The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 153

bnst brought upon us ana upon tbe holy had been written for this place, It would city of our fRthel"B, upon Jerusalem, beoB.uee ha.ve been put in the mouth of Ha.nnnio.h. in righteousness (b'c'annolha) didst thou The arrangement of the names in Hebrew bring upon us B.11 these things." We shall may have been merely a.ooording to the onlv take the next verse, RDd shall oonelndo Hebrew a.lphabet, but instinotively one the· verse-by-verse exRminRtion or the Song gives the first-named a certain precedenco. of AmriRh. The rendering of tho Seventy Hence in the Peshitta. this is called, " 'l'he bc1trs traces or being trB.nslated from a pra.yer or Hananiah and hie eompanions." Shemitie dialect by one who had not a For the choice of Aza.rio.h instead, there lnrgll vocabulary in Greek. "Because we must have been a reason. Tho simplest sinned in B.ll things and tra.nsgreBS0d t,o reason would seem to be that already there tnrn Miele from tllee, and we sinned in all was a saored hymn exta.nt written by a things. and the corum~ndments of thy Law certain Aze.riab, and some later editor, we ohc,ed not. neither observed, nor did we seeing this, and knowing that there was nn iLCOOrding as ihou diclst command us, in Aze.riah here, he gave him the credit of order that it should be well with us." it, and as this event was the crisis of his Theodotion is exactly the same. Tile history, declared it to ho.ve been composed Peshitta is different, "Because we are in referenco to this event. Aze.rie.h wo.s .iebtors or sin (hoobin d·/1,#in), 11.nd wicked rather a common name among the Jews; before the.,, and have removed far from there arc eighteen instances of it chronicled thee, and have don~ against thy words, nnd in Smith's 'Dictionary of the Bible.' It is have sinned against thee in all things, and certainly not so oommon o.fter the Captivity, to thy precepts have not hearkened, and did yet there was a captain in the Me.ocabee.n not keep them, and hav11 not dono anything army called by this name, e.s 1'bove men• wllich thou comme.ndedst, to be well to us." tioned. The sense here is evidently the same, but When we direct our attention to the song there has been a difference, if not of text, itself, we find wha.t confirms us in OW' con- at least of apprehension of one e.nd the clusions-that it was not written for this same te:rl. The Syriac could not have place, hut was written as the natUl'e.l ex- been ma.de from the Greek, nor the Greek pression of feelings produced by circum- from the Syriac; they must have had a stances widely different from those narrated common source. It would be impossible in the chapter before us. If we compare t,o say with absolute certainty that this this with tile prayer of Do.niel, which we source must have been Hebrew ; but the find in oh. ix.., we see the difference probability is in that direction. Aramaic emphasized between circumstances of oe.p- does not so naturally lend itself to poetry tives in Babylon and those presupposed as does Hebrew. Whatever poetry we have by the Song of Aze.riah. If we turn to the by Jewish authors in pre-Christian times thirteenth and fourteenth verses of tho song which is not in Greek, has been in Hebrew. (vers. 37, 38), "For we, 0 Lord, a.re become That being settled, at all events con- less than e.ny nation, and be kept under ditiona.lly, the next point is to examine this day in e.ll the world because of our the songs, e.nd see whether they give any sins. Neither is there at this time prince, evidence in their contents or the back- or prophet, or leader, or burnt offering, or ground. In the first place, in regard to sacrifice, or oblation, or incense, or place to the Song of Aze.riah, if we ta.ke for granted sacrifice before thee, and to find mercy," th.o.t it was written in Hebrew, it follows It will be noticed that the diminishing of almost necessarily from this that it waa the numbers of the nation, or the restriction composed in Po.lestine. The next question of its territory, and the humiliating position that requires to be considered is the object it was placed in, is the point of Aze.riah's of the composition. Waa it intended to complaint. Daniel's sorrow is that they be ple.oed here? was it written np to this e.re driven to other countries: ni:i:~!i,;J-L,?1' situation ? or was it written for some other purpose, e.nd placed here simply because c:!I cnn;;i ,ll'N, "in all the countries whither some one thought it suited? The first thou. ha~t driven them.'' In the first case, thing ben.riug on this question which we we have a. nation humiliated in their own observe is the names which these three land; in the second, a nation sent into Hebrews bear. In the Aramaic part which certain definite countries, and there re- 1elongs to the Ma.ssoretio Daniel, they are proached with having no country or co.- called by their Babylonian names; in this pita!. Again, it is so.id in the hymn before purtiun their old Hebrew names are revived us " There is neither prince, nor prophet, from the first chapter. That of itself is an no~ leader." It is to be noted tha.t indication that this portion he.a not been the word here is " prince," not "king" writt,-n for the place into which it has been (nan•, not melel,). In tho original Hebrew put. Furlllu, if this firot psaltnic fragment there was probably e. play on tho words Cll, Ill, 1-30.] 'l'lrn BOOK 01•' DANrnL. l I.-;