The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 276

llT<' most inlorcsted in tho length of time throe averitgo yenrs, nnd seventy de.ye more that tl1c s,mctnnn· shRll remain desolRte. than three years of three hundred and sixty This mny in,lie.l\to thRt it 1\"BB evident, days eitch. If, however, the year be tho lnne.r from the vision, thnt iho poriod of deso- yc11r of three hundred and fifty-four de.ye, lnt.ion WR-8 R limited one. Tbe scone pre- it closely npproximittcs to three yee.m e.n,I e. el'ntcd to the imRgine.tion is striking. The qu11rter. 'The period that one would natu- seer, RB he gazes on the vision appearing to rnlly think of is th11.t between the setting up Lim over the marsh at Susa, bears angolio of the e.bomin11.tion of desolittion (l Me.cc. 1. vniC'es that direct attontion to what was 54), on the fifteenth dny of Caslou, in the most important to him and to bis people. hundred and forty-fifth ye11.r of the Seleucid To the Israelites of the period of tbo ere. to the rededication of the temple on the 111 accalwes, the length of time that the twenty-fifth of Casleu, in tho hundred nnd t.emple scrdC',e would be in abeyance was forty-eighth yee.r (from B.o. 167 to n.o. 164), of the highellt iruportRnce. It wo.s well but that is only three yen.re and ten do.ye. that they shoulu know that the time WBS If the first and last of these years were Ell0rt-0ned for the elect's sake. respectively the fifth and seventh of e. Yer. 14.-And he se.id unto me, Unto two metonic cycle, in each of which th~re were thouse.nd e.nd three hundred de.ye; then intercalary months, than there is only a differ- she.ll the se.nctue.ry be cleansed. The ence of eighteen days between the interval l\Iassoretic reading is here clearly corrupt. givene.boveand theactual historice.linterve.l. "Unto me" ought to be ''unto him," 68 If, however, we are to believe Macrobius proved by the versions and necessitated by (' Satur.,' i. 13, § 9), and hold that the sense. The LXX. is somewhat violent in intercale.tions were supplied by adding the construction, but means, " And he said to three months in one year, if one of the yeam him, Until evenings and mornings are two in question was the year in the cycle in thousand three hundred days, and the which this took place, then the interval 11anctuary she.II be purified." Theodotion would be twelve days too much. In either e.grees closely with the LX.X., only he hBS case the difference is very small. The •• five hundred" instead of "three hundred." attempt to take the interval as two thouse.nd The Peshitte. agrees with thP- llfassoretic, three hlllldred days leads to very arbitrary save as above mentioned-" him" inst.cad of results. Behrmann takes the victory of .. me," and the last clause, which ought Adase., which JudBS gained over Nicanor, nnturallv to rendered •• e.nd the sacrifice as the termination of the period-a purely be puritied.'' The Hebrew phrase for this arbitrary date, and reckons back to the dis- clause is ll.D unnatural one-it might be placement of Onias, another date that, so rendered, " And holiness ( or, 'holy thing,' far e.a can be ~en, was not regarded as of 'offering') shall be justified." The want of importance by the Jews, however important the article is not an objection, e.s the manner it has become in the eye of critics. of the author is to nse the article sparingly. Ver. 15.-Alld it came to pBSs, when I, The word tre.nslated "dee.need" really even I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought means "justified;" it is the only example for the mell.lllllg, then, behold, there stood of this pa.rt of the verb. All the versions before me as the appearance of a man. The translate as if the word had been some de- versions here are nnimporte.nt. Daniel rivati ve oh,o (ta,har). The period referred desires to understand the meaning of this to is that between the desolation inflicted vision. From this we see that, at the time on the temple by Antiochus Epiphanee when this book was written, it was under- and its cleansing by Jude.a Me.cce.bmns. It stood that prophets might be ignorant of is somewhat di.flicnlt to fix the exact space the meaning of the revelations me.de to of time intended by these two thousand them. This is e.t variance with the three h=dred evening-mornings. Does it BSsumption of even believing critics, that if mee.n two thousand three h=dred de.ye? e. prophecy were given to e. prophet, he For this may be =ged _that this sncceseion, must have understood the reference of the .. evening and morning,'' not " morning and message. On the accuracy of this assump- evening,'' resembles Gen. i. If this re- tion, they fonnd the ·rejection of any inter- semblance is intentional, then "evening- pretation of e. prophecy which sees more in morning" mee.ne a space of twenty-four it than the prophet could have seen. This hours. If the de.ye a.re literal days, then la.test critical date of Daniel is separate,! by the space of time would a.mount to nearly approximately two centuries e.nd e. ho.If six years e.nd e. half, if we take the year from prophecy in actual existence in here as three hundred and sixty days. Male.chi. The tradition of the conditions of .Another view is that de.y and night are the phenomenon would still be vital. The separatoo. and each reckoned ; hence the phrBSe before ns probably means that numbtr of da.ys involved would he eleven Daniel applied the various Babylonian Luudr~d o.ud fifty-fifty-five days more thap formula, to tile drca111, to fi!lil the iutcr- en, vm. 1-27,] 'fHE nooK OF DAN rnr,. 2-15