The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 272

AeevriRn l>trlu. It reallv mMne "oitadel " his VIB!on seems looking from the we.lie or or '' fortress," Rnd tlrne •mRy be oompe.recl the citaclel of Shuehn.n, most likely even "·ith the CRrihRginian byna. Jeromc's now the en.pita] of the triumphant young 1rRnelation, ca~tn,m, suite this. It is not conqueror. Tho progress of tho arms or 11ec.,Man- to maintain th&t at ihis iime Cyrus would no doubt be viewed with appre- DRni<'l WRs in ShushRn. All that is im- hension by the court or Dabylon. Dn.nicl'e pli!'rl is that in his dro11.m he was there. thoughts would bo naturally filled with iho Shushan is first referred to in the inscrip- new factor in the politics of the Euphrates tions of Aeahur-bani-pal RB the mpital of val\ov. Hence it was not unn&tural that Elam. In the hist.orv of that monarch there 0 the thoughts of the day should ~olour the is an inscription of hie given in which he visions of the night. The choice or the &an., .. Shushan, the great city, the seat of animal-the ram-to represent the Medo- th~ir gods, the plRee of their oracle, I Persian monarchy is by some supposed to cnptur<'<l." Then follows a description of be illustrated by the figures of goats nnd the plunder he took from it. We do not rams on Persian cylinders. U it has any know wh<'n it reoovered from tho.t over- special meaning, it probably is that the throw. The n&me is BBid to be derived monarchy had sprung up o.mong a pastoral from the number of lilies growing in the people. It is m&intnined by Professor Bevan, neighbourhood; but eh'Ullhan, "R lily," is that this figure of n ra.m with two horns n Shemitic word, and the Elamites are proves that there were two euoceeeive empires usually regardod M an A:ry&n people. The -a Medinn and a Persian. U 11-Ir. Bevan associo.tion of Bo.bvlon with Elam and would use his ingenuity, and show us any llledia ruuet have been intim&tc, if &ny way by which the actual facts of the history credit is to be placed on the Greek accounts and constitution of the Medo-Porsian Empire of ihe marriage of Nebnchadnezzar. Hence, could be represented in a symbol that would even if Elam was not, at the date specified., not be liable to his misinterpretation, it would a province of the Babylonian Empire, per- be an advantage. The empire, we know, W&B haps never wne, yet the Babylonian court built up by two races-the race which l&st mifcht well have envoys visiting the court came into prominence became the predomi- of Elam. We find from the well-known nant. Here in the symbol before us the inscription of Nabunahid, that he regarded unity of the empire is exhibited by the Cvrus at first oe a friend and deliverer from animal being one, and the two races are tl;e formidable A.styage&, King of Umman- indicated by the two home. The duality of Manda. Daniel may have been sent to the symbol ought to be noted. . Elam, nlthongh there is no necessity for Ver. 4.-I ea w the ram pushing westward, maintaining tbe.t this was tbe case. It was and northward, and southward; so that no not until he had conquered Astyagee that beasts might stand before him, neither was Cyrus held poseeBSion of Shnshn.n. there any that could deliver out of his hand: Ver. 3.-Then I lifted up mine eyes, and but he did according to hie will, and be- saw, and, behold, there stood before the came great. The opening words of the river a ram which had two horns ; and the Septuagint appear to be a translation of two horns were high; but one was higher the last word of the preceding verse, ba'a- than the other, and the higher came up last. ~eronah, being rendered," after these things " The rendering of the LXX. does not differ -a change that is not defensible. It is more eesenti.e.l..ly from the Maesoretic Version, important to note that in the LX..X:. we save in the last clause, which is rendered, have the four points of the compass men- "and the higher&.11cended(u<tlciw,)." As in tioned, not merely three e,e in the Me.eeoretfo, t.l.te former verse, oobal is traD.Blated "gate." "I saw the ram butting eastward, and north- Certainly, as before remarked, "before ·a ward, e,nd westward, and southward." Had river" i.sanawkwa.rdcombination; "before" ajal,1JriU11 been wishful to supply the missing .:ir " ovM agaimt a gate " is intelligible. direction, he would have inserted "east- '· Eaetwa.rd," which liphnu also means, will ward" between ''northward" and "south- not suit the geographical circumstances, e.s ward," only if he had begun with "eastward" Shnshan itself stood on the eut bank of the would he have gone on as it e.t present stands river Eul11eus, or Shapur. U, further, oobal in the Septuagint. What could make him means a "marsh," e.s Jerome renders it, then change " west " to "east " ? Our opinion is " eastward" would not suit. for the existing that the LXX. represents the original text. marsh is to the south-west of Shuehun. It is con1irmatory of this that Theodotion, in 'J'heuclotion is in closer agreement with the strict agreement with the text of the Mas- 11'1.ass,,retic text, but does not translate oobal, soretee, renders the first direction" see.wo.rd" Le, 1uerel v transliterates it. The Peshitte. is (Ka'Tti 8cl.A.auuciv). The Peehitte. renders i :i strict. agreement with the text of the "westward," not by yammah, but by tho :M '1,suretes. Jerome, u we just said, in this term for " west" that became common in VcW, ru,ders ooiaz by paludem. Daniel in Exilice.nd post-Exilic Hebrew, ma'arab-the OH, VIII, 1-27.] THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 2:.rn word tbe.t is need in the next verse. Ezekiel the thrco rihA, imply the limHation or the us,·a yamm•th for "west," when in vision ho Persian Empire. Jt ecrtninly waA recognize,( plncce himmlf in Pl\lcetinr., othcrwieo it is by the ,Jews to ho little, if at nil, le•• than that n"I used for "woet" by Exilic e.nd post-Exilio of Alexander the Grcnt. Hitzig prop,,nnds writers. If we to.ke the statement of the in alI gravity an absurd view; be assumes tl,at next verse 11,9 fixing what wns "the west" to the ram was standing on the west hnnk ,,f the the o.uthor of Dnniol, where would "sea- river, e.nd faced west, and argnes that l,r rli,1 ward" be? If we drnw e. lino from Trone, not butt eastward because he conic! not butt where Alexe.ndor fon•led, and continue it be.ckwards. His preliminary assumption is through De.bylon, it reo.chee the Persian groundless, as we have seen, and rnm• can Gulf. "Seo.ward" would mco.n conse- chonge their position. The true explana- quently "eo.stwe.rd," or approxime.tely so, tion is that a direction has dropped out. to one writing in De.bylon. A grent num- While "seaward" had ceaseu t.o mean ber of suggestions hnve been offered to "west" to the Jews in Babylon, it did not explain the singulor omission of "eoet- take long residence in Pa.Jestine to recover ward" from the direction in which the this name for" west." 1 A copyist livin:; in ram pushes with hie borne. Havemick, Palestine, finding yammah, in thP- first place and following him Moses Stuart, assert that would translate it "westward ; " then after "eastward " is not mentioned because the "northward" he would, in the third place, Persions me.de no conquests to the ee.st until come upon ma'arab, which also meant the de.ye of Darius Hyste.spis, and then not "west;" so naturally he dropped the seconrl pe1·me.nent ones. Age.inst this is the fe.ct of what seemed to him synonymous terms. that Elam ond Medin were me.inly east of If we a.re correct in our supposition, we barn Ansa.n. Further, the picture here given of here demonstrative proof that Daniel was the Persian Empire is not restricted to written by one living in Babylon. No the de.ye of Cyrus e.nd Oambyses, but all beasts might stand befOTe him. All the through its course. As to the permanence powers round Persia. had to submit to him. of these Eastern conquests, the territories And he became IJ1'eat affords proof, if proof of Darius Oodomannns east of Arbela. em- were needed, that the vision applies to the braced modem Persia. and other territories whole of the history of Persia. There is to the confines of India.. Keil assumes little necessity for Moses Stuart's translation, that the ram stands on the western bank "became haughty." of tho Shapnr, so, if he pushed ee.stwe.rd, Ver. 5.-Ande.s I we.a considering, behold, it would be age.inst his own capital; but an he-goat ea.me from the west on the face if oobal means "e. river," then the only of the whole earth, and touched not the meaning possible for liphnee is "eo.stwe.rd." ground: and the goat had a. notable horn He would then be butting towards the river between his eyes. The Septuagint, when across which the enemy wits likely to come, completed from Paulus Tellensis, agrees in moreover, against his own capital, unless the ma.in with the Maseoretic, omitting only the ram is snpposed to be between the river "whole" before "earth." The Ohisian MS. and the city-an unlikely supposition, as omits the clause, "and touched not the Shnshe.n was on the river Eulams. He ground," but it is in Paulus Tellensis. As I further main to.ins that the unfolding of the waB considering. "Was" is here used much power of Persia was towards these three as e.n auxiliary verb--an Aramaic usage. no.med directions, and not towards the last, "Considering" really sn/!'gests "meditating whatever that may mean. Ewe.Id declares on." He-goat. The word here nsed does not the ram does not butt towards the east, elsewhere occur in the Hebrew Scriptures. because that already belongs to him. As II is really an Aramaic word,thongh vocalized a matter of fact, and, as exhibited by the here after the analogy of Hebrew. On the Book of Esther, well known to the Jews, faC$ of the whole earth. The Wl'iter had pro- the Persian Empire did conquer towards bably in his mind the negative idea. ex- the east. Behrmann says, "The ram does pressed in the next verse ; hence the word not push towards the east, because he kol. A notable horn; "a. horn of sight; " a comes from the east-a. delicacy the Septua- horn that no one could fail to remark upon. gint overlooked." In point of fa.et, there is no word in the vision of the r11,m coming 1 We do not mean to say that yammah