The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 364

e. moll\phorice.1 mee.nlng-a book sealed, Professor Beve.n thinkP, as wilnPsses to though il "ne visible to the eye, and was the oath of the i,ngel. But e.n oath, to be not hi,Jclcn nwe.r-could not bo ree.d. Jf binding, did not need witnesses; e.g. when the koy by which to Interpret it is not David ewe.re to Jone.than, there were no granted, e. book in cipher ce.nnot bo reo.d witnesses. Another idea may be hazarded (comp. Isa.. xxix. 11, 12, "And the vision of -the Tigris may be looked upon as the all is become unto you e.s o. book the.t is see.led, bounde.ry of the East e.nd the West; and which mon deliver to one the.tie learned, say- the two other angels mo.y ho the e.ngelio ing, Itead this, I pray thee: and he ee.ith, guardie.ns of theee two region9. I cannot, for it is see.Jed. And the book is Ver. 6.-And one said to the man clothed delivered to him that is not learned, saying, in linen, whicl!. we.a upon the wa.tera of the Rend this, I pray thee : and ho eaith, I am river, How long shall it be to the end of not learned." If the book were sealed that these woaderal The Septuagint rendering is, it could not be opened, the delivering of the "And I sa.id"-reading,o:-< instead of ,011•- book o.nd the request to ree.d it would bo " to one clothed in fair linen (f,Jrr,nvci ), which meaningless). Prophecy was delivered fre- Is above the water of the river "-the last quently in enigmatic lo.nguago, and the five words being omitted from the Syriac of meaning of it could only bo grasped when Po.ulna Tellensis-" When, then, shall the circumstance supplied the key. To the end be of these ma:rvels which thou bast told time of the end. The end is not the end of me, e.nd their purification?" The la.at clause, the persecution of the do.ye of Antiochus- which do~s not represent anything in the the.t is alreo.dy past; we ho.ve now reached Me.ssoretic, is due to e. confusion between the consummation of e.11 things. 111any JI!?~'!• with which the next verse begins, e.nd ,hall run to and fro, and knowledge thall be CJ?~t-1. Theodotion's rendering is, as usual, increased. This is to be looked upon as a. closer to the Maesoretic, " and he enid to description of the last time, when circum- the man clothed in baddin, who was upon ste.nce shall remove the seal from the book. the waters of the river, When shall he The translator of the Septuagint ha.a been the end of those ma:rvels of which thou led a.way by the idea. of the time a.a one of spea.kest?" Both the Greek versions insert sorrow. The verb, however, translated "of which thou speakest." The rendering "going to and fro" may be rendered, as it of the Peshitta differs slightly," And they is by Ewald, as "to peruse." The veil then said"-a reading that one would be wishful ■ha.II be removed, the seals broken when to adopt if it ha.d e.ny probability in ite men peruse the prophocy carefully, and favour-" to the man clothed in beautiful knowledge is increased. apparel, who was standing above the waters Ver. 5.-Then I Daniel looked, and, of the river, Until when shall the end or behold, there stood other two, the one on these things be ? " The omission of " won- this side of the bank of the river, and the ders" is to be observed. The Vulgate other on that side of the bank of the river. follows the Septuagint in me.king Daniel The versions do not require remark, save the speaker, "And I said to the man that the Septuagint and the Peshitta do not clothed in linen, who was standing over the repeat "river." The abrupt introduction waters of the river, When shall ho the end of "two other" is e.nother proof that the of these marvels?" .And one said. Aben long eleventh che.pter, as we be.ve it now, is Ezra me.kes this one of the two who spoke. a.n interpolation. We must go ha.ck to Thie suggestion is the most natural, only oh, x. 18 to got the person from whom these the sentence is singularly abrupt, and two mentioned are distinguished, The two favours the idea that there is an omission new dramati• personte are, as Professor here. The LXX. and Vulgate, as we have Beve.n remarks, in all likelihood angels, 1111d seen, read, "I said." While the reading is the river in question is the Tigris. In ob. x. aR easy one, it is, as Professor Bevan re- Hiddekel is nahar; here the word used marks, against the analogy of eh. viii. 13. is y•or, B word very often used of the Nile, To the mon clothed. in linen. Thie man is but not exclusively (see Isa. uxiii. 21). mentioned in eh. x. 5, presumably Gabriel Hitzig asserts thu.t •K' (y'or) is an Egyptian Which icas upon the water• of the ri11er. e.ppello.tive, made by the Hebrews into the The reference may be to oh. viii. 16, where proper no.me of the Nile. The example just a voice comes to him from between the given disproves this statement, and from bo.nke of the river Ulai. Here, not npon the this false promise he deduces that the Book waters of the river Tigris, but over them, of De.niel we.a written in Egypt. They may was the appeare.noe of the angel Gabriel. be o.ngcle of countries. Thero seems no- How long shall it be to the e11d of these thing to justify the idea thu.t Miohnel wonder, f One difficulty that strikes one is and Gabriel nre the two here intended-the that there a.re no wonders foretold. That word " othor " excludes this. The reason the rulers of Syria should war against the of this introduction of t'UIO angels is, posseasol'll of Egypt wns not a marvellous DANIEL, 5  THE BOOK OF DANIEL. [on. xn. 1-13.