The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 281

rel'um. H ho.ppens tlmt both the meaning ?( ,the definite article; hut this merely Mto.?hed to the word elialvah by the Greek mt1me.tes a rererencc. This statement <loP,~ vers1ona hero, nnd tho.t found in other not mee.n tbo.t the period indicate,! by tho po.sso.ges, hnrmonizo. The trenchcry of the two t_housand three hundred evenin~a Rn,t ohief collector of tributo lny in feigning mornrngs would end with the death ,,f ponce, 1md thon slnying tho people (1 Mo.cc. Antiochus. Certainly, his death occurrcrl i. 29). He shall also eland up against the in the year following the cleansing of ~he Prince of prineee. The Greek versions, as temple (1 Me.cc. vi. 16). If the writr•r above observocl, he.ve instee.d of this, brl reckons the beginning of the year accord- 4,..,,,..1,,. livBpwv u-r~u.,.cz,-e. phrase that ing to the Macedonian Calendar, almost o. might be o. rendering of c•:1:1, nm,~. The year must be.vc elapsed between the tcm1,le- l\fossoretlo text here seems the prefere.ble. cleansing and tlie death of Antioch us; Lut Antioohus had certainly risen up age.inst it is the clee.nsing that is the terminus cul God, the "Prince of princes," or, as the quem, not the dee.th of Antiocbus. Tho Peshitto. renders, "Ruler of rulers." He pollution of the temple was the event that, ehall be broken urilhout hand. The fnct of of nll others, would be trying to the faith Antiochus dying immediately after an and patience of Jewish believers: thereforn ineft'eotunl attempt to rob e. temple in attention is directed to this. As the be- Elymais, nnd dying, not from the effect ginning of this season of trio.I is the point of wounds received, but from cha.grin, is to which the whole history of the Greek Em- symbolized by this stntement. The figure pire travels, so the termination of this dese- of e. horn pushing in this direction and cration is the end contemplated. Shut thon in that is resumed; hence Epiphanes is up the vision. Certainly the verb ea/ham se.id to be broken. And that he was not means sometimes "to hide;" and it is also overthrown in battle by any rive.I for the certain that it is a characteristic of apoca- crown is shown by the statement that it lyptic literature to contain, in the text, was without ho.nds that he was so broken. ele.borate directions for hiding the vision; The Rome.us resisted his attempt to take e.g. the Apocalypse of Moges. It bas been possession of Egypt, so he we.a bo.ulked in o.rgued that this is a preparation for the his pursuit after one object. He desired publication of Daniel in the age of the to unite his whole multifarious empire, so Maccabees, so long after the date at which that it should be homogeneous; that was it purports to be written. But there is no baulked by the victorious revolt of the J ewe description of how the book is to be hidden, as under Judas Me.cce.bmus. If he could have in the As=ption of Moeee. Moreover, the me.de his empire homogeneous, he might translators of the LXX. did not understand ho.ve expected to be able to defy the satham as "hide." If it had been bidden, Romans. The defee.t of his army by Judas and had been discovered, he would have might eo.sily be remedied if he had money known e.nd translated e.ccordingly. Then to pay his troops, so he attempted the when we tum to the next verse, we find plunder of the temple in Elymais, said to be tbe.t Daniel himself did not understand tho.t of Artemis. The inhe.bitants resisted the command o.s meaning that he was to so vehemently, that he had to retire baffled. keep the vision secret from bis contempo- This it wns the.t co.used his death. Poly- re.ries; so far from that being the ce.se, one bins hints e.t madness inflicted by e. Divine of his reasons for distress is that no one ho.nd. understood the vision. The viition shall be Ver. 26.-And the vision of the evening for many days. The.t is to say, that e. long e.nd the morning whioh we.a told is true : interval divided the time when the reve- wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it lation was made from the time of its ful- she.11 be for me.ny days. Tho rendering of filment (Ezek. xii. 27); the vision he sees the LXX. here is, "Tho vision of the is for many days to come. Before the evening and morning wo.s found true, 11nd beginning of the history reveo.led to Daniel. tho vision bo.s been secured for mo.ny d1tys." certainly not mo.ny yee.rs intervened; but i~~~ i~~ ( ashe-r ne'emar) hos been read between the de.ye of Belsha.zzar e.nd those 'JI N~Dl, e.lthough it is difficult to see the of Antiocbus we.s an interve.l of a.pproxi- genesis of such e. reading from the l\'lnsso- mo.tely four centuries. The Persian Empire retic, or vice versa. The LXX. rendering rose o.nd fell, o.nd the Me.cedonian Empire of cno ought to be observed-not "shut up," rose and was e.pproe.ching its fall. At the in the sense of being "see.led," but "de- end of the period, the light of the vision fended from interference by being secured fell most clearly. It was not necessary ns with e. hedge." Theodotion o.nd the that Daniel should know the events por- Peshitte. agree with the Me.ssoretic text, but trayeu to foretell them truly, e.ny more than he.ve cnn instead of cno. The vision of the it was needful that the Second Is,iia.h shou!J evening and the morning refers to vcr. 14. know the exact historical events portrayeJ The phrase used hero tlitfors \Jy the instrtiou so clearly in his fifty-third cho.pter. Daniel 250 THE BOOK OF DANIEt. [en. vm. 1-27.