The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 363

e,er and ever." The Peehitta rendering is till the time of the end, and .many shall somewhat pRraphraetio," Thoee the.t do good inquire, e.nd knowledge shall be inoreaeed." nnd e.re wise ehe.11 ehine e.e the brightneee of The Vulga.to agrees on the whole with the the firme.ment, and thoee who oonquer mnny Ma.ssoretio text. Shut up the toot·d,. The Bhall be lights, e.nd nriee e.e the ete.re of hee.ven exact rendering of the words is "oloee up," for ever Rnd ever." The Vulge.te is in eloee hcnoe Theodotion'a rendering "put a. lmrmony with the Maesorotio text. The re.rope.rt round," the ci:,~ (Batham), mee.ns .eraione e.re superior to our Authorized, in ii:~nerally " to stop up-~ well;" e.g. 2 ~ings hR,ing "those that underat1Lnd" inetc!Ld of m. 19; 2 Chron. xxxu. 30; Gen. xxvi. 15. " thoee the.t be wiee." Beve.n rege.rde the In Neh. iv. 1 (7) it is used of stopping the wise here e.e the "tee.chera." There eceme, breaches in the we.11; only in Ezek. xxviii. however, no ree.eon for euoh e. reetriction. 3 e.nd Ps. Ii. 8 (6) ie the word rendered, The reading of the Septuagint in the opening even in the English vereions, "hidden;" but clnuse of the eecond member of the eentenoe even in these cases the.t is not the neoesse.ry ie inferior. ae confirming or justifying the or even the ne.ture.l meRning of the word. words of Daniel or of God is e. simpler idea These remarks e.pply also to eh. viii. 26. t.han the.t of turning me.ny to righteousneBS. Seal the book. There is e. question as to Further, there is a difficulty of fixing who the force of this phrase. Does it mee.n, e.s is referred to by the prenomine.l suffix "my." Hitzig, Bevan, e.nd the cri tice.l school Professor Fuller refere to lse.. liii. 11 for e. generally me.inte.in it meo.ns, tho.t the book para.lie] use of the biphil of P'.lt; but there, wae to be hidden and concee.led? This e.e elsewhere, it means, not "turn to righteous- view, if correct, would certainly give 11 ness," but "justify," tlie.t is," decle.re right- ple.usiLility to the contention that the book eous." Yet the connection between the two of De.niel is the work of a falaaritlB. We ideas ie close, e.nd the forensic idea.can be.ve he.ve seen, however, that the real meaning no place here. Mr,,tt. xiii 43 represents a. of the verb tre.nela.ted "shut up" is not similar reward to the righteous. "oonoea.l," bat "to shut up" with the view Ver. 4.-llut thou, 0 Daniel, shut up the certainly of hindering access to them, but words, &nd seal the book, even to the time not at e.11 with the intention of concealment. of the end : ma.ny sh.all run to &nd fro, e.nd So the " sea.ling " here does not neceeso.rily knowleige she.ll be inoree.sed.. The Septue.- indice.te concealment, but ro.ther the con- gint rendering in the last portion of the clusion of the matter with further idea of yerse is tote.Uy different from the Me.ssoretic confirmation. The ora.clee of God a.re recension, which ie correctly rendered in our regarded e.s e. spring of water; if we follow English version, ".And thou, Daniel, hide the fig-me implied in the first word used, the commands and seal the book till the time the flow is stopped now ; so far as this of the end, till many shall rave violently message is concerned, nothing more ia to ( a:.-oµaviitTw) and the earth be filled with be drawn from the fountain. But a unrighteousness." It is possible that 1:Vft fountain may also be see.led (see Song iv, (!f'shoogg'oo ), "were mad," was read instead 12, "A ge.rden enclosed, a fountain see.led"). In that case there is no idee. of concealment. of •.I:l~C': (yisho/;'too), "ran to e.nd fro." In The book, then, of the prophecy is to be the older scripto( =Ell) we.snot unlike :U( = O). sea.led against any change or addition. Professor Bevan has suggested tb.a.t instead Even take the view of the critics, there is of i"l!C'J'"1 (hadda'th), "the knowledge," here no elaborate directions as to the con- the Septuagint translator bas read nv-n cealment of the vision as we find in the (hara'otl,), "the evils," . and thinks that case of the ' .Assumption of Moses.' But this gives the Septua.gmt Greek. Were further, we he.ve no account of the finding one, however, to render the Greek back into of the book. Daniel was not like the Hebrew, tb.a.t would not be the form the 'Assumption of Moses,' the esoteric posses- word8 would take. It may, however, be sion of e. single sect, it wo.s on the eritice.l regarded e.s e. pe.re.phre.se. Tbeodotion's hypothesis soon known o.11 over Palestine version is closer to the Massoretic, " And and Egypt. We know that the finding of thou, Daniel, she.It guard ({µq,pa.(ov, 'make a the book of the Law in the reign of Josiah fence round') the words, e.nd seal the book is narrated in 2 Kings xxii. and 2 Chron. till the time of the end, till me.ny shall be xxxiv.; but neither 1 Ma.cce.bees nor 2 ta.ugLt, and knowledge sbe.ll be fu~filled." Maooabees says a word a.bout the finding Theudotion here takes o•r, as mee.Dl.Dg, not of the Hook of Daniel. Josephus also bas "run to and fro," but "peruse carefully." no word of the discovery of Daniel, although The la.et clause somewhat justifies Professor he relates the finding of the book of the Bbva.n's suggestion: n;i:, need to mean Law in the days of Josiah. There must "fulfil" or "fill out." The Peshitte. have been no tradition of such 11, thing ta.king rendbrs, " And thou, then, Daniel, see.I these place, yet two centuries we.a not so long cowm.ands, render silent, and seal this book as to obliterate tradition. The sea.ling had en. xn. 1-13.) TilE IlOOK OF DANIEL. 837