The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 138

bona. The Septun.gint, by rendering 4>(1'0,r, &nd tongues, when ye hear the sound of the shows that their J'<.'Rding we.s ~bereen. All trumpet, the pipe, the harp, the srickhut, this proves bow utterly futile it is to build and psaltery, of chorus, &nd of all kinds or anything on the presence of late words musio, that yo foll down and worship tho in Daniel. The presence of early words, golden imago which King Ncbuohadnozzl\r from thene.turcof the case, ismoresigniflcant. Bet up." It is clear that tho Soptungint Old e..nd unintelligible words would never translator rendered ',,n 08" host," e.nd tro.ns• he inserted in pie.cc of new and intolligihlo, latcd :a as if it were ',, The bnlanocd t.hough the re\'erso proccss might readily t-0.ke pie.cc : N··:9:;i, (d'ilwb<ra!fYi) is rcn- oadenc~ of the next ciauso seems more dcr"d usue.lly "judges," and is gcnere.lly to natural, if duo to the Aranmic source tha.n derived from the rehlevi; but if ri:, (dath) struments the Greek translator. 'l'ho musical in- are also arranged in tho samo means a "firme.n," a O command," or "de- cadenced fashion, broken to some extent by cree," in Amme.io, then the e.ddition bar (11}µ</>t.wia.. Thoodotion is, as usual, in closer in Persian is rendered leBS certain. Hero, agreement with the Ma.ssoretio text, but again. the Peshitta translator we.s unawe.re omits uvµ4'<tw!a.. The Peshittn in the fourth of the meaning of the word, and renders by verse agrees not only word for word, but the mysterious word tarabdaei. The last class we might almost my syllable for syllable, mentioned is the Tipliiae. This term seems with tho Massoretio text. In the fifth t,o he omitted in the three Western versions; verse it omits p•sanierin; instead of saMa, at least there arc only six names of ::-anks it has 1<ioora, which is usually regarded of rulers gi\'en in these versions, and this is as the Hcbrewcquivalent or 1<18dpa; instead a seventh. Of (',0urse, it may be that some of uvµ4't.wia, it bo.s tziphonia, which suggests name earlier in the list is explanat.ory and a different etymology. It is true Strack added later than the time when these ('Neu IIcbrii.ische Sproche') points out that D versions were made. The Peshitta has the has a t.endency to become :a: before syllnbles word Tahathaei, which has all the appear- with the , sound or at the end of words, ance of a national name. The word Tiphtai but this is neither of these ; the syllable assumes in the K'thib a Syriac form, which, with :a: is the first, not the last, and there is ns we before remarked, is an indice.tion of nod or t sound in 1he word. Jerome is in the original dialect of the book. Notwith- strict verbal agreement with the MaBBoretio standing what Professor Bevan has asserted, t.ext. We shall have to devote a short something may be said for the conjecture excursus to the names of the musical in- that it is connected with aftii, "to advise." struments which occur here. In eagerness But in the extreme doubt in which we to find proofs of the late origin of the Book are in regard to what the text precisely of Daniel--0f its origin in the times of is, it is something like waste of time to the Hellenic domination, karoza was de- do more than chronicle opinions. This rived from ,c,jpv~; that etymology is nni- feeling of uncertainty is increased by the versa.lly abandoned now. 0 peopl,e, natians, fact that, as above mentioned, the two lists and languages. It ought rather to be in the two verses before 11B do not agree in peopla. Bishop Wordsworth remarks on the three Western versions. The list in the resemblance which this phrase bears to ver. 27 purports to be the same as that that used of the mystical Babylon in given here, and diJfers from it greatly. All Revela.tion (xiii. 7; xvii. 15), and adds that that we may assume is that there were she e.lso "commands them to fall down assembled diJferent classes of the officialB of and worship the image which she has set the Babylonian Empire. The reading should up." In regard to the following verse, the not be m'deenatha, " of the provinces ; " but sculptures of Nineveh prove the prominence m'deenta, "of the province;" the officials thnt given to music in all important occasions, were assembled were those merely of the as the celebration of e. triumph or the pro,ince of Babylon. Y,.e would m~inta!,n dedication of a temple. The names of the till.ll, although the versions are agalllSt 1t, mUBical instruments e.re not so generally because there would be no diJference in the preserved. It was most likely when the original unpointed text. rays of the morning sun smote the golden Vers. 4, 5,-Then an herald cried aloud, To tip of the obelisk, that there ea.me the burst you it is CODllWl.llded, 0 people, natioDB, and of mwtlc which was to serve 08 a. signal for languages, that at what time ye hear the all the multitudes to fall down and worship. i;onnd of the cornet, fl.ute, harp, sackbut, The ima,ge was looked upon as the sign of pfaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, the g•ld it reprernnted; it received the ye fall dowu and worship the golden image worship meant for him. that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath &et up. Ver. 6.-And whoso falleth not down and The Septuagintrenderingis, "Andtheherald wOl'■hippeth shall the ■ame hour be cast into proclaimed to the multitudtB, To you it the midst of a burning fiery furnace. The is 0.Dllua.netd, peoples and countries, nations only difference between the Septuagint and OJI, III, 1--30.] 'l'UE BOOK OF DANl~:r,, 99 ------------------------ tho Mnseorotio to:1.t ls the.t instead of tho Mo.ssoretic text. The two Grcok veraione rendering, "shBll be c:uit," it is put in the agreo with the Mn~eoretic in orniUing pluml e.ctive, "they ehnll ce.st him." 'fhere uvµ<f,.,.,/11,. The rendering of the Peshi Ua mBy hnve been o. difference of ree.ding- is, "In the hour when the ne.tionR he:ird n.iio~: instead of Nr?~i;,> It is, porhBps, the voice of the horn, and flute, o.nd lyre, more probe.hie the.t it is simply that the (qithra), and harp (kin1Wr), and pipe translo.tor preforrecl this construction to the (tziphcmia), and all kinds of mnllic, nil one which would have resulted from a more these peoples, nations, and tongues, fell liteml tre.nslo.tion. Theodotion, the Peehitto., down and worshipped the golrlcn im:i"'e nnd Vulgate agreo with the Massorctic. In which Nebuchadnezzar the king bad ~\ that very hour. It hBs been suggested by up_" It is to be noted that kinnnr, its Professor Fuller that the way the shadow Bhemitio equivalent, here again full1Jw~ fell would enable them to fix the hour, qithra, and that p••anterin is again omitted. Thie, however, is giving an exe.ct e.stro- Jerome, in opposition to the Maseoretic and nomical meaning to whBt had only a the Greek versions, inserts symphor,ia. In rhetorical significance. The word sha'a is regard to the Massoretio text here, as in very vagne; it means "time" in general, it the :fifth verse, we have qatltros instead of means "any short interval of time," from the qithros of the K'thib; in this, the K'thib some days to a moment, Shall be cast into agrees,e.s genera.Uy, with the Ea.stem instead the midst of a burning fiery furnace. The of the W estem form the word assumes. word Jll'l~ is of uncertain derivation; it is Professor Beve.n compares the use of '1'1 found in both dialects of Aramaic. It oconre here with that in the Palmyrene inscriptions in the Targum of pseudo-Jdnathan, in the (Vogue 15). Z•mara is said by Keil to story of the death of Haran and the pre- refer only to song; but Fiirst, Gesenius, and servution of Abraham, which seems distinctly Winer apply the word to instrumental imitated from the events relakd here. In music. It may, as e. matter of fa.et, be Smith's 'Life of Asshurbanipal,' we find either; if it be e. chorus of voices, it is this punishment more than once resorted to, then equivalent to uvµ<f,wv{a.. This verse e.g. pp. 163, 164. Professor Bevan main- simply chronicles the obedience that was tains, in answer to Lenormant'e appeal to at once and unquestioningly rendered to this as a proof of the author'd accurate the command of Nebuchadnezzar. The knowledge of Babylonian methods of punish- obedience of these Gentiles served to bring ment, that this is derived from Jer. xxix, out into clearer relief the steadfastness of 22, Zedekiah aud Ahab, "whom the King these Jews, or, what appears to the king of Baby Ion roasted in the fire." Only the and hie courtiers, their obstinacy. Not im- possibly, their resistance to the king was action implied by the verb n7j1 (qalah) is emphasized by their remaining standing not complete burning, as that implied in amid the crowd of those prostrate officials. the punishment before us, but rather the Ver. 8.-Wherefore at that time certs.in more cruel torture of s!owly burning. The Che.ldeans came near, and e.ocuaed the 1ews. word is used of "parched corn" (Lev. ii. The Septuagint is in this verse closer to 14; Judg. v. 11); it is need also of the the Me.ssoretie than is Theodotion. The heat of fever (Ps, xxxviii. 8). There is latter he.a nothing to represent the nn ,:;;p,-;-1,:;i no verbal indication that the author of Do.niel was at all influenced by this passage. (kol-q•bayl a'nah) of the origine.l, which ap- pears in our versions as "wherefore." The Yer. 7.-Therefore at that time, when e.ll Septuagint renders ,c,.,,.,,,,.,,,,., To6-rov. The the people heard the sound of the comet, Peshitta e.leo has omitted "wherefore;" in flute, harp, eaokbut, psaltery, and all kinds the next clause it is slavishly a.ccure.te, of musio, all the people, the nations, and the !(iving the peculia.r turn of the phrase in languages, fell down e.nd worshipped the the origins.I, 'achalu qartzchun, "to n.evour golden image that Nebuchadnezze.r the king pieces of them." It occurs in the Syriac of had set up. The Septuagiut renders, "And Luke xvi. 1 ; it is in tho Te.rgum of Ps. 11.t that time, when all the nations (Gentiles) xv. 3. The Vulge.te presents no points heo.rd the sound of the trumpet, the pipe worthy of notice. It is evident the.t "Che.l- e.nd harp, so.ckbut o.nd psaltery, o.nd every dean " is here used in its ethnic sense of sound of music, then all the nations (Gentiles), the nation, not in its professional sense tribes, e.nd tongues, fell down and wor- o.s of the alleged class. We must re- shipped the golden ime.ge which Nebuchad- member tho.t "Che.ldean" is not equiva- nezze.r the king he.d set up." The last words, lent to "Ba.bylonie.u." As we have seen, the ,cv.,,.{1111,11-n TovToii, evidently belong to the Che.ldeans were intruders in Babylon, nnd beginning of the next verse. It is possible to them N ebuchndnezze.r belonged. It wa.s 1fxou is due to o.nother reo.ding, but mny but naturnl that native-born Chaldee.ns, o.lso have been the result of a desire for who reckonctl themselves to be of the surue iation. 'l'heoclotion does not differ from kin e.e the king, objected to have the~  100 THE BOOK OF DANIEL. [en, III, 1-30,