The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 146

heavens," hns thus tho support of the two. foxy, anil the form of his visage was ohe.nged Tho Poehitto. Version hns to some extent age.inst 8he.dre.ch, Meahaob, e.nd Abed-nego . roeultod from the o.bru pt beginning to the therefore he 1pa.ke, e.nd commanded that seventeenth verse o.s it nppcars in the they sh?nld heat the furnace one seven times Maeeoretio. The Peehitte. renders the more the.n it was wont to be heated. The opening cle.use, "our Lord is merciful." text of the LXX. i• practice.Uy the snmc As in the Beptuo.gint, eo iu the Peehitte., the e.e the Masso.retie, _with only this exMption, word C)l')!l (pilh'gam) is te.ken o.s meaning tbe.t "one" 1s omitted ns unsuited to tho "decree;" but miltl,a precedes it, which Greek idiom. Theodotion differs more from must be rendered, "mrLtter of the decree." the Mnesoretic-" the fnrn:i.ce '' was to ho Otherwise there is nothing worthy of notice heated "sevenfold, till it was perfectly in the Peshitte. Version of these verses. heated(,.,, oi ei, -rb..o, l1<1<a.TJ)." The Pe- Jerome begins the seventeenth verse with shitta., retaining the" one," translates, "ono "ecoe enim," which ie not so much a dif- in seven timee"-a. rendering which ec,eme ference of reading from the Me.asoretic as to he.ve little sense, e.s the Syriac idiom a difference of rendering from the Autho- ie the same as that before us. The change rized. It is clear tho.t the Maesoretic of countenance, from that of gratification punctuation implies something awanting. at seeing e. favourite, to that of rage, is a Jv in Biblical Are.me.ic means "if," and perfectly nature.I phenomenon, but one pos- •n•tt "it ie," that ie, "if it be." Ono feels sibly even more marked among these races inclined t.o think that, suppressed, there then dominant over the Ea.et than among we.s some statement equivo.lent to "if it be ourselves. It was certainly not unnaturn.l hie good plee.mre," thus manifesting e. that, heathen a.a hewe.e, filled with the belief readiness to submit to God's will. Accord- in the mysterioua power for good or ill that ing to the Me.ssoretic, whe.t follows asserts might be exercised over the empire were merely the ability of Jehovah, "our God e.ny of the gods offended, Nebuchadnezzar whom we worship," to deliver hie servants should be enraged. The result is that the from the burning fiery furnace, e.nd even calmness with which he he.d prev10usly from the hand of the great king himself; spoken with the three deserts him, and the but there ie no assertion that he will de- form of his face changes, his visage becomes liver them. The Septuagint Version pre- distorted with rage. It may he noted, in sents e. different o.spect, as e.lso Theodotion po.ssing, that the word here used. ish'tanni e.nd the Peehitta. The mental attitude of the (•~i:i~t;i), ie the only case where the ethpael Me.esoretic is very different from the mood occurs in Daniel ; in all other cases the of later times. The versions, se.ve Jerome, form is hithpael, with the ,, instead of the declare the.t God will deliver them out of N. Since this is so, one is inclined to the he.nd of Nebuchadnezzar. If they he.d credit the peculiarity to ecribo.l change. received this e.eenre.nce from God. there we.s There is a diiference here between the Q'ri in o. sense less of witness-bee.ring to God e.nd K'thib, the latter reading ishtannu, than if they he.d not. The text of the which agrees by attraction with anapolu, Me.ssoretic is here t.o be preferred. It is "face," which, e.e in Hebrew, is plural. implied also in the meaning of the following In order to express his wrath, he orders verse. Even if God did not deliver them, that the furnace be heated sevenfold hotter still their determination ie fixed-they will than ever before. The 'll'Ord here tre.ns- not worship the gods of the king, nor will lo.ted "wont to be " is really po.rt of the they worship the golden image he has set verb ;w., (?i'zah), "to see." Behrmann renders up. It sometimes seems o.e if, even in our it, "Siebenmal so stark zn heizen als man own day, we should be the better for the ihn heizen geeehen he.tte "-" commanded advent of Sho.dre.ch, Meehe.ch, e.nd Abed- it to be heated seven times e.e hot e.s ever nego. There ie still e. demand that the one he.d seen it heated." We cannot sup- people of God worship the golden image in pose the Babylonians he.d any means of the she.pc of wee.Ith. The ministers of God measuring heat of that amount; it is simply a.re, we e.re told, not to denounce the wrongs e. round number. Hitzig remarks on the of the world, lest the rich be offended. recurrence of "seven,''. as if it helped to Wealth is not the only form of the golden ro.ise a presumption o.ge.inst the authen- image which men mo.y be called upon to ticity of the book. The fact that the Ba.by- worship; the breo.th of popular apple.use lonie.ne recognized seven pie.nets, o.ud seven mo.y ce.11 them to denounce employers of gods of the pie.nets, one for each, might as fobour unjustly on penalty of being dis- reo.dily be taken o.s a proof of its authen- missed or 'held up to reprobation. It ie not ticity. '.rhe probo.bility is that vaguelv the side the.t is important, but the motive; mo.ny times more fuel was placed in the the co.use of tho poor mrLy be pleaded e.s furnace than ha,l e,cr been done before. unjustly as that of the rich. Ver. 20.-And he commandad the most Ver. lD.-Then we.s Nebuohailnezze.r full of mighty u: e;i that were in his army to '.li:c.i 10B TllE BOOK OF DANIEL. [011. m; 1-30.