l(ou-youn-jik the nature of a roynl feast. and Aze.riah. The versions present no Animal food predominated. We oe.nnot difficulty here, only the BeptuF1gint o.rlds ,.. nvoid referring to a singular nrgumentative clause to bring this verse into harmony nxiom implied in all the discussions on with var. 3: the Septuagint renilering ie, Dnniel. Oritios seem to think that when " And there were of the race of the sons ot thoy prove that certalrl words in Daniel are Israel that came from Judreo., Dnnicl, Persinn, they thus prove Daniel was written Ano.nie.s, Mishael, and Azarias." That tl1cy nearly o. oouple of centuries o.fter the Persian wore of "the children of .Judah " seem a 1lomination hnd disappea.red. Of the wine to excluue the possibility of these four icl&ioh 11e drank. It is to be noted that there belonging to any other tribe, all the more is a restriotion. The wine supplied we.a the tho.t the whole children of Israel a.re spoken 1Vine whioh the king drank-wine of which of in the third verse. The version whicb we n.11 oblo.tion had been offered to idols. In find in the Septuagint leaves the matter free. thus bringing up hostages o.t his own At the same time, the addition is one that is to.hie, Nebuchadnezzar was following o. so naturally suggested by the third verse, praotice which ho.s continued down to our that we cannot claim that the reading of own day. The son of Theodore of Magde.la the Septae.gint is the more probable. The was brought up at the court of our queen. names of the four companions all occur It was the regular practice, as we know, in elsewhere, e.nd, as is usual with Hebrew Imperial Rome. Senno.cherib speo.ks of names, e.11 are significant. Daniel means Belibus, whom he mo.de deputy-king in either "Judge of God" or "God my Bo.bylon, e.s brought up " e.s a little dog at Judge." As Hebrew grammar is now, his table" (Bellino Cylinder, Sch.ro.der, the latter is the mee.ning; but there vol. ii. p. 82, Engl. trans,). Bo nourish- was e.n older form of the comtruct state, ing them three years. This wo.s the period which appears in proper names like <luring whioh the education of a Persian "Gabriel," which makes it probe.hie that youth we.a continued. It is probable, as we "Judge of God" or" Divine Judge" is the he.ve aeen, the.t these youths were a.bout meaning intended to be conveyed. This sixteen or seventeen. At the end of three meaning is implied in the story of years they would still be very young. The Susanne. and the elders. David's son by grnmme.tical connection of the word Abigail the Carmeliteas is called Daniel in l•gadd•la.m is somewhat singular. The 1 Chron. ill. 1.1 In the case of the son of Septuagint reo.ding probe.bly had the first David, the name would ptobably indicate word in this verse in the infiuiti ve e.lso. the confidence in God which his father This is more gramme.tice.l, a.a it brings the felt, rather than any description of the whole under the regimen of the opening son. In Ezra viii. 2 a Daniel is meutioned c!D.uae of ver. 3. The force of the word who seems to be a son of Ithamar. We before us is represented in "bringing up.'' say" seems to be," bece.use it is evident that The verb in its simple form means " to be there is an omission somewhere of a name ; strong," "to begree.t,"hencein the intensive if the omission he.s taken place before m'bne form before us,•• to make gree.t," "to bring Phinhas, then Daniel becomes the repre- up." That at the end thereof they might stand sentative of the sons of De.vid, e.nd I:Iattush be/ore the king. " S te.nding before the the representative of the sons of Pe.l)atl.i. king " means usually becoming members of In Neh. L 6, in the number of the priests the council of the monarch, but in the who see.led the covenant, is a " Daniel " p1·eaent instance this does not seem to be ne.med, who me.y be the ea.me e.s the pre- the meaning. They were to be presented ceding. In the LXX. version of the before the king, and in his presence they apocrypha.I e.dditions to De.niel, the prophet were to be examined. They were, then, is identified with the priest. The first possibly to be admitted into the college of verse in the story of Bel and the Dragon is, astrologers o.ndsoothsayers,butonlyin e. low "There Wl\8 a. oerte.in man, a. priest, whose grade. Irrespeotive of the fact that they name was Do.niel, the son of Abe.I, the fa- would e.t the lo.teat be twenty or twenty-one miliar friend of the King of Ba.by Ion," There when this see.son of education we.s over, e.nd, is nothing to make it certain, it' we do not even me.king all e.llowanoe for Ee.stern take the phrase here in its absolute sense, precocity, this is too young an age for being that Daniel did not belong to the family of a member of a roye.l privy counoil. But the Aaron ; if we take the phrase in its restricted next cho.pter rele.tes an event whioh e.ppee.rs sense, then the bale.nee of probability i.s that to be the oooaaion when they stood before the king, for they were not summoned with 1 Jn 2 Sam. ill. 3 he is ne.med Chileab.
the wise men to the king's presenoe to This reading is rendered uncertain by the interpret his dreom. faot that in the Septuagint the ne.ma Ver. 6.-Now e.mong these were of the becomes .0.aA.oda, n form that seems to bo ohildrenof Jude.h, Daniel, He.uan1oh, l\lishael, derived from "Dauicl." 16 THE BOOK OF DANIEL. [en. r. 1-21.