The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 178

hour, he e.nswerc-d me in e. meek voioo." that hate thee, and the lntorpret11t!on Theodotion and the P<'shittR. A.re at one thereof to thine enemiea. The Scptnngint with the Maesoretic text hero. It ie to be maintains the epistolary oharncter of this noted here that the word ~h.n'n, trR.nelatcd narrative here, "And Dnlto.enr answered " hour," hns no rnch definite meaning; me with a meek voice, This dream be to Geseniue gh·cs, "e. mom<'nt of timo," in those that bnte thee, and let the interpre- which he is followed by Bcmn, Keil, and tation thereof come upon thino cucmiee." Stue.rt. Ewald trnnelntce, ei11e Stunde, and Thcodotion, the Peehitta, 1tnd tho Vulgatc with him agree Bitzig, Kre.nichfeld, Zookler. are at one with tho ordinary text. 'l'ho Both the Greek rnrsione have C,pa.v, but we feelings of Daniel towards Nebuchadnczzo.r muet bee.r in mind that II,pa. had not the seem to have been those of the highest definite meaning which we attach to personal loyalty, and thus in the widest "hour." Jerome renders hora. The Sep- contrast from the feelings that nny Jew of tuagint adds. as we hM·e seen, somewhat the time of the Maccabeee would ho.ve to- grotesqnely, .. haying moved (Kwfi,ru) his wards Epiphanes. He, Daniel, in hie love head, he was astoniehcu for one hour." This for the grand impulsive despot, would have seems a ease of "doublet," that pheno- the enemies end haters of his monarch menon eo frequent in the Septuab'lllt. The swept forth to w1tnder as maniacs, rather Septuagint rendering, "And (6~) Daniel than that he should so suffer. was greatly astonished, o.nd suspicions Vere. 20-22.-The tree that thou ea west, troubled him, and, trembling baring seized which grew, and waa strong, whose height him, he wns afro.id," suggests that it is reached unto the heaven, and the sight not impossible tho.t •Jc-," greatly," ho.d been thereof to all the earth; whose leaves were read instead of ;-iv::', "an hour;" but the fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it rest is not so cn.sily explicable. There is was meat for all ; under which the beasts one case of Syriasm here in the vocalization of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches of □::\;,,,:::1: instead of •~~ The king Epake, the fowls of the heaven had their habitation: and -sa.id,' Eeltesh&ZZs.r, let not the dream, it is thou, 0 king, that art grown and or the inte,-pretaticn thereof, trouble thee. become strong: for thy greatness is groWDt This cllluee is absent from both the Greek and ree.cheth unto heaven, and thy dominion versions, though present in the Peebitta to the end of the earth. The Septuagint and Yulgn.te. As it stands, on the one Version here differs very considerably in hand, it is n. depa.rture from the epistolary wording from the above, but not in sense, style, or perhaps rather the procbma.tive " Thou, 0 king, art this tree planted in the style of the earlier portion of the chapter. earth, the appearance of which was great, On the other hn.nd, if we think this clause and all the birds of the heaven made their an interpolation, we cannot fail to note nests in it: the strength of the earth and that the kindly courtesy and consideration of the natione, and of all tongues to the ascribed by the interpolator to Nebu- ends of the earth, and all the provinces cbadnezza.r is utterlv unlike tbe character (xwpa.,) serve thee. And that tree was of Epipbanee ae manifested to the Jews. exalted and neared the heaven, and its Nebucba.dnezzar saw tliat Daniel was filled breadth (KiiTos) touched the clouds. Thou, with sorrow and apprehension at the 0 king, wast exalted above all men tbo.t meaning be saw in the nsion, and en- are upon the face of the whole earth, and deavours to reassnre and encourage him. thine heart has been [literally, ' was '] If the conduct of .K ebncbadnczzar is unlike lifted up with pride and strength over those that which a Jew of B.c. 170 would have things which pertain to the Holy One and ascribed to him were it his intention to bis angels, and thy works are manifest, present in him Epipbanes under a disguise, because thou baet laid waste the house of still more unlike is the conduct of Danid the living God on account of the sins of the to that which certainly would have been consecrated people." The,latter portion of ascribed to him bad the author intend"d to this contains plain evidence of interpolation. represent him as a model of the pious Jew Had there been anything of tbo.t sort in in a heathen court-in the court of Epi- the original Daniel, it would not have dis- phanes. Would Mattathiae have remained appeared from the Massoretic text. This astonished and speechless in the presence of addition reveals the mental attiturle of the Epipbanes, ho.d it been revealed to him that Jews of the llfaccabean period to foreign Epiphanes was to be driven out to the oppreseors. The fact that the whole wilds a madman? If, tl..ien, it is an inter- atmosphere of the primitive Daniel differs polati,,n, it is an early one-earlier tho.n so much from this is an indirect evidence the Maccab0an struggle. But if the in- of its genuineness. If one looks at tho terpolation be early, the book interpolated Septuagint rendering of these thr_e~ vcr~es, mu,t l,<.; yet enrlier. Belteshazzar anewered there seem evidences of an early origrn. 'I he 'Ul.d said, 117 lord, the dream be to them first verse is clearly an instance in which on, 1v. 1-37.J THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 111