The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 280

•hall dem-oy the mighty and the holy people. shall ho oorrupt me.ny, and for tho destruc- The rendering or the Revised Vel'l!ion bf,tter tion of many shall ho 1tand, and a8 eggs conveys the sense of the original, " He she.11 ho crush (them) in hi1 he.nd,'' readin.,. shall destroy the mighty ones." There has k'baytzttm b·yad yiehbar instead of b•'eecpl1 been discussion w; to the di1tinction involved yad yuhihalmyr. The Peehitt& has several here. Ewald rcga.rda the migl1ty a8 the point& of peculiarity, "And in his might three other horns of the ten (oh. vii. 8)-1m he ehe.11 prosper: be ehnll re8trnin with his interpretation which proceeds on the fa.lee he.nd, and his heart shall be lifted up, a.nd identification of the fourth beast with the by trcaohe1·y she.ll he com1pt many, and Greek Empire. R&Bhi imagines the ste.r• age.inst the Ruler of rulers shall be rise up, worabippen;; this Becms tbe height of and with grasp of the h1md shall ho be caprice. Jephct-ibn-Ali, who identifi,:,s the ta.ken." Even Jerome, who is usuCLlly in liltle horn with Mahommed, holds the close agreement with the M&Bsoretio text, "mighty " t.o be the Romans. Keil s.ud translates at ve.ria.nee with their pointing. Fuller bold it to be the hen.then ruhws He begins this verse really with the lnijt generally. Von Lengerke, Kliefotb, :,nd clause: of the previous one, "And ho shall others mainlB.in it refers to the rich of the slay strong ones e.nd the people of the holy people, while CJ? ('am) a.re the poor. saints according to his will, and trea.ihery Hitzig ~fen; it to the three claimants for shall be direct.ad in his hand, CLnd in plenty the crown, whom A11tiochus is alleged, on of a.II things he shall sle.y many, CLn<l age.inst somewhat insufficient evidence, to have the Prince of princes shall he rise and overthrown; Bebrme.nn and Zockler, to withou.t hand she.11 he be broken."' The the political and we.rlike enemies of Epi- most singular thing is the omission by both phe.nes, in contrast to the holy people, who the Greek ,eniione of the phrase aar sareem, were un warlike. Kre.nichfeld refers it to which both e.~pe~ to have_ read yishhal the rulers of Israel, as distinct from the ra.bbeem-& var1e.t10n of reo.dmg difficult to people; Calvin to "neighbouring nationa." DDderstand. On the whole, these varyin"' Moses Stuart would render, "great num- versions Beem to have sprung from CL text bers, even the people of the saints; " while originally not differing much from the Mas- Professor Be,a.n thinks there is an interpo- soretic, ea.vein the openillg cla~se, in which la.tion here, and adopts a reading of Gratz the Septuagint appears to suit the sucoe8• from the LXX. for the beginning of the sion of thought better. The return of following verse. On the whole, this seems .A.lltiochns from bis expedition to Egypt the best solution of the difficulty. After wa.e the signal for his persecution of the Epiphaues had destroyed the "mighty," saints ; then his "purpose was against the that is to say, the political enemies he had, holy people." Craft shall prosper in Ilia the Egyptians, etc., be directed bis mind hand. The &ccoDDt we have in the First to the "people of the 119.ints." Book of the Macce.bees shows the perpetuCLl Yer. 25.-And through his policy also he exercise by .A.lltiochus and those under him sbs.ll ca.11Be ore.ft to prosper ill his bs.nd ; of trea.chery. At first, a.t all events, his and he sh.a.ll magnify himself ill his hea.rt, craft prospered (1 Mace. i. 30). .And he and by pea.oe shall destroy mauy: he sbs.ll shall mag11ify himself in his hea1·t. Devan also stand up agaillst the l'rince of princes; thinks this hardly accurate, as the hiphil is but he shall be broken without bs.nd. The ordinarily causative. Only Zoph. ii. 8 has versions here are at variance with each this verb used in hiphil as reflexive. The other o.nd with the M8880retio recension. sense, however, seems to be, not that ho The LXX. renders, "A.lid a.go.inst the shall become proud, but thCLt he has many saints sho.ll his purpose be"--evidently read- great projects in his mind-one (l Mace. ing, as suggested by Gritz, -c'al q'doaheem i 42) being to DDify all the various peoples •ii.le,-" o.n<l craft shall prosper in his hnnds, that were UDder his sceptre, so that they and his heart shall be lifted up, and by should be one in religion and !CLw. He treachery be shall destroy many, and for further bad the design of conquering the destruction of men shall he stand, aud Egypt and UDiting it to hie empire, o.ncl be shall mo.ke a gathering of power, and would have done so bad the Romans not shall sell (it)." Tlieodotion is, ill regard intervened. And by peace shall desl·roy many. to the firBt clause, considerably more at The word translated " peo.ce" mco.ns also variance with the Massoretie, ".A.nd the "suddenly." The Greek versions both yoke of his collar (or chain) shall prosper." render it by 6&Aq,. Schleusner sugg<•sts thnt Evidently Theodotion ho.d read ',p ('ol), the word was derived from another root. There does not seem such a root in Levy. •· yoke," instead of ',.17 ('al), " upon," and The probability is that the meaning prc.be.Lly 1S::i~ (•ii/lo), ;, his l,nrden," instead passed from "tranquillity" to the notion of of 1':>::ie- (•ilcio), "l,is thought." "A.lid in his "treachery." The meaning assigned to the word by Jerome ie inexplicable, copia lu,arl L.c sL.(111 be magnified, and by treachery  Ctl. VUI. 1-27.) THE IlOOK OF DANIEL. 240