[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. (ἀρχὴ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς). 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, ἐμπεσὼν εἰς ἀῤῥωστίαν, μετηλλάξατο τὸν βίον (of Nebuchadrezzar); and I. 19 of Nabopolassar.
[375] _Præp. 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] עִיר. Comp. Mal. ii. 12 (perhaps "the watchman and him that answereth"). LXX., ἄγγελος; Theodot., ἐγρήγορος.
[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 jüdische Angelologie_, p. 6, n. 17.
[389] For a full examination of the subject see Oehler, _Theol. of the O. T._, § 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; _Bereshîth 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 _Shamayîm_; N. T., ἡ βασίλεια τῶν οὐρανῶν.
[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] _Berachôth_, f. 10, 2; f. 57, 2.
[403] Theodot., τὰς ἁμαρτίας σου ἐν ἐλεημοσύναις λύτρωσαι; 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 Pœnitent_., ii. 6 (Behrmann).
[405] It is now called Kasr, but the Arabs call it _Mujelibé_, "The Ruined."