The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 271

EXPOSITION. CHAPTER VIII. Ailam, and I was on the Uh11I." Tha Syriac is in close agreement with the Vere. 1-27.-TBE RAM AND TIIE HE- MasBOretic, even to the transr,ri pti0n 0f the GOAT. doubtful word Dbal. The transoription is co.rried so far thnt m•deenatha, "a city," This chapter marks the change from is used to translate m'deena, "a province." Aramaic to Hebrew. The character of the Jerome renders m·deena, ei-uitas, and ubal, chapter is like that which immediately portam, and beera, castrum. The word ',J1tt precedes it. It consists, like it, of the ('oobal) is nearly a hapaz legomenon, abso- account of a vision, and the interpretation lutely so if we do not admit joobal, in Jer. of it. The subject of this vision is the over- xvii. 8, to be the same word. There is, aa will have been seen above, great differences throw of the Persian monarchy by Alex- among the versions. The LXX. and ander the Great, the division of his empire, Jerome seem to have read c,~N (oolam), and the oppression of Israel by Epiphanes. "porch" or" gate," instead of oobal. Ewald ~ Ver. 1.-In the third year of the reign of would make the word mean "river-basin," King llelshazzar a vision appeared unto me, StTom-gebiet-a. view supported also !,y even unto me Daniel, after that which Ziiokler. In many respects "marsh" might appeared unto me at the first. The text of be a more suitable rendering. To the the Septuagint does not differ greatly from south-west of the present ruins of Susa there the Hebrew, but avoids the strange anar- is an extensive marsh, which may have throus position of anu, "I." ~The Septuagint been of old date. The preposition liphnee, renders this verse as a title to the chapter, which occurs in ver. 3, is all but meaning- thus: "A vision which I Daniel saw in less applied to a river, if we use it in its the third year of the reign of Belshazzar ordinary meaning, "before." If we take it (Beltasar), after that I saw formerly as meaning "eastward," the ram would be (..-pcf,TTJV)," The Septuagint reading seems " westward" from Shashan, i.e. between to have been asher r'oeh anee. Theodo- Shnshan and the river; but as Daniel was tion and the Peshitta are in verbal agree- in Shushan, he would naturally state the ment with the MasBOretio text. The third position of the "ram" in relation to it 11ear of the reign of King Belshazzar. We rather than to the river. Tb.e preposition ',l! leam now that Belshazzar did not reign in- ('al) is nearly as meaningless with regard to dependently; but that for at least five years a river, unless a bridge or o. boat is intended. he exercised all the functions of govern- We are inclined to read oolam as "porch." ment. If Daniel's investiture with the At the same time, we know that there was position of third man in the kingdom took the river Ulai (Eulaius) near Shushan. It place on the occasion of Belshazzar's in- is mentioned in one of the inscriptions of auguration of his vice-regal reign, Daniel Asshurbanipal in connection with Shnshan may have remained in the royal service (Smith's 'Asshurbanipal,' p. 130). The continuously till the overthrow of the palace. Beera really seems to mean " fort- Babylonian monarchy. After that whicl, ress." It occurs ten times in Esther, and appeared unto me at the first. The former always as the appellation of Shushan. In vision referred to is clearly the vision of Nehemiah it is once used with this con- the preceding chapter. notation, but twice in regard to some build- Ver. 2.-And I saw in a vision; and it ing in Jerusalem, probably the temple; in oame to pass, when I saw, that I was at Chronicles it is used for the temple. In Shushan in the palace, which is in the pro- Ezra vi. 2 it is used of Achmetha, equivalent vince of Elam; and I saw in a vision, and to Ecbatana. From the fact tho.t the LXX. I was by the river of Ulai, The LXX. translates ,.-o,\ir, it might be reasoned that rresents several slight differences, "And I the translator had 1'J7 before him, but the saw in the vision of my dream, when I was translation probably was due to ignorance in the city Susa, whioil is in the province of the precise meaning of the word. In Elymais, and I seemed itl. my vision to Esther this word is rendered ,ro,\is. In be at the gate Ailam." Theodotion renders Nehemiah it is once rendered ..-o,\is, once more briefly, "And I was in Susa the it is rendered (&fj,pa, and once IJ(pa. The palace (lo6uoas ,,.ii BdpE1), in the province derivation of the word seems to be from tile  238 THE BOOK OF DANIEL, [OH, VIII, 1-27,