[588] Achashverosh, Esther viii. 10; perhaps connected with _Kshajârsha_, "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 (Χρόνος μακρὸς ἕως ἑππὰ γενεῶν). 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: εὑρεῖν προσευχὴν καὶ ἔλεος ἐν νηστείαις.
[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., τάχει φερόμενος; Theodot., πετόμενος; 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 _tamîd_ had ceased.
[603] ix. 23. Heb., _eesh hamudôth_; Vulg., _vir desideriorum_, "a man of desires"; Theodot., ἀνὴρ ἐπιθυμιῶν. Comp. x. 11, 19, and Jer. xxxi. 20, where "a pleasant child" is "a son of caresses"; and the "_amor et deliciæ generis humani_" applied to Titus; and the names David, Jedidiah, "beloved of Jehovah." The LXX. render the word ἐλεεινός, "an object of pity."