The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 275

IU! we can, rules of int,erprctution which tho bably had beon written on the morgin, nntl nuthor himself supplit>s us with. Using then ,hopped into the text. 'fhe lntler this guidt>, we st>o nl'xt that., whon 9. nation port of the Septuogint verse oppoors to ho wns defeofod and oppressed, its a.ngel or confused with the lntt9r part of the follow- st.ar was rcga.rded a.s thrown to the e11rth ing verse e.ccor,ling to tho llfossorctcs, ond trodden underfoot. Tbo treatment Thcodotion is even less intelligiblo thnn Epiplll\nes mct.ed out to Egypt a.nd Pales• tho Septnngint, "Until tho leiider of tho tine seems spccia.lly refeJTCd t.o. If we host shall sn.ve the cnptivity, iind through fake the reading of the LXX., then tho him the sacrifice wiis broken down, nnd ho rof,•rencc will be to the humiliation Epi• prospered, and the holy place sho.11 ho m:vlo 11linnt'E rccdvC'd at the ha.nds of the Romane desolate." It is to be noticed thnt the ft rst first., 1tnd then the Jews, and lastly tho clause hero agrees with the LXX. It is pos- F,lamitcs, whose temple ho attempted to sible the.t "and ho prospered" is a doublet, plunder. n:~f,:I being read for 7?:tQ in somo copy, Yer. 11.-Yea, he magnified himself even The Pesbitta differs from both the Groolc to the prinoe of the host, and by him the versions, "Until it arrive to tho chiefs of daily sncrifico was taken away, and the the host, and by it wo.s set up in perpetuity, place of his sanctuary was oast down. and preparing ho strengthened the snnc- This is said bv Bevan to be the most tuary," o.nd while it is difficult to under- difficult verse in this whole book. There is stand the origin of the ve.rintion in the a difference here between the Q'ri and the first clause, it is clear tbo.t in the sccontl K'thib. The latter reads o•i:,, the hiphil clause the translator must hnvc rend hish- of 011, while the former reads o,:,, the leem for hoo$hlak The one thing tho.t hopha.l of the same verb. At first sight seems cloo.r lll tho.t the reo.ding of the the difficulty is not lessened by considera• K'thib lll to be preferred. We should. reo.d tion of the versions. The Septuagint as hayree111, not 11ooram. Only the first of these it at present stands is utterly unintelli- couhl be ree.d "mountains." If wo trans- gible, "Until the leader of ~he host s~all late the words o.s they stand, we she.11 cer- save the captivity, e.nd by hun everlastm_g tainly be removed out of the region of o.ll mountains wore broken down, e.nd their the commcnto.tors. It is assumed that "the place and sa.orifice taken away, e.nd he little horn" is the subject of this sentence; plnced it in the very ground, and he but "horn " lll feminine in Hebrew, and prospered [reading with Syriac] and we.a, the verbs here nro in the masculine; this nnd the holy place shall be laid we.ate." lll o.gainst it being the nomino.tive. The This confusion lll due to confluence of "prince of the host," then, must be the readin!!'S, lllld lll not difficult to disentangle nominative of the verbs e.nd subject of the with the help of the Massoretic text. Up sentence. The rendering of the first clo.use to the last two words the Septuagint lll a ought to be, then, "Until the prince of the translation of n text differing from the host magnify himself (l Sam. xii. 24), and lllaBl!oretic simply by intelligible variations by himself he shall offer the do.Hy sacrifioo. and repetitions not uncommon in the Sep- A.nd he shall cast down the foundation or tuagint. The first clause ?f the L~X. his holy plo.ce," reading hishlaylc instead originally was probably,." Till the_ prm~ of hooshlalc. We should feel strongly in- sha.ll deliver the captinty," reading •~i;, clined to transfer the first" o.nd" to hayreern, ( Bh'bee) instead of 19~ ( tzaba)-e. scribe, and, changing the punctuation, read, "Until finding tt:1:r in his Hebrew, ~hen ad:ded the the prince of the host shall make himself translation of it to the margm of hlB Greek greater than he "-viz. the tyrant reprc• copy, from which it got into the text. sentcd by "the little horn ''-"and shall The original of the LXX. had e.lao ½-: offer the daily sacrifice." If we might read hishleem with the Peshitte. instead of hoosh- u,atztzed) instead of r,-,f, (hig'dee~ co~- LaJe, we get e. satisfactory meaning to the last fWlion ellBily mode in the older scnpt, Ill clause, in which case we should render, "He which ' and ;i were like. We learn from shall complete the place of his sanctuary." the Talmud (Shabb., 103b) that J we.s liable We would understand by " complete," to be mistaken by scribes for :r. Moreover, "to perfe.ctly purify." Taking the Mo.sso- "captivity" would naturally suggest r,:rl, retic text thWI with little modification, we "to deliver." The second claWle is, "By him have o. description of the successes of J ude.s the everlasting mountains were broken Maccabwus, who was prince of the host, down." Here 1.ayreem has been read with and as such became stronger than Epi- the K'tbib and vocalized as if it were phanes, and then cleansed the temple, and 1,a.reem, e.n'd tamud, " continual," tra.ns• offered the continual daily so.orifice. We lated as equivalent to c'r.JI ('olam), "ever- give, as a curiosiLy, the note of Saadie.h ID.sting." The next clause reveals the other Ge.on : " The King of liihmael was more meaning of f!ime,d, "sacrifice," which pro- powerful than the kiqgs of Rome who had  CU, VIII, 1-27,] 'l'HE BOOK OF DANIIIL. ·~----- - - - - - - - JcrusA.lem, nnd ho look Jorusalem from AionA aro wort,hyofnntc. The LXX., ",\n,l Uwm by force." I hearrl rmo holy one Hprrtking, rtn<l an"tl":r Ver. 12.-And an host was given him holy ono said to Phdmouni wl,o ap,,kr against the dnily saoriflco by reason of How long shall the visi,,n stnn,t, an<i th~ transgression, and it c11&t down the truth removed sncrificc, an,! tho sin of desnlrttic,n to the ground; and it practised, and proa- given, and the holy place be desolate to ho i:ered. 'fho rcnclcrings of tho LXX. cmd trodden underfoot(,/, Ka7'a'71'd.,,.11va)?" Hero 'l'hoodotion nro closely rolnted, o.nd both the word tT'TtJtT•Ta<, "eh nil etrrnd," i• snppo•rd dilfcr from the Mo.eeorctio text. 'fho first by Professor Bevan to be an addition hy on" ie, "And tho sine wore upon the sacrifice, who did not fully comprehcnrl the sentrncc. nnd rightoouenese was fa.Hen to the enrth, Following Gratz, Professor Bevan s11gg-r;ste nnrl ho (or, it) did, o.nd prospered." 'fheo- a word, 0;110 (mooram), "removed," to ex- dotion renders, "And sin was plo.ccd (given) plain the presence of i, &.pe,,,;a-a .~ugg,·s- upon the encrillcr., and righteousness is tion that appenrs well-founded. Hia further fa.Hen to the eo.rth, o.nd he (it) did and suggestion, thatsim(□~), "to set up," has been prospered." The Peehitta. is nearer the read instead of shomaym ( □~:!i), must be due ll'Iassorotic text, but better in accordance to inattention to the Greek. In it there is with the Authorized Version," A host wa.s nothing about "set up," unleBB he transfers given age.inst the perpetuity, in transgres- <T'Tt/tTE'Ta., from ita place in the beginning of sion the holy place wo.s thrown to the the sentence to the middle, a.nd changes grollild, o.nd he did and prospered." From it to the active voice. Equally extraordi- the fact that N:n: (tzaba) is omitted from the nary is the suggestion that the translators two Greek versions, wo venture to omit it read N:i::.:• instead of N::1111. The truth is, the nlso; it has probably been inserted from the introduction of ip11µ0,811tTe'Ta.1 is probably due verse above. Both versions also omit the to a. gloss or a confluence of readings. Theo- preposition before" transgression;" we omit dotion is in close agreement with the Septua- it also. We would thus render," And trans- gi.nt,save i.n the last clause, which be renders, gression we.a upon the sacrifice, and," reading " And the sanctuary e.nd the power be 'if?!f'°':', "truth was co.et to the ground, and it trodden Ullderfoot." The Peshitta is closer did and prospered." After Judas Macca- to·the Massoretic, "And I heard a holy one b11me had cleansed the temple and offered who epake, and a holy one so.id to palnumi, sacrifices, sin mingled with it. We know who epe.ke, When shall the vision of the that the stricter [!asidim objected to the perpetuity (daily sacrifice?), o.nd of sin o.nd foreign alliances into which the Maccabees of corruption be completed, and the holy were inclined to enter; the battle of Beth- place and the host be trodden Ullderfoot ? " zecharias was largely lost liy the abstention The translators mnst have read shahata of the stricter party. After that, Lysias, instead of shomaym. "Completed," nesh- representing really the same movement as tlem, may have been added, as <TTt/tTE'Ta., in Epipho.nee, advanced to the capture of the Gret:k, but the fa.et that all the versions Bethehur. Thus it might be said of the have a word not represented i.n the Me.sso- little horn, that "it did and prospered." retio would indicate the probability that Were it not tbe.t there is no authority for something bas dropped out. Some pll?t of the verb 01\1' is suggested by the Greek it in the versions, we should read O?"?f"f'J in- Version, whereas some portion of o:,;t is stead of 'if~tf'J'.!. In that case we should BUggeated by the Peshitta. Daniel heara render, "And transgression was npon the one of those watching angels who desire sacrifice "-regarding this enorifice as the to look into the evolution of the Divine atonement for the ti·ansgression (Lev. xvi. purpose conoemi.ng IW1,n and his salvation, 21)-" and truth ehe.11 make pee.ce in the asking another, " How long shall be the land, and do and prosper." desolation of Jerusalem under Epiphanes? " Ver. 13.-Then I hee.rd one saint speak- The irregular construction here suggests ing, and another saint so.id unto that oertain oorruption. We would render the speech saint which apake, How long shall be the of the angel, "How long-the vision., the visio concerning the daily eaorifice, and the sacrifice-the sin of desolation to give the transgression of desolation, to give both the sa.nctuary and the service to be trodden. eanotuary and the host to be trodden under underfoot ? " ae if Daniel had only heard foot 1 Our Authorized rendering is clearly snatches of what \l'88 said; we would, we mistaken; it ought not to be "saint," but may say, omit the "and." before " sanc- "holy one," as in the Revised Vorsion. The tuary." The Septuagint translators may versions leave palmoni, "a certain one," Ull· have omitted M~J (tzaba), thinking only of translated. Fiirst'e suggestion, held also its ordinary meaning, "host," forgetful of by Behrmann, is that this is a contraction the faot that it is used of the temple for paloni almoni. Tbe renderings of tbe ver- service in Numb. iv. 23. These an.gels 244 'l'HE BOOK OF DANIEL. [cH, VIII, 1-27.