The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 55

Ionian oourt, or, again, 11 oopyiet might hBve Ecclesio.etious and the Dook f)f Wisdf)m. lneorted it 8B B more known word th11n that The word translated "skilful," mn,k;/eem, originally in the text. Thie l11tlcr, we think, means, in the first inst<1nce, "attcrnling t,,; ,, ie the probable solution, If the division of thon, the result of this attention, especially the verses hnd in the Maeeorelic become when followed by the prepneition ::i, "in," dorangcd, then bahureem would be unin- The LXX. suits tl,is, "skilled in all wis,lom." tolligible, standing, 8B it would, ut the end Theodotion renders," nnrlerst11nrling (cruvdv- of the verse. In Egypt this demngement .,.,is) in all wisdom." Professor Bevan would did not take plBce, Bnd hence bahureem was render maskil, "intelligent:" Hitzig adopts retBincd. 0/iildren in whom wa• no b1.emi•h. Luther's einsichtig in allerlei Wi••emchaft, There is no limit to the age implied in yeled, "intelligent in every kind of science," the word the plural of which is translated adding, " that is, they would be were th-,y "children;" thus the young counsellors who plf1eed in suitable circumstances." He had been brought up with Rehoboam are objects to De Wette rendering "experi- co.lied !fladeem. As they had been brought enced," o.e unsuitable to boys. Cunninq in up wilh Rehoboo.m, they were of the same knowledge; litera.lly, knowing knou:lerlge. age with him, yet he was forty-one years The distinction is here between the faculty old when he ascended the Uuone. Joseph of intelligence and the actual acquiremenlil. is called yeled when he was o.t lenst seven- It might be rendered "intelligent and teen, o.nd Ishmael when he was probably well-educated "-a view that is supported sixteen. Benjamin is called yeled when he by the Septuagint rendering (-ypciµ.p.4T1Kou, ). ,vas nearly, if not quite, thirty years old ; Understanding scienu; "discriminating it is so.id of him immediately before he knowledge," as it is rendered in Theodotion. went down to Egypt, and then he was the The Septuagint translator had another text father of ten sons. lt is usecl also of new- before him; instead of readingm'bine madda', born infants (Exod. i. 17). When we look he had before him m'binim yod'eem, that ie at the various qualifications they were to to say, he dividod the lelters differently, so possess-ekilful in all wisdom, cunning in that he read m along with m•bine, and had knowledge, understanding science-sixteen to 11 yod inserted after m, not as connected, eighteen seems the lowest limit we can set. but as separate. The word madda' is late, Aben Ezra oomes to the conclneion that found in Chronicles and Ecclesiastes, and they were fourteen when they co.me to as Aramaic well known ; the change in the Babylon; that, however, even when all Septuagint must have been due to a dif- allowance is made for the precocity of warm ferent reBding. The fact that madda' is climates, seems too low. On the whole, we late, and WBS not in the Septuagint text, mo.y say that Daniel, when he was ta.ken to throws II suspicion on all the late words in Babylon, wo.e the same age as Joseph when Daniel, as all of them may be due to the he went down into Egypt. The Septuagint so.me modernizing tendency. The phrase, rendering (v«iv1cr1<011r) supports our view. according to the Septuagint reading, may We may note that this command to Ash penaz be rendered, "having good powers of dis- was in e.11 likelihood given at Jerusalem. crimination and acquisition." And 1uch. In whom was 110 blemish, but well favoured. as had ability in them to stand in the king', If we may judge of the taste of the Bo.by- palace. 'fhe word nsed for" ability" (ko~) lonio.ns and Assyrians from. the sculptures usually means "physical strength," as of that have come down to us, they had a high Samson (Judg. xvi. 6), applied to aninw.le atandard of personal appearance-especially as of the unicorn (wild ox) (Job :i:xxn. 11). fine in appearance are the eunuchs tho.t Here, however, it refers rather to wcntal stand before the king. The word tnoom, capacity. The idea is thllt those should "blemish," is used of the priesthood; pre- be chosen who showed signs of futu~ sence of a " blemish " excluded from the ability, and therefore afforded II probability priesthood (Lev. :xxi. 17). It is used of that they would be of use in the roya.J. Absalom (2 Sam. xiv. 25); it is equivalent council-cham.ber. The translator of the in meaning to µ.wµ.or, wbioh not impossibly Septuagint Version puts II point after was derived from some early form of this lcrxuoV'Tcis, and unites the two following word; tovay mar'eh, "goodly in appearance," clirnses under it. And whom they miqht almost identicul with our colloquial "good- teach the learning and the tongue of the looking." Skilful in all wisdom. The word Ohaldeans. The LXX. renders, "to teach "wisdom" has, in generBl, o. somewhat them letters and the Chaldean dialect." technical meaning in Hebrew, "skill in in- 'l'hore were three tongues used iu Babylon. terpreting riddles and framing proverbs." There wo.s the Aro.maio of ordimuy business It became widened in meaning in certain and diplomacy, called in 2 Kings xviii. 26 cases, as we see in the description of wisdom " the Syrian langu"ge," o.nd in this book in tho be,...inning or Proverb~ aud Job xxviii. (eh. ii. 4) "Syriack." This was commonly '¥e~ wid~r i~ the sphere given to it in understood, as i.:J shown bv the fact that  H THE DOOK OF DANIEL. [l.:H, I, 1-21.