The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 148

blessing the Lord." There is nothing here, Did we not cast three m~n into the fire it mny be noted, o.bout those tho.t bound the bou~d? .~nd they s~id to the king, Tmly, three frienrls bein~ slnin; there is o.lso to 0 kmg. Theodot10n does not seriously be noted the ndditton, " wnlking nbout o.nd differ from this, "And Nebuchadnezz"r singing pro.iees to Uod o.nd blessing the heard them singing praises, anrl marvelled, Lord." The Peshitto. nlso suffers, though to and roso np in haste, and said to his lorcls o. less degree. The rendering with it is, Did we not cast three men into the mirlat "Therefore the king's comma.ndment wa.s of the fire, bound? and they answered, urgent, o.ncl the furna.ce blazed exceedingly, Trnly, 0 king." The Peshitta rendering is, nnd slew the men who o.ccused Shadrnch, "Then N ebnchadnezzar the king was aston- l\lcshnch, nnd Abednego. And these three ished, and rose np trembling, e.nd e.nswererl men, Shadrnch, Meshnch, and Abednego, and said to his princes, Were there not fell bound into the midst of the furnnce of three men which we cast into the midst of great fire." Here u. mu.rvel is added, not the furnace of fierce fire and bound ? and those tho.t threw the Hebrews into the fire they answered the king, It is true, 0 king." were burnt, but their accusers. We must dis- As will be seen, the Peshitta varies Jess cuss sepo.ro.tely the Song of the Three Holy from the Massoretic than do the Greek ver- Children. The furnace implied is one filled sions. The Vulgate does not merit remark. from above, but hu.ving a doorway at the The action of the king is introduced ab- side. The witnesses for the truth of mono- ruptly in the Massoretic text. This abrupt- theism and of the supreme Godhend of ness WBS probably the occasion of the Jehovah were carried to the top of this interpolations made at this point. It may furnace, and cast in amongst the fuel. We be observed that the interpolations-not- have nothing to do with how the miru.cle withstandiDg the efforts of redactors to of their preservation was accomplished, we soften the transition-all add to the diffi- have only to do with the narrntive a.s given. culty. Theodotion has them immediately The fact that those who cnrricd them and walking and praising God. The Septuagint threw them in were killed gives proof posi- translator, though he omits the walking, tive of the fierceness of the heat, The fact implies the praising. We a.re to under- stated in the twenty-third verse, thu.t they stand the circumstances a.a of the nature fell into the midst of the furnu.ce, excludes of an auto-da-/£, which Nebuchadnezzar nny supposition th:i.t they escaped by being was gracing with his presence, much as sheltered from the fierceness of the heat. Philip II. attended the burning of the Separating the two portions of the apocry- heretics in Madrid. The refusal of wor- phal addition to this chapter, the song of ship to the god to whom he had erected Azario.s from the united song of the three, the golden image was an act not only of we he,ve a statement that "the angel of the heresy, but also of tree.son of the blackest Lord came down into the oven together with kind. The word haddab·reen, translated Azarias and his fellows, and emote the flame "councillors," is derived by some from the of the fire out of the oven, and made the Persian hnmdaDar (Behrmann and v. Boh- midst as it had been a moist whistling wind ; len). Gesenius would derive it from -o,, "to so that the fire touched them not at all, do," hence "leaders ; " he explains the first neither hurt nor troubled them." 1 This syllable of the Hebrew article. The first abundance of detail as to the method by interpretation is impossible, as is well shown which the miracle was wrought is evidence by Bevan (in loco), The supposition of of a later time. We shall, however, leave Gesenius is difficult to maintain, as it in- the discussion of the date of this addition volves e. passo.ge from one language to till later. nnother. Moses Stuart rege.rds the noun Ver. 24.-Then Nebuchadnezzar the king as derived from the aphel, ;i appearing in- was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, stead of ~. This is not without parallel ex- and said unto his counsellors, Did not we amples, e.g. 7St:1~. Fuller's parallel of apalu cast three men bound into the midst of the used along with pal for " son " in .Assyrio.n, fire 1 They answered and said unto the king, shows a habit of introducing initial syl- True, 0 king. The Greek versions suffer lables to help pronunciation. The Septua- in this verse also from the interpolation of gint translator probably read ,..ab•reen; hence the song. The LXX. renders thus: "And the rendering q,l>..o,. In the uncertainty it wns when the king heard them singing as to the meaning of the word, the read- pl'aises, a.nd stood u.nd saw them living, then ing of the LXX. may be regarded as at was Nebucho.dnezzar the king nstonished least a possible way out of the difficulty. o.nd roao up ho.stily and said to his friends, Some further disC'overies, either in Babylon or elsewhere, may enable us to decide. The 1 We here follow the received trnns- presence along with the king, at this execu- lo.tlC\11 of the Apoorypho. a.s found in our tion, of the high officials of the empire, was English Bible. fitted to give it all the solelll.llity of nn  llv 'l'HE BOOK OP DANlU.:L. Lou. m, 1-30,