The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 149

"act of foilh," but at the same time, tlwir midat of the II.re. The v1triBtions of the prescnc-0 gave 11, signal me11.11ing to the Septuagint Veniion here are inconsiderable. miracle. Instead of "sp&ke &nd Hid," it renders, Ver. 25.-B:e answered and llllid, Lo, I see "oolkd them by name," and omits the eecond four men Iooee, walking in the midst of the rc,pcti t.ion of the names, and the fleonastio II.re, and they have no hurt; and the form "come hither;" instead of" Most High God," of the fourth ia like the Son of God. The it has"God of gods Most High." Theodotion Greek veniions do not present much worthy is in closer agreement with the M11.Ssoretio of note, onh both inecrt malka, "king," text; the only difference is the1t "ep&ke" ia in•t-0ad oft.hcpronoun,and omit"anewered." omitted. The Peehitta. and Vulgate e1ro in From the fact that ver. 24 ende with ma!ka, exact aocordanoo with the Maseorctio. 'l'he it may have oocn dropped out of the Maseo- distinction between Pill o.nd ni;i~ is" go out" rctic text. The insertion of oil)) ("'na), and "come." It ie well rendered in our "answered," may be due to the frequent Authorized Vel'llion, only there was no need recurrence of this phrase. The Peehitta of " hither•• being put in italics. As above omits "four," otherwise agreeing with the mentioned, this showe the form of the Me.ssoretic. • The phrase, "the Son of God," furnace to be not unlike our own-open at is clearly wrong; the correct translation is, the top, but having a door at the side. It "The appearance of the fourth is like a son was to this side door that the ktng of the gods." Along with the three victims approached. The fact that N ebuohadnezzar of his supeTStition was seen a fourth figure, acknowledges Jehovah to bo "Most High like one of the figures portrayed on hie pa.lace God "doee not imply any recognition of his walls e.s belonging to the demi-gods. This supreme Divinity, any more than a king of is the culmi11.ation of the king's astonish- France acknowledged the supremacy of the ment. It was astonishing to see those men kead of the Holy Roman Empire, .when in loose that h&d been cast into the furnace the credentials of hi.a ambassador the bound ; still more eo to see them walking, emperor was called Domin1U urbis et orbis. and none showing signs of having received It was simply a matter of what we may call any hurt; but most awe-inspiring of all is religious etiquette to address gode of the the vision of the fourth figure, like a son of liigher class as "god of gods," a.nd "god the gods. We mllilt not interpret thie on most high." In eh. ii. 47 Nebuchadnezzar Hebrew lines, o.s does Mr. Bevan, and comp. had al.ready declared the God of Daniel to Gen. vi. 2. He knows the usage in the Tar- be " God of gods." It is not impossible gums is to retain the Hebrew plural in Cl"" that to the Babylonians 'illa'a might have when "God " is meant, as in the Peshitte. the appearance of a proper name. Version of the passage he refers to. .As in Ver. 27.-And the prinoes, governors, o.nd most bee.then mythologies, there were not captains, and the king's oonnsellors, leing only gods, bnt demi-gods, of several diff~rent gathered together, nw these men, upon classes. The god Nebuchadnezzar specially whose bodies the II.re had no power, nor worshipped, Silik-Monlou-ki (Ma.rduk), was was an hair of their head singed, neither reo-arded as the son of Hea. There wa.e e. were their ooats changed, nor the smell of ~ of fire also, who was BllSOCiated with II.re had passed on them. The versions these. The suggestion of Dr. Fuller, that present no variation of importance. We here in bar we have not the word for "son." can, however, at this point compare the but rather a truncated form of this god of list of officials with that which we find in fire Iz-bur is worthy of consideration. It the beginning of this chapter, in vers. 2 and is ~possible to say whether this vision of 3. We find that the word haddab'ree11 a divine being was vouchsafed to those occupies the same place in the list as standing about Nebuchadnezzar as well as a·dabree11, translated "treasurer," from which to himself. While we ought to guard one might be inclined to think the.t n had against &J!cribing to the Be.by Ionian monarch taken the place of l, not an impossible the idea. that this appearance was that of change. Tl.ie probability rather is that the the Second Person of the Christian Trinity, word is to be regarded as collective, equiva- we a.re ourselves at liberty to maintain this, lent to "officials of the court," to ea\'e the or to hold that it we.a an a.Dgel who strength- repetition of the remaining classes. Whether ened these servants of God in the furnace. or not these officials had seen the companion '£he Septuagint renders bar-ewlu!en by the three witnesses for the truth had with liyye>..os. Theodotion has 11i<j 0toii. them in the fume.cc, they, at all events, were Ver. 26.-Then ll' ebuehadneP&r came near n.ow able to bear testimony to the fact the.t to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, the three friends had escaped, an.d " had nr,d spake and se.id, She.drach, J[eahe.ch, and quenched the violence of the fire " ( Heb. xi. Al_ed-nego, ye servants of the Kost B:igh God, 34). This event was all the more important come forth and oome hither. Then Bhadrach, to the BabylonianB as to them fire was Jr ezh.ach, and A.bed-nego, oe.me forth of the a god high in the pantheon. 'fhe God of en. 111. 1-30.] THE BOOK 01'' DANIEL. 111