[284] LXX. Theodot., καιρὸν ἐξαγοράζετε (not in a _good_ sense, as in Eph. v. 16; Col. iv. 5).
[285] Theodot., συνέθεσθε. Cf. John ix. 22.
[286] Theodot., ἔως οὗ ὁ καιρὸς παρέλθῃ.
[287] Esther iii. 7.
[288] The word _Aramîth_ 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 (Wüstenfeld, p. 9).
[290] See Lenormant, _La Magie_, pp. 181-183.
[291] LXX., ii. 11: εἰ μή τις ἄγγελος.
[292] Lit. "chief of the slaughter-men" or "executioners." LXX., ἀρχιμάγειρος. 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 _Erî-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 Elymæans." An Erim-akû, 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: καὶ παρήγγειλε νηστείαν καὶ δέησιν καὶ τιμωρίαν ζητῆσαι παρὰ τοῦ Κυρίου.
[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, χρόνοι ἢ καιροί; 1 Thess. v. 1; Acts xvii. 26, ὁρίσας προτεταγμένους καιρούς.
[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 _Gazerîm_, "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 (Schröder, _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: καὶ τόπος οὐχ εὑρέθη αὐτοῖς.
[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-sharrâni_, 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 ἰχθύες τῆς θαλάσσης.