The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 182

it is B&.id, 0 King Nebuohndnozz11.r, the The next verse reeumos the prochtmation, kingdom of Babylon hns been taken from "I Nebuchadnezzar King of Dabylon we.a thee, nnd is being gin·n to 11.nother--a m,m bound seven years, and they fed mo with set nt. naught in lhy honse: behold, I set grllsB as nu ox. I ato froru herbs of the him in th~- kingdom, and thy power nnd earth_" Theil. nfter a veree which Tischen- thy glor:y and thy delicncy he takes pos- dorf mllrks e.s e.n interpolation, but which session of; that thou mayest know thnt the really is a misplllccd doublet, we have a God of heaven bath dommion o'l'er the continuation of ver. :JO (33 Authorized Ver- kingdoms of men, and to whomsoc,•er he sion), "And my hairs became like feathers willcth he shall give it. To the rising of tho of e.u eagle, and my nnils lilrn thoso of sun another king shall rejoice in thy house the lion, and my flesh and ruy hcnrt were and she.II possess thy glory and thy might changed, and I walked naked with the and thy dominion_" The differences between beasts of the earth." The fa.et that this the l\[~ssoretic and Theodotion a.re inconsi- is longer than the Massoretio text is de- derable_ The Peshitta 1ulds the cle.us(I," wet ci<ledly age.inst it. It seems to be a pe.rn- 7.-ith the dew of 1,eaven," to the description phrastio rendering of a text somewhat of the humiliation of N ebuehe.clnezze.r; and similar to the llfassoretio. On the other to the e.ccount of the supremacy of the God band, the fa.et that it retains the first person of heaven adds, "and raises to it the makes it e.t lee.et possible that the conden- bumble man." 'l'his latter clause seems like sation of the middle portion of this chapter, a faint echo of the more predse statement according to the received text, is not re- of the LXX. Tue Yulgate differs here only sorted to in this recension. It is to be noted e.s in the former case, omitting the cansati'l'e. that only a very few words in the Septua- The reference in the LXX. to a ~pecie.l gint necessitate nny idea. of condensation; person in the house of Nebuchaclnezze.r, ex- only in the beginning of ver. 27 Septua- alted upon his throne, appee.l'I! to support gint (28 .Aramaic, 31 Authorized Version) nn idea. thrown out by Lenorma.nt. J\eri- is there e. change of persons. This verse glissar, the son-in-law of Nebucbe.dnezze.r is rendered by Tbeodotion in a way much and the successor of Evil-Merode.cb, claims like the llfossoretic text. The first portion to be the son of Bel-zikir-iskun, King of of the verse is e.n exact translation of the Bab)-lon (Lenormant, 'La Divination,' 204), Aramaic, but at the end the rendering is, but in the list of Ptolemy there is no such " till his hairs grew like those of lions, and no.me; hence Lenormant imagines that this bis nails e.s those of birds." The Peshitta Bel-zikir-iskun usurped the throne for e. agrees exe.ctly with the Me.ssoretic. One short while, too short to be in the ea.non cann<Jt help being suspicious of this asser- of Ptokmy. There is no trace of such a tion of the hair being like eagles' feathers, usurpation in the contract tables. Rawlin- partly because the eagle is e. bird, and son's hypothesis is difficult to believe. It " birds " a.re spoken of in the next clause ie that this Bel,zik:ir-iskun was :king in of the verse, end further there e.ppee.rs to Babylon before the fall of the Assyrian be e. pnn on the last portion of the king's Empire, before Nabopobssar. , Dut from name in the word used for "eagle" (nesher). the accession of N e.bopolassar to the d€ath The Jewish sc1ibes were prone to have such of Evil-Merodach is sixty-five or sixty-six plays on no.mes. Early in history it occurs, years_ A man of the age implied we.s little e.s when Abigail makes use of it to David in likely to take part in e. revolution or leave regar<l to her husband (1 Sam. 1:1.v. 25), behind him an infant son. It is difficult "Nabal is his name, and folly is with him." to decide, but it must be admitted that This possibly is the reason for the Hebrew Lenormant's position is at all events a variation in the no.me given to the Baby- possible solution of the question. lonian Ne.bu-kudur-utzur. Tbeodotion's Yer_ 33.-The same hour was the thing version shows the result of ree.soning-it is fulfilled upon i,, ebucb.2.d!lezza.r: and he we.a a scribe's emendation. That matted hair driven from men, and did ea.t grass e.s ox.en, should have an appearance which suggested and his body was wet with the dew of the feathers of birds, is natural enough, hee.ven, till his hairs were grown like and the utter inattention to matters of per- eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' sona.I cleanliness is e.n exceedingly common claws. The verse that is placed as parallel symptom in cases of insanity. This per- with this in the Septuagint dill'ers very sonal neglect would naturally result also in considerably. In the LXX. this verse is the growth of the nails, and their inourving still part of the procle.me.tion of the angel, would give them vaguely the o.ppeare.noe "E1uly shall all these thwgs be completed of lions' claws. We can picture the Baby- upon thee, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Baby- lonian monarch that had, like bis Ninevite lon, and nothing sh'.111 be awanting of all predecessors, been finical about his curled tLcBe things." This verse is properly with- locks and trimmed and jewelled fingers, out a corre~pondent in the Massoretic text. we.Bring in wild nakedness BO for as his OH, IV, 1-37.] THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 145