The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 2

tbt draws the tender love or this chief of lhe eunuchs. It ie the youth who givca hie name to the book. Soon Ashpenaz hae to observe this youth and hie three compnnione for another reason. They have scruples, and will not eat of the meat from the king's table. He does not consent to the request of this youth, favourite though he is with him. He fears lest they appear inferior to their companions whcu they are brought before the king; so he will not grant their request, but shuts _hiR eyes when the steward uniler him, after an experiment of ten days' duration, permits these youths to live on pulse. The result fully justifies the experiment. When they are presented before the king, they distance all competitors. Such is the prologue of the story of Daniel. 1'Lc rest of the book is divided into two nearly equal sections. First, incidents detached from each other, but arranged in a chronological succession: this ends with the sixth chapter. Next visions: this section, beginning with the seventh chapter, coutinues to the end of the book, and is also arranged chronologically. The section of incidents. The first of these relates to Daniel's tellin<T the kina his dream and its interpretation, when all other members of the sacred college had failed to do so. It is not absolutely certain, by the language used, whether the king had forgotten the dream or simply was obstinately determined to put the claims of the Babylonian soothsayers to the test. It is not imposstble that this was the occasion when the four friends were brought before the king, narrated already compendiously in the preceding chapter. The second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar-the date of this incident-coinciding, according to Babylonian reckoning, to some extent, with the third year after hie accession, and therefore coinciding with the end of the third year of the training of those youths. The result of this manifestation of power by Daniel, and ascribed by him to the God whom he worships, is that Nebuchadnezzar ordai.Ls that Lhe God of Daniel be henceforth reckoned among the great gods, especially on account of hie wisdom as Revealer of secrets. The next incident, that related in the third chapter, refers only to Daniel's three friends, not to Daniel himself. The three friends who had, at Daniel'e request, been promoted to places of trnst in the province of Babylon, refuse to bow down in worship to the golden image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. In consequence of this act of insubordination and constructive treason-for so it seems to the Babylonian monarch-they are cast into a furnace of fire. God, whom they serve, for whose honour they have braved the wrath of the king, sends hie angel and delivers them from the fiery furnace, and that angel, to the amazement of the king, is seen walking in the furnace with the three Hebrews. The king affirms his former decree with greater emphasis in regard to the God of Israel. His claims to be regarded as one of the great god&--a god of gods-rest not only on his wisdom, but also on his power. As it is recognized that a God so great to deliver would be also great to destroy, to prevent his vengeance being poured forth on Babylon, the severest punishment is to be inflicted on any one who says anything derogatory of the God of the Hebrews, While the former incident is dated by the Septuagint in the eighteenth year of the reign of NebuchadnE-zzar-the year, according to the reckoning of Babylon, when he took Jerusalem-the incident of the fourth cha.pttr must be placed much later in his reign. The Septuagint dates this incident the same year. Ewald would pla.ce it ten years later; proba.bly the real da.te is the thirty-eighth yea.r. The king, great and prosperous, has another dream. According to the Septuagint, he at once summons Daniel, and tells him the vision he has seen. Seeing what is revealed by the vision, and having a love for the splendid tyrant, Daniel is overwhelmed with sorrow. At ]1<Bt, adjured by the king he foretells his ma.dneas, A year elapses, the v!sio1:1 is  THE BOOK OF DANIEL. ii{