have to brave even martyrdom itself till the -time of the end. - -FIFTH SECTION (vv. 36-45, B.C. 147-164).--Events from the beginning -of the Maccabean rising to the death of Antiochus Epiphanes. - -Ver. 36.--Antiochus will grow more arbitrary, more insolent, more -blasphemous, from day to day, calling himself "God" (Theos) on his -coins, and requiring all his subjects to be of his religion,[705] and -so even more kindling against himself the wrath of the God of gods by -his monstrous utterances, until the final doom has fallen. - -Ver. 37.--He will, in fact, make himself his own god, paying no regard -(by comparison) to his national or local god, the Olympian Zeus, nor to -the Syrian deity, Tammuz-Adonis, "the desire of women."[706] - - "Tammuz came next behind, - Whose yearly wound in Lebanon allured - The Syrian damsels to lament his fate - In amorous ditties all a summer day. - While smooth Adonis from his native rock - Ran purple to the sea--supposed with blood - Of Tammuz yearly wounded. The love tale - Infected Zion's daughters with like heat." - -Ver. 38.--The only God to whom he shall pay marked respect shall be -the Roman Jupiter, the god of the Capitol. To this god, to Jupiter -Capitolinus, not to his own Zeus Olympios, the god of his Greek -fathers, he shall erect a temple in his capital city of Antioch, and -adorn it with gold and silver and precious stones.[707] - -Ver. 39.--"_And he shall deal with the strongest fortresses by the -help of a strange god_"[708]--namely, the Capitoline Jupiter (Zeus -Polieus)--and shall crowd the strongholds of Judaea with heathen -colonists who worship the Tyrian Hercules (Melkart) and other idols; -and to these heathen he shall give wealth and power. - -Ver. 40.--But his evil career shall be cut short. Egypt, under the -now-allied brothers Philometor and Physkon, shall unite to thrust at -him. Antiochus will advance against them like a whirlwind, with many -chariots and horsemen, and with the aid of a fleet. - -Vv. 41-45.--In the course of his march he shall pass through -Palestine, "_the glorious land_,"[709] with disastrous injury; but -Edom, Moab, and the bloom of the kingdom of Ammon shall escape his -hand. Egypt, however, shall not escape. By the aid of the Libyans -and Ethiopians who are in his train he shall plunder Egypt of its -treasures.[710] - -How far these events correspond to historic realities is uncertain. -Jerome says that Antiochus invaded Egypt a third time in B.C. 165, -the eleventh year of his reign; but there are no historic traces of -such an invasion, and most certainly Antiochus towards the close -of his reign, instead of being enriched with vast Egyptian spoils, -was struggling with chronic lack of means. Some therefore suppose -that the writer composed and published his enigmatic sketch of -these events before the close of the reign of Antiochus, and that -he is here passing from contemporary fact into a region of ideal -anticipations which were never actually fulfilled. - -Ver. 43 (B.C. 165).--In the midst of this devastating invasion of -Egypt, Antiochus shall be troubled with disquieting rumours of -troubles in Palestine and other realms of his kingdom. He will set -out with utter fury to subjugate and to destroy, determining above -all to suppress the heroic Maccabean revolt which had inflicted such -humiliating disasters upon his generals, Seron, Apollonius, and -Lysias.[711] - -Ver. 45 (B.C. 164).--He shall indeed advance so far as to pitch his -palatial tent[712] "_between the sea and the mountain of the High -Glory_"; but he will come to a disastrous and an unassisted end.[713] - -These latter events either do not correspond with the actual history, -or cannot be verified. So far as we know Antiochus did not invade -Egypt at all after B.C. 168. Still less did he advance from Egypt, -or pitch his tent anywhere near Mount Zion. Nor did he die in -Palestine, but in Persia (B.C. 165). The writer, indeed, strong in -faith, anticipated, and rightly, that Antiochus would come to an -ignominious and a sudden end--God shooting at him with a swift arrow, -so that he should be wounded. But all accurate details seem suddenly -to stop short with the doings in the fourth section, which may refer -to the strange conduct of Antiochus in his great festival in honour -of Jupiter at Daphne. Had the writer published his book _after_ -this date, he could not surely have failed to speak with triumphant -gratitude and exultation of the heroic stand made by Judas Maccabaeus -and the splendid victories which restored hope and glory to the Holy -Land. I therefore regard these verses as a description rather of -ideal expectation than of historic facts. - -We find notices of Antiochus in the Books of Maccabees, in Josephus, -in St. Jerome's Commentary on Daniel, and in Appian's _Syriaca_. We -should know more of him and be better able to explain some of the -allusions in this chapter if the writings of the secular historians -had not come down to us in so fragmentary a condition. The relevant -portions of Callinicus Sutoricus, Diodorus Siculus, Polybius, -Posidonius, Claudius, Theon, Andronicus, Alypius, and others are -all lost--except a few fragments which we have at second or third -hand. Porphyry introduced quotations from these authors into the -twelfth book of his _Arguments against the Christians_; but we only -know his book from Jerome's _ex-parte_ quotations. Other Christian -treatises, written in answer to Porphyry by Apollinaris, Eusebius, -and Methodius, are only preserved in a few sentences by Nicetas and -John of Damascus. The loss of Porphyry and Apollinarius is especially -to be regretted. Jerome says that it was the extraordinarily minute -correspondence of this chapter of Daniel with the history of -Antiochus Epiphanes that led Porphyry to the conviction that it only -contained _vaticinia ex eventu_.[714] - -Antiochus died at Tabae in Paratacaene on the frontiers of Persia -and Babylonia about B.C. 163. The Jewish account of his remorseful -deathbed may be read in 1 Macc. vi. 1-16: "He laid him down upon -his bed, and fell sick for grief; and there he continued many days, -for his grief was ever more and more; and he made account that he -should die." He left a son, Antiochus Eupator, aged nine, under the -charge of his flatterer and foster-brother Philip.[715] Recalling the -wrongs he had inflicted on Judaea and Jerusalem, he said: "I perceive, -therefore, that for this cause these troubles are come upon me; and, -behold, I perish through great grief in a strange land." - -FOOTNOTES: - -[662] _Daniel_, p. 162. - -[663] On this chapter see Smend, _Zeitschr. fuer Alttest. -Wissenschaft_, v. 241. - -[664] Ewald, _Prophets_, v. 293 (E. Tr.). - -[665] Doubtless the three mentioned in Ezra iv. 5-7: Ahasuerus -(Xerxes), Artaxerxes, and Darius. - -[666] Heb., _Hakkol_--lit. "the all." There were probably Jews in his -army (_Jos. c. Ap._, I. 22: comp. Herod., vii. 89). - -[667] Zoeckler met the difficulty by calling the number four -"symbolic," a method as easy as it is profoundly unsatisfactory. - -[668] Herod., iii. 96, iv. 27-29. - -[669] Q. Curt., X. v. 35. - -[670] See Grote, xii. 133. Alexander had a natural son, Herakles, -and a posthumous son, Alexander, by Roxana. Both were murdered--the -former by Polysperchon. See Diod. Sic., xix. 105, xx. 28; Pausan., -ix. 7; Justin, xv. 2; Appian, _Syr._, c. 51. - -[671] The King of the Negeb (comp. Isa. xxx. 6, 7). LXX., Egypt. -Ptolemy assumed the crown about B.C. 304. - -[672] See Stade, _Gesch._, ii. 276. Seleucus Nicator was deemed so -important as to give his name to the Seleucid aera (1 Macc. i. 10, -[Greek: ete basileias Hellenon]). - -[673] Diod. Sic., xix. 55-58; Appian, _Syr._, c. 52. He ruled from -Phrygia to the Indus, and was the most powerful of the Diadochi. The -word _one_ is not expressed in the Hebrew: "but as for _one_ of his -captains." There may be some corruption of the text. Seleucus can -scarcely be regarded as a vassal of Ptolemy, but of Alexander. - -[674] Appian, _Syr._, c. 55; Polyaenus, viii. 50; Justin, xxvii. 1. -See Herzberg, _Gesch. v. Hellas u. Rom._, i. 576. Dates are not -certain. - -[675] Jer., _ad loc._ (Dan. xi. 6). - -[676] The rendering is much disputed, and some versions, punctuating -differently, have, "his seed [_i.e._, his daughter] shall not stand." -Every clause of the passage has received varying interpretations. - -[677] Polyb., v. 58. - -[678] Heb., _nasikim_; LXX., [Greek: ta choneuta]; Vulg., -_sculptilia_. - -[679] Herodotus (iii. 47) says that he ordered the images to be -burnt. On the Marmor Adulitanum, Ptolemy Euergetes boasted that he -had united Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Persia, Susiana, Media, and all -countries as far as Bactria under his rule. The inscription was seen -at Adules by Cosmas Indicopleustes, and recorded by him (Wolf u. -Buttmann, _Museum_, ii. 162). - -[680] R.V. marg., "He shall continue more years than the King of -the North." Ptolemy Euergetes died B.C. 247; Seleucus Kallinikos, -B.C. 225. It must be borne in mind that in almost every clause the -readings, renderings, and interpolations vary. I give what seem to be -the best attested and the most probable. - -[681] Justin, xxvii. 2. - -[682] See 3 Macc. i. 2-8; Jos., _B. J._, IV. xi. 5. The Seleucid army -lost ten thousand foot, three hundred horse, five elephants, and more -than four thousand prisoners (Polyb., v. 86). - -[683] Justin says (xxx. i): "Spoliasset regem Antiochum si fortunam -virtute juvisset." - -[684] _Chazon_, "the vision." Graetz renders it, "to cause the Law to -totter"; but this cannot be right. - -[685] _E.g._, Joseph, and his son Hyrcanus. - -[686] Polyb., xxviii. 1; Liv., xxxiii. 19; Jos., _Antt._, XII. iii. -4. See St. Jerome, _ad loc._ - -[687] Vulg., _terra inclyta_; but in viii. 9, _fortitudo_. - -[688] In the choice of the Hebrew words _qatsin cher'patho lo_, Dr. -Joel suspects a sort of anagram of Cornelius Scipio, like the [Greek: -apo melitos] for Ptolemy, and the [Greek: hion Heras] for Arsione in -Lycophron; but the real meaning and rendering of the verse are highly -uncertain. - -[689] Liv., xii. 19: "Otiosum, nullisque admodum rebus gestis -nobilitatum." - -[690] 2 Macc. iii. 7 ff. The reading and rendering are very uncertain. - -[691] Joel, _Notizen_, p. 16. - -[692] See Jost, i. 110. - -[693] Vulg., _vilissimus et indignus decore regio_; R.V., "to whom -they had not given the honour of a kingdom"; Ewald, "upon him shall -not be set the splendour of a kingdom." Dr. Joel sees in _nibzeh_ a -contemptuous paronomasia on "Epiphanes" (_Notizen_, p. 17). - -[694] Dan. viii. 22; 2 Macc. v. 25. - -[695] Jos., _Antt._, XII. v. 1. - -[696] Jerome, _amicitias simulans_. - -[697] See 1 Macc. iii. 30; 1 Macc. i. 19; Polyb., xxvii. 17; Diod. -Sic., xxx. 22. What his unkingly stratagems were we do not know. - -[698] Liv., xliv. 19: "Antiochus per honestam speciem majoris -Ptolemaei reducendi in regnum," etc. - -[699] Or "Paunch." He was so called from his corpulence. Comp. the -name Mirabeau, _Tonneau_. - -[700] 2 Macc. v. 5-21; 1 Macc. i. 20-24. - -[701] The LXX. render this [Greek: hexousi Rhomaioi]. Comp. Numb. -xxiv. 24; Jerome, _Trieres et Romani_. On "Chittim" (Gen. x. 4) see -Jos., _Antt._, I. vi. 1. - -[702] Polyb., xxix. 11; Appian, _Syr._, 66; Liv., xlv. 12; Vell. -Paterc., i. 10. According to Polybius (xxxi. 5), Epiphanes, by his -crafty dissimulation, afterwards completely hoodwinked the ambassador -Tiberius Gracchus. - -[703] 2 Macc. vi. 2. Our best available historical comments on this -chapter are to be found in the two books of Maccabees. - -[704] 1 Macc. ii. 42, iii. 11, iv. 14, vii. 13; 2 Macc. xiv. 6. - -[705] Diod. Sic, xxxi. 1; 1 Macc. i. 43. Polybius (xxxi. 4) says "he -committed sacrilege in most of the temples" ([Greek: ta pleista ton -hieron]). - -[706] Jahn (_Heb. Com._, Sec. xcii.) sees in the words "neither shall he -regard the desire of women" an allusion to his exclusion of women from -the festival at Daphne. Some explain the passage by his robbery of the -Temple of Artemis or Aphrodite in Elymais (Polyb., xxxi. 11; Appian, -_Syr._, 66; 1 Macc. vi. 1-4; 2 Macc. ix. 2). All is vague and uncertain. - -[707] Polyb., xxvi. 10; 2 Macc. vi. 2; Liv., xii. 20. The Hebrew -_Eloah Mauzzim_ is understood by the LXX., Theodotion, the Vulgate, -and Luther to be a god called Mauzzim ([Greek: Maozeim]). See Herzog, -_Real-Encycl._, _s.v._ "Meussin." Cicero (_c. Verr._, vii. 72) calls -the Capitol _arx omnium nationum_. The reader must judge for himself -as to the validity of the remark of Pusey (p. 92), that "all this is -alien from the character of Antiochus." - -[708] R.V. The translation is difficult and uncertain. - -[709] The LXX. here render this expression (which puzzled them, -and which they omit in vv. 16, 41) by [Greek: thelesis]. Theodot., -[Greek: ten gen tou Sabaeim]. - -[710] Ewald takes these for metaphoric designations of the -Hellenising Jews. Some (_e.g._, Zoeckler) understand these verses as -a recapitulation of the exploits of Antiochus. The whole clause is -surrounded by historic uncertainties. - -[711] The origin of the name Maccabee still remains uncertain. Some -make it stand for the initials of the Hebrew words, "Who among the -gods is like Jehovah?" in Exod. xv. 11; or of Mattathias Kohen -(priest), Ben-Johanan (_Biesenthal_). Others make it mean "the -Hammerer" (comp. Charles _Martel_). See Jost, i. 116; Prideaux, ii. -199 (so Grotius, and Buxtorf, _De Abbreviaturis_). - -[712] Vulg., Aphadno. The LXX. omit it. Theodot., Apadano; Symm., -"his stable." - -[713] Porphyry says that "he pitched his tent in a place called Apedno, -between the Tigris and Euphrates"; but even if these rivers should be -called seas, they have nothing to do with the Holy Mountain. Apedno -seems to be a mere guess from the word [Hebrew: fdn], "palace" or -"tent," in this verse. See Jer. xliii. 10 (Targum). Roland, however, -quotes Procopius (_De aedif. Justiniani_, ii. 4) as authority for a -place called Apadnas, near Amida, on the Tigris. See Pusey, p. 39. - -[714] Jahn, Sec. xcv. - -[715] 2 Macc. ix.; Jos., _Antt._, XII. ix. 1, 2; Milman, _Hist. of -the Jews_, ii. 9. Appian describes his lingering and wasting illness -by the word [Greek: phthinon] (_Syriaca_, 66). - - - - - CHAPTER VI - - _THE EPILOGUE_ - - -The twelfth chapter of the Book of Daniel serves as a general -epilogue to the Book, and is as little free from difficulties in the -interpretation of the details as are the other apocalyptic chapters. - -The keynote, however, to their right understanding must be given -in the words "_At that time_," with which the first verse opens. -The words can only mean "the time" spoken of at the end of the last -chapter, the days of that final effort of Antiochus against the holy -people which ended in his miserable death. - -"At that time," then--_i.e._, about the year B.C. 163--the guardian -archangel of Israel, "Michael, the great prince which standeth for -the children of thy people," shall stand up for their deliverance. - -But this deliverance should resemble many similar crises in its -general characteristics. It should not be immediate. On the -contrary, it should be preceded by days of unparalleled disorder -and catastrophe--"a time of trouble, such as never was since there -was a nation even to that same time." We may, for instance, compare -with this the similar prophecy of Jeremiah (xxx. 4-11): "And these -are the words which the Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning -Judah. For thus saith the Lord; We have heard a voice of trembling, -of fear, and not of peace.... Alas! for that day is great, so that -none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall -be saved out of it. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the -Lord, that I will burst thy bonds.... Therefore fear thou not, O -Jacob, My servant, saith the Lord; neither be dismayed, O Israel.... -For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee. For I will make a -full end of all the nations whither I have scattered thee, but I will -not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee with judgment, -and will in nowise leave thee unpunished."[716] - -The general conception is so common as even to have found expression -in proverbs,--such as, "The night is darkest just before the dawn"; -and, "When the tale of bricks is doubled, Moses comes." Some shadow -of similar individual and historic experiences is found also among -the Greeks and Romans. It lies in the expression [Greek: theos apo -mechanes], and also in the lines of Horace,-- - - "Nec Deus intersit nisi _dignus vindice nodus_ - Intersit." - -We find the same expectation in the apocryphal Book of Enoch,[717] -and we find it reflected in the Revelation of St. John,[718] where he -describes the devil as let loose and the powers of evil as gathering -themselves together for the great final battle of Armageddon before -the eternal triumph of the Lamb and of His saints. In Rabbinic -literature there was a fixed anticipation that the coming of the -Messiah must inevitably be preceded by "pangs" or "birth-throes," of -which they spoke as the [Hebrew: mshch vl].[719] These views may -partly have been founded on individual and national experience, but -they were doubtless deepened by the vision of Zechariah (xii.). - -"Behold, a day of the Lord cometh, when thy spoil shall be divided in -the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to -battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the -women ravished; and half of the people shall go forth into captivity, -and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then -shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He -fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon -the Mount of Olives.... And it shall come to pass in that day, that the -light shall not be light, but cold and ice:[720] but it shall be one -day that is known unto the Lord, not day and not night: but it shall -come to pass that at evening time there shall be light."[721] - -The anticipation of the saintly writer in the days of the early -Maccabean uprising, while all the visible issues were still -uncertain, and hopes as yet unaccomplished could only be read by the -eyes of faith, were doubtless of a similar character. When he wrote -Antiochus was already concentrating his powers to advance with the -utmost wrath and fury against the Holy City. Humanly speaking, it -was certain that the holy people could oppose no adequate resistance -to his overwhelming forces, in which he would doubtless be able to -enlist contingents from many allied nations. What could ensue but -immeasurable calamity to the great majority? Michael indeed, their -prince, should do his utmost for them; but it would not be in his -power to avert the misery which should fall on the nation generally. - -Nevertheless, they should not be given up to utter or to final -destruction. As in the days of the Assyrians the name Shear-jashub, -which Isaiah gave to one of his young sons, was a sign that "a -remnant should be left," so now the seer is assured that "thy people -shall be delivered"--at any rate "every one that shall be found -written in the book." - -"Written in the book"--for all true Israelites had ever believed that -a book of record, a book of remembrance, lies ever open before the -throne of God, in which are inscribed the names of God's faithful -ones; as well as that awful book in which are written the evil deeds -of men.[722] Thus in Exodus (xxxii. 33) we read, "Whosoever hath -sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book," which tells us -of the records against the guilty. In Psalm lxix. 28 we read, "Let -them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with -the righteous." That book of the righteous is specially mentioned -by Malachi: "Then they that feared the Lord spake one with another: -and the Lord hearkened and heard, and a book of remembrance was -written before him for them that feared the Lord and called upon -His Name."[723] And St. John refers to these books at the close -of the Apocalypse: "And I saw the dead, the great and the small, -standing before the throne; and books were opened: and another book -was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out -of the things which were written in the books, according to their -works.... And if any one was not found written in the book of life, -he was cast in the lake of fire."[724] - -In the next verse the seer is told that "many of them that sleep in -the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some -to shame and everlasting abhorrence."[725] - -It is easy to glide with insincere confidence over the difficulties -of this verse, but they are many. - -We should naturally connect it with what goes before as a reference -to "that time"; and if so, it would seem as though--perhaps with -reminiscences of the concluding prophecy of Isaiah[726]--the writer -contemplated the end of all things and the final resurrection.[727] -If so, we have here another instance to be added to the many in -which this prophetic vision of the future passed from an immediate -horizon to another infinitely distant. And if that be the correct -interpretation, this is the earliest trace in Scripture of the -doctrine of individual immortality. Of that doctrine there was no -full knowledge--there were only dim prognostications or splendid -hopes[728]--until in the fulness of the times Christ brought life -and immortality to light. For instance, the passage here seems to be -doubly limited. It does not refer to mankind in general, but only to -members of the chosen people; and it is not said that all men shall -rise again and receive according to their works, but only that "many" -shall rise to receive the reward of true life,[729] while others -shall live indeed, but only in everlasting shame. - -To them that be wise--to "the teacher,"[730] and to those that turn -the many to "righteousness"--there is a further promise of glory. They -"shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for -ever and ever." There is here, perhaps, a reminiscence of Prov. iv. 18, -19, which tells us that the way of the wicked is as darkness, whereas -the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and -more unto the perfect day. Our Lord uses a similar metaphor in his -explanation of the Parable of the Tares: "Then shall the righteous -shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father."[731] We find -it once again in the last verse of the Epistle of St. James: "Let him -know, that he who hath converted a sinner from the error of his way -shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." - -But there is a further indication that the writer expected this -final consummation to take place immediately after the troubles -of the Antiochian assault; for he describes the angel Gabriel as -bidding Daniel "to seal the Book even to the time of the end." Now -as it is clear that the Book was, on any hypothesis, meant for -the special consolation of the persecuted Jews under the cruel -sway of the Seleucid King, and that then first could the Book be -understood, the writer evidently looked for the fulfilment of his -last prophecies at the termination of these troubles. This meaning -is a little obscured by the rendering, "many _shall run to and fro_, -and knowledge shall be increased." Ewald, Maurer, and Hitzig take -the verse, which literally implies movement hither and thither, in -the sense, "many shall _peruse_ the Book."[732] Mr. Bevan, however, -from a consideration of the Septuagint Version of the words, "and -knowledge shall be increased"--for which they read, "and the land be -filled with injustice"--thinks that the original rendering would be -represented by, "many shall rush hither and thither, and many shall -be the calamities." In other words, "the revelation must remain -concealed, because there is to ensue a long period of commotion and -distress."[733] If we have been convinced by the concurrence of many -irresistible arguments that the Book of Daniel is the product of the -epoch which it most minutely describes, we can only see in this verse -a part of the literary form which the Book necessarily assumed as -the vehicle for its lofty and encouraging messages. - -The angel here ceases to speak, and Daniel, looking round him, -becomes aware of the presence of two other celestial beings, one of -whom stood on either bank of the river.[734] "And one said to the man -clothed in linen, which was above the waters of the river, How long -to the end of these wonders?"[735] There is a certain grandeur in the -vagueness of description, but the speaker seems to be one of the two -angels standing on either "lip" of the Tigris. "The man clothed in -linen," who is hovering in the air above the waters of the river, is -the same being who in viii. 16 wears "the appearance of a man," and -calls "from between the banks of Ulai" to Gabriel that he is to make -Daniel understand the vision. He is also, doubtless, the "one man -clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz, -his body like the beryl, his face as flashing lightning, his eyes as -burning torches, and his voice like the deep murmur of a multitude," -who strikes such terror into Daniel and his comrades in the vision of -chap. x. 5, 6;--and though all is left uncertain, "the great prince -Michael" may perhaps be intended. - -The question how long these marvels were to last, and at what period -the promised deliverance should be accomplished, was one which would -naturally have the intensest interest to those Jews who--in the -agonies of the Antiochian persecution and at the beginning of the -"little help" caused by the Maccabean uprising--read for the first time -the fearful yet consolatory and inspiring pages of this new apocalypse. -The answer is uttered with the most solemn emphasis. The Vision of the -priest-like and gold-girded angel, as he hovers above the river-flood, -"held up both his hands to heaven," and swears by Him that liveth for -ever and ever that the continuance of the affliction shall be "for a -time, times, and a half." So Abraham, to emphasise his refusal of any -gain from the King of Sodom, says that he has "_lifted up his hand_ -unto the Lord, the Most High God, that he would not take from a thread -to a shoe-latchet." And in Exod. vi. 8, when Jehovah says "I did -swear," the expression means literally, "_I lifted up My hand_."[736] -It is the natural attitude of calling God to witness; and in Rev. x. -5, 6, with a reminiscence of this passage, the angel is described as -standing on the sea, and lifting his right hand to heaven to swear a -mighty oath that there should be no longer delay. - -The "time, two times, and half a time" of course means three years -and a half, as in vii. 25. There can be little doubt that their -commencement is the _terminus a quo_ which is expressly mentioned in -ver. 11: "the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away." We -have already had occasion to see that three years, with a margin which -seems to have been variously computed, does roughly correspond to the -continuance of that total desecration of the Temple, and extinction of -the most characteristic rites of Judaism, which preceded the death of -Antiochus and the triumph of the national cause. - -Unhappily the reading, rendering, and interpretation of the next -clause of the angel's oath are obscure and uncertain. It is rendered -in the R.V., "and when they have made an end of breaking in pieces -the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished." -As to the exact translation many scholars differ. Von Lengerke -translates it, "and when the scattering of a part of the holy people -should come to an end, all this should be ended." The Septuagint -Version is wholly unintelligible. Mr. Bevan suggests an alteration of -the text which would imply that, "when the power of the shatterer of -the holy people [_i.e._, Antiochus] should come to an end, all these -things should be ended." This no doubt would not only give a very -clear sense, but also one which would be identical with the prophecy -of vii. 25, that "they [the times and the law] shall be given unto -his hand until a time and times and half a time."[737] But if we stop -short at the desperate and uncertain expedient of correcting the -original Hebrew, we can only regard the words as implying (in the -rendering of our A.V. and R.V.) that the persecution and suppression -of Israel should proceed to their extremest limit, before the woe was -ended; and of this we have already been assured.[738] - -The writer, in the person of Daniel, is perplexed by the angel's -oath, and yearns for further enlightenment and certitude. He makes -an appeal to the vision with the question, "O my lord, what shall -be the issue [or, latter end] of these things?" In answer he is -simply bidden to go his way--_i.e._, to be at peace, and leave all -these events to God,[739] since the words are shut up and sealed -till the time of the end. In other words, the Daniel of the Persian -Court could not possibly have attached any sort of definite meaning -to minutely detailed predictions affecting the existence of empires -which would not so much as emerge on the horizon till centuries after -his death. These later visions could only be apprehended by the -contemporaries of the events which they shadowed forth. - -"Many," continued the angel, "shall purify themselves, and make -themselves white, and be refined; but the wicked shall do wickedly: -and none of the wicked shall understand; the teachers shall -understand."[740] - -The verse describes the deep divisions which should be cleft among -the Jews by the intrigues and persecutions of Antiochus. Many would -cling to their ancient and sacred institutions, and purified by pain, -purged from all dross of worldliness and hypocrisy in the fires of -affliction, like gold in the furnace, would form the new parties -of the _Chasidim_ and the _Anavim_, "the pious" and "the poor." -They would be such men as the good high priest Onias, Mattathias -of Modin and his glorious sons, the scribe Eleazar, and the seven -dauntless martyrs, sons of the holy woman who unflinchingly watched -their agonies and encouraged them to die rather than to apostatise. -But the wicked would continue to be void of all understanding, and -would go on still in their wickedness, like Jason and Menelaus, -the renegade usurpers of the high-priesthood. These and the whole -Hellenising party among the Jews, for the sake of gain, plunged into -heathen practices, made abominable offerings to gods which were no -gods, and in order to take part in the naked contests of the Greek -gymnasium which they had set up in Jerusalem, deliberately attempted -to obliterate the seal of circumcision which was the covenant pledge -of their national consecration to the Jehovah of their fathers. - -"And from the time that the continual burnt offering shall be taken -away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be -a thousand two hundred and ninety days." - -If we suppose the year to consist of twelve months of thirty days, -then (with the insertion of one intercalary month of thirty days) -twelve hundred and ninety days is exactly three and a half years. -We are, however, faced by the difficulty that the time from the -desecration of the Temple till its reconsecration by Judas Maccabaeus -seems to have been exactly three years;[741] and if that view be -founded on correct chronology, we can give no exact interpretation of -the very specific date here furnished. - -Our difficulties are increased by the next clause: "Blessed is he -that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and -thirty days." - -All that we can conjecture from this is that, at the close of twelve -hundred and ninety days, by the writer's reckoning from the cessation -of the daily burnt offering, and the erection of the heathen -abomination which drove all faithful Jews from the Temple, up to the -date of some marked deliverance, would be three and a half years, -but that this deliverance would be less complete and beatific than -another and later deliverance which would not occur till forty-five -days later.[742] - -Reams of conjecture and dubious history and imaginative chronology -have been expended upon the effort to give any interpretation of -these precise data which can pretend to the dignity of firm or -scientific exegesis. Some, for instance, like Keil, regard the -numbers as _symbolical_, which is equivalent to the admission that -they have little or no bearing on literal history; others suppose -that they are _conjectural_, having been penned before the actual -termination of the Seleucid troubles. Others regard them as only -intended to represent _round numbers_. Others again attempt to give -them historic accuracy by various manipulations of the dates and -events in and after the reign of Antiochus. Others relegate the -entire vision to periods separated from the Maccabean age by hundreds -of years, or even into the remotest future. And none of these -commentators, by their researches and combinations, have succeeded -in establishing the smallest approach to conviction in the minds -of those who take the other views. There can be little doubt that -to the writer and his readers the passage pointed either to very -confident expectations or very well-understood realities; but for -us the exact clue to the meaning is lost. All that can be said is -that we should probably understand the dates better if our knowledge -of the history of B.C. 165-164 was more complete. We are forced to -content ourselves with their general significance. It is easy to -record and to multiply elaborate guesses, and to deceive ourselves -with the merest pretence and semblance of certainty. For reverent -and severely honest inquiries it seems safer and wiser to study and -profit by the great lessons and examples clearly set before us in the -Book of Daniel, but, as regards many of its unsolved difficulties, to -obey the wise exhortation of the Rabbis,-- - - "Learn to say, 'I do not know.'" - -FOOTNOTES: - -[716] See too Joel ii. 2. - -[717] Enoch xc. 16. - -[718] Rev. xvi. 14, xix. 19. - -[719] Comp. Matt. xxiv. 6, 7, 21, 22. - -[720] Such is the reading of the LXX., Vulgate, Peshitta, Symmachus, -etc. - -[721] Zech. xiv. 1-7. - -[722] Comp. vii. 10: "And the books were opened." - -[723] Mal. iii. 16. - -[724] Rev. xx. 12-15. Compare too Phil. iv. 3: "With Clement also, -and the rest of my fellow-workers, whose names are in the book of -life." - -[725] "Many sleepers in the land of dust" seems to mean the dead. -Comp. Jer. li. 39; Psalm xxii. 29; 1 Thess. iv. 14; Acts vii. 60. For -"shame" see Jer. xxiii. 40. The word for "abhorrence" only occurs -in Isa. lxvi. 24. The allusion seems to be to the [Greek: anastasis -kriseos] (John v. 29), the [Greek: deuteros thanatos] of Rev. xx. 14. -Comp. Enoch xxii. - -[726] Isa. lxvi. 24. - -[727] It is certain that the doctrine of the Resurrection acquired -more clearness in the minds of the Jews at and after the period of the -Exile; nor is there anything derogatory to the workings of the Spirit -of God which lighteth every man, in the view which supposes that they -may have learnt something on this subject from the Babylonians and -Assyrians. See the testimonies of St. Peter and St. Paul as to some -degree of Ethnic inspiration in Acts x. 34, 35, xvii. 25-31. - -[728] See Ezek. xxxvii. 1-4. - -[729] Theodoret says that "many" means "all," as in Rom. v. 15; but -there it is "_the_ many," and the parallel is altogether defective. -Hofmann gets over the difficulty by rendering it, "And in multitudes -shall they arise." Many commentators explain it not of the final but of -some partial resurrection. Few will now be content with such autocratic -remarks as that of Calvin: "Multos hic ponit pro omnibus ut certum est." - -[730] Lit. "those that justify the multitude." Comp. Isa. liii. 11, -and see Dan. xi. 33-35. - -[731] Matt. xiii. 43; 1 Cor. xv. 41; Rev. ii. 28. - -[732] Comp. Zech. iv. 10. This sense cannot be rigidly established. - -[733] He refers to 1 Macc. i. 9, which says of the successors of -Alexander, [Greek: kai eplethynan kaka en te ge]. - -[734] Jerome guesses that they are the angels of Persia and Greece. -The word [Hebrew: hayr] lit. "the canal," is often used of the Nile. - -[735] The LXX. reads [Greek: kai eipa], "and I said," making Daniel -the speaker (so too the Vulgate); but the form of the passage is so -closely analogous to viii. 13, as to leave no doubt that here too -"one saint is speaking to another saint." - -[736] Comp. Gen. xiv. 22; Deut. xxxii. 40, "For I lift up My hand -unto heaven, and say, I live for ever"; Ezek. xx. 5, 6, etc. - -[737] Those who can rest content with such exegesis may explain this -to imply that "the reign of _antichrist_ will be divided into three -periods--the first long, the second longer, the third shortest of all," -just as the seventy weeks of chap. ix. are composed of 7 x 62 x 1. - -[738] By way of comment see 1 Macc. v.; 2 Macc. viii. - -[739] [Hebrew: lech] is encouraging, as in ver. 13. - -[740] Comp. Rev. xxii. 11. - -[741] The small heathen altar to Zeus was built by Antiochus upon -the great altar of burnt offering on Kisleu 15, B.C. 168. The revolt -of Mattathias and his seven sons began B.C. 167. Judas the Maccabee -defeated the Syrian generals Apollonius, Seron, and Gorgias B.C. 166, -and Lysias at Beth-sur in B.C. 165. He cleansed and rededicated the -Temple on Kisleu 25, B.C. 165. - -[742] The "time, times, and a half." The 1,290 days, 1,335 days -and the 1,150 days, and the 2,300 days of viii. 14 all agree in -indicating three years with a shorter or longer fraction. It will be -observed that in each case there is a certain reticence or vagueness -as to the _terminus ad quem_. It is interesting to note that in Rev. -xi. 2, 3, the period of 42 months = 1,260 days = 3-1/2 years of -months of 30 days with no intercalary month. - - - - - APPROXIMATE CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES - - - B.C. - Jehoiakim 608-597 - Zedekiah 597-588 - Jerusalem taken 588 - Death of Nebuchadrezzar 561 - Evil-merodach 561 - Neriglissar 559 - Laborosoarchod 555 - Nabunaid 555 - Capture of Babylon 538 - Decree of Cyrus 536 - Cambyses 529 - Darius, son of Hystaspes 521 - Dedication of the Second Temple 516 - Battle of Salamis 480 - Ezra 458 - Nehemiah 444 - Nehemiah's reforms 428 - Malachi 420 - Alexander the Great invades Persia 334 - Battle of Granicus 334 - Battle of Issus 333 - Battle of Arbela 331 - Death of Darius Codomannus 330 - Death of Alexander 323 - Ptolemy Soter captures Jerusalem 320 - Simon the Just high priest 310 - Beginning of Septuagint translation 284 - Antiochus the Great conquers Palestine (?) 202 - - B.C. - Accession of Antiochus Epiphanes 176 Dan. vii. 8, 20. - - Joshua (Jason), brother of Onias III., - gets the priesthood by bribery, and - promotes Hellenism among the Jews 174 Dan. xi. 23-24, ix. 26. - - First expedition of Antiochus against - Egypt.--Murder of Onias III 171 - - His second expedition (?) 170 - - His plunder of the Temple and massacre - at Jerusalem 170 Dan. viii. 9, 10; xi. 28. - - Third expedition of Antiochus 169 Dan. xi. 29, 30. - - Apollonius, the general of Antiochus, - advances against Jerusalem with an - army of 22,000.--Massacre.--The - abomination of desolation in the Dan. vii. 21, 24, 25; - Temple.--Antiochus carries off some viii. 11-13, 24, 25; - of the holy vessels (1 Macc. i. 25); xi. 30-35, etc. - forbids circumcision; burns the - books of the Law; puts down the - daily sacrifice 169-8 - - Desecration of the Temple.--Jews - compelled to pay public honour - to false gods.--Faithfulness of - scribes and _Chasidim_.--Revolt of - Maccabees 167 Dan. xi. 34, 35; xii. 3. - - Jewish war of independence.--Death - of the priest Mattathias.--Judas - Maccabaeus defeats Lysias 166 - - Battles of Beth-zur and Dan. vii. II, 26; viii. - Emmaus.--Purification of Temple 14; xi. 45, etc. - (Kisleu 25) 165 - - Death of Antiochus Epiphanes 163 - - Judas Maccabaeus dies in battle at - Eleasa 161 - - GENEALOGICAL TABLE OF THE LAGIDAE, - PTOLEMIES, AND SELEUCIDAE - - Seleucus Nicator, - B.C. 312-280. Ptolemy Soter (Dan. xi. 5). - | | - Antiochus I. (Soter), Ptolemy Philadelphus. - B.C. 280. | - | | - +------+----------------+ +-----------+------+ - | | | | - Laodice==Antiochus II. (Theos)==Berenice. Ptolemy Euergetes, - | B.C. 260-246. | B.C. 285-247 - | | (Dan. xi. 7,8). - | An infant, murdered | - +-----+-----------+ by Laodice. | - | | Ptolemy Philopator, - Seleucus II. Antiochus. B.C. 222-205 - (Kallinikos), (Dan. xi. 10-12). - d. B.C. 226. | - | | - +--+------------------+ | - | | | - Seleucus III. Antiochus III. ("the Great"), | - (Keraunos). B.C. 224 (Dan. xi. 10-12, 14). | - | | - +-------------------+------------------+ | - | | | | - Seleucus Antiochus IV. Cleopatra==Ptolemy Epiphanes, - Philopator. (Epiphanes), B.C. 175. | B.C. 205-181 - | | | (Dan. xi. 14). - | | +------+-----------------+ - Demetrius. Antiochus V., | | - B.C. 164. Ptolemy Philometor, Ptolemy - B.C. 181-146 (Dan. xi. 25-30). Euergetes - II. - -For a fuller list and further identifications see Driver, pp. 461, -462, and _supra_. For the genealogical table see Mr. Deane (Bishop -Ellicott's _Commentary_, v. 402). - - - - - THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE. - - EDITED BY THE REV. - - =W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, M.A., LL.D.=, - - Editor of "The Expositor," etc. - - _In large crown 8vo, cloth. Price to Subscribers in Advance_, =28s.= - _Separate Vols._, =7s. 6d.= _each_. - - - =THE RECORD= says:-- - -"_Few series of volumes gives us so much pleasure to review as the -'Expositor's Bible.' We never open a volume without expecting to -find in it much that is inspiriting and much that is suggestive, and -we are never disappointed. We have no hesitation in advising any -Clergyman who is thinking of expounding a book of Scripture to his -congregation to procure, as one of his most valuable aids, the right -volume of the 'Expositor's Bible._'" - - - ==First Series.== - - _Subscription Price_, =24s.= _Separate Volumes_, =7s. 6d.= _each_. - - =The Gospel of St. Mark= - By the =Very Rev. G. A. CHADWICK, D.D.=, Dean of Armagh. - - =The Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon= - By the =Rev. ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D.D.= - - =The Book of Genesis= - By the =Rev. Prof. MARCUS DODS, D.D.= - - =The First Book of Samuel= - By the =Rev. Prof. W. G. BLAIKIE, D.D., LL.D.= - - =The Second Book of Samuel= - By the =Rev. Prof. W. G. BLAIKIE, D.D., LL.D.= - - =The Epistle to the Hebrews= - By the =Rev. Principal T. C. EDWARDS, D.D.=, Author of - "A Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians." - - =All the Sets may be had at the Subscription Price, but the Volumes - of the different Series are not assorted on Subscription Terms.= - - - - - THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE. - - ==Second Series.== - - _Subscription Price_, =24s.= _Separate Volumes_, =7s. 6d.= _each_. - - - =The Epistle to the Galatians= - By the =Rev. Prof. G. G. FINDLAY, B.A.=, Headingley College, Leeds. - -"In this volume we have the mature results of broad and accurate -scholarship, exegetical tact, and a firm grasp of the great principles -underlying the Gospel of Paul presented in a form so lucid and -attractive that every thoughtful reader can enjoy it."--PROFESSOR BEET. - - =The Book of Isaiah= - =Chapters I.-XXXIX.= - By the =Rev. Prof. G. ADAM SMITH, M.A., D.D.= - -"This is a very attractive book. Mr. George Adam Smith has evidently -such a mastery of the scholarship of his subject that it would be a -sheer impertinence for most scholars, even though tolerable Hebraists, -to criticise his translations; and certainly it is not the intention of -the present reviewer to attempt anything of the kind, to do which he is -absolutely incompetent. All we desire is to let English readers know -how very lucid, impressive--and, indeed, how vivid--a study of Isaiah -is within their reach; the fault of the book, if it has a fault, being -rather that it finds too many points of connection between Isaiah and -our modern world, than that it finds too few. In other words, no one -can say that the book is not full of life."--_Spectator._ - - =The Pastoral Epistles= - By the =Rev. ALFRED PLUMMER, D.D.=, Master of University - College, Durham. - -"An admirable sample of what popular theology ought to -be."--_Saturday Review._ - -"The treatment is throughout scholarlike, lucid, -thoughtful."--_Guardian._ - - =The First Epistle to the Corinthians= - By the =Rev. Prof. MARCUS DODS, D.D.= - -"A clear, close, unaffected, unostentatious exposition, not verse by -verse, but thought after thought, of this most interesting perhaps, -and certainly most various, of all the Apostle's writings."--_London -Quarterly Review._ - - =The Epistles of St. John= - By the =Right Rev. W. ALEXANDER, D.D.=, Lord Bishop - of Derry and Raphoe. - -"These commentaries are explicitly intended to help the preacher, -and in Dr. Alexander's 'Discourses' they will find material ready -shaped to their hand--not facts only, but imagery, references, and -allusions, none of them cheap or commonplace, and some of them -felicitous in a high degree."--_Guardian._ - - =The Revelation of St. John= - By the =Rev. Prof. W. MILLIGAN, D.D.=, of the University - of Aberdeen. - -"Lucid, scholarly."--_Academy._ - -"The style is admirably lucid, expressive, and withal stately. The -task of the reader could not possibly be easier, and in the case of -such an abstruse theme the result is no small feat of intellectual -and literary ingenuity."--_Aberdeen Free Press._ - - - - - - THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE. - - ==Third Series.== - - _Subscription Price_, =24s.= _Separate Volumes_, =7s. 6d.= _each_. - - - =Judges and Ruth= - By the =Rev. R. A. 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A useful running -commentary."--_Saturday Review._ - -"It consists of an interesting and sympathetic delineation of the -prophet's life and character, of a new translation, and of expository -remarks, which are partly critical and partly homiletic. The critical -portion will be prized most, as it exhibits deep learning, breadth -of view, and clear insight into the prophet's meaning."--_Manchester -Examiner._ - - =The Book of Exodus= - By the =Very Rev. G. A. CHADWICK, D.D.=, Dean of Armagh. - -"Marked by sound exegesis, common sense, and a devotional -spirit."--_Record._ - -"Every part of the book is replete with instruction and interest, and -a unity of thought and purpose pervades it all."--_Glasgow Herald._ - - =The Gospel of St. Matthew= - By the =Rev. J. MONRO GIBSON, D.D.=, Author of "The - Ages before Moses," etc. - -"A careful exposition in which one important part is not slightly -dealt with while disproportionate space is given to another, but by -studied economy of labour and space due care and labour are given to -every part. The exposition is sober, reverent, and systematic; it is -also enlightened and well informed."--_London Quarterly Review._ - - =The Gospel of St. Luke= - By the =Rev. HENRY BURTON, M.A.= - -"Full of vivid illustration and fresh, bright exposition."--_Record._ - -"In the unfolding of truth Mr. Burton writes as a poet. There is glow -and colour and melody in his descriptions. Often there are passages -of great beauty."--_Methodist Recorder._ - - =The Book of Isaiah= - =Chapters XL. to LXVI.= - By the =Rev. Prof. G. ADAM SMITH, M.A., D.D.= - -"A work of no ordinary merit; indeed, it is but rare that such -exegetical power and mature scholarship are united with an ease of -style and a fertility of modern illustration that leave but little to -desire."--_Speaker._ - - - - - - THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE. - - ==Fourth Series.== - - _Subscription Price_, =24s.= _Separate Volumes_, =7s. 6d.= _each_. - - - =The Gospel of St. John. Vol. I.= - By the =Rev. Prof. MARCUS DODS, D.D.= - -"Dr. Dods' exposition, besides being characterised by all the literary -grace by which his previous works are distinguished, is also thoroughly -evangelical in tone, without, however, being at all narrow; while the -arguments which this portion of Scripture so powerfully suggests in -proof of the divinity of Christ are handled in such a way as will carry -them home to all who accept the narrative as authentic."--_Scotsman._ - - =The Acts of the Apostles. Vol. I.= - By the =Rev. Prof. G. T. STOKES, D.D.= - -"One of the most valuable contributions to the history of the -Primitive Church that have appeared within recent years."--_Dundee -Advertiser._ - - =The Book of Leviticus= - By the =Rev. S. H. KELLOGG, D.D.= - -"The relation of law and gospel is grandly exhibited, and a -difficult portion of Holy Writ explained in detail and with -power."--_Christian._ - -"He has certainly succeeded in investing with fresh interest this old -book of laws."--_Scotsman._ - - =The Book of Proverbs= - By the =Rev. R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D.= - -"Ably and freshly written."--_Church Times._ - -"A book which may be read by all with pleasure and profit, and which, -by ministers of all orders, may be taken as a model of one kind of -expository teaching."--_Christian World._ - -"The expositor has done his work in a most masterly -fashion."--_Glasgow Herald._ - - =The Epistles of St. James and St. Jude= - By the =Rev. A. PLUMMER, D.D.=, Master of University - College, Durham. - -"It is even a better piece of work than his former volume on the -Pastoral Epistles. It contains everything that the student can -desire by way of introduction to the two Epistles, while for those -who read with an eye to the manufacture of sermons, or for their own -edification, the doctrinal and moral lessons are developed in a style -redolent of books, yet singularly easy and unaffected. Points of -interest abound."--_Saturday Review._ - -"A very able and interesting exposition.... An excellent example of -Scriptural exegesis."--_Academy._ - - =The Book of Ecclesiastes= - =With a New Translation.= - By the =Rev. SAMUEL COX, D.D.= - -"The most luminous, original, and practical exposition of -Ecclesiastes which is within the reach of ordinary English -readers."--_Speaker._ - -"Dr. Cox's work is likely to count as one of the most interesting -of the many interesting studies of which Ecclesiastes has been the -basis."--_Guardian._ - - - - - - THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE. - - ==Fifth Series.== - - _Subscription Price_, =24s.= _Separate Volumes_, =7s. 6d.= _each_. - - - =The Epistles to the Thessalonians= - By the =Rev. JAMES DENNEY, D.D.= - -"As an expositor we are able to say that Mr. Denney seems to have -entered very fully into the spirit of the Apostle Paul, and to have -succeeded in expressing very clearly, and impressing very forcibly, the -general meaning of the Apostle's words.... It is a very ably written -work, and one which is well calculated to make the Apostle's teaching -in these two epistles more intelligible and more telling."--_Scotsman._ - - =The Book of Job= - By the =Rev. R. S. WATSON, D.D.=, Author of "Gospels - of Yesterday," etc. - -"Dr. Watson does not fall behind his predecessors in doing justice to -this magnificent effort of Hebrew genius or inspiration. The opening -scene on earth and the opening scene in heaven are brought before us -with graphic power, and the problem raised by the situation of Job -by the unmerited suffering of the good man stated and discussed with -much force and philosophical insight. Dr. Watson has written with -conspicuous ability and a thorough mastery of his subject."--_Scotsman._ - - =The Gospel of St. John. Vol. II.= - By =Prof. MARCUS DODS, D.D.= - -"Dr. Dods appears to us always to write with clearness and -vigour.... He has the gift of lucid expression, and by means of apt -illustrations he avoids the cardinal sin of dryness, so that the -interest even of the general reader will not flag as he smoothly -glides through these chapters."--_Guardian._ - - =The Epistle to the Ephesians= - By the =Rev. Prof. G. G. FINDLAY, B.A.= - -"Every page shows that he has made a minute and careful examination -of the text, while in every chapter there are inferences drawn and -suggestions thrown out which will find their way into many sermons. -They who know this Epistle best will be the first to acknowledge the -value of Prof. Findlay's exposition."--_Expositor._ - - =The Acts of the Apostles. Vol. II.= - By the =Rev. Prof. G. T. STOKES, D.D.= - -"The second volume is as readable as the first, full of learning -without a spice of pedantry.... The volume is highly to be commended -for knowledge, sobriety, and manly piety."--_Saturday Review._ - - =The Psalms. Vol. I.= - By the =Rev. ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D.D.= - -"Dr. Maclaren has evidently mastered his subject with the aid of the -best authorities, and has put the results of his studies before his -readers in a most attractive form; and if we add that his commentary -really helps to the better understanding of the Psalms, that, far -from degrading, it vivifies and illuminates these sublime stories, -and that it is written in a charming style, very seldom falling below -the dignity of the subject, we believe we only give it the praise -which is its due."--_Scotsman._ - - - - - - THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE. - - ==Sixth Series.== - - _Subscription Price_, =24s.= _Separate Volumes_, =7s. 6d.= _each_. - - - =The Epistle to the Philippians= - By the =Rev. Principal RAINY, D.D.= - -"A piece of good and thorough work, the work of a sound and well-read -expositor, and especially of an orthodox Scotch divine."--_London -Quarterly Review._ - - =The First Book of Kings= - By the =Venerable F. W. FARRAR, D.D., F.R.S.=, Archdeacon - of Westminster. - -"Dr. Farrar brings his versatile literary powers to bear upon -these majestic and imposing scenes, with all his gifts of poetic -description, his wealth of quotations, and his aptitude for -picturesque comparisons."--_Guardian._ - - =Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther= - By the =Rev. Prof. W. F. ADENEY, M.A.= - -"Mr. Adeney has evidently grasped the whole story with clearness and -force: his portraits are lifelike; he has all the instinct of the -expositor in high development. It is no small triumph to have done so -well with one of the least pictorial and fascinating of Old Testament -histories."--_Independent._ - - =The Book of Joshua= - By the =Rev. Prof. W. G. BLAIKIE, D.D., LL.D.= - -"We have no hesitation in saying that for every-day working purposes -expositors of the Book of Joshua will find this volume more helpful -than many more critical and modernised works.... His expositions are -usually fresh and interesting, and there is an eye for the practical -in all he writes."--_Glasgow Herald._ - - =The Psalms. Vol. II.= - By the =Rev. ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D.D.= - -"The volume is as attractive as the first, and shows throughout the -same high qualities of penetration and spiritual sympathy. Its pages -give abundant evidence of care, critical study, and acquaintance with -the best that our most competent scholars have contributed to the -exposition of the Psalms."--_Critical Review._ - - =The Epistles of Peter= - By the =Rev. Prof. LUMBY, D.D., Cambridge.= - -"A sound and finely practical commentary."--_Saturday Review._ - -"We have been impressed by the carefulness, fulness, and almost -minuteness of the expositions which Dr. Lumby gives in this -volume."--_Literary World._ - -[asterism] =_For List of Volumes in the 7th and the concluding (8th) -Series see back of title._= - - LONDON: HODDER AND STOUGHTON, 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. - - - - -Transcriber's Notes: - - -Obvious punctuation and spelling errors have been fixed throughout. - -Non-Latin characters have been replaced with the nearest Latin -equivalent for example oe (the oe ligature), was replaced with oe. - -Inconsistent hyphenation is as in the original. - -Single Hebrew characters have been replaced with [H]. - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Expositor's Bible: The Book of -Daniel, by F. W. 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