The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 243

trnmactcd that took place between tbe to a lion and to an eagle (Jer. iv. 7: nleo time or De.nicl and tbat of our Lord. Ezek. xvii. 3), e.nd suitable to this are the Ver. 8.-And four gree.t bee.at, oe.me up winged human-headed figures found in lho from the see., diverse one from another. mine of Nineveh and Dabylon. If we The Scptne.gint rendering omits "gree.t; '' assume tbnt the empire of D11bylon is repre- "thcrwise it is I\ closely IUlcure.te represcn- sented by this first bcllSt, then we have to tot.ion of the Me.ssoretic text, ee.ve the.t the note, in the first pie.co, the avoidance of o.ny t.ransl11tor seems to he.vo had, not Ni70 Ni, reference to numbers. It may bo objected hut 1\6 in the Syrie.o, N,r,70 N,n,e.s he renders that the ". e11gle's wings," )'!l? (ga11peen), are h ..-a.po. .,.~ iv. Theodotion has µ..,,&M., bnt in the due.I. Yet the number two is not docs not so sle.vishly follow the Arame.io mentioned. That the word was in the dual <'.@struction at the end. The Poshitta is in the pre-Massoretio text does not appee.r ,·en· close to the Massoretic, 81\Ve the.t in from the versions, so the correctness of the the· )Mt clause it agrees with the LXX. dual pointing may be doubted. Unity we.a The number four is, in e.pooe.lyptic writings, the mark of the Babylonie.n Empire in the signific11nt of the world; "the four winds" vision of Nebuchadnezzar, and unity still m~an the whole world. Here it is hume.n remains its numerical sign. As swiftness history that is summed up in the four and aggressiveness are symbolized by wings, beasts. So in Zeche.rie.h we he.vo "four especially "eagle's wings," when we read, horns " th11t symbolize the oppressors of the " I beheld till the wings thereof were people of God ( eh. i. 18 ; ii. 1). We have plucked," we learn that before the fall of .. four" chariots in the sixth chapter of Babylon a period set in, during which Zech11riah, which seem to be symbols of Babylonia ceased to be the aggressive con- the same thing. Beasts. Animals of one quering power it he.d been. A man', heart sort or another are used of nations in the 1Daa given to it. J. D. Michaelis thinks the prophets ; thne Egypt is symbolized in Isa.. reference here is to the fact that when :xxvii. as "leYie.than," presumably e. croco- they first broke from their original see.ta, dile (Isa. li. 7), e.s "e. dragon" in Ezek. :u:ix. the Chaldeane were barbarians, but they 3. Babylonia is figured e.s e.n eagle (Ezek. became civilized in Babylonia. We know xvii. 3). Composite beings are used as more now of the early history of Babylon symbols also, e.s Tyre is addressed as B and of the Chaldeans, and know that at "covering cherub." In the Book of Reve- one time the latter were divided into many lation Rome ie figured as a beast with seven cantons, each under its separate king, and heads e.nd ten horns (Rev. xiii. 1). In the that on and after the conquest of Babylon Book of Enoch (lxn:v.-xc.) we find this by Merodach-Baladan, they became more figurative use of animals carried much able to act in concert. The circumstances further. .AJ!eyria. B.ll.d Babylonia. and, fol- connected with the accession of N e.bopo- lowing them, Persia made great use of le.ssar are wrapped in mystery. However, composite, monstrous animal forms as sym- it is clear this cannot be the reference here. bols, not so much, however, of political as The giving of the man's heart is brought of spiritual powers. This distinction is the into close relationship with the plucking of le&! important, that political events were the wings. Thie fact also decides us against regarded as the production of spiritual the view so generally maintained, that there activity. is here a reference to the madness of Nebu- Ver. 4.-The 1irst was like a lion, and chadnezzar. In his case the heart of a beast had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings was given to a man ; in the case before us thereof were plucked, and it we.a lifted up the heart of a man is given to a beast. To from the e&rth, and made stand upon the us the contrBBt seems more obvioue than the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given resemble.nee. Much superior is Calvin's to it. The LXX. and Theodotion render interpretation. Speaking of the phrases, " lioness," but otherwise agree with the Mas- "set upon his feet," and" the heart of a man soretic text. The Pesbitta does not differ was given to him," Calvin says," By these from the received text. The word M•,11 is modes of speech one understands that the cpicene. It is, however, to be noted that in .AJ!eyriane and Che.ldeB.ll.s were reduced in later Aramaic the terminal letter was 11, not rank-that now they were not like lions, but ~- The word gappeen, "wings," is worthy of like men" (comp. 2 Sam. xvii. 10, "Whose natc; in this form it appears in the Peshitte., bee.rt ie as the heart of a lion"). Thie ie -i.e. in Ea.stem Aramaic; g'Mppeen is the the view of Behrmann. There is no refer• 'fargumic form. No modem commentator ence, then, to any supposed humanizing has doubted, with, I thi.nk, the single excep- influences which manifested themselves in tion of Dr. Bonnar (' Great Interregnum'), Babylonian methodJI of government after that the first beut here is the Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar was restored to his reason. Empire (Hitzig, Zockler, Kliefoth, etc.). From being an empire that spread its wings Nebuche.dDtzza.r is compa.red (Jer. x.lif.. 19) over the earth, it became limited very much en. vn. 1-28.J TIIE BOOK OF DANrnL. 21)9