The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 56

tablet!! have been fonnd ineoribed in As- tbo Hebrew term, In the drtys of Nabo- 6~·rian, but hRving a docquet behind in polnssar, the Chaldeana being supremo in Aramaic, telling the contents. Next there Babylonia, all the inhabitnnts of that pro- Wll.8 the Ae~yrion, a Shomitic tongue, cog- vince may hnve been called Chnldeans. L11l- nate with Hebrew, though further removed torly there wns R restricted use of tho torm, from it thRn ArRmaic is. This is the lnn- duo to the grc11t attention paid in Bnby- gu11.ge of historic and legal documents, loni11 to Mtrology. It is doubtful wholhor much as Normon-French wrts for long the this restricted uso of tho word occurred in lnnguagc of onr Acts of Prtrliamcnt, "·bile the genuine Daniel, from which our cnnonicnl the people spoke a ton11:ne !lot far removed Doniel hRs sprung. Cortninly Dnniol, cmd from our mndern English. Thu system of those hostages selected with him, were lo be writing used wns cumbrous in the highest eduoatod so as to bocorue mtmbcrs of !his degree, the BRme sign standing for several sacred college of augurd e.nd astrologers. different words, and the same word repre- Ver. 5.-And the king appointed them a sented by several different signs. As a daily provision of the king's meat, and of 11poken langue.ge-if it ever were a 11poken tongue-it was cumbrous also. It was emi- the wine which he drank : so nourishing nently a monumental tongue. Lastly, them three yea.re, that at the end thereof there was Aooadian, the sacred tongue, a they might stand before the king. The language belonging to a different clnss from only thing to bo noticed in the LXX. the Aramaic and Assyrian. In it the great Version of this \"erse is the fact that n1i., is bulk of the mag:ical formulm nnd riturtl taken to mean" give o. portion "-o.mee.niog directions of B~bylon and Nineveh were which seems to be ilD plied in n\ir;i (N eh. viii. written. In the huge library of Asshur- 10), hence the translation 3i3ou6a, ... l,c6luw. bani-pal, now in the British Museum, a :Further, the lranslator must he.ve he.d MNO !urge portion is oompol!6d of translations of "o~, as in 2 Kings nv. 29. The mysterio~·; those Aecadian texts. A number of sylla- J,_l-n!!) (path-bag), translated "meat," has Laries hnve e.lso been found, which enable caused differenoes of rendering. The Syriao schola.rs to investigate this antique tongue. Peshitta transfors it. Professor Bevan speaks It seems not impossible that Accadian was as if it were common in Syrino, but Castell meant by the learning(~!;?, sepher, "book") gives no reference beyond Daniel. (Brockel- and tongue of the Chaldeans, Their learn- mann adds, Ephrem Syrus, Ise.e.o Antioche- ing involved some astronomy,-& gree.t deal nus, Bar Hebrmns). It is to be observed that of astrology, and not a little magic, incan- the Syriao form of the word has teth, not tau, tations, interpretations of dreams and omens. for the second radical. This is a chnnge We ourselves, though so far removed both that would not likely take place had the geographically and ohronologically from Hebrew form been the original, whereas them, feel the effects of their ideas, e.nd from the fact that path means in Hebrew "a enjoy some of the results of their know- portion," if the Hebrew were derived from the ledge. We cannot tell whether the Baby- Syriao the che.nge would be intelligible, It is lonians were the ea.rliest to :fi.x the course confounded in eh. xi. 26 with 11-;i1n~ (pathura), of the sun, moon, and planets. At all "a table." It seems not improbable that both events, they made observations on the bll.l!is the LXX. o.nd Theodotion read pathura. of these discoveries ; and onr week, with its The word path-bag does not seem to he.ve Sunday and Monday, conveys to 118 still been known in Palestine; it does not occur the fact that the Baby lonie.ns believed the in Chaldee, but does in Syriac. This is planets to be seven ; the planets strictly so intelligible if the chapter before us is o. called were associated with deities similar condensation from a Syriac original rendered in attributes to those &lll!ocie.ted with them into Hebrew : the word path-bag, being unin• by the Le.tin and Teutonic peoples, and telligible, is transferred, The etymology of the same days were B&Cred to them in the word is alleged to be Persio.n, but on Babylonia and Germany. The Cl,aldeafl8, this assumption it is a matter of dispute what o-,r:=, Ka11deem, of the Bible, do not seem to the.t etymology i& One derivation is from ~~ii been originally inhabitant.a of Baby Jon. pad or fad, "fe.ther" or " prince," or pat or 'l'hey formt:d. a cluster of cle.ns to the fat, "idol,'' and bag ( q,a-yoi), "food;" another south-west of Be.bylon, who invaded Baby- is from pati-bhagu, " e. portion." The lonia, e.nd occasionally secured the supre- question ill complicated by the fact that in macy in the city. The Assyrians he.d Ezek. xxv. 7 we have in the K'thib J? ( bag), frequent encounters with them, and carried meaning "foot!." In that ce.se p_C1th-bag would on nge.inst them many prolonged wars. mean "a portion of food." The reading of TLe nnme in the Assyrian monuments the K'thib is not supported by the versions. ill most frequently Kaldu, from which the In Daniel the word simply means "food," Greek XaJ..6a,u, comes. It is doubtful such as was supplied to the king's table. wLetLer ti.iere is a form KaBBatu to exple.in W o see in the slabs from the palace of {11(, 1.1-21.] TIIE BOOK OF DANIEL. 15