The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 223

to the engraving the d<lOree on the ole.y. the apartment to be seen. The prnctice of If we imagine y•qum to he.ve fa.Hen out prayer "toward Jerusalem" is aolruow- before •1ara, we have e. reading not unlike ledged to ha'l'"O arisen in Babylon during the LXX. In the seventh verse there is a tho Captivity. Solomon,'in his pro.yer at the !is~ of officials om!tted_ from the Septuagint; dedication of the temple, refers to the con• 1t IS e.lmost 1d<>nt1os.\ m members with th1tt tingcncy of captiYity (l Kings viii. 48) and which we find in eh. iii., but in a slightlv prays that if the captives "pray unto' thco different order, only the sar"qeen a.re added toward their land, the city which thou hast e.nd the edargaZ'ree11 omitted. chosen, and the house which I luive built Ver. 10.-Now when De.niel knew the.t for thy Name, then hear;tbou their prayer" the writing we.a signed, he went into hie (see .also Ps. v. 8 [7]). The practioe of hon1e ; and his windows being open in hie praying tow:lrds a particular point has been ohamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon maintained by the Mohammedans, who pray his knees three times a day, and prayed, towards Mecca.. Mohawmed originally and gave thanks before hi& God, as he did made Jerusalem the qiblah, or point of aforetime. The Septuagint rendering differs prayer; but the Jews would not receive only slightly from the Massoretio, "And him as their Messiah, and so from Jerusalem when De.niel knew the decree which wae it was changed to Mecca. The objection of passed (fo-T110-•) against him, he opened the Bertholdt hardly needs to be mentioned, windows of his upper chamber, and fell on that "the temple was in ruins "-the place his face three times a day, according ae he ~as holy ground. " Three times a day " did aforetime, and prayed." The Septua- IS ref~rrecl. to Pa. lv. 18 (17), "Evening ancl gint translator read ;f,-p, "against him," in- mornmg and at 'noonday will I complain." stead of ',y, "went." It seems to us that the Ver. 11.-Then these men assembled, and Ma.ssoretic reading, "went to his house," is f~nnd Daniel _praying and making snpplioa- an addition due t.o misreading ;i',-p_ That t1on before lhis God, The Septuagint read- the variations of the Septuai:;int are not due ing is very dnferent, "And they watched to para.phrase is proved by the fact that the Daniel. and found him praying three times ne:i.t clause is literally translated. It would a day every day." It is difficult Ito decide seem that the te:i;t before the LXX. had which is the preferable reading, and almost been altered, so that we have "fell upon his as difficult to deduce the one reading from faee," instead of "knelt upon his knees." the other. Theodotion has a reading akin The former phrase is an echo from eh. ii 46. to that of the Septuagint, "Then those men It is to he observed that "prayed and gave watched, and found Daniel praying, and thanks" is omitted from the Septuagint. making entreaty to his God." 'l'his is akin to As tLe omission can have no purpose, and the Septuagint at the beginning, but is close we can understand the reason of the words to the Me.ssoretic at the end. The Peshitta. being added, we prefer the LXX. reading is in close agreement with Theodotion. It here. Theodotion and the Peshitta are at seems more in1 accordance with the plan of one with the Massoretic. The action of these presidents that they should not, as Daniel is here that of a man of true consci- the Massoretic text asserts, rush tumultu- entiousness; he does not obtrude his religion ously into the house of Daniel, but rather, now that the practice of it implies danger, as the three versions represent them doing, as did some Christian fanatics in the perse- setting a watch, and then, when information cution of the three first centuries; nor, on reached them of Daniel's habits, acting the other hand, does he hide his acts of accordingly. Nothing in the narrative worship-be siwply continued his previous makes it probable that there was a gener11,l habits. Had a Jewish fanatic of the time assembling of the governors age.inst Daniel; of the Maccabees written this, the action it was the action of his colleagues in the attributed to Daniel would have been much presidency. more uncompromising, as the story in the Vere. 12-14.-Then they oame near, and Midrasb Rabbe. of Moses in regard to the spake before the king concerning the king's crown of Pharaoh. Or Daniel would be decree; Hast thou not signed a decree, that represented as doing, as the Jews are every man that shall ask a petition of any BB.id in Third Mac~abees to have done God or man within thirty days, save of to Ptolemy, bowing himself down in bumble thee, 0 king, shall be cast into the den of 11.baeement before the king, to get him to lions 1 The king answered and said, The reverse his decree, or, if not, to devise some thing is true, according to the law of the means of its effect being averted. Daniel Medes and Persians, which altereth not. dot;;; none of these things. H-is windous The!! answere:i they e.nd said before the heing open toward Jerusalem. The windows king, That Daniel, which is of the children were lattie<,s, and as the roow was an upper of the cn!it;vity of Juda.h, rega.rdeth not one on the roof of tLc house, the opening thee, 0 king, nor the decree the.t thou hast of tl.ie windows er,al.,le<l everythiDg done in signed, but maketh his petition three timea urr. vr. 1-28.) THE BOOK OF DANIEL.