The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 63

be endo.ngered, In this onse we must suggest itseir to ,my one who e.ppredlltcd romember wo h11ve merely a summery, the difficnlty of tho p&ee&ge. In the pro,- nnd a vory condensed summary, of what vioue ver•e we were ml\oe au,litore to " c•,n- wns probo.bly a prolonged nrgument. We versation between Daniel nnd Ashpennz, in ho.ve only the hoods, o.nd probably the which hecloesnot conBent to Daniel's request. sucoession of tho nrguments. It may, In the verso beforo us Daniel ed<lresoea perlmps, be regnrcled ns e. proof of the o.nother request to e. new but 1JUbordinn.te authenticity of this speech that two Aramaio officio.I. As the request is one that might words nre preserved iu it. The Rabsnris naturally follow the refue11.l, mild but to all most certainly would spee.k in Arnmaie, appeo.rance firm, of the prince of the ennuchs, nnd technico.l words such e.s geel o.nd what coulcl be more natural than to imagine ~ieyyautem might be retained even in o. that Amelzar was e. miereo.ding for Ahieedri? transfotion, if there were no word which The story baa been condensed. Harl we the was quite an axe.et equivalent. Thus in full narrative, we most li.kdy would ha,e translations from French or Germo.n into seen that Daniel. had to go over the e.rgu- English, how frequently o.re words trans- ment with the subordinate that he had ferred from the original tongue I " One- already had wilh the superior. It is not un- sided" is o. co.se in point. likely that the prince of the eunuchs was not Ver, 11.-Then said Daniel to Melzar, expressly informed of the experiment being whom the prince of the eunacha had aet tried,of which the verse which followeinforms over Daniel, Ho.naniah, Mishael, and Azariah. ne. Thie would help to save him from the The reading of the Septuagint differs from responsibility of the thing ; it is not incon- the Massoretic in two particulsre-instee.d of ceivable the.t he intentionally kept himself "Melzar," the nsme given is "Abiesdri," uninformed. Not only has Daniel secured as in the third verse; and the verb minnah a personal influence over the prince of the (;J~!;>) is read ;,~~ (munnah), "set over." The eunuclJe, butalsooverthis Melzar,orsteward. Peshitte. reads insteo.d of "Melzar," Jin There are people in the world who have this verse, "Mashitzar" (but see ver. 16). this magnetic power over their fellows which This confirms the idea that. this is a pro- compels their liking. When with this are per name, not an official title. If the united abilities of e. man to do exploits and assumption of the Septuagint is correct, leo.ve his mark on the world, we have e. then the name in the Massoretic text ought nationo.l hero. N o.polcon the Great wu to be Hammelzar. This might indiee.te eminently a man of thia kind. the name to be Amil-Assur, corresponding Ver. 12.-Prove thy servants, I beseech to Amil-Merodach. Theodotion renders thee, ten deys ; and let them give us pulse the name 'Aµ.b,<ro.l!i. While o. good deal ee.n to eat, and water to drink. The Septuagint be said for making "Melzar" or "Ham- seems to ham read yutan, "let there be melzar" e. proper name, something may given," instead of yitnu, "let them give." also be said for the idea. which baa gained Zef'o'im, "seeds" (rr..-,pµ&,,,.,.,,, Theodotion), ground that " Melzar," since it has the "pulse" ( l,,r,rp{,.,,, Septuagint and A.nthorized article before it, is the no.me of an official. and Revised Versions). This word occurs only Lenormo.nt ('Le. Divination,' p. 196) mo.kes here; it differs, howe<er, only by the second the no.me Amil-Ussur. Such, at any rate, vowel from ziruim in Isa. lxi. 11, e.nd there it is the name of an official in the court of is rendered as by Theodotion here, <nr<pµa-ra.. e. Ninevite king; it is supposed to mean As the vowels were not written for centuries "steward," but it may be doubted if this after the latest critical date of Daniel, it is is the exact equivalent of such an official in the highest degree absurd to ground any as the one here referred to. Hitzig sug- argument on the pronunciation o.ffi:s:od to the gests 1ro.,l!io.-y"'')'&s, and for this rendering word by these late scribes, probably with e.a there is much to be said. It is an indirect greo.t co.price as made them maintain to a.11 proof of the antiquity of the book, that an time "suspeuded letters" here and there in official is referred to by II title the exact force the text, or sometimes begin a word with a of which had been forgotten when the Sep- final mem. Professor Bevan regards this tuagint tro.nslation was produced, not later word Hspossiblyascribe'smistakefor ziirifaim, certainly than the first century B.o. Theo- a word with the so.me meauiug, which occurs dotion and Jerome a.re e.s fur at seo. as is in ver.16, and is found in the Talmud. He also the Ptshlttu. The criticol hypothesis might more natur,i.lly regard zero'11im as a is that this Assyrian name for "steward" scribe's mistake for zero'im. As, however, remnined known among the Po.lestinio.n the word is Aramaic, occurring both in Jews from the foll of the Babylonicm Empire the Ee.stern e.nd Western di,i.lects, it may in B.0. 532 to B.o. 168, o.ml then in less than be a case where the origiual word shines o. couple of centuries utterly disappeared. through. 1-'rove thy serv,rnts te11 d,iys. The The reading of the Septuagint," Abiesdri," word u8ed for "prove" is that frequently n111y be lo.icl aside; it is 11, reo.diug thnt would used of God in relation to men, as in Gen. 22 THE BOOK OF D!NIEL. [ OIi. t. 1-21.