The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 183

sh,wkl,,a J•crmitl., rl him, wilh hair in matted sicfor it in the.t connection. The verse locks, anti hie n11ila rnisal,apcn ancl long. which succeeds suite morr, the conclnsion of Ver. 34.-And at the end of the days I such a letter or proclame.tion e.s is hem Nebuoh11dnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto represented, so fe.r as form goes, th,mgh tha heaven, and mine underst11nding returned matter shows traces of exaggeration e.n,l unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and amplification natural to the Jew. At the r oraised and honoured him that Iiveth for same time, it bears a resemblance t.o the last ever, whose dominion is an everlasting verse of this chapter, according to tho dominion, and his kingdom is from genera- Massoretes, only greatly amplified. It may tion to generation. If the translator of the thus be beet t.o regard this 7eree as not Seplu11gint h11d the Maeaoretic text before presen l in the Septuagint text. Theodotion him, be has gono utterly away from it, and and the Peahitta agree with the Masso- gives ua a merepo.rnphraae, "And after seven retie text. The statement here is true, but years I gave my soul to prayer, 11nd besought Jewish, not Babylonian, in colour. Thie, concerning my aina at the presence of the along with its absence from the Septuagint, Lor<l, the God of heaven, an<l prayed con- lee.de us to believe it to be the insertion of a. cerning mine ignorances to the great God of Jewish scribe. On the other hand, it looks gods." There is another version of this like a statement in brief of what we find verse, for this which we have given baa been expanded in Isa. xl. and elsewhere. If misplaced. The verse which appears in the br,·vity is to be regarded as an evidence of pwper place, though also very different from antiquity, this passage might be taken as the Maasoretic, is as different from that we the more ancient. It is, however, too bald have just given, "And at the end of seven a.nd prosaic to be the original of such an years the time of my redemption co.me, and impassioned passage as that in Isa. xl. my sins and mine· ignorances were fulfilled Ver. 36.-At the same time my reason before the God of heaven, and I besought returned unto me ; and for the glory of my concerning my ignorances the God of gods, kingdom, mine honour and brightneH re- and behold an angel out of heaven called turned unto me; and my counseliors and my to me, saying, Nebuchadnezzar, serve the lords sought unto me; and I was establiahed holy God of heaven, and give glory to the in my kingdom, and excellent majesty waa Highest; the kingdom of thy nation has added unto me. As we have already men- been restored to thee." The latter clause tioned, the verse in the Septuagint text has the look of lee.ding into the following which agrees to this is very brief, "At that verse. One cannot but feel that there is in time my kingdom was set up and my glory both the work of the pe.raphrast, but at the restored to me." It may be a condensation same time, he seems, in both cases, to have of some independent scribe, carried to e. been working with a different text from gree.ter degree in the one case than the other. that of the I\Iasaoretes. Theodotion and Only from the genesis of our Daniel, as we the Peshitta agree accurately with the have imagined it, it would seem more pro- Maasoretic. The sudden gleam of intelli- bable that the briefer forms are the more gence that broke the spell of madness primitive, e.nd the longer the result of the is e. perfectly natural termination to an expansion to be credited to imaginative attack like that under which Nebuchad- copyists. In proof of this it is to be ob- nezzar suffered. The tranquillizing effect served that neither Theodotion nor the of prayer is well known. The ascription of Peshitta exactly represents the Massoretic praise in the liturgic formula here given is text. Theodotion renders, "At that time not unlike what we find in the Ninev:ite my intellect (al tf>p•vu µ.ov) was restored remains. Bevan suggests as a parallel, to me, and co.me to the glory of my king- Euripides'' Bacchm,' where there is a recovery dom, and my beauty ("form," -Ii µ.opt/>1J µ.ov) from madness accompanied with looking up. returned to me, e.nd my rulers o.nd nobles Ver. 35.-And all the inhabitants of the sought me, o.nd I was confirmed upon my earth are reputed as nothing : and he doeth kingdom, and more abund1mt greatness was according to his will in the 11,rmy of heaven, added unto me." The Peshitta differs some- and among the inhabitants of the earth: what from this, "And when my intellect and none can stay his hand, or say unto returned to me, my nobles and my great him, What doest thou 1 The rendering of army sought me, and to my kingdom was I the Septuagint here is very difficult to restored, and its great inherite.nce was in- follow, from the state of confusion in which oree.sed to me." The differences between the text is. The verse the.t comes next in these two and the Massoretic text are slight order is very short, " At that time my king- compared with those that separate any one dom was set up, and my glory was restored of those from the Septuagint ; yet starting to me." This is a condensed st11tement of with the Septuagint text, the othen. are what is recorded in the following verse easily reached by slightly ve.rying ad- (ver. 36; 33 Massoretio), 1111d we shall oon• ditions. The Peshitta certainly more clearly DANIEL, • L  148 THE BOOK OF DANIEL. [en. tv. 1-87,