The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 3

fulfilled. For seven months he is & m11niac, and one of his own household acta p,s king. 'fhe king &t length is restored to bis senses, and decrees yet further honours to the God of heaven, without, however, declaring thnt the gods of Babylon were no gods-that is to say, without at all becoming a monotheist. The next incident occurs during the time that Belshazzar, the son of Nabunahid is fulfilling the duties of the throne, while his father is living in enforced retirement in Terna. The young viceroy makes a feast at the consecration of his palace-so the Septuagint informs us-to inspirit his lords-the rabbuti, with whom, the annals of Nabunabid inform us, he always was during the illness of bis father. He orders the vessels of the temple of Jehovah to be brought forth, along with trophies from the temples of other gods. It was a proof of the superiority of the gods of Babylon over all other deities, that these trophies had been brought from the very temples of these gods. It was thus a challenge to Jehovah. Over against the golden candlestick from Jerusalem, which by the royal orders was on the table, appeared on the fresh plaster a fiery inscription. No one could read it, notwithstanding that the greatest rewards were offered. At last, on the advice of the queen-mother, Daniel, who had retired from the court, probably on the murder of Evil-Merodacb, is brought and reads the message of doom. The young viceroy bates not a jot of bis promise. Daniel is made third in the kingdom. The Massoretic text has," That night was Belsbazzar King of the Chaldeans slain "-a most improbable statement, and one that is not found in the Septuagint. The next incident occurs after the fall of the Babylonian power. Gobryas (Darius) is the governor of Babylon under Cyrus. Daniel occupies a prominent place in the court of the new viceroy. Possibly induced by fear of the riots liable to ensue when so many shrines are dismantled in order to send the idols of the cities plundered by the Babylonian monarch back to their original seats, Darius issues a decree that all religious worship is to cease for a month, on p~in of being thrown to the lions. Daniel disregards this sentence, and is accordingly thrown to the lions, despite the governor's efforts. Daniel is delivered from the lions by his God, in whom he trusted. Gobryas then issues a decree, reaffirming the decrees of Nebuchadnezzar, but not establishing the sole worship of Jehovah. Such are the contents of the first section of the Book of Daniel. These incidents clearly exhibit the supremacy of the God of Israel over the gods of Babylon-a supre- macy which the overthrow of the Jewish kingdom and the destruction of Jehovah's temple might have seemed to have rendered not even doubtful. The monarchs of Assyria and Babylon were highly religious in their way, and regarded themselves as the instru- ments of their own gods; all their victories were victories of the gods they worshipped, and manifestations of their power. Hence the special point of _these works of wonder narrated in the Book of Daniel. The second section consists of visions revealed to Daniel. These, like the incidents of the first section, are arranged chronologically. To a certain extent the contents of the vision of Nebuchadnezzar in the second chapter might be regarded as belonging to this 11ection, and has to be considered along with it. The first vision is dated as given in the first year of Belshazzar. Daniel in vision sees the four winds of henv,n striving for the mastery on the surface of the great sea, the Mediterranean; and four beasts, great and mystical, arose out of the sea. The first was a winged lion, whose wings were plucked, and a. man's heart was given him. The second was a huge bear, that gnawed three ribs in its teeth. The third, a leopard having four wings. The fourth was a beast great and terrible, that had no likeness among the beasts of the earth. It had great iron teeth, and brake in pieces and stampcJ the residue with its feet, It had ten horns at first, but an eleventh horn sprang up iu iv 1NTRODUUT10N ·ro